Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Chronicles, the first book
of Chronicles, and reading through our text in chapter 4. 1 Chronicles
chapter 4 and verse 10. 1 Chronicles chapter 4 and verse
10. And Jabez called on the God of
Israel, saying, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge
my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou
wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God
granted him that which he requested. 1 Chronicles chapter 4 and verse
10 Jabez suddenly comes on the scene
here. In Chronicles we have the listing
of the names. Names of the children of Israel,
in this chapter the sons of Judah. But suddenly we have Jabez introduced
in this way. Jabez, in verse 9, was more honorable
than his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying,
Because I bear him with sorrow. But we don't read. of his mother's
name. We don't read of his father.
We don't read anything about him but these two verses. In a way, it's very similar to
what is set before us of Melchisedec. Melchisedec, there is nothing
said about his mother, his father. He was without descent. He was a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so, in one sense, Jabez is
a type like that too. We think of what he said regarding
his prayers. We think of our Lord's prayers.
He was heard in that he feared. Here, in Jabez's prayer, we have
it declared and God granted him that which he requested. It's good where even just a little
glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in those that have gone
before. If our Lord could point to Jonah
and say that he was a sign, If then Stephen could speak of Moses,
and Moses say that a prophet shall the Lord thy God raise
up unto you, like unto your brethren, and like unto me, unto your brethren,
him shall ye hear, then May we look for those types, like in
Joseph, next unto Pharaoh, like in Mordecai speaking peace to
all his seed. We get these little types, these
illustrations of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. But Jabez here, it is his prayer
that he is well known for. and is that which set before
us here this afternoon, a prayer that we know was answered. You know, the man that had been
born blind, the Lord healed. He said that a man, if he was
not of God, that God would not hear him. But where we have answers
to prayer, were we able to say with dear Hannah, for this child
I prayed, were we able to come and say in this way the prayer
that our Lord Jesus Christ so set before his followers that
men ought always to pray and not to faint, that we have walked
in this path of prayer, The blessings that we have have been given
us through prayer. We have walked through the channel
that God has appointed for His dear people. He has known the
path of prayer. We have known it. We've known
some fellowship with Him in that way. and be able to point to
those things that the Lord has been pleased to be entreated
of and that we've received. Well, I do like the pattern of
prayer in the Scriptures. Many patterns there are, many
examples of how we are to pray, what we are to pray for, what
we are not to pray for. When we ask a miss to consume
it, upon our own lusts, those things that we are to inquire
of the Lord for, that beautiful chapter in Ezekiel 36, I will
for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for
them. And so all of the passages that
speak of prayer, we should use them as patterns and instructors,
that's what they're there for, to teach us how to pray and teach
us what is acceptable and what is right in the eyes of the Lord,
what He will answer. Because if Jabez is to be blessed
with answers in these specific things, surely there are things
also that we need and there are things that we can be blessed
with answers to as well. Otherwise, it would be just put
in the Scriptures just as a mocking the people of God, as if here
is one that has been blessed, but don't you ask for the same
things. You won't be blessed in this
way. This is a special way. You won't have the same path.
No, it must be implied, because that which was written aforetime,
this is some of them, was written for our learning. that we, through
patience, comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope, and it is a
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. If Jabez had prayers answered,
if he walked by faith, he walked by faith in the coming of the
Son of God, in the seed of the woman, And he walked as those
that, like Abraham, saw Christ die and rejoiced at it, that
long cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11. And so I want, when coming
to this verse, be fully persuaded in our minds that should we seek
from the heart those things that are asked here, that they are
well-pleasing in the sight of the Lord, and that the Lord is
pleased to grant to His children those same answers. So instead
of it being God granted to Jabez, it's God granted unto us that
which we ask of Him. I want to notice two things, two
main points this afternoon. Firstly, who he called upon. We read in Jabez, called on the
God of Israel, saying, I want to look first on who he called
on. And then secondly, what he prayed
for. And his prayer is all supplication,
not all prayer. his supplication of course sometimes
prayer is like isaac's servant abraham's servant who came to
the well and he told the lord where he was and then made his
supplication or like jacob that told the lord of esau coming
and how frightened he was of him and then made his supplication. Other times prayer is like when
Hannah came for this child I prayed, and then her prayer was Holy
Thanksgiving. Samuel was not mentioned, and
she just praises the Lord for the blessings that He had given
her. And so, not all prayer is supplication,
just supplication. Here it is. There are those things,
four things, in fact, that He asks the Lord for. And so, I desire to look at that
in the second place. but firstly who he called on
now this is the reason why we read the portion in Acts. We are told here, he called on
the God of Israel and in the account of the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul, we read of the sign given that
really calmed and assured Ananias He said, Behold, he prieth, in
verse 11. He'd heard much of this man,
and he was a Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus was. But when he objects,
then he says, Go. He says, For behold, he prieth,
and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in. Well,
then Ananias does object, but it is the prayer that our Lord
puts as a prominent thing that marks him out. And when we think
of our Lord speaking of the Pharisees' prayer and the publicans' prayer
in the temple, in effect, our Lord was saying to Ananias, here
is one change from a Pharisee to a publican, from the Pharisee's
prayer to the publican's prayer, and even though that didn't immediately
take away the objections that Ananias had, yet the Lord adds
to that and tells him that he is a chosen vessel unto me. Go thy way." What a difference. Those are beautiful words, aren't
they? Where Ananias comes in and he says, Brother Saul, not
even yet spoken to me, heard anything from him, but so laid
in his heart that he was a brother. Those are real sweet times, it
comes to mind and one Saturday years ago going from here in
Cranbrook to 25 miles to William Harvey Hospital to see Ron Jealous
and he was in there, he'd had the hip operation and then that
had gone wrong and he'd had a stroke, but I think at that point he'd
just had the hip operation and it was on a Saturday and I felt
really pulled back for all the things I had to do at home but
I wanted to go and see him but it was half reluctant, half difficult
to let go all that I needed to do on that Saturday And I'll
never forget the part in the road where the Lord just dropped
in, even so ought we to lay down our lives for the brethren. And you know, the whole journey
just changed from that point. Now as if the Lord said to me,
you've been thinking about your life, the things that you've
got to do today, lay them down. But this one you're going through,
and he hadn't made a profession, he never did, sadly, before he
passed away. But it was as if the Lord said
to him, said to me, he is one of my brethren. And you know
I've no doubt about that. And dear Ananias here, he had
no doubt. that Saul of Tarsus was one of
the Lord's chosen ones. The Lord knows how to lay his
children in the hearts of others of his children. For this child
I prayed, and it is a great blessing where that is felt, the burden
to pray for another and to have them laid upon one's heart to
pray for. Well, Saul then was praying,
but why was he on that Damascus road? You know, in the objection
that Ananias had, he said, here he hath authority from the chief
priests not to bind all believers, not to bind all Christians, to
bind all that call on thy name. That's how the disciples were
called and that's why they were being persecuted. You think of
how it was in Daniel's time when the deceitful rulers thought
they would trap Daniel. And they got Darius to make the
law that no man for a period of 30 days should call upon any
but the king. He'd be thrown into a lion's
den. You know, then again, the test
was prayer. Who was being called upon? What
name was being asked? In whose name were these petitions? And this was the case with the
persecution of Saul of Tarsus. He persecuted those that called
on his name. I worked with a man years ago,
and he was a deacon in Armenian church. He was an engineer, as
I was, and I was subcontracted to work in the firm that he was
in. And I liked him. We got on very well together.
And one day he said to me, he said, I'm a Freemason. I said,
how can you be a Freemason and a Christian? And he said, well, I had to believe
in God. He said that they insisted that
I believed in God. And I said, yes, they do. But I said, if you define that
God, If you say that God is Jesus Christ and that the only way
of salvation, the only way of coming to God is through Jesus
Christ, I said, they won't want to hear it, they won't want to
know about you. And he said, well, he said, that
explains it. He said, I tried to tell them
about my faith and they didn't want to hear it. They only wanted
to know whether I believed in God, in a God. It is the name,
it is the Lord Jesus Christ, where there is the controversy. We had it once at the gate of
our chapel, a lady came past, she started to talk to me and
yes, she was religious alright. But then when I insisted upon
Christ being the only way, she became very indignant. She said,
well, what about other faiths? What about other religions? Are
you going to say that they're going to be, they're perished,
that they won't be saved? I said, yes, I am saying that.
The Bible tells me that. There is only one way of salvation.
There is only one name. Well, she couldn't receive it. She rose up against me for that.
And it is in this point, this is where the apostle saw that
he was. He was marked out first by his
persecution of them and then by his calling on that name as
well. He was calling on that name and
notice how much that name is set forth here. In verse 15 of
9th Acts, the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, he's a chosen
vessel unto me. What to do? To bear my name before
the Gentiles. Again, it is my name. You know, there's some I've heard
even recently saying, oh, you don't need to make too much of
the name of Jesus. And they're supposed to be Christians.
And yet the Scriptures are so clear. He's given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow. And this person was somehow arguing
that by using the name of Jesus was not taking the name of God
in vain. Because, well, it was the same
as Joshua, and it was a common name in those days. It was nothing
special. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And so with
Paul here, verse 16, the Lord said, I will show him how great
things he must suffer. What for? for my name's sake that's what
for and then when we read of him preaching we read him in
verse 27 that how that he had preached boldly at Damascus in
the name of Jesus when those were when he preached in the
synagogue We read in verse 21, But all that heard him were amazed
and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on
this name in Jerusalem? All the time they're recognizing
that the persecution was against the name of Jesus, against Jesus
of Nazareth, against those that called on that name. Now in our
text we have Jabez and specifically called on the God of Israel,
the Lord God of Israel, Jehovah, I am that I am. We think of John
10 and our Lord speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd and again
and again he says I am the Good Shepherd. You've seen my father,
you've seen me also. I and my father are one. This
is he of which Paul said dwelt with them in the wilderness.
They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and
that rock was Christ. He was with the church in the
wilderness, and the God of Israel is our Lord Jesus Christ. When
he appears to Joshua with the sword drawn, going into the promised
land, art thou for us or for them? He is the captain of the
Lord's host. He is the one that appeared to
Jacob. Thou hast wrestled with God and
with man, and hast prevailed. He is the one that appeared to
Gideon. He is the one that appeared to
Manoah and his wife. Wherefore askest thou after my
name, seeing it is secret. So when Jabez called on the God
of Israel, his calling upon the triune God, his calling upon
the God of salvation. This God is our God, and He will
be our guide even unto death. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
puts forth His sheep, He goeth before them and He says, I am
the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father
but by me." Any prayer that is granted, the Lord said, if ye
ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now text finishes, and
God granted him that which he requested. Dear friends, may
we make it very clear, especially in a gospel day, when the truths
are so clear before us, that we ask all in the name of Jesus,
that we actually use His name, and we plead His name, and that
we never pray without Him. There's many prayers now, solemnly,
even in churches, that offer a short prayer before a sermon,
or prayers through the sermon, and quite often it's left out. a pleading Christ's name. And
in one of the churches where I had connections to, I won't
be too specific, used to grieve us that there was one of the
friends that never, and we used to speak to him so often, never
used to plead the name of the Lord. Most solemn omission, most
solemn omission. No, even if we were in our Parliament. It is the Parliament procedure,
isn't it? That if you're speaking across
the chamber, that you speak through the chair, and every now and
again it's acknowledged that I'm only speaking because the
chair allows me to do so. And when we are coming and asking
petitions, that we are reminding not only ourselves, but putting
before our God, before our Heavenly Father, we are coming in Thy
beloved Son. We're asking in His name. We're making our supplications
in His name. It is an important point. And
when we feel ourselves so guilty, so sinful, so defiled, then we
won't want to even wait until the end of our prayers. We will
be pleading His name and presenting our petitions that they might
be acceptable to God, that He, instead of us, is seen. He appears
in the presence of God for us. I will pray the Father He is
our Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. So Jabez called on the God of
Israel. We call upon the God of Israel. We call upon the Eternal God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way to God. Jesus is the way to bless. We come through His dear name. He is the consecrated way into
the holiest of all. Those that entered in the type
of the tabernacle, they came through the veil into the holiest
of all. Each part really of the tabernacle
was through a veil and it sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ. So who He called on and who you
call on is an important thing. Secondly, what he prayed for. What was his supplication? There are four things that he
asked for. The first is an indeed blessing. O that thou wouldest bless me
indeed. Bless me indeed. What is an indeed
blessing? You know, He doesn't just say,
O that thou has blessed me. He adds this word indeed on the
end of it, and that changes it. You know, there are many blessings
of the Lord that He gives His dear children. We should never
despise any of them. The smallest blessings We receive
at His hand our food, our raiment, His goods are all, His tender
mercies are over all His works. We should never despise the blessings
of the Lord. But more than that, we shouldn't
despise the spiritual blessings of the Lord. We read the children
of Israel, they despised the manna, they said it's just manna.
But you know, they fed from that all their 40 years. If they didn't
have that, they wouldn't have lived. You and I have our daily
food. Could we think back two weeks? Maybe even not, even yesterday,
if we were asked, what did you have for dinner? What did you
have for lunch? You might not remember. It's a constant food. We give thanks for it. But if
you'd had a gathering, a banquet, a great feast, and then someone
asked you about that, you'd remember that maybe years, years to come. Some of us may think of gatherings
that we've had, maybe weddings, that we've had a gathering and
a wonderful meal. And we remember those times.
But we don't live day by day having a wedding breakfast, or
a birthday party, or something that is so memorable as that. And I believe this is what is
being set before us here. What are those indeed blessings? If we go back to Saul of Tarsus,
you say, Paul, what are your indeed blessings he would say
well on the damascus road that's one my life was changed on that
damascus road i saw the lord i heard him from heaven you say
is that all paul well no there's another one i had a thorn in
the flesh a messenger of Satan, and I besought the Lord three
times that the Lord would take that away from me. But he said,
My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in
weakness. And from that time I have therefore
gloried in my infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest
on me. I also remember that time, he
would say, that the Lord assured me of His grace. And so from
now on, I say I am what I am by the grace of God. And I date
it back to that time I besought Him for help in this deep trial
that I have had. Now some of us maybe add a point
to those indeed blessings, those blessings when the Lord called
us by grace. When the Lord revealed His beloved
Son to us for the first time, we saw Him by faith. When we
had a deliverance from a particular trial, and we think of other
people's lives, we think of the children of Israel, we mentioned
them about the manna. But when we think of them coming
out of Egypt, what a great thing that was, what a blessing. to
be brought out with a strong hand out of Egypt. What about
when they went through the Red Sea? What a great blessing, striking
blessing. They wouldn't forget it. Rahab
spoke about it 40 years later, and she'd seen and heard of it
in Jericho. Then you have the smitten rock,
you have those times through the wilderness, but they're not
many as it were. fit them on one or two hands
as well. For 40 years they ate the manna. That was a miracle, but it soon
wore out because it happened so constantly and they had it
so much that then they ended up despising it. And so when
this asks for an indeed blessing, it's not to despise or pass by
other blessings, but it's to have those blessings that are
sealing blessings, those blessings that are calling blessings, the
blessings that only can be given to God's dear children, that
mark them out as change from darkness to light, brought from
bondage to liberty, brought from the powers of darkness into the
kingdom of God's beloved Son. Now, dear Jacob, you can think
of his Bethel. You could think of the time when
he was going back to his father. both when spoken to in Mahanaim
and then when at Penuel he wrestled with the angel. Then we don't
read of many other times except when he's going into Egypt again. And he'd had so many sorrows.
All these things are against me. He can hardly believe his
sons. When he sees the wagons, he said,
Joseph, my son is yet alive. I'll go and see him before I
die. And he ventures. And he goes. And the first night, then the
Lord appears for him and says, Jacob, fear not to go down into
Egypt. And he tells him that his son
is alive. He shall see him. That was indeed
a blessing, the same as Bethel was, the same as Peñuel was,
but in Jacob's long life, 137 years, there's not many of them,
but they were vital times, they were vital blessings, they were
blessings that marked out his interest in Christ, interest
in the covenant, they were needful. Now you and I, we need those
blessings in our lives. We need to know that our Redeemer
lives. We need those blessings that
make us to be followers of the Lord. Now when Paul writes to
the Thessalonians, he speaks of how the Word of God came to
them in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." And he
said, you became followers of the Lord and of us. How vital
that they be a follower. The blessings of the Lord make
us to be disciples. The Lord said to those that believed
on Him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed. Yes. And so what Jabez is asking
for, and indeed blessing, I hope is a blessing that you and I
seek of the Lord for. There are special times that
we seek such a blessing. When we are seeking, when we
have not been sealed as His, when Christ has not been revealed,
when we want to know our sins pardoned, our sins forgiven,
when we want to know that we are His children, we want an
indeed blessing. Dear friends, have we just been
drifting on years and years and we've never pressed the Lord
for an indeed blessing? We've never even felt the need
of it? Think that we can get to heaven
without it, without being converted, without
being called, without a singular blessing of adoption of a revealed
Christ, then were the disciples glad when? When they saw the
Lord. That's an indeed blessing, isn't
it? Open thou mine eyes, that I might
see wondrous things out of thy law, says the psalmist. To be
blessed indeed with such constraining love that we, like the eunuch,
walk in the Lord's ways. May we be like Jabez then, more
honourable than his brethren. He called upon the God of Israel,
saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed. May I remind
you that this prayer was granted. The Lord did bless him indeed. Those times of trial, when it
is, we pray with the hymn writer, I cannot let thee go, except
a blessing thou bestow. The second petition is that the
God of Israel would enlarge his coast. Now if we think of this in the
context of the children of Israel going into the Promised Land,
they were given an allotment of land. They weren't permitted
to have more land than what they actually needed by the numbers
in their tribes, lest the beasts of the field should increase
on them. But as their tribes grew and
multiplied and they needed more land, then they were to fight
for the land, dispossess the Canaanites and take their land.
Of course, we're seeing it right through England at the moment,
and you go past a field, there's been a field for years, and there's
got a sign up, planning permission, 45 houses are going to be built
on this field. Why? Because the population is
increasing and we need somewhere to house them, so we take the
land that was for the cows and we make it for the people. The
children of Israel were like this. As the Lord increased their
tribes, increased their numbers, then their coast was enlarged. And so this is what he is asking. He is saying, enlarge my coast. In other words, enlarge his border,
his region, his country, make it bigger. Why doesn't he make
it bigger? Because of the blessings that he's had. And so really
it signifies that fruitfulness and spiritual fruitfulness, we
think of another sense of it, is enlarging our coast as those
things that we understand. If you were to go to a child
in reception class or grade one, and you'd say, now you tell me
What do you know about maths? How far can you count? And they
might say, well, we can count up to 9 or 10. And can you multiply? No, I can't multiply. Can you
add? Yeah, 1 plus 1 is 2. And they'd
be able to have a little compass of what they're able to do in
maths. Very, very small. But you know
it doesn't remain like that. In grade 2, grade 3, you ask
them and it's slowly getting more and more and they understand
more until they get to secondary school and get to university
and they're doing calculus and trigonometry and they're doing
all of these things. And in that subject their coast
is so much more enlarged. You know we have very much differences
amongst us in the ministry. Some are able to see and are
used much more. The Lord opens the understanding
of the Scriptures much more than others. Some have a simple ministry,
not going very deep, but used in what the Lord would have them
to be used for. And so there is an extent there
into where the Toast is in lust, how much actually we know of
the blessings of God, we exhorted to growing grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord. And as we grow, in effect, it's
the coast being enlarged. Well, it's again, a scripture
is a good, is a right thing to be asking for. We're not always
to be, as children, desiring just milk. We're to graduate
to strong meat that becometh unto those that are full grown. And we had to ask that the Lord
would add to our knowledge and understanding that we might grow
in the things of God, not just stagnate, not just be satisfied. It's like you get a new calculator,
and I've got a calculator that I've had since I was in engineering
in 1982. I think I still use that same same calculator and there's many
many functions on it I don't know how to use them I don't
even look into how to use them because I just do what I need
to do on it. I don't look into it further.
And many of us, when we get a calculator or a computer or something like
that, we generally just learn enough to just do what we want
to do. And there may be many functions
that would be very beneficial to us, but we don't bother reading
up or studying it because we can't see the benefit of it.
But really, in the things of God, We should be asking of the
Lord, Lord enlarge my coast, show me some more. of the mysteries
of godliness, of the blessings and the Word of God, the deep
that coucheth beneath, the hidden things, the blessings that others
have spoken of and known of, do grant that I might taste of
those and enlarge my coast, instead of every time I speak of thy
blessing in my soul, I always go back to the same point and
the same blessing and the same experience. especially in the
ministry. I know, no doubt, many of us
in the ministry, you that hear us often, you say, oh no, he's
starting to tell the same anecdote, the same blessing, the same appearance
of the Lord for him. We've heard this so many times
before. The Lord would give him another
blessing or enlarge his coast so he can speak of something
fresher. I know many of us, we fall down in this. We need to
have our coast enlarged in that way. And so this is a petition
not just for ministers, but for each of the people of God. O
that thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my coast. The third petition and supplication
is that God's hand might be with him, and that thine hand might
be with me. We read of dear Joseph in all
the places that he went, that the Lord was with him. This doesn't
mean then that we're praying that because the Lord's hand
is with us, that we won't have troubles, we won't have trials,
we won't have afflictions. But with the Lord's hand with
us, with his strength, with his blessing, with his help, what
a difference that that makes. When, as it were, He puts His
hand on our hands, that we go in His strength and with His
might, and that we are not going against each other, but with
Him. You know, the Apostle Paul, as
we referred to, he was to be a bearer of the Lord's name. The Lord was with him. We read
with the disciples, they went everywhere. The Lord working
with them, confirming the word with signs following. The hand
of the Lord was with them. The hand of the Lord was there
to bless and to favour them. And that's what Jabez desired,
and that's what we should desire, that the hand, the arm of the
Lord, the working of the Lord be with us, that He may prosper
our way and that we might have that help from His hand. The Lord Jesus Christ is really
set forth as the right hand of God. It was by Him the children
of Israel were brought out of Egypt. It was by Him the people
of God get to heaven. The children of Israel were brought
out of Egypt with a high hand, a mighty hand, a strong hand.
And this is the thing that Jabez is asking of the Lord for. The last petition is that he
be kept from evil and that thou wouldest keep me from evil he
gives a reason that it may not grieve me he doesn't say that
it may not grieve thee but grieve me we if we are made tender in
the fear of god don't need to ask is what I am going to do
grieving in the sight of the Lord we may say is it grieving
in my sight because if we have one mind with the Lord then we
will think the same and feel the same and what grieves Him
will grieve us and so what the Jabez is asking really is Make
me of one mind with Thee. Make me to hate the sins that
made Thee mourn, that drove Thee from my breast. Make me to mourn
over those sins that grieve Thee at Calvary, that those that Thou
didst bear at Calvary, and the sufferings that Thou didst bear,
that we might hate those very sins. And so He's praying that
Thou keep me from evil. In the first epistle of John,
John says that he writes that ye might not sin. These things
I write unto you that ye sin not. And we should always remember
that. We have the wonderful blessed
truths of the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins, the mercy
of God, But we never should sin that grace might abound. And
we have such, and you have, and I have, such a wicked and evil
heart. It takes liberties. It does. It will try to run as close to
evil as it can. It will try to deceive our own
selves. Our hearts are deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. We need to be constantly reminded
that the godly, that dear Jabez, his prayers, Keep me from evil. Don't let it grieve me. Don't
let me walk in a path whereby I will be grieved by my sin. You know, you think of, we don't
know how long David walked when he sinned in the matter of Bathsheba,
and with murder and adultery, but when he was convicted of
it, then he was grieved with it, and you've only got to read
Psalm 51 to see that, against thee. The only have I sinned
and done this evil in thy sight. And the sorrows that he bore
when he realized his sin. We think of Peter as well, denying
the Lord and then went out and wept bitterly. And so to be kept
from the evil, we do not want to walk as close to ways of sin
as we can get away with. We want to have that we are possessed
of a tender fear of God, a tender conscience, and that we ourselves
are grieved. You know, he doesn't pray, give
me a seared conscience. No, it is almost assumed in this
way that as one that feared God, that evil will grieve him. And so he says, keep me from
evil, that it may not grieve me. Four petitions, four supplications,
four supplications that are granted, and four things that we are appointed
to. How many of them, as we spoke
them this afternoon, can you say, Lord, I have prayed that? Or you can say, Lord, thou hast
granted me that petition. That is one of the things that
thou hast given me. May we be of those that are able
to really know what we are asking and calling upon the Lord for
and able to testify that the Lord has given us these things. May the Lord add his blessing
to this prayer of Jabez and Jabez called on the God of Israel,
saying, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast,
and that thine hand might be with me, that thou wouldst keep
me from evil, that it may not greed me. And God granted him
that which he requested. Amen.