Address—G.H. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I'd like to turn first of all to 2 verses. 1 is in Second Timothy chapter 3.
Second Timothy, chapter 3.
And the seventh verse.
Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Then would you turn with me also to 1St Kings First Kings chapter 10?
The first verse. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
And so Solomon told her all her questions. There was nothing hid from the king, which he told her not.
Well dear young people, it gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to you. I was thinking of what happened many years ago when one of the brothers was speaking and he set 3 candles on the table. One was a full size candle, the other was half size and the other was a very short little candle. And he lit those candles and then he asked the children. He said, now what would you say these 3 candles represent?
He said, to my mind they represent three different stages of life, youth, middle life and old age. And he said to one of the children, now which one would you say represents old age? Well, she pointed to the oldest cat, the largest candle, the one that was full length. No, he said, old age is that little candle.
And he said middle life is the halfway and.
Youth is the full size candle. Now, dear young people, some of us are growing a little bit older. We haven't got very much time left in this world, even if the Lord leaves us here a little longer to shine for Him. But you young people who are growing up, you have an opportunity, a wonderful opportunity indeed. I believe we could say that there never has been a time but when we have been so blessed as in this.
Present time to have the whole Word of God open before us, to be able to sit in this room. They couldn't even do it in the time of the apostle Paul. Everyone couldn't have a copy of God's Word upon his knee. But isn't it a marvelous thing that you and I have such a privilege? We often talk, and rightly talk, of the difficult days in which we live. But Oh dear young people, they're blessed days.
Their days, of course, when evil is rampant.
There are days when everything is very much against us, but there are days when we have in our hands and the privilege of being in the meetings in peace and quietness, to look into the most wonderful book in the world, God's precious Word, that which gives us as it tells us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. And God in His love and in His faithfulness, could not have given us more, and His love would not give us less.
He has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
And the reason I read these two verses is because I believe they bring before us.
All that man will be able to do with all his wisdom and with all his knowledge, and it's summed up by the apostle in those words, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Isn't that true wherever we look, It doesn't matter whether it's in the field of education or whether it's in agriculture or whether it's in any subject that we like to speak of.
The world is just turning.
Book so quickly the printing press can hardly keep up with them. And yet none of them bring the settlement of the problems. Every time a new problem arises, great men go to work and they think they have the settlement. And in a few years they find that while they settled one thing, they created a new problem, and the new problem was greater than the one that they thought they had settled. And so sometimes we find that we're kept so busy reading.
00:05:05
The world's wisdom now that you'll hear people say, well, I'm just so busy with school and with my job and with all these things that I don't have hardly any time for the Bible. It's just as if we said, I have, I'm so busy reading the things that don't have the answers that I haven't time to read the book that does have the answers. And isn't it often so with us? And so this verse says ever learning and never.
Were able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
One great servant of the Lord said every person in this world is either going to find out someday that this world doesn't satisfy, or he's already found it out. Yes, that's the experience of all great man at the end of their lives have had to come to this conclusion. Mr. Einstein, who perhaps was the greatest mind.
That lived in.
Our time said this, he said I know less than one 100 to 1% about anything. Wasn't that amazing statement from a great man like that? Less than one 100 to 1% about anything. And yet when you and I opened the Bible over and over again we read that little word KNOW.
Again, we are sure we are confident.
How can it be? If Mr. Einstein knew so little? How can we be so sure? Well, because we know one who knows a great deal more than Mr. Einstein. We know the One who created this world. We know the One who upholds all things by the word of his power.
And so how wonderful it is to say that you know him. It says in God's Word that the best of all wisdom is that they might know and understand me. And to know Satan's great effort, dear young people, is to keep you from two things that are most important, and that is to really know about yourself.
And to really know about God, it's going to do everything you can.
To keep you from really knowing what your true condition is. And he's also going to do all he can to keep you from knowing what God is for you when he fully knows your condition. So I've read these two verses because in the first one we see the extent of man's knowledge, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, he always falls short.
All his supposed answers.
Omit some part that is the important part of the answer, and he can't find it because he doesn't know the wisdom of God.
And then when we come to that passage in First Kings that we read, we see a woman who had really obtained a great deal of this world's goods. She came with camels, with gold, she came with spices, she came with all that represented the wealth of her day. She was in a very high position. She had, you might say, that everything that this world could give.
But she still had a lot of hard questions.
She still had a lot of problems that were unanswered in her country and all her wealth didn't find the answers for her. And so you may put a lot of your energies into all that this world can give, but you're going to find out as you go on. Unless you turn to God's Word, you will not have the answers and the only answers that can bring satisfaction and peace to your soul. But isn't it lovely?
Now that when she came to King Solomon, she told him all these hard questions and he didn't say, well I can answer some of them, but some of them are just too much for me. No, it says that he answered all her questions. There was nothing hid from him that he showed her not. And so is the one that we talk about our blessed precious Savior when our brothers spoke.
This morning, our wonderful Savior. Yes, he knows everything. He has all the answers. The Bible calls him names him as wisdom.
It says that His very name is Wisdom in the 8th chapter of Proverbs. And He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And so I'd just like you to consider a little bit what I would like to bring before you this afternoon. I would like to speak about 9 questions that are in the Word.
00:10:13
Three of them have to deal with man, with God's questions to man.
So I'd like to read those first three if you'll turn with me to Genesis.
Chapter 3.
Genesis chapter 3.
And the ninth verse.
And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. That's the first question. Now the next one is in the next chapter, the 4th chapter and the.
10th verse.
Perhaps we should read the 9th.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
And then the next one is in Matthew chapter 23.
Chapter 22. I should say Matthew. Chapter 22.
And verse.
41.
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, Whom think what Think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.
How? As I said, these are three questions that are asked by God, or asked by the Lord Jesus, who is God. The first one is, Where art thou, the second one, what hast thou done? And the third one, what think ye of Christ? Now God has asked these questions, because these questions lie at the very base of all man's trouble, all his reasoning.
Starts from a wrong promise and that's why he doesn't have the answers. He supposes something that is not true. As someone else has said, rationalism treats man as a race to be educated. God treats mankind as a race to be restored to God or judged. Now that's very solemn, dear friends, if education will correct the things in this world.
It's certainly been given a very good try.
There's a great deal of education. There are great colleges in this land. But has the education answered it? Has they Have they found the answers through all their education? No. It has only led to more breakdown in every sphere of life. It has led to more disappointment and frustration and perhaps anything else.
And I say, and I say boldly, that it's because man has.
The wrong premise from which he starts, he looks upon man as a race to be educated, and he doesn't see what his true condition is before God. And dear friends, dear young people, until you acknowledge this fact, you're closing your eyes to all wisdom that comes from God and all the right answers to all his world's problems. And so the first question is.
Adam where Art.
Thou oh, there's a tone of love in that. As someone has said, it's wonderful of God's first question to man was Adam, where art thou? Because it shows us that God became a seeking God. Isn't that wonderful? Dear friends and dear young people, If there's anyone here who thinks and you have listened to some of the things that you've heard at school and you say God doesn't have a personal interest in me.
For them that has a great deal to do with your problems. He does have a personal interest in you. He called Adam, He called to Zacchaeus up in the tree and said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down. He called to Moses by name. He called the Saul of Tarsus by name. He called to Mary, who as she stood weeping at the sepulchre by name. He knows all about you, and he has a personal.
00:15:07
Interest in you. You're never lost in the crowd to him. But where art thou?
Where art thou? Where is this world? What is the cause of the mass and the confusion and all the trouble that's here? Well, the reason is that man has turned his back upon God. Where was Adam? He is doing. He was doing just what the human race is doing today. He's trying to find the solution to his problems, hiding from God.
Hiding from God, leaving God out.
And it tells us very plainly in the word to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them. Men talk about being free thinkers, but how can you be a free thinker about anything if you don't know all the facts? If you don't know the truth about a matter, you can't think freely about it. You've got to know the facts to weigh them. And, dear friends, the only way you'll know the truth about yourself and about.
God is to let God reveal himself and that He has done through His Word. Where art thou? Is there a young person in this room and up to this time you've been hiding from God? You say, oh, in our home they read the Bible and I just wish they could skip it sometimes. And you just don't like to be exposed to God's Word constantly. Is that your attitude? And you're trying to find the answers when you're turning your back?
The one whose very name is Wisdom, who only has the answers, and yet who loves you and who is seeking you, and who wants to bless you, just as he wanted to bless Adam. Oh dear young person, I want you to answer this question that God addressed to Adam. Just suppose it was your name in there instead of Adam. Where are you this afternoon?
Where are you? Are you doing just what Adam did? Are you highly?
From God. Are you trying to get away from God's word and get away from that which would speak to your heart and conscience about him and just say, well, I've read a lot of good books at school and I read the Reader's Digest and I think they have a lot of good answers. And I don't understand the Bible reading anyway. Oh dear young person, where art thou? Where art thou? Are you doing just what Adam did?
You're hiding yourself from God.
Of course you have a conscience. Adam did. He made fig leaf aprons. He knew things weren't right, and he certainly didn't feel very happy in his position of what he thought. If he spoke to God, he'd feel worse. And oh, dear friends, that's what Satan is doing to you. He's deceiving you. But I say again, God was seeking Adam. Well, then the second question was.
What has thou done?
What hast thou done? Oh, you know God doesn't measure sin. According to the Society of 1975, God doesn't measure sin like your school teacher or professor or the people you work with in the officer in the shop. No, God doesn't measure sin by human standards. God measures sin by the standard of his own glory, and he measures sin in such a way that he condemns us.
Themselves all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
All you see to recognize what God says is to recognize that we're really away from God. And that's the solemn thing in these two expressions, these two questions that God asked, where art thou? What hast thou done? And I'm sure if you stop to think of those two questions that God asked, their very heart searching.
They'll make you feel uncomfortable, I suppose, just like they made Adam.
And made Cain feel very uncomfortable because they felt unready to be in the presence of God. And when God spoke to Cain, he hoped that God didn't know what he had done. But God did know what He had done. And God has set our secret sins in the light of his countenance. There is no hiding sin from God.
Oh, you say. Well, I've talked to a lot of others.
They don't think that the things I do are wrong. I've even asked Christians and they don't think that those things are wrong. You know, the ideas of society are changing today. Oh dear young person, it's not your fellow man that asks what hast thou done? It was the Creator himself that said what hast thou done? He knows He sets your secret sins in the light of his countenance.
00:20:26
Have you felt your need of Jesus? Have you seen your true condition? Or you can see why this doesn't appeal to man's wisdom. He'd rather be an exalted ape than a fallen Adam. Why? Why would he rather be an exalted ape? Well, because that gives him credit for climbing up. He started at the bottom, as he says, in the slime of the ocean. And look what I am now.
And he prides himself in his progress. But that's.
That's not the picture that God sets before us. He shows us that we we were created in the image and likeness of God, and that when man sinned, he fell, and that his course has been downward. It's not very flattering. He can flatter himself about the advance of medicine, but he wouldn't have needed medicine if he hadn't sinned. He can flatter himself about the wonderful machinery he's making, but he wouldn't have needed it if man hadn't sinned, because work wasn't necessarily.
And when sin came in, then work came in. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread all the days of thy life. He can talk about all his progress in defeating pollution and all these things, but what has polluted the earth? It's all man's attempts to get away from the results of sin. Oh, dear young person, I tell you man's progress has been downward. But he likes to think it's.
So he said, well, we just started down here in the slime of the ocean, look what we are today. And that flatters him. Can't you see why His wisdom is always opposed to God? He has a wrong premise. He doesn't see his true condition. So God asks the question, where art thou? What hast thou done? And then the third question, what think he of Christ?
What think he of Christ? Oh dear young people, listen.
A wonderful question. Why did that blessed One, the Creator of the universe, came down to visit this sin troubled earth? Why did he come? All because he saw the wreck and ruin that sin had brought him, and he looked down upon man in all his sin, and he didn't see. One good person says in the Psalms the Lord looked down upon men to see if there were any that did understand or that did seek God.
And he said they've all gone out of the way, they've together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Why did he come down? Oh, it was love, unbounded love, as we sang this morning. What was it? Blessed God LED thee to give thy Son to yield thy well beloved for us by sin undone.
Oh dear young person, what do you think of Christ? Is your answer all?
For He is my wonderful Savior, He is my friend, He is everything to me. He is not only saved me from my sins, but I couldn't live a day without talking to Him, without seeking His help, without letting Him talk to me through His Word. Oh dear young person, this isn't my question. These three questions were asked by God Himself.
And so God sent his Son and Jesus.
Said what? Think he of Christ? Whose son is he? And again I say, what does the Lord Jesus mean to you? Does your heart well up at the mention of his name? Do you say, well, he's altogether lovely, He is my precious Savior. Oh, I want to just give my life to Him every moment. Oh, is that the answer of your heart?
Well, is that the answer that the natural man gives? What did they say at the cross?
A few of us in the home this morning we read in the Gospel of Matthew and we found out what this world said when Christ was presented to him. To them, they said away with him, crucify him. And as our brother Wakefield sometimes tells us, he says the world's not agreed socially, politically.
Scientifically, it's only agreed in one thing, it doesn't want Christ, the Christ of God. Oh friends, what a solemn thing and so I say these three questions that were asked by God and give us the right promise, the beginning that show us first where we are, what we have done and what God has done to meet us in our name. He sent his Son and you know it's a wonderful.
00:25:22
Wonderful thing when we have God's answers and your mind will never be at peace. You can read all the wisdom of this world, but you'll not find any solutions unless you have the answers to those three questions that God has asked. And when you have God's answer and see the reason for all this world's trouble, it's away from God and for all the confusion.
Sin has done a man has sinned against God.
God and then the third saying they've rejected the one who came into this world to set things right. They didn't want him. They said away with him, away with him, crucify him. What is your heart saying? Have you received him? Have you acknowledged your true condition? Lost? Have you acknowledged that you've sinned against God? Have you thanked God for sending Jesus?
Oh, those are God's three questions.
And I hope that God will speak to the heart of every young person. And if there's anyone here who has not the true answer, who doesn't know the Lord Jesus, may you receive him today. May He in His matchless grace, reveal himself to your heart. Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. But now we have 3 questions that perhaps I could say are asked in unbelief by man or perhaps.
In discouragement, let us turn to one in John Chapter 9.
John, Chapter 9.
And the first verse.
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did send this man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
When you turn over also to Romans, the.
9th chapter.
And the 20th verse.
Me but, old man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing form say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus?
On one other passage in Judges.
Judges, Chapter 6.
And verse 13.
And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is always befallen us? And where be all his miracles, which our fathers told us of saying?
Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
Well, here are we flying. Three questions. Perhaps we could say 2 are particularly in unbelief, and the other is 1 spoken in discouragement. Why was that man born blind? Why am I made thus? And why doesn't God come in and work miracles? We've heard of Him doing this, why doesn't He do it today? I suppose these kind of questions have often risen in the minds of every young.
Person in this room this afternoon, you say, well, why is it that some people seem to have things easy in life and some people seem to have things hard?
Some people have opportunities and advantages and other people don't seem to have them.
This is a thing that puzzles, and so these are three questions not asked by God, but asked by man. Why was that man born blind?
Well, the Lord's answer was.
Neither of this man's sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. Now, that is, it wasn't because of something his parents had done. It doesn't mean his parents hadn't sinned, but that this didn't come because of something his parents had done. It didn't come because of something that he had done, but it did come that the works of God might be made manifest in him.
00:30:20
And you know, sometimes it's hard for us to understand why we seem to have certain disadvantages in life. Perhaps as you've come to these meetings and you've looked around and you said, oh, I wish I lived in such and such a meeting. There's so many young people there. Why did the Lord place me in a little meeting? Well, there's only two or three or where I'm perhaps the only young people. Why did he do that? I'm sure those kind of questions have risen in your mind.
Wasn't the Lord's answer very lovely? His answer was that that he might be glorified and you know, dear young person, it may be that He has placed you there just as He put Moses from all the busy activity of the court of.
Brought out into the backside of the desert, 40 years. Was that lost time? Couldn't he have been in a lot more helpful and profitable environment instead of this? Here he is forced to be in the backside of the desert, not just for a little while, but for 40 years. Was this any good? Was this, as I say, lost time in his life? Oh no, it was something that God was doing.
And, you know, some of us can look back on some.
Things in our lives, some setbacks, some things that we found very difficult to understand in youth. And as we look back upon them, we see the hand of God in them. We see that He was very wise in what He allowed in our lives and that that became part of His training for us. And so, dear young person, instead of saying, why, think of the answer that the Lord gave?
That the works of God might be made manifest.
In here some of the most beautiful hymns that we sing were written by people that had the deepest trials. We think of such lovely hymns that we sing and oh how wonderful the words, and yet they are written by people. Charlotte Elliott, who was blind, and we think of so many who had handicaps in life, but the works of God were made manifest in them. And dear young person if.
Thinking that way, think of the Lord Jesus answer. Just think well perhaps the Lord has a corner for me to shine in. Perhaps He has a work for me to do and this is part of his schooling for me.
And let the Lord be the one who plans your life. There's another verse in the book of Jeremiah that says, Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my father?
Thou art the guide of my youth. And so, dear young person, if those questions have risen in your mind, that God wants to glorify himself in you, He wants to bless you and make you a blessing. And who can tell what your testimony may mean in the day of manifestation? What you say I want to understand right now. But we don't always understand in this life. God doesn't always give us the.
Answers down here, the queen of Sheba didn't get her answers till she saw King Solomon. And you may not get all the answers till you see the Lord Jesus face to face. And I guarantee you'll get all the answers then. And the scripture says that more than this, we'll not only get the answers, but we'll join with Israel to say he led them forth by the right way. They won't say, well, Lord.
It would have only been 11 days journey.
If you had taken us the easiest way, we wondered why it was 40 years. No, they'll say 40 years was the right way. And dear young person, if that's the thing that's coming up in your mind, why then remember, God wants to glorify Himself in your life and let Him do it in His way.
And then to in the second question, Why hath he made me thus you say, Well, isn't where I live?
But or you don't know the internal struggles that I have, I, I just have such a conflict with myself. It doesn't matter where I am, whether I'm with crowds or alone is something inside. And why is it? Does everybody have this conflict? Does everybody have this self to overcome? Other people seem to find it easy and other people seem to find it so hard. Why is it?
00:35:06
Well, we're not to rebel against the way the Potter was pleased.
Clash in the clay. He was pleased to fashion it in his own way. And how did he fashion Moses? Did he make him a man that was a good public speaker? No, he didn't at all. No, Moses said. He said, I am a man of slow tongue. He said I am not eloquent, send somebody else. But the Lord said, who made man's mouth?
And so the Lord made you just the way you are.
And sometimes people who have natural handicaps can be mightily used of God. Paul thought he could serve the Lord better if the Lord would take away the thorn in the flesh that he had. But he learned to thank God for it, and afterwards he said most gladly. Therefore I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me, and many of us who have.
Realize some of our handicaps have thanked God that these handicaps have cast us upon the Lord and taught us to be dependent upon Him. And so dear young person, instead of saying, why am I not like other people, just look up and say, Lord, thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
How you have made me just the way I am. Help me to glorify thee just in the way that I am. Or you know he can use you. And whether you're shy or whether you can talk well, whether you've got good looks or whether you don't, whether you have a good physique or whether you don't, He has a sphere for you to fulfill. The city of Des Moines doesn't put all their lights down on the main corner and leave the back corners of.
In darkness they put them on all the back corners as well, in the slum districts and everywhere they have their lights. Some of them might, if they could talk, say, well, they'd much rather shine down on the main corner, but they're placed back on the corner where they're needed. And so the Lord has made us as he has, as he would have us. So here is man's question. Why hast thou made me thus?
But He has made us this way for His own glory.
And then the question that Gideon asked, he was a true believer. But Gideon asked, he said, why is all this befallen us? Where all the Lord's miracles? You say, well, I read books and I see how other people seem to have miracles work out in their lives. They come to a conference and they just meet friends and everything, and they just go home so happy.
No miracles seem to work out in my life. Nothing seems to happen.
And you say, where are all these miracles of that happened in the past? Our fathers told us about this, but they just don't seem to happen. And so that's the way Gideon felt. He was cast down because things just didn't seem to work out. But this, too, is part of God's planning. God was, through all this fitting Gideon to be a humble person because he was going to perform a mighty deliverance.
Israel. And if he had been proud, if he had been puffed up, if he had thought he was someone great, he couldn't have done this. The Lord had to empty him of all that. And so when he said this, the Lord's answer was somewhat surprising. He said Go in this thy might. What?
Person that's wondering why everything didn't work out and he says go in this thy might. Yes, he said, I'll use you if you're really exercised about why, If you're really exercised about why, then I'll use you. And so it is the Lord has a why, he has a purpose. And if you and I are content to let him answer our questions and to let him find his time in our lives.
Of them he'll say to us, Go in this, thy mate, and thou shalt.
Deliver Israel, he said. My family is poor in Manasseh. I'm the least of my father's house. Nothing ever worked out in my life, and it certainly won't. But the Lord said certainly I will be with thee, certainly I will be with thee. What a grand answer. And so, dear young person, have those questions bothered you? Have you come to this conference?
In those very questions that I've mentioned are the very questions.
Questions. Why was I made this way?
00:40:00
Why was I put in such and such a gathering in such and such a place? And why don't things work out in my life? And so you're just allowing yourself to get so upset by those that you think it's no use. I might as well give up right now. Oh dear young person, not so. God has an all wise pattern. And so these questions that were asked.
Are questions that are common to us, but God has, shall I say, an answer. And so let us turn to three questions that are asked in faith. Let's turn first of all to Acts. I think it's the 9th chapter.
The 9th chapter.
And the.
6th verse.
And he trembling an astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord sent unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Psalms 119.
And the ninth verse.
Psalms 119 and the ninth verse.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed thereto, according to Thy words, with my whole heart have I sought Thee. O let me not wander from Thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee. And then just back on your page, the 116th Psalm and the.
12TH verse What shall I render unto the Lord? For all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. The 16th verse O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bands.
And so here we find 3 questions. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? And then what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? And dear young person, if you truly know the Lord as your Savior, I hope you will ask these three questions. Because life is a puzzle. It's full of hard questions. But here are questions.
That you can ask from the Lord, and He likes to have you ask those questions.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? You know, when the Levites who represented the redeemed in Israel were brought to Aaron, it tells us that Aaron appointed to everyone his service and to everyone his burden.
And everyone of those Levites, if asked, could say, I know what my service is, it was appointed to me when I was presented to Aaron. And I know what my burden is too, because he didn't only appoint me a service, he also appointed me a burden.
Dear young person, are you content to go to the Lord Jesus and ask that He would just tell you what He wants you to do in life?
And that, that includes everything young people say, well, I'd like to be such and such when I grow up. I'd like to live in such and such a place. Yes, it's nice, you know, to think about what we're going to do. But I want to tell you that the Lord is interested in the life work that you choose. He's interested in the place that you live. He's interested in everything about you.
He's interested in the clothes you wear. There isn't a single thing that isn't a.
Of interest to him, you say, well, I I just thought that the Lord was interested whether I was saved and whether I came to the meetings. Well, he certainly is interested in that, but he's also interested in everything. And so when these Levites were brought.
They were appointed, and every Levite, as I said, could say, well, I was appointed to. This dear young person asked the Lord what He wants you to do in all those great decisions and in all.
00:45:01
All those little decisions in life, will you just look up and say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
I'm sure that he will direct your path. He's promised in all thy ways, acknowledged him.
And he shall direct thy paths. And sometimes he directs us in strange ways. As I look back over my life, I can see so many things in which he came in. And sometimes we don't just know the way. He directs us, He shows us. He not only shows us the way, but He leads the way.
When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my Father, Thou art the guide of my youth. Oh, you say, but I don't know what's the best to do. But he does. His name is wonderful Counselor, the mighty God. He knows all.
And then perhaps I hear some young person say, oh, but I've made a mass of my life. I've already made a mess of it. I've really done a lot of things I'm ashamed of. And I don't think that I could ever be any use to the Lord. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Is there some young person here? And you come to these meetings and you know that you haven't been going on with the Lord. You know that you wouldn't tell your parents or your friends.
The things that you're doing, but you're going on with things that shouldn't be in your life. Oh dear young person, will you let the Lord set things right in your life? Will you allow Him to let the light of His Word shine upon your life? Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?
He can't show you what to do until he has first cleansed your way because, you know, he uses clean vessels, but he can cleanse your way. And it says here, by taking heed thereto, according to thy word, have you followed the advice of your friends? Have you said, well, all the young people do it? And so I don't see that it can be wrong.
Yes, you took advice from the wrong source, all the young people.
People don't do it, very likely, but the group that perhaps you talk to said it was all right. But the psalmist said I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.
Yes, that was the kind of friends that the psalmist had. My father used to often say the Lord chooses my friends for me.
The Lord chooses my friends for me. Yes, the companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precept. Will you go by the word of God?
And then it says thy word of I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee, and I am feeling his weakness. He said, let me not wander from my commandments. Oh, isn't this lovely? All dear young people, if you've come to this conference and you feel that your life is like that and you feel that you're no use now, oh, I do hope that the Lord will speak to your heart today.
And that you will allow him that you will ask the Lord the question, Say Lord, I'm a young.
And around a young girl, how can I cleanse my way? And he'll answer she. And he'll say by taking heed there too, according to thy word. Or you say that I am so weak all let me not wander from my commandments. Oh, but I don't know what to do Thy word. Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? What grand directions? And we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ.
The righteous, the one who died for us, lives for us, and there we can come to him, and we can own it to him and seek to be restored, and if necessary, to our brethren too, because we're just fooling ourselves to go on in a path that brings dishonor to the Lord and dishonor to the testimony. O dear young people, May God grant that you'll ask these questions. What wilt thou have me to do? How can I cleanse my way?
And then the last question, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? Oh, hasn't he done so much for us? Can we ever thank Him enough?
Could we ever, could we ever stop telling all the things the psalmist said? If I should declare and speak of his wonderful things he said there more than can be numbered. No, you can't. You can never, never think of all the wonderful things that he's done. But I will you ask this question, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? He's done so much for us. What can we render? What can we return?
00:50:09
So what is the answer? The answer there is I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. It's just like if somebody gave you a beautiful gift and you said, oh, what can I do for you for giving me such a beautiful gift? And the person said, oh, just accept it. Just accept it. So the end of the verse says I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. And so isn't it lovely?
That the answer is, well, the Lord's done so much and he says, but just take all the good things I've got for you. I, I just, I just want to bless you. I want to fill your life and I want to fill your heart and I want to make you eternally happy. And as our brother said to us yesterday, it'll make him eternally happy to make us eternally happy. And he says, I just want to do that for you. Will you take it from him? Are you going to go your own way?
And then he says he says.
Because I will pay my vows now in the presence of all his people. Now, we don't make vows in Christianity. But it's just as if the psalmist said, and I want to start right now. I just want to start right now to acknowledge his claims over me and to live for him. He's done so much for me. And then he goes on to say, I'm my servant and thou hast loosed my bonds.
Or did you feel all tied up, all bound up? He just wants to set.
Free. He just wants to set you free, just like it tells us about.
It tells us about blind Bartimaeus. The Lord said to him, when he opened his eyes, he said, go thy way. And what did Bartimaeus do? He followed Jesus in the way he followed Jesus. Perhaps I hear a young person say, I wish somebody would say to me, just go your way, just do what you like. Well, when the Lord said to Bartimaeus, you just do, you just go your way.
Why? What did he do? Oh, it's just as if he looked into the face of the.
Savior and said, You've done so much for me, my way is to follow thee. O dear young person, may the Lord cause you to raise these three last questions. Perhaps you raised the other three. Your life is full of wise and questions and everything about. Will you raise these last three questions? What will Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
Wherewithal shall I cleanse my way? What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? Oh, I say again, He wants to bless you. He wants to fill your life. And I hope you'll go back from these meetings at Des Moines and say, thank God I came there. I had a lot of questions. And I don't say that all the questions are answered, but I know who has all the answers and I'm trusting Him.
All he has, he's going to have all the answers for you another day.
They trust him now.