PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD
W.Dickson
I often think that, in the after years of this man's life of whom we have been reading, he would look back on this day. No doubt he would have had many memorable days in his life, as we all have, but this man would look back with peculiar pleasure on this day, the account of which is given in this scripture we have read. Now, why would he look back with such pleasure? Well, it was the day on which Jesus came into his life. Oh, beloved hearers, can everyone here look back and think of the day that Jesus came into their lives and the difference that it made? This man would never forget it; he would oft-times go back and say, I was a lost and helpless sinner until the day that Jesus came into my life. Some experiences are good to go over. A great deal is made of birthdays, but it is good to remember our spiritual birthday. This man in effect would be like that, the day when he received the touch which entered into his deep soul consciousness that he was now delivered from the power of Satan and he had found a Saviour. Have you had that experience? You say, I am not sure. Oh, beloved hearers, once you have it you never forget it. It remains as landmark in your spiritual history, the day when the Saviour entered into your life. Oh what a day! Young people, you children, have you known Jesus yet as your Saviour? Have you trusted Jesus? Are you going to trust Him tonight? Are you going to say, The Jesus that you speak of is my Saviour?
So here is this man. "And they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting". He was sitting. We want to dwell a little on these various things, and first of all they found him sitting. Oh, what a change! Previously he had roamed here and there. He had drunk at every sink of corruption that this world had; he had tried every amusement, every avenue in which the human heart could find pleasure, but he was just as restless after it as ever he was. But the Lord came into his life, and here he is sitting, a subdued person. Oh, do you know the subduing power of the name of Jesus? Saul of Tarsus did; in Acts 9 you can think of him as sitting at the feet of Jesus. The subduing power of Jesus had entered the life of Saul of Tarsus on that road to Damascus when he thought that there was nothing that could Stand against him. There Jesus subdued that man, "And he said, Who art thou, Lord", Acts 9: 5. Have you ever sat at the feet of Jesus? Have you ever been subdued by His power? Have you ever been subdued by His word, His authority, His love, His grace, His mercy? Oh, think of it, the subduing power of Jesus! How Saul of Tarsus felt it on that road that day! He had been an insubject man. He thought that nothing could stand against him, but a few words from that glorious risen Saviour subdued that proud and haughty man, and he became one of the greatest servants the Lord Jesus had ever had in the testimony. This man was sitting. That is one thing about the gospel, it gives you rest from your labours. We speak feelingly, not in any sense trying to talk down to you, but from how many streams of this world have you drunk? Has Jesus wrought in your heart? Think of it. He was sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Then he was clothed. What were his clothes? Could I suggest that he had the best robe on? That is what the father did in Luke 15, he put the best robe on the son, he clothed him with divine righteousness. Oh, beloved young people, think of what it cost the blessed God, what it cost Jesus to provide you with clothing, with divinely ordered clothing, with a righteousness according to God, not a righteousness according to works but a righteousness according to God. What a change! Once a naked, wandering, wilful sinner, now sitting and clothed in a righteousness that God had provided for him, justified in that the Christ's place on high was his place, that he need not fear the judgment or condemnation because he could look up into the presence of God and say, That blessed Man up there is the standard of my justification.
Then it says that he was sensible. Oh, I trust we all know what that means. It is a reference to the gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the divine sensibility that God gives you - "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit", Rom 5: 5. Oh, what a difference that man would know! Have you the gift of the Holy Spirit, that precious gift? Do you ever speak to the Holy Spirit? Do you ever commune with Him? Do you ever tell the Holy Spirit how thankful you are that the Lord Jesus converted you? He was sensible and saw everything differently. He would not envy the people that went after worldly pleasures or think they are having the best of life. He had the power of the Holy Spirit working in his heart. Oh, the gift of the Holy Spirit! How precious that gift is! Make sure, young people, that you value the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank God every day if He opens your lips in thanksgiving for the gift of the Holy Spirit, that precious gift money cannot buy. It is God's gift, His sovereign gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Do not go out into this world in the morning, do not venture over the doorstep, without committing your soul to the care of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the power that keeps you from sin, the flesh, the devil. He will keep you in the path of righteousness for the sake of Jesus.
Then it says he was "at the feet of Jesus". That is beautiful: "at the feet of Jesus". What would he experience at the feet of Jesus? Well, according to Luke 10, when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus she heard His word. What blessed thoughts these are, to hear the word of Jesus, to sit at His feet every day and find sweet communion with Him, to find your heart revived and touched by that matchless grace of His, to hear Him tell you fresh of His work, of His sacrifice, how He died on Calvary's tree and shed His precious blood. Oh, have you ever sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to Him? Tell me the story of that precious love of His! What sweet thoughts these are, to go over and over them again at the feet of Jesus, to hear Him, listen to His voice appealing to you about the love hat He showed on Calvary's tree when He died for you as a sinner when you had no hope and were without God in the world. When did you last sit at the feet of Jesus and say, Lord, speak to me?
"O tell us often of Thy love,
Of all Thy grief and pain"
- that is what the hymn says (No.172). Sitting at the feet of Jesus, what a change for this man! He would think of the time when he was amongst the tombs. That is what people in this world are doing today, they are spending their life in the tombs in moral death. The stench of moral death is in this world at the present time, and this man spent his time there before he was converted, but now he was sitting at the feet of Jesus. The words of life and joy were coming from the lips of the Saviour, making him thankful for the mercy that had thus reached him. Young people, read your Bible. Read the Gospels, trace the life of Jesus, trace His pathway up to the cross, that love that led Him to die, then see Him on the other side of death going up to the glory. Sit at the feet of Jesus, read the Scriptures and feed your soul with the glory of that blessed Man.
Then the inhabitants asked the Lord to depart. Is that not heartrending, that the very Saviour, the One who had acted in such grace, they asked to depart? You say, Well, I am quite sure if Jesus was to come publicly to this world tonight as He did as a Babe before, His treatment would be quite different. Do you think so? The world would still reject Him, would still say, Away with Him, we will not have this Man to reign over us. They would say, We do not want Jesus. When the church has gone, young people, a man will arise and they will not say to him, Go away. When the antichrist comes to this world they will not say to him, Go away. In strong delusion they will believe a lie when that man comes, but the Lord Jesus is proceeding still in the appeal of divine grace to men.
And so this man "out of whom the demons had gone besought him that he might be with him". You can understand that. Do you say, I like the gospel that assures me of my eternal safety and until that time comes allows me to do as I wish. That man was not like that. He says, I want to be with you, Lord. That must have been something to the Lord's heart. Would you like to keep the Lord company, to have Him as the one blessed object of your heart whose company means everything to you, greater than anything here? The heart that has been touched by divine mercy and divine grace desires no greater privilege than to have the company of Jesus; day by day to have the company of Jesus, to walk with Him, to commune with Him, to pray to Him, to love Him, to remember Him. Oh, that is good, he wanted to be with Jesus, and then the Lord sent him away and said, "Return to thine house". That is a reminder to us of the practical character of the gospel, that it is in our houses that we display the effect of the gospel. In other words, you are a better husband or wife or daughter or son, you are a better child, after receiving the grace of God, than what you were before. His father and mother when he came in would say, Is this the boy that we had? Is this the young lad? What a change! He would say, I will tell you about the change, I will tell you how it came about, the day that Jesus came into my heart. Ah, he would never tire of telling his father and mother of the day on which Jesus came into his heart. He would go up to his bedroom and he would pray. If his father and mother tiptoed upstairs and listened at the door they would say, What is he doing? He is not singing the songs of the world. No, he is praying, he is praying to God. He would sing too. A believer sings, sings with joy in his heart, sings the songs of Zion. A Christian should be happy. Many of us are not good advertisements for Christianity. There is not enough joy with us. A Christian is a joyful person, and this young man would be such. Jesus says, "Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee". He would never run out of material in telling how great things God had done for him. There are many here, older men and older women, younger ones too, and they can tell you many times over about the great things that God has done. Wonderful grace! As you look back in your history and see how God in His infinite grace preserved you from a step that would have landed you in deep sorrow you can say, It was just the grace of God, one of the great things God did, He preserved me. This man would say, The forgiveness of my sins, justification, peace with God, the gift of the Spirit, eternal life, the light of the assembly, the coming day of glory, the Lord's coming - great things! This man's heart would be full of these blessings.
"And he went away through the whole city, publishing how great things Jesus had done for him". Now, that word 'publishing', linking with the scripture, "great the host of the publishers" (Ps 68: 11), means that he was an evangelist. The best evangelists are persons who can speak from experience of the grace of God. Every person he met, if he had the opportunity he would tell them about the Saviour. Some years ago a well known evangelist was having a meeting on a Saturday night in the place where we lived and he was going home in the train. The carriage was crowded with people going home, so he started to preach the gospel in the railway carriage. One by one the voices got quieter and quieter until there was dead silence, and one voice said, That is a fine message. Another voice said, I do not think so, he does not know the time nor the place. Our brother said, I will not accept that, "Behold, now is the wellaccepted time; behold, now the day of salvation", 2 Cor 6: 2. When it comes to a question of your soul's eternal welfare you cannot bring in the question of time or place. Accept and finalise your link with Jesus tonight and publish what He has done for you.
That is what God has in mind. He has in mind great things for you, not just to deliver you from the wrath to come but to give you the joy of the possession by the Spirit of a link with Christ, a living, personal link with Christ. May you prove it for His Name's sake. Amen.
GRIMSBY
12 July 1987
BELIEVING CHILDREN
In the very early years of Christianity there were doubtless many young believers on the Lord Jesus. We read, for instance of Rhoda, a "maid" who recognised the voice of Peter. She maintained that which she believed - a sure way of growing in the truth. Peter had been made a shepherd by his Master and his first task was to "Feed my lambs". Rhoda knew the voice of the one who led her and many another into suitable, spiritual pastures. She was thus used to rally all the rest of those representing the "flock of God" and who were at the prayer-meeting.
We read also of "believing children" on an island called Crete where there were widespread habits of not telling the truth and of other evil things. It would be interesting to know more about the Christian witness in this place where Paul had left Titus, "mine own child according to the faith common to us". In his letter to him Paul wrote of the grace of God which had brought salvation available to all humanity in the Person of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It would have attracted the hearts of the children to hear Titus speak about Jesus and His work of atonement for sins. They would also learn that He is Lord to us and, though truly man is "God blessed for ever". Remembering His lordship would be salvation to them and indeed to all of us from the way and words of evil such as there were in Crete. It would remind them too that the Lord looked to them to remember Him in the breaking of bread.
It is assumed that the boy Eutychus at Troas was a believer and desired to break bread with the assembled company gathered there on the first day of the week and including Paul. His name means 'fortunate'. He may have been inattentive at the meeting or more likely had given up a good seat for a hazardous one and, in the warmth of many lights and after a long day's activity, he went to sleep. Then in the mysterious ways of God, that which would be otherwise called an accident in the outside darkness, led to Eutychus receiving a lovegiven and life-giving embrace by the great apostle. This shows us that, however young and well-meaning we may be, we need the transforming and affectionate touch of Paul's ministry. Do you read his epistles?
J.C.Evershed