seeking once again the Lord's
help I'd like to turn to the chapter that we read together
Genesis chapter 29 and the text you'll find in verse 20. And Jacob served seven years for
Rachel and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he
had to her. Really following on from this
morning that those who put their hand to the
plough and looking back are not fit for the Kingdom of God. And we saw as we looked at different
portions of the Word of God that the Lord Jesus says to deny yourselves,
take up your cross and to follow Him. and that if a man's life,
if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul, that the
soul is of more value than the whole world put together and
that whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it. And we
saw that Christ is the object of the believer's love and he
is willing to part from all things rather than to part from the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy
of our worship, he is worthy of us to forsake all and to follow
him for he set that great example that he himself denied himself
and made himself a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death for his people, that he took up the plough and he
ploughed that straight furrow and did not look back. He did
not think it one bit that his people were not worthy for him
to suffer for. He did not turn around and say
that he couldn't be bothered to finish. He had his mind set. His face was like a flint heading
towards Jerusalem. He knew what he was going to
do. He knew that he was going to be crucified upon the cross. He knew that he was going to
be rejected by the Father to bring about the salvation of
his people. And so he sets that perfect example for us to follow
and therefore he is the object of their desire, the one in which
they want to gaze at but how often it is we are drawn aside
as we walk by faith and not by sight we are drawn aside and
we begin to plough in a wonky line and begin to be distracted
by the temptations of this material world and we lose sight of our
heavenly kingdom, we lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ and
what What we focus upon is Christ
and that eternal kingdom. What brought me to this, I hope,
is that Jacob and his service to Laban for Rachel, and they
seemed to him but a few days for the love he had to her. and that the Christ is the perfect
master of his people. He is no hard task master. And the believers submit unto
him, although some don't like the wording, we are slaves of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bond slaves of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have been bought brought by
his own blood. He has redeemed us from being
slaves to Satan and he has brought us into his kingdom and we, as
he has brought us, we respond in love to him. As you remember
the accounts in the Old Testament of that slave that so loved his
master. when after the seven years he
was allowed to go free he chose to remain and to subject himself
to that master and the sign was that he should have his ear borne
through to the doorpost as a sign that he was free yet he willingly
served his master out of love and that is the same with every
single believer who has been brought by the blood of Christ,
they are free They've been redeemed from the curse of the law, they're
walking in grace, they belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing
holds them to him except their love. They love him because he
first loved them and this is what we see in Jacob. What caused the time to fly by? was his love for this young lady. Jacob served seven years for
Rachel, but they seemed unto him but a few days for the love
he had to her. And this is the love really that
we should have for the Lord Jesus Christ. Our service to the Lord
Jesus Christ should not seem burdensome to us, but our daily
lives as the years go by, they should fly by in our Christian
walk because of our love to the Lord Jesus Christ. They seemed
but a few days because of our love to the Lord Jesus. And so
as we look at this early part of the scripture we see the beginnings
of the Lord's dealings with the the fathers of the children of
Israel beginning as you know with Abraham but from these small
beginnings and these very peculiar workings we see the Lord dealing
with these individual men and bringing them to their wives
and then from these men bringing about a multitude of people that
would one day be taken into to Egypt, then brought out of Egypt
and then from that people would come the Lord Jesus Christ and
from him would come a multitude of the redeemed from every nation,
from every kindred and from every tongue. But what struck me was
this small beginning, this small and sinful beginning. These men are not perfect. We
look at Abraham and the mistakes that he made. He obeyed the Lord and he found
favor with the Lord because of his obedience, but he was not
perfect. He made mistakes. We can say
he did a plough in a straight line. He turned to the right
hand. He turned to the left hand. He lost faith. He was fearful
providentially. He was fearful because of people. And that caused him to deviate
from the pathway that God called him to walk. He went down to
Egypt. He lied about his wife. He took the maid. so it magnifies
the Lord's mercy that he deals with Abraham, that he deals with
Isaac and he deals with Jacob. The way that he deals with them,
it magnifies his mercy and his grace that he is able in Christ
to see them as men and yet use them as instruments in his hand
to bring about his eternal purposes and to bring about ultimately
the birth of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in Jacob,
in his deception, We can read about him before the Lord met
him at Bethel. He was not really a nice boy.
He was a deceiver. He deceived his brother, sold
his birthright to him. He brought his brother's birthright.
And then he deceives his father by covering his arms in the skin
of the goats. And so he deceives, he's a deceiver. and yet the Lord deals with him
and reveals Christ to him and reveals himself to him and brings
him in line with that covenantal promise that he gave to Abraham. In chapter 27 After he had deceived his brother
into selling him his birthright, after he had deceived his father
into blessing him, his father says in verse 35, and he said,
thy brother came with subtlety and has taken away thy blessing.
And he said, is not he rightly named Jacob? he has supplanted me these two
times or he has deceived me these two times. He took away my birthright
and behold he has now taken away my blessing and he said hath
thou not reserved a blessing for me?' So he was even hated
of his own brother because of his behaviour, because of his
deception and so he's chased away from the family. His mother
sends him away to Laban her brother but in the providence of God,
in God's mercy and God's grace he intervenes into the life of
this young man and changes him. On his journey he is met by God. And what a privilege it is in
the life of a naughty little boy or a naughty little girl
when they come to meet with their creator and he shows them himself
and he changes them. Jacob the deceiver became Israel
as a prince with God that has prevailed. He's changed, he's
transformed. And he's become now a useful
instrument in the hand of Almighty God. And we looked at last week,
didn't we, that the love of Christ, how he chooses a people, he decides
and they choose him in return. And so as Jacob is on his journey,
running away from his brother, going to his uncle Laban, the
Lord meets with him and shows him himself. In chapter 28 Jacob has a dream. After he sets up his pillow he
has a dream and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top
of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and
descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above
it and said I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father. and the
God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give
it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread aboard to the west, and
to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee,
and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest and I will bring thee again onto this land for I will
not leave thee until I have done all done that which I have spoken
unto thee of. And so Jacob now receives that
promise. It has gone from Abraham, it's
gone to Isaac and now it has gone to Jacob. He is going to
be the carrier of the covenant And in him that promise continues
that the seed of the woman is going to bruise the serpent's
head and that through him all the families of the earth are
going to be blessed as the Christ the Redeemer is going to come
to bring about that salvation and to gather in the nations
to himself. And so he is converted. And he
makes a vow, as we said, that God loves the people and
they love him in return. Ye have loved me, but I have
loved you. And so as God shed his love upon
Jacob, an unworthy Jacob, so Jacob now responds in love to
God. he makes a vow, if God be with
me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread
to eat and raiment to be put on so that I come again to my
father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God and
this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be be God's house
And of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give a tenth
unto thee. And so his response to God, God's
love is love. He says, if God is going to be
my God, I'm going to serve him. I'm going to obey him. I'm going
to follow him. I'm going to give to him. and
he continues on his way. And we see that the Lord prospers
his journey as it is with all of the Lord's people. They are
under his providential control. He guides them and directs them
to the place that he will have them to be. When they deny themselves,
when they give up their will to him, he guides them and he
directs them and he leads him to the area where his uncle lives. where Laban lives and he leads
him to his future wife Rachel. In the life of the Lord's people
there are mysterious things that happen There are things that
take place which cannot be explained and we can be at a certain place
and we may meet somebody else and it's though God has orchestrated
the whole event to bring all of these things together for
his purposes and this is what we see in the life of Jacob. He arrives at the well the Lord's
time. He brings him there and Rachel
comes providentially. It is the perfect time. Remember
the Lord Jesus Christ when he went to the well at Samaria and
there was the lady there. He came to rest at the well.
He was thirsty and the woman came at that right time to talk
with him. And she says, come and tell me
a man which told me all things. Is not this the Christ? And so
there was that divine appointment which the Lord had made to meet
with that woman. And here was a divine appointment
that Jacob must meet with Rachel to bring about the Lord's purposes. The Lord was with him. Remember
Joseph when he is in, after he'd been thrown into the pit and
he's taken off into Egypt and everything looks quite bad going
for him. The scripture tells us the Lord
was with him. Everything that he did, it prospered
and the Lord blessed it. And it is the same with Jacob.
As you read through his life, you see that the Lord was with
him. and it was evident even to Laban that the Lord was with
him. And I wonder if people can say
that about our lives or we can say about our own life, is the
Lord with us? Are we seeking his guidance and
direction? Is it obvious to other people?
the people that we work for or work with, can they declare about
us that the Lord is with them, the Lord is with him, the Lord
is with her. Can they see everything that
we do, it prospers, that the Lord enables us to do it, that
he gives us that ability and that strength and we respond
in giving him the glory As Jacob said, I will give back 10% of
all that the Lord has given me because he understood everything
came from the Lord. So he responded back in giving
back to the Lord. And as he sees this young girl. He finds her beautiful, he's
attracted to her. He sees the Lord's hand in it,
no doubt, in bringing it to pass, bringing the meeting to pass.
And he asks his uncle whether he could marry her. He says,
I will work for seven years for your daughter. In our culture,
we don't have dowries or anything like that. But where we were
living in Kenya it is part of life. There were dowries that
had to be provided for the girls when they were married. And they thought it was quite
strange that the English girls were free as they saw it. We don't have to serve for seven
years for our wives. Jacob said that he would serve
seven years for Rachel and that would be his wages. Remember
that he left his father's house with nothing. Maybe just the clothes on his
back and a stick to walk with and that was it. So he had no
dowry to give. All he had to give was himself,
was his labour. And so he said, I would work
for seven years. He humbled himself, we could
say, under the hand of labour and his uncle and served him
for seven years for his daughter. And they seemed to him but a
few days for the love that he had for her. But as with all
things, there was a twist in the story. This deceiver Jacob
ends up being deceived himself. His uncle Laban tricks him on
the wedding night by giving Leah, the elder, to be his wife. He realises in the morning what
has been done. He realises he has been deceived
and he goes and he speaks to his uncle and they say that they
continue on the wedding feast for the week and then he can
have Rachel also. But he must serve another seven
years for her. And so in total he serves 14
years for this girl, for his wife. And so his wages for 14
years was this girl, Rachel. But he loved her. It was a true
love that he had. And he was willing to subject
himself to his uncle so that he may serve, that he may reap
the reward of his wages, which is this young girl. After a while, 20 years I think it is, he goes back to his father's
house as God has promised him. Remember that the Lord never
breaks his promise. He was promised that I am with
thee and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest and
I will bring thee again unto this land for I will not leave
thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.' And
so the Lord sends him on this journey, gives him two wives,
gives him a multitude of cattle and servants and then brings
him back to the place where he was at the beginning. And then
ultimately as Joseph grows up, Joseph is then taken down to
Egypt and then Jacob ends his life there in Egypt as the Lord
had said would take place. That his people would go down
into a strange land and they would multiply there, they would
be there for a number of years, 100 or so, 400 years I think. and then they would be brought
out. And all of those things take
place. God raises up Moses to be the
one who would lead them out of Egypt, to bring them through
the Red Sea, across the desert into the Promised Land. And all
of these things working together, God orchestrating all of these
events, bringing about his purposes, planning his will to bring about
the salvation of his people. But Jacob served for Rachel for
seven years and they seemed to him but a few days for the love
he had to her. This reminded me really of the
Lord Jesus Christ as well. The Lord Jesus Christ served. for 33 years. He came down from heaven, born of a woman, born under the
law, living in complete obedience, subjected himself to the will
of the Father, walked in obedience to the will of the Father for
those 33 years, and laid down his life upon the cross. He says,
no one takes it from me, I lay it down of myself. And he did
so to receive, you can say, a wage or a reward. And that reward
was his people, his church. And if Christ's love is the pinnacle
of all love, And if Jacob was able to serve seven years for
Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days for the love that
he had to her, how much more would the love of Christ as he served, as he sought to
redeem a people for himself and the love that he had towards
them mean to take away anything from
the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ but to me it seemed like
it seemed but a few days for Jacob because of the love that
he had for this young girl and so maybe that the delight of
Christ that his service seemed but a few days for the love he
had towards his people. It was love that brought him
down to earth. It was love that drove him to
the cross. It was love that caused him to
rise again from the grave and to ascend up into glory so that
his people might be with him. He loved them with an everlasting
love and therefore he drew them unto himself. And so his love for his bride. That is what his church is. As
we have sung the many names of the Lord Jesus Christ, one of
those is the head. He's the head of the body, the
church. And he's also the husband. And his church is the bride. And the husband loves the bride. As Jacob loved Rebecca he was
able to serve for seven years and it seemed to him as a few
days the time flew by and so Christ's love for his people
also. It is a perfect love. In Ephesians 5 it tells us there
that about that union between husband and wife and Christ and
the church. Verse 25 Husbands, sorry 24,
therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to
their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. So what men to love their wives
as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself. And so he tells us there that
that union between the husband and wife is a demonstration or
an illustration of the union between the Lord Jesus Christ
and his church. Christ is the husband. He has
authority over the church. The church is the wife in subjection
to her husband. and husbands are to love their
wives as Christ loved the church. Christ gave himself for his church. What brought him to earth was
that he was giving himself as an offering to redeem his people. As Jacob subjected himself unto
labour and so Christ made himself of no reputation, humbled himself
so that he may die the death upon the cross. And so he gave
himself for his church, as Jacob gave himself to service so that
he may obtain a bride. So Christ gave himself to service,
to obedience to the law, to death, that he may redeem his bride,
his object of delight, his object of affection. In John 14. It tells us there that the Lord
Jesus Christ is going away. As he is speaking to his disciples,
he is telling them that I am going away, that he's going away
to prepare a place for them. This was something that courting
couples used to do in those days. As Mary and Joseph, they were
espoused together, they were engaged together. it was their
custom to be engaged for about a year and it would be agreed
and that they would be married and that agreement was almost
equivalent to marriage. They were bound to each other
and then the husband he would go away and he would go to prepare
a place for his wife, for his new wife. He would go and make
everything ready. He would make sure the house
was OK. He would make sure that they
had the utensils and the furniture and everything and that he was
financially stable. And when he had sorted everything
out, he would go and he would go and collect his wife and they
would have the marriage. And so this is what Jesus says.
that he has come to redeem his bride he has come to give his
life an offering for his bride his church and then as he ascends
up into heaven he is going away but he's not disappearing He
is going away for a little while to prepare a place for his bride,
for his delight, for the ones whom he has redeemed, for the
objects of his love, for the ones he came to serve and to
redeem and to die for. John 14, it says, let not your
heart be troubled. You believe in God, you believe
also in me. my father's house are many mansions
if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place
for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again
and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. So he's gone. The bridegroom has gone. He has done the work. He has
established his love towards a certain people. He has covenanted
them to himself. They are his. They are guaranteed
to be his. And he loves them. They are his
bride. But he's gone away. But he's
gone away to prepare a place for them. And he will come again. Remember the story of the wise
and the foolish virgins. How that there was news that
the bridegroom was coming or that was going to come. He'd
gone away. He had gone to sort all the arrangements
out and now he was coming for the wedding. He was coming to
collect his bride. And while the people were waiting
for him there were these wise and foolish virgins. In Matthew
25 it says, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten
virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were wise, five were foolish. They that were
foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. the wives
took oil in their lamps in their vessels with their lamps and
while the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept
and so there he was he was tarrying he was waiting he was preparing
but he was on his way and while he tarried there was a slumbering
and a sleeping and at midnight a cry made behold the bridegroom
cometh go ye out to meet him And all those virgins arose and
trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the
wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the
wise answered, saying, Not so. lest there be not enough for
us and you, but go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.'
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that
were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was
shut. And afterwards came also the other virgin, saying, Lord,
Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily,
verily, verily, I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore,
for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man
cometh. And so this is the illustration
that is given that Christ has gone away to prepare a place
for his people and his bride she is waiting, the church she
is waiting for his coming. She doesn't know what day or
an hour he will come but she is told to watch therefore you
do not know when he is going to come he is told you be ready
because he is going to come he has promised he will go and come
again because he has gone to prepare a place for you and I
will come and I will bring you again to myself and so Jesus
will come As we see in the Old Testament, everything working
together, everything that God said would happen, happened.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Egypt, Moses, the Promised Land, the
Lord Jesus Christ, everything that God testified would take
place, took place. And so when Jesus says, I will
come again, he will come again. Thessalonians it tells us there that 1st Thessalonians
chapter 4 would tell us how he would come. You remember in the
in the book of Acts they are told what are you men of Galilee
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? in Acts it says, and when he
had spoken while they were beheld he was taken up and into a cloud
and received them out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly
towards heaven he went up and behold two men stood by them
with white apparel which also said ye men of Galilee why stand
ye gazing up into heaven this same Jesus which is taken up
from you into heaven shall come in like manner as ye have seen
him go into heaven and so he was taken up out of their sight
and received into a cloud and went and sat at the right hand
of the Father. There he is even this day waiting
for the time when he will come again. This same Jesus, not a
different one, this same Jesus is going to come again in like
manner from heaven and Thessalonians tells us in 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout the voice of the archangel and with
the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first and
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. And so that is how it be when
the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, the dead in Christ shall rise
first, those that are in the grave The graves will be opened. Their bodies will be transformed
into immortal bodies. Bodies without sin. Bodies that
can stand in the presence of Christ. Bodies that are immortal. They will be reconciled out with
the soul. And they will go to be with Christ. And the apostle says, and we
that remain. that remain will be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The bridegroom and
the bride will meet together and they will enter into the
marriage supper of the lamb as we read in the book of Revelation
and there will be the new heaven and the new earth. And so as
Jacob served Laban for Rachel and they seemed to him but a
few days because of the love that he had to her, so Christ's
love is that perfect love, that love that drew him to earth to
die for his people, his bride, his church. And he has gone now to prepare
a place for them, but he is coming again. while this church is on
earth She exists to plough the furrow. She exists to plough
the plough of faith, looking unto her husband, waiting for
her husband to come again, the Lord Jesus Christ. She ever lives
with one eye on the sky and one eye on service, looking to the
Lord Jesus, waiting for him to come. This same Jesus, which
was taken up into heaven, shall come again. the love that he had to her. But in a relationship it is two
way. Christ first loved the church
but the church responds in love to him. She is waiting for his coming. I don't know if you've ever read
it this way. In the book of Proverbs. I haven't
got time to read through it all. The book of Proverbs and the
virtuous woman. It is a high standard for one
woman to keep. can find a virtuous woman for
her price is far above rubies. It gives a list of all the characteristics
of a virtuous woman. If the church is the bride of
the Lord Jesus Christ this is the type of person or people
that Christ expects his bride to be. People of service. People who
have put their hand to the plough and who are not looking back.
People who are able to be industrious, to be servants and slaves of
the Lord Jesus. as the bride submits to her husband
the church submits and serves the Lord Jesus Christ and there
are many different gifts that are given to this
virtuous woman. One is that She's like a merchant
ship. She brings forth her fruit from
afar. She rises also while it is yet night and giveth meat
to her household, a portion to her maidens. She considers a
field and buys it. With the fruit of her hands,
she plants a vineyard. It says, she stretches out her
hand to the poor. Yea, she receiveth forth the
hand. She reaches forth her hands to the needy. She's not afraid
of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed
with scarlet. she looks well to the ways of
her household and eateth not the bread of idleness and so
this is how the church is meant to be. The bride of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a virtuous woman, a woman who he has purchased,
as Jacob saw in Rachel, beauty, virtue, a diligent woman. So Christ has brought his church
and she is a virtuous woman to serve him and to submit to him. Remember the account of the lady
who came to the Lord Jesus Christ and broke the alabaster box of
ointment upon his feet and Jesus says of her, she who or he who
has had much forgiven the same loves much. The same loves much. we truly understand how much
we owe to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is something within us
that wants to respond in love and service to him. We take the
command of Christ to love our neighbour as ourself, to be diligent
in our service, whether that be in the church or whether that
be secularly as we go out into the world to conduct ourselves
and deal with other people in the workplace and in life, in
our neighbourhoods. People see us, that we are different. As Jacob saw that Rachel was
beautiful and a good woman, a virtuous woman. As people look upon the
church, they should see her beauty, her service, her service and
love to Christ who has forgiven her of all of her sin, has cleansed
her of her filthiness and vileness. and still loves her even though
she is housed in a body of sin and death. Jacob served seven years for
Rachel and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he
had to her. I wonder if you this night have
experienced the love of Christ. We have all experienced the general
love of God in that daily provision, health and strength and gifts. Yet have we experienced the true
love of Christ to sinners? As a husband loves his wife and
gives himself to her, has Christ loved you and given himself for
you? Are you waiting for his coming?
Do you have one eye in the clouds and one eye on the service? One eye on ploughing a straight
line, one eye on waiting for your husband to come in the clouds
to gather you up to himself. And there you will be one day
as the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ at the marriage supper
of the Lamb. You'll be there with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and the prophets and all the
people of God, a multitude of people without number will be
there. Will you be there? Will I be
there? Revelation 19 says, And I heard
that it were a voice of a great multitude and a voice of many
waters and as a voice of mighty thunder saying hallelujah for
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honour to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife
has made herself ready and to her it was granted that she be
arrayed in fine linen clean and white for the fine linen is the
righteousness of the saints And he said unto me, Write, Blessed
are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And
I fell at his feet to worship him. he said unto me see thou
doest it not I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren and
have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy. And so as we see at the beginning
that what God says is going to take place will take place and
Christ is going to come again, Christ will gather his people
to himself, his people will sit at the marriage supper of the
lamb, they will cry hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns
and there they will be forever with the Lord and our service
here if we are able to look back just seem like a few days. When we are passing through trouble
the days drag don't they? As we go through when we're ploughing
hard ground it seems like the days drag on and on and on. The
nights seem to get longer and longer as you toss and turn in
your bed. When we come to the end we come
to eternity this section of our life will just seem like a few
days for we will be forever with the Lord. And Jacob served seven
years for Rachel and they seemed unto him but a few days for the
love he had to her. Well may we have a similar love
for each other and for the Lord Jesus Christ that our service,
that our yoke may be easy, that our days may seem like they fly
by and then one day we will ever be with the Lord. Shall I among
them stand? Amen. Let's conclude our worship here
today with hymns for worship number 165. 165. Jesus calls us o'er the tumult
of our life's wild, restless sea. Day by day his sweet voice
soundeth, saying, Christian, follow me. Hymns for worship
165, tune 897. Jesus calls us all that do not
hope that I dwell at restless sea. Day by day his sweet voice
sounded, saying, Christian, follow me. As the Fodderpustles added, Fodderpuddles,
when they are made, Stand from the mantle and kindred, Leaving
all fore'ers to say, of the main world's golden store,
from which I know that would keep us, say, in Christian lovely
lore. In our joys and in our sorrows,
days of toil and hours of peace, still we close in cares and pleasures,
rest and love before the face. Jesus calls us by Thy blessings,
Savior, may we hear Thy call. Give our hearts to Thy agreeance,
serve and love Thee best of all. Dear Lord and Almighty God, we
do thank Thee for that account of Jacob and Rachel and we pray
that thou give us that love to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and
let it seem to us as a few days. We pray Lord that thou increase
our love, increase our faith, increase our ability to focus
upon him and upon eternity. We pray that we may be made ready
like those wise virgins who when he comes we may be able to enter
into the marriage supper of the Lamb and to be with Christ which
is far better. Do bless us now we pray as we
part from each other. Do Lord watch between us while
we are apart and do bless us we pray And I may the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the
fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit to be with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.