Address—B. Prost
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I'd like to sing a hymn that we already sung at the conference. Short hymn, but very, very nice #23.
Good is the God we adore.
Very beautiful hymn and yet not very long.
But if I may, I'll tell you a little bit about the man that wrote this hymn, and if you heard me say it before, then you'll bear with me. But man that wrote this hymn did not particularly get saved when he was young.
His name was Joseph Hart Hart. He lived back in the 1800s. As far as I know he was not gathered to the Lord's name, although I can't say for sure, but he was what they called the dissenter in England. That means he didn't belong to the Church of England and.
He didn't get saved, though, until he was about 45 years old.
He knew the gospel, he heard the gospel, he knew he needed to be saved, but he never came to Christ. But when he got to be about 45, he got very depressed over something. I don't know what happened, whether something happened in his life or whether it was just a depression that came from inside.
But he kept he was feeling very, very down and he remembered all that he heard about the Lord Jesus and he how he needed to be saved.
And he came to the Lord and got saved. And then he said, you know, I don't know how much time I have left in my life, but I'm going to use it for the Lord and I'm going to preach the gospel. And he did. And a lot of people got saved through him. And he didn't live to be very old. I don't think he even got to be 60 years old. He was a little under 60 when the Lord took him home.
But he was so much beloved and I can hardly believe this, but apparently it's true that when he died and they had a funeral for him, it was conducted out of doors and he was so well known and so well loved that there were 20,000 people at his funeral.
Joseph Hart.
And he couldn't even be buried in the regular cemetery because he didn't belong to the Anglican church.
So we had to be buried in the cemetery where all the dissenters were buried, Bun Hill Field Cemetery. If you happen to be in London, England, it's worth a visit because there are a lot of others there. John Bunyan's buried there that wrote the Pilgrims Progress. The mother of John and Charles Wesley is buried there, and Joseph Stennett, another hymn writer, is buried there. And Jay Denham Smith and a wealth of.
Hemorrhages, none of whom belong to the Anglican Church. So, so much for Joseph Hart. He wrote this hymn. Let's sing it together.
How good is the God we adore?
Our.
Changer.
Who's love is as great as?
Power.
I knows neither.
Measure nor.
End.
Tis Jesus suffers.
And the last?
Who saves your life?
Will praise him for all.
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We talked a little bit at the Bible conference and some of it was mentioned at from time to time about what we get in Galatians chapter 5 called the Fruit.
Of this fear and last night Brother Dawn rule after the hymn sing for those that were able to be there, he talked a little bit about faith and hope and love and that was mentioned at other times during the meetings as well.
I'd like to talk tonight about the subject of faith in a limited way, because it's a very broad subject. We couldn't possibly cover it all in one meeting, but I'd like to try and make it practical for us.
Because I think we all would agree that we are living in very difficult days in this world. And we talked a little bit about that during the readings at the Bible Conference and how that.
We could see already in this world the stage being set for events that will take place.
After the Lord comes and calls us home.
And what is needed more than anything else today perhaps, although I don't like to isolate 1 aspect of those fruits of the Spirit or that it's really in the singular fruit of the spirit because it's all tied together.
One thing that's perhaps needed, I won't say more than anything else, but Paramount is fake.
Do we really believe God and believe all that He is, all that He is willing to do for us, all that He is promising and has promised to do for us? And to see that, I'd like to turn to Hebrews Chapter 11.
Which, as we know, was primarily written to Jewish believers.
Some of them truly saved others that perhaps.
Wanted at least the benefits of salvation, but weren't truly saved, were merely making an outward profession.
And so the author of the book of Hebrews, quite possibly and very likely the apostle Paul.
Although he does not identify himself, he goes through in this 11Th chapter speaking about faith.
And we are only going to be able to touch on part of it tonight, but let's read from verse one down to the end of verse 22. And I think that's as far as we can go.
So Hebrews 11 verse one.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous God testifying of his gifts. And by yet he being dead, yet speaketh.
By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
And was not found because God had translated it.
For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God.
But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
By faith, Noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet.
Moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obey, and he went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob.
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The heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised therefore sprang there even of him, or even of one rather, and with him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises.
But having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they say such things, declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had the opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country.
That is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.
For he hath prepared for them of seed.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.
Of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, and concerning things to come.
By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, bless both the sons of Joseph.
And worship, leaning upon the top of his staff.
By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concern his bones.
We aren't going to say too much about the first part of this chapter.
Except to point out that we have faith, described here in the 1St 2 verses.
Your first three verses, perhaps?
Not a definition of what faith is, but what faith does.
The Jews had a difficult time sometimes with faith because they were accustomed to seeing things that were visible. They had a Tabernacle, they had a temple, they had sacrifices, they had a priesthood, They had a lot of things that appealed to the senses.
And having faith was more difficult for them. But then the Lord reminds them that all through the Old Testament.
Fate was necessary.
And so we find these first three men mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, and they, as it were, set the stage.
Why?
And we're not going to spend time on it, but able represents the only right approach to God.
Abel offered a blood sacrifice and it was accepted.
Cain offered the fruit of the ground, a cursed earth, the fruit of his own hands, and it was not accepted. And Cain wouldn't give in, he wouldn't repent. The Lord said, Cain, you can bring a sacrifice like Abel, you'll be accepted too. No way Cain wanted his own sacrifices. If I can't approach God and.
My way, I won't come at all.
Very sad.
And so it shows the only approach to God and these Hebrew believers had to.
Get that clearly in their minds.
But then we have two other men, Enoch and Noah, and I would just suggest there is a good reason why the Spirit of God picked them out to start this chapter.
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Enoch is a picture of the church. Why is he? Because he was one of only two men.
In the whole Bible.
That never died. You'll remember that it says Enoch was translated, that he should not see death.
And he had this testimony that he pleased God.
And for a man of his time, he died relatively young. He didn't live to be really old.
Like some, but he walked with God.
A high compliment.
And then the Lord took him. Enoch is a type of the church caught up before the judgment falls, the judgment in this case being the flood. But Noah is a type of the godly Jews who will go through the tribulation protected by the Lord, and then end up in the millennial earth.
And so I believe that is why the Spirit of God puts these three men.
At the beginning of the chapter in order to introduce things.
But tonight I want to talk mainly about Abraham's family.
And I want to try and make it practical.
And if you're interested in numbers.
In Abraham's family that we read and you can count them up, there are 7 by faith, seven things that either Abraham did or his family that were done by faith. Very important.
Sometimes I think we look for sevens a little too frequently in Scripture and there aren't 7 we can.
Juggle things around to make them fit, but there are a lot of settings in the scripture legitimately and there are seven things that Abrahams family did. If you want to go beyond that there are seven things that Moses and the children of Israel did following that and then finally.
There are seven groups of people or single people mentioned in verse 32.
Three groups of sevens in this chapter. We don't have time for any but the first set.
And so we're going to talk a little bit about Abraham and his family. And here the first one in verse 8 says by faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing whither he went.
Would you ever start out on a journey like that?
I don't like starting out on a journey like that, not knowing where I'm going. And probably in today's world, as far as being practical is concerned, it would be rather a foolish thing to do to start out to go somewhere and not know where you're going. Of course there are people that do that and they just go out driving somewhere and we'll we'll stop wherever we happen to think it looks good and looks nice and then we'll go on and.
We can do that, but I don't believe that the Lord was leading Abraham to lead that kind of life.
God had purposes for Abraham.
And I want to say to each one here, sometimes it seems very difficult today to see where we're going in our lives down here. I don't want to sound like an old man, but I am getting older and I when I was growing up, things were relatively stable in Canada and the United States and the institutions and the things that were.
Solid and counted on in both countries. You could pretty well figure that they'll be there tomorrow and they'll be there next month, or next week, or next year, or in the next five years or whatever. Of course, we knew that God might introduce something unexpected, but generally speaking, things went along on a pretty even keel.
Young people could grow up, as I said, before they could.
Get married, raise a family and things pretty well progressed evenly.
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That's all. Been upset in the last few years we've had a number of things happen which changed everything we had back in 2001, something we call 911.
And anyone old enough to remember probably can say exactly where he or she was and what they were doing at the time. I certainly can't. And then we had the COVID pandemic, and that's pretty recent, and that changed this whole world.
And a number of other things more recently, like the war in the Ukraine and the war in Israel.
And.
Now everything in this world is uncertain what's going to happen tomorrow. No one really knows. And everyone says I don't know where things are going. And I want to speak particularly to each one here, but especially to the young people.
You can launch out in this world.
And even though you say I don't know exactly where I'm going or where things are going to go.
They say that most young people today by the time they're 30 years old have had at least seven different jobs. Some have that many before they're 30. Things have moved get you get moved around a lot more and life changes and so on. Nothing wrong with that as long as it's done before the Lord and with his mind. But what I want to say to you is you can have faith that the same Lord that.
LED Abraham to go out, not knowing whither he went.
Can lead you in a pathway in obedience to God's Word.
And to count on him, just imagine Abraham in Irv, the colonies going out probably with camels and everything like that, having to camp every night where he went, set up his tent, feed his animals, look after himself.
And then go on and go on and go on. And we know that he stopped in a place called Heron largely because of his father's influence, which wasn't particularly of the Lord.
But he eventually got to where the Lord wanted him.
You and I can launch out and have faith that the Lord will lead us even in a difficult world today and provide for us in the same way that He provided for Abraham.
Verse 9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country.
Dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
That brought in something for the Jews.
That they, I don't believe, wanted to hear. And it's not easy for you and me to hear it either.
And that is if you and I are going to follow Christ.
We are going to follow a rejected Christ.
When the Lord Jesus came into this world, many rejected him, but there were a good number.
That admitted that he was the Messiah and believed in Him, but they expected that he would set up a glorious earthly Kingdom.
And when they found out that he was going to die and when he told them that they would be following a rejected Christ.
And that it was not going to be an easy pathway. And that it would split families sometimes and it would cause them to be rejected by others who did not believe on the Lord Jesus. And that they would be called up sometimes in front of kings and rulers and authorities and persecuted for their faith. They did not want to hear that.
And if I can say so bluntly, neither do people want to hear that today.
Abraham had to live a separate life and he had to live without a fixed dwelling place. Now, does that mean you and I can't own a home? No, it doesn't. Does that mean you and I can't have a fixed dwelling place? No. It would be impractical in much of North America to pitch a tent and live in it. There are parts of the world where you can do that would be It would be a little bit difficult.
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Much of North America and it would be impractical. The point is.
We have to be ready to follow a rejected Christ as Abraham did in his own way now. Like was different back then and what he knew was not what you and I know.
But what kept him going? What kept him going? He looked for a city which hath foundations.
You don't put a foundation under a tent normally, do you?
I've always enjoyed sleeping in tents.
For a short period of time.
I don't mind admitting it that when I was younger I like to go wilderness camping and my son enjoyed it, my daughter enjoyed it, Don Ruhl enjoyed it. He wouldn't mind my saying that his daughter enjoyed it too and so did others that wanted to come along. And we would enjoy going into as wild a wilderness as we could find, like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.
Where they keep it looking pretty much the way it did 200 years ago.
Or more.
Great times roughing it, going around in a canoe with a 50 LB pack on your back and a canoe on your shoulders, cortaging from lake to lake when the Rapids were too rough to run, and so on.
But it's not an easy life. You have to pack up a lot of things. If you want to move, you have to provide for yourself. It's more difficult. No doubt when Abraham lived in the land of Canaan, many of those Canaanites had permanent dwellings, permanent homes, permanent properties, permanent farms, the only thing, as far as we know, that Abraham ever owned in the land of Canaan.
Excuse me? Was a burial plot, and so it wasn't an easy life.
I don't mean you and I should live like that, but the point is we are going to be following, as I said a moment ago, a rejected life. But what rejected Christ, but what we are to look forward to?
Is that city that hath foundations?
I don't believe Abraham.
Knew that that would be in heaven.
He knows now. Excuse me.
He knows now and that's why it says going down to verse 16.
But now they desire a better country.
Why do they know that? Because Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are with the Lord.
They now know they're going to inherit the Kingdom on the heavenly side.
But.
Excuse me, but at 8, when Abraham lived on earth, I believe all he knew was that he would get it in resurrection, whether it would be earthly or heavenly. I don't believe he knew that at that point. That hadn't been revealed yet. I don't believe he knew what was going to happen in resurrection. Would he inherit an earthly Kingdom with foundations? Would he be in a heavenly Kingdom?
That maybe wasn't clear, but that kept him going.
And it can keep you and me going too.
OK, let's go on verse 11.
By faith also sin.
Herself. And then it goes on to tell us where her faith was, and how that she received strength to conceive and to have a child when she was really, by any natural parameter, too old to bear children.
The comment I would make on this is.
I want to try and I don't want this to come out the wrong way.
But I read this even in occasional secular books, and I don't read a lot of them. For things that you can read from various sources, there is a concern.
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About young people today.
Perhaps.
If I can say it kindly, predominantly young men, but sometimes young women too.
Who live at home with their parents.
And don't particularly take much interest in getting married and setting up their own home. And sometimes there are very practical reasons why they think that way. Housing, at least where I am in Canada, is extremely expensive.
And for young couples to break into the housing market is very, very hard.
You almost need 2 incomes and then if the wife wants to have they want to have children and the wife has a baby or two and she wants in a good Christian way to look after those children properly, then away goes that second income and it makes it very difficult.
Is that? Am I striking a practical note? I think so.
All I would say to you is.
God's order for man has not changed, and I am not suggesting that everyone should get married.
And some people are a little slow to make up their minds.
Many here are old enough to remember my late Uncle Ned dear. Affectionately known as Uncle Ned to many here, he took a really long time to make up his mind.
And why he and Aunt Yura couldn't have found themselves when they were younger. Left some of us as nephews and nieces scratching our heads. But he didn't get married till he was 62. Pushing things a little, wouldn't you say?
Anyway, they had 25 happy years or thereabouts and that was fine and that was OK, but a little bit steep if you want to have them raise a family.
I would only say to you young people here.
Don't let the state of this world discourage you.
It may be more difficult than it used to be.
But God's order is, and Paul speaks about it. Not that marriage is for everyone. Some are happy and contented and do well leading a single life. I'm not saying that. But if there's an opportunity to be married, to raise a family, to leave.
For a young man to leave his father and mother, a scripture says.
I believe God will provide the Sarah for you.
And if you're a Sarah, I believe God will provide an Abraham for you too.
Look to the Lord, leave it to Him. Ask Him to help you workout the details.
And I believe he will. It may not be easy, but he'll help you workout the details. It's far worse in some countries. Go over to Angola now and the local culture there is. You can't get legally married until you have a huge dowry. Huge dowry, thousands of dollars, which none of them can afford.
Maybe the young man saves up all his money and thinks he's got enough for the dowry. But then the girl's family, as we say in modern language, moves the goal posts. Well, you know, since you got engaged to her in that, she's now got a driver's license, so she's worth more. So that's another whatever to add to the dowry. And on and on it goes.
Bad business. It's difficult in many places in this world.
But I believe the Lord will show us away. Let's remember Abraham and Sarah.
Worked together. They didn't always agree. Sometimes Sarah had to listen to Abraham. Sometimes Abraham had to listen to Sarah when she gave him good advice. But they were one, and the Lord blessed them.
Verse 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having.
Seeing them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth.
One time one of my children said to me, Dad, I think we're probably the 1St generation that isn't going to be better off.
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Than their parents.
She was probably right.
Technically I'm not a baby boomer. I escaped it by one year.
But they called the baby boomers the privileged generation.
They grew up when everything was expanding after the Second World War, the economy was expanding, life was good. But by the time their children came along, things had changed a little bit, and now we've got all kinds of different.
Generation X and Millennials and Generation Z and I don't know what all meets with their particular characteristics and particular outlook and particular problems.
Remember.
Even if you don't have as much as your parents, don't worry about it. The whole point is, the reward for a faithful life before the Lord is always, always, always in resurrection. And if you don't believe that, as William Kelly once said, if you want the truth on anything, bring Christ in.
What did the Lord Jesus look like when he died?
I say he looked like what did his life look like? It looked like a total fade. His nation had rejected it.
Those that had been the recipients of all his love and grace, working miracles, speaking to them, feeding them, turned around and rejected them. His own follower and the person of Judas betrayed him. All the rest of his disciples forsook him and fled. One of them denied him with oaths and curses, and no one was there.
When he went to the cross.
His life looked like a failure.
Was it a failure?
Turn to Second Timothy chapter.
2.
I have to think of that sometimes where it is Second Timothy 2.
And I'm going to read this verse because it changes the meaning as it is in the Darby translation.
Look at your King James and tell me if this changes the mean.
Second Timothy 2 and verse 8.
Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David comma raised from the dead according to my gospel.
Did it change the meaning a bit?
I put in one comma and took out two words.
But it changes the meaning.
Paul didn't want Timothy so much to remember the fact of the resurrection of Christ.
As to remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead according to my gospel.
What does he, what did he say? He's really saying, Timothy.
The reward for the Lord Jesus faithfulness was in resurrection, not down here. It's the same for you and for me. Now, some of us may not have to go through resurrection. We may be alive and well when the Lord comes. I hope so. I hope all of us are.
I hope he comes tonight, but whatever way it happens.
The reward is going to be in resurrection. We don't have to have more than our parents have. I have much more than my parents had.
But it's not always going to be that way.
The point of it all is not what we have, but whether we use what we have for the Lord.
And that Abraham did. Now the Lord happened to make Abraham a wealthy man.
And the surrounding Canaanites said, Thou art a mighty Prince among us. The Lord makes some Christians a mighty Princess in this world.
Sometimes when I go over and I don't mind mentioning the country, but if I go to India, for example, not only India, but that's one place. And people will say not so much the brethren that I know there, but other people, oh, where are you from? They always want to know where you're from, Where are you from, Where are you from? Recognizing white man's face and all that.
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Stand out there in most cases.
And so I'll tell them from Canada. Oh, Canada. Oh, Canada, very rich country. Oh, yes, yes, Sir. Somebody that's with you. Oh, I'm from the United States. Oh, us, very rich country, very rich country, and so on.
And even some of my dear brethren will talk like that and they'll say, brother, you, you, you people in Canada and the US, you, you really have, you really have a lot.
And I usually talk to them this way. I say, well, then you better pray for us. You pray for us. We won't turn to it. But it's in Luke 12 where it tells us that the more we have, the more we're going to be held responsible for.
Sorry. So you pray for us because we're going to be held far more responsible than those who have less as to how we used it and what we did with it.
Abraham used his for the Lord even though he was a wealthy man.
Well, let's go on.
We won't go into everything here because our time is going verse 17.
One not another, By faith. By faith. Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac.
And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son.
Of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called accounting, that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure.
Can you think of any tribe more severe than having to do that? Can you imagine? There are a number of fathers here. Can any one of you fathers imagine?
Taking a son.
On a journey of several days, on the third day taking him up to the top of a high hill or a mountain.
Building an altar, laying him on that altar, tying him up.
And then lifting up.
A10 inch knife ready to plunge it into his heart. Can you imagine doing that?
I have only one son, as most of you know, and I remember going through that in my own mind.
At one point in my life and think, could I bring myself to do that?
Even if God expressly commanded me to do it.
How could Abraham do now? We know he didn't do it because God restrained him, but he was ready to. How could he do it? Because it wasn't the first thing that Abrahams faith was tested against.
Abraham had proven the Lord over and over and over again over a course of a number of years when this happened. I don't know exactly how old Isaac was when this happened, but he was a young man. He wasn't just a kid, if we could use that expression. He was able to help carry the wood and all that sort of thing, and he was intelligent enough to notice the fire in the wood and.
Say, where is the lamb? And so on.
Abraham had been tested before, first of all, as to his journey from Ur of the colonies to the land of Canaan. Then by the way the Lord kept him all those years. By the way Isaac's birth had taken place.
Contrary to nature. And then when God made him promises concerning that very son Isaac, saying, In Isaac, shall thy seed be called?
Abraham said In that case, even if I sacrifice.
That son of mine.
God can raise him from the dead, and I know he will.
What tremendous faith that was.
And I say to each one here tonight.
God is going to test your faith in mind.
He often tests.
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But he tests us in little things first and then bigger things, and if we respond in the right way, then will God will test us in bigger things.
That really test our faith, but God does it by degrees and it's a wonderful thing as you find your faith strengthened. But how does our faith become strengthened? By trusting the Lord.
And it's a wonderful thing to have proven the faith that God gives us.
Some have a higher degree of faith than others.
George Mueller, who lived back in the 1800s, was remarkable for his faith.
One time he was on a sailing vessel coming over to Canada.
And in those days, they didn't have radar or steam engines or anything, at least not on this particular trip. They certainly didn't have any of that. And they got into what's called the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which is where the Saint Lawrence River that is at least part of the boundary between Canada and the US, flows out into the Atlantic Ocean.
And at that point, you get Arctic water coming down from the north.
And you get the Gulf Stream coming up from the South. And when that cold meets that warmth, that big Gulf of Saint Lawrence, where the Saint Lawrence River flows out into the Atlantic Ocean, often has a lot of fog. And they call it sometimes pea soup fog because it's about it's hard to see through, is trying to see through a bowl of pea soup.
If you've ever tried that, I don't recommend it, but anyway.
The point is.
The ship just couldn't go anywhere. And finally George Muter went up to the captain and he said, captain, I have a speaking engagement to Morrow evening in Quebec City and I've never missed a speaking engagement in my life.
Well, the captain was a believer, but he got a little irritated and he said, and Mr. Mueller, you have a speaking engagement, but we happen to have some fog.
And we can't navigate in fog because the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at this time of year is full of icebergs. We don't want to collide with an iceberg or we'll go down. So what do you expect me to do?
HUD, George and Hoodler said quietly. Captain, let's kneel down and pray about it.
Well, what could you say to that if you were a Christian? So they knelt down, and George Mueller prayed earnestly that the Lord would lift the fog.
And he finished praying.
Then he said, now captain, you pray. But the before the captain had a chance to open his mouth, George said on second thought, captain, don't bother, He said, I can see that you don't believe it's going to work.
As far as I'm concerned, it's already working. Let's get up there and get those sales up and get going.
Faith.
They walked out of the captain's cabin.
And the captain almost fell down the hatchway because it was just as if somebody was rolling up a stage curtain. The fog was just lifting like that, going up, up, up, up like that.
Faith, faith in the Lord that he would do it.
Sometimes faith works the other way.
Back in the late 1600s, maybe I'll tell too many stories, but they're interesting. We might go a minute or two overtime. Take all the time you want. It's from an older brother, too.
Back in the late 1600s, the Scottish Covenanters were savagely persecuted by King Charles the Second of England, who is bent and bound. He was going to force them into the Anglican Church.
They were equally bent and bound that they weren't going to do that. They'd heard clear a clear and definite gospel from men like John Knox and George Wishart and others of the Reformers, and they didn't want to go into what they felt was just one notch below Roman Catholicism. So they resisted, and they would hold their meetings out of doors. They called them conventicals.
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And.
Of course, the soldiers of.
Charles the Second. We're up there looking for chances to raid these conventicles and capture people, sometimes kill them, sometimes take them prisoner, sometimes torture them, and all the rest of it.
And there were godly men there who traveled around preaching to these people at these conventicles.
In fact, and they lived a rough life, very rough life.
Then Alexander Peden, who was one of them, died at the age of 60.
And he was lying in a bed that was provided for him, he said. This is the first bed I've slept in for 32 years, 28 years, 28 years. You said this is the first bed I've slept in.
Lived in outdoors life, lived in caves and anywhere he could and so on. And there were others like that. But anyway, to get on with our story, can't remember which one it was, It was either Alexander Peden or another man by the name of Huey Cameron that was preaching at that conventicle.
And the soldiers raided them and there they were, riding around on their horses, ready to try and capture people.
Well, Alexander Peden had bad arthritis and he couldn't, he couldn't get away even if he wanted to run and.
He just lifted up his hands and he said, Lord, Lord, please send some fog. Send some fog down.
And it's recorded that it was again, only this time it was like the stage curtain being lowered. Suddenly there was this tremendous fog that came down and you couldn't see anything. And all those dear believers that were a moment ago listening to a sermon just stayed exactly where they were. And all they heard was shouting and cursing and carrying on as the soldiers tried to find them. And they rode their horses around.
And the horses stumbled over rocks and fell into pits and.
Soldiers are throwing off their horses and bark their shins on rocks and finally gave it up as a bad job. Nobody was injured, nobody was captured, nobody was killed. All because of some fog that the Lord said faith.
You and I can have that same faith today in walking with the Lord.
Well, let's go on. We'll finish off quickly here.
What about verse 20?
By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
You young people and you children, here you've read about how.
Isaac.
Blessed Jacob and Esau, haven't you? Do you remember the story how Isaac was going to bless Esau?
And his wife, Rebecca said to Jacob, Jacob, you do what I say and we're going to get you the blessing. And you remember the story how she went and got Jacob to bring a couple of kids of the goats. And well, she looked after preparing savory meat and all the rest of it. She made it. She knew all the tricks. She made it taste as if Isaac was going to be eating venison from a deer instead of kids of the goats.
Cook and Jacob went in and had the skins of the goats on his arms and on his neck, so he seemed like his older brother Esau that had a hairy constitution.
And he deceived his father.
Does that sound to you as if Isaac was blessing Jacob by faith?
You look at that and you'd say by faith, that's really stretching a point.
You know.
Sometimes we do things in our lives with things that are added to it that have to do with the old nature, don't we?
But sometimes underneath it all there is that which wants to honor the Lord, even if we do it in the wrong way.
And you know, in Hebrews 11, the failure is generally left out. But what God sees the faith for, He rewards. Jacob realized deep down inside. He knew that the younger would serve the elder. He knew that God's purposes, as far as the blessing was concerned, were centered in Jacob's family, not Aesop's. Now, did that mean that Esau couldn't be blessed to? Yes, he could have.
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And he could have followed the Lord, but he didn't care. He sold his birthright to Jacob.
For one plate of food.
Jacob knew how to take advantage of Esau when he was really hungry. And when people are really hungry, you know, there's just about nothing you won't do to get a good plate of food. And Jacob said, hey, you want, you want, you want some of this food, sell me your birthright. Very kind of low down trick for Jacob to do. But Esau gave in to it. And it's mentioned in this same book of Hebrews.
In the next chapter that he saw for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. He didn't care.
About the things of the Lord.
And deep down inside, Isaac knew that Jacob cared.
Then the Lord looked at him and saw him that saw that faith. Remember brethren, some of us at least I can look back in failure in my life. And there are things you say, oh if I could only have that time over again.
But if God saw underlying it of faith that wanted to honor him, even if it wasn't done altogether in the right way.
God sees the faith He honors.
Verse 21 by faith Jacob, when he was a dying bless both the sons of Joseph.
And worship, leaning upon the top of his staff.
Do you remember what Jacob did when he blessed the sons of Joseph?
Joseph brought his older son, Vanessa.
And brought him toward his father's right hand.
Because the right hand was supposed to be the hand of the greater blessing.
And he brought his younger son Ephraim toward the left hand of Jacob. But do you remember what Jacob did? What did he do?
Crossed his hands.
Even though Jacob couldn't see, he crossed his hands and Joseph said to his father, No, no, no, no, no, father, this is the older one over here. Don't you know? Don't do that, Jacob said. I know, I know. Jacob had learned something. Jacob had learned something. He knew that once again, the elder was going to be.
A lesser man than the younger that Ephraim was going to be a more important individual than in the NASA.
Why was that?
Here's an exercise for some of the children here. See how many times you can find in the book of Genesis where a younger one in the family became more important than an older one.
Quite a few, the number of them, and there are more than one in some families. It's not always just the second one.
Very interesting, see what you can find. It's very interesting to see how many you can find.
Why is that? Because the older one speaks of the first man, which is Adam, who was a failure.
The second or younger son speaks of the Lord Jesus. Who is the 2nd man who succeeded and who?
Did what God wanted him to do.
In the stead of the first man who failed.
The first manners of the earth earthy it says in one Corinthians 15 the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven and there are multiple examples of that in the book of Genesis. So Jacob crosses his hands, but what?
Does it say about it?
What went along with that? He worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. Jacob had had his time with the Lord in the past.
He had wrestled with the Lord, you'll remember, over one in the fleshy way back when, and he was lame because of that wrestling match with the Lord. And also Jacob was an older man at the time and he had to use a cane maybe.
Probably most of you notice that I'm is not as steady on my feet as I used to be.
I was much encouraged the other day, though, and reading some history and reading how that JN Darby, when he was exactly my age, was going up to some meetings and there was an older brother on each side of him helping him to the meetings. So I thought, OK, that's, that's fair enough. It's not that I say I'm any much any much like him, don't get me wrong, but I just it's kind of encouraging.
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But anyway, the point is.
He learned something. He profited by the Lord's dealings with. Sometimes you're like Jacob.
Jacob schemed and planned all his life rather than trusting the Lord.
Her not all his life, but most of it. And he suffered for it because his family picked up on it and then they did it too.
Very, very solemn, but he profited by the Lords dealings with and that's the important thing.
And finally.
Verse 22 By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones.
You and I might wonder why he would do that.
After all, what does it matter? Some people think that Joseph might have been buried in one of the pyramids if he'd stayed in Egypt. No, that that that doesn't work. Pyramids existed long before Joseph. He probably saw them. In fact, I know he did. He must have, because they were there long before Joseph was ever there.
But the point is that why would it matter where Joseph was failed? Why couldn't he been content to be buried in Egypt?
The land of Canaan represented to him everything that God had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and ultimately to him too. It represented all the promises.
Now it doesn't matter where we're buried in this world. As I've sometimes said to people, it doesn't matter where you are. When the Lord gives a shout, you will rise. No matter where you are. It doesn't matter.
But Joseph looked on, and if we could say in a how would we put it? Abraham represents the calling of God. He represents calling. Isaac represents perhaps sonship. He grew up in that privileged position.
Jacob represents discipline.
But Joseph speaks of blood.
Joseph took the under the glory for him. That land of Canaan was where God had promised he would take his people. Egypt wasn't their home. Joseph had an important place there. He was an important man. He was governor over all the land of Egypt. God had put him there, but he knew that that was not their home.
And he said, you take my bones and bury them up there in the land of Canaan. And that's recorded in Joshua that they did.
Just that they took them and buried them in the land of Canaan and so.
You and I are to look ahead to the day of glory, not so much to in connection with burial, but in connection with where are we heading?
And it comes out a little bit in what my father said at that brothers grave that I mentioned in the open meeting. He talked about Joshua being buried in his inheritance. You and I can have an inheritance and we do have it, but we can live in the enjoyment of it and.
Joseph said I want to be taken up there.