Detroit Conference: 1963
Table of Contents
Genesis 14:24; Genesis 15
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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For thine how gentle, yet how strong.
Thy truth and grace, their strength, combine to draw our souls along.
197.
Oh God, what God?
15.
Pardon me. Chapter 14, Genesis chapter 14 and verse 17.
And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Cater Leomer and of the kings that were with him at the Valley of Shiva, which is the Kings Dale.
And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. The king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich, save only that which the young men have eaten. And the portion of the man which went with me, Einar, Ashkel and Mamre, let them take their portion.
After these things.
The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? And the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus.
And Abram said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in mine house, my house is mine heir.
And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir.
But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall I seed be.
And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Well, in this little portion that we have before us this afternoon, dear young people, I believe we have some very precious thoughts, a great victory that has been won, a challenge that comes to us and then to the problems that arise in our lives and how God comforts us and sustains us in them.
And in the course of the of each believer, these things take place.
We realize what the Lord has done for us. We are confronted with these challenges as to whether we are going to put the Lord Jesus first in our lives.
And then sometimes there are problems confront us, problems as to why the Lord doesn't come in and deliver us in some situation, and how the Lord comforts us and sustains us and turns our eyes to himself as we had this morning.
For the Lord Jesus is the only one who can really feel and satisfy the heart.
Nothing that this world has to offer can really satisfy. God may in His goodness undertake for us in material ways and bless us, but He would have us to realize He would have us to enjoy more the fact that He himself alone can be the satisfying portion of the heart, David said in the Psalms. I have seen an end of all perfection.
That thy commandment is exceeding broad, and we'll see.
The end of everything that we have hoped for and everything that we have longed for as far as this world is concerned. But oh, how blessed it is that there is one who never fails, One who can be everything to you. He can be everything to the young as well as to the old. And it's a blessed thing, dear young people, when we learn this while we are young.
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It's true that many learn it later on in life through the trials and sorrows.
But it's a blessed thing when we learn it while we're still young and seek to go on that path that's pleasing to the Lord Jesus.
Well, in the portion that we have before us, and I didn't read the beginning of this 14th chapter.
But if you glanced over it, you'll see that there was a great conflict and took place there.
And God granted a great victory. We know how that Lot had gone down to Sodom, and he had sought his, He had sought a home there, and then there had been a battle, and he himself and all that he possessed had been carried away. You know, it tells us that God speaketh once, yeah, twice. Yet man perceiveth it not. And this ought to have been a voice to Lot.
God had allowed this circumstance to come so that he lost.
Everything there and was himself and his family carried away captive, and yet he went back and dwelt there again. And you know God speaks to us too. Perhaps He has spoken to you, some of you, dear young people. Perhaps some disappointment or sorrow has come. And yet the Lord has come in in a wonderful way and delivered you and undertaken for you. And can it be that you have gone back again to the things of the world, to the things that don't satisfy?
That's what happened in the case of poor Lot. And yet we see too beautiful picture with Abraham of love for his erring brother. And this is what we need, brethren, love for those who have perhaps missed the path. It's lovely to see that when Lot was carried away, that Abram at the very risk of his life and of all.
That he had, he went down to deliver lot. Oh, do we seek the restoration of those.
Those who have perhaps got away, is it on our hearts to seek their blessing and their good? Even if perhaps you say, well, it was their own fault, wasn't it? Wasn't it Lot's fault? Couldn't Abraham have said, well, I gave him a choice? He could have chosen to dwell in a different place than Sodom. He made his own choice. Now he's going to have to reap it in sorrow. Oh no, that isn't the way divine love talks. And we see Abraham going down there to deliver.
His brother. And May God grant that we will have increasing love for one another, as it says in the 12TH chapter of Hebrews, when it speaks of God's hand and discipline upon His people. It said, Lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Do we see someone with his hands hanging down? That's the first thing in getting.
Away you get discouraged, in your hands hang down. And perhaps your heart may say, what's the use? And isn't it lovely to hear how the encouragement there lift up the hands that hang down. Oh, there's every reason to be encouraged when we think of what the Lord has done, when we think of his grace, when we think of his patience with us. And so lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. The one that's just ready to fall hasn't fallen yet.
Or how often we wait until the person has fallen before we try to help them along, and then it's too late. Perhaps, but it says, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. Perhaps there's someone who is lame, spiritually lame.
Oh, may we know how to be a help. Abraham was here. Abraham went after.
Lot and brought him back.
And then another thought too, that I believe, and I was thinking of primarily, is the great victory that God granted here. And one would think of it as a figure of the great victory that has been won for us. For it's only through what the Lord Jesus did upon the cross that there can be deliverance for us. For we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived. We were once going on in the way of this world.
We ourselves were once in our sins on our way to a lost eternity, and yet we know how God and His goodness.
Delivered us from the power of Satan and set us free.
Is there one here? Some young person, and you're still unsaved. Your heart is inside him because you haven't even got Christ.
You haven't found him. There was a difference between Lot and Sodom and the people of Sodom themselves, The people of Sodom themselves.
Had no love for the Lord. They were still going on in their sins. But in Lot's case it was different. He was an earning believer and he shouldn't have been there.
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Although I will speak of it here in connection with a great victory that was won. And oh, don't we love to look back to Calvary's cross and see there a mighty victory that has been won. As we often sing, His be the victor's name, who fought the fight alone. Triumphant Saints no honor claim his conquest was their own. It's only through what Christ has done that there has been deliverance from our sins.
And from the power of sin, and we have been set free in Christ. And so here Abraham returns now. And when he returns, there are two people that meet him.
First of all, the king of Sodom went out to meet him, and then Melchizedek, king of Salem, he came to meet him. And isn't it true that when we first know, we first find the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then we find the very same thing happens too with us? The world comes along with some attraction, some lure, something that would take our hearts away. And it may be a very small thing, as we shall see.
That might be used of the enemy, it might be something even as small as a thread, anything that the enemy can use to still keep us from wholeheartedly going on for the Lord Jesus. But it's lovely to see that although these two came out, first the king of Sodom, then there was another that came out, Melchizedek.
And we know, as we read in Hebrews, that this Melchizedek is a picture to us.
Of the Lord Jesus Himself. For it says of him, Thou art a priest forever.
After the order of Melchizedek, and that Melchizedek was the dispenser of blessing to Abram and all. Isn't it lovely to know, dear young people, that the one that died for us on Calvary's cross, he's living for us up there, and he's the dispenser of all blessing to our souls, and that's forever. Thou art a priest forever. After the order of Melchizedek, having for once and for all accomplished the work of redemption, having once and for all settled.
The question of our sins that we can look up and see that blessed precious Savior at God's right hand, and as he's brought before us in Hebrews, ever living to make intercession for us, ever living there to maintain our souls in the enjoyment of the place that we have been brought into. And isn't it precious for us to look up and see that one? And when Satan comes with some temptation, it may be a very real 1.
Something that's very hard to refuse to look up and know that there's one there.
Who is able to supply the grace and the strength to overcome that temptation and to be faithful and loyal to the Lord Jesus? Oh yes, he is able. Well, Melchizedek came out and this is beautiful here. It says he brought forth bread and wine, bread and wine. I believe we have a precious little picture brought before us here.
How the remembrance of the Lord Jesus in his death.
And he comes with these two things in his hand, the bread and the wine, and he comes and meets Abram returning from this victory. And as it were to 1's own soul, it was the remembrance. It was the remembrance of the fact, something that he should never forget, that it wasn't by his own strength, by anything that he had done, that this victory had been won. It was by.
God himself granting him the victory and all. How much?
We need the remembrance of the Lord Jesus. How much we need it all one feels for one's own soul. How much we need to be reminded of what the Lord Jesus did for us. We know there are some just do it once every three months, some others do it once a month and some don't do it at all. Some never remember the Lord Jesus in his death. But as we had this morning about the importance of the first day of the week and it was read to us in the.
Of Acts on the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread.
And isn't it beautiful to see this Melchizedek coming out with these, the bread and the wine, to meet Abram?
And old dear young person, if you belong to the Lord Jesus, can't you see Him, as it were, coming to you?
Where the remembrance of his victory and what a privilege we have, it says.
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As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he comes. Could you think of Abraham at this season, at this moment, refusing to receive the kindness that was bestowed?
Refusing this when it was brought right to Him and presented to him and all dear young people, the Lord Jesus with all his male piercing hands is the one who broke the bread and administered the wine to his own. And now he's gone up on high, and with those blessed hands that have been pierced for us up there in glory, He has asked us to do this.
Until he comes.
What a privilege. Well, Abraham accepted this and I remember some years ago a young person.
And.
Feeling her own, feeling her own weakness, she said. She said, Well, I hesitated quite a while about taking my place at the Lord's table because I felt so unworthy in myself. But she said, I heard a brother make a remark that he thought that there was something that helped to preserve us when we were remembering the Lord, there was the remembrance of His.
Sufferings and his death from week to week. That was a help to preserve.
Of us. And she said that was an encouragement to me and I asked for my place because I knew how weak I was. I was thinking that was a reason for me not to remember him. But when he said that was the reason why I needed this precious privilege, because it drew back the heart's affections to Calvary. And in that way it did remind us of what the Lord Jesus had done. All we do need it. We do need this blessed privilege. And what a privilege.
It's only hours until he comes. Just a short time ago, down in the Maritimes, I was asked to take the funeral of a dear man down there who had passed away. A believer in the Lord Jesus, I knew him as such. I had talked to him many times about the things of God. But he lived to be over 70 years old, and when I took his funeral, I thought this.
How sad this man never remembered the Lord Jesus in his death.
Never in his whole lifetime did he remember the Lord Jesus in his death. For him, I believe that he had trusted in him as his Savior, but he missed that wonderful opportunity.
Well, it tells us here.
In the 19th verse. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most high God.
Possessor of heaven and earth.
How that is, Melchizedek saw. Melchizedek saw that king of Sodom there, and he knew what the king of Sodom came to offer to Abram, no doubt. And so it says, he was blessed of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. Does the world look bright? Does it seem to offer something worthwhile? I know that when we're young, it does look very bright. What it offers looks very, very attractive and.
Often hard to say no to the things that are offered to us, but when we think of the fact that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, when we think that in the eighth of Romans, it says that we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
All think of all that the world has to offer, but what is that in comparison with the fact?
That you and I, dear young people who know the Lord is our Savior are identified with the one who is the possessor of heaven and earth and he has made us his joint heirs. Romans 8 says heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Wouldn't you think it very strange if I was worrying about a little plot of land on one of these streets here if.
If within a.
Few days I was to be the joint heir of the whole street and everything that was on it. You'd say, well, why worry about that little thing? It's only a few days till you're going to have the enjoyment of it all. And dear young people, that's what's ahead of us.
We're joined heirs with Christ, and when we possess it ply there won't be any sorrows.
Or any tears or any disappointments or any sickness. Tomorrow there won't be anything in the flesh within us to hinder the enjoyment of it either. And that's all. That's what's ahead of us. Well, the possessor of heaven and earth came out to Abram.
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And he blessed him and all how richly blessed you and I have been. Oh, if we could only enjoy more of those blessings that we have in Christ. They're all ours. We may not be enjoying them. We may have just picked up, as it were, the first jewel out of the jewel box. And we say it's wonderful to be saved and to know that my sins are forgiven. But all there's infinitely more than that. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings.
In heavenly places in Christ.
Then it tells us here.
And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. That is when Abram realized all this, when all this laid hold of his soul without even being asked, what was the result? Why it says He gave? He gave. Well, when you and I think what the Lord Jesus has done for us, it's not hard for us to give.
Because when we know that he has done so much for us.
Why, surely it's our joy, And how much should we give? Well, it tells us a here that Abraham gave tithes of all. But in Romans 12 and verse one, it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. We know that when David had won a great victory.
Jonathan came out and Jonathan.
Stripped himself of all of he possessed and he laid it down, gave it to David. But he didn't. He didn't identify himself with David. He didn't give himself in other words.
He didn't follow David in his path of rejection, although he gave so freely.
And you may be giving very freely, and God would have us to realize the Lord has a claim over us.
But all, how lovely the little hymn love the transcends our highest powers, demands our soul, our life, our all. Dear young person, I ask myself, and I ask you, have we ever got down in the Lord's presence and said, Oh Lord, everything that I possess, every desire of my heart myself, all belong to Thee, all. Have we taken that place?
You'll never be a really happy.
Christian, until you acknowledge the Lord's claims over you completely and totally. Oh, you say, I'm almost afraid to do that. He might ask me to do something I'm not prepared to do. Can you doubt the law of one who died for us, and one who is going to share His throne with us and will not be satisfied until every tear has been wiped away and everyone of His own have been supremely blessed with Him?
Oh dear young people, surely.
We can't doubt love like that. Don't be afraid. It'll be the beginning, I say, of real happiness in your Christian life when you take that place, when you present yourself to Him and seek His grace. Oh, I don't mean that there may not be failure. We often fail, Each one of us fail in the path. But is it our desire? Is it our are? Are we willing to acknowledge His claims?
While Abraham without being asked at all, he gave tithe.
But I have sometimes said about Jonathan, you know, it has struck me in reading about Jonathan that David never asked Jonathan to go with him to The Cave of Adullam. Why didn't he ask him? Well, I have thought like this, that if love in the heart of Jonathan didn't make him want to go with David, that David wouldn't ask him. He wanted him to be constrained by his love. And in Judaism.
They were required to give.
110th That was the tithe that they were required, but in Christianity there is no such thing as a tithe.
And because if you and I are constrained by His love, why? We just want to acknowledge His claims over everything. And He is worthy. He's done all that love could do to win our hearts and will continue to do so for all eternity.
Well now the king of Sodom speaks, And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
I'd like to turn to 1St Kings 20 and read a passage there. First Kings.
20.
The first verse.
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And Ben Haddad, the king of Syria, gathered all his hosts together.
And there were 30 and 2 Kings with him, and horses and Chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria and warred against it.
And he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben Haddad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine, thy wives also, and thy children even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My Lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that I have.
What a sad picture we have here.
Here's the enemy comes up and he said the very best of your children and all that you possess are mine. And we find Ahab says yes, according to your saying.
There I am thine, he said, and he acknowledged the claim of the king of Syria over all that he had over his children.
And here the King of Sodom comes out. He doesn't go quite that far. He said, give me the persons, and you take the goods. All dear young people, as one looks into your faces this afternoon, I can hear the very same thing as though the enemy were saying, Give me the persons, give me the persons. He wants you, dear young people, He wants, he wants all that you have to be for himself.
And so the king of Sodom said, just let me have the persons. I don't care how rich you get, Abram. You can have all that you want, and the devil doesn't care how rich you get in this world. Why, you may be very pleased if you should make a success of life in that way, maybe very pleased, because very often those things rob the heart of Christ. It's you that he wants, dear young people. It's your ability, it's your time. It's everything you have that he wants. Give me the persons, he said.
And what is your reply going to be?
It's sad to think, Ahab said. According to thy saying, I am thine he acknowledged the claim of the king of Syria over him and all his children and all that he possessed, all dear young people. Isn't this a challenge that comes to us?
Who do we say we belong to?
When it really comes down to the point of fact and circumstances are before us, the Lord on one hand of the world and the other, what is our answer is our answer to the world. Yes, My time belongs to you. My ability belongs to you. What I have belongs to you. Or do we turn to the Lord, as we have been saying and say.
Lord Jesus, I am thine He are not your own. He are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
Well, we know what a sad thing it was in Ahab's life and what a sad end came to poor Ahab and all. How important dear young people want to see young people sit in the very seats in the conferences and they have listened to the word. They have heard similar thoughts to what 1 is expressing this afternoon. The challenge has come in their life and where are they today?
They have given themselves over to following the world and all. I appeal to you, dear young people, the Lord Jesus is coming soon. He wants you. He wants you because He loves you. The world wants you for what it can get from you. And they will take all that you have, every bit of your talent and ability and everything, and take every moment of your time. But all the Lord Jesus wants you for what He can give to you. He'll fill your heart not only in this world.
But for all eternity if you receive him and follow him.
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have left up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet. Here Abram said, I have a reason for refusing. He didn't just say no, no sometimes.
When the world comes to you and you just say no, they keep on bothering you. They keep asking you.
But you know, it's a great thing to give a reason of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear. It's lovely when we see.
An answer given not only no, but telling. Why? Because the king of Sodom didn't bother Abram anymore after this. Because Abram had given a reason for his decision. And when they come to you at school and I ask you to do this or do that when they come to you in the office.
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When they come to you, perhaps neighbors in the street and ask you to do this or that, it's nice not only to refuse, but to do what Abraham did here. He said, I've lift up mine eyes unto the most high God, unto the Lord, the most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth. In other words, he said, I have a reason for refusing.
I the longed Christ.
I know a dear lady who was saved a few years ago. She used to go on with the world, used to go out and play bridge and go on in the world's ways.
When she found the Lord as her savior.
Why? They asked her if she'd come and she said, she said, well, I could say no, that I don't, that I won't go, but I feel I should tell you the reason why I don't go. And she said the reason is that I have a new life and the new life that I have enjoys new things. Yes. They never asked you to go again.
Because she brightly confessed the Lord Jesus to her friends as her Savior.
They didn't phone up next week and say will you come as she'd made an excuse and say no I'm sorry I can't come this week, I'm sorry I have something on that night I can't come. Probably would continue to bother you.
Oh dear young people, have you looked up your hand to the Lord? And do you realize that that one who has blessed you is the possessor of heaven and earth?
That you're not giving up something that at all compares with what you have received in return. When Paul spoke of what he gave up, he said, I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. It might have been very hard for Paul to have parted.
With some of those things, but when he had something better.
There was no difficulty because he counted those things, but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus is Lord. And so I'm not here to try and impose certain rules and tell you what you should go to and what you shouldn't go to. But I am here to say how much do you and I realize what the Lord Jesus has done for us. And if we realize that, I'm sure it'll be easy for us to do like Abram did and.
Take a faithful stand and said, I've lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.
And then he goes on and tells the reason for his refusal and how much he was refusing. Did he say, well, I can go along with you a little way?
I can't go too far.
There's some things that Christians can do, but not everything. No, he refused.
From a thread. A thread? What a little thing, Little thing that might hang on your clothes and you pull it off and drop it down on the floor. That's nothing you say. But all dear young people, did you ever stop to think what a job the threads have done in your clothes? All the clothes that I have on, all the buttons of my suit here and everything, What are they held by? Threads. They're all held together with threads. Such a little unimportant thing as a thread.
Maybe the thing that's linking your eye up with the world, such a tiny thing, but it has formed a link with the world. And when that seamstress starts to sow, that thread goes in. More and more cloth is bound together, more buttons are tied on, and so the whole garment comes out and it's all assembled and brought together with threads. Little things. Oh dear young people.
Remember what the bridegroom said to his bride?
Whose heart had grown cold to him, he said, Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. He said to her, Let me hear thy voice, let me see thy face. She hadn't sought his company. She wasn't in near enough to him for him to even hear her voice.
Does the Lord hear your voice often? Do you often look up to Him in prayer?
And ask his help and his grace and strength, as well as praising Him for what he has done. He said, Let me hear thy voice, let me see thy face. Does he see your face at the meeting? Do the brethren count you as one of the regulars who are always there, as much as you possibly can be there?
Oh, how lovely it is to hear the bridegroom speaking in that way that he wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to see her face. And he said, Thy voice is sweet, and thy countenance is comely. And one was impressed recently in reading in the Psalm of Solomon, to notice that not once through the whole book of the Song of Solomon does he ever reproach the bride.
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Oh, I'm afraid if it had been you or I, we would have reproached her and say how indifferent she is to his love, how callous she seems to be. Never once did he reproach her. How did he draw her? He always sought to draw her by his love. And when she didn't answer the door, he said, open to me, my love, my dove, my undefiled. Wasn't that touching?
He saw beauty in her, although she had lost the sense of.
Some of the beauty that was in him, he put his hand in by the door, but she had locked the door. He let her see that pierced hand. Oh dear young people, the Lord Jesus is not reproaching you, but He's won your heart if you belong to Him and He wants you to be drawn and perhaps a little thread that's tying you to the world. I remember one dear young person whom I knew, and she gave up almost all her friends. Just one worldly friend she kept. I remember her saying.
I've just got one worldly friend that I haven't broken with. Just one.
But as time went on, that one worldly friend drew that girl back into the world.
There was a thread.
There was something that she hadn't snapped, and that's all we find, Abram said here. No, not even a thread.
Small thing, but an important thing. And the shoe latchet, that is the shoe light should be what ties on the shoe. And perhaps, perhaps you're committed to some course of action. Maybe you've made some promise and you're committed to some course of action. Just like you put the shoe on and you tie it or you latch it there. It's fastened now, all ready to go.
And that that shoe latchet or that that?
2 lakes or whatever it may be, that's what has decided you in a certain course of action.
And how often a young person has committed themselves to some course of action, made a promise to some friend.
Made a promise to somebody and then, as it were, it's all tied up, he says. I won't like, I won't take anything that ties me up to the world or commits me to some course of action. You wanted to be free to acknowledge the claims of the one who had won his heart, the one who was everything to him. Oh, dear young people, the Lord wants you to be free. Not to be bound, but to be free to acknowledge his claims.
Over you, Abram said not a thread, not a shoe latchet. And in that same Song of Solomon, I think it's lovely to see the bridegroom looking at the feet of the bride there. And he says, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes. All prince's daughter now she was near enough to him to be in his company, and he looks at her shoes. And he said, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes, dear young people, would the Lord Jesus.
Of you or me, That our walk is beautiful. Isn't it lovely? That He should appreciate the fact that we seek to walk to please Him? He does. He looks at our spiritual shoes. He knows in whose company we're walking. Are we really seeking to go on for His glory?
And then he said.
That I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou should have say I have made Abram rich. Yes, every link with the world causes the world to have a claim upon us.
As dear Mr. Darby said, the nearer you get to the world, the higher you get in the world, the nearer you get to its Prince. And all these things make us.
Fear the world, make us look to them instead of looking to the Lord.
And so he said, No, I want, I won't take anything, lest you should say that I, that you've made Abram rich. He refuses at all. He has been blessed by the one who is the possessor of heaven and earth. But now I think this is nice, what he says in the last verse, save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Anar, Eshkol and Mamre, let them take their portion, in other words.
He doesn't make a decision for these young men that had gone with him.
He lets them make their decision and how important this is because I can't decide something for you. But all how lovely it is as we often feel with our children when we see there's an exercise. You know, when I see a person and they're doing something that perhaps I couldn't fully agree with myself and I hear them say.
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Well, I do want to please the Lord in the matter anyway. Oh, you know, it's a lovely thing.
When you see that, and so Abraham said, well, I'm going to let these young people say for themselves, and the Lord is listening for you to say, He wants you to say for yourself, how much does the love of Christ have a claim upon your heart? I can't speak for you, you can't speak for me, but you can speak for yourself.
What portion? What is your portion? What is your desire? May God grant that our desire will be to please the Lord Jesus who has done so much for us.
Well, now in the 15th chapter.
After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, Fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. All the Lord knew that when Abram had taken this stand that he was going to need encouragement. He was going to need encouragement and all. I believe that it's something that is so needed in these last days. We need to be encouraged.
It's easy to discourage, It's easy to say things that discourage. But the Lord comes to Abram after this and he says, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield. That's thy protection and thy exceeding great reward. As though the Lord should say, Abram, I'll protect you, and you'll never lose anything worthwhile.
While by seeking to follow me, you'll never lose anything that's really worthwhile if you seek to follow the Lord Jesus, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Now I'd just like to say a little more on this encouragement. You know, amongst us, we have learned that it's not right to flatter. It's not right to try and blow a person up because that might do them a great deal of harm. But sometimes I think that we fail.
To speak that little word of encouragement that is often needed. How often when someone does something for the Lord, the enemy is always ready afterwards to discourage. He doesn't want to see anyone go on for the Lord. And just as surely as you try to do something, there will be something come in very shortly afterwards to discourage you.
And sometimes we might fail to speak that little word that might.
Encourage all Dear young people, let us cultivate the habit of encouraging one another in the past, encouraging one another.
No, David, Rather, Jonathan on one occasion went out to fight against the Garrison of the Philistines.
And when he saw the sharp rocks in the way, it appears that he was just about going to turn back.
And his armor bearer said, Turn thee, behold, I am with thee, do all that is in thine heart. And that little word of encouragement was the turning of the whole circumstance. And he and his armor bearer went forward, and God granted a great victory. And I believe that eternity alone will reveal how often a little word of encouragement.
Spoken at the right time was perhaps the turning of the chord.
Course of a Christian that affected the whole of the rest of that Christian's life. Oh, May God give us to know how to speak that word when it's needed. The Lord came and said, fear not Abram.
And I love to think of another instance in the life of Paul.
When he had been before, when he had been arrested and brought into prison.
There might be little thoughts rise in his mind as to how he shouldn't have gone up there to Jerusalem, and isn't this lovely? The Lord stood by him that night and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, For as thou hast born testimony for me at Jerusalem, thou must also bear testimony at Rome. The Lord encouraged him and all.
That must have strengthened the beloved apostle in the days.
That lay ahead because he was in prison for a long time and he would never forget how the Lord stood by on the very first night, said fear not, fear not.
00:45:00
Thy exceeding great reward, and Abram said, Lord God.
What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and a steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Abram and sought to be faithful. He had refused all that the king of Sodom had offered. He had accepted the bread and wine. He had given tithes. He had seemingly done everything up to this point that we could command. And we could say surely the Lord was pleased with Abram's faith and faithfulness.
But there was one thing, and that was why had the Lord not granted him that one request that He so much desired? And it may be that there's a young person here and you're saying your heart right now. Well, I have tried to follow the Lord, but there's something that I've asked Him for and He hasn't granted it to me. Why hasn't he? Some of my friends seem to get along, some of my friends that are perhaps not.
Careful to walk in godliness. And the Lord seems to have denied it to me. He seems to have allowed me to suffer instead of encouraging me. And that was the way Abram felt here. He said, well, how is this? What I desired was to have a son, and the Lord is withholding it from me, what I desired. And so it may be that there's someone here and that thought is rising in your mind and the enemy is using it.
To hinder you from going on with the Lord Jesus. The enemy is using it to discourage you. And you say I sit in the meetings and I'm encouraged, but that thought keeps.
Bumping up in my mind all the time, Why doesn't the Lord undertake for me? Why doesn't he come in in this matter or that matter? And so that continues to press upon you. He said I go childless, the thing that I wanted. And the Lord had even said that he would give him a son. And why was it not? Why was it not fulfilled? If God was really seeking his happiness, why had this been?
Withholding from him.
Because it was a walk of faith, was a walk of faith and so.
Isn't this lovely?
In the fourth verse. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying.
This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels.
Shall be thine heir.
Had God forgotten the promise? Had God forgotten that he had said that to his seed he would give that whole land?
Previously all God hadn't forgotten it, and God hasn't forgotten one of his promises.
We might forget, and we may think sometimes that God has forgotten to be gracious, but He doesn't forget. Our names are graven on the palms of His hands. Our names are upon His heart as well as upon His shoulders. He's carrying us along.
Well, what does the Lord do to Abram? Isn't this lovely, this fifth verse? And he brought him forth a broad and said, look thou toward the heaven, Isn't this lovely?
He doesn't tell him how this desire of his heart is going to be fulfilled.
He doesn't tell him how soon it's going to be fulfilled and his faith was sorely tested after this for a long time.
He doesn't tell him how he brings them out, and he points his eyes havenward, and he says, Look now toward heaven, Dear young people, I want to impress those words upon you. Look now toward heaven. Look now toward heaven. Are you and I looking that way? There may be disappointments here. The end of all things is at hand. We may see more difficult times than we have ever seen before.
We may see more weakness in the testimony, and we may see greater breakdown of everything in this world, but all when we look toward heaven, he said. Now count the number of the stars.
Well, you know, in those days that he had actually tried to count them. But those who have looked through the powerful telescopes of today tell us that there were many that were beyond the natural vision, many that were beyond the natural vision, millions of them that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. Dear young people, I want to tell you the same thing, that if you get the telescope of faith and look up into the sky, there's millions of things.
That the natural eye can't see. There are just millions of them and some of those, some of those. A brother when I was away gave me a little paper that he said there's one star that is 300 times larger than our sun and he said it can't be seen with the naked eye.
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You look at that sun, you can hardly, you can hardly look at it for a half second. It's too much for your eyes. They're blazing light in the sun. But beyond the sun, beyond anything that the natural eye can see, is a *300 times as big as our sun. Oh, dear, young people. I remember a remark in Mr. Darby. He said, he said this.
How often does one forbidden thing hide from our view 1000 blessings? And how often there is that because we were looking at things with the naked eye, that those greater and more wonderful things that God has in store are hidden from us. But they're all there. Faith sees them. Faith looks beyond present circumstances.
Faith counts upon God. Faith knows that he is going to work out everything.
After the counsel of his own will and faith rests. And so isn't this lovely in the sixth verse?
And he believed in the Lord.
And he believed in the Lord. Hadn't Abram believed in the Lord before? I would say he had. He had come out from UR of the Chaldees long before. He had had his tent and his altar before this.
I used to sometimes puzzle a little at that hymn Keep us Lord all, keep us cleaving to thyself and still believing. Why does it say still believing? All because faith is continually put to the test all through the Christian life. But all how blessed it is when we look about present things and if there's something that's pressing upon your heart that is threatening to rob you of your.
In the Lord that's threatening to even spoil these meetings for you because you can't rise above some circumstance that's come into your life. May God in his grace take you out abroad. May He enlarge the vision of faith, and that you will look toward heaven and not only the things that can be seen, but at the untold blessings that cannot be seen, the unsearchable riches of Christ.
And all that, it's all ours.
And so how lovely these words. And he believed the law. He believed.
In the Lord, may the Lord grant and will not only believe in Him to the saving of our souls, but that we may also believe in Him for all this difficulties, all the circumstances of life's pathway. And I would say to you, dear young people, in closing, there will be many times your faith will be put to the test. There will be many times it isn't a decision that you can make once for all, but all the blessedness of making the Lord Jesus himself.
The object of your heart, and as we know what He has done for us in the past.
We know the victory that He has won. Faith, vision is directed to what is ahead of us. A God grant that we'll be kept and that it will be said of us. He believed in the Lord. And when some problem arises and some difficulty in you see no solution and you can understand why the Lord has allowed it, repeat those words. He believed in the Lord.
He believed in the Lord. May God grant that our faith will look up until that blessed time that faith is changed to sight, and we'll be with him, like him, and know and enjoyfully all that's in his heart for us.
Shall we sing that little hymn? 256 Praise the Savior, ye who know him, who can tell how much we owe him gladly Let us render to him all we have and are, 256.
Luke 24
2 Peter 1
1 Peter
Warning - It's Time to Wake Up
Exodus Moses the Man of God
Seven Parables
Seven Parables of Matthew 13
Children of the Kingdom
Luke 24:13
The Glory of God
The Constraining Love of Christ
God's Provision for Us
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn to.
First Kings.
In the 17th chapter.
First Kings 17 and verse 13.
When Elijah said unto her, Fear not.
Go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first.
And bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel. The barrel of meals shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail, until the day that the Lord send rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did eat many days.
The barrel of meal wasted not. Neither did the crews of oil.
Fail according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
Now the 18th chapter.
And came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab, that there was a store of famine in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.
Ford was so, and Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took 100 prophets and hid them by 50 in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.
And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go unto the land, unto all the fountains of water, and unto all Brocks peradventure, and we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
So they divided the lamb between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he knew him, fell on his face, and said, Art thou that, that, my Lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am. Go tell thy Lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
And he said, what have I sinned?
That thou withst deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me. The Lord thy God liveth. There is no nation or Kingdom whither my Lord hath not sent to seek thee. And when they said He is not here, he took an oath of the Kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest go, tell thy Lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
Now a little farther down in the chapter.
And the 30th verse. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him, and repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took 12 Stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord.
And he made a trench about.
The altar as great as would contain 2 measures of seed.
And he put the wood in order, and cut the Bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood.
And said fill the barrel, fill 4 barrels with water.
And pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time, and they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the trench, And he filled the trench also with water.
And came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, he is the God, the Lord he is the God.
And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them. And Elijah brought them down to the Brooklyn, and slew them there. And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
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So Ahab went up to to eat and to drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees.
And said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said that there is nothing. And he said, go again seven times.
Came to pass at the 7th time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stopped thee not.
And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the clouds were black with clouds, that the heavens was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. In the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Could we turn over to Malachi?
Last book in the Old Testament.
Malachi Chapter 3.
Verse 10.
Bring ye all the ties into the storehouse.
That there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts.
If I will not open you the windows of heaven.
Pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Well, in reading these passages tonight, brethren, I was thinking of how the Lord provides for His own who looked to Him even in a dark and difficult day, and yet to how He delights to bless not only for our personal needs, but also that He delights to bless all His people.
We see how Elijah was cared for and that widow of Sarepta who had faith.
In the time of distress and trial among the people of God, but in the end we see the blessing reaching out.
Saw that all the people of God shared in the blessing that God delighted to bestow. And so I believe there are those two thoughts before us in these passages. And how the Lord would have us, no matter how difficult or trying the day to find that we have a resource in Him individually, but also that our hearts might be enlarged so that we might seek the blessing of all the people of God.
Here we find in this passage here there was a famine, a terrible famine in God's land, but there was one who was looking to the Lord, who was counting upon him, who was seeking to walk before him. Elijah, his path was the lonely one, but he found his resource in the Lord and isn't important for us if there is a famine perhaps in the country as a whole.
Perhaps in our?
Home life, perhaps in our assembly life, that faith can look to the Lord and find that he is able to meet that need, to supply that need. Or it may be that he puts our faith to the test too. For in the beginning of the chapter, which I didn't take time to read, the Lord had sent Elijah down to the book Cherith, and there it says that he commanded the Ravens to feed him, and they brought him bread and.
In the morning and again in the evening, and he was the drink of the water of the brook. Yes, God provided for him. But the time came that even the brook dried up. And perhaps you and I have been cast upon the Lord. We have looked to Him. We have found how able He is to meet our need and to supply those refreshing springs for our soul. And then it seemed that even a further disappointment came along here.
And can it be that sometimes when we are seeking to please the Lord, that He allows even a second disappointment, not only the first, that there was this famine, but here now in the place where God had sent him in obedience to the Word of God, his faith was put to the test again? Well, isn't that often saw in the pathway of faith? Don't we often find that as we seek to go on in the past, it's pleasing to.
Lord, there are testings of faith. Well, the Lord allows that so that we might be kept looking to him. It isn't enough just to say, well, I was looking to Him during the three days of the meetings and we had such a happy time that all there are circumstances that continue to arise in our lives where faith is again put to the test and where we must seek every day.
00:10:18
Directions from the Lord to the past.
But how blessed it is to know that if the brook dried up, the Lord was able to provide spill for His servant. And so if there if it should come in our lives, that there is a trial and there seems no outlet, the Lord will open up the way day by day.
And so he did for Elijah here. He told him now to go to Zarephath, not among the nation of Israel. This was outside of the land as it's mentioned in Luke's gospel.
But nevertheless, God had a provision for his, his servant, and he said, I have commanded a woman to feed thee there. Oh, how lovely it is. The Lord had undertaken for Elijah even before Elijah knew about it. And he undertakes for us. He gives us to see his good hand working for us, providing for us in all our needs. He goes before.
And so Elijah.
Went there.
And the famine was very, very grievous.
And here was this poor widow, and she was going just to prepare a little provision for herself and for her son. And then she thought that was the last. She thought that was the end and that they were going to die.
Well, how could Elijah ever expect that this woman was going to provide for him?
She just had the very last for herself.
Not even enough to keep herself and her son alive. How is she going to be able to do it for him too? Well, faith doesn't look at circumstances, Faith looks at the Lord. Faith counts upon His word, even when everything seems to be against us. Friend to the natural outlook, everything looks impossible. Isn't it precious that we can always count upon the Lord? And if He said, I have commanded.
A widow woman to feed thee.
He was going to, He was going to fulfill his worry. For it's impossible for God to lie. And haven't many of us come to such circumstances in our lives that it seemed the Lord directed us? And then perhaps when we came to the circumstance, instead of it being what we expected, why at the first sight everything seemed to be grievous and disappointing.
Ah, but the Lord was undertaken.
He was putting Elijah's faith to a task and he was also going to bring blessing to this widow and to her son. And so it tells us in this 13th verse in Elijah sound to her. Fear not. How could he say fear not? Hadn't he? Hadn't the brook dried up?
And hadn't he right before him a picture of misery and no human resource?
Well, isn't it lovely that one who is counting upon God, even though all things seem to be going wrong, he can say, fear not, he can encourage another. Because when we are really enjoying the Lord in our souls, we can speak words of encouragement to another who is perhaps in greater distress even than ourselves. I think this is so beautiful here. If there was anyone whose heart perhaps had reason within him to tremble.
Elijah, and yet one who was walking in communion with God completely above the circumstances, he turns to this dear woman and says, fear not.
Go and do as thou hast said, and make me thereof a little cake 1St and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. Now her faith was to be put to the test too. Would she be willing to make a cake for him first, when it seemed that all she had was sufficient for herself and her son?
All There are times when the Lord's claims come first.
Obedience to him comes before even that which nature seems to need and nature seems to desire. And so isn't it lovely here to see that this woman was willing to act in obedience to the word of the Lord through the prophets, and that she did what the prophet had said, and that she went and made him a little cake first?
00:15:09
And.
Yet she had this beautiful promise in the 14th verse.
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. What was it that enabled her then to go and do this? She rested upon the word of Jehovah.
He had said that the barrel of oil, barrel of meal would not waste.
Nor are the crews of oil fail. And she rested upon that. She acted upon that. It didn't say that the Lord would fill the barrel up.
It doesn't say that he would fill the cruise of oil to the top. She didn't go to the barrel and find it full right up.
Now I expect that every time she went it was pretty near the bottom, but nevertheless, each time there was sufficient the daily need the Lord was providing for. And you know, the Lord doesn't just allow us to see how everything is going to be perfectly taken care of.
For months and weeks ahead. But he does give us his own word.
Promising us, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. How isn't that precious for faith? What a word for this dear woman's heart. And brethren, Israel, God is ours. He is sufficient for us too. He's able to undertake for us in every need.
And we can go to the barrel of Mayo, we can go to the cruise of oil. Perhaps the barrel of meal would speak to us and the Lord Jesus. For he was the fine flower. He was the one who in his blessed pathway here in this world.
Always walked in obedience to His Father.
No, the meat offering was a fine flour and I believe the thought in the fine flour is that it was it was crushed that.
All made into an even powder. Now that is in in the Lord Jesus. And there was.
There was number outstanding virtue. Every virtue was equally outstanding.
Whatever whatever circumstance the Lord Jesus was in, no matter how crushing and difficult, we find that there was always perfect evenness. If faithfulness was called for, He was faithful. If love was needed, he showed that love. If encouragement was needed, He spoke that word of encouragement. Oh, how perfect He was in everything. And brethren, how lovely it is to have Him.
For our example.
And when difficulties and trials come to those at word of the barrel of mail, because He's left us an example that we should follow in His steps, Who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, He threatened not, but committed himself to him. The judgeth righteously. Perhaps that's the thought and the barrel of meal. And then the cruise of all would speak to us of the Spirit of God.
Because you or I might say, oh, but I just couldn't do that.
That it's all very well to say how a person should act when someone doesn't speak nicely to them, or when everything seems to go wrong, but I just can't act that way.
Well, neither will the barrel of mail nor the cruise of oil fail. The perfect example of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit as the power. And so how lovely it is that we not only have His example for us in every step.
Then in every situation brought the Holy Spirit of God indwelling. The believer gives us the strength. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. And so the Lord Jesus in his pathway here, everything that He did was pleasing to His Father, and his whole pathway was in the power of the Spirit of God.
And he said it won't fail until the Lord.
Sendeth rain upon the earth.
Well, she went and did this, then she acted upon what Elijah said and it says in the 16th verse.
And the barrel of meal wasted not.
Neither did the crews of oil fail according to the word of the Lord.
00:20:00
Which he spake by Elijah. Here she ate of this many days.
I don't know just how long, but it would seem that it might have been perhaps over a year. It would seem it was probably some length of time between the time that the brook dried up and the time that the 18th chapter begins when Elijah was sent to Elisha to Ahab to speak to him. When we read in James, it tells us that this famine lasted 3 years and six months.
So it was quite a testing time, three years and six months.
And so that many a day, no doubt the faith of this dear woman was put to the task. But every day there was a fresh supply. Every day there was what was needed, until the Lord sent rain upon the earth.
I just mentioned too in passing that in the end of this chapter.
Then we know how that her son died.
Here was another testing that came because this is the way the pathway of faith is. It's beset with continual testings in which we find our own weakness, in which we learn our own hearts, and in which we learn the infinite resources of God.
The infinite resources of God. In fact, I believe we can say that the two lessons that God taught his people Israel in the wilderness were these.
The lesson of what their own hearts were, and the lesson of what his heart was, and his power to provide for them. It says to humbly and prove thee, and to show thee what was in thy heart.
But then how in the later on, in that same chapter in Deuteronomy, it tells us how that he didn't allow their feet to swell, their raiment didn't wax old, the manna came every day, How God provided for them all through the wilderness journey. And so I say again, a test was brought into the life of this dear woman.
She had believed the word of the Lord. She had acted in obedience.
And then the Lord took away her son.
But the Lord gave her back her son. He showed that He was able to meet her need. Well, brother, I see again the pathway of faith is beset by these kind of trials that teach us continual dependence upon the Lord and that we need strength from Him for every step of the way. But He will never fail.
Well, in the 18th chapter then.
Tells us here that the Lord sent Elijah to speak to Ahab.
And while he was going?
Why he met this man Obadiah? Obadiah was was a man that that held quite a high position under Ahab who acknowledged the authority of Ahab over him.
And yet he sought to please the Lord in his measure, tells us in the fourth verse of this 18th chapter. And it was so when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took 100 prophets and hid them by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. So we can see that this man Obadiah.
In spite of the fact that he was in a wrong position.
As I believe our brother Bellat in his little book brings out, he wore a garment of woolen and linen. That is, he was a man of mixed principles. He loved the Lord, he feared the Lord greatly, but he actually acknowledged the authority of Ahab first over him.
And it's possible for us to do the same. Perhaps we do love the Lord Jesus. Perhaps we have an affection for his people too. This was quite a thing for Obadiah to feed 100 prophets of the Lord. And so we can find, we can see in him that there was quite a measure of faithfulness, quite a desire to please the Lord. But he wasn't one who always looked to the Lord, who took his orders from.
The Lord, as I remarked, He wore a garment of woolen and linen. For I might say that in the Scripture, in the Old Testament, when it speaks in Leviticus and elsewhere about the garments, the thought is the associations of life.
00:25:03
The government is nearest to us, you know, and so it's our associations of life.
And what are our associations? Perhaps we love the Lord, but are we also?
Seeking to go on, perhaps not truly loyal to Christ.
Instead of taking our directions all together from the Lord, we're looking to others. I'm seeking to please man instead of seeking to please the Lord. That's what we can see with Obadiah. And isn't it lovely that God records these things in His Word, and not to see that He values every little bit of faithfulness that there is? He saw what Obadiah did.
And faithfully records it in his word. And moreover, Obadiah is going to be rewarded for what he did. God will take notice of everything in your life and mine that is for him. And it's nice for us, brethren too, to see in one another what there is of Christ. It's nice for us, perhaps even someone who is unfaithful, who is not really owning the lordship of Christ as a general thing in his life, to see that there are things.
That God, the eye of God behold, and that he delights to record. And so he's put it down here in his word about Obadiah, but nevertheless Elijah, when he comes to meet him.
Says in the seventh verse.
And as all the Dire was in the way he hauled, Elijah met him, and he knew him.
And and fell on his face and said, art thou that my Lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am go tell thy Lord, Behold, Elijah is here. Notice how Elijah addresses him. Elijah was faithful. Elijah said, well you are calling me your Lord, but the one who you really acknowledge is having authority over your life is Ahab.
That wicked king Ahab.
Know how we have to watch the last? We do not acknowledge the Lordship of Christ in our lives. And perhaps there is with us those things that show that we are fearing the world more than we fear the Lord.
And so with poor Obadiah, although he loved God's people, although he was glad to meet Elijah, and although he acknowledged him as the prophet of the Lord.
Still, he acknowledged the authority of Ahab.
And the ninth verse. And he said, What have I sinned? That thou wouldst deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me. Notice how he didn't have peace in his soul. I don't mean that he didn't have the knowledge of peace in the sense of having confidence in the Lord in regard to salvation.
But you know, there's a difference between peace with God and the peace of God.
It's possible for a Christian.
To know that his sins are forgiven and be rejoicing in the fact.
That he'll never have to meet God as a judge, that all his sins are washed away in the precious blood of Christ, and yet perhaps not be walking in the sense of the peace of God ruling in the heart.
I believe with Elijah there was a man who quietly walked with a sense that he was pleasing the Lord and the peace of God presided in his heart, but with poor Obadiah because of the fact that there were mixed principles in his life.
Here was a praying He was afraid of Ahab. He was afraid to even fulfill the word of the Lord, which Elijah spoke to him.
And you know, it's been said by another.
The higher we get in the world, the nearer we get to its prints.
It has been sad, too.
The more the world gives us a position, the more we fear the world that has given us that position.
And so that's the way it was with poor Obadiah. He was afraid. He feared the Lord, it tells us in the beginning of the chapter, but he was tremendously afraid of Ahab. Oh, brethren, it's a blessed thing in our lives to walk in the sense of the peace of God ruling in our hearts. And how can that be?
Only as we seek to walk in communion with the Lord and in obedience to His Word.
00:30:04
And so they have with Obadiah. Rather, it wasn't Saul.
He wasn't walking in dependence upon the Lord, he wasn't really walking in communion, and he was living in fear of Ahab.
He said in the 10th verse, As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or Kingdom whither my Lord notice. Now he perhaps inadvertently acknowledges the authority of Ahab. My Lord hath not sent me to seek thee. And when they said, He is not here, he took an oath of the Kingdom and nation.
That they found thee not, and now thou sayest go tell thy Lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
See, he was, uh, he had a bad conscience and he was afraid and so he tries to explain his situation, but.
Elijah.
Says just pass on.
To the 15th verse. And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today.
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
Yes, we see the difference between the quiet confidence in which Elijah walked and the manner of Obadiah walked. And may we not each ask our own hearts, Are we walking in that quiet sense of confidence in the Lord? How are we walking day by day in the sense in our souls that we're seeking to please Him?
Are we living in constant fear and afraid of the world and afraid of what other people will say or think? I fear that that was the manner of life with all the dire.
But now we passed down to the 30th verse.
And Elijah said unto all the people, Come here unto me. And all the people came near unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.
Well, as I remarked at the beginning, and to 1's own soul, it's precious, we see that although Elijah was provided for and Loy had in his own soul a sense that the Lord was caring for him, it was his desire to see all the people of God bless.
And you know, that's, that's the way the Lord would have each one of us to feel toward his people. Oh, you say that they didn't like Elijah Very well. They had turned against him. Yes, that was Saul. They had turned against him. Ahab didn't want him. He said, art thou he that troubleth Israel? Nevertheless, it's beautiful to see how Elijah had a heart for the people of God.
And brethren, I do believe that with each one of us.
We need to have our hearts enlarged in love and affection for all the people of God. Are we really seeking their blessing? Are we seeking that there should be an abundance of rain for them, Showers of blessing?
How each one of us praying that the Saints of God might be going on happily in the enjoyment of Christ, not just satisfied that we ourselves have found a resource in Him, but seeking for all His people such a blessing. Oh, I think it's precious to see this here with Elijah.
So the first thing he did was to repair the altar of the Lord that was broken down.
Israel had neglected that altar, and now in front of the mall, he builds it up again. That is the Lord being given his rightful place.
Well, may the Lord grant that He would have his rightful place among His people. We know that in Christendom.
We can see the breakdown of everything. It tells us the end of all things is at hand.
Be therefore sober and watch unto prayer. But oh, what a privilege it is that we can still worship in God's appointed way, we can still gather in His appointed way, and we know that He delights in the blessing of His people.
And so it tells us in the 31St verse, in Elijah took 12 Stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob.
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Yes, actually Elijah was a prophet. Among the 10 tribes, there had been a division. Among God's people, 2 tribes had remained.
With the House of David and the other ten were separated and all I do is actually among the 10.
But we can see here how faith acts.
How faith acknowledges the people of God as one. And so isn't this lovely here to find that when Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord that he took 12 Stones?
In his thoughts and in his affections, he took in all the people of God.
And he built up this altar where those 12 Stones, and he put the wood in order, cut the Bullock in pieces.
And then he made this ditch round about it, so that it tells us here that it would contain 2 measures of seed. And then he told them to pour water down all of the sacrifice.
And they poured 4 barrels once, twice, three times.
We know how that the prophets of Bail had tried to bring down far from heaven and they couldn't do it. But here he tells them now when he builds the altar of the Lord to pour all these barrels of water over the sacrifice and down over filling the trench all around the around the altar and he says.
That the God who would answer by fire.
He would be the true God.
Well, I believe there's a lesson for us in this, brethren, and that is the only ground on which God can bless His people is through the sacrifice, through the work that the Lord Jesus has accomplished.
There is only one ground. We can't claim any blessing because of our own faithfulness.
How we have failed individually, how we have failed collectively, but all. Isn't it lovely to look up and count upon the Lord because of what took place at Calvary, to know that that cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus?
Bore all the wrath and judgment of God against sin.
So that God might bring blessing to his people. And when you and I enter those courts of eternal glory, we won't have one thing to say about what we've done ourselves. All the glory will be to him because he has done it all. And the one who would serve the people of God, the one who would seek the blessing of the people of God, must never forget this.
Because all blessing to God's people is founded upon the work of Christ.
And so it tells us here in this 36th verse. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice.
That Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy command. He goes right back to those unconditional promises that were made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and now he looks up and counts upon the Lord answering because of those.
Unconditional promises.
That he had made to those patriarchs.
I know how lovely it is for us.
To look back to Calvary and to know that God has promised blessing through that work.
I enjoy those verses in second the second Corinthians chapter 1. It says all the promises of God in him are yeah and in him Amen to the glory of God by us that is.
When the law was given, there was a yay and there was a nay.
Yeah, that is.
Some stood on one mountain and some stood on another, and they pronounced blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. And so there was a yeah and there was a nay. And alas, we know that God's people because of their unfaithfulness.
Forfeited the land, and were driven out of it. The possession of the land was made conditional on their obedience, and they forfeited it all. But he said in Christ.
It's all founded upon what Christ has done, and God's promises in Christ are not yeah and nay, but they're all yeah. They're all sure to be fulfilled because they depend upon what Christ has done. Oh, how good it is to have the sense of that in our soul and never to come to the Lord claiming anything on the ground of any faithfulness in ourselves.
00:40:25
Or any faithfulness in his people collecting.
But just that, it's his delight to blast.
And now the 37th verse. Hear me, oh Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
Yes, he said. The Lord is the only one that can turn their hearts.
The Lord, the only One, has always said I can't. I can't do it. No faithfulness on my part can do it.
The famine hadn't turned their hearts back. They were just as callous as ever.
But isn't this lovely? Thou hast turned their hearts all, brethren, isn't it wonderful, the resource we have in the Lord?
And that he can do things that we never thought could be done.
He's able, it's blessed to turn to him and count upon him.
As was brought before us about this dear lady out in San Bacon. And how wonderful it was that the Lord answered that prayer so unexpectedly. But he's still able to do the same in these lands. He's still able to come in. Is there something that seems like an impossible situation? Isn't it lovely? Thou hast turned their heart. The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord of the rivers of water.
He turneth it whithersoever he will.
He is the one who is over all, and here he said, Lord, turn their hearts back to thee.
And the Lord answered that prayer. The Lord came in.
But it tells us in the 38th verse, the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones and the dust that licked up the water that was in the trench.
Yes, and the consuming fire fell down.
And there it licked up, consumed the sacrifice and the stones. Yes, it was all consumed, so to speak. If one could speak in this way, it burned itself out.
And so that's what took place at Calvary. The fire of God's judgment burned itself out.
And nothing is left for us. We sing sometimes. Nothing for us remains nothing but love. Oh, isn't it blessed to know that that fire has consumed all that could possibly be consumed? I'm sure that the people, perhaps even Elijah, didn't realize that the fire would actually consume the stones.
But that fire was so hot that it consumed everything that could be consumed. And isn't it lovely, brethren, to know that the work of Calvary has settled everything to the glory of God? Not according to our thoughts.
But according to the thoughts of God himself, and the God himself has been glorified in the work of his Son. And so the people fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord, he is the God, The Lord he is the God.
Yes, they acknowledge them, the Lord. Their hearts were turned back to Him.
Oh, how lovely it is to see their hearts were turned away from Baal. Their hearts were turned back to him. And what will bring our hearts back to him?
All I believe is each one of us here could have a fresh glimpse of what the Lord Jesus suffered for us at Calvary. Our hearts would be turned back to Him. We would acknowledge His authority. We would gladly and willingly acknowledge his rights over everything. And so he said, now don't let any of these prophets escape. Don't let any of them escape. And all when we think of what the Lord has done for us, when we think of that great work accomplished at Calvary.
That makes us willing to be done with anything and everything that robs us of the enjoyment of Christ in our lives. He says, don't let one of them escape. And you know, it's an interesting thing to me that it says here that these prophets, they ate at Jezebel's table. They ate at Jezebel's table.
Well, you know.
The family table is the place of relaxation, isn't it? It's where we sit down and we kind of relax.
And all, how careful we have to be. Well, what goes on at the table? How careful we have to be?
00:45:05
Who it is, and what things are talked about, and what things we do when we sit down to the table. Every time that Obadiah sat down in the House of Ahab, here were all these prophets. Could they ever be talking of anything that was good there? Could there be anything that was for the glory of God? There? Nothing. Well, he said, let all these prophets be destroyed.
And so if there's anything that's hindering us from walking in the enjoyment of Christ, whether it's the fact that we don't spend our free time as we should for the Lord.
If there's something that we're allowing in our lives, perhaps in our homes, if there's something that's a hindrance when we think of what the Lord has done for us and then we turn and say, well, this has to be set aside. This has to be done with. And so they were all put aside. And now the hindrance was removed that God could come out and the blessing that was in his heart for his people.
Because he wants to bless brethren, just as we read those lovely verses in Malachi. And it was in a still a day of still greater weakness than this.
For you only have to read the prophet Malachi to see how weak things were at that time.
And how they were saying it was vain to serve the Lord, They wouldn't open the doors of the Lord's house for not. Oh, there were so many things they were even questioning the Lord's love to them was a sad state that the Lord said, prove me.
Told me now, he says.
He said, I am still able to open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And brethren, the heart of God is still the same today. Indeed, if one could say it, his heart has been revealed in a richer and fuller way in Christianity than it ever was in Judaism.
Can we not say that all that's in the heart of God has now come out? In the Old Testament, God made a partial revelation of Himself.
And when Moses stood in the Cliff of the rock, he saw the glory of his back parts. But now the glory of God shines out in the face of Jesus Christ.
But I say again, because I want to bring out this point, it was what was particularly on my heart, the willingness of God to bless His people.
And not just to bless us individually, but to bless us collectively. He wants to bless us collectively. We can be satisfied, perhaps, that we are seeking to go on to the Lord individually. But Elijah wasn't satisfied with anything less than seeing all the people of God in the enjoyment of what was in the heart of God for women.
And so when they acknowledge that he is the God, and he said, well, we must remove every hindrance now. And so all these prophets are done away with. And now it says in the 41St verse in the Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
So they have went up to eat and to drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.
And he cast himself down from the earth and put his face between his knees.
Now God was going to come in for the blessing of His people, but notice the place that Elijah takes.
He gets down, he gets down, cast himself down, puts his head between his knees.
In the scripture, speak to us a prayer, I believe, speak of taking the low place, and he put his head down between his knees.
And he cried to the Lord. We're not told here about him praying, but it does tell us in James that he prayed again and the heavens gave rain. So here we know that he was praying for the people of God, praying that God would now open the windows of heaven and bring that blessing which he delighted to bestow upon them.
And so he said to his servant.
Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up.
And looked and said there is nothing.
There is nothing.
Yes. Not right at once, not right away. Because again.
Faith must be put to the test.
We must act in faith and confidence in the Lord, and sometimes.
We're impatient, tells us in James. Let patience have her perfect work. And there needs to be that patience in that waiting upon the Lord, turning to him in prayer, acknowledging that He is the only one who can bless taking a lowly place.
00:50:14
So here I believe patients did have her perfect work. He went once, he said there's nothing, nothing's happened.
Rewind again.
Seven times.
I believe sometimes, brethren in prayer, that we give up too soon.
We ask the Lord for something and we look and nothing seems to happen and we get discouraged.
Doesn't the devil get us discouraged so easily? Oh, I believe myself that Satan's greatest weapon against the people of God is discouragement.
He always gets us looking at circumstances instead of counting upon the Lord.
We know how in Saul's life, King Saul, there was a picture to us of the natural man.
Samuel told him to tarry for seven days.
And so it tells us that when the 7th day came, he thought Samuel wasn't going to come. So he acted impatiently. He acted unwisely. As Samuel said to him, Thou hast done foolishly. Well, he said, I waited 7 days.
Well, apparently he didn't wait until the end of the 7th day.
He thought he D waited long enough. That's not often true with us. We think, well, I've been patient long enough, I've waited. But oh, how good it is just to count upon the Lord quietly and know that He is able and He is willing and He delights to bless his people. And so the 7th time, just when I suppose.
The servant might say it's no use. Why he just saw that little cloud the size of a man's hand. Oh, he says, the blessings on the way.
The blessings on the way, you know how good it is to see that behind all the circumstances there is a hand.
Behind everything I say, there's a hand.
Everything that takes place in the country, everything that takes place in our homes and our assemblies in business, there's a hand. We may not see it at once. We may think there's nothing to it.
But when there's a continual looking to the Lord, that hand appears.
That hand, how lovely the little hymn puts it, The hand how many sins have pierced is now our God and guide.
And tells us in the 44th verse that came to pass at the 7th time, that he said, Behold, there arises a little cloud of the sea.
I might say that the sea.
Is a picture to us in the scripture of nations and confusion.
It's a state of confusion.
And that's why it tells us about the servant going to look toward the sea. Was there going to be any deliverance?
Seven times he went, and then out of all his confusion, out of all this state of trouble, he saw that hand rise.
And he said, Go up and say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down at the rain, Stop thee not.
Yes, how God came in now.
After waiting for those three years and six months, then how God came in and He didn't come in, just in a little way, He truly did open the windows of heaven.
The heavens were black with clouds and wind.
And there was a great rain.
It was a great rain, and it says in the 46th verse in the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Now this encouragement lifted the heart of God's servant, and here he ran before. I'd like to just notice here before we close in Isaiah chapter 40.
Isaiah chapter 40.
Verse 28.
Now begin from the 27th verse.
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increased.
Embrace the strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
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Oh how beautiful these verses he says, don't say my way is hid from the Lord, that is that the Lord doesn't know what's going on. The Lord knows all about it, and my judgment is passed over from my God that he is not able to undertake for us, but instead he says.
Hast thou not known? He has just talked about God's greatness in creation, and now he says there's no searching of his understanding. And he giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increases strength.
Obadiah was weary, going around just to find a little grass, just to find a little to feed the horses and the mules. But here God came in so abundantly and provided for all His people, and best of all, He turned their hearts back to Himself. Oh, may the Lord grant that our hearts may be turned to him. And these precious words, they that wait upon the Lord shall.
Renew their strength. Renew their strength.
How often do we need this renewing?
Over and over and over again. There's always a tendency for us to faint. And they tell us about the eagle, how it renews its strength. Well, the Lord is able to do this for us.
And so we only have a little while. The Lord is coming soon, is going to take his own home, to be forever with himself. May we have that confidence that looks to him, that counts upon him.
And in the trials and difficulties, may we know what it is to walk in personal communion with the Lord. But may the Lord also give us that large heart that seeks the blessing of all his people, that builds up the altar in front of them. Instead of, as it were, getting discouraged and saying it's no use the bills up the altar that looks to Calvary and knows that all blessing is founded upon what Christ has done. And then.
Intercedes for God's people.
And seeks their blessing all. He has untold blessings in store at the end of the journey. And brethren, he wants us to drink of the brook in the way, so that we might lift up the head.