Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn to the second chapter of Luke's Gospel.
Luke chapter 2.
And verse 29.
Lord, now let us, thou thy servant, depart in peace.
Or mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
The 34th verse. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall, and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Yeah, a sword shall Pierce through thy own soul. Also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Now the 41St verse.
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem.
And Joseph and his mother knew not of it, but they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors.
Both hearing them and asking them questions.
And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father, and I have sought thee sorrowing.
And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?
And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his Mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
Well, in reading these verses this afternoon, dear young people, there were particularly three thoughts before me. And that is the Lord Jesus as our salvation. The Lord Jesus is our example, and the Lord Jesus is our object.
It may be that there are some young people who have come this afternoon and who are sitting in these meetings, and you have never yet found the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior. Your heart is still closed against him. You cannot say like Simeon as he took up that blessed babe in his arms, he said, Lord, now let us, thou thy servant, depart in peace.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
Salvation is a person, and that blessed babe who came into this world and lay in Bethlehem's Manger, his God's salvation, He has gone to the cross, He died, He rose again. And this afternoon, as we speak, that precious Savior is up there at God's right hand, redemption having been accomplished. Have you received Him?
Can you say he's my savior? Have you actually made him your own like.
Simeon, he took that baby to himself. Have you taken that precious one? Have you opened your heart and received him? Can you say he is mine? Well, if so, I'm sure that you have the very peace that it's spoken of here. Now let us, thou thy servant, be part in peace. If you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you don't know what true peace is.
And what a song fact to spend eternity.
In a place where there will be nothing but eternal wrath and judgment for all eternity, there is no peace that my God to the wicked and to be in a lost eternity away from God under his judgment. How very solemn. And so it tells us here. This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. You may say, well.
Whether I get along in my studies and get a good education, that's how I'll climb up. That's how I'll rise to be something in this world. Yes, perhaps it may be so in this world, but this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. The question is what thinking of Christ, you may attain the very highest position. You may be successful in your life as far as financial things and many.
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Other things in your life are concerned, but in the eyes of God, you have fallen and you are lost. If you don't know Christ as your Savior, you haven't begun to rise. You're still in the ditch of sin. Why? If you receive Him as your Savior, then this child is set for the rising again. I was once in the ditch of sin, but that precious Savior came where I was, and He lifted me up and set my feet upon a rock, established my goings.
Put a new song into my mouth. Even praise unto our God. And so he says here, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
And so the part of the heart is declared is manifested in what you think of Christ.
It's not in how well you're dressed. It's not those new nice clothes that you have brought with you to these meetings. That isn't what raises you up. That isn't what really makes you what you are before God. Others may look on and see those nice clothes. They may see your pleasant manners, your winning disposition. But remember, it says here, the thoughts of many hearts are revealed in this great question, What think ye of Christ?
You may be nicely dressed.
You may have a lovely personality, you may be well educated, but I ask you this question, have you received Christ? Is he your personal Savior?
The thoughts of your hearts are the heart is revealed in what you think of Christ. Is He precious to you? Does that name speak peace and joy to your heart? If somebody in the meeting puts his hand in your shoulder and says, Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior? Is there a response to your boy or girl or young person? Do you want to shy away or do you answer with joy?
Thank God he's my savior. Ah, that's true of everyone.
Who knows Him that in his heart he can respond and say He is precious. He is precious. So let's not forget these words. The thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed. What is really in your heart comes out in what you think of Christ.
May God grant that everyone of you may receive them as your Savior.
Now we turn over to the 40th verse, and you know, as I thought of this verse, dear young people, I thought of this very occasion because it says here.
That his parents went up to went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. Pardon me, the 41St verse, they went up every year. And as I looked at the faces of many of you, dear boys and girls and young people, I have seen you here from year to year. It has been your custom to come to meetings such as this year after year you have come here, you have sat in these seats, you have heard the way of salvation.
You have heard about the Lord Jesus.
Jesus, you've had the wonderful privilege of sitting under the ministry of the Word. What have you received him? Oh yes, you say, I have received him. Thank God if you have. Now, as you begin to get a little older, are you making him the example and the object of your heart? Oh, that's the question. And here isn't it beautiful to see now, precious Lord Jesus.
The perfect man, the perfect young person, if one.
Speaking that way, for here we find the Lord Jesus presented at the age of 12 years. There are some boys and girls that are 12 years of age. There are some who are in their early teens. There are some who are in their later teens. And you have come up here, I say.
Are you making him the example? Well, when they came to Jerusalem to keep this feast, isn't it lovely to see that this precious One, the Lord Jesus, found himself where they were, discussing the Word of God?
Are you too much taken up with the fact that you're going to have a good time and you're going to meet a lot of young people? But I don't underestimate the happiness and joy that we all have in meeting one another.
I love to shake the hands of those whom I've learned to love in Christ, and so do you. But dear young people, this isn't everything. This isn't all that we come here for. This isn't the most important thing that we come here for.
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No. When they came up to this feast, isn't it precious here to see the Lord Jesus? The perfect example. And when he came to the temple, he was there.
Listening as these precious things of God's Word were talked about.
And it was a day of weakness. There was much in Israel that could have caused anyone to shed tears. There was much that expressed the sad and weak condition of God's people at this time. Perhaps their spirituality was never at a lower ebb than it was at this very time. But still we find the Lord Jesus the perfect example.
There in Jerusalem and there with all.
Those who were talking about God's precious word.
And so I'd like to say, don't get your eyes upon the brethren, don't get your eyes upon me. You'll find failure in each one of those who belong to the Lord. There's only one who's perfect. And that's why I want to speak about the one who is perfect, the Lord Jesus. He was the perfect young person, I say. For here at the age of 12 years, we find a perfect example of one whose conduct was ever the sweet fragrance to the.
God his Father in his pathway through this world. And so there he was. And all I want to say to you, dear young people, in spite of the great weakness and failure that has come in, in spite of the fact that there has been much that perhaps might stumble many of us in the what we might see in others. Oh, what a privilege it is to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All May God grant.
That you, dear young people, will value this privilege, whether there be weakness or whether there is not all how important that you and I should realize that there is still a path for faith, no matter how dark the day, and that God and His faithfulness will maintain that testimony until the Lord comes.
For the Lord has asked us in First Corinthians 11 as often.
As you eat this bread and drink this cup, he do show the Lord's death till he comes. And I'm confident as I stand here this afternoon that God in his faithfulness is going to preserve a testimony until the Lord Jesus comes.
We know that He did preserve a people in Jerusalem until the time that the Lord Jesus came at His first coming, and He is going to preserve a testimony. Or may we value the precious privilege? May we know that He does have such a place where we can come and be thus gathered? May we seek to value such things?
And then another little word. At this age of 12 years, we see that the Lord Jesus here, the one who has already marked, is perfect in everything.
Perhaps at other times he stayed right by his parents, but there came an age when he didn't stay right beside his parents.
Shall I say he chose the company that he desired? And there comes a time in your life, dear young person, when you no longer hold father's hand and Mother's hand, when you no longer perhaps sit beside them in the meetings. But there comes a time when you must choose your own company. What company are you choosing? What company are you choosing right here at these meetings, you boys and girls?
What kind of company are you choosing? Are you choosing those?
Who love to talk about the word of God? Who like to speak about the Lord Jesus? Who are really enjoying the meetings? Or are you choosing the company of some who are more interested in other things and worldly things, and who just as soon get away and have a little ride in the automobile to sit in the meeting? I ask you, what kind of company are you choosing? All these are practical questions.
The Lord Jesus at 12 years of age, I believe this is the age that.
And it causes a certain turning point any young person's life just about to enter the teens and how lovely it is to see when this precious one went up there and he was as it were able to choose the company no longer under the responsibility that he had acknowledged this man down here. Why he goes and he sits down with the doctors and he hears them and he.
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Ask questions and the others were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Well, that tells us in Isaiah this lovely verse in the 50th of Isaiah.
He openeth mine ear morning by morning He openeth mine ear to hear as the learner. All that precious Savior is man here morning by morning his ear was opened to hear his Father's voice.
Is your ear and mine.
No, what we really are comes out when we get together with other young people. But if it's been the custom and the habit of our lives.
To read God's word, if morning by morning we open that precious book and we kneel in prayer and seek the Lord's guidance for the day, then such occasions as this are very precious to us because we find others of like precious faith. We're encouraged in the pathway, we're strengthened to go on. And so the Lord Jesus took the habit of his life had been he opened mine ear mourning by morning.
He opened mine ear to hear as the learner, and therefore when he sat down with these doctors and with these who knew so much, isn't it lovely to see that he could talk to them and they could ask him questions too, because he was one whoever walked in communion with God his Father. Or dear young people, I say again.
You're the very important age in your life. As I look at your faces when you come here from year to year, what joy it gives to see some who are really growing in grace and in the knowledge of their Lord and Savior, those to whom Christ is more precious as they come time after time. And then you see them grow in grace. You see them take their places at the Lord's table. You hear little words.
Spoken all such and so was out in the street corner, such and such a brother. He's praying in the prayer meeting. We've heard his voice a few times in the prayer meeting. And so and so we heard him give out a hymn for the first time. Oh, it's nice to hear these little things. They shall. There's growth and grace and then too, to find that they're choosing such company.
Well, it says, parents passing on just for a moment, and 48th verse. And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold, thy Father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business, about my father's business, all that precious Savior. His delight was always to do his Father's will. He said, I do always those things which please him.
And the secret of a happy Christian life.
Is to do those things that please God our Father.
I wonder in the various decisions of life, whether it be the friends that we choose, whether it be the education that we feel necessary for our living, whether it be the fellowship with whom we're identified, whether it be the service that we seek to carry on. Can we say?
All I've thought the Lord's will about this matter, I've looked to Him. I'm seeking to be guided of Him in my pathway. Oh, that's the only way.
As it says in Jeremiah, wilt thou not from this time cry unto me? My father, Thou art the guide of my youth. Oh, when you're young, you have a guide, a perfect guide, one who can never fail you. If you come to me and ask me what you should do, I might give you wrong advice.
I might be able to tell you the right thing to do, but there's one who knows you through and through, who knows every step of your whole pathway, who knows all about your character and disposition. And he wants to be your guide and your counselor. He wants to direct you. He's given you his precious word. He's given you his spirit to indwell you, and even more than.
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As he has said, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. Sometimes when our children come and ask our advice, and we've already given it, we perhaps tend to say, Well, we talked that over before.
I told you what I thought before. What? Isn't it lovely when you come to the Lord and you ask Him the same question over and over again? He says He gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not. He likes us to come. He wants us to come. And isn't it precious too, that even when our faith is very weak, why He's still encourages us?
Just like Gideon, when the Lord wanted Gideon to go out and fight against the Midianites, why Gideon felt very timid about it and so he asked the Lord for the sign.
And the Lord gave him a sign.
And then he said, Lord, don't be angry. And he asked for another sign, and the Lord gave him another sign. And then when the time came for the action to go out against the Midianites, he was still afraid. And the Lord anticipated his feelings. And he said, if you're afraid to go down, just take, just go down there quietly and hear what they're saying down in the camp there, and then you'll be encouraged to go.
Isn't that lovely? Oh dear young person, the Lord will never get weird.
Of your coming to Him and asking Him. And even sometimes, and we're all like this, our hearts fail when the crucial moment comes and we don't know what to do. The Lord still says, ask of me, Are you about your Father's business?
Is God your father? If so, you have the life of Christ within you, and it ought to be the response of our hearts to say, I want to be about my Father's business.
The Lord Jesus was the perfect example then in this wish. He not that I must be about my Father's business.
Well then, just to go back a little bit, we've spoken of the Lord Jesus as the perfect example. I'd now like to speak of Him as the object.
Tells us here that his parents, an acquaintance, kin, spoke. They were all in this company. This was quite a little gathering that had gone up to Jerusalem on this occasion.
And it was quite an experience, I'm sure.
To me old friends and to have talks together.
And it says that they were with their Kims spoken acquaintance.
And you know, it's very possible for us when we come to such a meeting as this.
To get so taken up with Christian fellowship that we lose sight of the object, the object that should be before us. And I speak now of the Lord Jesus, not so much as our example. He was that perfectly, but He is also our object. For that One who was the babe of Bethlehem's Manger, whom Simeon could take in his arms, was none other than the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe. He was the.
Upholder of all things, and so when he was 12 years of age, He was perfect man, but he was also perfect God. He was the one who ought to have been the object of the hearts, even of those who were there with him. Heaven found all its delight. As God looked down, the Father looked down upon that one, and could say, in him I have found all my delight.
Well.
They went on. They had they had this little season of fellowship together and talking.
And then in the course of all that was going on, they started on their homeward journey. And it tells us they went a day's journey without Jesus. A day's journey without Jesus.
Well, dear young people.
It's possible for us to get so taken up, I say, with the fellowship.
That we can actually go a day's journey and not realize that we did not really have our eyes upon Him. That we were really, perhaps without realizing it, we have been so taken up with meeting our friends and the happy time that we have lost sight of Jesus. And it says they supposed him to have been among the company, and he was among the company when they went up.
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But they didn't realize that.
When they started home, he wasn't there. And perhaps you say, well, isn't the Lord here and isn't it he that's ministering to our hearts? Yes, but have we lost sight of Him? Have we lost sight of him? They went a day's journey without Jesus.
Well, I'm glad to say that at the end of the day they realize he wasn't there. Perhaps as the shadows of Eventide fell and they looked around while they realized then that Jesus was not there. And can it be that we perhaps could go on through these meetings for a day and not realize the need of having Jesus right by our side?
Oh, there's no time. More important.
I believe your young people, there are more important decisions made in our lives at such conferences as this than perhaps any other time. As I look back in my life, I believe that conferences were perhaps more important turning points in my life than other things. And it may be so with you too. It may be. And how very needful.
That we shouldn't take a day's journey without.
Jesus a day's journey without his company. Well, I say, when the end of the day came, the shadows of even tide began to fall and they realized that Jesus was not there. And perhaps after all this three days meetings is over if the Lord leaves us here and just say goodbye to your friends and you start on your homeward journey.
Perhaps there'll be a few shadows that will fall across your path.
Too, you'll realize that the Christian fellowship was wonderful, but it's the company of Jesus that you need. It's his company that you need. And unless you have learned that that these meetings, you have missed the most important thing that the Spirit of God would bring before us in these meetings. For shadows do fall across our paths. Young people's shadows do fall. You know, I don't need to tell you shadows fall across your path.
I don't believe there's any time that the shadows fall across people's paths. Like after a general meeting you expected certain things and they didn't happen and saw a shadow falls across your path. Ah, but the Lord Jesus is the one who is the the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He's the constant companion Jesus.
Never fails. Earthly friends may prove untrue.
Doubts and fears assail 1 still loves and cares for you, and he will not fail. Well, they went back seeking for Jesus. Isn't that lovely? Seeking for Jesus? They didn't say, oh, what's the use? That's just what the devil wants you to do when things don't go the way you expected. He wants you to get discouraged. He wants you to get annoyed and upset and troubled and say, what's the use?
That's just where he comes in. But when they found that Jesus was not there, they turned back, seeking for Jesus. Oh dear young person, May God grant that if you've been trying to go on without Him even one day, that you'll turn back and seek for Jesus.
He's he wants you, he wants your company, he loves you. He came to die for his own. He came to die for you and for me. They went back and here comes what we were talking about in the meeting this morning. Why is it 3 days? Why three days? Just the very thing we were talking of in the meeting this morning because.
The three days speak to us on the cross and of what the Lord Jesus went.
Through for us upon that cross of Calvary. And sometimes we may not always see God's love in the circumstances of life. We may not always see Him working things out the way we had planted. But we can always see His love at the cross. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.
How shall he not with him also freely give us all?
Things and saw the little hymn says Lest I forget thy thorn crowned brow, lest I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary. They went back, and the third day they found him. They found him. They got back into his presence again.
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And all made God grant that if any one of us have got away from him, that will get back.
To Him there can be no happiness, there can be no blessing, unless Christ is the object of our lives, the object of our hearts, unless we're truly living for Him. So they went back, and where was He? He was there at the very place where they left him.
He had come up, they had gone up to the feast, and if one might put it in this way, if they had been as interested.
In the ones that were talking about God's Word, Why they wouldn't have gone that day's journey without Him. Perhaps they themselves were so taken up with a fellowship that they didn't realize that he wasn't there. And so here they found him in the midst of the doctors hearing them and asking questions. They found him in the.
In God's house, they found it in the temple. And so if you and I have got away from them, thank God there's a way back. There's a way back, Dear young person, if anything is common to your life or mine, there's anything that you and I or I have allowed in our lives displeasing to Him, let's get back. Let's own it to him. Let's have it on with Him.
And saw that we may be restored to Him. And what a joyful thing it was.
But now they turned out, and they started back.
In his company, they started home in his company for you and I valuing his company.
We know him, perhaps a Savior. Have we followed his blessed example? Have we made him the object of our hearts? Have we made him the one who is our All in all? Can we say, oh, I'm afraid to take one step alone? I want his company. That's everything to me.
Well, now just a little in the end of the chapter.
51St verse.
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them, was subject unto them. Just a little comment about this.
This is a day of disobedience to parents.
This is the day when there's very little regard for parental authority.
And perhaps because you have come up to these meetings and your father and mother have just let you choose your company here through these meetings, and there might be a danger when you went back home to think, well, do I have to be subject to my parents? Isn't this beautiful to find the Lord Jesus the perfect example in everything going back down to Nazareth and being subject to his parents and 1 is often said to the young people and I.
To you again, dear young people, this afternoon, don't forget that verse.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee. It will not be well with you if you don't honor your father and your mother. I've watched the lives of a lot of young people.
And I have never seen God really bless any boy or girl who did not honor his father and his mother. Oh, you say my father and mother don't understand me though? Well did did Mary and Joseph understand the Lord Jesus? No, they didn't, did they?
They said how is how did, why did you leave us? They didn't understand what the Lord Jesus was subject our dear young person. Remember God's word is unchangeable.
That's from the Old Testament and it's given again in the new and it says it's the first commandment with promise.
I'm going to call it to you again.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee. I don't care what they tell you in the guidance class. I don't care what the modern idea is. God's Word tells you to honor your father and your mother. And if you do honor them, God will bless you for it. He'll bless you. It's the first commandment with promise, and he will come in. You'll be surprised because he's the.
Only one that can work things out in your life. He's the only one that can bring a blessing, a real blessing, a lasting blessing into your life. If I can shake your hand and wish you a blessing, I can shake the hand of a young person who's being married and say I wish you a happy life. But all the wishes in the world will not bring happiness. But it says the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth.
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No sorrow with it. Are you making him your example?
Are you making him your object?
Are you seeking to go on to please Him? Be assured then that His heart is full of blessing towards you. He wants to bless you.
Now it says here, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. That is, as God looked down, he saw that, as another has put it, He saw that perfect flower unfolding from the blood into the flower. There was one whose development as he grew older.
Was perfectly pleasing to God his father, and there's an development age that comes in the.
Lives of young people and it's nice when that age of development is such that God looks down and his heart is pleased. He sees that development take place and his heart is pleased.
In favor with God and man, yes, and such will meet with the approval of others too. And then I just like to bring in one thought too in this verse, and that is, is the Lord Jesus becoming more precious to you?
It says He increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
Is the Lord Jesus becoming more precious to you? Day by day? He increased in favor with man.
Is he becoming more dear, more precious? Can you say truthfully in the words of the little hymn?
Later, as the years go by, has that blessed pathway went on. Those who saw in it that which was pleasing to God the Father looked on that path with delight and joy. And as you and I have Christ before us as our example and our object, it also is to us like the unfolding of a flower. And the Word of God will become more precious to you.
His things will become more real to you.
And many dear older ones can say in this room this afternoon, oh, he becomes more precious as time goes on, more dear. Why has he changed? No, he hasn't changed. But as we learn to know him better, we learn more of the infinite love and grace and wisdom that's in his heart. And it's all for us.
Oh, May God grant that it will be so with you, dear young person. God wants to bless you.
How was struck in reading a comment by Mr. Darby? He said he said men and women don't believe that God can really make them happy. But I want to tell you, dear young person, that God can make you happy, and he has expended all that love could expend for the happiness and blessing of you and of me. May God grant that we who know Him as our Savior may have him.
To the example and the object of our heart.