Preparation for the Coming of the Lord 2 – Possessing, Marriage

[00:00:00] In the word of God. First in Luke's Gospel and chapter 17. [00:00:10] Luke's Gospel, chapter 17 we will read from verse 22. 22nd verse of Luke's Gospel, chapter 17 and he said unto the disciples, the days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the son of man, and ye shall not see it, and they shall say to you, lo, there, lo, here, go not away, nor follow after them. For as the lightning, when it lighteneth out of the one part under the heaven, shineth unto the other part unto the heaven, so shall the son of man be in his day. [00:01:00] But first must he suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, even as it came to pass in the days of lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But in the day that lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. After the same manner shall it be in the day that the son of man is revealed. In that day he that shall be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away, and let him that is in the field likewise not return back. Remember lot's wife, whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I say unto you, in that night there shall be two men on one bed. The one shall be taken and the other shall be left. There shall be two women grinding together. The one shall be taken and the other shall be left. [00:02:23] And they answering, say unto him, where, Lord. And he said unto them, where the body is, thither will the eagles also be gathered together. [00:02:40] Now, these studies that we have embarked upon, we have entitled preparation for the coming of the Lord, or what the word of God says about being prepared and ready for the end times and for Christ's second coming. And on the first occasion we dealt with two matters principally. The first was being ready and all that that entailed. Remember, we spoke about the ten virgins, and the matter really of having spiritual reserves. They all had lamps, and all their lamps were alight, which is often overlooked. It was the five foolish virgins who said, our lamps are going out. Give us oil to the five wise ones. [00:03:33] In other words, it was a matter of reserve. And we also spoke about watching carefully. Now, I won't go over anything of what we have said before because we have much to consider this evening, and we want to see how the Lord will lead us. [00:03:50] I'm very well aware that these studies may not necessarily prove to be of immediate practical value. In one sense very much lies in the future. But unless we are now prepared, as believers, to finally wake up to the fact that we are entering the last days, we have believed it for so long that we are immunized against any practical preparation. All real believers believe that one day are going to go to pieces, that everything is going to be shaken, that the Antichrist is going to come, that the night comes when no man can work, that the Lord's coming will finally come to pass. [00:04:40] But just because we have believed it for so long, firmly and strongly, we can be somehow off our God tending to think that the very knowledge of these things is a preparation, whereas an academic knowledge of these things is no preparation at all. It can be quite the opposite. It can make us foolhardy. [00:05:10] Now, that's exactly why we're looking at these practical matters concerning the end times and the Lord's return. We're not looking at signs pointing to the Lord's coming or the sequence of events, or whether we're going to go before the tribulation, during the tribulation, or at the end of the tribulation. These are all matters we shall leave except to touch upon them. We are going to just talk about those practical commands and words of scripture concerning being prepared and ready for the Lord's coming again. [00:05:54] Now, I want to go on to a third point this evening, immediately. And I have entitled it, hold material possessions lightly. [00:06:07] Hold material possessions lightly. Luke, chapter 17, from verse 26 and 27. [00:06:27] Luke 1726 to 37. Sorry. And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, now we've just read those verses. I will not read them again, but I want you to note two or three things, particularly what it says about in the days of Noah, they ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, even as it came to pass, in the days of lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But in the day that lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and boomstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Now, verse 31. In that day, he that shall be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away, and let him that is in the field likewise not return back. Remember lot's wife. [00:07:34] Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Now in Matthew chapter 24 we have also some words which are very interesting in this connection from verse 16. [00:07:55] Matthew 20 416 then let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains. Let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house. And let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak. [00:08:12] Now you could read right the way down to verse 22, except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. [00:08:27] Now it is in the context of his coming again and of the final phase of the age that Christ said, remember Lot's wife. [00:08:42] So very often we have heard messages on Lot's wife, but not in connection with his coming again. [00:08:53] It was in the context of his return and the final phase of the age that our lord uttered this warning. Remember lots, wife. Now you will remember that in the day that lot and his family left Sodom and the cities of the plain judgment fell upon them. They were wonderfully delivered and were well out of dangers way when Lot's wife turned round to look back. [00:09:30] And in that moment she became a pillar of salt. [00:09:36] Her heart was evidently a divided heart, and the materialistic spirit of her age had got into her. [00:09:50] Now, dear children of God, I don't need to stand here to tell you, I have to say it to myself, that the materialistic spirit of our own age can so very easily get into all of us without our even being aware of it. [00:10:12] And it is precisely the introduction of that materialistic spirit and attitude that can be our undoing in the day of crisis. Unless God is able by his spirit to deal with us now on these issues, it will be too late to suddenly get out into the clear with the Lord when the moment of emergency finally arrives. [00:10:47] Now, I think that this is a very serious and solemn warning to us. [00:10:55] You note how specific our Lord was in this matter. He said in Matthew 24 and verse 17 and 18, let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house, and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak. [00:11:24] Specific. [00:11:28] Then again we find in Luke 1731. This is how Luke records in that day he that shall be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away, and let him that is in the field likewise not return back. [00:11:56] Mark is even more explicit. In mark 13 and verse 15 and 16, we read this, and let him that is on the housetop not go down nor enter in to take anything out of his house. And let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak. [00:12:24] Now, I don't know how you can spiritualize such a specific command of our lord that there should be a principle within it, I have no doubt. And upon that we can say very much in a general application. But our lord was being quite specific here about a certain phase at the end of this age. [00:12:46] And in that time he said, don't even go into the house to get your purse. Don't go back into the house to take anything out of it. Don't even go to get an overcoat. Go out immediately, as fast as your legs can carry you. Get out. [00:13:09] Now. Although those commands were given specifically for a particular phase of the end time, nevertheless, they touched the root of the matter. [00:13:21] One's attachment to material possessions could spell the difference in the day of crisis between life and death. [00:13:37] I have known, of course, a number of people in this connection. I mentioned one last week. I just repeat it again. [00:13:45] That whole family. Now, the boy, who was only a little boy then, is the chief accident officer for Avis in Israel. [00:13:56] I told you the story, how his mother came to the school with just a small bag, met him from the school and said, we're going on a long journey. You must not ask any questions or say anything. He went to the main station in Berlin, and there were his aunt, his father, the other members of his family, his sisters. They got on the Orient express and without Bod, got the tickets, just got on just as they were in the clothes. They stood up in without any else and went right on the whole way to the end of the line till they came to Istanbul. From there they got to Palestine, and so they escaped. But the aunt had much property in Berlin. When she got a british passport in 1936 to 37, she thought she was safe enough as a british citizen of the mandated territory of Palestine to return to Berlin and settle the issue of her property and somehow or other get the money that would help the family in Palestine. She went back to Berlin and she was never heard of again. She died in the concentration camps of nazi occupied Germany. [00:15:06] Remember lot's wife? I remember another occasion when we were at place down a place called Imboquek on the Dead Sea, which is a hot spring especially for people who suffer from nervous complaints, especially skin complaints. There are sulfur springs in the. In the Dead Sea, and I was very interested to see that in the dining room. Of course, it was in the summer and dead Sea is 1000ft below sea level and it was very hot in spite of air conditioning. Everyone was wearing short blouses or short sleeved shirts. [00:15:44] And I saw all the tattoo marks all over the room. Those middle aged people. [00:15:51] I don't suppose there were just a handful that hadn't got the tattoo marks on their arms. At our table where Jimmy and I were sitting, there were two ladies. It was a little difficult to speak because they spoke no English. So it all had to be in a mixture of German, sort of Yiddish, all mixed up together in Hebrew. But what was so interesting to me was here were two people who had escaped from Hitler. They were born and brought up in Lodz in. In Poland. [00:16:20] But when I asked, how did you escape? Not one of the eleven brothers and sisters in her family escaped except her. Everyone dead, all their children, all their husbands and wives. [00:16:36] Father was one of 14 brothers and sisters. Not one survived. Every single member of that family family died. [00:16:46] How did they survive? [00:16:50] Here was her story. She said, I had a strange, strange uncomfortable feeling about Adolf Hitler in 1934. Now, there was nothing to do with Poland then. It was all in Germany, in southern Germany. But she had this strange feeling. She upped. One day she went on and on to her husband in such a way that in the end, the both of them upped in 1934 and went to the Ukraine. [00:17:16] When in 1938, Poland was taken by the Nazis, they were safely in the Ukraine. But then in 1939, and he had another funny feeling, and they upped and went right across Siberia, not taking any possessions, just in what they stood up. The result was that in that lightning sweep of 1941, which took the german army right through the Ukraine and brought about the death of 1 million jewish people alone in the Ukraine, though that husband and wife escaped to live. Now, those are unsaved people who had this strange inner sense of darkness about something. And because they were not attached to material possessions, their lives were preserved. Here is an illustration of this very matter we're talking about this evening. Hold material possessions, like I could tell you story after story related to me, of people who had very precious things in their homes and they couldn't bear to leave them. The result was that the very things they priced so much went into other people's hands and they were gassed to death. [00:18:43] They gained nothing by holding on to their possessions. They sought to gain their lives and lost them. [00:18:53] And those who lost their lives, they preserved them alive. What an illustration it was. This whole matter which our Lord spotlighted in Matthew, chapter six from verse 21. [00:19:15] Really right through to the end of that chapter. But I will read only four verses. [00:19:21] I will read from verse 20. [00:19:24] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth consume and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is there will thy heart be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is the darkness? No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to one one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. [00:20:12] Now, it is the true location of our treasure that is the root of this matter. [00:20:20] Where is our heart? [00:20:27] Where really is our heart? [00:20:30] If we were to face the issue tonight. [00:20:33] Is it in material things? [00:20:35] Is it in the things that pass away? [00:20:39] Or is it in the eternal? Is it Christ? [00:20:44] Is it in heaven? Where is our true treasure located? [00:20:53] Our Lord spoke about a single eye meaning that when we dont have impaired vision then our whole body is full of light. We see clearly. But if somethings wrong with our vision we see very little if at all. [00:21:17] Our Lord said, you cannot serve two masters. [00:21:23] Mammon and God. Now, mammon is not just money as people so often think. Mammon is a good deal more than money. It is really the whole sort of realm of riches, possessions, commerce. [00:21:42] Our Lord says the most interesting thing in Luke 16. He says, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. [00:21:51] Have you ever noticed that? [00:21:54] What a commentary it is. Upon these very verses? There are people who say, I like God, no mammon. But the Lord Jesus said quite clearly, don't be foolish. Make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. For he says, if you have been unfaithful in the unrighteous mammon how can the true riches be entrusted to you? [00:22:20] The answer is not to have nothing to do with mammon. The answer is what we do with it and how we get the ascendancy over it. Whether mammon controls us or whether we control the mammon. [00:22:34] Now if you want those verses, they are in Luke 16 from nine to 13. They are a very very interesting few verses that have given many a Christian a headache. [00:22:48] What is our Lord talking about? Hes talking about the matter of priorities. [00:22:53] Listen again to our Lord in this same chapter, Matthew 633. But seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. [00:23:10] It's not that our Lord said, don't have anything, but rather where is your heart? Where is the priority? [00:23:20] Who has the supreme place in your life? [00:23:28] So may I say it again? It is not essentially whether we have little possessions or many possessions. It is a matter of our attachment to them. I know people who have very little possession, but the little possessions they have, they have a colossal attachment to them. [00:23:51] And that attachment to what, after all, is worth very little anyway, could be their undoing in the day of crisis. I have likewise known people who have had many, many possessions, but I've held them very lightly, have been able, at a moment when the Lord has spoken to them, to sell the whole thing to the shock of all their friends, just to digress for one moment, but which may prove to be helpful. There are those who say that christians shouldn't give up everything they have, sell, give all away. And of course, I came to the Lord through a man who did that c. T. Studd. I don't suppose I would even be in the kingdom of God if it weren't that c. T. Studd had done this incredible thing. That was the thing that gripped me. I couldn't believe it. I always thought the christians were people who were always after money, always sort of having to make appeals for organs and towers and belfries and bells and rotting the. Whatever it was and so on. I'd never been into one of the places, so I didn't know what it was anyway. But all I knew was that you always saw literature coming in the front door, appealing for money. So I always thought christians were always after money. I was amazed when I read about a C. T. Stud who gave away a fortune of 30,000 pounds in one week. [00:25:22] That so challenged me. I thought the man was mad or he'd got something worth more than money. That's what led me to the Lord. That and a few other things about him. [00:25:32] I suppose it took a crank to get me into the kingdom. I mean, I don't know. I don't know whether anyone else would have ever arrested me. But that's how I came to the Lord, and I thank God for it. But, you know, I have known others who had very much money, but who, in the most amazing way, gave it up to the Lord. They didn't get rid of it all. They gave it up and they invested it. [00:26:01] And over years such people gave five or six times 30,000 pounds. [00:26:11] Now, which is the greatest? [00:26:18] Which is the greater? [00:26:20] The point is only the Lord knows who can do it. [00:26:26] You understand? [00:26:28] I think C. T had to give it up. [00:26:30] The Lord knew his heart when he challenged him and the whole lot had to go. That was the kind of man he was. But there are other people that the Lord could well say. Now, you are no longer the possessor of this. You are the steward. It's mine. [00:26:44] But how wonderful to be a steward of such possessions. So that through the years you use them and use them and use them and use them and use them again. So that in the end you accumulate a wealth in heaven because of learning how to administer these things by the spirit of God. [00:27:05] You see, there are two sides to this matter. [00:27:10] And so it is coming back to this. It's not a question of whether we have many possessions or few possessions, but it is our attachment to them. [00:27:20] Whether it be in the matter of goods or money or house or career or position, all these things will pass away. Are we so attached to them, so attached to our career, so attached to our position, so attached to our home, so attached to our possessions or to our money, that when the crisis comes, we cannot turn our back on it? In a moment, I have to say it to my own heart. Could I? Could I turn my back on the whole thing in a moment, walk out and never see it again? [00:27:55] But that could spell for me the difference between life and death. Physically. [00:28:07] It is just here that compromise lies hidden, like dry rot or wood boarding beetle. I don't know if any of you have ever had any experience of dry rot. Oh, what a dreadful thing it is. I know some people say you can smell it. Well, I can only tell you this. I never smelt dry rot at the beginning because I didn't know what driver smelt that. [00:28:32] It creeps and creeps and creeps and creeps and creeps under the floor, under the floor, up the walls, wherever else. And you don't know till in the end some little bit appears from inside the wall and then you know trouble when you get the expert in and they take down the thing to your ability. Amazement. There it all is. [00:28:57] I remember Professor Hallibrand next door. Some of you know the story, playing his piano in the downstairs room while Gladys, the maid, was sitting there knitting. [00:29:10] And misses Haller was there reading the newspaper, thundering away on some Schubert sonata or whatever it was. And then suddenly he went through the floor, piano stool and hullabrawn, like one of those old fashioned cinema organs. And he was oblivious, playing away until Gladys thought she was ill because she saw his head. As you know, the floor is very much under thing. She just saw only his top still playing. The whole thing had just sunk down. Wood boarding beetle compromise in the christian's life is just like that. [00:30:07] It is something so often that is hidden. And the day of crisis alone discovers it. [00:30:16] Now it is, as I see it, something that has to be dealt with right now. You cannot wait until later for it to be done, for it can be our undoing in the moment of crisis. That's why the Lord said, remember Lot's wife? She had a spiritual drive out there was a spiritual hood, boring beetle that had been at work in Lot's wife's character. It never was never apparent until in the moment, the judgment, the day of crisis and emergency came suddenly. She couldn't bear it anymore. Her whole home was going up. Everything she'd built up over years was their back in sodom. And she couldn't bear it. She turned round, not just to look, but because there was a question in her mind, couldn't I salvage something? [00:31:14] Isn't there something of it all that we could take out? [00:31:21] And in that moment, she turned to a pillar of salt. [00:31:27] It is most instructive, therefore, to note these deeper issues. As I have said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these other things will be added. Look in Luke 17. [00:31:46] And here we find something I find really amazing in verse 32. Remember lot's wife, verse 33. Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. And then he goes on to say, I say unto you, in that night there shall be two men on one bed. One shall be taken, one shall be left. Two women grinding together. One shall be taken, one shall be left. So it is to do with our Lord's coming. Now, here is something very, very interesting. You see, the authorized version, the revised version, the revised standard version, all use the word preserve. He that loseth his life shall preserve it. [00:32:30] The new american standard Bible renders it shall preserve it alive. [00:32:37] And the new English Bible, which I do not normally quote, renders it rather remarkably like this to whoever loses it will save it and live. [00:32:53] Now, it is interesting, literally, it is to save alive or to preserve a life. And it is only used once here. And the other connection is in acts chapter seven and verse 19, where we read this the same Stephen's great speech, the same dealt craftily with our race and ill treated our fathers, that they should cast out their babes to the end that they might not be preserved alive. [00:33:27] In other words, it is used in the only other time it is used in the New Testament, it is used of physical preservation. Now, normally, quite rightly, we take these words of our Lord, he that seeks to gain his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life for my sake. In the gospels, the same shall find it, shall save it. [00:33:49] It is interesting that our Lord evidently said this on a number of occasions, and only Luke records it in connection with his coming again. [00:34:05] And when he connects it with the Lord's coming again, he uses this word, shall preserve it alive. For instance, in Luke, chapter nine and verse 24, we have almost the same words. Luke chapter nine, verse 24. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. He does not use this word in Luke, chapter 17, verse 33. [00:34:42] And I think Luke as a doctor was quite deliberate in the way he has recorded this. In other words, there's a meaning in it. Now, mark, if you want to note these ones down and look them up, in mark, chapter eight, verse 35, he also uses the word shall save it. Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, and the gospels the same shall save it. [00:35:08] Matthew on both occasions. In chapter ten, verse 39 and chapter 16, verse 25, uses the word to find it. [00:35:19] Whoever seeks to gain his life shall lose it. And whoever loses his life, the same shall find it. And John in John, chapter twelve and verse 25, uses the word, whosoever shall lose his life shall keep it unto life eternal. Now, in all these other connections, it is a spiritual matter, but it does seem to me open at least to possibility that in this one connection, in Luke 1733, our Lord was speaking about the physical preservation of life. Remember lot's wife? [00:36:03] Why did she turn back? Because of her attachment to material possessions. She had a divided heart. Remember her, then? [00:36:16] Whosoever shall seek to gain his life, salvage his possessions, somehow or other keep them, shall lose it. [00:36:28] And whosoever shall lose it the same shall be preserved alive. [00:36:39] It shall be preserved alive. [00:36:45] Well, I think there's enough said now about holding material possession. [00:36:54] How do you shape up in this matter? I think it finds us all out, don't you think? Not everyone is thrilled with curios or antiques or things like that. You may be some motorcycle or, I don't know, typewriter or something. Else that you just is your most prized possession. It may be the home, it may be your garden. [00:37:19] It may be something into which you put much time and energy and somehow created something, an unbeknown to yourself. [00:37:28] It has taken you over. [00:37:30] Now, dear children of God, do get me right on this matter. I go in and out of christians homes all over the place when I'm visiting, and I can't understand these christians who have the most ghastly homes, you know, these sort of cold, weary places. I remember some years ago, two of us, we were in Oban, and we just didn't know where to go, and so we thought we couldn't find anywhere to stay. So we went along to a christian guest house, and I don't. I won't say anything about names or anything else. We went along to this christian guesthouse. I'll never forget, the whole thing was like a doctor's surgery. Wicker chairs, smell of disinfectant, little sort of tiny gas fires that hardly heated a quarter of the room. [00:38:18] The whole atmosphere. Walked into the toilet, a list of do's and don'ts. [00:38:25] Walked into the bathroom, what you had to do in the bathroom, what you shouldn't do. [00:38:31] Now, I know I shall shock some of you no end when I say we couldn't find anywhere. We fled from that place and fled into the old inn that overlooks the quay. And there was a fire, roaring log fire, and everything was warm. [00:38:49] And the old innkeeper came right up to the room, showed us around, said, is there anything we can do for you to. It was the same price. And we thought, what is it that the world has got that the Christians haven't got? [00:39:02] They have a walk. They have a sense of love, a sense of home. [00:39:08] Now, I think some christians seem to think that to make everything look sort of clinical and sort of like that is somehow other spiritual and in keeping with this scripture about holding things lightly. I don't think so at all. [00:39:24] I don't think that's what it means. If God has given you a nice home, keep it nice for the Lord, but don't let it rule you. [00:39:34] Make sure that you settle the issues. If you find that somehow or other it's doing something, then you may have to take action. [00:39:42] See that you're in the ascendancy. See that you are above it. See that you are ruling it in the name of Christ, not it. You don't try to serve two things. [00:39:55] Serve only him and use the mammon of unrighteousness. Now I'm going to go on to another question. We shall not spend a lot of time on it, but it is a question that is connected with this, particularly with the last phase, and it is the question of marriage at the end of the age. I'm often asked about this, and I feel that somehow or other, just because it does follow very simply out in connection with the previous, that we'll deal with it. Now, if you turn to one corinthians seven and I'm going to read. It's not an easy passage at all, but I'm going to read it in the living Bible. [00:40:34] One corinthians chapter seven, from verse 25 to 35, one corinthians 725. [00:40:47] Now I will try to answer your other question. What about girls who are not yet married? Should they be permitted to do so? In answer to this question, I have no special command for them from the Lord. [00:40:59] But the Lord in his kindness, has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will be glad to tell you what I think here is the we christians are facing great dangers to our lives at present. In times like these, I think it is best for a person to remain unmarried. Of course, if you are already are married, don't separate because of this. But if you aren't, don't rush into it at this time. [00:41:25] But if you men decide to go ahead anyway and get married now, it's all right. And if a girl gets married in times like these, it is no sin. However, marriage will bring extra problems that I wish you didn't have to face right now. The important thing to remember is that our remaining time is very short, and so are our opportunities for doing the Lord's work. For that reason, those who have wise should stay as free as possible. For the Lord. Happiness or sadness or wealth should not keep anyone from doing God's work. Those in frequent contact with the exciting things the world offers should make good use of their opportunities without stopping to enjoy them, for the world in its present form will soon be gone. In all you do, I want you to be free from worry. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord's work and thinking how to please him. But a married man can't do that so well. He has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. His interests are divided. It is the same with a girl who marries. She faces the same problem. A girl who's not married is anxious to please the Lord in all she is and does. But a married woman must consider of other things, such as housekeeping and the likes and dislikes of her husband. [00:42:38] I am saying this to help you, not to try to keep you from marrying. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few other things as possible to distract your attention from him. But if anyone feels he ought to marry because he has trouble controlling his passions, it's all right, it's not a sin. Let him marry. But if a man has the willpower not to marry and decides that he doesn't need to and won't, he has made a wise decision. So the person who marries does well, and the person who doesn't marry does even better. Now I don't know if that makes things any plain or messes you up even more. [00:43:16] It would seem that the apostle Paul gives some advice concerning marriage at the end time. [00:43:25] Now the fact that it wasn't the end time there is immaterial. We could be very glad for the fact that the apostle evidently thought that they were very near to the end, and that a time of very real distress was just about to come upon them. And he gave this advice in good faith. He himself says, I cannot say that this is a special command from the Lord. I'm just giving you advice. [00:43:48] But it evidently is the Lord, because the Holy Spirit has seen fit to put it into scripture. [00:43:55] Now what does it say? [00:43:58] Note particularly verse 28 and verse 35 of one corinthians seven, verse 28. But shouldest thou marry, thou has not sinned. And if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Verse 35. [00:44:15] And this I say, for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, or a noose upon you, but for that which is seemly, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. [00:44:28] Far from being unbalanced or extreme in his view, Paul reveals in my estimation a very sane and sympathetic approach to the whole matter. [00:44:39] He makes it abundantly clear that it is not sin to get married even in the last phase of the age. [00:44:49] He says that if you cannot control your passions, then that's the best thing you can do. But he says it would be wiser if you are able to to remain single and to have no children. [00:45:06] Now I know this must raise real questions, and we are not at the very final phase of the age, but it is good for us to face this, I think, since it is the word of God. You see, our Lord said not once, but again and again in Matthew 24, verse 19, in Luke, Luke 21 22. In Mark 1370. Woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. [00:45:35] These are not things we can just brush aside. [00:45:39] Already I have no doubt that every christian family in this company is beginning to feel the pressure in the schools and beginning to feel an added satanic activity in bringing up children in an ungodly atmosphere. [00:45:59] Now, that is not going to decrease. [00:46:02] That is going to increase the married relationship, the normal family relationships can become the means of terrible pressure upon us to compromise. [00:46:18] Now, will you please notice that I said, can become the means of terrible pressure upon us to compromise? Not always become. [00:46:29] There are some wonderful occasions in the history of the church where a couple have supported each other and preserved each other from denying the law in their martyrdom. [00:46:44] But there are also many, many cases in China and in Russia where evil men have threatened a man with something being done to his children or to his wife, which have finally broken him. Nothing else would have broken him, but that was the one thing that broke. [00:47:11] Now it's good for us to face this kind of issue. [00:47:20] You know as well as I do that we have here within this company the names of 200 families, russian families whose children have been forcibly taken away by court order, Russia adopted by others, and their original family names expunged from the record so that those parents will never again find their children. [00:47:54] We have to face the fact that we believers are going to go in the final phase of this age whenever it is into a time when children will give up parents, and parents will give up children to the authorities, when brother will give up brother and husband wife. So our Lord tells us in the gospel record, it is this that the apostle Paul in I think infinite compassion touches upon in saying, I am not trying to stop you from marrying. I am just telling you that it would be wiser for you. For those who get married in the very final phase, there will be extra problems and difficulties. Nevertheless, everyone must do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord. If you feel you should get married, the Lord is with you. You havent sinned. You may have some extra problems, but make sure you face that. [00:49:03] Let everyone who contemplates marriage in the days that lie ahead add to this matter the facing of what life could hold in the years that lie ahead. [00:49:20] I think it would be good here to say something to those fathers and mothers with young children. [00:49:29] You know, christian parents have for too long left the spiritual education of their children to others. [00:49:40] It is a very sad thing amongst evangelicals to find that it has been the Sunday school that has been the teacher of the children more than parents. [00:49:52] That day, I think, has gone. [00:49:57] Every christian father and mother needs not to hammer things into the poor children's heads, but to seek the Lord for ways and means in which they can lovingly, firmly instruct their children in the ways of the Lord. [00:50:18] I imagine that those little children that have been taken away from parents in the Soviet Union who have received some instruction will never forget it. [00:50:33] So it is incumbent upon every christian parent to pray over their children. Do you mothers really pray? I am sure you must do. Do you really pray for your children? Do you spend time in prayer for or do you just let the church pray for them? [00:50:50] Do you travail in prayer? They are your responsibility. Fathers, do you really take your children upon your hearts? Because if you pray a lot for your children, the Lord will give you a sensitive approach to each of your children that will not just be the same to all. [00:51:11] In this whole matter of spiritual handling, you have such a serious thing. If you are going to get married in the last phase of the age, face this matter of having children seriously. It is a very solemn responsibility. [00:51:30] If you have children, make sure that you discharge your responsibility both by living Christ before them in your relationship to each other as husband and wife and in the way that you seek to answer your children's questions. Don't brush them on one side, but really seek to take the opportunity. When you ask questions of explaining things to them. You do not know what the entrance of truth, truth might do to that life in years that are ahead. [00:52:04] So take this little word to heart, because it's. You cannot do it. When the crisis comes, when there comes an altogether different atmosphere into our countries, and when we are looked upon as a diseased, lunatic, unbalanced minority that are twisting and perverting the minds of little children, it will be more and more difficult for christian parents to stand up against it. [00:52:39] So take to heart this matter. And then there is another that I'd like to end on tonight in this matter of preparation in the light of the coming of the Lord, and that is to take care of the household of God. Matthew, chapter 24 and verse 45 24, 45. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his lord hath set over his household to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my lord tarrieth, and shall begin to beat his fellow servants shall eat and drink the drunken. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now if you also look at Luke chapter twelve, not 17. Luke chapter twelve from verse 41 to 48, you have the parallel account of this of these verses in Matthew. Now Luke's parallel account is very, very interesting for a number of reasons. Now will you please notice, first of all, it is a faithful and wise steward or servant. [00:54:12] A faithful and wise steward or servant, that is Matthew 24 45, Luke 1242. Also, will you notice what this faithful and wise steward is to do? He is to give the rest of his fellow servants their portion of food in due season. Now that's the old language. What it means is to make sure they get their meals on time. [00:54:39] Got it? Just make sure they get their meals, the right amount of food, and at the right time, their portion of food in due season. Will you also notice in Matthew 24 46, blessed is that servant whom when the Lord cometh, he shall find so doing so doing. You've got the same word in Luke 1243. What is he doing? [00:55:10] He is giving the rest of his fellow servants their portion of food in due season. [00:55:18] Isn't that interesting? [00:55:22] It's also most instructive to reflect upon Peter's words in Luke twelve when he asks our Lord in verse 41. And Peter said, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us or unto all? [00:55:42] What was the parable? The parable was the wedding. [00:55:49] It is quite clear that our Lord is speaking not to all the unsaved. He is speaking to the disciples. [00:55:59] Faithful and wise steward. This is the one who is the faithful and wise steward, who the Lord set over his house to give his fellow servants their portion of food in due season. [00:56:10] Blessed is that man whom when the Lord comes, he finds so doing. He shall set him over all that he has. [00:56:26] This matter of taking care of the household of God is a very important aspect of service. During the last days. [00:56:35] We are to provide food for the family of God, that they may live, they may work, and they may fulfil their duties. Isn't that why the faithful and wise steward was set over the household, that they might live properly, work well, and fulfill their duties? [00:57:00] Now this has much to say to all of us with larger and more clearly defined responsibilities. [00:57:08] A steward set over the master's household. [00:57:12] I find it very interesting that our Lord speaks to the most responsible servants in this parable. So often this is taken just to apply to unsaved people. But in actual fact, the Lord is speaking to the most responsible of his servants in the household of God. [00:57:31] Whatever the conditions of the final stages of this age, the master expects us to feed his household at the right times. [00:57:47] Now, will you also reflect upon the negative side of this story, as in Matthew and also in Luke? If that servant shall begin to beat his fellow servants and maids, and to eat and to drink and be drunken, it says, when the Lord comes back, he shall cut him asunder. And Luke explains, he says he shall be beaten with many stripes, but he that did not know what he was doing, he shall be beaten with fewer stripes. [00:58:27] Now, what does this mean? [00:58:30] I mean, after all, surely the faithful and wise steward had a right to eat and drink. [00:58:34] Of course, but it must mean to eat and drink selfishly. [00:58:41] In other words, our Lord is speaking to us in the last phase of the age. Be very careful, all of you who are servants of the Lord, that you are not just feeding yourself, looking after yourself, feathering your own nest, fulfilling some kind of inner self satisfaction in the service of God. [00:59:03] Make sure that you're not just using the household of God for your own ends, because you will suffer loss when the Lord returns. [00:59:19] Now, our Lord's words may well have much to say to all of us, myself and others who have more clearly defined responsibilities in this matter. [00:59:31] But it also has very much to say to those of us who may not have such clearly defined responsibilities, but are still servants of the Lord, because we are saved. [00:59:45] And you know, there's much, I think, in this word in Luke 1247 and 48, and that servant who knew his lord's will and made not ready, nor did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required. And to whom they commit, much of him will they ask, the more no one of us is let out. [01:00:12] We've all been given something, and we're all responsible for the something we have been given. Hes been speaking about the faithful and wise steward set over the whole household, but it includes all of us. [01:00:27] Everyone who belongs to the household of God has a responsibility to build up one another, to build up the family of God. Ephesians chapter four and verse 16 speaks of the body building up itself in love due to the proper working of each individual part. [01:00:51] It also speaks of those main ministries that are to help the members of the body of Christ come to the place where they can minister to one another. [01:01:07] What a lot there is in the word about this. Have you ever noticed it? Have you ever noticed, for instance, what Peter the apostle says in one Peter, chapter four? You see, we don't associate it with the end, but listen to this one. Peter four seven. But the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer above all things, being fervent in your love among yourselves. For love covereth a multitude of sins, using hospitality one to another, without murmuring, according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God, if any man ministereth, ministering is of the strength which God supplieth, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion, forever and ever. Amen. But it is the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober, and so on. And then he tells us, look after one another, look after one another. See that every one of you is functioning as you ought to function. [01:02:20] Oh, there's so much in this matter. [01:02:25] Note finally in this connection, one Thessalonians, chapter five, verse eleven. Now one Thessalonians, chapter five is all about the coming of the Lord and the end time, peace. When they're saying peace, then comes sudden destruction, and so on. And it says, you are not of the night, you are of the sons of the day, so don't sleep and be drunk as the west. But then it says this, verse eleven, wherefore, exhortation, comfort one another and build each other up, even as ye also do. Now you have it at the very beginning. Remember, Thessalonians wasn't written in chapters and verses. In chapter four, verse 18. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Exhort one another with these words. Now this word exhort is so beautiful. It is the word from which the same word as is the title for the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the one who is called alongside. [01:03:31] What a lovely picture that is. Exhortation. Someone who comes alongside. Sometimes it is to encourage you. Sometimes it is to exalt you. Sometimes it is to balance you. Sometimes it is to encourage you, sometimes it is to correct you. [01:03:52] Exhortation. [01:03:56] We need to care for one another as the household of God, especially as we move into the last days. [01:04:05] Many of the people of God are going to be afflicted with wounds which will not be their own foolishness. [01:04:15] It will be part of the battle. [01:04:18] It says in the book of Daniel that the Antichrist, and, of course, the spirit of Antichrist shall wear out the saints. [01:04:30] And if that weariness which so many of the Lord's people seem to be already feeling, and it's not just here, but you find it wherever you go. People talk about feeling so weary, so surely it's something, a pressure in the atmosphere, an activity of the enemy upon the minds of the people of God. Now, dear children of God, we need to help one another sometimes. Just a word. It's not that we want to take the place of the Lord to one another and become crutches to one another, but we do at times need a. A word of help. Sometimes it's just a gesture. Sometimes it's just a word or two. But, oh, doesn't it make a difference when somehow or other you feel down and somebody. You feel that someone understands and communicates that understanding to you. Of course, we've always been fighting, especially in this company of all that business that goes on when people slap you on the back and say, please, praise the Lord, his artificial counting. I had a word for you, brother, sort of thing. And you get this, then, oh, you nearly die. But, you know, we can so easily go to the other extreme, where we never say anything to anybody, where we feel everyone must just go. That's not exhorting one another. [01:05:54] What does it mean to exhort one another? It means to comfort. Comfort one another, encourage one another to, as it were, take some kind of responsibility for one another, take care of the household of God. What a lovely thought that is. Appointed to see that the others get a portion of food in due season. [01:06:22] Are you bothered about that? [01:06:26] Careful for your brothers and sisters that they grow in the Lord. [01:06:33] Oh, we need a heart of selfless love to care for the whole household of God in the days that lie ahead. Now, there are so many other things. We shall leave it there. Tonight I'd like to talk about a whole lot more things. I find that the more one looks at this matter in the word, the more amazed one becomes at the amount that there is on the practical side about these last days. [01:07:05] Well, dear child of God, I do hope that you just don't feel frightened and afraid. We shall take up that one evening. Fear not on how not to be afraid and so on. But if I may just say one word here, I think it would be much better to be thoroughly afraid now. [01:07:28] I think it would be much better. As much as you would dislike me intensely for putting the wind up you spiritually, so that really you feel I'll never stand I'll never stand I shall collapse much better for you to face this here and now and seek the Lord and let him do a real work in you than to wait for that day when the wind comes and beats against the house and the floods and the whole thing collapses in a heap that is the kind of panic we don't want I would rather have fear now and wake up to the issues that need to be settled in my life and get them settled by the grace of God and through the gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit and then go on into all that lies ahead knowing that I am nothing but he is everything and that he is sufficient for all that lies ahead rather than live in a fools paradise thinking well were all right we know the Lord is coming the word says so were unto a good teaching on the matter we are quite clear and then when the thing begins finally to actually happen to be panicked because we are unprepared shall we pray.