RECOVERY
J. Spinks
1 Samuel 30: 1–6, 18–20; 2 Samuel 15: 23–32; 23: 1–4
I would like to say a word as to recovery. We were engaged this afternoon with the glory of the divine system, and how it is all sustained by one blessed Man who has been enthroned in glory, whose ministrations and affections and activities are related to His own here. It is the divine intention that every believer should come into that in a full way. It says in Proverbs,
“the path of the righteous is as the shining light, going on and brightening until the day be fully come” (Proverbs 4: 18). That is normal, that is what God intends for every one. But then, we have to say that it is not always so, we all have to say sorrowfully, that failure comes in both individually and collectively.
I just want to say a word as to how God can recover persons to His original thoughts, no matter how grievous the failure, and recover them in such wise, that they come out of it with an increased apprehension of the greatness of the One in whom all these thoughts are centred.
This is a very wonderful chapter, 1 Samuel 30, and it speaks to us as to how Christ has recovered all. I would just like to touch on that before passing on, because primarily my exercise was to speak about David as a type of a believer. Yet initially, we must in every scripture look for Christ. I think that is a fine thing—I say that to the young people. The Old Testament is full of wonderful types of the Lord Jesus, and they provide great encouragement and great education for us, and a wonderful view of the glory of Christ. So here, it is a type of how the Lord has recovered everything that has been lost, man has failed in responsibility; sin has come in and the whole scene is one of captivity. That is what has happened; the whole of humanity is captive. Christ in His wonderful grace has come in and recovered the
position for God, in such a way that there is spoil for God and for Christ, as it says here,
“This is David’s spoil”. The hymn writer says so beautifully—
‘For Thou hast brought again to Him
More than by man He lost’. (Hymn 431)
God has used the failure of man and the incoming of sin to work in His own divine wisdom to bring about results that will be for His own eternal glory.
I was thinking primarily of David as a type of a believer who has failed. What had happened previously is that he had been hunted by Saul, persecuted by him, and God had come in for him in a very great way and delivered him out of his hand. Then there came a time when David’s faith failed, when it says, “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul—there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me to seek me any more within all the limits of Israel”, 1 Samuel 27: 1. That is to say, his faith failed at that point, and he really moved outside the limits of Israel. What I would like to suggest is that the limits of Israel represent a sphere where God is operating. Of course, God is God, and He can operate wherever He will; in fact the psalmist says that, “If I take the wings of the dawn and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea”, Psalm 139: 9. He is there, God is not restricted as to the area of His operations, but normally He operates within the limits of faith as far as the believer is concerned.
I would just like to touch on that, because if we move outside the realm of faith we are going to come into danger; David thought he was in danger where he was, but the truth was that he was in far greater danger when he moved outside the limits of Israel. I would just like to say, to the young people particularly, that if you move outside the realm where divine Persons are operating you put yourself in an area of danger. Between chapter 27 and chapter 30, David dropped
below his true dignity. Many of us have had to say that; when we move away from God, in whatever measure, we drop below the true dignity that belongs to us. When God takes us up He confers certain dignity upon us; He confers sonship upon us, that is the greatest dignity that could be conferred on anyone, the dignity of being a son of God. That is to say we are brought into divine relationships, and God intends that we should act and conduct ourselves in a way that is proper to these relationships. I would like to leave that impression with each one of us, that in the reception of Christ and coming under His sway, we come into association with Him as sons of God. He, of course, has the relationship uniquely. He is a Son by right, He came into that by birth, we come into it by adoption. You know the Queen confers certain things, I suppose the honours list shows that; there are certain persons who have a certain dignity conferred on them, and we would not disparage that, we have to recognise these things; but it is nothing compared with the dignity that God confers on believers. Let each one of us realise, when we come into the blessings of Christianity, we come into an area of divine dignity; not human dignity that will all pass away, but dignity that is divinely conferred. The greatest blessing that God can conceive in His heart for persons like you and me, is the dignity of sonship, and the good of it is only maintained as we are kept in the area of faith, kept in the power of the Holy Spirit. The enjoyment of all these things is in the Spirit, and they are all related to the area of faith.
What I want to say is that at any time recovery is possible. That is one of the blessings of Christianity. In the old dispensation, sometimes recovery required a certain process, a period of cleansing. What I would suggest is that in Christianity recovery is immediate. Whenever there is repentance and getting back to God, as David does here, recovery is immediate.
Whenever we repent, we get back immediately into communion with God; we get back into the area of faith; we are no
longer acting on the lines of human expediency but we are acting on the line of faith; acting true to our calling, the great divine calling wherewith we have been called. At any time we can get back to that, it says, “David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God”. Then he calls for the ephod, that is the priestly garment, that is another great blessing that belongs to every believer; he is not only a son but he is a priest. That is to say he has access at any time into the presence of God. Do we make use of that dear brethren? I ask the question of myself.
How much do I make use of the great favour we have of going into the presence of God?
How much do we go into the presence of God and get the answer to all the problems? There is a beautiful simplicity about this, it says, “David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he said to him, Pursue”. The answer is immediate, and it is clear and distinct. I think the lines of communication had been restored; they had been lost for a time. We all know in our histories what that is, when the lines of communication between ourselves and God have been lost. Here they were restored, and restored in all their simplicity.
There is a beautiful simplicity about Christianity; even the very youngest can go into the presence of God; they can go into their chamber, as the Lord says, and kneel down and lay out their matters before the Lord, and they can have a sense of the divine presence, a sense of divine interest. The Lord said, you remember, that if the fathers according to flesh know how to give good things to their children, how much rather your Father who is in the heavens (see Matthew 7: 11). He said, “When ye pray, say, Father”, Luke 11: 2. Is that not a wonderful thing? You go into your chamber and kneel down and speak to God or to the Lord Jesus, and you have a sense immediately of divine interest. No matter how small your problems may appear, if you go into the presence of God, you will find that God will give you a sense that He is profoundly interested in everything that
has to do with you; any problem that besets you whether it relates to school or employment, or whatever it is, you will find that God will give you a sense that He is attuned to all your requests, and He is able to come in and strengthen you. Faith is a great strengthening thing, it says of Abraham that he found strength in faith (Romans 4: 20). We all know what weakness is, but faith is a great strengthening principle that brings us back into communion with divine Persons.
I pass on to 2 Samuel 15 because this is another passage where great failure had come in.
What had happened previously was a grievous sin of David, and it had left a certain weakness with him; from that point in relation to Bathsheba. David had a certain weakness from which he never recovered. What I would suggest, dear brethren, is that things have happened in the history of the testimony that have left a certain weakness, from which outwardly we will never recover. It says of David’s sin that it caused the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme; that is a terrible thing, and a very humbling thing, and we have had part in that, dear brethren. I do not say that to be in any sense on negative lines, but rather to accept the reproach and humiliation that belongs to the position publicly. What we find in the preceding chapters is that David is being manipulated, he had lost the initiative. There is Joab, a man who purports to be his friend, but he is manipulating David, and there are others coming in; Absalom, a man who is really a type of what is anti-Christian, comes in and there are all sorts of things, all against David, and David is not able to handle them. I believe that is what belongs to the public position, that there are certain governmental consequences to public sin, and that leaves a certain weakness. That is what the position is here when we come to this point. The usurper has taken over, he is about to move into Jerusalem, and how does David react? Is he going to give up? Is he going to say that everything is lost? No, he is not doing that. What we find here is that he is acting in a way that is
fitting to the position in which he is.
It says, “And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over”. There are those that pass over with David earlier in the chapter, and you have a man like Ittai who is committing himself. I think David must have gained great encouragement from that. There he was, in a position of great weakness, he had not acted in a suitable way previously, but a man like Ittai is committing himself. I think that is tremendously encouraging, that at a time like this, you get a man like Ittai whose words are beautiful. David does not exactly encourage him, not that he wishes to discourage him, I do not think that is the point, but what he says is to bring out the reality that is there. The only thing that counts is reality; profession counts for nothing, not a thing, the only thing that counts in the present time is reality, full committal to Christ. It says in verse 21 of chapter 15, “As Jehovah liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life”, that is, he puts death first, the public position is marked by death. The fellowship is the fellowship of His death, we have to accept that. It is not attractive to the flesh, it is one of reproach. The Lord Himself sets that out, it is a position of great reproach, but Ittai commits himself, and says, “surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be”. It is a wonderful thing that persons are committing themselves to Christ in what is basically right but very weak.
So David is moving here and he is beginning to take the initiative again. I think that is what happens when we accept the public reproach, we come into a situation where we see divine directions coming in. The king says, “Carry back the ark of God into the city”. You may say, What a foolish thing to do naturally, the city is soon to be taken over by the usurper. You might say, Why do you not hold on to it David and gather people round yourself? He says, No I will not do that. What it
Means I believe, dear brethren, is that you do not arrogate anything to yourself, you do not do that; you relate yourself to the great thoughts of God. David has been recovered to the great thoughts of God; he is thinking of the ark; he is thinking of the city; he is thinking of Jerusalem. I think that is a very important feature in recovery that you relate yourself to God’s great original thoughts. These never change, God does not adapt His great thoughts to the weakness or failure of what is public; He maintains them, and as we relate ourselves to them we will get help and strength. I think that is where David takes the initiative here, he relates himself to the great original thoughts of God.
So we find him here giving directions, he has regained the initiative, he is moving in fitting humility, and he is moving upward, he is not moving down or moving away, he is moving up to the mount of Olives. Is that not an encouraging thing, that in spite of the public weakness and failure, David is able to ascend the mount of Olives. It suggests, I believe, an area where the enemy can never intrude. I think it is always available to us, it relates to the spiritual realm, and as we take on the proper and fitting humility and reproach that belongs to the public testimony we are able to ascend. I think it is right to say that. The mount of Olives relates to an area where the enemy can never intrude, and it says, “David went up by the ascent of the Olives ... he went barefoot; and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up”. What an influence he is, all those that were with him going up weeping as they went. How fine it is that as we take these things on God comes in. Then David is able to worship at the summit. On the way up, he speaks about the counsel of Ahithophel. That is one of the features of the present time. What you have in this whole section is not so much the power of the enemy but the craft of the enemy.
You have a man like Absalom, he is acting in a way that is not exactly a display of power, but it is the craft of the enemy that
comes in here. That is the way the enemy works, he works in a way that is underhand and crafty, and he seeks to undermine the position. So he refers here to the counsel of Ahithophel.
This counsel, if it had been heeded, would have involved great damage to the testimony. We need to beware what counsel we listen to. There is much counsel at the present time, and we need to make sure that the counsel we listen to is right counsel, that it is of God. We were speaking this afternoon about what is coming from the Head; let us be sure that what influence we are under is coming from heaven.
Then it says, “Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head”. That is another one who is displaying the features that are proper to the public position. I could not go on to the whole section but what you find is that David is reasserting his influence; where he lost it before he is reasserting it through these persons, who are humble and contrite; a broken and a contrite heart, the psalmist says, He will not despise (see Psalm 51: 17). That is the kind of persons who are coming under the influence of Christ. Let us be among them, dear brethren. What happens in the subsequent history of this section is that the enemy is thwarted in his efforts. Let us see that the influence we are coming under is the influence of Christ, and what the enemy is seeking to do will be thwarted and the saints will be united in a way that is stronger than ever before. I believe that is what happens through recovery, that not only is the position retained, but there is increase; that is what chapter 30 of the first book brings out. In all these exercises that we are passing through, as we go through them with God, let us see that there is increase, not only Godward but in our bonds together. I believe that would be the result of going through things properly, that as we go through things with God, there is increase for God and increase in love and respect for one another, and brotherly confidence. All these things come about as we go through these deep
exercises with God Himself.
I refer to 2 Samuel 23, because I believe it shows how everything works out for the divine pleasure. These are the last words of David. You think of all the things he went through, we have only spoken of two of them, two of the very deepest of them, but no doubt there were many others. What came about is that most of them, if not all of them, resulted in a psalm. Is that not a fine thing? He is the sweet psalmist of Israel. Think of going through an exercise and out of it comes something for God. I think that is a great triumph. The enemy always seeks to weaken a position, but as you go through things with God, the position is strengthened, there is addition, there is something that goes into the divine treasury. You think of the hymn book that we have, you go through the hymns, what a history there is. We look around the local meeting and see old brethren who have been a long time in the testimony; we think of all the conflicts they have gone through one after the other, and then we have the service of God and we see the results. Like the sweet psalmist of Israel, there is no bitterness, they are not formed that way, they are formed in something that is sweet to God. I would just like to say for the encouragement of the dear young ones, when you go through anything with God you know it is sweet, let your voice be heard in the service of God. I say that simply; it may only be a few words, but if you go through an experience with God there is something very sweet about it, it is sweet to God and it is sweet to the saints, and you will add your quota to the praises of Israel; this wonderful service that is set on by Christ.
I think it is increasing with every generation, and it will finally eventuate in the great eternal song. The sweet psalmist of Israel is from one point of view a type of Christ. He is One, who can take all these things through, every experience that the saints go through, and bring them in and enrich the service of God.
So David is moving out of the scene now, but there
is another Man coming into view, the Lord Jesus Himself. How beautiful the words are, “And he shall be as the light of the morning, like the rising of the sun, A morning without clouds”.
How beautiful that is! All he has been through, all these exercises have found their place in the divine treasury, and as he is moving off the scene he has the light of another Man in another world in his soul. I trust that what we go through both individually and collectively will result in Christ being glorified, that the light of Christ and the light of His day will be increased in every soul until the day be fully come. We are looking for that, are we not? We are looking for the day to be fully come. Let it be, dear brethren, that it is increasing and deepening. We have opportunity tomorrow, if the Lord will, to add our quota to this great service of God. What an opportunity it is to bring the result of our exercises in praise, so that God is glorified and Christ is everything and in all. May the Lord use these few words for our blessing for His name’s sake.
Address at Grangemouth, 15 May 1993
COME – FOLLOW – REMEMBER
D. Robertson
Matthew 11: 28; John 21: 23 (“Follow thou me”); Genesis 40: 14 (to “thee”), 23
The language of the Saviour, “Come to me”, is the language of One who has a supreme claim to you. He has died to establish it. No one has a claim upon you like the Lord Jesus. It says in the prophetic scripture, “I have redeemed thee ... thou art mine”. Isaiah 43: 1. The Lord Jesus would lay claim to you; He has paid the price for you. Satan would claim you too, and he would make an offer to you; he could not pay the price the Lord Jesus paid for you, but he would offer something to you.
Most of us here can remember a time in our lives when Satan offered us something, perhaps in sport or in some other sphere of activity. He would have given it that we might come into his service. Satan has a service, and many people are occupied in it; this world is the fruit of it. He trades in souls; the scripture speaks of a system that trades in the souls of men (see Revelation 18: 13). It is a solemn matter trading with the souls of men, that is what Satan is doing, seeking to gain your soul and to prevent you from submitting to the claim of the One who alone has a right to you.
The Lord Jesus has two claims upon you; that has often been said in the preaching. He has a claim upon you because you are His creature; the Lord Jesus is a great Person, He is the Creator. We present Him as a Saviour, present Him as a glorious Man who has come in from God to accomplish the work of redemption at a tremendous cost to Himself, but His Person goes far beyond His work. He is greater than His work, He is the Creator. He is God, and yet such a Person stooped into manhood in order to effect the work of redemption. It cost Him His life. He died and shed His precious blood, and previous to that, in those three hours of darkness, He endured the abandonment of God, all to the end, dear friend, that He might establish a claim upon you. He has an indisputable right to you not only as your Creator but as your Redeemer. What a Person He is, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is saying, “Come to me”.
I have only a simple message, but it is an important one. These are the words of the Saviour; these are not philosophical words, the world is full of philosophy; it is expressed in the little poem which says—
‘Never mind, O, never mind,
Rest and peace are hard to find’.
That is the philosophy of this world. What does the Christian say? What does the evangelist say?
‘Come to Jesus and you will find
Rest of heart, and peace of mind’.
Do you have it? Do you ever feel troubled about your sins? Do you ever put your head down on the pillow and sleep does not come because you are thinking about God, and you are thinking about yourself in relation to God. I can well remember those nights, even as a young lad; it took me a long time before I came, but thank God I came, in answer to the appeal of the Saviour. But if you are troubled about your sins you know there is peace available for you, there is rest for you, and it is in this blessed Person who is saying, “Come to me ... and I will give you rest”. What a precious matter it is. I know the bearing of this scripture goes far beyond what I am speaking of, but I limit it to that at this time; what a precious appeal this most blessed Person would make to you now.
There are many persons here, but He is appealing to you, and He is saying, “Come to me”.
Think of that. Think of having a transaction between you and the Saviour, between the Saviour and yourself. The Saviour who has died, who has suffered and shed His precious blood—who has gone into death and overthrown its power, and He is risen out of it, a glorious Saviour. The word says in Luke, “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name” (Luke 24: 47). It is through the Name of a risen Saviour. What a Person He is! He is appealing, and He is saying, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”. Are you going to come? It is a movement of soul, it is the answer to the appeal of Christ. Are you going to answer to it? Are you going to refuse it? Is there anything more attractive than that the Lord Jesus should make this appeal freshly in the glad tidings at this time? “Come to me”. As I said, He has an indisputable right over you, you belong to Him, you are His creature, but He has died in order to redeem you. He has died in order that your sins might be forgiven, and far more than that, in order that you might be free from the bondage of sin. I do not go into that at the moment, I would limit myself, as I said, to a simple word, that such a Person
says, “Come to me”. How appealing it is that the Lord Jesus should use such simple language. There is not a child here that does not understand the word “Come”. It is being used by the Saviour at this time in the simple words of grace, and He is appealing to you to
“Come”. Satan is making his own bid for you, the world is making its bid for you, but what a price the Lord Jesus has paid that you might come to Him, and come into blessing, come into rest.
Does every one here really know the settled peace that is the outcome of the redeeming work of Christ? I met a man recently, a man I used to work with, I had heard his wife had died some time ago; I spoke to him and sympathised with him as to the loss of his wife. He said, Well, I can tell you this, I pray every night that I will not wake up in the morning, my heart is empty, my life is empty. How sad! an empty heart and an empty life. Before I could say anything, he said, And religion does not work. I said, That is true but there is a blessed Person who can fill your mind, who can fill your heart, and He can fill your life. Dear friend, that is true! That is the assertion of simple faith; it is not a clever human argument. I assert on the principle of simple faith in Christ that He can fill your heart and He can fill your life. He can indeed. What a Saviour He is, and He is saying, “Come to me”. There is no other Person to whom you could come, who could fill and satisfy your life and satisfy your heart. O, that you might prove it at this time!
I appeal to you young people, you may become accustomed to hearing the gospel, and that is very good, you hear it week by week, but you know there is a danger in that, there is a danger in becoming just accustomed to the word and not being affected by it. I believe, the Saviour.
Jesus, is appealing to you at this time, and I believe He is saying, “Come to me”. May there be none who would resist the appeal; indeed we can all come, in the affections and faith of our hearts,
young and old, there can be a fresh movement of soul, we can find fresh joy and peace that belongs to those who come to Jesus. It is a characteristic movement in the Christian life that we keep coming to Him. But, O, that you might come, and come without delay.. Do not put it off, come without delay. Some of the preachers in our younger days used to tell us that the way to hell was paved with stones of good intention. That is true; you intend to come do you not? I always intended to come to Jesus even as a lad. Thank God that divine grace gave me the opportunity; I may have missed it. Do not miss it. He says, “Come to’ me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”.
Now the next step, as coming to Jesus, is that you will find that you owe Him your full allegiance. Christianity is not to be a half-hearted matter. If you really come to Him, you will really want to live for Him, and that is His word to you, “Follow thou me”. Mr Stoney has a beautiful thought about that, he said that following is the practice of communion. You come to Jesus and, you learn to speak to Him, and you learn to listen for His voice. It is a very precious thing. The voice of the stranger no longer appeals to you. It says of the sheep in John 10, “they will not follow a stranger ... they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10: 5).
That is all that needs to be said about it, you do not investigate a voice you do not know; you are not curious about it, you do not know it, that is enough. But you know the voice of Jesus, and the more you learn His company the sweeter that voice is. The hymn says, ‘How will our ears drink in His well-known voice’—His well-known voice (Hymn 213). Think of the ear drinking in the voice of Jesus; from waking up in the morning, as you go through the day and when you come to night, the voice of Jesus is available to you, and you learn to love it; you learn its tones. It may be a tone some day of rebuke, it may be atone of admonishment, it may be a tone of encouragement, but most of the time it is a tone of comfort, a tone of love. The voice of Jesus is very
tender, and the more you come to know it, the more you learn communion with Him, I think the more you want to follow Him.
So He says, “Follow thou me”. He has to say that to Peter. He says first of all, “Follow me”, and Peter raises some question. Then Jesus says, “Follow thou me”. He makes it more emphatic. Perhaps He is doing that in His ways with someone here today saying, “Follow thou me”. Other persons are following, but what about you? He is a Saviour, a Lord, to whom full allegiance belongs. We had a brother in our place who used to say, ‘If you do not crown Him Lord of all, you do not crown Him Lord at all’. That is the truth. That is the Saviour we are preaching; He is a Saviour who does not appreciate and does not deserve half-heartedness. He wants your full committal, and He deserves it. He has gone the full way for you; are you prepared to go the full way for Him? You young men go the full way; do not be waylaid, go the full way. God will take you as far as you will let Him take you; He will take you the full way, and He will give you the power to go the full way. The power to follow Christ lies in the gift of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
I would say that when you come to the Saviour you come into wonderful blessing. He will bring you to the knowledge of the forgiveness of your sins, but more than that He longs to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that you might have power to follow. Not to be a follower of this world, its trends, its fashions, its habits, its customs, it is all coming down, the world is coming down, it is sinking fast, the moral declension is tremendous. The world is sinking fast towards the judgment of God, not only eternal judgment but the judgment of God that will come upon this earth once the church is gone. What things will happen especially in the western world where the glad tidings have been preached so fully. What I want to say again is this. Do not follow that kind of world; you will follow it to your
ruin. If you are a Christian it will ruin you, it will drive you down to its level, and it will leave you damaged, and damaged as far as the testimony is concerned for the full course of your life. There are such persons, alas, today; persons who are really Christians, but who have been damaged to such an extent that they are ruined as far as the testimony is concerned.
Now finally a word on remembering Him. I could have read from the epistle to the Corinthians, where the Lord Jesus says, “this do in remembrance of me”, 1 Corinthians 11: 24. He not only says, “Come” and “Follow”, but also He would say, Remember Me, “this do in remembrance of me”. This butler came into blessing through Joseph, if I could speak simply, and Joseph spoke a very simple word to him, “Only bear a remembrance with thee of me when it goes well with thee”. So you have come into blessing and you know in some measure the joy of the forgiveness of your sins, you have a love for Jesus, and now the Lord Jesus says, It is well with you but bear a remembrance of Me. That would be an appeal of the Saviour, it is more than an appeal, it is an obligation of love, but it is an appeal nevertheless.
The Saviour would say, Remember Me “this do”. We did it here today, and others did it, in the simple action of taking the emblems, the bread and the cup. The Lord says, “this do in remembrance of me”. How it pleases the Lord Jesus, I believe it fills His heart with joy and satisfaction. One speaks simply as representing Him here tonight, I believe that the heart of the Saviour is delighted with the actions of persons who remember Himself. Yet it says about the butler that he forgot Joseph. What a solemn word; he forgot Joseph. He had been blessed through him but he forgot him! I trust there are none here who will forget Him, that this simple word may be effective, that you, will Come— Follow— Remember. May the Lord bless the word.
Preaching at Buckhurst Hill, 6 January 1992
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
C. F. Dadd
Acts 26: 1–8; Matthew 28: 2–6; 1 Thessalonians 4: 13–18
We have come to the end of this series of meetings, and I would just like to leave a word with us all to encourage us. Paul says, “So encourage one another with these words”. There might be a lot of things to discourage; there might be a lot of things in your life that are a great burden and a concern; there might be things that have come into your life which are a sorrow; but I would like to leave a word of encouragement with you. Maybe you need it, and maybe I need it, and the Lord always knows how to encourage His people. I thought if we looked at the thought of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the rapture of the saints, we could just end on this note which would strengthen all of us for the testimony. I think if we can get our eyes on a risen, ascended, glorified Christ it would strengthen the hands of every one of us, that we might be here for the pleasure of God. Christ took a body and He was here for the pleasure of God from the time He began until the time He finished. All the days of the Lord Jesus Christ were a time of pleasure for God. He could look down upon Christ at the time when He came out in public testimony and say, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, Mark 1: 11. It is open to you and me, that we can be here, in measure, for God’s delight; filling out our time in a way which would be not only acceptable to God, but would be for the pleasure of God. What David did was for the pleasure of God. It comes into the Acts that he ministered to the will of God in his generation (Acts 13: 36). Our time is about finished, we are about to pass from time into eternity, so let us spend the rest of our days here for the will of God.
So Agrippa speaks to Paul. Agrippa would have
been little impressed I suppose with this prisoner who was in chains. Think of Paul there in front of Agrippa, one of the great potentates of the day, and there is Paul in his prison garb, and Agrippa permits Paul to speak for himself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and says to Agrippa, “I count myself happy, king Agrippa, in having to answer today before thee”. I wonder if that is our feeling as we are in relation to some of our work associates? Are we happy? Do we consider it a happy thing that we answer to some of these persons as to the resurrection, and our confidence in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ? Have you put your trust in Christ? You may find, instead of being here according to the will of God, that you are here pursuing your own pleasure, and your own will. Is that your position? I know what that is, and I am appealing to all my beloved brethren, and especially to the younger people here, to make a fresh start. It is one thing about Christianity, while you are alive, it is not too late, because every one that turns to the Lord can be saved. That means you. You say, you do not know me, you do not know my history. Every one of us who calls upon the name of the Lord can be saved. What a God we have. He has made it so easy for us to come into the blessing. He has not made it complicated; we do not have to go out and do some great exploit.
Naaman was a leper and he felt it very keenly; and maybe you are a leper (2 Kings 5). You say, What do you mean? I mean maybe you are under the effects of your sins; maybe you have never had your sins washed away; maybe sin is operating in your flesh; maybe you are a leper in that sense, and you are wondering. What can I do to get delivered from this condition that I am in? Naaman thought he had to do some great thing. The prophet did not even come out and talk to him, he just sent out a message. It is like the gospel, it is a Message sent to you. Are you going to receive it? Finally someone persuaded him to do what the prophet said.
Speaking in our own time, it is like someone
persuading you to put your trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ; to accept what Christ has done and know what it is to be cleansed. You can be cleansed from your sins, your sins, so many, you could not even recount how many you have committed, and I cannot either, but I can tell you one thing and that is that the death of Christ, the blood of Christ is great enough to wash every one of those sins away, and you can be cleared in the eye of God.
You cannot buy it with money; you might think you can buy salvation, but you cannot buy it, it is not for sale, but it is available, the price has been paid. Christ has paid the full price. All you have to do is accept it in the faith of your soul, and it can be yours. Can you tell me anything greater than that today? There is nothing that can touch it; the gift of eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of the Spirit is the greatest gift we can receive. Why?
Because He is a divine Person; we could not have anything greater than that. Have you received the Spirit? You will never enjoy Christianity, you will never enjoy salvation, you will never come into the true sense of the love of God, without the Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit who sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. You accept Christ in the faith of your soul, and then seek the gift of the Spirit. God is so ready to give the gift of the Spirit, great as He is, wonderful as He is. He is willing and waiting to give you the gift of the Spirit of God, because it has been God’s thought from the beginning that you should be indwelt by the Spirit of God as a believer.
Then another gift you can receive is eternal life. You might be a millionaire but you could not buy eternal life. Eternal life lies in Christ, it is there in Him, and God wants to give it to you.
Christ came into the world not only to save us, but it, says, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal”, John 3: 16. That is what God has in mind for you, eternal life; it is a realm of things that you can enjoy,
and do you know where you can enjoy it? You can have it individually and enjoy it among the brethren. This weekend we have been breathing and enjoying the atmosphere of eternal life; it is a wonderful experience. This morning as we rallied around the Lord’s supper we found that we were in an area where we enjoyed the liberty and the atmosphere of eternal life.
It is open to you my friend but you will never get it if you do not move; these things are available to us, but you know Christianity is a system of movement, you have to move. If you did not take the Lord’s supper this morning you did not move according to the will of God. It is the will of the Lord that you should take the Supper, “this do in remembrance of me”, 1
Corinthians 11: 24. I would put it on every believer that you commit yourself to the Lord’s supper, and know what it is to come into an area of warmth. I know what that is, I have experienced that, to come into the warmth of fellowship; to come into the sphere of salvation.
Salvation is found in the assembly. I am not saying we are the assembly, but I am saying we form part of it, and we can be in this area where we can experience salvation from the world that is around us. You know there is nothing but death in the world that is around us. Do you agree with that? I am sure you do. The world has not really anything to offer eventually but death. I can tell you there is a sphere of salvation and that is the assembly, and you can come into it, it is open to you.
So Paul says to Agrippa, “Why should it be judged a thing incredible in your sight if God raises the dead?” Do you think it is a question of what is incredible if God raises the dead?
There are high church men in this country who do not believe in the resurrection. It is a hard thing to believe that there are those in prominent places religiously that do not believe in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every promise of God is established in Christ risen from among the dead. The whole structure of the glad tidings hinges on Christ having been raised from among the dead. If there was
no resurrection we would have nothing to say; but Christ is risen, Hallelujah!
The record of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus in Matthew is marked by outstanding power.
If you have ever been in an earthquake you will know what I am talking about; an earthquake is an act of power. So there was this great earthquake, “for an angel of the Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it”. I think that is wonderful.
Here was the power of Rome, the military power of the day; what a military power it was, but the angel rolled away the stone and sat on it. The Roman empire with all its power could not keep Christ in the grave. Never! He is risen, Hallelujah! That is what we see here, He comes forward in power, and this angel sat upon the stone. The angel’s look was as lightning, his clothing white as snow, and for fear of him the guards trembled and became as dead men.
Pilate had said, “Ye have a watch: go, secure it as well as ye know how”, Matthew 27: 65.
They secured the grave, having sealed the stone, with the watch besides, to be sure that nobody would steal Him away. The angel comes and rolls away the stone and sits upon it, and the Roman soldiers become as dead men, they are in the presence of the power of God.
This power is toward us today; the power of God in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of us were talking about this between the meetings, the display of power that came into effect when God raised Christ from among the dead. We will never penetrate that power, but we can appropriate something of it, and you can appropriate something of that today.
That power which has been exercised in raising Christ from among the dead will be exercised in a coming day as Christ calls His lovers out of the grave. What a time that will be! Maybe you can think of your parents, or maybe your grandparents, those that you have known that have departed to be with Christ, lovers of the Lord
going to call them out. Think of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His voice that will penetrate the realm of death. It is beyond us to understand it. There is mystery related to the resurrection of the saints, but He will raise every one of them; He knows where they are. You can be among those who know that if you depart to be with Christ the time will come when He will call you out of that grave, just as He called Lazarus out. He said, “Lazarus, come forth. And the dead came forth, bound feet and hands with grave-clothes” (John 11: 44), and the Lord said, “Loose him and let him go”. That is what the Lord wants to do with you today, he wants to remove the graveclothes. He wants you to take off the clothes of unbelief; the unbelief that has been marking you, making you immobile, spiritually immobile because you are bound up in unbelief. What the Lord wants to do is to loose you and let you go, so that for the rest of the time you are here according to the will of God. May it be so for His name’s sake.
Preaching at Birmingham, 4 November 1990
EXTRACT
In the addresses to the seven assemblies, the Lord has spoken in view of every possible circumstance that can arise in the history of the church; there is a word for every epoch. You want to know what place is yours, and make that the basis of your exercise: With us there is the additional thing, that the Holy Spirit speaks. We are not told what He says, the point is to listen to what He says, and if you do, you will have understanding of the times and you will know what Israel ought to do (1 Chronicles 12: 32). You will know what God will do, because He has committed Himself in what the Lord has said to each assembly, and you know what to expect. The Lord has spoken an authoritative word to every assembly and
that is written down. We do not have to hear that, we have to read that; it is written in a book and sent to the assemblies to be read. But we are not asked to read what the Spirit says, it is to hear what He is saying, a constant ministry.
J. Taylor (Vol. 95, pp.208, 209)
WHAT WILL IT BE TO SEE JESUS
D. C. Brown
Oh what will it be to see Jesus
The Man who enraptures my heart?
I’ll gaze on His face
And drink in His grace
And know I will never depart
In mercy and grace He has saved me
Enduring both darkness and pain;
In sorrow and loss
He died on the cross
That I might have pleasure and gain.
He gives me the ‘sense of His presence
And cheers me with touches of love;
But soon it will be
In truth I will see
My Saviour as with Him above.
Oh what will it be to see Jesus
And gaze on—His face evermore
To find in that sight
Eternal delight—
To worship, admire and adore!
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) (0277) 650661