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[0:00] Clause in verse 32. And that word was this.

[0:12] Paul, to remembrance the former days. Paul, to remembrance the former days.

[0:26] And that, as I have said, was in Paul's epistle to the Hebrews chapter 10 and the first clause in verse 32. And just to gather up a few fragments.

[0:44] Yesterday afternoon in my little room, and being very burdened about the services today, I believe the Lord drew near and really burdened my soul concerning this house of God.

[1:05] So this afternoon we felt we must go back to the opening services in 1858 and just relate a little of what has transpired.

[1:22] First, Mr. Joseph Hatton, the first pastor. And then Mr. Edwin Picknall. And then Mr. Brockies.

[1:37] And then Mr. Ruben Mercer, whose remembrance is on the wall there. And then, of course, the Lord's servant here, Philip, his son.

[1:50] And we really had to speak about the Lord's goodness and mercy to this house of God that has stood as a witness in this town for 145 years.

[2:11] And that is how we had to come. It was hard to know. But the main point really was this. We went on to try to convey the truths that have been preached here all through those years.

[2:26] Five pastors in a period of 145 years. That in itself speaks of the Lord's goodness and mercy to this house.

[2:40] And the truth that were preached was indeed Christ crucified. The desire of the Apostle Paul has been the same desire of each of the pastors that they might know nothing among them, say Jesus Christ and him crucified.

[3:03] Then we went on to speak of Christ as the foundation, the cornerstone. And then when the Lord really calls for sinners by his grace, and Christ did really preach to them, then it is true that it is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

[3:26] And, of course, we went on a little further in this, speaking of what it would mean, what it does mean. And I just turn back in these few thoughts to the closing remark this afternoon.

[3:46] And that closing remark was this. To these precious souls, and there's been many that have worshipped here, oh, that there could yet be many more.

[3:56] The days in which we are living are exceeding this alone. There is a withholding of the Spirit's power in the ministry and in the performance for the application of divine truth to the souls of hearers.

[4:16] And this was the closing remarks that's hard to know. Oh, are we here. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

[4:33] These precious souls that really have Christ preached to their hearts, their hope of glory. This is where they are. This is where the Lord brings them by his grace.

[4:46] Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

[5:01] And the life of a child of God is one long process of refining, from beginning to end, this dying process.

[5:12] And there are companions with the Apostle Paul when he could say, and he said it from his heart, I die daily. So dear friends, do you find it so in your life?

[5:23] Oh, this dying process. But the Lord has said, if we are given that grace, and we are brought into it, then, and I just perhaps go back to the word of God that I know I mentioned, in closing, which the Lord was pleased to speak right into my heart in Stone Chapel through dear Mr. Tyler, or if ever the word of God was preached to me regarding the solemn work of the ministry, it was that Wednesday evening, and I had to go to the, I must get there.

[6:04] Have any of you known that in your life? That you feel you must get to a service? And I went straight from work in my work clothes, because I must get there.

[6:16] And Mr. Tyler announced this text. I look upon it as mine. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a cornered week fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.

[6:32] but, if it die, the saying bringeth, it bringeth forth much fruit. I remember going home from that service, and I believe the Lord revealed, it was as though the Holy Ghost, through the dear servant of God, looked right into my very soul.

[6:51] Oh, it wasn't a candle. It was indeed. And I believe it revealed to me something of what my path would be. A continual dying process.

[7:03] And all to this end, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And that is the consummation of the life of every child of God.

[7:20] But now, I must come back to the word of God that I had thought for some while I must venture to preach from on this occasion.

[7:35] But the Lord would not have me read it this afternoon. Now, as they may be helped, and I so need it, I venture in directing your thoughts to the book of Joshua, chapter 1, and reading verse 5.

[7:55] I believe the Lord has given me this word, his word, for the dear pastor here. I know that the Lord spoke these very words to him right going back to the beginning of his pastorate.

[8:12] But I believe the Lord has given me, if with no one else here today, I believe I have been given this fifth verse for the dear pastor here.

[8:23] And I hope it may be for others. Oh, that it could be so. There should not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.

[8:36] As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee, I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Well, dear friend, if the Holy Ghost should seal these words in every one that's here, and mine too, I need it more than ever.

[8:59] But you know, if the Lord does this, he'll fulfill it according to his own will right through to the end of your life. So to any of you, whether you are in the ministry, whether you are in the diaconate, whether you are a church member, or a...

[9:20] I was going to use the wording that's used about Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. We're told that they were secret disciples.

[9:32] And there are a good many secret disciples even still in our congregation. Oh, what is need it is that the Lord may bring them forth to the glory of his name.

[9:47] That's what we need. What need there is for men to be raised up in the ministry, it seems as though to me that it seems as though care seems to have dried up regarding our great need in our churches for God to raise up a man to go forth in his life.

[10:08] Many have got servants and I am among them. I have no past, the allotted span of life. And I'm aware of it. And there are those of us and we are aware of it and we don't know how much longer.

[10:22] I wonder, I don't know, I wonder if I'll ever preach here again. Dear friends, it's as solemn as that. It's as solemn as that. that all that we may prove, that you may prove, that you're in your right place today, that the Lord has brought you here, whether this afternoon or this evening, to hear such words as these.

[10:46] Listen, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. Oh, if you go home with this and the promise, or the promises that follow, you won't have come here today in vain.

[11:06] You will not. And the Lord knows where you are, every one of his servants that were here this afternoon and those that are here this evening.

[11:18] But think of it, especially when the Lord sets some poor, trembling man over a flock. When God appoints them to be under shepherds, and when Moses' prayer for Joshua was answered, and it was answered here, wasn't it?

[11:37] What did Moses say? Let the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over the congregation that may go in before them and out before them, that he may bring them out, just gone and complete, and bring them in.

[11:56] That he may go out before them and in before them to lead them out and to bring them in. You see, that is the solemn office of the pastor.

[12:06] Oh, it is a solemn office. My thoughts go to the year 1969 when I had served six months on probation in Eastbourne, and I had been invited to be their pastor.

[12:23] and I went to see dear Mr. Herbert Dawson, who was dying. I preached at Swazie, came back, and on the Monday I went into the hospital and tempted him.

[12:37] And there the dear man who was God's servant, he was used of God to quicken my soul into life. Oh, he was, indeed he was. And what was I quickened by?

[12:49] God's word. Nothing else. It was God's word. And in my case, it was this, can two walk together except they be agreed. And that Lord's day for the first time in my life, I was 20 years old, had never ever prayed before.

[13:07] Friends, I had spent 20 years without praying. Or I'd been to chapel, I'd been to Sunday school. That was the first time in my life that I'd ever prayed.

[13:19] And you might say, well, what was your first prayer? I'll tell you, it was God be merciful to me, a sinner. Because in that sermon, I was shown that I was a sinner.

[13:31] And I went home, knowing for the first time I was 20 years old and I began to know and I know more about it now after 50 years of an open profession.

[13:42] And I said, oh, but friends, you see, it was God's word. Those of you here tonight who can look back to when the Lord began with you and his word that found you in all the ways that were needed.

[13:59] So then, thinking of dear Philip here, there shall not any man be able to stand before all the days of my life.

[14:11] And that, you see, if that's spoken to any of you, you see, in the midst of all you have to endure, and you will have much to endure. Oh, God's servants and especially pastors, what they must walk in and the things they must endure and all of it to fulfill God's word in their ministry.

[14:33] But how true then to any of you here tonight as pastors, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of my life.

[14:47] As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Write to your last breath, your last sermon.

[15:02] Oh, those of us that must acknowledge with the Apostle Paul, having therefore obtained health of God, we have continued unto this day.

[15:13] Otherwise, we would have sunk years ago. Oh, we would have sunk beneath the pressure and the weight and the fears and the temptations and the sorrows.

[15:25] that the Lord, as it has been here, upheld by thy almighty hand, we pass, O Lord, from year to year and still we meet at thy command to seek thy gracious presence here or wherever the Lord has placed you.

[15:48] As I told you, I had thought I was to come with this this afternoon, but I was preventing that whatever the Lord may help me to say and I'm aware it is a vast subject, but I hope that I'll be given every word to speak to you dear people that come to this service.

[16:09] For there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life as I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not hail thee nor forsake thee and then we shall be able to say we have said I have need to say today so that we shall then say from our hearts I will not fear what man can do unto me.

[16:51] for he hath said I will never leave nor forsake so that you may boldly say the Lord is my helper.

[17:02] Oh I must acknowledge that as I stand here once more for this very evening where the subject is great but may I be shown how I am designed to teach him how to speak designed to give the hearing ear designed the stubborn heart to break and make the careless sinner fear how then would the Lord have me to venture to speak to you from this subject then the main part of the verse is as I was with Moses so I will be with thee and that is why I read the chapter that I did this is where my little meditation on God's word must begin as I was with Moses the sovereignty of God in the way that that boy was born the sovereignty of God oh I do like to look back to my own beginning my own birth your birth and think of it friends if we are unable to really think about it that whoever were our parents the Lord brought them together because we were to be born the Lord brought them together and a great mercy when two poor sinners are made aware that the Lord has brought them together

[18:42] I certainly know through so much mercy that the Lord brought me and my dear wife together it wasn't my will but it was the Lord's will and how often in the life of a child of God he does not allow them to have their own wife could you testify to that whether even in your regarding your marriage and your children and your life and everything to do with you well that's the first thought then as I was with Moses and think of it we know that the Pharaoh of the day he had commanded what did he command this is what he commanded but the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and grew and they were grieved because of the children of Israel and they made their life bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field all their service wherein they made them serve with meager that's really you know what the devil does to poor sinners in their life and unless we are left or unless the Lord meets with us we shall be left in his kingdom to perish eternally what a mercy man if we can look back and thank

[20:15] God for our parenting and if we reason to thank God for them because they were dear gracious people and we were the subjects of their prayers as I was with Moses so I will be with thee now have you noticed what we have read together this evening the Lord had a sovereign purpose regarding this boy that was born what did we read and she saw him that he was a goodly child what did she say I believe she could say that this child was a child of God sometimes parents are favoured with this and a wonderful favour if they are if they really feel that any child that God has given to you is a child of God and it may well be sorely tried if the

[21:21] Lord if they are then they are never beyond the limits of God's heart it doesn't matter where they may wander or where they may go they are under the control of God and fenced with Jehovah shells and wills firm as the everlasting hill and friends it's true of them that the appointed time rolls on a pace not to propose but call by grace to change the heart renew the will and turn the feet to Zion's hill oh how good when it is son we read do we not in I think it's in Paul's epistle that Hebrews and Moses mother she saw that he was a proper child a child of grace so you see the king of Egypt he spake you see to the Hebrew midwives and said when you do the office of the midwife to the

[22:25] Hebrew women and see them upon the stools if it be a son then you shall care but if it be a daughter then she shall leave now Moses you see his life was hid with Christ in God and so the king of Egypt couldn't touch him and neither can the devil or anyone else touch the life of a child of God the Lord made the devil to come as he did in Job's life but you know what the Lord said to the devil that spare his life why because his life was hid with Christ in God so what does she do with this boy well we're told and when she could no longer hide him she took for him an ark of bull rushes adorned it with swine and with pitch and put the child therein and she laid it in the flanks by the river's bridge now see the sovereignty of God his dear mother and to me there's a sense in which she speaks of the church of Christ she speaks of the church of

[23:41] Christ who is in the Lord's hand the mother the mother you might say well prove that to me from God's word but I can because we have that account in Solomon's psalm of the bride of Christ what do we read about her oh she wanted to find him saw you him and my soul loved him that was the burden of her soul and it's the burden of every living soul that is their burden when they're born again it's Christ that they need it's Christ they begin to seek and to know and to love and then of course what happened I said of course about Moses' mother let me just come back to prove what I've said in Solomon's psalm what do we read about the bride there we read this she wanted to find when she did

[24:46] I helped him and would not could not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house into the chamber of her that conceived me now there is the church of Christ and the burden of your knows his mother she was a mother in Israel she was his mother it is true but she was a mother in Israel and then we read this didn't we and his sister stood afar to wit what would be done to him now again you see that speaks to me of the church of Christ I believe I'm right to say this that when the Lord would send any poor man out into the ministry I think you will find that again and again behind that poor man there are dear godly women men

[25:47] I prove that in my own case of course there are dear godly men I shall always I am compelled to look upon dear sir John Tyler as my spiritual father in ministry but that the way it be unless his sister what did she do and his sister stood afar up to wit what would be done to him are those of you here I think of your own dear pastor could any of you dear godly women as the Lord has made you could you say that the Lord laid him in your heart to travel for could you say that and did the Lord reveal to you that he was going to be a servant of God did the Lord reveal to you eventually that he was going to be a pastor well these are the things that the Lord did and what he does for his dear people still as

[26:50] I was with Moses so I will be with thee and his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him just as a little aside really but you know I was favoured to have dear godly women and dear godly men I was favoured to have dear godly women and the Lord laid me in their hearts to pray for and they lived to see me brought forth to the glory of their God but then there were those the Lord laid me in their heart in one particular case laid me in their heart again and that dear godly woman she travelled out for my soul and believing that one day I would preach and the Lord gave her those words on one occasion like the woman of children that according to the time of life thou should embrace a son as

[27:56] I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee there were a few thoughts regarding Moses and the way he came into the world and think of it think of this his sister was watching then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter shall I go and call notice the wording call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women she didn't tell Pharaoh's daughter did she that it was his mother shall I call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child of thee now again you see that is what the church of God does and when the Lord lays this trap whether it is to do with poor sinners being brought again brought even into the church of Christ or into the ministry there is this travel for them there is this travel for them

[29:06] I remember so well going to a prayer meeting in Robertsbridge chapel when the chapel was in a bad way and they held monthly prayer meetings with a hope that it could be refurbished and renewed dear Mr.

[29:29] Tyler was the chairman of those prayer meetings but one Friday evening at one of the prayer meetings the dear Mr. Ward came from the meetings in Gassery in London and he said I've come all the way from London to speak tonight about the ministry and I shall never forget it it was in Luke chapter 5 about dear Peter launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft and you know what Peter said master we have told all the night and have taken nothing nevertheless by word I will let down the net you see that evening the Lord spoke with power into my poor soul about the ministry and I shall never forget the last verse of that account and when they brought their ships to land they forsook all and followed in and I felt yes

[30:29] Lord the day will come the day will come when I must give up everything and I did the time came I think after about 25 years of working I had to give it all on what I was going to say was this after that prayer me now as I was with Moses so I'll be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee you know that evening there was dear mr. and mrs.

[30:57] message there and as I as she came out of that prayer she came to me and she said Seth that was for you tonight a godly mother in Israel she was carrying that that was for you tonight she was a very strong minded lady and her husband dear man of God that he was he said Seth that was for someone tonight well it was for me as I was with Moses and God's servants that are here this evening that you can look back can you not to those times and places when the Lord began to burden you with the ministry kept that burden alive and then as time went on you found there were those that were carrying you as I'm sure that the dear pastor the dear father of the present pastor was carrying his son to continue here as I was with Moses so I'll be with thee

[32:01] I will not fail thee nor forsake thee now to go on a little then with this it can only be a little we read did we not that what happened now you know dear friends when the Lord will prepare some poor man or some poor woman for that matter when the Lord will prepare them for a work that he's given them to do in their life he'll prepare them for it and dear Moses you know he thought and how quickly he tried to do something he tried to do something and I think it was one of the most real lessons that he ever had to learn have you had to learn lessons like that why he had to prove that he was totally helpless he thought he was going to try and do something for his brethren he could do nothing what was needed well I'll tell you he had forty years in the court of error he needed that and God's servants he has his own way of preparing them for the work he will have them to do and their whole life is in the

[33:30] Lord's hand to that end to prepare them for the work he would have them to do and they all knew that Moses was so unpreclaimed he was then forty years on what was needed before he could become a leader over the Lord's people well you all know what I'm going to say he must spend forty years in the back side of the desert and the Lord knows how to prepare all his servants for the work he has called them to and he does prepare whatever it is in their life he sanctifies their life even their daily life he sanctifies their work and if he grants them children he sanctifies it through having children and all the things that they must walk in as I was with

[34:31] Moses so I will be with thee ah what lessons that he and man had to learn those forty years in the backside of the desert do you remember that when the Lord's time came when the Lord's time came where do we find him so completely different to how it was when he was forty years old where do we find him this is where we find him and Moses said unto the Lord oh my Lord I am not eloquent a man of words notice the difference he brings out he's just what the Lord does with his sins that he prepares for the solemn work of them he brings them down and he brings them down and he empties them from vessel to vessel until he will bring them to this same point as dear Moses oh my

[35:41] Lord I am not eloquent neither here to fall nor since thou spoken unto thy servant that I am slow asleep and have a slow time and I can tell you this dear friends that is just where the Lord brings poor men that will scout into the ministry he makes them to feel totally helpless completely unable to preach at all and they know it and yet he burns them with it and that burden grows and it grows and it grows until the Lord's time comes and then he'll say to them now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shall say but notice again his response when he said oh my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of whom thou wilt send what thou really was saying was this

[36:46] Lord send by anyone but not me not me Lord I think this could be said regarding those that the Lord brings into the diaconate and those who he brings into his church to the same teaching really in different ways but all of it to fulfill God's word so any of you here tonight who humbly hold the Lord has been preparing you for his will oh can you look back because I can look back see how the Lord did it and all of it bound up with my daily life my daily calling my daily occupation and oh with me oh with me it was that the Lord will give our six children if one of my many schools are teaching we're having children and all that that means but as I was with

[37:52] Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee now as enabled we could trace this right through Moses life but may I be shown what the Lord would now have me to say for a little longer this evening you know how the Lord commanded him to go down back into Egypt to bring up his people but did the Lord say to him certainly I will be with thee certainly I will be with thee and that very place he told him that he would bring him forth to that very spot where he would make it known that he was God's servant oh but all he had to endear all through that time when God sent those awful slaves upon the

[38:59] Egyptians until the time came when they must be brought out as I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee you think of the times that Moses came out from Pharaoh's presence oh how discouraged he was often and yet when the Lord's time came the Lord brought them forth with an outstretched arm didn't he oh he brought them out that he might bring them in and then of course we could go on a little oh that night that awful night when the destroying angel went throughout the length and breadth of the land of Egypt as I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake how did the Lord prove it to Moses especially on that solemn night he proved it didn't he he proved it the land was to be slain it was to be eaten with bitter hurt they were to eat it with their loins girded their shoes on their feet their staff in their hands it was the

[40:20] Lord's Passover but what was the secret of their coming out of Egyptian bondage absolutely free friends it was this and the blood shall be to you who were taken upon the houses where ye are and when I see the blood I will pass over you oh his dear people shouted beneath the precious blood of Jesus and washed in his blood you think of it as I was with most so I'll be with you now the blood was to be sprinkled on the doorpost and the link of their houses it was never to be sprinkled on the doorstep you Mr.

[41:13] Dale said that once oh the precious blood it was never to be trampled on but it was there you see and in every house where the blood had been sprinkled there was safety and safety is where he is found and the only place of safety is in the wounded side of Jesus oh his wounded side I've often felt there's a prayer in him 27 that has been my prayer for years and I'll just tell you this in passing in 29 rather but it was this oh this has been my prayer and I feel to know so little but I want to know more as I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee and it was this conduct bless God the holy God conduct bless

[42:14] God those who trained to Calvary where the land was Spain and with us there above oh is that is that your prayer has it been your prayer for years you may feel to know so little but you want to know him feel to know his life eternal but it says let us our love redeemer meet we owe his pierced hands and feet and do his wounded side as I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee but then I want just to take you to this coming out of the Egyptian bondage and the Lord wouldn't leave them way that they would have found easy because the Lord knew that it wouldn't be good for them but he leaves his people in a plain farm because of their enemies and all of it to bring them to Christ alone but they come and you've heard this many times but where did they come to?

[43:24] They came to the red sea now often it's like that in the life of the child the Lord brings them out of one trial and then how quickly did they come to another?

[43:38] They come to the red sea what were they to do? Their enemies behind them and the mountains on either side of them and the sea in front of them I understand that the sea the red sea at that point would have been about eight miles across and there they stood as I was with Moses and what do we read about this as I must soon come to a close and when Pharaoh drew and I the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold the Egyptians marked after them and they were sore afraid and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord do you know something about this?

[44:31] You may have in your feelings some great mountain in front of you tonight there are things and you've been shown that you can do nothing about it and yet have you been shown that is anything too hard for the Lord?

[44:48] Well what happened? Oh how quickly this is another thing that poor dear pastors have to endure and they said unto Moses because there were no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness wherefore hast thou done thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt Oh how often a poor dear pastor will be confronted with one trial after another and things where they know only too well the Lord can do nothing the Lord can do nothing they can do nothing rather oh they can do nothing but you see what did the Lord do?

[45:36] Moses said unto the people he was given some prize wasn't he? and Moses said unto the people fear ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord with you which he will show to you to die for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to die ye shall see them again no more forever the Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace are any of you in a place tonight well here's an encouragement to you now what did the Lord do?

[46:16] it was this sea in front of the the enemies behind them and the Lord said unto Moses wherefore praise thou unto me speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward well Fred you say tonight how can I there's all this in front of me ah but what happens the Lord he divided that sea how did he divide it he divided it have you ever realised this how did the Lord divide the Red Sea he divided it with a strong east wind and all of us here tonight know that an east wind high fish and sometimes the Lord uses bitter things to divide the way for his people and oh you see they went through that river I was going to go on a little bit I do I must say amen one last thought perhaps much could be said how they praised

[47:23]  God didn't they you read chapter 15 how they praised God what would he done and almost immediately they go three days without water and it's just what happens to Paulv the stage toč they non�� Qué