Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #37 of Genesis, chapter 24, and we are reading Genesis 24:48:

And I bowed down my head, and worshipped JEHOVAH, and blessed JEHOVAH God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son.

We have been spending some time in this verse, looking in an overall way at the Bible’s “right way.”  The Bible stands out among the world’s religions and philosophies and everything else in the world as “the way.”  The Bible itself is the right way, compared to everything else in this world. 

But there are all kinds of people that use the Bible.  The Jews use the Old Testament.  Muslims refer to the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Christian churches refer to the Bible and they say they follow it, but it is not enough to know that the Bible is the right way.  You must know the right teaching of the Bible or the right doctrine.  You must know the right path as you read the Bible because we know there are many different doctrines, teachings and understandings of practically every verse in the Bible.  Over here, these people say one thing and you turn over there, and there is another group of people that say another thing.  You know, Satan was extremely active in doing what he specializes in, which is sowing doubt: “Hath God said?”  Right from the beginning he has been busy coming against the truth of the Word of God, raising up tares in the churches and congregations to high levels of authority.  Whenever the true Gospel was shared in the day of salvation upon the hearts of men, along would come Satan, trying his best to snatch away the seed.

Today there is a sea of falsehood or an ocean of falsehood, and we all know how wide and deep the oceans are, and, yet, the true Gospel is out there like a little spot of water in the ocean.  How can anyone ever find it?  How can anyone find that “right way” when there are such incredible numbers of wrong ways?  The “broad way” is defined as all these wrong ways, and that is why it is so easy to go the way that leads to destruction.  It is nigh impossible to go the “right way” or even find it today.  It was only by the grace of God, given the circumstances we find ourselves in at the end of the world, and given that all churches have been apostate since 1988, and given that most ministries have some identification with those apostate churches, and given the fact that the electronic medium opened up the air waves to radio stations and opened up the internet with all the social media sites used by groups to send forth their varied understandings of the Gospel, it is just a wondrous thing that God led His elect people to turn the dial to Family Radio back in the days when that ministry was faithful and when Mr. Camping was alive and teaching.  There was that one radio station, and that radio station was not even in all cities, states or countries, so we were being greatly blessed. 

And God showed us how He could work within that “sea of falsehood.”  I can see how God worked in my life and how He positioned me as He worked in my life through alcohol rehab in the Navy.  They sent me through a rehabilitation program, and going to a 12-step program group.  As part of the steps to recovery, they encouraged you to “seek a higher power,” however an individual might understand God, which caused me to be open to the idea of a God.  Then later when I got out of the Navy and got a job, I was driving somewhere and I was playing with the (radio) dial, and I came across Family Radio.  I had been prepared by God to listen, because it fit in with the whole idea of “God as you understand Him.”  I thought, “Well, I need help not to drink, so let me listen.”  From that point on and for many, many years, that was the opening of the door way and the opening to the “right way” of God that the Bible proclaims.  I began to hear the truth for the first time in my life, about everything.  Yes – everything – because the world lies about everything.  It is all a sham.  It is all “flashing lights” and people talking about things they know nothing about.  The world thinks it knows a lot, and it knows nothing at all.

Then, finally, I heard truth, after years in the world, about marriage and divorce or about where the world came from – not from evolution, but God created it; He simply spoke, and it came into existence.   I heard the truth concerning why people are so bad.  We can perceive this on the one hand, but we do not think about it because everyone in the world says, “Oh, people are basically good.”  But then we hear the Bible, which says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”  Then we put two and two together, and we think, “Oh, that is why even people I thought were good can do these bad things and say these horrible things, and it why I have done bad things when I had thought I was basically a good person.”  The Bible told me about myself and about mankind, and about the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.  It told me that this life is only temporary, which everyone knows but does not talk about because there is a deep-down fear of death in the world.  It is a taboo subject and you cannot really discuss it.  You just keep it far from you. unless you are forced to face it through a death in the family or a death close by.  Then you try to handle it all as quickly as you can over the course of a few days or a week and, again, you put it far away from you.

But the Bible had all the answers.  And it revealed an eternal future of true life and blessings for evermore, but to get there you must follow a narrow way.  You have to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.  You cannot get there if you follow your own pathway and your own will, like the famous song, “I Did It My Way.”  You will not get there.  It is the way that Jesus described in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  It is very exclusive.  It is not inclusive.  It is not through every religion.  It is not fine for the Buddhist.  It is not fine for the Muslim. It is not fine for the Jewish religion.  It is not fine for agnostics and atheists, as long as he is basically a good person: “You love people.  You will get to heaven.  We will all get to heaven.”  Lies.  Lies.  Lies.  Only the Bible tells the truth.  Only the Bible is that “right way,” and the Bible tells us that the right way is a narrow way.

We looked at that narrow way in the last study, and we saw that the Greek word translated as “narrow” is also a word that can be translated as “afflicted” or “troubled.”  We looked at a couple of verses where it was translated as “troubled,” and it said, “…troubled on every side,” and that is a good description of the “narrow way.”  There is no leeway or flexibility to expand that way to make it easier.  If you go left, you are in trouble.  If you go right, you are in trouble.  You must go “straight on,” turning neither to the right or to the left.  We must keep our eyes straight ahead, following the Lord Jesus Christ.

We also saw the word for “narrow” was also translated as “suffer tribulation” in 1Thessalonians 3:3-4.  We saw there that it said, “we are appointed thereunto,” and I want to go back there and read it, in 1Thessalonians 3:3-4:

That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.

We are appointed unto affliction.  Again, the two words – afflictions and tribulation – are translations of the word translated as “narrow,” so we can take that definition back to our verse in Matthew 7:14:

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

We can insert that definition from 1Thessalonians: “Because strait is the gate, and suffering tribulation is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”  This is why God says in Ephesians 3:13:

Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you…

And the word is plural here, and one reason it is plural is a very important reason, because we have learned there are two tribulations at the time of the end of the world.  There was the Great Tribulation, which was the judgment on the churches.  When we read of “tribulation,” it is a judgment.  So there was the Great Tribulation on the churches, followed by judgment on the world or tribulation on the world, which is a “recompense of tribulation” to Satan and his kingdom (as typified by Babylon) for their role in bringing destruction on the churches and congregations of the world. 

So this is the most grievous time of a grievous existence in this world, as the whole history of the world could be classified as grievous because the world has seen corruption.  Mankind has been in rebellion against God, and God’s people have had their righteous souls vexed in every generation.  There has never been just a “wonderful, beautiful, flowery time” for God’s people as we have lived in this world.  It has always been relatively grievous, varying in degree, but at the time of the end the grievous nature of life in this world has increased tremendously because it was the time of judgment on the churches during the Great Tribulation.  The Greek for “Great Tribulation” is “megas-thlipsis,” and remember that word “thlipsis” is the word translated as “tribulation,” which is related to the word “narrow.”  It is Strong’s #2347 and the word “narrow” is Strong’s #2346.  Then came the transition to judgment on the world and a follow-up tribulation of recompence or repayment.  So God’s people are being worn down and troubled on every side, because the entryway, portal or “the way” into life is tribulation, as the Bible tells us in Acts 14:22: “…we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

So that entryway into eternal life, joy, peace and happiness is close at hand and, therefore, the way seems even more narrow, more constricted, more trying and, really, more horrible, for the people of God, so God says, “…faint not at my tribulations for you.”   We ought not to faint.  That was the encouragement presented in one of Christ’s parables in Luke 18:1-5:

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 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 afterward 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.

Here in this verse, it is important to look at the Greek text because it says, “by her continual coming she weary me,” and this relates back to verse 1 where it says that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”  You see, if this woman would have stopped coming to the judge to present her petition, it would have been like “fainting.”  Basically, that is the Biblical definition of “fainting.”  It is to “give up” and to not endure to the end, turning away from right doctrine.  And what is right doctrine?  It is the doctrine of Christ, and it is “the way.”  It would be to turn back from the way because it is too hard, too painful and too grievous.  A person who is upon that road is certain to feel the hurt and to shed tears because of “the way.”  It is a difficult road to travel and, therefore, the temptation is always there.  It has always been there, but it has increased greatly in our time regarding the temptation to turn back.  But if you turn back, that is not going the right way.   The way to the kingdom of God is always presented in the Bible as forward: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” it tells us in Philippians.   When one goes back, it is  as the Jews in the wilderness desired to go back to Egypt; or as Lot’s wife wished to go back to Sodom as she looked back from behind him.  When we put our hand to the plow, but then turn backward, that is the way of the world.  It is the way that leads to destruction and, therefore, “turning back” is part of the broad way.  And that is really the appeal, the perverted attraction that a sinner is attracted to.  And since we are still in the flesh, even a truly saved individual may have some attraction to “going back” or opposition to the things the Word declares, and just giving up.  Going back to the world or going back to the church are one and the same, and so is going back from doctrine and going back to an easier time of things.  That is the appeal, and it is constant pressure. 

We are all aware of it.  And do you know what?  We experience these things because we identify with the truth of the Word of God, who is Christ and, therefore, we are suffering for His name sake:  “If I cease to identify with that truth and I just go away from it, then I will not suffer in that way.”  And that is probably right.  Actually, I am sure you would be right, and you will not suffer in this world to the degree that you are suffering.   It would be much easier, and that is why it is a “broad way.”  It is wide and fits all kinds of people, and all kinds of people are traveling that way.  There is plenty of room in that direction, but that is not the way that leads to life.  The Bible is very clear: the broad way leads to destruction.  So you can go “back to Egypt” if you want and return to your former life to some degree, but you will always be haunted in some ways by the knowledge you once had.  You will try to forget it.  You probably may be one of those that turn hostile toward the elect who continue to go on the narrow road because you have to justify your decision, and those people are reminding you that there is “the way,” so to justify your wrong, you have to lash out at them.  But you can probably find some pleasure in sin for what remains of this season of life, if you want to call it that, during this period of existence as you endure in this world for a while until you are finally destroyed.  And that destruction is certain to come.  The Biblical evidence is pointing to the year 2033, but who wants to think about that if you are going back?  You can have “relief” of sorts, and you can have a little ease as you get away from it all and feel part of the world, once again, and the fellowship of man.  But you lose fellowship with Christ and His suffering.  You lose fellowship with God.  You lose your part in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  You lose eternal life, eternal blessings, eternal happiness and eternal joy.  In other words, you lose everything that truly matters or that has any value or worth.

And that is our situation.  And, of course, this is why God’s elect people who have been given eyes to see and wisdom cannot help but see the situation for what it is, and we say, “To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”   You see, we cannot go back.  We cannot do anything but to move forward, no matter how difficult the next step may be, and no matter how hard and painful.  God will lead us, and He is with us.  And He is actually moving us ever forward, to continue on until the end.  And we will make it to the end, by God’s grace and through His will.

And that is the point here in Luke 18:5:

Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

And the Greek word translated as “continual coming” should really be translated as “unto the end.”  By her coming unto the end, she weary me.  You see, God’s people faint not.  We are tempted to faint all the time, but we faint not because God is upholding us, and He will not allow us to faint, which would mean to give up and go back the other way, or to go on one of these numerous pathways on the broad way.  We cannot, and will not.

Sometimes, intermittently, we recognize that although the way is hard, it is a good way.  It is a good way.  It is good that I have been afflicted, that I might learn to cling to God’s Word, and that I might learn more about the goodness, the comfort, the strength and the encouragement that God’s Word has provided me all through this long journey.