In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of following the footsteps of Christ. He mentions that for the past five weeks, they have been studying the life of Christ and how it relates to the church and the world. The preacher emphasizes that God works all things together for good, even using political events like the Roman decree for taxation to fulfill His plans. He also highlights the role of different biblical figures, such as Matthew, John, and Luke, in gathering information about Jesus. The sermon concludes with a reminder to not lose sight of Christ amidst the distractions of the world.

It looks gospel again this evening. I should have said that I have the jurist with me. He's a very easy-going jerry-billish. Well, this is a model that I made some years ago. A complete model of a Jewish high priest. Because when I was teaching about the high priest's garments, I came to the conclusion one evening that I'd never get this teaching over to the people without the model. Remember, this is not an image. Just the same as we would use the chart behind us or any other chart that we would care to put up. So we use the model. Now, you can easily realize it's not an image because Mr. Pinsley asked me to go to his church, and I preached for weeks on this model, and you don't take an image in there. You wouldn't get out alive if you took an image in there. But you'll find the reason in a moment or two why I brought the model this evening. I have it out at the school on the hills, and I put it in the boot of the car, and I was dead scared of the soldiers stopping me coming in. As you know, you open the boot and a fellow like that in the boot. Well, we're back this evening to following the footsteps of Christ, and you'll learn in a moment why I brought the model. You know, for five weeks past, this is week number six, as you can see, for five weeks past, we've been following the footsteps of Christ. We began following the Virgin Mary until she took from Nazareth up the earth, because the Molecular conception took place in Nazareth. And indeed, if it had not been for the dictates of Caesar Augustus in Rome, because he sent out a decree that all the world should be taxed, and everybody had to go to their own city to be taxed. It shows you how God works all things together for good. God allowed this man. He permitted him. It's the primitive will of God. He allowed him to shout and get on like he did in Rome. Sometimes he allows governments to do things like that. And while he was allowing him, you see, he was very carefully directing Joseph and Mary. Because the child would have been born in Nazareth had it not been for the decrees that were allowed. And so they had to leave Nazareth and they wouldn't come through to Meria. So they crossed the Jordan, came down the Syrian side, came to Bethlehem here, crossed the Jordan again, and came to Bethlehem. And we followed that route and saw many things. And then we had a week or two, looking at the babes of Bethlehem. Who is this, we said? Mind you, the angel answered, Behold! For the angel said, Unto you this day in the city of David is born a figure, first of all, which is Christ, the Lord. And we took a long time with the the Lord bit of it. Because the russolites don't like me to say that he's the Lord. And one of them said, you know, this is a different word. And I said to him, verse 9 of Luke chapter 2 says, Unlo the angel of the Lord. And I said, is that the same word as the word that's used for the babe in the manger? Keeps out his Greek book, of course, and finds it's the same word. Because the babe in the manger was the Lord of the angels. No troubles about that at all. And then I said to him also, in verse 9 it says, Unlo the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord. And I said, is that the same word? Looks the Greek book up again. It's the same word. Because, you know, make no mistakes about it, it just tells me to say it. He was the Lord of glory. Make no mistakes about that. We're going to learn tonight that if the princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Mind you, it was the Lord of glory that was in the manger. Mind you, it was the Lord of glory that was on the cross. Mind you, the Lord of glory will step into the air one of these days. Yes, we have a look at the babe of Bethlehem. And then eight days later, we took up a whole night on the circumcision of the child. Then six weeks later, he was taken to Jerusalem for presentation to the Lord, according to the law. Because while he was made of a woman, and he was, he was made under the law, under the Jewish law. And the Jewish law required that he being the firstborn son, he would have to be presented at six weeks time. And then last week we looked at these wise men coming and finding him in the house of Bethlehem, when he was almost two years of age. So we have followed his footsteps very carefully, from the miraculous conception, right through the birth, and the circumcision, and the presentation, right on to the time when Joseph had to flee into Egypt because of the diabolical purposes of Herod. And then last week we found him coming back out of Egypt again and coming to Nazareth, that people might slight him by calling him a Nazarene. He was never a Nazarite, which is a different thing, but we mix them up sometimes. And so we've got that far this evening. Now we're going to look this evening at the childhood and boyhood days of Jesus. And I assure you that there's not very much in this book about the childhood and the boyhood days of Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church some years ago published a book on the childhood and boyhood days of Jesus. And they talk about him working miracles at school. It says that on one occasion the teacher went to slight him and he paralyzed the teacher. Talks about them calling the birds out of the air. Talks about them making prey animals and giving them life. And it's all baloney. That's what it is. I argued with a Roman Catholic scholar one day and he was annoyed at my language, you know. He said, what makes you so sure? And I said, well if he paralyzed the teacher with the thoughts, it must have been a miracle, wasn't it? Yes. If he made prey animals and gave them life, it must have been miraculous. But the book that I read out of church says that the first miracle was done at Cana of Galilee. And happens to be the first one. Don't you swallow that sort of baloney, you keep to the Bible. We'll be directed by this book. And all that we need to know about the childhood and boyhood days of Jesus, all that God wants us to know. It's in his book. And you'll find it very carefully placed in the book. You know, you'll find this if you teach Matthew's Gospel. You'll find this. That the book opens, of course, as I've pointed out to you. By saying the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David. The son of Abraham. And you know, when you talk about the son of David. Now fancy that being put first. Fancy even being put before the son of Abraham. And I have told you that this gospel of Matthew. Matthew is writing everything surrounding the king. And you'll find, if you keep that in your mind, you'll get a lot of details about the king of Israel. You see, when he's born. And after a few months have gone past, the second chapter begins like this. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? You see, it's got to do with the king. And of course, why Herod grew so wicked was because he was the king. He didn't like another one. So learning from the wise men that this new king must be about two years of age just now, then he flew all the children round about Bethlehem from two years old and on. And of course when the angel told Joseph to flee, it was just the security of the king that was being undertaken. But you'll find this, that when he comes back from Egypt, and we're at the end of chapter two now and came to Nazareth and it's called the Nazarene, chapter three begins with John the Baptist coming, and at verse thirteen, then come of Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John to be baptized of him, unto Lord Jesus his friend, about thirty years of age. And believe, childhood and boyhood is passed by in this gospel. Yes, I know that the genealogy is there because it's the genealogy of the king. We don't need to know about the boyhood and childhood of the king. And you'll find when you go to Mark's gospel, it's go to Mark's gospel, verse one, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God, and then it goes straight into John the Baptist coming, it doesn't even talk about his birth, you know, nor his miraculous conception, nor anything that we have had up to now. And it begins there at verse nine, and it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and he was thirty years of age, and there's not a word about his birth, or his miraculous conception, or his circumcision, or his presentation, or what heritage it all left us. You see, Mark is writing about the servant, not the king. The servant actually is a wordless slave. And you know when you talk about the slave, you don't need to know where he came from, or who he is, or any of his genealogy at all. You only need to know what he does. And there are more things that Jesus did in Mark's gospel, than in the other three. Because he's writing about the servant. When you come to John's gospel, you see, John is writing about the eternal son. You see, it begins like this, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I like that bit, you know, And the Word was God. All troubles with that. Verse 14 says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Verse 10 says, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew not. And at verse 19, it begins again with John the Baptist. And the miraculous birth, or the circumcision, or the presentation, or the deeds and doings of heaven, and the going into Egypt, and the coming out, and all the rest of it, they're not here. And they don't need to be here either. That's why there are four gospels. Somebody said, why didn't God put it in the one? The easier works. Well, God gave Matthew the task of gathering together all the things concerning the king. And God gave Mark the task of gathering all the things together concerning the slaves. And God gave John the task of gathering everything together concerning the son. And He gave Luke the task of gathering everything together concerning the man. I'm sure it was a good choice to use a physician. Luke was a physician. When you're writing about the man, that's where we get all the little details about the birth, about the circumcision, about the presentation. That's why Luke leaves out the thing about the tongue, about the cave. He didn't need to do that, he knew there was another fellow on that section. So where it looks gospel now. We watch the king being taken away into Egypt to behead during those dreadful days and coming out again and he says, now where it looks gospel and we're really starting. It says verse 40, you see verse 39, and when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord they returned into Galilee to their own ship in Nazareth. Of course the whole thing about the king being taken hastily into Egypt and head there is left out because that was Matthew's job. So that when you're chasing the footsteps of Christ you have to be very careful how you handle the four Gospels because there's a bit that one does that the other doesn't. And if we're going to have them in harmony behind us when we're finished I need to know how to handle the four and put them into one alright. So here we are back in Nazareth and we're where Matthew was. Now look and Matthew are together. It says verse 40, and the child grew. And you'll notice the word child and you'll notice the word grew. You know this is just very ordinary physical development. You know there's nothing pleases the father and mother more to see the child growing. You have a wee one in the house, my you can see her growing or you can see him growing. It's just physical development that's there isn't it. And it says then the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom. And you know this is mental advancement and contentment. There wasn't a weakly child you know strong in spirit. And you know as the child grew you know they could see that he had wisdom. It's a great thing to see the wee one growing in wisdom too you know. Because we're going to come back to this for problems this evening in a moment or two. I was in the home just yesterday, just yesterday which seems to be nice for me. And the mother was telling me about the wee one, the wee one is only two. And the wee one was upstairs was the mother. And the wee one dad wasn't too well and she was in the bed in the other room. And the wee one said to her mummy running behind her, where's auntie Lottie? She's two you know. And the mummy says she's next door. And the wee one says it's Mrs. Morrison who's next door. You see the mother shouldn't have said next door at all she should have said the next room. The wee one had more wisdom than the mother. But the mother was pleased to see the wee one developing wasn't she? Because the wee one didn't understand next door like that. The wee one just knew the woman that lived next door, that's in the next house. But the mother was talking about the next room. Because all of us would say she's next door. But you can see the wee one was developing. You know it's a great thing to see them developing. And we've all watched this with the children you know. And you can see the physical development of fear. And you can see the mental advancement and contentment that's registered here. And you can see the spiritual enlivenment that's here. And the grace of God was upon them. How pretty that's all put in you know. We're looking at the childhood and the boyhood now remember. And you can feel developing physically, growing. And you can see this mental advancement. And you can see this mental contentment along with it. And you can see this spiritual enablement, the grace of God was with them. Then comes a very interesting story. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old. So we jumped from just over two till twelve. And you fill the rest of it in by his growing. And his mental advancement and his spiritual enablement. God doesn't want you to know much more about it. But we'll have to go into details. Now you know the story that they went to Jerusalem when he was twelve. They spotted thee and then they had fulfilled the days as they returned. The child Jesus carried behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they're supposing him to have been in the company. You know the plain fact is that they lost him. And that's the last note we have down here this evening. When he was at this temple presentation. He was the lost Christ. I'm allowed to take that up first this evening. Although I've put it in order for you. You know you would wonder that the Blessed Virgin Mary ever lost the child. Wouldn't you? But she did. Now let me say this to you this evening. That if there ever was a soul on the broad acres of earth. That loved the Lord Jesus with every fiber of her being. It was the Virgin Mary. Well she was bound to. You know she knew all about her virginity. As some of the old modernists don't seem to. She could even look an angel fool in the face and say. I know not a man. I've never been with a man. She was the Virgin. Don't let us ever belittle her. And the angels said. Blessed art thou among women. So she was the Blessed Virgin. I haven't any quibbles in my conscience tonight. You know by calling her the Blessed Virgin Mary. None at all. And I detest those who make little of her. I don't think that's any credit of Protestantism at all. But this woman knew that the Holy Ghost had come upon her. That she had miraculously conceived in a womb. By the power of the highest overshadowing earth. It was a mighty thing. And she knew that she was the mother of the Messiah. You know there was so many things that she saw. She saw the shepherds. She knew what the angel had said. And she was there when the wise men worshipped him. I know they didn't worship her. They worshipped him. And you know she knew that God directed Joseph away down into Egypt. And she must have saw him growing and knew that the grace of God was upon him. She knew that better than Luke did. Let me say this to you. That the Blessed Virgin Mary had a thousand little intimacies with Christ that you will never have. Let me tell you that she washed him when he was a wee baby. Let me tell you that she fed him at her breast. Let me tell you this evening that she had a thousand little intimacies with Christ. You will never have. And yet although she had these intimacies. And although she had these memories. And although she knew so much. Let me finish. She lost them. And she lost them. Why she ever lost them I'll not be able to tell you. But I know she lost them. And I'll tell you where she lost them. She lost them in God's house. That's where she lost them. Lost them in a holy place. Lost them in the temple. Oh my friends. I want you to get the hold of this. Maybe her indulgences were taken up so much with the pilgrimage. So much with the church. That I lost the Christ. Like some of the Baptists. So much with the church. That I lost the person. So much with the performance. So much with the picture. Oh for any sakes. Get the eyes of the preacher. We worship the Lord you know. How many times have you come here and lost them in the place. You got taken up with the party. And the place. And the crowds. And you lost the Christ. You lost him. Oh there's a lot of old folks in this land of ours. The only thing they have to make is party and place. Yes she lost him. But I want you to get the hold of this. We'll come back to this story in a moment or two. When she came back you know. Verse 46 it says. Came to pass that after three days we found them. You know that's worth noting down there. It says verse 44. That they supposing him to have been in the company went a days journey. Did you notice that it took them three days to find them. Because I can tell you, you can lose them pretty quickly. But you don't find them as easy. And you get taken up with something else dear. Now you can get taken up with a song. And I'm talking to singers dear. That's true. Sure you could be taken up more with a song than a stage act. And we have a bunch of creatures here. And you could be taken up more with a message than a master. And I'll tell you if you do you'll have a long way in finding them. It's just a day journey out you know but a free back. And you'll find this. That when she found them twelve years of age. When they saw him. Verse 46. Came to pass that after three days they found them in the temple. Sitting in the midst of the doctors. Bought healing then. How humble he was. And asking them questions. And all that had them were astonished at his understanding and answer. And we'll come back to the story. And says verse 51. He went down with them and came to Nazareth. They're going back home now. And the subject unto them isn't that a lovely little bit. But his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom. And stature. And we're back to the mental thing. And we're back to the physical thing. And in favour with God and man. And we're back to the spiritual thing. Now this has brought a lot of problems. Because the modernists and some who wouldn't want to be mixed up and called modernists. Come asking these sort of questions. Somebody asked me once if Jesus Christ is God. You say he's God. How could they grow in wisdom? Now that is just exactly what we're determined to do in this meeting no matter how long it takes. Just to answer the question. You know when a person's asked like that I think the person that asks it doesn't know anything about what incarnation means. You know real incarnation. Doesn't it ever think of incarnation like this? That there was a body formed and then God came to dwell in it. Now don't you be getting that idea. That is not the idea. That would be two persons. Unincarnation is God becoming what he had never been before. Yet ceasing to be. Not ceasing to be what he had always been. You see he was still God. He's unchanging. And yet in incarnation he became what he had never been before. This is God manifest in flesh. But it's not two. It's one. That's what I want to get over to you because I'm afraid that people don't understand this. That's why I brought my high priest and the garments with me. Let's go back to see this now. We're at the book of Exodus. And we're at chapter 28. Book of Exodus. Chapter 28. And the Lord speaking to Moses away up on the mountain. And he's saying this to him in verse 1. And teach thou unto thee, Aaron my brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that ye may minister unto me in the priest's office. Even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Isomer, Aaron's sons. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron my brother, for glory and for beauty. Verse 4. These are the garments which they shall make. A breastplate. That's the bit that's on the front there. And what a lot of teachings in that. And an ephod. These short coloured garments here is what is called the ephod. And we'll go into that in a moment. And then there's the robe, which is the blue robe that's underneath here. And then there's a broidered cloak under that. You cannot see it from the distance, but it is broidered. And that doesn't mean embroidered. Because the beauty of the Lord was never stitched on. Now this is worked in. Kings McElroy has done it, and he ought to know more about this than I do. How that in Damascus weaving, they weave a thing into a cloth. It's not stitched on. I do not know. Because the beauty of the Lord was never stitched on. Oh no it wasn't. It's a broidered coat, and then there's a mitre on his head. And there's the gargle and so on. But look at verse 6. And they shall make the ephod, just watch this, of gold. And the way they made this, let's go to chapter 39 just for a moment. So you see this. Chapter 39. It says here, verse 2. And they made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, fine, fine linen. And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen. You see this gold was a metal. Now they were weaving here, a metal, and a material. I think they used to do that where you worked James away long ago. Your brother Derek showed me a piece of cloth where there was metal worked into a material. I don't think they do it now. But in the old economy, you know, they were weaving these long threads of gold. They were actually metal, cut into thin stripes into wires, and worked into the thing. And of course it was linen, and gold together. And then of course it had these colours, the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet. Let me take a bit of this off, this fellow, so you see. This is easier if you can see it like that. Now you can see the gold worked into it, can't you? And then you can see the white bit that I left, which is the linen. And then we'll deal with the colours in a moment. Now it is very wonderful that God should do this. This proves that the book I'm reading out of is God's book, because I defy anyone to do this. You see, when you take linen, linen is something that comes from earth, it comes from fats. I've been through the mill, and I've seen it from the raw fats. And then it's made into whatever it's made into, these linen threads, and it's woven. Now then we say it's linen and it comes from earth, talking about something that's earth. Now when we talk about gold, gold is something that's unchanging, and everlasting, and never loses its power. You see, the linen would speak of his humanity, but the gold would speak of his perfect deity. Now by our wonderful process, these two are put together. You see what God was trying to say. The perfect deity in the gold, and perfect humanity in the linen, were coming together as one personality. It's being so intertwined, it's not two, it's one man. But that's pretty prudent to me, that God should do that. Then when I looked at the colours, you know, you see, it had to be purple, you can see the purple stripe in it there. And there's a great many of you in this meeting know about the purple, and the arch purple, and the royal purple. I do not think it is, you know. Now, I want you to get this. You see, the purple speaks of majesty. It's the royal colour, isn't it? How well one who was God in the gold, and man in the linen, he was changed. In fact, he was king of kings. So God put the purple bit in. See the blue bit? Because the blue is the colour of the heavens. And this book teaches me that the second man is the Lord from heaven. You see, he's not only God in the gold, and man in the linen, and king in the purple, but he's Lord in the blue. Now, there's the scarlet bar there, it's very wonderful, isn't it? My, it's a gorgeous thing when you begin to think of it, it's so simple. But the scarlet bar is probably the most wonderful one. You see, scarlet dye, a very difficult one. Cochineal it's called by the ladies and the dyers Cochineal. And it was God in the wilderness. Moses was in the wilderness making the linen. And when I was in Palestine, I was out in the wilderness of Judea and went away tramping till I found one of these great cactus plants, all seems safe. And if you're there sometime, if you go behind it, you'll find that on the back of the great jagged leaves, there are a lot of little worms. They're called Cochineal actually. And if you get them in your hand and squeeze them, your hands will become stained with red. That's where Moses got the dye from. They gathered these, put them in a tub, great big tub, and they squeezed them, pushed them down. You see, the one who was God in the gold and man in the linen and king in the purple and lord in the blue was Ram! Didn't you stop? See that bit of cloth I have in my hand? It was God who designed it. God gave Moses the idea that if you make a leaf of fine, fine linen you'll work the gold into it. You'll have to have it blue and purple and scarlet. That wasn't made in the Masonic Hall, you know. That happens to be out of a book. That's one of the traits of Christ. But when the whole thing is put together, it is one evolved. That's what incarnation is all about. My dear friend, we've got to get the hold of that. That this wonderful one that we're thinking about he was God but he was Ram. He was perfect God and perfect man but don't let me continue He was perfect God and perfect man in one personality God, manifest in flesh. You see, he knew everything and yet he grew in wisdom. That's the problem that the modernists see. Let's go to John's Gospel just to prove that he knew everything. Now I have done this in this class before and I wouldn't want to do it again. I have taken every one of these chapters and there are 21 chapters right through John's Gospel right to the very end 21 chapters, and in every chapter Jesus lets us see his unlimited knowledge. See at the end of chapter 1 verse 43 the day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find a Philip and say unto him, follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida the city of Andrew and Peter Philip findeth Nathanael is what he said to him we have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth and he made a mistake here the son of Zeus and if you take the history of Philip right through you will find that every time he made a move he made a mistake yet he was one of the great apostles that's not my subject this evening but you can follow it on sometime if you are at leisure he went to Nathanael and Nathanael said unto him can there any good thing come out of Nazareth you see Jesus Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth and it was so back of beyond city it was so miserable a little town it was so stinky that nobody ever thought that anything worthwhile could come out of there that's why he was called a Nazarene but you know verse 47 Jesus called Nathanael coming to him and said to him behold there is a light indeed in whom there is no doubt and Nathanael said unto him whence goest thou me why did he say that now it's funny isn't it see the two men coming up here one of them is Philip the other is Nathanael the Lord just takes a step forward and there is a light indeed in whom there is no doubt and Nathanael jumped out of his sandals he says whence goest thou me how do you know me now will you see this Jesus answered and said unto him before that Philip called whence goest thou unto the fig tree see I saw thee we see what Nathanael did Nathanael answered and said unto him Rabbi thou art the son of God thou art the king of the east persuaded I know what persuaded him well I can tell you when any of these men in the far east at that time sat under the fig tree they were reading sit and read men where you went to read and they were reading the Old Testament or the part of it and I'm making a guess now that I know that I can support it without guessing that he was reading about Jacob remember Jacob he was a literal that was a lot of guile and he did a whole lot of things that went on too and do you remember him sleeping and seeing the angels ascending and descending on the ladder well now watch what Christ says now Jesus answered and said unto him because I sat under thee I saw thee under the fig tree believe it now I shall see greater things than these and he said unto him Philip I said unto thee hereafter he shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending not upon the ladder but upon the son of man the one the ladder was speaking about because there is only one way to heaven no matter where you are in the Old Testament or the New so the Lord Jesus saw what he was reading when he was near he knew that in the man's heart he had made up his mind I'll never be a natural like like Jacob so he says behold a natural like indeed in whom is no guile hence no slander he says I saw you you know I wasn't near you but I saw you and I knew what you were doing won't you come round telling me in the written law because I can tell you I can do that in every chapter in this book you know for twenty one chapters and the last would end like this with people at his feet looking into his eyes saying thou knowest all things oh let's get the hold of that now we're only making the problem tighter the more we go on aren't we that's what I intend to do I intend to make it as difficult as possible and then loose the knots for you you know when you begin to think about the wisdom of God let's go to Psalm 147 for a moment Psalm 147 and it's talking about the Lord in verse 2 the Lord doth build up Jerusalem verse 3 it says He healeth the broken in heart verse 4 it says He telleth the number of the stars now watch that He calleth them all by their names then it says great is our Lord and of great power is understanding is infinite if you would say that about God you wouldn't have any problems God knows everything yes, omniscient you see God knows the number of the stars that's something that Patrick Moore doesn't know I know old Patrick knows a lot you know and I listen to him sometimes and I admire him he hasn't any degrees from any college in this world and I think he can lose all the rest of the boys but he doesn't know the number of the stars nobody knows the number of the stars they go so far away out there that you can't really get at them but God knows the number of the stars tell you what's more God calleth them all by name He's a name for everyone we only know 3 or 4 at least I do but there's countless millions He knows all the names it's just the same as He thinks He knows all the names, He's in the names in the book He knows them all He can say Saul He can say Abraham Abraham He knows your name but no limitation His understanding is infinite I don't need to hammer that answer I believe God knows all things Now this comes from the wisdom of God to the wisdom of Christ for the moment which comes to Colossians a letter to the Colossians and we're at the second chapter and this is a bit of magnificent writing here I know that Paul was guided by the Holy Ghost chapter 2 verse 1 just to get it right For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for them that lay at the feet of you and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their hearts might be comforted Paul was always praying for the comfort of God's people being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding it's a great big long statement He just wants the saints to be comforted in their hearts knit together in love that they may fully understand with perfect assurance and to acknowledge to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and then he says and of the power and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in Christ I wouldn't like you to dare to say anything else and would you ever come round telling me that he was limited in his knowledge or how limited He was God you need to know the mystery of God both of the power and of Christ in whom are hid no limitations at all none whatsoever because the more I batter it up the more the modernist says alright then how can he grow in wisdom how can he increase then it's these questions I'm not forgetting what would happen did I have to batter it out of it now let's go from the wisdom of God and the wisdom of God in Christ if you like to the wisdom of the world you know we're at first Corinthians now and we're at the second chapter probably one of the greatest chapters in the book on wisdom you know I like this because it has done so much for me chapter two first Corinthians two and I brethren when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom and it would be good for the preachers to learn this wouldn't it because some of them that I listen to they all talk but when I really squeeze it there's very little in it I think they'd be better preaching the word came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified beautiful picture wasn't it and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in what's friendly Lord sure not here and my speech and my preaching was not with the encouraging words of man's wisdom well let's make a difference now between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man so called wisdom Paul never went to do anything in the wisdom of man you know there's a great word here my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom you know some preachers come to talk to me about preaching and they contest to me you know that they have spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours just to get the right word just to make it nice, just to be nice fellows you know they're not agonisers like me but that's all I dream about this speech I can tell you Paul never dreamed like that watch what he says now and you'll get it it is my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and the power he was after the power not the play acting well check with the play actors they are play actors until they are tempted to churches because people are sick listening to them yes Paul was after a different thing he said verse 5 that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God oh friends I'm not too worried about the phrases thank God he looked after the phrases for me I've written them all down in my sleep somewhere I'm depending on the Holy Ghost yes indeed watch this we speak wisdom among them that are perfect yet not the wisdom of this world see the phrase in verse 4 man's wisdom, see verse 5 the wisdom of man, see verse 6 the wisdom of this world but we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory which none of the princes of this world knew big fellows that they were and I think he's not only dealing with the leaders of the nation I think he's going on I think the prince of politics and policy because there were some things they didn't know for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory you know the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the devil we need to think about twice remember when we were dealing with Satan and I told you that he was creative a creative being that he was full of wisdom now that doesn't mean that he knew everything that God knew I think you know we get a wrong idea about this first of all some of us seem to think that the devil's omnipresent that he can be every man he is not omnipresent we talk about meeting the devil maybe none of us have ever met the devil we meet a lot of agents and a lot of these wicked spirits that work for him I think there's a lot of them who work around me every Tuesday and Sunday and I wrestle not with flesh and blood but against principalities and powers who try to muddle me up I don't think the devil's omnipresent I know that Job met the devil and I know that Adam met the devil and I know the Lord met the devil but he is not everywhere at once you know don't be getting that idea and he's not omnipresent and he's not omnipotent either he hasn't all the power of the opinion offices we have we don't know anything if the devil had all power you'd never get here my dear friend don't let's get off on this one he is not omniscient and he is not omnipresent and I can tell you this friend he doesn't know everything either he's not omniscient there's some things that God kept him from knowing because had he just known the way the cross would have gone he would have had other tasty tactics you know it would fit the best for I think who got his thing right better than anybody else that I've ever seen he quotes the very verse that I have quoted we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery he says this why did God keep some things hidden until this day of ours and revealed them unto us by the spirits why did he do this? why did he not say it all along? here's what it is it was so that Lucifer should not know does that sound too startling? then reflect if Satan had known centuries in advance that the crucified Jesus would rise from the dead that in his crucified resurrected glorified humanity he would attend to the throne of universal administration that for two millenials there would be a soul saving gospel propagated throughout the human race that upon the seeding wreckage of the messianic purpose God would begin to erect the wonderful new mystery Ephesus, the church of his dear son and that in the end there would be millions and millions saved to eternal glory if Satan had known all that in advance would he ever have hung Ephesus to the cross as he did through wicked human encompasses? nay, on the contrary, he would have exercised all his subtlest stratagems and strongest pressures to prevent our Lord from ever hanging there that's pretty good, isn't it? I give that top marks as usual for all said Lord, it's great you see, we've got to get this tidied out when we begin to think about wisdom we've got to get the wisdom of God into our minds and of course God knew everything and God always knew everything and you can't take me back to a time when he didn't know and if you're bothered about election election is based on God's full knowledge for whom he foreknew he predestined and we're elect according to the full knowledge of God but put it first you can see there's a vast difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man and the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the devil there's a vast difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of a child you're waking up, are you? cause you know, let's go to 1 Corinthians 13 when you're there 1 Corinthians 13 now Paul does this with a special purpose but we must go into the purpose this evening verse 11 1 Corinthians 13, verse 11 when I was a child, he says I stay as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child you see, the child mind has to be brought into this, you know when I became a man I put away family things, or at least we hope we did you know those of you who have children in the house for anything, let them be children what kind of neat old men and old women are they? they've got childish minds my eye come through this, you know I remember our two boys, they're not like me telling you this but then I don't care I can remember them creeping around the floor with guns in their hands and hankies tied round their necks and cowboy hats on, and you would see Michael Cumber staring on, waiting to be shot oh yes, I let them play they were only kids I had no notion of stopping them I remember sitting in the study, you know with Michael on my back on the horse, and I was at the book and I can do it still, you know I'll let you parents get a word here now just let the child be the child when I was a child, I thought as a child I know some of them are making old women out of them I'll let the kids alone, let them grow up they need to grow up, you know when I was a child, I thought as a child I speak as a child, I thought I understood as a child I thought that Charlie Chaplin was everything in the world oh let's get the thing clear now you see, if we're going to have this information we must have the perfect God we must have the perfect man and for the Lord Jesus to be a perfect man he had to be a perfect child you know, when you get onto that side of it you can see the childish mind there's all the difference between Adam and Christ Adam was never a child he never was nursed by anybody he never sucked a bottle in his life he never was cuddled as a witch he was made a man he never had babyhood he never had childhood, he never had boyhood God made him a man now why did God not make Christ a man? you might ask me ah you see, there's more to it than that really you see, he's not only a man he's the king and if he's the king, he has to be born of David's line of the house and lineage of David he'd have to belong to the tribe of Judah he'd have to be of the seed of Abraham must be born of a child you see, this is a very wonderful mystery that God was manifest in flesh first of all in the little child you see, when I brought this model I wasn't only thinking about this let's go back to Exodus 28 you're not in a hurry, sure I'll tell you a wee secret we're not having any bible class next week you see, it's Christmas and we're not having any bible class the week after that because it's the new year's day and we have the watch night service the night before so I'd better put in a bit of overtime tonight, wouldn't I? we have two weeks off now we're at Exodus 28 and we were looking at the ephod there how they would make it and then if you go over to verse 36 he's talking about the mincer here the thing that's on the ivy's head he says, thou shalt make a fruit of pure gold and watch the word, pure gold and weave upon it like the engravings of the signet holiness to the Lord and thou shalt put it on a blue lace, this plate that it may be upon the miter you've got to tie it on with the blue lace upon the forefront of the miter shall it be and it shall be upon Aaron's forehead it's the miter we're thinking about did you see three things? you know, it's made of metal this miter's made of, you can see it here it's white linen and then you can see it has a gold plate on the front and it's held on by a blue lace it's all there now when you talk about the miter you're talking about the mind of Christ and I know no greater subject than the mind of Christ I wrote a booklet on the mind of Christ and I must give old Paisley credit when it's due because I'm told to give credit when it's due and I know that he said in America in one of the great colleges that he preached at that the greatest message he ever had in his life was on the mind of Christ by William Boleyn of Lourdes and I want to thank him for that you see, this is a tremendous thing because when you take this gold with this holiness unto the Lord you know, this is the mind that's everlasting, this is the infinite this is the holy mind that's the mind of God can never be anything else but holiness when you take the blue you see that's the color of the heavens because Christ's mind was a heavenly mind his mind was always on heavenly things but he never became so heavenly minded that he was no earthly use well, where do we get this bit in? you see, it was not only a holy mind it was not only a heavenly mind it was a human mind now that's the bit you see you see, it was the human that had to increase it was the human that had to grow there cannot be any real incarnation unless the perfect God and the perfect man is made one this is a mystery beyond us how the child how the child in the manger can be the mighty God and yet our childlike mind must grow and increase my dear friends you might as well ask me if he was God how could his body grow? oh, but you would want him to grow he must become the man of thoughts friend, what a mind it was it's beyond mine because it's the wisdom of God in all its eternal perfection and yet it's the mind of a child that needs to increase at the same time and that's mystery old Wesley got it, you know he said his mystery it's a great subject but you divide the wisdoms as you go along would you take time to sing two verses two verses of number 32 once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed and we'll sing the first and we'll sing the third verse and through all his wondrous childhood he would honor and obey two verses, number 32 first and third thank you a lowly cattle shed where a mother and her baby in a manger for his bed he would honor and obey in a manger for his bed you know that there will be no Bibles class next Tuesday, Christmas night but we have a Christmas morning service starting dead on eleven dear Lord part us in thy fear and with thy blessing and take us to our homes and safety through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen