Hebrews 12:3 — Venus Brooks

Greetings to each of you. It's a real joy to be at Lake Verona. I've looked forward to it for quite a while. We've tried to go on very, very much in reference to it. May I say this without ostentation?

I am not a conference speaker. Don't pretend to be. I just love the Lord and seek to serve my people, of all Indians, in the southeastern sector of North Carolina. I've been laboring amidst them for some 15 years, in the grace of God.

God has brought Nidalee amidst them. We have three assemblies amidst our own people at the present time. It's an opportunity in this 20 to 30 ,000 hour privilege, three commencement addresses, taking part in at least two junior-senior banquets.

So if I was pleased to speak to labor here, 2 chapter 12 and verse 3 is an expression, and I'm going to read it. We've been seeking for a theme, and I think perhaps our minds will center on these words, found in Hebrews 12, verse 3, and Philippians chapter 3, and verse 10.

Considering Christ in His Loveliness

Consider him. I'll read with you tonight from John chapter 4, verses 1 through 34, to seek to consider him in his unparalleled loveliness. John chapter 4, verse 1,. When therefore the Lord knew that Jesus may have more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must need to go through Samaria.

Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the part of the ground that Jacob came to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's wails were certain. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the wails, and it was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, give thee drink, for his disciples were gone away unto the city by night. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?

For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. He answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me a drink, thou wouldst then ask of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From which then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

This water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing unto everlasting life.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus said unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband.

Jesus said unto her, Thou hast wealth, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou truly. Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain.

And ye say that in Jerusalem. Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye no not what is of the Jews.

When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit. And they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The woman said unto him, I know that which thy hath cometh, which is all coming. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, Speak unto thee. And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman.

Yet no man said, What seekest thou of our? Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot and went away into the city and said to the men, See a man which told me all things that ever I did.

Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came unto him. In the meanwhile, as his disciples prayed and sang, He is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his. I am sure he will bless the reading.

Christ as the Remedy for Moral and National Crisis

Men have had their favorite candidates before. In the way of eulogy, great things have been said of them. They have been pictured to us as men that are needed to fill the breach that exists at the present, nationally and internationally.

My fine words are said of them. Give us wisdom and send the mercy. Give us the man that we need. For surely we need a man to fill the breach that has been infected by the power of evil. The inroads and the penetrations are deep indeed, and they are very much longer.

God is going to permit these things to continue. One wonders if the lecture of the church is not just before us. And surely we who know him as the living God in our Lord Jesus Christ, we who know him as the altogether lovely one, we should point him up as the alone remedy for the conditions that prevail individually, collectively, nationally and internationally.

For every child of God knows without justification that alone, the alone remedy is chaos. He is the only way back to God. And this is the solution of every problem. To be brought. I am so happy tonight that I know God as the living God and Jesus Christ, whom he has...

The children of Israel were to be brought up, out of the land of Egypt, brought into the land of God's provision, and thus brought to God. I wonder if there is someone in the congregation tonight that knows not God in redeeming grace, you're still in nature's darkness, alienated from God by...

If there is such a one, may it be that during these meetings we are so able to present Christ to you in all of his glory and majesty and royalty and dignity and the beauty... The beauty that is upon him is unparalleled in its loveliness.

Now it seems as though we need to stand here before you and use big words and talk in glorious terms. But no doubt you wonder how Demas Brooks lives amidst his people in North Carolina. Well, I do invite you to come down sometime and visit with us.

We do so with much joy. Christ, he knows that I gather this from the hill of another, and I do so because I believe we need it in these days when Christ is put on the level with ordinary men. Peter had more sense than most people today.

Peter said, let's build three tabernacles, one for thee. He did put the Lord first, but now how he has degraded and warred in these days and times, even to the point of being the illegitimate son of some Roman soldier.

May God cause the ire of every one of us and the fury and the wrath to arise in our bosoms whenever our Lord Jesus Christ is dragged down to the level of contemporary men. He is anointed with the oil of madness above his skeleton.

If he is not God, then I am an idol and a substance of the divine. But the fullness of Christ is not a temporary shadow, but the truth. Christ is not a provisional makeshift, but a perfect manifestation.

Christ is not a social figure, but the Savior of mankind. Christ is not a figment of the reason. If you are saved, O may it be to God. The speaker professed to be saved at fourteen. He believed in his head, but he never reached his heart.

My knee is down in the dust, in the misery of my sin, in remorse and anguish of heart and mind because of the degradation of my life. I cried out for God's mercy, and tonight I can say it not only to my heart, but it has reached four feet more, and it's down in my feet, and we seek to walk it out in our shoes.

Real Christianity in a Time of Loose Profession

In this day of loose profession, what is a challenge to God. For if there is anything worthwhile, it's being a real. We need many women who have no saffron streak down the backbone. We need them with backbones like ramrods to stand.

You know, not many people are standing, but they've read it in chapter 17. This is a beautiful chapter to read. In the very beginning of it, you have the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ manifested. We said the Lord knew.

Then it says Jesus made. So his deity is seen on the one hand, his humanity is presented on the other. Every instance that you have in the Bible where his humanity is set forth, you will find in that same place reference to his deity as well.

When on the lake of Galilee, a ship manifesting his humanity. But he arose, refused to win, and said to the sea,.

Be still.

His deity is an evident source of hope. My Lord, if you know him not, may he become attracted to your own heart tonight. And first of all, we consider his devotion. I'm sure you've had it pointed out to you before.

Christ's Devotion Even Unto Death

That in the fourth chapter of John, the curtains of the tabernacle are presented in the beauty as set forth in the true antidote, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the first instance, those unobstructed curtains, the curtains of badger's skin, black.

No beauty that we should desire here. It is seen in the weary Jew seated on Cyprus' well, that the woman's semester seated on the well. A Jew, to her, very unpleasing if you're here without Christ. Is Christianity unattractive to you?

Do you think it is a giving up rather than a receiving? This is the idea. The major portion of people, that Christianity is giving up. I have to give up this, give up that, give up the other. If I give up anything, the store of that which is real and vital and satisfying.

Such as what? If you know him not, salvation is not giving up, but receiving. Oh, how much I have received. You're not the unattractive, are you? Then the second curtain, the curtain of ram's skin, dark red, is seen in the expression, he must need no gruesome area.

This curtain depicts his devotion even unto death. The ram caught by his horns on the mount, used instead of Isaac, hailed by the very place of his power. So our Lord Jesus Christ was hailed on the cross of Galilee, not by Roman spears, not by the guard that was there, not by the Sanhedrin, not by the scribes and the Pharisees, not even by the Nago, but he was hailed there, in the eyes of your soul and mine, devoted even unto death.

Then thirdly, the curtains of goat's hair are seen, for this is the garment of the clothing of the prophet, as he unclothed his poor sinner, that she might see herself in the presence of the living God.

And this certainly, the self-righteous individual, must necessarily see himself unclothed, naked before God. So as a prophet of God, he unclothed his poor woman, that she might see her ruined, her lost condition.

But thank God, she rejoiced actually, she was glad of the unclothed. But that same place she was loathed upon, with a garment fitted for the presence of God. Praise his name. She went away and left her little kitchen, because she had a well on the inside.

Then perchance, she would like for the Lord to have that drink that he requested. Finally, there is that beautiful curtain of fine, fine linen, evident in his own revelation of himself, I, that speak unto thee, am.

I am. Thus the term for Jehovah of the Old Testament Scriptures, and so is he, the Lord Jesus Christ, presented as Jehovah, that speak unto thee, am he. Before Abraham was, my friend in the meeting, as a fellow child of God, are you attracted to him, to behold true beauty?

For as much that is superficial today, it is nearest indeed it is all put on. But here we see in him those moral and spiritual protections that are so beautiful to God, as we journey from time to eternity.

First of all, in his devotion, there is that mask. He must, he left Judea, and left it finally. So far as any revelation is concerned, here is Joseph, a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a whale, whose branches run over the wall.

The wall that has been the nation of Israel, the branches are running over the wall because they refuse God's fruitful bough. Even the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew chapter 10, those who are sent out indefinitely and distinctly commended by the Lord Jesus Christ, go not in the way of the Gentiles, or any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not in, but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

That's my friend in the meeting. We see the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom is found both great and awesome. He must need. But tonight, he is passing this way once again. Who knows whether tonight, I thank God that on one occasion, he must need awesome county, where there was a vile sinner there that needed the mighty salvation that he had secured at Calvary's cross.

Praise his name, his devotion, evidence. He must submit, if he has done so much for you, he has done so much for me, what is becoming to me as a child of God? To yield my all spirit, soul, and body to him without reservation.

May it be that during these conference days, there is more and more the realization of what we owe to him, who gave his all to redeem us. His devotion, God would first of all, in Gethsemane's garden, we took that cup his father had prepared for him, and said, thy will be done.

What devotion indeed! Here we see the burnt offering of Leviticus chapter one. All the sins and fragrance to God. When the fire is placed there, the sacrifice on the fire, all is consumed and ariseth as a sweet ointment, fragrance from Jesus Christ.

In devotion that he might save you, the betterment he reached even to me. Are you glad you're saved, my friend? Are you really glad of it? You're not going to a lost eternity? But not only that matters, but that you're brought to God.

Only our hearts indeed float outwards and onwards, more and more as we await that moment when we shall be called together to meet the Lord in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. So Godward, thy will be done.

Manward? By these words. Father, forgive them, for they know not the lips of that matchless person, the altogether lovely one. What loveliness, my friend, in the meek and night, is seen here as he expresses his prayer, Godward, Father, forgive them.

And in view of that tonight, I have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I don't teach people to go to God and ask for forgiveness. That is faint. I tell them to thank God to enjoy the fact of his forgiveness.

But to confess the sin, to face the face of God, don't be a doctor, please. Father, I have sinned. Thank thee for the forgiveness that is mine. He is just. Just as our Redeemer. He is also faithful and righteous to forgive.

Faithful, yes. Faithful to that prayer on the cross of Calvary, Father, forgive them. Righteous, because he has a righteous substitute. He never forgives just because you ask for forgiveness or I ask for forgiveness.

Is that ground for the forgiveness of God? No, my friend. The ground is the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There could be no forgiveness. It must be paid for. It has been paid for in the blood of the mother.

And tonight I revel in perfect forgiveness. But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Some people in the earth confessing and go back and do the same thing over again and come again with their confession.

Sin is to be hated. God hates sin, my friend, whether in the sinner or the saint. He hates sin. Thus his devotion is seen manward. Father, forgive them. In church with Christ. Love the church. And gave himself for it.

That he might sanctify and cleanse it for the washing of the water of the world. World? Ah yes, my friend, for God's soul of the world. That he gave his only begotten Son and should not perish but have everlasting life.

Is he not lovely in his devotion? Devoted even unto death. Second of all, his conversation My, how lovely he is in his conversation. The psalm has been found, 45, speaks about those rich that have been anointed with grace.

Christ's Gracious Conversation

Luke chapter 4, a marvel at the gracious words that fell from his lips. That woman in John chapter 8 who was taken in such a dastardly deed. What wondrous words, what gracious words, what precious language.

How lovely he was to her when he said, neither do I contempt thee. Go to stone. His conversation, ah yes, my friend, in this section of the Word. This woman, an outcast no doubt of the city, seemingly so it means.

Comes at noontime, cool hours of the morning. In her heart, disappointment, disillusionment, dissatisfaction, verily, verging on the despair. Of this water shall I thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him.

And my friend in the meeting, if he did not mean these words, he the greatest hypocrite and flagger that ever walked across the state of this poor woman and all of her sin and misery. I have that which will satisfy the longing of your bosom, the craving that is found there, the thirst of your life.

Not to mean it, what a dastardly deed. He is the fountain of life. He is the well, he has the well. Satisfied mine, are satisfied with thee, Lord Jesus. I feel that blessing tonight. Oh, I trust that you do as you sit here and consider him.

That we together may know healing forever and ever. With the telescope, there are those unsearchable spaces that we may indeed explore. We may explore where our joy, our joy is conversation. There is hope for the homeless.

There is fullness for him. How good it is to know him tonight in the pardon and forgiveness of sin. To know him as Savior and as Lord. Are you glad you know him thusly? Thirdly, he is lovely in his penetration.

Christ's Penetration and the Reality of Conversion

I thank God tonight I don't have to blame the hypocrite. I thank God that he knows every corner and every crevice of my heart and of my life. I thank God for the knowledge that those eyes that blaze with fire, that intellect and perfect wisdom searches out the innermost recesses of the soul.

And I am there for him in all that I am. When I look up in his face and say, yes, Lord, that is exactly what I am. His penetration or his loveliness, indeed, he tells me exactly my needs and then provides for that need.

He shows me my sinfulness and then provides for it. He refuses to be my incident and then provides all I need to fill my incident. He shows me that all the wells, the cisterns of time that can hold the water, they are broken.

At this moment bow to him who beholds your heart, knows your thoughts above all, knows the longings and the cravings, he knows the disappointments. Every problem that's found there he's perfectly aware of.

He has the solution. He has the answer. I know him. The conscience is reached. The will is yielded because of him. We sit to each other. If that conscience is not reached, if that will is not yielded, the heart will never be opened.

The life will never be finished. I care not for the hand raising, the card signing. There must be reality. I say this carefully and I say it kindly. As a personal observation after 15 years of labor, up and down the hospital, the home, the hallways, that is the conscience is increased.

The will will never be yielded. And it's the physical of the life. The fortress of the life is not surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. Absolutely and unconditionally there is no life for God. There will never be healed.

You'll find them flitting from this place seeking something to satisfy a longing in the bosom that can never be satisfied. Fourthly, there is the revelation. We rejoice that God does not merely take us down to the depths of needlessness.

Christ's Revelation and the New Race

He does not reveal who we are without providing a way out for him. His revelation is that the Father sees the greatest ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ has to do with revealing. Aren't you glad? So his revelation is the Father and the Father sees him.

There is a new race, oftentimes referred to as an inferior race. And unfortunately we develop inferiority in a new race, new father, new companion. My what a delight it is to come up to Minneapolis and find so many in that race and how they put their arms around an Indian and nothing so.

It's wonderful. Because they used to say that the only good Indian is about the dead Indian. And I have to tell people that's exactly what it is, a dead Indian. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live.

Yet not I, but Christ lives within me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I'm in a new race, folks. You ask me why Indian tribe it is?

I may tell you I'm not too interested in origins because I might be afraid to look too far. But I'm afraid of God because I know something about a destiny. Is that so with you? I truly do. New race. There is Father.

Relationship is made known. There's a new place. The Spirit of God dwelling within us. We are worshippers of the living God. I have a new place before me. Now I stand perfectly in his presence. Accepted into the life.

Can you add to that? You can. Justified freely by his grace indeed. Justified by the blood that was shed. Justified indeed as I behold him seated at the right hand of God. That's my assurance of what he's done.

I'm before God in all of his love. But there is a new disgrace too. A new disgrace. And I want to suggest to you that the Lord Jesus said to this woman neither this mountain nor Jerusalem that whenever he comes to the matter of worshipping it is not merely singing hymns not merely reading the Word nor merely praying but worship W-O-R-T-H S-H-I-T in the worthiness of Jesus Christ what he means to God and comes to God presenting Christ in that measure alone to you or I worship.

And we worship by the Spirit in this mountain. You arrive at a place not geographically but you arrive at that place morally I say that kindly to challenge your heart. Have you arrived at that place? Because that place is going to be little.

Not going to be many there. Because the presence of God is of him not enjoyed by many women. They run away from him. There's no place for sin there. There's no place for self there. And there's no place for society there.

The cross of Calvary ended sin, self the social problems that are in the earth. And because he isn't a Caucasian I stay out of it. Trust me. I realize that heaven is my home but I want to use wisdom in the earth.

It's our business to reach men and women who are in nature's darkness. These days as I told the folks over in Minneapolis the dean of the college where I graduated found out I'd given myself to the work of the Lord be associated with such a humble group of people as gathered at the gospel hall in Pembroke, North Carolina with no salary at all and I had all those markings according to them of an individual who'd do a lot for the race.

He said, what kind of a fool is Linus Bruce Lee now? And that individual who had the triker's on, sandwiched himself you know, and on the front he had I'm a fool for Christ on the back he had who's fool I hope in some measure that I can glory in the cross of Calvary.

I hope in some measure.

That's his revelation. The father did me.

Christ's Manifestation and His Coming Glory

And I'm going to close with this. I won't give you all seven up tonight, maybe we'll give you a little more tomorrow morning if you like. I hope you like it, I do. I enjoy these things very, very much.

Speaking of the person of Christ we cannot eulogize him enough and you never will be rebuked for what you have to say speaking well of the son of God. We'll all make certain stand.

In trying to speak of him to God, for the end will never be reached.

We shall proudly honor him in the age of the eternity, for all that he is in himself all that he has accomplished. In that song here on earth his manifestation is lovely in manifesting himself. Speak of the beast.

He is altogether lovely indeed, unparalleled loveliness manifested in his devotion, in his conversation, in his penetration, in his revelation, in his manifestation. And my friend, there's coming a day when he will be manifested and we are going to be manifested together with him so that the eyes of an adoring universe, and this universe is full of fear that God has created with a purpose to display his son in front and the midst of every intelligent creature to lift the voice in praise continually to the Son, to the glory of God forever.

He who is Emmanuel.