John 13: 3 (from ‘and that’)
Luke 9: 51; 22: 42
Genesis 5: 24, 27
Acts 9: 1, 3-5
I want to speak about a journey, and that is what life is all about, a journey. Young ones might think of a journey as being what they do on a holiday; while I am not wanting to speak about that sort of thing, I do want to speak about a journey. Before I start to say anything about our journeys, I want to speak about the journey that the Lord took:
From heav’n the Saviour came
(Hymn 245)
The scripture where we read first of all says, “he came out from God, and was going to God”. We thought of the love of Christ this morning; we thought of the love that brought Him down, and the love He displayed when He was here. We thought of the love that took Him to the cross and all that that meant, and His present love. It is wonderful to think of it all. But that was the journey that Christ took, in the full knowledge of everything that it meant; “he came out from God”. Think of that life of perfection. We often speak about thirty years of secret life, when He was here for the pleasure of God. I often think of what the prophet in Isaiah speaks about, that He grew up "before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground”, Isaiah 53: 2. I think that is really the thirty years of the secret life of Christ; He grew up before God as a tender sapling; only for God. The curtain is no doubt pulled back in certain places where we can get some view of the life of Christ. When He was young He grew up "in favour with God and men", Luke 2: 52. When He was twelve, He could say, “did ye not know that I ought to be occupied in my Father’s business”, Luke 2: 49; that was a life of perfection of thirty years. I know that it said of Mary that she had pondered it in her heart, Luke 2: 19. There was no doubt that she took account of that life, which was no doubt in every way perfect. Mary had other family, she had other sons, but the Lord must have been unique in that family, in that household. I do not think He would have carried out miracles or anything like that in that life of thirty years, because it was not for man, it was for the divine pleasure and there was what was absolutely perfect in it.
But then it came to His time of sojourn here when, at the waters of baptism, He came out in His public service; and there was what was for man. How wonderful that life was to be, three and a half years, what was compacted into that three and a half years. Think of the number of days, over a thousand days entered into that life and there was no doubt about it that there would have been something distinctive entering into every day. There are only a few days written about in the gospels, only a few days. And each gospel writer has his own impression of Christ; wonderful to think of it. Luke could speak about the good Samaritan, he could speak about the younger son in Luke 15; the other gospel writers do not speak about them. It shows that there was so much - everything - in the life of Christ, so that the gospel writers could write so much, and it would all be different. But then a lot of it is the same, and it only brings home the perfection of that life; it was never aimless: and that is why I read in these other passages.
He set His face, right at the beginning, and then set His face to go to Jerusalem, Luke 9: 51. You think of what that meant, He alone knowing fully what it meant, what He was going to accomplish at Jerusalem, what He was going to feel and suffer under the hand of men, and what He was going to suffer from God. Are we not moved as we think of it, to think of what would have gone through His holy mind as He moved in that direction? It says in Mark, that, as the disciples followed, they feared and were in amazement, chap 10: 32. It was as if His complete committal to the will of God was such, and His movements to Jerusalem were such, that they could not help being affected by it; nothing would have turned Him aside; thank God for that, nothing turned Christ aside. That is the greatness of that journey of the Lord Jesus.
But that life in all its perfection would have availed nothing for us if He had not gone into death; and He went into death. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, His life was perfect, yet He gave it up. He went to the cross and He died. He had to do that. He could say, "My Father, if it be possible ...", Matt 26: 39. Here where we read He says, “if thou wilt remove this cup from me:- but then, not my will, but thine be done”. Think of what that cup meant! He knew everything, He knew what was in that cup; but He drank everything, He drank it dry. He accepted everything from the hand of the Father. What a gospel: the only basis that the glad tidings can go forth is because the Lord Jesus accepted that cup and went forward. He suffered at the hands of men; think of what that would have meant. Can you imagine such suffering at the hands of men? Just think of a life that was given up for men, and it was a life in which He entered into the all the sorrows, difficulties, and illnesses and diseases that men had, and there was not one that He turned aside. He healed everyone that came into touch with Him. Even a son being carried out dead, carried out to be buried; the Lord Jesus came up and the bearers stopped, and He gave the son back to his mother, Luke 7: 11-17. Nothing could stand in the way of the Lord Jesus in these three and a half years of public service when He was towards mankind, in all His beneficence. And yet when it came to this time they said, “Away with this man” (Luke 23: 18); “When will He die, and His name perish” (Ps 41: 5), “He saved others; himself he cannot save”, Mark 15: 31. Think of the taunts, think of them beating Him on the brow, putting a crown of thorns on His head, think of the desperate conditions which were at that time at Calvary’s cross; and then they put Him on a cross between two malefactors. They could not do worse for Him. And He suffered at the hands of men, but that was nothing to the sufferings that He had to bear from God. There were three hours of darkness when man could not look on what Christ was suffering from God. Believers know that He "bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Pet 2: 24); that was when He suffered the atoning sufferings from God, in view of sin and in view of sins. You think of the perfection of that work, the perfection of that work, that not only covered the sins of many from that time forward, but even going right back; so that God is righteous. What a basis to come out God has in the glad tidings.
Are you going to accept Christ as your Saviour; are you going to value Him? You think of what it meant: if you go back to the passover lamb, God could say “when I see the blood”, Exod 12: 13. Have you ever thought of what that meant when God said “when I see the blood”? He was looking forward to the blood of the Lord Jesus, and He was looking forward to the value and the preciousness of that blood. The virtue of that blood can be yours today, you can come under the shelter of that blood today; and you can know what it is to have peace and joy in believing. You need faith to believe, and God will give you faith to believe. Because of the work of Christ, God’s heart now is so glad to come out in blessing for man, offering Christ as the Saviour of sinners; what a gospel! The Lord Jesus is available today, He suffered and died and went into the grave, but He has come out of the grave. He is no longer in death, no longer in the grave. He was openly seen by many, as we read it in the reading this afternoon, “go to my brethren”, John 20: 17. What delight the Lord had, with everything accomplished so that He could come out and He could say, “go to my brethren”.
That was the Lord’s journey, and it is now completed, and He is in glory. He has been exalted high above all the heavens and no one can interfere with that place that He has won. There is a day coming when every knee is going to have to bow. Just think of it; those that have been so totally against Christ and so totally against Christianity at the present time, they are going to have to bow to Jesus; they are going to have to accept that He is Lord "to God the Father’s glory", Phil 2: 11. That is a decree and that will never be altered.
Now what I want to speak about is your journey, because you are on a journey. There is a small passage in James, and it says there “what is your life?” chap 4: 14. As you are sitting there just think of it, "what is your life?". You are on a journey: there is a time to be born and there is a time to die (Eccles 3: 2), and you are on a journey between the two. Is your life aimless, or is your life relating to what is for the pleasure of God? I read about Enoch: if you look at the beginning of your Bible, you will see that from the creation to the flood is presented as just over sixteen hundred years. Enoch entered into that dispensation and it is interesting that he is mentioned again in Hebrews in the line of faith; he must have been a remarkable man. It says that, after Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God. You might wonder what would have occupied him. He walked with God for three hundred years. We do not live such a long time now! But he walked with God for that time, and it says that God took him. Hebrews says, "he has the testimony that he had pleased God", chap 11: 5. But I also read about Methuselah. He comes into the pages of scripture and it says about him is that he lived for nine hundred and sixty nine years. Methuselah is the one in scripture that is the oldest person; he lived the longest. But there is nothing said about his life; have you ever thought about that? He lived the longest, he had the greatest opportunity, he lived for a number of years when Enoch was walking with God; but he died. Was his life just aimless? You will see that he does not enter into the epistle of the Hebrews as the line of faith. He died in the year of the flood.
You know you are on a journey. Nowadays, if you are going anywhere you can use a satellite navigation system to tell you where to go, and so that you do not get lost. If you take the wrong road, it can re-adjust and often it tells you to do a U-turn. Maybe we need to do a U-turn. I do not know what your life is like, but has Christ entered into your life? I read about Saul of Tarsus, and Saul was on a journey. He had his mind fully fixed on what he was going to do; and maybe your mind is fully fixed on what you are going to do. He was journeying and the Lord Jesus said, ’No more; Saul of Tarsus, no more’. The Lord can speak to you tonight in the glad tidings and He can say, ’Have to do with me’. Think of how gracious the Lord was to Saul of Tarsus. Here is a man breathing out threatenings and slaughter: think of how vicious he must have been, everyone must have been afraid when they saw him walking along the road, and he would have had his entourage as well. But the Lord was greater; and the Lord was very gracious. “Who art thou, Lord?” “I am Jesus”. I wonder if the Lord has spoken to you graciously, “I am Jesus”. Maybe you need to have a definite link with Christ and then your life will change; so that you might be here for Him.
Everything changes when you get things into right perspective. If you take the constellations, and the sun and the stars, everything is moving constantly and God is over it all; everything has its own place and never gets out of place. You do hear of shooting stars, and they get burned up because they have gone out of their place. That is what the Lord wants for you; He wants you to find your place as you go through this scene on your journey. Where are you heading for, do you know where you are heading? Are you heading for a Christ-less eternity? You know what that means: that is hell. That is a lost eternity, when persons will be banished. I can tell you there will be many there who will be able to look back and say they had an opportunity, they had heard the glad tidings; and that is so sorrowful. Do not let it happen to anyone here. You need to have a link with Christ.
Saul of Tarsus, great man as he was, had to fall down, and he heard the Lord speaking to him. There were all those round about and they did not get it because the Lord was speaking to one person. That is the greatness of the glad tidings, that God can use the glad tidings to speak to one person; if you go through the Lord’s pathway here it is often one person who gets the blessing. The Lord went to Samaria; it says "he must needs pass through Samaria", John 4: 4. Why? Because of one person, one woman, and then of course there were more that came into it after that because of the testimony of the woman. Saul of Tarsus became Paul and he could say, “For me to live is Christ, and to die gain” (Phil 1: 21); what a testimony he had, what a life he had. Do you think anything was going to hinder him being here for Christ? He must have been the greatest servant of Christ. He knew what it was to suffer for Christ and he knew what it was to be on that journey. Many times he was sorrowful; he could say at one point, "all who are in Asia ... have turned away from me", 2 Tim1: 15. Think of what it meant to him to suffer. They had not left Christ, but they had left Paul.
So what journey are you on? Where are you travelling to? Have you got it all worked out, have you worked out definitely where you stand in regard to God? We are living in a world where there is just no fear of God, where persons have got no fear of God. They think they are indestructible. The Lord Jesus wants to have you for Himself, and He wants to regulate your life. He wants to set you on the course for blessing, and that is the journey. I would appeal to everyone here to put their trust in Christ, and the resources that God has He will have for you. One of the greatest gifts He can give you is the Holy Spirit, so that the Holy Spirit can direct your life and help you on that life for glory. Just think of the end of your life: is it going to be glory? May it be so for His Name’s sake.
Kirkcaldy
6th March 2011