Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Now I'd like to turn to the first chapter of James. James Chapter 1.
And the 12TH verse.
James One, verse 12.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived it, bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we.
Should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Now I'd like to turn back also to Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2.
And verse 16.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone. I will make and help me for him.
Now shall we turn over also to Ephesians chapter 1?
Ephesians chapter 1.
And the third verse.
Ephesians One, verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
In love.
And in Romans chapter 8.
Romans, chapter 8.
And beginning at the 28th verse. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called, according to his purpose, For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate them He also called, and whom he called.
He also justified, and whom He justified them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God before us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Just one more passage in Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2.
And verse 13.
For my people have committed 2 evils.
They have forsaken me, the Fountain of Living waters, and Hughes them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Well dear young people, that has often been sad about the heart of God is the source of all our blessings and I believe that these scriptures that we have read this afternoon bring this wonderful point before us. How did God delights in the blessing of man?
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And we trace it right back to the Garden of Eden. We see it even now in this Christian dispensation.
But we see the constant tendency of our hearts to turn away from the Lord and to try and find our portion apart from His will, apart from obedience to His Word, in a path of our own choosing. And not only are we the losers, but God who delights in our blessing is the loser too.
Those of us who are parents here this afternoon know that when we ever have to deprive our children of anything, we feel the loss as keenly or more keenly than they do. We want to do all we possibly can for them, and if for any reason whatever we have to deprive them, it hurts us. It grieves us. I believe it grieves us more than it grieves them.
And you know when you are not in the enjoyment of the Lord.
Matter what you have in Him, you're not only the loser yourself, but you're grieving the heart of One who loves you with an infinite love, who loves you with a proven love, a love that was displayed in all its blessed fullness at the Cross of Calvary.
And James takes up this and his epistle to show that the desire to have something apart from the Father of Light, apart from the one whose heart is full of such goodness, is what leads to sin, is what takes the heart away from him and brings on sorrow instead of that which is in the purposes of God.
And that's why I read in the book of Genesis, to show that when God made this world and placed man at the head of creation, what was His purpose? His purpose was to bless man.
Not to bless him independently of himself, but to bless him through him, through himself, so to speak. And if God had given him everything without any recognition of his responsibility to God or in his dependence on him, then he could not really have found happiness. And so that one command was given to show and to constantly remind Adam and Eve that they were dependent upon God for all.
They received. It was a simple command. It was one in which there was no problem about understanding what was meant, no difficulty really in fulfilling it, because they had everything in the garden their heart could desire. No need of that one tree that was forbidden at all. It wasn't for their good, but it did. It did test them as to their.
Confidence in the heart of God it did acknowledge their dependence upon.
God and while they enjoyed all the rest of the good things in the garden, it was a constant reminder to them of the source from which those blessings came. But along came another into the garden. Satan came into the Garden of Eden, and he came in with the suggestion that God was really not quite as good as they thought he was, and that he was actually holding back something from them and that tree instead of being.
Reminder of the fact that he was the source of goodness to them was really the fact that he was holding back some goodness from them. And he suggested that if they would just take of that tree, their happiness would be complete. Oh, an attempter. What a why from the very one who is called in the Bible the father of wise. But Adam and Eve listened to the voice of Satan.
They followed his suggestion. They questioned the facts.
God was so good and they believed that Satan was late after all, that there was something to be had by reaching out an independence of God and fulfilling their own desires. And so we know a sad story of how they looked at the trees and those 3 lusts, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life overcame them completely.
They yielded to the temptation, and what did they find?
They found out that what God had said was true. They found out that they had robbed themselves. And if one might speak so, they had robbed the heart of God too, because He came down that very evening to walk in the garden. And instead of enjoying communion with God, they hid from Him behind the trees of the garden. Now their hearts, instead of being happy and joyful in His presence, instead of.
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Able to enjoy the other good things, provided their hearts were full of sadness.
Now they went to work to cover their nakedness, but in vain. They couldn't be happy in the presence of God. They couldn't be happy among themselves, and the sense of death hungover them. And why? They had doubted God's goodness. They had yielded to the tempter. They had sinned, and sin brought misery to them, and into this world, and all the awful results of that one sin that entered. But why did it enter?
It entered through independence of God, through forgetting the fact that God's heart was full of goodness and blessing toward them and all we know the sad story of the results of. That's been what I want to call attention particularly to the reason that sin came in, because it is the root cause of all sin.
It is now which leaves every young person and every old person into something.
That brings misery and sorrow upon us. It's because we act in independence of God. We follow our own wills instead of following the direction of God, whose heart is full of love and blessing has given to us in His precious word. But did God give up man? Did He say what I'm through with man who has sinned like that?
O brethren, dear young people, know when will God give you up? Because you have.
Against it failed and sinned against him. Oh no, He still loves you with an over abounding love. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And so we find that God's love is always that which can abound over man's sin. And he didn't drive Adam and Eve out of the garden until He had first shown them that He could make a provision for them in their sin.
And so.
It tells us that He clothed them through the death of the substitute, and they went out from the garden clothed. They went out from the garden, reminded that although they had sinned, that God's heart was still toward them in goodness, and that He had provided a covering in his presence. But the cough was tremendous. And then there was the promise of the coming Redeemer. Here's the.
Promise that there was one who would come and who would undo the works of the devil, who would bring blessing where sin had come in. Well, all through the Old Testament we see over and over again this same fact coming up continually. We see God's people forgetting the fact that that God in his goodness wanted to bless them.
And God allowed them to be put to various tests.
Through the Old Testament past as to whether they they believed that his heart was toward them in goodness or whether they were yielding to the tempter and to his lies. And I believe that we see in the trials that God allowed his people to pass through in the Old Testament and that God was teaching them these lessons. Take the case of Abraham.
God called him out from Earl to Chaldees, and promised him that good.
Lamb, a lamb flowing with milk and honey. But then God put him to the test. Did he really believe that God had purposes of blessing toward him? He allowed a famine to come in the land. He is a grievous famine that says. And for what did Abraham do? Well, he decided the best way was to get away from this family.
And the best way was to go out of the land that God had promised to give him, and so himself will he goes down into Egypt. Has there a famine come in your life, dear young person?
Is there have you set out to follow the Lord? And when you set out to follow him, it just seemed that everything went wrong instead of right. It just seemed that the things you thought were going to work out didn't work out. And you say, well, I, I'm sure that I've come to that point in my life too. I thought that when I came out to follow him that everything was going to work out smoothly and happily. But it hasn't been that way. And it's hard for me to believe that God is.
Thinking to bless me when things don't work out, as I had hoped, all you say. And I tried to please him, So had Abraham. Abraham had tried to please him. Abraham had left her with the Chaldees. He left his country, he left his kindred. He had even had the grace, when his father died, to leave Heron.
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And come all the way and he had his tent and he had his altar, hadn't he responded.
The goodness of God. Then why was it that God allowed this grievous famine to come? Well, God would have Abraham to know about His blessing didn't consist in things, but it consisted in the enjoyment of his presence, confidence in his heart.
And you know, if you only love a friend because of what you're getting from that friend, I say it's not true love. I say it's only you love the things they give you. You love the good time they give you, but you don't really love them unless you love them. When things go wrong, when things get upset, when things don't go the way they should. Abraham was tested about that.
And so when the famine came, he went down.
Into the land of Egypt. Well, what did he get there? Prosperity. Oh yes, the world will always open its arms. It welcomes the Christian that's leaving the path of following the Lord. They just hold their arms to you when you turn your back on the Lord, and it just tells you all it will do for you. And it can fulfill in a certain measure its promises too. And so Abraham was rich in silver and gold.
He had men servants and maid servants.
But he lost in his soul. He lost the most important thing that he possessed in Canaan, communion with God, the sense of His presence and of His goodness in his soul. This is all God. He didn't enjoy that in Egypt. He couldn't. Dear young Christian, if you turned your back and are going on carelessly and getting away from the Lord, I know that this has taken place in your life too.
You don't have discovered.
That you may prosper, but there's an empty spot in your heart, a spot that only Christ can fill. And he can fill it just as well in adversity as in prosperity.
Just as well. And adversity is in prosperity because he has more than all the prosperity in the world. He's everything to the believer. He's that which fills and satisfies the heart and soul. Abraham had to learn this lesson.
Well, he was tested again later in his life. God gave him a son, and then God said Abraham.
I want you to go and OfferUp that son.
Oh, what a test.
Was he willing to take his Son and offer him up at the command of God? Did God require such a sacrifice from him? He didn't question if God said it. That was enough. Did he understand it? I don't believe he did. I don't believe he knew why God asked him to do such a thing. And sometimes the word of God comes to us.
And we don't know just why, but it says the secret things belong unto the Lord or our God.
But those things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever. Perhaps humor had some verse of the Bible and you've said, and why should I do that? Why does the Lord ask me to do that? Abraham didn't stop to question that. Abraham knew that if God asked him to do that, that was the path of blessing. He had learned that down in Egypt. And so now how lovely to see that faith that.
And acts and obedience that recognizes that all goodness flows from the heart of God. And it tells us in Hebrews that he accounted that God was able even to reign his son from the dead. Yes, he didn't sing any obstacle to God's goodness. Now he said everything looks uncertain and black, but he said I can't question God's goodness now.
And he took his son out to do as God had said.
And what was the result?
Oh, the Lord made him. The Lord showed that he valued that obedience, that he valued that and something wonderful.
Must have been or will be revealed to Abraham. Won't it be a marvel to him for all eternity to know that thousands of Christians have led that little story about him offering up to his son and been blessed by it and received in its instruction about the love that was in the heart of God giving his son? Abraham didn't understand that at the time.
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It was all a puzzle to him, I'm sure, but oh, how different.
When we act in obedience, blessing always comes and God is glorified. And after you've done it, the Lord called Abraham out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, because thou hast done this thing, surely in blessing I will bless thee. Oh yes, there was an added blessing as a result of that confidence in God.
And so I say, has a problem come up in your life and you know what the word of God says and you can't just understand why he asks you to do that thing. Act of obedience, count upon him. Don't question his goodness. He will never ask you to do anything that isn't for His own glory and for your ultimate blessing. Abraham learned this, He proved it and all what a happy lesson it was to.
Thor as he proved the goodness of God. But oh, how often these these cases arose through the Old Testament. And take the case of David. I'd like to turn to this in Second Samuel.
Second Samuel, chapter 12.
And verse 7.
And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.
The And thus sails the Lord God of Israel. I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy masters house, and thy masters wives into thy bosom, and gave the House of Israel thee the House of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
Why hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. Thou hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hath slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
To me this is a very remarkable rebuke, brought home in all its clearness and force to the heart of David. Why should David not have done this thing? Well, it's certainly because it was a sin against God. But the manner in which the prophet brings it before him is to show him that he had no reason to have done that because God had blessed him, and that if he hadn't blessed him enough.
He was willing to bless him still more, and he didn't need to step out of the path of obedience for anything.
Step out of the path of obedience for anything. And dear young people, this is the point that with the Lord's help, I want to bring home your soul into my own, that we don't have to step out of the path of obedience to get anything. Anything that's good will come to us in the path of obedience. And even if it may seem like adversity.
The ultimate purpose of it is blessing, because all things.
Work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. And we all know the sad story of poor David and how he was attracted by the beauty of this girl who finally led his heart astray, and all what sorrow he brought. Well, you say he was restored afterwards. Yes, he was, He was restored.
Because there's grace and goodness in the heart of God.
To restore us, no matter how far away we have got from him, but in spite of the fact that God restores for.
Poor David had to Wraith in the government of God for that. And I speak these words to you, dear young people in love. As I look into your young faces and life lies before you. How easy it is to take some false steps.
That may perhaps ruin your whole life, may ruin your whole testimony when God wants to bless you so abundantly. Or you say, but when I see nice things, I want them. I can't seem to do without them. Or remember, if God doesn't give them to you in the path of obedience, they're not worthwhile. They bring no ultimate happiness. The pleasures of sin are for.
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There's pleasure in the act, but there is no pleasure afterwards. And so David, when Nathan speaks to him, he points them out. He says thou art the man. And then he goes back and he says, why the Lord's been so good to you, David, He's been so good to you. And if you didn't think he have done enough for you, he would have done more.
Oh, young person, isn't that touching? I don't think I would have spoken to David at that time.
Put your way, I would have just fooled in the full force of it, laid it on his conscience, but whole how gracious the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, and to see the prophet saying to David.
How God wanted to bless him, how he had blessed him. And if there's something lacking in your life, remember the Lord will give you such and such things. Yes, He wants to bless you. He knows just exactly what's needed for you. And that's the meaning of that expression, that every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of Light.
That is the expression the Father of Light means that God knows exactly what is best.
We sometimes give our children things, and then afterwards we realize that the things were not for their good. We didn't see far enough ahead. We made a mistake, and then we wish we had done differently. We didn't have full knowledge. But oh God, my Father is the Father of light. He sees your whole pathway. He knows everybody that's going to cross your pathway from this day to the day you lead the world.
He knows that girlfriend and that boyfriend.
And everybody that's going to pass across your path in life, he sees it as it says, thou understandest my thought afar off, he sees it all. He knows what's coming, He knows the plan, he knows everything, dear young person. And if you and I would only have confidence in his guiding hands, oh, let me say again, his heart is the source of all goodness and blessing to you. And David was reminded.
That even in the moment of his failure, now that God had blessed him and wanted to bless him more than he had. If David had only believed that. But all poor David. And don't we do the same thing ourselves? So often we think we must have something through our own self will, through our own evil ways. We try to get it. Well, perhaps some young person might say.
But why doesn't God allow our path to be smooth and then we would love Him and serve Him well? Let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32 and we'll see if this is so. Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 13. He made him ride on the high places of the earth.
That he might eat the increase of the field, he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flimsy rock, butter of pine and milk of sheep with fat of lambs and Rams of the breed of basham, and goats with the fat of kidneys and sweets. And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grapes, but Jeshurum waxed fat and kicked. Thou art wax and fat. Thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness.
Then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation.
When God did make the way so easy and so happy and pleasant for His people, Israel in the land, did they respond to it?
Oh no, it tells the fear that when they had all these good things they waxed fat and kicked, and lately esteemed the God of their salvation. I suppose we've all had this thought. I've had it. I suppose you young people have had it. Why, if God just would remove all these difficulties, and would just give me the things I desire, then I'd praise Him. Then I'd live for Him. But I don't know why He allows these difficulties and troubles to come. Well.
We have found here in Deuteronomy that God did remove the obstacles and difficulties. He gave the people the land. He poured them blessings such as a nation had never known before. And did it make them follow Him? No. They enjoyed the blessings and they forgot the blessing. They forgot the blesser, as it says in Jeremiah 22.
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It says, I speak unto thee in my.
Prosperity. And thou said thy will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth. O dear young person, don't think for a moment that if God gave you everything that you desired, that you'd follow him better. He knows what's best.
All things work together for good to them that love God. And again I say, He wants you not only to have his blessing, but He wants you to enjoy the company of the blesser. He wants you to enjoy his company. For the Lord Jesus died not only to save our souls from hell.
But that we might enjoy his company and that he might enjoy ours.
For all eternity, the great triumphant voice of Revelation 21, which describes the eternal state, is Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. Yes, He, His heart is full of blessing. But oh, how we learn in these lessons of the Old Testament that God.
Seeks to teach us this great.
Lesson that he knows what is best and that his heart is full of goodness.
Well in Ephesians chapter one that we read how lovely those words there it says that he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
How richly has God blessed us as Christians? Or we can't measure the richness of the blessing? And what's more, they could forfeit and did forfeit the Garden of Eden. But you can't forfeit heaven if you know Christ as your Savior. You can't forfeit it because it's secured to you through the work of Christ. But what can we forfeit them?
We can forfeit the enjoyment of himself here and now.
Here and now, and dear young people, I say again, for this is the burden that's on my heart, that if you only see that following the Lord in the path of obedience to His Word is the path of happiness and the path of blessings, then you have learned a great lesson because God wants to bless you.
Here and now, in this life, and it isn't always in.
The happiest people have not been the people that have possessed the most of things down here, but it's to have the confidence of God's goodness. When Paul was in prison, he sang what made him happy in prison. He enjoyed the Lord's company.
When he was when John was in the Isle of Patmos, he was talking about that glorious future that is ahead for the believer. What was it that filled his heart? Certainly not his surroundings, no, but it was the enjoyment of the one who loved him and gave himself for him. And he wants to bless you too. Let us turn back now for a moment to this in James one which we.
Together James chapter one verse 12. Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Life is made-up of temptation. We have to face them continually. We have to meet them in life.
We've been speaking about how David was tempted. We've been speaking about the difference.
Situations that are met by the people of God in the pathway of life.
And we would say, well, I wish I didn't have to meet those things, but God says blessed is the man that endureth temptation. Blessed is the man you will never know what's in his heart. You will never know His grace and prove how He is sufficient for you until you find yourself in a position.
Where there seems no outlet and then he himself.
Proves his sufficiency to undertake for you, to meet you and all. Some of the happiest people that I have met have not been the ones who had the most in this life, or who had the most pleasant circumstances. But they had learned this lesson, that to enjoy the Lord's company in the path of obedience was the path of real.
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Blessing and happiness. That was the path of real blessing and happiness. And so and James takes up the root cause of sin.
He says her loss.
Brings forth sin, and sin brings forth death. We want something apart from the will of God. We think we can't live without it. We make up our minds that if we can't find it in the path of obedience, we're going to get it somehow. If you can't get the job you want in the path of obedience, well then try the path of disobedience. That's what Satan says if you can't find a Christian partner who loves the Lord.
Then try somebody else. You must have one. You can't go through life without one. This is what Satan says. But God says I can fill your heart.
I can give you more than money can give. I can mean more to you than the best of friends. I'll be everything to you. Yes, he wants to be your All in all. And so it says here. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift Cometh down from above. Cometh down from above.
And how is it that we are? We think that we're going to get something good through the activity of our own will.
We think that life is going to be a little easier if we sidestep the path of obedience. We think that things are going to be a lot better in this life if we just disobey God a little bit and then we'll find happiness. But this is a mistake. This is Ernie. It's a good gift, the perfect gift. Come down from about. Oh, you say, brother. Hey, who? You don't understand.
You don't know what it's like trying to go along.
Alone and without the things that you have in life, you don't understand. Well, I'm sure I don't always understand. When God sent Ezekiel to speak to the people, he sat seven days without saying a word and saw what the people were going through. And sometimes we do speak too quickly. We don't understand the situations other people are in. I confess that, but I'm telling you about one that does.
Who was in all points tempted like as we are, Who knows exactly where you sit? He sees you by the river Chibar, A captive. He sees the troubles and the sorrows and the disappointments and the frustrations of life. He knows all about it. He's the Father of light.
But it hasn't changed his heart. Man's sin didn't change the heart of God. God's grace over abounded man's sin. Your failure hasn't changed the heart of God. God isn't against you, He's for you. He wants to bless you. And He's proven this love in the gift of His beloved Son. And I say now He wants to. And every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above.
From the Father of Light, with whom is no variable.
Neither shadow of turning.
Sometimes you have a dear friend, you feel you have his love and his understanding.
But he does something.
And you say I don't think he thinks as much of me as he used to.
He doesn't just seem to have the same feelings. There's a feeling of a shadow of turning. There's a feeling that there's a change. You'll never detect that in God your Father never that love never changes. It's not just a shadow turning. His heart is full of grace towards you. The opening hymn that we spying in our hymn meeting this morning.
The Father's face of radiant grace.
Shines now in light on me, dear young person. God wants to bless you and He knows just exactly what I need, what you need, what everyone of us need in life. And He is passing us through those situations in life, ups and downs. He knows how to mingle that which seems good and that which seems difficult.
Mingling all together because he makes them work together for good.
To those that love him.
And then to prove it to us, it says of His own will be God, he us. How did we come to be saved in the 1St place? Did this spring from our own will? No, it's frying from His will. His will. He looked down upon us in love, He said, as a little hymn puts it. Thus the eternal counsels ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress and found I had no hiding place. Yes, it.
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His counsel that first saved you, His counsels are towards you in blessing. And let me say as I close you, young person, May God and His grace give you and me too, and each one of us, the confidence of His love and that He knows what he's doing in your life and mind. He makes no mistakes. One dear old sister that I used to go and see in the hospital, she used to say amid her suffering almost every time.
I went he can't make a mistake, he can't make a mistake. What was the result?
In all her suffering, she was perfectly happy. Why?
She trusted God's goodness. May we trust God's goodness too, and walk in obedience to His Word, and will prove that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.