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 a verse in Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 35, which hath great recompense of reward.
I just wanted to read this one verse before I speak about the theme that was on my heart because I believe it's so very important. I believe that we can only receive the truth from God as there is confidence in Him and in His love, in His interest in our affairs. If someone talks to you and you feel they have no interest in you, no real care about your life or your things, why you say, well, it didn't seem to mean a great deal to me.
But if it's someone whom you feel really loves you, has a sincere interest in you, by that means a great deal to you. But oh, how wonderful this is, dear young people, that you have a friend in the Lord Jesus, if you know him as your Savior, who has full knowledge all about you. He knows your background, He knows your feelings, He knows everything that has gone through your mind during these meetings.
He knows the assembly that you come.
From everything about you. And he has a personal interest in you. He has made you different. No two of us have the same fingerprints. We're all different people. And the Lord has a personal interest in you and He cares. But Satan is at work to destroy that confidence in God. He began way back in the Garden of Eden by seeking to destroy.
Adam and Eve's confidence in God by making them think that God was holding.
The best thing in the garden from them, where in reality He was only protecting them from what would have harmed them and did harm them when they partook of it. But dear young people, if they had only realized that God had planted that garden Himself and provided them with everything for their happiness, they would have accepted the warning.
Someone has said How often does one forbidden thing hide from our view 1000 blessings.
And if there's something forbidden that you're going after, something that God's Word warns you about and you're seeking after it, it's because you don't have confidence in God. You think that going after that forbidden thing is going to bring something worthwhile into your life. But how can it be so when the God who created you and who knows you through and through has given you his precious Word and all the assurances of his love, particularly in that?
When we had sinned, He gave His only begotten Son to redeem us.
And often said that God placed Adam and Eve in the garden in that way. And when they had sinned and spoiled it all, he said, well, I'm going to give you something better than what you spoiled. I'm going to invite you to my home above, a home that you can't spoil, and I'm going to pay the price so you can be there. And that's what he did. And you and I who are saved, we know that one. We know him as our Savior. We know him as our Lord.
And are we going to allow the enemy to put doubts in our minds that he cares about us when we think of the price that he paid for us and the future that's ahead of us where we will never need anything? Faith will cease there because there will be nothing we have to trust about. We'll be in the eternal realization of all that God has provided. But this is a scene of trust. And so here this verse.
And isn't it a marvelous thing? But I read it overwhelmingly.
That God says, I'm going to give you a great reward if you just trust me. Just think of it. It's all that we should do. We certainly should trust Him when we think of who he is and what He's done. But he says, I value your confidence so much that there's an exceeding great reward if you'll just trust me, if you'll just trust me. And dear young people, I say this to you, that if you'll just trust the Lord, that there's going to be an exceeding great reward and more than that.
There's a present blessing in it too, because the Bible says that godliness has the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. And the peace and the joy that the Lord can give you in your heart. Maybe your circumstances may not be all that you would like them to be, but the peace and the joy He can give you in your heart, it's overwhelming, it's tremendous, and He wants to do that for you.
Well, what I particularly had in mind in speaking this afternoon was to talk about two things that I think are very important in our lives, particularly as young people, and that is decisions and disappointments, decisions and disappointments. And I think that we need to learn trust in both those things. We need to learn trust and decisions because.
00:05:14
If we make decisions contrary to the word of God, contrary to the leading of the Spirit of God and our.
Lives by, we're making a mistake. We're really saying to the Lord, I don't believe you can plan the best for me. I need to take some of these things on and plan them according to my own wisdom instead of according to the wisdom of Thy word.
And then when disappointments come, and they do come, I guess we have all heard the little poem Disappointment His appointment change one letter and I see that the thwarting of my purpose was his better choice for me. Next time you write disappointment, just change the 1St letter and put an H instead of the D and you have his appointment.
And when you realize that, it makes it so different. His appointment.
Absolutely nothing happens by chance in your life and mine.
And to have confidence that the path that He has marked out in His word is the true path of blessing and happiness in a world like this. And that if disappointments come, things that we can't understand come and happen in our lives. To still be able to say it's a God of love who allowed this in my life. And he has a purpose for our light affliction, which is but for a moment.
Worketh for us a far more exceeding.
And eternal weight of glory, if I can just put it in this way, you might say, wasn't it too bad that that decree was ever passed, that those three Hebrew children were to bow down to the to the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up? And because they didn't bow down, they were thrown into a fiery furnace? Was that a big disappointment they could never get over?
I believe that in a coming day they'll tell you that that was the most wonderful experience they ever had in their whole earth, the time down here on earth. And dear young people, I say to you and to those of us who are older, these disappointments can turn into a rich blessing in your soul now and for all eternity. It can reap eternal and blessed results of far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Well, I just like to look at 4 scriptures in connection with decisions, and I'd like to turn first of all to Proverbs chapter 3, Proverbs chapter 3, and verse 5.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
In Psalm 119, Psalm 119 and verse 9.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word?
And then the 105th verse of this same song.
The 105th verse says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Then to Jeremiah chapter 10.
Jeremiah chapter 10 and verse 23.
O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
I just wanted to read these 3 verses in connection with the decisions of life because I believe that these verses bring before us how that we have guidance in the Word of God as well as of course in prayer in connection with our decisions of life. Now we have many decisions that we have to make in life and isn't that lovely? That verse in the 3rd chapter of Proverbs in all thy ways.
Acknowledge him.
And he shall direct thy paths. Yes, dear young people, in all thy ways, not just in these big and important decisions. Some of you have come to these meetings, and perhaps you've met friends, friends that may change the whole pattern of your life from now on. And maybe you're very pleased and happy about this. Well, that's lovely. But there are a lot of other little decisions that equally are important in your life and mind.
00:10:04
Mind And so I just want to commend this verse to you in all thy ways. Acknowledge Him. That is, when you get up in the morning, ask the Lord that he would direct you in your pathway of life because He cares. That verse we have read in Jeremiah says, O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.
As I look back over my own life and I think of how if the Lord.
Hadn't given the instruction in His Word. What mistakes I could have made, things that would have spoiled my whole life, and how? How wonderful that God has given to us His Word. He has also given us the avenue of prayer for those two things I believe go together. Reading of the Word of God and prayer, they're often brought together.
I believe first of all the importance of the Word of God, because I want to say this, if God's Word has spoken, then you don't need to ask the Lord whether you should obey it or not. If it's a question of marrying somebody who is unsaved, you don't need to ask the Lord whether you should marry that unsaved person because He's already given you instruction in His Word and said be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
But there are of course many other things.
That come in life where we don't have any direct instruction in the Word of God. And in those cases, why we need to pray and ask his mind and his will. So we need the constant reading of the Word of God. And as perhaps many of you, dear young people have heard me say before, read the whole Bible. Read it all. Because those stories in the Old Testament are just God telling us about people who were.
Like passions with ourselves who were in situations similar to ourselves and showing us how they acted, how they reacted, mistakes that they made, good moves that they made, and all these things it tells us are written for our learning. And if you don't read those stories in the Old Testament, you're going to lose something because they're written to instruct us. God has not only given direction, but He has given us these pictures.
I like pictures when I'm going to follow some work that I'm going to do. I like written instructions, but I also like pictures. They always help me to get hold of the written instructions. And God has given us both in His Word. I believe He has given a picture of every situation that you can find yourself in, and He has shown people just like ourselves who are in those situations and what they did and whether they acted wisely.
Has also shown us the results of the good things they did and also the results of the mistakes that they made, and all these things are written for our good and for our learning.
Now it says, in all thy ways acknowledge him. That doesn't mean that we just ask him when there's some big decision, well, what line of work am I going to follow, or who is going to be my partner in life, or where am I going to take up my residence? Those are rather weighty decisions, but there's a whole lot of little things. One time Nehemiah stood before a great king, and the king asked him a question the way he answered that question.
Was tremendously important. He didn't have time like Daniel to run to his room 3 times in a day and pray. He had no time, but could he pray? Yes, it tells us that in the very presence of the king. So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, wasn't that lovely? And you have that resource. That's what it means. Pray without ceasing. It means that you're always in the attitude of prayer and you're asking the Lord.
To direct you so in all thy ways, acknowledge him. When you get up in the morning, you don't know what you're going to meet in the day. You don't know what you're going to meet. Before you return home from this conference, I want to tell you this. The devil is going to be right out on the road as soon as you get out here. And he's going to do his best to shake every bit of confidence you have. He's going to try and destroy what you heard in these meetings. I've experienced it when I was a young person.
You enjoy the meetings very much, and something happens as soon as the meetings are over that really shakes you right to your boots. And this God allows so that we would learn confidence in Him, confidence in him. And so it tells us in all thy ways, acknowledge him, ask Him. He's concerned about the smallest matters in your life. Whether you get on the right road or not, He's able to show you all the kinds of things he cares about.
00:15:13
Every detail in numbers of very hairs of your head.
And so it says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, all don't let the enemy shake your confidence in God. Because there's a beautiful verse in the Psalms too that says they that know thy name shall put their trust in thee. And so I want to encourage you to have that kind of confidence. You say, well, I'm a pretty shrewd person and I don't think people fool me very easily.
But listen to that verse in Jeremiah chapter 10.
Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. You may go to the guidance teacher and he may tell you, or she may tell you. You've got it in you. You can do it, but you don't and I don't. There are two powers that are superior to man, the power of God and the power of Satan. And if you and I don't put ourselves under the protection of the Lord and walk in the light of His word.
There's another one who can outwit us every time, and that's the enemy of our souls. That's the enemy of our souls. Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. I don't stand before you here to say that I was trued in planning my life, but I tell you that I have a wonderful guide, the captain of our salvation, and he goes before I love to think too. I like that verse that says.
When he put us forth.
His own sheep, he goes before them. Sometimes as we travel, people give us directions and we really appreciate them and watch them. But it's a lot easier when somebody says, just follow me, go ahead, I'll go ahead of you and you just keep your eyes on me and I'll direct you. And that's so nice, you know, And that's what the Lord does. He says, I've given you my word, but I want to do more.
I want you to always have your eyes on me. And so as that car goes ahead, you watch the license number, you watch when he stops, you watch when he starts, and you watch him. And that gives you the path. May he explain it to you before, but it's an awful lot nicer to have him ahead of you. Oh, dear young people, the Lord's the captain of our salvation. He's taking bringing many sons home to glory, and he knows our walking through this great and terrible wilderness.
He knows every situation. You're going to meet different situations from the ones I have met, and I don't. I don't say that I understand all that you're going through because God didn't put me in the same place as you. But I say He's just as much a sufficient guide for you as He is for me and for every other young person in this room. He cares about you, as our brother reminded us yesterday.
And so the way of man is not in himself.
It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. But you say I've made some mistakes. What about them? Well, isn't that lovely? Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, but by taking heed thereto, according to thy word, perhaps there have been some things that have crept into your life, things that have spoiled your communion with the Lord, things that are hindering you from following the Lord Jesus.
Well, it says.
How are you going to cleanse your way? Well, you look at the word of God and you let the Bible talk to you. Just like when we're traveling and we come to a place that we're not sure about, what do we do when we look at the map and we let it talk to us and sometimes I'm sorry to say, we we passed the point or we make a mistake. What do we do? We get the map out and we go back to where we turned off the wrong way and that's where we start over again.
And that's what I want to say.
Dear young people, if you have made some mistakes in your life, there is a way back to the Lord. It's true, sometimes you may have to reap a certain amount. Sometimes we've wasted 1/2 an hour or an hour or more just because we made a mistake. But much better to go back and get things straightened out than to keep on in the wrong way wherewithal still a young man.
Cleanse his way. Have you heard something in this meeting that has?
Made you think that really hit me. I'm not really just going that way and you've looked up and said, Lord, I want to go thy way and I acknowledge that I was very self willed. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Oh, don't go on your own way without his direction.
00:20:16
And then it says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I've often mentioned about this, those two things probably others have too. A lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I often compare it to the headlights of my car, you know, and the headlights of my car, I would think they probably shine maybe 100 or 200 feet ahead.
But you know, if I decided that I was going to drive in the dark and I said, well, I really can't go any further than 200 feet because that's as far as my lights give me light. Oh, you'd say, but just keep going and you'll have light all the way. Now God gives you light for one step, but when you say I won't take that step, don't expect light for the next. I don't expect light for.
The next 200 feet until I've gone that 200 feet where my headlights showed me. And perhaps you're saying, Lord, if I just knew what was 10 days ahead, it would be so much easier. The Lord says I've given you light for one step. Take that step and I'll give you light for the next one. That's what it means. Dear young people, Thy word is a lamp to my feet just for one step. And.
I'll a lamb into my feet and a light on to my feet.
He lights you all the way to glory. The Word of God will show you the steps all the way. There's people of all ages here, some dear children, some young people, some middle-aged, some of us are older. We found that there's light all the way and we need different things as we grow older. But there's light, There's wisdom in the Word. There's light when we turn to the Lord because He knows our walking through this great and terrible.
US and so we have all that we need in him. Well, now just to mention things that we have to decide about. First of all, it's salvation. Salvation. Is there anybody who is listening here today and you haven't received the Lord Jesus as your Savior?
You have turned away from the wonderful love that he wants to show to you. That's the first decision. That's the most important decision of your whole life.
When you say yes to the Lord Jesus, will you come as a Sinner and receive Him and put your trust in Him? And I will tell you that if you do, He'll never leave you nor forsake you. He'll be with you all the way. His precious blood paid the price of sin, and He is able to give you the assurance in your soul that they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
So that's the first and important thing.
And, you know, there's a lot of young people here, and perhaps some of you, like myself, you've been brought up in the Assembly of the Saints and you've grown up and you've heard the truth from childhood. But hearing it, you know, isn't enough. People sometimes say to me, well, it was easy for you, But you know, it doesn't matter whether you're brought up in the meeting or not. You have to buy the truth.
You have to go through something in your soul.
As to why you're there, am I just there because my parents were there, or am I there because I believe the Lord is there? You're going to have to go through that.
And it isn't for us just to choose. Israel didn't have a right to choose where their center would be. They didn't have a right to choose how the ark was to be carried. No, God gave them directions. And I want to say to you, dear young people, I want you to really be persuaded from the word of God as to how and where the Lord Jesus would have you to gather that you might be gathered to His precious name as a member of His body around himself.
So what a privilege. We've had a lot of about this in the meetings here, and I believe it's a tremendous privilege that we should have to gather according to His Word. Not just because of good fellowship, because it is wonderful, but because we believe that there is a scriptural way, something established in the Word of God that gives us light and instruction about how we should gather.
Does he care about the job you have? Yes, he does. He does.
His concern and says let every man abide in the same calling men. He is called with God and you want to choose the line of work where you can abide with God, where you can glorify him. And do you think the Lord cares about that? Paul is a tent maker. He had a skill in that direction. I don't know whether I'd be a good tent maker because I don't think I have much skill in that direction. But you may have something that God has fitted you for.
00:25:21
And if you ask Him, He will direct you and direct you into an occupation where you can do your daily job to His glory, where you can go to work and feel the Lord's right beside you and that you're not doing anything that you have to do with a bad conscience. Oh, isn't that wonderful? He cares then about your job. Does he care where you live? Yes, one time.
Isaac was quite concerned about leaving the land because there was some problems there. There was a famine.
And he was concerned about it. Was the Lord concerned about where Isaac dwelt? Yes. The Lord said, go not down into Egypt. Sojourn in this land and I will bless thee. You just choose whether you want to live in Montreal or Toronto. Or do you say, Lord, I want to live in the place where it's thy will that I should be, where I can honor thee, for I can be for thy glory.
Cares about that.
And when Isaac did that his his father had made a bad mistake and went down into Egypt and got into a lot of problems, problems he had to reap the rest of his life because he brought something into his home that spoiled his home and he had to read for it. And sometimes when we're self willed, the Bible says whatsoever a man saweth that shall he also read. And so poor Isaac was going to follow what his father did. But when the Lord said, don't go down Isaac.
In this land, it says he sold that year, and he reaped A hundredfold. He might have said, oh, but there's a famine here. I gotta go. But when he stayed there, God gave him better than he'd ever had before. And so how wonderful that God cares about the place where you live. Does he care about the partner? Oh, indeed he does. Indeed he does. He cared enough for Adam that he made a a girl specially for him. And I believe that if you look to him.
He has one especially for you too, if that's His will for you. Yes, there may be some who've gone through life and been faithful to the Lord alone, and God will honor them for that. We read about them in the Old Testament, but you may be that you're saying, well, is there one for me? Well, look to the Lord about that and He's able and the one He has for you.
Is the very best one because he wants to bless you and two are better than one.
But and a three fold cord is not quickly broken. Don't forget that. What's the threefold cord? It's to have the Lord's will in your marriage. It's to seek to follow in that plan and pattern that He has for you. As I say, there may be some who serve the Lord much better alone, and the Lord will give them great credit. Paul was very faithful, probably couldn't have done all the things that he did.
If he had been married and so he served the Lord alone, and I believe he's going to get an abundant entrance. But what I want you to realize, dear young people, and I want myself to realize that we can trust the Lord.
We can trust the Lord. Cast not away there for your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. God is going to reward you for being confident. Oh, you see how my faith really gets shaken sometimes when I don't see anything open up my job. I don't see any friend coming into my life. Everything seems to go wrong. I can't seem to find what line of work he wants me in and you just feel in a turmoil.
And the Lord says I haven't showed you the way in verse 35.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand, or say, What doest thou?
Now I'd like to turn to Job chapter 1.
And verse 21. Verse 20 Then Job arose and bent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. Thither the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In Psalm chapter 18, Psalm chapter 18 and verse 30.
00:30:03
I'll read verse 29 also.
Provide thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect.
The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him.
Now in First Peter chapter 5. First Peter chapter 5.
I'll read verses 6:00 and 7:00.
Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Well, the reason I read the first verse is that it seems to me a very conclusive and definite verse. It says, He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say.
Doest thou?
If I can put it very simply, there is no such thing as luck.
There is no such thing as luck. Absolutely nothing in your life or mine happens by chance. Everything is under God's control. He doeth according to His will in heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say, What doest thou? Have we settled this in our mind? Are you saying, well, I just seem to have a streak of bad luck? Nothing seemed to go my way. I can't understand why.
Other people seem to have things workout for them or not me. Well, I'm sure if that's the way you're looking at it, you're a very unhappy person. You're very upset.
But God says cast not away there for your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. He's looking down and seeing you as a young person sitting here. Perhaps you're going home feeling a little disappointed because this was the second thought that I had the decisions and the disappointment. You're going away and there's disappointment in your heart. He thought that the Lord was going to work something out a certain way, and it just didn't turn out. It just didn't work out the way you had hope.
And you say?
Do I have to accept this as from the Lord? Well, I'm not saying dear young person, that I would have the grace for it because I I know there's regretting in my heart too. And I find it awfully hard at times just to say the Lord allowed it. My place is to accept it from Him. And I want to tell you, you'll never really have the peace of God.
That passeth all understanding until you.
Seek from Him the grace to take those adverse, those difficult situations from Him. To be able to say God's will is supreme and that's all I want in my life is His will. And if He has seen it fit to allow it that way.
I've called attention before. Perhaps others may have heard me mention this, but in in the 10th, 11TH chapter of Hebrews, you have two groups of people. You have a group of people who had miracles wrought in their lives through faith. They subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtain promises, stop the mouths of lions. A whole group of people who saw miracles, saw things that were really wonderful happen in their lives.
Daniel in the den of lions, and the lions not even touching him. This was a miracle. Three men in the fire and not even the smell of smoke on them. You say that happens in other people's lives, but not in mine. Maybe it does, maybe it does. Does God say that everyone is going to have these miraculous deliverances? I read books that make you feel that there's something wrong with your faith if you don't have miraculous deliverances like that. But that isn't what I read in the Bible.
I find as you read that 11TH of Hebrews, that there were a whole group of people who didn't get any deliverance at all. They were tortured, they were tormented, they wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, and God didn't deliver them. Was there something wrong with their faith? Listen to what the Spirit of God says. These all having obtained a good report through faith.
Received not the promise.
That is, they have the Old Testament Saints didn't have what you and I have, the blessings as a result of the finished work of Christ, but they obtained a good report through faith. You know God's writing up your report.
And when you're just in tears and say everything smashed in my life and I can't see why the Lord doesn't come in, He's saying I'm writing a good report for that person. They're trusting me when it's the hardest thing on earth to do, they're just trusting me and I value that. Cast not away there for your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. You think that other person's getting a good report, that you can get a good report right in the midst of that.
00:35:23
Disappointment and that trial and so.
Isn't this lovely? He doeth according to his will, and the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say, What doest thou?
When we think of Job, here was a man that God's report about him was certainly better than average.
Says he was a perfect man, upright and one that feared God, one that really sought the blessing of his household.
And everything went wrong. He lost his family, he lost his wealth.
And afterwards lost his health. What did he say?
What did he say? I can't trust the Lord when he does things like this to me. Oh no, he didn't say that, did he? He lifted the shield of faith and he said, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
It didn't mean that he didn't feel it. The verse tells you there that he really did felt it. He was really crushed.
And I want to tell you it's not wrong to feel things. The Lord Jesus felt things.
It's been a comfort to me to read that verse. Reproach hath broken my heart. I am full of heaviness. I look for some to take pity. And there was none but for comforters. And I found none. Somehow I thought at one time that you should never feel those kind of things, that you should just be in such triumph that you didn't feel them. But that's not the way the Bible talks. You do feel them. You do feel them. You feel them keenly. The Lord felt the rejection He felt.
The reproach. He felt hungry, he felt thirsty, he felt weary, he felt everything. And it's not wrong to feel him. But we have to watch, brethren, dear young people, that it doesn't produce resentment, rebellion and a lack of trust. That's where the danger is. That's where the shield of faith gets down and Satan's fiery darts come in.
So job lost all that.
It was hard for him to accept it, but what happened in the end? He got a good report too. He got a good report and God was doing something that I, shall I say, he couldn't do in any other way.
And God does things with us, and there's no other way that's right but his way. As for God, his way is perfect.
That's a hard thing to say at times, isn't it? But it says that by my God, I've run through a troop, by my God, I've leaped over a wall. You say everybody's against me, but by your gods you can run through the truth. Don't let them. Don't let them shake your confidence in God. Who you say is just like a wall was in front of me. Oh my God, I've leaped over a wall, says he makes my feet like hind's feet. I'm sure we've all watched the little deer.
As it comes to an obstacle, you don't have to remove the obstacle. It's just got that nice little spring that springs up, goes over the obstacle. You see, I can't have peace until the obstacle is removed. God doesn't say it'll remove the obstacle, but he'll give you the grace to rise above it. He'll give you the grace. I like that verse that says He maketh my feet like Hinds feet. Then it doesn't stop there. It says He maketh me to walk on my high places.
God always exceeds.
You know when I watched the little deer and it jumps up, then it comes down on the other side, but the Lord says I'll help you to jump up and you don't need to come down on the other side. You can walk on that high place. You can walk in communion with me. You can walk in the enjoyment of submission to my will, and you'll find a peace and a happiness that can only be experienced as someone else said.
There are joys in the path of faith.
Only known to those who walk in them. And so we find with dear Job the Lord enabled him to say in the midst of his trial, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, Blessed be the name of the Lord. And he enabled David to say, As for God, his way is perfect.
00:40:00
And you may have a lump in your throat when you try to say it.
But get down on your knees and those things happen and say that verse to yourself and say it again and again. Say God's way is perfect. I don't understand it.
I won't understand that down here perhaps, but up there, as we had in our readings, then shall I know even as also I am known. I was mentioned about the time when our lives will pass into review. Many people shrink back at the thought of the judgment seat of Christ, while it is indeed a serious thing, because the Lord is going to have to burn up quite a bit in our lives.
But there's also a blessed side to it.
That we're going to see the hand of God in everything that happened in our life, something we couldn't understand down here. We understand parts of his ways down here, but wouldn't be a wonderful thing. The Lord stands right? I, I like to think of the judgment seat of Christ like this, as if the Lord stood right beside me and he says, now I'm going to let you see your life and he stood right beside me. He says, I blotted out every sin, but I want to show you your life and I want to show you.
How I took care of you and how I preserved you as parts of it are going to have to be burned up because there was nothing for me in it. But I'm going to pick out every little thing, even the right desires, and I'm going to reward it. I'm going to let you see what you never saw down here, My ways with you. As for God, His way is perfect. And then we come to that beautiful verse casting.
All your care upon him, for he cares for you.
He's concerned about you.
Maybe you say, well, nobody else is concerned about me. A lot of young people and older ones today are very frustrated and discouraged in this generation because.
The way things are going and they see things getting worse and you see a lot of things happening not only in the world but even among the people of God that really upset and discourage at times.
But that verse says humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God. And maybe I can repeat what I often say because it's my own personal experience. I've often mentioned that the verse before is part of the sentence. If you maybe you have hang in your wells, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. You said I've tried to do that. I've come and I've come on my knees and.
Always carry it away with me. I don't seem to be able to cast it on the Lord.
But I want you to notice, dear young people are worse before is part of the same sentence.
Says Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. You say, Well, what does that have to do with it?
Well, I'll tell you my own experience when things go wrong and I want to leave them with the Lord. And I have to say I'm a worrying kind of a person, so I find it hard. Perhaps you do too. And I just have to get down on my knees and I have to say, Lord.
If you came to me and said, I'll change everything and make it just the way you'd like it, but it's not my will for you, would I say please, Lord, make it the way I'd like it. I could have peace then, but I'm upset now. Or would I say, O Lord, all I ask is for grace to accept it from thee.
You'll find that when you do that, you can leave the care there, but not till then.
But not till end.
Maybe you've had that experience.
And you say, well, I'm always carrying them away. But have you really humbled yourself? Have you really done what Job finally did? After arguing with his friends for 30 some chapters and trying to set them right and trying to excuse himself, he finally did humble himself. And what was his blessing? Twice as much as what he had before.
It's hard, dear young people, and I'm not saying it's easy, but I say it's confidence in God and he values that.
He values that. And if you don't, the devil is going to be busy. Like it says in the next verse. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil is a roaring lion walketh the boat. Seek ye whom he may devour. Did you ever feel like he was devouring you? He just couldn't get above the thing he said It's impossible, can't understand it. And it's Satan who is just devouring you. I've often said that Satan is.
00:45:14
Roaring lion in discouragement.
Bible doesn't present him as the roaring lion in persecution, presents him as the roaring lion in discouragement. Persecuted Christians are happy, discouraged Christians are miserable because Satan's got the advantage, he's over them. But in in persecution, very often he's the one that's suffering defeat because he sees these Christians with smiling faces.
Going perhaps to their death, for Christ's sake.
He's defeated, not the Christian, Oh, how wonderful, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Well, He has a purpose in your life and mine, and he's working out that purpose as it's often been compared to a piece of canvas. And you can see all the tangled threads now. But on the other side, we're going to find out.
But dear young people, what I want to impress and I'm trying to say.
To myself as well as to you, that in all your decisions that you make.
Bring the Lord into them.
Never, never say well.
I can't follow that verse or I can't take that step. It would be too difficult because you're only robbing yourself of happiness, and you're robbing the Lord of the joy of looking down and seeing one of his own who loves him enough to trust him when he or she can't understand. The Lord finds joy in that. It gives him joy.
As he looks down, cast not away there for your confidence, which hath great.
Recompense a reward, will I say that's in the matters that have to do with decisions, decisions about your job, decisions of where you'd live, decisions about how you should gather, decisions about friends. And then these disappointments, these things that come that we'll never understand until we get home to glory. Some of them we may understand, some of them we may not, but we can accept them from the Lord we.
And trust in him. May I quote the little poem again? Trust him, when to simply trust him seems the hardest thing of all. Oh, how he values that. He wants your confidence. He's done everything that love could do to win it. 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?
I just like to close with one verse in Jeremiah.
Chapter 3 I think it is.
Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, thy father? Thou art the guide of my youth.
Meetings like this are often times of great decision in our lives. Many of us who are older can look back to times like this when there was a real turning point in our lives, when we really laid hold of the Lord's things and he laid hold of us. I say that because I remember dear old brother Mcleave, whom some might have remembered how he said. He said my desire is not that I'd get hold of the truth, but that the truth would get hold of me.
And brethren, that's what we need. We need the truth to get hold of us.
And sometimes it does at a time like this. And that's why it says, wilt thou not from this time? There are times of decision in our lives. There are times of acceptance when we accept something and we say, Lord, I accept it. I take it from thee. There are times like this that come. And so I just want to close with this first. Wilt thou not from this time?
Cry unto me, thy Father, Thou art the guide of my.
Do you know any better, Guy? I don't.
I don't know any better guide. He's the one who went to Calvary and died for me. He's the one who is living for me as I my great high priest. When I fail, he's there as my advocate. He showers love on me, telling me over and over again when I least deserve it. I still love you with an everlasting love. And he says, and I'm not going to be satisfied until you're fully blessed, till all your troubles are over and I can just shower love and all my blessings on you forever.
Without any hindrance, he said, Then I'll be satisfied. It says in the end of the prophet Zephaniah, it says, He shall joy over thee with singing. He will rest in his love. So let me just quote that verse again. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my father, Thou art the guide of my youth.
00:50:17
You won't be sorry if you seek to make him the guide.
You'll have to renew it over and over again because Satan won't leave you alone. But every time you say over and over again in your life, Lord.
Give me grace just to accept thy will. Give me grace to follow Thy will. You'll always be glad that you did.