Preparation for the Coming of the Lord 6 – Faith and Love

[00:00:00] Shall we turn to the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter four from verse 13, the 13th verse of the fourth chapter of the first letter to the Thessalonians? [00:00:27] But we would not have you, ignorant brethren, concerning them that fall asleep, that ye sorrow not even as the rest, who have no hope. [00:00:39] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [00:00:51] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. [00:01:05] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. [00:01:17] Then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. [00:01:31] Wherefore comfort one another with these words, but concerning the times and the seasons. Brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, when they are saying peace and safety. Then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. [00:02:02] But ye brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. For ye are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. [00:02:45] For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore exhort one another and build each other up, even as also ye do. [00:03:12] We have entitled a preparation for the coming of the Lord. What the word of God says about being prepared and ready for the end times and for Christ's second coming. [00:03:31] And this evening, really this, I trust, will be our concluding study in this series. And of course it will be too late. It is too late now for us to go over the many other studies. We have not been talking about the events of the end, the sequence of the events, or what the word says about various matters to do with the end, as far as incidents, the sort of whether we go before the tribulation, during the tribulation, the end of the tribulation, whether we all go, whether only some go. We haven't been discussing those things as such. What we have been looking at is the vast amount of material that generally is overlooked in this whole matter of prophetic studies, and that is the many practical commands and injunctions of the word of God concerning us as the people of God for the end time and for the coming of the Lord. Now there are three matters that I would like to underline this evening in concluding this series, and really all three sum up the matters that we have looked at over these past weeks. The first is that we are to look for and hasten the coming of the day of God. If you turn to two Peter, chapter three and verse twelve, we read these words, and I'm reading from the American Standard version of 1901, looking for an earnest, earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, we are to look for and hasten the coming of the day of God. Is it not exceedingly interesting, indeed instructive, that when the apostle Peter speaks of the conflagration at the end of the age, in the most vivid and remarkably realistic terms, as far as we are concerned, in the second half of the 20th century, he then speaks of us looking for and hastening that day. [00:06:13] Hastening is the revised standard version. Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. Earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God is the revised version and the old American Standard version. The authorized version is looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, having taken in what Peter has described in verses ten and eleven. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness? Having taken in what Peter has described concerning the end of the age, one can well understand some believers becoming very afraid and apprehensive of that day dawning. [00:07:28] There are many who sort of become quite tremulous when they read these kind of things, and their first question is, will we be there? [00:07:37] It's a much more comforting thought to feel that somehow we shall all be raptured away long before that happens, at least by a few years. And the immediate query is, will we be there when all this happens? [00:07:53] So one quite understands the kind of nervous apprehension one many have concerning this matter. [00:08:02] Instead. However, of that being the case, it seems that the way the apostle speaks of the coming of that day suggests for the believer not fear and destruction, but deliverance and glory. [00:08:20] You see verse twelve, where he says, he links it together, looking for and earnestly desiring or hastening the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved with fervent feet, with fervent heat. It doesn't seem to worry the apostle Peter at all. He's not the least bit apprehensive or fearful about it, he says, but according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. It seems as if somehow or other he the whole inference is that it is not something to be fearful of, not something to cringe from, not something to be apprehensive over. It is a matter of deliverance, of salvation, of redemption, of glory for the people of God. And so he says, look for and hasten the coming of that day, because it is for us the glorious beginning of the kingdom of God. Now let's look more closely at this. Verse twelve, looking for that's how it is translated, looking for the coming of the day of God in the authorized Version, the revised Version, and interestingly enough, the new american standard Bible has gone back to it. Instead of the waiting for the coming of the day of God, of the revised standard Version, the living Bible puts it this way. Look eagerly for the coming of the day of God. And also the new international Version, which, by the way, is a version to try and bring all these many modern versions together in one look. [00:10:36] I'm sorry, did I say look eagerly for the living Bible, look forward to the coming of the day of God. That is the new international version. And also the living Bible, look eagerly for the coming of the day of God is the new English Bible. Now, the word means simply to await or to expect or to look for. We have it actually in Matthew eleven, which may help you just to look at. We have it in Matthew eleven and verse three. [00:11:12] Ill read verse two and three. Now, when John heard in prison the works of the Christ of the Messiah, he sent by his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that cometh? Or look we for another? [00:11:27] Are we waiting for another? Are we expecting another. [00:11:34] This word is used also in verse 13 of two Peter, chapter three. But according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth. And in verse 14, wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, I was greatly helped in looking up this word in the dictionary to discover that it literally means thinking towards. [00:12:02] And of course, when you think about, what do you do when you look for something, when you await something, when you expect something, if you are not thinking toward something? Now, if you for a moment just take that in, it will help you. I think, greatly we are to think toward the coming of the day of God. [00:12:26] Think toward the coming of. That's exactly what these studies have all been about, sinking toward the coming of the day of God, looking for it. Not just in a kind of fanciful way, a kind of looking for a thrill, just seeking some kind of exhilaration over the matter, but really thinking toward it, meditating on the whole matter, reflecting on the whole matter. [00:13:05] Then look at this second word used here. Hastening or hasting unto is the authorized version. Hasting unto, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God. Earnestly desiring is the revised version. Hastening the coming of the Day of God is the revised standard Version and the new American Standard Bible. There they agree. [00:13:35] Work to hasten it on is the new English Bible. [00:13:41] Hurry it along is the living Bible, rendering speed it's coming is the new international version. The word means to speed or to hasten. [00:13:54] Now, isn't this amazing? When we begin to think about it. [00:13:58] So we are not only to think toward this day, but we are, as it were, to urge it on. We are to hasten its coming. We are to speed its coming. [00:14:10] Now, of course, for some this will be an immediate problem. [00:14:14] For if the Lord in his wisdom has set times and seasons, and he alone, the father alone, knows the day, how is it possible to speed the coming of the day of God? I think we have to understand this second word only in connection with the first word. These two words have got to be understood spiritually in relation to one another. [00:14:47] If we await that day's coming, sinking towards it, we will do all in our power to speed its arrival. [00:14:58] It's quite as simple as that. [00:15:03] It seems to me that this verse sums up all our recent studies on being prepared for the end times and the coming of the Lord. We need to think toward the coming of that day. What does that mean? It means that we ought to be ready. You remember our first study. Be ready, be prepared. [00:15:28] And then we need to be awake. [00:15:31] Thousands of christians stand to lose a lot in that day because the Bible warns us not once, but again and again and again, that that day will come like the springing of a trap, and can catch the believer as unawares as the world if he or she is not awake. [00:15:55] Sinking toward that day must of necessity mean that we're not only ready, but we are also awake and sensitive to the Lord. Do you remember the other point we made about holding material possessions lightly? Hasn't that something to do with thinking toward the coming of the day of the Lord? [00:16:18] That if we have not settled this whole matter of covetousness or of possessiveness or of material things having a hold in our lives beyond their rightful place in our lives, then we stand to lose a lot. And there are many other things that one can think of. [00:16:40] I think of the other point we dwelt on about the need of clarity, thinking toward that day, the need of clarity, because there will be these multitudinous sects, many things claiming to represent God, many things claiming to be the right interpretation of prophecy, and so on and so on. The need of clarity, the need of spiritual grit and steadfastness. It all comes in this matter of thinking toward the coming of that day. [00:17:18] We also need to live the kind of lives and to offer the kind of service that will speed the coming of that day. In other words, we buy the kind of lives that we, we live by the possession of our possessions in Christ, by becoming partakers of the divine nature and in experience, growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and saviour, then we will hasten the coming of, we will be involved in the fulfillment of everything necessary for the coming of that. Of that day. Do you understand? [00:18:03] If I were to say on the other side, that we need to offer the kind of service that will speed the coming of that day, it's no good saying, for instance, that we know very well that the gospel has got to be preached in all nations for a testimony if we are not prepared to go. [00:18:25] You can talk till you're blue in the face about the coming of the Lord and how wonderful a subject it is and how thrilling it all is. But if you are not prepared to be available to the Holy Spirit to send you to do the very work that is necessary before that day can come, what does it mean? [00:18:46] We fall into the category of the people who say, Lord, Lord, and yet are not under his lordship, we are not available to him. If we believe that the house of God has got to be completed. [00:19:00] If we believe that the bride of the lamb has got to make herself ready. [00:19:07] But all we do is think about the coming of the Lord and sing lovely hymns about and get all. But don't get involved in the actual fulfillment of God's purpose concerning the house of God being made ready for the top stone to go into place. [00:19:22] If we are not ready, as it were, to be purged and cleansed and refined to be built together into a holy temple in the Lord, then our profession of belief and excitement about the coming of the Lord means very little speeding. The coming of that day means that we live a kind of life and we offer a kind of service which speeds that day. Now, we have talked quite a bit about this in these studies. You will remember one of them was about, let us have grace whereby we may offer service well pleasing to God. That is said in the context of the final shaking at the end of the age. We are to take care of the household of God. We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of summers, and so much the more as you see that day approaching. We are to remember that the house of the Lord is to be completed, that the gospel is to be preached as a testimony to all the nations. [00:20:39] We have said something about this in these matters. [00:20:44] There should be no need for us to fear the coming of that day. [00:20:51] Indeed, it should be for the redeemed of the Lord, a cause for much joy and praise. [00:21:02] Now, if we have got fear in our hearts, something is wrong and it is good and well for us to face that fear. As I said last week on the last point, do not be terrified, but look up. Lift up your heads, your redemption dwarf nigh. We must face our fears, which are the symptom, and face the root of our fears, which is the cause. [00:21:33] Normally speaking, if we are fearful, it means we are making too much of things down here. [00:21:39] Somehow or other, our material things, or just the relationships of life have taken and are occupying a place which will be our undoing. Well, I will say no more about that. We've said quite a lot already. We must focus our attention not on the dissolving of the old, but on the glorious coming of the new. Isn't it wonderful the way the apostle Peter puts it, but looking for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. [00:22:20] In other words, dont lets look upon all the contortions at the end of the age, and all the shaking and all the trial and tribulation. But let us look right through it to the coming of the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. [00:22:41] Well, theres one point that I want to make tonight, and I think that sums up a tremendous amount. Look for and hasten the coming of the day of God. Are you, are you really thinking toward it? [00:22:58] Well, praise God if you are. [00:23:01] Are you really thinking toward it realistically? And are you speeding the coming of that day by the kind of life you are living and by the kind of service you are offering? [00:23:18] Now, the next point I would like to make this evening is one that I think I have never heard a message upon. [00:23:26] But that doesn't mean anything, because obviously I haven't heard everyone who's ever preached a message. But in my little experience, I have never ever heard anyone touch on this in relation to the coming of the Lord. The interesting thing is that it was expressly said in connection with the Lord's coming again, and it is in one Thessalonians chapter five, verse eight. [00:23:55] But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. [00:24:07] Put on the breastplate of faith and love here, right in the center of this marvelous unveiling of the coming of the Lord. [00:24:23] And it is wonderful, the apostle says about that day which is going to come so suddenly and take the world unawares. Now, in the light of that, put on the breastplate of faith and love. [00:24:44] He warns us to be awake and alert when speaking about the end. [00:24:55] We have it particularly in from verses two to four. I will read them again for yourselves. Know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, when they are saying peace and safety. Then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. [00:25:18] But, ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief, in the same way that Peter has warned us about that day coming as a thief in the night. So here Paul warns us that this day will come as a thief in the night. Now, thieves coming in the night do not normally forewarn you. [00:25:49] It would be a departure from habit and tradition if a thief was to send you a card warning you that on such and such a night he would be paying a visit in order to take your goods. [00:26:08] Thieves come when you least expect them. [00:26:13] I remember years ago I told some of you this story before, how one day when my sister and I were much younger, mother was away. I remember aunt was looking after us. She came hurtling into my room at about 233 o'clock in the morning and said, get up, get up. There's great excitement in the road. So I said, well, she said, there seems to be a black Mariah there and there are other black cars and there are police going around with flashing lights. And she said, there were dogs, big dogs. So of course, we all belted into the front room and all looked out of the window and my aunt was saying, I wonder who it is. I wonder if they'll catch him, who's being burgled? And we saw these lights flashing and the dogs going in and out. And we. We must have been at that window for a good 20 minutes to half an hour, waiting for the thief to be caught or for whichever house the thief had burgled to be quite clear. And apparently, you know how nosy all neighbors are. And then my aunt suddenly said, oh, I do feel thirsty. So she thought she'd go downstairs to have a drink and she beetled off downstairs and then we heard the most blood curdling shriek that you can imagine. And she came up those stairs. She was not a very fast person, but she came up those stairs just like the american rocket to the moon. [00:27:38] She was up as if she hardly touched a step. And she said, oh, oh, he's been in our kitchen. He's eating the blanche. And there are. And there are matchsticks all over the floor. Well, of course, the police were into us straight away. He burgled 13 houses that night. [00:27:56] He was a famous cat burglar. I can't remember his name now, but he's quite a famous cat burglar. But he had come over one after another of the fences and just got into different houses where he couldn't get in. He hadn't got in. And so that's really how it had happened. But you see, that was an experience of a thief in the night. [00:28:20] Now, the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter both tell us that the Lord will come as a thief in the night, that this day will dawn as a thief in the night. Now, our Lord himself told us that if the master of the house had known what hour his house would have been burgled, he would have watched. [00:28:47] So the apostle Paul tells us, keep awake, don't sleep. [00:28:53] He says, if we are numbered amongst the redeemed of the Lord, we are all sons of light and sons of the day. Isn't that a remarkable term? Sons of the light and sons of the day? He doesn't say children of the light, children. He uses the word sons, meaning those more grown up than babes, mature a little more responsible. They've grown up sons of the light, sons of the day. They've had some experience. [00:29:24] They've been going on with the Lord, walking with the Lord, being trained by the Lord, being educated by the lord. Now he says, we are not, as if to emphasize it by now, putting in the negative, we are not of the darkness. [00:29:37] We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Those are verses five, six and seven. [00:29:46] And his argument is, we should therefore not be taken by surprise that they should not listen to his words. Overtake you as a thief. [00:30:04] Now, don't you confess to feeling a little uncomfortable about this? [00:30:09] I do. I don't know whether I think anyone who really takes this word of the Lord in starts to feel just a little bit uncomfortable. Why does the Lord labor this point? Why do both the apostles Paul and Peter labor this point if it is not a terrible, dread possibility that many, many believers will be taken as unawares as this world? [00:30:34] It's interesting to talk about it coming as travail upon a woman with child. That is a most remarkable illustration, isn't it? Because the point about a woman with Travail is she knows she's going to have a baby. [00:30:49] Isn't that interesting? [00:30:52] See, it's not like something else where you have absolutely no warning at all. I mean, if a baby. A baby's coming, the one who's going to have the baby sorely knows it. [00:31:03] Be quite remarkable. [00:31:06] Contrary to all human experience, if someone just had a baby and didn't know it, which seems to suggest that we may be lulled into a false sense of security because we know the general coming time of the coming, but we do not keep awake our very knowledge that we are in the last days or moving into the last phase can lull us into a false sense of security. [00:31:35] Keep awake since we are of the day, sons of light, walking in the light, we should be thoroughly and realistically prepared. What does he mean when he says, since we are of the day, let us be sober? [00:31:59] Surely he must mean by these words not just Solomon, Sirius, but he must mean realistically alive to preparation. [00:32:12] Let us not be lulled into some false sense of security, but let us be realistic in our whole approach to this matter. Look at this verse eight again. Let our, since we are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. Will you compare it with verse 23 and 24? And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it. What a lovely word of grace, because the first word might frighten us. May your whole body be preserved entire. Spirit, soul, body, be preserved entire. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it. Now it seems to me, therefore, that there is some kind of warning here, that we can lose something, perhaps lose something of our reward, lose something of our inheritance, lose something of the position that God would like to bring us to in his eternal administration and government. If we are not awake now, if this being realistically prepared is to be so in our lives, we must listen, put on the breastplate of faith and love. [00:33:53] I wonder how many have ever thought of that in connection with the end. [00:33:59] In a special way, I think this is singularly helpful and instructive, since our Lord Jesus Christ himself told us explicitly that the final phase of the age would be marked by the love of the many growing cold, and also by a lack of practical, living faith. Now we find this in Matthew 24 and verse twelve. Matthew 24 and verse twelve, our Lord said, and because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold. And then in Luke 18 and verse eight, we have this remarkable I say unto you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth. [00:35:02] Now don't isolate that verse. Look at the context. Listen to it from verse one to eight. I will not read it all. I'll read just a few verses. And Jesus spake a parable unto them to the end, that they ought always to pray and not to faint. [00:35:23] And then he told them the story of the unjust judge and the importunate widow. Now, if that's the context, hasn't that much to say to us. Because our Lord is not talking about unsaved people. He's talking about those who know something of persevering and executive prayer, importunate prayer, taking things into the presence of God and not letting them go until the thing is done. That requires faith, practical faith, steadfast faith, overcoming faith. Now, there are two things our Lord said there would be a scarcity of at the end of the age, love and faith. He said, the love of the many shall wax. Why? Because they will be so disillusioned and so disappointed by the iniquity on all sides and by the inroads that it makes in christian organizations and institutions that they will just give up. It's happened again and again and again in parts of the world where there's been much persecution. [00:36:28] People have been so shocked to find within the church traitors, quislings, people who would go and tell the secret police things about someone else just because they dislike them or because they want to get even with them. And they're supposed to be christians. [00:36:44] I remember years ago hearing a story first and from a brother, yugoslav brother. [00:36:50] The sister was in the street when it was in the taste of those street trams, you know, and she saw a man knocked down, and she was horrified to see this man knock down. He was killed, but his case, his attache case, went right across the road. [00:37:09] And then she had an even bigger shock to find that he was one of the elders of the assembly. [00:37:16] Then she went across and said to the bystanders, I know this man. Shall I take his case? Yes, they said, take the case. [00:37:25] And she took the case and she went to the other elder, and the other elder opened it, and there was a list of all the people in the assembly with all the things that they'd been doing or not doing. He was on his way to the secret place. [00:37:39] He had been balked into informing on the church, and God had stepped in and killed him. [00:37:45] Now, that doesn't always happen, but that's the kind of thing that so disillusions believers. They can't believe iniquity. It's not just evil, it's absolute iniquity. How can your own brethren do this to you? So that in the end, you don't know who is faithful and who isn't. You know that within the meeting there are people that are spying in China. Any of the brethren will tell you, Stephen. Any others will tell you that in the assemblies in China, before finally, they were not allowed to meet at all. No one in the meeting knew who could really be trusted. They knew certain people, but they all knew that there were also people there who were taking down every single thing and reporting the love of the many shall wax cold. [00:38:34] Faith, you know, when you get worn out, when the pressures become colossal, when it seems as if Satan is so powerful, then's the time when we faint. We've talked about weariness and we've talked about how in the end, there will be a wearing out of the sense, well, you understand these things. There will be a scarcity of love and faith. Is it not reminded remarkable that in the context of the coming of the Lord and these last days, Paul expressly says, by the spirit of God, put on the breastplate the breastplate of faith and love. It's a breastplate. [00:39:12] Well, I must say that in the light of these scriptures, many believers give in to a negativism. [00:39:20] They feel that, well, at the end there will be none who are full of love and no one who possesses a living faith. [00:39:31] Thank God that by the spirit of the Lord, the apostle Paul has spoken to us and balanced the whole picture. [00:39:41] Having described the end time, he tells us to put on this breastplate of faith and love. In other words, it will be possible, listen, by the grace of God, to be perfected in love and possess a powerful and practical faith right through the last days. So practical that those can be strong and do exploits in the name of the Lord right up to the coming of the Lord. [00:40:12] Now, this breastplate protected the whole body from the neck to the abdomen. [00:40:19] That is the major part of the body, in one sense, was protected by the breastplate. Now, in Ephesians six, Paul speaks of the breastplate of righteousness. [00:40:31] He tells us to put on the breastplate of righteousness as part of the armor of God. And he speaks of the shield of faith, wherewith we can quench all the fiery dots of the evil one. It seems quite remarkable to me that here in this context, he speaks of living things and divine love as an essential protection. [00:40:56] Did you hear that? [00:40:58] He speaks of living faith and divine love as an essential protection. [00:41:11] This breastplate has to be put on just as we put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as we put on the whole armor of God. It has to be put on. Now let me try to help you in this matter. Disbelief, an evil heart of unbelief, christian cynicism. [00:41:30] All these things uncover us. Don't they think, isn't that how you get uncovered? [00:41:38] God tells you to do something and you say, no, no, I'll never be able to do it. So you don't, you get uncovered. [00:41:45] The quickest way to get ourselves uncovered is to follow the dictates of an evil heart of unbelief. [00:41:56] And the quickest way to be safe is to put on the breastplate of faith. [00:42:05] Let me put it another way. Think again. [00:42:10] Jealousy, faction, gossip, backbiting alienation from one another, bitterness. [00:42:24] Aren't the, are these not the things that uncover us? [00:42:33] They expose us to enemy onslaught. [00:42:39] You see, I find this whole thing tremendously important because it is just this uncovering of ourselves. This exposing ourselves gives the powers of darkness their opportunity to get us a foothold in our lives. [00:42:53] As the word of God says, if you don't forgive one another. Don't expect your heavenly father to forgive you. Your prayers, Joe, are unheard. [00:43:01] Just as simple as that. But if we have a heart of divine love, we have. We put on a protection. [00:43:09] It's the breastplate of faith and love, and the enemy just cannot get in. Oh, how important it is then to know something of faith and to know something of this love. Now it's very interesting. Again, take one, Thessalonians. And you look at the first chapter and verse three. [00:43:28] One. Thessalonians, chapter one, verse three. Remembering, without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope. [00:43:43] I can't believe that's coincidence. [00:43:46] Put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. And he begins by saying, remembering without ceasing, your work, your labor of love and your patience of hope. [00:44:04] Isn't that interesting? [00:44:06] I find that tremendously interesting. Work of faith, labour of love. [00:44:12] There can be no work acceptable to God which is not the work of faith. And there can be no work of faith which is not a labour of love which is acceptable to the Lord for it to be acceptable. It is a labour of love. [00:44:30] And no one will ever endure unless they have the patience of hope. [00:44:37] Well, thats just something for you. Got it again. In Colossians chapter one and verse four it says, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have toward all the saints because of the hope. [00:44:52] The three things again. It's as if the apostle Paul had this trio always with him. Look back again to one corinthians 13. And of course, you know very well the verse and verse 13. Now abideth faith, hope and love, these three. And the greatest of these is love. [00:45:11] And you think of Galatians and chapter five and verse six and we read these wonderful words. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working by love. [00:45:29] Faith working by love. [00:45:33] Well, I hope that has something for us all. Something to say to us all and something to do for us all. [00:45:45] We are also to take for a helmet the hope of salvation. There is no other protection for the mind. What is the hope of salvation? It isn't. I have a vague hope that one day I shall stand before the Lord. I have a vague hope that I shall be saved. That's not the hope of salvation. This hope is a sure and certain hope. Just like we know that tomorrow is going to dawn. It's a certain clear thing. [00:46:12] And so we wait with hope for it that's the kind of hope, the hope of salvation. We know that the Lord is coming, and when the Lord comes, it's the final touch to our redemption. We know that the Lord is coming, and then finally we're going to have redeemed bodies. [00:46:30] That's the hope of salvation. It goes much more that I wish we had the time to look at it all. It's surely noteworthy that these three matters are brought before us. Faith, hope, love. [00:46:42] In connection with the last days put on the breastplate of faith and hope. How comforting for us it is to know that we do not necessarily have to be numbered amongst those whose love will grow cold, whose faith will become a mere form without power. We can be numbered instead amongst the overcomers by the grace of God. [00:47:08] Once again we are reminded by the apostle Paul, as Peter has earlier reminded us, that for the true believer, the end should not be viewed with horror or fear, but with joy and anticipation. Listen to the way he puts it in one thessalonians 5910. For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. He has appointed us not unto wrath, he has appointed us. Listen unto obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well now, dear one, have you not already got your salvation? [00:48:04] What does it mean? He has appointed us unto obtaining salvation to our Lord. It means obtaining the final end. [00:48:15] Marvelous. So that's what this coming of the Lord means for us, a new body in the twinkling of an eye. [00:48:23] Glorious, marvellous prospect. And that's exactly the context here. When you turn back to chapter four, from verse 13 to verse 18. That's what the apostle Paul prefaced all this with. [00:48:36] We shall not all sleep, but when the Lord, the trumpet of the Lord sounds, we shall all be changed. Now, the last thing I want to say this evening is to be an overcomer. [00:48:54] And that sums up everything. [00:48:57] Revelation, chapter twelve, verse eleven. And they overcame him, that is, Satan or the devil, because of the blood of the lamb, because of the word of their testimony, and because they love not their life, even unto death. [00:49:16] So we come to an end of these studies. [00:49:21] One thing I trust is abundantly clear, and that is that we do not have to view the end times in dark and gloomy colors. [00:49:35] There is another side to the picture. [00:49:39] There is the bride of the lamb making herself ready. [00:49:46] There is the mystery of God, finished and completed exactly as set forth in the good news. [00:49:58] There is the house of the Lord completed, the veil on the jewish heart removed those who know God becoming strong and doing exploits. The gospel preached in all nations as a testimony before the end comes the time coming for the saints to possess the kingdom. All these marvelous phrases, they're all to do with the end. [00:50:29] That's the other side of the picture. [00:50:32] If only we had our eye on that. [00:50:38] And all this is summed up in revelation twelve in whatever way we interpret this vision. And there are a number of ways in which this chapter and vision is interpreted. One thing becomes transparently clear. [00:50:55] In spite of terrible warfare and conflict, both in heaven and on earth, verses seven, eight and nine, in spite of that old serpent, the devil, the dragon, Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, is a great long list of titles and descriptions of him here. In spite of fearful satanic antagonism, perpetual accusation and condemnation, there are true overcomers in the midst of the whole thing. [00:51:30] Even after we see a worldwide system ruled by Antichrist in revelation 13 with the mark of the beast, so that no one could buy or sell unless they were registered, and the rise of the false prophet to be the mouthpiece of the Antichrist, still we see when we come to revelation 14 a great number of the overcomers standing before the throne and before the lamb, and we are told, these are they who followed the lamb. Whithersoever he went. [00:52:14] Furthermore, for our instruction, we are given three essential constituents for overcoming, and these constituents hold good in any part of the age, but particularly in the last phase of the age. [00:52:33] It doesn't matter quite how we interpret these visions. These three constituents abide in value all the way through. [00:52:48] Here's the first, the blood of the lamb. [00:52:52] They overcame Satan because of the blood of the lamb. Now, some people have got this idea from the hymn that we sing about full salvation. Full salvation, lower fountain opened wide, speaking of the blood of Christ, flowing as it were right down through the ages, that the blood still flows. Now, it may sometimes be helpful for us to think in terms of that blood cleansing us, but in actual fact, the blood of the lamb is just another term for the finished work of Christ. Now, that's very important. [00:53:29] The finished work of Christ, the shed blood of the lamb, is the token and seal that the work is complete. [00:53:38] He died and finished the work of our salvation. [00:53:43] And when it says they overcame by the blood of the lamb, it means that the efficacy of that finished work, the power of that finished work, the value of that finished work, the influence of that finished work, will never diminish. [00:54:05] Dennis is a bit strong on this. He sometimes says you know, people say they take the blood, they take the blood and so on. Whereas actually it's the name of the Lord that is our high tower. That's the thing. We're safe through the blood of the lamb. Of course we're safe through. Of course we are. But as long as we understand what we mean, we mean the finished work. When we speak of the blood of the lamb, we take the blood of Christ. We mean we're standing on the finished work of the lamb. It's done. It's complete, nothing to be added. [00:54:31] God has seen the blood on the lintels and has passed over us. [00:54:39] It would be as foolish in one sense for the children of Israel to talk about the blood following them all the way, if you understand what I mean. [00:54:48] The blood was on the lintels of the door and on the gate post, and the angel of death saw it and passed over. But it was that lamb that was to be the foundation of their whole life, their whole, the fulfillment of all their destiny and service. [00:55:08] Do you understand? [00:55:12] I wish that we could really see this. [00:55:15] Within that finished work of the lamb, that finished work of Christ, within the blood of the lamb, there is all that we require for justification, for sanctification and for glorification. [00:55:33] Not a single thing has to be added, but every single thing required for you to be loosed from your sin forgiven, your sin forgiven, and the record of it blotted out, and you declared righteous, just as if you had never sinned spotlessly. Righteous in the sight of God, perfectly righteous. Every single thing required for you to be justified has been done in the finished work of Christ. [00:56:08] Every single thing you and I require to go on into the fullness of the indwelling Christ, to know the indwelling spirit, to know what it is to be a partaker of the divine nature, to know the power of an endless life, to know the resurrection life and power of Christ. Every single thing you and I require to experience that it has been obtained in the finished work of the lamb. The devil can do nothing if he can only get you to major on zeal, major on devotion, major on your own goodness, major on reformation, major on something. Or these things may be necessary. You can even major on Bible readings or prayer. These things are very important, but if you make them the foundation for God justifying you, you are immediately alienated. [00:57:01] You will not know one single digit of the resurrection life of Christ if you make those things the basis, as if you can curry favor with God, as if you can win acceptance with God and the devil knows it. And if he can make us weak on the matter of the blood of the lamb, if he can make us weak on this matter of the finished work of Christ, we're done. We're finished. [00:57:23] The accuser of the brethren will come with all his subtlety and all his cunning and all his shrewdness, and by breathing into us day and night, lies and lies and lies and condemnation, and more condemnation and accusation after accusation. In the end, we just go down and we're finished. [00:57:46] What a wonderful thing it is. Therefore, when the enemy says, you're not zealous enough, and you hide yourself in the finished work of Christ, and when the enemy comes and says you're not devoted enough and you hide yourself in the finnish web, I'm not saying that means you can say I'm going to be as lethargic and apathetic. No one would ever hide themselves in the finished work of the lamb, who's apathetic or indifferent. [00:58:10] Never. [00:58:13] Oh, to know the blood of the lamb. [00:58:16] What a tremendous foundation for victory. Sanctification. You've been seeking sanctification. Doing this and doing that, going back to the old system of penances and affliction of the flesh and a 1001 other things. My dear friend, you are as far from the gospel as it's possible to be, though saved. [00:58:37] You haven't understood the gospel. [00:58:40] The gospel is this. Of course you should live a holy life. Of course you should live a righteous life. Of course you should be devoted. Of course you should study the word. Of course you should pray. Of course you should not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. But the basis of your justification and your sanctification is that Christ has died in your place, and one every single thing you require to stand before a holy God now and for all eternity. [00:59:12] The value of that finished work will never be diminished, it will never be devalued. [00:59:19] It remains efficacious, powerful, right through the ages and eternity to come. For at the foundation of a new heaven and a new earth is a little lamb as it had been slain. [00:59:38] Oh, if you could only see it. You feel the need to know the anointing of the spirit. You want to be baptized in the spirit. There is such an experience, you know. Never be put off by anyone who tells you there isn't. There is. You want. And you start to go round all the conferences, get this man to lay his hands on that one to lay his hands in, maybe. I. I don't know. You get all the hands laid upon you and still you don't get anything. [01:00:01] So you read this book, and you read that book and you read the three points and the four steps and you take them all and still nothing happens. [01:00:10] And you say, oh, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear. I'll never get through the end of the age unless I'm empowered by the Holy Spirit. My dear friend, all you will have is a counterfeit experience of emotion and wind if you're not careful. [01:00:25] For you are making the basis for obtaining the promise of the Father, your own works and your own goodness and your own zeal instead of the blood of the lamb. But if, as a sinner saved by grace, you stand before the presence of God and once you've seen it claim your inheritance, you will know a release of the spirit such as you've never known before. [01:00:51] God cannot refuse, even if he keeps you waiting. Sometimes some people say, why does he keep me waiting? I tell you why he keeps you waiting to see whether you will stand on the foundation of the blood of the lamb. [01:01:13] Those people who have had the deepest and clearest experience of the Holy Spirit, in my experience, have nearly all been people who have not had an experience in a highly emotional, overcharged atmosphere. [01:01:31] Everyone who I've known, and I've known many. That's why I believe not in my own experience, but in so many others who had a real experience of the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost. It has been sometimes alone, sometimes after much searching and seeking. Shall they see that the promise of the Father is obtained on the basis of the finished work of Christ? [01:01:53] Oh, dear child of God, what else do you need? So someone says to me, I don't need the anointing of the spirit. Frankly, I need to be dead. Well, I agree with that. [01:02:04] I need to know what it is to be crucified with Christ. Oh, if only all of us knew it. [01:02:09] Wouldn't it be a deliverance? What a release. As our problem is, our old selves are alive. And so you say, I know what I'll do. I know what I'll do. [01:02:18] From now on, I will dress in black. [01:02:22] I will not sing any more of those joyful choruses or hymns. [01:02:26] I will be sober. I will be serious. [01:02:30] I will be broken. So you come in and you sit with your head bowed down. [01:02:36] Not for you, the charismatic lifting of the head. [01:02:40] For you, the bowing of the head. [01:02:43] You know, that kind of thing. I feel so sorry for them. You get rank after rank of them all with their bowing. [01:02:51] Sweetness. True. Contrition, true. [01:02:56] But it's not being crucified with Christ, it is a work of the flesh, will worship. [01:03:07] The only way you and I will ever know what it is to be crucified with Christ is when we see that the work has been done. And in that moment that we see that those thousands of years ago on the cross. I was taken to the cross in Christ. In the moment I see it with the eye of my heart. In that moment I entered into the. I know a release for myself. It is the blood of the lamb. It is the finished work of Christ. There is a deliverance from self right within that work. [01:03:37] So, justification, sanctification. What else do you want? Glorification. Ah, you say, oh, dear, dear, dear. Perhaps one day, if I'm good enough, I'll be shining with glory. You've got another thing coming. [01:03:51] If that's your basis for glory, there's going to be precious little of it in you. [01:03:57] The basis for glory is the blood of the lamb. [01:04:01] And what you have allowed the spirit of God to do in your life and nature in these few years of time. [01:04:11] Now, I hope you see just how important this is. Victory. It's all found within the finished work. Christ, the foundation for all and every part, is never our zeal or our goodness or our devotion or our works, but only and always the blood of the lamb. There is no other way to overcome. [01:04:44] And then there is the word of their testimony. The word of their testimony. Here we come to the second constituent. This is the confession with our lips of the truth. [01:04:58] The confession of our lips of the truth. It's not prayer. It is not petition. It is not the expression of something vaguely hoped for. Well, I hope I shall be of use to the Lord. I hope that I am one with the Lord. [01:05:16] You know, that kind of seems to be very humble. But that is not the word of their testimony. [01:05:22] It is the declaration of the facts. What are the facts? The word of God. For true conversion, there has to be confession of the lips as well as faith in the heart. Is there anyone here half saved so very often it's because you have believed in the heart but never confessed. With the lips there are only half a salvation in one sense. For romans ten nine says, with the lips, confession is made to salvation. [01:06:01] Now, it is not only true of the beginnings of the christian life, it's a principle throughout the christian life, when we give utterance to our faith, when we give utterance to the word of God in us, when we give utterance to the truth as it is in Jesus, we inevitably gain the victory. Now, sometimes we do this when we worship. You see, when a person worships, they don't use vague hopes. That's not worship. When you worship, you say, oh, Lord, thank you, you have saved me. The word of your testimony. Did you hear it? You said, in your worship, you have saved me. It's the word of your testimony. Got it? Or you say, lord, we are one with thee. You're not saying, oh, dear Lord, we don't feel so good today. We hope. We are one with thee. You said, lord, we are one with thee. I am one with you. You are in me and I am in you. It's not based on feelings. It's the word of your test. The moment that word of the testimony. [01:07:02] There is the word of your testimony. In that moment, utterance, if you like, of this testimony, that moment, you have gained victory. [01:07:12] That's why we found it again and again in prayer, that when we start to worship the Lord, the way opens. Have you felt that? You know, sometimes you come into a time of prayer and the whole thing is so heavy, and then you begin to praise the Lord, worship the Lord. What we're really doing is it's the word of our testimony. We're confessing something that is true, and the enemy has to stand back and back and back and back. He cannot hold on to that time because it is the word of their testimony. If we could only learn this sometimes, you know, we have to learn to do this not with flesh and blood only, but with the invisible powers. You see, sometimes people think the word of their testimony is only to do with those that are flesh and blood, that have got ears to hear and eyes to see and hands to feel. Not so, dear friend. Not so. [01:08:04] There is a whole range of principalities and powers. World rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness. [01:08:13] And when we confess with our lips, Jesus is Lord, it is as if a sword goes right through them. [01:08:28] If we say, ob Lord, you don't feel the same thing. But when you say, he is Lord, it's as if something, a way, is just simply made right through them, the word of their testimony. [01:08:46] We need more than prayer for overcoming. We need to declare the facts. Thank God for this constituent of overcoming. Remember it in the days that lie ahead. When you feel least like it, when you feel most alone, and when the enemy seems to be most around you. Remember to confess with your lips. The facts and that will be your way through. [01:09:13] It's all part are because of the blood of the lamb. [01:09:17] The word of their testimony is based on the blood of the lamb. [01:09:22] And lastly, the third constituent, they love not their life, even unto death. There is no way to victory except by losing our lives for his sake. And the gospels, the self life, with all its many ramifications, self indulgence, self glory, self fulfillment, self importance, self assurance, self preservation, self seeking, self glory, and so on and so on, has always and will always be the ground for the enemy, even in the Christian, to follow Christ, to be in the train of his triumph, to be more than conqueror in and through him, we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross. [01:10:22] This could mean martyrdom in the final analysis. And it is interesting that in the Greek, the word martyr and witness are the same. Martyr is in fact, the english words, anglicized, Greek, if you like. [01:10:41] In the final analysis, it could mean martyrdom. Anyone who loves themselves, anyone who wants to preserve themselves, will not become a martyr. [01:10:57] When the final choice comes, they will choose life and preservation rather than the Lord and truth. [01:11:11] Dear friends, martyrs are not made overnight, nor is every martyr somebody who has died physically. [01:11:21] For to be a martyr is something to do with spirit and character. [01:11:28] And essentially it is when a person renounces themselves, when a person is prepared to lose their own life for his sake and for the gospels, in that moment they have found it unto life eternal. [01:11:50] They have already overcome, because in losing their life, they've gained it. [01:11:59] This is the principle of Calvary. [01:12:03] You go down to go up, you become weak to become strong, you are broken to be truly whole. [01:12:13] That is the principle. [01:12:15] Very few are prepared to go that way, but it is a third and essential constituent in overcoming may the Lord help us. For even if in the final analysis it means martyrdom, not a hair of their head shall perish. Our Lord said precisely in this connection. [01:12:38] Well, now we come to an end of these studies, and I pray that these words, spoken in much weakness, but nevertheless I believe firmly before God, spoken by the Holy Spirit, will mean much to all who hear them right through to the end of the age, long after this voice of mine has ceased to speak. [01:13:06] I hope these words that you have heard in these studies will be retained in your hearts and memories by the spirit of God to become the means of much help in days to come when we shall be unable to meet or perhaps to fellowship together. [01:13:24] May we all be prepared for the times coming and for our Lord's glorious appearing. [01:13:37] Shall we pray? [01:13:50] Father, we pray together that thou wilt make these studies real to every one of us. We cannot retain all that we've heard over these weeks. But, Lord, thou canst keep alive in our hearts the impression and, o Lord, thou canst bring back into life and revelation at the time we need it. What we have heard. But what, Lord, we pray above everything else is that all of us may be prepared for these days that are coming. We may be those, Lord, who really are thinking toward the coming of the day of the Lord.