Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to Luke
chapter 24, the chapter that we read. And reading from our
text, verse 34. Verse 34. The Lord is risen indeed
and hath appeared to Simon. Luke 24 verse 34, these are the
words that when the two returned from Emmaus and they came to
the disciples, the 11 gathered together and those that were
with them and they heard them saying this, the Lord is risen
indeed and have appeared to Simon and then they had their own witness
and what they could tell them. And they told what things were
done in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of
bread. And those are quite sacred times
when there is a flowing together, one has had a view of the Lord,
the blessing of the Lord, they share it to another and another
says, we have had the same. or the Lord has appeared to us
in a similar way, and there's a flowing of heart to heart. And that is the immediate context
of the word here. It is not a word that is spoken
by the two returning, but what they hear as they come, and the
11 testifying. It always strikes me in the this
resurrection morn of the coming and going, the many things that
were happening, and that gradually the truth was being unfolded
so that instead of saying in our text, the Lord is risen and
hath appeared to Simon, the Lord hath risen indeed. And maybe some of you tonight,
those things you may be able to say and give testimony to,
the Lord is risen and hath appeared. But how much difference it makes
when there's that indeed. It gives the assurance, it gives
the strength, it gives the backing up of that. So it's as if there's
no doubt, and yet we'll look a little bit later, and even
with the indeed, there are still things they didn't fully, fully
realize. But those two on the way to Emmaus,
we have the distance that they had, some seven and a half miles. They constrained the Lord to
come into them because the day was already late. And yet when
he revealed himself to them, that same hour went back. They were walking there, one
would assume that they walked back, that's a two hour walk
at least. and counted as it were nothing
to go back with the news they had and what they had had shown
them and what had been seen. I want to this evening especially
on my spirit the importance of the resurrection and the importance
as well of the Lord appearing to one personally. Here it is
spoken of as Simon. This is the only reference apart
from that which Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 15 of the Lord
visiting first to Peter and seeing Peter after all Peter's denials. Well, thinking of the apostles'
letter to the Corinthians, In that letter he sets forth how
important it is that there not only is the resurrection of Christ,
but the resurrection of the dead, and that the two things, they
go together. Now you would remember that when
man first sinned, When sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, the first promise that was given, the expectation is that
there would be a deliverance from death. Yes, there is a debt
that must be paid. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And the promise was, the seed
of the woman, she should bruise the serpent's head, and he shall
bruise thy heel. There is that expectation of
the justice of God, of the payment of the price, but there's an
expectation of deliverance from death, life from the dead. And the dear saints, they knew
the reality of this. Job, he said, after my skin,
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God,
for myself and not another, and he was very sure of this, and
Martha as well, I know that my brother shall rise at the last
resurrection. They were sure of this, and the
promise of the seed was a promise of life from the dead. So however much, and we must
of course know what was accomplished at Calvary, and they can't be
rising from the dead of the substitute of the Lord, unless he did die,
really die. But the message of the resurrection,
and the Apostle Paul, he says this is why he suffers so much
persecution. Whenever he brought in as the
resurrection, he might have got away with much preaching, much
teaching, but then as soon as he mentioned arising from the
dead, Aunt Rosemary, and said that he was mad, that he was
preaching error and wrong, and yet he held to that as being
so vital, and that's why he defends it so much when he writes to
the Corinthians, because of that error, that there is some amongst
them that said that there was no resurrection of the dead. And we must remember the apostle
taught that there is a resurrection, of the just and the unjust. It's not just God's people that
are raised from the dead. Those that are not, they shall
also be raised, they shall have a body, but it shall not be to
eternal life, it shall be to eternal death and misery and
contempt. And Paul is very clear when he
writes to the Corinthians that there is a resurrection of the
dead. And so he sets forth the implications
in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 13. He says, if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? So he doesn't put it through
in a way and say, if Christ is not risen, there's no resurrection
of the dead. He puts it the other way around. So without Christ's work, what
Christ has accomplished and done, there would have been a resurrection,
a resurrection unto eternal death, eternal contempt. And the apostle
then brings in, because there is to be a resurrection, that
is bound up with Christ. And so If there is no resurrection of
the dead, then is Christ not risen? I wonder how many of us
really, really think through, really meditate upon what is
set forth here, quite apart, separate from Christ's
work. A decree, as it were, God made
man in his image. And God is eternal. And he gave
man a soul. And even though he was under
the sentence of death, that death was to be, as it were,
an eternal death. To really realize what a thing
it is to know that when one dies, they're not like an animal, and
their existence just ceases. That their soul immediately returns
to God that gave it. And that at the last day, they
shall be given another body. And the reality of that, these
things that we have here, these are but shadows that pass away. And yet for us, we can see each
other, we can touch, we have all our senses. The resurrection
is no less, but more than that. The Apostle says concerning the
Lord, that we shall be known, we shall know, even as we are
known. As if he would say, we are known
here, though we can't see God, God can see us so clearly as
we see one another, but we can't see him. But in heaven we shall
see him as clearly as he sees us. Or in eternity we shall. We shall stand before him. And the reality of that, an eternal
existence, You know, some have a very fatalistic
spirit and they say, well, if I'm not elect, I can't be saved,
it must be God's work. And they can tend to go through
life with no concern or trouble for eternity. No idea what is
awaiting them. No idea of what sin is. What the punishment of God must
be for that, what eternity is awaiting them, is a most solemn
thing, to not realize what is before us. Now, in our lives,
in Providence, we don't know what a day will bring forth.
We do not know how our lives will unfold out. Many changes,
many things. But we do know we will die. We
do know our soul shall return to God. We do know we shall be
raised from the dead again. And those things are absolute
certainties. I never forgot the time going
to seek a a grave of a dear sister in faith that I had taken the
funeral, not permitted to see where she was actually laid to
rest. But driving in that large cemetery
to where her grave was, the Lord spoke those words that were in
the passage that we read this evening. Why seek ye the living
among the dead? So clearly as if someone was
in the car speaking to me. You know, I still went, I saw
where her mortal remains were, but the sense of the reality
that she was not there. Her soul, her person, her being
was with the Lord. She was living, not dead. And
the reality of that. And so when the apostle starts
speaking to the Corinthians in this way, And then he looks at all of the
implications. Very often if we have an error
in one point, it has implications that run right through our lives,
our thinking. It's not just one thing. And
sometimes we don't realize it. I've used this illustration before. Say if we were planning on going
away on holiday. And then someone came in and
said, we've looked at the car and we've got a buckled wheel. And so we'll have to get that
fixed then. And they turned around and said,
did you hear what I said? The car has got a buckled wheel. But that means we can't go on
holiday because the car is unusable. And at first there's not a linking
between what has been said about the car not serviceable and the
holiday that's been planned. The two are going together. And
often we will say to someone, have you heard what I said? Are
you listening? Yes, they've heard the words.
They've even understood the actual thing that's been said, but they
haven't understood the import and the implications of it. And
many times that is the case in the Word of God. Have we really
understood the implications? And so Paul, regarding the resurrection
of the dead, he says, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
vain? Why are we here tonight? What
emptiness is preaching if Christ is not risen from the dead? And also your faith. If you and
I profess to have a faith, that that faith also is vain, it's
an empty faith. Yea, in verse 15, we have found
false witnesses of God. Ministers have pointed out they're
supposed to be preaching the truth, But actually they're false
witnesses. They're telling things that are
not true. If Christ be not risen from the
dead. Because we have testified of
God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. Because if the dead rise not,
then is not Christ raised. Notice each time he's not taking
it with Christ first, but the rising of the dead first. Christ is the firstfruits of
those that slept. If Christ be not raised, your
faith is in vain, here yet in your sins. Then they also which
are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. Our dear brothers and
sisters and those that we've known and loved, our parents,
those that have passed from time in eternity, they're perished. But the word, this same word
saying they haven't perished. They are still alive. They are
with the Lord. Paul, when he writes to the Thessalonians,
he says that at that last day, Whenever that shall be, there
shall be a people of God on the earth, and the Lord shall come
and his saints shall come with him. And then we which are alive,
the dead in Christ, shall rise first. Those that come with him,
as it were the souls, they will be reunited with their bodies,
and we which are alive shall be caught up with them. We shall
be changed, like Enoch was, or Elijah was. That shall be the
last day. And so, he said, if the dead
rise not, then is not Christ raised? Then are those that have
fallen in sleep are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ with all men most miserable. I often think of that
in Hebrews, one of the There's many instances of faith that
are spoken of. Noah building his ark and Abraham
leaving a land and going to where he knew not. But then it gives
a summary, really, that encompasses all of those that walk by faith. And it says things like this,
they saw the promises afar off and embraced them. and that they
confess that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. And
they that say such things declare plainly they seek a country,
they seek a heavenly country. And there is a link between how
we live here and our expectation of that which is to come. Some,
they say, we've been converted, we're a member of a church, it's
the best thing that ever happened. life to the full now, and they
just cast the name of Christ into the scale and as an excuse
to just live as if this life was the only life. With the Lord's people, the Lord
has said that grace, when it is given, the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is. And the Lord, when he
spoke of the parable of the sower, there were three of those that
made some kind of profession to at least that when temptation
came or persecution or the pull of the world, then they fell
away. And really the reality of a person's
faith and what often is used to draw others to the true faith
is how it holds up under trial. Why was it that Ruth was attracted
to Naomi? Naomi had lost her husband. Ruth
had lost hers. Orpah had lost hers. And Naomi
testified the Lord had dealt bitterly with her. But her faith,
she still held onto the faith. There's many that if the Lord
He was well, and this is what Satan knew with Job. We didn't
know concerning Job, but the generality of mankind, he knows
that if God touches them in their lives and in their possessions,
they'll turn around and curse God. And he thought Job, that's
the only reason why Job served God, but he was proved a liar
in that. but there are countless thousands
that he has not proved a liar. And it's a blessed thing, though
it's a painful thing, if we have faith, that when trials come,
we view them as a gift from the Lord and seek for grace from
the Lord to continue to trust him, to hang upon him, and to
not cast away our faith. What the Lord said to Peter,
it wasn't, I prayed for thee that thou didst not deny me,
but I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And we may fall
much, we may, like Peter, even deny the Lord, but coming out
the other side of the trial, to still believe, to still cling,
To still have that faith and not cast it away is a very great
blessing. Very great blessing. And so the
apostle says this, if it's just in this life, if we just have
it for time, that we're not looking for eternity, really there's
no apprehension of the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, reserved
in heaven for you. There's no apprehension of this
is not your rest, it is polluted and that we have sin and sorrow
and death here and realizing what these things are, why they
are. And so he says, he sums up this,
but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first
fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. And so when we have,
with our text, the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection
of the Christ, the resurrection of Christ, we have the first
resurrection of the dead. The first ever of mankind that
rose from the dead. Our Lord, born of a woman and
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law
and under the curse. And so the need of it, it is
so vital that we realize the importance of the resurrection. I want to, this evening, just
three points. Firstly, the Lord risen indeed
is this word indeed that is mentioned here. And then, Secondly, the
Lord appearing to an individual, and it is Simon that is mentioned
here, but I believe we can enlarge that further, that it is appearing
to an individual. And then in the last place, the
Lord appearing in a matter, and I'm taking that slightly out
of Perhaps the context in this way, but I think when I explain
it, you know what I mean. A matter that is in Providence. Firstly, the Lord risen indeed. He mentioned at the beginning
the uncertainties, the gradual manner that the truth that the
Lord had risen was unfolded. on that resurrection the first
day of the week. And then comes to a realization
that it indeed is true. It really is so. And I believe in many ways the
Lord does this in what is termed the first resurrection for his
people. Blessed is he who hath part in
that first resurrection. All are dead in trespasses and
sins, but by the grace of God and in the new birth and in calling,
there are those that rise from that spiritual death in this
time's day. They become alive unto God and
they also are given that life through Christ. We must not forget
that. The Lord says, I give unto them
eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hands. Only those that are quickened
into spiritual life will actually be raised in that resurrection
of eternal life to be forever with Christ, that eternal life
begins at the new birth, not at death. It is the life of God
in the soul. And as it was described here,
gradually, many a child of God, at first they do not clearly
know it is the Lord's work. They are not clearly assured
of their interest in Christ. when he passes by them and bids
them live, they may be convinced of their sin, their need of a
savior, their ignorance of the things of God, and they begin
to seek in earnest and cry to the Lord that he would bless
them. And Peter has a word for such.
He says, as it were, don't look for wonderful revelations like
we had on the Mount of Transfiguration. You have a more sure word of
prophecy. We're unto you to do well to
take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until
the day start arise in your heart. And he points us to the word
of God. And you think of the Bereans.
The apostle preached the word and they search the word daily
whether these things were so and therefore many of them believe.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And we know that channel that
the Lord is pleased to use to bless souls and to bring them
to a knowledge of himself. Life is essential first. Some will teach, well, all you've
got to do is to take a natural man and you teach him enough
and you slowly come to the new birth and he'll be a child of
God. You cannot teach a dead person
anything. They must have life first. Mine ear hath there opened the
message to all of the churches in the revelation. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
And so I say to the encouragement of any of you that as yet do
not know that the Lord is your Saviour, your Redeemer, that
He has quickened you, but what you do know is that your hearing
has changed, your appetite has changed, your sense of the urgency
and reality and religion has changed, and be encouraged in
that. That as time goes on, as you
pay attention to the Word and the preaching of the Word, and
I'm no doubt with the desire of the apostles and disciples
on this first day, they really, they wanted the Lord. They wanted
the Lord to be alive, but hardly thought it was possible and really
wanted every clear evidence that it was really so. Sometimes we
can be like that with loved ones and we love them so much that
In a way, we look for too much and really discount even when
the work of God is in their hearts and can't even see it. And I'm
speaking from my own experience in that way. We do not want to
set anyone short, but in not wanting to set them short, we
shouldn't pass over where we see the clear signs of the Lord's
work. He which hath begun a good work
in you, If there's a seed planted, that seed will grow. The Lord
has planted it there. And line upon line, here a little,
there a little. And so here, we have a report
here and a report there. A little hope raised up there. Another thing here. Until it
gets to a time, the Lord is risen indeed. It really is so. He is alive. He has risen. What is the evidence of it? Well, we said before, even though
they're able to say, now the Lord is risen indeed, yet they
still hadn't really fully realised it, because when the Lord suddenly
stood in the midst of them, they were terrified and affrighted.
They thought that they had seen a spirit, and the Lord said,
why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
And he gave them two things. He gave them sight, what they
could actually see, and what they could handle. He said to
them that, behold, that is see, look, my
hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, handle me,
answer. The two things. For a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. the reality of the
risen saviour. And so in a way that they are
brought even from the indeed to an even greater realisation. And this is why in our Articles
of Faith we state that the very bones and flesh that hung upon
the cross are now glorified in heaven. The real resurrection
and ascension into heaven of our Lord, not just a spirit,
countering even the thoughts, well, how did he pass through
closed doors? Natural man says there must be
a spirit, that only could be like a spirit. But that's not
impossible with God. God can do those things. He's
not bound by nature, by his own laws in that way. And so, Just
the gradual opening up may be an encouragement to us. Never
despise the day of small things. Never cast away our confidence,
which has great recompense of reward. Where the Lord begins,
and each time that he showed himself to the disciples here,
it was at his place, his choosing, and the importance of it. was the Lord is risen indeed. And it's a blessed thing to have
our faith so clear as to see the living God. We have a living Savior, a living
God, not a dead Christ. And the Lord says, because I
live, you shall live also. As with Paul, with the Corinthians,
so our Lord with the vine, I am the vine, he are the branches,
the link between the people of God and him is so essential. And when we see a risen Christ,
a living Christ, a living saviour, and God's shown us that and he's
opened that up to us and made it a very precious truth to us. Not like the Corinthians who
are saying there is no resurrection of the dead. Delivered from that
error. and have the blessed reality
of it. May we go through this world
with a sense of the reality of religion and a realisation of
those things that are awaiting. Where the Lord is, he is ascended
up into heaven, he will come again in like manner. This is
what was a stamp on this first day of the week. And often think
about it when we meet on the Lord's day. And remember the
Lord really sanctified this because Thomas, he wasn't there that
first time. And he had to wait until the
next first day of the week before the Lord appeared. And the disciples,
yes, when they went through with the Jews they met, when the Jews
met, but when they established the churches, then they met on
the first day of the week. It is the Lord's day. And it's
a blessing thing to realize that whenever we meet on the Lord's
day, it's the day the Lord arose. And what a sacred thing if it
arises in a poor sinner's heart and reveals himself in this way,
that he is risen. This is why we preach. This is
why we have a faith. This is what our faith is on.
It is life from the dead. This is what we want in our religion. Life, life, let my soul live
and it shall praise thee. Yes, as we said at the beginning,
right to view, the payment, satisfied, a wrath, a appeasing sacrifice
at Calvary, but without the empty tomb. no life, and that is the
aim, that is what is so vital, that we are given life, eternal
life, life through his name, the Lord Jesus Christ. So in
the first place then the Lord is risen, the Lord risen indeed,
a gradual to then a certainty, To those of you that have the
gradual, yeah, press on, pray on, seek on, wait on, wait till
that light grow brighter, and the Lord then rises so that you're
able truly to say this, the Lord is risen indeed. He has shone
his light into my soul. He has blessed my soul. So then
I want to come to this second point, the Lord appearing to
an individual. As if it is emphasized here,
the Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon. And no doubt they should have
said, or could have said, were the women had also read it in
this chapter. And Mary, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom
seekest thou? He appeared to her as well. But it is that specific, and
we have it emphasized with Thomas as well, that he chose to reveal
himself to Peter. And what a wonderful thing, Peter
denied him those three times that he should come and reveal
himself to him. And then to Thomas specifically,
And Paul, he says, and last of all May, as out of due time,
the Lord appeared to him, revealed himself to him. Almost like that
with Samuel, going back to the Old Testament, that Samuel did
not yet know the Lord. The Lord began to speak to him.
And he thought it was Eli. He knew Eli's voice very well.
And you might think, well, the voice that I hear is a minister's
voice, or a deacon's voice, and not realize the Lord speaks to
you through the word and through the voice of his servants. He
receives, said Paul to the Thessalonians, the word spoken, not as the word
of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God. And that is
why God has pleased him through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe it is the spoken word, man's word
speaking God's word. And we are to preach the word. And we desire in the ministry
to preach as close to it as we can. Our ministry is not an inspired
ministry. But we do have the inspired Word
of God and it's a great consideration when we have a worship service
that the part of the service that is without any human addition
or imperfection is the reading of the Word of God. Our prayers,
They're not perfect. They're not inspired. The Lord
may help us in prayer. The Spirit helps us in prayer. The groanings even that cannot
be uttered. And in preaching as well. There are many things we may
say and utter wrong. But when we read the Word of
God, we're reading the inspiring perfect Word of God. It's really
the perfect part of the service of God. May we always remember
that as we hear the Word of God. read and so when we preach the
word if we're careful to preach the word the closer we are to
the word then we're closer we are to being true ambassadors
of the lord and so here we have the lord appearing to individuals
does it mean does the lord still appear to individuals does he
of course, not show himself literally to them. He is not on earth. Paul, though, heard his voice
from heaven. He saw the great light and he
heard the voice. Those that were with him, they
heard, but they didn't know what. You know, those of us that have
hearing difficulties and have to have hearing aids, sometimes
especially without them, We may hear things, and the volume is
there, but we can't get a distinction in the sound, so we don't know
what is being said. But Paul, he did know what was
being said. And he knew he did, and it changed
his life, how different it was before and after the Lord appeared
to him. And just because Paul didn't
see and Handel, the same as what the disciples did when Christ
was on earth, didn't make him less an apostle. Apostle had
to be actually sent directly from the Lord and be a witness
of the Lord, and Paul was a true apostle. But for the people of
God, God speaks to them. The Lord said, I pray Not for
them only, that is, his disciples, but for them also which shall
believe through their work. And what do they believe? But
the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, those things that we
have read and set forth here, that reveal to us the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord reproved these disciples
because they did not believe the women who had said that they
had seen the Lord. In other words, implying you
should have believed those witnesses. For when the Lord gives faith
to believe, and one beautiful case is the eunuch there reading
Isaiah 53, and Philip comes, understandest thou what thou
readest? And he says, how can I? except
some man guide me and he it's Philip come up into the chariot
he said whom speaketh the man this of himself or of the prophet
or some other man and and Philip he began at the same scripture
preached unto him Jesus the lamb that was led as a sheep to her
slaughter and a shearer before her a lamb before his shearers
is done. And he set forth Christ, and
when he wanted to be baptized, he asked him, if thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest, I believe that Jesus is the Son
of God. Where did he get that from? A
little while before, he was not even seen clearly, and he had
two options in that chapter. whether it was a prophet or some
other man. And yet now he has a very clear
testimony after the preaching. His eyes opened to believe and
it touched his heart to walk in that way. Would we say that
man didn't have the Lord reveal himself to him? He didn't see? And I'm not talking about visions
or anything. But what I am talking about is
the eyes open to see through the Word of God, the truth and
faith to receive it and to embrace it. To believe is a precious
thing. We read of that in Acts 2, and
the conviction that came upon those that had crucified the
Lord pricked in their hearts and it came about from those
things that were told them. And may it be that when we have
the resurrection set before us, we have the truths of what the
Lord has accomplished, that our desire is for a personal knowledge,
a personal view by faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. May our prayer
be, make me like Peter, Made me like Thomas, made me like
Paul, made me like all of those disciples. They were all together,
individually, yes. They saw, but collectively. And
we read of many thousands that were blessed under the preaching. But the important thing is that
our soul be saved. What would it profit us if we
had a full chapel And everyone was blessed, and everyone saw
Christ, but we did not. And our eyes were still holden
that we should not know him. You think of that beautiful sermon,
all of that seven and a half miles. Their heart burned within
them, but as yet they didn't see that this one that was preaching
was the Christ. Until he broke the bread, and
then they did. I think lastly, the Lord appearing
in a matter. The Lord does help his people. He appears for them and sometimes
it is like life from the dead. And this word actually, meditating
upon it, it is a real encouragement to me. It brought me back 30
years or so after we were married. And I had been given 10 years
before a promise by the Lord, thou shalt not take thee a wife,
nor sons and daughters in this place. And I lived for nine,
10 years in that place as a bachelor until we married. When I first
had that promise, I believed that I would be given a wife
from England. But I didn't realize it was going
to be so many years before that came about. But it did come about. We married over here and felt
we had to go back to Australia. Well, my dear one fell pregnant
straight away and we were expecting our first child. But there was
this promise. It had two parts to it. One part
had been fulfilled, the other part not. The Lord knew how to
loosen me from that house. I could almost take you to every
room in that house where the Lord had blessed me. And the
Lord knows what type of a person I am. I hate getting rid of cars. I hate getting rid of anything. To move from a house like that. But when you've got a promise
that I hadn't taken a wife from that place, I'd taken from England,
but we were going to have a baby, Jude. And if that was to be born
in that house, that promise would not come to pass. So we cried
and cried unto the Lord that he would send a buyer. We put
it on the market and we got no response. We lowered the price
down and down until we got to the market. We didn't want to
give it away because then we couldn't see the Lord's hand
in it. And the time got on further and further. My daughter was
born in December. It wasn't until October that
the Lord moved. And there was so much bound up
within. And we so needed the Lord to
appear in that matter in Providence. And I wasn't in the ministry
then, But I was reading sermons, and I was preparing service in
the study, and the Lord dropped into my soul, and so blessed
and favoured my soul. He softened me down, and those
that know the blessing of the Lord would know what I felt that
time. I came out of that study, and
I said to my dear wife, I said, the Lord has appeared. The Lord
has appeared, the house will sell. And she reminded me, I
mentioned it to her before coming here. She said, yes, you sat
on the piano and you played and you sang how sweet the name of
Jesus sounds. And it was what I often did if
the Lord did bless me. But I felt so persuaded. It wasn't
just, well, let's wait. We haven't even had one interest. We had nothing from the estate
agents at all. On Monday, the estate agent came
round with a buyer. And we thought we'd help things.
We thought it'd be nice to have a nice house that smelled of
nice cooking. So we did some cooking. Well, I did some cooking and
burnt them. Instead of a nice, beautiful
smell pervading through the home, this is burnt biscuits right
through the home. Our efforts would have done the
other way. And yet, you know, by the Thursday,
That place was sold. Over in Australia, it's different
than here. You sign the contract, it's settled, it's done. It was
agreement for a 90-day contract, a 30-day contract, and it was
done. And the Lord did it. And when you know what it is
to have the blessing of the Lord, and that's how I said it, that's
how I really felt it. The Lord has appeared. He's appeared
for us in this trial. He's come in for our help. He's
answered our prayer. He's put things in motion. He
will do the matter. And as yet, it wasn't even done. You know, it is like sometimes
it is really tried with Moses sent to the children of Israel
and they believed, they believed that God had appeared, he would
deliver them. But then they had to go through
all those nine trials and the rigors that were before they
were set free. Were they wrong to praise the
Lord first? No. He did appear for them and maybe
some of you, you need the Lord to appear for you. And maybe
you're in darkness of soul. This matter in Providence is
trying you so much and so much more because it seems the Lord
is so far off from you, so dark. But dear friends, if the Lord
comes, the Lord blesses your soul, you'll know the things
are bound up together. When the Lord moves, he doesn't
do things by halves. He completely does the matter.
And I proved it so. And those are very sweet times.
And may this word then, if it not be for the blessing in the
soul or the individual blessing personally, if it be a blessing
that one is waiting, longing on the Lord in providence or
to appear For them in some matter, you know what it is, that the
Lord will use it and bless it and appear for you. And may you
prove he is the same God that rises with healing in his wings,
shows himself to his dear people, delivers them in their troubles,
appears to them. And when they see him, what a
difference it makes. You know, dear Job, oh that I
knew where I might find him. But he said, but now mine eye
seeth thee. And what a difference that makes.
May your eyes, eyes of faith, see this dear, risen, once crucified,
but now risen Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.