THE PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS AS LORD
I. M. Shearer
Acts 16: 17, 18, 29–33; 19: 13–18
As looking around on familiar faces this weekend I am speaking to persons who have already been sharing very precious things. Now I do not wish to reflect unkindly on any one or any situation, but I want to raise a question with every one here—Do you know the Lord Jesus? I am afraid it has been often the case that persons have gone a long way, familiar with the things of God, and yet have not known the Lord Jesus. They may have been able to speak about Him, well able to describe what generally is considered right, but they have not known Him. I ask you, Do you know Him? I cite as an instance a parable that the Lord Jesus spoke when He was here—the parable of a man who went away entrusting his substance to his servants, and three are described who were variously bestowed according to their ability. You can read about it in Matthew 25. As you know, some traded—he that had five talents made five more; he that had two talents made two more. But he that had one talent, what did he say? “I knew thee that thou art a hard man”, Matthew 25: 24. Imagine that! A man with all the privileges that his fellow servants had had, and when it came to a time for accounting he had a complete misconception of the Lord Jesus. We are all invited to know the Lord Jesus as Saviour, and I tell you that you will not find Him a harsh Man. How would you describe the Lord Jesus? I trust you do not think Him harsh, I trust that you do not blame Him, saying; I cannot go here, I cannot go there, I cannot do this, I cannot have what I want! That would just show that your perception of the Lord Jesus is inaccurate.
I want to speak about the Lord Jesus in these passages. There are two situations in each case in juxtaposition, and persons are able to use His name and
speak about Him with a certain amount of what was right in it. But did the speaker know who he was speaking about? Here we have a woman with a spirit of Python. Hers was a very serious case, and how serious a man’s plight is when the devil has control of his life. He can even use such a person to speak things like this woman spoke, things that in Christendom, in general, might pass muster. (We shudder as we think of some things that are passing muster in religious circles). Her speaking persisted, it was a course. Has anybody had any sense of being caught in a course, and being driven by Satan? Now, “the Son of God has been manifested, that he might undo the works of the devil”, 1 John 3: 8. But here was a soul absolutely enslaved and continuing for many days with this opposition to the Lord’s servants.
Here was somebody, in the presence of the truth, persisting in ignorance of the Lord Jesus. So Paul speaks to the spirit, saying, “I enjoin thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her”. And it came out the same hour. The persons associated with this woman were unaffected and they brought tribulation upon the saints.
But was there not another man in this chapter in bondage? There was, a harsh man, but he came and fell down before Paul and Silas, saying, “Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?”
O, if only we could get some impression of our needs if we are strangers to the Lord Jesus!
Maybe we have heard about Him in our homes all our life; maybe we have attended meetings for years and heard about Him in all our responsible history, and yet are we still strangers?
Now is the time and opportunity to become well acquainted with Him. So Paul is able to speak with conviction and in a way that brought peace into the situation—“Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved”. Confusion was all around; confusion was within this man’s heart; he had a family that was not saved; he himself was about to take his own life; it is the desperation of a person left without hope, but convicted. You have no need to be in that position. Would that conviction works; would that
you might be alerted as to any remoteness from the Lord Jesus as a Saviour, as a Friend, as a personal acquaintance. Right now you can come to know Him in a very close way. It is not a question of waiting until after the meeting, you do not have to go and talk it over with anybody; Paul says, Believe on Him. Just believe on Him where you are sitting, take up this offer of a personal acquaintance with Christ. There is no substitute for knowing the Lord Jesus. You can know Him as One to talk to, to confide in, to ask Him questions. I am not talking in any theoretical way, I am talking practically, and with conviction. Many here could confirm what I say, that there is One to whom you can actually be so close that you can tell Him things and ask Him things you would not breathe to anyone else.
Here in this crumbling prison Paul says to a man in desperation, ‘This is the Man you need, the Lord Jesus; believe on Him and thou shalt be saved’. Is that all? No, he adds, “and thy house”. So Paul goes into that household. We are reminded of what he says to the Corinthians, “ourselves your bondmen for Jesus’ sake”, 2 Corinthians 4: 5. How immediately He was able to pursue what was for this man’s blessing. While he was receptive, while he was feeling his need, he was ministered to. That is the case here today. We are in an environment here where everything is in your favour to catch up lost ground. Allow conviction to come into your soul so that the things we have been speaking about for three days suddenly become your own possession, not just something you have written in your notebook. Now is the time to get it for yourself to enjoy it, to live it and to share it.
In chapter 19 a situation is depicted where there was deficiency. Paul had come into this area and discovered a certain lack, and he ministered as to it, involving the Holy Spirit. “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” (Acts 19: 2). A good question; I might raise it this afternoon. Are you sure you have the
Spirit? The whole end of the announcing of the glad tidings is that God may give you His Holy Spirit. The man that we have just read about in chapter 16 was one whom God intended to fill with His own Spirit. That is the magnificence of what God offers to men. He presents to them as lost, a Saviour, He offers them forgiveness, He wipes out the debt and He meets the effects of sin in them; He makes persons suitable to be entrusted with the Holy Spirit. It is the ultimate offer to a man, that God would give him His own Spirit. He has His power, He has His benefits, He says the cattle on a thousand hills are His. What could He not do for you? He says, I will give you My Spirit. Is there anything more He could do for you? Could He offer you anything more generously, more confidingly? That is what we announce. The Lord Jesus as Saviour is the One through whom we receive such a gift. So the question is raised, it is met, and Paul remains there a long time teaching. Let us not be slothful in relation to teaching that is extant among us and readily available to every one of us.
Now we come to something that is counterfeit in the seven sons of Sceva, Jewish high priest.
They thought they would take advantage of the favour of the moment. You cannot trifle with the things of God. Each one of us here, who has enjoyed such privileges as we have this past weekend, is also very responsible. We must not take up the truth in a superficial and selfish way as these men did. They presume to use the name of Jesus. I suppose you might say they were caught up in a certain revival atmosphere, but there was no repentance in them, no feeling in them as to the rights of God. It is called a “wicked spirit” here, and even it could say, “Jesus I know”. Think of the wickedness working in somebody! It reminds you of the man in the synagogue possessed by an unclean spirit who cried out, “Eh! what have we to do with thee, Jesus, Nazarene? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art”, Mark 1: 24. The Lord Jesus is more than a match for any adverse power that might have the mastery over you.
Here in Acts 19, the wicked spirit said to them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with; but ye, who are ye?” We have just been speaking of one man Paul had secured from Satan, but how many more he secured for Christ! What power was evident in the gracious progress of Paul among his fellow men as one recovered. He says himself that he was once
“an insolent overbearing man”, 1 Timothy 1: 13. But he was affected by the grace of the Lord Jesus, and became a vessel through whom blessing could come.
To continue, the spirit says, I am acquainted with this man, but who are you? Have you ever found yourself in a fix? Have you ever found yourself struggling with something that you are not equal for in your life? It says that he got the mastery over them. Then this thing became known and fear fell upon all that inhabited Ephesus, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. The name of the Lord Jesus—do you know Him? I press that question—Do you know the Lord Jesus, He who is Saviour for every man, if they will put their trust in Him?
What was the effect in the life of the people who feared? They were brought into relation with God; they knew that they were in the presence of God and the power of God, and it was focused for them in the Lord Jesus Christ. It had an effect on them; it had an effect on their lives. That is a very important thing that our faith in the Lord Jesus practically changes our lives. I do not think any enlightened, exercised preacher is seeking to add to the numbers of professing Christians. He is seeking persons who will put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who will allow Him to dictate the details of their lives, even down to the books they have (see Acts 19: 19). Are you ready for that? Would you let the Lord affect you so that you go through your bookshelf? You know how books will steal your time, engage your interest, hold and nourish your lusts.
The name of the Lord Jesus as mentioned here is meant to affect you. He wants you to come to an end
of things in your life so that He can take full possession. It says, “And many of those that believed came confessing and declaring their deeds”. There was no self-justification, no hiding the truth coming out. Think of the woman in Mark 5, whose life was ebbing away, and whom nobody could help: the physicians could not help her, they made her worse; but when she came to the Lord Jesus and touched the hem of His garment, she was immediately healed.
Not only that, she came and told Him all the truth (Mark 5: 25–34). She did not whisper just for His ears, others would have heard her. Similarly the woman in John 4 came to the men of the city and said, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done—is not he the Christ?” (John 4: 29). What openness and what liberty the Lord Jesus gives those who are set free from the bondage of their sins. It says of those set free in this chapter, “many of those that believed came confessing and declaring their deeds. And many of those that practised curious arts brought their books of charms and burnt them before all”. You might say they are burning their bridges behind them; there was to be no going back. Are you ready to commit yourself for life, to make a decision for the Lord Jesus, one that you are not going to reverse?
Have you finished for ever with something that has held you until now? Well, that is the appeal.
Zacchaeus could not see over the crowd, but he wanted to see Jesus who He was (Luke 19).
Maybe the truth that has been before us this weekend has roused your curiosity, and you would like to know more of what the brethren have been saying. You may have heard your father say such things all your life, or a local brother has gone over these things time and again, and now you would like to have them for yourself. That was like Zacchaeus, he found a tree to climb up for a better view, but what he needed to have was a personal transaction with the Lord Jesus. That is what happened; the Lord came right to him, and being up the tree he could not get away. I hope you feel like that—the Lord
Jesus has got you where you cannot get away. So He says, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must remain in thy house”, Luke 19: 5. There was no panic in the breast of that man; he received the Lord Jesus. Oh, what an appeal there is in that! I would love to convey what receiving the Lord Jesus means in your life. He comes in and makes all the difference. He says to this man, I am coming into your house, and He did. Then more than that, He says, “Today salvation is come to this house”, Luke 19: 9. His wife and children no doubt shared the blessing of the Lord coming into the house. Oh, dear fathers and mothers, make sure that the Lord Jesus is at liberty in your house.
Some complained about Him going in to lodge with a sinful man, but He went in there to lodge with a repentant man. What a difference! Zacchaeus says, “if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I return him fourfold”. What a local brother now! What a contributor in the gathering, because he knew this chosen One of God was his own Lord Jesus! May He come into our lives today; may you embrace Him. I do not mean to make anything of the date, but if only this could be a milestone in your life, one that is even discernible by others, that He has come in to change your life. These meetings that we have had will assume a totally different significance, you will enjoy what we have been talking about, and it will become part of your life. Then see how it will affect the meetings that ensue from this time; see what it will do in the neighbourhood; see what it will do in the office. I appeal to you to put it to the test; make the Lord Jesus Christ Lord in your life. May He bless the word.
Preaching at Ormond Beach
29 December 1996
Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex CM12 9DZ, (T) (01277) 650661