T David Beveridge
1 Peter 3: 17-22
Titus 2: 11-14
Psalm 27: 14
Isaiah 40: 28-31
I am thinking about the matter of waiting. Sometimes we have to wait for things to happen in our lives. We would like them to happen soon or immediately, but sometimes we have to wait. Once when Paul was in Athens he had to wait for some of his brethren coming. As he was waiting he looked around at what he saw in the city of Athens and as he looked around, he saw an altar “To the unknown God”, Acts 17: 23. What need there is amongst men and women and boys and girls, even to hear a verse of scripture. God’s word is living and God’s word is powerful and mighty. The God I know is mighty. I was impressed with that at the Supper. We thought of the death of Christ, and it speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the theme of the gospel, tasting death (Heb 2: 9): the awfulness of it, the reality of it. He felt that pressure of death on His spirit. How real death was to the Lord Jesus, my friend!
Now, He is the theme of the gospel, and if you are a sinner here tonight I have good news for you. We cannot wait any longer, because I cannot tell you about tomorrow for myself or for anyone here. I cannot tell you about tomorrow. You might say, ‘I have important things to do tomorrow’. God knows what is ahead of everyone in this room, the preacher included. He knows what is ahead of us in life. Do you know He is the very God in whose hand our breath is, Dan 5: 23? Do you ever think about that, your breath being in the hand of God? As a young boy or girl, you think you can just do everything you please and you can indulge in all that you want to indulge in. Remember that! You have a God to do with, and, tonight in the glad tidings, He is waiting on you, waiting in grace. Probably the first hymn we sang -
God waits in grace with hands
outstretched to bless
(Hymn 123)
- gives you a full gospel. Read it through after the gospel. Maybe, if you have time, sit down alone. I will tell you one thing, this world is so busy, and persons are so busy. There is so much to take up time that persons do not take time to sit down and think about their never-dying soul, and the fact that they will have to do with a blessed God, a Creator-God, who we read of in one of our scriptures. Oh my friend, you will have to do with God. I can tell you tonight He loves you even if you are a sinner. I can tell you that God commends His love to you even if you are a sinner.
He does not love your sin; He does not love the sins that you and I commit. I remember being very upset about some of the things I had done as a preacher spoke about sin and the awfulness of it. There is no escape, friend. All are conceived in sin, Ps 51: 5. And God now in the glad tidings is waiting on men. What a God He is! How patient He is!
The first scripture I read speaks about Him being “longsuffering”. If you are a child, and you have been naughty, and you keep being naughty, you can see how it is trying your parents, maybe burdening them; they are concerned because you keep wanting to do wrong things, and being disobedient, and they bear with you and desire to help you. There is a God who is patient and He is longsuffering. What a God He is! He loves you, and tonight I want to tell you He may be waiting for you. He is waiting in grace. What a God He is! Blessed God! We had an old brother who used to tell us the word ‘blessed’ simply means ‘happy’. God is happy, He is ready, to dispense infinite blessing.
What a person Peter was! He really loved the Lord. Maybe you really love the Lord. Peter loved the Lord. He said, “Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death”. Do you know what the Lord Jesus said to him? “Peter, the cock will not crow today before that thou shalt thrice deny me”, Luke 22: 33, 34. Peter had just said ‘I am ready to die with you, Lord’. Before that evening had finished, he had denied Him; he had sworn; he had cursed. Oh, the awfulness of the human heart! Who knows what is in my heart and your heart? God knows, my friend, and, in spite of that, He is a longsuffering God. He bears with us. How He bears with His preacher! Now nearly two thousand years have passed since the Lord Jesus was here. Think of the generations that have been in this world since the apostles were here. In the Dark Ages, think of the persecution of many Christian persons in Europe and in other parts of the world! What events have taken place in this world! The blessed God has waited right down through these years, and He is presenting glad tidings concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I trust that all here have a link in faith with Him, have come by way of repentance towards God about their sins, and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to say tonight: God is waiting. He waits in grace. What a God He is!
And so Peter speaks in his epistle about God’s “longsuffering”. He bears with us. I think of my own history, things that have been in it that I would not like to go over. You would not like your history to be revealed, even before your parents, would you, or before the brethren, or before the authorities? “All things”, the scripture says, “are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do”, Heb 4: 13. Proverbs says, “The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, beholding the evil and the good”, chap 15: 3. Think of this world, and all that is proceeding now in the Middle East and some of the great countries of the world, China, South America; the awful events that are taking place. Think of the blessed God taking account of all of these things and still, my friend, He waits in grace that men and women may be aware of His existence, even if it is only the creation they have to look at. Man can see much in the greatness of creation and, as the Psalmist says,
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the expanse sheweth the
work of his hands.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night
unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech and there are no
words, yet their voice is heard,
Ps 19: 1-3.
God speaks in these things. How great He is! What a Person the blessed God is! He speaks to all men, women and children. What a God He is! He is waiting, waiting tonight. Maybe He is waiting on you if you have not trusted the Lord Jesus. It is a good thing if you become concerned as to what the preacher has been speaking about, speaking about sin and the awful things that would bar you from divine blessing, my friend, if you die in your sins. Think of the simplicity of these scriptures! If you die in your sins, you will be lost. But then death is not the end. Men believe that death is the end. What a delusion of Satan that he would cause a man to believe that death is the end! Scripture speaks even about the “second death” (Rev 20: 6); so that men will be raised and stand before the great white throne, Rev 20: 11-15.
This is not the time to speak more about that, but I just wish to convey to us all that God has power over death, and I know the One who has been into death. His name is Jesus. He came here as a babe. If you had been in Bethlehem at that time, you could have seen the Lord of glory as a babe lying in a manger. Think of the wonderful way that He came in! Think of that man, Simeon, who had some light as to who was there, taking the Lord Jesus in his arms in the temple, Luke 2: 28! Then the Lord Jesus as a boy of twelve years was found in the temple, “in the midst of the teachers and hearing them and asking them questions”, v 46. And then there is a large section of the life of the Lord Jesus about which we know little or nothing, from when He was twelve until He was about thirty. Think of the secret life of the Lord Jesus! I suppose His mother must have known remarkable things about Him. If you had been able to speak to Mary, his mother, no doubt she could have told you many things about the Lord Jesus. How precious was His life! But as far as God was concerned, all that God looked for in man, He found in perfection in the Lord Jesus.
Now, I stress that, if your sins and my sins were to be met, it was necessary that Jesus should die; it was necessary that His precious blood should be shed so that there should be a basis in divine righteousness whereby the blessed God I am speaking of, who is waiting for you, could extend to you forgiveness, and your sins could be washed away. You know what the burden of sin is. I remember going about with something on my conscience I could not get rid of. Have you known that? Nobody else knew about it. God knew about it, of course, but because we cannot see God, people think He is not there. My friend, “the things that are seen are for a time, but those that are not seen eternal”, 2 Cor 4: 18. It says no-one has seen God nor can see God, 1 Tim 6: 16. How great He is, and we can have to do with Him, and tonight He is waiting, maybe He is waiting for you, maybe you do not believe, maybe you spurn the glad tidings, but God is appealing. The glad tidings, if it is anything, is an appeal on God’s part as He waits for you in patience and long-suffering that you might yield. As disturbed, perhaps, under the sound of His word, you realise that you are lost and undone. To be lost is an awful experience. I can remember as a boy once in Edinburgh being with my parents in the street and I lost them with many, many people going about. O the awfulness of that experience, to be lost, and how much more, my friend, if you do not have a link with God, to know what it is to be lost, “having no hope, and without God in the world”, Eph 2: 12. How real it is; how real these things are! They have to do with our souls. You have a never-dying soul. God is interested in it, and in the glad tidings He is waiting in grace that you might come by way of repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.
So I read these other scriptures. The first one was in Peter. That was “the longsuffering of God”. Titus says, “the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared”. That is in the Person of the Lord Jesus. And then he speaks about “the present course of things”. We are in that just now. When the Lord was here, there would be a certain course of things going on; in the Middle Ages there was a certain course of things going on; but “in the present course of things”, that is what we are in now, and we are “awaiting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ”. That is what the believer is waiting for. The believer has a wonderful future. Anyone without a knowledge of Christ as Saviour has no hope and is without Christ. Paul says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are the most miserable of all men”, 1 Cor 15: 19. The Christian, the believer in the Lord Jesus, can see beyond this life. This life is important. You have been born into it. We are all here sitting, breathing, alive. God is addressing us and He is speaking to us about how we stand before Him. I do not know how you stand before the blessed God. Maybe He is not in your thoughts, but He is waiting that you might become aware that He is interested in you. God is interested in you. Maybe you go through life and you think, ’No-one is interested in me. No-one has any interest in me’. Oh, my friend, God is interested in you. In the glad tidings I can tell you that the Spirit of God is here, indwelling those who believe, and He is interested in persons as they come under the sound of the Word. When Paul preached in Athens he spoke about persons who “might feel after” God, Acts 17: 27. Think of that kind of experience, a person feeling after God. Perhaps he sees the creation and something dawns in his soul: how did all this come about, but how did these worlds come into being? Who brought them into being? The blessed God would address Himself and make the creature aware that he is having to do with Him.
I often think about the soldiers in Afghanistan. Every time a soldier is told to go out on a patrol, he does not know what is awaiting him. Life is very uncertain, even at its best. Scripture says, “thou knowest not what a day will bring forth” (Prov 27: 1), and it says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may acquire a wise heart”, Ps 90: 12. Oh, my friend, in the waiting time, this waiting time, you need to have a wise heart about what you engage in, and God is addressing us in this waiting time, and He is giving us a wonderful, glorious opportunity to be saved. So if you are lost tonight, I can tell you, not on my authority, but on the authority of Scripture, if you are convicted as to your sins, if you come by way of repentance and faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be saved. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”, 1 John 1: 7. How valuable and precious is the blood of Jesus! In fact there is a hymn that says that:
Precious, precious blood of Jesus.
(Hymn 167)
No blood like that, the blood of the spotless Victim! There was a life in this world in flesh and blood conditions never seen then, now, or ever.
I meant to speak about Noah too. We cannot be sure how long he was in building the ark. I understand it was about 450 feet long, about 75 feet wide and about 45 feet deep. It was built with three storeys. There might only have been Noah and his sons helping him to build the ark. It must have taken a long time and all that time Noah was preaching, to convey to his fellow men that God was coming in to deal with the whole situation. It says “the earth was full of violence” (Gen 6: 11) and I have thought about that as coming to this preaching. Have you ever known a time like the present day, “the present course of things” when there has been so much violence, everywhere you look, in every city? Take this city we are in, the awful events that take place. How real these things are in the cities of Britain, Europe, the whole world, “full of violence”. It says that in Genesis: “the earth was full of violence”, and still the blessed God that I know is causing that the glad tidings be preached, sometimes in rooms like this, sometimes in the streets of the city, sometimes by those who love Christ and are willing to speak to their fellow men, to their neighbours, about Christ in order that they might be enlightened to the wonderful opportunity in this waiting time to make a decision for Christ. I trust all here have decided for Christ. You will never regret that decision. There may be decisions in your life that you regret. You might think, ’I wish I had never done so-and-so’. I can tell you if in this waiting time you decide for Christ, it will be the greatest and most blessed decision you can ever make.
So I just want to go on to the Psalm. I recommend to the younger brethren that you read the Psalms. I did not read them much when I was young because I did not value what was poetic. But the Psalms, as we all have been taught, are the fruits of experiences. Is it not fine to sit down beside an old brother and he can tell you what his experience has been, maybe in his job, in his household, or some experience he has had in life? You can learn from that. Read the Psalms, and look on them as experiences! There are lovely things said about David, the Psalmist. What a person he was! - although he did not always do everything that he should. Psalm 51 records the appeal he made to God after being convicted of his sin. Oh the power of sin! Satan is a powerful, a subtle, foe. He knows how to attract us. He knows my weakness; he knows your weakness; and he knows how to seduce the hearts of men. In his experience here in this Psalm 27: 14, I was thinking of what he says here at the end of the very last verse: “Wait for Jehovah; be strong and let thy heart take courage: yea, wait for Jehovah”. I would just like that word to come to all of our hearts. I remember a brother giving a word on courage. I have never forgotten it. Sometimes you need courage. I have spoken about these soldiers going out: they need courage to go out and face the uncertainties of war. My friend, you need courage. “Wait for Jehovah; be strong and let thy heart take courage”. If you are an unbeliever, take courage tonight. This is the waiting time. You can have Jesus; you can make Him your own Saviour; you do not need to tell anyone; but, nevertheless, it is good to confess Him, confess Him as your Saviour.
I just want to refer briefly to that scripture in Isaiah: “Dost thou not know, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God …?” It is a lovely scripture. The scripture conveys more, far more, than the preacher can because the scripture is God’s word, and God is saying here, “Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not nor tireth”. What marks this condition that you and I are in? It speaks of the youths tiring. It does not matter what age you are. You can prove the frailty of human life. It is very real. Death is very real. God speaks to us in that way. Some of us are older: we have lost parents. That made a deep impression on us. Death is meant to make a very deep impression on us. One man was at a preaching but, yes, he thought he would have to make a decision for Christ, but then he thought, ’Not tonight; I will just put it off’. We used to announce sometimes at the preaching that you could come back next week. I cannot say that. I cannot say that you can come back next week. This person who had been listening to the preaching decided to go out, and what happened was he was struck by a vehicle of some kind and killed. I do not wish to be dramatic, but that actually happened. He maybe made a decision for Christ. I trust he had made that in his heart, but he thought he would put it off for another week. That is why I say God is waiting now. “Behold, now is the well-accepted time; behold, now the day of salvation”, 2 Cor 6: 2. So we do not wait any longer. This is the accepted time. It is a good time. Tonight is a good time. If you are without Christ and without hope, you can put your claim in tonight and put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus.
I trust He belongs to all here, and then, as here, that you may also receive the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit. I suppose persons who are not Christians know very little of the presence of the Holy Spirit. They might see Christians living a certain way, and wonder why they do certain things, because if you are indwelt by the Spirit there is no doubt you live a certain way. I found certain things I did before I was converted I cannot do now. I am not saying the desire is not there to do them, but if the Spirit is indwelling, He would give us to feel His presence. Have you ever felt the presence of the Holy Spirit within you? I think the scripture about sowing to the Spirit (Gal 6: 8) means you give Him room in your heart, room in your life, so that whatever you are doing, you refer to the Holy Spirit. What a gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit is! Do you have Him? You can have Him, if you are a believer, by asking. Think of the wonder of that! In simplicity ask the Father that He might give you the Spirit. God gives “of his Spirit”, 1 John 4: 13. Think of the wonder of that, a human creature, feeble and failing, and God is prepared to give of His own Spirit.
And then Paul in his preaching speaks about “inheritance among them that are sanctified” (Acts 26: 18); so not only has He given a Saviour, One who has died and suffered. Oh, that I could speak more feelingly of the sufferings of Jesus! It is worth taking time to contemplate them. See Him as entering into Gethsemane. He took some of His disciples with him but then they fell asleep. He went and prayed “Father, if thou wilt remove this cup from me: - but then, not my will, but thine be done.”, Luke 22: 42. What we like best in life is our own wills. If I want to do something, I want my own will. Scripture says the Lord Jesus did always the things that pleased the Father, John 8: 29. What a Person Jesus is; so I say what a Saviour He is! And then the gift of the Holy Spirit, how wonderful! Then to find an “inheritance among them that are sanctified”. I often used to wonder about that. Was it preaching ‘brethrenism’, or saying that we are the people, and so on? There is great safety in being amongst those who are the Lord’s, wherever it is. There is salvation in the assembly. I say that because I have some members of my own family, my natural family, who, having gone out, have begun to slip, begun to allow certain things that they would not have allowed before. There is salvation in being preserved amongst the saints. Beloved young people, find your place amongst them! Commit yourself to that! It is all part of the glad tidings. How full the glad tidings are! We are in the waiting time and you have to decide now in the waiting time. “Behold, now is the well-accepted time; behold, now the day of salvation”.
These scriptures would maybe just encourage us. “Wait for Jehovah”. Maybe some things are before you and you are uncertain: “wait for Jehovah” and He will give you the word. What a God He is! He loves us in all our circumstances. May you not wait any longer! If you do not know Him as Saviour, make sure He is your Saviour tonight!
Glasgow
24th June 2012