I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome to our worship here this evening. Let us come before the
Lord, let us ask his blessing in prayer. O Lord God of heaven
and of earth, who grant us thy blessing as we gather together
unto thee. Bless us, Lord, with that true
fellowship with thee and the true spirit of worship. Help
us to sing thy worthy praise. We ask the aid and help of thy
Holy Spirit that thy word might be in power and be effectual
in our hearts. We ask through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen. Hymn: 593 Tune:Mannheim 679 Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God and the Gospel according to Matthew chapter
13. Matthew chapter 13 and we will
read the first 43 verses. If you have one of our free Bibles,
the Ruby Bible, that is page 989. Matthew 13 from verse 1. The same day when Jesus out of
the house and sat by the seaside, and great multitudes were gathered
together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and
the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many
things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went
forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside,
and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony
places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung
up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was
up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered
away. And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprung up and choked them. But other fell into good
ground, and brought forth fruit some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold,
some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered
and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath
not, from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower. When anyone heareth the word
of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which receives seed by the way sown. But he that receiveth
the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself,
but dureth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that receives seed among
the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this
world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and
he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into
the good ground is he which heareth the word, and understandeth it,
which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty. Another parable put he forth
unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man
which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his
enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung
up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the household
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath
done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest,
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with
them. Let both grow together until
the harvest, And in the time of harvest I will say to the
reapers, gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles
to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Another parable put he forth
unto them, saying the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain
of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.
which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown,
it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that
the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Another parable spake he unto
them. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal, till the whole was leavened. All these things spake Jesus
unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he
not unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, I
will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation
of the world. Then Jesus sent the multitude
away and went into the house, and his disciples came unto him,
saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He
answered and said unto them, He that soweth a good seed is
the son of man, the field is the world, the good seed are
the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children
of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is
the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers
are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom, all things
that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them
into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. who hath ears
to hear, let him hear. Thus far the reading of God's
holy word, may he bless it to us and help us in prayer. Let us pray. Our merciful and loving Heavenly
Father, we come to Thee as Thy children. Lord, we do thank Thee
for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, an elder brother born
for adversity and through whom we are adopted into Thy living
family. We do thank Thee for the Gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for that which
Thou hast ordained and brought about, to reconcile sinners unto
Thee. And we pray, Lord, that we might
realise and know that blessed truth, not only at the beginning,
but all the way through our lives. Lord, sin separates, we feel
it does. Lord, do deliver us from the
power and dominion of sin and from the corruptness of our hearts,
from the subtleness, from the deceitfulness. And do be pleased
to grant unto us to oft find that safe retreat and to return
again to thee whom we have sinned against. and to find mercy, forgiveness
and pardon as we plead that precious blood shed on Calvary's tree. O Lord, do grant unto us that
life, eternal life. May we feel it in us day by day,
bubbling up. Lord, may there be that fellowship
with Thee and Thy people, that communion that union with Thee. O leave us not at a distance,
leave us not unconcerned, deliver us out of every snare, save us
from that way that our own heart, our all nature will go. O Lord,
Thou knowest the way to bring us back when we turn aside, and
Thou knowest how to keep us. We will commit the keeping of
our souls into Thy hand. To remember, Lord, those who
know not which way to turn, how to stand the tide of iniquity,
how to deal with those things that come upon them daily. O
Lord, do renew unto us again that we might look unto Thee,
gather unto Thee, come unto Thee. Lord, to whom else can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Do grant us, then, we might not
turn away from that only remedy and only way of escape from the
wrath to come. Lord, we bless Thee, where Thou
hast opened our eyes to see and to know Thee as the way. We do
pray that we might be, according to thy word, kept by faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. O Lord, do
keep our souls. We do pray, Lord, for those that
know thee not. Many of us, we have our loved
ones and friends that do not know Thee. We thank Thee for
those that do, but Lord, do remember those that are still in nature's
darkness, or those that are seeking Thee but as yet have no liberty,
no joy, no assurance. Lord, we pray for those round
about us, Lord, those that we speak to, those that we may be
in contact with, that seem to have no concern, do not want
to know, do not want to have, their peace broken up they rather
be in ignorance rather not hear thy word than to hear what it
says if it brings them into concern. O Lord do be pleased to work
and pour forth thy spirit in our day, that instead of apathy,
there might be concern. Instead of that rejection of
Thy word, there might be an embracing of it. Instead of staying away
from Thee and the means of grace and from Thy people, there might
be a gathering unto Thee. O Lord, do be pleased at work
in our day, but help us to be faithful. Help us to serve Thee
in our day and generation. to deliver us from falling into
the trap of asking why these days are not like the former
days. Lord, thou hast foretold of these
days. And Lord, we see it almost universally
in our land, such a giving over unto pleasure and more than lovers
of God. And oh Lord, we see also that
Even amongst thy dear people, Lord, there is much of a mourning
of absent God, a mourning over the closeness of the world and
the conflict that is within. Do grant again, Lord, a return
of thy spirit in power that thou has make us truly separated and
a spiritual people, the holy people. a people that long for
immortality and to be with Thee, and to be free from this world
and all its snares. Thou savest us, Lord, from the
love of sin, and do grant, Lord, Thy mercy to bring us forth out
of every wrong way. Grant us a love to Thee and Thine,
a love to Thy word, and that Thou draw us by Thy love draw
us by thy power and draw us unto thee. We thank thee for every
mercy, for every measure of health and strength. We thank thee for
our food and raiment, for thy many mercies to us. When we hear
what others go through in other lands, those that go through
in this land, who have great trials, great difficulties, who
have no home, who have no certain dwelling place, who have no means
of income, O Lord, we do pray for those that lack these things. Lord, we do pray for those in
sickness to grant thy kind healing hand, if it could please thee,
blessing, medication and treatment to them, to remember those that
are in the valley of the shadow of death, that is even tied with
them. Lord, thou has made known unto
them the shortening of their days. to be with them and be
with their loved ones. Bless them with thy felt presence,
with the joy of the Lord and the sweet anticipation have been
with Thee which is far better. Lord, Thou hast appointed our
days, Thou hast appointed how we shall finish our days, and
we seek, Lord, submission to Thy will in all things, and that
Thou hast granted us that quietness in serving Thee day by day and
hour by hour. O Lord, we do pray for us here
as a church and people, do bless us and build us up and make us
a blessing in this place. With other churches and those
that gather tonight as we do, bless each of the assemblies
of thy people. We lay our petition for thy day,
that thy blessing might be upon us on thy day. Lord, do hear
us and do be pleased to bless us with thy presence. Be with
each of thy servants and those that are in the middle of moving
home, whether in this land or moving overseas, because of taking
up pastorates. Do help them, strengthen them,
provide for them, and do be pleased to establish the pastures that
they go to. And those who have taken them
up this year, do be with them and do support them and help
them as time goes on. Now, Lord, do be with us as we
turn to thy word. shine upon it and do help us
to speak in thy dear name. O Lord do bless us indeed and
do remember the many gatherings in our little denomination and
outside it too that meet the twos, the threes that have so
few to meet with. Lord do revive each little cause
and do remember those that feel the responsibility and the burden
of the cause that they're looking after. Lord, do help them, we
commit them unto Thee. Help us now, we ask Thee these
things, Thy blessing upon Thy word as it is proclaimed, we
ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Hymn: 548 Tune: Seacombe 838
Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Matthew chapter 13 and reading
for our text part of verse 2. In verse 2 we read, gathered together
unto him. The whole verse reads, and great
multitudes were gathered together unto him. so that he went into
a ship and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Matthew chapter 13 and part of
verse 2. Speaking again this evening as
I hope to throughout this month in the Thursday evenings on the
theme gathered together. We have this coming again and
again in these scriptures and we've spoken of gathered together
in my name and we've spoken of the gathering together of the
people of God and I want to this evening speak of this word, gather
together unto him, that is, unto the Lord Jesus. We have a promise in the blessing
that Jacob blessed his sons with, and in the blessing of Judah,
he says in Genesis 49 verse 10, The scepter shall not depart
from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
comes. Shiloh is the name of Messiah. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. So there's a prophecy right there
of the coming of Messiah. Remember the woman at the Well
of Samaria? She says, I know that Messiah's
cometh. He shall tell us all things. And our Lord said to her, I that
speak unto thee, am he. Our Lord is. The Shiloh. And we can see from the account
that we've had here, great multitudes were gathered together unto him,
so that he went into a ship and sat The whole multitude stood
on the shore. It's one of the features of our
Lord's ministry, the thousands that followed Him. And sometimes
the scribes, they said that the whole world has gone out after
Him. And it was very evident that
there was a great drawing unto Him. Wherever He was, there the
people were. We know, of course, that in these
Gospel days, when our Lord is in heaven, He has suffered, led,
died, been raised up again and ascended up into heaven, that
this word shall still be fulfilled but not in the literal way like
was on earth, although we may say literally gathered together
in the churches or around the preaching of the word. We think
of the times of great revivals, the times of Whitefield, the
times when they gathered in the open fields because there was
no room in the churches, and there's a great hunger and thirst
after the word of the Lord. And in that is fulfilled what
is set forth by our Lord Himself in John chapter 12. He says in
verse 32, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me. And the prophecy is, they shall
look upon him, or me, whom they have pierced. And so it is with
the coming of Messiah, coming of the Lord, the idea of a gathering
unto him. He is the central, and the people
are gathered here below unto him. And at last, around the
throne of God in heaven, He shall be the Lamb in the midst of the
throne, and they shall be gathered unto him. Father, I will that
they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. Now we know there were some that
while their Lord was on earth, they joined such gatherings because
of the numbers. Numbers draw numbers, and that
still is the case, and there'll be people Join the assemblies
of the people of God, there's a lot, because they just want
to be part of it. There must be something if there
is numbers going after it. Others like Zacchaeus, there's
Curiosity, and that was one of the Lord's divine appointments.
that he wanted to see the Lord where he went. And because of
the multitude that was following him, he climbs up into a sycamore
tree to be able to see him. Then we have, of course, the
scribes and the Pharisees. when they were gathered together
and gathered together unto him, that it was then to tempt him
and to trip him up and to try and lay snares for him. May the Lord preserve us and
deliver us from a wrong motive in gathering unto the Lord. We can be sure that only in sovereign
mercy there'll be a blessing, but many times there will be
not. if we come with the wrong motive. We are cautioned about saying
there will never be a blessing because, of course, we have with
Zacchaeus and we know in the time of Whitfield that there
were those that came to hear him with stones in their hand,
intending to throw them at the preacher. And as they heard the
word preached, the stones gradually dropped from their hands. Here
below, the Lord has promised his presence. Though I'm with
you always, even unto the end of the world, and that he is
with his people, And where they are, there he is, even where
two or three are gathered together in his name. And he that receiveth
you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that
sent me. And so wherever there is a gathering
of his people in his name, there is, as our text says, we're gathered
unto him. And I wanted to, this evening,
to speak that word of encouragement to be coming unto the Lord, to
be gathering unto him. The idea here with the gathering
is not thinking, well, we just come alone. These blessings are
for all the people of God. This is the expectation as we
gather together in his name is a gathering unto him and for
these benefits and for these blessings and those things that
we can so clearly see while he was upon earth. They have their
counterpart in the ministry of the Word now. And so I want to
look at seven benefits, seven blessings, and seven reasons
why we should gather unto Him and the blessing that comes from
Him. The first one is directly in
the context here, and that is to hear His Word. This is why they gathered. They gathered to hear the Lord
speak. And our Lord spoke to them, and
He spoke to them in parables, an earthly story with a spiritual
or heavenly meaning. There were those that did not
understand, the Lord said, the reason why he spoke in parables,
so that seeing they might not see, hearing they might not hear,
but to them that were given to know these mysteries, he would
interpret this word to them. What a reminder that though we
gather like them here and hear the same word, Yet it still is
the sovereign work of God to open the understanding and cause
that that word be heard and be understood. The first parable
that the Lord spoke here is a parable which is a key parable. The Lord says, if you know not
this parable, how will you know all parables? And it is because
This parable speaks of hearing, four types of hearers. And the
first one is one that did not understand that word, and the
word is taken immediately out of their hearts. It doesn't even
enter in, doesn't have any effect at all. And then we have those
where it does enter in, and there is joy and that first when it
enters in. but they don't have any root,
that root is just in themselves. And so, when they have persecution
or tribulations or troubles, then they're offended, then they
go away. And then others receive the word,
and it's like among thorns, and those thorns, they spring up
and choke the word. the things of this world, deceitfulness
of riches, choking the word. And you think, here is a gathering
unto the Lord. And you might say two-thirds,
or no, three-quarters of his hearers, the word is not profitable. It is not that endures to eternal
life. It is not saving to them. It
doesn't last, they don't endure unto the end. But the Lord speaks
the word for that quarter that shall be blessed, that shall
hear it, that shall bring forth fruit. It should be really always
a strengthening encouragement to us to realise this. You could picture perhaps of
a pastor with a flock And those that come and hear, if he had
20 hearers come through the door, and he was very pleased with
these hearers. But upon the first speaking,
then five of them disappear out the door, and they don't want
to hear anymore. And then we have 10 of them, they receive
the word. And yet, then there comes Tribulation,
there comes some illness, some troubles, and they're saying,
if that's your God, I'm not having anything to do with that, and
off they go. And then the other five, they
get riches, they get something alluring them of this world,
and their past pleasures, and the things that attracted them,
attract them back. And all the pastor is left with
is five heroes. but they are fruitful and they
bring forth fruit. You know, very often that would
be very, very discouraging to any flock, any pastor, to have
that kind of take-up, as it were, or blessing with the Word. Yet
this is what the Lord says. But it is a gathering unto Him
for this purpose. We should never be ashamed because
there are some that don't receive it, or some that receive it and
cast it away, or that there's so few that actually bring forth
fruit. The Lord has warned his said
of this. But like Peter, when many went
away and the Lord said, will you also go away? And Peter said
to him, can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and assure that thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so the gathering
unto the Lord, they were gathered unto him and in the majority
of cases this was a central theme. to hear his word. Be not silent unto me, lest thou
be silent unto me. I become like them that go down
into the pit. In the last days, it is said,
there shall be a famine, not of bread or of water, but of
hearing of the words of the Lord. So our Lord is speaking of these
days, and it is as gathered unto him that we hear His Word. So may that thought be with us
as we gather in His Name, as we gather unto Him, that it is
to hear His Word, just like it was while He was upon earth. We hear the words of the Holy
Bible, the words of the inspired Word of God. Preach the Word
is our commission. The second thing that they gathered
for, they gathered unto Him, was for healing. Many that had
diverse diseases, those that were blind, those that were lame,
those that were paralyzed, they gathered unto Him, they were
bought, the one that was born of four, brought unto Him, that
they might be healed. in a natural sense, gathered
unto Him, may that be as well. We come to ask the Lord's blessing
on the means and for healing for our bodies, but how much
more for our souls, that the malady of sin might be dealt
with, that we might be healed of those festering sores of sin. There can be no greater malady,
you know we might think of many things that we can fall ill with
and there are some we can say if a person is ill with those
it is a terminal illness. Well sin is always a terminal
illness, it always will bring forth sin and if it is not dealt
with and if the Lord does not heal us wash us and cleanse us. The Lord said of Peter, if I
wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. All are the people of
God, not only have their sins pardoned and forgiven through
our Lord and through his precious blood, but also are sanctified,
made meat for the Master's use. They are cleansed in their walk
and in their conduct. They need that washing of water
by the Word to be renewed day by day. And where is it found? Not in the world, but as we gather
together unto Him, unto the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we've
sung the hymn that we have, The Physician, and gathering unto
the Physician. We think of those that deal with
our maladies in a natural way, how much they specialize in heart
or brain or bones or whatever it is, and what skill and wisdom
they need. But with our Lord Jesus Christ,
He understands every case. He gives wisdom to every natural
physician, and He understands the disorders of the soul, and
He alone is able to heal them. So may that be what we gather
unto him for, Heal us, Emmanuel, here we are waiting to feel thy
touch." You think of the woman with the issue of blood, 12 years,
touched him, instantly healed. How many had very, very different
cases and it is so spiritually. Many of the Lord's dear people
have those bitternesses and sores that they cannot tell to a nearest
one, but they can come to the Lord for healing. The third one I bring before
you is that of cleansing. Many that were brought to the
Lord, many that came to the Lord, came and gathered unto Him, They
were defiled, they were unclean, they had unclean spirits and
they needed cleansing. Everyone that is quickened into
life will feel how unclean they are. You know, you cannot but
read the Old Testament and the ceremonial law and you wonder
how could anyone come anywhere near the tabernacle, how could
anyone perform any of those sacrifices, it was so easy to become unclean,
so easy to be unfit to draw nigh. And we are pointed out that in
ourselves, we are all as an unclean thing. All of us, we are not
fit to stand before God, to come before God. We're like the publican
to stand afar off, God be merciful to me a sinner. Or like the lepers
that could not come nigh. They had to cry out all the time,
unclean, unclean. They felt it. They had to be
shunned. They had to be separated. They
had to be put out of the camp. And yet it is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. that He cleansed lepers, made
them whole instantly, set them free, loosed them from that uncleanness,
where we have an unclean spirit, where we have that which defiles
us through and through. It is a gathering unto Him that
He would deal with that for us. that He'd wash us, cleanse us
and make us clean. The fourth is this, to gather
unto Him for life. We've already quoted Peter saying,
to whom can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Our Lord said, I am come, that
they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly.
And his reproof was, he will not come unto me, that ye might
have life. So where we read, gathered together
unto him, one of those reasons why we are together, one of those
aims and desires, is that we might have life. There is no
other source of eternal life than in the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone has power and ability
to give it and impart that life to his people. In him is life,
outside of him, away from him is death. He speaks of himself
in John 15 as the vine and the branch. The branch cannot abide
by itself, accepted, abide in the vine, it will die, it will
perish, it will wither. It needs to be united to that
vine. And so every branch in Christ,
every one of the people of God, needs to be united with Him,
gathered together unto Him for this purpose, to receive life,
to receive the words, He says in John 6, the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. What a testimony
to a poor soul that feels so hard, so lifeless, so dead, so
unfit to come near the presence of the Lord and yet to realise
that in Him The words that he speaks, they are spirit and they
are life. I often think of Psalm 107. Of
those that draw nigh unto death, they abhor all manner of meat. And you think what hope is there
for one that abhors the manner of meat in a natural sense. If
you had someone that every sight or smell of food, they hated
it and they shrunk from it, then of course they would die because
they would never have food, they'd never have sustenance. And if
it is in a spiritual way, if there's that that is riding us
away from the word and we cannot partake of it, we abhor that
word, what hope is there? But we read in that Psalm, Psalm
107, even with that case, that he sent his word and healed
them. Even that which they had poured,
and often felt encouraged with that. When we feel so hard and
cold and dead, we feel perhaps so little appetite for the word
of God, we think, how can I be healed? How can I be cleansed? How can I have life when the
very source of life I recoil from, I find it so hard to read,
so hard to pray, so hard to come before the Lord? Yet the Lord
uses that same word. All it takes is for the Lord
to speak his word into the soul, send his spirit the remembrancer,
and that is the quickening word. We think of Lazarus that was
dead and bound, hand and foot with grave clothes, and had been
dead four days too. You might feel like that. I've
been like this so long. And yet our Lord stood at that
grave. Lazarus, come forth. And He came
forth. It didn't matter that He was
dead when that Word was spoken. It didn't matter that He was
bound with grave clothes. That Word was a quickening Word.
It broke through everything. Loose Him and let Him go. And
that's what we need. We need the Lord to give us life. Fresh life. Renewed life. Eternal life. That life is in
Himself. our Lord Jesus Christ. Gather
together unto him, desiring life, asking life of him. What a blessed
assembly that would be if we could say we gather and we gather
unto him and we desire life. We feel so lifeless, so hard,
so cold. Lord, do grant me life in my
soul. Or maybe coming feels so defiled,
so unclean. Lord, cleanse me, wash me. or so ill, Lord, heal me. But then in the fifth place,
to gather unto him for grace. You know, those that gathered
unto him, they marveled at the gracious words that proceeded
out of his mouth. His dealings with men was a gracious
dealings. He was kind and long-suffering
towards them. We finish our services, don't
we, with the benediction, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what we need. He giveth
more grace and that grace is poured into his lips. Grace to
help in time of need, saving grace, grace, grace. That is what is cried that might
be upon the Lord. That is how He is known, the
God of all grace. And it is in the Lord Jesus Christ
that the Father bestows that grace upon sinners. May we gather together unto Him,
seeking for grace to help in time of need. seeking for grace. It's not deserved. We may feel
the Lord has been kind to us, may be gracious to us. Then we
look upon our base requittals. We think of what we've done in
return. We think of our hard heart. We think of those sins that have
been so provocative. But then we have the Lord as
the God. of all grace, to give more grace. What if it was said, well, that
was exhausted? There's no more grace. You can't gather with the people
of God unto him anymore because he's run out of grace. The Lord
said of his disciples when they said, how many times shall my
brother sin against me and turn again and repent and I forgive
him till seven times? The Lord said, till seventy times
seven, his grace will not run out. It is saving, it is the
eternal grace of our Lord. May we gather unto him for grace. Then there is a gathering unto
him for rest. At the end of chapter 11, Matthew,
We have our Lord beautifully issuing this invitation. Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. May you be of those that gather
unto him, and the reason why we're gathering unto him is because
we've heard that invitation. We are weary. We are heavy laden. We do want rest. Where shall
we find that rest? But in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has accomplished at Calvary
the fulfilling of the law, the satisfaction of the justice of
God, taken away the wrath of God, He has done that which we
could not do. When the hymn speaks, rest in
the promise that God has made. And really it is resting on the
finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ and resting by faith upon
all that He has done. A true rest is one when we fully
believe, faith is given to fully lean and put our whole trust
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Gather it together unto him for
rest. Well, we know what that is. The
weary, heavy laden soul coming unto the Lord. Lord, speak rest
into my soul through the ministry, through the word tonight. Speak
rest, that I might rest in what Thou hast done. And the last one that I bring
before you is a gathering together unto Him for worship. Because our Lord has said, this
people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. It is a sacred thing. when we
gather unto Him and we gather to bow and to worship Him, to
give Him the honour and the glory that is due unto His name, and
get a little foretaste of what that is in heaven, to be gathered
in heaven and to sing His praise. forever and ever. We think of
those gatherings like when the Song of Moses was first sung
at the Red Sea. They'd been brought through,
their enemies had been swollen up in the sea, and they sung
the Lord's praise. They sung the Song of Moses. And that is always the song of
those who have conquered through the Lamb. they have been delivered
by the Lord. And we read of those in revelation
in heaven that their employment is to sing the song of Moses,
to sing unto him that has delivered them completely, fully, and brought
them safely home to himself. I hope there are those times
that we gather, and it may be in that way we We don't need,
we don't come for healing, cleansing or life or even grace or rest,
but we come to worship. Like dear Hannah, she had come
up. desiring petitions of the Lord,
that He'd heal her of her childless state and give her a child. And He granted her that. And then she came out, for this
child I prayed, the Lord hath given me my petition that I asked
of Him. And then we read of all her praise
and all the joy in her God and what He had done for her and
what He was to her. And those are blessed times.
We know, of course, like the Syrophoenician woman who came
and worshipped him saying, Lord, help me. May we not think that
just because we come seeking to be healed or cleansed or to
have life, that we are not coming in an attitude of worship. We
are. But those are blessed times when
we're not seeking, as it were, anything. from the Lord, but
seeking to return to give thanks and praise and glory. In heaven,
you know, we will not be gathering there for life. We have life. We won't be gathering to be healed.
We're fully healed. Nor we'll be gathering to be
cleansed. We're fully cleansed. There's
no need to gather for that purpose there. Or for grace, there's
no need. of grace there because everything
is perfect and full and no want whatsoever and eternal rest that
shall be always there. It's a mystery to us, the blessing
and wonders of heaven. But worship, worship there shall
be and honour and glory and praise unto our God. And so may there
be those times Light that here below, gathered unto Him, and
He's gathering unto Him to praise His name because of who He is,
because we love Him, because we desire to be with Him. Gather together unto Him. May the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
only begotten Son, He who was given by the Father and given
that he might come into this world, take on the nature of
those whom he was to redeem, and in that nature, that he was
to live a perfect life and perfect obedience, even unto death, the
death of the cross, that he should, through his death and through
his sufferings, bear his people's sin away, make atonement for
them, endure the wrath of God for them, and then lay down his
life and rise again and give assurance unto all men because
of the empty tomb and there be a living Saviour ever living
to make intercession for the people of God. This is who we
come to, God's only begotten Son, His eternal Son, His beloved
Son. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. gathered unto him. May we truly
know him, who he is, and desire to be in those gatherings that
are about him and that are unto him. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen. Hymn: 566 Tune: Hazelton 743 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.