May I please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, and we'll read verse 27. The Gospel
of Luke, chapter 18, and reading verse 27. And he said, the things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. These are the words of Jesus. And he'd been speaking, of course,
to the Pharisees and the publicans who had been arguing with him,
really. And they were not believing what
he'd said. And the question had been put,
and they that heard him said, who then can be saved? And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. And so we should be
very thankful really to know that such a word as this is very,
very true. We come to a God who is so great,
so powerful. We often fail to understand,
even in small measure, how great God is and how He can do everything. And as the Lord gives us faith
to believe the truth of the Word of God, we only have to go back
to the very first chapter in the Bible, in Genesis, and to
see there how things which would have been impossible with men
were possible with God, and to consider that the Lord spoke
the world into being. Everything which exists was spoken
into being. How wonderful it is. And how
great our God is. How powerful is our God. Utterly beyond what you and I
can imagine. We cannot imagine somebody speaking. the animals being made, the world
being made, the sun and the moon being made. But you see, the
Word of God explains to us that this is the great God with whom
nothing is impossible. And we should therefore be encouraged
in our lives, as we ponder these things, to realize that God can
do for each one of us far more exceeding abundantly than we
can ask or even think. And the greatest blessing and
the greatest favour that you and I can receive from this God
is the blessing of eternal life. The wonderful favour of being
made spiritually alive. And this is something which is
utterly impossible for you and me to produce. We cannot give
ourselves spiritual life. But bless God, he can, and bless
God, he does. And so we have these words here,
the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. We read together in the Acts
of the Apostles, that second chapter, which speaks so gloriously
of that day of Pentecost. And it was a very amazing day. And it was a day when God did
wondrous things, great things, things which had never appeared
before. And how the Holy Spirit came
upon the people and we are told And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And so there's
that long list commencing at verse 9 of different nations
and concluding with Cretes and Arabians in the 11th verse and
we're told, and they were all amazed were in doubt saying one
to another, what meaneth this? Well then it was that Peter stood
up and spoke to them and told them the great and glorious truth. He said, but this is that which
was spoken by the prophet Joel. And again it's so confirming
to know that those things which were spoken in the Old Testament
came to pass. The prophecies came to pass they
did not fail and so here was that wonderful occasion spoken
of by Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days saith
God I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions
and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and
on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit
and they shall prophesy and so he goes on and then he comes
down to this ye men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also
know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and full
knowledge of God ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain, whom God hath raised up.' It was a very clear evidence
of the power of God in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A fulfilment of that prophecy
which had been spoken so many years ago, and it had now come
to pass. The words that David had prophesied
in the Psalms, gloriously true. And he comes down and says, this
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted, having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. Therefore, he goes on, let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, Peter had been able to therefore
give a very brief summary of the great truth concerning the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the result was this. When
they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what
shall we do? What was this? This was the work
of the Holy Spirit. What was it? The things which
were impossible with men were here being proved possible with
God. God was working. God was working
mightily. And it's a wonderful account
to realize how powerful was the work of the Holy Spirit. But
it is no less wonderful and no less powerful today when that
same blessed Holy Spirit works in the hearts of His people. And what a wonderful favour for
us today, if we have the wonderful evidence that that has occurred
in our hearts, so that we rejoice today to know that these things
were true, and that we know they were true because of the blessed
effect that the Gospel has had in our hearts. It's produced
that change. It's produced that new life. It's produced that position where
as we once were dead, but now are spiritually alive. And it is the power of God. Well, how true then? And he said,
the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. It'll be a situation which will
bring and should bring eternal blessings and great joy in our
hearts if we have the evidence that Almighty God has looked
upon us, has come to us as he came to all those people on that
day of Pentecost. Yes it was a wonderful occasion
and they had been affected because when they heard this they were
pricked in their hearts. It was the work of the Spirit
that touched their hearts. How good it is if you and I in
our lives can look back to a time when we were pricked in our hearts,
when the Holy Spirit The work of the Holy Spirit had an effect
upon us. And there was that pricking of
our conscience as to whether we were right with God, whether
we were wrong with God. It's a wonderful blessing then
to be able to trace out that in our lives. And it's not only
a wonderful blessing, which it is, it is something essential. If you and I are to go to heaven,
It is essential that we have the evidence that God has done
that for us which we could not do for ourselves. Cause indeed to praise and to
bless God because of that which has occurred, which had occurred
when these people were affected by it. And of course they cried
out, men and brethren, what shall we do? When the Holy Spirit works
in our hearts, when we are pricked in our hearts, in our conscience,
we suddenly realise what we are before a holy God. And what are
we? We're lost. We're ruined because
of our sin. What are we to do? What are we
to do as the people said here, what shall we do? It's not something
which has just occurred to these people on the day of Pentecost. It really is the true testimony
of every true believer. We come to that situation where
we come and say, what shall we do? Well, Peter gave the right
answer. And remember here, the hearts
of the people had been touched. They weren't cold. They weren't
unresponsive. The Holy Spirit had touched them. And therefore, now the apostle
was able to speak to them in this way and he did and he said
repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost. Well it was a wonderful occasion
and it is a wonderful occasion in our lives when this occurs
to us. And we are then blessed with
this spirit of repentance. Every born-again child of God,
moved by the Spirit of God, repents of their sins. Yes, it is a most
essential truth that every true believer repents. And my friends,
if you have never repented, if you've never been truly sorry
for your sins, then there's just no evidence that you possess
the life of God in your soul. And my friends, tremble before
God. Desire earnestly that the Lord
will bring into your hearts the evidence of your great need of
a Saviour. so that you come and cry out,
what shall we do? Now the apostle, we're told,
he continued and he said, for the promise is unto you and to
your children and to all that are far off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. We see here a very clear evidence
of the sovereign grace of God. It doesn't come to everybody, but it does come to those whom
the Lord our God shall call. The call of God. Oh, do we know
it? Have we heard it? His call to
our souls. God calls individually, personally,
between our soul and God, do we have reason this morning to
bless God for it, to praise God for it, wonderful as it is? And he goes on and says, and
with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, save
yourselves from this untoward generation. The apostle here
was speaking to those who, until this occasion, were spiritually
dead. They were following their own
course. They were satisfied with their own life. They were satisfied
with their pharisaical profession. They were satisfied with a religion
of works. Satisfied to be found just keeping
the law of God as they thought they could. Of course they couldn't,
they failed, but they thought they were, and that's what they
were relying upon, their own works, their own religion, and
that's where they were. But then you see, here was this
gracious and glorious testimony of the Apostle, as he said, and
save yourselves from this untoward generation. The generation generally
were walking in their own way, They had not believed the truth
of the gospel. They had not believed the Lord
Jesus Christ had come into this world with the sole purpose of
redeeming his people, his church, of dying on the cross in their
place, bearing the punishment instead. Now then, what occurred? And it's well worth hearing what
occurred. then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. What a mercy if you and I have
gladly received God's word. Why would we have gladly received
it? Because we would have had the
evidence that God has called us. Sovereignly, gloriously,
graciously, he's called us. And therefore, to believe this
wonderful favour, then they that gladly received his word were
baptised. And the same day they were added
unto them about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers. We see the wonderful pattern
here occurring. when that which was done for
these people, which was impossible for them, but God had done it,
he called them by his grace, and therefore they continued
steadfastly, steadfastly in the truth of God. It was now their
life. That's a good testimony of the
reality of our religion, to know that we continue. We don't drop
it off. We don't sue ourselves as to
when we want to pick up religion. We don't just pick it up on a
Sunday when we come to chapel. It's with us, steadfastly, continued
steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine. Of course, it's a doctrine
that the Apostles proclaimed about the Lord Jesus Christ and
fellowship. That's union with the Church
of God, one with another, and with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
something that the people of God desire to do, desire to have. Fellowship, one with another.
I don't want to just come to chapel and then leave and go
home and carry on with our little lives. No, there's a concern
for fellowship, fellowship with the saints and with the household
of God. is strengthening to our souls,
is that which brings honour and glory to God. This wonderful
blessing of fellowship and in breaking of bread, signifying
that which the Lord introduced in that Passover night in the
upper room when he instituted the Lord's Supper, in the breaking
of bread. What a blessed ordinance it is
to come together to break the bread and to accept the wonderful
favour of God toward our souls and to acknowledge it in our
own hearts. And then he also says, and in
prayers. Well, prayer, of course, is that
which emanates them. When God calls us, prayer becomes
a reality. Prayer is a blessing, not something
which we just cast aside and just mumble a few words, a few
phrases, which we're familiar with. But it emanates from our
very heart. Now, these things are that which
are impossible for us to produce ourselves. And they are utterly
impossible very simply because spiritually we have no ability. We are spiritually dead. Spiritually
we have no desire for these things. But when the Holy Spirit comes
and touches our heart, enables us to look to Him, enables us
to do His bidding, to do His will, then it is that we do pray. We pray earnestly that He will
hear and answer our prayers. Of things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. And of course the Apostle has
spoken about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And what a clear
position that was. No one could raise a dead body,
only the Saviour, only God could raise from the dead. The Lord
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and the Apostle Paul,
when he spoke before King Agrippa in the 26th chapter of the Acts
of the Apostles, and in the 8th verse we read, he's speaking
before Agrippa and the council, and he says, why should it be
thought, a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the
dead? I thought with myself that I
ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And so he did. But God had mercy
upon him. And God called him, didn't he,
on that Damascus road. No doubt about that, was there?
And there's no doubt about it in God's people's lives. It may
not be, it probably won't be like the Apostle Paul's conversion,
but it will be the effect, perhaps like Lydia, whose heart the Lord
opened to receive the things of God. Those things which before
we rejected, we thought nothing of, we had no desire for them. But when the Holy Spirit calls,
there is that wonderful and glorious change. And we have the evidence
therefore of that resurrection power in our spiritual lives
which caused us to come from that naturally dead position
to be spiritually alive and to be born again of the Spirit of
God. So many times in the Word of
God it is very clearly set before us the need for this spiritual
life. It is the evidence that we are
one of God's children. If we possess no spiritual life,
and that means between our soul and God, that means communion
with God. That doesn't mean just reading
things and coming to a theoretical conclusion. It means really receiving
them and really desiring to worship God and really desiring to have
union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle
Paul, he outlines it very clearly, really, when he wrote to the
Philippians, and I'm sure you're familiar with these great truths,
which I do so often refer to, when he wrote to them, and he
spoke about the truth of these things. And he said, what things
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. He viewed Christ,
indeed, as the one thing needful. He realised how important it
was to personally know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Personally know and to have fellowship
with him. And he comes down to this line
and he says, that I may know him. That's what Paul wanted
to know. Now, he did know the Saviour,
obviously. He knew Jesus from that time
on the Damascus road when the Lord had appeared to him. And
he cried out, what wilt thou have me to do? Submission to
the Lord Jesus Christ. What wilt thou have me to do? And so he comes down and he speaks
these words that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
so the resurrection power in bringing him into spiritual life,
have that maintained within him, and the fellowship of his sufferings
be made conformable unto his death. I suppose we might think
that's a strange desire, it's a strange thing, you know, unless
we born of the Spirit, we shall think it's rather a strange thing,
fellowship with his sufferings. And some people of course conclude
in their minds this means to be a very painful existence,
a very painful time, as we read in this 10th verse, fellowship
with his sufferings. But you see it doesn't necessarily
mean physical sufferings. It may mean in our mind. because of the difficulties we
find, the things which obstruct us, the things which concern
us, and to realise that the Saviour understands us, because he's
passed this way. So the Lord was tempted in all
points, like us, we are yet without sin. Now, when we realise the
Saviour passed this way, What would it be? It would be fellowship
with his sufferings. And it would be encouraging to
us. And it's an evidence that we
are amongst those who are born again of the Spirit of God, those
things which God has done for us, which we could not do. The
things which are impossible with men are possible with God. So what a wonderful truth it
is. that you and I can rest in God's
promises and rest in the fact that this Jesus does hear our
cries. Well, not only, of course, can
we bless God for these spiritual things in this life, we can also
bless him for those things which will come. And the Apostle tells
us in his same Third chapter, he comes down to the, well, let's
read the 20th verse first. He says, for our conversation
is in heaven. For whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that would be a wonderful
testimony if we have heavenly conversation, one with another,
and the Lord Jesus Christ. For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says this, who shall change
our vile body. We couldn't do that. Who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even
to subdue all things unto himself." Now, the Apostle refers to ourselves
as our vile body. And naturally speaking, we wouldn't
like to confess that. But when the Holy Spirit comes
into our life, into our very souls, and shows us what we are
in the sight of God, It makes us tremble. It makes us perhaps
cry out. Can ever God dwell here? Because
we realise we do have a vile body, full of sin. Well, the word here is encouraging. Because the Saviour shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious
body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue
all things unto himself." What a blessing when the Holy Spirit
subdues evil things within us. His grace shines forth, and we
have that desire that evil things will be subdued. You and I can't
subdue them ourselves, but the Holy Spirit does, and the Holy
Spirit can. and what a mercy it is to realise
that as we understand that we do have a sinful body, a vile
body which walks contrary to the way of God and yet you see
the Lord comes and grants us this blessed fashioning he works
in our lives he works in our soul fashioned like unto his
glorious body yes It is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is a growth
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. The more we see of our sinfulness,
the more precious and glorious will be the Saviour. Because
we realise, here we have one who has done such great things
to save our soul, even me. come down personally and we'll
praise God and bless God for all that he has done. And the
Apostle tells us, therefore my brethren dearly beloved and long
for my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord. Yes, not to be found wavering,
not to be found going in the way of the world, but to be found
rejoicing in that work which God has done in our very souls. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. What a great truth it is and
how wonderful it is to know that the Lord has done this for us.
You know the prophet Jeremiah also spoke of these things in
his prophecy and in the 32nd chapter we read of this wonderful
truth. And in the 17th verse we're told,
he says, O Lord God, behold thou hast made the heaven and the
earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there
is nothing too hard for thee. He goes on, thou showest loving
kindness unto thousands, and recompensest iniquity of the
fathers unto the bosom of their children after them the great
the mighty God the Lord of hosts is his name Jeremiah had right
views did he not of the greatness of almighty God and what a good
thing it is when you and I have similar views he goes on he really
repeats what he said in the 27th verse he says then came the word
of the Lord unto Jeremiah saying behold I am the Lord The God
of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me? Nothing is too
hard for Almighty God. And we know, of course, in the
history of Israel, there were many occasions in a natural way
when victory was gained, when the odds against them seemed
impossible. There was no way that they could
win the battle. God appeared for them. And we're
thankful, therefore, that we have such evidences of that in
the Word of God. There's many in David's day,
especially when he gained wonderful victories. And also in the kings
of Judah, had many battles to fight. And the Lord appeared
for them on many occasions when it seemed impossible. Well, let
us be thankful today that we have the same God. who worked
in those days for Israel of old and he works today in the lives
of his people in a spiritual sense and also in our natural
lives there may be those mountains before us I know not what mountains
there might be in your life there might be things which might seem
impossible that they can ever be removed the way ahead seems
just so difficult So many things against you. Well, they are impossible as
you look at them, but they're not impossible with God. God
can remove them. God can move mountains. God has
done great things. He's taken away those who perhaps
have risen up against you. They can be taken away. They
can be removed. The Lord does it. Those things
which you couldn't do, the Lord can do. You read in the Bible,
there was that occasion when the enemy, they were fighting
a battle, and then word came to them that somebody was attacking
them back in their hometown. So they packed up and they went
back. God worked. God can turn people
away. God can turn people around. God
can bring things into their lives which they never expected, but
God works things out for the good of His people so that we
can rejoice in Him, realising that He has done it. You won't
be able to pat yourself on the back and say, well it was my
skill. No, we come down realising that
we have nothing. We have no ability. And then
it is that God arises. And then it is that God works. And God does great and glorious
things. What a mercy then today that
we have such a God to be mindful of. right back into the beginning
of the prophecies with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ and
how it came to pass. In the beginning of this Gospel
of Luke in the first chapter and in the 37th verse when the
angel Gabriel appeared To to her and The we're told in the
37th verse for with God Nothing shall be impossible You see Mary
had been told that she would Conceive in the womb and bring
forth a son which I call his name Jesus Well, nothing like
this had ever occurred before How was this? going to appear
now. Well, says the angel, the Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall
overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth,
she hath also conceived the Son in her old age, and this is the
sixth month with her which was called barren. For with God nothing
shall be impossible. That's a very good illustration,
isn't it, of the greatness of God. And we're thankful that
we do have accounts like that in the Word of God, which are
so encouraging for us. You go back in the Old Testament
to Abraham. In Abraham's day, there was Abraham,
an old man, there was his wife Sarah, an old lady, Naturally
speaking, impossible for her to have a child. And yet, you
see, it was. She came, she had a child. And
the question was put to Abraham, is anything too hard for the
Lord? Let us be encouraged today that
nothing is too hard for the Lord. In our little lives, nothing
is too hard because The things which are impossible with men
are possible with God. So if you have something before
you, and you can't see how ever it's going to work out, it seems
to be no possibility, well, have faith in God. You see, God can do that for
you, which you thought impossible, because with God all things are
possible. What a mercy it is then, that
God encourages us with such examples in the Word of God. In this very same chapter, we
come down to the end, there's the account of Bartimaeus. Not actually mentioned as Bartimaeus,
but we know it was Bartimaeus. He was a man who was blind, and
he was told that Jesus Nazareth passeth by." He heard the multitude.
And what did he do? He cried out. He cried out in
very wonderful words really, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy upon me. Well, physically of course he
was not the son of David. But he was, because he'd been
prophesied. And here was a man, a blind man,
given this wonderful faith to come and to cry out. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy upon me. He couldn't give himself
sight, but this glorious Saviour could. And he had therefore confidence
in him. Of course he wasn't encouraged,
he was rebuked. The people told him to stop,
hold your peace. Did he stop? They cried so much
the more. Thou son of David, have mercy
upon me. Did Jesus hear? Of course he
heard. Does he hear our prayers? Of
course he hears. Jesus stood and commanded him
to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he
asked him, saying, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
And he said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, receive thy sight. Thy faith has saved thee. And
immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying
God. And all the people, when they
saw it, gave praise unto God. When God brings about the things
which are impossible for us, the result must be and will be
praise to God. Because of what he's done, because
of how he's appeared, because of his great love toward us,
his wonderful grace and mercy, they're all joined together.
They were throughout the Word of God and they are still today.
And so as we may face difficulties, and perhaps wonder where we stand
in our spiritual life, to come committing our way unto the God,
praying he would do great things for us, praying he would look
upon us and reveal to us his grace and his mercy and his wonderful
love, and to then be able to testify, yes, for me, God has
done that which seemed impossible, he's done that which was possible
with him. Amen.