Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 26, and reading for our text, verse 22. having therefore obtained help
of God. I continue unto this day, witnessing
both to small and great, saying none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come. Acts chapter 26 and verse 22. Help obtained from God. It's good where we are able,
especially at anniversary times, Thanksgiving times, but really
any time, to be able to discern, like this armistead in Psalm
121, my help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth,
to be able to look past second courses, past the means, and
see that coming directly from God. We read in Psalm 89 that
I have laid help upon one that is mighty, one that is chosen
out of the people. A direct prophecy of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah, who is the source
of all the help for the people of God. Our text very clearly says, having therefore obtained help
of God. that is the source, that is where
it is looked for. We think of Paul's letter to
the Colossians, that it hath pleased the Father that in him
should all fullness dwell. And John, in the first chapter
in the Gospel, he says, of his fullness have all we received,
and grace for grace. But when we think of help, we
think, what type of help? We might have a child at school
and they're trying to write. and the teacher might come over
and help them to write. But that's a very different thing
than the picture that we have with our Lord teaching in the
parable of the Good Samaritan, who is my neighbor. And we have the man that fell
amongst thieves, helpless, lying, wounded, and needing one to come
right where he is and to pour in oil and wine to his wounds
and to lift him up, take care of him, that is very different
help than just a little prop, a little guidance, a very different
help when you think of the miracles our Lord wrought of raising the
dead to life. of healing when 12 years the
issue of blood could not be healed by any other means at all so
we need to have the right idea when Paul says help he's not
saying well I've got not a lot of wisdom and understanding and
I just need that little bit of help every now and again no it
is that complete help and this is easy seen by how he begins
and we look at this a little later in some points of how that
help was manifested may we never have small views of the help
of God. Just perhaps to give one little
illustration, you think of the life of Joseph, you think of
the dreams that he had and God's purposes for Joseph to be brought
out. And then we have one man One
man who didn't even know his significance in God's plan, and
he overhears the brothers saying that they are moving and they're
going over to Dothan, and he meets Joseph in the way and is
able to impart that knowledge. You think, what a small thing,
but the timing, the causing it to happen, They're bringing it
about, wasn't that man? Nothing in his wisdom. It wasn't
Joseph. It wasn't Joseph's brothers,
but it was God. And without that help, if you
like, nothing of the account of Joseph would have happened.
And so when we think of help, yes, it might be in small things,
but so significant that they are not small. They are vital,
important links in the chain. So when we have here obtained
help of God, let us not think that it's just some little help,
a little prop, a little guidance. But how is it given? Is it given
like we say to the Lord, well, look at all my good deeds and
look at all what I've done now, now please give me back, give
me some help. You know, if we need help to
do some repair work on the house or on the car, you'd go to the
builder, you'd go to the garage and he'd give you a quote and
you'd give him money and in return for money then you get the help.
It's bought. It's as it were earned. But this
help is not like that. It's not because of any good
in Paul, any good in me, any good in any of the people of
God. It's the help of grace. The free
unmerited favor of God is the help of mercy. That's the type
of help it is. That's how it comes. And we need
to be clear on that. because when we're able to discern
this help in our lives and in our path, and we discern it,
this is the help of God, and then discern that we are not
worthy of it, we're very mindful of our sin, of our guilt, then
we know that we've received it not a works list we should boast
but graciously and mercifully and you see the these tokens
these things that are so reassuring and strengthening to us of God's
favor and God's blessing to us when we look at help and what
kind of a help it is and how it comes to us then we can see
we are recipients of the grace of God the mighty work of God
the saving help of God. Now it's this help that Paul
obtained, and indeed all, all of God's dear people can look
at the help that God gives them and put them under three heads
that come out from this text as being a illustration of the
help realized. So I want to look, with the Lord's
help, at these three points. Firstly, God's help realized
in calling and commission. And then secondly, God's help
realized in continuing as a Christian. A Christian is a follower of
the Lord, a disciple. The disciples were first called
Christians at Antioch. So the second point is help realized
in continuing as a Christian. And the third point, God's help
realized in fulfilling God's purpose in our lives. Remembering, the Lord has said,
this people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth
my praise. time to look first then and again
say this is not just Paul and when we're thinking of help it's
all God's people but as we gather this evening and it is thinking
of the church and congregation at West Row having received help
for another year in churches need that help. We need that
help. You need it at West Row. We need
it at Cranbrook. Each of the churches, they need
that help. They may be started. We've spoken
this evening about the start at West Row. But then there needs
to be a continuance and to serve God as He has designed. God just doesn't decide, well,
I'm going to put a church there and a church there and I've no
purpose. I don't know why I planted a
church there. I don't know whether I've got
any people in that area or not. I won't speak reverently, but
God does have a plan and a purpose for each candlestick. If He says
in Revelation that the candlesticks are the churches and that the
pastors, the angels of the churches, they are in His hands, where
the Lord maintains a people in a place, we can be sure there
is a purpose, and He has a people, and He will use them, and it
should be the exercise of a church to that end. Why has the Lord
permitted? Why has the Lord continued us? What is the purpose? And we think
of the letters to the churches of Asia in Revelation. We don't want to be like the
Laodicean church that was neither hot nor cold. It was a lukewarm
church, a nauseous church, a church that didn't bring honor to the
Lord. In fact, only two of those churches
had nothing said against them. and it's a good thing if we bear
that in mind yes we may continue but how are we continuing and
are we bringing fruit and praise so this then is not just points
regarding Paul, or even just God's individual people, but
gathering together as churches as well, we can learn from what
Paul says here before King Agrippa. And it's a great privilege, isn't
it? at times when we are asked by
the ungodly or by those like a gripper that knew something
in the things of God to give an account and to tell them of
what God has wrought with us and though they might be like
Festus and say that we are mad and that we are foolish yet answer
in a sober way that we do speak those things that we have handled
tasted and felt though the true, the real things of God. And Paul
was like that when he returned answer. It says in verse 25,
I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of
truth and soberness. So the first thing, having obtained
help of God, where it is realized is in calling and commission. Now the Apostle, when he is speaking
before King Agrippa and before Festus, that is how he begins. In fact, he begins what his life
was like before, and it's good for us to remember that. What
were we like before we were called by grace? And the evidence of
the new birth in what paul is saying here laying the foundation
when he's saying the jews if they'd only bear witness they
knew what my life was like before and i think many of us they know
what our lives are like before some don't some don't Some that
know the Lord's people, when they have been called, and then
they are told what they are like when they are in youth, or before
they were converted, they can hardly believe that. They say,
well, we can't picture that person being like that. We only have
known them being the Lord's people. We've only known them fearing
the Lord and having the reverence of the things of God. And we
say, well, no. There was once a time they hated
the things of God. they wouldn't sing, they wouldn't
read the word of God, they wouldn't be excused from the services
of God's house and those that know them there, they hardly
believe it's the same person but here Paul, he takes back,
he goes back to what he was and he says that he was a religious
man straight as set, just like the Pharisees were, as he was
a Pharisee. And he tells. It must have been
a painful thing for him to recount. And some of us, we do have pain,
when we even bring to our remembrance the things we've done and said
in unregeneracy. But he'd held men and women to
prison. He says that he counts himself
the least of the apostles, because I persecuted the Church of God. And he tells of this, but then
he tells of a change. Did he have a hand in it? No. He was on the way to Damascus.
He had plans to hail men and women to prison. He had a commission,
but not from God. He had a commission from those
Jews at Jerusalem, from the high priest, the chief priest, authority
and commission to hail men and women to prison, and God stopped
him. And God spoke to him, heard a
voice saying unto me in a Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. The Lord revealed to him No,
there's a couple of things really stand out in conversion in this
account here. One is the vital change. that had been wrought in that
man in Saul of Tarsus, he was never the same again. He testifies,
what I am, I am by the grace of God. Remember what we said
as to how this change was wrought and how this help was given,
it was graciously given, and Paul always says that. It was
grace, grace that stopped me. Grace that changed me, grace
that made a difference. And dear friend, if you are troubled,
tossed about, whether you're one of the Lord's people or not,
may this mark, has the Lord made a change in your life? Has He
made a difference? Are you now not what you once
were? Bless be God, where He changes
the heart, renews the will, turns the feet to Zion's hill. Well, that's one. The other mark
here is the Lord Jesus Christ was revealed to him. He didn't
know who it was speaking to him. He didn't know who it was that
people were praying to, and he was persecuting them because
they were the eunuch. When Philip met with him, reading
the Word of God, he didn't know who it was that was being spoken
of. in Isaiah 53 in our Bibles? Was it Isaiah? Was it the Prophet? Or some other man? Philippi begins
at the same scripture and preaches unto Him, Jesus. Those two on
the way to Emmaus, you know, when they came back after the
Lord had revealed Himself to them, they told two things. what was done in the way, and
how Jesus was made known unto them in the breaking of bread. Paul can tell two things, what
was done in the way, and how the Lord was made known unto
him, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. What has been shown to you and
to me of the Lord Jesus Christ. what has been revealed, what
has been opened up concerning Him, maybe just in one word that
has been read in the Word of God, one word that has been preached,
and as you've read over it, or as that word has been preached,
you've had a little glimpse of this is the Lord Jesus Christ,
maybe in the Old Testament, that has been opened up light on the
way to amaze, light with the eunuch, And to see the Lord there,
there wrestled a man with him. To the breaking of the day, thou
hast wrestled with God and with man, and hast prevailed. His
name was called Israel then. Why? That man was the pre-incarnation
appearance of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And those are sacred
times, when that light dawns, and when you see Him, And when
you are drawn, and like the two on the way to Emmaus, your heart
burns within you. The Apostle here, he tells, he
tells of God who wrought this change, a spiritual rising from
the dead, dead in trespasses and sins. You hath he quickened,
he writes to the Ephesians, who were in trespasses and sins,
and Paul had partaken of the same quickening work. That is help that no natural
man can give. That is help that is never earned. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of mine hand. You say, why then does the Lord
do it for one and not another? The sovereignty of God. The sovereignty
of God. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. That covenant between the Father,
Son and Holy Ghost, because of that, chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. not in us, but chosen in Him,
a covenant ordered in all things and sure. That is why the Lord
Jesus Christ was given the name of Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins. They are already His people.
they're already known as His. The whole kingdom of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His, knoweth
them from when? From eternity. I have loved thee
with an everlasting love, and therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Well, Paul didn't just have a
raising to life, a new nature to be quickened, but he is also
immediately given a commission, given a purpose. All God's people, we said at
the beginning, they are chosen to show forth the praises of
Him who hath called them out of nature's darkness and into
His marvellous light. they are to be salt, they are
to be light in the earth, they are to be his witnesses, they
are to tell to another generation the wonderful works of God, the
Father to the children, teaching them. We are not to be like the
one that was given one talent, and instead of trading that talent
he buries it in the earth, and when our Lord comes he just gives
him back his own talent. He was said as a unprofitable
servant, greatly reproved. Where the Lord blesses His people,
where the Lord helps them, it is that they should be in turn
a help to others, and a blessing, and show forth the praises of
God, who has been their help. And this is what Paul is doing
before Agrippa, before Festus, he is giving evidence of what
had been done in his heart and in his life and he's giving God
the glory and all the God's people have that commission and but
Paul has an extra one and he is told very clearly what he
has been appeared to for 16 I have appeared unto thee for this purpose,
to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of
those things in the which I will appear unto thee. God's ministers don't send themselves. God sends them. He makes them
a Christian first. and then he gives them a commission
in that order, the same order here. Although many of the Lord's
dear servants, they have that commission, like the Apostle,
very soon, when they're quickened into divine life. and yet it
might be another, in my case, thirteen years before that time
comes to thrust into the ministry. With Paul it was straight away. In a way he'd had his preparation
before He sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He had a very good
knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. All he needed really
was to have that veil taken away and see the Lord Jesus Christ
in all the Scriptures. The Lord had already prepared
him in that way. And it's often a great comfort
to look back how the Lord does prepare us when we don't even
know what He is preparing us for. Well this then is the first point
that is here. God's help realized in calling
and commission. And I hope it is that some of
us here and some that are not here, those that we know and
we see, we've seen the work in their hearts, that they might
realize that they have been helped of God. They are able to say
the same as Paul here, having therefore obtained help of God. But then there's a continuing.
This is our second point. God's help realized in continuing
first as a Christian. before ever that we can be useful
in the Lord's vineyard. We must be a Christian, we must
have a personal close walk with the Lord, fellowship with Him,
know the secret of the Lord ourselves. That is a vital thing and often
a challenge to many of the Lord's servants, especially when we
have many sermons to prepare, but we don't, though we are fed
upon our preparing and ministry, yet it is like Mary sitting at
the feet of Jesus, not like Martha, cumbered about with much serving. We need that time that we hear
God's voice, enjoy His company, You know, it might be like, maybe
a husband and wife, and they have very, very busy lives, and
they do things together, but all the time that they're working
and doing this and doing that, and they never have time to sit
and enjoy one another and talk to one another and go over things
together as husband and wife. is very different than just being,
as it were, a work associate in all the labour. And so, maybe
we must remember this, if we are to continue, we continue
first as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we continue? It is the Lord that gives in
the first place eternal life, and then the Lord says, because
I live, ye shall live also. And he says, from me is thy fruit
found. He gives us the beautiful picture
of the vine. I am the vine, ye are the branches. The branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, neither can ye except
ye abide in me. There must be that union for
fruitfulness, a beautiful promise for those in our Bethesda home
or Pilgrim homes. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. Remember that, dear friends.
Just because you cannot minister, just because you cannot do what
you once did, doesn't mean to say you're not bringing forth
fruit. May the Lord give those fruits of meekness and patience
and long-suffering a word in season, that wisdom to impart
a quiet word as it were, an example of many things. The Lord has
promised this even to old age. He will carry His dear people. He will support them. He shall
give graceful grace. he shall give that help when
the strength is all taken away and give fresh strength they
shall go from strength to strength every one of them appearing in
Zion you think of the parable of the
sower Parallel of the Sower speaks of four types of hearers of the
Word, or the seed that fell into ground, and the ground is like
the hearers, the stony ground hearers. The birds came away
and took it straight away. Satan took the Word out of their
heart. Is not that help if the Word
stays in our heart? And then there were those that
were on stony ground. They hadn't got much root. The
sun rose up, scorched them, they withered away. It was like those
that, when there comes the persecution, tribulation, because of the Word,
by and by they're offended, and they go back. They walk no more
with the Lord. They don't continue. And then
we have the one sown amongst thorns. The thorns spring up,
and they choke the word, and it becomes unprofitable. The
love of riches and this world's things choking the word. Then
there were those that were sown in good ground. They brought
forth some thirty, some forty, some sixty, some hundredfold. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear, says our Lord. Why did some continue? Why did
some seed bear forth fruitfulness? Why was one here a different
than another? This is help of the Lord. When
the word of God profits us, we are told the word did not profit
them, being not mixed with faith in them that heard it. Who gives
faith? Who is the author and finisher
of faith? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Without that help, that word
won't profit. The Thessalonians, the word came
not in word only. But where was the help? Where
was everything that made it an effectual word, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power? how vital, if we are to continue,
that we are fed, labor not for the meat that perisheth, but
labor for that which endureth unto eternal life. Man shall
not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. The children of Israel needed
that manner. He took not the manner from their
mouths, but they needed it. every day except the miracle
when it comes to the Sabbath day. We have then a continuing
as a Christian, kept, says Peter, by the power of God, through
faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last day. Kept by the power of God, The
Lord uses faith, and faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of the Lord. How many times the Lord will
use the ministry to keep his people. A word in season, a word
of reproof, a word of direction, a word of exhortation, as through
these means the Lord sends help. Think of this, if you're thinking
of Paul, as receiving help as a minister, what good is that
if his hearers are not helped? If I come from the pulpit and
I say, oh, I've been much helped today, and the people say, but
we haven't fed, we haven't been helped, we haven't been strengthened,
what good is that? better it would be, the poor
minister comes away and he feels that he's made a complete mess
of things, he hasn't spoken as he wanted to speak, he hasn't
exalted the Lord as he wanted to, but the people have been
helped, the Lord has blessed. As a minister we must never,
as it were, take away from the word after we've preached. That's
why at the end of services I just close with the benediction without
any further prayer. The temptation is great at times
to make apologies for poor preaching, ask forgiveness for it, and if
you're not careful, the people are robbed of the very word that
the Lord has used the minister to give to the people. Yes, we
come before the Lord in secret and confess our sin and confess
our poverty and to bow before Him. But we hope, we trust, we
come as a Lord's servant. And that which is spoken is spoken
by Him to use in whatever way that He sees fit. May we never
take away. I often think of dear Jonah,
he was used to bring the people of Nineveh to repentance, but
then he wanted to take the blessing away from them. The Lord wouldn't
though, you know, he wouldn't take it away. What the Lord gives,
whatever messenger he uses, he won't take away that word. Hath
he said, and shall he not do it? You poor tempted soul this
evening, and you felt the Lord has given you a word, but he's
taken it away, he's gone back on it, no he hasn't my word the
lord said is settled in heaven the whole scriptures coming to
pass hath he said and shall he not do it and so may that be
an encouragement to some and may it be an encouragement to
think well here am i here am i after a year two years 10 years
40 years sixty years, perhaps some of you in Bethesda, and
I'm still continuing. I'm still following the Lord.
I still want to hear the Word preached. I still want to read
His Word. I still want to go and pray.
I'm a poor thing, but I trust I'm still in the way. You know,
dear Peter, he went through that time He denied that he ever knew
the Lord Jesus Christ. But when he came through that
trial, where was he? Not like Judas, hung himself.
He still loved his Lord, and he was still useful, and he was
still used. But most of all, he was still
a follower of the Lamb. He hadn't gone back. He hadn't
ceased to be a Christian. Bless the Lord for a continuing
a blessed thing, when you see one that is begun in the way,
and then you go forward many years and you see that same one
still in the way, still in the same truths, still loving the
doctrines of sovereign grace, still loving the Lord Jesus Christ,
still having this mark, we know that we pass from death unto
life because we love the brethren, we wouldn't continue without
God's help. Paul knew this. He says, Having
therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, in
a ways raising an Ebenezer, and I hope you, dear friends, at
West Row can, and at Bethesda, and I can, raise an Ebenezer,
hither by thy help I am come. Well I want to look at the last
point which was a continuing of realizing God's help in fulfilling
God's purpose in our lives. Now we read of the Apostle, the
Lord's purpose for him to make thee a minister and a witness,
both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things
in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people
and from the Gentiles. unto whom now I send thee. And
this was God's purpose, to open their eyes, to turn them from
darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me. What a lot, what a
purpose, what the Lord was going to use the Apostle for. He doesn't do that to all of
his servants, you know. Very often we don't know how
the Lord will use us. He might just send us forth,
preach the word. we might be impressed upon us
only be living to publish thy praise, and that's what we try
and do in our ministry all the time, publish the praise of the
Lord, lift Him up on the pole of the everlasting gospel, point
to Him and say, there is my help, my help cometh from the Lord,
that is where I'd point you to go, to where I get my help, you
go there too, helper of the helpless, strength to the poor, and the
needy a continuing you know the apostle
when he had persecutions well he did in one sense what the
lord said when they persecute you in one city then go to the
next but then you have as soon as you had any relief even when
he's waiting for others to to catch up with him He speaks. He gets back to what he was doing. Our Lord was the same. When they
were persecuting him, you have a narrative of what they were
doing and saying, and then you suddenly read again, as he was
wont, he taught them again. And he's right back to doing
what he was. It's a good thing if we're like
a tree and we might feel to be rather weak tree and we get a
blast of wind and it bows right over But as soon as that wind
is gone, then we're upright again, back preaching, back to the Lord's
service, back to what the Lord has brought us to do, not fainting,
not discouraged. Though we fall a thousand times
a day, yet to be picked up, to be put on our way again, a continuing
in the way. He was always mindful of his
commission. And may we be mindful. In our
Lord Jesus Christ, even at twelve, he says to his parents, ''Wist
ye not that I must be about my master's business?'' Really,
that not just applies to our Lord, it doesn't just apply to
Paul, to those of us in the ministry, but to all of the people of God. We have a Master. He has a business. He has a reason. Why we're upon
this earth? What would it be if the Lord
only had upon the earth His people that were ministers? That's all. Just ministers. Be a strange picture, wouldn't
it? What about the assemblies for worship and praise and glory? In the world they are only consulting
to cast the Lord down from His Excellency, in His temple or
in the house of God. Then everyone speaks of His glory. The people of God are formed
for His praise. They show forth His praise, like
the Apostle was here, before unbelievers, brought before councils,
brought before rulers, for the Lord's sake, and to bear a testimony,
to bear a witness. Sometimes it can be for work.
I remember years ago being called as a young man, probably about
24, 25, when going to the new place of work that I'd just joined,
and staying at a motel, and the manager wanted me to go home
and have a meal with him and his family, and I'd much rather
have just stayed in the motel, had my Bible and had a quiet
time together, but no, he insisted, And when we went, some of the
first things he said over the meal, he asked me about my faith,
asked me how I became a Christian. And you know, we spent the whole
evening with me speaking and answering his questions. And
I came back to that motel afterwards, and it was the lines of the hymn,
Oh, the happiness of rising from the life of God within. when
the soul is realizing conquest over sin. And it is a beautiful
thing, it's a privilege to be able to speak what the Lord has
done, to be unashamed of that before those, even like Paul
here, they didn't understand, they couldn't understand, but
he could testify that this was words of truth and soberness. What a witness, not just in word,
it's not just the words we speak, It's how we live, how we react
to situations. By nature we react completely
wrong. We all know we've got this nature
that if left to ourselves we bring shame and reproach upon
the Lord. And we need the Lord to deal
with us. The Lord said to His disciples
when they wanted to call fire down on those that would not
receive them, ye know not what spirit ye are of. The Son of
Man came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And it's by being with the Lord,
to drink into His Spirit, to know what His Spirit is, and
to always speak well of Him, and to recommend him to poor
sinners. Now notice, notice what Paul's
commission was and notice what he continues to do in our text
and what follows, saying none other things than those which
Moses, that the prophets of Moses did say should come. that Christ should suffer, that
he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and that
should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. And remember,
he's got this aim in view as well, that God would turn them
from Satan unto God, that they would receive forgiveness of
sins, that they would repent, that they would turn, that is
what repentance is, and give them an inheritance among them
that are sanctified by faith, that is in me. And so how did
he do that? In verse 20 he showed, he said
in verse 19, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, showed
first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout
all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should
repent, turn, repent and turn to God, and do works meet for
repentance. This is the message of the Gospel
today. There is salvation in none other
but the Lord Jesus Christ, that evangelical repentance that our
Lord is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins. But the
ministers of the Gospel are to say clearly, as Paul did to those
on Mars Hill, you won't find salvation in those idols. In
any other way, you'll only find it in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look there, turn away from the other ways and look only unto
Christ and that is what repentance is turning and this is what the
apostles desire and i hope it is my design when i speak to
those in the town that where we see those looking in the wrong
direction even in the church like with paul in romans 10 he
saw his countrymen And they were going about to establish their
own righteousness, and not the righteousness which is of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he pointed them to where
they could obtain that salvation, and that where they were looking
they would not find it. By the deeds of the law shall
no man living be justified. And so this was his aim. You know, a minister is not to
think, This might be a good way of spreading the Gospel, and
I'll use some pictures here, or an overhead projector, or
I'll just speak of my own feelings, and my own frames, and my own
thoughts, and this might think this, and God's Word might say
that, and I'm not quite sure what the Lord was thinking in
this passage, but that's not a thus saith the Lord, that's
not the certainty of the Gospel at all. It is preaching the word,
the message. This is what John, when he writes
to the varying tribes, and he is saying about the message that
he is actually bringing. he is giving a message if we
send a letter to someone then usually there's a purpose isn't
it there's a reason why we are sending it in verse 5 of 1 John
1 this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare
unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all
and he has a clear message And Paul says, I'd rather speak five
words with the understanding than 10,000 words in an unknown
tongue. It's vital that if a trumpet
give not a certain sound, who will then prepare for the battle? And it's vital for us. You know,
if we die as we are born, we shall perish. We need this help. We need this vital change. We
need a turning, we need a repentance the same as the Apostle had,
but a repentance unto life, a repentance that brings to conviction of
sin, Godly sorrow for sin, that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ,
through His sufferings, through His death, what He has purchased
at Calvary, so that He then gives life, and that life is evidenced
by knowing the malady, and knowing the remedy, knowing the preciousness
of Christ, and receiving that help from the Lord. How vital
it is to have a hearing ear! Those seven letters to the churches
in Asia, to all of the parables the Lord spoke, He finishes them
all. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. The Lord's servants
They speak, but it is the Spirit that speaks. That's why they
had a tarry at Jerusalem, until they were endued with power from
on high. And that Spirit makes a difference. Some believe the word spoken,
some believe not. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life believed. That is God's work. This is the
work of God. that ye believe in him whom God
has sent. And it's vital that we are brought
to be a true believer, truly turned, truly converted, and
continue and endure unto the end. Now Paul says when he writes
to the Romans he says if while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us how much more than being reconciled we shall be saved
through his life. Romans 5. If he passed by us
when we were dead and with his help saved us gave us life How
much more, now that we know we're sinners, now that we depend upon
Him, will He supply our need, day by day? The Lord Jesus Christ
is the God and Saviour of all His dear people. His name shall
be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins,
and He shall cause them to continue, cause His servants to continue
in their ministry, cause His people to bear forth fruit to
still point to Him and say, Behold, the way to God, even down to
their journey's end. What a way to pass the flood,
pointing to that dear Redeemer, bearing witness that this is
my Saviour, my Redeemer, this is the One who has gone through
death for me and has come to bring me safely home to be with
Him. Well, may we know what it is
to be able to say with the Apostle Paul, having therefore obtained
help of God. I continue unto this day, witnessing
both to small and great, saying none other things than those
which the prophets of Moses did say should come. The Lord at
his blessing. Amen.