And that is, I want us to look
at the truth of God from one word, one word in the scripture
that we run into as we read through the word of God and as we read
articles on the word, we run into this word. The word is portion,
portion, P-O-R-T-I-O-N, portion. And I have four parts of the
message this evening. First, I want us to see the meaning
of this word portion. I'm sure that all of us know
the meaning, but one of the rules of Bible interpretation, it's
a very handy rule, is you look at a word the first time it's
used in the scripture. the very first time, and that's
one reason to have a good concordance. I know most of you have Bibles
that have concordances, but they are limited. A good concordance,
Strong's concordance is a good one. But I want us to get the
meaning of this word, portion, first of all. So we're going
to look at the first time it's used in the scripture. Let me
finish what I started to say. You look at that word the first
time, and get the meaning there, and usually, I'd say most all
the time, throughout the rest of the scripture, that word is
going to have the same meaning, whatever it means the first time
that it's used. This is just another indication
of the inspiration of the word of God. It's a marvel, isn't
it, the word of God, when you stop and think about how many
different human authors contributed. I know God the Holy Spirit inspired
these men to write and over such a long period of time and yet
all of the Word of God comes together concisely because it
is God's Word. But let's look the first time
that this word portion is used in the scripture, the Hebrew
word, which is translated portion. If you'd look back with me to
Genesis chapter 14. Genesis chapter 14, in this chapter, We read the word war for the
first time. War. You stop and think about
that. I'm not saying this is the first
time there was a war, but this is the first time in the history
that's given to us in the word of God where we have the word
war. How many wars have been fought
since that time? How many men have been slaughtered? since that time, that first that
we read about here of war. Nothing shows any more the depravity
of man than war. Men fighting, killing one another,
capturing territory. But the word I want us to look
at is the word portion, and we see it here because in this war
there were five, there were four kings that got together and they
attacked five kings. And one of those five kings was
the king of Sodom. And that's where Lot lived. He lived in Sodom. He lived in
Sodom and that was Abraham's nephew, we know. And so word
was brought to Abraham that these kings have come in and they've
captured these these five kings and they've carried your nephew
off. They've taken him captive. And
so Abraham, with the servants that he had in his house, he
goes to engage these people. And when he comes back, if you
notice in verse 21, when he comes back, the king of Sodom comes
out to meet him. And the king proposes to Abraham,
that he take everything, all of the goods that those kings
had taken away that pertain to Sodom and that area that he controlled. He said, you just take all of
that, but the people, the people, if you will, let them come back
and be in our kingdom. Well, notice what Abraham says
in verse 21. And the king of Sodom said unto
Abram, give me the persons. I'll just take the persons that
were captured, that you've brought back. But you take the goods,
take the goods to thyself. And Abraham said to the king
of Sodom, I have left up mine hand unto the Lord. Abram had taken an oath before
this, and he had sworn unto the Lord that he would not take anything
in his spoils of war. That was not his intention. That
was not his purpose. His purpose was to rescue his
nephew Lot. Abraham said to the king of Sodom,
I have left up my hand unto the Lord, the most high God, his
God, Abraham's God. You know, Abraham lived in Ur
of the Chaldees, and the scriptures reveal that he was in a family
that worshiped idols. But the Lord appeared unto him,
called him, revealed himself unto Abraham, called him out
of Ur of the Chaldees, and became Abraham's God. And it's exceeding
great reward also. The most high God, the possessor
of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread. That's
pretty small, isn't it? Just one little thread. Abraham
said, I'm not going to even take a thread. And the reason he gave
is because no one is going to be able to say, I made Abraham
rich. God made Abraham rich. We read
that in Hannah's prayer, didn't we? The Lord maketh rich, and
the Lord maketh poor. The Lord killeth, and the Lord
maketh alive. Abram told this king of Sodom,
I've taken an oath to the Lord. that I'm not going to take even
a thread of any of the goods, but he said, this is his exception,
if you notice there in verse 23, I will not take anything
that is thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abram rich,
save only that which the young men have eaten and the portion,
there's our word, the portion of the men which went with me."
Those men who went with me, Abraham said, now, I won't take anything,
but you let these men who went with me take their portion. What does that tell us? They're
part. It's very obvious, I believe, the meaning of the word portion
is part. I think that's the definition
I would give. You might have a better definition,
but portion means part. Let's look at another example,
if you will, in Deuteronomy chapter 21. In Deuteronomy chapter 21,
and here, In this part of the law, it concerns
the law of inheritance. And the case here is a man that
has two wives. And he loves one of his wives
more than the other one. And the wife that he loves the
least, her son, is the firstborn. Well, the law was the firstborn
receives a double portion. But God makes sure now that because
this man loved this other woman more, her son, he's not the firstborn,
he's not to get the double portion. Let's read that in verse 15. If a man have two wives, one
beloved and another hated, and they have born him children,
both the beloved and the hated, And if the firstborn son be hers
that was hated, then it shall be when he maketh his sons to
inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the
beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed
the firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the
son of the hated for the firstborn by giving him a double portion. If he had 10 sons, he divided
it into 10 portions, 10 parts, then the firstborn is to get
twice as much as the others. He's to get a double portion.
That's just the law that they lived under. So the word portion
we see here means part. The firstborn is to get the double
part of the inheritance. In the Lord's parable of the
prodigal son, this is what he asked his father. He said, Father,
give me the portion. Give me the portion of the goods
that falleth to me. I know we could look at other
scriptures, but there's no need because it's very obvious that
the word portion means part, part. Well, my second thought
or part of the message is God reveals that he has a portion. God has a portion. Let's look
at that again in Deuteronomy. The text we're going to look
at is in chapter 32, but I want to point out in chapter 31 that
chapter 32 contains a hymn that God commanded Moses to write. If you look in chapter 31 and
verse 19, Now therefore write you this
song for you and teach it the children of Israel. Put it in
their mouths that this song may be a witness for me against the
children of Israel. But now in chapter 32, we have
the song that God gave to Moses to teach the children of Israel. And there's a lesson there. We
learn by singing. That's a good way to learn the
scripture. We have some of the courses in
the course book back here that some have taken scripture and
they put to music. And that's so good, especially
with children, but not just children. It would help all of us to sing
more scripture. I know there are churches still
left that Only sing the psalms. They won't sing any other hymns.
Only sing the psalms. I don't know if you've ever attended
a church that only sings the psalms. I have. My experience
is it's very hard to sing the psalms. You have a bad psalm service,
where I've been at least, when you're only singing the psalms.
I love to sing these hymns too. And the scripture says, speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody
unto the Lord. So I see nothing wrong with singing
hymns. But here's a song that God commanded
Moses to write and to teach the children of Israel. And I want
you to notice part of, well, first of all, let me point this
out. All hymn writers would do well to take this as an example. If you notice in verse four,
he is the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are judgment,
a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right. All hymn writers could learn
a lesson here about hymns that are written, that Christ should
always be the subject of the hymn. We're singing about him. He is the rock. His work is perfect. His work, remember what he prayed
to his father before his crucifixion, I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. His work is perfect. His work
of redemption is perfect. You can't add to it. If you try
to add to his work, you destroy it. No, his work is perfect. When he cried from the cross,
it is finished. How awful it would be to think
that you or I or any other individual could add anything to the perfect
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. His work is perfect. Believe
it, yes. Confess it, yes, but don't try
to add anything to it. Because if you do, you pollute
it. But let's look down to verse
nine. For the Lord's portion is his
people. That's what I said. That's my
second thought. God reveals that he has his portion. What is the Lord's portion? It
is his people. His people, the Lord's portion
is His people. Now you and I tonight, we both
know that though all the world is His, we recognize that. It's all His. But He has reserved
a portion, a portion, a part for Himself. His portion, the
Lord's portion is His people. hit this part, He separated from
all the rest. There's a portion, there's a
part among the millions, billions of people that God claims as
His portion, His part. Those that He chose in Christ
from before the foundation of the world and blessed with all
spiritual blessings in Him. They were given to Christ. They
were given to Christ as his bride. And yes, they all fell. We all
fell if we're one of them. We all fell in our father Adam,
but we didn't fall out of God's love. We fell into sin, but we
did not fall out of the love of God. In fact, the scripture
says it's impossible to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Matthew Henry commented on this
verse, all the world is his. He is owner and possessor of
heaven and earth, but his church is his in a peculiar manner. It is his vineyard, his garden
enclosed. He has a particular delight in
it. It is the beloved of his soul.
In it he walks, he dwells. It is his rest forever. He has
a particular concern for it. He keeps it as the apple of his
eye." Isn't that a blessing to think
about? The Lord keeping you as the apple of his eye. And that's
what the scriptures reveal. The Lord's portion is his people. You know, it's almost, I assume
it is automatic when some object flies at your eye, your hand
just immediately goes up, doesn't it? To protect your eye. Your
eye is a very delicate member of the body. And God has so put
it in us that we automatically just protect the eye. God has
given us eyebrows, eyelashes, eyelids to protect the eye. That's what they serve. These
things serve, don't they? All to protect the eye. And God's
people, he keeps as the apple of his eye. Think about those of you who
are parents here tonight, how you keep your children, how you've
kept them, how you would do anything to keep them. Think about your
father, your heavenly father, how he keeps you. He said, my
sheep are in my hand, and no one is able to take them out
of my hand. What a wonderful, wonderful truth
and assurance to know that in Christ we're safe and that we
are His portion, His portion. Now the third part of my message,
the wicked. The wicked have their portion. They have their part. Let me
show you that. Turn with me to Psalm 11. You know, the wicked believe
sometimes they're getting away with their sin, they're getting
away with their iniquities, but we know that there's a day coming,
the scriptures reveal this, they're going to get their portion, their
part, it's coming, it's reserved for them. No matter how they think they're
getting away with their wickedness and evil in this world, Look
here in Psalm 11, beginning with verse four. The Lord is in his
holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven.
His eyes behold. They behold everything, don't
they? There's no escaping from God's presence. Psalm 139 makes
that ever so clear. No matter where a person goes,
God's already there. His eyes behold, his eyelids
try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked in him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon
the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible
tempest. This shall be the portion of
their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness, and his countenance doth behold the upright. This shall be the portion of
their cup. What is the wicked? What is their
portion? It is, as it says here, snares,
fire, and brimstone. I like to watch a program called
Mountain Men, and a lot of the men on that program, they live
out in the boondocks, I guess you'd say. I mean, off the grid,
anyway. But a lot of their trapping they
do with snares. And it amazes me. I heard, in fact, just recently
one of the programs, a man said he believed that snares are more
successful to trap animals, he was trapping wolves himself,
than traps. He set his traps, but he also
set those snares. And this verse of scripture,
I thought about this, that he shall reign snares. That man
thinks he's getting away with his sins, but payday's someday,
as the old preacher said. It's coming, it's coming. They're
gonna be taken in their snares, and not only snares, but fire
and brimstone. And when I think about fire,
I think about that man the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of in Luke
chapter 16, his portion. You remember, his portion. The
scripture said that he died and went to hell, left up his eyes
in hell, and he received his portion. And he cried, I am tormented
in this flame. Now Lazarus, who was a righteous
man, and he was righteous only in the righteousness of Christ,
we know that. There's only one way any sinner
is ever made righteous, and that is by the imputed righteousness
of Christ. He that believeth unto him, his
righteousness is imputed. And he received his portion.
The rich man received his portion in hell. The righteous man received
his portion. He didn't receive his portion.
In fact, Abraham told that man in our Lord's words there, you
received your good things in your life. Not Lazarus. He was laid there at the rich
man's gate, wasn't he? With sores, sickness. But now
he received his portion, which was good, good things. He was in the bosom of Abraham.
He was in the presence of the Lord himself. Well, here's the
last part. The children of God have their
portion. Are you a child of God tonight?
You have a portion. Look at it in Lamentations. Lamentations
chapter three. Some of you might say, well,
preacher, you've taken us all over the Bible tonight. Well,
that's good. Stay in practice. Lamentations
comes right after Jeremiah. It's a very small book written
by Jeremiah the prophet. Lamentations chapter three and
verse 24. The Lord is my portion. These are the words of Jeremiah.
And when you see the context and think about the situation
when Jeremiah wrote these words, the Lord is my portion. Humanly
speaking, I don't think things could have been any worse. I don't think things could possibly
have been any worse than the situation that Jeremiah was in
when he wrote those words. Jerusalem was destroyed, burned. Most of the Jews had been taken
into captivity, and the Babylonians were in control. They had no
tender mercies for the old or for the young, for women or for
children, and they were in a starvation situation. If you read through
Lamentations, you will see Humanly speaking, as I said, I don't
see how the situation could have been any worse, and yet Jeremiah
was able to say, the Lord is my portion. When God allowed
Satan to take Job's wealth, and then he took his health, and
then he took his family, there's one thing he couldn't take. his portion. Couldn't take his
portion. Why? Because the Lord is our
portion. The Lord is our portion. And you know, if you read on
what Jeremiah said, therefore, look that word, therefore, always
look to see why it is there. for why it's there. Verse 22,
it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his
compassions fail not. Verse 24, the Lord is my portion,
saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. No matter how
dire and awful the situation may be, for a believer. He's always got a therefore,
therefore, therefore, because the Lord is my portion, I shall
hope. Well, I hope in him. I want to
close with these comments by Matthew Henry. and I hope I can express them
as they are. That God, now think about this,
we've looked at four things. We looked at the meaning of the
word portion, we saw that God has a portion, we saw the wicked
have their portion, and we saw that the righteous, that the
child of God has the Lord as his portion. Now listen, that
God should be his people's portion is easy to be accounted for. In other words, that the Lord
would be our portion. That's easy to be accounted for,
for he is their joy and felicity. But how they should be his portion. How you, how me, how we could
be the Lord's portion, who neither needs them, nor can be benefited
by them, must be resolved into the wondrous condescensions of
free grace. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thine eyes. Even so, Father." That's what
our Lord said, wasn't it? because it seemed good in thy
eyes, so to call and to account them. The Lord is my portion."
That ought to hold us. That ought to hold us. Tonight,
tomorrow, and whatever more days the Lord gives us in this world
to be able to say, to rejoice, The Lord is my portion. What more could we want? What
more could we ask? Amen. May the Lord bless this
word to us here this evening. I'm going to sing a hymn and
then we'll be dismissed.