Chapter 7, we're going through
Luke. and a series of messages. Unlike
our Bible studies, we sometimes skip around a little bit. Sometimes
the Lord will lead me to a certain section of Scripture, and other
times I'll just take it in succession to what it was. Like last week,
we looked into this miracle the
Lord had where He healed the woman's only son, the widow's
only son. We looked at the simple gospel
message of how Jesus Christ is God Almighty in the flesh, the
Savior of His people, the One who gives life, the Lord of Glory,
the King of Kings, Creator of all that is, and He has been
going about teaching. teaching to all of the countryside
around. He had been declaring his authority
through that teaching. Believe it or not, as he healed
that woman's son, as he gave life to that woman's dead son,
as he had healed the centurion's servant in the parable before
that, he is teaching that he has the power to do these things. No other man had this kind of
power. No other man could do what the Lord Jesus was doing.
He was teaching that he had the authority of the sovereign God
because he is the sovereign God in flesh. God was manifest in
the flesh. You remember back in John, or
over in John chapter 10, our Lord was speaking to some unbelieving
Jews. They kept coming to Him saying,
hey, when are you going to give us some reason to believe you?
He had been doing all this stuff. But, folks, that was you and
I. That was you and I. We knew that there was a God.
Everybody knows that there is a God. You say you're an atheist,
put that guy in a foxhole, start shooting bullets at him, he's
gonna believe in something. Period. Everybody knows that
there's a God. Every heart comes into this world
knowing that there's a creator. That's why there's so many different
religions. They just don't know the true and living God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. These unbelieving Jews came to
the Lord in Solomon's temple and says, why do you make us
to doubt? Tell us plainly. And he says, I did. I told you
plainly. In fact, the works that I do
in my Father's name, they show you, they prove to you who I
am. And that's what we're talking
about right here. Our Lord and Savior had been going about teaching
the people Israel of who he was, whose authority he had. In Luke
chapter 7 verses 1 through 10, the Lord of Glory healed the
centurion's servant without even coming to his house. The centurion,
he understood. He says, I'm a man of power.
I understand. You don't need to come to my house. I'm not
worthy of it. Isn't that what all of God's
children know? I almost said the word think.
But we more than think, don't we? We know. If you're a child
of God, you know you're not worthy of anything God has for you.
You don't need to come to my house. Just speak, God. Speak with the authority that
you have, and your purpose shall be. In verses 11-15, the Lord
raised a widow, her only son from the dead. How wonderful
that must have been to see. How wonderful it must have been
to see that miracle. That poor widow, all of a sudden
filled with joy, her son is with her once again. Many people were
about him at that day. There was a whole procession
of people following that casket, or whatever it was that they
had. Just as there were 5,000 people who sat one day on a mountain,
and our Lord fed every one of them. We say it kind of jokingly,
but the truth is, isn't it, that poor guy down at the bottom of
the hill, that's never going to make it to me. Look at all the food that's still
in that basket. Oh, many saw the miracles of
our Lord with the eyes of flesh, yet the Lord had only a few sheep
who had the eyes of the Spirit to see. Have you seen a true
and living God with eyes of faith? You know what that means? Eyes
that believe. God-given faith, the very faith
that we read about in Ephesians chapter 2. Saved by grace, through
faith, a gift of God. Have you seen the true and living
God with eyes of faith? Look in your bulletins, if you
have your bulletins with you. I'd like you to read with me
this article written by A.W. Pink on the right-hand side of
the middle page. It says, We See Jesus. How do we see Jesus, writes Mr. Pink? Not by means of mysterious
dreams or static visions, not by the exercise of our imagination,
not by a process of visualization, but by faith. Just as Christ declared in John
8 verse 56, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and
was glad. Did you know that? Did you know
that Abraham saw with the same eyes you and I have? Christ hadn't
even been born yet. Christ doesn't come into the
world until a long time after, but Abraham saw his day just
as you and I look back and saw the day when our Lord walked
this earth and was glad. Going on in the article, faith
is the eye of the Spirit. which views and enjoys what the
Word of God presents to its vision. I was speaking about this, I
think it was in Bible study this morning. We see by the eye of
faith that what God's Word, this book, is true, written by Him
who is true, whose promises are true. And they can't be turned. His promises to you and I cannot
be thwarted, even by us. I don't know about you, but that's
good news to me. I like the fact that I can't
thwart His word even myself. Going on with our article. In the Gospel Acts, Epistles,
and Revelation, God has told us about the exaltation of His
Son. Those who receive by faith what
he has there declared see Jesus crowned with glory and honor
as truly and vividly as his enemies once saw him here on earth crowned
with thorns. Mr. Pink goes on to say these
words, it is this which distinguishes the true people of God from mere
professors. Every real Christian has reason
to say with Job, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. He has seen him leaving heaven
and coming to earth in order to seek and to save that which
was lost. He has seen Him as a sacrificial
substitute on the cross, there bearing our sins in His own body
on the tree. He has seen Him rising again
in the triumph over the grave, so that because He lives, we
live also. He has seen Him highly exalted,
crowned in glory and honor. He has seen him thus presented
to the eye of faith in the sure word of God. To him, to the true
believer, the testimony of the Holy Scripture is infinitely
more reliable and valuable than the testimony of his senses.
You know what that means? That means this. is more important. What God has given in His word
right here is more important than what you feel. What I feel. What I think. It's more important
even that than what I think. That's what A.W. Pink is saying
here. Look at our text if you would in Luke chapter 7. We finished off at the end of verse 16, but I
want to go back and read it again, because you really need to include
16 in the next verses there through what I want to read through in
22. We'll read through 18 at first,
and it says, And there came a fear on all. Remember, the Lord had
just healed a dead man. He had just brought a man to
life. Young man, I say unto thee, arrive. And the dead sat up and
began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
Verse 16, And there came a fear on all, and they glorified God,
saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us, and that
God hath visited his people, And this rumor, this story, these
accounts that we have just read about in chapter 7, a rumor of
him had went forth throughout all of Judea. Everyone had began
to hear the story of how a dead man had been risen from the dead.
returned unto his mother. The rumor had gone out through
all of Judea, throughout all of the region round about, verse
18, and the disciples of John showed him all these things.
So, disciples, now remember, John was in prison. John was
in prison for telling I forget who it was he was telling
everybody. He told, I believe, the king, you can't have this
woman. She's your brother-in-law's wife. Something to that effect. And
she didn't like that. So throw John in prison. I want his head on a platter.
So John's in prison, John the Baptist, and his disciples who
had been caring for him, taking care of him while he was there
in prison. They came. You should hear about this guy
who is going around out here calling people from the dead,
healing the sick. Didn't even have to go to this
guy's house. The story got around. He didn't even have to go to
the house. You should hear about him. Is this the guy that we
come looking for? Is this the one that we should
be looking for? That's what this is talking about here in verse
18. And the disciples of John showed him all these things.
These disciples had heard these rumors. They had heard about
this one called Jesus, but that was not good enough. John the
Baptist knew who this Christ was. He had seen with his own
eyes. Remember John the Baptist baptized
Jesus Christ. He was there when the dove came
down from heaven as flames and landed on the Savior's shoulder. John knew. He had seen who Christ
was. I know who Christ is. I've seen
Him in my own heart. I've seen Him in His Word. I
can tell you about Him right now, but you need to go see Him
for yourself. You need to go into His Word.
I was speaking to somebody about this earlier. You know what a
noble Berean is? A noble Berean is someone who
looks into God's Word to be sure That guy up here on the stage
standing in front of a pulpit is saying the truth. Me. Be noble Bereans. I'm just as
much a sinner as anybody is and capable of doing some of the
dumbest things and falling into sin just as anybody else is. Go see Christ. Where are you
going to see Him in His Word? That's what this is talking about. How great thou art! Says, and
there proclaimed, My God, how great thou art! How are you going
to claim that if you've never seen it? You've got to go see
with your own eyes. These men had only heard about
him. Folks, all a preacher can do is tell you about him. That's
what Romans chapter 10 verse 13 and 14 that I quote quite
often is all about. It says, For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? That's all John the Baptist was.
He was a sinner saved by grace. A preacher of God's righteousness.
Noah was nothing more than a preacher of God's righteousness. Saved
by the same grace you and I are. Saved by the same grace that
Abraham was saved by. Through faith, through belief
in who the truth is, the Lord Jesus. Only God can reveal Himself
to His people. Only God can speak to the heart.
We tell you the truth, but you must experience it. You must
experience His grace in saving you from your sins. These men
were sent to see for themselves, go to the Word of God and see,
has He done these works for you? They had heard about Him. John
says, go. Go and see if He does these works
for you. Look at verses 19. And John, calling unto him, two
of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that
should come, or look we for another? When the men were come unto him,
they said, John the Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art
thou he that should come, or look we for another? And that
same hour, He, the Lord Jesus, cured many of their infirmities
and plagues and of evil spirits and unto many that were blind
he gave sight. Did you notice something? Did
you notice something reading that? Our Lord didn't say anything,
did he? He did something. He didn't even
answer them. He didn't even answer them. He
spent the next hours or however long it was. We don't know for
sure because it doesn't say, but whatever time it took for
him to do what he did here, he did it. He just did it. That's what the Lord does to
our heart. He just does it. He doesn't sit
around and wait for you to make a decision or whatever. He just
does it. He answered with his actions.
Is that not what he did in the example given in Luke chapter
7 verse 1 with the centurion's servant? He didn't answer him.
He just started going that way. The centurion saw him coming
and said, Oh, wait a minute! You don't have to come here!
I know who you are! I know what kind of authority
you've got! Just speak the word! Folks, the power. Folks, that's
the power of God. Seen in the face of His Son,
Jesus Christ, the Lord. He is the Lord of all that is,
Creator of everything. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Look at verse 22. Then Jesus
answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what
things ye have seen and heard. I shall bow in humble adoration
and proclaim, my God, how great thou art. If God has done a work in your
heart, if God Almighty has shown his love to you, you will never
unsee it. But wait a minute, John. Are
there not times when we feel him far from us? Oh, yes. Oh,
yes. Oh, yes. But that will always
follow the time when he comes to you and shows you who he is. I have seen this with my own
eyes, in my own life, and with those around me. Despite the
darkest cloud that hung over their heads, a dear brother or
a dear sister, I don't think the Lord's with me anymore. I
think the Lord's left me to myself for now. No, it always comes
back to this. But you know what? He's Lord
still. Even if He doesn't seem to be with me, He's still Lord.
He's still my Lord. What things ye have seen? That's the title for today's
message. Have you seen the face of God and His Son, the Lord
Jesus? Have you seen the need of your
salvation in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ? What do you
mean by that, John? We teeter a lot of times, don't
we? We teeter on the side of depression, sorrow, and a time
of joy. When we stop putting our eyes
on Christ, when we see this ugly flesh that
we have to live with, We see the truth just as that
beggar, just as that publican who's over on the side crying
out and pounding his chest, crying with tears in his eyes, Lord
I'm unworthy. Just as that centurion that we
read about in verse 1, Lord don't come to my home, I don't have
anything for you, I'm unworthy. But yet that brings us to this.
See, when we cry out to God for mercy and truth, because God
is causing us to cry out to Him, He will show His mercy to us. The day of joy is coming, even
if that day means we have to leave this world. I can tell
you right now, Bill Silva cried out for mercy every day till
the day the Lord took him out of this earth. And he cries no
more, and I look forward to the day when I won't cry, Do you? That day is coming, folks. That
day is coming. Do you see your need of your
salvation in the face of our Jesus Christ, He who is so holy
that we don't deserve to be in His presence? He who is so perfect
that we have nothing to offer Him? Have you seen the provision
of your salvation in the face of Jesus Christ? Have you seen
your sins laid upon Him as His Word tells us? He who knew no
sin was made sin that we might be the righteousness of God in
Him. Have you seen that for yourself?
Has God shown you the glory, the great hope that we have in
His Son? What things have you seen, the
Lord says. Go and tell the world. The world hates election. You know why? Because election
points to a sovereign God. One who's not waiting around
for His creation to do something for Him. Have you seen the blood of Christ
providing all that you need to be in the presence of the God
Almighty in the face of His Son, the Lord Jesus? Have you seen
the thoroughness, the completeness of your salvation in the face
of His Son, the Lord Jesus? Have you seen the fact that He
is God in the flesh? and He only has to do something
once. He by Himself purged you of your
sins when He went to the cross, if He died for you. Have you
seen the victory of your salvation in the face of His Son? Do you
sing the song, How Great Thou Art, with the heart? I ask you this
morning, have you seen Christ? The Son of the Living God says
in verse 23, and blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me. And blessed is whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Turn to the book of John chapter
6 if you would. In Luke chapter 10 verse 23,
our Lord says this, and He turned unto His disciples and said privately,
Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see. Over here in John chapter 6,
beginning at verse 24, we read these words, And when the people therefore
saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also
took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they
had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, when camest thou? And Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, Not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For Him hath God the
Father sealed. Now, turn over to verse 32. These Jews, they didn't like
that. They didn't like that, Jesus being plain with them and
telling them what they were seeking Him for. They knew. They knew. They knew exactly where they
were going. Man, that was good food. That was great. All that
fish and bread. I'm full. I'm hungry again. I
need some more. You're not seeking after me, He says, for the truth. You're seeking after me for your
own satisfaction. They said, you know, our father,
Moses, gave us bread in the wilderness. Our Lord answers here in verse
32. He says, Verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that
bread from heaven, but My Father gave it to you, the true bread
from heaven. And then He tells us what the
true bread of heaven is in verse 33. For the bread of God is He
which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.
Now remember, the Lord is telling us back in our text, He's telling
us in the book of Luke, go out, He's telling those men, now you've
seen the miracles that I've done, go and tell. Go and tell what
great things you have seen. Go and tell what things you have
seen. Our Lord says over in verse 53 of this John chapter 6, Then
Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drinketh his blood,
ye have no life in you." That's some pretty hard words. Down
in verse 61, or verse 60, it says, many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this saying, this as in hard saying, who can
hear it? Our Lord says, does this offend
you? In verse He says, does this offend you? In verse 61, What
if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up to where he was before?
It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are
life. But there are some of you that
believe not. Verse 65, and he said, Therefore
said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were
given unto him of my father. So there he goes, and very clearly
puts the free willed Christians to shame. It's not your will,
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. That's the same thing, that's
the same words. And from that time, verse 66, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
will ye also go away? I've spent the time that we have
together today speaking to you about a sovereign God who rules
everything. The Lord of all things. The very
one who made a decision for me. Not the other way around. The
very one whose will is accomplished, not mine. Does this offend you? Or is it how great thou art? Is it great things that thou
hast done? Will ye also go away? Then Simon
Peter answered, and he said, and this is what I want you to
see here, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
eternal life. You see, when God speaks to the
heart of his peoples, there's no question. I may question whether I'm a
Savior. I may wonder at times if I'm a Judas. But I have absolute
surety that what my Lord has done, He has done perfectly,
and it's accomplished. I may not be one of His people. I may, I have a doubt in my mind
at times whether I am His, but that's not because of Him, it's
a doubt because of me. It's a doubt because I look at
my own self and wonder, how could He love a man like me? But I
have no doubt in my mind that God saves through His Son, the
Lord Jesus. Do you? The one I spoke of, who
had the cloud over their head. I don't know if the Lord is close
to me. I feel He's far away. He still knew that God is the
Lord of all things. He never gave up on that. Job
never gave up on the fact that Christ is God Almighty and rules
all things. What a gracious and loving God
that would cause a sinful soul as mine to see my salvation. Turn over to Luke chapter 2. The title of my message this
morning is, What Things Ye Have Seen. Go. Go into the world. You know, one of the biggest
things that got me in trouble in my final days of work with
FedEx was, well, I can't help but tell you
that the Lord I know is the Lord of all things. He's sovereign
over everything that is. Free will Christians don't like
that. Oh, yeah, he's God of everything. He rules over everything, but
my heart's my own. I decided to follow the Lord
in such and such date. I made a decision. I came down
and did the prayer. I got into the waters of baptism.
I take of the table. I show up on Sunday, every Sunday,
I give to the coffer. I will always fight him, him,
him. Listen to these words in Luke
chapter 2 verse 25. We begin, And behold, there was
a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And the same man
was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.
And the Holy Ghost was upon him, and it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him after the custom of the law. Then took he him up
in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Have you seen the Lord's salvation?
for you. Have you seen the Lord's salvation
for you?