I give you all a warm welcome
to our worship here this evening. Let us ask the Lord's blessing
in prayer. Lord God of heaven and of earth,
we ask thy blessing upon our worship this evening. Lord, help
us to come apart from the world as it is, and that we might come
into thy presence and seek thy help, thy blessing, and to worship
thee in spirit and in truth. Lord, we ask this through our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. Hymn, 349. Tune, Rousseau 687. Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God, the prophet Ezekiel and chapter 34. We have one of our free Bibles,
that is page 804. Ezekiel chapter 34. And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God
unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that
do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks. He eat the fat, and he clothe
you with the wool. He kill them that are fed, but
he feed not the flock. The diseased have he not strengthened? Neither have he healed that which
was sick. Neither have he bound up that
which was broken. Neither have he brought again
that which was driven away. Neither have he sought that which
was lost. but with force and with cruelty
have he ruled them. and they were scattered because
there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts
of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all
the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea, my flock was
scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search
or seek after them. Therefore ye shepherds, hear
the word of the Lord. As I live, saith the Lord God,
surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat
to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd,
neither did my shepherds search for my flock. But the shepherds
fed themselves and fed not my flock. Therefore, O ye shepherds,
hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their
hand, then cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Neither
shall the shepherds feed themselves any more, for I will deliver
my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord God,
Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from
the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring
them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel
by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture,
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. And
there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall
they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock,
and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost,
then bring again that which was driven away, then will bind up
that which was broken, then will strengthen that which was sick,
but I will destroy the fat and the strong, I will feed them
with judgment. And as for you, O my flock, thus
saith the Lord God, behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between
the rams and the he-goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto
you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down
with your feet the residue of your pastures, and to have drunk
of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet.
And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with
your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your
feet. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God unto them, Behold I, even I will judge between the fat
cattle and between the lean cattle, because ye have thrust with side
and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns,
till ye have scattered them abroad. Therefore will I save my flock,
and they shall no more be a prey, And I will judge between cattle
and cattle, and I will set up one shepherd over them, and he
shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and
he shall be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, and my servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant
of peace, and will cause the evil beast to cease out of the
land and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in
the woods and I will make them and the places round about my
hill a blessing and I will cause the shower to come down in his
season there shall be showers of blessing and the tree of the
field shall yield her fruit and the earth shall yield her increase
And they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am
the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered
them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen. Neither shall
the beast of the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely
and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them
a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger
in the land, neither shall the shame of the heathen. that neither
bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know
that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, even
the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God. And ye my
flock, the flock of my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith
the Lord God. Lord, bless to us that reading
of his holy word and help us in prayer. Let us pray. O Thou most merciful and gracious
Lord God, we come to Thee through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. No Lord do grant us to be accepted
in Him, For we, Lord, are sinful, and vile, and unclean, and unfit
to come before thy presence on our own. But, Lord, we plead
thy precious blood, shed at Calvary, and we seek, Lord, that we might
have an interest in the intercession of our Lord. our great High Priest
above, he who is our advocate with thee, he who is appearing
in the presence of God for us. O Lord, we do thank thee for
such a provision for the Church of God. And we do see, Lord,
that we might know that there is a voice that speaks for us
in heaven's high court for good. We pray for this for us each
personally and as a church and people that we might know that
we do have one that whose prayers do avail and whose intercession
does gain the ear of Almighty God. Lord thou art able to do
far above all that we can ask or even think. And Lord, we come
before Thee, seeking Thy blessing upon us as a church and people,
a congregation, and that Thou has blessed our souls and bring
us nigh unto Thee. Grant us, Lord, to be delivered
from our own wicked hearts, from the world and the spirit of it,
and that Thou has set our affections on things above, not on things
on the earth. nor do we pray concerning the
people of Cranbrook this night, so many of the young, so many
going about, following the traditions of evil with the Halloween. We do seek, Lord, that those
turn their hearts unto Thee, and those that see the notices
on our houses We are Christians, we do not want to take part in
this, that it might be blessed to them, that it might prick
their conscience, make them think and turn them away from those
practices that are so contrary to thee. Deliver us from Satan
and all his devices and deliver us and our children and children's
children Lord, do remember the generation following, so many
of them have no idea of the things of God. O Lord, do remember us
and help us to be light and truth, to be salt in this world. Lord,
do grant that wisdom to know how to speak, what to speak,
and Lord, to be a true witness to the truth of God. O Lord,
let thy light shine. We do pray that thou would send
out a real spiritual revival in this land. Lord, we confess
our own personal many, many sins. We do pray for thy powerful work
within subduing our sins, delivering us from evil, granting us a spiritual
appetite, granting us a deliverance from besetting sins, from the
weights that hold us back, that drag us back, and cause that
we might run, with patience the race is set before us, looking
unto Jesus. Do bless those that we know that
are sick and unwell at this time. Be with those that have terminal
illnesses, and do lengthen their days, relieve them of their pains,
grant them, Lord, thy blessing, and, Lord, while life remains,
Lord, may thy sweet presence be with them and their loved
ones, and bless the means used to lengthen their days. O Lord, comfort those that are
in bereavement, do help them and be with them. Those that
are in hospital, those that are ill, do grant thy kind healing
hands, if it could please Thee. We thank Thee for many blessings
in this land, as a means of healing, of health and of strength, and
we thank Thee for them. We pray for those in authority
over us. Lord, a budget has been delivered. We seek wisdom for our government,
and we seek, Lord, that Thou wouldst keep them from implementing
laws that are contrary to Thine. that those give them wisdom to
know what laws to make for the good and benefit of our country. Oh Lord, be pleased to make us
to be citizens that are worthy of the name of Christians. and
to not bring a reproach upon thy name and thy cause, to grant
that the liberties and freedoms that we have might be continued,
especially in being able to worship and have thy word freely among
us. O Lord, we do seek to thank thee
for every blessing and every favour Thou art a good, a merciful,
a gracious God. And Lord, that to Thee we owe
our food, our raiment, every measure of health and strength.
Lord, we thank Thee for spiritual blessings, the blessings of the
house of God, an open Bible and the preached word. O Lord, do
send Thy reviving, strengthening hand unto the churches and visit
this church with those blessings. And Lord, do strengthen us and
may we see, as Barnabas did, the grace of God in the hearts
and in the lives of those round about us here. Do fill this house
of prayer with hungering, thirsting souls and may many come to the
light and come to love thy word here. We lay our petition for
thy day. We ask thy blessing to be upon
it. And O Lord, be with our dear
aged friends, those we hope to minister to in Pilgrim Home.
Do bless them, be with them, and do remember those in Bethesda. We thank thee for those homes. We pray thy blessing on the staff,
and do raise up suitable staff. to care for thy aged pilgrims. You'll be pleased to go before
and bless the work being done that swathes thee for the new
home accommodations. Lord, we commit that into thy
hand. We pray, Lord, for our churches
in this land. In America, in Canada, in America,
our dear friends in Holland, we pray, Lord, for the mission
fields, especially in Mombasa and in the savanna, or in Ghana. We do seek thy blessing on those
that labour in those areas and throughout this world. O do send
out thy light and thy truth, help us to be true missionaries
in our own town, amongst our own neighbours, and that thou
hast granted us to see fruit from our labours. Now, O Lord,
do forgive what we ask amiss, at every sin shine upon thy sacred
word grant us the aid of thy spirit lord this evening oh lord
we ask this thy blessing on those here and those who join with
us online and those who hear thy word afterwards we ask giving
thanks for our lord for calvary for thy precious blood for thyself
we ask for christ's sake Amen. Hymn, 76. Tune, Saxby 409. Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the portion that we read,
Ezekiel chapter 34, and reading for our text, verse 11. For thus saith the Lord God,
behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. Ezekiel 34 verse 11. A few things before we come to
some main points. Firstly, a reminder that this
is Ezekiel. He is speaking from Babylon. He's speaking to a people under
the chastening hand of God. that had been scattered, scattered
throughout the lands. And the reason why they'd been
scattered was because of their shepherds, those that had led
them into ways of wickedness and sin and brought the rod of
the Lord to be upon them. And so that is why in the first
part of this chapter, The Lord, through Ezekiel, is speaking
against those shepherds of Israel, those leaders of Israel, those
that just sought themselves and did not care. for the people
or do that which was good for them. And it is a most solemn
word to them. And we think of this as well
for gospel days, the most searching and solemn word for us as under
shepherds and in the ministry of the word, how vital it is
that we be found walking in the opposite way to those that were
these bad shepherds. In verse 4, we read, the diseased
have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was
sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither
have ye bought again that which was driven away, neither have
ye sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty
have ye ruled them. And The opposite should be the case. The shepherds should strengthen
the disease, should heal that which was sick, should bind up
that which is broken, and should bring again that which was driven
away. This is the gospel. The gospel work of a ministry
is to do that and to walk in that way. We read in Isaiah the
blessing on those servants that go out after the poor, their
heart goes after them, they do heal them, they do minister to
the sick of the flock. The word of the Lord through
the gospel is to bind up the brokenhearted, to heal them that
are afflicted by sin. But in spite of the actions of
the evil shepherds, We are assured here, and we know it in these
days as well, the Lord himself is the Good Shepherd, and the
Lord speaks a very parallel passage in John 10 of himself as the
Good Shepherd, and those shepherds that were chasing the flock away
or allowing the wolf to get in. and he says that those the sheep
were not theirs but he is the good shepherd and the sheep are
his. There is a very direct parallel
between this chapter, this illustration and our Lord's parable in John
10 of himself as the good shepherd. When he's speaking of sheep,
then we are very clearly told in the very last verse that this
is an illustration that the sheep are men. Verse 31, ye are my
flock, the flock of my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith
the Lord God. He's not speaking of literal
sheep, he's speaking of his people and speaking of them as sheep
and he. as the shepherd. Also in this
passage is very clearly pointing to gospel days. In verse 23,
that I will set up one shepherd over them and shall feed them
even my servant David, for David had been dead for many hundreds
of years. This is speaking of David's greatest
son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He shall feed them and
he shall be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God
and my servant David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken it. And then he speaks of the covenant
of peace that he'd make with them. And so we are very warranted
to to take this word, to take verse 11, and to apply it to
gospel days, apply it to our days. For thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek
them out. So I want to then look at this
word, viewing it as the Lord's word to us in these days of the
gospel. So I want to look firstly this
word, my sheep. Our text says, for thus saith
the Lord God, behold, even I will both search my sheep." God's
people, my sheep, our first point. Then secondly, the two things
God will do for his sheep, for his people. Our text speaks of
both. Search my sheep and seek them
out. He might think, and we're looking
at the original words, that it's almost a duplication, seeking,
seeking, or searching, searching. But we have this word both in
there. There's two different things,
and I want to consider that, look at that. And then lastly,
as seen in the lives of his sheep recorded in scripture, If this
is pointing to gospel days and pointing to what the Lord will
do, we would expect that he would have done it while he was upon
earth or begun to do it, and then it would be followed through
in the acts of the apostles in the early church that this is
being brought about, what the Lord will do. So with these three
points, let us begin firstly with my sheep, that which God
describes them as, not just sheep, but belonging unto him. And this is the point that he
makes in John 10, that the good shepherd, whose sheep they are,
and the whole key to his His care, His shepherding, and all
that He does for them is that they belong to Him. They are His. Very important to really realise
that. We would go right back to when
they first became His. And our Lord says that in John
10, thine they were and thou gavest them me. They were the
fathers. They were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. They have been loved with an
everlasting love. And therefore they will be in
loving kindness drawn unto the Lord in the day of grace. But
the first thing is they already are His. Our Lord Jesus was given
the name of Jesus, for He shall save sheep from their sins. No. For He shall save people from
their sins. For He shall save His people
from their sins. That is why He was given that
blessed name of Saviour. The Lord says, I lay down my
life for the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also must I bring. That is, not just the
Jews, but the Gentiles also. Not of the fold of the Jews,
but the Gentiles. He says to the Jews, the scribes,
the Pharisees, those that were tempting him, baiting him, ye
are not of my sheep, therefore ye hear not my word. The remark
of a sheep is to hear the word of the Lord. And that is what
our Lord says, my sheep, they know my voice and they follow
me and they are known of me and I am known of mine. It is a two
way thing. And that can be verified with
any shepherd that has sheep. He knows his sheep, and the sheep
know him. An experiment was made many years
ago when the shepherd was asked, would he really know if there
were other sheep introduced into his flock, and his flock was
of some 300, would he be able to identify those that were not
his own sheep? And he was, yes, he certainly
would. So they got four sheep and they
marked them where they couldn't be seen, the mark under the belly.
And they went and they mingled them with his flock. Then they
got him and told him to look through the flock and to search
out those that were not his sheep. And he faultlessly, he found
those four sheep that were not his and pulled them out. And
a shepherd does know his sheep, and the sheep, they know him,
and they know his voice, and follow him. So when the Lord
says, my sheep, they are known from eternity. They are chosen. They have a place in his heart. They have his love, his affections. And when it comes to what he
did upon earth, that which he did, he did for them. laying down his life for them. They were lost, they were ruined
in the fall. We had sinned the same as all
in Adam. As in Adam all die, so in Christ
all his people shall be made alive. Death passed upon all
men in that all have sinned. The Hemrider says he saw me lost
and ruined in the fall. and love me notwithstanding all. It is a provision in that covenant,
ordered in all things and sure, that the Lord would save his
people, he would pay their debt, he would redeem them, he would
set them free. And we see this very particular
redemption in the type of the children of Israel in Egypt. There they were in Egypt. They
were a distinct people, but they were mingled amongst the Egyptians. But when the Lord brought the
signs, the wonders, at first they all partook of the same
ones. Then he started to make a difference. And he did not visit upon his
people the same afflictions as he did upon the Egyptians. Then
at the very last, there was the blood that made the difference.
With the Passover lamb slain, the blood put upon the doorposts
and lintels and the people sheltering beneath that blood and beneath
God's promise, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And it was through that bloodshed
that they were separated, they were redeemed, they were brought
out to be as special people known to be of the Lord. Before that,
they were of the Lord. They were the seed of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. But until he brought them out,
they were not known. And as a people, that they are
brought out to be given his laws and his ways and his very clear
presence among them is a beautiful time of the Lord bringing his
people out from the world, separating them and it all stems from his
knowledge of them and the redemption that he has accomplished at Calvary. All salvation is instigated by
God. It is begun by the Lord. It is
the Lord that has devised it and it has a people at its centre
that he has chosen and loved. And so when we read this in our
text, My sheep, they are not his sheep because of what they
do or anything good in them. They are his sheep already. And again, you could take that
into the type of a shepherd with his sheep. If a shepherd has
sheep, he's either bought them at market or they've been born
into his flock. They haven't made themselves
his sheep, but he has bought them for himself. He owns them. And so the Lord owns his people. The particular nature of the
love of God towards his people is especially shown in his knowledge
of them. Those that would say that Christ
died for every man, woman and child, if only they will but
accept the redemption, takes away this precious truth of the
Lord having a people from eternity, having a sheep, having people
that he has loved with an everlasting love, and takes away the very
love that he had to them as he suffered in their place, bearing
their sins and endured the great pains of the cross in body and
also soul. And so maybe think of this word,
my sheep. And the mark that the Lord gives
of those sheep first becoming known is that their ear is opened
and they hear his voice and they follow him. That is the only
way that we are clearly to know whose we are and whom we serve. We are given a hearing ear and
we are given to be drawn after Him and to follow Him and to
obey Him. May this be a real prayer, that
we have true token, true evidence that we are the sheep of the
Lord, and we don't look for any other tokens than what the Lord
himself has given, especially in this type and in this illustration. The Lord says in John 17, I have
given them thy word, and the world hath hated them." Again,
it's the same message. The word of the Lord is given
to this people. They obey it, they hear it, they
follow it. It is their food, it is their
meat, it is their drink. This is what is given to them
by the Lord and through the shepherds, and this is the solemn thing,
with the shepherds that do not feed the flock. They do not bring
the word of God. They do not preach the word of
God. They do not open it up. Man shall not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. But God has given his word, and
his word is to be for his people, meat and drink. And where that
is so, we have a beautiful token that we are the Lord's people. He feeds us. He leads us beside
those still waters and green pastures, and he cares for us
all. He quickens it into life and
he makes us to be what he'd have us to be. And so I want to look
at the second point of those things that the Lord will do
for his sheep, because it is in the Lord's doing of them that
makes it known that they truly are his sheep. For thus saith
the Lord God, Behold I, even I will both search my sheep and
seek them out. It is reassuring to us that we
do not depend upon man. There's comfort too where there
are those under shepherds that fall, that even may prove to
be not one of the Lord's people, Judas Iscariot was of such. But it doesn't mean that those
blessed under their ministry and under their word are not
the Lord's, where the Lord has used, used their word to feed
and to seek out and to minister to his people. They shall not
teach every man his neighbor, saying, Know the Lord, they shall
all know me from the least unto the greatest. They shall all
be taught of God. Though the Lord uses means and
he uses man, he uses his servants, yet we must look above and we
must look that it is the Lord that actually teaches and instructs
his people. It has the stamp of heaven upon
it, is not tied down to man, though we may love those whose
ministry has been made life and power to our souls, and we love
them for the truth's sake, yet our comfort for heaven is that
it is the Lord that has given us life, opened our eyes, and
the Lord has done these two things that is spoken of here in our
text for us. So two things, what are these
two things that the Lord has done? Well, I've tried to really
make this a matter of prayer as to what it actually is. And I feel from my own experience
and from the word of God, we may be able to clearly see what
is set forth. If we turn to Psalm 100, and 39. You have in that psalm, which is
a psalm of David, the very beginning of the psalm, it begins with
these words, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. And so when our text says that
he will both search my sheep, I believe it is that inward searching
of the Lord. It is that which the Lord does
in their hearts. That which he shines inward and
brings to light those things that they didn't know by nature,
making known to them their sin, their fallen state, their condition,
finding out those places of evil, those things that would be cast
out, those things that the people of God are to be undeceived in,
they are to be delivered from those things. And so the very
desire of David later on in that psalm, the end of the psalm. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting. It is as the candle of the Lord,
searching the inmost recesses of the heart of the mind, I the
Lord search the heart, I try the reins. And it is this work
of the Lord that discovers to a man, to a woman, to a child,
what he really is in the sight of God. Every man is clean in
his own eyes, but it's when the Lord comes and shows what we
are in his eyes, then we are searched. And it is the Lord
that does this. And so, when the Lord says, I,
even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out, He is beginning
within. Whatever is done without, there's
an inward work, a work of grace, a work in the heart, a work that
discovers things, that finds out the true state and true condition
of that soul. That soul becomes persuaded,
thou God, seest me, and knows that the Lord knows them. Nathanael, he says, whence knowest
thou me? The Lord had said, before that
Philip called thee when thou was under the fig tree, I saw
thee, whence knowest thou me? And we'll look at some of those
other cases later on that our Lord dealt with. But the question
again we must ask, what discoveries have we had through the word
of God, through the preaching of the word, through the Lord's
work within us that we have seen those evil things. We have in
Ezekiel again, turn again thou son of man, thou shalt see greater
abominations than these. And more and more is opened up
to our view, sins, abominable thoughts and ways and practices
that without the light of the Lord and without his word, we
don't know are there. But it is the Lord's work, not
just to cover it. You know, a natural man, he says,
I don't want to know about the things of God. And the reason
why our Lord says in John 3, that men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. He that cometh to
the light, he comes that his deeds might be manifest, that
they are wrought in God. He comes with that desire that
he might see the true state and condition of his soul and be
willing to have it cleansed, as David prayed there in Psalm
139. Men subconsciously realize that
anything to do with religion, anything to do with the Bible,
anything to do with the true faith of God, will head at their
worldly practices and at those things that our fallen nature
loves. So our Lord is the good shepherd,
he will begin inwardly. There he will give life, there
he will give light, there he will give understanding. So this
is the first thing that the Lord will do. And then we are told,
that he will seek out his sheep. In that way, he uses means to
bring them to himself, to make them known, known to the Church
of God, bring them so that they are then as an identifiable people,
the people like with the children of Israel here, scattered amongst
the nations, brought back, identified as one people, like the children
of Israel in Egypt, brought out of Egypt into the wilderness
to receive the word of God, to receive the law of God. And they
are sought out then through providence, God ordering their ways so they
come into contact with the Word of God, they come under the preaching
of the Gospel, they come to the people of God, they come amongst
those where they shall hear and they shall see the ways of the
Lord. These ways the Lord uses to find
out and to seek his people, the many different providences ordering
things. Sometimes there have been those
that have just on the spur of the moment gone to hear a minister,
or they've had to take a diversion and go on a different way and
come into contact with someone, or they've found a leaf of the
Bible, or they've heard someone speaking on the things of God,
or they've had a work colleague that knows the Lord. There's
been many, many different ways that the Lord uses to find out
his people. Perhaps if we just mention one
from the scriptures, we think of the case of Ruth, the Moabites. There she is in Moab. How is
she going to be found? How is she going to be sought
out? What will be the chain of events? There will be a famine in Bethlehem. And there shall be then Naomi
and her husband going forth into Moab and with her sons. And then her sons shall marry
and one of them shall marry Ruth. And then she shall lose her husband
and her sons and have just the two daughters-in-law from Moab. And then she hears there is food
again in Bethlehem and she goes back and Ruth has a love to her
and cleaves to her and cleaves to her God. Orpah goes back but
Ruth is with her and then in God's providence Ruth gleans
in Boaz's field and then is joined to Boaz in marriage and ends
up in the line to Christ. And we see the providences, some
of them very sad, some of them you might say mistakes, why they
should have gone even to Moab. But the Lord overruling it all
and finding out one of his people. He that will observe providence
will not lack a providence to observe. And his good thing especially
Hymn writer says, dust thou mine the spot and place where Jesus
did thee mate. Many of the Lord's people can
trace the Lord's hand in providence is to bring them under the sound
of the word and amongst the people of God. And it's in that way
they have been sought out. We could go even deeper in that. Those who have been brought up
under the sound of the truth, And the Lord searches them out
through a searching ministry. They hear that ministry, and
the Word finds them out. Thou art the man. And they're
separated from the other hearers in this, that the Word comes
expressly unto them, not in word only, but in demonstration of
the Spirit and of power. And the Lord seeks out his people
in that way. so that some of them have felt
that the minister had been told all about them, he knew about
them, and he'd been speaking just directly to them, and the
word has gone home to them. The Lord knows then, as that
good shepherd, how to search his sheep and seek them out,
how to begin a work in their heart, and how to bring the word
to them and how to put them amongst his children here below in his
church on earth, the local church, and to make them known as belonging
to the one church of the firstborn which are written in heaven. And this is the Lord's work to
do that. It's the Lord's work to work
inwardly and outwardly. and to bring a people that were
hidden, to bring them to the light and to bring them to be
known, so that they cannot be hid, they must be known, they
must speak, they must be identified as the people of God in this
world. And this is the Lord's doing.
and it is marvellous in our eyes. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. Have we been sought out? As can
we say the hymn writer, Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering
from the fold of God. He to save my soul from danger,
interposed. His precious blood. It is seen
by the people of God that it is the Lord that sought them
and not they that sought the Lord. He found them. He found
them wandering. He found them when they had no
desire after Him. And He blessed them and He worked
in them. And the glory and honour must
be to His name. I want to look then in the third
place at those in scripture that we are told of how the Lord has
actually done this work. Firstly, the woman of Samaria. In John chapter 4, we read how
the Lord must needs go through Samaria. And he comes and he
sits on the well of Jacob's well and wearied with his journey.
They haven't got meat, so his disciples go into the city to
get meat. And so the Lord is on his own. And it really transpires later
on, if the Lord hadn't been, he couldn't have had the conversation
that he had with the woman of Samaria that came to draw water. And when she came to draw water,
then our Lord said to her to give me water to drink. And she said, how is it that
thou, being a Jew, ask water of me, who am a woman of Samaria? And our Lord said to her, if
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto
thee, give me to drink, he would have given thee living water.
And she says, well, but the well is deep, thou hast nothing to
draw with, whence hast thou that living water? And he testifies
to her, the water that he would give, that it would be a well
of water, welling up into everlasting life. And then she asks, she
desires to have that water. And then our Lord says to her,
go call thy husband and come hither. And she says, I have
no husband. And he said to her, thou hast
said, well said, that thou hast no husband, for thou hast had
five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband,
in that thou saidst truly. And she said, Sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. And eventually the Lord says
to her, because she said to him, I know that when Messiah's cometh,
he shall tell us all things. Of course, our Lord had told
her all about her life, her hidden life, and she perceived him to
be a prophet. And so he says to her, I that
speak unto thee, am he. He told her so clearly. At that
point the disciples come and she goes back to the city, she
leaves the water pond and she says to the men of the city,
not come and see a man that told me he was the Christ, but told
me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. And they
came out to hear him themselves. But we see the providence of
that, the timing. of bringing our Lord in Musco,
musk for that woman, and they meet there at the well. And he orders the conversation,
and he brings it so that she desires, she's drawn to ask and
to want that living water. And then he searches her heart,
he searches her life. It can be said of her, I will
both search my soup, he had. And then, and he'd found her,
he found her out. And then later on, those of Samaria
as well. We have these beautiful illustrations
of the providences of finding that woman. And what was done
is to write in her heart and in her life, and those secret
things brought to light. And it was the Lord himself that
was doing it. He didn't, in this instance,
Use his disciples or use Annie. It was his doing. Then we have
the case of Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus heard that our
Lord was to pass by, and he wanted to see him, who he was, but he
was a little statue, so he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see
who he was. Interesting thing, one of our
former pastors, Mr. Jesse Tandy, who's 46 years past
to here in this chapel. And he is buried in Lamberhurst
Graveyard. And in his grave, right in the
middle of the grave, there is a sycamore tree growing. And
it would be a good, good 40 foot high, even more, a very big tree. And you could very easy see where
the branches are, the structure of that tree, how easy it would
be to climb up into that tree and to get a height to see over
a crowd, just a little aside there. But I often think of that
when I see the grave there in Lambethurst Church Yard. But when our Lord came and he
comes below the tree, he looks up, he sees Zacchaeus and says
to him, come down for I must dine at thy house today. And
he comes down, he receives the Lord joyfully. People then complain
he's gone to be a guest with one that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus,
who was a tax collector, publican, and of course they were notorious
for ripping the people off, taking more taxes than what they should
have done. And he said that, I would riff
off if I had taken anything by any man by false accusation or
falsely, I restore him fourfold. And the Lord said to him that
salvation is come to his house, for he also is the son of Abraham. In other words, he was one of
the Lord's sheep. He is one of the Lord's people.
And the way that he sought him out was, you might say, by curiosity,
moving him to see where he was. But it was a divine appointment
and that is very clear from what the Lord said. And that the Lord
knew him, who he was. The people, they just viewed
him as to what he was outwardly and what his occupation, what
he was before he was called and changed because the Lord did
change his heart. And so you see another instance
of the Lord Searching his sheep and seeking them out is an inward
work. It wasn't just finding them and
then having to force them to do something. There'd been a
work done inwardly as well. And so we could go on, and we
go to the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, and we find him. He had been to Jerusalem to worship
and he was returning and he's reading in the prophet Isaiah
53 in our Bibles and you might say he had already an appetite
he had already a desire to search the word but he didn't understand
that word that he's reading and the Lord in his providence brought
one of his servants Philip the spirit told him to go into the
desert what a strange thing But God knew where this chariot was. He knew where the Ethiopian was. And he brought them together.
Again, a providence of bringing a minister and a congregational
minister and a person together to hear the word. And in this
instance, God gave Philip his text, beginning at the same scripture
where the Ethiopian eunuch was reading of the Lord, as a lamb
before her shearers is dumb, and so open not his mouth. As a lamb led to the slaughter,
it is there that Philip began and preached unto him Jesus. And he was brought then to believe
and to testify. If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest be baptized. He decides it. See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptised? His testimony was, I believe
that Jesus is the Son of God. And on that profession, he was
baptised. Believers, baptism. Baptised
on profession of faith. And again, you find a work inwardly
and providences outwardly. Bringing the word of the Lord,
bringing one to believe in this time. It was using one of the
Lord's under-shepherds, Philip, but very clearly, it was the
Spirit that directed him to that place and to that chariot, and
the blessing of the Lord was upon him. Then we think of the
Apostle Paul, the next chapter, in chapter nine, in Acts of the
Apostles. And there he is, the Saul, persecuting
the people of God, Those are calling upon the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and hurling men and women to prison, looking
after the clothes of those that stone Stephen, the first Christian
martyr. And as he is going to Damascus
with letters from the high priest who held captive the people of
God, the Lord meets with him. It is hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. There'd already been things going
on in that man's heart. Later on in ministry, it's very
evident he remembered some of the things that Stephen had said.
An inward work as well as an outward work. And immediately,
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord showed him
what he was to do. Lying for three days, Ananias
sent to him, I will show him what great things he must suffer
for my name's sake. And through him we have many
of the letters of the New Testament to the churches. Much of the
inspired word of God in the New Testament is through the Apostle
Paul. But it was the Lord that found
him, that searched him out, and that brought him to know himself,
and brought him to know the Lord and to love the people of God.
and to be amongst them. He tried to go amongst them when
he was converted and they were frightened of him, justly, rightly
so. Barnabas, he was the one that
took him and brought him and introduced him to the apostles,
assured them the Lord had met with him. He was converted. Then we have another one going
for Paul's ministry now. No, he tried to go to Bithynia. Spirits suffered him not, forbade
him to go to Asia, suffered him not to go to Bithynia. And then
he had a vision. A man of Macedonia prayed him,
come over into Macedonia and help us. And so he assuredly
believed that the Lord meant him to go to Macedonia, bringing
of a minister to a people. And we're told these things. to show the likes of this text,
it is the Lord sending a man not just anywhere, but to one
place, because he had a place there by the riverside where
prayer was wont to be made, and there was Lydia, a seller of
purple there, and her heart, we are told, the Lord opened,
to pay heed to the words that the Apostle Paul was speaking.
And she received him into her house. She believed, and her
household, and were baptized. A gentle work, but a work inward
and a work that the Lord had found her out by directing Paul
to Macedonia. It's the beginning of the Philippian
church. have the letter to the Philippians.
But she's not the only one in that place. Because Paul and
Silas were hailed to prison, and the jailer was another one
of those that the Lord was to find out. A jailer that was a
hard man, held their feet fast in the stalks, laid upon them
stripes. Then at midnight, they sang praises,
they prayed to God. The soldiers, they heard them.
Then there was an earthquake. And the jailer, he sprang in. He was going to kill himself,
thinking the prisoners were escaped. And he would then have his life
taken, probably in a very cruel way. But Paul, he cries out,
do thyself no harm. We are all here. And he came
in trembling. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And Paul preached to them, spoke
to them the word of the Lord. The jailer healed their wounds,
took them into his home. What a difference, what a change
was brought in him. Again, there's the beginning
of that church of Philippi. What hath God wrought? What the
Lord had wrought was this. He had both searched his sheep
and sought them out. He'd found where he was, he sent
his servant there, he worked in their hearts, and he brought
them to a true and saving knowledge of himself. Then we have the
case of Onesimus, the runaway slave. Some 1,800 miles from
Colossae, right through to Rome, where Paul was a prisoner. And
in God's providence, he runs away. He's not going to be a
slave. He's not going to be submissive to his master. He's not going
to put up with that anymore. But he goes to there is Paul,
and he, in the providence of God, is a prisoner. And he learns
from Paul, and he hears from Paul the gospel and the way of
the Lord. And he's brought no more a servant
but a brother beloved. And Paul, he knows Philemon. He knows his master. And though
he would have loved to have kept Onesimus to serve him and help
him in prison in Rome, he doesn't want to do it without Philemon's
permission, he sends Onesimus back all that way and he sends
with a letter and he begged that as Vilemon was a brother and
indebted to Paul for his own conversion, that he wouldn't
be hard on Onesimus, he would receive him, no longer a servant
but a brother beloved. and he sends him back. But what
the Lord had wrought in bringing him, bringing this runaway servant
to the apostle, and even the apostle's own captivity and hard
labor and where he was was used, we believe, in his conversion, and certainly
the word of the apostle to him. And we have in this way, the
Lord finding his sheep, searching them out, beginning in their
hearts." And, you know, these are those examples we have in
the Word, but you might say there are only a few, compared with
what we read in Acts 2, when the Word was preached and 3,000
were added to the church. Peter, charged them with the
crucifixion of the Lord. Ye have taken them by wicked
hands, crucified and slain. They were pricked in their hearts.
Men and brethren, what shall we do? They are exhorted to repentance
and to believe, which they did, and to be baptized, which they
were, and then continue in breaking of bread, which they did." And
so, though we might look at those particular characters and lives
that were sought out. For the most part, they are all
lumped together and we think it would please God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Each one of God's people, you
might say, has a testimony, has a story to tell, how the Lord
found them, how the Lord searched them out in their own heart.
Each one of those 3,000 were pricked in their heart. Each
one was an individual conversion, though there were so many. And
this is what the Lord does in the Gospel day. He works in this
way. Never despise the means the Lord
uses. May we ever see The Lord's hand,
for the Lord only, has power to change the heart, renew the
will, and turn the feet to Zion's hill. We sung of it in our medal
hymn, Hymn 76 in Gadsby's. May we be able to trace something
of this work in our hearts and in our lives, of the Lord searching
us out, seeking us out. bring us to him and that we join
then this cloud of those sheep of the Lord of whom the Lord
knew and they were his sheep and because they were his sheep
he did what he did to bring them to himself and to know him whom
to know his life eternal. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Hymn, 199. Tune, Hyfrydol 643. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.