R e f l e c t i o n s On the Truth of God By John S. Peake 1 Available from: Lulu Press 3101 Hillsborough St. Raleigh, NC 27607 Lulu.com Also available as a computer file From: http://stpaulchristadelphians.org/index.html 2 R e f l e c t i o n s On the Truth of God By John S. Peake Preface Exhortations are an important part of the spiritual life of the Christadelphian community. In every local ecclesia, week by week, we are prepared to remember our Lord Jesus Christ in the breaking of bread and drinking the wine, we are encouraged to continue and strengthen our walk in Christ, and we are bonded together as fellow believers by exhorting one another to have fellowship with one another. The publication of this selection of exhortations is a mark of appreciation of a much beloved brother who has guided and nurtured the St. Paul, Minnesota ecclesia for nearly fifty years. Bro. John Peake arrived in Minnesota from Indiana in 1960 to work at the 3M Corporation. At that time there were only one brother and one sister in the Twin Cities. 3M permitted John to use a company meeting room during lunch times to run a weekly Bible class. As a direct result of this effort, we can account today for more than three hundred Christadelphian brothers and sisters around the world. John often exhorted and taught without notes. These exhortations were among the few that were actually written down. Most of them were given at the St. Paul meeting during the period from 1980 to 1995. 3 These exhortations are intended for both personal encouragement and ecclesial use. We hope that they will be of benefit not just to small ecclesias who lack regular exhorting brothers, but also for speakers who are looking for material for their own talks. 4 Content AND THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD…………..…………. 8 AND THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL…………………………………….…....……. 18 AS I HAVE LOVED YOU………………………………………….….……….. 27 BE NOT DECEIVED: GOD IS NOT MOCKED…………….…….…….. 37 BE OF GOOD CHEER; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.…….. 47 BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK……….…………… 58 BUY THE TRUTH AND SELL IT NOT………………………….………….. 69 CHRISTIAN, WALK CAREFULLY………………………………….……….. 79 COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER………….………. 89 EAT YE THAT WHICH IS GOOD………………………………….……….. 98 FATHER, IF IT BE POSSIBLE……………………………………….……… 108 FOLLOWING THE GOOD SHEPHERD………………………….…….. 117 FOR THEY LOVED THE PRAISE OF MEN MORE THAN THE PRAISE OF GOD………………………………………………….…….. 127 FOR WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE SHOULD PRAY FOR AS WE OUGHT………………………………………………………….………….. 138 FROM WHENCE COMETH MY HELP?................................... 148 HAVE YE NOT READ……………………………………………………….… 157 HEART TROUBLE……………………………………………………………… 168 HOLINESS BECOMETH THINE HOUSE, O LORD, FOR EVER.. 178 5 IF I YET PLEASED MEN, I SHOULD NOT BE THE SERVANT OF CHRIST………………………………………………….……. 188 IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH……………………….……….. 197 LET YOUR SPEECH BE ALWAY WITH GRACE…………….………. 208 LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU………………………………………….…… 218 LOVE NOT THE WORLD………………………………………….……….. 227 NEBUCHADNEZZAR TESTIFIES………………………………….……… 238 NOT MY WILL………………………………………………………….………. 249 REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR…………………………….………. 258 SIGN LANGUAGE…………………………………………………………….. 269 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS…………………………………………. 278 THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY……………………………………………. 288 TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH…………………………………………… 297 TYPES AND SHADOWS–THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD.… 307 WHO IS ON THE LORD'S SIDE?............................................ 317 HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF……………………………………………. 328 HE THAT HATH EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR…………………. 339 A LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE………………………… 346 IF THOU BELIEVEST WITH ALL THINE HEART…………………….. 349 BLESSED ARE THE MEEK ………………………………………………….. 359 6 THE LORD LOOKETH ON THE HEART……………………….…………. 368 HATH THE LORD AS GREAT DELIGHT...AS IN OBEYING THE VOICE OF THE LORD?................................................... 377 WHAT DO I NEED TO LEARN?................................................ 389 7 AND THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY AND GOD (Deuteronomy 6:5) Our Master taught his disciples to pray: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." These words we all know, and we have all repeated them countless times. But how many times during our repetition of these very words of our Lord have we taken the trouble to ponder the implications of what we have just been saying? We may properly follow his teaching in addressing the throne of the Most High by calling Him "Our Father." But does this manner of address necessarily certify that we truly are His children? If it did, God would have millions of Christian children presently throughout this world. If, however, we do qualify as His true children, do we not owe to Him all of the sincere love and humble reverence that we are capable of both generating and demonstrating? But it is impossible for us to love Him with the intensity that He demanded of His Hebrew children (Deut. 6:5) in the absence of our truly knowing Him and of clearly understanding His ways. Furthermore, we need to understand His expectations of us in the form of true, filial obedience. In the name of Reason, how can we come to know our Creator's will and character other than from what He has chosen to reveal to us of Himself through His Word? We often hear people who have relatively little knowledge of the Bible say, "I can sincerely worship God according to the dictates of my own conscience." This may serve to satisfy their desire to regard themselves as righteous, and thus to feel comfortable in catering to their own human wills and desires. However, this in no way offers proof that they are satisfying 8 God's expectations of them, nor that their self-conceived "services," however solemn and impressive to themselves, are rendering pleasure to Him who at that very moment holds their present lives in His almighty hands. No member of the human race, whether living or dead, has known our heavenly Father and His will so thoroughly and intimately as did God's only begotten Son. Speaking for himself, Jesus set straight the Samaritan woman, who thought that she and her people understood how to worship God, saying to her (John 4:22,23): "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." Most sincere people of the Christian community at large regard the statements of Jesus as both inspired and currently authoritative. Thus, his statement to the Samaritan woman clearly discounts any form of human worship that is not strictly in accord with the Father's inspired pronouncements through His Son, His prophets, or His apostles. Such forms of humanly devised worship are unrelated to the salvation that the Father offers to mankind. Both during his earthly ministry and in his present glory Jesus has said, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." What we need to hear in all matters of our service to God are His inspired words–not those of uninspired men! Furthermore, we shall not have "ears to hear" unless our hearts incline toward the truth of those words. It is from God's words and from them alone that we can learn how perfect, true, and merciful are God's ways. As he inspired his prophet to write of Him (Psa. 103:8-14): "The Lord is 9 merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." Could the characteristics of a loving Father be more truly or more beautifully stated? All this mercy and forbearance is described of the One infinite in power to harm His enemies or His disobedient children, while being at the same time spotless in His own purity and righteous in all of His acts (Deut. 32:4). We may notice from the above quotation from the psalm an important qualification of those who would be recipients of this loving mercy and forgiveness. It is made clear that they are restricted to those that fear Him. The form of fear here spoken of is not that of utter, paralyzing terror, but a loving, reverential fear based upon accurate knowledge of the Father, and upon a reasoning faith in Him. This leaves out of hope for salvation those who neither know the only true God (John 17:3) nor choose to follow anything but the dictates of their own consciences. This proud self-esteem and the arrogance of irreverent mankind are in the eyes of God an utter abomination. Our heavenly Father has not left Himself without abundant witness as to His goodness and mercy, as Paul pointed out to the pagan Greeks when talking with them on Mars Hill in Athens. Speaking to them of the Almighty, who to them was the "unknown god," Paul said (Acts 17:26-28): "...And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the earth, and hath 10 determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." We notice from Paul's statement a distinct difference between the ways in which God had dealt with the Gentiles up to Paul's day and in the way in which He had dealt with His Hebrew children.