Glendale Conference: 1977
Table of Contents
Noah and the Last Days
Various Three Coming Events
Gospel
The Power of God unto Salvation
REV 22:1
Revelation 21:1-3 1
REV 22:1 2
The Lord's Guidance
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to speak this afternoon about how the Lord guides us. Even though it's a changing world we have in Him that which change is not. Yet we're surrounded with constant change. Isn't it very blessed that God, who knew beforehand all about these changes, has written down in His Word the direction that we need, and above all, to know the person who not only gives us direction.
By who goes with us? The captain of our salvation, the one who said to his disciples before he went away. Lo, I am with you always, or all the days, even to the end of the age. Well, I'd like to look first of all at a few scriptures in Job. We'll look at the 28th chapter of Job. There is a path which no foul knoweth, and which the vultures I hath not.
Not seen the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. Then passing on in this chapter to the 20th verse.
Whence then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding, seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air, Destruction and death, say, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God now understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof.
And shall we turn over to the Psalms Psalm 18?
And the 28th verse. For thou wilt light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
It is for who is God save the Lord, or who is a rock save our.
God, it is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like Hind's feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
And shall we turn over to the 32nd Psalm?
Verse 7.
Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Be not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto.
See and one more passage in Malachi chapter 3.
Malachi.
Chapter 3 and verse 6.
For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Well, I'd like to also look at some other scriptures later, but I've read these scriptures because I think it's very precious for us to know, brethren, that there is a path through this world, that there is one who has come to be the captain of our salvation, that he gives us the strength for the pathway, and that he's an unchanging one. What a comfort this is to our souls, as our brother remarked when he was talking to.
Children, it truly is a changing world. Everything about us seems to be changing, but isn't it blessed for our souls to think of that one who says I am the Lord, I change not. Indeed one of the names of God I believe is the same, the same. We know that people change, times change, but how blessed to know that one who is the same?
And has.
When we look out on life with all its difficulties and hard questions, with so many decisions to make that affect the whole rest of our lives, are we just left to the wisdom of man? Are we left to turn this way and that way, to hear the advice of every person and find it so varying? Oh, isn't it very blessed? I say, that we have an unchanging one. We have His unchanging word. We have the power that we need.
Walk in that path. And so as we think of this, it comforts our hearts, this 28th chapter of Job says.
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There is a path which no foul knoweth and which the vulture's eye hath not seen. We know the Vulture has a very keen eye. From a very great distance up in the sky it can look down and see its prey. It has such a keen vision. And so we might think, well, I think I'm a pretty keen person. I think I'm blessed with a measure of intelligence. I can see the problems and I think I can see the solutions.
All that there is a path that.
No foul N there is a path that human wisdom can never, never discover. And if we rely on human wisdom, how often we will go astray, how often we will be mistaken. And so he says there is this path, and he says the lion's wealth have not trodden it. Perhaps the lion represents to us strength. We meet some very strong characters, people who have, as the world says, the courage of their.
Convictions, they really stand for what they believe. But it says that human strength is not enough for this path. All the wisdom of man and all the strength of man can neither discover nor pass, nor having discovered it, can we walk in it. The Lord Jesus said, Without me ye can do nothing. And that word nothing means just what it says.
We can't make the smallest decisions in life or right.
Without the Lord to guide us and direct us, and as our brother mentioned when he was talking to the children, how blessed that we have such a book, a storehouse. I was enjoying that verse in the 119th Psalm, meditating upon it a little. Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. It seems to suggest to me that when God created man, He knew just exactly what he would need and.
And in his own time he gave the revelation for the path as we needed it, but in his own counsels and purposes. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. What a treasure we have in this precious book. It's not at all out of date. It's right up to date. It's just exactly suited to the time in which we live. It's suited to every civilization.
It's suited to every place with its customs.
And and culture the Word of God written for all time, written for all people upon the earth. What a blessed thing to have such a book, it says here in the.
It says here in the 28th chapter of Job, in the 20th verse. Whence then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding, seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living?
The greatest and wisest man who lived, Solomon said of the writing of books, there is no end. Yes, the printing press is turning out books. And remember when my son was going to school, I said why? The printing press can't keep up with the advancing knowledge. Knowledge is the head of the printing press. A man is learning more and more, and yet with all his wisdom, he doesn't have the solution to the problems that are.
Most important, he can't stop disease, he can't cure the troubles that exist in so many homes and in so many lives. He can't correct the troubles that exist in the nations and even we who are Christians in the problems that we meet. Isn't it true that wisdom is not found in the man who tries to get it apart from God and from His Word?
It's hid from the eyes of all living.
Kept secret from the fowls of the air. And when it says destruction and death, say we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. Perhaps it means at the end of life that those who have refused the wisdom of God's word say, I see I've missed the past, I've heard the fame. There was a path, and I spent my life floundering around, going my own way.
Instead of following His word, did you ever meet anyone?
One who at the end of his life said, I'm sorry, I followed the wisdom of God's Word. There was a much better path than that. Never. No. But there are many, many who when they come to the end of life have to say, oh, I wish that I had listened to the voice of knowledge as revealed in God's Word. I wished I had been like the one who said, He openeth mine ear. Mourning by morning He openeth mine ear.
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To hear as the instructed 1. And so each morning, how good for us to start out with those words that were spoken by Saul of Tarsus.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do to seek His guidance, to seek His direction? Because He loves and He knows and He cares. Sometimes we might ask advice from someone, and maybe we think they're pretty wise, but they don't love us. They don't really care very much.
About us. And we feel as though the advice they give was impersonal. Not concerned about us. That isn't the way our precious Savior treats us. We're dear to Him. He has prepared those wonderful mansions above that we've been reading about in the meetings in the 21St and 22nd of Revelation. And can we ever think that He's not concerned about every step of our pathway as we go there?
Oh, he does know, and I hope there will be none of us who will have to say at the end.
When we come to the end of the life, all that I had hearkened to God's word, if I'd only listened to the wisdom that comes from destruction and death, say we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. Those in a lost eternity will never have a doubt that God's word was true. They will never have a doubt that God intended blessings for man.
But it will be forever lost to them, destruction and death. Say we have heard the fame with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof. Isn't this very blessed? There is one who understands. There is One who knows. As one has mentioned sometime, Mr. Einstein said at the end of his life. I believe I'll no less than.
One 100% about anything. Just think of a man with such a mighty intellect at the end of his life having to make a remark like that. And then to think that we people who have far less intelligence than he had, God has put us in touch with the wisdom that cometh from above. That's first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Mr. Darby once said, I don't know of anything more foolish than to refuse to listen to someone who knows more than yourself. And can we refuse to listen to the God who made this universe, who formed us and who cares for us, who has proven his love in the gift of his beloved son? Well, then, we see here this question.
Raised.
Where is the path? Well, we turned over to the 18th chapter of the 18th Psalm rather, and here it says in this.
28th verse For thou wilt light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. That is, he'll mark out the path. And then the next verse says, For by thee I have run through a troop, by my God I have leaped over a wall. Why does it say this? Well, perhaps when you get some instruction from God's word, the devil says, oh, that's impossible. Can't you see that wall in front of you? You just can't follow that.
Kind of instruction that's just impossible. Oh, he said when God shows me the path, he also helps me to run through a troop and to leap over the wall. Yes, it's very blessed that when God gives the path for us he gives the strength. That's why the psalmist said here in this 33rd verse he maketh my feet like Hinds feet. I guess we've all seen the little hind and when it comes.
Belong to a barricade or a fence or something. You don't have to open the gate or remove the fence all how gracefully those little feet just take a leap and over the wall. That little animal goes so gracefully and can the Lord make our feet like Hinds feet. Is there someone here and you say, well the Lord is showing me some things in these meetings, but I just see a wall in front of me I see.
Truth and I don't know how I could ever follow that instruction that he's given. Isn't this beautiful, brethren? By thee I have run through a tree, a troop, and by my God, have I leaped over a wall. Yes, He gives the strength to rise above the difficulty to run right through it, for his word is the instruction that we need. The 30th verse says As for God.
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His way is perfect.
I guess many of us as Christians have had to repeat those words to ourselves very often. We have so often come to some difficulty in life and.
The enemy would whisper, why, if the Lord loves you, if He cares for you, why has He allowed this? Does He really desire to bring you through a path of blessing and happiness and faith can say, and I hope each one of us will memorize these words and often say them to ourselves. As for God, His way is perfect. He makes absolutely no mistakes. He never directs.
In a wrong path, our wills often put us in a wrong path, but never his word. As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. Isn't that beautiful too? That is those who have walked in it can say I've tried it sometimes as I travel and we look at the road map and there's a certain way that looks pretty good and some brother will say, oh, you better not go that way. I've tried that. That's that's not a very good.
But God has not only given us the instruction in His Word, but isn't it blessed? The captain of our salvation went through the path before us, as we often sing. All of pathless Saints are treading trodden by the Son of God. All the sorrows they are feeling felt by Him along the road. He has not only marked out the path, but the captain of our salvation has trodden the path.
The way is perfect and the word of the Lord is tried. I remember hearing about a lady and she had little markings in her Bible beside a lot of verses. She had two letters T&P and someone picked up her Bible and saw this in quite a few verses and right beside it T&P and said well what does this mean? All she said it means tried and proven.
Isn't it lovely those who go on in the past can say it's tried and proven The captain has gone through before and he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. We need him for a buckler, don't we? We're naturally faint hearted, we're naturally cowards, we're naturally hold back. But he's a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God? Save the Lord, Who is the rock? Save our God. It is God that.
Girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. Who is the one that undertakes to give strength? Not some friend, no matter how fine a friend he may be or she may be, but it's the one who is the creator of all things, the one who loves us, who is God, saves the Lord. It's very lovely thought, I believe because the the title of the Lord is Jehovah in the Old Testament, the name that he took in covenant relationship.
With His people, not only the mighty One who inhabits eternity, but the One who took a covenant relationship with His people, who is God save the Lord, the one who sought the blessing of His people.
And so he says, he maketh my feet like Hinds feet, and sets me upon my high places. I rather enjoy the latter part of that verse too. He makes my feet like Hinds feet, and then it says and setteth me upon my high places. Cause the little hind, as it jumps over that fence or barricade, or whatever, it comes down on the other side.
But he says you don't have to be like that. Just take a jump.
And he says you don't have to come down on the other side. That is, he'll set you on the high place. He'll bring you into that place where you can enjoy that communion with himself.
So here we find God's perfect way. Well, then we turn over to this 32nd Psalm that we've read and it says here.
The seventh verse Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
So we do have these troubles, but it says here thou art my hiding place. So in the times of trouble, we have a place where we are preserved, we have a hiding place, we have one in whom we can rest. Isn't it lovely when we go through some problem to have some friend who loves us and cares for us, that we can just go to that friend and talk it over and pour out our hearts without restraint? So often we feel.
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Reserve. We're sort of afraid to tell people all our inner feelings because we don't. We're not sure that they would really enter into it, or perhaps they wouldn't understand. But not so with this person. He is the one who is our hiding place. He's the one that we can talk to so perfectly, so freely, because he knows us through and through. He knows the way that we take. He knows everything about us.
And so he said, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. And here I would like to pause to say, as perhaps you have heard me say before, the importance of acquainting ourselves with God's Word. How are we going to know the instruction if we don't read His Word? So I believe, brethren, it's very, very important.
That we acquaint ourselves well with this precious word of God.
God, I've often said that in the Old Testament we have pictures that as our brother brought before us this afternoon, pictures that suit the various situations of life, and then we also have definite instructions about how to act in these situations. That to me is very lovely. Sometimes I do a little bit of work in fixing my car and I always like it when there's not only Britain instruction, but.
There is a little diagram that shows you how to do it. I find I need both in order to do it properly. I need the picture and I need the written instructions and we need the Old Testament. We need the pictures and we need the instructions. It's all in this blessed book. So he says, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go, for you have his word. I will guide thee with mine eye.
Because I believe the new translation reads, I will guide thee with thine eye upon thee. So sometimes there's someone there, and as you are doing the job, there is someone just watching every move. And as you make a move that isn't just right, He just puts out his hand and says, this is the way it should be. He guides us with His eye upon us. I say again, brethren, he cares. And so we not only have the instruction of His word, but He does want us to know.
And he has given us this, and it tells us not to be like the horse of the mule. It's true you can guide a horse, you can guide a mule, but you've got to put a bit in his mouth. And it's not a very pleasant way for that poor animal to have the rains jerked on his and feel out in his mouth to turn his head. He doesn't. He's not guided by the eye of the master, but by that bit and bridle.
Well, sometimes the Lord has to.
The bed and bridle on us too. Sometimes he has to jerk us up, you know. But as dear Mr. Darby once said, far better that he should use the bitten bridle than leave us to our own way. And so if he does jerk us up occasionally, and all of us have experienced this, when he's had to use the bit and bridle and he's had to jerk us, let us remember it's because he wants to guide us. He doesn't want us to take the wrong path. He doesn't want us to.
Miss the way that is for blessing for his glory, for our happiness, so he does want to direct our whole pathway all through this scene while the other verse that I read we need hardly turn to again. It says I am the Lord, I change not That's the precious Nagen. I'll quote the verse our brother gave us in the talk to the children.
Jesus Christ.
The same yesterday and today and forever.
Times change, the world changes, friends change, but we have His unchanging word, His unchanging love, His unchanging care.
We have his interest in us all through the pathway. He changes not and that's why it says, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed because you know, when we have friends and they disappoint us over and over again, it's pretty hard to maintain the same feelings of love toward them, but we have grieved the Lord over and over again.
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But he changes not. He loves his own to the end.
And as one is often remarked, the Scriptures that show us that he does love us to the end are always brought before us at a time when failure had come in among the people of God at the end of their wilderness journey. It says, yeah, he loved the people. All his Saints are in my hand. Jeremiah was announcing judgment on that purring people who had turned to other gods. And this lovely 31St chapter.
Jeremiah comes in. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn me.
Again we come to Malachi, and there we find the people. They have to come back from the captivity. But they had said it was vain to serve the Lord. They were offering the Lord the lame and the blind. They were departing from His ordinance. And He begins the word to them by saying the burden of the word of the Lord by Malachi. I have loved you.
Saith the Lord. And so if there's anyone here this afternoon.
And you say, well, I'm afraid that I've urged so far. I've taken so many bad steps in my life. There's so messed things up that I couldn't count upon all these things you're speaking about. I say, you can. He changes not, he changes not. It is true that we have to reap what we sow, but isn't it very blessed that lovely verse in Isaiah that says in all their afflictions.
He was afflicted. That means that the troubles they brought on themselves He entered into and went along with them in that wilderness journey. Did you ever think of why that Tabernacle was made and the situation in the occasion on which it was built, Why the people had sinned and God said they were going to have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years?
And live in tents instead of enjoying that good.
Plan and the Lord said, make me attend and I'll live among you. Wasn't that grace? He said, I know that you're going to have to spend 40 years in this wilderness in tents, but he said I love you and I'm going to make a provision that I can dwell among you. And so that lovely Tabernacle providing a way where God could dwell in the midst of his people, provide a way of approaching to his presence without compromising any of his.
Holiness or His truth, He provided a way that maintained all His glory and His Holiness, and in all their reflection He was afflicted. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, now the pillar of fire by night, in all their journeys. What a wonderful God we have, I say. How willing to guide us. Now we'd like to turn to a few verses, perhaps well known to us in Chronicles.
First Chronicles chapter.
Chapter 12.
And verse 32.
And the children, and of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, the heads of them were 200 and all their brethren were at their command.
I don't know whether I said first Chronicles 12 verse 32 and then I'd like to turn to another verse in Acts chapter 13.
And verse 36.
For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his Father's, and saw corruption.
I have read these two verses because I believe they bring before us something that is very instructive for us. That is here have these men of Issachar had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do and then we find in Acts chapter 13 it says.
That David served his own generation by the will of God.
And brethren, the Lord has placed us in 1977. He hasn't placed us in the days of Pentecost. He hasn't placed us in the time of the Reformation under Martin Luther. He hasn't placed us in the times when God raised up the testimony in Mr. Donde or Mr. Darby.
He doesn't change, but times change and we need to have the wisdom of His Word for the very time in which we live.
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A time when King David was rejected and there were those who sought him and went out and they dwelt with him in that cave. But when we come to this time in First Chronicles 12 here we find that.
They had come to make David king and now there was the wisdom needed as to how to act when David was being made king. And I believe it's very important for us. You remember when the Lord Jesus was here, the disciples said to the Lord, shall we bring down fire from heaven and consume them as Elias did? Didn't they have a definite scripture for that course of conduct?
Yes, but they didn't understand the times because the Lord said he know not what manner of spirit you are of. Had God's word changed? Had His Holiness changed? Had his character changed? Not at all. But they needed wisdom to know how to act in the time in which they were. And we need wisdom to act. There was the time and the day of Pentecost when they were all of 1 heart and one soul.
When they were all together in one place, when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, oh, what a time of blessing. It was a wonderful time, but we're not living in those days today. We're living in the last days of the Church's history. There was no decision to be made in that time as to what company of Christians they should be associated with, because God had wrought mightily and they were there in one place.
Filled with the Holy Ghost, what is our brother brought before us in the young peoples yesterday? Now we're living in days at the very close of the dispensation. And now we need to find that the Word of God not only directed them in that time, but also shows us how we are to act in these last days of the church's history. And just as those disciples were not to call down fire, but rather to realize that the Lord.
Jesus was among his people there in grace to bless them. So for us in these times, we need to have wisdom for the very times in which we live. And the Lord can give us that wisdom for the very days in which we live, so that we can go on for God's glory understanding of the times. Do we depart from His Word for this? Never.
All the direction is right there in his word, but it's most blessed.
For us to rightly divide the word of truth and to understand the times in which we live so that we would know how we should act.
And so we find in the time of Mr. Darby, there was a great work going on. Now we're living in the very closing days and so we have to understand the times. But there is a path even in these difficult days.
We can go on for the Lord, we can go on in the light and wisdom of His word, even in the days in which we live. And if you notice in this 12TH chapter of First Chronicles, these were coming to make David king. And it mentions a certain number out of all the different tribes who came, all except those of Issachar. And when it comes to the children of Issachar it says.
They had understanding.
The times to know what Israel ought to do. And the heads of them were 200 and all their brethren were at their command. Isn't this a remarkable thing, All the others it mentions a certain number, but this one particular tribe it says that the heads of this tribe had understanding, and all their brethren were at their command. And I believe that if you and I seek to be before the Lord, that he will give us that wisdom for the path in the very.
In which we live, we need His word, but we also need to walk in communion with the Lord. We need to be close to Him so that we have discernment for the very times in which we live. We have a little example of this in connection with Barack. You know, Barack was called upon to live in a very difficult day in Israel's history. The people had departed from the Lord. They were about to be carried into captivity, and he copied out the words at the mouth.
Jeremiah And then he saw the king throw them in the fire.
And his heart was broken.
And he said he fainted in his crying, he was crushed. He didn't know what to do. It just seemed that everything was breaking down. And in the 45th chapter of Jeremiah, a special word from the Lord comes to Barack. And what is it this word to tell him? It was just to say this, Barack, you're living in days when everything.
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Going to pieces, but you'll be faithful to me. He said, Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. What does this mean? Seekest thou great things? Well, sometimes it's applied to seeking great things in a material way, but I don't believe that that's the thought in the verse at all. It would have been very pleasant for Barack to have been a prophet when God was building up the nation and blessing them as in the time of Solomon. That would be wonderful.
To be living in the times, will say of Mr. Darby, when the truth was just being revived, and to have part in the real blessing that accompanied that early work of God. But you say we're not living in times like that. No, we're not. Are we going to get crushed because we're living in 1977? The Lord said, Barack, don't see great things. Be content to go on in the path of obedience. Be content to go on in the path of obedience.
And some of you, dear young people, I know that you just like to see everything flourishing. And so would I. I wish I was living in a day when everything was flourishing and all the assemblies were going on happily and rejoicing and, and there was a powerful ministry and those great gifts of the early days were not living at that time. Is there a path for faith? Can we do the will of God? Can we serve our own generation according to the will of God? Do we have understanding of the times if we do?
Brethren, we can help our young people. We can help them to realize that we're living in these times, that there is a path for them, there is a usefulness for them. There is that which is pleasing to God. For in that day of manifestation, the great thing is not going to be how much was accomplished, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. That's what really counts. That's what's going to abide in.
That day, the rest is all going to be burned up. And so I want to encourage my brethren to go on in these days. I know there are trials, family trials, business trials, assembly trials. Can we go on faithfully? Do we have understanding of the times? Do we realize the enemy is at work to break up all it is of God And we say, well, it's just no use. Yes, it is some use. There is a path. It was well.
Worthwhile for Barack to copy out those words, even if they were thrown into the fire. He was doing the will of God. He was doing a noble service in his generation, even though there seemed little result from it. And so I believe if we do have understanding of the times, we can be made a blessing. We can serve the Lord in 1977. And if he leaves us here to 78, I don't expect to see things improve. I expect to see the problems increase. But.
There is a path and there is the strength to walk in it, and there is the wisdom of God's word for it too. But if we're looking for great results and if we're looking for something big, we may be disappointed. Oh, may the Lord help us to serve our own generation. Oh brethren, don't throw up your hands. There is many who are just longing to have help in these days. They say, what are we to do? All there is a path, there is the strength for.
I say, Well now I'd just like to make a few thoughts in these chapters that follow First Chronicles 13. And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, if it seemed good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad into our brethren everywhere.
That are left in all the land of Israel.
And with them also to the priests and Levites, which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us, and let us bring again the ark of our God to us. For we inquired not at it in the days of Saul, and all the congregations said that they would do so. For the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. Here we find David. Now there's something that he wants to do. It's a very good thing.
The Ark.
That had been neglected. He wanted to bring it back. He wanted to give the ark, which was the symbol of the Lord's presence among his people. He wanted to give it its rightful place. But how did he go about it? How did he go about it? Is it possible to do a right thing in a wrong way? Well, it's very evident here that this was so, because what did David do? Did he ask the Lord?
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No. Did he seek the light of God's Word? No.
He just went and sought the advice. Well, you say he sought the advice of a lot of good people, leaders of captains, and the thing was right in the eyes of all the people, wasn't this a very fine thing to want to bring up the ark? Didn't he seek advice from a great many? Yes, But he didn't do the two most important things. He didn't go to the word of God.
And he didn't ask the Lord for guidance.
He just did what these people advised and perhaps in all the story, having followed their advice, they made a new cart. This seemed very reverent that they weren't going to use some old cart, it had to be something new. Perhaps they thought they were having understanding of the times too and that they were a little more up to date in having this cart.
But we can never, never be beyond the light of God's Word. It doesn't matter whether we live in 1977 or AD 77. God's Word doesn't change. Brethren, we need to know the character of the days, but we also need to know an unchanging God and his unchanging Word. And so here we find that they.
And all agreed to do this. They made this new cart. Two men were chosen to occupy a very prominent place in Ohio, and everything seemed to go along fairly well for a time. And they started to bring the ark to the place where they wished to bring it. And the oxen stumbled.
And for Aza, he put out his hand to study the ark, and the Lord smote us.
And we knew all the sad results. And then it says David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon us. Do we ever get displeased when the Lord sort of frustrates our plans? We thought we were doing the right thing and we asked a lot of advice. And then we get kind of a little upset when the thing doesn't work. It doesn't seem to go through.
Well, David did too. He got a bit upset.
What was the trouble? I say the trouble was that he hadn't gone to the Word of God. He hadn't sought wisdom and help from the Lord. He had just followed this advice. Now I'm going to speak in a few moments in the 14th chapter, but just to notice a little in the 15th chapter.
Says in the second verse, Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him forever. And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord unto his place, which he had prepared for it.
And passing on.
The 13th verse. For because ye did it not at the first the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. So the priests and Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel, And the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon their shoulders, with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded, according to.
The word of the Lord.
Well, here we find something altogether different. We find that David now has searched the Word of God. He has found that God had laid down definite instructions about how the ark was to be carried. It wasn't to be placed upon a new cart. It was to be borne upon the shoulders of the Levites.
And that new cart represented something of man's accomplishments. Those two men out in front were giving prominence to man. The advice of all the leaders was giving quite a place to man. But can't you see in this whole setting it's entirely different. We're not even told who it was that carried the ark. There were a number of names mentioned, but we're not told just who it was that actually carried the ark upon their shoulders.
Because it was lifted up above their heads. He wasn't seeking man's advice. He was following the word of God. And so they did as God had said, and they brought up the ark. And we all know the joy and rejoicing that there was. It was brought right to Jerusalem. It was put in its place. The Lord was honored because they had followed His word. He might have said, well, we're living in a different time.
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No, God's Word hadn't changed at all. They needed to follow His Word. So this is very beautiful here to see that when He did follow the Word of God, then there was blessing, then there was joy. And in the next chapter, everyone in the whole congregation shared in the joy, was able to dispense to the others a piece of flesh and flag of the wine and bread, and they went home to their homes joyful.
God's word had been followed well, but now let's turn back to this 14th chapter, just for a moment.
The eighth verse.
And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went out against them. And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines, and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto him, Go up, for I will deliver them into thine.
A 13th VERSE Hemophilisteins yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley. Therefore David enquired again of God. And God said unto him, Go not up after them, turn away from them, and come upon them over against the Mulberry trees. And it shall be when thou hear a sound of going in the tops of the Mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle, for God is gone forth before thee.
To smite the host of the Philistines. David therefore did as God commanded him, and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer.
Reason I call your attention to this is because we were speaking about the bringing up of the ark and there were positive directions in the Word of God about how the ark was to be carried. And when David followed those directions, there was blessing. But now here comes the situation in this 14th chapter. And it wasn't something that there was a definite verse telling him what to do.
And brethren, there are situations arise in life.
Where we can't turn to an actual chapter and verse, perhaps some were exercised. Shall I come to these meetings in Glendale or shall I not? And you couldn't find a verse that said, I want you to go to Glendale in 1977. But you prayed about it and you sought the Lord's mind. Well, there are a lot of other decisions. Young people are making decisions at these meetings too. Some of them are making decisions about friends, some of them making decisions about jobs. Some of them are making.
Provisions I hope to follow the Lord, to go on for him. Very lovely. These are occasions when great decisions are often made, meetings like this. And so David inquired of God, Shall I go? Shall I not go? And God gave him an answer. I always say, brethren, sometimes we have a definite Scripture, but we also have that word, I will guide thee with mine eye, and may the Lord grant that we will do these.
Two things. Be well acquainted with His word, but seek to live in communion with Him day by day. Let it be the habitual thing of our life that there's nothing between US and the Lord, that when something comes between, we acknowledge it at once, and we're not really in communion with the Lord unless we can turn and talk to Him at any moment as our dearest friend, if there's something between.
There's a cloud and we ought to see.
To maintain that fellowship with God in our lives so that we have the light of His Word and also the direction that He gives us in these decisions that we have to make in life. Well, David inquired. The Lord answered him and told him to go. There was no definite Scripture, but he did have the Lord's guidance and he went out and there was a victory. Now the next time the Philistines came, he didn't say, Now I know what to do. I don't have to ask the Lord.
This time, because I've got a precedent now and I'll just go on the precedent. This is what we I did before and so I'll do it again. Oh no.
He knew that this was a fresh situation and there is no situation in your life or mine that's an exact duplicate of the one that's passed.
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Is different, we need special guidance. None of our children are alike. No assembly problems are exactly alike. No situation that arises in our business life is exactly the same as the one before. And so David didn't say, well, I'm just going to do what we did before. Isn't it nice here? He again inquired of the Lord and the Lord said it's a little different situation this time, David, I want you to go about it in a different way.
You don't go up and face them. You go around another way by the Mulberry trees. And he said, I'll undertake for you. And it's so in life God has to give us that special direction. And So what I want to impress upon myself and upon your heart is that we have full instruction in the word of God. We have perfect instruction. We have one who changes not. We have the power needed.
We have all this in His word, and if we.
Follow it. It's going to be for our blessing. There are also decisions that come where we may not have some definite scripture, but are we seeking to walk in the company of the Lord Jesus? Are we like Nehemiah or you say it's pretty hard when you're on the job? Well, Nehemiah was on the job. He was the King's cup there. And I'm sure it wasn't an easy job in that situation in the court of the king, but he kept in close communion with the Lord And when the king said.
And why is your countenance sad? For what do you make requests? He wouldn't even ask the king without first praying to the God of heaven and then saying to the king. Isn't that lovely?
So we find here with David and now I trust that I've spoken to my own heart and to yours. God wants to direct us. He has given us what we need in his word and it's perfect. Let us never, never question the wisdom of his word. And no matter whether there's a truth in front of us or a Lord or whatever, if he says gull in his word, go ahead. He can help you through the truth. He can give you Hinds feet to go over the wall and you'll thank him.
That the wisdom of his word. But then there are these other decisions that come, these things that arise in light for you say, oh, if I just had some verse of Scripture something. No, you say I don't have anything. Well, what did I do last time? I'll ask the Lord again. He knows the situation. He sees it from heaven. He looks down, he beholds the hearts of all and he knows that exactly everything.
Connected with that whole situation.
Can't see perhaps, but he sees it because he looks into the hearts of all and sees everything. And isn't it lovely that we have such a person that we can turn to? David followed that instruction and again there was victory in his life. Perhaps that's why in the next chapter he said, I'm not going to take a step alone again. If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to ask the Lord and follow the light of his word. And what blessing there was, the ark was.
Brought up to Jerusalem with joy shouting blessing extended to the whole congregation as a result of this. And I say to each one of us here, God not only has a blessing for you, but he can make you a blessing. He can make you a blessing. I say for it's a very lovely thing that we don't live to ourselves. Our lives do have an effect upon others. And if you and I seek to walk close to the Lord and.
Communion with Him and in the light of His Word, there will not only be a peace and a joy that He gives to us, but I say again, it will be a blessing. God said to Abraham, I'll bless thee and make thee a blessing. I'd like to just turn. In closing, just read a verse in Psalm 27 that I hope will be the prayer of each of our hearts.
Psalm 27 and verse 11.
Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies.
Gathering Sticks
Oneness is God's Purpose
Revelation 22:1-4 3
Revelation 21:1-3 1