Plumstead Bible Conference 2012

… I would like to begin by reading one verse from the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Proverbs 30, verse 4, the second half. Proverbs 30, verse 4, in the middle, where it says, according to the JND translation, Who hath established all the ends of the earth, what is his name? And what is his son's name, if thou knowest? The verse I just read is, one could say, from one side, a rather mysterious verse in the Old Testament. Mysterious, not in the sense that it cannot be understood, but that it expresses an ignorance, in a way, of man at that time concerning God and his son. Because it is clear that Solomon here speaks of God and his son, but he puts it in the form of a question. What is his name? How many names do we not find in the Old Testament of God, the Almighty, Jehovah, the Lord, etc.? And we could continue. How many titles of the Lord Jesus, his beloved Son, do we not find in the Old Testament? The Anointed, the King, the King of Kings, etc. This is not our subject. The subject tonight is the Son of God in the New Testament, and especially in the writings of the Apostle John, with whose first epistle we are occupied during this conference, as we were during the past conferences which have gone by. This verse shows us, on the other hand, that there is, in a certain sense, the ignorance as to the Son of God. Because in the Old Testament it was not revealed that the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, is the eternal Son of God. In Psalm 2 it is said that God says, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. But this is said absolutely clearly with a view to the manhood of Christ. In eternity it could never be said that the Lord was generated, that he had an origin, no eternal generation. But it could only be said, and in eternity it could not have been said this day. There was not a day in eternity. One could say the whole eternity is one day without a beginning and without an end. So when Psalm 2, verse 7 says, Thou art my Son, this day I have begotten thee, this speaks of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus in this world, not of his eternal being. This day I have begotten thee. So this was known. And when the Lord Jesus was standing in judgment before the high priest, the high priest asked him, Are thou the Son of God, the Son of the Blessed One? So they knew that the Messiah would be the Son of God, but only in the sense of Psalm 2. Born as man into this world. And that is one of the reasons which explain the question here. There was no revelation in the Old Testament as to the eternal Sonship of Christ. We have another passage which could be quoted some pages further on. Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, is it chapter 11, where it is said, A child has been born and a son has been given. Isaiah 9, verse 6, For unto us a child is born and to us a son is given. Now one could say that this was a mere repetition, but in the Word of God nothing is repetition. So that the child clearly pointing to the Lord Jesus as the eternal Son of God coming down into this world was born is understandable. But the Holy Spirit says here the Son was given because he was already there from all eternity. And this is also I'm sure a thing which the writer in the Old Testament did not know and understand. But he wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and it could only be understood in the light of shed by the Holy Spirit after his coming in this world in consequence of the work of salvation which the Lord Jesus accomplished. So there are things in the Old Testament which have not been revealed. The assembly, the Church of God united to the Lord Jesus as man glorified in heaven who is the head of his body is a mystery which was not revealed in the Old Testament, only in the New Testament. But when we come now to the New Testament and especially to the epistles of John, we will find, and I'll tell you a little short story, we will find only after much investigation and much research what had been found, you can read it in Darby's Miscellaneous Writings Volume 5, which is not in the collected writings in these the black series of 34 volumes, but there are two light blue volumes added later on by some brother in the United States and the second of them is the volume Miscellaneous Writings Volume 5. If you open this volume you will find what work this brother J.N. Darby has put into the research, I use this word, of the precious person of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament. You will find there a list of all verses in the entire New Testament, beginning in Matthew and ending in Revelation, all the verses which contain one or more names or titles of the Lord Jesus. The brother has gone through the whole New Testament, the entire New Testament, and noted by hand every verse where the Lord Jesus is mentioned in one of his names or titles. Then he has grouped these in a second part, all these titles according to the epistles and their frequency. How often does one name occur in one or the other letter, epistle? For example, just to mention one example, the Christ is mentioned in Colossians, practically the only epistle where it is used continually, constantly the Christ. So this is characteristic of that epistle, but to find this you have to go through, and this brother, very gifted, very well known, he didn't get all this from nothing. He has sat there for hours and hours and days and days, reading scripture, noting the precious expressions concerning the Lord Jesus, and then has grouped them all and we can just read them, and in our age of the computer it's much, much easier to find all these things than at that time, and to print them, but I tell you this little story only, which impressed me when I saw this for the first time decades ago, I was, I must say, I was stunned. But after, at looking at this work, not all the other, right, I'm only speaking of this research work of that brother, who went through the whole Testament only to find all the precious names of his Lord and Savior, and then he could speak about him, and he could write about him, but I tell you that, that all this did not come from nothing. It was hard work, but it was work which was crowned by a life of one of whom we can think with reverence and honor, because he has brought to light many more things, except that the titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we turn now to the New Testament, to the epistle of John, the first epistle of John, with which we have been occupied, you will find in that book, and mind you, it's all handiwork. There was no computer at that time. There was no, not even a, probably a concordance to go through all these titles. So there may be some deviations and some omissions, but at any rate, it is a very, very impressive work, which shows us the estimation this brother had for the Word of God and for his Lord and Savior. And if we go through the epistle of John, the first epistle of John tonight, just not to mention all the names, there are about 25 different titles of the Lord Jesus, titles and names of the Lord Jesus in the first epistle of John. But we won't go through them all, don't be afraid. I will only take six or seven, which are only used by John, and mostly in this epistle. That means these are expressions, these are names of the Lord Jesus, which are specific to the apostle John. And we know that John is a very special disciple. He's the only one who wrote of himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. And I hope we all are clear about the matter, the question, that he did not mean to say that he was the only, that he was the one Jesus loved specially more than the others. If that would be your thought, you would not grasp what John meant. He did not put himself above the other disciples, by no means. The Lord Jesus loved them all as he loves us all. There is no difference. We have, naturally, this difference that the Lord says when somebody, in John 14, if somebody keeps my commandments, my father will love him, and I will love him, and we will come and take our dwelling with him. So there is a special relationship of the Lord with everybody, every believer. He loves us all in the same way as his saved ones. But still, if we are obedient, there will be, the Lord says it himself, a love which goes beyond that love of the Savior. But John did not speak of that. John spoke of the love the Lord Jesus had to all, all his disciples. But there the question is, are we conscious of that fact? Are you conscious of the fact that the Lord Jesus loves you? Now that is the answer to the question, what did John mean when he said the disciple whom Jesus loved? He did not mean to say he loved me more than the others. And he did not, by no means, mean to say that he did things which pleased the Lord more than what the others did. The only answer is that John was the one disciple who was conscious of this continuous, eternal love of the Lord. And that's why he could write that. And by this, he did not put himself above the others. But he only expresses how important it is that we not only know in our heads that the Lord Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, but we have it in our hearts and enjoy it and can say, I'm a disciple, I'm a believer whom Jesus loves. That was the thing. He was a very special man, John. But we are not concerned about John tonight. We are concerned of what he was inspired to write about the Lord Jesus and he alone. And the first of these several expressions is in the first chapter of the first epistle of John in verse 2, where he says in the brackets, And the life has been manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and report to you the eternal life which was with the father and has been manifested to us. This is the first name of the Lord Jesus. I wouldn't say a title. Title is something more, something officially given to a person. But what is said here of the Lord Jesus is the culmination of a sentence which begins right at the start of the epistle, where the apostle writes, That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, that which we contemplated and our hands handled concerning the word of life. Then comes the sentence between brackets. So we see here the things concerning the word of life, then the life has been manifested, and then the eternal life. It is the Lord Jesus, the eternal son, of whom it is said that he is not only the word of life, the expression of all what God, which all that God is in the beginning was the word. And when he came into this world, he was not only the word as the perfect expression of everything which is in God, because he was and is God. So only he could express what is in God. He is the word, but he is also the word of life, because what he gave us is eternal life. The word of life, the life, he is the life. But then the last culminating expression is the eternal life. And everybody has used this word many times, I think, who believes in the Lord Jesus. I have eternal life. And superficially, one would say, well, eternal life is a life without end, eternal. And it is true, but it is only not even half of the truth. It's only a very small part of the truth, because the truth we find here in this verse, right in the beginning of the epistle, and one more time only at the end of the epistle, in chapter 5, verse 20, where it is said, 1 John 5, 20, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. These are the two expressions which show us that this eternal life of which we have heard so many things and have used it probably very frequently, what it really means. It is not by far more than only a life without an end. One could actually say that even an unbeliever, I would not say life, but has an eternal existence. All believers have this eternal existence. Their soul is immortal, but what is said here is much more than that we, by believing in the Lord Jesus, as John 3, 16 says, that everyone who believes, whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but will have eternal life. There, one could think it is an existence in blessing for all eternity, and it is true, but it falls short of what the word means by eternal life. And this is what the Holy Spirit, especially in the writings of John, means when he says eternal life. It is not an existence, it is not even a quality of existence, but it is a person. He is the eternal life, the eternal Son. It is something to which Paul once approaches when he says in Colossians 3, verse 4, Christ our life. That's the only passage where Paul approaches this, that the life which we have received approaches this, that the life which we have received by believing in the Lord Jesus is not a quality which we possess, but that it is a person, Christ our life. And here, he is the true, the only true God and eternal life. So what we have received, and this is unique for John, none of the other apostles goes so far in depth concerning the relationship of the believer with God as John. God gives us life, and it said this life is in his Son in chapter 5, verse 11. But here he says in these two passages that the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son is eternal life. What does that mean for us? What does this show to us? It shows us, beloved ones, and I hope that everybody who is present here can say, well, yes, I have received that eternal life. Even if I don't know everything about it, the depth of its meaning, but I have it. But this eternal life means that we have received divine life. But that this life is represented, no, it is present in the Lord Jesus in us. He is our life. And this is one of the thoughts which show that a true believer can never be lost again. Christ, his life, should far be the thought, be lost with him, impossible. Eternal life means that God has given us his own life shown and revealed revealed in the person of his Son who is this life. He is the true God and eternal life. More, we may reverently say, God could not give to man because man can never become God. But what more can a man receive through grace than the life of God himself in the eternal Son who is the expression of God, who brought God close to us in coming into this world as the eternal life, but who could only bring us to God by dying on the cross, so bridging the cleft which separated us from him. What a precious thing, and it's only John who speaks about it, of this relationship which could not be closer than to be a child of God, possessing the same life as God revealed in his Son, and the life is his Son. He is our life. He, the eternal life. And that is why we have eternal life. And when it says in John 5, verse 11, this life is in his Son, this shows us that it is intrinsically not our part. We have to be very careful there not to go too far in our expressions, but the life is not originally in us. It is originally and intrinsically in the Lord Jesus, in the eternal Son. But he has given it to us because we believed in him. And so we have this life, but we have it in him. But what a precious thing to consider the divine nature, the divine life in the Lord, in the eternal Son, and being able to say, he is my life. He, the eternal life, is my life. This is blessing. This is riches which the human mind cannot grasp and which human expressions are too feeble to express. But it is a wonderful thing, unique for the apostle John. Then we have another beautiful expression in chapter 2, verse 1, where John writes, my children, these things I write to you in order that you may not sin. And if anyone sin, we have a patron with a father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The note in the Derby translation is very, very illustrating. It says, paracletus, or comforter, as John 14, the gospel, etc. Some verses are given. Christ manages all our affairs for us above, the Holy Spirit below. In us, patron, it is the sense rather of the Roman patron who maintained the interests of his clients in every way. So Christ on high, the spirit here for saints. In another passage, Derby says, the word comforter or patron or advocate, as it is sometimes translated in some translations, paracletus, actually means the modern solicitor. Somebody who is capable and able and willing to take upon him the cause of his client and do everything for him to make a success of his cause. That is the meaning of this word paracletus, patron, or comforter. And this explains that there are two comforters, two patrons. The one is here in 1 John 2, verse 1. The other in the Gospel of John. We all know that. I just mentioned one of the four passages where the comforter is mentioned. The first one, where he is called, very fittingly, as follows, John 14, verse 16. And I, says the Lord Jesus, will beg the Father, and he will give you another comforter, that he may be with you forever, the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. So he says here, a comforter. He says another comforter, and he identifies him as the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, which, whom everybody who believes in the Lord Jesus has received after believing the Gospel of salvation. Why does the Lord Jesus say another comforter? Very simple. Because we see here, he is our comforter in the first place. And perhaps even without bringing any order or rank into the persons of the Godhead, which would be disastrous, the Lord Jesus was the comforter, the advocate of his disciples, even when he was with them on earth. But he says, I will leave you now, but you will not be alone. I will send you another comforter. So, what Darby writes in his note is a wonderful truth, that we are, as believers in this world, not alone, but we have two advocates, the one in us and with us, the Holy Spirit, of whom we read many things, things in chapter John 14 to 16, who takes our cause in hand and will lead us and conduct us until the end of our pathway, when the Lord Jesus will come and take us home. He is with us and he will never leave us. He is in you and is with you and will be with you in eternity, the Lord Jesus said. But then we have the comforter, the patron at the right hand of God, our Lord Jesus, the son as patron with the father. And in 1 John 2 it is said, why? One could say, if we have eternal life and a safety which can never be shaken, why do we need a patron with a father? Why do we need a comforter, an advocate, a solicitor, divine, heavenly solicitor, who takes our cause in hand and will accomplish it? If our salvation is secure and unshakable, it is true, our salvation is unshakable. And still, how are we? How was our day today, the last seven days, the last month, the last year, our Christian life? Can we say that we have always lived in the full enjoyment of the blessing which we have received in Christ? I couldn't. Could you? That's why we need the comforter in us, to always turn us back and take us back to the Lord Jesus. We wouldn't keep ourselves, we couldn't keep ourselves. It's always and only the care of the Lord Jesus by his spirit and by himself. The spirit, which can be put aside in his practical working in our lives, in his practical working in our lives, and we can do the same in our practical lives with the Lord Jesus. And still, the work of the spirit goes on and the work of the Lord Jesus goes on. And if we have gone astray, sinned, what then? Satan says, in this state, you can never go back to the Lord. Do you know that? Have you experienced that? You must first prove that you are really a child of God and follow him before you can go back to him. That is what Satan tries to keep us away from the Lord. But the Lord is our patron with the Father. And he is there to bring us back. Have you ever thought about when you have gone astray? Maybe only in thoughts, not with your feet, who has brought you back, who has taken you back on the pathway of faith? You see, you yourself, everybody will admit that this is not the case. We won't turn back by ourselves. Even the prodigal, the lost son, he was a type of an unbeliever. But he didn't go back by himself. When he came to himself, how did this come about? Did he turn around and go back to the Lord? Turn around by himself? It shows us, when he came to himself, shows us the result of the two parts of that parable which go before. The one, the shepherd, who seeks the sheep. The other, the woman with her oil lamp, who seeks the coin. In the third part of that one parable, it's only this parable the Lord spoke, three parts of one parable. In the last part, this is the seeking and looking, searching activities of God, the divine person, the Lord Jesus as the shepherd, and the woman with her lamp of oil as a type of the Holy Spirit. They show us what is going before. And the third part, the prodigal, the lost son, only shows how this comes about in our hearts, how this coming to himself was brought about, was not himself. It is the Lord Jesus himself who works in your conscience, in your heart, the confession, but he also intercedes with the Father. He is your and our comforter, our patron with the Father, who will never suffer that we go astray. He will follow us to bring us back, and he will be our comforter, our patron with the Father. And point, as we see in the second verse, at his own work. It is a very touching picture which is given here when it is said, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. It is not a question here of a believer being able to get lost again. This propitiation is the third expression, which is very peculiar to John, is something which always remains the foundation of our relationship to God, an eternal propitiation. Propitiation, but he is the patron who takes our cause in his hand, and will not suffer that we go astray and remain in this passage. This is different from the Lord Jesus as the high priest in Hebrews. The high priest has nothing to do with sinning. Here it is sinning. If we have sinned, and he doesn't say if we have sinned, because he doesn't see that as normal. I write to you that in order that ye may not sin, you, in the plural, but if anyone sin, he does not say, but if you sin, you all. God cannot suffer the thought that his own go ahead and go along sinning. It is always, may I dare to say, an accident. If anyone sin, but he does not have to despair. He knows I have a patron with a father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the guarantee that I will never get lost, that my sin, which has put a barrier between myself and the father in the practical sense of communion, but I will not be lost. He is at the groundwork, the propitiation for our sins, not alone, and not only for ours, but also for the whole world. This is the third word which we find here, the propitiation for our sins, which is repeated once in chapter 4, verse 10, where we see that John writes of God, here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son, a propitiation for our sins, the same expression. In the chapter 2, it is to reassure a believer who has gone astray. Who has sinned, and whose confidence and whose faith may be shaken, and it is very often the case, he says, no, Jesus Christ, the righteous, he is the propitiation. He has done everything. Propitiation is a word which is used very often in the Old Testament, and especially if we may turn to the great day of atonement, there we see what propitiation is. In Leviticus 16, we see Aaron, the high priest, with several sacrifices, but then he takes two sacrifices, two rams, he kills the one, and takes his blood into the tabernacle, into the holiest of all, and puts the blood on the mercy seat. The mercy seat in the New Testament is mentioned in Hebrews 9, verse 5, and in Romans 3, verse 25, and it is the same expression. It is actually a place of propitiation, and it shows us in Romans 3, verse 25, the Lord Jesus is called the mercy seat. It is translated otherwise, but in the Derby, it's mercy seat. He is the realization of that propitiation. He has made propitiation, but he as a person is the realization of that propitiation. It is not only his work, it is his person, and what does it mean that the high priest, which is also, by the way, is also a type of the Lord Jesus. He takes the blood of the sacrifice, which is also a type of the Lord Jesus, and puts it on the mercy seat, also a type of the Lord Jesus, before the eyes of the cherubs, before the eyes of God, because the mercy seat is styled the throne of God in the Old Testament. That is propitiation, that the blood of Christ, of the perfect sacrifice, fully and perfectly accomplished all the righteous demands which God had on man. We couldn't fulfill them. The Lord Jesus has done it, and by his blood, which was put typically on the mercy seat, the propitiation was accomplished. That is propitiation, that all God's desires were fulfilled as his righteous demands concerned with a view to the human sin were fully answered by this blood of a perfect sacrifice. There was one who had in his life answered to all demands of God, but he was the only one, and God had given him into this world as the sacrifice for propitiation, that he, as the only one, could answer by giving his blood, presenting it in the presence of God. That's propitiation. But then he says, for our sins. So, it is not only God's word, it is also man's word. And the second ram, which the high priest took on this great day of atonement, was not killed. The ram was taken, and the high priest put his hands on the head of this ram, and then he confessed the sins of all the people on this ram's head. And then he was not killed. He was sent away in a desert place, never to return. And there we have this other side of the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is, in the first place, God, but not only this. The reason why this propitiation was done was for our sins, but it had to be the answer to God's righteous demands as to sin and sinful man. The Lord Jesus is this. He is the propitiation, fully answering to all righteous desires, demands of God as to sin. So, this is said twice in this epistle, which shows that it is not only as the security for the believer, but we see in chapter 4, verse 10, also that it is a part of the gospel, or that the gospel cannot do without this propitiation. For it is said, I will just repeat it here, herein is love, the divine love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son, a propitiation for our sins. Then we have another expression, which is only used by John, and that is what we find in the second chapter, in verse 13 and 14. In verse 13 of this second chapter, we see that John writes, I write to you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. Then he writes, I write to you young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. And thirdly, I write to you little children, because ye have known the father. And then he repeats, in a way, I have written to you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written to you young men, and then he follows, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in ye, and ye have overcome the wicked one. And then, the exhortation, love not the world. And this goes on until the end of that passage. And then he speaks of, thirdly, in verse 18, to the little children, the longest exhortation until, practically until the end of the chapter. And this shows us that these three groups of believers, the fathers, the young men, and the children, are really existing groups of believers. And we would say, well, why doesn't he begin with the children, the little children, who have much to learn, as the following passages show, until the end, practically until the end of the chapter. And then the young men, who are already grown up, but not fully. And then, finally, the fathers. The divine thought is otherwise. God, you will find that in scripture throughout, always begins with that which is closest to his heart. In the tabernacle, he does not begin with the court, but he begins with the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. The image, the type of the Lord Jesus. The central point, which normally a man could not throw his eyes on, put his eyes on. It was invisible. But for God, it was the most important thing. If we take the offerings, the sacrifices, in Leviticus 1 to 6, he does not start with the sin offering. Our needs are not the first place that he starts with the burnt offering, the sacrifice which was fully and entirely for God. So here, he does not start with those. They are all his children. But he does not begin with those who have just believed in the Lord Jesus and who have much to learn. He's occupied with them. But he begins with those who are closest to him. And how can we see that they are closest to the father? Because they have known him that is from the beginning. And he that is from the beginning is the son of God, the eternal son of God. Come into this world as man, exactly what we have found in chapter 1, verse 1, etc. Come into this world forming, but in this way, the beginning of the present era of grace and of faith in Christ and of the assembly. That is the beginning. It is here, not here, the beginning of creation. Because then it would be quite out of place to say he is from the beginning. Is the son of God from the beginning eternally? He is in the beginning. He was there before the world was made. But from the beginning speaks of a start which is not creation. Which is the start of the humanity of the Lord Jesus, the eternal son of God. That is from the beginning. And that we can easily see that gather this from verse 1, chapter 1, verse 1. John says, we have seen it. We have heard it. We have even handled, put our hands on him. We know of what we speak of. What we speak of. That is from the beginning when the Lord was in this world. The eternal son coming into this world, forming by his walk and by his life and by his death, especially the foundation of the new era in which we live. And this person, the Lord Jesus, the eternal son in this world, accomplishing the will of God, was he not the person in whom God found all his delight? Thou art my beloved son in whom I find all my delight. He says this twice. And if these fathers have known him that is from the beginning, known in a satisfactory, in a satisfying, in a way of enjoyment, they cannot have any more. Can you understand that? You cannot have any more than him that is from the beginning. The son of God coming into this world, accomplishing the will of God for the blessing of men. Why can't you have more than that? There is nothing more. There is nothing more. And nobody, can you imagine? I have mentioned these two times where God the Father opened the heavens and spoke to and of his beloved son. Thou art my beloved son in whom I have found all my delight. Can you imagine yet that you need more than God needs? God finds all his delight in his son. The father delights in his son and we say, I need more. There is nothing more. One brother said once a thing which impressed me very much. The Lord Jesus at the right hand of God, the son in the bosom of the father, the bosom of the father is a person of whom God never takes his eyes away. God never takes his eyes, so to speak, from his beloved son. How often we do. That is why it is said to the young men who are strong, have overcome the wicked. Do not love the world. No, no, I don't love the world. Nor what is in the world. Oh, that's another thing. It will only take you away from the Lord. That is why those who, the fathers, ripened, matured Christians, male or female, have come to a point where they say, I have enough in Christ. I don't need anything more. I remember once when we were young people, a brother in Holland prayed in the prayer meeting this sentence. He said, oh, Lord Jesus, keep us in thy proximity. Keep us from searching something or anything else than thyself. Amen. That was his prayer. He was a father in Christ. He did not want anything more. And he did not need anything more. And he desired that others, that we all would be in that same position. I write you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. There is nobody else beyond the Lord. What a wonderful thing. So he could repeat that twice. There was nothing to add. With the other groups, the young men, a little more. With the children, little children, much more, because they were in great dangers, but not for the father. Wonderful thing. Then we have two more designations, names of the Lord. The one is chapter 4, verse 9. Also, these are all very well-known things. But it was on my heart to draw our attention to these precious expressions which we find here. The next one is chapter 4, verse 9. Herein, as to us, has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. How precious this Son is for the Father. We have seen a little bit about that. Here it is said that he is not only Son, but that he is the only begotten Son. Time doesn't allow us to go into this expression. But one thing is clear, that only begotten does not have the thought begetting in it. It is a false thought. In German, it's the same thing. Ein geboren, only born, only begotten. It's the false sense. It is the only one of his kind, monogenes. That is the sense. Was falsely translated. Perhaps false thoughts were already there. Right in the beginning, in the fourth century, when in the Vulgate, the Latin translation from monogenes in Greek, it was unigenitus in Latin. And there you have a participle, which means generated or begotten. The Lord, the eternal Son, has no beginning. There was not a day where he was begotten. There was not an eternity where he was begotten. He is eternally the Son, as the Father is eternally the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, there would be no trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if one had gone through forth from the other. It is a contradiction in terms. If either God is eternal, or God, part of the Godhead, you must say, is not eternal. You cannot be logical or illogical about it. It is his only Son, the only one of his kind. But he is the Son. But this is not a subordination, absolutely not. It is only showing us a relationship. In the eternal Godhead, there is no Father and Son in the human sense of the word, that there is parents and children. The Lord is never called the child of God, and rightly so. We are, because we are begotten by the living seed of the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit. But he is the only one of his kind. The relationship between the Father and the Son, and the Son, eternal Son, and the eternal Father, is the relationship of oneness in love. Oneness in love. That is the relationship which is shown to us. Because when it is said, God is love, God is light, is more or less absolute. Light sends its rays. But love has to have a partner, what do you say, an object. An object, thank you. Love, light does not have to have an object. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness, even if the darkness does not accept it, the light is there. But love has to have an object. And the Lord, the eternal Son, who says in John 17, 24, thou hast loved me before the foundations of the world, was the only worthy object of the love of the Father, eternal. We were not worthy objects. I was not. But there was eternally one perfectly worthy object of the perfect love of the Father. And vice versa, we can say. I love the Father, John 16. And when God revealed his love to us, we were unworthy. But let us by no means think that we were, the sinners were the first objects of the love of God. No, there was eternal love between the Father and his only begotten, his only, his unique son. And this son, the object of the perfect love, and this was reciprocally. Reciprocally, God did not spare, Romans 8, he did not spare his own son, but gave him for us all, his only begotten, his only son, that we might live through him. Of that life we have heard, and so we see that all these names are not intermingled, but are linked with each other to a perfect patron, a perfect image, a perfect picture. He sent, he gave his only begotten son. Here in John, in the epistle of John, the only begotten son is the only occurrence, but in the epistle of John, it occurs four times. John 1, verse 14, the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. This shows us this relationship. Look at all these places, these passages. We count chapter 1, 14, verse 18, and then 3, 16, he gave his only begotten son, and verse 18, once more, five times this expression is mentioned in John's writings only, and only once here in this epistle. And then, the last which I want to draw your attention to is chapter 4, verse 14, where we have the words, and we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Here it is, the apostolic speech, we is the apostles, not we, we haven't, I haven't seen him with my eyes, but the apostles could say we have seen, and they could say we witness, testify. What did they testify? That the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. This is also an expression unique to John, a very well-known expression, frequently used, but still only used by John, not only once. In his gospel, he uses it in putting it, no, not putting it into, but taking it from, the mouth of the woman at the well of Sychar, not even the woman, but the whole company of people. John 4, verse 14, no, John 4, verse 41, sorry, John, gospel of John, chapter 4, verse 41, and more a great deal believed on account of his word. And they said to the woman, it is no longer on account of thy saying that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, is the Savior of the world. Savior means somebody who brings salvation, somebody who takes men out of their state of perdition, and to bring them into salvation in the nearness of God, in his communion, fellowship, but therefore he had to die. The Son of God had to die. On the cross of Calvary, John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in him will not perish. That's the one. There's only two ways. That's why we have need of a Savior, but shall have eternal life. So we find all these expressions together. And if we look at them, and that was my desire, to deepen a little bit our understanding for this wonderful language which John especially uses as to the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. He is our Savior, and this is the way, the only way man can know the Lord Jesus. What we have said, perhaps there was one or two here who do not know the Lord Jesus as Savior. Perhaps you may have thought, what are you speaking about? What is this man speaking about? You can't understand it. Because if he is not your Savior, you cannot understand anything about the Lord Jesus. You cannot understand anything about the Son of God. You cannot understand anything about the most precious person in this world, has ever lived in this world. The Lord Jesus, my Savior, I hope he will be yours too. …

… Dear brothers, the Lord put on my heart to speak about one verse that the Lord mentioned in John 10, verse 10. It's a well-known verse by everyone here. Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 10. The Lord says, The thief comes not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I will repeat the second half of the verse. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. What is the abundant life? I am occupied to speak in few thoughts about the abundant life. First of all, let us begin by asking ourselves, what is the difference between life and abundant life? Christ, Son of God, came into earth, the Word was made flesh, He lived among us, He died on the cross, He was buried, He rose again, and He is glorified on the right hand of God. Why? First of all, to give us life, eternal life. But He calls this life, He gives it a certain qualification. He calls it that they may have the life abundantly. Abundant life, rich life. This is the portion of every one of us here. If you have accepted Christ and you have experienced the wonderful person coming into your life, you have taken His life and you are called to enjoy and to practice the abundant life. Why now we as believers in the new dispensation, the age of grace, why are we allowed to experience the abundant life? Because redemption was accomplished, the blood was shed, Christ is glorified, and the Holy Spirit was sent to dwell in our hearts. And through the indwelling of the Spirit, every believer, small or old, can enjoy the abundant life. What are the manifestations of the abundant life in the heart of, in the life, I mean, of every believer? First of all, let us go to John 4. Most of us know how the Lord went to the Samaritan woman and told her in verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Here is a woman who was suffering from deep thirst. She was looking for something to quench her thirst. She was looking into the lusts, into the world. And Christ came to her and offered something different that the world can never offer. He offered her a sort of water, the living water. And he says here, whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give. What is the water, Lord? If we ask the Lord this evening about what you are speaking, most of us know from studying the Bible that here the Lord Jesus is speaking about a gift that he is giving to everyone who accepts him. He is speaking about the Holy Spirit. And we can enjoy the abundant life and we can show the abundant life practically in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Look with me here to three facts that the Lord mentioned in this verse, verse 14. First one, whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. The water that I shall give him shall be in him. First of all, the water shall be in him. What's the meaning? The gift, the Holy Spirit is now indwelling, indwelling in everyone of us. And this is an important fact to know, not only to know mentally, but to have it before our eyes every day. The Holy Spirit, a divine person, is indwelling me. We know in the Old Testament he never indwelt anyone. But now he is not making visits or coming upon, but he is by his person, he is indwelling me and you. Let us go deep into this fact because it has a practical effect. So the first thing, the water shall be in him. Two, this water shall be like a well or a fountain of water. What's the meaning? By the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we can enjoy. We can enjoy heavenly things. We can enjoy fellowship with our Father. We can enjoy all what God is, if I can put it like this. We can enjoy God. We can enjoy him. We can enjoy his love. We can have communion with him. And we can worship him. This is abundant life. At home, you can go and kneel down at your room and open the Word of God and commune with the Father. And with the Holy Spirit, you can call him Abba, Father. All of us, I think, know that Abba, the Aramaic word, Father, Per, Pater, in every version it is translated like the language. Why Paul used the two words? Because the Lord Jesus, when he was here on earth in the Garden of Gethsemane, he addressed the Father and he told him Abba, Father. And by the Spirit now, every one of us, we are not afraid to approach God. And we come to him as Father. And we, we commune with him as Abba, Father. Intimacy. Abba is the word of intimacy at home. Abba, intimacy. This is abundant life. We are not called just to believe on the Lord, just to know and to study, which is very good. But we are called to rich life, rich life, which is manifested, first of all, in this sort of fellowship and worship. When we worship together, when we worship around the table of the Lord every Sunday, and when we worship even when we are alone. This is by the Holy Spirit. And then the Lord says, the one who drinks of this water shall never thirst. But let me pause here and ask myself and my brother, to be honest, do we sometimes, as believers, thirst? Practically we say, yes. Sometimes we understand this verse as if it is only for non-believers. No, this is a principle. Christ puts a principle. If you try to get your satisfaction from things of the world, you will end up being empty. But if we are in fellowship with the Father, what is the outcome? We are satisfied. What a word. Shall never thirst. Shall never thirst. People around us are thirsty. Sometimes we, as true Christians, are thirsty, but here is the promise for every one of us. This is the first manifestation of the abundant life. Life of fellowship and worship. The second manifestation, let us go to John 7. The well-known verses 37 to 39. In the last day, that great day of the feast, feast of tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this speak he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. And here, it's very clear that when Christ spoke about water, it means the Holy Spirit. It is not something that we try to figure, but it's clear in the word. Here the Lord says, if any man thirsts, he is calling the second time for those who feel thirsty. But there is a difference between John 4 and John 7. In John 4, what is the cause of thirst? The lusts of the world. In John 7, what is the cause of the thirst? The festivals of religious things. The Jews were celebrating the feast of tabernacles, but for seven days they were not satisfied. And at the eighth day, Christ stood and cried. Not often we read this, cried. He cried loudly. He has a call for everyone. If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. This applies to us too. We came to him when we felt that we need him as a savior. And we have to come to him daily. Do you remember Peter in his first epistle, chapter 1? Pardon me, chapter 2, he says about Christ at the stone, the living stone. He says, to whom you come. Not only you have come, yes, you have come at the beginning. And you come, you come always. We have to drink from the Lord every day to quench our thirst. And what is the result? He says here, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. A life of testimony before the world. So the first thing, life of communion, John 4. Life of fellowship, life of worship, life of satisfaction. But not only that aspect, we have another aspect. We have life of testimony. Yes, the Lord put us, every one of us in a place. Why? Through the Spirit. We have to testify for him. And how he describes the testimony, the personal testimony, he describes it in this term. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. It means not only to accept the Holy Spirit and he is indwelling us, but to give him liberty. Let me ask myself and be honest, my brothers and sisters. Is this the case with me always? That out of my being, inner being, the Lord didn't say out of his head comes rivers of living water. But out of his belly. Sometimes we know things about Christ, about the life that we have in him, about the role of the Holy Spirit. But we are dry. Or the rivers are not flowing. There is something missing. And I think it is to be in contact with him. To be in fellowship with him. To be in, if you allow me, to be in touch with him. Am I in touch with the Lord all the day long? All the day? I'm in touch with him? At work, study, eating, driving the car, going on a means of transportation, going from here and there. Am I in contact with him? Am I drinking of him? If that is the case, rivers of living water shall flow. May we look to some examples in the book of Acts about people like us from whom rivers of living water have run. For example, in Acts 4, verse 33. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. We have two great things here. Great power, it's about the power of the Spirit. And then, and great grace was upon them all. Another incident, if we go to Acts 13, verse 52. Acts 13, verse 52. The last verse. Paul was in the city of Antioch in Pisidia. And he was opposed by the Jews. And he was compelled to leave. And he left disciples behind him. And you can imagine, new believers, Paul, their beloved apostle, was obliged to leave. What happened with them? Naturally, they should have been sad. But what happened? What the scripture says, verse 52. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. Many times when I read this verse, I say, Lord, forgive us. In our meetings, or in our families, or in our personal lives, we are not filled with joy. Why? We are not filled with the Holy Spirit. We know about the filling. We know about the joy. But there is something obstructing the flow of the living waters. Before leaving this point, we saw how the Lord Jesus said in John 7, verse 38. He that believes on me as the scripture has said. Where the scripture has said. Going to the Old Testament, we don't find a specific portion where the scripture has said these words. But the meaning here, that the scripture has mentioned in the Old Testament, has mentioned some figures. And one of these figures is found in Ezekiel 47. I will not read, but some of us know. Some of us know that. I have to use this only. I hope it will not respond the same way like this. Some of us know that in Ezekiel 47, we find one of the descriptions of the Millennial Temple. And we read there that from the Millennial Temple will flow literal water. Literal water. And it says in Ezekiel 47, verse 9. That this living, this water is living water. Where? Why? Because wherever the water goes, everything that comes in contact with the water will be alive. I will read the verse. Ezekiel 47, verse 9. And it shall come to pass that everything that lives, which moves, withersoever the rivers shall come, shall live. So the water is carrying life. What is the cause? It is the Millennial Temple. Who is dwelling there in the Millennial? If we want to know, the last verse in chapter 48. He says, and the name of the city from that day shall be, the Lord is there. So, in the city the Lord is dwelling. From the temple waters are coming. And these waters are bringing life. We don't have to wait till the Millennium. But we experience these things now spiritually. The Lord has no city on earth, but has His indwelling by the Spirit in every one of us. Do we believe this? In every one of us. And as much as I give Him liberty in my life, and I don't grieve the Holy Spirit, wherever the Lord leads me, I will be a channel of living water. I will be a channel of life, spiritual life, to others. So, we saw first manifestation, second manifestation. Let me go to the third manifestation of the rich life, the abundant life. This we find in the last words of the Lord Jesus, the last discourse of the Lord Jesus. We shall dwell a little bit upon this. John 14, we know that the last words of the Lord before the cross are mentioned in John 14, 15, 16. And then in John 17, He prayed to the Father. In John 14, there is a verse that shocks us. And to tell you the truth, many times I come across this verse. I pray, Lord, can it be done even now in our age? Let us read it. Verse 12. John 14, 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believes on me, the works that I do, shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. Of course, first of all, we see this in the book of Acts, in the works done by the Spirit in the disciples. Yes, they have done the same work. Here we are not speaking about miracles. Let us beware of this. Because some people take this verse and build upon it wrong teaching. We are not speaking about miracles. We are not speaking about signs. We are speaking about works. Works of mercy. Works of blessing to others. Works of preaching. So, the Lord here says, he that believes on me, the works that I do, shall he do also. And greater works. The only condition, he that believes on me. And as we mentioned in the Bible study, he is not speaking about to believe once, but it is a steady and continuous state. He that believes on me, the works that I do, shall he do also. And greater works. Why Lord, greater works? The point, because he is going to the Father. He is sending the Holy Spirit. And through his Holy Spirit, he will be in us and doing works through us. Do we have examples in the word of God? Yes. For example, Peter, Acts 2, in one sermon, through the effect and the power of the Holy Spirit. How many were converted? Three thousand. This didn't happen with our Lord when he was on earth. Another example. Christ, when he was on earth, scarcely he went out of Palestine. And he says, in Luke 12, I am straightened, because he has a work to complete. He was straightened. But when you read about the labors of Paul, for example, Romans 15, he says, Verse 19, the second half of the verse, So that from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, near Spain, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to the west of Europe. How? By the power of the Spirit. We are not all called to be Peter or to be Paul. But every one of us is called by the Spirit in him to do works for the Lord. Dear brothers, tomorrow Lord is willing, if he will wait, I will speak to you about a sister, all of you know, a beloved sister from Europe. Through her, the Lord has done in Egypt marvelous work. She was a faithful one. She continued believing on him. And this promise was fulfilled in her. She never stood and gave a sermon, even among sisters. But she has done works. And I urge myself and I urge my brothers. We need in these days to put into practice what we are taught of. We have to multiply works for the glory of the Lord. And with the works, there is another thing linked with it. Verse 13, verse 12, the works. Verse 13, he says, and don't forget the and. It links 13 with 12. And in relation with the works. Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. What is asking in his name? Of course, it is not to finish the prayer. It is not just to finish the prayer saying, in the name of the Lord Jesus we pray. This is not wrong. But what's the meaning here? In my name means in my place. I have left you, as if the Lord is saying, I have left you my representatives. You are my representatives here. Come to the Father with my interests. You will have the answers. What a high privilege. We are put on a level like the Son of God when he was here. He was always about his Father's business. He was praying for the glory of the Father. Do you remember John 11 when he prayed near the tomb of Lazarus? And he said, Father, I pray, not for me, that your name be glorified. Now, are we praying in the same way? That the name of the Father, through his Son, may be glorified in our testimony, in our family lives, in our personal lives. These requests or these prayers, the Lord assures us, whatever you shall ask in my name. In my name. As my representative, being in my place on earth, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Do you not see with me that this is a rich life? A rich life. Abundant life. Another of the manifestations. We have seen so far three things. Life of fellowship. Living water rising up. Life of testimony. Rivers of living water going out. Life of works and answered prayers. Now, let us come to another thing, another manifestation. In John, the same chapter, John 14, verse 21. This verse was repeated this afternoon in the Bible study. He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. Obedience. And he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. And, in verse 23, we find something parallel, but a little bit different. Jesus answered and said unto him, unto Judah, not the Iscariot. If a man loves me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. What is the meaning of these two things, first of all? If we love the Lord, we keep his commandments, we are loved by the Father. What is the meaning, we are loved by the Father? We experience in our daily lives special dealings from the Father. I think some of us have experienced it. Whenever the Lord Jesus is precious to you, and his word is precious to you, and you are delighted to obey him, you experience the nearness of the Father, not only that. And, let me tell you, you will have some visits from the Son. The Son will manifest himself to you. We find instances like this, for example, in the life of Paul. Book of Acts, many times we read that the Lord appeared to Paul. The Lord, I'm not speaking, of course, about, lest anyone think I'm speaking about having the Lord appearing, literally, no. But Paul has the Lord appearing to him, strengthening him. John, in the island of Patmos, the Lord appeared to him, strengthening him. And if we love the Lord, the Lord will strengthen us. Maybe in a verse, maybe in the providence care of us, maybe in a meeting, he will manifest himself. Not only that, but he says in verse 23, We will come unto him, the Father and the Son, and who is dwelling already? The Spirit. The Father will come, the Son will come, the Spirit is already there, so Heaven will be there. What is Heaven? What is Heaven? It is the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, the Father will come, the Son will come, and already the Spirit is there. Can we imagine how this would be? This is an abundant life. Then, let me go to another manifestation, chapter 15. Maybe this is the fifth manifestation. Verse 11. These things have I spoken unto you. Pardon me, verse 8. Herein is my Father glorified. In what? That ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. We know that the Lord is speaking in this section, chapter 15, verses 1 to 14, about fruit bearing. He is the vine. We are branches in Him. We are exhorted to abide. And what is the outcome? Fruit bearing. What is fruit bearing? For instance, we read in the New Testament about many types of fruits. We read about here, this fruit bearing, which is Galatians 5, 22, and 23. It is the fruit of the Spirit. Or, simply, it is the reproduction of the life of Christ in every one of us. If we abide in Him, His sap, the sap which is in the vine, goes to the branches and manifests itself in the grapes. We have already the life of Christ. We have His Spirit in us. And through this, His life is flowing. And it shall be shown in His lovely character. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, self-control, all these things. This is the fruit of the Spirit. And this is the fruit that the Lord means here. And we have another fruit. For example, in Hebrews 13, we read about fruit of our lips, the sacrifice of praise. We have also in Colossians 1, fruitful in every good work. Many aspects of fruits. But here, specially, precisely, He is mentioning the reproducing of His life. Is it not a privilege, brothers? Maybe some of you have read this story about one of the missionaries that went to a certain place in Africa. He was not gifted about speaking. But he lived maybe 10 or more years among the people there. And he left after this. And another one came. And he was eloquent. He spoke about Christ. He described Christ. And then one of these poor people there came and said, Well, the person that you speak about, Jesus Christ, has visited us here. He was here. And the new missionary said, He visited you? Yeah, we have seen this man. And he asked, How? He said, Before you came, there was another one here. And the thing that you are describing now, we have seen. What a fruit. Christ was there in this area. Even if our brother was not eloquent in speaking. But the fruit came out. This is abundant life. Christ may be seen in me and in you. Sixth manifestation. We are sharing Christ in his personal peace. And his personal joy. And tomorrow in his personal glory. Things that belong to him personally. Through the Spirit. We are called now to experience his peace. You know the verse. John 14. 27. I think all of us know this. Peace I leave with you. This is peace with God. Through the work on the cross. My peace I give unto you. My peace. Peter in the prison. Ask him. Peter, tomorrow you will be executed. And the soldiers are around you now. And the chains in your hand. What are you doing? He is saying, I am sleeping. Was he sleeping lightly or deep sleep? I think deep. Because when the angel came. He kicked him in his side. He was sleeping. Why? He has a promise from the Lord. That he will not die before being an aged one. He enjoyed the peace of Christ. Can I enjoy this peace? I pray. I confess that I am not enjoying it much. But I pray. Why Christ has his peace all over his life here? Because he committed himself into the hands of the father. And when they were in the ship crossing the lake. He was at the end sleeping. We have this privilege. Brothers and sisters. We live in a world full of turmoil. And people now are suffering from anxiety. Depression. All this stuff. Of course you read and you know. But we who have the abundant life. Christ came. Died. Has been risen. Is glorified. That we enjoy the abundant life. Having his peace. And what else? Enjoying his joy. His joy. His personal joy. We read this three times in the last words of the Lord. Three times about his joy. About the full joy. First time. John 15, 11. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy. My joy. Might remain in you. And that your joy might be full. He begins with my joy. And then your joy might be full. Chapter 16. Verse 24. He links it with prayer. Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name. Ask. And you shall receive that your joy may be full. Chapter 17. Verse 13. He is praying to the Father. And now come I to thee. And these things I speak in the world. That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. What is his joy? It is a type of joy that is not depending on things of the world. Paul in Philippians. He is bubbling with joy. If I can say this. He is full of joy. You know that the word joy and its derivatives in Philippi is mentioned about 16 times. Though he was in prison. He was joyful. And he was exhorting his brethren to be joyful. What a testimony to the abundant life. We are not sad. No. We are joyful. We are joyful. It is not an artificial gladness. It's a deep joy. Springing from the spirit inside us. Finally. The seventh manifestation. We find it at the end of chapter 16. And it has been mentioned at the end of our Bible study. But let me just read. The manifestation of the abundant life is to share the Lord in his victory over the world. We are victorious like him. How? Let us look at this. Chapter 16 verses 32 and 33. Behold the hour comes. He is now come. That he shall be scattered. Every man to his own. And shall leave me alone. And yet I am not alone. Because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you. That in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. In what aspect Lord you have overcome the world? He has overcome his opposition. His persecution. His enmity. And if we feel that the world is increasing in his hatred to believers. Especially those who have testimony. And whose the life of Christ is shining in them. Let us be of good cheer. Christ has overcome. And when we join the end of chapter 16 with the beginning of chapter 17. You find because he triumphed over the world. He overcome. In chapter 17 verse 1. He lifted his eyes up. And everyone who overcome. You can lift your eyes up. And enjoy. Enjoy the presence of the Father. May the Lord help us. We are called to this rich life. To this abundant life. Amen. …

… Dear Brethren, it is my exercise tonight to speak and share some thoughts about the message of the address of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesian Elders in the book of Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, and we start reading from verse 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood, or the blood of his own. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship. We've just read one of the passages of the Bible that are of a striking significance because it is a kind of farewell address of the Apostle Paul. And if somebody is giving, so to say, his last words, knowing that his time on earth is drawing to a close, then these words have a special weight, a special importance. And it's also, in another way, quite remarkable, this speech, because it is one of the very few, maybe the only speech we have of the Apostle in the book of Acts that is directed to believers. Most sermons in the book of Acts are preachings of the gospel to the unsaved. And Paul, on his journey, did not want to visit Ephesus, which would have diverted him from his path. And so he called the elders of the church to himself. The elders or overseers were those people that were appointed officially in the beginning in the assemblies by the apostles or their delegates like Titus. And the two terms we find in scripture, elders and overseers, are used for the same group of persons. Unfortunately, in Christianity, from the Greek words that are used here, different offices have developed, the bishop and the Presbyterian structure. But we have three scriptures in the New Testament where both words are used together, and we will see quite clearly that they speak to the same group of persons. In our passage here in Acts 20, the first of these three scriptures, in verse 17, we read of the elders of the church. And in verse 28, he says of these persons, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, out of which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. So he calls them overseers, the same persons he has called elders before. And we have another passage in the epistle to Titus, who was responsible of ordaining elders, and in Titus chapter 1, the apostle says in verse 5, for this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city. And in verse 7, he says, for the overseer must be blameless, and so on. Again, both words for the same group of people. And Peter also in his epistle, in 1 Peter chapter 5, that's the third verse, where we have both together. In 1 Peter chapter 5, in verse 1, we read, the elders which are among you. And then he says about these people, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. Again, both words for the same group of people. One term, the term elders, more speaks about the kind of persons they were. It speaks of their spiritual maturity that was necessary for such an office. The other word, overseer, speaks more of the kind of work they were doing, keeping the oversight of the assembly. Today, there are no apostles anymore. No delegates of apostles that could ordain elders. So we have no officially appointed elders anymore. The thought you find in Christianity that the church or assembly is electing its elders is foreign to scripture. We don't find any example of that. But even if there are no officially appointed elders anymore, of course, the task they were doing to oversee the people of God is still done and is still recognized. And so these elders are here, so to say, as the representatives of this assemblies to whom Paul speaks. And the message he gives could clearly be divided into four parts. The first part, verse 17 to verse 21, Paul speaks about his conduct and his ministry among them in Asia. And all these three other parts begin with the same words, and now. In verse 22, and now. In verse 25, and now. And then again in verse 32, and now. The second part, verse 22 to 24, he was going to speak about what lay ahead of him, what he was expecting now when he left them. And in the third part, verses 25 to 31, he speaks to them about what would happen after his departure, after the apostles were gone. And then, very encouraging, in the last paragraph, 32 to 38, he speaks about the resources of help for the believer when there are no longer any apostles. And we see that this is something that is very important for us today. We live in days where there are no apostles anymore. And we will find what Paul does when he says farewell to these Christians. He does not commend them to any other apostles, but to God and the word of his grace. And that is the same for us. But first of all, he speaks to them about the manner in which he had worked and served among them, and he speaks about the matter he talked about. What was the content of his preaching among them? When he speaks first about the manner, he says, ye know, in verse 17, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord. That's the first thing. He was an apostle. You and I, we are no apostles. We have other things to do. The Lord has given us. But in the first place, what we all do is serving the Lord. We should be, was said in the conference, we should first of all be occupied with the kingdom of God, and everything else will be given to us. And that means serving the Lord. Of course, he served the saints. He was working among them. We will see that. But in the very first place, he was serving the Lord. The Lord that had called him to be an apostle, the Lord that had given him the task, what he should do, he was serving the Lord with all humility of mind. What a servant. What an example. Paul could say with an upright heart that he had served them with all humility of mind. I'm not sure if anybody's here would dare to say that of himself, but Paul could say so. And here's our example to follow him. Simply and humbly serving the Lord in the area he has given us, with the tasks he has given us, serving the Lord with all humility of mind. That is the mind of the Lord Jesus we find in Philippians 2 set before us as the example. And Paul had followed that. He was in humility of mind, serving the Lord, and with many tears. The service of Paul was a service in which he was moved in his inner being with compassion. It says about the Lord Jesus that he was moved with compassion when he saw the needs of the people around him. And it was so with Paul that situations that happened to him caused him tears. Here it was particularly in connection with the Jews and the opposition of the Jews. But we also find in Philippians that he says to them, I have told you and now tell you with tears that there are those that are enemies of the cross of Christ. We can learn from him that all these things that are there, the opposition that is there, the false influences among the sins, is not anything that should leave us unmoved. Serving the Lord is something that may cause us tears and temptations. He says, and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. At every place where Paul was preaching the gospel, the Jews were there and there was the opposition of his own people, the Jews, and these were his temptations. But generally speaking, serving the Lord will bring trials and temptations. Are you serving the Lord and you think, oh it's difficult, there's so many difficulties on the way, I'm experiencing temptations and trials? Well that's not surprising, that is something to be expected. The apostle had come across these things and it will so with every one of us when we serve the Lord. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. Paul was a faithful servant. He did not keep back anything that was profitable for the saints. It's also something we may ask ourselves, we are also guided by this thought. What is profitable for the saints? He kept back nothing. Maybe you realize there is some teaching that is profitable or would be profitable for the mating where you are or for some saints you visit. But then you may say, well but it's unpopular to speak about that. But this was no reason for Paul to keep back anything that was profitable. And if we have young believers, young matings, the question will come, what is profitable for them? Not to keep it back. I remember we were talking with some brothers who were writing for young people's magazine and we were trying to put on them the idea that they should write on something we thought was profitable for young people. But some said, well I would prefer to write on what is on my heart. Which I can understand, everybody would like to speak and write on what is on his heart. But there are things we have to speak about, to write about because they are profitable for the saints. And when we realize that some special truth is profitable, we will not keep it back. But ask the Lord for guidance and help to speak about these things. Paul had kept nothing back that was profitable unto you, but have announced and have taught you publicly and from house to house. There we find the two areas of his service. One was publicly. Yes, he was speaking publicly in the meetings or wherever. He was publicly speaking and teaching the Word of God. But he was also working with individual souls from house to house. How is that with us? Probably there's a danger, particularly for the brothers who have the service of ministering the Word, that we put more value on the public ministry. You will be noticed, you will be seen, you will be taped, and your tapes could be bought in some particular places, you are even videotaped. And you might think that this is something more important than what's going on in private. But the private from house to house sometimes may be much more effective. When you preach the Word publicly, which we have to do, which is our task, but very often we don't get any feedback if the message had come across, if people really understood what you wanted to bring over. But when you go into the houses and you ask questions, or get asked questions, you find out if the believers, if the saints really got what you wanted to say, or you realize some new need that is there, some point that should be clarified as far as the teacher is concerned. And the shepherd, of course, he is going from house to house doing this kind of work. Last year when I was in the United States and we had some youth lectures, and afterwards there was a question and answer session, and I had something, had said something about shepherd service and pastoral work, and one person said, but it was actually not a question, just a remark, the person said, where is that taking place? I've never noticed shepherd service amongst brethren, and my reaction was excellent, and she was quite surprised by my reaction. I said, if shepherd service is done and nobody notices, then it was very effective, because that's how it should be. It's not something that is done publicly, and everybody is going to notice it. One believing woman once phoned me. She had read an article and wanted to talk about it. She phoned me. She was a member of a church, and she said to me, if I would go to my pastor at my church, then I could just put it into the newspaper. This is not what pastoral service is like. It is something that is confidential, something that is done from house to house. So we may wonder, why did all the Ephesians know that if it was in that way? Because, we find it later on, Paul had been in every house. He had been with every one of them, so they knew he was doing that work, even if they did not know when he was where, probably, but he was doing this for everyone, publicly and from house to house. And when Paul went to the houses from house to house, he went through the front door, because there were people who came through the back door. That's what we find in 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 3. We find other people going from house to house. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 6. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away with divert lusts. There he speaks of some false teachers that creep into the houses, not publicly and openly, but they come through the back door, so to say, to lead away weak believers from the truth. Is that not something that's still happening? People not acting openly, but going from house to house, and trying to influence people in the wrong direction? Not sure the Apostle Paul. And there is another thing I would like to point out with from house to house, and that is in 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy 5, verse 13. He is speaking particularly about young widows, and he said, and with all they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. He was talking about these young widows, but I think that's a danger for a lot of other people too, if we are idle, wandering from house to house, being busybodies, talking things we should not talk about. Maybe you are out of work, you have no job, which is not your fault, but the question is, what are you going to do with your time? If you are idle, wandering around, and talking about things that are not profitable, to do this, to go from house to house in this way, today, you do not even have to leave your house. Just go on Facebook and waste your time, and be a busybody, and talking about things that should not be talked about. That's a danger. That was not Paul. When Paul came, he had a message. He had something to talk about. He could speak about the person of the Lord Jesus. How wonderful that is, if in serving the Lord, we do not only have the public aspect before our eyes, but also the private one from house to house, to strengthen the saints. Now he speaks about the things he had preached, and he speaks about two kinds of groups. One was the gospel, one was what he said to people, to unbelievers, and the other is what he taught the saints. In both cases, he gives us two subjects, and this has to do with the two lines we had before us today as well. One side is the responsibility of man, and the other side is the grace of God. And both is true side by side. We get problems, as we have seen, when we want to combine these things, or to mix them up. But in God's Word, we find them side by side. When we come to the gospel, which is the first thing he mentions, then he says in verse 21, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the side of the responsibility of man. He was preaching to man that he has to repent of his sins toward God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel preacher will bring before an unbeliever. He will make it sure to him that he is lost, and that the only way to get saved is to repent of his sins, to confess his sins to God, and to believe that the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary has died for such a person. But later on, I'm now just for a moment going to verse 24 at the end, he says that he has testified the gospel of the grace of God. This is the other side. That is the side of God, the grace of God. Man is responsible. Man is responsible and has to repent and to believe in the Lord Jesus. But nevertheless, it's all the grace of God. It's not something we do to inherit anything. It is always the gospel of the grace of God. I don't know if everybody here is saved. If everybody has had such a moment in your life when you realized that you have to repent of all your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is your responsibility. The grace of God is still sounding this message. Paul has started with it to Jews and Greeks alike, to every man, and it is still preached today. But this time where the gospel of the grace of God is preached is drawing to a close, and therefore it is so necessary to listen what Paul said. At the beginning of his second paragraph, where he speaks about what's going to happen to him, he says, and now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. He was bound in his in his own human spirit to go there to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. That is of course the normal way we all go. We don't know what's going to happen to us. We go our way, and Paul was particularly bound to go to Jerusalem once again to preach to his own people that were so much on his heart. One thing he knew, safe that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide may. When he was traveling this way, there were several indications that he was going to be arrested and that he had to suffer. There the prophet Agabus came and bound himself and said the man here will bound in that way. And others, brethren through the Holy Spirit, told him not to go there. And even Paul realizes here, well when even Paul in this passage realizes that these messages were from the Holy Ghost. He said the Holy Ghost is telling me that bonds and afflictions abide me. I'm not going to do now into a discussion if it was right or not right for Paul to go there. I simply want to put before you that the Spirit of God in this passage makes clear Paul knew that the Holy Ghost was telling him, you will suffer there. And that Paul did not care what was going to happen to him. This love for his people was so strong that this could not hinder him. If I had something on my heart to go to some place in the service of the Lord and somebody would say me through the Holy Spirit, if you go there you will be beaten and you will be arrested and other things will happen to you. I'm not sure what I would do. If I would say, well perhaps I better do some other thing and leave that for later. But Paul said, no nothing of this will hold me back. But none of these things move me. Nothing of things move me. He had this determination in serving the Lord to go there and nothing could move him. How much do we have from this determination when the Lord has given us a service, a ministry? How easily we can be moved from it by some circumstances that are trying and that are not so favorable for us. But nothing of that could move the apostle, as he says. And neither count I my life dear unto myself. Even if there was the danger of losing his life, he said, well that's not so important. I do not count my life dear to myself. I'm even willing to sacrifice my life if that is the only way to reaching this people. So that I might finish my course. So that I might finish my course. He was running a course. We all are running a course. And Paul says, I want to finish my course. That is normally what should happen. If we run on a course, the idea is to finish it and not to stop on the way. And Paul says, I want to finish my course. And later on in his last epistle he could say, I finished the course. I've done that. I've been faithful to the end. I want to finish my course. Not looking back. And the ministry that which I have received of the Lord Jesus. Testify the gospel of the grace of God. To fulfill, finish my course and the ministry which I have received. There was something Paul had on his mind for himself and others. He encourages others if they had a ministry to fulfill it. He says to Timothy, fulfill thy ministry. Preach the word. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill thy ministry. And there was another brother whom he speaks to in Colossians. See to the ministry that you have received in the Lord. This could mean probably two things depending on where we put the emphasis. It could mean that he says, you have a ministry. Finish it. Maybe he saw some signs of not doing that. But probably he was also interested in some other kind of ministry. And Paul was saying, fulfill thy ministry that you have received from the Lord. Try to finish that. And he gave himself as the example. He said, I want to fulfill this ministry to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And then in verse 20-25, in the next paragraph now, he speaks about the things that would happen after his departure. And he says, first of all, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. He had spoken about the gospel to all men, Jews and Greeks alike. But now he says, ye all, ye Ephesians. Now he is talking about what he taught among the saints. And also he speaks about two things. One having to do with the responsibility of man, and the other having to do with the grace of God. The first thing was preaching the kingdom. Let us to do with our responsibility. Living as disciples in the kingdom of our Lord. He was preaching the kingdom, telling them what that meant to be in the kingdom of God. Living as his disciples. The one side. And the other thing. For I have not shunned, verse 27, to declare unto you all the counsel of God. That's the grace of God. All the counsel of God. All the truth about Christ in the assembly. Christ in heaven united with his body on earth. This wonderful counsel of God, which is the grace of God. That's not a question of our responsibility, but of God's grace. All his counsels that were in his heart, he has unfolded before them. How wonderful that is to see that the apostle had this balance in his teaching. He knew when to address the responsibility of the saints, and when to bring before them all the counsel of God. Again, he did not hold back anything. Not in the gospel, not in the teaching of the saints. He preached everything that was necessary to them. And therefore he could say, in verse 26, I am pure from the blood of all men. Maybe he was thinking about what we find in the prophet Ezekiel, where God says to the prophet, if somebody, a sinner, is going on an evil way, and you warn him, then he will be judged because of his sins, but you are pure from his blood. But if you don't tell him, then I will count you responsible for that. He will still be judged for his sins, but you will be responsible that you didn't tell him. And that is a serious word for us. The people around us will be judged for their sins, but what about us? Have we taken the opportunity as Paul, telling them to repent and to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, bringing them the gospel of the grace of God? Paul had done this to unbelievers as well as to the saints. And now he exhorts these elders, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock. Quite often we find this scripture, this instruction in the scriptures, take heed of yourself and something else. But it always starts with take heed therefore unto yourself. Even the Lord Jesus used this expression once in Luke's gospel, chapter 14, Luke 14, verse... Well, I don't find the words now, but it is as the Lord Jesus says, take heed to yourself. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. But it also starts with this take heed to yourself. First of all, putting ourselves into the light of God's words before we go to somebody else. And it is here, it has to do with this shepherd service of the elders. So therefore it says take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock. To Timothy, where it was a matter of doctrine, he says take heed of yourself and the doctrine. But it always starts with having a look at our own selves, putting ourselves into the light of God's words. And then to all the flock and I now quote it from the Derby translation which is a bit more precise, to all the flock wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers, not over which, they are not setting above them, but wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers to shepherd the assembly of God which he has purchased with the blood of his own. To shepherd the assembly of God. And to do this we have to get a real estimation of the value the assembly has in the eyes of God whom he has purchased with the blood of his own. God gave his own, the son, to purchase the assembly. Such a value the assembly has in the eyes of God. And so these elders should see them as valuable and therefore they should shepherd them the assembly of God he has purchased with the blood of his own. When the Lord Jesus after his resurrection was talking to Peter and asking him three times, do you love me? And he said, yes Lord, you know that I love you. Then the Lord says to him, shepherd my flock. He says so to say, if you love me you can show this by serving them that are so valuable to my heart, my shepherds, my sheeps. And here it is God that purchased the assembly of God by the blood of his own. That should be the motivation for these overseers and even for us today to shepherd the church of God. And then he speaks about what would happen after he had gone. For I know that this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Satan always attacks from two sides, from the outside and from within. The whole book of Acts from the beginning shows us always these two strategies, persecution from without, corruption from within. And here first of all he speaks about that which would come from without, grievous wolves entering in among the saints, not sparing the flock. What a contrast. There were these overseers shepherding the flock of God which he has purchased with the blood of his own. But there were those coming not sparing the flock. They didn't care for the flock. They didn't care for all the disaster they were doing among the saints, coming from without. But this was not the only danger. And so he says, also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. He speaks they will also come from your own midst, from these number of elders there would some rise from among themselves, teaching wrong things with the view of drawing others after themselves. What a serious thing that is. There is the assembly of God, he has purchased with the blood of his own and they are have on one center and that is the person of the Lord Jesus, a gathering around him and then some people get up and draw, want to draw others after themselves. Should that not be a really serious warning to these Ephesian elders? When he said about the, spoke about these things and we know when we look back about over two thousand years of Christian history up to the present day that these two dangers are still with us. Those attacking from outside and those corrupting from inside. But there was one man, he again puts there his example before them. He tells them to do two things. First of all he says in verse 31, therefore watch, to watch is necessary. As soon as we start sleeping and stop watching these influences from outside or from within may be very successful. We have to watch these things, these dangers that are there and remember that thing about the example you have, the example of the apostle, remember. And now he says and it's really touching to see how he describes his ministry once again, by the space of three years. It was not only a short visit he had made to them. He had been there for three years and I suppose you can do something in three years. They had watched him in three years how he ministered among them. I seized not. That's one thing to start something, to be excited about the new work and just to begin it and then the problems come, the trials come, the opposition comes and you say well let's stop this and do something new. No he said I have not seized. I've gone over these three years. I seized not, I did not stop to warn everyone. In these three years that he had been at the place there was not one single brother or sister in Ephesus that could say Paul has never been here and spoken with me. They all must admit he has warned us. Every one of us. He has spoken to us and he has warned us of these things that were coming. Every one of them. Night and day. Night and day. Now this work that Paul did was not like a job you do from eight to five or whenever but it was a full-time 24 hours seven days a week. When there was an opportunity he used it. Probably there were some situations where it was only possible to speak to somebody at night but night and day whenever it was this man was occupied with the well-being of the saints and again he says with tears. He was moved with compassion. It was not some hard task master who came to them to beat them with the Bible but he really had they saw if he saw dangers if he saw some thing that was not wrong in the scene they really saw that it moved him with compassion. He was exhorting them with tears. They really got the impression here is somebody who really cares for us and I'm sure they would remember that he said remember that and they could say yes if we are honest we must say Paul has been among us in such a way and now it comes to the last part and now brethren he was going to leave he was going to die finish his course and ministry I commend you to my successor no I commend you to Timothy and Titus no he did not I commend you to the elders that come after you no he did not all these things would finish would cease but I commend you to God and the word of his grace and beloved saying that's what we still have we've no apostles and no elders officially appointed but we have God and the word of his grace God that has purchased the assembly with the blood of his own should he not care for his assembly and the word of his grace which is able to build us up all we need we have in the word on the spirit that opens the word of up to us that is what we need it gives it inheritance among all them which are sanctified what an encouragement and what a comfort that is sometimes we might think at least I have thought this when I was younger how good would it be if we still had some apostle who could say that's the way that's what we have to do there are no apostles anymore but that does not mean that we are have a disadvantage the Lord is the same God is there his word is there we even have the completed word of God in our hands which the Ephesians did not have and we could follow this word that will build us up and again in closing once again the apostle says if you look at me I've done nothing that was not honorable that was not right he had not coveted gold silver he did nothing for money he speaks about such persons in his letters as well that were coming to fulfill the looker to do things he said that's not the thing in the work of the Lord that he did and just the opposite he had worked with his own hands for his necessities and those that were with him and then he says I have shoot you all things he did not only teach them but he showed them how to do it and this gives authority and this gives really effort to what you say it's so with us as parents when our when we tell our children to do something and they see that we do it if they see that reading the bible for example and praying is something that is a part of our life and if we tell them they should do that they say well we've seen it in our parents but if you just tell them to do something they never see us doing it the authority is not very strong in what we do and it's so in spiritual things as well the things Paul taught he also showed them that there were those they had to support weak ones poor ones unequals words of the Lord Jesus who said it is more blessed to give than to receive we had in one other message in this evening we had also a quotation that we found literally nowhere on it the same with that here we cannot open the gospels or someplace to find this sentence there but obviously it was a word of the Lord that all the Christians knew because he says to them remember the words of the Lord Jesus and of course it was something that characterized all his life it is more blessed to give than to receive probably that is something we have to learn anew we live in a society where everybody asks what do i get from it if i do this if i do that what is there in in it for me that's not a question to ask in the first place but he says it is more blessed to give than to receive and then after he's finished he knelt down and prayed with them all what a sight that must have been this company of elders and Paul kneeling down somewhere on the road and praying together and of course we could understand that they were weeping and felling him on Paul's neck and kissed him but maybe there is a little sign of weakness in this parting scene as well because it says they were sorrowing most of all for the words he spake they should not see his face anymore but we can understand this of course they had a relationship with Paul over these three years and now they were very sad they wouldn't see him anymore but in what he had said should they not have been more disturbed by what he said what would happen after him he had gone what would happen to the assembly with the wolves and the man standing up sometimes we get more impressed with the emotional situation amongst persons than with the spiritual truth but when Paul was moved to tears in this passage it was really because he saw the spiritual dangers that were coming there what an example this apostle is for us in his ministry that he did you and i we have a ministry to fulfill a course to finish let us learn from the determination of the servant and when it comes to the assembly we have seen what Paul foretold his future we know it has come just as he told us but nevertheless we are still at the point at which paul was when he said farewell to the ephesian elders we are still commanded to god and the word of his grace amen …

… I'd like to begin with reading a few verses in John's epistle, 1st epistle of John, chapter 3. 1st epistle of John, chapter 3, we read from verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Every man that has this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. The letter to the Thessalonians, the first letter to the Thessalonians, and chapter 4, 1st Thessalonians 4 and verse 14, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so also them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not befend or go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. I guess it may be evident from the verses that I've read. I'd like to draw your attention to the wonderful fact that the Lord Jesus is going to return to this earth. That the Lord Jesus, the one that we've been speaking about this week, is going to come into the air and take everyone that belongs to him to be with him. In 2nd Peter the apostle wrote, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them. I'm conscious that most of us here know what I'm talking about. But I want to remind you, and I want to encourage you, to live lives down here more in line with the fact that the Lord Jesus is going to return. That the Lord Jesus, although now is rejected, he is going to be one day the one that is absolutely supreme. I think there are perhaps three different attitudes to the coming of the Lord Jesus that I will mention at the beginning. In 2nd Peter chapter 3, there's no need to turn to these scriptures, the apostle says, there were those that were scoffers, there were those that were laughing, and they were saying, where is the promise of his coming? All things have continued from the beginning. And there are those who will argue, for the last 2,000 years, Christians have been saying, more or less, the Lord Jesus is coming. Where is his promise? What is happening? I don't believe that we can say nothing is happening. Because if you take time to read, in the 2nd epistle to Timothy chapter 3, the apostle gives us there a list of things which will be present in the last days. Have a look at that list. There's about 18 or 19 of them. And every one of them is true today. We had in the reading this afternoon, it was mentioned, the world is in such a bad state now, much worse than it was when some of you were younger. The world is ripe for God to intervene in judgement. There's another reason why we cannot say all things have continued. The nation of Israel is back in their land. We quoted a verse in the Bible readings from Ezekiel, which says that God would gather them. And I'll tell you one from Jeremiah, where we get virtually the same thing. Jeremiah 32, God says, I will gather. Do we not see at this moment, a small picture of what it will be like, when God starts to gather the nation of Israel together. There's a second group of people. I read of them in Matthew 24. And they say, My Lord delayeth His coming. And there's another idea that, well, perhaps if the Lord Jesus is coming, it's certainly not going to be during my lifetime. And in the parable in Matthew 24, they said He's not coming in our lifetime. And they began to fight, and they began to eat, and to drink, and to be merry. They put themselves forward, and they also sat down to enjoy themselves. They said that His coming had been delayed. But then there's a third group. And I think this third group is probably the worst one. And that's in Matthew 25. In Matthew 25, we know the parable of the ten virgins. Five were wise, five were foolish. And yet it says of them all, that they all slumbered and slept. The foolish virgins, we would expect them to sleep. But in Matthew 25, we see that even the wise virgins were sleeping. And I'm convinced that that is what is happening to us today. We are asleep in relation to the fact that the Lord Jesus is going to come again. Do we live every day with the expectation that the Lord Jesus may return before the end of the day? There was a brother in the UK known to many of us here. He's now with the Lord. Brother Alan Smart, he used to sing the poem of, I think it was George Cutting. I wake in the morning with thoughts of his love. He's living for me in the glory above. Each moment expecting he'll take me away. That keeps me going till the end of the day. Have we not generally, in our meetings and in our own individual lives, forgot the fact that Jesus is going to come again? And so I'd like to first of all prove to you from the scriptures that the Lord Jesus is going to come. And then I'd like to tell you, prove to you from scripture, three things which ought to have a practical effect upon us. And then there are three things which will cease when the Lord Jesus comes. The first reason why the Lord Jesus is going to come is because the scriptures say so. If we were to go into the Old Testament, we would find there in Malachi 5 verse 2, a very well known verse. Thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the nations, yet out of thee shall come forth he that is to be the ruler in Israel. In Matthew 2, Herod asked the chief priests, where is the Messiah to be born? And they quoted that first verse, that second verse. They quoted the fact that it was in Bethlehem that Messiah would be born. But the second part of that verse says he shall rule. And it is quite evident. When the Lord Jesus was here, he didn't rule. It is quite evident as we read through the Gospels and we all know it. The Lord Jesus, instead of ruling, he was cast out and crucified. But that verse is going to be fulfilled. And the Lord Jesus will reign. He will be in charge of the nation of Israel and of this world. We move on into Zechariah 9 verse 9. These are all well known verses. There it speaks of one that will ride into Jerusalem, meek and lowly and upon an ass, a colt of an ass. And what happened? What happened when the Lord Jesus went into Jerusalem? That verse was fulfilled. He went into Jerusalem on the colt, the foal of an ass. But we read further on in the book of Zechariah. And in chapter 12, we read there that the Lord Jesus, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. And that the nation that had pierced him will mourn because of him. If the first prophecy was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem, there is no reason. Indeed, their next prophecy has to be fulfilled. The authority of the Old Testament is based upon the fact that the prophecies that were written as inspired by God were fulfilled in relation to the first coming of the Lord Jesus. And all the prophecies relating to his second coming, they likewise will be fulfilled. If we went into the New Testament, Matthew, Mark and Luke, they all record what we know as the Olivet Discourse. And in that discourse we read, there shall appear the signs of the Son of Man coming in clouds. Acts chapter 1, when the Lord Jesus is taken up into glory, we find there that there are two men or two angels, two angelic beings. And what do they say? They're saying Jesus that was taken up is going to come again. The Lord Jesus is going to come again according to the angelic beings. The Apostle Paul, he wrote much about the coming of the Lord, we've already read some verses. James wrote, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Peter says, the day of the Lord shall come. Jude, the Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints. And we've read John, the whole of the New Testament writers. They all agree that the Lord Jesus is going to return. There was another reason. The Lord Jesus is going to return to this earth because he said so. John 14, I'm sure that we all know it. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many abodes, many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. An absolute clear statement from the lips of the Lord Jesus that he was going away and he was going to come again. You know in the opening verse that we quoted. Let not your hearts be troubled, the Lord Jesus said. You believe in God, believe also in me. What a statement. Just the same as you disciples, as you 11 disciples have believed in God, the great creator. The one who sustains and maintains us. Just the same as you believe in him, you can believe in me. Because we know that the Lord Jesus was God. And in that first verse we have another proof. Throughout the New Testament we get many proofs of the deity of the Lord Jesus. And by that word deity for the young ones we mean that he was God. Equal in the Godhead with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And so as God, he has said he would come again. And he will come again. There's a third reason why the Lord Jesus is going to come again. And that's because his love demands it. The Lord Jesus said to his Father again in John's Gospel chapter 17 verse 24. He said, Father I will, that they whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am. That they may behold my glory. It is the desire of the Lord Jesus that we are with him. And again in the Ephesian epistle, chapter 5, the apostle Paul writes. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That he might sanctify it and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself, a glorious church. Yes, the Lord Jesus is waiting for that moment. When he will come and take his church to be with him. And I believe the Lord is waiting more than what we are. But the question that you may be looking for is when is he going to come? When is the Lord Jesus going to appear? If I was to stand here and give you a date. You would have permission to cut me off. Because it says in Matthew 24 and verse 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. There are those that have predicted the time when the Lord Jesus would return. Here is a verse which clearly tells us. That the time when the Lord Jesus comes, we don't know. What we are told in Mark's gospel is to watch. What I say unto you, I say unto you all, watch. But we have a problem. Because we have read many scriptures tonight, we have quoted some. And in these scriptures, and I will think of Colossians 3 verse 4. When he shall appear, we shall appear in glory with him. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 13 says. When he shall appear with all his saints. The verse that we quoted in Jude. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints. The problem is clear. If the Lord Jesus is going to come from heaven with his saints. How are we going to get there? How are we going to get from this earth to heaven to come with him? We are thankful that through the power of the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul gave us the answer. And the answer is in those verses that were read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I just want to pick up one or two words. It says for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven. What a wonderful day it will be when the Lord Jesus descends from heaven. We may ask ourselves the question. Why is it that the Lord will come? Why doesn't he send an angel? Well I've got two answers for that question. Angels are normally used for judgment. But the Lord comes himself. Because he loves us and he wants us with him. But he also comes because he is coming into the air. And in Ephesians 2 we read that Satan is the prince and the power of the air. It was mentioned this afternoon. For 6,000 years Satan has been in charge of this world. But the Lord Jesus is going to as it were come right into the domain of Satan. Into the air. And call us to be with himself. And it says the dead in Christ shall rise first. Now at your leisure you can move into Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Chapter 15. And there you will read about the fact that we will be raised. And we will be changed. But in 1 Corinthians 15 we are still left on the earth. Here the Lord Jesus will return from heaven. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. And who are the dead in Christ? I'm going to suggest that the dead in Christ is everybody that is born again. The dead in Christ is these Old Testament saints. We think of Abraham. We think of Job. We think of those from the nation of Israel. They will be raised and they are the dead in Christ. We perhaps come in in verse 14. That have died. They sleep in Jesus. What a wonderful thing. That the dead in Christ. Those that have passed on before. Those that we love. Those that we mourn. The day is coming when they will rise from the dead. And we it says in verse 17. We which are alive and remain. Is that everyone in this room? We're alive and we remain until the coming of the Lord. And we shall be caught up. There are those who complained. When we talk about the rapture. And they will say but you don't read of the rapture. In your Bible. I say we don't read of the rapture in my Bible. I says actually we don't read of any English words in the original Greek New Testament. Why be concerned when one word that is translated is not there. But this word that we have here caught up. It's something like hapazan. And it's the same word that is used in John 10. Where it says no man shall pluck them out of my hand. No one shall snatch them out of my hand. And what the Lord Jesus is going to do. Is he's going to snatch us out of this world. To be with himself. What a tremendous thought. That we are going to be taken from this scene. To be with the Lord. And what I think is very beautiful in the end of verse 17. It says so shall we ever be with the Lord. Have you thought what it's going to be like. To spend eternity with the Lord Jesus. To spend eternity with the one who suffered. We'll never have to depart. We read in Romans 8. There is nothing that shall separate us from the love of Christ. And that's a present day reality. But here when these days happen. There will be nothing that will separate us from our Lord forever. We will be with him. What a joy it will be. And the apostle says. Comfort yourselves. With these words. The coming of the Lord as we mostly would understand. Is first of all the rapture which we get here. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And then we know that there are some years. At least seven. Before the Lord Jesus will appear. To that Mount of Olives as quoted from Zechariah. To take up the reins of Israel. And I find one of the most interesting verses that helped me to understand this. Is a verse in Revelation 1. Where there the apostle is told. Revelation 1.19. The apostle is told to write certain things. He says write the things that you have seen. He says write the things which are. And then write the things which shall be hereafter. And so the apostle sat down. And he wrote Revelation chapter 1. The things that he saw. He saw the vision and he wrote it down. And then he wrote the things which are. And he wrote those seven letters to those seven churches. Seven in the Bible would speak of completeness. Do we not see in those seven churches. A complete picture. Of the dispensation that we are in. The dispensation of God's grace. The dispensation of the church. If we can call the church period a dispensation. But a period of time that we are in. Is clearly seen in Revelation 2 and 3. But then in chapter 4. We have these words. Come up hither. And I will show you things. Which shall be hereafter. And so from Revelation 4 onwards. We get things which will take place. Connected with this earth. After the church has gone. The church is heavenly. The church is connected with a man who has gone through death. This earth. Is going to be the platform. Where the Lord Jesus is going to carry out. Those terrible judgements that we read of. In the opening of Revelation. I say the opening from verse 4. Chapter 4 onwards. What a wonderful thing it is. Is that we as part of that company. That are the church. We will not pass through the tribulation. As one has said. If we had not a scripture. That told us that we would not pass through the tribulation. We would hunt our Bibles from the beginning to the end. To try and find one. Because there is a terrible day coming upon this earth. There is a time of Jacob's trouble. There is a time of tribulation. What a wonderful thing it is. When that comes to pass. We will be with our Lord and Saviour. But I want to say now what is the effect? What is the effect? We hear of doctrine. But unless doctrine has an effect upon us. Is it any good? We can have head knowledge. But unless it portrays in our feet. Is it any good? And I want to suggest that. If we really take heed. To the fact of the Lord Jesus is going to come again. It will have three effects upon us. The first one. It will give us to be separated from the world. The second is. It will purify our lives. And the third thing. It will give us a zeal for the gospel. I suppose the first question that could be raised. Is what is the world? I could stand here and tell you. What the world is to me. I could say the world is going to picture places. Because I have never been there. I could say the world is going to football matches. Because I have never been there. Many things that the world doesn't affect me. But I am sure. Each one of us. There is something that we could call the world. And according to James. Friendship with the world. Friendship with the world. Is an enmity with God. We read in John's epistle. Love not the world. Nor the things of the world. And the world and the Father are completely opposed. We have often said in our meetings. That the world and the Father are opposed. Satan and the Lord Jesus. And the flesh and the spirit. And you know if we are going in for the things of the world. We are not going in for the things of the Father. There are only two worlds. There is the world which is headed up by Satan. And is coming under the judgment. And there is a world to which the Lord Jesus is supreme. I want to talk about three men. The first one is Demas. And we will read of Demas in the second letter to Timothy. Second Timothy chapter 4. Second Timothy chapter 4. The apostle says. Henceforth. Verse 8. There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day. And not unto me only but unto all them also. That love his appearing. Verse 10. For Demas has forsaken me. Having loved this present world. I want to suggest that here is two worlds. There is the world that is connected with the coming day. There is the world which is connected with the Lord's appearing. And the apostle Paul. Loved the idea of the Lord Jesus' return. But here was one Demas. Who loved the idea of the Lord Jesus' return. But here was one Demas. And I would suggest that he hadn't got the love for the coming of the Lord. But what he loved was the world. And I believe that we have to challenge ourselves today. And to say. Am I loving the Lord Jesus' appearing? Am I waiting for him to come? Or do I want this world? This world which is coming under the judgment of God. And in Demas I see perhaps more the religious world. The apostle Paul at the time we read in 2 Timothy was in prison. He was in a Roman cell condemned to death. He had already said he was going to be offered up. Demas had a choice. Do I want to be associated with Paul? Or do I want to go into the world? Do I want to be associated with the apostle? And to love the appearing of the Lord Jesus? Or do I want to go into the world? Now Demas' name means popular. And I tell you tonight. That if you want to be popular in this world. Don't follow the Lord Jesus. If you want to be popular in this world. Don't follow the apostle Paul. If you want to be popular in this world. Do what the world does. Compromise and follow the world. In the first chapter we read. All they in Asia had turned away from Paul. Indeed it was at this time I would understand. It was quite a stigma to be associated with a man in prison. You know we live in a similar day. Where if we are to hold fast to the teaching of the apostle Paul. We will not be with the popular mass. I don't know how it goes in Germany. I understand you have larger assemblies. But in the UK we are very small assemblies. And if you want to be associated with the ministry of the apostle Paul. You have to be associated with those small assemblies. Those brethren that are always awkward. Or you think they are awkward. Those old people. They are the ones that you have got to be associated with. Why? Because we are being associated with the ministry of the apostle Paul. If you want an easy life. You sisters. And you don't want to take heed to the ministry of the apostle Paul. You don't need to wear hats. But if we were taking heed to the ministry of the apostle Paul. We need our head covering. If we are going to take heed to the ministry of the apostle Paul. We also have to keep silent within the assemblies. And so you can see. There is a popular route that you can take. But it is a route that is in the world. And we find that Demas took that route. And what sad it was. That he passes off the page of scripture. As one who had loved this present evil world. The next man I talk about is an Old Testament person. His name was Lot. I am sure we know him. We know the story of Lot. Lot you know was what we would call a hanger on. He never made any decisions himself. The only decision that he made was the wrong decision. We read I think three times. That when Abraham moved out. That Lot went with him. Perhaps there are some here that have just come along. Because your friends are there. But there came a time in Lot's life. Where he had to make a decision. Abraham. Hebrews 10 says. He looked for a city which had foundation. Whose builder and maker was God. John 8 the Lord Jesus said. Abraham looked on. And he saw my day. Abraham had his eye on the future. Abraham had his eye I believe on that coming day. When the Lord Jesus would be exalted. But Lot had his eyes on things down here. And we read of Lot. He looked at the plains of Jordan. They were well watered. Lot chose the plains of Jordan. And he journeyed eastward. And you know what I found out just reading this the other day. As he looked down to the river Jordan. He saw the plains. He saw that it was good for cattle. But there was one thing that he missed. And that was the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those cities the word of God says. Were evil and sinners. Before the Lord exceedingly. He only saw what he wanted to see. The sad thing is that Lot. We read in chapter 13 verse 12. He pitched his tent towards Sodom. In chapter 14 we find that he is dwelling in Sodom. And in chapter 19. He is in Sodom. He has got rid of his tent. And he is in a house. And he is seeking to improve that city. He was a politician. He had what we would call a political ambition. To seek to make Sodom and Gomorrah a better place. Now you may say well what a good thing it is. To try and make this world a better place. I tell you. You are on a losing wicket. If you are trying to make this world a better place. You will not succeed. This world is coming under the judgment of God. And there is a man. Who will put this world right. There is a man that will make the desert blossom as a rose. And that man is a man that is at God's right hand. It is the Lord Jesus himself. He will come and make this world right. Lot. You are wasting your time. And we know. The wonderful grace of God. That Lot is taken from out of that city. Before the judgment fell. We spoke about would believers ever be lost. If there was a person that you might righteously say he deserved to be lost. I don't like to use that word. But it would have been Lot. But you know the wonderful grace of God. Is that he brought him out of that city. The second person. Is Samson. If in Demas we see a man who the religious world. In Lot we see a man who was the political world. I believe in Samson. We have a man who was just the world. And I want to suggest that Samson is marked by four women. And the first one was the only one that was worth having. The first one was his mother. The second was the Philistine. The third one was a harlot. And the fourth one was Delilah. I would suggest that the Philistine. It was a natural tendency. I would suggest that the harlot was pure flesh. And I would suggest that Delilah was satanic. But you know we start with the best. What a wonderful thing it is. To have Christian parents. And I say to those young people here. You should count yourself extremely thankful. For the fact that you have Christian parents. If you have got Christian parents. Thank the Lord for them. I thank the Lord that I had Christian parents. And when your parents are bringing you up. They are bringing you up for the Lord. They are bringing you up to shelter you from the evil that is in this world. And you know that is exactly what happened with Samson. When he was born or prior to his being born. He was told he is going to be a Nazarite. He is going to be separated for God. One of the things that his mother had to do. Was not to cut his hair. And that was comparatively easy you might think. But the other thing was that he was not to eat. Any wine. Any grapes. Any pips of the grape. Right down to the husk of the grapes. He had not to eat. And I am sure that his mother was very careful. As to what food she presented to young Samuel. Young Samson. And our parents are like that. They are very concerned about us. They are concerned about how they bring us up. And you know we ought not to despise our parents. We should thank the Lord for them. And a word to parents. I read of Hannah. Hannah in the first book of Samuel. She had young Samuel. And it says of Hannah that she took him to the temple. And she said I have lent him to the Lord. Why did she lend him to the Lord? Why didn't she give him to the Lord? I believe the fact is that. As while she had lent him. She realised that Samuel was her responsibility. And you know we cannot get away from it. Those of us who are parents. We are responsible for our children. To bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. When we come to the Philistine. What a sad thing it is that Samson. Goes down. Six times Samson is recorded as going down. And here he went down to this Philistine. Now the Philistine was not an Israelite. That's obvious. And the scriptures say very very clearly. Deuteronomy 7.3 Don't marry with the nations. But Samson went down. In the New Testament we read a verse quoted this afternoon. 2 Corinthians 6.14 Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. A word for every one of us here. Don't be yoked together with somebody who is not a believer. And Samson should have known it. But he went down to the country of the Philistines. And he saw a woman. And you know it was only natural. As young people go out and you see people of the opposite sex. That you in the terms of the young people today. But I fell in love with them. And I wanted to marry them. And you know that's what Samson did. But Samson should never have gone down into the country of the Philistines. I know we live in the days where we have to work in the world. Many of you young people are going to colleges and universities. Where you are mixing with men and women that are ungodly. But you don't have to spend your free time mixing with the world. And certainly you mustn't have any idea of marriage. The second one was chapter 14 I think it is. He went down and he saw a harlot. He saw a prostitute. Now you might say to me. Oh come off it. We don't need to talk about the bad things of prostitution. No we don't perhaps. You know the Lord Jesus spoke about it in Matthew chapter 5 verse 28. He spoke there. Who so looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already in their heart. And this is something that is very real. But we know we are all. I am no different to you lot here. We all have the same old sinful nature. We all have that same nature that would lust after things. And you know that is what happened with Samson. He had already gone down to the Philistines. He was on his way down. And he met this harlot. He went into her. And you have got to be very very careful. That in our lives we are not attracted to things that are unholy. When I was young the great blight amongst the meetings was the television. And there were those who had the television and those who didn't. And then it came after technology increased. There was the internet. And there was iPhones. And nowadays you young people can get your iPhones. And you can download what you like in your room without your parents knowledge. You know it is often said of Moses. When he slew the Egyptian. He looked this way and he looked that way. But he forgot to look up. God sees us. And the challenge tonight is if I am really waiting for the coming of the Lord. Am I living a life that is according to the teaching of scripture? We come to Delilah. Sad situation there. Believe that here was a pure satanic influence. We read of Samson. That he went down and he met this woman. Samuel loved her. She never loved him. It was a question that the Philistines said. We will bring him. You find out something about him. Find out where his great strength lies. And the devil wants to know where our great strength lies. And our great strength lies with the Lord Jesus. Our great strength as a Christian lies with going to the prayer meetings. Our great strength lies with reading our Bible. And Satan wants to find out where our strength lies. So he can attack it. The sad thing is that Samson gave in. We will all give in. If we are attempted as Samson was. But you know the end of Samson there is one good thing. It says he had six downward steps. But then it says he bowed beside that pillar. And we know that he brought the house down. He prayed. I think it was the only time that Samson prayed. Not only are we told to be separated from the world. And if we really have the Lord's coming before us, I'm sure we will be separated from the world. In John 3, the verse that we read, we are told that we are to purify ourselves. If we really have the Lord's coming before us, there will be that in us that will want to keep us from this world. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 17 says, Touch not the unclean thing. Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord. And touch not the unclean thing. This is an unclean world. The verse that was quoted this afternoon, 119 Psalm. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his ways, but by taking heed according to thy word. We need to take heed according to the word of God. And we will have clean lives. We mentioned Joseph this afternoon. And you know there's a remarkable thing about Joseph. That when Joseph was tempted, and we live in a world which is unclean. We live in a world which says sex before marriage is perfectly ok. As long as you're not hurting anybody. You can do what you like. If you do what you like, God says no, you've got to make up your mind. Am I going to follow what the Lord says or what the world says? Joseph was following what God said. And we had it read before us. Come lie with me. And Joseph said, how can I do this sin and sin against God? Sad thing is when we come into the book of Samuel, we find that David succumbed to the same sin. In relation to Bathsheba, it says in the 11th chapter of 2 Samuel, that it was a time when they were going to war. Samuel, the time that they were going to war, and David should have had his eyes on the kingdom. He should have had his eyes on extending that kingdom and gone with them. But instead he stayed at home and he was tempted. We know the story, but in the Psalm 51, David says that psalm of repentance. He says, against thee only have I sinned. These sins are a sin against the Lord. And I believe the answer is in the second chapter of Genesis. We read there the institution of marriage. They too shall be one flesh. And in the Ephesian epistle we read there. I show you a great mystery. I speak of Christ and the church. But you know, not only is there sexual sins that will affect us. What about our thoughts? Are our thoughts clean? Are our thoughts holy? Because every one of us, according to Romans 14 verse 12, is going to give an account of ourselves. Every one of us is going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ where we are going to give an account for what we have thought and for what we have done. My third reason. If we have the coming of the Lord before us, I'm sure that it will give us a zeal for the gospel. But when we realize that at any moment the Lord could come and this world would be left behind for judgment, it would make a big difference in our lives. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 28, Go ye into all the world and teach all nations. The apostles, Acts 8, they went preaching the gospel or gossiping the gospel. In Acts chapter 4 we read there that they took knowledge of the disciples that they had been with Jesus. Now perhaps it was that they recognized them. But is there anything in your life that makes people realize that you are a Christian? Is your dress such? Is your manner of life? Is your conversation such that would speak the gospel to your friends and to your acquaintances? It's not only a question of preaching the gospel and giving out tracts. Wonderful thing that it is. But our lives, too, have to be controlled by the fact that the Lord Jesus is coming and may our lives be in keeping with it. Luke 14 we read of the great supper. The Lord Jesus told the story. In verse 14 he says, Come. In verse 23 he says, Compel them to come in. And we come to Acts 17 verse 31. And we find that God is commanding all men everywhere to repent because he's appointed a day. There's a day coming when this world will be judged by the man that was cast out and crucified. Let us have a great zeal for the gospel. Just three more points, small points. What is it going to be if we've seen that there are certain things that ought to be practically affecting our lives? We should be separated from the world. We should have a purified life, a life that is clean. We should have this zeal for the gospel. There are three things that are going to cease when the Lord Jesus comes. I hope it doesn't affect the translators, but the first one is service. The second one is the supper. And the third one is salvation. Three S's you can remember. The first one is service. The Lord Jesus told, as we know, many parables. There are two particular parables that one would refer to. Matthew 25, verse 14. We have the parables of the talents. And in Luke 19, we have the parable of the pounds. And in Luke 19, it says, Occupy while I am coming, or trade while I'm coming. The Lord Jesus says to his servants, I'm going away, but I'm going to come again. And while I'm away, I want you to trade. I want you to be here for me. And in Matthew's gospel, he gave out the talents. Five, two, and one. Every man according to his ability. You may not have a very big ability. That's fine. You've probably only got one talent. You maybe have a bigger ability. You've got two talents. But in Luke's gospel, there were ten talents. There were ten pounds, and there were ten servants. Every person had a pound. Every person was therefore responsible to trade while the Lord Jesus was away. And everyone here in this room are responsible to trade while the Lord Jesus is absent. Because he's going to return, and he's going to reckon with his servants. You know what the encouraging thing is? Is that we read in Matthew's gospel, when the Lord Jesus returned, and there came that servant that had five talents, and he had gained five more. He says, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Because thou hast been faithful in a few things, enter thou into the kingdom. When he came to the one with two talents, he said, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, enter into the kingdom. Exactly the same word. And you know what was important on the day of reckoning was not success. It was not your ability. It was your faithfulness. And are we going to be faithful in the work that the Lord Jesus has given us to do? It may be a very small work. It may be just that Sunday school class that you take every other week. It may be just visiting someone. It may be just a simple little task that you can do in going to the assembly and putting the chairs out and being a deacon, doing some service which was done for the Lord. Let us do it faithfully, because the day will come when we will cease our service for the Lord Jesus. The supper. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 26, well known to each one of us here, I'm sure. It says, This do until he come. You know the privilege that we have every Lord's Day morning to gather together and to remember the Lord in his death will cease when the Lord comes. And if the Lord Jesus came before this meeting was over, there would never be another opportunity for you to remember the Lord. If we read in 1 Corinthians 11, it is not there a question of gift. 1 Corinthians 12 begins, now concerning spiritual gifts. But 1 Corinthians 11 is connected with our affection for Christ. And I believe the Apostle Paul, as it were, hits the nail on the head when he says, The Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed. And I want you to think of that night. It's remarkable that the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke in John's Gospel, we do not read the record of the supper. But John gives us something which I think is very sweet. In the 13th chapter, we read in verse 13, in relation to Judas Iscariot, it says, Then having received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night. What a night it was that night. John picks up these words, you know. In chapter 10, he says it was winter. Here, he says it was night. In chapter 18, he says it was cold. And in chapter 20, he says it was dark. And you know, the world in which we live in is a dark scene. And it's a terrible scene, because it is guilty today of the death of the Son of God. What a night it was when the Lord Jesus passed through here, where he was taken by those men. The first time, indeed, I believe that wicked men touched the Lord Jesus was on this very night, in which he was betrayed. And they took him, and they led him from one place to the other. And they mocked him, and they spat upon him. And eventually, they took him to the cross, and they crucified him. That's what the world done to the Lord Jesus, and they stand guilty tonight of his death. But you know, the Lord Jesus says, This do in remembrance of me. I believe if he had said, Do this, it would have been a commandment. But he said, This do. From his heart, he could say to his own, This do in remembrance of me. I wonder if there's any here that has yet, Do not remember the Lord, have not responded to his request, as we read in 1 Corinthians 11. The simple question I would put to you is, Why not? And finally, if we have the service, that will cease. If we have the supper, that that will cease. We have that salvation will cease. Again, we go to Matthew's Gospel. Matthew 25, verse 10, in the parable of the ten virgins. And it says there, They that were ready went in, and the door was shut. And you know, I will say tonight without any question at all, that if the Lord Jesus came tonight, and you are not ready, you would be left behind. You may say to me, But mister, I've been brought up in a Christian home. My parents were Christians, and their parents were Christians. So what? Are you a Christian? That is the important point. You may say, I've spent the last three and a half days in this conference. Doesn't that make any difference to me? I tell you of a man who spent three and a half years with the greatest teacher this world has ever knew, and yet he has been in hell, been in a lost eternity, should I say, for the last three and a half years. I'm speaking of Judas Iscariot. And if you're not ready for the Lord Jesus to come, how do you get ready by coming to the Lord Jesus? And if there's any here, a young one, an older one, that has yet know that you've never put your trust in the Lord Jesus, I plead with you. The Spirit of God would plead with you. Your brethren would plead with you to get right with God. Get right now, before the day of grace comes to a close. And so I trust that these few words will help us. That we may look on to that glorious day when the Lord Jesus will come. What a day it will be, we often sing, when the Saviour we see, He's going to come and take us to be with Him. And you know, until that day, let us be faithful to Him. Let us live our lives in the light of His coming. We know His coming. Let us live our lives in the light of His coming. And while we're waiting for Him to come, let us serve. Let us go to the supper. Let us make sure that all those around us know of His salvation. …