Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to turn to the book of James, the 1St chapter of the book of James.
1St chapter and the first verse.
James, our servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting my brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations.
The 16th verse.
Do not err, my beloved brethren, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat He us with a word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruit of His creatures.
Now the 4th chapter and the 10th verse. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.
Speak not evil 1 of another, brethren, he that speaketh the evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh the evil of the law, and judgeth the law.
If thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou? The Judgest and others.
Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gains, whereas ye know not what shall be on the Morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
What does he ought to say? If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
But now you rejoice in your boasting. All such rejoicing is evil.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. I read the opening 2 verses of this little epistle because it brings before us to the epistle is addressed to it's addressed to the 12 tribes that were scattered abroad.
And as we know that it was because of the failure of the tribes that God had allowed them to be scattered, they might have been greatly cast down and discouraged, because their own failure as a nation had led to them being scattered abroad. But it seems to me in this epistle, and that the apostle would bring before them the blessed fact that alone they had failed, and now they had been guilty of even cruc.
Their Messiah, that's still the heart of God, was toward them and desiring their blessing.
Thought says, every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We often sing heat. We change, He changes not. And oh how good it is, dear young people, to have this blessed confidence.
We may have got into certain situations, perhaps even through our own failure, but isn't it a lovely thing to be able to look up this afternoon and to know that the heart of God is toward us with a desire for our blessings? And that's what was on my heart in reading these passages and seeking to speak of them this afternoon, is that we might lay hold of these precious things.
And I believe if we do.
It will encourage us in our pathways and it will also give us to seek the mind and will of God in every step that we take.
I remember hearing of a dear lady who used to work at washing in many rich homes and someone said to her, she worked in these beautiful homes, the homes of millionaires, so lovely and such fine furniture. And someone said to her one day, don't you wish that you were a millionaire too? All she said.
I'd much rather have a father who was a millionaire caring for my needs. She said if I had a million, it would be a source of trouble. How to handle it and look after it? But I have a father who knows all my needs and his wealth is unlimited. Oh, what a sweet answer. And dear young people, isn't that the answer that we need for our souls too?
00:05:13
Ambition is so liable to fill our thoughts and our minds, to get along in this world, to obtain a place and to have something that the world has to offer. And that's the natural ambition of the human heart, and especially while we're young. But isn't it a lovely thing to be able to look up and to know that God our Father is unlimited in his riches, in his wealth, and in his love and His?
For us, and I was very much struck in reading that second verse. In the first verse he says the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, What a sad picture the nation presented at this time because of their failure, they had been scattered abroad.
A little remnant of the two tribes had been brought back, but they now had been guilty of crucifying their Messiah. Was it all over with them? Oh, isn't this lovely? This second verse, my brethren, counted all joy when he fall into divers temptations.
That is, God uses the circumstances through which we pass to enable us to realize that which is our real wealth and our real joy and our real happiness. As a brother mentioned the other day, they speak of real estate and they think of that which is.
Frozen lands in this world. But what is real to the Christian? Nothing here, because it all passes away. But that which we have up there, that's real to us, it's sure to us. And Moss and rust can't corrupt. Neither can thieves breakthrough and steal. And it's all been purchased for us by the work of the Lord Jesus upon the cross.
And so this verse says, My brethren, count it all.
When ye fall into divers temptations.
Those of the nations who had placed their faith in the Lord Jesus found themselves in a very difficult and trying position. It was not easy. It cost them something to be faithful. Could they be happy in the midst of such circumstances? He said. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.
I've often said someday I expect to meet Abraham, meet Hashem.
Mesa can abandoned me go in heaven. And I'd like to say to them, isn't it too bad that never could Nazareth ever made the decree that you had to fall down and worship that image?
Oh, I believe their faces will brighten and they'll say no. We see that God allowed that, and that was the most wonderful experience of our lives. The Lord was with us in the midst of the burning, fiery furnace.
I would speak to Job and say Job, isn't it too bad that you have those three friends that spoke so unkindly to you? Oh, he said, the Lord used those friends to bring me to self judgment. I was a pretty proud man before that and God used those friends to help to bring me down. Ah, dear young people, the circumstances of our lives, the people we meet with, the assembly where we're gathered and all that we have to.
Contact in our daily life is ordered of the Lord. Can we actually have joy in divers temptations? Can we actually find happiness when everything is against us? Yes, we can.
As though I was looking over the dear young people who were present, I had this thought that some of them were going to go home feeling quite happy because some of the desires that they had when they came here had been granted to them and friendships and things that they had enjoyed together. They were going to go home with sort of happy and light hearts.
But I thought there might be others who might be going home a little bit discouraged, a little disappointed.
Perhaps a friend didn't speak to them, didn't treat them just the way they had hoped, and they're going home a little bit disappointed. Isn't this a nice verse for you, my brethren? Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. How can you you say when things that you want don't come your way?
00:10:04
And when your plans seem to be frustrated, can you really be happy then?
Yes, if we believe that the heart of God is the source of our blessings, if we really believe what this 17th verse says, then we know that that which God our Father allows and that which He sends is intended for our blessings. Oh, you see? But it was my own thought, perhaps. And can I still be happy?
Well, it was the failure of the 12 tribes that caused them to be scattered.
Still, the heart of God was toward them in grace. And isn't it a lovely thing? Can I read this second verse here, young people, instead of my brethren here, young people, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, and then connect that with the seven, the 16th verse. Do not err, my beloved young people, every good gift and every perfect gift.
Is from above all we need?
For our pathway, where does it come from?
I didn't read the intervening verses.
But it speaks of the things that we lust after and desire and lust isn't always in a bad sense, you know, it's just wanting something of our own will.
All in this grand the sea that if we look up and see that One whose heart is toward us, we can go home from these three days meetings happy and rejoicing. Nothing has changed our portion in Him. Can I trust the meetings? I believe they have brought before our hearts in a new and fresh way.
The preciousness of the portion that lies ahead of us where we're going to spend eternity with the Lord Jesus up there in the glory. Oh, how blessed to have that before us.
And so it says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Light.
Why is it called the Father of Life?
While we don't always see what's best, we look at things that were in the dark sometimes. But the Father of Light, he knows everything. He sees ahead and I don't.
He knows what's in the future for me. He knows all about me, my makeup, everything. It's all known to him. And so it says from the Father of Light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, not a shadow of turning. That is not the slightest bit of change or turning.
Is there because he knows and he never.
Makes a mistake, as a brother often remarks. He's too wise to earth and too loving to be unkind. Isn't this blessed? May this truth of this 70s verse be brought home to each of our souls.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Let us learn to take then all of God our Father's sin as from the One who looks down upon us in love and in perfect wisdom, and orders according to that which He sees as best.
And the 18th verse of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.
I read that verse to show that the very fact that we are children of God did not originate in our own wills. No, of our own wills we would never have received Christ. There's not one of you, dear young people who are saved here this afternoon, who could say, well, it was because of my own will that I accepted Christ, nor it was of the will of God.
Would we have ever chosen him? Not of our own wills? We rejected him.
But He played with us in His grace. He drew us, and brought us to Himself, and saw of His own will begat He uses well, if we didn't have one thought toward Him, and He looked upon us, and picked us out, and drew us to Himself, and purposes for eternal glory. Can we not then commit the few short years of our lives down here into the hand of the One who of His own will begat He us with a word of truth?
And that brings in another point, and that is He has given us His word, and it's His word that He used to our salvation.
00:15:06
How is it that we know we're saved? Is it some feeling we depend upon? No, we rest upon His precious, unchanging words. And if there's anyone here who's unsaved, let me speak to you, dear young person. God wants to bless you. He wants to save you. He wants to draw you to Himself.
He wants you to know what's in His heart towards you, though you may long have rebelled against His grace. And it's His word that He uses to this end. And so this brings before us the importance of this blessed book. It's used to our salvation and then to it's what's necessary or direction in our whole pathway. Now let us turn over to this 4th chapter, which we read in the 10th verse.
Humble yourselves.
From the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. I didn't take time to lead some thoughts in the intervening chapters, but I might say that in the first part of this 4th chapter it says that we ask, and we ask amiss, that we may consume it on our lust.
Isn't it often true that when we ask for something, it's what we think is best? But perhaps it isn't, and that's why we ought to always say, if it be thy will, if it be thy will. And so, if God is not granted to us something that we desired, let us take the place humbly before Him.
Of bowing to his will and accepting the circumstance from the Lord.
And what will happen? He'll lift us up. He'll lift us up. And I believe if we lay hold of these things, dear young people, every one of us will go away from these meetings happy, every one of us.
Because if we learn this blessed fact for our souls that God purposed us for eternal blessings, and that He is ordering the circumstances of our lives.
Then we'll count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations.
And the reason we're told to humble ourselves is because the natural heart resists the will of God. My heart, your heart, dear young person, it resists the will of God. We find it very hard to submit, don't we? We'd like to cast our cares upon the Lord, but the real reason that we can't cast our cares upon the Lord is because we have some desire and we feel we can't be happy unless that desire is granted.
But we can be happy, and the only real place of happiness is in submission to the will of God. And we can only submit when we know with assurance that His heart is toward us in goodness and grace. His heart is toward us, enriches goodness and grace, I say.
So it says in the 11TH verse, Speak not evil 1 Of another brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law.
Why does this come in here? Well, I'm sure that whenever things don't workout the way we had hoped they worked would work out, we try to find somebody to blame.
We try to find some person who's at fault and we look around. It's that person, it's the other person. If that person hadn't done this, if the other person hadn't done that, things would have worked out differently. And so the next thing is we don't submit to the will of God, and we begin to speak, evil and all, how many sorrows we saw among ourselves?
Dear young people, by speaking evil 1 of another.
When we get up there to glory and we look back on our lives down here and we do as it says, we remember all the way the Lord our God LED us through this wilderness scene. Do you think we will speak evil one another there?
You think there's one of us in that bright home above that will look at the other person and say, Oh, he did me so much harm. We'll all praise the Lord together and we'll see how He was using even the mistakes and even the unkind things and all took place to accomplish that which He desired in us, that we might lean on one arm alone.
00:20:09
On the mighty arm of that precious savior.
Who loved us and gave himself for us as we sang in the little hymn.
The hand our many sins had pierced is now our guard and guide. And then in the other verse that Jesus the Advocate. Nor can that hand be stretched in vain for us to supplicate. And so if we have any bad thought in our mind toward any person.
Let us judge it right now. Let us get before the Lord about it, because if we don't, we're speaking evil of the law and judging the law, because the Word tells us that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them, that are the called according to His purpose. If we believe that by then we wouldn't speak the way we do very often of others. We would take the circumstances from the hand.
God our Father. And so it says that when we speak evil of another, we're speaking evil of the law and judging the law. And I might say that the law here is in a very broad sense. Perhaps we could turn just for a moment to the 19th Psalm, because I think there's a very.
Precious portion there about this.
Psalm 19.
Verse 7.
The law of the Lord is perfect.
Converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart.
The fear and the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean and enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous. Altogether. More to be desired, are they than gold? Yeah, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey, and the honey corn.
Oh, isn't this lovely? What a what a wonderful book this is. Dear young people, the older I get, the more I value this precious book and all its instructions. It first showed us our need as sinners. It showed us God's grace in providing A Savior for us. And now, the little time that remains to us, it's written so that we might have all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
And there isn't a question in your life or mine that we will not find in this blessed book the wisdom and the instruction that we need for our whole pathway. And so let us read this precious book. Let us meditate upon it. And when circumstances arise that seem difficult and that make us uneasy, let us look up and say, well, God's Word says.
All things work together for good.
To them that love God, let us also look up and say every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. It all comes down from His heart to us for our good and for our blessings. Though the 12TH verse, there is one Lawgiver who is able to save and destroy.
Who art thou the judgeth another? Oh, this is a very solemn verse, and I'd like to speak to anyone here who's.
Unsaved, remember, you must have to do with this precious Savior as a Savior or the Judge. You must have to do with Him. He's able to say He's able to save who? No matter who you are or what you have done, there's power in the precious blood of Christ to cleanse you from all sin. I say He's able to save, but remember.
He's able to destroy too, and I trust there won't be one person in this company who will be sent to a lost eternity. If you reject the Lord Jesus as your Savior, if you reject that heart that is toward you in grace, why you'll go to a lost eternity. But dear young people, you who are believers, isn't it a strange thing that we can actually believe that God loves us so much that he saved us from hell and.
That He would be able to work things out in our lives for our good and for our blessings. Isn't it a strange thing? And yet it's so with every one of us that we know He saved us for a true glory, and yet we find ourselves doubting as to the path in which He leads us.
00:25:12
Now in this 13th verse, I wanted to point out six things in this verse.
We often say that the great and important decisions are made in youth.
And truth is that the most important decisions of our whole life are made while we're young. Most of those decisions, I suppose we could say before were 25 years of age. We make these decisions and all. How needful. How very needful now that we should turn to the Lord. And I want to impress upon you those words in that 15th verse.
If the Lord.
Will if the Lord.
May you write that across every plan in your life.
May I write it across every plan in my life if the Lord will. Because if it's not His will, there can be no real lasting blessing in it. And so that's the seventh thing. But in this 13th verse, there are 6 things.
And I'd like to call attention to them. First is today, today.
Here I'll read the verse. So you get the thought. Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue their year and buy and sell and get gain. Oh, here are the six points. I'll just mention them. Today. That's the present plan. Tomorrow, that's for the future. And then such a city, the place where you in the city where you intend to live.
And continue there.
The residence you take up in that city and then buy and sell that your occupation and get gain at your income. Isn't that what concerns most young people? Isn't that the great thing that concerns dear young people when they're starting out in life? What plans for today? What are they?
All have you written across the plan for today? If the Lord will, If the Lord will, then I'm sure you can say.
And that you can count it all joy if you fall into diverse temptations, because if it's the will of God that you should be cast into prison like Paul and Silas, you can sing in the prison, because that was the will of the Lord for them and all. How lovely it is. Oh, I say it for my own soul. I know I fail in this, but all I say it for my own soul. This is the secret of happiness in the 13th verse. Then we have those six things.
The planning of the human and when we come to the 15th verse, why we have bringing the Lord into the plan that makes the 7th the man of sin. His number is 666. That is 6 is man's number. It's what man figures he can do at his very best.
But when we bring the Lord in, we have perfection. We have Him working things out. And so again I say today, today, let us begin today.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable or intelligent service. Paul, let's begin today. Don't say I intend when I get through school to set out to follow the Lord today, if the Lord will.
Today if the Lord will, and then tomorrow, well, that's the future, isn't it?
What's going to happen tomorrow? Oh, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but the Lord does.
The Lord does. Known unto God are all his works from eternity. Men don't know the future, they can't tell what's going to happen. But we have a Father who does, and he loves us, and he gave his Son to die for us. And there's no variableness, neither shadow of turning with him. And so tomorrow, What about tomorrow? Well, it's in the hands of God my Father.
How lovely the words of that hymn. Our time, our time.
Are in my hand, Father. We wish them there. Oh, isn't that the way for us, dear young people? Oh, what peace it gives to the soul. What a grand thing to walk out of this assembly hall and be able to say tomorrow if the Lord will, tomorrow if the Lord will, whatever he plans for me.
00:30:10
Pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to thee.
And then go into such a city, I've heard many discussions, people, I've heard young and old say, oh, I like that city, it's such a pretty city. And others say there's lots of opportunities in that city. And we hear lots of comments about different cities.
Some that are considered pleasant to dwell in, some that are considered not so pleasant to dwell in. Well, such a city, if the Lord will, If the Lord will. And it'll be a pleasant place if the Lord guides you to that place, If the Lord guides you to that place.
Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi.
Once Silas had bleeding backs in Philippi. But I'm going to meet them in heaven someday. And I'm going to say, what about Philippi? Was it a nice city?
Was it a nice city? Oh, I think they'll say, oh, we had a wonderful experience there. Why, we met the household of Lydia and that jailer got saved that night. And that assembly went on so happily. It was one of the brightest gems of all our service for the Lord. Because the epistle to the Philippians was written to those who lived in Philippi, the place where they spent the night in the prison with a bleeding back.
Such a city, such a city. A happy place, though, wasn't it? And dear young people, that little city and that town and that assembly where you are can be a happy place for you, if it's the will of God that you're there.
And so let us, in choosing the place where we want to live, remember that nothing can be right, no matter how nice the city is. Jericho was a far nicer city than some of the others, but you're a Jericho fell under the judgment of God, and we might go to the finest city we could choose in the whole of the United States and Canada and have no end of sorrow in that place.
But to be in the place where the Lord wants us to be, whether it's in this land or whether it's in some other continent, wherever it may be, such a city, if the Lord will, if the Lord will, isn't that lovely? And then continue there. Oh, you might say I'd like to visit the city. I don't mind going around and seeing the sights, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Heard people say that I wouldn't want to live there.
Well, continue there. How long while ever long, the Lord says.
However long the Lord says, some of the places where Paul visited, he continued there for a few days, some a few weeks.
Others beyond the year, the year and six months. Why continued there and is not lovely. Oh, I hear I've heard people say to you as a kind of an expression why I couldn't stick it there. I couldn't stick it out. Well, continue there if the Lord will, for he'll give you the strength for it. He'll give you the grace for it. Isn't that lovely? Continue there.
And then what kind of an occupation? Oh, I hear so often. Oh, it's hard to choose as.
I feel sorry for you, dear young people. I know it's not easy to choose the occupation that you would follow in life. There's so many problems. It's not an easy decision. There are many things to consider, but I'll consider it well.
Consider it well that occupation that you have. Can you write over it, if the Lord will?
Is there something connected with it? Is there some union or something that you have to get mixed up into to fulfill that occupation? And you can't write over it if the Lord will, because if the Lord will, you'd like to be out of that thing. And so there you are, all. You see how lovely it is while you're young. Oh, I'm so happy to look into your faces here, young people, before you get into something.
Where you find that you can't honor the Lord.
You wish to how lovely to consider this in your planning in looking forward to the future to say.
And.
Continue there a year and buy and sell, buy and sell, whatever the occupation is. Can you write across it if the Lord will?
00:35:08
And then the next.
The biggest one of all, I suppose, to young people get gay. What's the salary?
How much you're going to be paid? How much is the salary per year? What benefits are there?
Well get gain if the Lord will. If the Lord will. Better to be content with less and be able to honor the Lord, and to get a fine salary and not be able to write across your paycheck if the Lord will.
Oh, how lovely then in all our planning, in all that we seek to do. And we must look forward. If the Lord doesn't come, we're looking for Him to come. But if He leaves us here, it's not wrong to look forward, providing those 4 words are written across every plan in our lives.
If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
What a happy thing it is, and so it says. But now you rejoice in your boasting.
If we rejoice in anything and we can't right across those 4 words, why It's evil, it's evil. It's all going to pass away.
And if it doesn't pass away in this life, it'll pass away when it's manifested the judgment seat of Christ, and it's all consumed in the flames. For only that which is of Christ in obedience to his Word, is going to abide only that which is for him. It says the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God.
Abideth forever. Oh what a privilege. Then why are you?
All dear young people, I say to you again, I know you're faceless situations, but some of us who are older haven't had to meet. I realize that it's not easy for you and we all enter into in some measure the disappointment when some plan is frustrated. But all made all his words he brought home to each heart. Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations and to write across every.
Plan.
If the Lord will and so it says here in this last verse. Therefore to him that know us to do good and doeth it not to him and its sin. If we know and many things were ignorant, we make mistakes. All of us, the speakers made many mistakes. But if we know the will of God. If we're seeking his will. If we're reading his word for our pathway.
He's promised if any man will do his well.
He shall know, He shall know, or May God grant them, that each one of us may consider these things in connection with our choices in life, and that we may go away from this conference happy because it's the will of God. I'd just like to quote the last verse of the 19th Psalm in closing, he says.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart.
Be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.