Let us turn then to God's Word
in Luke chapter 9, Luke chapter 9 and verse 51. The words of our text, Luke chapter
9 and verse 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. Luke chapter 9 and verse 51. This verse is interesting, it
marks one of the major divisions that we have in the Gospel according
to Luke. Remember in his preamble, the
beginning of the Gospel, Luke makes it plain that he is writing
events in order. There is some plan to the layout
of the Gospel for as much as many have taken in hand to set
forth in order the 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 had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order most
excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of
those things wherein thou hast been instructed. He is writing
then of events in an orderly fashion. And what do we find? Well from verse 5 there in the
opening chapter through chapter 4 to verse 13 we have events associated with
the birth, and the childhood, and the baptism, and the temptations
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, at verse 14, in chapter
4, we are told, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into
Galilee. and there went out a flame of
him through all the region round about and he taught in their
synagogues being glorified of all. So after those opening chapters
that speak of his coming into the world, his birth and his
childhood and then how he begins his public ministry as he is
baptised of John and is then led of the spirit into the wilderness,
there At verse 14 in chapter 4 we see Christ entering into
Galilee in all the power of the Spirit and so we have a record
of that ministry really right the way through to this 9th chapter. All the following chapters from
that 14th and 15th verse in chapter 4 They speak of that ministry
that was taking place in the regions of Galilee. And now Christ begins his journey,
his last journey to Jerusalem. And the record of that journey
runs through from this 51st verse that we've read as our text,
right the way into chapter 19 and verse 44 there we see the Lord Jesus Christ
on his final journey coming towards Jerusalem and in chapter 19 the end of the
chapter verse 41 we're told when he was come near he beheld the
city and wept over it so from verse 51 in chapter 9, right
the way to the end of chapter 19, Christ is making that journey,
that last journey to the city of Jerusalem. And then after
he enters Jerusalem from verse 45 in chapter 19, to the end
of the Gospel we read of his last days. His last days in Jerusalem,
we read of his death, we read of his resurrection, his ascension. There is a certain order then
that we can see a certain progression that's set before us in this
particular Gospel. Christ's life was not a meaningless
series of events, but on the contrary, every deed, every word,
every aspect of that life that he lived, that miniature that
he exercised was most significant. Does he not say earlier in this
gospel to his parents, wish ye not that I must be about my father's
business? He had a work to accomplish. He had been sent by the father
to accomplish all that he had engaged to undertake in the eternal
covenant. He says in John, my meat is to
do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. It was a work to be begun, a
work to be continued, a work to be accomplished and to be
finished and he was obedient of course. even unto the death
of the cross, always doing the will of his God. There is a certain
order there, with regards to what we read here concerning
the life and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he
knew. He knew the very hour of his death, had he not come for
that purpose. He was aware that it was all
appointed in the eternal covenants. In John chapter 12 and verse
27 he says, In prayer now is my soul troubled, and what shall
I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify my
name, for this is the great burden, the glory of God. He goes on,
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me. This he said signifying what
death he should die. He knew what was before him.
He knew when the hour was come. There were those occasions when
the Jews sought to kill him. Oh, they would accuse him of
blasphemies and take up stones to stone him to death, but they
could not touch him. Twice in John's Gospel we are
told, His hour was not yet come. His hour was not yet come. Or there was a time to be born
for Christ. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law. But there was also a time for
Christ to die, a time to be born, a time to die. to redeem them
that were under the law, that's why he came, to give his life
as the great ransom price. And he knew, he knew now, that
that time that was ordained in the eternal covenant had come.
It came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received
up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Here, as I say, in the following
chapters, right through to chapter 19, we see Christ making that
final journey, aware of what awaited him at the end there
in Jerusalem. Well, let us come then to the
words that we've read as a text. I want first of all to consider
something of the motivation in what Christ is doing. What was
it that moved the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish such a work
as that that was given to Him. When the time has come that He
should be received up, He steadfastly set His thighs to go to Jerusalem. Why was it? Well, He loved the
Father, of course. He loved the Father. He had a
delight in all those things that pleased the Father. The Father's
will was His will. And so as a man we see Him always
obeying every command of God and determined to accomplish
that work that the Father had committed to His charge being
found in fashion as a man. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He says to his disciples, he
says to us, if you love me, keep my commandments. And here is
that preacher, of course, who always practices what he preaches.
He loved his father and therefore he was determined to do the Father's
will. He was delighted to obey all
the Father's commandments. Here is what moved him then to
go the way of Jerusalem, but not only does he love the Father,
he also loved those that the Father had given to him. He loved
his people. How the Lord Jesus Christ loved
his people. We refer to those words in Hebrews
2 this morning, Behold I and the children which God they were
given to him by the Father and as he loved the Father surely
he must love those that the Father gave to him they were a gift
of love from the Father and he loves them and this moved him
as we see in the opening words of John 13 before the feast of
the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he
should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved
his own which were in the world. He loved them unto the end. Oh, the hour was come and he
loved them to the end. What was the end? It all terminates
in that death that he has to endure upon the cross at Calvary. Here are the things then that
motivate the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves the Father. And he loves
the children that the Father had given to him. And he knew,
he knew that what lay behind the cross was the crown. But
there was no coming to the crown without the cross. He must go
that way of the cross if he would come to the crown. Paul tells
us in Hebrews 12, for the joy that was set before him. endured the cross, despising
the shame, and he sat down on the right hand of the throne
of God. It was the joy, the joy that was set before him. He can
see really beyond, beyond the cross. And in fact that's what's
really indicated here in the text, in the word, the expression
received up, It came to pass when the time
was come that he should be received up. He steadfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem. It's true in a sense he is received
up, he is exalted on the cross. As we saw in that portion that
we read in Mark chapter 10, he says it, I if I be lifted up. will draw all men on to Him. He is exalted upon the cross
where He suffers in the place of His people and bears in His
own person that punishment that was there just deserved. But
the interesting thing here is that this expression received
up is normally associated in Scripture with the ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ. and that's how we see it in Acts. The Acts of course also written
by Luke. Luke uses the same word received
up in the opening chapter of the Acts and he uses it in reference
to the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just turn to Acts
chapter 1 He speaks of the former treatise.
He's writing again, you see, to Theophilus. The former treatise
of I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and
teach until the day in which he was taken up. Received up, it's the same word
as we have in our text. Taken up. After the day through
the Holy Ghost and given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen. And then again we have the words
in verse 11, here is Christ ascending and the two men, the angels,
two men in white apparel appear to them. Verse 11, which also
says, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
This time Jesus which is taken up, received up, from you into
heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven and yet again verse 22 when they are making choice
of one to replace Judas Iscariot who had fallen from his apostleship Verse 21, wherefore of these
men which have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord
Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of
John unto that same day that he was taken up, received up,
taken up from us must one be ordained to be a witness with
us of his resurrection. The expression then here that
we have The time has come that he should
be received up, or the time of his ascension, that that lies
beyond his sufferings. He was aware of his sufferings,
yes, but he also knew that beyond the cross was the crowd. And
even in that great doctrinal statement that we have in the
Third chapter of 1 Timothy, on Timothy 3.16, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. What is the mystery of godliness?
The mystery of real religion. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up. Received
up into glory. Oh, we knew he had come from
glory and the Lord Jesus Christ would return to the glory that
is heaven. He would be received up again
into the very presence of God in heaven. Now he ascended on
high. In that 68th psalm, when we sang
the metrical version, part of the psalm, thou hast descended
on half. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for thee rebellious also. And those words, those
words of the psalm, it's a messianic psalm clearly because in Ephesians
4 and verse 8 Paul quotes that verse in reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the one who was ascended
on high. He is the one who was led captivity
captive. He is the one who was vanquished
sin by the great sacrifice that he made when he bore the punishment
that was the desert of his people. He is the one who has vanquished
Satan the great adversary of souls. He has led captivity captive. He has triumphed over death,
over the grave. And he has received gifts for
man. Yea, it says in the Psalm, for
the rebellious also. He is exalted, you see, this
one, to have mercy. Oh, and he has mercy upon rebel
sinners. He sees of the travail of his
soul, does he not? It evades the spoil with the
strong, we're told there at the end of Isaiah 53. Strong sinners,
great sinners. It evades the spoil with them.
For this is the one then who has gone the way of the cross
for that great purpose. raised to go from the dead, ascend
onto high and bestow upon sinners the great gift of salvation. We are told, are we not, that
he is the one who bestows all that is necessary for the saving
of his people. Where is it that you can obtain
true evangelical repentance? Where can you find a real grieving,
sorrowing, mourning over sin? You have to repent. There is
no heaven without repentance, but where can you find repentance?
You have to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to look
to Him. Why has He ascended on high?
Well, we are told, are we not? 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. There is no forgiveness
of sins without repentance. But who grants that precious
gift of real repentance? The godly sorrow over sin? You can only obtain it from the
Lord Jesus Christ. And where there is repentance
there must be faith, because whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. Faith and repentance are joined
together, are they not, in Scripture, or what God has joined together,
let not man put asunder. You get repentance from the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it is to Christ that you must also look if you
want the gift of saving faith, looking unto Jesus, the author. and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. You have to look to Christ. Were
we not reminded of that in our opening hymn, that lovely hymn
of John Kemp's. You have to look unto him. Look
unto me, he says, and be beside all the ends of the earth. For
I am God and there is none else, no other one who can save." And
he is exalted to that very end. He's been received up. He's come
through the cross to the crowd. And there he is in heaven and he sees the trouble of his soul
now. All that the Father gave to him
he has paid the ransom price for. He has paid that debt that
they owed to the holy law of God. He has accomplished their
salvation and he bestows salvation. He hasn't just made salvation
a possibility. That's what the Arminian, the
free willer would say, of course, Christ died for everyone. Everyone
has a chance of salvation. But no one is certainly saved
in that scheme of things. It's whether or not they will
make anything of what Christ has done. And the sinner who
is dead in trespasses and sins can make nothing of these things.
That's not what the scripture teaches. It teaches that Christ
has accomplished a real salvation and he has been exalted into
the highest heavens and there he is as the great mediator of
the new covenant, and from there he bestows gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also.
And he gives repentance, he gives the forgiveness of sins, he gives
faith. Who are you looking then, looking unto Jesus? How Christ's
exaltation was the thing really that encouraged him through all
his sufferings. He could set his face, as we
read there in Isaiah 50, set his face as a flint. Steadfastly setting his face
to go to Jerusalem, knowing all that was to befall him there
in Jerusalem. How could he do it? Because he
sees beyond his suffering. He sees the exaltation that is
the Father, the spoils that He has won in the day of battle.
He sees all of that. And surely, friends, if we are
those who are in Christ, it must be the same with us, if we are
true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to consider Him. Consider him that endures such
contradiction of sinners, lest ye be faint in your mind, says
the Apostle. Or consider the Lord Jesus Christ.
We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen. The things which are seen are
temple things, the things which are not seen are the eternal
things. And it is at looking to Christ in heaven, looking
to Christ the Ascended, the Exalted One, that helps us, does it not,
in all the bearing of our cross in this wicked world. Paul says
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Our affections
then have to fly to heaven. We set our affections on those
things that are above, where Christ is, at God's right hand. Or the psalmist cries out, I
had fainted. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the Lord in the land of the living. How can we endure
all that comes into our path, that way of trouble that we referred
to this morning, those tribulations? He must, through much tribulation,
enter into the kingdom. It is because the end, the end
of the tribulation is the Kingdom, entering into the Kingdom. Here
then we see what it was that motivated the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh yes, he loved the Father,
he delighted to do the Father's will. He loved that people that
the Father had given to him. He would go that way and he sees,
he sees beyond. the cross. He sees that exaltation,
the joy, the joy set before him enables him to enjoy the cross,
to despise the shame. The Lord's motivation. But then,
secondly, I want to say something with regards to his determination,
his determination. It came to pass when the time
was come that he should be received of his steadfastness, set his
faith to go to Jerusalem. Doesn't the language speak to
us of a blessed determination? In chapter 12, verse 50, we have those words
that we read previously in Mark's account, in Mark chapter 10,
but are repeated here in Luke chapter 12, I have a baptism
to be baptised with, he says. Remember when James and John
wanted to sit, one on his right and one on his left. Could they?
Could they be baptised with his baptism? He had a baptism and he speaks
of it, I say, here in chapter 12, And verse 50, I have a baptism
to be baptised with and how am I straightened, he says, until
it be accomplished. The margin reading there for
straightened gives the word pain. I have a baptism to be baptised
with and how am I pained until it be accomplished. And that
was a real baptism. That was a real baptism. It wasn't
a water baptism, but it was an immersion. The Lord Jesus Christ
was immersed in suffering, immersed in pain. But the interesting
thing is that the Puritan commentator Matthew Poole compares that word
straightened with a woman enduring the pains of childbirth, labour
pains, the excruciating experience of bringing a life into this
world. That's what Matthew Paul says
the word straightened indicates. How am I straightened until it
be accomplished? And remember what the Lord says
concerning the woman in all the pangs of childbirth, A woman,
when she is in travail and sorrow, because her hour is come, but
as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no
more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world.
Or when her hour is come, She has traversed in her sorrows
the Lord Jesus Christ knew that when his hour was come. And he was to see the fruit of
all those awful sufferings. And there, in that last chapter,
in verse 50, I have a baptism to be baptised with. How am I
straightened? it indicates something of the
depth and the awfulness of the sorrows and the sufferings that
he had to endure in the saving of his people that ties he was
with suffering. Coming back to the words of our
text we see that the pronoun he is
so emphasized, so emphatic His face set. There's a repetition
here. He steadfastly set his face. He did it. The translation really
brings out the strength of the determination, does it not? He
steadfastly set his face. His face was like a flint. He
would not be moved. He would see this work through. And we know how His courage so
amazed the disciples. They were amazed at this time
as they beheld Him, determined to go up to Jerusalem. There in Mark 10.32 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. 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, they
were among. He spoke so plainly now of that
that was about to befall him. Those awful sufferings that he
would endure. Oh friends, we might ask from whence
came such courage as this? That he should see this bitter
work through to the very end. Where came his courage? He was
no stoic. He was not a man without feelings. He was a man of the most profound
and deeper feelings, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the perfect
man. He must have known something
of the acuteness of feelings that we, because we're creatures
of the fall, we can know nothing of those things really. And we felt. When we see something
of his feelings there in the garden of Gethsemane, do we not?
He was in an agony. And what does he do being in
an agony? He prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was like drops
of blood falling to the ground. He was in agonies in his soul. He felt it. He cries out to the
Father, if it be possible, let his cup pass from me. It wasn't
that he would not see the Father's will accomplished. No, he says
as much, not my will, but thy will be done. But all the intensity,
you see, of the feelings of the man Christ Jesus, he was no stoic,
an unfeeling man. And not only there, in the garden,
but now when he comes to make the great sin atoning sacrifice,
we see him crying out in that awful utterance, that cry of
dereliction, he feels abandoned. My God, my God, he says, why
hast thou forsaken me? Oh, what was the secret of this
man's courage that he would see such a work through? From whence
did his determination come? Well, is it not indicated in
Scripture? It was because he was a man of
prayer. He was a man of prayer. Being
in an agony, what does he do? He prays. He prays more earnestly.
Now, we read, back in Isaiah chapter 50, Then at verse 4 following,
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 mine 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 like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be ashamed." Who does the prophet
Isaiah speak of? Is he not speaking here of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Clearly he is. He gave his back
to the smiters, his cheeks, to them that plucked off the hair.
He didn't hide his face from spitting. But see what he says, he wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. Morning by morning. What do we
find the Lord Jesus Christ doing in a sense? Morning by morning. Before the day dawns, what do
we see the Lord Jesus Christ doing? He prays. We find him often alone in the
attitude of prayer. He lives the life of prayer.
In the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out
and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. This is how the Lord Jesus Christ
learns obedience. This is how the Lord Jesus Christ
is able to see the work through to the end. This is the secret
of his determination 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 hurt in
that he feared though he were a son yet learned the obedience
by the thing that he suffered. Here is the secret, friends,
of his courage. He prayed, he prayed, and he
prayed again. And if Christ's determination
was rooted in prayer, so our determination to be saved will
also be manifested in prayer. Tonight, if you are determined,
that you will know this man and enjoy that great salvation that
is only in him. You'll pray. There's the evidence
of your determination. Does he not say, you shall seek
me and find me when you shall search after me with all your
heart? Or do we have that sort of determination?
The Kingdom of Heaven, says the Lord Jesus, suffereth violence. And the violence, take it by
force. How do they take it? By the force
of prayers. By the force of prayers. I do
like the title that William Huntington gives to his spiritual autobiography,
The Kingdom of Heaven Taken by Prayer. You remember John Warburton,
when he first came across that book, thought it was going to
be some sort of Armenian book, he says. The Kingdom of Heaven
Taken by Prayer. As if prayer, you see, was some
meritorious thing. And of course, Warburton was
but a young man then, he had much to learn, and he did learn
much. He became a faithful minister. But how apt is that title, The
Kingdom of Heaven Taken by Prayer? It's the only one. The only way
we can enter into that blessed kingdom, if we too have that
determination to be saved and that determination manifested
in our prayers to God. All the Lord Jesus, you see,
He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. But here is
one who knew what it was to set His face to seek his father in
heaven, he prayed, he was a man of prayers. And are we such,
and I address myself as much as any other here, what do I
know of real prayers? Real prayers, urgent prayers,
to be a real seeker. Oh, I know we have every encouragement,
Christ himself has said, ask and it shall be given you, seek
and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Everyone that asketh receiveth,
he that seeketh findeth, to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
We have all the encouragement, all the shout, all the wills,
exceeding great and precious promises we have. And all the
promises of God in Christ, Yah, and in Christ, Amen, ought to
know that blessed determination then to be seekers after this
one, who was so determined to save his people, who was motivated
amongst other things by that great love that he bore towards
them. Or when his hour was come, you
see, having loved his own. John tells us there in the opening
verse of that 13th chapter of his Gospel, having loved his
own, he loved them to the end. It came to pass when the time
was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem. May the Lord be pleased to bless
his work. Let us join together in the scene
of hymn number 159 and the tune is Truant 767. How willing was
Jesus to die, that we fellow sinners might live. The life
they could not take away, how ready was Jesus to give. They
pierced him, his hands and his feet. His hands at his feet he
resigned. The pangs of his body were great,
but greater the pangs of his mind, in number 159.