Which turn back to Luke chapter
13. I've entitled the message I want
to attempt to bring tonight. When does a man see Christ? There is such a thing as seeing
the Lord Jesus Christ, perceiving him, understanding. When does
a man see Christ? Now that question is answered
in our text in the letter half of verse 35. He said, Verily
I say unto you, you shall not see me until the time come when
you shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord. Now, when our Lord walked physically
upon this earth, many people saw him who never really saw
him. Well, they saw him physically,
The rich young ruler said, good master, what good thing shall
I do to inherit eternal life? He saw him physically and he
had a high opinion of him. He said, you're a good man. What
can I do to be brought up to your level of goodness? But he
had no idea who he was, not even a clue. Simon the Pharisee had
him in his home. And when he watched that woman
break that box of ointment place it upon his feet, and wash his
feet with her tears, and wipe his feet with the hairs of her
head. He said, this man, if he were a prophet, would have known
who and what manner of woman this was that toucheth him, for
she's a sinner. He had no idea of who Jesus Christ
really was. Nicodemus said, Rabbi, A title
of respect. We know that thou art a teacher
come from God for no man can do the miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. He saw him physically, but he
didn't have a clue as to who he really was. You think of his
brothers and sisters. They grew up in the same house.
They grew up with a man who never sinned. And they didn't get it. They
didn't understand. That's one of the things that
I think about when I see, think of something like this. People,
and I, but we say, I want people to see Christ in me, and I understand
that. I mean, I want to be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, an
ambassador of Christ. I want my life to reflect his
glory. I understand somebody saying
that, but remember, they didn't see Christ in Christ. When holiness was here, they
had no idea of who he was or what holiness was. They didn't
have a clue. They saw him physically, but
they didn't understand him. But there is such a thing as
seeing him. I don't just mean physically
seeing him. And beloved, seeing him is salvation. You remember when Simeon said,
now let us thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. John Newton wrote this opening
line to one of his hymns, in evil long I took delight, unawed
by shame or fear. until a new object caught my
sight and stopped my wild career. Peter saw him. Now he'd seen
him physically before, but all of a sudden he sees him. He sees
who he is. And you know what his response
was? Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. You know, I can try to convince
myself and I can try to convince you of the doctrine of total
depravity and we might see it in the scriptures and so on,
but it will really be meaningless until we see the Lord. And when
we see the Lord, we'll understand why Peter said, depart from me. I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. In Isaiah chapter six, verse
one, Isaiah saw him. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne. And if you and I
ever see him, that's how we'll see him. sitting, his work being
finished, sitting on a throne, ruling and reigning. He's the Lord. Now, in that year,
the King Uzziah died. I saw also the Lord sitting on
a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it flew the seraphims, and each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face. He was ashamed of himself. in
God's presence. And we're talking about a seraphim.
We're talking about some kind of being that had never sinned,
yet it covered its face in the presence of the Lord. With Twain,
he covered his feet. He was ashamed of himself. He
was ashamed of his walk. He never sinned, yet he covered
his feet. And with Twain, he did fly, ready for swift obedience,
crying, holy, holy, holy. is the Lord God of hosts, the
whole earth is full of his glory. Now what was Isaiah's response?
You remember, then said I, woe is me. I'm undone. Now that was Isaiah's response
to seeing the Lord. When Daniel saw it, He said,
my comeliness, that which I considered beautiful about me was turned
into corruption. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I hate myself and
repent in dust and ashes. Now this thing of believing yourself
to be a sinner, it's not just Feelings of worthlessness. You
can have feelings of worthlessness and have no true conviction of
sin. I mean, life can bring things
your way that can make you feel so bad, and I feel sorry for
people when they've been brought into this condition where they
feel worthless and helpless and out of control. But that's not
necessarily the conviction of sin. The conviction of sin is
when you believe yourself, after seeing him, you believe yourself
to be evil. That's me. When the Lord said
to his disciples, if you then, being evil. Lord said that to
his disciples. If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more, sir,
your heavenly father, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask.
Now, if the Lord said to you, if you then, being evil, what
do you think? Yep. That's me. The gathering demonic saw him
afar off, the scripture says, and he fell on his face and worshiped
him. And this is something that everybody
does who will see him. They'll worship him. That always
comes with a sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. True worship, where
you fall before Him in awe at the greatness of His person.
And he said, upon seeing the Lord, what have I to do with
Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? What connection
is there between us? I'm darkness, you're light. You're
good, I'm bad. You're holy, I'm evil. What connection
is there with us? Now, that's what happens. You
see a common thread coming here? When these people saw the Lord,
what happened? What did they confess about themselves? Now, when someone doesn't believe
this about themselves, I know they've never seen the Lord.
Because if you've seen the Lord, this will be the language of
your heart. You can't come into his presence
without some sips of your own sinfulness. Zacchaeus, the scripture says,
sought to see Jesus who he was. And what a blessed thing it is
when the Lord puts it in your heart where you want to know
who Jesus Christ really is. That's your great desire. You
want to know him. You know what it says next? But
he couldn't because he was short of stature. And if you ever seek
to see Jesus who he is, the first thing you're going to find out
is that you can't. You can't. You're too small. You're too
little. And then he went up into that
sycamore tree and the Lord saw him. Zacchaeus, make haste. Come down. Oh, I want him to
say that to me. Todd, make haste. Come down for today, I must abide
at thy house. And you know what it says next?
He said, Lord. He received him joyfully, he
made haste, he came down, he received him joyfully, and he
said, Lord, the half of my goods I feed to the poor. What it is,
he found out who he is, he's the Lord. He's the absolute Lord
of the universe. Don't you love to think of the
Lordship of Jesus Christ? I love, he's Lord. You know what
that means? He has absolute sovereign control
over everything and everybody. Everybody in this room and everybody
outside of this room is in His hands. He can do with me and
you whatever He's pleased to do. He's the Lord. He is in absolute
control of everything. That's the Jesus Christ of the
Bible. He found out He was Lord. Abraham saw it. He said, Abraham
saw my day. He rejoiced to see my day. Oh,
when he saw that ram offered up in the stead of his son, he
rejoiced. He rejoiced in the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Sirs, we would see Jesus, those
Greeks said. Is that my chief desire? To see
him. Yes, it is. I want to see him. That's what I want more than
anything else. Now, the Lord knows whether that's
true. It's one thing to say it, and it's another thing to truly
feel it. I'm saying it, and I imagine
if you asked anybody, for the most part, they'd say, yeah,
that's what I want. Well, hope it is. Hope it is
for me. Sirs, we would see Jesus. Now you won't see him until we
can say. I won't see him. You won't see him until we can
say from our hearts. Inspired by God the Spirit. Blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now he comes. in the name of the Lord. That's
what I want to talk about for a couple of minutes. He comes
in the name of the Lord. Now, the name of the Lord is
who he is. That's his attributes. And so
I'm just talking about his name, giving his name audibly. We read
in Exodus chapter 34, beginning in verse five, and the Lord descended
in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name
of the Lord. Now, what did he do when he proclaimed
his name? And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Doesn't
that make your heart dance for joy to know that the Lord does
that? But then it says he'll by no means clear the guilty. Now that's who the Lord is. He
forgives transgression and iniquity and sin. He's abundant in goodness
and mercy, and He'll by no means clear the guilty. If you have
any guilt on you at all, one sin, and you know you got a whole
lot more than that, but if you have one sin on you, He won't
clear you. He's absolutely just. Now, do
I understand how that can be? how he can forgive iniquity and
transgression and sin, and yet by no means clear the guilty. That's the heart and soul of
the gospel, how that can be. Now, coming in his name, I think
of, well, I thought it was when the Lord made that whip, and
he went into the temple. You know, I've yet to hear anybody
deal with this. He made a whip. And he came in where those people
were exchanging money. And he came in and he overthrew
their tables and he beat on them and whipped them and drove them
out of the temple. The Lord Jesus did that. I don't
think he was just posturing. He ran them out. And the Pharisees
came to him and said, by what authority do you do this? Whose name do you do this in?
What gives you the right to do this? Whose name are you coming
in? Now, God sent him. He came in the name of the Lord. The Lord sent him. He came in his name. Whoso confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is born of God, is
of God. Now, when I confess, now this
thing of confession, it's not just saying it, it's This is
the confession of my heart. This is what I'm ready to die
for by the grace of God. Jesus Christ came into flesh. That means he was before he came.
He's the eternal Son of God, the uncreated Son of God. He
came in the flesh and he did exactly what he came to do. We believe God sent him, he came
in the flesh, and whatever it was he came to do, he did. Do you believe that? Matthew
121, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now, specifically, I want to
look at a few scriptures in this thing of him coming in the name
of the Lord. And then we're going to see what he means when he
says, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. But
turn with me to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter 5. The Lord said in verse 17, think
not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy but to
fulfill. Now this is what his father sent
him to do, not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill. Now when our Lord came, he fulfilled
every type, didn't he? Every single one of these stories
pointed to him, every one of these sacrifices, every one of
these feast days, every one of these ceremonies, they all pointed
to him and he fulfilled every time. He fulfilled the law. He never sinned. He kept God's
law perfectly. He did no sin. He knew no sin. In him is no sin. I love when
he said to the Pharisees, which of you convinces me of sin? And what if I said, can any of
you all convince me of sin? Can you prove I'm a sinner? It
wouldn't take you long, would it? You could convince me, but
he could say, you can't convince me of sin. He said, the prince
of this world hath come and found nothing in me. Now, what if the
devil came upon you? Would he have much to work with?
Well, you know he would. But our Lord said, he hath found
nothing in me. He came to fulfill God's holy
law, and that's precisely what he did. He also came to fulfill
the punishment determined against the lawbreaker. When he was dying
on Calvary's tree, and when he died, He was fulfilling the threat
of God, the soul that sinneth shall surely die. Now that's
how really he was made sin. It was said of him, the soul
that sinneth shall surely die. Now do I understand that? No,
but I know that's how truly he took my sin. The reason he died
is because my sin was in his body and he became sin. To me that is so mysterious But
it's so. That's how my sin is put away,
by what He did for me. The things that I've done actually
came into His body, my sinful nature. He was made sin. And just as truly as He was made
sin, everybody He died for is made the very righteousness of
God in Him. He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and he suffered and died alone. And in him, the law was fulfilled
and the promises for obedience. When he was raised from the dead,
justified, every believer was justified. And there isn't anything
that excites me more than this. My justification, it wasn't given
to me because I believed. My justification was given to
me because Christ died for me and put away my sins and gave
me his righteousness. He came to fulfill God's holy
law. Now turn with me to John chapter
three. This one who came in the name
of the Lord, John chapter 3, verse 17. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. He that believeth is not condemned.
Now understand this. Christ didn't come to condemn
the world. He didn't come to condemn you. You already were
condemned. You're already condemned. He
didn't have to come to condemn you. He didn't come to condemn
the world. He came that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on the name
of the only begotten Son of God, he's saved. Now, he came to save. I'm so thankful he came to save. I was already condemned, but
he came to save. Now, here's the question. God
sent him to save. He didn't send him to condemn
you. He didn't send him to send you to hell. He didn't send him
to... He sent him to save. That was God's purpose in sending
his son. We were already condemned. How
could I know if he came to save me? I want to know, don't you? Did Jesus Christ come to save
this individual sinner? I don't want to presume the way
the world does because he didn't come to save everybody. You remember
that Syrophoenician woman. She said, Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And he didn't answer. It didn't
stop her. She kept crying, have mercy on
me. And he said, I'm not sinned.
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He told her
in no uncertain terms, I did not come to save everybody. He
didn't. He only came to save his people.
He only came to save the elect, those the father gave him. Matthew
121 says, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. That's why he came. He never
came to save everybody. So how can I know if he came
to save me? I want him to save you, but I'm most concerned,
did he come to save me? Well, listen to this scripture. First Timothy 1.15. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save what? Sinners. Do you fit the description of
the people He came to save? Do you? Beloved, if you do, He
came to save you. Romans chapter 5 verse 6 says,
when we were yet without strength, not just weak, but without strength. without any spiritual strength
at all. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Now, are you without strength? Are you ungodly? I'm not going
to take that to myself. Okay. Okay. But I can give you
insurance Christ died for you. Those he died for are those who
are without strength. and ungodly. If that's you, he
came to save you. He didn't come to condemn the
world. The world was already condemned. He came that the world
through him might be saved. Turn to Matthew chapter 9. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Look at Matthew chapter 9 verse
12 or verse 11. And when the Pharisees saw, they
said unto his disciples, why eat if your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
saith unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I'll
have mercy and not sacrifice for. I'm not come to call the
righteous. If you're righteous, He didn't
come to call you, but sinners to repentance. Now, what does that mean? He
came to call sinners to repentance. Well, repentance means a change
of mind. It's that simple. A change of
mind. Now, most people never really
have heard the gospel. That's a sobering thought, but
most people, they've just heard a message of salvation by works.
They've never felt the need to change their mind. But when people
hear the truth, when people hear the truth, the truth of who God
is and how he saves by his sovereign grace, who Christ is and what
he accomplished, who God the Holy Spirit is and how he gives
life, when people hear the truth, all of a sudden, They disagree. You don't really understand where
a man comes from until he hears the truth. When he hears the
truth, all of a sudden he becomes God's judge. Well, that doesn't
seem fair. It doesn't seem fair for God to elect some and not
elect everybody. It doesn't seem fair for Christ
to die only for the elect and not die for everybody. Well,
that doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem fair for the
Holy Spirit to not call everybody. That's not fair. But when God
saves you, Your mind has changed. You change your mind. You see
your only hope of salvation is in that message. Your mind has
been changed regarding God. You no longer sit in judgment
on God saying, I agree with this and I don't agree with that.
Your mind has changed and you bow before him. Whatever he does
is right. Your mind has changed about yourself.
Your mind has changed. You didn't realize what a sinner
even was. you do now, and you see you're
the chief. Your mind has been changed. Your
mind has changed. You've repented. When your mind
has changed about God, about self, and about salvation, and
here's where someone's really, their mind has changed with regarding
to salvation. When they see that the forgiveness
of sins is not the end of some process, if I do this, this,
this, and this, I'll be forgiven, but they see that salvation begins
with the declaration of the full, free, complete forgiveness of
sins for Christ's sake, without you doing anything to get it.
That's good news, isn't it? That's the gospel. You don't
do something to be forgiven. You find out you've been forgiven. All for Christ's sake. You have
a change of mind. That's what repentance is. Let
me tell you a phrase that is not found in the
Bible. Repent of your sins. That phrase
is not even found in the Bible. Now, I do have a change of mind
about my sin. I hate my sin. I want to be delivered
from my sin. I want to be just like Christ. But you don't find that term
in the Bible one single time. Repent of your sins. I know what
preachers mean by that. You need to change your mind about sin.
You need to be sorry for it. You need to stop doing it. Well,
that's good advice. But is there any sin you've truly stopped
in your heart? You still got an evil nature.
And if that's what repentance means, you need to be real sorry
and you need to turn over a new leaf, not commit that sin anymore.
If you commit that sin anymore, you never really repented. How
many, oh and I hate saying this, but how many familiar sins do
you have? Sins that you commit over and
over and over. And even when you confess them
before the Lord, something in you knows you're gonna commit
them tomorrow. I'm not saying this to excuse anything. No,
there's no excuse for sin, but if repentance means stopping
sinning, I've had a change of... None of us have repented. You
know that so. Christ said, I came not to call
the righteous. but centers to a complete change
of mind regarding me, regarding themselves, and regarding God's
salvation. Now, don't anybody take that
and say, well, the preacher's saying it's okay to continue
in sin. No, he's not. No, he's not. If somebody takes
that and twists it and uses that, well, that's an excuse to stay
in sin. You twisted it. I didn't say it. I don't believe
it. Don't believe it for a second. But I'm just dealing with the
reality of things. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. And he's the one who said, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I not was
chief, but am the chief. Our Lord said, repent and believe
the gospel. You know what the evidence of
repentance is? Believing the gospel. You want
the evidence of believing the gospel is? Repenting. They go
together. Turn to Luke chapter 4. I love this scripture. Verse 16, and he came to Nazareth
where he had been brought up And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was
written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. And somebody that's poor
is someone who has absolutely nothing to recommend themselves
to God. They're the only ones who really
hear the gospel as gospel. He has sent me to heal the broken
hearted. Now, if your heart's broke, that's
not talking about, you know, getting your heart broke over
some kind of bad relationship with a woman or a man. And that's
a horrible thing. I'm not discounting that. But
what he's talking about is a heart that's no good. My heart's broke.
It doesn't work. It's no good. It's the biggest
problem I got. Well, the Lord says he sent me. to heal the brokenhearted, he
sent me to preach deliverance to the captives, people who are
in prison and can't get out. They're in the prison of sin.
They can't just open the door and walk out, they're captive.
Do you know what it is to be a captive to sin? You're a held
prisoner and you can't get out. Well, he sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives. I'm setting you free. And recovering
the sight to the blind. Now there's some people who are
blind. They can't see why God would look their way in favor.
Now there's other people who can find all kinds of reasons
why God would look their way in favor. Look at all the things
I've done. Look at how sincere I am. But there's some people
who can't see one reason as to why God would look their way
in favor. He came to give them sight. They
learn why he does, for Christ's sake. to set at liberty. He came to set at liberty them
that are bruised, crushed, to preach the acceptable year of
the Lord. That's the year of jubilee. I
love the year of jubilee. I refer to it a lot. At once
every 50 years, whatever your debt was, it was canceled. You're
no longer in debt. Can you imagine what that must
have felt like? Well, I don't think anybody ever experienced
it because they never really practiced it. They were supposed
to, but they didn't. But your debts were freed. If
you were a slave, you were set free. Whatever you lost was restored
and you were given a year's vacation. You didn't have any work to do,
nothing but rest. And the Lord said, this day is
this scripture fulfilled in your ears. That's what he came to
do. John chapter 18. Verse 35, Pilate said, am I a
Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered
thee unto me. What has thou done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore
said unto him, art thou a king then? You're talking about kings,
so you are a king. Jesus answered, thou sayest that I'm king. To
this end was I born, and to this cause came I into the world.
that I should bear witness unto the truth. And that's why Christ
came, to bear witness to the truth. And when he was nailed
to that cross, how he bore witness, and the word bear witness means
to die as a martyr. How his death on Calvary's tree
bore witness to the truth concerning the true character of God, his
hatred of sin, his mercy and grace. How it bore witness to
the true character of man. He put Christ to death when left
to himself. How he bore witness to the truth
of salvation when he said, it is finished, salvation was accomplished. And faith is believing and understanding
that he was sent. And listen to this scripture,
John chapter 6, verse 29, this is the work of God, that you
believe on him whom he hath sent. Do you believe God sent Jesus
Christ? John chapter 17, verse three,
this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Our Lord said in his
great high priestly prayer of his people, they have believed
that thou didst send me. Now remember the scripture We're
considering. The Lord said, you will not see
me until the time come when you say blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. You really believe he was sent
by God and that he did what he was sent to do. And here is your
response from the very depths of your heart. Blessed is he. Oh how blessed is he that comes
in the name of the Lord. All blessedness is in him and
in him I have been blessed. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Now when you hear that he came
and he came in the name of the Lord, the Lord sent him, this
wasn't some human agenda, this is God sending him for the purpose
of saving his people, and he did what he came to do. Is your
response, blessed is he. I'm so thankful for him. Blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And I know this,
we have not seen him until that really is our response. You won't
see me until the time comes when you say, blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. And blessed is that man who comes
in the name of the Lord. Now he came in the name of the
Lord, and when I come to the Father, I come in the name of
the Lord. When I pray, I pray this way.
I'm praying in his name. I'm not praying in my own name.
If I'm praying in my own name, You don't hear me, and you shouldn't
hear me. I'm coming in the name of the Lord. When I come into
God's presence, I ask him for mercy. I come in the name of
Christ. Hear me for his sake, in his
name. So blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. and how blessed that man is,
how blessed that woman is who comes in the name of the Lord.
We wouldn't dare come any other way. And really, when we observe
the Lord's table, which is what we're getting ready to do, we
are saying, blessed. This is a celebration. Blessed
is he who came in the name of the Lord, and all of our hope
is in who he is and what he accomplished on Calvary Street. Blessed, blessed,
oh how blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord and blessed
are they who come in his name. Let's pray together.