The text that I want us to turn
to tonight is found in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter
9 and verse 51. Luke 9, 51. And it came to pass,
when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem, like Luke 9.51. And it came to
pass, when the time was come that he should be received up,
he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Christ's face
set, set as a flint. His determination to go up to
Jerusalem, knowing full well all that was going to befall
him there in that holy city. We were looking last Lord's Day
at Peter's confession, that great confession of the Apostle in
Matthew 16, 16, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living
God. And there Christ goes on to declare
Simon Peter to be blessed that had not been revealed to him
by flesh and blood but by the Father. And now Christ says that
He will build His Church upon that very foundation, the foundation
of His own person that Peter had confessed to Christ, the
Son of the living God. Upon this rock I will build my
church, said Christ, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And then a little later on we're
told that from that time forth began Jesus to show unto the
disciples how he must go up to Jerusalem and speaks of all that
must have its accomplishment in him. how the Jews will deliver
him to the Gentiles and they'll be crucified and the third day
he will rise again and of course that's all part and parcel of
that foundation it's the person of the Lord Jesus the Christ
the Son of the Living God and it's the work that the Father
had given him to do and to accomplish and he says there or it says
as we have it in that 16th chapter of Matthew that he must he must
needs go to Jerusalem there's a certain inevitability with
regard to those things that we're going to before him and that's
what we come to hear in the text that I've read this evening the
most significant verse here in Luke's Gospel. He came to pass
when the time was come that he should be received up. He steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem. In fact these words we might
say mark one of the major divisions in this Gospel. Remember, with
Luke we have a sort of preamble. before he begins to recount all
that the Lord Jesus Christ did here upon the earth. The preamble
where he addresses Theophilus. The opening verses, For as much
as many have taken in hand to set forth in order, mark those
words, to set forth in order a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered
them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the Word, it seemed good to me also, having a perfect
understanding of all these things from the very first, to write
unto thee in order." Again mark the words, he's writing in order,
he says, most excellent Theophilus. that thou mightest know the certainty
of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. There's
an order in the way in which Luke is recounting the history
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a planned layout. that we
have in this book, and we can see that there is, in a sense,
a fourfold division. After that preamble in the first
four verses, from verse 5 through to the beginning of chapter 4,
we have an account of all that's associated with the birth of
Jesus of Nazareth. And we read of his childhood,
what little is told concerning his childhood in the Gospel.
And then we have mention of him beginning his public ministry
with his baptism and then following that the temptations. And then when we come to chapter
4 and verse 14 we are told, and Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit unto Galilee. And that really marks a change,
because from chapter 4 and verse 14 right through to this 9th
chapter of verse 50, the record concerns Christ's ministry in
that area, in the region of Galilee. from chapter 4 verse 14 through
to chapter 9 and verse 50. And then we read these words,
the words of our text, and subsequently we have the record of Christ's
last journey. He is making a journey now and
the account begins with the words of the text and it runs right
through to chapter 19 and verse 44. This is the Lord's last journey
that he is making up to Jerusalem. And we're told at verse 41 in
chapter 19 when he was come near he beheld the city and wept over
it. And then after that we have the
final section of the book from chapter 1945 and we read of his
last days in Jerusalem, his death. his resurrection from the dead
and his return, his ascension to heaven. We can follow that sort of basic
outline as Luke is writing to this Man Theophilus in order
of all those things that Jesus began both to do and to teach. What we see then is that the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a meaningless series of
events, but every deed and every word, every part, every aspect
of his ministry is significant. He is aware that he has a work
to accomplish. Even as a child, remember, back
in chapter 2 and verse 49, that occasion when he'd gone with
his parents to Jerusalem, and they had departed and he was
left. They didn't realize that. He'd
been left behind in the temple, and they're looking for him.
They have to return, and there he is, sitting in the midst of
the doctors in the temple. And now he speaks to his parents.
Chapter 2 and verse 49, "...wish ye not that I must be about my
father's business." He is aware, you see, of the work that He
must do. My meat, He says on another occasion,
recorded in John, My meat, the sustenance, the food that
supports me in life. What is it that carries me through
this life? My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work. The Lord is very conscious
then of all that he must accomplish here upon the earth and he knew
he knew what was going to befall him at Jerusalem and he speaks of it previously
in this chapter verse 22 the son of man he says must suffer
many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests
and scribes and be slain and be raised again the third day. And then he goes on to speak
further Verse 44, Let these sayings sink
deep down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered
into the hands of men. But they understood not this
saying, and it was hid from them, that they proceeded not, and
they feared to ask of Him. Oh, the Lord is very conscious
of all that is going to come And now we see him determined
to see this work through. It came to pass when the time
was come. There were other times when the
Jews would have killed him if they could. There were those
occasions in John, John chapter 7 and verse 30, again in chapter
8 and verse 20 where we're told they would have stoned him. Now
the Jews hated him. They accused him of blasphemy
because he said he was the son of God. But when they would have
killed him by stoning we are told his hour has not yet come.
His hour has not yet come. Oh, there is a season to everything,
a time to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born, and
a time to die and so it was with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But now that time has come. He
came to pass when the time was come that He should be received
up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. You see, as the Son of God, there
is that sense, of course, there must be, in which His will is
at one with the will of the Father. There is no division in the Godhead,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There is a simplicity with regards
to the will of God. And I know some like to speak
as if there's two wills in God. There's a secret will, there's
a revealed will. I don't like that talk. I think
God's will is one. Although the doctrine of God
is a profound doctrine of course, the doctrine of the Triniton.
that there are three and the three are one and yet there is
also a simplicity when it comes to the doctrine of God and God
is one here we shall have the Lord our God is one Lord and
the will of God is one in Father, Son and Holy Ghost that's simplicity
but then we have to ask what are the words that we have later
Christ in the garden there in chapter 22 and now he speaks
to his father father if they'll be willing he says let this cup
pass from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done he
speaks of my will and thy will and there is a mystery here there
is a mystery because he does have a human will that's part
of his human nature of course. How do we reconcile those words? I've said that the will of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one and yet when we come to the
Lord Jesus Christ when we see God manifest in the flesh He
has a human will and that will has to be brought into subjection
to the will of God it reminds us of the reality really of his
human nature he is the eternal son of God yet though he were
a son he has to learn obedience by the things that he suffers
his human will does always acquiesce in the will of God because we
can't divide the human will from the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ and in everything he is God-man, in everything that he
does. This is the mystery. This is
the mystery. One reads these things, one ponders
these things, one tries to find the answer to these things, but
one is absolutely amazed because we know that that human will
is always subject to the divine will. These are patterns to us,
how we are to learn of Him. We have to be brought to submit
our wills to that sovereign will of God and the Lord Jesus Christ
did it so perfectly, of course. In all things He obeyed the Father.
He did all the Father's goodwill and pleasure. And what do we
see here when we come to the words of our text? Do we not
see His great determination? When the time was come, when
that time arrived that he should be received up, he steadfastly
sets his face to go to Jerusalem. All his determination. Let us
consider that determination first of all tonight. How was he crucified? Well Peter tells us there in
his great sermon on the day of Pentecost he was delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Peter says to the Jews and by
wicked hands she took him and crucified him. There is the determinate
counsel of God. And the Lord Jesus of course
himself he is God, it's his own counsel together with God the
Father and God the Son and how his human will is subject to that and delights
in that and acquiesces in that and even those Jews who were
guilty of crucifying him why they did not willingly submit
to the sovereign will of God They are rebelling against God.
And in rebelling against God, the strange thing is that they
are accomplishing the will of God. But they are culpable. Ye
have taken, says Peter, and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain, and yet it's all the determinate counsel of God. These are the
great mysteries, are they not, of our faith concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. but to think for a while of him
and his determination with regards to his crucifixion. He says previously in chapter
12 and verse 50, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am
I straightened until it be accomplished. He likens his death to a baptism. It's a baptism of sufferings. He's going to be immersed in
these awful sufferings as the wrath of God is visited upon
his holy soul. Psalm 69, Messianic Psalms speak
so much of the Lord Jesus Christ. Save me, O God, he says, for
the waters are coming unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where
there is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Oh, it's a baptizing, you see,
an immersing in all those sufferings. I have a baptism to be baptized
with. And how am I straightened, he
says. And the word there in chapter
12 and verse 50, straightened, we have an alternative in the
margin, it says pained. How am I pained until it be accomplished? Oh, what agonies, what agonies
are involved in submitting himself to the sovereign will of God
in his crucifixion. No wonder he cries out in all
the agonies of his soul there in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And it's interesting how the Puritan Matthew Poole compares
what the Lord is saying there about being straightened in relation
to this baptism of sufferings. Poole compares that word straightened
with a woman in labour at childbirth. A woman when she is in travail
with torture of sorrow. because her hour has come and I don't know I mean I imagine
that the agonies of childbirth the woman has to endure it's
great sufferings and of course the Lord Jesus Christ is the
seat of the woman and the Lord Jesus Christ knew agonies like
unto childbirth that no man has ever experienced as soon as she
is delivered of the child it says she remembereth no more
the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world all her
sufferings end end in great joy and gladness and so it is we'll
come to that presently so it is with the Lord Jesus Christ
but how he is straight and how he is pined because he has this
baptism that he's got to be baptised with and how the Lord is so determined
that he will go through with all these agonies and there is
a certain emphasis here in our text there's an emphasis upon
the pronoun because it's repeated when the time has come that he
should be received up, it says, He. And then the word is repeated,
He. Steadfastly set his face to go
to Jerusalem. The pronoun is there twice really,
He, He. What an emphasis there is. And
how it must have affected the disciples, because they are witnesses
to these things. We read those words in Mark chapter
10 beginning at that 32nd verse
they were in the way going up to Jerusalem and Jesus went before
them and they were amazed and as they followed they were afraid
what is it that they are witnessing it's all this determination on
the part of the Lord Jesus Christ they can't understand but there's
something that's gripped the Lord Jesus Christ at this particular
juncture during the days of his humiliation upon the earth. Jesus
went before and they were amazed and as they followed they were
afraid and he took again the twelve and began to tell them
what things should happen unto him, saying, Behold, we go up
to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the
chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to
death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, and they shall
mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and
shall kill him. And the third day he shall rise
again. it's witnessing these things
and the determination of the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish
this great work all his courage so amazing to
those disciples now from whence did the Lord Jesus Christ obtain
that courage? the Lord Jesus Christ was not
a superman he was a real man the Lord Jesus Christ was not
a stoic he was a man of deep feeling and deep emotion and
we see that do we not in the account there in the garden he's
in an agony it says it's costly this business of coming to make
the great sin atoning sacrifice being in an agony we have it
in this account don't we Luke's account 22 40 for being in an
agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat is like great drops
of blood falling to the ground for the Lord Jesus Christ how
he feels these things and so he says if it be possible let
this God pass from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done
it's not easy but how he wants to always submit that human will
to God's holy will he wants to acquiesce it and he does he does
but there's a cost although he were a son he is the eternal
son of God and though he is God's eternal son yet learned the obedience
by the things that he suffered what the God-man is suffering
is learning in all these experiences And it's not just in the garden,
of course it's not. Because the great sacrifice is
not what is happening there in Gethsemane, but we have to go
on. It's Golgotha, isn't it? It's
Calvary. It's the cross. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Or what is the secret of all
his courage? as he comes to accomplish that
great work. What's the secret of such determination? Well, you know what it was. It
was prayer. It was prayer. That's the secret.
That's the only way in which the Lord, as a man, a real man,
could accomplish all the goodwill and pleasure of His Father. Now,
we read that passage in in Isaiah 50 and it's a prophecy, a clear
prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does he say? The Lord God
hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how
to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned
The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks, to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore
shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face,
mark the words, therefore have I set my face like a flint. And
I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is nearer, justifieth me.
Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is
mine adversary? Let him come nearer, near to
me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. How is the Lord approaching all
of this? Well, He wakeneth morning by
morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear
as the learned. He wakeneth morning by morning. And now we see the Lord Jesus
so often in prayer at the dawning of the day, in the morning, rising
up a great while before dawn. He retires to a secret place for prayer. to a place of solitude he'll
spend a whole night in prayer this is the life of faith that
he is living and this is this is Christ a real man that person
who suffered he was not superman he was a real man and he felt
he felt all those sufferings and he felt those sufferings
in the very depth of his soul but he was determined that he
would do the Father's will. Now again, I can't but quote
those remarkable words in Hebrews 5, who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayer and supplication with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death
and was heard in that he feared. All that fear, that was his piety. as a man he stands in awe before
God and yet he is God he is the God-man but he is heard in that
he feared though he were a son the eternal son yet learns the
obedience by the things that he suffered all Christ's determination
is rooted then in his prayer life and is there not something that
we have to learn Are we those who are so determined
to be saved? We want to be saved. We long
to be saved. How will that be manifested?
It will be manifested in prayers. You shall seek me, He says, and
find me when you shall search after me with all your hearts. The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth
violence and the violence, take it by force. There's a labouring in prayer,
isn't there? And what do we know of labourings in prayer? It's so vital at the beginning,
seeking the Lord, that we might know the salvation of the Lord,
but it's necessary all the time, these wrestlings in prayer. And
isn't that the mark of those who are the true Israel of God?
Think of Jacob. Jacob, when he becomes Israel,
he's Peniel. it's there in Genesis 32 and
the angel is wrestling with him to the breaking of the day and
oh he touches the hollow of Jacob's thigh and oh Jacob can no more
wrestle he's a lame man now but what does Jacob do he clings
and he clings I will not let thee go he says I will not let
thee go except thou bless me all that determination to lay
hold of the Lord. And that's what we have to learn.
In all that comes, all our trials, all our troubles, what can we
do? We have to learn what it means to pray. And this was the
Lord Jesus Christ. The perfect pattern. That sinless man. Or think of
it, the only sinless man that has ever lived. all his life in obedience I know
Adam and Eve both of them of course were created sinless but
how quickly they fell how quickly they sinned but the Lord Jesus
all his life as a man his will in perfect harmony with the divine
will and all that that cost the Lord Jesus Christ I do like the
title of Huntington's spiritual autobiography, The Kingdom of
Heaven Taken by Prayer. You may remember that when John
Warburton, as a young man, was first introduced to that book,
he tossed it to one side. He thought it was some sort of
Arminian rubbish, he says. That a man could take God's kingdom
by prayer. But when he read it, he saw what
it meant. He saw what it meant. That's
how we take the Kingdom of God by prayer. This is how the Lord
Jesus Christ establishes His Kingdom. His determination, His
determination, He will die. He will see this blessed work
through to the very end, obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. But besides his determination,
let me, in the second place, try to say something with regards
to his motivation. There's motivation here. What
moved the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish his work? There's
something moving him. There's something behind his
determination. we're told aren't we being found
in fashion as a man the words that we have there in Philippians
chapter 2 found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death even the death of the cross what is he doing here? well it's
the love of God There's an obedience that he must render to God. He
has entered into covenant, the eternal covenant, the covenant
of redemption as it's sometimes called, between the Father, the
Son, with the witness of the Spirit. And the Lord Jesus Christ in
that covenant becomes the servant of the Lord. Behold my servant,
says God, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. He's the Christ, the Anointed
One. And the Father has given Him the Spirit without measure.
The great effusion of the Spirit comes upon Him. He's so dependent
upon the Spirit. I said before, read through the
Gospels and see how the Lord Jesus Christ at every turn is
dependent upon the Spirit of God. Like we're dependent upon
the Spirit of God. And He will be obedient, you
see. found in fashion as a man he humbles himself and becomes
obedient unto death even the death of the cross the accursed
death why? because of the love that he has
to the Father he loves the Father and he wants to do all the goodwill
and pleasure of the Father that's his motivation if we are those
who love God we want to obey God We won't be partial in His
Holy Word, we won't just embrace His promises, exceeding great
precious promises, the Bible's full of them. We won't just embrace
all those comforting fear nots. We want to embrace everything,
the precepts. If we love God, the Lord Jesus
Christ loved God. And that's why He was obedient. It was an expression of His love
to God. But as he loves God, doesn't
he also love those that the Father has given to him? There in John
13, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour
was come, that he should depart out of the world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end. Well, He doesn't just love the
Father. Here's the motivation, having loved His own. His own. These that the Father has given
to Him in the Covenant, having loved His own, which were in
the world. He loves them. And He loves them
unto the end. That love, it terminates in the
death that He must endure at Calvary, his sufferings. Enduring
the wrath of God poured out upon his holy soul because he loved
his people. Oh, we're told, aren't we, there
in Hebrews 12, to do for the joy that was set before him.
Endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God. Well, there's a motivation,
you see. He endures the cross, he despises
the shame, he rises again from the dead, he ascends on high,
he is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. There was
resurrection, there was ascension before him. He is declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. It doesn't end in the cross. And what we have here, you see,
in some ways, looks beyond His determination at the cross. It
looks also to His resurrection, His ascension. The time has come, it says, that
He should be received up. And the word that we have here
is the same word that is used in relation to his ascension.
Who is the human author of this gospel? It's Luke. Who is the author of the Acts
of the Apostles? It's Luke. We all have our peculiar
way of writing. And this is how it is with the
authors of Holy Scripture. As I've said many a time, these
men are not just acting a sort of amanuensis, the Lord God dictating
and they writing down unfeelingly. No, they write in their own way,
in their own style. And yet they're strangely carried
along by the Spirit of God. And so there's similarity in
the vocabulary. and the style of writing. If
you compare Luke in the Gospel with the Acts of the Apostles
there'll be that that you will discern that will indicate that
this must be written by the same human author. And we see that
Luke uses his very same word to describe the ascension of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see it in Acts chapter
1 Verse 2, until the day in which
he was taken up after he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments
unto the apostles whom he had chosen. Again he's addressing himself
to this man Theophilus. The former treatise, that's the
Gospel. Have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both
to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up And it's the same word really
as we have here in our text received up. Exactly the same word. Exactly
the same word. And it's used again. There in
chapter 1 of the Acts, verse 11. As the angel speaks to them as
they see the Lord ascending, Ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus which is taken
up, you have the same word again, is taken up from you into heaven,
shall come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. And yet again, verse 22, he's
speaking of the Lord Jesus, beginning from the baptism of John until
that same day that He was taken up, taken up from us. And so, coming back to the text
you see, what is His received up? The time has come that He
should be received up. He steadfastly sets His face
to go to Jerusalem. There's motivation, He's looking
beyond, beyond the cross. He's looking for that glory that's
going to follow. Oh, there is that glory. It's
all part, isn't it, of the great mystery of godliness that Paul
speaks of. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. That's where it ends. received
up into glory His ascension and then following that His great
session at the Father's right hand. Oh isn't the Lord's eye
then fixed upon that glory that should follow. The joy that was set before Him.
The reward of all His sufferings. He would not die in vain. O dear dying Lamb, that precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Church
of God is saved to sin no more. He is the one who has now accomplished
that great work, risen from the dead, ascended on high. Thou
hast ascended on high, says the psalmist. Thou hast received
gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might
dwell amongst them. He's received gifts. Gifts for men. And what sort
of men? Rebellious men, sinful men. Always
exalted to have mercy upon sinners. Now those words, Psalm 68 and
verse 18, you know, they're quoted there in the New Testament, Ephesians
4, 8. We're in no doubt then as to who it is that the psalmy
speaks of in that particular 68th psalmy speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his ascension and all that he has received
as a result of his obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. He has received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious
also. All rebellious sinners. What are the gifts? Well, He
gives all that's necessary for their salvation. Him hath God
exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to
give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. He's
exalted to give repentance and forgiveness. Why, He's the one
who is the author, the finisher of faith, isn't it? We already referred to Hebrews
12, looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
We didn't quote those opening words, did we? That's what it
says, we're to be looking, looking away, looking only to Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. You want faith? You want
repentance? That's where you have to go.
to this one he came to pass when the hour
or the time was come that he should be received up he steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem he will accomplish salvation
he has accomplished salvation and he will see to the application
of that salvation and how all of this all that was ultimately
before Him, the glory that was to follow. How this encouraged
the Lord Jesus in all His offerings. And friends, is it not the same
for those who are His followers, if we are followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Our Paul goes on, therefore,
in that opening part of Hebrews chapter 12, consider Him, he
says, that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be weary and faint in your minds." All consider Him and
His determination and His motivation, lest ye be weary and faint. Maybe
we get weary and faint. I get weary and faint. One comes
to the Lord's Day and one looks forward to the Lord's Day and
then suddenly the Lord's Day has gone, it's Monday and one
feels somewhat washed out and then I think, I've got more services
now. I've got services. I've got to
start all over again. You're all weary. It's the Lord's
work, I know. But there's an old nature, there's
an old man. It's hard work at times, isn't it? I know we're
not all preachers, but we're all followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it's not easy to be a Christian. It's jolly hard
at times in this fallen world. There's so much opposition. And
there's a devil who's very active, he goeth about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. And sometimes we look and the
life of the worldly person seems so much easier. Or lest we grow weary and faint
in our lives, we're to consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against ourselves. We look not at the things which
are seen, that's what we're told. We look not at the things that
are seen, but the things that are not seen. The things that
are seen are temporal. And the unseen things, all the
unseen things, those are the eternal things. We walk by faith,
not by sight. And we see Him, who is the invisible
God. We don't see Him with our natural
eye, of course we don't. He's the invisible God. But we
walk by faith, we are to see Him by the eye of faith. and
that faith you see, of which the Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the author and finisher that Lord Jesus Christ who lived the
life of faith and expressed his faith in his prayers to his Father. Oh friends, the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared are they with
the glory that shall follow. There is a glory to follow, the
Lord knew it and how it motivated him, how it moved him in all
His obedience to the will of His Father. And we learn of Him. We are followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ and we are to follow then in the footsteps of Him. The psalmist says, I had fainted
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living. Who are we those who are in the
land of the living? And by that I understand he's
speaking of a spiritual life. That life that God gives to his
people. Thy life will I give unto thee, he says. Jeremiah 45, isn't it? Is that
the word to Barak? It was a sort of amanuensis to
Jeremiah, he did, he was a scribe. And he wrote much, it seems,
of the prophecy of Jeremiah. Thy life will I give unto thee
for a prey in all places whither thou goest. How our lives, our
spiritual lives are preyed upon. And yet, that's the land of the
living. As Ikaiah says, by these things
men live. And in all these things is the
life of my spirit. O are we followers of this man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. His determination, his motivation,
he came to pass. When the time was come that he
should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. O God, grant that we might know
such steadfastness, such determination, and the blessing of that great
motivation that we find in Christ and that great love of God that's
demonstrated to us in the gift of His only begotten Son. May
the Lord be pleased to bless His word to us. Amen.