Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Well, I'd like to look at 5 different passages in the scriptures where we have young men brought before us in connection with various things of life. So the first one is in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, Ecclesiastes chapter 2, and verse one.
I said in mine heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure.
And behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth. What doeth it? I saw it in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men, that they might do under the heaven all the days of their life.
The ninth verse. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor.
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no prophet under the sun.
Well, here is the 1St, and evidently we would say that Solomon was a young man when he came to the throne.
We know that in Psalm that David, his father, reigned for 40 years, and Solomon was not born till some time after his father was reigning. So I would say that he was probably in his late 20s or early 30s at the very best. And here he has come to the throne in Jerusalem. He has the opportunity of discovering for himself everything that will bring happiness to a man.
Efforts to be found under the sun. Some of us might say, well, I'd like to try this or try that, but I don't have the possession to try it, nor do I have the money. I don't have the influence, so I'm restricted. But here was a man who was not restricted. Here was a man who had power because he was king in Jerusalem. Here was a man who had wisdom.
Because it says that he was wise above all that were before him.
Here was a man that had money, for he made silver and gold as the sands of the street, so he had everything that was necessary if it were possible for a man to find happiness under the sun.
And he didn't intend to go to the extreme in anything. He just intended to see what could be found out, to bring happiness without, as he thought, going to the extreme and making himself foolish. And dear young people, perhaps this is the quest that's in your mind, too. You feel? Well, I just like to try things out. This is a wonderful world, and we're living in a wonderful age. There's more within the.
Young people than ever were before. More things, more places to go and much more learning. Oh so much that you could reach out for. And this age in which you live is a very particularly tempting age. You can sit in your own home and see what's going on all over the world. Now, this isn't this is something that couldn't be done in times past. And so you say, why not?
Enjoy all these things and enjoy them to the full. Well, now, why did God allow Solomon to be in this position? Well, for the very reason for which I am speaking this afternoon.
And that is, he allowed this man to try everything so that he might, as it were, give us the results of his research, of his findings. This is a day when we hear a lot about research. People say, well, I did research on this.
I did research on that. Well, here was my new God raised up to do an extensive research to find out, and he tried what could be found under the sun and after he had tried everything to the fall and as he said.
His wisdom retained with him, that is, he sought to confine himself in the limits of wisdom, in what he did, and yet.
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Man, when he had tried it all, what was his observation? What was his finding? Well, his finding was as we were told in the 11TH verse. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on all the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, I was satisfied not at all. It didn't bring him what he expected.
And now, dear young people, as I look into your faces, I know.
And that you are seeking after something that will satisfy youth is always after something worthwhile in life. Always seeking. And this is only normal too, because when you're young, while you look out on life and you think there must be something worthwhile, and you feel that you must try each thing in order to find out whether it's worthwhile.
But this is the wonder of God's Word.
We have one who knows infinitely more than we do. We have one who is perfect in wisdom. His name is called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And there is one who looks down in this room this afternoon and is interested in you, and who knows all about what is in your mind and knows that you're really seeking for something that satisfies.
And he hasn't left you without.
Very finest and best of advice. He hasn't left you to the wisdom of man, because the wisdom of man is very varied. Some people command one thing, some another. Some people appalled one thing, another condemn that same thing. And So what are you going to do? You say even when I ask Christians, some people say this is all right and some Christians say it's not.
Well, dear young people.
I turn you to the word of God, and God has written a book for us. It's His Word, it's His wisdom, it's His light for our pathway. The entrance of thy word giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple. And to you, dear young people, I would say that to be brought up under the sound of God's word is the greatest privilege that you can have.
If you were brave, your teacher in school was the vast.
In the whole school, you would say, Well, I must say I have a great favor. I have the best teacher in the school. If you were going to college and you were studying a subject under the very, very Bash professor in the land, you would say I'm really favored. I'm studying under such and such a professor, and he's the high man in his field. Well, dear friend, you're studying under the one who is not just the high man, but he's God himself.
That blessed One who came down into this world and walked through this world was God manifest in the flesh, and you and I have the light and wisdom of His Word. I cannot command too highly to you the importance of reading God's Word until you become well acquainted with it. And as I have sometimes said to young people, read the stories of the Bible carefully. Read them so that they sink right.
You know what God has given, because God has written a story in His Word to suit every situation that you can ever meet in life. He has talked about men. He's not merely given you instruction, but He has put man in the history of this world in every position in which a person could be found. And in that position He has shown how they acted. He has shown us their mistakes. He has shown us what.
Had to reap for their mistakes. And he has also showed us how they were blessed when they vowed to the Word of God and to his wisdom and walked in obedience to Him. Oh, you say my situation is different from others. No, I say there's a story in the Bible that's suited for you. There is a story in the Bible that's suited for your office, for your home, for the assembly where you live. Every situation you could think of is portrayed in the Scriptures.
And in the Old Testament we have the picture, and in the New Testament we have the instruction. Did you ever buy a part for your car? And then you found that there was a little diagram how to put it on. And then there was some printed instruction too. And you looked at the diagram and you looked at the printed instruction, and you worked together with those two and you put the thing on properly.
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Well, your friend God's given you a picture, and he's given you the instruction. He's.
Written it all down. How thankful we should be. And so if there's someone here who is in exactly the same quest as Solomon, who is almost saying the very words, listen to what he said. He said to his own heart, I will prove thee with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure. Oh, you say that's just what I wanted. I didn't know the Bible told me to do that.
I'm here with the young man and he talked to himself and he said no, I'm just going to have a good time.
And I'm going to try everything that I can and I'm not going to go Polish in it, but I'm just going to try it. This is the one whom God gave this place and he tried. Of course, we have to remember it was under the sun. Don't forget those words. You'll never understand the book of Ecclesiastes unless you always bear in mind those 3 words under the sun. Under the sun.
He, he didn't.
He didn't bring in the the glorious knowledge that you and I have in Christianity, but he looked at things under the sun and just acted as a man might try things under the sun. And so these things under the sun did not bring satisfaction to his heart when he had tried them all, he said all his vanity.
Honest doesn't mean that God isn't interested in your happiness, nor does it mean that he's not interested in your material happiness.
I was very much struck in reading in the 12TH chapter of Luke, where it says that God clothed the Louis far better than he clothed Solomon, than Solomon was clothed in all his glory.
And that if God was so interested in the flower of the field, he's interested in us, and then he goes on. The Lord Jesus speaking in the 12TH of Luke said, But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. That is, don't seek pleasure and self satisfaction.
Seek the Lord, seek him.
And then he'll undertake with what you need in a natural way. He has interested in the places you go. He's interested in the clothes that you wear. He's interested in the house you live in and the car that you drive. He's interested in everything. But he doesn't want you to make this the object of your life. He doesn't want you to make that the thing that you seek after.
I've sometimes illustrated like this as supposing United States were going to.
Send an ambassador up to Canada. And when he was going to be sent, he said, well, I'm most interested in what kind of a car I'm going to have up there and what kind of a house I'm going to have and whether I'm going to have a good time in Canada. They'd probably say, well, you're, you're not a suited representative for us. But when he comes there, he's provided with a nice house he's provided with.
A nice car, but that's not his purpose. That's not what he's.
Therefore, that is merely provided in connection with the carrying out of his privilege of representing the United States and Canada. Well, dear friends, you and I are heavenly men. Every saved young person in this room this afternoon belongs to heaven and is a representative of heaven upon earth. You think God cares whether you're provided for? I'm quite sure United States cares very much whether they're ambassadors provided.
For in fact, it's their interest to see that he's properly provided for. But that isn't why he's in Canada. And you're not in this world, and I'm not in this world to seek pleasure. We're here to represent Christ. And so if this is what you're seeking after, dear young person, it's going to lead to disappointment if you have made the quest of your search pleasure and fun and mirth and laughter as he speaks of.
And perhaps great works and all these things, you are bound for disappointment. But if you make Christ the object of your search, by then he cares about the rest.
He cares about everything in your life. I love that verse, casting all your care upon him. And it doesn't end by saying because he's so mighty it could end that way. But why does it say casting all your care upon him? For he cares for you because he's interested in you. You can safely leave it to him. The protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he laid. He made that his own.
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Charge, it's his interest. Well, here was one who sought the wrong thing and when he had it all he had to say it was vanity and vexation of spirit and saw before I pass on to the next, may I say if there's any young person, perhaps you're not saved and you have nothing else to live for. You don't know the Lord Jesus. And so you say you're going to make the best of this life.
Well, I'm sorry for you because even if you did find.
Something that gave you a measure of pleasure in this life at the end. His judgment at the end is eternal banishment from God's presence. But I speak primarily to those who know the Lord Jesus. Oh, I beseech you, dear young people, don't seek after the things here. Not because God is not interested in your happiness, but because.
They seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. So here we find one.
In quest of pleasure and only to be disappointed.
Now I'd like you to turn to Mark.
And chapter 14 mark in chapter 14.
In verse 15. And they all forsook him and fled, and there followed him a certain young man having a lemon cloth cast about his naked body. And the young man laid hold on him, and he left a linen cloth, and fled from them naked.
Well, here's another young man. He certainly wasn't seeking after pleasure. He certainly wasn't in the same quest as the man that we read of in the book of Ecclesiastes. Here was a young man and you would say, well, this was a young man of character. Well, I have brought this young man before you for a particular purpose. Here we find in the 50th verse that all the disciples had forsaken Jesus and fled.
That is, the ones who had companyed with the Lord Jesus and who ought to have been very devoted to Him. Why are they turned out to be a disappointment? They didn't follow the Lord like they should, because at this point, at this very serious point in the test, have they all forsook him and fled. And soon this young man, with a natural zeal of youth, he decides that he is going.
According to shall I say?
Be a hero. He is going to stand out above all the rest. Now, dear young people, there can be a danger of this too. Sometimes when we're young, we look around and we see perhaps others, and they haven't gone on with the Lord the way they should, and we tend perhaps to set up ourselves and think we're not going to make the same mistakes.
They made we're going to go on, we're going to be this and we shall something of the Spirit that Peter said, though all should forsake thee, yet will not I and sometimes we see young people like this. It's lovely to see a desire for the Lord, But sometimes when we display this without realizing what we are ourselves without ever having got into the presence of God.
In a sense of our own nothingness, and we have to find out that we do not have the strength for the Christian life in ourselves. Or how many a young person I have seen who has started out well, has started out and you thought well, what a promising young person, and today they have turned out to be a disappointment.
And have heard older ones say well I don't understand.
And that young person seemed so promising, all dear young people, just as in the first case, the man, the man's heart was wrong. He was looking after the world for pleasure, and his heart was wrong instead of sending the Lord before him. And here is a young man who stands out, as it were. And I might say that linen in the Scripture is a figure of practical righteousness.
This one was going.
To be a little better than the rest. He was going to be one who, even if others all didn't do the right thing, He was going to be the hero. He was going to be the faithful one.
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All, we don't know our own hearts. How many, many times my dear father quoted to me that verse. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. We don't know what we would do. We're capable of doing anything. Oh, dear young people, don't trust your own heart. You may think I wouldn't do this. Some other person might be turned aside, but not me. I'm going to be faithful.
All we don't know our own hearts. This young man had the linen cloth cast about his naked body. I think of it sometimes. He had this outwardly, but what did he have underneath it? Nothing. Nothing. There was nothing underneath. And we can have something that's outward, but God's going to put us to the test about what we've got underneath.
Underneath that display, underneath that nice talk.
Underneath that.
Pretend the desire to follow the Lord is their reality. The priest was to have linen breeches about his lines. He was to have something underneath the robes and dear young people, it isn't enough now just to put on the outward. There needs to be something underneath that is there needs to be now that.
Self judgment in the presence of the Lord, that consciousness that we have no strength of our own, and that getting into His presence in quietness and acknowledging that we do not have the strength to meet the difficulties of life. And I would encourage you, dear young people, to get before the Lord. Don't try to be outwardly what you are not inwardly.
God wants reality. Man looketh on the outward.
Appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
If the Nazarite broke his inward devotedness to God, he wasn't even allowed to retain his long hair. Why? Because God didn't want him to maintain the outward when he didn't possess the inward, If he was touching what was unclean, if he was taking of the fruit of the vine, that is enjoying the pleasures of the world.
And that he wasn't to bear the outward sign of being something that he wasn't.
Inwardly and God said he was to cut off his hair and not make a display before others of something that was not real in his life. And I say to your young people, be real. Walk before God, walk in self judgment. The 2 great lessons of the wilderness are this and that. There is nothing good in us but that there is everything we need in Christ.
Yes, it is. We're slow to learn both. We're so slow to learn that there's nothing good enough.
Think of Moses, one whom God afterwards used so mightily, but when we find him going in an energy, he was going to set things right.
And when his brethren had a quarrel, he said, he our brethren, why are you strife one with another? Yes, he was going to set them right. He was going to kill the Egyptian. He he meant well, but he hadn't learned himself. And how long did it take him before God could use him? 40 years, 40 years in the backside of the desert. And when he came back, he wasn't a self confident man then.
No.
When he came out of Pharaoh's court, he was mighty in words and deeds.
But when he came back from the school of God, he said, I can't talk, I can't talk. And the Lord had to say, who made man's mouth? I'll teach you what to say, Moses. Yes. And dear young people, this is another experience that we sometimes have to go through. And what I am trying to say, if I can make it very simple, God doesn't want you to pretend to be something. He wants reality.
He wants not only that you put something on in front of your brethren.
To impress them. But what would give a joy to the heart of your blessed Savior is that He sees you when no one else sees you. In your bedroom, on your knees, reading His Word as it were, preparing the inward so that when you go and meet others, that the outward would be the expression of what was inward.
So when the young man made hold on this this boy.
Who had this and this linen garment? It says it was cast about his naked body. And when someone went to grab him, he lost the linen cloth and he fled. He had nothing underneath. And there's a test going to come in your life. There's a test going to come in mine. And what is the task going to be? Whether what we pretend to be outwardly is real with us. Inwardly. Somebody is going to lay hold on us. Some unexpected attack is going to come.
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Someone is going to rise.
And say or do something and it's going to catch us off guard. And if we have nothing inward, when the outward's gone, we'll flee. We'll run. Because it hasn't been the habit of our lives to be constantly in the Lord's presence. Well, this young man that we read of here was sort of different from the first one. The first one was openly seeking Martha and pleasure.
The second one was one who was displayed.
The outward linen garment, but he wasn't carrying it out practically in his own personal life before the Lord. So I believe there's a lesson for us in this. I say again, God wants reality. Now let us turn to another in Exodus chapter 33, Exodus chapter 33, and verse 7. And Moses took the Tabernacle and pitched it without the camp.
Afar off from the camp.
And called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And the 11TH, 10th verse. And all the people saw the cloudy pillars stand at the Tabernacle door. And all the people rose on, worshiped every man at his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face is a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp.
But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed, not out of the Tabernacle.
Now here we haven't time to read all the connection of this, but we have another young man named Joshua. And this young man had, along with many others, left Egypt.
God had redeemed them and brought them out of that land of ******* and here they were now in the wilderness. But a law. They had left Egypt. The world was, alas, in their hearts. And we find just in the chapter before how that they had made a golden calf. And those in the camp were worshipping the golden calf. They were worshiping the works of their own hands.
And alas, can we say that that which professes the name of Christ?
Today has departed from loyalty to Him. Other things have come in and just as he or they worshiped the golden calf, so there can be other things that are idols and christened them. While it professes to be apart from the world that's under judgment. Nevertheless, here we find that they were worshiping this golden calf and when Moses came down from the mount and found the people.
Worshiping the golden calf, and then it says he took the Tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. That is, God provided a meeting place outside of all His confusion. I believe it's still the same today. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.
There was a place, and isn't this a marvelous name, the Tabernacle of the congregation, or were there a great crowd of people there that says, everyone that sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp? Now you would say, well, now you'd expect to find a large crowd there than if everyone that sought the Lord went out there. But now it appears that it was not solved. It appears that there were very few.
The greater part of them, Charles, a more popular position, how they didn't want to turn their back upon the Lord. And so it says that everyone rose up in his 10th door and worshiped the Lord in his tent door. He worshipped, but he didn't go to this meeting place. And now we know that there are many who we could say are true children of God.
Yet they have not seen their place outside the camp. They have not seen what it is to be gathered to have rejected Christ.
Many of you, dear young people, have been brought up to know these things and to hear them. It's not a new thing for you to be told what it is to be gathered to a rejected Christ, and we're not expecting to find a popular position. But I trust that.
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Those who have gone through any exercise can say, well, the reason I have identified myself with those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus is because I believe the Lord is there. And that's why I want to be there, because that's the only thing that will ever keep us there. It's certainly not because of the crowd, because here we find.
That the names of those that went out are not mentioned, but certainly.
If there were very many there, there were exceedingly There were exceedingly few in comparison to the number that were in the camp. The greater majority stood in their tent door and worshiped the Lord.
But here there was a place, there was a place where the Tabernacle was set, there was a place where those that sought the Lord could go and commune with him. Can I just make this little remark because someone might say, well then why did Moses go into the camp? Well, I just make this little remark. God is sovereign, and the fact that God is working in the camp and saving souls is not a reason for us to forsake.
The Path of Obedience 1 rejoices to see God working in grace and we, just like Israel, have failed exceedingly. We cannot lift up our heads and say, well, we're the faithful people in all the gospel testimony has been committed to us. Oh indeed not brethren, let's hang our heads and acknowledge how that we're just poor, failing things and a failing testimony.
To the truth of the church is the body of Christ, and God is faithful.
And I give thanks for those who have been brought to the Lord, even though they may not have given up the confusion of Christendom. And we leave that with the Lord. And it's not our responsibility to interfere or to question the sovereignty of God.
Right. And so Moses, who in this case represents Christ, he went into the camp and thank God that he's still meeting people in grace, meeting them perhaps in a position that his word cannot approve of because he is sovereign. But as far as Joshua was concerned, his place was one of obedience. His place was one of following those who sought the Lord, being in the Lord's presence.
Later on, Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, and Joshua said, My Lord, Moses forbid them. Did Moses forbid them? He said Envious Thou for my sake.
Dear young people, never get envious because there's blessing outside of us. Never get envious because there's blessing in the camp. Give thanks if there's blessing in the camp, but your path and mind is to be obedient to the Word of God. And So what I wanted to bring before you about this young man named Joshua was that to him the Tabernacle of the congregation was precious.
The place where the Lord met with his people. Now that was precious.
To him, and he didn't interfere with what God was doing in grace, but he just walked in the path of obedience himself. And this is the happy path for you, dear young people. I know that in these days it's often hard to continue in the path, but notice that. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the congregation. Well then, when you find out there's not many there.
Are you going to give up?
Are you going to give up or because you see God working in the camp or you're going to give up the path because of this? Joshua didn't. Joshua stayed the place where the Tabernacle was because that was the place for those who sought the Lord. And so he says he departed not out of the Tabernacle. Well, may the Lord give us to value the privilege of walking in obedience to His Word, even though God.
Sovereign in his acts in grace.
And now shall we turn to Zechariah?
Zechariah The.
Second last book in the Old Testament.
The first verse I lifted up mine eyes again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand then said, I whither goest thou? And he said, I'm sorry.
Zechariah 2 verse one. Thank you.
Then said I, Whither ghost thou? And he said unto me, to measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And behold, the Angel had talked with me, went forth, and another Angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, for the multitude of men and cattle are in. For I saith, the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about.
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And will be the glory.
In the midst of her.
Oh, in Zechariah we have the little remnant that had come back from the Babylonian captivity, and here they were back in the center where God had put His name. And yet there was much that would discourage them. There was very little activity in connection with the rebuilding of the temple, and they were so much discouraged that some of them were at the point of almost giving up. And they were building their own houses, but the House of the Lord was being neglected.
And God raised up two prophets, Zechariah and Haggai, to stir up the people and to encourage them to go on.
But now this brings us to this young man where the measuring line in his hand. I'm sure that as he looked around and he saw some building their houses, he saw some who ought to have been faithful man, and they were getting into mix ups with the enemies that were round about them and all. There were so many things to discourage that here was a young man.
And what does he do? Well, he said.
I'm just going to take a line and see how large this work really is. And so here he is walking along with a measuring line. Have you ever done that, dear young person? Have you ever taken a measuring line? And you measured the little assembly where you were, and then you compared it with others and you said, oh, it's nothing. There's nothing being done here. It's so small and there's so much weakness. And you were just about at the same point.
This young man, I am sure that if he had measured Jerusalem at this point, he would have gone away with a discouraged heart and said, well, it's so small, does the Lord really have delight in such a thing as this?
And so here we find that an Angel is sent to run and speak to this young man. And what was the word that was given to him? All he is told to look on.
As though the message was like this all young man, don't measure things down here as they are, but just think of the glorious time that's ahead. Jerusalem is going to be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cavalry. And always said there's a glorious day ahead for Jerusalem. And if I could apply it to our own day when you return to the little assembly that you came from.
And you take the measuring line in your hand and you say, oh, it was nice to be with a few 100 when we were at those meetings up in Glendale. But oh, there's so few here and there are no young people. And with a measuring line in your hand, you're pretty discouraged. Well, here's somebody running to speak to you. And what is he telling you? Always says, look on, there's a glorious day ahead.
And you say, Oh yes, but down here, well.
Had your young people to be gathered on the ground of the one body, as we have had in this meeting.
To be gathered as members of the body of Christ is indeed a wonderful privilege. I believe the dearest thing to the heart of Christ in this present dispensation is that he is gathering a bride, a bride for glory. And as he looks down and sees so many calling themselves by various names, forming groups with various measures of activity and measuring while we're doing a big work here.
We're doing something here, and we perhaps think, well, it's all small, but the Lord looks down and he finds delight in a few that recognize that there is one body and that in all weakness we can seek to give expression to that truth. If I can speak for myself, it's the knowledge of this that has kept me in some measure through the years.
Because.
I'm just the same as you are. I've looked around and I've often been discouraged as I've gone to places and seen the weakness. Why, I had to be careful not to pull up the measuring line. I had to put it aside, as it were. And I had to look on and say, well, the church is someday going to be presented without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, and to be gathered just to give expression to the truth that there is one body just to.
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That were gathered as members of his body, waiting for that glorious time. Then that gives courage to go on.
And so it says, I saith, the Lord will be under her, A wall of fire roundabout that is all evil will be kept out and a glory in the midst of her. Isn't that a wonderful future that's ahead? Well, if there's a young person here and you have just come to the point where you've been so discouraged because you've been using that measuring line, may I point you on like this young man?
May I tell you that?
Someday in the glory, I believe you'll be thankful that you kept in the past. Someday you'll praise the Lord that He gave you the privilege of being gathered to His precious name according to His Word. Oh, don't, don't, I beseech you, and make comparisons, except you want to measure things by the Word of God.
May the Lord grant them that if there's anyone here who is discouraged.
That the Angel may run and speak to you and point you on to a time of glory that is ahead. And it might be today the Lord Jesus might come and all. What a grand meeting that will be. All those young people that perhaps you know at school who are not so gathered. That nice young person that works in the office that really loves the Lord and yet doesn't see the path. We're going to all be together around the Lord someday. We're going to praise.
Him, there's a glorious time, but what a privilege of seeking to go on.
Instead of instead of getting discouraged to look on to the time when the Lord will bless that very place in Jerusalem, you'll bless them on the earth, and we're going to be in the heavenly Jerusalem where every several gate was 1 Pearl. I like that expression because it just seems to me it gives this thought that wherever you enter.
What do you say a perfect display of what the church is to Christ, A perfect display. Whatever gate you entered, the whole 12 gates, What would you see? Just a perfect display of what the church is to Christ, because it was the Pearl for whom he gave himself. And I'll just one more.
In.
First Timothy, chapter 4.
Verse 12. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in Word in conversation, and charity, and spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given me by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appeal.
You all take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
Here is Paul writing to a young man, a young man named Timothy, and he said, let no man despise thy youth. I was very much struck in reading in the 27th chapter of Leviticus that God gives us the value of man at different ages. And from the ages of 5 to 20 he valued them at 20 shekels. From the ages of 20 to 16 he valued a man at 50 shekels, and from 60 and not evaluated.
15 shackles.
So, you know, as we get older, we're not worth quite as much. You young people are the ones, if the Lord leaves you here, who are going to be the ones who go on in the truth of God. It's true that when the priests retired from service at 50, they were to keep the charge of the Lord and they were just like the ones that held the reins. But the rains don't do the running. It's the young people that do the running. And dear young people, I want to encourage you. I want.
Encourage you, just like Paul did to Timothy. He wrote to Timothy and he said, let no man despise thy youth. Don't say well, because I'm a young person, there's nothing for me in the valuation of the 27th of Exodus, if you're past 20, you're worth over three times as much as the one that's the one that's over 60. What a valuable place is yours. What a responsibility, what a privilege is yours.
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And So what a wonderful thing, and I've noticed it as I've traveled about from assembly to assembly that the greatest blessing that I've seen in assemblies is young people that want to go on for the Lord Jesus. The old people are blessed by them in every meeting where the young people are going on for the Lord, the old people are rejoicing because we want to see you blessed and happy. And here Timothy has written to Timothy is encouraged and.
Said, don't let anyone tell you it's no use because you're young. There is something for you to do. There's a place for you to fulfill. And all I want to encourage you, I want to see dear young people who have a heart for Christ, who seek to go on for him. Because we've observed in the other cases, there may be times when we get discouraged. There may be times when we seem to feel that we're pretty much alone.
But the Lord values that devotedness.
Timothy was living at a time when he saw all Asia turn away from Paul. Paul said all in Asia be turned away from me. But Paul writes and said, Timothy, don't you give up. Don't you give up just because there's a breakdown. But you go on and you'll be an example in Word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit.
In faith, in purity. And if the enemy can't lead you out of the meeting, he can perhaps lead you to a careless walk inside. And in that way too, instead of being an example, you can be a hindrance. And saw here we find that Timothy is exhorted to go on and to be an example. And so he encourages him too, about the gift that is in him. There's many a young person who has a gift.
Often as I look at young people and I see that they really are young people of ability, I know the devil makes a special target of those who have that kind of ability. Didn't the king of Syria ask for all the goodliest in the court of Ahab? Didn't King Nebuchadnezzar ask for the choicest in Babylon for to bring up in the wisdom of the Chaldees?
And isn't the world the same today? It's looking for the.
Of our young people, it's looking for you to join the ranks of making this world a place of greater progression and more advancement only for judgment. But O dear young people, O Lord wants you. The Lord wants you. And so I just close with those words. Continue thou. Continue thou.
Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. For may the Lord help you through the snares and pitfalls of youth, may help you and encourage you to live for Him. At the end of your journey, you'll look back and you will thank Him for His preserving grace. No credit to ourselves, but all. You'll thank Him and when you see in that day of manifestation how He valued.
Any little bit of devotedness to him, you and I will wonder, why didn't we live more for Him? He did everything for us. Continue now.