Address—G. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Appendix 5 in the appendix.
Come now found of every blessing, tune my heart to sing my grace streams of mercy, never ceasing. Call for ceaseless songs of praise #5 in the appendix.
We like to look tonight a little bit about the life of Abraham as God has recorded it in his Word.
It begins at the end of the 11Th chapter of Genesis.
Genesis Chapter 11 and verse 31.
And Terra took Abraham his son, and Lot the son of Heron his son's son.
And Sarah his daughter-in-law, his son Abraham's wife. And they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. And they came unto Heron, and dwelt there in the days of Tiara were 205 years, And Tierra died in Heron. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation.
And I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. And indeed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was 70 and five years old when he departed out of Karen. And Abram took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son.
00:05:09
And all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Hiram. And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came, and Abram passed through the land under the place of Sikkim, under the plain of Mora. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said unto thy seed will I give this land? And there buildeth he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
And he removed from fence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West, and hey I on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there. For the famine was grievous in the land, and it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt. And he said unto Sarah his wife, Behold, now I know of thou art a fair woman to look upon. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee that they shall say, This is his wife.
And they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake my soul shall live because of thee. And it came to pass that when Abram was coming to Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman, that she was very fair. And the Prince is also a Pharaoh, saw her and commanded her before Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into under Pharaoh's house.
And he had treated Abram well for her sake, and he had sheep and oxen, and he ***** and men servants and maidservants, and she ***** and camels. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarah Abrams life. And Pharaoh called Abraham, and said, What is this that thou has done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why did why sinnest thou? She is my sister.
So I might have taken her to me to wait. Now therefore behold thy wife take her and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife and all that He had just a few verses in the 13th chapter also. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and lot with him into the South neighbor was very rich in cattle and silver and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel.
Under the place where his tent had been at the beginning, and between Bethel and Hey I.
Under the place of the altar which he had made there at the 1St, and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Well, I'm sure many of us are well acquainted with the story of Abraham. But I believe there's some very important lessons that we can get from this story, because the Bible tells us that whatsoever things were written before time, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. And when I read the Bible, I like to think of these people, you know, as real people, people who are just like you and I, as the Bible says, man of light, passions with ourselves.
And perhaps we can enter into some of their feelings as they went on in the path, as it's marked out for us here. And it tells us too, you know that these things are examples to us upon whom the ends of the world are come. And so I believe there are very important lessons Abram were told in the New Testament is spoken of as the father of all those who have faith, because he was called out from the darkness of Mesopotamia. There he was a worshiper of idols.
In Deuteronomy, I believe it is that they were worshippers of idols, and Abram was along with them. But the God of glory appeared to Abram when he dwelt in Mesopotamia, and said, Get the out from my country, and from my kindred, and from my father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. Sometimes people say, well, what about the heathen? But we should never limit God's power to make himself known.
And God did make himself known to Abram. Even Lloyd was a heathen, and he knew that it was God who was speaking to him.
He knew that God was calling him, and so it is often with us, even today, boys and girls brought up in the meeting like I was considering the meeting many, many times. And we can hear what's said, but we don't hear the voice of God. Maybe we hear the voice of our parents and we say there's some brothers that speak, but perhaps one time comes when it speaks to us as the very voice of God.
00:10:23
Perhaps you remember when you sat in the meeting and you said the Lord was speaking to me. It was really a message from him. And so the time comes when God calls as it tells us whom He called them, He also justified, and whom he justified them He also glorified. I hope that there is one here and all that you have thought out. Well, my parents taught me these things, and I know the Brethren believe that way, but you've never really for yourself heard the call of God.
I hope that this very night, if you're not one of his, that you will hear his voice speaking to you because it's an individual thing to be saved. It's a personal matter. People aren't saved in families. They're not saved in groups. We must be saved as individuals. We must personally come and receive the Lord Jesus. And those of us who are saved Remember how that the Lord spoke to us and we realized that the Lord Jesus not only died for sinners, but He died for me.
Became a personal thing. Well, it was a personal thing, a personal call to Abram, but we find here that he allowed his father to sort of influence his life. And you know, we can let other people hinder us from coming out from the Lord. Many people allow influences, perhaps in their home or friends, to hinder them from coming to the Lord Jesus. They allow people who perhaps would laugh at them to hinder them hearing and receiving the call of God.
And sometimes, even as believers, we can allow others to hinder us from following Christ for really making him the first one, the first choice, so to speak, in our lives. The Lord Jesus said he that loveth Father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Perhaps you remember when the Lord was here, and he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee, working with their father.
And the Lord called. He didn't call their father. I don't know what happened to Zebedee. You often wonder if he ever really got saved.
But I know that John and James were called, and Anna tells us that they left their father in the in the ship with the hired servants. They didn't neglect their father, they left him with those who would be a help to him. But the Lord Jesus had said, follow me. We should never neglect our parents. The Bible says honor thy father and thy mother. But we shouldn't allow our parents to hinder us from following the Lord Jesus. We shouldn't allow anyone, our best friends, to hinder us. The Lord Jesus must come first.
And and we see here.
In this story that apparently Abram had a great deal of respect for his father.
Which was proper in that way. But he allowed his father to take over. And you know the notice the way it read in this 31St verse.
And Tyra took Abram, his son and Lot. When you read in the next chapter, you find that Abram was the one who acted, because it tells us that Abram remembered that the Lord had called him. And so his father took over. His father, as it were, took control. And they started out together, Abram and Sarah and Tyra, the one who was taking the lead in this little group.
And Lot and Lot came along with them as well. He was a nephew of Abram.
And they started out. But as I said, as far as we know from Scripture, Kira was not a man of faith. He would say, perhaps if you knew him, that he was a nice man, and perhaps, and I'm sure he did love his boy very much, but it isn't enough just to be a nice person. The Lord Jesus said, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. And so, Abram, I mean Tyrone, never got into the land.
Tyra died in Herod. They came along part way and sometimes you'll find that your friends will come part way. But if they're not saved, they can't take a stand for the Lord Jesus and they won't be in the heavenly glory unless they receive him a savior. And so it tells us here that they came to Haram. History tells us that this was a place where the caravans coming from the east and coming from the West met.
00:15:08
It was a sort of a place where you could be halfway. You could meet those coming from Canaan, and you could meet those coming from Mesopotamia. And so you know there are people who will go halfway, but you and I are going to follow the Lord Jesus. As we often sing love that transcends our highest powers demands our soul, our life, our all, and, it says in Romans chapter 12.
I beseech you therefore, brethren.
By the mercies of God that she presents your bodies, a living sacrifice.
Wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable for intelligent service.
Another verse says we are not your own, ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. Well, and it's sad here that Tyra died and it was apparently quite a little while that they settled there in Canaan. But after Athira had died, isn't it sad that God sometimes has to bring some sorrow into our lives to wake us up?
We're not wholehearted for him. We're not giving him the place that he should have in our lives. Even though we belong to him, many of us can look back and realize we weren't giving him that place. Then God brought something into our lives. Perhaps it was a sorrow, perhaps it was a disappointment of some kind, And that woke us up, just as it did Abraham here. It caused Abraham to reconsider things, and when he did, it said.
Notice that first verse of the 12Th chapter. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from my father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. He was called upon to leave his country, and he never fully left it. And he didn't leave his father's house, because his father took the lead and detained him, so that he didn't really come out and out for the Lord.
But it all came back to his mind after his father died. And isn't that often true that something happens in our lives and things come up and we think I haven't been giving the Lord the place that I should in my life. He I haven't been acknowledging him as my Lord. Well, I believe this is what happened in an experimental way in the life of Abram. And the Lord had said it wasn't what his father might have said, but what the Lord had said.
That he was to come now he was partially obedient. And that he had left Mesopotamia and come as far as harem, that was partially, and sometimes we're partially yielded. But as I say, the Lord wants us to be fully yielded to Him. That's really what it means, brethren, By acknowledging Jesus as Lord in our modern society. It's perhaps a little harder for us to understand that.
Because there isn't such a thing as slavery in this land. But there was in Bible time, such as the thing, as a person who had the position of lordship, and the people he had were his slaves. They belonged to him. And Paul calls himself the bone slave of Jesus Christ. He says the Lord bought me and I really belong to him and he's my Lord. He has a right to tell me what to do. I've often said there is a person.
Who has a right to tell me what to do? I belong to him. He bought me at a tremendous price. And we as Christians like to sing that little hymn. And I am his, and he is mine forever and forever. Willis, as I say, came back. And then he added things in the second verse. And I will make of the great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.
God was going to make of this nation of which Abraham was the star. He was going to make that a great nation. And you know God is going to do that. He's going to fulfill his promise he made Abram. Centuries have passed since that promise was made. The nations now are trying to get Israel to settle for less than what God intends for them. Now we know that they're not going to get that land in the full possession of it.
Themselves until God gives it to them. And when he does, they'll have to recognize that they didn't get it by their own power. But it's no use for the other nations to interfere and tell them that they have to make concessions to those nations around, because in God's plan, Israel is going to be the center of blessing in the millennial Kingdom. Jerusalem is the city of the great king, and all the nations of the earth will have to come up from year to year.
00:20:26
To worship the king, the Lord of wolves, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. It tells us Jerusalem is the metropolis of earthly blessing. And here it all began in his simple call for Abraham, and so God promised that he would bless him. But, brethren, we have something better than that. It is a wonderful time to look forward to for the nation of Israel when God will bring this blessing and they'll sit down under their own vine and fig tree.
In the paper that they have in the city of Ottawa, just before they had 40 years of their independence, they published a large 412 pages about that nation. And it was interesting. They said 40 years a nation, 40 years of conflict. But you know, when God blesses them, it will be 1000 years a nation and not 1000 years of conflict, but 1000 years of blessing. Yes, they're trying to do it now by their own efforts.
God is going to give it to them. But I'll say again, brethren, we have something better. You and I have been called not to the earthly inheritance, but the heavenly, as it tells us in Hebrews 12. Here come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, the Church of the first born, which are written in heaven. Oh, how wonderful is our inheritance. If Abraham was called to blessing, how much more wonderful is ours?
Ourselves worrying so much about this world and all that's going on. And it's certainly a sad picture that we see as we see the breakdown of things in the hands of man. But isn't it glorious to be a Christian, to look on to the time when the Lord Jesus will be the center of heavenly and earthly blessing? Well, God made these promises, and shall I say, he made them unconditionally. The promises that were made to Abraham. God didn't say to Abram, if you'll do this, and if you'll do that, then I'll bless you.
They were unconditional because they were founded upon God's faithfulness. And as it says, in thy seed who is Christ, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
We know that afterwards the people entered into a bargain with God, that they would earn the blessing by keeping God's law and they forfeited everything on that ground. Be like as if a father promised to give his boy a bicycle. And the boy says, dad, I'm able to earn it. And if you'll just tell me what you want me to do, then I'll be able to say to all my friends, you know, I worked hard and I earned this bicycle. Then the boy breaks down. He doesn't do what he said he would do. But what about the unconditional promise the father made at the start?
He didn't say that he was going to give it to him because something the boy did, he just gave it to him because he loved him. And so the Lord Jesus is going to break that nation into blessing on the ground of the unconditional promise that is made to Abram. They placed themselves under law and that's why they're having all this trouble now. They place themselves under law and they couldn't keep it then when the Lord Jesus their true deliverer, the only one who could bring them blessing.
Came, they said, We will not have this man to reign over us. They said, his blood be on us and on our children, and not until they repent, when they look upon the one whom they pierced, will his blessing come to them. But their blessing will come through Christ, just as ours come through Christ and Christ only, so that that nation is going to be blessed. And it says, I'll bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee. And if you notice.
Any nation that has oppressed the Jew has always got into trouble. Over and over again, it's happened because they're God's earthly people. It's true they're under the government of God for their rejection of their Messiah. But God says you leave them alone. They're my people, and I'm the ones who will bring them. I'm the one who will bring them into blessing.
He says it's my land and I'm the one that's going to bless them. He says in Ezekiel about how those nations around them are saying just what they're saying now. These two nations and these two countries are ours. He said Israel has been away from there for 2000 years now. This is ours and the Lord says it's mine and my people are going to have it. And so how wonderful these promises that were made to Abram.
00:25:19
Well, this time Abram took it all to heart. And brother, I'm saying this because we need to take what we have in Christ a heart so we get so easily taken up with this world and all it has to offer. And we don't take to heart how richly and we are blessed and how wonderful our portion as Paul spoke of it, the unsearchable riches of Christ. But now Abram took this to heart and it says in the fourth verse.
So Abram departed.
As the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was 70 and five years old when he departed out of heroin. I'd like to particularly mention about these four different people. First, about Tyra, we talked about him, a man who didn't, as far as we know from Scripture, have living faith, who never entered the promised land, who died in Haran, although he had, shall I say, a religious atmosphere about his life and leaving the Chaldean coming part way.
Many, many people are religious today, but they haven't received Christ and religion doesn't say it. So I believe that Terra pictures to us a man who might be religious and come part way along with Christianity, but without receiving the Lord Jesus, Abraham. I believe friends before us, a man of faith, a man who not perfectly as we'll see and none of us are perfect, but a man who in the main had a desire to honor God.
And how he made some very faithful stands at times. And I said, I believe, as I say, he's characterized in the Scripture as a man of faith. And now I like to think about Sarah too, because it must have been very difficult for Sarah when Abraham received this call and said, probably as I say, I like to picture these things, he said to his wife one day, perhaps they were living in a measure of prosperity back there.
In Mesopotamia because.
He evidently was quite a influential and clever man, and according to history they had made quite a bit of progress. That was quite an advanced civilization in her of the Chaldeans, and perhaps here, if you can picture one day, he says to his wife. God has called us to leave this land, she says. Where are we going? I don't know. God will show us. What kind of a home will we have if we go into that land? I don't know.
We just have to wait and see. And in actuality, they never had a house in that land. They only lived the rest of their lives in tents. That was a tremendous decision, wasn't it, for Sarah to be willing. And you know, this is a word to us too. We can be a help or a hindrance to our friend or partner. And each one of us can ask our hearts when her partner wants to follow the Lord. Do we give support or do we hinder?
It's nice to see that, Sarah, as far as we know.
Gave support. She never, we never read of her driving back here alone. And she came right along when Abram did this. And so that we can be, as I say, a hell or a hindrance, a partner. One time we know Sarah was stronger in her face than Abram and spoke to him about something that he needed to be spoken about. And so I'm not speaking about whether the man has more faith in the life or the wife than the man, but I'm saying that sometimes.
The wife might grow more than the husband, or sometimes it might be the other way, but it's a tremendous thing to be a help to the partner that God has given to us or to our friends. When someone of your friends, even if you're not married to someone of your friends, wants to follow Christ, do you put a little drag on or do you have do you say, well, that's great, let's go on and follow the Lord and put him first. It's it's so nice to see this about Sarah, but now there seems to be a rather sad note about life.
A lot to me represents a person who was always just like the company he was with. We never read a Lot making a good decision when Abraham left her of the Chaldees and he stopped in Heron when Abram came. I want to say here that Lot was a real believer because the New Testament tells us that he was a righteous man but when he left.
00:30:12
Karen and came into the land. It just simply says Lot went with him. When he went down to Egypt, Lot went with him and he came back out of Egypt. Lot came back out. And when he was finally forced later on to make a decision on his own, he showed that he was a follower of somebody else. And he didn't have personal exercises of his own to follow the Lord. And you know, we're put to the test, brethren.
As to whether we're just going along with our brethren, when they're doing things for the Lord, we go with them. When they're going the other way, we go along with them. We're put to the test sooner or later as to whether there is real decision in our own hearts for Christ. And these four characters are very interesting, all brought together.
Later as to whether there is real decision in our own hearts for Christ and these four characters are very interesting, all brought together in this story that God has given to us. I say again, Tara, probably not a believer at all or a religious man. Abraham, a man of faith. Sarah, a wonderful help and lot just a person who though a believer was not really walking before the Lord in the strength of a faith that counted upon God.
And sought to please God for himself. Well, we're going to meet Lot in heaven, there's no doubt about that. But it's possible, as the scripture tells us, to have a saved soul but a lost life.
The Lord said, He that loveth his life shall lose it, but he that hateth his life in this world.
Keep it on delayed eternal. That's not the question of the salvation of the soul. That's only thrown through new birth and through the blood of Christ. But a person could really be saved and yet have a lost life, not living our lives for the Lord Jesus who is so worthy of all that we have. And another thing we notice in this fourth verse was how old Abram was. Now I know they lived longer in those times.
But his life was pretty close to being half spent because.
Even though they live longer, it was we might sit pretty close to the middle of his life.
When this happened, and this is an encouragement too, if we've had wasted years in our life, we don't have to waste the rest of our lives. The Bible says that we should live the rest of our time to him who died for us and rose again. So it may be there has been wasted years in our lives, but we don't have to say, well, since I've wasted so much time, I might as well keep on this way. There was a great change that took place here.
The real advancement in his Christian life when he was 75 years old. So let's think about the rest of our time. As it says in Hebrews today, if he will hear his voice harden not your hearts, that is, we just have from today forward to live for the Lord, So says And Abraham took Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son.
And all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Heron.
And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan and into the land of Canaan.
They came.
You notice what it says. They took all their substance and the souls that they had gathered. We have a little expression that we sometimes use, burning your bridges behind you. And we all know what that means. That you say, well, I might, I might want to go back, so I'm going to burn the bridge so I can't go back. And I think this is really what Abraham was doing here, because if he had left some of his flocks or his herds. So there's good feeding here. I'll see what cannons like and we'll leave.
Some of our things back here, we can come back and get them afterwards. He might have got discouraged because everything wasn't perfectly smooth when he got the Canaan.
And I want to tell you that if you want to follow the Lord, it may not always be smooth, Paul said to the unbelievers. We must, through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God. There is no promise for us as believers that we're going to have a smooth path. We can expect persecution, and there is no promise that we're not going to have the aches and pains of humanity. It says we are cells who have the first fruits of the Spirit.
00:35:00
Even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our body.
So they left nothing there that they might want to go back for. They took everything when they left came and and it says it's a rather interesting expression to go into the land of Canaan and into the land of Canaan. They came and perhaps we can see something of the force of this because sometimes we start out and we face a few hardships and difficulties and we say, well, I don't know whether I'm quite prepared.
This is not going to be easy, but it says they went forth to gull and into the land of Canaan. They came, that is, they pressed on in the energy of faith, and we need that energy of faith to press on. We need to look to the Lord. He's the God of all encouragement. All of us get discouraged at times, and we need to do like David did when he felt pretty discouraged one time, it says.
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God, and we need to.
Get that little bit of encouragement from the Lord when we feel difficulties in the way. Well, in the sixth verse he passed through the land under the place of Sikkim under the plain of Mora, and the Canaanite was then in the land. And it wasn't all clear, as we might say, because we know the Canaanites were the enemies of God's people. We all know about the battles they had with them later on when they entered the land under Joshua.
And so when he came into the land, it wasn't just all clear so that he could say, well, it's going to be very simple because there's nobody here to contest our rights in this land. No, Satan will contest your rights every step of the way. He'll constantly try to put obstacles in the way the Canaanite was then in the land, there were those who were enemies dwelling there, But it says in the seventh verse.
And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto thy seed Will I give this lamb?
And there bill that he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
We're told that the God of Glory appeared to Abram when he was back in Mesopotamia, but we don't read of any appearance from then on until this very time. That is, he didn't appear to him when He was inherent. While the Lord never leaves us, we may not be in the enjoyment of His presence. The two that were on the road to Emmaus, they didn't realize that the Lord was walking beside them, but He was there, and when it says the Lord appeared to him. I believe that this brings before us the fact that.
Now he enjoys the Lord's presence as though the Lord had come and said, Abram, remember, I'm right here to support you and help you. You see these Canaanites in the land. But I am the Almighty One, and he's the one who appeared to Abraham both before and now as he enters the land. And so he builds an altar to the Lord. The response of his heart is to give the Lord his rightful place.
Because the order, as we know, has to do with our approach into the presence of God.
Says in Hebrews we have an altar where they have no right to eat, would serve the Tabernacle. But we come and the Lord Jesus himself is our altar. So he builds this altar if we can put it very simply, He gives the Lord His place. He recognizes that all this is from him and of him and whenever the Lord does something for us.
Good for us to come back with Thanksgiving and with praise. Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his corpse with praise.
The 10 lepers were cleansed, but only one came back to give thanks, and the Lord valued them. So Abram builds an Alger.
I believe the Lord is leading him on, just as He does with us. He needs us step by step. He doesn't make known everything to us, but if we're willing to go on as He marks out the steps for us, then He becomes more and more precious to us. He opens up things to us. Many of us can look back on our lives and see He didn't show us everything all at once, but if we're willing and as we go on in his company.
And seeking to give him his rightful place, then he shows us more and more.
00:40:02
Has a little hymn, says Richard Fuller. Deeper, Jesus love is sweeter, sweeter. As the years go by and the mother verse says in the Bible the path of the justice is the shining light. The China's More and more Mr. Darby's translation is going on and brightening until the day be fully come. That is an era. We get to the glory, the brighter the past becomes as we walk in that path in company with the Lord Jesus.
So we lead them on. In the eighth verse it says he removed from then son to a mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West and hey I on the east. And there he builded an altar upon the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. Seems to me that there's progress. First he leaves heroin and comes into the land. He finds the Canaanite there. Then he comes to this.
Special place where the Lord appears to him to give him some encouragement and he builds an altar, but now he comes to this place.
This place, Bethel. I think all of us know that Bethel means the House of God. And it tells us also and where he pitched his tab, he had Bethel on the West and hey, I on the east, hey, I mean the heat. And the children of Israel later on entered the land. They laid that very city.
And made they burned it, and they made a heap of rubbish out of that city. And I like to think of where he pitched his tent and where he built his altar.
I think all of us know that pitching the tent has to do with being pilgrims and strangers. When we were reading in the meetings in Des Moines, we were reading in First Peter. And it says, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. Strangers because we're away from home, pilgrims because we're on our way home. And that's our position here. And this was a position that Abraham took. It's true the land was his, but he was only a Pilgrim and a stranger there.
And we're on our way, and in one sense we're already seen as seated in the heavenlies in Christ. But in this world where pilgrims and strangers too. And so this is where he built his, where he pitched his tent, and there he built his Alder. So here in this world where we're pilgrims and strangers, we have, we have a place where we can gather and gather around the Lord Jesus and worship him. It tells us about this place, Bethel, which means the House of God and.
Hai meaning a heap. I like to think of it in this way.
As we think of the West, we think of where the sunsets we think we're pressing on and we're in life. We're pressing on to the end of life. And So what he left behind, we began our existence in this world, and now he's pressing on to the setting of the sun. What did he leave behind? You know, sometimes when people get old, they they live in the past. They think of all the things they've left behind.
All the good times that they had in the past, they don't see anything bright ahead, you know, Sunsets. Very bright. It's very beautiful, isn't it? You know, with your old sister?
In Canada, when she was put in a home and somebody talked about the sunset of life with all its sorrows, she wrote a little poem that to her, the end of life was just the beginning for her, of something bright and glorious. So, in other words, what she left behind.
Was to be compared with what was ahead. And rather than that's our life here in this world, we began here in this world there was, so to speak, a sunrise. And it's right that we should provide for honest things. God gives us many happy joys in life, the joys of youth, the joys of home and health and many things. But we're pressing on and we're going on. But between the two isn't this nice? We have a tent. We're never to forget that this is not our true home.
We're just pilgrims here. As we sang, we are but strangers here. Heaven is our home. Earth is a desert rear. Heaven is our home. And instead of getting discouraged as we get older, let's think of what's ahead. The glory shines ahead for us, who are believers. And what a wonderful thing it will be when we meet our precious Savior. And as our brother Brown used to say by the clot or the cloud, we're going to meet him soon.
00:45:01
That might be death, or it may be that is coming, but that's what's ahead for us. Well, so this is where he had his tent and his altar. But now perhaps we can say a little time of departure coming in the life of Abram. Because as I said, Abram wasn't perfect. He settled in Heron first, then his faith was, shall we say, stirred up. And he comes in and they he makes real progress.
But.
There comes a famine in the land and he presses on toward the South. And the famine instead of improving, it gets worse. And you know, there are families that come in our lives too. Things often go along well for a time, and everything seems to be bright and the Lord seems to be encouraging us and so on. But then polls come and you're a lot, troubles come in our lives. Maybe health problems may be difficulties in the assembly, maybe financial thing, and there's a family.
We know, of course, this was a famine for food, but there are various kinds of famine that come in our Christian life and it's a very, very serious time.
The journal over First Peter, I'd like to call attention because I think there's something very instructive in first Peter 5.
First Peter 5.
It says.
Those things humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because the your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lens gold the boat seeking whom he may devour.
Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
You know, I believe those verses show us that when troubles come, if we don't take a humble place and cast our care upon the Lord, then the devil comes in and he gets us discouraged. The next verse says, your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. I heard.
Satan compared to the roaring lion in connection with persecution, but I believe that when he's he's brought before us as a roaring lion in the scripture. It's discouraged.
I've seen that persecuted Christians are usually happy, Paul sang when he was in the prison. And I'm sure that many of the Christians who are being persecuted in our very day are happier than some people who are in these lands of prosperity. But they're discouraged, discouraged, and that's where Satan comes in. And I think this was a serious point in Abraham's life. He was discouraged. He had obeyed the call of God. Why did God let this trouble come?
You say, I've tried to please the Lord, and why did he allow this to come? And instead of casting your care upon the Lord, you let yourself get discouraged. And that's where the danger is, that's where the world is liable to creep in. And it was just at this point that that Egypt looked very attractive to it. And he thought, well, I'll go down. And Egypt. And Egypt, as we all know, is a picture to us of the world. The reason it pictures the world to us is that they didn't have to depend on reigns like they do in this country.
And all you're hoping for rain here, and I hope the Lord sends it, if it's his will. But down in Egypt, they used irrigation. And so they felt kind of independent that they watered their crops by irrigation. But that was, that is why I believe it's a picture of the world. It it was a place of progress, but it was also a place where they had a feeling of independence of God. And so Abram said, well, I'll go down there if it doesn't rain, they'll have irrigation there and we'll have crops.
And so he goes down, he leaves his tent, and he's altered. He goes down there. And now he denies his proper relationship to his wife. And that's what happens when we turn to the world. We deny our proper relationship to the Lord Jesus because the Lord Jesus is the bridegroom of the church, and he denied his proper relationship to his brain. And so this was a sad thing for everyone.
It tells us here that it became very prosperous. But what was it all when he didn't have his tent on his altar? And he almost lost his wife too? Oh how many sorrows we often enter into? Because when discouragement comes, instead of seeking the face of the Lord, instead of saying Lord, help me through this discouragement, help me through this time of trial, casting all your care upon him for a careth for you. We try to work out some plan of our own.
00:50:26
We turn to the world and we bring sorrows into our life. Thank God we have a wonderful savior and he restores. And Abraham got restored, but there were losses in his life which were fully regained. And while the Lord restores, we can never, never fully regain what we lose when we have wasted years in our lives. Abram went down here. I think Sarah seems to shine out very brightly.
I think it was wonderful that she didn't get discouraged and say, well that's the way Abram treats me up through, but it seems to me that we see the little traits that God see allows in His word. Isn't it nice to see maybe you have the time to discourage, maybe somebody that you trusted in has been untrue to you too. It's wonderful how the Lord is able to sustain in times like this when we depend upon Him and so.
We see this whole story, a real true picture of life as we endure it ourselves. Well, God came in and in mercy he delivered Abram and he delivered Sarah. Is it wonderful how when we do miss the path, how we can say with the psalmist he restoreth my soul? He delights to bring us back. Does anyone here that's wandered away don't continue wandering? Abram would have lost everything if he had stayed down there in Egypt, but.
Thank God he didn't stay there. He didn't. He didn't allow himself to get so discouraged that he remained there in that wrong position.
But it was not only a loss in his own life, but it was a dishonor too. Because Pharaoh was Pharaoh really rebuked him. And sometimes the world has to say, well, do Christians act that way? Do Christians do things like that? And this was a sad thing. When even the world looks on, they know how Christians should act. I've often said the world sets a very high standard for us as Christian.
Isn't it amazing how they all say, Well, Christians shouldn't act like that. People of the world might, but if you profess the name of Christ, you shouldn't. Well, we shouldn't either. So we bring sorrow on our lives. We often bring dishonor on the Lord, but all the faithful, gracious God.
We have. And so there's another thing I might mention too, and that is perhaps two things. Abraham was the one who gave Let a Taste of Egypt, And if we read the whole story, we'll see that.
That when Lot missed the path later on he had acquired a taste for those things that he had seen in Egypt, and that was where he turned afterwards. None of us liveth to himself, and no man died to himself. Our lives have an effect on others. We seldom go astray alone. We usually influence others. When Peter decided to go fishing, he took six others with him and six other people.
Cut into our own path. Because Peter was a leader type and Janelle we have to be careful. We affect our own lives, we affect others. So we affected lot and became a hindrance to his brother in Christ. And he also got down there that girl at Hagar who was an Egyptian girl, he also got her who after called a lot of sorrow in his house. So we see that while Lord restores by sometimes we have to reap what we saw from him and.
All these things are warnings to us. They're written, as the Scripture says, for our learning. But here, let's turn to the bright side of it. Now the 13th chapter.
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and lot with him into the South. And Abel was very rich, and cattle, and silver, and gold. And he went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Haley, under the place of the older, which he had made there at the 1St. And there Abram called in the name of the Lord.
00:55:02
And if we're going to get back rather than, we have to get back, just like Abram did, he came back.
To the very place that he had left.
And that's the way of restoration. He wants us to come back, and there's really no restoration until we come back to the place that we have left. That is, we've got to know the point of departure. We'd like to take shortcuts sometimes, but there was no shortcut. You had to come all the way back, right back to that place where his tent and his altar had been at the first. Well, this is the way it is when the Lord restores.
Abram has just left Egypt. Instead of I'll go to a different place because I've messed up my life and there's no use for me going back. What a loss of what I've been. He would have really lost.
A further blessing that God had for him in his life. And so let's say if any of us have got away from the Lord and we wandered away from him, don't be satisfied with half measures. Come right back, get right with the Lord and get right with your brethren. We find later on in the life of Jacob that there were two points, so to speak, in his Restoration. First when he wrestled with the Lord at a place called Peniel, and secondly when the Lord said to him.
Arise and go to Bethel. Pineal means the face of God.
And Bethel means the House of God. Yet I believe that wrestling in Jacob's life was he had had 20 years that he was away from the Lord. 20 years. Not a last time, wasn't it? And it says the sun set on him when he left his father's house. But when he wrestled that night and had it out with the Lord the next morning it says the sun rose upon.
And he called the name of the place.
Peniel, he said. I've seen God face to face. Yes, we have to get first back to the Lord and then after this, then the Lord said, Now put away the strange gods out of your eyes and arise and build a battle. And so that's the way the Lord restores. And this is what we see with Abram. He not only left Egypt, but he comes and goes right back, shall I say, retraces all his steps.
And comes to the place where that is 10 and his altar at the first well, how wonderful these lessons that God has for us and His word. Brethren, these things were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hoped. I'm sure all of us here in this room see. Certainly as I speak to you, I can see things that fit for me. Perhaps you see something that fits for you, because God has given us these stories to help us.
And to give us to see that we're compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, others who have walked the path of faith before us and have learned things and justice, like you might say to a friend, Well, listen, I stumble there. Don't you stumble in the same place? Because it won't be so good. And This is why God put these things down. And when somebody says, oh, I want you to see this, it's something wonderful that I saw Then you can share something wonderful. And the Bible gives us warning, but it also gives us wonderful things to share too.
How God comes in and restores and blesses and encourages. Well may His Word be an encouragement and a blessing to us. We only have, I say again, brethren, the rest of our time, But we can live it for the Lord Jesus, for he loved us and gave himself for us.
Maybe we could send 275.
Our God is light, and though we go across a trackless wild, our Jesus footsteps ever show a path for Every child 275.
For God is light and.
There we go.