THE LORD TURNING TO PERSONS
[p. 251] THE LORD TURNING TO PERSONS
Luke 23: 27, 28; Luke 22: 61, 62; Luke 7: 44 - 50; Luke 10: 23, 24
Each of these scriptures has in it the fact of the Lord turning, first to a number of persons, then to one person, then to another person, and finally to a number of persons; four incidents, each having a special significance. In no sense is any a repetition of the others, but in each case the Lord turns. I desire by His help to speak under each heading consecutively, believing that persons represented in all four scriptures are in this room.
The first class, in chapter 23, is described in the verse as persons who are lamenting. They bewail and lament Christ. You may say, A very laudable thing, and you may think you are saying what is just right, and yet if the Lord were here He would not say that. He would say to you as being of this particular class, that instead of bewailing and lamenting Him, bewail and lament yourselves, for being of this class you are one who thinks of sufferers in a sentimental way. A large class of humanity comes under this head; they may be designated humanitarians, that is, they have sympathy with humanity. They read the papers and are affected by atrocious crimes, murders, kidnappings, and all the underworld happenings, also by persons in serious affliction such as are in hospitals. A large class of humanity is characterised by being peculiarly affected by these things, and yet it has never occurred to them that they are in need of sympathy themselves, that the most terrible things are pending in regard to them, and they have never stopped to think and weigh over, ‘What is the end of my history to be?’ The Lord addresses Himself to these women. There were others in the crowd, but the women [p. 252] there were particularly bewailing and lamenting Christ. They looked upon Him evidently as a sufferer, but there is no evidence that they rightly gauged what He was suffering. That would not be an item of importance to them. He was suffering, He was bearing His cross and going to be hung upon it, and they were bewailing Him. The Lord turns around, as He is here tonight, to look upon them. The Spirit of God might have contented Himself with saying that the Lord said to these women such and such things, but He tells us that He turned around to them. They were of interest to Him, and everyone who comes under this head in this room is of interest to Christ now. He is turning towards you, and He would tell you what He told them, not to bewail Him.
It may be you had your christmas tree and you have listened to the christmas carols, and your heart has been moved. This is possible without the slightest touch of conscience as to one’s own guilt; to join in the christmas affairs and celebrate the birth of Jesus with feeling of which an unconverted man is capable, yet never touched by the solemn fact that his sins had brought Jesus, not simply into this world, but put Him upon the cross. We are all capable of these religious feelings, as we call them, sentimental feelings, and never once have we turned to God as to our guilt, as to our sins, as to ourselves. As the Lord says, “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves”, and then He goes on to tell them that the time would come when that which the Jewish woman most keenly desired would be regarded as a calamity, even children, and others would say to the mountains, “Fall on us”. You see, they had no idea of what was pending, that the government of God was about to visit Jerusalem in the most terrible way. They did not know that, and the Lord says, “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves”. That [p. 253] is what I would say by the power of the Spirit, as I would hope, to everyone of this kind in this room. Weep for yourself. Some day you will have to say to God, and it is for you to think now as to how matters will be in that day, for it is appointed unto men once to die, we are told, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9: 27). So it is a question for everyone to think for himself in this matter, and for you to inquire how it is going to be with you in that day. The Lord speaks about terrible things that were going to happen, and if I were to undertake to recount to you from this platform tonight the things that are now imminent — I say not at a distance, but imminent — it would take me more than this evening. There are terrible things that are about to happen in christendom, as well as in all the world, but particularly christendom. The world is all set, I may say, for the terrible outburst according to prophecy, but I am not dealing with that now. What is current confirms it, that the time is about ripe for the most terrible outburst in this world, convulsions in the heavens above and the earth beneath in an international and political way. The Lord would use this fact by itself to awaken souls not to be sentimental about things, but to face things and get to God about things, for you to weep for yourselves, as the Lord says, and not for Him. He is not needing your tears now. He is far beyond the reach of man’s persecution now. He is saying, I do not need your tears but you need mine.
The Lord was going to the cross at this particular time, and these bewailing people, lamenting people, followed Him, and He turns around to them. He is here tonight, as I may say, to turn towards you, any such persons as are here, with the same words. I am not seeking to say things against anybody here, but this class of person is shallow as a rule, sentimental; they are persons who would go to a bier [p. 254] and would bewail because of the bereavement, and then go outside the door and laugh.
The Lord in His time here was accosted by a ruler of a synagogue who said to Him that he had a little daughter who had died. His name was Jairus. When the Lord reached that man’s house, the girl was apparently dead — a very solemn situation. Who would not be moved in the presence of a young girl of twelve years who had just previously been so hopeful in the eyes of her parents? She lay dead, and in that house there were persons who were bewailing the death of the child. The house was full of it. The Lord Jesus entered into that house and He questioned what they were doing. You see, beloved friends, we have to learn everything from Christ, what He thinks of things. He said, Why are you wailing and making a noise, making all this turmoil? And the people derided Him. They justify themselves in all this ado. The Lord turned them all out. You say, A hard sort of thing. But it was the Lord Jesus who did it. Let no one question what He does. He turned them all out; He will not turn you out tonight, nor will any of us; our thought is that you might be detained and get His mind and weep for yourself. He did not say that in Jairus’s house. He simply wanted to raise the child into a spiritual atmosphere, and for that reason He turned them all out, showing that that sort of thing has no value, no currency, in heaven.
In another instance, in the city of Joppa, there was a woman, named Dorcas, a very estimable woman. She made garments, a most estimable thing. There are societies called by that name throughout the world, and highly regarded. This woman died and they took her to the upper room and laid her out. They sent for Peter and he came, and the widows were bewailing the loss of this charitable woman. Peter put them all out. Do not think I am [p. 255] endeavouring to belittle anyone here, but I am stating facts, that that sort of thing has no current value in heaven at all. But what has a value in heaven is when you begin to wail for yourself. “Weep for yourselves”, says the Lord, and for what was coming. Terrible things are coming on, but as soon as you begin to wail for yourself heaven is interested at once, for “there is joy” we are told, “in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth”, Luke 15: 10. It is when we begin to wail for ourselves, or when a young man or woman or an old man or woman, who has never turned to God, begins to smite upon his breast and say, ‘God, I am a sinner’. That brings out the interest of heaven. You will not be put out. Heaven is interested in that, as Luke so beautifully puts it, in quoting the Lord, “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth”, Luke 15: 7.
Is there anyone here who has not responded? This meeting is for you, it is to call upon you to repent. The first gospel address, attributed to Christ by Mark, gives the Lord as saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel”, Mark 1: 15. If He were here, He would say the time is overdue for you. Do not let it go another second. Repent and believe the gospel. That is what He would say to you.
Now this leads to Luke 22: 61, where the Lord is turning to one person, a person well known to Him. He often looked at Peter with dove’s eyes. With eyes of unalloyed affection, for He loved Peter; but here Peter is an inexcusable sinner. He is a christian, as we say, a believer, and he loved Jesus and Jesus loved him, but Peter sinned grievously. He sinned three times within a very short space of time, most grievously and in spite of the fact that the Lord had told him he would do it. It makes the sin all the more heinous. Now it may be that some christian [p. 256] is here who has sinned against Christ, against the saints, it may be a long time back. This meeting is for you. The Lord has been waiting His opportunity to call your attention to that sin. Here He was a prisoner Himself before the High Priest. The Lord Jesus has just been arrested through the treachery of Judas and was in the hands of His enemies. It is said in the type, “God ... delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand”, Psalm 78: 61. That is what happened to the Lord Jesus; He was taken a prisoner and was standing before the High Priest to be charged. He did not forget that He had said to Peter, “Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice”. The Lord had not forgotten, and He was waiting for an opportunity to look at Peter, so that he should remember. The Lord does not say anything to him; it is a question of His looking at him. He had said something to Peter, and if there is a sinner here such as I describe, the Lord has said something to you and you have transgressed in spite of it. Some of you perhaps have been numbered with us, breaking bread as we say, in fellowship, and had been warned and warned as to the danger, and you transgressed and turned your back upon the Lord and all His people. This meeting is for you. The Lord would remind you, it is for calling of the sin to memory, a very important thing. Sins that have been confessed and forgiven are never called up again by God, never — a very comforting thing. “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more”, Hebrews 10: 17. But sins that are committed and unconfessed and unjudged will be brought up. The Lord looked at this sinner so that he might remember, and what he did remember was not his sin — that was all fresh — what he remembered was what the Lord said.
Now it may be that there is someone here tonight who has sinned, and the Lord would remind you of [p. 257] the warnings that He gave you before you sinned. It is to call to memory what He said, that is the great point. If you call that to mind, the work is done. That is what happened here. The Lord had said to Simon, “Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice”. Well, you say, if the Lord had warned me like that I would never have fallen as I have fallen. But I am certain that if there is such a person here tonight, the Lord faithfully warned you before you fell. Peter is there, according to Luke, as sitting at the fire; others say he was standing. He is taking his ease with the enemies of Christ. Who is there here tonight who has been comfortably sitting down with the enemies of Christ? It may be in some theatre, or some bar room, some cinema, sitting down with the enemies of Christ. A maid comes to Peter. ‘You are one of the disciples of the Nazarene’, she says. Think of Peter standing up and saying to a girl, No, I do not know Him. Think of what we are capable of. Let no one say, I would not do that. You would do it, you are no better than Peter, nor am I. Peter has to suffer for us in that way. The maid comes to him a little while after, and he says the same thing. According to Luke it is one maid and two men, three persons, who one after the other, say to him, You are one of them. No, I am not, he says, I do not know Him, and he began to curse and swear. Think of what we are capable of. It is as though there was a clock hanging on the wall, and the Lord said. Before twelve o’clock tonight you will deny Me three times. The cock tells the time, and as the cock crew the Lord turns around and looks at Peter. Think of that gaze, that interest, the Lord of glory, the Maker of the universe, the Sustainer of it, that He is turning around to look at that sinner.
Let those glances of Jesus, those sympathetic eyes of Jesus, pierce that hard conscience of yours at this time. He is looking at you now, as it were. He [p. 258] would pierce that hard shell that has grown up around that sin you have committed. Every day occasions growth in that hard shell that encases the guilty heart, the guilty conscience. The Lord turned and looked at Peter, that was all He did. He had said something, and the point in His mind was that Peter should remember, and he did. May God grant that that may take place in someone here! That is what the meeting is for, that someone may let the light in who has been refusing it. The Lord says in Jeremiah, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23: 29. The look of Jesus recalled His word and broke the rock in pieces and Peter went out and wept bitterly. What a fine result! Heaven was interested in that, heaven was watching for that. It was on the calendar, as it were. The Lord Jesus had put a note on the calendar, at that particular hour, and He said, Something is to happen, the cock is to crow and I am to turn around to Peter. Something did happen, and that something was that Peter remembered the word of the Lord and went out and wept bitterly.
That was the beginning of the end. There were certain things that had to follow for his full restoration, but that was the beginning of the end, and when the saints met together on the morning of the resurrection, they were talking about something that happened between the Lord and Peter. We are never told that the saints made any criticism about Peter. We have the records of course given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but not in the sense of criticism. It is a divine record simply, so that what they were saying in the meeting in Jerusalem on that day was that, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon”, Luke 24: 34. The Lord Jesus met Peter. He appeared to him. Think of the interest of the Lord in one soul. Peter’s history is for our [p. 259] account, and it is in this case to show how interested the Lord Jesus is in any one of His people who has sinned already and has not confessed it. He is interested in you now and He would cause His eyes to look into your heart and pierce through that steel conscience, to break it down so that you will weep bitterly.
The third one is a woman, in Luke 7, to which we may now turn. Her history is as well known perhaps as any. This woman’s history is familiar to us as a great gospel text. I read from it because it says of the Lord that He turned towards the woman. She is not a Peter; she is not now a hardened sinner. She is a great sinner, for the Lord Himself says, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven”. Peter’s was only one, as you may say, in a threefold way. He denied the Lord three times to three persons, but this woman had sinned many times. The Lord knew it. Simon knew it, and this woman knew it. Simon was saying things in his heart about Jesus, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is”. He did not say it out loud, but he said it in his heart, and the Lord knew it. Let me say of anyone here who is saying things in their heart, the Lord hears it. He knew what was in that man’s heart, and He said, “I have somewhat to say unto thee”. The Lord went on to speak of two debtors. What the Lord had in mind was a sinner that becomes a lover. How fine! The Lord has nothing less in His mind than that the blackest sinner is to become a lover of Christ. He is not imputing sin. He is not irritating Simon. No preaching of the gospel should irritate, but rather encourage. There is no animosity, there is no critical spirit, nothing but love behind the gospel, and no one can really preach it except one that loves. It requires that one is a lover of Christ and of men to be a preacher of the gospel. So the Lord speaks to Simon about love, “Which of them will love him most?”. The Lord had that in mind and He spoke about the two debtors. Simon answered intelligently, “I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most”. The Lord answered, “Thou hast rightly judged”. “And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman?”. The Lord would give us to understand by these incidents what a great place the believer has in heaven, how heaven is interested in one person and how the Lord Himself is interested in one person. He has in mind that you are to be a jewel, a lovable person forever with Him. He takes account of the person from the beginning to the end. How beautiful this woman was in His eyes. He turned to her. You would say, She would not be very beautiful in my eyes, I would not think much of her. But the Lord of glory turned to that woman to call attention to the effect of grace in her. I do not think anything is more interesting to heaven than the effect of grace in poor sinners; greater than anything that happened in creation is when grace becomes effective in a poor sinner. Heaven is aglow with interest, and the Lord of glory Himself was here and He turned towards her.
The Lord says, “Seest thou this woman?”. Simon had looked upon her with scorn, he would have rejected her at once, but the Lord of glory looked upon her. The Lord says, “I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet”. As though to say, You should have done that, you are a man of means and culture, and you ought to know that a guest should be cared for, but you did not treat Me in the ordinary way. That is what man is, he would invite the Lord to his house as a sort of novelty but would not accord to Him the ordinary civilities that belong to a guest. They would deny that to Jesus. Jesus showed how He would treat His guests by washing the disciples’ feet. Simon did [p. 261] not give Him water, but this woman supplied the tears and used them. “But she hath washed my feet with tears”. You have often heard of these things, but the Spirit would bring them home to us, the effect of grace in the sinner, and we would challenge ourselves as to whether we could do anything like this, to weep in affection for Christ. Then again He says, “My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment”. “Anointed” — that is a very dignified word. It was as though to say, These feet have carried grace to me from heaven, there are no feet like them in the universe. The woman anointed His feet with myrrh, indicating that they were suffering feet. It is the effect of grace. Let each of us as christians challenge ourselves as to whether the Lord can with complacency speak of us to others, speak of the effect of grace in us.
The Lord does not say anything to the woman in all this until we come to verse 48, as you will notice, “And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven”. He had said of her, “Her sins, which are many”, but He had no need to say that to her. Let her count them. It will take all our lifetime to count our sins, for it is a question of repenting all the time. Others complained about this and He spoke to her twice, a double testimony. You do not need any more. He says, “Thy faith hath saved thee”. First, “Thy sins”, second, “thy faith”. If there is any weak-hearted christian here, that word is for you. The Lord would say, Whatever you have in the way of faith, that saves you. How comforting! It is to grow, of course, but whatever faith you have saves you. The Lord says to the woman, “Go in peace”. What a fine word that is! How different that woman would be if you met her on the street! Poor degraded person she had been, but now a subject of [p. 262] administration under Christ. She is going to be a jewel in His crown.
Now finally, in chapter 10, the Lord turns towards the disciples. That is another class. Peter is in this class, and so is the woman too, and so is every person who has really learned Christ; every follower of Jesus is in this class, and the Lord turns. If you were to see Him in heaven tonight, that is how things are. Of course, we are creatures with tiny minds, and things are brought down to us in this way; but if we were to see Jesus in heaven we would see great and constant activity in mind and action of every kind in view of His people down here. They are constantly before Him. They are on His breast, and His eyes are constantly upon them. Everything is taken account of, but if we were to see Him, when the saints are together on Lord’s day, Monday, or Wednesday, we would see the Lord turning round towards them. There is constant activity in heaven. History is being made in heaven, it is a most active place. It is the activity of love. Divine Persons, angelic hosts, are all active and we would see that Jesus turns towards His disciples, and what does He say? He does not upbraid them here. He had said to them, “Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10: 20), but now He turns toward them and says, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see”. How a christian is taken account of! Kings of old desired to see the things they saw, but did not see them. But He said, You hear and see the most wonderful things and your eyes are blessed. Dear brethren, the Lord is bringing many things before us. He is unfolding wonderful things to us by the Spirit, and the word is, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith”. He is unfolding things, are we looking at them, are we hearing them, putting them into our treasuries? That is what the Lord looks for.
[p. 263] This is the last word that I have, that the Lord Jesus turns towards the disciples and occupies them for the moment with the blessedness of their eyes because of what they see, and so He would say to us. How blessed you are because of the things that you see and hear! He leaves us in that way. May we have the sense of it, how He in the glory on high turns towards us. Not only that, but He comes to us as well, which is greater, but I am speaking for the moment of His interest in turning toward the disciples.