Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 107, and we'll read
for our text just the first three words in verse three. And gathered them. And gathered them. The whole
verse reads, And gathered them out of the lands from the East
and from the West, from the North and from the South. When Jacob blessed his sons before
he died, he spoke of Judah, and he spoke of, unto him shall the
gathering of the people be. The promise was unto Christ,
And we know when our Lord Jesus Christ came upon this earth,
that there were gathered unto Him many, many multitudes. His fame was noise throughout
all the country, and they came, and they came to hear Him. That was in a natural way. We know that there was many that
gathered in such a way that were never saved. did not have a saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. At one time He reproved them
who followed Him for the loaves and the fishes. They were pleased
with what He had given them, but they did not think. Now that
was a miracle. This must be the Christ, the
Son of God, who is able to give not just natural bread for our
bodies, but give that eternal bread give eternal life and so
our Lord followed in John 6 in speaking to them of that bread
of life and he said in that discourse no man can come unto me except
the father which sent me draw him and I'll raise him up at
the last day there will then be a people that are drawn to
Christ, are gathered to Christ, and it flows as from our text,
from what goes on before. The word before is, let the redeemed
of the Lord say so, that is, give thanks unto the Lord for
he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of
the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed, from the hand of the
enemy and the words of our text and gathered them so what is
upon my spirit here is a people that have been redeemed and redeemed
from the hand of the enemy but it doesn't stop there we have
this and is that which follows on afterwards and that is and
gathered them and it seems to be very precious to me this strange
time I know to get a text and hymns but I woke up at four o'clock
this morning and I came down to my study and there at four
o'clock I had the reading the text and the hymns it seems a
strange time for a minister to be up knowing as I do now what had
happened Well, I trust it is of the Lord.
And this word, and gathered them, and we think of the gatherings
that are to be and are to have to happen in time to come, and
I want to look at some of these this evening, but in order to
have our thoughts rightly focused on this word, I want to look
firstly and a redeemed people, and then a gathered people, and
then a led people, because we have, following from the gathering,
that they are also then led. They are led forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. The first is,
and what leads up to the text, and what brings it to be the
end, is that they were redeemed. And what I felt very much on
this word, the gathering, when we come to that, in the experience
of the people of God, is very, very different between each one,
how they're actually gathered. But the redemption, every one
of the dear people of God are redeemed in the same way. Every one redeemed is to be set
free by the payment of a price. And you might say every one of
God's dear children were in the hand of the enemy, Satan. Satan had their hearts. We are
fallen in Adam. We are under the sentence of
death. We are servants to Satan. And the only way of being freed
from that is to be redeemed. In the Old Testament, there's
beautiful times of redeeming. How it could be that when one
had lost lands or when one was in servitude, then they could
get those things back if they had someone with ability to redeem. Of course the most beautiful
illustration is in the book of Ruth, which Naomi realized that
as they came back from the land of Moab, and she was a widow,
Ruth was a widow, her husband Elimelech's lands, as it were,
needed to be redeemed, she needed to be redeemed, Ruth needed to
be redeemed, but Boaz was a near kinsman, he had the right to
redeem and he was able then to marry Ruth and to raise up seed
unto her as the law required and also to give her all what
was lost or needed to be redeemed of her lands from Elimelech. And to do that he needed to be
a nearkinsman. Now the Lord Jesus Christ must
needs be a nearkinsman to those for whom he redeems. So he had to be made of a woman
and made under the law. He had to be spotless. Job says
how can a clean thing come out of an unclean? How could it be
the promise of the seed of the woman that should bruise the
servant's head come when everyone born into this world is a sinner
and unclean? How can they redeem? No man can
redeem his own brother because we are sinners. But of course
we know the mystery of godliness. God manifests in the flesh and
how the Lord was made under the law and made of a woman, the
Holy Ghost overshadowing Mary, and that holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, made not like
the angels, which is just spirit, or like the beasts, which are
just flesh, but of the seed of Abraham, body and soul. We are redeemed body and soul. And so there needs to be, if
there is to be redemption, a redeemer and the verse before our text,
let the redeemed of the Lord. It is the Lord that redeems his
people and every single one of them from Abel's day right to
the last one that shall be called by grace and there shall be a
people on this earth called by God's grace to redeem people
when the Lord comes again. There won't be any uncalled of
His people at that time. They will all be called and then
gathered with Him. But that redemption is the same
for every single one. What Christ did on Calvary in
shedding His blood In paying that price, in setting them free
without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, that was
done for everyone at the same time, in the same way. The Old
Testament saints, they had the Gospel in the tights and the
shadows, but it wasn't the blood of bulls or goats that put away
their sin, it was their faith looking past that to what Christ
would do. He is the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And that redemption had to take
place and did take place at Calvary. And the ordinance of the Lord's
house, baptism, buried with Him by baptism into death, risen
again in newness of life, and the Lord's Supper, both instituted
by our Lord, they both point back to that redemption at Calvary. He do show forth the Lord's death
till he come. This do in remembrance of me."
And every one of God's dear children, whatever their lot has been on
this life, however they've been brought to faith, they've all
been redeemed at the same time, in the same way, with the same
precious blood. Their sins have been laid on
the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, with all
of the people of God, and the Lord has borne them away, sweated
those great crops of blood, so amazed at the weight of what
He was enduring, to the judgment, and then to Calvary's intense
sufferings, enduring the wrath of God in the place of His people. And it is, the Lord has seen
fit to do those things that is so vital for the people of God
in such a way they can never lift up above each other and
what draws them together in Christ because the redemption is all
the same. Often being struck with how the
Lord ordered it with the Day of Pentecost, Peter was preaching
when the Holy Spirit was given. The Lord has said, tarry at Jerusalem
until he be endued with power from on high, and when Peter
was preaching, or the Holy Spirit fell, and then Peter preached,
they were pricked in their hearts, they received, gladly received
the Word of God, and were baptized. And then ten years later, the
Lord did the same for the Gentiles. But instead of using the Apostle
Paul, He used Peter. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles. But God chose that the Jews wouldn't
say, ah, we have the Spirit through the preaching of Peter. You have
it through Paul. No, Jew and Gentile would say
the Lord used the same Apostle and Peter was able to go back
to them at Jerusalem and rehearsed the matter from the beginning
because they challenged him they said you have gone in unto men
uncircumcised you've broken bread with them you've been with them
and he rehearsed the matter from the beginning and they said then
hath God also granted repentance unto life unto the Gentiles and
the Lord saw fit Peter could recognize. He didn't have to
recognize it by report and say, well, this is what we heard happened
at Pentecost. He was there at Pentecost. He
was the preacher then. He was the preacher at Caesarea.
So in that way, the people of God are gathered together and
kept together in the gift of the Holy Spirit and is here in
redemption. that it is a redeemed people,
a people that we don't need to look into it and say to one another,
well how were you redeemed? And how was I redeemed? I was redeemed in a different
way. No, that redemption that is in Christ Jesus is a finished
work, is Christ's work, is Christ's sacrifice, as the actual Lamb
of God and the sacrifice of laying down His own life to take it
again. And there's something very beautiful,
very sacred in that finished work because as soon as there
is a following on within the words of our text and that immediately shows that that
soul is redeemed. Really we know our redemption
from our text. All that are redeemed will be
gathered. And when they are gathered, they
know that they are redeemed. We know our election by our calling. And those that are elect and
are chosen, the Lord bore their sins in His body on the tree,
particular redemption. And all of those that He then
died for, He will bring. He will gather. their generation in his time
and way in all different ways but it all points to what has
been done at Calvary. Done in a way that again is beautiful
in the ordinances of the Lord's house because we're not celebrating
one person's experience and another person's experience, we're not
saying we're remembering our experience, and one poor soul
says, but I haven't had the blessings that you've had, and I haven't
had the wonderful leadings that you've had, and somehow feels
to be less than the brethren. No, when we're in the Lord's
house, it's Christ is all, and everyone that gathers around
the table can say, We all partake of the same cup. We all partake
of the same broken bread. It is Christ's sacrifice, it's
his redemption. And that's precious when the
people of God are united and bound together in that way. There's no schism in Christ at
all. Even his dear disciples, you
know, he asked them, what were you talking? Either way, disagreement. They held their peace. Why? Because
they were trying to work out who would be the greatest among
them. Pride. Pride. The Lord sets a little child
in the midst of them and then he teaches their humility. But
when it is a direction to the redemption in Christ, then man
Man must cease and Christ is all in all. Remember that word? They all forsook him and fled. All of that. Christ bore that
alone. He redeemed alone. He accomplished
that alone. So a redeemed people, we picture
them, their sins laid on Christ. But we don't read their names
in the Word of God. when they're born into this world
we don't have redeemed written on them there are some denominations
and they'll print out t-shirts and they'll put on the front
of them covenant children they sprinkle their children and say
because they're parents the promises are to you and your children
they're covenant children but dear friends the word is The
promise is unto you and your children even as many as the
Lord thy God shall call. That is a wonderful promise and
God's children who have their own children have every right
to really pray over them because God in his providence very often
will place his blood-bought children in families where they'd be brought
up under the sound of the truth. They never let Satan say to you,
well, religion is just all a sham, it's not really the work of God
at all. You look around the chapels,
most of them that are attending the chapels, they've been brought
up under the sound of the truth, they've been born into godly
families, there's nothing miraculous, no saving grace about it, it
is just that they've been brought up and they continue Well, many
haven't, sadly haven't continued. And we're told in John, it is
not by the will of the flesh. They're not born by blood. It
doesn't run through families. It's not able that a husband,
a father, a wife can make sure their children are saved. And we ourselves can't say, I
want to be saved, I'm going to be saved. And it'd just be our
own will. It is Christ's will. I remember
years ago, over in Tasmania, when my father was alive, At
that time I was not called, I was not quickened at all, and I was
over visiting the family and a pea man came. My father did contract peas and
he started speaking to me. My father couldn't come to the
door. He said, are you a Christian? Are you baptized? Do you remember?
No, I wasn't at that time. Is your mother? No, she wasn't.
What about your brother and your sister? And he went through.
When my father came to the door, this man, he turned on him. He
said, you, he said, you think you're a Christian? He said,
you haven't made sure that your wife and your children are saved?
And he really had a go at him. Now, dear Jacob, when Rachel
said to him, give me children, else I die, Jacob said, am I
in God's stead? I can give life? And this man
seemed to think that a father had power to make Christians
of all his family if he wanted to. By God's grace, some of us,
the Lord has made us his children, has put us amongst his children. But that work is the work of
God. When God puts his children into
this world, those he's loved with an everlasting love and
chosen in him before the foundation of the world, if you were going
to send your child away to the other side of the world, wouldn't
you put them in a Christian family? Wouldn't you think something
about where you were going to place them, who was going to
look after them, who was going to influence them? Of course
you would. And what would you think of a God that had had a
multitude of people but couldn't make any providence, provision,
where he placed them? No, for the most part he will
place them amongst his people and the promises unto you and
your children that are those that have come completely from
without, those that have had no upbringing, those that are
like the Ruth's, the Rahab's and they are brought but in a
great way the Lord does put his redeemed people in families where
they will hear the word and don't ever let Satan take away from
you the blessing of that and the need even though that is
the case of God's saving grace, of this word of our text, that
not only are they redeemed, but there's the and, and gather them. So let us move from the redeemed
to the gathering, a gathered people, and gathered them. The whole verse reads, and gathered
them out of the lands from the east and from the west and from
the north and from the south. And in the gospel, it is in every
nation, kindred and tongue. The Lord says in John 10, that
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, that is not
of the fold of the Jews, the Gentiles, then also I must bring. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd." Again, a bringing to be one. That was what our
Lord's Prayer was, that they may be one as we are one. Now, a gathering then is a gathering
that encompasses right through the world under the preaching
of the Gospel. So, just some thoughts on it. The first is this, they are gathered
by irresistible grace. The Kingdom of God standeth sure,
having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let every
one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord
knew who He suffered for at Calvary. And so He knows where they are
placed in this world, where their generation is, and He has determined
the very time and the place where they shall be called, where they
shall be gathered, where they shall be gathered, because it
is in the being born again of the Spirit, quickened by His
Spirit, that they are gathered. by nature the languages depart
from thee, I desire not the knowledge of thy ways, that was solemnly
how I was in unredemeracy, I did not desire the knowledge of the
ways of the Lord, I did not want to gather with the people of
God, I did not want their company, they were not my people, they
were not my company, they were not my likes, And we all by nature,
we've all gone our own way. The Lord had laid on him the
iniquity of us all. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We all are in the hand of the
enemy. But where Christ is redeemed
from that enemy, then he may justly, holily, righteously deliver
that people from Satan's hand. Set them free, loose them. from
his deceits, from his bondage, from his servitude, and gathered
them unto him. And that is by irresistible grace. The Lord will never miss the
mark. He will save his people. His
name is Jesus, for he shall save them from their sins. And there's
one of our most precious doctrines, the irresistible grace of God. He will break the hardest heart.
He will soften the hardest heart. He will gather those that have
said and made those resolutions, I'll never be a Christian. I'll
never be amongst the people of God. I'll never worship the Lord. I'll never be baptised. I'll
never be a church member. The Lord will gather them. And
it will be His work and the glory will be His. And so this is where
the text comes in so precious is, and those that were redeemed,
and gather them, gathered by irresistible grace, and gathered
unto Christ, we said of that which dear Jacob said, unto him
shall the gathering of the people be. And they are gathered unto
Christ, the Holy Spirit shall not speak of himself, Whatsoever
he hears, that shall he speak, he shall receive it mine and
shall show it unto you. And our Lord says, No man cometh
unto me except the Father that sent me. Draw him, and I will
raise him up at the last day. True religion will always gather
a soul unto Christ. They'll be drawn unto Christ,
gathered unto Christ, not pushed willingly drawn, so that they
willingly come. They shall come. Come unto me,
all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. Make a lowly in heart,
ye shall find rest unto your souls. They'll be gathered then
unto Christ. They'll be gathered as well unto
his people. Paul says, of the Thessalonians
that the Word came unto you, not in word only, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. And he became followers of the
Lord and of us. That is the effect. We know that
we have passed from death unto life in that we love the brethren. John says in his epistles of
those that went out from us, they went out because they were
not of us. And you say, how arrogant that
is of Paul. Is he so saying, well, just because
they're not of us, they can't be the people of God? Of course
that is not to be translated into, well, because someone is
not of gospel standard, if they go out from us, then they're
lost, they're not the people of God. What John is meaning,
he had the true faith of God. This is the teachings of the
Lord. This is a people, if they go
away from that, the Lord said, if you believe not that I am
he, you shall perish in your sins. Because there is only one
name given among men, whereby we must be saved. And if someone
departs from those essential doctrines of grace, the doctrines
of the redemption in Christ. There is no hope outside of that. There's many unessential things,
things that are not essential to salvation, but those things
that are essential, two of them are here. Redemption in Christ,
and gathered by Christ. Those two things is God's work. This is the work of God, that
he believe in him whom God has sent. And it will be a drawing
together with those of like mind, those of the same redeemed family. Whatever nation it is, you can
go from Australia to here, or here to Australia, and you find
the people of God, and you feel a union to them. Sometimes you
might hear them in prayer, or hear what they say, see their
humility, see what Christ is in their hearts and in their
lives, and you love them, you love them for their true sake. and so it will be a gathering
unto his people and following with them and joining with them. Why standest thou without coming
thou blessed of the Lord will be the language of the church
and the language of the soul forbid me not a desiring to come
amongst the people of God wanting to join with the people of God
gathered, gathered then by the Lord's grace, by His mercy. There's other aspects, there's
gathered into the church in a way of profession, those that are
brought to put the Lord on in open profession, to speak of
what He has done for their souls, and as they gather they walk
in the footsteps of the flock. come and hear all ye fear God
and I will tell what he hath done for my soul and the substance
of what they tell is how they have been gathered unto Christ
and how they want to be gathered with the people of God and so
they are gathered in that way they gather for worship as we
do this evening they gather around the Lord's table They gather
together in their sorrows, they gather together in their joys. You think of when the Lord was
crucified and rose again, what were the disciples doing? Gathered
in the upper room. Why did Thomas have to wait eight
days again? Because he wasn't with them when
the Lord first appeared. How precious it is to really
want to be where the gathering the people are. At the end of
the world, when the Lord was speaking about the second coming,
and they said, where Lord? And he gave a little simple illustration. And he said, where so ever the
carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. A little
simple illustration, you could put it this way. Wherever Christ
is, there will his people be. Wherever His people are, there
will Christ be. You don't need to worry about
not being missed because He said at the end that He shall send
forth His angels and He shall gather them from the four corners
of the earth. Gather His people together. That
gathering, it happens all the way along the way from a calling
to the last. They gather as we have today. gathered to himself by death. The Lord gathers his people home,
into his bosom, brings them home, gathers them from the church
militant to the church triumphant. A multitude, innumerable multitude
in heaven and those who have then gathered them are very precious
in each stage of the way and to be numbered amongst the people,
and we say, because the Lord has gathered me, He has redeemed
me. I would never have been gathered
without being redeemed. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ, and if He
is gathered by grace, He will gather you home at last, and
you'll gather to glory at last. He won't only half-gather. And
that is a beautiful thing. And gathered them. There's a
beautiful thing we've already mentioned about dear Ruth. How
does the Lord gather His people? Very different way. One of the
principle ways is commission to His disciples, going into
all the world, preach the gospel to every creature he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall perish
the Lord uses the ministry of the world the word of God throughout
the world to gather his people may we remember that he uses
also the influence of his own people it was Ruth's love to
Naomi She claimed to her, what, not in prosperity, in joy, but
in sorrow, in widowhood, drew her together, times of affliction. Some of the Lord's people have
been tried like that. They said, am I really called?
Has the Lord really called me? Because I just love my future
husband or wife or in-laws and they've been a means to bring
me to chapel. I've heard the word and I've
been blessed. and I wonder whether is it really God's work or is
it just that's how I've come to be a Christian but the Lord
used us that way and you see with Ruth it was all love it
was said when she bore her son thy daughter in law that loveth
thee and many of the Lord's people the first time that they really
Show that evidence of being the Lord's people is a real love
to the people of God, and going with that. And may we, when we
know the Lord, be helped to not only live as examples, show forth
the praises of Him who has called us out of nature's darkness and
into His marvellous light, but recommend His grace as well. Invite people to come to where
you come. Give the Word of God. Speak the
Word of God. Be ambassadors for the Lord. The Lord has given his people
on this earth, and you think of those that he healed, those
he gave sight to, the mad gathering, all of them, go home to thy friends. Those that you already have an
opening with to speak to and tell them, show them. They can see the change in you.
Solitasis. His friends, they could see the
change in him. They knew he was a different
man. And if the work is real with us, men will see there is
a change, there is a difference with us as well. And so the Lord
uses in that way the Roots, the Zacchaeuses. How did he become
to be gathered? Curiosity. He knew the Lord passed
by, he wanted to see him, his lowest status, who climbs up
into a tree. But the Lord had an appointment.
Come down. He even knew his name. How did
he know his name? He did. What would have happened
if Zacchaeus hadn't been there? All the Lord's plans of gathering
and meeting for a meal at his house all fall down. There was
no possibility of him missing. He'd been gathered, he was gathered
there and the arrangements had been made by the Lord that he
should dine at his house. You wouldn't think of this, and
gathered them being one important part, just curiosity. The Lord
does do that. And there is, by faith of hearing,
we think of Rahab. Rahab, she told the spies, And
again, God's providence that brought them to be to her house,
that they'd heard of what the Lord had done for them at the
Red Sea. That was 40 years before. They
hadn't forgotten that wonderful, what must they have thought of
Jericho when they saw Jordan, of course Jordan was a river
so it didn't need to be divided like the Red Sea, but Jordan
stopped and the same thing happened. They'd go over. Their hearts
must have even more melted. But you know, the spies, they
said to Rahab, you put a sign in the window, a scarlet horse
sign, and you gather your family, your father, your mother, anyone
in that house, that they are safe, anyone outside, they will
be destroyed with the city. And she gathered them all in,
and gathered them. What made her relatives, what
made them gather? What made them believe her, and
to come and shelter in that house? The same power, the same God
that made the Israelites believe in the day of the Passover, that
they put the blood on the doorpost and the lintel and sheltered,
when I see the blood I'll pass over you. The scarlet line set
forth the same thing. But what a contrast! Think of
the days of Lot, The angel said to Lot, go out into the city,
get your daughters, the men that they married, your grandchildren,
all your family, bring them in. How many came in? None. None. Just his two daughters
that were there, brought out from that city, they all perished.
There's a great contrast between Lot's household and Rahab's household. yet Rahab as a harlot lot was
one that feared God. He obviously hadn't spoken much
to those of his relatives, they thought he was just mocking when
he spoke to them. First time he'd ever said anything
about things of God to them. But there's Rahab and her family,
they take notice and they are saved. The Lord uses these means,
these ways, gathering the people together and we think of one
of the very early in the Lord's miracles when he was in the house
and we read there was gathered a great multitude to him so much
so that he couldn't get in at the door and they brought one
born of four sick of the palsy had to let him down from the
roof that was how he was gathered the Lord saw their faith And
said to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins which are free, many
a forgiveness. Who can forgive sins but God
only? He said that the Son of Man hath
power to forgive sins. He says to the sick of the palsy,
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And he does. The Lord had power
to forgive sins. But it struck me he saw their
faith, not the sick man's faith. What an encouragement for people,
the Lord's people, to pray over those that are helpless themselves,
those that are not able, as it were, won't come to the Lord
themselves. They can bring them before the
Lord. The Lord uses many means to gather,
but all will be unto Christ. All will be to prize that precious
blood for which they were redeemed and why they can be justly, holily,
set free from Satan's servitude and bondage, and gather them."
And gathered them. A gathered people. A redeemed
people. A gathered people. But lastly,
a led people. People that are led. We referred
to John 10 before. The Lord speaking of himself
as the shepherd, the good shepherd. When he putteth forth his sheep,
he goeth before them. He led them forth, we read here
in verse 7. Led them forth by the right way
that they might go to a city of habitation. Following the
Lord. know my voice, they follow me. The Lord, using his word, I will
instruct thee and guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the
horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose mouth
must be held in with bit and bridle. The Lord shall speak. Thou shalt hear a word behind
thee, saying, This is the way, Walk ye in it when ye turn to
the left hand and when ye turn to the right. Sometimes it's
through the ministry. Sometimes it is through the word
of a brother. Sometimes it is through the rod.
Hear ye the rod and who has appointed it. Sometimes it is in ways of
providence that is completely taken out of our own hand. You look at his life. Where was
a word of direction to him? He had the dreams. Everything
was taken out of his hand. All he did was obey his father
and go to his brethren, see how they were. They took it out of
his hands. They put him in the pit. They
sold him. He was bought. He was falsely
accused. He was put into prison. The butler
forgot him. And then the butler remembers
him. when Pharaoh has his dreams. And you might say, Joseph, godly
man that he was, never needed to be led by a word of the Lord,
but was shepherded by providence, shut doors, opened doors, all
the way along the way. Never put lines for the Lord
to work in and say, If I am to be led and directed in the way
that I'm to go, it must be in this way, it must be in that
way. No. He led them forth by the right
way and they will be a people that immediately say like Saul
of Tarsus did, the Apostle Paul, what will thou have me to do? Not, I'm going to decide and
I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. The Apostle
said later on, ye are bought with a price, redeemed, redeemed,
as in our text here. Wherefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are His. He's gathered people
and led people, made willing in the day of His power. They
realize their whole life is bound up in Christ. He had mercy on
them. Before they were born, He died
for them. He chose them, they were chosen
in Christ, are loved with an everlasting love. Therefore with
loving kindness have I drawn thee, or in the words of our
text, have I gathered thee in loving kindness. To have a people
then that not only are gathered, but right the way through their
lives will be led of the Lord. Now when Jacob met Esau, Esau
met Jacob, And Esau offered to go with the people and to bring
them along their way, but Jacob would have nothing of it. He
said, the mothers with the children, little flocks, if thou but overdrive
one day, they will perish. He knew the danger of overdriving. I wonder if we know that with
a young Christian, overdriving. No, though to be led on gently. The Lord himself, he taught them,
as they were able to bear it. And the word in Isaiah is line
upon line, line upon line, hear a little and bear a little. And
that's how it is to be with those that the Lord gathers. They're
not instantly grown Christians. They grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as they're led into the precious
truths of God, through afflictions and trials, you think of this
whole psalm. What is the turning point of
every trial and every sorrow and difficulty they had? They
fell down, there was none to help. Then they cried unto the
Lord in their trouble. And he saved them out of their
distresses. That's the turning point. May
we be a praying people. Behold, he prayeth like sore
trusses. So we have then a redeemed people,
a gathered people, a led people, and in a way that leading, sometimes
we can look back to unregeneracy before we even knew the Lord
or knew that we were redeemed. We realise the Lord still did
lead us then, ordered our lives then, appointed our path then,
but now we see Now we look for it, and value it, and thank the
Lord for it. Well, it's a blessed thing if
this evening finds us to be amongst those that are gathered. It's
a solemn thing if we're not, because there will be a gathering
at last, and the Lord will put his sheep on one side, the goats
on the other. It'll be a solemn thing to be
left out. I often think about him, but
can I bear The piercing thought, what if my soul be left out when
thou for them shalt call? When the Lord gathers his people,
will we be amongst them? If we know the value of our souls,
the preciousness of Christ, and really love to be with the people
of God, the thought to be excluded. And when we feel our sin and
how easily fall, how easily get into snares and traps, and we
grieve the Lord, then it will make us anxious. But maybe look
at the beautiful plan here. There's nothing the people of
God that are redeemed and that are gathered can do that will
ever send themselves out of that covenant. May we never sin that
grace may abound, and always be tender in his fear, but may
we rest in what Christ has done. And that's why we have the ordinances,
so God's poor, tempted, and tried people, they don't despair, for
it is Christ who has died and risen again, and they are the
work of his own hands, and he will gather them at last, and
gather them to be with him in heaven, and in the meantime,
May he yet gather in more in the Church of God, here below,
so he see it and rejoice. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.