Back to 1 Chronicles chapter
4. Tonight I'm going to be speaking
out of Hebrews chapter 7. And we're going to look at verse
22 where the scripture says that the Lord Jesus is made a surety
of a better testament or a better covenant. That's what we're going
to look at. I've entitled this message, a
prayer for the new year. And this is the first service
of 2009. And I'm saying this without hype.
I hope I'm saying this without hype. I want this to be the best
year of my life. And I want this to be the best
year of our life. While I see no wisdom in New
Year's resolutions up to this point, I've never kept one, I
certainly see an appropriateness in this prayer for this coming
year. And I pray that this will be
the sincere heart's prayer of everybody in this room, this
prayer of Jabez. Now look at verse 10, the last
sentence. It says, and God granted him
that which he requested. There is a God in heaven who
has all power to bless, and he hears prayer and grants requests. Whatever it was that Jabez asked
him, he granted that which he requested. The Lord gave to him
what he asked for. Now this ought to encourage every
one of us to pray. The Lord, God of glory, grants
requests. God, for Christ's sake, actually
hears and answers prayer. Now, the only way you can understand,
and the only way I can understand anything about prayer is to have
some understanding of the gospel. God saves me for one reason. It's not because I believe. It's
not because I repent. It's not because of my doctrinal
understanding. It's not because of anything
in me. It's not because I'm a preacher. God saves me. Why? For Christ's sake. Ephesians
4.32 says, Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Not for your sakes do I
this, saith the Lord. He does this for Christ's sake. Now that gives me some comfort.
God says for Christ's sake. Not only does God say for Christ's
sake, He hears the prayer of every single one of His people
for Christ's sake. I've got a high priest that takes
my prayer, weak as it is, and he presents
it to the Father. And the Father hears my prayer. Isn't that wonderful? God granted
what He requested. Turn with me, hold your finger
there and turn with me to Luke 18. Verse 1. And He spake a parable unto them
to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint, not
to lose heart." Now, I'm in that group, men. Sometimes I love
these real broad terms. I'm one of them. He doesn't just
say that just believers, although believers, you know it's only
a believer whose prayer is heard. But he says, men, men ought always
to pray, and not to lose heart, saying, there was in a city a
judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a
widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of
mine adversary. And he would not for a while,
but afterwards he said within himself, though I fear not God
nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge
her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Evidently this
woman was driving him crazy. She just kept coming. She just
kept coming. She just kept coming. Finally,
all right, what is it you want? Now, our Lord gives us that encouragement
in prayer. I want to be one of these people
who are continually coming, don't you? Prayer is asking the Lord
to do for you what you can't do for yourself. Only He can
do it. That's what prayer is. If I can
take care of it, I don't need to pray about it. But continual
coming. And the Lord said, hear what
the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry, day and night unto him, though he bear long with
them. I love what John Newton said,
come my soul, thy soup prepare. Jesus loves to answer prayer. He himself has bid thee pray,
therefore will not say thee nay. Thou art coming to a king, large
petitions with thee bring, for his grace and power such that
none can ever ask too much. Now, everybody here ought to
be encouraged by this. God granted him what he requested. The living God hears and answers
prayer. Now, who was this man Jabez? Let's go back to our text in
1 Chronicles 24. Well, we know this. The scripture
describes him as being more honorable than his brethren. And if God
says he's more honorable, he's more honorable. Now, not more
intelligent, not better looking, not more gifted, but more honorable. Now, what's this thing about
being more honorable? Well, the Lord said, them that
honor me will I honor. But he that despises me shall
be lightly esteemed." So we know that this man, Jabez, was somebody
who honored the Lord. That's where his honor came from.
The Lord promised, them that honor me will I honor. I want to be somebody that honors
the Lord, don't you? And we see how he honored the Lord in this
prayer. Now look what he says. Verse
9, and Jabez was more honorable than his brethren, and his mother
called his name Jabez. Sorrowful. What a name. Would
you like to have a name like that? What if my name was Sorrowful?
I'd think, boy, you're sorry. Yeah, you are. I mean, that was
his name. Some of the names of scriptures are so interesting. One in Hosea, one fellow's name
was Not Loved. How would you like to have a
name like that? Not Loved. Well, Jabez had a name like that.
Sorrowful. Sorrowful. Jabez knew something about sorrow.
And you know, the wise man said sorrow is better than laughter. For by the sadness of the countenance,
the heart is made better. And this is not talking about
the sorrow of the world, but that godly sorrow that works
repentance not to be repented of. The Bible still says, blessed
are they that what? Mourn. For they shall be This
has something to do with Jabez's sorrow over his sin. You know, sin's a sorrowful thing,
isn't it? But anybody who knows something about the sorrow over
sin also knows something about the grace of God and the blood
of Christ that covers sin. Now, Jabez was more honorable
than his brethren. And he knew something about sorrow. If you
had asked this man, are you a sorry sinner? He would have said, yes.
That's how he viewed himself. But look what he says to the
Lord in verse 10. And Jabez called on the God of
Israel. Now this is what all of God's
people do. They call upon the God of Israel. I love this verse of scripture.
It's found in Romans 10, 13, but it's quoted 12 or 14, 15
times in the scripture. Whosoever, I love that word. Whosoever, I'm one of them. If
it says the elect shall call upon the name of the Lord, that
would be true, but am I one of those? Well, sometimes I believe
I am, sometimes, I know this, I'm a whosoever. So this is a
good word. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." Now you, this is what Jabez did.
This is what all God's people do. They can be identified as
people who call upon the name of the Lord. Whosoever. Now,
thank God for that word. Thank God for that word. You're
one of those. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.
There's the important word. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. That's the person behind the
name. That's not just talking about some kind of religious
formula, some kind of abracadabra. You use Jesus name, everything's
good. No, this is calling upon the person behind the name. When
I call upon His name, I'm calling upon Him who is sovereign to
save me by an act of His will, to give commandment to save me.
I'm calling upon Him who is just to save me by His justice. I'm
calling upon Him who is gracious to save me by His grace. I'm
calling upon Him who is all-powerful to save me by His powerful. I'm
calling on His name. I'm calling on that One who is
behind the name, the Lord God of Israel. The God of the Scriptures. The God of the Bible. That's
the important name. It's not just using this as a
formula, but knowing the person behind the name. I'm calling
upon the God of Israel. I'm saying, Lord, help me. Whosoever
shall call. That's what I'm doing right now.
Lord, help me. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, reveal Yourself
to me. Lord, keep me. Lord, preserve
me. Lord, do something for me. Don't leave me to myself. Lord,
save me. That's a good prayer. Lord, save
me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be. There's a sure word. Lord, You said in Your Word,
whosoever calls upon Your name shall be saved. Well, Lord, I'm
calling. Save me. Look once again at verse 10. And Jabez called on the God of
Israel, saying, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed. My marginal reading says, if
you will. If you will bless me indeed. Now, this is the way everybody
who truly comes to Christ comes. They don't come saying, Lord,
I will that you do this. Lord, I've decided to let you
bless me. Lord, I've decided to let you have mercy on me.
Lord, I've decided to let you forgive me. You know, that's
so offensive. That's ridiculous. I mean, the way people, religious
people talk, it's just so contrary to the gospel. You don't come
into God's presence saying, Lord, I'm going to let you do this,
or Lord, I will that you do this. There's only one who can say
to God, Father, I will, that they whom you've given me be
with me. Where I am only one can come
into God's presence and say, I will that you do this. That's
him who is equal with God because he is God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But every sinner comes into God's presence like this, Lord, if
you will. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
eight. Matthew chapter eight, verse one. When he was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a
leper. And Luke's account tells us that
this man was full of leprosy. And leprosy is the great scriptural
type of sin. This man was full of sin. That's the most accurate description
of this man. He was full of sin. And He comes, and what's He do? He worshipped. He worshipped. Now, I want you to stop for just
a moment. Let's forget about you for just a moment, if that's
possible. Let's forget about me for just
a moment. Is Jesus Christ worthy of worship? without respect to you. If he doesn't save you, if he
doesn't have mercy on you, if he let you go to hell, would
he still be worthy of worship? Now that's how this leper came.
He didn't know whether the Lord was going to heal him or not,
but he knew who he was. And he comes and he worships.
There's where we've got to begin. Not with me and my needs, him
and who he is, he's to be worshipped. He's to be bowed down to, whether
he saves me or not. Do you believe that? This leper
came to him, full of leprosy, full of sin, and he worshipped. saying, Lord. Now, this leper knew this
much. He knew that Jesus Christ was
the Lord. The absolute sovereign of the
universe. The one in whose hands he was. He's the Lord. No man can say
Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now, that doesn't just
mean articulating it. That means really believing that He's Lord. Like the thief. You know, when
the thief was hanging on the cross, and he saw the Lord seemingly
so helpless nailed to a cross, everybody hated him. You know
what that thief knew, though? He knew, this is the Lord. He
said, Lord, remember me. when you come into your kingdom.
He's the Lord. He's the Lord of glory. And this
leper knew that. He knew he was full of leprosy.
And he knew that the Lord was the Lord of glory. And he worshipped
him saying, Lord, and look at the next word, verse two, if
thou wilt. He didn't come to him saying,
Lord, I'm going to let you cleanse me. Lord, I've decided to accept
you as my personal Savior. You know that's the most ridiculous
statement? He's the Savior whether He's your personal Savior or
not. He's the Savior. He's the only Lord. Lord, if
Thou wilt. It's all up to You. I'm in Your
hands. You can save me. You can pass
me by. Whatever You do is right. But if You will, You have all
ability. You're all powerful. If you will,
you can make me clean. That's what I need to be clean.
To be clean before you. It's all up to you. Lord, if
you will. You can. You have all ability
to make me clean. All you have to do is will it.
And I'm clean. Now that's the way Jabez came.
Oh that you would. Oh, if it be your will that you
do this for me. Now let's go back to 1 Chronicles
chapter 4. Now there are four things that
Jabez requests. Now he comes calling upon the
God of Israel. He came to be the only one who
could do anything for him. He understood that. He understood
the gospel. And he comes with the right attitude
and the right demeanor if you will. And that's the way we always
come to the Lord in prayer. Lord, if you will, you can. We
recognize his sovereign will. But look at these four things
he requests in verse 10. He says, oh, if you will, oh,
that you would bless me indeed. Two, oh, that you would enlarge
my coast. Three, that your hand might be
with me. And for that you keep me from
evil, that it might not grieve me. Now, here is the request
of Jabez. And I have no question that this
is an appropriate prayer for the new year for you and me. Oh, that you would bless me indeed. Now, notice that word Indeed. Oh that you would bless me indeed. Jabez tells us that he wants
God's actual blessing. Oh that you would bless me indeed. Jabez realized that there's the
things that the world would count a blessing that may not be a
blessing indeed. For instance, the world wants
more financial prosperity. The world wants more health.
You know, you may have those things and be under the curse
of God. I want what God considers His blessing, not His curse,
but His blessing. You can have all this world considered
desirable and enjoyable and be under God's curse. You tell me,
who is under God's blessing? Lazarus, who had the dog's lick
at his sores, or the rich man who fared sumptuously clothed
in purple and fine linen? Which one had God's blessing?
Lazarus did. I want to be blessed indeed.
Not just what the world considers blessings. I want what God calls
his blessing. Oh, that you'd bless me indeed.
Now I have no doubt when he said bless me indeed, what he first
was talking about was God's spiritual blessings. God's spiritual blessings. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Hold your finger there in 1 Chronicles. Now here's God's
blessing. You know, people talk about,
oh, bless me, bless me. Well, let's see what God's blessing
is. Verse 3. Paul says, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Now, there's
the blessings he's speaking of, these spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, here's the first one he
mentions, "...according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world." Now, the first blessing he mentions
is his election. You know what my response is
to election? Oh, let me be one of them. Let
me be one of those ones found in the Lamb's Book of Life. You
say, what if I'm not elected? Well, what if you are? What if
you are? Lord, let me be counted in that
number that you chose before time began to be saved. I tell
you what, when people start arguing with election, they're skating
on thin ice. The only hope you've got is that
God chose you. Because if He didn't choose you, you'll go
to hell. You'll reject Him. What a blessing to be elected
of God, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. There's sanctification. And without blame, there's justification. If I'm justified, that means
I don't have any guilt. I'm without blame. Before Him,
in love having predestinated us, there's God's blessing. In
love having predestinated us under the adoption of children,
being God's adopted child, by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us. He hath made us. Do you get
that language? He hath made us. Accepted in
the Beloved. Is that a blessing? to be accepted
by God, to be received, to be embraced by God in the beloved,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the revelation of himself, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. If you believe the gospel, God
has revealed to you the mystery of His will. According to His
good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are in earth,
even in Him, in whom we've also obtained an inheritance. Oh,
what an inheritance we have, being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Those are spiritual blessings. Let me show you another
spiritual blessing. Turn with me to Romans chapter
four. I love this passage of scripture. Romans chapter four. Verse six, even as David also
describeth the blessedness, you get that word, the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness. without works,
saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. whose sins are covered, covered
in the blood of Christ. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now there's a divine blessing.
That's a blessedness I want. I want this blessing. I want
my sin to be charged to Christ. I want his righteousness to be
charged to me. What a blessing that is. And
Jabez said, Oh, that you'd bless me indeed. But we're physical creatures,
and we ask for physical blessings, and we're taught to. We're taught
to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Now I want the Lord
to bless me in every way I can be blessed. Oh, bless me indeed. Bless me in my job, that I might
be enabled to do whatever it is God's called me to do for
His glory, for Him to supernaturally enable me to do well for His
glory, That He'll help me and rain His blessings upon me in
whatever sphere I'm in. I want His blessing, don't you?
I want Him to bless me as a parent. I want Him to bless me as a spouse.
I want Him to bless me as a father. I want Him to bless me in my
home life. You know, the Lord said to Abraham, I'll bless thee,
and thou shalt be a blessing. I want to be a blessing, don't
you? I covet the Lord's blessing. And with regard to everything
we ask for, when we say, bless me, we say, if it be thy will. If it be thy will. I love the
story of a woman who was dying. And some of her friends came
up to her, and they knew she was dying, and they said, well,
what do you want? Do you want to live or do you
want to die? Because this woman had the full assurance of salvation
in Christ. And her friend said, do you want
to live or do you want to die? And she said, well, whatever
the Lord's will is, that's what I want. And the person said,
well, I know that, but if you had what you wanted, what would
you get? And she said, well, I'll ask
the Lord what he wants, and that's what I want. Whatever the Lord's
will is. Thy will be done. Whatever that is, but Lord bless
me. Oh, bless me indeed. Can you
pray that? Oh Lord, if it be your will,
bless me. Bless me indeed. Now here's the
second thing that he asked for in our text. He said, oh Lord, if you will,
Enlarge my coasts. Now, upon the surface, that means
give me more land. Give me more property. Give me
more influence and so on. And I'm sure that was involved
in his prayer. But much more than this. Enlarge
my coasts. Now, what are coasts? Well, the
coast is where the sea comes and stops. It's a boundary. It
can go so far and go no further. A borderline. I've got this land
that I can go this far and I'm not allowed to go past that because
it's another country. It's a border. It's actually
a coast is a limitation. It's a boundary. And this is
the way I'm looking at this passage of scripture. I realized he had
involved, give me more land or give me a bigger yard or whatever.
But what he means more than anything else is enlarge my boundaries,
my limitations, my coastline. Now I've got some boundaries.
I've got some limitations that I can't get past no matter what
I do. It's the limitations of my sinful,
evil nature. I've got limitations. You know,
our Lord said in John chapter six, verse 44, no man can come
to me. He lacks the ability. He can't
get past his limitations. No man can come to me. And that's
the simplest act of spiritual life, coming to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But our Lord said, no man can come to me. He lacks the ability to come
to me, except the Father which has sent me, draw him. Now I've
got these limitations. By nature, I can't believe. The idea of free will is ludicrous. It's ridiculous. It's not taught
in the scripture. Your will is bound by your nature.
I can't believe. I can't love. I can't repent. These are beyond my ability. And I say, Lord, enlarge my coasts. Enable me to believe. The only
way I'm going to believe is if you enable me to believe. Give
me faith. Enable me to believe. Lord, give me... You come to
Christ for faith. You know, I don't come to Christ
with my faith. I come to Him for faith. Give
me faith. I can't come up with the faith. Give me repentance. Give me love. Whatever it is
you require, give it to me. Expand my borders. Enlarge my
borders. Enlarge my coasts. Enlarge my
love to you and my love to others. Enlarge my love, joy, peace,
long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Enlarge my ability to forgive
and enlarge my ability to forget. Enlarge me to esteem others as
better than myself. Enlarge me to rejoice in what
you do for and in others. Enlarge my submission. Enlarge
my humility. Enlarge my meekness. Enlarge
my contentment. Enlarge my faithfulness. Enlarge
my zeal. Enlarge me as a servant. Enlarge
me as a friend. Enlarge my capacity to not be
judgmental. Enlarge my capacity to be merciful. Enlarge me as a spouse. Enlarge
me as a parent. Enlarge my thoughtfulness. Enlarge
my generosity. Enlarge my coasts. I've got such
narrow coasts. And the only way they're going
to be enlarged is if the Lord enlarges them. So I'm praying,
Lord, enlarge my coasts. I've got these limitations. I've
got these boundaries. I hate them. And the only way
I can go beyond these limitations is if you're pleased to enlarge
these boundaries for me. So this is our prayer. Lord,
enlarge my coasts. Don't you want the Lord to enlarge
your coasts? And then he says thirdly in our
text, Oh, that you'd bless me indeed.
Oh, that you'd enlarge my coast. And that thy hand might be with
me. Now here he is asking for the
Lord's presence. Oh, that your hand might be with
me. The light of your countenance.
Now to a believer, this is so. I know this is so. To a believer,
heaven would be hell without the Lord Jesus Christ. And to
a believer, hell would be heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let your hand be with me. I can't
even express how I need his presence. I tell you what, his presence
was everything. when He stood for me before the foundation
of the world as my surety and agreed to be my Savior when the
Father gave Him to me. His presence was everything.
His presence on the cross, that's everything in my salvation
when He put away my sin. His presence is my great intercessor,
even right now, representing me before the Father. His presence
is my salvation. I tell you what I'm really going
to understand is, is on Judgment Day, how I'm going to need His
presence on Judgment Day when I'm called to stand before God.
Oh, let Your presence be with me. To the believer, Christ's
presence is everything. I was sitting in our living room
today, not today, but it was this week, and most of you know
we've got a dog named Kiwi, a little black poodle. And those poodles,
their caregiver is the one who's their master. A dog can only
have one master, can't have two, only has one. And Lynn is Kiwi's
master. She follows Lynn, wherever she
goes, whatever room she's in, she follows her. She's always
just following her. And one time this week, Lynn walked out the
door to go over to her dad's house across the street. And
I watched Kiwi get up on the chair and just look out the window
and watch Lynn. And she went in the house and she didn't move.
She waited for her to come back out. And I thought, man, that
dog's life is Lynn. That's it. All she cares about
is Lynn. And I thought, there's where
I want to be. Wouldn't you be blessed to have
that? Christ is my life. That's it. I don't have any other
life aside from that. I was thinking of that story
Charles Pennington tells. He was out hunting and he came
across a dog out in the woods and it was in a trap. had his
leg caught in a trap, and he thought, well, I'll try to set
that dog free. And he got close to that dog to try to open up
the trap to let his leg out, and the dog started trying to
bite him. I mean, you know, it was scared, it was wounded, and he
said, so I took, I found a fork stick, and I took that thing
down and held that dog's neck down so it couldn't bite me.
I just held it down forcefully. It's a good-sized dog, and opened
up that trap and let it go, and then got back to where the dog
couldn't get to me. He said, I watched it limp off.
And I commenced to hunting and all of a sudden I saw behind
me that dog following me. He said, you know what? That
dog followed me to the day it died. Now that is what I want to be. Lord, let your presence be with
me so that I might follow thee all the way to the end. Now here's the fourth request
in our text. Oh, that thou would keep me from
evil, that it might not grieve me, that it might not vex me. Now in this request, It presupposes some understanding
of the fact, Jabez is saying, I'm evil. I'm evil. You know, when the Lord said
to his disciples, he said this to his disciples, he wasn't talking
to unbelievers. He said this to his disciples. He said, if
you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall the heavenly father give the Holy spirit to
them that ask him. Now you reckon any of them said,
what's he talking to us like that for? No, if the Lord says,
if you then being evil, you know exactly what he's saying, don't
you? Now, this request presupposes some understanding of this thing
of being evil. Lord, I'm so evil that if I'm
tempted, I will fall. I can't stand before temptation. And here's the question, here's
the request I've got. Don't even let me be tempted.
Keep me from evil. Put a hedge about me because
I know I'll fail if I'm tested. I know it. I'll fall every time.
I can't stand before it. Put a hedge about me. Keep me
from evil. Now isn't that what our Lord
taught us to pray? Deliver us from temptation. Deliver us from
evil. We can't stand before it. And
so here's, I know enough about myself to know this, the only
thing that's going to prevent me from doing whatever it is
can be done, is for Him to keep me, to put a hedge around me,
and to keep me from evil. Now is this a prayer, a good
prayer for the new year? Oh Lord, bless me indeed. And Lord, enlarge my coasts. And Lord, let your hand be with
me. May I have your presence. And
Lord, keep me from evil. That's not only a prayer for
the new year, that's a prayer for every day. May God enable
us to pray this prayer. Now we're going to have a baptism
now. Jim and Pam Murphy are going to confess Christ in Believer's
Baptism. They've been here about a year
and a half now, and I've known them for several years, but I
was just so thrilled when they said they were.