Walla Walla Conference: 2005
Table of Contents
Colossians 2:1-23
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And if I want to give me.
Good, I could leave the all light gracious.
Ever came back to my soul?
I live in the as I goodness my.
Heart shall grow.
Duration by my brethren.
I have had Colossians chapter 2 on my heart and I'll explain briefly why.
We have often been told and enjoyed the fact that.
Probably we get the highest truth as to the church in Ephesians.
But the highest truth as to the person of Christ in Colossians chapter one.
But there in the first chapter, it's more Christ and His glory in respect of what He is in Himself and what He is to the Father.
And you and I brought in only to round out the picture, so to speak.
But then in the second chapter, it's the fullness of the head, the fullness of Christ and all that he is in respect of us.
And that is always God's order, first of all, what he is to the Father, and what Christ is in himself, in the counsels of God. But then you and I are brought into the picture.
And I have enjoyed in that chapter that there is a ministry both for the heart and for the conscience and.
I suggest the chapter. What do my brethren think of that?
Good.
Sounds good.
Chapter 2.
For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the pledge.
That their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit, joy, and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk he in him.
Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Or in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him.
Through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, had he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
Plotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his frog.
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And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them, openly triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of in holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.
You have your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God.
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will, worship and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
I know that there are many others here who can expound this chapter better than I, but.
Just to mention a couple of things, as we did earlier in the first chapter. As we said, it's Christ that is before us in all His glory, and that is paramount, isn't it? God's purposes, God's counsels in Christ, and He would have us to see those and to get hold of them if we could say it this way, because of the love that the Father has to the Son.
And it's a wonderful thing to see things from God's side and to get into the purposes and counsels of God concerning His Son.
And so that's why I suggest the 1St chapter is brought in in the way that it is and brings Christ before us. But then God always has two before him, the practical side for you and for me, what Christ is to us. And as we see in the beginning of the chapter here, there's conflict involved, there's combat involved, isn't there? Because when it's a question of God's purposes, there never needs to be conflict or anything like that.
Same way in Ephesians, we don't have to have any endeavoring or any using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace until we get to the practical side of things in the 4th chapter. But here in this second chapter, it's wonderful that all the fullness of Christ is ours as members of His body and in our practical laying hold of that and walk through this world.
And so it's something that has a very practical side to it. We sometimes hear among believers and especially among young people, make it practical for us, Make it fit, as they say, where the rubber hits the road. If I could use that expression. Well, God's Word does that for us. And I suggest in this chapter, it brings it right down to the things that have to do with our practical walk down here.
But always, always directed to the person of Christ and his all sufficiency for us.
It helps to see going back to the first chapter, the last verses of the first chapter. He's speaking here about the mystery, the verse 26, which had been hid from ages and generations, but now has made manifest to His Saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery.
Among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you?
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The hope of glory, Ephesians, is our position in Christ here. It is Christ in us. A little different focus.
Whom we preach, he says, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect.
And full grown in Christ Jesus. Then he says in verse 29, Where unto I also labor?
Striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily and that word striving is the same word in verse one of our chapter that is translated conflict the same word and I think it helps me to see in the figurative teaching of the Old Testament Ephesians is across the Jordan River.
In possession of the land.
Colossians is across the Jordan River. We are dead and buried with him and risen with him, but the land is before us and it is an area of combat. You're going to enjoy these things. It's going to mean spiritual warfare and that's what we have. Just to give one more place where that word combat is used is in the 4th chapter.
And the 12Th verse in connection with Epiphras.
Who is one of you? A servant of Christ? Saluteth you, always laboring fervently. There's that same word again. Combat. What was he doing? Where was he combating?
For you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
He was a warrior, a prayer warrior, so there's real combat to be brought into the enjoyment of our position in Christ in general.
Christians have lost sight, and I include myself here. Brethren, it is so easy in the day that we live in to lose sight of our heavenly calling, of our present position in Christ in heavenly places. And so there is going to be combat as soon as you want to enjoy that place of privilege and favor.
There's combat involved and so.
That's what the Apostle starts out with in this chapter.
The conflict that he had.
In prayer here seems to be twofold. First of all, it was in regard to the fact that he would like to see the Saints practically knit together in love. That's the first part of verse 2. But then it says, and there's a second part to this conflict, and that is that they might stand in a full assurance of understanding of the mystery.
So one is more the practical getting on together. The other is the entrance into the understanding of God's purposes with regard to Christ in the church. Both are necessary if we're going to reach a full maturity, which is what he was seeking to do. Going back to the first chapter in verse 28 that was already read to us. He says here that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. That word perfect is.
The same idea as full growth or full maturity. And so Paul was interested in not just taking people across the line of salvation, but he desired that they would come to full Christian growth. And that required, as I've just said in the second chapter, the practical being knit together in love, but also the, the understanding of the, the mystery.
So these two things were a conflict for him in prayer.
And I think that if we're going to get a hold of the truth of the mystery, there's going to be a conflict as well, as you've just said.
It's interesting to realize that before the Apostle Paul was saved as Saul of Tarsus, his whole Benton energy was to persecute the Christians, to stop the gospel from going forth, and if he could have to stamp out the name of Christ. But after he got saved, that same zeal and energy that he used against the Church of God was just as fervent in not only the preaching of the gospel, but his desire that the Saints would grow in their souls.
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And that they would go on together and that there would be that spiritual progress of which we've just been speaking.
And it's interesting in that connection to trace through Paul's epistles and notice the times that he prays for the Saints of God.
You know, when we pray for the Saints of God, we often pray about physical needs. Sometimes we pray for our brethren who are sick, our brethren who are going through some trial, physical trial or difficult circumstance. And brethren, don't misunderstand me. That's all good and proper. And we certainly have plenty of scriptures to encourage us and exercise us to pray for one another as to natural and temporal things. But I think it's remarkable to see that when the apostle Paul prayed for the Saints.
It wasn't so much concerning practical or temporal things, but it was concerning spiritual things. And when you trace his prayers in Ephesians, in Colossians, in Philippians and some of the other epistles, what was his main exercise and desire for the Saints? It was, first of all, that they would prosper in their souls spiritually and brother. And I would just suggest on a very practical note that if we were exercised to pray for one another more in this regard.
That it would preserve us from many things and that there would be that spiritual growth and unity. Not just spiritual growth in our individual lives, in our personal lives, but that there would be that growth collectively and that love manifests and that practical unity. Not that we want to ignore the fact that our brethren have many physical and temporal needs. But brethren, is our desire really for the spiritual well-being of one another?
This was what Paul desired for these Colossians Saints, this great exercise, that they would be knit together in love, that there would be a deepening of their appreciation of Christ, and that the result would be practically manifest in their lives and in the assembly. Well, brethren, it exercises my own soul. Let's get into the presence of God. And like Epiphras, who's been mentioned later on, that we would pray that the Saints of God would stand perfect and complete.
In the will of God.
It is interesting that Laodicea is mentioned in verse one along with those that colossi, and evidently there were those who had not seen his face in the flesh, and still he had that interest for them, like you said. And how wonderful it is to see brethren with a real burden to pray for God's people. It is a real spiritual warfare out there, brethren.
Satan is not interested in having God's people enjoy their heritage.
And there's real warfare going on. He'll use anything he can to.
Keep that from happening, from their hearts being knit together like a.
Was brought out that we might be practically walking in the enjoyment of it. That's why it's so important brethren, when we read the word is to let it get down into our souls. Let it sink down. That takes meditation and that's when we enjoy the precious truth of God that it will have a practical effect in our lives. It is amazing to me to see how the Lord is working in other areas of the world and we should be interested.
And what the Lord is doing, He's working in a wonderful way in many parts of the world, probably in areas that we have little understanding of what he's doing, and yet He's working. We should be interested and in any way we can be practically involved, take an interest in God's people. I often find that going down to South America and sitting down in some of their homes and just talking to them.
Maybe I don't say a whole lot, but just doing that is a practical demonstration that we are one body in Christ.
And even though separated in a social level or perhaps by we can say.
Economically, still, there is that mutual interest, beautiful lesson that is taught not so much by words, but simply by that practical interest in their war, in their welfare.
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Lord, help us to be encouraged in that way, brethren.
Just like to say too, in connection with Laodicea, Laodicea in the seven churches in Revelation is characterized by indifference to the glory of Christ. And another thing that comes out so strongly in that epistle of John to the Laodiceans is that they.
Were self-centered and.
He said I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. They formed their own evaluation as to their state. Oh, brethren, the Lord deliver us from that. We think we're all right. That's our evaluation. What is the Lord's evaluation?
Fact that this is connected here in the Epistle of Colossians with the latest sins, not only here in the second chapter, but also.
In the fourth chapter is a lesson. What is the remedy for Laodicea?
Let atheism that is so evident in the Christian testimony today.
And I say that, brethren, I think we understand. I'm not talking about those gathered the Lord's name alone. I'm saying the whole great House of Christendom. What is so evident is that indifference. What is the remedy? It is to be occupied with that glorious person that's going to fill the whole universe with His glory. It's not what we are, it's what He is that we need to get before our souls, brethren.
And that is presented here in the book of Colossians.
But you agree, Brother Bruce, in your remarks, that the love is connected with the acknowledging of the mystery and the full knowledge of it. The two are not at odds with one another, are they? They go together and as Bob was saying, what is needed so much, I feel it in my own soul among the Saints of God. And I agree with Bob's comment. We speak of all the Saints, not merely those that we are happily connected with is gathered to the Lord's name, but.
The love, the knitting together must be with the acknowledging, the full knowledge of that mystery. And then what does that do? It directs our hearts to Christ. We don't become self-centered. It isn't my little interest or your little interest or my way of doing things or your way of doing things, but everything comes and flows from that one. Is that what you were bringing out, Bruce?
The danger is that we, we get lopsided. We lean to one side or the other. You know, there are those that think that the, the pinnacle of experience and the object of Christian life is that we, we are knit together in love. That is, we all get along together. It doesn't matter what we hold as the doctrine as long as we all love one another and get along together. I'm afraid that's wrong. Then there's the other side where there are those who are occupied with the truth of the mystery but don't know how to walk with their brother.
And there isn't that practical.
Love and demonstration. So we need both of them if we're going to reach this Christian maturity that he was praying about.
Appreciated what our brother Bill said. He said we have the harmony of the Godhead in the first chapter. And what a harmony that is. There's no glitch, there's no differences and so on. And then you said, and then he brings us in.
Think of bringing us in. We don't have any sympathy, naturally, for the harmony of the Godhead. We have to be reconciled to God through Christ.
I was thinking I believe someone has said that.
Laodicea and Colossi were only 11 miles apart so that they would have had exchange of fellowship and it's wonderful when assemblies that are close together can be.
In harmony one with another. But it can also be the other way. It can be the source of a lot of trouble and conflict because there's differences in a party spirit starts and the issues are flowing and and the Saints of God are depressed and so on. Clear out of touch with the harmony of heaven. But to think of the grace and the heart of God to pick us up.
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And to bring us into that harmony and to have the power to reflect it one with another, and to be able to get on together and to hold fast to the truth of God and walk in it, as it's been mentioned.
So the practical side of things, and I feel we need this, brethren.
There will be practical love and unity displayed, as has already been said, in the measure in which Christ is the object. And I suppose that's why in the next chapter he says seek those things that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. But also too in connection with what we have at the end of the previous chapter, the 1St chapter, it's realizing what Christ is to the body, and He's the head of the body. It's looking to Him for direction.
And I might just say a practical note on this, because I wonder, brethren, if sometimes the reason there are problems and difficulties arise not only in the local assembly, but, as Brother Ron said, sometimes in nearby assemblies, because sometimes there are difficulties that affect more than one assembly in a geographical locality. But I wonder sometimes, brethren, if the difficulty is because we're not looking to Christ as the Head, and sometimes, especially in the day in which we live.
We get this idea in our minds that the assembly is a democracy. The assembly is a place where the majority rules. And maybe we don't express it in quite those words, but you know, whatever the spirit of the age is, it always eventually affects the people of God. And this is a day when democracy and human rights are not only practiced, but they're preached and glorified. And brethren, we need to be very careful that this spirit of things does not seep in.
Amongst the people of God, the assembly is not a democracy, it's where Christ's authority is to be owned and maintained. And so if we're looking to Christ as the head, if we come with the difficulties and problems that arise and we spread the matter before the head of the body, maybe sometimes there isn't immediate light or even power to deal with the difficulty, but we spread it before Him, we wait on him.
And if there is that real exercise, then he will come in, in his own time and way and make it clear so that when we act, we don't simply act because this is what the majority feels should be done, but we act on the authority of God's Word with Christ as the head. And I would suggest that if we do this, then there would be more and more that that being knit together in love, there would be that practical unity exhibited.
I'd like to just say this too, in connection with what we mentioned about Paul's desire and praying for one another. You know, brethren, sometimes I feel exercised because in my personal prayer life or even in the assembly, we come together and we tend to pray for those who are having difficulties, whether it's physical or spiritual.
Pray for those who have drifted away from attending the assembly meetings.
We pray for those who perhaps left the Lord's table for one reason or another. We pray for those who have, perhaps because of a course of things have to be dealt with by the assembly and discipline and so on. And again, that's very right and proper. But when you notice the apostle Paul praying for the Saints, it was usually prayer as a preventative measure. It was usually praying for the Saints when they were going on well.
Because the apostle Paul understood very clearly that Saints who were going on well both individually and assemblies collectively, they were going to be special targets of the enemy. He knew that the Saints at Ephesus who could receive that wonderful truth, he knew that they were specially vulnerable. And so he prays for them, that their eyes would be open to see the power available to them and that they would go on in the enjoyment of their heavenly position and what they haven't had in Christ.
The Philippians were going on well, and there was a testimony and an outreach connected with the assembly there. He prays for them that this will continue. He prays for the Saints of colossi, that they will be preserved and that they will go on in practical unity. And again, I just want to suggest on a very practical note, brethren, that if we would pray for one another before the difficulties arise or before the indifference in the lukewarmness, or maybe even, sad to say, sin comes in, perhaps it would preserve us from many things.
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And a sister make a very interesting comment to me after a prayer meeting, an assembly I was visiting many miles from here. She made this comment. She said, Jim, why do they never pray for those who are out to the assembly meetings and those in the assembly who are seeking by grace to go on? She said, I believe those are ones that need special prayer. I thought was a good exercise.
That was the case in verse five, wasn't it Jim, like you say, I am with you in the spirit join and behold in your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. They were going on well, even though there needed to be some things addressed. Still that was the case and so we need to be exercised to pray for all God's people. I I must say rather than when I we're.
Talk about love in that second verse.
Being nicked together in love, it helps to understand the character of love.
That we are commanded not merely exhorted about brethren, but commanded seven times in John's Gospel and his epistles. We are commanded to love one another, and.
It's the agape love. It's the love not of mere emotion. It's the love of decision. I think that helps to see. It's loving when there's nothing lovable in the object. That is not natural love. That's the love that God had toward this world. For God so loved the world. Why did he love it? Because God is loved. There is no other explanation.
But that's the character of the love that now we have as well. If we are born into God's family, that's the love that you have towards your brethren in the Lord Jesus.
And it's a love not merely of decision, but it's a love of sacrifice.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. What a sacrifice.
You know, it's easy to say I love you.
But it's not by mere words that you know there's love in that person.
It's by their actions. What they do is their sacrifice. That's where you see love in the Scriptural sense of it and how we need to be stirred up in our desires always, as has been said, in the context of the truth of God. But the love goes out to everyone of God's people.
And we should be interested in their welfare, seek to do what we can. Maybe we don't walk in practical fellowship. Maybe we don't break bread with them, But there still should be that interest in them and to seek to be a help in whatever way we can to bring them into the enjoyment of the truth of God as well. I think it's such a blessing to see from place to place cottage meetings where brethren get in some of the neighbors.
And enjoy the simple truth of God one place member. They went through the book of Romans and it was a tremendous blessing to those who had never heard of that book expounded before. So may the Lord help us and exercise this to be knit together in love always in the context of this full assurance of understanding and the acknowledgement of the mystery of God.
But.
May we be stirred, brethren, to love one another. That's what characterizes Christianity.
Connect 3 verses in John, Bob, have exercised my own soul in regard to what you say, and perhaps it'll exercise others. But go first of all to John's Gospel chapter 3.
John's Gospel, chapter 3 and verse 35. The Father.
Loveth the Son. Now this is the first thing, and I believe rather than that the springboard for everything else and connected with love in connection with love is to realize that the Father loveth the Son. Think of the measure of the love of God the Father for the Son. And in John, first John, when it says the Father sent the Son, isn't that more than if it just said God sent Jesus? It's true that God did send Jesus, but there was a relationship there from the apost eternity.
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It was the father sending the son, and think of the love of the father.
For the Son, the father loveth the Son. Now, keeping that in mind, go over to the 15th chapter.
Chapter 15 and verse 9. As the Father hath loved me.
So have I loved you. Now if a statement like that doesn't affect your heart, I don't know what goes on within your heart to think that the very same love.
Of the Father for the Son is the very same love now that is commended to us by the Lord Jesus. He loves us His own.
With the very same love that the father loves the son. But now my own soul is so exercising about this and I thought of it in connection with Bobby words. Just notice the 12Th verse. This is my commandment that ye love one another. But now he doesn't stop there. Sometimes in quoting this verse or having it as a little motto on our wall, we stop there. But he doesn't just exhort his own to love one another, but he says.
As I have loved you now, brethren, God accepts no lower standard of love for one another as the people of God as brethren, than the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for His own, in that tremendous to think about.
Do we have that love I know that we've had before us? It cannot be. We cannot have love at the expense of righteousness and truth, the practical love, because that's compromise. But brethren, is the love in our hearts and the love we seek and the measure we can to express to one another in our interaction with one another? Is it the standard that is laid out for us in John's Gospel? The love of the Father for the Son, the love of the Son for his people?
He exhorts us to love one another with that same love as I have loved you. But now I want to just follow up by going to Romans because I I thought of this in connection again with Bobby's remarks in Romans 12.
Because as Bob said, love has to do with sacrifice. Someone might tell you, well, I love you and you watch to see their reaction. And over a period of time you say, well, that person says they love me, but they don't show it in their actions, in their, perhaps even in their words, they don't show that love. They say they love me. You know, the Lord Jesus, God not only says he loves us, he proved it in giving his Son. The Lord Jesus not only tells us he loves us.
But he proved it in giving himself at Calvary's cross. But let's just read the 1St 2 verses of Romans 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Well, the first thing we have then is self sacrifice. And brethren, we may never be called upon in love to the Lord Jesus or to His people to give our lives as a sacrifice in connection with martyrdom. Many of our brethren have, and this very day laying down their lives in that way. But we are called to lay down our lives for the brethren in service, a service of love to Himself and one another in the context of what we have here.
Giving ourselves a living sacrifice. Do you love your brother or sister in Christ enough to set some interest in your life aside? To go over and help that brother or sister? Do you love that brother or sister enough that you're willing to set aside time that you had hoped to spend for something else? Because you know that brother or sister has a practical need? Maybe all they do need is just for you to go over and sit beside them and hold their hands.
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Maybe as I said, it won't. It's not a lot of words, but just to give yourself as a living sacrifice. It does cost, but are we willing to do that? And then we find in the next verse be be not conformed to the world. Now, brethren, we apply this often and I have no problem with the application. We apply this often to many practical things. But in the context of the portion here, I would suggest what this is saying is.
In the world, the spirit of the world and the natural man is that he's the center of his world. He puts himself in the center. He draws this circle around himself and he does everything for self-interest. He lives for himself. And I've sometimes said to the young people in this day and age, this is not, this is not just the me first generation, this is the me only generation. My generation was the me first generation. We've got beyond that. It's the me only.
Generation where everything has to do with me and how do I benefit from this? And even in reaching out to someone else, the thought is how am I going to ultimately benefit from this, from this action? But brethren, what he's saying in this verse is that now that we belong to Christ and we're part of the body of Christ now, it's not to be me first or me only. It's not to be me as the center of my world and everything done for self, but now it is to be.
Christ and His interests, 1St and brethren, are Christ and his interests, His people, really what is first and foremost in our lives? Again, it takes that motive of love. It must spring from a motive of love. It takes self sacrifice. But oh what a blessing. It's more blessed to give than to receive. And to have Christ and His interests at the center of our lives is not only going to be a blessing to others.
But it will ultimately be a blessing to our own souls.
Those practical things are what knits us together, let me encourage.
Young people.
To think about the older ones.
In your assembly.
A little visit.
Sister.
And I sometimes think that it would be really nice to young people go up and shake hands with some of the older ones. Sometimes maybe you think, well, they're not interested in us. I think they really are. But sometimes we kind of tend to keep to ourselves. Can I encourage you to go up and shake hands with some of the older ones? Be interested in them. There's an old sister that needs her windows washed. There is a good practical thing that will knit the people of God together.
Look for reasons to.
Be of service to somebody else, that is. Like you say Jim, it's not the self centeredness of our culture that we live in, but it is truly a rewarding thing.
Isaiah 8 and verse 16 says bind up the testimony.
These acts of kindness and self sacrifice just point out and I know my brethren would agree.
It's not in me naturally to do that, is it?
When we see the ME Only generation, and I thoroughly agree with Jim that that is where we are.
And as has already also been pointed out, the attitude and spirit in the world around has always been that which unhappily spilled over into the Church of God. And so we live and move in that generation, and pretty soon that's the way we tend to think.
And the antidote is here in this chapter, isn't it? What does it say in the end of our second verse?
To the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and.
We just point out that the verse really should end there. The words of the Father and of Christ really are not there in the original.
It should simply read to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and then in verse 3, not in whom although the thought is right, but rather in which that is, in the full acknowledgement of the mystery, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What does that do? It takes me outside of myself and gets me to see things from God's side, because the emphasis in Colossians is on the mystery of God, that is, that God has in His purposes.
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The honor and glory of His beloved Son. The emphasis in Ephesians is more on the mystery of Christ. We don't want to start getting technical about it, but when it's bringing in the mystery of God, it's particularly the honor and glory that God has in His purposes for His beloved Son and His purposes that He is to be had over all things. Well, and that is before us if that really gets a grip on our souls.
Then it takes me right out of myself and then my thoughts, as we've already heard, are going to be for Christ and His interest down here. I'm going to ask Brother Jim a question. If the Me Only generation is wrong, what happens to me if I honor Christ and give my life for others?
Where do I get something? What do I get out of it? Am I going to be the the unhappy person that has nothing left by the time he spent himself for everybody else? What's the answer, Jim? I see that water if this watered all to himself.
And as the Lord said, it's more blessed to give than receive. And you find many scriptures that show that a life lived for self is a life of sorrow. A life lived for others is a life of joy. But it has to be with the realization that we're dead to the first man if we don't walk in newness of life. And what the new life that we have in Christ, because the new life that the life that we have in Christ, it it desires to serve.
It desires to please others. It desires Christ and his interest. But so often I let the flesh take over and I live in the flesh and the flesh wants to be served. The flesh wants self to be the center. And so if we're not walking in newness of life, if we're not walking with practically reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, it's going to be a life of sorrow, but a life lived in the in the.
Power of the Newman and the power of the Spirit. That's a life of joy. I say he that Watereth is watered all to himself. Might take a little effort, and maybe you have to sacrifice a Saturday to go over and wash that sister's windows that Bob was Speaking of. But not only will you encourage that sister, but you'll go away encouraged and refreshed yourself.
Whose approval do we want? That's the question. And you think as a widow who cast in her might into treasury, he got the approval of the Lord Jesus?
He's in it, in the relationship.
Himself, isn't he? And it says in John 10, the hireling flees.
Why? Because he's a Harvard. You know, if we enter in a relationship, whether it's miracle or whether it's in the assembly, whatever relationship we enter into.
Are we into it because of the Lord's approval? And I think if we are, then we'll cast in all our living to like Bruce reminded us to bind up the testimony like that widow reminds us to support the testimony with all her living to be into the relationship as a Christian fully and devotedly and.
Opposite of that of the higher link. The opposite of the higher link is what is shepherd.
And through the world and the world's approval, what we've been Speaking of, it's an abomination. The shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptian, but to the Lord, a shepherd's heart is his heart, a heart that is one who is self sacrificing.
A heart that is interested in what He can do for others, and He has for us because the Good Shepherd.
I am the Good Shepherd, the Lord said. And the Good Shepherd giveth his light for the sheep as he viewed that widow. He gave her life for the testimony would say. And how wonderful and how important for you and I to be fully devoted to this one who loved us and gave himself for us to have a heart as a shepherd, not as a hireling, a hireling. We're going to get into a situation going to be a little bit rough and we're going to get out of there.
But with a shepherd, the shepherd is fully devoted to the sheep. So I think that's very good, Brother George, Because suppose, and to go back to Bob's illustration for a moment, suppose you decide to go over and wash his sister's windows on Saturday. What is your motive? Is it so you'll get a nice meal at the end of it and maybe she'll press a $10.00 bill into your hand? Is it because maybe on Lord's Day she's going to tell some of the brethren, You know, so and so came over and I so appreciated it. What is our motive if our first motive is to do it for Christ?
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Then that's where the reward is going to be in our souls. If you do it for some other motive and she doesn't press that $10.00 bill into your hand or she doesn't tell anybody at meeting the next day that you came over and did it, you're going to be disappointed. You're going to be discouraged. But if you realize that it's jotted down in God's book of remembrance.
And that it was his approval you were seeking. That's where the joy and refreshment is going to be in your soul.
Now sometimes thought of the Apostle Paul in serving the Saints, he was misunderstood.
The Corinthian brethren, they questioned his authority as an apostle, they questioned his ministry and so on. But what did he say to them? He said, that's all right. He said, the more I love you, the less I be loved. And he said, We labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. What he really wanted in serving the Saints was the Lord's approval. Whatever his brethren might blame, he said, well, I just leave that with the Lord.
Because I'm seeking at the end of it all, his well done. And I believe that's why the Apostle Paul could say I have finished my course with joy. He'd fulfilled his ministry and finished his course with joy because he had a sense in his soul not of his brethren's approval in his service for Christ, but he had a sense in his soul of the Lord's approval. And brethren, as Brother George said, that's what really counts in the end. I hope all our young people are taking notice because.
It really.
Is sad to see so many young people of our generation that are so totally sought they they use the word bored. I'm bored don't know what to do. There's lots to do around but.
That stop and step back and think in a different direction.
Not pleasing yourself, but pleasing the Lord. Like Jim says, do it for him.
And I often I often.
Rather.
That nothing is said if I do something because I'd rather have his approval at the end than do it for something I get down here. Down here. Like you said, they may appreciate it, they may not.
But there's one who will always evaluate things properly and it's the Lord and in that day is the final evaluation. Sometimes, you know, we evaluate things down here. Not saying that's wrong, but the evaluation of things down here is never completely right evaluation. They're proper and final evaluation is future and we should labor in view of that day.
We think of those who live for themselves, and like you say, Jim, it's such an empty thing in our culture, people that live for themselves. It's one of these signs of the last days. Men shall be lovers of their own selves. You want to have an empty life, live for yourself. You're going to be an empty person. Think of a lot in the Old Testament.
Evidently a real believer, because Scripture says in the New Testament that he vexed his righteous soul.
Still, he chose first.
Should have given deference to his uncle Abraham, but no, he chooses first and he chooses what he likes. Anything wrong with that? Didn't seem to be anything wrong with those nice well watered planes, but they were leading in the wrong direction. It was a wrong philosophy of life, if I can put it that way. Pleasing himself. What's the end of Lot's career? Lost everything. Everything, even its testimony.
Total loss. He's a saved soul, but a lost life. I can't think of anything more tragic. Young people, we desire better things for you than that. The Lord challenge our hearts.
Our time is nearly gone and it would be nice to complete the thought in the third verse here.
When it says in whom? Or, as we pointed out, in which are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?
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It's a wonderful thing that you and I have been born into this dispensation of God's grace, and it's only in the understanding, the full understanding of that mystery of God that you and I will have wisdom and knowledge in our path.
That's important because, and again, I hope no one thinks that we're.
Hitting at young people, we all need this, but it's a day when there is much uncertainty as to the pathway of many dear believers and particularly dear young people. And our hearts go out to you because it is a very complicated world. Technology and many other things have made it very difficult to navigate through the world of today. It was so much simpler when I was your age. But what do we find here?
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the acknowledging of that mystery. Now that's basic.
What we're talking about, but it goes all the way when we take a look at world affairs. How can we understand what's going on?
Everything subtends from the acknowledging of the mystery of God that God has in His purposes the honor and glory of Christ and our association with Him. It ties in, I believe, with what we get in Second Timothy 2 where Paul says to Timothy, consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things.
And so God doesn't intend that you and I practically should have a lack of direction in our lives or a lack of understanding of what His will is, or a lack of understanding of why things are the way they are in the world today or why they are such a state among the people of God. I believe that we can have understanding. We can see things clearly. We can know why things are the way things are the way they are, and we can have that.
Full understanding as it sits here, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Yes, they are found in Christ. I don't take away from that thought at all. But if we see where we are in God's purposes and how we are connected to Christ, in whom all God's purposes are centered, then I believe it will give us practical direction. Practical.
Shall we say intelligence as to what God would have us to do? And we won't be, as Bob is saying, bored and wondering what the Lord was Have us do and go this way and go that way, and maybe spend time and energy and money and then find out that it didn't work out, or perhaps that it didn't.
It wasn't the mind of the Lord. We can have guidance, we can have intelligence for our path. Is that right?
Not the full assurance of salvation.
Full assurance of understanding and acknowledgement of the mystery. And the reason why he brings this in is because the Colossians Saints were being bombarded with the Gentile philosophy and those that became later called Gnostics having some higher knowledge. They boasted that they knew things that were beyond what was given in the revelation to the Colossians Saints and their temptation was to go after these things and he wants to build them up and understanding that they have everything.
That they need in the mystery, all it says here, all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, not some of them. So they had no need to lean aside, to go aside, to turn aside to what these philosophical ideas were being bantered around at that time. You must have been brave words, Bruce, what the mystery is.
Christ in the church. That would be about the briefest I could give.
Good. It's it's, it's helpful if we're going to live meaningful lives, is to understand where we are in God's thoughts. And that's the point.
It's something that going back to the first, first chapter in the 26th verse, it says the mystery which has been hid from ages and generations. It's a mystery that was not understood in Old Testament times. You do not get it there.
It may be there in figure because God knows everything beforehand, but it was not there. It's something that is revealed especially through the instrumentality of the apostle Paul, the heavenly calling, the association you said with Christ. But look at chapter one of Ephesians where the mystery is mentioned as well, just to read a couple of verses.
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One of Ephesians and verse 9 having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, that's the millennial day, He might gather together in one all things in Christ Bush, which both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him in whom also we have obtained a an inheritance so.
It's us in conjunction, in union with Christ, in that position of glory.
Then in the third chapter he mentions it again of the Ephesians.
For it speaks at the end the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed into His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. What was that? That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body.
The promise in Christ by the gospel. So it's the calling into association with Christ in heavenly glory. That's the mystery. Beautiful to think of our place. Now if that's the case, it doesn't belong to me to get into involved in politics. There's a big push in Christian circles to get involved in politics. Christians should do their Christian duty is said.
And you're looked down on if you don't. But brethren, I suggest that if we do, we are really not living in the enjoyment of the calling wherewith we've been called to association with Christ in heavenly glory. The Lord help us to understand where we are.
Now it's time to close, but just one last comment the hid here in verse 3.
Is really the idea of being hid from the searchings of the natural mind, which is what they were being faced with, which is a little different than what we had what you referred to in Ephesians 3, where it was hid in the heart of God and now disclosed. So it's disclosed to those who have the revelation, but it's still hid to the searchings of the natural mind. And so all of the philosophical reasonings of the natural man cannot enter into and tap into these treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
#17.
May the grace of Christ.
Our Savior.
And the father.
The last Love.
With love.
Communion.
Joy.
Oh.
Colossians 2:8-23
Reading
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Our Lord.
One guilty and undone.
Thou grateful.
We brought 5 people.
As we.
Record.
We praise the fire.
But no brought near.
Through the dead of Christ.
Our Lord.
Fresh grateful.
Thy spirit.
When?
Thou shall come.
We we shall say, I know how great.
The good night.
For.
Your own hearts, our song swearing.
Our God and Father.
The children.
While waiting for our world.
Chapter 2. We don't want to make assumptions on that without.
Leaving it open if others have different thoughts.
Well, that's my feeling too. I think it would be nice to spend at least one more reading on it if the brethren are happy with that.
Colossians, chapter 2.
Verse 10.
Perhaps verse 9.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened, together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, lauding out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us.
I'm having foils and fatalities and powers and made a show of them openly.
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Let no man therefore judge you elite or entering or in respect of the holy day.
Days which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.
Into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God.
Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will, worship and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
It's a marvelous statement. There in verse nine. In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We often use that, and most correctly, to bring out the preciousness of the person of Christ, perfect God and perfect man in one person, and we enjoy that. But it's written here, I suggest, in this chapter for another reason too.
And that is as it goes on to say in the next verse, And ye are complete in him. In the first chapter we were told concerning Him, and this is quoting from the Darby rendering of it. In Him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. But here it says, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
As we mentioned yesterday, the tendency among us as men.
If we get away from the things of Christ, if we get away from the divine revelation that he has given us, If we get away from what we have in Him.
The tendency is to set men before us, and to have those exalted personages whose intellect is greater than ours, because we're not sufficient to ourselves. But how wonderful that God sets one before us who is a man, one before us who, if we can put it this way, has been where we are, yet without sin, as we get in Hebrews, and God sets that one before us as one who became a man.
Who remains a man for all eternity, but one in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. What human leader, what human personage can compare with that? And so God directs us first of all to that Blessed One. Then he warns us, of course, and we'll get to that later on in the chapter about the dangers of not holding the head, the dangers of legalism and ritualism that so easily can come in. But before he does that.
He tells us where we are and lays before us that blessed person of his beloved Son, and says, And you are complete in him. I guess I have asked myself a number of times, does that precious truth really get a grip on my soul? Do I really understand where I am that I and you and every true believer in the Lord Jesus is complete in him? Because there's the answer to every difficulty, every problem. It does not say ye are complete in the truth.
No, it says, ye are complete in Him, that one who is the truth. And what a blessed thing it is for that, to get a grip on our souls and to realize that we need nothing in the moral and spiritual realm apart from Him.
The four in the first of the verse reflects back on the eighth verse, and I think it's good to kind of keep it in that context.
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Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
So that it's not in man's reasoning mind. The answer we have reasoning minds, and the mind of man is a really intricate, interesting thing, but we need to be careful not to let our mind go beyond scripture.
And even when we're talking about the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How can we understand a verse like this, brethren?
In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily a man.
Of flesh and blood walked down here in this world. He was God in every sense of the word.
And to think of it, brethren.
Finally, men.
Could put their hands on him. And what did they do to him? They nailed him to a cross. What a story of man's wisdom, of man's power, of man's intellect.
Is that where we are? Naturally speaking? That's where we are. How that should make us wary of man's philosophy, man's spots, Simply to accept the revelation that we have in our hands here of Scripture, not depend on our own minds about it. Let's submit ourselves to what God has to say in His precious Word.
Our minds will never be sufficient to grasp properly what this means. All the fullness of the Godhead, our God, brethren, our God that is greater than the whole universe.
There are.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in that human body.
When they finally took the Lord Jesus and rejected him and took him outside the walls of Jerusalem and crucified him, it's interesting to notice where it was. It was at the place of a skull. And I thought about that because what is a skull? It's an empty head. And this was the height of man's intellect. This is what man's reasoning and man's intellect finally did to the Lord Jesus. They thought, as it were, They got rid of Him. They sit away with him, crucify Him.
And it was there at the place of the skull. But, you know, it's interesting that this chapter really sets the stage for the next chapter. I just want to jump ahead a moment and notice verse two of chapter 3.
Set your if you notice your margin, and this is the way Mr. Darby translates it, set your mind on things above. It seems that it's more noble to say. Set your affections, and even in these meetings we've had some expressions in connection.
With how we need to take in the truth in the heart and how the heart needs to be affected in connection with divine things. And that's certainly true. It's when the truth gets into the heart that it has a moral practical effect on our walk. Because where the heart is, then the feet will follow. But I believe it should be correctly translated here. Set your mind, because in this chapter that we're taking up, it's, as we've been saying, the mind of man.
The reasoning of man that brings in that which is not according to the truth, it was the reasoning of man.
Here, and brethren, I believe it's very, very important that our minds be governed by the Word of God, that we not deviate in any way from God's Word. God has set these things out, and when the mind of man comes in and begins to add or take away from the Scripture, then we're on very, very dangerous ground because the intellect, if I can put it this way, it seems to work overtime when it comes.
To philosophy and all this kind of thing. And so it's a warning to us. What are we to do?
00:15:00
We're not. We're never to empty our minds. Now we're to fill our minds with the Word of God.
To bring every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ. If you allow me just to digress from our chapter just for a moment, but I want to reiterate something that I know some have heard me say recently, but it really burdens me. I have young people that go to school and in the school system today, at least where I come from, they are teaching our young people to empty their minds. And it seems very good on the surface because they do it.
Under the banner of relaxation or meditation. But it's a very, very dangerous thing to empty our minds. Because if we seek to empty our minds, then the enemy.
To come in and fill the vacuum and what the enemy is going to fill the bathroom with is not the truth of God. It's not the truth of concerning Christ. And some of us have been to countries where this is taught under heat, under heathendom. And you see it in its stark reality where people are taught to sit and empty their minds and meditate. And you see very quickly the evil and the wickedness that is connected with it.
And so I just say this, brethren, we need to be on our guard. Sometimes in so-called Christian lands like this, things are done under a pious banner, under a banner that doesn't seem so bad in itself, but underneath it's just the same old tricks and lies of the devil.
Little contrast between what we have here and what we have in Ephesians, because it says here and ye are complete in him. In Ephesians we have what the church is to Christ, and she's the fullness of him that filleth All in all. I don't want to sound crude, but I've sometimes put it this way. In Ephesians what you find is that a body without a head is an incomplete unit.
Or, I'm sorry, ahead without a body. And Christ, if I can put it this way, he's incomplete without his body, the body with his body, which is the Church. And so the body of Christ is the fullness of him that filleth All in all. But in Colossians it's what Christ is to the church. He's the head of the church. And in Colossians it's a body without a head, being an incomplete unit. We need Christ as the head.
We need to look to Him in everything. That's why we said yesterday that the Assembly is not a democracy. It's where we look to the head for direction. The problem arises in the Assembly. We don't decide amongst ourselves or take a vote or popular opinion or what we think we should do to correct this problem, not only in problems but in every function amongst the people of God. We don't decide ourselves. We don't have a board meeting.
And decide these things. No, we look to the head for direction because as I say in Colossians, it's what what Christ is to the church. And a body without a head is an incomplete unit. And so we need our head and we need to hold the head. We need to look to him for every function and direction.
It is interesting in the new translation that in verse 10.
You are complete. Is really.
Filled full. Mr. Harvey has a note on that. It really relates to the word fullness in verse 9.
Verse nine. It's all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily.
And then in verse 10.
Ye are filled full in Him. You know, brethren, we're living in days of weakness and.
Failure.
In the outward testimony, and sometimes we have problems that are hard problems. Everywhere I travel there's problems.
But I sometimes wonder if the Lord doesn't allow that to happen to test us. If we're really looking to Him, the tendency is maybe to call up some brother that has a lot of understanding.
00:20:06
And it's nice to have brethren that have understanding and we need to listen to them.
But remember, at the same time, spiritual maturity is not looking to some brother, it is looking to the head. So what that brother says to me, I take it. I consider it in the presence of the Lord, I weigh it.
But I have to make my decisions based on what I get from the head. That's holding the head. And that's so important. In the day we live in, is the Lord not sufficient, brethren, in our weakness, is He not sufficient? You go back into the Old Testament. We have so many beautiful examples, Gideon day of tremendous weakness in Israel.
They were at the mercy of the Midianites.
And there he was.
Feeling his weakness.
Threshing out some weed and the Lord appears to him and Gideon says why has all this happened to us?
He's really feeling it. What does the Lord say? Go in this thy might, might, get in that might. Brethren. It's feeling our weakness, but looking to Him that is our strength. Oh, how we need to learn these lessons.
And I really believe, brethren, that we have had the tendency to look to certain brethren that are gifts, no doubt gifts to the Church or to assemblies that are helpful assemblies.
God is jealous of the glory of his own beloved Son, and He wants us looking to Christ. That's maturity. That's spiritual maturity. It's in Ephesians 2. Ephesians as well. Let's look at the 4th chapter because.
Comes out there in the same way, I believe.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 15 but speaking the truth in love.
May grow up.
Into him in all things.
The purpose of the working of the gifts. Thank God for the gifts that He has given. May the Lord use them. But the purpose of the use of these gifts is not that we be looking at the gifts.
But that we may be looking, that we may grow up.
We need to grow up, brethren. What's growing up?
Into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, make it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
The Lord deliver us then, brethren, when we come together in special meetings, or even in our home local assemblies, from being looking.
Brethren, we need to be consciously looking to the Lord as Head. He is not limited, for as much as we may have failed in our weakness.
He is not limited.
Often think when the Lord was going to feed the 5000. We mentioned this many times.
He says first to the disciples, give ye them to you. They were the lost to know what to do.
Those that were closest to him were the lost.
But Andrew said there is a lad here that has five loaves and two fishes.
But what are they?
That wasn't much, but put into the Lord's hand it was multiplied till all were filled, and there were 12 baskets leftover. Oh, brethren, we have a God in whom dwells. We have a Savior ahead in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I'm amazed when I go to South America, brethren, and.
00:25:00
They have a lot more conferences in Bolivia than we do up here in the United States. They have two or three conferences a month down there, brethren, sometimes 3 conferences and one holiday weekend in different parts of the country. When I look around and see brethren that have very little, some absolutely no education, I say how's, how are they going to do? And I sit there brother, and then marvel at what God is able to bring out.
Through the gifts that He is given and the times of blessing in the soul as we sit there under the direction of the Spirit of God. My desire is, brethren, that we be encouraged to give the Spirit of God liberty.
Sometimes when we say that, I hope I'm not being misunderstood by thinking that everybody has liberty to say something. That's not what I'm saying.
And we speak of the liberty of the Spirit of God. Sometimes I like to put it this way, nobody has liberty to say anything, that there's one person present here, the Spirit of God. He is a real person, brethren.
And I, as a person, as a member of the body of Christ, need to give him liberty to use me.
If he wants to.
If I sit down and say I'm not going to say anything.
I'm not giving him liberty that quenches the Spirit of God. Let's not be guilty of that.
I must say that sometimes maybe we speak too much.
I probably am guilty of that side of things a little bit more and that also quenches the Spirit of God.
So sometimes we kind of stumble over each other.
Glad to see that it hasn't happened too much this time. Maybe some.
But we need to realize that through the Spirit of God, there is a sufficiency in the Lord Jesus. Like that hymn that Dave gave out in the address yesterday.
A fullness resides in Jesus our head. A fullness abides to answer all need. O brethren, is this a reality? I think we can prove it to be a reality.
Right today, in our days, when there's so much to discourage.
The Lord hasn't changed.
We have changed, we have failed, but he hasn't. Can we count on him? I believe we can. I really believe we can.
Paul said when I am waiting and am I strong? But I want to raise the question here, Bobby, connection with what you said because you mentioned idiot and how the Lord appears to him and how he gave him direction and told him to go and this thy might. But we know today that God doesn't appear the way he did to Gideon or the way he did to a number in the Old Testament, even the way he did to the Apostle Paul in the early days of the church. He stood by him and encouraged him when Paul felt his failure and his weakness.
And we talk about holding the head, we talk about looking to our head for direction.
But perhaps we might wonder, as we go back to our local assemblies, and as we seek in our personal lives to own the Lordship of Christ, how do we then receive direction from the head? We're members of the body. We know in a physical way all the members of our body take their direction from the head, from the brain. We don't lift a hand, but it doesn't take its direction from the brain. But let's just have some practical comments. We go back to our local assemblies. As we've heard, there are problems.
Real problems I have no doubt There are brethren here whose hearts are burdened as they think of going back.
Next week, if the Lord leaves us here to local problems and situations, maybe in the assembly, maybe in connection with a decision at work, maybe in the family circle or whatever sphere of life it may be, how are we going to practically look to the Lord as our head for that direction? Maybe we can have some comments in that regard. Go ahead.
Well, I'd like to hear what others have to say, but we have two great resources, don't we? As members of the body, we have prayer and we have the Word of God. I'd like to just notice 2 verses in this connection. First of all, in Revelation chapter 3.
00:30:03
In connection with the Epistle to Philadelphia.
In Revelation chapter 3, I might just say, I realize, brethren, that there ought to be no thought even in corners of our hearts to being Philadelphia, but we do see it Philadelphia, that which met with the Lord's approval. And isn't that what we really covet, the Lord's approval? And just notice verse three or verse eight of chapter 3. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. And I want you to notice this expression.
For thou hast little strength, and hast kept my word, and has not denied my name.
And then just go over to the, I think it's the 138th Psalm.
Yes, Psalm 138, and I'll just read the last expression of verse 2. For thou hast magnified thy word above all Thy name. Well, as I say, in the Epistle to the Church at Philadelphia, we see that which met with the Lord's approval. There was weakness there. They had little strength. Rather, the Lord cannot tolerate indifferent, but He does bear with weakness when there's exercise.
And maybe there seems to be no strength or even direction to deal with some problem in the assembly. If we become indifferent to it, that's one thing. But if we are in exercise, then God recognizes that the Lord honors that exercise. And so they had a little strength. But isn't it remarkable that in His strength He set before them an open door, and no man could shut it? You say, how do you justify the two statements?
On the one hand, there's an open door that no man can shut, and the next expression, they had a little strength. Well, they recognized their weakness, their strength, their little strength, but they realized that there was strength in the One who is Almighty, the one who could say, all power is given to me in heaven and on earth. But what I wanted to notice particularly is that they kept His word and not denied His name. Now perhaps if I had been writing this, I would have reversed the orders.
That they didn't deny his name and they kept his word. But no, first of all, they kept his word.
And brethren, when problems and difficulties arise and we look to the Lord for direction in any sphere of our lives, or even not just in a problem or difficulty, but for whatever direction we need, we need to first of all keep His word because this book is sufficient to guide us and direct us. Even in 2005. This book is sufficient to answer every question and difficulty.
That rises even at this light late date in our history. And what burdens me is sometimes we tend to do things in the name of the Lord Jesus.
But we don't have the authority of His word for what we do. You know, we are never justified in acting as members of His body in the name of the Lord Jesus unless we have the authority of the Word of God. Sometimes we might say, well, we need to straighten out this problem.
Rather than if we don't have direction from the Word of God, all we can do is, with prayerful exercise, commit the matter to the One.
Then in his own time and way, he's going to give us direction so that when the problem, the action is taken, when we take the step, we can go to the Word of God and say this is the authority for what we do.
This is why we're asking in the name of the Lord. If you go out with the gospel, sometimes people say the only thing that matters is that souls be saved. But if.
It must be a way that conforms to the word of God, and that's why in this Psalm we read, it says, Thou hast magnified thy word above thy name. We're never justified in acting in the name, putting the name above the word. We must always have the authority of the Word of God.
For what we do. And so this is how today we're not, we don't have the Lord appearing like he appeared to Gideon or many others, but He has given us His word and we need to collectively search his word and individually. Why is it problems arise?
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And there doesn't seem to be light. We haven't perhaps been into the Word. If we're going to have direction, it's from the Word. Why isn't there the power? Well, brethren, perhaps there isn't the power because there isn't the prayer that's coupled with the Word of God, the light and instruction. The authority is the Word. But what about the power? Why is there so little power? Sometimes, rather than, you know, sometimes I go to the assembly prayer meeting and I find it's the most poorly attended.
Good crowd out on a Monday night to hear an address, but then when it comes Wednesday night or Thursday night for prayer meeting, back to the same few. Why? Good crowd out on Lordsteam morning to remember the Lord. I'm thankful. But what about the assembly prayer meeting? What about prayer in our personal lives and in the family circle? Do we lack power? We say we don't know. We just don't have the power to act as members of the body of Christ. We don't seem to have the power to take care of this problem.
Perhaps it's because we haven't availed ourselves of the powerhouse. And so I believe this is in a very practical way and we've got away from our portion, but in a very practical way. To look to the head, to seek His direction is to get this book out and read it. The instruction, the direction is here. And then to get down on our knees, brethren, and to pray and to look to Him to give us that power to deal with the difficulties, to go on and ask for His glory.
Even in the day of ruined brethren, this is what's going to preserve us individually and collectively, as gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
That verse in Psalm 138, the portion that you read, For thou hast magnified thy word above thy name. Then the next verse says, In that day when I cried, thou answers me, and strengthens me with strength in my soul. So there you have them right together.
The the Word of God.
That is where the direction is written down.
What a mercy it is that we have the Word of God so easily available, and we also have the ability to.
Bow our heads and our hearts and ask God to make the Word clear to us and give us power.
In in carrying out the word.
We have the answer in seeking the Lord in the word of God in prayer. What tremendous resources, but I'd like to add this in connection with prayer and that is humbling ourselves and recognition of his hand upon us. If I go with a spirit that I'm all right, I did everything right and why doesn't why don't people understand me and then go to the Lord for the answers it's likely I'm not going to get.
A very solid answer. In fact, the problem may get worse. I'd like to turn to the book of Daniel.
To see one man that had what is called in scripture in excellence spirit, and this is to be coveted brethren in seeking the Lord's face.
Humbling ourselves before him. Chapter 9 of Daniel.
Daniel.
Somebody else has said in this chapter is not Daniel the prophet prophet, He is Daniel the student of prophecy and he studies Jeremiah the prophet and he finds out that God had promised that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years and those years were about up and he realized that God.
Would be doing something according to his word. But notice verse three. There you have the word in its place. Now he seeks the Lord. I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sacklot and ashes. I think there's some real lessons.
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In this, brethren, to get the Lord's mind in things.
Prayer supplication is more intense than simply prayer. Do we know what that means? It's easy in our prayers. Go over.
It means intense pleadings to God. It's not just something general. Do we know what it means to supplicate?
Then it says with fasting.
You know what fasting is. It's generally interpreted to not eating when you normally would.
But really the thought in fasting is denying ourselves. It may be food, it may be other things too that I enjoy, but for the Lords sake I deny myself.
Brethren, in a land where we have been.
Shall I say blessed? It's really not blessed, but we've been given so many mercies, so many temporal mercies.
We don't see any need to fast. Why deny yourself? Everything is available.
You know it impresses me when the Lord came off the Mount of Transfiguration.
And he met the disciples below, and they couldn't cast out the demon out of that boy.
That the Father had brought to them, and they asked the Lord afterward and said.
Why could not we cast him out? And the Lord says, this kind goeth forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
Do we know what that means to deny ourselves for the Lord's sake? I'm afraid I know very little about it. We like to interject a little E in front of the A. In fasting we do more feasting.
But do we know what it means to fast? And I really believe there's nothing wrong with eating, nothing wrong with it. I enjoy my part in it, but it takes away our spiritual strength. I really believe sometimes when we give too much place to that, when there's need amongst God's people, is it proper that we should feast?
Or fast. Well, here Daniel is a lone individual. Don't even know where his three friends are. Evidently he's an older man here, so maybe they weren't around anymore. But he's a lone individual, you might say. Well, nobody else feels this like I do.
Be encouraged with Daniel's example, fasting and sack life. Sack life wasn't a very comfortable thing to wear. We like our comforts, don't we brethren?
Are you willing to give up your comforts?
And ashes. Ashes is what remains when the fire has done its work. Everything is under judgment as far as God is concerned.
To take our place properly before God.
In view of all the failure that there's been, brethren.
And we don't have time to go over this whole chapter, but it's so instructive to see. And I'd just like to mention, first of all, he justifies God in having allowed what took a reason that he has allowed it. I really believe there has been.
We need to justify God. Another thing that I think is so tremendous with Daniel is that he identified with the people of God in their failure. He did not isolate himself and say that he was the only one faithful.
Oh, what a lesson this is.
You know, in the law definitive.
There was the sin offering, and it was not accepted except the priest. Eat that sacrifice in the holy place.
What does that mean? When you eat something, you make it part of yourself.
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And that person that brought the sacrifice was not the one that ate it, it was the priest that ate it in a holy place.
And then it was accepted. Oh, what a lesson that is for us.
Daniel of all people was exemplary in his life. He could have well said, I've tried to maintain myself for thy glory, Lord, but he doesn't do that. He identifies himself with the people of God in their failure and talks about my sin and the sin of my people, Israel.
Is there that with us, brethren? Or we do try to isolate ourselves and say we're doing it all right over here? I don't know what happened over there.
Lord help us, brethren, if we want to seek His face. These are principles that we need to consider.
And at the end of the chapter, God opens to Daniel when he takes that place in humiliation.
And prayer before the Lord. He opens to him the prophecy of the 70 weeks.
Probably one of the most useful keys in understanding the prophetic picture of the future of God's earthly people that there is in Scripture.
He got that because he took his place in humiliation before his God put lessons. These are for us Ready.
In getting direction from the head, the head is there. He's a very real person. The Holy Spirit is here. He's a very real person as well.
Why is it we seek him sometimes and don't get an answer? Seemingly we don't get an answer.
Forgot some dust but involved in being.
First of the 20th Psalm that says the meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his way. I just like to add 1 further comment before we pass on and that is we've spoken at great length about the word of God being our guide. And the psalmist in the 73rd Psalm said thou wilt guide me with thy counsel and that counsel is found in the word of God. But there's another scripture in the 32nd Psalm where David says he he will guide me with no guide me with thine eyes.
Just like to make a comment on that because I believe, brethren, there are many steps and decisions in our Christian pathway.
That are only going to be discerned in nearness to the Lord Jesus. Yes, there are infallible guidelines in the Word of God to guide us and direct us step by step by word. Is a lamp under my feet and a light unto my path. But I sometimes illustrate it this way. If I when my children were small and they were with me in meeting, sometimes they were at the other end of the row and one of them was doing something that I didn't want them to do.
And so if I could catch their eye, I could speak to them without saying a word. They knew by the expression and the way I looked at them that I was communicating something to them and exactly what that was. But two things. They had to be close enough to me, and they had to be looking at me. Those two things were important if I was going to speak to them with my eye. And we have to be close to the Lord.
And looking to him, looking at him by faith, if we're going to be directed by his eyes. And so I just say that that again, I enjoyed.
What I heard from another about a difficulty that had arisen amongst the people of God many years ago and after a very lengthy brothers meeting and great discussion and many scriptures brought forth, a young brother turned to an older brother at the end of the meeting. And he said to this older brother, and what step will you be taking?
In this matter and the older brother looked at him and very wisely said to him.
When the time comes to take a step, I hope that I am walking close enough to the Lord Jesus the Head that I know what step to be taken. I thought that was very good advice.
There is an answer to that question as we go on in our chapter here.
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Because in verses 9.
The head of all principality and power.
But then what happens?
Reminds me of a story of what happened in a conference way back in the 1800s where some brethren got together and someone suggested that they take out Ephesians.
And a well taught brother who was there after the meeting commented. He said, well, I wondered about that suggestion, whether we were up to taking Ephesians in the meetings. He said, I thought maybe it would have been better if we had taken up Romans. But he said actually it didn't matter because no matter where we go in the epistles, we always end up back in Romans anyway.
And here we have brought before us very basic truth, and may I suggest that sometimes that is the answer to the problem.
I don't want to tell stories out of school, but this happened so long ago and everyone involved pretty much is with the Lord. But I remember well there was an assembly that I knew about and this is well over 40 years ago.
And we didn't know what to do with it caused a lot of problems and a split right down the middle of that assembly and it went on and on.
And finally, they very wisely asked a couple of neighboring assemblies to come in and help them.
And I got this from one of the brothers from one of the neighboring assemblies who told it to me years and years later because I knew nothing about it.
He said when we went in and looked at the situation.
He said. We told them we cannot solve your problem for you, but we will tell you what the real problem is.
We told those dear brethren, you have had strife and envying and personal grudges and bad feeling in this assembly for 20 years.
And there is a reason why the Spirit of God cannot make you of one mind. And when you deal with those issues, you will find that the problem will not be a problem. And he told me that it took time, but that's what happened. And so may I suggest here that what we get in these next two verses perhaps is ultimately the answer to some of those difficulties because it is possible.
To have the problem, I agree with prayer and the word of God most 100%.
But we read in Psalm 66, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
Again quoting another dear brother who talked about the word of God and the principles of it. And he said principles.
Applied without the guidance of the Spirit of God in the Lord's presence.
Are like a sword in the hands of a drunken man or a little child, you better take it away from him until he is able to use it correctly. And so we know how that the word of God can be misapplied. We know how we can go to the Lord in prayer and find that we cannot get the guidance that we want. But may I suggest sometimes there's a deeper problem and we need to remember what we get in verses 11 and 12 here. That flesh is to be cut off.
Maybe there's something in my personal life. Maybe there's something.
That the Lord is seeking to draw to my attention. Maybe I don't realize that I am buried with Him by baptism and as it says here, risen with him through the faith of the operation of God. These are basic things we say. We know that, we've heard that, we understand that. But it needs to be a daily, constant exercise in our hearts, doesn't it?
Corinthians.
The Corinthians Chapter 11 he said, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy.
I have as follows, you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted.
From the simplicity that is in Christ.
The beauty, what are the beauties of being here? Thus far for myself has been to drive around this area and see the simple wheat fields. And we know that wheat from wheat we get bread which seats people and it seems so simple and so peers. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our head, He is the bread of life.
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The Lord Jesus and whom were complete is the bread of life. They need us feed our souls.
These are all sufficiencies.
You agree with that application, brother, correct in looking at these verses in that light.
Head that is Christ, the head of the body. But this verse is not talking about the head of the body. It's talking about Him in his headship over all principalities and power and being The head of the body is in chapter one verse 18 and also in chapter 2 verse 19.
Christ has a number of head chips, doesn't he? And I think the point here is that he's saying that there are these dangers of of philosophy and so on, the enemy using to take us away from what we have in Christ. And he reminds us that.
We have everything we need in Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him, and we're complete in Him. Therefore, we have everything that we need for understanding divine things and for going on in this world. We don't need to look outside of what we have in Christ. And then, as you've mentioned, verses 11 and 12 link us with Romans.
Which is the end of the first order of men, The old man under judgment because.
Figures are used now in verse 11 and 12 for the death and the burial and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and how that we're identified with Him.
In His circumcision, when it says circumcision, verse 11 is talking about his death here. And so Christ's death is brought in to show us the end of man in the flesh entirely. And he's showing us that there's no need to look to these philosophies and so on, because they really emanate from the flesh. And the end of that is all in the death of Christ. What we have is something so much better than what the mystery unfolds.
Is that what you were thinking?
For the last 15 or 20 minutes is perhaps an application of these scriptures, which I think is very, very good because we have, sad to say, experience the effect of not dealing with things in the right way. But here it is really bringing the force, the end of the first man. We're dead and risen with Christ. And now.
If man has his thoughts, his philosophies, and they can creep in among believers, that's why this is here. It is not simply false religions and the outside world that is guilty of these things. He did not warn the Colossians of these things.
Shall we say because there was no need to. There was a need. There is a need among us to recognize that. And the ultimate problem in all of this is man's mind getting ahead.
Of divine revelation, getting ahead of our completeness in Christ, getting apart from what we have in Him.
With angelic beings and that higher order in creation. And that's why he brings up here how that Christ is the head of all that and we are in Him. So we are above that order of things and there's no need for us to need to look into those kinds of things because what we have in Christ is superior.
And when he speaks of the body of the sins of the flesh, I understand those 3 words of the sins.
Are not to be in the text. He's really Speaking of the body of the flesh. And when he uses that word body here, he's not really Speaking of the human body. He's using the word body in the sense of the totality of something as we might speak of the the body of scientific knowledge or the body of medical knowledge. And he's speaking here of the flesh in his totality the whole thing.
Has been cut off in the death of Christ. It's been judged the good.
And the bad altogether, you know, there's some things about the flesh that look pleasing outwardly, but it's still the flesh. It's, you know, there's in the Old Testament, there's an enemy of the children of Israel typifies the flesh. And you know which one I'm going to say it's the Amalekite. But you know, there was a test put for Saul to cut off not just the Amalekites, but the king of the Malachites, Agag himself. And that's what he failed in doing. And.
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It might speak to us of the best of the flesh, but still it's the flesh. And So what we see here in the totality of everything that the flesh is, is cut off in the death of Christ. And so we need to see the end of the first order of man in Christ's death.
There's four phases here, isn't there? Circumcision verse 11, buried verse 12, Risen verse 12, and quickened together with him verse 13.
Because Saul didn't extirpate the Amalekites, it was an Amalekite that did away with him then at the end. That's right.
We should make one. I'm sorry, we should make one comment here just so that we aren't misunderstood, and that is that none of these verses should be construed as being against the use of the human mind in the proper channels that God has given us. We're not arguing against things like computer science or medical knowledge or technology or.
Anything that God has given our minds the ability to do these verses in no way would predicate against education if we feel before the Lord led to go down that road. It's rather the moral and spiritual realm that is in view here, isn't it? And so in the moral and spiritual realm.
Divine revelation is the final authority when it comes to things that man has been able to discover in this world and things that modern technology has been able to do.
That is not really what we are talking about here. And so it's not right to use these scriptures to argue against an education. I think we need to be on guard against it because we know that in many cases education brings us closer to these things. And I think I can say I know where I'm coming from because I had the privilege of going to university and sometimes I encountered things there which were not according to the Word of God.
And I believe we should be very careful to have the mind of the Lord and seek His guidance before we undertake something like that.
But at the same time, we need to realize that these verses are not speaking about that, but rather against the mind of man seeking to exalt itself against God in the moral and spiritual realm. And then of course, as we see in this chapter, outside of Christ, man's mind becomes, as we've often heard, the placing of the devil. And there's no, no end to the extravagances that it will go to. And that's why you will see perhaps extremely educated men in this world who are, as it says in Romans chapter one, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools.
Sorry, Bob, go ahead.
I was just going to say that I think it is good too, to see that in these verses 1112 and 13. It's not exactly. It's not exhortation.
As to how we should act, it's talking about our position in Christ.
We are dead, verse 13 says you being dead.
Verse 12. We are buried with him. These are facts, brethren. It's not something that we are exhorted about, but we are instructed that this is the truth of God. We are looked at as dead.
Buried.
I would like to ask.
Some discussion perhaps on the difference between circumcision and baptism. Circumcision is something that was practiced in the Old Testament. Baptism is what is practiced in the new. Maybe somebody could speak about those two things.
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Together.
I have enjoyed the next year with them.
We know that every site in the Old Testament falls short of what we get in the reality in the new.
But it seems that if we take our instruction and guidance from the New Testament.
We can then go back to the old and see the perhaps.
Illustration of it there. And I have enjoyed the thought here that we are buried with Him by baptism, as it says in verse 11 or verse 12, wherein ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. That is, baptism, as we well know, speaks of our death and resurrection with Christ. And in First Corinthians 10 we find that it is connected with the children of Israel's going through the Red Sea.
What was their position then? Formerly they were under Pharaoh's domination.
Now in going through the Red Sea, they see all their enemies dead. But now what? Do they have a new leader? They're in a new position. They don't have to be responsible to Pharaoh anymore, and in that sense they are free. Well, that's the wonderful position that the believer is brought into. And I would suggest that circumcision is linked with it here, although not a complete parallel, because that brings before us, figuratively, the cutting off of the flesh.
The putting away of that which is contrary to God and which cannot be in any way reformed. That's the difficulty. Man tries to take that sinful flesh and say, well, it's not so bad and I can use it. It's good in some ways. And so he seeks to use that mind that he has apart from God. But where is the natural mind? It's at enmity with God. And it's not that we cut the mind off, but the flesh that governs that mind.
It can never be reformed. It's not to be controlled, it's not to be somehow used in a right channel so that it's useful. There's only one thing that's good for it and that is it has to be cut off and it's painful. It is a painful thing and we shouldn't be surprised if it is painful, but nevertheless it's something that must be done and I suggest in a simple way that that is the connection I've enjoyed that is brought here.
254.
Jesus died. We died with him buried in his grave. Relay one with him in resurrection now in him in heaven's bright day 254.
Entirely behind us.
Grace and glory are before.
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And bright day.
Colossians 2:14-23
Reading
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You are here being dead in your sins.
Of your flesh happy quicken, together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, lauding out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them, openly triumphing over them in it.
Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of and holy day.
For of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ.
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increase it with the increase of God.
Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men?
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Which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will, worship and humility and neglecting of the body.
Not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
I think we should keep before us the thought that the apostle is taking up various devices that the enemy would use to frustrate the Saints, reaching that twofold.
Goal that he has set forth in verse 2.
In verse two we've had.
That the Saints might be knit together in love firstly, and then also strengthened with full assurance of the understanding of the mystery. And now we have the latter part of the chapter, the devices of the enemy to to frustrate that.
Before we go on with the rest of the chapter, we were sort of cut off a little bit in a question that was raised about circumcision and baptism. And I'm not suggesting that we get into a lengthy discussion about it and spend an hour on it, but if anyone else had a comment to make on it before we go on, we'd like to hear it.
Go ahead, brother Ernie, you said something good to me between meetings and I think we all like to hear it.
Well, I I'm reminded of an illustration by George Cutting on circumcision that he took the illustration of a naval orange tree, that it is called a naval orange tree because of what it was manifested to be. But a naval orange tree is started with a Valencia orange rootstock, and that Valencia orange rootstock is has a naval orange grafted into it.
But as an Archer disk goes through the orchard, sometimes he feeds coming out from the bottom of the rootstock of a branch growing, and he takes his knife and he cuts it off because it comes from the old rootstock. And circumcision is the manifestation of the flesh in baptism. It's our end, our death. But there are in circumcision we see.
Manifestations of the flesh, and they are to be cut off as they appear, and that was the reproach of Egypt.
With the children of Israel were those manifestations and they were to be cut off. I think that an apropos illustration of circumcision, it's a thing that we do when those things are manifested to be cut off.
I'd like to have someone continue on just a little bit with that to to solidify that or to correct that thought.
Yo, Gaul was playing where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away, wasn't it?
We were talking last night as I was visiting a home, the brother suggested.
Might be better if I get closer to Mike.
Last night I was visiting in a home and a brother suggested how the story of David and Goliath was a beautiful picture of what we're looking at here.
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Nick David, you know.
Was a young man. It seems he was one circumcised in heart.
He was one who.
Desired to know the heart of God.
And here was this big giant that had been threatening the whole nation of Israel. Just this one man, this one giant of a man.
And he was called an uncircumcised Philistine there.
And David met him as such in the name of the Lord of hosts.
And that name, as he understood it, I believe, was one who.
Commanded everything necessary to defeat that enemy, whatever circumstance might be. The Lord of Hosts was able to make, as it were, that just that simple stone out of a sling hit its mark.
We've heard about the Lord.
Has had over all principality and power.
He's good, we say, in a sense, the Army general.
Of God's host.
Defeat Satan and his host.
David understood that like no other Israelite did, apparently.
And.
I speak my way of.
What these truths can accomplish for God and His people.
We can think on our own as we read scriptures about these things.
As led by the Spirit of God, it's pretty evident when we see.
Things connected in a simple way.
But what a blessing it was at that moment when the giant fell, and soon after his head was cut off.
The Lord Jesus.
It tells us in Ephesians.
Is God's purpose.
Mystery of his will is that.
All things be headed up in Christ.
And that's to the defeat of Satan.
Well, David was just one man.
In that intimidated populace of Israel in God's inheritance, and this Philistine was going to occupy that inheritance for Satan.
Just to sum up, what I have in mind is a verse that I was exposed to a while back.
Might turn to it and Daniel.
Chapter 11.
I think it's let's see verse.
32.
The last half of the verse.
But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploit.
This is the benefit of the value.
Of realizing the work on the cross for us, the circumcision of Christ.
We're both by Him and his grace.
And one part of the mixed mystery is that we are joined to Him right now by his spirit.
We have every resource to overcome.
By whatever means, Satan would keep us pushed down under his thumb.
Thinking that we're mere humans.
We have always sinned. We can't do any better.
We can overcome.
Sin shall no longer have.
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Dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
And they have to rely on my brethren to kind of fill in the gaps of what I've said. But I thought it was very beautiful, that story of David and Goliath in reference to these things.
Baptism in Scripture always brings us from one position into another. It brings us in on new ground. And so we find with the children of Israel, they went into the Red Sea, and 40 years later they came up on the resurrection side of the Jordan. And so it's a picture to us not only of the end of our sins, but the end of ourselves. It's the end of the first man, if I can put it very simply, in this Red Sea, the going into the Red Sea, we see the end of our sins.
But in the going into the Jordan, we see, as I say, the end of ourselves. And both are very important to see. The hymn writer put it something like this. Jesus died and we died with him buried in his grave. We lay one with him in resurrection now in him in heaven's bright day. And so that's why John the Baptist said the axe is laid at the root of the tree, because not only did the question of sins have to be taken up.
But the question of sin, the nature that produced those sins. And so the axe is laid at the root of the tree. It's the root of man. Ernie was talking about the root, and it's the root of man that was bad. And so we find that the Lord Jesus, he not only died for my sins, but I need to recognize that I died with him. But then there is the flesh, brethren. And when the children of Israel came up on the resurrection side of the Jordan.
They needed to. There needed to be circumcision. There needed to be the cutting off of the flesh. It didn't bring them into that position. It was because they were in that position. There was.
There was something morally that had to take place so that they could now enjoy the position that they were brought into. And to make it very practical, Brethren, the old man is dead. It's crucified with Christ, it's dead.
But we still have the flesh. And as it says in Romans, sin dwelleth in me. There is the flesh. And if we don't keep in the presence of God, there isn't going to be that self judgment that's needed so that we can enjoy what is ours in Christ, so that we can enjoy all that the land of Canaan speaks to us out. And so often the problem is we enjoy something of our heavenly blessings. There's something, something of a victory in our lives.
And what happens, we don't get into the presence of God, we don't judge the flesh. And then there's defeat the next time. Then there's isn't the enjoyment of the things that he would have for us. And so I think it's important to see this. The old man is dead, it's crucified with Christ, but we still have the flesh. And the only way we can judge the flesh, brethren, is to get into the presence of God, that no flesh should glory in His presence. Why is it so often the flesh raises its ugly head in our personal lives and sometimes even in the assembly.
I suggest that it's because we aren't in the presence of God. If we're really in the presence of God consciously, then there's no place for the flesh to have part or to glory.
It's important to see that these are things that are done here in Colossians 2. It's not exhortation, it is our position in Christ circumcised, very risen with Him. And now it's only as we understand our position that we can live practically in the good of what that that means. And circumcision is cutting. It means circa means all the way around. It's cutting completely off.
Philippians, it talks about the concision. Concision is cutting out and that's what we have the end of the chapter, putting down rules to control the flesh. But if I put down rules to control the flesh, that gives a place for the flesh. God is done with that, completely done with that. That no longer figures in God's thought. It's a it's gone as far as God's concerned. Go back to Romans chapter 8.
00:20:01
And verse three, I think it's helpful to see it there, he says.
For what the Law could not do, that is the law of Moses.
In that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son.
In the likeness of sinful flesh, we heard in the last meeting that there was number sin in him.
But it was in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin to settle the sin questions. But notice the last part.
Condemned sin in the flesh Sin in the flesh is condemned.
God in effect at the cross said I can no longer, I'm not going to test man in the flesh any longer. It's gone, it's condemned. Now we are to understand that, brethren, and if we understand that, then the cropping's up can be cut off and we can practically put that into effect. Going back to the 6th chapter of Romans where you see both the position of the believer address.
And then putting it into practical effect.
In verse, Let's read from verse one. What shall we say then? Shall we continue and sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer? Therein doesn't say we ought to be dead to sin. We are dead to sin.
Know ye not that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death, therefore we are buried with him by baptism and into death. That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, Even so we also should walk in newness of life. So we are dead, we are buried. That was done at the cross, brother.
You were mentioning, Jim, that the Red Sea is the death of Christ for us.
That Jordan is our death with Christ. And at the Jordan River two things happened. Joshua, a figure of the Lord Jesus, took 12 Stones and put them in the middle of Jordan. We're buried, not for us to bury. It's for us to understand what was done at the cross. Out of sight, out of mind. Then the 12 men from the 12 tribes of Israel took a stone from Jordan.
And put it over on the other side. Those stones were visible. That's our resurrection in Christ. And that's what we are to display. But this is positioned. This is what is true of us. Whether you understand it or not, it is true of you. It's what's been done for us. It's our position. Now that we understand that, we can put it into practical effect. Look down in this same 6th chapter of Romans.
To verse 11.
Likewise.
Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Reckon is to think. He says you're dead now think that way. Put it into practical effect. When the flesh wants to crop up. Remember I'm dead. That's the position I occupy before Christ. What does a dead man have to say with getting drunk?
Never seen a dead man drinking himself drunk. You don't see that happening. He's dead and that's what the way we're to think now as well. They've got important to see that what we have in collection. Stuart is the positional the position that we occupy in Christ right now through the circumcision of Christ buried with him in that distance.
Raised with him through the fate of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead. With our position in Christ is which Christ has done. That's the case. Then we get in the third chapter and we get the practical exhortation. If, therefore, you've been risen with Christ, or since you've been risen with Christ, seek those things that are above. Now the practical side of it begins.
00:25:05
Then going on to verse 14, we find that God has also.
Made us dead to the law through the death of Christ, hasn't he? Those ordinances that were contrary to us, they held men in ******* didn't they? Because they did just what you've been saying, Bob. They ministered to the flesh. But it's wonderful to see how that they've been taken right out of the way, nailed to his cross, because they were contrary to us. Well, as we had earlier on, the latter part of this chapter brings before us one of the most.
Shall we say common seeds that are inherent in the heart of man?
And that is to try and control the old sinful self by rules and regulations. And how easy it is to do that, how, how readily it comes into our thoughts and into our hearts. And we know that if the old man is in action, the law needs to deal with them. But as Bob was saying, we're dead to all of that. And what used to put a man under law who has, on the one hand, an old sinful self that can never keep it?
And on the other hand, new life in Christ, that can't break it. And So what a wonderful thing it is to be free from all of that. And as we've said a few moments ago, this is a position into which we have been brought. How blessed that is. I remember discussing these things with a man in another country, and we went over the Scriptures this way and that way, and I believe he understood. But he finally made a remark. He said something like this. Well, brother, that doctrine might work in North America, but it won't work over here.
As if somehow the character of people were different in the country where he was than they are over here. Well, I said, brother, I don't read in the Word of God that He wrote one thing for your country and another thing for us. I believe if we simply act on the Word of God, we will find the wonderful liberty into which we have been brought. And that is really the thrust of this latter part of the chapter, isn't it?
So we never have subtle peace in our souls until we realize.
What we are positionally in Christ unless we receive what God has done with the old man.
Unless we realize the light in which God views us now, there's going to be a struggle and never settled peace in our souls. It's like the man in the 6th and 7th of Romans. He never began to get peace. He struggled. The things he wanted to do, he couldn't. The things he didn't want to do, those were the very things he did. But what was it that began to settle things in his soul? It was when he said, it is no more I, but sin that dwelleth in me.
In other words, he began to realize that God didn't see him in the light of the old man. God saw him in a completely new standing. Yes, there was sin, yes, there was the flesh, but it's just as if when we sin, we can save. Well, God doesn't see me in the light of the old man, He sees me in Christ. His complete deliverance really came when He said, who shall deliver me? Recognizing that it wasn't something, but it was a person.
And so that's why I say we never really get peace until we understand this. We've been talking about the law too, in the next verse. And it's not that the law has changed, but we want and and not that a man goes out and breaks the law in Christianity, that a Christian is going to go out and break the law. But no, he has a new life, as has been said, a life that can only please God. It's the very life of of Christ. It's not that the law has changed.
But something else has been brought in. You might have a way here.
And the laws of gravity pull it down. Well, you can't change the law of gravity.
But if you come along and you introduce a new law by tying the helium balloon to it, it's not that you've changed the law of gravity, but you've brought in a new law. And so this is what he's saying to us. If we could enjoy what our position, if we would understand our position in Christ and what really took place at the cross, then it would give us settled peace, and then the practical would follow in our lives.
But there's many people who spend their whole life, many Christians, true Christians, and they spend their whole life struggling with these things and not fully understanding the full import of what took place when the Lord Jesus died at Calvary.
00:30:15
Maybe it'd be good to see in Romans Chapter 7 our position.
In connection with the law, because, as you say, Jim, the law has not changed.
It is valid today as it ever was. What has changed is our position.
To the law. And so in Romans 7 it says in verse 4, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And verse six. But now we are delivered from the law, being dead.
Wherein we were, that being dead, wherein we were held. So it's not.
The law that has changed. The law is still valid, but it is we that have changed in our position. Sometimes I give the illustration, supposing there's a criminal in the prison out here at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary condemned to die 8:00 tomorrow morning. They go in to bring him out to take him for execution.
And they find that during the night he died, now they're going to take him out and.
I don't even know if they practice capital punishment here Wallowa in Washington anymore, but supposing they do, are they going to still give them an injection, a lethal injection? No, the law does not apply to dead people. The law applies to living people. If we.
That have changed in our relationship, and I think that is important to see because there are many true believers who sincerely think that the law is a rule of life. It is not the rule of life for the believers. Christ is our life now. That is the norm. That is second for it, not the law. We are delivered from the law. We are free from the law.
Be my wife raised up the name of the death upon his inheritance, that the name of his death be not set off from among his brethren, and.
We are witnesses this day and so prior to this we never referred to as.
Of the Lord Jesus pray. Well, that's what explain.
And the hopelessness of being in a mall by come into such blessing.
Its roots, the life of Boaz. And so nobody could come along and say, well, you know, it's the Moabites not to come into the congregation, not even to attempt generation even forever.
But nobody could change that position, and our position cannot be changed in Christ either.
What an inheritance, what a blessing to be associated with him as his bride.
16 of our chapter.
Let no man care for.
Judge you in need or drink during respect of a holy day.
She can't be called a Moabitess any longer. Let no man judge you. You see, it's it's a culmination of what the apostles been developing.
In the earlier verses and verse 11.
Ye the Gentiles.
Circumcised with the circumcised made without hands.
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Verse 12 Buried with him and ******* wherein ye, ye Gentiles, are risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead, and you Gentiles being dead in your sins.
And the uncircumcision of your flick have he quickened together with him having forgiven, Then it should read up.
You have done all trespasses because the Jew, the Gentile, was not under law.
But it says as far as the dew blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, that was against us, the Jews, which was contrary to us, and took us out of the way, kneeling it to the cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them, openly triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge, we're not under law. Far away they're brought into this blessed relationship of being risen.
Being alive, being quickened with him, how blessed no longer to be called roots of Allah Biden, but root the bride, the white of boats.
There is an emphasis here to I would suggest that it's peculiar to this chapter.
And that is the emphasis is on the victory of Christ over Satan and all that he used against us.
That is, it tells us very clearly that we are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. It tells us we are buried with Him in baptism. It tells us we are risen with Christ. But then it particularly says blocking out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, spoiling principalities and powers. What did Satan do? He used those very things that God gave to expose man's.
Utter inability to satisfy his holy claims. He used those holding it over man's head to say see what you have done, see where you are at. And again let's remind ourselves this is addressed to believers because Satan continues to hold these things over us, but he is a defeated foe. I remember hearing the reading the story about how a man in Eastern Europe by the name of Tesla invented alternating current.
He was in the United States when he did it, and most people Pooh poohed the whole thing, said it'll never work. It's of no practical significance. But a man by the name of George Westinghouse believed in him and supported him and pushed ahead with development of it and when things began to catch on.
Everything was going well, but then Westinghouse and his company were not doing very well because they had to pay very high royalties to Tesla for his invention. And finally Westinghouse called Tesla into his office one day and he said I have to just lay before your situation that exists. He said our company is going to go under because of the royalties that we're paying you. And we don't dispute the royalties. You are entitled to them.
But I'm just telling you the situation. And Tesla stood there for a moment and he said, well, what about that agreement?
And there was Tesla's signatures on it, and there was George Westinghouse of signature on it. And Westinghouse said, yes, that agreement is true. I put my name to it. I own my obligation.
But I'm telling you that we are going to go under if we have to pay it. And Tesla looked at him. He said, listen, he said you supported me when everyone else laughed at me. You believed in my invention when nobody else did. And he said, I'm not going to hold you to that agreement. That's the thought here, isn't it? Man put himself under law and said all that the Lord has spoken we will do. And yet when he comes into the presence of God, he has to realize I can't carry it out.
And so the Lord says yes, and I have provided a way through the death of Christ that you don't have to be bound by that agreement. And He spoiled principalities and powers. And I just suggest to my own soul and to each one. That is an intensely practical thing, because the devil, through various ones that he uses, would seek to bring us again into *******. And sometimes when the flesh shows itself, I think well.
00:40:00
Mightn't be a bad idea to have something to control it.
God says I have something far better for you than that. It's not a question of being held by that agreement. It's a question that you have died to all that is being held against you, and now I am giving you a new life by which you can please the Lord. And more than that, I've given you the Holy Spirit as the energy of that new life so that you have the power to carry it out. Well, it's a wonderful thing to be brought into that position, isn't it?
And people may say, well, if you're not going to allow the law to be applied, why you can do anything you like.
Doing anything he likes.
So if we're dead to the law, we are dead to sin as well.
A dead man doesn't do anything he likes.
Now we have a new life and it's been brought out. We have a life now in Christ that cannot sin.
Is there any need to put a rule to the Newman in Christ that cannot sin? No need at all, brother. It's interesting going back to Romans 8 again, what it does say there, because these things are to be practical in our lives.
Romans 8 and verse we read verse 3 verse 4 follows right on saying that the righteousness.
Of the law.
Might be fulfilled in US who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Does not say that the law is fulfilled in US.
But the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us as we walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Somebody has given this illustration, the law says.
Thou shalt not steal.
What are we having? Grace. We're not under law.
Under grace, it says, let him that stole steal no more.
But rather let him labor working with his hands and.
That suffered.
So, Andrew Grace, it goes far beyond what the law is required.
From the law, but the righteousness of the law is fulfilled. I don't steal, but it goes far beyond that, and that's the power of grace.
To understand it and to enjoy that position we brought into that new life in Christ.
Resurrection Light.
Well, too, isn't there, Bob, in the Old Testament, a man kept the law because it says who through fear of death, were their whole lifetime subject to *******. And they understood very clearly that if they did things contrary to the law, there were very, very stiff penalties. If a man went out and gathered sticks on the Sabbath day, he was to be put to death at the giving of the law itself.
Moses, viewing the scene, said. And so terrible was the sight thereof, that I exceedingly fear and quake.
And so it was really fear, mainly. I'm not saying there weren't those in the Old Testament whose hearts didn't respond to Jehovah, There certainly were. But in Christianity there's not only a new life, there's not only the power for that life, the Spirit of God, but there's a new motive. And that motive is love. And so the Lord Jesus said if a man loved me, he will keep my commandments, because where the heart is, then the feet will fall.
It's not that if we keep the law, because it's a set of I was growing up in Smith's Falls, but I've enjoyed it and it's helped me to understand the difference between the motivation in the Old Testament under the law and what we have in Christianity. And this is the illustration that we used to be given as young people. Brother Albert Hayhoe used to say, let's think of a man who hires a housekeeper to do his housework.
And he when he hires that housekeeper, there's a salary established for her services. And not only so, but a list of regulations perhaps go up on the kitchen wall or the refrigerator door. And perhaps on Monday she's to do the laundry, on Tuesday she's to do the cleaning, Wednesday maybe it's the baking, whatever it is. And so every day these regulations are spelled out. And for that salary that's established, she is required.
00:45:14
Carry out those things. Now, that is perhaps a little picture to us of what we have with the children of Israel under the law in the Old Testament. But now we'll suppose for the sake of illustration, the time goes on and the man falls in love with his housekeeper and he eventually marries her. Now, when you enter that home, you would be very surprised if you saw that list of regulations up on the refrigerator door.
You would be very surprised if you found out that there was still a salary established for her services. But you'd also be very surprised if she didn't do those things. No, she's still going to do the laundry and the cleaning and the baking. In fact, she'll probably do them better now. She'll probably go beyond the Call of Duty and she'll do them better. Why? Because there's a new motivation. The motivation when she was first came in, when she first came into that home.
As the housekeeper was the salary and perhaps the fear that if she didn't carry those things out to the satisfaction of her employers, she'd be released from her duties, she'd be fired. But now that fear is gone. Now there's love. She loves this man that has married her. He loves her. And now out of a response of love, those things are carried out. As Bob said, in Christianity, it goes beyond the law. So she carries those things out beyond what was established.
When she was the housekeeper. Well, perhaps, brethren, that's a feeble illustration, but I think it helps us to understand.
Not that a man, a Christian, goes out and breaks the law. No, he lives for Christ's glory and he'll do it because there's a motive. If a man love me, he will keep my commandments. And the Lord said on earth, the Scriptures say on another occasion, my commandments are not grievous. In fact, when there's the motive of love, a request has the power of a command.
All of these things were intended by God as a shadow, and they did have a typical meaning so that with the light of the New Testament, we can go back to the old and we can see how that God was in tight, unfolding precious truth, which now find their fulfillment in Christ. But I think you made the remarks some years ago, Brother Bob. We don't pay as much attention to the shadows when we have the substance.
And that's what it is here, the body, the thought here of the body is the substance, isn't it? It's not the truth of the one body or something like that, but rather the actual substance in relationship to the shadow and all of those things we can look back to. And as I say, we can see that there is that which God would teach us. And we know how much the Old Testament opens up to us when we see the principles and truths of the New Testament illustrated in the Old.
But the body is of Christ, and so it is important in everything to.
See the precious truth revealed in the New Testament and then to see it illustrated in the Old, but not the other way round, that's always going to lead to error if we seek to bring out New Testament truth from the Old Testament without first going to the New Testament to see the substance and the body as it is of Christ. And so there's always the tendency, sad to say, for man to try and go back to those things. And that's what we get in the rest of the chapter here, isn't it? We get a warning.
Because ultimately.
It consists in not holding the head, but rather turning to that which will glorify.
Something in you and me that wants a place, something in you and me that yes, it may be what Scripture calls here a voluntary humility. But what is it really? Is it really humility? No, it isn't. It's being puffed up by our fleshly mind and how many times we will see those. And maybe it's in our own hearts where there seems to be such a nice.
Humility on the surface, and there seems to be, perhaps.
00:50:03
That which would commend itself, but in reality it is simply the flesh taking a place in the things of Christ. Well, how easily we fall into that snare and how easily we can find ourselves not holding the head, but relying on that which man would do. And I think you brought it out, Bruce, yesterday, that.
There are the teachings of men and there is the looking up to men itself, men themselves.
And both are snares into which the believer can fall if we're not holding the head.
Just to go on with another little comment, in this verse it says.
Intruding into those things which he hath not seen.
That is one thing that is typical of man's mind seeking to go beyond the revelation of God. We find in Peter that it says in Christ through the word of God we have all things that pertain unto life and godliness. But there's a warning in John's second epistle about him that goes forward. The King James says transgress.
But it should be progressive that goes forward. That is a seeking to.
Delve into things that the Spirit of God has not seen fit to reveal to us. And that is a great danger, isn't it? And the mind of man loves to do that. The mind of man loves to go beyond divine revelation in seeking to explain things and seeking to understand things and letting the mind work in the things of God. Well, again, we say the mind of man can have its fullest exercise and use within the framework of the Word of God and under the guidance of the Spirit of God.
But when man's mind starts to exercise itself beyond what we have in divine revelation, that's where the trouble starts. And then pretty soon we have the teachings of men taking their place alongside the Word of God. And if we can be specific, we see that in.
Religious systems like Mormonism and 7th Day Adventism, we see it, sad to say, in Roman Catholicism, where men have elevated their own thoughts, their own teachings to this precious book and it always takes us in the wrong direction. Well, we say, oh, we would never do that. We would never get involved in any of those errors. But I say it, I trust with feeling. Let us be careful.
That and we've had it already brought before us, that we are not found substituting the teachings and maybe the traditions of men for holding the head and going by the word of God. Let us be careful, as we have already been warned against looking to those who perhaps have more gift and more knowledge and more intelligence than we, and putting them between US and the Lord. They can be a great mercy to us, a great help.
And we value the gifts that God has given. We value those who have minds that are superior to ours. We value those whose knowledge of the Word of God is greater than ours. But ultimately, they are only valuable to us to the extent that they can point us to the Head himself. And that is the value of one another, isn't it? If my brethren don't do that for me, then they're not really doing me a service, are they? And all down through the history of the church, it has been the bane of the church.
Where men have attracted to themselves with a certain system of teaching, a certain view of things, a certain line of things that is peculiar to them, that appeals to a certain set of people. But how wonderful to hold the head will prevent all that, won't it?
Is a dangerous signal when we see.
Those who are gifted like you say.
Bill and attracting.
A following to themselves. May the Lord deliver us from that, we must say. Your brother Lundeen is mentioned in this conference. He was a man that the Lord used to encourage many of us.
But I often appreciated the fact. Maybe I didn't appreciate it at the time when you asked him a question.
00:55:00
Sometimes, after he answered the question, you had as much of a question as you ever did.
He answered it in a way that you could not.
Pin something on him and I think he did it purposely so that he wouldn't get a following.
Brethren, that's a right spirit. We should not want that. We should desire that God's people be built up and come into maturity so that they follow Christ. We need, like you say, Bill, to realize that a true gift, say that a gift of a teacher, the value of a teacher is that he can help us to understand Scripture.
And then scripture is what guides us in our lives, not that teacher.
That's maturity. Rather, it's looking up to Christ. It's holding him as head. And God gives gifts. Thank God for them, not despising them in any way. But don't just listen to what's being said here, young people, in the meeting, you got your Bible open in front of you. Look at the scriptures. You're not going to understand it all at once, but compare what is being said to what's written there.
In black and white.
You won't go wrong if you get it from scripture itself.
I don't know if you have any light Brother Dave on. You mentioned about the Gnostic movement in verse 18. It speaks of worshipping of angels. Was that something connected with that movement in the early church? It would be interesting to know.
Angels Intermediate.
I think that's one of the reasons why twice in Book of Revelation, I believe it is chapter 19 to 22.
John falls down the feet of the angels, and he's rebuked for that.
Worship God only.
And I think that's part of the reason why too. The apostle says in Timothy, there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The heart of man. The religious heart of man would always seek to interpose all kinds of intermediate beings, whether it's angels or the Saints or the Virgin Mary or whoever it might be. But in Christianity we have been brought into contact.
With God himself.
No barriers between us through that one mediator.
The Lord Jesus Christ, and that's part of him saying I am the way.
You want to be very careful. I think I'm glad this is raised because I believe today this is a difficulty. And sometimes, and brethren, I don't want to be critical, but sometimes you go to a Christian bookstore and you see a lot of books written on angels. Now the subject of angels taken up in the light of God's Word is a very edifying subject. And angels have their proper place. They've always been the messengers and ministers of God.
And even in Christianity, are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation?
But brethren, in taking up a subject like angels, we don't want to become so occupied with them that we lose sight of the fact that they are only doing the bidding of the Lord Himself. They are only His ministers. And so, as Brother Dave has said, we in Revelation, John was not to fall down at the feet of an Angel and worship him. In this connection, I'd like to go back to the 34th Psalm, where I think you have some instruction.
It's very helpful in this regard.
I just say I don't believe we ever have a precedent in Scripture that would teach us to pray to angels, not only not to worship angels, but even to pray to angels. And I think it's brought out here very clearly in this 34th Psalm. It just noticed a few verses here.
Verse five. They looked unto him, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried unto the Lord.
Cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. I want you to notice this before we go on to the next verse. You notice the psalmist here. He doesn't pray to angels. He doesn't ask an Angel for deliverance. He asks the Lord. This poor man cried unto the Lord. But now notice the next verse, verse 7, the Angel of the Lord in campus round about them that fear him and Delivereth Delivereth them.
01:00:22
And many of us have had experiences where we felt the direct intervention of angels as ministering spirits sent forth from the Lord. And some of us have had experiences in other countries where there's no 911 or 1800 or someone in a uniform that you can trust. And I believe the Lord often comes in and he uses angels in the way that David speaks of it here in the seventh verse, the Angel of the Lord in campus round about them. But notice.
As again, I want to stress this, it wasn't an Angel that he looked to for deliverance. He cried, he prayed to the Lord and we pray to the Lord. We cried to the Lord and he may use an Angel or angels, but and then notice just to.
Drop down well verse 80 taste and see that the Lord is good, not angels, but blessed is the man that trusteth not in angels, but trusteth in him. And then notice the end of the Psalm.
The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants, and none of them that trust in Him shall be, shall be desolate. And so David recognized that it was the Lord here when he addressed someone. It was the Lord he addressed. And so if the Lord comes in and delivers us in a situation, we don't thank an Angel for delivering us. It may, that may have been the instrumentality that the Lord used, but we thank the Lord. Well, I just say this, brethren, because I believe this has seeped into Christian circles today.
Where angels and their function have been made so much of that people lose sight of the fact that it's the Lord, it's Christ himself.
Have the angels speaking and giving out his thought, and no doubt representing all the elect angels of heaven. And when John is down worshipping, what does he say?
He says, see thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren, the prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book worship God. It's nice to have the angels thoughts about it that if we're doing this we're we're offending them. They want God to be worshipped and glorified.
Well, it's nice to see here that when we hold the head, we find that the body works together in the right way.
And as it says here in verse 19.
All the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and nicked together, increase it with the increase of God.
Man can never improve on what God has arranged, can he?
Man thinks that he can put his hand into things. Man thinks that he can make things better. And how often have we heard when we talk about the precious truth of the one body? And I'm not referring simply to gathering on that ground, precious as it is, but rather the fact that God intends that every member of the body in looking to the head and holding the head, will find, as it says here.
That nourishment ministered.
Each one contributing what is necessary. Well, we have to hang our heads, don't we? When we look at the one body of Christ which is not divided in essence, the testimony of it has been sadly divided, but the body itself is not divided. But how wonderful it would be if each one looked to the head. And we can depend on Him, can't we? And I can say this for my own soul, as I say it for others.
When difficulties and problems come and I can well remember my father.
Bringing this very much before me, he said.
We are often tempted to put our hand to things, and some of us have had to learn the hard way that we didn't have the mind of God in doing it. But he said we are tempted to put our hand to things. But first of all, let us look to the head and ask the head, what shall we do about this? What lesson are we to learn from this situation? And is there something that the Lord is seeking to bring before us in all of this? And then secondly.
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What is the head asking us to do about it? Maybe nothing.
Maybe He is saying leave it with me, I will look after it. I am the head. I will deal with matters in my time. Well, I admit that that requires discernment in the Lord's presence, but I believe that is put in here to show us that in looking to the head, man will never be the loser, but rather the gainer by it in every way. And most of most important, the Lord Jesus will get the glory. The head will be glorified, not man. And the essence of the problem here, I believe, is man, man, man seeking to have a place.
Instead of the head getting the glory.
I think that's so beautiful, Bill. It says all the body and to hold that precious truth of the body of Christ. As you say, the body of Christ has never been divided. It cannot be divided. It's one before God today as much as it was on the day of Pentecost. What is divided is the practical testimony in this world.
But if that is the case, then even today we are to act before the Lord for the good.
All the members of the body, the measure that we can, we're not called to get into compromising situations and there are places I would not feel free to go, but I say in the measure that we can, we need to be exercised. God has given gifts and they are to be used in view of the whole body of Christ and brethren, when we look around the world and see those we've heard something of our brethren over in China.
Don't know.
Of our brethren there very much, we don't know very much about them, what's happening over there because of the restrictions there are, but they are members of the body of Christ as much as we are. Isn't there a desire that they too would enjoy these same precious things that we enjoy in whatever measure that we could do something to help them to enjoy these things? There should be an exercise, if nothing else, in prayer be exercised in prayer.
About those dear brethren over there that are suffering severe persecution, but I would like to ask Brother Bill, what are the joints and bands mentioned in this verse 19?
Well, I don't want to be too technical about it, but I've looked at it this way.
We all know what joints are. That's where 2 bones come together.
Where they are able to move.
Sometimes in different directions, sometimes in only two directions. There are different types of joints, and we all have them in our bodies.
But those joints would not work properly without the bands. What are the bands? They're ligaments.
Ligaments composed of connective tissue that enable those joints to move properly within a certain range of motion that that joint is designed for. And we all know what it feels like if we sprain our ankle and stretch or tear one of those ligaments. All the young men here know what it's like, or at least have heard what it's like to be hit in the knee joint in a football game and have your anterior cruciate or something like that.
Stretched or torn? Oh dear, your knee doesn't work very well, does it? And joints that have damaged ligaments don't function very well, and yet we don't think of them very much. They're kind of insignificant things and we don't pay too much attention to them, but they're very necessary. And so I guess the way I have taken it is that when the body is going to function, it needs every member. And here it's particularly function that is in view. There are other parts of the body that don't involve.
Bones and ligaments and joints. And we all know that we have such parts in our body. We have a system to eat and digest food and that doesn't involve bones and ligaments. But here I believe the imagery is such that there are bones that are strong, that are supportive, that move, but there are bands that keep those bones in their proper places and enable them to function in a proper way without becoming dislocated, without getting arthritic and.
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Without going all over the place and it seems to me that God is saying I have set all of these in the body in order that.
It might work properly, I don't know. Does that commend itself, Bob?
Parties to work together isn't it exactly is to pull together, not pull apart. And sometimes I think we need brethren to be challenged in our thinking because the Lord has allowed division.
And it's a sorry theme to talk about, but it's the truth.
And it's happening not merely amongst those gathered to the Lord's name. I hear about it all over the place in Christian circles. But division comes in because of our fleshliness. And he does say there must be.
Divisions amongst you that they which are.
Approved be made manifest. But it's not we that can do the approving, brethren, it's the Lord that does the approving. So we need to be exercised. But what exercises my own soul brethren, is?
That we need to have the truth of God before us. Let's not get the division mentality.
Let's pull together. The body is one. I was talking to a brother the other day and he says, well, I guess I can go on by myself where I am. I says, well, how would it be if I just cut off this left hand and and put it over in the corner that he can work over there by itself? Would that work?
No, no, he says. That wouldn't work. The body is made to function together.
Yes, the testimony is an outward ruins, but we are to go on in view of that truth even today, in the measure that we can because of the outward ruin. In many ways we're Hanford, but we are to go on in view of that truth, not have the division mentality, have the mentality that the body is one. It still is one today, brethren. And so we go on in the measure that we can.
As it says here, holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment.
Ministered and knit together increases with the increase of God. Just like to suggest another practical result of this, brethren. Joints and bands pull the body together, the different members their points. Joints are points of stress.
Because the shoulder is a joint, and when your person is working because of what he's doing, there's often real stress at the shoulder. And that's why there's a lot of muscles there that help to withstand the stress. But brethren, we live in a world where there is a lot of problems around the world, and I think it is interesting to see in the book of the Acts.
When there was.
A forecast by a prophet in Jerusalem that there was going to be famine.
In all the land the brethren in other countries were exercised to send help to that country, to Palestine or to Jerusalem, to help out in the need. And so we in our exercise as members of the body, need to think of our brethren in other parts of the world and to be, in whatever way possible, a practical help. I understand.
And her brethren in China.
Are really lacking bibles.
I wish there was some young brother and that were exercised about taking in Bibles into China. I talked to one person who does that, takes in tour groups and they take in suitcases of Bibles. Sometimes they get caught, but because China doesn't want to offend the United States too much, they just give them a receipt and say you can pick up this suitcase when you're going out.
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They don't even take it away from them, but many times they get in.
Is there nothing for us to do, brother? And I believe if we will just Simply put ourselves at the disposition of the Lord in the simplicity of members of the body of Christ, there is much throughout the world that can be done. I thank the Lord for those that have gone over to Malawi.
They've really made a sacrifice. Life is not easy over there, but there is to me a joint between the United States.
In Malawi.
Life is tremendously different over there than it is over here.
But they are standing in the gap in a certain measure, seeking to be a help in what they can.
Do we want to live for present advantage, dear young people, or are we willing to lay down our lives?
To put aside our own interests in making a name for ourselves or making good for ourselves here so that there can be blessing in other areas around the world. There's real need all over.
Right, Jim.
Yes, there's no shortage of opportunities. There may sometimes be a shortage of diligence and exercise on our part.
And I would just reiterate what you say because I think sometimes the danger is we look round in North America and we say, well, the doors seem to be shutting. Well, that's true. Maybe in North America they are. And I don't mean we all need to pack up and go as missionaries to a foreign country. That's not what we're saying. But the needs and opportunities are many in many parts of the world. And I believe, brethren, that as long as the Church of God is here and as long as the Spirit of God is here.
There is work to be done because the Spirit of God won't leave till we leave, and the Spirit of God is here with us and in US, and that indicates that there are going to be open doors and opportunities until the Lord Jesus comes. And what we need to be exercised about, brethren, is am I availing myself of the needs and opportunities, the open doors? I don't believe we need to get up in the morning and pray for opportunities.
What we need to get up in the morning and pray for is that we would avail ourselves of the opportunities as they present themselves.
And maybe it's never been. You never will feel called or have the physical stamina to go to a foreign country and live like Tim Ruga and Tim Roach and others who have given that kind of a sacrifice. But there are many other ways that you can help. I'll just be very practical for a moment. The tonnage of literature that we're able to pour into the English Caribbean every year, we couldn't do that without sisters and brothers behind the scene.
Who take glue sticks in their hand every day and who run things through a laminator and who are exercised to have a little part. And you know what throws my heart is there's a day coming when we're going to stand together at the judgment seat of Christ. And everybody that helped in the work, someone bought the glue sticks. Someone, a sister invited people over to her home and provided a table to do the work on. Someone else printed verses and made sure that the work was was quality work and so on.
And when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, every glue stick, every staple.
Every piece of paper, every roll of laminate is carefully recorded in God's Book of Remembrance.
And isn't going to be a thrill, Bob, to stand inside our fellow laborers in that day and see that they perhaps get a far, far greater reward than we who had a public place. Because to carry on those little hidden services from year to year, they had to do it for the Lord. Nobody commended them or thanked them or passes them on the back, but they had to do it for the Lord. And the motive was right because the hidden service, you have to have the right motive to carry on from day-to-day and year to year.
Well, I've spoken perhaps more plainly than I ought to, but I just want to impress upon us. You know, we're going to rise up from these meetings in a day or so. We're going to go back to the sphere of life where God has placed us. And brethren, let's be exercised as members of the body of Christ. Let's be exercised that we seek by the grace of God not to do the function of someone else or covet the work of someone else.
But even if it's just bands, even if it's just a hidden service.
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Whatever God gives us to do as members of the body of Christ, whether it's public or hidden, let's seek by grace to do it not with eye service as men, pleasers, but in singleness of heart is under the Lord. And if you do, there will be a building up of the body.
There will be that pulling together that we have spoken of. There will be blessing souls brought in and Saints encourage so that there is a healthy, happy body.
Amen.
Bendix.
Piles of God by Christ.
Their smiles are thine.
Rivers are you the joy of God with them?
Lying to glory.
My white land and rainbow everyone.
David Weeping
Address—D. Mearns
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One thing I make a prevail.
We trust and protection will lean on his mind where God is directions.
The Savior.
Could you turn with me, please to the book of Hebrews?
In the book of Hebrews and.
The second chapter.
Chapter 2 and.
We'll read from verse 6.
For one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou made us him a little lower than the angels. Thou pronounced him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands. Has put all things in subjection under his feet for him, that He put all in subjection under Him. He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
I've enjoyed this portion of the word of God just from this standpoint that the apostle here he opens this this course by saying one in a certain place testified saying, and you know, the apostle well knew that that was David. He well knew that that was David. But the apostles wanted he wanted David to be eclipsed and he wanted the focus to be on the Lord Jesus. And so we have here we see Jesus who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. I just so appreciate the way the apostle brings that out and he hides David.
In the side.
But this afternoon it's my purpose to take up the one in a certain place.
I would like to look at David.
And to further the introduction, let's just go to the Book of Acts for a moment, the 13th chapter.
We find the apostle preaching at Antioch, and he speaks about Saul in 21St verse, that says, after they desired a king, and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kiss, a man of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king. To whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fill fulfill all my will.
And we know that here we find David a picture of that blessed one, our Lord Jesus. But I just was wondering in my own soul some time ago as to the features that would cause David to be looked at as a man after God's own heart.
And what I would like to do this afternoon with the help of the Lord. I have enjoyed these thoughts and yet I just feel so inadequate to put them together.
We just trust that the Lord will be able to speak this afternoon. What I've enjoyed in connection with the life of David, which is such a vast subject. The apostle, even before he takes it up in the 11Th chapter, he says time would fail me to speak of David, and I feel that way this afternoon. But I would like to look at a particular subject and look at David who was.
First of all, he was a shepherd. He was a shepherd boy. And then we find him as a military man coming up out of the valley, Vila with the head of Goliath in his hand.
We find David was a man who was used to bloodshed the hardness of the life of a warrior. We see we see David as as someone who was a father. We see David as someone who was also a husband. And yet we see David as someone who was a very tender man. And there's eight times that we find in the word of God that we find David weeping and sold. For our purposes this afternoon, what I would like to look at is to isolate those eight times that David weeps.
00:05:27
And to see some of the circumstances on either side of David weeping that it would cause him to do such a thing. And to see how David.
Reached out.
To latch on to that resource.
Of his God.
This afternoon I look around this room.
And this meeting has been designated, if you look on your little sheet there, those who are young Christians.
And so this afternoon, a trust to direct my remarks, particularly to those here.
Were in their teens and those here who are young fathers and young mothers.
So let's turn to the first one in the book of First Samuel.
In the book of First Samuel.
Chapter 20.
I've taken up different pieces of David's life at different times, never taken up this subject in this way.
The first one we find here in First Samuel chapter 20 and verse 41.
As soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of his place toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another and wept one with another, until David exceeded. Now turn with me back to the.
The 16th chapter.
I just want to look at a verse here in the 16th chapter.
To touch on.
A few of the characteristics that David had as a young man in First Samuel chapter 16, when Saul is having trouble from an evil spirit and he's seeking to have someone to play the heart.
And in the 17th verse of First Samuel, chapter 16, Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants, that said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning and playing, a mighty valiant man, a man of war, prudent in matters, a comely person, and the Lord is with him.
I covet those characteristics that we see in David and young people. I trust that you would come to covet them too. We find here that this one who is a servant, one of the servants, he says, Behold, I have seen the son of Jesse, that he is cunning and playing.
You know, David is one of David's characteristics was he was able to soothe troubled spirits.
Never spoke to someone that's got a troubled spirit. They're really troubled. You know, I've been thankful for those that have come to me when I've had a troubled spirit and have been able to soothe the situation. Now, David had that, had that ability to do that, the ability to be able to soothe troubled spirits. And we find it goes on here. It says he's cutting and playing. He's a mighty valiant man. You know, David was a fearless man.
And I covet that in my own soul.
David didn't have fear, the apostle writes to Timothy, who was, perhaps.
Characterized by fear, he writes to Timothy and he said the Lord hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. Well, here we find David. He was a man that didn't have fear.
And then we find that it says here he was a man of war. David was a man who in his young life had proved the Lord. And I know that there are those here this afternoon. And in your young life you have proved the Lord.
And this afternoon my desire is to address exercise because there are those of us on the path of faith. Although we've proved the Lord, we get discouraged. We do get down. The enemy comes in like a flood, and there are those times when we've proved the Lord.
In all this matchless grace to us, and then the enemy comes in and takes the turnus aside. Well, David was one that had proved the Lord. There is that aspect of David that there were those cattle thieves around that perhaps came to realize soon on that you didn't mess with David sheep as a man of war. But I believe that David in his personal life, he had learned to prove the Lord. And then we have here he was prudent in matters or notice the marginal reading. He was prudent in speech.
00:10:25
Young people there are those of our friends that it's nice to talk to. We enjoy speaking with them. They're just prudent in speech. And I enjoy that in my own soul, being able to go to someone and and speak to them and know that I'm going to gain something that they've meditated upon from the word of God. This is a characteristic that David had. He was prudent in speech and then it says he was a comely person.
I enjoy that. You know, how would you, how would you be able to explain what a comely person is? You know, as I thought about it, I thought, you know, that characteristic that Joseph had in the New Testament when he found out that Mary was expecting a child, it says that his desire was to put her away privately. You know, that's the thought of Cumley. That was David's character that he had as a young man. And the Lord is with him. So the servant, he spelled these things out and David has called for, well, we know what transpires over the next few chapters. Let's go back, back to where we started.
In the first Samuel.
We'll go to the 20th chapter.
Because we know that David comes to the point in his life where he's married to Saul's daughter. And then Saul gets jealous and he hates David with a passion, tries to kill him, tries to throw a javelin on him, to do his, to take his life away from him on more than one occasion.
And we find that here, in the end of the 20th chapter, is the first time that David weeps.
But why? Why?
We noticed a change in David's life.
From those characteristics that I spoke of.
And the earlier part of the 20th chapter, we'll read it now, the first verse that says David fled from May off in Rhema, and came and said before Jonathan, what have I done, and what is my iniquity, and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?
He said unto him, God forbid thou shalt not die. Behold, my father will do nothing on the great or small but that he will short me. Why should my father hide this thing from me? Is it not so?
David swear, moreover, and said, My father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes, when he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
5th person David said to Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the King at me, but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field under the third day at even if thy Father had all missed me. Then say David earnestly asked leave of me, that he might run to Bethlehem and city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
You know young people, we enjoy the story of David and it's many aspects.
And I so enjoy.
That David is a picture to us of the Lord Jesus in his rejection.
My first was this afternoon is to look at David and his life.
And this sixth verse that I've read.
5th and 6th verses.
I'll explain it this way.
When I was a boy.
And I would say some things that were less than the truth.
My father would address it with me and he'd address it in this way. He'd come right face to face with me and he would say David.
That is a bear faced lie.
You know, that's what this is. That's what this is.
We can, we can make this palatable any way we want, but that's what it is. And young people, I just want to caution you as to telling the truth.
That's been a difficulty in my life on occasions.
And I've seen that at difficulty in those that are older that we call it little white lies or we call it stretching the truth a little bit, but it's not that. It's bare faced lice. And we find that here in David's life at a time when he started to run from Saul and there was a situation where his state of soul was such that as we go on chapter after chapter.
00:15:01
His desire was to to spend that time with the Lord. But there were those things in his life that were lacking, and one of them was this difficulty with the truth. You know, if we were to turn to Proverbs, the 6th chapter, we would find that.
The Lord says that there are six things that the Lord hates, and one of them is a lying tongue.
Young people, I would just caution you, always tell the truth.
Always say what is the truth? Let's go on down now.
The 27th verse came to pass on the Morrow, which was the 2nd day of the month, that David's place was empty and salted. And to Jonathan, wherefore cometh thou not the son of Jesse to meet neither yesterday nor today? And Jonathan answered and said, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, Let me go, I pray thee for our family, a sacrifice in the city. And my brother, he had commanded me to be there. And now if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not under the King's table.
A total fabrication. A total fabrication. Now we read these things from the word of God and we read them as nice stories, but that's what it is.
Young people, we can say nice things, perhaps we can get ourselves into a bind and think, you know, the best way to get out of this situation is to just twist the truth a little bit and I'll be free of it. That's what David tried to do here.
And it caused him sorrow of heart.
We find at the end of the chapter David he has to has this separation with Jonathan.
But we know young people. One thing leads to another.
Notice the 21St chapter. And David came to Nob to him elect the priest. And Himaleck was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why aren't thou alone, and no man with thee? And David said unto him, Like the priest, The king hath commanded me a business. And he said unto me, Let no man know anything of the business, whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee. And I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.
Another total fabrication. You know, once we start saying things that are not right, it snowballs and we have an easier time saying things that are not true from that point on. And now here, David, he's removed from Saul, he's removed from Jonathan, but he's in the same situation. He's in that lane of traffic that it's hard to get out of. You know, people that happens to us, that happens to us.
And what happens the eighth verse?
David said unto him, like, Is there not here under thine hand, spear, or sword? For I have now there brought my sword, no, my weapons with me, because the King's business required haste. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath and Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Eva, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If I'll take that, take it, for there is no other save that. And David said, There is none like that giveth me.
As I pointed this portion.
My mind went back to the valley of Elah when David went down there with a staff, with a shepherd's bag, with a few stones. And I wondered here at this time, when he's speaking with the priest here, the high priest, where was the staff then? You know, he could face Goliath and said, you come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord my God. Where was the staff here? Where was that confidence in the Lord here? You know, there was that development. I believe in David's life.
That brought him into that position. Well, you didn't have a good conscience where the Lord was concerned. His desire was to follow the Lord.
His desire was to realize all that Lord had done for him in the past. But he's swimming here and he wants a sword. He wants a sword. And he looks at the very sword that he disdained at one time and said, give me that. There's none like that. Oh, young people, may it touch our hearts to see David as he weeps with Jonathan. And sometimes we weep tears. You know, I don't think there's a one here that hasn't wept tears. And I know that there are those here who have wept bitter, bitter tears.
For many reasons, and we're going to see that there are many reasons for David to weep those cheers.
Here, David, there's a separation from Jonathan. Let's go on to the next one.
In.
First Samuel, chapter 30.
First Samuel, chapter 30.
And verse one, it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire, and had taken the women captives that were therein. They slew not any either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. And David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives.
00:20:16
I know him, the Jezreelitis, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
Here it comes to Ziklag. Just picture the scene.
And this is where he lives, this city.
It's burned with fire.
Everyone's gone.
It's wives, children, those of his men gone. Place is sacked.
And I can't do the thought process of what that meant to David.
And I would like to look.
For a moment at the 25th chapter to see some of what caused David just to rend his salt before the Lord. Here in the 30th chapter. First Samuel, chapter 25.
In this chapter.
We have 3 characters. We have David.
We have neighbor the Carmelite, and we have his wife.
And we read that in the second verse of First Samuel 25, there was a man in Mayon whose possessions were in Karma. The man was very great. He had 3000 sheep, 1000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Karma. And the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and of beautiful countenance. But the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the House of Caleb.
I was thinking of this portion a little bit this morning when Jim was telling us about how he was brought up in the ME first generation, and it's a little different now. It's ME only.
And we find that with Naval. Look at his little speech here in the 10th verse.
When David has protected Nabel's men, he's protected his sheep and the servants come to naval and here David at least Nabel answers the servants. In the 10th verse Nabel answered David's servants and said who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? That there be there be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.
Just look here at how self-centered Mabel is. Shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shears, and give it unto men whom I know not once they be?
Self is a wretched thing.
It's a wretched thing and it produced wretchedness in Naples life.
I enjoy listening to Gordon and Mary Jane's tapes.
On one of them.
Gordon's reading a passage from Mr. Darby.
And he makes this comment.
He says. I've never met a man.
Who was full of himself.
To repeat, the expression was not full of himself.
You know, when I heard that first, I had to hit the reverse on the tape and send it back and listen to it again and I'll say it again, he said. I never met a man.
Who was full of himself. To repeat, the expression was not full of itself, and we find that here with Mabel.
You know, we look at neighbor and we say, well, that's an extreme situation. It's an extreme situation. But you know, we find the same with David. We find the same with David in this portion.
And David, he hears the report of what the servants come back after having this little discourse with Mabel.
And David is just enraged and he just tells him and he says, get you sorts. We're going to go down there. And it's just not right. I'm just going to deal with the situation. You know, young people, there are many times in my own life.
When there's been a situation and my toes have been stepped on and I've been offended.
And you know how I'm going to make it right.
It's just not right that someone should speak to me like that. It's just not right that they should do such a thing. And I'm just going to, I'm just going to tell them about it. I'm just going to, I'm just going to make it right. David here, that's what his desire is. He's going to make it right.
00:25:13
And so you can just picture the scene, you know, he's just.
He's angry and he's reckless.
And he grabs his sword. 400 men, they grab their swords, and down the mountain they go.
And what's been so impressive to me is to see that there's someone who just steps in the way of that army, and it's Abigail.
Abigail.
Now notice what it says in the third verse. It says she was a woman of a good understanding and of a beautiful countenance.
But what I've really enjoyed.
In connection with Abigail.
Is that she recognizes the situation for what it is.
She recognizes.
Her attachment to Nabal.
She recognizes who David is. She realized that there's evil determined upon the house.
And you know, we would say inner forwardness, but it's in her meek and her quiet spirit. And I just want to make a comment here, particularly to those who are young sisters. Take note of what we have here in Abigail. It's been such a blessing to my own soul. That was such a blessing to David. So that when it came to Ziklag and it was burned with fire, that was one thing. But Abigail was gone. That was another thing.
We find here that she speaks in the 27th verse.
And I want you to notice what she brings before David, because what Abigail does is she takes David, who is consumed in his present circumstance. And we understand that concept, don't we? You know, you have a hard day and just, there's so much and we just, the enemy comes in and we just get so full of, of what happens in a day and we can't see beyond it. And that was David's portion at this time. And he was going to make it right. He had 400 men behind him. They all had their swords. And he was going to get rid of naval and he was going to feel better about it.
And Naval comes in, you know what she does? She makes 7 statements and each one of those statements takes David from his present circumstances and points him to a coming day. You know, I so enjoy that in my own soul when someone comes along and I've just been stewing about someone, you know, when they have a nice thought that they've just enjoyed about the coming of the Lord, and it just transported me from that which I've just been stewing in.
To that coming day. And so let's look here now in the 28th, 1St the 27th verse now and now this blessing which thine handmaid have brought unto my Lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow. My Lord, I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid. Now what a cheetah. What had Abigail done? Young sisters, just take note of the characteristics that we find here in connection with Abigail. She says forgive the trespass of thine handmaid, for the Lord will certainly make my Lord.
I sure have. Now David was being driven from post to post. He was living in caves. He was living wherever he could. And Abigail, she comes in, she says, you know, David, there's a day coming and the Lord's going to make you a shorthouse. And I would say, young people this afternoon, be careful where you build your house. Complete a duck that built a nest on my brother in law's property pulse right on the side of the road, right on the side of the road. A duck building a nest on the side of the road filled it with eggs.
When I saw it had, I don't know, 12 eggs in it.
Well, we all rushed back the next morning to see how the eggs were. They're gone. Bad place to build a nest. Bad place to build a nest.
We had a Robin, you know, Robin's getting mixed up when they look at the rafters and they're all the same.
Robin built a nest, then built another nest, built a third nest, laid 2 eggs in one nest, 2 eggs in the second nest, one egg in the third nest. It wasn't a good place to build a nest. Probably a young bird. I don't know the circumstances, but it gave me to realize, you know, there's a place to build young people. Be careful where you build.
No, David, at least Abraham. He looked for a city that had foundations. He was content to live in a tent.
He's content. He knew that there was a city and he was content to look for that city whose builder and maker was God. Well, here Abigail, she brings before David that there was a time coming when the Lord would make for him a sure house, as it says here in the 28th verse, the 29th verse, yet a man is risen. Notice he doesn't call Saul the king, just a man. A man has risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul, but the soul of my Lord shall be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God.
And we sometimes sing that little hymn, Lord Jesus, are we one with thee? Oh, height or depth of love, crucified and deadened with thee. Now one in heaven above. You know, Abigail brought that picture to David. That's what she did. Here's the time. He's just enraged with his present circumstances and he's pointed off that coming day when he's going to be one with the Lord.
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The third one is the souls of thine enemies. Then shall he sling out as the middle of a sling. You know, there's a day coming when all the enemies of the Lord are going to be put down. The Lord Jesus will have His rightful place. And here Abigail brings that thought before David. Notice he's standing there. All his men are standing there. Here's this wonderful woman with that beautiful character, and she removes them from those circumstances to a coming day. The 30th verse, the 4th one, when the Lord shall have done to my Lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning me.
You know, Joshua, at the end of his days, he speaks to the people and he says, you know, the Lord has accomplished everything that he said he was going to do. He's done absolutely everything. The day coming when we'll look back.
Will see that very thing and that was pointed to David.
The end of the 31St and shall have appointed the ruler over Israel. Just think what that meant to David when he was.
He was so full of himself that he was going to deal with this little situation. And Abigail presents to him, You know, David, you're going to be ruler of the whole scene. You're going to be ruler of the whole scene.
And then in the next verse. And this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offensive heart unto my Lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my Lord had avenged himself.
You know, that's a little picture of the judgment seat, isn't it?
And Abigail didn't want David to come to the throne.
And to suffer loss, if I could put it that way, to have that in his conscience, to have that which he acted so unwisely about in connection with Nabal. And she says, you know, there's a day coming.
And I don't want you to be in that situation where you're going to be sorry for today. And then it says the last one here is in the the end of the 31St verse. And when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord, then remember thine handmaid, I don't know what capacity she had there, but we have brought before us that beautiful picture of Christ and his bride and all. Doesn't that take us from our present circumstances? Doesn't it do that? Look at that moment when we'll be with the Lord Jesus and like him for all eternity. You know, that's what that's what Abigail did when she stepped in front of David.
But I thought, what was it that caused her to have such moral courage to be able to do such a thing?
Let's look further down in the chapter.
We find that.
The 36th verse that Abigail has this feast like the feast of the king, he's drunk.
His heart dies with him and he became, he becomes like a stone. You know, there's no response from a stone.
He dies, and the servants of David come to Abigail, to Carmel, and they speak to her the 40th verse, saying, David sent us unto thee to take thee to him to wife.
Notice these lovely characteristics, dear young sister. Just take these next two verses to heart.
And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth. Now I looked at those two things, and I think, how can you put those two things together to arise and to bow?
But young people, it takes real energy.
To prostate ourselves.
Before the Lord.
Here we find she bows herself on her face to the earth, but it says she arose. It takes real energy to do that. It takes far more energy to do that than to lift yourself up.
Oh, that's what characterized her. She arose, bowed herself on her face to the earth and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant. That beautiful characteristic that we see of the Lord Jesus as he walked is seen for those 33 1/2 years as a servant.
Obedient unto death, even the death of the cross here to wash, to be a servant, to wash the feet, not to wash the feet of my Lord, but to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. Help me to turn to John's gospel who define the Lord Jesus as he goes through that best scenario of taking the towel and taking the basin. But when he's all done, he says, if I, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, Sawaki, also to wash one another's feet, young people, that's a marvelous work to be involved with. That's a marvelous work to be involved with, to seek to wash one another's feet.
Yeah, we hear. We hear thoughts. It's easy to make the water too hot. It's easier to make the the water too cold.
Easy to sometimes easy to have a rough towel.
Just to seek to strengthen the things that remain.
It's a marvelous work to wash one another's feet. Those are the characteristics that gave Abigail that courage to stand in front of David. And now David, when he comes to Ziklag, she's gone.
00:35:09
Let's go back to the 30th chapter.
The sixth verse.
David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
We're not doing very well for time.
I'll just touch on this before we go on to the third one.
I believe the reason that David was able to encourage himself and the Lord his God is because if we were to go to the previous chapter.
We find that David has been with a Kish for some time and you know, he's gotten used to this situation and he finds he's in a bind and he's he's going to do battle and he's going to do battle with Jonathan. That's what's happening to to to just to put it the way it is.
And I'm sure that was hard for David. And yet David finds himself in a circumstance that he can't get out. And the Lord puts it in the minds of the Lords of the Philistines to say to Akish, you know, we don't want this guy with us, Get him out of here. And David, I believe, encouraged himself. And the Lord is God because he saw the Lord reach down and pick him out of a circumstance into which he couldn't get out. I've proved that in my own life, circumstances that I got myself into that I couldn't get out.
It's not that we're to tempt the Lord, but to have the confidence.
And the Lord that David had, he recognized that there was something here. The Lord had delivered him from a circumstance and he looked at this circumstance. The Lord was able to do the same and he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Let's go over now to the second Samuel, the 1St chapter.
What happens in the first chapter of Second Samuel?
Is the death of Jonathan?
And let's read from the 11Th verse.
Of Second Samuel 1 Then David took hold on his clothes and rent them, and likewise all the men that were with him, and they mourned and wept. This is the third time that David weeps and fasted, until even for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the House of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword.
I'd like to go back and look at what it is.
That.
David.
To be so upset when he heard that Jonathan was dead. Let's turn back to the 18th chapter.
We could go back and we could read about Jonathan and his armor bearer.
But David, I don't believe, was there in the 17th chapter of First Samuel.
We find David a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus.
In the 57th verse, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, Abdur took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. You know that's David's work.
58% Saul said unto him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered and said, I am thy son. I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite, That's his person.
And in the first verse of the 18th chapter it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, ask his word.
You know, a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus, His person, His work, and His Word. And when Jonathan observed that, notice what it says.
It came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit, but the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul, his person, his work, and his word, and it just transfixed Jonathan.
But you know, Jonathan, he had a love for David. And I just like to tie in that because often we we zero in on Jonathan and how he gave, he gave David everything but his shoes and he didn't follow in David's rejection. And that's true.
And that was a more on Jonathan's life. But there was that which characterized Jonathan that David really appreciated. And we'll just go through it quickly. In the 19th chapter and the second verse, it says Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. The third verse, I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee, the fourth verse and Jonathan spake good.
00:40:03
Of David the end of the verse, because his works have been good to thee word very good.
The 20th verse and the fourth verse. The 20th chapter in the fourth verse. Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.
The 20th chapter in the 17th verse. And Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. And Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed because thy seat will be empty.
The 23rd verse Partway through the verse. The Lord be between thee and me forever.
32nd Verse Jonathan answered, saw his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him, whereby Jonathan knew it that it was determined of his father to slay David. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month, where he was grieved for David, because his father had done some shame. 42nd Verse Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, For as much as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed, and thy seed forever.
Young people.
We see in these verses.
That tremendous characteristic that Jonathan had in his love for David.
It's beautiful.
But there came a time in David and Jonathan's life where they had to separate him. They had to separate.
And that's hard.
Young people, it's hard to have friends that you love because all that they've done for you and the marvelous characteristics they might have.
To share in the rejection of our blessed Lord.
To me it's the saddest thing to read the end of the chapter and it says this.
And he rose and departed.
And Jonathan went into the city.
David went into his rejection and Jonathan went into the city.
There was a period in my life where there was a separation between myself and those who were my friends.
And young people, I would caution you as to who your friends are. Are your friends those?
That encourage you in the Lord.
Or they just love you.
You know, we found that Jonathan even had that characteristic where he encouraged David and the Lord, but he wasn't, he wasn't willing to walk with David.
And so David arises here and Jonathan goes into the city. We don't really have any time to speak anything more about that. So let's go on to the.
The next time that David weeps.
And.
Chapter three of Two Samuel.
The 32nd verse.
Well, let's read the 27th verse. When Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died for the blood of Asahela's brother. 32nd verse. And they buried Abner in Hebron, And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner. And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dyeth.
38th Verse And the king sent unto his servants, Oh ye not that there was a Prince and a great man all in this day in Israel, And I am this day weak, though anointed king. And these men, the sons of Zeruaya, be too hard for me. The Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
Hold your place here for a moment and go over to Second Samuel, or rather to 1St Kings.
First Kings.
2nd chapter.
There came that time in David's life when the rains had been passed to Solomon.
And there were a few things that need to be tidied up in the Kingdom.
And David presents them to Solomon, and one of them is this matter that we've read about in Two Samuel chapter 3.
00:45:08
What's what's affected me so much is to realize that David had an attachment to Abner.
We don't have the time to develop that, but he's mentioned 62 Times in the word of God, 62 Times. That's a lot of times for a man to be mentioned from the first time that Abner.
Saul said to Abner when he saw David slay Goliath, whose son is the Stripling.
Until the time that we find here David berries Abner, David had come to appreciate Abner. But you notice in in First Kings chapter 2, the very first thing that David brings before Solomon is the matter concerning Abner. And we find it in the in the fifth verse of First Kings chapter 2. Moreover, thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeraya did unto me, not what he did unto Abner's family, not what he did to the children of Israel, what he did unto me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel unto Abner the son of Mirror. Very first thing that David brings before Solomon as to clean up because it affected him so much.
Back in our chapter it says the king said unto the servants, Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? You know, brother, and I have to hang my head in shame.
Because as we look over a two year period amongst the gathered Saints.
There have been some Princess.
And there have been some great men that have fallen.
Do we look at them?
As David looked at Abner.
As a Prince and a great man.
I just present that to my own heart and to my own conscience.
Let's turn over now.
To Second Samuel.
The 13th chapter.
I'm sorry, the 12Th chapter.
Second Samuel, chapter 12.
And this we won't go through the situation. It's where where David commits adultery with Bathsheba and he kills, he murders Uriah with the sword and Nathan addresses him.
And now we find the 22nd first verse is where David weeps.
Bathsheba has given birth to a little boy.
And the little boy dies.
21St verse Then said his servants unto him.
What thing is this that thou has done that is fast, and weep for the child while it was yet alive?
When the child was dead, thou just arise and eat bread.
And I just want to make a comment in connection with the.
51St Song.
We could turn there for a moment. Psalm 51.
We're David here.
He starts off by saying, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
We had before us last weekend in our meetings in Rio Ferry. We had a day of meetings.
And we took up first, John.
And we had there the thought of we confess our sins, He is faithful and justice to forgive us our sins.
I just want to make a comment to those here who are younger.
That confession which David did here in the chapter that's before us Two Samuel, chapter 12.
That confession does not constitute restoration.
Sometimes we read First John and we translate that. Now that's not the subject in First John. Restoration is not the subject.
In the abstract truth that John brings before us, but confession, as another has said, confession is an act and forgiveness is an act.
But repentance is a process.
And restoration is also a process.
And for us to confess, for us to think that there's restoration, that's not the way it works in young people. We, we sometimes treat communion like the kitchen taps where the water is going and we can turn the water off and we can turn the water on anytime we want. You can't do that with communion. We can turn it off quick enough.
00:50:20
But to get back to the Lord is sometimes a different story, and I believe that David experienced that in the psalmist before us, because he says here, have mercy upon me, he says.
The third person, I acknowledge my transgressions, my sin is ever before me. He's confessed this sin, he's been forgiven, but oh, he's burdened here, He's burdened. He's burdened about that which is was has transpired and that ongoing guilt as the Lord works repentance in his heart and brings it to that moment where at the end of the chapter he can offer bullocks.
And there's full restoration. Young people don't translate confession as being restoration when the Lord's desire is that there be a work of God in our hearts. Let the Lord work. You know, it says about Jacob that it doesn't say he wrestled with a man. It says a man wrestled with Jacob. The Lord does that with us.
And so in Second Samuel chapter 13, we find that while the child was alive, David wept, but now that the child was dead, needed a rise and eat. Let's go over to chapter 13.
You know we're not going to make it, so we're just going to touch in on the 6th time that David weeps here.
And it's in connection with.
With David's sons.
I would just make a comment in connection with the 36th verse it came to.
It came to pass. Second Samuel, chapter 13. This is after.
Absalom has risen up, and he is slain. Amnon.
And all they all of a sudden they ride away, and they're, they're weeping. And it says here in the 36th verse, it came to pass as soon as he had made an end, that behold, the King's sons came and lifted up their voice and wept. And the king also, and all his servants wept.
Very sore.
You know.
In the beginning of the chapter, and I would encourage you to read it yourself, you find a situation that you wonder how come the Lord would record such a thing in the Word of God.
Where you have M non and he defiles his sister, he defiles Absalom's sister.
The end result is that M non is taken and sling.
And I've wondered, you know, Abigail had a son whose name was Daniel.
And he was there at that scene where he watched his older brother be killed by the older brother was right above him, be killed by the brother that was right below him, Absalom.
And you know, we never we never we read of some of David's son's four of them that are vying for the throne. But Daniel who was next in mind. Daniel was Abigail's son, who was really next in line for the throne. We find there's no competition there. He's not mentioned. It's not part of the picture. Just the beautiful thing to search through for yourself. But here it says the king and also all the servants, they wept very sore at the beginning of the chapter. We find there's that situation with Amnon. And I would I would just make this comment to the young fathers that are here.
And when we read this portion, I'm sure that there was a sense in David's soul of how the Lord had picked him up from the sheep quote. And there was nothing that David could do. He recognized the sovereignty in God and working in his life and how there was no possible way that he could be an heir to the throne or he could be, he could be king of Israel. It was all the Lord's work. And he recognized the Lord had done that. And I believe David perhaps took the same attitude where his children were concerned. And when that situation transpires with Amnon, you say where was David? I would just say, young fathers, be aware of where your children are just before this meeting.
There was a young father sitting beside me, the children.
Screwing here and there. I said, you know, it's hard to keep track of these children. Yeah, it's hard to keep track of them. Be aware of where they are. David wasn't. And we find here because of it. He weeps. He weeps. Let's turn now the page over to the 15th chapter.
The last one is in the 18th chapter when Absalom dies and the king is much moved and he goes up over the chamber and he says, Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom would God I died for thee, O Absalom, my son.
But in the 15th chapter here.
00:55:02
We find that David finds himself in a circumstance and you wonder at it. You know, sometimes there are situations in the assembly that we wonder at. Here's David. He's the king and he's being chased out of the land by his son. It doesn't make any sense at all. Sometimes there are things in the assembly and they just don't seem to make sense. But here, David, he goes out and you know, there are those that have an affection for David. And I enjoy the 19th verse here it says.
And the king said unto Etihad the Gittite. Wherefore of course thou also with us, return to thy place, and abide with the king, for thou art a stranger and also an exile.
Whereas, alchemist, but yesterday should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go whither I may return now and take back my brethren, and mercy and truth be with thee. And if the I answer the king, and said, as the Lord liveth, and as my Lord the King liveth, surely in what place my Lord the King shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.
You know on the 30th verse it says David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet and he wept as he went up. He had his head covered, he went barefoot. All the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up weeping as they went up.
There was that time where there was the Levites and we find Zadok. They carry the ark out to David.
You know David looks at the ark and he says it's nice but take it back, take it back. It might be that Lord will bring you back, maybe not, I don't know, but take the ark back, take the ark back. David had a sense in his soul of the hand of God upon him and he was impressed by the affection here. You know there was this man, he was from Gaff and I believe that ETI one time he had a champion. That champion was Goliath and you know he saw a shepherd boy go down and take off his champions head.
And come up out of the valley with his champions head in his hand. Is it any wonder that idiot had such affection for David?
You know, young people, that's what the Lord's desire is for us this afternoon. He wants our hearts.
Going to the Proverbs, we would find my son. Give me thine heart here David, he weeps as he goes up, and you know the circumstances that the Lord brings us into. He's able to change like that and he did in David's life. But here we find the affection the idiot had for David.
I carry around in my Bible a little note.
It was given to me when the children were young.
And it was the Father's Day or something. And the kids, they had their little trinkets, they were wrapped up in tissue paper and, you know, obviously a less than professional job wrapping. And they all had their gum and their lifesavers or whatever it was they gave me. And one of the children had no present. I was feeling kind of bad. And so I got to see them out. Dad.
I could not think of anything to give you.
So I'm giving you my love.
God Does Not Think-God Knows, John 7:15-16,18
Address—D. Newby
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Greater Sun.
When to the time appointed, the rolling years shall run.
He comes.
To break oppression.
Don't we find ourselves living in a world full of oppression?
For the souls of men and women in this world suffer.
He's the one who comes.
To break oppression.
And we would say that he is the only one.
Who will be able to break oppression?
To set the captive free.
To take away transgression.
And rules and equity.
You would notice when you read through this hymn when we sing this hymn.
You might notice that there are many expressions in this hymn that come from the 72nd Psalm.
Which is the last Psalm in the second book of the Psalms?
Psalm to Solomon.
Pictures to us that wonderful rain.
Of the Lord Jesus, when he the one that we've been Speaking of in our readings, the one that we've heard of.
And the meetings?
The one who is the head of all principality and power.
The one whom the father would exalt.
And the only one who is worthy? The worthy 1. Isn't that something for us to realize?
That a crowd of people this size and yet we wouldn't want to leave out any of our our Christian brethren in this world today.
Have this blessed one to be occupied with. We've been Speaking of holding the head.
And there is no other head.
Saint Augustine, I believe it was he that made the comment about that the.
Purpose of man.
Is to glorify God.
And enjoy him forever.
Solemn thing to realize that.
He could have existed and yet chosen not to reveal himself in the way that he has. But.
At a particular juncture in time.
He chose to reveal himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
We heard about him as the only one, the way, the truth and the life.
In the gospel yesterday evening.
He is the one who is the Head. He is the one who is the Lord's anointed great, David's greater son. I believe that David is mentioned more times in scripture than any other name, including the Lord Jesus.
And yet we speak of great David's greater son, he who is the root and the offspring of David.
We have hope.
In no other.
And as believers in the Lord Jesus, we have the privilege of being gathered around Himself.
The truth again, that Brother Bob spoke of last night. He is the truth.
And there is no other truth.
We've been noticing in Colossians the things that men would bring in to beguile the minds and to turn aside even believers if they could.
The antidote is holding the head, He in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.
Bodily.
Again, He that hath seen me has seen the Father.
Let's sing together #40 in the appendix if someone would start that please.
00:05:10
Our hands finished. Now I'm seeing.
My life.
In the heart and I really.
Till I rejoice.
In life.
Kingston fall down.
Spring.
All every time.
Let's look to him.
When we sing together that 40th hymn.
And we think of these.
Sentiments that are expressed in the 72nd Psalm falls right in line with what is taught consistently throughout the Scriptures.
You know, if you take the holy books of some other religions.
You might find that there are many unconnected thoughts, but when we take the Word of God, we see that the Word of God sets before us a consistent whole system that centers in the person that we've been singing about.
Great. David's greater son.
I want to read a quotation, and I think it's very interesting that we've had Colossians chapter 2 in our readings where the Spirit of God by the apostle Paul deals with Gnosticism in its beginnings as it began to make inroads among the Christian testimony. And again, Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge.
They thought they had a special knowledge that went beyond not only what other people had, but it went beyond the word of God.
In fact, the Word of God as it was contained in the Bible was really inferior to what they had.
Well, has to be that way if somebody is setting forth something that's contrary to scripture and they're putting it forth as though it's the truth.
And so the apostles, they deal with this error.
And this was one of the major battles that the early church fought. Now this is a quotation from Irenaeus against Heresies. It was written.
00:10:10
Between about 182 and 188 AD.
He says for error is plausible.
And bears a resemblance to the truth, but requires to be disguised.
While truth is without disguise.
And therefore has been entrusted to children.
Now think of that. I love that last expression. Truth does not require any disguise. If something is the truth that can be spoken of in this room, publicly in front of everybody that's here, it doesn't require to be.
Set forth in some kind of a clandestine way.
Put forth under figures so that only the initiated will understand it. If it's truth, it can be entrusted to children. And I believe that's one of the reasons why the Lord makes such a thing of the children in Scripture. You know the Lord Jesus, He received the children.
I look out on an audience like this and I see some who weren't even born yet.
When I came among the gathered Saints and now their parents, now they have the responsibility to raise their own children.
The truth has been entrusted to children, you know, the God of the universe.
The infinite divine mind. He who does not think God does not think God knows.
That's a very important concept. God does not think God knows.
God is omniscient. He has all things before him.
Without regard for time, there is no process connected with the knowledge of God. God knows and there is nothing that's hidden from him that was brought out. Also, there is absolutely nothing that is hidden from God.
3 Aspects of the sovereignty of God, His omnipresence. He is everywhere.
There is nothing that can be hid from him in any place.
His omniscience. He knows all things.
His omnipotence. He is all powerful. There is nothing too hard for the Lord.
These are the things.
That may sound like deep concepts.
And there is nothing deeper than the Scripture that God has given. These are the things that have been entrusted to children. But we go through a process.
Of understanding these things.
Of gaining them for our own souls, of learning to enjoy them. And it's a long, painful process. There's joy connected with it.
I know that there are those in the room here, perhaps a majority of those in the room here, who know what it was to see something from Scripture for the first time and how much you enjoyed that.
But also to come to realize that it may have taken you quite a time to understand that concept because there was something within you that the Spirit of God had to deal with, that you might have deeper communion with the Lord Jesus. And that's a fact of our existence. These things have been entrusted to children.
And children go through a process and they grow. This is true of each of us. I remember being a child just as though it were yesterday. I can't remember things that happened at work last week.
But I remember very clearly things that I went through as a child and even what I thought now I may put a spin on that now that I've been through a number of years. But you know what I'm talking about. Even you who are younger, you know what I'm talking about and something like that.
Truth is without disguise.
And has been entrusted to children.
There were a number of verses in our chapter in Colossians chapter 2.
Where we had this expression and these were iterated for us. Let no man beguile you.
You could see that we saw that about three or four times there. Let no man beguile you.
In first John chapter four he says that we are to test the spirits.
But then you'll notice he doesn't say because many spirits have gone out into the world.
He says because many false prophets have gone out into the world, the spirits use men as their instruments. And that's what we find in the book of Colossians. That's what we find in the first chapter in the first Epistle of John. It's what we find in the second epistle of John. You might know, you might notice in your own Bible reading you have something about false teachers.
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I believe in all of the 2nd epistles.
Because in the first epistles such as First Corinthians, First Thessalonians, First Peter, the writer will set forth something for the believers to lay hold of. But then when he comes to writing his second epistle, he may set forth the dangers in the form of a warning when those things in the first epistle come under attack.
So, for example, in First Thessalonians he sets before them things relative to the Lord's coming and correct some errors that they may have had among themselves because of dear departed loved ones that they had lost.
But then we find in Second Thessalonians that somebody wrote a letter, and so now he has to correct something that was in their minds because somebody came in to undermine the faith.
We see this as a pattern in the Scriptures. Remember, the truth has been entrusted to children. In fact, doesn't the Lord Jesus Himself say if you don't enter into these things?
As a little child.
He speaks of that as a little child. The Lord Jesus received the children.
Many of us in this room, we have children. We know something of what it is to teach the verses to the children.
Maybe. Maybe we got in trouble a little bit because you know, they had a word wrong and now we want them to say it exact word for word.
Learn to be exact in the things of God.
Why is that?
These are the words of life.
These are the things that God has given to us that we might understand His mind so.
So as young people, we need to be established in the faith.
Established in the faith. It's very important to be established in the truth. How will you be established in the truth? Let's turn to a verse in Ephesians chapter 4. And again, this is by way of introduction that we might see something of the warning that the apostle, the same apostle, the apostle Paul.
Gives us an Ephesians and we've had reference to Ephesians.
In Ephesians we have more of a positive setting forth of the truth.
Whereas in Colossians because of these ones who had come in and were seeking to beguile the Christians.
We have more of correction and warning because of the positive danger that the Saints might have been in, but in Ephesians chapter four we see something of the gifts that the ascended Christ has given and some of the purpose for these things. But I want to just notice an expression.
Verse 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. This is full growth. We've had the reference to full growth Christian spiritual maturity.
By hearing the word of God, by feeding on these things that God has given unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more babes. Now that's not children, that's babes we have an expression in other places about.
E Henceforth no more children or babes. Now notice this next expression tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slate of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie and wait to deceive.
This is a warning.
The things that Christ has given to us, and this is the ascended Christ because we would see back in verse nine now that he ascended.
This is not only the man who was risen from among the dead. This is the ascended, glorified man. This is the one that we've been Speaking of in our readings, the one who is the head.
We want to be conformed to him according to the mind of God, according to the revelation that God has given to of Himself.
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In order that we be preserved from this, from all of these winds of doctrine.
Now, winds of doctrine. This is like, you know, the blowing of the wind. You can't get your fist around it.
Let me ask you this question.
If you met up with a young believer or you met with someone who came to the Lord Jesus and got saved.
And they had questions and they wanted clarification on things. Would you take them to a Christian bookstore and drop them off and say everything that you need is in that store? Just go in there and tell them what you're looking for and you'll be able to find what you need.
No, we wouldn't do that.
Because you might go into a place like that, and it's not to criticize any particular person or making these things available, but you might go into a place like that. You might find something that comes from a Pentecostal or Charismatic persuasion. You might find something that comes from a covenantal persuasion. In fact, that's probably the most popular Now, you might find most of that kind of thing. The important thing is that the soul be established in the truth of God as He has given it.
You know, we can argue interpretation.
And that one particular viewpoint is your interpretation and has all the backing of great men from a certain school behind it and something that's completely different. It has its backers as well.
What are you going to do?
You must be a student of the scriptures for yourself.
Now there's another thing connected with this, and that's in John Chapter 7. Let's read a verse there.
In John Chapter 7.
Verse 15.
And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
How does this man have anything to say? He didn't attend our school.
He didn't sit at our feet. He didn't learn our way of viewing things.
Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me there is the divine source of what the Lord Jesus brought, everything that he taught, everything that he set before his disciples and before men and women here in this world.
Came from the one who sent him.
Do we ask ourselves the source of what we're hearing? Does it come from the Word of God?
Does it hold the truth in a balance? Does it exalt Christ, or does it exalt man?
You know, Mr. Darby made an interesting comment. I think it's very insightful.
About some of these systems of teaching.
That hold that the world is going to be converted by the preaching of the gospel.
And by the efforts of the church getting out there and working and laboring.
He said it looks for results in man.
When we sang this hymn together.
It sets before us a picture.
And it's a scriptural picture because, you know, you have to be careful with him sometimes.
But in this hymn #40 in the appendix we see this thought. For example, kings shall fall down before him.
And gold and incense bring. Now look at this next expression. All nations shall adore him. His praise. All people sing.
And the blessing that comes to this earth when we see the Lord Jesus coming in glory and setting aside the power of evil and bringing blessing to this world. Let me ask you a question.
Has this ever been manifested in this world yet?
There are many that would say well.
Yes, it is.
These things are being fulfilled in the church.
We're in the Millennium today.
What about Satan?
It says that during the millennial Kingdom that Satan would be.
Bound with a chain and consigned to the bottomless pit.
What about that? Well, he's bound on a long chain.
00:25:07
Now you smile about that.
But that's actually what they say. I actually have that in the book at home. It's hard to believe you're really seeing it on the page.
You know, dear believer, dear young person.
You have nearly 2000 years of church history that has transpired in this world before you came into this scene. You did not arrive here in this world in a doctrinal vacuum. There's a lot that's happened before you showed up in this world.
And you are called upon.
Before God, to lay hold of the truth as God has given it. Now there may be some of you in the room here who were not raised in a Christian home, and we rejoice in the grace of our Savior that He laid hold of you and brought you to Christ.
And revealed himself to you through the Word by the Spirit.
And brought you to this place. What a tremendous evidence of the grace of God.
But there were most in this room, I would say, who were raised in a Christian home.
That's something to be thankful for.
It's really something to be very thankful for what you've been spared from the.
What you have not had to go through that many others have had to fight their way through.
However.
There may be a downside to that.
It came pretty easy to you.
But you have to learn to value it as well yourself.
And as we've been Speaking of in the readings and as you would see from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible.
There is a conflict.
There is a conflict between the powers of light and the powers of darkness.
And when I read passages such as Ephesians and Colossians, I think of a comment that Mister Darby made that's very, very helpful. He says it's in the intimacy of the councils and of the grace of God that man fortifies himself for the warfare from which he cannot escape if he would enjoy his Christian privileges. Now keep in mind that last expression. If he would enjoy his Christian privileges, don't settle for any less than what Christ has called you to.
There's a day coming when all will be manifested.
And Clarence Lundin emphasized one time, and I thought it was very helpful, this thought of Peter when he says an abundant entrance.
That you would have an abundant entrance not only into the fullness of His presence, when we see Him face to face into the Kingdom in its manifested form, and when we're with Him.
But to have an abundant entrance into everything that the Lord would call you to, That's an application.
Dear young person, do you want to have an abundant entrance into your marriage?
Then keep yourself.
Set yourself before Christ in purity, lay hold of the things that He has given to you, and enter into your marriage with an abundant entrance.
While you're young, young brothers.
Sit at the feet of those who have gone before.
Be established in the truth. Read the Bible for yourself. Learn to read. You know, somebody might say, well, you're a reader.
There are brothers in this room. Who are readers going to tell you something about those brothers? Many of those brothers, and I know this they weren't readers until they had to be.
There were plenty of other things that could occupy their time, but you know when the Lord sets himself before you and He sets a need before you.
Come to the scriptures. He's going to draw you to the scriptures that you might see Christ.
You know what else he's going to do? None of us have walked the path alone.
As I mentioned, you have 2000 years of church history before you, the battle that you fight in your life.
You are not the first one to have fought that bad.
Now the Lord 3000 years.
Now it's your turn.
We want to be preserved if any man will do his will.
There is the key. As it's been said, understanding the truth or falling into error is not so much a matter of intellectual attainment or bent as it is a matter of the will.
00:30:05
And I'll tell you something. There are many and there are brethren here who could testify to this. There are many who have turned aside from the path of faith, and it was not because of intellectual objections to things that they saw in Scripture.
Is because there was something within them that said I will do my own will and then typically we will go find a truth that meets our will.
Now that's a solemn thing to think about. You want to be established in the truth while you're young. You know the truth that you are called to lay hold of is the same truth that God revealed that was finished when the last writer penned the last word of the New Testament.
And then approximately 300 years later, all the books that had been recognized, you know, the Council of Nicaea and other councils, they didn't, they didn't decide which books were going to be in the Bible. They compiled those books that for many, many years had been recognized as authentic by the churches, and they put them together.
And the Spirit of God watched over that in a marvelous way.
You know there are many nations where Bibles are scarce.
Dear young believer, Do you value your Bible?
You know, Brother Bob made a comment. He may have made it a number of times and it may have been a number of years ago. I haven't forgot it.
And I've used this illustration. How much time do you spend during the day fixing meals for your body? You remember that, Bob?
20 minutes for breakfast, half hour for lunch, half hour for dinner.
How long does it take you to read a chapter of the Bible? Can you turn that computer off long enough to spend half an hour in the evening? Maybe reading a few chapters, maybe reading just one page of a book of ministry? You have treasures at your fingertips.
That really do hold the answers to a lot of the questions.
Can you take a little bit of time for that? You know, it's wonderful to be with your friends and with the other young people and activities. You know, it's just an important part of growing up. It goes with it goes with the territory. But while you're young, learn to take quiet time with the Lord. You have to have that if you're going to be established in the truth.
You can have X amount of time, large amount of time during the day. You know, I say I'm hungry. If after school I'm going to head down here somewhere and get myself something to eat. And by the time you drive down there and get something to eat and get home, a whole hour has passed.
To feed your body.
What about taking some time to feed your soul on Christ and to have His word before you?
It's the most important thing.
There is nothing that's more essential than that we receive His word from Himself. He's given this to us as His communication of grace and some of us were speaking about.
About Mary Magdalene.
You know Mary Magdalene, she made a mistake.
And it's really sweet when we think of it.
She thought that his body was in the tomb. She was wrong.
But what brought her there? Love for the Lord Jesus. That is what brought her there.
What happened when she got there? She received the communications of His Grace she.
She was wrong in her thought when she came there, but she came because she loved him.
And when she got there, she saw him.
And she became a messenger for him.
Love to Christ for His own sake brings us to the place where we receive the communications of His grace.
Was so right in her affections, and what a blessing it was to her and to the rest of the disciples.
Every generation is responsible to take the truth.
And explain it and set it before the next generation.
The truth that you are called to be established in. That's why you're invited to meetings such as this. That's why the brethren ask to have a passage taken up that we might be instructed in. The truth that's why they asked people to speak to you.
00:35:09
That something might be brought forth for the establishment of your soul and the truth.
Because there's nothing else to sustain the believer in this world.
Now this world.
You might say Christian and a Christian profession I'm thinking especially of is like a spiritual shopping mall. You know, you can go to a grocery store and you can find, I understand about 30,000 different items in your average grocery store.
How many of those items are you going to buy?
I don't know about you, but I know that my wife and I, when we go to the grocery store, we always buy the same thing.
We know right where it is on the shelf.
Once in a while I might see something that's a little bit different or that I heard about, but you know, most of the time we get the same thing.
The same brand.
You know, it's like this in the spiritual world also.
The Christian profession today is like a shopping mall. There's something for everybody.
Every different flavor, every different fabric, every different this or that or whatever it might be. It's your choice. Whatever your particular bent is, you know, and it's like a supermarket. It's like a shopping mall.
But that can be very, very dangerous because then we have the will of man that's come in and set forth all kinds of things to meet the needs, maybe the needs of somebody who's more emotion minded.
A little bit more feeling oriented or somebody that's a little more on the intellectual side, or somebody that has more of an interest in music or more of an interest in some particular form of art or whatever it might be. There's a worship, there's this and that for every particular interest.
And that can be very dangerous to our souls. You know, the tried and the true is what we want.
If it's true, it isn't new.
And if it's new, it isn't true. And as we've had in the readings, we've been talking about Colossians.
We've seen something of the inroads of the Gnostic system and how it sought to turn the believers aside, but what are they trying to turn the believers aside from?
The head, the one who is the head of the body, the one who is the head of all principality and power. We want to be established in the truth concerning the Lord Jesus, because He is the center of all of God's counsels. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
Now the next verse, notice this verse 18 of John seven. He that speaketh of, or he that speaketh from himself.
Seeketh His own glory, but he that seeketh His glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. The Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect dependent man. He never set forth anything that wasn't in keeping with the mind of the Father. That which the Father had given Him to say the words which the Father had given him, that was what He said.
And in the next chapter, in the 8th chapter of John, we would see there his person. I am altogether that which I say unto you, if any of us in this room, or any other man, woman or child in this world were to make that statement, we would be categorically a liar.
We don't know our own hearts, but the Lord Jesus.
Is the one who could say, I am altogether that which I say unto you. The words that he spoke about himself were a perfect representation of who he was. There was no unrighteousness in him. Which of you convicted me of sin? No one could.
In him is no sin. The apostle John says he did no sin.
He committed no sin.
In him was number sin.
He knew no sin.
Perfect spotless man.
We have in scripture clearly taught the deity of our Lord Jesus. I recommend that you study His deity that you see in the scripture that this One who was manifested here below as a man was God manifest in the flesh.
00:40:08
The Gnostic system had what they call 30 aeons. It's very confusing. I've been reading through Irenaeus Against Heresies. It's a very, very tedious read because he goes through all of the ways that they taught these different things and it's so confusing. You wonder how anybody could hold that kind of thing.
Why did they do that? Because it made me shine as knowing more than you. But what happened?
They gave up the truth, they lost this blessed One who was the only one who could save them. And that's why the apostle says in him, in this very one that you say is just another manifestation of the the pleuroma. That's the Greek word for fullness, some undefined thing, that very one in him, all the fullness, all the Pleuroma of the Godhead dwells bodily.
When we look at the Lord Jesus, we see one.
Who is unique and alone? Yes, he's going to have those around him who are like him.
Who are partakers of the divine nature?
But we will never be deity. There are systems who have a gnostic methodology that say we will be actual deity. No, we won't be deity. That's like saying ye shall be gods.
Goes back to the garden, doesn't it?
We are made partakers of the divine nature, but He will always be unique.
Son of God manifested here below, and soon to have all of his own gathered around Himself.
What a hope we have to be there. Is this something?
That we could be established in.
It is imperative that you as young believers, be established in these things, to be established in the truth. As we heard last night, the Lord Jesus said I am the truth.
Study him.
You know, we heard about David.
But David fell very short. We heard about that. We learned the principles of God's discipline in the life of David, perhaps as much as we learn it in any any other character that we see in Scripture. We see those principles acted out for our blessing. Romans chapter 15. The things that were written before time were written for our learning.
Through patience and comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Those things are for our learning. Think of the lessons that we learn through a job or a Jacob.
Or a Peter. Or the life of Paul.
But all of those men pale insignificance when compared to this blessed one that we're Speaking of. The one who could say?
I am altogether that which I say unto thee.
Whose words were a perfect representation of who he was.
The one in whom there was number lie found.
What a privilege for us today to know Him, to have been brought to Christ.
Think of his perfect, sinless humanity.
You know, I'm sure all of us have heard at one time or another.
How the Lord Jesus could never have sinned.
Because he was God and God could never sin. And you know, that's a blessed truth and I say Amen to that. But that is not why we say the Lord Jesus could never have sinned. We say the Lord Jesus could never have sinned because he was a sinless man.
That's very important.
Well, they might say.
Well, he could have sinned, but he didn't.
Then I have a question.
If he could have sinned, that expression implies capability.
He was capable of sin.
If he was capable of sinning, what would have produced the sin?
Dear young people, this is one of the reasons why it's very important that you be established in the doctrines of Scripture. We've seen something of that in the middle part of Colossians Chapter 2. Our practical walk in this world is based on learning these doctrines. Doctrine just means teaching. What do the Scriptures teach?
00:45:11
He was a sinless man.
What would have made him capable of sinning a sin nature?
Now it might be very conceivable that somebody would have a sin nature.
But it wouldn't be manifested.
That is not the way it was with the Lord Jesus.
In him is no sin.
He did not have that within him which bore the mark of corruption that would have produced those individual sins, that holy thing which shall be born of thee.
That expression could never be used about any other person who was born into this world.
We see in Scripture His deity, that He is God manifest in the flesh. We see in the Scriptures His perfect, sinless humanity.
And I want to mention something that's connected with that.
As to the death of our Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus was not capable of sinning because He did not have indwelling sin within him.
But he was capable of dying.
How do we know that he did die? He was dead on the cross. The scripture tells us that clearly.
But he was not under the necessity of dying.
He could have removed himself from that cross. He could have called legions of angels to deliver him. He could have reversed the entire process.
He died. He was capable of dying, but he was not under the necessity of dying. That is a battle that's been fought in the history of the church. That was a battle that was fought among the early brethren.
The Lord Jesus is the one that God has set forth for us to feed upon, that we might be kept, that we might have the enjoyment of Himself and communion with Himself as we go through this world. And we want to have the true Christ of God to feed on. Dear young people, take up this book.
There is enough between the covers of this book to captivate your heart and mind for all eternity.
I'm sorry that I have days when I am so tired that maybe about all I can do is get a few verses for the enjoyment of my soul. But you know, when I have that, I'm very thankful that I have that.
Think of the souls who have nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Do we value the things that God has given to us, This one that we've been reading of in Colossians chapter 2, the one in whom all the fullness of the God had dwells bodily?
We will have the privilege.
If we know him as our Savior, we will have the privilege of seeing him.
Face to face and hearing these things from his own blessed lips. And I look forward to that time when we're going to be with him.
But for now, when we're left here in this world, we want to lay hold of these things for ourselves, that we might have an abundant entrance into His presence if He worthy of being studied.
Is he worthy of being laid hold of that we might lay hold of Christ? Let's turn to Philippians chapter 3.
And look at a verse there.
Philippians, Chapter 3.
He speaks in verse 11 of being, If by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the dead.
Something of the character of the Christian pathway in a practical way, as the apostle expresses it.
Verse 12 Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect.
But I follow after.
If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
00:50:04
Now we talk about coming to Christ and laying hold of Him.
We hear the expression about being occupied with Christ.
But there's something that we need to understand that went before that, and that is that he has come in in such a way as to lay hold of you.
And JG Billet made the statement, and I think it's quite a statement. It's very simple, but I think it has profoundness to it. If I learn in Scripture that God is speaking, I learned that He is speaking to me.
Because the Bible is set forth in such a way as that it addresses itself to all people.
If God is speaking in His Word, He is speaking to me. There is something about this book and I think this is one of the reasons why this book.
Is maligned and castigated because there is something in this book.
That speaks to the heart of every man, woman and child in this world and there is no escaping that.
We heard about God being loved, but God is also light.
And you know, for many, the light would keep us away.
But the love is what withdraw us.
The light would expose that which we are by nature, but the love would show us.
That no matter what we are or what we've done, and the Lord knows all about it, nothing is hidden from Him.
He is there to bring us into His presence in righteousness.
Without compromising His Holiness in any way, shape or form.
These are things that are for us.
And for our children, for every generation.
And it's all found in the person of the Lord Jesus.
So when we read a passage such as Colossians chapter 2 and we see how the apostle by the Spirit of God expresses himself about this one, know that this is the one that we have been brought to. We need to study him. We need to learn him. There's an expression in one of the epistles about learning Christ.
Study him.
All of God's counsels center in the Lord Jesus.
We see the glory of His grace. We rejoice in that. We see the glory of His judgment.
And we can rejoice in that as well. We see that this blessed one, great David's greater Son, the Lord's anointed, the one that we can praise.
The one.
Lord willing that we would be gathered around tomorrow if He leaves us here to remember him in His death. This is the one that God has exalted. This is the only one that God has exalted.
And this is the only one that God has set forth for our blessing and for our instruction here in this world. You know, I thought when we think of the five books of Moses.
Each of the five books of Moses has its own peculiar character, and I think each of those books tells us something about our own pathway that God would provide for us. You know, in Genesis you see the people of God called.
In Exodus, you see the people of God redeemed.
And in chapter 25 and verse eight of Exodus, he wants them to make a dwelling place where he can dwell among them. You don't see them having a dwelling place for God among them until they are redeemed, until the blood is there.
Once he has his dwelling among the people we see in Leviticus, he sanctifies them.
In the Book of Numbers he guides them, those that he has called and redeemed and sanctified and brought to his dwelling. He guides them through this wilderness journey.
And in the book of Deuteronomy, he instructs them, you know, those are all vital aspects of the Christian pathway, and they all center in the person of the Lord Jesus. We have Our Calling in Christ.
He wants to follow after he hasn't made perfect yet, the apostle Paul.
But he wants to follow after, because he wants to apprehend that for which Christ apprehended him. Christ has laid hold of us, each one of us individually, for a purpose, and now He wants us to follow in that purpose.
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That we might know him and enjoy him forever.
Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
Sanctified, set apart for him.
A holy people.
Guided through this world that is contrary to God. And think of the instruction that we have now, those of us in this day and age who have the full entire word of God. What a blessing.
What a blessing that God has given to us.
May these things be the study and the delight of each of us. Let's pray.
We thank thee, our God and Father, for thy.
Spiritual Poverty … Wealth, Ephesians 1:3, Deuteronomy 15:1-11
Address—B. Prost
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To him who shed his blood.
And cleanse our souls and gave us power to stand before His God.
I've always been interested in those who wrote hymns that kind of lends a different flavor to them.
This hymn was written by beloved brother George V Wigram.
Well known for his ministry.
They'll never forget what a man said to me one time. He wasn't particularly a godly man, although I believe he was a Christian.
And he looked through our Little Flock hymn book.
And it was interesting to hear his observations.
He said Thomas Kelly was a scholar.
He said Jan Darby was a poet.
But he said GB Wigram was a genius.
Rather an interesting comment.
But you know, I have come to appreciate Mr. Wiggum's ministry.
For what it is.
And appreciate the spirit that animated that man in his own quiet way to live for the Lord, to spend his time and his energy and his money. He was a wealthy man for the things, the Lord and for Christ's interest down here.
He was the author of this hymn #91.
Oh, what a dead we all.
For him.
I have before me this afternoon a subject that has been on my heart for the last little while, and I apologize ahead of time for some of those at Morningstar camp who may have heard something of this subject while we were up there.
Some of us were sharing some thoughts privately while we were up there and it was suggested that we have a meeting on this particular subject.
And so I apologize if some of the things we say this afternoon are the same. But I do trust, with the help of the Spirit of God, that it will not be simply repetition of what we have had before, but rather that which is fresh and new in the sense of being the mind of the Spirit of God for the time. And what I have before me today is to talk about spiritual.
Poverty and spiritual wealth.
And I'd like to start off by reading a verse in Ephesians chapter one.
Ephesians, chapter one.
And verse 3.
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
I say to my own heart, as I say to each one here in the words of another, these blessings are for every believer who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. God does not have favorites in His family. Every believer is equally blessed, and here it tells us we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
In Christ.
The question is, how much do we enjoy those blessings? How much do we live and walk in the good of them?
You know, we often find the truths that are presented to us in the New Testament illustrated in the Old.
And I would like to turn back to the book of Deuteronomy, to a passage that I suggest brings before us in tight something of the wealth that God has given to his people and how it is to be you.
Turn back, please, to Deuteronomy chapter 15.
Deuteronomy chapter 15 and verse one.
At the end of every seven years, thou shalt make a release.
And this is the manner of the release. Every creditor that lendeth unto his neighbor shall release it.
He shall not exact it of his neighbor or of his brother, because it is called the Lorde release.
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again, but that which is thine with thy brother.
Thine hand shall release.
Save when there shall be no poor among you, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee foreign inheritance, to possess it only if thou carefully hearken under the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe, to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
For the Lord thy God bless thee, as he has promised thee, as he promised thee, and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow, and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.
If there be among you a poor man in one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother, but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him.
And shall surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth.
Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying, The 7th year, the year of release, is at hand, and thine eye be evil against thy poor brethren. Thou giveest him not, and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou giveth unto him.
Because for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou putest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land. Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy land.
We've had before us in the readings Colossians chapter 2.
And we have seen how that in Colossians we are seen as dead and risen with Christ.
We are seen as having crossed to the Jordan, ready to enter into the land of Canaan.
And yet not having possessed it.
And it was remarked that in the book of Ephesians rather we are in the land, risen and seated in heavenly places in Christ.
I trust that isn't going over the heads of the young people here. And you know, if it's going over your head, may I use an illustration? I've played baseball with young people sometimes and I have noticed, and this is no slur on anyone, but if someone will say 10 or 12 years old takes up the plate.
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People don't say anything, but they just, with one consent, move in. Why do they do that? Because they're not expecting the ball to be hit very far. But if some great big guy gets up there with a good arm and he takes up the bat, heavy hitter, move back, move back. They don't just say, ah, that ball will go over our heads anyway, forget about it. You'll never be able to catch anything he hits.
Maybe they don't always catch it.
But they try, and you know, if sometimes the things of the Lord seem to go over my head or your head.
Let's not just give up. Let's move back. Move back a bit. You might catch it.
And so I believe these things are important, but the question we want to consider this afternoon in the light of God's Word is.
Spiritual wealth and spiritual poverty. And I suggest to you that the book of Deuteronomy particularly applies to Israel in the land.
And this is a chapter for the wealthy. This is a chapter for creditors.
There is plenty said in the Word of God about debtors. We need to pay attention to those scriptures. And if I am a debtor, and often I am, I need to pay attention to those scriptures that talk to those who are debtors and their responsibilities in that debt.
But here we have creditors.
There is a progression here because if you begin in the previous chapter and we don't have time to take it up, you will find that tithing for the Israelite is brought in in the 14th chapter.
There was a tithe every year beginning with the first year.
And in other places we find it was to be 10%. Then in the third year there was another tithe that was for the support of the Levite and others within their gates. And I would suggest that this brings before us an increasing enjoyment of the wealth that God had given his people.
In the Old Testament it was material wealth, it was material things, it was the fruit of that good land that God had given them. For you and for me. It is, I suggest, in tight the increasing enjoyment of those spiritual blessings that we have in Christ.
And you know, God looks for increasing enjoyment. He doesn't want us to stand still. He does not want us simply to be content with that which we already have. No, He wants us to go forward and continually enjoy more and more of all that we have in Christ.
Will never reach the end of it. A brother was commenting on it to me yesterday and we were saying how that in all eternity.
We will not exhaust all of the blessings and all of the wealth that is ours in Christ.
And most of all, we will not exhaust the glories of His blessed person.
But here in this chapter we come to a climax, because here it's the 7th year and in the seventh year there is a display of wealth, I suggest, that surpasses all others. This time it is not merely a tithe that is given to the support of certain things in Israel. This time it is not a tithe that is given to the support of the Levites or others, but rather it takes the character of a release.
A release. What did that mean? It meant that the wealthy man who had lent something to his poor brother.
Was to forgive that death.
I'd like to make an application of that in spiritual things, and I hope it's all right if I get right down to nuts and bolts, so to say, in quite practical about it.
We all know what it is to have contact with those that are wealthy in natural things and how easy it is for them to do something with their money, and more than that, how easy it is for them to look rather lightly on something that is owed them in material things. I don't mean that they are indifferent to the money, but they don't take account of things in the same way they forgive.
Why? Oh, because they have plenty. Because they have plenty.
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I knew a man back home who forgave that was owed to him.
It didn't cost them anything. Why? Because he had so much that he would never miss it.
And you know, here I suggest is an example for you and for me in spiritual things where you and I can use our wealth in the right way.
It's definitely brother to brother here.
Because if it were a stranger, it says thou mayest exact it and we're not going to talk about that or the application of that right now. The important thing is that the year of release applied to brother and brother.
And you and I in the family of God, you and I, as having been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
Have brothers and sisters in Christ.
And the Lord says here there is to be a year of release, and you are to continue doing it as long as well. You keep on doing it until the day comes when there are no poor in the land.
But isn't it striking when you get down further in the chapter as we read? What does it say here?
In verse 11. For the poor shall never cease out of the land.
The poor shall never cease out of the land.
Again, this chapter is for the wealthy, and I am not suggesting that the children of God should remain poor so that the wealthy can give. That's not the thought.
The thought is rather.
The thought is rather, and if I could lay some emphasis on this, the thought is that the poor will never cease out of the land because God wants to give you and me the privilege of acting in his character.
You will all remember the story of the man in the 18th of Matthew who was forgiven a debt of 10,000 talents which would be up in the millions of dollars today and yet when his fellow servant owed him 100 pence he went and grabbed them by the throat and said pay up.
All God has forgiven you and me so much, and He has given you and me. He wants to give you and me the privilege of acting in his character.
What are we talking about here? What kind of debts are we talking about that need to be forgiven?
In my experience and observation, first of all, they tend sometimes to be little things.
Maybe.
I feel that I have earned a certain amount of respect, a certain amount of deference from others, and they don't accord me the respect and the deference that I feel that I ought to have. That wounds me, that hurts me. And maybe I write that down in my ledgers. That's a debt that I store away.
Or maybe I show a kindness to someone.
And they don't thank me for it.
Maybe I send an expensive wedding present to that young couple thinking how much they'll appreciate it, and maybe I never get a thank you card in reply for it. Or maybe I do some special kindness in another way to someone and they take full advantage of it and full advantage of the fact that I'm able to give.
But yet never show any gratitude for it.
Shall we get right down to the bottom line? Well, maybe I shouldn't use that expression.
Sometimes, in my experience and observation, there are those that come to fellowship meals and perhaps they bring two or three or four times as much as they need to.
And then there are others that get in the buffet line and they take two 3-4 times as much as they're entitled to.
And that bothers people sometimes. And on and on it goes. Maybe there is the care of the meeting room. And I resent the fact, perhaps, that I have to go down and mow the grass or get up on a ladder and clean out the gutters, or change the light bulbs or clean up the washrooms, or generally keep things shipshape. And nobody seems to notice and nobody seems to care and everybody just takes it for granted. And when they come to the meetings, they don't even comment on it or say thank you.
Does that happen sometimes? You know very well it does.
But let's carry it to a higher plane.
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And perhaps a more serious one.
Sometimes, sad to say, there are those that are always takers on the spiritual level and who perhaps come to the assembly meetings adding little or nothing. Never seeming to be able to mature spiritually so that they have wealth of their own to offer. Never seeming to be able to contribute very much to the meetings and yet perhaps coming there and expecting to receive and to receive and to receive.
I can remember at least 45 or 50 years ago when I was very young.
There was a brother in our local assembly and I can well remember.
A sister commenting, and not in a mean way or in a bitter way or anything like that. She simply made this comment. She said, well, he doesn't ever seem to learn to walk. She said as long as someone picks him up and carries him then that's fine. But when they set him down, he waits for somebody to pick him up again and carry him a little further. I never forgot that. I knew that dear brother. And unfortunately the observation was bang on, if we could say that. Never seemed to have any wealth.
Of His own. And sometimes I suggest to your heart and mind that there can be in our hearts of thought, Why can't He do any better? Why can't she grow? Why can't she get some wealth of her own? Or why can't He have something to offer of His own? And may I suggest that sometimes these things begin to rankle among the Saints of God? We spiritualize them. Perhaps those debts are real and there is no suggestion.
Here that the debt was not right.
And we say, I want righteousness. I want that. This is wrong.
This is not the way it should be.
Is that the way we sometimes look at things? Yes, I'm afraid we do.
But what did our blessed Savior do for us?
Did He demand righteousness from us? No, he didn't. No, He provided a way where mercy and truth could meet together.
And righteousness and peace could kiss each other.
And in this chapter, as I say again, God is looking at the wealthy, and I want to be careful how I say this because it is not always the case. But sometimes among the people of God there are these bad feelings which then somehow get spiritualized into, well, we have to defend the Lord's honor and glory, you know, and this is wrong before the Lord.
When really it is I that have been wrong. It isn't so much the Lord's honor and glory. It isn't so much that which dishonors the Lord. Yes, spiritual depths in one sense do dishonor the Lord. And it was a disgrace in Israel that there were poor men when they all could have been wealthy. But what does the Lord say? Oh, he says to the wealthy man, You have a privilege of acting in my character.
I'm going to tell a story that happened a few years ago, and once again I'm going to bring in my late father-in-law as Jim Hyland did in the reading.
I remember well.
A brother.
Who was in an assembly?
And I guess it was I that had occasion as a fairly young man to withstand him in the Reading meeting because he said some things that were definitely not according to scripture.
And I remember a few months later, my late father-in-law, Albert Hayhoe, had occasion to speak to me. He knew that brother whom I had withstood.
And he said, Bill, how do you get on with that brother? And I hesitate to say this about myself, but I'm thankful that it was every word True. I said, you know, it's wonderful. We remain very good friends.
And he said, Bill, that's so good, he said, because so often I find that when trouble arises over these things, it's not so much the disagreement over the things of God that is the problem, he said. The difficulty is that those two brethren simply don't like each other.
Those are his words, almost word for word, and I have to say that sometimes that's true. Well, we aren't going to dwell on that. Our time is going. The point is, in this chapter, the wealthy brother is able to make a release.
What does he do? He forgives the debt.
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And there are two points we want to make with respect to that. Let's look at them.
First of all, it says at the end of verse two in our chapter of Deuteronomy 15.
It is called the Lord's release.
It is called the Lord's release.
What does that mean? I'm going to suggest to you a thought. I don't speak dogmatically, but I trust it's the right slant on this when it says it is the Lord's release.
It is the appreciation in my heart of everything that the Lord has done for me.
And then my heart, and yours too, animated with the spirit of grace, says, Oh, I can afford to grant a release to that. I am not. Don't misunderstand me suggesting for one moment that that which is a dishonor to the Lord should simply be brushed under the rug. I am not suggesting that that which touches the person and work of Christ should simply be forgotten.
In the name of granting a release, That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about that which ultimately has to do with spiritual poverty and spiritual wealth.
And here, most of it was an act of omission.
It was a case where the poor brother just didn't have it. He had no money, he had no wealth and he has to come to his wealthier brother and say I need help.
But when it's the Lord's release, it is not simply, if we could use the expression, writing the whole thing off as a bad debt and saying, well, and I'm going to put it into common language, this brother is just a total loser anyway, and there's no use trying to get blood out of a stone. So I'll just have to forget about it. Because if I take that attitude, what is going to happen? You know what is going to happen? I'm going to store that data up in my heart. And I may say with my mouth that I've forgiven.
But in my heart, the debt is still there. It's still on my Ledger book. You owe me.
But when it's the Lord's release, what do I do? Oh, I give it over to the Lord. I say, Lord, because of all that thou hast done, I forgive this death because of all that I have received.
I roll the debt over onto the Lord and say, Lord, this poor brother has nothing to pay.
I leave it with thee and oh I don't. I don't have words to describe this, but notice what it says. And this is the second point we want to make.
The middle of verse 4.
For the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
To possess it.
Oh, what is needed today are wealthy Christians.
All you say, but we're poor. We're at the end of the dispensation of grace. The outward testimony of the Church is ruined. We know that. How can we be rich when there has been such failure?
I suggest to you that Ephesians one and three is as true as it ever was.
I suggest to you that God's riches are just as available on an individual basis as they ever were.
And I suggest that even in the day in which we live, we can have those riches. You'll remember Gideon, when the Midianites came in and took all of the sustenance from the land of Israel, took everything it says. But what was he doing? Threshing wheat behind the winepress? Where did he get the wheat? I don't know, but he had it and he was going to have food.
You will remember in the time of Elijah how that there was a family. Then bring meal.
Where did he get? I don't know, but the Lord provided it for him. And more than that, a man came from Bail, Silesia, with special loaves of barley, the first fruits. Where did he get them in a time of famine? I don't know, but God provided them. And I suggest to everyone of us here, and if I may say to the young people, you can be a wealthy believer today.
But how is that wealth demonstrated? How is that wealth used? I say primarily here. The wealth is demonstrated by our being able to forgive the debts and to give out that largest to others without any withholding. How can I do that? How can I keep giving and giving and giving?
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Am I going to get empty? The Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land, whither thou ghost into possess it.
You know, in the early days of Israel.
And the verses were read to us in the readings. Joshua conquered all the land.
But then it says a few chapters further on, that there remaineth very much land to be possessed.
Possessed.
And we want to lay some emphasis on that, because what is it to be spiritually wealthy? Is it to know my Bible backwards and forwards?
That's part of it. And I want you to read the Word of God. I want to read the Word of God myself. Is it to know our written ministry so well that I can quote from our various good writers? That's good too.
And I want each one of us to be diligent in reading the helps and the ministry that God has given us.
Is it to be able to go to many conferences and hear the truth of God ministered?
That's part of it, and I want each one of us to do that. As much as God gives us the opportunity. Is it to be going to the assembly meetings and learning the things of God? Indeed it is.
But it's more than that.
Excuse me?
It's more than that, and to illustrate it, I'd like to turn to another verse in Deuteronomy in the 7th chapter.
Deuteronomy 7.
Verse 22.
Deuteronomy 7/22 And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little.
Thou mayest not consume them at once.
Lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
May I suggest most of all to my own heart?
That there is a grave danger among those gathered to the Lord's name of the beasts of the field increasing upon us.
What does that mean?
In Luke's Gospel, and it's repeated this verse more than once, perhaps at least five, maybe six times in the Gospels with variations.
We get these words. To him that hath shall be given, but unto him that hath not.
Even shall be taken away from him that which he seemeth to have.
What does that mean? I believe that ties in with this verse in Deuteronomy.
Because if I have truth, that is up here.
But I do not live and walk in the good of it.
It is going to be like land that I have conquered but not really possessed.
It was like some of the children of Israel where there was a danger of going out and conquering so much land that they could not cultivate it and use it in the right way, and then they were enjoying the fruits of that land. They just had land.
And having the truth of God without walking in it is like having the land without cultivating it. And what is going to happen? The beasts of the field are going to increase. I suggest the beasts of the field practically are the attacks of Satan that come in because of the discrepancy between what we know and what we walk in practically. And you know, there was no use for an Israelite pretending to be rich if he wasn't.
And there is no use in you or I pretending to be rich spiritually if we aren't.
We have all seen people in this world who pretended to be rich and they still do. How do they do it? They Max out their credit cards on someone else's wealth and they may appear to be throwing their money around and they may appear to be very wealthy. But you know and I know that sooner or later A reckoning time has to come and the debt has to be paid. And then they find out that they are not creditors as they would like to pretend to be. They are debtors.
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So that we cannot pretend to have spiritual wealth.
But I suggest to you and to me that real spiritual wealth is something to be desired.
There is no discrepancy between this chapter and Exodus 21. Exodus 21 has the emphasis on the debtor.
Deuteronomy 15 has the emphasis on the creditor, and when the creditor is in question, he acts in all of the largess, all of the blessing, all of the grace, and all of the love of God Himself.
And practically, may I say.
What is needed, perhaps, in the context in which we are talking our more brethren with wealth.
And again I say it is a matter of walking in it.
I'm going to reminisce a little bit if I may be allowed to do this.
I can remember sitting in a Bible conference.
Back in 1958.
A long time ago, isn't it?
And I remember another brother in that meeting, and he reminisced.
That was Harry Hagel.
And he said, you know, I can remember being at the Saint Louis Conference in 1905.
And he said, I could tell you today what Walter Potter ministered on at that conference.
But then he remained. He made a remark that I never forgot.
He said. I have learned much from those dear brother and I have been impressed with their gift and their knowledge of Scripture.
But he said what impressed me far more than all of that was their godliness, and that is what lent weight to their words.
Real spiritual wealth.
Has to do not so much with knowledge as with godliness.
William Kelly made a remark one time that I repeated to someone here. I think it was either yesterday or early this morning.
And he used the imagery of sailing vessels.
He said. You know, we often want more power.
And he said we'd like to have more sales so that we'd have more power.
But he went on to say that if we had more power, we probably wouldn't know what to do with it or how to use it effectively.
And rather, what we need is more ballast to carry the truth that we already have.
I think he hit the nail on the head.
Well, let's go on in this chapter here because there are a couple of more thoughts we want to bring out.
Back to Deuteronomy 15.
Deuteronomy 15 and verse 9.
Beware.
That there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying the 7th year, the year of release is at hand.
And thine I be evil against thy poor brother.
And they'll give us him not.
And he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
The Darby, if you'll notice, is even more explicit in this verse.
When it says A thought in thy wicked heart, the Darby, I believe reads, or at least it's in a footnote as I recall, A thought of Belial or Belial, a satanic thought.
Oh, a satanic thought in my heart against my brethren. Yes, the Lord lays His finger on the origin of those thoughts. There can be the thought in my heart.
I am wealthy. I am spiritually wealthy, but I had to get it by hard digging. I had to get it by really applying myself in the Lord's presence. I had to do a lot of reading. I had to apply myself when others were, well, wasting time perhaps on that. And now do they have a right to come to me and have a claim on my spiritual wealth when they have been so lazy? No way. And that's the thought that is advanced here. No way. Go get your own wealth. Go get your own things.
I'm tired of always being on the giving end.
Brethren, the Lord says that's a thought of Satan.
The thought of Satan. Now again this chapter is for wealthy people.
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Does the debtor have something to think about? Yes, he does. Should he be coming cap in hand to someone else when he ought to have the spiritual energy to get his own wealth? Of course not. He should not have to come that way. But the Word of God has plenty to say to the debtor. The point we are going at is on the positive side and I would like to encourage you.
There's no reason why you can't be spiritually wealthy. The verse was quoted to us from Ephesians. Let him that stole steal no more.
But what does God say? Let him labor with his hand the thing that is good, that he may be able to provide for his own needs.
It's not what it says that he may have to give to him that needeth. And you know, there's a wonderful blessing for those that are willing to be givers and givers and givers because ultimately that is the heart of God.
And I suggest today, and I don't want to hammer this point too much, but what is needed among the Saints of God are individuals who are ready to go out and to say.
I want that land. I want the things of Christ. And again, I emphasize it is not merely a body of knowledge. That's not what we are talking about. It is rather in order that we might have that land, all those things that Christ has given us, But to what end?
That we may enjoy him the more because those spiritual blessings.
Are in heavenly places in Christ and the essence of spiritual wealth is learning more of that Blessed One and walking with him. I believe our brother Dave Newbie had that in his heart when he was speaking yesterday. And if this sounds like a double whammy, well so be it. But I want to emphasize that to each one of our hearts that spiritual wealth is there. And you know if I can say it.
When you have assemblies where there are spiritually wealthy people, you don't have so many problems. I don't mean there are no problems because the devil is going to come in and do his best to spoil anything that honors the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the best of circumstances he is going to bring in difficulties or attempt to do so.
But, and it's a big but, it is not so much the difficulties that cause the problem, but how we meet them and when the difficulties are met by those who have spiritual wealth.
Oh, what a difference it makes. Yes, the Lord's glory may have to be stood up for. Bad doctrine may have to be spoken against. There may have to be those that stand up and say we cannot before the Lord go on with this. But at the same time it will not be mixed up with things that have to do with self. There will be a forgiving of those things. So that as a dear brother said many years ago, where love exists.
There is never any difficulty.
Sometimes it's hard, isn't it? Because sometimes.
It gets to be a tiresome thing that there's always those poor in the land, doesn't it? It gets to be a tiresome thing that those poor just keep coming.
And coming and coming. And if it were only my own resources that I was dipping into over and over again, I might well get discouraged and say, Lord, I'm going to hit the bottom of the barrel pretty soon.
But what am I going to find when I dip into that barrel? I'm going to find, as Elijah did, that the barrel of meal wasted not neither did the crews of oil fail. Not only is there going to be more in the barrel every time I come, I am going to get richer and richer and richer. Now, we don't do it for that reason. That's not the thought. But you ask a believer that is spiritually wealthy and that continues to give. If he gets poor by it, oh, I can tell you, he'll say no, no, no.
I get richer and richer all the time.
And you a brother once who got a little tired of things one time.
And his wife got a little tired of them too, I guess. And in their talking together, they were saying something about it.
And how it was hard always to be handing things out.
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Finally, the brother looked at his wife. I understand. And he said something like this. He said, Well dear, which one of those poor brethren would you like to trade places with? Which one of those poverty stricken brethren would you like to trade places with, or would you rather be the one that is wealthy?
Oh, there's always going to be the poor in the land, but God wants to give you and me that spiritual wealth to be able to dispense and to grant the year of release.
But I want to say this and then we'll go on to, we only have a few minutes left. I want to say this.
You have to live in the land for seven years before you can grant a release, and that doesn't mean an actual period of time. It means that you have conquered the land little by little. It means that you have cultivated it and enjoyed the fruits of it. It does not come all at once. And no doubt it was not easy for the Israelite to go out, first of all to conquer with his sword and get that land, then to be diligent in cultivating it in order to enjoy the fruits.
But then the time came when he could enjoy them, and I would suggest that the 7th year, the year of release, coincided with what we might call the Sabbatical year of Israel.
It was a sabbatical. We know that Israel was to till their fields for six years.
And then in the seventh year, they were to let it lie foul, and they were to enjoy a year with no work.
And you know, spiritually, the Lord often gives us that if we work hard, if we are diligent in His things, He gives us a chance to enjoy all that we have in Christ. I don't mean that we take a year off. That's not the thought. But there is a time of enjoyment, and it coincided with the year of release. Why? Oh, because how could I enjoy the things of Christ?
Pardon me.
How can I enjoy the?
How can I enjoy the things of Christ?
If I'm storing up a debt in my heart, how can I enjoy the things of the Lord and their fullness if all the time my heart is rankling and sour because, well, you didn't pull your weight, you didn't do your share, you're not helping out the way you should. Oh no, I can't do it in the right way. What I need to do is grant a release.
Do you know if I'm if I don't grant that release, what is going to happen?
We don't have time to turn to the Scriptures, but you know, and I know that about the time of David.
They evidently stopped.
Letting the land life follow every 7th year. They didn't give the land its rest and for about 500 years.
They just went on tilling the land every year.
And we know what happened.
There were other reasons why they went into captivity, but one reason was because they had not given the land its rest.
They had not granted that release, and so the Lord sends them into captivity for 70 years.
To make up for the 70 years of sabbatical that they had not kept for 490 years, they had not given the land its rest. And God says, I will give it its rest, and you will go into captivity for 70 years. And I suggest to your brethren on the spiritual level that if you and I are not prepared as wealthy sons of God to grant a release, we're going to go into captivity. We're going to suffer under the government of God because we have not acted in God's character.
Have not acted in his ways. We have not granted that release.
But again, I can't grant that release unless I am in the full enjoyment of the wealth that God has given.
In the few minutes that are left, let's look at the last part of the chapter. Well, not the last part, but verses 12 to 18.
And if thy brother and Hebrew man, or in Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee.
And served these six years. Then in the seventh year thou shalt let them go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty.
Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress of that wherewith the Lord thy God have blessed thee. Thou shalt give unto him, and thou shalt remember that thou hast abandonment in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee. Therefore I command thee this thing today.
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And it shall be, if you say unto thee, I will not go away from thee.
Because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee, then thou shalt take an all and thrust it through his ear under the door, and he shall be thy servant forever. And also unto thy maidservant shalt thou do likewise. It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee, for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee in serving thee six years. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
In this case.
Things went a little further.
It was not merely a death in this case.
This time, the brother had gotten into such dire straits.
That instead of merely being in debt.
He had had to be sold and had to serve the one to whom he was indebted for six years.
I want to be careful about making an application to this, but sometimes in the spiritual realm, things go beyond, shall we say, a mere death. It is not merely a matter of someone's not contributing what they ought to, either in the material sense or in the spiritual sense, but perhaps something that goes beyond that, where there has been a serious mistake made, Where there?
Shall we say has been a sin committed.
And thus I become a debtor to.
To my brother in a more serious way.
And I'm sold for a period of time. The time here is figurative, it's not exact.
But in Israel it was to be six years.
But then the time came.
When that brother could go free again, I don't suggest a direct application, but I do suggest that it could even mean unhappily.
That the individual in question had to become the object of discipline by the assembly.
I don't think that's reaching out of the passage here to suggest that as a possible application. But even falling short of that, there can be a situation where we are in a position that we are in more serious debt to our brethren and we're sold for a period of time.
But then the time comes when we're going to go free, and what is the wealthy brother to do? What is the wealthy sister to do? Let that brother go free, yes, but let him go with the label of a criminal with on him all his life.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that the government of God may not sometimes have far reaching effects even after my heart is fully restored to the Lord. That's not what we're talking about. But let's remember that the government of God is just that. It's not the government of the assembly or the government of man. It's the government of God. And if God chooses in His government to lay His hand on me, that's one thing. But let me be very careful that I don't lay my hand on my brother.
And then call it the government of God because I may be mistaken. But the point is here.
How do the wealthy act towards that poor brother?
Oh, they furnish him liberally. They furnish him liberally.
Why? Oh, because the thought is, let's set him back on his feet. Let's enable him once more to try and go forward.
And not get into that fix again, not get into that situation again. We want this brother to have wealth. We want this brother to prosper.
I can say it publicly that there are those sitting right here who have done that for me, who reached out their hand with their wealth and gave it when I needed it.
And I'll never forget it. I'm thankful for brethren that had enough wealth to be able to do that and to hand it out and say, here it is.
Wonderful the privilege of doing that because God wants all his children to be wealthy and he doesn't want the poor man to stay poor. He says you that are wealthy, oh you reach out to him, give him some capital. If we could talk in the current terminology, he hasn't got any capital because if he'd had any spiritual wealth, he wouldn't have gotten into this situation in the 1St place. Give him some capital so that he can get a fresh start and go on.
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Wonderful to have that privilege as a wealthy son of God.
But then what happens? Oh, there might be a situation and it says so here, where the brother says, but I don't want to do that. I don't feel capable. I want to stay with you. You are wealthy. You have been kind to me. I want to stay with you. There's no conflict here between Exodus 21, I say, and Deuteronomy 15 and Exodus 21. The emphasis on the type brings before us the Lord Jesus as the perfect servant who says, I love my master, my wife.
And my children, I will not go out free. And he becomes a servant forever.
But here the emphasis is on the wealthy Israelite being able to take his poor brother and help them. And maybe the poor brother says, I don't think I'm capable. I just don't.
Think that I can use that capital wisely.
I'm content to stay here with you.
Is anything lost by that? No. Why? Oh, because the love that he has enjoyed from his wealthy brother, the care that has been taken of him, the way he has been treated when he is a servant leads him to look up to that one.
Yes, he was a servant and he couldn't get out from under that. And he had no doubt to obey orders at times and to do things that were a bit of drudgery to him. All of that was true. But such was the heart of the wealthy ones exercised under those circumstances that when the time comes for that poor brother to go out free, instead of wanting to walk away and saying, oh, boy, glad that's over. Oh, no, he says, I want to remain with you. I want to enjoy more of your wealth. I will work for you. I will be a servant.
If only you will let me live under your roof, under your direction, under your protection, and enjoy your wealth.
What a privilege that is. Well, we've crammed a lot into an hour that I'd suggest gives our heart something to think about.
But I suggest to your heart and mind that God once again is looking.
For wealthy sons and daughters today, it's possible to have it. It's all still there. We won't turn to the Scripture. You can look it up. I think it's in Second Chronicles, where way down in the time of Hezekiah, long after that land hadn't been entered into and conquered and possessed, there were those that had spiritual energy to go out and conquer some more land because they took hold of the promises of God.
And said we want to have what God has given us. And I believe the same challenge can be thrown out to each one of us today. It is not an easy day. We're not living in Apostolic times. But the wealth is all still there, mainly because the wealth is in Christ and all that he is.
Let's close with another hymn.
And I'd like to sing one that we can sing almost without the hymn book.
#23.
How good?
Is the God we adore our faithful, unchangeable friend?
Then verse two tis Jesus, the 1St and the last, whose spirit shall guide us safe home.
Praise Him for all that is passed, and trust Him for all that's to come. If you look in the back of your book, you'll see this hymn was written by a man by the name of Joseph.
2 Corinthians 8:9, Genesis 26:12-19 Wells, Heb 12:1-4 Focus on Jesus
Open—K Rawlings, S. Francis, R. Thonney
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Encouraging it to me in Romans chapter 10.
I'm thinking I can find it easier in my heart that I can find it in black and white, the same Lord over all.
Is rich unto all that call upon him.
You know the grace.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He was rich when he was.
He that was rich made himself poor, that we might be made rich. I'm sorry, I need to turn to that page.
2 Corinthians.
Chapter 8, verse nine. For ye know that grace.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich.
Yet for your sakes, he became poor.
That ye, through his poverty, might be rich.
Remember how on the cross?
There's an expression or two, they expressed that poverty.
I thirst.
And.
They gave him vinegar to drink.
Well, how many hearts here would be so glad now to give them a drink?
Well, you can still do that.
You know, time doesn't mean that much.
To God in that way.
Well, there is time for you and me under this day of grace.
Does God want you to be rich? Let's turn to.
Revelation chapter 3.
I'll just start with verse 14. And unto the Angel of the lay of the Seans, right these things saith.
The Amen.
The faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou Wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.
That I counsel thee, that thou mayest be rich.
Oh, how he loved.
Oh, how we lost.
Verse 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
I counseled thee to buy of me gold, tried in the fire that thou mayest be rest.
Well.
He knows what it is.
To go through the fire, he knows what it is.
Come out after that Rich.
Raised by the glory of the Father.
Seated in glory.
The highest glory. It speaks of Him having passed through the heavens.
And I have enjoyed something in Hebrews 1.
That.
Tells to my heart how much God.
Appreciates his beloved son, how much he honors him.
With all his heart and soul, if I could put it that way.
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Uh, Hebrews 1.
It says.
Verse 5.
No, that's not the verse I'm looking at wanting to look at here.
Verse 8 But unto the Son, this is God speaking here, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy Kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Wonderful things expressed here.
Does God worship?
It looks like it to me. Here it's.
It looks like here in this verse, God has set his son.
The glorified man above him.
I thrown Oh God is forever and ever.
Exalted him to the highest place in heaven.
When Jesus was here, he said my Father is greater than I.
My father is greater than high.
And he lived for his father's name.
And now the father exalts the name of the son for us to appreciate.
And eternal life, what is that? He defines it for us in that verse in John 17. And this is eternal life, that they might know these the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
May we seek him to know him. It will certainly enrich our souls. That's what made David.
Such a great man as he was, he had.
A heart to seek God. He would seek to know God right at the very heart.
And that's how he was such an overcomer. In a day like when Ziklag was burned, he came back and his own men were about ready to destroy him.
He knew the heart of his God. He'd proven his God, just like he'd proven the stone and the sling before he ever met Goliath. And so he'd proven the heart of God.
Before he ever came to that surprise attack of the Malachites, there to Ziklak any recovered awe. The same Lord overall is rich unto all that call upon him.
Remember what a brother Dave said yesterday about David David's name occurring?
More times than Scripture.
And any other name that I can think of in mankind. I don't know that for sure myself either, but I wouldn't doubt it. Last week I was. I wanted to know something about David, and I started looking. I thought it'd be easy to find this first about David. And I could not believe my strong concordance. How many times the name David, How many verses David was found in? But what a man he was.
He is.
I I, I believe I truly admire the man because I see my Savior and him.
And how beautiful it is.
That God wants to see his Son manifested in people.
He honors a man like David, a man like Abraham, a woman like JL or Deborah.
And in a certain sense.
Then we know what we ought to know, how dependent we are on God, but the sovereign, Almighty God.
Has chosen in a dispensational way.
In this creation, to make himself dependent on the creature. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
It depends on our faith.
To see Christ manifested on earth, He depends upon our faith and obedience.
Or we know it comes from him originally. It does.
But you know, how can we have fellowship with God really, if we are not like Him?
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In so many ways.
And as Jesus is the express image of his person, His purpose is that we be conformed to his image. It's that we might know Him and as such be able to serve Him.
And know Him and enjoy Him for all eternity. That is eternal life.
About 10 years ago I was at a conference like this, but with a different.
Group of brethren.
And I remember a brother getting up at an open meeting like this and he spoke on a portion in this chapter. I was saved about 10 years ago and I remember at the time when I was saved.
That I was on fire for the Lord, but I didn't know.
As much about scripture as I do now.
But I remember what this brother spoke about. I remember specifically.
What he talked about, and I've never forgotten what he said about this portion. I remember what was happening at the time in the meeting. I remember and I at the time I didn't know why he gave this message.
And spoke about this portion.
So I'm going to begin reading.
Verse 12.
Genesis 2612. Then Isaac sold in that land.
And received in the same year, and hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, and the man waxed great, and went forward and grew, until he became very great, for he had possession of flocks.
And possession of herds and great store of servants. And the Philistines envied him, for all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father. The Philistines had stopped them and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us, for thou art much mightier than we. And Isaac departed fence and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged.
And the days of Abraham's father.
For the Philistines have stopped him after the death of Abraham, and he called their names.
After the names by which his father had called them and Isaac's servants.
Dig in the valley and found their wealth of springing water.
So this is the portion.
That the brother spoke about and he specifically mentioned.
Or focused on Isaac renaming the wells?
So Isaac had to dig the wells again that Abraham had done, because they were filled in with earth. The Philistines filled in the wells with earth.
What names did Isaac give the wells? What names?
Did he give those wells?
He gave them the same name and his father had given them the same names.
I think didn't have to use.
Same names, he could have came up with something new.
Came up with something new, maybe that's something we would have done. But Isaac didn't. He didn't come up with new names. He used the same names.
At that time.
Ten years ago, I remember a lot of new ideas were coming in to the meeting, a lot of new things.
I saw some of those things. I remember being in those things for a number of years at conferences.
Like this?
And the brother that got up.
Didn't feel that those things were according to scripture and so he brought out this passage.
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So there is a danger, there is a danger that new ideas can come in to the meeting, ideas from the world.
This reminds me of the children of Israel I believe when they were in the wilderness.
They grew tired of the manna and they started doing or creating.
New things, I'm not sure if they added to the manna, but they did new things with the manna. They retired with the same old manner.
So there is always a danger. There is a danger of going along with the world of.
Of bringing in new ideas.
But Isaac Isaac used the same name.
The same names. We're told not to remove the old landmarks, and we shouldn't.
Believe we're doing what we're doing because of tradition. You know, I'm, I'm a young person and there are young people here and maybe even older ones.
Maybe sometimes we think we do what we do because of tradition, like the way we gather, maybe certain things that we do in the meeting, do we do them because of tradition? I hope not. I hope that's not what we think because they're not because of tradition. You know that what I went through and what my family and I went through there with that other group.
Led me to ask questions about why we do things the way we do. What authority, Why? Why do we gather the way we do on Lord's Day? How come we don't gather like other Christians? You know, that's an important issue in the day in which we live now. Maybe not much of an issue during New Testament times when there wasn't different ways or other ways. But now in the day in which we live, Christians are scattered, are scattered, and they worship in different ways.
But why do we worship the way we do? It's a good question to ask. We shouldn't rely upon our families. We shouldn't think that. OK, well, I was born into the meeting. Well, then this is just the right thing to do. Because my parents believe this, we'll all believe this too. And it's easy to fall into that. It's easy to fall into the situation where we don't want to want to be curious, don't really feel like asking. We just kind of go along with things.
But that's not the way the Lord would have us because.
We all know that Christianity is a very individual relationship, that we were born into this world alone. And I don't mean born lonely. That's not what I mean. I don't mean that God wasn't with us when we were born. What I mean is we were born alone as individuals into this world.
And if we don't see the Lord come in our lifetime, we're also going to leave this world as individuals alone. So it's a very individual relationship.
But Isaac was happy to rename the wells.
Or give them the same names. Give them the same names that his father gave.
Three years ago or so, Two or three years ago at the Burbank conference.
I heard a brother get up at A at a meeting like this. It was Brother Heinz Heinz Brinkman.
Got off it during an open meeting and spoke on this same passage.
But he spoke about something different. He didn't speak about Isaac giving the wells the same names that his father gave. He spoke of Isaac having to re dig the wells. Isaac had to re dig the wells himself.
So what does that mean for me?
For what does that mean?
For you.
That Isaac had to own the truth for himself. That he had to dig and own the truth for himself.
That's something that we're all going to have to do, if we haven't done it already. We're going to have to own the truth for ourselves.
We can sit in meetings.
And listen to it. But how about when we're at home?
Are we curious? Do we read on our own?
We don't have to go through difficult trials in order to find out for ourselves, in order to have curiosity. We should have that curiosity anyway.
Curiosity for the truth, to own it for ourselves. And what does that mean? It means not to have it all up here, but to.
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Have it in our hearts to hold it and value it in our hearts. And that is a big difference because once we have it in our hearts, then it begins to change our lives. Once we value it, but we have to re dig it ourselves. We can't rely on the brethren of old and say, well, they dug the wells and we don't have to dig them anymore, but we have to re dig them ourselves. We have to ask the same questions that they ask, the same questions that led them to read on their own.
And to discover.
The truth.
And if we have that curiosity, God will show us. God will reveal us.
The truth. Does God want us to have that curiosity as individuals? Of course he does.
And he gives us the invitation.
Well, one of them is in Isaiah chapter 55. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 55.
Isaiah 55 and verse one.
Oh, everyone that hurts him, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money.
Come eat, buy and eat. Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money.
And without price, wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread in your labor, for that which satisfy it not Hearken diligently unto me, and EE that which is good, and let your soul delight itself. And fatness.
So there's the invitation, everyone that thirsted come you to the waters, and he that has no money come and buy and eat.
So we don't need the money of this world.
To receive it.
We don't need the money of this world.
It's free.
All we need to do is ask.
To reach out and take it, but we have to wonder for ourselves.
We can't just go along with the way things are because.
Because they've been done for many years. I don't think God wants us to have that attitude where we should understand for ourselves why and re dig and learn the truth for ourselves.
You know that in that portion that our brother just read there in Revelation 3, the Church of Laodicea, it was a letter to the Church of Laodicea. And towards the end of that the Lord says that he stands at the door and knocks.
Well, what does that tell us?
Standing at the door of our hearts and he's knocking. Well, it tells me that the door is closed.
And that I'm not near the door. He's knocking, so why is the door closed in the first place?
Why is the door closed and he's knocking?
So the Lord is coming to us. He's knocking on the door of our hearts.
And all we have to do is open that door.
So Isaac had to re dig the wells just as we have to.
Re dig them ourselves.
I have a question. Does the truth have the power to keep us? The truth that we know doesn't have the power to keep us in our walk?
It doesn't. The truth by itself has no power to keep us.
Only God has the power to keep us, that we can have all the truth in the world and still we cannot. It will not, it will not keep us by itself. Only God can keep us. He's the one that keeps us from falling. And that's why we depend upon Him. That's why we depend upon Him in prayer. That's why we pray that God will keep us and preserve us in our walk, because it's not about the truth that we know. It's about God's grace in our lives. It's preserving grace.
But we should be curious and re dig the wells just as Isaac.
Redignant.
Book of Hebrews, chapter 12 brethren. Quite a well known chapter.
Just to go over some things that I think are so important for us.
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I suppose this is a chapter that we've all gone over many times, that, you know, the word of God is living and operative and for as much as we go over it many times.
If the Spirit of God leads us to go over it once again, there's profit there for us.
Let's just read. I don't know if we'll get through the whole chapter, but there are things I would like to focus on in this chapter. The beginning at verse one, it says, wherefore seen, we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.
The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Four, Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind, you have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin.
Here the apostle is speaking about the cloud of witnesses that we have in Chapter 11. But he says.
Given those cloud of witnesses, they are a great encouragement. We go back to the Old Testament scriptures and read those stories of those Old Testament witnesses to the faith. What an encouragement they are, What a help they are. What lessons we learn from those scriptures.
And he says in verse two, looking unto Jesus. And I understand that the thought there in looking is looking away unto Jesus. In other words, really focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And brethren, we do need that. We need to have our focus right.
There are.
Examples in Scripture we have when the Lord Jesus took the three disciples up to the Mount of Transfiguration, you remember there appeared with him in glory Moses and Elias. Those two men were men that God mightily used in Israel in Old Testament times. Moses took the children of Israel from Egypt to the borders of the land of Canaan.
What a man. What a tremendous man.
Elijah was a prophet that God used in the mighty way to turn.
The children of Israel back to the Lord God of Israel again.
And these three disciples, Peter, James, and John, had never seen these two men before, and they stood in awe of these two men. But what they did not realize was that in looking at these two men, they had taken their eyes off the one that God meant for them to be occupied with.
And that happens in our experience, brethren, we tend to look at brethren who perhaps the Lord has used in a very helpful way.
And we become occupied with them.
The Lord help us to not do that, brethren, to look away unto Jesus. You remember what happened.
Peter gets his mouth in gear before he really thinks about it. It says he didn't know what he was saying, and he says Lord.
It's good for us to be here. Let us make 3 tabernacles, one for thee. He put the Lord first. At least one for Moses and one for Elias.
But what he didn't realize.
That he made a bad mistake in putting the Lord Jesus on the same level.
As those other two.
And immediately a cloud covers them.
Those two, they disappear.
And a voice comes out of the cloud that was the Shekinah cloud, the presence of the Lord, and that voice said, This is my beloved Son, hear ye him. Oh, how important it is to have the focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we so tend to become occupied with brethren for good or for bad.
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And the enemy doesn't care in what way he does it.
Just so you get your eyes off of that one that God means you to be occupied with. That's the way He does it, brethren. I just say that because I do believe that sometimes we focus so on perhaps brethren that are useful that we are a stumbling block to those brethren themselves.
Thank God for them, pray for them.
But don't focus on them.
Focus on God's beloved Son looking away unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It's looked at as a Christian race here. It's a race.
And it's a long distance race. It's a matter of endurance. That word patience in verse one could be endurance.
It's continuing and I know sometimes when things get tough in our lives, the tendency is to say.
It's just too hard. I'm not going to be able to keep up the pace.
I'm going to lay down. You're not going to win that way.
What we are encouraged to do is to think of the Lord Jesus. It says in verse three. Consider him that endures such contradiction of sinners against himself. Lest you be wearied and faint in your minds, consider Him.
I love the way it says it in the old Spanish translation.
I can translate it literally. It says in verse three, Reduce your thoughts to him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.
Reduce your thoughts to him.
You know, sometimes we have weight reduction programs.
And they're fairly good I guess.
But we need sometimes thought reduction programs. Our thoughts go helter skelter in One Direction in another direction. We need to gird up the loins of our minds. What does that mean to control your thinking?
Bring your thoughts back to Him. He endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Whether Bill was talking about the problems that arise amongst God's people, how sometimes we get offended by one thing and another and a brother doesn't do us right. You know why we think those thoughts is because we're self-centered. We're thinking about ourselves. He did me in. I can't let him off the hook.
Until he apologizes properly.
Reduce your thoughts to him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. Oh, and I think of him how he suffered from the hands of his creature man, how when they were pounding those nails through his hands, indeed, he said, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.
He relegated that awful sin they were doing to a sin of ignorance. That's why there's mercy. If he hadn't done that, there wouldn't have been mercy, because in the Old Testament times, the sin of doing it knowingly was not forgiven.
There could be, if it was a sin of ignorance.
Mercy Extended.
So the Lord now relegates that as a sin of ignorance. And there's mercy. Oh, how important these lessons are.
How we need to reduce our thoughts to Him. I have to confess, brethren, and please don't get the idea that I'm pointing my finger at anybody out there because I find so much fleshliness in my own heart that I hesitate to point the finger in any other direction. I know that there's a lot to be judged right here, but we live in a culture that is self-centered.
00:35:14
Everything makes you do things for yourself. The advertising system is built that way.
I like to go to Burger King.
They have a saying. Have it your way. That's all right. If you don't like it with onions, that's fine. Don't get it with onions.
But that type of thinking permeates our culture.
And we need to realize that so often we are thinking with ourselves at the middle of our thoughts.
And the exhortation of Scripture is, Reduce your thoughts to him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind. We haven't striven against sin unto blood. We have not given our lives for the principles we hold.
Then we have nothing to claim against somebody else. Brother can't do it.
The next section here in this chapter speaks of discipline.
And verse five says, You have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
My son, despise not thou the chasing of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him.
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourge up. That's even a stronger term, Every son whom he receiveth.
Everywhere I go in my visits around, I find real trouble and problems and trials and sickness and accidents.
Why?
Because we have a father that loves us.
He loves us so much, he's not going to let us go on the way we do.
Without intervening in our lives.
What I feel is so important, brethren, whatever area trouble arises to afflict me.
Is to accept it from his hand. He's allowed it.
Brother Dave spoke of.
David two days ago when he was escaping from Jerusalem.
And how he accepted that from the hand of God. It's beautiful. You remember there was a man called Shimmy Eye who cursed him and throws stones at him.
And Abishai, one of David's nephews, said, let me go take off his head.
And David said, don't you do a thing God has said to shimmy. I cursed David, let him curse.
I think it's so beautiful to see how he accepted that negative reaction from that man, from the Lord. Do we know how to do that? I sometimes think we look at each other and we say that brother did that to me. That sister, she didn't really consider me.
Brethren, if we're looking at each other, we are short sighted. We need to look beyond that brother or that sister. We need to look up into the throne of God. There is One who loves us and orders every single circumstance in our lives for our own good and blessing.
Oh, how important it is to accept it from the Lord.
Remember one of the lessons the Lord taught?
And really ingrained in my own soul. And I went back to work in Chicago. I worked at Bible Truth Publishers for a while. And then I was called into the service, the government and served two years in a hospital. And in the hospital, there was an accident right in front of my eyes. One of my fellow workers got killed, pinched between 2 trucks.
And if that wasn't enough.
They there was a course of lawsuits afterwards, the widow of the man was a young man, sued the trucking company and the trucking company turned around and sued myself and the hospital has jointly responsible for the death of that man.
00:40:07
And I still remember how my head was going around in circles.
Couldn't figure out what was going on.
But a little quote from one of Mr. Darby's books set me at peace. He says this one of his practical volumes. He says every single circumstance in the light of a Christian comes directly from the hand of God. Looking at second causes is the basis of practical infidelity.
Was that mean?
I'm looking at second causes, not recognizing that the Lord was saying something to me in that.
It was practical infidelity that hit me like a sledgehammer. I still remember going to my bedside and kneeling down and said, OK, Lord, you've got something to say to me. I don't know what it is, but I want to understand. I'm here. I hope I'm in the listening mode right now.
And the peace that the Lord gave me.
Was tremendous. The trial lasted for four years. After that finally settled and the Lord completely delivered me, but He had something to say to me.
It took a pretty hard blow to get me to listen. Why is it that we don't listen? Every single little circumstance is ordered by that man in the glory.
He has something to say to us. Let's listen to him. Don't be pointing the finger and blaming this brother or that brother or this set of circumstances. Don't do that. Look beyond to the God who's the God of circumstances and who controls every circumstance he's behind.
Says here in verse 5 two things that we are not to do.
Not to despise the changing of the Lord.
Nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Those are the two natural reactions of our hearts. And I think it is.
So important to.
Listen to this you're not going to get the blessing if you despise it. What's despising it?
If you have an accident, Oh well, that happens to anybody.
We've got insurance, they'll take care of it all and it'll all be settled.
Careful not to despise the chasing of the Lord. If we don't listen to Him in that small accident, He might have to allow something a little larger so that we will listen.
Despising we're not to do that nor faint fainting is saying to the Lord basically this is just too much. I can't handle this. I can't handle this anyway that's fainting anymore. Neither one or the other brings positive results. Don't do it. What it then should we do when there are trials in our lives and we all have them brethren, I know we do verse 11 notice.
No chastening, for the present seemeth to be joyous.
But grieve us.
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the priest always for correction of something bad that we do. We find in Second Corinthians that Paul received a thorn in the flesh so that he would not be exalted. He had been in heaven, he had seen the Lord, and there was a tendency in Paul that the Lord saw.
That he might become exalted.
And so that that would not happen, he gave him a thorn in the flesh. Somebody has called it preventative discipline, not for some bad thing that Paul had done. So we don't have to think that it's always for something bad we've done. It may be, but it may be preventative too. Also in John 15 it tells us.
That the father is the husbandman of the vineyard and he comes in and he prunes his vineyard. And that pruning process is not a very pleasant process, but it's a necessary process so that there will be fruit and more fruit.
00:45:20
So perhaps that's why the Lord disciplines us sometimes too.
It's productive discipline.
But here the important thing is, brethren, that we are exercised thereby if there is something that is unpleasant that is happening in your life, caused by either circumstances or people.
Look up to the hand that is permitting it.
Be exercised the Lord.
Will then be able to show you, and you will find that it will yield peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Verse.
12 Says lift up, Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. It's a picture of discouragement, and often this happens when we are under the discipline of the Lord.
We need to encourage a brother that there is the evident passing through real trial in his life. Go to him and say, brother, don't get discouraged, it's the Lord. He means good for you. Lift up the hands which hang down the feeble knees, and it says, Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.
Oh, how important it is. You know young people, you have an influence on all those around you. You don't understand young people have tremendous influence on those around him. You can be an influence for good or you can be an influence in the wrong direction. If I would ask your companions what kind of an influence?
Is that brother or that sister? What would they tell me?
I can say that in my youth there were two or three that were a tremendously positive influence in the right direction. There were other influences around as well.
And I could have gone other directions.
Thank God for those that were helpful to me that were careful how they walked.
So that I wouldn't be turned out of the way.
Verse 14 says, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Brethren, we are called to peace, not at the expense of holiness, but we are called to peace.
Ephesians chapter 4 says keeping the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
Verse 15. Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.
Well, I think this is such an important verse, brethren, looking diligently.
Suspiciously, but diligently, lest any man fail.
Or you could put lack the grace of God.
God has shown Himself to be the God of all grace, and that's the characteristic of the dispensation in which we live. We often call it the dispensation of the grace of God and all the wonderful grace He has shown us. Brethren.
That's the only standing we have before God. That's the only basis upon which there can be.
Blessing.
And now in our relationships, one with another, we are to look diligently.
Lest any man lack or fail of the grace of God. Oh how we need to be exhorted about this, brethren.
You know, I find in my own soul that the natural tendency is to revert to law. You do this, you get what you deserve.
00:50:11
That's the principle of life.
And there is such a thing in Scripture as the government of God.
And I think it is put there to govern us, to help us.
But grace is one principle and government is another principle that runs through Scripture side by side. Like the two railway tracks of a train track. You look off in the distance and it seems like it touches out there, but it really doesn't. It runs side by side.
When David sinned, his grievous sin against.
Bathsheba and Urijah.
Then he was rebuked by the prophet Nathan.
And when Nathan said you are the man, David said I have sinned. He recognized his sin. He didn't try to cover it over.
And that's good.
That David said and David or Nathan said, David was guilty of manslaughter and of adultery, 2 sins that he could have been stoned for, killed for. And Nathan said thou shalt not die. David had pronounced the judgment in the story that Nathan had told him that man should die.
Nathan said thou shalt not die. That was the grace of God.
But then he says, But because thou hast made the enemies of the Lord to blasphemy, the sword shall never depart from thy house. And David lost four of his sons.
The government of God, and I think God allows government. You know, what I think is that government is allowed to control us. Brethren, He sees perhaps a weakness in me and He allows circumstances in my life to govern me.
But let's never forget that before God we stand before Him on the ground of grace. Yes, there is government, but we stand before Him on the ground of grace. And now in our relationships with one another too, we are not to fail of the grace of God.
And I thought it was very good application of those scriptures in Deuteronomy Brother Bill.
Spoke of the year of the Lord's release. Oh, how much God has forgiven us.
How much he's forgiven us.
You know, Bill mentioned that parable at the end of Matthew 18 where there are the two debtors, the one debtor, I should say there was a debtor that owed 10,000 talents.
I made some calculations some time back to try to figure out how much that 10,000 talents were.
And a while back I was speaking about it and I figured it was about $10 million.
Somebody came up to me afterwards and said I think it gets closer to $100 million.
Well at any rate, it's a debt that that man had no concept of. He said have patience and I'll pay you all. Did he understand the debt he owed? He didn't have a clue as to how much he owed.
And when we don't have a clue like that, it makes us perhaps difficult to forgive somebody else. And he went and grabbed ahold of somebody that owed him 100.
Denarius, I think it is 100 pence, which is I figured about $10.
At least it's a small amount. Somebody can correct me if I'm off on that figure too, but.
He would not forgive that because he did not understand how much he had been forgiven. Oh brethren, let's go back to Calvary. Let's look at what he paid, what Jesus paid for us, and it won't be hard to forgive somebody else.
We were speaking to the men in the prison in Lawrence County the other day.
One man on the front of the front row said.
00:55:00
I don't know what I'm going to do when I meet up with the guy that shot me, he shot me twice. What should I do?
I said, well let's go back. First of all, I said supposing you sin 10 times a day, I have no idea how many times you sin a day, but supposing you sin 10 times a day, in a year that's 3650 sins, and in 10 years that's 36,000 sins. And in 30 years, I think he was about 30 years old, that's close to 100,000 sins.
That you sinned against God and if you have accepted the Lord Jesus, he is frank and.
Frankly forgiven you at all.
Are you going to find it tough then to forgive somebody two bullets he put through you?
Yeah, I said. That's a good way to think of that.
I think that is a good way to think about it.
So the Lord help us, brethren, not to fail of the grace of God.
Oh, how we need to be gracious with our brethren. The Lord loves His people, and if there's something that displeases Him, it's those who speak against His people.
Let's be careful not to do that. You know it pleased the Lord when Moses pled for the people of God. You remember in the book of Exodus.
The Lord said when they went after idols, let me alone, I'll consume them in a minute, and I'll make thee, speaking to Moses, a great nation.
Moses said Lord, you can't do that. They're your people.
You made a promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that you were going to bring them into that land, and he pled God's own word.
That's the kind of pleading that God will honor. May the Lord help us to do that. Somebody has offended you. Can you sincerely get down on your knees and plead for His blessing?
Oh, that's the spirit we need to have.
We have another example of Elijah. You remember how?
He bled at the end of his life. He was a bit discouraged. He wasn't afraid to face the 400 prophets of Baal. But when Jezebel said I'm going to take his head off, he ran like a scared dog.
You know, it's only in the sense that we stand in the presence of God that there will be moral courage to confront evil.
And he lost that sense, and he runs and he says to the Lord, when the Lord came after him, he says, I only I have remained faithful, and all the rest have gone after bail.
And he says it twice.
And it has been noticed that it is the only sin of an Old Testament believer mentioned in the New Testament. It's that sin of Elijah pleading against the people of God.
I say it again, brethren, God loves his people, for as willful and as naughty and as stiff necked as they might be, He loves them. Plead for the people of God, never plead against him. What did the Lord say to Elijah? In effect? He said.
Elijah, I can't have you continuing to plead against my people.
Gore anoint Elisha to be prophet in your room. In other words, he says I'm going to have to replace you, Elijah, if you do that. And he did replace him. He took Elisha, Elijah home.
And he replaced him with Elijah.
The Lord help us, brethren, in our relationships one with another.
That we may not fail.
The grace of God.
Let's do what it says a couple chapters earlier. Provoke one another to love and to good works, it says. Let us consider one another. In other words, we're all different.
Think about that brother that you seem to be at odds with.
Do something to provoke him to love and to good works. What provokes love?
01:00:05
But love?
It really does great things. Some little gift, some little unobtrusive act of kindness goes a long way.
If they're not going to do that.
That kind of soil gives place an unforgiving attitude, gives place to roots of bitterness. They have been terribly devastating to the people of God and the testimony to the precious name of the Lord Jesus, brethren.
I remember Mr. Hayhoe.
Saying this is Mr. Harihar saying again. Again, I guess I remember him in person, but I remember.
What he said more on tapes, but I remember him saying that again and again. He said don't ever allow a hard or bitter thought against any brother or sister in the Lord Jesus. I thought that was so good. You know, sometimes I've had those thoughts and I've had to judge them in the Lord's presence and let loose of them. It's the year of the Lord's release. Let loose of them. Don't hold on to them.
If you do.
It's going to produce somewhere along the line of roots of bitterness and many will be defiled. Don't let it happen. And just before we close, brethren, I'd just like to show the imagery that the apostle Paul uses in the end of this chapter. To me, it's beautiful. He.
Contrasts 2 mountains. First mountain is Sinai, the 2nd is Zion.
Verse 18 he says, Ye are not coming to the mount that might be touched, that burned with fire, and into blackness and darkness and Tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated, that the words should not be spoken to them anymore.
Verse 21 So terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. That's not where we have been brought. Dear brethren, where have you and I been brought? Verse 22 Ye are come unto Mount Zion.
And unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
And to an innumerable company of angels to the General Assembly.
And Church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all.
And to the spirits of justice, men made perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of the New covenant.
And to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. This is where we have been brought. Oh, to enjoy it in a fuller measure, like Brother Bill was bringing out. To enjoy the richness of where we've been brought. Brethren, if we do that, it will not allow for these bitterness, these feelings between brethren that bring such devastating results.
This is where we've been brought to Mount Zion.
The heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and the Church of the First Born, which are written in heaven. Oh, the glory that is before us. Brethren, I don't think we get an idea.
In any measure of the glory, that's just ahead for the child of God.
I even think of when the Lord Jesus comes back at the end of the Tribulation period in power and glory, it will be probably the greatest display of power and glory in the whole history of the world through all time. When God introduces His Son into the world and you and I are going to be witnesses, eyewitnesses, we are going to see it happened.
You and I are called to greater things than to be getting snared with things down here.
This is where we are, brethren.
Now just as we close, let me read the last two verses. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
Roads & Paths, Psalm 34:8, Luke 15:11
Children—D. Jacobsen
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
My heart.
Breaks on that land.
When she's on, wash my sins away.
He taught me.
Everyone.
In every day.
Happy life.
Find out that every day is a happy day after we take.
The Lord Jesus as our Savior every day can be a happy day.
You know that? Yeah, I think you do know that.
OK, let's see #14.
How have you been to Jesus for the cleansing heart? Are you watching the world?
Crossing in it raining by Are you watching the part of my life?
I rewind.
Are you watching everybody?
Right.
Are you watching the part of the world I just want?
When the bride.
'S only ready for the matter, right? Everyone in the mind of the land.
I.
Love.
You.
One of the things I want to talk about this morning is paths and roads and I noticed.
In verse two of our song it says are you walking daily?
By the day the Savior's side.
00:05:04
You know, in this room there I lookout and there are lots of faces and for every face there's a road. Do you ever think about that every life?
Takes a different Rd.
And every Rd. takes different turns.
We want to be sure as we grow up.
That the Lord Jesus were walking with the understanding and the knowledge that the Lord Jesus is with us on the road.
His love follows us every place we go, and his care follows us too.
Let's have one more song. Oh well, I'm sorry, 25.
That's seeing the.
1St 2 verses shall we? Is that OK? All right?
Like the best and very.
God and I feel like.
In time. In time.
There is flowers soon became.
I wanted to play.
Big time.
While my spirit, did you come there good, I'm on your own.
Everything no longer. Where did we find off again?
After just to make being in time.
Stand up here with me and see what I see from up here.
Anybody brave enough?
Huh.
What do you see when you stand up here, huh?
Lots of people, huh?
Hundreds of people, thank you very much. Now maybe you can tell me.
What attracted all those people to this place?
What do you think?
That's a good answer because they wanted to hear more about the Lord.
And I thought maybe somebody might say the Lord, but I asked the question, what attracted all those people to this place?
You know, I think it is. Need some help with that question boys.
I think it was love.
Love attracted us here.
Nothing else would do.
The Lord Jesus and God created us.
With hearts that could appreciate his love and could never be satisfied with anything else.
Nothing else. And yet our hearts are very slow.
To really realize how much God loves us and how much really we are attracted by His love, you know, the Lord Jesus does a lot of nice things for us.
But it shouldn't be those nice things that he does for us that attract us here. It should be his love.
00:10:05
And you know, love fills this place because the Father, the love of the Father, is here, the love of the Son.
And then we love it says because he first loved us, we love each other. We lookout here and and these are the people that love us and these are the people that we love.
And so if we don't learn anything else this morning, let's learn that that it is love that's the center. You know, when the shepherd calls the sheep.
Why is it that the sheep all gather round and we were coming through Nevada and we saw a place and the shepherd was in the middle and there were, you know, maybe 1000 sheep all around the shepherd. What attracts them to the shepherd, all in a circle like that, do you think?
What do you think? We have a verse for that?
My sheep.
Here what?
My voice.
My see, Pierre. My voice.
That's what attracts the sheep, that's what it's attracted us to. This place is the voice of the shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. And how come the sheep gather around the shepherd and not just anybody else?
Because they've learned.
That the Shepherd loves them and he takes care of them and he's always with them. He never leaves them.
By themselves.
Isn't that nice to know? And so that's what attracted us here this morning. The love of the Lord Jesus would attract every one of us to this place to enjoy more of His love. Now let's ask His blessing before we turn to the verse.
Our God, did somebody learn the verse this morning?
Good girl, Did you learn a verse this morning? Do you know where the verse is found?
Good Psalms 34, eight. And why don't we read that all together?
And then we'll see if somebody wants to stand up and say it.
Psalms 34, eight.
Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusted in him.
Would you like to stand up and say it?
You're a brave girl.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anybody else want to try? Would you like to try?
Blessed is man, blessed.
Trust.
Good. Thank you very much. Anybody else?
Am I missing somebody?
Would you like to say the verse for me? No, thanks. All right.
OK, here's 2 girls. Would you like to say the verse?
Good. Thank you.
I think you can see that the little.
Good. Thank you very much.
Oh, taste and see.
You know.
In my family, we like Mexican food.
So we're going to try out a new Mexican restaurant. We go and we order what's called a combination plate because there you can get some beans and some salsa and a chili relleno and a taquito and an enchilada, just about anything you want on this combination plate. And what do you think we do when we when it's served up and it's sitting in front of us? What do you think we do?
Yeah, we split it up and everybody.
Whether everybody puts their fork out and what do they do with it?
00:15:00
They taste it first. We taste it, don't we? We say, boy, those are good beans. Those are better than usual. And oh, that chili Reno that has good flavor, you see. And then after we've tasted the six or seven things that are on the plate, what do we do with that? What do we want to do? Then after we've decided they're all good, what do we do?
We be thankful. Yeah, that's right. And we are good for you.
And what do we do while we're being thankful?
We eat it all up, don't we? We found out it's all good and so we can eat it all and enjoy the whole plate.
And everybody finishes up.
Their plate and you know.
As parents, you know, we taste things and we want our kids to enjoy the same things that we enjoy. But you know, taste is personal. I have a boy in my family and and he just liked hamburgers.
And it's very hard to get him to taste anything that I enjoy outside of hamburgers.
And your parents want you to taste good things, so you know it's all good. And that's why they brought you here this morning, to taste and see one more little example of how good the Lord is to give us good things from His word and good friends and our cousins and our brethren happy times together.
How many people aren't having a happy time?
How many people are having a good happy time? I see lots of happy times going on, especially at lunchtime over there by the pond. Have you noticed that?
Yeah, lots of happy times. The Lord is good, isn't he? And our parents bring us to where the Lord is to give us just a little taste. So as we go through our life, we find out it's all good. Everything about the Lord Jesus is good. It's good to taste, It's good to eat, It's good to make our own.
So it's but it's personal that mom can't.
Taste the Lord for you can they? You've got to taste for yourself. You've got to. You've got to learn for yourself how good the Lord Jesus is. And how do we do that? How do we learn about the Lord Jesus?
We come to conference, and what do we do? We read the Bible, don't we? And we pray. And then we learn about the Lord Jesus when we learned that it's all good.
And it says one more word in this verse and we'll go on to something else. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him, you know, A man that trusts in the Lord is never disappointed. Did you know that?
And what does that word blessed mean? One of you girls tell me what blessed means.
Anybody know what blessed means? It's real simple. It means happy. That's all it means is happy. Everybody wants to be happy, don't they? We all want to be happy. This is the secret to being happy all of our lives, no matter what Rd. we take, if we take the Lord Jesus with us.
And we're counting on his love.
Will be happy.
Now, how many of us like to hear your stories?
Well, I have a few stories to tell. Three stories. They're all true stories. And you know, we were thinking about all the different roads that people take, and there are stories about roads.
And the love of God.
I mean, we can learn something from those stories you think? You know when we're over there by the pond, I see this little trail going off behind the the pond. I haven't been on it and you boys been over there.
Anybody curious about what goes on behind off that trail? I've seen some boys and girls over there. I see some heads going up and down.
It you see a trail like that and I want to go and see what's on that trail. That's that's what I Ever since I was a boy, I always wanted to know what was over the next hedge and and the next guy's backyard and and all those little paths around the house, I had to know where they all LED. And you know, I never got rid of that desire. I don't.
I think it's such a bad thing, really, but it can be exciting. Those little paths can have all kinds of little secret places to hide and interesting things to reveal and.
00:20:10
You know when we're driving up here and we we're driving through Nevada and and we're out in the middle of nowhere and I'm looking off and I see this, this road and it goes across the valley and it goes up a hill and it wraps around and it disappears and I'm looking at that.
But sitting next to me is my wife. And you know, she was born and raised on a farm where there was lots of dirt roads. And I don't think dirt roads excite her very well. And I'll look over at her and what do you think she's doing? You think she's going like this?
Or is she going like this?
She's always going like this. She's never said yes in 24 years of marriage.
She's gone. But.
Everybody knew she didn't want to go.
So one day I was working pretty hard, but I got off early at 3:00 and we had an appointment at 7:30 that night. And we live in a very interesting area, lots of dirt roads and lots of places to explore. So I got my son in the car and we went up to the mountains on the way to our appointment.
And we're driving along and guess what we saw?
Dirt road, and it was one of those roads that goes down in a valley.
And then it started up the hillside and it was a big mountain. The mountain is 6800 feet high. And then it disappeared.
And we looked at our watches.
And I looked at that road and I looked over at my son. What do you think he was doing? Do you think he was doing this?
Now he was doing that.
So we didn't have a problem between the two of us. We got off on that road and we started and we were started at the desert, very dry and barren and we wound our way up as far as the road you could see and pretty soon we disappeared around the corner. Nobody could see us and our cell phone stopped working and we were out of touch and we were all by ourselves. But you know as we kept going we weren't thinking about that. The landscape was changing and there was some nice big trees and some meadows and.
The view was beautiful and we just kept going and we come around in another corner and we think, OK, we'll go two more switchbacks and then we'll turn around and go back and so we'd go two more switchbacks and we'd get up there.
And then I'd look over at my son. What do you think he was saying?
Right. He was going like this. So then we'd say, OK, we'll do two more switch backs and but it kept getting more interesting. We came to some streams and some woods and so then we stopped and I looked over at my boy and what do you think he was doing?
So we kept going, and all of a sudden I looked at my watch.
Oh, no. We had gone 15 minutes too far and we could not possibly get back to our appointment at 7:30. And usually I call home when we're getting off the road and I let somebody that loves us know where we are because we could be any place and if we got lost or we had an accident, no one would know where we were. But I had forgotten to call.
So we were going to be late.
You know what we are late for?
The appointment. It was a prayer meeting.
We missed out on a prayer meeting. You know, I don't like to miss out on a prayer meeting. You know why?
We are at prayer meeting.
Or right in the presence of the Lord.
With those that we love all there right in the presence of God and and he is listening to us for good.
Very important as we get older not to miss the prayer meeting. Very important.
It's so reassuring to be there and know.
That the Father.
Is listening to us.
But there was we missed out on the prayer meeting, and also there was something we didn't really think about until we got home. And on the way home, my my cell phone battery stopped working.
00:25:09
And I'm a person. I tell my customers I'm the easiest person in the world to get.
All you have to do is call me and I answer.
And I always answer my cell phone, but it went dead and I couldn't get it charged. And it was 10:00 that night by the time we had finally wound our way down the hill and back to the house. And guess what we found when we got home?
We have three sisters and one wife and they were very upset.
We thought they didn't love us anymore.
But they did. It took a couple of days for them to realize it, but.
We were totally out of touch. There was number phones. No, no way to tell. My wife got out of the prayer meeting halfway and was frantically calling and trying to get me to answer. And no answer for a long time.
One more story. I'm going to tell them myself. And then we're going to, we're going to turn to the Bible. And you can think about this. There's a story about a boy.
In the Bible, and I think he lived next to one of these roads.
And as a boy, he looked at that road and he wondered where that road went.
And let's think about what that story might be. Maybe somebody, when I'm done with my next story, can tell me.
What story that is? I'm thinking about that boy, he got his eye on that road and he, as he grew up, he just kept wondering what was down that road.
But one more story about roads, because there's lessons in these roads. Another story, Just after I got my driver's license, we borrowed my buddies dad's van and we went out to the desert.
And it was hot. We camped overnight and then in the morning we weren't satisfied with being in the desert, but we went further out into the desert.
And we thought we were ready. We had some water with us and we had some shovels and we had some boards.
And we got way out in the middle of the desert, and guess what we saw?
A road going through the sand dunes up over and it was just too much to resist.
And we knew it was in sandy area, but it looked like it was packed down. Lots of vehicles had been over this road.
And had found their way over that hill.
And so we could see it was a little soft, but then as the road went up the hill, it looked harder and harder packing. So we got on the highway and it was just perfect because the highway dead ended right at that road. And so we got the car up to 70 miles an hour and we went jetting off of the Asphalt Rd. out into the sand. And we were just tooling along and I had my foot down the accelerator and the van was going faster and faster and faster. And all of a sudden I realized it wasn't going at all.
And it was. We got out and the medal of the.
Car was right on the sand. We had just gone right down into it. Oh, you know, we weren't in a hurry to do anything. So we got out our shovels and our boards and we started working. It's about 10:00 in the morning and we were determined there was a highway about a mile away, but we were determined we were going to get out on our own.
That's something we need to learn, children.
We're trusting in the Lord, we find out.
That we can't get out of things we cause a lot of problems for ourselves that we can't get out of on our own. I'm thinking of that verse in Psalms 50.
It says.
Call upon me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. That is a promise. You know, we forget, you know, sometimes. Once when I was a young purple upon me in the day of trouble. It doesn't matter. We didn't call on him yesterday. But when we're in trouble, he wants us to call on him. He loves us. He's just waiting to hear our voice. And you know, we should have gone for help. But we were pretty sure of ourselves and we worked. And all of a sudden I realized it was getting dark. We had worked all day in the sun trying to get that truck out of the sand.
00:30:10
And we hadn't made but a few feet progress. It was like powder.
And so then we decided, uh oh, we hadn't seen any cars on that highway for a while. We'd better get going.
Because at night we were out in the middle of nowhere, cars might not even stop for us. So we we hiked all the way to the road and had to climb a fence. We got up on the road and there was no cars for as soon as we see a headlight coming and we got out on the road and we waved and the car went around us and pretty soon here comes another another car and we waved and this one pulled over and the car was all dark inside and the window went down and this gruff voice says, what are you boys doing out here?
And he started asking us all kinds of questions and we were kind of scared. He didn't sound very friendly. And then he turned on the Dome light and there was a 45 Colt pistol right on his seat when not in a holster. And it was ready to fire because he had used it before. But you know what? He was our rescuer. He was the boss of the Border Patrol, and he got on the phone.
On his walkie-talkie and he said we got some boys stuck and he named the place and apparently it was a pretty popular place to get stuck and everybody knew where it was and all of a sudden guess what happened? We were out in the middle of nor there was nobody around.
Thirty sets of headlights came out of the hills and surrounded our they had been there all day long. We just never had seen them. We hadn't called for help. If we had called for help at 10:00 in the morning, they were there then, too.
But we just didn't call. But when we call, guess what? They just came and they had special cords and we were out of there in no time flat, just like that. And that's what the Lord Jesus.
Can do for us. If we call on him when we get into trouble, he'll answer. He has those chords of love that can pull us out.
And keep us.
So.
This boy, this story in the Bible. Anybody have an idea about this story in the Bible?
It's a very important story.
Boy, and we have a name for him.
But as I'm thinking about it, I don't think he was ever called that name.
What we call him.
Yeah.
The prodigal son.
You heard the story of the prodigal son.
We don't have time to read it, but you know that boy he was growing up.
And he was in the father's house.
And he looked around in the father's house, and you know what he saw?
What do you think he saw when he looked around his father's house?
Good things, The Bible calls them goods. He saw a nice couch and he's had a nice bed and he had good food cooked every day. And he had a horse in the back, maybe, and some good things to do, and that's what he saw. He looked around. He said, boy, this is a pretty nice place to live.
And then outside of his house, there was that road. And as he grew up, he thought, you know, I've heard stories about what's on that road and and I wanted.
Follow that road.
See what's on down the road.
And you know what else? He thought? You know, if I could get some money out of my dad.
I wouldn't miss the nice furniture and the horse, because I could buy a horse and I could stop in a hotel and I could get myself a nice bed and I could stop at a restaurant and I could get good food and I'd be just fine. I can take by with money out there, just exactly what I've got here at my father's house.
Why not? He said. And so he started off. He got, he said, to his father. Father, give me goods.
And he took money from his father and he put it on his horse and away he went. And he went over the first rise and he disappeared. And I think he went so far and he stopped. And then he saw another Rd. He thought, wow, that road looks neat. And so he took that road and and he stopped again. And then he saw another road and and you know, I don't think he really intended.
00:35:21
To end up where he did. But you know what it says about where he ended up? He ended up in a.
Our country.
You know.
I've been coming to Walla Walla Conference for a lot of years, maybe 40-5 years, and I used to sit on the seats here at Sunday school and I had friends that I was with. But you know, some of those boys, I look back.
And I think they didn't know that the reason we were here was because the Lord Jesus loved us.
I think maybe.
They forgot.
Not what?
Attracted us to this place was the love of the Lord Jesus.
And so they took those roads. And you know, I've taken some of those roads myself and I've had to come back and maybe you'll take some of those roads, but we have to remember.
That the Lord Jesus loves us.
And he's the only one that can make us happy. That was what our verse was about, wasn't it?
And so he got to a far country, and pretty soon he ran out of money.
He didn't just budget it out, It says he wasted it. He spent way more than he should have until he was just out of money. And then he got hungry.
But you know, there was one Rd. that he hadn't paid attention to as he went away from his father's house. What road do you think that was? Anybody have an idea what that road was? One Rd. he didn't pay attention to that he hadn't noticed.
That's exactly right. The road to the Lord Jesus house. He hadn't noticed that there was a road back, that no matter where he went, he drew a line and right back down that road was the way back to the Father's house.
And it wasn't until he got real hungry and he thought, oh, at my father's house, there's goods there, there's goods there.
What did he find when he got to the father's house? There was something that he hadn't been missing out on all those years that he lived there.
What was it?
He had food, right? And when he got back to the father's house, the father fed him, didn't he? And he gave him those goods. But there was something else. The sun was missing out. And it's the theme of our Sunday School. What do you think it is?
Love. Exactly. He never realized until he got back that the father loved him the same as when he left. And you know, we call him the the Prodigal son.
And you know, I have a friend and he's got some sons and one of them is a prodigal son.
And you know, I never met those boys, but when he talks about his sons and I know the stories of their lives and.
But I don't really know them, so I don't associate the name exactly with the right person all the time. And and he talks about his boys and you know what, I can't tell when he's talking which one is the prodigal because he never says, you know, Joe Sam and the prodigal.
The prodigal has a name. He doesn't call him the prodigal. He calls him Joe, Sam and John or Joe, John and Sam and Sam, John and Joe and I get them mixed up because I don't know really which one is the prodigal until I think about it. That's a wonderful thing, isn't it? That in a father's heart, the prodigal still has a name and he still has love.
When he gets home, isn't that nice to know? And so let's remember we're on the road and we're all on a road. Everybody that leaves this meeting today is going to be start another step on their road. Two things.
On the road, let's learn to trust and the love of the Lord Jesus and as we get down that road.
00:40:06
Let's also remember, no matter what happens.
Love is what attracts us back.
To the place where we can enjoy the Father's love again and all those good things that he is happy to give us.
Let's see why. Why does the ocean, shall we? And maybe we know that other verse, the byways are fair. We can sing that too. How about that?
White, white as the ocean, high as the heavens of.
Deep and day as my saviors love.
I also unworthy.
Still am a child of his care for his word teaches me that his love reaches me.
Everywhere.
Wider than the ocean.
High as the heavens above.
Above that deep and sea.
In my favor.
I also wonder worthy.
Tell them, my child, of his hair, for his word teaches me that his son reaches me.
Everywhere.
I Am the Truth, John 14:6, 1:1-4, 17, 3:16
Gospel—R. Thonney
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Let's turn to John's Gospel, chapter 14.
To begin.
John chapter 14 and verse 6.
Jesus sat unto him.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but.
By me. Let me read that once more. Make sure you're listening. These are the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus says unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Here the Lord Jesus was talking to his disciples when he was here in this world, and he was telling them that he was getting ready to go back to the Father.
And he said the way you know.
And they said, how can we know the way we do not know it? And Jesus gave these wonderful words of life.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. How important it is to understand that if you are going.
To heaven. It is through Jesus. There is absolutely no other way.
He is the way. My purpose tonight is to focus mainly on that second part that He said the truth. I am the truth.
Somebody has said without the way, there's no going. Without the truth, there's no knowing. Without the life, there's no growing.
Oh, how we need Jesus.
How important.
How simple, how profound these words you know we're living in a day.
Pluralism. Anything goes. Your idea is as good as mine, and the idea of absolute truth is rejected.
And it's because.
The culture we live in is humanistic. If it is a matter of my idea and your idea, I can understand why you think your idea is better than my idea. But you know it's not a matter of my idea or your idea. It is a matter of a standard that is absolute. Jesus said I am the way. There is no other way.
I am the truth. There is no truth outside of Him. I am the life. There is no living outside of Jesus.
Oh, how important it is to understand that.
Truth, when we speak of it in the absolute sense, it's connected with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he said I am the truth.
It also says.
Sanctify them through thy Word. Thy word is truth. So it's truth in the absolute sense is found in Jesus, is found in the precious Word of God.
00:05:19
Is there truth in me? I hope so, but I sure wouldn't want to be pointing to myself when I talk about the truth.
No, you're going to find it in its absolute sense. It is in Jesus his person. Oh, how wonderful to know that we're not talking here about.
Religion.
We're not debating which religion is better than another.
We're talking about a person and that person said I am the truth in the sense we're Speaking of it here. It is the most exclusive thing possible. It excludes all other options. Absolutely impossible that there be any other remedy for mankind than this one. Who says I am the way, the truth.
And the life.
You know, in today's world, it scares me when I see young people and children trained and they spend a lot of time.
In front of a TV screen and there they see.
Stories make believe stories of all sorts and sizes.
And then they see the news, something that is supposed to be presented as factual, true.
But you know, what I see increasingly is a generation that is coming up that has no way to distinguish between what is true and what is false.
That's why it's so important that you and I understand.
Where to stand in relation to God? It has to be on the ground of truth.
Now, we used to live in South America.
For about 16 years in the country of Bolivia.
And supposing while I lived there, I was arrested and taken to justice.
In that country they have their own political constitution, and as I'm taken to justice, I would be judged by their political constitution. I might say to them, hey, I'm an American in the United States, we can do that. What would they tell me? They would say you are on Bolivian territory. You will be judged by Bolivian law there.
And I just want to say to everyone present here tonight, when we're dealing with God and God's Word and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not at liberty to be deciding the standard upon which you will be judged. In the end, that standard is already settled. Jesus is the truth, and Jesus came into this world so that we can know who he.
Is oh how important it is to know Jesus?
I know almost everyone in here as I look around the room are people who have sat in gospel meetings like this before.
And who know about the truth? My concern is that it is not sufficient to know about the truth. You must know it intimately. You must have received this truth. Your eternal destiny depends on what you do with this truth. The one who said I am the way, the truth.
And the life. What have you done with Jesus?
You know it's.
So focused on the fact that everyone has their own rights.
That sometimes people think they have the liberty to just understand it in the minds without really truly coming to grips with the issue of your sins before God. I want to say that Jesus is unavoidable.
00:10:04
You will meet Jesus. Every single person that has ever lived on planet earth will need Jesus.
Here's the truth. You cannot avoid it. Impossible.
Oh, how important to come to the grips with that issue here and now.
In this lifetime, because now there's salvation for those that receive Him as their Savior, the time is going to come.
When those who have rejected him are going to stand before him.
Like it or not, believe it or not, you will come face to face with Jesus. It is unavoidable. Have you thought about it?
Like to go back to the first chapter of John's Gospel?
And let's read a few verses here.
John chapter one, verse one.
In the beginning, you know, it's really important to start at the beginning. Sometimes we don't start at the beginning and therefore we don't understand things very well. But here we start in the beginning.
Was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
Who is this word that it speaks about?
In verse 14 it tells us.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glories of the only Begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth.
So this word is a person.
An eternal person, the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the full expression of all that God is.
You know, I have a thought in my mind.
And if you're just going to look at me and I don't say anything, you don't know what I'm thinking. But I express my thought to you using words.
And you will come to understand what I'm thinking.
God is so immense, so infinite in His being, there was no way that human beings could understand who He was and what His thoughts are.
Until Jesus came, He is the word of God. He is the full expression of all that God is.
And he came into this world. It's history. It's historical fact we're talking about. We're not talking about philosophy and ideas. We're talking about historical fact.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only Begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth. You know, we're saying that song God is light and God is love.
He was full of grace. That's the expression of the fact that God is love and truth. That's the expression of the fact that God is light. In other words, in his presence you can hide absolutely nothing.
Since people think they have the liberty to establish the norms of their own judgment, people like to accommodate themselves. We live in a democracy and supposedly we think we're at liberty to do such things. Again, I say, friend, that you may be in the United States of America, you may have that liberty, but when we're dealing with God.
We're dealing with someone who you cannot avoid, and those questions of your sins must be exposed, will be exposed, every single one of them.
We heard in the meeting this afternoon about lying. That's very common in the country we live in all over the world.
00:15:05
A lie was the first thing that entered the church in the book of the Acts.
Serious before God? Why is it so serious to tell a lie? Because God is true, and every lie is an insult to God.
I have to plead guilty.
Charge of lying. Not only the brother that spoke this afternoon. I've told lies, sorry to say it.
But.
We are dealing with a God who is a God of truth.
And he is a God not only of truth, but he is a God of grace. And we want to talk about that as we go through the book of John a little bit and the Lord Jesus meets different individuals there. You know, it's grace and truth.
We tend to be lopsided. Maybe we get off on the side of truth and we're real rigid.
And we don't show any grace. Or maybe we get on the side of grace and we compromise the principles of truth.
That the imbalance of our human nature. But here was one who was completely perfect. Here was one who is the truth.
Oh, how wonderful as he meets with each one. Nothing escaped his view, nothing could be hidden from him. But at the same time, he had not come to condemn, he had come to say.
So full of grace and truth. Verse 17 says the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Truth is the expression of that which is.
The Lord Jesus being the truth, was the living expression of everything he said.
In the 8th chapter of this book.
He was asked Who art thou? And he said everything I said unto you from the beginning.
He was the full expression of everything he said. He was the truth.
So let's go over to the book, to the third chapter, and here we find him meeting up with different people. In the book of John's Gospel, he meets with individuals. Let me say this to each one Here you have to deal with God on an individual basis.
Yeah, you might be a part of a Christian family. Thank God for a Christian family, but that does not save you in itself. You yourself have to deal with God about your own sins. You are responsible. Don't try to push the responsibility off on somebody else.
Here we have a man, Chapter 3, verse one. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles, that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I sent to thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus says unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter into the second, the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
There was a man that came to Jesus, a ruler, a man of position, a religious man. He was of the Pharisees, the most zealous sect of the Jewish people at that time.
And he begins to talk to Jesus. Sounds pretty good what he has to say. We know that thou art a teacher. Come from God, where no one can do these miracles that thou doest except God. Be with him. Pretty good religious talk.
00:20:00
Jesus, in effect says, you know Nicodemus.
All your religion, all your social position when it comes to the Kingdom of God.
Has no effect whatsoever. If you want to see the Kingdom of God, If you want to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. You've got to start right at the beginning.
All your rank, all your position has no meaning when it comes.
To the Kingdom of God. And so it is. We are all born into this world, but we are born with a life and a nature.
That likes to sin. That's the nature we're born with from our parents, right from Adam on down.
You will never be able to go into heaven.
You will never enter the Kingdom of God with that nature that was born into sin. If you want to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. That was strange to Nicodemus, he says. How can that be?
And Jesus says, and this is beautiful in verse 5, Verily, verily I say into thee, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Two things, water and the Spirit.
Lots of people think that the water is baptism. We're not here talking against baptism. Baptism is important. But this is not talking about baptism. This is talking about the Word of God. Peter says in his epistle being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
I was born the first time by corruptible seed. My body's wearing out. I was born and raised here in Walla Walla. I enjoy this place, but you notice I've got quite a few Gray hairs on my head now. My right knee is kind of bum on me.
Why? Because I was born of corruptible seed. I needed to be born again, and that happened. How did that happen? By the Word of God and by the Spirit of God. God takes His word. It is the incorruptible seed, and by the Spirit of God applies it to your heart. That's why it's so important to listen.
To what God has to say in his word. I don't mind if you don't want to listen to me, but I played with you. Listen to what God has to say, because that's the way God imparts life and when God says something.
Accept His word into the depths of your heart and soul, because even though you may not understand it all, God is true.
He does not lie. He could not be God and lie because he is the true God.
You can trust Him, so when he speaks, believe it. God takes that word and imparts life through the Holy Spirit in the soul that hears His word.
How often in scripture it says he that hath ears to hear, let him hear? I haven't noticed. I like to look around as I'm speaking, but I often notice that there are people that are here.
But they're trying their best to try to ignore what is being said.
Young person, are you ignoring what God is saying? It is important that you listen.
I've told it before, but when I first went back to Chicago to live, there was a lady that used to come to the gospel meetings.
A very nice lady of that neighborhood where the meeting room was, and she would come and sit there through the meeting, but it was evident that she was trying to put her attention on anything else but what was being said.
She would look around to see who had a new hat on or a new blouse on to be occupied with anything but the word of God.
00:25:01
What I say tonight is not that important. What God says in His Word is extremely important because that's what God uses to impart new life to the soul that listens, that hears.
Been my privilege to see souls.
Come into the light in that way.
Remember a man in Mexico? Southern Mexico? Oaxaca state?
And he was sitting there in the gospel meeting while the gospel was being preached.
And after the meeting, he just kept right on sitting there. He didn't get up to go like most of the other people did.
Finally, Brother Alarcon said. What do you have to say about the message you heard tonight?
He says, you know.
It's so wonderful. All this time I didn't understand, but tonight the windows opened and the light came in. I see it now, I understand it.
God had found a listening ear and an imparted life to that person. Are you listening? That's the way a person is born. Again, you may not understand or not know exact time frames. That's not the important thing. The important thing is to listen. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
So it does seem by the record we have in the rest of the John's gospel that Nicodemus the Word got into his soul and he was born again, because later on he comes out on the Lord's side.
That was the light shining in, but what about the love part?
Go down to verse 16 for God.
So loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Yes, it's wonderful to have that new life in Christ, but what about those sins I've committed? Can God just pass lightly over them and say, well, we're just going to sweep them under the rug and we won't worry about them? Is that what God does?
God cannot treat sin lightly. Not little one little white lie will ever enter heaven.
Absolutely not. If you get away from God's notice, it would call in question His own righteous character. Can't happen, won't happen.
Every sin that has ever been committed on planet earth must receive its just penalty from the hand of God.
Can't be otherwise.
Those sins you've committed and long forgotten about? They've got to be paid for.
And God so he wouldn't have to condemn me to the lake of fire forever.
Sent his own son. He gave his only begotten son. God had one son. I have two sons. I'd have a tough time given even one of them to die for somebody else.
God had one son, and he gave him so that we could have eternal life. The Lord Jesus came into this world.
And at the end of his life went to the cross to pay the price of our redemption.
You know the story, but I want to tell it to you anyhow because it displays who God is. It displays the truth of who God is. And God can't. Passover 1 little sin I've committed can't do it.
As Jesus was hanging on that cross, suffering those awful abuses.
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Let's turn to John's Gospel chapter.
A Person, Colossians 3:1-2, Hebrews 2:6-9, 10:11-12
Gospel—J. Hyland
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This moment and peace shall be thine. Perhaps we could stand up to sing this hymn hymn #10 and if someone will please start it.
Calories.
Willing to stand now and stand for him.
Is almighty his love, great and free?
Saves him this morning.
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Possible meeting this evening by connecting 4 portions of the word of God. The first one is in the book of Colossians.
Colossians Chapter 3.
Colossians Chapter 3.
And I'm going to read the last part of verse one.
And connect it with verse 2. And I'm going to give the marginal reading when we get to verse 2 because I feel it's more accurate.
Colossians chapter 3 and the last expression of verse one, Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Now let's go to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2.
Hebrews Chapter 2 beginning at verse 6.
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, That thou art mindful of him? Or the Son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet for him, that he put all in subjection under him.
He left nothing that is not put under him, But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. And then a portion in the 10th chapter of Hebrews.
Chapter 10 and verse 11.
Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God and just one more portion for now, back in the book of the Acts, Acts, Chapter 7.
Acts Chapter 7 and verse 55.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven.
And saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
And said, behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Well, we have connected these verses at the beginning of the gospel meeting. First of all, because it's the word of God tonight that's going to have effect and blessing, as we heard last night, it's the Word of God that lives and abides forever, and we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.
And secondly, I have chosen these scriptures I trust directed by the Spirit of God, because we want to, with the Lords, help this evening, present that Savior on high in the glory. We want to present that one of whom we have just been singing, not a man walking here in this world, although we will mention his life as he walked here, dispensing blessing on every hand. We're not going to present him so much as hanging on a cross, although that is the basis of our blessing.
The death of the Lord Jesus and the shedding of his precious blood. But oh, tonight we want to present to you the man in the glory.
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We want to lift up our thoughts and our eyes, and we want to present that one who's seated as the savior of sinners at the right hand of God. But before we comment on these scriptures, I'd like to impress upon our souls the privilege that it is tonight to sit with Bibles in our hands.
You know, some of us have had experiences that wrench your soul.
As you realize that there are those in other parts of the world who would do anything to have their own Bible on their lap.
I remember after Hurricane Ivan almost a year ago.
Brother Darvin, Seymour and I went into the country of Grenada.
Grenada is an island, as we know, between Saint Vincent and Trinidad at the end of the grenadine chain.
And I have seen hurricane devastation before, and I have even had the experience of being caught in a hurricane myself.
But when Hurricane Ivan hit Grenada, it was a #5 hurricane. Hurricanes go on a scale from 1:00 to 5:00.
One being the least five being the worst.
And it wasn't just a few windows blown out or some roofs removed.
But it shook us to see a whole country lying in devastation. St. George's is a city, sprawling city on the side of the mountains.
Devastated, Flattened.
But we went into Grenada with the exercise to take Bibles.
Free of charge to those believers in that country that we knew.
Had lost.
Their copy of the Word of God.
We took with us about 800 lbs of Bibles.
And I had been to Grenada a number of times and taken Bibles in.
But it really stirred our hearts.
As we spoke to one and another believer. Some that we had known from previous trips, others that we met for the first time.
And there are many stories that I could recount this evening, but I will just recount 1.
We were introduced to a believer.
I'm guessing this man was somewhere in his mid 50s.
And he told us a very interesting story.
He said that before Hurricane Ivan destroyed his home and there was nothing left of his home. Absolutely nothing.
But he told us that before Ivan destroyed his home, he had three copies of the Word of God in his home.
Two of those copies were blown away during that hurricane.
He was able to save one of those copies of the Word of God.
You know, that in itself touched our hearts. I wondered if my home was about to be destroyed and if I was going to lose all my possessions and I could only cling to one thing.
What would it have been?
I've never been put to a test like that and so I can't answer that question.
But this man so valued the word of God that he let other things go.
So that he could hold on to 1 Bible.
But any of us who have experienced hurricanes or tropical storms? No. But often more damage is done by the rain than the wind itself.
And a hurricane usually brings torrential rains with it.
And after it was all over, though, this man had clung to his copy of the Bible.
It was absolutely soaking wet.
And so, in the days and weeks subsequent to the hurricane, every time the sun came out, he would take this Bible out and he would lay it in the sun. And page by page, he carefully dried out his Bible.
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He did this for quite a while until he was content that the Bible was dry enough to use.
And the next Sunday, he put that Bible under his arm and he took it with him.
And as he told us between services, he set that Bible on the bench where he was sitting.
He turned to talk to someone else.
And when he turned to sit down for the next meeting.
His Bible was gone.
Now, I don't recommend we steal anything. Let him that stole steal no more.
But to think that there are those who desire copies of the Word of God and who do not have a copy of the Bible to pick up and take with them to a conference like we've been at this weekend, or to a gospel meeting we take for granted. We take so lightly the fact that we're able to have Bibles at very little cost. In fact, I would wonder if you went home and counted the number of Bibles in your house.
Just how many Bibles? I think you'd be surprised to find out how many Bibles you have in your home.
And as this man told us this story.
I was so very thankful.
That I was able to reach into my bag and to pull him a copy of the word of God.
And to put it in this man's hand and tell him that we were only too happy to supply him with this Bible.
Free of charge. He couldn't have paid for it if we wanted him to.
And to see him hug that Bible to his chest and the tears flowing down his cheeks.
It's an experience I'll never forget. And yet tonight we sit here with the word of God open in our hands.
And yet, as the Word of God is open before us tonight, I wonder if our ears are really open to take in its message.
I've told this to some before.
But when I got to Trinidad this last time.
The brother who runs the bookroom.
Pulled me aside.
And he took from his file a long list.
Of those whose names are on a waiting list for a Bible.
But what does the Word of God mean to your soul tonight?
Are you content to just sit here with your Bible, open to the passages that we have read, and to close your ears to the word of God? And This is why I began with the portion.
In Colossians chapter 3.
Because not only does this portion direct our thoughts.
To Christ in glory, where he is now as the Savior of sinners. But it says set your mind on things above.
And I wonder tonight what's occupying our minds as we sit here.
In this gospel meeting.
I have no doubt that there are many here, young and old, whose minds are filled with all kinds of things.
Legitimate things in themselves, I have no doubt.
I have no doubt there are those here whose minds are on business and when you came to this conference.
You left behind some very difficult things concerning your work and your business, and your mind has been going over these things as you sat in these meetings trying to figure out how when you go back to work next week, you're going to solve these business problems.
I know that for most of the boys and girls and young people, school is out.
But no doubt there are those here who perhaps are anticipating taking some summer classes.
And in your mind, you're going over these things trying to work it all out.
There are no doubt those here who are going through real difficulties, trials, and problems in your life, and this is filling your mind. But oh, tonight we want to encourage you for a few moments to set your mind on things above, to focus on the precious word of God. And as we quote and speak of the precious things of Christ, oh, don't let those distractions come in, because no doubt the enemy is busy tonight to distract you.
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In every kind of a way.
And sometimes as I stand from this vantage point and.
As you stand from this vantage point, you can see everyone in the room. And sometimes, as I stand here, I look at young people and boys and girls, and my heart is burdened because sometimes there are those sitting beside others who, it seems, are bent on nothing else but distracting the person beside you or in front of you.
Don't do it tonight. Focus for a few moments on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we've said, we want to stress tonight that the Lord Jesus is a savior in the glory that tonight we have to present to you a person. A person who, it's true, died on Calvary's cross, a person, as scripture confirms, who was laid in the tomb.
But the story doesn't end there.
The glorious part of the gospel is that we have to present tonight someone who is risen.
From the dead there is an empty tomb, and not only is there an empty tomb, but there came a moment in the history of the Lord Jesus here.
When he led his own out as far as the Mount of Olives, and he lifted up his hands, and he blessed them.
And as he lifted up his hands and blessed them, his feet left the mount of Olives, and the cloud received him out of their sight, and they saw him no more. Because tonight, not only do we have to present to you a risen Savior, but a glorified Savior ascended at the right hand of God.
You'll remember when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.
There was a woman by the name of Mary Magdalene who was so devoted to the Lord Jesus, whose heart went out in such a way to the person of Christ that she, though she was not intelligent as to what was taking place. Yet she was so attracted to the person of Christ that her heart desired nothing less than being close to him, even if it meant just being close to his dead body.
She said to the Lord Jesus, when she supposed him to be the gardener. Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
But you know Mary, whose heart was so devoted to the Lord Jesus, and who stood there without the tomb weeping, she received a wonderful revelation. It wasn't the disciples who received this revelation. No, it was Mary when the Lord Jesus said to her, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. And I know there are just so many here who rejoice as we think of the Lord Jesus.
Having ascended back and sat down at the right hand of God, because it says, God hath raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand.
You know, the resurrection, the ascension, and the glorification of Christ.
Our gods, Amen to the work of Calvary. And you know the fact that the Lord Jesus has risen from the dead and the fact that he has ascended to glory.
Tells us that we are responsible.
We are responsible tonight.
To our reaction to the presentation of the person and work of Christ.
Set your mind on things above and in Matthew it says what think ye of Christ.
Not what do you think?
So much of the Bible, although that's important.
It's not a question. After a gospel meeting, what did you think of the presentation of the gospel?
But the question is what thinking of Christ?
00:25:03
What do you think of Christ?
Tonight.
Because there is a day coming.
When you will stand before him.
And if you have rejected him here.
You will stand before him.
And he will look into your face, but He will not be your savior in that day.
He will be your judge.
Let's suppose.
That we knew for certainty that this gospel meeting tonight.
Was the last time you would have opportunity to be saved.
I wonder if it would make a difference in the way you listen.
I wonder if it would make a difference in gathering, in wandering thoughts and focusing on what is being said.
And yet the solemn thing is, this might indeed be the last time.
The gospel and the word of God rings in your ears. You know man is a gambler at heart. Man loves to take chances.
And I remember many years ago.
We were having some gospel meetings.
In a place called Curling Newfoundland.
And there were some young men came into the Gospel meeting one evening.
And they sat near the back.
And I realized as the Gospel Meeting.
Proceeded.
That these young men had come in not to listen, but to distract.
And they seemed bent on distracting in one way or another, those around them.
And after the Gospel meeting was over, these young men were standing outside near the door.
And I went up to them and I said young men.
Is it worth?
Taking the risk?
Of saying that we will have another Gospel meeting tomorrow evening and that there will be another opportunity.
To be saved.
I said, is it worth the risk?
I tremble to tell you what they said to me.
They said we'll take that chance.
In that solemn and yet we shake our heads.
And we say how foolish for those young men to risk their souls.
On the chance that there might be another opportunity to be saved.
But what about you tonight?
Aren't you just watching the clock and wondering?
Why the clock seems to move so slow?
And hoping that 8:00 will soon roll around and you'll be able to go out and your mind, your thoughts, will be filled with anything.
But the Word of God?
Let me tell you 2 little stories that I trust will impress this upon our souls.
First, I will tell you about an elderly man.
His name was Harkins Kelly.
He lived some years ago on the island of Nassau in the Bahamas. The Bahamian islands are the first chain of islands in the Caribbean in the West Indian chain off the coast of Florida.
And Harkins, or Harky, as they called him, had a godly sister.
Her name was Gladys.
And Harky was lying on his deathbed.
Getting weaker and weaker and all his life he had heard the gospel.
And refused it.
And his sister Gladys, says she took in case there was an opportunity.
To speak to our brother one last time about his soul. And Harky laid there, and it seemed as if he just drifted in and out of consciousness.
And Gladys Kelly's vigil was rewarded the.
As one evening, he opened his eyes.
00:30:00
And she bent over her brother and she said, Harkey, if you ever needed the Lord, you need him now.
And he looked up, and he said, Lord Jesus, I believe, And he drew his last breath.
Just like that.
Oh, how gracious.
God is.
But you know, I read a bumper sticker one time, it said. Those who wait till the 11Th hour to be saved.
Usually die at 10:30.
I've often said that the Bible which spans about 4000 years of man's history.
Tells us of only one deathbed confession, the thief on the cross.
One that none might despair.
But only one so that we do not presume that we are going to have opportunity in our last moments to receive the Lord Jesus.
There lives in Brighton village, Saint Vincent an elderly St. of God.
Her name is Dorcas Dublin and I love on occasion to walk through her gate and you don't have to knock, you just call out.
And to walk into her little home.
And just sit down and she's got her Bible there and whatever else she's reading concerning the word of God.
And I've had some sweet fellowship over the years with Dorcas Dublin.
But some years ago she told us a very interesting story.
Dorcas Dublin was a nurse at the hospital in Kingstown, Saint Vincent, the capital, for many years.
And as she ministered to her patients.
She would also take every opportunity to bring Christ before the suffering.
And she told me that one night she was making her final rounds quite late in the evening.
And she came to a young person.
13 years of age.
Lying on a hospital bed.
And nearing the end of his life.
She didn't know if he was conscious or not. She didn't know if she if he could hear what she was saying.
But she bent over him.
And she began to quote Gospel verses.
She quoted to him, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. She quoted to him, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
She quoted to him. Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give the rest.
And as she quoted that very verse to him, he opened his eyes and he said, Nurse, I come to Jesus.
He closed his eyes, never to open them again.
Why do I tell those stories tonight? Because we want to impress upon our souls.
First of all that we are sinners and we need a savior, and secondly, there is always an urgency in connection with the gospel.
When the Lord Jesus looked up in that tree in Luke's gospel and saw Zacchaeus sitting there in that tree, who had a desire to see Jesus who he was?
He didn't just say to Zacchaeus come down, he said. Make haste and come down.
There is always an urgency in connection with the Gospel.
And so Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
We read in Hebrews chapter 2A portion that was read to us.
On an earlier occasion this weekend, but here again we have the Lord Jesus presented to us.
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Not so much here in this world, but where He is now in Hebrews. It's not so much the work that is taken up, it's the results of the work. It's not where the Lord Jesus was, but it's where the Lord Jesus is.
And yet, perhaps in thought, we better go back for a moment.
To the Lord Jesus walking here in this world.
Dispensing blessing on every hand, cleansing the leper.
Opening the eyes of the blind, healing the sick, touching the ears of the deaf.
And bringing their hearing back.
And at the end of that life.
They brought him before Pilate.
And they brought false witnesses against him.
And I suppose most of us have read in the various gospels concerning the trial of the Lord Jesus.
And the awful treatment that they gave that blessed one.
As they scourged him, as they plowed furrows on his back.
As they took the palms of their hands and smote that blessed one on the face.
As they pluck the hairs of his cheek.
As they spit at him.
And then they took a crown of thorns, that which was the fruit of the curse.
And they were not only content to put that crown of thorns on his head and mock him as king of the Jews.
But with all the cruelty and hatred of the human heart.
They beat that crown of thorns into his blessed head.
And it's very remarkable. You can read the account of the crown of thorns in the three of the four Gospels that it appears.
And when they were done mocking him, they took his.
The robe off him and put his own robe back on him, and they led him away to crucify him. But you know, it's interesting that you never read that they took the crown of thorns off his head.
And no doubt as the Lord Jesus hung there on that cross as a spectacle for men and angels, and as there were those who passed by and reviled him, and as there were others who sat down and watched him suffer in his agony, no doubt they saw him hanging there, crowned with a crown of thorns. This was the world's estimation of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
At the end of it they said we have no king but Caesar. They awarded him with a crown of thorns and set away with him Crucify him.
And there he.
Until God said that's enough.
And God shrouded this world in darkness.
While the Lord Jesus bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
At the end of it.
He cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He could say into thy hand, I commend my spirit. He bowed his blessed head, and he laid down his life. He could say of his life, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
And he laid down his life.
And then we read in John's Gospel.
And one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
I want to for a moment stress the importance of the blood of Christ.
And I want to bring to bear on our hearts and consciences that it is only the blood of Christ.
That is the cure, the remedy for sin tonight.
I've sung from the very early days of my childhood. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
I had a favorite shirt recently.
And somehow I got two stains on the shoulder.
I was on a trip and the next time a sister offered to do my laundry, I presented this shirt and asked her if she thought she had anything like shout or whatever they use that would remove this stain.
00:40:14
With some confidence, she said yes, she would try to remove the stain.
I was very disappointed when the next day the shirt was returned to me and the stain just as evident as when it had gone to the laundry.
I wasn't content with the results and so when I got home I pointed out the stains to my wife.
And she said she thought there was something she could do about it.
Stain was still.
As evident as before.
After she was done with it.
I still wasn't content and I decided I'd take matters into my own hand. Sometimes when I'm home I do do the laundry and so I decided that I would take this shirt and that I would seek to remove the stain.
But you know, when it was all said and done, I had to downgrade that shirt to a work shirt.
Just use it around the house or to cut the grass, the stained ground in through the efforts of three people.
Could not be removed.
And all tonight, the stains of sin can only be removed by the blood of Jesus. And when it says it cleanseth us from all sin, that's exactly what it means, all sin. I'm not afraid tonight of one charge of sin being brought up against me, because it's all been settled once and for all. And so we read in the 10th chapter about those sacrifices in the Old Testament.
And how those sacrifices offered from day-to-day and year to year, could never take away sin, and the priests had to offer them again the same sacrifices. But oh, there's a man in the glory of whom it says here this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God.
The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.
And the shedding of his blood has satisfied God as to the question of sin. And when it says in first Peter were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, When it says precious there that's not so much our estimation or value of the blood of Jesus, but that is God's estimation. Oh, I trust that the blood of Jesus is precious to every heart in this room. But all I'm thankful that my redemption doesn't depend on my estimation.
My appreciation or value of the blood of Jesus, because that's feeble, that's cold at best. But my salvation, my redemption, does depend on God's value of the blood of Christ. And God says that that blood is precious and it will be precious to the heart of God for all eternity.
Has the blood of Christ taken care of your sins?
You know, it is a very solemn and searching thing to realize that the eye of God tonight.
Rests not only on this building.
But the eye of God looks right down into the heart of each individual.
I can look down from this podium into the faces of individuals here in this room, but God's eye rests on you and looks right into your heart. You know what's remarkable? That the first mention of the heart in Scripture is God looking down and seeing that the thoughts of the imagination of men's hearts were only evil continually. He didn't just see the open sin and rebellion and the violence and corruption that we're filling the earth at that time. No, He saw the root. He looked right into the.
Heart of man.
You can't hide from the eye of God.
I am just going to very briefly repeat something that.
I realize some of you have heard me talk about before and.
In the Gospel at the Pellet Conference we mentioned this.
But it has really shaken me to realize.
The import of that verse that says all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
And as many of you know.
00:45:03
I have been interrogated by the FBI.
And if you've never had an experience like that, you don't realize how disconcerting it is.
They sit you in a semi dark room.
At a round table.
And on this occasion.
There were four FBI agents.
A bomb squad agent.
The Paducah, KY, Chief of police.
And the Benton, KY Sergeant.
And they have eyes like settling torches. They look right through you, and they are professionally trained to interrogate you.
In fact, my lawyer told me after the fact, he said, Jim, it's a good thing you think fast because he said there's a lot of innocent people in jail and they can make you say just about anything.
They think you should say.
And after two hours, you wonder what you really have told them.
And one of those agents sat in front of Maine with a file about an inch and a half thick.
And as I answered their questions.
Truthfully and concisely, I trust and you better tell the truth, because he flipped through these pages and I'm sure that he knew the answers to the questions even before they were asked.
And as I have mentioned before, one thing I learned from the experience is you better live uprightly because you never know when your life is going to be splashed for others to see.
When I had first arrived for that interview, that place was swarming with media.
When I came out, they swarmed me again.
But I thought.
If you cannot hide from the authorities in this day of technology and surveillance and security.
How much more?
From the eye of God.
That morning when I left Nashville.
I had not no sooner got to the end of the driveway where I was staying.
And the phone rang.
They said, Mr. Highland, we know you're just leaving the house you're staying at.
I stopped for gas. The phone rang. Mr. Highland, why have you stopped? Is there a problem? And on and on and on it went.
When I got to Saint Louis.
At least two of the nights that I was there.
The sheriff's car sat at the end of the driveway.
I thought it was all over till last Thursday, a week ago Thursday.
And when I crossed in my vehicle back into Canada from New York State, they were waiting for me. In fact, between the time I pulled my vehicle from where you stopped for the previous car to the immigration booth, the agent already had the yellow slip in his hand.
And they took me in and they gave me a thorough interrogation. They took my laptop into a room, and four agents went over that laptop and downloaded what was on it. They read every note from my Bible case to my briefcase.
But tonight.
As the eye of God rests upon you, do you think you can hide anything from God?
Indeed you cannot.
He knows our thoughts are far off. He knows the very thoughts and intents of the heart, even though we don't express it.
Allowed.
And are you going to try to hide from God? Are you going to try to hide from the Lord Jesus who looks down?
It says in the Psalms. The Lord looked down to see if there were any.
There were none. None that responded, none that feared him.
And he's walking down tonight, and this Gospel meeting is about to conclude. But I want to, before we close, bring us to the portion we read in Acts Chapter 7.
And I realized here in Acts Chapter 7 that there is a dispensational character to what we have.
00:50:02
With the Lord Jesus standing and Stephen looking up and seeing him standing on the very threshold of heaven. But you will allow me to apply this in the gospel tonight in connection with what we've been Speaking of.
Because, as it were, there's one standing on the threshold of heaven tonight.
Waiting for a lost Sinner.
To receive him as savior, it's just as if his ear is bending low to hear someone say in their heart. Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner. I receive thee as Savior. And here was Stephen in the last moments of life here, and he could look up by faith into the open heavens, and he could see the Lord Jesus standing there ready to receive him.
And as we come to the end of this Gospel meeting.
All that if there is someone here who is not saved, that you have never had a look of faith to that blessed one, all that tonight you would look into the open heavens.
And you would see that one standing there, ready to receive you.
Stephen had confidence.
That he was going to be in a few moments, absent from the body and present with the Lord.
Would you have that confidence tonight at the end of the Gospel Meeting?
If you were to stand up from your seat and draw your last breath and fall flat on your face.
Would you have the confidence that you'd be with the Lord?
But not only that.
But I want to, at the end of this gospel meeting, impressed upon our souls that the Lord Jesus is going to return very soon.
To call his own to be with himself, and you can read about it in First Thessalonians 4.
And other places. And as we've already had in these meetings, when once the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door, then they're going to come and knock and say, Lord, Lord, open unto us, But that door will never be opened again. The opportunity will be over.
And as I look into an audience like this.
My heart grieves.
Because I see the faces of boys and girls and young people who have Christian parents and grandparents.
Who are at this very moment, no doubt praying for their soul's salvation. And if the Lord Jesus were to come tonight, you would be left behind.
And it's remarkable when you read about Elijah being caught away to heaven in a world where the chariot of fire.
Who was it that missed Elijah?
After he was gone, you know it wasn't the general populace in Israel.
Was the sons of the prophets.
And I think of the sons and daughters of Christian parents.
Who will understand very, very clearly what has happened to mom and dad.
They will miss their parents and no.
That they have been taken to heaven.
To realize the awful finality of it and to eventually be taken.
And end up in the Lake of Fire and Hell. It's so awful that Scripture refers to it as the Second Death.
Eternal separation from God. But all tonight the Lord Jesus is on high in the glory. And as we sang at the beginning of the meeting, over and over again, oh come now to Jesus. That dear loving Savior receive him This moment and peace shall be thine. Do you want to be saved tonight? Oh God desires your blessing. The Lord Jesus is waiting for you.
Come.
Ho everyone that thirsteth come.
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Come unto me all ye that labor in her heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's the glorious invitation tonight. I can't promise you that it'll go forth tomorrow night, but that is the invitation tonight. The Lord Jesus loves you, and as the savior of sinners, he's waiting.
He's waiting to save you. Come and receive him whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.
Shall be saved with.
The Enemy of Our Soul, Genesis 3:1-9
Gospel—D. Whitaker
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Conference not long ago and I heard that.
That beautiful him given out.
And I wondered, is anybody ever gotten saved singing that hymn? It wasn't maybe a week or so later came across somebody.
That I guess I didn't know them from before and they said they were saved singing that hymn #12 Would someone please start #12 for us?
And without 1.
Blink 1.
Was.
At morning and.
I've always become.
To live.
Make your love and.
Last name.
On Allah.
All gone.
I come.
Yourself I am just like vibrant healing.
Of love.
Yeah, all right. Hidden.
Thank you for I know life. Oh God.
I come.
I come.
You're not. I am.
I.
Know perhaps?
Ready for us?
Now do we have?
Please.
If we didn't have this record in God's Word, we would be totally in the dark as to where we came from.
00:05:01
Why we were here and where we're going.
This is God's book manual for us.
Now the serpent verse one of Genesis chapter 3.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yeah, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
That's the first paraphrase. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
For God doth know that in the day eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Probably the beginning of the new age.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree could be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
And the eyes of them both were open, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made them aprons.
Made themselves aprons.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam said, And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
And the Lord God called unto Abraham and Adam, and said unto him.
Art though.
We'll stop here for a moment. I know that children love to hear stories.
And I want the children to listen carefully, OK?
I said to this one brother in a far off country. I said, Man Bester, would you tell me a wild animal story?
I said OK, he said. About 10 years ago he gave me the day or the year, I forget what it was.
He took his little, I think it was a Basenji dog, barkless type.
And he went for a walk to his garden.
And there was tall grass along the pathway and as he was walking along with his dog.
He felt something hit him right between the shoulder blades, bang hit him like that and he stumbled forward and spun around to see what on earth hit him just in time to see a nine foot long snake wrapped around his puppy dog and squeezing it to death right there.
Well, I said man, Bester has his name.
Did you go after that snake? No, he said. I was. I was trembling. I was shaking.
What do we have here?
We have a serpent, but he didn't come that way, did he? By the way, he never did see that snake again. And and that snake appears about every other year.
That's a frightening story to me.
Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field.
Well, in this case.
There's probably a very pleasant animal to look at.
In those days.
And probably didn't frighten anybody.
Like that snake did. I can't give you the name of that snake because it was given to me in a different language and I couldn't interpret the name of that snake.
But here we have one in the garden.
And it slips up and it starts to talk to these people, Eve.
And deceived now.
Very evident what the illustration is going to be. We have an enemy tonight.
It's the enemy of our souls, that old serpent. It's the devil, and it's Satan.
And he has one, He has several objects in mind. One of them is to diminish and bring down in any way, shape or form that he can, the person of Christ. And he does that here and there through the doctrines of men and religious matters.
And another thing he wants to do, he wants to drag your soul down to hell. That's what he wants to do.
And from the looks of things out and about, he's doing a very credible job of doing just that.
00:10:02
Now as we look down on this here we find that Adam and Eve the first parents.
They sinned, they partook of that fruit.
And it put them into a condition and a position of, you might say, falling off the flimsy shelf of innocence.
Down into a position of being sinners.
Now God set about there and we're not going to go into that. He set about to remedy the situation.
Remedy isn't quite the right word. There's a better one. I'll try to think of it later.
Adam and Eve were now lost.
They were lost, and that is the condition of every child of Adam.
From that day till this day, there's a brother sitting up here in the front row that gave this illustration years ago and I have never forgotten. It is very good.
I think a mama's sheep.
She leaves the fold.
And she goes and he gets, she gets herself way out in the fields and over hill and Dale and valley and brush and shrub, and away she goes between the rock. When she's gone, she's lost. She cannot find her way back.
And while she's lost in that condition, she has a little baby lamb.
That's your condition. You are a lost sheep.
And not only were we born that way, we proved ourselves that way. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, that sin.
So here we are.
We're in a condition of hiding from God.
Hiding from God.
Making up our own covering.
For when we face God.
And all Satan is at work there too nowadays.
And God came down willing and wanting to communicate with Adam in the cool of the day.
He wasn't there and he made a statement.
And I thought when I was a little boy that that statement would have been in the formula. Snarl. Adam, where are you? No.
Come to know the heart of heaven. We're going to look at that later on.
The heart of heaven.
I believe that call Adam, where art thou?
With a yearning, a yearning.
Man is lost.
Man needs to be found now. You were born lost.
And you can't blame your parents for that.
You are lost by your own doings, but what is so wonderful about that tonight? You don't have to stay lost.
You can be saved, and that's what I'd like to talk about, I hope with the Lord's help.
If the Lord leaves us here another 40 minutes or so, we'll know what the gospel is.
The Spirit of God, so gentle, so loving.
He'll touch you on the shoulder.
Tap your conscience. He lets the word of God go into your eyes and your ears.
And then he runs it through your brain.
Then it has to go down a different channel to your conscience. It has to be filtered through your conscience. God's Word has to go through the conscience.
And then it goes down into the heart.
And then it goes down into the depends on the heart, can deviate it this way or that way, and then it goes down into the soul, the spirit of a man.
And then it goes down into his feet, and it comes back up through his hands, and it goes out through his mouth, speaking the glory of God.
Tonight, where is it at in your situation?
Is it reached into your ears? I know it has. The last two nights, if you were here, you heard the gospel of the grace of God, and it was a glorious gospel. It was a powerful gospel and the true gospel.
It was a loving gospel and it was a faithful gospel you heard.
It's made it into your ears. Now it has to go through that conscience. It has to filter it through that wonderful thing that God has given a conscience.
00:15:02
And that conscience can do several things with it. It will toy with it and reject it.
Well, I thought if there's any atheists here tonight, there's folks that may have come in from the outside that we're not. If you're an atheist here tonight, you know God loves you. He loves you.
And if you're agnostic, he thinks about you and he cares for you.
And if you're just a haphazard person, you have a God that is so concerned about you that he wants to stabilize you for eternity.
I just thought to myself a while ago, you know, there's some very active atheists out there. They may believe in God more than I do because they're fighting against him. And I hope the Lord's help. I'm fighting for him.
No, God gave man a heart, He gave him a soul, and man became a living soul and God gave him a conscience. And where we read just a moment ago, that's where he acquired that conscience. And it's so wonderful to think that when God gives a man life, they say justified is just as if I'd never sinned. Well, that may be true, but there's more to it than that. If man has fallen off the shelf.
That shaky shelf of innocence and bang, he's hit the ground.
And God picks him up just like he was before, and puts him in an innocent condition on that shaky shelf of innocence again. No thanks, no thanks. And those of us that have been down the road always, thank God that's not the case or we'd be off it again and again and again. But no, He puts us in Christ and He does it in such a way. He does it to the glory of God. He does it in perfection. He does it in power, and he does it by His Spirit and the Word.
Adam and Eve hid themselves. Where art thou now? God has taken upon himself.
To reach out for man and he's done it in a magnificent manner. He loved to think about it, You know, lost soul, these brothers that are in here that know the Lord and sisters, they love to go home and they love to lean back in their their chairs or wherever and sit down there and they open it up. And they like to read about how God has justified them and given them life from the dead and given them a hope beyond this world. You know, a Christian has a wonderful, wonderful position in this world.
A Christian, he can call God his Father.
Call the Lord Jesus Christ his Savior.
He can call the Spirit of God his comforter in his guidebook.
The Word of God is what the Spirit of God takes and uses this as guidebook.
The people of God are his companions through this world.
Beautiful.
Heaven is his home.
And the Lord's coming is what He's waiting for, and that fills our hearts with joy.
And young people tonight, that serpent.
That pictured what happened to Man Bester.
That thing was big enough to hit him right between the shoulders bang like that, and it made him stumble down the road apiece. Satan is doing that today, and he's more powerful than that serpent.
And there's many people tonight that have been trapped and tripped and they're hiding. They're hiding from God that loves them now.
If you go to such and such a place, there's a little pink spoon that's about that long, about that long. See, it's about an inch and a half long little spoon.
And you'll see a little kid at the counter and maybe someone will lift him up so he can look into those 31 flavors.
And the young lady behind the counter, she says, what would you like?
Well, it's how it cannot make up its mind and looks at this one and looks at that one and pretty soon back over this one. Pretty soon the person behind the counter says, would you like a taste?
Yeah, so which one? Well, I want to taste that pink one there. So if she takes that little pink spoon, she dips down that pink ice cream and she hands it to that child. No, no, I don't like that. What about that one? So he takes another spoon and dip. Yeah, I want I want one like that. And brother Lamont Jacobson last Lords the evening at this self same time was talking about that and I just enjoyed it so much because here is a picture of the religions of this world.
Satan says.
I'll give you any kind you want. I've got not only 31 flavors, I perhaps have 3100 flavors and I'll fix you up with anything you want. And we've talked to people and they start telling us how God thinks. Can you imagine that?
00:20:12
And they reason about how God is going to, in the end, is going to accept their works. And as we've all heard, religions of this world and true religion, that is what God offers in His Word. Totally two different things. We look at that a little later.
S / 2 words do or done. I like that all the religions of this world without exception without exception are man trying to climb their way up to AGOD by works.
Some kind of work, but.
What God has is the person of Christ coming down right where man is, in his fallen and broken condition, and providing a way whereby he might be.
Eternally saved and blessed and so.
You think about that, children, when you're offered that little pink spoon. You think about that. Now that ice cream is good for you, by the way, but what Satan has and good for you, and he'll give you a taste of anything you want. He's either. You want the world. I'll give you some of that.
Where you want a religion where you just all you need to do is get baptized once and that's it.
Well, God saw us in our need.
That wonderful.
And so here we are. We have no peace.
Because the peace we're trying to generate.
Is our own manufacturer.
And God has a peace that he wants to give us that he has produced.
That bad word that he has manufactured? Nope out of his heart.
Out of the love of His heart and out of the heart of heaven of peace has been planned and purposed and produced.
For the lost and the guilty Sinner tonight.
Now the wicked are like the trouble sea, they cannot rest. They cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. You find that in the book of Isaiah 57 chapter 57.
The troubled sea. And we see them in my particular business where I work, I deal with lots and lots of young people, the ages between 16 and 24, five. And they have, they bring their cars in to get work done. And I've so many times seen a nice little black Honda, little Civic and they'll say, Mr. How much would it cost to paint this car, this black Civic here? I said, what color you want to paint it?
So I want to paint it red. So I talked to him about it.
And a few days later, guy comes in with a little red Honda and he wants to paint it. How much? What color you want to paint it? Want to paint it black?
Back and forth they go. Oh, it's funny, really.
Back and forth they go. Can't be satisfied now. It's fun to have a shiny, pretty car in the boys. I watched them on the parking lot looking at their cars. And we do need transportation.
But restlessness is what characterizes this day. We've been to countries where if a boy had a Honda Civic, he'd probably make him the president of the country.
So.
Peace isn't there? Is there such a thing as peace in this world? Yes, there is, but it has to start inside. It has to start inside and that God has to give it. God saw our need and he stepped up and he said, I'm going to show you your lost condition. I'm going to prove it to you.
And then I'm going to show you what I'm going to do for you.
He initially, they asked for the law and they got it. Let's look at that Exodus chapter.
19 I believe.
Do you think you wanted to deal with them on the basis of law?
Exodus 19.
First four in the middle of the verse, how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. That was grace. That's just before the giving of the law.
00:25:01
Now let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 11. Hold that place there.
And then it says.
Chapter 4. Verse 10 The day that thou stood before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words.
That they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
And ye came near, and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire onto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire.
And so on. Now I'm going to take you over to the margin, the Hebrew word there for.
Midst.
Is the heart. Now let me read that verse 11. And he came near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire onto the heart of heaven.
Oh, the Heart of Heaven was involved here. Do you think the Heart of Heaven was happy about this?
When he had to bring that fire in to show His Holiness in his his judgment, we could look at that later on. What a fearful sight that was.
The heart of heaven.
Oh my, after telling them this, I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.
Peace. God has set about to bring peace.
There's a man.
That works not far from where I work. His name is Mike.
And he's a Persian. He has a restaurant there. He's lived in this country all of his life.
And when different ones have spoken to him about the Lord, it makes him very angry.
I just wanted to say by this that this man was an extremist and how angry he would get.
But I want to say that you also have a heart that's opposed to God. That enmity with God, with this man, his heart is well developed.
In the wrong way.
This man, when talked to about the Lord Jesus, you know what he does.
He says.
Bring him on, that is. Bring God on, he says. Bring him on and let's rumble.
That means he's willing to wrestle with God himself.
Oh, what a foolish thing to say. What a foolish thing to say. Here's a puny man whose very breath is in the hands of God who loves him, and he says, bring him on and we'll rumble.
What a terrible thing to say. There was a man up in Regina, SK.
Brothers went to get some pizza after an evening meeting at the conference and the man in that pizza place, after giving a track, another brother gave him a track and he got mad. He says I want to go to hell. Whatever would make a man say that I want to go to hell.
Well, we now have inherited through our first father.
Nature and a heart that is opposed to God. Now little 2-3 year old child, that heart hasn't developed itself. No thank God.
But as time goes on.
And that heart has a chance to flex its muscles.
It will turn against God.
You'll see a man sitting in a donut shop enjoying a nice donut and a glass of milk or coffee or whatever, and he'll take the name of his God in vain. What makes him do that?
Have you ever thought about that? That's what gives you a bad conscience. Your heart is opposed to God, your thoughts are opposed to God. And the older you get.
The more its soul.
In visiting with souls, sometimes you can see. I know one manager at the shop gave a man a tract, young man, he put it on the counter. He said this little gospel tract and he said no thanks. He said, you know, I have a religion of my own. And he said, so. The manager said, no, go ahead, take this track.
00:30:09
And he said, no, he said, I couldn't take that track. He said, but you know, I've got a religion of my own and I'll meet God on my own. He was going down that no, he said, go ahead, take that track.
He wouldn't take that track and pretty soon the manager says you can't take that track.
His heart was opposed to God.
He said he could, but no, it was too much against his conscience. His conscience was working.
God has provided a righteousness.
Between the Lord Jesus and God, he's made peace.
And that peace is available for you tonight if you're lost in your sins.
He has made peace through the blood of his cross. Let's look at Colossians chapter. Isn't that chapter one?
Yes, Colossians 120.
Having made peace through the blood of his cross, now that's not exactly making peace with you, Sinner, or you believer. That was satisfying the righteous and the holy claims of God about this matter of sin.
And when the Lord Jesus went to the cross of Calvary, and he yielded up that precious.
That peerless life, that holy life.
And he shed that precious blood. God saw this all. And it's that blood that makes atonement for the soul. It's that blood that he can see that makes peace with God. And now that this peace is made.
God says to you, I've tried you under the law, I've tried you in back in Noah's day, I tried the human race, I tried Israels day. They failed. They failed, Adam failed, Noah failed and Israel failed and they rejected my authority and they took up with idolatry. They failed. And when the Lord Jesus came into this world.
That holy thing that was born of God came into this world. He lived out that life here.
They saw him and they said, this is the air, let us kill him, let's get rid of him. So when righteousness and holiness walked before men, you know what they wanted to do. And they did. They took and they nailed him to a cross of wood. And it was for three hours, those first three hours, terrible hours, awful hours.
He suffered as a martyr.
And then the last three hours he suffered.
For wrath against sin, my sins were laid upon him there.
Now the peace has been made and he has something to offer you. It's free, it's absolutely free. I remember one time I wanted to.
Write a letter to the Pope.
And I thought, how would I ever get a hold of his address? So I thought I'd go down to the.
To the place where the priest lives and knocked on the door and a lady came to the door, older lady, and she said that's how can I help you? I said I'd like to speak with a priest.
OK, just a minute. So a few minutes later she came out. I just stepped this way, so.
Back in that room, I said, Sir, I have a question, go ahead. I said, I want to write a letter to the Pope, and how would I address it? How would I go about that?
Well, he leaned back in his chair and he thought, and he thought.
It's a question never been asked him before, and I'm sure he'd never written a letter over there.
And so accessibility was pretty rough.
He told me, he said, well, you want to address it? And he gave me a title. It was so high I wouldn't dare write it down. The most excellent father or something like that.
And he said you'd Vatican City, Rome, Italy like that.
And he was in a kind of a daze of how to do it. Well, I said I couldn't. I told him to tell him that. But I.
I couldn't do that right, A title, write a title like that because it would be blasphemous.
00:35:01
Soul went on about my business and a couple weeks later this priest came into the business where I was working in this country. And I don't know if he recognized me or not. I don't think so. And he was in street clothes and he came in and he asked for someone could provide him with a little bit of paint to match his motor scooter. Sure.
So I got the paint, fixed it up and bottled it up for me.
Gave it to him, he says. Now I want to pay you for this.
I said no, that's OK. No, he said, I want to pay you for this. No, I must. I must pay you. No, I said.
It's free. I always said I want to pay you. No, no, I said it's absolutely free.
I said it's like the gospel of the grace of God. A man just has to reach out and take it. It's free, there's no strings attached. It's been all provided, I said. Have you ever heard anything like that before?
And he thought he said, yes, I have, yes, I have. Well, I hope he has pleaded. There's no works in connection with what we're presenting tonight. Because if you're going to work, that makes God a debtor. He owes you something. And that's not the basis that it's on. It's absolutely free. It's a free grace of God wherein we stand.
We have redemption. Let's turn to Romans chapter 3.
Romans chapter 3, verse 21. Verse 20.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Let me give you a simple illustration like this. Children know what a one room schoolhouse is.
Well, just think, one room schoolhouse. You know, sometimes they put cemeteries out behind churches and schools and so on. And well, think of it this way. These are one room schoolhouse. You'll walk through the door and there's a teacher.
And his name is Moses, and he has 10 lessons, 10 lessons, and you've got to pass every single one of them perfectly.
And if you don't, there's just two doors at the back there. One of them needs off the home and the other one leads to a cemetery.
Well, if you don't pass Moses's.
Lessons completely, thoroughly, you get that door and there's been so many. The whole race has gone out that back door. You don't understand. I'm talking about the giving of the law, Moses. And so that was not into Christ, but until Christ unto Christ then.
Showing man his lost and his helpless condition.
And when that is all settled, a man has been declared and determined that he's in a hopeless.
Conditioned, he's lost. Then the righteousness of God is revealed for faith.
And I like to think of it this way. Here's a room and two doors leading out.
Over this door, it says.
The law, keeping the law, the commandments and good works and over this.
Door it says free grace of God.
And you have to go one or the other.
Well, so many men would say I'd rather work. I'd rather work so I can say I've done something. And so they stand before that door over there and that leads to a cemetery and worse than that.
No. Why not stand before that gate, that blessing?
Door. I am the door. John chapter 10 verse six. I think I saw it on the license plate. The Lord Jesus said I am the door. Hang on, let's look at it here.
I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
John Shepherd does a good license plate.
In that yeah, John 10/9.
I am the door by me if any man enter any shall be saved, shall go in and out and find pasture. So there's the door for you tonight. It's the only door that you can go through is because you have no other standing before God. You've got nothing you need to come in on the pure grace of God righteous foundation has been laid.
00:40:01
The blood has been shed. The Lord Jesus has paid the price.
And when a person takes Christ as a Savior, he goes through that door of blessing.
And he gets handed the receipt for the payment of his sins. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Isn't that wonderful? Raised from the dead.
Ascended up into that glory of where he was before that uncreated glory, and He's going to have us with him forever.
When a lost and a guilty soul looks up.
And he said God is right, God is righteous, God turns right around. He looks down at that.
Poor thing, he said. I'm going to declare you righteous.
Wonderful. You declare God to be what He is, righteous and holy, just and true.
And he turns around and he says you're just.
I justify you.
Isn't that blessed?
There's a lot of gospels tonight. They talk about just God, just God, talk about the virtue and the value and the love of God. But if you don't have the Lord Jesus Christ in that gospel, you don't have a gospel at all.
The Lord Jesus is the one that God has designated to be the Savior of sinners.
And he's the one that came into this world and that blessed thing that should be called the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And he's here tonight. The Spirit of God is here to tell you and to teach you the gospel of the grace of God. And so it's free.
There's no strings attached.
When you're reduced because there's no strength without God, ungodly and without strength, and when you're reduced to the point where you're impotent, you have no strength.
Then God says you're ready to be saved. And so he said, Lord Jesus, save this poor soul. Is there anybody in here tonight that wants to be saved? It's so wonderful, it's so blessed. It's hard to talk about it with all these people looking at you, but it's a blessed thing and you can read it right there in God's word. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But have everlasting life.
He brings to the table after you've been declared ungodly, you've been declared.
What's the other word along with that? Ungodly and without strength?
Then he brings something to the table.
And that's the free grace of God. But it's not a bargaining table.
You come and justice by faith, you reach out and you partake of what he has to offer, and you'll be eternally saved. Be blessed now. Romans chapter 4, please.
This is so wonderful.
And early part.
The chapter.
In verse 3.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh to the reward, not reckon of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, here it is but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. There you go, or rather, there you are in your ungodly condition.
And when God justifies you, He doesn't start the cleanup process before he justifies you.
He finds you just as you are in the condition that you're in, has lost and helpless, and he says I love you and I'm going to save you and you just reach out and take what he's got to offer to you. And it's absolutely free at the Cross Man's.
Trying to think of the word at the cross man was no longer under parole. No, that's not the word. What's that?
Probation. That's it. Thank you. Probation. It was all over at the cross. All done.
Through he tried out man and he tried complete failure, but now he says I got something for you and here he is my beloved son. Now he that believeth is justified from all things by what she could not be justified by the law of Moses.
00:45:00
So have you enjoyed the richness of His grace? He made peace with the blood of His cross.
Now if you could turn with me back to.
Exodus chapter 19.
So many folks, they want to go back to that.
That mountain.
Mountain that burned with fire, and we're going to look at it here for a few minutes.
Verse five and the third word.
If.
If you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my commandments, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine.
And ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.
And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, Though I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear.
When I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.
The Lord said it to Moses, Go down, go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.
And be ready against the third day, For the third day the Lord will come down the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai, and thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about. Now this was the holy law administered by God to Moses for the people.
Could they bear up under it?
No, they couldn't.
Thou shalt set boundaries. No, God knew better than to let them go, because touching that mountain they would die. Yes, if you want to get to heaven on your own righteousness.
You're going to die. You're going to die in your sins.
So here we have a boundary in his grace that put that there boundary round about that mountain. Take heed to yourselves.
Remember there was a woman over in the 8th chapter of Luke.
She came behind him, and she touched the boundary of his garment.
That's something that ribbon of blue that did speak of the you read about that. I think it's numbers Chapter 15. There was a ribbon of blue that that Israelite was to have around the skirt of his garment that spoke about the 10 commandments, spoke about the giving of the law there at that mountain.
But here's the Lord Jesus. He fulfilled all that law.
And He's not going to bring you in on that principle. He's going to bring you in through His precious blood. But there he was nevertheless He.
He.
Stands there before God in that righteous position so He can reach out and he can let anyone reach out and touch the border of His garment. And when she touched, she was made whole. Let's look at that. And that's the 8th chapter of Luke.
Towards the end.
Luke 843 The woman having the issue of blood 12 years, which spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind him and touched the border of his garment.
And immediately her issue of blood stanchion.
Jesus said, Who touched me? Oh, he knew all He knew. He just loved to dispense this goodness, this healing power. Who touched me?
Have you touched the Lord Jesus by faith yet? You reached out and said yes, Lord Jesus.
Who touched me?
When all denied Peter, and they that were with him, said, Master, the multitude thronged the impressed thee, and sayest thou who touched me in Jesus, as somebody hath touched me?
I perceive that virtue has gone out of me, and when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling. Some people say, you know, when you get saved, you're just so happy. I don't think that's true at all. It could be, maybe, but when God doesn't work in a soul, and he gets done hewing and cutting on that, that conscience that He works with there, it leaves a man trembling. Many his soul has been brought right into the presence of God in a trembling, shaking condition.
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That doesn't change the fact if he's trembling or not, if he's saved salvations of the Lord.
And I think there's some in the room here that could understand what I'm saying. This woman was trembling and she had this faith already. And we find out the last verse.
I faith that rather the 848th verse faith that may behold, go in peace, go back to 47. The woman saw that she was not hid. She came trembling, and falling down before him. She declared unto him before all the people, for what 'cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her daughter, His relationship be of good comfort. That takes the fear away.
My faith has made the whole go in peace.
That's beautiful. What a message that is. So if you're trembling tonight and you're fearful, you just take all that fear, all that trembling, and you go to that table that's been prepared for you, and you reach out and you take care of that gospel supper that He wants to give you tonight. It's absolutely free. And don't try to pay Him for it, because you can't have it. Then if you want to pay for it, you can't have it because that takes away glory from God.
Takes away the glory from God.
Well, we're going to go back here now.
Verse 13 in Exodus 19 and verse.
13 There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned. Oh no, the Lord Jesus welcome that hand, didn't he? That hand that was stretched forth by faith?
Here the hand would touch. It should be stoned or shot through. Whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the trumpet soundeth. Longley shall come up to the mountain. Verse 14. Moses went down from the mountain unto the people.
And they washed, and they sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes, and they said unto the people, Be ready against the third day for 16. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and the thick cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud.
So that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mountain. They were trembling, weren't they? And Mount Sinai was all together on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in a fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace.
And the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
When I think of that verse, that little section there, it says that trumpet waxed louder and louder, all that blaring.
Terror. Go over there to John's Gospel, it says.
Grace upon grace, Grace upon grace. Beautiful to think of how he can now speak peace to his poor lost hell. Deserving guilty sinners. Bring us into a place of peace.
Put our conscience at rest, all because of Calvary, all because it's free and we don't wrestle with it any longer. There's nothing to wrestle. The Lord Jesus went to the cross, yielded up his precious life there.
Well go down and charge the people. It says in verse 21, verse 21 There, oh the Lord God the Father said go down Jesus and bless those people, bless them, bless them.
Not charge the people, bless the people, lest they breakthrough unto the Lord to gaze. Oh we can now by the grace of God, we can gaze on that blessed Lord Jesus and glory.
Wonderful.
Well.
A lot could be said.
Why are you waiting outside the door tonight?
Young man, young woman.
No, I had an interesting thing happened one time. I was in a restaurant.
And I saw this older man walk through the door and he looked so peaceful.
I thought to myself, my there's a believer if I ever saw one. So I charged myself. I said, well, when the meal's over, I'll just.
Introduce myself and have a little chat. So we ate the meal. I kind of kept my eye over there.
And he walked out, and I stood up and I said, Sir, here's a little gospel tract. It tells the way of salvation.
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And he gave me the most deadpan stare.
He hadn't a clue what I was talking about.
He looked like a believer.
Thought there's one man didn't know anything about God. Apparently I should have told him the grace of God, the gospel. I thought he would say, well, thank you. I also am a believer. No Sir. I felt kind of dumb.
What kind of face do you have tonight? Have you put on a face?
Like you're a believer and everything's fine. And deep down inside that conscience is troubled alcohol. It doesn't have to be any longer. Peace has been made through the blood of the cross.
I worked with a man.
He just quit a couple weeks ago.
Young man Kevin, maybe 26 years of age, he didn't believe there was a hell. He believed that you're. When you do all these sins in life and the death and then you become extinct, that's the penalty for your.
For your sins and you just kind of evaporate on to nothing.
Well, I had to tell him that there is a hell.
And I said, Kevin, the doctrine that you hold, he belongs to a big system.
The doctrine that you hold is going to land you in hell.
Kevin, the Lord Jesus died for you. He gave his precious blood to save your soul, and you say that he's the brother of Michael the Archangel.
You better acknowledge him and his divinity. You better get saved and you better get saved tonight. You better rather today the daytime. I said, Kevin, you have a golden opportunity to be saved and to be saved right here and now. Take it.
I talked to him on the phone a week or so later a couple weeks ago. No change.
No difference. Didn't make any difference.
What about you tonight? Are you safe? Have you come under the shelter of the precious blood of Christ? Are you going about to establish your own righteousness? And you have not yet submitted yourself to the righteousness of God?
Think about that.
The wages of sin is death.
That was on a sign up in Canada one time a man was walking to work a different way because the snow was so deep.
His car wouldn't make it. He came to this sign in a yard and the sign said the wages of sin is death.
Snow was right up to that sign.
He went by there the next day walking.
Was thinking about that sign. Wages of sin is death.
Oh, the rest of that verse is beautiful. And the snow had melted.
And you know what the rest of it said?
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 623.
Children.
The adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. And we're living at the end time of the end times, it seems to me, according to scripture.
In Seattle are doing things this weekend that is a shame to talk about on the public streets. Absolute shame.
And they're being protected by the police. The police are protecting these people. We're living in the days.
From God's wrath is going to fall on this country. Where will you be?
Will you be? Oh, I should have got saved. No, it'll be too late. Tonight may be your last opportunity.
Just reach out like that woman. Just reach out and say for Jesus, save me and save me tonight.
Galatians 2:14
Colossians 2:1
Colossians 2:4
Colossians 2:9