Some of these psalms are hundreds of years old. Now God's people down through the times, out of their heart, tried to phrase God as a spirit people. is very important. I think that we should always try and sing those things that are attributes of God, praises to God, accomplishments of God, graces of God, the songs like Abide with Me, Christ Satisfies, How Sweet the Name of Jesus, Rock of Ages. The words are true of God. And I just can't sit there, you know, and not try in some way to say that I thank you for the spirit this evening. I thank God that he could lift me up in the song service. This place is hidden from the world. There's no way the world can attain to it. God has tremendously blessed you, blessed me, or blessed any of those of his people that can see what you're seeing now. And of this man here, he says, be my chief. With great confidence, brother Elder, I come, filling my feet to heaven. Not because of your ability, not because of my ability, but God himself has said, be my chief. I just wanted to express that. I want all of you to know that I love you as much as within me is, and that's not much of a thing. There's a great God that gives me a stability through his spirit that you can count on that, not only me, the same for all of us. But we have a very peaceful and quiet place to go, a place away from this world, the clamor, the unguidedness, that for a season we can come and be refreshed and be strengthened and I thank you and I thank my God for it and if you'll bow with me I'll pray. Our gracious heaven and father, Lord we come before thee feeling our weakness and our But we know that you're a great God. Lord, we know that through thy Spirit, you can prepare us and make us able to sing praises to thy name and to honor and glorify thee. And Father, as we look back through this past week and through our past lives, and we can see where thy hand has so constantly and steadily led us, protected us, provided for us, And Father, so often we are so prone to get to be thankful, we're so prone to get to honor thy word, to live according to thy promise. But Father, we thank that thy spirit does not give up on us, it continuously brings us back to remember, it refreshes us, and it leads us. And Father, we would ask this morning that you would prepare each heart here that it might be lifted up above this world, that it might be lifted up above this nothingness that's here for us. Father, we might be reminded of our home, of our duty, of our obligation, of our love for you, of our love for one another. And Father, we ask that you would take this our brother and fill him with that spirit, give him words of wisdom, of courage, of comfort, of rebuke, of whatever is necessary for this thy people. Father we pray that you would enable him to be as thou hast called him to be, that thou would give him a ready heart, a free mind. Father we pray for thy people wherever they might be in this land that you would give them the strength to be encourage them. With our minister, Father, we pray that you would give them that they might be able to feed the people. And Father, we know that you will do that. When it comes that we don't receive it, we know that it's because that thou hast in our way rebuked us. Father, we know you love your people. You've given your all to preserve them. We would ask that he would continue with us and give us those things that are necessary in this life and take away from us father those things that would cause us trouble. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. We appreciate very much the psalm service and this good introductory service by Brother Dale. And I hope that you will be, that you have been praying and will continue as has been, as you have been exhorted. In connection with the introduction to the service, we will use uh, a part of the seventh chapter of Matthew, and we'll probably, probably begin with the, uh, sixth verse. Sixth verse of the seventh chapter of Matthew. This is a wonderful, wonderful part of God's Word. And if we just had the spirit and like to see it, I think we'd be greatly benefited. And I hope the Lord will give us life. The fifth, sixth, and seventh chapter of Matthew is one of the greatest recorded discourses of all time preached by the Prince of Preachers, our Lord Jesus Christ, on a mountain. And he had his fame had spread out everywhere through all the surrounding territories, great crowds had thronged to follow Jesus. He had done so many miracles that he was a warmer man to many. And as Nicodemus expressed it in the third chapter of John, he says, and when it comes to Jesus, he says, we don't know that thou art a teacher come from God, but no man can do the things I've noticed except God be with him. those that might not have been able to recognize the eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ and that he as a second person in the divine trinity was God on earth in the visible form and in nature as a man. But this was a man and they could see it and natural men could see it Some hated him and some loved him then and do now. But he was a remarkable person and was a man that was in his ministry was a tender and a compassionate man. When it was necessary, he could be stern as he was when he went into the temple. and drove the money changers out of the temple. But on most occasions we find Jesus a very tender and compassionate man to the multitudes and crowds that followed him. But seeing the multitudes He had just called from among men. He had called some men, special men, and he had called them for special work. And they were disciples. They were disciples. And of course, they were disciples. They were called disciples before they were called apostles. Even the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ served an apprenticeship with Christ for about three years before he turned them loose and sent them out without any bonds or restrictions. And so in this part he had already called his disciples. And seeing the great crowds that followed him, He is seeing the multitude. He saw a multitude. Most natural, most preachers want a big crowd to preach to. They want it bigger the better, see. But in the introduction, the fifth chapter, it says, and seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain, left the multitude, and was sad. and his disciples came unto him. He went up. He went up into a mountain. Brother Pearson mentioned the fact that we'd come apart from the world to this quiet place, to this city of our solemnities, and this truly is above the world. But Christ goes up into a mountain. apart from the hustle and bustle of an active and earthly-centered people, he went up into a mountain and was set. There's some order to the house of God and the service of God. It's not a hollering match, or jumping jacks. a place of Venice, but it's a place of quietness and serenity. There's some things that you can learn in a small group that you can't learn in a large group. Through the educational system down through the years that they have learned that there is a limit to the number that can be properly taught in a classroom. Well, of course, Jesus is not limited, but here he portrays all the qualities of a man. Though he was God, he was still a man. So, he went apart from the distractions of a large crowd of milling around and moving around. And by the way, I might drop this thought here. and I want each one of you to take it very seriously and thoughtfully. No person that is a pastor of a church wants anyone to be neglected or he wouldn't want anyone to come to the service and leave without him being able to speak with you and speak to you. But when the time appointed for worship says 10.30, it's time to quit milling around. And I don't generally go back after 10.30. I want to after the service is over and meet and shake hands with everybody, and I'd just be glad to before the service. But this is a city of celebrities and a place where we've come to be quiet, and we've called it 10.30 is the time to start services, and it should be started at 10.30. And then our whole business is taken up in the service of God. It's not to be taken up for the next hour and a half. or whatever time, it's not to be taken up so much with socializing as it is in spiritual worship and service. And that's not, I don't mean that to be hateful, but we ought to never forget the solemnity of God's service in his sanctuary. And so he said, Christ said, went up the mountain, he said, and his disciples come to him. I look to, if it's possible, in my own mind, I look to be involved in any affair as much as I can project my thoughts and myself into it. And of course when Christ was sent and his disciples came to it, I'm sure they come just as close as they could so that they could hear every word that fell from the master's lips. They'd come close to where they could hear. And they sat around him, sat down on the ground, wasn't walking around. They sat down quietly at the feet of Jesus and he began to preach and to teach on that momentous occasion called the Sermon on the Mount. It was said in prophecy that the Lord's house should be established at the top of the mountain. Now, the word established many times has more than one meaning. In one sense, it means it's organic establishment. And then another time it might be in its procedural establishment. But here Christ was teaching the principles that would be involved in gospel service and in the gospel kingdom. And the type of people that would be engaged and blessed in it. It's entirely different than anything in an ordinary way that you might think about. Ordinarily, it's the followed and the brave that have everything, but here it's the poor spirit. They're hungry, they're thirsty. The service of God is for hungry people. And of course, not hungry for bread and meat of a natural way, but the kingdom of God is for people that hunger for righteousness, that have a thirst for the things of God. And those that are, they're blessed to have hunger. It's human nature. a person that has a natural hunger, he's in good health. Ordinarily, you know, and it's good to see a bunch of hungry children hurry to the table and getting started. Sometimes they can't hardly wait for the blessing to be asked what they want to start eating. So a hunger is a natural healthy sign with natural people. And a hunger is a wonderful spiritual sign in a spiritual family of God, to be hungry. And being hungry will move you to the table. And most of the time, as you see people assembled at church, most of the time, most of the people are hungry for something that they didn't have at home. on their jobs and in their public association with people in the world. That's the reason they come out and come to the house of God. And Christ, he identifies these as blessed already in being hungry and in being thirsty. And then he further blesses them and says, and they shall be faithful. Now, this is not the only place that God has something for a sheep. Certainly not. But this is one of the most important places in this whole world for God's family to get together and has the promise of Him being with them and the promise of the Spirit in their midst to own them and to bless them with what they need. And so they're hungry, blessed to be hungry, blessed to be thirsty, and they're blessed to be filled. And so we could go with confidence, Brother Mill, to the house of God, and there expect the promise of our blessed Savior to be fulfilled. Now, this is wonderful. I don't want to dwell too long on the introduction in the fifth chapter of this wonderful lesson. It's all good from the first to the last, but in the But in the teaching of the fifth chapter, in his very introduction, there's nowhere in there that he tells a person how to get born again. That's dealing with living spiritual family of God. That's what he's dealing with. He's not telling you there how to get born again. Anybody in the world knows a person's hunger is alive. Dead man don't hunger for nothing. Don't thirst for anything. It's the living that hunger and thirst. And so this is one of the most wonderful things that I can think of that would help a poor little trembling soul identify himself as a child of God. Do you have a hunger for spiritual things? Do you have a hunger for being with God and being with his people? If you do, it's an evidence that you are a child of God, that you have been born in the Spirit of God, and that you're heaven-born and heaven-bound, heaven-born, born, and bound. And so it's just wonderful, just wonderful, if we can have anybody in the world that would help us to convince ourselves that the Savior, that Jesus is our Savior, that God's our Father, and that heaven's our home. hunger and thirst for spiritual things is one of his good evidences that you can find that you're a child of God. They should be filled. Filled with fancy social activities? No. Filled with the ambition of the business world? No. Filled with what? Spiritual food, spiritual things. from our spiritual father. And so they should be filled. And we look to be filled and expect and long to be filled. And as I said before, this is to the living family of God, not to make them his family, not to give them life. But you don't feed people. To give them life, you feed people to sustain their life and to make them healthy. And by the way, a person that don't eat. Of course, if you don't eat after a while, first thing he begins to look emaciated. His strength begins to wane. And there's so many disadvantages in not eating. And so any child of God that would not go to the house of God, into the service of God, and tries to live on the husk and the swine of this world, he'll find himself just about in the same shape that the prodigal son did when he was in a poor country. Starving to death. Here I am starving to death, and there's plenty in the Father's hands. A true church of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth is in the Father's hands. and it's a blessing and there's plenty. The psalmist David, when he was in good health and acted in the service of God, he said, I'll be satisfied with the goodness of thy house. Oh, there's a satisfaction in the house of God and in the service of God. So we understand now, I think I've tried awfully hard to make it clear that the living fountains of God hunger and thirst and Christ said they shall be filled. Okay, now we go and we'll enter into the seventh chapter. It's almost wrong for me to jump from the fifth to the seventh chapter. But I can't cover it all, and time won't permit. My limited amount of life might not last that long, and you get tired too. And after a while, the perception of truth begins to get weaker as we get more out. Preaching ought not to be too long. Ought to be long enough, but not too long. And so now we go to the 6th verse of the 7th chapter. Now Jesus is teaching and what he's teaching is right. What's right then is right now. There's some people that have the idea that all in the world that it takes to change a person and make him a sheep is just get to him and talk to him. Just alter him everything in the world. You know, But Christ, the greatest preacher, the greatest teacher that ever graced this earth, he didn't look at it that way. And so we need to understand how Christ thought about this situation. And in the sixth verse, he says, give not that which is holy unto those. Spiritual things, spiritual truths, spiritual liberties and activities belong to the family of God. to those who compose and make up that holy nation, that royal priesthood, that peculiar people that should show forth the praises of Him that's called you out of darkness. into his marvelous life. That's what Peter said about it. And that's the holy, that's the holy people. And that holy people is to have things that the world doesn't have. And he says, give, he says here in this sixth verse, give not that which is holy unto dogs. Now the dogs in this text It seems like that Jesus got a little rough sometimes, you know. He got a little rough about dogs over there when that Syrophoenician woman came to him about her daughter. And she besought him with all the power And need that she said, she says, Lord have mercy on me. And her daughter's trouble was her trouble. And it's generally that way with us. If we've got a sick child, we're sick. And their little problems is our problems. When my wife's sick, I'm sick. When I'm sick, she's sick. We have sympathetic conditions one towards another. And so this woman besought Christ for her daughter's sake. And he just didn't pay her attention. And of course, to start with, and she was, would have probably been discouraged if her need wasn't so great. But her need was great. And a poor little child of God's needs great. And so, he paid her nothing, didn't pay her anything. And she continued to beseech him and to beg him to have mercy on her. And he told her, he stopped me to give the bread of the children to the dogs. It's just not the proper thing to do, to give the children's bread to dogs. And she says, yea Lord. But the dogs eat the crumbs that falls from the master's hand. She didn't want, she didn't even want all that a child probably would have had, but just to let her have just a few crumbs. Well even Mom let her feed. And he sent her away not empty-handed either. Her persistence got what she was after. And he marveled at her faith and commended her for it. And so we find a wonderful lesson over there, even though it looked like a dog, turned out it wasn't. But here he says, give not that which is holy, give not that which is holy unto the dogs. This injunction here clearly defines between unregenerated people and regenerated people. A person that is unregenerated has a dog-like spirit. Now, there's a lot of things about dogs. In fact, in business, I like dogs. And there's some special breeds of dogs, they're useful. And a dog may be a beautiful animal, and I just pet it, and go to a lot of trouble, buy fancy food for it, build him a house to sleep in, everything else, you see. And so, and they're trained. Some dogs are trained, and the highest training that I know of in the dogs is that they dogs that are trained to lead the blind. They've got a useful place in this world. A lot of times we wonder, we say, well, there's a bad one, why God allowed him to be. Well, don't you see how much use that a blind, that a dog would be to a blind person that's properly trained? to give them that strength to travel when they don't have eyes and stuff. Seeing our dog is a wonderful thing. But the blind person is more than seeing our dog, you see. And one is the other. We take dogs that are shepherd dogs. It's an extension of the shepherd himself to get around and help keep the sheep together. And so when the master talks about dogs, he's not talking in a hateful way, but in a level of life. an unregenerated person is as far below in life and in creation, is as far below a regenerated person as a dog is a human being. See? And it's right to feed the dog, but you can even feed the dog on homely things. We find Peter and he's talking about a dog and says, well, he'll gorge himself and vomit up his food and then eat his own vomit. That's the dog nature. And so we can see, the Savior's not talking in an ugly way, but there's a level of life. An unregenerated person is as far below the regenerated or new creature in Christ as a dog is below a human being. A good dog may be worth more to you than a human being in some cases, but you don't feed the dog first or only things that have been prepared for the children and for the family. Now there's something that's been prepared for the family of God And it's not right to take the children's bread and feed dogs with it. I'd hate to go to the table and look around and say, well, where's the food? Oh, I fed the dogs. I'd be offended at my wife for doing that. If there's anything left over, it's perfectly all right to give it to the dogs. But don't feed the dogs first. That's not a hateful, that's not a hateful and an ugly doctrine. It's just simple. and as understandable as it can be. And there's some people that just don't understand spiritual things. And when you run into a person like that, there's no reason for you to impose on them or be disappointed yourself. If there's ever any conflict, just move on. It's not proper. It's not right to give the bread of the children to dogs or that which is holy unto dogs. Neither cast your pearl before swine. Now, of course, the Jews were not supposed to eat swine flesh. Every kind of meat is sanctified by the Word of God and prayed. when the Savior would have Peter to go to the Gentiles and preach to them. He let out a sheep with every kind of animal in it. Unclean animal, he's in the sheep. And he says, arise Peter, slay and eat. Oh my Lord. I've never had eaten anything common or unclean in all my life. Third time, he let it down. And the third time he says, called uncommon or unclean, that which the Lord has cleansed. So there may be sometimes that God, that we may run up on unlikely character and pace him up ourselves, but the Lord may have cleansed him. So we have to use some caution there, but he says, cast not your purpose. Now, spiritual things are purpose. Heavenly things are purpose. The information that we have from God that he's our father, that he's loved us, loved us with an everlasting love, and it's a special love. It's a special love. A man that has never felt the love of God in his heart and you tell him why God loved you and put your name in the book of life before the world again. He don't understand that. He can't appreciate that. Back to the business. He opposes the doctrine of choice and election. He opposes that. And to him, to you it's a pearl and to him it's not anything more than just corn or some other food. He may feed on it as a hog and then turn around and raise you when you don't keep feeding. Cats start to purr before swine unless they trample them under their feet and turn again and raise you. So there is a possibility that we may come in contact from time to time with people that can't understand spiritual and true religious principles. And when you do, you're wasting your time. The idea that all the work you got to do is just get that preached to them and that's, and it'll, it'll turn you. That's wrong. That's wrong. Feeding. Feeding a dog won't change his nature. Feeding a swine won't change its nature. God is the nature changer. God is the one that quickens the heart. Menaces are called to feed the sheep. God makes the sheep. And as long as we keep that in mind, everything will balance out. All right. It'll balance out the way you understand it. Now, to feed the sheep is to keep them from starving, beginning to look bad, and certainly a sheep that don't feed will begin to look rough. His wool will look bad, his bones will begin to stick out, and he has a sad appearance both in his face and in his figure. A child of God that's not fed spiritual food will have a sad countenance and a figure and everything about him will be a gloomy, gloomy situation. And Peter says if we don't add to our faith the various virtues that he mentions there, he says we will become blind and can't see afar off. We can't see. that city that Abraham had in his eye, whose builder and maker was God. We can't see by an eye of faith that God's our father and that he loved us. And we won't be able to see by an eye of faith that Christ is our friend and savior. He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and is forgotten. that he was purged from his own sins. That's a terrible loss. That's a terrible loss. And the only thing that will offset such a course and such a loss in life is gospel feeding and gospel obedience. That's just what it takes to correct such a death. And he says, rather, the rather brethren, give all diligence to make your calling an election sure. That don't mean you're changing God's mind and don't mean that you're calling on God to call you or get the election corrected at all, but that makes it sure in your heart. The less spirituality that we have in our lives, the more questions that we have as to whether we're God's child or not. The closer we walk to the Lord, the less questions that we have to ask ourselves and that's the reason it's so important for God's people to be devoted to him and to live close to him. There was one man way back in the distant past in the early dawn of history before the flood that he walked so consistently with God by faith not by sight He walked even without a Bible in his hand, but had faith in his heart. He walked without a preacher to talk to him, but he had God's Word in his heart. And it was said of him that by faith, Enoch walked with God. And he was translated that he should not see death. For he had this testimony that he pleased God. It's wonderful to be able to walk with God, to be so consistent in our life and ideals as to walk with God. And so, so many of God's people said, oh, I wish I knew what to do. I wish I knew what I ought to do. I wish, I wish, I wish. But in the seventh verse, we have the answer to our problem. This is the answer to the problem of the child of God. It certainly is. He says, hear, ask, and it shall be given. Back in the Old Testament prophecies, there's one of the writings there that God speak to the prophet. He said, I've got a blessing for you when I want to bless you. God may have a blessing for you, but he's called on you to ask. He says, ask. Now God would not, Christ would not teach this principle if it were not right. And if it was right then, it's right now for us to ask. Many times the reason we don't have is because we haven't asked. That's what James said about it over there, you know. He says you haven't asked. There's some things that we get by asking that we don't get without asking. And that's not life. That's the things that's so important to go with life. And he says, ask. Oh, I'll tell you right now. I'll tell you. You learn a lot if you raise a big family. And if you raise a big family and they're normal and all right, from the time the first one gets big enough and tall until the last one's out and gone, they're asking questions, asking questions, asking questions. A lot of times the children ask questions I can't answer. But they just wasn't satisfied till I did answer. And If we are so concerned about our own children, a lot of that question that little children ask is probably childish and stupid, but if it is, the best way to clear it there is to answer it. And sometimes we may have things in our mind or in our heart that we just don't know, we just don't understand. But, and maybe the things that we feel like that we must have and that we haven't got. And Jesus is asked, wouldn't it be wonderful if all of us by faith could just band together and by faith put our hands on this promise? And ask, ask. Ask, ask, ask and you shall receive. Who can better supply what you need than God? And why ought not we to ask God what he has told us in his word too? This is a miserable life and the best we can get through it's going to be rough enough. And without going to God, And without asking for the directions of life and for the supplies of life that's so meaningful to us. This is a bad day that we're living in. We need more to ask now than any generation ever has. And he says, ask and it should be given you. Given you, not sold, but given. God gives us good things. He says if natural parents know how to give good gifts to their children, shall not our Heavenly Father know how to give good things to them that ask Him? So it's right. And if we don't learn anything else this morning, but this, that it's right to ask, Ask, ask and you shall receive. Well, if my child would ask me for a straight razor, I would give him that. But if he asked me something reasonable, and certainly if he asked me for bread, I'd give him that. It would be the delight of my soul to give him bread. As we come, spend a whole week out in a godless world, And it comes time Sunday morning for us to go to church. Don't look to your preacher. He hasn't got it. Ask God. He has. God's got it and able to give it and has bid you ask. Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek, seek and you shall find. We find over in Luton where it talks about the seeking and knocking and asking over there. And he uses the illustration of a shepherd that's got one little sheep that wanders off from the fold. And he says that shepherd will leave the ninety and nine and seek that one that's gone astray, see. He says, if a woman has a silver coin and she drops it, it blows away, she pays no attention to the rest that's on her pocketbook, she's down on her knees and hunts that coin that she lost. Until she finds it. And she's so happy when she finds it. Because she's found the coin that was lost. And he says, even in heaven, there's more joy over one's sin of repentance than 99 that need no recovery. So, we are to seek. We're to seek. He says, look, seek, seek. To seek is a diligent effort with a definite thing in mind. A definite thing in mind. Sometimes, We look around with our head down. We don't know what we're looking for. Nobody else. Anybody? I don't know. But to seek is to have something positive in view. Something that you either have lost or something that's possible for you to have if you find it. And it says seek. Seek. Seek and you shall find. Seek and you shall find. and you shall find it. Sometimes we're burdened down with the burdens and cares of life. Sometimes we're burdened down with the load of our own guilt, and we just cannot find any relief. We don't find anywhere that we can get relief from the situation. The Lord says, come unto me, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, come unto me and I'll give you rest. Come unto me and I'll give you rest. It's wonderful, it's wonderful when we need that rest. A lot of times we go to our closest friends, We go to our church brother, maybe to a pastor who's dust and dirt, just like we are. Seek it to find solutions and rest. Jesus says, come with me, come with me. Seek and you shall find. If you haven't got what you want, Jesus has got it. He's got everything we need. Understand and seek and you shall find. at risk that is so necessary to a successful and a happy life is to be is to be had and it's to be found and he says seek and you shall find. Lord I feel like there's more in religion than I'm getting out of it. He says seek and you shall find. We have a right to expect something in the service of God We don't go to the service of God. We don't. We don't. We have enough opposition out in the world. We need the strength and warmth of our brothers and sisters and the felt presence of our Lord when it comes to the service of God. He says, seek and you shall find. knock and it should be open to you. The very, the very word knock means you're on the outside and there's somebody on the inside that'll open if they hear you knocking, you know. And if you're in the cold, if you're out in the cold, in bad weather, and in bad company, and you look through the weather and see a warm, inviting situation, if you say, I'd give anything in the world to be in that, then no. No. A lot of times the church feels that they see somebody, that ought to be in the warm and in the friendly environment, but they don't want to infringe on you. But if you want to be in the house of God and in the service of God and in the love and the fellowship of the saints of God, no. And you tell them, let them know you open, let them know you open. He says, now, and it will be open to you. You ought to know that you're in the church of God, the saints of God, the service of God, the presence of Jesus. Now, and it should be open to you, and it should be open for everyone that asketh, receive it, and he that seeketh, find it, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened, shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son asked bread, would he give him a stone? He uses reasonable arguments. Christ, the prince of teachers, he says now, you've got judgment enough to know this. Or what man is there, if his son asked bread, would he give him a stone? Or if he asked a fish, would he give him a servant? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more shall your heavenly Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? In the prophecy of Isaiah, it says over there that no good thing will he withhold from them that walk upright there. In the 8th chapter of Romans, It gives us the strongest motive to ask that I can possibly think. He says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him unto us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all to him? I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I feel like that, I feel like that we know, need to know this lesson. I feel like that we do know it, and I feel like now that we should apply it to each of our personal lives and experiences. And I thank you for your good order. Brother Elder, I'd like us to sing number 277 and give us an opportunity to express ourselves to you as a congregation.