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PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD

Paul Martin

These two passages both refer to our Lord Jesus - quite different settings, but the same Person. God is speaking of Him; He has never ceased to speak of Him. He loves to speak of Jesus. We can thank God that through grace we love to speak of Him too. He is speaking of Him that He might win your heart, that He might win you for Himself. You may say to me, 'I am not interested in the gospel'. That does not alter the fact that God is interested in you. Your blessing, my blessing, have not depended on my interest. Where would any of us be if God had operated on the basis of our interest? But God is interested in you. Of course, He loves interested persons, that comes out early in His ways with men. Moses was a young man and he was interested; he saw a bush burning and he was interested in it, so what he learned was that God was interested in him. Whatever your feelings as to Jesus are, I can tell you with assurance that God is interested in you tonight. He has feelings for you, He has feelings for all men. The love and grace of our Saviour God has appeared - what wondrous grace! Why should it appear? Because God's heart was going out to man, and it has never ceased to go out. The awful happenings in the world, have they altered God's heart? They never have. Think of the atrocities in Ruanda. Have they altered God's heart? No. The awful happenings during the Gulf War, did they alter God's heart? Never. Think of what happened for these people who have just been celebrating D-Day. Did they alter God's heart? They have not changed the heart of God. You may say, 'I am too bad; I do not feel worthy'. That does not alter God's heart. He is still interested in you, and thank God, He has been interested in me however bad my history may have been. Why? Because He has provided the basis whereby He could meet it all. God is not towards you or me on the basis of demand. He is towards us because the demands have been met in the Person of Jesus.

I trust the Spirit will help us to speak of this verse for what a verse it is - "Is it nothing to you..." I do not know where you are going today, what your ambitions are. We all have ambitions, even older people have ambitions. You may look at the older brothers and say, 'Well, I am sure the day of their ambitions is over'. Do you think so? I think I am right in saying that we all have a measure of ambition, all of us. Where are you going? Passing by, - what are you passing by? Are you passing by the Saviour hanging in His sorrow upon Calvary's tree? There were many that passed by. One of the Gospel writers tells us that the passers-by reviled Him. Are you passing by tonight? He will stop you. He will say this word to you, "Is it nothing to you...?" Is it nothing? Does it not mean anything to you? Passing by with your own objectives in view - does it not mean anything to you? It says, "Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow". 'Oh', you say, 'there is a lot of sorrow in the world', and so there is. I tell you, there has been no sorrow like the sorrow of Jesus. He came into this scene, the perfect, holy, spotless Man. What sorrow filled His heart as He moved here to see the depravity of man, the departure of man from God. He felt it all so keenly, He felt the fact that sin had made its inroad, that death had made its inroad into humanity. He felt it; think of Jesus weeping. Oh, what tears they were. He said prophetically at one point that "sorrow has broken my heart", "sorrow has broken my heart". The Lord Jesus was a Man of sorrows - what a name for the Son of God! He never ceased to be the Son of God, glorious in His own Person and never ceasing to be the Son of God, but He came in as a Man of sorrows. He felt for a widow whose son was being carried out of the city; He felt for the blind man who could not see. He felt for the man who was possessed by demons. The Lord Jesus not only removed those things in His power, but He felt it then. He felt the sorrow, He felt what it was that man was away from God and that the devil had made his inroad so fully into humanity. "By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5: 12); "... it is the portion of men once to die, and after this judgment" (Hebrews 9: 27), the portion of all. Could anyone stop it? Men are working frantically to find a cure for things that bring in death, but if they find a cure for one, they never find a cure for the fact that it is the portion of men once to die, and after death the judgment. It is the portion of men: it is your portion. It was not the portion of this blessed Man of whom we speak. He came in to die, not because death attached to Him, but in love for you and for me. Oh, is it nothing to you? Just stop for a moment; do not keep passing by. "Is it nothing to you...? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow". Think of the sorrow that the Saviour bore as He stood that night in the palace of the High Priest, what sorrow was His. They did not provide a seat for Him. He stood there through the night. He bore the jeering, the mocking, the beatings that men placed upon Him. He stood there through the night. What a night it was! How dark was the night that the Lord passed through, how dark it was. Have you ever pondered it? We read it, it is covered in one verse of scripture, so briefly, but have you ever pondered what it meant to the Saviour that He should stand there and become the object of mocking of the whole of humanity? What sorrow was His! He had come in to save those persons; He had done no ill. In wondrous grace, He had put His healing hand upon them. He had come in to save, to heal. The answer He received was that night when he stood, and stood there alone. No-one stood with Him, not one ray of comfort from any, but He stood there alone. Oh, what sorrow! He did not feel it only in what it meant to Him, but He felt it all in what it meant to God. He not only stood there as God's representative, but He as One who Himself could feel as God felt, could feel the departure of man and the hatred of man as God felt it because Himself, He was God. Oh the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, "... ye know the grace..." (2 Corinthians 8: 9), what grace there was. Did He answer, did He return what was heaped upon Him? He bore it all, in love and He went onward. That was not all. They made fun of Him. The Lord Jesus says prophetically, "I am the song of the drunkards" (Psalm 69: 12). He would feel that. In the public houses of this world, He was the song of the drunkards and He remains it today. Oh, do not go there, do not go there! He is hated there, He is mocked there, he is ridiculed there. He had to go onward still. It says in John, Jesus "went out, bearing his cross" (ch 19: 17). What majesty marked the Saviour as He went out to die, "And he went out, bearing his cross". He did not shrink from it, He went that way for you and for me in wondrous grace. He went forth; the Son of man goes as it is determined of Him. That was on the one hand. On the other "he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53: 7). What perfection! Would you or I be like that? Most of us here would have to say that if provoked a little percentage of what the Lord Jesus was provoked we would have answered much. He answered not a word. He bore the sorrows alone. Oh what sorrow is 'like unto My sorrow'! He bore the sorrow of Israel away from God. They were under Roman rule; He felt it and He bore it. He took it all upon Himself. Oh, blessed Saviour, how wondrous He is, and He went on to the cross. What a death that was, "becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross" (Philippians 2: 8). The Lord Jesus hung there upon a wooden cross, in order that He might fully complete the will of God. He said, Lo, I come to do Thy will. What that meant to Him; He knew every footstep of His pathway and what that would cost. You and I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but He knew what it would bring. What wondrous grace that we do not know what tomorrow will bring. Wondrous grace that He knew and in grace and in love He went forward, never flinching, to secure and complete the will of God. What a Man! He says, "Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, whom Jehovah hath afflicted in the day of his fierce anger", ''whom Jehovah hath afflicted". I hardly know how to speak of it. What He bore from man was terrible, but what He bore from God! He was going that way as the sin-bearer. Oh, the wonder of the grace of Jesus. Sin did not attach to Him. He was perfect, but He was going that way as the sin-bearer. You and I could never be the sin-bearer. You could never make atonement for your sins, nor can I. It required One who was perfect, One who was without spot, the blood of Jesus as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (see 1 Peter 1: 19). What a Man. He went forward as the sin bearer. In those three hours of darkness the Lord Jesus was made it. You and I could never be made sin, we are sinful, but He was perfect and He was made sin. You can understand that there should be darkness. God covered the scene in darkness. Who could behold such a sight, when the holy Saviour hanging there was made sin. God poured out His judgment, ''whom Jehovah hath afflicted in the day of his fierce anger". Think of God's anger against sin but not only His judgment; judgment can be implemented unfeelingly but this was not unfeeling. God poured out His fierce anger on the head of Jesus. What did He do? He hung there in silence, He bore it all. He had never known God's wrath, or God's displeasure. He had known perfect complacent affection and intimacy of relations even up to the point of those three hours of darkness. He had known God's pleasure, but, hanging there upon that cross, God poured out His fierce anger on the head of Jesus. Why? Because of what I had done. Do you not love Him for what He has done for you? I ask you that simply, do you love Him for what He has done for you? No-one else could have done it, but He has done it alone, He has borne the anger, and exhausted it, and now He is crowned with glory and honour at God's right hand. How worthy He is. What a Saviour! "Hallelujah! what a Saviour!" He has done every thing for God, and I can say He has done everything for me, for my eternal blessing, for my present blessing, for my eternal happiness and for my present happiness, He has done it all,

"My soul shall then still praise Him,

And loud His grace extol -

Thou hast Thyself redeemed me;

Yes, Thou hast done it all!" (Hymn 367)

The Lord Jesus has shed His precious blood in order that you might be cleansed from your sins. When man had heaped all that he could against Jesus, God poured out the fulness of His love; He caused it to flow that you and I might know what it is to come into blessing on the basis of His sorrow His suffering, His blood and His rising again. He has done it all, how worthy He is, worthy that the King might make a wedding feast for His Son. "A king", it says, "made a wedding feast for his son" - it is not now a moment of sorrow, this is a moment of joy. He has made a wedding feast, "and sent his bondmen to call the persons invited". We know the typical teaching in this that there were those that had a right to the blessing. Do not think you had a right to the blessing. You may have been brought up in a believing house, thank God for it. You may not thank God for it at the moment, you may not appreciate it, but as you go on in your life and look back, you appreciate the fact that your mother wept for you and prayed for you. In the grace of God He is sending out His bondmen tonight to compel persons to come in. Why? To make something of you? To make everything of Christ, and He wants you to share His joy as to Christ. He is interested in you, He knows more about you than you do, even the hairs of your head are numbered. He knows just what you are today. Think of the God that follows you, the God that knows every detail about you. He never loses sight of what we are, but He appeals to us in the light of what Christ is, and He is making a wedding feast for His Son who is so pleasurable to Him, who has done everything for Him, who has satisfied Him not only in what He has done but in the very perfection of the way in which it was done. He says, I will make a wedding feast, I will provide the best that I can for my Son and I will invite you to come in. Are you going to come tonight? Are you going to come and make Jesus the centre? He is the centre of everything for God; He wants you to come in in order that He might be the centre of everything for you. God is appealing to you. He is not commanding; it says, "The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy; go therefore into the thoroughfares of the highways, and as many as ye shall find invite...", invite. He is saying to you tonight, 'Come in. Come in.' Will you find anything better? You never will. I know the world appeals. It changes its latest gimmicks and inventions to attract the minds of men but God is not changing anything, He does not need to. What He has provided in His feast is sufficient, sufficient to satisfy God, sufficient to satisfy you and it will satisfy you eternally. He is saying, 'Won't you come in? Won't you come in?' Do not dabble in the things that hold your interest at the moment. You know how short-lived they are. We can all remember how when we were young, we picked up something today, we lost interest in it tomorrow. Come in to feast on the love of God, and you will never pick up something today and lose interest tomorrow. Everything is there for your eternal blessing and satisfaction, and God is appealing to you tonight on the basis of the sacrificial work of Jesus, and He is saying, 'Invite those persons to come in'. Are you going to your own land? You say, 'Those fields look better, I will go to my own land'. God has a land. We used to sing when we were children, "There is a happy land where saints in glory stand, bright, bright as day". Are you going to be among them, to take up your part there in the enjoyment of God's love, His love for Christ? He wants you to share that love for Christ; He wants Him to become the centre of everything in your life as He is the centre of everything for God. We sang at the beginning of our time this afternoon,

"Object of eternal pleasure,

Perfect in Thy work divine!" (Hymn 206)

The Lord Jesus will be the Object of eternal pleasure for myriads upon myriads of saints. Is He going to be your Object? Will you not put your faith in Him? Put your faith in His precious blood that was shed on Calvary's tree, shed for rebels, shed for sinners - can you say, 'Shed for me!'? Claim the efficacy of that blood for yourself and have the assurance in the blessed Holy Spirit that that blood and that blood only can cleanse you from your sins, and through the blessed Man who is now at God's right hand, come to know what it is to have peace with God. If Jesus was not there you could never have peace, but we have peace because He is there. The peace is not in what we have done or what we feel. You do not have peace because you repented, necessary as that is, you have peace because Christ is at God's right hand, ''Therefore having been justified ... we have peace towards God", "having been justified" (Romans 5: 1). How could you have peace with God if you were not justified, if all that history was still rising in your mind, if you knew that it had not been fully cleared? We have been in an atmosphere today when there has been peace,

"Where deceiver ne'er can enter,

Sin-soiled feet have never trod" (Hymn 206)

All that history completely gone and God looking at you tonight in the worth of Jesus. You say, 'I will try and do better’. Do not try. You will never succeed. God is not looking for you to try and do better, He has one Man who has done everything perfectly, He does all things well. He would accept you in the Person of that blessed Man. That is what the best robe is, that there is a Man before God in subsisting righteousness, and God is clothing these that believe in the worth of that Man. Are you clothed tonight in the worth of Christ? The Spirit would give you the present consciousness of it. I would appeal to you, if you are not conscious of the joy of salvation, ask the Father to give you the Spirit that He may give you the consciousness of the joy of salvation and the power to walk here in the dignity of it, and to know what it is to become one of the King's sons. Mephibosheth became that. He ate at the king's table continually, and he became one of the king's sons. Would you not like that, to come in on the basis of mercy and become the King's son? God is not offering anything less. All the wealth that God has in His heart and in His house, and in divine provision can be yours as you come to know the Lord Jesus. Will you not come? Will you not let His sorrow touch your heart? He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, we could never bear His, He bore them alone. Let His sorrow touch your heart tonight. One dear man said, 'The Lord Jesus has won my affections in His down-stooping, but He holds them now where He is in the glory'. Let Him win your affections!

"If He claims our hearts' affections

Unreserved of His own,

'Tis because of love unchanging,

That in Him was first made known." (Hymn 111)

It is not our love - our love is so fickle - but it was His love, and you will prove along with others in this room that it is not only that His love that was manifested on the cross, but that love is towards you still and will be unchanged until you reach home with Him where He is. He is an all-the-wayhome Saviour. He is sufficient for everything. How slow we are sometimes to prove it, but He is sufficient for everything. We often think we can plan things better, but He is able for it all. Let us leave our circumstances, our affairs in His hands, because He has greater affairs to bring us into. He said to one dear woman, "Thou art careful and troubled about many things" (Luke 10: 41); how often I am like that, dashing here and there, careful and troubled about many things, "but there is need of one, and Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her". What part was hers? She was absorbed with Jesus. She came to prove that not only was He sufficient for the circumstances through which they had passed, but He was occupying her affections with another world altogether. He is the centre of that world. The believer does not belong to this world. Some of us were saying in the house at lunchtime that the believer is spoiled for this world. You do not fit in here, you could not. The Lord Jesus, in putting His claim in redemption upon you, has left an impression of Himself that will never be accepted here, He has left it upon the believer. I say to you, feed upon Him. Remember in Exodus 12 when the passover lamb was slain, the Israelite had to eat of the lamb, there was no choice, he had to eat, it was a commandment, and in that I think God gave the Israelites an appetite for the food that did nor belong to Egypt but belonged to another world. Feast upon Jesus where He is; feast upon Him too as the sacrificial Lamb. Once you start, you will not want to stop. There are many sitting here today who will tell you that is was hard-going to start reading ministry, it was hard-going to start reading the Scriptures regularly, but once you get a taste for them do not want to stop. You will find that to be your portion, I am sure you will, because everything that God has provided for your happiness is so full and so permanent, and so satisfying. May you come to know the Saviour and that He is not only sufficient to save you from your sins, but sufficient to satisfy you for time and for eternity. May it be so, for His Name's sake!

KIRKCALDY

12 June 1994

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