Let us commence our service this
evening by singing together hymn number 906. The tune is Ferndale 806. O where shall I find a guide
to direct? Right, skillful, and kind, and
brave to protect? To lovely Mount Zion my heart
is now bound, But many a lion is in the way found. A guide to direct My cheerful
and kind And brave to protect To love me, though tired, my
heart is well found. The Peggy of Lyon is in the way
found. Did Jesus not teach the way we
should go? And how His arm reached and held
Him unto? The doubts of perpetual guilt
are distressed. The tempest that plagues you,
its grace can redress. And may the Lord give me faith
in His name, And faith that will carry me forth on my way. A faith that endureth and lives
on in his blood. A faith that assureth thy sonship
with God. O teach me to love thy person
most sweet, O lift my heart, O let it be at thy feet. Here with thee delighted, and
humbled, and kind, Most having lighted to thy living mind. And further I see the charms
of thy light, The grace to be meek and lowly and kind. So caring, forgiving, and loving
always. And I'll be living to publish
thy grace. Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 18. Luke's Gospel, chapter 18. And he spake a parable unto them
to this end, that men were always to pray and not to faint. saying there was in a city a
judge which feared not God neither regarded man there was a widow
in that city and she came unto him saying avenge me of mine
adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he said
within himself that though I fear not God nor regard man yet because
this widow troubleth me I will avenge her, lest by her continual
coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what
the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with
them? I tell you that he will avenge
them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? And he spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all
that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the others. for everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted and they brought unto him also infants that he
would touch them but when his disciples saw it they rebuked
them but Jesus called them unto him and said suffer little children
to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom
of heaven Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein.
And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that
is God. Thou knowest the commandments.
Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, honour thy father and thy mother. And he said,
All these have I kept from my youth up. Then when Jesus heard
these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing, sell
all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven and come follow me and when he heard this
he was very sorrowful for he was very rich and when Jesus
saw that he was very sorrowful he said how hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God for it is easier
for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God And they that heard it said, Who then
can be saved? And he said, The things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. Then Peter said, Lo,
we have left all and followed thee. And he said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, There is not a man that hath left house
or parents or brethren or wife or children for the kingdom of
God's sake. who shall not receive manifold
more in this present time, and in the world to come, life everlasting. Then he took unto him the twelve,
and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things
that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall
be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and
spitted on and they shall scourge him and put him to death and
the third day he shall rise again and they understood none of these
things and this saying was hid from them neither knew they the
things which were spoken and it came to pass that as he was
come nigh unto Jericho a certain blind man sat by the wayside
begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before
rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much
the more, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come
near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto
thee? And he said, Lord, that I may
receive my sign. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sign. Thy faith hath saved thee. And
immediately he received his sign. and followed him, glorifying
God. And all the people, when they
saw it, gave praise unto God. May the Lord add his blessing
to those reading of his precious word. Give us grace now to bow
before him. Almighty, holy, and eternal God,
the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. We desire to bow before thy great
majesty, to call upon thy great and holy name, and we desire
that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God our
Father, and the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit, may rest
and abide upon us. We pray for a humble, teachable
spirit We pray to be delivered from that spirit which is of
our flesh. For Lord, we know, as did the
dear apostle, that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. And Lord, we prove it day by
day, that in our flesh dwells no good thing. O most gracious
Lord, we pray that we may be accepted in the beloved, that
we may be complete in him, that we may be washed in his precious
blood, that we may be clothed in his glorious righteousness,
that we may embrace him in the arms of faith. And Lord, if there's
one and another that have come to the sanctuary tonight, and
that they feel as that dear woman did, if I might but touch the
hem of his garment, I shall be made whole. We pray that they
may come, that they may lay hold of that hope that is set before
us in the gospel, sinners are welcome still to Christ the sinner's
friend. And we think of those wonderful
precious words, this man receive his sinners and eateth with them. Gracious God, how true this is
and how we've proved it throughout our lifetime that this man, this
glorious holy God man, the man Christ Jesus, receive his sinners
and eateth with them. Come Lord and receive us, poor
guilty sinners as we are, and that we may have the gospel table
spread, that we may eat of those delicious dainties that are upon
it, and the wonderful broken bread, the broken body of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the wine of the kingdom, the precious blood
of the Lamb that cleanses from all sin. O gracious God, may
we taste and see that the Lord is gracious, and may we embrace
Thee in the arms of living faith. May we close with Christ in union
with the Lamb, from condemnation free, the saints from everlasting
work, and shall forever be. We thank Thee for the completeness
of that glorious salvation that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
We thank Thee for the incarnation of the Son of God, the eternal
Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. We thank Thee
for that fullness of grace that is in Him and always has been
and always will be. We thank thee that there is a
never-ending supply. We think of those two olive trees
beside the Lord of the whole earth. O Christ and the Holy
Ghost, that constant and continual supply of the oil of grace through
the golden pipes into the church here upon earth. May we prove
it tonight. May that sovereign oil flow and
that may we draw near to thee and may we truly worship thee,
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. We thank
thee for Jesus Christ. We thank thee for his precious
blood. We thank thee for his glorious
righteousness. We thank thee that the Son of
God lived as a man here upon earth. and fulfilled and honoured
and magnified the holy law of God. We thank thee that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness unto all them that believe. Give
us believing views of his glorious person at this evening hour.
Oh, to touch the hem of his garment, to have that vital union and
communion with him. We think of those wonderful precious
words of grace, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest
for your souls may we find that rest of faith there is a rest
that remaineth for the people of God in the glorious person
power and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank thee that he
suffered and bled and died for our sins and rose again for our
justification. Our life is hid in Christ, in
God. We thank Thee that He has bodily
ascended into heaven and sits at Thy right hand. Gracious God,
O do hear us and do be with us and do bless us and do guide
us and do open Thy truth unto us. We thank Thee, O Lord, for
a loving church and congregation. We thank Thee for that spirit
of love, union and communion Thou hast granted unto us. We
thank Thee for the wonderful glories of Christ and eternal
salvation and redemption in Him. We thank Thee, most gracious
Lord, for the Word of God, the open Bible, the freedom we have
to meet around Thy Word. Lord, this is not in joy. in
many countries in the earth, but we thank thee that it is
here. May it be maintained, and may we indeed value these sacred
privileges of being able to meet together around thy word. O Lord,
we do pray that thou wouldst bless our brethren, the deacons,
who have needed grace, wisdom, and help in all their responsibilities,
not only here but among the churches. and do gird them with all sufficient
grace, and do bless the churches, bless the charities to which
we affiliate. Grant, O Lord, we pray Thee that
Thou wouldst bless the work that they do, help those that do it. Remember the editors of our magazines
and the secretaries of our societies, the committees as they gather.
O Lord, return Return, return, O God, we do humbly beseech thee. Make bare thine holy arm in the
gospel, and grant a gracious reviving and renewing in the
hearts of thy people, and a gracious engathering of precious souls.
Fulfilling those ancient promises, I will bring thy sons from far,
and thy daughters from the ends of the earth, and they shall
come from the north and from the south, and from the east
and from the west. O most gracious Lord, let us
see Thy work, let us see Thy power, let us see Thy glory as
Thou usest to be. O hear us, O Lord, we're not
worthy of the least of Thy tender mercies. We present not our supplications
unto Thee for our righteousnesses for Thou but as filthy rags,
but for Thy great name's sake. Arise, arise, O God of grace,
into Thy rest descend. Thou and the ark of thy strength,
and let thy priests be clothed with salvation, and thy saints
shall shout aloud for joy. Oh abundantly bless the provision
of thy house, and satisfy her poor with bread. Send out thy
light and thy truth into this village, and in the surrounding
villages and hamlets. Gather in many, many precious
souls. Pull down the strongholds of
Satan. Set up the kingdom of the Lord
Jesus in the hearts of sinners. O Lord of hosts, O God of Israel,
O Thou that dwellest between these cherubim, shine forth.
We do humbly beseech Thee. Come and save us, O Lord, we
pray Thee. And grant, O Lord, a true reviving,
renewing, replenishing, and engathering in Thy Zion. For we are minished
and brought low, and the boar out of the wood doth waste her.
O Lord, do hear our entreaties, we beseech Thee. and let our
cry come up before thee as incense, perfumed with the precious merits
of Christ. Lord, we do pray for each one
of our brethren and sisters in church fellowship, and knowest
all their needs, all their concerns, all their burdens. We lovingly
commend them to thee. We're thankful to have with us
our beloved brother and sister from Holland, and do be with
them, Lord, grant them a convoy of thy love as they return home
on the coming day, we do humbly beseech thee. And, O Lord God,
we do pray that thou, in thy precious mercy, wouldst bless
the little ones and the children, put the fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom, into their hearts, an unctuous light
to all that's right, a bar to all that's wrong, Bless the dear
young friends. Bless them with faith, living
faith in Jesus Christ, that they may become true followers of
Thee and of those who through faith and patience inherit the
promises. Hear us, O God. We do humbly
beseech Thee. We pray that most gracious Lord
that Thou in Thy precious mercy would remember them in all the
paths of providence. whether in their education or
employment or regarding a partner in life's journey, we lovingly
commend them to thee. Thou art the Lord, the God of
all flesh. There is nothing too hard for
thee. And we do pray that we may, like
Abraham, be given that faith to believe, and it was accounted
unto him from righteousness. Lord, remember the prodigals
that have wandered away, that have no desire to meet, O that
thou wouldst have mercy upon them, that thou wouldst open
their eyes, and open their hearts, and open their ears, and loose
their tongue, that they may become followers of the despised Nazarene. For, Lord, there is nothing too
hard for thee. Lord, what rejoicing there would
be to see the prodigals return. O Lord, we do pray Bless parents,
give wisdom, grace, and help in all their responsibilities,
and graciously be with each and every one in the midst of the
journey of life. Deliver us from the temptations
of Satan, from the power and dominion of sin. We do humbly
beseech thee for these great enemies, the enemy within, and
also the enemy without. Oh, the world, the flesh, and
the devil. Gracious God, Thou hast promised in thy word that
when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord
will lift up a standard against him. And O Lord God, remember
those of us in the evening time of life's journey, and graciously
undertake for us, and as the outward man perishes, may the
inward man be renewed day by day. Lord, we pray for dear Ina in
hospital. O that thou wouldst bless her
and be with her, support her and sustain her, grant that she
may feel the strength and the power of those everlasting arms
underneath her. Lord, we pray that thou wouldst
give her an abundant entrance into thy heavenly kingdom. We do beseech thee at the appointed
time. And O Lord God, we do pray that
thou wouldst forgive all our many sins and many shortcomings
and many heart-wanderings, our worldliness and our carnality.
Oh, make our affections to be set upon things above and not
on things of the earth, and help us to present our bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto thee, which is our reasonable
service, and that we be not conformed to this world. but may we be
transformed by the renewing of our mind that we might know what
that good and perfect and acceptable will of the Lord is. And tonight,
Lord, in this service, may it please thee to enliven our minds
that we may be enabled to concentrate on the service. Delivered from
wandering thoughts, we do humbly pray thee. We thank thee for
every mercy of thy kind providence and all thy goodness that has
passed before us in the way. And we ask for the forgiveness
of all sin for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number two, The tune is Contemplation, 117. Lord, raise my soul above the
ground and draw my thoughts to thee. Teach me with sweet and
solemn sound to praise the eternal three. Hymn number two, tune
Contemplation, ? Above the clouds ? ? And you
are close to me ? ? Between misery and sorrow now ? O praise ye the God of Jacob. ? Christ was born in Bethlehem
? ? In Bethlehem, in Bethlehem, in Bethlehem ? Heal the people now ? With boundless years ? ? And
many dreams ? ? But still maintain their power ? ? Eternities ?
? With banner yet wave ? ? O'er
the land of the free and the home of the brave? ? Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! ? The present and the past ? ?
Be filled with joy ? ? With hope for now ? ? As it is now ? ? Mercy and joy ? ? Must perish here
and now ? ? And we just look at all they've
done ? ? And we thank them for giving us this day ? O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to the chapter
that we read, the 18th chapter in the Gospel according to Luke,
And we'll read verse 27 for our text. Luke's Gospel, chapter 18, verse
27. And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. We've just been singing
of God, the Eternal God, the Almighty God, He that ever liveth,
He that is from everlasting to everlasting, He that is God over
all and blessed for evermore, He who said the eternal God is
thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. God is immutable. You might say what does that
mean? He's unchangeable. We read in the Minor Prophets,
in the Prophet Malachi, I the Lord change not Therefore, ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed. A God that never changes. A God
that is eternal. A God that is almighty. A God
who has said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. With heaven and earth at his
command, he waits to answer prayer. But a God also that is holy,
pure and righteous. A God who will not acquit the
guilty. A God who has given us a holy
righteous law. A God who has given us a glorious
Redeemer, an almighty Saviour. A holy law that curses and condemns. every sin. A holy God that in Christ has
redeemed his people. God so loved the world he gave
his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might be saved. This great God. The psalmist says great is the
Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable. Who by searching can find out
God? God is that infinite being. We by our very nature are created
and we are finite. What does that mean? It means
we are set within certain parameters, certain boundaries. There are some things that we
can do There are some things we cannot do. But God is infinite. There is nothing too hard for
the Lord. There's nothing too great for
the Lord. There's nothing too small for
the Lord. He is God over all. He's the
creator of the heavens and the earth. We read in holy scripture
he made the world out of nothing. There was nothing there and God
created matter. We read in the beginning of the
book of Genesis, in the beginning God, again it speaks of his eternity,
in the beginning God. in the beginning of John's gospel
he is before all things and by him all things exist and without
him was there anything made that was made this great this almighty
this eternal God who is holy and righteous in all his ways the eternal God the creator The Prophet Isaiah,
by the Spirit's inward teaching, he writes, doesn't he, concerning
the heavens, concerning the planets. He brings out their hosts by
number. There are millions of them. He
calleth them all by names because he is so great and so almighty
and so omnipresent. He's in all places at all times. And what does Isaiah say? Not
one of them faileth. Why? Because God has put them
there. Because God maintains them there. The sun, the moon,
the stars, they're maintained by the Eternal God. The sun rises. The sun goes down. Day comes. Night comes. all because there is an eternal
God. The heavens declare the glory
of God. Day unto day utterest speech,
night unto night utterest knowledge. Their line is gone throughout
all the earth, speaking voice unto man. Creation declares that there
is an eternal God who created all things, who sustains the
very universe, Now in the Prophet Jeremiah that
question is put, is there anything too hard for the Lord? Is there? I shall never forget an occasion
when greatly burdened it was at the time when I was on the
committee at the Tunbridge Wells Bethesda home and it was at the
time when they done some major improvements put in a lift etc. and a lot of the dear aged friends
had to be sent down to Studley. And it greatly burdened me. And
I shall never forget those words in the chapter that we had on
Lord's Day. Jacob at Bethel and the ladder
and the foot of the ladder was on the earth, and the top of
the ladder was in heaven, and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon it. That ladder speaks of Christ,
the Great, the Almighty, the Eternal Saviour, who's able to
save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth. That means He's able to save
eternally. I give unto my sheep eternal
life, but the word there that was so sweet to me at that time,
and the Lord stood above it. Now in all your circumstances,
in all your troubles, in all your trials, in all your perplexities,
the Lord stands above it. He looks down. He sees. He knows. does. I think of that word, I've often
felt it's the watchword of the book of the Revelation. Alleluia! For the Lord God, omnipotent
reigneth. Omnipotent reigneth. There's
nothing that is out of his control. Everything. The devil Everyone
is in the control of the Eternal God. Just to prove that point,
when Legion, when the Lord Jesus cast the devils out of Legion,
when he came over the Sea of Galilee, and as far as we can
see, he only met with one man, that poor demented man. He said,
my name is Legion for we are many. Stripped naked, cutting
himself, What was the devil trying to do? To destroy him. To destroy
him. But he couldn't. Why? Because
he was loved with an everlasting love. We don't know how long the devil
had been trying to destroy that man. But he was trying his utmost
to do it. He was like a madman. Then we have a dialogue. between
the devil in that man and the Lord Jesus Christ. And the devil
in that man, James says, the devils believe and tremble. And
what was the dialogue? Jesus, thou son of the most high
God. They believe. They knew exactly
who this was. It was the eternal son of the
eternal God. and they could do nothing without
his leave. They besought him not to send
them out of the country but to go into the swine. They couldn't
do anything until the Lord Jesus said that they could do it. My
dear beloved friends, remember these things. These little minor
things in these narratives in the Holy Scripture They're full
of divinity. They are. The devil was bound and he still
is. Jesus is far greater than the
devil. He is. When the enemy comes in like
a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against
him. He will. That standard is Christ. It's the glorious person of the
eternal son of God that was manifest in the flesh. That's the standard that is lift
up against Satan. You know my beloved friends,
these things are written in God's word for our instruction. And
he said, who? Christ. And he said, the things
which are impossible with men, are possible with God. They're possible with God. For
with God, nothing shall be impossible. Nothing shall be impossible. He can do all things. He controls
all things. Everything. There is nothing
outside the control of the Eternal God. No. the sweet Psalmist of Israel
in Psalm 139. He speaks there so beautifully
concerning the omnipresence of God. If I make my bed in hell, behold
thou art there. If I go up into heaven, behold
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and go to the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, even
there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold
me. Fear not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed, I am thy God. I will help thee, I will uphold
thee with the right hand of my righteousness. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. They are. Everything. is possible with God. There may
be those things that you have in your life and your circumstances
at this time and they greatly trouble you and they greatly
burden you but don't forget there's a God in heaven. That was a word
that in the book of Daniel when Daniel came before Nebuchadnezzar
the king and one of the things Daniel said but there's a God
in heaven You might say, well, that is so simple. We know that.
But do you know it by experience? Do you know it when the Lord
has breathed it into your soul? Do you know it when everything
is completely, in your opinion, completely gone haywire? There's
a God in heaven. Never shall I forget that morning.
It was very early in June. I couldn't sleep because of the
great burden that was upon me, the great need that we were in
providentially. And we'd been in for literally
weeks and weeks and weeks. I knew, I knew the Lord had delivered
us time and time and time again. And I knew He could, but He didn't. We had to wait and wait and wait. I was so troubled. I took the
dog for a walk, four o'clock in the morning. And as I was so pleading with
the Lord, walking across the fields, so pleading with the
Lord to appear, it was those words that came with such savour,
sweetness and power into my soul. But there is a God in heaven.
It was a word of rebuke. It was almost The Lord was saying,
you're behaving as if there's no God. But you see, my beloved friends,
there's an awful power in unbelief. There is. But there is a God
in heaven. And He's almighty. He's the sovereign
ruler of the skies. He's ever gracious, ever wise.
All events are His command. Everything. in the hands of this great God.
This God of mercy, truth and grace. You know, in meditating
here this morning, my mind seemed almost to contain
itself within the chapter. Because, you know, if we went
broadly all over scripture, we could prove this, prove that,
prove something else, all the different characters there are
in holy scriptures. but my mind seemed to so be concentrated
on the chapter and listen to the words of the Lord Jesus in
the beginning of this chapter and he spake a parable unto them
to this end that men are always to pray and not to fain does Satan tempt thee to give
up no more in Jesus name to trust Trust in the Lord at all times,
ye people. Wait patiently for Him. Wait patiently. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. Wait, I say,
upon the Lord. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount upon wings as
eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint. And then he gives us a parable.
There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded
man. There was a widow in that city,
and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within
himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this
widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming
she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what
the unjust judge said, and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with
him? You think how the Lord bears
with your unbelief and my unbelief. It's a sin. It's clear in scripture
it's a sin. I've heard some people try and
speak about unbelief as almost as if it's a grace, my beloved
friends, it's an abhorrent thing. It really is. It's distrust in
the eternal God. I think it was Warburton that
said that unbelief will pull God from his throne, and it would,
and it would. It's an awful thing. It's something
to be hated. It's not a grace. It's a solemn
thing. disbelieve the Eternal, the Almighty
God of Heaven and what He has written in His Holy Word. And shall not God avenge His
own elect which cry day and night? Keep crying, keep looking, but
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up on wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary. You see, I tell you that he will
avenge them speedily in his own time. Omnipotence has servants
everywhere. He's never before his time and
he never is too late. No. There's a set time and we
need the grace to wait for that set time when the Lord will send
deliverance. And then he speaks this parable
He spake this parable unto them, certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others. Who were they? The Pharisees. They trusted in
themselves, that was one of the marks, and the other was they
despised others. That's the mark of the Pharisee.
It's a solemn thing. trusted in themselves that they
were righteous and despised others. They thought that they were better
than everybody else. That is the spirit of the Pharisee. It's a solemn, terrible spirit. And then we read here that these
two men went up to the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee,
the other a publican. The Pharisee trusted in himself
The publican could not so much as lift his eyes up onto heaven.
The publicans were tax collectors. They were renowned for their
fraudulent behavior. They took more money from the
people than was necessary and they kept plenty for themselves. They were invariably rich people.
Indeed if you look at the beginning of chapter 19 we have there an
illustration of it the publican and Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus which
was the chief among the publicans and he was rich and he sought
to see Jesus. See look at the context of our
text and it's speaking of a rich man. It's speaking of a rich
man. And the Lord Jesus, he said,
why callest thou, verse 19 of our chapter, why callest thou
me good? None is good save one that is
God. Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father
and thy mother. And he said, all these have I
kept from my youth on. Now when Jesus heard these things,
he said unto him, yet lackest thou one thing. sell all that thou hast and distribute
unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come
follow me what wonderful words of grace and come follow me and
when he heard this he was very sorrowful for he was very And
when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, how hardly
shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God. For
it easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye. There's a passage
next to the gates of the city wall which a camel couldn't get
through. It was called the needle's eye. It's easier for a camel to go
through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God. And they that heard it said who
then can be saved? And he said these things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. What does he mean? And I believe
that the Lord loved this man. I'm quite sure of that. It was impossible with men But
the Lord could wean him away from all those riches. He could. For with God the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. They are. And this is what the Lord Jesus
is alluding to. He looked in an impossible situation
but he said not with God it isn't. And the illustration in the following
chapter, chapter 19, so beautiful. Jesus entered and passed through
Jericho and behold there was a man named Zacchaeus which was
the chief among the publicans. He was the chief man and he was
rich. Why? Because he gained so much
money being the chief among the publicans. And he sought to see
Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press because he
was a little of stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place,
he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make
haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house, chief
among the publicans. And he made haste and came down
and received him joyfully. when they saw it they all murmured
saying this that he was gone to be a guest with a man that
is a sinner and Zacchaeus stood and here
we see the effect of divine grace faith in Jesus Christ repentance
toward God and toward our Lord Jesus Christ we see the effect
of that repentance And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord,
Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and
if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation,
I restore him fourfold. This is repentance. Repentance
is an exceedingly practical grace. And Jesus said unto him, This
day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is
a son Abraham for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost this man to all outward appearances was
completely taken up with his riches he was but salvation came
to his house and then he distributed to the poor see it's a text it's
in a an explication of the text that we have and he said the
things which are impossible with men are possible with God. They are. Is there anything too
hard? If the Lord can bring covetous
Zacchaeus to living faith in Jesus Christ to forsake the ways
of sin to give half his goods to the poor this is the effect
of divine grace. You see that same effect on the
day of Pentecost. What was that effect on the day
of Pentecost? When the Spirit was poured upon
them. They had all things in common. And nobody thought that
anything was his own, but it was all the Lord's. What have
ye that ye have not received? It's what the Lord has given
you. They had all things in common. There was none that lacked. For
those that had plenty, gave to those that lacked. You see, and
that is the grace of God. And that is the wonderful effect
of the grace of God. A man that is by nature, and
we are by nature, every one of us, covetous. Speaks in Holy
Scripture of it. We're covetous by nature. We want to accumulate as much
as we can. to ourselves and that the normal
response of man is, it's mine, I've worked for it. It's covetous. Thou shalt not covet and the
grace of God working in the heart of a man or a woman will bring
us to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ. You see, is
there anything too hard for the Lord? No, there isn't. You see this man, this Pharisee
in verse 11, he says, he stood and prayed thus with himself.
Now that's a solemn thing in itself, isn't it? He prayed thus
with himself. He thought that he was praying
to God. In actual fact, friends, there's no prayer in it. I thank
thee that I am not as other men are, extortionous, unjust, adulterous,
or even this publican. despise everybody else I fast
twice in the week I give tithes of all I possess and the publican standing afar
off would not lift up his eyes so much so much as his eyes under
heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me
a sinner I tell you These are the words of the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords, who readeth all hearts. I tell you, this
man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For every
one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. You see, my beloved friends,
these things are written for our instruction. They are. You look through Holy Scripture
and you see the different times, especially in the history of
the children of Israel, the impossible situations. You consider when
the children of Israel came out of Egypt and they came into the
wilderness and they came to the shores of the Red Sea. And Pharaoh
and his army were pursuing them behind. So behind them were the
great army of the Egyptians. And each side of where they were,
were mountains. The place was called Pyre Hieroth. There were mountains each side.
And Moses cried unto the Lord, here were the Egyptians coming,
here was the Red Sea, it was utterly impossible. However could
it be? And we read that Moses cried unto
the Lord, and the Lord said, why cryest thou unto me? Say unto the children of Israel
that they go forward. They go, how? There's a red sea
in front of them, it looked impossible. And he lifted his rod. Moses
lifted his rod. and he placed it over the Red
Sea and the waters parted and the children of Israel passed
over as on dry land. An utterly impossible situation. And we read in the Hebrews, because
the Egyptian army pursued after them, that the Red Sea is quite
a few miles across. So there was the children of
Israel going through the Red Sea on dry land and the Egyptian
army following them and the Lord he sent the fiery cloudy pillar
from the front of them behind them to stand between the Egyptians
and the Israelites to defend them And we read that the Lord
looked out of that fiery cloudy pillar and he troubled the Egyptians
and their chariot wheels fell off and everything started to
go wrong. See, what an explication of our
text. The things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. When the children of Israel had
crossed over the Red Sea and the Lord caused the sea to return
And it says in the Hebrews, and the Egyptians are saying to do
so, were drowned. They were drowned. You see, they
were destroyed. The very thing that saved the
children of Israel was the utter destruction of the Egyptians.
I should never forget reading the learned Dr. Goodwin, the Puritan. And he
said, in history, You do not read anything of the Egyptians
for 300 years after that great terrible event in the Red Sea. You see the Lord's hand went
out against them. It did. And then there's the
time when Joshua, when the children of Israel had passed through
the wilderness and they were ready to pass over the River
Jordan. And the Lord commanded them to
do so, right at the time of the flooding. Every summer, in the
time of harvest, the River Jordan floods. The water for the River
Jordan comes from Mount Hermon. And it's the melting time in
the summer, when the ice melts. And then Jordan becomes a torrent.
It's normally quite a small, quiet river. And it becomes a
torrent. And it floods. all around him
it was at that very time it was at that very time that the Lord
said to Joshua arise and pass over Jordan and he sent the Levites
with the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth
and the children of Israel were to follow and this is what we
read and there's teaching in it As soon as the feet of the
priest touched the water, the waters parted. Those waters did
not part until they took a step. The just shall live by his faith. And it was as they put their
feet upon the waters that the waters parted, and they went
over as on dry land. You see my beloved friends, these
wonderful things are set before us in Holy Scripture to instruct
us. And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. When the Lord's servant
Daniel, he was challenged about his religion
and praying to God. Those soothsayers and etc. persuaded the king to make a
decree that no man was to pray unto any God but the God of the
king and anyone that did so was to be cast into the den of lions.
They did it on purpose entirely to entrap Daniel because they
knew that three times a day Daniel opened his windows toward Jerusalem
and he knelt down and prayed unto his God. And those men, they said, we
shall not find anything against this Daniel, except we find something
with his religion. That's what they said. So they passed that decree. And
so the king, he laboured all day long to prevent Daniel. He loved Daniel. Daniel was one
of his chief counsellors, like the Prime Minister. But he couldn't
prevail. And Daniel was cast into the
den of lions. And then early in the morning,
the king, who couldn't sleep, he went to the den of lions.
He says, O Daniel, servant of the most high God, is thy God
able to deliver thee? And Daniel answers, O king, live
forever. My God has sent his angel and
has shut the mouth of the lions. with God, nothing is or can be
impossible. And he said the things which
are impossible with man are possible with God. Then we have Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego and these things are recorded to instruct
us. Gay Nebuchadnezzar made that great image. again it's Thomas Goodwin speaking
on that image he said it was exactly the image that Nebuchadnezzar
was given by Daniel in vision the image set up with the golden
head and he made a great image and then anybody or everybody
had to bow down to the image at this sound of any music And immediately it was found
that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego never did so. And so the King
Nebuchadnezzar, he brought them. He was a great despot, wasn't
he? He brought them before him. And they said, and they weren't
being rude. They were just being very clear
and very faithful. O King, we are not careful to
answer thee in this matter. That we will not bow down. The
law of our God declares thou shalt have no other God before
me. I've got no doubt whatsoever they quoted the law of God. And Nebuchadnezzar was so angry
he heated the furnace seven times hotter. Those three godly men
were cast into that burning fire furnace and the men The great
captains of his army, the heat was so great they died in putting
him in the furnace. And then we read that Nebuchadnezzar
stood looking and he was astounded, that means astonished. Did we
not cast three men in the fire? He said, there are four. And
there was something revealed to Nebuchadnezzar there. He said,
the fourth is like unto the Son of God. It's quite remarkable,
wasn't it? Fear not, I am with thee. See,
when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.
The fire shall not burn them. And he called with a loud voice,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, come forth. And they came forth. They were bound hand and foot
when they were put in. all their bands were burnt, their
clothes were not burnt, their hair wasn't singed, they came
out perfectly delivered. You see, them that honour me,
I will honour. The things which are impossible
with men, are possible with God. Well my beloved friends, The Lord will gather each one
of his people to eternal glory. Sometimes you may feel so sinful,
so wretched. You may be so tempted, so tried,
so perplexed. You think, shall ever I reach
heaven? You will. Why? Because he's promised. Because
he's promised. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. May the Lord grant His
blessing. Let us now sing together hymn
number 320. The tune is Walden 259. God moves in a mysterious way,
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. Hymn 320, tune Walden 259. ? In the glory she is still ? ?
Eternally true ? ? Be glorious, Israel ? ? Till eternity ? you In unfathomable moments of never-fading
chill He dresses up in brightest white,
And the country children thrill. And without his song they will. If people search for his name, The clouds ye serve not yet,
A peak with mercy ever shall break. In blackness sit down your head
In blackness sit down your head Judge now The Lord, my feeble sense,
would trust Him for His grace. Behind the crowning of repentance,
He hides a smiling face. He hides a smiling face. His purpose is with holy purpose
unfolding every now The bird may have a bitter taste,
But sweetly will be the flower. But sweetly will be the Lie down beneath his shoulder And spend his work in vain God
is his own interpreter And he will make it plain And he will
make Now, may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide upon us both now and for
evermore. Amen.