Saturday Evening Meditations

SATURDAY EVENING MEDITATIONS

B. A. Ramsbottom

Fifty-two meditations based on Prayer Meeting Addresses given at Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel, Luton where the author is the Pastor

2012 Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel Luton

Cover Picture: Wild Daffodils at Ullswater, Cumbria, England

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 – Crossing Jordan ...... 7 2 – Fulness in Christ...... 9 3 – Joseph’s Strange Dealings ...... 11 4 – God His People’s Shield ...... 13 5 – The Mercy Seat ...... 16 6 – The Love of Christ to the Church ...... 19 7 – The Cross-Handed Blessing ...... 22 8 – The Rainbow ...... 24 9 – Sowing: Going forth and Weeping ...... 26 10 – The Epistle to Philemon ...... 29 11 – Peter Delivered from Prison ...... 33 12 – The Mountain of Myrrh and the Hill of Frankincense ...... 35 13 – Moab ...... 38 14 – Peter’s Fall and Restoration ...... 40 15 – The Passover ...... 42 16 – The Bread of Life ...... 45 17 – The Good Samaritan ...... 47 18 – Casting our Burden on the Lord ...... 49 19 – Joshua Not Moses ...... 51 20 – The Lord’s Touch ...... 54 21 – The Day of Pentecost ...... 57 22 – Nicodemus ...... 59 23 – Practical Godliness ...... 62 24 – The Need of Deliverance ...... 64 25 – Psalm of Encouragement ...... 67 26 – The Eternal Safety of the People of God ...... 70 27 – Jonah ...... 73 28 – Be Careful for Nothing ...... 77 29 – Moses’ Last Words ...... 80 30 – The Good Physician ...... 82 31 – Brotherly Love ...... 85 32 – The Call of Samuel ...... 88 33 – Philip and the Eunuch ...... 91 34 – Zechariah’s Vision ...... 94 35 – The Name of Jesus ...... 97 36 – Nothing Impossible with God ...... 99 37 – The Man with the Withered Arm...... 102 38 – Elisha and the Downfall of Moab ...... 104 39 – Fretfulness and the Remedy ...... 107 40 – Quietness in Trouble ...... 109 41 – Peter and Cornelius ...... 112 42 – Gracious Exercise Concerning the Word ...... 114 43 – Hearts Touched...... 117 44 – Liberty ...... 119 45 – Remarkable Deliverance ...... 122 46 – The Parable of the Sower ...... 124 47 – The Father’s Loving Care ...... 127 48 – Be of Good Cheer ...... 129 49 – Gracious Reminders ...... 131 50 – Light Shining in Darkness ...... 134 51 – The Mediator ...... 136 52 – The Marriage Supper of the Lamb ...... 139

PREFACE

These meditations originated as prayer meeting addresses given at Bethel Chapel, Luton, over a period of many years. A suggestion was received that some of them might be published. We would emphasise that in no way are these meditations meant to be expositions of the passage. Rather are they a few thoughts intended to be profitable before the time of prayer. This also explains the emphasis in them. As they were originally delivered as a preparation for public prayer, it is felt that they could similarly be used by the Holy Spirit as a preparation for public worship B hence the title Saturday Evening Meditations . Obviously they have been slightly edited with some personal or topical allusions omitted. We believe they could still be read in public if desired. Our prayer is that the Lord =s blessing may rest on the publication.

1 – Crossing Jordan Please read Joshua 3 The crossing of the River Jordan is one of the wonderful events of the Old Testament. It seems very appropriate for such a time as this. I see in it a threefold significance: first of all there are the places of trial. The crossing of the Jordan was an impossible thing. Here was a river, and this river blocked up the path of the children of Israel, and this river was in flood. It threatened to swallow them, to destroy them. There was no way, and yet the Lord made a way, unexpectedly made a way by the power of His almighty arm, and that was the complete dividing of the waters of Jordan so that they might go over on dry ground. Now it may be that as the new year begins you look forward to the unknown way – “Ye have not passed this way heretofore” – and it is as if you see some cold, icy river blocking your path as you go forward and you feel you must cross it; there is no avoiding it. Some trouble, some affliction, some sore distress, something from which you shrink, and there it is before you and you cannot turn back; you have to go forward, and when you come there, it will be that the Lord will divide the icy water and enable you to go safely through. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” Sometimes God’s dear children pass through the waters dry-footed as Israel did here. The Lord has this blessed ability to make a way where there is no way. The second application is death, the entrance from the wilderness into the heavenly Canaan, and death’s cold flood comes before each of us, and we daily come nearer to it. And, “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” Will you sink in Jordan’s swellings to rise no more? Will the swelling of Jordan sweep all your religion away, sweep your hope away for ever? Or have you got such a solid hope built on the merits of Christ that the swellings of Jordan can never shake it? We read in Hebrews 12 of “the removing of those things that are shaken.” We possess many things which may be shaken, and these things that may be shaken may go along with us all the days of our life, but in the swellings of Jordan they will 7 disappear. It is a great mercy that the Lord adds this: “that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” There are some things which can never be shaken, and the swellings of Jordan can never destroy them. O but notice how the ark of the covenant, representing Christ, went before, went right down into the cold waters and divided them, and Israel following went over safely. And Christ has gone before and taken the sting from death and the victory from the grave so that the believer follows where Christ has led. “Nor fear to cross that gloomy sea, Since Thou hast tasted death for me.” The third application is rather different. Canaan was the land of promise; Israel went over Jordan into the Promised Land. There was much land to be possessed; there was much fighting to be done. The land flowed with milk and honey. As you come to another year, it is not just trials that lie before you, and not just the icy stream of death, but there is the land of opportunity; there is a land flowing with milk and honey. The gospel of the Lord Jesus still flows with honey, milk and wine. There is very much land still to be possessed. Now may you go in to possess the goodly land. May the Lord enlarge your coast. May He give you blessings that you have never known before. May He give you answers to your prayers that you have never had before. May He enable you to fight with the sons of Anak and overthrow them. Those Anakims without and within – may you feel that God is on your side, and if the Son of God be for us, who can be against us? May you have the sweet sense of the ark of the covenant going before, and in this sense: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children,” following Christ into the Promised Land, going to possess it. That is a remarkable word: “The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” We have possessions in Christ that by sweet experience we have not yet possessed. Then may the house of Jacob go into the land and “possess their possessions.” O may it prove to be the acceptable year of the Lord. May this be a jubilee year in which we know much of gospel liberty and peace, and, “Soar we now where Christ has led, Following our exalted Head; Made like Him, like Him we rise; Ours the cross, the grave, the skies!” 8

2 – Fulness in Christ Please read Colossians 1. 11-23 The vital thing in the Epistle to the Colossians is the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus, both in His glorious Person and in His work, and these few verses emphasise this. In Christ there is a fulness. A wonderful thing this is, this fulness in Christ. Really it means everything is in Him – everything you want, everything you need, everything you lack, great or small, grace or providence. As William Gadsby said in preaching from this text: “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell” – if all fulness dwells in Christ, then everything else must be emptiness! Now, if the Lord teaches you, you will learn these two things. First of all, that everything here on earth is empty, and then that you yourself are empty. The Lord’s complaint against Moab – Moab solemnly typical of the wicked (see Jeremiah chapter 48) – was this: they have not been emptied; therefore their scent remains unchanged, their taste unaltered. Now grace empties, and then it fills. And in a sense, grace teaches by opposites. That is, the Lord shows you just how empty you are, not that you might despair, but that you might value the fulness in Christ. You do not see a person going to the tap with a full cup. A person takes an empty cup to fill it. And if you are empty, you may feel to be nothing and have nothing, but there is one thing you have: that is a capacity to be filled. There is an attraction in this fulness in Christ. I can only hint at a few things. A fulness of redemption. There is that beautiful word in the 130th Psalm: “With the Lord ... is plenteous redemption.” There is the merit of the Redeemer’s blood. There is a fulness of pardon treasured there; there is the power to cleanse from all sin. Now this is the great point to those of you who feel to be so sinful. But look at your various cases. You have the year stretching out before you. Now are you sufficient for it, sufficient for your pilgrimage, sufficient for your trials which will come upon you? Are you sufficient? “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” Then there is a sufficiency. 9

“As Jesus, in covenant love, did engage A fulness of grace to display, The powers of darkness in malice may rage, The righteous shall hold on his way.” There is the unknown way before you; there is your present way; things too hard for you; things which perplex you; things in your soul, your state, the church of God, your burden. And there is a fulness. You say, I cannot carry on. There is a fulness of strength to uphold you. You say, I am so unworthy. Well, there is a fulness of mercy for unworthy sinners. Another says, I have got such problems; I do not know what to do. There is a fulness of wisdom to direct you. “Thou art coming to a King; Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much.” It is empty sinners coming to a full Christ. This is where the rich and poor meet together. Now it touches everything. And our mercy is that it dwells in Christ. The saints have been drawing from this fulness down the generations. It is not exhausted; it has not diminished or grown any less; it dwells there. You will not come tomorrow and find that grace is not sufficient. Perhaps you have to say, “Who is sufficient for these things,” these things I have to deal with? “His grace sufficèd saints of old; It made them strong and made them bold, And it suffices still.” May you be able in the exercise of faith to look away from everything else and look to this fulness in Jesus and see its blessed suitability, and its preciousness and its sufficiency.

3 – Joseph’s Strange Dealings Please read Genesis 42. 14-28 Whoever would have thought that Joseph languishing in prison would so soon be set next to the throne! But so it was; it was God’s divine appointment. And some of you may look at the exalted state of the Lord’s dear people and fear that you will never come there. There is a better appointment in the gospel than this providential appointment for Joseph, and it is sure: “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Now concerning Joseph’s strange, mysterious dealings with his brethren, briefly, just three points. The first is this. Joseph seemed to deal very strangely with his brethren, but he loved them all the time, and all his dealings with them were in love. They treated him in such a shameful way, so unkindly; but all his dealings with them were in love. He seemed to deal very hardly with them, but he had a purpose; it was in love. And even as he dealt hardly with them, he turned himself from them and wept. But he had an end in his mind, an end in view. And the Lord in dealing with you may seem to be dealing with you hardly, strangely. “He wraps in frowns as well as smiles Some tokens of His love.” Joseph was doing all this for the good of his brethren, that they might all be brought down to Egypt, that they might all be blessed. Another thing. There was a very blessed effect in the hearts of Joseph’s brethren of his strange dealings with them, and that was confession of sin. This was one of the almighty arrows when Joseph began to deal strangely, hardly with them. The Lord sealed it home in the heart. “We are verily guilty concerning our brother.” And how many there are of the heirs of bliss who have gone through life so carelessly, sinfully, until the Lord has brought them into some sore trial, some bitter disappointment, some trying thing, and He sanctifies it! They have been pricked in their hearts; it has been one of the Lord’s arrows and they have been brought to say, “We are verily guilty.” O how often the Lord sanctifies affliction! And may it be so with any with whom the Lord seems 11 to deal strangely. May it be that you might be brought to confess your guilt, to search your heart and to confess your guilt and seek His mercy through blood. Then just this. There was one point Joseph especially had in mind in all his strange dealings with his brethren; that was this. Whenever they left Egypt, he always made sure that they had something which would very soon bring them back to Egypt again, bring them back to Joseph. They were never allowed to go away from Joseph, but he did something that meant very soon they would have to hasten back again; whether it was Simeon he kept, or whether it was that he said he must see Benjamin; or whether it was the money in their sacks; or whether it was the cup in Benjamin’s sack. There was always something to bring them back to Joseph again. And you will find the Lord deals with you just like that. There will always be something to bring you running to Jesus again. You say, Lord, why is this? Why so soon? I have just escaped that trial, and why this? Well, the reason is to send you running to Jesus again. That is the reason for many of the Lord’s dealings. Not much prayer, if any, without them. O but that burden you carry tonight and you wonder why. Well, it will be sanctified; it will be blessed; it will be profitable, if it sends you to Joseph (Jesus) again. And the end of all these strange, mysterious things was that Joseph might have his father and his brethren and all their house to come and dwell with him, and to be granted peace and prosperity. That was the one end Joseph had in view. And the Lord in His dealings has this end in view: His people’s good and His own glory. What does Joseph Irons say? “Let saints proclaim Jehovah’s praise, And acquiesce in all His ways; He keeps eternity in sight, And what His hand performs is right.”

4 – God His People’s Shield Please read Psalm 3 I want to say a few things about the Lord as His people’s Shield. You have this expression continually in the Word of God. We have it for the first time right at the beginning when the Lord made Himself known to Abraham: “Fear not, Abram: I am thy Shield, and thy exceeding great Reward.” Then you can follow it throughout Scripture. Moses had a view of it when he was dying. His last words embraced it, how he saw the happiness of the Israel of God and how that the Lord was the Shield of their help. Then we find it continually in the Psalms. It is a very significant word – a shield. In our day it is somewhat hard to realise the preciousness of a shield in battle. Abraham, Moses, David and the other Old Testament saints, when they spoke of the Lord as their Shield, they well knew what it meant, and they well knew the preciousness of a shield in battle. A shield is a matter of life and death. If a person had a shield, then he came out of the battle unscathed, if it was skilfully wielded. If he lost his shield, it was certain death. This is a vast subject. I just want to say a few things concerning it in a gospel sense. First of all, this: the Lord is His people’s Shield from the wrath of God against sin. The wrath of God abideth upon the ungodly, and the day hastens on when divine wrath must be poured out upon the ungodly. No hope, no salvation for those who have no shield. One great point in a shield was this: it was something which was interposed, something which came between the blow and the warrior. Here was some falling arrow, and a shield was interposed, and the arrow falls on the shield – it does not reach its mark. Here is another warrior smiting with his spear. It does not reach its mark; there is a shield in between; it falls on the shield; the warrior who shelters behind it is safe. Now that is just what the dear Redeemer is to His people. In the atonement He appeared as His people’s Shield. He stood between, came between that awful blow of the wrath of God which must have fallen upon the sinner, but instead, as Christ interposed, it falls on Him. This is substitution, and the hymnwriter so sweetly sings of it: 13

“He, to save my soul from danger, Interposed His precious blood.” There is something very sacred in this divine interposition. The wrath of God falls on Christ that it may not fall on the sinner. Now by divine teaching you will realise the preciousness of this Shield, and there is no other. You will want to hide behind it. Do you pray this in the spirit of it? “Be Thou my Shield and Hiding-Place, That, sheltered near Thy side, I may my fierce accuser face, And tell him Thou hast died.” Now there is safety for the people of God behind this precious Shield. Another thing is this: a shield must be strong or it is useless. Some of these ancient shields were made of wood, and there were layers of metal embossed on them. Others were made of leather, and layer upon layer of leather was laid one on top of another. Sometimes this was strengthened with metal and these shields were so strong. If there was no strength in them, they were useless; they did not serve their purpose. Do you ever consider the dear Redeemer in His divine strength? By nature we devise a few shields of our own and they are useless; they do not defend us; they bring us death instead of life. But O to shelter behind this Shield, to see the strength of His finished work and a perfect hiding place behind it! David, in one of his Psalms (Psalm 5), speaks about being compassed about with this Shield, completely covered and surrounded by it. Do not think of these shields as just little shields they carried upon their arm. Some of these shields were so large, much higher than the warrior who carried them, almost surrounding the warrior. They were strong and they compassed him about. One thing is this: you have your temptations. There may be times with you, especially when indwelling sin rises up, or when Satan assails, or the world opposes, either with its opposition or with its allurements. It is a mercy then if you can shelter behind this Shield! The hymnwriter sings sweetly about these fiery darts when they are met by this Shield:

“There shall lose their force in patience, Sheathed in love, and quenched in blood.” Do you believe it? Those fiery temptations lose all their force here, “sheathed in love, and quenched in blood.” There is also a time of trouble. You have your troubles, different troubles in various ways. O but to flee to this precious Shield and find a refuge, find a hiding place there! There is the day of your death. All other shields will be swept away in the swellings of Jordan. It will be a great mercy then if you are sheltering behind this Shield! “In that dread moment, O to hide, Beneath His sheltering blood!” Well, this is the Shield – a precious subject, a precious Shield. Now may your concern be this: that you might be hiding behind it, sheltering behind it. In prayer there is a sinner approaching a holy, heart-searching God. What hope has he, what assurance that his prayers will be heard, that his person will be accepted? Only this: as in his prayers he pleads the name of a precious Jesus, and then he hides behind this Shield. “Behold, O God our Shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed.” And as the Father looks down on His dear Son, as you are sheltered by Him, this is the ground of your acceptance, of your person and your prayers.

5 – The Mercy Seat Please read Exodus 25. 10-22 There was nothing more precious in the tabernacle than the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. When we meet, when we gather for worship, it is a gathering around the mercy seat. Under the old dispensation there was a thick veil hiding it. The people had not the access. They knew the high priest entered once a year, but that thick veil spoke of distance, spoke of separation. When the dear Redeemed died, that veil was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Now there is a new and living way opened to the mercy seat and sinners are now welcome. When we meet in the house of God, may there be real prayer. I believe if by precious faith there is a view of the mercy seat, then there will be prayer. To see this mercy seat sprinkled with precious blood, to see the welcome for the sinner. “That rich, atoning blood, Which, sprinkled round, I see, Provides for those who come to God An all-prevailing plea.” When you see that you will pray. One great obstacle in prayer is seen in indwelling sin, hardness, dryness, deadness, barrenness, fresh-contracted guilt on the conscience, a sense of unworthiness. But if you view the mercy seat sprinkled with blood, there is something here that answers all these obstacles and which removes them, which takes them out of the way. There is an all-availing plea. Poor prayers receive blessed answers through the mercy seat. It is a very wonderful thing to me to look at poor prayers and to see the blessed answers they receive, and to see that it is all through this mercy seat, through the power of that precious blood which intercedes, and through the sweet savour of the holy incense that ascends. Sometimes, perhaps you long that you could pray better! Well, if it is in a right sense, it is a good desire – I mean for more nearness, more access, more felt liberty, union and communion as made nigh by the blood of Christ. But no prayers

16 ever receive answers because they are good prayers. It is through the mercy seat, the sprinkled blood. Now we are told that the Lord dwells between the cherubims of glory. He dwells there. That means just this – there will never be a time when a sinner turns to the mercy seat in time of need and finds that the Lord is not there. He dwells between the cherubims of glory. So then that is a good prayer for those of you who feel to be in darkness and want a little light, those of you who feel cold and want a little warmth: “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.” It is from between the cherubims of glory, from the mercy seat that God shines, and nowhere else. If you ever receive beams of grace and glory in your heart, it is from the mercy seat. If your heart is ever warmed, if your soul is ever enlightened, it is from the mercy seat. “Shine forth, Lord.” Now you look back to see what the Lord has done, and you see the value of the mercy seat: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.” I suppose this mercy seat had the appearance of a throne, and I suppose it represented heaven. There was this throne of glory and at each side the cherubims. There was a representation here of heaven, the place of glory, this throne of God in all its majesty, greatness and glory. Now there you see God, holy, full of majesty. There is no attraction to a sinner here you may think. But O to see the mercy seat and to see the blood! Then you can venture to this great, holy, majestic God! “Although His majesty is great, His mercy is no less.” But to see the glory and the majesty, and to see the mercy! I do not want to say much about these details, only this. You know there is a reason why the measurements are given so exactly. You know what it is. Here is the ark of the covenant described, the exact measurements of it. Now inside that ark was the law of God, the tables of stone that Israel had broken. Now what of this mercy seat, this precious mercy seat of pure gold that was to be sprinkled with blood? Well, you find that it completely and exactly and absolutely covered the ark of God. It was a perfect fit, a complete covering. That is the point of these dimensions. There was not a little space at the side through which someone could look and see those tables of the law that the Israelites had broken. 17

There is a propitiation here. God looks down upon sinners who had broken His holy law. He looks on them through Christ the Mercy Seat, and it is a perfect covering, a complete covering. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

6 – The Love of Christ to the Church Please read Ephesians 5. 25-33 This is the sweetest of all things, the precious love of Christ to His people. There are one or two things which make the love of Christ so precious – would that we knew more of it by sweet experience! One thing is this: that love is to sinners; it is to those who are unworthy, who are undeserving, that the love of Christ freely flows. No sinner ever deserved it; no sinner ever will. But this precious love of Christ freely, eternally flows to sinners. Then there is this: this love is everlasting; it had no beginning; it never can end. The Lord loves His people eternally. Here they are spoken of as “the church,” and there is this sacred comparison, this union of the heavenly Bridegroom and His beloved bride. Many things might be said on this union. The hymnwriter says, “Hail, sacred union, firm and strong! How great the grace! how sweet the song! That worms of earth should ever be One with incarnate Deity!” It is a union of love, a union that cannot be broken. Once on the Isle of Patmos the angel said to John, “Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” There is a sacred view of it here in this chapter. Across these words might be written, “Come, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” How is she to be seen? As loved eternally and as standing in union with Christ. Many things might be said of her. It is opened up especially in the Song of Solomon. I just confine myself to two points concerning this marriage union between the church and Christ. The first thing: as the beloved bride, she takes the Bridegroom’s name. We are told that His name shall be called the Lord our righteousness. We are also told that “this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.” The other thing is this: the Lord Jesus takes all her debts. This is what redemption is – it is the paying of every debt the church of God ever owed, and it was a great debt. True it is that we had nothing to pay. The Lord Jesus in laying down His

19 life for His beloved church paid all her debts. This is the ransom price, and that sovereign decree goes forth: “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” There are also here the precious outworkings, the gracious effects of the love of Christ to His church. The first and greatest effect is this: He gave Himself for her. Venture to Calvary – it all flows from the love of Christ. He gave Himself. There were many high priests under the ceremonial law. They offered many sacrifices that could not take away sin, but Christ gave Himself. He gave Himself for sinners. He gave Himself to the cross, to the bitter curse. He gave Himself to be made sin. There is the gracious effect of it. I feel this is an amazing word. The church of God is viewed – not just one sinner – the whole church of God in all ages. If you consider those embraced in that number no man could number, if you consider all their sins, and then you find them described like this: “Not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” There is not a spot, not a stain upon the church of God as Christ has given Himself for it. This is the value of redeeming blood. It cleanses from all sin; it blots out every spot. And then this is amazing: nor wrinkle. I take it like this. There are some of God’s people have very strange ways and many peculiarities and many things which we wish were different. Perhaps you dare not call them spots; perhaps it would be too extreme to call them sins; but they certainly are wrinkles. When Christ looks at His beloved church, He sees her “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Sometimes in legal language, a lawyer makes a special provision at the end in case there is any contingency, or if something comes which was unforeseen. Well, this touches every contingency: “Or any such thing.” Whatever Satan may bring forward, or your own unbelief to keep you out of heaven, the Lord views the church “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” The point which stands out to me here is that this is the description given so often of the dear Lamb of God Himself. He is “holy and without blemish,” and it is just the same description of the church, for they are all this in Him. Christ takes the church’s sins. He gives the church His perfect holiness. “Holy and without blemish.”

There is a great day hinted at. It is a solemn day. We find Paul so often speaks of it like this: “That day.” “The day shall declare it.” “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” – as if there is only one day which really matters. “The great and the terrible day.” And this day is alluded to. What is the Lord going to do with His beloved bride? He is going to present her to Himself a glorious church. When I began to preach, an aged minister said to me, “There are only two glorious things to preach. One is Christ; the other is the church in union with Christ.” She is a glorious church. Two observations. One is this: I wonder if the Holy Spirit has ever given you a little glimpse of the church in all her glory as she stands complete in Jesus. It will be a most blessed sight. O you will view the glories of the church of God loved eternally and saved eternally! You will view the church as you never viewed it before. The other observation is this: these sacred truths here do not just belong to the whole church of God as viewed in Jesus. They belong to every poor, trembling believer, born of the Spirit. If you are born of the Spirit, they belong to you, and if you are that trembling believer leaning on the Lord the Lamb, these sacred truths belong to you. It is a great mercy to be led into it personally.

7 – The Cross-Handed Blessing Please read Genesis 48. 8-22 In these words there is a cross-handed blessing. Now sometimes, as the people of God, you will receive a cross-handed blessing. God will bless you if you are His dear people. Often it will not be the way that you thought or the way you planned or the way you devised. You may find that everything goes completely opposite, but it is the Lord’s way, and His purposes shall stand, and there is a blessing in it. Let me just remind you what happened. Jacob was now an aged man; he could hardly see. And Joseph brought his two children, Manasseh and Ephraim, to his aged father Jacob for the patriarchal blessing. He specially placed them in front of old Jacob, Manasseh the elder in front of his right hand for Jacob to put his right hand on his head, and his younger son Ephraim in front of Jacob’s left hand for him to put his left hand upon his head. And there they were, and old Jacob was blind; he could not see them and he began to bless them. But Joseph saw to his amazement that his aged father had crossed his hands. The right hand of one in patriarchal times conveyed the greatest blessing, and Joseph had crossed his hands; he had his right hand on Ephraim’s head and his left hand on Manasseh’s head. And Joseph, filled with amazement, protested. He said, “Not so, my father, not so,” and he tried to alter these crossed hands to put them straight; but old Jacob quietly refused, saying, “I know it, my son, I know it.” Sometimes God will bless you with a cross-handed blessing. You have all these things planned out – what is going to happen, what is going to take place, what is going to be – and you expect the Lord is going to act in this way. And when the time comes He acts just the opposite: His hands are crossed, but there is a blessing in it. Sometimes you pray and it is real prayer, fervent prayer; you know you have prayed, and the Lord answers your prayer and He blesses you, but He does it with crossed hands. It is in a completely different way from the way you expected Him to answer that prayer. It may be one is very concerned. Things seem to be going opposite; they seem to be the wrong way round; they

22 seem to be upside down. Well, it may be that the Lord is giving you one of His cross-handed blessings. “He wraps in frowns, as well as smiles, Some tokens of His grace.” Perhaps you expect to hear good news and it is bad news, but there is a blessing in it; the Lord is crossing His hands in it. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” There is this cross-handed blessing. And what do our carnal hearts do? We protest; we say, “Not so, my Father.” This is one awful thing in our carnal natures: we think we know better than God. How often we have to come in guilty here – of going before an all-wise God and saying, “Not so”! Really saying, Lord, I am right; Thou art wrong. Terrible thing! We do not speak the words, but in spirit we do: “Not so, my Father.” If you are saying, “Not so, my Father,” may the Lord bless you with the grace of submission. May He show you that He never makes any mistakes; that all He does is for the best, for His honour and glory and for your good. Beware of this: “Not so, my Father.” You will not get the Lord to change His mind to suit your carnal wishes. His father refused, but he said this: “I know it, my son, I know it.” As if Jacob kindly, tenderly said to Joseph, “Joseph, it is alright; I know what I am doing; I have not made a mistake.” And so the Lord speaks in this way to you. “I know it, my son, I know it.” O it is a mercy if the Lord calls us His sons and His daughters! “Adopted sons perceive Their kindred to the sky.” It is a wonderful mercy if we are sons. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” “I know it, my son, I know it.” The Lord knows what He is doing. He knows it is right. He knows it is for His honour, and He knows it is for your good.

8 – The Rainbow Please read Genesis 9. 8-17 When Noah came out of the ark after the flood, the first thing he did was to offer a sacrifice to God. One point which stands out with Noah is this: the things of God came first, and everything else had to come second. In this Noah is a most blessed example. When God spoke to him, he obeyed. The first thing he did was to offer a sacrifice, and the Lord smelt a sweet savour. By faith Noah looked forward to the one sacrifice of Christ, and as the Father looked down from heaven, it was not the sweet savour of the offering of the clean beast and the clean fowl, but it was the sweet savour which should arise from Calvary of the one sacrifice of the Lord Jesus that the Lord smelt, and He made a promise that He would never drown the earth again. That promise has been fulfilled over the generations, despite man’s sin, despite man’s guilt, man’s rebellion. Then in such sweet confirmation the Lord gave this token: the rainbow. There is something especially beautiful about the rainbow. Have you ever looked at it, and remembered God is looking at it at the same time? “And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it.” It is a token that God’s promise is still fulfilled, a token of the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God is a most precious thing, especially when we realise our own unfaithfulness. It is a token of His mercy. “I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.” It is a token of His eternal covenant. In its simplest sense it is a covenant never to drown the earth again; in its fullest sense, the covenant of grace. We do not hear much of the rainbow as the Word of God unfolds until John had a view of heaven and he saw that the throne of God was completely encircled by a rainbow, an emblem of God’s unchanging faithfulness, His precious mercy and His everlasting covenant. This bow is set in the clouds, and there is something deeper embraced in it than just that the Lord will never drown the earth again. “Those lovely colours shine To show that heaven is surely mine.”

Isaiah 54 opens up the rainbow and the covenant with Noah in a gospel sense. The Lord speaks to a sinner under a sense of his guilt and unworthiness, and this is what the Lord says; this is the covenant, the rainbow in a gospel sense: “This is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.” That is the rainbow in a gospel sense. “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed.” That is the rainbow in a gospel sense. And this bow is to be seen in the cloud. The Lord says, “I bring a cloud over the earth.” Well, some of you will have dark clouds within and without, all very threatening and they make you fear. “The bow shall be seen in the cloud.” No cloud, no rainbow. The darker the cloud, the clearer the precious colours of the rainbow shine. Unbelief looks at the cloud; faith looks at the bow in it. Look at Jacob. He says, “All these things are against me.” That is the cloud, but when he saw the wagons, his spirit revived. That is the bow in the cloud. The Lord, speaking to His people, says, “When thou passest through the waters” – that is the cloud – “I will be with thee” – that is the bow in the cloud. Christ, speaking to His disciples, says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” – that is the cloud – “but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” – that is the bow in the cloud. May the Lord grant precious faith to see the bow in the cloud, a token of God’s faithfulness, His mercy, His covenant. And God says, “I will look upon it,” and, “I will remember My covenant.” There are times when a child of God looks on it and he remembers. But this is not where the safety of the people of God is. The Lord says, “ I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant.” In the fullest sense, the rainbow sets forth the Lord Jesus in all His beauty and all His glory, and the Father’s eye is ever upon Him, and He remembers His covenant; He is faithful to it, ever mindful of it. And as He remembers His covenant, He remembers every sinner that has an interest in it. May there be a little precious faith give to see the bow shining in the cloud. 25

9 – Sowing: Going forth and Weeping Please read Psalm 126 Preaching is sowing time – the precious seed of the Word of God is sown. But we have not to limit this just to preaching. I believe that wherever there is real prayer, there is sowing, and where there is this sowing, there will be the reaping. I want to speak first of all to those who are concerned about your souls and the judgment day and your sins and a never-ending eternity, and fear lest you should be found graceless with no oil in your lamps when the Bridegroom comes; those of you who are pouring out your hearts in prayer, who feel the weight, the solemnity of it, who have to go forth in secret to beg the Lord to make you right, to make you wise unto salvation. Now this is sowing. I believe also the prayer meeting is sowing time. And then there will be the many secret exercises and weighty concerns you have spiritually and providentially, and in prayer there is this sowing. Now what about these tears? What about this going forth and weeping? I believe there is such a thing as watering the Word of God that is preached with these tears. And let me be clear, I do not think it means outward tears; some people weep much more easily than others. Some weep bitter inward tears and some with a heart as hard as iron weep outward tears. But I do feel there are one or two things clearly meant. One is a holy seriousness and solemnity of spirit. Another is a softness, a tenderness of heart, and another is true repentance over sin as the Lord pours down the spirit of grace and supplication. And another is true earnestness, true, godly urgency. What about our preaching and our prayers? There is the sowing, but what of the tears? There is the going forth, there is the precious seed, but what of the weeping? Now may the Lord very wonderfully in secret and in public bring us into this concern, this going forth bearing the precious seed, sowing in tears, going forth weeping, because there is a promise here which is very sure, which is certain: doubtless. It is not often the Lord confirms a promise with this doubtless, but they “shall doubtless come again.”

But I want to say two things especially concerning our prayers. Let me put it like this: the farmer goes forth; he bears his precious seed and he sows it in the earth. There are two things he does not do: first, he does not go out later in the same day or the next morning and look at the fields and think that he has not sown the seed properly because there is no sign at all of its springing up; he does not do that. But he does not do the opposite: he does not sow the seed and never return to the field, never go back again, never pay it a passing glance, never expect any crop, never look for any harvest; he does not do that. And I believe concerning our secret prayers and our public prayers, as they are sown in tears, that these are two of Satan’s great temptations. One temptation is to despair – because the Lord does not immediately answer, Satan says He never will; because He has not already answered, Satan says He has not heard. Now that is the time for the waiting and that is the time for the tears. Then the other temptation of Satan is this: to sow and not to look for a harvest, to pray and never to look for answers to our prayers. Whatever would you think of a farmer who spent so much time sowing his field and yet in the harvest season he never went back even to see whether it was springing up or not, let alone to gather it in? Now there is much sowing at our prayer meetings, much sowing also in secret, and perhaps we are disturbed because we do not see the springing up straight away. But may you be blessed with that watchful spirit, but may it not be that we never go back. We have an especially sweet example in the gospel of sowing in tears and reaping in joy: that poor woman who came to the Lord Jesus and “He answered her not a word.” Was it not good seed, or did she not sow it, or was the ground not good? Was there going to be no crop, no springing up, no harvest? But she did sow in tears! And then things seemed to get worse, for the disciples said, “Send her away; for she crieth after us.” And when at length the Lord Jesus did speak, He seemed to cut her off altogether. He said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and she was a Gentile, but she sowed in tears and proved that she was a true, spiritual Israelite, because she worshipped Him saying, “Lord, help me.” That is the sowing in tears, the going forth weeping, bearing the precious seed and the coming again with rejoicing, and this is a true Israelite who worships in spirit. But Jesus said to her, “It is not meet to take the 27 children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” But the dear woman could not get low enough. She fell under every reproof; every word from the Saviour she felt to be true. She did not argue, but she said, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” And we read the end of it: she went away with rejoicing bring her sheaves with her. The end of the matter was better than the beginning. Often still the Lord Jesus “hides the purpose of His grace to make it better known.” His delays are not His denials. Because He does not speak, it does not mean He has not heard. Because He does not appear, it does not mean He never will. O to be sowing in tears, waiting, watching, hoping still. Because as sure as there is a sowing time, there is to be a reaping time, and as a man soweth, so shall he also reap. Many of God’s dear people have sown many precious seeds in prayer in their lives and never seen those prayers answered, but after their death what an abundant harvest has sprung up to eternal life! “Without cessation pray; Your prayers will not prove vain; Our Joseph turns aside to weep, But cannot long refrain.” Where there is the sowing there must be the reaping in joy. But the husbandman hath long patience, and where do we get it from? Long patience, waiting for the precious fruits of the earth.

10 – The Epistle to Philemon Please read Philemon Notice that Paul refers to himself as “a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” He does not say, a Roman prisoner, or a prisoner of the Emperor, or Nero’s prisoner, but the “prisoner of Jesus Christ,” and he takes this title as a title of honour. What does it mean? It means this: that he was suffering according to the will of God. He sees the mystery of divine providence. He sees the Lord’s most gracious appointment, and he sees this: “What Thy wisdom sees most fit, Must be surely best for me.” “A prisoner of Jesus Christ.” He looks beyond second causes. Things come in your life and mine. We look at them; they try us; we fret over them. Now it is a mercy if we can look above them all and beyond them all and see the hand from which they fall. “The things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother.” You notice the humility of Paul. It is “Paul the aged.” He describes himself like this in verse 9: “Paul the aged,” and his beloved Timothy was now with him in Rome, a young man, but he does not speak as if he were of some higher order than Timothy. “Timothy our brother.” No doubt you have noticed that usually when Paul writes his epistles, he links someone else with his own name. “Unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer.” It would appear from comparing this with other scriptures that Philemon belonged to the church at Colosse and there he was one of the ministers in that church, at the same time a man of some wealth and affluence. “And to our beloved Apphia.” This is the name of a woman, no doubt Philemon’s wife, because he goes on to greet “Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house.” Many of the early churches met in private houses. This is where they met for worship. I feel we sometimes misunderstand. So many of our things are concerning the gathering in the chapel. 29

Now many of the early churches had not got a chapel; they met in a house. So when we read through the epistles and the various exhortations, do not tend to think of them in present day terms as if they were going to chapel, but remember often these gatherings were in private houses. And it brings home the solemnity of the things of God and the solemnity of worship, if there are just a handful meeting in a house, these solemn commands that come in so many of the epistles are not exhortations concerning some great building. “That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” – a little company of godly people met together. Now remember this, when you read the epistles. “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is usually the apostle’s greeting: first grace, then peace, because peace follows from grace. I do not know whether you have noticed, the apostle always greets the brethren, “grace and peace.” Now when the Lord Jesus greets His people, He does not say, “Grace and peace”; He leaves the grace out, and He just says, “Peace be unto you.” Jesus always greets with peace; the apostle always says, “Grace and peace.” I take it the significance there is that Jesus does not need to say “Grace,” because He Himself is “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” the One who made peace by the blood of His cross, the one through whom peace flows. I am not going to give you a clause by clause exposition of the Epistle to Philemon. Here is this man Philemon, one of the ministers of the church at Colosse, a man of some wealth and some affluence. One of his slaves, Onesimus, runs away having stolen some of his possessions, and wanders here and there until at length he enters Rome where Paul is a prisoner, and there the appointed time rolls on and he is made willing in the day of God’s power and he is called by grace. Here is the letter that Paul sends to Philemon when he sends Onesimus back to him. First of all, the wonderful way in which God can deal with hard causes. You think of all the trouble and grief of Philemon. One of his slaves runs away with some of his property and Philemon does not know where he is, and the Lord deals with that stranger in Rome and calls him by grace; He calls that robber by 30 grace. What a wonderful thing if the Lord would hear some of our prayers, deal with some of our hard causes like this! Secondly, the power of God in salvation. What an easy thing it is for Him to save the most impossible sinner! And thirdly, the mystery of providence. Paul was no longer preaching; he was a prisoner at Rome. And Onesimus, as he wandered here and there, his feet were directed and these two men met, Paul and Onesimus, and Onesimus was saved by grace. Now just one other point. That is the grace that reigned in Paul and the tenderness of Paul in the holy fear or God. Here Paul is in trouble; he is in bonds. He is a prisoner for Christ’s sake in Rome, and he has this wonderful encouragement: this runaway slave is blessed under his preaching and called by grace and there is a real bond between the two. Between a gospel minister and those who love him, there is a real bond. And Onesimus was made profitable to Paul; he was such a help to him. Paul does not explain all the various ways in which he was so, but you can imagine it. His son in the faith, Onesimus whom he had begotten in his bonds. Paul was bound; he was in bonds; but the Word of God was not bound. “My son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me.” Now he was a wonderful help, a wonderful encouragement to Paul, and Paul would have loved to have kept him, but he parts with him. He considers it before God; he realises what is right; he knows that Onesimus is Philemon’s slave, and so though he would have loved to have kept him, he sends him back. You see the fear of God here: “Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel: but without thy mind would I do nothing.” Now that is grace. As Paul goes on, he makes it very, very clear that Philemon is his son in the faith as much as Onesimus. What does he say? “Thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.” Philemon was the fruit of Paul’s ministry, but the fear of God, the holy fear of God, the tenderness of Paul, although it would have been such a help, such a blessing, such a benefit to him to retain Onesimus, yet he felt it not right that Onesimus should be his servant, but that he should go back to his master Philemon. And as Paul pleads for Onesimus, pleads with Philemon that he will receive him in love, 31 he is doing it for Philemon’s sake, for Onesimus’ sake, not for his own sake. Never did a man plead more earnestly for life, plead more earnestly for some wonderful benefit, than Paul here pleads for another. Now that is the fear of God.

11 – Peter Delivered from Prison Acts 12. 1-12 There is an old saying, “Prayer changes things.” Did you notice what a change suddenly comes in this chapter? The opening verses are full of darkness and danger and distress. We have this ungodly Herod with all his malice; we have James killed with the sword; then we have Peter taken, and it seems certain that Peter also must perish. These four quaternions of soldiers were sixteen people who were guarding him, four at a time. The point in the opening verses seems to be the darkness, the impossibility of the case; no ground to rest on; no possibility of deliverance. And then there comes this little clause: “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” And the rest of the chapter is completely different! Whether it is Peter’s deliverance, or whether it is the solemn end of Herod, or whether it is the Word of God prospering, there is a complete difference in these verses which follow. “Prayer was made without ceasing of the church.” The margin puts it like this: “Instant and earnest prayer.” It was an impossible case, but they knew that nothing was impossible to this God to whom they prayed. Now you will come into cases like this at times in your life and circumstances and in the church of God – hard things, impossible things, things that hover over you, things that have no resting place, where there is no escape. It is a mercy if prayer is made without ceasing. Now Satan hates prayer. “And Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.” Satan knows what the Lord does in answer to prayer, and Satan whispers to you concerning divine sovereignty – that the Lord will accomplish His purpose, that He will work His sovereign will, that all is appointed. And then he builds it up to this conclusion: Why pray? Why pray? Do you know these whispers of Satan? If you ever get on the ground of logic concerning your most holy faith, you will end in deep despair. You cannot reason these things out; but suffice it to know that this is a divinely-appointed way. The Lord has graciously ordained all things. He has ordained His people’s prayers. If you get on logic, then it will drive you from the mercy seat. But O to come with sweet, childlike simplicity! “Your heavenly Father 33 knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” “Ask, and ye shall receive.” “Prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” There is secret prayer; there is public prayer; there is personal prayer – personal prayer spiritually, personal prayer providentially. But then there is collective prayer, and we have this here. Prayer was made by the church. A praying church is a blessed church – I mean where there is much real prayer in secret and much real prayer in public. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” and if the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, what of the united cries of a praying church? Then we see the gracious result. It was an impossible case – what of the soldiers, the doors, no way out? The Lord did everything. He did it so remarkably that Peter was amazed; he almost wondered whether the things were true. He thought at first it was a dream. But the Lord fulfilled this promise: “I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.” This is one of the blessed deliverances in the Word of God, deliverances from the hand of the lion. It was not just Daniel who was delivered from the lion. Paul says, “I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” You know what he was speaking of – an ungodly man. And the Psalmist says, “My soul is among lions.” And Peter was before this lion, and the Lord shut the lion’s mouth and delivered him. “Is thy God ... able to deliver thee from the lions?” The purposes of God are very mysterious. Though James was killed, here is Peter delivered from prison. There was a certain day when Herod was determined that Peter should be slain. But the day came that Herod “was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” It is a solemn thing to fight against God! It is a most blessed thing to trust in God! These things are recorded for our encouragement to “pray without ceasing.” It is a mercy to have a spirit of prayer at times, to pour out our soul before the Lord, and when you feel your prayers to be so poor, to know what blessed answers the Lord gives and to feel something of that sweet truth we sing concerning prayer: “And Christ receives and gives it in.”

12 – The Mountain of Myrrh and the Hill of Frankincense Please read Solomon’s Song 4. 1-7 The mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. It was a blessed place, for the Lord Jesus says, “I will get me there,” and wherever the Lord Jesus is to be found is a blessed place. I take it in its first significance this refers to the ceremonial law and the temple on Mount Moriah. I understand the words myrrh and Moriah are almost the same, and Jesus says that until the day of His coming break and all the shadows of the ceremonial law for ever flee away, He will get Him to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. That is the temple at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where all the wonders of the ceremonial law were transacted. And was not that the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense? So many sacrifices, so much blood shed, so much holy incense ascending on high, all pointing forward to Him who one day should come. Now these things are done away in Christ, and yet this blessed promise still stands concerning the gospel church and concerning our solemn assemblies. The Lord says of His own beloved Zion, Till the day of glory break and all earth’s shadows flee away, I will get Me there, to Zion, the gospel church. And the point is this: the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. That is, the sweet fragrance that ascends heavenwards. And when the Holy Ghost graciously moves, and when the hearts of God’s people are all on fire, and when His gracious presence is felt, then our solemn assemblies are the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. Myrrh, of course, is especially connected with death, the death of Christ. Myrrh belongs to a burial. Frankincense is especially connected with His intercession. It was the incense that ascended on high. I wonder if you ever get just a little, sweet, solemn, sacred sense in our solemn assemblies of the myrrh and the frankincense. What does the church say of her beloved Jesus? “Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia.” What does she say again? “Because of the savour of Thy good ointments Thy name is as ointment poured forth.” Now do you ever get some little sense of

35 it in our solemn assemblies, this sweet fragrance from Calvary, this sweet fragrance from the place where Jesus pleads above? Now when we truly worship, when we worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, when we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, then the spices flow and there is a heavenly fragrance that ascends heavenwards, and the church of God is the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. When we pray and the Lord blesses us with a spirit of true, humble thanksgiving and praise and gratitude, then the spices begin to flow out of our hearts, flow Godwards and heavenwards. Then the church is the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. And when the gospel ministry by the Holy Ghost takes of the things of Jesus and shows them to you – His glorious Person and His finished work, His intercession on high, His precious merits, His glory, His great salvation – when there is a sweet savour of Christ in the preaching of the gospel and when the spices flow in your own heart, then the church is the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. My desire is that our prayer meetings might be the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. That is, something ascending heavenwards, some precious spices flowing. In the Revelation, the prayers of the saints ascend, but as they ascend there is One who adds much sweet incense to the prayers of the saints (Rev. 8. 3), and so they come up sweetly perfumed. In all our prayers, as we pray, as we plead for Jesus’ sake, may there be this sweet savour of Christ’s death, this sweet savour of His intercession. There is so much about myrrh in Scripture. What was the myrrh? It is very bitter to taste; it is very sweet in its perfume. O what an emblem of the death of Christ! How bitter to our dear Redeemer, how bitter when He tasted death! How sweet to His people as their only hope, their only plea! We have the very same point under a slightly different figure in the previous chapter. “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?” (Song 3. 6). Now this is a view of the beloved church of God, and how is she viewed? Like a pillar of smoke. You perhaps say, This is not very beautiful, not very attractive. O but this is the way you and I must be viewed: as pillars of smoke. That is our very soul, our very 36 being, our prayers, our longings, our desires, our expectations rising up above inferior things and ascending heavenwards. Now that is it; may it ever be so. And especially at our prayer meetings, may it be said at our gatherings for prayer, “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke?” Every movement, every breath, every word rising above the things of this life and ascending to Christ, ascending to heaven, “pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense.” It is the very same point as we have here, only under a somewhat different figure. “Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense.” “When prayer or praise attempts to rise, And fain would reach Jehovah’s ear, His all-prevailing sacrifice Perfumes, and makes it welcome there.” Poor prayers made acceptable in heaven, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense. In chapter 3 the Holy Ghost adds this: “With all the powders of the merchant.” I take that to mean two things: they are not powders, not spices that can be got close at hand; they are not native to the country. No, the merchant has to fetch them from a far country. And also along with it, because they are the powders of the merchant and they come from afar, they are very expensive, very precious. “The mountain of myrrh, and the hill of frankincense”; “the powders of the merchant.” When prayer flows from your heart, when there is a little love kindled, when you know that true repentance, when those desires reach after Jesus, when faith ascends, these things are precious, exceedingly precious, and they are not native things; they are not things that belong to this sinful land. No, they are things that have been brought from afar. May our prayer be that the dear Holy Ghost may bring more of these things from afar and shed them abroad in our hearts, and that there might be these heavenly spices, this cloud of smoke, this real prayer ascending from us that must bring answers down.

13 – Moab Please read Isaiah 16 This is a chapter of one subject. The subject is Moab, one of the most solemn subjects in the Word of God, because the Lord never spoke a good word concerning Moab. You find so much in the Word of God about the Moabites, but not one good thing spoken about them. The Lord forbade them to enter into His congregation for ever. They were a nation cursed by God. And there are one or two chapters in the Word of God devoted completely to this: the eternal destruction of Moab. We have it in this chapter; we have it in the previous; we have it in that long chapter Jeremiah 48. Well, I take it that Moab is solemnly typical of the ungodly. We have their character given. “Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel ... therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.” Then there is a solemn warning here: beware of being a spiritual Moabite, at ease from your youth, never brought into solemn concern, never emptied from vessel to vessel, satisfied with self and never having your taste altered or your scent changed. Now this is a vast subject, a deep, weighty, solemn subject. But you ponder it, the marks of a spiritual Moabite. And yet the solemn thing in this chapter is this: the Lord uses Moab. “Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end.” The Lord uses Moab for the good of His dear people. And the Lord still uses the wicked, still uses the ungodly. Let me put it like this. Some of these great buildings we see erected, you can see more scaffolding than building, but when the building is completed, the scaffolding is taken down and taken away. It was useful, but it was never part of the building; it was never built on the foundation. Beware of being scaffolding! Look at it like this. If you see a field of corn growing, there is very little of that field of corn which eventually will be used for bread. Much of it is stalk, and then when you get to the ears, much of that is husk. But the chaff is useful; it provides a good 38 cover for the good grain. The Lord asks that question, “What is the chaff to the wheat?” It is not wheat and it never will be wheat, but there is something to it; it is a covering for it until the harvest time. Then there is a separation, and the chaff is cast out and blown away. The Lord uses Moab. O the mysterious sovereignty of God that He makes use of the world and the wicked for the good of His people and His own eternal purposes! But you do not want to be a Moabite, do you? They say the Moabites spoke the same language as Israel. There was not any difference in the way they spoke. But O the solemn difference in the sight of God! Now do you speak the language of God’s people, and are you a Moabite? There is one word of gracious warning, divine warning, to any poor Moabite who feels his guilt. May it be a word to you if you feel Moab describes you and condemns you: “O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth.” If you feel the guilt of condemnation and feel that everything concerning Moab is yours, there is a refuge for those who are taught their guilt and it is in the cleft of the Rock, the secret places of the stairs. It is a solemn subject, Moab, and yet we see one glimmer of divine light. I mean Ruth. She was a native of Moab. By nature she was a Moabite and she was brought up in its evil corruptions and ungodly ways, but she was from everlasting bound up in the bundle of life. In the great day, the redeemed are to be from every kindred, every tribe and tongue, and even from Moab. And there is mercy in this. It is one point often forgotten when we think of Ruth. No doubt she was tainted with the heathen ways of Moab, but O what grace accomplished! Grace made her willing to esteem Moab as a thing of nought, to leave it and to leave it for ever as sweetly constrained by love to the people of God and to the God of Israel. May feelingly-condemned Moabites, viewing the blessedness of the Israel of God, still come to the great point, to be one of them and dreading to be left out from them. “May this people be my people, and their God my God.”

14 – Peter’s Fall and Restoration Please read Luke 32. 31-34, 54-62 I suppose that this was the origin of having a weather cock on the top of steeples. Many centuries ago a minister was so perturbed about his ungodly congregation that he preached to them about Peter and had a cock placed at the top of the steeple so that whenever they saw it they might remember Peter’s sin and Peter’s repentance. I did know a godly man who many, many years ago was exercised about baptism, and Sabbath after Sabbath in the mornings he seemed to be sweetly helped. In the afternoon the ministers always spoke on the gospel precepts and he felt guilty, but still he did not venture. One Lord’s day afternoon as the minister was speaking on baptism, he clearly heard a cock crow, and it came like this: you are as bad as Peter; you deny your Lord and Master. And then he ventured. If you are taught by the Lord, you will not sit in judgment on Peter. Peter’s intentions were good, but Peter had not yet learned the depths of his fallen nature and weakness. You will not sit in judgment on Peter; you will have to confess this: “If ever it could come to pass, That sheep of Christ might fall away, My fickle, feeble soul, alas! Would fall a thousand times a day.” We only stand as we are kept. Now you will not sit in judgment on Peter. I have often heard people refer to Peter following afar off, and they have condemned Peter for it. Now I do not. I know in a spiritual sense, following the Lord Jesus afar off is a sin, but Peter was the only one of His disciples who was seeking to follow at all. We dare not sit in judgment on Peter here for following afar off. It was by the constrainings of love that he followed at all. Peter greatly loved his Lord and Master, but he fell, and these things are recorded as awful beacons to us “upon whom the ends of the world are come.” “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Let us be very clear: if you are brought into temptation, you will fall except the Lord keep you. It is a mercy if you know it and have to pray constantly, “Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” It is a mercy if 40 you have an interest in the Redeemer’s prayer, “I have prayed for thee,” so that if we do fall, we shall be restored; if we are brought down, we are not cast off; if we fall, yet our faith does not fail. “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” One thing is very clear in the Word of God. If the falls of the saints are very prominent, equally prominent is their repentance. Here Peter denied his Lord and Master with oaths and curses, and then the cock crew. It was not the crowing of the cock that broke Peter’s heart. You know what it was. “And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.” And the point is: we have as much cause to be ashamed of ourselves as Peter had – of our sin, of our poor, faltering profession – as much to be ashamed of as Peter had; we should be in the dust at Jesus’ feet. But it is these hard, unfeeling, impenitent hearts that are the trouble. Then there is something that will do it: when the Lord looks upon us. O it broke Peter’s heart; it melted him. He saw the blessed Redeemer on the way to Calvary, the Man of sorrows, and what was in that look? Who could rightly express what was in that look when the Lord looked upon Peter? It pierced him through and through. It was a look of condemnation; it condemned him. It was a look of mercy; it forgave him. It was a look of love; it melted him. It was a look of omnipotence; it brought him into true repentance. Now this is one thing we need: we need the Lord Jesus to look upon us. Our hymnwriter sings of the two looks. Sometimes they are both together. “Sure never till my latest breath Can I forget that look; It seemed to charge me with His death, Though not a word He spoke. “My conscience felt and owned the guilt, And plunged me in despair; I saw my sins His blood had spilt, And helped to nail Him there.” Now that is the first look, and what about the other? “A second look He gave, which said, ‘I freely all forgive; This blood is for thy ransom paid; I die that thou may’st live.’” 41

15 – The Passover Please read Exodus 12. 1-14 The vital point above everything else is the blood of Christ – no hope, no salvation, no heaven without it. Who can esteem the preciousness of the blood on the first Passover night? It made all the difference between life and death. There were some houses where there was no blood – there was death. There were other houses where there was blood – there was life. Now that was the only difference. It was not that Israel was more worthy, more deserving. Israel’s safety rested in the blood and there only. So we read that a lamb had to be taken, a lamb without spot or blemish, and then the lamb had to be slain and its blood shed. That was not all. We have not reached the place of safety yet. The blood of the lamb had to be taken and it had to be applied with a bunch of hyssop. It had to be sprinkled upon the lintel and doorposts of the house, and that was where Israel’s safety lay, in the sprinkled, applied blood. Christ is a Lamb without spot and without blemish, and “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” The Lamb has been once and for ever slain. But it goes further than that. Safety is beneath the blood applied, the blood sprinkled, and that speaks of one vital thing: a living, personal interest in the finished work of Christ. Now that is where the safety lies. So I affectionately enquire, is the blood of Christ sprinkled upon the lintel and door posts of your house? It was in the sprinkled, applied blood that there was safety – a vital, personal interest in the finished work of Christ. And of course, all these transactions of the Passover night pointed forward to Jesus, and His death, and His glorious salvation. This is not the first time we read of the blood, nor the only time, nor the last time. The Word of God is full of precious references to the blood of Christ, and the accomplishments, the effects of that blood. You will notice this: in different places there is a different blessing connected with the blood of Jesus emphasised. Now you watch this. Sometimes it is cleansing from guilt: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Sometimes it is the sealing of the covenant of grace. “Sealed by thy Surety’s bleeding hands.” Sometimes it is paying the 42 ransom price. Sometimes it is satisfying offended justice. And so you have these many precious blessings that flow from the blood of Christ. What is the point of the Passover? This: a hiding place from the wrath of God. Now that is the point here. This Passover night was solemn enough when this destroying angel passed by and when he brought death with him, but what of the last great day? Now have you got a hiding place? There is only one hiding place from the wrath of God, and that is beneath the shed blood, beneath the sprinkled blood. When we come to die, nothing else will do, but O, “In that dread moment, O to hide Beneath His sheltering blood.” Yes, it is cleansing blood, redeeming blood, atoning blood; but never forget it is sheltering blood. “And the blood shall be to you for a token.” Precious token! A token of God’s favour and His mercy, His eternal love. A token of your salvation and your safety. “The blood shall be to you for a token ... and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Have you ever noticed, it does not say, “When you see the blood, I will pass over you”? “When I see the blood.” These Israelites had seen the blood; they had seen it shed; they had seen it sprinkled; but at the moment when the destroying angel was passing by, they were inside the house and they could not see the blood, but the Lord said, “When I see the blood.” Now there is safety. The Lord Jesus is passed into the heavens there to present the merits of His blood and to stand eternally in the presence of God for you, and His holy Father always sees the blood. “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” When I see it. When you venture in prayer, you plead the blood and the Father looks upon the blood and He passes over you and accepts you. When you go on the venture of faith as a guilty sinner with all that freshly-contracted guilt, pleading the merits of the atonement, the Father sees the blood and He passes over you. “When I see the blood.” Another thing is this. I have not the slightest doubt, although I would not be imaginative, that there were many different feelings in the houses of the Israelites. The blood had been applied, sprinkled onto the lintel and door posts of the house. There might 43 be one in the house firm as a rock, not wavering, believing what God had said; and there might be another trembling with fear – but their safety was exactly the same. There was a lot of difference in their feelings and a lot of difference in their peace and a lot of difference in their happiness, but concerning their safety, they were on the same ground. “When I see the blood.” And among God’s dear children there are so many apprehensions of faith – some are firm in faith, doubting nothing, and some are full of fear and trembling. The point is this: to be beneath the blood of Christ. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” There is safety here and nowhere else. Now I know they fed on the Passover, they ate it with bitter herbs, their loins girded, their staff in their hands, but their safety did not lie in their keeping the Passover and feeding on the lamb. Their safety lay in the blood. The blood was everything. Just one last point. There is substitution here. There was death in every house without exception. In some houses it was the death of the firstborn; in other houses it was the death of the lamb in the place of the firstborn. That is substitution. “He instead of me.” That is, Jesus in the sinner’s place. “When I see the blood.” May you too see the blood.

16 – The Bread of Life Please read John 6. 34-58 This must have been a most sacred occasion. The Lord Jesus had fed the five thousand, and arising from that He gives this discourse – not just natural bread, but concerning Himself, the Bread of eternal Life, and especially Himself as soon He would be crucified for sinners. It must have been a most solemn, sacred occasion – the subject, the Bread of eternal life; and the Preacher, the Son of God Himself. It must have been an amazing occasion, and yet what do you find? It separates. These sweet, solemn, sacred things separated because at the end of it all, “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” So they proved that they were never true disciples. It is a solemn thing if we are offended by these sweet, sacred, solemn things. And there are many people there still, although they do not show it outwardly. I mean this: they like a few anecdotes and something concerning providence. O but when it comes to eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, they are offended. But you know why it was that these supposed disciples went back, why they did not see any sweet attraction in this most blessed description of the Bread of Life. It was because they did not know anything of hunger of soul. There was never yet a hungering soul offended at hearing of Christ, the Bread of Life. Those with a case, those who come gleaning in the gospel field, those who run to the house of God with that hunger of soul, it is the one thing they want to hear of, the Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Himself, and especially as He gave Himself for sinners. There is so much in this chapter concerning drawing. “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.” What is it? Well, as I discern it, it works two ways. First of all there is divine life in a sinner’s heart, and as life is there, there is this intense hunger, this longing; sin to be forgiven, a judgment day to be prepared for, an aching void the world can never fill; and that really drives. But can it be satisfied? Then the gospel sweetly speaks of Jesus as the Bread of Life in all His suitability, His most precious blood, His glorious righteousness. And as the Holy

Ghost works, there are these two things together. As hunger drives the sinner on, the Bread of Life draws. I just want to say a word concerning this beautiful title, the Bread of Life. I believe there are three things in it. One is this: those who hunger after Christ as the Bread of Life, those who in time are brought to taste (if only taste that the Lord is gracious) they possess here a mark of divine life, because the dead in sin never hunger after Jesus. That is the first thing. The second thing is this: those who partake are blessed with eternal life. Those who by precious faith in all their need have been brought to feast on a crucified Jesus, then heaven is theirs. Our hymnwriter puts it so sweetly: “For he that eats immortal food, Immortally must live.” The third thing is this. When the Lord Jesus speaks of life, He does not just mean existing. He said that He came to give life, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Well, consider your past life. When were those seasons that you truly lived, when it was not death, when it was life. What were those seasons? It was those times when your needy, longing, hungering soul was sweetly satisfied in Jesus. Now that is when you truly lived; that is when there was true life. “Those holy hungerings of thy soul Are not for mockery meant; He hath prepared a royal feast To give thy soul content.” May those of you who look back and remember blessed days when you have been brought into the banqueting house be favoured to partake again. And those of you in the midst of affliction, and those of you with trials before you, may the Lord so sanctify these things that there might be a feeding on the Bread of Life that will refresh you, that will establish you, that will strengthen you as nothing else can.

17 – The Good Samaritan Please read Luke 10. 30-37 There are many aspects of this interesting parable. The point is this: how it so sweetly sets forth Jesus in the gospel. Here is a man in his helplessness and in his need; he is poor; he is wounded; he cannot do anything. But he does not need to do anything, because the good Samaritan does it all. If you are taught by God, you will be found just where the man was who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. That is, you will be found in your helplessness, laid low, not able to raise yourself up, not able to do anything. And it will not be a strange thing if you find a few priests and a few Levites from whom you hope much, and they do not help you at all. You know what I mean: outward things, inferior things, forms of godliness, self-righteousness, chapel attendance. But this is the point I like. This Samaritan came right where he was. That is just what the Lord Jesus did when He left heaven for earth. He came right where we are. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.” He came where we were, especially to Calvary. Here is substitution: “Here on the cross ’tis fairest drawn, In precious blood, and crimson lines.” He came where we were. That was our place, our deserved place. In the preaching of the gospel, the Lord comes right where His people are. You cannot think of a spot, a state, a condition a needy sinner is found in but the gospel comes right where he is. It does not leave him one step to take himself; it comes right where he is. But don’t you want the blessed Spirit to bring Christ into your heart and pour in the oil and the wine of His finished work? The point I notice is this: he was a Samaritan. You know what that means. We are definitely told that the wounded man had come from Jerusalem, and everybody in Jerusalem despised a Samaritan, but it was the one who was despised who did everything for him. That is what grace is. When you lie in your need and in your ruin and helplessness, and the blessed Redeemer

47 comes right where you are, it is One that you have despised. “He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Now that is grace. It is One that you have despised who comes where you are. I also notice this: “He had compassion.” There is something very sweet in divine compassion. But just one other point. That is this. It was not just that the Samaritan was willing; it was not just that he had compassion; it was not just that he was different from the priest and the Levite; but he had his oil and he had his wine and he had the bandages, and he had the horse, and he had two pence to give to the innkeeper. Now neither the priest nor the Levite had all of these things. It was not just he had compassion and he was willing, but he had the ability; he had everything that was needed to deal with that poor man’s case. So in the blessed Redeemer there is that tenderness and that compassion, but it does not end there. There is omnipotence mixed with it; there is divine power. He is almighty to save. He comes in all the merit of His atonement to deal with your wounds. He is able to supply all your needs. “Look to Jesus, kind as strong – Pity joined with power.”

18 – Casting our Burden on the Lord Please read Psalm 55 David had a burden it seems, especially in this Psalm. It was this strange, perplexing, mysterious thing that his beloved friend Ahithophel, whom he so dearly loved and esteemed as a child of God, turned against him and perished in his sin, and it was too hard for David. At the end of the Psalm he bids us do what he has been doing from the beginning: casting his burden on the Lord. Now you know what a burden is. All God’s people have two, spiritual and providential, and like Issachar, they couch down beneath two burdens. You know what burdens are. They are things that are too heavy for you, things you cannot manage, things that weigh you down, things you feel you are going to sink under. And the emphasis here is this: “ Thy burden.” Now I may mention many different burdens and leave yours out. The Lord says, “ Thy burden,” cast it on the Lord. The Lord Jesus is the great Burden-bearer. The greatest burden He ever bore was the sins of the church imputed to Him. “The Lord in the day of His anger did lay Our sins on the Lamb, and He bore them away.” Now that was the great burden, and He bore it, and He bore it away. And now risen, exalted, glorified, He still delights to bear burdens. There is tender compassion in this word; there is also divine power. Now how are you going to cast your burden on the Lord? By prayer – and that does not mean a lot of words. It may only be a sigh or the upward glancing of an eye, but you cast that burden on the Lord. And let me say one thing. If we are not careful, we cast our burden on the Lord in prayer, and then a few minutes later we find that we have taken it back and we are trying to carry it ourselves. So you need grace to cast your burden on the Lord, and then you need grace to leave it there, because in our foolishness we act and behave as if we could bear our burdens better than Christ, and that is dishonouring to Him. The Lord delights to bear burdens. And let us be clear, He has not here promised to take the burden away. Sometimes He does; sometimes He does not; but

He has promised to sustain, and that in its sweet simplicity means that He will hold you up. “How can I sink with such a prop, That holds the world and all things up?” Now He promises to hold you up with His everlasting, gracious, almighty arm. There are some burdens you have to carry. A minister has a burden the Lord will not take away until he dies. There are various burdens some of God’s people have to carry. There is the burden of your profession. The Lord will not take it away; you have to carry it until you die, until you wash your spotted garments in the blood of the Lamb. And sometimes there is a burden in affliction to be carried all your days. Now sometimes in love and mercy the Lord does take the burden away, but not always. But one thing is sure: there will be all-sufficient grace, and that grace will sustain, and that grace will support, and so you can never be moved. Often moved in your feelings; never moved away from the Rock.

19 – Joshua Not Moses Please read Joshua 1 There is something really attractive in the Book of Joshua. It is a Book of success, of entry into the land of rest, of possession, of victory. And the one point I want to bring before you this evening is that it was Joshua who had to bring Israel into the Promised Land. Moses could never do it; it was not until Moses was dead and the Lord had buried Moses that Israel could enter into the Promised Land. When Moses was dead and buried, then the commandment comes: “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan ... unto the land which I do give to them.” You know the teaching of this. Moses represented the law, the law in all its holiness, its justice, its sternness, and the law could never bring a sinner into the Promised Land. But what the law could not do, the gospel does. Now you realise that the word Joshua in the Hebrew is equivalent to the New Testament Jesus. The two words are identical. Joshua means the Saviour. It is not Moses that brings them into the Promised Land. Moses must die; Moses must be buried; Joshua must bring them into the Promised Land. It is not the law; it is the gospel. Two or three points of experience. The first is this: it is only the Lord Jesus that brings you to the heavenly Canaan, the Promised Land. Thousands perish through looking to Moses to bring them to heaven – that is, trusting in the law, something we can do, something we can achieve, something we can accomplish. Moses never could bring Israel into Canaan, and nothing short of Christ will ever bring a sinner to glory. Now Moses must die first. You must be brought away from all hope of salvation in anything short of Christ. You must be brought away from all confidence in the flesh, all confidence in self. It is the Lord Jesus only that brings sinners into the Promised Land. For, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God,” and the Lord Jesus has gone before us, our blessed Forerunner, and as our heavenly Joshua, one by one He leads His people into the Promised Land.

“O that we could these doubts remove, These gloomy doubts that rise, And view the Canaan that we love With unbeclouded eyes.” But there are times when, as a child of God, you will ascend Mount Pisgah and you will view the Promised Land, and you will have that sweet earnest of the eternal inheritance. “An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,” but Jesus must bring you there. Now another thing. It is only the Lord Jesus that can bring you into gospel liberty. There are so many where the Lord has graciously begun His work and blessed with divine life and yet there is bondage; there is no liberty; they are dwelling the other side of Jordan; they are not entering the Promised Land of liberty; they are not entering into gospel rest, because they are still looking for Moses to lead them in. He never can; he never will; it must be Joshua. You say, what does it mean in plain language? Well, it means that so few are brought to the end of everything in themselves and to cast themselves empty-handed upon Christ. Now that is the place of gospel liberty. We are so plagued with this cleaving to Moses, to ourselves. If only we could repent; if only we could pray better; if only we could come with a soft heart. Now it is looking to Moses. You will have to come to the heavenly Joshua just as you are without a single plea but in His most precious blood and in His own accomplishments, and you will have to look to Christ alone to bring you into the Promised Land. “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Moses was a faithful servant, but Christ as the Son over His own house. It is only the Son that can make you free. Now just one other point. That is this: if there is any gospel blessing you long to enter into, it must be Jesus, your heavenly Joshua, who brings you into it. Sometimes perhaps with longing eyes you look on some heavenly blessing, some divine blessing. “O that I now this rest might know, Believe, and enter in.” It is the kind office of the Lord Jesus to bring His people into gospel blessings. May it be a word in season to some of you. May 52 your eyes be turned away from Sinai, from Moses, from the law, from the creature. May you with singleness of eye be brought to look to Jesus alone and find that this is the way by which you are brought to enter into gospel blessings.

20 – The Lord’s Touch Please read Daniel 10. 10-21 There are many things in the Book of Daniel most difficult to understand, and some of these hard things are found in this chapter. And yet there are some things for the encouragement of the people of God which are very plain. He that runs may read them (Hab. 2. 2). The great point here is that Daniel is in real trouble, and the Lord knows it, and He comes just where Daniel is, and then He does everything for him. Now this is our God. This is the way He has ever worked, and this is the way He still works. There may be some who feel to be where Daniel was – trembling, weak, full of fear, unable to speak – and the Lord comes right where he is and speaks sweetly to him and says, “Fear not,” to him, and grants that sweet assurance of His love: “O man greatly beloved.” Then this gracious touch. We read three times how the Lord touched him. You can trace it right through the Word of God, that gracious touch from the hand of our gracious God. There is everything in it. Sometimes the Lord has put His finger forth in divine sovereignty and almighty power and judgment. For instance, those awful plagues that came upon Egypt. “The magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God.” That is a touch in judgment. But then there is a touch in mercy. For instance, a poor leper beseeching Him. When you read of these characters in the gospels, do you ever say, That is me? “And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and touched him.” That is the touch of mercy; it is a touch of power. It is a good prayer: “Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.” You have your mountains, things that loom up, that come before you, too great, too mighty for you. The Lord touches the mountains and they smoke. By this expression, touching the mountains, is implied this: what an easy thing it is for the Lord to remove the mightiest of mountains. He does it with a touch.

Well, the first time He touched Daniel here, He set Daniel up upon his knees and the palms of his hands. You say, This was not much. The Lord was going to lift Daniel right up from that prostrate, helpless condition in which he was found, but the first thing was, He touched him. “An hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.” You will find this. Sometimes the Lord will lift up all at one, and sometimes He will begin to lift you up, and it is only a little really from your prostrate condition. You are lifted up, but only upon your knees and the palms of your hands, and perhaps you feel a sense of disappointment. When the Lord puts His hand to the work, He will never leave it until it is accomplished. Then He said, “O Daniel, a man greatly beloved ... stand upright.... And when He had spoken this word unto me, I stood.” One touch from the Lord can lift you up! There is another thing. Daniel says, “I became dumb.” Well, sometimes perhaps you feel to be dumb; you cannot speak; you cannot speak in prayer; you cannot speak to others as you would of the Lord’s dealings. As for speaking in a way of testimony before the church of God, you flee from the thought; you are dumb. And then he says, the Lord “touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake.” And when the Lord touches your lips, then you will speak. There is another sense of it. Sometimes you will feel the pollution, the guilt of your lips, and then the Lord will touch your lips with a live coal from off the altar (Isa. 6. 6). That in its simplicity means the application of His merit, His sin-atoning blood. And then your iniquity will pass away, and your sin be pardoned. And then there is a third touch. Is it not a mercy the Lord does not only touch your heart once or twice, but He comes and He touches it again? Some of you can look back many years to that first touch, but you want another touch. “There came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man.” He does come again. O but this time Daniel was so weak; it was his weakness, his helplessness. Do not your trials, your cares, your sins, your burdens, disappointments, things without and things within at times leave you devoid of strength? You cannot carry on; you cannot endure; you cannot continue in the narrow way! And then 55 the Lord comes again and touches you. And, says Daniel, “Thou hast strengthened me.” And how did the Lord strengthen him? Like this: “O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.” What is the conclusion of it? Daniel says he was strengthened. These testimonies of Daniel after the threefold touch are very simple. The first time he says, “I stood”; the second time he says, “I spake”; the third time he says, “I was strengthened.” And it came from the almighty hand of God. It is not how much you can say; it is not how remarkable; it is whether it is real, whether it is from the hand of God.

21 – The Day of Pentecost Please read Acts 2. 22-47 There was only ever one Day of Pentecost, three thousand souls united to the Lord in one day. And the gracious emphasis throughout is this: that it was the powerful, efficacious work of the Holy Spirit. One or two things are very noticeable. The first, that Simon Peter was appointed to preach this sermon, the sermon more blessed than any other sermon. Just a few weeks before, he had been denying his Lord and Master with oaths and curses. But he was forgiven; he was restored. I do not think you and I would have selected him to preach the sermon, but God did, and God blessed him. “That the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” And the second thing (I want to speak very carefully here), but reading Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, it does not strike you that there is anything particular about it, anything specially striking. Perhaps you say you think you have read many better sermons. But God used it, and that is the whole point. “That the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” Now there never will be another Day of Pentecost, but down the ages here and there over the years in measure the Holy Spirit has powerfully worked in salvation in the hearts of the people, and His work is going on today, and His work will go on right down to the end of time: sinners pricked in their hearts; sinners crying out, asking what they must do; sinners being told to repent and be baptized and their sins would be forgiven – not that either repentance or baptism qualifies a sinner for forgiveness or makes him deserve it, but it is repenting sinners who under the Spirit’s influence are turning to the Lord Jesus, trusting in Him, who are forgiven sinners. It is very remarkable that all the three thousand were cut down and delivered in the same day, and they were baptized the same day. We do not seem to hear much of that now. But God is sovereign, and we must not limit His work. May we pray for the Holy Spirit’s work in our midst and upon our hearts, calling sinners by grace, giving them repentance, leading 57 them to Christ, and building us up and teaching us and establishing us. And then we read of the three thousand: “And they continued stedfastly” – every single one of them. It is so different from a lot of the present-day, modern evangelistic campaigns. They used to say that if one out of ten converts stayed, then the crusade was successful. Now this was not one in ten; it was ten in ten here. Why? Because it was the work of the Holy Spirit. “They continued stedfastly,” every one of them, because He who had begun a good work in them performed it to the day of Jesus Christ. One of our old ministers was going down the streets and there was a drunken man lying in the gutter. Somebody shouted, “That is one of your converts,” and the old minister said, “Yes, it looks just like my work. If it was God’s work, he would not be lying there.” “They continued stedfastly.” So we need to pray this for ourselves and for one another, the Spirit’s work, grace to continue stedfastly. And this description of the early church, these four points – surely this is what the true prosperity of a gospel church is, and surely we should pray for this: “They continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” That is no deviation from the truth as revealed in Jesus. “In the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship.” Fellowship is a word that is often used very lightly, but it is a very, very blessed thing when rightly known and experienced. “And fellowship, and in breaking of bread.” This was probably the first name that was ever given to the Lord’s supper, and of course some people still use this terminology today. Well, it is completely scriptural. “And in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Perhaps that surprises you. You say, What had they to pray for? They had everything; they had the greatest blessing the world had ever known. “They continued,” not just in the apostles’ doctrine, and not just in fellowship, and not just in the breaking of bread. “They continued ... in prayers.” O may we too have that spirit of prayer. May we too continue in prayer. For when prayer languishes, when prayer ceases, where is the church of God? Prayer is our “vital breath,” our “native air.” Well, there is much to pray about here, and may some of these Pentecostal blessing be ours.

22 – Nicodemus Please read John 3. 1-15, 7. 45-53, 19. 38-42 These are the three times, the only times that Nicodemus is mentioned in the Word of God. These three occasions have been spoken of as the darkness, the twilight, the noonday. I believe Nicodemus was a child of God and is now in heaven singing the Redeemer’s praises. But what a marked contrast between John 3 and John 4! We find in the fourth chapter of John that ungodly woman, the woman of Samaria, and the divine appointment as the Lord “must needs go through Samaria.” He met her at Sychar’s well, and in a few moments she was convinced of sin, raised up to a sweet hope and blessed with the full assurance of faith and she had as clear a revelation of Christ as anyone in all the gospels. Nicodemus seems to be just the opposite. The Lord met him. He came to Jesus secretly by night, and I believe there was a seed sown in Nicodemus’ heart, that the new birth had taken place. But we do not see any assurance, any revelation of Christ, any clear testimony. Now God is a sovereign. There are some who have been in the way fifty years and they feel they have not attained, and the Lord takes a young person and in one night he is brought to know Him and is well in advance of the aged saint. Now this is the mysterious sovereignty of God. But really the Lord told it to Nicodemus. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou ... canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth” – sometimes from the south, sometimes from the north, sometimes cold, sometimes warm, sometimes a gentle zephyr, sometimes a hurricane. “The wind bloweth where it listeth ... so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” I feel there are many about like Nicodemus who had a small beginning. But there was one thing with Nicodemus’ religion, and that was reality, and when it came to the test the reality of his religion was proved. Nicodemus possessed the fear of God, and the fear of God in chapter 7 made him the only one in the Jewish Sanhedrin who spoke a word for Jesus. That is the effect of the fear of God. I know he did not say much, but you have to think of this man and what a venture it was to stand up against the whole of the Sanhedrin, really the Jewish parliament, and to speak a word against them. 59

You see it especially in this chapter 19. The fear of God worked by love. He could not bear that the Redeemer should be any further dishonoured. And what of his own life, his own reputation, his own honour, his own wealth? Well, he is willing to forego all this. There was something very real in the religion of Nicodemus. When he came as far as John 19, having seen Jesus die, realising something of the cause, he could answer the two great questions. You say, What are they? One is this: “What think ye of Christ?” We do not read of anything that Nicodemus said here, but he spoke with his feet and he testified what he thought of Christ. Nicodemus must have almost staggered to the grave under the weight of spices he brought. You think – “an hundred pound weight” – as heavy as a sack of potatoes, and exceeding precious. Why, the dear man must have spent almost everything he had. Unbelief cannot understand this, and carnal reason cannot understand it any more than Judas could understand Mary. He said, Why all this waste? A child of God does not account it waste; love does not count it waste. And the other question: “Lovest thou Me?” O the love that filled his heart, love which overflowed. That hymn is a sweet commentary on it: “When shall Thy love constrain This heart Thy own to be?” Well, Nicodemus’ heart belonged to the Lord and it overflowed with love divine. There are many things to pray about here. One is this: as we associate Nicodemus with the new birth, what need for prayer that in our midst sinners might be born again. Until they are born again, they are in a lost, perishing condition. What need also to pray that our evidences might be cleared up that we are born again, that eternal life is ours. And what need to pray that the preaching of the Word might be used by God, that sinners might be affected by it and brought under it, that they might receive the engrafted Word which is able to save their souls. And what need to pray for this holy zeal, this holy boldness. During the day time, you cannot see the stars, but when night comes, how beautiful they appear! And Nicodemus was one of 60 these stars, and he did not appear until it was night. O that dark night when the Redeemer was crucified and buried! And then the stars began to appear and shine so sweetly, so beautifully – Nicodemus one of them. Now we need to pray that the Lord will sweetly constrain His hidden ones and bring them forth, and then what need to pray for something of this spirit – this spirit that overflows with love, this love that many waters cannot quench, this spirit that does not count the cost, this spirit that is willing to part with everything for Jesus’ sake.

23 – Practical Godliness Please read Hebrews 13 You may feel that this does not sound like the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews. So many of God’s children are blessed with a special love to this Epistle, and why they love it is because it speaks so sweetly of our great High Priest and His atoning sacrifice and His precious blood and the many blessed things that are to be found in Him. In this sense the Epistle to the Hebrews has a very blessed character of its own, but perhaps when you come to chapter 13 it seems as if it does not belong to the Hebrews; the language is so different and the points seem so different. Well, there is not any contradiction. As in all the other epistles, the apostle at the end dwells on gracious practice. No doubt you have noticed all the epistles begin with doctrine and experience, and then at the end there is a very solemn emphasis on the practice. And it is a sad thing if we are familiar with all the epistles apart from the last chapter or two. Now this chapter is not at variance, not out of character with the rest of the epistles. This is the conclusion of the whole matter. These are the fruits of Christ’s sacrifice. This is the effect of His high priestly office and work. It terminates in the heart; it terminates in the life. These are the gracious effects. Really it comes to this: preaching is not an end in itself; reading the Word of God is not an end in itself. The point is: does the truth have any sanctifying effect upon our conscience, and are there any sweet constrainings of love to walk in obedience to the Son of God? That is the reason for all these gospel precepts, these gospel commandments, as if at the very end the apostle would say it is not enough to speak of Christ and His sacrifice and His eternal priesthood and His intercession if these gracious effects are never known and felt. What are they? “Brotherly love” – let it continue. It has a beginning and then it is tried. “Let brotherly love continue”; let it not die. The entertainment of strangers. Reference is made to Abraham. A stranger came to his tent and Abraham, not knowing who it was, received Him so kindly. It proved to be the Lord Himself. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.” Then the spirit of gospel sympathy and affection for all those in trouble. 62

“Remember them that are in bonds.” Remember them in your prayers and remember them with a kind word. “And them which suffer adversity.” Then marriage, a divine institution, one of the two divine institutions appointed by God in the Garden of Eden, now so dishonoured, so disdained, treated so lightly. Let it not be so among the professing people of God. Then a warning against covetousness. O what would you think of a person who said that Christ and Him crucified was the Pearl of great price, and his affections are on earthly possessions, riches, honour and pleasure? “Let your conversation be without covetousness.” Then an honouring of that divine appointment, the gospel ministry. “Remember them which have the rule over you.” They have the rule over you, says the apostle, “Who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow” – not their sins; their faith. “Whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” Then a warning against strange doctrines. Now this is the effect in the believer’s heart and in his life of all who are interested in Christ’s priesthood. A solemn thing if our faith does not work by love; a solemn thing if it never affects our lives practically. Really, an interest in the blessed doctrines of the Epistle to the Hebrews will touch everything we do, the way we behave, the way we spend our time, and it will come to this: “While our days on earth are lengthened, May we give them, Lord, to Thee.” Now what of the way we spend our time? It is not yours; it is not your own. “Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price.” Neither is your time. How do you spend it? For self, or is it devoted to the Lord? Amidst all these gospel commandments there is such a precious promise. “What more can He say than to you He has said?” “For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” “The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not , I will not desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake .”

24 – The Need of Deliverance Please read Psalm 54 David in his trouble begins with the most vital of all prayers: “Save me.” It is a great mercy to be taught to pray, but this is the vital prayer, to be saved eternally. Each one of us needs saving. I wonder how many of us feel our need of it. By divine teaching the Lord will bring you to pray this prayer in the spirit of it: “Save me.” Only two words, but there is salvation in them. It is so personal, so earnest, so vital. There are only two words, and there are only two persons: a great sinner and a great Saviour. And if it is the vital prayer, it contains the vital plea: “Thy name.” “Then let the name of Jesus be To us supremely dear; Our only, all-availing plea, For all our hope is there.” “Thy name.” And it comes in two or three times in this Psalm. It is the great point in real religion. May the Lord write His name upon your hearts. It is sweetly written in Scripture: His name as Jesus, His name as our dear Immanuel, God with us, His name as Christ. And all His precious names are sweetly written in Scripture. And then we want them written upon our heart, and we want the name of Christ to be as ointment poured forth, and for there to be a little sweet fragrance in it, “for all our hope is there.” O it is the vital point. Those who from an honest heart can say, “The desire of my soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee,” will one day get to heaven. David wants saving and he pleads the Saviour’s name. Perhaps in this Psalm he is especially thinking of temporal salvation. We need the Lord to save us from sin and from death and from hell, to save us by His grace, to save us by His most precious blood. But then we need Him to save us daily, to save us in many ways and from many things, to save us from ourselves, to save us from indwelling sin, from temptation, to save us from our troubles. David was in trouble here. This was the occasion when Saul was seeking his life. On this occasion the Ziphites came to Saul and told him where David was hiding, so he finds that there are many going over to the enemy’s side and many rise up against 64 him, and this is his prayer: “Save me, O God,” and Saul never did kill David. You know what the sequel to this prayer was. There was that time when Saul came and lay down and slept in the cave, and David cut a piece off his garment. But he was saved from Saul. But these enemies – people, things, fears, circumstances, happenings. David says that they are risen against him, and that oppressors seek after his soul. And then he says one thing, one thing that Saul had not got and one thing the Ziphites had not got: “They have not set God before them,” and it is a mercy if you can leave your judgment with your God. To feel that these that oppose you have not set God before them, because if God is not before them, God is not with them. There is a Psalm or two after this when David again complains of his enemies. This time is when the Philistines took him, but he says, “God is for me,” and so dear David comes to a very sweet resting place in this Psalm with all his enemies around him. He comes to a sweet resting place. There is a resting place for faith. “Behold, God is mine Helper,” and if God is your Helper, then everything must be right. O may you view it, that God is your Helper, in providence and in your soul’s eternal concern. “I have laid help upon One that is mighty.” “God is mine Helper” – and this is an interesting point – “The Lord is with them that uphold my soul.” Now David had a little remnant who were loyal to him, and he viewed this by faith: that the Lord was with them. May you be able to uphold the people of God by your prayers in their troubles and prove not only the Lord is with them, but the Lord is also with you. At the end of this Psalm he is praising God, and it is still that name, that precious name. “I will praise Thy name, O Lord; for it is good.” Do not forget when we meet, we meet for the solemn worship of the Lord’s name. May it not be left out, left out of our prayers. “I will praise Thy name ... for it is good.” Can we say that? You can look at the precious name of Jesus, and you can say, “It is good.” You can say, “It is good to me.” And David sees deliverance. “He hath delivered me out of all trouble.” Now you can look back tonight and you can see that trial and that trouble and that danger, and you can say, “He hath delivered me.”

Now David takes this point up in another Psalm: “Thou hast delivered me ... wilt Thou not deliver me?” You say, I need deliverance now. I know the Lord did deliver me, and I need it now. “Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling?” If there is the name and the almighty Helper, there is also this gracious Deliverer. I like David’s resting place, his hiding place until deliverance came: “In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” You know what calamities are. One day they will be overpast. For everything this side of Jordan there is an until. Until that blessed day comes, Lord Jesus, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge. Take it both ways, one as it figuratively represents a hen gathering her chickens beneath her wings. “In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge.” And the other as it speaks of the blood-sprinkled mercy seat, beneath the shadow of the wings of the cherubims. “In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge.” Then may you view it, a blessed Refuge. May you see your trust there, your hope, your deliverance.

25 – Psalm of Encouragement Please read Psalm 102 This Psalm has a somewhat mournful title: “A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.” It is a somewhat mournful title, and you find the Psalmist using some strong language concerning his mournful case. But really this is an encouraging Psalm. We read once, “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God,” and so really this is the sweet subject matter: the Psalmist encouraging himself. Where? “In the Lord his God.” There are a few sweet points for the encouragement of a sinner. One is the Lord’s immutability. Whatever spot, whatever place you are in, whatever situation, whatever trouble you come into, the Lord is the same. Now this is immutability. “No variableness, neither shadow of turning.” That is immutability. His mercy, His love, the value of His great atonement ever the same – that is His immutability. We have this striking contrast, the heavens, the earth, the creation, the work of God’s hands. “They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure.” The most lasting of earthly things. “They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.” That is a point of sweet encouragement, because the Lord is the same, whatever your feelings are. “Unchangeable His love, Whatever be my frame, His loving heart is still Eternally the same.” Now that is immutability, and here the Lord tells us what He is: immutable. You perhaps remember how John Kershaw tells of how in his great extremity he went in secret before the Lord telling the Lord what he was and his troubles, a most mournful tale, and suddenly he said, “The Lord stopped me telling Him what I was and He began to tell me in return what He is.” “I am the Lord” – not man – “the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” 67

It is a Psalm of encouragement although it has this mournful title and mournful beginning. And bound up with this divine immutability is this point: that in every age, in every generation there shall be a godly seed right down to the end of time. The Lord reminds us of this here. First of all we have it in verse 12 – the remembrance of the Lord shalt endure to all generations. That means that in every generation there shall be a people who shall remember the Lord, and in every generation there shall be a people that the Lord shall remember. “Yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” Then verse 18: “This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.” Now here are divine decrees; here are divine purposes, electing love, predestination favours. There was a generation to come and there was a people who were not yet created, and since this Psalm was written three thousand years ago, millions of those embraced in verse 18 have come and have been created and the promise has been fulfilled: they have praised the Lord. It will be a mercy to be found among them. Then in the closing verse: “The children of Thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before Thee.” But there is one point especially for the encouragement of the people of God. In two places in this Psalm there is what (for want of a better expression) I will call “an amazing combination,” and in this there is a wonderful revelation of God’s condescension. Now the first is this. We read of this great God, this almighty God who shall be remembered in all generations, this immutable God, and then we have the promise: “He shall appear in His glory.” Now you think of it: this great God, not just appearing but appearing in all His glory. You might begin to ask what is this wonderful appearance of God in all His glory, and you can think of many things: how He overthrew His enemies, and you think of the wonders of the resurrection, but it is not anything like that at all. The Holy Ghost explains to us what it is for this great God to appear in His glory. This is it: “He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer.” Now that is what it is for this great God to appear in His glory. I think if we had been given a piece of paper and told to explain what it is for God to appear in His glory, no one would have thought of this, nor dare written it, 68 but the Holy Ghost has written it. This is what it is for God to appear in His glory. God has greater glory in regarding the prayer of the destitute than He had in the creation of the world! That is what I mean by this rather “amazing combination” – a great God, and then we are told this great God appears in His glory – but this is what is joined to it: “He will regard the prayer of the destitute” – those who have not got anything, those who look into their hearts and say, “Surely they can scarce be worse Who have never known Thy name.” And the Lord will regard their prayer and not despise it. Some of our prayers, if people heard us pray them, they would despise us, and sometimes we despise our own prayers, but blessed be God, He does not. When He appears in His glory, He regards the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer. Just one other word, the other thing I will call a remarkable combination. We read of where this great God is: He is in “the height of His sanctuary,” and we read of this great God looking down, and we know from whence He looks down: from heaven. Now here is God in all His greatness in heaven, in the height of the sanctuary, and He condescends to look down. What then? “To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.” Now that is what I mean by this amazing combination. A revelation of the great God in the height of the sanctuary. What is He doing? Well, He is reigning supreme, He is sitting upon the throne. Yes, but the Holy Ghost says that He is in the height of the sanctuary looking down, and what is He looking for? Not the great events in the earth. He is looking to see if He can hear a poor prisoner groaning and if He can find someone in His own feelings appointed to death. He is going to answer the one; He is going to set free the other.

26 – The Eternal Safety of the People of God Please read John 6. 37-40 This is a most beautiful subject: the eternal safety of the people of God. And the emphasis in these verses is that it is the will of God. Now the will of God is immutable. “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” He declares, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” The point is: if God wills something, then it must take place; nothing can overthrow it; nothing can frustrate it. Now the Lord Jesus reveals what the will of His Father is. “This is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing.” There seems to be such an emphasis here: “I should lose nothing.” In that word in John 18, He says, “Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none.” Here He says, “That ... I should lose nothing.” It seems to me that the point is that the Lord will not lose His people, either their souls or their bodies. “I should lose nothing,” because He lays an emphasis here on the resurrection in the great day: “But should raise it up again at the last day.” “Nothing.” The old preachers used to emphasise that word: “There shall not an hoof be left behind.” You remember the circumstances. The Lord through Moses demanded that the children of Israel should come out of Egypt and Pharaoh said, No. In the end, because of the many plagues, he had to agree to let the people of God go, but he said, Leave only the cattle. If he could keep something, then if it was to be a defeat, it would not be a total defeat; if he could not have the victory, there would just be something. No, says Moses, “There shall not an hoof be left behind.” “That ... I should lose nothing.” “Not an hoof.” The salvation of God is a complete salvation, not a hoof left behind. Those who were given to Him shall all reach heaven. “Not an hoof left behind.” Those for whom He died shall all be saved. I do not like this indefinite redemption which seems to be coming to the fore again after many years, which is neither particular nor general, but a kind of half way in between. Many professing Calvinists are taking up that this is the redemption of the Scriptures, a redemption that is only particular in God’s 70 purpose and God’s application, and yet concerning its sufficiency it is indefinite – sufficient to save one sinner or a million worlds. O to have this redemption of the Word of God! “Of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing.” It is so sweet. In verse 39 He describes them as them “which He hath given Me,” and in verse 40 He again speaks of the same people, the identical people. Now this time He does not describe them as those that the Father hath given Him; He describes them like this: “Every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him.” Now that comes down to every sinner hoping in Jesus. Now does it embrace you? Do you see the Son, see Him in His holy Word, see Him in the gospel, see Him perhaps from afar, and yet see Him in His beauty, see an attraction in Him that you should desire Him? And O do you believe on Him? O, you say, What is it to believe? “A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, On Thy kind arms I fall, Be Thou my strength and righteousness, My Jesus, and my All.” That is to believe on Him, to hang all your hope, all your salvation, all your heaven on Jesus, His merits, His finished work, His atonement. Now these are the given ones. “Every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life.” O it is a beautiful expression, “everlasting life.” Jesus said, “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” This is one of the things of which Jesus says, “I should lose nothing,” and because He cannot lose His people, they cannot lose their life, their eternal life. Why, child of God, “your life is hid with Christ in God.” It can never be lost. And twice the Lord repeats it, and a few times further on, “I will raise him up at the last day.” When the Lord redeemed those who were given to Him, He redeemed their bodies as well as their souls, and He will not lose the bodies of His people. Now some have lain in the earth for thousands of years, and some have been wrecked at sea and the depths of the sea have swallowed them up, and some have been burnt in the flames in martyrdom, and some have been devoured by cannibals. Jesus says, “Of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” The very

71 dust of His people is precious to Him, and He knows where it lies, as Dr. Watts says, personifying a child of God in the grave: “God my Redeemer lives, And often from the skies Looks down, and watches o’er my dust Till He shall bid it rise.” We firmly believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

27 – Jonah Please read Jonah 2 There never really was a prayer just like Jonah’s. I do not think that any human person has ever been in such a plight and yet escaped – to be swallowed by a great fish and to be in the fish’s belly three days and three nights and then to escape safely. I do not think there ever has been such a prayer as this of Jonah. There are really two kinds of trouble that God’s people come into. Some troubles they bring immediately upon themselves by their own sins; other troubles you cannot say come upon them because of any particular sin. Let me explain. Look at Daniel in the lions’ den. That was trouble. You could not say he had been brought there because he had committed any particular sin. Look at Joseph cast into prison in Egypt. That was trouble. You could not say he had been cast there because of any particular sin. Look at that blind man in the gospel. They said to Jesus, Is it this man who has sinned, or is it his parents? The Lord Jesus said that neither this man nor his parents had sinned. He did not mean they were perfect, but He meant the trouble was not the immediate result of their sin. O but it is far different in other cases! Look at David under the chastening hand of God. Look at his trouble when that child died. He knew that it was the immediate effect of his sin. Then look at Jonah in the whale’s belly. He knew that this was the immediate effect of his sin. Now it is hard to pray when you are in the latter kind of trouble in which Jonah was, when Satan suggests it is no use praying, when Satan charges all the guilt to your account, when your conscience has to acknowledge you deserve this trouble; you have brought yourself there. “Then Jonah prayed.” Then. The mercy seat is sprinkled with blood and sinners who are guilty are welcome to look and look again. Jonah was guilty of the sin of disobedience. The Lord gave him a simple, clear commandment, and Jonah fought against it. If the Lord tells you to do something, make sure you do it, lest you too end up in the belly of a whale. You know what I mean. The Lord told Jonah that there was something he had to do. Mind you, we cannot help sympathising with poor Jonah. He is told to go to 73

Nineveh and preach repentance. I do not think any one of us would have liked that task. You would not like it, to go and stand in the centre of a busy town or city and reprove the people for their sin as they passed. You cannot help sympathising with Jonah. But he sought to flee from the presence of God. Yet Jonah had to go after all, and so will you. But he had a stormy passage. He had to go through a great trial before he was brought to the point of obedience. I must say this: Jonah fought against God, disobeyed God, sought to flee from God, and yet everything seemed to go right. It is not a mark of God’s favour just because everything seems to go right. Everything did seem to be going right, but Jonah never reached Tarshish. Instead he landed in the belly of a whale. But, “Then Jonah prayed.” There is a sweet word here. The Holy Ghost has recorded this: “Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God.” Jonah had sinned greatly, but the Lord was still his God; there was a union which could not be broken. All Jonah’s disobedience could not alter it. The Lord loved him just the same though he was under the Lord’s chastising hand. “The Lord his God.” O may you prove it; it is a bond which cannot be broken. “Rebellious thou hast been, And art rebellious still; But since in love I took thee in, My promise I’ll fulfil.” Now Jonah was brought very low. Perhaps you feel to be brought low; perhaps you feel cast down. Jonah felt more than cast down; he felt he was cast out of the Lord’s sight. But you will have many things to cast you down, and to bring you low in your soul and circumstances and dealings with others, and in the church of God; and sometimes you will hardly know why you are cast down. But there are many things to cast you down and bring you low. There is a word, and here is a literal fulfilment of it: “Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” Jonah had a great and sore trouble and he was brought down to

74 the depths of the sea and the Lord quickened him again and brought him up again. The Lord Jesus spoke on one or two occasions of Jonah. On one occasion He said this: “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” So this typifies Christ’s death and burial and glorious resurrection. The point is that there is resurrecting power here. Jonah’s deliverance really was a resurrection; he was as good as dead. That is what we want: the power of His resurrection. Perhaps you have a hope and you feel that it is as good as dead. The Lord can bring it up again. Perhaps you have had an exercise and you think this is as good as dead, and perhaps you are brought low and you feel that “death is within you, all about you,” but the power of His resurrection can bring you up again. It was an impossible case. It must have seemed so both ways to Jonah. One, because of his sin, and one because of the awful circumstances he was in. But it was not beyond the power of God or the mercy of God. Jonah looks again to the holy temple. You perhaps say, Why did he not look to the Lord? Why bother about the temple? Well, do not forget, this was an outward dispensation, and what was there at the temple at Jerusalem? There was the sacrifice, the lamb slain, the blood shed, the blood sprinkled, a high priest entering in, incense offered, intercession made, everything that spoke of Christ and His great salvation. This was the temple, and that is where Jonah as a sinner looked. There was everything there for a guilty sinner. The hymnwriter has a sweet verse on this point in that hymn on the offices and character of Christ: “Is He a Temple? I adore The indwelling majesty and power; And still to His most holy place, Whene’er I pray, I’ll turn my face.” But it is to look again. Perhaps you have looked many times. Well, may you look again and sweetly prove that it is not in vain. “Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple.” But the conclusion. Jonah ended like this: “Salvation is of the Lord.” He had to prove that it was the 75

Lord who did everything. Jonah in that low estate was helpless; there was nothing he could do to free himself. “Salvation is of the Lord.” And really the salvation of a sinner from death and hell by the Lord Jesus is just the same. “No arm can reach your desperate case, But His whose name is truth and grace.” You are as helpless, and perhaps you feel it, as poor Jonah in the belly of the whale, but “Salvation is of the Lord.” That means the Lord Jesus must do everything. That is what you feel; that is what you want; that is just what the Lord does. And if that was prayer, it was prayer answered, and when the Lord answers your prayers, he answers them perfectly, absolutely. “The Lord spake unto the fish.” “Creatures of every shape and size Are all at His control.” “The Lord spake unto the fish,” and it obeyed. There was more obedience from this whale than there was from Jonah at first. And this is what stands out with me: the fish “vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” Now it was a perfect cure. It did not vomit Jonah out into the midst of the sea where he would have to swim half a mile to the shore; it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Cannot some of you see the beauty of it in your own case? When the Lord delivered you, it was a perfect deliverance.

28 – Be Careful for Nothing Please read Philippians 4. 1-9 These few verses to Paul’s beloved Philippians contain one of the most startling exhortations in Scripture. Here is a startling thing. Paul says, “Be careful for nothing.” That is, do not be over- anxious; be rid of all these things that trouble you, that try you, that perplex you, that dismay you, that cast you down. “Be careful for nothing.” And those who feel that your hearts are full of care, you will realise what a startling statement it is, because if you are honest, does it not often seem that we are careful about everything , tried, troubled, perplexed about everything, burdened about everything, over-anxious about everything, full of care about everything? And the Lord says, “Be careful for nothing.” Now that is a startling commandment. I see in it a word of gracious guidance. Those of you who are full of care, the Lord graciously guide you in that way you have to go. “Be careful for nothing.” I see also a word of solemn reproof. Let us be very clear, when the Lord Jesus spoke about the thorns that entangle and that strangle the growth and spoil the fruitfulness, He enumerated some as the cares of this life. If we are always full of care, let us be very mindful lest it strangle our growth and our fruitfulness. But why it seems such a startling statement is because it seems impossible to obey; it does not seem real; it does not seem realistic. You say, How can I be free from care with all these weighty cares that rest on me, on my soul, in the church, my family, my loved ones, my own troubles? But the Lord says, “Be careful for nothing.” The child of God says, How can this be? Well, the Lord here opens up a sacred pathway that we should walk out and yet which we seldom do. Cares can work two ways. They can either be as the thorns that strangle the ground, spoil fruitfulness, or, as sanctified, they can lead us into that precious verse: “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” Now some people are especially prone to care, especially prone to worry and anxiety. Well, if that is the case, then may it be

77 our exercise that it may be sanctified. If you have more of a burden of care than most, more anxiety than most, may it be more opportunity to cast it on the Lord. But you know as well as I do that when we are full of care and anxiety and we fear the next day and the unknown way, we seem to do everything but pray. O this is the path the Lord lines out, and He lines it out as the pathway into a most blessed land, a land of perfect peace. There is one of the sweetest of all New Testament promises spoken to those who are able to obey. Then O for grace to obey! Now this is the Lord’s word to those of you who are weighed down with care and burdens and troubles and anxieties tonight: “In every thing by prayer and supplication” – in everything, your soul and your circumstances, your body, your family, the church of God, providences, everything, and the Lord means everything – nothing too great to bring before the Lord, nothing too small. That tremendous care you have concerning a never-ending eternity, and that care you have about such a minute thing, you feel other people would smile if you mentioned it. The Lord says, “In everything,” and He lines out the way, the way you are to go: “Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” That is not to be forgotten. Sometimes we are guilty, but we have so much cause for gratitude and even in our most downcast moments, our most burdened moments, the Lord would have you come with thanksgiving, for the person here in the most trying case tonight has got much cause for thanksgiving. “By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” There is something so sweetly simple here. I realise how hard it is to pray, and yet there is something sweetly simple here. What is prayer? Well, I know there are many things in it, but what is prayer? “Let your requests be made known unto God.” We often take it for granted, and yet it is one of the most blessed of all privileges that a guilty, unworthy sinner is welcome to come with his requests to an almighty God, and He bids us ask. “Let your requests be made known unto God.” It is a poor prayer if there are not a lot of requests in it. Beware of preaching in your prayers; beware of telling God what He knows already; beware of telling God what He has to do. “Let your requests be made known unto God.” He wants to hear your requests; He wants to hear you ask Him for

78 something. It is a very blessed thing, publicly and privately. “Let your requests be made known unto God.” “Thou art coming to a King; Large petitions with thee bring; For His grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much.” “Let your requests be made known unto God.” Then this most wonderful promise. Follow it out. Here is a sinner full of care, full of trouble, full of anxiety. Here is the exhortation: “Be careful for nothing.” Here is the way in which it is to be walked out: “By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Then this precious promise: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Peace – it is the very opposite, the very antithesis of being careful. That sweet peace felt within. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

29 – Moses’ Last Words Please read Deuteronomy 32 These were the dying words of Moses the man of God. I think I am right in this – this is the first time in Holy Writ that the Lord is described as the Rock. I think you will find that amongst the precious offices and characters of the Lord, there is none used more often than this. We have it constantly in the Psalms. We often have it in the Prophets. We find the Lord Jesus Himself used it. We find that Paul opens it up. Now this is the first mention of it. Moses dying, his eyes are turned away from himself to his God, and he says, He is the Rock. What did he mean? Well, as he looked back over his long life, he had proved the faithfulness of God, that his God never changed. If ever there was a changeable, fickle people, it was Israel when Moses led them through the wilderness. But there was no change with his God, and as he comes to die, it is as a living witness to His faithfulness, to His immutability. The Lord tells Moses just before this that he has to go up to the top of the mountain and die. Well, it did not take Moses unawares; it did not take him by surprise; because he knew this blessed Rock. You know when the Lord made Himself known to Moses as the Rock – that sacred occasion when Moses enquired if there were any place where he might see His glory, the glory of God, and live, and the Lord said, “There is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and ... I will put thee in a clift of the rock.” That is where Christ was revealed to Moses as the Rock of Ages. He had a hiding place and he had a ground on which he could stand, and it was ground which could not be shaken; it was a hiding place which could not be overthrown. And now the commandment has gone forth: “Get thee up into this mountain ... and die.” And it does not take Moses unawares because he is inside the Rock and he stands on solid ground. As surely as the day came in Moses’ life when the Lord said to him “Go up and die,” as surely will that day come to us, and that will be a commandment we cannot disobey; it will be a commandment we cannot put off to another day. Disobedience is one of our great sins. There will be no disobedience to the Lord’s commandment, “Go up and die.” When our dying day comes, we will not live to see the light of another day. Queen Elizabeth I 80 said, “My kingdom for another hour upon earth!” But the appointed time had come. Moses was not taken unawares. He had a hiding place in the Rock of Ages. He could die at peace with God. It will be our mercy if we are found hiding in Christ. “Within the clefts of His dear side, There all His saints in safety dwell.” There is another thing here. Moses was a disappointed man. I think there was no one in the whole of Scripture more disappointed than Moses, and he carried that disappointment down to his dying day. O he did want to enter into Canaan to see the Promised Land, but the Lord forbade him this because of his sin. There was one occasion when it seemed as if Moses could not bear it; he pleaded with the Lord to reverse this judgment, but the Lord said, “Speak no more unto Me of this matter.” It was a sore disappointment to Moses. He had his heart set upon entering the Promised Land. And some of you may carry a disappointment down to your dying day. There may be something that you long for, something you badly want, and the Lord withholds it from you. But as Moses came here to the end, he says, “His work is perfect.” He has not any complaint to make concerning the Lord’s dealings with him. I believe there were two things that Moses saw: one was what he deserved, and the other was the blessing he had received through mercy, a better land than Canaan. “His work is perfect.” If the Lord shows you what you deserve, and yet shows you that He is going to bring you into the Promised Land, then you will have to say, “His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.” There are many mysteries, many things that are perplexing, many things that are too hard for us. But our mercy is that the Lord never made a mistake and He never will. O to have a view of infinite wisdom! “What Thy wisdom sees most fit, Must be surely best for me.” Moses had a good religion. It was good in its beginning. It stood the test, and it was a sore and solemn and severe test. You see the reality of it in the outworking of it. Moses had a wonderful love for the people of God. Then we see how the Lord honoured His own work and crowned his journey’s end.

30 – The Good Physician Please read Mark 1. 23-45 These verses speak of the Lord Jesus as the blessed Physician. We read of such different cases, such different maladies, such different diseases. The Lord Jesus so easily healed them – sometimes with a word, sometimes taking them by the hand, sometimes with a touch. These miracles of the Lord Jesus, His miracles of love, are sweetly typical of the miracles of grace and mercy that He performs under the gospel. These miracles were not just haphazard; they graciously display the character of the Lord Jesus and the way He deals with sinners still. Sin is the great malady, the great disease. We are all suffering from it. Not everyone is plagued with it, but divine teaching will bring us to this blessed Physician with it. There are the peculiar maladies and diseases God’s people labour under. It seems to me that for every natural ailment there is a spiritual counterpart. We sometimes sing, “Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath.” Now there are some people naturally in their infirmities suffering from shortness of breath, and there is not a more distressing complaint than this. If you have seen a person really suffering from shortness of breath, you will know what a dreadfully distressing complaint it is. “Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,” and prayerlessness grieves and afflicts a child of God. Are you ever plagued with it? You would pray; you would pour out your heart before the Lord; you would tell Him your case; you would intercede for those you love; you would pray for the church of God; but it seems to languish on your very tongue and nothing seems to come from your heart. Now this is one of the maladies. I feel that we do not often enough come with humble confession of our malady and say, “Lord Jesus, heal it.” We try to pray better; we come with some device from our carnal hearts. Now another thing is this: there are some diseases, some we read of in the Word of God, and the effect of it is that the person cannot feel anything, a kind of paralysis. Are you ever plagued with the malady of an unfeeling heart? You feel that everything is touched, everything is moved, but your heart. You can read of the miseries of the lost, you can read of the blessings of the redeemed, 82 you can read of the sufferings of Christ, and your heart remains insensible. These are some of the spiritual maladies this blessed Physician deals with. Now I do not want to labour this point; you can trace out the analogy yourself. Diseases of the feet. You do not feel that you walk as graciously as you ought. We read of one sick of the palsy; he was all of a shake, all of a tremble. Some of God’s dear people are very, very fearful. Heart complaints – these are the most dangerous of all. Our unbelief is a heart complaint. Now I do not want to labour this analogy, but you can meditate on it as the Lord shall help you. But one thing you do find. A skilled physician needs to know just how deeply he has to cut, and sometimes with you, before there is a remedy, there will be something that hurts. Sometimes a word from the Lord will enter into your heart and it will cut you and it will wound you and it is the lancet of the blessed Physician. The servants of the Lord in the gospel ministry are spoken of as under-shepherds. Christ is the great Shepherd; they are under- shepherds. In a sense also there are under-physicians. Christ is the great Physician; they are under-physicians. Then there has to be a cutting, and O what grace is needed to make sure that we only cut away that which is bad, that which is the malady! There are some people boast of being faithful ministers and they lash out with the sword this way and that indiscriminately. Well, if they are physicians, they cut off both the hands and both the legs of the patient. This is not profitable. O how we need to beware of wounding the tender consciences of God’s little ones, and at the same time to expose all that falls short of reality! At times there will be a wounding, but it will be profitable. But what if you are probed and your conscience is wounded? “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” Gilead’s balm is a sovereign remedy for every complaint. In a gospel sense I take the balm of Gilead to be this. You know when the good Samaritan came right where that man was, he poured in oil and wine and he poured it right into the wounds. It signifies the blood of Christ applied by the Holy Spirit – the oil and the wine. “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the

83 kingdom of heaven.” What of hypocrisy? What of awful formality? What of self-righteousness? Are you the same, you have a hypocritical heart, and you rest in formality, and self- righteousness is in your very nature? Now the mercy is this: that this blessed Physician can deal with these three maladies. We read, “He healed many that were sick of divers diseases.” Divers, of course, is the ancient English word for different, various. There were such different diseases, but He healed them all. And these three diseases of the Pharisees are amongst the maladies the blessed Physician heals. That is a wonderful word: “All manner of sin” – all manner – “shall be forgiven.” “The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin,” and all sin includes hypocrisy, and formality, and self-righteousness. O the precious merits of the atonement! But there is another thing. The Lord Jesus saves His people from their sins. He does not just forgive you that sin and leave you to labour and sink under it. There is power in this gracious Physician to bring you up and to set you free from it.

31 – Brotherly Love Please read Psalm 133 This Psalm is a jewel, small but precious. The subject is love. You find the ancient titles to the Psalms are very beautiful. The one given to this is, “The benefit of the communion of saints.” It begins with a “behold.” Whenever this ejaculation “behold” comes in Scripture, there is always something important that follows. For instance, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” For instance: “Behold the Lamb of God.” The Holy Ghost does not waste words. In Scripture there is this word, “behold,” and then something important follows. This is love, brotherly love, and the apostle says, “Let brotherly love continue.” If it is going to continue, first of all it must begin. Do you know where brotherly love begins? It begins in heaven, the mutual love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, one God. That is where brotherly love begins. And this brotherly love flows; it descends and it comes through the Person, merit, sufferings, death and resurrection of the dear Mediator, the Lord Jesus, and it flows into the soul of every one for whom He died. Like precious ointment that runs down, it comes from above. It does not spring from the earth; it is not in man’s heart by nature; it runs down. Have you ever felt a little divine love like beautiful ointment run down into your poor heart? And as the dew, it descends. Ointment and dew – something that on the one hand is unspeakably precious, something on the other hand which is so refreshing. The ointment and the dew – they refresh and are precious. And then there is an effect. As this heavenly love flows into the heart, it does not remain there; it flows on. This is not the terminus. It is not the love of God coming into the heart through Christ, and that is the terminus, the end; it flows on and it flows in two directions: it flows upwards. “O may Thy love my soul constrain To make returns of love again.”

It is a wonderful thing when you find love flowing upwards in your heart. And then it flows to the brethren. Who are the brethren? Those who have one Father, God; those who belong to the family of grace. And there is this love to the brethren. It is not manufactured; it comes from heaven. The people of God are one, one body, members of Christ’s mystical Body. The people of God are one; branches of the living Vine. There is a oneness. “We are but several parts Of the same broken bread.” And those are blessed seasons when this love flows. What was it that bound Ruth to Naomi? It was this precious ointment, this heavenly dew. What bound David to Jonathan, Paul to Timothy? “How sweet, how heavenly is the sight, When those that love the Lord, In one another’s peace delight, And so fulfil His Word!” “Let brotherly love continue.” That is a blessed church where brotherly love is felt, where it flows; where each esteems other better than himself; where each bears the others’ burdens and so fulfils the law of Christ; when we rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep; when one is in trouble and all are in trouble; when one rejoices and all rejoice; when there is an endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And you know the secret of this union? Let me put it in a very simple and homely way. You have seen a wheel; you have seen the spokes, the rungs of the wheel, and the nearer they come towards the centre, the nearer they come to each other, and when they reach the centre, they touch. The nearer the people of God live to Christ, the nearer they are to one another. The translators said, “The benefit of the communion of saints.” There is a blessing in it. I am sure you are all familiar with the old preacher who in a house was asked on this point, if it really mattered. Surely if there was love to the Lord, it did not really matter so much about love to His people. The old man silently preached a sermon. He took one coal out of the fire and he put it 86 on the hearth. You know what happened? The fire went on burning brightly and merrily, but the coal that had been taken from it, little by little, went out. There are benefits in the communion of saints. And so if the apostle says, “Let brotherly love continue,” there must have been a beginning. And then there is the trial of it. Satan hates it, and there is something in the natural hearts of the people of God that militates against it, and there is the trial of it, and for a season it can be broken. But if it is real, it is eternal. There was once a father said to his daughter, who loved him most dearly, “You see this man who is with us today.” He was a stranger, a complete stranger visiting the house for the first time; he was a godly man, and the father said to the daughter, “This man’s love to me is much greater than yours.” She said, “Father, that can never be; that can never be!” He said, “My dear, when you die, unless grace intervenes, your love to me will cease for ever, but the love of this stranger towards me will continue to all eternity.” It can be broken for a season, but if it is real, not for ever. And there is a call here to admire it; it is good and pleasant. On earth there are so many things that are pleasant that are not good, and there are so many things that are good and not pleasant. This is good and pleasant, and the Holy Spirit binds up eternal blessedness with it. “There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”

32 – The Call of Samuel Please read 1 Samuel 3 This is one of the remarkable chapters of the Old Testament. It was a day of great evil, of great wickedness. Eli’s sons, the priests Hophni and Phinehas, were guilty of the greatest sin, and we are told that “the Word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.” I take that to mean that there were no prophets appointed by God, and when the Lord did speak, it was not publicly; it was in secret. But it was the Lord’s purpose that He should have a prophet in Israel – a man who should be a real blessing to His people, and the Lord raises that man up, and He finds him in an unexpected place. He finds a child, and this child is called out to be a living witness to the Israel of God. You are familiar with the way in which the Lord called him. Perhaps you wonder why it was that the Lord four times should call Samuel by name and that he should be permitted to keep running to Eli. Well, it seems to be that there was a rebuke to Eli even in this. The Lord was not going to speak by His aged servant Eli. Eli was under the rebuke of God. Rather a child would be used than Eli. And this thing had to be done in a way that Eli might clearly know that it was Samuel who had been called and Samuel who was appointed. One thing we read concerning Samuel is this: he “did not yet know the Lord.” This is a point which comes close. Samuel was engaged in so much in the temple; he was a faithful servant to Eli; he was very useful; it seems he was very willing; it seems that he loved the temple of God. But “Samuel did not yet know the Lord.” How close we can come and yet not know the Lord! And this is the vital point. If we are wanting on this point, we are wanting in everything. It is in the knowledge of the Lord that there is eternal life, and Samuel had everything else, but as yet he did not know the Lord. Now watch it, those of you who love the house of God, who gladly come to the services. Watch it – may your religion be tried in these balances: “To know my Jesus crucified, By far excels all things beside.” Then, do I know Jesus and Him crucified? 88

Samuel did not know that the Lord spoke to sinners. Samuel had never heard the Lord’s voice. Let us be very clear on this: the Lord does speak. As long as He has a people, so long will the Lord speak. It is a solemn thing if we never hear His voice, if the voice of the Lord has never been revealed to us. The Lord does speak. “My sheep hear My voice.” If we never hear His voice, then we are not His sheep. Two things about the Lord speaking to Samuel, and the Lord speaking today. The Lord spoke to Samuel. At first Samuel did not know it was the Lord; he thought it was only Eli. There are some times when the Lord speaks and we do not really discern that it is His voice; we think it is only Eli speaking. You know what I mean – we think it is just the minister in the pulpit speaking. There will be times when the Lord will speak to your heart through him. O to have that discerning spirit to know when it is more than the voice of Eli, more than the voice of a minister; to know when it is the voice of the Lord. The other thing is: the Lord still calls His people by name. He called Samuel. It was personal; it was direct. Now the Lord will not call you by your name – I mean the name by which you are known to others – but He has said this of all His beloved people: “I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” Look at it like this. When we are all met in chapel, if I were to call out one person’s name, then that one would be singled out from everybody else in the chapel. Now that is how the Lord calls by name. When He speaks, He distinguishes that one person from everyone else sitting in the chapel. They all sit there before the Lord, but there is one where the Word of the Lord enters the heart. May there be this exercise in our hearts: “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.” O to have Samuel’s ear, to long to hear the Word of the Lord, to listen for it! And then the Lord commissioned Samuel to a work. Very sovereign, the Lord. Samuel was only a child, but the Lord used him. The Lord is very sovereign in these things. But really this is the beginning of Samuel’s prophetic ministry, and Samuel has to go forth, and the first message he has to deliver is a message of unspeakable solemnity, one of the most solemn messages of the Old Testament. If the Lord gives you a work to do, if the Lord gives you a word to speak, it will often be something your flesh shrinks from. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli. How often when the

Lord leads, when the Lord commands, it is contrary to flesh and blood, but O to be obedient as the servant of the Lord! Just two things briefly. First the message Samuel had to deliver. It was delivered to Eli – he was a godly man – and yet it was a most solemn message, a message of judgment. “The ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.” It is a solemn message. You say, What awful crime was Eli, the man of God, guilty of? He seemed to be a most kind man. What sin was he guilty of? We only ever read of one fault in Eli: he was kind to his children’s sins. He was willing to rebuke Hannah, but he overlooked his children’s sins – he was kind to them – and he received one of the most solemn rebukes of any child of God in Scripture. The Lord lays such a special emphasis on bringing up our families in the fear of God and ruling our families well, and a thing like this makes us tremble. O for grace to walk it out! There is much here. Have you noticed that the one thing the Holy Spirit insists upon in a pastor, and also in a godly deacon, is this very point – that they must rule their household well? And Eli failed on this one point. He was kind to his children’s sins, and the rod of God fell heavily upon him. Well, under the chastisement, he died. He was sitting on a high seat and when he heard what the Lord had done to him and his family, he fell off and his neck brake. Then the second thing: the receiving of the Lord’s message. If Eli had his sins, he was also a man who was blessed with much grace. How do you think most aged ministers would react if a little child came and began to rebuke them? Well, to bring it close, how would you react if a little child came to you and told you your faults? Eli falls beneath it completely; he has not one excuse to make. “It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good.” O for grace to bow beneath the Lord’s chastenings!

33 – Philip and the Eunuch Please read Acts 8. 26-40 Many, many things have been said about this most beautiful account. The point I wish to make is this: the wonderful way by which the Lord in love and mercy supplied the Ethiopian eunuch’s need. Particularly the word which rested with me was this: “Was returning.” He travelled all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem. It seems that he had a certain measure of divine light; he felt an aching void the world could not fill, and he was not satisfied. Now he had a measure of light, sufficient light to discern his need, so much so that he travelled that arduous journey all the way from Ethiopia to Jerusalem with a desire to worship God, to find Him, to know more about Him. Yet it seems that he was destitute of the real knowledge of the gospel. And he “was returning.” O there seems to be such a solemn emphasis here, as if there was a dark cloud over the poor eunuch. He was returning; he had gone all that long journey in vain. He had been to Jerusalem, that holy city. He had met there with the scribes and the Pharisees and had seen all the ceremonies, all the outward worship, and he was returning, and he had not got what he wanted; he had not found satisfaction for his soul. He was returning. O and there seems to be such a dark cloud over that eunuch, the disappointment of that dear man! We know he was still in the depths of ignorance. He read Isaiah 53. He was seeking after the truth, but he was a complete stranger to the meaning of what he read. When Philip had spoken with him, he asked the question, “Of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” O this dark cloud over his soul, the bitter disappointment, all that journey to the holy city. He had heard and seen so much in Jerusalem where God had appointed worship, and was his journey to be completely in vain? He had been there and tarried, and had sought to worship, and now he was returning disappointed. The wonderful thing to me is this: that while all this was going on, the Lord was working down in Samaria. He was working in the hearts of the people there, and He knew all about this dear eunuch; He saw his disappointment, his darkness. “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” This eunuch had a heavenly Father although he did not know it. O but his heavenly 91

Father knew his disappointment, his darkness, his great need, and the appointed time was rolling on apace in which Christ was going to be revealed to his soul, the hope of glory. Perhaps some of you find the Sabbath evening comes and you too are returning to your own home, and you have liked what you have heard – O but really there is a dark cloud over you; there is a sense of disappointment; you have not really got what you wanted, and Satan tells you you never will get it. O do some of you know this experience? He “was returning.” You have perhaps come up to the sanctuary with such longings, such prayer, as if your very heart was going to burst, and you felt surely the Lord would meet your case, whatever your case is, whether it is your body or your soul, and then you are returning and there seems this dark cloud, this deep disappointment. You have not got what you longed for; you have not received what you expected. O but “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” And whilst the poor eunuch was so dark and so disappointed, at that very time there was a stranger making his way across the desert. “My God shall supply all your need.” Where ever was there a minister to preach to this eunuch, and how ever could he come to preach to one man? How ever could he come into contact with him? Well, the Lord was already working. He knew how to manage these things. The eunuch got what he wanted, everything he wanted, because he found a precious Christ, and he went on his way rejoicing. He did not find it in the way he expected, or the place he expected. A strange meeting place this for a gospel minister and a needy sinner in the middle of a desert! I have often thought of Philip. The Lord told him to leave these things in Samaria and go down to the desert of Gaza. “And he arose and went.” That is the obedience of faith. “He arose and went.” He had a clear leading and he obeyed and went into the desert. But the Lord did not tell him what was going to happen. Then he saw this chariot. “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” And when he got there, he heard the eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, and this was to be his text; his text was waiting for him, and he had to speak on it unexpectedly, and “the place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened He not His mouth.” I have sometimes though if the Lord should ever 92 send me in some strange circumstance and gave me a word to speak from to some stranger like the eunuch, I should love it to be a word like this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.” “Then Philip ... began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” And this was it. The Lord most wonderfully and lovingly supplied the eunuch’s need. He sent Philip all the way from Samaria to this desert that the eunuch might be brought to know Christ and be blessed with peace and gospel liberty. O the time of love did come – a strange place, a strange meeting. And it will come with you, those of you who so often have returned from the sanctuary disappointed, with the dark cloud hanging over your head. You have not got what you wanted, what you expected, but “the time of love will come,” in God’s time and in God’s way, not yours, even if a Philip has to come down from Samaria to preach Christ unto you. There was one thing that met the eunuch’s need, and that was the preaching of Jesus in His glorious Person and sin-atoning sufferings and death, and this did the deed. Perhaps some of you do not understand your case, but you say, “Something yet will do the deed, And that dear something much I need.” Well, you have that “dear something” here in the preaching of Christ. And the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” The dark cloud was gone; he was no more disappointed; he did not find what he wanted at Jerusalem, but he did find it in Christ.

34 – Zechariah’s Vision Please read Zechariah 4 This was a time of crisis to Zerubbabel – personally as the ruler of Israel, and also to the whole Jewish theocracy it was a time of crisis. One point especially was the opposition of their foes and the apathy, darkness, deadness, indifference of the Jews themselves. Concerning the building of the second temple it seemed to be coming to a standstill, and there seemed to be no way in which it could ever be completed. So it was a time of crisis, and no doubt Zerubbabel was feeling most downcast and discouraged, if not disillusioned. It was at this time that God raised up two godly prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. We see divine providence in this, how with Haggai’s ministry it was for a few months and then he was gone; Zechariah was longer. How simple and to-the-point was Haggai’s ministry, but with Zechariah there was this succession of visions through which the Lord spoke. Now this vision that Zechariah had was this beautiful candlestick (or lampstand) all of gold and with the two olive trees, one on each side, with the golden oil supplying the golden candlesticks. And the meaning of it was this: really the golden candlestick was the Jewish theocracy, the Jewish nation in all its need, and then taking a further view, the church of God in all ages. The key verse of the chapter is: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” If you will, you can take it concerning the Jewish nation, concerning the church of God, and you can take it personally. Now a believer is like that candlestick. When the good work of grace began in your heart, there was a candlestick, a sacred flame within. And perhaps the point that tries you and tempts you is that the candlestick seems to be going out; it seems to be burning dimly, and you cannot keep it alight. “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” And Zerubbabel sees the secret why the candlestick still burns and the lamp does not go out – that the two olive branches empty the golden oil out of themselves through the two golden pipes, and it flows to the candlestick. It is a living supply and so it is 94 inexhaustible. It is not just some reservoir of oil that may after a few years, or even a few centuries exist, and then run dry. Two living olive trees. And we are told these are the two anointed ones. I take these two to be Christ and the Holy Ghost, and from Christ, by the Holy Ghost, this golden oil is emptied and it flows and it keeps the candlestick alight. And child of God, that is why your religion can never die, because you possess a secret, hidden life. “Your life is hid with Christ in God.” And because that life is maintained by His Sprit, and because you receive out of Christ’s fulness and “grace for grace,” and because the living supply can never be exhausted. “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” Now that is it: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit.” For, “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “His grace shall to the end, Stronger and brighter shine; Nor present things, nor things to come, Shall quench the spark divine.” That is the work of grace in a sinner’s heart. But there are so many supplies that a child of God needs. “What Thou hast promised I implore, Supplies from Thy exhaustless store.” And it flows from the two olive trees, the two anointed ones. They empty the golden oil out of themselves and, “Grace, like a fountain, ever flows,” and it brings with it every blessing that is treasured up in Christ. You receive daily grace for daily needs. “No stock on nature’s barren ground, My all is in Thy storehouse found.” And what a storehouse! The two anointed ones and a living, inexhaustible supply. “He giveth more grace.” He has it to give. There is a fulness in the two anointed ones, and you and I need it. What are the things that you need? Well, one says, I so feel to need cleansing in the blood of Christ; I need His mercy, His forgiveness. And the golden oil empties itself and it flows right into the candlestick. Another says, I need daily strength for my 95 daily needs. And, “Thy God hath commanded thy strength,” and that is why the flame does not go spark out. Others say, We are so needy. It may be a providential need or it may be a spiritual need. The need may be very deep, very solemn. “Whate’er I need in Jesus dwells, And there it dwells for me.” The grace is not in you; it is not in the golden candlestick. A candlestick may be delicately and ornately constructed and very beautiful, but it is a dead thing apart from that living supply. And the light does not keep itself burning; it is this golden oil that continually flows. And O we do need it to flow! I believe there are times when through our sin and our guilt and our unbelief we clog up and block these golden pipes. The union cannot be severed, but communion can be broken. We need that daily repentance, that daily cleansing that this golden oil may freely flow. And just a different word. It is also true concerning a gospel church. This chapter refers back to the candlestick in the Book of Exodus; it also look forward to the candlestick in the Book of Revelation. We are told there the candlesticks are the churches. What makes a church a living church, a prosperous church? This vital connection with the Son of God and that vital connection maintained by prayer and gracious exercise by the Holy Ghost’s influence, and then there is that flowing. Now those are blessed seasons on the Sabbath when there is something flowing, when it flows from Christ and it flows in the midst and it flows into many hearts. Now that is what we need, for the point of a candlestick is to burn and to shine and give forth light. “This people have I formed for Myself; they shall shew forth My praise.” And there is prosperity only as the golden oil flows. These two olive branches, through the two golden pipes, emptied the golden oil out of themselves. Now that is prosperity. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

35 – The Name of Jesus Please read Philippians 2. 5-11 There is a sweet summary here of the Person and work of Jesus, and there seems to be this sacred emphasis upon His name, the name of Jesus. Now does the mention of the name of Jesus ever mean anything to you? Do you ever see it or sing it or read it, and it touches something in your heart? Perhaps you cannot explain what it is, but there is something there that responds; there is an attraction in it. There is something you want and perhaps it is accompanied with such a sense of shame, shame for your poor returns for what the Lord Jesus has done. But really it is the great point in vital godliness: the name of Jesus. One or two things. One is this: it is the name in which we meet. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name,” says the Lord Jesus. It is not just coming to a service; it is not just coming to chapel; it is not just attending a prayer meeting. It is in the name of Jesus, and we should remember this. May the Lord reveal it to you, for if it is not in the name of Jesus, it is unprofitable. The name of Jesus is all the glory of heaven, and if we are rightly gathered, it should be all our glory here. Now what has the name of Jesus to do with prayer? What relationship has it? Well, it is an all-prevailing plea. We pray in Jesus’ name. We end our prayers, “For Jesus’ sake.” What does it mean? That our prayers are weak and poor and unworthy and sinful. But there is a plea, the ground on which we hope and expect to be heard and answered: Jesus’ worthy name. We are unworthy, but the name of Jesus is worthy, and we pray for Jesus’ sake, to be heard and answered on this ground. And when we rightly pray in Jesus’ name, our poor prayers ascend acceptably as sweetly perfumed with the merit of His name and His finished work. Now may we be able to plead it. This name is the ground of our hope. Can you from an honest heart sing: “Then let the name of Jesus be To us supremely dear; Our only, all-prevailing plea” – Now this is it – “For all our hope is there”? 97

Now have you found an echo and had to say, “All my hope is there”? The name of Jesus is the object of our desire. “The desire of our soul is to Thy name.” The name of Jesus is precious, and if we have a sweet hope that our name is written in heaven, written on the Redeemer’s breast, have we not also a sweet hope that His name is written upon our heart? I like the way sometimes that paraphrase is sung: “Goodness and mercy all my life, Shall surely follow me, And in Thy heart for evermore My dwelling place shall be; And in my heart for evermore Thy dwelling place shall be.” But our names are so unworthy, and yet the Lord Jesus is not ashamed of them. But His name is so worthy. And shall we be ashamed of that name which is the object of the adoration of heaven? And it touches everything. It touches your life, your conversation, your dealings, the words you speak, the things you do, the way you behave, the way you dress, the places you go. You say, How? Well, to walk worthy of this name. Does it not put you to shame sometimes to think of the way you walk concerning the name of Jesus? The world and our children and those who are unconcerned in the congregation judge of the glories of the Lamb through us. Now are we good witnesses, or do we dishonour Christ? I tell you one thing. That child of God walks most tenderly, walks most worthily, who feels within his bosom that glow of love, that sweet savour in the name of Christ, that sense of its preciousness.

36 – Nothing Impossible with God Please read Jeremiah 32. 1-23 The emphasis is the absolute sovereignty of God. He does as He pleases. He says, “I will work, and who shall let it?” “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” The great, infinite, almighty, omnipotent, most high God. Now this is the emphasis, and this was a time of dreadful crisis in Israel, for the Chaldeans had overthrown the land. The people were being punished for their sins. They were in bondage and darkness and captivity. We know what it is in these days to have times of distress in England. Amidst it all the Lord gives a most strange command to His prophet Jeremiah. He tells him that there is a field down in Anathoth and Jeremiah must buy it from his cousin Hanameel, and he must go through everything that was needful legally. There had to be the weighing of the money, the subscribing of the evidence, the sealing of it, the witness, the sealed evidences and the open evidences – all this had to be done. Now the strange point about it was that Anathoth was in the hand of the enemy; the Chaldeans had overthrown it and they possessed it. Whatever was the point of Jeremiah buying a field there? And whatever was the point of making such a sacrifice and paying such an amount for it? And whatever was the point of all this legal procedure, the evidence of the purchase, the sealed evidence and the open evidence? What was the point of it, because this field, this town of Anathoth no longer belonged to the Jews? It was gone, and it seemed it was gone for ever, yet the Lord gave him this strange command, and He did not explain it. If the Lord gives you a strange command, obey it. God is not bound to explain it to you. “Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs, And works His sovereign will.” “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” So Jeremiah did exactly as he was told. The seventeen shekels of silver were 99 weighed and the transaction took place in the presence of the witnesses, and there were the evidences of the purchase, the sealed and the open evidences, and they were hidden in an earthen vessel that they might be kept for many days. Then the Lord explained. “God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.” You may have some very strange things, mysterious things. “Still pray, for God will all explain, Nor shalt thou seek His face in vain.” The explanation was this: that the time would surely come in Israel when once again land would be bought and sold, when the legal evidences would be required, when that field down in Anathoth would be freed from the hand of the enemy. That is why the Lord gave this strange commandment. He does not do anything by accident or mistake or without purpose. It seemed such an impossible thing that Anathoth and the field should ever be possessed and all this legal procedure a waste of time, and then the Lord puts it like this. This is the summary and the substance of it all: “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” Is it too hard for Me to drive out the Chaldeans? Is it too hard for Me to restore peace and prosperity in Zion? Is it too hard for Me to set that field down in Anathoth free that you might possess it? “Is there any thing too hard for Me?” Now in every time of need, nationally or personally, may you hear the Lord speak. He tells us who He is. “Behold, I am the Lord.” Then He proclaims His complete, His absolute sovereignty: “The God of all flesh” – not just His people. The hearts of all men are in His hand. “The king’s heart,” the heart of the most mighty, “is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will.” “His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour.” He declares His absolute sovereignty. “The God of all flesh.” All creatures obey His command, whether they are ravens, or lions, or cruel men, ungodly men, Pharaoh, Nero, or whether they are His own people. “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.” And on this, 100

His declaration of who He is and His absolutely sovereignty, He casts down this challenge: “Is there any thing too hard for Me?” It touches everything. Is there any prayer that I cannot answer? Is there any soul that I cannot save? Is there any heart that I cannot soften? Is there any grief that I cannot assuage? Is there any trouble that I cannot sanctify? Is there any crooked thing that I cannot make straight? Is there any cross that I cannot make easy? Is there any mysterious providence that I cannot explain? Is there any door that I cannot open? “Is there any thing too hard for Me?” Anything in grace, anything in providence, anything concerning the body, anything concerning the soul, anything in the church of God, anything in your circumstances, anything ? O what a word is this! And this is the summary of it all: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?”

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37 – The Man with the Withered Arm Please read Mark 3. 1-12 The healing of the man with the withered hand. You are all familiar with the remarkable happenings: there was a poor man in the synagogue on the Sabbath day with a withered hand, he had some disease or some deformity so that his hand was shrivelled up; he could not use it. And they watched the Lord Jesus to see what He would do, and after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He bade the man stretch forth his hand, and he stretched it out and his hand was made perfectly whole. The first thing here is the blessed ability of the Lord Jesus to do impossible things. In creation, “He spake, and it was done.” Here, “He spake, and it was done,” and “His touch has still its ancient power,” and so does His word. “His every word of grace is strong As that which made the skies.” Did not one of them say, “Speak the word only”? And when the Lord Jesus speaks, then His will is accomplished. But perhaps some of you have these impossible things. O may you by faith view this same Jesus with whom nothing shall be impossible. Secondly, the Lord Jesus told this poor man to do an impossible thing. He asked the man, told him, to stretch forth his hand, but it was withered, deformed, useless. But the Lord enabled him to do as he had been told. The Lord helped him to obey His command. There used to be an old saying that “God’s commands are His enablings.” It may be the Lord has told you to do something and you feel you cannot; you feel weak and helpless; you think it is impossible. It may be the Lord is showing you something you have to do, or constraining you to do something you feel is just beyond you; you cannot do it. Well, the Lord’s power is just the power to enable you to do it, whatever He commands you to do, just as when He commanded this poor man to stretch forth his hand. Thirdly, all these miracles are sweetly typical of the Lord’s miracles of love and mercy, and you will find in all the miracles the Lord performed there is a spiritual counterpart. For instance, one man was blind, another was deaf – so you might go on – and all these things have spiritual counterparts. What was this poor man’s 102 infirmity? We well know this malady: a withered hand. Do you find your hands are withered sometimes? He could not stretch out his hand; it was helpless; it was withered; it was deformed; he could not stretch it out. Are you ever plagued by this? O you do not seem to stretch out your hands in these holy longings and fervent desires after Christ as formerly; you have withered hands. And what of your prayers? You feel you cannot stretch out your hands in prayer as you would desire. Your poor hands are withered. Sometimes they are helpless. We need this same Jesus to heal our withered hands, that our desires, our feeble desires might be strengthened, that we might reach out after Christ; also that we might be enabled to pray, and to pray fervently. O we know what withered hands are! He could not grasp anything; he could not lay hold of anything; he could not hold anything fast; his hand was withered. You know what this is. Many of God’s dear children feel as if they cannot lay hold on Christ. The Lord gives them something and they feel they cannot hold it fast; their hands are withered. O we need the Lord to heal our withered hands! This poor man, there were many things he could not do, which his hand was incapable of doing. There are so many things commanded in the gospel, spiritually, the precepts, and we feel to come so far short in them. Our hands are withered, and to use what is a right term if properly understood – Christian service. I know some people pervert it, but it is a right term when properly used. “For ye serve the Lord Christ.” O there are some things you would do and you cannot do them as you would; how feebly we do them; how disabled we are – withered hands. We need the Lord to heal them. Sometimes it is even bodily. God’s people feel so weak and helpless, not only withered hands, but withered feet and a withered heart. We do need the Lord to appear. Then we read of the feeble hands that hang down, and weak knees, and the Lord says, strengthen them, confirm them. Especially God’s people at times in the midst of trouble and affliction find their hands are withered. You cannot do as you would. This sore affliction brings you low, weakens you, takes the life out of you and leaves you helpless, leaves you prostrate. Well, you may know something of these spiritual infirmities, withered hands. May you by faith view this same Jesus and view His grace the same, His authority the same, His power the same. 103

38 – Elisha and the Downfall of Moab Please read 2 Kings 3 This was an unholy alliance. The country of Moab had been tributary to Israel and they had to render tribute year by year. But on the death of ungodly Ahab, they rebelled under their king Mesha. And Jehoram immediately sent to Jehoshaphat for help, and Jehoshaphat gives it, and not only gives it, but he says an awfully-solemn thing: “I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.” Now dear Jehoshaphat was a godly man, but we so often find him acting wrongfully, and he brought much distress on himself, brought the rod upon himself. It is a solemn thing if the world ever asks you to do something and you say, “I am as thou art”! Now we read how it all ended: in disaster. And the alliance of a child of God with the world will end in disaster. The first question was, which way they should go, and they decided. There is no mention at all of God. They are going to subdue Moab and there was no mention of God; and they had a wonderful plan. They were going to go this way, through the wilderness of Edom. And as they went, they got the king of Edom to help them, and that was another ungodly alliance. And everything seemed to be going right. So it was with Jonah when he went to Tarshish. Everything seemed to be going right. It was just the opposite with Joseph. If you read the life of Joseph, everything seemed to be going wrong, but everything was right. In this account, everything seemed to be going right, wonderfully right, but really it was all going wrong. The Lord has a sovereign ability to stop schemes, whether the schemes of His people or the schemes of the ungodly. Their plan was to fail on one thing. They find after seven days that there is no water for them, nothing for the men to drink, nothing for the animals to drink. And the king of Israel says, “Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!” And then Jehoshaphat is brought to his senses. We do not read any mention of the Lord until we come to verse 11, and then Jehoshaphat is brought to his senses: “Is there not here a prophet of the Lord?” And to his amazement he finds that

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Elisha is there. Where Elisha appeared from, we are not told, but he was there. And Jehoshaphat recognised him as a man of God: “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the three kings come in their helplessness to Elisha. The Lord knows how to exalt His word and how to exalt His servants. Elisha was forgotten before, but now there are three kings at his feet in their helplessness. Now Elisha speaks a most solemn word to the king of Israel: “What have I to do with thee?” Be careful. There are thousands who go through life without prayer, and when they come to die, they call on the Lord to help them, and the answer is, “What have I to do with thee?” Beware of despising the Lord in your life and then wanting Him in death! Put it another way. There are many of God’s dear children who fall into a backsliding state, and there is no prayer. If they are honest, there is no prayer, and then they come into trouble. Do not be surprised if the Lord says, “What have I to do with thee?” But He does hear for Jehoshaphat’s sake. Elisha calls for a minstrel. You may say, This is a strange thing to do in this emergency, to send for a minstrel. I take the significance of it to be this. The Old Testament was an outward dispensation. Approaches to God, dealings with God, were usually in an outward way. And without going into the details of this point, I take it Elisha, calling for a minstrel, to listen to him singing some sweet Psalm, one of the Psalms of the God of Israel, this was the same as today turning aside in quietness to meditate and to pray and to call on the Lord. And the Lord answered. There is mercy here. Sin abounded but grace did much more abound. And it was a strange method. They had to dig ditches, and they obeyed. Now perhaps the men of Israel thought that this commandment from their king was the height of foolishness. You think of it – people dying of thirst, and an army waiting to come against them, and their king commands them to start digging ditches. If God tells you to do something, however strange, then do it. “God moves in a mysterious way” – mysterious to you, but not mysterious to God. And then we find an amazing thing, and that which supplied the needs of Israel and Judah was the very same thing which overthrew their enemies. It was a double blessing. The next morning, they find that these ditches are full of water. No sound of rain, but the ditches were full of water. Now that is one half of 105 their trouble they are out of; their thirst is satisfied. Now what of the other? The Moabites see the sun glinting on these trenches of water and they think it is blood, their enemies have killed one another and they go forward without any plan, without any order, to take the spoil, and they are immediately overthrown. Just two or three points for you to meditate on. One is the Lord’s most blessed ability to supply His people’s need. Here they thirsted and the Lord supplied their need. Nothing too hard for God! Next, the strange mysterious means the Lord uses to accomplish His purposes. His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our thoughts, but His ways are right. And then His ability to deliver. Here was a great trial, an impossible trial, a trial with no way out. But the Lord delivers. And then above all, we find that nothing was deserved from the hand of God. There is nothing but guilt here, open guilt, open rebellion, sin against light, sin against knowledge. And sometimes you will feel that when you are in need, when you have a special need, when you want deliverance, your iniquities testify against you. Jehoram and Jehoshaphat did here. But you will prove that the Lord is very merciful.

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39 – Fretfulness and the Remedy Please read Psalm 37. 1-10 This Psalm really is different from almost all the other Psalms. You do not find anything in it that David asked for; you do not find any praise in it; you do not find any worship in it; you do not find one thing there addressed to the Lord. Really, it reads rather like a chapter from the Book of Proverbs. One thing you find continually is that the Lord, by David, tells His people what they have to do, and it comes in continually. Do you believe it? There are so many parts of the Word of God where the Lord tells you that there is something that must be done. This is not legality; this is not for salvation. One thing I find that comes continually: “Fret not thyself.” Well, do you not need this rebuke? You know what fretfulness is? When you get in your own spirit; when you get into a peevish spirit; when we are discontented; when everything is bothering us; when we feel that everything is going wrong; when we feel that nothing is right. Well, if we are honest we know this, do we not? When left to ourselves, like dear Elijah beneath the juniper tree, everything goes wrong and we need this rebuke. The Lord rebukes us for fretting. Surrounded by ten thousand mercies, professing to believe that everything is in the Lord’s hand, and yet at times not really believing; monuments of mercy, and yet sinking down in a fretful spirit. Beware of this fretful spirit! You find self-pity begins to work in it and soon you find that self-pity begins to lead to self- righteousness. You need to beware of this fretful spirit. It will not do your soul any good, and it will not do God’s people any good, and it will not honour the Lord. But how prone we are to it! We find how easy it is to fall into it; we cannot avoid it. It is like walking along a dark, dangerous road, and before you know where you are, you have stumbled and fallen. Perhaps the point with you is: how can it be avoided? How can I escape from it when I am in it? It is too strong for me; I cannot shake myself free from its entanglements. The Lord here gives a fourfold remedy: trust in the Lord; delight in the Lord; commit thy way unto the Lord; rest in the Lord. As He blesses

107 you by His grace to walk this out by His Spirit, then your fretfulness will disappear as the morning dew. “Trust in the Lord.” O to be blessed with that sweet confidence, that blessed confidence in the dear Redeemer! “Trust in the Lord.” To find your whole dependence there; to see that whatever the Lord does is right. Now this is one ingredient in the remedy: “Trust in the Lord.” Another is this: “Delight thyself also in the Lord.” And, says your heart, “O Lord, I would delight in Thee, And on Thy care depend.” It is a wonderful favour to find your actions and your thoughts drawn away from everything here below, good or bad, and set on a precious Jesus; to delight yourself in Him; to sit beneath His shadow with great delight. There is a sweet promise attached to it: “And He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Some of you have a few desires, blessed desires after Christ. “That I may know Him.” It is as you delight in the Lord that these desires are granted. “Commit thy way unto the Lord.” Thy way. You know all these things, these circumstances, these difficulties, these sins, these aggravations that make you fret yourself. “Thy way.” And the Lord does not state something particular. He just says, “Thy way.” “Commit thy way unto the Lord.” It is a mercy that the Lord is concerned. It is a great mercy that the Lord cares. “Thy way” – commit it to the Lord. “Trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” There is one more ingredient in the remedy. There is a blessed resting place for faith. “O that I now the rest might know, Believe and enter in!” It is to “rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is the blessed remedy. Then you need the Holy Spirit to bless you with the obedience of faith, and when you are blessed with the obedience of faith, then everything will be right; everything must be right. 108

40 – Quietness in Trouble Please read Isaiah 7. 1-9 You find something here that is not uncommon: God’s people in trouble. And the reason they were in trouble was because two great armies came against them: Ephraim, that is the ten tribes of Israel, and Syria. Much of your trouble will be this: people and things against you. When the Lord begins to work in your heart, then you begin to journey heavenwards, and as you journey heavenwards, you find that there are things against you. So do not be surprised if you are opposed. Satan opposes; the world opposes; you will find sin in your own heart opposes; and sometimes circumstances will seem to be against you, and people against you, and perhaps like dear old Jacob you say, “All these things are against me.” One thing about Syria: these were heathens. Well, you expect those to be against the people of God. But the ten tribes, spoken of as Ephraim, they were professedly the people of God. You find it hard sometimes when you have those who are professedly the people of God against you, when, “From sinner and from saint we meet with many a blow.” But God’s people had all these things against them. And there was something else against them. They had a most ungodly king, Ahaz. But there was just one thing in their favour. I say just one thing, but really it was everything. That is, God was on their side. Those of you who fear the Lord, whatever you have against you, it does not really matter, because, “If God be for you, who can be against you?” It is a wonderful thing to have the Lord with us, the Lord on our side. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Then everything must be well. But you find the people of God like this: the heart of the people was moved “as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.” Have you ever seen the wind blowing on a tree, and seen how it shakes? And have you ever felt that that just describes your condition? You fear and you tremble and you shake. And it was at such at time as this that the Lord sent godly Isaiah to His people with a word of sweet comfort. And really the gospel ministry is

109 appointed for such times as this: when the people of God fear, to say, “Fear not.” You know what this message was that Isaiah brought: “Take heed, and be quiet; fear not.” Three such simple words, but so much in them. May it be a word in season to us. There are things to try you: some have it in their families; some have it in their afflictions; some have it in their loved ones; some have it in their souls; some have it in the church of God; some have it in their health; some have it in the unknown way; and these things fill you with concern. Now this is the Lord’s word: “Take heed, and be quiet; fear not.” Sometimes the world will tell you to cheer up, but it does not give any reason why. The philosophy of the world is something like this: Cheer up; it could be worse. Or, Cheer up; it may never happen. But if the Lord says, “Fear not,” it is because it is in His hand and He is going to deal with it. But the Lord says, “Take heed, and be quiet.” That does not mean be silent, do not speak; it does not mean anything like that. “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” There is a loving rebuke in it; there is gracious counsel in it. This is the way you have to walk, those of you who fear and tremble: “Take heed, and be quiet.” Where are you going to find this quietness? David says, “Why art thou disquieted within me?” Are you disquieted tonight? So much to disquiet you, things to disturb you and rob you of your peace. How are you going to be quiet? Well, if it is the concern of your sins and your soul and eternity, there is only one way, and that is in quiet resting on the merits of Christ. “Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin? The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.” What about all those things before you in the unknown way? “Take heed, and be quiet.” “Peace, perfect peace, the future all unknown? Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.” It is a beautiful word, “Take heed, and be quiet.” That quiet confidence in the Lord; that resting on His mercy, love, power and divine faithfulness. “Take heed, and be quiet.” And you say, What about all these things? Well, the Lord will deal with them. He speaks of them as 110 two tails of smoking firebrands. Now that is just what the enemies of the people of God are. There is plenty of fire and plenty of smoke, but they are going to be extinguished for ever. Tails of smoking firebrands – they blaze and they smoke and they threaten destruction, but what was the end of it all? What about all this opposition, these armies, this disruption, this overthrowing, this trouble? “Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.” Now that is a wonderful thing: nothing coming to pass apart from divine permission. It may be you are dreadfully worried over something. What if the Lord says to you, “It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass”? Well, that is in the Lord’s providence. But one thing is sure concerning the counsel of Satan to overthrow the people of God eternally. This can never take place. “Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Later in the chapter we have the glorious promise of the coming of Immanuel (verse 14).

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41 – Peter and Cornelius Please read Acts 10. 1-20 How remarkably clear is the Lord’s gracious leading in this chapter, both in the case of Cornelius and Peter! It seemed impossible that these two should ever come together. They were strangers; they had not even heard of each other. Not only so, such was Peter’s prejudice that he would not have gone. But the Lord powerfully unfolded His dealings, both to Cornelius and to Peter, so that they came together, were sweetly united together. Now here was this godly man Cornelius, and yet it seemed that his religion was very deficient. We are told that he feared God; we are told of the fruits of it: he “gave much alms to the people.” Also he prayed to God continually, but it seems there was something deficient in his religion. He wanted to know the way of the Lord more perfectly. He did not know how to find it, and he had no man to instruct him. The Lord most clearly appeared to him and He told him the name of the one who was to be made a blessing to him, and not only that; He told him the minister’s address: “He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side.” And the Lord said, “He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.” Do you know, at the very moment when the Lord spoke that word to Cornelius, Peter would not have dreamed of going to a Gentile; he would have cut off anybody else who did. But the Lord said he shall come. The hearts of all men are in His hands, especially the hearts of His servants, to constrain them and to restrain them. He shall come, and “he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.” Now what clear, definite leading! It would be a wonderful thing if the churches today waited on God more as Cornelius did. We have two occasions in the Acts of the Apostles. This was one. The other, those godly women by the riverside at Philippi. People say, What could they do? Well, they were not satisfied with expediency. They prayed, and God sent them the Apostle Paul. Cornelius was not satisfied with any substitute, any expediency. He prayed, and God sent him the Apostle Peter. Look at the wonderful leading in the case of Peter. He has this vision on the house top, the great sheet knit at the four 112 corners, the revelation of the truth, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” And the Lord’s leading comes right at the exact moment; it was not too late and it was not too early – so that Peter had forgotten it or did not connect it – but just as he was coming out of this vision and wondering what it would mean, there were these men knocking at the door. So the Lord revealed to Peter the meaning of the vision, that he had got to go with them. “Three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.” It was such clear leading and so perfectly timed. I just want to make this point here. When the brethren in Judea heard of Peter going to preach to Cornelius and to the Gentiles, they contended with him. Often if you do what is right, if you do what the Lord tells you, men will contend with you, but if you know that the Lord has told you to do it, then you must obey. But here, when the men contended with Peter, he gave them an answer that perfectly satisfied them. “Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning.” Now do not be afraid of the criticisms of godly men if you can “rehearse the matter from the beginning” and give an answer to their contention. Peter could, and he had grace to do it, and the brethren had grace to receive it, for not only were they satisfied and “held their peace,” but they “glorified God saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Just a word about this great sheet. I believe it sets forth the church of God bound up secure in the covenant of grace. They were all unclean creatures in it. You can find your own character there. Some were creeping things; they could not rise above the earth; they were of the earth, earthy. And some were wild beasts; they were untamed. Some were flying fowl. They were all in the sheet, and the sheet was bound up secure. It was knit at the four corners, knit by God’s eternal love, and it was said, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” There is hope for you as a sinner, hope in the blood of Christ, for all in the great sheet were unclean until the Lord cleansed them. “And the vessel was received up again into heaven,” and there was not one of these unclean creatures left behind; they were all bound up secure. It is a wonderful thing to be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord our God.

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42 – Gracious Exercise Concerning the Word Please read Psalm 119. 25-32 This is the great Psalm on the Word of God. How clearly does it emphasise the value, the preciousness of God’s Word! But there is something that runs right through it, although it is such a long Psalm. That is, gracious exercise concerning the Word – not just that this is the Word of God, but there are all kinds of concerns about it. You will want the Lord to speak to you through it; you will want to be able to read your character in it; you will want to be able to rest your hope upon it. I find in these verses the Psalmist wants to be quickened. Now I find it not only in these few verses – I find it over and over again in this Psalm – I think it comes in ten times in all. You do not need me to tell you that the word quick is an ancient form of our word alive. But that is just what the Psalmist wants. He wants to be made alive; he wants to live; he wants to be refreshed; he wants to be revived; he wants to be enlarged. And it comes in ten times. Those of you who fear God will not be a bit surprised that it comes in ten times, because you know something of this exercise ten times – and more than ten times. How often do you have to beg the Lord to quicken you? Why do you want to be quickened? Because you feel so hard, so dead. Why do you want enlivening? Because you feel so lifeless. The poor Psalmist here is very honest. He feels that his soul is in the dust, and not just in it, but cleaving to it. It will not be at all strange if you feel that is just where your soul is. The dear hymnwriter sings of rising far above the reach of these inferior things. But you feel just the opposite; you feel to be in the dust. There are a variety of ways you can feel to be in the dust. One is as you feel so carnally minded, earthbound, tied down to the things of this life, with your affections on things beneath, and you just cannot rise above the dust. Then you want this enlivening power of grace to take possession of you, and to lift you, and to bear you above these things, and to set your affections on things above.

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Another way you will cleave to the dust: when your soul is cast down. The Psalmist says, “O my God, my soul is cast down within me.” There will be many times when you are cast down and you feel to be right down in the dust. Sometimes you come to the house of God and there is nothing for you. Sometimes you look on God’s people and they have everything and you have nothing, and you are in the dust; you are cast down. Then you find things in the church of God and in your circumstances and in your life, and these cast you down and you feel to be in the dust. Then you want the Lord in mercy to appear, and one touch from Him will make all the difference. There are many ways that you will feel to be in the dust. I just mention one other: this is through sorrow, sadness, trial and affliction. When these things come upon you, whatever form they take, they just bring you down, prostrate you, lay you in the dust, and you cannot rise above it. It would not be so bad if you could lift yourself above these things, but you cannot rise above them; you are in the dust; you want a mightier hand than yours. You want the Lord Jesus Himself to come and you want Him to do just this for you – to make the blessings of divine life known to you; to lift you out of that dust where you are found. You feel to have long been “lien among the pots” and you want those wings of yellow gold that you might fly away. Now just one other thing. You find right through this Psalm that this reviving and enlivening and quickening is always connected with the Word. Just three brief points here. First this: there is a sense in which the Word of God comes and quickens you. Sometimes under the preaching of the everlasting gospel the Word comes right where you are; it touches your heart. What then? “The gospel bears my spirit up.” You are no longer in the dust. Your circumstances and trials may be just the same, but you are out of the dust. “Thy Word hath quickened me.” Secondly, it says here, “According to Thy Word.” What does that mean? Well, God has promised that He will do these things, so there is a reverent reminding the Lord of what He has said He will do. Do it, Lord, according to Thy Word, because Thou hast said Thou wilt. Now that is right prayer when you can remind the Lord according to His Word. “Remember the word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.” 115

Then the third thing is the Lord Jesus as the incarnate Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Now the Lord Jesus sometimes comes and He enlarges you, lifts you up, revives you, quickens you. And O if He reveals Himself in His glorious Person as the Resurrection and the Life, then, “he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” Then there is hope for sinners who feel to cleave to the dust – not just are found in it, but who cleave to it, who are stuck fast there, who cannot move themselves out of it. But there is hope for sinners, and that hope is in Jesus. Then may you be able to pray, and may you find the answer to your prayers.

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43 – Hearts Touched Please read 1 Samuel 10. 17-27 There is so much here in Saul that is admirable; he seems to set such a pattern, and he seems to be a pattern of godliness and grace. There are two things especially stand out. One is humility. He is chosen to this exalted position as king of Israel, but they cannot find him; he is not to be found. Now there was humility here. Then we also see what appears to be godly wisdom. So many people treated him falsely, wrongly and unkindly, and yet he held his peace. He reminds you of the Lord Jesus: “When He was reviled, He reviled not again.” There seemed to be such admirable marks in Saul, marks of grace and godliness, and yet Saul was a reprobate. This is very solemn and this comes very close, because Saul began so well; and it was not just talking – there were the outward marks of godliness and grace. But he never continued; he dishonoured the Lord; he apostatised; in the end he did not even go to the Lord; he went to a witch, and then at length he took his own life. So, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”! How we need to pray to be preserved and to seek grace to continue! There was a little band of men with Saul, and we are told that God had touched their hearts. I feel there is so much in this, for the Lord to touch our hearts. You may come to the house of God on the Sabbath and you cannot say anything special or any word or anything remarkable, but your heart has been touched. Then it is not in vain; then it is profitable. You may have a hard heart; if the Lord touches it, then it will be soft. You may have a heart with no love; if the Lord touches it, there will be love. You may have a heart with no repentance; if the Lord touches it, repentance will flow. It may be, on the other hand, that in your heart you have many hard things, many impossible things, mountains; if the Lord touches them, then the mountains will be laid low and made into plains. Bartimaeus had his eyes touched; these dear men had their hearts touched. But Bartimaeus had his heart touched as well when he glorified Jesus and followed Him. O but there is so much in a little touch from the finger of the Lord upon your heart.

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Then I notice the different ways in which Saul was received as king. It seems that the most part were just not affected; they did not take much notice. Then there were the children of Belial, the evil ones, and they despised him. Then there was a little band who clave to him. And so it has ever been with King Jesus. When the gospel is preached, when Christ is spoken of, most people are not moved one way or the other. Beware of being one of them. Then there are some who openly and outwardly despise the Lord Jesus: “How shall this Man save us?” But there always will be a little remnant who cleave to Him, who follow Him whithersoever He goeth. “One of this remnant may I be.” And do you know who they are who cleave to the Lord? Those whose hearts are touched. And when the Lord touches your heart, then your heart leans in the right direction; then it is a spiritual heart; then it is a new heart; then it is a regenerated heart; then it is a heart that cleaves to Christ. May it be a concern which class we belong to regarding the Lord Jesus. May we have our hearts touched by the finger of God, and may we cling and cleave to the Lord Jesus.

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44 – Liberty Please read Hebrews 13. 12-25 This word says, “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty,” and there are two things I want to speak about in it. The first is this beautiful expression, “Our brother Timothy.” If the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Paul, and it is usually assumed that it was, what grace the apostle shows. Timothy was his son in the faith, yet he calls him, “our brother.” There was such a difference between Paul’s call by grace and Timothy’s. Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor, injurious, going to Damascus breathing out threatenings and slaughter; a light from heaven, the voice, and the light as the brightness of the sun, and he is cut down and lies here prostrate. Timothy – “knowing that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” “Our brother Timothy.” Paul does not cut him off. He does not set his own experience up as a standard; he does not say, Timothy, I stand in doubt of you; you did not come the same way as me; there does not seem to be very much in your religion. “Our brother Timothy.” What made Paul and Timothy brothers when their calling was so different? Why, they were both partakers of the same mercy; they both had the same faith; they both belonged to the same family of grace. And God is a sovereign. Philpot once said that Almighty God will not walk in lines chalked out by a worm. “Ye must be born again.” “Our brother Timothy.” I like that word: “And shall gently lead those that are with young” – those with an inward burden. Where does He lead them from? Where does He lead them to? You can trace the Lord’s gentle leadings in this: that they bring sinners to Jesus’ feet. “Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down at Thy feet.” The great point is, are you there? Not just the way you came, but are you there? He “shall gently lead those that are with young.” Also they will bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. It is not just talking of wonderful experiences or remarkable things or visionary things.

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“They produce the fruits of grace, Clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. Born of God, they hate all sin; God’s pure seed remains within!” Now that is it. The family of grace. “Our brother Timothy.” The second thing: “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty.” That is literally. It appears that Timothy was in prison and he was set free, although we are not given any details concerning it, but no doubt in answer to the prayers of many of the godly. “Our brother Timothy is set at liberty.” Now there is spiritual liberty, and these are very sweet and favoured occasions in the churches when this is the testimony: “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty.” He has heard the divine sentence, “Loose him, and let him go.” He has been set free from his grave clothes. He has known the clear work of the Spirit of God, and, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” He has felt something of the blood of Christ upon his conscience and by the blood of the covenant he has been delivered from the pit that can hold no water. He has been a prisoner, a prisoner of hope, but he has turned to the stronghold. The bird is delivered from “the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and he is escaped.” Liberty. Would to God there was more of this heard outside our chapels! Really this expression, “Know ye” – we would probably say, Have you heard? Now do we not often hear people saying, Have you heard this? It would be a mercy if there was more of this outside our chapels: “Have you heard that our brother Timothy is set at liberty?” Some time ago there was a young man came up to me. I said, “I am pleased to see you; how are you?” And he told me how the Lord has set his soul at liberty. Now this is what we long to hear. There are so many things here. One is the spirit of bondage that prevails on every hand. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” And gospel liberty is by the blood of Christ, doctrinally and experimentally. I feel this, that there are a number of Timothys about today, but they have not yet been set at liberty. The Lord has begun with them and works in their hearts, but they have not yet been set at 120 liberty. The foundation is there, but the top stone is not yet. Do you ever think about them and ever pray for them, that our brother Timothy might be set at liberty? When Peter was in prison, prayer was made for him of the church continually, and the Lord answered that prayer and completely set him free. Let us be clear, he was guarded by about sixteen soldiers, and he was chained to one of them, and then there were the prison gates, but the Lord answered those prayers and set him at liberty. Prayer was made for him of the church of God continually. Now what do we pray for? I know that we have to pray for self – there are so many things we need – but what of the brother Timothys who are not yet at liberty, who are in prison, and some have been there a long time, and they cannot move the iron bars and the brazen gates? I would that there might be a distinct movement of the Holy Ghost and that spirit of real prayer that the Timothys might be set at liberty. And may we be able to look for it and watch for it and long to hear of it. Was it not for this that the Lord Jesus Himself was anointed? You know how He began His earthly ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Liberty through the blood of Christ. “Loose him, and let him go.” Now this is God’s work, the work of God’s Spirit. And are there not some of you who sigh for liberty for yourself, to be set free from your shackles and your fetters, to be set free from sin and the world and from everything that binds you to the earth, and to mount and rise about inferior things? Liberty. All the children of God have life; not all have liberty. There is just another point. Often the churches grieve over one of the godly being taken from them by death, but when this does take place, may it rather be viewed in this light: “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty.”

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45 – Remarkable Deliverance Please read 2 Kings 7 Many things might be said concerning this most remarkable account. I am sure you are quite familiar with the story and with the circumstances: the famine in Samaria; God’s promise of plenty; and the remarkable way the promise was fulfilled. I just confine myself to three observations. The first is: the Lord has a most blessed ability to supply His people’s needs. That promise must ever stand: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” The Lord is still Jehovah-Jireh. He is the Lord who will provide. Every need must be supplied, grace and providence, great and small. In this chapter it seemed completely impossible that this need could ever be met. There did not seem any way. The famine was extreme; people were perishing daily. There was no way of escape. No one could suggest any means through which help could come. All the king could do was to rend his clothes. But the Lord’s promise stands, and, “Sooner all nature must change Than one of God’s promises fail.” God’s word must be fulfilled, and God’s word touches all your needs. How your needs will be supplied, you do not know, but be very sure: your needs shall be supplied. God has promised and “He is faithful that promised.” This chapter is such a sweet commentary on the Lord’s faithfulness to His promise to supply His people’s needs, and His most blessed ability to do it. Now this is one observation. The second is: how mysteriously the Lord causes things to work together for the good of His people. You will have some things in your life and they will be just too hard for you. Some things will be perplexing; some things will be painful; some things will appear to you and you will regard them just as a nuisance; you cannot see any point in them; there does not seem to be any reason for them. “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” What of this strange noise the Syrians hear? Well, you wonder what it is; there does not seem to be anything to it; but they flee. 122

And what of these lepers – how can they be the means of deliverance, these lepers running forth between one camp and the other? It all seems to be so unimportant; there does not seem to be any point in it. It is the fine thread upon which the Lord causes everything to hang, the way in which He performs this great mercy for His people. There are so many little details in this chapter. The Lord makes them all work together for the good of Israel in this remarkable supply of every need, this abundant supply of food. You may have something now and you cannot see the point of it. Perhaps tomorrow you will look back and you will see it was embraced amongst the “all things.” Then just this observation: how easy it is for the Lord to deliver His people. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.” This case was impossible for man, for the strongest of men. It was so easy with the Lord. It is one of the many deliverances of the Word of God. May you be encouraged like this: that this God who performed this miracle is still God, and He still hears prayer; He is still almighty; He still delivers. And do not forget: He can do it at once. We come into a place; we contemplate deliverance. Perhaps we come to the point: it is possible, but we think of it next year, or the year after, or some time to come. Here there was an impossible case. The Lord said, “To morrow about this time.” Tomorrow there shall be deliverance. Impossible thing! And the lord on whose arm the king leaned mocked at it, it was so impossible. “Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” I feel we fall into this error, so often fall into it. It is unbelief. We do not doubt God’s ability, but really, if we were made honest, we doubt God’s ability to do it now, or to do it tomorrow. Beware of this way, this unbelieving way of hoping for deliverance. Let us be very clear, the Lord is sovereign and sometimes you will have to wait, but the Lord has this sacred ability to do it now, or today, or tomorrow.

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46 – The Parable of the Sower Please read Luke 8. 4-15 This parable of the sower, so well known, yet perhaps so little known. It is exceedingly solemn. There were four cases of hearers and only one brought forth fruit to eternal life. In the first, as soon as the seed was sown, the birds of the air devoured it. That is, it did not really have any effect at all. And surely, surely this embraces the great part of gospel hearing, both of the ungodly and the godly. I tried to think – in a year I suppose well over half a million words are spoken from the pulpit – count these as the grains of seed. How many of the words spoken can we even remember at the end of the year, or how many of the words that are spoken can we even remember the next day, let alone those which have any gracious effect? And I speak to those of you who fear God. Of the many, many words we hear, how many of them have a gracious effect? How many of them ever enter in? And how many of them are sown and just like the birds of the air, devoured as soon as they are spoken; they do not have any effect at all. The greater part of gospel hearing with the godly as well as the ungodly is just like these birds of the air. As soon as the word is spoken, it is immediately carried away; it does not have any effect. Then there are two other kinds of hearers, two other kinds of ground, and this does have some effect. There is one where the Word is received with joy and it begins to spring up; it seems as if it is having some effect. This is the kind of hearing time perhaps at a baptism or a funeral. There is a kind of solemnity, and from the effects of it, the solemn awe, something affects you. Or it may be a sermon concerning the glories of Christ, and this affects you, perhaps concerning His sufferings, but it does not produce any real, lasting, gracious effect; it withers away; it dies. Now this is another kind. Then there is this seed which here appears to take root and spring up. There is some effect; there is something appearing; there is something going on; it is not all left behind at chapel; there is something taken home. And it is then the adverse effect comes. When you get to your own home, and with your family and 124 friends, and in the business, and in the world, it is then the effect begins to go. It is among thorns, earthly pleasures. How the spirit of the world chokes the good seed! And the riches, earthly ambitions, earthly possessions, how these choke the seed. Then this comes close. There are many, many of God’s dear children from an honest heart can say they have no interest whatever in the pleasures of the world, they are completely delivered from them, and they can say they have no ambition whatever for riches, and on these two points they are completely clear; but another thing is mentioned: cares of this life, bodily afflictions, trials, adversities, temptation, pain – and Satan does not mind what he uses as thorns. So there are three kind of ground here, and there is no bringing forth of fruit. This is very solemn: the great part of hearers, and the great part of hearing the Lord condemns. Then there is the good ground. “May we receive the word we hear, Each in an honest heart; Hoard up the precious treasure there, And never with it part.” The seed, of course, is the Word of God, and the sower is the preacher. You are well acquainted with the old way of sowing broadcast, and this sets forth that the Word has to be preached to all. You know what I mean by that: the good seed has to be cast here and there; it has to be preached to all without distinction. And we know not where the good ground is; the Lord only knows. But the preacher’s duty is to cast the seed, to broadcast the seed. O but what of this effect? And what of this lack of effect? There are two vital things here. One is concerning your salvation. Is your heart good ground, or is it wayside ground? Is it rocky ground? Is it thorny ground? I want to speak to you very advisedly. Even the good ground hearers, the Lord’s dear children, at various times are in the spirit of the first three. Now let us be clear, in their state they never can be in these first three, but in spirit, child of God, sometimes you are a wayside hearer – you are plagued with birds; and sometimes a stony ground hearer – you are plagued with a stony and hard heart; and then you are sometimes a thorny-ground hearer – you are plagued with riches or pleasures. So what a need you have to pray that your heart might be prepared 125 by the Holy Spirit. There is that solemn word: “The Word preached did not profit them.” Why? “Not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” O what need to pray to be good ground. Then secondly, what of the many hearers who, as far as we can tell, are never affected by the Word; it has no effect on them at all. Now what an opening for prayer here if the exercise is laid on you, and may it be so, that the seed that is broadcast might be divinely directed, that the Spirit might take it and direct it, and direct it to hearts that He Himself has prepared, that there might be the prepared ground, and the directed seed, and the entering in, and the bringing forth of fruit. May you be able to pray for it. And then what? Watch for answers. “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” O may you be able to watch for the tender springing up of the blade of grace! And there is such a thing – you understand me aright – as watering the seed with your prayers. Then the Lord bless you with a spirit of prayer concerning this solemn parable.

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47 – The Father’s Loving Care Please read Matthew 6. 24-34 This is the dear Sun of Righteousness arising and shining with healing in His wings and dispelling one of these dark and gloomy clouds. The Lord Jesus takes a dark, gloomy cloud that hovers over His people and He dispels it, and the great point is His loving, gracious, tender care. We have this repeated three times: “Take no thought,” or in other words, do not be anxious. It does not mean that a person has not to plan. The Lord says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” And He tells us just how the ant plans and prepares. But there is a warning against the undue anxiety of which we are often guilty; and what is the remedy? How does the Lord dispel this cloud? He deals with one thing, and then another thing, and then a third thing, and then at the end there is a really beautiful, three-fold remedy. First of all, “your heavenly Father.” Now if you get that into your heart, child of God, that will dispel your dark cloud: that you have a Father and that Father is in heaven, and that Father is almighty. “Your heavenly Father.” This I believe also is another point on which there is a cloud in the church of God today: the spirit of adoption. How few can with unwavering tongue call God their Father? Now may the Lord dispel this dark cloud and give us “the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” “Your heavenly Father ever lives, And all His choicest treasure gives To you, the favourites of His heart, Nor will He ever with you part.” That is the first thing: “Your heavenly Father.” The second thing is: “Your heavenly Father knoweth.” These things, these anxious cares that are perplexing you, these tormenting things, this turmoil in your spirit, that fear concerning the unknown tomorrow. “Your heavenly Father knoweth.” And it means this: that as He knows, He cares; and as He cares, He provides. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” 127

And the third thing is: “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” There is a promise implicit there, and the promise is that if your heavenly Father knows that you need these things, then He will supply them. O that beautiful, blessed promise: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Then there is just another side to it. These pains, these sorrows, this chastisement, these temptations, these afflictions, there is a need of them. We would be without them, and yet we need them. “Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

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48 – Be of Good Cheer Please read Acts 23. 1-11 Perhaps some of you feel a need of being cheered up. Have you ever noticed how many of our hymns speak on this very point – either a prayer for it, or the sweet encouragement of it? That is a blessed prayer: “Cheer our desponding hearts, Thou heavenly Paraclete; Give us to lie, with humble hope, At our Redeemer’s feet.” My mind has gone to the Lord Jesus. There was one expression He used on more than one occasion: “Be of good cheer.” And perhaps this is just what you feel to need – for the Lord to say to you, “Be of good cheer.” I just want to bring before you one or two occasions when the Lord Jesus says, “Be of good cheer.” Then that sinner has nothing to fear. And the Lord Jesus always attaches a reason for it, and that reason answers everything which causes him to fear. Now you will find that the world often says, “Cheer up.” The philosophy of the world seems to be futile. There is no solid ground for the person to cheer up. On the one hand, the philosophy of the world is, “This may not happen,” or on the other hand, “It could be worse.” This is the philosophy of the world. Now listen to the Lord Jesus: “Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” There are many who are so cast down, who are so despondent because of sin. They feel it rising within; they know their guilt. So many sins in word; so many sins in thought. And there is the defilement and the consciousness of it. The Lord Jesus says to this desponding sinner, “Be of good cheer.” Why? “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Then there is ground for sacred joy, when sinners deserving hell find that there is forgiveness with the Lord that He may be feared, and when they view the foundation standing sure. “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity?” “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Another time was when the Lord Jesus came walking across the stormy sea. The disciples were so full of fear, and well might they be – the storm, the wind, the waves threatening their 129 destruction. They were “toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary.” They made no headway. And then at the darkest hour, Jesus Himself drew near, and He came right over those stormy waves: “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Perhaps what casts you down is the winds that are contrary to you, and the storms, and the billows and the darkening sky. May you be able to look away from it all to the Lord Jesus, and see His power over the winds and the storm and the sea. “It is I; be not afraid.” Now one other. The Lord Jesus just before He died said this: “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” He did not say His people would be able to escape it or get round it, but, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” And God’s people still have tribulation, and what is tribulation to one is not to another. But their tribulation is in the hands of the Lord. “Be of God cheer; I have overcome the world.” Perhaps you say, This is nothing to do with Acts 23. Well, the passage speaks of “good cheer.” The Lord Jesus spoke so sweetly in the days of His flesh, “Be of good cheer,” to the one sick of the palsy who was borne by four; to His disciples toiling in rowing; to the dear disciples again before He left them to go forth to Calvary. But the Lord Jesus is no longer here on earth. He is risen, exalted, glorified. Well, this is the point. He still says, “Be of good cheer.” This chapter is after the resurrection. Jesus is no longer on earth; He is glorified. But here is a child of God in sore distress, but the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer.” He still does. And it is when that child of God is in real distress, in real need, that the Lord Jesus stands by him. That is His gracious presence, and His presence cheers the soul. The Lord Jesus draws near and stands by him. “Be of good cheer.” Read the rest of the chapter. If ever a man was in danger, it was Paul! What was it? Forty men, more than forty, bound with an oath they would not eat or drink until they had slain him. There was not one hair of his head could perish. He was in the Lord’s hands, and the Lord said, “Be of good cheer.” Well, if you are cast down, may you be able to look to that same Jesus, and may you hear His voice, “Be of good cheer,” and may you learn that sweet truth that “nothing can harm you if Jesus is near.”

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49 – Gracious Reminders Please read Deuteronomy 1. 9-18 In some ways Deuteronomy is a Book on its own. I do not know of another book in the Bible like it. I mean in this, really, there is little new in it, much repetition. We find that Deuteronomy almost entirely is a going over again of things which have been recorded in earlier books. I notice here the translators have put at the heading, “A repetition of former things.” Now this is not unprofitable. You will find in your own soul’s experience there are some things you need to be reminded of again and again and again. The Lord says, “Thou shalt remember,” and one of our great sins is to forget. We need the Holy Spirit as the divine Remembrancer to remind us of former things; especially we need to be reminded of what the Lord has done for us, what we were and what the Lord did, and to remember His gracious leadings and His sovereign and merciful guidings. There is a sense in which oftentimes we need the repetition of former things, and we are so slow to learn the easiest lessons; we need to be told continually. There will be some times when we come to the house of God and we do not hear one thing that we never heard before; we do not hear anything new; but the Lord confirms us. I remember hearing of a godly minister, some years ago. He went to preach at an anniversary. He knew the text on his heart was the same that he had twelve months before. He could not get away from it, and when he stood up to speak, he knew that almost everything he was saying was the same as what he had said the year previously, but he could not think of anything else. But in the Lord’s mysterious purposes it was sweetly confirmed to a person blessed a year before, and since that day sorely harassed by Satan, and she felt it was not possible she could have exactly the same thing over again, but she did, even almost to the same words. Well just two or three things from these verses. They concern Moses following the advice of Jethro, and these many people who were such a help to him. The first thing is: Moses was greatly blessed with those who were a real help to him and who were made a real help to the Israel of God. First of all there were Aaron and Hur to hold up his hands, and then there were these different 131 captains – in greater or lesser measure they helped. Some were over thousands, some were only over ten. I believe that the Lord does make use of those that fear His name in greater or in lesser measure. It is a wonderful thing to be of a little help in the church of God; it is a solemn thing if we are only a hindrance. May you be exercised on this point: to be a help in the church of God. Now I want to notice this. The Lord gave them a clear commandment. “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment.” They had to be impartial. The margin gives it something like this: “Ye shall not distinguish faces” in judgment. I want to press this point on you. Our religion is before God, and all our dealings are before God, and if the Lord leads you in any way in a gracious exercise, in anything concerning the truth, in anything connected with His cause and interest, then ye shall not respect persons. Much of the confusion in the church of God springs from this root: respecting persons. Godly J.C. Ryle once said that he found the most godly men and also the most sensible and most discerning men were often at fault concerning their own children, their own families. A thing which would have been wrong in anyone else was passed over. The Lord keep us from distinguishing faces – and especially concerning ourselves. When we think of respecting persons, we often think of others, but the person we respect more than anyone else is self, proud self, self-seeking self. Beware of respecting self. In the things of God it is before the Lord’s all-seeing eye. One other thing Moses said to these who were his helpers: they had to deal with the small matters and bring the great to him. He said, “The cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.” Here a greater than Moses speaks in these words: “Bring it unto Me.” Have you got anything to bring to the Lord? I think of one or two cases in the New Testament. That lunatic son and the devil tore him and the disciples could do nothing, and Jesus says, “Bring him unto Me.” Then also the five thousand and here the disciples with only five loaves and two fishes – useless, impossible. “What are they among so many?” And Jesus said, “Bring them hither to Me.” Have you got anything to bring to the Lord? The cause that is too hard for you? If anything contained in Scripture over the years has been a help to me, this has: “The cause that is too hard for you, bring it to Me, and I will hear it.” Well, I believe there will be 132 many and you have got something that is too hard for you, either in your soul, or your body, or your circumstances, or in the church of God, or the unknown way – some burden, some problem, some perplexity. Whether you are aged ones coming to the end, or whether you are young people at the beginning of your life, you will have many things that are too hard for you. They are not too hard for the Lord. Wonderful word that: “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” The Queen of Sheba had many hard questions – you will at times – she did not know how to answer them, but when she heard of the fame of Solomon she came, and he told her all. There was nothing she asked he did not tell her. “The cause that is too hard for you.” You can see three things in Christ, three things among many others. You can see infinite wisdom that completely understands this hard cause; you can see the tenderest compassion which so lovingly sympathises with you; and you can see almighty power that can deal with it. “The cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto Me, and I will hear it.”

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50 – Light Shining in Darkness Please read Isaiah 9. 1-7 This chapter begins in grievous affliction, but very soon we read of joy. But there are some painful verses. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Now does that suit you, as you feel that you walk in darkness and as you feel that your land is the land of the shadow of death, to see a great light shining? You know what this great light is. You know that it is the dear Sun of Righteousness arising with healing in His wings to enlighten your way, to shine in your heart and upon your pathway, and that will put everything right. And then this beautiful verse follows concerning the Lord Jesus: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Do you believe that name is as ointment poured forth? Do you find a sweet suitability in the name of Christ and that sweet savour to fill your heart with wonder concerning the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace? Then a beautiful verse follows. Everything seems to be going wrong, and perhaps as you look around in the church and in the world, you feel everything is going wrong. Now this is the beautiful promise: “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.” Day by day sinners are being gathered to Shiloh, brought under His loving government, and of this increase wrought by the Holy Ghost there shall be no end. That spiritual temple, the church of God, stands higher today than ever before, as stone by stone is laid in its place. And, “The Saviour, by free grace alone, The building shall complete.” “Of the increase of His government ... there shall be no end.” Now this is the point I want to lay before you. No doubt as Isaiah spoke these things, this was his exercise: How can these things be? And no doubt as the faithful Israelite of old heard it, 134 his exercise was, How can this be performed? No doubt the mockers and scoffers in Israel said, This is impossible; it never will be performed. And perhaps tonight you have things, you think of them and pray for them and long for them, but you feel this can never be; how can it be performed? Now this is the point: “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” And that answers every problem, every perplexity and every difficulty. It is the performing God; it is in His hand. It is not often we read of the zeal of the Lord. You know what zeal is. It is tremendous enthusiasm. That is zeal. Sometimes you see a person trying to do something, planning something, and you think he will never do it; but he shows such zeal, such tremendous enthusiasm, and before long he has achieved his ambition. And sometimes you hear of what someone has done, and you say, How was it possible? And you find there was a reason, and that was the burning zeal, the enthusiasm he had. Well, this is the word the Holy Ghost uses and applies it to the Lord Himself. If human zeal can perform wonderful things, then what can divine zeal do? This really is a kind of human figure, as if there is a person, a strong man, and he puts all his energy into it; he does everything he can possibly do. That is zeal and, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” That is why, “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.” That is why the cause of Christ will be a triumphant cause at last; that is why you will never perish in your sins; that is why you endure; that is why your impossible prayers will be answered; that is how you will be delivered out of your affliction; that is how you will be brought safely through it all. There is a secret here, and that secret is made known: “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

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51 – The Mediator Please read 1 Timothy 2. 1-6; Hebrews 4. 11-16; Hebrews 12. 22-29 These three passages have one theme, and that a very important and glorious theme: Christ the Mediator. And this is vital, His mediatorial office and His mediatorial work. What is a mediator? Someone who comes between, especially someone who comes between when there are two parties at variance. “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” I do feel that this is one of the most glorious of all themes. We need to be reminded of it continually, and of the wonder of it, the glory of it. This is the only place where heaven and earth meet – in the Mediator. This is the only way in which sinners can worship, in which sinners can approach God. This is the only way in which God can bless sinners. This is the foundation of it all. Apart from a mediator, there would not be any worship; there would not be such a thing as prayer. It would not even be possible to thank, bless and praise God. And really, all the religions of the earth, even the basest and most heathen religions, still have this conception of the need of a mediator. Here is man, and here is God, and there is something which separates, there is a distance, there is separation, there is a gulf, there is something that comes between. Even the basest, the most heathen religions have this notion still remaining, the need of a mediator. So every religion, however primitive, has its priesthood. Savages realise they cannot go direct to a holy God. They have a heathen priesthood and they come through that priesthood. Wherever should we be but for the glories of Christ’s mediatorial work? Where should we be if we could not pray, could not approach God? Where should we be if there was no contact at all between heaven and earth? This subject was what was revealed to Jacob at Bethel. He saw a ladder. It reached to earth and its top reached right to heaven and it made a great bridge over that enormous gulf. It came right down and it reached right up, and the angels were ascending and descending. There was something going up and there was something coming down. 136

To be a mediator it was necessary that the person should be both God and man; there could be no other mediator. Our hymnwriter puts it like this: “This Saviour must be one that can From sin and death release us, Make up the breach ’twixt God and man; Which none can do but Jesus.” I just want to leave two points with you. The first is this: it is only through the Person of the dear Mediator in His blessed, atoning blood that sinners can come before a holy God. “Wherewith shall we approach the Lord, And bow before His throne?” Wherewith? As a sinner, guilty, vile, ruined, coming to a holy, righteous, heart-searching God. Wherewith? And what does the gospel make known? A blessed Mediator standing between. “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” There, if you will, you have the Trinity in one verse, the three Persons of the Godhead in one verse – access by Jesus to the Father by the Holy Ghost. Then another thing. A sinner is permitted to come through the Mediator, and he is welcome, however vile and guilty and hard- hearted, and he is graciously received, both his person and also his prayers. Why? Because there is a glorious Man standing between; because a holy God looks not on you, but on His beloved Son and you in Him. This is the ground of your acceptance and your access and the answers to your prayers. “But since my Saviour stands between, In garments dyed in blood, ’Tis He, instead of me, is seen, When I approach to God.” Now that is the value of a Mediator. The other point: it is only through the dear Mediator that the blessings of the gospel come to sinners. Hebrews 12 says, “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched” – Sinai – “nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet” – that is the law with all its curse. “But ye are come” – where? “And to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant.” That 137 means two things: first of all that Jesus was appointed to be the Mediator in the covenant of grace, and second, that through Him as the Mediator all the blessings of the covenant flow to sinners, as He sealed the covenant with His blood; as if there was this priceless treasure and Jesus as the Mediator is standing between, holding the key and unlocking the door to it; as if there was this precious fulness there waiting to flow to sinners, and Jesus, as Mediator, by His blood opened the way. “Pardon and grace, and boundless love, Streaming along a Saviour’s blood; And life, and joy, and crowns above, Obtained by a dear bleeding God.” We need to be reminded of these things, and we do well to remember them. Apart from this there would not be any acceptance; there would not be any way by which sinners could approach God; there would not be any way by which blessings could flow down from God to sinners. Then bless God for a Mediator.

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52 – The Marriage Supper of the Lamb Please read Revelation 19. 1-9 If you were to go out into the street and ask a few people you met whom they consider to be really blessed people, you would get many different answers. One would say, Those who are blessed with health. Another would say, Those who are blessed with happiness. Another would say, Those who are blessed with wealth. You would get a variety of answers. But it is not what man says; it is what God says. And this is how the Lord answers that question, Who are they that are blessed? Mind you, He answers it in various parts of the Word of God in different ways, but with a sweet union between each answer. But who are they who are truly blessed? Now this is the Lord’s answer: “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” This beautiful language means those who shall be in heaven with Christ for ever. It is a very beautiful description: “The marriage supper of the Lamb.” Heaven is compared to a great supper for two reasons. One, that there is perfect satisfaction there; the people of God are eternally and completely satisfied. The Psalmist says, “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.” Secondly, because it is a time of eternal joy and rejoicing; no more sin or sorrow. “The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” It is a beautiful description of heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb. Well, if there is to be a marriage supper, there must first be a marriage. What is this? It is that blessed union between Christ and His church, those who were from everlasting in the purposes of God, when God’s dear people stood eternally united to Jesus in bonds that can never be broken. Now these are the secret espousals. “Then in the glass of His decrees, Christ and His bride appeared as one.” And then there are the open espousals in time. What is that? When a sinner is wedded to Christ. You know what it is; it is a 139 union of love; it is as though the Holy Spirit teaches you your need, your sin, your condition, and then reveals a precious Jesus to you, and your very desire and affections go forth after Him, and you feel your soul knit to Christ. Now that is the open espousals. Let me explain it like this. In Genesis 24 Abraham’s servant went that long journey to seek a bride for Isaac. And when he came to Laban’s house, he sweetly testified concerning Isaac, his person, his possessions, his glory, how Abraham had blessed him with all that he had. And as he spoke, Rebekah felt her heart drawn out towards this Isaac she had never seen. And when this question was proposed, the marriage question, “Wilt thou go with this man?” she said, “I will go.” Now that is how the Holy Spirit unites your soul to Christ. You are brought to feel your great need, your guilt, and then the Holy Ghost sweetly testifies of Jesus. “This Man shall be the peace,” this Man who is a hiding place from the storm, a covert from the tempest. “This Man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.” “This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God,” “This Man.” And as the Holy Ghost sweetly preaches Jesus, “this Man,” to you, you feel your desires flow after Him. Then when the gospel tells you He is willing to save you and to receive you – not only to save you from your guilt and wash away your sin, but to love you freely and make you His beloved bride – then your soul is amazed. And when the question is proposed, “Wilt thou go with this Man?” faith says, “I will go.” With Rebekah, there was a long journey. She had never seen Isaac. She had to leave her home, her family, her associations. What about all those who wanted to hinder them and delay them? “Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.” “I will go.” O do you feel the sweet constrainings of love to Christ? And then here there are the eternal espousals. Now how do sinners come to the marriage supper? We are told they are called, called with an effectual calling. And as I understand it, if there is the marriage supper of the Lamb to all eternity, there is a marriage supper made known in the gospel; there is a gospel feast. Gadsby quaintly says,

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“The gospel-table’s spread And richly furnished too, With wine and milk, and living bread, And dainties not a few.” As the gospel is sweetly preached, as it testifies of Christ, His glorious Person, His finished work, the blessings that are treasured up in Him, His great love and faithfulness and power, His precious riches and relationships, there is a spreading of the table. And then there is a sweet invitation: “Come; for all things are now ready.” And in that parable, the parable of the marriage supper, we are told, “They all with one consent began to make excuse.” One said he had married a wife and he could not come. Another said he had bought some land and he could not come. Another that he had some oxen to try out and he could not come. There was a variety of excuses; there was one reason only: that was, they had no appetite; they were not hungry. And that is why chapels are empty and few come to Zion’s feasts: there is no appetite for the gospel. “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in.” Who came? The halt, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And what was it that compelled them to come? The servant did not take a stick and drive them; that was not the compulsion. There was a two-fold compulsion. One was that their hunger drove them; the other was the blessedness of the feast drew them. And so it will be with you if you are being prepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb above and you are partaking of the gospel feast here below. There will be those holy hungerings of the heart. Nothing here will satisfy. And then, as the gospel is sweetly proclaimed, your hunger drives you on and the gospel invitation draws you. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” You have to come empty handed; nothing to merit God’s favour; no good frame. “The guilty, vile, and base, The wretched and forlorn, Are welcome to the feast of grace, Though goodness they have none.”

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And then there is the preparation. We read here that the bride “hath made herself ready.” We are told what her readiness, her preparedness was: “That she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” So none are welcome to the marriage supper of the Lamb but those who are arrayed in Christ’s perfect, spotless righteousness. We read in the parable, there was one man came in and when the king saw him, he said, “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” He was speechless, and they cast him out. Now never press a parable too far. You cannot stretch parables too far and make everything mean something, or you will end up in confusion. You cannot deduce from this that there are some who enter heaven and then they are thrown out; that is not the point at all. But there are one or two very clear points. One is how far this man went before he was discovered; but it was not too late for him to be cast out. And then, no-one discerned him; the other guests seemed perfectly satisfied with him, all of them. But when the king saw him he said, “How camest thou in hither?” It is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. “For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” For His people the Lord Jesus takes their sins upon Himself and He puts His holy, spotless righteousness upon them as a wedding garment in which they stand complete as clothed in His righteousness and washed in His blood. I think of the little girl in Scotland in those days of real prosperity. She had been bought a most beautiful new dress, and yet the tears rolled down her face. They said, “Are you not pleased with it?” She said, “I want the spotless robe of Jesus’ righteousness.” And we all need it. “This spotless robe the same appears, When ruined nature sinks in years.”

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