Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to read a few scriptures about how God desired to separate his people?
First of all, in the 7th chapter of Deuteronomy, in the first verse, when the Lord thy God shall bring me into the land, whither thou goest to possess it, and thou hast cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites and the Amorites.
And the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites, 7 nations greater and mightier than thou, When the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them either shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son, for they shall turn away.
Son from following me, that they may serve other gods, so shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroyed ye suddenly. But thus shalt thou deal with them. He shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cast down their Groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art and holy people unto the Lord thy God.
The Lord thy God hath chosen me to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon thee, nor choose thee, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved thee, and because He would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your Father's hath, the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house.
Bondman from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, shall we turn over to?
Judges, pardon me. Joshua Chapter 9. Joshua Chapter 9, verse 3. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard that Joshua, what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to AI, they did work wildly.
And went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took all sacks upon their ***** and wine bottles old and rent, and bound up, and old shoes, and clouded upon their feet, and old garments about them. And all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.
And I went to Joshua under the camp of Gilgal, and said unto him, And to the men of Israel, We become from a far country. Now therefore make a league with us. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us, and how shall we make a league with you? And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye, and from whence come ye?
And they said unto him.
From a very far country thy servants are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God. For we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the 2 Kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to OG king of Bashan, which were at Ashtaroth.
Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take Biddles with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants. Therefore now make ye a league with us. It's our bread we took hot for our provision out of the houses, out of our houses, on the day we came forth to go unto you. And now behold, it is dry, and it is moldy. And these bottles of wine.
Which we filled were new, and behold they be rent, and these are garments in our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. And the men took their vettels, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.
And Joshua made peace with them and made a league with them and let them live.
And the Princess of the congregation swear unto them. And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. And the children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon.
Chopra and Bira, and Kerja Jiram, and the children of Israel smooth, and not because the Princess of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the Princess, but all the Princess said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them.
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Now, another little story I'd like to read to you and.
Second Kings chapter 6, verse 8 Then the king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
And the man of God sent unto the King of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place, For thither the Syrians are Come, hit her, come down.
And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him of, and warned him of, and saved himself there not once nor twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing. And he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my Lord, O king.
But Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the word.
That thou speakest in my bed chamber. And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan, and therefore send he to their horses and Chariots, and a great host. And they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold. And who compassed the city, both with horses and Chariots, and his?
Sent unto him, Harass my master, how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And only she prayed. And said, Lord, I prayed. He opened his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, a mountain was full of horses and Chariots of fire.
Round about Elisha.
The 21St verse. And the king of Israel sent unto Elisha when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them. Thou wouldst not smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow. Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. And he prepared great provision for them, And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away.
And they went to.
Their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
And then just two verses in Second Corinthians chapter 6.
2nd Corinthians chapter 6 in the last two verses.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Well, as I remark, the reason that I read these scriptures is to speak about separation.
Then we can see that it was God's purpose that his people should be a separated people unto Him.
And it's very loudly to see the reason why He wanted them to be a separated people. It was because He loved them and because He wanted to bless them. And dear young people, when I speak of separation this afternoon, it isn't because God wants to rob you of something. It's because He wants to give you something. He wants you to know the true source of happiness and joy.
Because the Lord Jesus not only died to deliver our souls from hell.
When he died because he wants our company and he's going to find the satisfaction of his own heart in a coming day in the company of his redeemed people, I say it will be the satisfaction of his own heart and it will be the satisfaction of ours too. But he wants our whole hearts. He has a right to them. He's done everything that love could do. Love couldn't have done more and would not do less than he has done to win.
Heart and mind. But you know, we have a constant enemy, an enemy who knows all the tricks, knows just how to trap us. He may come out against us with, as it were, sword and spear, or He may come with a plot and a plan that we may not recognize, but it's always with an attempt to steal away our hearts so that the Lord wouldn't have our hearts like he should, but that He might turn our hearts away from the one.
Who is the true object of our affections? And let us remember this dear young people, the Lord Jesus has never left his first love. It's lovely to see. In addressing the seven churches in Revelation, he begins by speaking to the first one and telling them how he felt it that they had left their first love. But in the last one, he says, as many as I love.
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I review Can Chasten and that is he spoke of how they had left their first love in the 1St.
Letter and in the last one, after giving us, we might say the history of the church's departure, he says, I still love you. And if I correct you, it's because I love you. It's because I seek your good. It's because I want to Sup with you and you with me. And so he takes his place in revelation in that last church outside the door knocking saying.
Now behold, I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice, and open the door.
I will come into him, and will Sup with him, and he with me. And so I say. This passage that we read in the 7th chapter of Deuteronomy showed the children of Israel the path that God had marked out for them when they came into this grand inheritance, this land flowing with milk and honey. This morning we were talking of the manner of love that has been.
Bestowed upon us the place that we have been brought into. And then it's said.
The world knoweth us not because it knew Him not. And isn't it just exactly in another, shall I say in another way, what we have here in the 7th of Deuteronomy? The Lord saying how that He was going to bring them into this land, greater and mightier nations than themselves, and they would possess it, and then that they would have that land, and that His love was upon them. And it said.
He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.
Even as He is pure, so in Deuteronomy he brings before us that practical side of things. And were they to share their hearts with those who didn't know his love? Oh, it's true. They had to do business with them, and we have to do business with the world. The young people have to go to school. You have to perhaps go further and get further education. But you know, the great trouble is.
The danger, the constant danger of forming links.
With the world, oh, what a danger that is. And since we have hearts that are quite capable of entering into these arrangements with the world, we have within us a fond nature that can still enjoy the world. The world can never, never come up to the things that we enjoy. They don't possess that kind of life, but we can go down to the things that they enjoy because we do possess their kind of life. We still have that nature.
I'm just as capable of settling down and enjoying the things of the world as any other person because I still have the old nature. But the Spirit of God is constantly bringing before us that we are His, that we have a new power, that we have a new Center for our affections, that we have a different home. And because of this, now there is a practical separation that takes place. Now. This is not a Pharisaical separation.
It's a practical separation, I say, because it is founded on our hearts having been won by him. But when he doesn't possess that place in our hearts that is rightfully his, then our affections grow cold and we find that the world has quite a lure. And it has that particularly in youth, because when we're young the way is rather unfried and we think that we.
To try everything, to find out we know the old expression of the world. I'll try anything once. But I've often said that was just exactly what Adam said. He was going to try something once. Yes, he tried it once. But when he took of that thing once, it brought in sorrow that lasted the whole of his 930 years.
So you see, by trying that once, he suffered for 930 years for trying something.
Nothing once. Oh, this is serious, isn't it? And we away from the Lord and our souls, could possibly make a step that would bring sorrow upon us, and what is worse still, perhaps on those who follow us. Abraham made a false step in taking Hagar, and he brought sorrow upon himself. He brought trouble into his family, He brought sorrow unto his nation, and they still haven't had been delivered from the results.
Now what Abram did when he took Hagar?
And so in our chapter here in the 9th chapter of Joshua, we find something else that happened in the history of Israel. And to me it has a very instructive lesson.
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These people who came, these gibeonites, didn't come as enemies. And don't expect the world to come and say we're your enemy. They won't come that way. Probably there will be a few that do. There are a few that show open opposition. Indeed, the first two chapters, the verses of the 9th chapter, show those who showed open opposition, who fought with Israel.
Who didn't want them to possess their inheritance but the story that we.
Read is not by those who showed open opposition, but by those who tried to form links with the people of God by deceiving them and all. Dear young people, this is the snare today. This is the great danger for us today.
And these people heard how that God's people were going forward victoriously. They saw that they were possessing this good land, this land flowing with milk and honey, and that God was with them and fully came to them. And they came. It says they worked wildly, and it says they brought.
All sacks upon their ***** wine bottles old and random, bound up, all sheer.
This worn out clothes and they presented the story that they had made a long journey and that they had come to make a league with these people because they saw that God was with them. How do you young people, I want to apply this in a very practical way to your life and mine. I want you to see that this is the approach that the world makes. We're living in a time when the world says.
While we recognize that we have a God.
Much pleasure and joy that things are sort of letting us down. The world that once was a place of joy is really and not what it used to be.
They recognize that their bread is kind of moldy. They recognize their wine bottles, their rent, They recognize that their shoes are worn out. And they say, well, we need what the Christians have, but they don't intend to become Christians. They intend to sort of form links. They sort of intend to deceive us into thinking and that Christ in the world can work together.
And it never can be. It didn't work here, and it can't be.
Be and all dear young people, that is the approach of the world today. And I'm sure that you young people that I'm speaking to today have had young friends at school and college say, well, you've got something that we don't have.
And let's go along together. Let's walk together. Because really, the world needs more people like you, and you can have a good influence on us if we just go along together.
And all how this sort of flatters us, doesn't it? It makes us realize that we really do have something by being brought up in a Christian home. We have something by being brought up in a home where the Word of God was read, having had the privilege of sitting in the Assembly of God and hearing the truth ministered, I tell you to your young people, it's a wonderful privilege. We don't half appreciate it until we get older.
It does have an impact. It has an effect upon our lives, a very real effect. And the world who looks at us recognizes that we do have something that is better than what they have. But they think the two principles have to be mixed. They think the world and that what the Christian has can be mixed. But I want to tell you it can't be mixed. From beginning to end. The Bible shows that there is no.
Of that which this world is as a system, and that which the Christian has.
As soon as God made the light, then it says he separated the light from the darkness. And constantly through the word of God, over and over again we see God teaching his people that when they were brought to him they were a separated people. The world is looked upon as a system of things that was built up by Cain and his posterity.
A system. Certainly it had a religion.
Certainly it had scientific progress. Cain was a religious man. Cain believed in the same God that Abel did. Isn't that what they tell you? Well, we all believe in the same God. Let's compare notes. And if we could just get the two together, we have something and you have something, and we can just sort of pool our resources, as they might say.
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And so I say, Cain had the same God that Abel had, but he approached him in a different way.
Cain approached God by the works of his own hands. Abel approached God as a Sinner. He approached him with the blood of a sacrifice. He recognized that he was not approaching God as one who had any right in his presence of himself. He had by faith learned the true way. And then what about Cain's posterity?
Well, in Cain's posterity we see the beginning of the vast world system. One of his posterity was the father of such as dwelling tents and have cattle, the founder of the commercial world. Another one was an instructor in every artificer of glass and iron. Perhaps we could say that he was the scientific world.
Another one was the father of all such as handled the harp and the organ. He was the entertainment world. And so you see, Cain had religion, he had commerce, he had the science, he had entertainment. Well, he thought his world was all right that we find out that his world was under the judgment of God. And I don't know whether you ever noticed in reading.
But it is remarkable that when you read about Cain's.
Posterity. It never says of one of them and he died. Never says of 1 of Cain's posterity and he died. But it does tell you about their accomplishments, and you don't read anything about the accomplishments of the descendants of Seth.
Who was the man of faith and of everyone of his posterity, it says. And he died.
Why was this? Well, because the others didn't live for anything that came after this life. They lived for this life. Death was out of their their figuring. They didn't count upon it. They they were trying to fix up the world. They wanted to make it. They were the kind of people that are described in Revelation as the earth dwellers that said, this world is a wonderful place. We're going to make the best of it. So that was their place. But what about the posterity of.
Where we find that Noah, he was a man who feared God, Enoch walked with God. This was the posterity of faith. We don't read of them accomplishing anything in the world except that Noah builded an ark. Now that wasn't anything for the world system. It was something that was very important to the man of faith. And then it says, and he died.
Why? Well, their hopes weren't in this condemned world at all. They were going to leave it.
And dear friends, dear young people.
The world is a system of things built up from Cain, his posterity and alienation from God.
But here we find these people. They came and they made-up this little story that they were ambassadors. And they said, no, please make a treaty with us and we'll live among you. And we realize that our own resources are all spent. And so let's get along together and share what we have.
All dear young people, I say again, you know this story as well as I do. You've heard it from the boys and girls at school. Perhaps you have an unsaved boyfriend or an unsaved girlfriend and they say, oh, you have something that I don't have. Tell me about it. I I want a person like you. The world needs people like you. And so they make a great appeal.
And after they had lived.
Story And they looked over their possessions and examined them. It looked that the story was very good. Surely the story was true. These people must be sincere. They couldn't find a flaw in what they said.
And how many a young person has been deceived this way? They said, oh, I couldn't even find a flaw in what he said. He really seemed sincere. She really seems sincere. She really seemed to want what I have. But she didn't accept it, did she? She didn't accept Christ. She didn't want to be thoroughly like you. And perhaps that person was something like King Agrippa.
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. That's quite different from being.
All together.
It's a different thing to be almost a Christian from being altogether a Christian. It's a different thing from admiring what the Christian has and having what the true Christian has.
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And so these people were deceived. And what was the wrong? Why were they deceived? Was it because they weren't clever man? Oh, no, it was the leaders of the people and even Joshua, and you notice where they came, they actually came to Gilgal. The people were in the right place. That was where God wanted them to be before they went forth to victory.
Dear young people, you might be in the right place too.
It has been said that Judas knew the place, and you can be in the right place and not be dependent upon the Lord.
Many of our dear young people have been in the right place. Thank God for it. Thank God that they had learned what it was to value the truth of God and to be gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus. But what was the flaw? What was wrong with these these Israelites that entered into this agreement that made a league with these people the Spirit of God? Just make one comment about it.
A very simple comment, but a very.
Forceful comment and what is it it says here?
In the 14th verse.
And the men took of their vettels, and asked not counsel. At the mouth of the Lord there was the whole thing.
The whole thing, the story was good, the people were clever.
They seemed sincere, everything looked good on the surface, and you say, well, how could they help it? Because anybody would be deceived by something so cleverly done as that.
The Lord wasn't deceived. The Lord knew where these people came from, although the Israelites didn't. And if they had asked the Lord, it says they asked not counsel at the Lord.
All dear young people, do you ask counsel at the Lord? We had that verse this morning. Sin is lawlessness. I ask you again, and I say to myself, do we ask counsel at the Lord? It says if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who give it to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. Do you think the Lord wants you to miss?
Do you think he wanted Israel to get into this Mass? Of course he didn't. He wanted to bless them. He had brought them on eagle's wings to himself. He had said how he loved them and he had set his love upon them, and he's going to bless them abundantly in a coming day. But he didn't want them to get into this situation. But they didn't do the one important thing. They didn't.
Ask him.
Oh, do you read the word of God and pray?
When those situations come up in life and you really find a difficult thing facing you, you ask counsel at the Lord. Do you turn to His Word?
What do you say? Well, it looks so good.
They seem so sincere, I couldn't doubt them for the world. Or do you instead turn and say, well, I don't know, but the Lord knows, you know, I remember reading a little instance in the life of Mr. Darby that quite struck me.
Somebody asked his advice about a matter and he had been misinformed about the matter and so he gave his advice and afterwards he found that he had been misinformed and so the advice he had given was also incorrect.
And I was very much struck by what he did. He went to the person that he had given this information to and he said, he said, I, I told you so and so because I had been misinformed.
And he said, I'm sorry, but that doesn't excuse me because he said the Lord wasn't misinformed and if I had asked him, he would have given me the right answer. Oh dear young people, I plead with you.
Ask counsel at the Lord, never take a step in disobedience to His word, because if you do, it will not only be a dishonor to Him, but it will be to your own loss.
Well, what happened now? We haven't time to go into all the details of the story, but after they had made this, it didn't take them long to find out they had made a mistake. Within three days they found out the mistake that they had made.
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And many a young person has found out within three days that they made a mistake when they took a step in disobedience, forming perhaps a marriage, entering into some unscriptural association. And after three days they find out they've made a mistake. And then, of course, what do you want to do? Just what they wanted to do.
Well, they wanted to get out of this situation.
But the Lord wouldn't let them. He said no, you have to put up with it now you've you've taken that step now whatsoever on and so that shall he also reap. And so from those three days forward they had to suffer because they asked not counsel at the Lord. And how long did this situation last?
Well, long afterwards in the reign of King Saul.
Still, these Gibeonites were among the people of God. Saul. King Saul thought, well, I'll clean up this situation. And so he slaughtered some of these Gibeonites, and God had to deal with his people. O dear young people, I tell you, we can't get away from the reaping that we bring on ourselves. And I'm going to speak a faithful word because of this.
These situations.
Sometimes exist in our assemblies and we'd like to get this, this cleared up and not cleared up, but it stems back for a few years, perhaps quite a few years, when someone entered into a wrong association, made an unequal yoke, and it was the beginning of something that spread out and fanned out. These gibeonites multiplied and they were thorns in the sides of the people of God.
Oh, how true.
That verse, none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. When we take a step, we have to suffer ourselves. But we often are like Jonah. We bring trouble on everybody in the boat with us. Yes, we bring trouble in the whole crowd because of what we did. Oh, what a lesson. But I also want to say something that's nice, and I love that verse in Psalm of Solomon chapter 1, and I want you to notice what it says it says.
Withdraw me, we will run after Thee. Notice the change from the singular. Draw me, we will run after thee. One young person drawn after the Lord. One young person who puts Christ first in his life. One young person who wants to follow the Lord and his leading in his life. What a blessing he can be to others. That's the converse of it. Just as harm can be done by a false step if you.
Young person set out to please the Lord. Who can tell a blessing that you're going to be in the little meeting where you live? Who can tell the blessing that will be if you seek the Lord's mind and get the right partner and set up a Christian home, what a blessing you may be in that assembly. What your home might mean. That's why it says in the Song of Solomon about rivers of water being dispersed.
Abroad in thy streets, that is, Solomon said to his son. You walk in wisdom's.
Ways and the blessing will flood into the streets, and blessing flows out when we're obedience obedient, but sorrow when it's otherwise. Then I'll let us notice this other instance here in.
Second Kings chapter 6.
Here we find an enemy. Who?
Invaded the land of Israel.
And he said to his servants, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
Now one thing that we can say that is very nice about the King of Israel at this time, he didn't trust his own wisdom. He wasn't like the elders of Israel who trusted their own wisdom and asked not counsel at the Lord. But we find the opposite here, a very beautiful case, and that is.
That when the king of Syria came in and planned that his camp would be in such and such a place, the man of God sent a message to the king of Israel and he said, don't go there, you'll find your enemy there.
Now he could have said just like the Gibeonites.
Are like the children of Israel with the Gibeonites. He could have said, well I'm going to go and see, but he didn't. He didn't. And so it tells us in the.
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Ninth verse.
And a man of God sent unto the King of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place for us. Thither the Syrians are come down, and the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. Isn't this nice?
When he heard the message, he didn't say.
Ah, he's just an old man. How does he know? How can he see what's going on? After all, he belongs to another generation. He doesn't all that much. I'm going to find out for myself. But we don't find him acting that way. He listened and he saved himself, not once nor twice.
And some of us who by the grace of God.
Have been brought to have been brought to perhaps marry a Christian partner and have at least some desire we trust to please the Lord. We saved ourselves once or twice too. We found that the Lord warned us and kept us from snares. We were just as capable of the snares that other people fall into and want delivered us. Not because we were super wise. Not because we were any more intelligent than anybody else.
But here was a.
Warning given to this man.
Not once nor twice. Apparently several times he saved himself from this situation.
And so the king of Syria said, well, what's going on? You can't seem to catch this person at all. Every time I plan that I'm going to make an attack on him, he seems to he seems to get out of the situation. How does he do it?
And notice.
In the 12TH verse.
The end of the 11TH verse the king of Syria said, Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my Lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.
Now they had made this plan, those gibeonites.
But the children of Israel didn't know that little plan that was made back in their in their city three days journey away, but the Lord did. But in this case, the king of Syria said, well, how does this man know?
Well, the servant said there's a prophet there that's telling the words that you speak in your bedchamber and all. Isn't this lovely? Just to think that we have a God who looks down upon this world who knows everything that's going on. There's not a person that crosses your pathway or mine. There's not a plan that is made to spoil your life and testimony or mine, but the Lord knows all about it.
He knows all about it, and if we look to Him and hearken to His advice, we'll save ourselves. Not once nor twice. We'll find that He is a mighty God who loves us and who is able to deliver us.
So then the king of Syria thought, well, we must get this man.
And so they came and encompassed the city where Elisha was with his servant, the city of Dothan. And when they came and encompassed the city.
Why, the servant of the man of God got up in the morning, and he said, Alas, my master, what shall we do? He looked, it looked very difficult. Here was the whole power of the enemy arrayed against the man of God. And dear friends, the whole power of Satan is arrayed against you when you want to please the Lord.
Or are you saying, what will I do? Other young people are doing it. It's a different day, Brother Hayhoe. Today you don't understand because you were brought up in a different generation. And perhaps I don't fully understand. I don't think I do. But the Lord does. The Lord does. And he knew what was being said in the bedchamber. And more than this, with all the power of the enemy outside the city of Dothan, the man of God was at peace.
Well, he saw the protection that he had. The mountain was full of horses and Chariots of fire round about. God's servant, the one who wanted to please him. And when the young man's open eyes were opened wide, he saw. And he said, Those that are with us are more than those that are with them. And that's the verse that we read in John's epistle. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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Oh, dear young person, don't get discouraged. Don't get discouraged. You have a wonderful savior. If you know him as your savior, He cares for you.
He protects his own and he wants to be your deliverer. Or you say, does that mean we have to be rough with the world? Well, I think it's very nice what Elisha did after this. He said food before them. He wasn't unkind, but he was firm. He was faithful. And you don't have to be unkind, but you must be faithful if you would deliver yourself. And he was faithful. He fed these people.
But he didn't make any league with them and they went back to their own, kind of.
And they left them alone.
It says they didn't come into their country again. They left them alone. And when you and I seek to act in faithfulness, we'll find that we don't have to leave the world alone. The world wants to leave us alone. They see the one that's for us. They see the protection that we have. The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. So we see two different instances here.
Those who were put in a difficult spot and follow their own counsel and advice and got into a difficulty. But here we find another where they're put in a a very difficult spot. But they didn't follow their own counsel. They followed the counsel of the Lord. They hearkened to his voice and they were spared not once nor twice.
And they were able, as we see Elisha was able to continue.
His testimony, what a blessing he was to the people of God. And dear young people, I know that the greatest decisions of your life are made in use, the greatest decisions that are going to affect the whole of the rest of your life. And as I stand here and look into your young faces. If the Lord leaves us here.
Nothing would I desire any better than your happiness, but I warn you that if you truly belong to Christ.
You can bring plenty of sorrow into your life.
You can bring plenty of sorrow into the life of others too. Who you don't want to cause sorrow and why?
Just because you don't listen to the counsel of the Lord, oh how plain, how simple His blessed word. Oh, May God grant that each one of us, young and old, in every situation, may look up and say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And even when it seems difficult to take the step and say no, remember, the little hymn in all is just a little word. And so is why yes, but all the difference they do.
Make no one could ever guess what a difference and all and YESO, will you say yes to the Lord? Will you say no to every temptation that would seek to lead you away from him? All those lovely verses I just close with in Second Corinthians chapter 6 when the Lord calls us to come out to Him in separation. Isn't it beautiful what he says?
He says and I.
There will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. The only place in addressing Christians where the Lord takes that title of the Lord Almighty. It's a name that isn't customary for Christianity. In Christianity we usually read of God as Father. Why does he take his place there and say, I'll be a father unto you, saith?
The Lord Almighty.
All because I know that some of you young people are saying all my situation is so difficult. This generation is so different. But all remember the one who calls you out to walk in his company, who wants to act. The Father's part has all power. He's still able to fill the mountain with horses and Chariots of fire round about you, and if you by his grace seek to walk in obedience to Him.
You'll look back and you'll say, thank God. He delivered me not once nor twice. He wanted to bless me, and He does want to bless you. Dear young people, may the Lord grant that you will hearken to His voice. May grant that you will be preserved from those snares and pitfalls to which our hearts are so prone. Because He loves you. He wants your company forever, but He also wants you to know what it is.
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To walk in His company down here in this world and have His blessing upon your life.
Could we just sing that little hymn 174?
3.