The Father's house - our house

… Luke 15, verse 22, But the Father said to his servant, Bring forth the best robe, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatty calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, Colossians 3, verse 16, Colossians 3, verse 16, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, semicolon, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, semicolon, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord, or to God. Now will I turn you, may I turn you to the Old Testament, to the book of Exodus, the book of Exodus, chapter 10, verse 23, Exodus 10, verse 23, They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Now chapter 12, verse 3, Speaking unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for the house, and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it, according to the number of the souls. Verse 8, And they shall eat the flesh in that night roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Verse 11, And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hands, and ye shall eat it in hasten. I would like, beloved saints of God, to relate these scriptures to the general exercise that has brought us together. That is the question of the Christian household. There are others better able, I'm sure, to stand here and tell you about this. And there are better scriptures, you might think, that one could have chosen to illustrate this. But what is before one's mind in turning you to Luke 15 is that the blessed Father of God, the Father has a house, and He knows how to run it. And beloved saints of God, I thought that objectively we might get into our souls, how God runs His house, or how the Father runs His house, as an object lesson for us who try to run houses down here at Christianity. So in verse 22, I've drawn your attention to what the Father said. This is worth meditating upon, beloved saints of God. It's worth spending a moment or two upon. The Father said, turn it over in your professions, beloved saints of God. This is what the Father said. You see, He's not only postulating relationship, but it's love there. It's what the Father said. These are the characteristic features of the Father's house. So the Father speaks, and the Father says. What does He say? He says, bring forth the best robe. Bring forth the best robe. Let's remove from this returned prodigal all reluctance of coming in. Let him understand the ways onward. Let him see that I've got the very best robe out of the wardrobe of heaven to put upon him. And let all reluctance to come in be removed from his soul. In other words, beloved saints of God, it seems to me, the very first feature brought before us in this verse is peace. Peace in the house. Peace in the heart, beloved saints of God. Marvelous feature is peace in the heart in the Father's house. It seems to me that what the Father said, what I want to establish first in my house is this sense of peace. This sense of unruffled tranquility that is never going to be disturbed. This is the first feature, it seems to me, according to the context here of the Father's house. The next thing the Father says is, bring out, I suppose, and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. That's the next thing. Access, beloved. Shoes to go in. Liberty. Movement. The Father's house speaks of all these things. It not only speaks and brings peace to your heart when you go in there, beloved saints of God. It's a marvelous place in the Father's house. Do you know, beloved saints of God, they don't talk about sin there. It's all, or sins, it's all finished. It's left outside. The very blessed man there who is the prophet is finished with. And so when you go into the Father's presence you don't talk about sins. You talk about Christ, the great sin bearer. And the Father would like to listen to you. What a lesson to learn, beloved saints of God. But listen, let's get on because I'm not going to detain you long. I don't think it's right to occupy too long a time when other brethren are here. And so I move on quickly. Third feature in the Father's house, joy. Joy, beloved saints of God. Joy. Do you know, I look for Him all day morning. After the breaking of bread, I thought, ah, we're going to enter. A brother gave out a hymn about the Father's house. He said, I'll pass up there, he says in the hymn. Oh, but we came down to the cross again. We came down to the cross again. It might be necessary, beloved, because we're not fit perhaps. Well, we are constituted, but we haven't got the spiritual ability to climb. I suppose that's the answer. So again, instead of getting the joy, instead of your spiritual faith being with David, dancing before the ark, we found ourselves down here again. Occupied with the cross. Very blessed occupation. Let me say this, beloved saints of God. Make no mistake about this. This is imperative we understand this. But, you see, the purpose of the message, God, is not merely to forgive you your sins. But His purpose is, He's going to have you up there where His beloved Son is, and you're going to be like Him. And if I may say so, He would delight in your company even now. In the Father's house. Joy, beloved. Why can't we reach it? Well, we haven't the spiritual ability, I suppose. But the Father's house can arise by peace, movement, and joy. I leave that with you as objective. In regard of the Christian household, and turn quickly now to Colossians 3. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. That's the verse. Statement in the verse. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. This is all the best. The Spirit of God will open up to you, beloved saints of God, a reservoir of heavenly truth. Of precious truth. A fullness, beloved, that is unfathomable. And yes, beloved, which you and I will never come. It's open up to us. But in the opening of this word, let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly. I go to the practical side now, you see, of the Christian household. Of the Christian household. Here is a marvellous thing, beloved saints of God. It all disposed. Coming along over Carter Bar, just before you reach it, you remember, there's a great reservoir on the left-hand side of the road. I'm told it supplies some of the water for Newcastle. Thirsty people, perhaps, in Newcastle. I trust we're thirsting after the water of life tonight, beloved saints of God. Here in the blessed man, in the glorious reservoir of inexhaustible blessings. And they belong to you. O beloved head, young head of the house, or old head of the house, if you like. Have you not listened to your heart? You have a Christ, and you have an inexhaustible reservoir of heavenly truth. Whatever you like to put into it. All that he is, is presented to us. I put in the context of commotions the truth that we've considered together. The impassive and wonderful truth of the headship of Christ. Well, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Now, the result of this, beloved, will be in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. Bless you. In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. Not, beloved saints of God, finding your chit-chat, so to speak, in the clouds and the wind and the weather. But finding your conversation, your gossip, if you will. Finding what you have to say related to the content of the heart that is drunk in something. Drunk in something of the spiritual wealth that is contained in having the word of Christ dwelling in you richly. Richly. So you are confident in all wisdom, it says. You know what wisdom is? You always talk to me the other day about wisdom. They want to know, doesn't mean knowledge and wisdom. I'm not clever enough, beloved, to tell you that. I tell you what, I know what wisdom is as far as I'm concerned. A very ordinary man, wisdom is the trouble. And knowledge is the bricks and mortar. And you use the trowel to put the bricks and mortar together. There's nothing to get at any of this. Beloved saints of God. That's all I know about wisdom. I put it to you again very briefly and simply. It's the trowel which uses the bricks and the mortar. The knowledge that blessed God has given you. It's a wonderful thing, wisdom. You find it, beloved saints of God, in Jesus, among the people of God, in the assemblies. And finally, of course, you find it in Christ. He is all wisdom. Moving on, it says, None of us are to be richly indwelled. This is a whole good thing run on these lines. The head of the house and others, filled richly with this dreadful, eternal, and unfathomable well. What will their conversation consist of? Why, they'll talk of Christ. Of course they will. They'll talk of divine things. They won't be able to present it. I was reading the other day about what somebody called the family altar. I don't know if you've heard the expression, have you? The family altar. Do you know what it means? Well, in the mind of the righteous men, that in the household, the head of the house gets down with the word of God and read it with his family. I thought one of the greatest compliments that ever came to me, and forgive me if I mention myself, rather distasteful, was when dear Huston said to me, well brother, he said, I find you not only pray for your children, but you pray with them. There's no greater compliment, beloved saints of God, than that you pray with your children. Not only for them, but with them. And read the word of God with them. Of course, you must read the word of God with them. Not lightly, not frivolously, not rapidly and quickly, but soberly, quietly, dependently. That's the family altar, beloved. Oh, what a blessed place it is. What a precious thing, the Christ of God, to find a home there. To find hearts there that are attracted to himself, that pay attention to his precious work, and are concerned about being down here, a replica of what he is up there, and a replica in the household of the Father's house, as presented perhaps in Luke 15. We're not only competent now to acknowledge one another, but you are able to do something God-like. One is man-ward, you notice. There's admonishing, obviously, man-ward. You don't admonish God, you admonish one another. And then there's a moment God-ward. Spiritual song, singing with grace in your hearts to God. That's it. Something going up from the household, beloved saints of God, simply going up in praise and thanksgiving and worship to God. Admonished, certainly, man-ward, but singing here, doesn't say in your heart, does it? I'm getting mixed up with Ephesians. Singing is a question with one another in Ephesians, but here it's singing with grace in your heart to God. What a beautiful picture. The Spirit of God draws us here, doesn't it? Isn't it? It's impeccable, these words. Couldn't be improved upon. The little delightful creature. Of the house of God. Of the Christian household. As presented in Washington School. Now, verse 17. Now, all relations ought to be taken up. All household relations need to be taken up in the light of verse 17. Whatsoever ye do in world or deed, all in the name of the Lord Jesus. I can see a prosperous household here, beloved saints of God. I can hear almost the words of the head of the house doing this, or his wife doing that, or the children doing the other, in the name of the Lord. Doing all things. You see this, beloved saints of God? Every little detail of your life being done, what does it say? Whatsoever ye do in world or deed, you all, all in the name of the Lord. Beloved saints of God, it's not only a gift, so to speak. It's not only a moment, forward button. This is a marvellous break, of all one's activities. See, you're never going to do something. What is it you're going to do? You've got something to read. What is it? What do you pick up? Will you pick up the daily paper, in the name of the Lord? Will you twiddle the valve, or the knobs on your television, in the name of the Lord? Or will you do this, or will you do that, in the name of the Lord? You see, beloved saints of God, you're going to be handicapped, from the worldly point of view, if you take this seriously, and literally, it's what it's meant to be. It's what it's meant to be. If the Word of God has no authority, beloved, it's not the Word of God at all. But this Word is the authoritative Word of God, and it demands implicit obedience. Let us never forget. It doesn't matter about sentiment. It comes in often enough. One has heard some of it this afternoon, after the reading. Sentiment, beloved, has no place here. There's no substitute for love. Don't let us think it is. Don't let us be guiled by sentiment, and being sentimental when the Word of God says something, you can't get around it. At least, you shouldn't want to get around it. It's His Word. So, in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Have I said enough, beloved, just to paint a little tiny picture in a general way of the general atmosphere of a Christian home. Everything there being done in the name of the Lord Jesus. There is the Lordship brought in, you see, as well as the passing of the Blessed Savior. Well, I'm going to turn you now to the Old Testament. Let down more to more particular incidents or facts. Very briefly, that's in Exodus 11. These are features that you might count one by one. Therefore, they go to build up a Christian household. The first is in verse 23 of chapter 10. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. That's, of course, Egyptians. But, all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. You see that? Actually, beloved, they were there. Because, in spirit, I suppose, at least, they've been back to Dothraki. They had repented of the awful misdeeds. They find themselves now in Goshen. And it says of them, all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. You see that? Divine light, beloved, sent to God, canonizing the Christian household. Would you see were there? Would you agree were there? In their dwellings. They had light, beloved. I don't mean, and I don't think the word means they lit a candle, or they lit a lamp. I don't think they did at all. No, I think the blessed God was quite able to give them light in their dwellings, although there was darkness all around. Beloved saints to God, we may think these are terrible things we've considered together this afternoon, but I firmly and honestly believe they are essential and necessary. That at times we should get down to a fast test. We are getting too cowardly to face facts often enough. And when the spirit of God brings them before us in the word of God, let's accept it. For Dothraki. Divine light in the dwellings. What a wonderful thing it is, beloved saints of God. You've got a home, you've got a household, haven't you? Is there divine light shining in their dwellings? You know the chap he said to me the other day, I think I told it somewhere, he said, supposedly the Lord Jesus follows you over the doorstep into your home just to be going to pick a book up. Would you put it back quickly, because it wouldn't suit him? Oh yes, we are trying to smile at these things, my beloved. And the supposition, of course, is impossible. But spiritually, spiritually I mean, doing all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, which book are you going to pick up? Divine light in the dwelling. Light, of course, is the knowledge of God, we know. Can you see it? So you see, the family often comes in very handy, doesn't it? It's not only that the word of God has a cleansing effect, if it does nothing else, but it builds up a sense of God. It will bring you to the light, so to speak, so that in your dwelling there will be divine light. What a marvelous thing for the neighbour. Why? What's that coming out of the window? It's the light, it's the light of God. It's the testimony of the blessed God that is seen so clearly in the behaviour, the comportment of those members of the Christian family. In Egypt, beloved, it's dark. You and I are living in the midst of mortal darkness. Let us make no mistake about this. The nation which we love, perhaps all love, all love, and the cause at which one day, at one time we live in, perhaps, we find that they are being overturned and they're turning the backs off the light and the truth and they're plunging the nation, beloved saints of God, into a phase of immorality that has never been seen before. Beloved hearers, may I tell you what I heard last week? That is a prominent speaker saying, the post-Christian era, beloved, are you and I living in the post-Christian era? Let Egypt think so, they will. We are not living in the post-Christian era. We are living in the Christian era and shall we and will we until he comes. But, I'm going to be honest with you, how dark and dense is the immorality and lack of life in Egypt when they can talk in these terms. The second feature, of course, I must point out, number two, is the Lamb. John often talks about John 1. There's many things one can say about John 1, but you know one thing a speaker has to learn is self-discipline. And you don't say everything that comes into your mind. You have to pick and choose. I'm choosing to say this, beloved, when the Blessed Lord wanted to keep the Passover, he picked two men who wrote about the Lamb. Now you put that together, John and Peter. When he is being recorded in the opening chapters of John, John says that he must have astounded the Jews. He says, God has got a Lamb. Beloved saints of God, do you realize God has a Lamb? When our brother mentioned the new meat offering, I think, in his prayer this morning, this flashed into one's mind. Do you know, beloved, in connection with the new meat offering when God speaks of seven lambs being executed, being sacrificed, why does God want seven lambs at the opening of Christianity, say? Because he would impress your heart and mind with what the Lamb character, the precious Christ of God, really means to him. Seven, you know, is a number of utter perfection. And he wants your heart and mind to dwell upon the utter perfection of the precious Christ of God in the creatures as of the Lamb of God. So here he talks about the Lamb. Oh, brother, I heard a brother once just quote this, and he shook one, rigid, but it didn't mean a great deal of good. This is what the word says. If the household be too little for the Lamb. Some brother once said, I remember, no doubt I've seen it personally, if the Lamb be too little for the house. No, no. Beloved, dear householder, the Lamb is never too little for your house. Always too little. It's an immense thought business, the thought of the Lamb of God. And the scripture says if the household be too little for the Lamb, cheer. That's it. But the second creature that I've brought before you is this illuminating thought of what the Lamb means to God and to us. What a feature in the house, beloved brethren. The features of Christ as the sacrifice offered to God. But all that that means and entails, which you know perhaps better than I, these features seen and enjoyed by the members of the Christian household. Feature number two. Feature number one, divine might and adoring. Feature number two, an appreciation of God's value, which he places upon the Lamb. Feature number three, they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire. Of course, when I talk about the Lamb, beloved saints of God, obviously in one's mind is the shed blood. I don't think we can separate the thoughts one from the other. You know very well as I, that the blood was put on the little and the side roast. Somebody said to me the other day, supposedly they left one of the children outside. Oh, supposition, isn't it? Dreamful can that be? To leave a child outside? Outside? Oh, beloved saints of God, we are shocked at such an idea, but I wonder whether we are caught up with the idea that our children can pose just how they please and not come under the same shelter that you and I see. What a cowardly thing to dive for shelter and leave your children behind, isn't it? I've had this probe to me, practically I mean. I was in the airport. One day Jerry came over, machine gunning the Nissen hut in which I was working. What did I do? I dived under the table. Do you know what the last stage were in my section? They went on typing. Did my face turn red? Beloved saints of God, I was diving for shelter and I was left outside. Eh? No. Don't let this characterise the Christian household. Let us see that the children are brought in with the parents under the shelter of the gate. Excellent. There were, you know, a type, I suppose, of Satan. He said to them, to Moses and Aaron, he says, you know, you can go, I've got no objection. You go and you can, as long as you leave us everything behind. Let the men go. You leave your children behind. My mother used to say you can't catch all sparrows with salt. And Pharaoh, or the devil, couldn't catch Moses out in this. Don't let him catch us up. Moses says no. We all go or we all stay. That's it. Simple, isn't it? We all go or we all stay. Feature number three. Feeding the flesh in that night. Gospel. Something now, for the love and sakes of God, to your affections, of course, feeding upon the preciousness of the offering to God. A third feature. I mustn't tell you, Gospel, the time and tide we read or hear Quentin O'Brien. So passing on then to feature number four, and to Bible one, and thus, shall ye hear it with your loins girt. I read the other day what the head of the household said about his father. He says, you know, I was brought up in a household where every day my father would talk about the coming of the Lord Jesus. And he says, I was brought up in the very atmosphere of expectancy. Day by day, he said, we expected Jesus to come because the head of the house was always talking about it. The fourth feature, beloved, a Christian household. You're ready to go. You're ready to go. Thou and thy house is ready to go. Feast in haste. That's it. You know where you're going. You're going to leave Egypt behind. Beloved, have you left Egypt behind in your affections yet? Oh, he wants us to leave Egypt behind in our affections. For him, across the Red Sea it needs be, and into the wilderness, but not to stay there, but into the good land. Beloved, you and I have no idea how gracious the Lord is. And if the household is devoted to him, we may be sure of this, that he has the competency and the desire to pour into the household all those features that will satisfy his own heart and bring joy into yours. …