Empty seats

Now turn with me please to 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse 18. 1 Samuel chapter 20 and verse 18, Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. What I have upon my mind this afternoon is empty seats.

This is David's empty seat. His seat is empty. We didn't read in John chapter 20 and verse 24, but had we read there, we'd have found that Thomas' seat was empty.

When you go to Acts chapter 8 and verse 2, you'll find another man's seat is empty, and it's Stephen. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 5, you find an empty seat, and the seat that is empty is Enoch's. I want to consider David's empty seat.

Saul hated David. And I take it that his hatred was generated by jealousy, and that's usually the case. If there's hatred, it begins with jealousy, relative to the one that's doing the hating.

When Saul threw his javelin at David, he left his seat, and he fled. And then he found himself somewhere. He was outside the camp of Saul.

And I take it that's just exactly where God wanted this man. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that's where God wants me. That's where God wants His people today, and you read that in Hebrews 13.

Outside the religious camp. The religious system of the day, bearing His reproach. I think the Word of God is crystal clear relative to that.

You know that God's assembly is a unique place. It's not just a good place to be. It is a good place to be.

But it's not just a good place to be. It's really the only place to be. And you know, we're not another church in stout.

Some folks say we're just another church in town. We're not another church in town. We're the only place.

It's the place where God has placed His name. It's the place where the Lord has urged us to be, He says, where two or three are gathered together in My name. Where am I in the midst of them? So if I want to be where He's at, then I have to be where He tells me He's going to be.

And that's in a scripturally gathered assembly that's following a pattern that is crystal clear laid down in the Word of God. I learned that a number of years back. You know, David is a man that left his loved ones in Saul's camp.

And so have we. We have all left some loved ones in this system that exists in the world today. And we can't go back.

I left a Baptist meeting years ago. I was only a Baptist for a year. And then I read an ad in the paper.

It was really a simple little ad. It was advertising gospel meetings in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It said, we preach Christ crucified.

Bring your Bibles and no collection. No collection. I thought, well, I'm going to go there and prove that they're going to take a collection.

And they never did. As far as I know, they haven't to this day. So I'm still waiting for them to take a collection.

I've seen that strange chart, you know, that we cherish in the assembly. At least I do. I think it's great.

I like the one that's really, really busy. And then I saw something else that was absolutely strange to me. And that was sisters sitting in the room with caps on.

My wife used to say, those aren't caps, they're hats. Well, anyways, that's what they had. Whether it's a cap or a hat, they had something on their head.

It was a wonderful place to be. It's still a wonderful place to be, and I remember the first time that I ever sat and watched the brethren break bread. The brothers and the sisters.

The brethren brethren. Sister brethren too. And these men would rise one after another and introduce us to God and worship.

And express their gratitude for what the Lord had done for them at a place called Calvary. I really appreciate it. I wonder, do we really appreciate that? Or does it get to be old hat? We do it every Lord's Day and we just kind of go along with it.

Or do we really have a deep appreciation? God help us to have a deep appreciation. You know, I heard the brothers saying years and years ago that you need to wean yourself from the world and from the religious system. I don't know what you think about that, but I know what an old brother thought about that when he heard this brother say this.

He says, brother, you can't wean yourself from the world or the religious system. He says you have to make a clean break. I believe that was good advice.

We need to make a clean break. Because we'll never wean ourselves from the world or from the world's religious system. I want to say something about that javelin.

Saul threw this javelin and he threw it at David and he had a purpose in his mind when he did it. He meant to kill him. He meant to thrust that javelin right through him and drop him in his tracks.

But he missed him. He must have got anxious or something. But what I like about David is he didn't pick that javelin back up.

He could have done it, you know, and threw it back and dropped Saul right there. But he didn't do that. He walked away.

And the Bible says he behaved himself wisely. I take it he did the wise thing. And then the Bible tells us that he behaved himself more wisely.

Do you ever have a javelin thrown at you? Sometimes folks will throw a javelin at you. And maybe they don't really mean to throw the javelin at you. And maybe they really don't mean to hurt you with a word or with words.

Maybe it's not intentional, but nevertheless, it hurts. So what do you do when folks do that? I think the best thing to do, and I learned this from a sister. You know, we can learn things from the sisters, brethren.

That's true, isn't it? We can learn quite a bit from the sisters if we just listen to them. And you know sometimes the sisters aren't real slow about telling us. The brethren might be a little slow about saying something or mentioning something to us, but not the sisters.

They just let us know right now. And we need that. But sometimes someone just in a careless sort of a way will say something that's like a javelin that it hurts.

And really the best thing to do is just do like David did to walk away and behave yourself wisely because time has a way of healing things. In John 20 and verse 24, we heard a little bit about this the other morning. In fact, we heard quite a bit.

We see that Thomas' seat is empty. And imagine it's empty on the first day of the week. And it's empty when the Lord was in their midst.

And it says, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord? Were you glad this morning, brother? Sister? When you sat down to remember the Lord, were you glad? Did you get a little glimpse of the Savior this morning? You know sometimes from time to time we get a little glimpse, a little gleam of the Person of Christ when we sit down around those simple tokens to remember the One who said, this do in remembrance of Me. We can only remember Him if we know Him. And if we know Him, it's really not hard to remember Him.

And it really doesn't take any gift to worship. It just really takes gratitude. And we get a little glimpse of the Lord Jesus and it thrills our soul and we're glad like these disciples to see the Lord because He's there in the center of the gathering.

Thomas missed out. And the reason he missed out is because his seat was empty. And I kind of thought about this matter a little bit.

I'm not a real deep thinker as you know. But the Spirit of God makes mention of this because there are so many people in the world today that are soundly saved and born again, but they're missing out because they're not gathered to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're missing out on a tremendous opportunity.

And they gather to some non-existing church name. And if something goes wrong, they maybe don't like the entertainment and there's a lot of it there. So now they tell me that they've got orchestras.

And they had nice entertainment and so on and they get about a ten minute sermon and it makes them feel so good and they go home. They're missing out. You know, there's a sad thing that I have noticed that there are some who are leaving their seats empty.

Do you ever leave your seat empty on a Wednesday night? Perhaps your seat is filled on a Lord's Day morning, but it could be that it's empty on a Wednesday night. Well, you know if it's important enough for the Lord to be there on a Wednesday night, then I take it it's important enough for me to be there. And my seat shouldn't be empty.

And if it is, I'm going to miss out. Prayer meeting and a Bible reading. You know, when I first was saved and started going to Bible readings, I had more questions than a hen had feathers.

And you know, I'd go to these Bible readings and I'd think, boy, this is an amazing thing. I had all these questions. I never had to ask them.

They were all answered before the meeting was over. How about that? On a Wednesday night, some folks tell me that there's not too many folks there on a Wednesday night. Oh, good number on a Lord's Day morning, but the seats seem to be empty on a Wednesday night or a ministry meeting.

I had someone tell me here not too long ago, we'd be there if we don't have something better to do. Those weren't outsiders. If your seat is empty, or my seat is empty, I'm definitely going to miss out.

And you're going to miss out too if your seat is empty. Well, you may be thinking in your mind, well, Thomas was there the next Lord's Day and so he was, and bless the Lord that he was. It's a good thing that he was there.

He wasn't there that day, but he was there the next Lord's Day. So he did the right thing. He was where he should be.

He wasn't forsaking the assembling as some do. And you know, interestingly enough, not only was he doing the right thing, but he was saying the right words. He said, my Lord and my God.

He was acknowledging the Lordship of Christ in his life. You know, He's my Master and I'm His servant. That's the idea, I believe, in Lordship.

He's a good Master. I've had a lot of Masters in my lifetime and He's the best that I've ever had. Wonderful Master.

And it's a wonderful thing for you to be able to serve Him because we're all servants of the Lord by the way. That's not a title to be taken by some certain individuals. You serve in your small corner and I serve in my small corner.

And we serve the same Lord and we read the same Bible and we're going to the same beam of seat and there's no competition among us. Is there? Then you go to Acts 8 and you find a man by the name of Stephen and his seat is empty. You know, and from time to time, the faithful ones are summonsed home.

God takes them home. And when God takes them home, their seat is empty. Their seat is empty at the house at home.

It's empty in the house of God. Do you know, we feel it, don't we? And the reason we feel it is because we miss them. We miss them.

You know, some flippantly say, well, we wouldn't wish them back. I don't know how many times after my wife died that folks, and they meant well, and I know they meant well, but in a flippant sort of a way, they'd say, well, you wouldn't wish her back. You want to bet on that? I'm not a betting man, but I'll bet on that one.

Don't you ever kid yourself that I didn't wish her back. I wished her back. My boy wished her back.

He wasn't in the room with me when she died. But he came about 15 minutes later. He'd come in the house.

He walked down the hallway. And do you know what he said? He said, Mom, come back. His mom didn't come back.

And he walked out in that living room. He said to me, Dad, he says, I have just lost the best friend I've ever had in my life. And that was his mom.

You see, that's what moms are. Do you know, brother or sister, naturally speaking, that the very best friend you have in this life is your mother. I know there's brethren here today that their wives have gone home to be with the Lord and sisters as well.

And they have heard that comment, well, you wouldn't wish them back. Oh, yes. Yes.

I spent 50 years with my first wife. And I haven't forgotten her yet. And I remarried three years ago.

I've got a wonderful, wonderful wife. God has been good to me. I've had two good wives in one lifetime.

God has been great to me. I didn't deserve either one of them. But I've never forgotten my first wife.

And I don't think as long as I live, I'll ever forget her. Not after 50 years. Enoch's seat was empty too.

Hebrews 11, verse 5. You know, here's a man that for many, many years he lived in his sins. Like some of us strange ones in the room today. Lived many, many, many years in our sins.

This is what Enoch did. And that changed after Methuselah was born. And from that time on it seems to me that he walked with God.

I only know that because I read about it. And one day, this man Enoch, with a proper hope like you have and I have. You have that, don't you? And so do I. We're not just hoping.

We have a proper hope. He had a proper hope, but he had something more. He had a pleasing testimony.

He had this testimony that he pleased God. And with this proper hope and this pleasing testimony, he did something strange. He jumped the ditch of death.

And my hope is the same, isn't it yours? With a proper hope and a pleasing testimony that one day soon we're going to jump the ditch of death. We're not going to leave this world by the article of death. We're going to be caught up and caught out of this world.

I don't know whether you believe this or not, but I believe this with all my heart and soul that we're the rapture generation. What do you think of that? Think we're the rapture generation? I would certainly think so. And if I don't think so, I surely hope so.

That one of these days soon, the Lord is going to come and catch His waiting people home. Everyone in this world that has that lovely proper hope, and then our earthly seats will be empty and our heavenly seats will be filled.