Generation of those that seek Him (Ps. 24)

… Psalm 24. I have only four verses of this psalm that are on my mind, but in view of the word that was given this afternoon, I'm going to read from verse 3 to the end of the psalm, but I'm not going to speak about all those words. Psalm 24, verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob Selah. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah. The 30th chapter of Exodus. This chapter gives us the final instructions as to the things that went into the tabernacle. Verse 22. Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses saying, take thou also unto thee principal spices of pure myrrh, 500 shekels, and of sweet cinnamon, half so much, even 250 shekels, and of sweet calamus, 250 shekels, and of cassia, 500 shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil, olive, and hymn, and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary, it shall be an holy anointing oil, and thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, and the table, and all his vessels, and the candlestick, and his vessels, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burned offering, with all his vessels, and the laver, and his foot, and thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy, whatsoever touches them shall be holy, and thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office, and thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel saying, this shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations, upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it after the composition of it, it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you, whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people. Now turn to the New Testament please to Luke's gospel, and we'll read Luke's account of the Lord's temptation in the wilderness. Chapter four, verse one, and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil, and in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended he afterward hungered, and the devil said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread, and Jesus answered him saying, it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God, and the devil taking him up into a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it, if thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine, and Jesus answered and said unto him, get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, and he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone, and Jesus answering said unto him, it is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, and when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit unto Galilee. Chapter 22. Verse 39. And he came out and went that he was wont to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. When he was at the place, he said unto them, pray that he enter not into temptation, and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. Finally, in the first letter of Paul to Timothy. First Timothy chapter 2, verse 8. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. Chapter 1, verse 5. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, faith unfeigned, from which some having swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling. Chapter 3, verse 6. Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued. And the commission to Timothy right at the end in chapter 6. Verse 12. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his time he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Verse 20. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of signs, falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. I was greatly encouraged by our brothers this afternoon, because he brought before us the power, the power of the one whom the end of Psalm 24 speaks of, who without any question is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because at the end of that Psalm we have not only his official glory, the King of Glory, but the Psalm ends with the establishment and the proclamation of his personal glory, the Lord of Hosts. But this evening, I want to bring before you the fact that that person moved through this world as a man. And if this afternoon we had the power, I want to show you this evening the moral characteristics that God requires from those who take a place in his kingdom and who come before him as priests. The Psalm has a wider application than that of the Lord Jesus, although let it never be said that we never detract from the uniqueness of his person. Only he could fulfill the requirements of this Psalm completely. But you will notice, as is so often in the Psalms, that verse six speaks of a generation of them that seek him. For those of you who do study the Psalms, and it's very profitable, you will find, for instance, that all those marvelous Psalms that bring before us the sufferings of Christ, at their end, allude to a generation. Take, for instance, just Psalm 22. A generation shall be born and they shall say that he hath done this. Psalm 69, Psalm 102, they all end with a generation. And whilst primarily there is only one person who can fulfill the requirements of verse four, nonetheless the Psalm brings before us the fact that there is a generation going to be be born who likewise will be marked by those same characteristics. Now you will know, just by way of explanation, that the term generation in scripture is not only a historical period when a certain race of people lived. Very often, particularly in the Gospel of John, the term generation refers to a class of people who have certain characteristics. The Lord Jesus said, this generation shall not pass away until these things be accomplished. I believe, and I'm going to apply this afternoon, this evening, that the generation that seek him are of him and as a consequence have the ability as born of God to exhibit those moral characteristics that were seen in him. Yea, I go as far as to say, and I trust that you have followed the bent of the scriptures that we have read because we have finished reading in Paul's letter to Timothy, which has to do with the house of God that you and I form today. And I've just picked out a few expressions from that epistle that show that these qualifications of Psalm 24 run through and should be seen amongst those who profess to be house of God today. What a question this is. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? That's the king, isn't it? If we go to Psalm 1, I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. The hill here brings before us the truth of the king. But it also says who shall stand in his holy place. I like John this afternoon, I'm not going to be emphatic, but I think that refers to the priest. The king and the priest, of course, in that glorious world to come of which we speak, of which we have been reminded this afternoon, that the psalm at the end moves on to. And Paul, when he wrote to Timothy, he touched on it as well. That day when God will bring him forth and that day will bear testimony to this fact, that he alone is king of kings and lord of lords. The millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he will be supreme, his name will be on every lip, his glory will fill every eye and he will rule in equity. And this poor world, for a period of a thousand years, will bask under the sunshine of his for a period of a thousand years, will bask under the sunshine of his glorious administration. It should thrill the soul to think that the man of Calvary, he who wore the crown of thorn and in mockery the purple robe, will come forth decked with many diadems upon his head and garbed with the garment of the imperial ruler of the universe. But that person walked through this world as a man. I want us, just very briefly now, having outlined that, I want us this evening to consider the matter of clean hands, a pure heart, not lifting up the soul unto vanity and not swearing deceitfully. Dear brethren, these verses are intensely practical. Because I think the expression clean hands doesn't just refer to doing things that you shouldn't. It goes far beyond that. But before we go into that, you may wonder why I read to you in the 30th of Exodus, almost the penultimate thing that is mentioned in the instructions of the tabernacle, the very last thing was the incense. That stands unique. But I read to you the matter of the composition of the holy anointing oil. We read those verses where Moses is commanded to anoint the whole tabernacle. The ark, candlestick, altar of incense, table, the laver, and the altar of burnt offering. The whole thing was anointed with that holy anointing oil and it was consecrated to God thereby. And not only so, but that oil was also put upon Aaron and upon his sons with a view to their serving God in the sanctuary, ministering unto him. Now we were encouraged this afternoon to do a bit of digging in our studies of God's word. I just want to mention something to you that you'll have to dig very hard to find. But I got this from a brother that I very much esteem and I don't doubt, I've not been completely to find out where he got it from, but I followed it through. Apart from oil olive, there were four sweet spices that were the composition of the holy anointing oil. Cassia 500 shekels, cinnamon half as much, calamus again half as much, myrrh 500 shekels. Cassia comes from the outward bark of a shrub that is found in Arabia. Cinnamon is taken from that area between the bark and the wood, a little bit further in. Calamus is the very reed or pith, the center of the thing. You see we've moved from the outside a little bit inward to the very pith and then myrrh, often used in scripture, it is a resinous substance of outstanding fragrance. It is distilled from the leaves of a plant that is very similar to our rose, in a tear-like form, but when tasted is exceedingly bitter. That of course, as we all know, is the substance in scripture that is so often used to bring before us the truth of suffering love. Something that has an aura of fragrance that is sweet and delightful, but on the part of those who are the means and the cause of bringing that about, there may be the matter of intense bitterness. It's not without significance that they offered the Lord, you remember, myrrh and wine when he went to the cross, but he refused it. But how it speaks to us, does it not, of the suffering love of the Lord Jesus. But this was the composition. You might ask why the difference in the amounts, in as much as the cassia was 500 shekels and the myrrh 500 shekels and the other two which were inward were lesser. I can only bring before you that the Spirit of God in this picture is emphasizing the necessity of us being right outwardly when the public eye is upon us. The matter of that which concerns the soul and the spirit is taken account of by God. But this composition was compounded together after the art of the apothecary and was mixed with an hen of oil. Unquestionably, in New Testament language, the power of the Holy Spirit of God taking of the fragrance of Christ and shedding it, so to speak, upon the whole community in order that it might there speak fragrantly to God of Christ and rise up to him as a sweet smelling savour. Let me read you another psalm that you all know very well where this is actually referred to. Just to show to you again that I'm not speculating but I'm trying to bring out what scripture teaches. Psalm 133 says, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garment as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore. The Spirit of God paints a picture there for us of dear old Aaron with his great big long beard and all his garments and that moment when Aaron anointed him poured that oil over the top of his head and it ran down down his beard right down to the bottom of his garment covered him. I'll exaggerate, saturated him because I think that is the idea and that is the picture that the Spirit of God takes up and uses it as an illustration of brethren dwelling together in unity and the psalm says in effect when those sort of conditions cassia, cinnamon, calamus, myrrh, oil olive are saturating the whole community what does the verse say there he commanded the blessing there he commanded the blessing even life forevermore. These things beloved brethren are not put in the old testament just to occupy the inquisitive mind. It might be dear brethren that there is a lack of the study of the old testament today. I'm certain of this that the tabernacle system as Paul said or the writer of the hebrews says it's a pattern of the things in the heavens. That which was reared up on earth was in fact a figure of what God had in his mind from eternity and will yet bring into being. The tabernacle was a picture an anti-tupos of that. It behoves us therefore not to neglect such old testament scriptures with all their minute detail which you and I might find laborious and difficult to understand but it's God's breathing there's something in every detail. You and I may not see it but don't let us bring God down to our ability to understand what he's saying. There are depths in his word because his word reveals his mind. And if we addict ourselves to the study of scripture you'll find therein things that thrill the soul and the ability because we are in wealth now of the holy spirit to take those things and understand as taught of God to what they refer to move away from the material things and see in them these spiritual things that they were a figure of therein lies the blessing to our souls. I have no question at all that the truth of the house of God today of which every believer forms part of many of the things that are true spiritually of the house of God are illustrated for us in the tabernacle. I've just brought one before you. That probably almost the last thing that was spoken of but without it it would have been useless. That gold, those curtains, those altars, those coverings. They were but material things. The one who gave instructions said later aren't the cattle on a thousand hills of mine? What can you give me? No but when that was all reared up and this holy anointing oil was put upon it then it spoke to God of Christ. These are all sweet spices. You can understand it being saying don't you dare put it upon your own flesh. Don't you dare make anything like it because this old man cannot be in any way graced with the fragrance of Christ and offered to God as incense or any power. It is incapable of doing so. But when the believer is indwelt of the Holy Spirit has received that new nature, has a renewed mind and has a heart that has been deluged by the love of God and when the eyes have been opened to the person, the glory and the worth and the beauty of Jesus then the Spirit of God can take of him and fill my tiny vessel with it to the extent that it will overflow in worship to God in praise and exaltation to the person of my Saviour and the Spirit of God can use as blessing to his saints and as a witness to a world that is lost and undone. Let us never forget these things beloved brethren. Don't let us try and shortcut those things. Remember again Psalm 133, there he commanded a blessing when there were thus conditions that were conducive to it. Can we be bold this evening dear beloved brethren and claim that in any way in our gatherings this is true? Not only the matter of clean hands, pure lives, nothing of pride, nothing double-tongued or dishonest. They're essentials. We've gone back to basics. But not only so, as far as we are concerned, the essentiality of those things being blended together in such a way that brethren dwell together in unity. We are of one another. We are members of one another. That is union and it's done of God by the Holy Spirit and nothing can affect it. But we are exhorted as far as we are able to keep the unity of the Spirit of God with diligence. There he commands a blessing, life forevermore. Well let us just see how that the Lord Jesus Christ in his pathway exemplified these characteristics to the full. I read to you Luke's account, not Mark's, Luke's account of the temptation. The 40 days of temptation, not just three, 40 days of temptation. Let's deal with the last thing that is mentioned, the oil olive, a hymn, which I understand is a pretty large amount. The Holy Spirit. Luke brings before us the perfection of the manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The highest thing of that manhood is this, and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost. Please understand dear brethren that I'm now speaking about the Lord's manhood. Yea, I'm speaking about man in a general way. He has no greater glory. He has no higher position. He has no greater responsibility. He knows no greater blessing, has no greater privilege than to be full of the Holy Spirit. It's the top stone. Again, let me explain, lest there be someone in the company that don't understand it. Every believer is indwelt, sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. Every believer. That's God's work. But we are exhorted in the Ephesians to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let us not confuse this matter. There is only one indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. It doesn't happen many times in the life of the believer. It happens once when I believe. I am sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. But in my daily living, I constantly have to search my heart in the presence of God as to whether my thoughts, my words, my actions, my ways are controlled by that Holy Spirit of God that is within me. Do not confuse those two things. One statement of scripture has to do with what God has done. The other statement of scripture has to do with my responsibility because God has done it. And here's the Lord Jesus. He comes out publicly, declared by that dove coming upon him to be the Son of God. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit in. If your Bible says in two, as mine does, just cross off T-O. He was led in the Spirit in the wilderness. He wasn't just pushed in that direction so to speak and said that's the way you've got to go. He was directed. He was led. And in that same power of dependence, the power of the Spirit of God, he walked through the wilderness those 40 days. Just as an aside, although the time will defeat us tonight, but I think we were a bit late starting which wasn't my fault. The perfection but the variety of scripture is illustrated in one of the, in this incident and I just commend it to you as something worth looking at and thinking about. Matthew's gospel, which presents the Lord as the King, it says he was carried into the wilderness. Mark's gospel that presents him as the servant says he was driven. And Luke's gospel that presents him as that perfect dependent man says he was led. You see scripture is perfect. The very words of scripture are divinely breathed and when God makes a difference in his word woe betide you, me or anybody else who says it doesn't matter because it does matter. I've pointed out to you that something that any simple reader of the scriptures who just compares Matthew, Mark and Luke together can find and you don't need a concordance to prove it. Just read it carefully but you see how exact are the terms that the Spirit of God uses when he is trying to teach us from scripture. A dependent man, you don't drive him. You may have to drive a servant. You don't drive a king. No, you carry him. You leading without question. I almost said without effort. Word to God it was so with me that without question, without effort, without query, without problems I followed the leading of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did in perfection and here he is presented as God's perfect man and says and I say this with all reverence God says to the devil see what you can do with him. He couldn't do anything with him. He couldn't touch him. Why? Because he had clean hands. Because he had a pure heart and because he had a soul in which there was no pride and because he as it as it were had sworn concerning a matter that he would not be diverted from. Follow it through yourself. You'll find these things are so. John when he writes his first epistle he tells us what the world is characterized by. The last of the eyes, that which is outward. I can see that is all around me. Something within here that is influenced in my living by all that is round about me that I can see, that I can touch. The last of the flesh I'm sorry I should have said and the last of the eyes and the pride of life. That is what this passing scene if you get right down to the very bottom basics of it they are the things that motivate the world all around us. Yes beloved brethren but it's possible my heart also. My heart also. But here was a perfect man that when the devil came to him after having been without sustenance for 40 days outwardly the body must have been in distress. No man can go thus and not be affected as to his body in some way. And whilst one speaks with the uttermost care of the person, the physical body of the Lord Jesus Christ he would not have been a perfect man if his physical body would have not in some way have been affected by being without food for 40 days. You might say that he would be at the lowest ebb of physical strength and that was when the devil came to him and said to him if thou be the son of God command this stone that it be made bread. You see he was presenting something to do with the Lord Jesus doing something for himself that may not have been in accordance with the pathway of the will of God. Now beloved brethren I'm not going to go into details but I believe every day in my life these hands, these feet, this physical body moving in the environment of a world under sin continually comes under attack from the enemy and the question is will I continue in the pathway of the will of God or will I please myself? I believe the matter of clean hands refers to hands that are dedicated to God and his service and his will and in regard to the other things of life. I'm not talking about the fact that we all have a responsibility to provide things honest in the sight of God but I believe you me beloved brethren and I move in it in that sphere it's becoming more and more it's becoming more and more and more difficult to keep hands clean and we have a government that sadly is an example of the fact that there are men in high places whose hands are not clean as to the people of God let it not be so. The Lord Jesus in regard to that matter maintained his fidelity in regard to what life really consists of man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God every breathing of God. The children of Israel had to learn that in the wilderness it was one of the things and that's why there's that is the context of this quotation they had to learn that life does not consist of material things it consists of living from God and that's why Paul when he writes at the end of Timothy he says to him lay hold on eternal life he's referring to that spiritual life that the believer has in Christ you've got it lay hold on it in an experimental way so that it becomes manifest in the life the devil took him up into a high mountain I can never read this verse without remembering a comment of a man that I greatly love and admired some of you might have known him he was called Anthony Doherty and he was a a wonderful timesider that doesn't say anything for timesiders he was unique but you know I can remember him to this day commenting upon this verse and the day and taking him up into an high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time some kingdom some glory all displayed in a moment of time Christ's kingdom will take a thousand years to display its glory God's glory will take eternity to display Satan displays his in a moment of time yes I thought it amusing as well but look what it says all this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and to whom so I will I give it oh dear fellow young Christian middle-aged saint of God old age saint of God the world is in the devil's hands at the moment and those of us who in our folly would be so foolish to aspire in it will receive of its glory from the hand of him whose prince it is if thou therefore will worship me all shall be thine oh you foolish thing Satan it's all going to be his that is true but he would not take it from the devil oh there's deep lessons here you see there's this matter of my heart and the possibility of it not being pure in regard to its aspirations and its motives who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord he that hath clean hands and a pure heart and the devil offered something to the Lord Jesus what did he say get thee behind me Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve you see he had a pure heart and the devil couldn't do anything as regards enticing into his ways a man who had a pure heart he brought him to Jerusalem set him on a pinnacle of the temple and said if thou be the son of God cast thyself down from us and here the devil quoted scripture quoted part of scripture you know in one sense one ought to be very thankful for the devil to quoting this scripture to the Lord because it's been the reason probably why millions of saints through the ages have turned to Psalm 91 and found therein the joy and the sustenance of communion with God he that abideth under this in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty so it starts and that's a very psalm that the devil quoted from from the Lord what he said was true but he stopped short he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time though dash thy foot against a stone and he stopped there and it was just as well for him that he did but you see he was presenting the Lord Jesus with something that meant that in the depths of his heart he questioned the faithfulness of God that's one thing and he also brought before him the fact of something that was spectacular I've often asked myself the question why didn't he take him to a deep ravine or some cliff why a pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem why it's obvious because anything done on the pinnacle of the temple would be seen by a vast crowd something that would have had the crowd in awe oh beloved brethren how often in the depths of our souls we think it important to be well thought of you know beloved brethren don't let us take away from this meeting a moment the idea that I will never do these things the matter of vaunting and lifting up oneself it's in the bottom of every one of our hearts but for the grace of God we could all vaunt ourselves amongst the brethren in the world but he never did what did he say thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God and the devil left him and Jesus returned in the power of the spirit he noticed it he went in and he came out and what was true of him when he went in was true of him when he came out the power of the spirit of God and in that wilderness condition there had arisen to God the fragrance of his anointed in this world because he had exhibited under the most stringent conditions that he had pure hands clean hands a pure heart his soul was not lifted up to vanity and I read to you where perhaps we might say that the devil returned to him in Luke chapter 22 where the myrrh comes into evidence where the Lord Jesus withdrawn in the presence of his father beset with all that dark scene round about him the enemy there marshalling all his forces against that one lowly dependent man and there the matter of his fidelity his having taken up the matter of the work that his father had given him to do and seeing because of who he was where that pathway would lead he intercedes and he pleads father if there be any other way remove this cup from me had he not said in John chapter 12 his soul was troubled father save me from this hour but for this cause there is it there's the not swearing deceitfully he had said in effect here am I send me and he took up the matter that involves God's glory and your and my ultimate eternal destiny and blessing it was committed into his hands and in that garden of Gethsemane it was declared to the full that he had not sworn deceitfully and he went onward to the cross oh blessed saviour oh that something of those moral characteristics should be seen in us they are what God has seen in us they are what God requires of his anointed the question we started with who shall ascend into the hill of the lord who shall stand in his holy place and the verse tells us the qualifications that are necessary for those who stand before God and serve him the lord Jesus fulfilled all that criteria but we read in one Timothy and I just commend these to you to show you that the generation that has been brought to light for God from his death has the potentiality to exhibit the same character and when Paul writes to that young man Timothy concerning the house of God the pillar and base of the truth wherein is contained and born witness to the testimony that verily God was manifest in the flesh he speaks so simply and yet so practically of the necessary manner of life of those who compose that company brethren it's you and I we read did we not I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands and quite the same as clean hands but very similar praying beloved brethren are my prayers affected because of what I am and what I do are they hindered how many prayers there are dear brethren in the prayer meeting that don't seem to get answered why do we ask amiss maybe but this verse lays out a requirement of the men the brothers Paul says I will that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands he spoke previously in chapter one of the commandment that which we are enjoined of as composing the house of God and one of the things that is essential is love out of a pure heart you see there it is again men and brethren that compose the house of God should have clean hands holy hands should have a pure heart in their their affections are pure in chapter three in an oblique way he shows us very clearly that an official position in the house of God is not conducive to a very young man because there's the possibility that his immaturity will lead him into a place of condemnation from the devil not a novice less being lifted up with pride is it possible amongst the saints of God that such a thing should be seen of course it is otherwise Paul would not have warned about putting people in a position where they might exhibit such a thing it's not conducive to the generation of Jesus Christ not double-tongued that's pretty nigh to not swearing deceitfully isn't it being double-tongued say one thing at one time and because saying that in another condition might create problems you say something else that's not honest that's not true that's being double-tongued but you know in a far greater way I ended with that solemn charge the fact that Paul laid something upon Timothy and encouraged him to take it up in the presence of God with a view to the appearing of Jesus Christ and beloved brethren this is where you and I are today we've been left in this position we are the depositories of the truth of God we have received of the benefits of the labors of men and men of God who have shown us the truth and the doctrines of scripture and in our baptism and breaking bread coming together we in effect have put ourselves in that position that being so you and I have a charge to maintain because my baptism puts me on a ground where I'm there for God and my partaking of the Lord's Supper puts me into a position where I am responsible in regard to my life in regard to what is conducive to the house of God that's a charge and we need to keep it not something that we've given as an option it's something that we are enjoined a strong word but Paul at the end of this letter he appeals in affectionate language he says oh beloved brethren let's hold on to what we've got let's make it real let's live it let's enjoy it let's hold it keep that which is committed to thy trust almost identical to the words of the Lord Jesus to that little company Philadelphia hold fast I'm coming let no man take thy crown the crown you know is distinctive beloved brethren what a testimony we would be in this world if our hands were clean if our hearts were pure and if there was no vaunting and if we were prepared with God-given strength to carry out to the end that which scripture enjoins upon us relevant to the assembly and the house of God now being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I just commend these thoughts to you search them out young brethren for yourself don't just take what I have said verbatim check it out study it out and make it your own and use it to contribute to the witness for the Lord Jesus and the corporate testimony of the assembly of God may the Lord bless his home …