Waterloo Conference - Part 1 — Colin Anderson

Waterloo Conference - Part 1 — Colin Anderson

May we turn again, please, to the epistle to the Ephesians, and to the first chapter. Ephesians chapter 1, and I'm going to read again from the first verse. Ephesians chapter 1, and verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Grace be to you and to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him, in love, hath he predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his name, wherein he hath made us as testes, easily enough.

Before we have eventually come to him, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his mercy, hath he done to support us in all risks of the future, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath.

We are gathered together as one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in us, even in him, whom also we have obtained in inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who willed it all things after the counsel of his own will.

That we should be to the praise of his glory, whom thou hast trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, ye were healed with that holy spirit of Christ.

This is the earnest of our intelligence until the redemption of the perfect perfection of. After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, I look up to all the saints who come to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

For the God that art working as Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you his wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of his truth, the highest of your understanding or heart, being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his glory, and what is the glory of his inheritance in him.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us within the least, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavens and the places, far above all principality and power, and every meaning of his name.

Not only in this world, but also in magnificent countries, he hath put all things under his feet, that they may be made over all things to the service of all who look in. This letter contains much of what we might call the Gospel.

It tells us about our needs. It tells us about the way the Lord has met our needs. And so I suppose it may say that there is much of the Gospel in this letter. It may be compared with the book of Romans, in which also we have a fuller textbook of the vision of the Gospel.

We have a heavy foreshadowing of the Gospel of God in a very wonderful way. In the book of Romans, it is interesting to notice that the note that is first struck is the note of our own sinfulness, or of our depravity, in the first chapter, and indeed on in the second, and in the part of the third, we have an outline for it.

How that man is unutterably sinful. It also expounds the Gospels of the best of Christians, by the way, Christians are all healed by that Gospel. Heals. By the same force, the grace of God is visibly visible.

If we turn to this, we find that it is different to the book of Romans. God does not set before us here in this first chapter, the debts of our sin. That doesn't come out until we get to the second chapter, where he speaks about us being dead in the first chapter of the book.

And there's something very instructive in that, isn't there? The book of Romans presents the Gospel to us from the standpoint of the need in the heart of man. And this is central to the attention. It presents the Gospel to us from the standpoint of the need in the heart of God.

God’s Will, Salvation, and the Praise of His Glory

Perhaps that aims a little explanation. We understand the need in the heart of man, but many Christians don't. But there is a need in the heart of God, we may actually say, too. God being who He was, the greatest, loving, compassionate, merciful, as well as righteous and holy God, is the one who has a desire in His heart to express His love and His grace towards us who are in hunger for glory.

For that reason, I think, we have in this first chapter, a number of times, the mention of our foundation being according to His will, to Jesus in verse 5, that He predestined us after the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.

That is, it was His purpose, it was His plan. Notice again, verse 11, in whom also we have a change in imperative, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the path of His own will.

And again, I think it's my best in verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He had purposed for Himself. This was a divine plan of salvation. This was something that was glorifying the Lord, something that was pleasing to Him, and in order to satisfy that need and that craving and that lust and that greed that was in His heart, and in order to find expression for it, He looked down upon us and selected us and blessed us in the Lord's name of Christ.

So, with this foundation that we have, not only meet our need and praise God and God has set forth in the book of Romans, but perhaps even more wonderfully, it satisfies the very heart of God. It's something in which He takes pleasure.

That new creation is Christ's new creation. You remember the old creation? God looked over that old creation, and He said at the end of the creation, that it was good. Everything that God does is good, and He found satisfaction in that which He had done.

God looked over the foundation which He had provided for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and He showed us that He knows it's good. It satisfies the heart of God. Isn't it wonderful that we, as believers, are called to satisfy our heart?

We are part of the process of satisfying God. Isn't it wonderful? He works all things under the counsel of His own will, and this one who does everything He says in verse 6, part of it, the first part of it, everything is to the praise of the glory of His grace.

And notice again, in verse 12, that we should be to the praise of His glory. Just as we've had it, as I've said, we ought to be. It means that everything He affected in our salvation was that we should be to the praise of His glory.

And that's on every two times, last year. And in verse 14, that's the last part of the verse, it says, unto the praise of His glory. Now, let me write that verse section up for us very nicely. This little quote mentions the praise of His glory at the end of each section.

For in the first part, that is from verses 1 to 6, if we take unto the praise a time action 1 -4, we have the action of the Lord God the Father. And then in the next part, from verse 6 down to verse 12, where again, notice, we have that praise, the praise of His glory, we have the activity of the Son of God.

In this final short section, from verse 12 down to verse 14, we have the work or the activity of the Spirit of God. And each of these is to the praise of His glory. I would like just briefly, ladies and gentlemen, to make a position in this section.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Salvation

Let's just imagine that as we look at this first section, verses 1 to 6, we see that the Lord is the great planner. If you like, He is the architect of our salvation. He's not the author. God the Father, to Him, has attributed the plan of salvation.

He had chosen unto Him before the salvation of the world, and it's speaking about the God the Father, how He was Christ, in verse 3. Then, when we look at the second section, and we see the activity of the Son, may I I would like just briefly, ladies and gentlemen, to make a position in this section.

Let's just imagine that as we look at this first section, verses 1 to 6, we see that the Lord is the great planner. He had chosen unto Him before the salvation of the world, and it's speaking about the God the Father, how He was Christ, in verse 3.

Then, in verses 12 to 14, we may see perhaps that the Holy Spirit is the receiver or the confirmer of that plan, for we notice in that section that He is the one who comes to us and makes that plan of salvation which the Lord Jesus brought out in the work of the cross.

He makes the plan of salvation actual, meaningful in our life, and reveals that plan to us, and even deals us with His own grace as persons that we might be confirmably His. So, then, we have the receiver, the confirmer, or if you like, the substantiator of the plan, the one who brings it into practical effect in our life.

So, we rejoice in the fact that our salvation has glorified God in satisfying Him, and that indeed is a cause for worship, and praise, and thanksgiving. No wonder the Apostle says that God has blessed us with all sorts of blessings.

The important thing is that we do rejoice in all that He has done for us in His nation. He prays for them, in verses 16 on to the end, that is in verse 23 of the first chapter, He prays for them. He says that in verse 15, I heard in all ages and all ages that the blood of all saints He uses the same cutlet in the book for the assessment of the conscience, and these are the twins that reveal a true work of the grace of God.

Faith in Christ and Love for All the Saints

They reveal a person who truly is in birth, when these two things are properly evident in a person's life. There is, there is faith in the Lord Jesus, and smiles unto all that is in faith. There is no blessing from God unless it is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is no other way to the cross. There are not many ways to God other than there is one of us. There are many ways in our experience, of course, in which we come to Christ, but Christ is the only way to God, and He has replied to that claim here with their faith in the Lord Jesus.

Now, that might be a thing, though, that is just for faith. It is easy to say, oh, I believe in the Lord. I believe that the Messiah, or our Savior, or some faith is like this. It's easy for faith. But, the evidence comes out in our love to all the saints.

Notice that it's real life. Now, that's an unnatural thing. Do you know that it's unnatural for you to love Christians, or even love your parents? It's unnatural for you to love those who are near to you.

For those who do good, the most unnatural thing is to be sluggish. What a problem of hope and good we are. What a mixed bag. We're all dear people. We're all fair people. Whatever you say, we're all dear.

And it's unnatural that we should love each other, unless we think of the work of God and attribute that love to the work of the Spirit of God. See, the Lord Jesus said, marvel not if the world hates you.

So, if you were in the world, you would hate the Christians. That is, if your real feelings were brought to the earth. If you're not saved, you don't want to be in their company. Now, thank God if you have a desire to be in the company of the people of God, because you want to be in the company of God.

That's a wonderful thing. But, when you are born again, there's a love that comes into your heart that is born of the Holy Spirit. How does this work out? Well, I remember when I was converted to a religion.

It was the Lord, and nearly 100 ,000 of my soldiers were converted. I didn't know exactly how to convert. And I want to qualify that. There was a time when I realized what salvation was all about. And I think I was probably a child of God before that.

Be that as it may, when I came to clearly understand the work of God and permission I was asked to give, a great change came in my life, and it was something I hadn't expected, something for which I didn't make preparation or plan, but it was there.

Something that didn't happen. Something very wonderful. You see, up to that time, I did not like the company of the Lord Jesus. I did not want to do any work. I didn't hate Him. I certainly didn't want to be like Him.

I had no advice for the things that they enjoyed. Now, that may have been because I was really an unnatural Christian, because I was an ex-Christ. Or it may have been that I was not really a Christian at all.

I don't know. It doesn't matter. It means now I know whom I believe, and I know whom I believe, and I know if I love the brethren. And the Bible says, we know that we can't forget our life because we love the brethren.

By the way, that doesn't mean a certain group of Christians. You know that. What does Paul say here? He says, If your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for some of His faithful, do the same thing good to you, nor love for all the faithful.

Isn't it lovely to think that we gather around the Lord's Supper, and we remember the gifts, and we worship in the presence of the Lord. That's what we are doing. It's only a way of representing that.

We are members of His body. The body of Christ is not there in its entirety. We're only there in a few representations of that body. We can carry out what the Lord Jesus has asked us to do. And so we come together at the Lord's Supper, and we remember the Lord Jesus, saying the bread and wine of His marriage.

But then we do. We remember that we are one with all that love thy name. And if we don't remember that, we don't deserve it. We look beyond our core walls. We realize that there are secrets in places perhaps which we view as a disgrace or a dishonor under the name of the Son of God.

But we realize that we exist. And we rejoice in the fact that we are all one body in Christ. And God, for that day when He takes us out and feeds us with great love, and we shall all come to be united in Christ, and the knowledge of the Son of God and the perfect manner of the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ, that I pray it will take place, and He'll come again, and I'll welcome Him into His presence.

A God of flesh and blood, with all that He could let be, in the heavens and in Christ. And just because I say this, and I say this with more intelligence than some other Christians, about those spiritual questions doesn't mean that there is more mind.

There is joy for us to be more one. If I understand them, if I meditate upon these things, I enjoy them all. For another brother who knows the Lord better and who's managed to dwell in my life and meditate upon the things of the Lord more, he enjoys them more than I do.

We have various grades of understanding and of light and appreciation among the Lord's people. But those blessings belong alike to all those who have truly called upon His name. Each of them is healed with the Holy Spirit of God, and how we rejoice in that fact.

Walking Worthy of the Christian Calling

Now, yes, we said this afternoon that in the first two chapters, then, we have the wonderful spiritual blessings which are others in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't now discern through the fourth chapter if those were going to begin here, where I hope to continue perhaps tomorrow in the Word of the Lord in the afternoon.

In fact, before, there was one who said, I therefore, the breaker of the wall, beseech you that you walk wherever there is a location wherewith you are called. Now, I'm sure that there's a desire in your heart and in mine to walk wherever of the location wherewith we are called.

The calling wherewith we are called. Not at all. And if we have the Holy Spirit of God at all, there is a desire that, be it ever so varied by perhaps some carnality of ours, some materialistic spirit or whatever else may be affecting our lives, be it ever so varied in our hearts, there is a desire there to be walking worthy of the call wherewith we are called.

To be pleasing unto the one whom man calls. And to behave yourself in the world in such a way as may honor the one who has claimed your salvage, the one who has executed your salvage, the one who has revealed that wonderful salvation to you, or you say, I want to walk worthy of that calling wherewith I am called.

But I don't want you to notice something here. You can't do it under oath. You cannot walk worthy of the calling wherewith you are called in conspiracial death thrown by the palm tree and the death of isolation from other trees.

There's no such thing as being able to nurture yourself and develop your own spiritual life in a sort of monastic term. The best way to grow is to be frequently with the Lord Jesus. It's everywhere now, the word of God.

The best way to grow is to be frequently with the Lord Jesus. Because there's an interesting thing when we come to this thought pathway. We have to walk worthy of the location wherewith we are called because in the context we are immediately in the country of our being.

So you can't walk worthy by yourself. You can't do it alone. What you'll notice is that in this first section of text before, he tells us that we have to grow free and develop the deep unity of the spirit in the palm of the feet.

Now, he has you there so that you're in touch with other people. That's a real test of your ability to grow. I want you to notice that he not only tells us in this first section here to keep together.

Keeping Together and Working Together in the Body of Christ

That's what you might say in this first section, really, the first few verses, the first three particularly, are saying to us, keep together. When we continue on from verse three on down to verse ten, you have the thought of working together.

Working together. Here's where you keep together. We're asked to work together because in verse seven unto every one of us is given grace according to the nature of the different parts of us. So we keep together in spirit, in harmony, and we learn to work together, each with our different gift, each with that contribution and that unique contribution that we can make to the other members of the body of Christ, and let no one despise you, dear brother, dear sister, whoever you are.

Whoever did the Lord save you, for the same reason that he saved me, I have a unique contribution to make to the growth of the body of Christ, and I say that almost with shame, for I feel I do it so foolishly.

I might just look all right, I don't know what I do, but I might look all right up here behind the platform on duty, doing the best that I can do. Oh, I'm so conscious that in the unconscious moments of life, or in those moments when I'm not watching myself, I'm not all the time to be.

Christian Jews, Christian Isis, a life of constant watchfulness that we might be glorified and honored in the here and now, but I have a unique contribution to make to the body of Christ, and no one else can do it.

See, I really believe in that saying that I found when we came home from Africa, that every man does his own thing, and the qualifications I really believe in, and the Church of God, every man does his own thing, he has his own work to do, and won't decide if I should try to do the same along with somebody else, and won't decide if he decides to do my thing.

Now, of course, it doesn't mean I do it by myself, either way, but that I do that thing which God has expected me to do. They've asked of us that He take heed to the ministry that He received in the Lord, that He fulfilled what He received.

Well, that's the question of Jesus Christ. I'd like to obey His views as to whether I have to do the things that the Lord wants me to do, and it's for each one of us to prove what the will of the Lord is, what is the thing that He wants me to do.

Are you saying that you're an undisciplined God? I don't know what my Lord is. I don't know what it is the Lord wants me to do. I'm not sure. I don't know what the Lord wants me to do. I don't know what my duty is.

Well, the Scriptures say that that's something to be proved, which the Church says it is. That is, He shows it. That is, He opens up the Son of God from heaven and says to me, You are an answer. You are an answer, and you are appreciation.

You are the balance in the Church. But as the teaching showed up early in the Lord, doing diligently, perhaps explying through our hands, we discover what our things really are. We find perhaps that the measure of joy lies in it first, that in the toil that later may be associated with it, we're only happy when we're engaged in promoting that particular activity, doing that particular thing.

And moreover, to confirm this, And he said, Mr. Smart, he said, I'm terribly disappointed that the climate school is not a place to turn the light on. It speaks to a ton of questions, too. It's the worst that climate change will do.

It doesn't make a lot of sense. Well, this young man in California came to talk, and he complained very much about the weather in Broadway. He said, you know, he said, they don't understand how it is.

They don't ask you to keep the door. And I don't know why they do. He said, you know, I'm not having the same time. It's just being hazy everywhere. So on and on. He couldn't understand it. He said, you know, I'm having the same time.

He said, nobody asks you to keep the door. Well, that's perhaps not a harsh way of getting to keep the car. But you get the point. I might fancy having to do the work. But if I'm trying to do it, you might say, Mr. Horton, you might never ask.

You're being too careful. You'd have to be a student here today. I think it might be the last time. You might be graduating at the same time you're getting the access to all the books. But you see, we can settle on our thing here.

We've proved what is the work that we're all having to do. By continuing on life with our hands. What our brethren and cousins have to do. And what we find in our own hearts to do. That's the thing that deserves our attention.

I don't think it's usually something that will happen. It's usually something that's just, well, it doesn't give you the faith that you'd like to have. Because in order to serve in the love of Christ, and to be said to serve, we have to be humble people.

We have to be prepared for what it takes to do a thing. And that's how we learn to do our thing as a Christian community. I'm going to come back to that when we study this in a little bit more detail perhaps next time.

Growing Together Through Unity and Service

So notice then, let me go through this outline before closing. In verses 1 through to 6 then, you can divide it a little bit. I'm dividing it a little bit on the theory. But in verses 1 to 6 you have the word keep together.

In verses 7 to 11 you have the word working together. And in Proverbs, now you'll notice this, in verses 12 to 16, you have growing together. There will be all kinds of unity in the faith. Notice that.

Verse 13. Verse 13 talks of keeping the truth in love. May it grow up in the meaning of all things we do today. Keeping together. Working together. Growing together. And that's the only way you can walk out of your devotation well is your home.

I don't think we're gone. Have you come up from God's Word where God wants you to be? Have you found the fellowship of all people? Have you understood what He wants you to do in relation to other believers?

Do you understand He wants you with just fellowship? Put yourself wholeheartedly into that fellowship and work for the blessing of others, and you will grow. If you try to work for the blessing of yourself, if you try to stimulate your own spiritual life at home, you'll get nowhere.

A tough day will become a tough church, and no good will come of it. But if you grow together with the faith, and then many times as soon as you get something good, share it with the Lord's people, and it will come from you.

Keep it, and it will last, but then you'll lose it. I used to love to tell jokes, and unfortunately, I don't find telling jokes, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. If I didn't, maybe I'd have to go to the Prince's children's house.

But that's good. I remember in the days when I was quite a joker as a young man. I can't tell you if you're going to remember any jokes, because as soon as I heard a good one, I told them something. Some of those jokes were some of my best jokes.

If you want to be blessed by some truth, if you want to become deep in your own soul, and meaningful to you in your own life, share it with the people around you. Share it enough. Let me promise you, that the Lord loves you.

Now, I've got to tell you, you're not here tonight. I'm not going to be telling you. But anyway, perhaps someone here is a little older, and you've just begun the Christian life. Let the Lord love you.

You have an opportunity to share with the Lord's people. That which will help them, in other words, you say to me, Hi, Joseph. Oh, it's amazing. I'm always present in going, visiting people. And I've gone, and I've got in mind some scriptures that I'd like to share with them.

Some thoughts that I'd like to give them, and I'm sure there's going to be a blessing to them. And I get here, and maybe there's some crazy brother or sister in the house, and quite a few people think that this is really, perhaps not one, but two well-thought and reasonable thoughts, that I can administer.

And I get in contemplation for that. The solution says, you know, I wouldn't do it. These become very simple thoughts. Nothing very profound. Nothing that is any heavy theological work or anything like that.

It's a positive thing. But it fuels my soul. It teaches me something more, something more deep. Now, I'm not saying that anyone who visits the Lord's people will experience that. So, let's teach together.

Let's work together. And, in consequence, let's grow together. And, thus, we shall fulfill what we have in this life. We shall walk further in our faith. God bless you. Amen.