Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I ask your prayer for attention to Acts chapter 10 and part of
verse 33. Verse 33. We are all here present before God. It's mainly these words present
before God. The whole verse reads immediately,
Therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou
art come. Now therefore are we all here
present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee
of God. Acts 10 and verse 33. The account that is recorded
here is what is equivalent to Pentecost. It is the second Pentecost,
ten years after the first, and there is a gathering here. There
was a gathering then, and in each case the Holy Spirit fell
from heaven under the preaching of the Word through Peter's mouth. At Pentecost it was the Jews
that were blessed. Here it is the Gentiles that
are blessed. They are very important times
in the Church of God. But here in our text is the mention of being present. there was a gathering, there
was a bringing together of preacher and a bringing together of the
people here, of certain people. And what is upon my spirit is
how much does hang upon our presence in a particular place. in God's purposes, in the things
that he does in the Church of God especially, it relies very
much on people's presence. It did so right through the Old
Testament. And that presence is not just
left to chance, just happening, It is ordered and directed by
God. We know that each one of us shall
at last stand at the judgment seat of Christ. He is appointed
unto men once to die and after death the judgment. We know that
our presence is assured there. we will be brought there. We know that God's dear children
have nothing to fear on that judgment. Their sins have been
brought to light here below. They've been brought to trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe in Him, that His blood
is atoned for their sin, blotted out their sins. The world has
not believed that. The world has ridiculed the people
of God, but at that Judgment Day, the Lord before all nations
and before all people shall acknowledge His people, His people shall
acknowledge Him, and the Lord shall declare that what their
faith was and their trust in Him was not ill-founded, was
not cunningly devised fables, but it was the faith of His own
giving, and in that judgment it shall be seen that their sins
truly were blotted out, and truly He was their God, and He had
known them and they had known Him. Those who know the Lord
here below, those who trust in Him for salvation, given repentance
and remission of sins, have nothing to fear at the judgment seat
of Christ. But our presence there in the
presence of everyone is assured and most solemn to stand before
and in that assembly without a plea, without a true faith
in Christ. We know, of course, in our land,
sometimes there is court cases, and as the case proceeds, they
realize they need the presence of someone at their court. Might
even be an important person. Could be a president or a prime
minister or even a king. And they are subpoenaed to appear
in that court. They're ordered to go and appear,
and their presence is needed to bear witness and to have questions
asked of them. And again, the emphasis is that
they need their presence there, they need to be seen there. And my mind has gone back through
these scriptures as to how much has hung at times upon a person's
presence or, and we'll add this in as well, their absence. Go on to look at three heads.
Firstly, consider how much has hung upon one's presence or absence. And then secondly, a presence
assured how? Is it assured? And then lastly,
the reason for the people's presence. And we're thinking, of course,
basing our remarks around the context here and the assembly
here at Caesarea. But how much has hung upon one's
presence or absence? might have occurred to you as
we read this account, how that Cornelius, when the angel appeared
to him, he was given the name of Peter,
Simon Peter, he was told where he was, and he was told to go
and to call for him. What faith was with Cornelius
to gather together all his friends and kinsmen with the real expectation
that what the angel had told him, Peter would be a joppa. Peter would be willing to come.
Peter would be present there in their assembly. You can easily
overlook what faith that that was. Peter was where the angel
said he would be. And the Lord prepared him to
go. And here we have then, Cornelius saying that, therefore, Are we
all here present before God? What a realisation that that
gathering was in God's sight and that He had ordered it in
really a remarkable way, how Peter had been brought there
and there was greater blessing that was to follow at this point
They didn't know, but very soon they were, under the preaching
of the Word, to know the power of the Holy Spirit, and so many
believed. But how much has hung upon someone's
presence? We think of the account of Joseph,
and Joseph was sent to see how his brethren fared. And he went
to where he thought they were, but they weren't there. They'd
moved away. But one man, an unnamed man,
had been there and he'd overheard that they had said that they
would go to Dothan. And Joseph meets up with that
one man. You might say, on that one man's
presence, that one man overhearing and meeting with Joseph, hung
that whole narrative. The deliverance of Jacob and
his sons from famine hung all that happened. of bringing Joseph
to Pharaoh, the answers to his prayers, everything, just in
the presence of one man, the timing of that one man being
there. Anyone who looks at that account
can never say that a person's presence in a situation is not
important in God's plan, or a person's absence What if
he hadn't been there and Joseph returned home? We think then of David and Goliath. For 40 days, Goliath had challenged
the children of Israel to supply a man and they'd set the conditions
that if that one man overcame Goliath, then the Philistines
would be the Hebrews' servants. But if Goliath overcame him,
then the Hebrews, the children of Israel, would be servants
to the Philistines. And for 40 days, and 40 is a
testing time, no man was found whatsoever. But then the presence
of David was introduced into that assembly. sent there by
his father to go into the host again to see how his brethren
fared. And he heard Goliath. And through
his presence there in that assembly, the whole of Israel was delivered. Goliath was slain. David also
was thrust into the limelight made known to all Israel and
also the Philistines that the Lord was with him. The presence
of one man brought again like here. Peter is brought into an
assembly and all of those in that assembly
benefited from his coming into that assembly. With David his coming into the
camp all of the children of Israel benefited, they were all delivered. And we think of other parallels,
like the account, the whole book of Esther. And how much then was relying
on the presence of a person, Mordecai in that situation. And Esther put into the court
Mordecai saying, who knoweth that thou art come to the kingdom
for such a time as this? Many other factors where Mordecai
was present in the king's gate, where he heard the king's chamberlains
plotting to kill the king. He told Queen Esther, Queen Esther
advised the king in Mordecai's name, But nothing was done to
acknowledge what he'd done. And so that lay waiting for the
time that Haman was going to come in. The king had not been
able to sleep, had read that account. And instead of opening
the way for Mordecai to be slain at Haman's request, the king
asked him, what shall we done to the man whom the king delighted
to honor? And all the time we have major
events happening that relied upon someone being in a place
at a certain time. We can't look at those places
and think, well, our presence or absence is not an important
thing. It is. Sometimes it can be the
other way when we wish someone hadn't been there. We think of when David was fleeing
from Saul and he came to Ahimelech the priest and obtained bread
and the sword of Goliath. And when he was there, Doag the
Edomite was there. And he heard what happened. He
saw David. He realized that he was fleeing. And he went and he told Saul. And King Saul then called for
Ahimelech and all of the priests. And they all came before him.
And King Saul charged them with aiding and abetting David in
fleeing. The priests, they said that they
were innocent. David, he was the king's son-in-law,
and why should they think of anything that was wrong? They
had done in their simplicity. But Saul commanded all of the
priests to be slain, and his own soldiers wouldn't do it.
So he commanded Doeg to do it. And he arose and he killed all
but Abiathar, all of the priests of the Lord, some 80 or so were
slain. And when Abiathar then fled to
David and told him, David said, I have occasioned the death of
all of the priests of the Lord. I knew that day when Doeg was
detained before the Lord that he would tell Saul. And so you
could think then Oh, that that man wasn't present. It would
have been much better if he wasn't. And sometimes we may have things
in our lives as well, that we wish that a certain person hadn't
been there, or hadn't been in our lives, or hadn't exerted
the influence. We know in the case, and we'll
cover this a little later in other aspects, as we mentioned
it now with Doeg, God had said to Eli that his house would not
continue. His sons were evil. He restrained
them not. And so God had said that he would
destroy the house of Eli. And God was bringing about that
judgment upon the house of Eli. He raised up in his stead Samuel
and This was the judgment of the Lord being brought about
by Doag. But again, it is the presence
of one appointed by God, very pivotal in Providence and those
things that happened. We think of the case of Thomas. When our Lord rose from the dead,
Then he appeared to the disciples in the upper room, but Thomas
was not with them. And so Thomas did not get the
benefit and the blessing of seeing the Lord. He heard that the Lord
had appeared to them, but he was not there. He missed out
and he had to wait for another eight days until the next first
day of the week And then the Lord appeared. Thomas said, except
I put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand
into his side, I will not believe. But when he saw the Lord, he
didn't have to do that. He said to the Lord, my Lord
and my God. But his not being present meant
that he was not blessed. He didn't join with the blessing
that the other disciples knew to wait for him. That was a blessing
he did receive in the end. But you think of what it would
have been in the case of Rahab and her household when the spies
came to Jericho and she hid them and then she let them down through
the window by a scarlet line through the window And she asked
that when they took the city that they would have mercy upon
her and her household. And she asked for a true token.
And they said, bind this scarlet line in the window and all that
come into thy house that they shall be saved. Of no doubt,
they remembered 40 years before at the Passover that when the
destroying angel passed over the land, God gave the promise,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the people
had to shelter in the houses with the blood of the lamb, the
paschal lamb, on the doorposts and on the lintel. And those
that were in the houses were saved. Those that were outside
and with no blood sheltering, then they were slain. And so the presence of Rahab
and of her kinsfolk in her house was an act of faith, it was also
the means whereby that they were saved, how vital that they were
there, how vital that they were not outside, that they were sheltering,
really under the promise of God, the promise through his servants
to Ahab. What a contrast with that of
Lot earlier on. When Lot would destroy, when
God would destroy Sodom, then the angels were sent to Lot's
house. And he sent out and he spoke
to his sons-in-law, he spoke to his families, so that they
would come out of that place But they just mocked. They didn't
believe him. They didn't go with him. They
weren't present with him in the fleeing from the city. And they
perished in the city. You know, sometimes we might
make comments like that we're in the wrong place at the wrong
time. And there's an acknowledgement
that our presence in a certain situation was for evil, or sometimes
it might have been for good. But it is the part that is highlighted
here, of being present before God, and the thought of the importance
of our presence or absence and I believe it goes a long way
to seeing the Lord's hand in our lives and in providence and
in the scriptures to really believe the Lord's hand. Now it's amazing
sometimes how much unbelief and how Satan can interject things
even when you're reading the word of God. You know when we
were reading just a little while ago, this chapter in Acts 10. And we read of Peter, and we
read of Cornelius, and Peter, he hadn't eaten, and Cornelius
had been fasting. And it suddenly come in, there
was just nothing in that vision. And both of them were was starving,
the lacking of food. Of course they'd see all sorts
of things and visions. It was nothing of God. That's
how Satan can come in so suddenly. Now maybe those of you often
are tempted by Satan in that way. You get unasked for, sudden
thoughts that will question the word of God or deride the word
of God. And yet as I thought that, I
thought, If that was so, how could that then bring about a
vision that told exactly where Peter was? How could it be a
vision that prepared him exactly, that suited exactly the case
and brought him to be with Cornelius? Now very often these things,
they are proved by what accompanies them. Sometimes I have said about
the Apostles' conversion on the Damascus Road. And when he rehearsed
that, then there were those like Festus said, they are mad. Much
learning does make thee mad. What a light shining from heaven,
a voice that is speaking this vision. But then Paul could say,
well, look, look what my life was before that time. Look what
it was after that time. If that was just imagined, then
why have I suddenly changed? Why have I started preaching?
Christ Jesus the Lord instead of persecuting him and his people. And so the devil can really tempt
and try us at times. But when we're thinking of presence,
we're thinking of where we're actually being. And providences
sometimes, they're much more powerful than words. They're
much more powerful that even of blessings that may be spoken
to us through the Word, because with providence it is known and
seen and read of all men. It's one of those things that
work together for good, His Word and His providence, His grace
and the effect of grace in the heart of His people, His people's
presence, or the presence of any. and the things that are
joined with that presence. So how much is hung upon one
person's presence or absence? I hope we have some ideas, some
thoughts on that through the scriptures. I want to think then
secondly, a presence assured. How can it be certain of someone's
presence or absence. And we must be certain of this. It is assured. It is firstly
by God's decree. All things that happen are by
God's decree. He has appointed all things. He has a will, a purpose, and
all things are done according to that will. And to that purpose,
we think of how it was set forth by Nebuchadnezzar after the Lord
had dealt with him for his pride. At the end of those days, Nebuchadnezzar
lifted up his eyes and he blessed the Lord. And he says, I praised
and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will, in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? And so it is by God's decree,
it is by his providence, he's ordering things, ordering what
men do and don't do, things that break down, you think of going
to a place and the car breaks down and you're not there, and
the Lord has a hand in that, you think of the presence where
you think it wasn't possible, but then God uses means, and
that is another thing, in providence there are means, there are things
that are used to ensure one's presence. Now with us today,
when we travel many miles, it's not assured just of using our
feet, but our presence using cars or aeroplanes or whatever
it is. And the Lord brings about a person's
presence. It may be through many, many
providences. I think at a time when my father
passed away and The hearing of that and the travelling by car
and by aeroplane, and many different steps to actually get there,
spend a couple of days with him before he died, and actually
be with him when he died. My presence, I was there. I bless God, I was. Some has
proved the other way. The Lord has ordered it, and
they could not be there. And our presence, or not-presence,
is assured and decreed. It's not a chance. It's not... It doesn't just happen. It is
by God's grace, with God's people. All that happens is by the kindness
and goodness and grace of God. Sometimes we might not think
so, might be what is called a cross-handed blessing, and we might wish the
Lord had decreed or dealt otherwise. But all that the Lord does for
his people is in kindness. At the end of Psalm 107, whoso
is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord. The presence is assured, it is
assured by God, by God's ordering. And may we be very clear on that,
may we see the Lord in control. I know there are times, especially
if we want to be present somewhere, and we're being held up, and
it turns out we can't be present, then we can have many regrets.
many times that we wish it had been otherwise. Times of recent
affliction, haven't been able to go to funerals, meetings that
I wanted to, services I wanted to. We've had to cancel accommodation
that we paid for, various things, and you think, well, I thought
I would be there. But the Lord said, no, you're
present, you will not be present at that time. And we would look to the Lord's hand
over it all. There were many times that the
Apostle Paul desired to be present. One of them was at Pentecost,
at an observance of that. But he says this, if the Lord
permit. And we would shape our lives
according to what we see as the Lord's will and what is good,
what is right, what is commanded. But it is always subject to the
Lord's will. But our presence or absence There
are those times we can see very clearly the Lord's purpose, what
the Lord has bound up with that. And when we can see that, then
it can be a double blessing, a real helm. Have there not been those times
that we say things like, I'm glad we were there, I'm so glad
we went, or maybe another time, I'm so glad I wasn't there. And
really we're giving a sense to this, that God has ordered either
our presence or our absence. I want to then think lastly of
a reason, the reason for the people's presence. Now with here
in the account, we are told in this verse, Because Simon, he
asked the reason, and he says, now therefore, are we all here
present before God? And this is the reason, to hear
all things that are commanded thee of God. Peter was given, as it were,
an open door to speak. And no doubt that Cornelius had
the expectation, especially when he fell down at Peter's feet,
if an angel asked to send for him, Peter must be even greater
than the angel. But what a reminder that God
doesn't use angels to preach, but sinners to preach. And what
a reminder of the blessing of gathering together under the
preach word. So here in this account, it was
to preach, We mentioned about Doag, the Lord's purpose in that
was to bring about what he had said to Eli and his house to
cause them to be destroyed, to be sentenced upon them. We think
then of Pentecost, the first Pentecost. There were those there
from every nation under heaven. Why were they there? Why was
their presence there? When the Holy Spirit fell, then
there was the gift of tongues, and they heard every man speaking
the wonderful works of God in the tongue wherewith he was born.
Not gibberish, but real languages. And those people there that could,
they were natives of those lands, of the languages that were being
spoken, They needed to be there, to be witnesses, to actually
be able to declare that this miracle was a real miracle. We can understand what they are
saying. And so this was God's purpose,
why they were there. Another reason, of course, is
they were there to be saved, they were there to be blessed.
Those that were crucified, The Lord Jesus Christ, they heard
the preaching of Peter, they were pricked in their hearts,
men and brethren, what shall we do? 3,000 were saved on that
occasion, 3,000 were blessed. What a blessed thing to be in
that assembly and for that purpose. We think also of the many times
where Tommen's presence is to fulfill scripture. Why was it
that Joseph and Mary were at Bethlehem when Mary brought forth
her firstborn son? It was prophesied that it should
be at Bethlehem that the Messiah should be born. And so they must
be there. What means did God use of the
senses at that time, the taxing as it is put in our Bible. And
so because they were of the house and lineage of David, then they
gathered there. And you think how many things
went together to bring them there, where they were born, their house,
their lineage, the decrees of Caesar Augustus. You think of
all those things and it brought them there and there they were.
at Bethlehem and the Lord was born and scriptures were then
fulfilled. We think of when our Lord was
in the Garden of Gethsemane. He chose disciples to come there
to bear witness of what they heard, his prayers, his sweating
great drops of blood, his falling to the ground, the angels strengthening
him. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. They were chosen as witnesses
many times. Throughout the Scriptures, the
presence of a person was that they should be a witness. And those things that they'd
witnessed are written in the Word of God. Many others says,
John, things could be written. They're not written, but these
are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and
that in believing he might have life through his name. We think of the disciples on
the Mount of Transfiguration. Again, they were brought up to
be witnesses of his glory. They saw him, his glory. They
saw Moses and Elias speaking to him of his decease, which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem. cloud covered them, this is my
beloved son, the voice from heaven, in whom I am well pleased. And
the cloud was lifted up, they saw no man but Jesus only. And they bore witness of this,
they testified of him. We think of our Lord in the case
of the death of Lazarus. When Lazarus fell sick, then
Mary and Martha, they, sent to the Lord and said, He whom thou
lovest is sick. Oh, no doubt they expected that
because he loved him, he would immediately go and heal him. But he didn't. When he heard,
he stayed still in the same place where he was. And later on, he
said that Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad that I was not there. He actually He said that, he
prayed, he was glad, he was not there. If he'd been there, then
the expectation was he would heal him. But because he was
not there, he waited until he died, and then he raised him
from the dead. Sometimes we might think, why
is the Lord's felt presence not with us? How little time would
we think? Well, the reason is because he
has yet a greater blessing in store. If he was here now, and
he dealt with things now, then there would not be the greater
blessing later. That's the message of Lazarus.
And we need to think of this. It's not just the presence of
his people together, but it's the presence of God to heal,
to act, to do. We know the Lord is everywhere,
he's everywhere present. But sometimes we might not feel
his presence, we might not see the evidence of his presence. But here when they came together
at Cornelius, all together, all present before God, there was
that blessing. And we have the beautiful promises
that we're to, and we sung of it in our first hymn, where two
or three are gathered together in my name, There am I in the
midst. And may we discern the reason,
the reason for people's presence. Unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. We would think of the presence
in heaven at last. Oh, to be found amongst them
there. Oh, to be gathered there. to
be in that innumerable throne. The hymn says, what if my name
should be left out when thou for them shalt call? I think
back to my school days, and every class used to start with this,
the calling of the register. And the names were called out,
and we'd hear present, present, present, And then a name would
be called out, and there'd be silence. And perhaps someone
would pipe up and say, oh, little John is ill today, he's not in,
or he's gone to music practice or something. Well, in that roll
above, those that are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, all
shall be there that are written there. Father, I will that they
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. that they may
behold my glory. It is his will. And what a blessing. Oh, may my name be found recorded
in some humble place beneath my land, to be found amongst
the people of God, to be found gathered in that general assembly,
the firstborn in heaven, all present, all here present, before
God. What a description of heaven! Here it is a description of under
the preaching and blessing of God and the power of the Holy
Spirit, that unto Him shall the gathering of the people be. So
may this thought remain with us, how important presence is,
whether we are in a place or not in a place. whether we are
found with a people or not with a people. You think of the exhortation
for God's people, come out from among them. Don't let your presence
be with the world and the things of it. Touch not the unclean
thing and I will receive you. There are those things that should
guide and direct where we seek to go. where our presence is
found, where it is not found. May it be that we are aware that
we would want the Lord to find us when he comes again, that
last time when we are found in death, when we are found to be
forever with the Lord and with his people, present. before God. May the Lord add
his blessing. Amen.