It looks gospel again this evening.
I should have said that I have the
jurist with me.
He's a very easy-going jerry-billish.
Well, this is a model that I made
some years ago.
A complete model of a Jewish high priest.
Because when I was teaching about the high
priest's garments, I came to the conclusion one
evening that I'd never get this teaching over
to the people without the model.
Remember, this is not an image.
Just the same as we would use the
chart behind us or any other chart that
we would care to put up.
So we use the model.
Now, you can easily realize it's not an
image because Mr. Pinsley asked me to go
to his church, and I preached for weeks
on this model, and you don't take an
image in there.
You wouldn't get out alive if you took
an image in there.
But you'll find the reason in a moment
or two why I brought the model this
evening.
I have it out at the school on
the hills, and I put it in the
boot of the car, and I was dead
scared of the soldiers stopping me coming in.
As you know, you open the boot and
a fellow like that in the boot.
Well, we're back this evening to following the
footsteps of Christ, and you'll learn in a
moment why I brought the model.
You know, for five weeks past, this is
week number six, as you can see, for
five weeks past, we've been following the footsteps
of Christ.
We began following the Virgin Mary until she
took from Nazareth up the earth, because the
Molecular conception took place in Nazareth.
And indeed, if it had not been for
the dictates of Caesar Augustus in Rome, because
he sent out a decree that all the
world should be taxed, and everybody had to
go to their own city to be taxed.
It shows you how God works all things
together for good.
God allowed this man.
He permitted him.
It's the primitive will of God.
He allowed him to shout and get on
like he did in Rome.
Sometimes he allows governments to do things like
that.
And while he was allowing him, you see,
he was very carefully directing Joseph and Mary.
Because the child would have been born in
Nazareth had it not been for the decrees
that were allowed.
And so they had to leave Nazareth and
they wouldn't come through to Meria.
So they crossed the Jordan, came down the
Syrian side, came to Bethlehem here, crossed the
Jordan again, and came to Bethlehem.
And we followed that route and saw many
things.
And then we had a week or two,
looking at the babes of Bethlehem.
Who is this, we said?
Mind you, the angel answered, Behold!
For the angel said, Unto you this day
in the city of David is born a
figure, first of all, which is Christ, the
Lord.
And we took a long time with the
the Lord bit of it.
Because the russolites don't like me to say
that he's the Lord.
And one of them said, you know, this
is a different word.
And I said to him, verse 9 of
Luke chapter 2 says, Unlo the angel of
the Lord.
And I said, is that the same word
as the word that's used for the babe
in the manger?
Keeps out his Greek book, of course, and
finds it's the same word.
Because the babe in the manger was the
Lord of the angels.
No troubles about that at all.
And then I said to him also, in
verse 9 it says, Unlo the angel of
the Lord came upon them and the glory
of the Lord.
And I said, is that the same word?
Looks the Greek book up again.
It's the same word.
Because, you know, make no mistakes about it,
it just tells me to say it.
He was the Lord of glory.
Make no mistakes about that.
We're going to learn tonight that if the
princes of this world had known, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Mind you, it was the Lord of glory
that was in the manger.
Mind you, it was the Lord of glory
that was on the cross.
Mind you, the Lord of glory will step
into the air one of these days.
Yes, we have a look at the babe
of Bethlehem.
And then eight days later, we took up
a whole night on the circumcision of the
child.
Then six weeks later, he was taken to
Jerusalem for presentation to the Lord, according to
the law.
Because while he was made of a woman,
and he was, he was made under the
law, under the Jewish law.
And the Jewish law required that he being
the firstborn son, he would have to be
presented at six weeks time.
And then last week we looked at these
wise men coming and finding him in the
house of Bethlehem, when he was almost two
years of age.
So we have followed his footsteps very carefully,
from the miraculous conception, right through the birth,
and the circumcision, and the presentation, right on
to the time when Joseph had to flee
into Egypt because of the diabolical purposes of
Herod.
And then last week we found him coming
back out of Egypt again and coming to
Nazareth, that people might slight him by calling
him a Nazarene.
He was never a Nazarite, which is a
different thing, but we mix them up sometimes.
And so we've got that far this evening.
Now we're going to look this evening at
the childhood and boyhood days of Jesus.
And I assure you that there's not very
much in this book about the childhood and
the boyhood days of Jesus.
The Roman Catholic Church some years ago published
a book on the childhood and boyhood days
of Jesus.
And they talk about him working miracles at
school.
It says that on one occasion the teacher
went to slight him and he paralyzed the
teacher.
Talks about them calling the birds out of
the air.
Talks about them making prey animals and giving
them life.
And it's all baloney.
That's what it is.
I argued with a Roman Catholic scholar one
day and he was annoyed at my language,
you know.
He said, what makes you so sure?
And I said, well if he paralyzed the
teacher with the thoughts, it must have been
a miracle, wasn't it?
Yes.
If he made prey animals and gave them
life, it must have been miraculous.
But the book that I read out of
church says that the first miracle was done
at Cana of Galilee.
And happens to be the first one.
Don't you swallow that sort of baloney, you
keep to the Bible.
We'll be directed by this book.
And all that we need to know about
the childhood and boyhood days of Jesus, all
that God wants us to know.
It's in his book.
And you'll find it very carefully placed in
the book.
You know, you'll find this if you teach
Matthew's Gospel.
You'll find this.
That the book opens, of course, as I've
pointed out to you.
By saying the book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David.
The son of Abraham.
And you know, when you talk about the
son of David.
Now fancy that being put first.
Fancy even being put before the son of
Abraham.
And I have told you that this gospel
of Matthew.
Matthew is writing everything surrounding the king.
And you'll find, if you keep that in
your mind, you'll get a lot of details
about the king of Israel.
You see, when he's born.
And after a few months have gone past,
the second chapter begins like this.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
Judea in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there came wise men from the east
to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is
born king of the Jews?
You see, it's got to do with the
king.
And of course, why Herod grew so wicked
was because he was the king.
He didn't like another one.
So learning from the wise men that this
new king must be about two years of
age just now, then he flew all the
children round about Bethlehem from two years old
and on.
And of course when the angel told Joseph
to flee, it was just the security of
the king that was being undertaken.
But you'll find this, that when he comes
back from Egypt, and we're at the end
of chapter two now and came to Nazareth
and it's called the Nazarene, chapter three begins
with John the Baptist coming, and at verse
thirteen, then come of Jesus from Galilee to
Jordan, unto John to be baptized of him,
unto Lord Jesus his friend, about thirty years
of age.
And believe, childhood and boyhood is passed by
in this gospel.
Yes, I know that the genealogy is there
because it's the genealogy of the king.
We don't need to know about the boyhood
and childhood of the king.
And you'll find when you go to Mark's
gospel, it's go to Mark's gospel, verse
one, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ the son of God, and then it
goes straight into John the Baptist coming, it
doesn't even talk about his birth, you know,
nor his miraculous conception, nor anything that we
have had up to now.
And it begins there at verse nine, and
it came to pass in those days that
Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and he
was thirty years of age, and there's not
a word about his birth, or his miraculous
conception, or his circumcision, or his presentation, or
what heritage it all left us.
You see, Mark is writing about the servant,
not the king.
The servant actually is a wordless slave.
And you know when you talk about the
slave, you don't need to know where he
came from, or who he is, or any
of his genealogy at all.
You only need to know what he does.
And there are more things that Jesus did
in Mark's gospel, than in the other three.
Because he's writing about the servant.
When you come to John's gospel, you see,
John is writing about the eternal son.
You see, it begins like this, In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.
I like that bit, you know, And the
Word was God.
All troubles with that.
Verse 14 says, And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us.
Verse 10 says, He was in the world,
and the world was made by him, and
the world knew not.
And at verse 19, it begins again with
John the Baptist.
And the miraculous birth, or the circumcision, or
the presentation, or the deeds and doings of
heaven, and the going into Egypt, and the
coming out, and all the rest of it,
they're not here.
And they don't need to be here either.
That's why there are four gospels.
Somebody said, why didn't God put it in
the one?
The easier works.
Well, God gave Matthew the task of gathering
together all the things concerning the king.
And God gave Mark the task of gathering
all the things together concerning the slaves.
And God gave John the task of gathering
everything together concerning the son.
And He gave Luke the task of gathering
everything together concerning the man.
I'm sure it was a good choice to
use a physician.
Luke was a physician.
When you're writing about the man, that's where
we get all the little details about the
birth, about the circumcision, about the presentation.
That's why Luke leaves out the thing about
the tongue, about the cave.
He didn't need to do that, he knew
there was another fellow on that section.
So where it looks gospel now.
We watch the king being taken away into
Egypt to behead during those dreadful days and
coming out again and he says, now where
it looks gospel and we're really starting.
It says verse 40, you see verse 39,
and when they had performed all things according
to the law of the Lord they returned
into Galilee to their own ship in Nazareth.
Of course the whole thing about the king
being taken hastily into Egypt and head there
is left out because that was Matthew's job.
So that when you're chasing the footsteps of
Christ you have to be very careful how
you handle the four Gospels because there's a
bit that one does that the other doesn't.
And if we're going to have them in
harmony behind us when we're finished I need
to know how to handle the four and
put them into one alright.
So here we are back in Nazareth and
we're where Matthew was.
Now look and Matthew are together.
It says verse 40, and the child grew.
And you'll notice the word child and you'll
notice the word grew.
You know this is just very ordinary physical
development.
You know there's nothing pleases the father and
mother more to see the child growing.
You have a wee one in the house,
my you can see her growing or you
can see him growing.
It's just physical development that's there isn't it.
And it says then the child grew and
waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom.
And you know this is mental advancement and
contentment.
There wasn't a weakly child you know strong
in spirit.
And you know as the child grew you
know they could see that he had wisdom.
It's a great thing to see the wee
one growing in wisdom too you know.
Because we're going to come back to this
for problems this evening in a moment or
two.
I was in the home just yesterday, just
yesterday which seems to be nice for me.
And the mother was telling me about the
wee one, the wee one is only two.
And the wee one was upstairs was the
mother.
And the wee one dad wasn't too well
and she was in the bed in the
other room.
And the wee one said to her mummy
running behind her, where's auntie Lottie?
She's two you know.
And the mummy says she's next door.
And the wee one says it's Mrs. Morrison
who's next door.
You see the mother shouldn't have said next
door at all she should have said the
next room.
The wee one had more wisdom than the
mother.
But the mother was pleased to see the
wee one developing wasn't she?
Because the wee one didn't understand next door
like that.
The wee one just knew the woman that
lived next door, that's in the next house.
But the mother was talking about the next
room.
Because all of us would say she's next
door.
But you can see the wee one was
developing.
You know it's a great thing to see
them developing.
And we've all watched this with the children
you know.
And you can see the physical development of
fear.
And you can see the mental advancement and
contentment that's registered here.
And you can see the spiritual enlivenment that's
here.
And the grace of God was upon them.
How pretty that's all put in you know.
We're looking at the childhood and the boyhood
now remember.
And you can feel developing physically, growing.
And you can see this mental advancement.
And you can see this mental contentment along
with it.
And you can see this spiritual enablement, the
grace of God was with them.
Then comes a very interesting story.
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year
at the feast of the Passover.
And when he was twelve years old.
So we jumped from just over two till
twelve.
And you fill the rest of it in
by his growing.
And his mental advancement and his spiritual enablement.
God doesn't want you to know much more
about it.
But we'll have to go into details.
Now you know the story that they went
to Jerusalem when he was twelve.
They spotted thee and then they had fulfilled
the days as they returned.
The child Jesus carried behind in Jerusalem.
And Joseph and his mother knew not of
it.
But they're supposing him to have been in
the company.
You know the plain fact is that they
lost him.
And that's the last note we have down
here this evening.
When he was at this temple presentation.
He was the lost Christ.
I'm allowed to take that up first this
evening.
Although I've put it in order for you.
You know you would wonder that the Blessed
Virgin Mary ever lost the child.
Wouldn't you?
But she did.
Now let me say this to you this
evening.
That if there ever was a soul on
the broad acres of earth.
That loved the Lord Jesus with every fiber
of her being.
It was the Virgin Mary.
Well she was bound to.
You know she knew all about her virginity.
As some of the old modernists don't seem
to.
She could even look an angel fool in
the face and say.
I know not a man.
I've never been with a man.
She was the Virgin.
Don't let us ever belittle her.
And the angels said.
Blessed art thou among women.
So she was the Blessed Virgin.
I haven't any quibbles in my conscience tonight.
You know by calling her the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
None at all.
And I detest those who make little of
her.
I don't think that's any credit of Protestantism
at all.
But this woman knew that the Holy Ghost
had come upon her.
That she had miraculously conceived in a womb.
By the power of the highest overshadowing earth.
It was a mighty thing.
And she knew that she was the mother
of the Messiah.
You know there was so many things that
she saw.
She saw the shepherds.
She knew what the angel had said.
And she was there when the wise men
worshipped him.
I know they didn't worship her.
They worshipped him.
And you know she knew that God directed
Joseph away down into Egypt.
And she must have saw him growing and
knew that the grace of God was upon
him.
She knew that better than Luke did.
Let me say this to you.
That the Blessed Virgin Mary had a thousand
little intimacies with Christ that you will never
have.
Let me tell you that she washed him
when he was a wee baby.
Let me tell you that she fed him
at her breast.
Let me tell you this evening that she
had a thousand little intimacies with Christ.
You will never have.
And yet although she had these intimacies.
And although she had these memories.
And although she knew so much.
Let me finish.
She lost them.
And she lost them.
Why she ever lost them I'll not be
able to tell you.
But I know she lost them.
And I'll tell you where she lost them.
She lost them in God's house.
That's where she lost them.
Lost them in a holy place.
Lost them in the temple.
Oh my friends.
I want you to get the hold of
this.
Maybe her indulgences were taken up so much
with the pilgrimage.
So much with the church.
That I lost the Christ.
Like some of the Baptists.
So much with the church.
That I lost the person.
So much with the performance.
So much with the picture.
Oh for any sakes.
Get the eyes of the preacher.
We worship the Lord you know.
How many times have you come here and
lost them in the place.
You got taken up with the party.
And the place.
And the crowds.
And you lost the Christ.
You lost him.
Oh there's a lot of old folks in
this land of ours.
The only thing they have to make is
party and place.
Yes she lost him.
But I want you to get the hold
of this.
We'll come back to this story in a
moment or two.
When she came back you know.
Verse 46 it says.
Came to pass that after three days we
found them.
You know that's worth noting down there.
It says verse 44.
That they supposing him to have been in
the company went a days journey.
Did you notice that it took them three
days to find them.
Because I can tell you, you can lose
them pretty quickly.
But you don't find them as easy.
And you get taken up with something else
dear.
Now you can get taken up with a
song.
And I'm talking to singers dear.
That's true.
Sure you could be taken up more with
a song than a stage act.
And we have a bunch of creatures here.
And you could be taken up more with
a message than a master.
And I'll tell you if you do you'll
have a long way in finding them.
It's just a day journey out you know
but a free back.
And you'll find this.
That when she found them twelve years of
age.
When they saw him.
Verse 46.
Came to pass that after three days they
found them in the temple.
Sitting in the midst of the doctors.
Bought healing then.
How humble he was.
And asking them questions.
And all that had them were astonished at
his understanding and answer.
And we'll come back to the story.
And says verse 51.
He went down with them and came to
Nazareth.
They're going back home now.
And the subject unto them isn't that a
lovely little bit.
But his mother kept all these things in
her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom.
And stature.
And we're back to the mental thing.
And we're back to the physical thing.
And in favour with God and man.
And we're back to the spiritual thing.
Now this has brought a lot of problems.
Because the modernists and some who wouldn't want
to be mixed up and called modernists.
Come asking these sort of questions.
Somebody asked me once if Jesus Christ is
God.
You say he's God.
How could they grow in wisdom?
Now that is just exactly what we're determined
to do in this meeting no matter how
long it takes.
Just to answer the question.
You know when a person's asked like that
I think the person that asks it doesn't
know anything about what incarnation means.
You know real incarnation.
Doesn't it ever think of incarnation like this?
That there was a body formed and then
God came to dwell in it.
Now don't you be getting that idea.
That is not the idea.
That would be two persons.
Unincarnation is God becoming what he had never
been before.
Yet ceasing to be.
Not ceasing to be what he had always
been.
You see he was still God.
He's unchanging.
And yet in incarnation he became what he
had never been before.
This is God manifest in flesh.
But it's not two.
It's one.
That's what I want to get over to
you because I'm afraid that people don't understand
this.
That's why I brought my high priest and
the garments with me.
Let's go back to see this now.
We're at the book of Exodus.
And we're at chapter 28.
Book of Exodus.
Chapter 28.
And the Lord speaking to Moses away up
on the mountain.
And he's saying this to him in verse
1.
And teach thou unto thee, Aaron my brother,
and his sons with him, from among the
children of Israel, that ye may minister unto
me in the priest's office.
Even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Isomer,
Aaron's sons.
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron
my brother, for glory and for beauty.
Verse 4.
These are the garments which they shall make.
A breastplate.
That's the bit that's on the front there.
And what a lot of teachings in that.
And an ephod.
These short coloured garments here is what is
called the ephod.
And we'll go into that in a moment.
And then there's the robe, which is the
blue robe that's underneath here.
And then there's a broidered cloak under that.
You cannot see it from the distance, but
it is broidered.
And that doesn't mean embroidered.
Because the beauty of the Lord was never
stitched on.
Now this is worked in.
Kings McElroy has done it, and he ought
to know more about this than I do.
How that in Damascus weaving, they weave a
thing into a cloth.
It's not stitched on.
I do not know.
Because the beauty of the Lord was never
stitched on.
Oh no it wasn't.
It's a broidered coat, and then there's a
mitre on his head.
And there's the gargle and so on.
But look at verse 6.
And they shall make the ephod, just watch
this, of gold.
And the way they made this, let's go
to chapter 39 just for a moment.
So you see this.
Chapter 39.
It says here, verse 2.
And they made the ephod of gold, blue,
and purple, and scarlet, fine, fine linen.
And they did beat the gold into thin
plates, and cut it into wires, to work
it in the blue, and in the purple,
and in the scarlet, and in the fine
linen.
You see this gold was a metal.
Now they were weaving here, a metal, and
a material.
I think they used to do that where
you worked James away long ago.
Your brother Derek showed me a piece of
cloth where there was metal worked into a
material.
I don't think they do it now.
But in the old economy, you know, they
were weaving these long threads of gold.
They were actually metal, cut into thin stripes
into wires, and worked into the thing.
And of course it was linen, and gold
together.
And then of course it had these colours,
the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet.
Let me take a bit of this off,
this fellow, so you see.
This is easier if you can see it
like that.
Now you can see the gold worked into
it, can't you?
And then you can see the white bit
that I left, which is the linen.
And then we'll deal with the colours in
a moment.
Now it is very wonderful that God should
do this.
This proves that the book I'm reading out
of is God's book, because I defy anyone
to do this.
You see, when you take linen, linen is
something that comes from earth, it comes from
fats.
I've been through the mill, and I've seen
it from the raw fats.
And then it's made into whatever it's made
into, these linen threads, and it's woven.
Now then we say it's linen and it
comes from earth, talking about something that's earth.
Now when we talk about gold, gold is
something that's unchanging, and everlasting, and never loses
its power.
You see, the linen would speak of his
humanity, but the gold would speak of his
perfect deity.
Now by our wonderful process, these two are
put together.
You see what God was trying to say.
The perfect deity in the gold, and perfect
humanity in the linen, were coming together as
one personality.
It's being so intertwined, it's not two, it's
one man.
But that's pretty prudent to me, that God
should do that.
Then when I looked at the colours, you
know, you see, it had to be purple,
you can see the purple stripe in it
there.
And there's a great many of you in
this meeting know about the purple, and the
arch purple, and the royal purple.
I do not think it is, you know.
Now, I want you to get this.
You see, the purple speaks of majesty.
It's the royal colour, isn't it?
How well one who was God in the
gold, and man in the linen, he was
changed.
In fact, he was king of kings.
So God put the purple bit in.
See the blue bit?
Because the blue is the colour of the
heavens.
And this book teaches me that the second
man is the Lord from heaven.
You see, he's not only God in the
gold, and man in the linen, and king
in the purple, but he's Lord in the
blue.
Now, there's the scarlet bar there, it's very
wonderful, isn't it?
My, it's a gorgeous thing when you begin
to think of it, it's so simple.
But the scarlet bar is probably the most
wonderful one.
You see, scarlet dye, a very difficult one.
Cochineal it's called by the ladies and the
dyers Cochineal.
And it was God in the wilderness.
Moses was in the wilderness making the linen.
And when I was in Palestine, I was
out in the wilderness of Judea and went
away tramping till I found one of these
great cactus plants, all seems safe.
And if you're there sometime, if you go
behind it, you'll find that on the back
of the great jagged leaves, there are a
lot of little worms.
They're called Cochineal actually.
And if you get them in your hand
and squeeze them, your hands will become stained
with red.
That's where Moses got the dye from.
They gathered these, put them in a tub,
great big tub, and they squeezed them, pushed
them down.
You see, the one who was God in
the gold and man in the linen and
king in the purple and lord in the
blue was Ram!
Didn't you stop?
See that bit of cloth I have in
my hand?
It was God who designed it.
God gave Moses the idea that if you
make a leaf of fine, fine linen you'll
work the gold into it.
You'll have to have it blue and purple
and scarlet.
That wasn't made in the Masonic Hall, you
know.
That happens to be out of a book.
That's one of the traits of Christ.
But when the whole thing is put together,
it is one evolved.
That's what incarnation is all about.
My dear friend, we've got to get the
hold of that.
That this wonderful one that we're thinking about
he was God but he was Ram.
He was perfect God and perfect man but
don't let me continue He was perfect God
and perfect man in one personality God, manifest
in flesh.
You see, he knew everything and yet he
grew in wisdom.
That's the problem that the modernists see.
Let's go to John's Gospel just to prove
that he knew everything.
Now I have done this in this class
before and I wouldn't want to do it
again.
I have taken every one of these chapters
and there are 21 chapters right through John's
Gospel right to the very end 21 chapters,
and in every chapter Jesus lets us see
his unlimited knowledge.
See at the end of chapter 1 verse
43 the day following Jesus would go forth
into Galilee and find a Philip and say
unto him, follow me.
Now Philip was of Bethsaida the city of
Andrew and Peter Philip findeth Nathanael is what
he said to him we have found him
of whom Moses in the law and the
prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth and he
made a mistake here the son of Zeus
and if you take the history of Philip
right through you will find that every time
he made a move he made a mistake
yet he was one of the great apostles
that's not my subject this evening but you
can follow it on sometime if you are
at leisure he went to Nathanael and Nathanael
said unto him can there any good thing
come out of Nazareth you see Jesus Jesus
was called Jesus of Nazareth and it was
so back of beyond city it was so
miserable a little town it was so stinky
that nobody ever thought that anything worthwhile could
come out of there that's why he was
called a Nazarene but you know verse 47
Jesus called Nathanael coming to him and said
to him behold there is a light indeed
in whom there is no doubt and Nathanael
said unto him whence goest thou me why
did he say that now it's funny isn't
it see the two men coming up here
one of them is Philip the other is
Nathanael the Lord just takes a step forward
and there is a light indeed in whom
there is no doubt and Nathanael jumped out
of his sandals he says whence goest thou
me how do you know me now will
you see this Jesus answered and said unto
him before that Philip called whence goest thou
unto the fig tree see I saw thee
we see what Nathanael did Nathanael answered and
said unto him Rabbi thou art the son
of God thou art the king of the
east persuaded I know what persuaded him well
I can tell you when any of these
men in the far east at that time
sat under the fig tree they were reading
sit and read men where you went to
read and they were reading the Old Testament
or the part of it and I'm making
a guess now that I know that I
can support it without guessing that he was
reading about Jacob remember Jacob he was a
literal that was a lot of guile and
he did a whole lot of things that
went on too and do you remember him
sleeping and seeing the angels ascending and descending
on the ladder well now watch what Christ
says now Jesus answered and said unto him
because I sat under thee I saw thee
under the fig tree believe it now I
shall see greater things than these and he
said unto him Philip I said unto thee
hereafter he shall see heaven open and the
angels of God ascending and descending not upon
the ladder but upon the son of man
the one the ladder was speaking about because
there is only one way to heaven no
matter where you are in the Old Testament
or the New so the Lord Jesus saw
what he was reading when he was near
he knew that in the man's heart he
had made up his mind I'll never be
a natural like like Jacob so he says
behold a natural like indeed in whom is
no guile hence no slander he says I
saw you you know I wasn't near you
but I saw you and I knew what
you were doing won't you come round telling
me in the written law because I can
tell you I can do that in every
chapter in this book you know for twenty
one chapters and the last would end like
this with people at his feet looking into
his eyes saying thou knowest all things oh
let's get the hold of that now we're
only making the problem tighter the more we
go on aren't we that's what I intend
to do I intend to make it as
difficult as possible and then loose the knots
for you you know when you begin to
think about the wisdom of God let's go
to Psalm 147 for a moment Psalm 147
and it's talking about the Lord in verse
2 the Lord doth build up Jerusalem verse
3 it says He healeth the broken in
heart verse 4 it says He telleth the
number of the stars now watch that He
calleth them all by their names then it
says great is our Lord and of great
power is understanding is infinite if you would
say that about God you wouldn't have any
problems God knows everything yes, omniscient you
see God knows the number of the stars
that's something that Patrick Moore doesn't know I
know old Patrick knows a lot you know
and I listen to him sometimes and I
admire him he hasn't any degrees from any
college in this world and I think he
can lose all the rest of the boys
but he doesn't know the number of the
stars nobody knows the number of the stars
they go so far away out there that
you can't really get at them but God
knows the number of the stars tell you
what's more God calleth them all by name
He's a name for everyone we only know
3 or 4 at least I do but
there's countless millions He knows all the names
it's just the same as He thinks He
knows all the names, He's in the names
in the book He knows them all He
can say Saul He can say Abraham Abraham
He knows your name but no limitation His
understanding is infinite I don't need to hammer
that answer I believe God knows all things
Now this comes from the wisdom of God
to the wisdom of Christ for the moment
which comes to Colossians a letter to the
Colossians and we're at the second chapter and
this is a bit of magnificent writing here
I know that Paul was guided by the
Holy Ghost chapter 2 verse 1 just to
get it right For I would that ye
knew what great conflict I have for you
and for them that lay at the feet
of you and for as many as have
not seen my face in the flesh that
their hearts might be comforted Paul was always
praying for the comfort of God's people being
knit together in love and unto all riches
of the full assurance of understanding it's a
great big long statement He just wants the
saints to be comforted in their hearts knit
together in love that they may fully understand
with perfect assurance and to acknowledge to the
acknowledgement of the mystery of God and then
he says and of the power and of
Christ in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge are all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge hid in Christ I
wouldn't like you to dare to say anything
else and would you ever come round telling
me that he was limited in his knowledge
or how limited He was God you need
to know the mystery of God both of
the power and of Christ in whom are
hid no limitations at all none whatsoever because
the more I batter it up the more
the modernist says alright then how can he
grow in wisdom how can he increase then
it's these questions I'm not forgetting what would
happen did I have to batter it out
of it now let's go from the wisdom
of God and the wisdom of God in
Christ if you like to the wisdom of
the world you know we're at first Corinthians
now and we're at the second chapter probably
one of the greatest chapters in the book
on wisdom you know I like this because
it has done so much for me chapter
two first Corinthians two and I brethren when
I came to you came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom and it would
be good for the preachers to learn this
wouldn't it because some of them that I
listen to they all talk but when I
really squeeze it there's very little in it
I think they'd be better preaching the word
came not with excellency of speech or of
wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God
for I determined not to know anything among
you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified beautiful
picture wasn't it and I was with you
in weakness and in fear and in what's
friendly Lord sure not here and my speech
and my preaching was not with the encouraging
words of man's wisdom well let's make a
difference now between the wisdom of God and
the wisdom of man so called wisdom Paul
never went to do anything in the wisdom
of man you know there's a great word
here my speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom you know
some preachers come to talk to me about
preaching and they contest to me you know
that they have spent hours and hours and
hours and hours and hours just to get
the right word just to make it nice,
just to be nice fellows you know they're
not agonisers like me but that's all I
dream about this speech I can tell you
Paul never dreamed like that watch what he
says now and you'll get it it is
my speech and my preaching was not with
enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration
of the spirit and the power he was
after the power not the play acting well
check with the play actors they are play
actors until they are tempted to churches because
people are sick listening to them yes Paul
was after a different thing he said verse
5 that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of man but in the power
of God oh friends I'm not too worried
about the phrases thank God he looked after
the phrases for me I've written them all
down in my sleep somewhere I'm depending on
the Holy Ghost yes indeed watch this we
speak wisdom among them that are perfect yet
not the wisdom of this world see the
phrase in verse 4 man's wisdom, see verse
5 the wisdom of man, see verse 6
the wisdom of this world but we speak
the wisdom of God in the mystery even
the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world unto our glory which none of the
princes of this world knew big fellows that
they were and I think he's not only
dealing with the leaders of the nation I
think he's going on I think the prince
of politics and policy because there were some
things they didn't know for had they known
it they would not have crucified the Lord
of Glory you know the wisdom of the
world and the wisdom of the devil we
need to think about twice remember when we
were dealing with Satan and I told you
that he was creative a creative being that
he was full of wisdom now that doesn't
mean that he knew everything that God knew
I think you know we get a wrong
idea about this first of all some of
us seem to think that the devil's omnipresent
that he can be every man he is
not omnipresent we talk about meeting the devil
maybe none of us have ever met the
devil we meet a lot of agents and
a lot of these wicked spirits that work
for him I think there's a lot of
them who work around me every Tuesday and
Sunday and I wrestle not with flesh and
blood but against principalities and powers who try
to muddle me up I don't think the
devil's omnipresent I know that Job met the
devil and I know that Adam met the
devil and I know the Lord met the
devil but he is not everywhere at once
you know don't be getting that idea and
he's not omnipresent and he's not omnipotent either
he hasn't all the power of the opinion
offices we have we don't know anything if
the devil had all power you'd never get
here my dear friend don't let's get off
on this one he is not omniscient and
he is not omnipresent and I can tell
you this friend he doesn't know everything either
he's not omniscient there's some things that God
kept him from knowing because had he just
known the way the cross would have gone
he would have had other tasty tactics you
know it would fit the best for I
think who got his thing right better than
anybody else that I've ever seen he quotes
the very verse that I have quoted we
speak the wisdom of God in the mystery
he says this why did God keep some
things hidden until this day of ours and
revealed them unto us by the spirits why
did he do this?
why did he not say it all along?
here's what it is it was so that
Lucifer should not know does that sound too
startling?
then reflect if Satan had known centuries in
advance that the crucified Jesus would rise from
the dead that in his crucified resurrected glorified
humanity he would attend to the throne of
universal administration that for two millenials there would
be a soul saving gospel propagated throughout the
human race that upon the seeding wreckage of
the messianic purpose God would begin to erect
the wonderful new mystery Ephesus, the church of
his dear son and that in the end
there would be millions and millions saved to
eternal glory if Satan had known all that
in advance would he ever have hung Ephesus
to the cross as he did through wicked
human encompasses?
nay, on the contrary, he would have exercised
all his subtlest stratagems and strongest pressures to
prevent our Lord from ever hanging there that's
pretty good, isn't it?
I give that top marks as usual for
all said Lord, it's great you see, we've
got to get this tidied out when we
begin to think about wisdom we've got to
get the wisdom of God into our minds
and of course God knew everything and God
always knew everything and you can't take me
back to a time when he didn't know
and if you're bothered about election election is
based on God's full knowledge for whom he
foreknew he predestined and we're elect according to
the full knowledge of God but put it
first you can see there's a vast difference
between the wisdom of God and the wisdom
of man and the wisdom of the world
and the wisdom of the devil there's a
vast difference between the wisdom of God and
the wisdom of a child you're waking up,
are you?
cause you know, let's go to 1 Corinthians
13 when you're there 1 Corinthians 13 now
Paul does this with a special purpose but
we must go into the purpose this evening
verse 11 1 Corinthians 13, verse 11 when
I was a child, he says I stay
as a child I understood as a child
I thought as a child you see, the
child mind has to be brought into this,
you know when I became a man I
put away family things, or at least we
hope we did you know those of you
who have children in the house for anything,
let them be children what kind of neat
old men and old women are they?
they've got childish minds my eye come through
this, you know I remember our two boys,
they're not like me telling you this but
then I don't care I can remember them
creeping around the floor with guns in their
hands and hankies tied round their necks and
cowboy hats on, and you would see Michael
Cumber staring on, waiting to be shot oh
yes, I let them play they were only
kids I had no notion of stopping them
I remember sitting in the study, you know
with Michael on my back on the horse,
and I was at the book and I
can do it still, you know I'll let
you parents get a word here now just
let the child be the child when I
was a child, I thought as a child
I know some of them are making old
women out of them I'll let the kids
alone, let them grow up they need to
grow up, you know when I was a
child, I thought as a child I speak
as a child, I thought I understood as
a child I thought that Charlie Chaplin was
everything in the world oh let's get the
thing clear now you see, if we're going
to have this information we must have the
perfect God we must have the perfect man
and for the Lord Jesus to be a
perfect man he had to be a perfect
child you know, when you get onto that
side of it you can see the childish
mind there's all the difference between Adam and
Christ Adam was never a child he never
was nursed by anybody he never sucked a
bottle in his life he never was cuddled
as a witch he was made a man
he never had babyhood he never had childhood,
he never had boyhood God made him a
man now why did God not make Christ
a man?
you might ask me ah you see, there's
more to it than that really you see,
he's not only a man he's the king
and if he's the king, he has to
be born of David's line of the house
and lineage of David he'd have to belong
to the tribe of Judah he'd have to
be of the seed of Abraham must be
born of a child you see, this is
a very wonderful mystery that God was manifest
in flesh first of all in the little
child you see, when I brought this model
I wasn't only thinking about this let's go
back to Exodus 28 you're not in a
hurry, sure I'll tell you a wee secret
we're not having any bible class next week
you see, it's Christmas and we're not having
any bible class the week after that because
it's the new year's day and we have
the watch night service the night before so
I'd better put in a bit of overtime
tonight, wouldn't I?
we have two weeks off now we're at
Exodus 28 and we were looking at the
ephod there how they would make it and
then if you go over to verse 36
he's talking about the mincer here the thing
that's on the ivy's head he says, thou
shalt make a fruit of pure gold and
watch the word, pure gold and weave upon
it like the engravings of the signet holiness
to the Lord and thou shalt put it
on a blue lace, this plate that it
may be upon the miter you've got to
tie it on with the blue lace upon
the forefront of the miter shall it be
and it shall be upon Aaron's forehead it's
the miter we're thinking about did you see
three things?
you know, it's made of metal this miter's
made of, you can see it here it's
white linen and then you can see it
has a gold plate on the front and
it's held on by a blue lace it's
all there now when you talk about the
miter you're talking about the mind of Christ
and I know no greater subject than the
mind of Christ I wrote a booklet on
the mind of Christ and I must give
old Paisley credit when it's due because I'm
told to give credit when it's due and
I know that he said in America in
one of the great colleges that he preached
at that the greatest message he ever had
in his life was on the mind of
Christ by William Boleyn of Lourdes and I
want to thank him for that you see,
this is a tremendous thing because when you
take this gold with this holiness unto the
Lord you know, this is the mind that's
everlasting, this is the infinite this is the
holy mind that's the mind of God can
never be anything else but holiness when you
take the blue you see that's the color
of the heavens because Christ's mind was a
heavenly mind his mind was always on heavenly
things but he never became so heavenly minded
that he was no earthly use well, where
do we get this bit in?
you see, it was not only a holy
mind it was not only a heavenly mind
it was a human mind now that's the
bit you see you see, it was the
human that had to increase it was the
human that had to grow there cannot be
any real incarnation unless the perfect God and
the perfect man is made one this is
a mystery beyond us how the child how
the child in the manger can be the
mighty God and yet our childlike mind must
grow and increase my dear friends you might
as well ask me if he was God
how could his body grow?
oh, but you would want him to grow
he must become the man of thoughts friend,
what a mind it was it's beyond mine
because it's the wisdom of God in all
its eternal perfection and yet it's the mind
of a child that needs to increase at
the same time and that's mystery old Wesley
got it, you know he said his mystery
it's a great subject but you divide the
wisdoms as you go along would you take
time to sing two verses two verses of
number 32 once in royal David's city stood
a lowly cattle shed and we'll sing the
first and we'll sing the third verse and
through all his wondrous childhood he would honor
and obey two verses, number 32 first and
third thank you a
lowly cattle shed where a mother and her
baby in a manger for his bed
he would honor and obey in a
manger for his bed you know that
there will be no Bibles class next Tuesday,
Christmas night but we have a Christmas morning
service starting dead on eleven dear
Lord
part
us in thy fear and with
thy blessing and take us to our homes
and safety through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen