God's dealings with man
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Automatisches Transkript:
…
Verse 31, or rather it's verse 32, Mark chapter 7.
And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech.
And they beseech him to put his hand upon him, and he took him aside from the multitude
and put his fingers into his ears, and he stood and touched his tongue, and looked up
to heaven.
And he sighed, and said unto him, A farter, that is, be opened.
And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and his
face plain.
And he charged them that they should tell no man, but the more he charged them, so much
the more a great deal they published it.
And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well, he maketh both
the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
Now just a third to a scripture in Acts 26.
Verse 15, chapter 26 of the Acts, And I said, this is Saul of Tarsus who says this, Who
art thou, Lord? and he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecest, that riseth and standeth upon
thy feet.
For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister, and to witness both
of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things into which I will appear unto
thee, delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith of the Lord.
And the prophet is raised up from God when things have gone to the worse, on the part
of man, and gave him his responsibility, and that applies to God's earliest dealings,
and with Israel, and certainly in the present time.
And the prophet, the prophet is never a popular person, because it's the mind of God that
he speaks, peculiar to the prophet.
But the mind of God is necessary for the people in that state, and it depends upon their acceptance
of the prophet, and what the prophet says, for their consciousness to be aroused, that
their consciousness may be brought into the very presence of God, and I doubt not that
in all instances of scripture where God works, you'll find that it's through the prophetic
word that really brings the conscience to know that it is with God with whom we have
to do.
It is a solemn thing, but God is equal to the situation.
But man is the only living creature, is the only creature living who has successfully
survived apostasy.
In regard to the angels who are God's creatures, God deals with them as the epistle of Peter
and Jude, in chains of darkness.
But one of the astonishing things, beginning at Genesis 1, when God created Adam, a full-grown
man, and created Eve, a full-grown woman, and put them to be together, and then we get
to the act of disobedience.
First in the heart of Eve was what her eyes saw.
There's the danger.
The eyes saw.
And led her away, and then her hand answered.
The heart followed the eyes, and the hand followed the heart of the eyes, and there
was the act of disobedience shared by Adam.
And so what had been pronounced came upon them, although that death did not take place
instantaneously.
The strange thing to us is this, that in that fallen state they were allowed to continue
the hostility, to be fruitful and even to multiply.
And so we have the belief, Romans 5 puts the finger on the spot in regard to this, to any
intelligent understanding of God's wonderful ways in regard to recovery.
And what an astonishing thing it is that God allows things to go on.
Even in the, can we call it development?
It's only used in the word development in the advanced stage of evil, and lawlessness,
and God-hatefulness.
And even when the law was given, even then, after being the incident of the flood, and
the incident of Sodom and Gomorrah, as these warning scriptures tells us, and the Lord
warned me in the 17th of Luke, for its application at the present time, remember what it's like,
giving us warnings in Jude and 2 Peter 2, Israel's history, and the solemn warnings
of the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah.
And God allows things to devolve.
Evolution rather, as one observed, it was more devolution rather than evolution.
And so we have a process of devolution in departure from God.
And the whole Bible shows us, and introduces the prophetic word to give us light, even
as in the earliest days of the fall, when it was pronounced in the way of a threat,
rather than the promise, when it was said to serpents, the woman's seed shall bruise
thy head.
That was rather a threat, and to be carried out.
And thou shalt bruise his heel.
The woman's seed shall bruise thy head.
And the devil allows the activities of Satan, and allows it to apply to a duped, fallen race.
And yet the prophetic word comes and shines.
It tells us that God has his own way in resource, yes, resource, to introduce blessing.
And that must of course be in a sovereign way, not deserving by man, but this brings
out the yearnings of the heart of God in love.
And the pity that he has for his creature, who is so easily deceived.
How weak is thy heart, it says in Ezekiel.
That is to Israel, how weak.
And how individually we are in circumstances where we thought we were strong, and how weak
are our hearts.
And now we come in the fifth of Galatians.
We get a reference to the fullness of time.
What a time God has waited.
Patience.
Grace.
The fullness of time God sent for his son.
Up to then they had broken the law.
And now in the family of his son, his son is refused and rejected.
And the Spirit, the Spirit's testimony in Acts 7, on the part of Stephen, who also is
martyred, that is rejected.
And since then we have the grace of God.
And whilst God sovereignly works and operates as the evidence of a company here of two hundred
or more, what a wonderful thing it is to be of a company whose hearts God has bowed before
him.
And give us to appreciate the Christ incomparable as our sin reminds us.
Join all, all the history books, prowess, accomplishments, distinctions that the world
brought in.
Join them all together.
Hand them all together.
All the angels evermore.
All are too mean.
They can't be compared.
They must be considered in the way of contrast.
Speak is worth, is worth, is worth too mean to set the Savior forth.
How thankful we are that our hearts are bowed to share in appreciation and the worthiness
of the person of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hearts held.
Hearts, lives guided.
Hearts lifted up in hope beyond all the prospects of this world.
Which hope we have is an angel of the soul, sure and firm.
And that hope does not rest on anything in this world.
Not even what brave men, brave men together can devise to improve matters here.
It's a hope which enters into that which is within the veil.
Whither the high feast has for us entered into that within the veil.
Wonderful words for us.
So our hope is sustained in all the devolvement of this world and all the boast of this world,
the boast of improvement.
And we live in those days when such things are advanced.
And yet they promise that they have the solution to the problem.
But we are not deceived.
Which hope we have is an angel of the soul.
And it keeps us steady and steadfast for it enters into that within the veil.
It's based on the finished work of Christ.
Christ, for the person who was entered within the veil for us, is the person who first went on to the, was on the cross for us.
As we sang in our first hymn this afternoon.
Let us not forget it.
Let it burn into our souls.
For the person who was on the cross for us in that perfect work,
provided the blood in his death of obedience,
for God to see so that he doesn't see the sins to attach guilt to us.
God sees the blood.
If God did not see the blood, there could be no escape.
But he sees the blood and not the sins.
And who provided the blood?
Jesus provided the blood.
And he provided the blood not in his lifetime,
but when all was done in the way of judgment and meeting God in regard to the sin question,
and presented himself dead,
that's how he provided the blood.
Well, how blessed that is.
And so that testimony is to be rendered.
And in Paul's case, he's raised up specially a Jew,
a Jew,
a Gentile-hating Jew,
the erstwhile Gentile-hating Jew,
to be the chief servant of the Lord Jesus Christ,
a most wonderful man.
And all in our favor,
because the one who raised him up
considered us,
that he should be the apostle to the Gentiles,
to be our teacher,
and first of all, to be the herald of the gospel.
Well, if we just refer to Acts 26,
it is to a state of things where there is universal blindness.
Now, physical blindness is sad,
but I rather think that spiritual blindness is worse.
Physical blindness, there can be AIDS.
They can be sustained in some way.
There are resources to communicate even to blind people, and to me.
And they may not die because of their blindness.
But spiritual blindness is contemplated in Acts 26.
And that is,
a person doesn't know where he is and doesn't know where he's going.
And the governess of Europe,
and its education and universities,
and the background of that,
does not
meet the state of abject blindness.
And so, the Lord has considered us,
and surely it is properly, for we did not deserve it.
And he raised up this man
from the Jews
to go to the Gentiles,
delivered him from the Gentiles to
unto whom now I send thee, to the Gentiles.
What a wonderful thing the Lord considered the Gentiles.
I suppose we should touch this in John 17,
just as it is touched upon in John chapter 10.
When the Lord says,
Of the sheep I have which are not of this,
call them also.
I must, the onus is on him,
I must
pray that there may be one flock,
one shepherd.
In John 17,
Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also who should believe
on me
for this word.
The testimony.
And what a wonderful thing is that testimony is.
And we are those who have come in.
And so, the Lord Jesus
answers,
gives the answer to that prayer
when he raises up Saul of Tarsus.
And the purpose of him being raised up was to open the eyes.
Now, this is not a physical touch on the eyes.
The Lord Jesus demonstrated that,
that he was able to do this
in chapter 9 of John.
And whilst we may pity that man,
the Gentiles
are pitied
in that they are blind,
blind to God's goodness.
For if a man trusts in man,
Jeremiah 17 says,
he shall not see
when good comes.
And good came in the first of Christ.
God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself.
Jesus narrows,
only to be the only straight and with power,
who went about doing good.
Hearing all the repressions of the devil,
for God was with him.
And that goodness
was not interpreted
as goodness.
And so,
if that goodness that came by Jesus,
whom God sent,
they shall not see it.
And they are a state of blindness.
Now, what is it that meets this?
It is Paul's gospel.
It is the message given to Paul,
and first of all,
it burned in his own soul,
and he could face it before kings,
before the gripper.
As it was told here,
he should witness before the Lord,
before all the great men of the world,
kings too.
Good to God,
that not only thou,
but all that hear me this day,
this is to a gripper.
Paul regarded himself
as having the advantage,
evening shines,
in the presence of that
Roman monarch.
Roman monarch,
a gripper,
came at that time.
Good to God,
that all that hear me this day
were altogether such as I am,
except these ones.
And so,
the message that Paul has
is to open the eyes.
And the way eyes are opened
is the testimony
of the Christ
who has beat the cross
and risen with glory.
And when that is received,
it is the most wonderful message
that we could ever hear.
And I believe that is how
eyes are opened.
Eyes are opened
such as they have never been before.
Whatever we've seen in this world
would be oblivious
to that fact.
And it's an incident,
it's a matter
of first concern
because it is
in the way of righteousness.
Acts 17 tells us that
God has offered faith
to all men
and that he appraised it from his head.
And that in
chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians,
the Corinthians were becoming
insensible to this
and it was
let awake
to righteousness.
That is, let the conscience
be aroused
by the truth of the gospel
that the true facts
of the case
where righteousness really is to be seen
is that the Jesus who was
crucified here,
God has praised him
and he is there
at the head and center
of God's universe.
Well, beloved,
what a wonderful thing it is
now that our eyes are opened.
And then our eyes are opened
to see where we are.
And I believe it is,
it's an action on the part
of those whose eyes are opened
and no one can prevent them.
That is the day term.
They will not have darkness
the darkness of ignorance
of God anymore.
They turn from darkness
to light.
And from that which held
them in bondage,
the power of Satan
unto God.
What a wonderful deliverance
that is.
Now in the extent of
an archive,
Jesus is here
and the
state of things
is represented
in this man.
I believe the miracles
that Jesus performed
he certainly came
and he brought grace
and he brought truth
in his own person
and he demonstrated it.
But not only did he speak
words of grace
such as he said
that woman in Luke 7
thy sins
are forgiven thee
but in the miracles
he demonstrated
the fact that
however extreme
the state
of the abjection
of the creature
in the raising of the dead
or the opening of the eyes
or the curing
of paralysis
or leprosy
or whatever it was
in the various miracles
that he performed
it was not only grace
but he exhibited
the power resident
in him
that he was able
to meet
man's state
as to whatever it was
that held him in bondage
and held him from liberty
before God.
Now in this
in the sense of Mark
it's so concise
and they bring to them
this man who is
deaf
he doesn't hear anything
and he's dumb
and he doesn't communicate
anything
now that's a very
sad sight
in the young
God's creature
an emphasis
on the fact
of the
of the degeneration
and the departure
the power of Satan
and the evidence
of the
of the
of the will
of man
that has brought him
into this
terrible state
of abjection
that he needs
the assistance
of someone else
not heard
the word love
not heard
any message
from God
for his
his deafness
and it is because
he is so deaf
I suppose
not having had
a communication
not having been able
to imitate
the state of being
dumb
is attendant
to the
the state
of deafness
and so
the Lord
meets this state
surely in the
extreme state
of things
and I
I refer to this
and I do believe
it illustrates
just how
the creature
is and especially
where Israel
was at that time
here was the
prophet who would
come
and that nation
is represented
by the
that nation
is represented
by this man
that can neither
hear the words
of that prophet
insulated
against any
word from God
himself
therefore
no prospects
of hearing
any word
to his advantage
and another
state of things
God made
the creature
for himself
the last verse
of Revelation 4
says this
and so made
in the Bible
which takes us
to the origin
of creation
and it shows how
God has been
outraged
consistently
by his creature
from Adam
onwards
and whether
it's a nation
of Israel
or the
Gentile nations
God has been
deprived of
what his duty
is
for it was
for thy pleasure
for thy will
God's will
not man's will
for thy will
and for thy pleasure
we are
we are created
but how God
has been deprived
of any pleasure
from his fallen creature
held by the enemy
willingly there
by the creature
insensible of
divine overtures
even when those
overtures
come as they are
at this present time
in grace
in the person of Jesus
and so the Lord
shows
that there is
power in him
with all the
compassion
which is brought
from God
to meet this situation
and it is
demonstrated
in this way
he
he opens
his ear
and his word
is
we wondered
once at the
reading in Ipswich
as to why we have
this Aramaic
in Mark
here
difficult to
pronounce
Epharter
and in the case
of Jairus
the another
Aramaic
phrase
and in the
circumstance
of the cross
lama
sabachthani
why is it
that this is
excluded from Mark
this Aramaic
perhaps a reminder
as to where they
learn this
dialect
or this language
and a reference
to remind them
of their
sin and their
failure
in that
God allowed them
to go into
this state of
captivity
where
this
concept of the
Jewish language
was learned
by them
it could be that
in the book of Mark
where the servant
is
these three
Aramaic
statements
find their
place
to remind them
to prove their
consciences
that in a statement
like this
you learn that
then
you are at your
sinfulness
in departure
from God
and there was
retribution
in the
captivity
to where you
were sent
but here it is
he says
Epharter
which has to be
interpreted
telling us
that we
have to
go
and so
in this
instance
the Lord
demonstrates
that he is
able to
cause the
death
here
to here
and following
that
the creature
is recovered
from God
in that he
can respond
to God
what a
wonderful thing
that God
has a response
as a result
of recovery
that our
ears
are open
and we are
conscious
of speaking
to God
having first
of all
in the right
order
we get the
communication
from God
that is
we get the
revelation
from God
in the
circumstance
which has
effected
on us
and our
ears which
were once
insensible
to any
divine
communication
is broken
and
his will
in his
voice
is to be
deferred
and then we
have the
corresponding
response
and God
is set on
recovery
in that he
will
cause us
to hear
he prevails
upon us
and causes
us to hear
and having
prevailed upon us
and brought
all this
wealth of
heaven
into our
world
we are
able
to respond
and there
is
a response
in prayer
there is a
response
in praise
and thanksgiving
and worship
whether it be
individually
or in
the assembly
how wonderful
this is
how simply
these things
are stated
and yet what a
wonderful accomplishment
it is
what the
law could not
do
and it's one
thing
that God
gave a
perfect law
which demanded
a response
from man
and man
being what
he was
that is the
Jew
representing
the whole
human race
in whom
God
made
trials
in the
Jew
the fact
was
that man
was not
able to
answer
that righteous
demand
and so
the result
of that
trial
is in the
early Romans
every mouth
is stopped
and the
whole world
becomes
subject to
the judgment
of God
the hand
on the
mouth
no response
but rather
in the way
that grace
operates
and prevails
reaches our
heart
by way of
the conscience
and changes
our life
everything
right
everything
pleasing to
God
what a wonderful
thing it is
that in this
world in heaven
it will be so
but as it has
been emphasized
so much
and as we
cannot shut
our eyes to
fact
we are living
in an advanced
stage of
lawlessness
and according
to Philippians 2
which was
quoted this
afternoon
it is where
God gets
us to plan
without murmuring
is this so
in this world
in Christendom
it is
exactly the
opposite
it is not
doing things
without murmuring
man overrates
himself
is over assessing
himself
and the
modern idolatry
comes out in
2nd Timothy
chapter 3
we live in
days when
the idolatry
takes its form
men are lovers
of their own
selves
lovers of their
own selves
lovers of pleasures
rather than lovers
of God
so this is the
modern form of
idolatry
God is still
behind the back
of the creature
even in
Christendom
what a wonderful
thing it is when
it is the reverse
and God wins the
day with us
as he has done
and God is
everything to us
the will broken
the hearing
the ear open
and we don't
want to miss
anything that
he says
the word that
the spirit speaks
the word the
word of God
we love it
lovers of God
rather than
like the world
in contrast
and so
Philippians 2
emphasizes the
contrast in this
way and it's a
very practical
word for us
beloved
in these days
it's perhaps a
good start in
this meeting
that we
and God gets
his triumph
here in this
world
whether it be
in this country
or any country
of Europe
or America
it's all alike
and man's will
prevails
the will of the
people
that which
that which
shows itself
clever
in the past
in the past
century
in the profession
of Christianity
which was
called
Unitarianism
and
the mind of man
coming into
things
setting aside
the word of God
that developed
into a
political
outlet
in the
liberal
movement
and then
in the
in the
labor movement
and it
cannot stop
there until
it devolves
further into
the
into the
communist
movement
and so
what we see
is springing
from Christendom
communism
springs from
Christendom
and all
the
lawlessness
that prevails
in the way
of the
worst crimes
that are
perpetrated
as it sits
in Christendom
as a profession
in a state
of things like
that beloved
we are called
to be true
righteous
representatives
of God
and so
Philippians 2
puts it on it
do all things
without murmurs
and discrepancies
that you may
blame us
and harm us
just exactly
what we are
that children
of God
without rebuke
in the midst
of a
crooked
he cannot
make straight
and a
perverse
he cannot
make proof of
generation
and by doing
all things
without murmurs
and discrepancies
we come out
in our true
character
as children
of God
as lights
lights
and holding
forth the
word of life
I believe the
holding forth
of life
is the power
and if there
isn't the power
of the gospel
in our lives
our word in the
gospel however
we shout
in the streets
is not as
effective
it was Mr. Darby
in his lectures
in London
when he was
giving lectures
on the official
of the Hebrews
in Park Street
London
and he said
a little
brokenness of
spirit in this
city would do
more good
than fill in
this city
with miracles
and we are
in a world
which is
exciting
and there
are exceptional
methods that
draw attention
to themselves
in a gang way
whereas
the very
brokenness of
spirit which
becomes us
in a world
like this
and subject
as a
willing subject
as the grace
of God
prepares us to
be and
to be willing
subjects
it is here
where we rightly
represent God
as lights
and it does
not make a noise
but a light
is seen
and people
can't
describe
the light
of those
who have
come to
this world
and it is
the grace
of God
that guides
us
that teaches
us
that having
denied
all godliness
everything
that is unworthy
and worthiness
we should live
soberly
that is
personally
and
righteously
in relation
to others
and godly
in relation
to God
in this
present course
of things
that God
is allowing
and looking
for that
blessed hope
and the
feeling of
the joy
of our
great God
and Savior
Jesus Christ
Amen. …