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[0:00] Now as some of you will be aware, last week we began a short mini-series on the subject of lamps. And we're going to look at these three aspects.

[0:10] We looked at the empty lamp last Lord's Day morning. Today we will look at the subject of the well-filled lamp. And next Lord's Day, the Lord helping us will look at the more solemn subject of a lamp put out.

[0:26] Because in Zechariah then, chapter 4, we have read of a lamp being filled miraculously and by divine means on a constant replenishment.

[0:38] Last week, a look at the subject of an empty lamp focused on a parable. And this week as we look at the subject of a well-filled lamp, we're focusing on a vision.

[0:49] A vision that Zechariah has here in chapter 4. A vision of replenishment. And that is how the lamp is enabled to stay well-filled. It is being constantly replenished.

[1:01] The replenishment of God's work and of the church's witness, which is symbolized by this lamp here. Showing for the light of the world.

[1:12] The light of God's word. The light of God's witness. Now both Haggai and Zechariah are prophets of rebuilding.

[1:22] Their prophecies come side by side, of course, in the biblical record. And there is a need for rebuilding, which they are both prophets of.

[1:33] Precisely because the previous or existing state of Israel and its relationship with the Lord was so diminished. There was a need to start again.

[1:46] And we see that if we were to look at the previous chapter of Zechariah here in chapter 3. This is symbolized by the re-clothing of Joshua the high priest in chapter 3.

[1:56] With holy garments as opposed to the filthy garments that he had before. And the promise of the branch. The coming of the Messiah. There was a need for fresh input from the Lord.

[2:09] And for fresh commitment from the Lord's people. Now Haggai and Zechariah are contemporaries. We know this not only because their prophecies come side by side in the lists in the Old Testament.

[2:23] If you were to go to Ezra chapter 5, for example. We read in verse 1. Then the prophets. Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ino prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel.

[2:37] Even unto them. And again in chapter 6 at verse 14. The elders of the Jews builded and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ino.

[2:49] And Zechariah of Ino is technically his grandfather rather than his father. Because if you look at chapter 1 verse 1 of Zechariah it says the son of Berechai the son of Ino the prophet.

[3:00] So they're contemporaries. They're both involved in a sense in the same work. Zechariah's prophecy is concerned we might say more with the spiritual condition of Israel and their need to look to the Messiah.

[3:14] If you think of it. Zechariah prophesied in chapter 9 at verse 9 about the Messiah coming into Jerusalem on the donkey. He's holding on the donkey and riding upon an ass. And a colt, the foal of an ass.

[3:25] And also in chapter 3 as we would see if we turn back. Talking about Joshua the high priest and about the branch. The Messiah he was to come. Haggai is more a prophet of the physical rebuilding of the temple.

[3:41] And of the spiritual implications of not doing anything. Haggai chapter 1 verse 3. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying.

[3:52] Is it time for you, O he, to dwell in your sealed houses? And this house, that is the Lord's house, lie waste. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways.

[4:04] Ye have so much and bring in little. Ye eat but ye have not enough. Ye drink but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages earneth wages to put in and to abide with holes.

[4:17] Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Now what Haggai is prophesying about is the rebuilding of the physical temple. And he is contrasting the amount of attention and the priority that the Israelites, having returned from exile, are putting on the building of their own houses.

[4:36] And their own comfort and their own situation. While the Lord's physical temple lies waste. And you might say, yeah, but it's just a building. What's the big deal? Because the physical building is a symptom of the spiritual condition.

[4:50] And Haggai, as you say, is focusing on the physical rebuilding and the contrast of the physical ruins of the temple with their own physical comfort and luxury that the Israelites were enjoying.

[5:03] Zechariah's prophecy is more overtly spiritual. Their need to look to the coming Messiah. So we have in this vision then the candlestick, we might say, and the constant replenishment of oil divinely and miraculously supplied.

[5:23] Now, when we say a candlestick, we tend to think of a candlestick with a sort of wax candle, a pillar of wax on top of it. In those days and in that time, it's not so much wax candlesticks or candles they're looking at.

[5:35] But the candlestick is the sort of stand in which the oil lamp would be put. There'd be a wick coming out of the lamp itself and obviously burning, but the lamp itself would need to be replenished with the oil.

[5:49] It's a stand in which these bowls of oil, whether closed in or open, are sitting and they are constantly being refilled. It's not like candlestick as we tend to think of it with a candle physically in it.

[6:04] It's sort of little bowls of oil, little lamps with the wicks, with the burning in them. Are the lamps lit? I think, well, surely the lamps are lit. Of course they're lit.

[6:14] They must be lit. Otherwise, they wouldn't be called lamps. That's true in a sense, but we are not told explicitly whether the lamps are actually lit in this particular prophecy.

[6:28] It may just be that the oil is being filled up and the state of readiness is being prepared. Perhaps it's not explicitly stated, but obviously whether they are physically lit and burning just now in this vision or not, they are obviously meant to be lit at some point.

[6:47] It's meant to be lit in the fullness of time. Otherwise, in what sense is it a lamp? You know, it's if you're out in the pitch black nowadays and somebody says, oh, have you got a torch? And you say, yeah, yeah, I've got a torch in my pocket.

[6:59] And you take it out and say, well, there's no batteries in this. You say, yeah, yeah, I didn't ask for batteries. You said, have I got a torch? You know, what use is the torch without the batteries? What use is the lamp unless it is lit?

[7:11] So at some point, it is intended that it be lit. Whether or not it's actually lit in this vision, we're not told. But the description here in Zechariah is clearly meant to echo the description of the seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle as described in Exodus 25 from verse 31 and again at chapter 37 of Exodus from verse 17.

[7:37] You can go and read these in your own time, your own leisure. You'll find it described there, how it was to be made, how it was to be beaten out of one piece of gold, and how the lamps were to be lit in Exodus 25 and again Exodus 37.

[7:50] These lamps then in the Zechariah vision are well filled with a divine supply of oil. This is a well filled lamp precisely because it has a divine supply of oil, which particularly in the Old Testament is so often, as I'm sure you know, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

[8:14] Three categories of people in particular were anointed in the Old Testament. The priests, Aaron and his sons, were anointed with oil.

[8:26] Kings were the anointed of the Lord. David was anointed, Saul was anointed, and so on. And also prophets would be anointed.

[8:38] We read of how Elijah is told to go and seek out Emisha and to anoint him as prophet in his room, in his stead, for after he was taken away.

[8:50] So prophets, priests, kings, and of course these are the three categories which our Lord Jesus Christ has taken us to representing all in his one person, the prophet, priest, and king, anointed, anointed, anointed.

[9:06] The oil which anoints each of these categories of office bearer, we might say, in the Old Testament church, likewise is a symbol of God's setting them apart by his spirit.

[9:21] Now, interestingly, perhaps what it says in verse 14, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord, verse 14 of chapter 14. The literal translation of anointed ones is sons of oil.

[9:36] They are those who are anointed with oil, the symbol of God's spirit. So then, if that's the case, there's a symbol of the Holy Spirit then, in that case, given for that particular purpose.

[9:52] So the original tabernacle, seven-branched candlestick, is designed, which this is based on, designed for what? It is designed to give light in the holy place of the tabernacle.

[10:05] Like, well, yeah, okay, obviously, we knew that. But if you think about the tabernacle and how it's designed, are you thinking about, oh, the boards, when it's all laid over with these badger skins and lambskins dyed red and so on?

[10:18] What's the holy place? Well, you've got the incense that you burn, then you've got the holy of holies beyond that. So even the holy place where they burn the incense within the outward court, it's inside it.

[10:32] There's no natural light going to get into that. There's no speaking in the tabernacle design. There's no mention of windows to be cut in the tent walls.

[10:43] There's no mention of these skins that have big holes cut out of them so that light will get in and the priests can see to minister. Once the flap is closed behind the high priest or whoever is going into the holy place, he's going to be in pitch black or at least dark gloom.

[11:00] There's no light of the sun coming in. The only light by which he is able to minister and do his business in the sanctuary of the Lord is that which was given explicitly for the purpose.

[11:16] In other words, the light from the seven-branched candlestick that God has told Moses exactly how it's to be designed and exactly where it is to be. I'll say that again.

[11:28] Because we do not read of any openings or windows cut in the tabernacle covering, the holy place would have no light in it except that which was given explicitly for the purpose.

[11:43] Within the context of the tabernacle holy place, the light of the sun then is no help. It doesn't matter whether it's a bright shining day or whether it's overcast or whatever, the light of the sun is no help at all in a place that's completely shrouded.

[11:57] It's not just a single layer. We think we go camping nowadays. We think a tent's up doing a layer of canvas. Light can shine through it and so on. You can easily tell if you're camping, whether it's daylight or whether it's nighttime or whatever because of how much light comes in.

[12:11] If you think of how the tabernacle is designed, it's layers and layers and layers of one kind of skin after another going on top of each other, on top of each other, on top of each other.

[12:23] There's no light getting through that. It's going to be dark in there except for the light, which is given explicitly for the purpose. Wrong. The seven-branched candlestick.

[12:34] The light of the sun is no help and it makes no difference. Creation is, in a sense, no help and makes no difference when it is the light that God alone gives us that we need if we are to cross in with Christ.

[12:50] It is the God-appointed light regularly attended to by the priests, oil-fed and kept going, which alone lights the intimate service of God.

[13:01] Now, this light, this seven-branched candlestick, of course, seven being the divine number, the number for God, the number for perfection in the Old Testament.

[13:12] So it is like fed constantly with oil. We see in this vision, it's fed not by the ministrations of any priest, but by the divine, miraculous intervention of the Lord.

[13:24] That is what Zechariah sees in his vision. When we see the oil being poured out of these two olive branches at verse 12, it is not being pressed. There's no olive pressed.

[13:35] There's nothing to sort of gouge the oil out of the olive branch. It's just pouring freely from the tree itself, from the branch itself, straight pure into the lamp.

[13:46] It is physically, in earthly terms, impossible that that should be the way that the oil flows straight from the trees. But this is not an earthly vision. This is a heavenly vision.

[13:57] What then, if any of those seven lamps that we've talked about here were to be unlit? We've talked about, are they lit? Maybe they're not lit yet.

[14:08] Maybe they're going to be lit. Or maybe they're already lit. We don't know. But supposedly one of them was unlit. Or another one that was unlit. If they had gone out, or if they were no longer lit. Or perhaps somehow they had not yet been lit.

[14:22] You know, if we think in spiritual terms, think of all the souls that we trust are yet to be gathered at the glory. Think of perhaps, we would imagine, if the Lord doesn't come back in the next year or two, then there will be generations who have still to be born.

[14:40] Little children who are not yet born. Some of whom will become believers in the fullness of time. These are lamps that are not yet lit. They are not yet the Lord's.

[14:50] But we would trust and hope there are those who are yet going to be. Those lamps are not yet lit. But supposedly, if they're not yet lit, how do you think God designed them and intended to be lit?

[15:03] When should they be lit? Or when should they be relit if they have perhaps gone out? Or a fire falling from heaven, perhaps. Like in Gideon's sacrifice in Judges 6, where he puts it on the rock and the angel sends a zap of lightning from heaven and it burns up the sacrifice.

[15:19] Or when Elijah is on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal and a fire falls from heaven. Wow, all this impressive kind of way in which everything gets lit up. Maybe.

[15:30] Perhaps that is how the Lord would like these particular lamps. But most such lamps, whether if we can leave the vision aside for a moment, think of the tabernacle or think of ordinary lamps in other places.

[15:44] Most such lamps would be relit or lit in the first place from a candle or a lamp, perhaps one of the other seven for all we know. Which was still burning?

[15:57] Burning from a previous occasion? Or hadn't yet gone out from a previous occasion? Thus would the light spread? If you've got only one of those seven lamps that is lit, and then you use that to light the other six, the light in the first one doesn't diminish.

[16:15] Still just as much. It's burning still. The same amount of flame and brightening just spreads light. It just increases the light as you work your way along. From one that is already lit, the light spreads.

[16:27] Now this is, in the Bible times, this is how the Lord works, isn't it? You know, rarely, if ever, does the blessing all plop down equally on all areas to be affected right away.

[16:40] You know, when you read revivals in previous ages or centuries or decades or whatever, you don't read, suddenly, they all woke up one morning, everybody right across all these areas, they were all being converted, right, left, and center.

[16:52] No. What you read is, surely, it begins in one place, and then gradually it spreads. It spreads from one place to another.

[17:03] People going from one place to another, one person to another person, in families and groups and different congregations. It begins in one place and the light spreads. Spreads to different parts of the island.

[17:16] Spreads to different parts of the country. Spreads over different areas of the land. Spreads from person to person, from area to area, and what the devil must surely regard as a terrifying plague.

[17:28] A disease of grace spreading like wildfire, only the fire isn't wild. It's divine. It's intentional. It's precise. And at times it is exponential in its spread.

[17:43] You know, we think in times, rightly, the gospel spreading in some parts of the world phenomenally today, which it is. We'll come to that in a minute. But that isn't a new thing with the Lord.

[17:57] If we go back to the early centuries of Christianity, in 250 AD, the Roman Empire had approximately one million Christians in it.

[18:08] By 300 AD, that's 50 years later. Oh, 50 years is ages. 50 years ago, and that's just like 1967. You know, it's not that long ago, 50 years ago.

[18:21] By 300 AD, 50 years later, it had gone from one million to six million. Six million Christians throughout the Roman Empire. By 350 AD, another 50 years on, it was 34 million.

[18:36] Did you say one million, six million, 34 million? In the space of 50 years. Now, it's not overnight. And it's not instantaneous. And it's not zap fire falling from heaven.

[18:46] But it's spreading. It's spreading person to person. Family to family. Place to place. City to city. One million, six million, 34 million. And so on spreads.

[18:57] So take a modern example where most of us are aware of the fearful persecution endured by our Christian brothers and sisters. Muslim countries, for example. Some of which is almost literally unspeakable.

[19:10] And yet, according to information quoted, for example, by the Middle East Reform Fellowship, and I'm quoting out, statistics show that over the past 30 to 40 years, more Muslims have converted to Christianity than in the entire 14 centuries since Islam's advance from Western Arabia.

[19:31] More Muslims converting to Christ in the last 30 to 40 years than in the previous 14 centuries. That's how much the fire is spreading.

[19:42] There are several factors in this growth, one of which is undoubtedly the access, the growth of radio ministries, websites, text messaging, the fact that educated Muslims can get onto the internet and access gospel materials in countries where the Bible is banned and missionaries are forbidden.

[20:01] But ultimately, it is the Lord, who is having filled up these predestined lamps, has now lit the flame, where the phenomenal growth is going from person to person, from family to family, from country to country.

[20:19] Or take China, for example. China into which for hundreds of years missionary endeavor was poured. And it was just beginning to get growth in the early 20th century.

[20:30] And Chinese, native Chinese, were beginning to spread the gospel in their own country. And then, they got the Cultural Revolution. You've got German man in 1949 coming in, banned all the foreign missionaries, closed down all the churches.

[20:44] Now, that's it. China's finished. Now, how wrong could we be? Had the Cultural Revolution, and so many people killed, and so many people tortured, and imprisoned, and died.

[20:54] And now, what do you have? Now, you've got Christianity going from strength to strength in China. Now, some people say 70 million. Other people say 100 million.

[21:05] What is certainly indisputable is China is on target to become the most Christian nation on earth within 15 years. Within 15 years.

[21:18] That's, you know, more churchgoers, more believing Christians than even the United States. Which is like 159 million or something. Regularly going to church or professing faith in Christ.

[21:29] And China reckon it will hit 160 million in the next 15 years. That's having banned all the missionaries. Having demolished umpteen churches. Having tortured and imprisoned so many believers.

[21:43] The devil just can't rip this fire out. Chinese missionaries already go undercover into North Korea. Acknowledging that it is easier for them to do so than for missionaries from the west or from South Korea.

[21:57] Arrests, imprisonment, torture, demolition of even state-sanctioned churches. None of it is working. The objective is to stop the spread of the life-changing gospel.

[22:08] This is what God is doing now. In our day and age. In this day and age. In this generation. In China. In the outer world.

[22:19] Across all these countries that seem to be such Muslim strongholds. In all places. In all parts of the world. Yes, we're on the back foot here.

[22:30] But God isn't just concerned with the earth. But he does intend to replenish an ongoing supply of grace to the lamps that are prepared to burn in his name.

[22:42] You see the difference with last week's example of the empty lamp. You see the difference here? With the foolish bridesmaid, their lamps had gone out because they had brought no additional oil.

[22:54] This lamp in Zechariah's vision and all the branches of the lamp are divinely supplied from the very source. direct from the olive trees themselves.

[23:05] One on each side. Pouring fresh oil directly into the lamps. So that whether a blast of persecution or the icy draft of love-grown coal should cause some of the lights or flames to go out.

[23:21] They can and shall be lit again. Because the Lord continues to supply an abundance of fresh oil for his purposes. Last week we talked about going to the supply and getting what we needed to fill up the lamp that was empty.

[23:40] And compare the oil that the bridesmaids would have needed in Matthew 25 there to water that we all need. And I kept saying, go to the tap, go to the tap, go to the tap.

[23:51] Now, how is the tap different from the old wells that our grandparents used to have to go and lower their buckets into and then pull them out? Well, you know, a development on the well where you get to lower your bucket was the pump.

[24:05] The pump where you'd have to work the pump and eventually water would squish out and fill your bucket with that. But what's happening there is because there's a pipe going all the way down to the source in the underground where the water is.

[24:18] And it's pumping it up. It's bringing it up to the surface. And that's easier than lowering it in your bucket down. Well, what you've got now when you turn on your tap is that your water is coming in a pipe already connected to the source.

[24:31] And you turn the tap and the water direct from the source is just pouring straight through because it's directly connected to the source. Now, if we are directly connected to the source, we're not going to run dry.

[24:46] Our lamp is not going to go out. And it is going to stay well built. Now, in this country and in our day, of course, there's a lot less growth than we see in China or in other countries.

[25:05] The Lord continues to supply an abundance of fresh oil for his purposes in this country, in our day. I don't actually believe that the light is going out altogether.

[25:15] But rather, as we are in the days, I would say, as in the days of Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 3, we read, The child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli.

[25:27] And the word of the Lord was precious in those days and there was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down in his place and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see.

[25:37] And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel and he answered, Here am I.

[25:51] A little child is answering, Here am I. He's lying down. The ark of God is there. It hasn't been taken away. The lamp of God has not yet gone out in the tabernacle.

[26:02] Despite the fact that Eli's sons were wicked priests, despite the fact that Eli himself was weak, and Samuel was just a wee boy, ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep.

[26:20] The Lord called to Samuel and he said, Here am I. The flame in Scotland is perhaps at a very low peak, and the lamp burns dim, but it burns yet.

[26:32] Even in Scotland, the lamp of God is not yet gone out in the temple of the Lord completely. For this flow of oil, miraculous, divine as it is, for this flow of oil to replenish the lamps and keep them burning brightly, we must understand two things.

[26:53] One, God's absolute sovereignty. The presence of the candlestick, the lamp, and the oil supply is all of him and of him alone.

[27:04] And secondly, man's absolute responsibility. God's absolute sovereignty, man's absolute responsibility. It is we who must keep the pipes clean and the channels open.

[27:20] If you think of, I've used this illustration before, you think of sometimes, you know, you see a house and you see the guttering under the house, and the roams or whatever, you can see weeds growing out of it. Sometimes if that's happened in the past, you see the weeds come out.

[27:33] You have to get a ladder, you have to get a towel, whatever you dig out the wedged earth that's there. You dig out all the guns that's blocking the downpipe, and it means that the rainwater can flow freely again.

[27:44] And it means you're not going to get a buildup of damp under the eaves or whatever. So you have to clear out what's clogging it up. Now, even if you don't, the water will still trickle through.

[27:55] It will still work its way through the mud and the weeds, and a wee trickle will come out the bottom of the drain. But if you keep it clean and the channels open, it's going to flow freely. So it is likewise with us.

[28:08] And with the Lord's grace, we must keep our channels clean and free of the debris and weeds and lesser distractions of this world. It can make the difference between the slow drip or the free gushing flow of the oil of God's grace.

[28:23] And the ability to receive of the abundant supply of those powerful spirit. To take another parable, God's word is the good seed of the field.

[28:36] But we can work the soil. Remember how there's, if some of the seed didn't spring up properly, or because it did spring up, it was choked. Because of all the other junk there was in the soil.

[28:48] All the weeds, all the thorns, all the thistles, they choked the good seed. See, we can't make the seed. Only God can give it. We can't make it grow.

[28:59] Only God gives the increase. Then we can at least keep the channels open. We can dig out the stoves. We can clear away the weeds. We can turn the earth. We can fertilize the soil.

[29:11] We can water it with our tears of repentance. The maintenance is for us to keep up. It is only God that giveth the increase. There is God's absolute sovereignty.

[29:22] And there is our absolute responsibility. The maintenance is for us to keep up. As the priests were meant to maintain and trim and tend the lamps in the tabernacle, so we too, being what Peter calls, 1 Peter 2, verse 9, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

[29:44] So we too must maintain the workings of this candlestick, that nothing should hinder the flow of oil, the shining of that light. We must keep up the maintenance of our soul, of our relationship with the Lord.

[29:58] If we love the Lord, this will not be a burdensome thing to us. How true what we read last week, you know, in Luke's account in chapter 12, where we get verse 34, But where your treasure is there, will your heart be also.

[30:14] Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning. And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding. And when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

[30:26] Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

[30:43] It is the master's house. If the servants are meant to keep on distributing the food to the other men's servants and maid's servants, and keep the fire stroked, and keep the lamps lit, and keep all these things going, it's the master's goods, it's the master's fuel, it's the master's food, it's the master's oil, but we are to use it to serve him.

[31:04] Some of you will know, you know, when a child is to be baptized, sometimes I'll give a wee bit of information to the parents, and we need food or whatever. And I always give them these four building blocks that all of us can do with building on.

[31:21] God's time, God's word, God's house, and God's day. These are like in a box of four. These are like foundational building blocks which fit into one another.

[31:33] God's time, God's word, God's house, God's day. God's time, our prayer life, time of the Lord. God's word, reading his Bible. God's house, being diligent in seeking him, together with our fellow believers and seekers in his house.

[31:50] Trust God's day, sanctify the Lord's day. If we have not even these, what is it that we can say that we do? Somebody says, oh, yes, you know, I'm a Christian, oh, but I don't read the Bible, you know, you don't need to do that.

[32:04] You pray, well, you know, sometimes. When things go wrong, I mean, yes, you don't pray to the Lord then, and so you go to church, oh, well, sometimes, you know. But, you know, you don't need to do that.

[32:15] You know, there's so much else in the world. You can do that and have all the things in the world. You can do this and have the Lord. You know, you can have your weeds, your thorns, your thistles, and your seed growing in your field.

[32:29] In each one of these blocks, God's time, God's word, God's house, God's day, something else must give way. Something else you would otherwise be doing.

[32:40] Something of the world that demands the time that could otherwise be given to prayer. Some demanding or entertaining thing to read instead of reading God's word.

[32:52] Someone else the devil wants you to be instead of in God's house. Some other consuming activity or supposedly justified need which keeps you from the right use of God's own day in rest and worship.

[33:07] The devil will tell you you don't need these foundations of rock that you can build far more easily and quickly on the sand without letting go of any of your other distractions and entertainments.

[33:19] But God has given us each of these things. They are his and not ours. They belong to the master, but they are given to us, his servants, to use for him.

[33:32] We won't be able to cram it all in if we are to make these things God's time, God's word, God's house, God's day, our priorities.

[33:43] Other things will have to give way. Other things will have to be put to the side. You can't do it all. And even if you could, what kind of honoring is it to the Lord to put him on the same level as all these things of the world?

[34:01] When God says, thou shalt have no other gods before me, there's three ways of understanding that. It says, it can mean no other gods before my face, in my presence.

[34:13] It can mean no other gods above me, ahead of me. It can mean no other gods beside me, alongside me, as well as me. What did Jesus say when we looked at the end of Mark 12 there?

[34:25] When the lawyer asked him the question, what is the greatest commandment? He said, He always failed. The Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.

[34:41] We are going to keep the pipes clean, and the channels open, and the oil of God's grace can flow in and fill our lamps. And we have to work on that side, which is our responsibility.

[34:55] All these things God gives to us, but he gives to us his sins to use for him. The consistent message of Jesus' parables is to be faithful with what he does give, and he will increase it and make us want more.

[35:17] And the more we hunger and thirst after righteousness, the more we will be filled. Philippians 4.19 says, But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

[35:34] All your need. The oil will keep pouring into your lamp. You won't be like those bridesmaids that were left with nothing in their lamps when they slumbered and slept, just like the wise ones.

[35:47] But the oil will keep pouring in. The Spirit will keep pouring in if you keep the channels open. A well-filled lamp is essential.

[35:59] How else will we be able to keep on burning? How else will we be able to shine in the dark? How else shall you ever be what he has called you to be?

[36:13]  the light of the world? Verse 9.