Bentley, Tom: The Place Of The Name Deut 13_6

To know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And again, verse six: If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, enticed thee secretly, saying, let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, namely the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth, thou shalt not consent unto it. Now, verse twelve. If thou shalt hear tell, or if thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, certain men, the children of Delial, are gone out from among you and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, let us go and serve other gods, which is not law. Then thou shalt inquire and may search and ask diligently, and behold that it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you. God shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly and all that is therein, and uh, the cap of the rock with the edge of the sword. Now, verse one of chapter fourteen, first part. Ye are the children of the Lord your God. Verse three: Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. And then verse, uh, eleven, of all clean birds ye shall eat. And now verse twenty two, Thou shalt surely chide all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year, and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place where he shall choose the place of him there, the tithe of thy corn, and of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first things of thy herbs and of thy stock, that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And with this thought, the Lord will bless you all with the reading of his holy word. Now, last night we were mentioning the very simple and yet very precious link that exists between these two rather difficult chapters. We were looking at chapter twelve and observing very simply that the chapter was a sixfold reference to the place that the Lord would choose as the foot is seen there. That chapter presents the truth concerning the place, the place of the name. Then chapter thirteen suggests to my mind a threefold temptation that would challenge the place of the name, and we're going to look at that challenge tonight in God's will. Then in chapter fourteen, we would return to a more positive approach and look at the testimony that characterizes the play of the name. So now we looked at this last night, and rather than, uh, employ time to review it all, we thought we should now make a further start on the subject. Now in chapter twelve, we were observing that it was a place of sovereign choice, and that opened to us the ministry of the Lord Jesus himself in Matthew eighteen. and that section we looked at for a short while toward the close of the meeting. Now, this idea, dear saints of God, of the place being the place of sovereign choice really meant that it was not the place that these people would choose according to their own imagination, number one. And then it was not a place that was formed or erected or chosen because it was made or created or formed out of imitation of anything else that was forbidden in the chapter. Then we saw that it wasn't a place chosen according to one's own inclination. And we read the verse further down where God told them distinctly they were not to go after that which seemed right in their own eyes. That was verse eight of chapter 12. And then, of course, we would see that it wasn't a place that would be characterized or chosen because of previous ideas. Now, these are all very simple things, because it is amazing how much we as humans carry with us and bring into the assembly things that are really foreign to it. They suit our ideas. They are likely born out of our imagination. It is very likely they're the product of our inclination. But when we look at the Word of God, and when we examine the, uh, the testimony of God concerning the truth of the assembly, we don't see these things present. And we are able, you know, we are very gifted at this. We are able to amass such evidence that would make it appear right and reliable, and all the time it is foreign to the mind of God. So as I would move through the New Testament, and starting with the book of the Acts, and looking right through the epistles that deal so much with the local assembly and its associated sources, I can see clearly that it is certainly a place that is of sovereign choice. Now, we must move on. I observe in verse six, if you look at verse six of chapter twelve, that it is the place of sanctified consecration. Now, I better repeat that. It is the place of sanctified consecration. We have learned already in the night that has passed, it is the place of sovereign choice. Now we move on, and in verse six, it is the place that is to receive the highest offering that these people could bring. They couldn't bring anything greater than their burnt offering. Their burnt offering, according to Leviticus one, and because of its place in that chapter and in that book. It was, and it is in this day, the highest, the greatest, the fullest that they could at all present to God. Now they were to bring it to this place, and they were to bring their burnt offering to the place of the name. Now, the next thing they were to bring was their sacrifices. As a general word, and usually when that word is used in this way, it includes many sacrifices, but it actually speaks specifically of each of the sacrifices. And thus you have the idea of fellowship. And then we come to the next expression, and we will see, and your time. Your time. These are the exercises of the people of God. They're going to give God his portion. They're going to enjoy fellowship, and now they're going to contribute part of their material wealth, and they're to bring it to the place of the name, and there they're to give their time. Now that would be enough for tonight, you know, wouldn't it? I- if we were to think on those three things, and I'll only have time to select those three. My dear saint of God, when it comes to our worship, when it comes to our presentation of the things that relate to the person of our Lord Jesus. It's a very precious thing to do that in your home. Bar beneath. Sit there on your chair or wherever, and the heart go out in thanksgiving to God for his son. It's a blessed experience. But you know, that's not what's here. This was, as we will see in another passage, this was a corporate thing. And this was Israel bringing their burnt offerings to God, and they were to bring them to the place the Lord would choose out of all your tribes to put his name there. And you know, beloved, when I think of what the assembly is in the New Testament, I see it as the sphere of my worship. I see it as the place where I'm gathered, as we saw last night, each of us responding to the work of the Spirit of God and to the Word of God itself, and you and me bringing our own personal, spiritual impressions of Christ. And together, as we come to the place of the name, we give expression. The brethren rise in thanksgiving. They rise in worship. And you know, we're bringing far, far more. My brethren, they're bringing something infinitely greater than all these burnt offerings ever could, could achieve. They're actually bringing to God the captain of his son. When those people brought the bullet, or when they brought their lamb, or when they brought their lamb, they had an animal, something physical. Now, brethren, in the New Testament assembly that exercises the rights and the privilege of the priesthood of all believers, my dear saint of God, there is a wealth going up to God, the like of which nothing could ever, could ever imitate. No, I believe that. You mean to say there's nobody out there worshipped God? Well, I want to tell you something. I firmly believe that there were people in Babylon down there worshipped God. Israel were away down there for seventy long years. They did, you know. But, while that is true, never will the priests function in that. That's why you get the picture in Zechariah three of that high priest clad in filthy garments. That's why those younger people, I can see the young people in Zechariah just the same as I can see the young people in the Sioux and young people in Belfast and young people in Malaysia. They'll say now, eh, you know, do do we really have this for you? And those young priests, I can see them saying, do we really have a priesthood? Look at the mess. Look at the awful years in Babylon. And I just talk to Zechariah, have a look. What do you see? I see the high priest climb in filthy garments. What did God take them off? What are the filthy garments? The defilement of seventy years and time. Where never once a priest of God functioned. But Daniel prayed? Sure. But he never functioned as a priest. There were hundreds of priests down in that. You get their names when they come up. But I want to tell you something, they never function in preaching. You know that too. Why there was no temple there in this time? Those young men never saw a priest function in our day. But man, when they came out, eh, when they were called upon God by God to come out and got the foundation going and eventually got the structure moving, eh, my word, there was a great thing going on. By and by, they saw peace functioning in the house, but they never saw the living. I know I do. I believe that the assembly of God is the only place where you'll get true peace. You mean to tell me those people don't... I'm not telling you what those people think about. I'm not hurtful, I'm talking about you. You see, a lot of people say, now what about those people? Now listen, friend, friend of God, if all you tell me about those people is true, I'll be there. I'll be there. I believe, brethren, that God has given us a privilege, and the sphere of the place of the name is the place where my spiritual exercises reach for height. Now, condition's one thing, I'm talking about the privilege God extends to the event. That's what is here. I believe, brethren, listen, if we were more convicted on this issue and spoke more plainly about it and reminded saints in the bondage of Christendom of the liberty God-given that we enjoy in this assembly, I tell you, it would make a great difference in these men. But we sort of people, they're just as good as we are, and we're just maybe as good as they, one way or another, and therefore we're just, ah, it will only be great difference. There's the cup. In the house where I'm living, right now, I spied a book. I recall the author. I remember the author, shortly after he wrote that book, he put a little statement in In the the Fisher precious Street seed packet. Magazine. And he said, if assembly believers had only told him years and years before what it meant to enjoy the liberty of the spirit in the priesthood of all believers, he'd have gathered to the Lord's name years before he did. But they never talked about it. He was a prejudice. He was a kid. He had the collar. He had everything. And he undertook to write a book about R. C. Chapman. And as he did his research, the truth of God began to dawn on the man's soul. And before the book was printed, he had taken off the collar and put on one like mine and said goodbye to the man and said goodbye to the church and said goodbye to all that and gathered to a small little assembly in Cross Brothers to the name of the Lord Jesus. And looking back, let me repeat, he said if saints had only told him the liberty that they enjoy in the assembly, he would have been there long ago, but he never knew it was the same. He never knew what it was like. He never knew. What am I saying? I'm saying this, brethren, that every conceivable impression that I have of Christ in my soul should be brought to this assembly and expressed to God for the glory of God and for the good of his people, increasingly exercise. That's the type, and this is the type. That's the deal. You bring your burden of pain, and you don't offer it under that hill or under that tree or somewhere else. God says you bring it to the place of the name, and you feast the altar of God, and the fire of God will lift it up as a sacrifice to his name. And you know, when you bring, uh, burnt offerings and these offerings here, you know what has happened? You know what happens, don't you? You feed other people as well as feeding the heart of God. And that's a great subject, but I must get on. And so I see it is a place of sanctified consecration. That you, in your sanctified experience of Christ, come to this assembly with those divine impressions radiating in your soul, and I come too. And what is the assembly? The assembly is a concentration of sanctified experience in Christ. You there, sisters there, families there, they've been reading the book, they've been dwelling on Christ. God has channeled impressions of his son into their hearts, and they bring that to the assembly. That's why you see this sister's, the woman, pardon me. I get derailed sometimes, you'll have to forgive me. Whenever it comes to the head covering, it's never a sister. When it comes to the speaking, it's never a sister. When it comes to the praying, it's never a sister. No, brother, it's not. The three times those things are dealt with is a... a move. Let your group organize that. Look up. What do you mean? I mean this, that God is out to establish the dignity of spiritual women. By your long hair, by your covered head, by your silence, and by your subjection, you're expressing spiritual womanhood. See that? So that was the mind of God away back yonder when he created us. And you and me. And he wanted that dignity to be maintained, whatever the cost. And it's not until we come to the assembly that that is possible. So respect your woman and your woman and your woman. The sister is seen in relationship, but the woman is seen in her dignity and in her condition as a woman. If a woman would come to this platform and sing A Most Beautiful Soul, she is damaging the dignity of her womanhood. Her song may be good, her voice might even be nicer, but she's damaging her dignity as a woman. Now, have we got that? And we haven't got that, it's time we had! And thus, those sisters in the meeting tonight that work at these things bring that power of sanctified submission and consecration to God, and they bring it to the assembly, and there they sit. I tell you what happened. Let's just see in the feet, they're bringing up to the place of the name, and they're offering up in that wonderful subjective form for a second of time. And then the brethren come, and they move in the same path of subjection to divine truth, not as brethren now, but as men. As men. And having that subjection to the word of God and accepting the authority that God gives them, they are bringing their impressions of Christ to the place of the name, and there's a concentration in this little assembly of sanctified experience. There it is. There it is. How did you offend? That's first of the important. Understand? That's right. Now, brother, what about your time? Oh, I know that you have many outlets for your, uh, for your giving. But you know, if all the saints of God in Assembly Fellowship did with their giving what they would do with their grace, what a tremendous power of ability, I mean material ability, would be in you. But God said they were to bring their child to the house of God. Where to bring it? That's one hundred and sixteen. isn't it? I'm not saying you can't exercise a personal exercise in relation to a person or a person in me, or the need might within my case, as it is with this very chapter. But if that personal exercise is contributing to something that is a, that is not in keeping with the testimony of the assembly, then you're not doing the good you know. When I'm giving, I want to give in relation to that which will sustain, which will support, and which will strengthen in any country, in any area, in any r- region for which God would enable me to serve. It's the same idea. And so when I bring my wealth of grace and my wealth of giving to the place of the name. What a concentration of material wealth is he. Now, brethren, can't you see the point? If we start supporting something that's not in keeping with the truth of God, what a difficulty we're running into. And there's sufficient need in connection with the assemblies of God and those that maintain that truth worldwide. There's enough need to call forth every ounce of material gifts and giving you possess and that I possess. And so it is the place of sanctified consecration, be it spiritual, be it sacrificial, be it material. No, beloved, I would like to think that all that I am, and all that I have, and all that God would make me, and all that in his grace he would provide for me, find their concentration in the assembly. I have now been in the assembly fellowship for forty two years. Twenty five of those years have been spent in full-time service to the Lord. Seventeen of those years, as far as my mind comes to back, were spent in the local assembly yonder in Belfast, and I never once found myself in anything that was contradictory to the assembly of God. And I want to appeal to young people. You know, I used to have an old bank, and I remember a time, I remember when I was young in Christ, and I'm not going to complain, that's not the place to complain, but you'll be in the same place, some of you, and there wasn't very much, and there wasn't very many ways of getting much more. I remember riding an old bicycle that my father bought me when I was in the teens. I said, Lord, help me to sanctify this little bicycle to the glory of God. Out in the very footlot. Used to put it in the train and go away about seventy miles on in the train and get up and out on a Sunday morning and ride away down to the, to beyond the border to reach a little assembly with four people. He said, thank God for that little bicycle I had. You know, beloved, if we don't get down to these things when we're young, God has blessed you with more than a bicycle, you know. I sought to use that for the end of it, for God. Oh yes, I could have been associated with many of them. Somehow or another, in God's good grace, he guided us and directed us. And I feel I'm on the streets of my young brethren in Christ tonight, and young sisters. I want you to see that this assembly demands and deserves, and I'm quite sure my brethren desire that everything you have find its concentration in the heaven. All my energy, all my exercise. Lord, have I a desire in my heart? Let that desire be expressed in relation to the place of the net. You know, when you see that in light of God's directions and God's clear principles, I tell you, there is no problem at all in that. Now we have to rush through Luke chapter sixteen for a moment. I'm going to go a wee bit longer tonight because we're not been back for a long time. Chapter sixteen. and the verse number two, Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and the herd and the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. My, that's great, isn't it? Verse 6, you get it again, and in very many other places, verse seven and, uh, other portions. Now, you see, I told you to read this book and find out how many times you get this, the place, the choice, and the name. And here we're doing some work for you, you know. But here in this chapter, it is the place of set celebration. Set celebration. Here is a chapter that presents the feast of the Lord. Look at verse seven sixteen. Three times in a year shall all thy meals appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose. In the place which he shall choose. You see, this place was to be the place of set celebration. Passover, unleavened bread, first fruits, feast of weeks, feast of trumpets, day of atonement, feast of tabernacle. These great feasts were to be celebrated in the place of the name. It was the place of sovereign choice. It was the place, as we saw just now, of sanctified consecration. But now in this chapter, it is the place of set celebration. In other words, when it comes to the exercise that marks the assembly in the remembrance of the Lord Jesus, of which these feet are but a faint picture one way or another, the place where I remember the Lord Jesus is the place of the name. Now, one Corinthians eleven makes that abundantly clear, not an individual thing, it's a corporate exercise. And although there are many things we would love to say about that, remember this, young Christian, the breaking of bread, the remembrance of the Lord Jesus is that which is done corporately in relation to the assembly and the assembly alone. You know, there are many people today, and they advance, well now, if 2 or three of us were going across the ocean in a boat, and uh, there we were, we'd be five weeks on the sea. Well, they were saying now on a Sunday, well, we'll just gather in some cabin and we'll remember the Lord. Well, that's very accommodating. And that kind of thing has led many things that, well, you know what happened, and I'm not going to go over them all tonight because I believe they're well known. Now, the point is that here is the assembly, and the blessed God has deposited the truth and the privilege of remembering the Lord Jesus into the custody of the assembly. Remember that. That's the point of one Corinthians eleven. If any other passage means anything, this is what this passage means. All right, someone, let's go back to the institution of the supper. Well, now do that if you will. And, uh, we value those gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that deal with the institutional side of the supper. We value that. We see its relationship. We see its truth, but that is not where we fix the doctrine. I hope you understand that. Number one, there were no sisters in the upper room. So many people would say, now I believe that, well, so do I believe certain things too, you know. Yeah. And once they tried to wiggle out of my ministry now on one Corinthians eleven by taking me to the institution, you see. I said, now wait, do you follow that? Oh yes. Well then, why do you have sisters taking back? So, our Our guide guide one launches Corinthians into all-encompassing. heaven. In It a embraces br- everything that is necessary for this week. And the assembly is that which is given the cost today of the suffer. Now that's clear from Acts chapter two. They continue steadfastly in the hostile plural doctrine, not the doctrine plural. The word apostles is a plural. There's only one apostle is the doctrine. The word has the apostasy after the S in the management rule of fact. Yeah. Now, you have noticed it too, haven't you? Good. Well, now it's plural, but it's a singular doctrine. What? Fellowship! Breaking of bread and prayer. And not until you get the assembly in H two can you get the breaking of bread. Never was an occasion before that, apart from the incident, till you come to that. And there's the doctrine for you in one single day. Now, what does that mean? That means, my dear brethren, that all that I know now and all that God would teach me concerning the remembrance of his Son is released through the assembly of God. I'm trying to lift up the truth of this, of this in such a way as to make it appeal to your soul as being the most attractive thing God has ever created in his day, in our day, and in any other day. Well, I know it's nice to look at the tabernacle, and it's beautiful, and I know it's even good to look at the temple, and it was even more beautiful, but you will have to agree with me, brethren, that that was only material and passed away. Here is something in the shoes tonight that far outshines the glory of tabernacle and temple. Men and women saved by divine grace, subject to divine mercy. And among you, through the failure to recognize the significance of all that the assembly means, Collins went to the court to settle matters of Congress. But present, here God is showing that he will have men of capacity, and it's not to be, it, it is rather to be expected that in the assembly where there is sound scriptural spiritual judgment, it is the place of spiritual conduct. God has given man capacity to be able to decide matters that arise. And that would open up a list too. I believe in the government of the assembly, and I believe in those that should exercise the responsibility of the assembly. I believe if we have men moving according to the suit of God, we will have spiritual counsel, and it is the place where spiritual counsel is expected, and it's the place where spiritual counsel should be given, and it's the place where spiritual counsel should be obeyed. Now, chapter thirteen. The tragedy is this, brethren, that as soon as God establishes a point, I'm just telling my dear brother, Mr. Bill, tonight what I'm going to tell you now. If I were to continue for another week, we would just do as we've been doing. We'll be going into these areas, the place of the name, the place of the name, and we'll be seeing the very important things that God tells us about it. Soul confession. Oh, there are many more, many more. And as we would establish the truth of the place and the truth of the gathering to the place and in the place of the name, why, what will we see? Just what we see now in this chapter. The devil will contest it, and the devil will contend it, and the devil will seek to move from the thing and from the fact what to do. It will start the whole thing. Now I'm going to give you an illustration. You can verify this. I have remained, I have memorized it in my soul, like the way these good ladies here memorized the recipe, eh, for the cheesecake and the date cake. My wife comes along at the lovely cake. Uh, what's the recipe? A pinch of this and a pint of that, and it's something else. Man, they can just wrap it off like that. I look at them and say, well now, I would dare to say you just should rattle off the scripture the same way because it's the same kind of thing. Young man, you get it in now, the same thing. You see way that mother and wife of yours and that lost her recipe? Why? She caught it in her. The word of God says my Bible should be in you. Right. Exodus twenty five one. And the Lord stayed on the lowly sale. How many times you can read that? Right, we're at the tabernacle now. As you read from chapter twenty five verse one to the end of chapter thirty one, where? What you find? Seven times the Lord is on the move. Seven times. If you look a little closer, you'll find that the seventh communication introduces a seventh, a seventh. So on again, sixth communication that combines all the seven expressions and expressions. And then the seventh communication. Communication. Manifestation. Now, once you get that idea in there, you got that idea in there. Sit there, sit communication, sit business about creation, and then... the Sabbath. That creation has to be taken there. Now, as soon as the Sabbath was written, and the mind of God is fresh. Everything looking good. What happened? And came the devil. He understands everything God has done. What happens now? Are you with me? This communication, a Sabbath. Exodus thirty one, you know the chapter. What's Exodus thirty about? The devil is coming, and Aaron's making a hole in top. The first word that God spoke on standing the tabernacle was the word door. School. He saw that for me. On sanctuary. Exodus thirty two, the devil said, it's for me and my child. You see? And he put his hand on gold that was intended for the sanctuary, and he made a child of it. That gold from the reelin, the spoils of the dead, and from the rings and the moats that were put in to make the car was gold that was intended for God, by God, for the sacred. The devil got it. Why is it that many of God's people are building golden cars Have that at verse earth in tonight? my book. Things Things that that God God's going to destroy with evil. Now, here he is again. Just as we have got this place well in our mind. That's it. If, just that. If. God anticipates in his wondrous wisdom the activity of the devil. If there are lies. You know what I mean by that now? I told you last night that this book speaks about a prophet. Now listen to how God speaks of it. Through Moses. A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up. God is able. What will if Of a prophet prophets are arise? I made He's equal doing it. to God. Heaven in your midst has descended. From among you, Name men. of. Say the name of. For the door will be from the straight of the road. And cool yourself alone in sleep. And cool yourself alone in hell. And cool yourself fit upon faith. Oh, brethren, how thankful, how thankful. I will summon back you and exs in your ass. Why? Pergama? Abuboloshenya? Zilhah? Then that fool said The doctrine nothing. of Off Salem. base. I I give didn't. you. In that Pergamum assembly, there was a prophet of David, and there were those that held the secret. Salem is not the fault. So here's the part. That in the school assembly, in any assembly, there is a great possibility that the devil could use me. Or the devil, brother, let me look at you now, spit in the face before God, and you look at me, and God will bless the both of us. Thank you, Jim. How to do? The veins are clear. And clean the veins of the heart. And clean the veins of the future. Just put it over, and you'll just feel manly. Now listen, if I had, if I had just lived a week or two with you, I would go in this every night, you know, and I would come to Second Timothy, and I would tell you, God, listen, young man, young older friend, I want to look at your face now, and I want to tell you something from my heart. God has not given us the spirit of bondage again under fear. Glory to God. What has he given? He has given us power. Power to what? Power to withstand. Man, I don't know who you are. Uh, the names I don't know. Your faces I'll remember. But listen, brother, God gives you the power to withstand a man of this caliber. I'll put it down again. I don't care who that man is, God gives you the power to withstand. Now the next bit, I'll have to finish. Verse six. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly. Oh, this is even more subtle. Wife lying in bed saying, you know, I don't think that the, the sur assembly is just, you know, and I like this other place, and I like this, and you know, I love my wife, and hey, hey. The wife of thy bosom couldn't get closer, could you? Well, the son comes in and he says, Father, now you know who is, know him, but I love my son. Ask somebody, you're still in the Old Testament, old fellow. Why do you not give us something we need? No problem. I'm entire. If you follow the vice virgin father and you want to verify my teachings, you will need this. And the Lord Jesus, if I knew that your eyes are as thy wife, I I don't also know right I say there, can that I do we. it? Yes. So that I can have you there by my side. I want to tell you I know my wife. Maybe Yes, I love Father, you you are again. good. Let me say, there's a truth of God, and that my wife, I don't believe she's a witch, and I'd like to think that even as that dear wife that I loved and I want to entice these people by, I thought that God would give me the love to uphold. But he has given me power of love. Love. Love to uphold my affection from that power that the wife of my bosom would entice me. The devil could use that very voice. Oh, verse number twelve. If I shall hear tale concerning one of my cities, and something has gone wrong in that city, in which men of unfaithfulness have arisen, and you hear them question inquisition, you hear them cry, there is way there from you now. There it is right there. And you've heard from that city that certain men have arisen to do this and to do that. You go and you take inquiry, and you discover the truth. To God, you smite the inhabitants of that city to the edge of the sword. Has it ever happened? I I believe believe, the beloved, love. there are companies that have moved away from the path of obedience to the will of God and have linked themselves with things who are cushioned up by one thing and another, and having made search, having inquired, and having established that the thing was true, I believe it's the responsibility of my soul and my movement and my ministry to exercise judgment relative to that thing. God has given me a sound mind.