Mark 5

We sing together number 141. In deep eternal counsel, before the world was made, before its deep foundations on nothingness were laid, God purposed us for blessing, and chose us in his Son, to him to be conformant when here our course was run. In presence, blessed acceptance, in him who came to die, in him who now is seated at thy right hand on high, in grace which is unchanging, we stand from day to day, and prove the boundless mercies which strew our pilgrim way.

141. In deep eternal... Ephesians. I seem to find it exceptionally hard to open the epistle to the Ephesians.

It all seems so beautiful to my soul that it's hard to pass... But shall we begin with chapter 19. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Chapter 4, verse 1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of a spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Back to chapter 2, verse 19. Now therefore, just as soon as we read those words, beloved, we are made to feel that there is a portion for our hearts now.

I know that's not new to anyone, but it has been a good deal on my heart lately that many of us are in danger of looking upon Christianity as that what our poor lost guilty souls have been delivered from the burden of our sin. We know that matter is settled and we know that when our journey here is over we will spend eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ. But to me there is a wonderful thought in this language, now therefore.

And I believe that that's one part of Christianity that we very, very often fail to enter into and to enjoy as we should. That the purpose of God's wonderful was not simply to rescue you and me from our guilt and from the penalty of that guilt, not simply to find for us a corner up there in heaven, but in order that the heart of God might find its delight in your companionship and in mine. So we read here, Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners.

That might sound like strange language at first because we have been quite often reminded that we are. But I believe the matter referred to here is this. This epistle was written to the Ephesians.

They were idolaters. They had their idol Diana of the Ephesians, whom they worshipped, and there came to their community one day a man who proclaimed to them the amazing news of a God in heaven who loved them and who had sent the Lord Jesus Christ, his beloved son, to pay redemptions. Well, until that time, the only citizenship they knew anything about was that which bound them to this earth.

And that was true of you and me, was it not? There was a time in your life and there was in mine when the only home and citizenship with which we were acquainted was that which had to do with our time here in this world. The only citizenship we knew, and as far as heaven was concerned, we were strangers to all that. We weren't like the Ephesians.

We weren't ignorant of it. We had heard about it, and I wonder if there could be anyone here this afternoon who has heard about it. And you know there is a place called heaven.

You don't deny the fact. You know there is a God up there whom you someday must meet. You know, too, that that God whom you must meet someday sent his beloved Son to die on the cross for sinners.

But can we all go one step further and say, and I know that my sins are washed away in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that when I leave this world, I'm going to spend eternity with the Lord Jesus. It isn't my intention to lengthen this out, but I would like to tell you a young man I visited in the hospital in Ottawa along used to work for a drugstore, and I delivered messages to the pearly home where incurable people spent their days.

And this chap, his name was Moses. He had been there since his very earliest boyhood, fearfully afflicted and his whole body distorted. I felt very sorry for Moses, and I used to speak to him about the Lord Jesus.

And one day I said to him, Moses, when you leave the pearly home, where do you expect to go? Well, he said, I expect to go to heaven. I'm almost, but not quite sure about it. So I read to him this wonderful language that all of us have read and enjoyed before.

Don 524. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that saith me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Moses listened very eagerly.

I said, do you believe that? He said, yes, I do. And when you leave this pearly home, where will you go? I'm almost, but not quite sure. Oh, I said, Moses, do you mean that you're almost, but not quite sure that God tells you? Dear Moses, I could see that he looked rather offended.

So I went away and left him. And about a week or two later, I was back in again, and I went to call on Moses. And I thought something had happened.

I said, Moses, where do you expect to go when you leave the pearly home? He said, I'm sure that I'm going home to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus. I told you I was 16 at that time, and that was quite a while ago. Not very long ago, I went back with my wife and family and walked into the ward where Moses was.

And I said to the nurse, where is Moses? Well, she said he's out in his wheelchair out in the lawn. He couldn't even sit up. They had the wheelchair straight out.

And I went out there, and poor dear Moses, he could scarcely turn his poor twisted head. But as soon as he saw me, his face lighted up with such a wonderful smile. I hadn't seen him in all those years.

And he was so glad to see me and I to see him. I said, Moses, we don't have long to stay, but perhaps we could sing a little hymn together. What would you like to sing? He said, oh, could you please sing that hymn, tell me the old, old story of Jesus and his love.

We sang that hymn, and dear Moses joined in it with us. And I just want to introduce this thought this afternoon because it will mean nothing to you unless you know the Lord Jesus. I say know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.

And when you read this word, now therefore, we are no more strangers and foreigners. Can you look up from those words and say, yes, thank God. I can look up now to heaven and know that I'm not a stranger there.

I'm not a foreigner there. I belong there. I'm only a stranger here.

If we were to turn to the fourth chapter of Revelation, you'd find four and twenty seats, and on the seats four and twenty elders. That's a little bit unusual, is it not? If I entered a room and saw 24 people sitting there, I think I would mention the people first and perhaps if I mentioned the chairs at all, I'd mention them in second place. Why does the Scripture say four and twenty seats and on the seats four and twenty elders? The seats were there long before they were occupied.

There's one up there for me. Is there one up there for you? Isn't it wonderful to be able to speak with certainty about this matter? There'll be no vacant seats up there and there'll be no one looking for a seat. Ah, there's one for each and every one who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.

And so this language now, therefore, you're no more strangers and foreigners, causes us to look up and realize that even now, beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, we actually have a relationship and a citizenship with for the life which I possess is a life that has its source. Fellow citizens with the saints, isn't that wonderful language? I think some of us who were brought up under the sound of this book become rather accustomed to this language and we, of course, hear one another addressed as saints and we know that we are fellow citizens with the saints. We've heard it long ago, but perhaps we fail to realize the marvel that God wanted your company, but he could not have your company nor mine.

I heard it mentioned at a conference in St. Louis a good many years ago that such was God's affection toward his beloved eternal Son that in a past eternity, God looked upon that Son and said, when I have a family, I want them all to be just like my Son. Yes, beloved, you and I are going to be to the eternal delight of the Father, for he will have around about him a redeemed family, every one of whom will be eternally conformed to his own beloved Son. But the thought in my heart is this, that these things need not be looked upon as something that we are.

The glorious eternal reality of it is yet before us, but even now we are fellow citizens with the saints. What does that mean to our hearts? I hope it means more than simply a text in the word of God, but I'm sure you and I have been made to realize it as we travel about. Some of you may have heard mention of a trip that I took a couple of years ago among some of the lay people, and I remember yet what a bewildering thing it was to the travel agent who was trying to arrange this journey for me.

I asked him to please make out my ticket, and it read to Chicago, San Francisco, Hawaii, Tokyo, Singapore, Colombo, Bombay, Tehran, Jerusalem. Great delight. He was quite pleased with my purpose, but he wasn't satisfied.

After he'd made out the big long ticket and told me the amount of it, he said, Now, I'd be glad to arrange your accommodation in San Francisco. Well, I said, I have Christian friends in San Francisco that I know will be meeting me there, so you don't need to take care of that. Well, now, you're going to spend a weekend in Hawaii.

Well, I said, I have Christian friends in Hawaii that I know will be meeting me there, and I won't be needing accommodation. But you're spending a month in Japan. I said, Yes, but I have friends all over Japan.

Well, he knew I'd never been away that far before, and he gave me a strange look. He said, There's a nice new Hilton Hotel in Hong Kong. I said, Thank you.

I have Christian friends in Hong Kong, too. He didn't follow me any further on. He gave up.

And you know, I must admit, beloved brethren, that I came away from that place realizing in a practical way what I had long known, that by the matchless, wonderful grace of God, I was a fellow citizen in that which knew no bounds of nationality or color, a fellow citizen with the saints, and by the grace of God, beloved, that's a wonderful citizenship, and it exists right now. Oh, I love to look into your faces and realize that you and I are together fellow citizens in that wonderful relationship that knits us together as chosen in Him, and that before the foundation of the world. Perhaps it sounds a little interesting to speak of it in connection with faraway land and how thrilling it is to find the truth of it when you land in a place where you never set foot before and find yourself so... But, beloved brethren, could I just suggest that this also applies to my home assembly in Smith Falls and to your home assembly, be it Buena Park, Burbank, Los Angeles, wherever you may come from, this matter of being a fellow citizen with the saints is not something that links you in love with brethren that are... but it links you in relationship and love with the brethren who sit beside you and across from you in your own home assembly.

I think sometimes we're just a little inclined to apply it rather far away from home that at least if you'll permit me to take this for myself, I know that I need to remember this as applying to the very brethren with whom I am gathered by the grace of God at home. We speak, you know, of charity, divine love, and we speak of it as being something which by the grace of God exists among the Lord's people, and we're so thankful for it. But I'll never forget a discussion on this matter that was taking place at Hamilton Dear Brother Gill was there, and the discussion had reached the point where I think we were beginning to pat ourselves on the back a little bit as though we had done a pretty good job of loving one another, and that charity was pretty generally a well-exercised matter.

Brother Gill was sitting there silently, but I could just sense that something was going to come from him at any moment, and it did. I wouldn't imitate the way he said it. It just came out in his own peculiar style, and I just didn't miss a word of it.

He suddenly pointed his finger solemnly, and he said, Brethren, the measure of divine love operative within the soul can be judged by the affection you bear toward the most ugly and cantankerous brother within the sphere of your acquaintance. There was quite a long silence after he said that. But I believe that's true, and I'm going to say it over again.

The measure of divine love operative within the soul can be judged by the affection you bear toward the most ugly and cantankerous brother within the sphere of your acquaintance. It's so easy to love some brother. We get along with them nicely, and they agree with us on most things, but others perhaps are not of that sort, and we'll leave them out of the matter when we're considering this fellow citizens with the saints.

But, O beloved, let us remember this, that God in wondrous matchless grace chose this brother, and may God grant that we shall not forget this. One of us together, fellow citizens with the saints is a citizen of a household of God. Isn't this marvelous language? This is by actual choice.

We find in chapter 1 the eternal counsel of his loving heart so repeatedly spoken of as it concerns you and me. Chosen in him before the foundation of the world, accepted in the Beloved. May I just pause to make a little comment about that statement, accepted in the Beloved.

Our English words don't always convey just the meaning that they might, and I don't want to give any impression whatever that I'm a scholar because I am, but it's not difficult to look up some of these words and find their meaning and find where else they are used in Scripture. And the word translated accepted in that particular passage in Ephesians 1 is only used in one other place in all the word of God. And that is where Mary is addressed by the angel in connection with the wonderful promise of her holy son Jesus.

Hail thou that art highly favored. That's the word that is translated accepted. Highly favored.

And it's only used twice in the word of God. It means this, beloved, that as God looks at you and me this very afternoon, he sees you and he sees me in that wonderful place of favor in which his beloved son has ever stood. And so when I read this statement, now therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints.

I just cry to the Lord that it may convey to our hearts and produce in our lives that which he intends. Twenty-three years ago when I was your wife, home from Des Moines to Canada, we had an example of this citizenship. As we crossed the border, the immigration officials came through with their usual questions and they asked my wife, among other things, where are you going? How long do you expect to stay there? Well, she smiled and said, I expect to live there.

We've just been married. Well, he made a few other comments which I needn't repeat, but he said, congratulations, you're now a Canadian citizen and a British subject. Well, she said, what about my American citizenship? He said, you remain an American citizen unless you cast a vote in Canada.

But if you cast one vote in Canada, you immediately lose and deny your American citizenship. She's still an American citizen, by the way. And I feel, beloved brethren, that that is a principle that you and I can well bear in mind.

Is it or is it not an honor and a privilege and a joy of the saints and of the household of God? I stand here this afternoon with an overflowing heart of thanksgiving that my citizenship by choice and at the cost of my citizenship is up there. I'm no more a stranger and a foreigner to that which is heavenly, but I am, according to the language of Scripture, a stranger and a pilgrim. Now there remains the practical carrying out of this in our lives, and you and I, each one of us, myself most certainly included, each one of us knows in our own hearts how very, very easy it is for us to nod our heads and recognize that this statement is true and then just to go about our daily lives and purposes as though we were citizens of this world and were going to be here yet alone.

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple. What a marvelous purpose is in his heart, beloved. This, I believe, is that which to be members of the living stones in the Church.

He knows whether these... He has revealed his loving heart. I feel so rebuked. I've sometimes presented it to my own heart like this.

Suppose I had a special and secret purpose that concerned my dear children, and at very, very great cost I brought this plan to its final completion, and I had this wonderful secret that had taken years of preparation and planning and cost, and it concerned something that I'm just sure will be such a delight to my... So I call my children together, and I say, Father has something to tell you. Will you come and listen? So they sit down, and I begin to reveal to my dear children this which has been on my heart for so long, this which I know will fill them with delight, and I unfold the purpose of my heart, and I tell them of how I have centered all this purpose around the happiness of my dear children, and I let them know something of what it's cost me in order to formulate these plans and to fulfill them. And when I'm all done having told them everything, they say, Is that all, Daddy? Can we go out to play again? How would I feel? How would I feel? Now, beloved, in the word of God we read of the eternal purpose of God's loving heart, and it concerns you, and we read of what it cost him to fulfill that purpose, and it's centered in you and his beloved son.

We open this book, and we find it displayed before us, and having read of it, we close our Bibles, and what do we do? Do we go back about our activities as though the most important thing in all the world were those plans that we had for Monday? And now it's necessary, beloved, that we have these purposes, and I don't want to appear to be a fanatic to face myself. Education. But, oh, dear saints of God, I hope that he chose us, that we should be fellow citizens with the saints, framed together unto one holy, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.

I believe, if any distinction could be made, that this latter verse refers to that which is now our privilege and his. For I believe it is the delight of God's heart should have a joy of display, that which we're going to see and share in all its fullness in a coming day. Enter into it now.

We have made mention recently of how frequently in the word of God, I believe it was remarked a while ago, that when John was here on earth, he recorded this statement, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only. Perhaps reading about it, we might look and end up by saying, but of course, I wasn't here. But then we turn to the 17th chapter of John and we, Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold.

Oh, I say, I wasn't here when John was here, but I'm going. But this is the thought that speaks to my heart. That would leave me looking.

It would leave me looking ahead and thinking of that, we were to turn to 2 Corinthians 3. We all, is this true? We all with open face beholding as in a glass, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. To whom does this apply? And when does it apply? Do we have any lawful reason for not finding? Beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image. That's not a matter of looking back or even of looking ahead.

That's a matter of our present experience and it's your privilege and it's mine and the measure in which it is true of us is a blessing to others. This I don't believe requires gift, does it? It doesn't require great intelligence. And I believe that in many an assembly a great deal of blessing flows from those who behold the glory of the Lord.

Perhaps they're not those whose voices are heard very often in the meeting, but their testimony and their joy is such an encouragement to others. In the first chapter of the Song of Solomon we read, Draw me, we will run after thee. Isn't that interesting? Personal, that's individual and what happens? We will run after thee.

Up and down the rows. If you are occupied with the Lord Jesus and following him, it will be a great blessing to others in the assembly. Draw me, we will run after thee.

We dare not hide behind our lack of gift. We have Christ with whom we can be occupied and the result of such occupation will be a blessing to others. Now the fourth chapter, for I believe the exhortation in chapter four is connected with the wonderful revelation of truth that we have in chapter two.

In chapter two we have seen the wonderful citizenship that is ours, the wonderful household to which we belong, the wonderful habitation which is now to be displayed here and the wonderful and holy temple in the Lord which yet lies in the future. And now we read, I therefore beseech you. I feel so out of place when I stand here and read these words.

Who wrote them? Paul, the aged prisoner, wrote these words. But I expect he was in chains when he wrote them. Perhaps you'll know what I mean when I say how out of place I feel.

For as I read them, I picture the apostle Paul who wrote them standing here in his chains and addressing you, beloved brethren, in these words. I hope it's not out of place to do that, but I'd like you to picture the apostle Paul standing here, that faithful, beloved servant of God. The chains are yet on him and he stands here before you, beloved brethren, in California and he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, wouldn't it touch our hearts? This comes from the very heart of the Lord Jesus through the pen of the apostle Paul.

And oh, I trust it may speak to our hearts. God never, never, never, never simply lays a demand upon us because he is God and has the right to do so. I mean as his children.

I believe that God reveals the love and the purpose of his heart, brings us into a place of nearness and relationship which could not be more glorious. And then beseeches and exhorts on the ground of that wondrous blessing which he has poured out upon us. May I also just pass on here a practical word which was by no means on my heart when I read this chapter.

May I simply suggest this as a pattern which we as fathers could well bear in mind toward our dear children. God has many, many, many exhortations and firm ones too they are in the word of God addressed to those who are his own beloved children. But you will not find those exhortations directed toward us simply because the authority of God demands it.

You will find that God's loving heart is poured out to its fullest extent and his love revealed till we can just feel those arms around about us. And then when God, the very basis of obedience is the loving place of relationship and affection into which we have been brought. May I just suggest this as a pattern in the word of God that we as fathers could well bear in mind.

I'm going to have to make a kind of confession about this in order to illustrate it. I used to get a lot of, shall I say spanking? That's the word my dad used. And I know I deserved them and they were, some of them, very severe.

I can remember them and the consequences to this day. And when this chastisement would be laid upon me in its severest form, I'll tell you exactly what I used to do. I'd go up to my room, I'd shut the door, and I would try to cultivate a real good case of the pulse.

I would try to persuade myself that my dad didn't love me at all and that he found great pleasure in punishing me and that he enjoyed seeing me suffer. And I never succeeded. Do you know why? Because over all those wretched feelings was a memory of how much he loved me.

And I never succeeded in getting very far in pouting against him because I knew he loved me so much. Dear fathers, we have that pattern in this book. God loves you and God has revealed his love.

He couldn't reveal it more than he has. And now having brought us before him as his children, he exhorts us, he warns us, he pleads with us, but all on the basis of the relationship which cost him so much to bring into being. And I think as fathers, we might try to show affection and lots of it toward our dear children from the days of their infancy on up.

I don't know when it should be discontinued. I don't think it ever should be discontinued so that when reproof and punishment is necessary, the memory of that love will be a blessing in it. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.

Again, I remark that this, I believe, is connected with the latter part of chapter two. That vocation, beloved, that wonderful relationship, that is my vocation. Oh, the world thinks a great deal about what they call vocation and they bow and scrape to a man who has a lot of initials after his name, but they don't pay much heed to the man who didn't perhaps get along quite so far.

I don't speak disparagingly of these attainments. In fact, there was a dear brother back home who encouraged me to get initials after my name. I think I should tell you about him.

His name was Mr. R.J. Watson and he was a dear old Irishman to say, when I was 21, after having been at work for four years, I felt, I think I can say, the Lord directing me to go back to school for further studies. I took up later. And his dear old brother was, I think, quite concerned about it.

He was a stonemason. And he came to me after meeting, just before I left, and he said, Albert, I hear you're going away to school in Toronto. I hung my head.

I thought I was in for it. And I said, yes, Brother Watson, I suppose you'll be coming back with some of those letters after your name. I don't think so, Brother Watson.

Well, I hope you do, he said. I said, what do you mean? He said, I hope you come home with O-M-G-B after your name. I said, I never heard that before.

What's that? He said, you'll have to read the book of Daniel, Albert. Well, I went home and read the book of Daniel and I think I found that degree there. Daniel possessed it.

O-M-G-B. That's what that dear old brother coveted for me. And I know he prayed for me.

Dear brethren, pray for the young people. It's hard for them. It's difficult for them and for their parents.

Pray for them that if they are exposed to these things that might cause them to forget the vocation wherewith we are called. That they may come through it all with O-M-G-B after their name. That they may do as Daniel did and stand true and faithful to the vocation wherewith we are called.

With all loneliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. That used to be needed when this epistle was written but it's really not needed anymore. I think it is.

In fact, I know it is, isn't it? With all loneliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. O brethren, it seems to me that the very fact that we have been brought so close that this very closeness brings with it the need of loneliness and meekness and long suffering and forbearing in love. Again, I mention that this is particularly needful in connection with our home assembly from which we come.

Where we rub shoulders with the same beloved brothers and sisters so constantly and we begin to find out about one another that which if we were occupied with it would be perhaps the occasion of difficulty. But I believe that we can look at one another and seek to see Christ in one another and walk in loneliness and meekness and long suffering and forbearing. Now, loneliness and meekness I have heard defined as one who would neither give offense nor take offense.

And I believe that's a very good description and one which I'm sure we might all prayerfully covet. But might I just add a little caution to such a definition. You remember when the Lord Jesus was here.

After having spoken faithfully, the scripture says, from that hour many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. They were offended at him. Had the Lord showed any lack of loneliness or of meekness? No, beloved.

In him there was that perfect blending of faithfulness and meekness. Vindication of God's glory and of loneliness and of love. And I feel that if you or I have before us as an object any one of these things which we've been reading about, we're going to be lopsided believers.

We must have Christ and Christ alone before us. And then when faithfulness is called for, it will be displayed. But it will be displayed perhaps with a heart that weeps.

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Our time is about up, but I would like to try to illustrate this verse. For I believe it's incumbent upon us to remember this all the more in the day when I feel that these things are treated as though they were of no importance at all.

A man feels that he's perfectly entitled to look around and make whatever choice he wishes as regards Christian fellowship while he's here in this world. But this verse exhorts us, from the heart of God it exhorts us, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Illustration has been used before, but suppose if you wish that a man has ten sons and all those ten sons work and play together in the most unusual harmony.

They never argue. They never disagree. They always get along happily and pleasantly together.

And all the neighbors notice it and they comment, what a wonderful family that is. We've never heard them say an unkind word. They're always together.

One day those ten sons are out in the garden and Father comes to the door and he says, boys, please come in to Father. Well, after a little pause, three of those boys turn and start and the other seven turn toward their brothers and they say, where are you going? You mean you're turning your back on us and we're your real brothers? You don't love us very much? You're going to break up? Would it be all right if those three turned around? I don't believe it would. It would be encouraging them in turn and say, but did you not hear Father? By being gathered around endeavoring to keep and to display the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, in the bond of peace.

I believe it's ever necessary for us to maintain and to defend that which obedience to the Word of God would call for, but to do so in the bond of peace. We look around at our beloved brethren who are so gentle, so patient, and perhaps we are inclined to covet that disposition that we think they possess by nature, but I don't believe it. It has, I know again, been mentioned before concerning dear John.

That one who is always singled out as being so patient and so loving and so gentle, and he stands out among the disciples as being the most patient and loving of them all, and I've heard comments about patient-loving disposition, but you remember then when the Lord picked up John, he called him a most unusual name, Boanerges, which means a son of thunder. I won't attempt to define that word. You can just take it as it sounds.

To my soul, it means that at least it hints that John by nature was a son of thunder, whatever that might mean I leave to you. But I believe that what we see displayed in the pathway of John was a reflection of the gentleness and loveliness of Christ seen in one who leaned on his bosom. Who was it that said, Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Was that Peter? That was John.

I think that was a little of the son of thunder showing out, and to me it has been just a considerable rebuke to think that we look around at others and perhaps find ourselves coveting their disposition and excusing our own. But dear saints of God, you and I have within us the very life and nature of him who walked through this the glory of God without spot or stain. And in the measure in which we lean on his bosom, in the measure in which we're occupied with him, what will happen? That will be displayed in our personal lives, in our home and family and in our assembly life too.

Is that what is being displayed by us? Is there in our personal life? Is there as husband and father in the home or as wife and mother in the home the display of that which you and I know would be displayed if we were leaning on his bosom? And as we come together as gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ with our beloved brethren, is there displayed there also that which we would love the Lord? Would we love the Lord to know the attitude of our hearts? You know, a brother came to my father one day and he said, Brother Hayhoe, the brethren don't understand me. My father said, Do you wish they did? Would you want them to? I wouldn't, brethren. I'm glad you don't understand me.

All I can say is this, beloved, if you and I were in his presence and leaned on his bosom and walked with him, there would be harmony in our lives, in our homes and in our assemblies to the glory of God. Oh, may we, by the matchless grace of God, be found each applying this right here to our own hearts. Let us never, never, never sit in meetings and say, I'm glad brother so-and-so is here to hear this.

Let us take it to our own hearts, each and every one of us, and remember before God that his loving heart at infinite cost has brought you and me so near to his heart that we could not be near, not only individually, but by the saints and of the house I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy I beseech you, therefore, brethren, that you walk worthy of the vocation for with your call in all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another. And all is just thy little word and so is Y-E-S, but all the difference they do make no one could ever guess. Say N-O-N-O to everything that's wrong and Y-E-S to the Savior Jesus all day long.

To everyone the Savior says will you this very day come unto me and you will be my very own away. Say N-O-N-O to everything that's wrong and Y-E-S to the Savior Jesus all day long. Don't forget there's a house to let, the Father's house on high.

And don't forget there's a key to get long before you die. Faith in Christ will unlock the door. You shall have a mansion free forevermore.

But don't forget there's a key to get long before you die.