H.P. Mansfield - Before the Deluge - Class 1 - A Warning for Today

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

1. 0:00

   This is Idle Oil 1982. Our second class is conducted by our brother Purse Mansfield, from Adelaide, Australia. His general subject is Before the Deluge and his subject for this the first class. A warning for today, Brother Mansfield. My dear brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus, we commence these addresses on a note of urgency.

2. 0:34

   Because of the significant times in which we’re living, we believe that we’re on the very epoch of the Lord’s return. That means for us the epoch of judgement. And far as that is concerned, the whole world is in that epoch of judgement. It’s going to be the judgement of Armageddon. There’s going to be the judgement of the judgement seat of Jesus Christ.

3. 1:00

   And before the judgement of Armageddon is poured out of from an unheeding world, we’re going to be called to the judgement seat of Christ. Or that is how I understand the Scriptures, because Peter tells us in the first of Peter chapter 4 and verse 17 that judgement must begin at the House of God.

4. 1:21

   Judgement must begin, he says, at the House of God. And in the 149th Psalm we read, Let the Saints be joyful in glory, let them single out upon their beds, let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and A2 edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the nations and punishment upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of eye. So part of the work of the Saints of the age to come will be to assist the Lord Jesus Christ in subduing the world to Him.

5. 1:59

   And if that is part of our work of the age to come, then obviously the judgement seat of Christ must precede the judgement seat in the judgement of the world at large. So as we look around the world today and we see these signs taking place that speak so clearly of Christ’s return, as we see the growth of Russia and the divided state of the nations, as we see the uprise of Israel, as we see those dramatic events that are taking place in Persia and in Lebanon and so forth, we’re impressed with the fulfilment of Bible prophecy.

6. 2:34

   But let us not be deluded in that regard. That should act as an excitation to us. But Christ returns and we will be in his presence. Now theme, which is of course before the deluge, will be considered. With that in view, we will take the section of Genesis that we’re going to treat with in two ways. First, of course, it’s considered literal, A literal account of what historically happened, there’s no doubt about that.

7. 3:06

   But secondly, it will be considered as a parabolic allegory of the purpose of Almighty God. And we will see in the events that are recorded in the early chapters of Genesis leading to the flood that both the advents of Jesus Christ are foreshadowed there. And in a very remarkable way, we will see that the events that took place in those days leading to the flood exactly foreshadow what we see in the earth today. In other words, what we are witnessing today as we see a world given over the wind, morality and wickedness, we see the growth of crime and the growth of the military exploits. This sort of thing was there before the flood, and the whole world was sunk of iniquity.

8. 3:53

   Then that God looked down upon heaven and it repented him. So he washed it clean with the waters of the flood, and He must look down now upon this earth of ours, and observing the way in which people live, it must repent him at his heart that we are in that state. I mean the world at large.

9. 4:12

   And whilst he washed it clean of the days of Noah, he’s going to purge it with fire. In the day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall return. We shall see how that the events in Noah’s day were recorded there. I believe not only to tell us what happened, but also to warn us what will happen as far as our day is concerned.

10. 4:34

    We commence therefore, in looking at some places in the New Testament. We commence with the 17th chapter of Luke and at verse 26. And here the Lord Jesus Christ says that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall appear the days of the coming of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and a flood came and destroyed them all.

11. 5:01

    Likewise also as it was in the days of lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they build it, but the same day that lot without of Sodom, it rained far and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. And the Lord Jesus Christ in those words were warning his disciples and his warning words come down to us today because we’re living in that time. And it’s a remarkable thing that the Lord Jesus Christ, in dealing with the days of Noah and the days of life, spoke nothing about the worldwide immorality at that time, nothing about the corruption that was in the world, nor of the violence that was in the world.

12. 5:42

    He tweeted with people that did things that in themselves were legitimate. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. Nothing wrong with any of those things. They are legitimate pursues. And yet there was those things that the Lord emphasizes took them off their guard. So the day of Noah came upon them unawares, and they were taken off their guard by the pursuit of things that in themselves are quite legitimate. And the Lord Jesus Christ is warning us concerning that as nervous to say to us that the main danger of our day and generation just prior to the coming of the Son of God will be not so much the state of the world about us, but the preoccupation on our part of things that in themselves are legitimate.

13. 6:34

    So that we’re giving a first priority to the world in which we live and in which we are found eating and drinking and buying and selling and planting and building. And the danger of this age in which we’re living is that we do give first priority to that, and the things of God can take second place. That was what happened in the days of Noah. As we will see.

14. 7:00

    It’s a danger that could threaten us in these days in which we living. We’re living in an age of great worldly opportunity. One of the easiest things to do in this age in which we live is to get rich. If we like to divert all our attention to that end, we can get rich. It’s a day of great opportunity and that day of opportunity is open to us all.

15. 7:21

    Not only is it a day of opportunity, it’s an age of affluence and that affluence can blind us to the realities in Christ Jesus. Our mind takes in these things that we possess, the houses and buildings and the businesses and the and the mechanical things of life that are part of life today. And we feel that we’re like playing the seer. We’re rich and increased with goods and the need of nothing. That’s the danger, brethren and sisters, not to you, but to me. It’s the danger that takes possession of every one of us and can take us off our guard.

16. 7:57

    It did in the days of Noah. There was a big ecclesia. Then that ecclesia went into the abyss. There was a big ecclesia with Lot in Sodom. He never went down there on his own, but that when Sodom was taken up with the opportunities of that city and completely destroyed. And the danger is, says Jesus Christ, that at the time of his coming the situation will be so much like that that we may be taken off our guard.

17. 8:26

    And I believe that the events that are recorded in the early chapters of Genesis are recorded there to warn us of what can take place. We must see it in that parabolic manner. We can give to God a second class service in which we may read the Bible and attend meetings and do this and do that, but it is all second class. And, you know, Malachi warned about that. They were sacrificing, all right, but it wasn’t the best of their animals that they sacrificed at that time. They couldn’t pay the ties because they said they didn’t have the money.

18. 9:07

    And Malachi voicing the words of Yahweh, says, offer your sacrifices to your governor. Well, he will be pleased with what you’ve given him. Give it unto me, give it unto him. And As for your ties, you’re robbing God. You’re robbing God. We remembered last night the sacrifice of a man that gave everything that he might provide the means whereby we can attain unto life eternal. What’s life eternal mean to you?

19. 9:36

    So you will suddenly realize that you have a deadly sickness. What is your life worth to you? Is it worth a sacrifice? Jesus Christ gave the whole of his life to his God. We can treat the life of Jesus Christ and the offering of Jesus Christ as a substitutionary offering, which we would say is a deadly heresy, or a representative offering which we say is the truth. But your own brethren and sisters, we can speak of the representative offering of Jesus Christ as a doctrinal truth, but not apply the principles of it.

20. 10:13

    Because if it is a representative offering, then that which we remembered last evening in the offering of the Jesus Christ was representative of our offering. Now is it? And that’s what we need to bear in mind. A second class service to God is of no use to him. It’s an insult to him.

21. 10:33

    Only the best is good enough for him. The best of our time, the best of our energy, the best of our thought, the best of our application of the word of God, then that sacrifice comes acceptable to him. And Jesus Christ warned that at the time of his coming conditions would be of such a nature as to blind us to the realities of the need of Jesus Christ.

22. 10:57

    That’s these what those words of Christ mean. He goes on to speak of this. He says that in that day he which shall be upon his house, stop and his stuff and his house. Let him not take. Come down and take it away. When you see the signs of the times and understand what they mean, treat them with the urgency that they deserve. Don’t put it off.

23. 11:19

    Don’t say yes, that’s right, we should be preparing. We’ll do that next week. It’s urgent. Don’t waste time. That’s what Jesus Christ would tell us. Don’t waste time. The matter is urgent and the urgency is of such a nature that we know that we are in the time of Christ’s return. And he says, remember Lot’s wife, we know what happened.

24. 11:43

    As far as Lot’s wife is concerned, whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. If you want the best out of this life, if any of us want the best out of this life, if we want to save that life in that way, we’re going to lose it.

25. 12:01

    Not now. We may have affluence. We may atone under the objective set before us. Now we’re losing in the age to come. That’s what the Lord is warning. And let let he that loses his life, he’s prepared to sacrifice his life for Christ now he says he will preserve it in the age to come.

26. 12:23

    And the issue is as stark as that. He says, I tell you, as they do emphasize it. In that night there shall be two men in one bed. One shall be taken and the other left. He’s Speaking of night time. Jesus Christ said the night cometh when he is away. A new dawn comes when he returns in that night there shall be two in the bed.

27. 12:52

    The idea was not a bed in which one sleeps. The idea is a couch upon which one reclines. And in those days when they engaged in engaged in a meal, they reclined upon a couch. So here are two men in complete fellowship, one with the other, enjoying a meal together. Then he speaks of two who are grinding together, labeling together. And the picture he is presenting as that of the ecclesia, some in fellowship, one with the other, some labeling one with the other.

28. 13:24

    But he says one shall be taken and the other left. And sometimes it is imagined that he’s Speaking of the judgement seat. One will be taken to judgement of the other left. That’s not the idea at all. That word taken in verse 34 is from a Greek word signifying to take one to oneself as one will take a bride.

29. 13:47

    It is a word that is found in the 1st chapter of Matthew and applied to Joseph and Mary, where Joseph was told to take unto thee Mary thy wife. And that is the same word again in verse 24, where it says that that Joseph took unto him his wife. The same word 1 shall be taken as part of the multitude of this bride, and the other shall be left. But the word means driven away.

30. 14:19

    One will be taken as part of the multitudinous bride, the other will be driven away. So you see, those men are there at the judgment seat in life. They’ve enjoyed fellowship together. They may have laboured together, but perhaps not with the same motivation. And now at the judgment seat, all that they have done and all that they have pursued is brought before the the eyes of that judge. One is accepted as part of the multitudinous mind, the other is driven away.

31. 14:50

    And they say, Where, Lord, where shall he be driven? And the Lord said Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. And he’s Speaking of a dead body and the boxes are coming down, and that’s the world at large. So those that have driven away are driven back into the world that they love so much. That’s the issue that is facing us, which he builds upon the days of Noah.

32. 15:13

    And the issue is there. There’s an urgency about it. So that we notice that urgency, the unexpected nature of the return. The verse 30 where He says in that regard, the day when the Son of Man is revealed and the word is apocalypse unveiled, when He’s revealed to us and all His glory and His Majesty, and He’s in our presence and the judgment seat is set up, then some shall be taken and the other left in that way. And we are left with the question, what is to be our destiny?

33. 15:48

    What is to be our destiny? As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of life, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. No one in the days of Noah, no one in the days of Lot, warned those people that the time was at hand. It come upon them suddenly, unexpectedly. They weren’t.

34. 16:09

    They weren’t conscious of that matter. When Lot was up the gate and those angels came to that city, Lot was conscious of the evil and the wickedness of that city. But he didn’t realize that within a matter of hours that city would be destroyed by the greatest Holocaust of those times, a vast earthquake that would destroy the whole of A and plunge it into the depths of the Dead Sea.

35. 16:30

    He didn’t understand it. And in the days of Noah, brethren and sisters, the world at large didn’t understand it. But tragedy of tragedies, the ecclesia existing in the days of Noah didn’t realize it. And that’s the greatest tragedy of that time. And that ecclesia was an extensive ecclesia. But they were found ridiculing the very witness of Noah. So the day came upon the man of Wares, and they were plunged also into the abyss, into the flood that destroyed them all. Now we take another passage of Scripture nearly to emphasize the importance of the times in which we’re living. This time we go over to the Epistle of Peter in the second of Peter chapter 3.

36. 17:13

    Want to do this is preparatory to our looking at these passages in the early chapters of Genesis. And in the Second Epistle of Peter, chapter 3, we have a chapter of challenge. It challenges US, number one, with our standing in Christ, number 2 with the indifference of our contemporaries #3 with the signs of the times #4 with our reaction thereto, and #5 with the order of our priorities. Where do we stand in that regard? This chapter, first of all, emphasizes our standing before our God, and it does so in the first verse. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you five times in this chapter.

37. 18:03

    He directs attention to the beloved in Christ. That’s our title, beloved. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and they have beloved who are gathered into that Son and are manifesting the qualities of that Son. And five times Peter is emphasizing his feelings towards the ecclesia by the use of that term beloved, because he would save them from the trouble that he knew threaten them in their day and threatens the ecclesia today. This is my beloved son, said Almighty God in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom I am well pleased. And he was well pleased because his beloved son performed the will of his father.

38. 18:54

    And the term beloved applies to us if we’re found in the same category as obeying the will of God. So he goes on to say in verse 2 that he may be mindful of the words which were spoken before of the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.

39. 19:12

    So when we use this term beloved or loved in regard to ourselves, remember that it is based upon how pleasing of God that we please God by performing his contempt, his his commandments. And Peter speaks of the indifference of our contemporaries, the scoffing world about us, in verses 3 and 4. Know this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming?

40. 19:44

    For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. Peter is not dealing with the world at large, Notice. He’s dealing with those that recognize the Fathers of the Ecclesia. It’s not the world that are scoffing here. They’re the members of the Ecclesia that were scoffing in the days of Peter, despite the warning of Peter of that particular time.

41. 20:09

    And they were saying, where is the promise of his coming? We’ve heard it so often, it’s been repeated so much. Where indeed is the promise of his coming? For since the Fathers fell asleep? All things continue as they were from the beginning. And he’s not Speaking of the fathers of the Jewish race, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The apostle Paul said you have fathers in the ecclesia. He says I have begotten you.

42. 20:41

    And he warns them of times of difficulty that were going to come, but they didn’t come, according to the believers at the time that they expected. So now they are saying, or they would say, Peter says they will say when he was gone and he was on the point of death then and Paul already had died.

43. 21:04

    They would say since the fathers fell asleep, since Paul and Peter and these others have fallen to their sleep, all things continue. All things continue. There’s no change whatever. And you know, brethren and sisters, that’s a sort of language that I have heard very, very frequently since the days of Doctor Thomas. He expected the return of Christ so much sooner than it has occurred and all things continue.

44. 21:35

    Look, I’ve been tired. I’ve heard all this about Russia 30 years ago. We’ve heard it all and that hasn’t happened. The news say it’s going to happen shortly, but all since the days of Doctor Thomas and Robert Roberts, things have gone along. We’ve had crises, right, 30 years ago. We do have collections for the Jewish people.

45. 21:55

    They’re going back to the lab. And so these things are happening and they do happen like that till we take them for granted and we say within ourselves that we’re not going to say it openly to someone else. Where is the promise of his coming? But we act as though that way. It’s not so much what we might say, it’s what we do. And our reaction to that is that urgency there. And I know full well how difficult it is to maintain that state of urgency constantly because I’ve been in the truth over 50 years.

46. 22:28

    And I remember right back 30 years ago when we talked about Israel and Russia and so forth. And I’ve lectured upon these things for many, many years. And of course, I have anticipated the coming of the Lord before now. But do we lose our sense of urgency and expectancy? Are we taken away in this way? That’s the danger that faces us today, as the Lord Jesus Christ warned and as we have it warning in this epistle of Peter here. And this is the latter day problem, a latter day problem. This now also, says Paul, that in the last days perilous time shall come, men shall be lovers of their own selves, boast as power and and thankful and holy without natural affection. Truths break.

47. 23:13

    And he’s talking about the ecclesia, not about the world at large, brethren and sisters. Paul is there talking about the brethren the same as Peterhead. And here is the danger that we can see in this age in which we live. We can walk after our own lusts, as Peter says. We can be seeking our own pleasure and heeding of the divine purpose or will. This is an age, as I said before, a great opportunity and we might grasp that opportunity and avoid the the situation as far as the truth is concerned, in the in the second of Corinthians chapter 4, the apostle Paul says we look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen for the things that are seen at temple, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

48. 24:05

    We look not at the things that are seen, he said. We look at the unseen, we see the invisible things, and those invisible things are apparent to our eyes. They’re apparent to Paul’s eyes. They weren’t apparent to the Eccleses eyes at that time. He was in the city of Corinth. And the city of Corinth is a very, very interesting place.

49. 24:27

    I’ve had the great privilege of being in the city of Corinth. I’ve walked along the same Rd. as Paul walls. I’ve stood at the same place where Paul was brought before the authorities in Corinth. And I’ve looked about me and seen it, and I’ve looked up the Apricon, and I’ve seen where the temple of Aphrodite was one situation when Paul was there, mighty buildings in the ancient city of Corinth.

50. 24:50

    But I walk along ruins. There’s nothing there at all. No mighty buildings today. Just ruins. The delight of archaeologist. We look not at the things that are seen, Seth Paul, we look at the things that are unseen for the things that are seen at temple and there they are, they are temple. But the things that we see Seth Paul they are eternal and it’s all the invisible.

51. 25:15

    He saw the invisible by the power of faith and the power of faith can enable us to say see the invisible that we’re able to challenge the times in which we’re living. So here in the days of the Peter when he wrote this epistle, he warned them of the same thing that this day is coming upon them unawares and they need to occupy their time and thinking of this verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some men count slackness, but it’s long-suffering to us. Ward not willing to that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

52. 25:49

    The day of the Lord will come as a thief of the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also in the works that are therein shall be buried up, shall come as a thief of the night. The Lord Jesus Christ in the 16th chapter of the Revelation, in an exhortation that applies to us particularly because it can’t apply to any other age.

53. 26:14

    He says, behold, I come quickly. He said, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see he shines. Behold, I come as a thief. Didn’t you know it’s not the habit of thieves to ring you up and say, I’ll be there at 3:00 in the morning.

54. 26:31

    Behold, I come as a thief. He says, blessed is he that watcheth. And that word means, who’s awake? It doesn’t mean blessed is he that’s watching even the signs of the times you’ll be doing that, but it means he that is awake, he that is vigilant, blessed is he that is vigilant and awake to the circumstances of the of the times. Because of course he says lest coming suddenly speaking. And then on another in the 12th of Hebrew Luke, I find you sleeping.

55. 27:02

    And that is the danger that can come to every one of us. And so in this epistle to Peter, we have this principle set forth. I come as a thief in the night, and he says the heavens shall pass away with great noise. He’s not speaking, of course, of the literal heavens. He’s Speaking of the political heavens.

56. 27:19

    They’re going to be dissolved in the great noise, the noise of Armageddon, and the element shall melt with fervent heat. And in another place, in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 19, he describes the elements as the religious systems of things. So the heavens, the political heavens, are going to be dissolved in the elements, the political and religious principles that make up life as we see it today.

57. 27:45

    They too are to be destroyed. And the works, they’re in the manifestation of fleshly politics and in religion, they are all to be burned up. They ought to be completely destroyed in the days of Noah by water, in the days that are immediately coming by fire. And he says, seeing them, But these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought to be, and all holy living ungodliness, looking for and earnestly desiring, rather than, as you happen here hasting earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God.

58. 28:21

    That should be our anticipation. Will it be earnestly desiring? And if our great ambition in life is our business, we will be earnestly desiring it if we were looking for the coming of Jesus Christ, because our businesses will go, then there’s no future to them. They have a relative importance and we must recognize them as that and our first priority to the things that Peter would direct our attention to.

59. 28:47

    And he says, therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent. It’s not easy. We may imagine it is we need to be diligent. We need to work on this problem, the work on the problem of our salvation. This is vital, says Peter, that you may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. And here is an important statement in verse 15. He says, I count that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.

60. 29:17

    I count that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. What does Peter mean? The long-suffering of our Lord is the time that God waits before Jesus Christ, his sin, his long-suffering. That is that period of time. In the first of Peter chapter 3, he says in verse 20, the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.

61. 29:46

    God’s long-suffering waited until the crisis developed and then God moved. But there was an epoch of time in the days of Noah, and that epoch of time is valuable because it was in that time when God waited that Noah developed and his family developed. If God had moved before, then the family of Noah would not have been saved.

62. 30:07

    So you see, the long-suffering of God waited and that word waited. It’s a beautiful word. It means to stand with arm outstretched to help someone. That’s as though God was there in the days of Noah with his arm outstressed for whoever might like to take hold of that arm. But it means that he waited in vain.

63. 30:25

    Unfortunately, you imagine you see someone in desperate trouble. You know that this desperate trouble is going to overwhelm them. They may be seeking in quick Sam. They don’t appreciate their own danger. You are on the firm foundation. You extend your hand to try to help them. They ignore you completely. That’s what the world did, the religious ecclesial world in the days of Noah. The long-suffering of God waited. He wanted their salvation the same as he does our own now. Peter takes that up as far as we as concerned and he says that account that the long-suffering of God is salvation. This time that remains is our day of opportunity to make our falling and election.

64. 31:08

    Sure. It’s a day of opportunity and we need to recognise it as that. When we leave this Bible school, we need to go back to our homes and to our cliches determine that as far as we’re concerned and in face of the growing crisis and the signs of the times we’re going to be diligent to make our falling and election sure.

65. 31:30

    We’re going to see this has a great opportunity that might that in which we might make our salvation sure in that day. So he speaks of these things, does Peter, in a context with those of the days of Noah. The heavens are going to be. Destroyed. Look at the state of the world about us. See how the political heavens are already almost on fire? What about when Russia moves down into the Middle East? Look at the situation in Iran and Iraq at the present moment. Understand that behind the attack of Iran there is Russia. What could happen at any moment of time? And yet Christ, I believe from the power of the Word of God, returns before Armageddon, not afterwards. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will be in this earth before Russia moves down South.

66. 32:21

    Then how close is the coming of Jesus Christ? We are living in a time of widespread destruction. Daniel tells us in the 12th chapter and verse one that it will be a time of trouble such as never lies. You have the words of Isaiah chapter 26, verses 20 to 21, in which he speaks so graphically of the accumulating trouble.

67. 32:46

    And Isaiah says this, Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself, as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed. For behold, Yahweh cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slang. Jeremiah takes the same theme up in the 25th chapter of his prophecy.

68. 33:13

    He shows the extent of the trouble that’s going to involve this world at that time. For he says in verse 23, The slaying of Yahweh shall be on that day from one end of the earth unto the other. They shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried. They shall be done upon the ground. This will be the extent of trouble in the days that Jesus Christ shall be manifested, and already I believe we’re living in the time of the fulfillment of verse 32. Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coast of the earth. And the very extremities of the world are being involved in the trouble today that will culminate in this time of trouble such as never was, in which the slain of the Yahweh shall be in that day from one end of the earth until the earth.

69. 34:02

    Malachi likewise in the 4th chapter. So the day is coming that’s going to burn as an oven, and all the proud and all the lusty, they shall be the stubble, and they shall be destroyed. And of course the Lord Jesus Christ and that very familiar chapter to us in the 21st chapter of Luke, when he is dealing with these times, he says in verse 26 concerning the evil that shall afflict the world, Men’s hearts will fail them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

70. 34:40

    We’re immune from a lot. Of what’s going on in the world today. But let us be in Lebanon, let us be in Iran, and we would soon understand what is meant by men’s hearts failing them for fear. I’ve been in those countries and I’ve seen it. I have first sight information concerning it.

71. 34:56

    I’ve been in the very midst of trouble. I’ve been within the terrorist camps bound South of side of I’ve spoken with the leaders of those camps concerning conditions there and what they’re anticipating. I’ve been in the situation in the world where I’ve seen men rolling in blood and no one dare touch them.

72. 35:13

    I’ve watched the planes as I’ve swooped down destroying villages. I’ve stood in no man’s land when I’ve seen armies on both sides. And I’ve been in inspecting and taking to places that I might be in, might inspect them. And men’s hearts have failed them for fear in a way that we don’t understand in Australia and I don’t suppose you would understand here either. But men’s hearts have failed them for fear because of the things that they fearing will come upon them at that time. This is going to be worldwide.

73. 35:42

    And thanks be to God that we have been given the knowledge that can enable us to escape these things that that is going to involve. So we need to make. Our Calling and election, Sure. We need to give our first priority to the things of God. They ate, they drank, they did this, they did that. Legitimate things, the things of business, the things of possessions, the things of wealth, the things of reputation, the things of family, the familiar things of life gradually absorbed the whole of their attention, until gradually the things of God were given 2nd place. And that was the great trouble.

74. 36:23

    We have a exhortation powerful to that end in the 29th chapter of Proverbs and Proverbs 29 and a verse 18 and a verse 18 says this. Where there is no. Vision. That people. Perish or are made naked that happy is he that keepeth the law. Where there is no vision, the people are made naked. They are susceptible or they perish. Whatever way you like to do it, it’s a case of vision, isn’t it? Where there is no.

75. 37:09

    Vision. The people are made naked. Jesus Christ. Spake to the lay of the sins that they were naked. And in the 16th chapter of the Revelation he used the same term again. The whole I come as a thief. Blessed does he that watcheth the keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked. And the word is used twice in the Revelation, once for the ecclesia of Laodicea, who said, We are increased with goods, we are rich, we’re in need of nothing.

76. 37:39

    And you not you not that they were poor and miserable and blown and naked. Their sin was not in what they possessed. Their sin was not in that, that they had these things. Their sin was in that one phrase. They knew not, they knew not their own state. They imagined that they were well. They would did not realise their sickness. They had no vision.

77. 38:03

    And that’s what we have here where there is no vision. The people have made naked, they made like layer the sins and they in that state in which Christ warns against in that 16th chapter of the revelation. So we must create a vision, a vision of the future that will enable us to see so clearly those things that are set so vividly before us.

78. 38:25

    So Peter says that in that that chapter that we looked at briefly this morning. He goes on to speak of that and what we should do under the circumstances in which we find ourselves, because He says this, and His words are worth pondering. Wherefore, beloved, verse 14. Seeing that she looks at such things, be diligent, that she may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless, and account of the long-suffering of our Lord of salvation, even as our beloved Pete. Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto him.

79. 38:57

    And then he goes on to speak concerning this, that we should in that manner build upon the things of God. He, by the study of these epistles of the pool that he has set forth there, that we should build upon these things of God that will enable us to see completely that which is before us, that the vision might be clear and sound before us.

80. 39:24

    Now that is the challenge that faces us in these days in which we see about us the growing affluence of an age that is indifferent to the requirements of God. A growth in the things of God are vitally important, vitally important. They are important because of course, without that growth we’re not going to manifest that which the Lord Jesus Christ would see in so he says in verse 17 and 18 of that chapter. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, but where lest me also being LED away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to grow in grace.

81. 40:15

    It doesn’t mean that we are to grow into grace. But it means that we’re going to grow upon the foundation of grace, having grace and knowledge. Let us grow, let us develop in the things of God. And that of course, is the purpose. Well, our purpose in being, of course, at the Bible school, our purpose in studying the things of God, and our purpose too in considering the events that lead towards the damage.

82. 40:43

    Now we turn to another passage of Scripture, which is vitally important and related to our subject, and that is the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Here we have a challenging statement because the apostle says that now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and it lists a number of people here who were motivated by faith. He tells us in the sixth verse that faith is extremely important.

83. 41:10

    Without faith it is impossible to please God, that he that cometh to God must believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of them, the diligently seek Him. You notice that the mermaid used twice that the will of the word is. But in the Greek there are two different words and the statement should read that he that cometh to God must believe that God exists and that he becomes that he becomes a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So God exists as the first thing God is a reality and must be a reality in our lives.

84. 41:46

    Yahweh liveth. We read frequently in the Old Testament scriptures. But you see if God lives, we must recognize him as such. The statement made to Moses for in the in the book of Numbers is very, very significant in that regard because there this statement was made to Moses as the children of Israel were wandering down towards the Red Sea, towards the towards the land of promise.

85. 42:16

    And God said this to them in verse 21. As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh. As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh. He said that generation would perish, but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh.

86. 42:38

    Now you notice in that particular verse that the word has occurs twice. It’s in italics. When a word is in italics in the Authorized Version, it means that there is no comparable word in the Hebrew. So eliminate them. Eliminate them in that verse. And what do you read? Truly, I live and.

87. 42:58

    That’s what Israel did. Not understand they now the name of God, they attended the services of God. They will attend upon the sacrifices, but God was not a living reality in their life. And the statement made to Moses was truly on live and all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh. And it’s the living God that we must recognize not in a matter of doctrine, but in their own lives that God lives. We’re in the presence of God.

88. 43:23

    Now faith, you see, demands that here that cometh to God must believe that God exists, God lives and will become a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And notice here that faith is a substance. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Can you weigh out a pound of your faith?

89. 43:45

    Can you measure your faith by a rule? Can you put faith in the scales and see what it weighs? You care with something that’s unsubstantial. This here is substantial. That’s substance there, but that’s not substance. But faith must become substantial. Because faith. Is the substance of things hoped for, and what Paul means by that? Is this that the things that faith revealed to our mind, the Kingdom of God in all its glory, the return of Jesus Christ to this earth, the setting up of the judgment seat, all these things must become substantial realities to our mind. They’re not something that we anticipating without any sort of reality.

90. 44:31

    It’s not something we discuss, not something we read in a statement of faith. They become the living realities of life and we are motivated by them. We can see them clearly. We study the things of the coming of Jesus Christ and we see it all clearly before us. If you were to come to Israel with me, you would be fully excited because you would know where you were going.

91. 44:51

    You would be anticipating what you would see. You’ll be reading up travel brochures and so forth, and you would make a reality in your mind of there when you were going to go. It may not be according to what you see, but you would at least be motivated by the reality of that and you would have a sense of expectancy and excitement as the time come with you. But leave on that to it.

92. 45:11

    So the Kingdom of God must become a reality to us in that way. That’s what faith is. It makes it substantial. And so that we read, for example, the words of Isaiah the prophet, the prophecy of Isaiah which he did see. He saw it. He saw Jerusalem a glory. He saw it elevated in all the earth. That’s fine.

93. 45:35

    It becomes a substance, and the substance of faith enabled men like Abel and Enoch and Noah to challenge the growing crescendo of trouble in their day. And come forth a. Shining God. And that’s what. Our studies are designed to do May God grant the increase.