February 26, 2006
Scripture:
Scripture:
Scripture:
Can we go back again to the passage we had in John: chapter 14. I was thinking of those verses, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20 & 21). We were all there once; yet this morning it is a different story; we have peace. In John 14:27, there are two types of peace. These words are the words of the Lord Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace. Here is the one who came so that the troubled seas could have peace. Sometimes in this world, we have conflicts; nation against nation, people against people. Sometimes they try to make peace, but it is usually at a cost. What a price there was for the peace that we have: Calvary! These words spoke the Lord in the upper room to his disciples; first he said, “Peace I leave with you” and then, “my peace I give unto you.” There was a peace that was his and a peace that he did not need. He purchased both at Calvary and He gives them to us as a free gift. “Peace I leave with you”; we have been reminded that there is not peace where sin has come in. But through the Lord’s sacrifice, we can have peace; this is peace with God. “My peace I give unto you.” This is the peace that He has—the peace of God. He gives us this peace as well. Then He reminds us that He does not give like the world. If I give you a gift, I do not have it any more. When The Lord gives us His peace, he still has it. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” “Troubled”?—He gives the peace of God. “Afraid?”—He gives peace with God. It’s all part of our salvation package.
EG Hymn 329– A little lamb went straying Prayer Jonah 2
V. 9—Jonah realizes that God has forgiven him and this proves to him that “Salvation is of the Lord.”
Address—Jerry FoxCan we turn to Hebrews 6; the verse that is on my heart is verse 9, but we will read a few verses before. “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit” (vv. 1- 3). Once we know the principles of the doctrines of Christ, the basics, we should continue to grow in Christ. We should not leave the basics, but rather put them aside and keep growing. “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you” (v. 9). There are better things to grow on; there is a pathway in this world for every believer. The Lord is in control, we can draw from Him our needed strength as we follow that path. The Lord’s “hand is not shortened, that it cannot save” (Isaiah 59:1). This brings me to the prophecies of Balaam. These prophecies can be divided up into four parts, but we will only look at the first one. For some background, Balak, king of Moab, has asked Balaam to curse Israel for him. Balaam seems to have some fear of God, for he does not want to speak any more than what God wants. Read Numbers 23:7–12. Balaam has a certain amount of fear of God, no doubt fear of being killed if he said more than the Lord wanted. He was speaking “that which the Lord hath put in my mouth”, so we can say that this prophecy is from God. “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?” (v. 8). That is our portion, brethren. Our enemies, worldly men, are on every side; yet the Lord is on our side. He has a path for each one, no matter your age, whether you are a child in submission to your parents, or older and looking for a partner. The Lord overcame the Devil at Calvary; his hands are now tied, as it were, and yet he can still influence us. We should want to be overcomers, too. We have the ability to be overcomers, through our new nature. “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (II Peter 1:3). We have all that we need for life and ‘God-likeness.’ It all comes in Salvation’s package deal. “For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (v. 9). When Israel was camped in the order God had instituted, they were a fair sight to see. “The people shall dwell alone”; the children of Israel were to be a separate people, holy to the Lord. That is why they came out of Egypt. This is for us too. We should be separated from the evil of the world; we should come away from “evil men and seducers” (II Timothy 3:13). We should purpose as Daniel did: “[he] purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” Turn now to I Samuel 8; this is when Samuel is getting old and his sons were not following him. Read vv. 3–5. This is the Israel of God, who was to be separated to God, wanting a king to lead them instead of God. Who are we following? We only have two choices: God or Satan. Whoever is not following God is following Satan; that is a scary truth. But whatever follows God, Satan cannot touch; it will last forever. Why are we here, in the middle of Toronto, in our brother’s basement? Is it because we follow a man? No; God has called us here. He delights, in this day of small things, to put His name among us. When we look at Christendom today, we can feel very blessed to be set apart for God. When we are in the world, we cannot have true fellowship with God or each other. Israel wanted a king; they wanted to be like the other nations. Others may think that we are strange, not meeting in a church or having a minister, but we have the Lord, not seen, but certainly felt. So we can ask ourselves, who are we following, God or Satan? If we are following Satan, we can be restored by realizing our nothingness before God and drawing from Him daily. If Israel could be led through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud, we can be led through our wilderness by the Spirit of God. Balaam’s parable continues and shows us many other unimportant points, but it all needs to start with “the people shall dwell alone.” We need to live a pathway pleasing to God; we need to realize that we have the resources to do it. May we go on in this way, not wanting a leader we can see, wanting to follow the Lord. Mr. Darby wrote “put yourself in the Lord’s service and you will never regret it.” You have a purpose down here, whether you are a son, daughter, parent, grandparent, or so on. Let us go on for the Lord.
Closing Comments—Norman BurgessThe Israelites, in Numbers 14:4, wanted to make a captain to bring them back to Egypt. Previously, they had made a golden calf and worshipped it as the god that brought them out of Egypt. We can see that when God’s people take their eyes off Him, thing will go wrong. We saw that, while Israel was in the valley, their worst enemy, Balak, was watching them. Is our enemy watching us now? He is, and would love it if we fell. We are certainly in the day of apostasy. EG Hymn 179–Nothing but Christ, as on we tread, Prayer