Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to John
chapter 10, and reading from our text, verse four. And when he put forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. John 10 and verse 4, specifically
the words, he goeth before them. The Lord going before his people
is what is on my spirit this evening. You have here a very
simple yet powerful parable. And yet we read that when the
Lord had spoken the parable, a natural story with a spiritual
application, that the disciples did not understand what he was
telling them. So our Lord interpreted it. But it is good for us to have
in view the picture and of course the sheepfolds in Palestine they
were circular stone walls with one opening and the shepherd
himself sat in that opening, that door, so when they were
safely in he was the door of the sheepfold. Then when they
were to go out for pasture, then he let them out and very often
caused them to pass under the rods so that he was counting
them as they went out and no doubt counting as they went in
as well. And so we have the picture of
the sheep and the shepherd And those sheep, they know the voice
of the shepherd, and they will follow that voice of the shepherd. And so this was the parable that
our Lord spoke to them. His interpretation was that he
was the door of the sheep. Those that came before him, those
were thieves and robbers, but the sheep, or his people, did
not hear them. And he sets himself as that door,
by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and go in and
out and find pasture. What a beautiful setting forth
of the Lord Jesus Christ as that entrance into the kingdom of
God. He says later on in the 14th
chapter, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. In this that's on my spirit tonight,
it's when the Lord puts his sheep forth, what happens then? When they're put into this world,
especially when they're called by grace, when they're born again
of the Spirit, when the work of God is begun in their heart,
what happens then? We read in Psalm 107, that beautiful
psalm, that he led them forth by the right
way, that they might go to a city of habitation. We can be sure that The Lord
who begins a good work in a sinner's heart will, according to the
Scriptures, perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. But here we're told a very specific
thing that the Lord does, you might say, right at the very
beginning, when he putteth forth his own sheep. When he sends
them, as it were, into the world, when he begins that work, immediately he goeth before them,
and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Of course, in the parable, The sheep would have known him
for perhaps a long while. But in truth, right from the
beginning, the Lord who calls his people, right really from,
as the psalm says, from the womb of the morning, right from the
very beginning, it is a holy work, a powerful work, an effectual
work, the work of God. right from the beginning. And it is known by this, the
Lord going before them. So I want to look with the Lord's
help this evening at three ways. Firstly, Christ going before
in salvation. And then secondly, I want to
look at five Old Testament times that really reinforce this same
teaching, the Lord going before. And then thirdly, the experience
of Christ going before, or perhaps put in another way, how it would
be viewed by the sheep, how the people of God actually in practice
experience and realize the Lord's going before. Well firstly, Christ going before
in salvation. When we have the words of our
text, he goeth before them, we could ask ourselves, How far
before then? We might have someone that says,
well, I'm going to go, and I'm going to go over to Australia. And then a friend said, well,
I'll go over before you and get things ready for you when you
get there. Well, you could go a week before.
Or he could go a year before. So how far before? Well, of course, in one sense,
with the parable, they can hear his voice. And obviously in sight. But when we think of Christ going
before, The Lord said of his people that he has loved them
with an everlasting love. That's a long while before. Chosen
in him from the foundation of the world, that's a long time
before. The Lord going before his people
in salvation, we can trace it in whom he did foreknow, No,
the apostle writing to the Romans, he brings a beautiful link in
Romans 8, where he says, whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
is, in this world, they will be like his son, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief as he was in this world, to the image of his son as he
was, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. Now have a beautiful link, a
chain that goes from eternity past to eternity to come. The full knowledge of God right
through time, when his people are called and they are conformed
to his image here, they live as his people here. His grace
upon them here, for me to live is Christ, says Paul, to die
is gain, and then to be with Him in glory. And this is a salvation
that is a planned and purposed one from everlasting. So Christ going before in salvation,
it is in the purposes of God, in the election of God, in his
counsels of old. But it's also for us in this
gospel day, and we may say with the Old Testament saints too,
because he in the purposes of God and his promise, the seed
of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head, He went before
us, the Lamb slain, seen in all the types and the shadows of
the Old Testament. But especially for us in these
Gospel days, the Lord has gone before us to suffer, bleed and
die at Calvary. Our Lord tells of what He was
to do in this portion, the commandment that he was given of his father
in verses 17 and 18. Therefore doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and
have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. And we know what the Lord has
said here. He fulfilled it. He did lay down
his life. He did take it again. The tomb
is empty. The Lord has gone before us in
this as a sacrifice acceptable unto God, sins put away, blotted
out, pardoned, The wrath of God endured, the law satisfied, its
demands met. And so Christ going before his
people has gone before them at Calvary. He's gone before them
to the grave. Death is before us each in the
day. Thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die. The grave is before us, but Christ
has been there before us. He's already perfumed that grave,
taken away the sting of death which is sin. He's made a way
that that shall be the means that this mortal is put off and
immortality is put on. This corruption is laid aside
and we're given an incorruptible body. But the Lord has gone before
the grave and then to rise from the grave as the first fruits
of them that slept. As a sure token and earnest that
those of his people that are laid in the grave as well, they
shall be raised again. And then he ascended up into
heaven and in John 17, He says, Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. And he said, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also. And the Lord speaks that in John
14. very clearly setting forth how he does go before his people,
he is in heaven. He will receive them there the
same as he received Stephen, as he was being stoned as he
died, looking up, testifying to seeing the Lord stand ready
to receive him in heaven. So in salvation, the Lord has
gone before, and the Lord goes before in making a people prepared
by the Lord. He quickens them. God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. So he has gone before us in death. While we were yet sinners, hating
God, separate from God, alienated from him, he passes by when we
are in our blood and when we are in our blood, he bids us
live. It is the Lord that is first
in salvation, not man. Salvation is of the Lord. It is the Lord that quickens
his people, they don't quicken themselves. He chooses them,
not they choose him, though in a sense, when he works in their
hearts, When he blesses them, he makes them a people willing
in the day of his power, and they in turn choose him. But the choice is God's. Ye have not chosen me, I have
chosen you. Chosen in him from the foundation
of the world. So in every sense of it, it is
Christ first. And may we remember that. May
we remember that in salvation, our own soul's salvation. Those
of us who know the Lord, those who are seeking, may we be assured
of this, that there is a time to call by grace, appointed time
of God. We are to seek the Lord while
he is to be found. We are called upon him while
he is near. to see that we might be hearers
of this word, knowing that this is the great mark of how the
Lord makes his sheep known, that he opens their ear. And right
from the very, very beginning, when he puts forth his sheep,
this mark is with them, that they know his voice. It's one
of the Earliest things, if you like, the very first things.
You think of the chapter, next chapter, chapter 11. We have
the account of Lazarus, and Lazarus is in the grave and he is bound
hand and foot, he is dead, really dead. And the Lord comes to that
grave and he calls Lazarus, come forth, and Lazarus comes forth. Now if you and I were to do that,
even if it was someone just asleep, we'd want to make sure they're
awake first. We'd call their name. If we could,
we'd shake them. And then we'd give them some
direction and guidance, what we wanted them to do. We wouldn't
just use those same words of direction, thinking that, well,
the first words that we use are not going to be heard, because
they'll still be asleep. And they'll need time to come
to and register what is being said. But our Lord uses exactly
the same words, that one thing, to both rise from the dead, not
even just a natural sleep, but rise from the dead, and to obey
that word that is spoken instantly. awakes and causes to do what
that word, and we're to remember that. That when the Lord speaks
through the ministry and speaks through his word, then we're
not expecting, well, that the Lord will say to us, I am your
child, or be quickened into spiritual life. But we will start to hear
his voice and hear his word with authority. And we will start
then to follow that direction and follow his word. It will
be that which is new to us. The word received now with power,
with authority. Behold I make all things new. The Lord going before in that
way. And we are to then seek the Lord
knowing that he uses this method and this way to quicken his people. We should seek to put ourselves
under the sound of the gospel and where the word of the Lord
is. And that's why we send forth
the Bibles, the word of the Lord. Because the word of the Lord
is not bound, and he speaks through the written word, he speaks through
the preached word, the spoken word. My sheep, they hear my
voice, and they follow me. The word of God is the voice
of God. These are the words of God. The
way that God speaks to his people is through the words of the Bible
and he opens ear to hear this word authoritatively. So Christ going before, a wonderful
way to consider as well that the word of God is before us,
provided, spread as it were, a gospel table, all is ready,
all gone before. Well I want to look then secondly
at five Old Testament types where this is a feature of them that
there is a going before. The first one is that of Joseph. That of Joseph. Remember Jacob
was in the land of Canaan with his 12 sons. God had given a
promise to Abraham that his seed should be a stranger in a strange
land, but hadn't told him how it should be brought about or
how it should come to pass. And God had decreed, appointed,
that there was to be a seven-year famine, not just in Canaan or
just in Egypt, but in all lands. And God saw to it that Joseph,
the second to youngest of Jacob's sons, was sent before them into
Egypt. And we know how, that it was
through the malice and envy of his brothers that they cast him
into a pit, made out to their father that a beast had slain
him. But then they sold him to the
Ishmaelites, who then sold him as a slave to Potiphar, the captain
of the guard, Pharaoh's guard. And there he was a servant. There his master's wife, falsely
accused him, so he was cast into prison where the king's prisoners
were bound. And there he interpreted two
dreams, the dream of a butler and baker, and he interpreted
them correctly and the baker was slain and the butler was
restored back to his office. Joseph had asked that when he
was restored the butler would remember him and speak for good
before Pharaoh, but the butler forgot him until Pharaoh had
two dreams. And then the butler remembered
Joseph and how he'd rightly interpreted the dreams. And so Joseph was
suddenly called for by Pharaoh and he comes out of the prison
and interprets the dreams that Pharaoh has had and tells him
that God means to send seven years of plenty upon the land
of Egypt and then that would be followed by seven years of
great famine and he advised Pharaoh that he would get a man to carefully
lay up all of that years of plenty so that they would have a store
for the years of famine. And Pharaoh, seeing that God
was with Joseph, put Joseph over that matter. The seven years
of plenty came and went, and then the years of famine. And
there, back in Canaan, Jacob, Joseph's father and brethren,
they hear that there is corn in Egypt. So Jacob sends Joseph's
brothers to Egypt down to get corn. And Joseph is over the
matter of distributing the corn. He recognizes his brothers, but
they don't recognize him. He deals hardly with them at
first, brings them to acknowledge their sin, and to be really concerned
and exercised about what they did to their brother, not realising
that Joseph was understanding all that they said. And then
at last he, Joseph, makes himself known to his brothers. And the effect that that has,
you can read that in Genesis, in Genesis 45, the beautiful
chapter where he makes himself known to his brethren. But in
the seventh verse of that chapter, Joseph says this to them, and
God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth
and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not
you that sent me hither, but God, that he made me a father
to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. And Joseph is very clearly able
to say that even though they, his brothers, had dealt very
cruelly with him, It had been God's overruling providence. God had used their wickedness,
used their sin for good. And we must remember this, that
even now God uses wicked men, sinful men, men with ulterior
motives, to bring about his purposes and to deal with his people for
their good. And we have this same account
referenced in the Psalms, the Psalms used to call to remembrance
the Lord's dealings with his people in years gone by. Psalm
105 mentions in the summary what had happened with Joseph. We read in verse 17, He sent
a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose
feet they hurt with fetters. he was laid in iron. Until the
time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him, the
king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the people, and
let him go free. And all the time we have this
same theme set before us, God sending a man before them. With Joseph, we know the years
that he had, 20 or so years before It was known by Jacob that his
son was even alive and to come then into Egypt. And it was a very important step
in God's providence with his ancient people, Israel, to bring
them, the children of Israel, children of Jacob, into Egypt. He sent a man before them and
that man was Joseph. So that is the first Old Testament
time which really illustrates that sending before and how much,
how many providences were involved, how much wicked men also were
involved. Then we come when the children
of Israel came up out of Egypt, 215 years after they went in. Then we have in the book of Deuteronomy
where they're rehearsing, Moses is rehearsing the acts of the
Lord. And he refers in chapter one
and verse 33 to the Lord going before them in the wain. Yet in this thing he did not
believe the Lord your God, and this is in the context that in
the wilderness he led them, if you read from verse 30, the Lord
your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you according
to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in
the wilderness where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God
bare thee as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that
ye went until ye came into this place. Yet in this thing ye did
not believe the Lord your God, who went in the way before you,
to search you out a place, to pitch your tents in, in fire
by night, to show you by by what way you should go, and in a cloud
by day. And so we have the picture of
the children of Israel going through the wilderness. It was
the Lord that decided when they should strike camp, when they
should settle, where they should settle, which way they should
go. Every direction, every step in
their way, was the Lord deciding. It was not Israel, it was not
even Moses deciding where or when their camp should be or
how long it should be in one place. The Lord went before them
in the fiery cloudy pillar to lead them all their journey through. And this is the time and we said
in our text it was immediate and the children of Israel as
soon as they left Egypt The Lord was going before them, or really
before they left Egypt in all the signs and wonders. But we
read that he led them not in the way of the Philistines, lest
they saw war and went back, but led them forth by the way of
the Red Sea. So right at the very start, the
Lord is choosing the way and choosing how he is dealing with
his people. These types, they are illustrating
the same truths in our text. that he goeth before them. He goeth before the same as with
his ancient typical people, so he goes before those of his called
people today. Then we have, as they come to
Jordan, now Jordan is a time You might say of death, it is
the barrier between the wilderness journey and the promised land.
The tithe, of course, never fulfills in every part, because the children
of Israel, when they came into Canaan, they had many wars. Well,
there won't be wars in heaven. So in that way, it doesn't follow
through in every time. But it is the river, the passage,
that is to be gone over between the wilderness journey and the
promised land. In that way, it is a time of
death. And so we have the preparations
for passing over described in the book of Joshua in chapter
3, where we have the command of the people. They commanded
the people in verse 3, chapter 3, when you see the ark of the
covenant of the Lord your God and the priests, the Levites
bearing it, then shall you remove from your place and go after
it. Yet there shall be a space between
you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. Come not near unto
it that ye may know the way. by which ye must go, for ye have
not passed this way heretofore. And it is then to follow again
the ark, which is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ark was
the box carried by the Levites that had the mercy seat on the
top of it, the cherubims, and the promise of the Lord meeting
with his people from over the top of it. But then we have the
command that the priests, that they should stand in the brink
of the river, then Jordan will stand still. But the children,
the Levites then, were to carry the ark and to stay in the midst
of the river until all the children passed over, the children of
Israel. So again, it's a very important
time with the children of Israel. In the other times, the whole
tabernacle went before them and showed them the way. But in this
time, it is the ark. And it is a beautiful time of
the Lord going into death and then brought up out of death
and making a channel and a way. And it's a sacred thing to believe
that the Lord will be with us in the hour and article of death,
that we shall see him close at hand and the Lord going before
us in that time. Then we have the case of Esther. In the book of Esther, we have
the time when the children of Israel were under the Persian
rule, if you like, and there was to be a rising up Haman that
was to want to destroy the children of Israel. And God had gone before
to make a provision to overrule what he was wanting to do and
to plan. Whenever God needs a person,
that person is there. Joseph was there when God needed
him, and in the providence of the things that were to come
so suddenly upon the children of Israel here. This is after
they've been brought back from Babylonia's captivity. And here
they suddenly have this decree that all of the Jews on a certain
day, that they should be destroyed. And we read at the end of chapter
three in the book of Esther, The city Shushan was perplexed. It was a thing they couldn't
work out. Why this sudden decree, this
sudden death sentence? But there'd been something that
happened before. The king's queen, Vashti, had
refused to come at his bidding when he held a feast. And upon
the advice of his chamberlains, he put her away from being wife
and sought a new wife. And that wife, that queen, was
Esther, who had not shown that she was a Jew. Her uncle, Mordecai,
sat at the king's gate, and she then went and wanted to find
out why Maudikei was so distressed and what had been done. And Maudikei,
her uncle, told her about the decree, the letters, and the
sentence of death. And so then he has a word for
her that she should use her position and go in unto the king and seek
life for them. And she makes objection that
she can't do that because the king has a rule that if one is
not called and he doesn't hold out the golden scepter, then
he'll have that person killed. And that would apply to her as
well. And she points out she hasn't
been called yet for 30 days. But then Mordecai says this word
to her. If thou altogether holdest thy
peace at this time, this is in verse 14, chapter 4, then shall
their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another
place. But thou and thy father's house
shall be destroyed. And he says this, who knoweth
whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And we know that that was so. Esther, she bids him to make
supplication to fast for three days and she was to do the same
and then she would go in before the king and she was able to
get the sentence reversed, Haman was slain and we see in all of
the providences of this book how remarkably God had gone before
even in taking the sleep away from the king, even in making
a plot to have the king slain, known to Mordecai and he had
shown the king that maybe years before and nothing had been done
to acknowledge that good deed until the king then is without
sleep and this thing is read before him And he wants to know
what shall be done for Mordecai just at the time that Haman is
coming into the court asking that Mordecai be hanged on the
gallows he's made. But he doesn't get the opportunity
to ask his question before the king. Ask him what should be
done to the man the king delighteth to honour. And so all those timings
in the book of Esther, we haven't got the time to go through it
now, but all the time we have the Lord going before and is
not making plans on the run as it were, things are already in
place. Esther's in place already, before
needed. We have the unthanked and unrewarded
deed that Mordy Cale already in place, already in store for
just the time when it is needed. And so you have these Old Testament
types that show us what we mean, the Lord's going before. Now
there is Elijah, our last one in the Old Testament types. We
sung of it in our middle hymn, and how it is that it was to
create again that there should be a famine and Elijah was the
one that was to bring that word to King Ahab that there should
not be rain or dew except according to his word. But then God provided
for Elijah and he sent him to the brook Cherith and he says
get thee hence in 1 Kings chapter 17 and verse 3, get thee hence
and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith
that is before Jordan. shall be that thou shalt drink
of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. And the Lord there provides for
Elijah for this time. Then the brook dries up. It must
have been a great concern for Elijah. But then the Lord's gone
before. He says, you go to Zarephath. and I have commanded a widow
woman there to sustain thee. And he goes to Zarephath and
the Lord makes sure that widow woman is out collecting sticks,
is the first one she meets, he meets as he comes to that city. And the Lord has gone before
and provided for Elijah, not once but twice. And we could
multiply many other different types in the Old Testament, where
the Lord goes before. We could think of Jonah, and
Jonah's running away from the Lord, and he's cast into the
sea, but God's prepared a fish, and the fish is there just at
the right time, and so he's swallowed, his life is saved, And there's
many of these times where it is something that is already
prepared, already done, ready for a certain time. How much then of what we are
walking through in our lives is preparing for something yet
to be revealed another time? or how many things maybe we will
enter into that the Lord has already laid up in store. Remember,
Jacob did not have any idea his son was even alive, let alone
the Lord gone before, and to provide for them. And the same
with us, we do not know. how the Lord is going before,
what the Lord is doing. Well, what are the experience
then? Our last point, the experience of Christ going before. In the book of Hebrews in chapter
12, we have this word, that we are to, or let us run with patience,
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. This is him
going before. If we're running, we're not looking
back, we're looking forward. And so the Lord has gone before.
And in Hebrews 11, we have all of the saints there looking forward
to his coming, but they're looking back to the promises of his coming. But we looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God on high. When the Lord puts forth his
people, then it is to follow him. That is what a disciple
is, a follower of the Lord. The Lord said to them, In John
8, to those that believed, that if ye continue in my word, then
shall ye be my disciples indeed. A real follower, continuing in
the word of God. The word that they'd heard. The
voice of the shepherd that they'd heard right at the start. That
they're to continue in that word, follow in that word. You can't
think that the Bereans, when they heard Paul preach and then
searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so
and so, many of them believed that they would stop reading
the word or stop following the word, but they would continue
in the word. So the experience of God's people
in that way is like the psalmist says, thy word hath quickened
me. Where the work in our hearts
has been of God, and the Lord has sent his word and quickened
us, we will continue in that word. We'll know the value of
it. We'll know his voice. The word
of God will be an authority to us. The most solemn thing, if
there are those that profess to be a disciple or follower
of Christ, and all they're concerned about is pulling apart the Bible,
discounting Genesis, discounting the epistles, saying they're
only of Paul, and not describing the whole Word of God as to be
the inspired Word of God. The most solemn thing for those
who profess to be a follower of the Lord to be doing that. Our true experience is to believe
that every Word of God and esteem every word of the
Lord as right. The second thing is this, to
expect his goodness to be seen in the way. This is why we read
the passage we did in Exodus, the word to Moses was, in verse
19 of chapter 33, I will make All my goodness pass before Thee,
and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before Thee, and
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. A sovereign God, a God that has
his goodness pass before in the way. You think of those dear
women coming up to the tomb when our Lord had died, and they'd
set a stone and a seal, and they're asking this question, who will
roll us away the stone? We might have that, great obstacles
in our life and questions in our minds. How will we get over
that difficulty? How will we remove that obstacle? Those things that are between
us, as it were, and the Lord. But you know, when they got to
the tomb, the stone was rolled away. The Lord had gone before. There wasn't a hindrance, there
wasn't an obstacle. You might be gathering tonight,
you've an obstacle, an enemy, an adversary, something that
stands in the way. The sacred thing, when we find, when
we come to it, it's no longer there, it's gone. Dear Jacob,
in a way found that. After he wrestled with God in
prayer with his brother, he saw, he embraced him as an angel of
God. All his malice, his enmity and
hatred had gone. The Lord had gone before. What
about with the upper room furnace? The Lord had said to his disciples,
you go to a certain man and ask him and he shall show you a large
upper room furnace there, make ready for the Passover. And there
they find it so. Why did that man make ready?
Who made him do that? What about with the ass and the
foal? When the Lord would come riding
into Jerusalem, he told the disciples exactly where to go, what to
say if they said, why lose ye the ass? And they find these
things the same, all done. The Lord is preparing. He knows
in providence. He prepares hearts. He makes
provision. And sometimes we have found those
things in our lives. The Lord has done the same, made
provision. Whether it be a place of study
or a place of employment or a home that we're to buy. or whatever
it is, whether it is a blessing through the ministry and through
the word, the Lord leading us to a certain place or to hear
that minister or to receive that word, and to realise this, that
the Lord has worked at both ends. It is especially so when the
Lord's servants are sent forth. No, it's not just the minister
deciding, well, that looks a nice congregation there, I'll be the
pastor there. Well, doesn't the congregation
and church have any say about it? Oh, no, no, I'll just be
pastor there. Of course not. The Lord works
at both ends. Sometimes it is the church calls
the man, and the man says, no, I don't have any leading to go
at all. And another time a man might
have a real burden to be a pastor, a place, never ask him for the
pastorate. But then when the Lord is in
the matter and it works at both ends and it fits together, the
Lord going before, that's what we need. A people. A people waiting. You think of, when we think of
the ministry, The first time the gospel was sent to the Gentiles,
10 years after Pentecost, there is Peter, and he needs to be
prepared to go and preach to the Gentiles. So the Lord gives
him the vision of the sheep let down, and where he says, no,
I will not kill and eat. I will not eat anything unclean. And the Lord says to him, thou
shalt not call that common unclean that God hath cleansed. And then
when there's the three men from Cornelius seeking him at the
door, the Lord says, go down and go with them, doubting nothing,
for I have sent them. And Peter then, he goes. Peter's
been prepared. And it meets just the right time
when these men from Cornelius come to ask him to come and preach
to them. And he comes and he finds the
room with all the people ready. And Cornelius says, we're all
here waiting to hear word from thee. And the Lord blessed the
word, the spirit was given, and many baptized the first time,
the power, the same as Pentecost. And Peter saw it, and he says
to the disciples later, it was the same, the same as what happened
with us at Pentecost, the same with the Gentiles. God has given
to the Gentiles repentance unto life. You think going back to
the Old Testament with dear David, when Ziklag was burned with fire,
the Lord said that he would go before them, that they would
recover all, and as they pursue after the Amalekites, they find
a man, an Egyptian, a servant, sick. And they revive him again,
and they find out he's been with this company. And the Lord used
that man that three days ago, had fallen sick to direct David
to the company, so they recovered all. The man in the field, the
Lord going before, have we known what that is? Just a small link
in the chain, small in significant providence, and yet it's been
so important. We've seen the Lord's matter
in it. Now years ago, I'm over in Australia,
and I'd been going visiting the Presbyterian churches over there. And my dear sister in faith,
she was 81 when she passed away at her funeral. But she was obviously
concerned with me that looking perhaps elsewhere. And there was one time the deacon
He was caught in floods in Queensland. He couldn't get back for the
services. There was no services at Melbourne.
And so I took the opportunity to go and very prayerfully to
meet with this other congregation. And I don't believe they're Lord's
people yet. When I was there, I felt not
in my right place. And yet we were going from there.
Before I was a church member. Myself and my mother at that
time were going to Alice Robinson's little bed set and I knew she
would ask me to read and pray and I was in such a turmoil in
my mind and I thought, how can I ever read and ever pray in
how I'm feeling? Well, when we got there, before
I could ever say anything or ever read or pray, she said,
now, she said, I want to read you a sermon. And we sat, and
she sat on her bed sitting, we sat in the chair there, and she
got a sermon of John Kershaw's, but we see Jesus. And she sat
there in a little lady with her trembling hands reading this
sermon to me. And you know, when she came to
the second point, the person saying, the Lord so blessed that
to me. I'll be the Lord had so prepared
my heart. And the Lord prepared her and
laid it upon her heart to read that sermon. And you know, I
suppose it would be a year or so later than that, in that same
bed, Sid, that's where I gave my testimony to the church and
joined the church. And it is a sacred time. And you remember those times
when the Lord has known all that's happening, and he's gone before
with his word. It was the same when we came
over here. When I first preached in this land, was in this pulpit,
we'd never planned that. It was a visit we'd planned three
months over here quite a while before. And what we'd planned
was to have the First Lord's Day free of each of those three
months, so I could meet with my dear one's church at East
Beckham. But just at the last minute,
I was called, could I just preach on that first Lord's Day morning
here in this pulpit? So I preached here. The first
time I ever preached in England was in this pulpit. And then
afterwards, the deacon asked me, did I have any other times?
Well, there was. The two other first Lord's Days
during that three months that had been kept free in my mind
for East Peckham as a hearer, but ended up preaching here. And you see the Lord's planning,
and it was that very first sermon I ever preached here that the
Lord laid on their hearts to call me as the pastor here. And you look upon these times,
the Lord going before. That sermon, by the way, is on
the recording of it, is on the website under historical recordings. But we'll have an We look at what has happened
and cannot but say this is the Lord's doing, is marvellous in
our eyes. He that will observe providence
will never lack a providence to observe. We are to ponder
the ways of the Lord, lay nothing to chance, but notice the Lord's
hand in it. There will be with us, if we
are his sheep, an experience of the Lord's going before, in
how our hearts are prepared, how we receive the word, what
he does in providence, and it is all to the honour and glory
of God and to the comfort of our souls. A true witness that
we are his sheep, he goeth before them. May the Lord add his blessing.