THE ONLY WAY OF DIVINE BLESSING

W. Lamont

John 3: 14, 15; Acts 3: 21; 4: 12; 1 Corinthians 15: 25; Joshua 3: 3 (from “When ye see the ark”), 4

I think it is obvious that we live in a world of alternatives; if something does not suit you, you choose something else. There are many examples. If you go on a journey and you find your way blocked up, you take an alternative route; another is alternative religion, where you choose what religion suits you. Children at school perhaps are a prey to that, being taught alternative religion so they can choose for themselves what they prefer. So this world is a world of alternatives. It will be noted that every passage we have read from the Scriptures.

God’s infallible word contains that small word “must”; there is no alternative. In the glad tidings God presents to you the way to blessing, not the way to condemnation, but the way to blessing, and there is no alternative. It must be on God’s terms. Men want everything on their own terms, and we ourselves very often fall into that trap of wanting things on our own terms, what suits us. But God in the glad tidings presents His terms, and again I say, if you want blessing there is no alternative but to acknowledge and to accept what God says.

First of all He would tell you that you are a sinner, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, all,

there is no exception. Men also speak about making exceptions, but there is no exception to that; except the One glorious Man that we speak of, there are no exceptions— all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. One of the first things that we have in John 3 is—thus must the Son of man be lifted up. There was no alternative; the Lord Himself tells us that the Son of man must suffer many things (Luke 9: 22). No human mind could calculate the magnitude of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus; they could be known only to God. He suffered and entered into His glory (Luke 24: 26). So thus must the Son of man be lifted up. Those of us who know a little (and all any one of us knows is a little) about the Scriptures, know it refers to the serpent of brass lifted up on a pole in the wilderness, and how persons who had been bitten by the fiery serpents had to look in order to live (Numbers 21: 9). Have a look at Christ, of whom that serpent was a type, God’s provision, and God’s antidote to the bite of the serpent. Do you know what the bite of the serpent is? It is the power and authority of the devil working through sin in the flesh. God solved the matter through His own Son, the Son of man being lifted up. There was no alternative. Jesus had to die, if the question of sin and sins had to be settled. Firstly, for God’s glory; the first essential was that God should be glorified in the matter; then that the forgiveness of sins should be available to you and to me.

O, what a propitious time we are in! The blessed Saviour God is proposing towards all the forgiveness of sins. What a blessing to those who receive it! It says, “that every one who believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”. If you perish it is your own fault, because God in the glad tidings, in the feelings of His heart, is pointing you to the Son of man who was lifted up, the One who solved for ever, and completely, the whole matter of sin and of sins. It was not only the issue of sins, but of sin, the root of the matter.

Sin existed in the universe before man was even on the earth, that terrible virus, the sin introduced by the

devil who sought the place of God. He is described as “the anointed covering cherub”

(Ezekiel 28: 14, 15), and “Lucifer, son of the morning!”, Isaiah 14: 12–15. What a being he was! Then in that scene of creation at the beginning of Genesis, he said to himself, I will soon spoil that, and he gained the ear of the woman, then the man. “By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men”, Romans 5: 12. Why? It is the consequence of sin, the disobedience by one man. Think of the calamity that one man introduced into the world. One man disobeyed God and sinned; the result was the penalty of death lying on the whole human race; no one could lift it, no one could deal with it. All the great men of the world, all these great generals, all these clever men, they could not in any little degree lift the penalty of death. One blessed Man, the Son of man must be lifted up to solve the whole question. How? Through His suffering, His death, His rising and ascending, as we sang—

‘If sinners ever were to know

The depths of love divine,

All Calv’ry’s weakness and its woe,

Blest Saviour, must be Thine’. (Hymn 431)

The death of Jesus was a necessity if God’s glory should be upheld, and if the forgiveness of sins should be extended to you and to me. God is offering the forgiveness of sins in the gospel, the feelings of His heart are being extended to us tonight. You can have it, it is a simple issue. Repent of your sins and accept God’s offer, putting your trust in the precious blood of Jesus. God is saying, Get clear of your sins. I have sent My Son, the One who must be lifted up; I have set Him forth a mercy-seat through faith in His blood. But the blood of Jesus will never atone for you unless you repent, confess your sins, and own Him as your Lord and Saviour.

Now in Acts it says, “whom heaven indeed must receive”. It is a moral necessity, heaven had no alternative but to receive Him. It was inevitable that

such a One who had glorified God, and laid the basis for the forgiveness of sins for the whole human race should be received; it was a necessity, there was no alternative—whom heaven must receive. We should be glad about that; we sang about it today—

‘Received in glory bright up there,

The Father’s greetings, honours rare,

Are heaped upon His Son’s blest brow;

He is the mighty Victor now’. (Hymn 350)

O, the majesty of Jesus as out of death, death could not hold Him! His body saw no corruption; that is another important thing. Think of the wonder of that! In John 11, Martha said of Lazarus, “Lord, he stinks already, for he is four days there” (John 11: 39). It is the normal thing for persons in death. But the body of the Lord Jesus saw no corruption; that holy body was in the grave three days and three nights, and it says, “Thou wilt not suffer thy gracious one to see corruption”, Acts 13: 35. O, the perfection of the body of Jesus, that holy One! Then as raised from the dead He is the same holy One, but in a new condition, and we can celebrate His rising. He was “raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father”, Romans 6: 4. The glory of the Father means that His love and His power combined to raise up that blessed One from among the dead. He was chosen and raised up from among the dead.

There will be a time when all the dead will be raised. We read in John 5 that the dead who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God and will come forth. He has the right to assert His voice because He has been in death Himself, and has for ever broken its power.

The Son of God has authority to command all the dead to come forth. It is significant in John 11 that He said, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11: 44), naming an individual. If the Lord Jesus had said, ‘Come forth’, all the dead would have come forth. He would have exerted His power spoken of in John 5. Meantime, He is there in the presence of God, seated in the Father’s throne; that is a provisional position the Lord Jesus fills.

He is soon going to rise from the Father’s throne and take His own throne, but at the present time, “salvation is in none other”.

In some systems men state that good works will save you. Good works will never save you; the prophet says, “And we are all become as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64: 6), in the sight of a holy God. So “salvation is in none other, for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved”. There is no alternative, my friend. If you want salvation, if you want to live in the presence of God and know the blessings that brings eternally, it is through the name of Jesus that you must be saved. O, the blessing of it. This is said by Peter soon after the Lord’s crucifixion and His rejection by men. God says, Well, you have rejected Him personally, but in the glad tidings I will give you His Name. His Name supposes His absence, and it says,

“for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved”. Notice it is under heaven given among men; it is not given to the angels or any other beings, it is given among men. My friend, I repeat in all sincerity and sobriety, there is no alternative for salvation, but to put your trust in the precious Name and the precious blood of Jesus.

That brings me to the scripture in Corinthians, “For he must reign until he put all enemies under his feet”. He is in a position of authority, He is with the Father in His throne, and He is reigning. You may say I do not see any evidence of His reigning. The proof is in front of your eyes, and it is sounding in your ears that He is reigning, reigning in human hearts, reigning in the presence of God. Where is the Lord Jesus reigning today? In my heart, I give Him that place; I have confessed Him as my Lord and as my Saviour. If I confess Him as my Lord He is reigning, He is supreme to me, His rights are supreme. I trust His rights are supreme to every one in this room, or, are you looking

for alternatives? Are you paying lip service? Have you confessed Jesus as Lord? You may say. Well, yes, that is settled, I have confessed Him as Lord, that is safe, but I would like to do my own will. He is not reigning in your heart if that is so. My friend, let Jesus reign in your heart, let Jesus come into your heart! How simple it is, let Him come into your heart. He must reign, there is no alternative. Who else could reign? I ask you, give me a name. Who else but the One of whom it is said, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens”, Hebrews 7: 26. Who else could have done the work that Jesus has done? I challenge the universe, give me another name than the name of Jesus who is able to reign, who must reign. It is God’s proclamation in the glad tidings—“For he must reign until he put all enemies under his feet”.

The time is coming when persons who have refused the glad tidings will come under judgment. My friend, do not come under the category of his enemies. O, the awfulness of being an enemy of Jesus! It speaks about the Lord Jesus coming (I almost hesitate to say it but it is in Scripture), the same blessed One whom we know as our Saviour, the blessed One who reigns in human hearts, “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who know not God, and those who do not obey the glad tidings of our Lord Jesus Christ”, 2 Thessalonians 1: 8.

Some have said you should not speak about judgment in the glad tidings; it is not part of the glad tidings, but it is part of the word of God. A servant of the Lord, in preaching, said, You say I preach judgment, and should I not, it is my duty to warn you. I would remind you of the word, “Because there is wrath, beware”, Job 36: 18. O the solemnity of refusing the glad tidings of our Lord Jesus Christ. His present position is in glory in His Father’s throne. When He puts all enemies under His feet, it will be as taking up His rightful place on His own throne, having a bearing on the whole world, particularly the part of the earth in which we live. Scripture indicates the revival of the Roman Empire. One has

been continually struck with the beginnings of this European Economic Community, or European Union, with the fact that the outcome of the first meeting was even called the Treaty of Rome. It is not without significance. God will judge the revived Roman Empire.

His resentment is strong as to the regime under which His beloved Son was crucified. How many preachings there have been in this third part of the earth! It is where the severest judgment will fall. Then the millennium will be brought in, which really means that the Lord Jesus will reign over the earth for a thousand years and there will be blessing for men to enjoy. I leave that with you. In the meantime I appeal to you to give your heart to the Saviour.

There is no alternative.

Now, dear fellow believer, I add a brief word on Joshua, “the way by which ye must go”.

This scripture does not have a bearing exactly on unbelievers, it has a bearing on persons who already have a known relationship with God. These were God’s people who were faced with the Jordan, typical of death. The psalm says, “What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest?

thou Jordan, that thou turnedest back?”, Psalm 114: 5. The terrible power of death raging in its awfulness against the Son of God is typified in the ark approaching the Jordan. The ark is not a type of the sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus; there are types we have spoken of that are. The ark is a type of the Lord Jesus in all His mighty power as facing the awfulness of death typified in the waters of the Jordan flowing over all its banks. When the ark went into the Jordan the waters went away back as far as the city Adam and stood up in a heap. Now what does that mean, waters stood up in a heap? It was like death saluting a superior. The Lord Jesus went into the power of death but superior to it. It was not that He did not feel it, I would carefully guard that. He tasted death for every thing (Hebrews 2: 9); as Mr. Darby said, To Him death was death. So it says, “that ye may know the way by which ye must go”.

In order to enjoy the blessings of God in their greatness, to enjoy the fulness

of God’s thoughts typified in the land, there is no alternative, but to go by way of the Jordan.

The Red Sea is typical of the Lord’s death for us; the Jordan is typical of our death with Him, and our resurrection, and is the only way of entrance into the land and all the blessings that God has in mind for us. As a servant of the Lord has said, Christian blessings are unconditional from the divine side, but the enjoyment of them is conditional. For us, as believers, that means going the way of the Jordan and accepting death morally in order that we may enjoy the blessings of the land. Have you tasted these blessings spiritually? As we sometimes sing,

‘Thine is the world of life, where more

By far than Eshcol’s grapes is found’ (Hymn 288).

We can know the blessing of the divine presence, the blessing of the fulness of God’s thoughts for us, the blessing of sonship. O, the dignity by far, more than any institute in this world can confer on you, of being given the privilege of being a son of God. And more than that, “because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”, Galatians 4: 6. We know these things, we can read of them in the Scriptures, but the word of God to us tonight, dear fellow believer, is that we may know the way by which we must go. That is the way of the Jordan, the entrance into the land, to enjoy the fulness of God’s thoughts of blessing for us. It is the way we must go if we want to give God His full and true portion. May it be true of every one of us, for His name’s sake.

Preaching at Bo’ness
9 August 1998