Address—D. Buchanan
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Have it on my heart to speak a little bit this afternoon, dear brethren.
On affliction, stress, trouble.
It seems like we've had it before us quite a bit here since the very first meeting.
I was touched this week.
By a little little event that I heard about.
A little boy.
Was on the school bus.
He had just said goodbye to his mother.
She had gone all the way out to the school bus.
And gave him a kiss just before he got on the school bus. And this little boy.
Was going off to a new world, an unknown world. He'd never been there before.
And so, as he sat down in his seat.
Big tears started coming down his face.
And there was a senior on that school bus, too. He'd already been going to school many years.
And this senior looked over and saw this little boy.
She went and sat down beside him.
Started to talk to him.
And the little boy looked up and said.
Isn't there any way so I don't have to go to school?
Now that touched my heart.
I can respond to that.
And I think there's many here that respond to that. I don't believe those feelings were wrong.
Even our perfect example, the Lord Jesus prayed very similar words He said if it be possible, let this cup pass from me and up to that point I don't believe there's anything wrong.
Oh, God has created us with a soul. God has put feeling in our hearts. That's one of the reasons I believe he chose mankind, because we do have a soul and a feeling. And so we're talking this afternoon about affliction and stress and the natural reaction to our hearts, I believe.
Is to look how to get out of the problem.
Or.
In and that's what we would like to look at a few examples in the scriptures this afternoon.
Let's turn first of all to Hebrews Chapter 11.
In the 11Th chapter of Hebrews.
Verse 24.
By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Esteeming the reproach of Christ Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.
For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
With the help of the Lord, we'd like to consider a few things about Moses, the meekest man that lived in the earth.
And as we consider the life of Moses, I think we will agree.
That his lot in life indeed was a difficult one.
And here we have God's account of Moses.
It starts out by faith, and so at the very beginning of this subject we must turn our eyes in faith.
To the Lord Jesus.
To our God, why are we living? What do we believe in?
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Well, if it's not based on what we have here by faith Moses, we're not on the right Rd. But I trust this afternoon here, nearly all of us have that desire to live by faith. And what is that course?
Well, the very next verse says, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.
This is what Moses chose. This is what God.
Had marked out. And so it is to this day the life of a Christian.
Is not a promised life of no problems.
No troubles.
Yeah, rather, I believe it's an invitation to have God deal with us as his children.
For if we're not children, we're not partakers of God's hand upon us. It's better to be in the God's family and a partaker of these things than to be lost and in our sins.
Abandoned to go our own way. Is there anyone here that really wants that path? Do you really want your own path?
Do you really think you can navigate through this world on your own? That's the choice.
All by the grace of God, our hearts would respond and say, Yes, Lord, be it what it may, let me walk thy way, O Lord.
And so Moses had already lived 40 years in Egypt. He had learned what that world was like.
He chose to go along with the people of God.
It's interesting. If we're going to go along with our Lord, we must also go along with his people, because he has chosen his people. He hasn't chosen us individually just to live individually. Everybody in their own cubbyhole apart, No.
That doesn't wouldn't tell out what God once told in this world.
It says, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, in that ye have love.
One for another.
And so our hearts do have that love.
And we do want to go along with one another now. I know there are many kinds of afflictions and problems and trials.
This afternoon I want to try to concentrate a little bit more, not so much on the side of discipline, but more going along with the people of God and dear ones. Let us not deceive our hearts in thinking that it's only the world that gives us hard times. Perhaps one of the hardest kinds of afflictions to take is the affliction that would come.
From the Lord's people.
We must humble our hearts too, when we think that we also.
Are the like people? None of us are perfect. Maybe we don't do it intentionally, but we do all often offend the word of God says. Now let's turn over to the book of Acts to another portion of Moses Chapter 7. I'd like to notice a couple points more there.
Before we go back to the Old Testament.
The 7th chapter of the book of Acts.
Verse 23.
Says and when he Moses was full 40 years old.
It came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian.
For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them.
But they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, why ye are brethren? Why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?
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Then Moses fled at this saying.
It would seem that it was more or less.
At this time.
When what we read in Hebrews took place.
By faith, Moses forsook the land of Egypt that took place right here. And what we're reading about, and it's interesting, these circumstances here, first of all, I'd like to call attention, it says.
It came into his heart to visit his brethren.
Has it come into your heart to do something for the Lord?
Oh, I trust so.
Certainly this was wonderful to see.
And I suppose after Moses had lived his life, he could look back to that day when it came into his heart a desire to visit his brethren, a desire to help them. And it all started right here. Oh, would to God that it be so in our own hearts, a love for our brethren, a concern for our brethren.
We are here together as brethren, and when Moses spoke to those two as they were striving.
He called that to us, to their attention. He said, yeah, brethren, there was something that stirred in his own soul of love and compassion and desire to help.
And he wanted to instill that in their hearts, too.
And we're all here together, dear ones. We are, brethren. And not just those of us in this room, either.
They're not all here, many of them, and most of them are scattered in other places too. They are brethren, and I believe it's of God that we have a love and a desire to help.
And to shepherd and to guide in whatever way the Lord has given us an ability. And so it comes into his heart. And so he sets out on this course. He has this desire.
And he goes out and he sees two of them. He sees an Egyptian.
And he knew all about the tyranny of that land and how impoverished the people of Israel were.
He knew all about the injustice is it wasn't right, and that's the kind of world we're living in.
And sometimes our hearts get burdened down with these kind of things and we want to set things right and maybe we try and it looks like we fail. Oh dear ones, the desire of Moses heart I believe was right, but he had to learn a few things and that's what all the subject is about. God is not only teaching everybody else, He's teaching you and me.
And how do we learn?
We learn by these experiences, affliction, stress, problems, and when we learn it that way, sometimes we don't forget it quite so quick. Sometimes it means more to us.
And our Savior, the Lord Jesus came. He walked that path.
And we, as we had in Hebrews, he learned too in that capacity as a man, and we want to learn too. And so Moses was a learner here. And I'd like to call attention to a couple of things that seems to me that these verses bring out that he learned.
It says that he defended in verse.
UH-24 and avenged him was that was as pressed and smote the Egyptian, for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not.
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If we go back to Exodus, where this account is recorded.
It says that Moses, when he saw this injustice going on, says he looked this way and he looked that way when he didn't see anybody. He smoked the Egyptian.
But what he forgot was there was another person there that did see it besides God.
And then it says he hid that person, that corpse in the sand.
He supposed that the person that he defended would understand.
And that person didn't understand dear brother and sister.
And Moses learned that the hard way. The very person that he wanted to help didn't understand what he was trying to do.
Oh, I believe God understood, and God was a patient teacher.
And sometimes our brethren aren't as patient as our God is, but God allows that too.
And God allowed those circumstances to come in the life of Moses.
And he was learning quick.
He had to flee, but before he fled, another circumstance.
Happened this time. It wasn't between an Egyptian and a Israelite. It was between two brethren.
And he desires to set them right.
You know, sometimes God may put in our soul some burden.
And we set out desire to fulfill what God.
Has put on our heart.
If we're going to carry on, brethren.
We're going to be faithful.
We must count upon the giver of that.
And not the receiver of that benefit.
We must get our source of power from our God in heaven.
We cannot get it from the people that we serve. This was a very important lesson to Moses and I believe because he learned it here early, you might say, in his path, although it wasn't so real early as we might think, because he's 40 years old already.
Pretty responsible person.
But he must learn that God was the one to sustain.
That God gave him that Commission to deliver.
Israel and he would have to depend on God alone.
To withhold and sustain him all those.
40 years that they would be there in the wilderness, well.
Besides that.
He says in verse 26, The next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Surge your brethren, why do ye wrong one another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who may be a ruler and a judge over us?
Seems to me another point we can learn here is.
Many times the people of God don't want our help.
They don't want our help.
And if we would look in our own hearts, I believe we could answer to that and say, yes, there's something in US. How often we'll hear it from just a little tyke. I can do it by myself.
Oh, have we all shed those clothes?
That pride of our own hearts that would like to go on for God by ourselves.
We must understand the makeup.
Not only of our brethren, it's in our own heart too. And I believe Moses must have learned something about that here.
Now let's go back to the Book of Numbers, Chapter 11.
And read a little bit of The Wilderness Experience.
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It came into Moses heart.
To serve his people.
If we go back now to the 11Th chapter, now we don't have time to read the whole chapter.
In the first part we have the complaining of the children of Israel. They're out in the wilderness. They've been out there a little while now.
And their hearts have been tested. Things are starting to come out.
Of their hearts they're starting to manifest and this is what the wilderness experience does to us brethren. It shows out what our hearts really are and God allows that and it's needful why because he wants to teach us and we had in the beginning of this conference somewhat about how God wants to form Christ in US and.
Sometimes wilderness experience is needful for that. Stress, trouble, affliction. We need it, brethren. It's good for us when it comes from a loving God who only measures it out according to our need. And so that once again takes us right back to those first verses. By faith, dear brethren, never give up.
Faith.
In God, God is for us. How many times when we're in affliction we can't see God for all the problems?
Oh, but he's there. Never give up that. Never give up that.
Discouragement is one of the greatest tools of the enemy, just to get our eyes off the God who was leading this people.
And on anything else, whether it's self or our brethren or circumstances or anything else, it doesn't really make that much difference. If our, if our eyes of faith are not on God, brethren, something has gone to trip us up, we're going to have a problem. Well.
Here the children of Israel are complaining, and then as they speak about the manna, the food, it speaks of it even as angels food.
But no doubt they've been eating it for several days or maybe weeks and months here and they're retired of it.
Oh, we relate to that. We get tired if we have the same thing three days in a row.
That's that's what our that's what our natural man is like.
Here they were, they were complaining, they were taking the manna, and they were doing all different things to it, trying to make it more edible, trying to make it taste better. What was wrong? Oh, their heart, their eyes were on the wrong thing. They were looking at the food instead of the giver of it. And so here Moses is in this circumstance, All the people here, millions of them, perhaps they were all looking to Moses.
Give us meat. We need something different to eat.
Now let's read from verse 11.
And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?
And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?
Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them that thou should have say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nurse beareth nursing, Father, beareth the sucking child unto the land which thou swearest unto their fathers. Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? For they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
I am not able.
To bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee.
Out of hand.
If I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness.
Now here we have Moses, as we might say today, between a rock and a hard place.
The people of God were clamoring to him for food.
For meat.
And I believe Moses perhaps was spiritual enough to discern that this wasn't the answer to the problem.
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He saw the fallacy to a certain extent, no doubt.
In their requests. And what could he do?
Here he was, as it were, a mediator between all this people and God. And could he pray to God that God would give him all that they're asking for? Would that be a right prayer? What should he do? He's between a rock and a hard place. Well, dear brethren, many times in life, yes, maybe we get in circumstances similar to this. We don't know what the answer to the the problem is.
Well, I don't want to pass any judgment on Moses as to whether he did the right thing or not. Here I will say this, that he did go to the Lord. That was right. And who else can we go to, brethren? And these kind of circumstances? He was right in that we know assuredly.
And so he does go to the Lord. He doesn't even say that he asked the Lord to give them bread. I don't know that he could with a good conscience ask for that or not. And as it says in Romans, many times we don't know what to pray for as we ought. But there is one that does know, brethren, and that should encourage us well.
The Lord answers. The Lord comes in in this situation.
In verse 16 it says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand.
There with thee.
And so God comes in, and he calls, and he appoints, for he has Moses.
Divide up this burden with seventy others. They're chosen. They're to come up and appear before the Lord, and the Lord is going to come in and he's going to supply what is needful.
Well, it says.
Um.
In verse, notice in verse 23. Now we're going to have to pass rather quickly over this because I want to touch on a few other points. It says in verse 23, and the Lord said unto Moses, is the Lord's hand waxed short?
Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.
And in verse 24 And Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the 70 men of the elders, the people, and set them around roundabouts, Tabernacle. And the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the 70 elders.
Here we notice that God comes down to be with his people. How an encouraging this is.
We'll notice later on that the Spirit, the cloud, the presence of the Lord departs. But in this situation, God knows how to deal with His people. And really brethren, all we are is just helps in our desires to help. There is someone in control. Never forget it. He knows what to do and to me, it's so touching to see.
How the Lord comes down, especially at this time, I don't discern that everything that they did here was really proper in their faith in the right way. But God knew what to do, and He does come down and He does take of His Spirit and put it upon those seventy men of Israel.
Now let's notice.
There the 70.
God had promised to take care of them.
Now pass down a little bit farther and we'll verse 26.
Of those seventy, it says, but there remain 2.
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Of the men in the camp, the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other me Dad. And the Spirit rested upon them, and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the Tabernacle. And they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Oh, Dad and me Dad, do prophecy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men.
Answered and said, My Lord Moses forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Envious, Thou for my sake would God, that all the Lord's people were prophets.
And that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them.
All right, in John three it says God giveth not his Spirit by measure.
When God does something, he does it right, He does it fully. The limiting factor, I believe, is always on our part. And we see that here, the power of God there that was present with this people.
Did God reserve of His spirit because of their unbelief?
Now this is something that we can learn by the affliction and brethren, when things get out of order in our homes or in our assemblies or in the world about us.
There's something for us to learn by it, brethren.
Moses learn by this experience and these two men, elders, they apparently were aged men, much experience, and they refused to go down to the Tabernacle where Moses had told them they should appear. That wasn't in order. It was out of order, no doubt.
We don't know why God didn't tell us why.
Many reasons it could be. We don't need to know why, but something was out of order.
And so immediately, Joshua and perhaps some of the others.
Very quick to call attention to this. Something's out of order.
You know, it's like a little bit like the case of Isaiah, Was it or Aza that when they were carrying the ark of God up and when the ox stumbled, the man put forth his hand there to steady the ark? He had a respect for what was there. That was the ark of God, God's dwelling place, and it was in danger. And your brethren, when troubles start coming in.
Or when we see things out of order, it's very easy to put forth a hand quick.
To get things straightened out right, Dear brethren, God is the only one that can set things right and God has a way to do it. And so Isaiah was it. I forgot anyway, he was smitten there at that case. But here, perhaps it's a little different, but their zealousness for the Lord and we're thank, we're thankful to God for every bit of zealousness.
I believe that's no doubt Moses could have looked back and said, well, that's a little bit what I was like way back there 40 years ago when I smoked that Egyptian. I thought I was doing right.
He had learned something here, and so he had also learned something about himself.
We it says in the New Testament we are of the concession and have no confidence.
In the flesh.
O Moses.
Had already explained to the Lord how he wasn't able to bear this people of God all alone and it was God's compassion that would call up thee 70 men to help to partake together.
With this great people of God here. And so then when God does pour out his Spirit upon them.
We see it wasn't by measure, and even those who may perhaps didn't deserve to receive it or weren't faithful in the way it was to be administered, they received of the Spirit of God. Power was upon them and they prophesied. Let us not think that it's because of our faithfulness that God uses us. Brethren, No, God uses us in spite of ourselves. And Moses, no doubt had learned a little bit about this.
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And so there wasn't any envy, or I shouldn't say he didn't allow this envy that could have been in his heart to expose itself and to and to, as it were, set these two, two brethren aside because they hadn't responded in the right way when God was working.
And rather he says, would to God that everyone prophesied. Oh, brethren.
It's not because of us that God blesses, it's because of Christ.
It's because of God himself. And if we don't learn that, how can God ever use us?
We need to learn it, and, as we had in that yesterday, I believe in the address.
The point of reference is Christ. It's Christ, brethren, it's not us.
It's not our service, it's not our part of the service that's important. It's Christ. And if God's work gets done faithfully done, rightly done, doesn't matter who does it, providing it comes from God. Moses shows this out, he betrays this, he portrays this here, and he actually perhaps even rebukes Joshua on this occasion. Joshua was a younger man, no doubt.
Perhaps not so much younger, but.
At least there was something for Joshua to learn. And so.
Might we repeat, brethren, when troubles come in, when stress, when affliction comes, it isn't just the other person that God has in mind to teach.
We all are learners, and I believe even Moses himself perhaps here was a learner.
Now we'd like to pass on down to the next chapter, chapter 12 of Numbers.
We have another case here, just briefly to go over.
Numbers 12.
I'd like to read the first verse.
It says in Miriam and Aaron spoke.
Spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
Well, I don't want to read the whole chapter. I think most here are familiar with it. But here we have another stressful time, another test in the life of Moses. You might say it's even closer to home, his own brother and sister.
Hath the Lord spoken only by Moses?
And they complain. They complain because of Moses wife.
Had they forgotten? Why?
Moses had an Ethiopian wife. Had they forgotten that it was because Moses had to flee and spend 40 years there?
Well, their eyes were off the Lord.
Their eyes were on the Lord's servant and brethren.
When we get our eyes on our brethren, we're going to find faults.
They're going to be there.
It wasn't. Moses wasn't an exemption from that. He had to deal with this. It's a very difficult thing to deal with.
But Moses didn't deal with it. He left it in the hands of the Lord.
And God dealt with this and even our Lord Jesus Christ when he was here.
And when there were personal insults against him, he did not answer to them. He committed his cause to him. That judges. He left it with God. And so here it was with Moses too. Perhaps an example.
A real test.
A hard test to be under.
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Because God did call Moses, God had sent Moses, and God was using Moses.
And what they were saying wasn't true.
And I believe if we compare this chapter with the previous chapter.
There's enough here to give us to discern that there was nothing here, or there wasn't something in Moses here that took upon himself this service. God gave it to him.
Now, brethren, if God gives us something to do, we don't need to defend.
Our position, God will defend us. We need to go on in whatever the Lord has given us. And many times it's very difficult, I believe, to sort out.
What comes from the Lord and what comes from other sources?
That we cannot accept.
Well, Moses.
He looks to the Lord about it, and the Lord it says in the 10th verse, it says, well, the ninth verse. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, and he departed, and the cloud departed off the Tabernacle. Now this is the opposite is what in the last chapter. This time the presence of the Lord leaves.
Sometimes in our families and assemblies, it seems like similar things to this happen. The Lord, as it were, withdraws His presence. What for? So we can learn what our flesh is like.
And it's a hard time to have to go through that. It's a bitter, it's a bitter experience. Why does God do it? To teach us? And he isn't. He didn't withdraw permanently. It was, as it were, a temporary thing. And so the Lord withdrew his presence here.
His outward evidence of his presence, anyway. And what happens? Miriam turns leprous.
Oh, the source of the evil began manifesting itself.
Where it came from, it doesn't even. It's interesting here that the leprosy wasn't upon both.
Aaron and Miriam. It would seem to indicate that the source of this was more Miriam than Aaron. And so God puts his hand upon her and she becomes leprous. Well.
Brethren, when we see the Lord's hand upon our brethren one another.
It is lovely to consider what Moses did here. He prayed for her.
When the right time came, he prayed for her and she was healed. Little bit like the case of Job that was referred to the Lord didn't turn the captivity of Joe until he prayed for his three friends that had been so hard on him.
Brethren, when our brethren deal with this difficulty, or when we're in hard circumstances, sometimes it's difficult to look at our brethren and love them. The Scripture says add to fraternal love, add love to brotherly love.
Add love. Well, it seems to me that that sometimes we got to get higher, we got we have to go to a higher source than just our own fraternal.
Love as family, as members of the family, same family, we have to go to the source of love itself.
When we're going to deal with our brethren, when we're going to seek their good and their blessing. Moses, the natural reaction in my own heart would have easily been, let her be where she is, let her really learn the lesson. But no, he loved his sister.
We could we could go back and imagine a lot of things here that might have gone on between those.
You can imagine Miriam saying, well look, I rocked his cradle when he was a little boy. I changed his diaper. I did all of this for him. Hasn't God used me to? She had also been one who led the people Israel in singing.
That now Moses rises above all this love. God is love. And brethren, if we find our brethren hard to love, look to God the source looked at the Lord Jesus that died on Calvary's cross for them, and we can love them no matter how unlovable they are. And Moses could pray for his sister here, and she was healed and he did.
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Affliction and a way to respond to it. Well, our time is about up. There is another case in the 16th chapter about that's more serious even yet we don't have time to go over it. I'll just mention it briefly. You have the case of Cora Nathan.
In the Byram, who also rose up against Moses. And it was, it was a very serious case.
Much more than this chapter. And God dealt in that case too. And judgment did come down, and many souls were swept, taken away because of their unbelief. And May God preserve us from ever having to to go that far down the road of the wilderness experience. But if it is necessary, God will come in amongst His people.
In this way and deal with the sons of Korah and Dathan and Byram. And certainly it takes discernment when we're in the between the rock and the hard place. And we don't know what the answer is, whether it's a case of the 16th chapter, the 12Th chapter of the 11Th chapter, but we do have a source to go to, brethren. Our Lord, He's the one that was in that cloud and that led them.
And when the cloud lifted, they went, and when the cloud came down, they abode still.
What else can we say, brethren? Look to the Lord in our afflictions.
And he'll guide us.
I like to sing.
Hymn #1.
91.
Still in the land of drought and earth, or longing spirits cry to thee, the Lord of heaven and earth are thirst to satisfy.
191.