1 00:00:01,100 --> 00:00:06,440 Just the briefest possible word, by way of 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:16,780 retrospect to the gatherings 3 00:00:16,780 --> 00:00:22,300 and hours which now lie behind us, and 4 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:26,660 the specific matter which the Lord has laid 5 00:00:26,660 --> 00:00:29,560 upon us for this time as we believe, 6 00:00:34,140 --> 00:00:43,020 we have been seeing that in all the 7 00:00:43,020 --> 00:00:49,960 great and many-sided significance of the Lord 8 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:58,060 Jesus Christ, not least by any means is 9 00:00:58,060 --> 00:01:06,900 that aspect of his standing vitally related to 10 00:01:06,900 --> 00:01:11,700 an eternal heavenly order. 11 00:01:13,780 --> 00:01:23,180 That he is the center and the embodiment, 12 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:33,320 the full content of an eternal divine order. 13 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:44,370 He was that in creation, he is that 14 00:01:44,370 --> 00:01:45,930 in redemption. 15 00:01:47,230 --> 00:01:51,230 He is shown to be that in the 16 00:01:51,230 --> 00:01:52,050 ages to come. 17 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,780 Great, wonderful order. 18 00:02:04,390 --> 00:02:11,250 And by that we mean orderliness, not just 19 00:02:11,250 --> 00:02:11,870 the system. 20 00:02:15,810 --> 00:02:23,140 Marvellous ordered system, where we spend much time 21 00:02:23,140 --> 00:02:29,570 on that, showing how he being the expression 22 00:02:29,570 --> 00:02:36,000 of God in that respect reveals God as 23 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:36,920 a God of order. 24 00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:47,000 Then we went further to spend not a 25 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:55,820 little time seeing that the whole universe as 26 00:02:55,820 --> 00:03:00,280 we know it now, which is so far, 27 00:03:00,500 --> 00:03:07,940 far removed from the idea of order, is 28 00:03:07,940 --> 00:03:12,540 the result of an interference with that order, 29 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:21,160 a breaking in on it to disrupt the 30 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:28,100 order of God, firstly by displacing God's Son 31 00:03:28,100 --> 00:03:34,690 from his position in relation to the creation. 32 00:03:34,690 --> 00:03:41,980 So we have as the result of that 33 00:03:41,980 --> 00:03:50,180 interference, the disruption, dislocation, confusion 34 00:03:50,180 --> 00:03:56,020 and chaos in this universe. 35 00:03:57,920 --> 00:03:58,940 It's all evil. 36 00:04:01,340 --> 00:04:05,980 And as we said last night, it is 37 00:04:05,980 --> 00:04:11,040 something which on the one hand all men 38 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,860 are aware of and confronted with. 39 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,260 On the other hand, all their efforts from 40 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:25,320 age to age to rectify it, by their 41 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:33,540 councils and confederations, institutions and every means in 42 00:04:33,540 --> 00:04:38,700 every realm, all their efforts break down, are 43 00:04:38,700 --> 00:04:41,260 proved hopeless. 44 00:04:42,420 --> 00:04:44,880 There never was a time in the history 45 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,560 of this world when men were more conscious 46 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:53,880 of this conflict in the whole system of 47 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:58,650 things, this disruption and disunity. 48 00:04:58,650 --> 00:05:04,150 Perhaps there never was a time when men 49 00:05:04,150 --> 00:05:12,710 were striving with greater effort and utilizing more 50 00:05:12,710 --> 00:05:16,880 resources to try and overcome this. 51 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:21,300 And it defeats them and defies them at 52 00:05:21,300 --> 00:05:23,680 every turn and in every effort. 53 00:05:25,100 --> 00:05:27,800 Confusion only grows. 54 00:05:29,220 --> 00:05:33,520 Today, men are almost brought to a standstill 55 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:38,720 in their efforts to bring about something like 56 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:44,480 a composure of the world and an order 57 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:49,840 which will bring rest to this troubled earth. 58 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:54,920 No, it cannot be. 59 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,120 Because there is a ruler of this world. 60 00:06:00,540 --> 00:06:07,660 Because there is a whole evil system which 61 00:06:07,660 --> 00:06:11,520 is determined that God's order shall not be 62 00:06:12,220 --> 00:06:17,220 and whose success in defeating God is ever 63 00:06:17,220 --> 00:06:20,980 and always along the lines of confusion and 64 00:06:20,980 --> 00:06:22,020 disruption. 65 00:06:24,910 --> 00:06:29,970 It is not only that they objectively walk 66 00:06:29,970 --> 00:06:34,590 as from the outside it has come into 67 00:06:34,590 --> 00:06:38,270 the very nature and constitution of men and 68 00:06:38,270 --> 00:06:38,730 things. 69 00:06:38,730 --> 00:06:40,370 It's in us. 70 00:06:42,370 --> 00:06:44,330 It's in us and it's in all. 71 00:06:45,810 --> 00:06:47,710 Well, we have spent a lot of time 72 00:06:47,710 --> 00:06:49,510 on that. 73 00:06:53,590 --> 00:06:59,570 Now today we are coming to put our 74 00:06:59,570 --> 00:07:07,310 finger upon some of the major causes of 75 00:07:07,310 --> 00:07:13,370 this situation with a view to finding out, 76 00:07:13,910 --> 00:07:19,850 seeing what is the remedy or what are 77 00:07:19,850 --> 00:07:21,690 the remedies in particular. 78 00:07:23,010 --> 00:07:26,190 We have seen that the remedy in general 79 00:07:26,190 --> 00:07:27,770 is the cross of the Lord Jesus. 80 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:31,800 There is the focal point. 81 00:07:32,660 --> 00:07:36,920 There is the uniting center, Christ crucified. 82 00:07:38,870 --> 00:07:42,330 But that encloses quite a lot of things. 83 00:07:43,950 --> 00:07:48,370 It is on just very few of those 84 00:07:48,370 --> 00:07:51,190 that we are going to spend our time. 85 00:07:52,590 --> 00:07:55,910 But it is very necessary again at the 86 00:07:55,910 --> 00:08:01,030 outset that we should have present to mind, 87 00:08:01,890 --> 00:08:05,810 have it brought clearly before us as the 88 00:08:05,810 --> 00:08:15,430 background that disorder exists and disorder always 89 00:08:15,430 --> 00:08:24,130 means weakness and loss and frustration wherever it 90 00:08:24,130 --> 00:08:24,710 is found. 91 00:08:25,590 --> 00:08:29,890 Not only in the cosmic realm but in 92 00:08:29,890 --> 00:08:34,130 the individual life and in the church of 93 00:08:34,130 --> 00:08:38,030 God and in the local expressions of the 94 00:08:38,030 --> 00:08:45,890 church of God and in homes in every 95 00:08:45,890 --> 00:08:48,170 realm where there is disorder. 96 00:08:49,010 --> 00:08:50,290 It spells loss. 97 00:08:51,230 --> 00:08:52,490 It spells weakness. 98 00:08:53,350 --> 00:08:55,330 It spells frustration. 99 00:08:56,830 --> 00:09:00,210 It means arrested progress. 100 00:09:01,310 --> 00:09:05,170 You just cannot go straight on where there 101 00:09:05,170 --> 00:09:05,570 is chaos. 102 00:09:06,370 --> 00:09:09,190 You just cannot do anything where there is 103 00:09:09,190 --> 00:09:09,730 confusion. 104 00:09:10,870 --> 00:09:14,600 You are brought to a standstill and the 105 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:19,760 whole prospect is covered with hopelessness until you 106 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:21,520 have got things straightened out. 107 00:09:22,500 --> 00:09:26,440 That is where God began with the chaos 108 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:27,260 at the beginning. 109 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,480 In order to move toward his ultimate purpose 110 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,480 in his Son he had to deal with 111 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,320 the chaos and out of it bring order. 112 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:40,480 That is not only a fact. 113 00:09:41,420 --> 00:09:45,360 In history there is a great truth, spiritual 114 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,760 truth for the church. 115 00:09:50,300 --> 00:09:55,380 Paul tells us that because of that disturbance 116 00:09:55,380 --> 00:09:58,620 and upsetting of the divine order at the 117 00:09:58,620 --> 00:10:03,940 beginning God pronounced something upon this whole creation. 118 00:10:05,450 --> 00:10:09,710 He pronounced what Paul calls vanity. 119 00:10:12,100 --> 00:10:12,540 Vanity. 120 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:18,400 The creation itself was subjected to vanity. 121 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:25,590 Vanity is written large over the whole creation. 122 00:10:27,350 --> 00:10:31,110 Vanity is not our modern idea. 123 00:10:32,590 --> 00:10:37,690 Vanity in the Bible means that all efforts, 124 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:47,820 all inventions, all that is called progress will 125 00:10:47,820 --> 00:10:57,940 not cure or remove some fatal lack, deficiency. 126 00:10:58,980 --> 00:11:00,840 In the constitution of things. 127 00:11:04,780 --> 00:11:10,860 You are so familiar with one simple historical 128 00:11:10,860 --> 00:11:12,420 illustration of that. 129 00:11:14,260 --> 00:11:20,140 You remember that a curse was pronounced upon 130 00:11:20,140 --> 00:11:28,540 Jericho and the curse worked in this way. 131 00:11:31,250 --> 00:11:34,830 That nothing came through to perfection. 132 00:11:35,870 --> 00:11:39,290 It just went so far and then stopped 133 00:11:39,290 --> 00:11:41,170 and dropped into death. 134 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,580 Many years afterward in the days of the 135 00:11:46,580 --> 00:11:50,860 prophet, sons of the prophet came to him 136 00:11:50,860 --> 00:11:52,820 from Jericho. 137 00:11:54,320 --> 00:12:01,250 And they said there are many good things 138 00:12:01,250 --> 00:12:01,650 here. 139 00:12:03,830 --> 00:12:05,870 Many things that are pleasant. 140 00:12:07,530 --> 00:12:11,330 But there is one thing that is wrong 141 00:12:11,330 --> 00:12:13,610 and that spoils everything. 142 00:12:13,610 --> 00:12:20,990 The waters, the waters are deficient in some 143 00:12:20,990 --> 00:12:28,730 quality so that we do our digging, our 144 00:12:28,730 --> 00:12:31,550 planting, our cultivating. 145 00:12:32,270 --> 00:12:36,430 We give our energy and our time to 146 00:12:36,430 --> 00:12:38,810 seeking to produce fruit. 147 00:12:38,810 --> 00:12:44,530 And things begin to grow and there seems 148 00:12:44,530 --> 00:12:47,670 to be a prospect and a promise. 149 00:12:48,530 --> 00:12:55,590 And just when it looks as though we 150 00:12:55,590 --> 00:12:59,970 can expect the fruit, it all falls off 151 00:12:59,970 --> 00:13:00,470 the trees. 152 00:13:01,990 --> 00:13:03,190 Never ripens. 153 00:13:03,630 --> 00:13:04,810 It all falls to the ground. 154 00:13:05,830 --> 00:13:08,670 There is a fatal deficiency in the waters 155 00:13:08,670 --> 00:13:09,410 of Jericho. 156 00:13:11,350 --> 00:13:13,190 Remember how the prophet dealt with it. 157 00:13:14,230 --> 00:13:16,350 Bring me a new cruise and put meal 158 00:13:16,350 --> 00:13:16,950 therein. 159 00:13:17,930 --> 00:13:18,950 Salt therein. 160 00:13:19,890 --> 00:13:23,450 Salt is the great element, isn't it? 161 00:13:24,430 --> 00:13:26,030 Put salt therein. 162 00:13:26,530 --> 00:13:28,370 He cast it into the waters and the 163 00:13:28,370 --> 00:13:29,410 waters were healed. 164 00:13:30,170 --> 00:13:32,450 Now there you have a very simple parable 165 00:13:32,450 --> 00:13:35,570 of this great truth from the day when 166 00:13:35,570 --> 00:13:39,010 God subjected the whole creation to vanity that 167 00:13:39,010 --> 00:13:40,070 it just goes so far. 168 00:13:40,070 --> 00:13:43,710 And how true that is, isn't it? 169 00:13:44,290 --> 00:13:49,490 For every step forward, and they seem to 170 00:13:49,490 --> 00:13:53,030 be very big steps forward, very big steps 171 00:13:53,030 --> 00:13:57,930 forward, every step forward in history has only 172 00:13:57,930 --> 00:14:00,370 produced new problems of its own. 173 00:14:02,390 --> 00:14:05,130 And very often fatal. 174 00:14:11,750 --> 00:14:16,030 You have a disease or a malady and 175 00:14:16,030 --> 00:14:21,870 someone through research finds what is expected to 176 00:14:21,870 --> 00:14:23,130 be a remedy. 177 00:14:24,710 --> 00:14:28,230 Well it does seem to touch that particular 178 00:14:28,230 --> 00:14:30,530 trouble but it raises a lot of others. 179 00:14:35,060 --> 00:14:38,460 Penicillin is not the remedy for everything. 180 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:39,960 It creates its own problems. 181 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:40,880 You know what I mean. 182 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:43,920 It doesn't clear up everything. 183 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:46,920 Something else has got to be faced now 184 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,820 by the very employment of it. 185 00:14:50,820 --> 00:14:53,180 And what is true in that is true 186 00:14:53,180 --> 00:14:54,260 in everything. 187 00:14:57,150 --> 00:14:58,730 And we can see it probably in this 188 00:14:58,730 --> 00:15:01,250 atomic age more than ever. 189 00:15:02,230 --> 00:15:09,230 Progress, advance, invention, development, discovery, yes, but what 190 00:15:09,230 --> 00:15:09,730 problems. 191 00:15:10,530 --> 00:15:13,810 What threats, what perils. 192 00:15:14,990 --> 00:15:17,870 And men are holding their breath at their 193 00:15:17,870 --> 00:15:19,490 own discoveries and inventions. 194 00:15:21,030 --> 00:15:23,530 Their hearts are in the grip of a 195 00:15:23,530 --> 00:15:28,510 terrible fear because of what they themselves have 196 00:15:28,510 --> 00:15:29,350 brought to light. 197 00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:32,560 It's like that. 198 00:15:33,340 --> 00:15:37,100 Creation, the whole creation, however far it goes, 199 00:15:37,180 --> 00:15:40,000 is caught in a terrible vicious circle. 200 00:15:43,030 --> 00:15:46,010 Now this is a fact which of course 201 00:15:46,010 --> 00:15:51,790 is clear, demonstrated on every side. 202 00:15:51,790 --> 00:15:58,350 Man is building a mighty tower to reach 203 00:15:58,350 --> 00:16:02,630 unto a heaven but he's holding his breath 204 00:16:02,630 --> 00:16:07,590 for his tower because the bigger the tower 205 00:16:07,590 --> 00:16:11,550 the greater the threat of disaster. 206 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:22,080 He is feverishly harassed into buttressing up his 207 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:29,540 tower with conferences and defense programs and what 208 00:16:29,540 --> 00:16:29,860 not. 209 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:32,320 It's like that. 210 00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:36,500 No, we are not moving farther away from 211 00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:38,040 fear and dread. 212 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,980 The whole creation is subjected to vanity. 213 00:16:45,260 --> 00:16:46,340 Well, that's the situation. 214 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,010 But what's the cause? 215 00:16:52,850 --> 00:16:55,270 We are not thinking that in a little 216 00:16:55,270 --> 00:16:58,650 time and company like this we are going 217 00:16:58,650 --> 00:17:00,670 to solve the world's problems. 218 00:17:00,670 --> 00:17:04,569 But these things come very near all the 219 00:17:04,569 --> 00:17:04,970 time. 220 00:17:05,150 --> 00:17:10,150 They are pressing into our lives and they 221 00:17:10,150 --> 00:17:12,470 are pressing into the church of God. 222 00:17:14,540 --> 00:17:17,900 We are confronted continually in the realm of 223 00:17:17,900 --> 00:17:23,020 the Christian life in its various aspects, individual 224 00:17:23,020 --> 00:17:24,260 and collective. 225 00:17:24,260 --> 00:17:27,820 We are confronted with this matter of disorder 226 00:17:27,820 --> 00:17:34,980 as the way, the means of frustrating God's 227 00:17:34,980 --> 00:17:35,300 purpose. 228 00:17:37,530 --> 00:17:40,410 Will you dear friends take this, listen to 229 00:17:40,410 --> 00:17:45,640 this, that God can only reach his full 230 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:50,920 end on his own order, by his own 231 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:51,160 order. 232 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:52,160 He has an order. 233 00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:55,280 He has an order for your life, for 234 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:55,520 mine. 235 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:57,900 He has an order for our local companies 236 00:17:57,900 --> 00:18:01,860 as expressions of the whole company of the 237 00:18:01,860 --> 00:18:02,260 church. 238 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,980 He has an order for the church and 239 00:18:05,980 --> 00:18:09,340 that order has to come into our localities 240 00:18:09,340 --> 00:18:12,080 and into our local expressions of the church. 241 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,840 And the word order or what it stands 242 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,080 for in the mind of God governs our 243 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:24,580 progress, governs our fruitfulness, governs the realization of 244 00:18:24,580 --> 00:18:25,560 the divine purpose. 245 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,160 God is not going to get there willingly. 246 00:18:29,860 --> 00:18:31,280 Neither are we. 247 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,540 That's a very important thing and if this 248 00:18:34,540 --> 00:18:38,880 conference serves one purpose alone, it should serve 249 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:41,640 that, bringing us face to face with that. 250 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,460 If there is frustration, if there is unrest, 251 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:49,380 if there is sinking of heart, if there 252 00:18:49,380 --> 00:18:52,940 is a sense of despair or if we 253 00:18:52,940 --> 00:19:00,580 find ourselves in weakness, helplessness, we should ask, 254 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:05,240 we should seek, is this because in some 255 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,860 particular or particulars the divine order is violated. 256 00:19:10,860 --> 00:19:15,200 Maybe sin in other ways, I know, which 257 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:17,840 has the same effect, but this is one 258 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,800 thing that has always been a most fruitful 259 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,760 work of the devil, to disrupt the people 260 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:25,260 of God. 261 00:19:25,260 --> 00:19:30,220 Their relationships, their fellowship and their harmonious going 262 00:19:30,220 --> 00:19:34,140 on together to bring in the discordant note 263 00:19:34,140 --> 00:19:37,300 again and spoil the music. 264 00:19:41,580 --> 00:19:43,780 We must look then to this matter of 265 00:19:43,780 --> 00:19:44,140 order. 266 00:19:44,140 --> 00:19:50,080 Now what we who are concerned with God's 267 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:56,220 purpose have to be sure of is what 268 00:19:56,220 --> 00:19:59,620 on the one hand are the grounds of 269 00:19:59,620 --> 00:20:05,260 insecurity and on the other hand what are 270 00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:13,440 the essentials to strength, to progress and to 271 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:14,120 final triumph. 272 00:20:14,140 --> 00:20:20,080 In other words, what was responsible for the 273 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:26,140 disruption which is in the universe with such 274 00:20:26,140 --> 00:20:30,620 a sinister, frustrating power everywhere. 275 00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:35,830 There are several major things. 276 00:20:36,390 --> 00:20:38,450 We put our finger upon one this morning. 277 00:20:39,330 --> 00:20:42,250 We'll just read one or two passages of 278 00:20:42,250 --> 00:20:42,590 scripture. 279 00:20:43,510 --> 00:20:52,010 Firstly as inclusive, in principle, from the book 280 00:20:52,010 --> 00:21:01,180 of Proverbs, chapter 9, verse 1. 281 00:21:02,180 --> 00:21:10,260 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn 282 00:21:10,260 --> 00:21:14,900 out her seven pillars. 283 00:21:17,700 --> 00:21:24,630 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn 284 00:21:24,630 --> 00:21:28,470 out her seven pillars. 285 00:21:28,470 --> 00:21:33,530 Now pause for a minute before we read 286 00:21:33,530 --> 00:21:34,570 more. 287 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,160 You know two things about that. 288 00:21:41,660 --> 00:21:47,800 That pillars are the supports of any building. 289 00:21:49,110 --> 00:21:55,490 The safety and the duration of the building 290 00:21:55,490 --> 00:21:59,950 rests with its pillars. 291 00:22:03,330 --> 00:22:06,090 You will recall to mind the end of 292 00:22:06,090 --> 00:22:12,870 the life of the Judge Samson when the 293 00:22:12,870 --> 00:22:18,790 Philistines gathered and crowded that mighty hall, filled 294 00:22:18,790 --> 00:22:23,010 it to capacity and climbed upon its roof. 295 00:22:24,130 --> 00:22:29,410 And for their holiday they wanted some entertainment. 296 00:22:31,130 --> 00:22:35,850 So they called for the blind Samson to 297 00:22:35,850 --> 00:22:40,530 be brought that they might make sport of 298 00:22:40,530 --> 00:22:40,790 him. 299 00:22:42,170 --> 00:22:43,210 And they brought him. 300 00:22:45,910 --> 00:22:50,930 And there he stood in his blindness, everybody 301 00:22:50,930 --> 00:22:53,770 making their sport of him. 302 00:22:55,190 --> 00:22:58,570 He said to the lad who brought him 303 00:22:58,570 --> 00:23:03,430 in, just lead me to the pillows upon 304 00:23:03,430 --> 00:23:05,350 which the house rests. 305 00:23:07,750 --> 00:23:09,810 And he prayed to the Lord, just this 306 00:23:09,810 --> 00:23:13,910 once Lord, just this once, vindicate. 307 00:23:16,540 --> 00:23:18,840 And he took hold on the two pillars 308 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:22,600 and bowed himself with all his might. 309 00:23:23,540 --> 00:23:24,340 And the house fell. 310 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,620 And greater were the number of the slain 311 00:23:28,620 --> 00:23:30,320 in the day of his death than all 312 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:30,820 his life. 313 00:23:33,650 --> 00:23:40,230 Matter of the tremendous importance of pillars in 314 00:23:40,230 --> 00:23:40,710 a building. 315 00:23:40,930 --> 00:23:42,510 That's just by the way. 316 00:23:42,510 --> 00:23:45,830 The other thing, if you know so well, 317 00:23:45,950 --> 00:23:49,150 is that wisdom is always connected with building 318 00:23:49,150 --> 00:23:49,730 in the Bible. 319 00:23:52,450 --> 00:23:58,250 Solomon was the man of proverbial wisdom. 320 00:23:59,330 --> 00:24:04,690 He who built the great temple, it was 321 00:24:04,690 --> 00:24:08,530 by that God given wisdom that he built 322 00:24:08,530 --> 00:24:12,670 something that was the wonder and marvel of 323 00:24:12,670 --> 00:24:13,910 all who saw it. 324 00:24:14,330 --> 00:24:18,350 The apostle Paul speaks of himself as a 325 00:24:18,350 --> 00:24:20,330 wise master builder. 326 00:24:20,950 --> 00:24:25,330 According to the wisdom given, he laid a 327 00:24:25,330 --> 00:24:25,830 foundation. 328 00:24:26,790 --> 00:24:27,990 A wise master builder. 329 00:24:28,130 --> 00:24:29,070 And so we could go on. 330 00:24:29,450 --> 00:24:32,290 Wisdom associated with building. 331 00:24:32,710 --> 00:24:35,190 Wisdom hath builded her house. 332 00:24:36,230 --> 00:24:40,030 She hath hewn out her seven pillars. 333 00:24:42,370 --> 00:24:48,610 This divine house which Paul speaks, the church 334 00:24:48,610 --> 00:24:52,030 of God, the pillar and ground of the 335 00:24:52,030 --> 00:24:58,770 truth, has a seven-fold support. 336 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:07,100 This house of God, this marvelous house of 337 00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:13,320 God, his church rests upon seven pillars. 338 00:25:14,830 --> 00:25:20,070 Take them away, and the house falls. 339 00:25:23,930 --> 00:25:26,970 The creation was built upon these pillars. 340 00:25:28,290 --> 00:25:32,310 When they were interfered with, the creation collapsed 341 00:25:32,310 --> 00:25:33,410 and disintegrated. 342 00:25:35,430 --> 00:25:38,190 Seven, of course, is a symbolic number. 343 00:25:39,490 --> 00:25:42,250 That which is spiritually complete. 344 00:25:43,990 --> 00:25:45,610 We leave those details. 345 00:25:47,390 --> 00:25:49,730 I'm not thinking that we'll be able to 346 00:25:49,730 --> 00:25:51,130 speak of the seven pillars. 347 00:25:51,890 --> 00:25:54,930 But we can, I think, speak of two 348 00:25:54,930 --> 00:25:56,150 or three of them today. 349 00:25:57,430 --> 00:26:03,010 And undoubtedly, the first of these pillars is 350 00:26:03,010 --> 00:26:04,210 the pillar of truth. 351 00:26:06,610 --> 00:26:07,650 Pillar of truth. 352 00:26:08,190 --> 00:26:09,710 Now we can go over and read one 353 00:26:09,710 --> 00:26:11,490 or two other passages. 354 00:26:12,310 --> 00:26:14,330 Take the gospel by John. 355 00:26:15,690 --> 00:26:22,050 The gospel by John, chapter 8, verse 44. 356 00:26:22,050 --> 00:26:29,510 For ye are of your father the devil, 357 00:26:31,050 --> 00:26:34,270 and the lusts of your father it is 358 00:26:34,270 --> 00:26:35,790 your will to do. 359 00:26:37,250 --> 00:26:42,030 He was a murderer from the beginning, and 360 00:26:42,030 --> 00:26:48,970 stood not in the truth, because there is 361 00:26:48,970 --> 00:26:51,350 no truth in him. 362 00:26:52,660 --> 00:27:01,380 When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of 363 00:27:01,380 --> 00:27:06,960 his own, for he is a liar, and 364 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,120 the father thereof. 365 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:21,080 In John's first letter, chapter 2, verse 366 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:21,520 4. 367 00:27:23,060 --> 00:27:26,800 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth 368 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:31,020 not his commandments, is a liar, and the 369 00:27:31,020 --> 00:27:34,380 truth is not in him. 370 00:27:35,380 --> 00:27:47,600 The book of the Revelation, chapter 21, verse 371 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:48,180 27. 372 00:27:48,940 --> 00:27:52,420 There shall in no wise enter into it 373 00:27:52,420 --> 00:27:58,280 anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination, 374 00:27:59,460 --> 00:28:01,840 and a lie. 375 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:07,170 John, chapter 22, verse 15. 376 00:28:08,290 --> 00:28:11,230 Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and 377 00:28:11,230 --> 00:28:14,390 the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, 378 00:28:15,010 --> 00:28:20,370 and every one that loveth and maketh a 379 00:28:20,370 --> 00:28:20,730 lie. 380 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:36,300 Sooner or later, dear friends, everything will stand 381 00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:45,560 or fall according to whether it rests upon 382 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:46,080 truth. 383 00:28:48,350 --> 00:28:52,470 Perhaps there was never a truer thing said, 384 00:28:53,790 --> 00:28:57,630 a thing more true in its history. 385 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:07,490 Anything and everything false has its own doom 386 00:29:07,490 --> 00:29:08,930 within its own self. 387 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:16,220 God has given a very large place to 388 00:29:16,220 --> 00:29:16,720 this matter. 389 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,120 He himself is the God of truth. 390 00:29:24,300 --> 00:29:28,140 Declaration is, in him is no lie. 391 00:29:31,730 --> 00:29:33,150 In him is no lie. 392 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:40,080 Word of God is a mighty revelation of 393 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:47,020 the fact that God is intensely jealous over 394 00:29:47,020 --> 00:29:54,510 truth, burningly jealous for truth. 395 00:29:55,510 --> 00:30:01,730 Psalmist cries, thou desirest truth in the inward. 396 00:30:05,020 --> 00:30:09,440 He holds a lie in abomination. 397 00:30:11,850 --> 00:30:16,150 We have seen he consigns all liars to 398 00:30:16,150 --> 00:30:17,090 the lake of fire. 399 00:30:17,090 --> 00:30:22,690 He excludes from the new Jerusalem every one 400 00:30:22,690 --> 00:30:25,550 that loveth and maketh a lie. 401 00:30:26,970 --> 00:30:29,830 All liars shall have their part in the 402 00:30:29,830 --> 00:30:30,830 lake which burneth. 403 00:30:31,830 --> 00:30:38,550 That is expressive of the burning hatred of 404 00:30:38,550 --> 00:30:42,830 God for what is not true, and of 405 00:30:42,830 --> 00:30:44,710 his love for the truth. 406 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,840 Jesus Christ himself called himself the truth. 407 00:30:52,340 --> 00:30:54,380 I am the truth. 408 00:30:56,270 --> 00:31:02,310 He is called the faithful and true witness. 409 00:31:04,910 --> 00:31:08,450 The Holy Spirit is called by him the 410 00:31:08,450 --> 00:31:09,490 spirit of truth. 411 00:31:10,710 --> 00:31:15,190 When he, the spirit of truth, is come. 412 00:31:16,820 --> 00:31:20,620 And the church, the fourth of these great 413 00:31:20,620 --> 00:31:25,480 magnitudes, is the pillar and ground of the 414 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:26,120 truth. 415 00:31:28,300 --> 00:31:30,180 On the other hand, as we have seen, 416 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:34,520 Satan is called the liar and the father 417 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:35,760 of lies. 418 00:31:37,580 --> 00:31:43,620 Now this whole beautiful creation, its whole structure 419 00:31:43,620 --> 00:31:47,680 collapsed when the lie entered in. 420 00:31:49,910 --> 00:31:54,030 The lie disintegrated everything. 421 00:31:56,310 --> 00:32:01,870 And that lie runs through the constitution of 422 00:32:01,870 --> 00:32:05,790 this world order as it is. 423 00:32:07,370 --> 00:32:08,390 It's in man. 424 00:32:09,770 --> 00:32:10,930 Man is a lie. 425 00:32:13,540 --> 00:32:15,620 He is not what God meant him to 426 00:32:15,620 --> 00:32:16,800 be or made him to be. 427 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:19,260 He is a contradiction, a denial. 428 00:32:20,740 --> 00:32:22,120 That is not the truth. 429 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:26,520 When you look at man, as God meant 430 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:31,480 and means man to be, and he knows 431 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,920 quite well that there is something in his 432 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,480 very constitution that is not true. 433 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:45,540 In the world itself, the whole world system, 434 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,080 there is this lie. 435 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:49,420 It's in commerce. 436 00:32:50,020 --> 00:32:56,680 How rare, downright transparent honesty is in business 437 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:57,580 and in commerce. 438 00:32:59,470 --> 00:33:02,810 What a problem that is for anybody who 439 00:33:02,810 --> 00:33:07,010 really wants to be straight and honest. 440 00:33:08,590 --> 00:33:11,310 Difficult to get on in this world if 441 00:33:11,310 --> 00:33:12,550 you're going to be like that. 442 00:33:14,500 --> 00:33:20,160 In society, quite a lot of falsehood there 443 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:20,680 is. 444 00:33:21,300 --> 00:33:33,610 Make-believe, pretense, acting, exaggeration, 445 00:33:35,810 --> 00:33:36,350 imitation. 446 00:33:39,190 --> 00:33:43,630 All these things are forms or expressions of 447 00:33:43,630 --> 00:33:44,410 something false. 448 00:33:48,090 --> 00:33:50,090 They call it make-up. 449 00:33:50,230 --> 00:33:51,430 It's really make-believe. 450 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:54,340 It's not true. 451 00:33:55,460 --> 00:33:56,440 It's not true. 452 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,420 Pretending to be something that is not true. 453 00:34:03,270 --> 00:34:04,370 Society is like that. 454 00:34:05,090 --> 00:34:06,410 The world is like that. 455 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:12,739 Mixture. 456 00:34:14,110 --> 00:34:18,770 Oh, how artificial and false it all is. 457 00:34:20,070 --> 00:34:22,810 It's only the Christians who really sense that, 458 00:34:23,150 --> 00:34:23,750 I suppose. 459 00:34:24,850 --> 00:34:27,969 We, when we were in the world, had 460 00:34:27,969 --> 00:34:39,570 some sense of how artificial and 461 00:34:39,570 --> 00:34:41,270 unreal it all is. 462 00:34:42,150 --> 00:34:44,989 Keeping up, keeping up a show, keeping up 463 00:34:44,989 --> 00:34:48,489 a pretense, keeping up a make-believe, making 464 00:34:48,489 --> 00:34:52,449 an impression without the substance behind. 465 00:34:53,630 --> 00:34:54,050 It's unreal. 466 00:34:55,050 --> 00:34:55,889 That's the world. 467 00:34:56,990 --> 00:34:57,530 Like that. 468 00:34:57,530 --> 00:35:00,490 There's a lie at the heart of the 469 00:35:00,490 --> 00:35:01,630 whole world system. 470 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,660 Ah, yes, but in religion it can be 471 00:35:09,660 --> 00:35:10,220 like that. 472 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:18,000 Pretense, make-believe, show, making an impression without 473 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,900 reality behind. 474 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:27,700 The Lord Jesus, the truth, the fiery, scorching 475 00:35:27,700 --> 00:35:29,340 truth looked upon. 476 00:35:30,620 --> 00:35:34,420 The leaders of religion in his day, scribes 477 00:35:34,420 --> 00:35:39,960 and Pharisees, and he said, hypocrites, play-actors, 478 00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:44,600 pretending what is not true. 479 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,040 Yes, it's all like that everywhere and everything. 480 00:35:51,610 --> 00:35:54,910 And that, that is the cause of the 481 00:35:54,910 --> 00:36:02,950 disintegration, of the confusion and disruption of everything. 482 00:36:03,910 --> 00:36:05,530 That's the first cause. 483 00:36:06,770 --> 00:36:12,910 And nothing can stand, nothing can stand and 484 00:36:12,910 --> 00:36:18,850 abide which is not true. 485 00:36:19,750 --> 00:36:23,570 Sooner or later it's going to be found 486 00:36:23,570 --> 00:36:26,190 out by that very thing there. 487 00:36:26,450 --> 00:36:27,430 It will collapse. 488 00:36:28,870 --> 00:36:30,050 It will go to pieces. 489 00:36:31,050 --> 00:36:34,910 It has the very seeds of its disruption 490 00:36:34,910 --> 00:36:39,530 in itself if it is not absolutely true. 491 00:36:40,890 --> 00:36:44,350 So here is this revealed fact. 492 00:36:45,890 --> 00:36:51,370 God's building, God's building has in the very 493 00:36:51,370 --> 00:36:56,490 first place the pillar of truth erected. 494 00:36:59,210 --> 00:37:03,930 I am the truth, I will build my 495 00:37:03,930 --> 00:37:04,290 church. 496 00:37:04,430 --> 00:37:07,270 Those things go together. 497 00:37:09,710 --> 00:37:14,630 Now, with that as the whole background, dear 498 00:37:14,630 --> 00:37:18,830 friends, it's touching and it's got to be 499 00:37:18,830 --> 00:37:21,410 applied and we've to apply it. 500 00:37:22,350 --> 00:37:28,430 Our position, our position must be true. 501 00:37:29,450 --> 00:37:34,150 Our personal position must be a true one. 502 00:37:44,500 --> 00:37:48,460 We'll never, never stand, never go through unless 503 00:37:48,460 --> 00:37:51,720 our position is a true one. 504 00:37:53,670 --> 00:37:57,590 If there can be any doubt, any question, 505 00:37:59,910 --> 00:38:07,310 any uncertainty, any contradiction in our position, we're 506 00:38:07,310 --> 00:38:07,730 not safe. 507 00:38:08,930 --> 00:38:10,210 We're not safe. 508 00:38:10,210 --> 00:38:20,260 The Lord, in 509 00:38:20,260 --> 00:38:27,540 his gracious sovereignty, which often seems so hard 510 00:38:27,540 --> 00:38:33,950 and so unkind, has allowed to come into 511 00:38:33,950 --> 00:38:38,010 the order of things, such things as storms 512 00:38:38,010 --> 00:38:41,230 and blizzards and hurricanes. 513 00:38:41,230 --> 00:38:50,130 And when they pass, you see their effect. 514 00:38:51,490 --> 00:38:56,830 There are many, many things laid flat on 515 00:38:56,830 --> 00:38:57,330 the earth. 516 00:38:58,110 --> 00:39:02,970 Trees lying there, uprooted. 517 00:39:03,830 --> 00:39:08,250 There are things that stood and gone through 518 00:39:08,250 --> 00:39:12,410 and are going to face the next one, 519 00:39:12,550 --> 00:39:13,850 the stronger for this. 520 00:39:16,690 --> 00:39:17,750 And it's a parable again. 521 00:39:19,190 --> 00:39:24,570 You and I, individually and collectively, in our 522 00:39:24,570 --> 00:39:28,130 local companies and the church as a whole, 523 00:39:28,490 --> 00:39:32,550 God knows how true it is today, are 524 00:39:32,550 --> 00:39:36,470 allowed to pass into terrible, shaking storms. 525 00:39:39,470 --> 00:39:44,070 Storms that threaten our existence, our continuance. 526 00:39:46,310 --> 00:39:51,390 And when they've passed, there are those who 527 00:39:51,390 --> 00:39:55,370 haven't stood up to it, who've been carried 528 00:39:55,370 --> 00:40:02,310 uprooted by the trial, the testing, the storm, 529 00:40:02,970 --> 00:40:03,890 the duress. 530 00:40:06,020 --> 00:40:08,000 You go to some of those trees and 531 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:12,670 say, you see, the reason for this is 532 00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:15,840 you were too superficial. 533 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:20,820 It wasn't reality in your position, in your 534 00:40:20,820 --> 00:40:21,180 position. 535 00:40:21,180 --> 00:40:25,140 Your position was not true. 536 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:31,540 Therefore, the Lord has brought to light a 537 00:40:31,540 --> 00:40:32,280 false position. 538 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:35,460 He does that, dear friends. 539 00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:38,420 I say it's hard, it's very hard. 540 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:42,260 No one likes that kind of experience. 541 00:40:43,020 --> 00:40:44,300 No company likes that. 542 00:40:44,300 --> 00:40:49,660 But in his gracious sovereignty, it's necessary. 543 00:40:50,540 --> 00:40:51,500 It's necessary. 544 00:40:51,980 --> 00:40:54,980 He must have what he does have. 545 00:40:55,940 --> 00:40:56,660 Truth. 546 00:40:58,360 --> 00:40:59,040 Truth. 547 00:41:03,270 --> 00:41:10,410 Something that proves the truth of God in 548 00:41:10,410 --> 00:41:11,690 its very being. 549 00:41:12,690 --> 00:41:16,550 That God is unmovable, unshakable. 550 00:41:17,930 --> 00:41:19,490 God endures forever. 551 00:41:20,550 --> 00:41:22,290 And something of that has got to be 552 00:41:22,290 --> 00:41:24,570 produced in everything that is of God. 553 00:41:28,250 --> 00:41:32,710 And in the final issue, the company that 554 00:41:32,710 --> 00:41:35,110 will be there around the throne will be 555 00:41:35,110 --> 00:41:37,770 the company that have come up out of 556 00:41:37,770 --> 00:41:41,850 much tribulation, washed their robes and made them 557 00:41:41,850 --> 00:41:43,150 white in the blood of the Lamb. 558 00:41:43,150 --> 00:41:47,790 Therefore are they before the throne, that eternal 559 00:41:47,790 --> 00:41:49,510 everlasting throne. 560 00:41:50,130 --> 00:41:53,610 Into them has been wrought something of the 561 00:41:53,610 --> 00:41:54,750 steadfastness. 562 00:41:57,720 --> 00:41:58,620 Trying to do that. 563 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:00,660 Trying to do that. 564 00:42:00,660 --> 00:42:06,740 But here do believe me that we'll not 565 00:42:06,740 --> 00:42:08,640 stand unless our position is true. 566 00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:14,680 We have to look into our position from 567 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:15,300 time to time. 568 00:42:16,300 --> 00:42:18,300 Indeed, the Lord forces us to it. 569 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:24,380 We have to say now, is my position 570 00:42:24,380 --> 00:42:30,040 as I am, where I am, a true 571 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:30,260 one? 572 00:42:30,900 --> 00:42:31,960 A right one? 573 00:42:32,900 --> 00:42:34,600 Is it of God? 574 00:42:35,940 --> 00:42:37,780 Or are there other elements in this? 575 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:42,000 Search our hearts over this. 576 00:42:42,380 --> 00:42:46,120 Find out why we are where we are. 577 00:42:50,290 --> 00:42:53,570 Why we believe what we say we believe. 578 00:42:54,750 --> 00:42:56,530 What lies behind it? 579 00:42:57,530 --> 00:42:59,350 Our position must be a true one. 580 00:42:59,570 --> 00:43:02,790 Our life must be a true life. 581 00:43:04,110 --> 00:43:11,110 Not carried on by emotion, by other people, 582 00:43:12,430 --> 00:43:17,610 by system and order around us, even church 583 00:43:17,610 --> 00:43:17,990 order. 584 00:43:17,990 --> 00:43:23,310 But we stand on the ground of a 585 00:43:23,310 --> 00:43:26,210 life with God of our own. 586 00:43:27,490 --> 00:43:32,880 A life with God of our own does 587 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,920 not depend for its continuance and its strength 588 00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:38,060 upon anything outside. 589 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,060 It's between us and God. 590 00:43:41,660 --> 00:43:45,900 That's the only true and safe position. 591 00:43:47,340 --> 00:43:51,580 Our testimony must be true. 592 00:43:54,390 --> 00:43:57,870 Not just true in the Bible. 593 00:43:59,730 --> 00:44:03,610 Not true as in the company of people 594 00:44:03,610 --> 00:44:05,470 who believe it and hold it and teach 595 00:44:05,470 --> 00:44:05,950 it. 596 00:44:07,970 --> 00:44:12,980 And in every part true of us, if 597 00:44:12,980 --> 00:44:17,440 the testimony is the power of His resurrection, 598 00:44:18,220 --> 00:44:20,500 that has got to be true in us, 599 00:44:21,100 --> 00:44:22,180 in you, in me. 600 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:25,380 You and I have got to embody the 601 00:44:25,380 --> 00:44:28,640 power of His resurrection in our life, day 602 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:29,100 by day. 603 00:44:30,500 --> 00:44:33,860 If the testimony is the unity of the 604 00:44:33,860 --> 00:44:37,400 saints in Christ, it's got to be in 605 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:37,720 us. 606 00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:42,000 It's got to be that testimony. 607 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:45,960 Our testimony has got to be like that. 608 00:44:46,740 --> 00:44:47,120 True. 609 00:44:49,950 --> 00:44:50,330 Real. 610 00:44:50,330 --> 00:44:58,050 I speak with solemnity and I would not 611 00:44:58,050 --> 00:45:03,070 resort to likeness, but I read a little 612 00:45:03,070 --> 00:45:07,890 while ago of a good man who had 613 00:45:07,890 --> 00:45:09,910 had a very wonderful conversion. 614 00:45:10,590 --> 00:45:12,650 A very wonderful conversion. 615 00:45:13,990 --> 00:45:16,290 Come right out, as we say, of the 616 00:45:16,290 --> 00:45:20,710 blue into something very wonderful and very real. 617 00:45:21,490 --> 00:45:24,990 And he had had it printed that he 618 00:45:24,990 --> 00:45:27,210 could distribute it to everybody. 619 00:45:27,430 --> 00:45:28,490 His testimony. 620 00:45:31,070 --> 00:45:32,310 The years had gone on. 621 00:45:33,730 --> 00:45:37,290 He tried to keep up this thing of 622 00:45:37,290 --> 00:45:42,250 the past, but it had lost its reality. 623 00:45:43,290 --> 00:45:48,390 His life was no longer aglow with that 624 00:45:48,390 --> 00:45:48,770 testimony. 625 00:45:48,950 --> 00:45:51,490 Indeed, there was a good deal more that 626 00:45:51,490 --> 00:45:53,410 spoiled the testimony. 627 00:45:53,410 --> 00:45:56,410 But he tried to keep it up, living 628 00:45:56,410 --> 00:45:57,210 on the past. 629 00:45:58,170 --> 00:46:02,090 After some years, a Christian man called on 630 00:46:02,090 --> 00:46:06,070 him, or came into the home, and began 631 00:46:06,070 --> 00:46:07,330 to speak about the Lord. 632 00:46:08,950 --> 00:46:11,530 And he asked this good man in the 633 00:46:11,530 --> 00:46:13,270 house whether he knew the Lord. 634 00:46:13,410 --> 00:46:14,910 Oh, yes, I know the Lord. 635 00:46:15,370 --> 00:46:17,370 Wife, go up and get my testimony. 636 00:46:17,630 --> 00:46:18,550 It's up in the attic. 637 00:46:18,550 --> 00:46:24,050 And up she went, and a lot of 638 00:46:24,050 --> 00:46:27,550 noise, and turning over up there for a 639 00:46:27,550 --> 00:46:28,330 long time. 640 00:46:28,830 --> 00:46:30,810 Then she came slowly down and she said, 641 00:46:31,550 --> 00:46:33,690 Daddy, the rats have eaten your testimony. 642 00:46:42,210 --> 00:46:44,070 It's got to be real, up to date. 643 00:46:45,310 --> 00:46:46,670 Not of the past. 644 00:46:49,090 --> 00:46:50,430 Not something on paper. 645 00:46:51,410 --> 00:46:57,630 But right here, now, today, our testimony has 646 00:46:57,630 --> 00:47:02,150 got to be real, in the truth. 647 00:47:03,230 --> 00:47:05,690 Our fellowship must be true. 648 00:47:06,770 --> 00:47:09,070 That little word you know, it's a very 649 00:47:09,070 --> 00:47:12,870 searching word of the Apostle, in unfeigned love 650 00:47:12,870 --> 00:47:13,990 of the presence. 651 00:47:16,590 --> 00:47:17,590 In unfeigned love. 652 00:47:19,090 --> 00:47:22,150 It's so easy for us to pretend in 653 00:47:22,150 --> 00:47:26,370 this matter, and to be sentimental, or to 654 00:47:26,370 --> 00:47:29,290 use sentimental language about one another. 655 00:47:29,450 --> 00:47:33,350 Our dear sister, our dear brother. 656 00:47:40,490 --> 00:47:41,350 Is it true? 657 00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:44,100 Is it true? 658 00:47:46,650 --> 00:47:50,110 Unfeigned love of the presence. 659 00:47:51,550 --> 00:47:52,550 Fellowship must be true. 660 00:47:57,610 --> 00:48:01,250 Our positions with one another must be true. 661 00:48:02,490 --> 00:48:04,750 They must rest upon the truth. 662 00:48:06,700 --> 00:48:12,760 Not the strength of our own convictions, which 663 00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:16,220 may be falling, but the strength of what 664 00:48:16,220 --> 00:48:17,480 is actually true. 665 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:20,940 Prove your convictions. 666 00:48:21,620 --> 00:48:24,820 We can have tremendous convictions, you know, and 667 00:48:24,820 --> 00:48:28,140 be quite sure that we are absolutely right 668 00:48:28,140 --> 00:48:31,840 in our judgments, and our conclusions, and our 669 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:35,960 positions, in this matter and that matter, with 670 00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:37,080 this one and that. 671 00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,160 So positive, and yet it may be utterly 672 00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:40,580 false. 673 00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:42,240 Utterly false. 674 00:48:42,860 --> 00:48:44,040 It's just possible like that. 675 00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:48,660 I could give you some illustrations of that 676 00:48:48,660 --> 00:48:51,220 very thing, but it's not necessary, perhaps, and 677 00:48:51,220 --> 00:48:52,200 wouldn't help. 678 00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:58,180 But, dear friends, our ears have got to 679 00:48:58,180 --> 00:48:59,720 test what they hear. 680 00:49:02,730 --> 00:49:08,130 So easily we hear things said about people, 681 00:49:08,830 --> 00:49:16,450 about places, individuals and companies, and we take 682 00:49:16,450 --> 00:49:18,510 it at once, and are affected by it. 683 00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:22,560 And we are put on an utterly false 684 00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:24,360 position with the Lord. 685 00:49:25,720 --> 00:49:27,060 The Lord's not with us in that. 686 00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:29,780 Sooner or later there's going to be an 687 00:49:29,780 --> 00:49:32,320 exposure of the falsehood in that, and we 688 00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:33,200 are going to be ashamed. 689 00:49:34,260 --> 00:49:39,860 Our ears must test what we hear, coming 690 00:49:39,860 --> 00:49:41,660 from whatever source it may. 691 00:49:42,240 --> 00:49:45,500 We may think the most reliable and trustworthy. 692 00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:48,640 Nevertheless, let us pause and wonder if that 693 00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:49,800 really is true. 694 00:49:51,380 --> 00:49:54,920 We must make sure, because this thing is 695 00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:58,180 going to affect and influence us, make a 696 00:49:58,180 --> 00:50:00,380 difference in our attitudes and in our conduct. 697 00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:02,640 Let's be quite sure about it. 698 00:50:02,720 --> 00:50:04,840 All the God's people would do 699 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:16,040 that. 700 00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:18,560 And do what it is said. 701 00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:22,660 Jesus never judged after the hearing of his 702 00:50:22,660 --> 00:50:22,940 ears. 703 00:50:30,290 --> 00:50:33,770 Our eyes must verify what we see. 704 00:50:36,780 --> 00:50:44,600 We can be so misled by taking things 705 00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:45,680 as they appear. 706 00:50:49,030 --> 00:50:53,370 I'm going to borrow something here, and my 707 00:50:53,370 --> 00:50:57,490 brother there won't mind if I illustrate what 708 00:50:57,490 --> 00:50:57,930 I mean. 709 00:51:00,970 --> 00:51:03,350 Because I know that other people might not. 710 00:51:04,550 --> 00:51:05,570 We are at prayer. 711 00:51:07,210 --> 00:51:08,350 We are at prayer. 712 00:51:08,350 --> 00:51:13,350 I happen to open my eyes, and I 713 00:51:13,350 --> 00:51:16,870 see my brother, with his eyes open, looking 714 00:51:16,870 --> 00:51:18,310 at the one who is praying. 715 00:51:19,290 --> 00:51:21,270 And looking intently. 716 00:51:26,820 --> 00:51:30,780 Almost it would appear critically. 717 00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:35,560 Now, I could, if I didn't know, and 718 00:51:35,560 --> 00:51:39,560 you would, not knowing, say, why isn't that 719 00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:41,880 brother entering into the prayer? 720 00:51:42,720 --> 00:51:45,100 Why hasn't he his eyes closed? 721 00:51:45,280 --> 00:51:49,800 Why is he weighing every word like that? 722 00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:51,900 Seemingly so critical. 723 00:51:53,380 --> 00:51:56,160 See how you could misjudge a brother if 724 00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:58,000 you didn't know that he was deaf and 725 00:51:58,000 --> 00:51:58,640 was reading. 726 00:52:00,380 --> 00:52:03,020 Entering into the prayer by following the very 727 00:52:03,020 --> 00:52:05,160 movements of the lips, and the only way 728 00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:07,420 in which he could enter into the prayer. 729 00:52:07,420 --> 00:52:11,240 You see the possibility of a terrible misunderstanding? 730 00:52:12,980 --> 00:52:15,160 Judging after the sight of the eyes? 731 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:18,480 No, fondue. 732 00:52:19,300 --> 00:52:22,380 We must verify what we see. 733 00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:25,100 Did it really mean that? 734 00:52:26,380 --> 00:52:28,500 Is that the truth about it, or did 735 00:52:28,500 --> 00:52:30,260 it only appear like that? 736 00:52:30,260 --> 00:52:34,700 We are constantly misjudging one another in that 737 00:52:34,700 --> 00:52:35,080 way. 738 00:52:36,260 --> 00:52:41,200 Putting a motive or a reason to somebody's 739 00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:43,680 behavior that was never meant at all is 740 00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:44,260 not true. 741 00:52:45,640 --> 00:52:49,120 And how everything is spoiled, and the building 742 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:54,540 is either broken up or arrested. 743 00:52:57,760 --> 00:52:59,560 We must be on the ground of the 744 00:52:59,560 --> 00:52:59,880 truth. 745 00:53:01,140 --> 00:53:05,480 In every way our homes must be on 746 00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:06,240 a true basis. 747 00:53:07,260 --> 00:53:11,380 Our business, as far as we have any 748 00:53:11,380 --> 00:53:14,480 power for whatever, must be true. 749 00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:16,480 True business. 750 00:53:17,980 --> 00:53:19,780 I had a friend who was the head 751 00:53:19,780 --> 00:53:23,440 of a business, and he put up on 752 00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:28,680 his desk these words, God first, and all 753 00:53:28,680 --> 00:53:30,200 the travelers came into his office. 754 00:53:31,140 --> 00:53:35,500 Again and again the traveler made some suggestion 755 00:53:35,500 --> 00:53:39,660 of how he could get business and do 756 00:53:39,660 --> 00:53:41,900 business, but it wasn't quite straight. 757 00:53:43,420 --> 00:53:46,540 It just had something in it that was 758 00:53:46,540 --> 00:53:49,020 not quite square and clear. 759 00:53:49,020 --> 00:53:51,000 And he said always to the traveler, you 760 00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:55,100 see there, if you have anything to propose 761 00:53:55,100 --> 00:53:59,580 that is out of harmony with it, our 762 00:53:59,580 --> 00:54:01,660 business ceases at this point. 763 00:54:02,940 --> 00:54:05,040 Now I know what that's going to do 764 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:10,740 for business, but you can't build even a 765 00:54:10,740 --> 00:54:13,920 business for permanence and the blessing of God, 766 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,100 which is important, on a false foundation. 767 00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:19,040 It's something that is not true. 768 00:54:20,260 --> 00:54:22,600 And when we have said all, dear friends, 769 00:54:23,380 --> 00:54:25,220 our spirit must be true. 770 00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:29,380 Our spirit must be true. 771 00:54:34,580 --> 00:54:37,620 It is, after all, a matter of what 772 00:54:37,620 --> 00:54:40,500 the eyes of flame see, isn't it? 773 00:54:40,500 --> 00:54:45,520 His eyes were as a flame of fire. 774 00:54:47,650 --> 00:54:48,450 He came to the church. 775 00:54:49,770 --> 00:54:54,050 The eyes of flame were looking things through 776 00:54:54,050 --> 00:55:00,190 and through, and lighting upon the false, the 777 00:55:00,190 --> 00:55:09,430 untrue, the inconsistent, the contradictory, and challenging the 778 00:55:09,430 --> 00:55:15,330 whole existence of that church on the basis 779 00:55:15,330 --> 00:55:15,630 of faith. 780 00:55:16,490 --> 00:55:18,470 Of the truth. 781 00:55:20,860 --> 00:55:21,440 The truth. 782 00:55:22,260 --> 00:55:25,040 Now truth can be a very beautiful thing. 783 00:55:25,500 --> 00:55:26,800 It is a beautiful thing. 784 00:55:27,580 --> 00:55:29,920 But truth can be a very terrible thing. 785 00:55:31,490 --> 00:55:38,230 In this house which he is building, and 786 00:55:38,230 --> 00:55:41,190 in which you and I are fellow builders, 787 00:55:41,650 --> 00:55:47,420 there can be no painted pillars, no imitation 788 00:55:47,420 --> 00:55:48,100 marble. 789 00:55:50,160 --> 00:55:51,680 It's got to be true. 790 00:55:52,780 --> 00:55:53,660 Right true. 791 00:55:55,220 --> 00:55:58,080 But wherever you probe it, and however deeply 792 00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:00,280 you get into it, you'll find it's the 793 00:56:00,280 --> 00:56:00,600 same. 794 00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:02,840 It's the same. 795 00:56:03,060 --> 00:56:04,240 It stands up to the test. 796 00:56:05,300 --> 00:56:11,380 See, the issue, the issue is whether it 797 00:56:11,380 --> 00:56:16,180 will stand for eternity, whether it will go 798 00:56:16,180 --> 00:56:20,020 on to the end, whether it will fulfill 799 00:56:20,020 --> 00:56:22,160 God's purpose in its existence. 800 00:56:24,430 --> 00:56:26,590 That's the test of everything, isn't it? 801 00:56:27,310 --> 00:56:28,650 Who wants it to be otherwise? 802 00:56:30,070 --> 00:56:38,870 However, much of passing, of transient glory might 803 00:56:38,870 --> 00:56:45,870 come to us by compromise, by mixture, by 804 00:56:45,870 --> 00:56:50,490 misrepresentation, by pretense, by a show, by anything 805 00:56:50,490 --> 00:56:52,570 that impresses the natural man. 806 00:56:52,570 --> 00:56:55,930 It isn't worth it if God doesn't put 807 00:56:55,930 --> 00:56:56,930 his seal upon it. 808 00:56:58,030 --> 00:57:01,170 The seal of life. 809 00:57:02,730 --> 00:57:05,950 How good, we've had it quoted this morning, 810 00:57:06,630 --> 00:57:10,670 how good a thing it is to see 811 00:57:10,670 --> 00:57:13,090 brethren dwelling together in unity. 812 00:57:14,250 --> 00:57:17,570 There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life 813 00:57:17,570 --> 00:57:20,870 forevermore, something genuine. 814 00:57:22,590 --> 00:57:28,630 The Lord established us in the truth, the 815 00:57:28,630 --> 00:57:29,850 truth in us.