Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn to Genesis chapter 15.
Genesis chapter 15.
After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? And the steward of my house is this Eleazar of Damascus.
And Abram said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed.
And lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him.
Thou shalt thy seed be, and he believes in.
The Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness.
But they also turned to Philippians. Chapter 3.
Philippians, Chapter 3.
And verse 7.
But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.
Yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but done, that I may win Christ.
Now, I'd like also to look at some other scriptures as we go on, but the reason I have read these two passages is because we find a place in the experience of Abraham and in the experience of Paul where they learned that Christ was all. But, you know, it takes us time in our Christian lives often to be brought to this point. And the way that God uses is not.
The way that is pleasant, but it's always with that end in view because His desire is not to take things from us, but to make us realize what a portion we have in Him and all. Dear young people, it's just like when you accept the Lord as your Savior. God gives you a vast jewel box. It says that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
But you know, there's this world.
Still has many things that glitter, many things that look worthwhile, and the Lord has to teach us bit by bit how empty these things are. But as He takes from us one thing and another, as he knocks away 1 prop and another, it's always that He himself might become more precious to us, that He might be truly.
Our All in all.
And so when the Lord appeared to Abraham in this 15th chapter of Genesis, he had passed through quite a number of experiences in his life, experiences that were not pleasant, experiences that were very trying to the flesh. But it was because the Lord who had called him out from his country and from his kindred wanted to be his shield and his.
Exceeding great reward.
Sorry. And your young person, the Lord Jesus wants to be everything to you. He didn't just die to save your soul from hell from the just penalty of your sin. He died because He wanted your company. He wanted you to be his companion forever. And He didn't want you to wait till you got to heaven to find what His companionship is. He wanted you to enjoy it, even here and now.
As you go through this life when the Lord was about.
Believe his disciples, He said, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.
We all look forward with joyful anticipation to that time when all the trials and difficulties of the way will be left behind, and we shall be supremely happy, as it tells us in Psalm 16. It says in Thy presence is fullness of joy, that Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore, and again they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house, and thou shalt make.
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Drink the rivers of thy pleasure. But I say, we know that that is before us at the end. But the Lord wants us to experience these things here and now. And the removal of those things on which we lean, and those things that seem important to us in life is only to make us realize more that the Lord is weaning us so that our hearts might be drawn out to Him.
All my fresh springs are hid in thee.
So let us turn back to the 11TH chapter of Genesis.
And the 31St verse.
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son son, and Sarah his daughter-in-law his son Abram's wife. And they went forth with them from Irv the Chaldees, to go unto the land of Canaan. And they came unto Haram, and dwelt there in the days of Kira were 205 years.
And Terah died in Haram.
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land, that I will show thee.
Well, first of all, it tells us in the 7th chapter of Acts the God of glory appeared to Abraham when he dwelt in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Sharon, saying, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred. Perhaps this call would answer to the time when one receives Christ as his Savior. If there's anyone here who is not saved, I'm sure that you are just part and parcel of this world.
Your only portion is this life. The Bible says men of the world have their portion in this life. That's what they live for. It's all they have. It was said to the rich man in hell, thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things. And if there's an unsaved young person here this afternoon and all you have is this life, I'm sorry for you. You may say, well, I'm having a good time.
But those are the pleasures of sin.
For a season you're part and parcel of this world. Abram was an idolater, perhaps a large property owner, perhaps a successful farmer, perhaps everything seemed to be going his way and knew little of disappointment. Back there in ur of the Chaldees. And then the God of glory appeared to him and said, get thee out, get the out. God had called him to a new inheritance.
And the time came in your life.
I trust it has come when you saw this world with all its pleasures and all it had to offer to you as a place that was under judgment, a place that couldn't satisfy the longings of your heart, a place that had nothing abiding. And perhaps like Abram, you heard that call and you came out. You received the Lord Jesus as your Savior. You became one of His.
No longer part of the world.
Because the Lord Jesus said they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And Abraham left the country where he was, with all its fine idols, with all his property and possessions that he probably had there. He left them all behind. He went out at the call of God. The God of glory had appeared to him. And I say again, I hope that happy day has come in your life when you have received.
The Lord Jesus, when you have heard the call, tell her.
Calling you to come to him, to have your sins forgiven and to have a home up there in glory. It tells us in the 11TH of Hebrews that if he had been mindful of that country whence he came out, he might have had opportunity to have returned. That is, Abram never wanted to go back to Mesopotamia, and no one who is truly the Lord would ever want to become again part of the world that's under judgment.
But poor Abram's heart, you know.
Did sometimes hanker after the pleasures of the world, but he never wanted to go back to his old position and do say oh thank God I I'm one of his and I certainly wouldn't want to be in the position of those that are unsaved.
With judgment upon me, awaiting the time when God will have to send the lost into the lake of fire. Well, this will say, was the first thing that Abraham, so to speak, parted with that which he once held dear. What was once gained to him He counted lost. He left. He left her of the Chaldees behind. He came out at the call of God.
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But God had said, Get thee out from my country, and from my kindred, and from my father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And you'll notice that Abraham was only partially obedient. True, he turned his back upon the land where he was. True, he never went back to live in Mesopotamia again. He was forever delivered from that place. And if you know Christ as your Savior.
You're forever delivered from the.
Possession of condemnation. And you're one who is on your way to glory. What? Are you just going to come part way? Are you just going to go part way? God had said to Abram, from thy country, from thy kindred, from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And he was 50% obedient, 50% he left his country.
And he left his kindred, but he didn't leave his father's house. If we could consider.
As part of his father's house, he left he left at least his country and the most of his kindred will say what he brought his father along with him. And indeed more than this, he even allowed his father to be the influencing one connection with the path that he took because it says in the 31St verse where we began, Antira took Abram. That is he allowed his father who was not a believer as far as we know.
To become the influencing one in his life. And isn't it quite possible, dear young person, that after you're saved, you can allow some relative, some unconverted friend, to be the influencing one in your life and to hinder you from fully following the Lord Jesus?
Oh, how easy it is. And if Tyrone was a believer, he may possibly have been. At least he was not one who wanted to wholeheartedly walk in the company of the one who had called Abraham. Oh dear young person, is there such a thing in your life? Is there someone that is a real friend of yours? 1 you cling to, be it a relative or otherwise, and you know that person.
Is quite content to.
Down in Haram.
Now they tell us that this place, Haren, was a place where the caravans coming from the east and from the West could meet.
It was sort of a crossing place. It certainly was removed from her of the Chaldees, but it wasn't in Canaan. It wasn't in the land where God had called Abram. No, it was a place, if we could put it in this way, where He could meet those coming both ways.
Oh, isn't it very easy for us when we're first saved to settle down in harem to say, oh, yes, thank God I'm saved. But you know, there's a lot of nice people in the world, a lot of nice friends that I have. I'd like to be able to sort of meet them too. And so you settle down in harem, you're brought under the influence of someone.
And if the Lord doesn't have the place, he should have.
In your heart and life. Oh, isn't it so easy? All everyone of us, I suppose, can confess, and do confess that this has had its place at some time or other in our lives. That some person had a tremendous influence over us and hindered us from fully following the Lord, fully making Him the object of our heart. For as I said at the beginning, the Lord not only wanted to save us from.
Hell, and he has, but he wants our company. The Lord wanted to be a friend of Abraham, it tells us later. He was called the friend of God. What an expression. He was called a friend of God, but was he that when he was in harem? No, the Lord didn't appear to him again until he came into Canaan.
And it may be, dear young person, that there's someone here and you're settling down.
John and Harem Well, God allowed a a second thing to come into the life of Abraham. There was first he turning his back upon her of the Chaldees, but now God removes this person that he was looking to. And perhaps God has brought some disappointment into your life. Perhaps there was someone that you looked to and was a real friend.
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And the Lord allowed a disappointment to come, perhaps.
Person was.
Seriously injured, perhaps taken away in death. And the Lord spoke to you through that. I believe the Lord spoke to Abram through the death of his father. When his father died, it tells us in the 7th of Hebrew, in the 7th of Acts, rather after his father had died. Then he came out into Canaan. And has God brought some such disappointment into your life? Has there been some sorrow?
Or remember.
I say it's because he loves you. It's because he wants to bless you. He wants to be your All in all. He wants to be everything to you, dear young person. He's going to be everything to you in heaven. You're not going to want anything of the world or of the unsaved up there. He wants to be your All in all right now. And if at this very moment there has been some disappointment come in your life.
Friend, some relatives, someone that you leaned on has been removed. It's because the Lord is saying, get thee into the land where he wanted Abram to be, that is, into the land that I will show thee. He wants to be more to you than he's ever been before. And the removal of that friend, that disappointment, that sorrow that has come into your life is only because he wants to.
More precious to your heart. And so when when Peter had died, then Abram pulled up stakes, he said goodbye to Haram and it tells us in the.
Forthwith.
Saw Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was 70 and five years old when he departed out of harem.
And Aaron took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brothers son, and all their substance that they had gathered in the souls that they had gotten in Haram, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.
Well, wasn't this nice and I wonder if the trials that come in your life and mine cause us to pull up stakes if there's something that's a hindrance and to follow the Lord Jesus more devotedly. It tells us, you know in the Proverbs that a false weight and a false power turn abomination to the Lord. Sometimes we put too high a value on things that.
Really done and dropped. And when the Lord removes those things, it's that we might see more of what we have at hand. Isn't it lovely? Here Abram departed, as the Lord hath said unto him.
And it tells us that he took everything from Haram.
Didn't just leave a few things there so that if Canaan wasn't what he expected it to be, he could go back. He might have left a few things there and said, well, I'll take a little trip into Canaan and see what it's like. If it's not all that I expect, then at least I'll have some link that I can feel I can go back there. No, he didn't.
He took up everything. He wasn't going to allow such a thing as that which would tempts him to go back. As the expression in the world goes, he burned the Princess behind him. He didn't leave those things that would pull him back. And how awesome we leave something, some little link with the world, some secret thing that we don't wholly give up for the Lord.
And then when we get cold in our souls, it's just like a spring. And it's.
All the fact that I've seen that we once left, but how lovely it is to see here that after this Abram, he left Haram and you know, he was 75 years old when he learned this all. It takes a long time to learn some lessons, doesn't it? Takes us a long time.
75 years old before he said goodbye to Herod.
So if there's anyone here or someone here that's perhaps a little bit older than the young people, perhaps it's a little word for you. And I care too, something for us to remember. We're not too old to learn this lesson. Some of us, it takes a long while to learn these things. And that's why I believe that God tells us how old Abram was before he left Harem and Cain into that land.
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And God brought him into that land.
He said, I will bless thee and make thee a blessing. O dear young person, God wants to bless you. It's going to be His eternal joy to show the exceeding riches of His grace, to shower kindness upon kindness, fresh kindnesses every day for all eternity. He's going to shower upon his own, and He wants you and I to realize this even now.
And all I would beseech of you, if there's a trial or sorrow come into your life, don't get under it. Rise up and follow the Lord Jesus a little more closely. Seek to go on for Him, because we only have the rest of our time to live, not unto ourselves, but unto Him.
And so it tells us they took all their substance and then Heron went to law. Then rather Lot went along. Well, I suppose Lot in the Scripture is a sort of an illustration to us of a person who.
Who goes along with others without any real exercise? Because we find with lot.
That when Abram left her of the Chaldees, he came with him. When he went down in Egypt, he went with him. When he came back to Canaan, he went with him back to Canaan. He was one of those people that just sort of went along with others. And it may be that there's someone here. You have godly parents, you have friends who influence you in the right direction. Thank God for that.
But the time is going to come in your life when you're going to be tested whether you're real.
Following Christ whether you're really following Christ.
It took quite a while before that test came in Lot's life, and some of us brought up in Christian homes because the influences so much for good. We sort of drift along with our brethren and with our parents. But the testing time has to come. It has to come sooner or later. And it came in Lot's life too. But I was particularly concerned about Abraham.
And so I just mentioned about this. So first of all, he's left his country.
Now we find the second thing, why God has taken away his Father and he profited by this and He follows the Lord more devotedly.
So it tells us here in the eighth verse. And he removed from sense unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West, and Hai on the east.
And there he built in the altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
Well, there's been nice progress here with Abram. Here he is now. He has come to this place with Bethel, which means the House of God on the West, and Hai, which means a heap on the east. To my own heart. It brings before us this fact that as we journey on through life, the sun sets in the West. He had Bethel before him.
There when he faced the West, when he faced on toward the end of the day, as it were.
He had the House of God before him, and that was where he had his altar, and behind him was all he had left. Hai, a heap of rubbish. That's all this world really is. But fine progress Abram had made-up to this point. And perhaps the Lord has LED you along. Perhaps he's even gathered you to his precious name. I hope he has. He wants to be not only your Savior, He wants to be your friend.
And he wants not only to be your friend, but he also wants you to know him as the one who has gathered you to his precious name. What a privilege we have this morning of being gathered around the Lord. What a privilege Abram had to be in this place where the where he pitched his tent, where he built his altar. He was the true Pilgrim.
He didn't have the possessions that he once had back in UR of the Chaldeans.
But he had the Lord.
He was where the Lord wanted him to be. He had his pants and he had his altar. He was a Pilgrim thought he was in the presence of the one who spoke to him there at that altar.
But this was no guarantee that he was going to be kept. There were more lessons for Abram to learn, and some of us have learned perhaps more lessons since we've been at the Lord's Table than we learned before.
Had to learn more since than we did before, and I believe Abram had to learn some lessons here. Well, a famine came. A famine came, yes, came right in the place where the Lord had called him. Could it be that if he had actually done the mind of God and had come out into this very land where the Lord wanted him to be, that there could be a famine?
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Yes, there can, and there might come a famine in the assembly.
Where you are.
Yes, maybe when you first took your place you were so happy because you have the privilege of remembering the Lord Jesus and all the joy filled your heart.
But sometimes difficulties arise even in God's assembly. Sometimes trials come and the enemy might whisper, Well, is this really God's assembly when all these troubles and trials seem to be coming up? It was God's place for Abram. It was where the Lord wanted him to be. It was the place where he came back to later when he was restored, but there was a famine.
What should he do when there was a famine? What should you do?
Did you leave the meeting? Did you run away from trouble when it comes? Is that the way the Lord would have us do with this, the right thing for Abram to do? Well, he apparently thought it was. At least that's what he did. And that's exactly what that's exactly what aluminum like and Naomi did. When years later a famine came in the land, we find that.
A Lima like and Naomi took their family pulled out from Bethlehem, Judah and went down into the land of mob and all this has happened since. This has happened since there have been people when a famine came, they pulled out, they left.
Did they gain anything by it in their souls? Oh no, dear young people, we lose by such things. And oh, I trust the Lord will keep you. I know that some of you are living in places where there are trials. God doesn't minimize these, thanks. And we can't make nothing of them. The enemy makes the special target of his attacks upon the spot where the Lord has placed his name. He does all he can to.
The testimony and to upset you so you won't remain in that place. And so here was a famine came into the land.
Well, did the Lord intend that Abraham then should go someplace else, I say, to escape the famine? No, the Lord wanted to be more to him than even the land itself. He wanted to be more to him than all the fine crops of Canaan. He wanted to be everything to him. And, dear young person, you may never really appreciate in a full way what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name until the Lord has sustained you through some trial.
In the assembly and when you went through that trial, you found out. And you'll learn for your own soul what you hadn't learned before. What it was to be really gathered to His name, to see no man anymore save Jesus, only to have him as the object before your heart and not your brethren. Not the nice ministry that you hear in the meetings know nothing like that, not even the nice senior fellowship those things may.
God was taking away the props on which Abram might lean. He left the land of Chald.
He left all that he had there. Now his father was gone. Surely everything was going to be smooth now because he was in the place where God wanted. But no, a famine came. He had to learn that he mustn't look at things, he mustn't look at people, he mustn't look at prosperity. The Lord must be his. All in all, the Lord wanted him in that land.
Not just so that he would share material blessings, but that he would.
Be where the Lord was His company. The little hymn says. If I had but Jesus, only Jesus. Nothing else in all the world besides all them. Everything is mine in Jesus. For my needs and more He will provide. No, dear young person, you have everything in him. Apart from Him, there's nothing for you.
You might go back to the world, you say yes, but the world can't satisfy. Well, poor Abram. The next thing he had to learn, and the hardest lesson of all was to learn his own heart.
To learn his own heart. All this is the heart of less than anything else. Was sad when his father left him.
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When his father died, it was sadder still when troubles arose in this very place where the Lord had called him to. But now Abraham had to learn his own heart. And dear young people, we have to learn man.
It tells us in the 7th chapter of Romans. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. So surely if everything else has failed, Abraham could have some confidence in himself, in his own godliness. He could look back and say, well, I've made a lot of progress.
But God must teach Abram his own heart. And I say again, dear young people, and I say it to myself too, this is a painful lesson, perhaps the most painful of all, to learn our own heart, our own heart. What did Abram do?
He went down into Egypt, but that wasn't all. When he got down there, he actually told a lie about his wife.
He actually denied his proper relationship to his wife.
Think of such a man of God as Abram. I don't suppose he ever thought he would have done such a thing, but this was something he had to learn.
And if you and I don't keep near the Lord, dear young people, we may do something we never thought we'd do.
Brother saying to me all he said. There was one thing I thought I had never do, but he said I did it. I did it all. Dear young people, we don't know our own heart, it says in Proverbs. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
He, thou trusteth in his own heart, is a fool. That's my heart, that's your heart. We can't trust them. And even lower gathered to the Lord's name. We can't trust them even lower in the place where the Lord would have us to be. God allows things that manifest to us the wretchedness of our own core heart. And poor Abraham, this man of faith, this one who had made such progress up to this point.
Now he turns.
His back upon this place between Bethel and Hai, he turns his back upon his altar and he takes up and starts down. And he had no tents, no altar in Egypt, and he denied his relationship to his wife. And he had to be rebuked by the world. He had to be rebuked by the world.
Or how easy it is to get away from the Lord. How easy it is your young people to learn in the experimental school of God what is in our hearts.
Was this even a necessary experience in the life of Abram? Yes. What he didn't learn, what he should have learned in communion with the Lord, what he should have learned by dependence upon the Lord, he had to learn to a fall. What was the Lord through with Abram? Oh, it was after this that Abram said, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
And all, dear young persons, if you've got away from the Lord, it's not over with you.
It's not all up with you. The Lord still can bless you. He'll restore you. He'll bring you back. And maybe that lesson that you've had to learn in such a hard way. And many of us have had to learn things the hard way, all of us to some extent.
Why? The Lord teaches us in these things, but He's not true with us. His purpose is to bless us and to teach us more than ever before. But He is our shield. He alone is our protector. He alone is our exceeding great rewards. You, you and I can't depend on ourselves. We can't depend on anything within. You may say, well, I think I've got a strong character. I think that if I set out to follow the Lord, I would.
I think I can go out with young people and do things and I I have a strong character. I wouldn't give way. Well, we don't know our own heart. Not one of us do. I'm sure I don't. And the only way that we are safe is as we have on the 16th Psalm. Preserve me, O God, frenzy. Do I put my trust?
So Abram next had to learn his own heart. He had seen his father turn back.
He had seen, he had seen the famine come into the land, and he could look around and wonder why is this famine come? But now he learns that he can't even trust himself.
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Yes, the Lord knocks the props away. He knocks the thing the way that we lean on. But why was it He wanted to be everything to Abram? He wants to be everything to you, dear young person. He wants to be your All in all. He wants to feel and satisfy your heart.
He wants to bless you and make you a blessing. Not only bless you, but your life can be a blessing to others. And it's only in the measure in which we have learned that Christ is everything that we can really be a blessing to others.
Well then, it tells us.
That in the 20th verse, and Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away, and his wife, and all he had.
Yes, Abram had to be rebuked by the world, but God used a circumstance now and Abram turned his foot footsteps back and he comes right back to the place where he left.
He comes right back to the place where he left, and all. How sweet it is to see one who has wandered away, coming back to the Lord, coming back to his table. When Naomi got away, why the Lord worked in her heart she heard in the country of Moab how the God had visited his people in giving them bread, and she came back, and when she did, it says the whole city was moved.
And they said, is this Naomi? Yeah, she came back. And Abram came back. He had learned this lesson dearly, but he came back to the place where he had been at the 1St and they.
Third verse.
Perhaps I should read from the 1St. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all he had, and Lot with him, into the South. And Abram was very rich in cattle and silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the South, even to Bethel, under the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai, unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the 1St. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Yes, he brought back. Well, I just want to call your attention to this, that when Abraham came back from Egypt, he was rich in silver and gold, but he brought back a Hebrew, He brought back an Egyptian slave from there that afterwards caused some trouble and sorrow in his house.
And if we've got away from the Lord, sometimes there's a little reaping that goes with it. Sometimes there's a reaping. It's true. God teaches us.
But it's a painful lesson when we have to learn it at the Tucas. And we know that through Hagar Ishmael was born, and Ishmael became a sorrow in the House of Abram, and he became a sorrow to the whole nation ever since.
So I pray, dear young people, may the Lord keep you. You don't have to learn the hard way.
The Lord can teach you and I what our hearts are if we get into His presence, if we get before Him. He allows the light of His Word to shine upon our hearts, and He shows us that there's nothing good there. And so we find that Abram, he learned it the hard way, but we can learn it in communion. We can learn what's in our hearts by keeping near the Lord.
And I hope each one of us will, by His grace.
But Abram was restored. We can be thankful for that. He was restored. But now there was another disappointment ahead for him. Why? What about Lot? At least he had Lot.
His father had gone.
He had seen a famine in the Lamb. He had to smell, learned himself. And now another disappointment. The one person that seemed to have some similar outlook like himself, one who seemed to have some heart for the things of God like himself. Who had left the Lamb? Who had left the Lamb, the ver of the Chaldees with him?
Why he turns out to be a disappointment, too.
Yes, and perhaps you have some very dear friend.
And you counted on that brand. That friend's been true to you, even in your mistakes. He hasn't forsaken you. Even when you've done what's wrong, he still seemed to be what you wanted a friend to be, one who was true to you through it all. And then that friend turns out to be a disappointment. That friend turns out to be a disappointment.
How he'd lost almost everything, hadn't he? It just seemed that one by one, the things that he had confidence in, that he had considered to be worthwhile, they were all being taken away. They were just all being swept away. And Lot, there was a quarrel arose and Lot went down towards Sodom. And poor Abram, what a trial this must have been as he watched the only person.
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That had been his companion.
I suppose the only person that he knew who had faith, he saw it himself and his wife. He watched and he saw him fade off in the distance and pitched his tent towards Sodom. Another disappointment. But disappointments are his appointments, Dear young people, the disappointments that come in life, they are allowed of the Lord.
Because the Lord wanted to be everything, He was sleeping away all these things so that he might be everything to Abraham. He couldn't say at the very beginning to Abraham, I am thy shield and my exceeding great reward. He didn't feel the need of that at first. But it's when other things fail that the Lord Jesus then comes to show us that He can be and wants to be.
Are All in all and so here.
And a lot fades off, and goes down towards Sodom, And Abram now is left alone. And it says in the 14th verse. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward and southward, and eastward and westward, and all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy.
Read forever, and I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall I seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. After lot was gone, then the Lord said, Abram, lift up your eyes, Your young person has other Has things on earth failed?
The Lord allowed these things to come in your life.
Oh, I want to point your eyes up.
Look up, the Lord's the same, He's the same, and he says arise, walk through the land. I've given it to you, dear young person, Walk in the enjoyment of what you have in Christ that can't be taken from you. Everything else may fail, but Jesus never fails. We have an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
Preserved in heaven for us.
And it says, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
That which is really yours.
Which is really yours. Can't be touched, It's up there. And what about all Abram's friendship?
Abram was called the friend of God, the friend of God and all. There's one, I say, who wants to be your friend. The little hen says, I found a friend, oh, such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of love, and thus he bound me to him. And every time he allows a disappointment. It's just that he might wind around your heart again.
A fresh strand of those cords.
Of love and make you realize that he's always true, he's ever the same, and the loss of those things that we hold dear is to make himself more exceedingly precious to our hearts.
Well, in the next chapter, the 14th chapter, we find that there was.
Trouble that came in the life of Lot down in Sodom.
Yes, there was a battle that took place there and poor lot, he was carried away captive.
Carried away from his place down there in Sodom, and made a captive. And so Abram went after him. Surely this was the opportunity to regain the friend that he had lost. Surely now, if he goes at such personal expense, at such risk of his own right, and goes after Lot and recovers him, Lot will love him forever.
Lot will want his company after this, surely he would appreciate.
But there is.
He went down and a great personal expense and risk.
He rescued Lot, he rescued Lot's wife and all that. Lot hadn't brought him back.
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What did Lot do?
He remained in stock.
He doesn't appreciate it.
You didn't appreciate it.
Yes, what a disappointment. Have you done something for a friend? You've gone out of your way to be especially nice.
You have shown that you wanted to do all that you possibly could.
Still that friend disappointed you. That friend disappointed you. Now Abram had a great opportunity. He could have had some of the riches of Sodom for himself.
The King of Sodom comes out and offers them, He said, as it were, something like this will lot our Abram. Everything's gone the wrong way in your life. Disappointment after disappointment has fallen. But you can still have something of the world's goods if you want it. You can have some of the share in this spoil.
But there was another person, Matt Abram, at this time. That was Melchizedek, the possessor of heaven and earth, Blessed Abram.
The possessor of heaven and earth did indeed what what Sodom's king had to offer. And all dear young persons, sometimes when a time of trial comes, those two people come out to us too, and there seems to be an opportunity to have something of the world, something to take the place of what we have lost in the material.
But may the Lord give you the grace to do what Abram did. Abram refused. Abram said, I lift up my hand unto the Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth.
He said I don't want to Fred her shoelaces. I don't want a thread or a shoelace. No, he said, I don't want to be made rich by the world. Why, while he had everything in the Lord?
These lessons that came in his life had turned out to be a prophet to him. And dear young person, I say again, the Lord allows trials and disappointments and sorrows to come, but it's all that we might realize that He is our All in all. And there's no time more dangerous than when we go through a trial, than when things of earth seem to fail. There is a time when we're too likely to turn.
The world or how many a young person I've seen get in some trial or some tight spot and the Lord had allowed that for their blessing, but instead when they got frustrated and disappointed, they turned to the world.
But I believe we can say Abram had learned something of his own heart, and so he didn't turn to the world here. No, instead of this, he refused it all.
And So what happened after these things? The Lord, the word of the Lord, came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Hear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
There you have the Lord. He hasn't failed Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. And the shield suggests the thought of protection all. He can look after you. He's the one who can look after your interests. He knows your every need. Your Father knows what things ye have need of before he ask Him.
Can it be that he has purposed us?
That scene of eternal glory and that he doesn't care about the little things that we need in life down here.
Oh yes, he does, but He wants us to realize that they all come from Him. Do not earn, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above. That's where the good things come from. Come down from above, from the Father of light, with whom there is no variable shadow of turning everything that Abram had put his hand to.
Seemed to have failed and the Lord comes.
And he says, Abram, I am thy shield, and I exceeding great reward. Was that better than Mesopotamia? Far better. Was it better than his father? Was it better than himself? And all that he could do by the force of his own will and strength of character? Was it better than Lot for a friend? Yes, he had everything. He had the Lord I.
Am thy she?
And by acceding great reward, Well, Abram said. But there's just one thing.
There's just one thing I want.
You haven't given me any chance.
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You haven't given me any childhood, and perhaps there's someone here says, but there's just one thing I want. If the Lord would just give me that one thing, I'm content. If disappointments come and there are certain troubles come, we have to expect them.
But I haven't asked a lot of the Lord. But there's one thing that I especially want, and the Lord hasn't allowed me to have it.
This I have been disappointed in. That's where we find Abram right here.
This is where we find him, he said. He said, I'm content to see the loss of everything. I don't want ur the Chaldees anymore. I don't want what Sodom's got. But he said, you promised me a child and you haven't given me a son. You haven't given me a son. And perhaps that's the case with someone here. You say, I know the Lord is interested. I know the Lord cares. I know he loves me. I've experienced some of these things you talk about.
But oh, there's something that I've been asking him for. Why doesn't he grant it?
Well, isn't this lovely here?
In the fifth verse.
And he said, and he brought him forth abroad and said, Look now for the heaven, look now toward the heavens, don't look around. Because if he looked around he could see no possibility whatever of God's promise being fulfilled.
There was nothing in view. He could scan the horizon over. There was no possibility that he could see. He was an old man, his wife was old. There was no possible chance in a natural way that he could see for this desire to be fulfilled. Well, the Lord says, don't look around, look up, look up, dear young person, look up, look up.
The Lord Jesus wants to be your own all. He wants to be everything to you. He knows what's best for you and for me in our lives down here. And he himself has charged himself. As a little hymn says, the protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he laid. We didn't ask him for this. He took this charge upon himself.
He took it upon himself.
To protect us, to care for us. Abram had not that God would be his shield. The Lord says I am thy shield. He hadn't asked for reward. The Lord says I'm your reward. And the Lord himself has charged himself with your blessings and mine. He wants to be everything.
Paul had to learn it. Paul said I counted all things but law. But then he goes a step farther and he says, and I count all things but love.
He counted. That was the path.
He says I count all things but lost. Where was he when he said it? He was in prison when he was first saved. He counted all things but lost.
For Christ.
But he had a lot of disappointment. Had his reckoning changed? No, he says. I count a present tense, a man in the prison.
Could he expect temporal things? Could he expect friends? His brethren forgot him?
Over a lot of disappointments, but he said I count all things that.
For the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Yes, dear young person, may the Lord give you an eye grace to do this very thing.
He's pointing us upward tonight, he said. This afternoon. He says look now toward heaven.
Until the stars that thou be able to number them. They tell us that man tried to count the stars they even thought they had.
But the mighty telescopes of today have revealed back the stars can't be numbered, can't be numbered. They are innumerable.
And God has such blessing in store for you and for me that it can't be measured through endless ages of eternity. He's going to continue to shower upon us.
The exceeding riches of his grace.
And So what does it say about Abram? And he believed on the Lord?
He doesn't believe in his friend. They have disappointed them. He didn't believe in He didn't believe in himself because he'd learned something of his own heart.
But he believed on the Lord and all. I desire this afternoon that the Lord Jesus might be more to each one of our hearts.
And that the disappointments in life may cause us to realize that it's not the Lord taking away something from us, but it's that He might be to us here and now, a little bit of what He's going to be to us for all eternity. He wants to be more to you. I believe it was after this that Abram was called the friend of God.
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And May God grant that you and I may realize that God himself.
In wondrous grace takes away these things so that he might be our friend. Someone, a little saying in the world is a friend in need, is a friend indeed. And that precious savior, when he takes away these things, he's the truest friend, the dearest friend. And he wants to be that to you, dear young person, he'll never disappoint you. Look up.
Let your eyes toward heaven and know that, he says.
I am thy seal, and thy exceeding great reward.