Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Felice is often called the Now generation, and in a certain sense that's true. We only have this very present time. We're looking for the Lord Jesus to come, and we have the privilege of enjoying His love and living for Him now until that blessed moment when faith is changed to sight.
And I just like, with the Lord's help, to look at a few things in connection with how we can go on for the Lord in the midst of present situations. And I like to look at some of these different situations. But first of all, I'd like to just read 3 scriptures first in Acts chapter 13.
Verse 36.
For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.
And then if you'll turn to Ecclesiastes.
Chapter 7.
Ecclesiastes, Chapter 7.
And the tenth verse.
Lazy Estes Chapter 7 and verse 10.
Say, Art thou What is the 'cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.
Then one more verse in Romans chapter 14.
Romans chapter 14 and verse 12.
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Well, first of all, I'd like to say again how much we owe to the Lord Jesus for what He has done for us. Everyone of us here who have put our trust in Him can just consider a little bit of the wonderful love that led Him to pay the price of our redemption and that we can say we are not our own. We are bought with a price. We belong to Him and He's looking forward to the day when He has us with Himself.
When all his own will be supremely blessed.
If we're looking forward to the time when we'll be delivered from all these things that hold us downward, how much more our precious Savior as He longs for that time when He'll joy over His own with singing and rest in His love, and He wants our hearts to be in fellowship with Him.
He wants us to to have wisdom and guidance that we might walk in this present world for him because we have only a little time left. That's why I said it's the Now generation. And we can apply that in a very practical way that we only have such a little time left. And just as the gospel is, behold, now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation.
I believe that each one of us should.
Say, well, seeing the Lord has brought me to himself, I want to live for him now.
In glory everything will be perfect. We'll serve Him as we ought. But here and now we have this privilege.
And my purpose in reading these three passages is that we, it tells us here David after he had served his own generation by the will of God, and we live in this generation. This is 1987. The Lord leaves us here a short time. It's going to be 1988. It's not 1888. Situations may have been and were quite different in 1888 than they are now, but the Lord can help us to.
Live Christ and serve Him in this generation, in this year.
And I believe it's important that we should realize this.
And I'd like to look at a few passages that show people that under sought to live for the Lord in the generation in which they lived. It wasn't 1987, but it was a time when things weren't the easiest for them.
Through the goodness of God, we have great liberty in this country that we can meet together in this way. It hasn't always been so. And if we think our lot is difficult, if we think it's trying, let us think of others, even at this time in other lands, who couldn't come together as we are. There isn't any time even in the Bible where there could be an assemblage like this, with everyone having a Bible on his knee and having the whole revealed mind of God.
Rather than we're greatly blessed and yet our hearts response as we have to acknowledge is not as it should be. And now I'm not asking you to measure the response of your heart. I'm just asking you to look at the Lord Jesus. And if you look at him, I'm sure you won't feel like measuring the response of your heart. It will be too small. It'll be so little and compared comparison to his great love to us. So let's think of serving the Lord in this generation.
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In this very time in which we live.
Then the second verse that we looked at in Ecclesiastes, it says not to inquire why the former days were better than these. For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. It's very easy for us to live in the past, to have a sort of a set of ifs. If it had just, if the assembly was just a little different, if home life were just a little different, if jobs, if schools were just different, it would be much easier.
But it says not to inquire.
Why the former days were better than these. God didn't place you in that situation 10 years ago. He put you in this situation in 1987. And He would have us to realize that in this very year, in this very month in which we live, He can supply all the grace and all the help that we need for our pathway. Oh, how encouraging this is.
As it says that our God is a present help in trouble.
A present health and present health means the same in 1987 as it was in 1887. And so how good it is. And so let's just face up to the present, to the place where we live, to the school situation, to the job situation, to the assembly that we're living in. Is it possible for us to live Christ in this generation?
And then sometimes we're prone to be like.
Like one of the disciples in the end of the Gospel of John, and when the Lord was commissioning Peter and saying, feed my lambs and so on, then he turned and he said, and what shall this man do? And it's very easy for us, isn't it, to look around. Well, I just hope somebody next to me will listen to this, because what should he be doing? But I hope every one of us will just point the finger at ourselves.
The Lord said to Peter in response to that question.
And what shall this man do? And the Lord's answer was, if, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me, follow thou me. And that word thou is intensely personal. It never is used to address a company of people. The word thou is always individual. So the Lord was talking directly to Peter when he said, Follow thou me. And brethren, may each one of us speaker included.
Point a finger at ourselves and hear the Lord Jesus saying, well, now just leave that other person out. Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. You're not going to give an account for somebody else, or what somebody else did, or the unkind things they did, or the way they live. You won't have to give an account for them. You will have to give an account whether you help them or whether you hindered them, but you won't have to give an account for what they did just for yourself.
I'll have to give an account for what I do. And when we think of what the Lord has done for us, why surely the little return is so small and we have the privilege. And that's why the Lord has left us in this world. He could have taken us to glory the very day He saved us. We will never be any more fit for the glory than we were the day He received us as sinners and put our sins away in His precious blood. We were perfectly fit then and were just.
Fit now, and we won't have any better title when we get home to glory, the little hymn says. I stand upon his merit. I know no safer stand, not even where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.
So that's all. That part is all settled, but there is the privilege of living in this time for him. It also says in Second Corinthians chapter 5 that we should not live henceforth unto ourselves. Perhaps I should quote the whole verse. It says the love of Christ constraineth us, that we should not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again.
I've often commented that it does not.
Say that the love of Christ should constrain. It simply states that as a fact.
Some of us might say, well, I just don't quite understand why it is that love doesn't seem to have its impelling force in my life like I would like it to have. It just doesn't seem to touch my heart like I know it should. Well, I've often just used a simple illustration. Supposing I had some nails here and I had a magnet in my hand and I held it up and I said, now listen, this magnet should move those nails. I wouldn't.
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Then the word should. I would just say this magnet moves nails. Why isn't it moving them? Why are those nails not being moved? Well, you know the answer. It's just because the magnet's not close enough. But bring the magnet down close. It isn't a question of should there is enough power in the magnet to make those those nails move. And where will those nails go? Well, just wherever the magnet takes them. And that's our.
Brethren, if we could only realize this. There's plenty of power in that precious love of Christ. There's plenty of power by the Holy Spirit to live for Him. And So what is the answer? Well, we just need, as James said, draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you just to come, as it were, close to him, and He will receive you in His arms of love as one of his own.
Because the eternal God is thy refuge.
And underneath are the everlasting arms. And that love will constrain you because there's enough power in it, The same love that is always toward us.
Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them under the end and what is often said that.
That love is a continuous love. It goes on, and those assurances of that love in the Scripture are often at times when we would least expect it.
You know, even in our home life, there's nothing that means so much as when somebody's done something wrong and the person that you've wronged puts your arms around you and says, oh, I love you. That didn't change my loved one bit. And that's what the Lord is doing here was Israel and they had sinned against him. And the prophet Jeremiah is telling them they're going to be carried into captivity.
And he says, I love thee with an everlasting love.
Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn me. And so in the very last church in Revelation, the first one, it says I was left I first love, and the last one is as many as I love. I already you can chase them. He's speaking to us, brethren. He wants us to know that even if he administers correction, it's because He loves us.
Well, I'd like to look at a few instances, as I say, in connection with the Lord's love. First in connection with a young person, and then in connection with those who are older, and then in connection with family life and in connection with assembly life, and then in connection with a man in prison. So that whatever the varied circumstances of life, we can see how that God has not only given us exhortations in his words, but.
As Paul said when he was preaching in a place and they thought he was something different from other people and they were going to worship him as a God, he said for men of like passions with yourselves. And so I'm no different from you and you're no different from me. And God has allowed people in the past.
To be in situations, real people, people in situations very similar to what we face. And he has enabled them to go on faithfully for him even when things were adverse and difficult. Well, perhaps the first one we look at is is about a young man in First Timothy chapter 4.
First Timothy, chapter 4.
And verse 12.
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in Word, in conversation, in charity, in 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 his gift was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, or the older ones. Meditate upon these things.
Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in so doing thou shalt save thyself and them that hear thee.
This was addressed to a young man whose name was Timothy. Every could look a little at the background of this man. His grandmother was a true believer and so was his mother. Her name was Eunice, and I often thought it must have been a tremendous sorrow to that grandmother when her daughter married a Gentile. That was a flagrant disobedience to the word of God, that.
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A believer among the Jews should marry a Gentile.
So this young man could have said, Oh well, I have a bad background, I can't help it, and my life can't be the same as some others who have a better place of privilege than myself. But he didn't. Instead of this, he had a mother who in spite of it all. May I just say a little word to those who are parents too? Perhaps you may feel disappointed in what happens when your children get married. Keep on praying.
This must have been a very great disappointment to Poor.
To poor Lois when her daughter married a Greek. But I think she must have kept on praying because Eunice was faithful and she brought up her family and Timothy got saved and Timothy wanted to go on for the Lord. So let's not give up. Even if the background does seem difficult and even if we sometimes hear it talked about a lot today, well, you know, it's a bad family background. Well, let's not use that for an excuse, brethren.
The Lord is able, everyone shall give account of himself to God. And so whatever your family background, people have had good family backgrounds and turned out very badly. And people who have had bad family backgrounds have often turned out brightly for the Lord. So remember, you're responsible to the Lord yourself. And so this Timothy, it tells us about this young man that he was well reported of in the book of the Acts. He was a young man who.
Grown up and the Lord had worked in his heart and he had thought to go on. He had made a friend of the Apostle Paul. He had listened to this man who had a Commission from the Lord to do a work. May I encourage you, dear young people.
It's a wonderful thing to take time to listen to the ministry and read the precious ministry. As Paul exhorts Timothy, he says give attendance to reading. It's a good thing to establish yourself in the things of God. I'm a little bit older now, and when I read things, I can't remember them like I used to. If I can quote verses to you, it wasn't because I learned them yesterday. I had to learn them when I was younger. And you, dear young people, I want to encourage you.
By what Paul says here to Timothy, he's addressing this young man. He says, let no man despise thy youth. In other words, don't think that just because you're young that there isn't an important place for you to occupy in the things of God. A path of usefulness here is always respect for age, but there's certainly a great place of usefulness for those who are young.
And so we find here that Paul exhorts him.
He says be thou an example. This shows that first of all we apply the word of God to ourselves. May I say this not only for young people, but for us all. Always read the Bible for yourself. Never read the Bible for other people. Read it for yourself.
You read it for yourself, you'll get a blessing, perhaps you can be a help to other people. But it always starts with ourselves, doesn't it? And so it tells us here.
Be thou an example of the believers in Word in conversation. The word conversation means a certain manner of life that people could see in this young man.
And then in charity, that's love. There was a loving young man, a man whose heart I'm sure, went out to other young people because was young himself. And so young people can be a great blessing to young people. I look back and I think of people who are close to my own age and what a help they were to me.
And learned a lot from older brothers. But young people who really wanted to follow the Lord made a tremendous impression upon me when I was young because I felt that since the Lord was sufficient for them, that He was sufficient for me too. And so here we find this young man. He was to be an example in Word, in manner of life, in love, in spirit.
You know we have to watch our spirit.
I have a little pamphlet at home that's called The Provoked Spirit, and the writer goes on to say what is a provoked spirit?
And he answers that a provoked spirit is a wrong attitude about wrong things.
You know, that really strikes me a wrong attitude about wrong things. See, there's a lot of wrong things with young people. There's a lot of wrong things. But our attitude is important here, Moses. There was, there were wrong things that were going on in his time. The people certainly weren't going on with the way they should. But it got into his spirit. It got into his spirit, and he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.
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And it spoiled a lot of the after usefulness in dear Moses life. Oh, let us let us be careful that we don't let the wrong things that we see get into our spirit, and that we develop a wrong spirit about it.
How wonderful that the grace of God is that can enable us to go on and show the right spirit even though things might be wrong. And that in faith, that's confidence in God, confidence that God is able for every in any situation in which we can find ourselves.
And then he says in purity, well, that's so important in this day. Many young people can ruin their lives just by not being careful, as the Bible says. I just pass on the simple little warning, keep thyself pure. Keep thyself pure. You can spoil your usefulness very easily if you don't watch that. And there's a lot of temptations about today.
And God's Word warns us, and it warns us in love, in love.
When you get a little older perhaps, and you look back, you'll just say, I'm so thankful the Lord kept me. I could so easy. I got turned aside and spoiled my youthfulness. So these things are given first all applications to himself.
Then about reading exhortation doctrine, Timothy evidently had a gift.
Lot of young people have gifts too and nice to see the gift developed. The school takes up your abilities and uses them for advancement in this world. But if the Lord has given you something, what a privilege to be able to use what He has given you for him. And if he has given you any special ability that you can do something for him.
Remember, Paul, exhorts Timothy. He says to.
Another man and say to our Keep us, take heed to the ministry that thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.
The world's going to make a big bid for your ability, but the Lord wants you to use what He has given you for Him. What a joy it is to see young people, perhaps like Timothy, who are seeking to go on.
And then he talks about meditation. That's an important thing too. Someone says meditation is a lost art. Well, it is very hard to meditate today because life is so extremely dizzy.
And those who go to school know that so much of their time is taken up. Those who have jobs, they know how much of their time has taken up. And quite often you can't even relax driving to and from work because the traffic is heavy. But it it takes effort. It takes effort. And the scriptures tells us that if we're going to have this kind of time, why we need to take time.
Little Song says take time.
To be holy, speak OFT with thy Lord to myself. That's the little picture that is presented in connection with Martha and Mary in the Bible.
Some people seem to feel that.
Mary might a little been a little bit lazy and Martha was the energetic one, but I think that's a misrepresentation of the story. I think, according to the way the story reads, that they were both busy when the Lord came because the complaint of Martha was my sister hath left me, left me to serve alone, which suggests that they were both busy but when the Lord came.
Into the house that day, Mary said.
We're going to have to let something go. I want to hear what the Lord has to say. And she took time to step. You'll never have time for reading. You'll never have time for prayer. You'll never have time for meetings unless you leave something. I would say that many who are here at these meetings, there was something you really wanted to do, but you left it so you could be here. A lot of things. The enemy probably said, well, you just can't get away. There's too much. It'll always be that way.
But you have to leave things to have time to sit at Jesus feet. You have to leave things to have time to serve Him.
So let's devote our time, meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them. That is, let our very thoughts be formed by the Word of God.
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And then again he warns him to take heed to thyself and to the doctrine. Doctrine is important. A lot of activity today. We rejoice even if Christ is preached of contention or even of envy and strife, we rejoice, can't help but be glad. The gospel is preached. The brethren doctrine is important. And young people, there's a deposit that was committed to us like there was to Timothy, and we are responsible to hold it. We are.
Responsible not to give up. It's not brethren's truth. It's not our truth. It's God's truth. And we are responsible. It's something committed to us to hold.
And then it says continue in them, for we need grace to go on.
For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
It's not the salvation of our souls it's talking about here, but rather saving ourselves from a lost life.
It's possible to have a saved soul but a lost life. Job had AI mean a lot. I should say Lot had a saved soul but a lost life. And how sad it is when the Lord has done so much for us, when he has saved us from our sins and brought us to himself. How sad it is that we should just for the way our time and not speak to recognize that we belong to Him, that we're his, that he has.
Just us at so great a cost with his own precious blood. Well, this is a young person. Then let's think about Timothy, a man who, as I say, didn't have an easy background. His father probably pulling one way and his mother pulling another way, and a lot of things that he might have said no use coming from a home like that, but he loved the Lord.
He listened to the apostle Paul.
To go on. And now we see what a useful young man he became. Though I'd like to turn to an older man in Daniel.
The Book of Daniel.
Daniel, Chapter 6.
Verse 7.
All the presidents.
Of the Kingdom, the governors, the Princess, the counselors, and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days save of thee, O King, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now, O King, established the decree, and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree.
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his window being opened, and his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks unto his God as he did aforetime.
Well, here was Daniel.
This was in the reign of Darius and Daniel was carried captive. So I would say was a man past 70 at this time. And what is the great lesson that I would seek to draw from this? I believe it's very wonderful. Here was a man from his youth because if you read in the 1St chapter of Daniel, he had to go to school in Babylon. He sought to be faithful to his Lord and through the book you see that he had gone on faithfully. What is the danger of old age?
Well, it's the danger of becoming complacent, becoming perhaps self satisfied that we sort of have come somewhere and we're liable to settle down.
I think what is the real lesson, at least I want to take it to my own heart, was that Daniel remained dependent on the Lord. Isn't this lovely? Here was a man. He could have said, well, the Lord supported me through all these years and I can handle different situations that arise now because I've had a lot of experience. I know how these kings act and I know all about them because he had worked in a civil service, we might call it, for many, many years. He understood the pride of these kings.
But what does he do in this situation? He doesn't try to handle it in his own wisdom or strength at all. And this was a very mean plot that was carried out upon him. Sometimes things like this happen and I've seen those who get older and the other part of their life, they get so discouraged because something is said and done that hurts. And here was something very hurtful. This was a positive lie that these people told about him.
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Because they told King Darius that all the counselors and all these people had agreed to make this decree, and Daniel was one of them. So that was really not true at all. You say, well, people say unkind and mean things about me and it gets me down. I'm just going to give up. Daniel didn't give up. Daniel got on his knees.
Nano got down not just once a day, but three times a day. This man could have rested upon his past experience. He could have said, I think I'll be all right because I've had a lot of experience. Well, dear, Mr. Darby said when difficulties arise.
Experience, maybe some help, but he said don't lean on it, it's God we need. It's God we need. And brethren, let's never forget that there are no two situations exactly alike. We find in King David's time that the Philistines came against him and he asked the Lord and the Lord said go out and battle with them. He could have said the next time they came, I know the answer because it worked the last time.
But the next time they came again he inquired as the Lord. The Lord said don't.
Go out against them. There'll be a different way of handling this situation, and situations may look alike. It's God we need, and it doesn't matter how old we are. And so I say a few words to the dear young people about Timothy, who was a young man. But here's an old man probably, if not in his 80s, pretty close to it, because they were in captivity for 70 years, so he must have been a very old man. Isn't it nice to see a man like this?
This and a man who was faithful too, a man who wouldn't give in and although the king wanted them to stop and sometimes said he could have just said, well, I can pray with my eyes open. Nobody needs to know I'm praying. But now there was a pattern of godliness in his life. He sought to go on with it. He loved the people of God.
Just read in the chapters afterwards and you see him interceding for God's people.
In all their departure. But here I say again, the great lesson, and may I say it to those who were older, because this isn't especially for young people today. It's for all of us. And the lesson for us as we get older, let's always be dependent. Let's learn no matter how much experience we have had in the things of God and in things that may come up in our personal lives or homes or whatever.
To always look to the Lord.
And here Daniel three times in a day, goes to his room, gets down on his knees and asks God to undertake for him in this difficult and trying situation. He found the Lord a present help. As I said, he didn't think of the past. He said this is the year this has happened. God can give me the help and the strength that I need and He can give you the help in 1987. And if 1988 comes with a different set of.
Circumstances.
He's a present help in time of trouble, so perhaps this is a lesson for those of us who are older and that is to be constantly dependent.
Now let's turn back, turn over to Hebrews.
Chapter 11.
Hebrews, Chapter 11.
Earth 7.
By faith Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Perhaps you could also look at First Timothy or Second Timothy rather chapter 1.
And verse 16.
The Lord gave mercy unto the House of Onesiphorus, for he offered refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain.
But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me.
The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day, and then how many things he minister unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well.
Well, we've looked at, we've looked at Timothy as a young man. We've looked at Daniel at a different time, a very difficult time as an older man. Perhaps in this one we see two families brought before US1 in the Old Testament, the other in the new.
Here was a very, very difficult time. The earth was filled with violence and corruption. That's the way it is today. The Earth is filled with violence and corruption.
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And God takes this man Noah, a man of faith, and instructs him to build an ark for the saving of his house.
And I've often looked at this household. I like to picture things as though I could see the actual things happening. And I think of this family singled out in the whole world here. Somebody told me there were close to 1000 people together. But if we were to gather together all the believers in Noah's time, as far as we know, there were only 8. What you say in the whole world, that's all we know about. It seems that was the only ones in the whole world.
Is it possible to stand alone, one family stand alone with no support, no health, I shouldn't say no support. They did have the most wonderful support. They had the Lord. But I've often pictured these boys. Can't you imagine all the other young people saying, what do you think? Your dad's the only person that knows anything in the world and there's never been rain and he's building that great big boat and are you going to put in your.
Help him and you'll never find a wife in a world like this. But God provided 3 wives for those girls, those boys, three wives that were willing to go into the ark. Our God cares. He cares about families. It's difficult. It often is here, of course, we're a large number and we have a lot of young people. Lovely to see them. But perhaps you say when I go back to my meeting, there's nobody. There's nobody. We just feel so alone.
But here was a family, it couldn't go to a conference.
They couldn't find any others in the whole world and yet these found this family was sustained by faith. Is God a present health? Is he able in a world like that? Could he find 3 girls? Of course he could. He knows the hearts of all men and he provided the ones who were necessary for those boys and they went into the ark and.
The Lord took care of them, as we know, and brought them through that terrible flood.
That's all I want to say, a little word of encouragement as I look at young people and young families, I feel for them. It is a difficult day, but not as difficult as it was in the time of Noah. And here is a man moved with fear, prepared an ark. Nice expression, isn't it, for the saving of this house. He looked at those boys, I'm sure, and he said, what a world.
But my God, I can trust in Him.
He's faithful even alone. I can't see any way out. He knows the way out. The Lord know how to deliver the godly out of temptation. He knows how. I don't know how and I don't know how for some of you dear young people, but the Lord knows how and he's able for every situation. And I think of this family of.
Odysseus, the father, came down to Rome and.
And there wasn't a nice place like this. If he wanted to find the apostle Paul, he had to hunt around for the prison in Rome and say, if you've got a prisoner there named Paul, I'd like to go and visit with him.
And I think it's very touching to see the Spirit of God realizing that children are identified with the position their parents take. And here's this man looking for Paul, a prisoner. And you can understand other young people saying, where did your father go? Well, he's looking for a man in prison and he he wants to break bread with him. He wants to remember the Lord because he dwells in a hired house with a couple of guards and.
We'd like.
Go. Oh, that, that was a reproach to the young people, wasn't it? Paul thought about that. He said, the Lord grant mercy unto the House of Onus Ifras, for he OFT refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain. Dear young people, it may be that you bear a certain reproach because the company is small. There's not very many. Is it worth it to go on for the Lord?
1000 times.
Mr. Darby once said the path of faith is well worthwhile, even if it were 1000 times happier than it is, 1000 times more difficult than it is, and so I just want to encourage you to go on, no matter how difficult the path is. But then we have the assembly, if I could just look briefly at.
This and 3rd Epistle of John.
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The third Epistle of John. I just like to look briefly at this here.
About this household tells us here.
In the third verse I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walked in truth and then.
The 9th.
I wrote unto the Church by the autrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
Well, here is a little picture of assembly life. Here was a family.
The man's name was Gaius had a family, and his children were walking in the truth. But what was the condition in the assembly? Well, it was a man there that was putting himself forward, a man named Diotrephes. He loved to have the preeminence. But isn't it nice to see this household going on even though things weren't just as they should be in the assembly?
And I've often had young people say, well, so difficult to go. There's a lot of tension in the assignment assembly. Things aren't as happy as they should.
Be and I just don't feel like going to the Bible reading or the meetings because there's somebody that's always putting himself forward and it bothers me. Oh, isn't this lovely. Here we find a man he's writing Paul rather John writing and encouraging Gaius to go on and his children were walking in the truth and it tells us that he was doing faithfully what he did to the Lord and the strangers and then he said follow.
Not that which is evil, but that which is good. Oh, may I say there's a little problem in your assembly. Don't let it get you down. Don't let it hinder you from following the Lord. Follow that which is good, not that which is evil. It's true we have to be exercised about these things, but isn't it good to know that the Lord is sufficient? And here's a here's a family going on in an assembly where things weren't just in the order that they should be.
And John writes a special letter to encourage this man, Gaius. Oh, Gaius, don't give up. Bring your children on. How often? If I'm just going to tell you a little thing that my father used to say, he said, I've watched very often. Just when the family comes through a very important stage in life, the devil will bring a problem into the assembly. The parents will get upset.
They'll get so upset that perhaps they leave and then maybe a few years.
Down the road they get restored. But the devil accomplished what he wanted. He scattered the children. He scattered the children. Oh, let's go on the midst of difficulties. Let's not get under them. Let's see Grace as Paul, as John sought to encourage Gaius here to go on blocking the truth. Safe to bring up our children in that path. Well, I won't turn to the last one, for you know it very well. It's in Philippians chapter 1.
Here was a man in.
Prison. He was a man who had tried faithfully to devote his life to the Lord. I don't suppose there was a servant of God so devoted as the apostle Paul. And at the end of his life, instead of things being easy, he is in prison. Maybe I hear somebody here say, well, I've tried to go on to the Lord, but things just seem to have gone into reverse in my life. I really feel as if I was in prison and.
It just seems that I get so discouraged because why has the Lord allowed this problem to come? Because I did try to go on with him. Did Paul take that attitude? Did he say, well why has the Lord let this happen to me? I think I could be a lot more youthful if I were more free to go about that. Lovely. What is his answer?
It tells us here that as he got close to the end of the journey.
He said having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And if things have been adverse in your life and the devil is trying to get you discouraged and say why has this happened to you? You've tried and why has the Lord allowed all this to come upon you? I just want to encourage you. You can.
Live Christ in the midst of that difficulty. He'll give you grace. There's nothing that has spoken to my heart as much as to see someone who has sought to go on for the Lord and then he gets into a situation that I can't explain or understand. And to see that person just showing the loveliness of Christ that gives joy to the heart of the Savior. That's the triumph the Lord can give.
00:45:12
Well, I say again in closing, and I'm saying it to myself as well as to you.
We can serve our own generation according to the will of God. We can also not be reflecting and saying, oh, I wish it was 10 years back down the road, But we can say the Lord will give me grace to live for him today. He'll help me and He will sustain me. And let's not point the fingers at others instead.
We're going to give account of ourselves. Let's leave others with the Lord and seek to live our own lives.
For Him and for His glory. You can't tell the blessing it may be to others just because you sought to go on for the Lord and live for Him in what was very adverse. I hope you'll pardon me for going a few minutes over. I wasn't watching the clock very carefully. But I hope the Lord will speak to our hearts and draw us after Himself.