Address—Lemoine Smith
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Called from above.
Here.
Where did you say God I have to play it all?
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Couldn't help but think of some of the words in this hymn in the chapter we've had before us in the reading.
I was thinking of verse three, that image in man's lowly guise.
So many around didn't know.
Didn't know at all.
Who was before them?
And we had those words, if you seek me.
Let these go their way.
All that this son sees, the father do the son.
Marvelous, isn't it? What a wondrous person, our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we look to him in prayer.
I would like to turn to Genesis chapter 21.
MMM.
I've been thinking of.
Hearing.
A voice. Particularly a voice.
From heaven.
You know everyone of us in this room.
Like it or not.
We're going to have to do with.
God, we're going to one day face.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Because the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son, there's been a man in your world and mine.
Who has fully glorified God?
And wrought.
Marvelous work of salvation in his work on the cross, but.
I was thinking of that term. A voice from heaven.
In Genesis 21.
We get in verse eight that Abraham's son Isaac was weaned.
And verse 9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son. For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
The thing was very grievous and Abram's sake because of his son.
And Abraham and God said unto Abram, Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bond. Woman, in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child, and sent her away. She departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, and the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
And she went and sat down, sat her down over against him, a good way off.
As it were, a bow shot.
For she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept, And God heard the voice of the lad, and the Angel of God called the Hagar out of heaven.
And said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar?
Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, and I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an Archer, And he dwelt in the wilderness apparent, And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
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There's many times that things.
Don't really grab our souls until we come to a crisis.
This was a very difficult time in Abraham's life.
Sarah.
Said cast out the bondwoman and her son.
For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And this thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of the sun.
So we have a father's heart.
Really torn.
It doesn't say in verse 12.
God said to Abraham. Here's the whole book of Galatians to explain what you're making a type of.
No.
This is written a four time for our learning.
But God comforts.
This man who's called the father of us all.
Verse 12 Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bond, woman.
Verse 13 And also the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread in a bottle of water and gave it to Hagar.
Put it on her shoulder and the child and sent her away and she departed.
We marvel as we look at faith.
Don't we?
Dear young people.
Has there been a crisis in your life?
Where some portion of the word of God.
Comes to you so clearly.
It says the voice.
Of God from heaven.
You either have to make it your own.
In the face of crisis.
Or you might.
Have to go to a deeper crisis.
Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior?
He wants you to learn to be sensitive.
To the leading and the assurances of the Spirit of God.
We look at this woman, Hagar. Abraham had gone down into Egypt or Abraham, and he had.
Picked up an Egyptian maid.
You can say, well, it's not her fault.
Here we have the origin likely of the Arabian.
Millions of people today.
By this time.
Well, I may go back verse 14. You know, as Abraham got up, rose up early in the morning, what's he doing? He's responding to what God told him.
Action.
Because of words from God.
By this time if we look back at the scriptures.
Chapter 2.
Ishmael is about 15 years old.
Verse 15 The water was spent in the bottle and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
She went and sat down over against him a good way.
As it were a bow shot, for she said, let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him and lift up her voice and wept.
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And God heard the voice of Hagar.
17 No, says he heard the voice of the lad. You ever been so thirsty your tongue was cleaving to your palate?
You just wish you had a drop of water.
It's a bit of a crisis.
God heard the voice of the lad.
And the Angel of God called Hager out of heaven, and said, What aileth thee, Hagar?
If you're not, let's go back to chapter 16, verse 6.
Hagar.
Was with child in this chapter expecting Ishmael?
And she despised Sarah.
She was proud she was pregnant.
And your boss wasn't?
So.
Sarah treats her.
Hardly. Verse 6.
And she runs away.
Verse seven. Danger of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness.
Nurse eight, he said, Hagar Sarah eyes made Whence came est thou? Whither wilt thou go? She said, I flee from the face of my mistress, from Saraya. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hands. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. The Angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shall bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael.
Because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
And he will be a Wildman. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
She called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God sees me, for she said, I have also.
Here looked after him that seeth me.
When we look at chapter 21 and God says Hagar, what a list thee.
She's expecting the death of that boy.
And she has forgotten.
The promise connected with him.
When crisis comes into your life and mine, and it will come.
Dear fellow believer.
It's a wonderful thing if we can look back.
To that which the Lord assured us of in the time passed.
It says in Romans 4 of Abraham, Abraham believed God.
We saw how he got up early in the morning and he took the bottle and he sent.
Hagar and Ishmael away. He believed God in the face of awful heartache to let go of that 15 year old boy and his mother.
Chapter 22.
We've had this before us in these meetings.
Verse.
One and two, we see God speaking to Abram.
Verse Two. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning.
We see the energy.
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Carried out.
Obeying what God said.
We're all familiar with the story.
I love verse 5.
All the word of God is wonderful, isn't it? But to think that he tells his young men, I and the lad will go Yonder and worship, and come again to you.
He knew if he's called upon to offer Isaac, God would have to raise him up from the dead. But the promises were bound to that. Son, believe God.
How often I have to look back in my own life and say there's failures.
And I could trace straight to unbelief.
We have a wonderful.
God.
Now look in verse 11.
Here come the moment.
Of severe crisis and testing.
Testing his faith.
Isaac is bound.
He's laid on the altar on the wood. Verse 9. Verse 10. Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And it doesn't say.
That he held it over his head.
But this man is acting.
In the fear of God.
What a time to hear verse 11. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven.
Hager had heard a voice out of heaven.
Many times it doesn't mention out of heaven when God is speaking with Abraham.
Such friendship, wonderful.
But here it does.
And said Abraham, Abraham and he said here.
I.
Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son from me.
And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. What a provision this substitute. What a figure, Isaac.
And his father?
Going forth, how our hearts have enjoyed this wondrous figure.
Of Christ in his death and resurrection. Verse 15 And again we have and the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven.
The second time.
He said by myself, I've sworn, saith the Lord, For because thou hast done this thing, and is not withheld thy son, thine only son.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sandwiches upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Wonderful when we learn.
To heed.
Voice.
Out of Heaven, Deuteronomy chapter 4.
Moses.
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Reiterating.
Something of the giving of the law.
Verse 10 Especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto thee.
Me gather the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may hear. Learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And you came near, and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire under the midst of heaven, with darkness and clouds and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you, out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only you heard a voice.
And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform.
Even 10 commandments and he wrote them upon 2 tables of stone.
Verse 36.
Verse 35 Unto thee it was show thou minest know that the Lord He is God. There is none else beside Him out of heaven. He made thee to hear his voice.
That he might instruct thee, and upon the earth he showed thee his great fire.
And thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. Let's look briefly at Hebrews chapter 12.
Verse 25.
See that you refuse, not him that speaketh.
For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, Whose voice then shook the earth?
But now he hath promised, saying it once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Whose voice then shook the earth.
We have read out of heaven. He made thee hear his voice, but it is as on earth. Let's turn.
Matthew, Chapter 3.
Matthew 3.
And in Mark one and in Luke three we get.
Very similar.
Verse 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God.
Descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
And lo, a voice from heaven saying.
This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. This was what John Baptist heard.
And if you.
Chapters later.
In another gospel perhaps.
He says.
Art thou he that is to come, or look we for another?
Here's a revelation, a voice from heaven.
That's why you and I, I know in my own soul. I want to know.
Voice from heaven.
It will always be according to the word, and it generally will be the word itself.
But John hears this and it's recorded in three gospels.
Let's turn to John, chapter 12.
This too.
We have had before us.
Let's start with verse.
23.
And Jesus answered them, saying, the hour is come.
And that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die.
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It abideth alone.
If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Verse 27. Now is my soul troubled?
And what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.
Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an Angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me.
But for your sakes.
Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. So we've had a voice for Hagar.
A voice for Abraham.
A voice for John Baptist.
Here is a voice for the people.
What a tremendous.
Thing to have a voice from heaven.
Yet in our midst once walked a man.
Whose very words set forth.
Such riches.
Such truth.
Marvelous.
Let's turn to Luke Chapter 9.
Here we get the amount of transfiguration.
We're all familiar with it.
Verse 34 says while he spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud, and there came a voice out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son.
Hear him.
And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.
It doesn't directly say it's a voice out of heaven, but it's a voice out of the Shekinah glory under that cloud of glory.
Peter, James and John 3 witnesses of that glory.
If we turn to second Peter one and verse 18, Peter says we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty when we heard a voice out of heaven.
Marvelous.
To be jealous to hear what our God saying from heaven.
Turn to John, chapter 19.
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Well, first.
Like to look at Mark 15, Mark 15 and verse?
34 we get.
A voice from Earth.
From the man.
Suspended between.
Earth and Heaven.
And in verse 33 it says in when the 6th hour has come, there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour. And at the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying Eloi lamas aback than I which is being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
What did he say to your soul when you were saved?
One of the things he says to every believer, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Marvelous. But here's this man.
Forsaken.
A voice to God.
John 19.
30.
We get his voice again.
We don't get the forsaking in John's Gospel.
That Lamb of God accomplished.
His death at Jerusalem.
But the voice we hear in verse 30.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he vinegar, he said it is finished.
He bowed his head.
And gave up the ghost.
Oh, what a voice.
That is to my heart and your heart as one who was lost in sins.
The atoning work is done.
The burn off ring.
Everything going up to the glory of God, it is finished.
In Luke 23 he says another thing. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Marvelous.
We could go to Psalm 22.
We could go to.
Hebrews 12.
The.
We read.
In verse two, a very well known verse.
Looking unto Jesus the author.
And finisher of our faith.
For the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
Despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What an answer. There's a man in the glory now.
Proverbs tells us a wise son maketh a glad father. Isn't that marvelous? What a son this was.
No equal.
Pure object for your heart.
In Acts Chapter 9.
We're all familiar with this very important story.
Of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
We've had, in the first few voices, voice from heaven.
In hours of crisis.
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We have in John Baptist.
Voice from heaven, when he must stand as a witness against the sins.
Of God's people and calls them to repentance.
Here in verse three as Saul was.
Journeying near Damascus.
Therefore he fell to the earth, and heard a voice sing unto him.
Saul saw white persecuted stomach.
You know the light.
From Heaven was so great.
But this man saw, saw the Lord.
Or heard the voice.
What a crisis. He was bent on doing I'll to the church.
And here he finds out that the Church and Christ are one.
It's so important that you and I hear his voice. You could go to chapter 22. You could go to chapter 26 and hear this story reiterated.
And but Saul hears from a man in the glory.
But we had at first was not a man in glory, the Lord speaking to Abraham, to Hagar, and so forth.
But now you and I have a man in the glory.
And that man.
Is the one that is meant to occupy your heart and mind, to give a voice from heaven to each soul? Is there a crisis?
May arise in your life. Are you going to say I need a word from God for this situation? How wonderful.
Our time is gone.
You have a wonderful future.
Each one of us that have put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You have done so, haven't you?
Will it take a crisis?
To bring you to where?
You listened to a voice from the one that was risen from the dead and ascended on high.