Let us turn again to the Word
of God in the first book of Chronicles in the first book of Chronicles
chapter 4 and the prayer of Jabez, this remarkable
portion, this very sweet prayer of Jabez in 1st Chronicles 4
verses 9 and 10. We're told, And Jabez was more
honorable than his brethren. And his mother called his name
Jabez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow. And Jabez called
on the God of Israel, saying, or that thou wouldest bless me
indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be
with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may
not grieve me. And God granted him that which
he requested." The prayer of Jabez. Now, it's in the midst
of these chapters. At the beginning of the first
book of Chronicles we have some nine chapters in which we read
nothing but lists of names of various genealogies of the children
of Israel. You're probably aware that writing
to Timothy there in that first epistle the apostle Paul warns
him about fables and endless genealogies which only minister
questionings and strife, and they're not edifying. Are we
not to think that that is true of these genealogies? It's not. It's clearly something else that
he is speaking of there, as he warns young Timothy. But we do
find genealogies in many parts of the Word of God. And as our
Foundeer in Holy Scripture, we recognize that they're very much
a part of God's revelation to us. All Scripture, says Paul,
that without any exception, all Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable. And so there must be some profit
even in these genealogies. And certainly we are to recognize
how necessary they are. As I said, we have the list stretching
through certainly into chapter 9, and then even more later on. When we come to chapter 9, we
read there at verse 1, So all Israel were reckoned by genealogists,
and, behold, they were written in the book of the kings of Israel
and Judah, who were carried away to Babylon for their transgression. And those are significant words.
There was some record, you see, of those who had been carried
away into Babylon. And that's why I read that other
passage, that portion that we have in the second chapter of
the book of Ezra. Remember the opening words that
we read? We read from verse 61 concerning the children of the
priests. And it says in verse 62, These
sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy,
but they were not found. Therefore were they, as polluted,
put from the priesthood. And the Shaiter, that's Nehemiah
himself, the governor, said unto them that they should not eat
of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with
Urim and with Thummim. By that means he would be able
to consult God and to obtain an answer because the genealogies
of these people could not be found. So, genealogies were important,
are important, and of course when we come to the New Testament
we do read of the Lamb's Book of Life and those who have been
written in that Book of Life from before the foundation of
the world. Furthermore, when we come to
the New Testament we have Two, genealogies of the Lord Jesus. We have the opening chapter of
scripture in Matthew 1, and then again we have the record in Luke
chapter 3. And interestingly, the New Testament
begins with those words, this is the beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. How does the gospel begin? It
begins with a list of names. establishing who Jesus of Nazareth
is. He's descended from Adam, from
Abraham, from Judah, from David. He is one who bears these marks
and he is descended from these men. This is one of the marks
of the true Christ of God. And so, we're not to overlook
these various chapters. I know It might be tedious when
we come to read through these lists of names, but they're there
for a purpose, and it's all part of Holy Scripture. And if we
don't read these chapters, if we just skip over what we have
here at the beginning of 1 Chronicles, we could so easily miss such
verses as I've just read concerning this man Jabez. As I said, it's
such a remarkable passage. And it's buried away, as it were,
amongst these various names. And Jabez was more honorable
than his brethren. And his mother called his name
Jabez, saying, Because I bear him with sorrow. And Jabez called
on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me
indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be
with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may
not grieve me. And God granted him that which
he requested. Now he appears here amongst the
sons of Judah as we see from the opening words of the chapter
amongst the sons of Judah is where we find his name and of
course that's the royal line again the line through which
the Lord Jesus Christ himself would come And, well, I trust
there's some profit if we should turn again. I know we've looked
at these verses on previous occasion, but it's such a precious portion,
I believe, and I just thought it would be good to turn to it
again this evening. Whatsoever things were written
before time, we're told, they were written for our learning,
that we, through patience or endurance and comfort of the
Scriptures, might have hope. Well, here we read of this man,
and we're told the reason why he was given such a name. His mother called his name Jabez,
saying, because I bear him with sorrow. The very name means sorrowful. Sorrowful. And in a way, it's
not dissimilar to what we read concerning Rachel, when she bore
her second son, Benjamin, we have the record there in Genesis
35 verse 16 following and remember she had a a sad confinement really
at the end she dies in giving birth to this son who was to
be called Benjamin but she didn't call him Benjamin she called
him Benonai Benonai the son of Mysara And it was his father
Jacob who gave him the name of Benjamin, the son of my right
hand. Well with Jabez, his mother,
bear him with sorrow. What that means we don't know,
maybe it was a very difficult confinement at the end of her
pregnancy, maybe it was that, like Rachel, she also died as
she gave birth to the son. Reminds us, of course, of that
curse that is upon creation because of the sin of our first parents.
God said to the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children. And now we see the verity of
the word of God even in these incidents. Now this man is called
Sorrowful, that's his name, but he's not only sorrowful by name,
he surely is one who is also sorrowful by his very nature. Sin was a grievous thing to him.
And this is one of his petitions, that God would just keep me from
evil, he says, that it may not grieve me. Though he felt sin
to be so grievous and such a sorrowful thing, how apt then is his name.
Surely here is one who is, what we might say, a true spiritual
Israelite. Now his prayer opens. He called
on the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that thou wouldest bless
me indeed. He wanted to know the rich blessing
of God. Oh, God is the one who is able
to bless his people and there's no sorrow when God blesses his
children. Well, let us consider for a while
the content of his prayer. Amongst the various prayers we
have a good number of prayers recorded in Holy Scripture. We've
looked in times past, of course, at that pattern prayer that the
Lord Himself taught His disciples when they requested Lord Teachers
to pray, the Lord's Prayer as we call it. Well, that's our
real pattern prayer, but there are these other prayers to be
found in various parts of Scripture. In the Psalms, we have the prayer
of Solomon at the dedication of the temple, the prayer of
Daniel at the end of the 70 years in exile. When we come into the
New Testament we have that remarkable high priestly prayer of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself and there are those occasions even in the
epistles where we find Paul as he addresses these different
churches turning from them and as it were turning to God and
praying for them in the course of the letters that he is writing
to them. There are many prayers and I
want us to consider this prayer and the four petitions simply
as they lay before us here in the 10th verse to consider them
in order. Four petitions in order. First petition then, Jabez called
on the God of Israel saying, Or that thou wouldst bless me
in deeds. Or that thou wouldst bless me
in deeds. Well what is it to be blessed
in deeds? The hymn writer answers that
question We're going to sing that hymn 790 later this evening. What is it to be blessed indeed,
but to have all our sins forgiven, to be from guilt and terror freed,
redeemed from hell and sealed for heaven, to worship and incarnate
God and know He saved us by His blood. or that is an indeed blessing. And that's why I say that this
particular individual Jabez is a spiritual man. He was more
honorable than his brethren, he says. He wasn't just an Israelite
by nature. He was an Israelite indeed. Very words of course that the
Lord Jesus himself uses in the end of John chapter 1 where he
sees Nathanael and what does he say? Behold an Israelite indeed. Well here is Jabez, an Israelite
indeed. He wants an indeed blessing.
O that thou wouldest bless me indeed. He is truly then not
just a natural son of Judah, but he is also a spiritual Jew. And we think of the language
of Paul there at the end of Romans chapter 2. Remember what he says,
Romans 2.28, He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither
is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he
is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the
spirit in the heart, not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God. And how we see this man seeking
earnestly the blessing of God. Surely that's indicated in the
words of his first petition. When he comes before God, he
wants to be blessed indeed. He wants it to be a true blessing,
a real blessing. There is such simplicity in this
man's prayer, such sincerity. There is that singleness of mind,
that blessed determination. He is wholehearted as he comes
to seek God's face in this short prayer. And what does God say? You shall seek me and find me
when you shall search after me with all your heart. And this
is Jabez. This first petition then. He wants to be blessed indeed. And then there's another petition
that follows. He wants God to enlarge his coast.
All that thou wouldst bless me indeed, he says, and enlarge
my coast. Now, In the context, I suppose we
have to recognize that he wants his portion in the promised land
to be increased. When they entered into the land
of Canaan, that land that God had promised to them, remember
how the land was portioned out to the various tribes. They all
had their part or their inheritance in that land. And surely we have
to recognize that he wants a larger portion. He wants God to enlarge
his coast. They're in the land of Canaan. However, if he's a spiritual
man, and I'm convinced that that is the case with him, surely
there is something more significant in this second petition. it's
not just a matter of wanting an enlarged portion of land but
he feels so straightened and so contracted in his own soul
he wants a larger experience of the grace of God did not be
improper to or would it be improper to interpret the petition in
that sense? If he's a spiritual man he wants
God to enlarge his heart. He wants God to give him some
fresh anointings and revivings. He desires that he might be altogether
freed from the bondage of his fallen nature. That's the case
with all of us, is it not? We have a fallen nature. We are
all sinners by nature. And when God begins to deal with
his people, how he deals with them in a variety of ways and
some have deeper experiences and sharper convictions than
others. But God deals with His people so as to make them feel
what they are. And this man certainly was made to feel something of
his sinful condition. Paul says, before faith came,
we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith which would afterward
be revealed. And this man feels confined,
shut up into what he is as a sinner. Again, think of the language
of Job. Job 12, 14. He says of God, He shutteth up
a man and there can be no opening. Or when God deals with the man
and causes him to feel all the constrictions of his sinnership,
his complete, his utter inability to do anything for himself, to
help himself. Again, the Psalmist cries out,
I am shut up and cannot come forth. only God can enlarge this
man's coast only God can so work upon his hearts and enlarge it
and this is what he desires and this is how God deals with people
what does Moses say in Psalm 90 thou turnest man to destruction
and sayest return ye children of me and so he can come though
he might feel himself so straightened because of the unbelief of his
fallen nature yet if he is persuaded that God does this to a man and
then is pleased to visit that man with the blessings of salvation
as Moses indicates he can pray with such confidence thou turnest
man to destruction and sayest return ye children of men. He wants them to be delivered
from all the confinements of his sin and together with that
he is desiring larger views of God. He wants to see something
more of the wonders of God and the goodness of God and the grace
of God. I think I've told the tale previously
but it's recorded of George Whitfield in his ministry there in the
New England colonies in the 18th century and he was mightily used
of course. There was a great awakening there
in parts of New England and there was that occasion when he was
preaching in one of the large churches in Boston and a great
concourse of people were gathered together and well the building
could not contain the numbers and of course Whitfield would
often venture outside and preach in the open air and after the
preaching that day there was a young boy who had been present
observing these things, and someone asked that little child what
he thought of the great Mr. Whitfield, the preacher, and
he simply said, oh, he makes God to seem so big. He makes
God to seem so big, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings,
or to have our coast enlarged in that we have right views of
God, and see that He is a great God. as well as being a gracious
God, and that nothing is impossible with Him. That when I sometimes
sing those words, O Lord, increase my feeble faith, and give my
straight and bosom room to credit what Thy promise saith, and wait
till Thy salvation come. To credit the Word of God, to
believe these exceeding great and precious promises. Hasn't
God said that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound? And
if we feel that we're sinners and we're not worthy of God's
notice, or let us encourage ourselves with what God says, let's credit
God's words, believe Him. The psalmist could say, He brought
me forth into a large place and delivered me because He delighted
in me. or to ask that God might yet
take a delight in us and deliver us and enlarge our coasts and
give us those right views of Him to believe that nothing is
impossible with Him that He is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think He wants then deliverance from
all the straightness of His sin He wants to have these large
views of God and can we not also say that with this petition He
really wants to see enlargement in the church. Enlargement in the church. Enlarge
my coast, he says. Was it not good for us to desire
that the Lord would come and fulfill his promises? and accomplish
those things that we find written here in Holy Scripture. We often
make reference to the 53rd chapter in the book of the Prophet Isaiah,
that remarkable chapter concerning the Lord's suffering servant.
What a prophecy it is of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know,
after that 53rd chapter we go into chapter 54 And we read these words at verse
2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, let them stretch forth the curtains
of thy inhabitation. Spare not, lengthen thy cords
and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the
right hand and on the left, and thy siege shall inhabit the Gentiles,
and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not, for
thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded. for they
shall not be put to shame, and so forth. And this is the promise
of God, you see, that the Lord Jesus Christ will not suffer
in vain. Who is to see the travail of
his soul, he shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, it says. There is to be an increase, a
gracious in-gathering of souls, an enlargement. That was the
promise that God was giving to Israel. The Gentiles were going
to be called by the grace of God. Or that we might have large
views of God then, and large views of all that God can do
in the way of salvation. Here then we have his second
petition. Enlarge my coast, he prays. And
then further, and that thine hand might be with me. The third petition, that thine
hand might be with me. Well, we read in the book of
Ezra concerning those who returned and those who were engaged in
the rebuilding of the temple And then of course after that
we have the book of Nehemiah, and there we have the record
of those who were engaged in the rebuilding of the walls of
Jerusalem. And it's interesting to see what
Nehemiah says as he is called to lead that great work, the
rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem after the exile. And he says
there in Nehemiah 2.8 that it was all according to the good
hand of my God upon me. It was according to the good
hand of my God upon me. Oh, and this is what Job is praised
for, that thine hand might be with me. It is a comforting thought, is
it not, to think that all of the Lord's people are in the
hands of the Lord they're in the hands of Christ but they're
also in the hands of the Father the Lord says it I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand my Father which gave them me
is greater than all no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand so there's a double security you see when God's hand is with
us it's the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's the hand
of the Father He was the Father who chose a people from all eternity
He chose them in Christ and He committed them into the hands
of Christ and the Lord is saying there
that there Their safety is secure for time and for eternity. No man, no man can pluck them
out of my hand." And so we have this third petition here in the
prayer of Jabez, that thy hand might be with mine. But there was a reason why he
prayed thus, and it was this, he so felt his own innate weakness. That's why he once got to bless
him indeed to enlarge his coast. Remember what we said, he wants
to be freed from all the straightness of his sin, feeling so shut in
to what he is, so shut in to that awful sin of unbelief. He
wants his heart to be enlarged and he cannot do it of himself
or for himself. He found his weakness this man
did. is innate weakness. And it has been said we must
have power to feel our weakness. We must have power, power from
on high, power from God himself, if we feel our own spiritual
weakness. Look at the words that we have
there in Isaiah 40, 29. It says, To them that have no
might, he increaseth strength. Those who have no might. What
does God do? He increaseth strength. It doesn't say, does it? Those
that have no might, He giveth strength. No, it says He increaseth. They already have and know something
of the power of God because they feel what they are. And God has
brought them to that. He's brought them to realize.
their great weakness and as they cry to him he will
increase their strength so they'll overcome that felt weakness my
grace is sufficient for thee says to Paul my strength is made
perfect in weakness and so this man must be constantly upheld
by the hand of God and that thine hand might be with me and then
his fourth petition and that thou wouldest keep me from evil
that it might not grieve me oh he doesn't want to be grieved
you see how suitable the name he bears is his mother called
his name Jabez sorrowful that's the name she gave him it was
her own experience that she was recording in giving the child
that name it was because I bear him with sorrow but how apt the
name is in a spiritual sense because to this man sin is such
a grievous thing such a sorrowful thing he so hates it He felt
his condition as a sinner before God. And isn't that really a
mark of grace? We know that all have sinned.
That's what the Bible tells us. All have sinned. All have come
short of the glory of God. There's not a just man upon the
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That's the judgment of Holy
Scripture upon the totality of the human race. There's just
one exception. The only perfectly sinless man
that ever lived, the Lord Jesus. True, Adam and Eve were created
sinless when they came from the hand of their Creator. They were
made in God's image after God's likeness, but how short the time
of that pristine condition. They soon sinned, and all their
posterity conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity. Just one one sinless
man, the Lord Jesus preserved from all original sin in the
miracle of his birth and then preserved sinless in every part
of his life, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
higher than the heavens, the verdict of Scripture concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. We'd all have sinned. We sing
those words sometimes, O all our sinners in God's sight, there
are but few so in their own. New life from Him we must receive,
before for sin we rightly grieve. And this man is grieving over
sin because the life of God is in the soul of this man. Well,
think of the language of the psalmist. Psalm 73, 22. So foolish was I and ignorant,
he says, I was as a beast before thee. So foolish, so ignorant. I was as a beast, it says. That's how it reads. But the
little word, as, there in that verse, is in italics. In other words, it's been introduced.
The verse here, in our authorized version, reads like a simile.
Psalm 73, 22, So foolish was I, and ignorant I was as a beast,
before thee, before God. But literally he doesn't say
that, does he? It's more stark. I was a beast,
he says. I was a beast before my grief,
my burden, long has been, because I could not cease from sin. And this was the experience of
this man, and that's why he makes this particular petition. Nor
can we in any measure identify with this man. And to ask God
that they would just keep me from evil, that it might not
grieve me. Sometimes we feel, well, the
sad truth is I so love the sin, so how can I sincerely pray that
God would keep me from it? or that God might cause it to
be to us such a grievous thing, we want to be kept from it. And
that's what makes heaven such an attractive place, isn't it?
Sin, my worst enemy before, shall vex my knives and ears no more,
my inward foes shall all be slain, nor Satan break my peace again. Or this manuscript, he prays,
And here we have something of the content of his prayer, these
four petitions, and they say so much about the sort of man
that he was, more honorable than his brethren. And then it ends
on this note, and God granted him that which he requested.
God granted him that which he requested. God hears prayers,
and God answers prayers. And that's why we have a prayer
meeting, surely. come because we believe, that he does not
say to the seed of Jacob, he doesn't say to the sons of Judah,
he doesn't say to those who are Israelites indeed, seek him,
I face in vain. Again, that hymn of heart that
we'll sing presently concludes with this verse, this prayer
so long ago preferred is left on sacred record thus. And this
good prayer by God was heard, and kindly handed down to us. Thus Jabez prayed, for that's
his name. May all believers pray the same. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Now we're going to sing that
hymn as our concluding praise. But before that, and before we
turn to the Lord again in prayer, we'll sing 897. The tune is Rimmington
395. 897. Ye poor afflicted souls, give
ear, who seek the Lord, but fear his crown. What things ye ask
in fervent prayer, believe in Christ, we'll send them down.
If sin is loathsome, to thy heart, and shows her most ill-favoured
face. If guilt affords thee fearful
smart, it flows from Jesus' love and grace." 897