YP Address—G. Thompson
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#166.
Lord, thou hast drawn us after Thee.
Now let us run and never tire.
Thy presence shall our comfort be thyself, our hope.
Our soul desire our present Savior, while nor fear, nor sin can come, if thou art near 166.
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May they?
I'm close.
Shall we turn together?
To the third chapter of the Book of Revelation.
Revelation chapter 3 and we'll read from.
Verse 14.
And unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans, 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 our Luke warm and neither cold nor hot.
I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest I am rich.
And increased with goods.
And have nothing 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 and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyesab, that thou mayest see as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore.
And repent, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock if any man hear my voice, and open the door.
I will come into him and will Sup with him.
And he with me, to him that overcometh. Will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame.
And am sat down with my father in his throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches.
Now I think most of us know.
That in these addresses to the seven assemblies in Revelations chapter two and three, we have an outline.
Of the history of the church down here, beginning with Ephesus and then Smyrna and then Pergamos.
These are successive stages of the churches history. One succeeded the other. And then we come to the last four via Tyra, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
The one which we have just read. These last four go on together simultaneously.
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Until the coming of the Lord.
And I suppose that all here this afternoon will agree.
That Laodicea.
Has crept in upon us.
And what danger there is of that Laodicean spirit character characterizing us? And what is the Laodicean spirit? That Luke warmness. Thou art neither hot nor cold.
Indifference to the truth and how encouraging it is to see that the the way in which.
The blessed Lord presents Himself to this assembly.
He presents himself as the faithful and.
True witness.
And then in the close of that address.
He says.
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame.
And am sat down with my father in his throne. And so we're reminded that he is the one who has fraud, the powers of this earth. He is the one who walked in this very scene midst.
His own, and he was familiar with all the weakness and the difficulties and the infirmities along the way.
He was familiar with all of the evil that was present in this scene into which he came.
But he's presented to us as the one who has overcome and has now seated.
On the Father's throne. How encouraging it is as we look about us and see the failure that has marked the history of the Church.
In this world.
To see the Lord addressing us.
In this touching way, the faithful.
And the true witness.
Faithful amidst unfaithfulness.
Missed darkness, only light. Thou didst thy father's name confess.
And in his will delight.
But we've been occupied in our meetings with the Lord Jesus.
As the Exalted One, the one who, after he took.
That last step in his life, that step of obedience and devotedness.
To the Father's will, the last step in that life of faithfulness.
Which was unto death, even the death of the cross. Then we see how that God stepped in, and highly exalted him, and has given him.
A name which is above every name, the name of Jesus, and so the Lord Jesus.
Now, as the overcomer occupies the Father's throne.
Isn't it lovely?
As we go through the Epistle to the Hebrews to see how that the Spirit of God fixes our gaze on that man up there in the first chapter he's presented to us.
As the heir, and he's presented to us as the Creator, the one who made all things. And then we're told that he is the out shining.
Of God's glory.
Express image.
Of his person, that is, He was here in this world.
As the perfect representation of God, so much so that he could say to Philip.
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He that hath seen me.
Have seen the father.
And then not only is He presented to us as the Creator.
But we are told that he upholds all things.
By the word of His power, how dependent we are upon Him, the very universe in which we live would collapse apart from the fact that He by divine power sustains that which His very hand had made. And then we learned that He is the one who, when He had made purgation for sin.
Sat down.
At the right hand of the majesty in the heavens.
All look up with the eye of faith and see Him there. The point that we're to gather in that scene is the glory of His person.
As we sometimes sing together, we love thee for the glorious worth.
Which in thyself we see.
And then when we come, I think it is to Chapter 8, we read, we have such an high priest. And where is he? He is seated at the right, on the at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. And then when we come to the 10th chapter, we look up again and we see him. This time not so much.
In connection with his person, who he is, but rather in connection with what he has done. For there we read that when he had offered one sacrifice for sin, forever sat down.
On the right hand of the throne of God. See him there, See his position. He sat down.
That is in contrast to those priests who stood daily offering sacrifices which could never take away sin. But we were reminded last night in the Gospel address that the Lord Jesus has accomplished a finished work. He has offered himself.
A sacrifice for sin, and he has sat down.
That work is finished. He will never, never rise again to repeat it.
Oh, behold Him there we love thee for the glorious worth which in thyself we see. We love thee for that shameful death.
Endured so patiently. And then we go on to Chapter 12 and we see him again.
This time.
As the one who began a life of faith.
And who completed that life of faith?
And in him there was no failure. Who for the joy that was, sat before him?
Endured the cross despising the shame, and has now sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.
All beloved friends, dear young people, look up with the eye of faith. Look up often.
And see him there, that one who is.
The man who has been in this very scene in which we live and who has now gone back into that scene, he's there. And then we read further in that 12Th chapter of Hebrews, therefore.
Wherefore being encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us run with patience the race.
That is set before us and then we are told to lay aside every weight.
And sin, which doth so easily beset us.
I hope that all of you young people in our audience this afternoon.
Has began that race. I hope that you're running that race.
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That is sat before you and when we run the race we must have the prize before us, we must have the goal before us. And what is the prize? What is the goal looking?
Unto Jesus.
What a great cloud of witnesses we have in Chapter 11 of that epistle.
All of those Old Testament worthies.
But.
We could take each one individually, single out their lives, examine them.
And we could find some point of breakdown exhibited. But here's one who began that life, who completed it.
And in him there was no failure. He's the one that has sat before us looking.
Unto Jesus.
But what one wanted to get at in reading this passage in the Book of Revelation?
Is not so much.
To unfold.
The history of the Church.
Black as it is.
Strewn with failure.
But what one wanted to call attention to was the way in which the Lord Jesus presents Himself on such an occasion. Oh, doesn't it touch our hearts? Doesn't it encourage us to look at Him, the faithful One, the true witness, the one who is now seated on the right hand of the Father's?
Throne.
And as he looks down upon each one of us just in measure that we to our faithful in our Christian pathway.
So do we, minister, pleasure and joy to his heart.
Now I want to turn you back to the Gospel of Luke for a moment, to the beginning of the pathway of the Lord Jesus, and see how that feature of faithfulness was marked out in his walk.
The Gospel of Luke.
Chapter 2.
And we will read from.
A verse.
Well, we might read from verse 41.
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.
And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus carried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it, but they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem.
Seeking him. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors or teachers.
Both hearing them and answering them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and the answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold.
I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them.
How is it that you sought me and how lovely the answer we get here?
Whiskey not.
That I must be about my father's business.
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What a lovely answer.
This is.
My father's business.
Is this not the very thing for which he came into this world?
We read in Hebrews chapter 10.
Lo, I come.
In the volume of the book, it is written of Maine.
Said dude.
Thy will, O God, and how lovely to see.
The Lord Jesus, how the boy merely 12 years of old.
This is the thing that governed every motive, every thought, every word, every action that was displayed in that lovely life down here.
Law, I come to do thy will. I must be about my father's business. This was.
His object.
In the firm with which I am connected, I used to have a boss who, at the beginning of each year, required that we write an objective report.
We had to list.
All of the things that we hoped to accomplish during the ensuing year and then at the end of each month.
We had to write a status report.
As to how much had been accomplished.
Toward these objectives.
And so this kept us in the channel, it kept us from squandering our time, from wasting our time aimlessly.
Well, dear young Christians.
Those of you who stand at the very threshold of your Christian life, should the Lord tarry, what object do you have before you? What is what are the motives that are going to govern your life in your journey through this world down here? The Lord Jesus had an object before him.
My father's business.
LO, I come to do thy will. What is your object?
Suppose that we were to ask you this afternoon to record on a piece of paper.
What your object is.
For the ensuing year, what would you put down?
I think would be most interesting to read the answers.
Would it be that my object is to be faithful and loyal and true to the one who loved me and gave himself for me? Would that be your object?
Oh, I trust. So I trust that that is the desire of every young believer here this afternoon.
Is to live a life of faithfulness. Faithfulness to the one who loves you and gave himself for you.
And not only faithfulness to him, but faithfulness.
To your brethren and faithfulness to one another.
Oh, how the Lord values faithfulness in our life down here. One thinks of an example in the Old Testament in connection with Naaman the Syrian how that when the host of the Syrians went off to the land of Israel, they brought back captive.
A little maid and she waited on Naaman's wife.
And how lovely it is to see how that this little maid.
Was faithful.
No doubt that they were able to tell.
By her dress.
By her conduct.
By her.
Demeanor.
That she belonged to another land. She was a stranger where she was, but in the midst of those circumstances.
She demonstrated this one quality faithfulness.
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Surely she had much to discourage her.
Surely she could have been very highly irritated. She was taken away from her family, her mother and father.
Perhaps brothers and sisters?
But when the opportunity came, she was faithful.
What God, she said that they knew of that prophet in Samaria. He could heal the leprosy. And so she took advantage of the opportunity to be faithful. Faithful to the one whom she knew. Oh, how many opportunities we missed.
Dear young Christians.
Because of our lack of faithfulness.
Oh, is it that we shun the reproach of the name of Christ? I know that that is frequently my case, and I'm sure that it is yours too. But may we take every advantage that crosses our pathway to be faithful, to have a word to say that would speak well.
Discerning our Lord Jesus.
Well, the Lord says, wished him not that I must be about.
My father's business.
And then we read that he went down with them.
And came to Nazareth.
And was subject unto them.
Now I want to pause here for justice a moment. We know that we are living.
In the last days.
And what are one of the marks of the last days?
Disobedience to parents.
Rebellion.
Against parents.
Oh dear young Christians here this afternoon.
May you learn to honor your father and your mother. May you learn to be subject to them. Here is the example that is set before us by that one who was the faithful.
And the true witness.
How many a year has been wasted because.
This was not considered faithfulness.
Faithfulness to our parents.
That subjection that is due them.
That obedience that should characterize us.
The Lord Jesus.
Was subject to his parents.
And that of all that is recorded to him, of him during those hidden years.
But we must pass on now to another incident here in the Gospel of Luke.
Verse 23. Jesus himself.
Began to be about 30 years of age. Josh, think of that.
For 30 long years.
He had walked under the eye of his father, the one whose will he came to do.
And he says at the long toward the clothes of his life down here.
He said he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone.
And then he adds, I do always.
Those things that please him.
What a lovely word that was.
I do always.
Those things that please him, What faithfulness characterized his life.
Lo, I come to do thy will.
I must be about my father's business.
I do always.
Those things that please him.
Now we have Heaven's confirmation of that in verse 22 of the third chapter.
And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven.
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Which said, Thou art my beloved son.
In the I am well pleased. Isn't that lovely? I do always those things that please him.
Said the Lord Jesus.
Back comes the rejoinder.
I am well pleased. Oh dear young Christians, how lovely would be if this could be said of each one of us.
I am.
Well pleased.
This is what was said concerning the Lord Jesus. He was the faithful.
And the true witness, there was number failure in him, no departure in his life, but it was one of perfect.
Obedience and devotedness to the will of the one who sent him.
And then we go on further over.
Into the 4th chapter.
And it says and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost.
Return from Jordan.
And was led by the Spirit.
Into the wilderness.
Being 40 days tempted of the devil.
And in those days he did eat nothing, And when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that have been made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone.
But by every word of God.
Oh, what a lovely answer, This word this was. What faithfulness we have here.
When tempted by the devil, he was the special object of the devil's attack. The devil was bent on seeking to cause him to swerve from that pathway of faithfulness, that pathway of obedience. But how did the Lord meet him? He met him by the written word of God. Man shall not live by bread alone.
But by every word of God.
Oh, I wonder.
If we have learned this lesson in our lives, I wonder how many times we have been confronted with situations in which we failed.
Because we were not able to put the Word of God into practice, that which would have preserved us, that which would have kept us, and as the Word says, resist the devil.
And he will flee from you now, if you belong to Christ.
The devil is not going to leave you alone.
He knows that he cannot rob you of your salvation, but he's going to seek to mar that life of yours. He's going to seek to rob you of the joy of your salvation. And be sure of this fact. You're going to have to meet him.
But don't try to fight him, but resist. And how are you going to resist?
By the word of God.
Resist the devil.
And he will flee from you. Oh, how lovely it is to see the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus in this temptation, in these 40 days spent in the desert. He had that word to say, just the right word at the right time. And what was the secret of it? I think Isaiah the prophet tells us.
Morning by morning my ear is awakened to hear as the learned or as the instructed one. All ponder that for a moment, for it says that they wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. Where did he get those words he had been that very morning in the presence of God?
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And he had received those words, those words which sustained him.
For we must remember that while the Lord Jesus was God.
Still, he was man.
While he was divine, yet he was perfectly human. The Angel could announce air, his birth into this world.
That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. That holy thing which shall be born of thee, that is to say, He was to be perfectly human, shall be called the Son of God. He was to be entirely divine. And so we see the Lord Jesus here. In his humanity He was man, and as man he walked.
As we heard in our meetings yesterday.
As the dependent 1 morning by morning.
He wakeneth my ear to hear as the instructed, and then we think of those wonderful miracles that he performed in that same chapter. Chapter four we read.
And verse 33 And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil.
And cried out with a loud voice saying let us alone.
What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
And Jesus rebuked him, saying.
Hold by peace.
And come out of him. And when the devil hath thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this? For with authority and power he command the unclean spirits, and they come out.
Oh, how lovely to ponder this, to think.
That the Lord Jesus that very moment was in the presence of the Father.
And receive the instruction how to conduct himself on this very occasion. Oh, we may we remember this, dear young people.
Mourning by morning, he opened up my ear to hear.
As the instructed. Perhaps that's why we so often fail.
In our Christian testimony is because we are not near enough.
We have not been in His presence, seeking the words for the day, seeking the guidance for the day, seeking to be fully instructed as to what may lie before us all. If we're going to be faithful in this world, faithful to God, faithful to Christ, faithful to our brethren, our ear must be opened morning by morning.
How much time?
Did you spend this morning reading the Word in the presence of the Lord, seeking His mind, seeking wisdom, seeking guidance for all the circumstances of the day? Oh, if we're going to be faithful, we must do this. We must not neglect the Word of God. How else can we resist the devil if we do not have the word with which to resist him?
All at last we are able to resist him. He will win the victory.
He will cause us to fall, to stumble and astray, and to bring.
Dishonor to the name of our Savior, the one whom we follow. So may we not forget this passage in Isaiah?
Morning by morning now, openness my ears to hear as the instructed and may we be faithful in seeking wisdom for each day that lies before us.
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Then I want to give this as well a practical aspect. For after all, Christianity is practical, isn't it?
You young men.
Oh, how valuable a faithful young brother is in an assembly. I was introduced to a young man yesterday by an older brother and he said to me, this is one of our faithful brothers.
I don't know what we would do without him, but a lovely commentary that was on that young brother. He was valued in the Assembly.
Because of his faithfulness.
Are you interested in the Father's business? When there's a little job to be done at the meeting room, Are you ready to volunteer, to take your box of tools and spend your time and your energy?
To accomplish that little job, you young sisters.
When there is a team meeting, are you willing to put on your apron and to go down to the meeting room and go to work and afterwards to help clean up the dishes and put things in order? This is faithfulness. Faithfulness.
I must be about my father's business. 01 is not interpreting Scripture now, but rather applying it. We need to apply these things to our daily walk, to our daily lives.
How valuable a faithful young brother or a faithful young sister is.
In the assembly.
Well, may the Lord exercise our hearts as to this. You know, we would rather leave this perhaps to some brother, some older brother. Oh, he always does it. We'll let him do it.
Ah, that's not being faithful. Be interested in the things concerning the assembly and have your share in it. Be faithful. Be faithful to God, faithful to Christ.
Faithful to your brethren, and I will tell you, you will prove that it will produce happiness in your life.
And how grand it will be if in that coming day, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account.
How lovely it would be if we could hear those words.
Well done.
Thou good and faithful servant, oh young Christians, be faithful in the small things, and then the Lord will entrust to you.
The greater things, but you must first prove yourself in the small things, so let's not forget.
To have an interest in the assembly affairs and to be there and furthermore.
Let us try.
To always be present at every meeting that we can. How easy it is to have outside interests that make demands on our time. And so the Lord has denied His part. The Lord loves to see you there at that prayer meeting.
At that Bible reading, at the gospel meeting. Oh, as we travel around and visit some of the assemblies, we can always count on seeing.
Certain individuals there, they're faithful, this is their place, this is where they are, and unless there are there are some circumstances that prevent their being there, you'll always find them present.
And isn't it lovely to see how the Apostle Paul addresses the Saints at Colossia? He says to the Saints and.
Faithful brethren, all we need to be faithful in these days of small things, these days of weakness, these days of failure, and think how the Lord Jesus gives us His voice from heaven.
From the Father's throne.
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I am the faithful and the true witness. Faithful amidst unfaithfulness.
Midst darkness, only light. Oh dear young believer, how about it? Do you desire to be faithful? Is this going to be your object? To be faithful to Him who loves you and gave himself?
For you.
And then one thinks two of the address.
I believe to Smyrna in the second chapter of Revelation. Smyrna, you know, is that period in the churches history when it costs something to be a Christian.
The Saints of God suffered great violence during those days, and isn't it lovely to hear that voice from heaven saying.
Be thou faithful.
Unto death.
And I will give thee a crown of life.
Faithful unto death, just as if to say, never mind if you're called not to die. Be faithful, Be faithful. I have a crown for you, A crown of life. Oh dear young people, I would like to impress this upon you this afternoon.
Be faithful in your Christian walk.
Interest in the things of the Lord. Take an interest in the assembly affairs. Remember, we don't belong to this world. Our home is in heaven. We're only passing through. And what a privilege it is to be a part of the testimony of the Lord in this scene, in the little while that we're here. So let us seek to be active. Let us seek to be faithful. Let us seek to be pleasing.
To him.
And then in closing, I want to read just one word.
From the Epistle to Timothy.
I think it is the first chapter.
Of First Timothy.
The first chapter of Second Timothy it is.
Verse 13.
Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
That good thing which has been committed unto thee, keep in the Holy Ghost that dwelleth.
In US.
And then in the last chapter of the first Epistle and the 20th verse.
Oh, Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Now this is true, no doubt, of Timothy in a very special way. But I think, dear young people, that we can apply it to ourselves as well. Timothy was a young man.
And Timothy lived in difficult times.
When Paul's doctrine was being set aside.
And that the apostle says to that dear young man.
All Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. What was it that was committed to his trust? It was the whole truth of Christianity.
Paul says it was Timothy.
In the midst of the breakup, in the midst of all the unfaithfulness.
All be faithful.
With that which has been committed to thy trust, keep it, Don't let it slip away. And so I would give this word to you young men here this afternoon. Keep that which has been committed to thy trust the whole truth of Christianity.
What a legacy has been left with us through facts, Facts in which we can rely, facts upon which we can rest.
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Facts to which we can cling. The Lord Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Word, His atoning death, His resurrection, His perfect life, His ascension, His exaltation to the right hand of the majesty in the heavens, His coming again.
Oh, keep that which has been committed to thy trust. These are difficult times, and if the Lord leads us here.
We do not, we do not know what we may have to pass through.
As the enemy is closing in to make his last effort, his last attack as it were, before the Lord comes, how it becomes us to keep that which is has been committed to our trust, to be faithful, faithful followers of the Lord Jesus, faithful to our God, faithful to our brethren.
Oh, may this characterize each one of us and as we go home to our various assemblies.
Where there are many things to discourage, where many of us go on in great weakness.
It doesn't require any gift to be faithful.
All it requires is that desire, that desire to be pleasing to the blessed Lord Jesus who gave his life for us.
If he was willing to do that for us, oh, should there not be some response in our hearts?
That desire to be faithful followers of him.
To be disciples indeed. Well, may the Lord bless these few rambling remarks to our.
Shall we sing?
#230.
Oh Lord, when we, the path retrace which thou on earth hast to man thy wondrous love and grace.
Thy faithfulness to God.
Lord, when we.
Fall great noise. Oh.