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.
Well, dear young people, it has been said that the deception of this world is of Satan. The perception of it and the overcoming of it are of God, and it's much important that he should understand from God, from God's Word, just what that great system in which we live really is. God speaks of it as the world, a vast system of things that has been built up by man in his alienation from God and with.
As it's God and Prince, and we see the beginnings of it here in the book of Genesis, it's wonderful that we have the Word of God which brings these things before us. Men spend millions of dollars in their attempt to try and find out something about how this world came into being. But for us, we accept in a simple way God's description.
About this in Genesis 1 it says by faith we understand.
That the world's were framed by the word of God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
But there is something that is immensely important to us, that it deserves our greatest consideration, and that is the system of things that is in this world built up by man and headed by Satan, who is the God and Prince of this world. And we have been born into a world like this. We see the vast physical creation around us. We see all these things.
The forces that God has set up in nature. But what a puzzle it is to man.
And the more men get of advancement in education, the more puzzled they become because they find themselves in the midst of this vast world and this system of things and have no understanding about what it's all about. They say, what is it all about? What is life on the earth for? Isn't it wonderful, friends, that God has not only told us about creation, but that he has informed us in his Word about this world? How the great.
Things about us had its beginnings. And he has also not only told us how we can overcome in the midst of a world like this, but He has actually given us a power by which we can overcome. And more than this and better than this, he has given us the hope beyond this world. And so that we we see two different cities brought before us in Genesis. One, the first city, and with that city that was built by Cain and his posterity, the beginning of the world.
System in its departure from God, in the In the last one, in the last book of the Bible, we have another city brought before us, the heavenly Jerusalem, that holy city, that place where there's no more sickness, nor sorrow, nor crying or pain, that glad and glorious future that is before the redeemed. And wouldn't men rejoice if they could have the assurance of these things in their hearts?
Oh, how many men there are who?
Say to a simple believer, all I wish I had your faith, I wish I had your faith. Man is struggling in the vast uncertainty that he has created himself because of his unbelief. But the Christian who has believed what God says does not remain in uncertainty. He lives in realities. He lives in divine assurances because he has a message from God.
And this I want to bring before you, dear young people today.
Because I know as you start out to school and as you advance in school, you will not receive this kind of wisdom from man. You may find yourself prepared for certain walks of life, but you will not find that wisdom that will enable you to overcome in the midst of a world that has been set up by Satan in man's alienation from God.
And as it tells us in Luke Chapter 11, it says that this world is Satan's palace.
And we see the beginnings of it here, and I'd like to look a little bit about how it began in the 4th chapter of Genesis.
I won't go into detail the sad story about Adam's sin and how he was first driven out of the garden and then how Cain killed his brother. So we see not only man's disobedience in Adam and Eve, but we see violence in Cain, and then we see the beginning of man's religion. That is, Cain attempted to approach God by works of his own.
And so in the system of things that is built up in this world, in man's departure from God, there is religion. Don't be surprised when you read about the various religions of the world and that there is a very great similarity to the truth of God, because Satan's great attempt is to take what is of God and pervert it and spoil it. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden and gave them all those good things.
00:05:19
Then Satan's attempt was to.
Take something that God had even placed there, and bring misery and sorrow upon man by the very thing that God had placed there to test their obedience. And Satan's attempt is always to pervert what is of God, to spoil it. And so the various religions of the world have been the result of man's departure from God.
And as he departed further and further from God, he brought in more and more of his own imaginations, but it was mingled with that which God himself had given to man of some true knowledge about how to approach him.
And so Cain's city began first by Cain's religion. He had a religion, a way of approach that he had begun himself, by which he felt capable of coming into the presence of the holy God without raising the question of his guilt before him. Oh, what a solemn thing this was. And so we find here that Cain approached God by the works of his own hand.
And you'll always notice in false religion two things.
There's a lack of the true knowledge of God, and there is that which exalts man. You'll you'll find in every false religion those two things. There is not a true knowledge of God. Either man is blinded to the fact that God is light or that God is love, or both. And then secondly, his whole system of religion is something that exalts him and makes a great man out of himself.
Whereas in the truth of God, God has made himself known.
He has revealed himself. We wouldn't find this by searching. It is by God's own revelation. And secondly, that our way of approaching to His presence is that which brings us down and exalts him. It brings us down as guilty. And so Abel put between himself and God the death of a sacrifice. He said I deserve to die. And he presented this sacrifice to come between him and God and this name.
Everything of God's provision, nothing of himself and thought is with the truth of God. God is exalted, the Lord Jesus is honored, and man is put in his right place. Well, Cain's religion was the opposite. He had no true knowledge of God, and he was filled with his own importance, bringing works of his own hands, and then violence accompanied it when he.
Saw that God would not accept what he offered. Then he killed his brother.
And then the next step, he went out from the presence of the Lord. Why did he go out from the presence of the Lord? Well, first, because he didn't want the presence of the Lord, and secondly, because he was driven out from God's presence of guilty, and God set a mark upon him lest anyone finding him should slay him. That is, he went out with a sentence of judgment hanging over his head.
And this is the condition of this world.
Judgment hangs over it. Well, what did Cain attempt to do then? Well, he attempted, while judgment was hanging over him, to make the best of things in this world. He was going to use everything that was within his reach to make this world a happy place for himself. We might illustrate it like this, as though a father should send his boy to his bedroom because he had been naughty and tell him he must stay there for an hour as punishment.
For something he has done.
As soon as the boy gets into the bedroom, he makes up his mind that he is going to make that hour as pleasant as he possibly can. And so he gets all his toys, he gets everything together he can think of. And this bedroom, which was intended to be a place of punishment, he just fills it with everything that he can think of to make him forget the punishment and to have a really good time.
And then his father comes in and about 1/2 an hour he expects to see some repentance and the boy, and he's just occupied with his own son. He says, Daddy, I'm having a grand time here. I don't care whether I come down again or not. This is the world, friends, young people, this is the world. Man has turned his back upon God and he is busy building a city and filling it with everything he possibly can to make himself happy in his alienation.
From God.
Cain, a guilty man under the penalty of God's punishment that he was going to be judged for what he had done in killing his brother. He goes out now and he builds a city. He builds a city. And you may be struck in reading about the posterity of Cain and the end of this 4th chapter, to notice that it doesn't say anything about death at all.
00:10:24
Death wasn't in their calculations. Life was in their calculations. Man likes to hide death. The newer and better cemeteries, as people call them, are ones where there are no tombstones, where there's music, where there's flowers, where death is hidden. Man doesn't want to face realities. He doesn't want to think of death. And so as Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, his idea was life in this earth, away from God, to make himself.
And contented as he could away from God. You must be struck in reading the next chapter in the line of faith to see that it says and he died and he died and he died because the people that are described in the next chapter weren't ones that were trying to make the world a happy place away from God. No Enos called upon the name of the Lord. Enoch walked with God and was not because God took him.
Noah build an ark to the saving of his.
His house. These men were not ones who were occupied with making themselves happy away from God. They were ones who were walking through this world, if you like. They were in it, but not of it. And this we see an entirely different family brought before us in the next chapter. But in this chapter we find those who are building up this great world system.
So we find first of all Cain's religion. We find, secondly, where Cain's city was built. It was out from the presence of the Lord. And then the next thing we find in the 19th verse. And Lamech took unto him two wives. Here we find a departure from that order which God had established, because God only made one partner for Adam. But now?
The Lamech is going to try and indulge in indulge.
Himself and have a good time along those lines as well.
If if one wife would give some happiness, then two would give more. And isn't this the world? Isn't this the system of things that we see? Man is out for his own happiness. He's out to indulge himself. He's out to do anything. And those boys and girls, you go to school with those young people, isn't this what they have before them? It's to get the most out of life and.
If they can do things that they think will bring them more happiness, the question of whether it's morally right before God does not concern them too much. It's to have a good time. So here in Cain's world, we see the first step away from God's order in connection with marriage. We find that this man took two wives. He was going to indulge himself and make himself happy in this world.
System of things that was now being built.
Up. And doesn't it correspond to the world that we find ourselves living in today? Indeed we do.
Well, then the next thing we find that this man Lamech had a very distinguished family. Notice what it says. It says in the 20th verse and Ada Bare Jabel, he was the father of such as dwelling tents and of such as have cattle. Well, this was the beginning of the business world. Now I'm not saying this.
To condemn the business world and I expect that the families.
The of those described in the following chapter perhaps came into Cain's City and did business. But I say they were not part of it. I say they perhaps did business there. They no doubt sold cattle back and forth, but they were not part of that vast system. And we all have to conduct our business in this world. We must earn a living. But are we in business to make great men of ourselves in this world, to surround ourselves with everything?
To make ourselves happy? Or is our thought merely to go on through this world of providing things, honest in the sight of all men, providing for our families, but our real thought that we belong to another scene? Well, we see in the next chapter of that family who lived in this world but were not of it. We'll speak a little of this as we think of the other scriptures, but here we find.
00:15:01
In Cain's world, the beginning of the business world, and you young people, I know you have to go and work in this business world. You have to do with it. And Saul, you find that Satan as the God and Prince of this world. And I'm sure people in business, you can see how their whole thought is to make the best of things for themselves.
And this was the place that was being building up.
By Cain's descendants.
Then the 21St verse, and his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. Well, I believe here we have the world of entertainment, and so if this city was going to be a pleasant place to live, why it must be filled with all that sort of thing that would entertain.
As we have in job, they handle the harp.
Their children dance and the wicked have families like a flock. And so here we find this was introduced into Cain's world. Now I'm not speaking against the music, and I don't believe that's the thought in the passage here, because we find afterwards that in its proper place it was given a place in the Word of God. But I speak of the use that is given to it in the world, the world system, the bringing of it here.
Into this city of Cain, and don't we see much of this? And I suppose we could say that as we get nearer the end, Satan fixes his palace up a little better. There was a time when business wasn't done on such a big scale. But today, when you find mixed yourself, mixed up in the business world, why, it's just one vast drive.
Satan has it all built up in such a way that I'm sure you dear young people in trying to choose a line of work, you say how can I get into some occupation where I don't find myself in this great drive that is in the business world today. As one brother said to me, he was working for a large company and he said one of their head men came and talked to the younger part of the staff and said if you're going to make.
In this company you have to eat. And he mentioned the name of the company. He said you have to eat and you have to drink and you have to live for this company. You have to be all together out for it if you're going to get anywhere. This this is that part of Cain's world that is set before us. And what about entertainment? Well, there used to be a time when people had a little bit of entertainment, but now?
Everybody's got to have the very best of entertainment.
In their own home now this is the way the enemy has succeeded. The world must be entertained. People must have the very best, and when one thing has.
Sort of outlived its time. Then something new is brought in with a little better entertainment, better instruments, better, better sets of all kinds to try and improve the conditions and to entertain the world. And haven't you found it so Well, this was all introduced here into Cain's world, this system, this city that was out from the presence of the Lord, and then the next one.
It says I'm Zillah. She also bear Tubal Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Well, perhaps we could call this the world of science and education. That is, this man was an instructor. He taught people and they were finding out how to make better things in brass and iron. And so I say again, we have.
The Scientific.
The business world and we find that this too is advancing in these last days and saw that we find ourselves in the midst of this condition of things in the world.
And I know, dear young people, that you're faced with a very real problem. And I don't want to minimize the problem. And I feel that we who are older find it very difficult to give you the help that we'd like to in connection with what you have to face today, because it's a different world that you're facing because things are developed to a much greater degree than they were perhaps even 25 years ago.
And you find yourself in the midst of this, and you say, how far?
Where are we to go? How far do we go along with it? And it's impossible for us to say just what the Lord has for each one of you to do. But what I'd like to bring before you this afternoon is not to lay down some rule and to say how far you can go in the business world or how far you can enjoy in a in a proper way.
00:20:22
The music that the world has, nor to say how far you can go in the world.
World of education and science, but to help you to see your place in it. And so that you would not be living for this world, that your sights would be set at a proper level and that you would be kept from the great onward movement of things in this world as it hastens on to destruction. Because I believe that it's a principle in God's ways, as our brother remarked this morning.
That God never allows things to smolder out.
He allows men to go on when they built the Tower of Babel, God allowed them to go to a tremendous.
Space of advancement before he came down and stopped them. In the time of Noah. He allowed the world to be filled with men of renown. He allowed the world to make great advances before he came and judged. And if we're left here, we're going to see these things become more and more pronounced.
And I am sure that we who are Christians are going to find it more difficult. But I say again, I want to bring before you the fact that the Lord Jesus is your Savior, that He was rejected and cast out in this world. And if the company that you work for requires that you take a little extra course, why you may have to take it. But all may the Lord help you to have a proper perspectives in your life that He may help you.
To have the Lord Jesus and not this world as the object before you. Satan is glittering, putting glittering lights in front of you constantly, because this is Satan's palace. This is Satan's palace, and he has it all fixed up. And he wants you to find the place somewhere in these three great worlds, or perhaps these three great spheres of the vast world system.
He wants you to be part of the great push in business, or part of the great entertainment world or part of the educational world. He wants you to have some place in connection with this. And the question is, can you be in the world but not of it? Well, the Lord Jesus said we could. He said, I pray not that thou should have take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.
I'm not suggesting that you go and build a Hut on the mountainside and live as a hermit.
Nor does the Lord Jesus say that he suggested that this was the way his disciples should do. But He did pray in that blessed prayer in the Sabbath, that His own would be in this world, but not of it. That they would realize that they didn't belong to it any more than He belonged to it, but they were not part of it any more than He Himself was, but that they were just going through it.
Well, here we find more about this city of Lamech, of Cain's world.
It says, Lamech said unto his wives, Adam, Zillah, hear my voice. Ye wives of Lanik, hearken unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
If Cain shall be Avenged Sevenfold truly. Lamech 70 and sevenfold.
Well, what a city this was.
Here we find false religion, we find a man takes 2 wives, we find the founding of the great things that characterize the world. We find murder in this city. And then we find this man so unhappy, so uneasy because he said, well, if Cain is going to be Avenged Sevenfold.
Truly Lamech, 70 and sevenfold.
And dear young people, I want to tell you, and you already realize this, that this world, in spite of its all its advancement, it has a terrible fear hanging over it. It's impossible for man to get rid of his conscience. He knows that he has sinned against God. He may try to.
Put it aside. He may sear it, He may do all kinds of things, He may try to shut God out of his own universe. But man can never, never get rid of the fact that that judgment hangs over this world. And the greatest and wisest man in this world are living in terror, as our brother remarked this morning of what is going to come. How is civilization going to be wiped out? What is going to happen? And why is it well, they know what the heart of man.
00:25:15
Is basically, they know that it's bad and they know that all it requires is something to cause a flare up and they don't know what will happen. And this was Cain's world. This was Cain's city. It's highly developed today. It's made great advances, but it's the same thing. And here is its beginning. And God tells us about it in his Word.
Now let us turn over to that passage we looked at in.
Luke, Chapter 11.
Verse 21.
When a strongman armed, keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.
Well, I remark again, this strongman armed is Satan.
And this world is Satan's palace.
And His goods are the unsaved. And what he is trying to do is to keep the unsaved from thinking about coming judgment. His attempt is to keep them in peace. And you will find that as soon as you go to talk to unsaved people, immediately what bothers them is that you are disturbing their peace. Disturbing their peace. They don't like anything that makes the uneasy and makes them think about judgment they don't like.
To be made.
Realize that they are guilty before God. And so Satan's attempt, I say, is to fill this world with all kinds of things that will shut out God and thoughts of God and man's responsibility to God out of the mind of man.
And this is the world, and don't be surprised if it becomes more beautiful. The work of a man who's building a palace is to have it better than anything else. The great ancient kings, their whole idea was that their palace should be the ground, this place in the whole Kingdom, that it would be better than the House of any other person in the Kingdom. It was a reflection on the ability of the king if some of his subjects had a better place than himself.
Satan, who has been given a certain place in this world, allowed of God because of them.
He is a leading man on and this world is becoming a better palace. It's got better entertainment, it's got better education, it's got Better Business. It's got better ways of having a good time than it ever did before. It's Satan's palace. But all young people. There is a stronger than Satan has come. There is a stronger than Satan has come.
Yes, it says when are stronger than he cometh upon him.
Them and overcome him he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted and divideth his spoils all we have good news. The Lord Jesus came into this world it says in John 1. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. There's one who came into this world. There was one who was more than a match for Satan, there was one who.
Couldn't meet him in all his fury. There was one who could upset his whole world, and that was the Lord Jesus. And he came into this world and it says he takes from him all his armor. For him he trusted and all. We always rejoice when we find someone who realizes that Satan's world isn't such a wonderful place after all.
When they begin to see that this great system of things is only a thing that is temporarily allowed of God, and that there is One who has come in and who has come into this very world where Satan is its God and Prince, and that blessed Savior came to defeat the power of Satan. And as it tells us in Hebrews 2.
That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.
That is the devil and deliver them who through fear of death for all their lifetimes, subject to *******. Yes, the Lord Jesus has come into this world. He has met Satan at the cross. He has defeated him. And I'm happy to be able to say this afternoon that Satan is a defeated foe and we're on the side of the one who has overcome.
00:30:05
For on his side, we belong to him.
And it says He takes all his armor and he trusted. And so we can say that all Satan's power has been defeated. The Christian has been delivered by being brought into possession of something better. And you, dear young people who are saved, this world may look very bright and glorious, but you have something infinitely better.
And there isn't a Christian young person here this afternoon who isn't.
Who is really enjoying the Lord? But what the world envies what you have, they envy what you have. And if they don't envy what I have, it's because they don't see what I really have in Christ. If they find me seeking after the world, they'll never envy what I have because they'll say well.
He's not happy. He's after the same things we are. But all when they see that we have something that's better, something that satisfies the heart, they know that they don't have what satisfies. They know they're just like Lamech. What a fine, distinguished family he had.
He might have said, oh, what a family I have, look at the distinguishment, look at the honors that my family have attained, but all was he able to enjoy that?
Now he realized that judgment hungover him, and this made him afraid. This made him afraid. And the world, with all its boasting, faces the future with uncertainty. It knows that it doesn't have what satisfies. It's a world of sorrow and crying and pain. And how often when the world unmasks, when it takes away that mass, you see that there's a skeleton in the cupboard.
They're not happy. They long for something that satisfies.
You and I have a dear young people. We have it, we have it. And it says he takes his armor and he divides the spoil.
Who does this world really belong to?
And the Expo says man in his world, but the Bible says the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. And you and I, dear Christian, are going to enjoy it in its fullness with Christ.
The Lord we were Speaking of that day, this morning, that coming time, the day of the Lord when he reigns as universal Lord, when he takes his great power. And oh, I am sure that when you and I see the marvels and wonders of that scene, we'll think, why did we ever consider this world so beautiful in its present, fixed upstate by man?
Oh, what future? What what a future awaits the Christians.
It says that the Lord is going to divide the spoil, and you and I are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs with Christ.
Well, now the Lord has defeated Satan, and in that lovely prayer which we mentioned before in the 17th of John, he says.
In the 13th verse. And now come I to thee. And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Dear young people, do you think the Lord wants to rob you of happiness?
Do you think that if He is telling you what this world is, He's helping you to perceive its true character, that He's doing it because He wants to rob you? Oh no, the Lord Jesus said to his own that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
The Lord wants your joy and mind to be full. He doesn't want us to be disappointed, frustrated believers. He wants us to have found in Him and to continually find in Him a source of joy and refreshment and strength to overcome.
That will keep us as we go through a world like this. And so he wanted his joy to be fulfilled in them. And then he says, I've given them thy word.
It's this blessed book that gives us what we need for our pathway. As we read it and meditate upon it, we find such a wonderful portion, but we find that the opposition of the world.
Well then, when we find the opposition of the world, we'd sort of like to get out of it, wouldn't we, while we're going to get out of it when the Lord comes. But here he says, I pray not that thou should have take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Now undoubtedly we who are parents do all we possibly can to protect our children from those influences of the world while we can, but there comes a time when they must face what this world is.
00:35:20
When they have to see it in its true colors, and it tells us here, I pray not that thou should have take them out of the world. And so we have to go through this world. We have to earn our living here. We have to meet it. And I have no doubt, as I said, that those who are mentioned in the 5th chapter of Genesis did business with those who are mentioned in the 4th chapter of Genesis. I haven't any doubt. And it's possible that some of them learned a great deal about.
And iron from those who lived there, but they were still not part of it. They were still not part of it. And dear young people, that's what I desire for you. That's what I desire for myself. I find a continual danger, and I find it more so as we can get better cars, better homes, better things. I find how easily these things tend to get a grip upon our hearts. And we don't realize it, but God would have us to.
The true character of this world and that we're in it, but we're on the ambassadors here. We don't belong to it. We're not of the world. Even as the Lord Jesus was not of the world, He didn't belong to it. He came into it, into Satan's palace. He rode in a boat, He went about among men, but he didn't. He didn't form part of the world system. He defeated its Prince at the cross and he has set us free. We belong to him.
And now let us look again at that in the Epistle of John.
Where we read.
The first Epistle of John.
And.
14th Verse. In the middle of the verse I have written unto you, young man, because ye are strong.
And the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Now the Lord Jesus has not only overcome Satan's power, but He has given to us a power by which we too can overcome. Don't say the world's too strong for me. It's not too strong for you. If you're walking in dependence upon the Lord, if you're feeding upon His Word, it's not too strong. You have the one who is greater. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You and I have the power.
Because we have Christ, but if we neglect the word, it'll be just like a soldier and he is given the best sword available, but he puts it down and he says, I can't face the battle. You'd say, pick up your sword, man, pick up your sword. And so here it says.
I write, he says, you are strong and the word of God abideth in you. Have we been neglecting the word of God in our private life? Does it have its authority over our lives? Do we tremble at it? Is it the food upon which we feed? All this is a challenging question for us, dear young people. We may say, well, everybody's doing it. All young people do it. I didn't ask you that, I said, is the word.
God abiding in you is the Word of God abiding in you. Make the Lord Jesus your guide. Go to his word. You'll never be strong unless you have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, where you'll be able to overcome in the conflict. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Satan is the one who holds this world and.
Trying to deceive your heart and mind through it. Well, it says about these ones, young men, you're strong, you've overcome because the word of God abides in you. Oh, may I suggest that you read it until you know it well, until when problems arise.
Those verses arise in your mind at the same time when someone says, will you do this? Will you go here?
What are you going to do when you leave school that those verses in God's Word that have to do with your pathway come up as second nature in your mind? Why, when you're driving a car you don't say to yourself, oh, I must put my foot on the brake. You do it unconsciously. Why? Well, it's your habit. You have done it 100 times during the day before and thought it was no unusual thing when the difficulty came to put your foot quickly on the brake.
00:40:05
It's second nature, and the only way it can be second nature to us to use the word of God is to let it, let it dwell in US richly in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Oh, you say, I wish I had a knowledge of the Word. Yes, you might wish you had a driver's license, but you have to get it and you have to be diligent in using it. And dear young people.
Are you and I valuing the privilege that we have?
If Satan is, If Satan is more busy in this world today than he ever was.
We are wonderfully blessed.
There never was a generation before. I speak in a larger sense of the generation. There never was a time before, perhaps I should say, when the Word of God was so available. Here are perhaps 600 or 700 people and every one of us have a Bible on our knee. This wasn't so in the past. If the devil is busy and he's filling the world with all kinds of things to take us away from the Lord, it's not hard to get a Bible.
Not hard to have it on your knee, It's not hard to have it in your bedroom. It's not hard to find a few minutes to read it. Even the law of the devil may say that you haven't the time for it. No, if Satan is busy.
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Well, how lovely this is. And it says love, not the world.
Love not the world. What does this mean? Well, your heart is not to be taken up with the world system. That is, the Christian goes through this world. He accepts the things that God gives. We enjoyed our food today at lunch. We enjoy the comforts that we have. It's right that we should accept these things from God. We can be thankful that he has provided such things.
But our hearts are not to be set upon this scene.
It says this whole scene.
Has been arranged as that which appeals to the lusts of man. Whereas for the Christian, he has a new thing before him. He has a home above and he is just going through this world. And what he what he possesses in this world, it's not as his own. He's just going through. And so I'm not saying that you have to.
Sit on a hard seat or that you have to do something very difficult.
I say that God and His goodness allows us to have many things, but where are our hearts, dear young people? Where are our hearts? Can we say our hearts by Thee are set on brighter things above? Strange that we ever should forget thine own most faithful love. Oh, I want to ask your heart and mind how many times through the week when everything.
Looks that is at its very best. Do our hearts turn from this scene and say, oh, I have something better in Christ. I have something better in Christ. Oh, that's what we have. Or you say when I'm in trouble, I always do that next time. You have the very best thing that this world can offer when you have your brightest day, when you got perhaps something new that you really wanted when you got your degree at school or something.
And you're just filled with that, say to yourself, this is not the best. I've something better in Christ. Oh dear young people, we have. We have. And that's where I want my heart by grace to be. And I want your heart to be there. The Lord wants it to be there. So let us just look for a few moments of this city here that's brought before us in Revelation 21.
It says here a new.
New heaven and a new earth that says, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men.
Oh, isn't this lovely? God himself is not going to be satisfied until He has your company in mind in a scene where there will be nothing but joy forever.
Is that better than the best that this world has? Is this world still look like a grand palace when we get a view of this heavenly glory that awaits us? This is what is ahead of us. This is the home to which we're traveling. And it says God himself shall be with them and be their God.
And it says there's no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.
We've been reminded even in these meetings, before we began the meetings, it was brought before us about people into whose family's death had come, into whose family's sorrow had come, into whose family's crying had come. But oh, we're going to something better place where there won't be any of those things.
00:45:17
And then it says in the fifth verse.
Right. For these words are true and faithful.
I'm sure we've all looked forward to something, we've set our hearts upon it and it didn't materialize, it didn't work out.
And when we got it all, it was such a disappointment. Hasn't it been so? Hasn't it happened over and over again? Life is just like that. Life is just like that down here. God intends it should be so. He says this is not your rest. It is polluted. But what I'm telling you about these words are true and faithful. There's no disappointment there, dear young people. There's no disappointment.
That's our home.
That's where we belong. We're passing through this world and we are just here in it, but not of it. Only the Lord deliver us from its glitter and from its tinsel.
And then this sixth verse. And he said unto me, It is done. I am alpha and almegether, beginning and the end I will give unto him, That is the thirst of the fountain, of the water of life.
Freely, He that overcometh shall inherit all things all. Dear young people, I just feel that words fail when I read a verse like this. Are you a thirst? Can you honestly say, up to this moment your life has been all that you expect it to be? That it's been it's been purely satisfaction, and that all that you dreamed has really come to be what you expected when you were a little bit younger?
When you were just about 13, you thought oh to be 16 will be 1.
Beautiful. When you became 16, you thought to be 20. Oh, that would be wonderful. And you find as you get on in life, the world is not what you expected it to be. It's a disappointment. Yes, there's a thirst in your heart right now. There's a thirst.
And the Lord Jesus says that he'll not only give you a drink, but he'll give you the fountain.
He'll give you the fountain.
You know, there's a fountain down the hall there. We can't carry it in our pockets. We can go there and get a drink, but I'm thirsty right now. But I can't carry it in my pocket.
My dear friends, dear young people, when you have Christ, you've got the fountain in here.
You've got the fountain in here. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
And it's not just partly for you. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. All things. Isn't this grand? God's not a partial giver. He's a large hearted giver. And he says it's all for you. I've prepared it for you. My heart won't be satisfied till you're there and can enjoy it fully. Satan says just a minute, just a minute. This world is a pretty grand place. Don't miss this. Don't miss that.
All dear young people.
May the Lord Jesus be more precious to our hearts. May that city that's above be compared in our minds with the cities through which we pass here. They live by. They'll disappoint in every one of them their sorrow and crying and pain. May the Lord Jesus give us not only to know that that future awaits us, but may He give us to have and enjoy the fountain in our hearts right now.
Right now, and I say if we do, the world will seem an empty place and the world that looks on will say all those people have something that we don't have. May the Lord grant that our hearts will be set on bright.