THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST
[p. 464] THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST
One has to seek to do the work of an evangelist, without assuming to be one. The service of grace is to continue while the Holy Spirit remains here and while the Lord sits upon the Father’s throne. Presently He will sit upon His own throne, what is called by Himself “the throne of his glory”, Matthew 25:31, when all the nations will be gathered before Him and He will judge them. Then afterwards He will be seen on another throne, called “the great white throne”, when all the dead will stand before Him to be judged. He has now taken up His position on the Father’s throne and thence is carrying on this wonderful service, which we may call the service of grace, that is, a service in which He waits on men in this world; not, indeed, that He is here personally, but He is here mediately, He is here in others, for it is said that He “came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh”, Ephesians 2:17. That preaching was through others.
This throne speaks of mercy for all, for the word of the Lord, ere He sat down upon it, in His commission to the twelve, was that repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem; that service is in progress, and happy he who is employed in it, and happy they who are the beneficiaries of it.
It is a glorious day for you, a day which the Scriptures call “the day of salvation”; a year which the Scriptures call “the acceptable year of the Lord”, (Luke 4:19) so that I have the great honour to present to you the grace of God as it is in Christ. It is available for you. Repentance is offered to you. It is said of Esau that he found no place for repentance. The time is [p. 465] coming when those who are now rejecting or neglecting or despising this wonderful proposal shall have no opportunity to make up for lost time, when the Lord shall have arisen, when the Master of the house shall have arisen and shut to the door. That is final! There is no change, the door is “shut to”. Some shall come and knock. They may have been employed as church missionaries; others may have been converted through them as they spoke of Christ; they shall seek admission, but He from within shall say, “I never knew you”, Matthew 7:23.
Think of that! They may have been known in this world; statues may have been erected to them; their names may have appeared in the gazettes of the world, but the Lord says, “I never knew you”, Matthew 7:23. Think of that awful word. What about you? Doubtless you are known in your own little circle; you have a reputation. Naturally we all love to have that; we begin to establish that from the very outset — that we might have a name of some kind and we are ever bent on enhancing it. But the word from within is this, whatever you may have here, whatever reputation, or honour, or dignity, unless you bow the knee to Christ, unless you are a repentant sinner, unless a believer in Him, that He does not know you; He will tell you so, and, not only that, but He will tell you to depart: “Depart from me”. He will say then, “all ye workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:27) — “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin”, Romans 14:23. You may think you are doing good works; the Lord takes no account of them, they are not acceptable, they are sin if they are not of faith.
Now alongside of that I would urge on any one who has not bowed to Christ — maybe you have believing parents, maybe you have a believing wife, or a believing husband, or you are in relation intimately with those who are believers — I would urge [p. 466] upon you that now is the accepted time. I may do that. I have that privilege and I regard it highly that I can offer to you in the name of the Lord Jesus that “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”. “For”, it adds, “the same Lord ... is rich unto all that call upon him”, Romans 10:9 - 12. Think of that, of the wealth that the Lord has, and it is available to all those that call upon Him!
In reading this passage from Luke I had in mind that there are some who although they have believed are not quite sure about things, and if you are not sure you have no joy in your soul, you are exposed constantly to the enemy’s attacks, and consequent upon that there is no distinct testimony seen in you, no testimony for Christ.
This gospel of Luke is addressed to an individual who was evidently, like many of us, young in the faith. Evidently he was also a man occupying some position of an official kind. He is not asked to give that up, for the grace of God was for the emperor as it is for the slave. The grace of God is far above all these things. “For what is your life?” saith James, “it is even a vapour”, James 4:14. How quickly it passes away; and therefore what are the things here, beloved friends? They are not worth considering. God is no respecter of persons; He would have all men to be saved; and so Theophilus, although called excellent, is addressed as a believer. He is not quite sure about the things into which he had been instructed, however. Is there any one of us who is not quite sure? You have been a believer nominally; it may be that you do not know when you were converted. I have often heard people say they did not know, and this caused regret. When I ask a [p. 467] person when he was converted and he says, I do not just know, I always regret that, because if you do not just know the date, my impression is that you are not very sure; that you have not built up from the bottom; that you did not strike rock before you started to build. Of course if you are sure now all is well; and I could not belittle anything of God in any way; but Luke speaks about method here, “to write unto thee with method” and he speaks of being accurately acquainted with things from the outset.
Paul, it may be remarked, speaks of his spiritual history from the outset. This is an important matter, more important than the date of your natural birth, much more important. God would have us methodical, therefore if one does not know when he took a definite stand in regard to Christ, then I am doubtful whether he has built up on solid ground. And if there is uncertainty in any one I would urge you to consider this gospel — it is written by Luke to Theophilus so that he might be certain of the things he had already received, that he had been taught. But how many things we may receive in the way of instruction and yet not be sure about them! “That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed”. Well now, this gospel should be read; I would urge every one to read it carefully; it will establish you in assurance of the things that are presented to you in Christ in the gospel.
I would now refer to a word in the prophet Isaiah in regard of Christ. He is said to be “as a nail in a sure place”, Isaiah 22:23. I suppose the “nail” is Christ according to the way Luke presents Him: the narrative is most touching, the angel announces to the shepherds who are keeping their flocks by night — they are abiding with them — the angel is there by them, he did not speak to them at a distance,
[p. 468] he did not call out to them, he was by them. That is a principle, indeed, in the way in which Luke presents the truth.
Some of you will remember, perhaps, how that Paul in his labours as an evangelist, when he went to Thessalonica, went in among the people. It says he went in among them for three sabbath days; and so on Mars Hill he placed himself down alongside men, as one of them. That is the grace of God coming so nigh to you in the vessel through whom He is speaking to you that He is standing by you, and so the angel, it says, was by them there; the shepherds were abiding without, and he was by them there, and he says, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you“
(that is for you tonight) “is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord”, Luke 2:10,11. He was standing by them when he said that to them; and then presently, it says, there was “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”, Luke 2:13,14. What do you think the feelings of those shepherds were?
Something wonderful had come in, and they are not content with the announcement of the tidings; “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem”, they say, “and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us”, Luke 2:15. That is what we have to do. We want to be sure about things. They are too important to admit of the least shadow of a doubt, the smallest detail must be sure to us.
Throughout the gospel of Luke you have Christ as Man; He is seen praying many times. In chapters 22 and 23 you have His wonderful death. The human heart, beloved, is seen in His thoughts for mankind; as He goes out of Jerusalem the women bewail Him, but He says, “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children”. He is not seeking [p. 469] their sympathy now; they needed His, and they had it. As He went out to the cross He was thinking of them. Earlier He had Himself wept for them, He wept for that city, and He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets ... how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”, Luke 13:34. A perfect human heart, and yet divine, sympathising with all, relieving all that were oppressed of the devil. And so when He is on the cross He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”, Luke 23:34. How perfectly you have the Lord Jesus presented to you as the expression of the grace of God to man.
He is on the Father’s throne now, but as on the cross He besought the Father to forgive them, “for they know not what they do”, Luke 23:34. Such an One was to be fastened “as a nail in a sure place”, Isaiah 22:23.
And so you get in the Acts the glad tidings that Jesus is the Christ. That, I apprehend, means that He is in the sure place, that is to say, “God hath made that same Jesus ... both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2:36. The glory of His Father’s house, and every vessel great and small is to be hung, so to speak, on Christ; He is in a sure place, God has set Him down there, having come out of death — the certainty is in His resurrection really; He was raised again, it says, “for our justification”, so that we may be sure.
But then the sure place is where God has set Him; He has set Him down in heaven. So that in the Acts it is the glad tidings. What were they? That Jesus is made Lord and Christ; that is the glad tidings. The One who was born in this world as a Babe, who came in among men as a Man, God has raised from the dead, and given Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God. (See 1 Peter 2:21.) He has placed the “nail”, as I may say, in a sure [p. 470] place, and everything now, the glory of God and all else for my soul and yours, and millions of others, can be hung on Him. He, indeed, upholds all things by the word of His power; He is set down in heaven by God, anointed and made Lord and Christ; so that we may be sure we can stake our souls with positive certainty on that blessed Man — on that “nail in a sure place”.
Now I would inquire as to whether we are sure that our sins have been disposed of for the glory of God, sure that we are justified, sure that we have the Spirit; it says, “Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear”, Acts 2:33. That is the Holy Spirit. You want to be sure that you have Him. Someone asked me two or three days ago, Would you pray for the Holy Spirit? Well, I said, if I had not received Him I would, certainly. It may be there is someone here who has not the Spirit. The Spirit of God is for you; He is available — but available because the Lord Jesus Christ has gone into heaven, having accomplished redemption.
Then you have in this passage in Peter certainty as to our “calling and election”. What I have to say on this point I shall be saying more to those who are Christians, although, indeed, in the main I have had them before me in all that I have said; because one is impressed with this, that many are not sure about things, and if there ever was a time when we ought to be sure it is now. John is positive in his way of putting things. He says, “we know”. It is not “we believe” simply, but “we know”. So that one ought to know, ought to be sure, and again I would remark that one ought to know when one made a definite stand for Christ, and one should know all about one’s history ever since. If you had been a methodical Christian you would know all about it [p. 471] ever since; you would know just what you are now and what your relations are with Christ, how much you know about Him, and how much you know about God.
Now Peter would help you on that line, so that he gives you additions that are to be made. He says, “giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (or love)”, 2 Peter 1:5 - 7. This is a feature which should be noted, because the uncertainty that marks many believers is due to negligence, to carelessness. What Peter speaks about here is methodical. These qualities are not put down in a haphazard way, they are put down in the order in which they should be in our souls. Hence, if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the first thing that should come in is virtue. What I would understand by virtue is that I can say, Yes to what is of God, and I can say, No to what is of the devil. I have courage. I am definite about it. And it is this definiteness that builds up a state in our souls in which we are always sure, and being sure we are always happy in the Lord; we have got joy. I do not go down the list, I just confine myself to that, you can look at it at any time, and I would urge you to look at it.
Peter says in the verse I began with, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. One is thus perfectly sure in regard to himself. But then we want assurance in regard of others, and so I touch on the latter part of the chapter, because it helps us as to certainty in regard to the whole scope of Scripture. The enemy is endeavouring to shake the [p. 472] authority of Scripture; if he could in the least degree insert any suspicion as to the book of Genesis he would succeed eventually in shaking the whole fabric of Scripture in your soul. Therefore the apostle Peter, as he was about to leave, as he was about to put off his tabernacle, said he wanted to have the saints assured, not only in regard to their own souls, but in regard of the whole scope of Scripture, indeed, in regard of revelation, of all that God is in Christ.
The little bit of ground on which I stand is not going to sink, but I am sure about the whole universe; it hangs together, you see. That is the principle of the latter part of this chapter. I not only know that I am on solid ground myself, but that every one who believes is also on solid ground, and the whole purpose of God stands; that, I apprehend, is what we get here. We have the word of prophecy made surer — that is how it should read. It is not of private interpretation, it is of general bearing, one prophecy interlocks with another; it is all one thing; if you endeavour to undermine the one you undermine the whole superstructure; the law, and the prophets, and the psalms, as the Lord says, all hang together, and they are all for you, and they are all for me; I come to them and I get in them what I know is sure. The word of prophecy is made surer. You do well to take heed to it, it was uttered by holy men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit, so that I am sure in regard of the great moral system that God has brought in in Christ — I am as sure of it as I am of this great physical system that we are set in. Thank God for certainty! May we all know it.