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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/alan-davidson/abraham-the-friend-of-god/
Tonight we ponder the life of Abraham, who was called the friend of God. Tomorrow night, in the will of God, we have some little thought on the life of David, the man after God's own heart. You know, the supreme purpose of a child of God should be nearness to God and that he trusts us.
We have administered the word of God that he might be closer drawn to God and to the divine purposes in the person of Christ. Abraham was the friend of God. We read first then in the prophecy of Isaiah.
The prophecy of Isaiah on chapter 41. The prophecy of Isaiah on chapter 41. The prophecy of Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah's prophecy in the middle of our Bible. Chapter 41, verse number 8. But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend.
Over to chapter 51. Chapter 51. Isaiah chapter 51, verse 1. Now we look back at a few verses in Genesis, in chapter 12. The book of Genesis on chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12, and we read at verse number 1.
And I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
So Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. Abraham was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abraham took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance.
And they had gathered, and the souls that were gotten in Haran. And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. And into the land of Canaan they came. And Abraham passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the plain of Moriah.
And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said unto thee, Seed, will I give this land? And there built he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from the fence unto a mountain in the east of Bethel, pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Haihai on the east.
And there he built an altar unto the Lord, called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed going on still toward the south. Chapter thirteen, and verse number eighteen, the last verse. And Abram removed his tent, and came, and went in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
Chapter twenty-two. Chapter twenty-two, verse one. And it came to pass, after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer them there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of.
Chapter twenty-three, at verse nineteen. After this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Mephila, before Mamre, the same as Hebron in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth.
And Abraham was old and well stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. One verse in the New Testament, in the book of James, and chapter two. James, chapter two. The epistle of James, in chapter two, and at verse twenty-three.
James two, verse twenty-three. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Well, that is our reading, and with the Lord's blessing.
You will remember when the Lord Jesus Christ was upon earth. He said unto His disciples, Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends. Again He said, Ye are my friends. When you do whatsoever I command you.
The mark of a friend, says the Bible, is that faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. This man was called the friend of God. When we think of a friend, we think of closeness.
One with which you can share intimate secrets. One to whom you can declare purposes. One alongside and both together in times of need, trial. A friend, a true friend, is one that is dependable. And one that is marked by knowledge.
On both sides of the friendship, a knowledge of each other. You know, it's good as we mark our way through life, to know who are our friends. Sometimes there are those that profess friendship, but prove disappointing.
There are some when you enter into an element of friendship, yet there are those intimate personal secrets that you wouldn't think of disclosing because they would disclose to others. But a true friend is one that you can tell an intimate secret and know it that will remain there.
Not be passed and broadcast to others. Not distorted in some other way. Not used against you. There's that secret in life, you know. Do your best for others. We're so prone to criticize and do others down.
That matter of true friendship. But when we come to the service of God, you know, really a knowledge of God and not so much a display of gift fits for service. Often times we hear now, he's a very gifted brother.
The sister has some particular ability. And often times, well that is good. And that is essential. And we esteem that highly. But you know what we're talking about tonight is not just gift or earth or your ability or some particular bent of life.
But a knowledge of God. A knowledge of God. We're talking about that advancement in the school of God. To draw closer to God. For that really is the story of the man that we have read about in his pilgrimage.
He had three things. He had an altar and a tent and a well. Now in the altar and the tent and the well, he was expressing his dependence upon God. That altar went up. That is worship to God. That tent was for moving on in his pilgrimage for God.
That well that went down for water and for refreshment in a barren wilderness expressed his dependence upon God. We trust tonight in some little measure in the simplicity of our meditations that we might be enabled to be drawn closer to God.
You know you and I trusted Christ as Savior, the Son of God. The blessing of God's salvation. And God through Christ revealed Himself that we might know the forgiveness of sins. That the barrier of sin might be removed.
The work of Christ upon the cross and the precious blood that He shed. God commanded this love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we were sinners, that once once we were.
Christ died for the ungodly. That's what marked us. Christ died for sinners. That's what we did. Christ died, says the Apostle, the Son of God, He loved me and He gave Himself for me just as I was. And in the matter of salvation, in a moment of time, in that great transaction when we passed from death unto life.
From darkness into light. From that state of destitution into the love of God. We came to know God. And Christ as our own and personal Savior. But along the path of life, those dealings, those tests, those trials, and the pilgrimage of the saint is to bring us closer to God.
God loves to be trusted. And in all His dealings, God will love all that lure Him. There we see it in a series of gospel meetings. God works in a series of gospel meetings when the preacher is at an end of himself.
When his hands are down. When the saints are at an end of themselves and in despair turn to God and through prayer. God works when the sinner is at an end of themselves and can do no more. For God will have all that lure Him.
And there are those experiences in life that remove the dross. And the things that test that which is so self-willed and those things that mark us. Those things that mark us. God would have us drawn closer to Him.
You know, men of God and women of God are tested. Abraham was tested as to the riches of Sodom. Joseph was tested as to whether he could rule over his own passion. Moses was tested in the rebellion of the people.
David was tested, we'll see tomorrow night, and he failed in a time of relaxation. Peter was tested and he failed as to reproach of Christ. You know, a man or a woman is never really truly known until they're truly tested.
Never really known until they are truly tested. R .C. Chapman said that before salvation he was afraid to die. After salvation he was afraid to live. That is the fear of God marked the dear godly Chapman.
And he dreaded those things, those saved by the grace of God, that would be a hindrance in getting close to God. You know, if we're honest, many of us are content to dwell in misty, foggy lowlands. Just down in the lowlands.
We never in our spiritual experience really raise to mountaintop blessings. Many of us are just content to move in shallow waters. Not to launch out into the deep. And in spiritual things there is an awful shallowness amongst the people of God.
There is a lack of depth of the knowledge of the word of God. And in our lives a lack of depth, really, of that knowledge of God. A friend of God. In that practical sense there would be closeness in prayer.
Closeness in prayer. Now we need preaching men. But I tell you we need praying men. And when we talk about the preaching we talk about the males. But you know we need praying male and female. We need praying men and praying women.
Drawing near unto God in that practical sense to know God for yourself. Know God as person, his power, his promises, his provisions to know God for yourself. There is a thing about taking the scriptures and taking a passage of the word of God and making it your own.
There is that thing about an experience with God. It may not be altogether delightful. In fact sometimes trials are exceedingly difficult. But you know they are so blessed if they bring us closer to God.
We're talking in a very practical way about a friend of God. You know there's seven men in the book of Genesis. Adam was the natural man. The man that was never born. Abel was the man associated with things more excellent.
Noah was the man that came out into new life. Those three. But then there's Abraham in the midst and there's three that follow. Abraham in an outstanding way is known as the man of faith. After him comes Isaac on sonship.
Jacob on service. Joseph on suffering and glory. But the man in the middle was the man of faith. I want us to notice tonight. In the path that Abraham trod, that ascending path of faith. Listen to what the Bible says about Abraham.
It says he went out not knowing where he went. It says he staggered not at the promises of God. It says he looked for a city that had foundations whose builder and maker was God. Abraham was a man who got his sights lifted.
A man of clear vision. I didn't take time to read all the account in Genesis relative to Abraham. But six times it says about Abraham that he lifted up his eyes. He looked. He lifted up his eyes. He looked.
My dear brother, my dear sister, if only tonight we could lift up our eyes. For largely we're, well, look down. Downcast. Groveling in the earth. The man that rode to Pilgrim's Progress, he talked about the man with the muck rake.
He was raking in the muck, in the dirt. While all around him there were scenes of beauty and glory. My dear brother, my dear sister, maybe tonight we would all have to admit that there are loftier scenes that we can depict upon.
That we can set our vision upon. It says of Abraham he lifted up his eyes and looked. We first read of Abraham. He's an ur of the Chaldeans. Now, that word ur comes from her, it's you are. Which means the moon god.
God says to Abraham, the worshipper of the moon, God says, look beyond that moon and look into the starry heavens and you see the multitude of the stars. I will make your descendants as the stars of the heavens.
Ur of the Chaldeans. And those days was at the, at Delta. Where the Euphrates River flowed out to the sea. God said to Abraham, look down at the sand of the sea. Have a look at that sand. Ah yes, but get thee out.
For I will make the descendants as the stars of the heavens above. As the sand of the sea on the seashore. What did Abraham, God called Abraham out. Get thee out. You see, you'd never have made progress as an idolater and a heathen in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans.
My dear brother, my dear sister, I tell you, as far as this old world is concerned, God will have us forsake it. We're not left down here to try and prove this world. We're called upon spiritedly to leave it.
We'll soon in the big sense believing it. We've been singing about heaven as being our home. But a kind of a time as we, well, we make our foundations and our buildings and we live like earth dwellers.
Those that are going to be here forever. We are not here to improve this world. We're not here to amend it. When the saviour was upon earth, you know, you would have found him outside. And you'll still find the saviour outside.
When he was born, there was no room for them in the inn. Where he was brought up at Nazareth, they thought to cast him over the brow of the hill. When he wrote the miracle in the country of the Gadarenes, they besought him that he would depart.
At last, outside the city wall of Jerusalem, he heard them say, Away with him, away with him. And your saviour and my saviour, he took upon his marred back that cross, that heavy weapon of murder. And he carried it outside the city wall.
And he never came back to the religious system of Jerusalem. Jesus, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. And it's unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Unto thee the homeless stranger outside the camp. Forth we venture and fear no danger outside the camp. Outside unto himself. We're not left in this world to improve it. If you don't agree with the Democrats, don't look on how to vote for the Republicans.
It's not ours to be involved in the politics of earth. Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils. Meddle not, says the Bible, with those that are changers. I ask Stephen in his address in the book of the Acts.
He begins his account and he speaks about the God of glory that appeared to Abraham. And at the end of the chapter, as the stones rain down upon the little body of the faithful martyr, it says God and glory appeared to Stephen.
The God of glory that enabled Abraham to come out was the God of glory that enabled Stephen to die. My dear brother, my dear sister, fix your focus upon the God of glory. Abraham, with that ascending desire, that desire to be drawn closer to God.
Closer to God. Closer to Christ. More about Jesus. More of that communion with him. He had difficulties. He had hindrances. We read that he was hindered by Terah. That's his father, the old man. Along the path he was harassed by Lot, thus the carnal man.
In the purposes of God he was hurried by Sarah, thus the flesh. The old man Terah, his father seemed to be a hindrance to him. He just got a little bit. The old man was still with him. Constantly along the path it seemed to be that he was harassed by Lot, which was the carnal man.
And in the purposes of God, Sarah could not wait for the seed, and she introduced that which issued in Ishmael. He was hurried. He was hindered. He was harassed. He was hurried. Those things in the path of God, there's a thing about waiting upon God.
Waiting time upon God is not wasted time. My dear young brother, my dear young sister, maybe still not married. Yes, just wait God's time. Don't be hurrying things. Overcome that fleshly desire like Lot for the well-watered plains.
Don't be hindered by the old things and the old things of the old life. It says Abraham went out. It says Abraham went down. It says Abraham went up. It says Abraham went on. Genesis 12 verse 1, the Lord said, The Lord called Abraham, and we read that little verse in Isaiah 51 verse 2, When he was one, God called Abraham alone.
The book of Genesis is a great book of election. Individual. That individual call. An Abel, not a Cain. Jacob, not an Esau. And here it was in Abraham. I take it not a lot. For it says Lot went with him.
You see, Lot just went along. Lot went with him. Lot went with the man that went with God. Lot was the Cain of a second hand man. He just tagged along. You remember when the Lord rose from the dead. There was Joseph, a Nicodemus.
There was Mire and the women from Galilee. And it says certain others also. You see, there were those that just tagged along. Abraham went out, and Lot just followed along. I wonder, are you in the assembly by conviction?
Or just by convenience? Are you just amongst the saints on a Lord's day? And a kind of tag along? Not the meetings, sort of. Give out of him and try and help, sort of. When the big thing and the burdens about the assembly, well, just tag along with the rest.
It says Lot went with him. It says Abraham went out. It says Abraham went down. There was three deflections. He went down to Egypt. Remember that story? He went down to Egypt. And there he says to Sarah, just let on you're my sister.
Because if you don't, they'll kill me. The famine, and he went down to Egypt. He had lost sight of the promises. How could they kill him when the seed still hadn't been born? He lost sight of the promises.
It's nice when we read that he went up. He went up and he went back to battle. He went back again to where it all went wrong. You know, I find in my Bible that failure is not final. Failure is not final.
Maybe you've had those experiences in life and conscious of failure. You know, God's a God of recovery. God's a God of restoration. There must be discipline in the assembly. God put Adam and Eve out of the garden, but He didn't drive them away in despair.
He gave them coats of skin. He gave them the promise of the promised seat. He didn't drive them away in despair. I judge that this country is like the one I come from. A multitude of saints all around, and if I could see them all recovered, we would likely have those seats filled.
And there's likely those out there, and with a little thought and a little exercise, could be at the meeting. My dear brother, my dear sister, follow the path of an Abraham. It says he went out. There was those deflections when he went down, but he went up, and he went up to Bethel where it all went wrong, and it says he went on.
Chapter 12, verse 6 says, The Canaanite was then in the land. Chapter 13, verse 7 says, The Canaanite and the parasite dwelt then in the land. Another difficulty that arose was the matter of lot and all their possessions.
In chapter 13 it says, There was strife amongst them, and Abraham of this matter of strife, he says, this is not good now, because we be brethren. Isn't it interesting to notice that the first reference to brethren in our Bible is Genesis 13?
The first reference to strife in our Bible is Genesis 13. The first difficulty at Corinth was strife and division. There's an enemy that's mentioned in chapter 12. There's a double enemy mentioned in chapter 13.
You know, strife amongst God's people gives a double chance for the enemy. A double chance for the enemy. Sad when there's division amongst God's people. Mind you, it weakens us in the face of the enemy.
Sad when there's a division in the assembly, like there was at Corinth. It left them carnal and not spiritual. You know, it's sad when there's a division in the oversight, for the assembly is just about beat.
Ah yes, there was division. The first reference to brethren, ah yes, but there was strife amongst them. Abraham, he says to Lot, now this will not do. He gave Lot the first choice. Lot chose the well-watered plain.
But it says of Abraham, Abraham, the man that went out, the man that went up, was the man that went on. God called him Abraham, my friend. Seven times it says, the Lord appeared unto Abraham. The God of heaven drew near, and the Lord himself communed with his man in the tenth door.
And such was the communion of Abraham, that when God purposed to destroy the cities of the plain, God says, shall I hide the thing that I drew from Abraham? Even the God of heaven would share his intimate secrets with a man on earth that God was prepared to call my friend.
This is close. What about this man? What really is the secret of this man's life? I was thinking today of seven features of Abraham. We'll go over them slowly. Number one, he was a man of faith. Number two, he was a man of separation.
Number three, he was a man of purity. Number four, he was a man of humility. Number five, he was a man who could rule. Rule his own house. Number six, he was a man of judgment and obedience. And number seven, even the neighbors and those who were about him, they said he's a princely man.
A princely man. A man of faith. It says in the New Testament in Romans, Abraham believed God. Abraham went out. He didn't know where. Abraham believed God relative to the seed. And he didn't know how.
Abraham offered a basic. He was prepared to offer a basic. He was asked to offer a basic. He didn't know why. See the faith? Went out. Didn't know where. That seemed a foolish thing. Didn't you tell you?
Far better in the plan of faith with God than all the arrangements of men and organizations without God. Abraham believed God relative to the seed when his body was dead. He didn't know how it would be brought about.
He didn't know where. He didn't know how. Offered a basic. God told him where to go. God told him it'll be when? Three days. God told him what? He says it'll be a burnt offering. But God never told him why.
He was a man of separation. God gave him great promises. Wealth and blessing and land and possessions. Abraham spent the rest of his life giving things up. He knows that. God said he would possess many things.
And he spent the rest of his life. He gave up Terah, the old man. He gave up Ur, the world. He gave up Lot, the worldly man. He gave up Ishmael, the carnal man. He even gave up his beloved Isaac upon the altar.
And Abraham died a lonely man. For he actually gave up his beloved Sarah. Never possessed any land. Except the plot where he buried his beloved wife. Oh yes, the path of closeness and friendship with God.
For it's costly. It's a path of testing. It's a path of separation. He was a man of purity. Genesis 16. In the energy of the flesh he produced an Ishmael. Did you notice before Genesis 17, before he produced an Isaac, there was circumcision.
That's the cutting off of the flesh. The flesh produced an Ishmael. Mind you brethren, the flesh will still produce Ishmael. Oh yes, we're living in days when there's shallowness in the preaching of the gospel.
And a kind of an emotional believism. And when there's many things done not only in the platform but in coffee bars. The work of the flesh will give them a bit of a push. And all it'll do is produce an Ishmael.
A man of purity. A man of humility. Genesis 18, when those strangers come. As he sits in the tent door, it says he bowed himself. It says he fell flat on his face. He says, I'm going to take it upon myself to speak.
And I'm only dust and ashes. Young brother, if you're going, if you're going to serve God, start low. If you're going to grow, begin low. There's that about the flesh, you know, that knows all the answers.
You listen to a man who's preaching, and he just went out to ask to the preaching. Well, there's a kind of a hollow thing about his preaching. But you listen to a man as he handles the Word of God that came up through the assembly and bore burdens in the assembly and cures in the assembly.
I ask he'll know with humility to keep low dependence upon God. He was a man of humility. But he was a man of order, a man of rule. It says, God, I'm going to tell my friend Abraham. I'm going to tell my friend Abraham what I'm going to do to the cities of the plain.
I'll not keep it from my friend Abraham. Why? Genesis 18 verse 19, I know him that he will command his children and his household after him. God will acquaint Abraham in the affairs of state and his dealings with the people of the city because he was a man and things were right at home.
Things were right at home. How can they rule the house of God that cannot rule their own home? It says in the New Testament. Now, I know this comes close and the big test of a man and closeness to God personally and the big test will first be in his home and the order of his household and in the New Testament standards of divine principles.
There's many a man and his mouth is closed because of conditions at home. Abraham, that princely man, that man of stature as he moved on in fellowship with his God. God says, I know him. I know the man personally.
I know the man at home. I know that there's a man he'll command his children and his household after him. And then he was a man of obedience. It says chapter 18, keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment.
A man of right living. A man of right living. You know, there's no use in trying to do anything for God unless you're living right. The man was marked by honor and righteousness. And that was not only acknowledged in heaven but the ungodly all around.
Ah yes, as Abraham moved through, he paid his way. For a hundred years he possessed no land. His pilgrim tent moved on and he was passing through. And even those that were about said, we know he's a princely man.
Isn't there something, there's something delightful, you know, especially for those of us who labor a little in the gospel. Sometimes we get up and do preaching and the best preachers are not on the platform but the best preachers in the audience.
Those that not only preach, and the preaching's good, you know, and it's right to preach the gospel, but those that live, those that live before the people that are about, that have an influence upon them, that can constrain them under the sound of the gospel.
And it's not what they verbally declare, but those that are about, they are impressed by the fact of their walk. Not their words but their walk before the ungodly about them. Ah, they said there's a man, a man of faith, a man of separation, a man of purity, a man of humility, a man that can rule his own home, a man in himself is obedient to the word of God.
A princely man. Chapter 12, verse 6, says he passed through the land of Shechem in the plains or the oaks of Moreh, east of Bethel, Bethel means the house of God, and pinched his tent with Bethel on the west.
Abraham, for a hundred years, from his age seventy-five to a hundred and seventy-five, in his little tent of camel's hair, that was searched by wind and storm, separate from his family, he left his country, and he passed through, and he pared his way with his faithful sir by his side.
He arranged the marriage of a son that he would be preserved from the heathen. There was no foundation in his tent. The only thing that Abraham ever built was altars. The only thing Abraham ever built was altars.
I like chapter 12, verse 9. It says he journeyed on still. He journeyed on still. I was noticing recently Exodus 17. It says about Moses, his hands were steady to the going down of the sun. I noticed what it says in Acts chapter 2 concerning the assembly of God's people.
It says they continued steadfastly. It says here about Abraham, he journeyed on still. You know what's nice? In fact, it's delightful. As we move around the assemblies in Iowa and Wisconsin, and we come across those older saints, those of a generation that are now drawing near to the end of their little sojourn, but they journey on still.
Still on the journey, still on the pilgrim way, still going on, their hands are steady, continuing steadfastly, journeying on still. You know, it's been said, the devil wants us to rust out. The brethren want you to wear out.
God wants you to last out. Can you think of that? Maybe the devil will get you discouraged, tell you to go home, buy an old TV and sit down and do nothing. Just rust out. The brethren, with due respect to them, over this weekend, I tell you, I've experienced it, that make you wear out.
Ah yes, but God wants us to last out. It's good to have a good finish. It's good when the sun is setting. When life is over, we're still going on. Ah yes, in spite of the difficulties, in spite of Egypt, in spite of Ishmael, in spite of Terah, in spite of Lot, in spite of all that was about him, it says about Abraham that he journeyed on still.
Chapter 13, verse 18, we read that verse, didn't we? He removed his tent and came and dwelt in the plains of Mamre, which is in Hebron. Mamre means fatness and Hebron means fellowship. There was faith in his walk.
I was thinking there was fatness in his soul, but there was fellowship with God. This is a man. Yes, the fragrance of his worship, for he built an altar. We come quickly to chapter 22. It's not now Mamre.
It's not now the simple plain of Mamre, but it's the peak of Moriah. This is a test. Near to God, the friend of God. Abraham's the only man that, in his own experience, entered into the thought of God of human sacrifice.
Take now, Bulloch, Abraham, the best of the flock. No, no, no, no. Take now, thy son. Near to God, thine only son. Afar off, God could look down the long corridors of time. On Calvary's cross we read, He spared not his own son.
A man, the friend of God. Mind you, this is a costly path. This is a very costly path. It cost him his relationships in a former life. It cost him his right to give Lot the first chance. It cost him, for he turned his back upon the riches of Sodom.
It cost him the restraints of his nature. Oh no, oh that Ishmael might live, he says. Ah yes, but here. Take now, thy son. Ever think about Abraham. He was told who? Thy son. He was told what? The burnt offering.
He was told where? Moriah. He was told when? It was three days journey, but no way. He rose early in the morning, and God never told him why. He journeyed for a day, and still there's no answer why. Ah yes, he journeyed for a day and a night, a day and a night, a day and a...
Into the third day, and still God never told him why. Did you ever get into trials? I know you're here, my dear sister. And in the presence of God, you went away home and you asked why. Did you ever, dear brother, in the midst of your trials, get down before God?
Ah yes, like Abraham, it was early. There was wood, there was the knife, there was the young man, there was the ass, there was the three days, but... No answer to why. Trials and difficulties are the allotments of God's people.
This was a trial that was unexpected, for it came suddenly. Why? As I say, this scene points down the long corridors of time. And with the utmost reverence, just now, for a few moments, could you gather your thoughts at Calvary?
To the eternal Son of God, as he's led out to die upon the altar of Calvary. You know they asked why. They looked and they said, why? What evil hath he done? Did every irreverently think of those words that he spoke on the cross?
Why hast thou forsaken me? I was thinking about that today. Take out the middle of that expression. The first word is why. Why hast thou forsaken me? The first word is why. The last word is me. I want to ask you, my dear sister, tenderly and graciously.
You ever get into a trial and you ask, why me? Ever up against a dear brother in the dealings of God? And you've asked, why me? Oh, that closeness to God that brings us face to face sometimes with a question sometimes that's not answered.
And sometimes life goes through and it's never answered. I was thinking of the young widow that suddenly lost her young husband. Watched him buried with tears in her eyes. The emptiness in her life. She said that down here we have the tears without the reason.
Up there, we'll have the reason without the tears. This is the place for the tears. This is the place sometimes the why's not answered. But you know up there, God shall wipe away all tears. It's not that there'll be tears in her eyes and God will wipe them away.
God will remove the faculty that allows us to weep. No tears up there. My dear sister, the family, the boy, the girl. Dear brother, the trials and difficulties, the burden and cares. This is the place for the tears.
But sometimes you know, well we'll be thinking about a man tomorrow night. He put tears in his own eyes, did David. David put tears in his own eyes. Oh yes, sometimes we're driven to God. But I like the way chapter 22 ends.
Abraham says it was there. Upon Mount Moriah. We'll call it Jehovah Jireh. We'll say the Lord will see. Oh the sanctuary of God. Drawing near unto God said the Savior. When you enter into your closet shut to the door.
And your father which heareth in secret. No he doesn't. He says your father which seeth in secret. Oh yes, sometimes we can't put the burden into words. Sometimes we hardly know how to pray. But have you got the hang of the thing?
My dear brother, my dear sister. This is not just service. This is not just preaching. This is not just, well the ordinary run of the meetings. This is a life lived close to God. When in the presence of God.
God he says Jehovah Jireh. God will see. We're left off reading chapter 23 verse 2. It says Sarah died. And Abraham came to who weren't born for Sarah. And to weep for her. This is the first record of a man in the Bible weeping.
I'm not saying ours didn't. But this is the first record. Sarah. His faithful companion for 70 years. She shared with him his pilgrim tent. They trumped the path together. And he's left a lonely man. Bereavement.
You know I'm beginning to see around the assemblies in Wisconsin. There's empty seats. And there are those that left us. And they're missing. Abraham. He's weeping for Sarah. Verse 19. It says Abraham buried Sarah and his wife.
In the cave in the field of Mephila. Mephila means double. It means the place of two doors. With a heavy heart. And tears in his eyes. Abraham put the precious body of his dear beloved wife. Into the cave.
But says Abraham it's Mephila. There's a door in. There's a door out. There's a way in. And there's a way out. All the sorrows and trials of life. My dear brother. My dear sister. There's a way in. But there's the end of all sorrow.
Out of the trials of life the Lord is coming. And he's soon rapturous to Jorah. And says the Bible we sorrow not as others. That have no hope. With us I'll finish. My dear father died beside me in the morning meeting.
We remembered the Lord. After the breaking of bread he got up and spoke a little word. Luke 24. The Lord himself. The Lord himself threw near and went with them. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. The Lord himself shall come.
He sat down took a few baths. And was with the Lord. The last words. Amongst the last words I heard my father speak. We sorrow not as others. That have no hope. Wherefore comfort one another. With these words.
There's a way out. There's a way in in death. But the answer is resurrection. The answer for us. The answer for us is rapture. Rapture and glory. For God is the God of Abraham. The God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
God says. He is Abraham. My friend. God says I have a friend on earth. And I'm not going to hide from Abraham. The thing that I do. Abraham. That princely pilgrim. Past his pilgrim path. And his princely way.
And he has moved on. For he looked for a city. That hands hath not piled. And he has passed to his fatherland. Beyond the stars. For he looked for a city that had foundations. Whose builder and maker was God.
Shall we pray. Our father we thank thee that thou art the God of Abraham. The God of Isaac. The God of Jacob. The God of promise. The God of patience. And the God of preeminence. We bless thee our father.
For thy purpose was wrought out. And those that lived in an early day. And what a privilege it is ours. Even to share something of thy thoughts. Concerning thy son. For we thank thee that thou hast sent.
And yielded the heavenly Isaac. We thank thee for he. Who stretched himself upon the altar. Upon Moriah's lonely summit. We thank thee that God spurred not his own son. But delivered him up for us all.
We bless thee for our portion that we have through him. And we thank thee for the triumphs of resurrection. And we thank thee for the prospect of rapture. We pray that thou wouldst wean us from this world.
That we might hear that call as Abraham of old did. Get thee out. Out from the world. And oh wean our hearts from this world. That is shaping up for the wrath of God. And pending destruction. And grant us father.
That we might have learned a few lessons tonight. That would encourage us in the path of faith. And that we might be enabled like Abraham of old. To lift up our spirits. To lift up our eyes. To look and see.
For the Lord is coming. And coming soon. Bless thy people. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.