335: Dennis Gillett - Get to Grips with God's Word

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Selfian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from. Around the world.

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   Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk.

3. 0:50

   Hello, this is Brother Chris Howard with a special talk to share with you coming from the annals of the tapes that I have been working on digitizing. This is a class that was given by Brother Dennis Galette in 1979 at the Birmingham Ecclesia in England and the title of this class is Get to Grips with God’s Word. Now because of the nature of the recording, the beginning of this is a little abrupt.

4. 1:16

   He’s kind of mid comment on a slightly different subject that seems to have potentially been part of his introduction. I’ve tried to edit it as best as I can so that it sort of starts when he’s introducing the topic. But if you hear him referencing a related topic to what he is talking about but don’t understand the full context, that’s why.

5. 1:39

   But that’s only a case in the first couple minutes. And then I think he makes a call to it right at the very end of his class. But what brother Dennis is doing this I think is is really powerful, is taking a look at just a handful of scriptures to remind us of what it is that is so important in Our Calling and what we are responsible to when it calls to. Looking at what God has called us to and what is in God’s Word. Brother Dennis, as we’ve had him on a couple times on the podcast when we’ve played talks of his, is very well spoken and also very studious in his Bible study. But I especially appreciated how passionate he gets in the second-half of the classes.

6. 2:16

   He’s talking about the importance of what it is that he’s looking at and how important it is for us to make sure that we keep to God’s Word and live what it is that we read, that we’re not academic, but we’re also not just going through the motions without having the principles of God’s Word underpinning everything that we do.

7. 2:40

   I’ll also use this as an opportunity to again call out to if any of you are out there that have or know of tapes that are sitting out there and haven’t been digitized and. Made available to people. Feel free to reach out to us. I am more than happy to take them and find a way to get them digitized. We’re working through tons of tapes at this point and there’s a huge backlog that we’re working through. And I’ve also uploaded that we haven’t even been able to get to, to share on the podcast.

8. 3:06

   But if you are, if they’re out there, especially if you know, if they haven’t been digitized anywhere else, I don’t want any of these lost gems like this one from Brother Dennis to be lost to the annals of history. So please feel free to send those in. And so with that, I hope that this talk encourages you and energizes you for the coming week. I will now turn it over to our brother Dennis Gillette from a class he gave at the Birmingham Ecclesia in 1979 titled Get to Grips with God’s Word.

9. 3:36

   The right of government over all His creation and that there is in Him a moral force with which all things ultimately will have to be reconciled and to be responsible, means that we are capable of rational conduct and consequently are morally accountable for our actions. And we are in a position, therefore, where we are liable to be called to account for our life. The Bible says that those who are responsible are answerable to God.

10. 4:10

    Now, I am not concerned tonight with the man who lives in the backwoods of Australia or New Guinea. That is a case of diminished responsibility. It’s a very interesting thing, but it isn’t my subject tonight. I’m concerned tonight with some of the people of Birmingham who have heard the sound of the gospel.

11. 4:32

    The question is posed, what do you propose to do about it? I am concerned therefore with you who sit tonight listening to me, people who have the word of God in their lap and therefore are in some sense responsible to God because the Word of God is available to all alike. And if we have spurned it, then it is our misfortune and it is our fault.

12. 5:04

    And being our fault, we cannot escape responsibility. That’s why we come to you saying getting to grips with God’s Word. And therefore as a first step tonight I want to straight away get to grips with God’s Word and I’m going to ask you to listen to or if you like to turn up, you may of course, 7 passages of Scripture from different parts of the Bible. Each passage is dissimilar but alike in one respect. There is a common factor running through them. They have all to do with what the Bible demands of you. They have all to do with man’s responsibility toward God. I’m particularly anxious that you should notice the words carefully, because every word in the Bible is important. Notice the words, I beseech you very carefully because those words will throw light on this question. So the first passage is from the Old Testament. It is in the 5th chapter of the of the prophecy of Daniel. Very briefly, if I may sketch in the context, Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was a wicked king, wicked in many respects, and eventually the judgement of God was given to Daniel to be delivered to King Belshazzar, God’s judgement on his wickedness.

13. 6:43

    Now Daniel could have charged the king with all kinds of wickedness. He could have charged him with bad government, with sacred, with immorality, with vice, and so on. But when the prophet went to deliver the judgement of God to Belshazzar, he didn’t speak of any of these things. Let’s notice what he did say in the 23rd verse of Daniel 5. The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified?

14. 7:24

    I bring you to the 12th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, to another king, King Herod, the puppet king of his lair. Well now Herod was a proud man, and on a certain day he arrayed himself in his royal apparel and made a great oration to the people, and he was exalted. And the people hearing the oration of Herod quoted in the 12th chapter of Acts verse 23.

15. 8:03

    And the people shouted, it is the voice of a God and not of a man. And immediately an Angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten of worms, and gave up the spirit.

16. 8:20

    The 3rd chapter of the Roman letter of Paul in chapter 3 of In chapter 3 of the letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul is referring partly to the universal failure of every man in the sight of God. The whole world is declared to be guilty before God. All I ask you to do is to notice the exact words which the apostle used to describe that universal failure. Verse 23 of Romans 3 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

17. 9:05

    Turn over one page please to Romans 4. In Romans 4, the apostle in this particular passage I’m going to refer to is concerned with the success of Abraham. Abraham, who received certain promises from God when at the time they were given, seemed humanly speaking, to be impossible of fulfillment. One in particular was that he should bigot a son when he was 100 years of age, and his wife Sarah should give birth to a son when she was 99, consequently well past the age for child begetting and bearing.

18. 9:48

    Nevertheless, God promised that this would take place. Observe how Paul describes it Romans 4 verse 20. Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform the 2nd chapter of the Philippian letter.

19. 10:22

    In the 2nd chapter of Philippians, the apostle Paul is describing in this passage the great work which has been accomplished by Jesus Christ, his obedience to God and His final victory in the cross and His final exaltation in heaven. Observe the words that the majestic words that the apostle uses to describe it. He became.

20. 10:53

    This is verse 8 of Philippians 2. He became obedient unto death. Yeah, the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. But at the name of Jesus every knee could bow, and every tongue could. You have confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The 43rd chapter of Isaiah.

21. 11:31

    Verses 6:00 and 7:00 I will say, to the north give up, and to the South keep not back. Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone that is called by my name. For I have created him for my glory. Yeah, I have formed him. I have made him finally the 14th chapter of the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, chapter 14. In this particular passage that is given to us, the Gospel which is to be taken finally to the world before the day of judgement, before the day of enforced humiliation, the last chance that God gives to men, the last call to judgement, the last call to repentance.

22. 12:28

    Observe the words which are yet to be proclaimed, because this is prophetic. Verse 7. Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgement is come. 7 passages of scripture, each dissimilar but each alike, having one common thought running through them, occurring in each. I wonder if you noticed what it was? The words were there in every passage, whether in success or whether in failure.

23. 13:17

    Men are responsible to God, and that responsibility as expressed in the words giving glory to God. Man was made to give glory to God. That is what the Word of God demands of you, that you shall glorify your Creator. Ladies and gentlemen, you are not made to pursue pleasure or to accumulate wealth or to acquire knowledge. You were made to give glory to God. The words of Isaiah seldom expanded. Clearly and unmistakably I have created him for my glory. Now may I just pause to say, I know there are Bible students in this house tonight who are just waiting to tell me that those words I’ve quoted from the 7th chapter of the of the seventh verse of the 43rd chapter of Isaiah were spoken of the people of Israel.

24. 14:18

    I know it. But may I say to you that though they were spoken originally of the people of Israel in their noblest meaning, they are intended at last to apply to every man who will come to God through Jesus Christ that God was showing in one nation what He intended to do for all nations. At last Israel were representative, and it is the Apostle Peter who in the New Testament takes the very words which are so, which describes so powerfully the exclusive relationship which Israel had with God, and applies them to any man, be he Jew or Gentile, who will come to God through Jesus Christ, says he to those who are Gentiles. Ye are an holy nation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people for God’s own possession.

25. 15:04

    Yes, Isaiah said it plainly. What does God demand of you that you shall give him glory? Well, now, very properly, somebody will say that’s a sentence, but it’s a strange sentence. What does it mean? Giving glory to God? So let us come to the 13th chapter of Luke. I’m going to read to you verses 6 to 9 of the man who had a fig tree in his vineyard and Jesus faked this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down.

26. 16:12

    Why come bereth it the ground? And he answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it. And if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

27. 16:33

    The interesting thing about this parable, though it’s short, is that it tells us about the rights of God and telling us about the rights of God, and resultantly it tells us about the responsibilities of men. The parable, of course, is Eastern in its setting, but it would do it. No violence, I think, to change the word vineyard to garden and the word vine dresser to gardener.

28. 16:59

    And the owner of the garden speaks as though he had the right to expect fruit from the tree. Of course, it was his tree, and after all, he had planted it in his garden. It was using his resources. It was enjoying the care of his gardener. The tree was not there purely for ornamentation, nor was it there only to provide shade on a hot day.

29. 17:20

    It was there, after all, to produce fruit, and if it did not do that, then it had failed in its purpose, and in the words of the owner of the garden, it cumbered the ground. I dare say most of us would agree really, that the owner was right after all, that an unchangeably barren tree is better removed. I suppose those of you who are gardeners or have gardeners, if you had such a tree, would certainly think it right to remove a tree and replace it by a fruitful one. It’s sensible.

30. 17:54

    But though he was patient, that owner, and though he waited to give the tree every opportunity to be fruitful, and though the gardener himself was an intercessor, I want you to notice that in the end there was no disagreement between the gardener owner and the gardener himself about the fate of the tree. If it bear fruit, well, but if not, then it must be removed. Well, of course the figures in the parable can be identified easily.

31. 18:25

    It’s simplicity is the thing that makes it magnificent. God is the owner, the gardener is an intercessor. The supreme intercessor is Jesus Christ. And that tree represents men. It represents any man who is responsible to God. And as I say, the thing that makes the parable so interesting is it’s simplicity. For instance, if you were to ask your child what he expects to get from an apple tree or what he expects to get from a fig tree, and you’ll know at once what he will say.

32. 18:58

    Now, if you can keep that kind of simplicity in your minds and then ask yourself this question, what does God expect from a man? What does God demand of you? What does God expect of a man or a woman? Apples from apple trees, figs from fig trees. What does God expect from man?

33. 19:21

    Well, his simplicity will tell us the way from man. God expects manhood, but very properly, somebody’s going to say to me, well, that’s only a word. What does manhood mean? What’s manhood?

34. 19:38

    Well, now, the proper answer in my judgement is that manhood is when a man does that which God intended him to do. No, I take that back. Manhood is when a man is what God intended him to be. You see, ladies and gentlemen, accompanying every created thing, there is a law. God made law, a law to which that thing ought to conform, and when that thing conforms to the law which God has placed in it and upon it, it does that which for it is divinely natural, and doing that which is divinely natural, it gives glory to God.

35. 20:32

    May I tell you without fear of contradiction, that upon every Tulip there is the law of the Tulip God made. And when the Tulip answers the law which God has placed in it and upon it, that is to say, when it blossoms forth in all its beauty, it consequently gives glory to the one who made it. Upon every eagle there is the law of the eagle. And when the eagle answers that Lord, and on its great eagle wings soars into the heavens and hovers over its young, it does that which for it is divinely natural, God intended and doing that gives glory to its Creator.

36. 21:22

    And this is how the Bible speaks about the created things, getting to grips with the Word of God. Indeed, this is how the Bible speaks about the created things. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth His handiwork. Psalm 19, or in Psalm 148, praise the Lord from the earth. Mark who the psalmist is talking about, please praise the Lord from the earth, ye Dragons and all ye deeps, fire, hail, snow, ice, and stormy winds, fulfilling his word, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all Cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl. Let them praise the name of the Lord and give glory to Him within heaven and earth.

37. 22:12

    And we crystal Alphaeans, sometimes we sing about it, we sing about this principle. We have a hymn which goes like this. Wherever we look, thy glory shines. And all things fair and bright are thine. Wherever we look, thy glory shines. And when the created things answer their own law, which God has placed upon them and in them, they give glory to Him. And may I say, when they fail to do that, when they fail to do that, as did that barren tree, they do not give glory to Him. They have failed in their high calling, and consequently they are barren, and they must be rejected. Now this principle, which is true of the creation, is true also of man.

38. 23:03

    As in the Tulip and as in the Eagle there are certain forces divinely implanted which enable them to fulfil the law of the Tulip, or the law of the Eagle, as the case may be. So in man there are certain forces, certain divinely implanted forces, which enable him to fulfil the law of manhood. There are, and in order to understand it, we shall need just to pause for a moment to think about the nature of men, the nature of you.

39. 23:40

    There are some people who would probably tell you in good faith that man is a beast and no more than a beast. Well, now, I must say that I shan’t be telling you that tonight, because I do not believe it is true. I know that sometimes men behave like beasts, and indeed, if they are only beasts, then behaving like beasts, they are doing that which of them is right? And so their very beastliness would seem to give glory to God. Now you can see yourself that when the argument is carried to its logical conclusion, it is manifestly false. I know that in the book of Ecclesiastes you can read that men hath no pre eminence over beasts, but we must be careful how we read it, because the context is that men are mortal like beasts are mortal.

40. 24:32

    As one dieth, so dieth the other. In that respect men are like beasts. Indeed. They are subject to the same laws of life and death. That is to say, they need air and light and food and water to keep them alive. Deprived of that, they die in that respect on that particular plane of argument. Indeed, they are like beasts, but they are not beasts all together.

41. 25:00

    And you can sense it yourself, because when a man behaves like a beast without willing it, you are conscious of his degradation. And degradation is when the highest things are used for the very lowest purposes, or rather when the highest things are used for a purpose lower than that which were intended, which are intended.

42. 25:22

    And I say to you that when a man behaves like a beast, you are aware of his degradation. If I might just illustrate, if you see a pig wallowing in the mire, you are not aware that the pig is degraded. Did you are aware that the pig is doing what is right for pigs? After all, that’s how pigs are.

43. 25:43

    It may be, of course, that they wallow in more mire than they need, but that is because very often they have bad masters. Or if you see a horse at Plough, I don’t suppose you see many horses at Plough in Derrid End, but sometimes in the field of North Oxford, fields of North Oxfordshire, you may see a horse at plough. And it’s a wonderful sight, the horse pulling open the good rich loam of Oxfordshire.

44. 26:20

    His muscles are rippling under his silken skin, doing that which for him is divinely natural. And you are aware that in some sense he gives glory to his Creator. But let a man be chained to a plough and you are aware that he is at once degraded. He was not meant to work like a horse.

45. 26:46

    Some people thought he was at one time, but they were wrong. He is nobler than that. He is finer than that. He has more dignity. He was not made to be like a horse. He is not a beast. And you are aware immediately that he is degraded. Seeing him chained to a plow, getting to grips with the Word of God will tell us that this The Bible says that man was made in the image of God, and it is this very thing that distinguishes him from the rest of creation, and in this very thing lies his dignity. In some respects man is kin with God because he is able to think and able to reason and to decide and to respond. Man is the one link between the material world and the spiritual world.

46. 27:44

    He is as it were at the place where the two worlds meet. He is the place, as it were, where all the lower forms of life and all the highest forms of life touch one another and a scene in him and can be manifested him. I confess man can be beastly. Indeed he can be beastly.

47. 28:05

    Thank God he, he can be saintly, the same man. And these forces which are in man, and which are in no other created thing, make him kin with the divine, make him make the possibility or provide the possibility of him being at last like God. And these things were given to him to answer the law of manhood, these marvellous powers, so that he could be what God intended him to be.

48. 28:41

    When the Creator said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness. So then man is given the power of reason so that he can understand God. He is given the power of free will so that he can respond to God. He is given the power of trust so that he can have faith in God.

49. 29:12

    He is given the power of love so that he can love God. And when a man does that, he answers the Lord of manhood and does that which for him is divinely intended. And doing that he becomes God. Like there is beginning to grow in him that thing which the Bible calls godliness, God likeness, That is what the Bible demands of you.

50. 29:45

    But when man misuses those forces, and flings them away on something less than the high purpose to which they were for which they were intended to be used, that man is degraded. The powers given of God, and divinely implanted in the nature of men, and which make him different from every other created thing, are consequently prostituted.

51. 30:14

    Now I know very well that prostitution isn’t a very nice word on a Sunday night in Birmingham, but it’s the right word, because prostitution is when the highest powers of men are used for the bilest purposes. So then a man in that situation, using his high powers for such weaken, ignoble purposes, is degraded.

52. 30:38

    And so the truth can be stated very simply. When a man does that which is ungodly, he is degraded because he is a called genetically. He is called to the high heritage of being like God in character. He is called to God likeness, and when he sins against the will of God, he is defaced. He is defiled, he is polluted and he is degraded. He is disgrace.

53. 31:08

    He corrupts the standard by which he was to be elevated to the high honour of serving his Creator in obedience, and consequently giving glory to His God.

54. 31:25

    And in this particular connection there is one thing I must say to you. I know you won’t love me one bit for saying it, but if I said it, not, if I went back to Oxford and failed to say it, I should be false to this ministry of preaching. And the thing which has to be said is this, In order to have failed in man’s responsibility to God, and in order to have become degraded, it is not necessary that we should have given ourselves over to the lowest and the meanest practices.

55. 32:08

    We may be people of unblemished reputation, and yet we may have failed in the truest meaning of the word. We may turn away from everything which is gross and vulgar, and all our indulgences, if we have any, may be marked with refinement and taste. We may do all the things which are taken to be the symbols of respectability.

56. 32:31

    I won’t enumerate them, so I shan’t offend you. And their homes may be filled with comfort and elegance, and there may be nothing in their lives to offend the most fastidious opinion. And yet I say to you that we may have utterly failed in our responsibility to God nevertheless, and consequently have become degraded.

57. 32:50

    If, ladies and gentlemen, if that Spirit in US which was intended to find its real and only satisfaction in doing God’s will, is satisfied without doing it, and if the gifts which were given to us in order to serve God and obey Him instead are being frittered away upon things which are trivial and and and of no consequence, ultimately wasted, misused, used on things which are in opposition to His purpose, then we have failed.

58. 33:36

    We have not answered the demand which God is making upon us. The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes at the end of his writing, sums up man’s responsibility. He sums up what the Bible demands of you in these words. Clear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. And as one of my brethren pointed out to me yesterday, that word duty is in italics.

59. 34:15

    It’s been put in by the translators to make what seemed to them to be the sense of it. And whilst I don’t quarrel one bit with the fact that is the whole duty of man, what the writer actually wrote was fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole man. This is man as God intended him to be. This is manhood.

60. 34:36

    This is manhood. Fear God and keep his commandments. This is the wholeness of man. This is man fully extended. This is man developed. This is man as God intended him to be, force and heart and mind and will in glad submission to the great God. You see by that divinely natural principle whereby things which have a common interest take on a common identity, so a man becomes like God, God like in character as God intended him to be. Let us make man in our image and after their likeness. So finally, may I say this to you? I’ve said that the responsibility of man is to produce manhood.

61. 35:23

    And if we face this issue squarely, and if we come to grips with God’s Word, we shall have to ask ourselves whether we are fruitful in this particular calling, or whether we are barren. And if we lay the measurement of other men’s characters upon our own, we shall come to a false judgement. We can always find somebody else who is worse than we are, and we shall be content.

62. 35:47

    Now, if we are really in earnest, if we mean business, and if we are really seeking the answer to this question, what does the Bible demand of you? Then may I say to you that manhood has been once perfectly revealed, and only once manhood was once perfectly revealed in the Man of Nazareth.

63. 36:12

    The man of the seamless robe. The man who was born at Bethlehem and played on the doorstep at Nazareth, and lay in his mother’s arms in the Hill Country of Judea, and came at last to stand in the midst of his own people, and said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

64. 36:39

    He was man in all his glory. He was the realized idea of what God meant when he said, let us make man in our image. This man whose image is imprinted now upon the parchment of the New Testament, is the effulgence of God’s glory, the express image of His person. And when we look at the Man of Nazareth, we are looking at the archetypal man, and we shall not be able to find the key to our life, nor to our responsibility in any other man than in He. He was a man wholly submitted to the will of God, and absolutely at the service of his brother men. A man who, being in the presence of the material world, constantly looked through the material world to the spiritual. A man who looked at the flowers and said, Your heavenly Father clotheth them.

65. 37:49

    A man who heard the birds singing and said, Your Father cares for them. A man who looked at children and said, you’re they do ever, they’re angels, do ever behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

66. 38:12

    A man who handled a common loaf and said there is bread to be eaten which men may eat and not taste of death forever. A man who saw the shepherd on the hillside and said The shepherd work of God will go on until all the broken ones are brought home. Man who saw the vine growing in the field and said it was but a replica of the true vine which giveth life to the world. Yes, look at the material things, Store in them the glory of God.

67. 38:41

    Thank God for them. Look through them to the spiritual. Such a man was he, a man, you see, who laid the measurement of heaven upon earthly things, and consequently gave us a new vision of goodness. A man who spoke the great law from the final government of men, and hear it as it fell from his lips.

68. 38:59

    What does God demand of you? Ye shall love thee, Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. All the forces of our nature bent towards God’s purpose. All the talents of our life submitted to His will. These things the only true man did, and we have seen in Him, therefore, true manhood.

69. 39:27

    And the question therefore, as you put this measurement upon your own life, the question which is before you tonight is, have we been like this? God help us, have we? His life was truth governed and love mastered. How was your life yesterday? Was it a day of giving glory to God? Were your forces and your talents used for His high purpose, and I say it to you with the deepest respect, or was it a day of degradation when your high forces and talents were wasted on things of no consequence, on trivialities, on low things and mean things?

70. 40:06

    I put it to you that if we measure ourselves by the true standard of manhood, then when the proprietor of the garden comes into his vineyard seeking fruit, what will the harvest be like? Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not pretending to stand in judgement upon this congregation. I’ve no business to be doing that. I’m only anxious to oppressive.

71. 40:28

    Impress upon you the solemnity of this little parable. God has a right in the ultimate to reject the thing which is unchangeably barren. That’s its teaching. And God will, because of His very nature, have to reject the man who, being responsible, has culpably neglected his responsibility. Now, as I said before, I’m not concerned tonight with diminished responsibility.

72. 40:50

    A very interesting subject. Not my subject tonight, though. My subject tonight is the responsibility of the men and women who have sat listening to me and to this gospel. So may I in this last minute, direct your attention to one other thing in the parable, the intercessor. Think upon him, and I’m thinking upon him.

73. 41:18

    Let us not think that the purpose of Jesus Christ is to persuade God to let off the man who insists on being a failure. Look at it carefully, that parable. Think of it. What was the underlying purpose of the proprietor? Well, the underlying purpose of the proprietor was fruit. And what was the foremost purpose of the vine dresser? Well, the foremost purpose of the vine dresser was fruit also. So let us say reverently, there is no quarrel between God and Jesus Christ about man’s responsibility. There is no disagreement between God and Jesus Christ about what God demands of you.

74. 41:54

    Christ did not come into the world to let off the man who is set hard against God and will not change his Baroness. But Christ did come into the world to produce in that barren man the fruit that God is seeking. And the purpose of the Savior is to make men who are willing to submit to Him to be what God intended they should be God like. So the judgement now you see, did you notice it? The judgement now is postponed so that all those who have not yet introduced themselves to all those forces of the Son of God which can remake them, they do so whilst there is opportunity. This is the hour of the vine dresser. That’s this hour.

75. 42:34

    Leave it alone, he said. He is interceding for us, for those of us who are procrastinating, for those of us who are putting it off, for those of us who are hesitating. He is pleading for us. He is saying, Leave it alone this year also, and I will cultivate it.

76. 42:56

    The hour of the vine dresser. And by the strange dignity which God has endowed men with, the process needs your consent. It means that we shall have to repudiate the life which lives for self indulgence. It means that we shall have to come humbly and recognize our degradation for what it is and turn from it. And we shall have to come humbly to God’s Word, confessing our need, seeking to know His will, and being willing to bend our lives to His commandments.

77. 43:32

    And nothing short of this will enable us to meet the demand which God’s Word makes upon us. And this is the last solemn Word, ladies and gentlemen, and I, I beseech you to to believe it. There is in this situation no middle course, Not for you at least, no middle course. You know what you are called to and for what?

78. 43:56

    For the reasons, the reasons why you have been created, you’ve been invested with wonderful powers divinely implanted for you. There is no middle course. Either you will submit yourselves to those forces which will produce in you the fruit which glorifies God, or you will not. And if you, if you will not, then you will become barren. The Word of God demands that we shall humbly seek to know God through His Word, the documentation of His mind, the expression of His will, that we shall seek to know Him as He is revealed there.

79. 44:30

    That we should believe what He has revealed, believing it with reverent fear. Not choosing this and rejecting that, but submitting ourselves to the mind of God and seeking to make it the master Passion of our life. That consequently we shall cultivate the faith that trusts in God altogether, and we should be baptized into the saving name of His Son, our Lord, the Saviour and the Redeemer of those who will come to God. That we shall make Incarnate in our lives the will of God, by obeying His commandments, and allowing him to work within us, willing and doing of His good pleasure. That we shall look expectantly for the coming again to the earth of His summon flaming Advent glory, to establish here upon the earth the Kingdom of God, to bring life and joy and peace, where at the moment sorrow and sighing and sin abound.

80. 45:21

    This is what the Word of God demands of you. I put it to you, there is no middle course. Either you will believe the gospel of grace, and believing it, you will live, or you will not.

81. 45:44

    So there is no neutrality, there never is for those who are responsible. So it’s my hope and the hope of my brethren and sisters that there’s anybody in this house tonight who has not yet taken that fateful but magnificent decision in favour of the King and the Lord. Then they will do so ere long, without delay, whilst there is still opportunity, whilst the hour of the vine dresser lasts, whilst he is saying still leave it alone this year, God knows whether he’ll leave it alone next year.

82. 46:26

    Let us therefore not fall victim to the peril of procrastination, but let us yield ourselves now, this night, if need be, this very night, to His Word and His will, and let us crown Him a lawful King and Lord of all. This is what God’s Word demands of you. Thank you for listening to the good Chris Adelphian Talks podcast.

83. 47:09

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84. 47:26

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85. 47:59

    God bless and talk to you next week.