I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome to our worship here this morning, the first Lord's Day
meeting for another year. We met, of course, on Thursday,
but may the Lord be with us as we gather in his name on his
day. And let us come before him in
prayer. Let's ask his blessing. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
Lord, thou hast brought us to see another Lord's Day in another
year. And Lord, we do seek Thy blessing
as we gather together. O Lord, do come with the power
of Thy Spirit. Help us to worship Thee in spirit
and in truth. And do grant, Lord, that this
year there might unfold to us blessings, blessings for our
souls, blessings for the Church of God. that we might see thy
offspring come, that we might see thy people blessed. So Lord,
do be with us, be with us this morning. We ask this through
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. Hymn, 499. Tune, Augustine 3. Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God, the Book of Deuteronomy, and Chapter 1. We have one of our free Bibles,
the Ruby Bible, page 119. Deuteronomy, Chapter 1. These be the words which Moses
spake unto all Israel, On this side, Jordan, in the wilderness,
in the plain, over against the Red Sea, between Paran and Tophel
and Laban and Hazaroth and Izahab. There are eleven days' journey
from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh Barneum. And it came to pass in the fortieth
year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month,
that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according unto all
that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them. After he had slain Sihon the
king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and of the king of
Bashan, which dwelt at Ashtoreth in Endri, on this side Jordan,
in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt
long enough in this mount, Turn you and take your journey, and
go to the Mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh
thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in
the south, and by the seaside, to the land of the Canaanites,
and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before
you. Go in and possess the land which
the Lord swear unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to
give unto them and to their seed after them. And I spake unto you at that time,
saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone, The Lord your
God hath multiplied you and behold ye are this day as the stars
of heaven full multitude. The Lord God of your fathers
make you a thousand times so many more as ye are and bless
you as he hath promised you. How can I myself alone bear your
cumbrance and your burden and your strife. Take you wise men
and understanding and known among your tribes, and I will make
them rulers over you.' And he answered me and said, The thing
which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief
of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over
you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and
captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among
your tribes. And I charged your judges at
that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge
righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger
that is with him. You shall not respect persons
in judgment, but you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the
face of man, For the judgment is God's, and the cause that
is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time
all the things which ye should do. And when we departed from
Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness,
which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as
the Lord our God commanded us, and we came to Kadesh Barnea. And I said unto you, ye are come
unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give
unto us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath
set the land before thee. Go up and possess it, as the
Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee. Fear not, neither
be discouraged. And he came near unto me, every
one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they
shall search us out the land. and bring us word again by what
way we must go up and into what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well,
and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe. And they turned
and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eskol
and searched it out. And they took of the fruit of
the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and
brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord
our God doth give us. Notwithstanding, ye would not
go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your
God. And ye murmured in your tents,
and said, Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth
out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites
to destroy us. Whither shall we go up? Our brethren
have discouraged our hearts, saying, The people is greater
and taller than we. The cities are great and walled
up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims
there. Then I said unto you, dread not,
neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goeth
before you, he shall fight for you according to all that he
did for you in Egypt before your eyes. And in the wilderness,
where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee as
a man doth his son in all the way that ye went until ye came
into this place. Yet in this thing ye did not
believe the Lord your God, who went in the way before you to
search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night
to show you by the what way you should go and in a cloud by day. And the Lord heard the voice
of your words and was wroth and swear saying, surely there shall
not one of these men of this evil generation see that good
land which I swear to give unto your fathers. Save Caleb, the
son of Jephunneh, he shall see it, and to him will I give the
land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because
he hath wholly followed the Lord. Also the Lord was angry with
me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. But Joshua, the son of Nun, which
standeth before thee, he shall go in thither. Encourage him,
for he shall cause Israel to inherit him. Moreover, your little
ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which
in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall
go in thither, and unto them will I give it. and they shall
possess it. But as for you, turn you and
take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.' Then
he answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight according
to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when he had
girded on every man his weapons of war, he were ready to go up
into the hill. And the Lord said unto me, Say
unto them, Go not up, neither find, for I am not among you,
lest ye be smitten before your enemies. So I swear unto you,
and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the
Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. And the Amorites,
which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased
you as bees do, and destroyed you in Mount Insia, even unto
Hormat. And you returned and wept before
the Lord, but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor
give ear unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh many days,
according unto the days that ye abode there. Thus, Father,
reading of God's holy word, may he bless it to us and help us
now in prayer. Let us pray. Our loving and heavenly Father,
we do seek, Lord, that we might be found accepted in thy beloved
Son, in whose name we come, in the name of Jesus. O Lord, do
grant unto us that we might know thee as our Lord and our God. And as we begin another year
in thine earthly courts, Lord, may it be a precious thing to
us that it is our God that hath made the heavens and the earth
and all that is in them. And thou hast quickened us into
divine life, and we are but what we are by thy grace, and thou
hast maintained us up until this present time. Lord, we have not
kept ourselves, we have not been able to continue, by reason of
our own strength or ability or wisdom, but thou has brought
us to see another here. And we do seek, Lord, that thou
would remember us and grant us, Lord, to be revived in our souls,
to live close to thee and in the fear of the Lord, and that
we might be more and more looking for that desired haven. Lord,
we are very mindful that one day that this mortal, this body
must return to the dust as it was. And Lord, that our souls,
they shall not go down to the grave, but they shall return
unto Thee. who gave them. And O Lord, do
prepare us for that great eternal day. O Lord, let not the trifles
of a day, let not the sins of this world and the corruptions
of our nature rob us of that eternal repose and eternal hope. Leave us not to lose sight of
that end in view. That Lord, in all that we walk
through, may that be our longing and our desire. And Lord, when
trials come, as we know they shall, do grant that thou would
sanctify them and make them work together for good, loosening
our hold upon this world. and causing us to give more diligence
to how our soul's state is before Thee. O Lord, wash and cleanse
us from our sin, and when Thou art pleased to answer our prayers,
that Thou hast made us more like Thee, and that Thou hast given
us repentance, Lord, leave us not to faint, and our hearts
to faint, when Thou dost bring things into our lives to this
end. O Lord, do be pleased to grant
us to see a father's hand, a father's rod. And Lord, though painful
to us, O Lord, do make it to be amongst those things that
work together for good unto our souls. O Lord, we pray that we
might be prepared for heaven, prepared for the grave, prepared
for this mortal to put on immortality. O Lord, save us from ourselves. We do not deserve to be saved. Lord, we are so often dull of
hearing, rebellious, disobedient. Lord, we go our own way. We limit
Thee. We do those things that are displeasing
to Thee. O Lord, have mercy upon us, to
remember us in our Saviour, in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
and to renew us again. We do plead that as He is exalted,
to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel, that we
might be granted that blessing, and that we might be made to
be what Thou hast have us to be. Lord, again we do thank Thee
for Thy goodness and mercies in the past year, and we do commit
our souls unto Thee for this year. We commit this church and
congregation unto Thee, and that Thou hast grant, Lord, that Thou
hast bless us and make us a blessing to the people of Cranbrook. Do
bless also those who join with us online, and do bless those
that listen to the ministry here. Oh Lord, we do seek thy word
to have free course and thou be glorified. Lord, if it could
please thee to raise up those that shall be a strength and
a help to us here week by week. Lord, we do pray for this. We thank thee for all thy kind
provision, Lord, where thou hast opened their hearts of those
who hear thy word to minister here and to supply the needs
of us as a church. We thank thee where thou hast
given us an open door to send forth thy word throughout this
land and we do pray that that door might remain open and that
thou hast direct where thy word goes and that thou hast find
out thy people. Remember that thou hast said
that the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are his. And so, O Lord, do send thy word
to thy people, and send thy people to thy word, and send them to
us. And Lord, those that we've directed
to other churches, may they go, and may they be blessed and be
made a blessing. We pray then for our churches
in this land, that do be with them each, remember those thy
servants laid aside today, grant thy kind healing hand, do remember
those churches that do not have a pastor or minister, and do
supply their needs and send forth more labourers into the harvest. Be thou churches in Australia,
Canada, America, and do bless each of our loved ones where
they gather in the house of God. We pray for our dear friends
in Holland, we thank thee for them. We see that those be with
them and the churches in that land. Lord, do be with those
in bereavement and comfort them, passing from one year to another,
how many memories it brings, what a sense of loss is felt. And we pray, Lord, as we gather
for a funeral tomorrow, that thou hast helped each of the
family and help thy servant in conducting that funeral. Now,
Lord, be pleased to be with us on that occasion. Now, Lord,
we do see that we might be blessed with thy guidance through the
year, thy kind provision, with being able to see thy hand, to
be granted to believe, and that our teachers be not removed into
a corner anymore, that we might hear Thy voice, see our teachers,
and that Thou hast made Thy Word to be meat and drink to our souls. That Thou hast keep us from evil,
keep us from entering into temptation and entering into the path of
sin. And do grant, Lord, that we might
be made to walk godly, upright lives in the fear of the Lord.
O Lord, those things that are too hard for us, help us to bring
them to Thee, to leave them with Thee, and to trust in Thee. O Lord, we do commit the ear
unto Thee. O Lord, we do seek that Thou
wouldst help us in every changing scene of life. O Lord, those
things that are sudden or unlookful, Lord, do grant us that grace
to turn unto thee in them all. O Lord, we do thank thee for
providential mercies. We do thank thee for spiritual
ones, for the blessings of God, for the blessings in thy word.
And we do pray for that endurance and help. For thou hast said,
he that endureth unto the end shall be saved. We pray for our
dear friends in the pilgrim home to be with us this afternoon,
help in ministering to them. And Lord, may thy blessing be
upon those in the even tide of their lives, many of them very
long lives, useful lives, lives in mission fields, lives in ministry. Oh Lord, help them and be with
them. We do seek, Lord, that we also
might be help to continue, and at thy appointed time, brought
willingly to, as the Apostle was, to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better. Be with each that are in affliction. Lord, be with the children, the
young people, the rising generation. Be with the mothers that are
with child and bring forth healthy living children in due time.
and do be pleased to grant that those that are seeking thee,
those awaiting upon thee, might be brought to sweet liberty and
enjoyment of the gospel. And Lord, do bring forth those
that shall put thee on in open profession, those that shall
confess thy name, be added visibly to the church of God. walking
in obedience. O Lord, we do pray for these
things. Be pleased to bless us here again
and open our baptismal pool again. And may we see thine offspring
come and hear their testimony to thy honour and glory. O Lord,
help us now as we turn to thy word and do bless us. Forgive our many sins. We ask
these things through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The announcements, God willing,
I'm expected to preach here this evening at 6.30pm. On Thursday
at 7 o'clock, our next Lord's Day at 11am and
6.30pm. The collections taken during
December for the Cause of Truth, £821.36, for the Bible Fund,
Free Bible Fund, £48.50, and the collection last Lord's Day
for the Christian Institute, was £112.37. The Lord bless you
in your giving. We thank you for your kindness
and for other gifts that have been given during this last month. We sincerely thank you for them. Hymn, 247. Tune, St Stephen 229. Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Deuteronomy 1, and reading
from our text, verse 17, the last clause of that verse. And the cause that is too hard
for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. The whole verse reads, You shall
not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as
well as the great. Ye shall not be afraid of the
face of man, for the judgment is God's, and the cause that
is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse
17. In this chapter, we have the
arrangement that God had made with Israel and through Moses
to judge between one person and another and the matters that
concerned them as a nation. And we may rightly be able to
apply a principle here where the cases, the causes that were
too hard for the judges that had been appointed, that they
were to bring them unto Moses. Now we know that it is through
everything in prayer and supplication we are to make our requests unto
God. In these gospel days we are to
be men and women of prayer. And yet, there are those things
that, though we might pray over all things, there are some things
that we just cannot deal with ourselves. And it's good to be
able to see that though God had an arrangement here with Israel,
He does also have an arrangement, appointment of how things are
dealt with in a gospel day as well. We don't just, as it were,
walk by prayer and do nothing ourselves. It's not a situation
where we just are helpless. God has not given us any means
to deal with something. He has. But there are those things
still, in the gospel church and in our lives, that there is no
possibility that we can manage or know what to do. And we are,
like the children of Israel, those judges there, we are to
take those things not to Moses, but the one of what Moses said,
that one shall be raised up. like unto me of your brethren,
him shall ye hear, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our advocate
with the Father. If ye ask anything in my name,
I will do it. So I want to look first at God's
appointment in Israel, the situation that is here, and then apply
it to us in a gospel day. Deuteronomy is the second giving
of the law. We read in the very first part
of this chapter of the time when Moses is speaking in, it is after
they had dealt with the king of Sihon, and Og, the king of
Bashan, and it is just before they are then to go into the
promised land. They had been for 40 years in
the wilderness as God's punishment and dealing with them because
they wouldn't at the first go into the promised land. Moses then is going back over
the way and what had been done and appointed and he will cover
the law given at Mount Sinai and all many other laws he'll
reiterate throughout this book. But he begins where they were
sent back into the wilderness and he begins with that arrangement
that God had given to them. And while it is on my mind, in
relation to the word that is before us, the cause that is
too hard for you, bring it unto me. We think of why did they
go into the wilderness? Why were they sent back? And
really, it all hinged on this. They had A cause that was too
hard for them, they viewed the Anakims, they viewed the promised
land, they said it was a good land, but they said they couldn't
go in. They wouldn't manage to cast
out the inhabitants. Instead of trusting in the Lord,
instead of leaning on Him, instead of going according to how He
bid them, They looked ahead and they said, we can't do this.
We're not even going to try. We're not even going to venture.
We're not going to trust thy word. We're not going to trust
what thou hast bidden us to do. And so they refused to go. They spoke of stoning Moses and
Caleb and Joshua, who had brought the good report and were Sure,
the Lord would be able to drive out the inhabitants of that land.
And it is good for us to think of that setting of this whole
chapter and of our text, the Course, it is too hard for you,
bring it unto me and I will hear it. Because we have a most solemn
example of those that virtually said it's too hard for us and
it's too hard for the Lord, we're not even going to try. We're
not going to trust the Lord. We're not going to do what he
bids us to do. We're not going to walk in his
way. And 40 years in the wilderness
resulted. So it is a most solemn background
to our text and a real incentive that when we have and we will
have those hard cases that come before us, that we must bring
it to the Lord, we must listen to Him, we must not despair,
we must not say what the children of Israel said to the Lord, that
He hated them, He didn't like them, and that the reason why
He brought them here was to slay them. They felt that the Lord
was really against them and not for them. And the things that
they said were most solemn things, saying against the Lord. And so we are to learn from that. The Apostle Paul, he warns us
of the lessons that were taught through the children of Israel,
that we also should not make the same mistakes as them. So what was then the background
which in this first part of this chapter that Moses speaks of? Well, we need to go back to Exodus
18 and to see where this arrangement was instituted. And it was when
Jethro, the priest of Midian, who was Moses' father-in-law,
he came out to see Moses, and he brought his wife, Zipporah,
after Moses had sent her back, and her two sons as well, and
he goes to see Moses. And Moses, great man though he
was, He went out to meet his father-in-law and did obeisance
and kissed him. Remarkable how Moses treated
his father-in-law, even though Moses was in such a position
of authority and of power, and yet there is an obvious respect
and that love to him. He did, Abasin's kissed him,
and they asked each other of their welfare, and they came
into the tent. Then we read how Moses told his
father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh, to the
Egyptians, for Israel saying, all the travail that had come
upon them by the way, how the Lord delivered them. Good thing,
isn't it? Here is a son-in-law. And he's
telling his father-in-law all about the way, all that had been
done to them. And Jethro, he rejoices in what
he's hearing of the goodness of the Lord. And he blesses the
Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians,
out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from
under the hand of the Egyptians. And then he sees the next day
what Moses is doing. Moses sits to judge the people. And from morning until evening,
the people are lining up at the tent, not the tabernacle this
time, but lining up at the tent and Moses is passing judgment
upon them. And his father-in-law sees what
he is doing. And he says that it is not good. What is this thing that thou
doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone? All the people stand by thee
from morning unto evening. Now, of course, it was very wearing
for the people. having to line up and to wait
and wait for their cause to be heard and for Moses to decide
what should be done on any matter, and very wearing for Moses. And
Jethro, he saw this. He saw this. And so he gives
advice to Moses. Moses tells him the situation, Jethro, he says, the thing that
thou doest is not good. Now Moses, he doesn't rise up
against Jethro. Jethro, very clear in what the
things that he says to him. He says, hearken now unto my
voice. I will give thee counsel and
God shall be with thee. For thou be thou for the people
to God would that thou mayest bring the causes unto God. Thou shalt teach them ordinances
and laws, and shalt teach them the way wherein they must walk,
and the work that they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide
out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth,
hating covetousness, and place such over them, to be rulers
of thousands and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers
of tens. Let them judge the people at
all seasons. It shall be that every great
matter, or as in our text, the cause that is too hard for them,
they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall
judge. So it shall be easier for thyself,
and they shall bear the burden with thee. Now he says, if thou
shalt do this thing, and God command thee so. And it's so interesting here,
we might say Moses has been raised up by God for this position. Surely Moses should have wisdom
to decide to do this thing himself? But he didn't. And Jethro, he
sees it, and he gives advice. But he doesn't say, you just
take my advice and it's going to be separate from the Lord,
and the Lord has nothing to do with that. He says, if thou do
this thing, and God command thee so. God is using Jethro. He's using him to advise Moses
and Moses takes that advice. And later on in the portion that
we read, it's obvious he also brought it before the children
of Israel, because they agreed with it. They wanted to do it.
So the whole arrangement, it was approved by Israel. They wanted to see that take
place as well. So then thou shalt be able to
endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice
of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. And so we read that arrangement,
how he chose out those able men, made them rulers. The hard causes
they brought unto Moses, Every small matter they judged themselves. Moses let his father-in-law depart,
he went his way into his own land. So that was when it was
instituted, that was the arrangement which was then followed right
through for those 40 years, and no doubt right through Israel
as well. And in one sense, We have it
in our land. We have the arrangement where
we have a family and the parents are dealing with the matters
of that family. And then there might be other
matters that we go then to council officers or then to the police,
or we might go to a judge of the land There's lots and lots
of different stages. And when we think of with the
schools, you've got those that head over the schools or those
that head over a firm or over an area of land, a county or
a state, as in Australia. And there is a delegation of
ruling and of ordering. It's not all just one man. trying
to do the whole lot. So the principle of this, if
someone has something to go before the law in our land, they might
go to a magistrate's court first. And then it'll go from that to
a crown court. And then if it's not done there,
then it'll go to the Supreme Court. And when we're in the
European Union, if it wasn't settled there, then it'd go to
the European Court. And there's those, Those stages
where simple matters are dealt on a local level, on those that
are not so qualified in law, and then as it gets harder and
harder, then it goes up the scale, as it were. So we know something
of this, even in a natural sense, in our land. But it's very interesting
to see how. It came about with Israel, how
God used Moses' father-in-law, how that advice was joined with
what the Lord commanded Moses, how the people were agreeable
to him, and how beneficial it was to be then for the people. But it is the way that we may
apply this in a spiritual way and apply this in the things
that come before us in our lives. And I want to look at them this
morning. So, applied to our day, we said
at the outset that in everything, by prayer and supplication, to
make our requests known unto God. And of course, in the bringing
to Moses here, the one like unto Moses unto the Lord, we are bringing
our hard cases to the Lord. And the way that we bring them
to him is in prayer. That is how it is to be done
today. And we think of the Psalms. cast thy burden upon the Lord,
and he shall sustain thee. And that is Psalm 55. We think of the exhortations
to continue in prayer, watch in the same, and our Lord Jesus
Christ giving the example of constantly in prayer with his
Father and the people of God. bring their causes, their cases
to the Lord in prayer, that men ought always to pray and not
to faint. So what's the difference? And
I believe it is important to notice these, the differences
that is put here, the cause that is too hard for you, Bring it
unto me, and I will hear it. Though the Lord hears prayer
in the most simplest things, and we should bring all things
before him, yet there are those cases that we know, and Moses
here, it was acknowledged, there would be cases too hard for these
judges, though they were appointed. over their hundreds and over
their thousands. God knew there would be cases
too hard for them, and He knows with us there will be causes
that are too hard for us. We cannot manage them, we cannot
deal with them. But He has given that which is
appointed to the Church of God. He has given pastors after his
own heart. He has given those that shall
be under shepherds. One of the principal things that
they will do is to bring the people to the Word of God, to
actually advise them through the Scriptures and through the
Word of God. He'll be also joined with prayer. And the Lord appoints those that
we are to go to, you might say, with Moses himself and his father-in-law,
those of our relatives, those of our loved ones, certainly
parents or fathers and mothers. We think of how Ruth was advised
by Naomi to go and present her case to Boaz. and various other
things that she said to her. Sit still my daughter, the man
will not be in rest till he have finished the thing this day. Many things, many words of advice
were given. And it's good for us to notice
the same as God instituted these judges and in our land the various
stages that we may go to for advice, to notice what those
are, how they relate to us, and how they relate to us in a spiritual
way as well. Do not to think, well, we don't
need to seek anyone else. We've got enough wisdom and help
in ourselves. Moses didn't take that view at
all. And so we are to use the means
that God has given us. We have in these Gospel days
His Word, and it is through His Word that He speaks to us. Again,
there will be those things that we are able to discern what is
the will of God, what we should do directly from the Word of
God, comparing Scripture to Scripture, patterning our lives, upon that
word. Sometimes it may be that we cannot
rightly discern from Scripture, and the Scriptures cannot deal
with every case. If someone was to say, well,
is it right for me to go in an aeroplane and to fly over to
Australia, should I do that? Or should I, as the Scriptures
only speak of sailing ships, stick with them? No, we could. think of that that it's not going
to apply to directly and to name things that we have today. But the principles will be there. And it is by that we are to be
guided and directed by the word of God and in making these things
a matter of prayer. And maybe Through that way, directly
ourselves, or through taking advice of pastors or parents
or those in the Church of God, we may discern what way we are
to go. It struck me, I was looking at
the case of the apostles, when the Gentiles had believed the
Lord, you read it in Acts 15, and they came to discuss and
decide on the matter should the Gentiles be compelled to be circumcised,
those that were believed, should they fulfill the law of Moses
just like the Jews. And I expected as I read that
account that there'd be much prayer put up, but you don't
read it in that chapter. I've no doubt that they did,
but what seemed to be so emphasized that they were all gathered together
for that matter, the apostles, and they paid great heed to Peter,
how Peter had been used as a, when he preached the Pentecost,
when the Holy Spirit was given, and Peter had been used when
the Holy Spirit, ten years later, was given in Cornelius' household,
and that God made no difference between Jew and Gentile, and
their discernment and how they dealt with the matter, going
back through the Scriptures and feeling that That burden was
not to be laid upon them and they made that decree as gathered
together and to decide what to do. So it was a good pattern
for us, though we would make prayer in such a gathering, yet
the idea, the example is God does give grace, he does give
wisdom, he does give understanding to men like he did to Jethro
there. And the others are to listen.
And yet, it's not to be such an easy thing. You know, in the
actual accounts, it's put in such a way that there was There
was much disputing, so it was not a straightforward, easy matter
at all. And considering it, so they can't
see exactly where it says, but there was a lot of disputing
and many things that were said. And it wasn't just a, or in verse
two, where when, therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension,
disputation with them. They determined that Paul and
Barnabas and certain other of them should go to Jerusalem and
to the apostles and elders about this question. And so they go
and they speak Concerning this matter, when there had been much
disputing, Peter rose up and said unto their men and brethren,
and then he speaks of how God had made choice that the Gentiles
through his mouth should hear the gospel. And so there is that precedent
for gathering together In the multitude of counselors there
is safety. There is seeing the Lord speaking
to us like he spoke to Moses through the mouth of a man. God
giving that wisdom and where it is from the Lord, you see
Moses fell in with it, the people of God, the children of Israel
fell in with it. They saw that it was right. It
wasn't, as it were, imposed upon them. Where something is of the
Lord, then the Lord's people will often, they see that it
is right, they fall in with it, they go along with it. But the
point here is that cause that is too hard for you. Those things that that just cannot
be managed, cannot be done. Now, we think of in these scriptures,
where we have the case of Asa in 2 Chronicles, he had the Ethiopians
come, a great multitude come before him, and we read that
Asa, he cried unto the Lord, cried for help, and the Lord
helped him and delivered him. that well-known verse with Jehoshaphat,
when those of Moab and Ammonites and Mount Seir come up against
them. He said, we have no might, we
have no power against this multitude, neither know we what to do, but
our eyes are upon thee. And that is in that same spirit,
the cause that is too hard. If they had a big enough army,
They wouldn't have had to come in that way. They said, we know
what to do. We set the battle in array and
we go out against them. But they're in such a situation,
they did not have power. They did not have the ability.
And so they come and they lay it before the Lord. This is too
hard for us. You think of how it was with
Elijah. The Lord had provided for him
at the brook Cherith, and then with the widow woman, there's
Zarephath, and then her son died. And she came to Elijah and said
that the Lord has slain her son, brought her sin to remembrance
in slaying her son. And Elijah, he goes up into the
loft, he cries unto the Lord, how there is brought evil upon
this woman in whom he dwells in slaying her son. And he lays
it before the Lord, and the Lord works that miracle and brings
the son to life again. And Elisha had a similar case
with the Shunammite son, who died of heat stroke. And again,
he puts them out, he shuts the door, he stretches himself upon
the child, he lays it before the Lord, Elijah didn't have
power to raise the dead, nor did Elijah. Elisha, we read,
he fell sick of the sickness, whereof he died. He couldn't
heal himself, he couldn't make himself immortal. It is the Lord
that is the sovereign that reveals to his people what he will reveal. that he gives them their abilities,
or what he will give them, but there are those things that they
have no mind, they have no power, no ability, and they must solely
depend upon the Lord to appear in a matter. And so it is in
that way, and I think of soul matters, and I hope that is the
case with us, that we are really concerned about our souls, how
we stand for eternity. Are we called? Are we really
quickened? Are we really the Lord's people? And really the only one that
can really settle this is the Lord, is the Lord blessing the
ministry, blessing our souls, assuring our souls of our interest
in Him, the Spirit giving witness, bearing witness with our spirit
that we are born of God, giving us the spirit of adoption, making
us truly to know that we hear the voice of the Lord, that we
are His people. The way the Lord dealt with Israel,
they had no doubt the Lord was their God, and that included He's chastening with them. He's
dealing with them for their sins. And in Hebrews, we have that
great mark that every single one of God's children, he receives
that he chastens, he corrects them as a father, his children. And so those, our soul matters,
those things that are the greatest import. We all must return to
dust. We all must return to the earth. how many funerals we may have
attended this last year and some of us attending one tomorrow. And to think there's the bodies
of those that we've known, we've walked with, we've heard them,
we've spoken with them, and those bodies are laid in the cold tomb. They return to dust. They're
not there. I always remember years ago visiting
The Grave of Dear Sister in Faith by Alice Robinson. And the Lord
so speaking as I drove around looking for her grave, why seek
ye the living among the dead? And the beautiful view I had
that this was just her mortal remains, but her spirit was with
the Lord. The apostle is very clear, absent
from the body, present with the Lord. But it's a great thing. The context here in Deuteronomy
1, they'd come to the end of their wilderness journey, and
they were about to enter into Canaan. It's a type of heaven,
Jordan, a river, death like a river, a narrow stream, that divides
that heavenly land from ours. how close we are each to Him
or how far away, we do not know that the matters of eternity
are too great to not take tremendously seriously and to lay it before
the Lord, bring it before the Lord, a matter too hard for ourselves,
we want that witness from heaven, we want that assurance that we
are the Lord's, and that it is well with us. We think of the
salvation of others. We know that no man can keep
alive his own soul, and those that are born, they are not born
of the flesh, nor of the will of the flesh. It's not possible
for a father to give eternal life to his children. Many years
ago in Tasmania, before I was called by grace, I answered the
door to a man that we called the Pea Man, because my father
did contract work for a pea company. And my father took a little while
to be able to come to the door, so he spoke to me. And this man
was a professed Christian. And he knew my father was. So
he asked me, was I saved? Well, at that point, I wasn't.
No, I wasn't. Is your mother saved? Are your
brothers saved? No. And when my father came to
the door, this man launched at him. He said, you, he said, you
call yourself a Christian, and you've not made sure that your
children and your wife, that they are saved? And the way that
he spoke to him, it was all in my father's power. And he should
have made sure that we were all safe. The scriptures are very
clear. My father did not have power.
He could pray for us, he could lay our cases, and he did before
the Lord, and instruct us, and teach us, and bring us up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But to give eternal
life, to give saving faith, it was caused too hard for him.
And all of us that are parents or grandparents, We look upon
our children and grandchildren, and that is a case that's too
hard for us. We don't neglect the means. We don't neglect to teach and
instruct. We do it to all our ability.
But we realize that this must be the work of God. This is the
work of God that ye believe on him whom God has sent. And that cause then that is too
hard for us, and as we begin this year, Only think of that. Think of our loved ones. Think
of those courses too hard for us. They're not too hard for
the Lord. That is what is implied here,
isn't it? It wouldn't be too hard for Moses. Moses had direct access to God. That which we bring to the Lord
Jesus Christ. You think of how many times through
the scripture you see Abraham speaking, God speaking to him
about Isaac being born. Sarah laughs in the tent. The
Lord says that the thing that is impossible with man is not
impossible with God. And the same was said to Mary,
to Elizabeth as well. Nothing with God, nothing shall
be impossible. And so it is a great encouragement
that which is too hard for us and we feel and know it, bring
it to the Lord, especially with salvation of others and our own
soul. What about relationship with
others as well? How much of the Word of God speaks
of that, the relation of one church member with another, bearing
one another in love or bearing one another in love? all the
time in the account that we've got here. Moses, his father-in-law,
his wife, his children, the children of Israel, with the apostles,
the other apostles as they're gathering together, all the time
there is interaction, one with another. And how vital it is
that that is brought before the Lord. We should make every effort
that we can make and right way, that we live in harmony and love
one to another. But the Lord alone has the control
of men's hearts. And when you think of Jacob coming
back to Isaac, and there is Esau coming with 400 men, and if ever
there was a case, you might say, that is too hard for Jacob. Jacob,
how are you gonna pacify Esau? Well, how he did it, he took,
as much natural way as possible, he sent presence before him,
he tried to pacify him in that way, but he didn't rest solely
in that. He wrestled with the Lord, I
will not let thee go except thou bless me. And when he saw Esau,
and he saw him, and there was love one to another, he said
that he saw his face, as the face of an angel. He saw the
answer to his prayer. God has the hearts of all men
in his hand. And in those cases, we might
have an adversary, might have one that we have hard to get
on with or struggle with. It is the Lord that can break
down those barriers and bring together and embrace Those causes,
they're too hard for us, but not too hard for the Lord. What about in Providence? Knowing
the things of our life, how many things come before us. We can't
force an employer to take us on. We can't force that we be
able to do this or that. We're told very clearly when
we're deciding to go into this city or that, If the Lord will,
we will do this or that. The blessing of children, of
giving conception. All of that is beyond, right
through scripture, we read again and again, the Lord gave her
conception. That is the Lord is beyond us. We might take steps and write
to, but in the end, it is the Lord that gives that life. And whether it be buying a home,
whether it be moving from one place to another, all the things
that in providence is many things that are out of our hand. We
cannot touch them. It needs the Lord to touch someone
else's heart, to move something. When we think of the book of
Esther and we read again and again of the providences of God,
what God is doing, when we think of Ruth that we mentioned, Her
hat was to light on the field, belonging unto Boaz, God directing
her, unknown to her. And Naomi's able to then say
he is a near kinsman unto us. He's not a man to direct his
steps. Through the wilderness journey,
it was through the fiery, cloudy pillar that they knew which way
they should go. They could not bring themselves
out of Egypt. They could not release themselves
from Pharaoh's bondage. They could not bring themselves
through the Red Sea. They could not give themselves
food in the wilderness. God gave them manna. They could
not give themselves water. God gave them water out of the
rock. Those things that the children
of Israel had, impossible, impossible again and again. And the Lord provided. The Lord
went before them. The Lord chose the way, and there's
a reason why they went through the wilderness and not through
the land of the Philistines, though it was near. There's great
encouragement as we enter upon another year, and no doubt we'll
come on many situations. We'll be tempted, like the children
of Israel, throw up our hands. We can't do it. We can't go that
way. We can't endure. The Lord speak
thinking hard things against us. He hates us. Verse 27 in
Deuteronomy 1. He murmured in your tents and
said, because the Lord hated us, he has brought us forth out
of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites
to destroy us. That's what they're saying, the
Lord. tempted to do the same, say the same. May we think of
the children of Israel here and think of this provision. We will have causes too hard
for us. We can't manage it. We can't
touch it. We don't know what to do, like
Jehoshaphat. But may our eyes be up unto the
Lord. May we be much in prayer. May
we be much laying it before the Lord, casting our burden upon
the Lord. May we remember this verse and
this account and all around it. The Lord's arrangement with how
we should go through life. We always have this. We have
an advocate with the Father. We have the Lord that appears
in the presence of God for us. We have one to go to. One who
bore our sin on Calvary's tree. One who shed his precious blood
there. one who redeemed us with that
blood, who set us free from this world and the ways of it, and
from those things that are of the prince of this world, and
has given us to know him, whom to know is life eternal. And
he has given himself as the head of the church, assured us in
his death, his sufferings, his rising, of His love toward us,
God commendeth His love toward us, that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. He has given us every evidence,
every token, that He careth for us. He careth for you. May we then be held to, not unbelieving,
but in believing way, to bring these hard causes to the Lord
and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me and
I will hear it. Bring it unto me, your Redeemer,
your Saviour, your hope for eternity, your God, the one who has begun
with you, the one who will carry on and support and help you all
the way through life's journey. The cause that is too hard for
you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it, and implied there, not
only hear it, but manage it, deal with it, help in that matter. May the Lord bless this word. Amen. Hymn, 633. Tune, Salvator 431. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.