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Maybe we could open our Bibles to the book of Proverbs, Chapter 30. In this chapter we find six groups of four things. Three of these groups apply to the sad conditions in the world around us; the other three groups apply to the wonderful conditions in the Kingdom of God.

Before we look into these six groups, I would like to tell you a little about this book of Proverbs. Sometime ago, a professor told us that in the university where he taught, they were teaching this book of Proverbs as one of the courses in literature. He said they had all been amazed at the fact that in this book was some of the most down-to-earth basic teaching. He went so far as to say that if there were no other book in the world but this book, and everybody lived up to its teachings, this world would be a utopia. My companion and I felt that if an ungodly man could see so much virtue in this book, how much more should we see in it. We began making a study of this book of Proverbs, and we encouraged our friends in that field to study this book, and I would encourage you to make a study of this book also.

We would especially ask our young people in the near future to read through the book of Proverbs. Don’t try to get a deep spiritual meaning the first time. Just read it over for its simple practical teaching. There is so much about the steps we take, the paths in which we should be walking, and other paths we should be avoiding. There is so much practical, down-to-earth, common sense teaching, we would like everybody, especially young people, to read it over and take notice of the practical teaching in this book.

This book of Proverbs is a book of life. Forty times in this book you read of life and what makes up life. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” I don’t know of any better book that helps me understand what this life is like. It mentions four things that are a tree of life. You think of a tree that produces more and better fruit with the passing of time. You look up these four things and you will find they are wonderful trees to be growing in anyone’s garden.

Thinking of life, it occurred to me that this is my spiritual birthday and that of my sister, Rose. It was on the 17th day of June, 1917, about four o’clock in the afternoon that we stood to our feet and received the first taste of this abundant life God is able to give to His People. It is wonderful to know we are recipients of a life that becomes more wonderful every year. There is so much in this book of Proverbs about this abundant life and the things that it is made up of.

It cannot say, “I have enough.” It pictures the world reaching out for satisfaction; and as we have been told, satisfaction is not found in the world. Satisfaction is not found on the outside. You can’t reach out to anything in the world and find satisfaction. The only satisfaction men and women know is what they have in the human heart. The reason why there is so much dissatisfaction in the world is because people are reaching out to where satisfaction can never be found.

In the 21st verse, it mentions another group of four things. This is the reason why there is so much dissatisfaction, why there is no tranquility, peace of mind, and rest of soul. You could sum up these four things by saying, “There is no Godly control.” I would just like to say, in passing, that another great difference between God’s people and the people of the world is that God’s hand is upon His people. Basically, you and I have nothing to boast of; we are made up of the same elements as the people of the world. The difference between us and the world is that the hand of God is heavy upon us.

When we think of the dissatisfaction, the unquietness, the sad conditions that have developed in the world because of the lack of the hand of God, it would make us pray that the hand of God would be upon us. The first chapter of Romans describes the depths of degradation the world had sunk to, the reason why the depth of degradation we can sink to if it was not for the hand of God upon us. When I read these verses, I pray to God, “Oh God, don’t give me up!” I don’t want to end up in this disquieted state of people who have no restraint upon their lives.

Now, over to the positive side, the wonderful things in connection with the Kingdom of God. 30:18, “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not.” Here we read of four wonderful things evident in the fellowship of God’s people because the hand of God is upon them.

He spoke of the way of the eagle in the air. This is associated with Isaiah 40, the way of prayer. I suppose you know the eagle in itself is not very strong. Some people talk about the flying ability of the eagle, but it has very little ability. The eagle weighs so much, it cannot fly high. At the face of every mountain there is an up draft. That eagle uses its limited strength to get this God-given life, and that unseen power enables it to mount up with wings and get the proper elevation, and then it goes on to its destination. I watched some golden eagles soaring in the air, not moving a wing, not using their own strength, but the up draft, that unseen God-given source of power. The thing that amazed me was when those eagles took off; they all took off in different directions, yet they all used that God-given lift to get there. “Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” You think of the young as the most energetic and young men as having the most strength. But even the most energetic would utterly fall trying to do it in their own strength. If you wait upon the Lord, you are like the eagle; you are in the place where you can get strength. The strength you get in prayer is like that unseen current that enables you to rise above the highest obstacles. “Out of weakness were made strong.” It is wonderful to see a person who is weak by nature, but they get into His presence and get that God-given lift and rise to higher heights, gain objectives that would be otherwise impossible.

He mentions the serpent upon the rock. He is hidden, and when you look there, all you see is the rock. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” The world hates serpents; they will do everything they can to kill a serpent. The secret of the serpent’s survival is to keep hidden in the Rock. Some time ago, I was in a convention meeting with an old brother worker, ninety-four years old, and in the work seventy some years. He spoke in two meetings; and all the time he spoke, all you could see was the Rock. If anyone would have a reason to vaunt himself, and impress people with his ability, he would have. To think of all those years in the service of God, but during those two meetings, all we saw was the Rock, Jesus. He was like a magnifying glass helping us to see the beauty of Christ as we have never seen it before. I had the privilege of several other conventions with another older brother, and I got the same impression. There is something wonderful beyond comprehension when you see a person in the ministry sixty or seventy years, so able, used by God so mightily, and yet keeping himself so hidden in the background that when he presents the Gospel, all you can see is the Rock, Christ Jesus.

“The way of a ship in the midst of the sea.” There is something wonderful about this also. It is wonderful to see a ship, way out in the ocean among all those storms, yet sailing triumphantly. That is wonderful to see. In the days of old sailing vessels, there was something even more wonderful, and that was these ships capitalized on the storms. These storms, which most people would avoid, were the propelling force of the sailing ship. The wonderful thought we get from this is that we don’t need to fear the storms. It is the storms that help us onward. I talked to an old sailor that used to be on the seas in the days of the old sailing vessels. He told me that the thing they feared was the calm. They dreaded those seemingly good times because then they weren’t making any progress. It was the storms that helped propel those ships on. We can’t avoid the storms. They are there. They will always be there. Isn’t it wonderful that you and I are in a position where we can capitalize on the storms? Every storm helps propel us closer to the goal. Every storm can be numbered among the “All things that work together for good.” We are going to face storms, it is inevitable, but we do not need to go forth to fear the storms; they are God-given benefactors; they are something that will help us make greater headway toward this goal we are all aiming at.

“The way of a man with a maid.” This speaks of the wonderful results that come about when love is working. It is true naturally speaking and doubly true spiritually speaking. Love will compel people to do things you could not force them to do. We visited a home in California. These folks were the caretakers of this home for the real estate company for which they worked. I didn’t know how many thousand dollars that home was worth. I didn’t know there was such elaboration contained within four walls. I didn’t know there could be so many mirrors on the walls, or that rugs could be so thick, or that so many luxuries could be contained in one home. A few weeks before we went there, a young woman, the only daughter of these people, had left that home and married a young man on the other side of the city. She was a very godly young girl and he a hearty young man. She went across the city to live in a little cracker box apartment. The whole apartment wasn’t nearly as big as the room she had called her own in that home. I saw her afterward. Was she feeling that she had given up so much? No, she was just like a bird that has found her worm. She was singing at the top of her voice. That is why we are so anxious to see the love of God shed abroad in the hearts of God’s people. It will do something for you that we can’t force you to do. If love is in your heart as it should be, it will make you want to be in close fellowship with your Bridegroom. You won’t bemoan the fact that you have to give up this or that. That language won’t ever come into your mind. That love will make you want to be near your Bridegroom no matter what you might have to give up along the way.

One of our brothers was telling about a young man who professed in the meetings. He had been in the depth of Hippie-ville, the son of a lawyer. This man came to some meetings, and in the process of time, he professed. With the love of God coming into his life, his whole life and appearance changed. The thing that had identified him with the hippie attitude of the world was gone; everything about his life adorned the Gospel of Christ. The father of this boy came to these brothers and said, “What power do you have over people? For months we have been trying to force this boy to do what you have gotten him to do. Now he enjoys doing what we could not force him to do.” Our brothers were glad to tell him that it was the power of love. You can’t force people. All the force in the world couldn’t change the passions of this young boy’s heart, but when Christ came in and the love of God possessed his soul, there was something about that love that was making him want to do what they could not force him to do. That is why, as God’s servants, we long to labor and pray so that the love would be enhanced. Love will move a person to do what normally you couldn’t force them to do.

These are some wonderful things in the Kingdom of God. They are like looking at the Kingdom from four different sides. We see the things that make it the most wonderful thing in the world. When Isaiah preached concerning Jesus, those who laid the government of their lives upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called “Wonderful.” I don’t know of any word used more among God’s people.

The next group of four things is often referred to in the Gospel Meetings. It refers to the wisdom of God’s people. It speaks of them being little people upon the earth, yet, exceeding wise. We have all heard these verses spoken on; we have all understood the lessons of Godly wisdom these little creatures are teaching us. They are four of the greatest Gospel preachers in the world.

The ants prepare. The wisdom of God has taught them that there is a winter coming. What they prepare in the summer determines what they will have in the winter. The wisdom of God tells us there is an eternal winter coming, that our summer time is so short, so brief. What we have in the countless ages of eternity is what we put into the summer. It is wonderful to think of the wisdom that God puts into those ants. He also puts into His people the same wisdom, and it enables us to use the time while we have it. Jeremiah 8:20, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” The saddest part of this is these were people who wanted to be saved, and they fully intended they would get saved. Little by little the months of their summer slipped by and when they awakened, it was too late, the harvest was past, the summer was ended, and they were not saved.

The conies use the wisdom God gives them to make use of salvation. They know that they are a feeble folk. They know they can’t do anything in their own strength. They know God placed salvation for them in the rocks, and they use that. We, in ourselves, are feeble. We cannot do it in ourselves, but God has made a way of salvation in the “Rock that is higher than I.”

The locusts have learned the secret of unity. This enables them to go forth by bands; and they can accomplish what, by themselves, they could never accomplish. This is a picture of the wisdom that binds us together. Unity should be our chief concern. The things that make for unity are the most important things in the world. The wisdom of God helps us do that.

“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” The wisdom of God enables that creature to take advantage of its opportunities. It can’t get into a home unless the door is open. It can’t open the door itself; but when the door is open, the wisdom of God enables that creature to get in through that open door while the opportunity is there. The wisdom of God teaches us to take advantage of those openings, of the passing opportunities, like an open door that opens for a moment and then is closed forever. We have all had the heartache of knowing we have passed by opportunities that were so advantageous for us and for the kingdom and we have let them pass by. The wisdom that God has given His people is just like that wisdom of the spider, seeing the need of taking advantage of the opening when it is there. This is a cross section of the wisdom God gives His people that makes them different from all other people.

Verse 29, “There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going.” These four things picture the comeliness of God’s people. What makes them attractive? It is in our going. The Lord’s people are an action people. The only time we are comely is when we are making use of the opportunities presented to us.

“A lion, which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any.“ This lion just speaks of a person who has the determination to go ahead in spite of everything. He has the assurance that God has endowed him with power that will enable him to go ahead in spite of everything. The reason the lion is king among beasts is that he realizes, “God has endowed me with strength greater than anything else, regardless what comes around the next corner of the jungle trail.” What is it that makes the Lord’s people so bold as they look into the future? God has endowed them with a power greater than anything that can rise up against them. None of us knows what lies beyond the next bend of the jungle trail but come what may, if we avail ourselves of the power of God, that power is greater than anything that can rise up against us. That is why the Lord’s people can meet the future with peace in their hearts, unafraid and unshaken.

Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Then you can boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I shall not fear what man shall do unto me.” Sometimes people are afraid of what people will say about them. These verses carry the thought further; if you come boldly before the throne of grace and avail yourself of His strength, then you can turn around and boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what people do to me.” We don’t know what we are going to face in the future, but we shouldn’t have an ounce of apprehension. The people in the world around us are in that situation. If we avail ourselves of the power of God, we are going to go forward, not turning to the left hand nor the right; we don’t need to deviate in our purpose.

The greyhound would associate our thoughts with a race. A greyhound is only comely in a race. You see him lying down, and he is about the most uncomely thing you have ever seen. We, as God’s people, are in this race. It is our activity in the race, our willingness to run the race that makes us comely. I Corinthians 9:24, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain.” That used to puzzle me. I knew he didn’t mean we would be running in competition with each other. Paul warned against those who were measuring themselves by themselves. I understood it was not a race of competition with each other. I used to wonder, we are all running but only one receives the prize. Paul was referring to our individual race. Each of us is running a race against the world, flesh and devil. Only one is going to win. In my case, it is either a case of me outrunning the world, flesh and devil, or they are going to outrun me. Paul said, “Run that ye may obtain.” When I see a child of God running in this race, resisting the power of their opponents against them, with one thought in mind, “I am going to win this race,” I see the same comeliness seen in this greyhound.

The goat is never satisfied until he gets to the top. You see him going up the side of the mountain, and he is not content part way or two-thirds. He is not satisfied until he gets to the top, to the pinnacle of the mountain. That is one of the comeliness of God’s people. They are not satisfied with the height they have attained. They know there are more steps they can take that will bring them closer and closer to the God of heaven. There are wonderful things enjoyed on the way up, but they are not satisfied until they get to the top. When I see the Lord’s people going on forty, fifty, sixty, seventy years, and they are still striving to get higher, I see the same comeliness as is seen in this goat, not satisfied until he gets to the top of the mountain.

“A king against whom there is no rising up.” The only king which there is no rising up against is the king that does more for his subjects than the subjects are able to do in return. When we think of the king like that, we think of Jesus. Is there anyone who thinks of rising up in rebellion because of what He has done for them? We hang our heads in shame because He has given us so much and there is so little we can do in comparison. Jesus told about a man who had a servant. He did all that was expected of him. Then Jesus turned the limelight to His disciples and He said; “After you have done all you could do, you will have to admit you are unprofitable servants.” An unprofitable servant is one which is getting more than he can give back. It is like one putting their best into it, but they realize that doing the best I can, I am still getting more than I can give back in return. Isn’t that a wonderful picture of a king against which there is no rising up? When we think of all the benefits He is loading us with, instead of rising up against Him, it makes us want to do more for Him.

If I am a king like that, if I keep my own selfish desires in subjection, if my purpose is to do more for my brethren than my brethren can do for me, then I am a king against whom there is no rising up. If I take advantage of you, and you take advantage of me, then there is trouble. But if I do everything I can for you, and you do everything you can for me, there is no trouble there, is there? If my purpose is to give you more help than you can ever give me, which is the kind of king Jesus is, there is no room for trouble in a picture like that. That is the kind of king Jesus is. When I see the same reflection in my brother and sister, I see the comeliness of God’s people.

I don’t know if this has been the help to you that it has been to me. This is the first time I have spoken on this, but it was so fresh to me. It is no wonder the world is in the shape it is in. When you see the spirit of disquietness and dissatisfaction, you can understand why the condition of the world is as it is. When you see the other side of the picture–the wisdom and the comeliness worked into the hearts of God’s people–that helps us understand why this fellowship is the most wonderful thing in all the world, why it is getting better and better with the passing of time. I hope this book of Proverbs can mean to you what is has to me, spiritually and naturally. I hope God will help us to continue ourselves so that we would be like a king against which there is no rising up.

My thoughts this morning are all found in the book of Matthew. If you care to, we might open our Bibles first of all to the 17th chapter of Matthew and read together from verse 1, “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James and John. . . and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart . . . This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.”

Now to me, that is a little picture of Convention when I think of Jesus taking His disciples up the mountain, separating them from the multitudes, the cares of the multitude and giving them a fresh glimpse of His own glory and future possibilities. I saw in this something that God is anxious to accomplish in this convention.

Sometimes people wonder why convention is necessary; why did God plan it; why is it so down through the years that His people would annually come up and meet before Him? Well, there are many good reasons God had in mind when planning convention, which we all know but the one great reason that we need convention is that it is so necessary to get the vision that was received on the top of this mountain.

We were hearing this morning the words of the Psalmist, ” . . . my soul cleaveth to the dust.” It is so easy to be taken up with eating, drinking, buying, selling; everything pertaining to this world, so that we lose sight of the most important thing in life. That is why God finds it so necessary from time to time, to bring us together to renew the important side of our life, our vision.

Paul made a statement once when writing to the Romans and he used that statement a little differently from the way I am applying it this morning, “. . . whereas blindness in part has happened to Israel.” Now the worst thing that can happen to anybody is to be blind in part. None are blind to the basic part of truth. We can all see the Lord’s servants should go out two by two. We can all see that the meeting should be in the home. We can all see that there should be a family fellowship. We are not blind to that part .

The part that we can so easily become blind to is the importance of this thing and the greatness of this thing and the worthwhileness of this thing. Have you ever wondered why you are a different person when you leave Convention from what you were when you came to Convention? When the last day of Convention is over, you leave feeling, “I want to put my best into this thing. I want to give the best that I have this year.”

What has brought about that change? It is not that you have seen any more of the Truth. You saw it in the beginning. This feeling is brought about as a result of sitting in meetings and having our eyes opened again to see that this is the most wonderful thing in all the world. It is worthy of the greatest investment of every moment of time we can give to it. It is the only thing that will bring satisfaction now and satisfaction eternally and therefore we want to go forth and put our best into it.

If we have come to this convention, which no doubt all of us have, blind in part, I hope the Lord will be able, during the course of the meetings, to take us up to the top of this mountain and give us a fresh vision of the better things and get our vision and perspective raised again.

On this occasion, God made known His eternal beauty. “. . . His face did shine as the sun and His raiment was white as the light.” Suddenly there appeared Moses and Elias talking with Him. Moses stood there representing the law and Elias represented the prophets. This would be a fresh assurance to the hearts of the disciples that this Jesus was indeed the One of whom Moses and the prophets did speak.

Now they had known that before but, oftentimes at convention, we have to be reminded again of what we have already known; just as Peter wrote to the Christians in His day, “I am writing these things even though you already know these things, I want to stir up your pure minds. . .” When these disciples saw Moses and Elias standing there talking with Jesus on top of that mountain, it stirred up their pure minds by way of remembrance; it reminded them again that this was indeed the One of whom Moses and the prophets did speak.

Peter spoke up on that occasion and said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here, if Thou wilt let us make here three tabernacles . . .” Now I don’t know just what Peter had in mind. I don’t know if he thought it would be good to have a tabernacle as a memorial for the teachings of Moses and a tabernacle for the teachings of the prophets and another tabernacle as a memorial of Jesus’ teachings. I don’t know what he had in mind but there is no doubt what God had in mind. It says, ” . . a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, `This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him.’ And when they looked up again, they saw no man save Jesus only.”

On a number of other occasions, and I am not going to refer to them this morning but in passing, there were a number of occasions where God used the cloud. If you would like to put down one reference, it’s Isaiah 44:22, “I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and, as a cloud, thy sins . . .” The message He was giving them in that verse was this, “Now these transgressions, these sins of yours, that is part of the past; now I have blotted them out as a thick cloud. Return to Me again; enjoy My fellowship again because I have redeemed thee.”

But on this mount of transfiguration, God was using that cloud again, this time to remind them that Moses and Elias were now part of the past. In other words, “No longer do you need to go back and observe the teachings of Moses in the law; no longer do you need to go back to the teaching of the prophets because the very One of whom Moses and the prophets had been speaking about is here. Listen to Him.” He was the fulfilment of all that was spoken about Him.

Sometimes people want to know why we have two testaments. The Old Testament is comprised of the law, the prophets and the Psalms. Why do we have the New Testament? Why is it necessary that there be two testaments? Well, there are several reasons but there is one reason above all; that is, we need this for the confirmation of our faith.

I like to think of the Old Testament as a promissory note. I like to think of the New Testament as the fulfilment of that note; being Jesus. I see that was the purpose for which He came. He came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfil. “They were the promise. I came to fulfil that promise.”

I don’t know of anything folks that should establish your faith and confidence in the Bible more, in God more, than when you read of the promise made 500, 600, 700 years ago fulfilled to the very letter. Whenever I read these letters over I think, “If God can make promises like that, God can fulfil any promise He makes to me.”

We are living in an age when the Scriptures are getting persecuted, ridiculed, and torn to bits but you know, folks, the Scripture needs no defence. We don’t have to go back to archeology in an endeavour to defend the Scripture. We do not have to go back to the mouldy pages of history to defend the Scripture. The Scripture defends itself by the way in which it works.

The fact that everything God promised in the Scripture is fulfilled in Scripture times and is being fulfilled in the lives of His people here today; to me, when I am talking to people about the authenticity or proof of the Scripture, the proof is that it works just as wonderfully today as it did in other days.

I’ll tell you another reason why I believe the Scripture with all my heart. When men and women believe the Scripture, they know that peace of God that passes all understanding. When their belief in the Bible is shattered, they lose that peace. We had a young man sidetracked a few years ago. He got taken up with a university professor who tore the Bible to bits. From a scientific view, he tried to prove the Bible was wrong. This man believed him.

He called on the Sisters and they asked me to help. I went down but the young man believed the professor was right. He had all the scientific facts; we had the faith. He left the faith. Three years later that man, as soon as he left the faith, lost the peace of God, that peace that passes all understanding and when he gave his testimony he said, “I was nothing but an empty tomb. After three years arguing with myself I came back and made a new start.” I tell you he is one of the happiest men in the country today.

One of the things that convinced him that the Scripture is true, the Scripture is real, is because when we put our faith in the Bible, it works. There is not one thing that God has promised to His people but He is doing it. Another thing, by faith you get the peace that passeth all understanding. If you lose this peace you become nothing but an empty tomb. If you lose this peace, you become nothing but an empty tomb, like this young man.

If you think of the Old Testament as a promissory note and you think of the New Testament as the fulfilment thereof, and you read the Scripture in the light of that, I don’t know of anything that should be more of a substantiation of what is right. We read of a promise given and 500, 600, 700 years later the promise is fulfilled to the very letter. I say again, “If God can do that, God can fulfill any promise He has made to me as an individual.”

Maybe this morning we can go through this book of Matthew and notice some of the promises of the Old Testament Jesus fulfilled when He came. There are many of them in the Scripture but we will confine ourselves to this book of Matthew alone.

Go back first of all to the first Scripture Jesus fulfilled when He came into the world. “. . . Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son . . .” Now this prophecy is from Isaiah 14:7. Seven hundred years before this took place, right to the very letter, right in God’s time that it should be. It is not by coincidence that God planned this would be the first Scripture Jesus would fulfill “. . .shall call His name Immanuel.”

Immanuel means “God with us,” because first and foremost, the purpose for which Jesus came into the world was to make it possible for you and me to have God with us. He gave Himself the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. The reason why this was so imperative is because we have a fellowship that cannot work without God. We have a miracle ministry; a miracle conversion. This is something that cannot work without God. That is why it was so imperative for provision to be made whereby you and I can have God with us because without God there is no miracle.

Sometimes when we tell people that we have a world wide fellowship held together without organisation; it is held together with the Spirit and love of God, they say that that is impossible. When we tell them the ministry goes to all the world without tithing or salary collection, they say that that is impossible. We have a work that God can accomplish; that work that gives us the same spirit so that we can go into every part of the world and have fellowship and they say that it’s impossible. Jesus said that with man this is impossible.

There is nothing man can do to ordain a fellowship and ministry that would work like this. “With God all things are possible.” God works miracles. The reason why we have a miracle fellowship, a miracle ministry, and a miracle worked in our own lives is because God is a miracle worker. Might that be so?

Did it ever occur to you that if we had a registered name we would have no proof whatever to give to others that God is with us? Did it ever occur to you that the proof of that statement is in the fact that unions function on that basis, organised to get along without God or anyone else. If we had an organisation or a registered name such as they, we have no more proof to give the world than they have, that there is a living God, that He is still living. When men and women look upon us and see the miracle taking place it convinces them that there must be a God and that God must be with these people or this thing could not possibly work.

Not only is God anxious that it should be a beckoning light to those outside, it is also a confirmation of our own faith. We often sing in a hymn, “God is here amongst His people . . .” Would you like to question that? The proof that I give to myself is that the reason why I know that God is here amongst His people is because people are here.

Did it ever occur to you folk that there would be absolutely nothing else to hold us together if God were not with us. No other people get together at convention like this. The fact that we have something from God inside us that calls us, is the proof that God has given to those of us on the inside, that He is still here amongst His people and the miracle is still working.

We are looking forward to the best Convention of our lives. Can we not be thankful that Jesus came into the world, the promise of the Old Testament, with the first promise He fulfilled “. . . and they shall call His name Immanuel,” because God works miracles and, as long as we have God with us, we enjoy this miracle which only God will produce.

Matthew 2, this was at the time when the wise men had come to Jesus and they had been warned of God to go back another way. Herod, when he saw that he was mocked, began to slay all the children. God spoke to Joseph and said, “You take this young child Jesus and go down into Egypt and stay there until I bring word that Herod has died and make it possible for you to come back again.”

Verse 15, He was there until the death of Herod. Now this is the second scripture Jesus fulfilled. I used to wonder about this. I used to wonder why did Jesus have to flee at the first provocation? Here He was, coming into the world to be the Saviour of mankind, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Why did He have to flee at the first possible provocation? Why didn’t God come down and put Herod in His place and let him know who was handling this situation?

Well, there are two reasons for this. There was another Scripture that needed to be fulfilled. It is mentioned in verses 17/18 of this chapter, the prophecy of Jeremiah ” . . . Rachel weeping for her children would not be comforted. . .” It took a beast like Herod to fulfil Scripture of that nature, who, without thought of anyone else’s feelings, slew all those children two years old and younger, with no other thought but his own bestial desires and pride in himself. It took a man like Herod to fulfil that Scripture and God was just using him as a pawn in the game.

Another reason for God sending His Son into the world was that He might be an example. This is the foremost purpose for which He came, first as an example. He wanted to give us an example of separation. The Lord led Him to go down to Egypt. He came out later on, that it might be fulfilled ” . . . out of Egypt have I called my Son.”

Separation has always been the hallmark of God’s people. It would be impossible for God to do anything apart from separation. “Come ye out from among them . . .” I have often thought of Moses in this connection. When Moses had left Egypt, he went to the backside of the desert. In other words, he got just as far away from Egypt and Pharaoh as he could possibly get and, back there in the backside of the desert, he enjoyed the sweetest fellowship man could enjoy with God.

It was from there God called him into the work and sometimes I have just wished, concerning the field I labour in, I find myself praying that they will get just a little more to the backside of the desert. We don’t like to see the Lord’s people dwelling near the border for two reasons; one, because it robs them of their testimony and secondly, it robs them of joy. The most miserable person is the borderline dweller. That person is not enjoying the truth and not enjoying the world, either.

I remember speaking about this. The thought was fresh to me at the time. If you do not possess the fullness of joy, if these things are not the joy and rejoicing of your heart, then there is just one answer to this problem. You are dwelling a little too near the border of Egypt. The answer is to go the backside of the desert where you will find joy only thus in God’s presence.

There was a young woman in that convention and I was surprised three months later to get a letter from her saying she came to that convention discouraged and about ready to quit. She was 18 or 19 years of age when she spoke that way. She decided she would go home and try it. She said, “The last three months (since convention) I have been living in the backside of the desert. I want you to know they have been the happiest months of my life.” I was not the least bit surprised when, a little later, that girl went into the work.

If these things which you have been doing cause you to still have no rejoicing of heart, we would encourage you to get a little further to the backside of the desert. You will find the overflowing joy there that God has provided for His people.

Something else I have enjoyed in connection with Jesus, that Jesus was too young to fulfil this Scripture Himself but He had godly parents to thank in fulfilment of the Scripture. In their obedience to the voice of God, they came out of Egypt and brought their young child with them that God had entrusted to their care and they went to the backside of the desert. They took that young child with them.

Why I appreciate this thought is because that is my testimony. When my father and mother left Egypt, when they professed, they went to the backside of the desert. They were so disgusted with society and the religions of the world they had tasted that they went as far as they could; they went to the backside of the desert. I am most thankful for it that they not only went up there themselves but they took us children with them.

Sometimes we have had the pain of seeing the parents making the separation themselves but leaving their children on the border, so to speak, saying, “Well, they are too young to understand. I don’t want to be too strict with them.”

Well, I would just like to give you my own testimony. There were five of us in the family; my sister the eldest, myself, and three younger brothers. The fact that we are all professing and the fact that my sister and I are in the work today, two brothers have the meeting in their homes and my other brother is in a saved eternity, convinces me it did not hurt us one bit to grow up in the backside of the desert. I would like to say that again. I am so thankful that when my people professed that, from the fashions, religions, and customs, they got as far away as they could. I am doubly glad that they took us children back there with them.

Now when Jesus came into the world, He came to be an example and the reason why God allowed Him to go into Egypt and come back again was to fulfill that which was spoken by the prophets, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son. . . .” It was an example of separation.

The last verse here we read of another prophecy that Jesus fulfilled. This was when He came out of Egypt. His parents turned aside to Nazareth that it might be fulfilled “. . . He shall be called a Nazarene.” Now the word “Nazarene” means fruitful. The Nazarenes were intended to be a fruitful people. I have no doubt in my mind that the city fathers, when they planned that city, planned that it should be a godly, fruitful place. They built a synagogue and other paraphernalia and it was their desire it would be a fruitful place: but Nazareth is left on record as an example; a warning to us that the best kind of organisation, the best of all intentions cannot produce the fruits of the spirit.

The fruits of the Spirit are just like it says, the fruits of the Spirit. You cannot get the fruit without the Spirit. With the best intentions, the best organisations and all the outward paraphernalia you cannot produce one iota of the fruit of the Spirit without having the Spirit. Every fruit that has been produced has come from God by its own medium, be it a bush or tree or shrub, every bit of fruit that has ever been produced has come from God. God is the medium and the fruit of the Spirit is like the fruit of a tree. Unless you have the Spirit you could not produce that fruit, no matter how great or noble your intentions might have been.

The reason why Jesus was fruitful in the midst of Nazareth even though all around Him there was no fruit for God produced, was because of something God put into His life. I used to speak of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5: 22-23 as a goal, something to aim at and one day the thought came to me, you don’t aim at producing fruit in a direct manner. Now if you want fruit, the first thing you do is plant a tree; you take care of the tree and fruit automatically comes. The fruits of the Spirit you read of in Galatians 5 is fruit that automatically comes when the Spirit is there. That is why a person feels a great need of making more and more room in our lives with the passing of time, because it is only that Spirit that produces the fruit, the only thing that could make us fruitful even though surrounded by unfruitful conditions.

Another fulfilment is in the 12-16 verses in the 4th chapter. This is a prophecy of Isaiah 9, “The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light . . .” Matthew 4:16, “The people which sat in darkness saw great light,” and verse 17 “. . . From that time . . .” Did you ever notice that the life was the light? Before Jesus ever opened His mouth to preach and that is not too surprising because, after all, we are told in the first chapter of John’s Gospel verse 4, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” This was what the people needed so, to see a life like that.

When life came, light came and people saw it and then He opened His mouth to preach. He began to explain to them why He had this wonderful something that was bringing hope to people. Sometimes in Gospel meetings, we say there are at least five major points in the Gospel. There is the birth of Christ, His life, His death, His resurrection, and the coming again of Christ. Now in the virgin birth of Jesus we have the divinity of the Gospel. In the death of Jesus, we have the redemption of the Gospel. We know that without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption. In the resurrection and the coming again of Christ, we have the hope of the Gospel.

Peter said, “We are begotten again unto a lively hope . . .” Didn’t Paul say we are looking forward to the coming again of Christ? It is in the life of Jesus that we have the light of the Gospel. “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.”

I was talking to a man once and he asked me, “Are you fundamentalists?” I asked him, “What do you mean by `fundamentalists’?”

He said, “Well, do you believe in the virgin birth and atoning death and coming again of Jesus?” I said, “We believe all that and more.” He looked at me rather puzzled and he said, “What more is there to believe?”

I said, “We need a little light in the Gospel. There is nothing about the birth and death and coming again of Jesus that sheds any light on how to get saved. There is nothing about the birth and death and coming again of Jesus that sheds any light on how to be baptised and there is nothing about the birth and death and coming again of Jesus that shed any light on how to worship Him or how to preach the Gospel or how to be a help to each other or to be a light to other men. The light on this matter,” I said, “is that all life comes from Jesus.”

“In Him was life and the life was the light of men.”

Now the virgin birth of Jesus shows His divinity. His death is our redemption. In the resurrection and coming again, you have the hope of the Gospel but it is in the life of Jesus that we have the light of the Gospel and can we not be thankful that He did not overlook this prophecy of Isaiah 9, you and I would be sitting in darkness and many in the shadow of death with no hope in our hearts.

The tragedy of this is the people believed in the true God, they believed the true Bible and the true prophets, Zabulon and Nephthalim, but they were in the dark. There was so much confusion, so many teachings; there was so much going on on every side and they were sitting in the dark not knowing which way to turn and to some the shadow of death was creeping nearer and the nearer a shadow comes to you, the faster it comes.

For those people sitting there the shadow of death was creeping nearer and nearer and there was no hope. They had no hope whatever until Jesus came and light appeared. For the first time these people saw a great light and it was the turning point in their lives and I say again, I am very thankful that Jesus came into the world to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament.

He did not overlook the prophecy of Isaiah 9. If He had, you and I would be sitting in darkness today, in the region and shadow of death.

Maybe we could take time to look at Matthew 12:17 just for a moment. It is the prophecy of Isaiah 42:1, “Behold My servant . . . I will put my spirit upon Him.” Verse 20, “A bruised reed shall He not break . . .” You will notice already this reference to the Spirit. That is in connection with the ministry of Jesus. The Lord said, “I will put my Spirit upon Him and because of my Spirit upon Him. He will be different. He will manifest what is mentioned in the following verse.”

This is just a little reminder to me again of the fact that it is the Spirit that makes this fellowship different. I don’t want to forget it. It is not merely that we go out two and two to preach the Gospel all right but this Scripture is the answer to the main difference between this fellowship and all the other fellowships in the religious world. God has sealed this with His Spirit and it is His Spirit upon the lives of His people. Whether we be in the work or in the home life, it is His Spirit that makes this big difference. It is His Spirit that enables us to enjoy this fellowship, that which the religious world in darkness is groping for and has never been able to see.

It was the Spirit of the ministry of Jesus. Paul said, (II Corinthians 10:1), “Now I, Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ . . .” Well, that showed plainly that he upheld him as minister. “A bruised reed shall He not break and smoking flax shall He not quench.” Now where I have been labouring, reeds grow abundantly in the water courses in that country. They are used in abundance. They are used for writing pens, thatching roofs; larger ones are used for making canes. They grow in abundance and they are used in abundance but if one of the reeds is bruised in going through mighty storms or if any great pressure is brought to bear upon it, the natural tendency would be to break it off and throw it away. There is no need to bother with this one. But if a person would bother to take time to prop it up, it will lift its head and grow up and fulfill the purpose for which it was picked.

When Jesus came into the world, sinners, men and women, whose heads were hanging low, like that woman, they could in no wise lift themselves up. The spirit of the religious world broke them off and threw them away. One of the worst accusations that Jesus faced was that He received sinners.

He said, “I have not come into the world to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Jesus knew that if He could just get these people and bind up the bruised lives, lift the heads that hang, then they would go on to fulfill the purpose for which they were created. Now the first people I thought of were the woman of Samaria and Zachariah and Mary, Peter, and John who were bruised reeds when the Gospel came to them. Can we not be thankful Jesus came not to destroy people like that but to save them? There are a good many people in this meeting who, when the Gospel found us, were bruised reeds also: when the Gospel came with that spirit of salvation, not to destroy but to lift up again.

The smoking flax here is relating to the religious world. Flax is used for wicks. As long as there is oil in the lamp it would burn, but when the oil fails it sends up a smudge. There are two things you can do. You can quench that spark and put the fire out or you could fill the bowl with oil and this would break forth in a bright, shining flame.

When Jesus came, people were like that. People wanted to be a light to their children, a light to this world, but all they were doing and seeking to be, produced a smudge, making it harder for people to see what was right. Jesus, if He had been of the same Spirit as the Pharisees and Sadducees, would have just cut them off. But He did not come to the world to destroy but He came to help. He knew that if He could just fill them with the oil, if He could just give them the Spirit He had, that would enable them to break forth into a bright, shining light that they were entitled to be in the first place.

I thought of Nathaniel, Cornelius, and Lydia. They were all smoking flaxes when Jesus came to them. Can we not be thankful God did not send His Son into the world to destroy them? This is a continuous work. “A bruised reed shall He not break . . . and forth judgement unto victory.” It may be that some of you have come to Convention and you feel like a bruised reed. Something has overcome you during the year and you have come here with your head hanging low. You can in no wise lift yourselves. Maybe you came in fear and trembling thinking, “Maybe the Lord will not have anything to do with me.”

Maybe some are like smoking flax. Maybe you have allowed yourselves to run out of oil. The Lord’s Spirit could be low, consequently, instead of being the bright shining light that you intended to be. You look back and you realise now you were sending more of a smudge and making it harder for people to see the truth represented. Maybe you have come here kind of defeated, like smoking flax, thinking, “The Lord won’t have anything to do with me.”

We were in a convention some time ago and a woman stood up and gave her testimony. She said, “When I came to this convention, I was petrified. I was just afraid the Lord would not have anything to do with me again.” The fact was, she had come so far and she felt the Lord would not have anything to do with her again and she knew that if the Lord did not speak to her, did not meet her needs, it meant going out to the blackness of darkness forever. But on the second day of convention and with tears streaming down her face, she expressed her gratitude that God had spoken to her again.

God had met her need, restored her joy once again, and now she was ready to go out and face the future once more. She had received of the Spirit of Christ. The Lord has not brought us here to whip us, but to equip us. He has not brought us here to destroy but to fill us again with His Spirit so that we can leave this convention a new person and go on our way rejoicing. That is the provision made for all of us.

If there should be someone in this meeting thinking, “Maybe the Lord would want to have nothing to do with me,” the reason why God has brought you here is an indication that He wants to help you again whatever your need, whatever may be lacking; He is ready, willing and anxious to supply it so you can leave this Convention a better person, a better representative of Him as you go out in the new year.

There is one more I want to mention. In the 26th Chapter when Jesus was being arrested in the garden, Peter drew his sword in an endeavour to defend Jesus, Jesus said to him there, “You put up your sword, Peter. Those that fight with a sword die by the sword.” In other words, “Don’t you understand, we don’t have to use the sword? All I’d have to do is pray to My Father and He would send twelve legions of angels.”

If it was God’s will that calvary be avoided, if it was God’s will that the crucifixion should not take place, God could have sent the mighty hosts of heaven; 72,000 of the mightiest of the mighty, why He could have annihilated the whole army but in the 54th verse, “. . . how then shall the scripture be fulfilled?” In other words, there are other Scriptures that must be fulfilled and the only way for it to be fulfilled, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter . . .” and “They parted My garments.”

There were so many prophecies of the Old Testament that were relative to Calvary. Jesus knew, “If I do not go all the way to Calvary, then all the rest of the Scripture will never be fulfilled. It will be utterly and entirely in vain.” I am very thankful for my part this morning that when Jesus came into the world to fulfil that which was spoken by the law and prophets, He did not stop short of Calvary; that even though it meant the loss of every drop of His life’s blood, even though it meant a humiliating death, everything that was contrary to human desire, we can be so thankful this morning, folks, that Jesus was willing to go all the way to Calvary.

How else could this Scripture be fulfilled? If it had not been fulfilled you and I would not be here today, so I pray that this convention will be a transfiguration for all of us. I pray for myself and for the rest of you, that God will be able to take us up the mountain and help us to forget all about the toils and struggles and worries that otherwise would make up our life; that the part of our vision that becomes blinded may be enlightened again.

Maybe it could be said of us that blindness in part has happened to Israel, maybe that part that so easily becomes blinded, that we might see Him our All in All after the wonderful assurance that we have that God is with us and, if God be for us, who shall be against us?

Especially, I pray that the hearts of all will be softened by the message of Jesus as it is proclaimed and upheld in this convention. Nothing softens the hearts and minds more than loving kindness and tenderness of God. I hope we will experience these things we are speaking of this morning, that these things will be a reality and, when we leave the convention at the end of the four days, we will be a much better person than when we came.

[Hugh Roberts was the writer of Hymn #283 – Strong in the Strength of Gentleness]

Eighty-one years ago last May, I came to work in the town where this boy was born. I went to work in a store in that town that was across the street from the store his father owned, who was a competitor of the one I was working in. I have a very vivid remembrance of him. He was six years of age – I was seven years older; thirteen. I remember how he was dressed. I took notice of him. I observed him because we went to the same Methodist church and Sunday school. I remember his Mother. I used to go to prayer meeting where she went. Sometimes I could notice that his mother was different from the others there, the way she prayed- it was more sincere. But his mother died and left an orphan with four sisters. Later on he got another Mother; she was good and very true to him.

It brings back a lot of memories when you go back 81 years, I can’t think of anyone I knew so long. Later on, I went to work in the city. He grew up and he worked in his Father’s business. He was highly thought of and just before I came across to this country, we were having a mission in that old town where we spent our teen years. We were religious and tried to be a help to others. Naturally I looked this boy up and I talked to him – he was friendly, and his Father has always been friendly. But the newspapers put out a scourge – they said, “We had been going into the store and trying to talk to them, and they represented that we had been treated roughly by the proprietor,” etc., but that was not so.

Later on when he met God’s servants, he got the conviction that this was God’s true way, and he made his choice. He was in his twenties, and it meant a lot for him to do this. He was a prominent man there and in the Sunday school. One woman met him on the street after he made his choice, and said, “What do you mean by this, that you would turn on the religion of your Mother, and take your stand now in another?” (Insinuating that he was turning against his Mother.) He said, “I had to do what my conscience (this thing that God put in us to tell us what God says is right or wrong) told me to do, and I had to do what God wants me to do.”

He got a large position in that line of business he was in, in Canada, (Eaton’s) and he was getting on well when World War I came on. The head of that store was greatly patriotic. He thought it was great to have the young fellows join up in the service, etc., but his conscience told him not to take up arms. It meant a great deal for him to take a stand like that in the store, but he went according to the voice of God that came to him.

Fifty years ago in the summer, I visited him in the prison camp for Conscientious Objectors. It was a sensible camp in that there was a great tract of land the Government wanted to clear, and they were sent up there to work. I went to the camp and stopped at the office. There were some young officers there who heard me as I was inquiring about him. They said, “That’s a good piece away, do you want to ride with us?” They wanted to talk to me about him. They wanted to hear of his background – they said he was different. They had great respect for him, so much so that they asked me to dine with them. After working in a department store, here he was now, like in a prison, at hard work out there. They said. “This man is not like the others – he’s different.” He had a different atmosphere about him.

Two years later, he said he wanted to go out and preach the Gospel, but he wasn’t so sure about his physical strength; whether he could do it or not. For 52 years he has been labouring in the harvest field, seeking to get others to know the Lord. I saw him in the hospital last June. He had no regrets for what he had done for 52 years, and he was rejoicing. They thought he would live for some time yet, but in spite of that, last Monday he began to fail. He lasted only a little while.

During last year, twenty-three brothers and sister workers that I have had acquaintance with have received the home call. I would like to tell you a few things that I know about how they finished, but I won’t take the time, but I’m glad that in my teen years I got the impression that the end of the road was most important.

I had great ambitions and thought about different courses in life, then the thought would come to me, “Oh!, how about the end of it – how will this be when you have to go to another world?” It’s good to have this before you. I would like to appeal to the young people today – to get them to look to the end of the road, to keep the end in view. We are glad for those who have finished. They had no regrets.

Many years ago I said to someone, “We have already made our fortune.” “What do you mean?” “Because of the number of people already we have seen come into God’s family, that decided to live for Him, and we were with them when they were finishing – what they had fully repays us. We have made our fortune already – the privilege of helping them come in and then seeing them finish, for it is the finish that counts.” We are glad that we didn’t get any ambition to build up an organization, or make some impression in the world, but the way to get a reward is to have the aim of getting people to be espoused bride of Christ – the reward will be given on that great millennium day, when we are around Him and see the number we have helped to get there – that will mean a lot on the other side.

Knowing the battle, the hymn will have more meaning to you now, after hearing about the rejoicing at the end. Our brother finished last Monday, and finished well.

2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

This verse reminds us that before the world began God had a definite purpose for every life. This verse also reminds us that before the world began God provided the necessary grace that would enable us to fit into that purpose. He said that it was according to His own purpose and grace. The two go together, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. I do not think that it is necessary this afternoon to mention very much about God’s purpose for our lives. I believe we all know the Bible enough to know that Romans 8: 29-30 tells us that God’s eternal purpose for every life is that we might be made like Jesus.

We often tell people in Gospel meetings that God’s purpose is not to make His people good, the devil can do that, too. To some of the most religious people that ever walked the face of the earth, and they were people who believed in the True God and the True Bible, Jesus had to say to them, “Ye are of your father the devil and his works will ye do.” But the eternal purpose of God for your life and mine, for every life, is that we might be made like Jesus. That we might have the same spirit and nature and love and understanding that Jesus had so that we can have fellowship with Jesus and sit down and enjoy fellowship with others who are also like Jesus.

The part about this verse that I wanted to comment most on this afternoon is this grace – the full provision of grace that God has provided for His people. This is the provision made before the foundation of the world, the provision that He made through His grace that we might become like Him. This word GRACE, which means unmerited favor…something we don’t deserve, takes in everything that comes to us from God. It’s a channel through which God’s blessing flows into the lives of His people. Paul said that “by grace are ye saved” (Ephesians 2:8). He said again, the grace of God bringeth salvation also teaches us. He says again that we have received forgiveness of sin through His blood according to the riches of His grace. He said again, and this is from his own testimony, that by the grace of God I am what I am.

In other words, all that I am and all that I have and all that makes my life worthwhile comes to me through the avenue of God’s grace. That is why it is such a thrill to us as we go from place to place presenting the Gospel story to know that this grace of God which bringeth salvation and that makes the lives of God’s people whole and complete is some­thing that is in the reach of everyone. It is to us through Christ Jesus.

I would like to remind you this afternoon of the abundance of His grace. The unlimited surely. You will find these terms in the Bible = abounding grace, His abundant grace, and according to the riches of His grace. It reminds us that in the Father’s house there is grace to spare. The prodigal son said when he was returning to his father, “In the father’s house there is bread and to spare,” and you can carry that thought over into this category and say, that in the Father’s house there is also grace and to spare. I don’t care from which­ever angle you look at it, in the Father’s house is plenty and to spare of everything that God’s people need to make them like Jesus and to prepare them for an eternal home with Him.

I was speaking along this line, not on this subject but along this line, down in Arizona a few years ago and I mentioned that in the Father’s house there is power and to spare, and I men­tioned a number of other things that were abundant in the Father’s house, and a mother came up to me after the meeting and showed me the notes that her little 12-year old boy had taken and these notes read that in the Father’s house is bread and “despair,” and in the Father’s house there is power and “despair,” and I was kind of despairing myself for fear it might have discouraged the little fellow, but we were glad to see him stand up in the meeting that night and give his life to the Lord anyway.

There are two verses I’d like to give along this line. I’ll quote them first and then give you the references later on to jot down. The first one reads like this, “and God is able to make all grace abound towards you that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.” Did you ever notice how that verse reads, it begins with abounding grace and it ends up with abounding work. Now this reminds me of the fact that God never intended that I would just barely make it. God never intended that I would get in only by the skin of my teeth, that I might just limp along. God has made all grace abound towards us so that we might be abounding Christians. I’ll quote that verse again, “and God has made all grace abound towards you that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.” You’ll find that in 2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

It is a reminder to us that in the Father’s house there’s grace and to spare, and that if you and I will avail ourselves of the full provision of this grace, it won’t be a matter of us just barely making it or limping along. God has made all grace abound so that you and I might abound unto every good work. The other verse reads like this, in part, “and where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

I don’t know of any verse that should be more encouraging to us this afternoon than that verse because we’re leaving here soon to go back into a world where sin is abounding, and we know that it is abounding more and more with the passing of the years. But isn’t it nice to know that God is able to offset that by just giving a little more grace — He just gives a little more grace. “Where sin abounded grace did much more abound.”

Someone was talking to me awhile back and they said that our young people have so much to cope with today than we had when we were young people. And I said, “That’s true.” And I would just like to say to you young people in this meeting this after­noon that we want you to know that we appreciate the fact, that we realize the fact, that you do have things to cope with that we didn’t have as young people–and I wish that you young people knew how often the Lord’s servants go into their room and get down on their knees and pray for you because we realize that you young folks have a lot to put up with.

And when this man said to me that the young people have much more to cope with today than we had when we were young people I said to him, “That’s true;” but I said, “Do you realize that our young people have a lot more to help them today than we had when we were young people?” We got to one convention each year when I was a boy. Our folks always saw that we got to that one con­vention, but that is all we ever got. At special meeting, we got one special meeting. I never sat through a complete mission until after I was in the Work.

I just marvel at how much some of my younger companions know, these young boys that are growing up under the in­fluence of God today, how much more they know than I knew when I started in the Work. In fact, I’ve had young companions that were more developed to start with than I was at the end of my first year in the Work. Now there are some of you young people, I suppose all of you young people in the meeting, today who are within reach of Gospel meetings — and we thank God that you avail yourselves of the help that God gives you in these Gospel meetings — it’s so vital.

I suppose some of you young people will be getting to more conventions than this convention this year. I don’t mind if you do. I just like to see our young folks availing themselves of all the help they can because this is the provision of God’s grace. God is giving you a little more help to offset the increasing pressure that is on the outside. I don’t think that we as God’s people should be the least bit panicky or apprehensive as we look into the future.

In fact, Jesus told us not to be in the chapters some of you were studying a week ago in the book of Mark. He spoke of the hearts of men failing them in the world for fear of the things that were coming to pass, realizing that as far as the conditions in the world are concerned, things are out of control, but he said when you see these things come to pass be not troubled. And I don’t think that we as God’s people need to be too apprehensive or panicky as we look into the future because we know this, that as sin abounds, and it will abound more and more according to the scriptures we have this wonderful assurance that where sin abounds grace will much more abound. You may be sure of that.

In other words, you’ll always find, regardless of the surrounding conditions that in the Father’s house, there’s grace and to spare. Some of you older people in this tent this afternoon will remember our old brother, John Vint, had a little poem that he used to quote along this line. Maybe I could refresh your memory by re-quoting it. It’s not very long so it won’t interfere with the meeting too much, and it goes:

“He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,

To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.

“When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

The Father’s full giving has only begun.

“His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundaries known unto man,

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth and He giveth and He giveth again.”

I would just like to say again in passing, folks, that you need not be panicky as you look into the future even though sin is abounding, and it will abound more and more. You just remember that where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. That has been proven in the past and it will be equally true in the future. Regardless of what surrounding conditions may be, we will always prove that in the Father’s house there is grace to spare.

Would you like to read of an extreme case of where this grace worked? If you would, you’ll find it in the example of Jesus. I’m glad that in all the avenues of Truth that we might pursue, we can turn to Jesus and we can see Him a perfect example. We often say that Jesus was the Grace of God, personified. The grace of God in all its glory was manifested in the life of Jesus, and I am going to give you a few verses along that line.

The one verse reads, “and ye know the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that though He were rich and yet for our sake He became poor that ye through His poverty might be rich.” I read that verse over his morning and I thought, well, if the grace of God would enable Jesus to give up all that He gave up in Heaven and earth for your sake and mine, if the Grace of God would enable Jesus to give up al1 of that, well, surely that same grace at our disposal will enable you and me to give up what little God asks us to give up along the way. That’s found in 2 Corinthians 8:9.

There’s another verse that tells us that Jesus, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man. You read that in Hebrews 2:9. And again I say, if the grace of God was sufficient to enable Jesus to go even to the death of Calvary after living a life of death, dying to himself, terminating upon the cross of Calvary; if the grace of God would enable Jesus to do that, then should that same grace at our disposal not enable us to face the little daily dying that might come into our experience.

Does it dawn on you folks that God has actually placed at your disposal the same grace that He gave to His Son, Jesus? You’re told that in John 1:16, “of His fullness have all we received and grace for grace.” There’s a verse in Paul’s letter to the Romans chapter 8, verse 17 that has electrified me a great deal the past while, in fact every time I think of it, it makes me tingle right down to the toes! It tells us there that if we’re children, if we’ve been born into God’s family, if we have received His spirit of adoption, He said if we’re children then we’re heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

How wonderful folks, if we can take that in this afternoon–that God has actually made you and me joint-heirs with Christ. That means that we share and share alike. That means that God has placed at your disposal everything that He placed at the disposal of His Son, Jesus. That means that you and I have access to the same mind that Christ had and that’s why Paul wrote to the Christians don’t be satisfied with anything less. Don’t you accept anything less. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

That also means that you and I have access to the same spirit. That same loving, tender, compassionate spirit that fills the bosom of Christ. Because Paul said again, “If any man have not this spirit of Christ he is none of His.” And that also means that you and I have access to the same grace that was given to Christ–for of His fullness have all we received and grace for grace. I would like to say again, folks, if you don’t mind a little repetition–I would like to say again, if that grace placed at the disposal of Jesus and enabled Him to give up all that He gave up and even face the cross of Calvary so that you and I could avail ourselves of that same grace, then shouldn’t that be sufficient for us?

Do you expect to find any experience as you face the future – any experience but what God could say to you my grace is sufficient for you, as you go through this experience? God never asks us to take a single step but what He will give us the grace to do it, God will never ask you to make a single separation but what He will give you the grace to do it. And God will never ask you to put forth a single effort but what He will give you the grace to do it. And there is not en experience that you and I will find ourselves facing this coming year but what we can look up into the face of the Father and hear Him say, “Now don’t worry, my grace is sufficient for you.”

I would like to give another extreme case in which the grace of God was manifested. And this is found in the 11th chapter of Acts. The Greeks know nothing of the Bible, were ungodly people and came from a base background. A great number believed and the Hand of the Lord was with them. When the church at Jerusalem heard of it they sent Barnabas down. When he came and saw the “Grace of God” in their lives, he marveled at what God worked there and he was glad. God’s grace was sufficient for them, just as it had been for the Jews.

When the brethren up at Jerusalem heard about it, they could hardly take it in, that these ungodly Greeks had actually received this. In one sense, it is a marvelous thing. And in one sense, it is mar­velous to see the grace of God working in any life. That’s a miracle! It is a marvelous thing. And in one sense, it was even marvelous in the case of the Jews, although they knew the true Bible and the true God, and they had been prepared by their prophets for the coming of the Gospel.

And so, in one sense, it was not too astounding that these people had faith enough to accept this because they were prepared for it. But not those Greeks! Those people had never heard of the true God–most of them–they knew nothing about the true Bible. They had no true prophets to prepare the way for them. They knew nothing of these things. They came from a base background and yet the grace of God worked just as effectively in their lives of those poor Greeks, as it did in the life of the religious Jews.

Can you understand then, what Paul meant when he said, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation — to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” It works just as well in the life of those ungodly Greeks as it worked in the life of the God fearing Jew. And this is an­other wonderful reminder to us as God’s servants, that there is nobody in whose case this will not work if they will just open their hearts and receive the grace of God. One of the fears that I had when I first started out into the Work was that we might find somebody in whose case this wouldn’t work and I knew that if we found one exception to the rule that my faith henceforth would be shattered.

And my faith was tested in our first mission. Our older brother, Jim Jennings, that some of you in this meeting remember was my first companion and we were laboring among some of the most ungodly, uncivilized people that I’d ever been among. We would be visiting in the homes and Jim, in his enthusiasm, would sit on the edge of the chair and look into the faces of those people and tell some of the wonderful things that God would do for them if they would give Him the chance. I would actually hold my breath and wish he would go a little easy because I just couldn’t feature God doing this in the lives of those people. But I think that God knew that my faith needed strengthening and He moved upon some of those to profess.

And those ungodly people became new creatures in Christ Jesus because of the grace of God. Some of them are grandparents now and they are still professing and they are rejoicing more today than they ever did before over this wonderful something that was brought into their lives. Some of them have children and grandchildren now professing. And to me it is a wonderful evidence to the fact that there is no one beyond the love of God and there is no one beyond the hope of the Gospel.

I’m glad that in the beginning God planned both His pur­pose and His grace. He planned something that would work in any life, in any age, and under any condition. Can you understand then why, when Barnabas saw the grace of God among these Greeks, he was glad? This helps me to understand also, as a connecting thought, of what Paul meant when He wrote about Titus. And he said, “Thanks be to God.” This is another essence of thanksgiving like our sister was just talking to us about. He said, “Thanks be to God who had put this same earnest care in the heart of Titus for you.” I don’t know if Paul had Timothy in mind, but I believe he did when he wrote that verse.

Now it was wonderful to see this earnest care that God has put into the heart of Timothy. But in one sense, you would rather expect it, because that man had grown up–that boy had grown up under the influence of a grandmother and mother who had an unfeigned faith like our brother was telling us about yes­terday. And this boy, Timothy, was brought up to know the Holy Scripture from his youth. And so, in one sense, it wasn’t too unusual for that young boy to go out into the Work. And God could put into his heart the care that He did for his fellowmen. But here was a Greek boy–Titus. He couldn’t boast of the fact that he had a grandmother and a mother who had unfeigned faith. Or that he had known the Holy Scripture from his youth.

I don’t know just when Titus professed, but it was very evident that he didn’t have the background that Timothy had, and yet when Paul talked of the place that young Greek boy was filling in the ministry, he said, “Thanks be to God who had put the same earnest care in the heart of Titus for you.” Did you ever stop to realize, friends, that is what God does when He ordains His ministers? Instead of putting a diploma in their pockets, He puts something in their hearts. He puts in their heart a care for dying men and women — a love for a perishing humanity that will cause them to leave their homes and often their land, and blight every other prospect in life, to go out gladly and freely giving their lives in the preaching of the Gospel. That’s because when God ordains His ministers, His servants, He doesn’t put a diploma in their pocket. He puts some­thing in their heart. A something that makes them feel, woe is to me, if I preach not the Gospel. Well, now isn’t this wonderful, friends, that the grace of God put that in the heart of that young Greek, Titus, just as He put it in the heart of that boy, Timothy.

The book of Hebrews is an interesting study of grace. There are a number of times that grace is referred to in this book of Hebrews. In the 12th chapter, verse 28, Paul sums up a lot of the things that he had been writing by saying, “Wherefore we received of this kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace — let us have grace — whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and with Godly fear.” He had been emphasizing the fact in this book that we have a Kingdom that cannot be moved. He said to begin with, “Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.” He emphasized the fact that the High Priest of this kingdom is one that could save to the uttermost because He ever liveth to make intercession for us. He mentioned the fact that we had access to the cleansing of the blood of the everlasting covenant.

And in this whole book of Hebrews he was emphasizing the fact that this is something that is eternal and secure. And then he terminates this all by saying, “Wherefore we receiving this Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace.” In other words, we don’t need to worry about the future of God’s workmanship on the earth. But what we do need is that something would separate us from it. And that’s why we do need to worry about it that something would separate us from it. And that’s why he encourages this people–you avail yourself of the grace of God so that you might be secure in this thing, which is eternally secure.

Chapter 12, verse 15 is something that has removed more people from the Kingdom of God than anything else. He spoke of the root of bitterness. And I would just like to say in passing, folks, that there is none of us in this tent but who would have had to struggle from time to time with a feeling of bitterness. It’s a common perplexity and one that baffles the Lord’s people from time to time. I know that I have fought it often. I know my tendency has always been when I got a little bitter over something to blame the other person, “Well, so and so said this;” or “so and so did this” or “they despise me and my life” and so on, and other things makes us bitter.

Like one man said to me, ” I am bitter, I know I’m bitter,” but he said, “I have a right to be bitter,” and I said, “No, you don’t have a right to be bitter, you have a reason alright,” because he had been mistreated. There was no question about that, but I said, “You don’t have a right to be bitter,” and I quoted this verse to him, this 15th verse of Hebrews 12 where Paul tells us that bitterness comes when we fail to make use of the grace of God. In other words, if I allow bitterness to come into my soul, it’s not because of what the other person has said or done it’s just because I haven’t availed myself of the grace of God to offset it.

I can understand in the light of this, why Paul at the termination of many of his Epistles prayed that grace of the Lord Jesus would be with his people. I can understand especially why at the end of some of these Epistles he wrote “the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Sometimes there are things like that can distress us, but folks if you and I would just avail ourselves of the grace of God and the full provision that comes to us through that grace then nothing is going to remove us from His ever­lasting and eternal and heavenly Kingdom.

Now it’s in the 4th chapter and 16th verse that he encourages us to come boldly unto the Throne of Grace. Do you know why this Throne is called the Throne of Grace? Because upon this Throne sits the God of all grace. There are certain things that God holds the monopoly over–there are certain things that God holds in the hollow of His own hand–and He only gives it to His own people. You read in one place that He is the God of all comfort. And that means that every ounce of comfort that comes into the souls of God’s people comes from God, because He is the God of all comfort.

Peter also mentioned that He is the God of all grace, and that means that every bit of grace that is placed at your disposal and mine comes from God and it comes through the avenue of this Throne. That’s the reason why it’s referred to as the Throne of Grace, because upon that Throne sits the God of all grace, and I thank God for that this afternoon. He said that there are two things waiting for us at the Throne of Grace, mercy and grace. In other words, every time you and I approach the Throne of Grace, if we come there in the right spirit, we’ll find there mercy to cover the past and grace to do better in the future. Isn’t that a wonderful combination? Now he said in this verse, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace.”

There is another verse in this Book of Hebrews where he said that word “boldly.” It’s in the 13th chapter and the 6th verse where he said “so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I’ll not fear what man can do unto me.” Some people are afraid of what others will say about them but Paul went beyond that even and he said, “so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what men shall do unto me.” In other words, if I come boldly unto the Throne of Grace and avail myself of the help that God gives me there, then I can turn around and face the world and boldly say now the Lord is my helper, I’ve been to the Throne of Grace, and I have availed myself of that help and now I’m equipped to face the foe; and I can look into the face of the enemy and boldly say, “Now the Lord is my helper and I don’t care what you say or do about it.”

I believe this is the same thought that Solomon had in the book of Proverbs when he said, “The righteous are as bold as a lion—The righteous are as bold as a lion.” What is it that makes a lion bold? Is it not the realization of the fact that God has endowed him with power that is greater than anything that can arise against him? That lion has no know­ledge of what he is going to meet around the next bend of the jungle trail and at the same time he doesn’t care, because he knows that come what may, God has endowed me with a power that is greater than anything that can rise up against me. That is why he lifts his head and roars in defiance and walks boldly down the trail.

Well, you understand in the light of that, then, can you not, what Solomon meant when he said the righteous are as bold as a lion? That when you and I come boldly to the Throne of Grace and avail ourselves of the full provision that He has given us through His grace, then we can look into the future, not knowing what we might meet around the next bend of the jungle trail but with the assurance in our hearts that, come what may, God has endowed me now with a power that is greater than anything that can rise up against me. And, that power is also greater than the last enemy which is death. It enables a child of God to not only boldly face every enemy and experience along the way, but when it comes to the last enemy which is death, they can boldly and triumphantly face it also with the full assurance of faith in their hearts that God has endowed me with a power that is stronger than death itself. When he said, “Let us come boldly unto the Throne of Grace,” he didn’t mean come presumptuously or arrogantly or anything like that.

I think that you folks are familiar enough with the Old Testament stories and the history we have of the ungodly kings to know that if a person came into the presence of their king uninvited, they went in fear and trembling because they knew they took their life in their hands. If you want an example of that, you’ll find it in the book of Esther where Queen Esther went in this day into the presence of the king to make intercession for her people. Now she was the Queen and the King loved her and she knew that, but at the same time she knew that King and she knew that his pride was very sensitive and that if anyone presumed to walk into his presence uninvited, if it met with his displeasure, he would have them beheaded right on the scene. Even though she was Queen and even though she knew the King loved her, she knew she was taking her life in her hands when she went before that Throne to make a petition that was so desperately needed, and she said, “Well, if I perish, I perish.” If I don’t do something about it I’m going to perish, if I do perish, well, what’s the difference–I’m going to perish one way or the other. But she saw one ray of hope, of going in before that King with her petition. I’ll tell you, folks, that poor woman went in there with fear and trembling!

The Lord is not going to put us to death for presuming to come into His Presence. There’s nothing that would please the Lord more, there’s nothing that will please our King more than that you and I came before the Throne of Grace many times a day. No matter how often we come, it thrills Him to think that we’re coming to the place where He can give us the sufficient grace, and therefore, when you and I go to pray, when we go to make our petitions that are so vitally necessary concerning our future, when we go there, it’s nice to know that we’re going into a place where we’re welcome and where we’ll meet the smile and approval of our King.

We were reading a little dictionary this year that contained the origin of some of the Bible words and how they were first used, what they first meant, and it mentioned a closet. The closet that Jesus referred to where His people went in there to pray, to go into the closet and shut the door and to pray to your Father which is in secret. I’ve always thought of this closet as just a secluded room. A secluded room where everything was shut out. But, when I found out how this word, closet was used originally, it added even more lustre to the picture.

It says that this word closet was first of all applied to a room in which kings held secret meetings. And isn’t that what happens when you and I go into the closet to pray. Isn’t that what happens when you and I come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, which is the place of prayer? We enter a secret meeting with our King, and there we can pour out our hearts to Him and there He pours out His Heart to us and we enjoy that intimate, hearty, close fellowship that only God and His people know.

I would just like to think that as we leave this convention we’d all recognize the fact that in God’s house there’s grace and to spare. That there will not be an experience that we will face or a separation that we will be asked to make, or an effort that will be asked to be put forth, but what the Lord will say to us, “Now don’t be panicky, My grace is sufficient for thee.” And may God find us this coming year faithfully and boldly and frequently caning to the Throne of Grace where we can find mercy to cover the past and grace to take care of the future.

I wonder can any of you tell me what the closing statement of the Bible is? It reads, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” This was at the conclusion of what John had seen of the new heaven and the new earth. All God has in store for His people to enjoy throughout the countless ages of eternity. And He knew if they would just avail themselves of the grace of God that can help us–they’ll be sure to be there. And I hope, whether in life or in death, the grace of God will mean more to us this coming year than ever.

I am glad to be here today, I am glad for what I see. I am glad for what I have heard because I believe it is sound doctrine. I am sure that everybody that gives place in their hearts to the Truth will bring something into their lives to make them a blessing to others. I am glad so many can be here to hear these truths.

61 years ago this week, I made my first visit to Birmingham and had a little meeting and there were only about a dozen there. I think of two there and they kept true – they stood fast and faced tests and others by keeping true themselves. That is most important – to live for others. When I made my decision to go into this Work, I went to see a friend of mine whom I thought would be pleased with my decision, but he quickly told me I would be a failure as a “soul winner,” and would never be able to get hold on people’s minds. I felt that this was another’s voice – the voice of the serpent. I believe in God’s people; I believe thefts are angels who take great interest in those who love the Lord. The angels of the Lord can’t be encompassed about. The angels of the Lord behold the face of the Lord. The angels of the Lord bring thoughts to our minds as well as the evil angel.

When I started out in this way to preach the gospel, I had a lot of religious friends and they assured me it would be a great disaster. A false preacher who used to take me with him and was kind to me – I told him I was going to preach the way Jesus sent his disciples. He had been brought up to believe in an organization and when I told him what was in my mind to do, he said, ”I am very sorry you have that in your mind. It will be starvation and is without a salary and organization.” Many others had the same advice for me. That day as I walked along that road in Scotland I thought, ”If you can do for others whatever years in this work that you have begun, you might not be able to count many converts, but it will not be in vain. You will have helped some few people to have faith in God’s word.”

Faith is the most valuable thing people can have. That is why the devil is so against faith. The root to all sin is unbelief. That is why the devil is anxious to put unbelief in our hearts. He has always succeeded and he will in our day. He has gotten into the minds of some preaching. How could I help others to have faith that God will give us salvation if I didn’t show you that I have faith that God promises to meet my temporal needs?

I have sometimes said to my brothers that if they should be around when I leave this body and have the responsibility to say something at the funeral, I don’t desire them to say anything about my perfections or my sacrifice, or anything about me because it might contradict what is in heaven. The only thing I would like them to say is that the one whose body is in this casket believed in God and proved it by going out into this work and spending his years with no organization, no guaranteed salary, and no collection, and proved God could provide his temporal needs.

William Lewis told me of speaking at the funeral of Jim Hamilton. Jim had been a policeman before he went to preach and had spent 50 years in the harvest field. William said while he spoke at the funeral it came to his mind that the Lord had fulfilled every promise to him and others who have gone out to preach. The following two verses of a poem were quoted:

“Father, I know that all my life

Is portioned out for me,

And the changes that are sure to come

I do not fear to see;

But I ask Thee for a present mind

Intent on pleasing Thee.

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love

Thru constant watching wise,

To meet the glad with joyful smile

And to wipe the weeping eyes,

And a heart at leisure from itself

To soothe and sympathize.”

If you do according to my teachings, your temporal needs will be met in this world and in the world to come – eternal life. It is good to keep this goal in view. I am very grateful to the Lord that my fondest memory is that there is another world after leaving this world.

At 11 years of age I looked at my mother’s face in death. I had gone to Sunday school and when I came home she was gone and I looked at her face still in death. I wondered where I would be if I had died. I knew there was a heaven and a hell. I thought I was not fit for heaven and some changes had to come.

I am glad for impressions made about the truth of God. I had serious doubts about coming on this trip. Some feel that because a person has been preaching many years, it becomes easier for them to stand and speak in the meetings, but I don’t find it so. When we are older our memory fails us and it is not easy to put thoughts together. The thought came to me and encouraged me to try to come along as long as strength would last. Not preaching any great sermon, but maybe I could help to strengthen someone’s faith by giving my own testimony and mentioning some scriptures that have helped me to continue in God’s way.

Most of us here this morning didn’t come just to pass the day; we are here to fulfill God’s purpose. We believe in a purpose in life and in eternity and are anxious to get help. We feel our responsibility is greater and we in the meetings giving some real good fruit. Not that we are preaching some sermon, but giving something that perfects our love and strengthens our faith. Are we helping God’s children to get something provoking them to love? So many things in this world are provoking to other things. What we will be taking in will teach us how to live for others and not be a discouragement.

I Peter l. There was something came to me that perhaps I could say things in the meetings that would help some who had not decided and it brought back to mind the last chapter of John’s gospel. The words of Jesus when he spoke to Peter in that chapter is one of the most outstanding parts of the Bible because the night I made my decision it helped me to get victory and God gave me grace to go out into the world and live like Peter did. I have never forgotten it. II Peter 1:13-14 read. It is a great thing to have experiences in your early days that you will never forget because it affects the spirit. This is something that changed my course in life.

We do not know how many times Jesus [was seen?] in those 40 days he spent in his resurrected body, but we do know it was flesh and bones, but no blood. They were afraid when he came into the room, fearing they had seen a spirit. Jesus was showing us in those 40 days the kind of body we will have in heaven. Those two women in the garden didn’t recognize him in his new body. He said, “This body I have now is flesh and bone; flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.” He shed his last drop of blood on the cross, fulfilling his father’s will and finished the work the Father had him to do. That is why it is possible for us to be here today. His precious blood made atonement for our sins, (Hebrews 10: 22-26). It is a great comfort today to know that the very same Jesus that spoke to those people, comforted and encouraged them, also understands us to the fullest extent today. Nobody can have Christ living in their hearts without love. The most homely person living in the world, when they let Christ control them, there is beauty that God sees. Love is the beginning of salvation. Peter encouraged the elders of the church to feed the younger in the way by having the love of God in their hearts. The name Peter means “rock.” Jack Jackson once said that three words had done much to help him be a servant of God – ”I die daily.” We need to daily put to death the things in human nature that would hinder God’s will. We often let petty things take up too much of our time. I would like for Christ to be magnified in my heart wherever I am. In John 21, Jesus revealed himself to the disciples the third time after he was risen from the dead.

It is not good to talk about the failures of others and then try to use them as an excuse. All were encouraged to make their calling and election sure even though nearer the end the elect will have more and more temptations. God will come and claim His own elect in the end. I John 1 we can see in the light there is true fellowship. One woman once asked if the Lord would bring up all the bad things she had done before she knew the Truth. It was explained that the past was wiped away. This was illustrated in this way – a man married a woman who had a lot of debts. Yet because he loved her and she was his wife, he paid the debts and also agreed to pay any future debts for her. We need to have the right relationship with our creator – this is the secret to life here and through all eternity. It is only as we abide in the vine that we can be fruitful branches. The Bible begins with a human marriage and ends with a heavenly marriage. You will make no mistake if you make full surrender to Him, and you will have no regrets now and none in the end.

Since Bible times oxen have been of major usefulness to the farmer, a living and inseparable tool in all routine work from the plow to the harvest. They are the faithful and loyal friends of the tillers of the soil, working with him under sun and rain, giving their help impartially and always willing to do the will of their master. Their pay is only their food and the consideration of their owner and with this, they are content.

THE MEANS OF UNITING OXEN IS THE YOKE. The yoke is of wood and rests over the heads of the oxen, being tied with cords, made of the hide of a dead ox. In general, the oxen like the smell of the cords and at times they even lick them, being conscious that it is something very familiar, of their own nature. The cords are soft, so they won’t hurt the heads of the animal and are tied securely.

When the cords become loose, it is necessary to tighten them up again, because while working, at times they stretch and the ox doesn’t have the same firmness to pull or control the load. From the yoke, the load is shared, until finishing the day’s tasks. The yoke keeps them separated a certain distance, which makes them esteem each other and cooperate mutually, thus mitigating the load.

OXEN KNOW THEIR MASTER. Because of the daily contact with their owner, the oxen recognize him by his voice and odour, and draw near with confidence. On the other hand, they will look upon a stranger without the confidence and esteem their master receives. The majority of oxen understand the language of their master. If he asks them to put forth more effort, “Let’s go,” they try to lengthen their step, or he asks them to slow down because of some danger in the way or when the work requires special care.

The owner directs them from behind. Generally he carries a goad-stick as a sign of authority over them, also to urge them into taking their place in each task or experience, with the purpose of completing a certain job. When they have finished the will of their master, then he is satisfied and rewards them with a ration reserved for them.

SOWING AND HARVESTING. In the time of sowing and in harvest, oxen are indispensable and as it says in Proverbs, “The granary is empty without oxen, but for the strength of the oxen, there is abundance of bread.” In the sowing time, the plow is the tool that transforms the common earth into cultivable land, thanks to the force of the oxen. The farmer puts his hand to the plow and the oxen follow the furrow traced out until the seed is sown in the soft earth, after it has been turned and all hardness taken out.

When harvest time comes, the same oxen are used in the threshing. It is the time to take in the precious fruit which is the hope of the farmer. The oxen participate with pleasure in this season of abundance and enjoy deserved delicacies of tender pasture or a handful of wheat here and there, which is its right according to what the Bible says, “Don’t muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.”

During the whole year, they don’t worry about their food, knowing that it is in the hands of their master who makes provision for them, obtained with the help of their service. Thus the barn will be full of food for the winter and the storehouse maintained with grain, all under the hands of their master.

FROM CALVES TO OXEN. The simple practice of breaking in the young oxen has been passed from generation to generation. It consists of putting a young one in the yoke with an adult whereby the young one learns the virtues of the older one, which the older one also passed through at one time. In a couple of years the young one will be in condition to be used in any service whatever, having learned from its companion the qualities which make it capable of meeting with any type of work.

Certainly it will keep among its memories certain things that will help it when it has its turn of taking with him a new ox. Along with all this will be the presence or control of the owner or responsible person who will mediate, and see that there is a balance between the ox and the calf.

During this time the principle care will be on the side of the calf because of his youth and inferiority of strength and understanding. His owner measures his strength and if the work is beyond his strength, then he will put the excess load on the ox, who will patiently resign himself to putting his shoulder to the load. The calf at the same time will feel grateful and reflect upon it like son and father. Many times in the first steps the calf is only a prop at his companion’s side. This elementary technique could well be called a school—a school without tables or chairs where the teacher and student work elbow to elbow and there won’t be any material unlearned because of the practical experience in the earth.

EXPERIENCES UNDER THE YOKE. The owner sees that both oxen pull together so there won’t be unnecessary struggle or “war,” rather a sharing of the work. It is important to constantly change the oxen from one side to the other. Each learns to pull on both sides of the yoke. There would be risks in taking on work or an experience that one is ignorant of, and not accomplishing the results their master expects of them. Some oxen have defects which many times are difficult to correct because this hasn’t been done earlier.

HILLS AND SLOPES. Oxen are not always pulling the load on flat terrain. There are ups and downs, mountains and valleys in the way. Going uphill the weight seems to increase two or three times. The master helps in the hardest part near the top when the load is heaviest and would pull them back.

When they are tired, he will try to give them a breather, putting a log or a stone behind the wheels so the oxen can rest and gain strength to continue to the top. When the load is greater, the struggle will be greater also, and he goes before them, even pulling them by the yoke and encouraging them with shouts and exclamations, besides waving the goad-stick over them.

Some oxen give up in this stretch of road and let themselves be pulled back. When the wheels run out of control, going ahead or backward, it causes problems and could damage their lives or their load. Going downhill the master will go before them to brake them, with the goad-stick in his hand. If they start to go too fast, he will give them some little knocks on the forehead so they won’t run downhill. When they have learned this, the master will guide them from the cart advising them over their shoulders, avoiding dangers and setbacks.

RIVERS AND BRIDGES. Not all the rivers along the way have bridges so it’s necessary to ford the streams. If the river is swift, there will be more against them because they have to pull the load against the current. Oxen prefer to drink where the water is still; they won’t drink turbid, dirty, agitated or warm water.

Crossing by a bridge is easier, but sometimes this makes the oxen nervous. They don’t trust each other, fighting and pushing one against another and the going is disagreeable, though the guide tries to conduct them straight ahead. Almost always that kind of contention, lack of cooperation and confidence leaves a bad taste, as much in the oxen as in the guide. From that comes the saying, “It’s easier to break an animal than to get rid of bad habits.”

FAST AND SLOW OXEN. Not all oxen have the same gait. Some are faster and may arrive first at the goal, but they don’t always have the same patience in the work that requires waiting and perseverance as those that are slower. Oxen who are slower in their movements are more apt for work that requires endurance and precision, even though they might not accomplish as much in open field work.

When the two have an unequal step—one slow and the other fast—they aren’t such a good pair. That’s when the saying fits, “The slow ox drinks turbid (muddy) water.” On the other hand, if there is equality, even the chewing of the cud is sweeter.

CHEWING THE CUD. Oxen show their contentment by chewing the cud. They will do it when the work is light or in free times, many times lying down in the shade and other times in the yoke. When the owner has things to attend to along the way, it is usual to see one ox standing and the other lying down, always taking advantage of the time to chew the cud in order to digest the food they have gathered in the pasture.

RESENTMENT OR HARD FEELINGS. They speak of oxen with hard feelings; this occurs when the weaker ox feels the weight of an excessive load. The struggle results in loss of heart and the will to cooperate in the kind of work that demanded such rigor. In order to overcome this crisis, the ox is changed from the work that caused the resentment or he is left free for a time until he forgets that experience and regains confidence in himself to continue in the yoke.

If the owner doesn’t have mercy for them, there will always be someone who sees them and will tell their master to let the oxen rest. That master will not have a good name. At the end of winter, the oxen have less strength; and the warm spring sun causes them to feel “done in” and their master needs to take this into account.

IMPULSIVE OR RASH OXEN. This quality brings disadvantages in the work and unfavorable results at times. One who is quick in his movements disorganizes the load and if he is trying to pull out a log, he will fall or turn toward the side of the slower ox. Then one or both suffer blows that leave marks on the body, something difficult to hide from the master. The owner, knowing these details, will be very attentive or vigilant to avoid any gripes. Oxen are not competitive in speed, “A step that lasts is better than a trot that tires.”

SICKNESS OF THE OXEN. In spite of how the oxen are missed, at times a sickness can hinder them and then the work suffers an inevitable setback. The person who knows about the sicknesses of the oxen is a veterinarian who knows the proper remedy for each illness. If they have a fever (hoof and mouth disease), he will give vaccinations and isolate them from the other animals so as to not pass it on. Oxen have hard hooves and prefer to travel where it is soft when they can.

Rocks or pavement wear down their hoofs and they become sensitive and their request is “slowly for the stones.” Little stones are always working into their hooves or thorns can prick them, which makes them lame. Their owner will look after them, trying to relieve them as soon as possible. It is said that in some parts they put irons on like horseshoes. Oxen are characterized by being longsuffering and patient.

OXEN IN ACCIDENTS. Oxen are not free from suffering mishaps. Some are known to have turned over because of inexperience, being haughty, untamed, or due to demands too great for them. Pulling with the head too far down can result in somersaulting over the yoke in the wink of the eye. The master has to be ready to loosen all the ties, even cutting the cords so that there won’t be any great loss.

Usually this results in one or both oxen being wounded or defective. For example, they might wound each other with their horns or break their neck, which would be fatal. The horns are hard, but in such a case they can break and that would be no remedy; that ox would remain with a defect.

OXEN IN THE PASTURE. The oxen have their designated pasture, with a fence around it which they respect. Oxen aren’t “fence-jumpers” like some animals, but if they discover an opening, they could easily be tempted to go out and try other pastures. Their owner will look after them. Oxen don’t eat just any kind of pasture, they judge it. If it is dirty or trodden down they won’t eat it. Grain is delicious to them.

Sometimes it is swampy or marshy where they have to walk and the dirty mark remains as if they were wearing black stockings; they can’t tolerate that. They alone cannot wash themselves, but crossing a stream, the water will clean their feet. When they have a diligent master, he will try to keep their hair clean. He will give them a brushing now and then.

It is never prudent to provoke oxen because, even though they are gentle, they could break their good conduct record and feeling vexed, could kick into the air. The saying comes to hand, “The meekest ox will kick the hardest.” The one who provokes won’t be without punishment.

NAMES OF OXEN. Each ox will have its name from its owner. Oxen understand their name even though it isn’t in them to spell it out. When their owner speaks to them, they will try to respond according to the tone of voice, moving at least their tail or ear. Almost always the names are optimistic or flattering, such as “Pretty,” “Brilliant,” “Carnation,” “Butterfly;” others are more representative like “I have,” “Hope,” “Treasure,” “Mirror,” “Fortune.” There are also austere names like “Lucifer,” “Valiant,” and “Noble.”

OXEN WITH MARKS. Each ox carries the mark of his owner with its initials engraved in the skin on the hip. These initials could be read like “You are mine,” and the owner has every right to be the lord over his oxen. This consists of an iron with the letters that correspond to the owner, which is put in the fire until it is burning red, then stamped on the poor animal. They try to evade this but they are already marked. It is an experience they won’t forget but it is what identifies them as the property of their master. This makes them known everywhere and also gives them rights and the consideration they deserve.

COMPANIONSHIP. Oxen are accustomed to each other and the two together are called a “yoke of oxen.” Because of working together and sharing the experiences, both agreeable and disagreeable, they come to understand each other perfectly and love each other affectionately. With the yoke or without it, they live near each other and at times can be seen licking each other in a sign of harmony and fraternal life.

COLORING AND MARKINGS. Oxen are varied in color, some with better markings than others, but that doesn’t hinder their work. Even though a yoke of the same marking and temperament is preferred, this isn’t easy to acquire. At times a white ox is put in the yoke with a dark one and there is no difference in the yoke. Like all animals, oxen shed their hair in the spring, showing off a new coat.

At times some oxen have their hair somewhat burned and not as brilliant as others, which shows that the work has been harder than usual and they need the consideration of their master in order to renew their strength. He will take them to where there is abundant pasture and after a time they will be in better condition to work for their owner. When the oxen are fat, it encourages the owner to put them into the yoke, and even their odour is agreeable. Then it is probable that some friend will have praise for his neighbor’s oxen. In my home area, there was a man called “The friend of fat oxen.”

OXEN WHEN THE WAY GETS LONG. The patience and resignation of the oxen is worthy of admiration; they never murmur about the sun, rain or the ruggedness or blows of the way. It all falls over their head, which is constantly shaken by the yoke which is tied to their horns. In summer, at times for lack of water they are seen submerged in dust and they continue without murmuring, pulling the load entrusted to them. In the darkest night they don’t lose their way. Even though the master can’t see to guide them, they continue until they reach home, almost always their step getting longer as they near home.

Another important detail is to observe when their master works with them doing certain tasks in raising wood or logs from the earth. He teaches them to put their head down until their nose almost touches the earth in order to raise up whatever it is that is on the ground. Their master pushes them down by the nose until they learn the lesson, by submission, that makes them most apt in every kind of work.

Oxen are provided with firm horns, but they rarely use them for goading, more for getting the respect of other animals. There are “creole” oxen (natives of the country) that pass the winter in the open air of the wild. Some are so practiced in seeking food that they use their horns to incline the bushes so they can eat the delicate leaves as pasture is scarce in the winter.

HARD MASTERS—BITTER TREATMENT. Unfortunately it has been heard that there are masters who are hard on the oxen. They lack compassion and understanding. A goad stick doesn’t last them long. Those oxen are seen with wounds on their bodies. Such people rarely can turn out good oxen which can be recommended because they are always provoked without pity by their owner.

Because of that, it is easy for those oxen to acquire bad habits, like kicking, lurching with the head, and even running headlong. Such oxen don’t enjoy the work or the yoke and, when irritated, may use the horn even on their companion in the yoke. An owner will rarely rent his oxen to anyone unless he has great confidence in them. Oxen in strange hands don’t receive the kind and compassionate treatment that their master gives.

DOUBLE WORK. Sometimes there is work that requires greater strength. When one yoke of oxen is not capable of moving the load, such as houses, motors, machines, etc., then one gets more yoke of oxen. They are put one behind the other and all pull together like one strong chain. This makes a line of oxen pulling together and, in that way, that large heavy object is moved from one place to another.

One can well say, “Unity makes strength.” In the south, there are still places where they join ten or fifteen yoke of oxen to accomplish a certain job in a couple of days, exchanging working days. This occurs when a neighbor has an urgent job and needs the help of others. On such occasions, there will be a spirit of festivity with the work and the time is more pleasant for all.

NAPPING OFTEN. When the sun is hottest during the day, generally from twelve to four, then their master will let them eat and rest. The majority of those who work with oxen know how to consider them in this sense because if they didn’t their oxen could become very tired in the work or along the road. So much so, that sometimes being worn out with the heat, their tongue hangs out, panting. The master must give them rest or he won’t have a good name.

SACRIFICED OXEN. Since olden times, oxen and calves were an acceptable offering to Jehovah. God accepted them as an offering of a pleasing savor. We read that Elisha, plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, as Elijah passed by, took one yoke of oxen and sacrificed them using the plow to cook the meat to give it to the people to eat. Then he followed Elijah. Oxen give all in life and in death give their meat and substance to feed people; this gives life and stimulates the living man. When an ox dies, he is replaced by another.

TEARS IN THE WAY. At times it is observed that tears have fallen from the eyes of oxen and with the dust there remains a mark that reveals some pain or inexpressible sentiment. His owner will understand it’s from the roughness of the work or from some blow received. Whatever it may be, the oxen forget the distasteful experience in the way or some wrong committed in the work and continue serving their master with docility.

For some reason the master has seen the necessity of separating companions. Some are more sensitive than others and emotions are produced; it wouldn’t be rare to see tears appear as well as some lowing, feeling the absence of the ox that was at their side. With the passing of time, they will forget, with their new yoke companion, engaging themselves in the work their master assigns them.

TYPES OF YOKES. There are three types of yokes of different dimensions: a short yoke of one and one-half meters is used in fallowing to plow the earth. The oxen will walk so near to each other that the chain of the plow will barely separate them. The long yoke of two meters is used in open fields, especially for work with wood, logs, and stumps. That yoke is more inclined to break with greater force. The standard is 1.75 meters and with this, one can travel any public road and a cart is used that coincides to the same width.

REMEMBERING OXEN. It would be pleasant for the master to remember his oxen, their good qualities and virtues, and he couldn’t help but speak of them to his friends. The life of his oxen remains engraved in his memory and when he receives praise for them, he will receive it for both, because it was the two who bore the yoke and helped him in his yoke. In conclusion, one could add the words and prayer of the Psalmist, “That our oxen would be strong to work, that there be no breaking in or going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.” Psalms 144:14

The enemy would like us to fret because we are not capable. God is not so concerned about ability, but dependability. We may have temptations but should not have reservations. (Not willing to go the distance we could go.)

The Lord loads His people down with benefits – the world loads people down with remorse, regret, and sin.

“The many standards earth has set, you left untouched…” There is a tendency in us to touch the evil and see how it would feel. Remember, Jesus left these untouched. This is the safest course.

To truly walk with God means doing His will, having Him as our Light, redeeming the time and being concerned for our brethren.

When faced with a problem of choosing between right and wrong, don’t say “maybe” or “perhaps,” but a definite “NO.”

To worship is to praise, honor, and adore the God of Heaven.

Are we declaring plainly by our dress, speech, and song that we are seeking another country?

It has come to my mind what Paul said: “I am happy to be able to speak for myself king Agrippa…” I am happy that I am able to speak a little and I know I am a privileged person. I had great privileges when I listened to the gospel. They did not let us into the Kingdom easily. They did not get me to profess quickly in a mission and they did not talk much. I wanted them to talk to me! One night they did and I was happy, they stopped and talked to me. Just that little notice they took of me, put a little courage and strength in me. Another way before I went into the work. I have had so many privileges too. I thought of some of the first companions I had and the great lesson they were to me. Alec Pearce, Willie Gill, Jack Forbes, George Humphreys. They all helped and their examples was a help. In those days as workers we had to learn to patch our own clothes and darn. I learnt a lot from George Humphreys and learned from Alec Pearce how to make boots. I am glad for all those things I learned from them. When I was with Willie Gill, we were having a mission together and we always prayed together, morning and night. I used to value that. When we would read, sometimes he would say; “How would you sum that up?” and it helped me. When you read chapters you should try to sum them up. Strive to become useful in God’s way. I remember one night after I had spoken in a meeting, Willie said; “You spoke about two subjects.” It was as good as to say; “It is good to speak about two things.” We were in a wooden hall sometimes and sometimes a wooden roof. While I was scrubbing the floor inside, Willie was cleaning our bicycles outside. I wondered: “Why would he clean my bicycle?” I was always willing to work. Scrubbing floors and doing those things in the kitchen too. I am not sorry. When with Wilson Reid we used to help others we lived in with, to look for diamonds. Good if young workers went through that still. It is not what we say but what we are that counts. If we can be upright and sincere and true. That is what can speak in meetings. I wonder how many chapters you go over in one meeting. May we learn from now on how to be effective. The things that come real to myself, that is what I like to speak about in a meeting. I was reading in John’s Gospel; “He came unto his own and they received Him not… but to as many as received Him, to them He has given power to become sons and daughters…. I want to serve God amongst all the unsaved persons I have to work amongst. I used to make time for prayer. I am glad that I felt the need to do that. Be always ready to pray and always ready to speak but know when to stop. Another thing we used to be taught – when you take part in the meeting, first make it easy for the person who have to follow afterwards. You should not give an elder too much concern. Another thing we’ve got to watch, don’t tire the children. Some children tire quickly. There are many things that we should become more effective in. Isaiah said God had given him a tongue of the learned. He was able to speak a word to some that are weary. We used to be taught; look at the people you are going to speak to and try and help them. Some people learn easily. Noah was a just man he walked with God. He was a married man and he had three sons. They were also married and Noah built an ark for his household. He lived in an age just as we are living in now. A time like it is now,l; building and planting etc. But he was a just man, a perfect man and he walked with God. In this difficult time we can live like that. Poor old Lot, he looked at the well water plains of Jordan. The herdsman have been quarreling. Abraham said; “Let there be no strife among us because we are brethren.” Members of a little church can be like that. Be loyal to workers and consider the Kingdom. Or are you moving from house to house and from place to place? Lot was not a man like Abraham and Noah. He moved to the well-watered plains of Jordan. Peter said of him, his righteous soul was vexed because of all the wrongs. He did move in the wrong direction. He did not love the fellowship of the true people. Be careful about those do’s at weddings. It is better for your children to give their lives to God. Those that get married will have troubles in the flesh. God will give grace under every circumstance. Keep out of Sodom. Don’t pitch your tent to be near Sodom. I am glad for the people that have stayed here this last day. If we don’t care for these things we are definitely going to drift. You try to have in meetings, the same fellowship and spirit that we have in these meetings. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. We appreciate those people that labour to get something for a meeting. We enjoy it when they speak. A lot of people sometimes in the way of God, but not much good. When you see that don’t be discouraged about it. If you have failed, go away and don’t fail again. Attend to those little meetings that God have arranged for us to attend. We should be like people that are hungry for spiritual food like we are hungry for natural food. It is the presence of God in a meeting that counts. The past conventions have been a tonic to me. Brought a stillness in my heart and God moving my own heart. If you don’t know about it, try to get it into your life. It steadies us and helps us to be a blessing. Great to be a person that can pour out living waters and pouring out living bread. Brothers and sisters can be a feeder of people. We pray God can raise up people like that. You should read what Paul says in the sixth chapter of Ephesians. You read it – Aim to put on that armour because we are going out to face the enemy. Don’t speak about others to other people, rather go to your Father. I think Joseph was a person like that. He took the evil reports to his Father. Don’t let it affect us but keep true and steady. Do your best for the unsaved people. Have a little word to say sometimes out of the Word of God. Willie Gill and I was cycling to a meeting and we saw a woman who seemed to have trouble with her bicycle. When we stopped to enquire whether we could help, she said; “Please lower the saddle for me.” He did it, but he did something else too. He had a little word about God to that women. If we can make people think spiritual things and live that they can ask questions, we would be ready to give an answer of the hope that we have. Always ready to speak about these things. Ready to get people to come to meetings and be prayerful people. We are living in an age when it was like in Noah’s time. We can all walk like that. Don’t be discouraged when men seek their own. Am I seeking my own or am I seeking the Kingdom of God? Is that my chief consideration? May God help us that we get the blessing at these meetings that we need and may we be further exhorted in these meetings to put in our best. (Hymn 76 in English)

It was with a fear I came here lest I would not be the encouragement to my brethren and old friends, whom I have known for years and value highly and who have put trust in me. I know my inability physically and I had a dread lest I would not be to them all I should be.

One experience I had a good many years ago in South Africa, when 45 or more were on the pier to wave goodbye to me, I shall never forget. On deck, one could look down into their faces — some white and some black — waiting for the boat to pull out. As the boat pulled out and I couldn’t see them anymore, walking over the deck of that boat the thought came to me, it would be a terrible thing if I would do something that would make their battle harder, that the devil could use to discourage them. I asked the Lord, rather than I be a castaway and disappoint those people, I should be buried in the ocean and not see land again. One would prefer to die than be a disappointment to those who trust one.

When troubled with the thought I cannot preach as in past days, I concluded, you can at least mention some of those Scriptures that helped me all through my days. You can preach them stronger now because of the experiences I have had that confirm them. In the first days, one preached about them because one believed them and had confidence in them; but now one has proved the Truths contained in them. One has had experiences that proved their Truth.

If I could mention some of those Scriptures that were a help to me it would be a help to others. We do not have to take back anything we have ever preached. We are glad that what we preached the first day we can preach again, maybe not with as strong a voice physically but with the same confidence. Truth never contradicts itself. President Eisenhower told a young officer who didn’t feel capable of his position – fearing others would tangle him up, “always tell the truth and you need not remember what you told them.” It will never contradict itself or change. If you tell a lie, you must remember what you said, then tell another lie to fix that one up. Jesus is our Truth. He was the embodiment of all Truth. He has never changed. Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever.” He is ever the same.

I used to preach a lot from the Psalms. That is true. I have often enjoyed speaking from the Psalms because many times, they were a light to me in making decisions. I found balm in them when the heart was wounded. I got a lot from the New Testament too, help in making the decision to go into the work. I was deceived by the false. I spent the teen years of my life working in a store. The man I worked for was very religious but his whole idea of a successful life was making money. Anyone that didn’t make money he called a “straw” man. It was a contemptible expression. He would emphasize, money would give one importance. I am glad for words Jesus spoke and Truths in the New Testament which helped me not to be swallowed by the other. Jesus said, “What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world and lost his own soul.” Then the parable: A man asked Jesus to divide the inheritance with him, or that his brother should do so, said, “Beware of Covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things he possesseth.” He finished by saying, “So is everyone that manages to accumulate lots in this world and is not rich toward God. Then the rich man to whom was said, “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee, then whose shall all those things be.” What greater folly than making provision for the future, a future which one will never see.

I am glad for the Truths in the New Testament that kept me from being satisfied with the kind of religion I had. I put forth an honest effort to get right with God and I felt some change had come to me. I tried to read and pray and they considered me a model but soon I began to get terribly troubled. I saw, this is a popular religion and they were aiming it be popular but it was different from the New Testament and the Apostles.

A good religious friend of mine said, “If you become a preacher, you may not make quite as such money as in business but look at the high social standing you will have. You will have reverend added to your name and a lovely home.” But I thought, “I would not be like the Apostles.” That made me dissatisfied and I was seeking, hoping that some day I would meet some who would be like the New Testament. In Sunday School, we sang: “I have given up all for Jesus – I remember Calvary – I have a Friend that will stand by me when the pearly gates unfold.” That corresponds with the New Testament teaching but the religions we have do not. It was the craving of my heart to meet such today.

The first person that ever did speak to me about being a preacher like the New Testament told about the experiences ahead. He had the ambition to make money but his mother, though she did not know the true way was a sincere woman and she said, “You will never be satisfied with that, for the more you make, the more you will want. You will never be satisfied until you understand what it means to be born again.” That troubled him for he was religious.

He went to the clergyman and asked him, “What does it mean to be born again?” He answered, “Don’t worry yourself about that. When you were a babe, a man sprinkled water on you and you became a child of God. Do the best you can now.” I wasn’t satisfied with his ex­planation. I am glad for the words Jesus spoke that kept me from being satis­fied with success in the world. I was thinking of the end, also the false way and I knew I hadn’t gotten my feet on the right track.

We have the record of Peter and Paul and what they had at the end of their lives, also the warnings they gave. We have heard a great many encouraging truths spoken to encourage us to have confidence in God and to be wholehearted. It is possible, though we know God’s Truth and the right Way, we would let something rob us. Paul talks about things in the flesh we should mortify: “Covetousness, which is idolatry.” What is this covetousness? Craving to get something I don’t really need, and to have more and more of it. I Timothy 6 might give us a little idea of what it is. It is kind of a sad chapter. The Holy Spirit put it there and it would be a good thing for God’s children to read. Not just pick out the nice things but take the two together. There were people professing God’s Way to whom was said, “Withdraw from them,” so they must have been in it. “They think, gain is godliness; but, godliness with contentment is great gain.” Why? “Because we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can take nothing out — having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.” Because they were not contented, some desiring to be rich, pierced themselves through with many sorrows, have fallen into the snare of the devil, into temptation, into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Is it a sin to be rich? Warn them, if they have it not to be high-minded. God is expecting them to distribute and be ready to communicate to those who are in need. If their hearts are set on it, it is the most deceitful thing in the world. “If riches increase, set not your heart on it, for they grow wings and fly away.” Haven’t we seen that in the world today. Some, with a great desire for riches, lose the good things they might have in this world.

A millionaire, at the close of his life, was telling a friend of ours about his awful disappointment. With tears rolling down his cheeks, said it cost his family, his children, it brought destruction to the home, and then he said, “It is all my own fault. When my children were small, they liked their father, and when they asked for stories, I would say, ‘Don’t bother me…don’t you see I am busy?’ I would give them money and send them to the movies. Now, dying, riches are no comfort to me.” A tragedy worse than this is when it happens amongst those who know the Truth.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, etc,” Philemon 2:5-9. Thursday morning I tried to talk to you about the greatest responsibility and privilege that confronts us as God’s people. That is, making our body a living place for him to dwell in; that God by His Spirit might dwell in these hearts of ours. That’s the greatest privilege, that is the purpose of all these meetings that you and I might make a dwelling place for His Spirit. When that is done, we are on the right road and we are going in the right direction.

Today I would like to talk to you if I can, though I feel unable, but I would like to talk to you about true greatness as you and I become a dwelling place for His Holy Spirit. Paul said, “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” The marginal reading said he thought equality with God was not a thing to grasp at. In other words, Jesus was [in] Heaven before He came to this earth.

I have been surprised to find some of God’s people do not know Jesus was in Heaven before He ever came to this earth. When He was in Heaven, there was confronting Him that which is confronting every person, this something of climbing up or climbing down There is that thinking of coming down. Climbing up to become equal with God is not what is set before us. He made himself of no reputation, that was done in Heaven, that choice, that decision was made in Heaven and He took upon Him the form of a Servant.

I would like to say to those who stood up in the meeting last night, our hearts were touched. Do you know what you did when you stood up in the meeting, if it was from your heart, you were surrendering your life to God and choosing to be a Servant of God? You will soon find in the coming future a desire to take your own way, to please yourself. I want to tell you something it said about Jesus, “I came down from Heaven not to do My Own will, but the will of My Father who sent Me.” For 33-1/2 years, He did His Father’s will. Not one time did Jesus do His own will.

Would it not be a wonderful thing if all of us here who have named His name would not do our own will. Will you remember Jesus our Saviour not one time did He take His own way. Always He did the will of His Father. May God help us to remember this in the future we have chosen the will of our Father, that it is always best. He will never, never disappoint us. He took upon himself the form of a servant. He became a man and He had another choice to make. Instead of climbing up, He came down. As a man, there were two possibilities before Him. One was to climb up, to be a proud man, a rebellious man, but it said, “He humbled Himself.” In Heaven, He humbled Himself, made Himself of no reputation. He did not become a proud man.

May I tell you in the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no place for pride. I want to talk to you and tell you what Jesus said when two of His disciples in Luke 9:46 came to Him. They said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” I don’t blame those men for asking this question. I believe they had the wrong thought. I am almost sure they had the wrong thought. It was the thought of being in this world, or who would take over when Jesus was gone. If we don’t understand a little about greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven, and this morning what I would like to talk to you about is true greatness and this is open to every person in this tent. God is no respecter of persons.

Jesus said, “Whosoever.” What does that mean? Does it not mean anyone in this tent? “Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” The door is open to everyone. True greatness is open to everyone. Does that not mean you and me and all the others? Did He designate certain persons? The mass is excluded. There are only a few who can be great. Isn’t it nice God has asked us to come down and not up? If it was climbing up most of us would get nowhere. Someone has said it is difficult to be big enough to fill a place in this world, and in the Kingdom of God, it is difficult to be small or little enough to fill a place in the Kingdom of God. Any person can come down. If it was a matter of climbing up, we would not get very far.

When I was going to school, we used to sing a little song, “There is room at the top boys, you will always find room at the top.” What was the moral of that song? That not many will be able to get to the top. I changed that little song after I professed and I sang, “There is room at the bottom Hubert, you will always find room at the bottom.” You and I in coming down will be becoming great.

If you could not see, you could humble yourself. If you could not hear, you could humble yourself. If you could not read a word in the Bible, you could always be humble. When those disciples said to Jesus, “Who is the greatest?” do you know what Jesus did? He called a little child and set it in the midst and said, “Except you be converted, you have to, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Except you be converted you have to get your mind changed. That’s why I am quite sure they had the wrong thought in their mind. “Whosoever will receive one such little child shall receive Me.” That brought quite a responsibility on me when it dawned upon me. He was not talking about a little child, like in the meeting. He was talking to men and women who would become as a little child. Whosoever received him receives Me. He was talking about the ministry, and he did not say people would receive Christ, but that they receive me. That moves me, for all that is in me, that I would like to come down, I would like to become humble.

At our last convention in Texas as we did not have any Worker’s meeting, but when the convention was over and all the Workers had gone to another convention, we, the Staff, met in front room of the convention home. We had a little meeting together. We talked about the fields and the problems that confront us and in the front of my mind was coming the thought “to become as little children.” Texas is having a great privilege. I also thought that servants are as little children.

Oh! It’s a wonderful privilege to us who are Servants of God to humble ourselves as little children and to become as little children. It is only God in us that can cause us to be humble as lambs and as sheep, simple enough, willing enough so that the working of God in us can bring truth. When Jesus was in Heaven, He said, “Being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” He thought equality of God was not something to be grasped at.

He came into the world as a little babe. In Matthew 2, nine times you read of young children. Who was he talking about? About the One who became our Saviour, became our example, the One who came to show you and me the way to Heaven. Jesus came as a child. He lived those 33-1/2 years as a Servant. He died on the cross of Calvary, the Lamb of God. You know all those years He lived in this world, when He came to the end of it, He was the slain Lamb of God, slain for your sins and mine. A lamb is a helpless animal. Children, lambs and sheep are all helpless – none more dependant than a little child, a little lamb, a little sheep, Dependant on the Shepherd and a child on its parents. There’s no one so sure of protection from the evil as the man or woman, boy or girl than one who will humble themselves. They have all the protection of Heaven.

Were you ever on a busy street when a child ran out into the street? What happened? You heard the brakes being put on. Many tried to protect that child. When you and I become as a little child in this work of God, in our relationship with Heaven, we have the protection of Heaven. In Matthew 2, when those wise men saw the child Jesus and went down and worshipped Him, they presented those treasures. God said to them, “You return to your country another way.” Herod had said to them, “If you find Him, come and tell me so I can worship Him, too.” Even though Herod had said he wanted to worship Him, he also wanted to kill Him. The wise men, after they saw Jesus, returned another way, and when Herod found out, he got very angry, and he was going to slay all those little boys. Later an angel spoke to Joseph and said, “Arise and flee to Egypt. Rachel was heard weeping for her children, would not be comforted. He could kill all the children but he could not take the life of that little Child. The enemy could take your life, but when you take the place of a little child, you have the protection of Heaven from the enemy of your soul.

Isaiah 9, “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders.” Whose shoulders? Was it on some fellow who was a great fellow, who is so able, he knows so much? No, it is to be on our shoulders, on those who become as a little child. It says, “His name was to be called wonderful.” It is surely wonderful. He was called the Counselor, the mighty God, the Prince of peace and to His Kingdom and peace there will be no end. Oh! That is true peace. That’s the only peace in this world. People are greatly concerned about peace, but as long as this world continues, there will be wars and rumors of wars, When you surrender to God, those who stood to their feet last night, there is a peace in your heart today and there will be no end to it.

I would like to tell you briefly about Mary, when the Angel appeared to her, that Angel said “Hail Mary, thou art highly favored among women.” She was afraid. There is something that makes us afraid when spoken to face to face by God. There is something about God speaking that makes any of us afraid. The Angel said, “Fear not, Mary,” and then he told her she would be the Mother of the Christ, and the Angel told her He would be great, He would save His people from their sins, He would sit on the throne of David, and to His Kingdom there would be no end, it would be forever.

Not long after that child was born, when that man in Luke 2, (Simeon) said, “A sword shall pierce through thine own soul, also.” You know what he was preparing her for? He was preparing her for days when He was despised and rejected and when He was in Pilate’s judgment hall. Then, there was the time when with a few women she stood off alone and there she saw the nails in His hands and His feet and the spear pierced in His side. I can hear her say, “Is this what the Angel called greatness?” It was greatness that One would dare to die for others. She saw Him die and she saw Him put in the tomb and soldiers to guard it. She had heard Him cry, “It is finished.” She did not have to wait long until she heard a message that He was risen. You and I will not have to wait long until we see the greatness of God. She had the privilege of seeing Him for 40 days; and 40 days later, she saw Him ascend to Heaven. Mary was saying in her heart, “Yes, He is great, to His Kingdom, there will be no end.”

I am telling you this to try and help you understand the value of all the days we live in this world of humbling ourselves coming down, spoken against, being misrepresented in this world, reminding us that leads to the greatness of God and the eternal reward of Heaven. May you never try to climb up. The devil tried to climb up, he rebelled in Heaven, he exalted himself above everything that is called God, but you know it only meant he was brought down and cast into the Lake of Fire and burned with fire and brimstone. There’s no room for bigness in this Kingdom of God. Jesus is always will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. I am trying to show you this, that you are not exempted of being great in the Kingdom.

Jesus was the highest and came down the lowest. He humbled Himself more than any man or woman. In Philemon 2:10, it tells us, “That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in Heaven, and things in the earth.” Isaiah 11 is still talking about this Son. It tells about seven things of the Spirit of the Lord: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the Lord. In Revelations 1, you read about the spirits. As a result of those seven spirits working, the wolf and the lamb shall dwell together; the leopard and the kid shall lie down together; the calf and the young lion, etc. How did that ever come about?

I am thinking of a little Church and some people in that little Church may have nature of a wolf. They differ. Some may be like a leopard so that if anything crosses their path they leap upon them. It says, “A Child shall lead them.” It must touch the heart of God to see a group of people gathered together and their Elder as a little child who leads them. Elders, may God help you to aim at, with all your heart, to humble yourselves. I could also tell you an individual has to be as a little child, led and taught by the Lord. Isaiah 9:6, “Everlasting Father, the Mighty God.” That little Child is a mighty God, One who can help us in every experience, who can help us to be overcomers. The everlasting One who is the Prince.

In II Corinthians, it speaks about not having fellowship with the wrong things in this world – come out from among them and be ye separate. That’s what comes from you and I yielding our heart and life to God. How important it is for us to give Him room and place in our lives. Revelations 5. I want to talk to you about Christ Jesus becoming as a lamb – so dependant, so helpless. “I looked and I saw Him that sat on the throne that He had a book in His hand and it was sealed with seven seals. I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof?’” You know friend, this all comes back again to a little Child, to men and women who humbled themselves and became obedient unto death. “The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals. But I saw One in the midst of the throne as a Lamb as it had been slain. It had been slain, but it lived again.”

Jesus said, “My Father loves Me because I lay down My life.” Do you know that’s the way we can have God to love us? I wish God would love me. He loves everyone who humbles himself. The world does not do that, they are not willing for that. Jesus said, “I have power to lay My life down and to take it up again.” That’s what happens in this work of God, that the Gospel comes to us and those who stood to their feet last night said, “I surrender my life to God.” The only people that will have power to take up their life again, is those who have laid it down. People who keep their lives for themselves, when death comes, their life is lost forever. But those who choose to lay it down, they take it up again.

“I saw a lamb as it had been slain,” but it was alive and now then He takes the book out of the hand of Him who sat on the throne and the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped. You know, I would like to tell you the Devil never intended that Jesus would go so far. He never expected Jesus to die on the cross. He tried to kill Him as a babe. But on the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, if it be Thy will, remove this cup from Me.” The Devil was telling Him, just as he tells you and I, that God is asking too much of you. He was telling Jesus, “You have lived for Him, You did not take Your own way once, and now He is asking you to die.” He used the High Priest and the Leaders who hated Jesus and His Lowly Way to say, “He saved others, Himself He cannot save.”

The Devil knew if there was any resistance, that the purpose of God could be frustrated, if He came down then they would believe on Him. He did not come down, He hung there until He said, “It is finished.” Jesus gave His life for you and me. Does that not move you? When Jesus took the attitude of the slain lamb, He took the attitude that the Devil had nothing to fight against. If Jesus had resistance, the Devil would have had everything to fight Him, but when Jesus took the attitude, “I will be true,” the Devil had nothing to fight against that, he was powerless. The Devil has every weapon to overcome us, but it is possible for each one of us to humble ourselves and become as a little child, willing for God to have His way in our lives. I thank God our Leader came as a little Babe.

The hymn says, “We would see Jesus.” When we get a true picture of Him, we see Him as a little child coming down. May we follow in His footsteps and give more room for the nature of that little child, something that would move us to say, “Yes,” to God. Do you know what makes this meeting so precious to us? We see a people, a great majority of you who have at the price of your will, price of your own way, even sacrificing earthly things, you have surrendered your heart and life to God. (Told of a man who had a very good job, but he took a job at much less wages and harder work, so he could give more room to the Christ Jesus.)

That little Lamb, do you know what this Lamb saw? He saw the Lord of Lords, etc., and one sitting on a white horse. The white horse means pure and purity. The vesture was dipped in blood. Remember those who humble themselves and become as little children, they shall come back again and reign with those who reign forever and ever.

Isaiah 5, will you please open your Bibles to Isaiah 5:1, “Now I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress there; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.”

I would like to tell you why this vineyard brought forth wild grapes, but first I would like to talk about the greatness of the vineyard.

It was the church, God’s people. If there is any question, read verse 7. I suppose you are conscious of the fact that he is speaking about the perfection of the church. When David was speaking about the church, he said, “As for God, His way is perfect.” You are reading in these verses about God’s perfect way. The Lord asks, “What more could I have done?” The God of perfection doing everything He could to produce a perfect fellowship. The reason it was not fruitful wasn’t the fault of the church. If you are an unfruitful person, or if I am, it isn’t the fault of God’s way. This is still God’s perfect way, just as perfect as it ever was. The fault lies in the error of the vines within the vineyard.

This vineyard was the workmanship of God. Salvation has always been the workmanship of God. Paul said, “Ye are His workmanship.” One of the basic differences between the true and false religion in the Bible is: in the false religion, they are talking about what they are doing for the Lord. That is always the mark of false religion. The true worshippers were speaking about what God had done for them. In this chapter, you read of people for whom God had done great things. One of the reasons the church existed without an organization is because it is God’s workmanship, and today it is still God’s workmanship.

When we tell people we have a world-wide fellowship and yet no organization, no registered name, no officers, no earthly headquarters, and yet we are held together as one compact, loving family, people say, “That’s impossible.” Jesus agreed with this, “With men it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.” One of the reasons God planned an impossible fellowship is that men and women could see the hand of God in the picture. When you see this, there is no question that God is still living.

We often tell people that if we were an organization and had an earthly headquarters, we would have no proof to give to the world that there is a God or that God is with us. The proof of that statement is that the unions and the international business clubs function on that basis. If we had an organization and a registered name and a board of directors and an earthly headquarters, we would have no more proof than they have, that there is a God.

The first thing it tells us was that God chose the site of the vineyard. In California where I had the privilege of laboring, there is a large vineyard that covers hundreds and hundreds of acres. According to the brochure they put out, the directors of this colony looked for two years to find a suitable place for this vineyard. The soil content, climatic conditions, and the humidity had to be just right. They didn’t stop looking until they found the place where those vines would have every possible chance.

Even before the foundation of the world, God was concerned that you and I would have the proper chance. When He planned this fellowship, He planned a fellowship where every individual would have the best possible chance to be fruitful. If we are in this meeting unfruitful, it isn’t God’s fault.

When Paul was writing, he said this ground we are rooted in is love. The reason God planned it so is that the first fruit God expects is love. This would be the trademark of His people. The next thing it tells us is that the Lord put a protection around it. That fence is not a fence of restriction. If you don’t remember anything else, please remember that that fence was not a fence of restriction. It is a fence of protection. When I was a teenager having my teenage struggle, I sometimes looked upon God’s protection as a restriction. I used to wish that the wall wasn’t there, that God wouldn’t put a barrier around His people. God’s people are not a restricted people. We are a protected people. I thank God for the protection that He has put around our lives.

Has your attention ever been called to the fact that the world is referred to in the Bible as a jungle? It is a case of dog eat dog. That is why the Devil is referred to as a roaring lion, Herod as an old fox. Natural brute beasts. The reason for these illustrations is to remind us that this world is a jungle. Cannot we be thankful that God has put a wall of separation between us and the jungle?

The next thing, He gathered out the stones. They were gathered out before a single vine was planted. They would have been a hindrance. When I look into the religious world that surrounded Jesus, a world with all its financial and social problems (I read about those conditions existing in the days of Jesus in the religious world) and then I look at the fellowship of Jesus and His disciples and I see that there are none of those stones there. Those are huge stones that are a hindrance even in the religious world around us today. This was to be a perfect way in which there would be no financial, no social, no business problems, and other problems that plague the organizations of mankind.

The question arises: here in a perfect vineyard under the care of a perfect husbandman – Why then did these vines bring forth wild grapes instead of the fruit of the Spirit?

Down in this part of California I told you about, we had a friend who had a large vineyard. It had been in the family for generations. I asked him what would cause these vines to bring forth wild grapes. He said, “There is one reason,” and after reading this chapter, I feel this is the reason: lack of pruning.

These vines are all started with wild roots. They take a root of the wild grape, and after it gets a couple of years old, they cut off the natural branches and graft in the new variety that they want that vine to produce. Incidentally, I don’t know of any illustration that helps me to understand better what it means to be born again. “Receiving….the engrafted word.” When you listened to the Gospel, the first thing the Lord did was to cut off your old desires, opinions, ideas, and then He engrafted the love and Spirit of God and the mind and nature of His son. If we are what we should be, all of our energy is going to the support of this new life.

There is one thing in the picture you have to look out for: that wild root has a tendency to put out little suckers that will take over again, just like our human nature. It just puts out a little innocent-looking sucker to start with, but unless you nip it in the bud, it soon becomes a branch.

He spoke of the fact that He put a tower in the midst. That was so He would be near the vines. He could keep His eye on every vine in that vineyard and he was ready to meet any need. His eye is upon us by day and by night. “God is in the midst of her and He will help her right early.” The reason He is so anxious to be in the midst of His people is because He looks for the needs of His people, and is right there to help them.

I want you to notice in this chapter that there are six woes mentioned here. I believe you will agree with me that these six woes are just six natural tendencies of branches that had never been pruned back. They probably didn’t see the danger. Verse 8, “Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth.” This is a natural tendency to get ahead in the world. It is alright if it is controlled. There is nothing wrong with a person having a desire to get ahead, wanting a better home, a better car, or better furniture, if you keep it under control. If you let it grow out of bounds, then all energy goes to that natural tendency and the things of God are crowded out. All that natural tendency can produce is wild grapes.

Verse 11 speaks of the natural tendency toward pleasure. You read here of some pleasure-bent people. One of the greatest human tendencies is to go out after pleasure. The reason there are so many avenues of pleasure is just because there are so many people wanting it.

Sometimes people come to us and they will ask about this pleasure or that pleasure in the world and they will say, “What is wrong with it?” We sometimes tell them there is nothing wrong in the pleasure itself, but if you don’t look out, that pleasure will crowd the Lord out of your life. It will take all your time that you should spend reading and praying and visiting with God’s people, the things you should be doing.

We were talking at one of the Special Meetings about a study we had a few years ago with our young folks in California. We had talked together about the evils in the Bible. I was electrified myself before the study was over, because we discovered that there were far more good evils mentioned in the Bible than bad evils. Everyone can see the danger of the bad evil – drinking, and gambling, and carousing – anyone can see the danger of a bad evil.

But there are more good evils than bad evils. A good evil is just anything that hinders you from praying, from reading your Bible or going to meeting or writing that letter you should be writing, and you are too busy to do it. The thing that is making you too busy is a good evil. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” This time had been given them to prepare for Eternity.

I suppose we have all hung our heads when we realize that the good legitimate things of life have crowded the things of God out. Sometimes there are pleasures in the world that in themselves are harmless, but they can hinder your relationship with God, from praying, from getting ready for the Sunday morning meeting. Just like these people, it was a natural tendency that could only produce wild grapes.

Verse 18 speaks of another woe, another natural branch, natural tendencies that need to be pruned back. Verse 19 seems to refer to a natural tendency toward doubt. The world is filled with doubt because it is a natural tendency. It is the opposite from faith. Faith can crowd doubt out of the picture, but if we are not careful, doubt will crowd faith out of the picture. The world is filled with people who are doubters: they doubt the existence of God; they doubt the authenticity of the Bible: that God can do for them what He wants to do: that He can be to people what He was in olden days. Doubt is one of the fastest growing branches that is ever produced. It needs to be pruned back often because it will take over, and the things of God will be crowded out.

Verse 20 speaks of another woe, another natural tendency. This is a tendency toward compromises. In the beginning, God put a world of difference between light and darkness and between good and evil, and He never intended that they should be intermingled, between sweet and bitter. I can remember just a few years ago that even out in the ungodly world, people recognized the difference between light and darkness, between good and evil, between moral and immoral. I knew people without an ounce of religion, and yet they kept a world of difference between good and evil. We are seeing today the product of the natural tendency. There is no distinction between light and darkness, between good and evil, between bitter and sweet. The world has compromised. Every day the papers are filled with suicides, homicides, and scandal, the fruits people bring on themselves that haven’t recognized the natural barrier.

One of the natural tendencies we have to fight against is the tendency to be like the world. You know what light is – in Jesus was light. Anything contrary to what Jesus lived and taught is darkness. Are you keeping that separation in the picture or are you yielding to the natural tendency until there is hardly any distinction between light and darkness? God isn’t going to do the pruning unless you are willing for it. Any tendency toward compromise will only yield wild grapes!

Verse 21, another natural tendency, another branch that is the product of the wild root. “Wise in their own eyes.” Six things doth the Lord hate. There is something else that is an abomination: it is a proud look. Proverbs 6:16-17, a natural tendency toward pride. There is nothing more obnoxious to God than pride. God has never left any room in this fellowship for pride. There isn’t a child of God in this meeting today who won’t say, “I am nothing in myself; it is only by the Grace of God that I am what I am.” You can’t take one bit of credit for what you are enjoying. All the glory goes to the One who had mercy on us.

If you want to make an interesting study, take your concordance and look up “pride” in the Bible and the many things that are the marks and offshoots of pride. Then contrast it with “humble.” These are the opposite ends of the poles. Pride is an offshoot of the old, wild root. All it can produce is wild grapes. It can sap the strength of your life to the extent that the things of God are crowded out.

Verse 22, this is the natural tendency toward dishonesty. Everybody has to fight against this. The world isn’t fighting against it, and that’s why we are living in a dishonest world today. Sometimes in our endeavor to meet the dishonest competition, it is easy for us to yield to that natural tendency, too. I thank God for our brethren who are dealing with a dishonest crooked world and yet keeping straight.

We had a man in California in the real estate business, and I suppose in this business, you are facing crooked competition more than the average. One of our friends from out of state liked this location, and so he went to the Chamber of Commerce and asked about the possibility of locating there. The man in the office of the Chamber of Commerce said, “You go to a certain realtor and you can be sure anything that man tells you will be right.” They went down and looked up this man and they found out they were brothers in Christ. We must remember that when we are living in a world of crooked competition that there is a natural tendency, that we all have to keep pruned back to meet that competition, and in the process a person could easily lose their testimony.

These six woes mentioned here are natural tendencies from the wild root that need to be pruned back. If they are not pruned back, they will take over and crowd the things of God out of a person’s life. They can only bring wild grapes. I am glad we don’t have to stop with that line of thought.

Isaiah 27:2-3, this is another picture of the vineyard. “In that day sing ye unto her, a vineyard of red wine.” No wild grapes here. It is the same workmanship of God, but the difference is that the people in this picture are willing for pruning; they were willing to cooperate with God in pruning back any natural tendencies that only brought woe into the picture. They had come to the point of fruition as a result of the divine life grafted in. They were bringing forth love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, that God expects in His people, The only difference between the two pictures is that the vines in the first one were not willing for the pruning. They couldn’t see anything wrong in these things. It pays to prune off the old wild tendencies.

You have here the picture of the vineyard of red wine. I would like to tell you something about grapes: the longer a grape hangs on the vine, the richer and sweeter and fuller it becomes. It is also a tendency of the growth of the divine vine, something that grows richer and fuller and sweeter with the passing of time. In this vineyard we were speaking about, they would go out and take a sample of the grapes here and there and take them into the laboratory and test them for sugar content and if there wasn’t enough sugar, they just let them hang on a little longer.

You who are older in this meeting, you know what I am talking about, don’t you? You are rejoicing that you have access to something that has made your life richer and fuller and sweeter with the passing of time. One of the greatest inspirations to me is when I can look into the faces of the older brothers and sisters and see the evidence that every day their lives are becoming richer and fuller and sweeter. That is what it will be if we let the Lord of the vineyard take over. They say there is never a time the husbandman is closer to the vine than when he is pruning.

Read Revelation 14. Death is the harvest of the grapes of the children of God. This is the perfect ending to God’s perfect way.

There have been a few thoughts on my mind at this convention from Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Hymn 395 tells us to watch ‘one little hour with Him,’ and oh, so much can depend on us watching the one little hour with Him. Read this hymn over sometime and you will see what it says about us watching one little hour with God.

The 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of Matthew speak of the foundation of Jesus and the crown of His teaching. I always thought these chapters were the first sermons of Jesus because they are found at the beginning of the New Testament, but then I noticed the last part of chapter 4, that says, “And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.” It seems these were the different places that Jesus had been before He gave that sermon on the mount. The multitudes, which were following Him, were weary from the journey, for they had come a long ways. In their hearts, I feel they believed in Jesus and wanted to hear and learn more about Him. His teachings would have guided them for the rest of their lives, yet they were weary. If only they had gone the extra mile with Him, oh, what wonderful truths they would have heard! I think Jesus had spoken these truths to them before, in some way or another, for it says He looked at the multitude before He went up the mountain and before His disciples went to where He was. I could just picture those people all gathered on the plain below waiting for Him, yet if they had climbed the mountain with Him, what wonderful truths they would have heard that could have encouraged them to their dying day. It would have prepared them to face the unseen battles and experiences that still lay head of them. So often we miss these opportunities because we are not prepared to go that extra mile with Jesus. The multitude that day missed those wonderful teachings of Jesus because they were weary. If they had traveled that extra mile with Him, they would have heard truths that would fit them for all Eternity. I just continued thinking about this foundation and crown of Jesus’ teachings today. It we knew how to put these things into our lives, they would better prepare us to see the Lord and help us enter into His kingdom. To enter His kingdom, everyone must be tested and tried. Jesus was testing that multitude that day to see whether they would follow Him.

We read of others in the Bible who got weary on the journey too, yet they faced the enemy anyway. If we are to get that victory, that wonderful gracious victory and worthwhile crown, we must put forth an effort. We might get tired at times and even a little bit discouraged— you know how it is— yet we see the prize ahead of us. Even in the face of discouragement, can we not be faithful for just one more hour? I thought of one or two people in my lifetime who fought a losing battle and they fell down. Life didn’t last very long for them after that. Had they only been faithful for just another hour, another mile, oh, what rejoicing their portion would be today; instead, everything they had labored for was completely lost!

In Matthew 5:2, it says, “…. He opened His mouth, and taught them”. What gracious words were spoken, words that met the needs of all who were discouraged. I wonder what kind of words we speak sometimes; do they help and encourage another or do they discourage our brother?

Verse 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Verse 4, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” There are many different reasons why we mourn—perhaps it’s for the loss of a loved one, and that is all right, but I don’t think there is any reward in that. We may mourn because of our foolishness in days gone by, but there’s not much reward in that either. I looked into the Scriptures and found an example of that woman who mourned in her spirit, and she was comforted. We find that example in 1st Samuel 1:10 – “Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard:” She was mourning. I see a picture here of God’s people at that time, and of Eli and his sons, who were supposed to be a guide to God’s people, yet they were unfaithful. Eli and his sons should have been guiding the Lord’s people, but instead, we see them as wicked men, the men of Belial. The feeling Hannah had in her heart was, “If only I could do something for the people of God, as the time is coming when no one will guide them.” Perhaps she thought she wasn’t called to lead those people, but the prayer of her heart was for a son, who could be a leader, a guide, and a servant of God, and would take the place of Eli and his sons. She went up into the temple and prayed, and Eli saw her. He had very little discernment of truth and righteousness, for when he saw Hannah pour out her heart to God, he thought she was drunk, and he told her so, but Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord,” and Eli responded in this spirit, “Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.” Hannah knew then what the condition of God’s kingdom was. Verse 20 says, “Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, ‘Because I have asked him of the Lord.’” She gave birth to a son, and gave him back to God. Then we read that Hannah had a song. She had done what she could.

This is a wonderful picture of someone who mourned for the kingdom of God, when the kingdom was suffering loss. We look out into the world today and see souls perishing, and the great need in God’s harvest field. Maybe it’s not possible for you to go out yet you can have a prayer in your heart, like Hannah. You can raise up to God an honest prayer, like she did, and be comforted too. The mother of Timothy did the same thing; we read very little about her but we’re told that Timothy had a faithful mother and grandmother. His father was a Greek, and we don’t think he had much time for God. I have tried to picture Timothy’s mother teaching him in his early years and then the time coming when he made that supreme sacrifice. It doesn’t say she mourned, because she saw the need in the world.

Verse 5, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Meekness is not cowardliness; a meek person is a brave person, one with a backbone. There are many types of people in this world, yet the people of God must have a backbone. I looked into the scripture and found an example of Moses, a very meek person. We’re told he was the meekest man in the earth. Then I looked at some of the examples in his life and I see a very meek man. He went up into the mount and received the commandments from God, and he was there for 40 days and 40 nights. We see how the children of Israel went out eagerly toward the promised land in the beginning. I believe Moses was praying for all them who waited at the foot of the mount. I believe he prayed for the captains by name, beseeching his God to guide them through the wilderness, to the promised land, those captains of hundreds and captains of thousands, and he asked God that they be given wisdom and understanding, as temptations and trials awaited them in the wilderness. Moses would have poured out his heart to God, asking Him to favor them. What did he find when he came from the mountain? These people were questioning “Where is this man, Moses? We don’t know where he is.” They had encouraged Aaron to make a golden calf to go before them. Sometimes we overlook the little things and feel it won’t make much difference. I remember one woman, a Jehovah Witness, when it was mentioned to her that ladies’ hair should be long, she said, “That is just a little thing.” Many little things will become a big thing. The golden calf was just a little thing, not the great big cow that was worshiped in Egypt, but the little calf was the pattern of it. People sometimes say, “No, I won’t have a great big drink and get intoxicated, I will only have a little one,” but others can pattern themselves after that. The little calf was just the small pattern of the worship in Egypt.

We visited a woman once, who in many ways was very zealous and faithful, but she had an altar in her home – not a large altar, only a small one. My companion explained to her why we didn’t have such things. In the scripture it tells us that the children of Israel worshiped the little calf they made. Here was Moses up on the mountain, crying to God in favor for the children of Israel. Exodus 32:7-10 says, “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, ‘These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.’” Moses said, “Don’t make a great nation of me.” He was interested only in the children of Israel, and he didn’t want God’s wrath poured out on them. It says in verse 12, “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people….’” verse 14 – “And the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.”

Moses might have doubted that these people would do such a thing. I can just picture him going down the side of the mount and seeing the children of Israel bowing down before that golden calf. Moses prayed for them – those who weren’t following and doing what he left them to do. That is another sign of his meekness—Moses praying for his enemies.

Remember that time Aaron and Miriam got their heads together and said, “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.” Numbers 12:5, “And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth.” I have tried to picture what was in the heart of Miriam then. You will remember God’s conversation with them and the cloud lifting off the tabernacle, and Miriam being leprous, and white as snow. Both cried out to Moses, saying, “Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.” Moses could have thought, “If only I had been a better brother, she wouldn’t have erred.” This is another sign of his spirit of meekness – to see his brother fail and say, “I should have had a different spirit toward them.”

David was another meek person we read about. Remember how he showed that mark of meekness in his life when he was planning to build the temple and God said, “No,” and then God gave him the reason why. How would you feel in his place after sacrificing so much to build it and what would you have done? His human nature could have destroyed all the material he had gathered, but David didn’t do that; he did everything in his power to help Solomon build the temple. This is just another example of meekness.

For 40 years, Moses prayed and sacrificed so he could lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land; perhaps it was even 80 years. It was his hope to take them there after years of laboring, praying and suffering to do it. It would be a big disappointment for him to hear, “Moses, you can’t go.” What would you do in that circumstance? Moses prayed to God that He would give him someone that would take these people into the Promised Land. Joshua was given that opportunity and Moses did everything in his power to encourage him to do what he couldn’t do himself. We should be encouraging each other for it is the sign of meekness. Many people who are not on the battlefront encourage those who are. It is a wonderful sign of meekness. If these marks are found in you, they will prepare you to be a citizen in God’s kingdom. Put your best into those things that pay best when life is over.

The hymn says, “Our thoughts of days that lie ahead, Are filled with living hope in Him.” Without hope, we cannot live. Someone has said that a hopeless person is a defeated person. God wants to put hope into our hearts and to encourage us.

I have been talking to a few old Friends. Some suffer from a little discouragement. Perhaps it is because of the end of the year drawing near and they have been fighting a good fight. Sometimes the adversary of our soul gets in a little upon us, and discouragement can keep us back from enjoying the best God has in store for us. It may be that as we grow older, we have not just got the same bodily strength to fight. You need bodily strength to fight against the opposition that is in the world. Above all, we need the strength that comes from God. God has gathered us together to put strength into us, so we will not suffer from discouragement.

Job could have been greatly discouraged and asked, “Why did God allow this, and why should I suffer like this?” when he was a man who was honouring God, but he never lost his confidence in his God as he went through these trials. He was able to say, “I know what God will do, will He plead against me with His great power? No, but He will put strength into me.” If we have this confidence in God, it will carry us a long way.

Paul said, “I know Whom I have believed…” I used to read this and read another little word into it, “I know in Whom…” Then one day I noticed that the word “in” was not there. “I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” He was referring to the day when he was to stand in the presence of His Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. He knew the One whom he believed, and because of that he could trust Him for the future. He could leave things in God’s hands, and be content with what God sent and allowed.

“… and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.” The love of God constrained and compelled him to be the man he was. It was not for any worldly benefits. For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge (or, if we look at it like this) that is One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. That is a reasonable way of looking at things. If Christ had not died for us, we would be without hope in our hearts for this present life, as well as the life which is to come. We would all be dead. Christ has put a new life and hope into our hearts, and because of this we love Him, and because of what we enjoy in the family of God.

I am glad to be here. I look back to the time when I left that old Brothers home and started out in the work of God. It will soon be 45 years. I was very ignorant, and many things I did not know, but I am glad I had a little of the love of God in my heart, and with it there was, perhaps, a little rebellion too. Before I went very far, I found that I had many lessons to learn. God’s lessons are not easily learnt, because we learn most of them by experience. We can be told many things, but until we experience things for ourselves, we do not learn, and it’s not so easy to learn by experience. Whether easy or hard, we have got to learn them, and if we don’t, we will perish.

I am confident there is no one who loves us like our God and our Father. We have all had earthly parents, and I do not think I knew how to appreciate my home life and my father, until I got away from home. My father was rather strict with us, but I found every time he corrected us, it was for our good. If we have earthly parents who chastise us for our good, we can safely trust them. Paul could say, “I know because He was speaking from experience.” We know that in all things, not in some things, God works together for good, to them that love Him and are the called according to His purpose. When God called us, He had a purpose for us, and we saw that purpose that God wanted to change our course in life, and make us more Godly, and a little more after the beauty and perfection we would see in Jesus. God wants to do us good. In every experience Paul passed through, flogged, beaten, cast into prison, shipwrecked, all sorts of things. He knew that out of every experience good would come, and because he had experienced all those things he was able to say, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Who, or what shall separate us from the love of Christ, if we have proved for ourselves the goodness, kindness, and love of God, this wonderful fellowship and sense of security that we enjoy in the family of God.

He enumerated many things, and said none of these things can separate us from the love of Christ. No power on earth could rob him of what he had in Christ. When we see the value of what we have in Christ Jesus, we will think like that. Paul saw what he had, and he kept the goal continually before him, and allowed nothing to come between himself and that, to impair his vision of the prospects that were his in the family of God. “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him…”

He went on to say more. He had his eye on the goal, had a single eye. He was looking ahead, not looking back. “This one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind…” That’s a hard thing to do. Some of the experiences we have had in life, sometimes we have been misunderstood and chastened, corrected, but those experiences are behind us and we have learned from them. Forgetting the things which are behind, Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize…” He was throwing his whole weight in, going ahead. He had seen the prize, seen the goal, and if we keep that before us, it will keep us going on and prevent us getting discouraged.

In Proverbs 30:24-28, it speaks of four little things, not strong, feeble, but they have done great things. God has seen fit to turn our minds to these little things. We like to think about big things, but it’s good to think about little, insignificant things. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. A little of the wrong thing: hardness, carelessness, bitterness, or indifference can spoil our lives and rob us of our eternal goal. I have seen a Brother or a Sister allow a little bitterness to creep in and remain there, and after years, it has spoiled the life of that person. A little of the right leaven will likewise enrich our lives. Jesus spoke of leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. It was a very small beginning we had with God. I knew very little, but I knew I wanted to be right with God, and that early conviction I had remained with me and made it possible for me to enjoy the place I have among the people of God, and I can speak with some confidence and assurance of what God has done in my life.

I was thinking of God referring to an ant, such a tiny creature. Almost every day you put your foot on an ant or two or more. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. They work while they have opportunity. They do not wait for winter to come, or for the ground to be flooded with water. Then they would only die of starvation, but when the weather is good, they forage and go in different directions, sometimes singly, but you will always find there is another ant and not very far away. They are in communication. You might see one ant not fifty yards from the next ant, perhaps dragging the wing of a fly. He leaves it and goes to another ant, just touches him and he comes and helps. Sometimes it may take twenty ants to drag a beetle to the nest, and then they can’t get it down until they break it up and take it down little by little, and there it is preserved and kept. Go to the ant thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise.

Sometimes we are foolish, but God wants to make us wise. “Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest, when things are favourable.” They seem to be guided by instinct. They have no ruler. We all like to be rulers and overseers, but someone has to take the place of a servant. The one who gets the greatest place in the home is the greatest servant, and I leave you to decide who is the greatest servant in the home. The ants work together, pull together, and live together. It is great if we can pull together and labour together. Look not every man on his own things but also on the things of others.

“The conies are a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks.” Why? It is because they know they are secure and safe there. The cony is a creature like a rabbit and we all have seen rabbits here. Rabbits never get very far from their home. For about sixty or seventy yards, they are the fastest creatures on earth. It does not pay them to get far from home. They make their burrows in the rocks, and feed near home, but when danger comes, they have tracks back to their home, and they get back to their security as fast as they can.

Is our security in this old world, in the investments we make, insurance policies? These things give us security for a little time but our greatest security and hope is in God. Our safety is in Him. We don’t want to get too far separated from Him, live close to Him so we can flee to Him for refuge. “The LORD is my refuge and my strength.” David was hunted for his life, but he knew he had a strong refuge in God. Through all he suffered, and the misunderstandings, he never lost his faith and hope in God, because he knew his security was in Him. God’s people generally do not feel very strong. There is a lot of opposition, much that opposes us, but I have often loved reading and thinking over the times that Jesus spent with His disciples recorded in John 14, 15, 16, and 17. John was close to Jesus and he must have written what he wrote with God upon his hand. History tells us that the gospels were not written for many years after the death of Jesus. There were no notebooks or fountain pens like we have today. John had it in his mind and in his heart, that is the place for us to get the Word of God written.

John 13, “Having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them to the end.” If that were written after the death of Jesus, it was a nice thought for a man to keep in his mind. It would keep his heart soft. Jesus never let His disciples down. He loved them with an unchanging love. That is the love He has for you and me. John calls himself the disciple who Jesus loved. Jesus was not partial. He loved all the disciples, but perhaps John was a little more conscious than the other disciples. We can be conscious of certain things, and perhaps sometimes unconscious of the goodness and love of God that comes through His people.

Psalm 27:13, “I had fainted…” He could not have kept going, “Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living,” right here and now. Unsaved people talk about the goodness of God they are going to see on the other side when they pass from time into eternity. If we do not see the goodness of God in this day, we will be disappointed then. The Psalmist knew it was that that kept him going, “unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living, I had fainted.” John saw the love of Christ and never forgot.

In the 14th chapter, Jesus had gathered the disciples together, “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” They believed in Him, but He was telling them certain things now that He had not been able to tell them before. In the previous chapter we read where Jesus washed the disciple’s feet and taught them a lesson in humility. Peter said, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus said, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” They had not learned their lesson at this time. It takes time to learn the lessons God has to teach us, and God is not in a hurry. It was hard on Peter. Any one of them could have taken the place of a servant, but they did not. Jesus took it, “I have left you an example in humility.”

Humility is a wonderful quality, just the opposite to pride, and pride has destroyed some of God’s children. Humility will never destroy us. Humility is a stepping stone which always brings us down. Simeon said, “This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against.” My experience is that we have to come down more than once. Let each esteem other better than themselves. It takes humility and the love of Christ to enable us to do that. If you esteem the Brother sitting beside you in the church, will you criticize, condemn, or find fault with him? No, you will respect him. If we could give people the respect God would like us to give each other in the family of God, it would enable us to go forward and think the best. Love thinks no evil, so it will enable us to see the best.

Let not your heart be troubled. They were troubled. Jesus Himself had been troubled and said, “Now is My soul troubled,” when He was in Gethsemane. His sweat was like great drops of blood as He said, “Not My will but Thine be done.” He bowed graciously to the will of His Father, but that did not mean He could not feel. He knew what was ahead of Him. We don’t know what is ahead of us, but He knew every day was a day nearer to the cross and He felt the burden of it. “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…” because He looked beyond it. He thought of what it was going to do for mankind, and of the time when He would be back with His Father. He would be like a victorious man returning from the conflict, and is set down at the right hand of God. The shame that was heaped upon Him was no light thing to bear. He was spoken evil of. He had just a handful of friends but the whole world was against Him, especially the religious world. That was the One who said, “Let not your hearts be troubled…” He had triumphed in His trouble and could impart to them a little of the peace that comes as a result of us getting victory over the things that can disturb and upset us, and perhaps destroy our hope in Christ.

He spoke of the relationship between Himself and the Father. “I will pray the Father and He will send you a Comforter.” They were worried, concerned, and troubled because Jesus told them He was leaving them. Thomas said, “We know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way?” Jesus gave him a simple answer to put his mind at rest. Jesus wanted to put an assurance and hope into them, a confidence that they would not be left alone. If we have God with us and for us, who can be against us? Lucian Garth once said, “If God is on our side we are in the majority.” The hymn says, “Lord we are met together, a weak and helpless flock.”

Jesus goes on to tell us more. He was putting assurance into their hearts that they would never be left alone. “I will come to you in the Spirit.” The Holy Ghost was the Spirit that was in Jesus and the Father, and is the Spirit God wants to put into you and me and give an assurance that we are not standing alone. Jesus said, “This Comforter would bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have spoken unto you.” Some of us have a good “forgettory” because it is easier to forget than to remember, but the things of the Spirit, God wants us to keep them. We want them to remain with us. Of the Comforter Jesus said, “He shall glorify Me.” Those men were weak. Jesus had said, “Fear not little flock for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” but in spite of that they must have felt weak and helpless, but that Spirit in them, His presence, would enable them to glorify Him, to make His name glorious.

In John 17, Jesus prayed for His disciples after He had done so much to confirm their faith and put lasting hope into them. “I pray not for the world, but for them… for they are Thine.” All Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine. They were more to Him than the whole world. He shed His precious blood for the world, but now He knew this handful of disciples were the hope of the world at this time. “Ye are the light of the world.” It was the Spirit of Christ in them. “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Food is insipid without salt. Jesus knew it would be a better place as a result of their influences in the world.

He prayed for His disciples and then for others who would believe, right down to us today. We are here as a result of someone else being willing to give their life in the service of God. “That they may be one…” That is what God wants to see in us, one in heart and mind, one goal, one objective, one hope. “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them.” He was not asking for the impossible. He does not ask the impossible of any of us. He does the impossible if we do the possible. The glory Jesus was giving them and those who believed in Him was nothing short of His presence. The Spirit that was in Jesus and in His Father is in the Spirit He puts into us. It is a little bit of Himself, the consciousness of His presence. If we are conscious of this, it will prevent us from doing anything that would bring dishonour to His name. The presence of Christ will make us one and will keep us together.

 Deuteronomy 11:10-12, this book of Deuteronomy is the story of the good land God gave to His people. Over and over again in the pages of this book, you find that expression, “The land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” If you would like an interesting study in the next weeks or months, read this book over and make a notation every time that expression occurs, and consider the wonderful things God mentions about this land.

The reason this has a real meaning to us today is because this land is just a type and foretaste of the fellowship God gives today. The special blessing that rested upon that land which made it the veritable paradise that it was, is the same blessing that God wants to give us spiritually today; it is the gift of God.

Did you ever wonder why God chose the land of Canaan – the land of promise as a type of His church and the place of His blessing? Why not Spain? That was much more easily reached. Italy had a better coastline. Greece had a better climate. Why did He choose this little narrow neck of land, almost unknown, way up along the Mediterranean seacoast?

There are 2 reasons: Harry Holland mentioned one of these when he was out this way a few years ago – because it was in the very center of the then-known world, and that put it within the reach of everyone. His fellowship, His church, His place of blessing, has always been within the reach of everyone. Jesus, Himself, said, “Just ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” It is still, spiritually speaking, in the very centre of the universe.

The second reason is that it was a little world separated from the rest of the world; it was in the world but not of the world. It was bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, on the south by a wilderness, on the east by the Jordan Gulf, and on the north by a mountain range. You could not enter it apart from crossing over a natural barrier. God has always desired that His people be a separated people. Separation has been the hallmark of God’s people and the security of God’s people. (Exodus 33:16) When I was young, I used to wish God’s people were not separated. I certainly am thankful today, because I can see beyond the veneer of fun and entertainment that the world goes in for, to the heartaches and woes and the disappointments and the bitter tears that are in the background.

I read some figures some time ago that were astonishing: in this country every 2½ minutes, somebody attempts suicide. It wouldn’t be so astonishing if that was over in India where people are starving to death or the satellite countries where people have been reduced to slavery and drudgery, but this is taking place in “America the Beautiful.” Egypt was a wonderful organization. There was no natural blessing from God down there so they had to organize. They dug some canals and made water wheels that were operated by foot and elevated the water out or the River Nile. They changed it all right; they made it a garden of herbs, but there were some things they never had: 1. No rest. They had to work day and night to keep their organization going. If they would stop working the water stopped flowing and there would be no food.

2. No refreshing. After all was said and done, all they had to enjoy were those warm, stagnant waters from the River Nile. Even Pharaoh’s daughter, the princess of the land had to come down and take her bath in that warm, stagnant insipid water.

3. No food value. They raised leeks, garlic, melons, etc., but those are just garnishes. They create an appetite, but they don’t satisfy it. But God said this land of Canaan is not like the land of Egypt; you won’t have to organize to make this land work. It is a land of hills and valleys. All you have to do is enter in and enjoy it. Remember that wonderful time when you were brought into the Truth and you realized, “Here is something that is already working!” You don’t have to put your shoulder to the wheel, just enter in and enjoy it. It has always been an accepted fact that an inch of rain will do far more than an inch of irrigation, whether you flood it or sprinkle it. Why? When the rain was coming down from above, it brought nourishment from above (particles of stardust) that couldn’t be found on the earth.

When I sat in the meeting this morning and heard our brother and the sisters bringing those little showers of blessing, I surely felt here was something that could be found no place else in the land. You couldn’t get it out of the seminary or the library. This is the wisdom that cometh down from above and is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Psalms 68:9, “And Thou, 0 Lord, didst send the plentiful rain whereby Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance when it was weary.”

The eyes of the Lord are upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Young people in the spring time of life’s year; there is wonderful evidence that God in a special way is caring for those young lives. I feel it is a compound miracle that at a time when the youth problem is the number one worry of the nation. In the midst of it all, God is raising up one of the greatest groups of young people we have ever had. Where we have been having some meetings recently, not far from the State University, 15 or 20 college students and several high school students come, and there has hardly been a stranger in those meetings who hasn’t commented on those young people – clean cut, pure quality of our young people. I don’t suppose you young people realize how often the Lord’s servants get down on their knees and thank God for our pure young people. They are the future of the Kingdom.

Then we think of the fathers and mothers, the ones who are bearing the heat of the day, struggling to keep a roof over your heads, and the right atmosphere in your home. In this busy, struggling time of life when we realize it is harder to make ends meet than ever before, it is wonderful to see the unmistakable evidence of the fact that in the summertime of life’s year, God is caring for you and your children and your Godly home in a special way.

Old folks coming to the sunset, golden years – in the autumn of life’s year, God is caring for you in an extra special way. To you who realize it, it will not be too long until you have passed from this scene into the great beyond. The older you get and the more feeble you become in body, the more extra special care God will take of you. Moses was coming to the more infirm years of his life when he spoke of the “everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27). There is a verse we often give to older people and I would like to give it to you this morning in case it has not already been called to your attention: Isaiah 46:4, the Lord is speaking directly to His old folks, “Don’t you be afraid that I’m going to let you down just because your own faculties are letting you down and maybe you can’t pray or testify as fluently as you used to, and maybe your memory isn’t as good.”

This good land is God’s gift — just ours for the accepting. But while this is true, there were certain things the Lord asked of His people when they got into the land. He knew that when they began to enjoy the wonderful things, the first question that would arise was, “What can we do to show our appreciation, to help the extension of His Kingdom — to be an honour to this wonderful thing we had the glorious privilege of being brought into?” One thing God asked them to do was, “Abide by My Word.” (Deuteronomy 11:31-32) That would make them united and it is upon the basis of unity that fellowship has always rested — and fellowship is the end towards which God has always worked. The crowning joy is fellowship. The fact that we preach the Gospel differently and worship differently is vital, but remember, it is only a means to an end. The greatest blessing His people enjoy is fellowship. If people ask you the difference between this way and others, just tell them we have fellowship. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”

Paul writes in Romans 15, “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God.” The greatest contribution you can make is to help promote unity. The second thing God asked of His people is found in Deuteronomy 12:10-12. They were to make certain self-denials and sacrifices. Why? “That you may rejoice.” It is hard for the human heart to grasp the fact that sacrifice and joy go hand in hand together. We are all human enough to feel, “If I keep my life for myself, I will be happy. If I give it to the Lord, I will be more or less miserable.” But you show me a person who is giving God his best, and I will show you a happy person. The people who are happiest on the face of the earth are those who are giving God their best, and there is no exception to this statement. Happiness is the beacon light that shines forth from the lives of God’s people. Nothing we can contribute will mean more to a perishing world or give them more hope than to see this glorious joy.

An old brother worker down in one of the southern states made this statement, “I have got more joy going to waste in my life than a dozen people could make use of!” He didn’t have to tell; we knew it just by looking at him. He had been giving God the best he had. You are like a city set on a hill; it would be utterly impossible to hide it. On the other hand, you show me a person that is keeping back from God his best, and I will show you one of the most miserable people on the face of the earth

Glen Smith laboured in South America and wanting to enter a certain part had to be vaccinated or pay fifty dollars. He chose the former, although he was always against vaccination as a result the only eye he had became blind, the result was he had a nervous breakdown, and while with his sister, he dictated these lines.

Glenn laboured in the Eastern USA before going to South America to preach. Glenn married a nurse named Helen, after she professed in their meetings. Glenn and Helen were citizens of South America and eventually became part of the Assemblies of God church. Glenn became ill and died in South America.

I was longing to serve my Master and lo, I was laid aside

From the party of busy Workers who toiled in the Field so wide.

There were few, yes, few in number and I could not understand

Why I should be kept inactive t’was different from what I planned.

I was longing to serve my Master; I knew that the work was great,

To me, it was easy to labour but OH! It was hard to wait,

To be quiet, still and silent, while the song was borne to my ear,

Of the reapers with whom I had mingled in the work of my heart so dear.

I was longing to serve my Master; He lead to a desert place,

And there, as we stopped and rested, His eyes looked down on my face,

So full of tender reproaching, they filled me with sad surprise,

Did He think I grudged my service and counted it sacrifice?

Oh, Master, I long to serve Thee; the time is short at best,

Let me back to the Field, I plead; I care not to stay and rest,

I knelt at His feet imploring, I gazed at His face above,

“My child,” He said gently, “Your serve is nothing without your love.”

I was longing to serve my Master; I thought that His greatest care

Was to keep all His Workers busy in reaping the fields so fair,

But there, in the lonely desert afar from the busy scene,

It dawned on me slowly and where the awful mistake had been.

My heart was full of service; I had drifted from Him apart,

And He longed for the sweet confiding the union of heart to heart.

I sought and received while my eyes were dim with tears,

I sought and received forgiveness while my eyes with tears were dim,

And though the work is still precious, the first place is for Him.

One word expresses what you and I are to be to the world; what God is expecting us to be to the world, and the other word expresses what we are to the Lord and our relationship with the Lord. We might say that this just sums up our whole life. You remember when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment He said, “These two – thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor as thyself.” First our relationship with God, then all else will fall in line.

Now, the one word that has been on my mind is the word “City.” One of the first places we have that word in the New Testament was used by Jesus Himself and we have a great deal in connection with when He used that word. When He was up on the mount, and His disciples came to Him, He spoke the words that are recorded in those 3 chapters that some call the Sermon on the Mount. After He told them what God wanted to see in them, He used that word – “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”

Then He spoke to them about a candle. Two thoughts, a city that is set on a high place would be seen by everybody, and then He said when a person lights a candle, it is not lit to put under a bushel, but it is to give light to all that is in the house. He says let your light so shine before men that others seeing your good works will glorify your Father which is in Heaven.

He had been telling them before that what would make them the salt of the earth and what would make them the light of the world. It is something that will not be naturally in us. It is something that God can put in us, that will make us the salt of the earth, the light of the world. That is what God expects His people to be. Jesus said there wouldn’t be many. Few will find the true Way, but those who find it were to be like salt, something that will have a preserving effect on others.

We have much in the exhortations that Paul, Peter, James, and John wrote teaching us how we could be like this. We are to be a light to the world. The light is the part of our lives that the world looks on. Recently I have enjoyed the thought that the little companies here and there throughout the earth could be compared to the “City set on a hill.” A city is made up of separate houses. This would be typical of individuals who are in that city. There are two parts to that. There is the part that the world sees. The world will take its thought of the city from the individual houses of the city. If you go to a city and go through some of the streets, you see the houses as they are, how they are kept, and you will measure the whole city by the individual houses. This is like the individuals that meet together on Sunday morning. They are like the houses and their lives they are living during the week give to the whole world an impression of the whole city. We have heard of people who say, “I would like to be in that fellowship.” The world does take notice.

Our numbers are very few in comparison to the population. I don’t know how many Christians there are, how many thousands there are in these homes who are meeting together on Sunday mornings, but still they would be very small in comparison to the whole population, but their influence can be far-reaching. It can be a light to any honest heart that is seeking truth and seeking to know the right way to worship God and serve Him.

The last book of the Old Testament gives us a picture. It tells us there in that chapter in Malachi, “The people that feared the Lord spoke often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard.” He says they will be Mine and they will be like the jewels. I’ll spare them as a father will spare his own son. They will be like God’s jewels. This prophecy of Malachi is the last message. It is a picture of what God’s people were in the Old Testament. They had been carried away into captivity because of their own untrueness. God had brought them into that promised land. He had meant them as a nation to be a pattern to other nations in their trueness to Him, in their worship in the daily worship and in the way they treated one another. But here they were carried away into captivity, because they were not true to God, nor true to one another. They oppressed each other and God let them be carried away. They were not true in their worship and failed to keep up the pattern that God gave Moses in the mountain. They rather copied the heathens around them.

All that is written about them is written as warnings to us. Instead of them keeping true to the pattern God gave them of worship in the tabernacle, they rather copy the nations around them and that suited the human nature better. That suited pride better and they copied any nation around, any false god. This provoked God and He let them be carried away into captivity. The lesson we learn from that is that in the New Testament, God’s own Son came. He gave us the teaching and that true pattern of how to serve God. When we turn away from Jesus and this pattern, then we can expect to just end up as they did; be carried into bondage and into captivity. God then permitted a few of them to come back to that land – a few that had come through the sufferings. When they came back, they were very zealous to set up the true way of worshiping. They never went back to that form of worship when they came back from Babylon. They were very much against that, but still they were not what God wanted. If you read that book of Malachi, instead of being those that were being controlled by love and by fear, God could say, “Where is My fear and where is My love?” They were going through a form of worship, but it was only a form. It was only a way that suited themselves. They were changing God’s way of worship into a way that had no sacrifice. When they brought the animal to sacrifice, they brought a blemished one. They brought the one that was lame. You don’t read much either of the mark of love. But then it says that they that did really fear the Lord, those that were controlled by the reverential, wholesome fear of God, they got together. Not too many of them got together, but it says that they thought on His name. When we come together on Sunday mornings, we should think on His name, His nature. They spoke often one with another. All of them that met together spoke often one with another. This is a true type of the Sunday morning meeting or when God’s people come together to speak on His name, His nature and encourage each other to love and serve Him.

It says God hearkened. God who is ruling this universe is listening attentively. He is interested in what those who love His name are saying to one another. It says it pleased Him so much that He said a book of remembrance would be written of them. He said, “They’ll be Mine and I’ll spare them as a man spares his own son.” I have often been encouraged by the thought that in every Sunday morning meeting where there are true honest people that love the Lord met together, there are two results of that meeting. One result is what goes up to Heaven. There is a sweet savour that goes up to Heaven from that meeting because He is looking on sincere people who have true honest love for Him, a love that has been put in their hearts by the Holy Spirit and they are speaking one with another. They are encouraging one another, stirring each other up in love.

God is hearkening. God looked down before the flood and He saw that men’s hearts were evil continually. What was going up from the human family was like a stink in the nostrils of God. The selfishness, the pride, the violence that was on the earth when God looked at. He was so grieved at heart. He decided to destroy it with a flood. After that flood, God again looked down, and it says that Noah offered that burnt offering, an acceptable sacrifice and God smelled a sweet savour. God said He would never destroy the world with a flood again. He put a rainbow in the Heaven. God smelled a sweet savour. Whenever God’s people, human beings, meet together and offer that acceptable sacrifice, that whole burnt offering is a sweet savour to God. He sees that they are not living for self and they are not pleasing each other in that selfish way. When they have genuine love, He smells a sweet savour. What Malachi was speaking of here were a few people and when they met and they talked of His name, thought on His name, God was so pleased with them. This is our privilege today. We are glad that although we don’t accomplish big things in the eyes of the world, we don’t put up big buildings called cathedrals, we are glad there can be a few people meeting together, people who have those marks. They are like the city and they are showing forth the praise in their hearts unto God. They are a testimony unto others.

The other word that has been a lot on my mind, is the word “elect.” You have this word in Peter’s Epistle. He speaks about the elect according to the foreknowledge of God. I have enjoyed this word “elect” because it suggests our relationship with Christ. There are two human relationships used in the Bible to show how close we could be to the Lord. We speak about the fact that we can become God’s Children. All the human family in one sense are God’s children. Then it speaks about how we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we can cry, “Abba Father.” When we yield to Christ and believe on Him, God puts into us the spirit of adoption, and the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. This means born of the Holy Spirit.

The first experience is when we listen to God’s trust and we are willing to obey it, we are willing to give ourselves to it and Christ comes into our hearts, we become children of God. We receive the spirit of adoption. I was brought up to pray in my early childhood. I said prayer night and morning but when I got to understand what it was to give myself to Christ, to yield myself to Him, that relationship was different. We speak of the relationship of parents and children, and so is our relationship with God. We are His children. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we shall be like Him because we are children of God. Oh, what manner of love that we should be called the children of God. Then there is another human relationship that is even a closer relationship. In Genesis, God told them that a man should leave father and mother and cleave to his wife. Jesus confirmed the same truth. This is the closest relationship, the relationship of husband and wife. There is something about that relationship that is even more than parents and children, more than brothers and sisters.

This word elect used in the Bible is a word that would suggest that because they themselves have chosen. Not only a child of God, but I am espoused as Paul used the word. I have espoused you as a chaste virgin unto the Lord. If I have given myself to Christ, I am espoused. I am a chaste virgin to the Lord and one that is true to the bridegroom. God is the example in the human to show us what we could be to Him. In Matthew’s Gospel, we have the signs of the end and the signs of Jesus coming again and what they would be. Read them over again because we might be nearer to the end than we think. Matthew 24, there will not be one stone in the temple left upon another. It will all be destroyed. The disciples asked “how will we know, what will be the signs?” Jesus used that word “elect” three times in this chapter: “elect’s sake”. Many deceivers in those days, and would be claiming to be the Christ and He says if it would be possible they would deceive the very elect. Then further it says God will send His angels and gather His own elect. Elect means those who are set to be part of His bride. Those that are espoused to Him as a chaste virgin and they have kept true to Him. Gather His own from the four corners of the earth – a world wide fellowship. God will gather them out from all races and all nations–Gather His own elect and they’ll be saved.

History tells us that when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, the Roman army surrounded it and were determined to bring suffering on all. History says there was an unexplained thing that happened. Those that believed the teachings of Jesus escaped and escaped the terrible sufferings that came upon that city. History says that was the most awful suffering that had been up to that time. But it says God was considering His own elect. We are not a very important people in the world, not many of us, we don’t fill a very big place in the world, but though we are few in number and in the world’s eyes of not much account, we could have an effect on God’s dealings with the world.

Abraham believed that. When he was talking to God about Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, “Lord, now if there were so many righteous people, bringing the number down to ten, would you not save that city for the sake of those ten righteous people.” God says, “I would. If there were ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, I would not let the fire and brimstone come down.” Did it ever dawn on you that if you are one of God’s elect, part of that bride we read about, that God would be considering you. “God will gather His own elect.” He will never suffer His people to be tempted above what they are able to bear. Parents know what they feel if their child were in danger. They would feel very bad if they knew they were suffering. This is how God feels. They are dear to the heart of God.

Revelations 21 tells us about the elect and we can get a lot of lessons from that. In Revelations 17, God took John into the wilderness and he showed him a great city. He showed him a beast and then he showed him a woman riding the beast. She is a city and she is the great city of Babylon. She represents the city of violence. She is riding that beast and that beast represents the kings and rulers of the world. She is riding that she is controlling that. This picture shows what is wrong today. City of Babylon represents the great organized false religions – names of blasphemy. Taking the name of God and no desire to obey Him or serve Him or recognize Him as their King their Master, That woman represents the great city Babylon. It takes the two illustrations to get the right and full picture. One is what we are to the world. They see us as a city and the other is what we are to the Lord – His elect, His bride. That woman was riding the beast and controlling the beast. She was adorned with purple, with scarlet and all the signs of reigning. She was adorned with all the glory of the world, the gold and the jewelry. Their whole idea is just grandeur, show and style. They put up the grand buildings for grandeur, the great organizations, the great name, the great false churches of the world today. The beast represents the secular governments, the rulers. It says that the beast had ten horns. The ten horns were ten kings. There are many rulers in the world and the woman was riding and controlling that. That is what their great ambition and glory is. The name given the woman is very suggestive. It says she was a harlot, the mother of harlots. The word harlot means untrueness, unfaithfulness. It’s a very ugly word, but it is used in the Bible more to show what we can be to the Lord. If we aren’t true to the Heavenly Bridegroom, aren’t putting Him first, and are keeping more to the world, we would be more like harlots. I have often reminded myself that if I didn’t keep true to Him, I might be in danger of having what is called the harlot spirit. We can often be more concerned with pleasing other people than we are to please Him. More concerned about doing the will of other people than to please God. This would be like being untrue to the Heavenly Bridegroom.

One man up in Washington, who I believe is a very faithful saint. He wasn’t the religious type. He told me of some of his early experiences. He was in the second World War. They were in Europe and his part of the army was ordered up to the front. None of the boys were very religious, but when they knew that they were going up to the front and possible death, he and some of the others decided to consult the chaplain. They told him how they were troubled, had to go to the front and the possibility of death. He asked him how to get ready for death. The chaplain asked him a few questions. He asked him if he went to Sunday school, but he hadn’t gone much to Sunday school. He asked him if he had learned the catechism. Well he hardly knew what the catechism was. Well, the chaplain says, “Now I’ll tell you, if you had learned that catechism, I could help you. I could help you to be ready to die, but if you don’t know the catechism, I cannot do a thing for you.” This was a person who was supposed to help others but he had to answer him this way. Well, he came back from the army, maybe God spared him for a purpose. He married and the girl he married knew the truth. She had professed when she was young, but she had drifted away. Her mother was a very true woman. After she was married she got seriously troubled and she talked to her husband. She wanted to be right, and she got right. Her husband went to Convention with her. It wasn’t the preaching so much that he took stock of, but he says when he got there on the Saturday night, he was shown where to sleep. When he went down to where most of the men were sleeping, he said, “I saw those men down on their knees.” He said he never saw anything like that before. “When I was in the army, I heard the boys praying when they thought they were going up to the front, meeting death. I had never seen anybody not facing death on their knees praying.” This spoke to him. It spoke more than the sermons he heard on the Sunday. It led to him deciding. He is a faithful man now. Also his wife and children are all professing.

We don’t want to belong to some of these things that just preach the hireling doctrine. We want to be God’s lamb, God’s elect. Paul had this idea in his mind. When he preached he didn’t think of just pleasing the Christians. He also said he didn’t want to offend you either. He was thinking all the time of pleasing the Father. It was like the Bride there. He was thinking of the Heavenly Bridegroom. Like you could say, overtime I stood up to speak to you, I was thinking what would God want me to say to you.

One woman was telling me not long ago, about what her husband had said to her. He didn’t profess. I had known him since he was a little boy. Convention has been at his parents’ home for over 40 years. I asked his wife if he had any serious thoughts about getting saved. She said she hardly knew, but she had noticed he would be quite serious when he saw me upon my knees. He wouldn’t tell me not to pray but it seems to upset him when he sees me on my knees. He wouldn’t tell me not to go to the meeting, but it worries him because it kind of condemns him. But she was telling me another thing about him, which I thought was to be admired. Something had happened in the home and she was making some apologies to him. She hadn’t done as well as she could about something. He said to her, “I don’t need any apologies from you, you don’t have to make any apologies to me, but what I want to know of you is that I have the first place in your heart. I want to know that you have a true love for me. That is what I am only concerned about. All the other things are not of much account. I am not worrying if the biscuits aren’t baked exactly right, if things aren’t cooked so well. You don’t need to make apologies for that. I am concerned that I have the first place. That you have a love for me that a wife should have for her husband, and he says, ‘I believe you have this.’” He was not mistaken either. They have one child and that child has spoken to me about going out in the harvest field. The father is not wanting to hinder either. He has that much about him. I thought it was a very nice way for a husband to speak to his wife. Even for an unsaved man to do that.

I thought in couples how nice if when some little thing goes wrong, that they could say the same thing. I am not concerned about the mistake, I am concerned about one thing–that you still love Me. I believe that our Heavenly Bridegroom feels the same–that what He is most concerned with that we love Him. Our first ambition is to have His approval. I believe that is what Paul had as a servant of God. I believe that is why he was such a faithful servant to God.

You know that makes you a little independent of other things you might be tempted to worry about. One of our brothers has an expression he often uses when he is preaching. He says the servants of God are the most independent people in the world because they are the most dependent in the world. He explains it like this that they are independent of other people. They are not worrying whether they like our preaching or don’t like it, or whether they are taken up with us or not taken up with us. We are wholly dependent on God and they recognize that if I make it my ambition to please Him, to be like the faithful bride espoused to him, then I’ll not need to worry. Not need to worry about my future in this world. Not need to worry about the hereafter. I’ll hear His well done. That will be the greatest reward of all.

If God’s children in the home could say, “I am not too much concerned whether people like me or whether people flatter, I am taken up with the Heavenly Bridegroom.” This woman you read about in Revelations 17, it says it was Babylon. It was a city – a woman in a city and that city is ruler over the kings of the earth. You read this is true in the 18th chapter – that city is ruler over the kings of the earth.

I once was in Rome and visited the Vatican. There is a great long hall in the Vatican, which has a great number of showcases. Glass filled showcases full of presents, expensive presents – gold and very expensive tapestry. You would just think of this when you were reading Revelations 18 in looking at these showcases. These presents were sent by different rulers of the world and they were taking great pride that we are ruling over all. We are having great control. Then when you read Revelations 17 and 18, you can see the end of that. The 17th Chapter finishes up by telling you that before the end comes and that may come soon, God is going to put it into the hearts of those Kings that represent the beasts, those 10 horns those rulers of the world, whatever they are, God is going to put it into their hearts to turn against her, this great city of Babylon. When they turn against this woman, they are going to throw her down and tramp and burn her and destroy her. That has to happen before Jesus comes again. We don’t need to be impressed when we read of the President going to the Pope, for the Pope to do so much, their great glory, their great power, the ruler of all the people of the world as it speaks about. Don’t worry about that. Faith tells us that there is an end of that. The end is described in the 18th chapter. There will be a terrible time of suffering upon the world.

The false religions that have been up in glory in their wealth, pride, and power over the rulers of the earth and all the great things they could do well, they will fall out between themselves and they have been doing it in some parts already. Then they will be trampled and destroyed, but our interest is in Revelations 21. In this chapter, we read about John seeing another city and it was coming down from Heaven. It was the New Jerusalem, and it was a Holy City. It was a woman too, because it was adorned as a Bride to be married. The woman who was riding the beast had great adornment and the adornment she had spoke of great power, purple, scarlet, and wealth. The other city was represented by a woman and she was a different woman. It was given to her to be adorned, too. She was arrayed in fine, white linen, pure and clean, white linen. It wasn’t scarlet, it wasn’t purple. It wasn’t the great ruling colors of the world. It was fine, white linen, pure and clean, and it says that fine, white linen was the righteousness of the saints. The margin says the righteousness acts of the saints. Having inward righteousness and doing righteousness acts go together. You have it inside first and then it moves you to do it. Like the trees that have the right thing in them, bear the right kind of fruit. The tree is known by its fruit. Some religious people today think that it is just believing in something. Believing something about Jesus, going through some form. Some people have that kind of teaching, but the illustration Jesus used is different.

When we give ourselves to Him, it is more like a branch in a vine and if we continue and abide then there will be fruit. When we give ourselves to Christ, that is the first step. Then after that there is the abiding. Abiding in His word and He abiding in us. Abiding in His teachings. Jesus said if you don’t abide, even though you are grafted in, you will die, and you will be destroyed. It was given to this woman to be adorned too. The 19th chapter said the bride had made herself ready for the marriage. That shows our responsibility, we are making ourselves ready, cooperating with Him. That would be like what Peter said when he used the words make your election sure. You are elected according to the foreknowledge of God.

Make it sure. Peter tells you how to make it sure. You would be growing. There would be something growing in you. That is the proof of it. You would be keeping on obeying His truth. You can never separate Jesus from His words. He said, “If you are ashamed of My words, ashamed of Me and of My words.” Not many today [are] taking heed to the words of Jesus. Even if you just take those words when He mentioned about you being a city set on a hill. Just take those words. Read them over and meditate upon them. Not many people in the world [are] thinking about obeying those words. I wonder, do we obey them fully as the Lord meant. Do we get out a little with one another and not put it right. Do not offer sacrifice to God until you put it right with each other. Do we obey those words fully when He says, “You are a city set on a hill?” You can’t separate Jesus from His words. His words. My word will be forever. We’ll be judged by His words. I like to think of —–; woman as the true Bride of Christ. She had on the fine, white linen.

Some of us grew up in the country where they make that linen and have seen the process. It is not a very nice process. A man was working where they handle the flax, of which they make linen. He couldn’t very well change his clothes but had to come in to have dinner where we were as he was. They had an awful odor about them. The flax had to be pulled by hand. Then it was put under water and left there until it is almost rotten and the odor is almost like the odor of rotten cabbage. Then it is taken out and dried, brought to a mill and that is where you would get that which makes the fine linen. This is what the bride would be arrayed with.

You know this thought about the righteousness and then it says, “The righteous acts.” It means that I am righteous inside, and He that is righteous doeth righteousness cause I am righteous, I do righteous acts. That is why Jesus said, “Let your light shine that men will glorify your Father.” If we have love in our hearts we won’t need to be talking about it for He’ll be seeing me do things and He’ll see manifestations of that. He is not supposed to read my heart, but He is to see what I am doing and what kind of fruit I’ll bear. It is the righteousness and righteous acts He wants to see. We read that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Not imputing our iniquity, but He is imputing the righteousness of Christ to us. It is a comfort to an honest child of God to realize that although I have come short, God is giving me credit for the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness He commanded when He obeyed the Father and went to Calvary’s cross and gave His last drop of blood. In doing that He made it possible for God to put things where I come short. Transgressions are forgiven and sins are covered by His blood.

I have sometimes given the illustration. I know it is not a perfect one, but it occurred to me. We could use it, you and I in our relationship with God. It could be compared to a bride, a wife. She has in her early days gone into debt for her foolishness in buying or whatever it was. But some wealthy person wants to make her his bride in spite of her debts. She becomes his wife and that wealthy man makes an announcement to all that and debts that my wife owes, I am responsible for all. Do you think that is an exaggerated picture? That is what our Heavenly Bridegroom has done for us.

One woman said to me, “I understand all that, how He has forgiven all that I did before I decided; but what if I fail now, if I do something that I shouldn’t do?” I said to her, taking our little illustration. He went a little further and said, as long as she is a true wife to me and I know the place I have in her heart, as long as we are living together, if she should incur any more debts through some foolish step, buy something that she shouldn’t be buying, I’ll pay them too. If she should be untrue, and we would have to divorce I won’t be responsible any longer. John in his epistles says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.”

We have fellowship with Him, that true fellowship, and His blood cleanses us from all sins. That verse backs this up that He paid the debt where we come short now and then we’ll he arrayed in the righteousness of Christ. It is the righteousness that has come into my life because Christ is living in me. In Revelations 21, we read of a great marriage. If you will take the illustration of a city as what the world will see in our lives that we are bearing a clean testimony for Him. It is a great study and one that should profit us.

Jude 20-21, a man applied for a certain job. The manager [asked the] Foreman if he knew him and he had to say he was unreliable and had let many good chances pass by. But he said, “I would like to give him another chance.” Possible for every person to do better.

Hebrews 6:9, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. That is an encouraging thought and that is what God desires that He may be able to do a little more for us and that we should be able to do a little bit more for Him. Meet and speak with us, remember who it is that wants to gather ask wants to speak. The Holy Ghost saith, “Today if ye will hear His voice harden not your heart.” We need to take very careful notice of what the Holy Ghost says, but not much notice of what others say. Among the things that God does when He speaks is Solomon’s our heart like when the rain is withheld the earth becomes hard. Job could say the Almighty had softened his heart.

God’s desire is to build us up, that His work may become stronger. That is what was taking place in David’s house, it was becoming stronger and stronger, but the house of Saul was waxing weaker and weaker. There was this building up in the life of David and this strengthening. Things that could help to build us up. Building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Faith is precious and holy. I would never like to look at God’s work in my life as a small thing. It is a very great thing.

Jude 3, “It was needful for me to write unto you and to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was delivered unto the saints.” Earnestly contend or fight in an earnest way, not anyhow; that will build us up. Paul said, “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body, etc.” He was not fighting in a casual way. So fight I that I may keep my body under. When a person has a song of joy, it makes them strong. People who are strong spiritually have the same song, the joy of the Lord is their strength.

Verse 5, put in remembrance, though ye once knew. It wasn’t something they had never heard before and they did know it. He gathers us to remind us of what could destroy. Reminds us of things that our faith will be built up. “Having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” They fell in the wilderness. Sad to think of people who never gets saved. Far sad to think of those who fell and died in the wilderness; never get helped again. Their faith wasn’t being built up and it became weaker and weaker until it was destroyed.

Verse 12, certain spots and what they were; they were feeding themselves without fear, like cloud that held no water. The promise of blessing but it never came, they had fruit but it was withering, becoming less and less and to die altogether. Sad if we had no refreshing for others and not ourselves. Afraid that one could be a messenger without a message from God. Be a cloud that holds no water. Need to have a message from God to help others. Be a tree that would produce fruit that would abide and be forever. Withering is a gradual death. Enoch was a man who was building up his faith, the work of God was being built up in his life. His testimony, what took place in his life before God took him. Everything matters or depends on what we are before God takes us, before death takes us. He could walk with God because he was pleasing God. Two people who love each other know what the other likes and will always do the thing the other likes. Praying in the Holy Ghost, not anyhow. But God the Father may be with one. Most pleasant experiences are when God the Father speaks with us and is near to us.

Verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God. Possible to get outside the love of God. Those who came out of Egypt were one time as the apple of God’s eye, but the time came when He destroyed them. They got outside and beyond the love of God, because of doing and allowing things in their lives that should not be and they got beyond the love of God. Believed not in obeyed not. “Take heed lest there be in any of you and evil heart of unbelief.” That heart of this obedience and that we wouldn’t prove God in a living way. Jesus’ pride that the same love that was in Him may be in them. He said, “Continue ye in My love.” Do things that would bring us into a greater love with God.

Verse 21, “Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The mercy seat was in the Holiest of Holies, in the safest place. Mercy comes from God, from above. Hebrews 4, let us come boldly and obtain mercy for our own lives, obtain mercy and grace to enable one to do better. He that won’t forgive breaks of bridge over which he must one day pass to enter into heaven. The greatest chapter in the life of Joseph was not the one when he was taken from prison and raised to be the second greatest in the land, for when he made himself known to his brethren. All made to go out and Joseph wept and said, “I and Joseph thy brother.” Showing there was nothing in his heart against them and all the past forgiven. Wept and kissed him and then they talked with him. Amen.

Ruth 3:18, “Sit still my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.” Simple Godly advice. Ruth was about to make a choice for the future that would make her more fruitful or would bring her great suffering and mar her future. Not in a hurry, wait and see how the matter will fall. Hasty choices made and regretted for all life. Weight up the choices we make that in twenty years’ time or more we will not regret those choices. Ponder the path of thy feet, weigh carefully the path of our feet. Ruth listened to the advice and counsel given. She had said, “All that thou sayest unto me, I will do,” and what God says, do it. Why she was so faithful was because she was guided by the counsel of one who was godly. Her lot fell on the field of Boaz, not by chance but by God’s guidance. “All the city doth know thou art of virtuous woman.” Christ-like marks in her life. Virtue went out of Jesus. Something went out of His life into others. Ruth was expressing what had come into her life. There has been shipwreck and suffering through following wrong advice. 

Sit still, my daughter and wait and see what is going to happen. Simple but good effective advice given. Simple things have optimised our lives more fruitful. After the children of Israel came out of Egypt, the Red Sea was before them and the Egyptians behind them. Moses said, “Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of God, for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever.” He was speaking to over half a million men. They listened to the simple counsel. Listen to the men of God. Moses wanted them to see their deliverance came only from God. The children of Israel went over on dry land and saw the Egyptians destroyed. A great thing and it should have been the means of guiding them through the wilderness. Good to look on the beginning of our days and the beginning should be able to guide us all through life. 

Moses faced the same experiences as they faced in the wilderness. It helped Moses to get closer to God, but the people got further away. It has been said the sun that brings sweetness into the fruit helps it to ripen is the same sun that will cause of milk to go sour. God spoke face-to-face with Moses as a friend and that is the fellowship Moses was having. Moses knew the closeness of life could say to God, “He is my rock, His work is perfect and a God of truth and without an equity, just and right is He.” He thought of the wilderness and he could say just and right. Moses vision remained very clear. 

Revelations 1, this was not the first time John saw the Lord Jesus. When he saw Him, he fell at His feet as one dead. Saw Jesus clearer and brighter than ever and saw his own nothingness. We should be able to take two photos with us. One of Jesus high and lifted and what He should be able to do and what His life is. Also of ourselves, the more we get to see ourselves, the more unworthy we feel. Christ-like marks bought out in the life of Moses, when God would have blotted out His people, Moses prayed that God would turn His anger away and ask God to blot out his name, the great love he had for the sheep. He guided them through the wilderness with the love of God in his heart. Paul to the Roman said he was persuaded nothing can separate us from the love of God. The love of Christ in him and he wished that he was accused for his brethren’s sake. Very great difference in having love for God and Christ, then having the love of God and Christ. Have that love for God in Christ. 

When 10 brought back an evil report, Caleb stilled the people and said, “We are able to overcome,” and he wanted them to get quiet. Caleb and Joshua were not affected by the murmuring of the children of Israel. How good to meet the person that have another spirit, that are not influenced by the wrong they know in others in the church. Wholly following the Lord. That is why they could put courage and love and strength into others. Those 10 were all responsible men who should have known better than they murmured and not only they that they cause the whole congregation to murmur. An influence on all the others. Serious thing to be spreading wrong. Those 10 died of the plague. God said they would perish in the wilderness and that only Caleb and Joshua would see the promised land and that their children would, also. These children [will] think of their parents perishing in the wilderness because of murmuring, and not a very good memory for children to have of parents. 

II Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat prayed and said, “We have no might against his great enemy.” We feel like that too as we face the experiences of life. They didn’t have to fight at all and God gave the victory. Something that enriched them, too. Were three days gathering the spoil. Always feel weaker after defeat and we feel stronger and have more joy when there is victory. Jehoshaphat joined himself with Ahaziah who did wickedly after that. We may feel there wasn’t any harm but there is nothing wrong that is harmless. No matter how small wrong may be, it is still harmful.

II Chronicles 21:6, “And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife. And he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” His son may never have married Ahab’s daughter if Jehoshaphat had made friends with the king of Israel. These things happen in families that should never happen if parents had more of God’s guidance. Things begin in small ways that they do not stop there. The son came to the throne and killed his six brothers. First wrong he did and then guided the people into the role of Ahab. Jehoram was written with incurable diseases and died as one not desired. Amen.

Today is Easter Friday and thousands and thousands of people will be walking around Jerusalem carrying great wooden crosses, thinking they are showing their zeal for God, yet it means absolutely nothing to God. Who or what was Jesus’ successor, what took the place of Christ? Some say Peter would point you to the Pope. Some say the church took his place. Some talk of Jehovah, and they have the monopoly and speak as though they have taken the place of Jesus. Think of Jesus is living and going back to the Father. Jesus told of One who would come. One that would teach and bring back to their remembrance the things He had told them. The Holy Ghost alone has taken the place of Jesus and to the extent we allow Him into our heart and home and just what we have is wonderful what God is able to do in people’s lives when His spirit does the work there.

Two powers mostly dead at work today. One, the attempt that is in the world to unite Roman Catholics and Protestants into one way. We say for a group of people, no good will come of it and there will be a terrible lot of evil come out of it. Righteousness, not unity is our goal. Unity is a by-product of righteousness. There is a hymn that says, “Oh lightest burden, sweetest yoke, it lifts, it bears my happy soul. It giveth wings to this poor heart, my freedom is thy grand control.” We do not have to go around with a cultivated smile. We have joy in our service to God and we have to play our part to have joy. Two. The godliness that is sweeping over the world. Good lives that they haven’t got God and Satan doesn’t mind us being religious, but he dislikes Christ. He is also old worldling and doesn’t mind what he put before people. A thrill or a stir for a moment, empty and shallow. Jude said, “Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” That which we have when we go into the arms of God at the end of life, I think it may mean that.

Jesus prayed three times the same thing in the garden to build Himself up and to give us an example of how to do it. Prayers cannot be just words, unless we bring His presence to us. Often before I pray, I stop to think of God sending Jesus and what He has done and I come into His presence, near to Him. A Hindu said of normal Christianity, “It is just a religion of words.” Be ye doers of the word. We have something to do now and God comes to us as a person. One who looks at us. If we have any unworthy thought we are conscious of the eyes of Jesus looking at us. Sometimes we are conscious of His smile, when we have made a choice in His will, didn’t yield to our own feelings and His smile is upon us.

A little man said to a big man, “If I was big like you, I would go out into the bush and find the biggest bear and tear him limb from limb.” He looked to the little man and said, “There are plenty of little bears out there.” It is easy to think of what someone else should do. A mother tried to improve a slum area so she dressed up her little girl and went there and soon other little girls were getting their faces washed. That is how we often can do it by leading the way. Two little boys were holding their father’s hand. One said, “I have got Daddy,” and the others said, “Daddy has got me.” A lot different. People say, “I’ve got God,” and go out with the thought, “God has got me.”

Some of us went to see a big cave. It was lit up but the guide wasn’t there so we went through without the guide, and it didn’t mean much to us. As we came out, the guide was there and just going to take some others through so I said, “Let us go again.” He put on other lights that we hadn’t seen and he said, “See, that is a wedding cake. See, that is a frozen waterfall,” and so on. We hadn’t seen them and we needed the guide. The Holy Spirit of God open up the Bible to ask and we have to live in harmony with God to get it. Nothing between us and God and we read and there the Holy Spirit guides and reveals things to us. Jesus all the widow casting in two mites and Jesus drew their attention to this. They had overlooked it, natural for a Jew to want to see an abundance of money. If she had given one mite, she would have given half of what she had. But she gave her all. The woman who came in and poured the ointment on Jesus and Jesus said, “Look at this woman.” Simon was looking on the sin of her life, but Jesus was looking on the love in her heart.

II Kings 6:25, there was a great famine in Samaria and the asses had and the filth from the street was sold for food, the famine was so terrible. Chapter 7, “Tomorrow,” the Lord says, “You will be able to buy a measure of fine flour,” etc. 2:20, remember quickly and we must cooperate with Him. Things can be set right in a day or in 20 minutes if the Spirit of God can work. Those four lepers said, “Let us go out and fall into the hand of the enemy,” and God magnified their steps. The enemy heard a noise of chariots, etc. and fled and they found an abundance of food. “Let us go back and share it,” they said. The king thought there was some trap set. Some went to see and they found that all the way to Jordan was full of garments and vessels and returned to tell the king. I think of God’s goodness; it was strewn all over the way to Jordan. God doesn’t promise and then fail us, it is open to us if we want to trust Him.

A man alone in India and his wife died and he took the funeral himself. Some padre men there waiting and asking if they could help him. He said, “No,” and told them to just sit down. Went through with it himself and a neighbour said of him, “That man was a king among us.” Hang on; God will look after you. Amen.

People in the world have a wonderful ambition to push out and ahead. When they do get there, it is only a bubble. It is necessary to have an ambition. Ambition as children of God or citizens of Zion. Israel 62:1-2, sometimes we feel the things we want most are kept from us. As citizens of Zion, there should be some difference between us and the world. Noah was distinct from all the world and the world was distinct from Noah. It would be an easy matter to distinguish Noah if you went to his district and he was doing a work for 100 years ahead. A distinct work and it should be the same of God’s people in 1967. Greatest danger for the children of God is that they would become like those around them instead of influencing those around them. Not alone by outward dress, speech and actions, but heart conditions to the God of Heaven.

The devil’s purpose is not to get people back to where they were, but to conform them to the world. We need the ambition from Heaven. The stern stuff. Men have trampled others and conquered countries to fulfill their ambitions. Marks in the children of Israel when they began caused God to love them. Are we getting closer to the Christ-like marks than when we began? If not, we are out of order. We are called to represent Heaven, and not represent earth. We have to live in the world, but not to be like it or of it.

The watchman and the watch women, shepherds and shepherdess are responsible to sound the trumpet warning when danger is seen. People say, “There is no harm in it.” The harm it is when it is making you like Babylon. On that day in which He comes, all such will perish with Babylon. I wonder how the process is going on. Where did these scenes come from that people say, “There is no harm in it, today?” Did they come from heaven? Their origin is in the depths of Babylon. Yet people make for them, want them, have them and keep them. If you cannot see it is unChrist-like, you will be a shame to stand by Him when He comes.

What should be the uppermost thing in the mind of the citizens of Zion? Responsibility is on the parents even if you do not want to take it. We must be inside the line at the end or we will be cut off. It is time the drift stopped. Can’t be a marriage or go anywhere without the Babylonish touch. Zion, the sunny city, I am going to put it first. “I will not hold my peace,” Isaiah said because he wanted Babylon out and Zion city as it should. People run after all these things when they could be teaching the world how to dress and how to bring up their children.

Let us begin, clean the city, cast out what is not of itself. Get back to what Jesus brought, the unlikeness of the world. I will not rest until I see it as sunny as it used to be and that is how Isaiah felt. [For the Son of Heaven to shine on my life I must conform to His will.] If not, there will be darkness, first in our heart, for God will withdraw His presence. Outwardly conforming, but what about conforming to the will of God in living. “I am not among you” confusion in the day of Babylon. A sad day God withdraws His presence. I cannot compel you to do what should be. The love of God in the heart only can do that. Love begets love.

Psalm 103, the promise for forgiveness, cleansing, healing and redemption, but it is qualified by that verse, “His mercy is to them that fear Him and keep His commandments.” In the moment, God sees repentance in your heart and sorrow for your sin then He forgives you. Yes, you may suffer for your sin for a time, just as David did. Our relationship with God is a very delicate thing. This can be easily marred. Begin with ourselves. Some soldiers were told to march over a field and to pick up what was in front of them and never mind the one either side and soon the big field was all clean. The citizens of Zion are different to all the others.

Luke 24:26, those two on the road to Emmaus and Jesus drew near. He said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered this.” There is not one under the tent to day if they want to have the Christ nature but ought not Christ to suffer. When we go to see those upish relations, you feel you ought to have something just a little better to go to them and you feel so small, is that of proud, to be able to witness for Christ. Those who are keeping righteousness going in the world will be pulled to pieces. “I will not rest until the righteousness going forth as a lamp that burneth.” Prepared not alone to suffer for Him but with Him. Very little life left in us if we are not prepared to suffer. Why do we, like children, want to play toys of the world when we good teacher and show to the world how they ought to live and walk and make it worthwhile for them to live for Christ also?

A train accident happened and there was an enquiry; a man was to be there to swing a lantern and was to swing it to warn others of the train coming. He was asked, “Did you have the lantern?” “Yes.” “Did you swing it?” “Yes.” But he had no oil in the lamp. Genesis 1:11, grass, herbs, fruit trees yielding after their kind whose seed is in itself. All bore after its kind and what about the seed of Christ. The Christ life. Sure did not bear after its kind. Colossians 3, “If ye then be risen with Christ.” If I have His life and nature, I will seek after those things.

Psalms 48, beautiful for situation and that is another side of the city. The joy of the whole earth. There is no more beautiful situation than the one God wants us to fit into. Paul and Silas were in a beautiful situation from Heaven’s point of view when they were in there with bleeding backs. We could be like children going to war worse and wanting the toys and I hope we will grow up. Then there are those folks to go to the hard places and saw the beauty. I want that one. Why not labour for treasures of worth? “I will not rest.” Was willing to inconvenience himself. Don’t lose sight of the value of what we have. Paul, a matter of being constrained by love and no law to it. If I compel you, either you or I would get any blessing or eternal reward. Sad if our love was strained.

One of those churches in Revelations 3 were told to get their eyes anointed with eye salve. Need the milk of the word. Let Him show us a course to run and see what is at the end. We will keep busy if we make Zion our home city. Traitors, those who bring into the city what the king and the builders don’t approve of. Let the Lord for lies with ambition to keep Zion above our Chief joy. I do not care for anything, but that Zion will be built up. Let us set to it as individuals and restore Zion to its sunny state. The sun shining on and in it. Righteousness is not produced without inconvenience to the human. Has always been some pressure on according to the generations. Attractions in the past as well as today. There is joy when we are getting something out of it. Our privilege to try to advertise this city everywhere we go. We will not be out of work this year if we do that. True citizens of Zion doing it together. Amen.

“Pillars of defense and no compromise” is what we want to read together about, if you care to turn with me to Philippians 1, and there we read about a pillar of defense and no compromise. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 17 and verse 7. Philippians chapter 1, verse 17, Paul said, “Out the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel,” and then verse 7 of the same chanter, Philippians 1, we have the reading, “Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.” lie said in that verse 7, “because I have you in my heart.” When Paul wrote that, he used a reflective clause that meant both ways. “I have you Philippians in my heart and you Christians have me in your heart. Most wonderful fellowship, shepherd-sheen relationship the world has ever known, no congregation of people are so dearly loved by their shepherds, as nod’s people are loved by God’s shepherds, and there are no shepherds in the world who are so dearly loved by their people, as God’s shepherds are loved by their people, be willing to die for each other rather than betray confidence and trust and faith.

Now Paul said, “I am set for the defense of the gospel.” I suppose, it’s beside our point, but seems the scripture puzzles so many of the Lord’s people right here before and after verse 17, maybe we’ll tarry a minute and explain that, seems like some of the Lord’s people are confused by that where Paul said in verse 18, “What then? Notwithstanding every way whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice”. And they wonder does Paul mean it is alright to preach something else? No. These were men in the true ministry who weren’t in sympathy with Paul’s firm convictions of “no compromise.” He wasn’t talking about, to put it as charitably and graciously as I can, and I think you will get the point, he wasn’t talking about all the “isms” around us in the world today, those “isms” in the name of Christ were not in the world, there was the one church and the one ministry in the name of Christ only, and these men in question were some men who had attached themselves to the New Testament ministry, to be as charitable as I can to the whole situation, I will use the word “attached”, I’m just not sure how far in they were. But, Paul said earlier in verse 14, “Many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” Most of the other workers in the ministry were so much encouraged and inspired not to compromise but to be a pillar of defense when they saw this in Paul. But Paul said to these other men in verse 15, “Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife.” Well, some of them had a spirit of envy and strife toward Paul because he was so firmly set for the defense of the gospel. And he said in verse 16, “The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds.” They were not as sincere as they should have been, compromises were alright with them, but Paul said, “I am set for the defense of the gospel” and the other, most of the rest of the workers, the servants of God, had a spirit of love toward Paul because he said, “They know something,” it’s no secret, they knew it clearly. Paul said, “They know that I am set for the defense of the gospel.” Absolutely no compromises.

Pillars don’t come ready-made in God’s house, Revelations 3:12, the pillars. Pillars don’t come ready-made, pillars are forged in the fiery furnace of experience. I say again, pillars don’t come ready-made, pillars are forged in the fiery furnace of experience. Further, pillars are never part of the problem, or problems, and Paul was a pillar of defense. He said “I’m set”; you might as well try to move him as to move the rock of Gibraltar. I’m set for the defense of the gospel. No compromise; compromise means a partial surrender of purposes and principles. Surrender your purposes a little way and then pretty soon you will be surrendering your principles, Godly principles. And then after dwelling on that plane and getting a seared conscience for a while, then surrender God’s purpose in your heart a little more and then you will be surrendering God’s principles. And then after dwelling on that level and plane and petting a seared conscience there for a while, then you step down another step on the stairs of compromise, and then after dwelling there, surrendering God’s purposes, then surrendering God’s principles for a while. Actually It amounts to this: Compromise is full surrender on the installment plan.

Down–down–down–down–down.

However there is a hope, sometimes people and even the church collectively might compromise temporarily, and God will wake them up and they will remove that compromise. Paul said, “I am set firmly for the defense of the gospel,” absolutely no compromise. And I discovered a couple years ago that Paul had only been in the ministry 20 years or a little over, give or take some at this time, and it shook me like an earthquake, seems like the Lord was trying to get through to me and say, “Wake up.” Now it’s true, there was this one or two or three others that were preaching contention; Paul said, “They have a ministry; what, then? Paul was keeping his spirit right, what then, what am I going to do about this problem? Well, notwithstanding every way whether in pretense or truth Christ is preached, these others were preaching the truth, so I will let them go on and I’ll let God take care of that, and he did I’m sure eventually. But he said “pretense,” their ministry had too much pretense in it. There was too much compromise in their convictions. Paul said, “I’m firmly set for the defense of the gospel.” I’m set.

Now then, God has clearly given us His mind on the subject. God has given us one hundred chapters written by the pen, the inspired pen, of the man who said, “I am set for the defense of the gospel” and He has not given us one verse from those Men who had that other spirit toward Paul, I say God has very clearly given us His mind on the subject so we are in no fault on it. Furthermore while we are in such an area of discussion, take the days of Noah. Man in Genesis 6:12, man had corrupted God’s way, that wasn’t some false way, man had got in with a lot of corruption inside of God’s little family of faith, and rather than to allow the standard of truth and righteousness and purity to be lowered in God’s family of faith in the days of Noah, God reduced the membership clear down to only eight, and I say that’s major surgery. We don’t have to be in any doubt or question; God has clearly given us His mind on the matter.

Paul said, “I am set for the defense of the gospel.” If you were to read history you’d find all the great powerful nations of the world were not destroyed by enemies from the outside, they were destroyed by corruption and laziness and carelessness and lowering of all kinds of standards even naturally on the inside of their nations that caused them to crumble and tumble and fall. Of course I’m only a visitor over in this country, but I suppose, well, I shouldn’t say I suppose, the Bible teaches me, you’ve got the same devil over here, and the same human nature over this way as we’ve got in California.

Oh, folks, you know it’s a thrill to be a pillar of defense when you’ve got something to defend, and I’m sure all of our hearts this afternoon must say a hearty amen to this, that surely we’ve got something to defend. After sitting in these heavenly places and enjoying the abundant lavish ministration from the heart of God and the river that has flowed from the throne of God and the lamb so freely into our hearts, we’ve got something that’s worth defending. Amen?

Now, seeing that we are right so close, shall we just turn back to the front of the bible about four pages to Galatians 5, please. Fifth chapter of the book of Galatians, will you read with me please. In Galatians 5, we will start with verse 15 and read through verse 23. Invite you to listen and follow carefully in the reading, please. Galatians 5:15 “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” Verse 16 especially, “This I say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (17) “For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these things are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye wood. (18) But if ye be led of the spirit, ye are not under the law. (19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, Fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife seditions, heresies, (21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (22) But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness temperance: against such there is no law”.

Now then, if you will please take a marker of some kind and hold it here in this place, we’re coming back and spending most of our meeting right here. We’ll have to take a little detour; in the interest of time finding Galatians real quickly again, just drop a marker in or hold your finger there if you don’t have a marker, please. I would like to turn you to Isaiah 56, now I could quote you this but I’m afraid you would miss it, somehow I happen to think if we read some of these things maybe it will engrave it a little more on our hearts. Isaiah 56, please. When we come to Isaiah 56 it will be verse 9 and 10. Isaiah 56 and reading verse 9: “All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. (10) His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark: sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.” Now let’s just please hold our place here for a while. Two and a half years ago I was agonizing in prayer, in “Wits End Corner”. Now, some of my follow servants will know, all of them, will know what I mean by “Wits End Corner.” Agonizing; desperately trying to get an answer from God; there does our responsibility lie as God’s shepherds, and when I was praying and laboring there, it just seemed to come to me as clear as the noon day sun: Get your Bible and study about the watchman. If you would like to make a good choice filet mignon for your own study, in God’s word, get your concordance and spend a few weeks on the watchman, and go over it, and over it, and over it, and over it, oh, it’s an eye-opener. But I found this verse amongst others. Here was a time when the shepherds in Israel were not doing what they were supposed to do as a watchdog. Now, I don’t mind being called a dog if it’s a watchdog, but these watch dogs, they were sleeping watchdogs and a sleeping watchdog is no good. Now folks, this is not talking about the Catholics and Protestants, we have no right to steer it their way. That’s a warning to me. These were some of those who were supposed to be true shepherds in Israel and I have been speaking a lot on this in the last two and a half years, because it, well, seems to meet a desperate need amongst us, I mean in my own life, my own soul. Of the danger of going either to sleep–now sleep is deep sleep, but he said slumber, that’s just light sleep, half way between being awake and being deep sleep. I’ve been a little slumbery in my ministry sometimes and I’m ashamed of it, and I vowed to God that if He would have mercy and forgive my soul, I would try and keep awake as a watchdog. A watchdog is supposed to be awake and bark in alarm, that’s what he’s there for, that’s what he is to be kept for.

Now then, we are right at this place, please keep your place, in Isaiah 56, something more I want to say there in a moment. (we’ll appreciate this when we understand the times. Now I’m not going to ask you to turn to any other scripture on this. If you will listen carefully please, I want to give you the setting in which this sets. This is during the last 15 years of the reign of King Hezekiah after he got sick in the fourteenth year of his reign and God gave him 15 more years to live, and I’ll tell you how we know. This won’t be too deep, will it? I hope we like to do more than scratch the surface of the Bible like a day-old chick. I hope you like to get the subsoiler in like a farmer once in a while. Here it is, in the first verse in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah said his ministry to Israel was in the days of four Kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the last, but he didn’t say anything in the reign of the next king, Manasseh, so Isaiah and Hezekiah must have died along about the same time, give or take a little. Isaiah must have died around the end of the fifteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, give or take a little. Now then, Hezekiah reigned in Israel 29 years–in the fourteenth reign of Hezekiah was the terrible year of compromise in Israel by Hezekiah. The older I get, the more I see the need for us as God’s servants, especially studying carefully Chronicles and Kings. That’s the year of the terrible compromise in Israel. Would you just like the eight chapters or more in the Old Testament, as near as I can figure out, at least in the days of the Kings, about the one year of the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah than any other year, I’ll just give you the chapters real quickly, about the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, you can jot them down; abbreviate for speed, please. First Kings, IK is enough, chapters 18 through 20, that’s three. Second Chronicles, CHR is enough, chapter 32, some more about it. Then Isaiah, Isa. is enough, chanters 36 through 39, four chapters about the horrible fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, the terrible year of compromise. How did he compromise? Just briefly: After he got sick-before he got sick he did fine, but I don’t know what happened when the man got sick. The son of the King of Babylon way off east there where Iraq and Iran is today to Hezekiah after they heard he had been sick, and sent some presents along to soften him and butter him up. Poor Hezekiah, he was surely gullible. Now the watchmen on the wall around Jerusalem were faithfully doing their job according to the nineteenth chapter, they were doing it well, but when those men came and knocked on the gate of Jerusalem, Hezekiah should have climbed the wall with the rest of those faithful watchmen and said, “You go back home to Babylon, the land, the city of religious confusion where you come from, and stay there,” but he didn’t, he went and opened the gate and let those men in and showed them all the treasures in the Lord’s house, and his house that himself had stored there in generations of the faithful fathers before—and the thin edge of the wedge of false religion was inside. And the dear old prophet Isaiah heard about it and he came to Hezekiah and he said, “Who are those men and where did they come from?” “Oh, they come from Babylon, a far country.” Isaiah said, “What did you show them?” “Everything.” Poor old Isaiah, he must have been a heartbroken, crushed man, a man who believed in no compromise. He said to Hezekiah, “The day will come when your posterity, your great-great-grandchildren will be slaves over there in that country that those men came from in Babylon”. When Isaiah said this to Hezekiah, it didn’t seem to bother Hezekiah, he said, “Good is the word of the Lord, there shall be peace and truth in my days.” He compromised for the sake of peace and truth. Folks, perish the day that any of us will compromise God’s word and God’s principles just to escape a little trouble, a little persecution. Paul didn’t, he said, “I am set for the defense of the gospel,” regardless. Hezekiah just because he was compromised to take the easy way, sold the future generations of God’s people down the river into slavery. They spent 70 years in Babylon–if you want to read some of their sorrows, just read the book of Ezekiel, Daniel and Esther, 70 years down there in the land of captivity. Hezekiah was partly, only partly, but partly responsible for that. Oh, folks, perish the day, dread it would be if you and I would escape fighting the battle to hold the standard of God and the flag flying at the top of the mast, and then sell some of our grandchildren, great-grandchildren, our great-great-great grandchildren, great-great-great grandchildren down the river in something that’s only–not of God at all–just only a substitute, and a fake, just because we compromised, and compromised, and compromised, and compromised. How can we, how could we if we love the Lord? We can’t.

Now then, these verses here are written in this era, this age, this time, and I said that the thirty-ninth chapter brings the story up to the end of the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah. So, the rest of Isaiah from Chapter 40 on through chapter 66, those 27 chapters must have been written during the last 15 years of the reign of Hezekiah. Hezekiah’s influence was encouraging other of God’s servants to compromise, in fact, they were asleep, the beasts were coming in amongst God’s people and the shepherds were so asleep they just let them come.

Can you see why this has shaken my soul to the foundation? I’m speaking of myself only, myself only. They’re sleeping dogs, watchdogs that are supposed to be awake and to warn God’s people–they weren’t saving a thing. We are going to say more about these spiritual beasts in a moment in Galatians 5 that we read about. Out in California, out southeast of Los Angeles some 50, 60, 70 miles, a family of our friends live out in the country amongst the hills in a little valley, and they have a watchdog, and he’s a good watchdog, as long as the coyotes are way off there in the hill yipping away, he can really bark warning–oh, he’ll set ‘er off. But you know, when those coyotes come right down close around the house and start yipping, he’s a yellow coward, he runs off and hides in the back corner of the garage and he’s as silent as a mouse–he doesn’t say a word. You know, I’m just like that dog at heart, I’m just a yellow coward, and that’s why it’s very difficult for me to speak some of the things that sometimes we have to say–I’m not made that way. Sometimes it tears the heart out of my soul to have to say some things we have to say to God’s people, but if it protects, if it will contribute, if God can use us as an humble instrument to contribute to no compromises, contribute to helping people be saved from shipwrecks, we’re willing for any price. Shall you turn over with me to the fifth chapter now of Isaiah before we go back to Galatians 5, please, and read verses 14 and 15; Chapter 5 and verses 14 and 15. It says in verse 14: “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. (15) Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.” Now in this same terrible 15 years of compromise in Israel, truth had fallen in the streets. Now the Lord would like us to learn by way of example and warning that this doesn’t happen again, that this kind of history does not eventually repeat itself in our day and time because of compromise and compromise until truth is clear down in the streets and we’ll be walking on it amongst us as God’s people like walking on the flag. I had a job at school as a janitor the last two years in grammar school and part of my job was to put the flag up every morning and to bring it down at night and they taught us never to let that touch the ground because it stood for a lot of blood. And in the two years I put that up and took it down, I never once let that touch the ground. Spiritually speaking, I hope we will be the same.

Now it says equity couldn’t enter. Do you know what equity means? The word equity is ten times in the Bible. Nine of the ten times, equity means uprightness, but in this tenth and one case, the word equity meant straight-forwardness in the word that Isaiah used. “Straightforwardness cannot enter.” What a dreadful thing it would be if that would ever happen again amongst us, that straightforwardness could not enter in amongst God’s people. And if the day were ever to come, what a tragedy. Now by straightforwardness I don’t mean blunt and uncouth, and roughshod. I don’t mean that. Grace with truth, how for short we come God knows, but we see the goal in the Lord and in Paul. If the time were ever to come–listen–if the time were ever to come that any servant of God, when it would be in order to do so and in season, could not stand up before God’s people and speak anything from God’s word with straightforwardness, the ship of God’s truth is on the way to the bottom of the sea of Babylon and religious confusion, and God forbid. Now I’m not speaking pessimistically. We’re thinking in very optimistic terms this afternoon. Just because the federal government spends $50,000,000,000 every year of your tax money for defense of our nation doesn’t mean that they’re pessimistic; they’re very optimistic, and we’re speaking optimistically of the future this afternoon for this kingdom of God when we speak along these lines and God has given us these precious things to teach and guide us in these matters in God’s kingdom. And that verse 15 was a horrible thing in those days. It said he that departed from truth became a prey. Those who believed in no compromise and departed from compromises were made a P-R-E-Y, like a lamb amongst wolves, what a dreadful thing. It says the Lord saw it, the Lord saw it, and He wasn’t pleased at all. I’d like to learn a lesson from that myself.

Now let’s go on in Galatians 5. If you would just like to flip back quickly to Galatians 5, please. Let’s read about some of these beasts that God doesn’t want. Now the protection is in the sixteenth verse: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Oh, yes, fellowship with the spirit is the antidote, that’s the wonderful protection. That’s the guard against these dreadful things happening. Now the first one on the list in verse 19: “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery and fornication…” Adultery is unfaithfulness to one’s first mate, God’s word teaches clearly. Adultery is unfaithfulness after marriage. God’s word tells us in verse 21 and the last sentence that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I didn’t write the Bible; God inspired it. Let’s be clear on God’s word. We can’t gloss these things over, folks; if we do, we’re going to get in trouble with God. God’s word says what it means and means what it says. You know, we could become like the Sadducees; we’ve been quite concerned about Phariseeism all the days of our lives–hypocrisy. But did you ever notice the doctrine of the Sadducees? Taking part of God’s word and not all of it. The Sadducees were a group that had formed in the Old Testament Israel of God in New Testament days and in Acts 23:8 it tells us the Sadducees didn’t believe in three things that God’s word taught. What they were is beside our present concern. And I have had some serious wondering in recent years and I’m not the only one, some others older than myself: could it be possible that there is a little slice in the pie of God’s people, a little group of Sadducees forming in our midst today? People who would believe a good part of God’s word but something where the shoe fits…”Well, I just don’t want to believe that,” “I don’t want to accept that,” Sadduceeism all over again. But there is space for repentance. And even if it requires major surgery to preserve the body . . . you know, out in Los Angeles we have a dear sister in the faith that, she has had something wrong with a member in that body that has been infected for years, but oh, she dreaded major surgery, she just kept putting it off, other members around that area, that infected body suffered a lot for that for many years. She should have had an operation, the doctor told her, years ago. But finally the other night about three weeks ago at the age of 79 it came to a matter of life and death for the body. Infection was beginning to spread. The doctor said this is it so they operated at 8:00 that night. We went to the hospital, went to see her the next morning; she was in intensive care, oh, that was severe at the age of 79 she was in intensive care for a week but saw her the other day before we left and she was real perky and cheery and looks like things are coming along all right. The body was preserved because major surgery was made. There is space for repentance from any sin. Sins can be forgiven only on the basis of repentance. You know, I’ll have to admit–I hope none of you good folks over here are like this–but out on the coast I have been shocked speechless that some of our dear people, some even professing 40 and 50 years, don’t seem to understand the basic simple ABC first Gospel truths we ever heard: repentance for sin. I’ll just give you two verses on this. Some people ask me, “Well, can’t the Lord forgive any sin?” Well of course. But only on the basis of repentance. The only sins the Lord can forgive anybody from are the sins that Jesus has delivered people from. It’s the sins that Jesus by the Gospel has set people free from that the blood of Jesus can forgive and atone. Now the two verses, quickly. Proverbs 28 and 13 says: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Every sin no matter what it is, whether it’s adultery or another kind, has to be forsaken to be forgiven, be put away and quit doing it. That’s God’s word, folks. And the second verse is the world-wide commission — Gospel command in Luke 24 and 47: “Repentance and remission of sins shall be preached among all nations in my name.” Well, “all nations” includes the USA. Repentance comes before remission of sins. Now we have been giving a Bible study in Los Angeles and Orange County all this fall and winter and spring and summer in homes where there are young people. We have decided, I mean some situations have made us decide-it’s high time to wake up, to guard some of our young people. I wish we had started doing it sooner. I suppose we’ve given a Bible study on this subject at least 50 times and I suppose if I go back next year we’ll have to make it that many more to get around. And we’ve given it not only in the homes where there is young people in the hearing of the parents, but we’ve given it to some older who have said some things that have come to our ears by the grapevine that certainly were not spreading a good influence among God’s people and absolutely not at all and we went and gave them a study on it, because it’s only fair to God and God’s people that they understand clearly what God’s word teaches. You know, people who love God love to love something–love always loves to see that which it loves defended, isn’t that right? You see a mother with her children–She’ll defend them-to the death. You see a husband, a father, he’ll defend that wife and his children, that family to the death. Why, even the animals do that. And you know, it thrills me when I hear what I love being defended. There is a verse in Psalms 5 and 11, the second sentence, right in the middle of Psalms 5 and 11-“They shall shout for joy when thou defendest them”. I was at a convention two years ago this summer where another visiting brother was who is now the elder in Nebraska, he was then too—a brother who always has a basket full of choice loaves, and he was speaking along these lines and I was sitting over there back in about the third or fourth set amongst a lot of our fellow workers and oh, I was so thankful, I was so thankful, I was so thankful, I couldn’t do anything else but I just bowed my head and I’m not ashamed to admit the tears just flowed, the tears of joy and thankfulness, oh, I said thanks be to God for men like that. “They shall shout for joy when thou defendest them.” No Compromise. Remember the Alamo; If there’s any people who should understand no compromise it should be you good Texans. Those 187 men over there at that Alamo went to their death rather than compromise what they believed in, and if unsaved, ungodly men could do that, surely we as God’s people, men and women, boys and girls can do that. Adultery means unfaithfulness after marriage and being untrue to one’s first mate.

Now the next sin is fornication. That’s different. Fornication is immorality before marriage. Listen you teenagers, and you twenty-agers, please: a man and woman are not husband and wife until after those marriage vows are performed, you understand that? I know, you go to school and you work in the office and you hear, you hear, you hear, you hear, you hear, one gets one vein of thought all the time–don’t let it seep into you, let the birds pass right over your hair, don’t let them nest in your heart. A man and woman are not husband and wife until after they’re married–do you have that all clear? Until after those marriage vows have been performed. Do you have that clear? Don’t make shipwreck of your life. Don’t ever think that over the fence out in this world you see the pastures are greener–it’s full of wolves and rattlesnakes–and I’m not talking about four-legged wolves, either. Fornication is immorality before marriage–except it be for fornication he can put her away. If when he married her he found out that she had been untrue to their courtship with somebody else before they were married, the next morning after the marriage he could put her away if he wanted to. That is, if he didn’t love her enough to forget it and go on and make a success of the marriage anyway. But that putting away would have to be done within 24 hours after the marriage vows were said.

If he decided, “Well, this is not what I thought, she’s not a virgin after all.” It doesn’t say “except for the cause of adultery.” Nowhere in the New Testament does it say “except for the cause of adultery.” I don’t find anything in God’s word on this subject that there is any problem about understanding. It’s as clear as the noonday sun. “Except it be for fornication.” If she had been untrue to their courtship or even before that and when they got married he discovered it he could put her away the next morning if he wanted to… or that night for that matter.

The next on the list of these wolves here, these beasts, is uncleanness, in verse 19. Ah, let’s keep our hearts clean and pure. I know a girl in Washington that is now in the ministry, she said when she came home before she went in the ministry, when she came home from the office she would go in and take her shoes off and kneel by the bed and pray a while and get a good bath in her soul after coming from that filthy office.

Lasciviousness is the next, In plain English and short that means about the same as the saying today, “Well, let’s really live ‘er up”.

Verse 16 said “If ye walk in the spirit ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” The antidote, the remedy, the preventative, the pillar, the defender will be. Keep what Willie explained and brought so nicely to us this morning: fellowship in the spirit and that will keep these things away from making shipwreck in our lives.

The next in verse 20 is idolatry. Anything that takes the first place in our hearts that the Lord should have. Now then we’re going to detour again–would you please drop your marker in Galatians 5. I want to dwell on this more than any for a couple of minutes. Back to Deuteronomy 7, please. I could quote this and read it to you but I’m afraid we might just not get it so clearly. Deuteronomy 7 and the last two verses of Deuteronomy 7–in Deuteronomy 7, verses 25 and 26 will be the verses. This idolatry is another beast that is trying to come in and destroy the spiritual life amongst God’s people. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 25, we have the reading. Everybody have it? Chapter 7, and verse 25, the last two verses of the chapter: He said, “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. (26) Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.” Now what is the biggest idol in most every home today? You know what it is. He said an idol is something that is made by the hands of man. He said thou shalt not bring these idols into your home. He said look out for them–burn them with fire. That’s final. Thou shalt not desire the silver and gold on them. Silver and gold is something valuable. You have to give the old enemy credit for being mighty sharp and clever. He got something good in the old idol. Silver and gold were valuable. I can just hear some of the weaker ones who weren’t walking in the spirit and having fellowship in the spirit in the camp of Israel of long ago. “Well Moses, well Joshua, well Aaron, what’s the matter with those things, those idols? There’s silver and gold in it. You can’t say that isn’t valuable. You can’t say I can’t get some good out of this. There’s silver and gold in it.” There might even go so far as to be a clever lawyer to point out “Well there’s silver and gold over here in God’s tabernacle, and you say this idol is wrong”. It was in God’s tabernacle and not in the idol. You know what a snare is? It says the good in this wicked thing would be the snare. You have snared rabbits and squirrels and opossums and birds and such haven’t you? A snare is a cruel, heartless, merciless death sentence. If you ever think you can feed on that thing you’re signing your death warrant, I’ll tell you. And something else while we’re on the subject. You widows and widowers–if you’re living in your own home, that home is yours. That doesn’t belong to your unsaved uncle or aunt or father or mother or your unsaved son or daughter. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me,” and if you’re afraid that when your son or daughter wants to put an idol into your home as a widow or widower, thinking you will be happy, you’re afraid to offend them–who are you most afraid to offend, your children or would you rather have something in your home that would offend Jesus, and be an offense to Him? I don’t suggest that we just go out of our way to offend those who are our loved ones, trying to avoid that as much as we can. But we cannot compromise on idolatry. He said if you bring it into your house you become just like the abominable thing. Well, do abominable people go to heaven? Do abominable people go to heaven? I won’t answer. God’s word: Revelations 21:8, the abominable have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone that burneth forever and ever. Is that clear enough? Now that’s not my word, it’s God’s word, folks. And I’ve said many times, times without number, if I had a home I would want a clean testimony from that rooftop way out on top of the roof clear down through every room in the home clear down into the basement and clear back into every closet in that basement. I hope you’re the same.

Shall we go back to Galatians 5, please, now, and we’ll go on with these other things. Remember the key is to walk in the spirit, ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The next one in verse 20 is witchcraft. That’s the charmer. Look out for a good, charming personality. A charming personality is Godly spirituality. I’m not suggesting that we have to be ill-mannered–that’s not the point. I’m getting to something deeper than that. I know somebody that went wrong once but they had “a very charming personality”. And a few of the Lord’s people were taken in by them, “why, they must be right. How could they be wrong? They’re so nice!” Witchcraft. Walk in the spirit and you won’t be fooled by a charming personality. You’ll be led and be in tune with fellowship in the spirit and spirituality.

The next beast we have to look out for is hatred. Oh, if we dwell in the spirit we’ll have the fruit of love, we’ll love our brethren, we know we’ve passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And there’s a young woman in the faith over there in Los Angeles in her early thirties. She didn’t know the truth until after she married her husband, some of his people are in the faith, and a few years later she came to some gospel meetings and decided and [now] loves the Lord and his truth. It just warms my heart to see this young mother with her smiling little five walking into our gospel meetings. We had luncheon with her one day this year and she said, “You know, the Lord’s people sure are beautiful to me.” She said, “I love to come in and sit down in the meeting, then watch them all come in, and sit down one by one. “Oh,” she said, “the Lord’s people surely are beautiful people to me. In fact,” she said, “even if some of them are a little old and fat and baldheaded, they’re still very beautiful to me.” I knew she was walking in the spirit and having fellowship with the spirit in the secret place and enjoying God’s goodness–no hatred there, loving the brethren.

The next one he said there in verse 20 was variance. Variance is varying a little, you know, getting away from this, saying “It’s all right to vary from God’s word. I know God’s word says this but let’s kind of take a side trip, a little detour around it.” No compromise.

The next one is emulations. That means rivalry. If we dwell in the spirit there’ll be cooperation–not competition, rivalry.

The next beast there is wrath. If we dwell in the spirit we’ll never let any bad temper get away from us. I know a certain son who had a father that had one of the most horrible tempers I have ever known, even to the point of semi-insanity when he would get in a rage. But that son of his, I happen to know him, and he could be the same by right of inheritance and father’s influence, but he by God’s grace has little by little got the victory over that. Instead of a terrible temper there’s patience, longsuffering, and mercy. Where we were last year in the field up in northern California, one day one of our elders wives there out on a farm at Chico, she was doing something in the yard with this big 5 gallon pail, 5 gallon bucket, one of these big round 5 gallon drums with a solid top in it, and she sat it down in the yard and forgot she had set it in the yard out behind the garage. She went to go somewhere and she got in the car and backed out and backed right over the thing and cut a big gashing hole in the gas tank and she pulled up a little bit and got out and walked around and there was the smashed can and the gas all running out. And then along just about that time came her husband. But he’s a good Godly man. You could think of some things he could have said, you know. But all he said was “Well, you just forgot you put it there, did you, dear?” Listen, I’m going to tell you something. I think that wife loved her dear husband just a little bit more. I think her husband grew a few inches taller in her estimation right then and there. Why? I expect he had prayed that morning and was walking in the spirit and having fellowship with the spirit.

The next one on the list after wrath is strife. Oh, folks, if we’re feeding on the faults of others …C. N. one of our good brothers down in the Malay Peninsula who was a shepherd before he went into the ministry, and above all of my fellow servants who I have ever heard who could preach the shepherd’s language it was C. N. — but one thing he said, sometimes they would get an early snow and the sheep would get trapped out there in the highlands of New Zealand and have nothing to eat. And there would be a little bunch of them close together and a big snow around and because of their hunger sometimes those sheep would nibble on the wool of their fellow sheep and [by] nibbling on the wool they would swallow the wool and form a little knot of wool inside and the sheep would die. And C. N. brought out the point that if we ever start feeding on the wool of the faults of our brethren, strife, it will be bad. Let’s dwell in the spirit and walk in the spirit.

He said the next one was sedition. Folks, problems are not settled by riots. Now we as God’s servants are not perfect. By the way, if you would like another good “choice cream” study, study the life of Jehosaphat. He learned that sedition didn’t pay. He compromised terribly but God gave Jehosaphat the privilege of coming back amongst God’s people and removing the damage he had done amongst God’s people by the compromise he made. And in II Chronicles 20:20 toward the end of his story it says he said to the people, “Believe his prophets and ye shall prosper.” Don’t cause any sedition or rising up, a riot against the servants of rod, or the government. Sedition means rising up and trying to overthrow the government. Now we’re not perfect, but I hope by God’s grace that we’re trying to do our best in not compromising. But listen–you know what a riot will do? Trying to handle a problem by the spirit of rioting will do much more damage to the spirit of God amongst God’s people than probably the problem was doing that you were trying to correct by rioting. I’m a strong believer and I try to teach it to God’s people, let’s handle it quietly, if there’s problems, God’s spirit amongst his people will be helped, handle it as quietly, as quietly, as prayerfully, as quietly as we can. Not sedition, riot, trying to overthrow the government in the church.

He said, going on, it’s heresies. That’s getting your own opinion, going by your own sentiments, “This is my sentiment,” “This is my sentiment,” that’s heresies. That’s compromising. It’s the mind of God given in his word.

Envying. . .oh, I hope we don’t envy somebody else that has got a better car, or home, or better suit of clothes than we have. I hope we have grown up. If we’re dwelling in the spirit, we will.

“Murderers, drunkenness, revelings, and such like.” He said of all these things I told you this before, but he said I’m telling you again those which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That’s God’s word, and it’s surely plain.

Sufficient for that, I’d like to speak a little about one or two other things. We’ve felt led, and our elder on the coast has been encouraging us, some of us brothers anyway, to speak more to God’s people about the homelife. Maybe I’ll tuck in just a couple of moments here. There’s some things that have stirred our thinking along this line. You know, homelife is a wonderful thing in God’s family. It should be, it can be, God planned it to be. And I’ve said times without number that if I was married I’d certainly want to read Ephesians 5 and those last verses, and I’ve often said that if a Christian was fortunate enough, a Christian’s wife was fortunate enough to have a husband like you read in Ephesians 5, it surely ought to draw the best out of her to try and be the kind of wife that’s described in Ephesians 5–isn’t that right? Will you say amen to that? And if a Christian husband was fortunate enough to have the kind of wife that’s described in Ephesians 5, certainly he ought to do his level best to try and be the kind of a husband that’s described in Ephesians 5. Wouldn’t you think so?

Another thing I’ve often passed on in this, in visiting and speaking: Never let appreciation degenerate down to expectation. Be appreciative; be thankful. What your husband is to you, be thankful and let him know it. What your wife is to you, be thankful and let her know it. Never allow what should be always received from your wife on the basis of thankfulness and appreciation to go way down to the level of expectation and say, “Oh, well, she’s my wife, I’ve got it coming.” Never. And you wives. . . what your husband is to you, what he does for you, appreciate it, be thankful, don’t let your marriage grow stale. Let him know that you’re thankful and appreciate it and love him for it. Don’t ever let it sink way down to the level of expectation and say, “Oh, well, he’s my husband, I’ve got a right to expect it.” Never. There was a marriage that went on the rocks a few years ago. One of our older brothers called in to try and arbitrate and help, it didn’t help, but that man admitted in 17 years of marriage he never once thanked his wife for putting a meal on the table. I was so shocked I was speechless. I don’t know where parents are, not educating their children about some of the simple ABC practical basics of life, and one of them is thankfulness and appreciation [in the] homelife.

And another thing, your children, Oh, you know this, don’t you? I tell folks your children are your goldmine. Your children are not a byproduct of your marriage. Your children are the main product and concern in the natural sense of your marriage, and the spiritual, too, in one sense of the word. Oh, put the best Godly example before them, give them a fair chance. Give them a fair chance. You’re trying to do it, aren’t you? And we’d like to be as God’s servants right behind you and helping you as much as we can, backing you up in your efforts. And I’ve often told people, “Keep your marriage sweet.” Well how do you keep things sweet? Keep adding a little honey real often. Is that a simple enough recipe? Another thing I wanted to sneak about, no compromise; remember what Lloyd told us so helpfully yesterday about the home before I pass on: Abraham standing at his tent door and guarding that tent door. He was assuming a man’s responsibility and I was saying amen, amen, and amen again.

Sufficient for that, I want to mention something else and that’s about marriages. I mean the performing of marriages. Oh, it thrills my soul when I see a young couple (or older either) getting married and everything about that marriage ceremony is very simple. I attended a marriage of one of my relatives in California three years ago. I was invited, and when I came in and sat down on the back seat of that little gathering in the home, if I hadn’t already known who the bride and groom were I’d have never been able to pick the bride and groom out in that crowd by their attire. You know, the spirit of Christ–this is not my old proud human nature speaking now, my human nature is just as proud as yours, maybe worse, this is the holy spirit speaking in me.

The holy spirit that day oh, was so glad to see the simplicity in that wedding. And when that young man at the due [and] proper time in the marriage slipped a ring on the finger of the woman who was now becoming his wife, I noticed it was just a simple, modest band, no fancy sparklers on it. And again–this is not my proud human nature talking, it’s worse than yours–this is the holy spirit in me speaking. The holy spirit that day in me, oh, it was made so glad that those young people had enough respect for the honor of God’s name in this world, even that way to honor the Christ who said, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” I saw even in that thing that they were manifesting what was in their hearts in something that was real modest–just a modest band, B-A-N-D, as the token there, according to the custom, that they were married. That sure warmed my heart.

Another thing we want to speak about, of no compromise, and that’s in this ministry. Oh, my soul was thrilled when our brother was mentioning the verse in John 12:24 about the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying. Folks, oh, I hope none of us, oh, I pray, that we’ll never compromise on this dying ministry. We see some desperate subtle efforts made sometimes to bring in some other kind of a ministry and compromise on this ministry of self-denial and sacrifice, of dying, every dab of humanism buried and sealed down in the cold coffin of self-denial, down in the bottom basement of our hearts. Remember it’ll always take a dying ministry to produce a living church. It’s the age-old military tactics–get the crack troops first and then we can mop up the rest of the army. Oh, I hope all of us as God’s servants will never, never, never, never under any circumstances, never, never, never, under God and under Christ the realm of consecration who shed his blood for the consecration of us in the ministry, will never, never, never, never compromise this sacred, holy, precious ministry that God has so dearly given us through Christ.

Well, I wanted to speak a word of encouragement to you young people. You know, one of our visiting brothers and myself here have been mentioning how thrilling it is to see all these fine Godly young people here. Now we’re not flattering you, You don’t want that and we don’t want it. But you know, we’re inclined to feel that a little word of encouragement and appreciation would be very fitting and in order at times. That when you’re trying your level best to do what’s right, God appreciates it and we as God’s servants appreciate it. And we want to stand behind you and we want to stand with you all we can and give you all the boosts in your trials and temptations. Don’t ever think that the pasture over the fence is greener; it’s full of deadly poison rattlesnakes and wolves. It’s full of grief, and sorrow, and headache and heartache and tragedy and wrecked lives and shipwrecked lives and homes. If you think you’re missing something, there’s something outside of the fence of God’s people that you’re missing, if you think you’re missing something, you’re 100% right, you very certainly are missing something and you can thank your God from the depth of your heart, my dear young friend, that you are missing it. And I think you know what I mean. You’ve seen enough probably yourself that you’re thanking God that you have the shelter of God’s people. Keep up the good work. Young people can make a wrong choice in a moment of carelessness that would ruin all their future. Old people can make a wrong choice in a moment of carelessness that would ruin all their past. Young people can make right choices from day to day and have a wonderful, happy life all their days. I think maybe I’ll just tell Gus’s story–I see he’s not speaking here. You’ve probably heard it before but it’ll do you good to hear it again and some of you may not have heard it, his story about the smart mouse. You probably remember him telling you maybe at Special Meetings or convention about the smart mouse. Well, there’s a story about a smart mouse and it’s got a mighty good lesson in it. This mouse, one day he saw a baited trap with a nice piece of cheese on it. “Aaaah, look there, look there. I know what that’s set for, that’s set just to catch me. But I’m a smart mouse: that’ll never catch me. My, say, that sure is a dandy looking piece of cheese on there. But I know what that’s set for, it’s set just to catch me. But I’m a smart mouse, it’ll never catch me. But really…ah, my, that’s good smelling cheese. Well, that trap can’t catch me if I walk over and smell a little while. I can just sit there and smell of all that good, sweet cheese, it’s so nice, and a good brand.” So he walks over a little closer. “My, that’s nice cheese. But I’m a smart mouse, it’ll never catch me. But, you know, oh, that smells so good! It won’t hurt to walk a little closer.” So he walks over right close. “Oh, that’s so wonderful. You know–I know what that’s set for, that’s set to catch me, ah yes, it is, but I’m a smart mouse. Never catch me. But oh, that’s such good cheese, oh, that’s such good cheese. You know, I think I could kind of sneak around and take a quick bite off of that–it’ll never catch me.” And he walks over real close and ……famous last words. Are you catching the lesson? Are you catching the lesson? Oh, we’ve seen some of our dearly beloved young folks lured in, lured in, lured into something that seemed so sweet and loving, and their lives were shipwrecked forever. When you see a trap set for you and it’s got some bait, you turn right around in the spirit and walk in the spirit and have fellowship with the spirit and be faithful every morning in hearing the Lord’s voice awakening you morning by morning and you keep faithful so that when you see that trap and it looks kind of nice and sweet-like, you just turn around and walk the other way right quick and don’t allow yourself to be lured in to anything like that, and make ship-wreck of your life. Over in France two years ago a young circus man working in a circus, he had a real pal, he had a lioness that was a real friend of his. And one day he was showing all the folks there what a nice pet this lion was. He’d reach through the bars of the cage and pet the lion and she was purring away like a little housecat and licking him with her tongue, oh just so lovey-dovey, so sweet, nice, and oh, just real palsy-walsy. She was just such a good friend of his. So he decided to step into the cage and show to all those people how nice and harmless that lioness was, or lion, whatever it was. So he opened the bar, the gate, and he stepped into that lion’s cage, and that lion pounced on that man and tore his body all to shreds before anybody could get in and rescue him. Now listen. When some lion starts purring around you–you listening, girls–and I tell you this is a serious matter. I didn’t intend it to have any mirthful flavor. If you had gone through with me some of the hell I’ve gone through in what I’m talking about, you’d see the seriousness behind my words. If you would have sat with me sometimes when I’ve seen fathers and mothers just about to lose their minds, insane over grief, and when I’ve sat with a young girl and she’s told me “I wish that I was dead and could not live,” and I had to talk her out of committing suicide because she had made shipwreck of her life–do you understand why we’re using such emphasis on these rings this afternoon of being pillars of defense whether we’re old or young, and no compromise? Now you haven’t been compromising, have you? Keep up the good work. We just wanted to give you a good boost this afternoon. Keep up the good work. You know, you young folks, we hope some of you will be workers some day. Pray a lot about it, won’t you? Maybe you’ll be settling down and having a home. Do what William told us so helpfully–pray about that before you do it. And don’t run into it, don’t rush into it; go slow, go careful, don’t jump into anything, be cautious, go easy. And if your father and mother give you some directions and guidance in your courtship, thank them for it. I’ve been telling young folks in this study we’ve given this winter, that you young people should expect your father and mother to give you some advice and some restrictions on your courtship; tell you when to get home, and you get home at that time, and tell you where to go, and you go there, and if they tell you not to go somewhere, you don’t go. It’ll save you from a lot of trouble. Remember, your father and mother, boys and girls listen to me, remember, that dear father and mother of yours love you more than anybody else in this world. That father and mother who love you more than anybody else in this world want to see you make good. That’s the main thing of their lives, that’s what they’re giving their lives for is you, they want you to make wood. They want to do all they can to help you to make good and to do good and go along and take right steps and have success in your life. Listen to them, won’t you? Remember, compromise is a partial surrender of purposes and principles. It is eventually full surrender on the installment plan. Let’s not do that individually; neither by God’s grace may help us never to do that collectively in the church.

The Lord has laid it upon my heart to speak to you a little about your home life. In this family of God, home life and church life are very closely linked together. You might wonder what an old bachelor knows about home life. You say, you don’t have any home. That’s not right, because we do. We have a lot more homes than you have, thanks to your kindness and grace. We have proved that the Lord’s promises are true. We left one home, forsook that to go forth with the Gospel, and God promised us a hundred-fold, and thanks be to God and thanks be to His people, that promise has been abundantly fulfilled.

There were times in my earlier days, when out preaching, (and I don’t regret them), when we slept beneath the stars, or on the floor of the school room. It was easier then. Our one big concern then was to reach souls. There have been other burdens that have been added since then, which doesn’t help us to sleep. I am glad that my love for God’s people has increased; glad that my desire for the extension and up-building of His people is something that means a great deal to me. We have learned some things along the way that might help us to give you a little Godly advice.

I appreciated very much what our older sister shared with us the other day in this connection. We are so grateful that, with grey hairs, sometimes comes increasing wisdom and righteousness. Some people can grow old and it doesn’t mean much to God; but we are glad as we grow older in God’s way we can become a little more gracious, a little more Christ-like. We can possess more of the fruits of the Spirit, which are forever the same. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. We, who have journeyed with the Lord for many years, deeply appreciate these things. The greatest desire of my heart is that, as I have come to you, I might have come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. That the fruits of the spirit might be in my life; that there might be left in your midst the sweet savour of Christ. We couldn’t have a loftier ambition.

In talking to you about your home life, I am not speaking critically. We know that you people have problems. We don’t have them all. An old man spoke to me in a joking way and said; “Even a married man with a wife and children has problems!” We have learned that you have problems. Yes, we have shared your hospitality. We love you. How could we do anything but love your boys and girls, your young people, too? And it matters to us, as it does to you, what happens to those boys and girls. And, if by any means we can be of help to you with your problems, we would like to do just that. I don’t speak critically, but out of a heart of abundant sympathy. If I was sure I had all the answers it would be easier to speak to you, but I don’t. There is One who does have all the answers, and that is God. He is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Col. 3:20 – “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” There is a promise connected with this, Eph6:1-4 – “If we do not fulfill the conditions, we do not get the promise. Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.” There is a right way to take hold of a situation. If we miss the right appeal, we might provoke our children to stubbornness.

There may be some who think they have all the answers. I don’t, but as I said, God knows. There are some problems to which there is no answer. Not even God has an answer. Eli’s sons were vile. God held him responsible for that. We also read about Samuel’s sons who went astray. God didn’t blame Samuel. There was a difference. I know it grieved Samuel when he saw their inclinations shaping the wrong way. I know he prayed for them. If there had only been a solution. There is no answer when young people take the bit into their teeth and go directly against what God would have them do. God couldn’t keep Samuel’s sons from doing that. I know it grieves the hearts of parents when this happens. Parents aren’t always to blame. I could tell you of homes where things have happened that grieved. In one home the parents were Godly parents. Five boys and one girl were born into that home. Four boys, the daughter and the parents are faithful, and I mean faithful. One boy chose to be a rebel. You say it was lack of consideration, lack of care, lack of training. The parents put more into that boy because early in life they saw that boy’s inclination to waywardness. It was not lack of prayer, because they prayed for him more than any of the others. Sometimes I have the answer, sometimes not; but my heart goes out to parents who see their children go astray. We have shared your kindness, your hospitality, your loving care, but we are also glad we can share your sorrows, too. And, when sorrow comes, we would like to be close enough to you to be of help. I hope that this assurance won’t ever be forgotten.

I could tell you of different homes where this has happened. I know that broken-hearted parents, troubled parents, distressed parents; are praying, hoping against hope that something will bring that wayward one back. A prodigal is one that is brought back. A sinner doesn’t know the way and goes astray. A prodigal is always blessed because he knows the truth and, when he comes to the end of himself, he knows the way home. If that is true, you say, why mingle your tears with the tears of the parents? Because we are vitally concerned with all that happens. They are your children, but they are ours too. If the prodigal knows the way home, why be concerned? It is because of this: all prodigals don’t come home. We are glad some do. It’s difficult at best to come home. The way is long, the struggle is hard. It’s easy to drift out into the ungodly world; but it is not possible to drift back. Remember that, when you are tempted. Be willing to be guided by your parents’ judgment. Remember that your parents love you; that they are interested in your souls and they want to do you good, to help you. I would encourage with all my heart; “Children, obey your parents.”

I read in the Scriptures where parents failed; where the people failed, where priests failed the people; I read where God’s servants sometimes let people down; where fathers failed their children and children failed their parents. But that never happens until we fail God. Keep close to Him and the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified, Acts 20:32. In [Ps106], we read of parents who failed their children. They went astray themselves and learned the ways of the heathen round about them. As we heard, they sowed the wind and the children reaped the whirlwind. Fathers and mothers, it is an important thing that you keep close to God. Don’t fail your children. Don’t fail God, and He won’t fail you, and if you are in close touch with God, you won’t fail your children, you can be sure of that. Souls are at stake. [Deut21:18] we read of children who failed their parents. Not willing to abide in the advice their parents gave. A death penalty was attached to that. It is a matter of life and death, whether the children do or do not obey their parents in the Lord.

Going back to the home circle. Eph. 5:22-25, Paul mentions a vital thing: “Husbands, love your wives. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands.” This is vital. Does it make any difference whether there is friction, or whether there is fellowship? I have been in homes where there is friction, and in other homes where there is fellowship. It makes a difference to the children. My parents got along pretty well. My mother was fiery. I remember what it did to me. It hurt me. When things went smoothly, oh how different it was! I suppose little differences will come, but, husbands, if you have any arguments with your wife; or you, dear women, have any criticism, don’t do it until in the privacy of a quiet room. Don’t do it in the presence of your children. It hurts.

Two or 3 months ago I was in Southern Colorado. I visited an elderly couple. That home has always been a wonderful home, because love ruled that home. In the hour and a half I was there, I think that man told me 3 times how much he loved his wife. She was sitting there listening. That was like medicine to me. He said; “When I first found her in Missouri, when I claimed her, I thought I loved her as much as one human being could love another. But now I love her far more, and for many reasons more.” They have raised 2 lovely girls. One spent a few years in the work; her health failed. She was cut down, gone now. These bonds in Adam and in Christ were true. “Husbands, love your wives.” He wasn’t ashamed to tell you in her presence that he loved her. I hope that you tell your wife that you love her. Surely you do. It wouldn’t hurt on other occasions to tell her in other ways. Give her a bouquet of red roses .. not a scrub brush. Or give her something else that would remind her that your love hasn’t died.

Love in the home. Paul was talking about something that is vital. Something that enables children to grow up in the atmosphere of Godly homes. This is Godly advice, left on record for our admonition. Keep it alive; and if it just takes a little token, a little expression of gratitude, if you just tell her that you love her, it might pay dividends. She might even make you an apple pie sometime! And you, wives, it won’t hurt if you let your husbands know that you still appreciate them. In Deut. 6 are some verses that have to do with home life. I say I don’t know the answers, but God does.

He has told us some things that will help, and if your children go astray, I hope that it won’t be because of our lack. Latter part of Ch. 5 God calls His servant aside and said to Him; “You send the children aside to their tents. But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee.” There can’t be a Godly home without a healthy relationship with God’s servants. First of all God calls His servant aside and prepares him to bring blessing unto God’s people. What did he tell him? He was to keep the commandment of the Lord. This was his business. Do it himself first. God was never responsible for sending a “word only” gospel to anyone. He sent men and women that were doing it themselves first. Proving that they had it in an abundant measure in their own lives. This is important. He told him that he was to keep the commandments of the Lord. There wasn’t anything to be left out. Don’t turn to the right hand or to the left. The only means by which God’s servants can be true to God and His people is to obey all the commandments of the Lord. Keeping in the middle of the road. Jesus was a middle of the road preacher. The truth of God will keep you in the middle of the road and keep your feet there. There are many ways whereby we can go astray; where we can turn to the right or to the left. There are rightists and leftists in government today. Then we have a few who try to keep in the middle of the road. God wants to see His people a sensible, God-fearing, plodding people, keeping in the middle of the road so that they can be a blessing to others.

There were those who would modernize God’s way, broaden it. They were good, sincere people. You remember when David was preparing to bring the ark back amongst God’s people I Chron. 13. It tells us that he called a multitude and gathered together the captains of hundreds and captains of thousands and talked this over. They decided it would be nice to make a new cart and hitch a yoke of oxen and bring it back this way. Now their intentions were good, but do you know what was wrong with that gathering? They talked things over together, but not with God. You can’t change God’s way and truth. If it has changed, it is no longer God’s way or truth. I don’t care if it is to the left hand or to the right hand. Remember what God’s servant said; “I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2Cor.11:3 There was a safe way. It looked primitive, but if they had taken God’s way, there wouldn’t have been the stumbling of the oxen; it wouldn’t have caused Uzza to reach forth his hand. That ark represented what God’s presence will ever mean to His people. Keep human hands off of it! Human fingerprints have never added any luster! It is not up to us to change God’s way to suit ourselves, to modernize it or change it in any way. God smote Uzzah dead.

Those men were seemingly well-intentioned, but ill-advised, and negligent in that they didn’t seek God’s guidance. Again, I say, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Keep close to God. Be guided in these things, my friend, and you won’t, go astray. Then there is the “rightist.” In the New Testament we read of men who thought they were far more right than Jesus was. You know who they were: the Pharisees. They were good-intentioned, but they had added to God’s way, added to God’s regulations. Called them the traditions of the elders.

Listen, God says, “Don’t turn to the right hand or to the left.” All we have in Christ is complete perfection. Do we believe in man-made rules today? We do not. We believe in what we have in God’s word and that is sufficient. The Pharisees had wanted things done. Felt they had to make a rule to govern that situation. Another problem arose and they needed another rule to control that. But the trouble was they cherished those rules until they felt that they were better than Jesus. The law was the schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, but when it was changed; its effect was lost. We are no more at liberty today to add rules than they were. Suppose you saw me doing things which were just not the very best, and you say we will have to make a rule for that. No longer do I go here or there, because you have told me it is wrong. Have you helped me? No, you have done exactly what the Pharisees did, made clean only the outside of the cup. What has it done for me? Made me better on the outside, but what have I done about the inside? The “want to” is still there. God’s way is to work in us a willingness to do His good pleasure. Phil.2:13… Adding to! Or, it could be narrowing down the way, as the Pharisees did. Of whom Paul said, “To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” They didn’t tolerate that kind of thing. That is the kind of people who have plagued God’s people down through the ages. I am glad for the few souls who ignored those traditions and were looking for God’s truth, when He sent the Redeemer.

May God help us to be faithful in using the simple instructions He has given us in Christ. It is not too difficult for any of God’s children to know what God wants you to do. If we follow on to know and do God’s will, it is by that we will prove it is God’s will.

One reason I’m pleading with you young folks today to obey your parents in the Lord, is because you don’t know how privileged you are. You don’t know about the awful distress that can settle down upon a young heart. I wanted to be right with God as a boy, but I didn’t know how. I wanted to find God, but I didn’t know where to look. I knew that. I was in a desperate condition, and I will never forget it.

One of the first things I learned was that God answers prayer. I had been brought up in the confusion and darkness of denominationalism. All I wanted was what God had been to His people in Bible days. I was told, “That won’t work now.” That left me with a feeling of desperation. I prayed to God, and when I was 19 yrs. old, I came in contact with God’s true servants. I will never forget that. They told us about Jesus’ way. They told us how they went out to preach in Jesus’ way. How they left all to go out in Jesus’ way. It begat faith in my heart that, if God could do that much for them, He could do something for me, and when the invitation was given, no matter what it might mean or cost, I wanted it. The first time the invitation was given, I made my choice. No one else did that night. I’ve since been glad of this because I know I wasn’t influenced by anyone else. With the hope in my heart that what God had done for them He would do for me, I set out of that school house with the consciousness of peace and rest. It was not long before our preacher came. My mother was a good, sincere woman in her denomination, and my father a good, sincere man in another denomination. We went to both churches. Perhaps that was what made me question. It was not long before the preacher came to our home and mother told him how glad she was that I had gotten saved. He told her how sorry he was that I had gotten tangled up with that religion! No name, no salary, no college. She told my father, and father felt the same as she did. I didn’t know anything about the Bible. I only knew one verse, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength.” I had been sprinkled as a child and told that by that act I was made a child of God and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven. But, even in my younger years, I knew I wasn’t able to live up to what I wanted to. I felt I had gotten nothing from church or Sunday school.

Then that verse came to me, and the question, “Do you love God?” I had to be honest with God. No, I can’t love God, I don’t know how to love God; I don’t know a thing about it. When life comes, then love comes. Jesus said He came that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Love comes with that new life. This love is just as important in the church as it is in the home, and even more so. You have human love in the home. It is divine love amongst God’s children that links them together in the church. Keep these things alive. It is worthwhile.

Do your best to be a peacemaker and do your best to keep these things alive. That makes life worth living, and death worth dying. My mother could out talk me, and one day when I didn’t have anything to say except I knew what God had done in my heart, I went upstairs and did what Howard has told us is good. I knelt before my bed, opened my Bible, and my eyes rested upon those verses, “I am come not to send peace, but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three,” etc., but in our home it was five against one. I have never forgotten that revelation. I have often thanked God for that since. That is the way God puts these things in our hearts.

Deut. 6:4. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” It is nice to know there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. The oneness of God’s way. Our choice is for the right or wrong; between darkness and light; between death and life. May God help us to make right choices all along the way. Then God goes on to tell them, “Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.” This is where it starts. No person can be right with God without this experience in the heart. Then it spreads into their lives. He speaks about it being seen upon their foreheads. Being bound between their eyes. Upon their hands. Our thinking is being changed by the Word of God, and our lives are then influenced. Then he says you will write them upon the posts of your doors. First in the hearts, then your minds, then affecting all of your lives. Then the outward evidence. The outside evidence of God’s inward control is always the same, producing the fruits of the Spirit which will always be love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The noblest ambition any child of God can have. First in the heart life, then the outward life, then the home life and then on the outside, as far as your control goes. That is as far as your control goes, but that is not as far as your influence goes. When the husband goes off to his work, when the girls and boys go off to the school, they are well aware of the fact that the atmosphere is not the same as at home. It might be there is foul language, it might be there is tobacco smoke, those who labour for a living must put up with that. Then when eventide comes and they come home again, as soon as they pass in through the gates and pass through the portals of that home on which the Word of God is written, there is a feeling of great peace. They have come into the sanctuary where God’s presence abides and they are at rest always. Your control goes so far, but your influence goes further.

It doesn’t hurt to give your testimony in an ungodly atmosphere. There is a man in Denver who loves the Lord. He tried to talk to the engineers when he was a fireman. They cursed him out. He gave it up. He said he wouldn’t try to talk to them any more. One day the telephone rang. A voice on the other end saying to his wife, “This is McDonald. I am Frank’s engineer. I want to talk to him about God.” He came over. He said; “I want to talk about my soul; I want to get right with God. The only person I have confidence in is you.” Frank took him to meetings and about the 3rd meeting he made his choice. He gave up his cursing and tobacco. He lived for 3 years to prove his choice was genuine. Frank has the joy of knowing that his influence was Godly.

How should you teach your children? When you rise up, when you sit down. There first must be a Godly atmosphere. Children growing up in an atmosphere like that are not likely to miss it. These things are meaningful to us. Our desire is to see your children grow up and press on. So we share your joys, your sorrows and we would like to be of help wherever we can. Don’t preach to them. I don’t say it is wrong to read a chapter to your children. When they are little tots at your knees, you can tell them about the Saviour. The same story that has always been told. In the Old Testament days it was a message of types and shadows, but now you can tell them of Christ and His beauty and Saving graces.

These little things you can teach them. You can tell them about the infant Christ. How He was born of a virgin. How He came from Heaven’s glory to this earth, how He took upon Himself the form of a man because it behooved Him to be made in all things like unto His brethren. That He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. His brethren are those who have made their choice and consecrated themselves unto His service. He has been over the road. He knows what it means to be oppressed; to suffer; to be in pain. When they put the crown of thorns upon His head, did it hurt? He knew what it was to be hungry. He was weary. He is not asking you and me to face anything that He, Himself, did not face. He was tempted in all points like as we, and yet without sin. He had to be without sin to be the spotless Lamb of God. The unblameable Lamb of God had to be this in order to go to Calvary. Maybe you will talk at the table about this pair of workers and what that pair of workers are doing. “Those that feared the Lord spake often one to the other.” They would have been talking about the place where God found them. The desert land, a waste, a howling wilderness. Talking of what He had brought them into. The fellowship of God’s people. Talking about good things. Not spending their time in idle gossip. These conversations were conversations that God was listening in on.

Malachi 3:16. If your life is wielding an influence like that as you go on from day to day, my good friend, you will not be living in vain. First in your home life, then out in the cold world, you will be a blessing. And, if we can help you in any way to do this, we want to do it.

There are a few things that have been in my heart for some time and I’d like to speak about them this afternoon. I have been reading and thinking about some things in Paul’s Epistles to Timothy. I Timothy 6:6 has fastened itself on my mind. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” These are the words of an old ser­vant of God, who was soon to leave this earthly scene. This was something he had learned through experience and these words were written to meet a need among God’s people then and now.

It was an evil world in which Paul lived and labored and these evil influences were having their effect upon some of God’s people; but it was no worse then than it is now. Its influences have never been conducive to spirituality. We should never forget that this world in which we live is the world that crucified Christ. It hasn’t grown better with the passing of the years but rather worse. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” etc. II Timothy 3:13.

Paul mentions some things that were happening among God’s people. Satan is luring God’s people away from the right path. Satan is just as busy now as he was then, trying to destroy God’s children. That is why Paul speaks of “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” 1Tim4:1. In [1Tim5:15], we read that some had already turned aside after Satan. He tells us also that some had come to the place where they supposed that gain was Godliness. Some, because of the love of money, had turned aside and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. The servant of God could not see such things happening without being distressed in his soul. Again I want to remind you that the influence of this world will destroy the Christ in you, if you do not guard against it.

Some things I see among us distress me deeply and I’m concerned for the welfare of all God’s people both young and old. I don’t know how much longer God will permit me to be among you, but while I’m here, I want to admonish and encourage you to follow after righteousness as God’s servants did so long ago. We need to recognize that there is no substitute for a definite choice and true purpose to walk with Jesus. The tendency of human nature has always been to try to be on both sides of the fence at the same time, “believing” in the Lord but living to please ourselves. God’s people have always found it easy to go astray this way. This, I believe, was what constituted Baal worship in Old Testament days.

Salvation comes as a result of men accepting Jesus, the only Saviour as our Lord and Master, and gladly submitting to His control. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Baal means, lord, master, possessor, owner. His worshippers professed to believe in God as their Saviour but walked and worshiped as they pleased, refusing to recognize the Lord’s control in their lives. This is what false religions teach in the world today. This is the wide gate and the broad way. It is easy for people to believe this and go that way. God’s people are not beyond being tempted to believe this is all right.

Paul encouraged God’s people to cling to the teachings of Jesus: “wholesome words,” “life-giving words.” Today we encourage you to do the same. Among the things that Jesus taught us is that “we cannot serve God and mammon.” We cannot serve the Lord and live to please ourselves. We cannot live to please the world and have God’s approval.

I feel sure that all of God’s children want God’s blessing. I’m glad that blessing is within our reach, but there is a price to pay. May God help us to be willing to pay that price. Jesus said in life there was one thing needful, learning how to please God and doing it. These are wholesome words. Mary chose that better part. May God help us to choose this, too. If we really want God’s blessing we can have it, but we must plan our lives so that God can bless us. We shouldn’t find this price too great to pay. Those who in bygone days had God’s blessing let God plan their lives. This is the privilege of God’s children today.

We are glad to tell those of you who are young, that there are two wonderful possi­bilities before you. The greatest and best is to put your life on God’s altar where it can be used wholly in the service of others. Let God make you a fisher of men, a minister of Christ’s Gospel. Not all are called to do this, but I’m sure if our young people were all letting God plan their lives there would not be such a dearth of laborers in the great Harvest Field. The need was never greater. God is still calling. Don’t turn a deaf ear to that call.

Second to this is the possibility of being a saint and possibly having a home that could be used in the service of God. Some of you say you want a home. Nothing wrong in this if God has not called you to fill the first and best place. Be sure of this my dear young friends, for unwise choices and selfish planning can bring a lot of regret and sorrow later on. If you are planning to have a home, of course, you are planning a Godly home. You are letting God plan your life and your home also, and God doesn’t ever plan that your home should be a divided HOME. God planned the first home. It was not a divided home and God’s children are admonished to marry “only in the Lord.” I Corinthians 7:39. So if you want a Godly home, you’ll want a Godly partner, and the best way to attract a Godly partner is to be a Godly person.

When God created Adam, He created a man. Gave him manly qualities. When he created Eve, He created a woman. Gave her womanly qualities. Those qualities were given so that Adam and Eve would find it easy to respect and love each other. God intended that those qualities should always be retained. In [Deuteronomy 22:5], we are told that a woman should not wear men’s clothing; neither should a man wear women’s clothing. God wanted men to be manly and women to be feminine and womanly. An effeminate man and a masculine woman are an abomination in God’s sight. It was so then and it is still so.

We are living in an age where women ape men in their manners, in their hair-cuts, in their clothing, in their habits, etc. Have they gained anything by so doing, I say NO. They have lost the respect men naturally have for women. By their conduct they are contributing heavily to the un­happy conditions existing in the world today. In I Timothy 2:9, Paul tells us about the feminine qualities that God expects to see in the life of a woman professing Godliness and Peter also (I Peter 3:1-7) tells us the same thing, using Sara, the wife of Abraham as an example of Godly living. So you think Sara missed anything worthwhile by being a Godly woman? I say NO. She married the best man in the world and together they walked where led and served God. Their lives were made rich with God’s blessing.

Now that you have found a Godly partner and you have a home, there are a lot of other things to be considered. Many things are seen in worldly homes that can have no place in a Godly home. I have been distressed lately to learn that some of God’s children are bringing TVs into their homes. This is sad because it will not help you to be more spiritual. (A TV advertisement – “Buy TV and bring the world into your home.”) Is that the kind of atmosphere you want there? When we as God’s servants visit your homes, we endeavor always to bring with us an influence that will help create a Godly home, Godly atmosphere there. We know that the TV counteracts our efforts and if you insist on having that in your home, we can only conclude that you do not want our influence there.

We have too little time at best to read and meditate and pray. Certainly we are losing out if we devote time to the trash that comes over TV. Don’t make it more difficult for God to bless you. Let God shape your course in life. Let Him plan your ways and let Him guide you in your home life. We need His control in all we say and do. I hope you will accept this kindly advice from an old man who loves you and is concerned for your soul. This advice is kindly given. I hope it will be received in the same spirit.

I have been asked, “Should young people who profess to serve God, go to dances and movies?” If you do not know the right answer to this question, you do not know much. You come to meetings and mingle your voices with others of God’s children as they sing the songs of Zion. Maybe you sing, “I’m satisfied in Jesus now, My restless soul is calm and still, My weary heart has found its home, My joy it is to do His will.” But your words are not true, because you go out from there to indulge in all kinds of worldliness. This all adds up to the worst kind of hypocrisy. The fact that your heart is reaching out after worldly pleasures is proof that you are not satisfied in Jesus. The reason why you don’t find satisfaction in Him is because your affections are divided. You are not putting Him first. You are trying to serve God and mammon and you are not getting any­thing from the Lord. Why should such a person even think of taking part in meetings when he had no testimony to give?

I am pleading with you in the name of Christ today. I’m asking you to purpose that from now on you will truly and sincerely walk with Christ. Stand out bravely and boldly as one who is on the Lord’s side and you are not ashamed to bear His name. I am here today to plead with you in Jesus’ name that you will keep an open ear to the voice of God, that you will treasure in your hearts the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus. As you put these words into practice, you’ll prove that you are a Godly person and gladly satisfied to be such. May God help us, young and old, to do this. We pass this way but once. We cannot afford to miss God’s best.

The past few months I have been reading through Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, and I and II Chronicles. These records tell us of men and women who professed to be in God’s Kingdom. Not all of them were kingdom-minded. Many were seeking their own and building up their own interests. All that any man needed to do to establish himself for time and eternity was to do what was right in the sight of the Lord. This is all we need to do today. A few honestly tried to do this and God was not too exacting. He was gracious and merciful in overlooking and forgiving the faults of any who were honestly trying to do His will. He is the same today. But many of the judges and kings took their own way to get place and to secure themselves in their wrongness. Abimelech slew seventy of his brethren. Saul used a javelin to try to slay David. Others did other things equally wicked and it’s an awful picture of human nature at work. It frightens me. Sometimes their schemes seemed to work for a little while, but as we read the records now, we know that those who did evil did not get away with anything. All they had when they died was the terrible record of their misdeeds forever attached to their names.

These are serious things and with all my heart, I plead with you as one who loves you, sincerely loves you. I plead with you to deny yourself and do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. I would gladly do anything in my power to help you to be right and to do right, so that you might be an honor to God’s name. I do not know how many more times I may have the privilege of speaking to you. This is in God’s hands.

But I will say that I’m a hundred times more sure of the rightness of what I’m telling you now, than I was 55 years ago when I started in this work. Do not be influenced by worldly people. Listen to the counsel of God. Walk humbly with Him and all will work out well. Your life will be useful and fruitful and your heritage will be sure for time and for all eternity.

Psalm 42:5. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me? David wasn’t experiencing deep rest of God. He could hardly understand his own heart. We find help by talking to another. It’s good to have a good talk with ourself sometimes. Why am I disquieted within me? There is a reason for this. Saul must have been disquieted when he thought of faithful David, when he thought of Samuel and Nathan who were faithful ministers, of the new heart he received in the beginning. He had all the help available but he went right through life and failed. He never experienced the resting place of submission to God. He shed tears but didn’t change. He uttered the saddest words in the Bible” “God had departed from me and heareth me no more.” He found no place of repentance, no oasis.

In Psalm 40 David found himself in a pit but he had a different spirit and attitude than Saul. He wanted repentance, reconciliation. In Psalm 51 he found reconciliation through repentance, a resting place in his soul. When we submit to fears we don’t find a resting place. The fear of man. There is no oasis where there is fear. Faith overcomes fear.

Jonah : There is no oasis when we say “I can’t”. Often when I said “I can’t I meant “I won’t”. Here is a sermon in three words “can’t is won’t”. He wasn’t facing up to his responsibility. We don’t read of others being handy to encourage him. He made this decision between Him and God, chose the easy way. By running away he lost the resting place. Chapter 2 God prepared a fish. God does not make it easy for people to go back, does not let them go easily. Israel’s Red Sea experience. He opened the way and made the waters return. It was impossible for them to go back, but it was possible for them to go forward. It’s good to exercise faith and find a resting place for our soul. Jonah brought affliction upon himself and cried unto God. In the fish he would feel his absolute weakness, he couldn’t save himself. God’s word to Paul: “My grace is sufficient, My strength is made strong in weakness.” We like to feel strong. There was a change of spirit in Jonah, he was willing to sacrifice to God. He experienced peace in his soul. God made the impossible possible. When Israel went forth by faith, they had a memorial behind them to glorify God. Jonah, after this experience found a resting place in the Word of God.

Jacob as an old man. Gen. 42 “My son shall not go down to Egypt.” Joseph was a bread-winner through affliction. We can understand how Jacob felt. In verse 10 “Had we not lingered, surely we would have returned the second time.” Often in our experience, we do not want to change. Had we been willing to change we would not have had that experience, famine, it gets worse. I don’t know if Jacob asked: “Why art thou disquieted within me” but there was no peace nor rest in his spirit until a change of spirit came. Verse 11 There was no more the spirit of “my son shall not go” but he was willing that his will be broken, there was a mellowing in his spirit. God wills a mellowing in my spirit. This is something God’s love can do for us before we grow old. It’s easy to exercise our own strong will and remain unchanged. Jacob, not only he, but others were afflicted by famine because of his decision to stay – till he finally realized that there was only one way out that he might live and not die. Saul was not willing but David was willing that he might live and not die. There was great mellowing in Jacob and think of all he enjoyed in Egypt because of that. There was bread and to spare. All along the way we make decisions that will determine whether we’ll have a resting place. Others will have blessing because of decisions we make.

In 1 Samuel we read of Hannah and Elkanah going to Jerusalem to worship and sacrifice. Peninah, her adversary, also went up to worship and sacrifice. Worship always precedes sacrifice. Shiloh means “a place of rest” but it wasn’t a place of rest to neither Hannah nor Peninah. There was no change in Peninah thought they went up there every year. There was no change in Hannah. We may ask “but was there need for change in Hannah?” There was blessing because of change. She didn’t whisper about her affliction. A whisperer separateth friends. Some have itching ears and a wagging tongue always goes with it. Hannah’s loyalty in not being a whisperer. I don’t believe in camps within a camp. Had Hannah been a whisperer she would have done this. It’s good to know when to be a terminus. It’s a noble thing to take our affliction before the Lord. Hannah, in bitterness of spirit prayed to the Lord. A change was taking place. She was having a deeper experience with God, only her lips moved. She was misunderstood by Eli but her prayer was so real, her countenance changed, she was no more sad, she was entering into a deeper experience of sacrifice. I wonder how she felt those first few years going to Shiloh – she wanted justice – that is our natural feelings. But justice could never have done for Hannah what affliction did. Tears don’t always cause us to change. Saul shed tears but it didn’t change him. Change brings tears. Prayer changes circumstances when prayer changes me. Hannah found a resting place, God honouring her prayer by keeping her vows. It led to a song of praise. The oasis found by the altar, a fresh sacrifice. These things may be more for me than for you. God gives us a chance to change in difficult experiences. Instead of a self-willed spirit, a broken spirit, deeper sacrifice. The famine will go, there will be a song where there is sacrifice.

I am sure there is no one gladder than I am to be back here in San Diego convention. My brother Jack Carroll and I and a younger worker came to San Diego for the first time in the beginning of 1922, and I have been here off and on since that time. It is a good many years since I was here for convention, though I was here for special meetings about a year and a half ago.

When we think of all the goodness of God and what He has been to us as His servants, and what He is willing to be unto us as His people today, our hearts are comforted as we come together here. I believe that is the Lord’s purpose.

I have thought much lately of God’s providence, and how He has worked in all our lives. I know as I look back upon my own life, I can see how in my earliest childhood God dealt with my young heart. I am glad I was brought up in a home where our parents taught us to have a reverence for God and the things of God. I believe that is why at an early age I longed to know God.

My mother had taught us a little prayer that most children are taught—“This night when I lie down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Then we would remember our father and mother, and our brothers and sisters. That used to put a fear in my young heart, lest I should die before I would wake.

When I was eight years old my sister, May Carroll, and I happened to be away from home for one summer. A man came around giving out tracts, giving me a card that had a prayer on it. Then I added that prayer to the one I already knew. A little later, when I was eleven or twelve years old, I added the Lord’s Prayer. I am glad that little by little my heart grew softer toward God and the things of God.

When I was thirteen, our loved father was called from time into eternity. As any of you who have had the same loss know, that meant very deep sorrow for us. I had one sister younger than myself and there were four in the family who were older. I believe God at that time caused us to realize as never before the reality of life, the reality of death, and the reality of eternity. Though I was only thirteen, I had some very serious thoughts about these things and I longed to know God.

The day of the funeral, a Roman Catholic neighbour took me on her lap and tried to comfort me. She said, “You will meet your father in heaven.” I did not answer her, because I felt I did not know God, but I longed to know Him. Nine months later we heard of some Gospel meetings being held in the little town of Nenagh, in the County of Tipperary. My brother, Jack was in business there, and we wondered why he was writing home as he did. My sister, May, was there, too. Many of you know both of them.

May, a girl of seventeen came home for two weeks’ vacation. While she was at home, we were at the dinner table one day and she said to my older brother, “When I go back to Nenagh, all of the young people will have turned good.” My brother said, “Well, there is one thing sure; I am going to hell!” She turned and said, “Well, you will have company.” I heard her tell afterwards how condemned she was after saying that, for she was not only going to a lost eternity herself, but bringing him with her.

She had attended the meetings for two weeks before she left for her vacation. When she went back on the last night of the mission, one of the worker’s sang, “Life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf, like the binding of a sheaf;” and she made her choice that night. As we read in the Scripture, the rest of us as a family would hear the same message of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, as was spoken to them and it was something we had never heard before.

My brother had tried to do his best. When he left home at fourteen to serve his time in business for four years, he had promised my father that he would go to church. My father was very anxious that his boys would do right. He would not allow playing cards in the home lest his boys would turn to gambling.

Jack was having his vacation and one of the workers came with him to our home, because he was taking him to Scotland for his vacation. When he came to our home we saw he was different from any preacher we had ever met. We were accustomed to the Episcopalian preacher visiting us once or twice a year, but that was all. When the meetings began, the little hall was crowded with people night after night, and the way of salvation was explained to us as we had never heard it before. It was spoken of as a life within. We were told that we needed to be born of the Spirit of God. I don’t know how it happened, but I had never heard before that that was necessary.

One night the meeting was tested. I was sitting beside a school companion and my sister, and we were asked if we were willing, no matter what it meant or cost, to yield to the claims of God, and allow Christ to come in and dwell within our lives and be our Lord and Master and Saviour. I stood to my feet and purposed in my heart that I would be willing no matter what it would mean or cost.

In that neighborhood at that time, it seemed there were more young people in their late teens and early twenties than there had been for a long time. There were whole families who made their choice to serve God. The meetings only lasted for three weeks, but fourteen workers went out from that mission. Some have gone on to their reward. A very few did not continue, but the majority continued in the great harvest field and are today in different parts of the world.

Not many who professed at that time are left, but the work goes on, and it is going on even unto the ends of the earth. Some time after we had professed of course, we were tried and tested, but what joy and gladness we had when we came together to have our meetings. I remember on a Wednesday night we came together in a little hall. It had a concrete floor and it was very cold, but we paid no attention to that. We knelt on that concrete floor for an hour sometimes. It was not repetitions we prayed. Our hearts were so overflowing with joy and love for God that it was a real foundation to us as we got older and faced other experiences.

Three months after I professed I went to a boarding school where there were fifty girls. I am glad for the experience of even leaving home and being with strangers. I was tested, but I am glad that I was able to even stand on my feet when I had no meetings, when I did not have the help of others.

When I returned home for vacations I remember how my older brother and I used to pray together. He was a great help to me. I felt I needed to learn more of the Scriptures. As I think back, I am glad for that today.

I got about six or seven of the girls at school to decide. My first converts never amounted to very much, but it was good for me to make known my purpose even to those young people. I have asked some young people if they didn’t give their testimony in High School. They said they didn’t. I was ashamed to think that they had not spoken to others there, because often there are those who want to hear and know. We cannot see what is in the hearts of other people. We are responsible for giving a reason for the hope that is within us, with meekness and fear.

After I left that school we went to live in the City of Dublin. I was tested a little more there. We had two business places and we were kept busy. We didn’t think anything of working from seven in the morning until seven at night. As time went on, there were quite a few young people who professed in that city, and in the evenings we would go out riding on the country roads on our bicycles. I did that for some time, and then I found I wasn’t giving time to reading and praying and I began to feel guilty about it.

I went to spend one weekend with my married brother and his wife. They used to read and pray together, and one morning my brother said to me, “You pray.” We knelt and knelt, and I could not pray. I knew I had not been giving God His time in my life. I felt that time we knelt was nearly an hour, but it wasn’t too long. Neither of them prayed, and we got up from our knees. My brother put his arms on my shoulders and looked into my face, but he said nothing. Then I vowed in my heart I would give more time to these things. I believe that was a milestone in my life.

A short time after that, we were coming from a meeting one night and an older worker said to me, “Have you ever thought of going into the work?” I said, “Yes, I had.”

He said, “There will be an opening for you, perhaps at the beginning of the year.” I said, “Well, Jack is thinking of going too. If both of us leave, what would my mother do? She, being a widow, who would take care of her?”

He said, “Oh, Jack will be able to go, too.”

At Christmas time Jack and I went to the City of Belfast to Special Meetings. Those meetings were tested to see how many would go in the work, and several said they would. We were amongst them. Tom Lyness was another. Sam Jones, who wrote so many of our hymns, was another. The weeks went by, and things worked out so that Jack and I left about the same time. I left February 11, 1904, and Jack left February 14.

I was with two sister workers in the County of Armagh. One of them has gone home to heaven. The other is still living, and even in her old age is seeking to do the little part she can do, and that is Dora Holland. Then I went to say good-bye to my brother Jack, who was having a mission. We got there on a pouring wet Sunday night, but the place was packed with people. The meetings were held in a loft over a stable, and there were only planks up to it. The people sat on benches without backs, but they were anxious to hear.

Then I went with the first companion I had ever been with to England. My sister, May, was in Suffolk, England. We started meetings in different places. We started first of all in a Methodist Church building, and in two weeks’ time the preacher came and ended it. Then we went to the country, and I am glad we met some seeking souls there. There was six in one family who made their choice, as well as another young man.

The very week they professed, we were tested sore. We had nothing to eat. We went out one afternoon to visit, though we weren’t able for it. We were weak, but it didn’t bother us because our hearts were filled with love and gratitude to the Lord for giving us the hearts of some hungry souls. My companion was only in the work a year and a half at that time, and I had only been in it a short time.

I went to the Post Office and received there a letter from Willie Gill. He was the first from the mission we had professed in to go into the Lord’s harvest field, and in the letter he had sent us help. I went back to my companion and told her, and then I went down to the store and got some tea and other things. That was very little in comparison with getting personally acquainted with some in that family who then ministered to our needs.

Then in 1905 many workers, over sixty of them, left for overseas. I would like to see over sixty leaving California and even going overseas for the Gospel’s sake because of what it has meant in this country, in Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and other places. When we think of the goodness of God in giving us this wonderful privilege of going even to the ends of the earth with the everlasting Gospel, we realize we have everything on our side.

When we went, we went in weakness and fear and much trembling. I heard about a young man whose mother and other relatives tried to get him to give up this way and the work. He said to his mother, “To see one man or woman whose life God is able to change is worth a life time.” I hope that mother does not forget the words of that boy, her only child. She did not understand very much. As I said to him once, “You can pray for your mother and have hope that even yet she may turn to the One Who alone can satisfy her heart.”

I told him about our brother, Eddie Cornock. The day he left to go into the work it was snowing. His mother came to the bedroom where he was packing his few things in his suitcase. She said, “Eddie, I would rather see this snow falling on your grave than see you doing what you are doing.” Inside of two years she also submitted to the claims of God upon her life, and he had the joy of having fellowship with her for many years; and he was with her at her death-bed. We have to face these things.

My mother was living when I left for New Zealand in 1905. The night I left I went upstairs and my mother came up after me. She took me in her arms and wept. Then she took out her handkerchief and said, “I must not make it too hard for you.” Afterwards as I thought of those words, they wrung my heart.

It was me she was thinking of, not her self. She came to the boat to see me off as I left at 9 o’clock that night. Willie Gill was the only worker there, and he came from Scotland.

I stood there alone on the boat, and we crossed to England in four and a half hours. Then I met the other workers who were going with me. We arrived in London the next morning and got on the ship, and we sailed that afternoon. When I saw that big old gangplank being taken down something happened. I had kept up while I was in my home for the sake of my mother and sisters, but when the gangplank came down I went around the other side of the ship to be by myself.

There were eight workers going to South Africa at this time. One of the older ones, Mary Moody, came around to comfort me. I wanted to be alone, but I appreciated her kindness to me. It was three weeks’ journey from London to Cape Town, and eight workers got off there. When I was in Australia recently I was happy to meet a worker from Africa. She was Irish – from County Cork. She went to that part at 62 years of age, and told us about learning the language. In a year’s time, she was able to speak it at convention. She said she had shed many bitter tears over learning that language.

You should not forget those who are struggling to learn another language, because it is hard, nerve-wracking work. It means a great deal and I sympathize with you who are doing it. We did not have to do this, because we were going to a British Colony, but going to a land where you do not understand a word the people are saying takes courage.

People who have come here from Europe have grit and courage. They are the backbone of this land today, and this generation should learn much from them. They should not be so pampered and even selfish, thinking of themselves and themselves only and not considering others, especially those who are out in God’s great harvest field.

I do not tell you these things to discourage anyone from going forth into the harvest field. It is the greatest privilege any person can have. Eternity alone will reveal what it can mean. We have the everlasting Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which has been the same from the beginning. It has worked wonders in the lives of men and women in every age, because God did His work in them, and it was to will and to do His own good pleasure.

Before Dan Hilton left here the other day, he said, “Fannie, if you speak in the convention, speak about the harvest field.” Dan is not the only one who has had this laid on his heart. The need is greater as time goes on, because this world is a world of confusion in every sense. It is a world of darkness, and we need those who are living in their homes to be up and doing.

I can never understand a person living at home and never writing to workers. I am glad when I get letters from men and their wives who have spent Sunday afternoon writing to me and others. I am comforted and it makes me feel happy because there are those who have the interests of the kingdom at heart, and are not merely living for the seen and temporal things instead of for the unseen and eternal.

I am not able to be as active as I once was because of a heart condition, but I have made up my mind that I will impress those who have free lives to give first their life and live right in their homes to be approved of their brethren. A person who has a good job should go forth in God’s harvest field, those who have proved in their homes what they are and what is inside them, and that they are whole-hearted in their service at home and in the little church where they meet. They are as burning and shining lights; they don’t put a damper on the meeting.

I have been at meetings where certain ones get up and give a big sermon, and you feel there is nothing back of it. I hate to feel like that, but you can’t help it sometimes. If a person is moved by God, it helps all, and they are comforted and encouraged to give their best and their all, and that fellowship is all it should be.

“Fellowship in the Gospel” means you never lose sight of those in the harvest field. Paul commended the saints at Philippi for that. He said he thanked God upon every remembrance of them, for their fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now. They never forgot him and he never forgot them.

In the last chapter he commends them because he says, “Ye sent once and again unto my necessity.” He says, “Not because I desire a gift; but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.” That is the way God’s people can help in this great work of the kingdom.

I am sorry to say I have asked people where certain workers were and they did not know. They had received the workers’ lists, and yet they did not know where they were labouring. Let us not only be interested in those in our own state, but the world over where God’s servants are labouring. There are many poor souls who need our prayers, and though you don’t know them in the flesh, you can pray for them, that they may not only begin but continue and finish in the race.

I trust our coming together at this convention may mean everlasting blessing in all of our lives. May it be so for His Name’s sake.

[This document is also in circulation with the year 1964]

Dan Hilton – Who Started This Church? – Burlington, WA, January 1, 1984

We are often asked who started this church? Heb.12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” Jesus gave us God’s eternal plan of salvation in it’s fullness. He is both the author and finisher. Jesus being the finisher there is no more room for anyone else to add anything.

        Then, we are sometimes asked, “Why don’t you speak of older ministers of the faith of Jesus in past generations?” God’s answer to this question is found in 2 Cor. 4:5, “for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.” So, it is not the will of God for us to be preaching about ministers of past generations. We preach Christ.

        Also we are sometimes asked about the period between the first and second coming of Christ but especially the period of time between the first century and the present twentieth century. We have no written records on earth of God’s work in the world during this period. God’s records are written in heaven. Malachi 3:16. Luke 10:20. Revelation 20:12. Any who would suggest that a written genealogy record is necessary between the first and twentieth century would fall into the category of 1 Timothy 1:3,4. “As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith, so do.”

        We shall consider three illustrations. First, Gen. 1:12..wheat seed. Wheat has always been wheat. If you were a wheat farmer, and I was a wheat seed merchant, and you came to me to obtain a truckload of wheat seed, it would not be necessary for me to put into your hand a historical brochure with a written record of when and where that wheat has been grown in past years in several states, and countries of Europe and the Near East and back to the garden of Eden for that wheat seed to grow wheat. Every wheat seed a is a living historical brochure of wheat clear back to Gen. 1:12. And so the spiritual lesson is: Jesus said in Luke 8:11, “The seed is the word of God.” The word of God has always been the same seed. Whether anyone believes and receives the seed of the word of God makes no difference in this respect for God’s truth. God’s truth is God’s truth if no body believes and receives it or a few do, or many do. As with wheat seed, there could have been times in the centuries of time there may have been no wheat seed planted but it was still wheat seed. And if farmers took wheat out of the granary and planted it again there would be wheat growing and harvested again in the world. So it may have been there were times in centuries past if there was no one in the earth believing and receiving the seed of the word of God for a time and then God was able to raise up true ministers like Jesus established to sow the seed of the word of God then there would be the godly harvest in the world again. It is just that simple and certain.

        Second: A pattern… You make a suit of clothes by the pattern and follow the pattern closely then the suit will be like the pattern. If you make ten suits or a hundred suits or a thousand suits and follow the pattern closely, then they will all be like the pattern and like each other. And so it is in the spiritual. Jesus is our pattern. Rom. 8:29. “Be conformed to the image of Jesus.” The word image here comes from a word that meant “pattern”. So anyone in any century going back to Jesus, the pattern, and following the pattern closely, will have the ministry and salvation and church like Jesus. However if anyone was to make a suit of clothes by the pattern and then put the pattern away in the drawer and then use suit number one as some of the pattern for suit number two; and then suit number two as some of the pattern for suit number three; and then suit number three as some of the pattern for suit number four; and continue to use this method in making nineteen suits of clothes, the last one would not even resemble the pattern nor the first suit of clothes that had been made by the first pattern. And there is the answer for all the confusion in the world today that is so different than Jesus, the original pattern, and the first century ministry and church that was made by the first pattern. If nineteen suits of clothes were made by this last method how could suit number twenty be made like suit number one? Answer: Set all the other suits aside and go back and get the original pattern out of the draw and then make suit number twenty by the first pattern[ and then suit number twenty will be like the first pattern, and the first suit made by the first pattern. Also, spiritually: In this twentieth century if we go back to Jesus, the first pattern, and His ministry and faith and spirit and love and teaching and example and everything; then we will have all there is in Jesus and Him who is the first pattern. And also we will have in the ministry and church, everything the same as the first century church that was made by Jesus the first pattern. I hope that there were people who did this in the centuries between the first century and the twentieth century but we have no records and we do not know. God knows. Whether they did or did not does not make a bit of difference to our salvation. The pattern in Jesus was always there waiting for the sincere and honest to go back to.

        Thirdly, in the Old Testament there were two ministries. First the Levite and the priesthood of Aaron ministry, and secondly the prophet ministry. (Jeremiah and Ezekiel were both priests and prophets). There was an unbroken chain of ministry from Aaron to Christ; but there were missing links in the prophet ministry during this same period of time from Moses and Aaron to Christ. Transferring that as an object lesson over to the period of time between Christ and now, there was an unbroken continuance of the priesthood ministry of Christ in heaven from the first century to the twentieth century. Heb. 7:25, “He ever liveth to make intercession to God .” However we have no written record on earth concerning the New Testament ministry that was established by Christ during the period between the first century and the twentieth century. Whether there were or may not have been broken periods. And if so, when? God knows and that is sufficient. Matt. 16:16-18. If people receive true revelation from the Father, that is the rock foundation of salvation of Christ, and not having any need of an apostolic succession of recorded history. Sufficient for that.

        The main thing that we wish to give fresh consideration to this morning is, better learning to pray as Jesus prayed and as He taught us to pray. Hebrews 10:19. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” It is the blood of Jesus that makes it possible to offer true prayers to our Father.

        All forms of life have some kind of substance with it. For example, human life has the substance of flesh and blood and bone with it. Animal life has the substance of flesh and bone and blood. Tree life has the substance with it of wood and bark and the cambium layer. Plant life has the substance with it of fiber and fluid. So divine life has the substance of the Spirit of a loving child, the Spirit of a loving citizen, the Holy Spirit of a loving servant, the Holy Spirit of bread, or the bread of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of loving forgiveness and the Holy Spirit of a loving soldier.

        Luke 11:1-13. These are some of the most important verses in the Bible. Verse 1, “… he was praying..” (How? Answer: Heb. 5:7,8). Verse 13, “… how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.” All Jesus taught in verses 2-13 is about how to pray for the Holy Spirit. This is the morning prayer, verse 3, “give us day by day.” (Matt. 6:11 “give us this day.”) If we learn to pray as Jesus taught in the morning, we will have much to give thanks to our Father for in the evening. Verse 2 – “Our Father which art in heaven.” This will keep us close to heaven as each morning our hearts touch the heart of our loving heavenly Father. Coming to the place of prayer in the attitude of a loving child to a loving Father. Parable: It is said by authorities that in the city Medellín, Columbia, South America there are about 100,000 orphans roaming the streets with no one to love or feed or cloth or care for them. If they get any food it is by begging. Most have no clothing. A few fortunate ones have rags. I want to say to you children that you have so much to be thankful for. You have parents wholove you and provide love and shelter and food and clothing and everything. I know a family who had three of their own children, and in due time they adopted five of these orphans from Medellín, Columbia, South America. The children just loved to touch the parents. The mother told me that the children would follow their father when he was home and were constantly touching him. It was a deep joy to have the security and comfort of a loving Father to touch. We have a loving Father in heaven to whom we can come in prayer and have the deep joy of the security and

comfort touching His heart in the Holy Spirit. Coming each morning in the attitude of a loving child. Praying for more of the Holy Spirit of a loving child becomes a virtuous circle. The more joy we have the more we will want to do this. Also there is the bonus of a positive-negative reward. We are delivered from the vicious circle of pride and independence.

        “Our Father” – harmony. All in God’s kingdom around the world praying “Our Father” in the Holy Spirit, producing harmony with our Father and with one another. Then the Father’s name is hallowed. Parable: In Washington, D.C. there is one master tuning fork which is hermetically sealed so it is not affected by moisture or temperature. This is in the U. S. Bureau of Weights and Measures. There are seven regional tuning forks in the U. S. all tuned by the master tuning fork. This master tuning fork is also used to tune all other tuning forks around the world. You could take your piano to New Zealand to the home of any of the friends and play a duet and it would be in harmony. It is good we can all have our heart strings re-tuned each morning with “our Father” and thus be in tune with each other. “Thy kingdom come” – the exact meaning in the other writing the New Testament was written in was “Let thy kingdom continue coming” denoting the continuance of an action that was already in progress. Coming to the place of prayer each morning with the attitude of a loving citizen praying for more of the Holy Spirit of a loving citizen. The joy of Jesus, by faith, sitting on the throne of our hearts to govern 365 days a year. It is a privilege to have Jesus the King of Kings sitting on the throne of our hearts. Kingdom means ‘king rule’ – dom means rule. Dom is where our word ‘domain’ comes from which means complete and absolute ownership. As a natural king would value a warm soft throne on which to sit and govern, so Jesus our King loves a heart throne that is soft and warm in its attitude toward Him. Parable: One could picture themselves sitting in a chair under the end of a slowly moving endless belt, and valuables deposited in ones lap, one after the other. As we come to the place of prayer each morning, in the attitude of a loving citizen praying for more of the Holy Spirit of a loving citizen, the kingdom treasures keep coming and coming and coming. This brings a joy that becomes a virtuous circle which also has a bonus that is a positive-negative bonus of deliverance from the vicious circle of self rule. When Christ sits on the hearts’ throne of His blood purchased people ( 1 Cor. 6:20) He gives to them a spiritual eyesight to see things as He sees them. Parable: In San Fernando, California, several years ago a mother and her daughter were standing on a street corner waiting to cross the busy street. Hearing a tapping sound she turned to see a handsome young man stepping confidently and briskly, carrying a white cane and wearing a service discharge emblem on his lapel. Knowing how sensitive some people are to their handicap she said, “Traffic is very heavy today son. May we walk across with you?” “Sure,” he replied, “you see I lived in this neighborhood all my life except when I was in the service. That is when I lost my sight.” Traffic slackened and they walked across and on down the sidewalk together. He said, “Next week I am going to visit a friend of mine in another state who is going to be executed.” Trying not to sound too shocked she said, “A friend of yours?” “Yes,” he said, “you see, though we have never met yet he is going to give me his eyes.” When Christ was executed He left us His spiritual eyes to see things as He sees them in all the will of God.

        “Thy will be done in earth as in Heaven.” Coming each morning with an attitude of a loving servant praying for more of the Holy Spirit of a loving servant. “Thy will” suggests a question. Where do we find the will of our Father? John 6:38, “I came down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” God has left a detour open where we can go around all this jungle of confusion in the world today; and there, at the feet of the original true Christ, learn of the will of the Father. Christ is God’s heaven-sent answering service on earth to give us all the answers concerning the Father’s will for us. There is a place for everyone in God’s family to serve. “Thy will be done as in heaven so in earth.” Suggesting we can have a heaven on earth experience, every day of the week, as Jesus did. Loving to serve brings more joy which causes us to want to serve more, bringing more joy; and it becomes a virtuous circle. There is also a positive-negative blessing of being delivered from the vicious circle of selfishness. No matter what the size or amount of the serving, it is pleasing and acceptable to God. When Dellas Linaman was home for his last visit, he told an excellent illustration. He was at a home of some of the friends in the church in Oregon, and he was going elsewhere to visit. There were a few cars in the yard, one being a Mercedes Benz; and he asked for the use of one of the common cars. The folks of the home insisted that Dellas use it. But he declined. But they continued to insist he take their Mercedes Benz, so he did. When he arrived at the next home, the folks of the home saw the Mercedes Benz and they said, “Well!!!” Dellas said, “Yes, nothing but the best.” Dellas continued to tell of an experience in the home of one the saints in the mountains in Taiwan. There had been a drought that year and the sweet potatoes were small; and the man of the home was picking through the sweet potatoes in the pot to find a few of them that were a little bigger to give Dallas and his companion. Dellas said, “They were both giving of their best in the spirit of loving to serve; and so their service of sacrifice was equal.” [The best sweet potatoes and the best car… no diference.]

        11:3 – “Give us day by day our daily bread.” Coming to the place of prayer with the attitude of a loving beggar, pleading for the bread of the Holy Spirit. Verses 5-10 are about the bread of the Holy Spirit. Verse 5-8 is the parable of the embarrassment of unprepared hospitality. Verse 8. There are two “because” – the first pointing out that we don’t get the bread of the Holy Spirit just on the basis of friendship only. Showing we may be a 100% friends with God, with Christ, with the servants of God and with the people of God which is all very good. However the second “because” was about “importunity” which means urgent pleading. Urgently pleading for the bread of the Holy Spirit. In context verse nine means he (or she) that begs for the bread of the Holy Spirit will receive the bread of the Holy Spirit. He that seeketh for the bread of the Holy Spirit with urgency shall receive the bread of the Holy Spirit. He that knocketh with urgency to get into the spiritual bakery where the bread of the Holy Spirit is baked will be given the bread of the Holy Spirit. Our words and deeds can be like the bread plate on which to serve the bread of the Holy Spirit. Matt. 23:26, the plate washed clean on the inside and outside both, will make a clean plate on which to serve the bread of the Holy Spirit. Coming to the place of prayer with the attitude of a beggar who loves the bread of the Holy Spirit, urgently pleading for the bread of the Holy Spirit. This becomes a virtuous circle because it brings more joy which causes us to want to pray more and more urgently for the bread of the Holy Spirit. Also, there is a positive-negative bonus blessing of deliverance from the vicious circle of bread-less words. Blessed are the breadwinners for they are very valuable. “Give us this day our daily bread” – the business and professional people usually dismiss their customer or client with “have a good day”. If we learn to pray for the bread of the Holy Spirit as Jesus taught we will always have a good day in every experience.

        Verse 4. “And forgive us our sins: for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” Coming to the place of prayer in the attitude of a forgiven debtor, praying for more of the Holy Spirit of forgiveness. In the first special meeting-convention in the New Testament in Matt. 6:5-15, Christ picked out the one about forgiveness — after he said, ‘Amen’ — and enlarged on it. Verses 14,15. “For if ye forgive men (or women) their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men (or women) their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Forgiveness is not where there is an absence of a trespass but where there is a trespass. On rare occasion some have said, “Yes, I would be glad to forgive a certain person if they just had not said or done that one thing.” In other words, if there was nothing to forgive them for, then I could forgive them. According to these words of Jesus, such a kind of unforgiving person is unsaved; they have cast aside their salvation. Parable: An insurance policy has a premium that must be kept paid for the insurance policy to be valid and in force. The precious blood of Jesus is the insurance policy to cover all our repented sins that we have put a knife into and been definite and decisive; but the premium must be kept paid continually by forgiving others. When young, I worked felling Redwood trees and sawing them into logs. One night the mill burned down. The owner was short of money a few days before when the insurance premium came due. He was waiting two weeks till he received some money from lumber sales to pay the insurance premium on his sawmill; and it was during this time the mill burned down and he lost all his life’s investment. Spiritually the blood of Christ is an insurance policy to cover all our repented sins, but I would not want to allow any un-forgiving spirit entering in for a moment and unexpectedly drop dead with a heart attack or a stroke or an accident and be caught unawares without my premium of forgiveness paid up in full. And after over a half century in the kingdom of Christ, the Lord would have to let me depart into the place where it is recorded five times in Jesus’ teaching “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, and two times “Wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Coming to the place of prayer with an attitude of a forgiven debtor praying for more of the Holy Spirit of forgiveness, Matt. 18:21,22 – forgive 490 times. Matt. 18:23-35 is the parable of cancelled forgiveness. “Ten thousand” talents = $12,000,000. “Hundred pence” = $15 or $16. This parable causes any and all of us to search our hearts from the depths. Eph. 4:32. “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” A very meaningful teaching! It is vital to salvation to come to the place of prayer with the attitude of a forgiven debtor praying for more of the Holy Spirit of forgiveness.

        Verse 4 – last sentence, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” First, the meaning is – “When I am invited to sin, help me to refuse the invitation.” Temptation is not sin. Temptation is an invitation to sin. If we were to say that temptation is sin we would be saying that God’s Son was the biggest sinner there ever was. Heb. 4:15, “He was tempted in all points.” Temptation is not sin. Temptation is an invitation to sin. “Lead us not” – in the particular type of writing God chose to write the New Testament in, there was a verb idiom. In the subjunctive mood, second person ending on a verb, it always meant STOP the action of the verb before the action of the verb was started. This ending was on the end of the verb “lead” which always would mean “stop me from being led.” “Rescue me from evil” meaning not after becoming involved in evil (that is another subject) but rather, “rescue me from becoming involved in evil.” The word “deliver” here came from a word that meant to “deliver by drawing unto oneself.” So the real meaning here was, coming to the place of prayer with the attitude of a loving soldier who loves ones own salvation as a priceless treasure to be defended, and also loves God’s kingdom as a most precious treasure to be defended. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” would mean, “When I am tempted to compromise, please help me to refuse the invitation.” Compromise means a partial surrender of purposes and principals. Compromise is usually like stepping down the stairs one step at a time. If compromise does start in steps, and it is not corrected, compromise can become full surrender on the instalment plan. Jer. l:l8 God said, “I have made thee an iron pillar.” Certainly we can also say that God made His dear Son “an iron pillar.” “Iron pillars” do not bend under any pressure. A true soldier in the natural sense, who loves his country, will only allow the enemy to advance over his dead body. I hope we will learn to pray like Jesus prayed every morning. God is very thankful for those who do not compromise. Christ is very thankful for those who do not compromise. We in the ministry are very thankful for those who do not compromise. It inspires us to labor to find more like you. Those who sincerely exercise themselves in learning to pray like Jesus taught to pray, will find rich treasures.

1 Timothy 2:9-10, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”

This is godly advice for women—adorn themselves in modest apparel. Modesty is the most becoming to every woman. A woman is only cheating herself when she adorns herself immodestly. Modesty is not shabbiness, but it is sensible and sane and becoming.

With shamefacedness…this simply means with a modest face, a natural face and sobriety…not a butterfly effect but a serious and steady effect. This is what is becoming to every woman.

The men have a part to play in this respect too. They can encourage their wives and daughters not to be carried along by the fashion waves—by the ups and downs. There is the acceptable modesty for all times, and it is always that which is in line with the plain and simple modesty that is becoming.

Not with broided hair…not with ornaments that wouldn’t belong in the hair, fancy hairpins and the likes, or gold or pearls…these ornaments in the hair or elsewhere are not necessary.

It says NOT WITH them, but with good works. A modest woman adorned with good works is what pleases God

Deuteronomy 22:5 speaks of it being abominable to the Lord when a woman dresses in men’s clothes.

1 Corinthians 11 is good advice for women too. It tells us about how women ought to treat their hair in order to please God. It is a shame for a woman to be shaven or shorn and therefore let her be covered. The 15th verse says her hair is given to her for a covering. It goes on to tell us that it doesn’t matter if any is contentious about this because the churches of God have no such custom as short hair. It does not please God for a woman to cut her hair. These are things that God has planned and that we read of in His Word.

There are 6 scriptural reasons for long hair. (1) for the husband’s sake; (2) in order to take part in meetings in an honorable way; (3) so as not to be confused with those who do not know God and practice shearing their heads, e.g. woman of Corinth; (4) For the angels’ sake; (5) for the natural side of being becoming; and (6) for the spiritual privilege that a woman has of being a type of Christ’s Church.

In Acts 23:8 we read about the Sadducees. They believed only part. It would be possible for us to be just like them if we only believe part. God planned everything and has given us everything in His Son. We must be willing for all. So many tides seek to sweep in upon the children of God.

Philemon 1:17, 7 (Defense) John 12:20-27 (Ministry) Isaiah 11:1-3 (Spirit of counsel).

Pillars are something that are sound. Revelations 3:12: Is your church a pillar church? If there is life, then there will be love. If you can’t love people for what they are, love them for Jesus’ sake. Ephesians 5:22, 32; Hebrews 2:4 If you have the desire to get married that is planned by God, but we want you to watch, to be careful, be cautious and don’t jump into anything too fast. Don’t let your infatuations just completely take away your good judgment. Go careful, go slow, and because it is the will of God. It is one of the most vital decisions. so be careful. We have seen some occasions where young folks weren’t careful. Marriage is a wonderful thing if it is planned and ordained by God.

Now to those of you who have taken this step, those marriage vows were to be permanent. When you divide one (flesh) in half you don’t have two. Ephesians 5: “Let a wife know you appreciate her.” Don’t let your appreciation go down to the level of expectancy. The grave of love can be dug with a lot of little “digs.”

“An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.”

“A few drops of honey often can save a ton of lemon.”

Don’t be too proud to make the first move.

Our bread is spread with butter and honey on both sides. We have the best on the material and spiritual sides.

Parents: Your children are a gold mine. Be your best to them in the few years you have them. “Write on the doorposts and gates.” The gate is the point of exit and entry from the home; and in our spiritual home, anything that comes into the home should pass the censorship of the word of God. The gate is the point of exit to nothing, going out apart from all the censorship of God’s Word. That would include what goes out over the telephone, too. The two pillars are the husband and wife with the Word of God written all over them.

Deuteronomy 7: What to bring into the home. The graven images are to be left out. (These things are in the New Testament too: I Peter 4:3, 1 John 5:21) Graven images burned with fire. These were the things that the unbelievers watched. Nothing could be recreated from the ashes and he said, here is the catch, “Don’t let me desire from it the good of the idol–the gold or the silver.” (T.V. has some good!) God said, “Be careful that you don’t find a desire for the good in that evil thing, that will be the snare.” A snare is a deadly death sentence. Psalms 101:3 Watching the evil thing. That would be just like the idol.

Some of these idols are just like opium. You would be frightened if people started saying it was all right to bring a certain idol into the kingdom. “Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance,” before you are baptized. People led by the spirit of God get these idols out, and usually without being told.

Is that abominable thing good for children? Ring leaders, seven and twelve years old? What do you want, robbers?

Compromise means a partial surrender. Psalms 48.-13 Wall of defense. We need to be a pillar of defense. I Kings 18-20, 11 Chronicles, 32, Isaiah 36-39, (40-66 were during last years of Hezikiah’s life.) Hezekiah let man first into Babylon–the breeding ground of all our troubles today. Hezikiah compromised for the sake of peace in his day and his people. You know what could happen if we aren’t pillars of defense? These little things just slip in and we can become like Hezikiah. Isaiah labored before and during the time of Hezikiah, but not during the time of his sons; truth had fallen in the streets.

“We have to be careful of the wedge.” I Timothy 2:8

Man, keep your hands off of shady deals or Babylon will get in–don’t lose your temper. Women; sister workers are good patterns of modesty. Modesty is the most becoming thing, and any absence of modesty is unbecoming.

Don’t let Sunday become a fun-day. If we start compromising here and there everyone will use it as an excuse to compromise elsewhere. Commercial sports–people got drunk with it. It brings death.

“If you are going there, please kindly count me out.” This was said to a group of the young friends. We can’t let ourselves be swayed by anybody, even God’s people.

Over-socializing could make the family of God more of a fraternity.

Weddings. Modesty here, too. We are thrilled to see simplicity. Those young folks had enough consideration for God’s name to keep it in sincerity. “If I didn’t know the bride and groom I couldn’t have told them from the rest.” One woman said, “That is the most wonderful wedding I have ever been to.” She wasn’t inside. She said she wished she could have one like that for her daughter, and she wasn’t even professing.

Dear Lord, in some dim future year,

In some dim future month and day,

Abides the hour, the solemn hour,

When Thou shalt call my soul away.

That year, that month, that day of days

Come soon, come late, I know not when.

O Thou who rulest all my ways,

O Lord of life, whom death obeys,

Be with me then, be with me then.

Somewhere upon this globe of ours

Is hid the spot where I must die.

Where ‘mid the snows or ‘mid the flowers

My shrouded form shall coffined lie.

If north, or south, or east or west,

At home, abroad, I know not where,

O tender Father, Lord of Grace

Whose presence fills the realms of space,

Be with me there, be with me there.

By Fire, by Flood, by Famine sore;

By sudden stroke, by slow decay,

When death’s dark angel’s at my door,

How shall it call my soul away?

God only knows, He bends the bow

And He alone can fix the dart.

Yet care I not when, where, and how,

The end shall come, Dear Lord if Thou

Wilt then but shield me in Thy heart.

After we had tea last evening, I took a walk. As I walked, I tried to think of something to speak about in this meeting. I remembered what we had heard in the other meeting, “If we could tell our past to others, something that had been a help to ourselves, it could be a help to others, also.” Some things came to my mind that have been a help to myself down the recent years. I didn’t just rightly know if the Lord wished me to tell you or not. I find it difficult for me to know what God wants me to say in a meeting. I will tell you what happened. When I went to bed, I said, “If Lord, You don’t want me to speak of these things, put something else in my mind in the morning.” The first thing that came to my mind when I awoke, was the same things. If I am making a mistake, I hope God will forgive me. I hope you will, too.

Maybe I should, before I tell you about that, refer to another little matter. We often talk about there just being two classes of people in the world, but as human beings, we classify people in the world as rich and poor or white and dark, etc. Now that is from man’s standpoint. From God’s standpoint, He classes all in two groups. That’s all. You can go right back to the beginning and all through the Bible, and find it so. In Noah’s time, there were two classes of people. There may have been rich and poor, but there were just two groups. One group was in the Ark and the other group was out of the Ark. In Egypt, in Moses’ time, there were two groups; one group stayed in Egypt and the other group came out of Egypt. Jesus said there are just two gates and two ways, two groups and two destinies and He said all that in just two verses. One is a large group and one is a small group, but there are only two groups. You can go on right to the end of the scriptures and find this is the teaching. There is nothing new to you, but then I haven’t anything new for you.

I will tell what happened one day, I was thinking about many people who go through the country, back where I work. They have tracts and religious books and they come to the door and they explain to you that these books explain about what’s in the Word of God, and they tell you, “If you don’t want to buy the book, I will leave it with you for a time, etc.” Little have I talked with them, but if I happened to be there and they gave me that tract, my curiosity would have me do this. I know the thing is wrong, I know it’s not the doctrine of Jesus Christ, I know there may be some things there that are right, just to get you to swallow the pill and get you in. My curiosity wants me to just look through – see what they say, I know it’s poison.

If such an animal as a donkey was around, go and ask him. Have you never read, “Ask the beasts – they will teach you?” You talk with the fowls which fly over our head, the fishes in the sea, the earth. Have you never read those words? Well they are in the Bible. Yes, go and ask the donkey, you say, “What do you mean?” I’ll tell you what I mean. If I were going up the road, and there I met some of you and you say, “Hello Jack, where are you going?” I’d say, “I am going to Paddy Murphy’s. He has a donkey and I want to ask it something.” You would say after I had gone on, “Poor Jack.” Alright, you can say what you like, but that donkey can tell me something. He would tell me, “Jack, that’s not right, that’s not your Master’s crib. Don’t put your nose in there, that’s the Salvation Army’s crib or that’s the Jehovah Witness’s crib, or some other’s crib; you put your nose in your Master’s crib.” That poor beast knows its master’s crib but my people do not.” (IsaiahA 1:3, “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib, but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.”) I could tell you of talks I have had with animals, birds, and the earth, all have taught me much.

Those people are everywhere and they talk a lot of the coming of Jesus and the end of the world. I was thinking of that and my thoughts started going over these things. First of all, I would impress it on myself, that when Jesus, and when the apostles or any others in the Bible, talked of anything that might happen in the future, it wasn’t for the purpose of making people understand every detail concerning this matter. To the end of His days, Jesus talked of His coming back, have you noticed, at the same time He said, “Watch, watch therefore. I’m telling you so that you will be ready.” If I could tell you every detail of the coming back of the Lord, and not be ready, what profit would it be. That’s what these people are doing. They are telling what’s going to happen tomorrow and missing what they should be doing today. The present and future are divided into periods of time and instead of saying “periods of time” we’ll say “days.”

Now I will tell you of these times or days that come to my mind. “Life’s day,” “The day of death,” “The day of waiting,” “The day of resurrection,” “The day of the reign for one group,” for those who are in Christ; “The judgement Day,” “The Eternal day.” How many days? SEVEN, For both groups? NO! For all those in Christ Jesus when He comes. And for those without Christ when He comes, SIX DAYS! God’s number is seven (7) The Devil’s number is six (6). The day of waiting, this is the day between the Day of death and the Day of resurrection. Paul died, Peter died, they haven’t risen yet, they are waiting.

Now go back to the first day of both groups. Those in Christ and those out of Christ. We are in Life’s day. It begins at the cradle and finishes at the grave. Some have a longer day than others. It is which group we are in, in Life’s day, that will determine which group we are in, all the days that follow, and that’s the reason it says, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” If you want to die in Christ, get in there. If you still want to die in Christ, Stay there. If we are in Christ, let us stay there. Jesus said in looking forward to the future, “Watch ye therefore …” Can’t we take His word? Could we not say, “God help us to do as the Thessalonians, who grasped and did this?” I Thessalonians 1 He was talking about what He had told them. He says, “Ye turned to God from Idols to serve the Living God, and to wait for His Son from Heaven.” They turned from Idols to God to serve and to wait. I know of no better way to wait. When Jesus was leaving the disciples, and He was talking to them, He gave them an illustration, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a nobleman, who journeyed to a far country to receive a kingdom, and then to return.” Is that not what Jesus is doing? Is He not going to return? Before he went He gave His servants ten pounds and said, “Occupy until I come. Wait for my return, but don’t wait idle, wait not with folded arms, but do something.” Did not the Thessalonians grasp that from the beginning? That is why Paul said, “Ye have turned to serve and to wait.” I know of no safer way of waiting. Keep busy and await His return. We are still in the first day – Life’s Day.

The next day is the Day of Death. Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember now your Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, ‘I have no pleasure in them (verse 5) because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.” Then He tells us what Death is, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.” I have seen death notices, “Such and such ceased to exist at a certain hour.” It’s true and yet not true. If I should step out of that door, I would cease to exist in here, but not out of the door. The spirit leaves the body, it ceases to exist in the body but exists somewhere else. That’s what Paul means when he says, “Absent from the body but present with the Lord.” ( II Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”) If I want to understand Death, I picture God making man out of the dust of the earth. Just a form that is man, but after that He breathed in his nostrils the breath of life. Part of that man came from the dust of the earth and part from God, and death is just the separation of the two. All go there, part to the earth and part to God and He deals with them accordingly.

The next day is the Day of Waiting. Revelations 6:9, “And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” The souls, not the bodies. Verse 10, “And the souls cried with a loud voice saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’” Verse 11, “And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them,that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be as they were, should be fulfilled.” Now where are the souls of the righteous, you’ll say. It says, “They were slain.” If it means that, it means that Abraham, Moses etc weren’t there. Matthew 24, “He that endureth until death comes, shall be saved.” Revelations 2:10, “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.” Shows, whatever way we die, or they died, their souls were there … and they were impatient saying, “How long and they were told, ‘rest for a season.’” Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, “That they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them.” We were saying, the best way to wait is to be occupied, that’s in the present day. Now, how will we wait in the waiting day? We’ll be resting, and our works will follow on. Can we see in the future, things worth living for? That is sufficient to make you understand.

What about those who die out of Christ? Now let me read II Peter 2:4, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” What does “reserve” mean? Kept for a certain time – till the day of judgement. I think of two men in Jail, both waiting for a certain day to be tried, both knowing they are going before a just judge, knowing he knows everything in connection with their case. One knows, “I’m guilty,” the other knows, “I’m not guilty.” The man who knows he’s not guilty is looking forward to the day. What about the other fellow? He wants to put it off. The longer it’s postponed the better. II Peter 2:9, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” Are they waiting, are they resting? The righteous are saying, “How long?” As in Life’s day, there only two groups, so too, in the day of waiting.

I have tried to tell some folks and found out afterwards it’s still very difficult for them to get the difference between the body and the spirit when we die. They don’t understand what Paul meant, “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart to be with Christ.” They seem to think when Paul said that, he meant when he goes to Heaven, he’d be the same as after the resurrection. The body goes to the dust, the spirit to God. Later on there will be the resurrection, After Jesus rose, He was the same in appearance, but sown natural, raised spiritual. I Corinthians 15:53-54, Paul talks about Mortal and Immortal in that chapter. If you keep that in mind, you won’t find it difficult to understand other passages. When Paul said, “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart to be with Christ which is far better.” He did not mean his body would depart. The body goes to the dust from whence it came. There is not much difficulty in understanding what Jesus spoke of the rich man and Lazarus.

The fourth day, the Day of Resurrection. I don’t know how or what passage to refer to if any. You understand that all through the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the epistles), we read about it. We don’t talk much about it. We take it for granted it’s going to happen. However, there is a passage. There are two groups in all the days we have spoken about. You read about what it said in John 5. Folks marvel, wonder, because of what Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” He wasn’t talking about the dead in the graves, He was talking to them about how you and I were. He says the dead in trespasses and sins shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live. Wasn’t that how we got life? That was nothing to do with the resurrection. I will tell you so you will understand, what He meant when He said after that, “Marvel, not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice.” No need to marvel at that, there will be a time when all in their graves will hear His voice and shall come forth, “They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” How many groups? Two, according to Jesus. All come forth, one group to resurrection of life, the other to resurrection of damnation. Now there is something perhaps we might say. All shall come forth, that’s definite and sure. BUT NOT ALL AT THE SAME TIME. That’s where the other extract comes in.

In the last book of the Bible, Revelations 20. Just before we look at this verse, I’ll refer to the beginning of this chapter. It tells us about Satan being bound, he can’t deceive the nations anymore till the time be fulfilled. Now that’s a wonderful thing. I’ve tried to think even without Jesus coming and if Satan were bound today, do you think it would make any difference to the world, or even in our own world. We, as the people of God, are like a little world, in the world. That’s why we talk about gates and boundaries, etc. I think it would make a very big difference if Satan was bound. When Satan is bound, the people of God will rise to reign with Jesus. After He speaks about certain one’s reigning, verse 5, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” This is the first resurrection. We went over here, to talk about the resurrection and we talked about a passage in John, where it says, “All shall come forth, and I was telling you, those who lived and reigned with Christ a 1000 years,” then it says the rest of the dead … those are the unsaved, “They lived not again till the 1000 years were finished.” This is the first resurrection. Look at the next word, “Blessed.” Who? Blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be as the priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a 1000 years. Can you imagine that? Can your mind grasp that? I can’t follow it, I can’t grasp it. The devil bound and the Lord living here and His people with Him. Living and reigning with Him for 1000 years. I understand it’s going to happen, but to grasp it in my mind what the poor old world will be like then. I know it’s worthwhile watching and waiting.

Who will rise in the first resurrection? It doesn’t matter what I think, I think of what the Lord said. In I Corinthians 15:23, you remember Paul spoke about the resurrection. ….. every man in his own order, in other words … there will be a resurrection and now I tell you the order. Verse 23, “Still! Christ the firstfruits, Christ has risen,” that’s the first fruits of the resurrection. Afterward, they that are Christ’s at His coming. “Then cometh the end.” Is that not in keeping with what we just read in Revelations 20?

I Thessalonians 3, well, have you noticed in reading the I Thessalonians that every chapter finished on the coming of Jesus? In the end of the 3rd Chapter, “To the end He may establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” Isn’t that exactly the same as he told the Corinthians in their letter? Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming. You notice when you read the end of the 4th chapter; you got the same thing. Look at the verses in John 5 again. We said we all come forth, and we will all come forth, not all at one time, and we looked at the passage to help us to understand that is so. I would like to say to you as to myself, if it speaks in the passage that all that are His shall reign with Him. I shouldn’t just think that because I am in the Way, I’m right. I may be in the Way but how much of the Way is in me? Words of Jesus himself, you remember when He spoke just two days before His death, He was up in the mountain talking to His disciples about the destruction of Jerusalem, His coming, and the end of the world. Now after that He said, “Learn a parable of the fig tree, when you see the fig tree shooting, you know summer is nigh, like the wise, when you see these things you know it is near, even at the doors.” He went on to say, “It will be as in the days of Noah. Then shall two be in a field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two men shall be in one bed, the one will leave and the other will stay there in bed.” Maybe it wouldn’t be any harm to refer to question the disciples asked. Luke 17:34, it tells you that in that night, two men shall be in one bed, one shall be taken and the other left; also Matt 24, two woman shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken the other left. One will go the other will stay. The disciples question was, “Where Lord?” and the answer Jesus gave, “Wheresoever the body is thither, will the eagles be gathered together.” Now if you want to confuse me just ask me to spiritualise that. But if you want me to understand it, leave it as it is, please. I see the Lord telling these disciples that these things are going to happen and they say, “Where is it going to happen?” Why ask? Because they don’t want to be elsewhere when it happens. He just tells them a simple thing, “You see the eagles.” I have watched those creatures, even before an animal died, its eyes were closed, not dead, yet it brought the eagle. Can you tell me how they know? Can you tell me the moment an animal dies, why are they there on the spot? Why? I can’t tell you. The Condor is the biggest eagle, wing span 9 feet 2 inches. Well they come down and get a kid or a lamb and go off with it. In North America I asked, “Will you tell me how they know? Is it by sense or sight or what?” No one knows, but every one can tell you, “They’ll be there.” They are going to get it. If you are right in the body, there is no need to worry, you will be you’ll be caught up wherever you are.

I was telling you about the fact, that all don’t rise at the same time, and was trying to tell you that I don’t like to go through life with the feeling in myself, “Nothing matters, I am in the Way.” You are in the Truth. Is the Truth in you? And I said, “We could go over the words of Jesus, which He said to His disciples on the mountain in Matthew 24.” He talked to them about His coming, What is the first word of the 25th Chapter? “THEN.” Why do I draw attention to that? We have these words in verses and chapters, that’s alright, but when Matthew wrote that Gospel, he didn’t write it in verses and chapters. For that reason sometimes when reading, I put the verses and chapters out of my mind altogether, and picture Jesus on the mountain talking to His disciples, and He continues on with the word, “then.”

He tells them about the ten virgins. All went forth to meet the Bridegroom. Jesus is not talking to the unsaved, but to the apostles, and He is telling them, “Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened to ten virgins, all went forth to meet the Bridegroom.” They took their lamps. All were on the same journey, all going to meet the same person. All ten had that thought in mind, they’d wait on Him when He comes. Five were disappointed. Now, there’s Jesus and He is talking to Peter, John and the others who journeyed through life with Him, and preached the gospel beside Him. If He needed to tell them, how much more would He need to tell me? We are talking about His coming. The Devil bound, His people rising and reigning with Him, but I wouldn’t like to go away with the thought in mind, that just because I’m with the Saints, I’m safe and secure. I am if I have the oil and if not, I’m not safe. We have looked at references to what will happen. Well then, Satan is bound, and the Lord is here, and His people are with Him. What will happen then?

I was in a home talking to some folks how Workers had failed to get into some countries. The Sister said, “Well, if it’s like that, there is no chance of the Lord coming soon.” I said, “Why?” She said, “Well, doesn’t it say that the gospel will be preached in all the world before He returns?” Well, that verse reads a bit different to what she thought. Matthew 24:14, “And the gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness to all nations and then shall the end come.” Not the Lord coming back, but the end coming. Now, I will tell you how I look at that, it’s partly had its fulfillment now, and from Paul’s day, but this passage we have referred to. I was telling you how I look at it, and I may be mistaken. Jesus Himself quoted, and He doesn’t say, “Then I’ll come,” but “Then shall the end come.” That verse is partly fulfilled now, but I look for it in its fullness, when Satan is bound and Jesus is here, then look for that verse having its fulfillment.

Isaiah 2:2 tells us what will be taking place. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, (not in the end) that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be established in the top of the mountains” (meaning, the Kingdom of the Lord’s mountain shall be established on the mountain). “All nations shall flow into it and many people shall go and say, ‘Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.’” You Workers go inviting people to meetings and how many come? Well now, look at what I have read, “Many people.” You don’t have to go giving out invitations, people say one to another, “Come ye, let us go up.” It’s the very opposite to what it is today. That would be a miracle. How could you think of many people saying, “Let us go, let us go up to the House of the Lord?” Now, I was going to tell you, I read that and I think of it in the light of the present time, it could hardly happen. But think of it in the light of the conditions we have been talking about. Satan bound, Jesus here with His people. Ah yes, I could understand how it would be. The devil tied. Jesus here, it wouldn’t be so difficult. “And they beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation.” It will be a gloriously wonderful time. Do I know all about it? No, and to be candid, I don’t try to, I have just an idea. The Lord gave me sufficient to know there is something worthwhile living for.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, (I don’t like using the word), the devils witnesses that’s the truth. If Jesus had any witness in this world, we are the ones, and I am not blowing my own horn about it. The others have to blow their horn, because they are not in it. They will tell you the day He’s coming back and Jesus Himself said, “The angels don’t know and the Son doesn’t know” (He’s referring to Himself) “but the Father.” Yet some foolish men know more than Jesus. Now that’s the Day of Resurrection for the Just.

The other day was Judgement Day. Revelations 20:13, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works.” Is that the resurrection for those who die out of Christ or not? I think it is. Read back to this chapter, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. And they lived – reigned with Christ a 1000 years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the 1000 years were finished.” Many that went into the sea came up just the same as if in the grave and death and hell delivered up the dead and they were judged every man according to their works. So back to the 11th verse, “And I saw a great white throne.” Does that put in your mind of a passage where Jesus spoke about that time, as He was sitting on the mountain. In the latter part of the chapter, we have spoken about the ten virgins.

Then He went on to speak about the talents. Then in the first part of the chapter He says, “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and the holy angels with Him.” (Matthew 25:31) I’d like to just say to you to help you understand, don’t confuse that passage with His coming to reign. If you do, you will be muddled up. When He comes to reign, it will be with His saints. When He comes to judge, He comes with His angels. Would it bring to your mind the parable of the tares and the wheat? (Not to confuse with the parable of the sower, the sower went and sowed seed in the heart … The Word.) In the parable of the tares and the wheat, the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the Kingdom. He that sows them is the Son of Man. The tares are the children of the wicked one. They are sown by the devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are the angels. When the end comes the Lord will send forth His angels and they will gather together the wicked and they will be burned as tares. “Then shall the righteous shine in the Kingdom of their Father.” Revelations 20:11-15, isn’t that in perfect keeping with the wheat and the tares, and the end of Matthew 25? Everybody is there. This is the Judgement day. One group on one side, one group on the other side making a separation. It is I that decides where I go, God doesn’t! Where I am going to be on that Eternal Day…I decide that for myself. The Lord has done everything for me to be with Him in His Glory.

We don’t decide it just when we wish, but when He gives us the opportunity. When He comes to the door with the Gospel message. Then we live 30 or 40 years if we are fortunate enough, after for Him or go our own way. The group on one side, the group on the other side. “Then shall the King say to them on His right hand, ‘Come ye blessed of My Father etc.’” On the Left hand, “Depart, etc.” You know, I have heard people say, “God is kind and wouldn’t prepare such a place for anyone.” That’s right, He never did, He prepared it for the Devil and his angels. They wouldn’t do it so He got a place to put them. People in jail, they are keeping the law by force. We are keeping it by choice. They don’t want to keep it so the jailor says, “Right, you go in there.” The same thing they said to God. “This is not what we want,” so He made a place for them and called it Hell. You and I, in this life, if we don’t want to do His Will, what can God do for us on that day but say, “You go in there, the place prepared for the devil and his angels.” It’s the best He can do for us.

It’s the beginning of the Eternal Day. I will just close with this, “And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the Righteous into Life Eternal.” It’s just two groups on the Eternal Day. I would exhort you with these words from a much better man than any of us. I Corinthians 15, “Therefore, for this reason we have gone into these things.” Paul says, “I have given you the order of it, I have told you what will happen.” We’ve told you all this, now he says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

On a wee small isle in the great deep sea

The lone, lone lighthouse stands;

To guide the ships that may pass by

En route to another land.

They pass and sail right onward

But few if any, say:

“We’re grateful to thee, brave lighthouse,

Thou hast helped us on our way.”

On a treacherous, nasty, hidden rock,

The lone, lone lighthouse stands;

To tell the ships that may pass by

That danger is nigh at hand;

The flash of her light at midnight

Or her white walls glare at noon

Oft, oft have saved the ships that pass

From a deep and early tomb.

Near the shifting sands that tide oft moves

The lone, lone lighthouse stands

To ward the ships that may pass by

Of the shifting, drifting sands;

Should she there at her post unfaithful be

Like the sands should she move around,

‘Twould be hard indeed to count or tell

The ships that might go a-ground.

On a bleak, unsheltered rocky coast

The lone, lone lighthouse stands,

To remind the ships that; may pass by

That they’re not far away from land;

Should her lighthouse fail in the stiff’ strong gale

Or in fog not be heard her bell,

What then might befall the ships great or small

Would surely be hard to tell.

At the entrance bright to the harbor fair

The lone, lone lighthouse stands;

To welcome the ships that may enter there

And again lend a helping hand;

Then safe in the sought-for harbor

The ship that has crossed the sea,

When, relieved of care she anchors there

She may well give thanks to thee.

Yes, many indeed are the danger zones

Where the lone, lone lighthouse stands,

Ever ready to warn, remind, or tell

Of the danger that’s nigh at hand

So the ships of the great vast ocean,

And others that coastwise go,

Don’t e’er forget that in greater part

To the lighthouse your life you owe.

And what of the man, that lonely man

Within the lone, lone lighthouse walls;

That the lighthouse keeps on the roughest night

Ever answers the needy call;

The lighthouse there, though strong and fair.

Without such a hand to guide,

Would soon need repair, and without this care

Its service would ne’er abide.

This world is a sea of danger zones,

And souls like the ships at sea,

Its waters sail in a bark that’s frail,

Scarce knowing what their fate may be;

They hope they may reach and enter

The haven of rest secure,

But danger is around and perils abound

And sailing is insecure.

So I’d like in my weakness, Lord, to be

On some spot in the danger zone,

A clear bright light on the darkest night

To some ship that is sailing home.

And there like the lighthouse, true to be,

At my post to firmly stand,

Thus aiding the ships that may pass by

En route to a better land.

But Thou dost know that the lighthouse. Lord,

Its usefulness soon would lose,

Were it not for the man, that lone, lone man

Who that lonely life doth choose.

Be pleased then to dwell in my heart, I pray,

That I might a lighthouse be

To some poor soul in the danger zone

On life’s wild, restless sea.

‘Tis Sunday and early morning,

‘Tis the day the saints will meet

To worship the living Saviour,

And humbly sit at His feet.

To give of the bread He has given,

To stenghthen each others hands.

To tell of the joys and sorrows,

As they walk in the way God planned.

In a cottage in the lonely valley,

In a home on the hill side fair,

On the vast wide plains they’ll gather,

In a home that is a place of prayer.

In His name they’ll also be meeting,

In a home where a city’s din

Can’t exclude the love of Jesus,

While His children wait on Him.

May the Lord in their midst be honored,

As thus they meet to-day.

And each heart be soft and humble,

As they sing and speak and pray.

May nothing be seen of envy,

Nothing of self or sin.

Nothing to cloud the vision,

That each may have of Him.

In ancient times we read of,

We’re told when God’s people met

That Satan was also present,

And it’s true, he does so yet.

He came there then to hinder,

He came there to accuse,

To tempt the soul of the righteous,

His privilege to misuse.

He hasn’t changed his purpose,

And he hasn’t changed his plan.

And today while we are meeting,

He’ll usurp all the power he can.

May no place to him be given,

But each heart moved as by love

Give place to the God of Heaven,

Give place to the Spirit of Love.

They’ll remember Christ’s broken body,

In partaking of the bread.

And also the cup will tell them,

Of His blood that once was shed.

May none drink to their condemnation,

Or play an unworthy part.

May desire to give to the Saviour,

Be deepened in every heart.

There are some who fain would be meeting,

Where His people meet to-day,

But like myself, tho’distance,

Are miles and miles away.

Some on a bed of sickness,

Some on a cot of pain.

Some who cannot be present,

For a cause that is just and plain.

May the Lord in His tender mercy,

Give unto each to-day.

The portion of bread that’s needed,

As they think, and read,and pray.

And even not found in person,

In the place where others meet

May they be there in Spirit,

And together sit at His feet.

If perchance there are others,

Who through carelessness are found,

Far away from the place of meeting,

Perhaps on forbidden ground.

May God to their heart’s in mercy,

In a voice that is plain and clear

Make known to them the danger,

Create in their hearts true fear.

And now having read what I’ve written,

And what I have just said by pen

And find in my heart an echo,

To a true and glad “Amen.”

A response to a voice that is saying,

“Thank God for His boundless love,

Thank Him for a humble pathway,

That leads to a Home above.”

[Jack Jackson was a worker in the 1920-30’s]

Maybe I should make a deal with you folks. If you can forget the heat and all the thoughts of going home and listen to me for a little while, I promise you I’ll never bother you again. A lady was telling about sending her little boy to get washed. She had to send him a second time and then a third time and the little boy said, “Would you put your finger on the spot?” As we have sat in these meetings we have felt the Lord putting His finger on the spot.

I want to speak to you this afternoon about the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians, especially the last part about the armor. Chapter 6:10-12: “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Paul is talking about the devil, the wiles of the devil. We are not wrestling against flesh and blood. It’s not a battle of brains and brawn, but an unseen enemy. One time during the last war a reporter went into General Montgomery’s tent and saw a picture of Rommel, and when questioned about it Montgomery said, “Every day I look at him and realize that he is my enemy.” We talk about the world, the flesh, and the devil. I don’t know which is the worst, or how to separate the three.

The devil was one time an angel and I don’t know exactly when he was cast out of Heaven, but I believe it could have been when Jesus was crucified. Revelation 12:10: “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” This has all been taken care of in Christ. He will accuse us before one another but he is no longer able to accuse us before God.

The devil was fighting over the body of Moses. I have a feeling that Michael the archangel was the one that buried Moses. The devil would have liked to have got Moses’ body and buried it, then he would have told people where it was and they’d have made a monument and gone there to worship. The people thought a lot of Moses but God didn’t allow it and He didn’t allow Jesus to be buried either for the same reason. God took care of all that.

Anyway, we’ve got an enemy. Jesus said he was a liar and a murderer. He can’t touch the Lord anymore because he’s been cast out of Heaven, but he still gets at God’s people. He gets back at God by getting at His people. He just delights in tormenting God’s people and he will till the very end. We have an unseen battle against an evil spirit, “against principalities.” The devil will use people in authority to hinder God’s people and God’s work. He will work through the government. I feel guilty for not praying for men in authority as I should. Garrett Hughes thought it a good thing to pray for the hostages in Iran. I felt guilty because I never even thought of it. Jesus said, “Pray that your flight be not in winter.” If you don’t pray about it, God is not going to be concerned. True, God does know everything, but if you are concerned enough to pray, God might do something about it. Be moved to pray.

There are all kinds of powers in the world. There is life and death in the power of the tongue. Two ladies were talking and one finally said, “I can’t tell you anymore because I have already told you more than I heard.”

Paul is referring to the power in authority, the god of this world, the spirit of disobedience working in the children of men. It comes from the devil. Postponed obedience is just as bad as disobedience. I was looking at some of the names that have been given to the devil. One was “Apollyon”: one that exterminates, a destroyer. He will try to put you out but there are some things that he cannot destroy. He cannot destroy the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.

Psalm 11:3: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” He is not talking about the foundation of truth, but the foundation in people’s hearts. If that is destroyed, what can anyone do? The devil would like to destroy it. He would like us to lose our love for the truth. He would like to destroy our faith. Watch out lest you lose your love for the little fellowship meetings.

When we were young, it never entered my mind to try to miss a meeting. If there was a meeting I knew I should try and be there.

This is one of the things that the writer to the Hebrews was worried about. It is in 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together.” If there is no love in the heart to be there, if the foundation of love is destroyed, what can the righteous do? Part of this family of God is in Heaven. They are beyond the reach of the devil. He can’t touch them there.

I was in a place with George Walker a few years ago and someone brought a telegram and said they had some sad news for him. It was that John Cook was dead. George said, “That’s not sad news, that’s good news.” George Walker will be 104 on February 12th and he said that if any enquire after him tell them, “I am being killed with kindness.” I have proved if you give, it will be given to you. Every promise God has made, He has fulfilled. George has been in the Work for over eighty years and talks about the old days and going on to Heaven. He has always encouraged us to “take your burdens to the Lord, and when preaching the Gospel, never get away from lifting up Jesus.”

In the first chapter of this letter, Paul speaks about being blessed with spiritual blessings. The greatest spiritual blessing I know that I have is the forgiveness of sin. I could lose that and so could you. The devil has just got to get you not to forgive another person, and you lose yours, so you have to watch out. At one Special Meeting, someone spoke about forgiveness. One man talked to me afterwards and said he couldn’t find it in his heart to forgive another man. He didn’t say who the person was, or what the trouble was, and I didn’t want to know. I just said, “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.” After a bit more talking, he went away weeping. It wasn’t long afterwards that I heard that man was dead, and I was sure glad I didn’t have to take that funeral. That man died as far as I know, with hardness in his heart.

We spoke of the Lord doing the finishing of our faith, but the Lord can’t do what you are supposed to do yourself. That man still haunts me. I feel he didn’t pray enough and he lost his forgiveness because he wasn’t willing to pray enough. The devil can destroy our forgiveness and I don’t want to lose that.

Verse 11: “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance…” We could lose our inheritance. Verse 2:6: “And has made us sit together in heavenly places.” This Convention is like a Heavenly place. Our little meetings are like Heavenly places and the devil could get us to bring in a spirit that would destroy these Heavenly places. We are responsible for every meeting we go to. Verse 19: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” The devil could destroy our citizenship of God’s household.

Chapter 4:3: “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” The devil would like to destroy unity. It is the work of the Spirit to make us one. Psalm 133 is a psalm of unity. “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion…” Unity is produced when people are walking uprightly. Unity is destroyed when people are not true. “… as the dew of Hermon.” Dew only comes when the atmosphere is right. It doesn’t fall when there’s a storm on.

The truth of God is a tropical plant in a frigid zone. The fig tree is foreign to our country but one man wanted to try and grow one, so he had to produce the right climate. The truth of God does not live in the heart by nature. We have to produce the right atmosphere. Chapter 5:16 speaks of redeeming the time. The devil will get you to waste time; he will get you to put something else into the time God has given. Proverbs 18:9 says that the slothful man is brother to him that is a great waster.

Proverbs 26:14: “As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.” The door turns on its hinges; the wind blows it back and forth. The slothful man is turning upon his bed; he never gets any further. When we were children and Mother used to call us, we would turn over and make the bed squeak so that she would think we were getting up. You give your testimony and make a lot of noise about it. It would be sad if you are like the slothful and don’t get any further. Proverbs 12:27: “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting.” Coming to Convention has cost us something but if we don’t use what we have received, we are only a waster.

Ephesians 5:19: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…” The devil could take away our song. I have a sister who used to go about the house singing hymns, but she got involved in making too much money. The devil has destroyed her song and all there is now is the radio.

Psalm 137:2: “We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof…. How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land.” They had lost their song. The devil took it away.

The next Paul speaks about is the home life and the devil will destroy that if he can. One man was telling me that his home life is gone and it gets like, “I hardly want to go home.” God intended that children be brought up in a home life where husbands love their wives and wives love their husbands. I tried to call up a lady on the phone and after several tries I got her. She said she had been out with her third love. This puzzled me but she explained that the Lord was her first love, her husband was her second love and her horse was her third love. I visited there perhaps a year or so later and they had a little baby, so I asked, “Well, how do things stand now?” She said, “The Lord is still my first love, my husband is second, the baby is third and I have sold the horse.” She still had everything quite in order. It’s God’s plan that the Lord should be our first love.

“Children obey your parents…” The devil could destroy that too. My father and mother never had a disagreement. Married couples should stand by one another.

Ephesians 6:14: “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.” If you bend before the Lord you can stand before men. This is a wonderful protection. Two young professing girls were at school and a play was being organized. The other girls wanted these two girls to have a part in it but they refused. They even wanted the principal to approach them, but he said he wouldn’t even ask them. He knew they would not get involved in those things. The Truth protected them. The Truth will help you to stand upright. Keep your loins girt about with truth, and have on the breastplate of righteousness; doing the right thing at the right time.

Verse 16: “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Goliath had an armor bearer to carry his shield. David never had a shield. The name of the Lord was his shield; not his own name but the name of the Lord. A little girl of 6 or 7 was staying in the home of her grandparents. The teacher asked the children what they thought about that statement that “God is dead.” The little girl said that God wasn’t dead because her grandpa talked to Him at noon. A faith was put into her that protected her from believing that God is dead. In the northern part of Ontario there was a little boy hardly school age, but he knew every detail about the gun and shooting. He had heard his father talk so much about it. If you talk about the truth of God enough, it will get in.

Verse 18: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” What would all the armor amount to without praying? Fighting without praying is defeat. Praying without fighting is hypocrisy. This enemy of ours is a liar, a murderer. The first thing he destroyed in the Garden of Eden was simplicity. I hope we will never let him destroy simplicity. It is our protection. Humble thoughts are a protection to the mind. Eve listened to Satan and lost her simplicity. Verse 18: “… and watching thereunto with all perseverance.” Praying is a wonderful thing. Sincerity is a wonderful thing. Hosea 7:8-9: “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.” A cake not turned is like not being the same all the way through. He had mixed among the people. When with God’s people, being like them. When with the world, being like them. True people can’t mix with the world. “Gray hairs… yet he knoweth it not.” He wasn’t looking at himself and getting a picture as God saw him. The Laodiceans had a picture of themselves that they were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. God had a very different picture of them. We need to pray that the Lord will give us a picture as He sees us. I hope we will be sincere, and then we’ll come out on top.

I am not so sure what the baptism was, but no doubt it was the testing experience. I think of Jesus Himself going through that. Jesus asked John to baptize Him by water, then going on into the desert was like the baptism of fire. First in our lives comes the baptism of repentance, then of water and fire. There will be a continual testing or baptism of fire. It will test us to see what kind of metal we are made of, through experiences we face. James and John proved they were willing for the baptism Jesus partook of. The Lord brings experiences to see how we are going to behave in a storm and baptizes us with fiery experiences. We can see how these men behaved in the storm in this chapter.

God’s people have a pattern in their lives. Judas knew the pattern of Jesus well and where He would be at this time. The world has a pretty good idea what God’s people will be doing at a certain time. Daniel had a certain pattern and they knew when to find him on his knees. Jesus knew certain things in the scriptures concerning His life had to be fulfilled, and put Himself in the place to fulfill them. It helps us when we know people are depending on us to be true and faithful and to fulfill our vows. He knew all humanity depended upon His being faithful in these experiences. The sop was given to Judas, a symbol of undying friendship. Jesus asked for vinegar even in the time of suffering, knowing it must be that the scripture must be fulfilled. It gives people a chance to see we are fulfilling scripture when we are particular about these things. Jesus said, “I spoke openly to the world,” living an open life, and that will also help us.

Jesus was purging His flour at this time. The Lord was applying the pressure of the fan or of the wind. Judas proved to be not the wheat, for he did not come through the testing. If we allow something to work in our hearts it will eventually get the victory over us. Jesus called him a thief in chapter 12. We could be a thief in the truest sense of the word in robbing God. There was something working in his heart he did not get the victory over. His wrong influence might have robbed Mary of an eternal reward, but now, wherever the gospel is preached, this she has done, encouraging Jesus to die, will be told. Mary had a real revelation and wanted to help Jesus to be willing for death. We appreciate those who have helped us to die.

Jesus tried Judas in the fire and proved there was no pure gold there. What was within came out; “all his bowels gushed out,” and he went to his own “place.” Judas stood with the men who came to take Jesus. The testing time came and proved where he stood. Some people live on the fence. The Lord knew where Judas stood but the disciples did not, for they asked the Lord, “Is it I,” when He said one would betray Him. When Jesus asked who they sought they said, “Jesus of Nazareth,” not Jesus, the Christ, not the revelation Peter had. Peter stood by the enemy’s fire and warmed himself. He was quite self confident just before. Satan was going to sift him, but the Lord wanted him to be bread for His people. The Lord brought this about to see where he stood. The Lord purchased his flour and found there was some wheat there. When Jesus was before Pilate He spoke of the cause for which He came into the world…the same cause we are here for, to bear witness to the true things. The silent voice of truth was going forth from the life of Jesus. He said nothing when they led Him to the cross, but there was a silent voice going forth.

There was a little girl who said, “I am the only one professing in my school but I am not professing. I want to be a light but I’m not lit yet.” She was a silent voice for truth though, because of what her parents taught her. There should be a ‘manner’ that speaks in a child of God, being different from the world. Jesus looked at Peter and it was a silent message, the night he denied Jesus, but Peter understood. Psalm 8 speaks of the sun and moon and stars, never saying a word yet reminding us of the silent voice that has gone out through all the earth. True bread has a silent voice in a meeting, feeding people. True worship has such a voice. True riches have a silent voice, for happy are those among us who are rich in the Spirit of God. They need say very little. What comes in the future is a storm, but keep a silent voice.

Luke 22:53, “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against Me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” In reading this chapter one time, a year or so ago, this verse struck me, and I have thought about it since.

These are the words of Jesus. He told them that when He was with them in the temple, they were not able to lay their hands upon Him, they were not able to take Him, but now the time had come, “This is your hour and the power of darkness.” He was showing them that there wasn’t anything they could do except by permission from God. The time came when the Lord allowed them to take Him. As a result of that, the power of darkness took over. The devil was seeking for that hour. When Jesus was on the cross, there was darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour. This was an outward type of the hour of darkness. The reason the Lord caused it to be dark was because the Lord was turning His face away when Jesus was bearing the sins of the whole world. The Lord could not look upon sin; therefore, He was showing to the world that this was the hour of darkness. It was a dark hour in one sense because of what was taking place in the world.

The thought appealed to me that this was the hour the devil had been looking for from the time that Jesus was born. You will remember when Jesus was born and those wise men came from the east, having seen the star, and they came to Jerusalem looking for Him, how excited Herod became. He asked them about where Christ should be born, and at what time the star appeared, etc. After the wise men left Jerusalem and went to where Jesus was born, they gave Him their gifts, and the Lord appeared to them in a dream and told them to go back a different way. Herod was seeking to take the young child’s life, but Herod was frustrated in what he planned to do. He passed a decree that all children under two would be put to death, but the Lord had intervened and appeared to Joseph and told him to take the child into Egypt because of what was going to happen. The devil was frustrated again. He sought for his hour. He would have upset the whole plan of God. The purpose of the devil after being cast out of heaven was to upset God’s plan, to do anything he could to hinder the plan of God; but he could not do it except God gave him permission to do it.

You will remember all of the different experiences that took place in the life of Jesus and how they sought to take His life. The devil tried in Matthew 4 to destroy Him again, but he tried in another way. The devil has many ways in seeking to hinder us, to put to death the life and nature of Christ born within us. Jesus was 40 days and 40 nights without food, and you can imagine how the natural body was crying out for food. The devil came along with the suggestion to make bread out of the stones. Jesus had the power to command the stones to be made bread. The natural body would say, “Go ahead and do that.” But Jesus realized that this He was not to do – to give in to the sugges­tions of the devil The devil tries to kill that nature of Christ today by making suggestions to us. He makes some very nice suggestions. He tells us to go ahead and do this because no harm will come in doing that. Sometimes you are wanting to do some­thing. How many times human nature cries out to do something, and the devil makes the suggestion to go ahead and do it. He knows that if you give in to him an inch, that will be the beginning. I used to wonder why the Lord would bring Jesus into the wilderness and leave Him there to be tempted. Apart from this, He could not have been a faithful high priest. When He sits at God’s right hand interceding for us, He knows what we are being tempted with, and He knows the suggestions the devil will make to us, and He will be able to send us help. He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. It is a great thing to know that we have an intercessor in Heaven. He knows our weak­nesses, He knows our enemy, He knows the devil, He knows human nature, and is therefore able to be a faithful and merciful high priest. He had to be tempted, and He came through on top. There were other suggestions the devil made but they were for the very purpose of putting to death the Christ. If Jesus had given in to him, that would have spoiled the whole plan of God. Jesus could not then have been the lamb without spot and without blemish if sin had ever touched His body. The devil took Jesus up into the holy city, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and told Him to cast Himself down. This would have been more or less a temptation to glorify self. This is a temptation that comes to us. “You can do that and it will lift you up,” and sometimes we are so weak that we want to be lifted up. The devil also promised to give Jesus power. That is a sort of lust in man, too. Everybody has a lust to have power, to be powerful. The devil appealed to Jesus from every angle, but there was no giving in. He took Him to the brow of the hill and would have cast Him over, but Jesus escaped. The devil could not have his hour. In this 22nd chapter of Luke, the devil had his hour, but only because the Lord permitted it.

The thing that I was impressed with at the beginning of this chapter was how this hour came about. We know a lot of these things were all in the plan of God and they had to be carried out. This happened because one of His disciples allowed something in his heart. If God’s Kingdom is overthrown and upset in this world, it is not going to come from some great power on the outside. This isn’t how the devil got his hour. It did not come from pressure on the outside, but it came about because one of His disciples did not keep his heart. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Our only hope of survival in this struggle for life and liberty and eternal life is that you and I individually keep our hearts – and more than that, that we keep our hearts collectively as a body. The only way that this body can succeed in this world is if everyone keeps his heart. It takes the effort of every blade of grass to keep the field green. This is true in connection with the body of Christ. We could be guilty of letting something into our heart that could have a bad effect upon the whole body. Judas did not keep his heart. It is hard to understand how much of this had to be, but we can take a lesson from it. I do not like to be too hard on Judas. Even before this time, there were many things working in his heart.

In John 12 when Jesus was in the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus eating supper, Mary broke the alabaster box and anointed the feet of Jesus; Judas said, “Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?” He said this because he was a thief and he held the bag. Judas never had his heart right – there was something in his heart like a thief. He was a thief in the real sense of the word because he would have robbed Mary that day of an eternal reward. Jesus said, “Let her alone: against the day of My burying hath she kept this. Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” She was going to get an eternal reward for what she was doing. The devil would like, if he could, to keep us back from obtaining eternal life, and from eternal reward. I think I am safe in saying I have lost some eternal reward in this way. The Lord may have been trying to bring me through some experiences, and I evaded them. We are not going to get eternal life because we have earned it. It would be an insult to earn eternal life, but we can earn a reward. The Lord brings us through experiences to reward us, and maybe we are going around some of these things. Mary’s reward is going to go on and on and be to her credit because of her testimony. Jesus said, “Against the day of My burying hath she kept this.” This woman was helping Him to die. After all, the people I appreciate the most in my day are people that have helped me to die. There are people I have met, who have had a little bit to do with my dying. I feel that I do not know very much about it. I would like to be used in helping others to die. This woman meant so much to Jesus because she was helping Him to die.

Luke 22:3, “Then entered Satan into Judas…” This is how this hour came about. Verse 4, “And he went his way.” This is the evidence today when the wrong thing is working in one’s heart – we take our own way. This is one of the signs that something is wrong when we want our own way and we will take it. We get a disobedient spirit. Somebody might try to advise us, but we are going to do it anyway. When Satan enters the heart, the spirit of disobedience enters, also. He went his way, and he hanged himself. I tried to picture Judas coming back and throwing the thirty pieces of silver in the temple, and I suppose he felt that he would like to change this, but there was no way to change it. Notice what those men said when Judas threw the money on the table, “It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.” Maybe a lot of things that we think are going into the treasury are not going in at all. There is a treasury in heaven where we can be adding an eternal reward. The only thing that will go into that treasury is what is clean and pure, nothing with any taint on it. When the widow cast in two mites into the treasury, nothing was said about that – it went to her credit. It cost her something – she gave more than the others. Every little thing we do for the Lord and for His truth will never be forgotten if it is clean and pure and the right motive behind it. Judas hung himself, and he went to his own place. He actually found his own place.

Luke 22:8, “And He sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.’” The passover represents the Sunday morning meeting. The thought in this verse that appealed to me was, “that we may eat.” We know that what we eat today, spiritually speaking, is the same as they were eating. They were going to go and kill a lamb and eat of that natural lamb. This was the last time for this to take place. Today we feed upon the spiritual lamb when we come together on the first day of the week. The lamb was provided and prepared, also. We don’t have to provide the lamb today, because God provided the Lamb, but there has to be the preparation. If we are going to eat, somebody has to prepare it. I like to see people, when thinking about coming to a Sunday morning meeting to remember the Lord’s death, that they realize we have to eat. It is easy to eat what someone else has brought, but God’s way is that everybody should bring something. I am glad Exodus 12 is in the Bible. In discussions with religious people, many times they bring up the thought and say, “You can’t all meet in a home. What are you going to do if there are more than can get into a home?” We can refer them to Exodus 12 and tell them of God’s plan. Just as many as could eat a lamb abode in one home. It was a very simple way, but we feel it is a perfect way. If there are more than could take part in one home, you could go to some other home.

If you go to a Sunday morning meeting and find out that there isn’t much there, it is not because the Lamb was not provided; the fault lies in those that were preparing it. The Lamb is a perfect Lamb. Try to prepare this lamb. This thought appealed to me, “that we may eat.” Somebody has to prepare this lamb or we are not going to eat.

Jesus told Peter and John to go into the city and they would find a man bearing a pitcher of water. I like this man very much. His name is not mentioned. Many people were used by God but their name isn’t mentioned. They were not doing what they did to make a name for themselves. We don’t know anything about the man who had the colt that was tied, but he was there. Like this man, he was in the right place at the right time. Jesus said about him, “Follow that man.” I don’t know if this was the man who had the meeting in his home or not. This man was going into this home, and he was a marked man, bearing a pitcher of water. Usually the women carried the water, and to see a man bearing a pitcher would mark that man. I believe everybody today who goes up the street to have fellowship with God’s people is a marked person. They are noticed by the neigh­bors, by the world, because there is a difference about them. The Lord should be able to say about everyone that goes into that home, “You can follow that man; he will never take you to any place where you should not go.” Can the Lord say of us, “Follow that man?” I like The thought that he was willing to be different. I believe the homes where God’s people meet together are marked homes from the general run of worldly homes.

“And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, ‘The Master saith unto thee, etc.’” This man was a good man. It suggests the thought that everyone who has the meeting in his home should be a good man. I am proud of many people in our part of the country because I consider them to be good men. Jesus was the Master of this home. Jesus should be the Master of every place where the meeting is held. These places where God’s people meet together, they are good men and Jesus is the Master: He has the control.

I don’t know what took place in this home, whether they killed the lamb or not. “And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.” Sometimes people say to us, “If the Lord came back, where would He go to worship?” “What denomination would He go to?” He would go right back to the same thing that He left.. .He would go back to where He is the Master of the home, and good men live there, and where He can say of them, “Follow them.” Jesus will come back to the same people He left. What did they do in that home? Did they kill the lamb in the house? I don’t think that the man who owned the house would care, no matter what they did, because Jesus was the Master of the house, and it would not make any difference. There was a little home in the town where I was raised where we used to go for union meeting. I have never forgotten the little woman who lived there because of something she said. She wasn’t too strong; her husband was a good man. One Sunday morning after the meeting some of us were standing by a car talking, and before we had gone a neighbor lady came to the house. We were within listening distance, and this woman said, “Oh my, look at all the dust on your nice rugs.” Our friend said, “That is gold dust to me.” She realized that was the dust off the saints’ feet, and that would be going into the treasury. When their house got too small, she said, “We will build more on to it.” They were willing to put themselves out and make more room. Maybe sometimes when people come into your home, they leave dust behind, but that will go into the treasury.

“And when the hour was come, He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him.” They were all there on time, which I think is a good testimony, more so to the outside world. We know there is such a thing as getting into the habit of being late. Sometimes it can not be helped. It is not a very good testimony for people looking on if we would be late. They were all there. I went to a Wednesday night study, and there were not many in that meeting. When we started the meeting, there were some empty chairs. After the meeting, the man who was the elder of the church said, “I didn’t really enjoy that meeting because of those empty chairs.” They were usually always there. He said, “I wonder if I have said something, or if they are sick.” Just empty chairs can spoil a meeting. You may feel that your part is not very much, but your empty chair can make people restless, and your presence will mean something. This was a workers’ meeting: there were twelve apostles. However, that doesn’t matter. Jesus was setting the example of how we are to meet. Jesus had desired this. Then we read about them break­ing bread and drinking the wine, and Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of Me.”

I want to tell you of a little experience that stays in my mind. I happened to be in Virginia for a convention and had to wait in Washington, D.C. for a day to meet some of the workers. The man who met me at the train wanted to show me around the city. He took me up to see many of the monuments – the White House, and several places, and then he took me to his home. After I went into his house, he took me into the front room and told me that this was the room where the Lord’s people meet together every Sunday morning. Of all the monuments I had seen that day, that little room where the Lord’s people met was the greatest. This was the only home in that city at that time where God’s people met together. The thought appealed to me that this is the monument I like to see. The others didn’t mean anything to me. The only monument Jesus wanted to be left was the breaking of bread and drinking of the wine in remembrance of Him. In the holy land, you can’t find anything that Jesus put His name on. He wanted us to remember Him in this way. This was the greatest monument shown to me that day – where the Lord’s people met together in remembrance of Him.

Things were not so good in this meeting because there was strife there. It was over this thing of who would be the greatest. They were thinking of Jesus leaving and they were wondering who was going to take over then. The Lord isn’t pleased with this matter of strife in any meeting. There is no place for people wanting to be the greatest, and Jesus tried to discourage them. No one is supposed to be lord over the other person. “But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” He gave them an example of how they could get rid of this thought. He that is greatest should be as the younger. Perhaps He was referring back to the time when Rebecca got a vision regarding two boys that were to be born to her. The Lord said that the elder should serve the younger. The greatest person is any one who fits into the place of the younger. I can tell you of some bishops in the part of the country where I labor, and they try to do and be as the younger, and do not try to lord it over others. Act like the younger: take a small part in the meeting. I used to play meeting. It seemed to be something we had to do, and we would wonder who we were going to be. “I want to be so and so because he speaks the longest and has more say than the others.” That was a childish way of doing things. This wasn’t the way the Lord intended it. We are to be like the younger. I would like to know the spirit of the younger. “For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as He that serveth.” Jesus took the place of a servant which shows the attitude we are to take. There will never be any trouble if we keep as the younger, and take the place of a servant. When Abraham sent forth his servant to seek a bride for his son, Isaac, that servant got down to pray and his camels got down and kneeled down, too. I like the sign he asked for: when a maiden comes out to draw water and when I ask for a drink, let the one who waters the camels, also, be the one. He was looking for a sign of somebody who would be willing to do more than they were asked to do. That would be no small job. This girl who came out did the very thing he asked. People in Heaven are not just doing the little they can to get by, but they are looking for ways to serve; willing to go the extra mile. That is the sign of the bride of the master.

There is one thought I want to mention in connection with Peter. Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee…” This was going on after the meeting. The Lord knew that the devil wanted Peter, and all of the disciples, to sift as wheat. Jesus was looking forward to the day that Peter would be bread to His people. Later on, He said, “Do you love Me more than these?” Peter said, “Yea, Lord: thou knowest that I love Thee.” “Feed My lambs and feed My sheep.” Jesus knew at this particular time He would be saying these words to Peter, that someday Peter would be bread to His people (His lambs and sheep); but He knew very well there was something in Peter’s life that would make poor bread. Peter had a certain amount of self-confidence – perhaps felt too confident in what he could do in his own strength. Jesus told him that before the cock would crow twice, he would deny Him thrice. Peter said that he would not do that. He was too sure of himself, and Jesus knew that this had to be taken out of him as it would make pretty poor bread. If you listen to somebody giving you bread, and they are self-confident and bold, you don’t take that as bread. The bread is spoiled by that. Jesus knew Peter had to go through this experience, but He prayed that his faith would not fail. I think when Peter wept, he had come to an end of himself. Whatever it was in him, it had been sifted out now, and Peter was a better man. The Lord might be letting us go through certain experiences to sift us, to take out whatever it might be – pride or other things. Certain things must come out of our lives to make us good bread for others. When the man laid at the gate asked alms of Peter and John, Peter said, “Sil­ver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.” He had bread; he didn’t have this world’s goods, but he was bread to that man because of what had happened in his life previous to this. Faith is like poison to the devil. The devil would like to destroy our faith. When you read the epistles, you can see that Peter was bread to those people.

Luke 22:28-29, “Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me…” This is what the Lord wants of us – to continue – keep on going. When temptations come, continue. We may not make a great mark in this world, but if we can continue, He will appoint unto us a kingdom through all eternity. I hope that this will be our desire, and that we may continue even though things might go rough at times.

Chapter 1, “Now it came to pass,” etc to the end of verse 7, “The Lord had visited His people in giving them bread.” I am sure that we can say today that the Lord has visited His people in giving them bread. In giving them the “Bread of Heaven,” He has called us together to feed us. He wants us to see a little more clearly the wealth there is and the sufficiency we can enjoy in His Kingdom. I don’t believe Elimelech consulted God as he should have done before he made the move he did. At the beginning, we are told how Ellmelech and his little family went to sojourn in Moab. He was not the only one who made that mistake. We read of Abraham after God had told him “to leave his kindred and country.” The Lord said, “Get thee out” (Genesis 12:1) “There was a famine in the land and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there.”(Genesis 12:10) When the famine came, he went to Egypt The King of Egypt rebuked him (verse 18). It is a humbling thought to think that a man of the world had to tell Abram how he should act and where he should be. It is sad to read of Elimelech, who made a choice that influenced his wife and two sons in the wrong direction. They intended to sojourn, to stay there for a little while, but it says, “They continued there.” Some people who have known what it is to walk with God & have tasted of His Spirit and fellowship, the fellowship of the people of God, and they have made a choice sometimes to go to the world. They intend to sojourn there for a little while and have found it very, very difficult indeed to return. In the course of time, Elimelech died there and his two sons took wives of the daughters of Moab. After a few years, they died also. It is sad to read of them losing their lives far away from the land of God

Naomi did a wise thing. She arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread. She did a wise thing in taking her daughters-in-laws. She applied a little TEST to the Mission, shall we say she had worked there. She said, “Turn again my daughters,” etc (Ruth 1:12) It tells us that one Orpha “kissed her, but returned to her people and to her gods.” Both lifted up their voices and wept, but as she put on a little more pressure, one kissed her and went back to her people, but Ruth CLAVE UNTO HER. Ruth said those wonderful words, “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee, for where thou goest, I will go and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God” (Verse 16) ”Where thou diest, I die and there will I be buried,” etc. Naomi saw that she was steadfastly minded to go ALL the way. Orpha returned to her own people and country, and we never hear of her again. She did not get to know the True Living God. Ruth got to KNOW GOD and she came into fellowship with people she had never known or seen.

We sometimes sing, “Increase our Faith, beloved Lord, release the cords of doubt that bind.” It takes Faith to live for things Eternal. Our brother spoke this morning from I Corinthians verse 13, about FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY. Three very important things and the greatest of these is Charity, or the Love of God. It says, “Without Faith, it is impossible to please God, and whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.” It shows us that it is only the steps that we take in faith that please God. If we take those steps, God has respect unto us. Ruth trusted in God and she trusted Naomi. She trusted in God, who gave her that faith that enabled her to say, “Entreat me not to leave thee,” etc. It is sad if we make reservations in our service to God and say as it were, “I will go a certain distance.” It is good to be like Ruth and say, “I will put my life into it and I will be in it till death.” There is nothing greater that we can do than to put our lives into it. We might like to plan other things but they would only bring disappointment. Jesus is the Altogether lovely One and the Chief among ten thousand.

We think of Samson who got great strength from God and fought a nation single handed. He was born to the end that he might deliver Israel from the Philistines. The last battle he took hold of the great pillars and asked God to give him strength to pull down the building. God did as he asked. He said, “Let me perish with them.” He threw his life into it. Those who gathered the slain afterwards gathered him up as a conqueror The Philistines gathered the bodies of the defeated. There was a man who made a stew and he was asked how he made it. He said, “I put this and that into it and then I threw myself into it.” If we are half-hearted in the previous things of Christ, we could not hope to succeed. “Worship God in the beauty of Holiness” or as someone put it, “Whole-hearted ness.” Even the world will not respect half heartedness. Ruth threw all into following Naomi and the Lord rewarded her.

There was a great stir when Naomi returned to Bethlehem. The word went round, “Naomi has returned.” She said, “Call me no more Naomi, call Mara; for the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty” (Verse 20-21). I thought of the famine and of this woman saying, ”I went out FULL.” This woman could have easily blamed others, or her husband perhaps. I remember once, in another State a good while ago when preaching the Gospel. One woman made her choice, but seemed half-hearted. As a result, she got offended and was found going out of fellowship. She went out bitter. There was a mission and later on, I had little talk with her. She came along to the meeting. Naomi was honest enough to say, “I WENT out and the Lord brought me back again.” This woman came to the next meeting and she came again. I visited her after a little while. She said, “I am glad you never came earlier. Last week I was waiting for you, but the Lord has dealt with me.” We may not always understand others, but if we are true to God He understands ALL the different circumstances and our difficulties. God is looking for people who will do their best under difficult circumstances. “The whole city was moved” about them(verse 19) when they saw that she had returned.

The next thing we are told: Ruth said, “Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace (2:2). She realised, “I have been brought into a wonderful fellowship, a wonderful Kingdom, and I don’t want to sit at ease.” She didn’t wait to be told what to do, but came to realise that she could live for the prosperity of God’s Kingdom. She was content to fill the humble place. To be a gleaner. She didn’t say, “I’d like to rule over this country.” Humility is the grace we ALL Need. If it were not for the grace and mercy of God, the Scriptures tell us, we would all be consumed (Lamentations 3:22). “By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the GIFT of God.” We are God’s people by grace. It is not our own by merit. It is through the grace and mercy of God that we can have a place in His Kingdom. Ruth felt that she would like to give herself to it. She went to glean and to look for a field to glean in. It was the beginning of the barley harvest. She came to a certain field and asked permission to glean there and the servant granted it.

Later on, the Lord of the Harvest came and spoke to the reapers. He said, “The Lord be with you,” and they replied, “The Lord bless thee.” It is nice to see the relationship between the Lord of the harvest and those who laboured. He asked, “Who is this?” and was told about Ruth. The servant that was set over the reapers said, “It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi.” Boaz was stirred by this. He was a relative of Elimelech’s. He was a kinsman. He realised, “Here is someone that I have a responsibility towards.” He felt, ”I am my brother’s keeper.” One of first questions asked in the Bible was, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” It was in connection with Cain and Abel. Boaz realised that he WAS his brother’s keeper. He was moved to show the kindness of God to her, and Ruth said, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger (Verses 9 and 10).” She fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground. Boaz said unto her, “It has been fully showed me, all that thou hast done to thy Mother-in-law,” etc. The Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust (Verse 12).” We are told not only to trust in God’s word but in God Himself. Two things that can never lie.

Ruth realised, “I can trust in the Living God.” Boaz told her to abide in that field and glean. She fell on her face and asked, “Why has thou dealt so kindly?” Boaz was a mighty man and a man of wealth, yet he showed that kindness that is found in God’s kingdom. Boaz was a type of what the Lord Jesus is to us today. Jesus told His disciples, “To pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38) Boaz encouraged Ruth to keep her eyes on the harvest field. Boaz commanded his young men, “Let her glean among the sheaves and reproach her not. Let fall some of the handfuls on purpose for her, and leave them that she may glean them and rebuke her not.” (2:15-l6) She gleaned some heads and put them in her basket and rejoiced, You have come here with your baskets. God allows you to put there what He has given. He speaks kind words.

Boaz spoke kind words and encouraged Ruth to abide by his maidens. Verse 8, “Let thine eyes be upon the field that they do reap, and go thou after them. When thou art athirst go unto the vessels,” etc. Verse 14, “At mealtime, eat of the bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.” She could enjoy the water of Life as we can enjoy the water of life given in this meeting, that others have drawn. At mealtime, he gave her the parched corn. This would speak to us of the royal dainties, like a little reward. She began in the morning and continued till evening and was diligent and conscientious, even as we seek to glean here and to build up this Kingdom.

It was a wonderful testimony that she bore, “ALL the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.” In Genesis 24, we find the record of a virtuous woman. It says, “Her price is far above rubies.” If we have a little of the virtue of Christ in us and show it before others, we will be valuable to Him and enjoy our place. “She rises while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens (Proverbs 31:14-15). She is like the merchants’ ships, she bringeth her food from afar.” These are things we can be likened unto today and have these virtues, Faith, Meekness, Charity, etc. “Add to your faith virtue,” and so on (II Peter 1:5-6). That is only the beginning, “Let us go on to perfection.” (Hebrews 6:1)

Ruth was in the field because she was diligent and was a true gleaner. Naomi said, “Where hast thou gleaned today?” She had forty or fifty pounds of barley. Where did you get it? A good question to ask ourselves. “Where have I gleaned today?” She told her about the field she gleaned in and who it belonged to. Naomi said, “The man is a near kinsman.” (verse 20) Naomi recognised it was the field of Boaz, her husband’s brother. She said, “Let me seek rest for thee, that it might be well with thee.” (3:1) Isn’t that what the Lord would seek to do for us today? Naomi wanted to make the future of Ruth’s life secure. A wise thing for us to secure our eternal future. One man asked a preacher, “Are you an insurance agent?” He said, “Yes, I am and I want you to take out a double life policy, one for this life and one for the life that is to come.”

Ruth was told to “wash herself and put on her apparel” etc. A good thing to do when we approach our Redeemer Christ Jesus. The Scripture says to keep ourselves unspotted by the world, to be a chaste virgin for Christ. We want to wash away what would make us unacceptable to Christ. Ruth could have said, “It is a big thing to go into the Presence of my Redeemer.” The Lord says, “I am in the position where I want to cleanse you from all sin and set you free – to redeem you.” To make you free citizens. Paul says, “Ye are no more foreigners. No more aliens and strangers, but belonging to the household of God.” Ruth did as she was told and lay down at her Redeemer’s feet. It is not easy to submit and to give in to another person. Ruth gave herself to a wonderful Master, one who had a tender and compassionate heart. We are to lay hold upon Christ Jesus and His righteousness, He will set you free from your past sins. He wants us to take His name and trust Him only.

At midnight, Boaz was aroused. He said, “Who art thou?” She answered, ”I am Ruth, thine handmaiden.” She told her position, “I need Redemption.” Boaz rose to the occasion. God sees possibilities in our lives also. He wants us to go from strength to strength, to be blessed and to be a blessing to others. “Blessed of the Lord, my daughter.” He doesn’t want us to remain the same as we were. “Thou hasn’t shewn more kindness in the latter than at the beginning.” Naomi said, ”Sit still my daughter, for the man will not rest until he has finished this thing.” Boaz was a man of action, when he began a thing, he finished it. A wonderful mark. Christ Jesus won’t rest till we know a full salvation. Think of Jesus interceding for us today, He wants to finish this work. Boaz the very next morning asked his brother if he would pay the ransom price. When the test came, that brother said, ”I cannot redeem it, lest I marr mine own inheritance.” When he spoke of his own inheritance, it is sad. It proved he didn’t have the love for his brother that he should have had. This brother said, ”I will not,” etc.

Wouldn’t it have been a sad us if Jesus would not do that? It was said of Jesus, “His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” He was willing to be marred, defaced, to be of no reputation. He took upon Him the form of a servant and died even on the Cross, died as a criminal. He was marred in every shape and form. Ruth was redeemed and set free, and she became the Bride of the Lord of the harvest. The same opportunity is set before us in Christ Jesus. We can be very thankful that in His love and mercy, he has redeemed us. I hope we will do what the Lord would have us do. Think of all that sister-in-law missed. She is never heard of again. God has set a wonderful opportunity before us in Christ Jesus. I would pray that I have a heart like Ruth, a willing heart steadfast mind to travel on with Jesus even though “other voices bid us stay.” Steadfastly minded to go ALL the way, and what He says we will do. I trust it will be so. AMEN

I would like to read this morning the 5th Chapter of Eph. Verse 22. I would like to talk about the home- life of God’s children. We were just singing in that hymn; “In the home-life His approval makes poor cot a palace fair.” I must say, as I said last week at Wilmington it takes all the courage I have to speak on this subject. I feel that we as God’s servants have been neglecting to encourage God’s people in the home-life. This morning I read the 12th Chapter of Ex. and as I read that, I turned to Luke’s gospel chapter 22, which speaks of the Passover Feast. Now, across the land of Australia God’s people are meeting together in little homes today, and in those few little homes in Korea, Japan, Philippine, Island, Thailand etc. Some are not very much more than shacks and shanties but in every case they are worthy homes. In this chapter in Ex. they stood out as that to me – there was a home, a household. In Luke 22 where Jesus established the breaking of bread, I noticed again it was a home and I’m sure it was a worthy home. Oh! If there’s anything God needs its worthy homes. It should be the ambition of every one of God’s people to have a worthy home, worthy of the meeting place of God’s people. In the 12th Ex. you saw that kind of home. You saw a worthy home where the lamb without blemish was sacrificed. This little lamb was separated from the flock, held for 14 days – a right order. They were to eat that lamb with their shoes on their feet, ready to walk, ready to live and carry out what they were speaking about. While that is speaking of Christ, it is speaking of what God wants every one of us to be. It was to remind them that Jesus was one day coming to give His life and shed His blood, and when the Passover was eaten and they broke bread in Jerusalem, it was to remind us He had come. In the N.T. two basic truths stand out like a beacon in the darkness. One is the preacher without a home and the other a church in the home. Oh! I hope we will never depart from this simple teaching. If ever we depart from these two basic truths we are heading for confusion of the worst kind. It is just as possible for me to settle down in a home in the work as out of the work. I say to my fellow-workers, keep going, keep moving, a preacher without a home. What we want to talk about is a worthy home – that home in Jerusalem kind of home. Now, what we read are such simple wonderful truths. You say what do I know about the home life, an old bachelor like me? Well, the apostle Paul was a bachelor too and he helped God’s children in their homes. Now, I spent 21 years in a home and for 30 or more years I have been in and out of many homes and talked with a good many about their problems. The Bible is not silent as to what our home should be. When I began to think of this; one and a half years ago in my country, I was met with the awful news that my best friend were getting a divorce. Their home was in shattered ruins. They had two lovely little girls under 12 years whom I loved very much. Now they had no father when they needed him so much. I just wondered if I had helped these people as much as I should. I wondered if I had been thinking enough about these verses here. “Husbands loves your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it.” “Wives submit yourselves to your husbands.” Etc. Many circumstances had arisen and caused this trouble, and they had departed from the basic truths. A little girl said to her mother one day; “Mother, what is marriage?” That mother said; “Well, marriage is when Daddy and Mummy promised to love and honour another as long as they live.” The little girl said; “Well, sometimes you and Daddy are not married.” What do your little children say? I wonder what it’s like in your home? Little children see things. The greatest thing of all is to go out and preach the Gospel. I say to you young people, think about it. If I did not do that I would surely have a home. Sometimes young people think fine homes and fine furniture is so important, but that’s a house, not a home. Oh! How often we see young people go into terrible debt, it is not fine curtains etc. that make your home. There is times it may be necessary, but the young man comes home to a cold house and no tea ready as the little wife goes out to work, and together they put something together for tea – tired and weary they go to bed. Pretty soon love can fly out the window, we’ve seen it happen. A home is more than just a fine house and furniture. It is a place where a wife loves her husband and is submissive to him and where the husband loves his little wife and is giving of himself every day to that home. I have been in some wonderful homes, even though some may be little shacks, I call them palaces of Zion. I have been in homes like that in Korea, Japan etc. Homes where God reigns. Oh! I hope you young people are more concerned about making godly homes, than building fine homes and fine furniture. The home life has never been more important than today. When the home life deteriorates, the strength of the country deteriorates, and then if homes deteriorates the kingdom weakens. The home life of God’s people has never been more important than today. It is more important with every passing year. A home stands out like a light in the darkness. God’s servants give out thousands of invitations and no one comes. Little homes scattered about and friends bring people to meetings. Do you see what great privilege a worthy home has? If yours is not a worthy home see what damage it can do, so be careful. What kind of home have you got? If nothing else is gained from this conv. Let us go out and have a worthy home. You may be very submissive here, what are you like in the 4 walls of your home? You husbands peel the potatoes here, but how much do you help at home, how much do you love her there? The test of Christianity is not at conv. But in the home when we are there living together in the confines of that home. Ps. 48 says, “Walk about Zion, go round about her etc. ….. that ye may tell it to the generations to come.” Now let us take a little walk about Zion and we will visit some places in Zion. I take a walk and think of some little palaces in Zion, some are not more than a shack. Let us have a walk to one, it is a little palace down there in the plains of Mamre. When we go we get a little surprise -we’d heard of a man rich in cattle, we’d heard he was prosperous – what do we see? Only a tent. I’m not surprised, do you know why? He realized this world was not his home and he was not wasting his time and strength making a home; a heaven on earth. You see souls spending so much on their home, and you would think it was their heaven on earth. Have you a home like that? Very soon it will be all ashes and dust. We walk up to this little home and we see an old man 100 years old, and he has been sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day – we wonder why. There was a tree there and he could have been sitting there, but he was sitting in the tent door, why? Because he as a father was realising how important it was to protect the sanctity of that home. What are you doing as a parent? One of the most important things is to keep the awful influences out. Sometimes we are saddened as we see fathers and mothers allowing some of these awful influences in and they contaminate and defile that home. 12th Ex. Every home was marked by the blood of the lamb. Sometimes you’ll see a home marked with television and by other things and marked by the world. I hope we are sitting in the door of the home, keeping the world out and the children in. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom and his children were running the streets of the city. When the angles came and told them of the destruction coming, Lot spoke to his sons in law, but his voice seemed as one that mocked. My friends don’t speak to your children too late. When I was a young man, there were times that I wanted to bring in different things and times I wanted to go out. When my father said; “No”, I didn’t like it. My young friends I know how you feel. I used to think my father didn’t understand the youthful heart, but as I look back I can see he understood all too well. He was doing his duty, sitting there guarding that home. He knew the evil I did not know about. Oh! If there is anything I’m grateful for it is that my father sat in his tent door on guard, keeping wrong influences out and us in. Six out of Seven children are inside that family of God and two are in the work. Great credit goes to my mother and father. Do all you can to make yours a worthy home. Isaac was not born then, but this is a kind of home Isaac came from. Happy is the boy or girl who comes into a home like that. You little boys and girls don’t feel bad, your parents realise the awful importance of keeping you in and the world out. We see inside that tent a beautiful lady adorned with beautiful ornaments, the ornaments of a meek and quiet spirit – a lovely picture. Sarah had a lot to do in making that worthy home. He did a great part. Wives love your husbands. Paul says that first, because Paul knew that little wife had so much to do in making a worthy home. You woman don’t realize how important your place is, you have more to do than anyone else in making it what it should be. You children and fathers make it worthy of meeting place. Do all you can to make it what it ought to be. Sarah, Oh! She’s a princess, we admire that meek and quiet spirit. She was not always like that. She was called Sarai first, that means contentious. There was great change because God had begun to work – that contentious little soul made beautiful and adorned. Oh! I say that was a wonderful home. Now we see something else, we see a little water to refresh the weary. We go in weary with the toils of life and it’s not long and we feel refreshed. Paul said to Philemon, “We have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed; by thee brother. “My heart is warmed and thrilled when I see homes like that. I see a little water and food for the hungry, comfort for the comfortless. Oh! We go away from that little home at Mamre feeling refreshed. Abraham was the friend of God, but he was not always “faithful Abraham”. He almost lost that little wife of his at one time. We see him separated from his country down in Gerar, there came a crisis in his life. We see him standing, on the right the house of God and on the left a heap of ruins. What did he do? He stood and did exactly like a lot of us would do, he didn’t have the courage to make a choice, he continued towards the south – Bethal on the one hand and Ai, a heap of ruins on the other. I told you about the world gripping my heart for 6 months, I was trying to stand on neutral ground but every step I took was taking me further towards the south. Maybe you young people have tried to be neutral, tried to evade the issue, but you are getting further and further away. Abraham almost lost his wife, his home was almost broken. When he reached that place he went back and saw what was happening, he went back to the beginning and started all over again. Out of the shame of my bitter retreat give me spirit made whole. Oh! It took a brave man to start all over again. Don’t be afraid to admit you made a mistake. Go back to the beginning. A righteous man falls 7 times but rises again. Now is the time to make everything right. Rise up again. This is what made “Abraham the friend of God. If you feel you can start all over again. I hope this is your prayer today. You have prayed and yes you have failed 7 times, but rise again, make every wrong right as you rise again. I see little Isaac born into this home; Abraham’s only son. Do you know what God did one day? He asked Abraham for that son. He asked him to take him up to Mount Moriah. He was asking for his life. This little story teaches us about that sacrifice on Calvary. Abraham trod the same earth, breathed the same air, had the same passions as us. Maybe God will ask you for your son or daughter and you realise all your hold will be gone. Abraham saw the place of sacrifice afar off. He had plenty of time to change his mind. My little mother decided when I was only 3 months of age. She loved life and all the pleasure, she was only 20. These meetings gripped her heart, she stood to her feet with me in her arms. She said to a lady one day, “I wish I had heard this before I was married and I would have given my life in the work, but I have a home and husband and I will try to raise this little fellow so that he can take my place.” For 20 years she never lost sight of that, she tried to put the best before me. She never pushed me, I could count on my fingers of one hand the times she mentioned the work. I knew by her life that it would give her the greatest joy. I hope today young mothers put the best before your children, there was never a time when the need was greater. When my brother went in the work I saw my mother shake his hand and kiss his lips, when he was gone she went into her room and closed the door, she never came out for 2 hours and when she did I knew she had been weeping. Oh! The awful cost – she knew he was going to be despised and hated by man. She knew he would be going to bed in somebody else’s home and to sleep on somebody else’s pillow. Oh! It would make any mother weep, but she smiled into his face when he left her. So Abraham and Isaac went on the journey and talked together as they walked. This little boy walking with his father, the two walking and talking together. I hope you mothers and fathers are walking and talking with your children. My father often sat with me and talked about the things of God. Some of the sweetest times of my life are when I walked and talked with my father. Little Isaac said; “Here is the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb?” The little lad knew all about it – how did he know? He had often been at the place of sacrifice with his father. Do you take your children to the place of sacrifice, or do you shield them? I have seen parents who did not do it and they have lived to regret the day. You see little girls and boys playing meeting, singing hymns etc. They know all about it. Oh! My friend you have a great responsibility. I see this little boy growing up to have his own rights. I see him becoming rich and increased with goods, but he built an altar and sacrificed, he pitched his tent and dug a well. God was first in his home. I was going to take you to some other homes, but there’s no time today. Perhaps we could sing hymn 236, last verse.

What a wonderful day it was in my life when this Gospel came to me 60 years ago. I had reached the age of 20, and I was convinced I was drifting like a piece of wood on the water. I said to myself, “Suppose you live to be 40, and live the way you are living now, you will not only be ashamed of yourself but your people will be ashamed of you, too. You must do something!”

I was away from home, when I decided that if I went home, I might get some help. My father was an elder of the Presbyterian church for over 20 years, at that time. If any man could tell me how to become a Christian, it would be him.

I asked him one night if he could tell me how to become a child of God and he said, “No, I cannot tell you how to become a child of God.” I asked him, “Who could then!” And he answered, “Maybe the best thing for you to do is go to our preacher and explain your situation to him, ‘Maybe he can help you’!”

I was only 20 and bashful and backward, and very slow of speech. I came to the conclusion I must go to that man and tell him, so I went to the preacher’s home. It cost me a lot, but I was desperate because I wanted to become a child of God. I hated to think of my life going to destruction. I went to that big mansion where he lived and rang the bell. While I waited, my heart was thumping. The servant girl came to the door. She wanted to know what I wanted, then said, “Wait, I will let you know if he will see you, or not.” She returned and said, “You may come in.” She brought me into a little room where there were two chairs and one table, and asked me to sit down. She told me the preacher would be there immediately.

He came in, and I stood up. He asked me what I had come about and I said I wanted to know how I could become a child of God. He said, “God bless you, young man. The fact that you talk as you do is proof to me that you are a child of God.” I said to him, “Why am I so unhappy then; why do I feel that if I pass away today, I would not go to heaven?” He thought a little while, then said, “The reason you are so dissatisfied, even though you are a child of God, is because you have never joined the church and taken an active part.” I asked him, “If I join, can you assure me the satisfaction and assurance that I crave?” And he said, “I can.” I asked him what to do. He said, “I can’t tell you tonight.” He made an appointment for me to go to his study on another night, for half an hour.

We sat down together, and he started teaching me about what I should know to become a member of that church. During that time, he wasn’t satisfied that I was wise enough to become a member to answer the questions he put before me. So, I came back, and at the end of the second session, he was satisfied and said, “Next Sunday is communion Sunday. We break bread and drink the wine, which is done four times a year. After that, I will preach my sermon and will come down from the pulpit and ask the choir to leave. Then, I will call the elders by name, one by one, to come from the congregation. I will call you, and you will take your place”.

Can you picture the situation? A preacher in a black robe! I was almost afraid to look at the man. He came down from the pulpit and asked the choir to vacate their chairs, then called the elders, and me and I stood in front of him, while 500 members of the church looked on. He asked the questions one by one, and I answered them one by one. He took me by the hand, and he said, “I am giving you the right hand of fellowship into this body of Christians.” He asked the elders to do the same. The Lord’s supper was served, and I took part for the first time. With a spirit as light as a bird, I said, “Now I am a member of the church. Now, whatever happens to me, I will go to heaven. I will go to heaven when I die”.

For three days I was very happy, until it dawned on me, “All you have done is go through a ceremony that has no dealings with God. He didn’t ask you to do anything you haven’t done before”. I became very discouraged, more discouraged than I’d ever been before.

My father couldn’t tell me how to become a Christian, and the preacher had told me something that wasn’t true. I’d been left stranded. Whatever will I do? I was brought up to believe that the Bible was God’s Word. In my desperation, I saw all that I had done. I thought, “Maybe if you read your Bible carefully and prayerfully, sooner or later you will get the something you are looking for”. I promised God that I would read and pray three times a day until I got to know Him. I started, and I was diligent.

I went to every religious meeting I could go to. I read my Bible and prayed three times a day. Sometimes, the situation was such that it was nearly impossible and after three years, I found myself going to six religious meetings a week and taking part in some of them. At the close of one of those services, a young friend of mine came to me and said he was a child of God.

He said, “Willie, I am going to invite you to a meeting such as you’ve never heard before.” I said, “I don’t believe you. You can take me anywhere that will assure me of hearing anything different. I have been to all kinds of churches and heard the best preachers anywhere and they’re all the same. Do you mean it when you say this preacher is any different from the rest?” He answered, “This man is living and preaching like Jesus, James, and John. He gave up a wonderful station in life and pours out his life for the sake of the gospel.” I said to my friend, “Is it true there is such a man living in Scotland now?”

Afterward, I remember, when I was only 11 years of age, just a young boy, I went to church with the rest of the family. Before every service and sermon, it was the custom to read a few verses from the New Testament. That morning, he asked us to open our Bibles to Matthew 10. I didn’t have a Bible, but I had two ears that were open. He read that wonderful commission that Jesus gave to his own disciples “When ye go, preach saying, The Kingdom of heaven is at hand, etc.” I said in my young heart, “That man is reading something he is not living himself.” I was sure we were paying him a bigger salary than any man in the congregation received.

Isn’t it strange that it was this thought that pierced my soul and impressed me so much? At the table, I said to my father, “Wasn’t that a wonderful portion of scripture that was read this morning?” He said, “What was so wonderful about that portion of scripture than any other?” Jesus was telling his own preachers how they were to preach, and what they were to do. The thing that impressed me most was “Freely ye have received, freely give.”

I said, “You know, Dad, he is not living like that.” My father gave me a look I won’t ever forget even if I live a thousand years. He said, “God doesn’t expect ministers to live like that”. I dismissed it from my mind; I felt I would never meet a preacher like Jesus.

Now this young man was telling me he was going to take me to a meeting where I’d hear a preacher like that. It was a Special meeting where 120 people were gathered. All but me were walking in the way of truth. Eight workers got onto the platform.

When the meeting hour came around, I looked at them, and said to myself, “Where’s the preacher?” Every preacher I had seen was dressed in a certain garb. They generally buttoned their collars at the back, instead of the front. As I looked at those eight men, I thought, “This friend of mine has invited me to go to a meeting with no preachers.”

By and by, one of those men got up and gave out a hymn. We were taught to stand when we sang hymns so when the hymn was announced, we all stood up to sing. They sang from their hearts, and I tried to keep up with them. We sat down again, and the man of God got to his feet and said, “I wonder how many of you sang this song and were playing the hypocrite.” I thought, “He isn’t different than any other preacher I’ve heard. I have come here to get some help, and he insinuates I am being a hypocrite.”

He went on to say, “It is very possible that here some sang those words with no intention of making them a part of their life.” He then said, “We are going to sing the hymn again, and if there is anyone who doesn’t want to live these words out, would you be honest enough to keep sitting while the rest sing.”

I thought that was straight talk. I read the first verse, and said, “Now I know what he means. If I stand up and sing those words, I am placing myself before God as a hypocrite. I don’t feel capable of living what these words speak of; I cannot and will not sing them the second time.”

“Send me forth O blessed Master, etc.” No, you can’t do it because you’re not even satisfied that the life that you are living is according to the mind of God. By and by, the hymn was sung again just as heartily, and I sat in my chair with my head down. God spoke to my heart and gave me the consciousness that I had been led to that meeting for the purpose of something being done within my soul as it had never been done before. Everyone sat down, and the man of God got to his feet and spoke to us, not preached to us.

He didn’t tell us how bad we were, but we knew how bad we were by the way he spoke. He didn’t tell us we needed to be saved; yet, I knew I wasn’t saved. In 10 minutes, I said to myself, “I have never seen anything like this before.”

The next day, it came to me that the reason he had made it so clear was because he, himself, was living it. He was a living witness who testified what God has done in his life. He spoke of those living in his day and he spoke with authority. I asked myself, “Now, if you live this, you will change your way of living, and what will your father and mother think? What will they do?”

I was convinced that everything he spoke was exactly opposite to what they believed. They would be against me. But the thought came to me that your father will only be your father for a few more years until death takes him away but today, God, the Everlasting Father is speaking to you.”

I asked myself, “Is it better to live so your father and mother will be pleased with you or be misunderstood by them, and have the smile and approval of God in heaven?”

I said, “If I take God to be my Father today He will be mine forever, even after my natural father has gone to the grave.”

Even in that meeting, I said “I have never lived for God before but I intend, by the mercy of God, to begin living for Him.” That meeting lasted a long time. Maybe it has taken that long for the light of the Truth to penetrate my heart but I settled it that I would walk with Christ.

When the meeting ended, I was sitting at the back of the hall. I felt I had to go up to that worker and tell him what had taken place in my heart. I went right up to the platform and told him the wonderful experience he had led me into. He had never seen me before but when I spoke to him, I saw tears well up in his eyes, not tears of sadness but joy, gladness, and thankfulness for the God who used him that afternoon as a messenger so the Word was effective in my life. CHe took me by the arm, one thing my own father had never done, and said ”Let’s go out and have a visit together.”

I began to ask him questions, and he answered every question of mine. I asked him a question that nearly killed me afterward. I asked him “Do you think there is any possibility of me becoming a preacher like you and what you’ve been talking about, a man like Jesus that is willing to forsake everything and preach the Gospel?” He hesitated a minute or two then said, “What are you working at, and what are you doing?”

I told him, and he said, “How long would it take you to get out of that job?”

“I would have to give two weeks’ notice,” I said. “Well, you go home and tell your boss that you will leave in two weeks and I will have a companion for you then”.

I went home that night and said, “You certainly put your foot in your mouth! You didn’t even stand up and declare that you would live it, and now you are launching out in a life that you are unqualified for.” Then came such sweetness into my soul, and I remembered Jesus calling Peter, James, and John. He said, “Follow Me, and I will teach you how.” I said, “I am prepared to start out like Peter, James, and John, even though I am unworthy and incapable.”

I feel it is a very great privilege for me this evening to have a little part in the telling forth of this glorious gospel story. It is because it has meant so much in our own lives that we are very happy to tell others about it and we wish that others could share in the same joy, because after receiving this gospel into our own lives it has brought great joy to us.

I was thinking a little today of some souls who met with Jesus in the gospel. I love to read in the Gospel of those men and women whose lives were changed because of having met with Christ. The course of their lives was altered because of having met with Jesus. I also like to read in the Acts of the Apostles of men and women whose lives were changed because of having met with Christ. We know that after Christ was crucified the work of the gospel still went on, and I am always glad to read in the Acts of the Apostles about the work that was done there because it is an assurance to me that those disciples were endued with the same power – those men of God had the same power as they preached the gospel as those disciples whom Jesus sent. We know that they went forth in the same way and they had the same power to deliver men and women as Jesus had in His day. We are very glad that we can testify that the gospel has not lost its ancient touch of power. A brother in South Australia used that term so often – the gospel has not lost its ancient touch of power. We are very glad for this today, to know that this same gospel can work the same things into the lives of men and women who obey it and yield to it, as it did for those others over 2,000 years ago.

Today, I have been thinking a little about Paul. We heard about him from our brother. We were hearing this afternoon that we cannot hear the truth too often. I had been enjoying a little about his experience, the change that was wrought in his life because of having heard the voice of God. The course of his life was changed completely because he saw a vision from God and heard a voice from God. As he said in his own words, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. I believe that Paul made it easy for God, if we may use that term, to help him. We can either make it easy or difficult for God to help us. When he is speaking to us through the gospel and laying His claims upon us, our attitude toward Him will either make it easy or difficult for Him to help us.

Paul was able to say later on, in writing to the Galatians and referring to the time of his conversion, “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” I believe Paul was a very wise man in that he did not confer with flesh and blood. He wasn’t alone as he journeyed toward Damascus, there were other men with him. He could have conferred with them about this matter. We know that voice spoke to him as he was on his way to Damascus. He could have conferred with those other men, he could have returned to the high priests from whom he had letters and conferred with them about this matter, but he did not do that. He conferred not with flesh and blood. I believe it is a very wise thing if we do not confer with flesh and blood when God speaks to us. Flesh and blood is an enemy of the will of God, contrary to the will of God, and the answer would not be a favourable answer. Paul was a very wise man.

Then it comes to this matter; it is a very individual, personal thing. Paul conferred with his God. When God spoke to him Paul said, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” He spoke to God about it. If we could only take it to the Lord when we feel He is speaking to us, not go to others and ask them about it. No matter how dear our friends may be to us, they cannot help us in this matter. Paul went to God and he said, “What wilt Thou have me to do?” God said, “It shall be told thee.” It was told to him, and he was obedient to what was told to him. God longs to tell us what we can do so that we can inherit eternal salvation, if we are only willing to be told. Paul was willing to be told, to be led. He was praying, and he made it so easy for God to help him. So easy for God to save him.

The thought came into my mind today that the thing that saved us in the beginning is the thing that is going to save us all along the way. We know it was the vision, it was the voice we heard in the beginning, being obedient to that voice meant salvation to us, and I believe it means being obedient each step of the way – not just in the beginning but all along the way, it means being obedient. The way we got saved is the way we are going to keep saved, and it will also mean each step of the journey not conferring with flesh and blood: Because if we do, the answer we get, the advice will not be good, will not help us to inherit eternal life.

In contrast, I couldn’t help thinking about Pilate when Christ was standing before him. I believe he was convicted: Jesus was an innocent man. He said to those around him “What shall I do with Jesus men call Christ?” and they said, “Crucify Him.” He wasn’t satisfied with his own conviction, he wanted to confer with flesh and blood, and we see the answer he received. “Away with Him! Crucify Him!” That will always be the answer we will receive if we confer with flesh and blood about this matter. On the judgment day, we will be standing alone before God. There will be no one with whom we can confer. How good if we see the seriousness of making an individual choice. If we confer with flesh and blood we will receive the answer “Crucify Him.” There is something in human nature that will resist having Christ come into our hearts and lives and dwell there.

I enjoyed thinking of what Paul said at the time when he was standing before Agrippa, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” I believe in that respect also he made it easy for God to help him, to save him. He was not disobedient. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could do that too, if there were no disobedience to the vision God is giving to us these days. We are sure God has been giving us visions and revelations. Perhaps He has been revealing things that we didn’t know were there. Perhaps He has been revealing to us that we have many sides to our service and some sides have been neglected. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were not disobedient to this vision? We know that in the beginning had we been disobedient we would never have begun, and it means continual obedience. Strange that it seems so hard for us human beings to be obedient. One sees it in children at an early age. Every child has to learn obedience. Many things in the Scripture are gifts God gives to us, but we have to learn to be obedient. Our Lord and Saviour had to learn obedience through the things that He suffered. I don’t believe it was easy for Paul to be obedient, because he knew all that it would entail. He knew the one whom he had been persecuting was not a popular one. In spite of that, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. We know the change that came into his life afterwards. He was rewarded for his obedience. Obedience is something God loves.

Didn’t Samuel have to give that message to Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” It is easier to give all our substance than to obey God. One of my companions told a story about two little girls whose mother went down the street and asked them to do the dishes. While she was away, they went away and did some spring-cleaning – they thought they would receive praise, but the mother said, “You have done everything but the thing I asked you to do.” I believe we as the children of God are a little like that, too. But Paul was one who was obedient. He was obedient to the heavenly vision. I have had a great longing in my heart as I have been sitting here these days to be obedient to the vision God has given me. I know God has been revealing things to every one of us, revealing His Son to us. I am sure He has given each one a revelation of His Son and what it can mean to us if we obey this revelation these days and let this Son of God come into our hearts and lives. I am thankful it was my privilege in my youth to choose to serve God. I have a lot to thank my parents for. Had they not obeyed the gospel, I fear I may not have had the opportunity. It brings me great joy to see young people making their choice for Christ. The thought comes into every young heart, “If we choose Christ when we are young, we lose by it.”

I was only 14 when I made my choice for Christ, and I feel my life has been enriched. God has kept me back from those things which would defile, leave a spot on our garment. I would encourage those who may be young here tonight to let Him in, to be not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, to confer not with flesh and blood but, like Paul, take it to God and take His advice. If we do that, we will be willing to let Him come in as Paul did. Paul’s life was so useful afterwards. His experience was a little different from ours. When God spoke to him, he was not only to choose Him but also to go out and preach the gospel. In spite of all that, he was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. He was willing for all that it would cost to crown Christ Lord of his life. I know that Paul didn’t have any regrets, and how much his life means to us today. If we are only willing to be obedient to the heavenly vision, not conferring with flesh and blood, it can bring joy into our own hearts and our lives can be useful. Our lives can have a far greater effect than ever we realise in helping to bring this gospel to others. May God help us who have already obeyed the heavenly vision to continue to be obedient to the heavenly vision, and those who have not, conferred with flesh and blood. May we continue to refrain from conferring with flesh and blood so that we may reach the goal even as Paul did.

Ephesians 5:22, “Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4, “And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” These verses are dealing with the home life of God’s people. Marriage is a wonderful thing. The greatest thing that a man or a woman can do is to give their lives in carrying the Gospel of Christ to men and women, but the next greatest privilege is that of making a home, a home honoured by God.

A little girl once said to her mother, “What is marriage?” Her mother said, “It is when Dad and Mum promise to love, honour and obey each other as long as they live.” The little girl said, “Well, Mum, sometimes you and Daddy are not married, are you?” It is a wonderful thing if the homes of God’s people are homes God can use.

Paul began by talking to the wives. It was not by accident because Paul knew the one who had the most to do with making that home all it should be was the wife. “Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands.” Making a worthy home is not the responsibility of only one.

“In the home life His approval, Makes poor cot a palace fair,
Brings each day the Heavenly sunlight, This because my Lord is there.”

Young people newly married, firstly think of a fine home and expensive furniture, but a home is far more than that. Young people start off buying a fine home and expensive furniture and the payments are too high and the wife has to go to work. They come home tired and have no time for each other and soon the love they felt so deeply begins to fade. Some homes I have been in have hardly any furniture, but they were homes we valued highly because God was there.

Psalm 48:12-13, “Walk about Zion … tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following.” Abraham, an old man, sat in the tent door. Why was he there? He could have been sitting under a tree at ninety-nine years so why was he sitting there? It was not by accident but for a real purpose, keeping the world out of that home and keeping his children in. I wish there were more parents like this old man.

Sarah was there beside him. The reason Abraham’s home became the kind of home it was, and his children became the kind of children they were, was because Abraham sat there in his tent door guarding the sanctity of his home. Influences would have come into that home, just as the wrong kind of influences come into every home. The children of that home would sometimes want to go out but Abraham sat in the tent door guarding it. Do not hesitate to sit in your place of responsibility, in your tent door, guarding your home, keeping the world out and your children in.

Growing up as a boy, many times I wanted to bring influences into our home that would not have been very good for our home, but my father sat on guard and other times I wanted to go out, but Dad sat in his tent door and said, “No.” It was not easy for my father to sit there and say, “No,” to us, because he had been young once, but he knew a great deal more about the world than we did. There were times when I felt he surely did not understand young people, but as I look back, he understood all too well, and my brothers and sisters and I thank God that he had the courage to sit in his tent door and keep his children in and the world out.

Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and perhaps his children were running the streets of Sodom. When God warned Lot, he spoke to his children and his sons-in-law and they laughed in his face. He seemed unto them as one that mocked. Lot had spoken to them too late. How different it might have been if Lot had been as faithful as Abraham was in sitting in his tent door guarding the sanctity of that home. God was able to say of Abraham, “For I know him that he will command his children aright.” Isaac was not yet born, but this was the kind of home Isaac was brought into. It is a privilege for a child in any age, to be born into that kind of home. I hope you mothers and fathers will go home more determined than ever to sit there guarding that home, keeping the world out and keeping your children in. Those little boys and girls in the home will some day rise up and call you blessed  that you had the courage to do what they did not understand at the time.

When God called Abraham to go and offer a sacrifice on Mount Moriah, it was not an easy sacrifice but it involved the life of that little boy he loved very dearly. They were leaving home together, going to the mount of sacrifice and the two of them walked together. Abraham as a father, walked and talked with his children. It is wonderful to be a parent like that. The reason Isaac grew up to be such a man that he was, was because he had a father and mother who took a deep interest in him. As they were walking together, the father laid the wood on his son’s shoulders. It is wonderful to see little girls and boys in the home beginning to bear a little part of the sacrifice.

Isaac was willing for the burden to be laid on his shoulders but then he said, “Here is the wood but where is the lamb?” That little boy knew all about the sacrifice and the order of it. It was because he had often gone with his father to the place of sacrifice. As Isaac grew to be a man, he built an altar and pitched his tent. He built an altar, that was first. First things must come first. Then the next thing was that he pitched a tent, making a home just like the father’s home. Then he was did going a well which speaks of the business side of life. Sometimes we see God’s people change the order around, taking care of the business side of life, then the home and then last of all they build an altar to God. Isaac knew the right order as he grew because of the wonderful home he had been reared in. It is a wonderful thing to put into the hearts of those little children that which will hold them and help them to do the right thing as they go out as men and women. I would encourage you to often visit the home of Abraham and look into the corners of the house and look at the parents and children as they grow up.

In Genesis 49:13, there is the home of one of the sons of Jacob. “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be an haven for ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon.” Not a great deal is spoken about Zebulon but he was a haven for ships. Psalm 107:23, “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business on great waters.” The psalmist was speaking of the servants of God going out to search for souls. They rise up on the wave and go down to the depths, their soul melts within them; they reel to and fro and are at their wit’s end. This, perhaps, was the very condition of some of God’s servants when they found you, reeling to and fro and finally your were ready to make your choice for God.

As these voyagers came in, they would see a light in the window of Zebulun. “His borders reached unto Zidon…” That was a place of fishing. Perhaps he was one who was not able to go out and do business in great waters. He saw that the borders of his home reached out and kept in touch with the fishing. We want to extend our borders to the place of fishing and be as close to that place as you possibly can. It may not be your privilege to preach the Gospel, but it can be your privilege to have the borders of your home extend right out to the place of fishing.

I thought of that home in Bethany we read of in Luke 10:38. They were wonderful privileges Martha had enjoyed, but here she is taken up with all the cares of life. There was something in that home that was hindering that fellowship with Christ. Could it be that this same thing might be hindering some in the meeting? The cares of life were weighing heavily on Martha, and she was moved to charge the Lord with carelessness. The Lord loved Martha but she was blind to this because of the awful cares and burdens of that home.

Can it be that the cares of life are hindering your fellowship with Christ, from sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His word? Keep the cares of life in their rightful place. They have a place. The pleasures of this life may not trouble us but the cares of this life can be just as dangerous and there was a little of this in the home of Martha. Often we think that God does not care but there is nothing more dangerous to God’s people than to think God does not care. Be like Mary. She chose to sit at His feet and hear His word.

There is a home in Jerusalem sometimes called the water bearer’s home, but I do not know whose it was. I call it the Passover home. Everything was ready where Jesus could break the bread and drink the cup. It was a home the Lord could depend on. Jesus told them what to do. Jesus had great confidence and knew that home would be ready for the use of God’s people. In every part of the land today, there are homes God can depend on. God knows and the servants know that they will be ready at the appointed hour, where they will be able to break bread and drink the cup. We thank God for homes we can depend on where God’s children can meet together away from the world and to sit at the feet of Jesus.

We read of the home of Timothy in Acts 16. His mother was a Jewess but his father was a Greek. I see here a divided home. There was a very faithful woman there and a little boy growing up, and the woman was putting all she could into that home. I know how Timothy must have felt as he grew up, because the first ten years of my life were in a divided home too. Often my heart was pulled between two, but look what came out of that divided home, a man who had faith unfeigned. This should give hope to any who are in a divided home.

May we go out with a deeper desire than ever before to make our homes worthy homes. If you want your home to be all it should be, be sure that you love one another. You as a wife must obediently submit to your husband. Be sure as a husband that you love your wife. As little children, be sure you obey your parents. Think of the home of Abraham and do your best to put into these little children the thing God wants you to put there. We will be going home soon, but the Convention will have just begun. What kind of year is it going to be? Will it be any better than last year?

“He came to my desk with a quivering lip, the lesson was done,
‘I want a new sheet, dear teacher, I have blotted this one.’

I took the old sheet all torn and blotted, and gave him a new one all unspotted,
And into his sad eyes smiled, ‘Do better my child.’

I came to the throne with a weary heart, the year was done,
‘I want a new year Lord, I have spoiled this one.’

He took the old year all torn and blotted, and gave me a new one all unspotted,
And into my eyes smiled, ‘Do better my child.’ ”

Acts 24:14, “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.”  Paul was speaking before the governor, a great ruler. Verse 16 says, “Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.” There is nothing more important to God’s people than having a conscience void of offense, not only toward God, but also toward man.

“Herein do I exercise myself…” How do you exercise yourself? Perhaps in things we ought not to do. Psalm 131, “My heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me.” I have got into trouble many times because I have exercised myself in things I ought not to have done. What is this conscience? It is something very important. We were speaking yesterday about those who gave up having a good conscience. If ever we, as God’s people, lose a good conscience, it won’t be long till we have lost our hold on the truth of God. A good conscience means God is able to restrain us when no eye sees. We can all sit down and read our Bibles and God can speak to us, in meetings like this, in the place of prayer, when we visit with each other, in different ways, but there are times when we don’t have our Bible, don’t have the privilege of the fellowship of God’s people, when we stand alone and no eye sees but the eye of God. It is then that a good conscience can restrain you and me from doing the wrong thing.

Restraining power is just as important as motive power. There has been much in these meetings like motive power that will enable us to go forward and do the things we have been talking about, but restraining power is important, too, and our good conscience is that restraining power. Don’t ever lose it, throw it away, or give it up. It may be the thing that will save your life some day when you stand alone and nobody can see. Every young person in this meeting must have experienced that when out alone with friends of the world; you could have done something that was wrong, but your conscience would not let you. We read about men whose conscience has been seared as with a hot iron. God can no more appeal to their hearts.

The Indians defined a good conscience. They said a conscience was something in a man’s heart like a little square box with sharp corners and when they did wrong the box, began to turn and give pain. If he kept doing wrong, the corners wore smooth and it no longer gave pain. This could be loud case when we don’t obey when God speaks.

Continue in prayer, walk in wisdom, let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt are the three parts of your service and they come in God’s order: prayer, walking, and talking last. If we want to walk wisely before the world and our brethren, we must be faithful in the secret place. It is easy to be faithful and true here, but to be faithful when no eye sees but the eye of God, that is being faithful.

Romans 1:14, “I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the unwise and to the wise.” Paul speaks now as the servant of God. “I am a debtor to all men.” Everyone in this meeting is glad that there was someone who felt a great debt upon their soul for you, and they were willing to leave home, friends and families and country, and come to your shores as young man and women, not knowing what lay before them. It was all done because they felt that great burden of debt upon their hearts.

Have you ever felt that debt upon your heart? Have you ever felt you owe the perishing world a debt? You would if you could see the teeming millions and the hopelessness that is written on their faces and the hunger that is in their hearts. I was asked, “Is it possible to love these people in Korea?” I could love those people just as much as I would love my own people. There has never been a time when the world needs you more than today. People are hungry for the bread of God and there is nobody to tell them. There is a young girl in Korea, about nineteen years old who said to me, “We people of Korea are hungry not for bread, but for the word of God.” Have your parents ever prayed, “Thrust out labourers to the harvest,” and are you willing for your own children to go? The harvest is white and the labourers are few. There is a tendency in all of us to say, “There is plenty of time,” but souls are perishing and we owe them a debt.

Philippians 1:20-21, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” That is part of Paul’s own personal testimony. These verses stirred my heart. What is life to you? To some people to live is their bank account, to some it is their family, to some their business or their automobile, but to this man, to live was Christ. May we all be able to say this from the depths of our heart.

Sometimes we are all a little bit ashamed of Christ. Paul wanted to manifest this Christ unto the world. How can I manifest Christ to the world? There is only one way to do it. “Always bearing about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be revealed in our body.” We all have a desire to manifest Christ to our friends, neighbours, and business associates. There is only one way to do it and that way is to die. The way of life has always been the way of death. There is no other way. There are no shortcuts to usefulness. Death is the only door. The way of Christ from the beginning has been the way of death.

“I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” The reason there are so many different religions in the world today is that men have been trying to make an easy way. Have you been guilty of trying to find and easy way? From the day I took my stand as a boy of eleven, I signed my death warrant. I had been in cubs and the scouts. My mother protested but I got my own way. We had good times together with nothing wrong, just good clean fun. Then I said, “Mother, do you suppose I could continue being a scout and be a Christian?” She said, “You will have to decide that for yourself.”

Next there was a ball game on the Sunday and I thought, “I cannot go because I have professed to be a Christian.” The next Sunday there was a picnic and the following Sunday something else and I very soon began to see this little thing was going to hinder my fellowship with God and I gave it up. I began to to see this is an awful debt. Keep yourselves upon the altar. Adam and Eve tried to make a way for themselves without death, but God was not satisfied with that, and God made them garments of skins, and a little animal had to die.

What was it that caused those boys Cain and Abel to think about God when they reached the age of maturity? It was something Adam and Eve had put into their hearts. They had learned the great lesson that God had taught them, and they were passing it on. Are you parents teaching your children to sacrifice? This child is only given to you for a little while. You are entrusted its care. How will you stand before God, and how will the little one stand before God later on? Cain brought of the fruits of the field, not even the first-fruits, and offered it before God. It may have been a beautiful sacrifice to look upon and we would say, “God will surely accept it.” And then we see the little lamb, skinned and put upon that altar and we turn away with disgust and horror, but as God looks down, He turns His face away from the sacrifice of Cain, showing to the world from the beginning, His way was the way of death.

Cain was trying to find an easier way. I think most of us have been guilty of that. May we each one be willing to bind our sacrifice to the altar and keep it there till it is consumed. Your body, not your money, automobile, farm, but your body. Many people are willing to give their dollars, time and talent almost anything, but the one thing God wants most is their lives. Revelation 6:9, “And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” Why had they been slain? Because their sacrifice had been bound to the altar and kept there till there was nothing left but the ashes.

Abraham offered a sacrifice and the birds of prey came down upon that sacrifice to take it away. There are birds of prey that would rob you of your sacrifice: worldliness, selfishness, pride, covetousness. I pray everyone will be like Abraham, that we will guard that sacrifice until the going down of the sun, that the sacrifice might be all consumed. Jesus taught that unless man was willing to be the corn of wheat, he could never show Jesus to others. That was when the Greeks came seeking Jesus. There are many in the world who long to see the Lord. There Jesus taught them that one lesson how Christ could be revealed to a perishing world. There is no other way to reveal Jesus to the world but by dying, just like a corn of wheat.

Philippians 3:13-14, “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Have we been guilty of looking back, thinking about your wrongs and failures and faults I have made? But I am leaving that now to be covered by the blood of Jesus. The present is also covered by the blood of Jesus and the future is covered by the promises of Christ. The past is all over and done. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt, a monument of failure.

In II Timothy 1:11-12, this old man Paul had come to the end of his life and he was able to speak with such assurance, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” There is nothing like the hope God gives to the hearts if man. Thirty years before this, this man fell on his face and said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” He did not know Him. Now at the end of his days, what a wonderful testimony. To hear the testimonies of the aged amongst us, with not many years to live, has warmed my heart. An infidel continued to maintain there was no God and at the end of his days, he was asked, “What do you think now?” He said, “I do not know what the future holds.” What a terrible thing to come to the end of life and have to say, “I do not know.” Paul could say, “For we know that when our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building … eternal in the heavens.” God grant that every one of us could face the valley’s gloom with that assurance.

II Timothy 4:6-9, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness … at His appearing.” That is a wonderful climax to a wonderful testimony. That day is coming to all of us very soon, the time when the final part of our sacrifice is poured out. Can we say what Paul did?

This did not mean Paul had won every battle. He went down in battle just as we do, because he was just as human as we are, but he continued to rise again and fight. You remember when the Japanese were nearing your shore and those brave men were standing between them and you, you would pick up the papers and often read of them going down to defeat, but they rose and fought on until finally they won the last battle. The loss of a battle does not mean the loss of a war. It is winning the last battle that means winning the war. I hope we will keep fighting on and finish our course as this man did.

My mind has been going back over the history of the people of God. This is always an interesting subject to me, and I’ll try to make it interesting to you. I consider that we are the most privileged people in all the world for the simple reason that what we believe and stand for and teach doesn’t have its origin with man. You don’t go back into the history of the world to find it. You have to go back to the beginning and to God. God had his plan in His heart and mind before the foundations of the world were laid. This way of service is from the beginning. That is why Jesus is likened to Melchisedec and Melchisedec to Jesus, that service is the same spiritual service. In the Levitical priesthood, which was introduced into the world only for a time, there was provision to keep people within bounds, and it was to remain in the world until a certain time when Jesus would come and manifest God perfectly in the world. His name was Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus was speaking of the temple of His body when He said in John 2:19-22, “Destroy the temple and in three days, I will raise it up.” They of course imagined or wished to imagine that He was talking about the temple at Jerusalem, and accused Him of wanting to destroy that temple and to build it again in three days. God said to Moses in Exodus 25:8, “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” Moses did according to the instructions he received in the Mount; every detail of that tabernacle would have its fulfillment somewhere in the life, sacrifice, intercession of Christ. We read in Hebrews 7:24-28 that Jesus was our High Priest who ever liveth to make intercession. This is something that the high priest taken from among men never was able to do. Everything in that tabernacle was there for a definite purpose.

Remember in reading of the Old Testament there were two tents [1] the sanctuary that had to do with the service [Numbers 1:51-53 and [2] the tent that Moses where out to in their God met with him and gave him instructions, Exodus 33:7. It is possible that this tabernacle later became the sanctuary. The fact that it was a tent suggests that it wasn’t to last very long. God told David that He had gone from tent to tent and from one tabernacle to another. When one weakened or decayed, another tent took its place. The second one would be made like the first, the tent only was renewed. A very wonderful part of the history of God’s people when it came into the heart of David to build the temple. David received wonderful blessings because of having this in his heart. He did all he could to help his son Solomon to build. He made him to understand that this is a very important thing and it must be done according to God’s wishes. It was done according to God’s plan, and David received as a result what is called in the scripture, the sure mercies of David. God promised him that day that one day Christ would come of his posterity.

The temple was erected in a very important place in the world; it was in the centre of the known world. The Mediterranean is in the middle of the earth, it was near the middle of the earth that God chose that home should be built. The time came when God allowed the temple to be destroyed. Why was it? You can read about [that] in Ezra and Nehemiah. These books are very interesting [as they] deal with the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem and of the wall. God let that house go because the people had got wrong from the inside. We don’t want to worry so much about what will come from the outside, it is a thing getting wrong from the inside that does the damage. It is like a tree that looks alright from the outside, but it is decaying on the inside and it isn’t going to be long before the tree falls down. In the days of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel people had the name, but not the nature or desires pleasing to God. “The ox knoweth his owner and the ass the Master’s crib.” Isaiah 1:3. God’s people had become less grateful than the animals around them. God reminded those people of what they were when they left Egypt and of the love they had towards Him. That was the love when they as a lover would follow the bridegroom into a land that wasn’t sown. It was true love because it wasn’t just for what they were going to get, but the attachment they had to Him. But they had gone down, down, and down into captivity. God didn’t want that temple to be in the centre of the world when His people were wrong, and that’s why He allowed it to go.

One thing that was never forgotten was the site, the foundation, of the temple. They could always find where that temple had been, the old site of the altar was still there also. This reminds me of Psalm 11:3, “If foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” We are not here today because some years ago somebody was smarter than others. God was able to speak to them above others and devised this way upon the earth; we are here because the foundations of God have never been destroyed. God has been able to move certain hearts to build on that foundation that will never be destroyed. I don’t want to spend my time in building on any other foundations. Those foundations were not destroyed. God’s people went into captivity and during that captivity some of the most faithful children of God that ever lived were there. We don’t need to count according to numbers; we are concerned about quality in the people of God. We are always glad when the number is high. We are living in the age of the world’s history when we should be very thankful. There are no other people like His in all the world.

As you look at the barometer of the history of God’s people through the ages, you will have to admit that it has gone up and down all the time. It is up now, there is a big responsibility for us to keep it up. The more pressure there is the more likely it is to come down. When the graph was low, there were still some very faithful souls in the world. Daniel was in a foreign country, a slave and had many disadvantages. He could have said that it was a disappointment to be living in the world at that time. We don’t find any trace of that complaint in his life, but we find him continually praying towards Jerusalem with his window open. That was not our fanatical notion. God has said that when His people were scattered, if they would turn their eyes in the direction of Jerusalem and pray, He would hear an answer from His dwelling place in heaven. He could have said, “What difference does it make if I shut the window, as long as I pray?” It wasn’t only praying but how, praying according to the plan and desire and request of God. Praying towards Jerusalem had a definite meaning for Daniel, and although he didn’t go and help rebuild the temple, he had a great part in it and a great reward for the part he had in rebuilding the temple. The people of God came out of captivity and work began on the rebuilding of the temple.

In Ezra 1 and Isaiah 45, we read of a man of the world. Cyrus being chosen by God to have a part in that, although he knew not God. It is not for us to imagine that God cannot or will not or does not use people in the world, expressly kings and those in authority. In Ezra, that King admits his position in the world and has been given to him by God and that God had said that He would help the Israelites in their return to rebuild Jerusalem. We can well understand why the apostle Paul and others encouraged the Christians to pray for those in authority in the world, for kings and rulers, etc. You may have your political notions if you wish, but one thing more important for the children of God in this world wherever they live is to pray for those in authority. As the people of God, your prayers will do far more for the rulers of the nations than your politics will do. I might vote for the wrong man in politics; in praying for others, I never consider that I pray for the wrong person. Things happen in this world that convince me that the prayers of God’s people are heard by Him. There is more weight in prayers than you can imagine.

Cyrus was fully convinced that God dwelt at Jerusalem and that He had given him power in this world. He let the Israelites go to rebuild that city. Prayers of men like Daniel had worked this in the world and moved this king to give them a measure of freedom. The king also decreed that the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of that house should go back and be put where they were before. God had His eye upon those vessels all through the years and God moved upon the heart of that king that they should go back into the place where they belonged. Those vessels were produced by the definite sacrifice of the people that lived before, and unfaithfulness of others caused them to be taken away. Do we worry that our sacrifice will not be used right? The responsibility of misusing it falls on someone else; our reward is sure. Belshazzar put these vessels to wrong use and brought destruction upon himself, but this did not diminish the reward of those who gave toward the making of those vessels. They did it unto God and the reward was sure.

In the first seven chapters of Ezra, we are given an account of those who first went up at the request of Cyrus to rebuild that city. After they arrived in the city, the first thing they rebuilt was the altar on its old site. They rebuilt the altar because they understood the cause of all that destruction – sacrifice had gone out of the lives of their forefathers. The cause of your troubles and disappointments and sorrows can be traced to the lack of sacrifice in your life. Keep that spirit of sacrifice going in your life! You’ll have suffering and enemies and difficulties, but with the peace of God – and that is more valuable than all else in the world. They rebuilt the altar on its old site, and then began to rebuild the house. It took far longer to rebuild that house than it took to build it in the first place. It is far easier to get wrong than to get right again. There is a law of gravitation in regard to our service to God; it is easier to go down than up.

The record in Ezra. Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah tells us that the rebuilding stretched over the time that four kings reigned. The enemy came and said that this had been a rebellious city and that there had been sedition, and because of these things, the city had been destroyed. This was not true at all. They found the records and interpreted them in their own way, and forced the work to cease until Darius. At this time, Haggai and Zechariah stirred up the people to rebuild. They reminded the people that God must be in the centre if everything is to go well. When God is in His place, then other things have their proper place. The enemy came again but the elders who were building replied that the reason that the city was in this state was because the forefathers had not been true. That was a true report, and those elders who were building were prepared and ready to admit the cause of their distress. Darius gave orders that these people should be helped in rebuilding.

These kings recognized that these people had a wonderful importance in the world and they didn’t want the wrath of God to come upon them. The kings were not what you would call believers, but they had a respect for the God of Heaven, and knew that if they went deliberately against His Will and people it would bring judgment upon them. These kings always encouraged the children of Israel to make their sacrifices; they knew that they should be a sacrificing people. Many, many people in this world are not prepared to walk this Way of Life, but they know what we should be doing, and they know when we are doing it and when we are not. They felt that when these people were sacrificing to their God that it would bring a measure of blessing to them. We can never be the blessing that we should be to any near unless we keep that sacrifice going in our own lives. If we let that sacrifice go out of our lives, others know it; it is a blessing to be near us only when our sacrifice is continuing.

Ezra gives the account of all that work, and in the last part of his book, he is dealing with what he did. He was a priest, a scribe and he set himself to learn and to know and to do and to teach the Will of God. When the king asked him to go up to teach the people, Ezra was so pleased that he couldn’t stop thanking God for the good hand of God upon him in the attitude of that king. When he left for Jerusalem, he had with him vessels to help in the service when he would get there. His company (Ezra 8:15) stopped by a river, fasted and prayed then found that there were none among that group of the order to serve inside the house. Twenty men were found to fill this place. Then Ezra chose twelve men to take the consecrated vessels to the house in Jerusalem. Ezra wasn’t one who imagined that everything had to pass by his hands or under his eyes. He weighed these out, and the twelve men delivered the vessels to the place where they belonged. Along the journey, they prayed and asked God to guide them, not that Ezra did not know the way from Babylon to Jerusalem, but he didn’t know the right way for them to go. There were nomads and robbers along the way and they were praying that God would protect them. We don’t know just what is ahead of us and we don’t need to worry as long as we do what Ezra and his friends did. He didn’t ask for an escort of soldiers because he had told the king that God was near those who serve Him. Our strength depends upon God being with us along the way.

Ezra and Nehemiah both grieved that there was not the separation between the Lord’s people and the world that there ought to be. Their trouble in the past had been through lack of separation, and it could bring them trouble in the future. Our posterity or continuance in the world does not depend upon our compromising with this world but in remaining a separated people. When we weaken along that line, we see the barometer going down again. The temple remained with its changes, until A.D. 70; then it disappeared because it was the plan of God that it should. It pointed men and women to Jesus. God’s people today are the temple of God; God wants to preserve that temple so that He through and by and in that temple will be glorified in the earth. We have the highest and best privileges of any people in this world. We have a bitter enemy against us, and always there is the danger of letting the pointer go down again. In this our day, we want to keep that pointer high.

I Peter 2:25, God’s people can always look back to the time when they were as sheep going astray. They can also look back to the time with rejoicing, when they returned to the shepherd….the Shepherd of their soul. I am very glad that over 40 years ago, the gospel came to the district where we lived. As we heard the gospel preached, we heard the true Shepherd’s voice calling us from that which is of men, unto God Himself. I have been glad to prove in these later years the love and care and provision of the ‘true’ Shepherd.

I thought of speaking a little from Psalm 23. David was able to say, “The Lord is my shepherd.” The Lord is my Shepherd….perfect protection. It is true that sheep need protection…they need a shepherd. They are very defenseless animals. The scripture mentions the dog, the wolf, and the lion. In Australia, I believe one of the saddest things I have ever seen take place, with regard to sheep, is when the fox catches the lambs and eats their tongues out. They cannot drink, they cannot eat, and they cannot bleat. It is true we have just as cruel an enemy to destroy our souls in Christ today. We were hearing about the enemy wanting to put out the eye of the children of Israel. So we need to live near the Shepherd and seek His protection continually or else death or disaster will become our portion also.

David said, “I shall not want.”…perfect satisfaction! The Psalmist said, “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” That is one of the first things that impressed us when we first met the servants of God. They had full satisfaction in Christ Jesus. Though people are religious, they turn to the world for satisfaction. It is good to prove for ourselves there is full satisfaction in Christ and we do not need to turn to the world. David also said in this Psalm, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”…….which would suggest perfect rest. He also said, “Will lead me beside still waters,” which speaks of perfect quietness. It is true sheep need rest and quietness. I have seen the sheep come in early in the day and take their drink of water and lay down quietly, but not idly, for they begin to chew the cud. I believe as you watch them, you have to say every second, they are taking a chew. If they do not chew the cud, they cannot produce wool. I have seen the value of fleece reduced because the sheep did not rest quietly. It is true that the quality of our fruitfulness will not be developed if we do not give time to meditation upon what God gives us. David also said, “He restoreth my soul,” which suggests perfect restoration. I believe that one of the reasons why God has gathered us here at convention is to restore our souls, to build us up, and strengthen us. Verse 3 says, “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness,” which suggests perfect guidance. “He leadeth me!” One of the things that I have noticed about sheep is that they are responsive to light. We often gathered them just at eventide. I used to wonder why there was more light outside than there was inside. One time, we decided to gather them after we had our evening meal. I went down with a light, and they all gathered around me in the shed. Wherever I put the light, the sheep went and stood by it. That is one of the marks or characteristics of sheep by nature. Therefore as we claim to be the sheep of God, this mark should be made very manifest in us. Jesus is spoken of as the true light of the world. God’s word is also spoken of as a light. The Psalmist said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” So as we profess to be the people of God, we need to be guided by two things…..the true light of the world, Jesus, and God’s word which also is a light to our path. If we can say that we are guided by these two things, we can dwell safely.

David said, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” It is true that in the journey God would lead us through, there are dangers. But it is a precious thing to have true confidence and trust in the one who is leading us. A hymn mentions (#347), “My hope and confidence are deeply rooted in the Lord.” There is the danger of being self-confident instead of being confident in Him who is able. It also mentions in this fourth verse, “Thou are with me,” which is perfect companionship. Proverbs mentions there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. I think that is referring to Jesus, also. It is a wonderful thing that we can have a perfect companionship with Jesus and we do not need to journey alone. David also said, “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me,” which would suggest perfect consolation. One of the saddest experiences I faced naturally was when I lost my own Mother. But I would have to say that the consolation of God was greater than the sorrow. It is true that we often need to face sad experiences in this life, but it is wonderful to have a greater consolation in Christ Jesus. Verse 5 has these words, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” That would suggest perfect triumph. I am sure that many people around here have wondered why we have congregated together like this. It is because our Lord has triumphed and prevailed and is able to spread before us a table here. I am sure we have valued what God has spread upon the table from the least to the greatest. David said, “Thou anointest my head with oil.” Perfect joy. The joy that God gives exceeds the joy and greatness of anything else. David once said, “Thou hast put gladness in my heart.” The gladness that God puts in our hearts is far greater than the gladness we have ever obtained from this world. David also said, “My cup runneth over,” which would suggest perfect provision. I believe that as we have come here that our cup has been filled to overflowing. Therefore our joy and provision is very great.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Goodness and mercy would suggest God’s perfect love toward us. When I think of God gathering His people into these annual gatherings, I am reminded at home when we gathered in our father’s sheep yearly, to be shorn. I have seen those sheep coming in, one looking often much different than another. We could see evidence where those sheep had been reaching through the fences and pulling the wool off their necks. Others had eaten poison weeds. It had affected their wool; one-half to two-thirds had fallen off. Some had been blinded because of having seeds in their eyes, which blinded them. Some were lame…..feet needed attention. As we sheared them, my Father would watch them and often take seeds out of their eyes. Others would need their feet attended to. There was one thing that I always noticed after the shearing, that when they went out they all looked similar. They went out different than when they came in. I believe that is how God wants us to leave this convention; we have proved God’s goodness and mercy. He has unburdened us from the burdens of the past. He has anointed us with eye salve. He has caused us to put shoes on our feet. I have seen those sheep, after being sheared, jumping and leaping in the air because they felt they were unburdened with what they had previously been burdened down with.

Before those sheep were let go, there was something my Father was very particular about, and that was they bear his identification on them. Sheep, when they are shorn, have a whiteness that is very noticeable. We are going out into an unspotted future. Our future is unstained. It is a very precious thing that we realize too, that we can carry our Heavenly Father’s identification as we go out into the future. When we used to put the identification on the sheep, it was often referred to as a brand; it made the sheep conspicuous. It is true that as we go out bearing our Heavenly Father’s imprint, we are conspicuous before the world. These marks on the sheep were put on the sheep so if they strayed my Father could claim them. God doesn’t want any of us to stray, as He wants to lay full claim upon us and wants us to keep close to Him.

The last thing that is mentioned in this 23rd Psalm is, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Perfect habitation. I hope we can see the true value of the house of the Lord, that the desire of our hearts is that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, because the enemy would like for us to dwell in dangerous places. God wants us to dwell in His house so that we would know His comfort and provision and protection here and throughout the countless ages of eternity. I hope we will value the true Shepherd of our souls. Allow Him to lead us and guide us in future days so when we come next year we can lay down a sacrifice that is well pleasing to Him. Sometimes when the fleece was shorn off the sheep, my Father would put it on the scale because he gloated to tell how much that one sheep produced in one year. God has pleasure in His people. Psalm 121:8, “The Lord shall preserve their going out and their coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” I hope that as we go out from this convention that He will preserve us.

Daniel 1-8, there is a very profitable story contained in these first chapters of this book of Daniel more than 2,500 years ago, but the application of it is very much in our own day. Four young men against a world empire. These four young men wrote some grand history and made some grander history in their day. Someday, the pages will be turned to our portion and what is written in the Book is either going to make some very nice history or some history that we will be ashamed of and that we will wish that it had been much better. It is what we are doing now that is going down in the Book. Whether we like it or not, it is going down in the Book. “The moving finger writes and having writ moves on and all your piety and all your wit cannot lure it back to cancel out the line for all your tears wash out a word of it.” I have learned it is a lot easier to read history and to write history than to make history. It is a lot easier to read about Daniel and his companions than to be like them. The Lord is not so much concerned about the history that is going on and the battles amongst us that are fought. The Lord is not concerned very much about that, but of the greatest importance to the Lord is the history that is going down from the lives of His people. What is going down there is unknown largely to this world. Women like Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and not well known outside their own locality, but known in Heaven. Unknown people, but they are known in Heaven and a record is being kept.

There are two Babylons. There is a natural Babylon that was an empire and there were great world rulers that reigned over that and suddenly in that period, Babylon was no more. Suddenly in one hour, Babylon disappeared. An allegory is a story that is enacted by human people in this world, but it is telling another story. Just as Sarah in the Old Testament. There was a natural story, a natural child, but it was telling another story altogether. There is a spiritual Babylon. There is a world empire. Spiritual darkness, spiritual wickedness, and worldliness. Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel enacted and taught certain eternal truths that concern us today. There is a spiritual Kingdom.

Paul wrote we wrestle not against flesh and blood. It is not merely human beings we are wrestling against. We are wrestling against powers, spiritual wickedness.

Nebuchadnezzar is the symbol of the ruler of spiritual Babylon. Spiritual Babylon takes in everything and everyone who is not born of God. Every teaching that is not in line with the teaching of God’s Son. Idolatry is wrong thinking of our God. It is a thought taken for a substance. It is a mental picture mistaken for reality. It is wrong thinking about God, wrong thoughts about His Way. The meaning of Babylon is confusion of mind and heart. Confusion in the world, confusion in religion. There are as many Gods, almost as people. Everybody has their own thoughts about God. There could not be any greater confusion in the world than the confusion that is in Babylon.

The first mention of Babylon in the Bible – Genesis 10. The beginning of the Kingdom of Babylon. The man whose name was Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one in the earth, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Not only amongst men but he was lifting up himself before the Almighty. The beginning of Babylon. He was mighty, he was a big man, he was a great Man. He was not little in the household of faith. We are all born little or we are not born. It is the will of our Father that we should remain so. We should remain so in our own estimation. There is no room for any one of us to be proud, for what have we that our Father did not give us. What have we accomplished for ourselves? Not one thing. There is no room for any one of us to ever feel the least bit inflated and to get the feeling that we have somewhat of superiority because everything we live, our Father gave to us. No room for boasting or bigness in this house.

In the next chapter, you read of these people who were journeying in the east. They were on the move, they were sojourners in the land. They got tired. They did not like walking by faith and being sojourners and pilgrims on the earth. You will read they found a nice plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there. The nice easy way to serve God. When it is easy for us, there is something wrong. There will be nothing accomplished in this household of God without suffering. There will be no progress, no growth, or prosperity in this house apart from suffering. Somebody is going to suffer and the more the better. When we find a nice easy way to serve God to be in this walk of God, we are on the way to destruction. It will be the most sacrificing life or should be. It depends on what is in us to stand as we are not to settle down on the plain. This path will be the path where we keep on walking.

They said, “Let us make us a city. We will have a fellowship, we will have a tower, we will be strong, this will lead us to Heaven, and we will have brick for stone and slime for mortar. We are going to do a human endeavor.” The Lord was dis­regarded; it was all their own ideas and their own plannings.  Babylon. The Lord has no part in it, Babylon can make bricks and church members. Only the Lord can make stone and can make children of God. Do we ever have any temptations to stoop to Babylon? I have heard, “We have got to have something for you people to hold them out of this world.”

In the fellowship of the Divine One, we are held together by the Love of God and the love of His Truth, and the love to obey Him and that is stronger and better than all the slime of Babylon. It will hold us if we have the love of God but if we do not, all the slime of Babylon will not keep us together. All the mortar that they will bring will never hold us. We will be held together only by Divine Love. The most important thing in our gathering will be the love of God burning. If that is burning, there will be prosperous times amongst us. All the slime of Babylon will not prevent truth from rising if the love of God is dying; it talks of iniquity abiding. They said, “We will make us a city, etc.” The Lord looked down and said, “Let Us go down and confound language and scatter them.” That is figurative of what you will read in the last book of the Bible. That the Almighty is coming down to scatter Babylon. In one hour, the Lord is coming down and they will he scattered and there will be no more Babylon.

In Daniel 2, a picture of Babylon is given to us. Nebuchadnezzar the king has a dream. He is only a natural king, but a symbol of the Ruler of the darkness of Babylon. He could not remember that vision. He called his magicians and astrologers but they could not tell him what was in his heart because they did not know the God who had given him this vision. It is the knowledge of the Almighty that will tell what is in your heart. Daniel was called in. He asked for this appoint­ment to speak with the King and before the appointment Daniel and the 3 young men prayed to the God of Heaven that He would show to them what He had spoken to Nebuchadnezzar. These young men out of the reasonings of their heart, out of the agony of soul they were praying. The effectual prayer was moving the heart of God.

These 4 young men desired mercies of the God of Heaven. The Lord revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Daniel said, “Blessed be the name of God forever, wisdom and might are His. He changes the time and the seasons, He removes kings and setteth up kings, He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things, He knoweth what is in the darkness and the light dwelleth with Him.” In his heart, Daniel said, “The Lord can remove this man and can set up another.” Are we with that knowledge that regardless of what is going on among men, are we worried about the people in Russia or about the people in Africa or who might rise up and what they might do? The Lord can remove Kings and set up whomsoever He will, if the Lord wants that man in, you cannot stop Him. The Lord will do the appointing and He knows what is in the darkness and the Light is with Him. Our Father is on the Throne and we can trust Him and if it is His will for certain happenings that are going to affect us. Let it come in; it is only hastening the day of the Lord. It is a great time just to keep right, just to be true today. Do not worry about next year or next month or whatever our business is, be true today, we only have to live for one day at a time. We could borrow trouble and think of the future but we only have to fight this out today. Let us be true today. Daniel saw this and went in and told the King what was the position.

In Babylon, there were kings succeeding Nebuchadnezzar that were lesser. The head of gold is very great philosophy, great thinking, wonderful teaching, but feet of clay that could not walk. Teaching people what to do but no power to do that, a form of godliness, no power or ability. In coming into the household of faith, we realize we have come into this and God gives us power to walk. Jesus feet were like unto burnished brass, strong judgment, walking in the judgment of His Father. Babylon had feet of clay. Babylon still cannot walk, never could walk. The truth of Heaven gave us power to be what we want to be and what God wants us to be. Then there was a stone cut out of the Mount, without hands that smote that image and it was scattered and there was no place found for that image. Telling what was going to happen with this great image that is in the world, having wonderful preachers, wonderful sermons, great men of the world but someday this truth of heaven that we have entrusted, that God has given, someday Jesus who is the stone set aside by the builders, some day that stone is the head of the corner.

Do we realise we are on the winning side? For a little while, we are scorned for a little while the world thinks we are fanatical when we elect to walk in the pathway of the Son of God but we are on the winning side. Someday, these teachings of Jesus will be the only teachings in all of this world.  All we need to do is watch. We need patience.  Let us keep on quietly and steadily. Our day is coming; Babylon has their day now but our day is coining, all we have to do is watch a little while. It will be great to be here with Him when there are no other doctrines, no other teachings except what we have received by faith. It is certain and it is sure. Nebuchadnezzar set up the image and everybody was commanded to fall down and worship the image. This image is also Babylon. What I am afraid of is Babylon in us that we could have the thoughts of Babylon in us that we will have ways of Babylon in our walk that Babylon shall come into the midst of us.

The Israelites never went to Babylon till Babylon was in them. They had the ways of Babylon, and the pride of Babylon and they copied all the thoughts of Babylon. It would be Babylon if we wanted to preach like the clergymen in the world. To be swelled up with the feeling of our importance.  I am afraid of Babylon in myself and in the Lord’s people. It is one and the same thing whether we are in Babylon or Babylon is in us. The reason why Babylon has prospered is that it is attractive to humans, very enticing. We do not want to be unlike the world or unlike their religions. It is in us by nature to avoid the suffering and to make a show in the flesh. To make a show in the flesh is Babylon, to make a show in preaching is Babylon. To want to impress people the way we can do something is Babylon. Paul puts it like this, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience, of Christ.” Bringing every thought into subjection to Christ. Babylon has risen images and high and lofty thoughts that are contrary to God. That is the image of gold that was so enticing.

Chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar had another vision. It is about a great tree in the earth and the top of it reached to Heaven. The great tree – its leaves were fair and fruit was much. Under it were the beasts of the fields, in it were the fowls of the air and all flesh was fed off it. Babylon is powerful. Babylon is mighty. Babylon seemed supreme, the top reached to Heaven, All flesh is full of it. Babylon feeds flesh and it feeds pride. You can be in Babylon and please yourself. That is Babylon. If you are in Zion, you walk the self-denying way. There is nothing for flesh in Zion. In this vision, Nebuchadnezzar, the watcher, comes down and cuts down this tree. Babylon was gone and the stump was left in the ground. For seven seasons, he was restored to his Kingdom again. On the very same day, the ruler of spiritual Babylon will be driven from the sons of man. He will be in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. After a little while, he will be let loose.

In that, Nebuchadnezzar is also a symbol. Nebuchadnezzar is only an earthly ruler but the Lord has chosen him to teach another truth in that Babylon, in one hour was no more. These 4 men against an empire. In the 1st chapter, Nebuchadnezzar said, “Make these 4 men.” Teach them the learning of the Chaldeans. Make them learned in the wisdom of Babylon, give them the meat of Babylon. Give them the drink of Babylon and at the end of 3 years, they will be just like Babylon. Keep on feeding and it will be just like Babylon. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with this meat. He was only a captive and most likely was there because many of his forebears had failed him and the whole nation was sold into captivity. He purposed in his heart. He was abiding steadfast; it was not merely a desire, it was a purpose. These 4 men had their purpose. Do we have some iron in our purpose? When a purpose is made with iron in it, we have some iron in our purpose. When a purpose is made with iron in it, we have half won the battle. If we have a purpose with some iron in it, we are not pushed over by every little temptation that comes along.

The prince said, “You want to eat pulse and drink water. You cannot live on that stuff.” Did anybody ever tell you, “You cannot simply live in this world and just follow the teaching of that Book? You will be a sad looking bunch of people if you try to follow that and live on that stuff.” The world thinks our young people cannot live on what the Lord has given them. They live a lot better than what Babylon is giving them, and the world cannot ever give them. This is reality. Daniel said, “Prove us for 10 days.” At the end of 10 days, they were a far better, fresher, pleasanter looking bunch than all the people that took Babylon’s diet. More happiness, peace and pleasure in the house of God with the affliction that comes than ever we could have in Babylon. If we are prepared to walk wholeheartedly, we will not be the sad looking bunch of people, we will have the best of it here and hereafter. In all the matters of the king, they were 10 times wiser. They had 10 times more knowledge. More wisdom even about the affairs of this world, because they could look ahead and now what was going to happen. He had a purpose in his heart.

In chapter 3, that image of gold was made and they were told, “Fall down or you will get the fiery furnace.” They were brought in and the man said, “Do you dare up yourselves against a world, an empire?” Do we dare lift up ourselves and defy all the commandments of man and devil? Do we dare defy the darkness of the world? When you hear the music, if you fall down and worship, it will be well with you. Do not try to think you are the only ones that are right in the world. Do not be in step with the whole world. If we are in step with Jesus, we are out of step with this world and Babylon. We cannot be in step with both.

They answered back and I admire their answer. They answered back, “We are not careful how we answer you. If our God wants to deliver us, He will.” We have no doubt about that if it is His will, He will deliver us and even if He will not choose to do that, let it be known to you here and now, we are not bowing down. In his rage and fury, he made it 7 times hotter, and the mightiest men of his realm threw them into the fire. These men that put the three Hebrew children in were consumed in a moment. The King looked in and asked, “Did we not throw 3 men bound into this fire?” He said, “I see 4 men loose and the form of the 4th is the form of the Son of God.” Three men bound in the Will of God equals 4 men in liberty. The Lord was looking on. The world may bind us and imprison us but we will be free men and women in spirit. The more they saw it, the more was the form of the Son of God to be brought to bear and that ungodly king, that man who did not know the Lord, he knew the form of God’s Son. This world knows the form of God’s Son when they see it. It is up to us to manifest that form.

Nebuchadnezzar said, “Come forth and come hither.” There is no other God who can deliver like your God, He said, “You have changed the king’s word. You have yielded your bodies to serve no God but your own.” They were making some history.

Daniel kept himself and this is written, “God has delivered you because you believed your God.” You believed Him and you were simple enough, to just do what He told you, what you knew to be right. Have enough simplicity to believe God, any to believe His word and to believe that, that is what we should be doing. If we do that, we will be preserved in the den of lions, we will be preserved in the midst of the fire of persecution in this world and best of all, we shall be in our own day making a little bit of history so that we will not be ashamed when we are standing with Daniel and his 3 companions. We can say, “We also had a purpose. I have confidence in God that there will be strength given us for the needs of the day if we are just being true today and simple enough to believe Him and simple enough to do what He tells us to do.” That is the path of safety. Let us not get too smart, let us not get too lifted up in ourselves but keep as the little one in this kingdom so that the Lord can keep us until the journey’s end.

I will read a few verses that are in the 5th chapter of II Corinthians:

‘For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in His body, according to that He hath done, whether it be good or bad.’

I might say that I esteem it a great privilege to have the opportunity of speaking to so many people who are interested in the things of God, and anxious to be right with God, and concerned about their eternal welfare. There are quite a few here to whom I have had the opportunity of speaking before. I have been praying a good deal that the Lord would help us to say something today that would be edifying to all God’s people – that might even help some who are still undecided to take the first step.

I am glad that we don’t have to depend upon our own natural ability. The human brain is a most wonderful piece of equipment. It works perfectly from the time we are born, and never stops until we get up to speak. I am glad that God’s servants do not have to depend entirely upon the human brain – they have the assurance from Jesus of the aid of the Holy Spirit. As we bear witness of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is backing up everything that we say. We are working together. One thing that makes the servants of God glad is that even in their weakest times, they have reason to know that the Holy Spirit is taking and using their weakness to speak to people concerning heavenly things.

This whole chapter has been uppermost in my mind for sometime past. I have felt more than ever how much in this one chapter there is to make our hearts glad and grateful. I have also been impressed with the truths to help us get a serious view of life. The last verse brings home to our mind that these few years on earth are going to bring eternal results. Two words in the first verse, ‘we know.’ We are certain – we are not guessing. As I read these verses over and over, there has been a gladness in my heart that God has made it possible for us to know something while here on this earth about where we are going when we leave. I know what kind of body I am going to have when I leave this body. Isn’t that something sweet to sincere, honest people? The Bible is a positive book. Jesus was a positive preacher. After listening to Jesus speak, people said, ‘He is not speaking like the scribes – He speaks with authority.’ It made some people very glad; it made a lot of people mad.

If I didn’t really want to go to a place, and inquired how to get there, I would be glad if no one knew how to direct me. But if I really wanted to go there, I would be happy to meet someone who knew how to get there. You remember when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, ‘We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen;’ I don’t know how Nicodemus received that; I think he received it well. The Pharisees didn’t receive it well. Jesus preached with assurance. He knew. Paul was very like His master. He could write to the Thessalonians and say, ‘Our gospel came in much assurance.’ John said in his epistles, ‘We know.’

A man told in his testimony about a discussion he had with a religious man. The religious man asked him, ‘How do you know you are going to heaven?’ He quoted to him the words of John, ‘By this we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren’. We know that we are dwelling in God because of the spirit He has given us. It is good to be able to give assurance. Sad to hear people say, ‘I am not sure whether I am a wise or a foolish virgin.’ We don’t need to remain in doubt. God has given us ways to check up on ourselves. A true, honest person can say, ‘I know that I have passed from death to life because there is in my heart a love for my brethren.’

I once heard a man speaking about a mother’s love. As he was speaking, it came into my mind that I know a love that God can put into a human heart that is greater than a mother’s love. Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, spoke of his love for them. Paul was a Jew and had been prejudiced against the Gentiles. He preferred to preach in Jerusalem. He couldn’t love the Gentiles before he saw them, but the love of Christ constrained him. ‘If He says I am to go to preach to them, I will go because I love Him.’ When he saw them willing to obey the Gospel, he loved them. That is the foundation of our fellowship. If we let that love die, everything will be gone. The love which comes into the servant’s heart begets love in those to whom they preach. Love responds to love; because God loves us, we love Him.

One of our sisters was coming to the close of life’s day a few years ago. A brother was saying good bye and was saying, ‘We will not see each other again.’ But she said, ‘Yes, indeed we will, if you keep faithful.’ It would be presumptuous to say we are going to heaven on our own goodness. The last verses of this 5th chapter give us a reason for having the right to say this. ‘For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.’

You can read the verses before this; they are worth meditating. They tell us that God was in Christ and wasn’t imputing trespasses. We are ambassadors for Christ. This is a wonderful theme – imputed and imparted righteousness. We cannot separate the two. If I claim the imputed righteousness, I can only claim it because I have a hunger for the imparted. Imputed means that God planned that His Own Son would come and go to Calvary’s cross and make a perfect atonement, and then God could impute His righteousness to us.

In the Old Testament time, God gave them shadows and types, pointing to the time when the substance would come, all showing that His Own Son would come and make atonement for us. It was God the Father that so loved the world that He was willing that Christ should die, reconciling the world unto Himself. Because it just says before this in this same chapter, ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’ There is just one question for you and me today, and that is, ‘Am I in Christ or am I not in Christ?’ If I am, God imputes the righteousness of Christ to me. It is the same trust that John had. ‘If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’

One day, I was visiting in two homes. I was rather surprised to be asked the same question in both homes. An old lady said, ‘Do you think our God brings up against us in the judgment sins we committed before we heard the Truth?’ I said, ‘No, when you yielded to Christ, God wiped that off the book.’ I could go farther and tell her that even after we come into God’s Family, when we fail, the blood of Christ atones. I left that home and went to another home, and was asked the same question there. I wondered why those sisters were troubled by that. But even David prayed, ‘Remember not against me the sins of my youth.’

It is a good thing to have assurance. Not the presumptuous kind that comes from self righteousness, but knowing that when we yielded to Christ, He came into us, and I am in Christ and God gives me credit for His Life. Imparted righteousness always goes with that. I could not say that Jesus paid it all when I don’t have the evidence that Christ is in me. Imparted righteousness is that which the Holy Spirit works in us when we are in Christ. Paul said, ‘Examine yourselves.’ Sometimes doctors tell us how we can check up on our own physical condition.

What does it mean to believe in vain? What confuses a good many religious people today is that they speak a good deal about faith, and don’t practice it. James, in his epistle, tells us that there are two kinds of faith…dead faith and living faith. Living faith always leads to action. Believing Christ is not just believing what He said, but being willing to obey Him. If I wanted to know today where I will be when death calls, I could examine myself and say, ‘Is it the purpose of my heart to follow Jesus?’ Not what I have done in the past, but right now, ‘Am I willing to obey Him?’ If I am, the blood He shed takes care of the past. God is a just Judge and can justify those who have sinned against Him. A great mistake many religious people are making is believing that Christ died and it is not necessary to obey Him.

There are a few other things in this chapter and in previous chapters that tell us why Paul could say, ‘We know.’ His previous experience as a servant of God, ‘I die daily.’ This is very important for a servant of God. What does it mean to ‘die daily?’ I think those verses in Colossians 3 have helped me to understand what Paul meant when he said, ‘I die daily.’ We must mortify the members in this body. A true child of God does not do these things; He has made them dead. We know these things still try to get control over us even though we are trying to serve God. Romans 6:14, ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you’ does not say it isn’t there.

We believe that our Government is good, but we don’t say there are no criminals; they don’t have dominion. We have a power to help make dead the things that we would be by nature. There are other things not so gross – covetousness, etc. We might have a very covetous nature, but we should make it dead. Judas didn’t mortify this. If we don’t kill some things, they will kill us. If the doctor told us we have a growth and if it is not taken out it would cause our death, would we not be foolish to allow it to continue to grow? A man we know went to a doctor who told him, ‘Your tonsils are badly infected and are throwing poison into your blood.’ He hesitated to have them removed and twelve months later was becoming badly crippled with arthritis. He went back to the doctor and asked him to take out his tonsils. But the answer was, ‘The damage is already done.’ There may be things in our mind and heart which we could easily make dead, but when we let them grow, they will bring about our spiritual death. The little things are dangerous things – envy, pride, jealousy.

I am not too sure what Paul was trying to convey in the 4th chapter, ‘Death worketh in us, but life in you.’ I used to think he meant he was dying that they might have life. But I think he must have been saying, ‘You are not putting to death the things you ought; you are letting the human live in you. There is no unity among you. You are letting life work in you, but we make death work in us.’

I have been trying to figure out what it would mean for death to work in me. It would mean that I am seeking nothing for myself. As I read on down in that chapter, I see things that confirm this thought. The last verse, ‘We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.’ I have often enjoyed dwelling on these things. Let the outward man perish. But, oh! what a wonderful comfort that the inward man is being renewed day by day. When this body dies, the spirit will go back to God. Is that spirit being renewed day by day? ‘Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.’

Do you think that if Paul went to a city, he would spend much time gazing at the wonderful, expensive homes? He would say, ‘Something tells me that they will be destroyed. I don’t covet them.’ It is not only material things, but other things, that human nature would covet. They will soon be gone. I have my eyes on something better. One woman, impressed by God’s servants, said that they had a far-away look in their eye. Peter talks about people who don’t see afar off. A child of God sees things in the future. I see a mansion in heaven – what God has for faithful servants.

Then he goes on to speak about experiences that children of God have which they don’t understand. He used the word, ‘groan.’ When people are in pain they groan. We groan. He tells us why – to be clothed upon; to get more of Christ’s nature. When I was going to school and complained about having pains in order to stay home, I was told they were ‘growing pains.’ If we are in God’s True Way, we will always have growing pains if we are healthy. Something will never let us be satisfied with our attainment. When we become satisfied with ourselves, we will become like the Laodiceans; God will spew us out of His mouth.

Something makes us want to be a little more like Jesus, have a little more of His Spirit, of His outward marks. This clothing is put on from the inside. Because we have this assurance, we are groaning to have more of the Christ Nature and less of the human nature. I am very glad that I was not very long in the harvest field when I realized that if I want to be useful and have a reward, the most important thing for me to be concerned about is having the right thing working in me, that no matter how well I could preach, if I missed the other, I could not continue and end well. Paul said, ‘We groan.’

Nakedness begins in the garden of Eden. It means in the spiritual sense that I would only have my own human righteousness. I would not be in Christ and He would not be dwelling and working in me. Maybe I am stressing this too much, but it has come to me that whether I am right or not, one of the devil’s greatest efforts is directed toward trying to shake the confidence of God’s children. The devil does love to sow doubts in our minds. This fight of faith means that we will put up a fight against every fiery dart of the devil.

Agnostic means nobody knows whether there is a heaven or a hereafter. Paul was not an agnostic. In the first place, we don’t doubt God. Nothing pleases God more than when we believe His Son. One of our well-known writers, when he was in the prime of life, used to ridicule the thought of God. He said faith was trying to make yourself believe something that you knew wasn’t true. There was hatred working in him when he was old. He was mad at God, but didn’t believe there was one. He was mad at his fellow man. I thought of what faith brings at the close of life’s day. Paul could say, ‘I am departing to be with God.’ People don’t think of their own greatness, nor conscious of all their failures, but confident that we are going to be with Christ.

This last verse, ‘We will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.’ Will we not know whether we are going to heaven or not until we are before the judg­ment seat? This verse does not mean that. It means the children of God. This is made very clear by Jesus Himself, and by the Holy Spirit, that God’s children will not be judged whether or not they will be in heaven, but what place we are fit to fill in that eternal heavenly kingdom. There may be a difference in eternity even for the children of God.

That brings home to us that life is a serious thing. You will receive of what was done in the body, whether it was good or bad. We are responsible for what is done. I am responsible for what my hands do, where my feet go, for what this tongue says, for what this mind dwells on, for what this heart loves. Jesus Himself said, ‘Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.’ We sometimes get upset when people say wrong things, but we ought to have great pity, remembering that every idle word will be brought up in the judgment. There is a bright side to this. God is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labor of love. Everything we ever did to help and strengthen a child of God, we will receive reward for it. ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their labours; and their works to follow them.’

Before I knew the Truth, certain things used to appeal to me. I was working in a store at that time and was anxious to make money. I am very glad that when I got to know God’s True Way, I found it became possible to forget my own troubles and ambitions and own way, and to live for others.

‘We labor, that whether in the body, or absent, I want to be acceptable to Him.’ These things are possible or they would not be in the Bible. There are truths in the Bible that make our hearts jump with joy. I wouldn’t want to say now the reward will be given to us. It could be that through keeping obedient, we have been developing a capacity to enjoy heaven to the fullest extent. Didn’t Jesus say that if you give to people who can’t give back to you, you will be recompensed at the resurrection of the just? After we get the Christ Nature in us, it is not just a matter of getting to heaven, but having an abundant entrance. I hope our ambition is to be acceptable to Him while we live in this world.

It is quite possible that not too many of you have been in a meeting like this before. We arranged this gathering tonight because we have found it helpful from time to time to gather the elders together and discuss with them the things that are of mutual interest to us. We hope that this gathering will be most profitable. One of the things we would like to accomplish this evening is to help you realize how much we appreciate the place you are filling, as elders, in this great fellowship. The older I grow in the work, the more I find myself thanking God for men like you. I am so thankful that God, in his perfect plan, did not leave out the elders. They take such a great load from off our shoulders. In fact, it is hard for us to find words that express just how much this means to us.

Paul’s letter to Philemon has, along this line, meant a great deal to me. This was written by Paul, a servant, to Philemon, an elder. It also took in his beloved wife, Apphia. The wives of elders can do so much in helping their husbands fill the worthy place they have been called upon to fill. This is why we asked you wives to accompany your husbands here tonight. In this letter Paul referred to Philemon as a fellow-labourer, verse 1; a partner, verse 17; a brother, verse 20. It is so hard for the religious world to comprehend a relationship like this existing. They cannot begin to produce an association like this, between their ministry and laity. This is a miracle found only in God’s true way. To us it is an increasing miracle; to those looking on, it is a deep mystery.

When you think of a fellow-labourer, you could think of two oxen yoked together. Both serving the same master, both pulling the same load, both laboring for the interest of the same field. This is a wonderful picture of the relationship existing between Paul and Philemon. The word, partner, reminds us that this is also the Father’s business. At the early age of 12, Jesus was very much concerned about his Father’s business. Partners have the same interest in the same business. They share their profit and loss together. They go through the same ups and downs. Their existence today, and their hope tomorrow, depends upon that business. They are both, for that reason, constrained to put their best into it.

Another nice thought about partners, is that when one is away they know the other is taking the same interest in the business as though they were there. This has often meant a great deal to me. We are often called away to help out with special meetings, conventions, etc. How comforting it is, at such times, to know that we have a partner watching over each little flock. Men who have the same deep concern for that flock as we have. Again, I say, it is hard to find words to express just how much this means to us.

Paul not only spoke of Philemon as a fellow-labourer and a partner. He also spoke of him as a brother. This speaks of a closer relationship, still…a personal feeling. Something deep-down inside that makes one care for you. I am very glad that this same relationship, this same care, still exists between God’s servants and elders.

I look upon my privilege of being in the work as the greatest privilege God could give to a man. You can look upon your privileges of being an elder, as a God-given privilege, too. Both of these privileges, however, are accompanied by a great responsibility. When you turn to Acts 20:28, you realize a little better how great that responsibility is. This was part of Paul’s last visit with the elders at Ephesus. This verse speaks of the “church of God, which he hath purchased with ‘his own blood.'(‘italics’)” A blood-bought group of people, the most precious souls in all the world. And to think that God has entrusted to us the great responsibility of feeding and caring for them! This is a wonderful privilege, with a tremendous responsibility.

A great deal is mentioned about the qualifications of a servant of God. You read of them in the scripture, you hear them often mentioned in gospel meetings and other meetings. There is also a great deal in the Bible mentioned about the qualifications of elders. We would encourage you to read, often, I Timothy 5:1-7. Also Titus 1:5-9. Both of these passages contain a list of qualities that every elder should possess. It is in Titus 1:5-7 where we are told that an elder and a bishop are the same. The word, bishop, which means an overseer, is really the word that describes the position. They are also referred to as elders, though, because they were chosen from among the older ones. Paul told Timothy not to appoint a novice, I Timothy 3:6, lest he be lifted up with pride. If one, who is new in the faith, was appointed to fill the place of a bishop, he might get the wrong idea. He might think that he is being given a high office, and he could be lifted up with pride over it. To an older one, though, it has just the opposite effect. It humbles them to the dust. They realize the seriousness of their calling. To think that God has actually entrusted to them the care of such a precious group! To an honest heart, this is all very humbling. That is why the bishops were to be chosen from among the elders, or the older ones.

Some time ago, one of our brothers gave us an acrostic of the word, “bishop.” He mentioned that if a man is a good bishop, he will be a…

B-Brother

I-Instructor

S-Servant

H-Helper

O-Overseer

P-Protector

B: A Brother is one that can be easily approached. This is so vital. I do not know of anything more important than to be one that others can feel free to come to for advice and encouragement. We feel so much the need of this quality, as workers. Nothing would hurt me more than to know that someone was afraid to come to me with their problem. That is one of the reasons why Jesus forbade his ministers to take a title. Those titles belonged to the Father, and Christ, and “ye are ‘brethren.’” (in italics) You read of this in Matthew 23:8. Jesus knew that, if these men began to take titles, it would automatically place them on a pedestal. He was not sending them out as dignitaries; he was sending them out to be brethren. Men who could easily be approached. 

I: It is also important to be an “Instructor.” One who is instructed in the word, and who is in a position to give Godly instruction to others.

S: Then comes the thought of a “servant.” In God’s way, we rule by serving. There is a definite order to God’s plan and, when this is followed, you need no organization. According to God’s order, the church is subject to the bishop, the bishop is subject to the ministry, the ministry is subject to Christ, and Christ is subject to God. When that order is followed, you need no organization. I realize that, as a worker, it is only through service that I can hope to command the respect of the bishops. And it is only through your willingness to serve that you, as bishops, can hope to command the respect of the flock you are in charge of. Jesus said: “I am among you as he that serveth.”

H: The letter “H” speaks of a helper. One who is ready, at all times, to lend a helping hand.

“O” stands for Overseer. You might also think of Overcomer. We cannot help others, unless we ourselves are overcomers.

P: Last, but not least, there is the Protector. The flock of God needs so much protecting. Paul included this, in that last visit with the elders of Ephesus, Acts 20:29-31. Dangers from within and without. Dangers from which the flock cannot protect themselves. One feels so responsible in this. We can’t afford to lose any of these precious souls, over which the Holy ghost has made us overseers. So, a bishop should be a brother, an instructor, a servant, a helper, an overseer and a protector.

We might also notice what Peter mentioned about the elders. You will find this in I Peter 5:1-4. Peter included himself, in these verses, among the elders. He was an older worker, upon whose shoulders the care and responsibility of many was resting. His main message was: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” We could not hope to help God’s people by lording over them. There may be times when one has to exercise their responsibility, but those times are rare, and our main hope of helping others is by our ensample. It is so often true, that the spiritual health of a little flock is determined by the health of the elder. There is so much more to do, besides giving out the hymns in a meeting. That is why we are so deeply grateful to God for the men who are proving to be real bishops, or elders.

Notice the word, “ensample.” There is a difference between an ensample and an example. An example is an original copy. An ensample is a duplicate copy of the original. In making blueprints, for an illustration, the architect draws out the original copy. That is the example. They might make 50 reprints of it, but they are all called ensamples. They are copies of the original. In our fellowship we have only one perfect example: that is Christ. We uphold him in all things. However, when we allow God to conform us to the image of Christ, then we become reprints of that original…or ensamples. Like Paul was able to say, in I Corinthians 11:1, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

There are a great many ways in which one can be an ensample to the flock. Peter spoke of one of them, in verse two, of this fifth chapter: “Feed the flock of God.” Each year we realize, more fully, that the shorter testimonies carry the most food. We were told, at a recent special meeting, that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of good Maple syrup. That represents a lot of boiling down! We might enjoy many things from the scripture during the week, but it takes a great deal of boiling down before it can be real food for others. Did you ever notice what is said of Asher, Genesis 49:20? “Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.” Royal dainties are condensed. They are rich, and nourishing, and you enjoy every bite of them. I have known some whose testimonies were like that, and you found yourself eagerly looking forward to hearing them each time.

We can also be an ensample in prayer. Prayers play such a vital part in the meeting. I have been in some gatherings where I felt the prayers had been more of a detriment than a help. In other meetings, you feel that it was the period of prayer that made the meeting so helpful. Do you ever prepare a prayer in your heart before coming to the meeting? We would not think of standing up and giving our testimony without some forethought, would we? Why then should we attempt to pray without a little pre-meditation? This is scriptural. You read of those who prepared their heart to seek the Lord God, II Chronicles 19:3. “Pour out your heart before him,” Psalm 62:8. When you pray, do you pour out your heart…or do you pour out whatever comes into your mind? I have found that, when I take time to prepare in my heart something before the meeting, it is so much easier for me to pray in the meeting. I like to think of something special that I am desirous of, or thankful for.

Something that I did not pray for in the last few meetings. To pray briefly, and originally, in a meeting, is to pray helpfully. It saves us from the tendency of “vain repetitions.”

One thing I have learned from the prayers of Jesus, is that he always prayed specifically. He never prayed at random. You will notice this in Luke 10:21; also in John 11:41,42. No doubt, Jesus had a multitude of things he could have thanked God for on each of these occasions. He didn’t though. He prayed specifically for the thing relative to that occasion. This secret has been a great help to me, especially in my private praying. When we return thanks for the food, it should be for the food. When we pray for the meeting, it should be for the meeting. When we give thanks for the bread and wine, it should be for the bread and wine. I have known some who have missed the mark entirely, by simply praying the same routine prayer for every occasion. I would like to learn to pray specifically like Jesus did. If we, as workers and elders, learned to pray this way we would be a wonderful ensample for the little flock to follow after.

Another thing about prayer: There seems to be a common tendency for many to subdue their voice while praying in a meeting. There is nothing scriptural about that. So often the person praying can only be heard by the few nearest to them. Often the older folks have complained that they can only hear a small part of the prayers. That is too bad. Those old souls need the encouragement and stimulant of your prayers. If any thing, one should raise their voice while praying, at least loud enough so that all can easily hear and be edified and join in with a hearty “amen.” This is another way in which we can be an ensample.

Maybe we should mention something about that “amen,” too. This is something we have been very reluctant about because the holiness people have overdone it. In trying to be as unlike them, as we can, we have sometimes transgressed the other way. To me there is something very helpful about a modest “amen” after each prayer and testimony. One of the things we remember so well about our brother, Jack Carroll, was the encouragement he gave us younger workers along that line. When we would be speaking in a meeting, trembling and often stuttering, there was something about the “amen” from that old man that would put fresh heart in us. I never want to forget what that meant to me. It is not easy for most of the Lord’s people to pray or testify. An audible amen, when they finish, will assure them that you have fully appreciated their effort and that you have been helped by what they said. If we are faithful in doing this, the others will be encouraged to follow, and it will add a great deal to the helpfulness of the meeting.

Some have asked about a problem they have in connection with praying for the bread and wine. So often this falls on the shoulders of one or two in the meeting.

These emblems are something we should all be very thankful for, and we should all relish the privilege of taking our turn in expressing thanks. If there is a tendency in your flock for most to leave this up to one or two each Sunday, it would be very good to call on some of the others by name. It might be helpful to do this meeting after meeting, until a number have been called upon. It would help all to realize their responsibility along this line.

There is the endless visiting that also goes with the responsibility of an elder. The flock need so much visiting. The sick ones, the discouraged ones, the careless ones. They could easily lose out if we did not keep in touch with them. Probably we fail along this line more than any other. We realize that the elder cannot keep up with all the visiting. Others in the flock should share the task. It is up to the elder, though, to see to it that someone does make the necessary visits when those visits are needed. A little personal interest like that, between meetings, often goes a long ways towards encouraging those who might be weary. We can’t afford to lose any of them. They are too precious.

In closing, I would like to mention something about the neighbors. I have become very “neighbor conscious.” We want every little meeting to be a light in the community, not an aggravation. The way in which the cars are parked, the way in which the children conduct themselves after the meetings, avoiding any undue excitement. We cannot be too careful about these things. We wouldn’t want anything, in connection with the meeting, to irritate or distress the neighbors in any way. Like the golden candlestick, giving forth its light, each little group of God’s people should add a golden glow to the community.

It is quite possible that not too many of you have been in a meeting like this before. We arranged this gathering tonight, because we have found it helpful from time to time to gather the elders together and discuss with them the things that are of mutual interest to us. We hope that this gathering will be will be most profitable. One of the things we would like to accomplish, this evening, is to help you to realize how much we appreciate the place you are filling, as elders in this great fellowship. The older I grow in the work, the more I find myself thanking God for men like you. I am so thankful that God, in His perfect plan, did not leave out the elders. They take such a great load from our shoulders. In fact, it is hard for us to find words that express just how much this means to us.

Paul’s letter to Philemon has, along this line, meant a great deal to me. This was written by Paul, a servant , to Philemon, an elder. It also took in his beloved wife, Apphia. The wives of elders can do much in helping their husbands fill the worthy place they have been called upon to fill. This is why we asked you wives to accompany your husbands here tonight. In this letter Paul referred to Philemon as a fellow laborer, verse 1:- a partner, verse 17: a brother, verse 20. It is so hard for the religious world to comprehend a relationship like this existing. They cannot begin to produce an association like this, between their ministry and laity. This is a miracle found in God’s true way. To us it is an increasing miracle; to those looking on, it is a deep mystery.

When you think of a fellow laborer, you could think of two oxen yoked together both serving the same master, both pulling the same load, both laboring for the interest of the same field. This is a wonderful picture of the relationship existing between Paul and Philemon. The work partner reminds us that this is also the Father’s business. At the early age of 12, Jesus was very much concerned about His Father’s business. They share their profit and loss together. Partners have the same interest in the same business. They go through the same ups and downs. Their existence today and their hope tomorrow, depends on upon that business. They are for that reason, both constrained to put their best into it.

Another nice thought about partners, is that when one is away they know that the other is taking the same interest in the business as though they were there. This has often meant a great deal to me. We are often called away to help out with special meetings, conventions, etc. How comforting it is, at such times, to know that we have a partner watching over each little flock. Men who have the same deep concern for that flock as we have, Again, I say, it is hard to find words to express just how much this means to us.

Paul not only spoke of Philemon as a fellow laborer and a partner, he also spoke of him as a brother. This speaks of a closer relationship still, a personal feeling. Something deep-down inside that makes one care for you. I am very glad that this same relationship, this same care, still exists between God’s servants and elders.

I look upon my privilege of being in the work, as the greatest privilege God could give to a man. You can look upon your privilege of being an elder, as a god-given privilege, too. Both these privileges, however, are accompanied by a great responsibility. When you turn to Acts 20:28, you realize a little better how great that responsibility is. This was part of Paul’s last visit with the elders of Ephesus. This verse speaks of the “church of God, which He hath purchased with His Own Blood!” A blood bought group of people, the most precious souls in the world. And to think that God has entrusted to us the great responsibility of feeding and caring for them! This is a wonderful privilege, with a tremendous responsibility.

A great deal is mentioned about the qualifications of a servant of God. You read of them in the scriptures , you hear them often mentioned in Gospel Meetings and other meetings. There is also a great deal in the Bible mentioned about the qualifications of elders. We would encourage you to read, often, 1 Timothy 3. Also Titus1:5-9. Both these passages contain a list of qualities that every elder should possess. It is in Titus 1:5-7, where we are told that an elder and a bishop are the same. The word bishop, which means an overseer, is really the word that describes the position. They were also referred to as elders, though, because they were chosen from among the older ones. Paul told Timothy not to appoint a novice, 1 Timothy 3:6, lest he be lifted up with pride. If one who is new in the faith, was appointed to fill the place of a bishop, he might get the wrong idea. He might think that he is being given a high office and he could be lifted up with pride over it. To older ones, though it is just the opposite effect. It humbles them to the dust. They realize the seriousness of their calling. To think that God has actually entrusted to them the care of such a precious group! To an honest heart, this is very humbling. That is why the bishops were to be chosen from the elders, or the older ones.

Some time ago, one of our brothers gave us an acrostic to the word bishop. He mentioned that if a man is a good bishop, he will be a

B – Brother I – Instructor S – Servant H – Helper O – Overseer P – Protector

A brother is one who can be easily approached. This is so vital. I do not know of anything more important than to be the one that others can feel free to come to for advice and encouragement. We feel so much the need of this quality as workers. Nothing would hurt me more than to know that someone was afraid to come to me with their problem. This is one of the reasons that Jesus forbade His ministers to take a title. Those titles belong to the Father and Christ, “Ye are brethren”. You read of this in Matthew 23:8. Jesus knew that if these men began to take titles, it would automatically place them on a pedestal. He was not sending them out as dignitaries. He was sending them out to be brethren. Men who could easily be approached. It is also important to be an “Instructor”. One who is instructed in the Word and who is in a position to give Godly instruction to others.

Then comes the thought of a “Servant”. In God’s way, we rule by serving. There is a definite order of God’s plan and when this is followed, you need no organization. According to God’s order, the church is subject to the bishop, the bishop is subject to the ministry, the ministry is subject to Christ, and Christ is subject to God. When that order is followed, you need no organization. I realize that that, as a worker, it is only through service that I can hope to command the respect of the bishop. It is only through your willingness to serve that you as a bishop, can hope to command the respect of the flock you are in charge of. Jesus said, “I am among you as He that serveth.”

The letter ‘H’ speaks of a helper. One who is ready, at all times, to lend a helping hand . ‘O’ stands for overseer. You might also think of overcomer. We cannot help others, unless we ourselves are overcomers. Last, but not least, there is the protector. The flock cannot protect themselves. One feels so responsible in this. We can’t afford to lose any of these precious souls, over which the Holy Ghost has made us overseers. So, a bishop should be a brother, an instructor, a servant, a helper, an overseer and a protector.

We might also notice what Peter mentioned about the elders. You will find this in 1 Peter 5:1-4. Peter included himself, in these verses, among the elders. He was an older worker, upon whose shoulders the care and responsibility of many was resting. His main message was: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but by being ensamples to the flock”. We could not hope to help God’s people by lording over them. There may be times when one has to exercise their responsibility, but those times are rare and our main hope of helping others is by our ensample. It is so often true, the spiritual health of a little flock is determined by the health of the elder. There is so much more to do, beside giving out the hymns in a meeting. That is why we are so deeply grateful to God for the men who are proving to be real bishops, or elders. Notice the word ‘ensamples’. There is a difference between an ensample and an example. An example is an original copy. An ensample is a duplicate copy of the original. In making blueprints, for an illustration, the architect draws out the original copy. This is the example. They might make 50 (prints) reprints of it, but they are called ensamples. They are copies of the original. In our fellowship we have only one perfect example, that is Christ. We uphold Him in all things. However, when we allow God to conform us to the image of Christ, then we become reprints of that original — or ensamples. Like Paul was able to say in 1 Cor. 11:1, “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ”.

There are a great many ways in which one can be an ensample to the flock. Peter spoke of one of them, in verse 2, of this 5th chapter : “Feed the flock of God”. Each year we realize, more fully, that the shorter testimonies carry the most food. We are told, at a recent special meeting, that it takes 40 gallons of of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. That represents a lot of boiling down. We might enjoy many things from the scriptures, during the week, but it takes a great deal of boiling down before it can be “real food” for others. Did you ever notice what is said of Asher, Genesis 49:20 “Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties”. Royal dainties are condensed. They are rich, and nourishing, and you enjoy every bit of them. I have known men, whose testimonies were like that, and you found yourself eagerly looking forward to hearing them each time.

We can also be an ensample in prayer. Prayers play such a vital part in the meeting. I have been in some meetings where I felt that the prayers had been more of a detriment than a help. In other meetings, you feel that it was a period of prayer that made the meeting so helpful. Do you ever prepare a prayer in your heart before coming to the meeting? We would not think of standing up and giving our testimony without some forethought, would we? Why then should we attempt to pray without a little premeditation. This is scriptural. You read of those who prepared their hearts to seek the Lord God. 11 Chron. 19:3 “Pour out your heart before Him”. Psalm 62:8 When you pray, do you pour out your heart …. or do you pour out whatever comes into your mind? I have found that when I take time to prepare in my heart something before the meeting, it is so much easier for me to pray in the meeting. I like to think of something special that I am desirous of, or thankful for. Something that I did not pray for in the last few meetings. To pray briefly, and originally, in a meeting is to pray helpfully. It saves us from the tendency of ‘vain repetitions’.

One thing I have learned from the prayers of Jesus, is that He always prayed specifically. He never prayed at random. You will notice this in Luke 10:21 also in John 11:41,42. No doubt Jesus had a multitude of things he could have thanked God for on each of these occasions. He didn’t though. He prayed specifically for the thing relative to the occasion. This secret has been a great help to me, especially in my private praying. When we return thanks for the food, it should be for the food. When we pray for the meeting, it should be for the meeting. When we give thanks for the bread and wine, it should be for the bread and wine. I have known some who have missed the mark entirely by simply praying the same routine prayer for every occasion. I would like to learn to pray specifically, like Jesus did. If we, as workers and elders, learn to pray this way, we would be a wonderful ensample for the little flock to follow after.

Another thing about prayer: There seems to be a common tendency for many to subdue their voices while praying in the meeting. There is another scriptural about that. So often the person praying can only be heard by the few nearest to them. Often the older folks have complained that the can only hear a small part of the prayers. That is too bad. Those old souls need encouragement and the stimulant of your prayers. If any thing, one should raise their voice while praying, at least loud enough so that all can easily hear and be edified and join in with a hearty “amen”, too. This is another way in which we can be an ensample. Maybe we should mention something about the “amen” too. This is something we have been very reluctant about because the holiness of people have overdone it. In trying to unlike them as we can, we have sometimes transgressed the other way. To me there is something very helpful about a modest ‘amen’ after each prayer and testimony. One of the things we remember so well about our brother Jack Carroll, was the encouragement he gave us younger workers along that line. When we would be speaking in a meeting trembling and often stuttering, there was something about the ‘amen’ from that older man that would refresh the heart in us. I never want to forget what that meant to me. It is not easy for most of the Lord’s people to pray and testify. An Audible ‘amen’, when they finish, will assure them that you have fully appreciated their effort and that you have been helped by what they said. If we are faithful in doing this, the others will be encouraged to follow and it will add a great deal to the helpfulness of the meeting.

Some have asked about a problem they have in connection with praying for the bread and wine. Often this falls on the shoulders of one or two in the meeting. These emblems are something we should all be very thankful for, and we should all relish the privilege of taking our turn in expressing thanks. If there is a tendency in our flock for most to leave this up to one or two each Sunday, it would be very good to call on some of the others by name. It might be helpful to do this meeting after meeting, until a number have been called upon. It would help all to realize their responsibility along this line.

There is the endless visiting that also goes with the responsibility of an elder. The flock needs so much visiting. The sick ones, the discouraged ones, the careless ones. They could easily lose out if we did not keep in touch with them. Probably we fail along this line more than any other. We realize that the elder cannot keep up with all the visiting. Others in the flock should share the task. It is up to the elder though, to see to it that someone does make the necessary visits when those visits are needed. A little personal interest like that, between meetings, often goes a long way towards encouraging those who may be weary. We can’t afford to lose any of them. They are too precious.

In closing, I would like to mention something about the neighbors. I have become very neighbor-conscious. We want every little meeting to be a light in the community, not an aggravation. The way in which the cars are parked, the way in which the children conduct themselves after the meetings, avoiding any undue excitement. We cannot be too careful about these things. We wouldn’t want anything, in connection with the meetings, to irritate or distress the neighbors in any way. Like the golden candlestick, giving forth its light, each little group of God’s people should add a golden glow to the community.

I am very glad for the opportunity and privilege of being here at Parma today. I have heard of your convention since it began, and I have often felt I wanted to share with you in the privileges of this convention, and now that is my privilege.

This morning as I thought of having a little part in this meeting, there was a man’s life came to my mind. It is a man who was called the friend of God. I don’t think I need to tell any of you who that man is. It is the man Abraham. I know that you have heard of this man’s life, most of you for many years, and I feel there isn’t very much perhaps that I could tell you that might be new about him. It is my responsibility and the responsibility of my fellow labourers to bring these precious truths to the remembrance of God’s people even though they know them. It is a wonderful thing that the sweet story of the Gospel never grows old, it is always new.

This man was called the friend of God. I asked myself the question this morning, what is a friend? A man once in trying to answer that question said this: a friend is one soul abiding in two bodies. I believe that is what constitutes a friend. A friend is one before whom we can think aloud. He is one with whom we can be sincere. I felt today I should like to be that kind of a friend. Jesus said to His disciples that He would call them no more servants, but friends. There is something about a friendship that is very sacred. I believe I could almost count on the fingers of my hands the true friends that I have. I have many friends, but I mean those before whom I can think aloud, those with whom I can be sincere and say what I want. Abraham was this kind of a man with God. I have felt today that I should like to know a little more of this kind of friendship.

Proverbs 18:24, “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Another proverb says, “A friend loveth at all times, constantly.” Friendship to me is something that is constant, not up today and down tomorrow. I feel today I want to know more about this kind of friendship, find it with God, constancy. As I have read the life of Abraham, it seems to me his relationship with God was constant. A friend is one that loveth always.

If you would like to turn with me for a little while, I would like to speak to you from a few verses in the 12th chapter of Genesis. I am going to try to divide this man’s life into several different parts this morning. The first part of his life is the call of Abraham. We read here of God calling him. Every one of us in this meeting perhaps has heard that call and we have done one of two things when we heard that call. We either obeyed the call or we disobeyed. Abraham obeyed the call of God. Genesis 12:1-4, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ So Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him.” I love those verses. I see two things in the call of Abraham. I see a command and I see a blessing. I see that God called him to be a separated people. He said, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house.” I believe the call of God still requires this separation. Abraham was an old man when he heard this call. He was no longer young, and I’m sure that it wasn’t easy for him to leave his country and his kindred, but he obeyed the voice of God. There is something in all of us that rebels at this separation. God wants a separated people. It seems to me that I have seen the tendency in the Lord’s children to shun the separation. God wants a separated people. He will be satisfied with nothing less. What would have happened had Abraham continued in that old land? He would never have received this blessing of God. God wants to separate His people from the world. I know that sometimes the Lord’s children are unwilling for this separation.

I thought this morning of that wonderful chapter in the beginning of the Bible. In the first chapter of Genesis, you remember it speaks of the earth being without form and void and darkness being upon the face of the deep. Isn’t this the condition God found every one of us in? Then it says the spirit began to move upon the face of the waters. There were several things that began to take place. Whenever the Spirit of God begins to move in the hearts of men and women, there are always six things that take place. This Spirit of God first of all enlightens; then it separates; then it begins to produce; then it begins to unify; it begins to multiply; and it conforms. This is the work that took place in the creation of the world.

I want to speak about that second day’s work. God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God saw that it was good. I wonder today if we are going to be willing to be a separated people. We see the tendency to want to cling to that old life. I know that it isn’t easy to separate oneself from the world. It isn’t easy to leave that which we have once loved. Even when people leave, we see them going back sometimes. The reason is because they were never really willing to separate themselves from the old life. I would encourage all of God’s little children here to be willing to be a separated people. Remember the call of God means this; it means nothing less.

I was thinking this morning of that lamb that we read of in the 12th chapter of Exodus. Remember how the lamb was taken on the tenth day and it was kept until the fourteenth day. Do you know why? It was so that little lamb could become weaned. Can you imagine on the tenth day when the lamb was taken from its mother how it would cry for that old nature, for the old thing it had always enjoyed. On the 11th day, the cry would be a little less; on the 12th day, it was lessened still, and on the 13th day people could hardly hear the cry; and on the 14th day it was weaned. That is what God wants. He wants people weaned from this old thing that we have once loved and lived for.

The next thing that it says in this chapter is, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” I love that verse. I love to read of the life of Abraham becoming such a great blessing to men and women in the world. I am sure when God called Abraham, he little knew how far into the future his life was going to influence men and women. I am sure that he little dreamed of how far reaching it was going to be the effect of his sacrifice, and it was a sacrifice to leave the land of his nativity. Some of you people in this meeting have made your choice to serve God; some of you may still not have obeyed that call. If you were to make that choice in these meetings, you little understand how far out into the future your choice is going to reach.

I sometimes tell people a little of my own testimony. My mother, at only the age of twenty, listened to the Gospel of Christ. She was a young woman who loved life as any young person could love it. She loved the pleasures of life, she loved the world; she loved her friends, but she sat under the sound of the Gospel and her young heart was deeply moved and, one night, my young mother stood to her feet to become a Christian. She held a little baby in her arms, three months old. That little baby was me. That was 50 years ago. I am sure that my mother could not have realized that night how far reaching was going to be the affect of her obeying the call of God. I am sure she could not have known that it would take ten long years of walking alone, my father going one way and she going another. She went home that night and told my father with joy what she had done. He said, “If you want to be a Christian, that is all right with me but don’t trouble me with it.” This was a grief to my mother because she loved my father, but she made up her mind to be true to that choice. Ten years later, my father entered by the same door. My father told me years later that if mother had not kept the faith, if she had not made that choice, he would never have done so either. Mother could not have known that night that her life would influence him ten long years later. At the age of 12, I made my choice and, one by one, my brothers and sisters entered into the family of God, excepting one sister. I don’t think mother could have realized that night that her choice, her sacrifice, was going to reach so far out into the future. I am sure she didn’t know that night that one day I would go out into the work to preach the Gospel. I am sure she could not have known that night that my brother, Truman, would go out to give his life as the corn of wheat. She could not have known that he would one day go to the Philippine Islands and that his life would be a great blessing to many there. I just visited the P.I. recently and was in Truman’s field. I was among his friends, and some of those people expressed to me their gratitude for the choice that my mother made so long ago. She could not have known that her sacrifice was going to be a blessing to people half way across the world. She could not have known I would go out to the land of Korea to preach the Gospel. Several people in Korea have expressed time and time again their gratitude to my mother for that choice over 50 years ago.

There are young fathers and mothers in this meeting today, and I would encourage you to be faithful because your faith will mean more to those little children God has entrusted to you than you can ever know. Someday as in Abraham’s case, these children will rise up and call you blessed. The thing I feel more grateful for today than anything else is that my young mother had the courage to stand alone those fifty years ago, the courage to face a divided home, the courage to face her friends she had loved. What would have happened if she had not had that courage? Maybe those in the meeting still outside this family of God may have God-given children, but I say today your responsibility is great. Remember that these little children God has given to you have been given only for a little while and the way those little children someday stand before God, you will be largely responsible for. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. This choice, this sacrifice you make today will reach down through the years affecting the lives of children yet unborn. I will tell you a great responsibility rested upon Abraham. He obeyed that call. He believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.

Let us turn to verse 6 for a few minutes, “And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.” Verse 7-8, “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, ‘Unto thy seed will I give this land;’ and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.” I suppose most of you in this meeting know the meaning of Hai. The meaning of that word is a heap of ruin. On the one hand there was a heap of ruin, and on the other hand was the house of God. He had a choice to make. Perhaps some in this meeting stand in the same place: on one hand is a heap of ruin, and on the other the house of God. I can well understand how difficult it is to make the choice of life. I thought of two or three people who stood in that place, people whom you know well. It says of Moses that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. When Moses made that choice, he was comparatively a young man. On the one hand were the pleasures of Egypt, and on the other hand were the pleasures of God. How glad we are to see Moses having the courage to make that choice wisely. We sometimes say that choices are vitally important in all our lives from the beginning to the end of life. We have choices to make every day we live.

I think of some of you young people in the meeting today, and perhaps you stand there, too. The reason I think so is because it hasn’t been so long since I was young. On the one hand there were the pleasures of the world, on the other hand were the pleasures of God. I knew in my heart that the pleasures of the world would end only in a heap of ruin someday. But, oh, the awful struggle to make that choice! Abraham stood there. He stood between the house of God and a heap of ruin. You notice that Abraham did something here that wasn’t very good. I’m glad that the Spirit of God records the mistakes of this great man. He stood there; on the east was Hai and on the west, Bethel. He knew what he ought to have done. He continued on toward the south. Abraham was trying to do what I tried to do one time. He was trying to be neutral. He was trying not to choose the house of God or that heap of ruin. Every step that Abraham took was taking him farther and farther from God, and was making the road back more and more difficult. Reconciliation was getting more difficult with every step that he took. Every evening that the sun went down, Abraham was farther from the house of God. He had not chosen a heap of ruin, but he had not yet chosen the house of God. Maybe in this meeting there are young people who are doing the same thing. I will give you a little of my own testimony.

I took my stand to be a Christian when only 12 years of age. I loved the way of God, as I am sure all of you young people love it today. I loved the meetings. Those first two or three years for me, walking in the way of God, were wonderful. There wasn’t much of a battle. But we always say the battle comes sooner or later. If it doesn’t come sooner, it comes later. In going on to high school, I began to face that battle. I remember one of my bosom friends coming to me one day and he said, “Let’s go to a show, a movie.” This young man had taken his stand the same night I had. I said, “I don’t think we better do that because we profess to be Christians.” He didn’t say anymore to me that night. A week later he came again and spoke about this matter and we talked about it, but still we decided not to go. The third time he came he said, “Let us go just once.” I thought it would not hurt to go once, so I went once and I enjoyed it, and I went again and again and again, and this went along for six months. The time came when I could no longer read my Bible and get anything out of it. I tried to speak in meetings, but could not seem to enjoy that either. I quit speaking in Sunday morning meetings, and I remember one Saturday night I took my Bible and tried to read, and threw it on the floor and said, “I will never read it again.” I walked out into the night. Just as I walked out into the yard, my friends drove into the yard. They asked me to get into the car with them and we went off to a movie. Somehow that night I knew that I had reached the end of the rope. For six months I had been going south and every step of the way had taken me farther and farther away from God. I told my friends to go in and I would be in later; but I felt in my heart that night I must make my decision in this matter. I felt if I went in that night I never again would go to another meeting, so for fifteen minutes I walked up and down the street, fighting one of the hardest battles I have ever fought in my life. On the one hand was a heap of ruins, and on the other hand was the house of God. What should I do? I went into my friends and told them I was going home. They were very angry with me and that night our paths separated. They went one way and I went another. Today those young people are farther from God than ever before and there has been great sorrow and unhappiness come into their lives. I would not trade my part for theirs. I went home that night; picked up my Bible on the floor where I had thrown it, and for the first time in many weeks I got something out of it. The next morning I went to the meeting and had a little word. I was trying to do what Abraham did. I didn’t want to give up the truth of God; I didn’t want to go in for the world because I knew it would only end in a heap of ruin, but I was trying to be neutral. I was going toward the south. We can’t do that. We are either for God, or we are against God. What is it going to be? Abraham continued on toward the south, and every step he took was taking him farther and farther away from God.

Let us look at the 13th chapter for just a moment. Verse 3, “And he went on his journey from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;” verse 4, “Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abraham called on the name of the Lord.” Isn’t that a beautiful verse? Abraham finally came to himself. Every step he had taken was deeper and deeper into Egypt and was taking him deeper and deeper into trouble, making his return more and more difficult. Here we see Abraham coming to himself, and it says that he turned about. When I read these verses, I thought about that prodigal son. Remember how he had journeyed into a far country? Then it says when he came to himself he began to think about his father and his father’s house. Then he said, “I will return and I will say, ‘Father, I have sinned.’” Some of the most difficult words to speak are those words which admit that we have been wrong. This is one thing that made Abraham the friend of God. He was willing to say, so to speak, “I have sinned.” He was willing to make a right-about face and go back to the place where he had begun. He was willing to confess his wrong, and make it right. I tell you today that takes a man; it takes a woman to do that. I have seen men and women who have failed, who have fallen, but they have risen up again. We have seen them rising up from their awful defeat to become stronger men and women than they ever were before. There may be people in this meeting today and you have been journeying toward the south. Maybe you have been going in the wrong direction. Maybe you have fallen and you have failed, but we would like to hold out hope to you today. We would like to tell you that you can be forgiven. The Bible says that a righteous man falls seven times, but he rises up again. He rises up a better man than he ever was before. He rises up to be a man that God can love. Abraham returned again to the place where he had been at the beginning. He started over again. We would like to say to some of you who have failed that it is possible to start over again. You might have journeyed far, you might have been defeated, but God wants to see you starting over again. It takes a lot of courage. I was speaking at Chelan about Gad, one of the sons of Jacob. It says that a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last. It is the end of the thing that counts. We sometimes say to people that victory is not final and defeat is not fatal. Some of you in this meeting this morning that may have been defeated, we would encourage you by saying that your defeat need not be fatal. In speaking of this defeat and failure, I thought of the prayer of a man. It is in the form of a little poem and I shall like to give it to you this morning:

UNDEFEATED

Out of the shame of my coward heart,
Out of my night of defeat,
Lift me, oh Lord, to the battle again
Cover my bitter retreat.

Out of despising my weakness and rout,
Out of the love of the soul,
Purge me; oh purge me with hyssop, dear Lord,
Give me my spirit made whole.

Beaten, but still undefeated I pray,
Thou the unconquerable Hand,
Reach me my poor broken saber again,
I pledge me to die or to stand.

By the wonder of Heaven’s forgiveness,
By the lovely lure of the light,
By the spirit of victory eternal—
God fling me again to the flight.

I would like to say a little regarding Abraham as a parent. We will not have time to tell you all we would like to about this wonderful man. Chapter 18:1, “And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.” I like to think of this man sitting there in the tent door. I am sure after many years that Isaac was grateful for his father. I can see Abraham sitting there in his tent door, watching that home, guarding what was inside and keeping out what was on the outside. My father decided to be a Christian when I was ten years old, and this was very fortunate for me. I sometimes say that my mother influenced my life most the first ten years of my life, but the second ten years it was my father that guided me and counseled me. I can see Dad sitting there in the tent door, keeping the world out of that home and keeping us in that home. Some of you young people in this meeting, and children, might feel that your fathers and mothers are a little bit hard on you because they will not let you do things you would like to do. They will not let you go to places you would like to go. You feel they don’t love you. I can tell you the reason is because they do love you. I can still see my father sitting in the tent door. It would have been much easier to have sat other places, but he sat there and he jealously guarded what was in that home. He would not let many things come into our home that we wanted to bring there. He was keeping the world out, and he would not let us sometimes go where we wanted to go. He kept us in the home. He kept us under his control. I wish there were more fathers and mothers in the world like that. I sometimes am appalled when I see young people going here and there, doing things we know is going to bring them sorrow and regret later on. If you young people are chafing under the fact that your father and mother are keeping you in, just remember that they know and understand a lot better than you the awful danger in the world, the awful pitfalls for young people. Abraham sat in his tent door. Do you remember where Lot sat? He sat in the gate of Sodom among the elders of the land. He had a place of prestige and honor, but what about his home? What happened to his sons-in-law when he came to tell them about what was going to happen to Sodom? It says that he was to them as one that mocked. His word meant nothing to them. Why? It was because Lot’s children were running the streets while he was sitting in the gate of Sodom. If Lot had been sitting where Abraham sat, I think his children would have been a little different, about the time to flee the destruction. Lot only seemed as one that mocked. If you parents want the respect of your children, sit in your tent door in the heat of the day and keep them there. Years later they will rise up and call you blessed. That is what happened in the case of Abraham. It is a wonderful thing to see fathers and mothers like Abraham who are sitting in their tent door, guarding that home, looking after that home, and caring for those children and keeping the world out of that home.

Let us turn over to the 22nd chapter of Genesis, verse 4. You remember this story of God calling Abraham to sacrifice his only son. It says in the third verse, And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Verse 4, “Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.” Do you know what he was going to do? He was going to offer to God his only son. Abraham was an old man now. It was still a three day’s journey to that place, and he had plenty of time to turn back, but he didn’t do it. He saw the place afar off. Whenever I read this, I think of that little mother of mine. When she professed, she was talking with a lady one day, one of God’s handmaidens, and she said, “Oh, if I had heard these things before I was married, I could have gone out to preach the Gospel. Now I can’t because I have a husband and a baby.” And, she said, “Maybe I can raise this little boy to go out into the work and take my place.” Do you know what she was doing? She was looking at Mount Moriah, this place of sacrifice and for 21 years she never lost sight of that vision. My mother never put pressure on us, my brother and I, she never tried to urge us with regard to the work of God, but she kept before us every day of our lives the great privilege of spending our lives in the harvest field. I wish there were more parents like that. Sometimes I have been appalled when I have seen mothers and fathers in the family of God and they have told their children very little about this great work. Maybe that is the reason there are so few going out these days. Mother saw that place of sacrifice afar off, and during those years, she never took her eyes off that place. It isn’t an easy thing to see a son or daughter go out into the work to become a homeless stranger. I remember the time when mother told Truman goodbye. I was there. I saw him leave that day. My mother took his hand and she kissed him, and there was a smile on her face as she told him goodbye. After that car drove away, we saw her go into her room and shut the door, and she didn’t come out again for over two hours. We knew what she was doing there. She was weeping, not that she didn’t want her son to go, but she knew that he was going out to face a cold and hard world, and my mother would weep for her son. She knew he was going to be a homeless stranger. She knew when he laid his head down to sleep that it would be under somebody else’s roof. It was a sacrifice, but she never lost sight of that sacrifice. The last letter I had from my mother before she died I could hardly read that letter because she was nearly blind when she wrote it. In that letter she was urging me to continue laying down my life for others. I wish there were more people like Abraham that would see this place of sacrifice afar off.

Verse 7, “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, ‘My father;’ and he said, ‘Here am I, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’” This speaks to me that this young lad knew all about the burnt offering. Abraham had often taken him on his knee and pointed out to him about the service of God. Isaac saw the wood and the fire, but he didn’t see the lamb. It would be a wonderful thing if you fathers and mothers in this meeting could take your children around you often and tell them about the service of God. Isaac knew all about it and that tells me that little Isaac often sat at his father’s knee. He had often seen sacrifice in his father’s life; he had often seen his father offer that lamb to the Lord. If some of you parents would put more of this into your children, there would be more young men and women willing for the work of God. Verse 8, “And both of them together.” They came to the place God told them of and Abraham built an altar there. They both went together. It is a wonderful thing to see a father and son relationship. Out in Korea this father and son relationship is very close, and I have always been thrilled to see it, to see how fathers love their sons and they love to talk with them and be with them. I love to think of that parent walking with his son to the place of sacrifice. It is wonderful to see parents walking with their children. There is nothing like a walk to speak to your children. You might talk a lot, but it is the walk that really counts. The two went together to the place of sacrifice. Sometimes we have been saddened to see parents leaving their children at home when they go to a meeting. Take your children along with you, and if your child is walking with you, the time will come when your child will realize themselves the need of making the sacrifice. I hope that more of you will be parents like Abraham was.

I would like to be able to tell you more about this great man. We read of his relationship with his brother. It was a wonderful relationship. We read of his vision as a young man and his vision as an old man. I would encourage all of you to make a study of this man’s life. If you would like to be the friend of God, follow the example of this man. We, too, can become God’s friend. These things have spoken much to my heart and I hope you might have gotten a little out of it, too.

The Way of God is the theme of a Bible study I would like to share with you this afternoon. There will always be a fog between us and the Lord if we don’t see this One Way, have an understanding of this and enjoy the Bible more. First of all, leave your minds open, it is not our position that there is One Way, that’s God’s position that there is One Way and we believe in Him what is true.

Gen. 3:24 in the days of Adam and Eve we read these words, “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” “The way of the tree of life” to us means Christ. It was the Lord’s Way and it was the Way of the Lord. The way of the tree of life in the days of Adam & Eve. Gen. 6:12 Days of Noah. “And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” It says “His way.” God’s Way was clean, they mixed some of these things in with God’s Way, it had become corrupt. We must believe that Jesus said that in the days of Noah so in the days of man there will be those that will depart from God’s Way. Present day situation explains that. Noah was just and perfect in his generation and walked in the incorrupt Way of God. It wasn’t Noah’s way — it was the Lord’s Way.

Exodus 33:13. Prayer of Moses. “Now therefore, I pray thee, if have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.” This was the prayer of Moses as he went up to the mountain. He had the right approach praying to God “shew me thy way.” It was not Aaron’s way — it was the Lord’s Way. Moses was praying, “show me thy way.” Only approach we can have is “shew me thy way.”

Judges 2:22. “That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.” Moses had died and God had appointed Judges. Gideon and other Judges — it was the Lord’s Way. The Way of the Lord and God was going to leave these people in the land of Canaan to test people to see if they would keep the Way. As we look into the future it will test us and prove us. It was the Way.

Days of Kings II Samuel 22:31. “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all them that trust in him.” David, Solomon or any of the other kings in that day it was the Lord’s Way. God’s Way changed one bit it becomes imperfect — live God’s Way as it is in Christ. We don’t mean when we speak of a perfect way that God’s People are perfect. God’s people are imperfect people walking in a perfect way, going on to perfection, but the way is perfect. We preach the gospel of Christ. Christ should be the attraction that should be like a magnet. Christ should be our joy, our rest and satisfaction and if the people can bring some joy that’s like a bonus.

Mention what the Bible says about the false way. 119 Psalms v. 104. “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” We get understanding through God’s Way. “I esteem all thy precepts to be right.” That settled it with me — what God said, should be our attitude toward the false way. The Lord died for people in the false way we should have a burning love for them, but it’s the doctrine, the teaching that we should hate. Devil is the father of lies. Devil is spoken of as a serpent. Might we say to you young boys and girls: there is no other way than God’s Way.

Days of the prophets Jermiah 6:16. “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” The teachings suggested stand and look at all the ways. God alone is the good way. He said you will find rest unto your souls. I can say a hearty amen to this — it is a Good Way — a land that floweth with milk and honey. Keep near the secret place and live in fellowship with God.

Jeremiah 32:39. God said “I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them.” There is One Way, God’s word, and we accept that because God taught us. God’s word is given us and we are to believe it. “I will give them one heart, and one way.”

119th Psalm – 89 V. “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” Before this Bible was written, it was a settled issue, Face the situation and investigate, for after all there is one Bible, He died one death.

Days of Jesus, Matthew 7:14. Jesus there speaks about this as a narrow way. I am glad it is, it couldn’t be a wonderful way if it was a broad way; everything would come in and spoil the way. Keep the purpose before us in making it no broader than He intended, but as much as we possibly can the narrow way.

Gal. 5:13. “Ye have been called unto liberty; only use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Let us not take liberties; see how far we can go in things. Let us keep the beautiful, lovely narrow Way of God.

John 14:6. Last night of Jesus life Thomas asked “how can we know the way.” Jesus gave the answer, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Eph. 4:5,6. There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in all.” Three parts: one baptism, one spirit, one baptism — holy spirit’s part in regeneration and the baptism in the water, burying the past and the baptism of fire, baptism of suffering, and persecution.

II Peter 2:15. “Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Basor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.”

Now you might have question in your mind, “What is the right way?”

The Bible clearly and distinctly says that God’s Way is the Right Way. Defending a way just because I am it, and we are not saying we are right–IT is. It’s the Lord’s Way that is right. “There is a way that seemeth right” some have forsaken the Right Way — just because the people might turn away from God’s Waydoesn’t change the Way. God’s Way is right — yea, forever.

Rev. 1:8 and Rev. 22:13. “I am Alpha and Omega” the beginning and the ending. Message through John to the people, and the Lord wanted to remind the people that Jesus was still the whole truth. “We don’t need more than Christ; what we need is more of Christ.” The whole thing from A to Z.

If you have a reason to give up the hope and Way — our hope and God’s Way. We take this position: We believe Jesus’ Way is right. It couldn’t be otherwise and we are seeking to follow in his ways and encourage others to do likewise.

The following “Helpful Sayings and Thoughts” were left with us (San Diego area brethren) from Dan Hilton’s gospel meetings in the early 1960s. We trust these thoughts will be as rewarding and helpful to you as they were to us.

HELPFUL SAYINGS

1) “Deep Down Truths”

2) “Clear as Crystal”

3) “Bedrock Foundation”

4) “Sufficient for That”

5) “You Dear Folk”

6) “Get Down to the Bedrock Truth”

7) “A Heaven-on-Earth Home Life”

8) “Don’t Quote Me; Learn the Word of God”

9) “In the Backwaters of the Rivers of Ungodliness”

10) “Be Careful, Be Careful, Be Careful”

HELPFUL THOUGHTS

11) I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have, but it will not be what “Dan thinks or says,” it will be from the Bible and “what Jesus says.”

Folks, memorize these verses. I Timothy 6:3-4, “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud and knowing nothing.”

12) Don’t slide down the banister of compromise.

13) Six keys to a successful marriage:

1. Appreciation

2. Appreciation

3. Appreciation

4. Appreciation

5. Appreciation

6. Appreciation

14) It is better for the courtship to continue in the marriage than the marriage to finish in the court.

15) Wedlock is padlocked and throw away the key; for God’s people, it is double-padlocked and throw away both keys.

16) Dare to be different, when different is right.

17) When something is perfect, why change it?

18) A young brother worker went to Dan with a concern about doctrine. Dan’s response was, “I am very backward about being forward regarding those things that are not in the black and white.”

19) Another brother went to Dan with a concern about doctrine; his response was, “Stay away from ‘I think,’ ‘I feel,’ ‘I believe.’”

20) A young girl asked Dan, “Would it be okay to change something just a little? It would not change my salvation.” Dan’s answer, “The danger is this: maybe it would not change anything now, but if others come along – say change again just a little, say 10 times, then we would not have truth.”

21) Excuse: The skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.

22) Plan for the worst; hope for the best.

23) Are you an armour-plated battle tank for righteousness or a bulldozer of compromise for Satan?

24) A godly-pillared home is where the man is the head of the home and the woman is the heart of the home.

25) The best bread is baked in the death oven of self-denial, deep in the basement of our heart.

26) Are you spending your time on the trash pile of compromise or deep in treasure mountain?

27) We can faint with a teacup of discouragement when there is a whole river of the water of life passing by.

28) When the sweet grapes of human affection are crushed in the winepress of the greater love, here flows the rich, sweet wine of sacrifice that feeds the guests at the table.

29) Life is like a coin: you can spend it anyway you want, but only once!

30) All our lives lie out before us like a field of drifted snow; let us be careful how we tread it, for every step will show.

31) Bedrock truth and rock bottom honesty is a sure winner every time!

32) A teenager told Dan, “Someone is saying untrue things about me.” Dan’s reply, “Just live so that no one will believe it.”

33) A wall is only as strong as a soldier who defends it.

34) Spiritual compass will always point to “Hear ye Him.”

35) We are going to suffer one way the other (I Peter 3:17); why not suffer for the right things rather than the wrong?

36) Beloved brethren, it takes all the ministers all of the time to meet all needs of God’s people.

37) You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time.

38) When talking to someone at work, or anyone, about truth, be sure your answers are from the Bible, and if you don’t remember where it’s found, tell them you will look it up and get back to them.

39) Unmoveable: Those that are most moved by God are least moved by evil and error.

40) Every move Jesus made had a meaning.

41) Christ is one percent worthy; our nature is zero percent worthy.

42) The soldier’s pack will always be lighter than the prisoner’s chain.

43) The grave of love is dug with a lot of little digs!

44) Children are your gold mine and you don’t have much time to work.

45) When we do the wrong things, we’re going down a dead-end road.

46) It’s not more than Jesus we need, it’s more of Jesus we need.

47) Christian: the shortest and more complete definition – remove the “a.” What do you have now? Christ-in.

48) Count your blessings “ton by ton” and you will see what the Lord has done.

49) Unadulterated truth: that which was and is from the beginning (I John 1:1)

50) My friends, when you and I are too (t-o-o) busy, then you and I are too (t-o-o) busy. (End of subject.)

51) Keep your children in the backwaters of the ungodliness; find the quiet eddies and coves.

52) When a current experience seems a little hard, in ten years we won’t know the difference.

53) Remember, effective good discipline is necessary for good character and a good future for your children.

54) Parents, I hope the light of Christ is burning before your children.

55) Jesus is God’s Heaven-sent answering service on earth. Jesus has all the answers.

56) Know our place, keep our place, and fill our place.

57) Kindness: Husbands, be kind! Wives, be kind! (I Corinthians 13:4) A double layer of kindness cake: human kindness and divine kindness.

58) Don’t make any major decisions when you are in a valley. You’ll be glad 50 times over that you did hang on when the cloud is past.

59) Steadfast means hold your ground against the enemy.

60) False way has a great big show and nothing behind it.

61) Truth has no pomp and show but the depth behind it.

62) Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

63) Psalm 145:7, “They shall abundantly speak of the memory of the great goodness.” What a marvelous century we live in. Because of Revelations 7:9, all tongues = languages. I have started a search of the languages in which the true gospel of Christ is preached. So far, I have sixty-one and there will be more as I continue to search.

64) The word “kept” or “keep” in I Peter 1:5 is translated from the Greek word “phroureo” which means “a military guard to guard against a hostile invasion.” As then, so now; many influences are like hostile invasion attempts but a strong faith in the true God, a strong faith in the true Son of God, a strong faith in the Word of God, a strong faith in the precious blood of Christ, a strong resurrection faith, a strong faith in our mediator can be our armory, a military guard to guard against a hostile invasion, such as Acts 28:22, the unsaved and curious Jews in Rome said to Paul, “For as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

65) The original writing of Matthew 6:10 and Luke 11:2, “Let thy kingdom continue to come.” The ending on the end of the verb “come” meant the continuing of an action already in progress; maybe about like an endless belt in the natural [life] where the treasures are continually placed in one’s lap. So in the spiritual; in God’s Kingdom, treasures keep pouring into our lives. They keep coming and keep coming. Indeed, we are a rich and blessed people.

66) It is wonderful when all experiences are used to grow in the Lord, II Peter 3:18.

67) Mark 13:3-6, it is amazing after all those four servants had seen and heard, that God’s Son told them, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” This meeting on Mount Olivet was only a day or two before the crucifixion. A few months ago, I looked up the word, “sleight” in Ephesians 4:14. It means “the quality of being skillful in manipulation.” That says a lot for Satan’s work. God’s people are being plagued with this kind of a thing all over the world these times. To be deceived is to believe a lie is the truth. I John 4:4, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” We are thankful for this God-given protection. Matthew 7:24-27 = The “Do” Rock = safe. The “Do Not” sand = disaster. Those three chapters = bedrock basics!

68) We experience so many little milestones in God’s Kingdom.

69) The old must die, the young may die.

70) A dying ministry produces a living church.

71) The word “Anti-Christ” means “opposed to” or “different than.”

There is something that has helped me for over thirty years now, but I have never spoken of it until recent weeks. Two questions that have been asked very often by saints that has caused me to speak of this matter: Where do people go at death? If people go to heaven or hell at death, then why a judgment later?

Seven periods: (1) Lifetime, (2) Time of death, (3) In the hereafter – day of waiting, the time after death, between death and the resurrection, (4) The resurrection, (5) Reigning with Christ on earth, (6) Judgment, and (7) Eternity. In life, there are two classes of people: those in Christ and those out of Christ. This is from God’s standpoint. This is true in life, in death, in the awaiting, resurrection, judgment, and eternity. It is here and not at the Judgment where it is determined where we will spend Eternity. We know that it was the making of our choice that decided where we would spend eternity, becoming children of God, children of the Day.

After life then comes death. Life may be short, but death is shorter. I would like now, if you would turn to Ecclesiastes 12. Notice the first six verses – much of these verses is speaking about death. Then look at the 7th verse, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” The preceding verses are speaking about old age and death, and then he speaks “then” – he tells of what happens at death, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” The Lord made man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul – one part from earth and the other part from God. Solomon shows us that this separation at death is only separating that which was united at birth. Death is the separation when the body goes back to the dust whence it came. Both going or returning to the place from whence they came, and that is all that happens at death. Some tell us that when we die we go into the grave to sleep both soul (or spirit) and the body. There is no place in the Bible where it tells that the spirit of man goes to the grave. Ecclesiastes 3:21, “Who knoweth that the spirit of man goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” There is a distinction between the spirit of man and the spirit of the beast. Have you ever noticed in the Psalms, “In the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, or wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”

Revelations 14:13, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, ‘Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.’ ‘Yea,’ saith the Spirit, ‘That they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.’” Now we are reading about the class that are in Christ in life and in Christ in death. They are blessed, resting, and their works do follow them. Revelations 6:9-11, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’ And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” “Rest yet a little season” – connect this verse with 14:13. Look at the 6:9 verse again. “I saw under the altar the souls.” Now, it’s not the body, but the souls. Someone asked me, “Was it only the ones who were killed by the sword as was Abel, Stephen, and others, whose souls are under the altar?” But it would also include Moses, David, Abraham, arid others who weren’t slain by the sword, but “self” was put to death. It would include all of these. Those who are “overcomers.” He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment – 3:5. 6:11, “and white robes were given unto every one of them.” The overcomers shall inherit these things. David said, “We are counted as sheep for the slaughter – we are killed all the day long.”

Someone says, “Jack, I don’t just know what you mean when you say, ‘Overcomer.’” It means – gaining the victory. Now I don’t mean this, that it is a matter of gaining the victory every day, on every occasion, until the end of the way. Who could stand up and say they had won every victory and never been defeated since the time they professed? Remember – Genesis 49:19, “Gad, a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at last.” There never was a war where one side won every battle, but they don’t sit down and say, “I am defeated.” They bring up reinforcements for the next battle, and who is it that wins in the end? He that ‘overcomes at last!” Our purpose should be to fight to win in every battle, but if perchance I am defeated in the engagement today, don’t put up the white flag, but seek to bring up something that will reinforce, win next battle.

Revelations 6:9, “I saw under the altar…” Leviticus 4:7, read that verse and you will get other references from it. You will find that the animals or the victim that was sacrificed was killed there near the altar and the blood was poured there at the bottom of the altar. The part of the animal that was sacrificed was consumed and the ashes would fall through under the altar. The blood was the life of the animal. We use the expression…spend and be spent for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s, or lose our lives for Christ’s sake and the gospel, or pouring out our lives for Christ’s sake.

Revelations 6:9-11 are the souls or spirits of those who died in Christ.. they are resting there under the altar. Now, I don’t know where the altar is but I do know it is not far from the Lord. Paul said, about being absent from the body and present with the Lord, and again, “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.”

Revelations 14:13, “Their works do follow them.” These are some words that came to my mind when someone asked, When does our influence cease? (At the Judgment bar.) It tells of Abel, “He being dead yet speaketh.” Abel’s influence still lives on today, so does Moses’ influence still live on and the influence of many others, and because of that their reward still goes on and there is need for a “judgment” later on, to decide the reward that is to one and all. The “judgment” is for the purpose of rewarding those in Christ, and meeting the punishment to those that die out of Christ. The judgment is not to decide whether a person goes to Heaven or Hell, whether we go to Heaven or Hell is decided here on earth. Let us look at the side of those that die out of Christ. Turn to the epistle of Jude. We will look at a few verses now which will help us understand where the spirits are of those that die out of Christ…in the period before the resurrection.

Jude 6, “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Those in Christ are under the altar, and these reserved in chains under darkness. A great difference between being reserved in chains and resting from their labours. Look at what Peter says about the same ones, II Peter 2:4, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Not judged, but to be reserved unto the judgment. You say, “But Jack, isn’t this the angels, that we read about here? What has that to do with man that sins?” Verse 9, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” To be punished, not yet punished, but awaiting it. Like a man who is a prisoner awaiting trial and judgment.

Now the resurrection. John 5:28-29, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is corning, in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” This speaks of the two classes, those in Christ, and those out of Christ. These two resurrections are a thousand years apart. The reigning of Christ with His own came between these two resurrections. When Christ will reign on this earth. I Corinthians 15:23 is the order of the resurrection, “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” When? At His coming. Verse 24, “And then cometh the end, etc.” All five chapters in Thessalonians, end with referring to the coming of Christ.

I Corinthians 3:13, 4:13-18, those in Christ. The dead in Christ shall rise first. (Same teaching in I Corinthians 15:51-55.)

I Thessalonians 3:17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Revelations 20:1-3, speaks of the binding of Satan. Verse 4 speaks of those souls under the altar, rising to live and reign with Christ a thousand years, “but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” This is the first resurrection – resurrection of the just. Verse 5 refers to those out of Christ. Verse 13, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works.” This refers to those out of Christ. Then, after the resurrection of the unjust comes the “Judgment.”

Read Matthew 25:31-46, “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the Holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; etc.” In speaking about the judgment, it speaks of coming with His saints. The sheep on the right hand, and the goats on the left, “Then shall the King say unto them on the right hand, ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father,’ etc.” That speaks of a fellowship – come in where I am. Peter speaks of an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and it fadeth not away and is reserved in Heaven for us. Is it worthwhile serving God in the light of all this? No wonder Paul said, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

There is a great difference between hearing, “Come ye blessed” or “Depart from me.” Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Some people will ask, “Would a father take a child, and put him in such a place and punish him like that?” And they say, “Would God prepare such a place for man?” Now, if you don’t take and won’t take the place God has prepared for you, then you must go someplace else, to the place that was prepared for the angels that sinned.

Have you ever noticed in the Bible that in speaking of fire, it very often speaks of fire in connection with the righteous? Luke 3:16, in connection with Jesus, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Those that were together in Acts 2 – got the fire of persecution soon afterward. Fire is typical of suffering. “For every one shall be salted with fire.” The difference is, those in Christ, they just have the fire here in this life for doing the Will of God. The suffering we have here, a little fire for doing His Will, is only momentary, but the fire for the unjust, comes in the next life for not doing God’s Will, will be everlasting – endless regret and suffering.

In the light of all of this, let us read I Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” May this be a comfort to you, when the day looks dark, to remember that, if I am true to the Lord today, I can have much tomorrow.

“Ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” I thought of this as I looked at God’s people in the meeting here this morning, my first convention in England. In Jeremiah, it speaks of God’s people as a beautiful flock. I feel a lot of precious things have been pressed into this meeting this morning. I thought of those words, “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it.” I feel glad for the time when I heard those words through the Gospel in Wicklow, and for the years I have spent in. Canada and the United States. There’s no people like God’s people and no king like our King.

In Isaiah 3, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord’s way, but in Chapter 6, he had a vision of the Lord Himself. “His train filled the temple.” I felt the presence of God in this tent this morning. In Isaiah 1, there was a very dark vision – the people had got down to a very low ebb, but there was a silver lining to this chapter. It’s good to see the good in others. It’s wrong to underestimate God’s people, because they are very precious to Him. There was much encouragement in Chapter 40 – the vision there is of the Lord’s comfort.

The sole purpose of God’s comfort is to help and encourage us. On the boat coming over, there were two boys – I believe they were Japanese and I said to one of them, “I could give a good guess that you are Buddhists.” He replied, “No, I am not a Buddhist. I am ten per cent a Christian.” I felt I would like to aim as high as I can to be a Christian, and not be only satisfied with 10 per cent. Chapter 40:28, “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not neither is weary? … He giveth power to the faint.”

That word power means a lot to me. You take the five letters: P for prayer, 0 for obedience

W for waiting on God, E for exercising our minds, R for Rest as the result of all the prayer, obedience, waiting and exercising. It’s one thing to fall down, but we don’t want to fall away. “Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.” If we fall, we can up and go on again, but not if we fall away. The motto of a school was, “Failure is no crime, but low aim is.”

“They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” I thought of the eagle, often we may feel like them and feel we can’t make it. The older the eagle gets, the longer its peak grows and it hinders the eagle from eating. It goes away to a high mountain and sits on a rock and picks away at the rock, until it wears the beak down and is able to eat. It would be sad if anything was hindering us from getting bread.

I thought of that word in Luke’s Gospel, “importunity.” A man goes to a friend to borrow three loaves of bread from him. The loaves speak of Faith, Hope and Charity. Because of the men’s importunity they have to rise and give him bread. Sometimes in prayer, it is only because of our importunity or persistence that we get bread. I saw somewhere, “Do not be afraid to go slow, but fear lest you should ever stand still.” It is not a bad mark to peg away slowly, but we would not like to be seen standing still.

Revelations 2, you will well remember in this part of the Bible, there was a message sent to seven companies of God’s people – to seven churches. A message was sent to each one of these seven. The number “seven,” as you know, is the symbol of completeness. It is my thought that the message that was sent to those seven companies of God’s people really embraces every possible condition found amongst the children of God in any generation. That is to say, in this company of people here today, every one of us may find exactly where we are and what God thinks of us – if we are honest with ourselves and honest with God and honest with the word of God – every one of us. The message that was sent to those people might just as well have been written to us gathered here today.  It might just as well have been written this week and sent from the Lord Himself, because it embraces every condition, from the most commendable to the condition where not one word of commendation could be given. It is interesting, and you might find it a nice study, to look up a number of places where this word “seven” is used. There were seven offerings in the Old Testament that made complete service. Seven nations in the land of Canaan that must be brought down – destroyed, before those people of Israel could walk and enjoy that promised land God had promised them.  Seven nations that were to be brought down. Then if you will look on the map in your Bible sometime, you will notice that once in the promised land they were surrounded by seven nations.  After God had brought them into the land of rest, where they knew the grace of God and getting victory, still there were seven nations round about them to hinder them at the first sign of weakness. The Philistines, Amalakites, Ammorites, Edomites, Midianites, Moabites, and up on the north the people of Tyre and Sidon. Every one of those nations represents an influence that is ready to move in upon the children of God when they are not watching the borders of their life.

When we come into the family and kingdom of God, every one of us knows something about a struggle and fight. The combat is deadly.  We have cruel, deadly forces against us. Every person this year who has known something of the help of God – has known something of a fight.  If we have not been struggling, we have been losing ground. Story of a little boy coming home with a black eye. Somebody asked, “Who gave you that black eye?”  He answered, “Nobody gave it to me.  I had to fight for it.”  Maybe we don’t always get all the victory but we are fighting for it, fighting hard for it.  There are seven nations surrounding your life and mine in this world that are ready to move in. David went to recover his border.  Territory had been lost and victory was lost for that time.  He went to get the territory back.  He went to fight for it.  It wasn’t going to come by sitting in a rocker and wishing for it. The secure border means we are enjoying this house of God.  If that is not ours, if we have lost territory, we have lost some of the joy and salvation of God.

Of those seven churches of Asia, there were two of them where there was not one word against them. Do you think it is possible to have come to this convention after this past year, and there isn’t one word from God against you? You would like that, and so would I.  I have the feeling there are people in this meeting with not one thing against them. I do not mean they are perfect.  I mean to say they have a perfect purpose.  Every desire of their life is toward God.  They have a perfect willingness to do His will with a perfect love for God, to serve Him.  Because that is present in their life, God has nothing whatsoever to say against them; no complaint to make.

There were three others who received some commendation but there were reservations with it. Complaint was made with the commendation, and with the complaint a remedy was given. It is very nice to notice, as God looks upon us and sees the wrong, before discussing the wrong to us or with us, He is discussing a very good thing about us. As we look into our lives, we may see the worst first. We may even see the worst first in others and not in ourselves. It is a very wise person that knows what to take to themselves in a convention meeting and in any meeting. Some people, because of weakness of body and an imagination that is not so healthy, if someone speaks about Judas, they assume they are Judas. If someone talks about some person doing very badly, they feel that is them.  We do not need to stretch the seams of the coat of everything that is spoken in meetings like this, trying to put it on what doesn’t fit.  Just put on what comes to us, what will apply to us. If it does apply to us, let us put it on.  Let us put it to ourselves to have a willingness of mind and heart to make it possible for God to make these meetings what they should be. If commendation does not apply to us, let us not take it. If it is censure we need, let us not take the commendation.  If it is encouragement God is wanting to give us, let us not blame ourselves where God is not blaming us. Let us not make it harder for ourselves than God is making it. There were two companies of people in Revelations with not a single word of commendation.  Nothing God saw fit to say well about them.  Their condition was deplorable. Maybe we have people in this meeting in all seven conditions, who will find themselves, if honest, in all seven conditions in the messages sent to these churches.

Ephesian church – Each of these people were given a little different look, from a different angle, at Jesus Christ.  The vision they were given was to be profitable. First ones were those that saw Jesus as having the seven stars in His right hand, walking in the midst of seven golden candlesticks which represent the people of God.  Jesus embracing all the children of God in all the world; all the virtues. There were seven beatitudes that made the pure light of God.  Seven colors that make up perfect sunlight, seven candlesticks that made perfect light. These saw Jesus with the seven stars in His right hand. I am not sure, but if those seven stars represent the elders of churches, there is a very nice thought in it.  All the men who are elders are in the hand of God, or that is where they ought to be.  God holding them in the hollow of His hand.  The message sent to the elder of the church.  One of the crying needs of this house of God will always be for elders worthy of the name, who have that shepherd’s heart of God over the little flock that God has made him overseer of.  Elders in this work of God, over the little churches. We will have a strong house of God if we have strong elders of God’s people.  It will help us to have a strong house if we have men worthy of that designation.  Elders in the work of God and in churches of God with Jesus walking in the midst of them. It is a sobering thought to think of the Lord Himself being in the midst of this company and every company of God’s people, walking in the midst of His house and looking over the light given out by the candlesticks. Being the husbandman, looking at the condition of churches and making note of what condition He is seeing us to be in. This first church had a sobering thought: the Lord has been looking over our company and is sending us a little word of how He has found us and what we can do to remedy it. First of all, He told them of all their labor and faithfulness in many ways.  He had not forgotten any of it and reminded them of their labor.  ‘You have not been weary, but kept on, have tried those that say they are apostles and are not.’  They were people of discernment and knew this was pointing them to Jesus.  They knew people that were helping them. The people you will be safe to follow now and in future are the men and women that will help us to become more like Jesus, not less.

One man told me of someone coming to his home and trying to lead him astray. Told me he had just a couple of questions in his mind, “Is this man wanting me to become more like Jesus? Is this man trying to make peace?” He had tried him, found him lacking. Always we will be safe to follow men and women who are pointing us to Jesus by word and by life.  People who are promoting unity and peace in this household. Those people at Ephesus were saying they were apostles but the Lord said they were false. They were leading people away from the glorious pattern of Jesus Christ. After all the good things then He said, “I have somewhat against thee.” This was their fight and they lost it. He said, “You have left your first love.” Probably I am right in saying today that the great struggle for all of us will be the redeeming of that “loving first” of God. First love means ‘loving first.’ That our fellowship with God Himself means more to us than anything else in the world. Our spiritual condition today could be largely measured and indicated by the amount of effort we have put forth to have fellowship with God Himself.  The level of affection for Him and the love we have for being alone with Him. The people of Ephesus undoubtedly had a lot of pleasure in fellowship with God’s people.  Where they were lacking was the old relationship of love and affection going out to God Himself.  The love to be in fellowship with Him, of gleaning from His Word themself.  In Proverbs, we read of those who forsook the guide of their youth, of their early days, the old warmness of love gone. In Malachi 2, it is likened to a husband and wife, and the love was waning.  The affection going elsewhere and he said, “Let none deal treacherously,”  Nothing could be more grievous in a worldly family than to see the love waning, nor in the family of God. This is evidenced by the thought, “I don’t have to read that chapter, I know what is in it.  I know what is in the Bible.  I have gotten along 25 or 30 or 35 years, and I know altogether what is there.  I don’t feel the need of prayer.”  In that case, we are leaving the first love and God is grieved.  He said unless it was corrected, He would take away the candlestick. It doesn’t mean that He will bear with us, that he is willing to take the secondary place in our life.  Either He gets the first place or we are removed. Where there is no love of God, there is no life in God. In the Old Testament, every morning the priest was charged with burning a little fresh fuel on that altar. What could be more grievous, even though it was a sacrifice, a sacrifice without Him coming first. The sacrifice is unacceptable unless He is first in the affections. “Repent and do the first works.”  If that love has grown weak and something else, business, other people, or whatever, has come in between us and God causing us to forsake the guide of our youth, the guide that led us into fullness of that fellowship, let us return to that, making a true and full surrender without a bit of reservation. Let us be seeking fully and sincerely that God will restore us where the warmth of that love would burn again.  Those who are loving God first are the people that have the joy. This is a dull, dreary, wearisome way if God is not first. There isn’t any pleasure, no thrill, no joy, if God has been the secondary figure in our relationship with Him. The Lord warned them to “repent or else I will not come to thee.  I will take away the candlestick and remove it.” Then He said, “To him that overcometh…”  We will overcome in this fight, and this is the struggle, if we keep that fire burning brightly. Maybe some days, because of some experience, it is burning rather low, but it can be started up and new fuel put on. It would be grand if all these days there is a lot of fresh fuel put on the altar of our life, that there might be a nice incense going up to God. “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life..” R.V. – “I will give him abounding life of Christ.” Do you like to meet people that have abounding life? The life of God abounding in them.  A story about a Methodist preacher. He was ill and he sent his wife down to the drugstore to get a thermometer. She wasn’t much on those words, not having much education – she forgot the word thermometer, and finally got a barometer. She attached it to him and the reading was “dry and windy.”  The indicator of this life from God is our fellowship – fellowship with Him in His sanctuary, and the Lord God is sanctified in their hearts, and they are drawing from that source that keeps life abounding. If we fight this battle and overcome, we will be given from this tree of life that is from God.

Church at Smyrna had not a word against them.  They are one I enjoy talking about and reading about. Not a thing said to them except encouragement, a little boost along the way, because everything in their lives was in order. He said, “I know thy works.”  First of all, look at the vision they saw of Jesus. “These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive”. That was the vision they were given. He was the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the eternal pattern. That was clear to them.  There never was another, never will be another; God’s eternal Pattern. They also saw He was the one who died, was crucified, but He lives, and He lives eternally. He died, He lives. This is what the Lord wanted them to understand and be encouraged by. He said, “I know your works.”  You live where the conditions are not conducive to an easy walk with God. You are in financial poverty, but you are rich. “Rich,” what a grand statement! What a grand statement God could make to mortals in this meeting; and I would surely like to think there are some in this meeting to whom God could say,  “regardless of your condition financially in this world,” that as far as His Kingdom goes, “You are rich in God, in grace, in power, in all God is giving.  Rich in knowledge, wisdom, faith; all the valuable treasures of God. You are rich.” What would it mean to them? Maybe they were feeling rather despondent in the terrific struggle they were engaged in.  But the words from God came to them, ‘though your poverty is evident in this world, yet you are rich. You will have tribulation for ten days. Some of you will be cast into prison.  Be faithful unto death.’ Now in the beginning of this message they were told of Jesus who died and now lives, and lives eternally. Now He tells them, ‘You also die.’  Faithful unto death; dying, dying, dying.  Don’t get weary. Don’t give it up.  Don’t get discouraged.  Be faithful unto dying, dying, dying. There are some characters that come to my mind in connection with this little statement. Luke 16, Lazarus in poverty, destitution with sores all over his body but was faithful to God. Lazarus lived the dying life.  He knew what it was to die, die, die all along the way of God. Die to self, to this world and to pride. The day came when, released from this body at the end of a dying life, he was taken to the bosom of the Father where the second death has no power over him. Jesus sent the message to Smyrna, “He that overcomes will not be hurt of the second death.” He that overcomes, keeps on dying, keeps on sacrificing, will not be hurt of the second death. In Hebrews 11, you read of another company of people similar to Lazarus.  They were destitute, afflicted, tormented, and it reads, “of whom the world was not worthy.” The world is not worthy of those characters. It never has been worthy of those grand characters that have walked this earth and have kept up this dying life. “Be faithful unto death and he that overcomes will not be hurt of the second death.” Eternal night has no power. The rich man who saw Lazarus, or could not see him, passed by and could not see the dying life. He wasn’t appealed to by a dying life. That man did whatever he wanted.  Whatever he desired, he obtained it. Whatever was the desire of his mind he was going after.   Because he knew no death here, he knew death hereafter. All the desire of his flesh and mind lived on – all was there.  The worm did not die, the fire was not quenched. He knew eternal death and eternal night because he knew no death here. It is to the credit of every person in this meeting if you have, to some measure, been keeping this death working in you day by day.  Saying “no” to one’s self and “no” to every desire that is contrary to the will of God. To him that overcomes, death has no power.  Night has no power over that mortal who is proving that power and grace of God in their life.

Pergamos and Thyatira – I will group these two together because their condition is somewhat similar.  There is a little variation, but not enough to make a distinction between them. The vision of Jesus those two obtained, the first one at Pergamos. They saw Jesus with a sharp two-edged sword. The church at Thyatira saw Him with eyes as flame of fire and His feet like fine brass.  The vision of Jesus that they saw is the vision that all are going to be searched to the innermost recesses of the soul, “discerning between the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  It divides between soul and spirit, and with the searching eye of God.  To that church at Thyatira the message is sent: ‘…all the church will know that I am He that searches the reins and the heart.’  It isn’t what we are pretending today, what others may think of us today, what we may even be thinking of ourselves, that is counting so much.   It is what the all-searching eye of God finds, and His perfect judgment. His feet were as of fine brass indicating the fine judgments of God we are being tested by. His word enters, burns, penetrates, to the innermost part of the soul, even to thoughts we might not be aware of ourselves. Now to these two companies the main thing against them was that there were those among them harboring a little doctrine that was wrong; a little idolatry (maybe a whole lot of idolatry). There was that in their hearts and minds that grieved God. Some harboring doctrine of Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before God’s people. Maybe the Moabites and Ammonites brought in a little doctrine not approved of God. They desired to put out the eyes of God’s people and to cut off the garments. To make them naked and to cause them to come to shame.  The true meaning of idolatry is a thought mistaken for a substance, a picture mistaken for a reality. We have a thought of God but not a substance.  We have a mental picture of what God wants, but not the reality.  We have made ourselves a little god, and it is only an idol. We could be in this meeting and this company today, and be guilty of idolatry in God’s sight by having thoughts of God that are not true. We could have thoughts about ourselves, in every way a high thought. I have been reading about certain kings in the Old Testament. It reads that they followed in the ways of David, their father, but the high places were not taken away nor the groves taken away. They just allowed some thoughts of their own to remain; a nice shady grove.   They convinced themselves it was alright to do what they wanted to do.  Human nature is very adept at convincing itself that the course I want to take is the one that is best to take. Now, that is idolatry. It was a stumbling block to God’s people, and brought in spiritual fornication.  They were trying to serve two masters at the same time. They were trying to be true to God and true to something else at the same time.  So, the Lord was grieved as He searched out their hearts. It would be very, very profitable if we would be honest with ourselves, to be honest to the “nth” degree in these meetings. It is hard and it takes courage to be honest with ourselves.  To be honest with this Word of God, means that when it fits us, we say, “That is me, and I must do something about that, and I will take that, it is for me.  That is the Word of God and the Way of God, and I must walk in it.” It takes courage to face it up. The Lord told them what He saw about them. He told them, “Repent, or I will come to you quickly and fight against you with the sword of My mouth.” The Word of God will cut you down and cut you off; either set apart or set aside. I know nothing more tragic than a person once in the will of God and now set aside, a castaway. Once they were in His hand, now a castaway because they did not fight for this, to be honest with God, so of no more use. What a contrast to some men and women who maybe at 80 or 90 years of age.  I know some brothers and sisters in this house of God in their 70s and 80s who are doing the best work of their lives, not castaway, because of fighting this out and allowing the Word of God to cut them down. I was in a home in Michigan recently, talking around the table about some of the teachings of the Bible, and it came up about some we know who were so useful even in their advanced age. The lady said, “We have been married 40 years and I have some tools in the kitchen that I had when married.”  She went to a little drawer and pulled out an old battered fork.  The handle was even charred from having been too close to the fire at some time and some of the tines were bent. She said, “There are some jobs that nothing else will do just like this old battered fork does.” To me it seemed like an old person, battered with the years, so useful in the hands of the Master. No one else could do that particular job just like this person, because of being in the hands of God.  The man went outside and came in with an old battered hammer.

I don’t know how many handles that hammer had had.  It was one of the original tools he had possessed 40 years before. He said, “When a special job comes up, this is the hammer for me – it just fits.”   Those people were just enjoying the honest thought of being in the hands of God.  Not a castaway, every lofty thought brought into subjection to Christ.  (II Corinthians 10) Every thought and imagination about God brought down and brought into submission and obedience to Christ.  Having the willingness to bring it down. He said, “He that overcometh in that fight, I will give him to eat of the hidden manna. I will give him a new white stone…” The person who fights that out and overcomes, I will give him to eat of the mystery of the Kingdom of God, that will thrill them, and also thrill others of God’s family. It will not merely be some interpretation, so cold and dead.  God gives them the hidden manna because they are conquering in the fight. He says, “I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows except he that receiveth it.” There will be a fellowship between that person and God that only the two of them know. There will be the trust of God placed upon that person, only the two of them know.  A new name that only he that receives it will know; intimate fellowship because of overcoming in the conflict.

To the people of Thyatira He said, “He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.” This is because he has power now over himself, or herself. No one will ever reign with the Lord unless they have power over themselves. No one who is a victim of the world or of pleasure will ever reign with God. Only those having a power to reign over themselves will have authority over God’s people. Only men and women who have rule over themselves and over their spirit, will have any authority to rule and help God’s people. They and they alone.  Power over the nations because power over themselves. “I will give him the morning star.”  He will have the dawn of light, the first ray of light in darkness. “I will give him the morning star.” The next is not a good one – Sardis. He said to them, “He that hath the seven spirits and the seven stars, (Seven Spirits of God the Holy One)  “I know your works and you have a name that you live, but you are dead.”  Now, think that over.  Sometimes there are people of whom it is said, “Well, they are dead.”  They attend the meetings so irregularly, or spasmodically, and are so lacking in any heart or evident life, that people say, “Oh, they are just about dead.” That wasn’t the condition of these people.  They had a name to live, They were at the meetings, in the midst of everything and had a name to live.  Other people thought they were living and going on and doing well. They did not fail to give their testimony or pray in meetings. But He said, “I have not found your works fulfilled before God.”  Your works are imperfect, your works have not been fulfilled or completed.  You say what you are going to do, but you don’t do it. You make vows, but you don’t do them.  You profess, but you don’t follow it up.  You profess much, but no evidence to follow it up. You are in meetings but it never makes much difference in what you are doing. Your works have not been completed, you have not and do not keep your vows. Could it be possible there are any individuals in this meeting that that would have to be said of them?   They have a name to live, have made the vows. I have heard this said, “I will not make any vows this convention because I haven’t kept those I made last year.” That is a disgrace to any of us.  I would mean we have a name to live and are dead. You read of men and women in this Bible that made vows and when God came for those vows, it cost them everything, but they paid. They made promises to God and God helped them in their petition and they paid in full. Let us not be so cowardly as to fail to make a vow when God moves us to make it. It is said the sacrifice of fools is by people who make vows and do not keep them. When we go into the house of God, let us watch our feet and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools.

The condition in Sardis was that no works were completed. They had no victory.  I have failed, and failed again.  That is not salvation, not the glorious way of God. There is provision made for failure; when they fall down they get up to do better.  But this matters: to have no intention of really going out to pay the price and foot the bill of what we have vowed. “Repent!”  You know what you have heard.  Instruction as to what you are to do to recover your steps.  To reverse your steps; and to keep what you have heard of God.  He said, “If you overcome in this, I will not blot out your name from the Lamb’s book of life.” “But even there are a few names in that company that have not defiled their garments: and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.”  God did not overlook the individuals here and there that were fighting on and trying to be true. The remedy was to keep the Word they knew. He says, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.”

The Philadelphia church received a much nicer message with everything good. He showed to them this vision of Jesus as the holy and true One. The one that had the key of David, the keys of Heaven.  The One who openeth, and no man shutteth. He said, “You have a little power, you have strength, you have kept My Word, and have not denied My Name.” There are others who have tried you, but you have power, you have kept My Word. What a contrast now, there is an open door for you and no one can ever shut it because I have set that door open for you. I would surely want to think there are people in this meeting who that word could come to, because you have a little power and have kept the Word of God. You have not denied His name, have not sought an easier way for yourselves and have not tried to make an easy way to walk in. Because you have kept His Word and not denied His name there is an open door. Then He promised them, “He that overcometh , will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new Name.” “I will make a pillar in the eternal Kingdom of God (there will be a place given to him in that house of God)”  Other people have been able to depend on him.  Therefore they occupy that place in God’s house, they who overcame in their struggle.

Laodicean church – “Those 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.” Imagine the nauseating effect that had on God. He said I cannot accept of you, or receive of you, the whole thing is so haphazard.  You say, “Maybe I will and maybe I won’t, maybe I am there and maybe I am not.”  Isaiah 1 – God said, “I cannot away with them” – I cannot stand it – the whole thing is a sickening mess. You say you are rich, increased with goods. To Smyrna He said, “You are poor, but you are rich.” To these people He said, “You are rich, but you are poor.” They said in their prosperity, “We have need of nothing.”  There is something about financial prosperity that is desperately dangerous. I have known of a few casualties in my time because of some financial success in this world; even spiritual casualties. The Lord said, “You do not know you are miserably poor.” You are not getting anything out of service to God like you should and you are not getting joy that could be yours. “I counsel you to buy of Me the gold tried in the fire” – you need a little of the endurable riches of God. The more we go after the riches of this world, the less time we have for the durable riches. “Anoint  thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see.” Nothing will help us to see better than the eye salve of truth, and if the word of God says you should leave something, you should leave it. If God’s Word says that is questionable or wrong company, better get out of it. “That you may see, be clothed.” “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne.” “I stand at the door and knock, and if you will open the door, I will grant fellowship to you”  That is fellowship with God. There wasn’t any fellowship then in Laodicea.  Business was too brisk outside, engulfing them and overwhelming them.  There was no time left for the Lord to come in for a season of communing. The whole service was haphazard.  “I want to come in and grant fellowship.” Do we have a consciousness in our own heart of the lack of this communing that would keep our service alive, that would help us be wholehearted, a little more of the white raiment that we might cover the nakedness of this human service and that which would help us. “To him that overcometh…” Oh, the promises to the overcomers, to those that fight this battle successfully.  But remember there is a terrific struggle.  We are not playing. We have daily forces against us, all the powers of the night are against the children of God.   But it is altogether possible for you and me to live this coming year so that when we come back to convention again there will not be one word of God spoken against us. There is everything to strengthen our hands to go on for another year if we are willing to fight that battle in the strength of God and the grace He will supply.

Since some of you have written asking me to give an account of my experience, I will take

this time to do this. When a boy of 8 or 9, I recall my grand-mother Swogger and Aunt taking me to

Sunday School twice as my parents never attended since their youth. I was 9 and a half when both

my grand-mothers died͖ and especially at my grandmother Swogger’s funeral, I remember quite

vividly having sincere thoughts to know and do my Father’s will.

We, parents and two younger, bros. lived in the small country village of Hadley,

Pennsylvania, about 250 people, where my father was an automobile mechanic. When I was near 10

a neighbour lad took me a couple times to the Wesleyan Methodist S.S. and service held in Mrs.

Dick’s home beside the empty Methodist Denominational Building on our hill. These Wesleyan

Meth.’s (which are so-called holiness teach being born again and their idea of sanctification, but as

some, these didn’t believe in the so-called third work of grace-speaking in tongues) purchased this

building from the Meth. Conference. The pastor and family who came were kind and very influential

in the community succeeding to get at least a few to attend. Age of 10 to 14 I went regularly being

indoctrinated by their beliefs and told often how the world was so full of false doctrines, prophets,

teachers, workers of iniquity, and to beware of modern religions which had turned from the “old-

fashion-way-of-worship”. We were much warned against new versions of the Bible (one group in Ky.

Gather together burning one to show their disapproval I understand). I was taught to read my Bible

every day and it was instilled in me that it would be a terrible sin to go thru’ a whole day without

reading the scriptures at all. There my S.S. teacher, Mrs. Dick, took quite an interest in me.

While practically through the 8th grade, I decided that I would like to go at least one time to

the Presbyterian Denom. Which was the only other denom. In the small town and was over on the

other hill in easy walking distance. Most went there from the neighbourhood and several of my

class-mates. (oh what might have been if I had just continued where I was) I wanted to see how

their service were conducted and too, because my mother would make remarks about the Wes., as

they would get a bit loud, which I did not understand but yet feared to speak much against the

noise, lest I might be saying the wrong thing. Having attended once, I wanted to learn more about

them, so continued for over a year taking more and more an active part. Then at Easter season

when asked to join, I was hesitant; but through a little persuasion and fair consent at home, I did

with a number of other young folks. Gradually I began trying to believe as they. Toward the end of

another year, now near the end of my Sophomore year, I had really become perplexed or confused

to simple what was right and wrong, clean and unclean. Because this Wes. Allegheny Confer. Taught

one should follow the letter of the word, but they knew nothing of the spirit of it (one should dress

plain, long hair, no rings of any kind or pins or brooches or jewellery, tobacco in any form,

intoxicating drinks, televisions, worldly entertainments, etc. and if one did you would be in danger of

being in that flame, the lake of fire that burneth forever and ever). Now the Presbyterians believed

the opposite, and they felt sorry the others were so ignorantly denied of much. Of course the Wes.

Took off the names of their members form their membership when some lowered their standard or

requirements.

I began going back to the Wesleyan on Sun. nights as I could see more honesty and sincerity

among them; however I still took an active part in all other activities where I had joined and was

baptised (sprinkled).

To whomever I could feel might help me regardless their faith, I would go to their home to

discuss the scriptures. The eunuch ( cts 8) when Philip asked, “Understandest thou what thou

readest?” readily confessed, “How can I except someone should guide me” seemed very much my

experience at this time. One summer day I rode my bicycle 15 miles down to Sanda Lake to visit our

new Pres. Minister. He gently explained, “I cannot tell you what is right and wrong.” Those were

sad words as he was in charge of the six churches in the Parish. “If one believes certain things are

wrong, for him it is sin, but if one believes these same things are right, for that man it is not sin. Our

family believes in these things and we go to dances, movies or relaxation. I believe if a man gets

intoxicated, and as long as he remains in his own little corner, I can see no harm in that.” Riding

disappointedly back I thought, well, if one can believe all these things are right and they will be!

Then why not believe that way. I questioned it though, but went to a few dances. Right away I

could see that that was the wrong course because I was drifting further away from God and I would

not pray as often and seldomly would kneel since I joined the Pres. I never stopped reading my Bible

and desiring understanding. I would discuss the scriptures with Mrs. Dick, and also with my Pres.

S.S. teachers, Mrs. Sheffler and Mr. Anderson, plus Mrs. Neice who was and Nazarene, but in Hadley

attended the Pres. On Sun. A.M. and Wes Alliance and too attended the Pentecostal Holiness and

Wes., a neighbour boy who was Catholic, and the Mrs. Patterson who lived in the Pres. Parsonage

beside Mrs. Sheffler and just across the street from Jess and Ella Dunlap (who is professing and very

hearty at the time). Mrs. Patterson and family attended another Wesleyan group because of feeling

better than these in the community.

I often seemed to be at the forks of the road. I would start down one road, but soon I would

be conscious this is not the right way; then I would retrace my steps and start out another direction

and soon again I found myself in the same confused state.

The forepart of my Junior year our Pres. Youth Fel. and S.S.Class decided to visit other

places of worship to see how they believed and conducted their services. To say the least I was

surely pleased. I had decided I would like to attend every religion when I got away from home to see

which way was most original and closest to the teachings of Jesus. One Sun. A.M. we left our own

services going to a larger town, Greenville, where we divided up to visit several sects. It fell my lot to

go to the Lutheran and that happened to be the Sun. everyone went into the new adjoining bldg.. to

simple admire it, et., although not quite completed. One Sun. afternoon we visited the Catholic

where the priest showed us his regalia, and another to the Jewish synagogue where the Rabbi

showed and described their faith. Afterwards when back at the Pres., we had a discussion on these

beliefs and I was sadden to see some laughing how others believed, when I thought they,

themselves were not much better. These that we had gone to, to my mind, were more proud and

formal than even the Pres.’s. You would know this is an unusual thing for a denom. to leave their

own services to visit others. In it I now can see as the spirit moved upon the face of the waters (Gen.

1:2 first action after the earth was created), so the Spirit was preparing the soil of my heart for the

sowing of the Kingdom’s incorruptible seed. Looking upon these few religions I could see the

Wesleyans were more practical and nearer to what would be acceptable before the Lord. Still not

satisfied there either.

The latter part of my Jr. year Mrs. Dick and I began quite a series of studies on the Book of

Revelation (easy study eh!) using other books, stopping at her home for an hour or so on the way to

school (school was on the other side of the Wes. Bldg.) Each time we would kneel to pray, and often

the tears would flow down her face as she prayed for my folks and others in the community. She

and the minister and a few others tried to encourage me to go to a Bible School after I would

graduate, but I never felt moved in this direction.

I never mentioned these things to my folks as they sure would think I was crazy and could not have

begun to understand me. In a sense, I do not understand why I continued so to feel after God when

others at home were not religiously minded. Thinking of this may times, if I might say, it may have

been the lack of attention and affection at home desiring to know my Heavenly Father. However I

believe everyone has desires to know God, but most cause these desires to be crushed or crowded

out by other things instead of seeking until one can sing those words, “Jesus, Saviour, I have found

Him, whom my souls so long hath craved.” I am eternally thankful that I in a measure kept a rather

good conscience and continued allowing His voice to my heart in a measure to be obeyed. But at

this point I must add that many a time I proved to be ‘no little angel’. You know what I mean eh!

Once when my mother was complaining about me attending these services, my father spoke

up rather loudly, “Those in this house that want to go to church, GO, and those who don’t, STAY AT

HOME.” Another time she said ”Denny will probably wind-up being a preacher.” Dad replied,

“Well, it’s all right with me if he wants to go and starve to death!” Coming down the stairs one day

when mom. Was mad at me for something, and reaching the bottom to turn into the dining room,

here came my Bible flying at me. I was shocked. After professing, my dad said to my bro., “Anyone

driving a car as much as he does needs a new car every year.” About four years after I professed,

two sisters held a few mtgs. in the little town. Finally I got my mother to one of them. Afterwards

she told my dad, “Some came 35 miles to that mtg. which lasted only an hour.” Answer, “They’re

just out of their head.” Having gone forth in the Harvest Field dad said to one bro., “If Denny had to

be a preacher, why did it have to be that kind.” My dad never spoke personally to me about these

things. One time I heard my dad say to a neighbour boy, “Religion is just like Santa Clause, just helps

to hold the world together but that is all there is to it.“ I lived for the day I could be away from home

that I might have religious liberty. Yet in many respects my parents have may good marks about

them. They are friendly to all the friends and workers, but of course to them this seems a strange

way. I hope and pray for them. Sometimes it seems hope against hope. I pray that they may get to

understand that there is indeed a living God and that He desires and yearns to be their Father also.

Ps. 19 and Romans 1: Nature should speak.

During these days I often visited a cousin who is only two hours older than myself. One

Easter his mother had him (Ronald Swogger) and his younger bro. join the Millageville Pres. Denom.

and baptised. Ronald told me, “That was the worst thing I ever did”. At that time I wondered how a

person could ever feel that way. He like most of my relatives are that way, so irreligious. One

relative, a cousing goes to the Free Methodist (they don’t use music and when a spirit strikes them

they will even roll on the floor – that is how they got the name ‘holly-rollers”)

Now as I mentioned I was a Jr. Time neared to buy our class rings. Everyone usually gets

one. What was I going to do??? I didn’t know and after discussing with others, I still didn’t. After

having another talk with myself and am sure the Lord was in on that conversation, I decided, “I don’t

know what church I’ll attend (or congregation) later on, but whatever way I find which follows the

teachings of Jesus, they probably will not believe in wearing rings and the like. jTherefore regardless

what others may think, I’ll not get one.” And thus I did.

One day I asked Mrs. Patterson what ch. The Dunlaps attended. She told me they went to

one ch. One Sunday and to another the next. No certain place. And of course felt that was not the

thing to do and naturally I agreed (I don’t know how she got this impression of them). She advised

me to start attending the Wes. On our hill regularly even tho’ she said they have some strange

beliefs one may not agree with. She told Mrs. Dunlap about my visits. Ella Dunlap then prayed that I

would visit them. I had questioned in my mind as what she believed as I said. And believe I

hesitated because she reminded me of the Amish and Mennonites in a sort-of-way, of which there

are different beliefs of them around home and especially so in central Penn’a. I wanted to know

more about them too but thought they were those that I had been warned against and so I felt the

same way about the Dunlaps. In my distress of soul I would pray, but believe lacked in seeking the

Father as I should have. One Sun. night in April Ella came over to a Wes. service that she might have

occasion to speak to me, which she did. I gathered many of my religious books together thinking the

Dunlaps might enjoy them, which I had recently bought, and my Bible and went to visit them, the

next evening. Jess doesn’t profess but was very friendly to me at that time, and I often sold them

(him) groceries at the store. They heartedly welcomed me into their home. After a while we began

speaking on Biblical subjects and soon I began inquiring about their faith. Ella gladly began to

explain how they believed in the one faith that Jesus lived and taught on the shores of Galilee over

1900 years ago, God’s way from the beginning. Sounded very impressive! And went on to tell how

Jesus sent the 12 and 70 apostles forth by two and two. Although somewhat familiar with the

scriptures, yet some of these things were new to my ears. She showed me her Bible proving

graciously it was the same as mine. I asked where did the church meet? And they asked me what is

a ch.? I replied as I was taught “A place of worship”. They soon changed my mind as we looked into

the dictionary and Bible, and explained to me they met in a home (Geo. And Stella Deniker, Grove

City). I asked, “You wouldn’t have an altar would you?” Jess entered the conversation, “YOU MEAN

THE MOURNERS BENCH?” I had become a great believer in the altar and had felt because the Pres.

Closed their mtgs. without an altar call, they were leaving out one of the most important parts.

However, this is one thing I can hardly explain, but just the way that Jess expressed it and the tone of

voice, the Lord seemed to show me right there the emptiness of tit and thru my experiences at

altars. Toward the end of our discussion that evening, Ellas said, “This week tow of our sister

workers or servants who have not been here for several months and my sister who has not been

here for about two years are coming this week. If you would like, I’ll send Martin down to the store

and have you come up.” “I will be glad to,” I replied. This seemed to be another time wonderfully

planned of the Lord. Two evenings later while at the store, I saw two strangers walking pass the

store and up the steep hill around the curve toward the Dunlaps. I looked for the son about 12 years

old to come to invite me, but the invitation didn’t come until the next evening. Another day seemed

a long delay. I went up that next night after work to meet these two sisters, Florence Witt and Susan

Wallace. They explained that they could not tell me everything in the Bible, but tell me the ‘Essence

of Salvation’ (what it means to be saved. At the close of our conversation I asked, “What about

those in foreign fields where Baptists would come along to make Baptists out of them, like-wise the

Meth., Wes., Pres., etc. and then you tell them not to follow any of these, but simply follow Jesus?” I

do not recall how the conversation went then, but the little the Lord was showing me was

wonderful. Following evening I went up to meet and visit Edna Reitz, Ella’s sister, and naturally

again favoritably impressed. They asked me to attend the Sp. Mtg. the coming Sun. at the Deniker

home, 30 miles away. I had told Mrs. Dick a little about my good visits and plans of going to this Sp.

Gathering. That Sat. night before the Mtgs., Mrs Dick came down to the store and while buying a

loaf of bread said, “If I were you, Denny, I would not go to those meetings tomorrow.” I answered,

“Well, I have promised and I would like to go at least one time to see what I have been hearing

about.” I went. I was impressed with the people and their testimonies as I was not used to that kind

in the so-called holiness. I noticed too the servants proved to be servants as some of them helped

serve during the lunch hour. Not so among the Pres. Suppers! When the workers spoke in mtgs.,

they made it clear that they themselves needed to live these things out in their lives too, and I

believed they were. On the way home, Ella said, “The workers were speaking of how well you

listened.” I didn’t say much of anything but thought “Why wouldn’t I?” Too bad all don’t feel this

way who attend mtgs. eh! The following Sunday I went with them to the Sp. Mtg. held in a hall in

Pittsburgh, 70 miles south. I felt some-what out-of-place at that home and hall hating to miss my

regular services, knowing all would be questioning where I had been. But as I returned and listened

to the minister I soon found that I am more out-of-place here, plus knowing what I heard was

contrary to the scriptures (much of it). Each week I would have 2 or 3 hour studies with Ella. The

time just flew. I could have easily spent the whole night many times realizing how many of our visits

were too long. I was very eager to know the truth of the scriptures that I might be set free from this

state of confusion. I was always filled with questions each visit and wanted to know if this really was

the only way of Jesus. I knew the Pres. didn’t have much because of often being astonished at the

things I would hear and see among those that were supposed to be the devoted members not

speaking of those that were just plain members as to speak. Ella told me her father often said, “the

Presbyterians profess nothing and live up to it.” I readily agreed. It took me a little longer to see

that the Wes. had nothing either as all ways of men and being built not on the one true foundation.

And at the time I wondered, “Could it be that in all the world, among all the ways, that I have not

attended yet, that right here and now, I have found not a way which is the closest to the scriptures,

but the way of the scriptures.” Walking home after each visit I was more and more thankful for the

understanding I was receiving and began experiencing Prov. 4:18 “But the path of the just is as the

shinning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Like those in Berea, Acts. 17, I

would search the scriptures daily to see whether those things were so and believe with readiness of

mind. At the same time it was like continuing to pull the curtains back further and further to see if

there was anything that just wasn’t what it should be because I knew so very well how many times I

had been warned to beware of false teaching and I certainly didn’t want to be getting mixed up in

the wrong thing. One visit Ella told me I was like Cornelius, (Acts 10) in that my prayer went up to

god as a memorial. Really I never just understood what she meant by that until after I went out in

the work. As I went thru’ these days I found that those words were going up to God from my heart,

“Lord, Jesus, teach me how to choose, talk Thou with me these choices o’er͙” I wondered how one

could rightly condemn people who are living after the example of Jesus. I began to see that the

church should be in the home and the preacher without a home. However I thought, “Church in the

home?” I know that I’m looking for His humble way yet didn’t know it was this humble; since having

this priceless privilege, I do want to be washed from all that is wrong and serve the Lord as I desired

at that funeral. Again I sadly admit many times I would potentionally content for the Wes. when

speaking to Ella to see how she would answer. One time she said, “I see that you still believe the

Wes. are alright.” “No” I said, “I don’t think any more of them than the Pres. at all.” I’m sure those

were precious words to her as now she could weary more with me. And many times she would say,

“When the servants come they can explain these things so much better than I.” But I thought she

was doing excellent and so the questions continued from met. She surely was patient and

longsuffering. I understand today that I did not recognize as I should have that these people have

the genuine Spirit of Christ about and in them, but I was mainly just searching out the letter of the

word. During these days I told my S.S. teachers of both places that the way of Jesus had never

changed but was the same yesterday, today and forever. I thought I might get some of them

interested, yet, was surprised that none would even consent to visiting this saint about the

scriptures.

Florence Witt came back (her companion was sick at the time) about 2 months later after

that first visit. Jess didn’t care to have meetings in the home. He consented for me to come up to

have Bible talks with Florence which we did one week. And that coming Sun. went with them 40

miles to the small Union Mtg. held in Mrs. Lamont Davis’ humble home. The next mtg. was left open

for anyone to say a few words that desired walking in His way. I got to my feet saying, “I know this is

the only way of Jesus and want to walk in it.” (or words to that effect). I recall very well when I got

home that I asked the Lord to cleanse me and told Him that my life was His. But OH how far short of

that I have often been! The next week we had a few more studies. There were fears of what my

folks would say and whether they would stop me from going to these mtgs. Yet I knew if they did

stop me, that I could go when I got away from home. However like so often, our worst fears are

never materialized. Nevertheless how important to have that fixed heart, definite purpose. Two

months late in August I went with the Dunlaps to the Newry convention where I was baptised by Jim

Beacom in “53”. It was about a year or so when I go to see how a gospel mtg. was held, which was

in Harmony, 50 miles away. After I got to see this was God’s way, this choice of walking in the way

was not as hard as having the willingness to present my life before the Lord and His servants to be

used in the higher calling if I would in any small measure be capable and worthy. I tried, like many,

to drown these thoughts out of my mind by taking up Photography etc. I wrote a letter to Willie

Beacom in October that I would go forth because I felt moved to this end, and wondered if my life

would be accepted in the Harvest Field or continue in the Photography work. On May 4th, 1958 after

a Sp. Mtg. near Newry I humbly went forth to be a servant.

I did not realize that this would get so lengthy, but guess I went out on too many unnecessary

avenues to give you my testimony. Perhaps sometime I can try to condense it.

In Exodus 34:2 we read, “Be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to Me in the top of the mount.” God is calling and has something to tell us. We do not need to climb the mount in our weariness. A night’s rest and we receive a new lease of energy. The morning time is God’s appointed time. John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” The lamb is mentioned many times in the Bible. It is the first animal mentioned and it is also prominent in the last book of the Bible. In the case of Abel, the offering and the offerer were accepted. No wonder the Scripture speaks freely of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

In Exodus 12, it was a lamb for a family. God is here amongst His people beholding Him. Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.” I would that the spirit of the Lamb could be amongst us. Yesterday we heard of the spirit of a little child. It speaks of desiring the sincere milk of the word. The little lamb gets milk on his knees, and that is where we will get the sustenance for our soul, on our knees. Walking up to the house this morning, I noticed a sheep on the dewy wet grass. He did not get a bite here and a bite there but he gradually moved into it. May we appreciate the pasture that the shepherd has prepared for us. Amos speaks of the king’s mowing. There is no way of obtaining a soft, dense, velvety lawn but by mowing. The more mowing, the more dense it becomes. The Psalmist says, “He shall come down as rain upon the mown grass.” Don’t be afraid of the scythe, there will always be a shower to follow; there shall be times of blessing. He who has our interests at heart will make no mistake. The hand that bled is the hand that holds the fan.

 “What can wash away my stain? nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can for my sins atone? nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nought of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

“When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” Christ is our life; He is all or nothing to the trusting children of God, and when He shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him. We might be in the background now, but it is in the darkness that the photographer brings out the subject of his work. In the dark experiences of our life, the hand of God works on our life and will bring out the best in our life. In Isaiah’s prophecy, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

The work that is wrought by the spirit of the lamb makes it possible for men and women in the spirit of a little child, to have a wonderful effect in leading others. Transformation of our disposition, a stronghold of sin, wolfish ferocity, leopard-like treachery, lionlike cruelty are all overcome by the spirit of the Lamb. The spirit of a little child in the home and in the church is the evidence of the loving hand of God subduing us. Sympathy is a wonderful thing; compassion was in the heart of Jesus. Compassion means, “I suffer with them.” We can sympathize with and help one another. First there was Abel’s lamb and then a lamb for the family. God’s people meet in small numbers in consecrated homes. Individually, they are living members of a family and do not have to pay someone to look after them. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” God would say, “What I put into the hearts of my children, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will not let the gates of hell prevail against those precious truths because it is founded upon the supreme sacrifice of the Lamb.”

In Isaiah, the lamb was for the Jewish nation. There is something about the flesh of a lamb of the first year. It has a sweetness and flavour and you can tell the difference from older meat. I hope we will feast upon the Lamb, walk with the Lamb, and be conscious of the cleansing blood of the Lamb as we are partakers of His life. First the individual lamb, then the lamb for the household, then the lamb for the Jewish nation, and now we have the Lamb for the whole world, for the sins of all the world. God works not hurriedly but thoroughly and makes it possible to manifest a little of the spirit of the Lamb.

In Revelation 19, John heard a voice as the sound of many waters. In comparison to this, I find the Lord’s voice is somewhat like a dripping tap. “The marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife hath made herself ready.” The Lamb’s wife and the Lamb’s book of life were part of John’s experience in Revelation. In Revelation 13 there was an image that rose up from the sea. It was very deceptive, having ten horns and seven heads, all suggestive of great authority and power, but it did not deceive John because he was looking for a Lamb. Further on another image arises out of the earth representing more deception. The first one was like a leopard, an illustration of what is in our human nature. It had no power to bring about regeneration in that ministry; it was wrong and false. The second image was like a lamb but still the old dragon voice was there.

In chapter 14 it says, “Lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Sion.” The other ministries came from the earth and from the sea but John looked heavenward. God asked Moses to come up to the mount in the morning. John looked heavenward. There is no mention of outward show: no horns, no crowns or heads but something very precious to us. There is a throne there. There are thrones of judgement and thrones of grace. You cannot know the benefit of the thrones of grace unless you know something of the thrones of judgement.

There was a song of wonderful harmony of the hundred and forty-four thousand. Only the redeemed could learn it. He is both miracle and mystery, prophecy and promise. “Without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness.” “God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” But He was bringing the remedy. Paul said, “We have no recommendation or authority..” but God put it in him and He changed Paul’s life.

In Isaiah 11, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” In Acts 9, it is typical of the old wolf nature, Saul breathing out threatening and slaughter but then God entered in and in verse 11 God says to Ananias, “Behold he prayeth.” The germ of a saint was in the chiefest of sinners and it would not rest till it broke through every barrier.

There are three aspects in the life of Jesus: first of His coming where the shepherds found Him in a manger and then the wise men found him in a house but Simeon found Him in the temple. Simeon came in at the right moment, on the spiritual beam we all need to be on. He took the little child up in his arms and said, “Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel but where did he hear about the consolation? It was in the word of God. He valued the written word and the spoken word. What does ‘consolation’ mean? It is ‘intensive comfort.’ When Barnabus surrendered, his name meant ‘son of exhortation’ but he was later called the ‘son of consolation.’ You can give intense comfort to the little church, too.

I was in Hong Kong last year and conditions there are not very appealing to anyone naturally, but what has appealed to those foreign people over there is the love of God’s servants for their Master. I sat at tea in a little house where a number of Workers had gathered. A sister Worker brought over a little bowl of soup and offered it to me and instinctively, I put out my two hands, and that is an old Chinese custom, a way of showing real appreciation. God wants us to show Him real appreciation for all He has done. In Proverbs 16, wisdom is offering her best with both hands, “Length of days is in her right hand, riches and honour in her left.”

In Proverbs 17:16 we read, “Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it.” He wants it but he is only putting out one hand. In Proverbs 31, we read of the virtuous woman. Paul wrote about the bond between husband and wife regarding Christ and the Church. The virtuous woman had the confidence and love of her husband’s heart, and it tells about what is in her hands. “The heart of her husband trusteth in her.” Her husband is known in the gate, what a lot of restive in that man’s judgement and he trusteth her. She seeketh wool and flax so is working with her hands. All is so little in comparison of what we have been given. Human love is generally known by what we give but love divine is clarified by what we have left. “She considereth a field and buyeth it” because of the work of her hands, not one hand but both.

Isaiah 3:41, “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.” Let Him see we are not taking the attitude of a fool, but it springs from our heart. Proverbs 31:31, “Give her the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.” Let the fruit of her hands praise her life of fruitfulness. Fruit is actions not words. May we be moved by the Lamb of God and the supreme sacrifice to give Him our all and our best.

Job 10:2, “I will say unto God, ‘Do not condemn me; shew me, wherefore Thou contendest with me.’” Is that not the need in our hearts from time to time? Our Heavenly Father never evades any question that we ask. “Shew me…” The request goes with the question. The circumstances of his life were opening up good opportunities for the devil. Satan said, “Now touch his property and see what will happen, this one who is perfect and serves you.” The Lord saw into the heart of this man and saw what He saw in the heart of Saul of Tarsus. There was the germ of a saint in the heart of a sinner, and God never stopped until He got it.

Job was a successful farmer, the greatest man in the East. What does true greatness mean? A person went into a town and wanted to get in touch with the mayor so he asked a man on the street, “I want to get in touch with the great man in this city.” The man replied, “There are quite a few of us.” We could be great in the eyes of men but not in the sight of God and so, not one of God’s children. God says, “Not many wise…” are called. It is good that He does not say, “Not any.”

Adam Hutchison stayed in a house once and the woman of the house said to him, “If this lowly way is God’s way, what hope would the king of Persia have of hearing it?” The Herods got the opportunity, but they despised it. The answer Adam gave was, “You get saved and you might be able to give him your testimony.” This woman’s husband got the chance of giving the king his testimony because of the position that he held. That man will never tell you of his speaking with the king of Persia. He is a very humble man and the King of kings is ruling in his heart. From amongst the common people of the earth God has His most valuable souls. Elijah called in at that humble cottage and ate bread, and every time they took that circuit they dropped in and there was a welcome awaiting them. We are not told that woman’s name but she was spoken of as a ‘great’ woman. Don’t despise what you are in Adam. The multitudes were very precious to Jesus.

God is very faithful in giving the answer to an enquiring heart. “Shew me…” Perhaps Job was thinking, “It seems to me that You are against me.” Only faith will unfold it to us. How shall I inherit this thing? It cost Abraham something. The Lord asked for a sacrifice and he gave it and protected it, watched it and saw that nothing would remove it. Darkness fell over it and he fell asleep. Abraham had a long distance strategy. He kept the right standard before people and God said to him, “Abraham, know of a surety thy seed shall be a stranger in the land that is not theirs…”

They were in Egypt for four hundred years, “but afterwards they shall come out with great substance.” There was great suffering and delay. An assurance of His promise is suffering and delay. The delay in Abraham’s lifetime made the promise seem impossible, but God is faithful to His chosen and afterwards they did come out of Egypt with great substance. Abraham, “staggered not at the promise…” it reads. He walked by faith. If we keep our eyes on Him who loved us we will grow more and more like Him. Our steps will not falter, but will become firm and true.

At the close of Judges we read that, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes,” and again we read, “David enquired of the LORD.” The Lord said to Abraham, “Get thee out and go to where I will show you.” He had the dealings of God in his life and walked by faith. Rebekah asked, “If it be so why am I thus?” She had her mind on the promise and all that was in her heart. God did not hesitate in answering her. “Two nations are within.” Every child of God has those two nations within and that is where the suffering and delay lies. God is faithful.

The substance of the Gospel of Christ is still to make ready a people for the Lord, a generation that makes it possible for us to dwell in the eternal inheritance. It goes on down here. There is a question found in the second Psalm. “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?” In Acts 4 after Peter and John had been delivered from the council, we read that they met together and the subject of their meeting was first of all, prayer. It says, “They lifted up their voice with one accord to God.” Then they looked into the second Psalm.

It takes experience brought to us by the hand of God leading, to bring out the beauty and revelation of the written word. There is true substance for souls from that Psalm. “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?” We sometimes evade a question fired at us, but it is not so with God. Verse 7, “I will declare the decree; the LORD hath said to me, ‘Thou art My son. This day have I begotten thee.’” Go where you like in the religious world, but once we stand out and receive Christ and obey Him, immediately there is opposition, but oh, what joy.

Job 9:20, “If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me; if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” At times we are apt to try and justify ourselves, like the little girl who was told not to turn on the tap, and when her mother found the tap running she asked the little girl who had turned it on. She said, “It wasn’t me. It must have been Topsy.” Topsy was the cat. Job recognized the folly of it. There is nothing so precious as to have the consciousness of God dealing with our life. Take the humble place and let God justify us.

A verse found in Job 13:15 gives us a good idea of the manner of Job’s question. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” God was trying to deepen that man’s trust. Trust is faith in its infancy. Mary and the others went to the tomb. They were prepared to find a dead body but they found sweet fellowship in Christ.

Two disciples went to Emaus and Jesus Himself joined them as a stranger and disguised Himself as a stranger to hear what they thought of Him. One said, “We trusted that it was He who should have redeemed Israel.” He knew what was in their hearts. “Fret not thy soul..” Trust in the Lord. A wall that frets, weakens. Commit your ways unto Him and He will bring it to pass. Faith posts a letter in a pillar box and gets an answer and that is what God wants.

Job 23:16, “For God maketh my heart soft.” A young woman was travelling in a train, and by her demeanor, some young fellows knew she was religious. One of them, wanting to take a rise out of her said, “Would you pray for me?” She immediately kneeled down and said, “Lord, make this man’s heart as soft as his head.” God wants to get the best from the soft human heart.

Some say, “I would like to be in the place where God could trust me.” If you would like God to trust you, you can be sure He will try you. It was not until after He had tried Timothy that He trusted him. Paul, too. It is a wonderful privilege to handle the mysteries of the Kingdom. God does not expect the impossible of any of us.

In Job 41:24, it says, “The heart is as firm as a stone; yea as hard as a piece of nether millstone.” The stone on which the wheat was gristed, it had to be very hard. That is a picture of the human heart and except it is broken there won’t be very much done. In spite of the hardness of the human heart, “He cutteth out rivers among the rocks.” That describes the softening process. Saul of Tarsus was the same, his hard heart was made so soft.

The reason He contends with us today is to quicken our spiritual appetite. “Thy word is more than my necessary food…” Job was able to say. One time at home years ago, I was milking and I noticed a storm rising. This could stop me from going to the Wednesday night meeting and I was longing to go. I hurried with my work and was delayed by the horses getting out and I had to put them back in. Eventually, I came in for tea late and Mother said, “Tea’s ready,” but I said, “I have not time for tea.” Mother said, “Don’t be so stupid.”

When I arrived at the meeting, I found there were two brother Workers there and we looked into the life of Timothy, from the time he heard the Gospel to the time that he went out to preach. After the meeting as I opened the gate, something constrained me. It was seven years from the time Timothy professed till he preached, and I thought, “Seven years from now, where will I find myself?” I kneeled down and prayed and I believe my prayer was heard or I would not be preaching today.

He wants to encourage our hearts. Jesus came to bring the gift of God, the gold of God’s love. God’s dealings with Job were bringing him through the furnace and enriching his soul in the service of the Lord.

When God brought out the children of Israel, He told them His reason. Seven times in Deuteronomy He gives it, “That it might be well with thee.” Sometimes part of God’s promise is delay and suffering. For four hundred years they waited. God revealed to Job the hope of the resurrection. Job 19:25, “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth….I shall see God,” and so on to the end of the chapter. “The root of the matter is in me.” In a previous verse Job says, “The hand of God hath touched me.” What was the result? “The root of the matter is in me.” Coming into touch with God through the Gospel puts our heart into that condition where the right things can be produced in our lives.

Verse 23, “Oh, that my words were now written, oh, that they were printed in a book. That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever.” He got his request and that is how the Scripture came to us. The first book printed in book form was the Bible. The world will see it best in your life and mine. Let us bow to the will of His dear Son.

Isaiah 41:17-21, “When the poor and needy seek water, I the LORD will hear them and will not forsake them; I will open rivers in high places and fountains. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, I will set in the desert the fir tree that they may see and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this.” God was upholding the standard of His righteousness, and is calling to us for the best that is in us. “When the poor and needy seek water.” In the sermon on the mount when Jesus took His young converts up on the mount, they came voluntarily. The Gospel still has the power to draw the honest heart and true soul. The “poor and needy” He referred to in the first sentence, when He not only opened His mouth and taught them, but He opened His heart to His little ones.

There are three aspects. There is the written word, the spoken word, and the living word. There are also three aspects of the Truth. Jesus said, “Thy word is truth.” That was the truth from the beginning. Then there is the way of truth and the spirit of truth.

Matthew 13 is a chapter of parables and it is given in steps. It starts with the mysteries of the Kingdom and goes on to mention the word of the Kingdom and the children of the Kingdom, and to finish showing the treasures of the Kingdom. The mysteries of the Kingdom can only be opened up by the word of the Kingdom and when we have the word of the Kingdom and the mysteries of the Kingdom which by the Gospel is preached, we become the children of the Kingdom, then His born again ones and He, as a loving Father, gives to us the treasures of the Kingdom.

In Matthew 4:13-16, we read what preceded the sermon on the mount. “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Elias the prophet saying, ‘The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.’” Then we read, “Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” They were definitely impressed by what Jesus said. Robert Cambers once referred to the hopeless condition of people in the religious world for something to satisfy, as being like a person looking into a dark room for a black hat that wasn’t there.

Acts opens up with the Kingdom of Heaven and closes with Paul in his own hired house, preaching the Kingdom. He poured out his best in the interests of the Kingdom of God. The first mystery Jesus proclaimed was to repent and there were certain conditions to be fulfilled. Jesus went up in to the mountain and His disciples, young converts, gathered around Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Hope would well up in the hearts of those disciples as they heard of a spiritual kingdom.

In Luke 4, we read of Jesus as He went into the village of Nazareth where He had been brought up. He read from the book of Isaiah, “The spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.” That leaves every one of us without excuse. God is still looking for that broken, humble spirit amongst us as His children. No less that fourteen times in those three chapters in Matthew, Jesus spoke about, “Your Father which is in heaven.” The people in Isaiah 41 did not know very much, but the last verse I read says, “That they may see, and know and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this.” That is what God is expecting of our lives, water in abundance, profitable work. It is beautiful to see in the lives of God’s children, evidence of God working. We learn of Him, entering into the fellowship of His sufferings, and He has promised that if we share in His rejection here, He will put into our lives something that others will see.

Psalm 126:1-2, “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and then said they among the heathen, ‘The LORD hath done great things for them.’” “The LORD hath done great things for us whereof we are glad.” From the outside, amongst the heathen, there is that admission and recognition of the hand of God working amongst His people, “that they may see, and know, and consider and understand together that the hand of the LORD hath done this.”

Maurice Christian once said, speaking about regeneration, “It is a marvellous thing that it is on the framework of the old that a new work is wrought.” Jesus told the disciples of something that had taken place in their lives but they did not understand it. “Of His own will begat He us by the word of truth.” It is not another religion but another relationship. They began to experience it but they did not understand it. Romans 8:15 tells us, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, ‘Abba Father.’” His spirit is bearing witness with our spirit that we are His.

Matthew 5:44, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which deceitfully use you and persecute you.” That is brought into the reach of every trusting child of God today. There is your privilege no matter who may despise you, “that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” God sends the rain on the just and on the unjust, and sends the sun over the whole earth. By the spirit and attitude we show in life, so we reflect on our Heavenly Father. When everyone and everything is against us, that is our privilege to produce the likeness of our Heavenly Father. We may not be a Christ rejector but we may be a Christ neglector. Our purpose is to be a Christ reflector.

“Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Jesus hopes, by His spirit, this might be accomplished in each life. “That they may see, and know, and understand and consider.” Some people see, but are unwilling, some know but are unwilling, but happy and blest are the souls who consider and understand and acknowledge the Son of God.

It says of Jesus when He contacted those disciples, “Light is sprung up.” “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” A teacher had a class for general knowledge and asked, “Hands up anyone who has heard of the true way of God.” He had heard and knew that in that district the father and mother of a certain little girl in his class had made their choice for Christ, and evidently he wanted to raise an argument. Every argument has two sides but no end, so what is the use of going on with it. Drop it and get on with something that has an end. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace,” that we may be brought into relationship with the Father.

This young girl was asked, “What is your opinion of all the other religions?” and she answered, “God put me in the world to be a light, not a judge.” How wonderful. God was with Abraham and then years later, God was with Isaac. He will do for us exceedingly abundantly according to the power that worketh in us. “When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, I the LORD will bear them. I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” If we will desire and pray for righteousness, He will not disappoint us.

Hebrews says, “Let us go on to perfection.” There are seven steps to that given in the Scriptures. The first condition is being poor in spirit and needy, not only poor but also needy. God’s servants went out for living gems. In Acts 16, three gems were found in the atmosphere of prayer. They found Lydia, the damsel and the gaoler. It is in the atmosphere of prayer that jewels are found. The church at Philippi was what it was largely because of the foundation stones that were laid upon the great foundation through prayer. Two Brothers went to work a mission and used an old brick building as a camp. A woman whose husband was a guard on the railway got up to get this man his breakfast and saw a light in their window. She made some chicken soup and knocked on the door and the elder Worker came out and she told him about seeing the light. The man said, “I was praying.” She saw her need and decided and gave the Worker the address of some of her people overseas and when he got there he found the Convention was on their grounds and two of their girls were in the Work. The thought of the family relationship runs through the Scriptures. What a lot prayer can do.

In Hosea 12, Jacob came to the depths of his extremity and that brought out the depths of his sincerity. There is a delicate margin between the flesh and the spirit. Those boys in that chapter were brethren, and more than that, they were twins. We read in Genesis 32 of Jacob wrestling with God. It is not the violence of willfulness that brings the blessing, it is simple, clinging faith, faith in Christ, clinging to Christ. It is not letting go. Jacob prevailed and had power with God. “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” We can be poor in spirit and are given power through prayer. Then we have peace. Psalm 29:11, “The LORD will bless His people with peace.” Psalm 35:27, “Let the LORD be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servants.” He wants to see us go on, a progressive people. Spiritual prosperity is bound to come if the peace of God can reign in our hearts.

The last one is in II Corinthians 13:9, “For we are glad when we are weak, and ye are strong, and this also we wish, even your perfection.” This is a picture of one pouring out his best to strengthen, and he has the welfare of the children of God at heart. In verse 11 of this chapter, he says, “Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” I hope we will appreciate the love of our Heavenly Father in bringing before us these things of such value.

Psalm 55:6-7, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest. Then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.” That would be a dark and lonely place. He was saying, “Oh, that I could throw off this responsibility.” “The wings of a dove..” He did not want to go out into the world. He was under a burden but God gave him the wings of an eagle. He got the victory. “Wait on the LORD,” for the victory. “Cast thy burden upon the LORD and He shall sustain thee.” ‘Burden’ in the margin says ‘a gift.’ God never intended the burden for us to carry, but the burden will carry us.

The last verse in Isaiah 40 says, “They that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” That is what David got. Once, he was beneath the burden but now, he had the victory. Never worry about the rivers that have to be crossed. There is spiritual provision, and I hope we will not be discouraged.

Isaiah 1:30, “A garden that hath no water.” Isaiah 58:11, “Like a watered garden.” Over in North Africa, the climate is similar to your climate here. After a long summer with no rain, everything gets dry and very barren looking. When the rains begin in the Autumn, that which seemed like a desert becomes more like a flower garden. In a few weeks, it can be changed because it is well-watered. I have thought of God’s people individually as a garden. I like flowers, and perhaps that is why I’ve compared our lives to a flower garden.

I tried to take a little walk in Jesus’ garden to see what was growing in His garden. I found that it was full of beautiful flowers. I found that Jesus on every occasion had the beautiful flower of SUBMISSION blooming in His garden. In the garden of Gethsemane the night before He died, it was a cold, dark night and everything was against Him. He knew what was before Him; He knelt to pray. He had in His nature that which would have shunned the cross, but He said, “Father, not My will but Thine be done.” SUBMISSION was blooming that night. There is something beautiful about seeing submission to the will of God. It’s not hard to have this flower blooming when everything is going fine, but in the hardest season of all, it was blooming in His garden.

The flower of LOVE was in every season so prominent. “Love led Him to Gethsemane; Love led him on to Calvary; Love in His flowing wounds I see – the Lamb of God who died for me.” Love helped Him to fit into the Father’s will.

The flower of SACRIFICE was seen on every hand in Jesus’ life. It reminds me of a little red flower I visited Flanders’ Field in France. Thousands of Canadians gave their lives on one particular hill there. A little red poppy blooms on those hills; they remind us of the little drops of blood. When I saw those poppies, I thought of the blood that had been shed by all those different soldiers. Jesus’ garden was dotted with little flowers of SACRIFICE that helped Him to sacrifice. Where there is love, there will be sacrifice; if we really love the Lord, there will be sacrifice. You can have sacrifice without love, but you cannot love without sacrificing.

The flower of HUMILITY is a sweet little flower. Though Jesus was with His Father and was rich, He humbled himself, became poor, took upon Himself the nature of man and became servant of all. When Jesus was with those twelve disciples gathered in that upper room, this flower was so very evident when He took the water and the basin and humbly washed His disciples’ feet.

The flower of KINDNESS was so very evident that last night, too. Judas, just a short time before, had sold his Master. Jesus was so kind to Judas that He washed his feet. When Judas was leading the others to take Jesus, Judas kissed Him with the kiss of betrayal; KINDNESS in the heart of Jesus caused Him to call Judas His friend. One time the disciples had gone fishing, and when they returned, Jesus was on the shore. He didn’t have hard words for them, but kind words. “Little Children, have ye any meat?” He had prepared something for them to eat; He was so kind!

I find that Jesus was very THOUGHTFUL, too! When He was walking up Calvary’s hill, and those along the road were weeping, He was thinking of others. Luke 23:28, “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.” He was thinking of others to the very last step of the journey. This flower of THOUGHTFULNESS bloomed in His garden at a time when it may never have bloomed in our garden.

The flower of FORGIVENESS was constantly growing in His garden. After they had driven those cruel nails through His hands and His feet and lifted that cross, and the weight of His body hung on those nails, He picked one of the most wonderful bouquets that He ever picked, and give it to those who had put Him on the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” When they had done the very worst, He just picked a little bouquet and give it to them.

The flower of PATIENCE appeared so often when Jesus walked and talked with His disciples.

There was the flower of TENDERNESS when He spoke to Peter about His lambs and sheep – those words are so tender. John 21:15, “Lovest thou Me?” After I took a little walk into Jesus’ garden, I began looking into my garden. Jesus was bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and tempted in every point like as we are. My little garden is made of the same earth that His was made of. Those flowers will grow in our garden, too. God doesn’t ask impossible things of us.

When I see sacrifice, it moves me to sacrifice. When I see kindness, that moves me to be kind. When I see humility, that moves me to be humble. When you take a piece of flower which is blooming in your friend’s garden and plant it in your garden, pretty soon you have that flower blooming in your garden, too.

What about your garden? Have you let it get like this desert place, or is it today blooming like a well-watered garden? I hope you have these flowers blooming in your garden because you’re going to need them. You may need a bouquet of forgiveness for a brother or sister, and if you have to pick seven bouquets in one day, you better have a good long row of forgiveness growing in your garden. You’ll need a nice little row of patience, too. These flowers are like sweet peas; the more you pick them, the more they will bloom. The more bouquets of forgiveness I pick and give away, the better my little patch grows! It would not be nice to have these bouquets for some people and not for others – that would be being partial.

Have these bouquets for everyone.

There are some things that hinder these flowers from growing. The weed of pride will choke out that flower of HUMILITY right away. You will never find the flower of Kindness when you have the weed of hardness growing in your garden. You need to work in your garden every day. If you leave it very long, the weeds will grow. Someone has said that a good time to pull weeds is right after a rain. I can see some of you, after convention, pulling some of those weeds. Perhaps after a little fellowship meeting is the time to pull out some little thing that you have become aware of.

Ways in which our garden is watered: reading, praying, singing, meditating. Prayer is like the dew that falls. You don’t know where it comes from but it is there and the earth is watered…it drops so tenderly and gently. If you are faithful in praying, you get your little garden watered. A fellowship meeting is just like a little shower, then every year, a four-day rain at convention time.

If you ever take a walk into your brother’s garden, BE CAREFUL. Don’t walk on the row of patience planted there. If you see a little weed, don’t be too critical. Jesus spoke of this as removing a mote from your brother’s eye. The eye is a very tender member. He told them to take the beam out of their own eye first. Look for the weeds in your own garden…first take care of your own garden.

We don’t want to be guilty of giving artificial flowers. If you don’t have the real flower growing in your garden, you are apt to give something artificial. Did you ever see the artificial flower of kind words?…No reality nor fragrance in them.

The spirit that accompanied Jesus’ love, forgiveness, humility, sacrifice, was just like the fragrance that will flow from your life; it will be felt and seen by others. “My life a DESERT place would be, a wilderness so drear; except the Lord, He whom I love, doth every hour draw near.”

The physical needs of the “true” ministry and the “false” are exactly the same. “True ministers” need food, clothing, shelter and as a means of exchange, they need money. “False preachers” need food, clothing, shelter and money.

The question is asked, “What is the difference between your ministers and ours?” Well, their needs are the same we admit, but the difference lies in how those needs are supplied. Your preachers preach for a salary, ours don’t. Your preachers appeal for money, ours don’t. Your preachers have a home, ours don’t. While these differences are true and help to distinguish the “false” from the “true” ministry, none of them or all of them together, give us the actual fundamental difference between the “true” ministry and the “false.”

The Old Testament is very clear with regard to how the priests and Levites were cared for in Old Testament days. The New Testament is equally clear with regard to how God’s servants are taken care of today. Jesus taught, “the laborer is worthy of his hire.” I Corinthians 9:14.

The Lord hath ordained that they which preach the gospel should live by the gospel. We make no secret of the fact that, as God’s bondservants and handmaidens, we live by the gospel and are justified in doing so, because we have fulfilled the conditions that Jesus laid down in the gospels. No man is justified in living by the gospel apart from fulfilling these con­ditions; and it is a pleasure to minister to them food, clothing, shelter and as a means of exchange—money—in His Name.

Jesus labored as a carpenter and lived by the work of His hands as a car­penter for 18 years; but for 3 years, He lived by the gospel and got His bread as a preacher of the gospel, just as honorably as He did when He was a carpenter. Jesus did not live on charity–giving nothing in return. Jesus always gives more than He receives. He accepted hospitality from Matthew the Publican, from Simon the Pharisee and from Lazarus. He always gave more than He received and in this He left us an example, that we should follow in His steps.

We do not live on charity. If any of God’s professed people come to us in His name and as an expression of their love and interest in the furtherance of the Gospel, recognizing we have fulfilled the conditions that justify us in living by the gospel, it is our duty to accept; knowing even a cup of cold water given to God’s servants “will in no wise lose its reward.”

What are the conditions Jesus laid down in the New Testament which He expects those to fulfill, who want to have a part in this ministry? I hope we are clear on what it costs our brothers and sisters to go forth into God’s great harvest field. I will present these conditions in the form of questions.

1. Are you prepared to sell all? Are you prepared to make yourself poor? Are you willing, as the very first condition, to have fellowship with Jesus in His poverty? In connection with the New Testament ministry, there is a very real equality–no one of us make a greater sacrifice than the other. We each sacrifice ALL. We are all placed on the same level.

2. The second condition has to do with being homeless. Are you willing to be homeless for life? Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but I, the Son of Man, hath no where to lay my head.”

3. The third condition: Are you willing to put the preaching of the Gospel before the claims of your own flesh and blood, living or dead? Luke 9:59-62. Instead of Jesus bribing men to enter the ministry, it would almost seem as though He were trying to prevent them. Instead of making it easy for them, He made it hard, for He wanted to test the depth and sincerity of those who expressed a wish to have a part in the ministry. Do you appreciate that?

4. The fourth question is: Are you willing to go forth without having any in­dividual or group pledged to take care of you and to preach the gospel without money and without price, whenever you have opportunity? We are glad to know that throughout the whole world, God’s servants have been able to go forth in His Name and are preaching the Gospel as it was in the New Testament days, without money and without price.

5. The fifth question is: Are you willing to be as a corn of wheat which falls into the ground and dies? Are you willing to let death work so that life may be wrought in others? Are you willing to be dead to what is honorable and legitimate for others?

6. The sixth question is: How far are you willing to go in preaching the Gospel? There is no such thing as a settled or fixed ministry in the New Testament days. None of us are in any one state for life. Jesus said to His disciples, “Go ye forth into all the world, teaching all the nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

We often ask.those who are desirous of going forth, “Are you willing to go with any of your brethren?” We do not lightly undertake the arranging year after year of those who labor together. Those who have this responsi­bility seek for the wisdom of God and His guidance.

Only those who have fulfilled the conditions which I have enumerated are justified in living by the Gospel. They earn their bread just as honorably as when they worked with their hands at their different trades. They are worthy of their hire and it comes to them in God’s appointed way.

Money, as a means of exchange, is used to enable God’s servants to live, to travel to foreign countries, and it comes as the spontaneous, unsolicited, freewill offering of God’s children. If you don’t love to do it–the Lord doesn’t accept it.

I would like to speak to you this morning about our fellowship as brethren when we come together on the first day of the week. We not only have fellowship with each other, but with brethren in every part of the world. We are not an American family, a British family, a Swiss family, or a German family. We are part of a worldwide family fellowship. There is no greater privilege on earth than to have a place inside of this family fellowship, where all questions of race and nationality are forgotten, and we partake of the emblems of our Lord’s broken body and shed blood, as brothers and sisters in the same family.

There are two chapters in the Bible which ought to be read often by every child of God: Exodus 12 – where we read of the first Passover, and Luke 22 – where we read of the last Passover and the first institution of the Breaking of Bread. There is a very close connection between the Old Testament Passover Feast and the New Testament Breaking of Bread. The New Testament Breaking of Bread on the first day of the week is the perpetuation of the Old Testament Passover Feast. There are seven things mentioned in Exodus 12 in connection with the Old Testament Passover Feast that every child of God should study carefully:

1) The preparation that was made,

2) the place where the feast was kept,

3) the number that came together in any one home,

4) the appointed time for the keeping of the feast,

5) the purpose that God had in mind when He established the Passover Feast,

6) the manner in which it should be partaken, and

7) those who were worthy of having a part therein.

I will mention two, of these seven, in connection with the Old Testament Passover Feast and the Breaking of Bread in the New Testament

1) The Passover Feast was established in the homes of the children of Israel: it was primarily a home feast. Throughout the whole history of the Jewish people, the Passover Feast was never taken to a synagogue or temple. The New Testament Breaking of Bread was established in a consecrated home in the city of Jerusalem. It was celebrated only in the consecrated homes of the people of God in New Testament days as we said yesterday, the church in the home, and only in the home. Should we ever depart from this, we become a part of Babylon, the mother of harlots. We make no Secret of the fact that in every land we are teaching men and women how to do without the hireling minister and public buildings for the worship service of God. Our coming together in consecrated homes on the first day of the week, to remember our Master and Lord in the Breaking of Bread, is a protest against clericalism, priest craft, and churchianity – this trinity of evil which is blinding the minds of men and women the world over, from the simplicity of Truth, as it is in Jesus. It is the privilege of God’s children to consecrate their homes to be used in this way, and have fellowship with their brethren in New Testament days, who consecrated their homes so that God’s people could meet together to break bread. Even when some leave their own homes to meet in the home of another on the first day of the week, they are giving their testimony to their friends and neighbors to that which Jesus lived and taught in the days of His flesh.

2) In connection with the Old Testament Feast, all leaven had to be searched out and destroyed before it could be partaken of worthily. The head of the house, with a lighted candle, followed by members of the family, searched every room for leaven, and if any was found, it was destroyed. In connection with the Breaking of Bread on the first day of the week, in obedience to the command of Jesus: “This do in remembrance of me,” there must be an examining of ourselves, and a putting away of all that has hindered our fellowship with God and each other during the week, if we are faithful in this, we can eat and drink worthily.

Sometimes we fear there are those to whom this coming together to break bread is but a ritual, a meaningless form. I believe with all my heart this morning that when this New Testament Breaking of Bread was instituted, the purpose in the mind and heart of Jesus was that it should be a source of comfort, encouragement, and inspiration to His people until He came back again.

It was the custom in every home in Israel in celebrating the Passover Feast, for the oldest son of the family to ask his father in the presence of all, “What mean ye by this service?” There may be in some of our hearts today the question, “What mean ye by this Breaking of Bread on the first day of the week?” We would like to help you understand this a little better if we can.

Every first day of the week, when we come together to break bread, we are reminded first of all of the great foundation truth of the Gospel, that He whom we confess as Lord and Master “gave Himself” fully and utterly for our salvation and for all men. This should create a great thankfulness in our hearts – that when we could do nothing to settle the question of our sins, and no one could help us, our Master “gave Himself.” He couldn’t give anymore; He didn’t give any less, to make your salvation and mine possible.

There are some verses in Paul’s letters that I would like to read over this morning in which the two words “gave Himself” (speaking of Christ) occur. I Timothy 2:6, “Who gave Himself a ransom for all.” We are reminded each first day of the week that when Christ died upon the cross, He gave Himself a ransom for all. He tasted death for every man. “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.” By the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, the way was opened up for men and women of every race and nationality to enter into this family fellowship, which means so much to all of us.

I would like you to turn to Galatians 1:4, “He gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” His purpose in giving Himself upon the cross was not only to make atonement for our sins, but also to deliver us from this present evil world. There are many today who would like to have their sins forgiven and names written in heaven, but they are unwilling to be delivered from this present evil world. We are living in an evil world – a world becoming steadily more and more corrupt, iniquity abounding on every hand. God’s purpose in giving His Son was that the power of this present evil world might be broken in every life. When we come together on the first day of the week, we are reminded of this truth. We can examine our own hearts; we can ask ourselves before we meet together, “Am I becoming more worldly and less godly or more godly and less worldly?” It isn’t easy for God’s people to break with the world and its attractions. It never will be easy, but every child of God has to decide for himself whether they will live for things present or things unseen – temporal or eternal.

It wasn’t easy for Abraham to say goodbye to his own city and people, to break forever with the world in which he lived, to go forth in obedience to the call of God, not knowing whither he went. He went forward when he couldn’t see; he obeyed God when he didn’t fully understand – he trusted God against his own feelings and Abraham became the “Father of the faithful.” He left us an example, in this our day, so that we can follow in His steps.

Moses was a man mighty in word and deed. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was the recognized heir to the throne of Egypt and could have lived in a great palace and reigned over a mighty empire. But we read that, “Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,” refused all that he could have enjoyed in Egypt, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” The choice that Moses made settles forever the value of all that this world has to offer in comparison to the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” It never has been easy to become God’s child. It never will be easy. There must be a turning away from all that this world offers, and a willingness to make the choice that Abraham and Moses made.

On a mountain in Moab, three women talked together: Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth. Naomi was on her way back to the land of Bethlehem Judah where God had given His people bread. Her daughters-in-law accompanied her to this mountaintop and there she told them that following any further would mean earthy loss. She had nothing to offer them materially; she advised them that if they wanted to make anything out of their lives in this world, to go back to their own people and back to their own gods. But Ruth said, “Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God.” Ruth turned her back upon her own people and her own gods and accompanied her mother-in-law to the land of Bethlehem Judah where God had given His people bread The choice that Abraham, Moses and Ruth made is the choice that we must make in our day and generation if we are to enter in to the fellowship of God’s people and God’s family.

Turn now to Titus 2:14, “Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Every time we come together on the first day of the week, we are reminded, first of all, that Christ “gave Himself” for all, that He tasted death for every man, that He “gave Himself” for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God. In this verse, we are reminded of the fact that He “gave Himself” for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity. Iniquity is taking our own way, suiting ourselves, pleasing ourselves, unwilling to recognize Christ as our Lord and Master. Iniquity is that thing in men and women that objects to order, discipline and guidance. The word in the original means anarchy or lawlessness. The United States government refuses to admit any man or woman into the country that does not believe in order, discipline and government.

In every true human family, there is order, discipline, and guidance. There is an equality of relationship in the human family, but there is not an equality of responsibility. The youngest babe has not the same responsibility as the oldest son or daughter. In this family of God, there is an equality of relationship but then is not an equality of responsibility. There are elders in this family, there are elders in the Work of God, and these are responsible for maintaining order, discipline, and guidance in the family of God.

I have been in some homes in America where there was nothing but confusion and disorder – no evidence whatever of any guidance or government, where it was difficult to tell whether the family was moving in or moving out. In this family of God, there must be order, there must be discipline, and there must be guidance or government. Otherwise, there will be much confusion among God’s people. Every first day of the week, when we come together to break bread, we should remember that Christ “gave Himself” for us that He might deliver us from all lawlessness, that He might purify unto Himself “a peculiar people” that would be manifestly His own in every land. There is no room in this family and kingdom of God for any who are unwilling to walk orderly, to be subject to discipline and the guidance that is so necessary for all of us in this family of God, Hebrews 12:5,17.

Turn to Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the life, which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Paul’s understanding, of what it meant to be a Christian, was this: that Christ lived for him, died for him, and that He might live again in him. It is our privilege, to give these bodies of ours to Christ to be His temples, that He may live His life over again in us, and through us, manifest His own Spirit and His own Nature to all whom we come in contact.

Christianity is not a church or creed or a system of beliefs and doctrines – but a life! We who confess Him as master and Lord are responsible for yielding our lives to Him, that He can live His life over again in these mortal bodies of ours. Christ, enthroned in our hearts and reigning in and over our lives, is our only hope of glory. Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him and he with Me.” In other words: I will live my life over again in that man or that woman.

It is good for us to be reminded often of these great facts of the Gospel: 1) that Christ gave Himself, 2) for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world, 3) that He might redeem us from iniquity, and 4) that He might live His life over again in those who call themselves His followers.

If He gave Himself to us and for us, what can we give? I have been going to Conventions like this for many years and have come to the conclusion that a convention is an empty and meaningless thing unless we are stirred and moved to make a new surrender to God. If we, as servants and saints, leave these grounds without saying a new “yes” in our hearts to His claims, this convention will add to our condemnation on the great day of reckoning. Let me quote the first verse of Romans 12, which tells us so simply and clearly what we can give in this our day, since He has given Himself so fully, so completely for us. Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Are we willing for this, this morning? Are we willing to present our bodies to Him to live in, to be His temple so that He can through us manifest Himself to a world that knows Him not? May God grant that there may be a new “yes” in every heart to all that He has said to us here, that we may more fully give ourselves to Him in the interests of His Kingdom.

We are more anxious than ever that God’s children should be rooted and grounded and established in the faith, and that they should be able to give sound and scriptural reasons of the hope that is in them, and for all that they believe as God’s children. One of the reasons why many of God’s people hesitate to give their testimony and speak to their friends and relations about the things of God is because they are a little bit afraid they might not be able to prove from the Scriptures the statements they might make, and because of this fear they remain silent. There is no excuse whatever for this, because we as the people of God are building upon a sure foundation. There is absolutely nothing about the truth in Jesus that we need be ashamed of. Every child of God, and especially the younger children of God, those who will some day fill the places we are now filling, should make a special effort to master what the Scriptures teach about the New Testament church and ministry.

I have always had a feeling in my mind that I had to see before I believed, and I rejoice that from the beginning of my life as a child of God, I recognized the importance of being a diligent student of God’s word and wanted to prove everything I was supposed to believe, and especially the truths I was expected to contend for as the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. We have been tremendously disappointed in many of our young people that they do not show this diligence, and that they do not witness for Him among their friends and associates as they might, and in this way fit themselves for filling a place in God’s great harvest field later on. We hope one of the results of this convention will be that all of us, young and old, will be more diligent in our study of God’s word, and will form the habit of mastering those precious truths that have been given to us, so that we will be able to speak intelligently to our friends about the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

I believe many of us in this meeting have not ventured to give our testimony, except in Sunday morning meetings or week evening meetings, and the only time we confess Christ is in the presence of God’s people. Perhaps the root reason for this is that they do not feel very sure of their ground, and that feeling can be attributed to their own lack of diligence in the matter of proving for themselves from the Scriptures that we are building on a foundation that cannot be moved, and that we are in our day contending for the faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Sometimes we have a little difficulty when people ask us what we call ourselves. It is very comforting and assuring to know that the word of God from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation is on our side, and that we find our way of worship and our way of service clearly defined within the covers of God’s book, and within no other book. These sixty-six books talk all we need to know about God’s way of salvation and worship and of service. There is nothing that we need to be ashamed of in connection with the ministry, and there is certainly nothing we need to be ashamed of telling our friends with regard to what we believe about the church. If this convention is to be of any real value in the extension of the Kingdom of God, it can only be such as we witness for Him by life and lip.

If I were to ask you a number of questions about the ministry, how many could turn over to chapter and verse in order to give me the true scriptural way? Would you be able to tell your friends just exactly the scriptures we necessarily must fulfill if we are to have any place in this ministry? In talking to our friends, we are very vague. We give answers to their questions which lead them up into the air, and after they have talked to us, they are just as wise as they were before. How good it would be if the young children of God, as well as the older ones, would spend a little more time in searching the scriptures and getting to see how solid is the foundation we are building on as God’s children.

While we can doubt and question every other faith, so-called, and while we recognize that men everywhere are building on sinking, shifting sand, how good it is to be able to look into the faces of men with confidence and with the deep conviction that God Himself has created within us; be able to give a sound and solid reason for the hope that is within us. I wonder if the parents here are taking any real interest in instructing their children in the way of life. Do they recognize that they have but a few brief years to sow the seeds in the hearts of their children, which may not ripen perhaps until later in life, but if it is faithfully sown they can have a hope that the seed will ultimately have the same result as in the life of Moses, who at forty years of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

We have a sort of knowledge of the truth. We know God’s people are divided into saints and servants. Sometimes they are called sheep and shepherds; sometimes they are called saints of the Kingdom and the under shepherds are called ambassadors. That is all fine, but are you clear in your mind with regard to the scriptural distinction between the saints and the servants of God? If I were to ask you the real New Testament difference between the saints and the servants of God what would you say? One man answering this question said the difference was that the servants of God sacrificed all and the saints of God used all in the extension of God’s Kingdom. All that man had – his home, his business, everything, was fully consecrated to God, and his greatest delight was to use his home and all he had for the extension of God’s Kingdom in the world. He got real joy out of his worship and service, far more than those who are half-hearted in their self-denial.

How many of us are really clear on the conditions that must be fulfilled by those who are to have a part in this ministry? God’s people demand greater sacrifices from their preachers than any other people in the world. They insist that their preachers must sacrifice all, and they say they believe in no other kind of preachers but those who sacrifice all for the gospel’s sake. That is quite right, but suppose you were asked for Scriptures to prove this, could you talk intelligently to your friends about it? There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in anything that Jesus lived and taught. Jesus said on one occasion, “If any man is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Father be ashamed.” We are not so bold in our witnessing for Christ as we ought to be as His people in the world. It may be that the reason for our silence is our lack of confidence and assurance, wondering if this foundation we are building on is solid and if these things are clearly taught within the pages of God’s own word. I would to God that your convictions were deepened, and were so deep that you would have no hesitation whatever in telling men exactly what you believe.

We as Workers want to be effective, we want to live our lives to some purpose; we want to aim at something. We recognize now that it would be far better to be effective as a saint than to be a useless Worker, but whether we are in the Church or in the Work, we ought to aim at usefulness; aim at something definite. If I was in the Work, I would hope to accomplish something. What we aim at is to see Sinners saved, Churches formed, and Workers going forth, and if we keep true, there is no reason why we should not accomplish something worthwhile. As I look into the future, I am filled with hope. I look back on the past and am not satisfied. I can see that in no Mission I did everything I could for the people. Always, by the close of a Mission, there have been regrets in my heart. I am satisfied that if we sought to be more in touch with God, and more under the control of the Spirit that He would not only lead us to fields that are ripe, but would bring us into contact with the individuals who are ripe for our message, as He did in the New Testament days. Philip was led to the very place where the Ethiopian was hungering after the things of God. We should look for guidance when we are in a district, so that we might be led to the right people at the right time, and be in the condition to deliver them the right message.

Don’t preach too long. We need to consider each other during convention and working Missions. A Gospel Meeting should last one hour. There is great danger in us becoming wordy. We need to learn to condense, to any all we have to say in a few words. It is a dangerous thing to tell them it all the first time. Keep a little for the next night. Give them the impression you have a little more to say. I don’t know any surer way to kill a Mission, than for a young Preacher to preach too long, or an old one to preach too long. I can preach in thirty minutes now what used to take me sixty. The will is the target we aim at. We want men to get somewhere.

Don’t get to your point too soon. Keep your point, if you have one, until the last. Some people give away their point to begin with, and spend the rest of the time taking the point off. Have something to say and say it in such a way that the people will be able to take it home with them. I believe the real essence of preaching is to get people interested, get them to reason, get their confidence, then take a shot at the will. Send them home with the impression “This man wants me to do something, this man wants to get me somewhere.” It is possible to go through Missions, and never make a serious effort to get people over the line. Don’t leave them astride the fence.

Don’t fish with a pin, fish with a hook. It is our business to make clear to people that we want them to yield their hearts to God. We want them to confess with their lips Jesus as Lord, and give them an opportunity.

How soon should we begin to test Meetings? I have known Workers to work two years and get good crowds, but never test a Meeting once. They were fishing with a pin. You will never land very many if you have no hook. It depends on the condition of the people how soon we should test a Meeting. You will lose ground if you leave it off to the third week, when you should have tested it the first week. It is not necessary for a person to know all that is in the Bible before they submit to Jesus as King. One Mission I worked, I tested the meeting the first night. I knew there was a girl there who would decide, so I gave her an opportunity, and got her over the line. I don’t think it is wise for us to go on night after night, and week after week, without giving the people an opportunity to decide. I knew a Worker once who went around making friends for himself. Now our business is not to make friends for ourselves, but for God.

Don’t read too much. Nothing is so miserable in a meeting as to listen to a poor reader. I have often seen people nearly put to sleep by a young Worker reading too much.

Don’t argue with the people unnecessarily. You are safer to let them have their point. We can afford to wait. It is a mistake to argue with people needlessly. It only advertises what you don’t want advertised.

Don’t get entangled with the affairs of this life. I have met lots of Workers who got themselves into no end of trouble by mixing in people’s business affairs. Our business is to put all our thoughts and force into one thing; seeking first God’s Kingdom.

Don’t make too long prayers in a meeting. Don’t be a Pharisee. I find it very difficult to pray in a Gospel Meeting. I always want my companion to do the praying.

It is a dangerous thing to commit yourself too far to anybody. Safer to keep them a little in the dark and tell them it a little by little, line upon line and precept upon precept.

Don’t jest too much. I don’t think there is any harm in being friendly and sociable and telling a good story. I would not object to it, but there is a limit to it. There is nothing so weakening as to overdo it. It is good to give the people a good laugh if the story illustrates the point. We should always keep the serious side of our life to strangers. The foolish talking and jesting we read of in Ephesians has reference to uncleanness. There is a sense in which we can go too far in jesting in things that are clean. I have overstepped the mark myself and lost ground. I would hate to be all the time with a companion who would not take a joke, but the other thing is just as dangerous, and we need to watch lest we be overcome. 

Don’t let them know too much about your past life. It is a mark of weakness when a person wants to give the history of their life to strangers. A man who knows how to hold himself, and not tell his whole story at once will have more weight. You lose influence with people when you talk too much about yourself.

Don’t let the people become too familiar with you. Familiarity breeds contempt. Keep people at arms’ length. Have some respect for yourself and encourage others to respect you, too.

I believe saints have suffered from us not giving them more along the line of their inner life. We have emphasized unduly the outside. Apart from Christ being revealed in the heart, no man can be saved. Their salvation does not consist of walking in the way, of having fellowship with us, but of having Christ governing and ruling their lives from day to day. Did you ever think there was a weakness in our doctrine, too much theory, and too little of the cultivation of the private personal walk with God, getting to know His whisper in the secret depths of our heart. When we emphasize this side of the truth more, our converts will be stronger. There is a lot in the New Testament with regard to the inner life. Christ in the Heart. We begin to neglect the inner life; we begin to neglect listening to the voice of God in our hearts, we very soon don’t hear the voice of God at all. A good deal of wrongness and rottenness has crept into the testimony through neglect of the inner secret life of the individual. Those who were big on the false way and F.B. failed to recognize the wrongness that was in themselves. That is the reason I believe it is necessary to have a clear knowledge of what the flesh is. What dreadful possibilities there are in the flesh, not only in the man who is a sinner, but the man who is a saint or servant. Any man or woman walking in the flesh, sinner, saint, or servant can sink lower in the mire of sin than any beast in the whole of God’s creation. It is an awful statement, but is true. The Scriptures show us that some of the best men made shipwreck of their lives through yielding to the flesh. We need to be careful, to fear, to have more of the power of God in our lives, so that our own selfish sinful human nature should be brought into subjection to Him, that our lives may be effective for Him. I believe we as Workers would be very much helped by reading Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. You would be surprised with how much there is in them with regard to the personal life of Paul, Timothy, and Titus. How anxious Paul was that Timothy should be a living manifestation of the truth and that he should get victory inwardly and outwardly. He wanted him to war a good warfare. He said, “Be thou an example.” Our preaching is very little use apart from our example. Now just as Paul wrote that to Timothy, a young preacher 1900 years ago; it is just as applicable to us today. An example in word in our conversation one with another. The saints are largely what you make them The example that we give the saints is how we shape their lives. “Example in charity” in love. The kind of love you read about in 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Timothy 5:22 Paul says, “Keep thyself pure.” That is that there should never be allowed in our relationships one with another anything which would hinder that fellowship from being pleasing unto God. Paul himself would never have given his experience to Timothy if he had not thought it was necessary to remind him of seeking to live a pure life in all his relationship with the saints. I could give you a list of Workers, both brothers and sisters who have made terrible shipwreck of their lives during the last five years, and that is the reason that we have passages like this. These Epistles of Paul to Timothy should be read frequently. Read them as a message to your own soul, lest world and flesh and devil should take advantage of you, and you should be overcome. There is a possibility of this in all our lives, so there is need to be careful. There is need for us to watch over each other, to seek to help each other. I believe old Workers are responsible for helping young workers. The help young workers don’t get or do get during the first year makes them or mars them. I would be ashamed of my life if I did not seek to help any young worker who came with me. If you can’t do very much in the Mission, you can help to develop your companion. It is not that you should rule over one another. Paul did not ignore his companion. We need to be loyal to each other. We are not joined together by law, but by love, and we need to be subject one to another. Nothing more helpful than each one of us as individuals to be loyal, even if it means giving against our own judgment.

I believe a lot can be done through faithful visiting. You can talk stronger in the home than in a public meeting. To talk too freely to people before you start your meeting is weakening. 

The best subjects to start with. I tell them what kind of men were in the Bible; what saints are; tell them about Jesus as a child, saint and servant. Tell them Jesus was a saint before He was a servant. Ask them who was the pattern for the saints, and they say Jesus, and I ask them who was the pattern for Preachers, and they say Jesus. I sometimes talk to the children when I mean it for the older people. I believe you can give people an awful lot of truth without giving the enemy any occasion to talk. When we are anxious to get people to profess, I don’t think it very bad to hammer along the same line for several nights. There is a lot of power in reiteration. When people are ready to make a choice, keep after them. People I want to deliver from their old professions I leave to the last. I preach one night on the Ethiopian Eunuch and ask them why Philip did not speak to him on his way up to Jerusalem. He was going up there for more light. He would not have listened to Philip if he had not been purely disgusted with the _________________.

It is a mistake for us to suggest that religious people are hypocrites.

To use Cornelius at the right time is wonderful effective. He was a convert, man, outside the Roman and outside the Jewish way; yet believed in the God of the Jews, and was worshiping Him up to all the light he had. He was believed on by those inside and outside his home. He knew all about the Jewish way, and the Jesus way, and the difficulty he had was, which was the right way. The Lord heard his cry and answered his prayer and sent His servant Peter. What should have happened to Cornelius if he had not listened to Peter? Lydia is also a good subject.

What is the best way to study? It pays to study carefully, not merely to read, but study. Possible to read a chapter a dozen times, and get nothing out of it. Work it up and make some use of it. I generally practice on my companion. We ought to be diligent students of the Bible, not to make us heady, but useful. The better you know the Book, the better able you will be to make use of it. I find the Epistles of Paul very helpful, finding out what he said about his own ministry. What was his financial condition when he reached Corinth? He was broke. He was scared to death in Corinth, and the angel of the Lord was sent to tell him to stick to it. What did he preach? “Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.” It is good to have a definite line of thought when studying. Studying the Acts with the Epistles is helpful. You can’t study too much, and when you do study and preach, seek to condense, seek to give the truth in such a way that they will be able to grip it. It is not the amount we know or say in a meeting that makes the truth effective. It is the ability to make use of what we know. I am not a bit afraid or ashamed to make use of anything I learn from anybody, if it is anything that will make me more effective and useful.

For anyone to be effective as a preacher, he must learn how to separate himself and wait upon God. Most Workers have great difficulty in knowing how to think right. The very fact that we have no ability to collect our thoughts makes us ineffective as Workers. We need to learn how to control our thoughts. The best way to get rid of wrong thoughts is to get right thoughts. Sin originates in the thought. Sow a thought, reap an action, sow an action, reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a character, sow a character, reap a destiny.

Very important for Workers to know how to take a rest. There is nothing so foolish in all the world as to worry, to do as the man who put the motto on the mantle “I am an old man now and have had lots of trouble, but most of it never happened.”

Is it wise to help in the home where you are stopping? It is alright to help some, but don’t become a slave. Good to keep on the right side of the lady of the house. I don’t think it is wise for brothers to help inside too much. When the people see your life is engaged, they don’t expect it. We can fill in every hour of the day. No Worker need give the impression that they are idlers or loafers. We earn our living just as honestly as any farmer. Make them feel that you have something to live for, and that you are determined to use your time to the very best advantage, and you won’t be very much bothered about their chores.

Jack Carroll, head worker of Western U.S.A. and Canada in the “early days,” wrote this instructional sheet.

– “Don’t preach too long. It is a dangerous thing to tell them it all the first time. Keep a little for the next night. Give them the impression you have a little more to say. The will is the target we aim at. Don’t get to your point too soon. Keep your point if you have one until the last. I believe the real essence of preaching is to get people interested; get them to reason, get their confidence, then take a shot at the will.

– Don’t argue with the people unnecessarily. You are safer to let them have their point. We can afford to wait. It is a mistake to argue with people needlessly. It only advertises what you don’t want advertised.

– It is a dangerous thing to commit yourself too far to anybody. Safer to keep them a little in the dark, and tell them it little by little, line upon line, and precept upon precept.

– Don’t jest too much. We should always keep the serious side of our life to strangers. Don’t let them know too much about your past life. Don’t let the people become too familiar with you. Keep people at arms length.

– I believe a lot can be done through faithful visiting. You can talk stronger in the home than in a public meeting. To talk too freely to people before you start your meeting is a weakness.

– The best subjects to start with. I tell them what kind of men were in the Bible; what saints are; tell them about Jesus as a child, saint, and servant. Tell them Jesus was a saint before He was a servant. Ask them who was the pattern for preachers, and they say Jesus. I sometimes talk to the children when I mean it for the older people. I believe you can give people an awful lot of truth without giving the enemy any occasion to talk. When we are anxious to get people to profess, I don’t think it very bad to hammer along the same line for several nights. There is a lot of power in reiteration. When people are ready to make the choice keep after them. People I want to deliver from their old professions I leave to the last. I preach one night on the Ethiopian Eunuch, and ask them why Philip did not speak to him on his way up to Jerusalem. He was going up there for more light. He would not have listened to Philip if he had not been purely disgusted with the [sic]

– Is it wise to help in the home where you are stopping? It is alright to help some but don’t become a slave. Good to keep on the right side of the Lady of the house. I don’t think it is wise for brothers to help inside too much. When the people see your life is engaged, they don’t expect it. We can fill in every hour of the day. No worker need give the impression that they are idlers or loafers. We earn our living just as honestly as any farmer. Make them feel that you have something to live for, and that you are determined to use your time to the very best advantage, and you won’t be very much bothered about their chores.

– The saints are largely what you make them.

The New Testament was written for the people of God and not for the people of the world.

It cannot rightly be interpreted by the natural man, educated or uneducated. The present Babylonish or confused state of Christendom has been produced by men who were not born of God, attempting to interpret the Scriptures.

Many different minds have made many different ways, hence, Babylon or confusion in the things of God.

The New Testament was written by men who were born of God, and who bore in their lives the marks of the Lord Jesus. Inwardly they manifested the marks of Jesus, Matthew 5:3‑13. Poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers. Outwardly they also showed the marks of Jesus ‑‑ Luke 6:20‑22. Poor, hungry, weeping, hated, separated, reproached and cast out.

It can only be rightly interpreted by men after the same pattern instead of many minds seeing many ways.

These men had the mind of Christ, and were of one mind and saw one way. They preached one lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all; who rules over all. “One Spirit, one Lord, one fold, one Shepherd, one way, truth and life.” Ephesians 4:4‑6, Jonah, 10:16.

The New Testament contains 27 books, by eight different writers, all of who walked in Jesus’ Way.

Matthew wrote one gospel, Luke wrote one gospel and Acts. John wrote one gospel and three epistles and Revelations; Paul wrote fourteen epistles, eleven to saints and three to workers. James wrote one epistle. Peter wrote two epistles and Jude wrote one epistle. The four gospels are a four fold picture of the life of Christ ‑‑ Viz.

Matthew ‑‑ Lion,

King Mark ‑‑ Ox, sacrificial service

Luke ‑‑ Man amongst men

John ‑‑ Eagle, Son of God, Divine

Matthew wrote for Jewish Christians and not for unregenerate Jews, as Plymouth Brethren and others claim. This gospel presents Jesus as King or Messiah, and is the gospel of the Kingdom.

Mark is Peter’s gospel and presents Jesus as slave or servant of all. It is the gospel of sacrificial service, the only service accepted by God.

Luke is Paul’s gospel written mainly for Gentile Christians of Jesus in chronological order. It is the story of Jesus, from childhood to manhood, from Bethlehem to Calvary. Tried and tempted in all points as we are, and yet without sin. It gives an insight to social life as man amongst men. Luke gives an interesting list of homes Jesus visited during His ministry after He had forsaken His home forever.

              Peter’s home……………. Luke 4:38

              Matthew’s home……….. ” 5:29

              Pharisee’s home…….. ” 11:37

              Pharisee’s home…….. ” 14:1

              High Priests home….. ” 22:54

              Herod’s home………….. ” 23:7

              Pharisee’s home……….. ” 8:49‑56

              Martha’s home………… ” 10:38

              Zaccheus’ home……….. ” 19:1‑10

              Water carrier’s home.. ” 22:10

              Pilate’s home……………. ” 23:1

              Enamaus’ home………… ” 24:28

John’s gospel is supplementary, the last written, and gives incidents, miracles, and parables which the others omit. It is the gospel of the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, the express image of His person; the word made flesh. Forty‑three times in this gospel Jesus claims to be the apostle sent from God, and the destiny of His hearers depends on their accepting or rejecting Him. Chapters 13:13; 20:17‑18, 20:21. He taught us that the Father had sent Him, so He called, chose, and sent men in the same way, preaching the same Truth, and living the same life and said, “He that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent Me.” The four gospels give the life of Jesus before His ascension.

The fifth book gives the Acts of Jesus which He continued to do in and through His sent ones, the men whom He called, chose and sent forth in His name and is called the Acts of the Apostles. This book gives the record of the conversion of multitudes at different times and places and also the story of the conversion of individuals so that we can have a clear conception of how men and women are born into the family of God. The Ethiopian, chapter 8 ‑‑ Saul of Tarsus, chapter 9 ‑‑ Cornelius, chapter 10 — Lydia and the jailer chapter 16. This book gives the record of the founding of numerous churches in Asia and Europe ‑‑ Jerusalem ‑‑ chapter 2, Thessalonica chapter 17 ‑‑ Berea chapter 17 ‑‑ Athens chapter 17 ‑‑ Ephesus chapter 19

We have a clear Holy Ghost record to guide us to how men and women are born again and how churches are established.

The epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, and Hebrews were written by Paul to the saints who had been gathered out of the world and separated unto God through His ministry and that of His co‑workers and who met together in small groups of 2 or 3, to 20 in their own homes, and they regularly worshipped God in spirit and truth.

The epistle to Philemon is a good example of Paul’s private correspondence with one who was an elder, and in whose home the church met.

The epistles to Timothy and Titus are letters to two of his younger co‑workers and fellow‑laborers in the gospel.

The epistles of Peter and James were addressed to all believers and especially to believing Jews. John’s epistles were written for churches in Asia, namely to teach saints what their attitude ought to be to true and false preachers.

Revelation is the unfolding of what was, what is, and what shall be forever.

Jack Carroll – Job

Satan did not get Job. He does not like anything that has marks of God about it. God said, “Where did you come from?” “From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.” Satan did not have a contented mind like Abraham. He was always bustling about. Very often those who are active about their own business and cares are slack concerning God’s business. Satan always keeps people very concerned and busy about their own affairs. He believes in action, always altering things.

Just as the particles of flour are one in a loaf, for the purpose of feeding the heart of God. In the history of a loaf, the farmer first of all has to cut the wheat off its roots. After being cut off, its human root then it is threshed. When God cuts you off your human root, He then separates you from the chaff in our lives. Then the wheat goes through the mill and is ground. We are all put through the mill because God wants us to become particles which may be used to feed hungering souls. You become one with others which are still outside the family. We are bound one to another as the particles in the loaf are bound before being baked. Then comes the kneading, uniting us firmly together. After this comes the fire. We all must go through the fire for it is good to strengthen and hold us more closely together. After we have begun to walk in the way of Jesus, the devil will rain persecution against us.

I John 1:1 After we have talked to people, they are going to look upon our lives to see if they can see any of the marks we talked of. We are supposed to talk of Christ and then when people look upon our lives they are supposed to be able to see Christ in us.

1. a ‑ Egypt is typical of the world ‑‑ social, political, commercial, religion.

b ‑ Pharaoh is a type of the God of this world.

c ‑ Moses ‑‑ servant of God, by whom deliverance comes.

d ‑ Jehovah ‑‑ the God of Heaven, the great “I am.” Hebrews 17:8

2. The Children of Israel in Egypt.

a ‑ Their condition Chapter 1:1‑14; 2:23‑25; Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:6‑8. Proves that the Israelites participated in the corrupt and idolatrous religions of Egypt.

b ‑ The plagues that were sent later were all directed against the gods of Egypt. Chapter 12:12.

3. The Lord having heard their cry, raises up and prepares a deliverer. Read Chapters 2, 3, 4 carefully and note the difficulty God had in fitting Moses for his work, read also Hebrews 11:23‑27 and Acts 7:21-22. Salvation is of God by man. God needs men to co‑operate with Him in bringing about the deliverance of His people (i.e.) How shall they hear without a preacher, etc.

There are many different ways by which the Lord loves to speak to His own people, but there are three ways in particular. He loves to speak by the still small voice within, He loves to speak to His people, and He loves to speak to His people by His word. The real value of the written word is in this, that by the word God can speak to your heart, reach your conscience, and you can prove the wondrous cleansing power of that written word of God.

It is not possible for any child of God to make progress in the Way of Life if he neglects the reading of His word. It is not possible to make any progress in the way without prayer. A prayerless child of God is a powerless child of God, a useless child of God. If we neglect habitually seeking His face in prayer and in reading His word, it will not be very long until we become as savorless salt, good for nothing without value to those who are inside or outside of His family and kingdom. Ephesians 4. Read over this chapter at least once every week until next Convention. It is one of the great chapters of the New Testament, and I feel satisfied that if every child of God would read it over once every week as God’s message to your own heart, as we would gather together again next year we would be able to testify of the help this particular portion of God’s word has been to us during the year. In connection with this chapter, I would like to ask you to memorize verse 30. This verse is the key to the right understanding of the chapter, and if we will memorize it and really make it our own it will be helpful to us. If when we are tempted to do the things that would grieve the Holy Spirit of God, if He brought this verse to our remembrance we might be saved from many a foolish word and action. If you will only memorize it and read the whole chapter over once every week until we come back, all of us will get much help.

There are at least eleven references to the Holy Spirit of God in this letter to the Ephesians, and Paul was very definite about what our attitude ought to be toward God’s Holy Spirit. He is our helper and the One Who has come to take the place of the actual physical presence of the Son of God. He said before He left them, “It is expedient for you that I go away: but if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” The disciples may have wished that the physical presence of Jesus would have remained with them, but that would not have been best for them. His physical presence could only be with them at one time and place, but the Helper He was to send to take the place of His physical presence made it possible for Him to perform the promise He gave when He was leaving them, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” In connection with this Helper Who has taken up His abode in our bodies, this One by Whom we have been sealed unto the day of redemption, Who has come to strengthen us. Paul in writing this fourth chapter of Ephesians said, “Don’t grieve Him, don’t disregard His whispers to your heart, don’t neglect to follow His leadings. Listen eagerly to what He has to say, in order that you may obey Him.”

The Holy Spirit of God can be resisted. In Genesis 6 God had to say to some people, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man: for that he also is flesh.” There came a time when God had to let these people perish. He had done His very best for them but in spite of that they perished because they resisted the striving of His Holy Spirit. There may be some with whom the Spirit of God has striven who have been conscious of their need and convicted of sin and it would be sad if they left here still resisting His appeal. Remember, He has said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” On the occasion when Stephen was put on trial for his life, when he gave his testimony in the presence of the council, he closed his defense by charging them with a sin their fathers had been guilty of down through the ages. He said, “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did so do you.” So it is possible for men not only to resist the Holy Ghost but to keep on resisting until finally He leaves them and they perish eternally.

1 Thessalonians 5:19. The Spirit of God can be quenched. “Quench not the Spirit.” This is rather an odd word to use in this connection. Paul was writing of the fellowship of God’s children when they came together to minister one to another and he may have had the feeling that some who were able to pray and to preach well might be inclined to discourage those who were weaker, and because of a feeling of weakness some would not dare to give their testimony. And as a result of that they might be utterly discouraged and might be inclined to give it up altogether. Paul wrote to them, “Don’t throw cold water on the feeblest effort of the weakest child of God to express the thoughts God has been seeking to put in their minds and hearts.” We would like to think those who have taken the first step into the family of God, as they now feel their responsibility for taking part in the little meetings that they will not be discouraged because of their weakness, and that none who are older will hinder them. Long prayers are for the secret place. It is a very wise procedure for God’s children when they come together not to tax the patience and the grace of their brethren by preaching lengthy sermons. “Quench not the Spirit.” The Spirit of God can be resisted, and when we separate from this place the Spirit of God can also be quenched. Then Paul says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” A great deal has been said to stir our hearts to a deeper, truer love for Him, and I hope it will grow and increase with the years. The truest proof that this love has been increased in us will be manifested by an ever-increasing desire not to say anything and not to do anything that would really grieve this Son of God Who has become to us the fairest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely One. It would be very helpful and profitable to take this verse home with you and use it as a motto to govern your lives and fellowship during the coming year. The main theme of this chapter to the Ephesians is the mutual responsibility that rests upon the ambassadors of Christ and His saints to maintain the unity of the Spirit. If you read it over carefully, you will be impressed with the fact that this is the theme uppermost in Paul’s mind and the great anxiety of his heart when he wrote this letter. He wanted the servants of God and the people of God, those who would be separated and put into the ministry and those who were still living in their homes and working at their trades and meeting together in the little church to both feel the responsibility God had placed upon them to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is most important for those of us who are workers in particular to have clearly fixed in our minds what is the real hope and purpose of all true ministry. If we are not clear about this, and are not aiming at this, then our ministry will not be of very much value. It will have the very opposite effect to that which God has purposed and planned. If I were asked what is the real object and purpose of all true ministry, I would find a very satisfactory answer in this fourth chapter of Ephesians. It tells that God’s gift to His people is His servants. We are God’s gift to you. The same Christ that descended has ascended and He still gives to men: and whether you recognize the fact or not, God’s servants are His gift to His people. In giving them He has placed upon them a very serious responsibility with regard to their ministry, and this responsibility is clearly defined in Ephesians 4. All true ministry has a two-fold objective. First of all it brings about in the lives of the individual children of God more likeness to the Son of God: for only in this can the purpose of life or of God be fulfilled concerning us. Many a time we have been perplexed in heart and mind with regard to the welfare of our being. Sometimes we have wished we never had been born. Men have looked for an answer to this question through many different sources, but no answer has ever been given to men that can satisfy the human mind like that which was given by God Himself in the gift of His Son. “God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” By the lowly life of that Son, the example He gave us of a life that was wholly pleasing unto God, He made clear and plain once and for ever the purpose of God in creating and calling us by the Gospel. That plan was to bring about in our lives the fulfillment of that familiar scripture in Romans 8:28-29. That we might be conformed to the image of His Son. When any of our brothers or sisters stood on the platform to minister to you, if they could have conveyed to your mind their desire with regard to your individual lives, they would have brought this thought home to your heart: that all God’s dealings with you and all His work in your hearts and lives is to bring about just one result. That result is more conformity and likeness to His Son, a little more likeness to Him this year than last year. That the graces which were seen in Him in all their beauty and perfection might become more manifest in us as we grow older in the Way of Life. I sometimes think of God looking down from Heaven and seeing men and women in a very different light from the way in which we see them. It was said of Michaelangelo that he could see in the rough, unhewn block of marble in the marble, but when he looked at it he saw a completed thing and a perfect quarry the completed statute. Others could see only an ordinary block of thing. Before ever any of our great buildings are erected they are formed in the eye of the architect and those bridges in San Francisco were in the minds of the engineers before the steel was manufactured for their construction. As God looks down from Heaven and sees us as individual lumps of clay, He sees the possibilities that others do not see or recognize, and He says, “If I can just get this man I can make something out of him.” I like to think of Matthew the publican. The Pharisees scorned him and looked upon him as one of the worst in the land. He was a disgrace to his own family, and an apostate from his own church. But God saw in Matthew something different, possibilities in his life that were afterwards realized, and Matthew the publican became Matthew the apostle, and the writer of the first Gospel. Think of Peter cursing and drinking along the shores of Galilee. If we had been there we would have passed him by and said there was a man that was beyond all hope, and that nothing could be done for a man of that type. But God saw just a little different, and the cursing, swearing, drinking, carousing man becomes Peter the disciple and Peter the apostle, the leader of the twelve, and the writer of two books of the New Testament. What about Saul of Tarsus? If we had lived in the city of Jerusalem we would have said he was the most hopeless one in that whole city. He prayed publicly three times a day, was wholly devoted to the church of his fathers, and later became the persecutor of all who called upon Jesus’ name. If we had seen him standing holding the clothes of the young men who stoned Stephen we would have said there was no hope for him. But God saw just a little different, and Saul of Tarsus became Paul the apostle and a slave of Jesus. At the beginning there was not very much evidence that Christ had come to live in these lives. The old life was more dominant than the new, but as we follow those lives year by year we can see that they were surely and steadily becoming more and more conformed to the image of their Master. They were more like Him at the end of their lives than they were at the beginning, and this is just exactly how God intended it should be. Then the first objective of all true ministry is to endeavor to bring about in the lives of the individual people of God just this thing: a little more likeness to Him, Who loved us and gave Himself for us. I would not care to go to any Convention anywhere, or to stand in the presence of God’s people to minister to them, unless I was aiming at something. Merely to stand up and say a lot of things does not get you anywhere. A man sent of God has a message to give, it is a very definite message, and he has to have something in line with what God has revealed. We have no doubt that the ministry that aims at so living and so teaching that more of the life of Christ may be seen in the lives of His people is a ministry in accordance with the revealed will and purpose of God.

This chapter does not deal so much with the ministry of the servants of God to His people as individuals, but rather the ministry of the servants of God to His people as a whole. It is a chapter, which emphasizes that the greatest and most serious responsibility resting upon any servant of God is to maintain and to increase the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Any ministry that does not aim at this is a ministry that is not of God, whether it is that of the youngest of us or the oldest. It is a ministry that God cannot and will not bless.

In the Old Testament days the Psalmist wrote of this unity that is spoken of. He said, “How good and pleasant a thing it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity.” On the last night the Lord spent on earth, when He poured out His heart to His Heavenly Father, part of His prayer was that His people might be one. I can imagine no greater crime against the body of Christ than for any of us to suggest a word or sow a thought that would destroy this unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We who are the servants of God have a very serious responsibility in this matter. We have to be careful of what we say and do and what we may write, so that in everything we may contribute our little share to what is so dear to the heart of God. Then as He looks down from Heaven He will see what He is so anxious to see in His people, more likeness to His Son and more unity in His family.

The longer I live and the more I know and understand of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, the more I recognize the difficulties and problems that confront us as His people. These difficulties may be even greater today than they were in Paul’s day. When he answered this great commission and went out to preach the Gospel, he went out into a world that was filled with confusion.

There was racial antagonism, the Jews against the Gentiles and the Gentiles against the Jews. There were many different religions that conflicted. There was the circumcision and the uncircumcision that divided and separated people into different classes and orders. Not only that, but there was the difference between those who were free and those who were bound.

When Paul was going to preach the Gospel he recognized that if the message was to really succeed in bringing into the family of God men and women who would be one and who would have one mind that all these differences that tended toward separation in the world would have to cease. So then in Christ there be neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, bond or free, but Christ would be all in all. I think of my fellow-servants going out into the world that is more confused today than in Paul’s day. There is greater religious confusion today than ever. More men are saying, “Lo here and lo there,” and men do not know where to go or to whom to look. When you look into the political world there is nothing but confusion there.

Take a look into the social world and it is bad. It was bad enough in Paul’s day, but today it is more corrupt because it is covered over with a spurious Christianity, and real rottenness of it hidden from the eyes of men. It is out into this world that God’s servants are being called. Their call is to bring men and women out of the confusion into a world-wide family and fellowship, where unregenerate days have come to an end. Men forget their races and nationalities and forget their religious and social status in Christ. In little fellowship meetings scattered over the whole world, men and women meet together in His name to minister to one another and to search His word, and they are one in Christ. Can you tell me any more worthwhile life you could have than to bring about such a result, to bring about that which was so dear to the heart of God from the very beginning of the world’s history, that we might contribute a little share in providing that bride for the Heavenly Bridegroom? I wish we who are the ambassadors of Christ would realize the great responsibility that rests upon us and that we would, regardless of cost, endeavor to so minister that we may contribute, no matter what others do, our responsibility toward God and our brethren by seeking to promote the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Any ministry that would tend to do the opposite is a ministry that is not of God. There are two lists given in this chapter that are easy to remember. One is a list of the things in our lives that would grieve the Holy Spirit of God whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption, and which would also hinder not only conformity to the image of Jesus but the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. How glad we ought to be that God has not left us in the dark with regard to the things we ought to avoid as well as the things which we ought to cultivate.

One list gives those things which, if we encouraged them in the lives of others, would hurt the Holy Spirit of God. If you really love a person, you hate to grieve or wound them. This word “GRIEVE” suggests the possibility of bringing real grief to the heart of One Who has lavished upon us His heart’s deepest and true love, and Paul says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.” What are the things that would grieve His Holy Spirit? It is an ugly list that Paul gives here. He was writing this to men and women who had been professing in the family of God for twelve years. It is surprising when you turn to some of these New Testament letters that the servant of God felt it necessary to write as he did but it is more humiliating to us to recognize that this necessity arises again and again even amongst God’s children and the citizens of His Kingdom. Lying is an ugly word, but Paul says, “Lie not to one another.” We would like to think that parents are seeking to bring their children up to speak the truth and to scorn the thought of a lie. Character is more important than success in life or the accumulation of wealth. If children are not taught to be truthful, and if they do not look upon a lie as something very grievous in the sight of God and man, there is little hope of them growing up as men and women whose character will amount to very much. As. long as you have human nature you will be tempted to lie. If you yield to temptation you will lie, and in doing so you will grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Until you will acknowledge that sin, and purpose to forsake it, there can be none of that fellowship with God. It is because of this possibility that God has provided for us One Who will plead our case before God’s right hand in Heaven.

“Let him that stole, steal no more.” Honesty ought to characterize every one of God’s children. The word of a child of God ought to be such as could be relied upon. In every detail of our lives we ought to be honest, not only with each other but with all men; because if we are guilty of crooked transactions, it will not only reflect on us but on Him Whose name we bear.

Then there is a little trinity given: wrath, anger, and malice. These are sins of the disposition. Then there are the sins of the tongue. Paul says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,” Beware of corrupt and defiling conversations, jesting about things unclean. We have had some very sad experiences in recent years and have known some of our young people to be defiled by listening to unclean conversation, and we are anxious to protect our young people from such influences. If any of your companions, even though they profess, want to discuss with you things that are unclean, we hope you will immediately sever all friendship with that person: for their influence, little by little, will have a corrupting effect upon you, and perhaps wreck your life, and you will curse the day you ever had anything to do with that person. Some of our young people are forced to work under conditions where they listen to unclean conversations, but they can close their ears to those things and seek to get it out of their minds and hearts.

Then this chapter deals with evil speaking and clamoring, taking advantage of the presence of others to humiliate another. These are some of the ugly things, which if permitted in your life will grieve the Holy Spirit of God. The other list given is very different. It gives some of the graces that were seen in all their beauty and perfection in Him Who is the Apostle and forbearance. These are the graces we are to cultivate and to encourage in others by our example and spirit, so that this wondrous work of fashioning us into the image of God’s Son, and uniting us as one in the family of God and in Christ may be completed. I love to think of the tabernacle in the wilderness in this connection. There were forty-eight boards in it, made to stand upright but not alone. They are typical of the children of God. The boards were held together by four bars. They might be typical of meekness, lowliness, longsuffering, and forbearance. One bar passed through the center of all the boards endeavoring to keep the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace. I have never seen a child of God, whose ministry characterized by these graces and who is honestly endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit, who has become a stumbling block to others. I would love to think that as we separate, that as our hearts have been stirred by God’s love and mercy, we will seek to avoid the things that would grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and honestly endeavor to have wrought into our lives and ministry by the indwelling Holy Spirit, those graces that characterized the life of Christ. If we do these things, then in the coming year, we will become like God’s Son and contribute more fully to the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There are two verses in this chapter that will help you to understand these things. It talks about the old man and the new man. It says we are to “put off concerning the former conversation the old man, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds.” This is your responsibility to put off the things that belong to the old man and which are corrupt. And then it says to put on the things that belong to the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. I wonder, have we realized our responsibility in this matter? Are we going to deliberately put off or starve the old man, starve the old nature by avoiding these things which could encourage that nature to manifest itself, and just as deliberately feed the new nature and put on the things which belong to that new life and nature? Some of these things are enumerated in this chapter. It speaks of meekness, lowliness, tenderheartedness, and then Paul finishes the list with these words, “Be ye, therefore, followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us, and gave Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God.” On that last night of His life, after Judas had gone out, Jesus spoke to that little group left in the upper room. He did not give them a law to guide them in their future service, but He gave them a new commandment. He said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Their love was not to be in accordance with any standards they themselves might set up, but “as I have loved you.” It was said of John when he was a very old man and had to be carried to one of the church meetings in Ephesus that Sunday after Sunday, before they separated, he would give his little word. And it was always,”Little children, love one another.” Some of those in the habit of meeting in that church asked him once, would he not add something else, but he said, “No, no more is necessary if they will just do that.”

I would leave with you this new commandment “Little children, love one another.” One of the deepest convictions of my soul is this, that if we really obey this new commandment as defined in 1 Corinthians 13, the two-fold objective of all true ministry will be fulfilled in us. We will become more like our Master, and we will be more united in His family. May God grant that during the coming year, the Scriptures may be fulfilled in each and all of our lives.

Two Gospels are being preached in our day:

1) Gospel of the broad way.

2) Gospel of the narrow way.

The first appeals to the natural selfishness of the human heart, preaches Jesus as Saviour, promises present prosperity, healing of bodily diseases, and a sure home in Heaven at the end (Matthew 7:15-23).

The second makes no appeal to human selfishness, teaches that true discipleship leads “across the will of nature,” preaches Jesus the only Saviour as Lord and Master (Romans 10:9-10; Philippians 2:9-11); promises present adversity, Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 4:12-19, assures all who believe that the more faithful and true they are the surer they will be to be “sick”, suffer from infirmities, and fill an early grave (Matthew 25:36; Philippians 2:25-30; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20).

There can be no mixing of these two gospels — one leads to death and hell while promising the opposite, the other leads to life and heaven but promises trouble, adversity, reproach, suffering, and sickness here, with the assurance that when “the former things are passed away there will be no more tears, death, sorrow, crying, pain.” (Revelation 21:3-4).

The present worldwide craving for signs and wonders has given rise to a host of religious and semi-religious movements which appeal to the selfishness of human nature and are making many converts. They all claim the power to heal the body and widely advertise their apparent success. Some claim that the healing is similar to that in the New Testament. There is simply no parallel or similarity between the two and there is much evidence to prove that just as we are approaching the end of the age, Satan, knowing his time is short is seeking to counterfeit the work of God in New Testament days, and is giving “his ministers” power not only to appear as “angels of light” and “ministers of righteousness” but power also to work “signs and wonders” in order to hinder, discourage, and deceive.

The USA has been the birthplace of many of these movements, such as Christian Science, Darwinism, Sandfordism, Mormonism, Pentecostalism, and a few score other divine healing cults which have been the direct cause of many unnecessary deaths. Almost without exception, all the religious frauds and fakers of the last twenty years have made a hobby of divine healing and have succeeded in getting a following of “cured people” in exactly the same way as a multitude of patent medicine vendors have succeeded in robbing the public by making claims for the curative powers of their nostrums which exist only in the imaginations of themselves and their dupes. Innumerable testimonies have been given both to patent medicine vendors and the divine healer with the same seriousness and the same amount of truth.

The New Testament healing was genuine and fulfilled the purpose of God at that time. The healing was instantaneous and complete. Some are asking in our day, “Was it God’s purpose for signs, healing, etc., to continue to the end of the age?” “Should we look for similar manifestations of His power today?” After giving these questions careful and serious consideration, I am absolutely convinced that the New Testament clearly teaches that it was not God’s purpose as the Gospel was preached to the Gentile world for these manifestations to continue and that we have no right to look for such today. “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.” The testimony of God’s people in the world today is similar to that given by Noah in his day. Noah did no signs or wonders but invested all he had and all he was in the ark and gave himself utterly in warning the people to flee from the wrath to come.

In the latter days of the apostolic ministry when it was manifest that the Jews would not be convinced and when the apostles were reaching out to the regions beyond and preaching the Gospel to the Gentile world, there is no mention of healing, signs, and wonders. The present worldwide revival of so-called Divine healing, etc., is simply a new attempt of Satan, the father of lies, the adversary of God and man, to deceive and bring men to eternal ruin. In Matthew 16:4, Jesus said, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.” The scriptures clearly teach that at the end of this age, Satan would be intensely active in seeking to counterfeit the work of God and deceive man.

In II Thessalonians 2:8-12, Paul warned the saints that in the last days, there would be a great manifestation of Satan’s power and “that by all power and lying wonders with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the Truth that they might be saved, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.” These signs and wonders wrought by Satan and his ministers (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) will increase with the years, ripening ultimately into the full manifestation of Satan’s power as described in Revelation 13 (note especially verses 13 and 14).

Jesus taught His disciples to expect a worldwide revival of signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. “Behold I have told you before” (Matthew 24:25). All the workers of iniquity from Jannes to Jambres to our own day have succeeded by their “signs and wonders” in proving to the satisfaction of those over whom they had power that they were of God and as Jesus prophesied “deceive many” (Matthew 24:11; 7:21-23). The study of the following scriptures will prove that the signs and wonders would be on the side of the False Prophets, not the true, in the closing of this age (Matthew 7:21-23; 24:11-24; 1 Timothy 4:2; 2 Timothy 3:8-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11; Revelation 13:13-14; 16:14.

When Paul was asked for the seal or proof of his apostleship, he did not point to the miracles he had wrought, but rather to the men and women in Corinth who had heard and obeyed the Gospel that he preached and were now, as a result, partakers of Divine Nature. This is the only seal or proof of apostleship that God’s true servants seek today. This they covet above all else and this God has given them in every land. They have no desire to compete with the “workers of iniquity,” who by the power of Satan do signs and lying wonders in the name of Jesus and deceive the multitude (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). They are content with the anointing which enables them to go forth in His name as strangers and preach the Gospel which results in men and women who are dead in trespasses and sins becoming alive to Jesus (Ephesians 2:1).

To have fixed in our minds that all the miracles wrought by Jesus during His ministry had a special spiritual significance and were intended to teach spiritual lessons is important. All the physical diseases mentioned in the Gospels were typical of possible spiritual diseases. Nowhere is it said in the Gospels that the main purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to perform signs and miracles, but the exact opposite is clearly stated by Jesus Himself in Luke 4:17-18. On this occasion, the people of Nazareth had gathered to see a wonder worker, not a preacher bringing to them the message of God. He did not work a wonder to satisfy their curiosity but preached the Good News which they deliberately rejected and in their fury sought to take His life. The main purpose of the anointing of Jesus was to preach the Gospel and produce true spiritual results, not physical ones. It is important to keep this in mind. The purpose of the miracles wrought by Jesus was twofold: 1) to illustrate and teach spiritual truths; and 2) to convince the Jews that He was the One of Whom all the prophets had spoken, and to leave them absolutely without excuse for their unbelief and their rejection of Him as the Messiah (John 3:2; 7:31; 9:32; 10:37; 15:24).

It is impossible to understand the Old and New Testaments apart from keeping clear in our minds that the Jews as a nation were peculiarly favoured of God, and that despite their sins, transgressions, iniquities, unfaithfulness, and unbelief, He was mindful of His covenant and kept His promise with them — ultimately sending in the fullness of time Jesus as their Messiah and Saviour. With regard to physical disease, there was no doubt in the mind of any Jew as to God’s ability to heal the diseases of His people when in true repentance they turned to Him. They were all familiar with the teaching of Moses in the Old Testament, that if obedient, the children of Israel were promised, with other blessings, freedom from diseases (Exodus 23:25; Deuteronomy 28:1-14; Exodus 15:26). The outward material blessings promised to the obedient Israelites were typical of the inward spiritual blessings promised to obedient Christians. The outward material blessings promised to obedient Israelites were typical of the inward spiritual blessings promised to obedient Christians. The physical diseases from which disobedient Israelites suffered were typical of the spiritual diseases from which disobedient Christians suffer today. It was a fixed belief among the Jews that disease was the result of sin against God, disobedience to His commandments (see John 9:2).

In Solomon’s prayer in I Kings 8:33-39, he recognizes the danger of defeat in battle, drought, and sickness, coming on the people of God as a result of sin. This is illustrated as follows: Miriam (Numbers 12:1-16); Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27); Asa (2 Chronicles 16:10-12); Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:18-20); Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:20-23).

In Old and New Testament days it was firmly fixed in the mind of every Jew that sickness was the result of sin, and this being so it would have been very difficult for them to believe in a Messiah that was to “save them from their sins” if He had not the power to heal them of the diseases which in their minds were the result of sin. In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses said, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me.” Moses came unto the children of Israel in Egypt with signs and they naturally believed the prophet who was to come would be like Moses in this respect. In Matthew 11:1-6, we read of Jesus sympathizing with doubting John and giving His disciples convincing proof that He was truly the Messiah. Healing of physical diseases by Jesus was intended to give the Jews indisputable proof of His Messiah-ship. The words of Jesus in Matthew 15:21-28 prove conclusively that His ministry of healing was for the “House of Israel” and not for the Gentiles. It may be well to note here that the healing commission of Matthew 10:5-16 was to “the lost sheep of the ‘house of Israel’” and not to the Gentiles or Samaritans.

In proving His Messiah-ship to the Jews, Jesus not only healed their diseases but claimed power to forgive their sins (Mark 2:1-12). Nowhere in the New Testament is freedom from disease promised to believing Gentiles. Diseased Jews considered themselves as being under God’s displeasure. This is not true of believing Gentiles. The New Testament clearly teaches that in this age a true Christian can “be sick” and in no sense be displeasing to God or out of fellowship with Him. The following examples prove this — fellowship with Him. The following examples prove this — Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death (Philippians 2:25-30). Timothy was encouraged to use a little wine for his stomach’s sake and his often infirmities (I Timothy 5:23), “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick” (II Timothy 4:20). Paul said, “I will glory in mine infirmities” (2 Corinthians 12:5-10). Infirmities mean bodily weakness (Matthew 25:36).

There is no evidence that the apostles sought miraculous healing for themselves nor is it suggested that their failure of seeking this for others was displeasing to God or the result of unbelief.

Paul prayed that the thorn in his side might be removed, but God permitted this to remain for a definite purpose (II Corinthians 12:7-9). In order to understand James 5:12-16, it is necessary to remember this epistle was written in the early days of the Christian church to Jewish Christians who were familiar with the Old Testament teaching regarding the close relationship between “sin and sickness.” It is very evident in reading this epistle that these Jewish converts had sinned grievously against God and each other, and as a consequence were sick and in sore need of help. James makes use of a distinctly Jewish custom to show them how to get right with God and man and get the healing they were most in need of.

It was natural for these Jewish Christians to associate in their minds sin with sickness. Gentile Christians would not have done so and were not encouraged by any servant of God to believe that sickness of body was the result of sin. Paul, Timothy, Trophimus, Epaphroditus, and many others (Matthew 25:36) were sick and no elders were called to pray for them — they were not anointed with oil, and they were not asked to confess their sins in order to be healed. Timothy was advised to use a simple recognized remedy and no doubt all availed themselves of whatever known remedy or help that was within their reach. If it were the regular custom for Gentile Christians to practice what James wrote to the Jewish Christians and thus seek for miraculous healing, there would be no excuse for the bodily sickness of those mentioned above. This sickness of body would be looked upon by all as evidence of their wrongness with God and with one another. This in itself is conclusive proof that miraculous healing of bodily disease was neither expected nor sought for among Gentile Christians in New Testament days.

There are two commissions given in Matthew’s Gospel: 1) a limited commission, largely a ministry of healing, “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” not to “Gentiles nor into any city of the Samaritans” (Matthew 10:5-8), and 2) a world-wide commission, wholly a ministry of teaching to “all nations.” No hint or suggestion was given here that miracles of healing were to be in evidence, and as the apostles were no longer limited in their ministry, they reached out to the regions beyond (Matthew 28:18-20).

Paul, though a Jew, was preeminently the apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:1-2; 2:7-8). His commission is given in Acts 26:17-18 and is wholly spiritual. He loved his brethren in the Jewish church and while he sought to reach them with the Gospel, he looked upon the Gentile world as his field, and in his letters to the Gentile Christians, there is not a single word or line to encourage them to seek or expect physical or material blessing.

The epistle to the Romans was written to the Gentile Christians (Romans 1:13; 11:13-25; 15:8-16), making clear God’s purpose for them in this age and also showing that the Jews would be no longer considered a special privileged people (Romans 9:25-31; 11). While he refers to “signs and wonders” in his own previous personal history, there is absolutely no hint of any encouragement given to the Roman Christians to seek for the manifestations that were in evidence in Corinth (Romans 15:19).

The church at Ephesus was a Gentile church (Ephesians 2:11-12; 3:1; 4:17). The Jews always looked and hoped for temporal, physical, and material blessings, hence their demand was for signs and wonders (Matthew 8:5-10; Luke 11:16; John 3:2; 5:36; 9:32-34; 11:41-42; John 15:24; 1 Corinthians 1:22). God in His mercy gave the Jews “signs” in Palestine and Corinth, but they were not brought to repentance but rather hardened their hearts. In contrast with the Jews, all the blessings promised the Gentile Christians were “spiritual,” not physical or material. This is clearly stated in Ephesians 1:3. The Ephesians were Gentile Christians and all the blessings referred to in this epistle are spiritual. In 1st and 2nd Timothy there is no encouragement given to the Gentile saints at Ephesus to seek for “signs and wonders,” but there is a warning given them to beware of deceivers (1 Timothy 4:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:6-9).

Owing to the number and attitude of the Jews in Ephesus, Paul during the mission there wrought special miracles in order to convince them of His apostleship, but in the epistle written ten years later to the saints at Ephesus, there is no mention of “signs,” etc. In 1st and 2nd Timothy, there is a mention of Timothy and Trophimus being sick, but no mention of a miracle performed to cure them. In Philippians, Epaphroditus is mentioned as being “sick unto death” and no hint of a miracle wrought to heal him (Philippians 2:25-30). Galatians, Thessalonians, and Titus, all were written mainly to the Gentile Christians — there is no mention of Divine healing, tongues, etc. In II Thessalonians 2:9-10, it is clearly stated that the “ministers of Satan” would in the last days perform “signs and lying wonders” to deceive men and women.

There are several reasons why we cannot believe in Divine Healing as it is taught and practiced today:

1) There is no similarity whatever between the so-called divine healing of today and the complete, immediate, permanent cures performed by Jesus in proof of His Messiah-ship.

2) Those who preach and practice divine healing have no marks of being sent of God, are unlike Jesus and “His sent ones” in manner of life, methods, and doctrine, making merchandise of the word of God, “traffic in the souls of men.”

3) The people who believe in and support divine healing preachers are not only deceived by them but are unlike New Testament Christians in manner of life, doctrine, and worship.

4) Nowhere in the Bible is it taught that Gentile Christians were to expect miraculous leaving of bodily disease.

5) The same class of cures advertised by divine healing preachers are being duplicated all over the world by belief in relics, holy places, and holies, by Christian Scientists, Spiritualist, Mesmerists, Quacks, Knaves, Fakers, Christian and Heathen — all making gain out of “patients.”

6) The divine healing preacher appeals solely to human selfishness promising cures without doctors or nurses, medicine, operations, hospitals, and all the inevitable worries and expenses connected with serious or prolonged illness. This accounts for the crowds that flock to see and hear a well-advertised healer.

1. Example of Christ

2. Image, Pattern, Likeness

3. Indwelling of Christ

4. Abiding in Christ

5. The Cross

6. All Things, These Things

7. Fruitfulness and Unfruitfulness

8. Faithfulness and Unfaithfulness

9. Daily duty of Old Testament Priests

10. Daily duty of New Testament Christians

11. Hospitality, Guests

12. Darkness

13. Light

14. Armor

15. Spiritual Death

16. Baptism

17. Discipleship

18. Life a Battle

19. Life a Race

20. Life a Stewardship

21. Doers

22. Blesseds of Old Testament

23. Blesseds of New Testament

24. “Better” in Hebrew

25. Bread of Life

26. Water of Life

27. Brethren

28. Helpfulness

29. Call of Gospel

30. Hinderances

31. 1 Corinthians 13

32. Hold Fast

33. The Good Shepherd

34. Christ’s sheep

35. Seekers

36. Suffering

37. Cherish our Wisdom

38. Christ our Redeemer

39. “I am”s in John

40. Courage and Fear

41. “For His Name’s Sake”

42. Promises

43. Judgements

44. Reward

45. Kindness

46. The Ear

47. The Eye

48. The Hand

49. The Fool

50. The Heart

We are more anxious than ever that God’s children should be rooted and grounded and established in the faith, and that they should be able to give sound and scriptural reasons of the hope that is in them, and for all that they believe as God’s children. One of the reasons why many of God’s people hesitate to give their testimony and speak to their friends and relations about the things of God is because they are a little bit afraid they might not be able to prove from the Scriptures the statements they might make, and because of this fear they remain silent. There is no excuse whatever for this, because we, as the people of God, are building upon a sure foundation. There is absolutely nothing about the truth in Jesus that we need be ashamed of. Every child of God, and especially the younger children of God, those who will some day fill the places we are now filling, should make a special effort to master what the Scriptures teach about the New Testament church and ministry.

I have always had a feeling in my mind that I had to see before I believed, and I rejoice that, from the beginning of my life as a child of God, I recognized the importance of being a diligent student of God’s word and wanted to prove everything I was supposed to believe, and especially the truths I was expected to contend for as the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. We have been tremendously disappointed in many of our young people that they do not show this diligence, and that they do not witness for Him among their friends and associates as they might, and in this way fit themselves for filling a place in God’s great harvest field later on. We hope one of the results of this convention will be that all of us, young and old, will be more diligent in our study of God’s word, and will form the habit of mastering those precious truths that have been given to us, so that we will be able to speak intelligently to our friends about the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

I believe many of us in this meeting have not ventured to give our testimony, except in Sunday morning meetings or week evening meetings, and the only time we confess Christ is in the presence of God’s people. Perhaps the root reason for this is that they do not feel very sure of their ground, and that feeling can be attributed to their own lack of diligence in the matter of proving for themselves from the Scriptures that we are building on a foundation that cannot be moved, and that we are in our day contending for the faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Sometimes we have a little difficulty when people ask us what we call ourselves. It is very comforting and assuring to know that the word of God from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation is on our side, and that we find our way of worship and our way of service clearly defined within the covers of God’s book, and within no other book. These sixty-six books talk all we need to know about God’s way of salvation and worship and of service. There is nothing that we need to be ashamed of in connection with the ministry, and there is certainly nothing we need to be ashamed of telling our friends with regard to what we believe about the church. If this convention is to be of any real value in the extension of the Kingdom of God, it can only be such as we witness for Him by life and lip.

If I were to ask you a number of questions about the ministry, how many could turn over to chapter and verse in order to give me the true scriptural way? Would you be able to tell your friends just exactly the scriptures we necessarily must fulfill if we are to have any place in this ministry? In talking to our friends we are very vague. We give answers to their questions which lead them up into the air, and after they have talked to us they are just as wise as they were before. How good it would be if the younger children of God, as well as the older ones, would spend a little more time in searching the scriptures and getting to see how solid is the foundation we are building on as God’s children.

While we can doubt and question every other faith, so-called, and while we recognize that men everywhere are building on sinking, shifting sand, how good it is to be able to look into the faces of men with confidence and with the deep conviction that god Himself has created within us, be able to give a sound and solid reason for the hope that is within us. I wonder if the parents here are taking any real interest in instructing their children in the way of life. Do they recognize that they have but a few brief years to sow the seeds in the hearts of their children, which may not ripen perhaps until later in life, but if it is faithfully sown they can have a hope that the seed will ultimately have the same result as in the life of Moses, who at forty years of age refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

We have a sort of knowledge of the truth. We know God’s people are divided into saints and servants. Sometimes they are called sheep and shepherds; sometimes they are called saints of the Kingdom and the undershepherds are called ambassadors. That is all fine, but are you clear in your mind with regard to the scriptural distinction between the saints and the servants of God? If I were to ask you the real New Testament difference between the saints and the servants of God what would you say? One man answering this question said the difference was that the servants of God sacrificed all and the saints of God used all in the extension of God’s Kingdom. All that man had – his home, his business, everything was fully consecrated to God, and his greatest delight was to use his home and all he had for the extension of God’s Kingdom in the world. We got real joy out of his worship and service, far more than those who are half-hearted in their self-denial.

How many of us are really clear on the conditions that must be fulfilled by those who are to have a part in this ministry? God’s people demand greater sacrifices from their preachers than any other people in the world. They insist that their preachers must sacrifice all, and they say they believe in no other kind of preachers but those who sacrifice all for the gospel’s sake. That is quite right, but suppose you were asked for Scriptures to prove this, could you talk intelligently to your friends about it? There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in anything that Jesus lived and taught. Jesus said on one occasion, “If any man is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Father be ashamed.” We are not so bold in our witnessing for Christ as we ought to be as His people in the world. It may be that the reason for our silence is our lack of confidence and assurance, wondering if this foundation we are building on is solid and if these things are clearly taught within the pages of God’s own word. I would to God that your convictions were deepened, and were so deep that you would have no hesitation whatever in telling men exactly what you believe.

Sometimes in talking to our friends, we say we don’t believe in a preacher who is preaching for hire and lifting a collection, but when asked what kind of a preacher we do believe in, we find it difficult to explain. There is nothing to hesitate over in connection with God’s way of taking care of His bond-servants, and if we have been somewhat backward in making clear this thing, it isn’t because we are ashamed of God’s way, but we have hesitated to speak lest some should think we had an unworthy motive in making clear what God’s method really is.

Supposing that at the close of this meeting some should come up and say they would like to go forth to preach, what conditions would be put before them? We would ask them first of all, are you willing to make yourself poor for Jesus’ sake? Are you willing to become homeless for Jesus’ sake? Are you willing to recognize the claims of Jesus above the claims of brother or sisters, father or mother? Are you willing to go forth preaching the Gospel without any guaranteed support, and with no liberty to lift collections or to beg for money? Are you willing to go anywhere in the world to preach the Gospel? When a man makes up his mind to go forth he can set no limit, for the commission is “Go ye forth into all the world.” The last question we would ask, and perhaps the most serious, are you willing not only to go anywhere, but with anybody?

In the Kingdom of God a sacrifice is demanded on the part of the servants of the Lord that no other people in the world consider as being part of the teachings of Jesus; and yet when we depart form the simplicity of this plan of Jesus, or weaken on any of these fundamentals, then we depart from the faith. Do you love these men and women who have made this sacrifice? Do you look upon it as something that is entirely one-sided? Or do you recognize the privilege you have of having fellowship with them in living for the furtherance of the Gospel and the extension of God’s Kingdom?

The word church occurs 112 times in the New Testament and in the Gospels it occurs three times. The word Kingdom occurs 116 times. The word church occurs more frequently in the epistles than it does in the Gospels, and the reason is that the church is God’s chosen instrument for the realization, and manifestation and extension of His Kingdom in this world. Every individual child of God, every member of His church, is here for one purpose as far as God is concerned, and that is to so walk and order their lives that God’s great Kingdom may be furthered and the coming of His Kingdom hastened.

The word church is used in two different senses in the NEW TESTAMENT, it is used of God’s people as a whole, and in a local sense. In the first chapter of Revelation the church is spoken of under the figure of a golden candle. The thought that this suggests is that every little group of God’s people, the citizens of His Kingdom who are called out and separated from the world, are to be in their own particular community a light. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in Heaven.” Every individual child of God is to be a light giver. The little groups we speak of as being churches are also supposed to be light givers. Sometimes I am almost staggered by this thought that the only light God has in the world, His only means of helping and enlightening others, are the individual citizens of His Kingdom, and the little groups that meet together as churches throughout the land. They are to be as a light to the community. We have been gladdened by hearing of some of the neighbors of the saints, who after a period of years have been so impressed by seeing the children of God seek in and seek out, year in and year out, meeting together in certain homes, that they have come and asked permission to attend those meetings, with the result that many, after attending three or four Sunday morning meetings have gotten up and said, “Thy God shall be my God; and thy people shall be my people.”

God’s eternal purpose was that every little group should feel the tremendous responsibility that rests upon them, not only as individuals, but as a groups, that they are God’s only witnesses in their community. If this thought took root in our minds, it would cause us to walk more carefully in the future. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if every child of God realized, I am expected to be a light, and if every little group lived in such hearty fellowship with Him and with each other that as a result those people, to who may have been looking on perhaps for years would say, “I would like to come in among those people, too.” The heartiest people we know are those who are most interested in witnessing for Christ and seeking to win others to be members of His body.

The church in the home and the preacher without a home are vital. We cannot depart from either of them. I have rejoiced ten thousand times in the wonderful wisdom of God in connection with the gathering together of His people on the first day of the week. What a terrible calamity it would be if we as the servants of god had to be continually occupied with building synagogues, but our eyes have been opened to see that the building of synagogues and the hiring of preachers belongs to Babylon. When we hire preachers, we, too, have become associated with part of that Babylonish system which will ultimately be destroyed. It is very wonderful that God has so planned it that instead of amassing substance, His people can meet together and His work be carried on without the very things other religious people of the world claim to be absolutely essential to worship and serve Him.

You might ask, “Where are the scriptures that teach us so simply and clearly that God’s people in New Testament days met together to worship God in the homes, and only in the homes of His own people?” That would be a revelation to your friends to know that there is absolutely no record in the NEW TESTAMENT of the early Christians investing a dollar in real estate, and yet today billions of dollars are invested in every country in the world, by so-called Christians, for what they claim to be the worship and service of God.

It is a very wonderful thing that Jesus instituted the breaking of bread on the night of the Passover feast. That is always a very comforting thing to me. I wonder if you really value the simplicity of Jesus and the church in the Home. When you leave your own home to meet in the home of another where two or three are gathered together in the Lord’s name, you should look upon that as one of the greatest privileges you can have as God’s child today; and as you walk or drive there it is a testimony to your friends which may perhaps some day result in their becoming interested in and wanting to have a part in this thing also with you.

Do you who have the church in your home look upon this as a privilege? We would not like to have a church in any home where this was looked upon as and irksome thing, or a hard things, or where those in the home looked upon it as meaning a lot of extra work. If we thought any had nay of those thoughts in their minds, we immediately take the church from your home and place it in another that would be more worthy. On that Day on the other side some of your sweetest memories will be the fact that you had fellowship with Priscilla and Aquila, and others who at great inconvenience welcomed God’s people under their roof, to sing His praise and worship Him in spirit and in truth.

I wonder if there are any who have formed the habit of being absent from the meeting on the first day of the week, forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is. That was written to saints who were suffering a great deal of reproach. They were feeling that this was entirely too much, and little by little they began to absent themselves from the meetings. The writer to the Hebrews had a great fear that some of them might first go altogether and fall down and go over to the enemy, and that they would fight in their ranks against their ranks against their former friends. What would you think a reasonable excuse for a child of God being absent from the meeting? It might be easy for you to make an excuse, but it might be more difficult to give a reason. This is an appointment which we don’t make with one another. It is an appointment we make with God, and He has said that wherever two or three are gathered together in His name He will be there in their midst. Those who feel a desire to honor and please Him, and submit to His rules, will be in their right place on the first day of the week.

You should not come too early to the meeting, but if you come early don’t spend the time in useless gossip. It would be much better to take your place in the meeting room, and read and meditate, and seek to have your spirit brought into the condition where you will enjoy God’s fellowship. Many a meeting is absolutely ruined by too much talking before the meeting begins, and sometimes by too much visiting after the meeting is over. I don’t say you shouldn’t have a little friendly word with each other, but don’t waste time in useless conversation.

I have said more than once that if some of us attended your meetings for five or six times, we would be able to memorize your prayers, for you pray the same prayer all the time. Each one of God’s children should form the habit of praying briefly, if they want to pray in Sunday morning meeting. We don’t care how long you pray in private, but in public your prayers should be short. It isn’t necessary to pray all around the world, and for everybody in it. Do that in the secret place, but in fellowship meeting remember you are expected to pray to edification. Two or three phrases from your heart that all your brethren could say a hearty ‘amen’ to would result in everyone being edified and blest. We like parents to bring their children to the Sunday morning meeting, but we don’t like those children to be wearied unnecessarily by the long prayers of God’s people. If there are number in the meeting it would be well to arrange to have two periods of prayer, one at the beginning and the other at the close of the meeting, so that all would have an opportunity to take part. Make a fresh start and let your prayers be brief and fresh next Sunday.

Sometimes if we went to your meetings for five or six Sundays we might be able to memorize not only your prayers, but your testimony also. Don’t say the same thing every Sunday morning. Be fresh in your testimony and don’t preach too long. Very often a meeting is absolutely ruined by someone deliberately and want only take time that belongs to another and using it. An average meeting should not take up more than one hour or an hour and a quarter. I have been in meetings where other workers took part and the meeting was over an hour and a quarter. The kind of testimony that goes on forever will not help or edify anyone.

If there is anything that is calculated to hinder others and hinder the extension of God’s Kingdom, it is for any of you, as God’s children, when a stranger comes into your midst to whet your sword and go for that man or woman and hack him to pieces. That is what some of you do. Many and many a person has been hurt and wounded and caused to say, “I will never go back to that meeting again,” by the spirit manifested toward them, and the way in which they were needlessly attacked by those who should have recognized they were responsible for speaking to the edification of the saints. What is the right and proper course for saints to take when strangers are present? It is to conduct your meeting as if they were not there. Speak to edification, pass on those thoughts God has put in your hearts and minds, without any particular reference or applying what you may say to any person present. If you do that, those who come into your midst will go out to confess that God is in your meetings of a truth. I believe the older workers are responsible where any transgress along the lines I am speaking, for talking personally with that person and asking him never again when a stranger comes into a church meeting to make it unpleasant for him. But to forget about his presence and endeavor to speak whatever of edification God has given to him as a member of His Church.

It would be a mistake for all who have the privilege of having the meeting in their home to assume that they were necessarily elders in the NEW TESTAMENT meaning of the word. Some are elders, and some who now lead meetings may some day be considered elders of the church, but it would wrong for all who give out the hymns to consider that they are elders.

We gave you four words last year to guide you in connection with your purchases during the year – economy, simplicity, modesty, and neatness. What the scripture teaches about the dress question is covered by these four words, and we will have no complaint if the daughters of Zion give evidence that in all their purchases during the year they do it as unto the Lord, remembering that if they are to have a testimony of value it will be well for them to be guided by these four words. We don’t want to make rules or laws for God’s children that would bring them into unnecessary bondage. We believe we can safely trust our sisters in Christ in this matter, which is such a serious matter, as far as they are concerned, if they will be guided by these four words. If they do this, it will result in their having a testimony for God that will be of value.

We would like our sisters here to look upon the sister workers as a safe guide in this matter. We don’t like to see any wearing stockings so closely like having no stockings on at all, and we feel perfectly sure that when you buy your next pair, if you remember these few words, especially the word modesty, you will be more careful not only with regard to material, but also with regard to color.

Jesus, as the Apostle of our profession, has to do with the life He lived here upon this earth during which He left us an example that we should follow in His steps; and as our High Priest, He had to do with the work He is doing for us now as He sits at God’s right hand. Then we have also Christ as our indwelling Christ and Master. These three different aspects of Christ and what He has done for us, what He is now doing for us, and what He is desirous of doing in us, are very closely related, and what is difficult for me is seeking to interpret the will of God to separate them.

In listening to the testimonies of God’s people this year, I have come to the conclusion that many of them are not very clear in their minds with regard to what actually took place in their lives when they were born again. And when there is any misunderstanding with regard to this, there must be a great deal of confusion in our minds. It is difficult sometimes to understand ourselves, our own experience along this line, and difficult also to understand the experience of others.

I wanted to speak mainly of what it means to become a partaker of this new nature: but before doing so it is necessary for me to emphasize that when we are born again and receive this new nature, we do not get rid of the old nature. It may be somewhat of a surprise to some to know that neither do we get a change of nature. We do not get rid of the old nature, we take it with us to the grave, and this human nature for sure remains the same to the end.

No matter how we try to train it, the conviction deepens that this human nature we possess in common, is something that, while it is as changeable as the wind on the one hand, yet on the other hand it never changed. It remains the same and will remain the same until the very end of this conflict which we are waging as the children and servants of God.

I was much struck some time ago by noticing the words in Luke 17, where Jesus was looking first of all back into the past, almost as far as He could into human history, and then looking away into the future, when He Himself would come back again, and He said, “As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man,” and “As it was in the days of Lot, even thus it shall be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” So that when He was thinking back

and when He was looking forward, He recognized that human nature would remain the very same to the end of the chapter.

It would be foolish for us to think that nature is any more corrupt today than it was in Noah’s day or in Lot’s day. It would be more correct for us to recognize that there are the same possibilities in human nature today as there was in those days, and even in the days of Jesus, and that human nature has absolutely not improved for the better during the centuries. Satan, knowing that his time is short, is more active today than ever he was, and there are more, and easier methods of indulging the selfishness of our fleshly nature than ever there has been in the history of the world.

We are not only living in dangerous days, the most dangerous the world has ever known, but in days when it is vital for the people of God to have a real conception of what we are up against in this warfare against the trinity of evil which we speak of as the world, the flesh, and the devil. If we are helped to understand this conflict better and how it can be waged more successfully, then these meetings will not be a hindrance to us.

It seems very strange that there is something in this human nature that arises up in rebellion against God. We recognize that in our own experience as we look back on our lives. We can see that it has been much easier to rebel against God’s will than to submit to it. So that from this viewpoint, men are very largely, in their native state, like the wild horses out on the prairies of the North, unbroken, absolutely valueless to man. We, in our natural state, growing up governed by our own likes and dislikes, are in the same condition before God, unbroken and valueless.

None of us reached our teens without recognizing that there is something in us which we do not understand, but we recognize it is actually and continually taking us in the wrong direction. There was an urge downward that we could not control, and as we grew older, we had to admit that in spite of all our best endeavors, we are surely and steadily getting farther and farther away from God.

When I got saved, I hoped my nature would change, but I discovered after I surrendered to Christ, that there were the same tendencies in my human nature as there were before; and I found out that to expect that this human nature would ultimately be changed was a very hopeless outlook. What was it that did happen in my life and in yours when we made that first surrender to Christ without any mental reservations and regardless of the cost, and we were willing to allow the Lord to have His way in our lives? You say something happened but you can’t explain it. When Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus about this, He said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof: but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.”

None of us can explain just exactly how we got human life, but we know that we have gotten it and that it has been manifesting itself over a long period of years. Neither can we fully explain how we come to get this new life, but we know, to some extent, that we are seeking to manifest the new life, and that men recognize that something has taken place which has made us different from what we used to be. We have some assurance in our hearts that the words of Paul to the

Corinthians, who were sunk as none of us here ever had been sunk, in awful depths of sin and iniquity, are true of us. He said, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Old things are passed away: behold all things are become new.”

I am going to try and answer the question of what really does take place when a man or woman is born again. I have tried on other occasions to answer this question from the Gospel of John but will not limit the answer I am going to give you to this particular Gospel. There are a great many verses in the Gospel of John which, if you take to heart and meditate upon, will be a wonderful source of comfort to you when you begin to think upon this wondrous experience that is yours in Christ.

One word in John’s Gospel occurs in this connection very often. It is the word, LIFE. To John, being born again meant becoming a partaker of a new life. That is a wonderful thought to me today. Later on, when John was ninety years of age, he said, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” He was making a distinction between two classes of people in the world — those who were without life, though having human life, and an abundance of that, and those who have received the new life. And we thank God that there are those who have an abundance of that new life.

In the tenth chapter of John, Jesus Himself said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” It would be a very happy result of this convention, if those who have come here received just a little more of this new life and would begin to enjoy the promise of Jesus, that He not only came

to give life, but that He might give it more abundantly.

John 5:224-30. Jesus said, “Verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live.” Up in Alaska one day I was reading on in the chapter and came to the 25th verse, and when I read the closing phrase of that verse, it thrilled me as never before. “They that hear shall life.” It is my business as a servant of Christ to make it possible for men to hear the voice of the Son of God, and I know that they who hear, and hear right, shall live. This wondrous thing will take place in their experience, and those who are dead in sins shall live.

It is said that Plato, who lived several hundred years before Christ, tried once to make a dead man stand upright. He tried and tried, but he couldn’t do it, and then he said, “There is something lacking inside.” This is true of every unregenerate man and woman in the world today. They can’t stand upright and they can’t walk upright because there is something lacking inside.

God does not blame any man or woman for having this human life and nature, because He gave us that. He recognizes the weakness of it, and none understands better than He the depths of it. The Gospel message does not want men to live the Christ life, but the Gospel message is that Jesus came not to give us a new religion, but that by the Holy Spirit of God, He might put something into us, impart something to us, giving us in Himself, a new life, and to give that life a purpose. That is why in John we read of the Water of Life, the Bread of Life, Eternal life, and the Everlasting Life.

The first thing for us to recognize is that if we are truly born of the Spirit of God, it can only take place when our surrender is absolutely unconditional. We have been disappointed very often when we have seen some profess and they seem to be sincere, but they don’t go very far. I have come to the conclusion that the root reason for their failure is that at the very doorstep of the Kingdom there were mental reservations keeping them back. There was somebody or something they were hanging on to which made it impossible for the Holy Spirit of God to impart that new and eternal life. It is forty years since I took the first step into the family of God, and I am very conscious of the fact that if it had not been for something new coming into my life and experience that I would not have continued until this day, but with Paul I can say, “By the grace of God I have continued until this day.”

Paul used another expression in Colossians 1:27. He says, “It is Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” Then it is not Christ on the cross, not even Christ interceding at God’s right hand, that is our hope of glory. It is Christ enthroned here and now in your heart that gives you a sure and certain hope of Glory. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he referred to his first birth and his second birth. Galatians 1:15-16 He says, “When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen.” This is Paul’s understanding of what took place in his own experience when he was born again. It was that the Christ he had seen in Stephen, that he had heard about from the lips of Stephen, the Christ Who had caused the face of Stephen to shine as an angel’s when he was about to die, the Christ Who made him willing to suffer even unto death. The Christ Who made him pray for his enemies with his dying breath — now dwelt in him.

Paul’s understanding of what took place when he was born again was that this same Christ came within his heart to set up His throne there, and to reign over his life as his Lord and Master. If our experience is not of a change of masters, if it does not mean that the Christ Who lived for us and Who died for us, and Who is now sitting interceding at God’s right hand for His own, is henceforth recognized as the only Master over our lives and all we are, then our experience is going to be a very bitter and disappointing thing in a short while. But if our surrender to His claims is full and complete, then we know our experience will be similar to that of God’s own people in other days.

Twenty years after this experience took place in his life, Paul describes it again in Galatians 2:20. He says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me: and the Life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” The Christ Who had come to live in him twenty years before was living in him still. He had never left him nor forsaken him, and it was by the power of that same Christian life, without which he could not do so.

Galatians 4:19. Paul was terribly troubled about some of those people. They had professed through his own ministry, and had gone on well for a time, but then something had happened. There were some who came in and troubled them: they were caused to turn aside and to put their hope and confidence in other things, and now Paul had to tell them he stood in doubt of them.

In this verse he said, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.” He had written in the second chapter, “Christ liveth in me,” and now he expresses his desire for those men and women that Christ might indeed be formed in them. It would be a very wholesome question for us to ask ourselves as individuals: Is Christ being formed in us? Is there more of Christ in our lives this year than last year? Are we knowing more of fellowship with

Christ’s sufferings this year than last year? There is nothing that will soften and mellow a life more than knowing what it is to go with Him often into the place of suffering. Even though sometimes it may come from sources we never expected, yet fellowship with Christ in His suffering will mean much to that child of God who is willing to go into the Garden with Him.

“My little children.” There is nothing so encouraging to natural parents as to see their children growing and becoming strong, manifesting more of the earthly, human life as they grow older in years. And this is equally true of God’s children and His family. There is nothing so encouraging as to see little evidences of separation unto

God, evidences of breaking away from the prevailing fashions of the day, and the habits and associations that would hinder.

When Paul was writing to the Corinthians he said, “Examine your selves, prove your own selves, whether ye be in the faith: know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates? I believe with all my heart that God by His Holy Spirit is anxious to impart a willingness to make room for that life, because there are so many things and so many people that would crowd Him out that it is a constant struggle to keep Him established on the throne.

You know what happened to the church at Laodicea. Those people professed through better preachers than you did, but there came a time when they became perfectly satisfied with the outward things of God’s people and testimony. They believed in the right fellowship and the right way to worship, but something had happened that was very serious. Christ had been dethroned, pushed out of His own palaces, and while they kept up the very form of their religion, Christ was left

outside of their lives.

To me, one of the greatest manifestations of His undying love is that instead of forsaking them and letting them go, He said, “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.” Even though they had treated Him so meanly, He was standing there still, willing to establish His throne afresh in their hearts. “Be zealous, therefore, and repent. 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.”

In 2 Corinthians 4 there are two other terms that Paul uses in order to describe this experience which we as the children of God enjoy. It speaks of us having this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of ourselves. Paul uses this term ‘TREASURE’ in connection with the something we possess – “we have this treasure.” We know very well that if any of us possessed an earthly treasure, we would value it very highly and endeavor to take good care of it, would risk much lest anyone would take it from us. This body that we have is just a house of clay that will soon go back to the earth from which it came. It is an earthly vessel worth about sixty-five cents, if it were reduced to that from which it has been made.

Remember the parable of the man who found a hidden treasure. He didn’t know it was in existence, but when he found it, he had sense enough to make it his own. That is how it was with some of us. We didn’t know there was anything like this in the world, but when we stumbled on it and saw its value, we were prepared to make it our own. Others are like the man seeking a goodly pearl. They hunt for it, and sometimes they are disappointed, but when the pearl of great price was brought within our reach, God gave us wisdom enough to see the price was worth it, and we sold all we had and made it our own. So now we have treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4:10, “That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” This phrase occurs twice in this chapter. Many times I have been almost staggered in my reasoning and belief when I tried to fully fathom the real meaning of this. Can it be possible that behind all God’s dealings with mankind, with your life and mine, that one great purpose has governed it all, and that is that some time, somewhere, you and I might be willing for the life also of the Lord Jesus to be made manifest through our mortal flesh!

This fleshly temple of clay is going to corruption, and going back to the clay one day, but meanwhile the purpose of God is that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in the flesh! We are here as the children of God, and we still have the human life and nature we got from our first parents, and we are going to carry that with us to the grave. But through the new birth, we have become partakers of the new life and nature, and that is something that we are going to take with us beyond the grave.

That is the comforting thought, and what we need to learn is how to deal with the old nature, how to put off the things that belong to it naturally, and keep these desires and appetites which we have in common, in the place of death. We need to learn how to starve and bring into subjection this old nature that is so difficult to deal with, and how to feed the new nature. Then the new nature will grow stronger and stronger, and as we grow older in the Way of Life, we will make manifest more of the new nature and the new life, so that there will be less evidence of the rule and reign of the old nature and the old life.

Each of us has not only a personality of our own, but we have an individuality. We are separate and different from all others, and as individuals, we have different God-given responsibilities to deal with the old nature, and also to encourage the growth of the new nature. The trouble with most of us is that we have been encouraging and feeding the old nature, and that old nature has been growing and has been developing and manifesting itself in ways that have worried us. But if we learned the secret of putting off the old and putting on the new, learned the secret symbolized by our baptism, putting the old in the place of death — then the new life might be manifested and become more real to us as the days go by.

Don’t worry yourself about the fact that there is this conflict within. You are going to have it to the end of the chapter, and the older you get the more you will discover that there is nothing good in you. Paul said, “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” He had no confidence in the flesh. It was an enemy that led him astray many times. We need to listen to the still small voice of the Christ within, and obey His promptings, and follow His leadings, and if we do that, it will deal with the natural worldliness by which we all are tempted, and the natural fleshliness, and with the seductiveness of the evil one.

I am more satisfied than ever that the live in the Hymn puts it very clearly — “The secret of all victory is obedience to the Christ within.” I feel very grateful to God for the gift of His Son as the Apostle of our profession, as the High Priest of our profession, and also for Him as our indwelling Saviour and Lord. We ought to be very thankful for such a bountiful supply to meet our every need until our little race is over.

I went to Vietnam in 1957 to labour. There was a school boy we met in 1958 and, little by little, he became interested in the gospel. He had a religious upbringing and a very strict father, but in spite of all that, when he had grown up he still had a desire for something better and he found that in Christ. We will all find our all in Jesus Christ, not in some way created by man, but by Jesus Christ. That boy grew up to be a man and offered himself to preach the gospel, and tonight we are here to welcome him. He has come over to this country. We didn’t think he would ever get to this country, but God has intervened, and he leaves tomorrow. We had to leave that country when communism took over, and he and his companion were young men at that time, but they kept the faith. When you listen to his preaching tonight, you will realize he is still in line with Jesus Christ.

In the last few weeks, my thoughts have been on two structures that were built in the Old Testament days. The first one was the ark that Noah built. The second one was the tower of Babel, and men built the tower of Babel. When Noah built the ark, he didn’t decide himself he was going to build the ark; he didn’t say, “I will work out the dimensions and make it so it will stand the floods.” There had never been a flood up until his day. Sometimes, when people think about the future, they kind of get careless and indifferent and say, “This world has gone on so long and things are just the same as they were, there will not be a change.” That is a very sad idea – there won’t be a change – because we know God told Noah He wouldn’t destroy the world by flood again, but it will be destroyed by fire. People say God doesn’t exist, but God is and was and is to be. Moses himself in the wilderness was told, “I am that I am.” In other words, “I am the living God you have heard about all your days, God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He is the living God and one day He is going to show His almighty power, and He is going to do to this world what He has promised He will do.

Noah built according to what God had said. God wants you and I tonight to build an ark for ourselves too, but not from our own dimensions or our own ideas, not from what we would think up ourselves, but from the instruction that God gives us in His word, that we would be able to build something that would enable us to escape the destruction of hell.

What was the difference between the Ark that Noah built and the tower of Babel? The ark was something that could float above the waters of this world, something that took people above the influences in the world, and through Christ we can do that. That ark was above everything else and when everything else perished, the boat still was safe. When you enter into it, you will find that you have something that will help you escape from it all. God was in the ark. I ask you tonight, “Whatever your faith, is God in it?” You look at your life and say, “Is God in me?” So often we are like those people in the days of Joseph and Mary in Jerusalem. When Jesus was 12 years of age, they journeyed all day, and Jesus wasn’t with them. Wouldn’t it be sad, if after years of toil and striving, that Christ is not in it? Joseph and Mary were journeying with others, and it seems they didn’t worry until the end of the day, but then they realized that Christ wasn’t with them. The others went home without Christ, but Joseph and Mary couldn’t do that. We are journeying on to our long home; are we journeying with Christ? You have to examine yourself, and I have to examine myself, and I would hope tonight, as we would look into our hearts we would get a clear picture of what is there, and if our lives are still with the ungodly things around us of the world, or is Christ in us?

Noah had this satisfaction after he built the ark: he had done something within the will of God, and he knew without doubt that God was in it. When he was finished, the Lord said, “Come now and all thy house into the ark.” God said to come, and that is what the Lord is saying to you tonight. The door is open and He is calling you to come in. God was in Christ reconciling Himself unto the world, and God is still there tonight and calling you to come into the ark Christ Jesus, that you might find salvation unto your soul.

Funeral Service for John T. Carrol

Milltown, Washington

March 30, 1957

Hymn, “Peace, Perfect Peace” (No. 36, Leaflet), Ernest Nelson, Calvin Casselman, Rosetha Newman, 

Eileen Longley

Obituary (Read by Tharold Sylvester)

Tharold Sylvester: I would like to read just one verse this afternoon: Psalm 126:6, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” I feel that I can express my deep gratitude for the sacrifices of our brother, and what he has meant to me through the years, and I believe I can understand a little better what God told Joshua when He said, “Moses my servant is dead.” That was God’s obituary of Moses, put in five words. The outstanding statement in this is, “My servant.” Moses truly was God’s servant. We read of Paul expressing himself as a servant of Christ, and we know that this was true. That is why, this afternoon, I feel that one of the greatest tributes that we can give our brother is to call him the servant of Christ. He truly was that. He has served long, willingly, faithfully, and untiringly. I don’t suppose it is necessary to remind you people of what he himself has told us so often of his first days, the days when he heard the gospel, when that gospel moved his heart and touched him and brought him to the place of true submission to Christ, when He said, “It is Christ for me,” he also said that other word, “forever.” Now he has proved that. That is why this afternoon, as we are gathered here to pay our last respects to him, we are grateful for that sacrifice.

I believe we can put it this way, that he saw very clearly at the beginning that to believe Christ was to receive Christ, and he also saw that to receive Christ was to live Christ, and to live Christ was further more a privilege of following Christ. That is why, in his own daily home life those first days, he followed Christ, and a few years later, when had the privilege of going forth into the ministry, obeying that greatest of all commands, he also followed Christ there. The mark of a true servant is that they always want the will of the Master to be done. You are familiar with what Jesus asked of His first disciples when He told them to “follow i.e.,” to make them apostles. We are glad for our brother’s vision that enabled him to see first of all the privilege of service, and the fields white unto harvest, and he gave himself – he started forth. That means making himself poor. He started that way, continued that way, and we are very, very grateful for that, but we are also very very grateful for the fact that he finished that way, and today he lies in another man’s coffin, he will be buried in another man’s grave. He maintained that mark of poverty and homelessness until the very end of his life. We are grateful for that, because he has given us a wonderful example of what Jesus lived and taught.

The world stumbles over the fact that they want to change Christ. Some change it one way, some change it another, and that is why we have the religious confusion in the world, but I believe he understood clearly from the very start that God wants to change lives. God did change Jack’s life. The love of God will always change lives, the power of God will always change our lives, the revelation of the Gospel will always change lives, and we are glad for what has been changed in his life, because today we are enjoying things that we would never have enjoyed if he had not made that first sacrifice. Can you just picture what it would have meant if Jack had said “no” when Christ called him? If he had lived for himself, gathered earthly things around him, could that have brought the living hope that we have today? That is why I will say this, we are grateful that when he was weighing up that cost, that choice, God was able to keep his vision clear and enable him to see what just one grain of wheat could produce. I believe I can understand how he felt, because I faced the same things when I started out. I felt I didn’t have very much to sow, maybe just a few kernels of truth, but I wanted to sow them, and I believe he felt the same way, and as he sowed them God gave him more and more. I believe that we can say this afternoon to you people that you will value those seeds of truth planted in your hearts, planted from his own lips, and lovingly cared for by his own hands, and you will value them increasingly as the years pass. Don’t lose the vision of just one corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying. Remember that your life can be exactly the same thing. You can have a part in the greatest of all work to spread the glorious gospel of Christ. Seed sown should grow, shouldn’t it? I am glad that Jack lived long enough to not only see seeds springing up, but sheaves gathered – some that have already been gathered home. This came as the result of the corn of wheat falling into the ground, and dying. The Scripture makes it very clear and plain that amongst them there will be some tares. We can’t hinder that – but no true servant of God will ever sow tares. We can say this afternoon that our brother didn’t sow that kind of seed. He was interested in planting a bountiful harvest to the glory of God. I am grateful that he didn’t give his life over to the pursuit of pleasures, or to any other earthly calling. I am grateful that he became as a corn of wheat, willing to fall into the ground and die that a harvest might be produced. We are enjoying today a great deal of what he has faithfully labored for.

A true servant always meets God’s terms. You know the terms on which He sent His apostles forth. Jack met those terms, and in doing that, God was able to give unto him a message, a glorious message. You have heard him speak about the message of Christ – that he became a risen, glorified, living Saviour. Isn’t that a glorious message? Isn’t that something that we appreciate? I can tell you this afternoon that you can never bury the Love of God. You can’t bury true righteousness, you can’t bury the power of God, and you can’t bury the life that God gave. That is why Christ Himself rose from the dead, rose not alone to go to Heaven but to dwell in every individual that makes a complete surrender to His will. There is lots of need in my life for God to change me yet. I have found out through the years to whom I can go that that change might be wrought in me. That is the One that our brother has pointed us to so often. He didn’t preach himself, but he preached Christ, the power of God, the resurrection of life to enable us to enter into those things that are so precious and so real. I feel grateful that we have a glorious message, a message of resurrection. It is a message of death first, but it is also of resurrection. It is a thing that takes away the sting of death and is the promise of eternal life, the message of the resurrection.

With a glorious message, what about God’s method of carrying that message? Knowing your Old Testament, you know that the ark must always be borne upon men’s shoulders. There was a time when they made a new cart to carry it, and it ended in disaster. David said, “How shall the ark of God come to me?” When he found out how it was to be, he submitted, and when the ark was carried to its resting place it was borne upon men’s shoulders. I am grateful today that I have a little part in bearing the precious gospel. I want to keep before me God’s method. Our brother Jack has often told us of the need of loving and serving as Christ served. That is still the standard, and as I go out from here, I hope that it might be with a definite purpose and consecration of my life to that standard, because there is just as much need today. We have the glorious message, but we have also given to us the method by which to carry it. When the messenger is right, the message is right, and the method is right, God can bless it, and that is why so many today are enjoying this.

Our brother has often told us that there are four things God’s people will enjoy forever. They will enjoy the Word of God. They love to read it today for the simple reason it comforts them, it instructs them, and it brings them into the place where their service can be acceptable. We love it today, and that is where we turn in our need, and in times of distress – to the Word of God. We will love it forever. Why? Will it not be a thrilling thing to hear the Word of God from the lips of the Son of God? Our brother has already entered there where the veil has been taken away. Now we see through a glass darkly, but for him that has been taken away. Every child of God will love the Way of God – the way of escape from sin, bondage, and corruption, and they love the Way of God today – it is plain and clear. When you look back on first days, remember the first steps that became clear to you. Do you see it just as clearly today, or has your vision become dim? It is a time like this that can wipe away a lot of fog and mist, doubt, confusion, perplexity, and we can have our eyes lifted again to see the things that are eternal. God’s people will love the Way of God forever. They will walk in it there, because Rev. 7:17 tells us the Lamb will lead them unto living fountains of waters, He will feed them, comfort them, wipe away all tears from their eyes. Wonderful promises.

God’s people will love to do the Will of God. It is not easy for them to lay their own will aside. You must lay it down, that the will of God might be done. Is it worthwhile? Was it worthwhile for our brother to do God’s will? I believe there would be a hearty “Amen” from every heart. The children of God will love the fellowship of the people of God forever. A little foretaste of that is given to us now, but then we can have fellowship with God, with the people of God, with all the servants of God that have lived in the past. Isn’t that a wonderful possibility? Isn’t that a wonderful privilege, and don’t you want to enter into it more fully? If our brother Jack could stand on this platform this afternoon, I believe he would encourage everyone to enter into a deeper death, a greater sacrifice, for His sake. Why? Because it is not in vain. We have a glorious message, a message of life. We have a wonderful example, the example of the Son of God, and we are glad for those who have helped us to show us that, have clarified it for us, and have helped us to follow in the same way. I am thankful that Jack had the clearness of vision to choose right, courage to step out on the promises of God. I am grateful for his godly counsel, his wonderful example, his fellowship through the years, and I want to value this as I should, and put my best into His service.

Malcolm Graham: Since hearing that I was expected to have a little word in this service this afternoon, there is one verse that has been on my mind. This verse was spoken on by our brother at a meeting I was privileged to sit in. Usually when we think of some person, we think of something in connection with that person, and when I thought of our brother, there were many things I thought of, but this one that I am going to mention this afternoon seems to be outstanding to me because he put so much into one little sentence. Romans 8:29 “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren.” This is a verse familiar to all of us. I have learned that even memorizing Scripture doesn’t reveal it to us. It is good to memorize, but even that doesn’t help us to get what we should out of it. Our brother helped me to get the meaning out of this verse in a truer sense than I had ever known before. Our brother read this verse, and then he told us this: God purposed, God planned, God predestinated, God arranged, that all His sons would be made like His Son. When He said that, I realized that that was putting the purpose of God in one sentence. God planned that every child of His would be made like His Son now. Our brother fed on Christ, he thought about Christ, he spoke about Christ, and over and over, again he would open little thoughts to us that made what was dark to us, simple, like this verse that I just mentioned. The reason that he meant so much to me was that every time I met him, he passed on some little thought about Christ that I had failed to grasp, little thoughts that he had received because of feeding on Christ, because of making room for Christ, and because of seeking to bring Christ to others. It was the theme of his life every day, and because of that, he wanted others to partake of these things, that they might have the joy that he had himself.

Eccl. 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” A good name doesn’t mean just what we are called by. A good name is what we are, how we live, how we act, what we do and God, using His servant in those days as He does today, said, “a good name is better than precious ointment: He sought to do good, he tried to encourage others to do the right thing because he had a vision of the beyond. He realized that if we didn’t do right now, we couldn’t be rewarded for it. Jesus said that to some will be said: Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” I couldn’t expect the judge of all the earth to say “well done” if I am not doing well now, if I am not seeking to do the right thing now. When I thought of our brother, he realized that it was necessary to do the right thing and to be the right thing so that he could encourage others to do it. The Son of God – the example of God in His Son – made this very clear, that the day of His death was much better than the day of His birth, and as we allow God to work in our hearts, then the day of our death will be better than the day of our birth. Jesus was born into a world of sin, of pain, disappointment and sorrow, just the same as we are. When He left this world it was better, because there was none of that where He was going. I like to read the words of Jesus on the last night of His life, in John 14. He wanted them to believe what God had said, and then accept what God had given, so that when the end would come, they would have something to go on to. The disciples were feeling the pain of parting with One who was so dear to them — like we are. He said, “If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father.” When I think of our brother, I am going to miss him perhaps more than most of you, because of the many things we shared together – we rejoiced together, we wept together, but like Jesus said, “If ye loved Me, you would rejoice because I am going to my Father.” I think of the words of Paul, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” We are glad that our brother lived so that death was gain. Death was a reward for him. The day of his death was better than the day of his birth. Because of that, we rejoice, and because he has gone on to his reward. It is an inspiration to us to think of his faithful life, his love and zeal for God’s truth, and for God’s people. I hope that as we are gathered here in honor of him, it will cause us to ask ourselves, “What are we living for?” What are we putting into it that can give us the assurance that death will be gain for us? May we do our best for His name’s sake.

Hymn, “Oh how perplexing Life Would Be” (No. 82)

Willie Jamieson: II Corinthians 4:18, 5:1-10. It isn’t at any time an easy thing for those of us who are workers to have any funeral service, but in one sense this service is different to any other that I have had the opportunity of attending. The one to whom we are paying our last respects upon this earth, I have known for exactly fifty years, and all during those fifty years, I have been closely associated with him in almost every line of service pertaining to this wonderful Kingdom of God, and if you were to ask me what I know about Jack, it would take me a long time to tell it all, but I can put it simply in this little sentence, that everything that I knew of Jack encouraged me to put the most that I had into the service of Jesus Christ, and much of what I rejoice in, I can attribute to my association with our brother. It has been mentioned already in the meeting here, that sixty years ago, in the country of Ireland, Jack heard the Gospel message, and it had an appeal to his own heart that enabled him to turn his back on everything that he had hoped to attain in this world as a young man. A time like this always brings me face to face once again with this great eternal plan that God has for men and women of all ages and nationalities, and I am very thankful to know that this plan never changes, it is the same today as it has ever been. Thousands of years before the world was ever made, this was God’s plan. What you and I enjoy is what has been in the mind and will of God for countless ages of Eternity before this world was ever made, and will be the plan of God through the countless ages of Eternity.

Isn’t it a wonderful thing that sixty years ago in Ireland God’s eyes were looking down upon the life of a young man, and God saw that in that heart there was a purpose to do that which was right, and He gave to that young man the opportunity and privilege of hearing that everlasting Gospel that calls a person from the power of sin and death and darkness and brings them into this wonderful fellowship and family of God. I thank God for that call that came sixty years ago to our brother. Six years later he heard another call from God of Heaven, to leave his home, his mother, his business, all his friends, to go out into the world as Christ’s servants have always gone into the world – homeless, poor, forsaken, mistreated, misunderstood by the world. Fifty-three years ago that call came to Jack. He said, “Lord here am I, I am willing for whatever it may mean or cost to be Your true servant, and in weakness, fear, and trembling, he was led out into the great harvest field, and God began to sow that life of his as a corn of wheat, dying every day. Right to the very last day of his life, that death was still working there – that willingness to be a nobody, so that Christ’s life might be planted in the lives of men and women. We are not glorifying Jack for that, we are glorifying God that called him, and continued His work in his life.

I had a letter from him saying, “I would like you to come and see me, but I don’t want you to come for a few more weeks.” I stayed two weeks, but every message I got assured me of the fact that if I didn’t go soon, I might be too late. He wasn’t able to talk very much to me, but everything he said to me during those days was in connection with the Kingdom of God. One of the last audible things he said to me was, “I wonder who it will be right to send to a certain convention this summer.” That was the last message that I got from our brother. There were a few other words, always in connection with the Kingdom. I went away to attend a special meeting, and returned as soon as possible. The first thing he asked me was, “How did the meetings go?” There was death working in that man to the very last of his life. Death for the Kingdom’s sake, sacrifice, self-denial, separation from all that other men and women are living for today. All those things, I said, “What a wonderful life it is to live as a servant of God, to see what it brings into a person’s life at an end.” There was a man who lived in the same city, 84 years of age, and almost every day that old man came, but never came empty-handed, but always came with some fruit or something. He was almost afraid to go out into the street lest he would drop dead, but he said, “I have never yet seen the bride that was not looking forward to meeting her bridegroom, and even if I have to drop dead on the street, I am thankful for the privilege of being associated with a man of God, a servant of God like Jack has been.”

After we had had our supper on Monday night, many of the workers gathered in. I went up to his room as usual to see how he was and it came to me, maybe tonight will be his last. As I sat there I took him by the hand, and I took his pulse. I held his hand there for hours, and I felt that pulse getting weaker, and with each breath I wondered if that was the last. I felt we should send word to all the workers in that area, and in less than half an hour, sixteen of Jack’s fellow-servants were sitting or standing around that deathbed, almost in adoration, as they watched that life struggling to stay in that body. Then there came the last gasp of breath, and his face was racked in torture because of the pain that he was enduring, but after that last breath there came onto Jack’s face the expression of an angel. You will see that expression today as you pass by the coffin. All that weakness and anxiety passed away. The peace that passeth all understanding was stamped upon that countenance, and Jack went home to meet his God and to enjoy the reward of a faithful, true, consecrated life. “All things are for your sakes.” Can you picture this in that sense this afternoon?” “That the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.” Do you feel that God is interested in a gathering like this, and rejoicing in the fact that in this 20th century He can call men and women away from all the ways of life to pour out their lives for the sake of others? We had a service in Oakland, and when we went to pay the funeral director, he said, “we consider it a privilege and a pleasure to serve such people as we have been serving. Mr. Carroll must really have been a disciple of Jesus. He was never married was he, never had a home of his own, and if he had, he could never have gathered around him so many loving friends that we have seen today.” Do you think it is in vain? God doesn’t. God rejoices that a company of people are here today such as this to pay their last respects to one that they love more than anyone else in all the earth. This has taken place that God might be glorified.

Graveside Service

Hymn, “Lord Grant My Life May Be

Sung by 123 workers present. Prayer, Charlie Krub

Paul began to speak about eternal things. An eternal weight of glory, an eternal house built by God. I would just like to say this afternoon that it would be good for me and for you to ask ourselves, “Am I putting all that I can and all that I am into this glorious gospel work today? Do I know anything about living for those eternal things? Am I looking at eternal things, or am I looking at these temporal things? I thank God that He has put a desire in my heart to make these things my own. Eternal weight of glory. Is it worthwhile? I think so. There was no uncertainty in Paul’s mind. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” I would like you to concentrate a little while upon that house made by God. It is not made with hands – the house that we are going to live in forever. Only God can build that house. God is building that house in your heart and life. We shall all appear before the judgement seat of Christ. We can picture our brother this afternoon having entered into this, the fulfillment of it, rejoicing in that body, that house not made with hands, and rejoicing in the thought that forever and forever that is going to be his because for sixty years he separated himself, denied himself, laid his life upon God’s altar and kept it there, and now he is receiving from God the deeds done in his body.

If I had nothing more to make Heaven, for me than just the association with the noble men and women I have known, it would be worthwhile. I think of Jack having fellowship with men like John Vint, with Mrs. Silvernail and Lester, and many many others. Do you think there is any regret or sorrow in his heart because he heeded the first call, and then the second call, and kept true to those calls to the end of his life? It was a wonderful thing to me to think that this man that I had labored beside for fifty years was dying in another man’s home, what an honor it is that he has been laid in another man’s coffin, and that we will lay away his last remains in another man’s grave. Could you want anything else more like his Master? These are the things that enrich this Kingdom, that hold it together, that make it worthwhile, and these are the things that are going to help us to carry on in the future. Some may wonder what will happen to this because Jack is gone. This Kingdom doesn’t belong to Jack. God chose him and called him and used him, but this is still God’s Kingdom. If all of us here today were to die, it wouldn’t change God’s Kingdom, God’s Family, God’s Way. We have the privilege of being true to this that has meant so much all these years that we have known it. There is the necessity of being true and loyal to one another. Jesus prayed that we all might be one. If I am criticizing you in the presence of someone else, I am not making it easier for that one to love you as God wants them to. We need to take a firm and true hold, and pray that by the grace of God and help of God that we will be firmer and stronger and more steadfast than ever before. We will be so close together that all the forces of the enemy will just fall off like water falls off a duck’s back. What has happened this last week will not scatter or separate us, it will bind us closer together. It will make us long and pray and labor as we have never done before. I am so thankful that in my little short lifetime, I have had the privilege of being a fellow-laborer with Jack Carroll and I wouldn’t care if all the world heard me say that. I hope that God will find in all our hearts a purpose and desire to be true to Him and to be grateful to Him for such a wonderful salvation as was manifested in the life of Jesus and also in the life of our brother that we are paying our last respects to this afternoon. I want to re-dedicate my life and consecrate my life in a fuller measure, so that the few remaining years of my life will be spent in such a manner that God may smile upon it, that I would have the privilege of dying in another man’s home, of being laid in another man’s grave, to keep true and faithful to God to the very end.

Prayer, Reuben Bennett. Hymn, “Lord Grant Thy People Grace (No. 13)

Pall Bearers: Oliver Barene, Niels Jorgenson, Dale Bors, Bob Ingram, Jack …

Sextet: ‘Peace Perfect Peace’

Obituary: Our beloved brother and fellow servant, John T. Carroll, lovingly known to thousands as ‘Uncle Jack’, was born in County Meath, Ireland, seventy-nine years ago, and passed away March 26, 1957, in Long Beach, California, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Brodine. After leaving school, he went to work in his uncle’s business in County Tipperary, and during this time, he heard the Gospel which won his heart to Christ.

From that day he had a great longing to tell others of what he had found. After six years, the way opened to spend his life in the Ministry, and with others preached first in-his-native Ireland; in 1904, he came to America, preaching in the New England states and Michigan, and later on the Pacific Coast, obeying the command of Jesus, ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.’ To the end of life, he gave himself unsparingly, proving that ‘for me to live is Christ’, and now we are assured, ‘to die is gain’. He is survived by three sisters: May Carroll, Frances Carroll, and Mrs. Richard Perrott, besides several nieces and nephews. Burial will be at Milltown, Washington on Saturday, March 30, 1957.

Tharold Sylvester:

Psalm 126:6, ‘He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.’

I feel desperately inadequate to even express a little in this service, but I believe that I can understand a little better the message that God gave to Joshua long ago when He said, ‘Moses my servant is dead’. That was an obituary of only five words, but to my mind the thing that was so outstanding is the fact that God called Moses His servant. This is a wonderful tribute. Paul the Apostle, in writing, often expressed himself as the servant of Christ, and we know that was true. 

To those in this audience who may not have known our brother, we can say that he was a servant of Christ. A true servant always does the will of another, and we are glad to tell you this afternoon that, because of the Gospel, something happened in the life of our brother that enabled him to do the will of God. I am sure most of you here will have no difficulty in remembering his own words of the first days, how, as he listened to the Gospel, it won his heart, it moved him to give himself gladly and willingly unto the Lord. When he did that, he said, ‘It is Christ for me forever’. I believe that he saw that to believe in Christ is to receive Christ; to receive Christ is to live Christ; to live Christ is to follow Christ. 

We are very grateful today that he had the vision of eternal possibilities, the courage to step out on his own convictions, carrying the Gospel to others because of what he had proved for himself. The world oftentimes stumbles over changing Christ–that’s why we have all the confusion in the world today. I believe our brother saw from the beginning that God wants to change lives. Do you have any difficulty in believing that the love of God will always change the lives of men and women? Do you have any difficulty in believing that the power of God will always change lives? Do you have any difficulty in believing that regeneration, the new birth, will always change lives? 

As a result of the Gospel coming to him, our brother’s life was changed. Perhaps I could just put it the other way: What hope would we have today if, instead, he had chosen to live selfishly? Look at how he himself would have been robbed, how countless thousands of others would have been robbed of a living faith and Eternal Life.

What hope would we have if he had chosen just to live for pleasure? The pleasure would be past now. Long ago, the servant of God faithfully said that there are pleasures at God’s right hand forevermore, and I honestly believe today that our brother has entered into that, and if he could stand here and speak to us, he would encourage us even a thousandfold more than he ever did before that we should never lose sight of what God can do for us.

Love always changes things, but love always serves. That is why this afternoon you have gathered here as a tribute to this one whose service was first to the One that had captured his heart’s affections and had first place in his life, and who rendered a service unto others even as he did unto Christ. His was a love that served. That brings us to another step in his life: when he began to lift up his eyes to the fields white unto harvest–that requires service. Wheat isn’t sown without labor; a harvest is not gathered without labor. Do we have to remind you this afternoon of the countless days in which he sowed the precious seed of the Gospel? I believe everyone that knew him best will have things that he has planted by his own hand and by his own voice in their hearts forever. That is why, as he began to think of spending his life laboring in the Lord’s harvest field, he said like Isaiah said, ‘Behold, here am I; send me’.

How did he go? That brings us back to the mark of a servant again. A servant always accepts the master’s terms. You are familiar with the fact that Jesus asked those first twelve apostles to become homeless and poor, scattering their earthly possessions, going out to tell the Gospel story, proving their love to dying men and women. He did that. The world doesn’t understand that; they say it won’t work. We are here today because the promises of God have never failed. They are true. We are grateful today for the fact that his courage enabled him to step out on those promises. As a result of that, God gave him a message; it was not a set of rules, or just doctrine. That message is a message of Life. We have no difficulty in looking back over the past to realize this: that when he heard and obeyed that message, Life came to him. That’s why I feel deeply grateful for his counsel through the years. I feel deeply grateful for his fellowship. I feel deeply grateful for all that he has done. He has helped to set my feet upon a foundation that is solid and sure and eternal.

God not only gives His servants a message, but also the method of sowing the Seed. You are familiar with that. He has told us over and over and over again that there can be no true New Testament Christianity without a true New Testament ministry. The thing that makes that so outstanding is the fact that he himself took those steps that proved that he was sent by God. He started poor, continued poor, and now he has finished poor. He is being buried in another man’s grave; he was poor as his Master. We value his beginning, continuing, finishing, that way, and he has left us a wonderful example. 

Do I have to remind you, then, that God’s methods do not fail? They are the best, the most effective, most powerful. His method reaches down to redeem sin-cursed men and women, lifts them, gives them a living hope – that is why we have a glorious message to give men and women today that even conquers death. 

There are five points in this Gospel: (1) Christ lived for me. (2) Christ died for me. (3) Christ rose that He might live His life over again in me. (4) Christ intercedes at God’s right hand for me. (5) One day He’s coming back for me. This is the Gospel in five short sentences. Every one of you has heard that message over and over again, but I felt this afternoon that it wouldn’t hurt just to remind you that that is the thing that makes all the difference between doctrine and formality, and what we have: a living, vital thing.

Howard Mooney

I Chron. 22:5; II Tim. 2:1-5. There is a close connection between these two portions of Scripture which we have just read; they are the last words of two very faithful servants of God who lived in days gone by. The charge that each of them left has a very close connection with our experience today. We read of two things that David mentioned he was leaving as a heritage for his son: a wonderful peace as the result of his warfare, and a wonderful future as the result of his provision. David is known in the Bible as a man of war, valiant in battle. He fought the enemy, and left a victorious peace for the generation following. While he was doing that, he was also making preparation for the future. He knew his son and others following him were young and tender, and he put his best into the preparation so that they would be able to carry on the work after he was gone.

Our hearts have been bowed in sadness at the thought of our brother departing from us, yet we rejoice because he has left such a rich heritage for us. Those who have known him the best have known him to be a man of war; Truth has always been first in his life. I have been impressed, as I have seen him dealing with friend or foe; he always fought for Truth. As the Lord’s people, we are enjoying a wonderful era of peace as a result of his faithful warfare, and the warfare of our other older brethren in the Work. We can also rejoice in the fact that he found time to prepare for the future.

My earliest recollection of Uncle Jack is when he was in our home. He and his companion were among the first who brought the Truth to us. I cannot think of a single visit he made but what the purpose of his coming was to give us a little more with which to prepare for the future. He never left any doubt but that the purpose for which he came was to give us something to help prepare for Eternity. I have appreciated the provision he has also made for me in the Work. His attitude toward me was like David’s toward his son: he knew his son was young and tender, and the work was great, and he did all he could to supply him with what he would need to carry on that work. I appreciate the fatherly, tender interest that Jack took in me, and in others of my younger fellow servants. So many times he went out of his way to counsel me, take me aside to correct or instruct me. In so many instances, he went beyond the call of duty to help me in this great work, and to fit me for the future. Like David, he prepared abundantly before his death.

I felt that if our brother could rise up and speak to us who follow in the Work, it would be the same message which Paul spoke to Timothy: “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” The greatest responsibility of any soldier is to guard that which is committed to his trust. I pray for myself and for my fellow laborers, that we will be good soldiers of Jesus Christ, carefully guarding and reverencing these things entrusted to us, that we will be able to hand them down unblemished to the generation following.

Sextet: ‘Abide With Me’

Willie Jamieson:

II Cor. 4:15-18; 5:1-10. This service this afternoon brings me both sadness and gladness. It brings sadness because of having lost perhaps the very best friend I have ever had in life, one that all the fifty years that I have known him had one purpose and desire toward this life of mine, and that is that he might impart to me something that would enable me in the hands of God to be a greater blessing to my fellowmen everywhere I went. To lose such a friend is losing almost everything that a man could desire in life. While we use the word ‘lose’, there seems to be a feeling coming into my soul today that Jack is closer to me than he has ever been before. As long as I have the privilege of living this life of mine in this world, that presence of his will be by my side. The other feeling is that of extreme gladness as I think of what Jack has gone on to enjoy. I don’t think it would be necessary for me to say any more about what he stood for and what he delighted in in life, and what he died for. Every one of us who knew Jack knows that what my two brothers have said of him is absolutely true, from the first day we knew him until the other day when he said goodbye to us, and we to him.

I can’t help this afternoon but look back to that Gospel call that we heard read about in his obituary, that took place in the year 1897. Jack was a very young man and, like every other young man, had prospects in his life and ambitions he wanted to fulfill. That call came from God Himself. I don’t know whether or not it might be good to refresh our minds about this Eternal truth that God has planned for every man and woman that ever did live. The only reason that God created this universe is because He had this Eternal plan for every man and woman. What is that plan? I would like to take your thoughts back into Eternity before the world was created by God, and enable you, by the help of the Spirit of God to picture God the Father and Christ the Son in Heaven, having fellowship with one another, and that fellowship with the Father was so wonderful and so sweet and so genuine, and His relationship with the Son brought Him so much joy and gladness, that He desired to have a great, big Family just like the One who was bringing Him so much joy. That is the reason that God created this universe. Out of the masses of humanity, God is looking for a few people that would allow Him to conform them to the image of Jesus, His only-begotten and well-beloved Son. That is the reason that, sixty years ago, this call came to our brother Jack as a young man; God saw in that heart the qualities that would enable Him to start making him like His only-begotten Son. He sent His servants to preach this everlasting Gospel to Jack and to his fellows in that little community. It is a wonderful thing that that young man was willing to respond to that call. He heard the voice of God unfolding to him that great, Eternal plan and purpose of God. His response to that call was, “Whatever it means or costs, I mean to follow in the footsteps of this Son of God”. Six years later, the call came to labor in the harvest field, and the wonderful privilege was afforded him of spreading this eternal Gospel to other men and women. He spent his life seeking to give the same example that Jesus gave–proving to men and women everywhere he went that when the power of Christ comes into a life, it breaks the power of the world, its wealth and pleasure.

The first association I had personally with our brother Jack was in San Luis Obispo fifty years ago. I remember things he said in that very first meeting which I shall never forget. Perhaps outwardly this afternoon I am what I am largely because of having heard that message fifty years ago from Jack’s lips. That’s one reason I can say that this is a service which brings me great gladness of soul–to look back over fifty years of having fellowship with a man like that, laboring by his side, suffering with him, praying with him, and sometimes having to weep with him. For the past ten days, I have been by his bedside, and watched that life steal from his body. I saw great physical suffering, but I knew perhaps like no other man that the physical suffering Jack was enduring was nothing compared to what I had seen him suffer in the dark hours of the night, thinking about souls that he loved who were not true as he wanted them to be true. If I wanted anything more than anything else to prove that this was of God, one thing that convinces me of that fact is to go back to those hours of agony that he endured, and remember that something that lifted him above all of it. He could rise to have a message of hope and salvation to whomever he came into contact. I would feel that I would have missed most everything that life offers to me had I missed the association which I am talking about — men like our brother Jack, laboring by his side.

In these verses which I have read, there are mentioned three eternal things: (1) Unseen things which are eternal. (2) Eternal weight of glory. (3) Eternal house. I just wondered if we could picture our brother Jack as he has entered into these things which he will be enjoying forever. We heard a little while ago that when a man who is living for Christ dies, he goes home. I never saw a man afraid to go home or that didn’t anticipate going home, or whose going home was not a wonderful event in his life. 

There were sixteen fellow laborers standing by that night, and we saw that face racked with pain and agony and distress. When the spark of life left that body, there seemed to steal over that countenance an expression of peace and joy and rest; the agony and suffering and pain were gone, and he was entering into a new life and experience. That is one reason that this service brings me great gladness today. We don’t know when we will be called to take that same step. When the Gospel call comes to you and me, it brings us into association with things that will never die. 

I have often said that a million years from now you and I will be enjoying these eternal things in a fuller measure than we are today. I can’t fully comprehend what is meant by the ‘eternal weight of glory’. I can understand in a little measure what Jack is enjoying, not because of any great thing he ever did, but because he accepted what God offered him and gave him freely and gladly in the life and death of His only-begotten and well-beloved Son. If you were to ask me if I am thankful and glad because these things were ever made a little bit real to me, I believe I could say that if I had a hundred lives to live, I would want every one of them to be lived for these eternal things. I would want to be true and faithful in living for them, so that in the end, that eternal weight of glory would be mine, and I would dwell in that eternal house not made with hands, built by God Himself, which is eternal in the heavens.

In a few minutes, each of us will be going out into our regular routine of life. I would like to take from this service something that will help me in the days that lie ahead not to be ashamed of the things I have been talking about this afternoon. A door has opened for our brother Jack that never opened before; it has opened into a fullness of life that he never knew before. There is no coming back, no release, from that enjoyment. There is open to you and me a door of opportunity and service which we have never entered before. It is our privilege and duty to stand for the things that Christ taught us through Jack and through others also, and to be true one to the other. The last night that Jesus lived upon this earth, He told His disciples, ‘This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.’ Has this service put more of that love in you and me? If so, then we will be more able than ever before to follow that eternal plan which Christ came into this world to reveal to the hearts of men.

Let us ask ourselves a personal question: ‘Is it worth my while any longer to live for those things which are fading and perishing and passing away, when I can be living for eternal things and earning for myself the right to that eternal weight of glory and the privilege of living in that eternal house forever and forever?’ I ask myself the question: ‘Are you fulfilling that plan and purpose in your life, or are you only talking about it?’ It is a good thing to remember that very soon everything about us is going to perish and pass away. I’ll soon be gone, and I consider it a wonderful, wonderful privilege while I still live to re-echo what our brother Jack and other servants of God have so often told us: that the only thing worthwhile to live for is that which will endure through the long, long ages of Eternity. I wish I could write upon your mind and heart the wonderful possibility and privilege that God is laying before us all–things Jack lived for, died for, and is enjoying today.

Prayer: Percy Barelli

Sextet: ‘Lord, Grant Thy People Grace’

Organist: Evelyn Gerlund

Sextet: Marion MacPherson, Virginia Richmond, Viola Fridley, Irene Bement, Jim Wood, Lawrence Frankite upon your mind and heart the wonderful possibility and privilege that God is laying before us all–things Jack lived for, died for, and is enjoying today.

Prayer: Percy Barelli

Sextet: ‘Lord, Grant Thy People Grace’

Organist: Evelyn Gerlund

Sextet: Marion MacPherson, Virginia Richmond, Viola Fridley, Irene Bement, Jim Wood, Lawrence Frank