Let us turn to the Gospel of
John, chapter 2, and we'll read verse 5. The Gospel of John, chapter 2,
and reading verse 5. His mother saith unto the servants,
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. As we read this chapter we've
been reminded that this is the first recorded miracle that Jesus
did when he was on the earth. And as we read the little account
we realize it was a very simple situation and yet really there
was a lot of teaching and instruction in it. So Jesus and his disciples
had come to this marriage And we're told they wanted wine.
It would appear they'd run out of wine. And therefore the mother
of Jesus said to Jesus, they have no wine. Well, of course,
Jesus would have been very much aware of that. And he says to
her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet
come. And then she addresses the servants
with this very simple statement. Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Now, of course, that was very
relevant on that occasion. But we should not be unmindful
that what the Lord speaks is relevant to us in our lives. And we have so much instruction
in God's Word. And so often, perhaps, we ignore
it and think, well, I needn't worry about that and I'll just
carry on in my life. Well, here we have this very
clear statement. Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. And that obviously means what
it says. And it means what it says to us today, whatever it
may be. Now, it may seem, of course,
on that occasion that it was a very strange request. They
needed wine and they were told, remember, not seeing miracles
from Jesus before, not knowing what he could do, and yet, Mary
realized that they needed to obey what Jesus says, and therefore
she told them very clearly, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And
then there were these six water pots of stone there standing
by, and Jesus instructed them, fill the water pots with water.
He said, nothing more than that, but we recognize the What they
did, the servants did, they didn't argue, they didn't say, well
this is not worth doing, this is something which is surely
not necessary. And they did it, and it would
appear wholeheartedly, because they filled them up to the brim. And again, that's a good word
of instruction for us, isn't it? If God instructs us to do
something, we shouldn't do it halfheartedly. We shouldn't do
it rebelliously. But here was this example that
they filled these water pots up to the brim, not knowing what
would happen, not knowing what was going to occur. And yet,
you see, they heeded quite clearly the word of Mary, which told
them, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And this was a whatsoever. And were then these water pots
which they were told to fill, and then therefore obeyed the
voice of Jesus. Well, it's just a very important
example for us in our life today. Because sometimes, as we may
have a need, and these people had a need, they needed wine,
but there wasn't any argument, there wasn't any discussion about
whether they should do it this way or whether they should do
it another way. There was the simple word of
Jesus and they simply obeyed the voice of Jesus. What a blessing
for us today if, as the Lord speaks to us, we simply obey
the voice of Jesus. It's so often the case that we
look at circumstances And we ponder and think, well, surely
I needn't do this, and surely I needn't say that, and surely
I can do it a different way. Well, these disciples, these
servants, Ra, they did it, and they did it wholeheartedly, and
they filled the water pots up to the brim. So it's a good testimony
for us in our life Listen to what the Lord Jesus tells us
to do. Whatever it is. Whatever. That's why we read these words. Whatsoever. Whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it. Now I don't know, obviously,
what you're thinking or what the Lord's spoken to you or you
may be pondering perhaps something the Lord may have spoken. And
you may think, well, what is this? Surely this can't be right. Surely this isn't the path the
Lord would want me to take. And yet here is His statement.
Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. Don't ponder it. Don't think, well, this isn't
right. It's a very simple instruction,
wasn't it? Whatever the Lord speaks to us, we are to do it. Well, these servants did it and
there was a good outcome. And there's so many examples,
aren't there, in the word of God, of the Lord's gracious instruction
to people who were blind, who were lame. And the Lord spoke
to them and the Lord instructed them and they obeyed what the
Lord did, said. And that which he said came to
pass. Because what the Lord does speak,
what the Lord does say, we prove is with power. And it is there
for our gracious instruction. And as I pondered this word,
I realized that the Lord gave so many instructions recorded
in the Word of God. And especially we might think,
when Jesus spoke to that servant on the mount, A well-known sermon
in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. So many words of gracious instruction
that we should remember. We shouldn't think, well, of
course, that was just a general statement. It was a statement
to, indeed, the whole Church of God. It was to the people
in those days, and it's really in the people throughout time,
right down to eternity. These words have a right and
a good and a gracious application. And the Lord reminds them, and
we've really meditated on very similar words recently in the
first of Thessalonians. And the Lord says in the 10th
and 11th verses, he says, blessed are they which are persecuted
For righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you forcely for my sake. Well, perhaps some of us know
what that path is and it's not an easy path. When people object
to that which we say and do, they don't realise that what
we are doing and saying is emanating from Almighty God. But we're
not to mope and we're not to be upset. The very opposite. is true. And this is what the
Lord tells us to do. Remember these words as I make
a few comments on these, this Sermon on the Mount, what the
Lord said, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it, do it. And so the Lord says then, having
given this little introduction, he then says, rejoice and be
exceeding glad. You see, often the way of God
is opposite to what we think. What perhaps we anticipate will
be the direction. But here was a very clear word
from the Lord himself. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. So that's what we are instructed
to do. And how often it is true, if
we were to walk more in line with the gracious words of the
Saviour, our life would be very different. We wouldn't be complaining. We wouldn't be looking around
to try and justify ourselves in this step and that step. We'd
be satisfied. We're doing the will of Almighty
God. And it's interesting to see here
that the Lord doesn't just say, rejoice and be glad. He says,
rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Glad to realise that here the
Lord is instructing us and here the Lord is teaching us. And
he gives a reason. And it's always good to recognise
the reason from Almighty God. He says, for great is your reward
in heaven. And that's what we should always
be looking toward. At the end of our journey on
this earth, and that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled
and which is reserved for the church of God. Great is your
reward in heaven. You see, this puts things in
a right place. This gives us to understand that,
well, the Lord has permitted such situations to come into
my life. And here is the blessed word
of God to rejoice and be exceedingly glad because there is this wonderful
reward before us. Not something which we deserve,
but something which the Lord gives freely. And then he tells
us, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Again, sometimes we may think,
well surely no one else has to endure this kind of opposition. No one else is criticized like
I am. Well, my friends, recognize that
here we have an encouragement for so persecuted they, the prophets,
which were before you. Yes, it's a great blessing to
understand this. And to understand, therefore,
the Lord has ordained that you and I should be on this earth
at this time. And the path that the Lord has
ordained for us is not a wrong way, you might think well it's
a way of opposition. I didn't expect this when I started
out on the Christian journey. I thought I was being obedient.
I thought I was following the Lord and therefore it would be
plain sailing. And I'm finding it's very opposite.
I'm finding there's difficulties and trials and persecution and
judged wrongly while being encouraged by the wonderful words of the
Saviour. And the great truth is, as the
Lord says, if it is so, if we are His children, He tells us,
let your light so shine before men that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. That means
that we are to do good, We're not to retaliate, but we are
to do that which is good. We are to receive those difficulties
and realise that this is the pathway the Lord has ordained
for us. And if we need encouragement,
and we may truly need encouragement, we should always look to the
gracious and glorious example of the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when you think, and it's
good to think, his perfect life, he never, as it were, put a foot
wrong. He never spoke a word out of place. Everything he did
was true and right and proper. And yet, what opposition the
Saviour endured. What difficulties the Saviour
endured. So again, as you and I might
find ourselves in this path, again, let's not forget what
the Apostle Paul desired when he wrote to the Philippians and
he said that he might be blessed with fellowship with Christ. And that fellowship in Christ
was in this way. Fellowship with his sufferings. And that wasn't just physical
sufferings. There was also all the mental
sufferings that the Savior was called upon to suffer. So therefore,
as the Savior tells us here, rejoice and be exceeding glad. You know, the Apostle Paul realized
the value of it. And therefore, as he, we've had
this little word here this morning, as Mary said, whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it. Do it. Rejoice and be exceeding
glad. And also, let our light so shine
before men in the way that we respond to such criticism. We don't get angry. We don't
get annoyed. We just receive it. Receive it. Yes, and perhaps a soft answer
turneth away wrath. It's good, isn't it, to be instructed
by the Word of God. So alien, really, to our nature. Our nature wants to justify ourselves. But you see, the great blessing
is to be justified by our God. That's the relevance. And that's
the very important situation. What a mercy, then, to fall into
this situation. And then, the same kind of theme
as we go on to Towards the end of this fifth chapter, we come
down to verse 43. You've heard it hath been said
thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies. Love your enemies. Bless them
that curse you. Do good to them that hate you.
And pray for them which despitefully use you. and persecute you. Well, what gracious words they
are of the Saviour. And here the Lord is speaking.
Whatsoever he saith. This is what the Lord says. We
are to do it. We're not to think, well, this
doesn't really apply to me, it's really just too difficult. I
don't really want to fall into this position. Well, the Word
of God graciously instructs us. And so we are to love our enemies. We are to bless them that curse
us. We are to do good to them that
hate us. You know, it's always easy, isn't
it? To do good to those people that love us and we appreciate
that and we want to do good. But here we're told the opposite. We're to do good to them that
hate us. We need a lot of grace, don't
we? We need a lot of favour from God to do this. But this is the
blessed Word of God. This is following this very clear
Word of instruction. Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Yes, some things are difficult,
some things are more difficult, some things are very difficult. But let us not forget the Lord
giveth more grace. He gives unmerited favor so that
we, by his grace, may be able to follow his gracious example. And so he says that ye may be
the children of your Father which is in heaven. This is the example
of those who are truly the children of God. What a mercy it is. And then, you know, if we move
on to the next chapter, the sixth chapter, we have gracious words
of instruction which come under this whosoever. Good it is we
come under this whosoever. And so the Lord says, he instructs
us then how to pray. How to pray? You may think, well,
I think I know how to pray. I can pray all right. Well, hear
the words of the Lord, which instructs us in prayer. When
thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou shalt thy
door, pray to thy father, which is in secret, and thy father,
which saith in secret, shall reward the open. Again, as we
commented fairly recently, It's good to realize we have a Father
in heaven. And here Jesus tells us this.
So pray to our Father. Pray to thy Father, which is
in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward
thee openly. And then he tells us, but when
you pray, use not vain repetitions. We don't have to keep on repeating
the same thing. When you pray, use not vain repetitions,
he tells us, as the heathen do, for they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking. Much speaking reminds me of some
of the religion in India, where they think that the more they
speak, the more they say a certain prayer, it'll be heard and they
have these little what they call prayer wheels and they it's a
round wheel and inside they write a prayer perhaps many prayers
very small writing and then they twist this and they twirl it
round and they think that every time they twirl it round this
prayer is said well of course it's said to evade God so it's
of no purpose at all but we should not think that we're going to
be heard for our much speaking Well, we should recognise here
that God hears. You don't have to keep on repeating
the same prayer. We have a great and glorious
God who knows all about us and what a blessing that is. And then coming down to the things of our natural life
which perhaps we pray for and want. Remember these are the
words of Jesus. Don't let's forget this. Whatsoever
he saith unto you, do it. They're not the words of men,
they're words of Almighty God. And as we come down further in
this chapter, this sixth chapter, he speaks to us, he says, lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. You know, sometimes
we want this and we want that, and we think, oh, it would be
very nice to have this and very nice to have that. Well, it may
be. But here the words to us are very clear. Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal. And probably we all
know what that is. We may have seen things become
rusty, things which we were really liked. and there's really not
much value in them. Things perhaps may get moth-eaten,
and they're spoiled, and they're no real benefit. And sometimes
we find the thieves break through and steal, take things which
perhaps we naturally treasure. Sometimes the Lord allows these
things to show us that these things are just things of time.
Although we valued them, they're just passing. And then the Lord
goes on to tell us, but, well there's some wonderful buts,
and here in this 20th verse we read this but, lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven. Treasures in heaven, the word
of God, the promises of God, the application of God's word
to our souls. When he truly has directed us
in one way or another, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. And then
he says this, for where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also. You see, this is a very significant
statement, isn't it? And it's good sometimes to ponder
that, where is our treasure? Is it on earth? Or is it in heaven? If our treasure is on earth,
we'll have to leave it anyway. We can't take it with us. We
just enjoy it perhaps for a short time. But what a mercy to have
a treasure in heaven, which is eternal. Eternal. The promises of God, which never
become outdated. They are eternal. Whatsoever
he saith unto you, do it. What a wonderful mercy then to
have God's strength, God's encouragement to do these things so that we
may truly rejoice in them. And then perhaps just moving
on to just a few comments on the earlier chapter, second chapter
in Revelation. Remember here the Apostle John
was on the Isle of Patmos and The Lord spoke to him and gave
him instructions to write to the seven churches. Instructions
they were to write. We have commented sometimes on
these messages to these churches and they're very good and wonderful
to remember. But in the second chapter he
starts off by writing to the church at Ephesus. And in this
letter to Ephesus we're told this in the fifth verse. Remember
therefore from whence thou art fallen. That means to realise
that we are a sinner, that we're fallen. We're not righteous in
and of ourselves. We're foreign creatures. We're
sinners. Therefore the instruction here
was, remember. Again, this is the Lord speaking.
Remember. It's good for us always to remember
from whence we have fallen. And repent. How necessary that
is. The words of Jesus. Whatsoever
he saith unto you, do it. And so he says, remember and
repent. Every true believer will be amongst
those who truly repent, are truly sorry for their sin. You see,
you won't be allowed to just sin lightly and just carry on
sinning. No, the Lord will strike your
conscience and heart and produce that need that you have to come
and to be sorry for your sin, to repent before God and do the
first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove
thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent. Repentance is not optional. My friends, every single one
of us must repent before we pass out of time. And the Lord continues
speaking these words as he goes on to to further instruction. He comes to the church at Pergamos,
one of the seven churches also, and as he comes Down to this,
he says, in verse 16, repent, or else I will come unto thee
quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. The sword of God's mouth, of
course, is the word of God. And how necessary, again, it
was that the churches in those days were brought to this realization
that the Lord was speaking to them. and instructing them to
repent. Well, it's good for us today
to also realise the importance. And the Lord then says, He goes
on and says, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches. Well, the Lord speaks to us through
His Word, And it's given us ears to understand, spiritual ears
to read the Word of God and to understand it. And what a blessing,
therefore, if we have a hearing ear to hear God's Word, hear
what He says to us, because He tells us, to him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the hidden manna You see, this is spiritual
food. It's not that which is on the
earth. It's that which our soul feeds
on. And of course, it directs us
to none other than the Blessed Saviour Himself, who said, Unless
ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, there
is no life in us. What a mercy then if God gives
us this wonderful favour of repentance, you see, and brings us then to
this situation to come and hear the Word of God and partake of
the hidden manna. Well, my friends, the Lord knows
what it is, what you and I need and what we desire, and what
a mercy it is then if we are true partakers of it. What a
mercy then to have this spiritual ear to hear what God says to
the seven churches. And then in the third chapter
when he writes to the church at Sardis again, it's good to
have these words of instructions. He says, Be watchful and strengthen
the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have
not found thy works perfect, before God sometimes we might
do this and do things which we may think are good works and
nothing wrong in good works but we may be relying on them the
things that we've done, the things that we're doing and yet you
see here the Lord says be watchful and strengthen the things which
remain that are ready to die for I have not found thy works
perfect before God Again, it's good to hear the Word of God
and realise He looks into our heart and He sees everything
there. He sees perhaps those things
which we hadn't realised were really there. Yes, things which
we, as it were, were patting ourselves on the back and thinking,
well, we've done a good thing there and we've said a good word
there and we're really proud of it. It's so easy to fall under
the temptation of the Satan. And so he goes on. Remember,
therefore, how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. How we received the word of God,
how we received it as the word of God, as God speaking to us. And has it had a good and gracious
effect upon us? Well, we come back shortly to
this word. Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Do it. These words are written
in love to our souls. We shouldn't think, oh, I don't
want to do this. That's too hard. My friends, pray for grace. Pray
for humility. Pray for a willingness to submit
ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Remember, therefore,
how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. You see this word repentance
comes in again. It does so often, how relevant
and important it is for us. And then he says, verse 11, behold,
I come quickly. Hold fast which thou hast, that
no man take thy crown. Don't discharge, don't throw
away that which the Lord has directed you in or spoken to
you in. The temptation to think, well,
it's not very impressive. Really, that's not something
I want to kind of ever mention or speak about. Perhaps it's
because our pride wants some great revelation. The Word of
God doesn't promise us great revelations. But my friends,
the Word of God does instruct us to receive and accept the
day of small things. And to rejoice in what God has
done. Because really, nothing God has done is small. if you
and I think of our eternal state to realise that nothing really
is small and therefore to receive that which God has done and hold
it fast don't despise the day of small things no, hold it fast
hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. And then he says, when he speaks
to the church at Laodicea, Laodicea was a sad church, wasn't it?
A church which was lukewarm, wasn't hot or cold, it was lukewarm.
And then he comes and tells them, I counsel thee, this is God speaking,
I counsel thee, How humbling sure you think that God comes
and counsels us, stands alongside us, speaks to us, words of counsel,
how gracious, how kind. We don't deserve it. I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. what that means
is this the great truths of God were tried in the fire that means
they go through the fire that means that God burns up that
which is of the flesh that means we lose that which is of the
flesh sometimes in our so-called spiritual experience, we can
hold things which God hasn't given to us. Perhaps we thought
they were gone, we thought they were impressive, and they thought,
wow, that's a wonderful blessing, but it may be of our own imagination. And so here we are instructed,
the Lord speaking, I counsel thee, to buy of me gold tried
in the fire. Yes, you see, that which passes
through the fire is tested. And all that comes out is that
which is pure and right and holy. That's why it's aligned here
to gold. See, gold never loses anything
which is good going through the fire. All it loses is the rubbish. My friends, that's a blessing
for you and me today. And these are the words of the
saviour. The words to us. Realize I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest
be rich and white raiment, a robe of righteousness, not our righteousness,
which is but filthy rags, a robe of righteousness, white raiment
that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with our eyesalve that thou
mayest see. And this is what he says then,
right towards the end of these seven letters to the churches.
As many as I love, as many as I love, The Lord loves us. It's a sign of sonship or a daughter
of Christ. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Yes, I rebuke and chasten. We're
not to therefore despise the chastening of the Lord. It's
his good hand upon us. What a mercy. And therefore he
says, as many as I love, It's a sign of sonship. What a mercy
to be loved of God. You see, the Lord doesn't leave
us just to wander aimlessly through this world, pleasing ourselves. He brings us in that right way. And that right way is to make
us more like Him. In order to make us more like
Him, we have to lose a lot of our own religion. a lot of the
fleshly religion, a lot of things that we have hung on to. He says,
as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. And then he says, be
zealous therefore, zealous for the things of God and repent. How many times have we gone through
this, this word repent, how relevant it is, how necessary it is, Our
nature doesn't like to repent. You know why? Because we have
to confess we've been wrong. Because we've said wrong things. Because we've done wrong things. And that's hard for our nature.
That's hard for our pride. And yet you see how we have this
wonderful statement, be zealous therefore and repent. What a
blessing when God gives us Repentance, because when God gives us repentance,
as we read in the Romans, it's a repentance which is not to
be repented of. How that's a mercy, isn't it?
You don't have to repent then of your false repentance, because
it is that repentance which God has come and kindly and graciously
given to us. And so Mary said, under the blessed
influence of the Spirit of God, Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. What a mercy that is if the Holy Spirit has spoken to
us and we do it. Yes, and we do it. And just one
final thought. When the Lord spoke to his disciples
and the multitudes The 8th chapter of Mark, we're reminded, he comes
down to verse 33 first. But when he had turned about
and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get
thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of man. So left to ourselves,
we're just sinful men. What a blessing it is then if
we recognise these truths and are not left to ourselves. And
then the Lord comes, and when he had called the people unto
him with his disciples, also he saith unto him, Whosoever,
and what a blessing if this includes you and me, whosoever will come
after me, let him deny himself. Deny yourself. Perhaps it means
stop saying something that you thought was going to be impressive,
that you thought was necessary. Deny yourself. For whosoever,
whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospels, the same shall save it. For what
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? The words of Jesus. Gracious words. Just as Mary
said, whosoever Whosoever, whatsoever, whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. Well, these are gracious words,
aren't they? The words of the Savior. Let me just read them
again in conclusion. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit
a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What a mercy, therefore, to be
able to trace out in our lives that God's love to us is so great
and He's taking us in hand and He's instructing us and He's
directing us to hear His Word and to hear this Word, whosoever
He saith unto you, do it. Amen. Closing hymn in worship this
morning, hymn 1156. 1,156. To the tune Balmont, 101.
Hymn 1,156. What sacred fountain yonder springs
up from the throne of God, and all new covenant blessings brings,
it is Jesus' precious blood. The third verse, what stream
is this that which sweeps away my sins like a flood, just like
a flood? Nor lets one guilty blemish stay,
it is Jesus' precious blood. Hymn 1156. Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave ? And the home of the brave ? ?
And the home of the brave ? ? And the home of the brave ? ? When I am old and dead ? ? And
at my sorrow-laden bed ? Grace leads the way, life speeds
past life and death. The rising sun. The rising sun. ? Set me free ? ? To see His precious
blood ? ? Lord, in my soul ? ? You have blessed the poor ? Now may the grace of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and
the fellowship and communion of the Eternal Spirit, rest and
abide with us each, now and for evermore. Amen.