PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD

Robert Gardiner

Luke 15: 11-24; Isaiah 61: 1-3; John 21: 1-12 (to “Come and dine”)

The railway systems in various cities have what the local people call an up line and a down line. This morning some of us in various rooms in this city enjoyed the experience of being on the “spiritual” up line. We moved from our households from one level of glory to meet with the saints from other households and as we gathered together we reached another level of glory. As we looked upon one another and saw the work of God in one another and the features of Christ in one another we reached another level of glory. We then remembered the Lord in the wilderness, but as we remembered Him, He came in amongst us and we went with Him from glory to glory. We were on the up line, my dear friends. Were you there? I am not simply referring to people who may not have been physically there; I am asking, were you there? You may have been there in person. You have even have partaken of the Supper, as we speak, but were you there? Were you in the presence of the Lord, and, under the leadership of the Lord, transformed from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit (see 2 Cor. 3: 18)? Did you enjoy something, however small and momentary it may have been, of the place that the Lord has prepared? And in that place did you understand something of the greatness of the riches of the glory of the Father, as with Christ and empowered by the Spirit, we could praise and worship as we will eternally? That is what the gospel is all about. It is about bringing vessels of mercy and fitting them for glory. There is only one way and the gospel comes to tell you of the way. Because, if there is an up line and if the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s well-beloved Son is the Leader of the praise on the up line, the Lord Jesus Christ, the same One, is the One who came down to meet poor sinners who are on the down line.

So I want to speak to you of what I have read. Because there were persons in this world, and I and others in this room have been among them, who were on the down line of degradation, of shame, of sin. We knew what it was to have been brought up in a Christian household, a household where our parents brought us to the meetings, as we say, but it may be that we did not realise, but perhaps realise now, that we were on the down line of degradation. If you are still in your sins, that is the line you are on. And that is why I read about this younger son in Luke 15. How like all of us he is! I want to remind you as we speak of this younger son of the man on the Jericho road. The two coalesce in many ways. The man that was going from Jerusalem to Jericho is a similar young man; I suggest, to you that he was going from his father’s house to the far country. “Give to me the share of the property that falls to me”, and he went out and dissipated his living. The other man, in Luke chapter 10, went from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves and they stripped him and wounded him and left him in a half-dead state. That is the enemy, the work of the devil, the one that would usurp the place of God in your heart and he is taking you and stripping you and wounding you and leaving you in a half-dead state.

So this other man in Luke 15 goes into a far country and he lives in debauchery. The power of the enemy over the man that is away from God! – he stripped him, inflicted wounds and left him a half-dead state. So this poor man in Luke 15 is living in debauchery, living in a half-dead state, “fain would he have filled his belly with the husks that the swine were eating and no man gave unto him”. Oh my friend, there are few friends in the world when you are down and out, but the man on the Jericho road was found by a true friend who had compassion and who came up to him. I think that point, and the point when the man in Luke 15 came to himself, coalesce. The man in Luke 15 came to himself and said, “How many hired servants of my Father’s have abundance of bread”, and the man on the Jericho road found the “certain Samaritan” coming out in glorious compassion to meet his need as a poor, wounded, half-dead man, he bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine. Are you in that state tonight? You know, there was a cry once, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”, Jer. 8: 22. Tonight I can tell you there is an abundance of balm in Gilead, there is a beloved physician. His name is Jesus! He shall save His people from their sins. This is the one who came up to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. The balm of Gilead in profusion poured in by the good Physician. And then he took him to the inn and said, “take care of him, and when I return …”. The Lord is about to return, glorious day for the saved person, for the believer in Jesus. The man in the inn would be waiting with bated breath for the return of that Samaritan who had met him when he was in a half-dead state and brought him to the inn. What kind of an inn was it? Was it an inn like the inn that Jesus could not find any place as a babe? No, it was not. It was an inn that was populated, if I could use that word, with persons like the man that had been found in the half-dead state all awaiting the return of the Man that had in compassion saved them from their sins.

Well, I said the Lord came down to meet us in our need. He came into this world, He who thought it not an object of rapine to be on an equality with God, emptied Himself, took upon Him the form of a bondman and in that form humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross, (see Phil. 2: 6-8). It says of the man on the Jericho road that the Samaritan came up to him. Oh, the death of the cross; the Lord went down, down, down into the earth. He suffered for our sins in His own body on the tree, was buried, was raised again according to the Scriptures; a glorious Man this afternoon in heaven, a Prince and a Saviour. “Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, giving Him a name that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”. What about the name, Jesus? Does it mean anything to you? “Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins”. This is the Man we present to you. This is my Saviour, this is the One that God desires should be your Saviour. God has found His infinite delight in that Man and will do so eternally and His desire is tonight that you might find Him as your Saviour.

So I read in Isaiah because I believe the feelings that are exemplified in these verses are portrayed in Luke 15 when the man found that there was an answer to his debauchery, and to his need, in his father’s house. It says there, “he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted”; that man was broken-hearted. Have you ever been broken-hearted my friend? Have you ever been before God broken-hearted knowing that “in me, that is in my flesh, good does not dwell”? Have you been before God in the recognition that you are a deep-dyed sinner and there is no way out?

You, go along the motorway and sometimes find that you are on the wrong road. Oh, how many people are on the wrong road? The man from Jerusalem to Jericho was on the wrong road, the man from his father’s house to the far country was on the wrong road. There is an exit on that wrong road; you can take a way out. If you do not take the way out tonight you may find yourself in a place where there is a sign that says, ‘No way out’. Oh, how solemn! But now there is a sign that says “exit”, there is a way out, there is a way out for the broken-hearted, there is a way out for the captive, there is a way out for those that are bound. The way out is by way of Jesus. He not only is the way out, He made the way out. He was the sacrifice and the One who sacrificed, He is the blessed One who was made sin. He was never tainted by sin when He was here, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, made higher than the heavens”, Heb 7: 26. What a glorious Man is Jesus, the One that God could look down upon and say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt 17: 5. But He went down to make a way for us to be relieved as captives, bound as those that mourn, as broken-hearted, that we might come out in liberty and joy in the presence of God. The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin. This glorious Man went by way of the cross; they took Him to Calvary, they took Him to the place of a skull called Golgotha and there they crucified Him. Do you ever think of the place Golgotha? Have you ever looked at a human skull? A human skull is full of nothing. All the intelligence of man took Him to the place of a skull, the emptiness of man’s mind; if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But Isaiah goes on, and the point I want to come to is, “Beauty should be given unto them instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness”. The best robe in Luke 15 is the garment of praise, my friend. Eternally there will be those who have put their trust in Jesus, clothed with the garment of praise, and in that situation they will be set up, as “terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified”. Secure and stable and in that stable position glorifying God. This is the gospel. This is the emancipation that God would offer to you tonight through His well beloved Son. He is asking you to accept Him, to put your trust in Him, to put your faith in Him, to believe in Him – “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”, Acts 16: 31. You remember that jailor in Philippi, you remember how he cried to Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” There he was, he was bound by his sins and at that point he cried, “What must I do to be saved?”. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house’.

Now I have read about these seven disciples at the end of John’s gospel because, some of us have known this experience practically. It may be there is some person in this room tonight who knows something of this. These disciples knew the Lord, they had travelled with the Lord, they knew Him as the One who had gone into death to secure the basis for their salvation. They probably heard that same gospel preaching in Isaiah 61 preached by the Lord in Luke 4, when he said “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears” (v 21). They heard it, they had enjoyed His company. What blessings they had known as they companied with Him for those three and a half years. But now there was a point when Peter says, “I go to fish”, and they said we will come with you. They went out and they toiled the whole night and they took nothing. Peter was a successful fisherman earlier on and here he is toiling the whole night and he takes nothing. He is away from the Lord. The seven of them were away from the Lord on a fishing expedition. It must have been doubly sad for Peter to toil all night and take nothing. Peter appears to have been fond of sleep. He slept on the mount of transfiguration, he slept in Gethsemane, he liked to sleep and here he was toiling all night and taking nothing. You can almost hear him saying, ‘I could have had a good sleep’. Oh, the Lord was watching over Peter and the others. He knew where they were. Thank God the Lord has watched over us and He knew where we were. We knew what it was to know our sins forgiven, to have been granted the gift of the Holy Spirit, to know the blessedness of relationship with Christ in the presence of the Father, and yet a time came in some of our lives when we decided to go on a fishing expedition. We left the Lord. Why am I constrained to speak about this? I do not know. But there may be some person in this room who was brought up in a Christian household, knew what it was to enjoy the blessedness of the Lord’s presence and His company, but is now away from the Lord. Is there one soul in this room that has gone on a fishing expedition and taken nothing? I ask you, be honest with yourself, have you taken anything? But the Lord is so gracious. ‘Have you anything to eat?’ ‘No nothing’. Put the net down at the right side of the boat and up comes a net full of fish. The Lord in His grace, abundant grace, has a fire of coals and He has bread and fish laid on the fire. He says, ‘Bring of the fishes which you have taken’. Then He says, “Come and dine”. What a Saviour, what a Lord! Toiled all night and took nothing, back into the presence of the Lord Jesus, my Saviour, to find that there is a fire, there is bread and there is fish laid on it, and He says, “Come and dine”. There is no word of retribution, just “Come and dine”. If this afternoon you have gone away from the Lord, have toiled and taken nothing, He is waiting for you, He is beckoning you. He is prepared now to give you the wherewithal to take you through into all eternity for your blessing and His praise and God’s glory.

My friend, there is one more opportunity, one more exit from the downward path that you might come with the rest of us on the up line, led by Christ, the Man who died for us and lives for us and is waiting to take us into the presence of God Himself when we shall have bodies of glory like unto His own body of glory. In the meantime while we wait for Him to come for us, we can enjoy these same blessed relationships as we are with Him in the power of the Spirit in the glorious greatness of what is for the pleasure of God. May you accept Him this afternoon for your blessing for His Name’s sake.

 

 

 

NEW YORK

October 2000