Address—G.H. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Could we turn tonight to the 12TH chapter of Luke?
And the 13th verse.
And one of the companies said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divided the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge, or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.
And then the 22nd verse. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on. For the life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the Ravens, for they so neither sow nor reap.
Which neither have storehouse nor barn, And God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you taking thought can add to his stature? 1 Cubit. If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, they spin not. And yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothed the grass which is to day in the field, and to Morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves.
Those bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens, that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he.
Shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them, so blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the Goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Be therefore ready also for the.
Man cometh at an hour when you think not. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom is Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
Have a truth, I say unto you, and that he will make him.
Ruler over all that he hath, but and if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men, servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and be drunken, The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with a hypocrites.
One of the reason I read this little portion tonight is because.
Because I believe it's so important that we have things in their right perspectives in a world like this where there's so much of materialism. How easy it is for us to get taken up with the things that pass away. How easy for us to be concerned that the Lord would solve the problems of life here for us. And all those things that concern our material affairs. And yet how little we are concerned of those things that really matter, those things that really count.
And that are not just for time, but for all eternity. And so we find the Lord taking the occasion here of this man who came to him to bring before us the really important things of life. Notice it says, one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. Why didn't this seem natural? This man had a problem.
00:05:11
His brother wasn't going to.
Be fair in connection with the way the estate was settled and he wanted the Lord to come in. Wasn't it a good thing to turn to the Lord, the one who knew all things and could make everything right? Well, the Lord saw where that man's heart was. And you know, sometimes there are things that the Lord doesn't allow to be straightened out because he sees that we're putting too much importance on something now that in His sight is only for time.
It's all going to pass away. And now it wasn't right for this brother to be unwilling to divide the inheritance. But the Lord was using this very unpleasant circumstance to teach this man that there was something more important than material things. And perhaps some of us have had some disappointment. Perhaps there has been some situation, a role arisen where we feel that we might not have been treated fairly where someone.
Didn't do what was right.
But isn't it a lovely thing that when we think of it, the Lord allows all these things, He allows everything for our good and blessing. You know, Job lost all the things that he had, all his earthly possessions. He lost them all in one day. He lost his health. His friends spoke against him. Was this just without a purpose? Did it just happen by chance? No, dear friends, that there was a purpose in this.
And it tells us that God blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning.
What was God seeking to teach Job? Well, Job was He made this remark. He said I thought I would die in my nest. He just thought he had everything so nice and comfortable and now he said I just like the Lord to leave it this way. I just would like it so he wouldn't disturb by Nacital and I'd just be perfectly comfortable. Everybody thinks a lot of me because I've done a lot of kindness to people. He says that he was eyes to the blind and he was feet to the lame.
Made the widow's heart to sing for joy. He was a very complacent person, a very happy person in many ways. And more than this, it was the Lord who had taken care of Job. Because it tells us that God had set a hedge about Job so that no one could touch him. Why did God remove that hedge? Perhaps something has happened like that in your life or mine, and it just seems as if God had removed a hedge and he'd let the enemy come through and it seemed.
One disappointment after another should fall, but God had a purpose, I say, and in the end we find Job really learning himself. He said, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye seeth thee. Oh, what a difference that made. He boasted and said that when the Lord tried him, he had come forth as pure gold, but in the end he didn't think that he was pure gold.
He said, I abhor myself. Why the change? Well, you know, the Lord was seeking to bring Job to the end of himself. And then when he blessed him, there was an entirely different state of soul. And we find that Job prayed for his friends. Job had learned that even those things that were difficult to understand had been allowed of the Lord for his good and for his blessing.
And it tells us about the children that Job had.
That his three daughters were the fairest in the land. Now certainly the reason God tells us that is not just to tell us how beautiful those women were. But I believe that I there the names of his three daughters mean fragrance, purity, and beauty. And it says it was affected. And there's nothing sweeter than when a soul has gone through trial, that the fragrance and the purity and the beauty of Christ is the result.
Oh friends, God does have a purpose in all these things. And so here the Lord, as it were, abruptly refuses to settle his trouble, and that had come in this man's life with his brother. Instead he says to him.
Men who made me a judge or a divider over thee? And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things.
That he possesseth. And then the Lord went on, and I didn't read the incident, but he tells about this unsaved man and how this man had done very well. He was very prosperous. And he said to himself, I have much goods laid up for many years. He said to himself, Take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry. Yes, he was going to enjoy what he had.
00:10:15
And the Lord said, Thou fool, this night thy soul.
Shall be required of thee. Why does the Lord bring in this little story? Because He perhaps was not speaking altogether to unbelievers, but to His own. But this little story refers to an unbeliever. Well, you know, dear friends, when we live just for the passing things of time, we're acting just like unbelievers, because that's all unbelievers have to live for.
In the 16th of Luffy, it tells us of a man who did very.
Well, and it says thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things. Yes, he did very well in life, and it was all he had. For after he left this world he never had a moment's pleasure again. It says that in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. And so when we put a great value on, the things here that pass away were just acting like unbelievers.
And we who are Christians ought to know where our.
Treasure really is and says lay that up for yourselves and treasures on earth, but lay up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not breakthrough and steal. I'm sure this speaks to each one of our hearts.
You remember the little incident after the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and it tells us how that he appeared to Mary. And it says about Mary that she supposed him to be the gardener. But instead the Lord reveals himself to her in a different way. And he says, Mary, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God.
I believe there's something for us, a moral lesson in the fact that Mary.
Mistook the Lord for the gardener now that is perhaps you and I, after we're saved, think the Lord is going to turn this world into a fine garden for us he just going to make everything beautiful for us it's going to work out all our problems and just make this world a pleasant place about the Lord said to Mary, as it were no Mary, I'm not the gardener, but I'm going to bring you into a new place of blessing and he pointed as.
Were heavenward and he said to her, that's where your inheritance is. That's where your home is. I ascend unto my father and your father and to my God and your God and brethren. Did you ever expect the Lord to be the gardener? And then you found out that he wasn't at all. And he pointed you heavenward and said, no, I didn't intend to fix up everything for you down here, but I have something for you up there.
Yes, he said.
I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
So in the 22nd verse the Lord turns and speaks to the disciples. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on.
You can see here the connection. The Lord had just told this little incident about this successful farmer who had just lived for time, and now he turns to the disciples, and he says, I say unto you, because we can become very much like those of the earth.
Because it says the children of this world are in their generation. Why is there than the children of light now? That is the people of this world. They lay up for the future down here. I wonder how much trouble they go to, to prepare, as they say, for a happy retirement and to have a good time. Oh, how much expense and everything they they will take all kinds of trouble to prepare for the future down here in this world.
But he says.
They're wiser than we are because they go to this trouble and they deprive themselves to prepare for the future down here. And how often we're unwilling to deprive ourselves for the future that really lasts, for that which is eternal, that which is ours up above.
Well, then the disciples might have thought, well, we shouldn't be concerned about the things that we wear or the food. Well, he tells us that they should consider the Ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And then in the 27th verse he said, Consider the.
00:15:15
How they grow, they toil not, they spin not. And yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. I have often thought how gracious it was of the Lord to mention about the lilies of the field, because when He said to them not to be concerned about food or what they would put on, they might have said, Well, God doesn't consider those things important at all.
But then he tells us that he fed the Ravens.
And so it shows that he is concerned about our food and just say, is he concerned about nice clothes? Well, he said, just look at the lilies. I must be concerned about nice things when I make the the lilies look so beautiful. And isn't it a lovely thing that God our Father does care about us? He cares about the food that we eat. I've often enjoyed noticing the time that the Lord came to Abraham's tent door.
We might have said, well surely the Lord wouldn't be concerned with what kind of food they served.
That would be far beneath him to be concerned. But did you ever notice that when he talked about the food that was prepared, he said that it was tender and good. Wasn't that gracious on the part of the Lord? He took notice about the kind of food that was served and whether it was tender and whether it was nice and good. Oh, we have a father who cares. We have one who's concerned. And if we say, well, he's not concerned about clothes, then just think he says, look at the lilies. He said, you know, anything is beautiful.
Why, he said Solomon and all his glory, those beautiful clothes that were worn by those in Solomon's court, he said they weren't as beautiful as the way I clothed the lilies of the field. And he said, I'm concerned about you. Oh, what a father we have, how much we worry about things as though we didn't have a father who cared, who was interested.
But what he is telling us is that these are not the real.
Things that we live for now, but it does show that he is concerned about us and about all our needs.
And then it says in the 28th verse, if then God so clothed the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? Now that is, we might say, well, we just have such a short time to live down here that it doesn't matter about these things. Well, he said.
The grass is taken the next day, is thrown into the fire, and yet God clothes it beautifully.
Oh, what an encouragement for us as we go through the world. Our time is so short here and yet to know that there's one who's interested in US and in every detail of our lives.
And so he goes on and says in the 30th verse.
For all these things do the nations of the world seek after.
Yes, the the nations of the world seek after those things. I read a little comment about food and so on, and it was headed the eternal question. Just think, man, we're so concerned about food that the eternal question to them was what are we going to eat? What are we going to eat? Friends, That's not the eternal question to us now. That's just the way the world lives.
That's what concerns them most of all. And what about?
What have we got to wear? Well, that's the thing that the nations of the world seek after. But it says your father knoweth that ye have need of these things. I've often thought if you or I had been writing this verse, we would have ended that verse entirely different and we would have written it something like this for all these things to the nations of the world seek after, but we shouldn't be concerned about them. But how different the way it's ending here.
Says your father knoweth.
He doesn't say that you can do without these things, but your father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Oh, isn't it a lovely thing to realize that we do have a father who is concerned about our every need? And so that instead of having to be like the nations of the world and the people of the world who live for these things, who fight for these things, who spend all the energy of their lives to have the things that pass away, he said you can afford to spend your.
Time and your attention on those things that are eternal. Because you have a Father who cares for you. About your food, about your clothes, about everything that concerns you. Yes, it says, casting all your care upon him. Why? Because he cares for you. You. You ask someone to look after some matter and the person just forgets about it.
00:20:25
What a disappointment and you said I won't trust them again. I asked them to do something important and they just forgot about it. But not so with God our Father. Why? When we commit things to him, he says I'm concerned about you. God my Father says I know that you need those things. What a blessed encouragement to our hearts. But then is this to be what we live for brethren? Is this to be the object in our.
Lives, are we to be like men of the world? No, he says, but rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. It doesn't say, And you can do without all these things. No, it says, And all these things shall be added unto you. Isn't this blessed? What is the Kingdom of God? Well, we learn in Romans what it is.
In the 14th chapter of Romans it says the Kingdom of God is not made.
And drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That is what should concern the believer is that he should walk in a way that is according to the character of his Father, that he should go through this world with a peace that the world can't give. And the world can't understand why the world can't give peace about the question of sin.
And men have sin upon their conscience.
And there's no way they may go to a psychiatrist and half the trouble is because there's something that's bothering them and they don't have a person to lean upon. Or perhaps they may go to some religion and try and find relief there. Ah, it's Christ that they need. He's the one to turn to. Is there something that's that's bowing you down? Is there a Sinner here in your sins? The Lord Jesus came to heal the broken.
Hearted he came to preach deliverance to them that are bound. He's the one who knows your need and more than this he has provided for your need at great cost to himself. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son and a believer can say the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me and then not only peace with God.
But it says and the peace of God.
God which passeth all understanding. Peace with God is salvation. There's anybody here that's not saved. You can have peace with God because it's already been made for you at Calvary's cross. But many of us as Christians don't have the peace of God which passes all understanding. What is the peace of God? Well, it's the very peace in which God himself dwells. I've often said, Do you think God was?
Served Bob and in this world today, oh, perhaps you say, well, no, I'm sure he knew everything beforehand. He's over. He's over everything. Well, he says you can have that same peace.
You can have that same peace, and so he tells us in everything by prayer and supplication. Let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You know, I was just enjoying that verse the other day.
It says let your requests be made known unto God. Perhaps you say, well, I'm not just sure that I have the Lord's mind and the request that I make. Well, this is often true with us, but the Lord says, just tell me just the same. Tell me, tell me all that's bothering you. And then he said, I'll replace that with my peace, because if we come to him.
And it's a good thing in making our request to say if it be thy will.
You know, sometimes we make requests as though it was a demand. The Lord Jesus could do that because he was always in perfect communion with his Father. But with us, we need to remember that when we ask things, we need to ask if it's his will, because his will is best. And that's what gives that peace of God. And it passes all understanding because.
The world can have peace when war ceases.
00:25:02
The world can have peace when some trouble comes to an end about the Christian can have peace while the war is still going on. The Christian can have peace while the trouble is still there. And why? Well, because we're in the company of the one who is above it all. And that's a kind of a peace that the world doesn't understand. But that's the peace of God. That's the peace in which God himself dwells. It's what Jesus meant when he said to his disciples.
My peace.
I give unto you not as the world giveth. Give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. O brethren, how little we know of this, but what is going to give it to us? Oh, a better acquaintance with that blessed Savior, a better knowledge of the heart of God our Father, is going to give us confidence in Him because.
Faith honors God, the faith recognizes.
That what He does is always best. As for God, His way is perfect. And then it says and joy in the Holy Ghost. I mentioned righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. That's what the Kingdom of God is. And So what is joy in the Holy Ghost? Well, we may not have joy in our circumstances. They may be difficult.
But we can have joy in the Holy Ghost and one of the.
Sweetest things is to see a Christian in trial who is really happy in the Lord because he is above the situation.
I believe that's the meaning. I think we were Speaking of this down in the meetings in Glendale and I've enjoyed it.
Where it tells us in the 18th Psalm, it says, As for God, his way is perfect.
And then it goes on to say he maketh my feet like Hinds feet. He maketh me to walk upon my high places. And I'm sure we've all watched a little hind or a little dull. And when it comes to the to a fence, you don't have to remove the fence. You don't have to open the gate. When we were coming here on our trip, why we saw one of those little deer and it just came to the fence and just as gracefully as.
It took a leap and it went right over the fence. The fence didn't have to be removed. A gate didn't have to be open for it because it had such a spring in its hind legs that it could just gracefully go right up over it. And that's what the Lord is telling us, that we need to have the hind's feet. Now that which lifts us above the difficulty, we think it's got to be taken away. I can't have peace unless it is. But the the Lord says no.
And that's why it goes on to say a verse that perhaps.
Is very difficult to understand. It says he makes my way perfect. What does it mean he makes my way perfect? Well, it's just this that when we're above the circumstance, why then that's that's perfect because in his presence in his company, there's peace, there's rest. And so how blessed it is that you and I can walk above the situations and that's what the Lord is saying.
Seek ye uh, the king of.
God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. And then he knew the doubts of our hearts and he says, fear not. Isn't that lovely? He says, I know even after I've told you all this, you're still going to have some doubts. You're still going to have some fears. Buddy said fear not.
Little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Yes. What is ahead of us as Christians? Why?
The Scripture tells us that we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Do we not seem to possess a great deal of what this world gives? We're going to have it all in association with Christ another day when he takes his place as the head of that whole scene of things in the Millennium. We're going to be with him. We're going to look down upon this earth when there are no troubles and trials, and we're going to be.
In the enjoyment of His blessed company, and share all with him, without anything to spoil it. So he says, fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Yes, what a future is ahead of us. And so he goes on and says, Sell what ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old.
A treasure in the heavens, that faileth not where an old thief approacheth neither.
00:30:03
Corrupteth.
Might be a little problem in the minds of some about this.
Sell that ye have and give alms.
I just like to give out this little thought about it, You know, up until the time that we're saved, we consider everything that we possess our own. But there's a change takes place when we get saved, and that's what the Lord is Speaking of. And that is that we should say from that moment onward, not that I have my own, I call, I hold it for the giver.
My heart by strength, my life, my all are His.
And his forever. And so that's, I believe what it means. It's a hard thing for us to sell out. It's a hard thing for us to come to the point where we look on everything God has given to us and say, well, it really doesn't belong to me. And but he has made me his steward and I'm just to use it for him. And you know, that's a great responsibility.
I know a girl and she had quite a sum of money. She came from a fairly.
Wealthy family, after she got saved, she thought she should take all this money and give it over to the Lord's work. And a brother said to her, and no, he said, you're the Lord's steward for all that money. And, you know, I think she had a little more difficult job being a steward for that money than if she had just handed it all over for somebody else to be the steward of it. And, you know, it's something for us to think about.
So that you have and give alms means what we have in.
In Timothy, charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded and that they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate. In other words, whatever we have, we should recognize it belongs to the Lord. If we were under Judaism, why we would say, well I give a tenth to the Lord, but 9/10 is mine.
But the Lord said, now there's something new in Christianity. It all belongs to the Lord and we're just stewards of what He has given to us 100%. There's not a thing that you and I have, whether it's money, food, clothes, possessions of any kind that we can properly call our own as Christians, they all belong to Him.
And the happy Christian life is to say, well, I've sold out. It's no longer mine, it's the Lord's now.
And he's the one to tell me how to use it. Oh, this is quite a responsibility, but what a joy. And brethren, isn't it wonderful? He's going to pay you for being a good steward. He's going to pay you for being a good steward. No, he is at worse, as now you gave it all to me. I'll give it all back to you as my steward, and I'll pay you for being a good steward. He says God is not unrighteous to forget.
Your work and labor of love that she has showed toward.
His name and that ye have ministered to the Saints and do minister. Yes, he's going to reward any faithfulness with what he has given to us.
And that kind of it says, when we lay up treasures in heaven, those treasures can't be lost, because that's a treasure in the heavens that faileth not. And then it says where your treasure is, and there will your heart be also.
Are you and I enjoying the fact that our treasure is really up there, but then our heart will be there too. Our heart will be there when a person's away from home. Why his treasure? All that he has is back at home and his heart often goes back to home, to loved ones, and he thinks at the time that he'll be back with them again. Well, isn't this lovely? He says.
Where your treasure is, and there will your hearts be also.
Let your lines be girded about and your lights burning this expression, your loins girded about. The loins in the Scripture speak of the the desires. And when it says they're girded, it means that they're under control. Because, you know, we might have many desires that are not pleasing to the Lord and we need to keep those things under control.
The scripture says gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober.
And hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And then it says, and your lights burning. Now that is, there's a testimony now that we're to bear to this world. The world sees people concerned about the things that pass away. But the world ought to see in us that we are waiting for our Lord, that we really have our possessions outside of this world and that we're longing for.
00:35:09
Time when the Lord Jesus will come again, as it says.
Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. So the Christian is not to be taken up with the things here. His loins are to be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord. Now we can tell people that we believe in the Lord's coming as a truth.
There are many people who profess to believe in the Lord's coming, but it's quite another thing.
When our lives show that we're expecting him at any moment, all I say that challenge is my own heart.
Am I living as one who is expecting the Lord to come at any moment? There are different things the Lord has specially brought before us in connection with the nearness of His return. I just think of a few of them. There's one in, in First Corinthians 11. It says as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Now that's something that we have the privilege of doing.
Until the Lord's return. Then there's another one that says, occupy till I come. Now that is, there's a little service for each one of us to do, and would we want to be found doing that little service if we were really expecting the Lord to come? And then there's another verse that says, hold fast till I come. We're living in days when the truth of God is being given up, we find on every hand.
And Christians who are giving up different parts of the truth of God, they're they're giving up this and giving up that. They say, oh, we have to all get together and work together. And so they may compromise as they give up a part of the truth. And they say, I can go along with these people because they have a great deal of truth. We can't afford to give up any part of it.
And says that which ye have already hold fast till I come. And then another exhortation I think of Be patient. Therefore, my brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. There are new trials and difficulties arising, and business life requires a great deal of patience. Family life requires a great deal of patience and understanding. Assembly life today.
Perhaps requires more patience and understanding than ever before.
And so how long are we going to need this patience? Oh, it says be patient. Therefore, my brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. I was mentioning the other day, I was thinking of this and.
Some place where the brethren had been together, and as they walked out of the meeting, one said to the other, Well, he said.
I wonder where all this is going to end. There had been some trouble in the little assembly where he was, and this brother turned to him. He said, at the coming of the Lord. Yes, we are to be patient unto the coming of the Lord, and there will always be something to do and to bear.
And then it says.
When he shall return from the wedding, and when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
There was one thing to be waiting, that's another thing to be watching, isn't it?
We can be waiting for his coming, but perhaps we're occupied with a lot of other things because we don't expect his coming too soon. We think there's quite a few other things that we have to do first, but when we're watching for somebody, it's a different matter. Sometimes, you know when a loved one has been away and we're expecting them home, Why? We make frequent trips to the window and look out to see if they're coming. We're watching.
And it delights the Lord's heart that we should look up from time to time and say Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Yes, he wants us to be watching for Him.
And so it says, when he cometh, they may open to him immediately.
Because.
If there's anything in our life that isn't just right, I don't suppose we'd want to open to him immediately, would we? We'd say we'd like to get that straightened up first.
A dear brother in one of the meetings in the middle W had got away from the Lords table and he began to get more and more troubled because he thought the Lord has asked me to remember him until he comes. And he said I'm not doing it. And so he had had a little difficulty with one of the brothers in the meeting and he went over to his house and he said brother, he said I've come because he said I want to get this straightened up before the Lord.
00:40:29
Comes, well, if God straightened up and he's happily back again with his brethren. And so if there's something that should be straightened up, isn't it a privilege, isn't it a blessed thing that we can do this? We can get it straightened up as it were, before the Lord comes so that when he knocks, we can open immediately. And if there's any little thing, any small little thing, now that we have said or done that we could straighten out, that we could help some other person.
By just speaking to them about it. Let's do it, brethren. The Lord's coming soon and He wants us to be not only waiting, but watching.
And then this 37th verse, Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them.
This is one of the most touching verses as I read it. It speaks to my own heart. Here the Lord has been exhorting us.
Encouraging us to have our loins girded, our lights burning and seeking to serve him while we wait for his return. And then he says, when I come back, he said, then your service will be ended. You won't have to serve me anymore. You won't have to be girded anymore, your light won't have to shine anymore. But he says.
I'll let you sit down and then I'll serve you forever.
He said, I'll gird myself. Perhaps we might say, oh, but it's pretty hard to refuse some of the things the world offers to you. It's pretty hard to say no. The path of service that I have is really a difficult one. Well, you do that just for a little while. But he said, when you get home to glory, he said, I'll let you sit down and I'll serve you forever.
I'll serve you forever. Has it been difficult?
For you to gird yourself so you could serve me. Then he says, when you get there, I'll be the one who will gird myself and come forth and serve you. Oh, what a marvelous thing, brethren, to think that the Lord so values our little service for him that he says that when it's over, he's going to take the place of servant and serve us forever. Doesn't that touch your heart and mind? Don't we wonder why we should ever complain that any little service?
He gives us to do.
It tells us in Galatians chapter 6.
That every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. And I believe that refers to the service of the Levites. The Levites were brought to Aaron, and Aaron appointed to everyone his service and to everyone his burden. And whatever that little service was that was appointed to the Levite, then he was to do that in the conscious knowledge that that was the service that.
Had been appointed to him for the Lord, and now he's saying to us as Christians, he's saying, why? You can look up and ask the Lord and he'll show you what he wants you to do. And that's what it means, that every man prove his own work. And why does it say he'll have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another? Well, you know, there's some Christians and they're interested in what others are doing for the Lord, but they've never discovered what the Lord wants.
Them to do. And so they'll start and tell you about what somebody else is doing and how wonderful their service is, but they've never come to the point in their own soul of finding what the Lord wants them to do and doing it. Now, that doesn't mean that the Lord wants you necessarily to give up your work and go out to the foreign field. And but there is a little service for you to do. And I don't know of anything sweeter and happier in life than to be in the knowledge.
In your soul that you have found out the little corner where the Lord wants you, and that you're filling it.
The slave was told that when he was saved that he was filling a little corner in life that God intended for him and he was going to get the same reward as if he was the Lord's servant. He says he served the Lord Christ, and ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. And that slave, as he worked for his heathen master, could say, well, I'm happy. I know I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do just as much as the apostle Paul.
00:45:17
Because the Apostle Paul's doing what the Lord wants him to do.
But I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do, and that's what really matters. So one of the Levites might be carrying the ark and another one might be carrying some of the pins. And they both could be happy because they were doing the service that was appointed to them. And I want to say to each one of you here, have you proved what the Lord wants you to do? I tell you you'll be a happy Christian if you have the sense in your soul and that you're in the place that the Lord wants you to do and doing what he wants you to do. Now there's.
Peace in that, and when the service is over, then the Lord says, and I'll serve you. That's what it tells us in the 21St of Exodus, that when our period is ended, why then it says that He'll serve us forever.
And then it goes on to say, And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them, so blessed are those servants. I just suggest a little thought about this verse. Perhaps some Christian might say, Well, I certainly would enjoy serving if I had lived in the days of Mr. Darby and Mr. Kelly and Mr. McIntosh.
When a great work was going on and when there were larger assemblies.
When people were being saved and gathered, oh, I'd be happy if I was living in those days, but it's just not the same to try and be faithful to the Lord in 1974. That's a lot harder. Well, he said whether it's in the second watch or the third watch, he said be faithful. And I believe it's just as pleasing to the Lord to be faithful to him in 1974 as it was to be faithful to him in 1874.
I believe it's a blessed privilege, whether it's in the second watch or the third watch, at whatever time of the church's history our lot is cast. It's a privilege just to fill that place, as it tells us in another place in the Acts, it says David after he had served his own generation by the will of God. You know, I find some Christians and they they just live as though the only time they could have.
The Lord well was back in another generation, but I believe you can serve the Lord just as acceptably in this time as you could at any other time of the Church's history. It may be a little more difficult, but the Lord has a place for each of His own in 1974. He has a place for us to live for Him, and the danger with us is that we want great things for ourselves.
Instead of being like Nehemiah, Nehemiah said he was doing a great work.
Even though it was in Remnant days and it's doing a great work when we're doing what the Lord wants us to do. But if it's not, it's a very little work. It's a very little work. It says if a man strive for the masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.
Well, when he goes on to say here.
In the 41St verse then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
Well, the Lord's parable that he was speaking here no doubt directly referred to.
To Israel, and He was speaking to these disciples, and the truth of the church hadn't yet been revealed. And so the rapture is not very clearly brought before us in the verses here. It speaks of the Lord returning from the wedding, but the moral principle of it applies to us, and that was very important. And so the Lord's answer was her.
Who then is that faithful and wise servant whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season? What he was really saying to Peter was, well, Peter, you're concerned about whether that refers to somebody else or whether it refers to yourself. But he said you can apply it to yourself. You can apply it to yourself. And brethren, we can apply these things to ourselves.
Isn't it easy for us to apply the scriptures to other people?
It's very easy to think that this Scripture applies to somebody else, but sometimes we're very slow to apply the Scripture to ourselves and to learn the moral lessons that the Lord would teach us. We could pass over a passage like this and say, well, I I don't think this refers to the rapture. I think it refers to the Lord's coming when he comes to set up the Kingdom. Well, be that as it may.
00:50:12
The application of it is for us, and that is just as the remnant of Israel.
Well, we'll look for the Lord's return when he comes to set up the Kingdom, and we're looking for him as the bridegroom for the church. And it applies to us and would to God. We would take these things to our hearts. And so he says this. It says the faithful and wise steward and all. As someone else has said, there never was a time when we needed this so much.
Faithful and why? Faithful and wise?
In a difficult day, it tells us.
That David behaved himself wisely, then it says he behaved himself more wisely, and then it says he behaved himself wisely in all his ways. And there was ever a time when we needed wisdom about how to behave wisely. It's in this day we need faithfulness, but we surely need wisdom too. That we'd say and do the right thing. And then it says whom his Lord may appoint ruler over his house.
No, sometimes we like to be in the position of rulers, but we're not thinking of the good of the flock of God. But here it says that the ruler was giving the portion of meat in due season. We can be occupied with our position of authority and how much we can influence other people and not think of feeding the Saints of God. The Saints of God need to have their souls fed. We can get occupied with.
Knowledge instead of feeding the souls of the Saints. And when Peter was writing, he said to the elders which are among you, he said feed the flock of God, which is among you. When Joshua was told that they were going to Passover the Jordan a way that they hadn't gone heretofore, he said prepare vettels. We need food, brethren, we need to have our souls fed.
In occupation with Christ.
Have sometimes said to the to the young people at Otter Lake, what would you think if when we sat down to the table, I stood up and for 5 minutes I gave a talk about all the food that was on the table and how long it took to prepare it. While everybody was waiting to eat, I was occupying them with how many slices of bread were on the table and how many ounces of butter and how many potatoes there were and how long it took to peel them. Well all.
Maybe he had some importance, but I think everybody would be thinking more about eating and all those details. And you know, brethren, we can occupy one another with a lot of details and not feed the soul and hear the Lord Jesus said, Peter, you're trying to pass this off unto somebody else. But the important thing is the Saints need a portion of meat in due season. And he said a faithful and wise servant will recognize this.
And he'll appoint to them.
Their portion of meat in due season. Oh, there surely is a need among the Saints of God. May the Lord enable us to be a help to the Saints of God. Each one of us have our part. As I say, God has given to each their service and to each their burden.
Well, and just one more thing before we close here, we find here the Lord warning about the one who said My Lord delayeth his coming. And I just want you to notice the two things that characterize the person who said My Lord delayeth his coming. Now you might say, but wasn't this man an unbeliever? Yes, this man was an unbeliever.
His portion was appointed with a hypocrite, but I believe.
The moral principle of it can apply to us too. What were the two things that the person did who was saying, My Lord delayeth his coming? Notice it says he was eating and drinking and being drunken. That was the first thing. Now that he was just living for the satisfaction of his own desires. And even as Christians, if we are not looking for the Lord's coming, we can settle down.
To the satisfaction of our own desires here in this world, we can live for the things that pass away. And when I find myself getting overly occupied with the things here that pass away, I know that in my heart I'm saying my Lord delays His coming because if I was really expecting him to come tomorrow night, I'm sure I'd want to live tomorrow to please him. And then what's the second thing that the person did who was saying?
00:55:10
My Lord delays his coming. He began to beat the men's servants and maidservants. Instead of feeding his brethren, he was beating his brethren. It's easy to do that, isn't it? Yes. And we can see a lot of things that are wrong. This man had plenty of time to try and set everything, everybody else right. He was beating the men's servants and beating the maidservants, but the one that pleased the Lord was feeding them was feeding them. Now, this doesn't mean that faithfulness is not required.
Now Lord needs faithful and wise servants now. But here we see the character of the one who delayed the Lord's coming. He got occupied with those things that did not really abide, those things that had to do with the present only. And secondly, He was beating the men, servants and maidservants. Oh, may the Lord increase.
Our realization of the fact that his coming is near.
He's soon going to come. He's going to receive us unto himself. And brethren, what a privilege to live this little time that's left to us. The rest of our time. The Scripture calls us as those who are expecting Him at any moment. And let us seek the good and blessing of one another. And if there's anything we can do to help one another, encouraging one another to be watching and waiting.
Let us do it, but let us be careful that we don't partake of the spirit of the Word.
World and get taken up with the things that pass away, get taken up with criticizing instead of feeding the Saints of God. Oh, how needful in these last days, now that we seek to live for Christ and live each moment as though we were expecting to hear that voice come up. Hit her. We may hear it tonight brethren, may keep us crying out Even so come Lord Jesus.