Toronto Conference: 1974, Bringing to the Lord (2:11)
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
I'd like to turn first of all to Titus from the second chapter. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Well, the young people, this afternoon, it was on my heart to speak about some of the things that we could bring to the Lord. But first of all, of course it's fitting that we should speak of what He has brought to us, because the little that we can bring to Him is exceedingly small when we think of what He has brought to us. And I believe these verses bring before us in a very touching way what He has brought to us. And form deserve kill. For it says the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men the grace of God. When we think of grace, it means God's undeserved favor. Did we deserve any of this kindness that He has shown to us, that we deserve to be picked up on our downward course and brought to Him, brought to be made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? For the salvation that we possess. Is not merely to know our sins are forgiven, but every blessing that God has destroyed is such a wonderful thing that it's almost beyond our minds to take in in fullness even one of the many blessings. While the psalmist said, How great were those thy thoughts unto me, if I should declare and speak of them. They are more than can be numbered are we find the apostle Paul to. When he speaks about it, he says, and to know the law of Christ, which passes knowledge. He spoke of knowing something and then in the next breath he said, but we really can't know it. It passes knowledge. And so I trust that each one of you here this afternoon can say, thank God, salvation has been brought to me, the grace of God that bringeth salvation. You realize how restless you have been blessed. You realize that you. Have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Perhaps you spend a little time, and I hope you have, thinking of the wonders of knowing Christ as your Savior, to know that you've been delivered from coming judgment and that heaven is your home. But oh, when we think of how God has blessed us so abundantly, the little hymn we sang this morning said Trembling. We had hoped for mercy some low place within his door. What? The crown, the throne, the mansion, all the rest. Long before now, that is God. Not only gave us a safe place within His door, but oh, how wonderful to share with Christ are those unsearchable riches. And so when we think of this, the little bit that we can bring to Him is surely very, very small. But as we meditate on what He has brought to us, it is a privilege that we have that we can bring. Don't think the hem. And we notice here in these verses that His grace teaches us certain things. It teaches us how we ought to live in this world, because we are a peculiar people. We don't really belong to this world anymore. We were once walking according to the course of this world. We were once part and parcel of this great vast system. Who is going on away from God? About we're not any longer and we're a peculiar. Only have been brought apart from it. Our position is somewhat like an ambassador in this world. He is in the midst of a nation. He sees a lot of activity, but he's not part of it. He's there to represent his own country in another country and you and I can say our citizenship is in heaven. Someone saw so we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus. That's where we belong and say this grace has taught us how we should live in this world. That there are many things that have an appeal to our fallen natures. And we only have to be honest to acknowledge that we still have that fallen nature and that the world still does make an appeal to that nature. But God has given us something better. And when we have something better, we just stop and think, well, I, I don't need that because I've got something better than that.
And that's how we deny ungodliness and worldly lust. Seven times Satan makes an appeal and says, look what you're going to get by going after this. Just stop and think, well, what has God-given me? Is it better what he has given me in him than what the world is offering to me? I'm sure if we think of this, we would immediately settle it and say, well, I can see what I have in him. It's so much better. And more than that, dear young people, if you sow to the flesh of the flesh, you reach corruption and many, many. Young people have gone after something in youth and it has spoiled their lives. Now we know how that David sinned and the Lord forgave in his sin and he was restored. He wrote some of those beautiful psalms, but oh, there was a lot of sorrow that came into his life because he had sowed to the flesh an order of young people. It's my desire that when you come to the Lord Jesus. And if you would see how risky you are blessed in Him. And that you would be preserved from those things that will only bring sorrow into your life later on if you have to look back upon with regret and wish that you had listened to the warnings of God's precious words. And then it tells us to something we're looking for. Are we looking for this world to improve? No, we don't expect it to improve. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. Do we expect, too, that there's going to be more freshness and desire for the Lord? Why we always find in the Scriptures at the end of the dispensation as things go down. How weak things were when the Lord Jesus was born into this world. Holy things are in the last state of the church described in Laodicea, So we see that. We're taught to expect how that gaze will become more difficult. But thank God, we have a blessed hope looking for that blessed hope. The Lord is coming. He's going to take us to that home where there will be no sickness nor sorrow nor crying nor pain. He's taken us to that. He's going to take us to that place where there are places will be smooth and. The crooked things will be made straight and that's our hope. And then to the spoon of the day when this world will all be set right. And that's why it says the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. He is going to set things right in his poor troubled world. He's going to come and he's the only one that can improve and set things right. The mess that this world has got into which we feel. And then isn't it lovely? What it says Who gave himself for us? What kind of a sacrifice did he make? He's brought salvation. What does it cost? Who gave himself the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. You know we can give things to the Lord about this thing. He gave himself His love, could not give more, and would not give less because He wanted us. Yes, dear young person, as we remarked yesterday. He not only wanted to bless you. What do you want is your company he wanted to have your company and that he's the joy of his eternal glory is going to be to have his redeemed people there and that at that time it says he felt joy over them with singing. He shall rest in his love. Oh what a future then is ahead of us. And so let us just meditate for a few minutes on what he gave for us. He came to bring salvation. He gave himself for us now that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people of good works means that we're really in earnest. The Christian is not a wishwash person. He's not just one who goes through this world that everybody can change his opinion whether things are right or wrong. He has something definite to go by. He has the word of God, and he is to be zealous. He is to be in earnest to live to. He is the one who has done so much for him and I besides you, dear young people, not to take on the characters of this world today, whose standards of what is right and what is wrong are almost changing and going down daily. Remember, you and I have standards set by God Himself. For it says all of sin comes short of the glory of God. God has a standard that is inflexible. It doesn't.
And so you and I are to have certain standards, and these standards are not set by public opinion. They're set by the Word of God and word of the zealous. As the apostle said, it's good to be zealously affected in a good thing. You know, people can be turned around so easily. We often see how that person is going on and someone influences and they turn the other way. I remember the Lord Jesus who saves you. 2 Saves you can give you. Strength to live, to please Him. He can help you to have real decisions, real purpose in your heart. One of the first exhortations to unbelievers that we find in the Acts is that with purpose of heart or they would cleave unto the Lord. And so may the Lord grant them that with purpose of heart that you choose, and they cleave unto the Lord. When I believe we could say the next thing we can, or the first thing I should say we can bring to him, let's turn to Deuteronomy 26. Deuteronomy chapter 26. And it shall be when thou shalt come into the land, under the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance and possesses it, and Louis therein, that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth. Which thou shalt bring of the land. Of thy land, that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall put it in the basket, and shall go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. And passing on the eighth verse. And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outskirts arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders, And he had brought us into this place, and hath given us this. And even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now behold, I have brought the first fruits of the lamb, which thou, O Lord, hast given me, and thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God. Well, here we find the very first thing that they were to do when they reached the harvest, was to bring the basket of first fruits and set it down, and worship before the Lord. And this is important too, but the very first thing that the Lord desires from us is that we should bring Him praise, that we should bring that the overflowing of our heart to Him in worship and in Thanksgiving. We all remember about the 10 lepers who were cleansed. Every one of those 10 lepers were cleansed, perfectly cleansed. But it tells us that one of them came back and with a loud voice. Glorified God arm down at the feet of the Lord Jesus, who gave him a little of the thanks that was due to the Lord for what He had done for him. And so when he is, the light came into the land, that good lamb flowing with milk and honey, and he had reached there, and he had to come there and see what a fine harvest he had before he partook of that harvest for himself. He brought a desk to the first fruit. And he set it down before the Lord, and he looked back and retraced that he was once a slave in Egypt, and how he cried to the Lord, and how the Lord delivered him, and how he was brought into such a place of blessing. And there he was in the place where the Lord had chosen to put his name, and there he was. He's a worshiper. No, dear young people, isn't this a wonderful privilege that you and I can find in God's precious words? Anthony is marked out for us, how he would have us to come and gather around the Lord Jesus for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them, and there to present Thanksgiving and praise and worship to him, where he set down his basket of first fruits, and there it says he worshiped before the Lord. That wasn't a fearless exactly, was it? It was worth it. People talk about suraless and. Very definitely has a place in our Christian life, but the very first thing that God would have is the worship and the Thanksgiving of our hearts. For from again to heaven it tells us the Spirit and shall serve Him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their forehead. And I believe the service of heaven will actually be worshipped. But he knows sinners to be saved, there to be no poor people.
Health. But there will be a service of praise. In fact, one has sometimes remarked that I have been struck by the similarity between the remembrance of the Lord and the gospel meeting in the remembrance of the Lord, that we present to the Lord the person, and the work present to God the person, and the work of His beloved Son. We tell God how thankful we are that His beloved. Turn down here and accomplish that worth of redemption for us. And we pour out our hearts to him and Thanksgiving and praise for that. And then when the gospel meeting comes in the evening, we have the same message. And we're telling sinners that just as we were saved through that work, for which we're giving thanks so that they can be saved, killed to that glorious work, so in the morning we present the person and work of Christ to God. God as that which is a theme of our worship and evening, we present the person and the work of Christ to the sinners as His way of blessing. Isn't it lovely to see if this is God's order first to God and then to others? But God always delights to have us occupied with his beloved Son. And so they they took that basket at first down and all. I just want to ask each one of us here. Have we taken that time? In our lives have we realized the importance and the privilege of being married as worshippers around the Lord Jesus just to thank him, just to praise him and just to say that we we want to tell him a little of our of our appreciation of what he has done for us. For the very first thing that we bring then is worship to him through the Lord. Grant that I thinking of what he has done. There will be more worship in our heart. I think of that passage in First Corinthians 14 where it says. Has it been, brethren, when you come together, everyone of you have a thong, half of him, half a doctrine, half an interpretation? The Scripture doesn't contemplate such a thing as coming together without some praise upon our hearts. It even says. None shall appear before me empty. How could we come into His presence, knowing what He has done for us, without praise in our hearts for Him and Thanksgiving in response? Because He has said that this do in remembrance of May. Helen, a lot of terms of John chapter 1, John chapter 1 and verse 39. Heed up the Lord Jesus speaking. He saith unto them, Come and see. They came, and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour. One of the two which heard John speak and proud him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first first findeth his own brother, Simon and Sarah. Unto him we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted to Christ. And he brought him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, as our Simon the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Caesar, which is thy interpretation of stones. And in this little incident before us, here we have one who had been brought to know the Lord Jesus, and when he is bringing, here is his brother to Jesus. Bring this knife here, and we've seen how that the Lord has brought salvation to us, and that we can return in praise and Thanksgiving our basket of first fruits, as it were, filled with worship and praise to Him, and we present that to Him. And then here we find, 1. He came to this place where the Lord was, and in his 39th verse it says. He saw where he dwelt, that is, he saw that God did have. My dwelling place and the person of the Lord Jesus here upon earth, that there was a place where they could go and there they could be in the company of the Lord Jesus. And from that place then he goes out and what did he do? Well, he had a brother, but he didn't believe knew the Lord Jesus. And so he searched for his brothers. He wanted him to hear the good news and you can think of that person and how you long.
They could be saved. How you long that they should know the Lord Jesus as you do, or up with the feeling that came in Andrew's heart. I'm sure his heart was so thrilled that he had been brought to know the Lord, that he had come to the place where the Lord Jesus dwelt. And probably we could say that spent the happiest day of his whole life there because he adored with him that day. This was so overcome with joy at being where the Lord Jesus was and in his company that he just said I don't want to leave. This place is wonderful. I want to be in his company and a young person. The grandest thing on earth is to be in the company of the Lord Jesus. Now he thought of someone who had a need, his own brother. Because it tells us in John chapter 17, the Lord Jesus there is praying to his Father. And he said, I claim not that thou should have take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil. And then again he said, as thou hast sent me into the world, Even so have I also sent them into the world. Now you know the Lord could have taken us to heaven the very day He saved us. Will never be anymore fit for heaven than we were the day that He saved us and washed our sins away in his precious blood. About the land had left us here, and he has left us here, just like he left Andrew. And just like the Lord in that prayer said, I don't ask that they should be taken out of the world, but that they might be preserved and that they might realize that they have actually been sent into the world. Given till I say a little. To do. And dear young people, we have a little service to do. Perhaps when you were saved you wished the Lord would have just taken you out of the world altogether, out of all the troubles and problems and all, and you just thought it would be grand if you could take it straight to heaven. Why did you leave us here? Well, He has given us the privilege of being in this world as His sent ones sent into. World to be a testimony for him, the same for him to think to bring others to him and our dear young people. I wonder if you and I value this privilege. How many of us were brought to the Lord by someone else speaking to us about the Savior, someone else praying for us, someone else perhaps bringing us to a gospel meeting and we thank God that they had such an interest in us that. Amount of us to be saved too and they brought us and I just passed this on to you. Have you thought it was a privilege that you have? Someone has said that next to the joy of your own conversion is the joy of leading someone else to the Savior. And it's a marvelous thing too, that in the coming day God will associate such with the little service that they did for him. Nor tells us in the Psalms. Peter goeth forth and reap us bearing precious seed. Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his keys with him, just like the man who's harvesting. Goes out and he cuts down the the grain and then he puts it into a seed. And he turns it back. That's the fruit of his labor. He brings his sheep with him. So renewing with this to the apostle Paul that he spoke about the Thessalonians Saints at the coming of the Lord. And he said, for what is our hope of joy or crown of rejoicing are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming in the verse we read yesterday where he spoke about the Corinthians. And he said that he desired that he might present them as a case virgin to Christ. Nigeria young people, isn't this a wonderful thing that if you have some little part in bringing someone else to the Lord Jesus, you're going to know that in heaven and it's going to be a special joy to you? I sometimes said that the verses that show us that we're going to know one another in heaven are not connected with natural relationships. You can't think of any verses that talk about knowing one another in heaven that talk about natural relationships.
They all talk about spiritual ones. How did the disciples know Moses and Elias? Not because they were naturally related to them, but because they were men of faith. Why did Paul speak about these Thessalonians Saints in a coming day, being his joy and crown of rejoicing? They weren't related to him, but they were part of his service for the Lord. And so the Corinthians and so you know. Natural relations have a very, very important part in our life down here. And Andrew here brought his brother to the Lord about what is going to last. What is going to last in eternity is the divine relationship. And wouldn't it be lovely if your own brother, who's your brother in the flesh, your natural brother should become by being saved, your brother in Christ. Then there would be a bond that would abide. Then there would be one that would last. And the threat is, if there's someone that you bring to know the Lord Jesus, it's going to be your joy as well as his joy in heaven. And so I just wish to encourage you a little bit not to someone that you could bring to the Lord. You can't save them, but you could bring them to the Lord. And the Lord Jesus can do that work and bring them to himself. To know him, to know him personally. As our brother brought before us last night to have a personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus, acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. And then we find that when Simon was brought to the Lord, something else was revealed to him. The Lord changed his name from Simon to Cephas, which means a stone. And you know, that tells us that God is putting out the spiritual building in this world, and every saved person is a living stone in that building. And so Mr. this brother of Andrews was saved while he was brought to learn something else very wonderful, and that is that he was going to be a son in God's building. Because, you know, men talk about a church and they think of a physical building and they call it a church, but this building is not a church. The people inside. If saved are part of the church, but the building itself is not. Friendly same person in this room that are letting strong in God's building as I sometimes mentioned a little incident. I brought her back in Ottawa. He was going to be meeting one morning to remember the Lord and he picked up a neighbor and gave him a ride in town and his neighbor said where do you go to church? And he said well taught a minute and he said well, I'll tell you the place where I go. The church goes to the building. The church goes to the building. Yes, friends, the church goes to the building because this is just a building. But the church is peaceful and Cifas means a stone, and the Lord changed the name of Simon to a stone. Isn't it wonderful to be a stone in God's building? Well, there's something that that. Peter learned that day he was brought to the Lord by his brother. He was brought to know. Him and he was brought to find out a wonderful thing, that he was a stone in God's building. And if you were saved, the Lord has already added you to his church. Well, isn't it blessed that we can bring a friend to the Lord Jesus? Now let's turn to Matthew 17. We'll find something else here. Matthew 17, verse 14. And Herman would come to the molecule. There came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic, and saw that for all times he falleth into the fire and asked into the water, and I brought him to the disciples. But they could not. Cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, all faithless and perverse generations, How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him, hit her to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said. I could not. We cast him out, and Jesus said unto them, because. Unbelief. For verily I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, he shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence beyond your place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Well, I like to look on that little incident as bringing our problems to the Lord Jesus. Here was a Father who had a problem. We all have problems of different kinds. Darling's problems are just so great, so seemingly insurmountable, that we just don't know what to do and we don't know how we're going to get an answer or how we're going to be able to handle the difficulty of the problems of life. Life is so full of hard. Question glorious. So a situation that we just seem to find too great for ourselves. And here we find this Father. He had a problem, and he brought this problem to the disciples. Now you see, he brought this, He brought this boy first of all to the long person who brought the problem first of all to the disciples. And you know. The disciples would have been able to handle a situation because they had just been on the mountain of Transfiguration. They had just been there with the Lord Jesus. I suppose we could say the most wonderful experience of their life to have been on that mountain. Peter never forgot it, even later on, many, many years later, he said, he said. This voice we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount was a marvelous experience. And it's nice to be at meetings like this when our hearts are lifted up in occupation with the Lord Jesus. However, that doesn't mean that we don't have problems in life. Perhaps some of you can think even now when you go back to work tomorrow, or when you go back to the situations of life tomorrow, you can see some insurmountable problem. You can see something that just seems too difficult for you to handle. And if you've asked someone else? What you should do, that's just exactly what this man did. He brought this problem to the disciples, and the disciples, even though they had followed Jesus, even though they had been on the mount, they didn't have the solution to this problem. All dear young people, there are problems in life. How that the Lord alone can enable us to find the solution? The land can enable us to meet those difficulties in a way that is pleasing to him. But what I wanted to specially bring before you is that when this man said, well, I brought my son to your disciples, but he they couldn't cast out the evil spirit. What did the Lord Jesus say? He said bring him hit her to me. Bring him hit her to me in this blessed. We have one whose name is wonderful counselors, the Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. We have one of whom it can be said, is there anything too hard for the Lord? And surely this was a hard situation. Here was this boy, it says he was a lunatic. And you know, people do funny things sometimes too. You almost wonder why they do them, and I suppose we all do them too, and we just wonder why. Have these things you've done this boy with a lunatic and then it says he's forced. He's 4 vets, 4 vets off the oftentimes. Who falls into the fire? And you see people and they gain disappointing and they don't seem to learn at all by the problems and the difficulties. Isn't it true how slow we are to learn by the situations we pass through? How slow we are to see the hand of God in our problems and our trials? We try to solve them ourselves. We try to get somebody else to solve them, just like Moses. When he was faced with going through the wilderness, he thought, I know a man that knows all the answers. He's lived here for a long time. He knows the way through the wilderness. And he said to Hoda, he said, you know the way through this wilderness. Now will you guide us through this wilderness? And Hubbard turned back. Hubbard declined. He wasn't able to guide them.
And why did the Lord alone this? Why did he allow Kobab to turn back? All because the Lord wanted them to turn and lean upon him. You know what Moses said to Hobbes? He said thou shalt be to us. Instead of I said the Lord had just said that He was going to guide them by the pillar of cloud. They would have to look up. He was going to guide them through the silver trumpets, and they'd have to listen for his voice. But instead. He said, Holdab, we don't need to look up if we just look to you because you know all the answers. You've been here for a long time. But Hobad declined. And all dear young people, you and I know what it is to dwell in the company of the Lord Jesus, to bring the situations of life to him, to read his words so that we discover in his precious words the wisdom that we need for our pathways. All we have such a 1 and so the Lord Jesus said bring him hit it to me. And so here's something else we can bring, not just bringing a friend to the Lord Jesus. Perhaps you have a personal problem and you say it just seems just about as bad as this. I found so many difficulties and problems through us. Isn't it lovely? Bring him hit her to me? Was the Lord superior to this situation? Was he able to look after it or isn't it lovely? He was able to cast out that evil spirit and a handed boy back to his father. There's no situation too difficult for him. So after this the disciples came to the Lord Jesus privately and they said why couldn't we cast him out? And the Lord Jesus said. This kind of not out but by prayer. And fasting, and that is sometimes we haven't been sufficiently before the Lord about it. We want to get an answer very quickly and we haven't really been sufficiently in His presence, looking to him and waiting upon him. And then what about this fasting? Well, fasting means self denial might be self denial for food, could be self denial for a great many things. Sometimes it's something that's a hindrance to us getting the answer because he made-up online you can't do without certain things. We say, well, I just couldn't do without that. And so the problem isn't removed because we have never really passed the whole thing before the Lord and said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Content to make some sacrifice for the sake of the Lord's Jesus. Oh, what a sacrifice he made for us. What did he give for us? He gave himself, He gave himself. And when he left that glory on high and came down here, he knew the sacrifice involved and came to this point in this. In the chapter where we read about the amount of configuration in the Mary Gospel, it says when the time came that he should be received up, he settled faith to go to Jerusalem. That is, he could have gone back to heaven in his own right. But he said no, I want to have company, and the only way I can have it is to go to the cross and die that I could have them there. Is any little sacrifice that we could ever make very. When we think of what he did for us. So here we find an instance of bringing our problems to the Lord. Maybe others have disappointed us, these disciples, wonderful people, or they were very disappointed. This man thought the Lord didn't disappoint him. The Lord took care of the situation and the Lord told the disciples what they needed in order to meet these problems of life. And that is complete dependence upon the Lord. For I believe we should say that prayer expresses 2. Confidence in the Lord and dependence on the Lord. That's fair. And fasting is self denial. So remember those three things. Confidence in the Lord that He's seeking our good and our blessing dependent on the Lord that He's able to undertake for us. And then self denial, willing to give up anything that would hinder His will and His glory in our lives.
Let's turn to Matthew again in the 14th chapter and the 15th verse. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert plate, and the time is now past. Send the molecule away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves little. But Jesus said unto them, They need not be part, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him. We have here about 5 laws and two faces. He stabbed. Bring them hit her to me. And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes. And looking up to heaven, He blessed and break, and gave the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude, and ate. All eat and were filled, and they took up of the fragments that remained 12 baskets full. And they that had eaten were about 5000 men beside women and children. Here we find a little incident. I like to think of this as giving our resources to the Lord. Notice you were someone who had five loaves and two fishes didn't seem like very much, but the Lord said bring them hit her to me. And dear young people, Perhaps you look over what you have and you say well. I don't think I have very much that I could give to the Lord. I couldn't say that I have very much in the way of money, and I don't know that I have a great deal in the way of town. And I don't think I have much time. I'm a pretty busy person. I don't really think that there's very much that I could give to the Lord. I can think of other people who have quite a bit of money, who have quite a bit of time, who have quite a bit of ability. Why don't they do it? Ramada was a pretty big crowd of people on this occasion. There were only over 5000 there. And another gospel tells us that this was just a little boy that had these five loaves and two fishes. And that boy could have said all these people here has got lots of money in their pockets. They can they could buy food if they just all contributed together and we'd have plenty here. And there's other people here that could handle. A situation and what could I do? A little. Only enough for one person. Whatever good would that do when there's 5000 people here? And so he looked at his little lungs, but he cites his looks at what he was willing to offer to the Lord. And as they said, as they said, as it were. Turn the multitude away that they might go into the cities to buy and if they can get food for themselves and perhaps you might say, well, there's lots of good books in the book room. There's lots of things that people can read and and they can do this and they can do that. Oh dear young people, have you ever been exercised to try and make your life a blessing to other people? That other people might ask you? Be drawn closer to the Lord Jesus through your life. All this I don't think I have very much. Well, this boy didn't have very much. He said he just had enough for one person about it. Isn't it lovely? He was willing to give what he had to the Lord Jesus. Are you willing to give what you have? I don't believe there's a young person here whose life couldn't be a blessing to learn if you're willing to hear what you have. So the Lord Jesus God uses the most unexpected. People on different instances in order to accomplish his purposes. He used he used the first to bring up a coin to pay the tax. He owns the two mites that the widow passed in and said it was more than all the rest. Why does the scripture tell us that he had two Knights that make a Farthing? Well, if you only had a Farthing, she might have said, well I either cast in the whole Farthing or not. But when she had two mites she had a choice. He could have said, I'll put in one might and I'll teach the other for myself. He had a choice that instead of making the decision to keep one for himself and give the other to the Lord, he cast them with him. And what was the result? He found that the Lord took notice of it and saw that he was giving. And he said she gave more than all the rest. And if you were here. On this day that we're reading about here. When is desert place where there was nothing to eat? And perhaps that's the way you sometimes feel. Perhaps you say, well, I don't come to the meeting very much because I don't think there's very much there. I don't feel that there is the stressness and the food that there might be because of quite a few assemblies represented here. And I noticed very often many people get discouraged and say, well, I don't seem to get.
Much when I come to the meeting, but here. Now this the disciples, we're going to send the people away and let them find for themselves. But the Lord said they need not be parked and give ye them to eat. And when this boy was willing to give his lunch, his five loaves and two fishes to the Lord, how wonderfully it was multiplied. And I say again, dear young person, your life can really be. A blessing your life can be an encouragement. As I look back upon my own life, I can think of young people who have had a great deal to do. With my young life as their love for the Lord Jesus, their desire for Him influence me and I don't forget it to this day. And it isn't that I remember very much of what they said to me, that there was just something about it that I knew that they loved the Lord. And that they were trying to encourage me to follow him too. And you can. Your life can be a blessing. I'm getting a bit older. And perhaps you might say, well, it's easy for Gordon Hale. He's getting older now. But dear young people, I have found this, that young people have far more influence in helping other young people than older people do. Don't ever think that your life can't be a blessing. And what did the what did this one boy's lunch? Do it, said 5000 people. And who can tell the blessing of someone who says will I want to live for the Lord Jesus and I want my life to be useful for him. You don't have to go to a foreign field. This man, this boy didn't have to say, well, I'm going to go to some foreign place in order to serve the Lord. He just had to turn over what he had to the Lord. And right in that desert place, right in that spot where all the people were, when that food was brought to the Lord, he looked up to heaven. He blessed it. And I always enjoy reading this little incident because it doesn't say that the Lord distributed it after after the Lord had blessed it, he handed it back to those unbelieving disciples. Those disciples who had said send them away. The Lord says I'm going to use you if you ever feel discouraged, you feel like saying send them away. They don't seem to care. And then the Lord says, well, you, you, how are you, you, you can be a help. And so isn't it lovely to see that he handed the food back to the disciples and how they must have wondered. It doesn't say, you know that there was big stacks of food piled up, but as they passed it, it just. As it went along, and that's the way the Lord does. But we're willing to do take the first step in faith and then he undertakes. And then when the next step comes, we find He's the same faithful God. And if you live in this world, if the Lord should leave you here for 20 years, you'll find he's the same faithful God. At the end of 20 years is when you took that step the very first day. He doesn't change, he's able. And so here we find this, this boy who brought that little lunch, and he was an encouragement to all the disciples. He was a blessing to the whole. 50000 May the Lord encourage us to bring our little resources to him. And as you're looking at them right now and perhaps saying to yourself, I wonder what I should do? I don't think I have very much. I just want to ask you, will you bring what you have to the Lord? When you bring a little bit, you have to Him and let Him do the rest. Leave the miracle to Him. He's the only one that can work the miracle to make a blessing. I can't bless you that the Lord can work the miracle that blesses you. And all that we can do is try and pass on a little He gives to us. Now, just one more passage. Well, I actually there's two passages with one thought in them. Let's turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8. I think it is. Yeah, Second Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 5. And this they did not as we hope.
But first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. And then in Romans chapter 12 and verse one, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that He presents your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Well, here we find those who gave themselves to the Lord, and we find the apostle beseeching those Roman believers that they would present their bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord. We've spoken about how we can bring worship to him. How we can bring our friends to Him? How we can bring our problems to him? How we can bring our resources about. Isn't it lovely? As a little hymn puts it, love the transcends our highest powers, demands our soul, our life, our all. And so when Paul thought of the mercies of God. He said I beseech you as you think of what? Mercies are that have been extended to you, that you'll present your bodies alone. Sacrifice. Perhaps you have tried to bring your problems, perhaps you've tried to bring your resources. But all is more than that. Present our bodies a living sacrifice, and just as if we stood in his presence and said, Lord, here I am, I belong to thee. It speaks in the test about thus praising the Lord and the instrument of 10 strings, and someone has compared it. You know that our little song that we sing, two eyes, 2 ears, 2 feet, two hands, one eye, one heart, I should say 1 heart and one tongue at 10, and that we did present ourselves to the Lord. Oh dear, young people, what a privilege. And it's a wonderful thing to do it when you're young. Well, you say, well, but I have to earn a living. I have to choose, my friends. No. If you present your life to the Lord, why, He'll take care of you if he's interested in making you happy for all eternity and if He hasn't spared any expense to make you happy for all eternity with the very best that His infinite resources can supply. Could you ever doubt? That if you gave yourself to him now, that he was going to disappoint you here in this world. Have you ever seen a person who presumes themselves to the Lord, who ignored his claims over everything? And as I have often said, you hear it said, nobody's going to tell me what to do. But all dear young people, I often say there's one person who has a right to tell me what to do. I'm glad. I want him to tell me what to do. And that's my Lord, that's my savior. And so-called the sophomore that they. Present themselves to the Lord, and as if he said was this, and this was their reason of the Lord, their intelligence service. And then when he's writing here in Second Corinthians chapter 8 about these believers, it's quite a remarkable expression. These people were, they didn't have too much in the way of resources. Now, they were quite poor. The ones that he's speaking about here, and he said this, they did not as we hope. As he thought that perhaps they might have dipped down in their pockets and added a little bit that they had, they might have been willing to give. But he said all they did more than we hoped. Gave themselves to the Lord, that's what they did. And you young people, are you willing to do this? Am I willing to do it? He says more than I could help. And all what joy it gives us when we see those who do even more than we hope, and that is, they present themselves to the Lord. And then he said unto us, by the will of God. When we present ourselves to the be at the service of one another. To do the will of God, that's important because somebody might ask you to do something that wasn't the will of God. You say he's a Christian though, and he asked me to do it. Well, remember, when you're doing something for another, you have to ask, is it the will of God? Because a Christian might ask you to do something that was not the will of God. So that when you present yourself.
As being willing to help someone else, you have to say by the will of God. Just to do what the Lord would have you do. But when you present yourself to the Lord, you can do it without reserve. Because then when you present yourself to Him, He'll never ask you to do anything but what is according to His will. And more than that, He'll never ask you to do anything that isn't for your ultimate good. Because I say again, He is seeking. You're good and your blessing. His joy will be complete. When in that glory the Holy Dean Family are supremely and eternally blessed. May the Lord give us grace to acknowledge his claims. You're young people, we only have a little time. The Lord's coming is drawing near. He's done so much for us and may we have grace as we look over in the little bit that we may seem to have and think about what he has done for us that will say I can give this and I can give that. And then when we thought, well, we could give that, then we come to. Point where we say, I just give everything I give myself. The little song says gladly to thee my Savior, I give myself a lamb. May God grant me that each one of us, young and old will do it, that we will gladly to him our Savior and give ourselves away.