Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to read first of all in Proverbs chapter 8. Proverbs chapter 8.
Verse 29.
When He gave to the sea His decree that the water should not pass His commandment, when He appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth. And my delights were with the sons of men. Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways.
And then in Nehemiah chapter 8.
Nehemiah, chapter 8.
Three books before the Psalms, Nehemiah Chapter 8 and the.
Ninth verse.
The Nehemiah, which is the Trishatha, Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God, mourn not, nor weep for all. The people wept when they heard the words of the law.
Then he said unto them.
Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy unto our Lord. Neither be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And now I'd like to turn over to John chapter 14. John chapter 14.
In verse one, let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there he may be also. Well, I was thinking of some things in the Gospel of John here in chapters 14 and 15.
Where the Lord Jesus brings before us what we have in him, that is, he's telling us about my Father's house and my peace and my love and my joy, and these different things are brought before us. And the reason I read the other verses is because I believe it's very precious for our hearts to lay hold of this, that when the Lord made this world, it says His delights were with the sons of man.
How wonderful for us just to sit here on these seats tonight.
And know that when this very world was created, the Lord was thinking about you and I and not satisfied merely to save our souls from hell. He wanted to have our company. And the satisfaction of His own heart is having the company of His redeemed. Now that is what gives joy to our hearts is because we know He loves us so. And when this lays hold of our souls.
Them there is a steadiness and there is a peace and a joy that characterizes.
Our pathway, because it's his love and His joy and all those things from himself that become our portion.
How wonderful it is to be loved. It's even more wonderful than to love to be loved, to know that someone cares. No, people today are searching out to find their identity, spending thousands of dollars to try and find out the roots of their family. And children sometimes that are adopted will spend every so much time to try and find the roots of their family. But isn't it lovely for us to go a little farther back than this, and to know that when this very world was made before there was a blade?
Grass before there was any water, or as it says in that chapter, the highest parts of the dust of the earth, the sea, any of those things were formed. His delights were with the sons of man. How wonderful this is for us. Our roots go back a lot further than our ancestry, which, if we want to trace it, all, goes back to fallen Adam. But how much better to think of it going back to those thoughts that were in the heart of God.
And then made secure to us.
Through redemption, through what the Lord has accomplished. Now that is of sometimes said it was as though he said like this when sin entered the world and spoiled it. Is it though? He were to say you spoiled this world, but I still want your company so much that I'm going to go to Calvary so that I can have your company.
The little song says, Why should I ever careful be, since such a God is mine? He watches army night and day and tells me thou art mine.
Well, I met passage in Proverbs. We see that before this world was made, his delights were over the sons of men.
When we read there in the 8th chapter of Nehemiah, it's been a sad story of Israel's failure.
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They had been carried into captivity. The Lord in grace had brought back a little remnant from that captivity and established them in their land for their good and for their blessing. But even then they realized how they had failed. And as they looked in, and any of us who do the same will feel the same, that is, they mourned and they wept. And I think it's wonderful what the prophet said to them.
He said the joy of the.
Lord is your strength.
Now many Christians have taken up that verse to mean our joy in the Lord, but really the thought in the verse is the Lord's joy and His people. Now that is, here was a little remnant that had come back from the captivity, and they were seeking to rebuild the temple and the wall. They were thankful that the Lord had brought them back to His land of promise. And although there was weakness there, the Lord was finding His joy because they were in the.
Where he could and wanted to bless them.
Perhaps I could illustrate it something like this, because you might say, well, I thought it was our joy. No, it says the joy of the Lord is your strength. Let me illustrate it something like this. Supposing you were invited to a friend's house for the evening and it turns out to be a very stormy, unpleasant evening. And you look at each other and say, oh, we don't feel like going tonight. It's far too stormy. And I wonder if they'll understand.
And just while you're talking about it.
Rings and they're on the line and they say, oh, we hope you're going to come. We've really been looking forward to this evening. You'll disappoint us if you're not there. It'll be our pleasure to have you there. Don't you get a new shot of strength? Don't you get your clothes on and say we've got to go. They want us and that gives you strength. And what's going to give us strength to go on in these last days? It is a stormy time.
It is a time of trouble not only in the world, but for the.
Of God. But what will give us strength? The joy of the Lord is your strength. It's His joy. And brethren, it's going to be His eternal joy. In the Father's house it says, He will joy over thee with singing. He will rest in His love.
Well, I just bring this thought before you because I believe that this is really what sustains us. Not our joy, not our love, not anything that we ourselves can contribute. It's so feeble, but it's the fact that the Lord really values the feeble love of our hearts.
Even when Jonathan was slain in the mountains of Gilboa, David said, Thy love to me was wonderful.
And I've heard people quote that verse Speaking of the Lord's love to us, and surely it is wonderful. But David was talking about Jonathan's love. And I think if you and I had been talking about it, we would have said, oh, isn't that sad that Jonathan turned and didn't follow David and went home to his house instead of accompanying him to The Cave of But David didn't talk that way. David talked about Jonathan's love and said it was wonderful.
The very, very least bit of love.
That's in your heart, and mine is wonderful to the Lord because He values that response. And I say again, brethren, I believe this is what we need to give us strength to go on. These are indeed difficult days, but it's the thought of this that gives us strength. And so here in these chapters, the Lord is about to leave his disciples. He knew when He spoke these words that they were all going to forsake him and flee.
You know what they had been previous to this and all the things that they.
They had said and done, but just before He goes away he is telling them what He has for them, His delight and His joy in them, that He wants their company there in the Father's house. And in the 13th chapter, as we all know, he washed their feet so that they could enjoy that fellowship, and said to Peter, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
And brethren, there might be some of us that are not enjoying.
These things, and perhaps we could ask ourselves, is it because we're not willing to let the Lord wash our feet? Because if there's anything allowed in our lives that is displeasing to Him, it doesn't change His love to us, but it does change the enjoyment of communion with Him.
The enjoyment of communion with Him. Our love toward our children as parents is, goes on and we love them even if they're willful and disobedient, but they miss the enjoyment of that love if they're willful. And when they come and acknowledge their willfulness, why they find what we have in our hearts toward them. And you know the Lord first in the 13th chapter.
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Washed the disciples feet and told Peter that he needed that so.
Could go on in communion, have part with him doesn't mean salvation, but it means to have part in communion and in the enjoyment of what he was about to speak to them in these chapters. And so I say before we look at these things, if there are any of us here tonight and there's something that we have allowed, you know, if we're walking through a world like this, it's very easy to pick up the filement. That's why.
The bridegroom said to the bride.
How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O Prince of daughter?
Because you know, you can walk through a muddy St. and if you have shoes on them on your feet, why your your feet will be clean after you come over the mud. The shoes will be dirty, but your feet will be clean. And so as they looked at their, the bride's feet, he said, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes? And we have part of that in the armor too. You and I wear spiritual shoes when we go through this defiling world.
Or do we allow ourselves to pick up all that he filements?
Well, if we do, the Lord still loves us and he's willing to wash our feet so they'll be clean.
And so he does this and now I just like to notice a few things in this 14th and 15th chapter.
I believe the 14th chapter particularly speaks of communion and the 15th chapter of truth bearing, and I believe that these things are brought before us to speak to our hearts.
In the end of the 13th chapter, the Lord had spoken about how Judas would betray him and how Peter would deny him. One of the Lord's followers was not a believer at all.
And then Peter, who was a follower, a true believer, he was unfaithful, as we know. And then the Lord was going away and they had expected him as the Messiah to set up the Kingdom. At that time they said, will thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? It was very disappointing to them that he hadn't set up the Kingdom already.
And it was no doubt disappointing that he should tell them that one of their number was a trailer.
And that another one would deny him. And, you know, if we look around too, or at ourselves, we can easily be very upset. Our hearts can be troubled. And maybe there's something we expected the Lord to do for us and he didn't do it. And we feel very troubled because we expected something to happen that didn't happen. Well, you know, the Kingdom is going to be brought in, but it wasn't yet God's time. It's going to be brought in.
So if you look at some of your disappointments and I look at some of mine, we'll find that very often these things are because we expected the Lord to do something at our time, and He didn't do it the way we had expected it. But He tells us, let not your heart be troubled. And so he points on to that future, not just to heaven.
Not just to the glory seen above, but he says.
In my Father's house, I want you to notice in these little points that I try to bring over the Lord's help first. Here is my Father's house. Perhaps you could connect it with that little hymn, that little word my and that little hymn that says.
Dwells in that bosom, knoweth all that in that bosom lies. And came to earth to make it known that we might share his joy, His father's house, his father's heart, all that the sun is given.
Made ours the objects of his love, and he our joy in heaven. So he didn't say in heaven, but in my Father's house. He who knew what was in his Father's heart, he who enjoyed it in perfection, dwells in that bosom, and came down so that we might know what was there. And so he's telling them that he's not going to be satisfied until they are there also.
In my father's house are many mansions.
Really many abodes the word. I might say that the word translated mansions here in the second verse is the same word as the word translated abode in the end of the 23rd verse.
So that it's not really the thought of the grandeur of the building, but it's to be close to him.
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I understood a little bit of this when we were over in England one time and we went to, we went to the palace out at, I believe it was out at Westminster, if I'm not mistaken. It was one of the palaces that the Queen has. And there are a number of places that are called abodes and those places are occupied by people who have done things that the Queen valued.
And as they get old and they're no longer able to provide.
Themselves, they're given these homes and everything is provided free for them, and there they live right close to the queen in this palace, and they can enjoy all that comes not to exactly in the palace itself, but those aboard and in the temple in the coming day in Ezekiel.
In Ezekiel it speaks of the abodes for the priests.
And I suppose the disciples must have expected that when this millennial temple was built as described by Ezekiel, that they would have part and be able to dwell close right there in the presence of the Lord. And now he's telling them he's going away. They were disappointed. But he says there are many abodes, not just in the temple. It's going to be built in Jerusalem, but in my father's house.
And so he says, if it were not so, I would have told you, I believe the reason the Lord says this is he's really saying to them, if I didn't have something better for you than what you anticipated, I wouldn't have called you to walk in a path of rejection following me.
And that is they had followed him as he says, continued with him in his temptations. It followed him in the path and he was rejected and despised. And they identified themselves with him. And now he's telling them that he had something better than what they had expected. They expected the Kingdom, they expected the place in the millennial temple. But he said, I would have told you if I didn't have something better than what you.
Affected, He knew what they expected. And now at this point when he's about to go away, he tells them what that better thing was in my father's house. And he said, I'm going to come again and receive you unto myself. We know that he's going to come again for Israel's deliverance. And they will say, this is our God. We have waited for him, He will save us and they will have a deliverance upon earth.
But when he comes for us, it's not an earth.
Deliverance. It's to give the shout and take us up, and we'll be out there. And so this is our eternal home. Brethren, everything here is full of uncertainty. But isn't this beautiful in my Father's house? That's where we're going to be. That's where we're going to dwell. And it's not the grandeur of the place that's brought before us. It's the person in whose company we will be.
The road may be rough, I've often said.
I'd rather go a rough over a rough road to get to be in the company of a person that I love and over the finest road, and not be in the company of the one that I love. And so the road may be rough, but the end is bright and glorious. And so may this be before us, my father's house, and who's going to have the greatest delight in having us there?
Well, the Lord.
It says heal joy over us with singing. He'll rest in his love. He's going to find the far greater delight. I've seen children come home and the parents find far greater delight in having the children come home than the child who comes home and the prodigal came home. The Bible doesn't even tell us about the joy of the prodigal. It's all about the father's joy, how he fell on his neck and kissed him.
Now he's the one that said let's make merry and be glad for this. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. Well thoughts like this are what lift us. If we look in and say, do I respond to this like I should, we all have to hang our heads and say no. But if we think of the joy that he has in sharing that home with us where everything will be perfect, how that touches our hearts.
Brother might say it gives us strength to go on.
It gives us strength because just like as I say, when you're going to the place of someone that loves you perfectly, why you don't allow any obstacle to hinder you. You say I must get to them. I just love to be with them. Their company is my happiness and my joy. Well, Lord is going to come and take us that where I am.
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There he may be also.
And now we can go over to the 27th verse. We'll see this little word my again.
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you not as the world give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Well, we know that the Bible speaks of peace with God and the peace of God.
Peace with God is the peace that we receive, that we know when we accept the Lord Jesus and rest upon His finished work. Because previous to this the Bible says that we were enemies. If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And it says again.
That we've been brought to God through the death of His cross.
So we have been brought back and being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer is entitled to enjoy that peace. If there's a doubting soul here tonight, don't look in for your feelings. Think of what God says about the blood. It cleans us from all sin.
I'm sure if you own a piece of property and someone comes and questions your right to that property, did you ever start thinking about your feelings? Did you say, well, it must be mine because I feel so good about it? I'm sure you didn't even that never crossed your mind. You, you just thought about that piece of paper. You have that title deed that assures you that it belongs to you. Your feelings all rest upon that, not upon something in yourself. If you have feelings, it's because you have.
Piece of paper that you know is valid, it's good. And so don't look in for feelings, just rest upon what God says about the blood. So here we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through his work.
But every Christian does not enjoy the peace of God.
Paul speaks of it in Philippians chapter 4 and he was talking about some of the things that might have upset their peace, and then he tells them about the peace of God which passes. All understanding shall keep or Garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
And so the peace of God is the peace of God's own throne.
Could I put it this way? Do you think God was disturbed by anything that happened in this world today? Well, I know things might have grieved him, but He's in control. He knew everything.
He's in control of everything that happened today and everything that will happen tomorrow.
It says He does according to his own will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say, What doest thou? But now the Lord Jesus walked in that peace. He walked in the peace of his Father's throne. And as he went through this world, while he felt things, he accepted everything from his Father when he was rejected by the nation that he had come to bless, he said.
I thank thee.
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for Saul it seemed good in my sight. And this peace of God is a result of recognizing this, that God is in control of everything, that absolutely nothing happens by chance, that He could have changed anything that happened in your life today or yesterday or last month.
He could have changed it if it were his will, because when he rose from the dead, he said to his disciples, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
He's still angels and authorities and powers are made subject to him. He's still on the throne. And so we can have that knowledge. And if he has allowed anything to happen that may be difficult for us to understand, it does not need to disturb our peace.
It passes understanding because the only kind of peace the world understands.
Is when things are peaceful ever today there isn't any wind you'll hear them say, oh it's so peaceful today because there's no wind or if there's been war, why then there's peace when the war comes to an end and over and over again you'll see the world's peace always depends on circumstances but not so with the Christian the Christian can have peace when everything is at unrest about him because his.
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Peace is not in himself or in his feelings. It's because he knows that Christ is dead over all things to the Church, which is His body.
If you turn over to First Peter 5, I'd just like to call your attention to this. I might have mentioned this before, but perhaps it bears repeating. First Peter 5 and verse 6.
Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh the boat, seeking whom he may devour.
We all like to hang that seventh verse on our walls and it says casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. And I suppose we've all had the experience that there was some care that we had. We really sincerely wanted to cast it on the Lord, but we didn't seem able to do it. And no matter how hard we tried, we still didn't seem to be able to leave it with the Lord.
But what I wanted you to know was that the.
Before is part of the same sentence, and it says, Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
And I believe that the reason that we can't cast our cares upon the Lord is because we haven't accepted the circumstance from the Lord. We really think that the only answer is that the circumstance should be changed. But perhaps what the Lord is seeking to do is to change us, to make us accept what He has allowed and recognize that it's His wisdom and His love that has allowed it.
Sometimes when I haven't been able to leave some matter with the Lord, I've said to myself like this, Gordon, supposing the Lord came to you and said, Gordon, you're all upset because things didn't turn out the way you had expected in this situation.
I'll change that everything and make it just the way you would like it. And I have the power and I can do that for you. It's not my will for you, but I'll do it if that's really what you want. Would I really say, oh, please do Lord, I really think that's the only way I can ever have peace is things should be changed the way I'd like them. Or instead would I say, Lord help me just to accept it from me. The care is gone when you do that. You can.
Leave it with the Lord, because you've humbled yourself under His mighty hand. And brethren, if we don't do that, the devil is right there. That's when the devil comes in.
The devil is not the roaring lion in persecution is a roaring lion when we get discouraged.
A persecuted Christian is a happy Christian. If you went over to Russia, those Christians are probably happier Christians than we are.
But I write in this fair land where we have so much prosperity and good things, there's lots of unhappy Christians.
Because we're discouraged.
We don't take things from the Lord. And so it says be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary, the devil, he comes along and says, why? If God has all this power, why doesn't he change things? Can you really trust him? Because he could change anything if it were, if it were in his power. And so he got discouraged because he doesn't. Well, I say again, that's what the Lord is talking about.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.
Not the kind the world gives. The world only knows peace when things are peaceful. But he said, I can give you peace in the storm. I can give you peace when everything's against you. I can give you peace when what you expected to happen doesn't happen. Because they accept it from him. Isn't this beautiful? Not the kind of peace the world gives, but my peace. The peace in which the Lord Jesus walked.
And as he went on in that path by we see that he met all the circumstances so difficult and accepted them as from his father's hand. So we have my father's house. We have my peace. Now we turn over to the 15th chapter. There are some others here.
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I don't say I speak of everyone, but I'd like to them the ninth verse of the 15th chapter.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love.
None of us would ever have the slightest doubt.
Them about the Father's love to the Son, none of us would question that. We know that the Father loveth the Son, and hath committed all things into his hand.
That He was the delight of His Father's heart. We all know this. We rejoice in it as a blessed fact. So he says, That is the measure of my love to you. As my Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. If you have a doubt, or if I have a doubt of the Lord's love to me, then am I questioning the Father's love to the Son, because He says that as that love is.
In the Father to the Son such is.
His love to me? Well, that's what he's speaking about here, my love.
We get occupied with our own love and the response of our hearts. But you know, even in natural things, you can't love a person by trying. Did you ever try to love somebody? You don't love a person by trying. The way you love them is to think of what they have done for you. And the more you think of that, why then your heart goes out to them. If it's an unbeliever, of course we can act with divine love.
That is.
We show the heart of Christ to them because He loves sinners and He's given us the capacity to love them even when there's no return.
But you and I should practice displaying that kind of love too, to one another and to sinners about us, not because of anything that there is in us, but because of the love that He has put in our heart. That's what it means in first John chapter 4 where it says.
We love that word hymn is omitted in the new translation. We love because He first loved us. That is, we have to enjoy that love to have the capacity to act in that same way to others.
Have often said.
If there's a little stream flowing down the mountainside and you try to put a a dam in front of that stream, you don't stop the water flowing. All you do is just make the water rise higher, because as long as there's plenty of water in the source, the dam only makes the water rise higher and go over a wider area.
And so God may allow things to come in our lives too, where we might find it hard to love a brother or a sister. But I say again, divine love acts because of what it is in itself. And so God's love to us was not dependent upon something in us. It's because of what He is in himself. And thinking of that enables us to display that same love to others.
And so.
We don't love the Lord by trying, we think of His unchanging love to us. And so when men put the greatest obstacle that it was possible in the way of God's love, as the hymn writer said, the river of thy grace through righteousness supplied is flowing o'er the barren place where Jesus died. That is when man tried to stop the love of God at Calvary, He just made it go out in a wider way.
To this world. So let me say again, I'm not even in the exercise of love to one another. Why We think of the Lord's love to us, a love that was without cause and a love that was displayed to us. And the Father loves the Son and he loves us, and he gives us the capacity to display that love, whether in our return to the Lord Jesus because of what He's done.
Or in our love to.
Others so we have my love then what a good thing for us each day to think of that to get up in the morning. And that's what Jude means when he says keep yourselves in the love of God. Now that is.
When you when you sort of keep yourselves in the love of God, it's just like keeping in the sunshine.
You say to a child keeping the sunshine, it's warm, and that's really what Jude is saying in a cold world, to keep in the sunshine of his love.
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And now the next verse says, If you keep my my commandments, notice ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
And notice my commandments.
That is, when there is something in the Word of God that might seem a little difficult, we can ask our hearts who is it that asked us to do this?
The place where I work sometimes worked, where I used to work. Sometimes I was asked to do a certain thing and someone came along want me to do something different? And I said if I can. And they said, well, who asked you to do that? And if I said it was my boss, well, that settled it because I was told to do it by him. And so, you know, when we hesitate to do something, let's think of this, brethren, it's the person who came down and died at.
For us, the one who's going to share his home with us forever, the one who has given us his peace and his love, and he asks us to do something. So it's keeping his commandments.
James talks about it too as the law of liberty. The reason he talks about it that way is because God gave us a new life when He saved us, and the new life delights in pleasing God. As you may have heard me say, the Lord will never ask you as a Christian to do anything that the new life doesn't delight in doing. He's given you a life that delights in obedience.
And when he tells you what he wants you to do?
It's because He has given you a life that wants to please Him.
Perhaps a birthday is coming along.
And you want to know what to give to somebody. And a person makes a suggestion. Well, it isn't a command. It's it's something that they asked for and you find pleasure in doing it. But it does become a command to your heart. You say, I must get that because I know that's just what they want. And so you feel it is a command, but in reality, they didn't come and command you.
And for myself, brethren, I believe that the Lord's words.
And his sayings and his commandments are all the same to me. They're just different ways of expressing the same thing.
And that is when David said all that I had a drink of the waters that were the gate at Bethlehem. He didn't command those men to go and get a drink for him. It's just a little saying, a few words that he uttered. But they came, became a command to their hearts. They risked their lives to get that water for him, and he numbers them among his mighty men.
And so when you and I hesitate and say, do I have to do it, just think of who it is that asked us to do it. And then he says, if you keep my commandments, she shall abide in my love.
When you heard that person that you love very much tell you something that they would like, and then you go and get that thing and bring it to them, why, It just strengthens the bonds of love. They say, Oh, you, you heard me say that. I'm so glad you got that for me. And there's a sort of a mutual feeling that just draws you together. We don't abide in His love sometimes because we don't listen.
We don't have sufficient desires.
To do His will. But he says, If you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love. It's not that his love changes, but that we are enjoying this. Shall I say this? The relationship in which we stand, this bond of love that unites us, We enjoy it when we walk in obedience. The disobedient child doesn't enjoy what's in his parents heart.
An obedient child finds out how much the father and mother love him, what they want to do.
For him the pleasure it gives them to do things for them, but self will doesn't change the parents heart, but it changes the enjoyment of it in the child's heart. And so this is what the Lord is Speaking of. It says, if you keep my commandments, she shall abide in my love, even as I kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. Lord Jesus was the perfect example of obedience in this world.
And if you and I are not enjoying.
His love, Perhaps we could ask ourselves, is there some area in our lives, some something in our lives where we're not fully submitted to His will, where we've allowed something that we know is displeasing to Him and that hinders the enjoyment of His love? We don't abide in His love. So it's my commandments. And then the 11TH verse.
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He says these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full? We spoke a little of this at the beginning, that my joy might remain in you. That is, the Lord found His joy in those disciples, and He wanted them to walk in the enjoyment of Himself and of His love toward them. He wanted them to be happy in other.
Words and the Lord wants us as Christians to be happy. Paul said Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say rejoice.
We spoke a few moments ago about the Lord in that time when He was rejected by those cities, saying Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. I didn't turn to the passage, but it's in Luke 10 and you'll see there that it says in that hour, Jesus, rejoice in spirit.
It's an interesting thing that that's the only time that we read about the Lord rejoicing in His pathway. Characteristically, He was the Man of Sorrows.
Says he's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And at such a time when he was rejected by those very cities where he had done those wonderful works, how could that be a time to rejoice in spirit?
Well, he tells us why. He says Even so, Father. So there was not only a peace in that circumstance, but there was an actual joy. I believe it's the same joy that's spoken of in Hebrews 12, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the the right hand of the majesty on high. Perhaps a little illustration I'll serve to help us to understand.
About this joy when things seem difficult, supposing that somebody gives somebody that I love very, very much gives me a job to do. It's a real difficult job. It's something that's hard to do. But after it's all finished and I bring it to them to show the results of my work, and they say, oh, I never thought it would be as nice as that. You don't know how pleased I am with it. You know, I say, well.
Is worthwhile. All the effort was worthwhile. And I was finding joy in doing it because I was just thinking of the time when their face would radiate when they saw it. You've done that. Sometimes you've done something for a friend and you just look forward to the time when their face would radiate. Somebody says it's not a lot of work. Oh, when I show up to them, I just know how they're going to feel. And so there is a joy, brethren, even in a path of sorrow here in this world.
When those martyrs that lay down their.
Life for Christ could go to the stakes. Singing. Was it hot? Was it easy? No, it wasn't easy to face the lions or to be burned at the stake, but it was the joy that they were going home and they knew what it was going to be. To be in the presence of the Lord and here, in some little measure, is well done.
And Brother Joy isn't always getting a raise in our pay or getting some new furniture or something like that.
Far deeper joy than that, and that is the joy in life of doing the will of God. And sometimes perhaps even a little more joy when it's hard, when it's difficult, when somebody says something mean and unkind and the Lord gives you the grace to return a kindness. There's a feeling inside of a joy that the Lord helps you to get above it. You know, if you don't, the Bible says when we don't forgive.
We're delivered to the tormentors, not the person that did the means thing.
But the person that didn't forgive?
And I don't forgive somebody. I'm the one that's tormented. I'm the one.
You know, there's a joy even in showing forgiveness to somebody that was mean to you. There's joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 Sinner that repenteth, sinners that perhaps cursed and swore and blasphemy the name of the Savior, and yet heaven's rejoicing because they'd come back in repentance to be blessed.
So how good it is, there is a joy then, even when the path is difficult. And the Lord can give us that joy. He said that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. If you do something hard for the Lord and you know its obedience to His Word. You'd be surprised the joy He'll give you in your heart. Somebody's mean and you show the Spirit of Christ. You'd be surprised the joy He'll give you down in your heart.
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That he helps you to forgive that person.
And oh, how good it is. There is that joy. The Savior experienced that a lot of characteristically, I say he was the Man of Sorrows. His life was not an easy one, but he had a joy set before him.
And then it goes on to say in this.
15th verse Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
This. It doesn't exactly use the word my here, but I believe it's implied it says that in the 14th verse. It says ye are my friends.
And then it says He's called us friends, because all things that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you.
You know.
We we often sing that little hymn what a friend we have in Jesus, and I think we all enjoy that hymn as we think that we have such a wonderful friend in the Lord Jesus. But this is something more.
It's marvelous to me that I can say that the Lord Jesus is my friend, but it's far, far more marvelous to hear the Lord look at me and say you're my friend.
Oh, this is this is wonderful. This is something beyond compare that the Lord of Glory says, I have a friend down in Hamilton and you're his friend. That's what he's saying. Ye are my friends. And so he wants us to enjoy this. And he says all things that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you.
A friend, in a natural sense, is a person that you can pour out your heart to. There's not very many that you really feel free to do that.
Because you say they're they're not close enough. I'm afraid. I don't know whether they understand. And I don't know whether they'd really be true. They might change. Maybe they're true today, but maybe they might change. I'm afraid to pour up my heart. But here is a person who says that he calls me his friend. And he says you can just come and tell me all that's in your heart. You can pour out your heart before me. And more than this, he says.
And I'll tell you my plans.
I'll tell you my plans have often said that Christian is the only person who has an intelligent outlook on what's going on in the world.
Great statesman don't know. They don't understand what's happening. They see events passing before their eyes, but they don't know what they all mean. But here we are, shall I say, insignificant nobodies. And yet the creator of this universe, the Lord of glory, says, I'm going to tell you what I'm doing in this world. You just watch events take place through the world over in Israel, in this land and everything. You don't need to be disturbed because I've told you they're going to take place. They're going to happen, he said.
You're my friend. I'm telling you so that you could realize that I love you and I'm making these things known. Isn't it wonderful to be able to face the future in this way that he says You're my friend. I'll tell you it's true. He doesn't tell us the day or the hour.
But he tells us, he tells us they tend to come again. He tells us what is going to happen in this world. He tells us right on through the whole scene, right until there's a new heaven and a new earth, and outlines everything in detail for us without setting all the dates. And we can easily see his wisdom in that, because the Lord intended that the hope of his return would be a present hope at all times in the church period.
He wanted the apostle Paul to be looking for the Lord's coming.
He wanted Mr. Darby and those who lived in his day to be looking for the Lord's coming. He wanted my father to be looking for it, and He wants me to be looking for it. And so he put it in His word in such a way that it would be a present hope. And so he has given it to us as our present hope. But my verse in connection with that is that verse in First Thessalonians 5 that says.
The Lord, direct your hearts into the love of God.
And into the patient waiting for Christ. I guess it's in Second Thessalonians. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God. And into the patient waiting for Christ. The new translation is the patience of the Christ. Why didn't the Lord come? And the apostles days? Well, He's waited in patience. Aren't you glad he waited for you?
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And so he says, I've been patient. You be patient too. If things are getting worse, you will know that it's getting near. But don't start setting dates because you don't know how great my patience is. And so he waits, and he's still waiting. And he wants our hearts to be in communion with him. Did you ever notice the church never says?
Ask the Lord to come quickly. He says behold, I come quickly. But the church never asked him to come quickly. The only instance that comes close to it is when he said, behold, I come quickly. And then John responds and says, Even so, come Lord Jesus.
For many years I used to travel alone and.
And I never remember getting for a letter from my wife asked me to come home quickly. But whenever I told her when I was coming home, I got the response. And so she was in harmony as I tried to serve the Lord. And so she never asked me to leave the Lord's work to come home quickly. But when I spoke of it, then her heart responded. And we ought to be in fellowship with what the Lord is doing in this world.
He's working, he's saving souls. He's gathering them to his precious name. And he says, I want you to be in harmony with my work. When I tell you I'm coming quickly, I like to see your heart respond. And so our hearts do respond. But he's called us his friends. He's told us that he's made all these things known to us.
And in the 16th verse he says, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
And there were danger that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
That whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Well, this one in the 16th verse, perhaps we could say, well the word Maya is not here. Perhaps we could say the Lord is telling them you're my choice.
I've heard young people say to me, but out of our class, there were 35 in our class and I was chosen. And I feel quite honored that not a class of 35, I was chosen. But other than millions of this world, I don't know why the Lord chose me. Do you know? Do you know why he chose you? I don't think we'll ever know, but he wants us to know that we are his choice, that he actually out of this whole world picked us out.
And it's only his wondrous grace that he did.
And that's what Paul said to the Thessalonian believers. They were rejected by their countrymen. He said, knowing brethren through election of God says maybe your countrymen rejected you, but you can walk down the street of Thessalonica and say maybe my countrymen have rejected me. But the Lord of glory chose me to enter his palace, his home, and be in his company forever.
And so this is what he's telling us. It wasn't really.
From ourselves that it began, it began from his heart. He says He have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And sometimes when you feel that people are mean and reject you, just think, well one thing I know the Lord chose me and he wants me.
And he's not just saving me out of pity. He's saving me because he wants me to be there. And it says he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied There not be one person in heaven that he'll look at and say, I'm sorry I brought that person here. They were such a, they were such a failure in their pathway. No.
He'll see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied so in this lovely.
My choice and then the last in the 16th verse, my name. And he's placed his name upon us.
He says that he has put his name upon us. That's what he said. He turned to numbers, what he said to his people, Israel. I think it's the end of the 6th chapter, isn't it?
The 6th chapter in the 24th verse #6.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
Well, that was a wonderful thing for God's earthly people, but it's even more blessed for us. He's put his name upon us.
He says when we come to ask for something, we can come and ask in his name.
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We can be gathered to His name. His name is placed upon us in baptism, that blessed name, that name above every name. I don't like someone to use my name without asking me before they use my name for something. But isn't it wonderful that the Lord says, I put my name upon you, and you can bear my name in this world?
And that's why the Christian should be careful. Because James.
Says that worthy name by which ye are called. People talk about self esteem and things like this, but that isn't what Christianity teaches us. It's the person whose name we bear, and we should act worthy of that name by which ye are called so that it isn't something in ourselves, but when we think that we are in this world as those who bear the name of the Lord Jesus.
We tell people.
That that name is above every name for our salvation. People ask us, what church do you go to? We are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. How precious that name is, that name above every name. Well, He's put that name upon us, and he tells us when we come in prayer that we come and ask in His name, because the Father delights to honor his Son. Well, all these things are ours, brethren, and let me go.
Back to what we had at the that is the joy of the Lord is your strength. When you think that the Lord thinks that much of us and that he finds his delight and his pleasure in US and will for all eternity. When we think of all these things and he brings us into identification with himself in all these different things that we have looked at tonight. My peace, my joy, my home, all from himself.
Surely it ought to stir our hearts.
And give us strength to go on. Let's not let our hands hang down or our knees become feeble, because the end is drawing near. And He delights to have us in this world, in the enjoyment of what we mean to Him, and that we delight to be in His company.
Whatever, we could sing that him. I think it's 109. Jesus, that name is love.
Jesus our Lord. Jesus, all names above. Jesus our Lord, Thou, Lord, our own must be nothing that's good. Have we nothing apart from thee, Jesus our Lord?
Jesus name.
Jesus, Lord.