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When we broke off in our second seminar, I was asking a question. What impact does the coming phase of the kingdom of God have on our lives? I can tell you, if that saves a bit of time, some of the things it should have. For instance, it led to the conversion of the dying thief, did it not? Who in the moment of his surrender to Christ said, Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.
It's very interesting to follow in the Gospel of Luke the train of thought that seems to have gone through that criminal's head as he hung on the cross. At first he abused Christ like his fellow criminal, but then he began to think, apparently, as best he could within the pain of his crucifixion, and turned to rebuke the other criminal. Dost thou not fear God, said he, seeing we are in the same condemnation. The same as who? Not just that we too are in the same condemnation, but we are in the same condemnation as this man.
And how was that a ground for fearing God? Why, because as the thief explained to his fellow criminal, we receive justly the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing amiss. But then how is that a fear, a ground for fearing God? Well, it's a very important ground. It raises the whole question of where we get our sense of justice from. And that's a very profound instinct in the human deep-seated conscience. The little child whose brother has just snatched away his toy, and mother hasn't noticed the crime, and she sides with her elder son because he's a nice lad who's got the toy, and the young chap says, and unfair.
Well, why on earth did the young fellow get an idea that this world was meant to be fair? Where did he get that from? Instinctive, isn't it? Put there by our creator. And if our creator stands behind our basic sense of justice, then the fact that in this world, horrible injustice can be done, and an innocent man condemned to die, just like us criminals. We deserve it, he didn't. What is to be deduced from that?
The dying thief was fast coming to the notion that there would have to be a future judgment after this life. And you know what? He suddenly felt he wanted there to be one. Isn't that funny? He'd done all he could to avoid justice throughout his long life. Now he came to die, he was hoping there was going to be justice. Because these fellas that had crucified him, not to put a fine point on it, were the most speechless hypocrites. If there was no justice, they would win.
And he hoped there would be a day of judgment. Put it to your unconverted friends. Don't you want there to be a day of judgment? It's an integral part of our gospel, you know. There's going to be a day of judgment. Clap your hands, do start clapping, says Psalm ninety six. Who in his senses would want evil to go on forever, unpunished? We begin to see, thanks to the Spirit of God, how this criminal's conscience was working.
Jesus would come again. He would come in his kingdom. There would be a judgment. And then, of course, he faced the question of what shall happen to me. And on what he had heard of our Lord, how much is he, had he heard? Did he hear him pray for those that crucified him? That gave him some hope. And he prayed his prayer of repentance, Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. He hadn't been in the habit of obeying any kingdom, not he in his criminal life, but now he found the very idea to be his very salvation, that the Messiah would allow him to come and obey him in his kingdom.
That's a father going kind of conversion, isn't it? It's not merely getting converted to get my sins forgiven and then live as I please. It's a request to be allowed to enter the kingdom and obey the king. Yes, but it has an effect on us, surely. May I cite you two Thessalonians chapter one. Two Thessalonians chapter one. And we begin to read in verse five, two Thessalonians one five, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of
God, for which you also suffer. If so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with the angels of his power, and so forth. Verse eleven: to which end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire of goodness and every work of faith with power. That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And now we have a doctrinal problem, don't we? What does Paul mean when he's praying for these folks that God would count them worthy of that coming kingdom? Is entrance into that kingdom dependent, dependent upon our merit? No, indeed not. The way into his kingdom, be it his millennial kingdom or his eternal kingdom, is told us quite precisely. Blessed are they who have washed their robes, that is, in the blood of the Lamb, that they may have right to the tree of life and enter into the gates of the city.
It is altogether through the blood of the Lamb that we are cleansed and made worthy to enter his kingdom. When then what Paul, what is Paul talking about that God may count you worthy of the kingdom for which you suffer? It seems to me that the answer is simply at the level of practice. Here's the Lord coming. I simplify it with my childish mind. Here's the Lord coming, and he takes us up to be with him. He comes in glory to execute his wrath on unbelievers, some of whom we may have worked with in our place of work.
And they become aware that we've been taken to glory, but they are consigned to perdition. What will they think? Will they say, well, yes, she had a very peculiar idea. She was a kind of a religious, you know, you know, but to give her her due, she never told the smutty jokes that the rest of us told. She was honest keeping time. She wasn't ashamed of her, her savior, she called him. And she spent her time and money and energy, she really served him.
We sure thought she was a crank. But to give her her due, she really believed it and lived it. The Lord has taken her to heaven. Well, golly good stuff. What would he say? What, that man Goody? Him. Whew. Would he say of another? Well, he joined the rest of us in our riotous behavior, in our swizzling of the income tax, in our business lives.
Oh yes, he went to church on Sunday. As far as we could tell, an old hypocrite when he came to business. He didn't deserve to be in that kingdom. What will the world say? May God, says Paul, that he may count you worthy, regard you as worthy, not in the sense that you deserve, you merit. This too is a gift, but that you have lived worthy of the calling, the virtual call. Tell me, before I, I go further into other extravagances, um, am I anywhere near the truth in my interpretation of two Thessalonians one?
My question being, what does the puzzle mean, saying that God will count us worthy of the kingdom for which we suffer. Oh, there's one, uh, one question here coming, sir. Well, I would, I would agree because Paul says walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Yes. I'm glad you agree, sir. I'm just a little frightened lest you agree too soon, but, um, you, you agree. Anybody else got a comment on it? I ask because in my innocence, I think I can't remember when I last heard a sermon preached on it, so to speak.
I've heard multitudes of sermons that say salvation is by grace through faith. Amen, I say, because it is absolute truth. Yeah. I haven't heard so many sermons preached on this bit. But perhaps in, in, in your assembly it's constantly preached on, I don't know. There anyway, the thought of that coming kingdom is meant to have a practical effect on our lives now, isn't it? In the sense of the age to come, to quote one more example. When our Lord took the apostles up the Transfiguration Mount, according to Matthew, he said that what they were to see was the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
It was a vision. Our Lord uses the term as they came down the mountain, tell the vision to no one. It was a vision of the Lord coming in his kingdom. Helping to explain to Peter and company what our Lord meant when he earlier said, he who would save his life or his soul shall lose it. And he that is prepared to lose his life or his soul shall save it. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For his life. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul or life?
You say, why on earth, Mr. Preacher, do you keep using the alternative? Why you don't come straight? Well, because the Greek word is psuche, and the Greek word psuche has many meanings. It can be translated life and is used to mean simply physical life in some places. In other places, it's of the word our Lord would use of that bit of us that, uh, survives death. Fear not them that destroy the body, and after that have no more they can do. Fear him that is able to destroy both body and soul in death. You'll see. What is this soul? He that loves his...
his, how would you have me translate it? His life, his soul, shall lose it. The preachers say, of course, I understand them, good men they are too. They will ask you, have you got a soul? How is your soul getting on, young man, you'll say? Is your soul saved? Happy you are if you can say, yes, my soul is saved. And when was that? Oh, you say, uh, the year, uh, nineteen hundred and four or something, whatever you are. And I can tell you the very date and the time when the light dawned in and I trusted the Lord and my soul was saved. Thank God for that, and and never will perish.
Can I ask you a question? This soul of yours that you, oh, still searching for me here. This soul of yours that is saved, where do you keep it? What is it in a nice box and put it in a vault in the bank, so that when the Lord comes, you'll say, Lord, give me half a minute, I'm just going to go into the bank to get my soul. Well, you can't do that with a soul, can you? What do you do with it? What is it anyway? I mean, a soul, as you see, is a life.
And not just your physical life, but all things that go with it. Your time, for instance. You say you, uh, your soul is saved, but it's a time. You're still the same you, isn't it? Still the same soul as it was in nineteen hundred and four when you got converted, and it's been around all this time. It has a time element to it. And energies, of course, and love, and hate, and ambitions. And the fact is of our souls, like it or lump it, we we we have to spend them. You have to spend your life, don't you?
You have to spend your time. You have to spend your energies. You have to spend your love. And keep it in the box. You say your soul is saved. Thank the Lord for that. You still have to spend it, don't you? The question is what you spend it on. When Peter heard that our Lord was going to Jerusalem to be crucified, Peter objected most strongly. Lord, you've got that wrong. You need more positive thinking, said he. You're going to be a success.
Because, you see, Peter had invested a tremendous bit of his soul, so to speak, in Christ. He left his job. He was absent from home, he put his energies in preaching for Christ, gone around Palestine preaching for Christ. Hours he'd spent, time, love, affection. Christ was going to be crucified, the whole lot had gone down the drain. No, no, you're not going to, you'll be cr- no, no, not be crucified. You're going to sit on a throne, and I'm going to have right and left beside you, maybe, and at least two chariots to drive him.
And our Lord had to correct him, didn't he? Saying, Peter, you must be careful. He that loves his life, his soul, and tries to keep it, shall lose it. He that loses it for my sake shall keep it. How could you expound the conundrum? Well, because there are two ages to start with. There's this present age, and there's the coming age. There's a coming age when he shall come in the glory of his father and the holy angels, and we shall see the son of man coming in his kingdom. And the question is, which age are you spending your soul on?
Spend it for that age, and you keep it. Spend it on unworthy things, and you lose it, don't you? Don't you love the world, says John. Why not, John? Very attractive. Okay, my boy, says he, don't love the world because the world passes away. And in the sense that John means the term world, anything we spend on the world is but temporary. The world passes away. Spend it on things that are going to last.
Invest in that coming age. Hello? No, I'm just, um... I appreciate what you're saying. I think I'm getting the gist of it, but when you emphasize soul, I'm wondering exactly what you mean by that when I think of Paul in his closing prayer in First Thessalonians five and twenty three, Mm. prays that they will be wholly sacrificed, wholly in spirit, soul, and body. Sanctify this. Yes. Um, I'm wondering what difference you're making between spirit and soul.
I mean, man is a triune being, I take it, and um, that is one verse that I find that, uh, fine men of God misquote because they speak of body, soul, and spirit. I think the Holy Spirit has a reason in First Thessalonians five and twenty three. I think it's very significant that the Holy Spirit puts the spirit first, and it's spirit, soul, and body. And therefore, when you say soul, I'm struggling with my understanding of soul there, or spirit. Uh, you'll forgive my saying it, but I'm delighted to hear you struggle, sir. When it comes to defining soul, yes, I struggle too.
Do you see? Yes? Well, I, I mean, off- often I'll correct me, um, with your wisdom, but um, I believe often in scripture, in our English scriptures, the word soul is used where we might use the word spirit. Well, there are occasions when scripture itself uses the term soul and spirit almost interchangeably. Yes. Things that are said of the soul are said of the spirit, and therefore people have concluded that they are two terms, appear to be different, but actually mean the same thing in the end, apply to the same thing.
For my own, uh, self, I think that that can be generally true, but there are certain things that are said of the spirit where you could not possibly put in place the term soul. The words I speak unto you, they are soul, and they are life. No, they are spirit, they are life. God is soul? No, God is spirit. There are areas where soul and spirit are two different things. They may overlap, but I think they are not, um, uh, uh, uh, the same thing exactly.
But, sir, uh, this is only time that constrains me, eh, but you've raised, I'm glad you raised it, a whole question. I think it's a question to be faced. What do we mean by soul? You see, that the, uh, uh, God aims to sanctify spirit, soul, and body. You see, that is so. Eh, our bodies are not completely sanctified sometimes at the moment. God intends wa- uh, to complete his work. The question of our souls, therefore, likewise comes up. And I'll give you another reason for thinking seriously about these things, not to argue with one another and fall out and form another denomination, the soul denomination.
With soul brothers. The soul. You've got the idea. The idea is a very good man. Uh, you see, but you'll see. But there's there to think, because as you now know, there are evangelicals who deny the soul completely. They'll say man is a soul, not that he has a soul. And they regard the human being as being nothing but physics. Non-reductionist physicalism, it's called. They believe in the resurrection, that when the Lord comes, there will be a resurrection. There will be a resurrection of the body, for God has the, forgive the term, computer program or whatever you call it, the cell index or the whatever, and can rebuild us and is not short of potassium to do it with, you'll see.
But there's no soul, they say. And in our conversation with our scientist friends, in the advancing brain, uh, science now, if we meet at that level at all, we must be prepared to give a reason for the hope within us that there is a non-material part to the human being. But on this matter of soul, I recommend it to you. I make the observation that some of our thinking has, uh, been infiltrated by Greek philosophy. It was Plato that taught, uh, and used the term immortal soul. You'll not find the phrase immortal soul in scripture.
Soul lives on, yes. You won't find the actual phrase immortal soul in scripture, and sometimes I think we borrowed a little bit too much, uh, from the Greek philosophers. But now, if you m- give me permission, I must move on because I promised to talk about the present phase of the kingdom of God, and to argue my thesis that the kingdom of God does have to do with us believers in this present age. If you say, but why should ever that have been in doubt? It rests on a very, uh, extensive knowledge of scripture, doesn't it?
Because whereas in the Gospels you will hear much said about the Kingdom of God, when you come to the epistles, the change is noticeable. The references to the kingdom of God in the epistles are very rare compared with their accounts in the gospels, and many have thereby, therefrom concluded that that is because the kingdom of God is a Jewish concept. Our Lord came and offered the kingdom to the Jews. They refused him and his kingdom, and the kingdom was put in abeyance.
And now in this age we have the church. The kingdom of God will be resumed at our Lord's second coming in power when Israel is restored. But really speaking, the kingdom of God has nothing to do with us, and they will cite the obvious fact that nowhere is Jesus called the king of the church. And of course, that is a valid observation that, uh, uh, the epistles do not use the term kingdom of God anywhere near so frequently as do the gospels. And it is also right, surely, to point out that the church, typical of this age, is not in its terminology coextensive with the kingdom.
Church isn't the same thing as the kingdom of God. If I may use a humble illustration, you'll see I was born under the reign of His Majesty King George V, and His gracious Queen, uh, Queen Mary, who was a believer, used to give away the tract Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment to her officers and men and anybody else she came across, because she was brought to assurance of salvation through George Cutting's tract, Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment. But now, under His Majesty Queen George, King George V. His queen, of course, was special to him, wasn't she?
Was she in his kingdom or not? At the coronation of the king, she was obliged to come and kneel before him and accept him as her sovereign. She wasn't like the rest of us. She had a marvelously privileged position, but I should find it very difficult to say that she wasn't in the kingdom. She was subject to his rule, as everybody else was.
But let me not, uh, content myself with the marriages. Let's look at some verses that talk to us in this day and age, people in the church and Gentile church at that, eh, to whom the kingdom of God is meant to be a very, uh, present reality. One um Corinthians then, chapter four. This is Paul talking. Verses nineteen, well, verses 18 to the end. One Corinthians four eighteen to the end. Now some are puffed up as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and I will know not the word of them which are puffed up, but the power for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
That's a he- typically Hebrew way of talking. It doesn't mean that the kingdom of God has nothing to do with words. The words that are given us are inspired of God. But there's a Hebrew way of talking where we would say the kingdom of God is not merely words, but it's in power. And you'll find it out, says Paul, if I come to you at Corinth, predominantly Gentile church, though it was. You'll find out if I come that the kingdom of God, that is the kingly rule of God. Remember how we defined it in our first seminar, that the term kingdom can have various meanings, and one of its meanings is the kingly rule of the sovereign.
You will find out, says Paul, if I come to you with a rod, that the sovereign rule of God, the kingly rule of God in Corinth, in your assembly, is not just words. It's in power. That solemn exhortation reminds me at least that, yes, the kingly rule of God is relevant not only to me as a personal individual, but relevant to situations in the churches. Let's go to, uh, Romans, shall we, chapter fourteen. Romans chapter 14.
And this is verse seventeen: For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And once more, it's typically a Hebrew way of talking about it. The Kingdom of God is not anything to do with eating and drinking. Well, of course, it has a lot to do with eating and drinking. We're not to get drunk to start with, and we mustn't be gluttons. So yes, the Kingdom of God will talk to us eventually about our food and clothes and things. But this is Hebrew way of talking for the kingdom of God is not simply about, is not predominantly about food and drink.
The kingdom of God, the kingly rule of God is predominantly about righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We should take the context into account, of course. Paul, in chapter fourteen of Romans, is talking about the difference between eating meat and eating simply vegetables. This is not the same problem as dealt with in one Corinthians eight. where there it was a question of whether you should eat things offered to idols or not. Thing- the offering of stuff to idols, uh, could carry with it much more serious implications.
Paul is not discussing that here. It's nothing to do with food offered to idols. It is whether it is right to eat meat, or should you eat only vegetables? What is the position? Secondly, it's about days. Should you regard one day special, or should you regard all days? Do they? And of course, here Christians were thinking one thing, and other Christians were thinking another, and how do you des- do you settle the point? Paul is pointing out that in these matters, which are technically called matters of indifference by the theologians, because scripture doesn't explicitly say.
And where you have things where Chris- uh, the scriptures do not explicitly say this or that, you mustn't, uh, lay down your own rules for other people. You must respect their conscience. Why is that? Because ultimately it doesn't matter what they do. Well, in a sense, you'd be right to say that, but in another sense, you'd be very wrong. Because, as Paul points out, the man who has a conscience against eating meat, it's to the Lord he has a conscience.
He feels it would displease the Lord if he ate meat. Don't you interfere with that man. To his own Lord he does it, and you're not his Lord. You feel that you can happily eat meat, and it's to the Lord you eat it, so carry on eating it. Don't let the other chap blame you and despise you or criticize you for doing it. He has no scriptural basis on which to criticize you. He disagrees with you very strongly.
There's no scriptural basis, and you're eating it, you eat it to the Lord. Because you feel it would please the Lord, and it's perfectly all right. A man keeps a special day, he keeps it to the Lord. You make all days alike, you should make them all alike to the Lord. And the principle now at stake in these matters of indifference is not, well, thank God there are lots of things we can do it where we can do as we like, because scripture doesn't say. It's not quite that. It is we must make up our own mind.
But then that is a very valuable thing, because now we've got to make up our own mind personally before the Lord Jesus, in the conscious knowledge that one day the Lord will come. We shall stand before his judgment seat. And we shall be- have to be prepared to answer his questions, are we not? You come to the Lord? And the Lord says to you, my dear man, such and such a day, you hear a lot of meat, didn't you? Yes, Lord, I did. And in your heart of hearts, you felt it was wrong, it would displease me, didn't you?
Well, to be honest, Lord, yes, I did. I did feel it would displease you. Why did you eat it then? You say, because that brother Gooding told me I was to eat it. They don't be so daft not eating it, stupid. And the Lord will say, did you, what, did you mean doing something that displeased me because Gooding said it? For this cause I died and rose again, that I might be your Lord.
Ah, yes, this is the rule of God in the hands of his son, in day-to-day living. And it's a good thing that we're not given complete commandments, isn't it, about every particular in life. Because it leaves us an area where now we are obliged to come to the Lord and make up our minds before the Lord on the principle that we're responsible to him directly. And he will call us to. We have to exercise our judgment then and do what in our hearts we honestly feel the Lord would have us do and not do what we feel he wouldn't have us do.
So do we build up character. I I re- repeat, that is exceedingly important. And it's exceedingly important for me in these things not to interfere with you, and important for you not to interfere with me. Recognize the Lord's responsibility. I am the Lord's servant, and you are the Lord's servant. We are responsible to him. Actually, if you follow what Paul is saying, wouldn't matter whether you ate meat or didn't eat meat. That isn't the point at issue. The point at issue is on what ground do you decide to do what you do?
Is it to please the Lord? Between you and the Lord. I'm doing it for the Lord's sake. I'm not doing it because I don't think it would please the Lord. You can do it if you think it's okay, but I can't. And I'm building up that character, that habit of considering the Lord, even in my most personal affairs. I'm not to judge, my brother. All the sad divisions amongst believers who have dared to take the place of the Lord, try to force their fellow believers to do things that scripture itself doesn't command, or not to do things that scripture itself doesn't forbid, but force them to do it because some strong-minded, or as the Bible might say, weak-minded man wants to impress his will and uniformity of behavior on everybody else.
So it's not a laissez-faire, do as you please. The kingdom of God, the rule of God, is primarily concerned, therefore, with righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. And to split churches on things that are not fundamental doctrines of the faith goes against the whole purpose of the operation. The primary concern of the rule of God is with righteousness, of course, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.
The Kingdom of God at work in this present age. If our dispensationalism should become so extreme that we say the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with us in this present generation, then we should be very careful, lest the carelessness it induces in these matters prove to be a road that leads to sorrow and division. One final thing, for this is the last seminar of the whole conference, and I listen to your saying hallelujah.
But, uh, we still have, uh, uh, five minutes more. There's another scripture that seems to me to be relevant to our present situation. Though it occurs in the Sermon on the Mount, and I have left it till last. As you'll see, I am not myself of the opinion that the Sermon on the Mount was given to Jews and is not applicable to those that are in the church. So, in my, uh, estimation, the verse I now, the verses I now quote from chapter six about the, uh, kingdom of God are relevant to us in our daily practical living.
Verse thirty one, Matthew six. Be not therefore anxious saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. But seek you, you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. The question is, what does our Lord mean by this command?
Seek first the kingdom of God. In my youth, I thought it meant, well, before it comes to the question of your job and earning your living and these and other things and doing your studies, seek first, uh, to spread the gospel. That wasn't bad for you, was it, to have that idea? Would help a lot of youth to get it, uh, you see, uh, and give out some tracts or something and put spiritual interests first and make your career second. That's still very good advice, a rough rule of thumb, you see. But it means more than that, surely. Because you notice the context. Our Lord is talking about our daily work.
And first he observes why the Gentiles go to work. What are they seeking, going to work? Well, basically, and first and foremost, most of them are seeking food and clothes. Well, if you don't go to work, you don't get the money to buy the food and the clothes. And the odd, uh, uh, you know, a Ford shed or something or other, and a decent house, and a lakeside summer home. Well, you know what I mean. Uh, uh, uh, uh, we go to work to get the food and the clothes. Don't, don't you be like the Gentiles, says Christ.
What do you mean? We have to go to work too, don't we? Well, yes, we do. Well, what do you think we go to work for? We have to go to work to get food and clothes. Oh, really? Is that the first reason why you go to work? To get food and clothes? Well, you lot of old Gentiles. That's why the Gentiles go to work, primarily to get food and clothes. You said to be a realist man, you have to. You have to get your Kellogg's cornflakes or something and eat, you see, else it wouldn't live, and then you couldn't get converted, and then you couldn't go to heaven.
You've got to, you've got to be practical, man. Yes, so the Lord is practical. Your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things. Of course he knows. And work is one of the ways that our Heavenly Father has appointed to us for getting these. Of course we have to go to work, and its secondary dividend is food and clothes, but it's not its primary dividend, my brothers, my sisters. What is the primary dividend, the primary purpose for which God sends us, his people, to our daily work? Listen to our Lord.
When you go to work, let your primary purpose be to seek the kingly rule of God in your lives. Not merely to get money to support foreign missions, though that's a very good reason to work hard for. But the primary reason to seek the kingly rule of God, the kingdom of God in that sense, his kingly rule, and notice what comes, his righteousness. Because to seek his kingly rule and to submit to it day after day in my daily life and at my work is to build up a righteous character.
That's the first reason for sending people to work. The Lord sent me to work to teach and to do some research. It was difficult sometimes to get the balance right. If you didn't do the research, you didn't get promoted. If you didn't adequately teach the students, you weren't being fair to them. And some, only a few, m- m- more than one students could test your patience. Oh.
How How's shall I decide it? Bother them and let my career take first place. But, wait a minute. I am to seek first the kingly rule of God in my life. I may have told you before, let me tell you again, but I can't forget it. I sat in the home of a good Christian man now retired from work, devoted to the Lord, and a man that constantly put God's things first.
He had a post as a company secretary, and in our country that meant he was partly accountant and partly lawyer. He therefore had to sit in on the board meetings of his company. His company, being a big company with many different, uh, places where their factories and things were, were beginning to fiddle the books in a very big way. By the way, they were distributing certain assets here and there and elsewhere, and doing it so that the income tax inspector became suspicious and demanded to meet the board.
And as company secretary, he had to be there. He had no control over policy, do you see? Eventually, the income tax inspector asked precisely about these assets. The chairman of the board turned to this Christian man and said, please answer. He said to me, in that moment I realized if I told the truth, I should lose my job. I had a wife and children, and a house and a mortgage. What was he to do?
If he had been seeking first his food and clothes and house, he would have joined in the deception that the board was trying to put on the income tax inspector, wouldn't he? That was a prime consideration, and have kept his job. And then would have lost the main purpose for which the Lord sent him to work in the first place. To seek the kingly rule of God and the righteous character that comes under that kingly rule.
He said, David, I decided to tell the truth, and I told it. And after the meeting, the principal came to him and said, we shall not require your services further. Ah. But there was built into him by that decision, wasn't there? One more building block under the kingly rule of God into that righteous character that God is aiming to produce in us both for now and for eternity.
It is my thesis that the kingdom of God does have to do with us in very practical sense, both in our behavior in the churches and in our business and family life outside. Ponder that. My address is known to the conveners of this conference. And if you feel that in these matters I have zeal, but lacking in some knowledge, then please write to me.
Would you be so kind as to do that? I mustn't allow more questions. It is now a minute past five. But these are serious matters. I was brought up among dear folks who told me that the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with us in the church. I was told by one senior man how foolish it was to suppose that the Sermon on the Mount could teach us anything. It was written, he said, for the Jews under the time of the coming tribulation, when they would be obliged under persecution to pray, give us this day our daily bread. He said, we don't have to pray that prayer, do we?
My kitchen larder is full of them. Ooh. Oh. Must I be taught the lesson too? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I still am dependent on him, surely, to give me my daily bread. He does it basically by my work, but in that work I must primarily seek his righteousness that comes by obeying his kingly rule.
Oh, what sadness it would be if I got the food and clothes at the expense of obeying his kingly rule and putting his kingdom first. Shall we pray? Blessed Lord Jesus, we have been thinking about thy words, and now we come to thee. Give us clarity of thought as we meditate upon them. Where we are still mistaken and see things as men walking, then in thy patience perfect our sight, we pray.
But above all we ask, since by God's marvelous grace we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into thy kingdom, who are the son of his love. Give us grace to heed thy words and in all things to seek the kingdom of God first, that we might build under thee that righteous character that thou dost seek to promote within us. And for thy mercies and thy grace, and for thy forgiveness and thy precious blood shed for our be- on our behalf, and for thy presence with us, this we do praise thee.
And as thou seest our need, from time to time, fulfill the promise that we have been thinking of in this conference. Come to us, Lord Jesus, and appear to us, that we might recognize thy voice and thereby take courage to live and serve thee until thy glorious coming again, for thy name's sake. Amen.
