Separation from the world

1. Fellowship with the Father: Walking in the LightNo. 4 · 1 March 1868 · 32 min read aloud · Read: 1 John 1

   Starts from the opening of 1 John, noting that the apostles’ eyewitness testimony to Christ was written to Gentiles and so addresses present believers, and that its object is fellowship with the Father and the Son.

2. Sons of God: Submission, Training and HopeNo. 5 · 1 April 1868 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 1 John 3

   Taking 1 John 3 as its ground, the exhortation says believers are now sons of God, whom the world does not know, and that sonship means submission to God’s will, learned by continual study of the Scriptures.

3. Love in the Truth, and Doing GoodNo. 6 · 1 May 1868 · 30 min read aloud · Read: 2 John

   Taking John’s Second Epistle as a letter to an ecclesia, the speaker contrasts the ephemeral loves of the world, which rest on instinct and shared interests, with love in the truth, which begins with the truth and grows in step with love of it.

4. Why Assemble: Fellowship, Submission, and SacrificeNo. 10 · 1 November 1868 · 35 min read aloud · Read: Romans 13

   The speaker thanks God for Christ’s command to assemble and break bread, arguing that believers are to be in the world but not of it, and that regular meeting and daily reading of the scriptures are needed to keep faith and the memory of Christ alive against the pull of worldly things.

5. Why Christ’s Brethren Abstain from Parliamentary VotingNo. 12 · 1 January 1869 · 21 min read aloud

   Speaking during a general election, the speaker argues that political reformers cannot cure human misery: greater wealth would only increase wickedness, as in Sodom, and God has chosen the poor as heirs of His kingdom.

6. Gifts, Schism and Unity in the EcclesiaNo. 14 · 1 November 1869 · 23 min read aloud · Read: 1 Corinthians 12

   On 1 Corinthians 12, the speaker says the miraculous gifts have ceased but the chapter’s lessons still apply.

7. Walking in Love Without Silencing the TruthNo. 16 · 1 January 1870 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Ephesians 5

   Taking Ephesians 5 as his starting point, the speaker says that to follow God is to walk in love, and that a man who holds the truth without love is not of God.

8. Christ’s Humiliation, and Salt and LightNo. 18 · 1 March 1870 · 20 min read aloud

   The speaker says the breaking of bread directs the brethren to the sorrowful side of Christ’s life, which brings comfort and courage because he was tempted and suffered as they do, and which gives an example of doing good.

9. Reconciled to the World’s Rejection, Choosing ChristNo. 24 · 1 September 1870 · 33 min read aloud · Read: 1 John 3

   Taking 1 John 3 as its starting point, the exhortation says believers, as sons of God, must accept that the world knows them not, as it knew not Christ.

10. Serving Christ while awaiting the good timeNo. 25 · 1 November 1870 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Revelation 6

    The exhortation contrasts the present violent, vain world with the good time coming through Abraham and his seed, and urges that those who belong to Christ be a peculiar people who do good without ostentation, obey his commandments, and sow to the spirit rather than seek worldly pleasure and riches.

11. Pilgrims awaiting the times of refreshingNo. 26 · 1 March 1871 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Acts 2

    Taking up Peter’s call in Acts 2 and 3 to repent that sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing come, the speaker says believers will not know how they stand until the Lord comes and judges.

12. Spiritual Gifts, Bishops and Ecclesial ExampleNo. 31 · 1 November 1871 · 12 min read aloud · Read: 1 Corinthians 12

    Notes that in Paul’s day the ecclesias were guided by men endowed with spiritual gifts, whereas today there is no such authority and all is voluntary.

13. Subjection to Rulers and Freedom from DebtNo. 33 · 1 January 1872 · 18 min read aloud · Read: Romans 13

    Taking Romans 13, the exhortation says that, since Christ’s kingdom is not yet established, believers must be obedient subjects of the existing governments, which God appoints and overrules, and must not take part in political movements or agitation.

14. Christ Our Captain: Diligence and True HonourNo. 34 · 1 February 1872 · 26 min read aloud

    Begins from the weekly breaking of bread as Christ’s appointed reminder of himself, whom the world offers nothing to recall, and presents him as the captain who chooses his followers, requiring loyalty and promising immortality in return.

15. Lessons for Steadfastness from Sacred HistoryNo. 46 · 1 July 1873 · 28 min read aloud

    Roberts imagines travelling back eighteen centuries to Rome and then to Paul, a prisoner, letting Paul recount his conversion, and then traces Bible history back through the patriarchs and Noah to Eden.

16. Contentment Without Covetousness and the Sacrifice of PraiseNo. 47 · 1 August 1873 · 21 min read aloud

    Starting from the reading in Hebrews 13, Roberts warns against covetousness and the world’s pursuit of money, holding up Job as an example of riches rightly used and urging contentment in God’s promise never to leave or forsake His people.

17. Peter’s Comfort for Strangers Awaiting the InheritanceNo. 48 · 1 September 1873 · 22 min read aloud

    Turning from James to 1 Peter 1, Roberts presents Peter’s words as comfort for believers who are strangers and sojourners in the present world, urging them to gird up the loins of the mind, pass their sojourning in fear, be holy, and keep the Word in earnest memory.

18. John’s Second Epistle: Love Bounded by the TruthNo. 49 · 1 December 1873 · 16 min read aloud · Read: 2 John

    On 2 John, the speaker distinguishes the worldly and orthodox notions of love from the apostolic love, which is bound up with the truth and issues in obedience.

19. The Sufferings of Christ in Psalm 69No. 53 · 1 April 1874 · 26 min read aloud

    Taking the breaking of bread as a reminder of Christ’s inner experience in the days of his flesh, the speaker reads Psalm 69 as the voice of Christ in his waiting, his hatred by the world without a cause, his burden of mortal nature, and his zeal for the Father.

20. Honour God by Daily Bible ReadingNo. 54 · 1 May 1874 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Romans 1

    Beginning from the saying that all that was written aforetime was written for our learning, the speaker urges daily, patient and prayerful reading of the Bible as against the occasional study of mere scholarship.

21. Uncarefulness: Christ’s Free Men in a Passing WorldNo. 55 · 1 June 1874 · 23 min read aloud

    Takes Paul’s counsel to the Corinthians to be without carefulness, applying it first to slave and free, master and servant: the believer in either condition belongs to Christ, and the present state is short, so its burdens may be borne patiently until the freedom and change of body that Christ will give at his coming.

22. Keeping the Things of Christ in MemoryNo. 60 · 1 November 1874 · 18 min read aloud

    The speaker says that those called by the gospel must see their present life as part of God’s long plan, and that acceptance at Christ’s coming follows from the course pursued now, as harvest follows seed-time.

23. God’s Standard Versus the World’s RespectabilityNo. 67 · 1 July 1875 · 26 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 58, Luke 10

    Contrasts the judgment of natural men, who commend whoever does well for himself, with God’s standard, which puts duty to God first; on that standard the world, though outwardly pious and respectable, is wicked, and God will punish it when his time comes.

24. The World’s Enmity, Offences and Unprofitable ServantsNo. 68 · 1 August 1875 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 64, Luke 17

    Says the conflict with enemies in David’s psalm reflects God’s plan to take out a few chosen by faith and the world’s nature of self-interest, so the world hates the truth and believers must expect tribulation, honouring the shame as a sharing in Christ’s.

25. Waiting for God: Obedience, Chastening and Scripture ReadingNo. 69 · 1 September 1875 · 25 min read aloud

    Starting from Jesus’ words about the blessedness of those who see and hear, says the blessedness is yet future, that present life is brief, and that the long reign of evil teaches God’s greatness and trains the sons of God through chastisement.

26. God Our Sun and Shield: Comfort in TrialNo. 73 · 1 January 1876 · 30 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 84

    Taking the Eastern Question as a sign that the Lord is near, the exhortation turns to the comfort of Psalm 84, “The Lord God is a sun and shield”, and to the kindness of God shown in reconciling the world through Christ.

27. Seeking Wisdom Against the Senses’ False ImpressionsNo. 74 · 1 February 1876 · 22 min read aloud

    Starting from the weekly breaking of bread as a needed reminder, the exhortation rejects the theories that man has a light within or a permanent store of knowledge, and says that light comes from without, through the gospel believed and obeyed.

28. Fellowship in Christ’s Sufferings and Coming GloryNo. 75 · 1 April 1876 · 39 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 99

    Contemplating the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, the speaker says Christ’s sufferings were largely mental, caused by a world indifferent to God, and that believers share them as pilgrims in an evil world; he contrasts the living sacrifice God requires with the penances of Charles V. and the early martyrs.

29. Israel’s Empty Worship and Salt Without SavourNo. 77 · 1 August 1876 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 58

    Taking the apostolic call to behold the goodness and severity of God, the speaker says Israel’s sacrifices and feasts were rejected because they lacked love to God and care for neighbour, and that believers who rely on knowledge, baptism and breaking of bread without these may fall into the same position.

30. Going Forth Without the Camp: Truth and WorksNo. 79 · 1 December 1876 · 20 min read aloud · Read: Hebrews 13

    Taking Paul’s exhortation to go forth unto Christ without the camp, the speaker says that it meant excommunication for Jewish believers and, for the brethren, separation from the popular religious system, which does not uphold “the truth” as the pillar and ground of it.

31. Lovers of Pleasure More Than Lovers of GodNo. 80 · 1 January 1877 · 19 min read aloud · Read: 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 4

    Taking the apostolic warnings about the dangers of the present evil world, the speaker says the love of pleasure is the danger named in the chapters read, and that those who have only a form of godliness deny its power as seed that is not allowed to bear fruit.

32. Finding Christ through the Word and BreadNo. 82 · 1 March 1877 · 22 min read aloud

    Christ is not found in daily surroundings or in nature, but through the preaching of the apostles’ written word and the breaking of bread, by which faith in him is created.

33. Obedience to Commandments, Not Mere Interest in ProphecyNo. 84 · 1 May 1877 · 18 min read aloud

    The basis of the ecclesia is the work of the apostles, and the first-century brethren were faithful without the excitement of the political signs of the times.

34. The Enduring Word, Damascus and Spiritual WorshipNo. 86 · 1 July 1877 · 29 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 17

    Taking the statement that “the word of the Lord endureth for ever”, the exhortation says it assures the stability of the universe and, more importantly, the certainty of what God has said to individuals.

35. Walking Worthy of God: Constant ExhortationNo. 87 · 1 August 1877 · 27 min read aloud

    Pointing to Paul’s practice of exhorting the brethren constantly, the exhortation says the matters needing constant repetition are not the first principles but our moral relation to God and to the world, summed up in the command to “walk worthy of God”.

36. Why the Wicked Prosper: Jeremiah’s AnswerNo. 88 · 1 October 1877 · 24 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 12

    Starting from Jeremiah’s question why the way of the wicked prospers, and the same complaint in David and Habakkuk, the exhortation says the answer is that their prosperity is only for a season and will end when the kingdoms of this world become Christ’s.

37. A Rebellious House: Understanding and WitnessingNo. 89 · 1 November 1877 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 12

    Starting from the reading of the prophets, the exhortation says believers now understand what Israel and the churches around us do not, and that this shows them, like Ezekiel, living in the midst of a rebellious house whose ways, not only its opinions, are contrary to the Scriptures.

38. Daniel: Adversity, Temperance, Integrity and Open PrayerNo. 90 · 1 December 1877 · 25 min read aloud

    Taking Daniel, read that morning, as a brother “greatly beloved”, the exhortation first shows that apparent evil (the captivity, like the good figs of Jeremiah 24) may be God’s way of leading His people to good.

39. Zephaniah’s Warning: Deism, Pride and PatriotismNo. 92 · 1 February 1878 · 24 min read aloud · Read: Zephaniah 2

    From the oracle of Zephaniah 2, the exhortation says that Scripture written about ancient peoples is for our instruction, and that the ‘men settled on their lees’ who think God does nothing, good or evil, hold what is now called Deism.

40. Not Sleeping as Others: Watching and EnduringNo. 98 · 1 August 1878 · 26 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s call not to sleep as others do but to watch and be sober in view of the day of the Lord, the speaker likens the world’s unawareness to a sleeper robbed by a burglar.

41. Minding the Things of the SpiritNo. 100 · 1 October 1878 · 21 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s contrast between those who are after the flesh and those who are after the spirit, the speaker says the weekly breaking of bread does not lose its interest, and that the world is almost wholly given to the things of the flesh.

42. Gentile Fellow-Heirship and Walking Worthy of the CallingNo. 101 · 1 November 1878 · 29 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s words in Ephesians about the mystery that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, the speaker argues that orthodox believers in the immortality of the soul cannot understand it, since before Paul’s mission the Gentiles were without hope and were admitted only through the gospel.

43. Paul as Model: Recognition of GodNo. 103 · 1 January 1879 · 22 min read aloud

    Taking up the apostle Paul as the model Christ has set before disciples, the exhortation dwells on his constant, practical recognition of God in all he did, shown in his use of “if the Lord will”, his appeals to God as witness, and his habit of prayer.

44. Gentile Believers Stand Conditionally: Israel’s WarningNo. 104 · 1 February 1879 · 25 min read aloud

    Beginning with the privilege and present comfort of knowing the truth in a time of gathering tribulation, the exhortation recalls that the Gentiles were called when Israel declined the invitation.

45. Christ’s Temptation: Scripture as Our DefenceNo. 105 · 1 March 1879 · 33 min read aloud

    Starting from the purpose of the weekly breaking of bread, the exhortation considers the temptation of Christ as part of his moral preparation as a sinless but tempted brother.

46. True Wisdom Versus the Wisdom of the WorldNo. 107 · 1 May 1879 · 24 min read aloud

    The speaker asks what wisdom is, contrasting the world’s claims to wisdom with Paul’s words that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

47. Judgment on Moab and the Love of ChristNo. 109 · 1 July 1879 · 29 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 15, Isaiah 16

    The speaker commends fixed Scripture readings as the basis of exhortation, then draws from the burden of Moab the lesson that pride and contempt of Israel bring judgment, which the world’s like sins will bring at Christ’s coming, so that believers must not be one with the world.

48. Election Signs, Christ’s Coming, Fruits of the SpiritNo. 119 · 1 May 1880 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Galatians 5

    Takes the 1880 general election as a sign of the times and says that the Liberal victory must serve the purpose of God, as Joseph’s sale into Egypt did, so that believers can only watch the developing latter-day situation.

49. Proverbs 28: Contending, Prayer, Mercy, Lion and BearNo. 120 · 1 June 1880 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Proverbs 28

    Takes points from Proverbs 28 as read that morning. Verse 4 shows Christ and his brethren contending with the wicked, which the writer distinguishes from mere contentiousness, and says a believer should not expect to be well spoken of by the world.

50. Not All Israel: Children of the PromiseNo. 123 · 1 September 1880 · 24 min read aloud · Read: Romans 9

    Takes up Paul’s sorrow in Romans 9 over Israel’s estrangement from Christ, and compares the lot of believers among a nominally Christian community that disregards the truth, urging patience and separation.

51. The Memorial Cup, the New Covenant and BloodNo. 128 · 1 February 1881 · 26 min read aloud

    Beginning with the passover that Jesus kept with his disciples, the speaker treats it as a type fulfilled in Christ, who shared the mortality of those he came to redeem and whose own blood delivers them.

52. Self-Examination: Weakness, Will and Daily ReadingNo. 133 · 1 September 1881 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Romans 7

    Invites the brethren to review the past six days. Using Romans 7, he distinguishes the unavoidable weakness of the flesh, which will be forgiven through Christ’s intercession, from deliberate, wilful sin, which excludes from the kingdom, illustrating the two with Peter and Judas.

53. Putting On the Whole Armour of GodNo. 143 · 1 October 1882 · 30 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s exhortation to put on the whole armour of God, the exhortation says believers are in a life-and-death battle against the inherited sentence of death, the carnal mind, unbelief, ignorance, and the love of the world.

54. The World’s Hatred of the Sons of GodNo. 148 · 1 August 1883 · 22 min read aloud

    Taking John’s words that believers are called the sons of God, the speaker says the world knows them not because it knew not Christ.

55. Waiting for God: Manna Instead of Flesh-potsNo. 148 · 1 September 1883 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Matthew 9

    The speaker asks the hearers to look at their lives as they will appear in retrospect, and urges them to live now so that the judgment seat of Christ will find them faithful, taking the Scriptures alone as guide.

56. Brethren of the Prophets: Bearing Their TestimonyNo. 149 · 1 October 1883 · 22 min read aloud

    Starting from James’s appeal to the prophets as examples of affliction and patience, the speaker says they were not men free from distress, and cites Ezekiel, sent to a rebellious house and told to eat a roll of lamentation and woe.

57. God Alone Is to Be ExaltedNo. 155 · 1 April 1884 · 22 min read aloud Robert Ashcroft and Robert Roberts

    Opens with an extract by R. Ashcroft arguing that all life and power come from God, that men wrongly exalt the creature, and that Scripture praises only spiritual qualities and never natural greatness.

58. Wisdom Applied: Seeking Life and Bearing the CrossNo. 158 · 1 July 1884 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Proverbs 8

    Takes the parable of wisdom in Proverbs 8 and says that God’s wisdom is seen in all creation, while human wisdom is the right use of knowledge to secure life, so that a man who lives only for the present is a fool.

59. Political Hopes Versus the Hope of IsraelNo. 160 · 1 September 1884 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 31

    Speaking at a meeting held in the Birmingham Town Hall, the speaker contrasts the political hope of the town’s public men and the religious hope of its sectarians with the hope of Israel, centred on Christ’s return and the kingdom of God.

60. Overcoming the Old Man by Reading the ScripturesNo. 162 · 1 November 1884 · 22 min read aloud

    The speaker says the apostolic call to ‘overcome’ is a war in the mind between the old man, the natural state, and the new man, formed by divine ideas.

61. Life Without God: Darkness Needing the LightNo. 179 · 1 June 1887 · 30 min read aloud · Read: Ecclesiastes 3

    The exhortation takes Ecclesiastes’ “a time to be born and a time to die” as a reminder of mortal birth, of the coffin, and of the sentence of death under which all are born, and urges that remembering death makes for sober, godly living.

62. Jeremiah 14: Forgetting God and False ProphetsNo. 182 · 1 September 1887 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 14

    From the drought described in Jeremiah 14, the exhortation says Israel’s calamities came because they forgot God and neglected His law, and that this is written for our learning, so that the world’s forgetfulness of God and the risk of drifting with it are warned against.

63. Obadiah’s Vision and God’s Judgment of NationsNo. 249 · 1 January 1894 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Obadiah

    Taking the short prophecy of Obadiah against Edom, the exhortation says it is the vision that matters rather than the prophet, and explains why Esau was hated and Jacob loved and why the world hates those who love God.

64. Zechariah’s Candlestick Vision and the KingdomNo. 250 · 1 February 1894 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Zechariah 4

    Taking the morning’s reading from Zechariah 4, the speaker says prophecy is deliberately given in dark figures that must be searched out, and reads the waking of Zechariah as a figure of resurrection.

65. Overcoming as Christ Did: Crucifying the Old ManNo. 252 · 1 April 1894 · 20 min read aloud

    Starting from the wonder that Christ is remembered every week, the speaker turns to the chapter read, which shows Jesus in Gethsemane submitting the Father’s will over his own.

66. Learning From Jehoram, Daniel, and AnaniasNo. 260 · 1 December 1894 · 24 min read aloud

    The speaker urges reading the apostolic narratives in the settled conviction that they are true, and then draws a lesson from each of the three portions read.

67. The Purpose of God and Children of PromiseNo. 310 · 1 October 1899 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Romans 9 Printed after his death

    The speaker says the truth is for every-day use and is given in varied form so that it can be handled daily without weariness.

68. Obedience, Sons of God, and Inspired ProphecyNo. 311 · 1 November 1899 · 18 min read aloud W. R.

    From the day’s readings in Kings, Jeremiah and Mark, the speaker draws that God’s word by his prophets comes to pass and must be obeyed, citing the man of God at Bethel and the warnings against any other gospel.

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