I've heard Brother Moose sing
that song for years now. But to be honest with you, Ruth
sings it much better. Don't she? I love Moose and you
do too, but she sings it better. I love that song. It's good to
be with you all. Thank the Lord for seeing old
friends again. I'm glad the Lord's blessing
you. You're all looking good. You're healthy. The Lord's good,
isn't He? He's so pitiful to us, so merciful
and so gracious. Every day His compassions are
new. If you have your Bible and want to follow me along in my
text, I'm taking a text from Genesis chapter 30 and verses
1 and verse 2. I won't keep you very long on
a prayer meeting night. Genesis chapter 30 and just two
verses, verses 1 and verse 2. And when Rachel saw that she
bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto
Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob, his anger was
kindled against Rachel. And he said, Am I in God's stead,
who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb Am I in God's
stead? That's my subject tonight. What
Jacob was saying here to Rachel, every creature that you and I
come to depend upon in this life will soon say to us, Am I in
God's stead? And Jacob's simple meaning here
in this place is that My wife, I love you. I worked seven hard
years to secure you to be my wife. But there's one thing I
cannot do for you. I cannot be in God's stead. I cannot give you what only God
can give you. Only God can create life. One creature may take the place
of another creature, but no creature can take the place of God. A
church may lose its pastor and get another pastor. How often
does that happen? Israel lost Elijah, and they
mourned until they got Elijah who had a double portion. A child
may lose its father and gain a stepfather who will be a good
father to it. How many children have lost a
mother, and yet like Naomi with Ruth, they found another mother,
a precious mother, that filled the place of their deceased mother. Many people have lost a spouse,
and their heart says, I'll never love again. My heart is dead,
only to find that their affections are open for another. One creature
can be to another instead of another creature. But no creature
can be in God's stead. A creature may be an instrument
in God's hands, but a creature can never be a substitute for
God. You and I have instruments that
we use all the time. We work to get money. We have
to have money. We have to have a vehicle to
go from point A to point B. Sometimes we have to have medication.
We have instruments that we rely upon. But God doesn't use instruments
out of necessity as we do. He uses instruments because He
chooses to. God uses the sun to lighten the
earth. He sends rain upon the earth
to soften the ground, to germinate seed, to give growth. But He
chose to do this from the very beginning. You and I use means
out of necessity, but God out of choice. We use means because
of our weakness. We have to have them. God uses
means out of His wisdom. We depend upon our instruments. We have to work. We have to have
money. Sometimes we have to have vehicles.
We have to have jobs. We depend upon instruments. God's
instruments depend upon Him. Our instruments are no more than
God makes them, and He gives them to us to use. But they can
never be a substitute to God for us. When you and I come to
the place where we say to our instruments, give me, give me,
give me, or I die, our instruments may well say to us, as Jacob
said to Rachel, am I in God's stead? Listen to this passage of Scripture,
a very familiar passage. Who then is Paul? And who is
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord
gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered. Who was Paul and who was Apollos?
Mere instruments. but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planted
anything, nor he that watereth, but God which gave the increase. We depend upon instruments. Instruments
depend upon God. No creature can be to us in God's
stead, but God can be to us in the creature's stead. Can he
not? The creature cannot be a substitute in God's place, but God can be
a substitute in the creature's place. If you and I lost everyone
that was dear to us, and we were left alone in this world, if
we lost all means of human support and temporal comfort, could the
Lord fill our loss up with himself? Would it be a loss if He did? If we lost everything in this
world, brothers and sisters, and God filled it up with Himself,
it would not be a loss, but a gain. The Creator is exceeding more
to us than all creatures put together. No matter who they
are and no matter what they are. A flashlight is a very needful
thing in the dark. But a flashlight can be put on
its shelf when the sun is in full force. Listen to this passage of scripture,
another very familiar passage. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, they were dependent upon figs. Neither shall the
fruit be in the vine, and all labor of the olive shall fail,
and the field shall yield no food, and the flock shall be
cut off from the stall, and there shall be no herds there." What
does that say to us? That's starvation, isn't it?
That's hunger, that's famine, that's despair, that's helplessness,
that's gloom. Is there any support When we
lose all of these things, listen to how the prophet said in the
very next verse. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation. In other words, when I lost all
necessary means of support and comfort, yet God can be to me
instead of all of those things. Do you believe that? That's something
we have to experience, is it not? David found in God such a sure
refuge from all his enemies. He found in God such strength
in his utter weakness. He found in God such a precious
place of help in the time of trouble. He found in God a friend
in time of loneliness. He said this, though the earth
should be removed, My goodness, what would happen to us then?
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, and
though the waters roar and be troubled, and though the mountains
shake with a swelling thaw, can God take the place of all of
this? He can, can he not? He can. The man Asep, I take
it to be a friend of David's, found himself in poverty. He
was plagued with unfavorable circumstances, he says, every
day. And he said, every morning, the
Lord's chastening rod is upon me. And he looked at the rich
and famous and became envious of them. He truly was a miserable
believer. And he said, all those my feet
slipped. And then the Lord taught him
a lesson. And this is the lesson the Lord
taught him in Psalm 73. The advantages of this world
are only temporary. The creatures of this life are
just for a moment. They will soon be lost. They cannot save the soul. They cannot satisfy the soul.
So here was Asaph's conclusion. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? There is nobody in heaven that
can stand up and say, I'll be to you in God's stead. And who
is there upon earth that I desire besides Thee? My heart fails
me, my strength fails me, but God is the strength of my heart.
And listen, my portion forever. If you should lose everything,
if the living God will be your portion, that's everything, is
it not? And brothers and sisters, we
could consider this tonight, that there's coming a day, there's
coming an hour, there's coming a moment. When death's due, lies
cold upon our brow, when we'll be stripped of all instruments,
We'll be stripped of all creatures, and we'll be left with God alone. Will He be enough in that day?
Can He fill up all our loss? Yes, He can. Yes, He can. Jacob's meaning in our text is
very obvious as we read it. He was speaking of God as the
Creator. Am I in God's stead, He said,
who has withheld from me the fruit of the womb? Can any dear
wife, he says, create life? God is the sole author of all
existence. He formed our body in our mother's
womb, and He is the Father of our spirits. He is infinitely
different from all His creatures. They are made. He is the Maker. We look around us. What do we
see? All the creatures, the inanimate
creatures, the animal creatures, the human creatures. We look
above us and see the sky filled with stars and see the sun and
the moon and the planets. Who created these things? God
created them. And there is an infinite distance
between the created and the Creator. There may be a great distance
in creatures, And between the creatures, the elect angels differ
greatly from the fallen angels. The glory of the sun may differ
from the glory of the stars. One man may differ from another
natural man in his abilities and his gifts. But all creatures
have one thing in common. They have a Creator. And there's
only one Creator. And no creature can bridge this
gap and go from the creature to the Creator. And that's what
Jacob is saying. This great prophet Jacob, he
could not bridge that gulf and become the Creator. I cannot
be to you, he said to his wife, and God said. But let's take
this distinction just a little bit farther. He is the only preserver
of all that He has made. We're told in Scripture that
someone who made all things upholds all things by the Word of His
power. And who is that? That's the Son
of God, who is very God Himself. He not only made all things that
we see and things that we don't see, but He holds them together. They have their continuance by
the Son of God. Let the hand of the Lord Jesus
Christ be removed from the sun, and it grows dark, and it grows
cold. Then He'll lead the planets to
chart their own course, and there'll be collision and chaos. Let the
Son of God remove His hand from us and we'll grow weak. We'll
grow helpless. We cannot think and we cannot
move. In Him and in Him only we live
and move and have our being. You and I got up this morning.
We breathed and we moved and we walked. We got ready to come
to the service tonight. We sat here and we're thinking
because Jesus Christ gives us this strength. He upholds us. And between Him and us there's
this eternal distinction. And what is it? He's the Creator. He's the Preserver of us all
and everything. I love how the Apostle Paul said
this. He said, You'll keep me from
every evil work and preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom. What a great man Paul was. What great gifts this man had.
He was the chiefest of the apostles. And yet He said, I cannot preserve
myself, and all the means cannot preserve me when push comes to
shove. When the rubber meets the road,
there is one who shall preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom,
and that's the Lord of glory. And nobody can stand up and say,
I'll be to you in Christ's stead. He's the only preserver. Can
we take it one step further? Is He not the only Redeemer?
Can anybody stand up and cross their dead and say to us, stop
Him from going down to the pit? I fell the ransom for his soul.
The very God who required a sacrifice for sins must provide himself
that sacrifice. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but Jesus Christ
the Lord. He's unique in that and nobody
can stand up and say, I can be your Savior. I can be instead
of Christ to you. The Bible says this, I even I
am the Lord, and besides me, there is no Savior. Allah is
my Savior. What a liar you would be if he
said, I can be in Christ's stead. Hindus, Buddha's God is no Savior. There is one God who can save
us, and only one. And nobody can stand up and say,
I can be in God's stead. Is there another fountain open
for sin and uncleanness but that one that flows from the manual
side? Can anyone say to morality, be to me instead of that fountain? Can anybody say to water of baptism,
wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin? You know, I would be surprised
sometimes when some of the chemilights go down in the water to help
their sin washed away. Water don't speak out to them
and rebuke them as Jacob did Rachel. Am I in Christ's head? Am I the open fountain? Can my waters
reach your conscience? There's one fountain, brothers
and sisters, and that's the fountain that flows from the side of the
Lord Jesus Christ that can reach the depths of our conscience
deeper than a stain is gone. And no one else can say, I'll
be to you in the still of that fountain. Is there a tailor that
can sew a garment of righteousness that can justify us from all
our sins? And we, a perfect robe of righteousness,
that we can stand in the presence of a holy God? God hath made
Him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. And what I'm saying
to my brothers and sisters, there is no other person, no other
thing, that can say, let me be in Christ's image. He's the only
Savior of sinners. Can any teach us like God? Can anybody else make us wise
unto salvation? All thy children shall be taught
of God, and grace shall be the peace of thy children. One of
the things that has frustrated me through the years is when
I begin to lean to myself and my ability to teach sinners of
their need of a Savior. And we beat ourselves to death
when we do that. We frustrate ourselves to death
when we do that. One man cannot reach another
man's heart to teach him of the depravity of his human soul. You can't do it. You try to cram
a doctor in his head. You can't do it. There's only
one that can teach a man of his utter helplessness, and that's
God. There's no teacher like him,
is there? And I come up here tonight and I'm just a means,
I'm just a voice. There's one that can teach us.
I cannot mean God's sin. He must come to your conscience.
He himself must open your understanding to make you feel your need of
Jesus Christ. It is written in the prophets,
they shall all be told of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father, he comes to me. Every man! Even
when God opens a man's heart, He does it with the intention
of bringing that man to the Savior, yes. And I'm telling you there's
never been a time when God opened a sinner's heart that he failed
to bring him to Jesus Christ. That's what a teacher he is.
None can teach like him. And he uses the means of these
poor, hibbity, ugly, bullheaded teachers like myself. And that's
the marvel of it, isn't it? But my voice is talking to you. His voice must talk to you. And
when His voice talks to you, you learn then. You learn then. It goes deeper than the ear,
deeper than the intellect. It reaches the very soul and
spirit of a man. And I cannot stand here tonight
to you, before you, and say, I'm in God's stead. I cannot
do that. He must teach me. Our hearts not only need to be
taught, but we're in need of new hearts. We're in need of
new spirits. None but God can create a clean
heart and renew a right spirit. This people have I farmed for
myself. I farmed them. I farmed them
in their mother's womb and I farmed them new. And I've done it for
my praise. Who can heal the broken heart?
Who can grind up the wounds? Who can revive the spirit in
the midst of trouble? Who can fill a doubtful mind
with assurance? Who can comfort the afflicted
soul? Who can prepare a table in the
presence of our enemies? Who can give us joy unspeakable
in the valley of the shout of death? Who can cheer the heart
like Jesus? And who can open heaven's door
at last and say, come up here? God alone, brothers and sisters,
can do that. God alone can do that. And nobody
can stand and say, I'll be in God's stead. Nobody. Nobody. You and I appreciate the means
that God has given us. We appreciate human instruments.
Thank God for them. But none of them can take God's
place. None of them can be in the stead
of God to us. Old Isaac Watson in his poem
made this statement. To thee we owe our health and
friends, our wealth and safe abode. Thanks to thy name for
meaner things. But they are not our God. Means are not our God. Instaments
are not our God. Sacred causes are not our God.
And they cannot be to us in God's stead. What awful idolaters we
are. I made that statement the other
day and I know some eyes raised and shot looks on people's face. Are we not idolaters? You and
I are awful idolaters. How often are we ready to despair
when we lose some worldly aid or comfort? We go long-faced
and moping as though our life had ended. The winds of providence
blow some stubble out of our life, and we act as though the
throne of God has been moved. My soul, we change political
parties, and we have to change God's. Isn't that awful? A little amusing story, but it's
a true story. A young girl saw her mother weeping
despairingly over the loss of some worldly comfort. And the
little girl asked the question, did God die? Did God die? You would think sometime, wouldn't
you? You would think sometime. William J. made this statement.
How strange would some of our feelings appear if they were
expressed in words The meaning of many of our murmuring and
many of our groans is just this, I have nothing left but God. Oh my goodness, aren't we that
way? Aren't we so earthbound? Aren't
we so much fulfilled with idolatry that we hang on to these things
and we lose these things and we say all I've got left is God? Is He not enough? And someday
we'll lose them all, will we not? Someday we'll lose them
all. I don't know if there'll be any
human instruments in heaven or not. I don't know if there'll
be any second causes in heaven or not. I doubt it. I thank God
that Jesus Christ will so fill up all things there'll be no
room for anything else. May we say with asep, Whom have
I in heaven but thee? There's nobody in heaven that
can stand up and say, I'm here in God's stead. And there is
none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My heart fails
and my flesh fails, but God, not the creature, Not second
causes, not any means, but God is the strength of my heart,
and He alone is all my portion. For how long? Forever. Forever. O gracious Father, Father in
heaven, our great and eternal Lord, thank you for such a I
promise that though you're the Almighty God, you'll stoop and
be our portion forever. What else do we need? What else
could we require? Nothing more but you. Oh, give
us yourself in your eternal fullness, in your saving fullness, And
we'd ask or need nothing else besides. And we cannot understand
this, Lord. It's over our head. But in the
end, we know that we'll lose all and we'll gain all. The Lord will gain you. Oh, we
bless you tonight for such a glorious truth that Jesus Christ is our
all in all. Thank you for this, dear people.
Thank you for establishing this church here. You've established
it, and you must hold it up. And we trust that you will for
your glory. Bind these dear Saint's hearts
together like you've never bound them before. Give them love one
for another. Give them humility. Help each
one to stay low. Help us all to stand in the dust
where we belong and look up to you, our only God and our only
Savior. and we'll praise you for everything.
In Jesus, our Lord's name, amen. Thank you, dear brother. Rex? I bet that's one of the shortest
messages you've heard for a while, isn't it? And that's one of the
shortages I preached for a while. But it's sweet, ain't it? It's sweet together. It's just
amazing to me to come out here in the country and see this many
people gathered to worship the Lord. Just here for one reason,
Archie. Worship Him. How amazing that is. How thankful
I am. We've been without rain up north
for a long time. Our gardens about ready to die
and the grass turning brown. And the Lord gave us a good rain.
Suddenly my heart was just thrilled, but not as much as it is tonight,
to come here and sit with you, showers of blessings, just to
see you folks. God bless you and keep you.