CHRIST – THE LEADER

W. Dickson

Acts 3: 14, 15; 5: 29–32; Hebrews 2: 9, 10; 12: 1, 2

One was impressed this morning as to how the Lord has made a way for us. The purpose of the gospel is that men and women might make a way for Christ. You do not want to have the sign up, ‘No way here’; have your heart open for the gospel, for the Lord Jesus. I often think of John the Baptist and that message of his at the beginning of his ministry, ‘Make way for Christ’. Hear that man, the voice that he had; he said, ‘Make way for Christ’. John spoke about the hills, the valleys, and the gorges (see Luke 3: 4, 5)—everything had to make way for Christ. That is the preaching tonight, beloved hearers—Make way for Christ; make a way in your heart for Him.

These scriptures have one thing in common; they speak of the Lord as the Leader. Jesus is the Leader in the way ahead. There is a force, a person in this world (you understand what I mean), and he is leading men to destruction. That is a terrible thing. You never heard of Satan leading a man in the right way, did you? You never heard of him leading a man to glory. O, beloved hearers, do not follow that lead at any time, never follow the lead of Satan. Satan is in the vanguard of apostasy. There are two kinds of apostasy prevalent in the world, there is religious apostasy and there is moral apostasy. There is religious apostasy which would seek to overthrow the very basic doctrines of Christianity, the deity of Christ and His resurrection.

That is religious apostasy. Then there is moral apostasy which condones every kind of almost unnameable sin,

departing from the standards that God Himself has set up. Now, beloved hearers, Satan will lead you that way. The book of Proverbs is full of instruction for young persons to watch the path that Satan would lead you on. It has been said time and time again, young people should read the book of Proverbs; they should absorb the instruction there if they want to follow the lead that Christ would give for their blessing.

Peter here says to these men, “But ye denied the holy and righteous one, and asked that a man that was a murderer should be granted to you; but the originator of life ye slew”—the note says ‘leader’—‘but the Leader of life ye slew, whom God raised from among the dead’. That brings up the question of man’s responsibility. You can hardly preach a proper gospel without calling attention in some degree to man’s responsibility, and Peter stood with his finger pointing towards the city of refuge. He says, ‘Remember this, you are responsible for the crucifixion of Christ. It was the Originator of life ye slew’. Oh, the blessed Person who brought in life instead of death, happiness instead of sorrow, peace instead of strife; they slew Him. He brought in all for blessing as He is seen in Luke’s gospel in all these wondrous movements of grace. He had piped to them and they had not danced. John the baptist mourned with them, and they had not mourned, and yet the Originator of life, the blessed Man that had opened the door of divine blessing for them, they slew. The responsibility rests on this world today for the way in which Jesus was crucified by wicked hands. Men have very unjust thoughts about God. They even blame God for the sorrow that is in the world.

What does the scripture say? “But the originator of life ye slew”. Every divine overture, all the blessing that God had in His heart, was available for man, and he rejected it, but God raised Jesus from among the dead and we preach to you tonight a glorious, risen Saviour.

God’s answer to what men did to Him.

So in chapter 5 we find Peter and the apostles saying, “God must be obeyed rather than men.

The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus, whom ye have slain, having hanged on a cross”.

Now, here is a peculiar expression, “Him has God exalted by his right hand”. God is a Spirit, yet it says, “Him has God exalted by his right hand”. O, beloved, what does it mean? It speaks of all the power of God. God would say to the world that crucified Jesus, crucified His beloved Son, ‘I will exert the power of my right hand; I will demonstrate what I think of Jesus, the Jesus whom you crucified’. Then he says, “as leader and saviour, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins”. Could I lead you tonight to His precious work, that blood that was shed, that death that He suffered, that way which love devised? It was love that devised the way. The gospel is not just a matter of necessity; love devised the way.

God said, ‘I want man for my heart’. Oh, the handiwork of God! He wanted that Man, Jesus, back for His pleasure, and God wrought in power to bring Him back. He appointed Him Leader, a great Leader and a Saviour. Beloved hearers, have you your faith in anything else but the work of Christ? Do you say, ‘Well, that is hardly a question in a company like this who have been nurtured as to the facts of the gospel from their infancy’? We want to have deeply embedded in our souls that it was by the work of Christ, and by that work alone, that we have any part in the blessing of the gospel. We are favoured in this circle, but there are thousands of believers who think that their own merits enter into their having a place in the favour of God. But a Leader and a Saviour is to point you the right way. Make way for Christ, the Leader, and His blessed work.

It says, “to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins”. Somebody asked one of the Lord’s servants—I think it was Mr. Raven—‘Do you think it is possible for a person to know that their sins are forgiven?’ Have you ever asked yourself that

question? Have you ever asked anybody else that question? Can you, or anybody else, produce proof of sins forgiven? Where is the evidence that my sins are forgiven? Where is the evidence that your sins are forgiven? Up there, that is where it is. God has highly exalted Him. God has accepted His work, the blessed work that He did, and every believer who by a simple act of faith puts his trust in Jesus has the surety of the forgiveness of sins because Christ is there. You enquire, ‘Have I to look inside, into this heart of mine, to see if I am forgiven?’ Do not look there, look up at Jesus, where you will find the assurance that your sins are forgiven. What years of anguish many a soul has passed through wondering if they were saved or not. Why? They were looking inside, instead of looking up there. Look up there; the way is clear. Look up there and you will find Jesus. It says also, “and the Holy Spirit also, which God has given to those that obey him”. You not only look up there, but you receive the Holy Spirit, an indwelling Spirit, to assure you that your sins are forgiven.

So in Hebrews we find this other thought. It says, “But now we see not yet all things subjected to him, but we see Jesus, who was made some little inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; so that by the grace of God he should taste death for every thing”. These were Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, Jews, and they thought that the special privileges they had had as a nation were still theirs, but Paul writes to them to tell them that Jesus died “for every thing”. Does that not enlarge your heart?

You pass people of other nations and other races, perhaps a Jew—does pride raise any sense of superiority in your heart? Remember this, that Jesus died for all. He died for the woman of John 4 as well as for Nicodemus of John 3. He died for all. Blessed gospel, is it not, that He died for every thing “by the grace of God”? And then it says, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all

things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings “. Beloved hearers, that passage does not refer to glory ahead of us, it is glory now.

And, “ to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings”: that word “perfect”

means that everything that God had in His heart for men in blessing is now seen in Christ, the Leader of salvation.

Could I refer to that well-known scripture, the fifteenth of Luke, in connection with this passage? The repentant son says, “How many hired servants of my father’s have abundance of bread make me as one of thy hired servants”, Luke 15: 17–19. Oh, that is not bringing a son to glory, “Make me as one of thy hired servants”. But the father says, “Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet” (Luke 15: 22)—

that was bringing the son to glory. All these things speak of God’s glorious thoughts, and involve the wonderful privileges of Christianity. Oh the joy of having part with the many sons in the service of God and in the glory that marks that wonderful area where God’s thoughts as to Christ are known amongst His saints. All that belongs to Christ, apart from what relates to His inscrutable Deity, is ours to enjoy.

You say, ‘That is high truth’. Of course it is high truth, but it is the truth. It is the truth that that returning son was received into his father’s house as if he had never sinned in his life; he was brought to glory. All that the father bestowed was the expression of the thoughts of love that were in his heart. Oh what grace! There is one thing that is desirable for all of us as believers, whether we be young or old, and that is to cultivate a sense of mercy. Even as sitting down at the Supper to partake of it with the brethren, a sense of mercy should be with us. We might still have been in the far country, but God has brought many sons to glory.

What a salvation!—salvation from judgment, yes, and

salvation from the world, the flesh, the devil. Salvation too to have eternal life in the enjoyment of God’s own thoughts. What a Leader! you may well say, Follow that Leader! Do not stop short; follow the Leader. Christ, to glory.

In Hebrews 12 we find again it says, “Let us also therefore, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us ...”—surrounding us completely round; the witnesses are completely surrounding us—“laying aside every weight, and sin which so easily entangles us, run with endurance the race that lies before us, looking stedfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith”.

Beloved brethren, young or old, do you find the journey long sometimes? Do you find that the difficulties are almost insurmountable? Young people, does the devil ever whisper in your ear and say to you, ‘Is it worthwhile?’ “Looking stedfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith”; He has gone all the way, beloved. There has not been a difficulty or a trial that you pass through but Jesus has passed through it, sin apart. He has gone that way, “the leader and completer of faith”. Keep your eye on Him, “looking stedfastly on Jesus”. The note says, ‘It means, looking away from other things and fixing the eye exclusively on one’. So make way for Christ and He will make way for you. The older brethren will testify of this; one of the choicest experiences of Christianity is how the Lord makes way for you. Sometimes the road is dark and you think the difficulties are insurmountable. You turn to the Lord and He makes a way for you. Have you ever experienced that? You cannot see a yard ahead, but you find He makes a way for you. He is “the leader and completer of faith: who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”. He is there, an Object for the heart.. Oh, keep looking to Him, beloved hearers. Every day, keep looking to Jesus and you will get comfort and strength for the journey all the way. May the Lord help us, for His name’s sake. Amen.

Preaching in Edinburgh
10 January 1988