Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to John 14 and verse 18. The 14th chapter of the Gospel
according to John. And verse 18, I will not leave
you comfortless, I will come to you. And it is specifically
the last part of this verse, this promise, I will come to
you. Our Lord is preparing his disciples
for the time when he is to be taken from them and crucified
and slain. He's also preparing for that
time that he shall appear for them after he's risen from the
dead giving that promise that he will come and visit them. But he goes even further than
that because the latter part of the chapter is dealing with
the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, which was to come
after his ascension into heaven on the day of Pentecost. And
that, of course, applies then to the whole of the Gospel day. This is not just a word that
is confined to those disciples that knew and loved the Lord
while on earth, but to those also that are to know and love
Him right through to the end of the world. You might say with
the disciples here, why they were going to be troubled, why
they were going to need comfort, or the whole world, as it were,
was going to change. The one that they believed was
to redeem Israel was to be crucified and slain. Those things that
were going to happen, we can see why they needed that comfort. But if we think of this also
in a gospel way, why does any soul need comfort? If we think
of the account of Joseph and his brethren, when his brethren
needed comfort was when they were convinced of their sin.
When they realised and knew by how Joseph was dealing with them,
They were made to think back, made to remember what Joseph,
their brother, had said, and the anguish of his soul. And
it was when they were convinced of their sin, that's when they
needed comfort. Not only first when Joseph revealed
himself to them, to speak comfortably to them, but when Jacob died
as well, they needed a fresh visit of comfort and fresh help
then. And really right through the
lives of the people of God, from the first drawings of the Spirit,
from the first conviction being brought under the law, being
brought as guilty sinners, we need that comfort of the gospel. The law convicts of sin. The
law by the law is the knowledge of sin. And that is what God
uses as a schoolmaster unto Christ. But Christ is the balm, the oil
and the wine of the Gospel. It is the good news of salvation
for sinners. And it is important for us to
remember that. For every soul that is convicted
and troubled and tried over their sin, this is the message of the
Gospel In our text, I will not leave you comfortless, I will
come to you. Our Lord also says that no man
can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him, and I
will raise him up at the last day. There is a meeting together
because it is God that draws his people, God that brings them
into concern and conviction and need, And it is God that brings
them to then seek to use the means of grace to call upon His
name and to seek to keep His commandments. We read in verse
21, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, it is that
loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father,
and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. The Lord doesn't bless because
of our works or because of our obedience, but all that feel
their conviction and sin will seek to walk in the Lord's ways.
They will seek his word and seek to keep his commandments. But
they will know, they will feel in their own souls that they
cannot keep the law of God. And the more that they try and
the more that they feel what sinners they are, it makes way
then for The gospel makes way for the Lord to come and meet
with them and visit them. And this is the word that is
especially upon my spirit for a soul that is under conviction
of sin and burden and seeking the Lord. And you might think,
however, can I find him? However, can I be blessed? But
to know this, the Lord knows every sigh and every burden,
and He knows what your soul is going through, and we have His
promise. He won't leave you comfortless. He will come to you, not in that
physical way like our Lord did on earth when He rose from the
dead, but especially as set before us here with the Holy Spirit,
He will come and visit the soul and there will be very distinct
blessings that follow the visits of the Lord in that way through
His Word and through the preaching of the Gospel. Our Lord, of course,
was to go to Calvary and do that, which without that done, without
His sufferings, death, and shedding of blood, there can be no comfort
given. But what the Lord was to do was
to take away the wrath of God, endure the wrath of God, pay
the debt for His people, work a righteousness to give to them,
and make it possible that He can comfort His people, because
that which the law had against them is taken away and nailed
to His cross. And the Lord has dealt with that.
And then he comes to his people and gives them that blessing
and comfort. So I want to look this evening,
firstly, the words, I will come to you, the great feature of
Christ's resurrection appearances. In each case, it was the Lord
coming to his people. And then secondly, I will come
to you as a gospel promise. And then thirdly, I will come
to you as visits known by their effect, and perhaps to speak
a little as I have felt it myself in that way. But firstly, this word, I will
come to you, especially seeing as the great feature of the resurrection
appearances of our Lord. Never was it that the Lord said
that you will come to me on these occasions. Each time that he
came was a sovereign time. He instigated it. Sometimes, yes, he appointed
them a mountain, a meeting place, but each time he sovereignly
came to them. We think of the first appearance
that he appeared to Mary Magdalene as she was at the tomb. You may read it in John 20 and
from verse 11. We read, but Mary stood without
at the sepulcher weeping, And as she wept, she stooped down
and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Jesus had lain. They say unto her, Woman, why
weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him. When she had thus said, she turned
herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary, She
turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say,
Master, the Lord came to her. He revealed himself to her. And how many poor sinners who
have been like Mary, distressed and weeping and sorrowful, those
who have known the Lord, and yet the Lord has withdrawn himself
from them and They cannot find him, they're like Job, oh that
I knew where I might find him. Weeping, weeping at the grave,
coming to where Mary last saw the Lord, where his body was
laid, expecting to find him there dead, but the Lord appears to
her not dead, but alive and living, and he addresses her by name. I know something of what a blessed
thing it is for such a change as that. Mary, from sorrow to
joy, from gladness, from seeing the Lord not there, thinking
He is taken away, and suddenly He is there, and there He is
speaking to her. And this, our text, realises
that I will come to you and he has come to her. Then we have on the Emmaus Road,
at the end of the Gospel according to Luke, and we have the two
walking there, sorrowful, going to Emmaus. And the Lord himself,
he draws near And he walks with them, reading Luke 24 verse 15. Came to pass that while they
communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. And for a while, they did not
know who it was. Their eyes were holden, and the
things that, the conversation that they had, they didn't recognize
him. But that as He drew from them
their causes of sorrow, as He drew from them those things that
were troubling them, then He gently reproved them, beginning
there right through the Scriptures, making known to them all the
things concerning Himself. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things to enter into His glory, beginning at Moses and
all the prophets, expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself." Now what a picture we have in a similar
way where a soul might come in to hear the Word of God preached
and they hear a sermon that traces the Lord in all his sufferings
through the Old Testament. Maybe like the eunuch again,
God sent Philip to him In a sense, our Lord came to him through
the word and through the ministry, sending the minister, sending
the word and bringing him to read the very portion where Christ
was being revealed to him. And so then, as their heart burned
within them, at last the Lord clearly showed who he was and
revealed himself to them. Our text, I will come to you,
he did to them, didn't he? These are patterns. We can't
say, well, the Lord has shown us these things, but then he's
going to tell us this only applies to those of the disciples. We
can draw no parallel, no other teaching from this. The Lord
will not visit his people. Yes, he will visit his people.
And his visits are real and they are blessed and they bring blessed
effects. And it is the Lord that is coming
and instigating it in the upper room. Later on in Luke 24, we
have, As they thus spake, making known what was done in the way,
Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, saith unto them, Peace
be unto you. At first they were terrified
and affrighted, but when he'd assured that it was truly him,
Then we read that their disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Again, a sovereign appearance. The doors even shut, didn't stop
the Lord from coming and meeting with them. We think on the edge
of the lake, Tiberias Lake of Galilee in John 21, We read,
after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples
at the Sea of Tiberias. And, of course, this was a time
that there was a miracle of the fishers, the great raft of fishers. They said, we have toiled all
night and caught nothing. Cast the net on the right side
of the ship and you shall find. And they discerned from that
miracle and what had been done that it was the Lord. Again,
they hadn't recognised the Lord by sight, but by what He did. And the miracle He performed,
they did recognise who it was. The Lord didn't need the fish.
He'd already provided for them and bid them to come and dine.
And later on, the Lord gave Peter the commission, feed my sheep
and feed my lambs. But the important thing is, There
is a significance in it being the Lord appearing to his people,
not to all people, not like before he's crucified, the crowds followed
him and there were those that came to see him, to seek him. When he had risen from the dead,
he is instigating, he is coming and visiting his people and blessing
them and above all, he is comforting them. So I will come to you, the great
feature of Christ's resurrection appearances. But then I want to look at it
as a gospel promise. I will come to you. Our Lord uses means to bring
a people to desire the Lord, to long for Him, to ask for Him,
to have a need of Him, and He uses the means that He Himself
was ordained as the preaching of the Gospel to reveal Himself
to His people. And we spoke before about the
Lord drawing, the need of the Lord drawing a people, and then
the Lord coming to them. One example of this is the case
of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a chief amongst
the publicans One that was well known for working for the Romans
and extorting much more than what the Romans wanted from his
own people, betraying his own people. Known as a notorious
sinner. One that was very rich because
of those things that he was doing so deceitfully and wrongly. And yet we read that Jesus, as
he entered, passed through Jericho, this man, Zacchaeus, he sought
to see Jesus who he was. He'd obviously heard of him. And you know, there'd be very
few that had not heard of Jesus today. His name's taken in vain. By the world, you would never
use the name of Mohammed in vain, but the name of Jesus is taken
in vain. But people hear of him, they
know of him, And here is Zacchaeus. He had
heard of him, and he wants to see him. And so he hears of his
going. Zacchaeus is a short man, lower
stature. And so he seeks to see him, who
he is, climbing up into a sycamore tree. It's interesting. In the
Lambethurst graveyard, the pastor, the pastor the longest time here,
46 years, Jesse Tandy, His grave, in that grave is a very, very
large sycamore tree, right in front, a foot or so away from
the headstone. And it was such a tree that Zacchaeus
climbed up to see the Lord. Now he was making, as it were,
use of means because he was sure so that he could see the Lord.
It is really an example of one using means, using the Word of
God, using the preaching, trying to see the Lord, coming to the
Lord. But the amazing thing was that
our Lord, when He comes where He was, He calls to Him, He stops,
and He looks up to Him, He says, make haste, Come down, for today
I must abide at thy house. May have been curiosity that
brought him, but we find it was the drawing of the Lord. The
Lord knows how to draw and how to bring a people to him. And it is a work of irresistible
grace. It is God's work to Bring a sinner
unto Christ, the Father's work. None can come unto me except
the Father which sent me draw him, and I will raise him up
at the last day. But if you were to ask Zacchaeus
before our Lord met him and came to him, are you being drawn by
the Father? Are you being drawn by resistible
grace? He wouldn't have been able to
give an answer. He'd probably say, what are you
talking about? And we must not think, well,
we want to know that we are being drawn before we seek, before
we ask, before we read. We're not to inquire on that.
If we have a need, if we know our sin, then we are to seek
the Lord where He may be found. And we know where he may be found,
in the Word of God, in the sanctuary, through the preaching of the
Word. But the Lord is not confined to the time we gather for worship,
or family worship, or private worship. The time and manner
and how could be like with the eunuch in the middle of the desert,
or like One visit I had in the car, driving on Hawker's Common,
and in prayer as I was driving, and the Lord dropped in and blessed
his word to me. Very sweet, very sacred time
it was to my soul. But in an unlikely situation,
you might think, but it was through the word of God that was brought
to me. and with that power, sweet savour
of Christ. And so the Gospel promise, where
we have one that is seeking, seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him in your times of trouble, in times
of need, the Lord will. Where he is asked of, where there
are people, that looking for him, seeking for him, we have
this promise that I will come to you. We think of in Luke 15,
we have the parable of the prodigal son. And the prodigal son, he
came to himself when he was in want, when there's a famine in
the land, he thought of his father's house, He said, I'll return to
my father, I say I'm not worthy to be called thy son, make me
as one of thy hired servants. And he starts to go. But he did
not go all the way, did not need to go all the way. We read that
while he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and ran
to him. And again, this truth, I will
come to you. And what an encouragement that
is. We don't think, well, we have
to go all the way. We have to find the Lord. The
disciples in the beginning of this chapter, they said, we know
not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? But
where the Lord draws and where that sinner begins to seek and
begins to turn and begins to repent, we have this beautiful
promise, I will come to you. I will meet you. What about a people that are
blind? In the Gospel according to John,
in chapter 9, we read of the man that was born blind. He was
blind all the years of his childhood, all the years of his youth, and
then he came to be of age. And then it was evident why. he was born blind. When our Lord saw him, and those
round about said, Who did sin, this man or his parents, that
he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath
this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should
be manifest in him. A condition that he had from
birth, reserved to a time that the works of God were going to
be shown in him. No, really, every sinner, every
sinner that is blind by nature, blind to the things of God, far
off from God, everyone is really reserved in this same way that
the works of God should be manifest in him. Every one that is called,
this people have I formed for myself, They shall show forth
my praise. How do they do that? Because
the works of God are manifest in them. That is how they show
forth God's praise. Not by their own works, not by
their own deeds. When Barnabas went to Antioch
and he saw those that believed, he saw the grace of God and was
glad. What did he see? He saw those
turning away from idols to God. He saw those seeking the Lord
and walking in his ways in obedience to the gospel, looking for the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord came to this
man that was born blind. He opened his eyes. Then later on, of course, the
Lord had conveyed himself away. He didn't know who it was that
had opened his eyes. And the Jews, they questioned
and questioned this man. And this man, he says, one thing
I know, but as I was blind, now I see. And those Jews, they said, they
are this man's disciple. We are Moses' disciple. And here
is this man that knows enough. He knows one thing the Lord has
done for him. and he sticks to that. But he
doesn't know who the Lord is. He needs another visit from the
Lord. Now when the Lord first begins
with His people, they need another visit until they are brought
to assurance and comfort and joy. The Lord heard that they'd
cast this man out, In verse 35 of chapter 9, Jesus heard that
they had cast him out, and when he had found him, he said unto
him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said,
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe,
and he worshipped him. That dear man that had been born
blind, he didn't go around about the city trying to find Jesus. The Lord came to him and revealed
himself to him and showed him to him. A people whose eyes are
open, who know their state, they know their condition, know the
Lord has begun with them, but they lead the Lord to appear
to them again, to teach them again, to show them again. Wasn't that what John Baptist
needed in that dark prison? Hearing the works of the Lord,
sending his disciples to the Lord. Thou either should come
or look we for another, go and show John again. The Lord was
to be shown to John through the works, through what he'd done.
He was to make it very clear, though John couldn't see him
with his eyes, that this was the Lord, this was Him. A beautiful gospel promise that
the Lord will come and will visit his people. But how is this then, and how
is it known, when the Lord says, I will come to you? I want to
look at this in the third place, that visits known by their effect. You know, we do not know the
Lord by pictures, and by a visual way. We read Samuel, how the
Lord met with him, spoke his name, saw no visual appearance,
but the Lord speaking to them. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. And then we read that the Lord
appeared again to Samuel by the word of the Lord. It is through the Word of God
the Lord reveals himself to his people and also dwells in them. In my Word abide in you. It is the Spirit that takes the
things of Jesus, reveals them unto us. Let the Word of God
dwell in you richly. And it is that word that is the
living word, the living and true God. We do not worship an idol,
we worship the God of heaven and earth, who have said, Lo,
I am with you all way, even unto the end of the world, and given
this promise that I will come to you. And the whole verse of
our text, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.
gives us a very clear teaching of the effect of the Lord's visit,
or one of the effects, the main effect, is to comfort the people
of God. We have in Isaiah, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. And that is the work of the gospel. It's not a great rod, it's not
the law, it's the remedy, it's the balm, it's a finished work.
It's what God has done and what God will do for his people. That is the great difference
with that. You know, if we said, well, there's
a wonderful surgeon, a wonderful physician to be able to help
your case, but you have got to come to him, well, of course,
the days used to be that you used to get your local doctor
to come out to your house. If you weren't well enough to
go out, he'd come to you. But nowadays, that's almost unheard
of. But if one really is sick, they
need someone to come to them, not them to go to the helper. A full help is when that help
comes to that person. I want to then think of the Lord's
coming and the visits, the effect. We mentioned the case of Zacchaeus. And you might say, what was the
effect with him? Well, one effect was that he
received the Lord joyfully. He didn't say, well, I had no
plans for you to come to my house. I've got nothing ready. He received
him joyfully. And also, when he was accused
of those round about that he was a sinner, and he was, he
then, a rich man that had obviously got his riches by deceit, he
says he's going to give the half of his goods to the poor. And
if he has defrauded any, he is going to restore it fourfold. What a difference in that man.
What an effect. Repentance, a change, a loosening
of his affections from riches unto Christ. And we think when
the Lord blessed those on the day of Pentecost, the effect
there was to loosen their hold. of their lands, of their wealth,
and they sought that greater treasure in the Lord. Wherever the Lord visits, wherever
he shows himself to his people, he loosens from this world, he
brings repentance, there will be an effect, it doesn't leave
that person just where they were. And so it was with Zacchaeus,
and so it will be in each visit. And so, thinking of the word
of our text, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come
to you. And the margin says, or orphans,
and really the visits of the Lord, the Spirit beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. Perhaps a little
summary, we might say, of what the Gospel is, is in our text. A comfortless people, a troubled
people because of sin, the Lord comes and visits them and gives
them comfort. And for one to be shown through
the Word, through the preaching of the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ
lifted up Above the earth, he says, if I be lifted up above
the earth, will draw all men unto me. And to see that debt
paid, to see the wrath of God extinguished in our Lord, to
see what he has done and he has accomplished, that brings comfort
to the people of God. I will not leave you comfortless,
I will come to you. a real, if you're one here, you're
troubled, do I know the Lord's visits? Do I know His blessing? Was it truly the Lord that visited
my soul then? Did you know that comfort in
your soul, that which healed the festering wounds of sin,
that which calmed the troubled conscience, that which brought
a peace to the soul, that which took away the troubles of the
soul, the troubles of your heart. Let not your heart be troubled,
ye believe in God, believe also in me. And you can think about
this the other way. What good will the gospel be? What good will a promise like
this be to one that is not needing comfort, has no trouble, no trouble
with sin, no trouble in their soul. You are not walking like
in Hebrews 11, there are strangers and pilgrims in the earth and
they're confessing that that is the case. There is a preparation for the
gospel. There's a preparation for comfort. And maybe those, and some of
you tonight, are in that preparation, in that sorrow. You now therefore
have sorrow. But I see you again, your heart
shall rejoice. When did the Lord see his people
for the first time? For some, Lord's dear people,
he has seen them, they've been blessed the first time. But others,
the Lord has seen them in convicting, in bringing that work to be begun
in their souls. And where he has begun, then
he'll perfectly perform. And he will come to them with
a comforting word. We think of the disciples in
the upper room. What was what they felt? Then
were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Gladness and
joy when they saw the Lord. Not when they saw him crucified,
but when they saw him risen, when they saw the debt paid,
when they saw him come from prison. What a difference there was when
the disciples had seen the Lord taken away from them, ascending
into heaven, than when they saw him taken away and crucified. When he ascended into heaven,
they understood, they knew, where he was going, they knew what
was done. Not yet fully perfect until a
spirit was given, but they were in the temple with great joy. That was the effect that they
felt. Those two on the way to Emmaus,
what did they feel? As Christ was preached to them,
as they heard the word of God, what was happening with them?
They said, afterward did not our heart burn within us while
He taught with us by the way. Those are lovely times when you
sit under the sound of the Gospel, when you hear the Word preached
and your heart is responding, you're warm to this, you start
to feel softened under it, you're drawn to those truths that have
been brought forth, you're drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ, you
love those things that are set forth as the Lord has opened
up to you. Those are precious times when
that is felt, and I believe I know something of those times to really
enjoy, you might say, the preaching of the Word, the lifting up of
the Son of God. Another effect is when the Lord
softens our hearts. I've had those times that I've
gone in a very hard heart, and things have happened in my life,
and one after another, and each time I've got more and more angry
with the Lord, more and more hardened, and wondered where
the scene will end and what the Lord would do to change my heart
or to visit my soul, and because these things that were happening
and go wrong, you think, well, what must go wrong? And the thought
is that if my heart is to come down from its anger, its wrath,
its rebellion, then there must be some great thing done. But
each time I have proved this, and many times, the Lord has
dissolved and softened my heart with His goodness and with His
mercy. He has dropped in sometimes just
one word of scripture, and other times he's brought things to
remembrance, what he has done for me, and things that I thought
I'd completely forgotten, and I had forgotten, but he brought
it to remembrance, and with such a sweet savour, and the Holy
Spirit does this, he brings that to a soul, and the effect is
immediately that anger, that hardness all goes, and there's
a real softness. There have been times I've been
reading my Bible in the study, and as I've been reading, I've
just felt very gradually at first, just my heart begin to soften
and begin to draw towards that word. And as I've known it many
times before, when I just feel this start in that way, then
Often I cry to the Lord to come and to visit and to bless my
soul, and sometimes He has so come and so blessed my soul,
softened my heart, the tears have flowed with joy, with gladness,
and the difference. These are not times where the
surroundings are conducive to bring emotion or to work things
up of ourselves. The devil sometimes will say,
well, that's all it is. It's just emotion. And it is
sometimes those groups that may get young people together and
get the right atmosphere and the right music. And it is emotional
manipulation. The blessings of the Lord are
not like that. They don't come under those circumstances. often at unexpected times or
times that we may have gone many months where we've had our devotions,
read the Word of God, there's been nothing special, nothing
of help, we still remain in our still sad place, and then suddenly
the Lord comes and softens the heart and makes that Word very
precious and draws us to Himself. The hymn writer says, sweet the
moments rich in blessing which before the cross I spend. And they are, they are sweet
moments when we can see and get a little glimpse through the
word of our Lord in our place and suffering in our place. Another effect is love. When the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost. In 1 Corinthians,
we read of the great blessing of charity, that love that remains
in eternity. We have hope here, we have faith
here. But hope and faith, they're not
needed beyond the grave. But love is that which shall
remain. And that love is of God. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. We love him because he first
loved us. We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. That's a lovely
token to have and don't think that that just is It is always
a love to the brethren. You may say it is a sense of
always, but there are times when it is very intense, when it's
really, really felt, and we can have that for family members
as well, loved ones, husband, wife. We always love them, but
there are some times that it sweeps over us, and we feel that
real love to them. I always remember a time again,
very unexpectedly, after one of the prayer meetings at Clifton,
and driving home in the middle of the M1, and we had these meetings
with the other ministers of the Gospel Standard, and it suddenly
came over me. Oh, I do love the brethren. And
it softened my heart. I had all I could do to keep
the car and to keep driving on that motorway. And it just swept
over, such a love. And I didn't call it forth. It came forth so suddenly. And
I've never forgotten the occasion. And it's very sweet. And these
effects upon us, we don't remain stoic and unfeeling. The Word
speaks very clearly about having joy and peace in believing, and
having the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost,
and to have that sorrow turn to joy. These are things that
God does, and His visits bring about to the soul the burdens
that we have, those times that I have gone from day to day and
hour to hour with the burden of sin and indwelling sin and
the temptation to sin and the lust and desires and evil and
affections and worldliness and carnality and that constant going
on within of ungodliness. But one visit from the Lord and
that all goes, is taken away in an instant One word spoken,
one visit from the Lord. Beautiful time, I remember over
in Australia after three days of labouring under those thoughts
and burdens of sin, and then suddenly realising the Lord had
given me real peace. I can think of just walking down
the corridor of the house and realising, where is this? Or
my mind is clear, it's all gone. And I said, Lord, Lord, what
is this? Why is this all gone? And immediately
he dropped in the word, if the sun shall make you free, you
shall be free indeed. He gave me the blessing of the
freedom from that tormenting sin and evil within, and then
told me why. The sun had made me free. And the Lord can deliver in a
moment I think Bunyan, he portrays it in The Pilgrim's Progress,
where his pilgrim came up to the cross and the burden was
on his back, it had been on his back ever since he left the city
of destruction. But when he came up to the cross,
that burden, it fell off his back and into the grave. And it is in that way. It is
the Lord that takes the burden of sin from a sinner and shows
it laid upon his beloved son. And where that is so, that burden
is not felt by that sinner at that point, at that time. Yes,
there'll be returning. We feel our sin, we labour under
it day by day, but those are sweet times when we have a sense
and realise what the Lord has done in bearing our sin and taking
our burden. And that burden, when it is taken
off, it's such a difference, such a difference that is felt.
Another blessing, another effect, is assurance. I asked the Lord's dear servant
in New Zealand once, staying with him, what he thought concerning
assurance. turned to me and he said, assurance,
you've got assurance, don't look for it ten minutes later. And
what he meant was that though we don't one minute think we're
a child of God and another minute not, but those sweet blessings
of real assurance, they don't last long. But I believe I do
know those times, that I felt if the Lord had taken me at that
particular time, I would have gone straight to heaven. And
that's very sweet to feel. It hasn't, and it doesn't last
long. But when the Lord gives it, and
gives it as a blessing like that, you don't forget those times.
The hymn writer says, dream not of faith so clear as shuts all
doubtings out. But there are some times when
we have that faith given, it's so clear. And we believe, and
for those moments, for those times, there is no doubts. But for most of the part, for
the people of God, they do wrestle with doubts and fears. But as
the Lord comes and visits His people, then they have joy, then
they have gladness. And they're brought to this,
they know by experience what the Lord is to them. They know
that the happiness they have arises from His visits, and from
His blessing, and from His coming. Not just from reading the Word,
but from meeting the Lord in the Word, and the Lord meeting
them in the Word. And when we prove as well, we
cannot bring those blessings down, but we have a promise that
the Lord will come to us. This is a beautiful promise then.
May there be those of you here that plead it, that ask the Lord
to come to you and to bless you and to be expecting it and to
looking for the Lord to come. Be mindful of these effects that
are spoken of in the word of God as a true effect and true
witness. of the power of God and the Spirit
of God given. What a difference those disciples
were after the Spirit came. Before they were denying the
Lord, they were timid, they were frightened. Afterward, they're
bold, they're preaching, they're preaching clearly. They can see
the Lord, they can see the Word. They set Him forth, they are
not fearful of man. The love of God maketh not a
shame. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will tell what ye have done for my soul. And in
that, there'll be like those on the way to Emmaus, what was
done in the way, and how the Lord was made known unto them.
Now the Lord came to us, I will come to you, I will not leave
you comfortless. May you be helped to lay hold
upon this promise, Lord, visit and come to your souls here. Amen.