Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #41 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.

I will stop reading there.  We have been looking at “the right way” of God or the right way of the Bible, who is Christ.  Christ is the Word and the Word is the whole Bible, so the whole Bible is the way.

As we pointed out, just having a Bible does not mean you are going the right way.  You are doing well if you have a Bible, but there is the matter of reading it with eyes of understanding.  That cannot be done unless God has willed it because, verily, He is a God that hides Himself from the unsaved sinner.  It was only when God would reveal Himself to one of His elect by opening that person’s eyes and placing His Holy Spirit within him, which indwells that individual from that point forward.  Now that person can follow the right way of the Bible because the Bible, which is likened to a lamp, can be understood because the Holy Spirit is the oil that lights the lamp so the individual can see.  He then begins to understand doctrine, which is truth.  This is what comparing Scripture with Scripture produces – it is a teaching.  And God can teach on this matter and that matter, and then that elect child of God can begin to follow Christ.  This is what it means to, “take up your cross, and follow me,” by following what the Bible says.  And one step after another, we travel the road, and as we travel that road we see the road constricting and narrowing, and we are soon forced to make decisions regarding whether to go the way of God or to go the way of the world, which is all the other ways outside of the way of God.

For example, it may be that you are single, and you meet a woman.  You are attracted to her and interested in her, and you may be thinking that you want to marry her, but you find out she is divorced.  Now the narrow way demands that you depart from her: “I am sorry.  We cannot marry.  I have to leave this relationship.”  Of course, the way of the world would be to consider everything else: “She is so nice.  She is so sweet.  Everybody loves her.”  They come with their particular understandings, but it is a test.  It is always a test, and the testing ground is the Bible. 

Now if you do go the way of God on that point, then you may have some people in your family that begin to look at you in a different way.  Or, it is Sunday and someone you are close to wins some tickets at work to a baseball or football game, and the team is doing well; they are in first place and everyone wants to go see this game.   They ask you, “Come on! Let us go to the game.  I have two tickets that I won.”  You say, “Oh, great!  When is it?”  They say, “It is on Sunday at 1:00.”  And, again, immediately you are faced with the “way of God” compared to the way of the world.  The world sees no problem with it.  It is a day off.  It is a day for recreation.  It is a day to enjoy yourself and have some fun.  But the Bible says to turn your foot from God’s holy day.  It is not a day for fun and games, for relaxation, for shopping, for cutting the grass or for doing other work.  It is a day to be set aside for spiritual activities like reading the Bible, praying, sharing Bible tracts, and so forth.  So, again, the elect child of God must say, “I am sorry.  I cannot go.  That is the Lord’s Day.  That is Sunday, and I spend the day with God.”

But then there is going to be another incident because the family is going to start to talk and to worry about you because every time you go “the right way” it shines a light on the darkness of the world.  You know, the world has long thought the light had been extinguished, and it was extinguished in the churches and everywhere else in society, but here is a reminder, a “spark of light” that is making them feel uncomfortable.  It may not happen right away, but over time the reaction will be hostility.  They will be contrary to you, and they will look for fault in you and try to accuse you of wrongdoing: “Oh, he thinks he is so righteous and holy.”  And they will look more carefully and closely at you to see what fault they can find.   Then they will show you that you are not that righteous and holy, as they present your error to you.  “You know, you said this, but you did that.”  So we find ourselves having to walk even more circumspectly and carefully because their eyes are upon us.  And this is the way of God – it is the right way.  It is a good way.  It is the best way, and there is no other way that leads unto life.  There is no other way that gives God glory and is thankworthy.  Every way is full of suffering, but this is the only way where the suffering is thankworthy, and we can feel good about it.  Every other way is suffering for evil doing, and we cannot feel good about that if it is our own fault for doing wrong and sinning, and then having the consequence of suffering.  But not so regarding “the way” of following the Word of God, if we are suffering for Christ’s sake, for righteousness’ sake, or for the Bible’s sake.  This is our comfort in our affliction and, yet, we continue by God’s grace as His Spirit moves us along steadfastly.  We cannot go back.  God’s people might momentarily turn back, but they will not go back.  God’s people will not go back because He will lead them forward to the high calling of the Lord Jesus Christ, and into the eternal kingdom.

We have seen that the way of truth is evil spoken of, and this is typical of the lot of the Lord’s people while living in this world.  We read in 2Peter 2 of those that are false prophets or false believers because they are not truly saved, but they go by the name of God and call themselves “Christians.”  It says in 2Peter 2:10-12:

But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

You see, the way is evil spoken of by these natural-minded men.  They do not understand the true Gospel.  Why do they not understand?  They do not understand because of the reason the Lord Jesus declared in Matthew 13, a chapter that is very eye-opening concerning how God wrote the Bible.  It says in Matthew 13:10-13:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

So Christ spoke in parables, and only His people, the elect, understand them: “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.”  And this would apply to the majority of Israel at that time and also to the majority of professed Christians in the New Testament church age era and after.  They do not understand due to the fact that it has not been given them.  And 2Peter 2:12 explained that they “speak evil of the things that they understand not.” 

For example, the Lord opened up understanding to His people about Matthew 24 and what it means when you see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place, and what it means in the verses that come after that when it says, “Then let those that be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”  It is a mystery.   It is parabolic language, with Judaea representing the churches, the mountains representing the kingdom of God, the abomination of desolation representing Satan and the holy place being the churches.   So at the time of the end when we see these things with eyes of faith (not with our physical eyes), then it was time to flee the churches (Judaea) and go to God by going to the Bible or His Word (the mountains).  Then those that are proclaiming the Gospel (on the housetop) were not to go down into the churches (the house).  And those that were out in the field (the world) were not to turn back to the churches to get their garment; that is, they were not to be concerned with church-approved righteousnesses like partaking of the Lord’s Table as sanctioned by the churches and being water-baptized by the churches, and have their blessing.  Forget all those “garments.”  Stay out in the field.  You see, these things must be spiritually discerned.  There must be an understanding of the mysteries of the parables of Christ, as He spoke in parables, and without a parable He did not speak.

But it was not given to them.  And when we read in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah, it is one long parable that details the destruction of the churches under the wrath of God, and the coming out of God’s people from the churches and their going out into the world, and so forth.  And, yet, it is completely misunderstood and missed by the natural-minded people that populate the churches and congregations of the world.  The conclusions arrived at in the spiritual discernment of the Lord’s people as God directed us into truth by His Holy Spirit and opened our eyes to the mysteries of the kingdom regarding the end of the church age are spoken against.   So easily spoken against.  “What heresy,” they charge, “to dare to say that God would destroy His church and end the church age, and even turn it over to Satan.  Blasphemy!”  You know, they pronounce their “bulls and edicts” against the Lord’s people, and they speak evil of us, saying, “These people that have come out of the churches are going to destruction.  They are heretics!  It is all heresy!” 

Do you see how God has warned us?  It is typical.  It is typical, and it is nothing out of the ordinary.  There is no testing or temptation that has taken us that has not been before us.  They speak evil of things that they understand not.  It says the same thing in Jude 1:9:

Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Even Christ (who is called Michael here, the Chief Messenger) did not speak evil of Satan and the fallen angels, even though if any deserved to be spoken evil of, it is them.   However, the professed Christians in the churches have no problem with speaking evil of those they deem “heretic.”  It goes on to say in Jude 1:10-11:

But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

Notice it says they have gone “in the way of Cain,” not in the way of Christ.   You see, they were going the broad way or ways other than the narrow way of Christ.  They speak evil of things they know not, including the truths and doctrines that the Lord kept in reserve until the time of the end and then opened up over the course of the Great Tribulation and now into the Day of Judgment.  Each one must be spiritually discerned, a mystery revealed and given to the people of God to know.  It is why it said in Daniel 12:10: “…and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”   None of the wicked will understand.  They will not understand Christ having made payment for sin at the foundation of the world, and not at the cross.  They will not understand the true teaching of hell as annihilation and not some place of eternal torment.  They will not understand the judgment of God on 100% of the churches and how He called out His people.  They will not understand the spiritual judgment that came on May 21, 2011.  They will not understand the timeline of history and how it is such a great help to the people of God to know where we are, at the very edge of this world.  They will understand none of these things because it has not been given to them. 

They do not understand and, yet, they “perceive” some things, just like the Pharisees when Christ would speak a parable and they would not understand the parable itself, but they would perceive it was spoken against them.  And that is what the churches perceive.  They do not perceive the truth of these things, but they just perceive that these things are against them.  Why?  It is because every time a truth comes forth and the Lord’s people say, “Hey, look at this verse here and this verse over there, and how this other verse support it and another verse strengthens it.”  They cannot speak against it because we are going to the Bible, but the conclusion is what they speak against because they do not know how we arrived at it, and they do not understand the principle of comparing spiritual with spiritual and the Holy Ghost teaches.  They do not understand the way that God has written His Word and how His people arrive at truth.  They understand none of these things, but they perceive enough for it to be troubling to them.  They know we are serious Bible students and we are constantly referring to the Bible and talking about things they just cannot grasp in their understanding, so it causes them deep-down concern about their own situation with God.  So they lash out.  They cannot lash us with literal “stripes” like they did to the Apostle Paul, but they lash out with their tongues, and they speak evil of “that way.”   They speak evil of things they do not understand, know, nor can know.  It has been going on for centuries – even millenniums – and it is still going on today.  There is nothing out of the ordinary or unusual when we see that God’s people are spoken evil of, because it has been happening throughout the history of the world.

Let us look at Proverbs 28 where we find a very enlightening verse.  It says in Proverbs 28:5:

Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek JEHOVAH understand all things.

Here, we can look at the word “judgment” in a couple of different ways.  On one hand, it is a synonym for the Word of God, and evil men understand not the Word of God.  Secondly, it relates to the judgment of God as He comes in judgment, and we can see this all over the Bible.  When God brings judgment, those that simply profess to be his people are often unaware and ignorant of that very judgment, as it says in Jeremiah 8:7:

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of JEHOVAH.

How can they not know it?  It is because they are evil.  They are only God’s people by name, like the people in the Old Testament that had lineage to Abraham, but they had desperately wicked hearts.  They had hearts of stone from which evil gushed out because they had never been changed.  They are evil men because they know not the judgment of JEHOVAH.  Evil men understand not the judgment of God and, as a result, they speak evil of the true judgment of God.  They spoke against Jeremiah who declared the Word God gave him to speak as He put words in his mouth to go and tell the rebellious house these things.  The Lord did the same thing with Ezekiel: “Speak unto this rebellious people and declare that God is judging them and will turn them over to the king of Babylon and to a nation whose tongue they would understand not.”   And they understood it not.  They refused it.  They would not believe it, and they persecuted the prophets of God, the men that were declaring the right way of God and the proper judgment of God against an evil people that had gone astray from that right way.  So they afflicted Jeremiah and cast him into a dungeon.  They have done these things to God’s people all down through history and right up until today.  Nothing has changed at all.

When the Lord Jesus Christ came and beheld the city of Jerusalem, remember that it says in Luke 19:41-42:

And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known…

Why did they not know?  “Evil men understand not judgment,” or “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” and so on.  Again, it says in Luke 19:42-44:

Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

They knew not the judgment, and they knew not the time, which is completely opposite of God’s people: “A wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.”  But the wicked or evil man seeks to cover his sin with a profession of faith and seeks to cover his iniquities and transgressions because he has been (water) baptized, but it means nothing.  He partakes of the Lord’s Table.  So what?  He sings hymns.  Wonderful, but it has not changed his heart.  He professes belief and confesses the Bible and, yet, he speaks against what that Bible declares.  He is in opposition to the truth of the Word of God and, therefore, he is in opposition to Christ Himself and to the right way of God.  These evil men are constantly against it, and they do not even know it.  They do not know the judgment.  They do not know the time.  They do not know that they are enemies, like God told the Samuel the prophet: “…they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.”  It was not just that they speak evil of Christ’s messengers and despise them, but what did Jesus say in Luke 10:16:

He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

It always goes back to God, the sender of His people and the sender of His Word.  And it is that Word that is rejected by natural-minded men in whom is not the Spirit of God and, therefore, they are the enemies of God.  And God has acted in our time and He has put away those people.  He has broken His relationship with them and ended His relationship with all the churches and congregations in the world.  But God is still with His people, however, and He will continue to be with us and direct our course.  And God’s people continue to follow, although the days are very hard and grievous, but, we, by God’s grace, we continue to follow the right way of the Bible.