We have a tremendous privilege this morning.
Most of you are aware, I'm sure, that
Major Ian Thomas has come to share this
morning, this evening, Monday night, Tuesday night, and
as strongly as I know how, I'd encourage
you to be at each of our times
together.
Major Thomas is from England.
He served in the British Army.
Served during World War II.
And then God got a hold of his
life in an unusual way with the great,
great message that the Christian life from beginning
to end is Christ.
And that led to the founding of Torchbearers,
which is a worldwide ministry that has touched
countless lives.
It touched mine.
In the middle 70s...
Sorry, I usually don't cry introducing speakers.
It's not good.
In the middle 70s, I was a carnal,
backslidden Christian traveling through Europe.
And I was saved, there's no question, but
I knew that God had much more for
me than I was experiencing.
For whatever reason, I would read Christian literature,
and I read a couple of books by
a man named John Hunter, who was an
associate of Major Thomas'.
And he just explained in ways I'd never
heard that the Christian life is, in fact,
Christ, and if we want to experience the
best God has for us on this life,
then it requires giving him our all.
And I'll never forget, in a bus on
my way to Malaga, Spain, just saying, Lord,
I don't know what this means, but the
ball of wax is yours.
Let's go for it.
The very first book I read after that
was The Saving Life of Christ by Major
Ian Thomas.
Quickly thereafter, I read the other two, If
I Perish, I Perish, The Mystery of Godliness.
And it laid a foundation for me that
I'm still building upon that I will eternally
be grateful for.
And the reality is, you guys have been
influenced by this man already much more than
you realize.
And so, Major Thomas, we could not be
more pleased to have you.
I don't need it.
I'm not going to hit anybody.
I'm not really as crippled as I look.
Thank you.
He just doesn't want to hear anything.
I'm not as decrepit as I look, though
I did celebrate my 88th birthday two days
ago.
And I can think of no fantastic way
that I could better celebrate my birthday then
than to be here this morning.
Fantastic.
It's lovely to be conscious of the presence
of a risen, living and indwelling Saviour.
But because I do look so decrepit and
sometimes feel like it, rather like this thing,
I always have a young man who is
my assistant.
And that's Mark, who assisted me from the
chair to come here.
And he would be bitterly disappointed if I
didn't tell you how I got to know
him.
I met him in a home for the
deaf and the dumb.
And he's not deaf.
But I'm happy to tell you he's not
as dumb as he looks.
That's why I have him around, because at
88 years of age, I'm still alive and
kicking, and you've got to have somebody to
kick.
That's why I called him the mule, because
he kicks back.
And he's not as dumb as he looks.
And that's the name I give to these
young fellows, and I've had a whole tribe
of them who have assisted me all over
the world, as I've had the incredible joy
of sharing the life of Jesus, literally, around
the world.
Because there's nobody else worth talking about.
He is the way, the truth and the
life.
It's of him, it's through him and it's
to him, all things to whom alone be
glory, beginning and the end, alpha and omega.
Wonderful.
And so, I'll give you one guess as
to what I'm going to be talking about
this few days.
The only one who's worth talking about.
You know, there's nothing that perpetuates ignorance more
than unenlightened enthusiasm.
And there's a whole bunch of enthusiasm around
today, but most of it is unenlightened.
And this was, you may be surprised at
this, this was Peter's problem.
Ignorance.
Not lack of enthusiasm.
He had a charisma about him, and he
had a genuine love for the Lord Jesus,
and a devotion and a loyalty.
The problem was, he was ignorant.
And that is tragically true right across the
board within the Christian church today, in every
country.
And I've literally visited almost every country in
the world talking about Jesus.
You see, Peter didn't want the cross, because
he didn't see the need of the cross
and didn't understand what was going to happen
on the cross.
He didn't believe in the resurrection, because he
didn't see the need for the resurrection and
didn't understand what was going to happen at
Pentecost.
When God, for the first time in human
history since Adam fell, restored to man by
his gift of the Holy Spirit, the life
man lost in the day that Adam, in
his stupidity, believed the devil's lie that a
man could be man without God, and died,
as God said he would.
Not physically.
He didn't die physically for 900 years.
But he forfeited that life by which you
and I alone can be truly alive.
The life of God.
Because he created us to be functional as
the creature only by virtue of the presence
of God, the creator within the creature.
It takes God to be a man.
And man, since Adam fell, lost his humanity.
Jesus came to restore us to our true
humanity.
He came that we might have life and
have it in an entirely new dimension, more
abundantly.
Didn't want the cross.
Didn't believe in the resurrection.
You'll remember how on one occasion it's recorded
for us in the 16th chapter of Matthew's
Gospel.
He asked a very simple question.
Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am?
It wasn't that the Lord Jesus was particularly
interested in what men had to say as
to who he was, because it didn't matter.
He knew who he was and he knew
why he had come and what he was
going to do.
But he said, who do men say that
I am?
And one of the disciples said, well, the
bunch down the road, they call, they say
you're John the Baptist.
Not only they, but Herod too.
Because Herod was the one who ordered that
his head be cut off and dead.
Have his head cut off.
And there were those, you see, in one
part of the city who thought that John
had had his head put back on and
he was back in business.
Well, they chuckled about that.
And then another one piped up and said,
there are others who think that you're Elijah.
Well, you know what happened to Elijah.
He was caught up in a whirlwind and
escorted home by a chariot of fire.
And there was a little bunch the other
side of town and they thought that Elijah
had been in orbit all down the centuries,
but was landed and back in circulation.
And somebody else chirped up and said, there
are others who think you're Jeremiah.
As though you look that miserable.
And then suddenly the Lord Jesus swung round
and looking at Peter, straight in the faces,
whom do you say that I, the Son
of Man, am?
And immediately Peter, in his wild enthusiasm and
genuine love for the Lord Jesus, says, you're
the Christ, Son of the Living God.
Right or wrong?
Well, you say, absolutely right.
The Christ, the promised Messiah, Son of the
Living God.
But Peter still had a problem.
Although what he said was absolutely right and
the Lord Jesus commended him and said, it
isn't because you're smart.
If you've recognised my identity, it's because my
Father in Heaven has revealed it unto you.
It's by revelation.
All truth, ultimately if it's real, is by
revelation.
But although what he had to say was
true, God imparted, he still had a problem.
He hadn't a clue what he was talking
about.
And that's a problem.
And unenlightened enthusiasm always insists on saying something
and Peter was nearly always the one who
stood up and spoke first.
And nearly always what he said was nonsense.
On this occasion it was right, but didn't
know what he meant by what he was
saying.
Do you remember the story?
From that time forth, the Lord Jesus began
to show unto his disciples how that he
must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things of
the elders and chief priests and scribes and
be killed and be raised again the third
day.
The Lord Jesus gave them a panoramic view
of his messianic mission.
Why he was born, why he had come,
what he was going to do and did
it.
But immediately the Lord Jesus, having declared the
purpose of his birth and life and death
and resurrection, Peter took him and began to
rebuke him.
Literally drew him on one side and said
forget it.
That cannot, must not and will not happen
to you and we'll make sure it doesn't.
Was he insincere?
No, it was an expression of his genuine
love and affection for Jesus.
But that was Satan's subtlety.
He was capitalizing upon his loyalty and love.
And he's still on the job.
The Lord Jesus turned around and said get
thee behind me, Satan.
One moment, the voice piece of the father
in heaven by whom he had received the
revelation of Christ's identity.
The next moment, the mouthpiece of the devil
himself said Jesus you're an offense unto me.
You savor not the things that are of
God but of the world.
Your theology is of the earth.
Earthy.
That was Peter.
Ignorant of the purpose which the Lord Jesus,
God's sinless incarnate son was born at Bethlehem
so that on the cross he might bear
our sins in his own body on the
tree and suffer the just for the unjust
in order to bring us to God.
Unenlightened enthusiasm.
The Lord Jesus took Peter, James and John
up the Mount of Transfiguration and many think
that that was a fantastic experience.
Wished only that they could have been numbered
amongst the three.
Soul-stirring.
Psychedelic.
After six days, Jesus takes Peter verse one
of the seventeenth chapter and John his brother
brings them up into a high mountain apart.
His face did shine as the sun.
His raiment was white as light.
And then there appeared unto them Moses and
Elijah talking with Jesus.
They weren't aware that Moses and Elijah had
come on the scene until later.
Why later?
Well, because there on the Mount of Transfiguration
the Lord Jesus gave them a fantastic Bible
study.
An exegesis of his birth and life and
death and resurrection.
Tells us about it in the ninth chapter
of Luke's Gospel.
Which is another record by Luke of the
same incident in the Mount of Transfiguration that
is first told there by Matthew.
And the Lord Jesus in the twenty-eighth
verse of the ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel
took Peter, James and John went up into
the mountain to pray and he prayed.
And as he was praying the fashion of
his countenance was altered.
His raiment was white and glistering.
And behold, there talked with him two men
Moses and Elijah.
And what was the Lord Jesus talking to
them about?
Well, he spake of his decease.
His death.
Which he would, lovely word this, accomplish at
Jerusalem.
He didn't drift to disaster.
His death wasn't the untimely end of a
noble life.
Somebody who was misunderstood by his peers and
paid the price of his lack of popularity.
Uh-uh.
The accomplishment of death.
When you accomplish something you set out to
do it and you did it.
That's what Jesus did when he left heaven
and came to earth.
Left eternity and stepped into time.
The accomplishment of death.
To Pontius Pilate he said to this end
was I born.
And for this cause I came into the
world.
That's why I'm here.
Clothing deity with my sinless humanity.
There's something else that the Lord Jesus said
in that regard.
And if I can find it in my
battered Bible I'll read it to you.
I've had this Bible for over fifty years
and if I lost it I'd have to
give up preaching.
Because I steal all my sermons from the
book that God wrote.
And the Lord Jesus in the twentieth chapter
of Luke's gospel foreshadowed his death.
That he would accomplish.
Lovely word accomplishment.
Something I set out to do and did.
And it was done to God's holy satisfaction.
Well you'd have thought that the Lord Jesus
would have capitalized as Satan did upon his
enthusiasm but he didn't.
In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew again to
which I will return no sooner had the
Lord Jesus congratulated Peter on knowing the truth
as to his identity the Christ the Messiah
son of the living God than he told
him to keep his mouth shut.
Twentieth verse, sixteenth chapter of Matthew then charged
the Lord Jesus, his disciples not only Peter
but all the rest that they should tell
no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Not a word.
If you've recognized my identity and to the
revelation that God had given to Peter no
doubt the others added their affirmation now said
Jesus you know who I am, keep your
mouth shut.
Do you find that a little strange?
Here's a man who discovers the truth and
Jesus says now keep your mouth shut.
Why do you tell him to keep his
mouth shut?
Because he knew that Peter didn't know enough
in his ignorance to talk sense.
The smartest thing to do if you don't
know enough to talk sense is keep your
mouth shut.
And the Lord Jesus spent a lot of
his time in the early church keeping their
mouth shut.
I wonder if you know enough to keep
your mouth open because God has given us
in his book a wonderful promise.
He said if you know the truth open
your mouth wide and I'll fill it.
That's a great promise.
If you don't know quite what to talk
about well turn to God's word, allow the
Holy Spirit who is our teacher to introduce
us to a risen, living, indwelling Savior and
then talk about Jesus and you'll be talking
sense.
It's been my privilege for 68 years of
the last 88 all over the world just
talk about Jesus.
That's all you have to do.
And the Holy Spirit whom the Lord Jesus
said would come 16th chapter of John's gospel
and he'll lead you into all truth and
he'll take, said he, the Lord Jesus, the
things that are mine and reveal them to
you.
So you've got a marvellous teacher, the Holy
Spirit whose delight it is to exalt Jesus
whom the Father delights to honour.
So you wonder why Jesus said keep your
mouth shut.
They didn't know enough because they hadn't as
yet been taught by the one who is
our divine teacher and prepares us for the
ministry into which God is pleased to put
us.
The lovely thing is when you're in the
place where God puts you you never have
to ask for blessing.
It's inevitable.
If I were to say I'm here by
God's divine providence he put me here and
I say God please bless me you know
what God would say?
Don't waste my time or yours.
Don't you credit me with any intelligence?
If I put you there, I put you
there for a purpose so get on with
the job and I'll take care of the
consequences.
Isn't that restful?
Who's going to do it?
Faithful is he that calls you who will
also do it.
And if you don't let him do it,
you blew it.
And there are millions of true believers who
know Christ as their Redeemer who are busy,
busy, busy doing it.
And all that Jesus can say is thanks
for nothing because without me you can do
nothing.
So how much is that worth that you
do which isn't Jesus doing it?
Nothing.
It's amazing how busy you can be doing
nothing.
But it's very tiring.
That's why a lot of genuine, hard-working,
dedicated, committed Christians burn out.
They're tired of doing nothing.
But they don't know they're doing nothing because
they're ignorant of the truth.
That Jesus alone can and we can't.
And that's the principle of the Christian life
whereby you'll reign in Christ Jesus moment by
moment, more than conquer.
In every situation, threat, promise, opportunity or responsibility
you say, Lord Jesus, I can't.
You never said I could.
But you can, whose strength is made perfect
in our weakness and you always said you
would.
That's a simple principle, isn't it?
I can't.
You never said I could.
You can and always said you would.
And if you can't and he can, what's
the smartest thing to do?
Let him.
That's what the Bible calls faith.
Not shouting at God and trying, you know,
to wake him up and get him on
the move.
Uh-uh.
It isn't trying to get God into action
or keep him in business.
It's simply recognizing that he's big enough as
God for the job.
Huh.
Then you stop trying to play God on
his behalf.
It's also simple.
It's only man who makes the gospel complicated.
That's why we have theological colleges.
To give the devil a chance.
With my apologies to all theological colleges.
But I'm glad I never went to one.
Because I didn't want anybody to confuse me.
Jesus said, I'm the truth.
The way, the truth and the life.
The way, how to become a Christian.
The life, how to be the Christian you
become.
That's the truth.
Gospel truth.
The only truth.
The eternal, timeless, immutable, unchanging truth.
Jesus.
The way, the truth and the life.
Well, what happened?
Well, of course, Peter made a fool of
himself, as all the world knew.
He was the one who was going to
die for Jesus.
Did the Lord Jesus take him seriously?
Uh-uh.
Not because he was unkind.
Because he knew more about Peter than Peter
knew about himself.
He said, before the cock has crowned twice,
you will have denied me three times.
And did.
With curses and with oaths.
Before the slip of a servant girl, I
never knew the man, never met him.
This is Peter the liar.
Not Peter the apostle.
And he ended up weeping bitterly.
A dead loss.
Because he had never discovered the truth about
what it really means to be a Christian.
Something happened to Peter.
Do you know what he was doing?
And the other two, Peter, James and John,
while the Lord Jesus was giving that fantastic
Bible study, exegesis of his birth and life
and death, resurrection after the death that he
had accomplished.
Do you know what Peter was doing?
You might well have imagined that in the
presence of Jesus, teaching them from the word
of God, sitting on their rock, they had
kept their eyes fixed on him.
Fearful lest one single word would drop unheard.
But you'd be wrong.
They were fast asleep.
Fast asleep.
It was only when they woke up that
they realized that Moses and Elijah were on
the program.
From that time forth began Jesus to show
unto his disciples how that he must go
to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes and be
killed and be raised again the third day.
And Peter took him and rebuked him and
said that cannot, will not and must not
happen to you.
It wasn't until he woke up that he
discovered that Moses and Elijah were present.
What do you think he said the moment
he woke up?
You know, when you are asleep when you
shouldn't be asleep and wake up, that's a
dangerous moment.
Because you may not know exactly where you
are.
I remember being in a Baptist church many
years ago and the pastor called upon one
of the elders or whatever they call themselves
now.
Deacons I think they call themselves, that's right.
I don't know what you call yourselves here,
who are either deacons or elders.
Doesn't matter very much because you're nothing anyway.
And can do nothing.
Apart from Jesus.
But the pastor suddenly asked one of these
deacons to give thanks for the offering.
And he was asleep.
But one of the other deacons dug him
in the ribs and said you've got to
give thanks.
So he stood up and gave thanks for
breakfast.
Dangerous when you wake up when you shouldn't
be asleep.
So make sure you know where you are
when I'm finished.
And said Peter, when he woke up, fantastic
message, Lord.
Hadn't heard a word, he was fast asleep.
Wouldn't have missed this for anything.
Out of this world.
Well he ought to have known because that's
where he had been.
Out of this world.
But he said let's have a little tent,
a tabernacle for you Lord Jesus.
A little tent, another tabernacle for Moses.
Another tent, a tabernacle for Elijah.
He wanted three little tents.
One for Jesus and one for Moses and
one for Elijah.
He wanted to turn the whole episode into
a sort of fairground.
Little wonder the Lord Jesus told him to
keep his mouth shut.
Three little tents.
But something happened.
Because at that moment God spoke through the
clouds.
This is my beloved son in whom I
am well pleased.
Hear ye him.
Don't listen to Peter.
He hasn't got anything to say, worth saying.
He's just blathering on three little tents.
Listen to my son.
Because he's got something to say, worth saying.
Am I making all that up?
Well no.
Peter tells us about it in the second
of his two epistles.
And in the second epistle of Peter and
the first chapter he recalls that occasion.
Let me remind you of it.
Second Peter, chapter one.
Takes me a little time, you know, to
get there.
Because this hand is alive, but it's paralytic.
Like people who will be in church this
morning all over the town.
They're alive, but don't do as they're told.
So I have to use my left hand
and it hasn't been trained to find the
page in the Bible.
But it's learned.
Sixteenth verse of the first chapter of the
second of Peter's two epistles.
We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
He received from God the Father honour and
glory.
When there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased.
And Peter remembered God speaking through the clouds.
This voice, verse eighteen of that first chapter,
second Peter.
This voice which came from heaven and we
heard when we were with him in the
Holy Mount.
But we have also a more sure word
of prophecy.
More sure than the voice of God sounding
through the clouds, yes.
We have a more sure word of prophecy.
Where unto you do well that you take
heed, as unto a light that shineth in
a dark place until the day dawn, and
the day star rise in your hearts, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation.
Nobody's got a corner on the market.
The prophecy came not in all time by
the will of man.
Holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.
Something happened to Peter.
One moment he was a dead loss.
The next moment, true revelation.
And a Bible that came alive.
Fantastic.
When did all that happen?
Not only was it the turning point in
the life of Peter when he discovered Jesus
for who he really is and for what
he really came to do.
The whole church was revolutionized.
When the Lord Jesus begins to teach, where
do you think he begins?
Well, it tells us very clearly in the
24th chapter of Luke's gospel.
This is where Jesus begins when he teaches
the gospel.
24th chapter of the gospel of Luke.
And if I remember rightly, it's about the
27th verse.
If it isn't, it'll be another one.
But my fingers are doing their best to
find the place.
And never having been to a theological college,
I never got a B.D. or a
D.D. I only got a D.B.
at the school I went to, which was
the B.S.B.S., Bedside Bible School,
with an open Bible and the most fantastic
teacher, the Holy Spirit.
So I didn't get a B.D., I
got a D.B. Do you know what
that is?
You can't see it from where you are,
but it's a dirty Bible.
So dirty I can hardly read it.
But 24th chapter of Luke, 27th verse.
Jesus, beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself.
So he made it abundantly clear what the
Bible is all about.
It isn't a theological proposition, it isn't a
philosophy, it isn't a man-made way of
life, it isn't just a religious book with
some good ideas to be interpreted any way
that you and I please or anybody else.
Beginning at Moses, all the prophets, not picking
and choosing, expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself, Jesus.
That's where he begins.
That's where he began then, that's where he
begins now.
You and I will never be able adequately
to explain the gospel to any little boy,
girl, man or woman until we begin where
Christ began, creation.
Because until you know how God created man
and how God, having created him as he
did, intended man to live by virtue of
the presence of his creator within the creature,
taking God to be the man God intended
man to be, you'll never know what happened
to Adam when he fell and therefore you'll
never know what remedial measures God had to
introduce to put things right in restoring the
life of God to a man who had
lost the life of God.
We call it new birth because that's what
Jesus called it.
A reconciling act, the cross, and a regenerative
purpose in the gift of the Holy Spirit.
But Peter didn't want the cross because he
didn't know what happened to Adam when he
fell and because he didn't know what happened
to Adam when he fell he didn't know
what happened to Jesus or why when he
went to Calvary.
Because they had to happen to him exactly
what happened to man in Adam when man
first fell into sin.
And if that didn't happen then to Jesus
on the cross he never paid the price.
He never reconciled us to a holy God
in incurring in his person all that had
occurred to Adam and the whole of mankind
for in him all die.
So he began where God begins, creation.
And what did God begin with?
Nothing.
Put the universes into space, the stars into
the far corners of the night.
Upholds all things by the word of his
power, God.
That's what it takes to be a man.
When you've discovered who he is and where
he has the right to live.
You need to read the earlier chapters of
the Gospel of Luke to understand what then
was to happen that transformed the whole history
of the early church.
Remember how the women came all excitedly pounded
their way up the stairs where the apostles
were in the upper room and said, Jesus
is alive.
And they mocked them.
Including Peter.
They said, women you're hilarious, you're delirious.
We've all had a tough time and if
your nerves have snapped, we don't blame you.
But take six aspirins and you'll be better
in the morning.
That was Peter.
With the other apostles.
And then he did something which was typically
Petrine.
Having heard from the women what the angels
declared that Jesus was alive and well, he
set off to visit the tomb and find
Jesus where he wasn't.
That wasn't very smart.
But then Peter wasn't very smart then.
But he was to become far smarter.
And it took place when he was on
the road to Emmaus and met the Lord
Jesus.
Alive.
Didn't recognize him for who he was because
you don't expect to meet anybody who's already
dead and buried down the road.
And said, don't you know what happened in
Jerusalem?
Are you the only stranger?
Said he to Jesus.
And Jesus said, what things?
Lord Jesus had a wonderful sense of humor.
That's why he had fun with his disciples
every now and again.
If he hadn't had a sense of humor
he wouldn't have made some of you and
me.
Said he, what things?
That had happened in Jerusalem.
I think the Lord Jesus knew a whole
bunch about what had happened.
It was through his wrists they drove the
nails.
Through his ankles they drove the nails.
It was on his head they put the
crown of thorns.
It was into his side they thrust the
spear.
What things?
And they told what things, verse 35, Luke
24, they told what things were done in
the way.
And he was known of them in the
breaking of bread because they persuaded him to
spend the night and two pairs of eyes,
as he, the guest, played the role of
host and broke the bread, two pairs of
eyes saw one pair of hands.
They saw the print of the nails and
said, Jesus, look at my feet too.
And they saw the print of the nails.
As they thus spake among themselves after that
encounter, Luke 24 and verse 35, known of
them in the breaking of bread and as
they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the
midst of them and said, peace be unto
you.
And when the risen Lord Jesus stood in
the midst of them, how do you think
they reacted?
They shrieked in terror.
They were terrified and affrighted and supposed they'd
seen a ghost.
The Lord Jesus said, why are you troubled?
Why do thoughts arise in your heart?
Just look at my hand.
Look at my feet.
That it is I myself.
Literally, I am.
Not I was, not even I will be.
I am.
And when he had thus spoken, he showed
them his hands and his feet.
And verse 41, while they could hardly believe
for joy in the presence of a risen
Saviour whom they thought had been crucified, dead
and buried, they could hardly believe for joy.
What was the first consequence when the early
church discovered Jesus was alive and well?
Joy.
Peter describes it in the first of his
two epistles, joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Such a joy, so overwhelming that there's no
vocabulary adequate to describe what you enjoy once
you know that Jesus is alive and well
and living within you, sharing his life, sharing
with you his resurrection, a new joy.
And the Lord Jesus said to them, these
are the words which I speak unto you,
but you were fast asleep, Peter.
So was John and James.
Nothing penetrated.
You were still dreaming of little tents.
But these are the words which I speak
unto you while I was with you, while
I was among you, that all things must
be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in
the Psalms concerning me.
That's what I was talking about.
Then, verse 45 of Luke 24, he opened
their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures.
Nothing wrong with the Scriptures.
Nothing wrong then, nothing ever has been wrong
with the Scriptures.
God's Word.
There was something wrong with their understanding.
But now the risen Lord Jesus in the
upper room opened their understanding that they might
understand the Scriptures.
So, added to their new joy they got
a new Bible.
A Bible that really made sense.
It came alive.
Every part of it.
The Lord Jesus never preached from the New
Testament.
It isn't because he didn't like the New
Testament.
He didn't have one.
Did he ever preach from John's Gospel?
Did he ever give an exegesis of the
book of the Revelation?
Did he quote from the Epistles?
Uh-uh.
He didn't have them.
The only Bible he had was the Old
Testament.
And what the New Testament has to say
is that the Lord Jesus did everything that
in the Old Testament God said he would.
That's all.
Same message, same truth, same Jesus.
He opened their understanding that they might understand
the Scriptures.
And said to them in verse 46 of
Luke 24, thus it is written, thus it
behoved Christ, it was incumbent upon him, it
was necessary that he should suffer and rise
from the dead the third day.
And he came to accomplish his death and
triumphant resurrection so that you and I today
in the present tense of his divine indwelling
might live that in the power that flows
out from his resurrection.
The great longing that was in the heart
of Paul when he wrote Philippians chapter 3,
verse 10.
My continual desire is that in my ever
increasing measure enjoy the power that flows out
from the resurrection of Jesus.
Because I am crucified with Christ.
God has identified with me in his death.
Judicially executed in the person of another to
deal with my sin but nevertheless I live.
If not I.
Don't get me wrong.
Christ lives in me.
And to me to live, to be alive
at all is Christ.
Hope in their understanding so they got a
new joy, they got a new Bible.
That verse 47 of Luke 24, repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in his
name among all nations to the outermost ends
of the earth.
A new joy, a new Bible and because
they got a new Bible, a new message.
There was a time when the Lord Jesus
called the twelve apostles to him including Judas
Iscariot because he was a preacher but he
had nothing to say worth saying and if
a preacher has nothing to say worth saying
he should quit the ministry as Judas did.
But don't do it the way he did.
He committed suicide.
There are better ways of quitting the ministry.
You can sell real estate or cars or
cosmetics and you'd be astounded and shocked to
know how many have done it that way.
But at least they did it which was
the only sensible thing for him to do
because you've got nothing to say worth saying
then keep him out yet.
That's what Jesus said.
Repentance and remission of sin.
If you read the story and it's found
in Mark's gospel chapter 6 and from verse
12 onwards the twelve, two by two went
out including Judas Iscariot and what do you
think they talked about?
They preached that men should repent, period.
They told naughty people to be good.
They said bad people turn over a new
leaf and be better.
Why didn't they tell them about redemption?
Why didn't they tell them that the precious
blood of God's dear son was shed at
Calvary to cleanse them from all sin?
Why didn't they tell them?
Because they didn't want the cross.
Because they didn't understand the cross or what
was going to happen on the cross.
Why didn't they tell them about a new
life that God gives to those who come
in repentance and receive forgiveness?
Because they didn't believe in the resurrection.
Idle tales they said.
We were there when it happened.
He's dead.
Enthusiastic?
Lots of it.
Eager?
Genuine love for Jesus?
All of that too.
A sentimental attachment.
But didn't know enough.
Ignorance.
To talk sense.
But now the Lord Jesus has given them
a new joy in their rediscovery of a
risen Lord still bearing the marks of the
cross.
He gave them a new Bible and a
new message.
Repentance and remission.
Forgiveness.
Cleansing.
Their sins to be blotted out.
Whiter than linen.
Whiter than the snow.
Why whiter than the snow?
Because in every myriad crystal that is within
a snowflake there's always a speck of dust.
The nucleus upon that crystal is formed.
Did you know that?
That's why the Bible says when Jesus cleanses
you from your sin you'll be whiter even
than the snow.
Because there won't even be a speck left.
Because when God forgives God forgets.
And he says I will remember your sin
no more.
Marvelous message.
New joy.
New Bible.
On the basis of that new Bible a
new message.
Anything else?
And behold I send the promise of my
Father upon you.
Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you
be endued with power from on high.
Not your power.
Not the ingenuity.
Not programs that you conceive in committee.
Uh uh.
Power from on high.
New joy.
New Bible.
And in verse 48 you are witnesses of
these things.
A new responsibility.
But don't embark upon your new responsibility to
tell the world the truth that you've rediscovered
that I died for you and rose again
to give myself to you.
Pentecost.
New responsibility.
But you need a new enabling.
Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you
be endued with power from on high.
New joy.
Unspeakable.
Full of glory.
New Bible.
New message.
New responsibility.
Witnesses to the outermost ends of the earth.
And a new enabling.
When on the day of Pentecost the risen
Lord Jesus came in the person of the
Holy Spirit to re-invade the redeemed humanity
of a bunch of forgiven sinners so that
he, clothed with their flesh and blood could
continue to do and continue to teach the
things that he first began to do and
began to teach in his own body.
When first God in Christ began to reconcile
the world unto himself.
Marvelous.
What a privilege he's given to you and
to me.
But what did it take for them to
begin to live the Christian life?
They had to rediscover Jesus.
That's why the Lord Jesus told them to
keep their mouths shut until that happened which
he knew would change the whole course of
the early church.
Matthew 17, verse 9, let me read it.
Jesus is coming down from the mount of
transfiguration where Peter, James and John had been
fast asleep while the Lord Jesus had been
telling them all these things and they heard
nothing.
Why didn't they hear?
Well, it was so incredibly boring.
Because they didn't understand.
And they didn't understand because they didn't know
enough.
So as they came down from the mount
of transfiguration Jesus, verse 9, Matthew 17 charged
them saying, tell the vision to no man.
No matter what you've seen up there on
the mount.
No matter what you've heard up there on
the mount of transfiguration tell no man, keep
your mouth shut.
Until.
Until what?
The Son of Man be risen again from
the dead.
The indispensability of the resurrection and the life
of Jesus in the life of every believer.
Until you've entered into the good not only
of what I did on the cross, dead
but who I am now, alive again you're
not qualified to tell the world anything.
So not a word of what you've seen
or heard until the Son of Man be
risen from the dead.
So what's the most urgent message of the
gospel?
That Jesus is dead, that's what the church
has been telling the world for centuries.
I've travelled literally all over the world talking
about a risen Jesus and all I've seen
of him on the street corner in their
church buildings is a dead Jesus hanging on
a cross.
That's what the church has been telling the
world, Jesus is dead.
That's where he is, look, still on the
cross.
If going into a church building you were
to see Jesus dead on a cross before
you go through the door, who would you
expect to find in the pulpit?
A dead Jesus?
The only people that God ever wants in
the pulpit or on a platform talking to
others is himself clothed with the redeemed humanity
of a forgiven sinner who knows why Jesus
died.
Not to get us out of hell and
into heaven the only one who can and
does and will if you let him.
But that isn't why he was born at
Bethlehem.
Not to get people out of hell and
into heaven but to get him back out
of heaven into us.
Then you can say to me to live
is what?
Doing my best for Jesus, sweating it out
for God, keeping him employed.
Uh-uh, to me to live, if I'm
alive at all from God's point of view
is Christ who gave himself for me then
and who has given himself to me now.
For Jesus said, Revelation 1, 18 I was
dead, you're quite right.
I die.
To that end I was born and for
that cause I came into the world to
lay down my life for ransom.
I was dead but I am, present tense,
alive again.
Not just for the weekend.
Not for your special events.
I am alive again forevermore and because I
live you will live also.
That's the gospel.
Not a dead Jesus doing his thing 2
,000 years ago but a risen, living saviour
clothing his divinity with our redeemed humanity so
that every new day in the measure in
which we're prepared to let him be who
he is as God in us every new
day that dawns is as big as God.
Exciting.
But in order to share his life every
moment of every day you've got to reckon
yourself identified with him in the death that
paid the price of your reconciliation to God
so that you could enjoy the regenerative purpose
that allows God to give back to a
fallen but forgiven sinner the life man lost
in the day that Adam fell.
On the platform beneath the lofty dome of
a great cathedral a famous artist he'd been
painting a mural on the underside of the
dome.
It was fantastic.
Brilliant.
And the artist paused on the platform to
gaze at it drink it all in.
It was his work, his achievement.
He did it himself and to better view
what he had done he took a step
back and then another step back and then
another step back until one more step would
have sent him plunging to his death on
the stone floor of the lofty cathedral.
At that moment his assistant on the platform
looked up grasped the situation in a moment
and with amazing presence of mind grabbed a
bucket of paint and threw it all over
that beautiful mural on the underside of the
cathedral dome.
The artist stopped in his tracks and then
glaring at his assistant he said you've spoiled
my picture.
You've spoiled my picture.
And his assistant quietly said yes sir, I
spoiled your picture.
Mesmerized with your own achievement glorying in what
you did.
I spoiled your picture but I saved your
life and you'll live to paint again.
When Satan is smart enough and subtle enough
as he is to persuade us that we
can do something for Jesus in the native
energy of our own humanity it comes as
a shock when somebody else comes along and
spoils your picture trashes your dreams and reduces
you to all that God intended you to
be apart from our creator, nothing.
It hurts.
The Lord Jesus deliberately choosing to be born
a human being we're told Philippians 2 emptied
himself humbled himself made himself of no reputation
literally translated he made himself all that he
knew man to be apart from God nothing
so that he in us might be all
that he allowed the father to be in
him.
Everything.
Without whom said he I can do nothing.
That's the gospel.
It's not the gospel and it isn't ancillary
to the Christian life you doing your best
and God giving you a hand every now
and again we've got to go into the
place where God put us in Christ two
thousand years ago death so that we might
live in the power of his resurrection every
moment of every day and in true repentance
in every situation no matter what threat, promise,
opportunity, responsibility simply say Lord Jesus I can't
but then you never said I could you
said without me you can do nothing thank
you I take my place Lord Jesus with
you in the place where God put you
two thousand years ago on a Roman gallows
where you not only died physically but you
cried in the true agony of Calvary my
God why hast thou forsaken me because you
incurred then Lord Jesus though all undeservingly in
the sinlessness of your humanity you incurred all
that occurred in Adam when he fell and
died but thank you for that triumphant cry
three hours later when you could say and
know that it was true finished tete-a
-leste I paid in full father it's all
over and I'm coming home and remember what
is his home if you're a forgiven sinner
your heart every moment of every day until
he comes and then forever have I spoiled
your picture I'm glad maybe I saved your
life from ending up in a heap of
ashes at the end of your days on
earth the wood the hay and the stubble
of self-effort when Jesus has been left
on the sidelines unemployed because you thought misguidedly
it was your business to keep him on
the job thank you Lord Jesus if
you're so patient it must frustrate you when
you know as our creator redeemer we can't
be functional apart from your divine indwelling and
our simple childlike trust that lets you do
it must be frustrating for you to see
us so busy doing nothing of any timeless
worth because we recognize that only that is
legitimate of which you in us are the
origin of your own image the source of
your own activity the dynamic of your own
demands at all times and the only cause
in us as God of your own effect
and there's only one person to be congratulated
when we've chosen to be restored to normality
you yourself our redeemer creator saviour and lord
grant that some boy, girl, man or woman
gathered here this morning will leave this place
never ever to be the same again because
they've discovered who alone is the Christian life
because you said so I am the way
I am the truth I am the life
thank you dear lord for every tomorrow that
will give to us the privilege of allowing
you to be God in us doing your
thing, your way, for your reason and only
to your praise and glory thank you dear
lord thank you in your own all prevailing
unchanging precious name Jesus our lord our life
forever Amen