Now this evening, I want to turn you
to John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 45.
Philip findeth Nathanael, John 1, 45, Philip findeth
Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found
him of whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any
good thing come out of Nazareth?
I wonder if you understand why he said
that.
He understood his Old Testament, and according to
the Old Testament, Messiah was to come out
of Bethlehem.
Nothing was said of Nazareth.
So when Philip says, We found him of
whom the law and the prophets spoke, Jesus
of Nazareth, he answers, Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth?
And Philip, very wise, he didn't argue with
him, but simply said, Come and see.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith
unto him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile.
Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that
Philip called thee, When thou wast under the
fig tree, I sought it.
Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, Thou
art the Son of God, thou art the
King of Israel.
That was a quick one, wasn't it?
No one being convicted, converted, persuaded of Jesus
so quickly as this man.
So full of doubt when he came.
And all Jesus had to say of him,
Before that Philip called thee, When thou wast
under the fig tree, I sought it.
And for reasons that we may see before
the end of the evening, it was enough
for him.
And he fell on his knees, Thou art
the Son of God, thou art the King
of Israel.
Notice carefully what Jesus said to him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I
said unto thee, I saw thee under the
fig tree, believest thou?
Thou shalt see greater things than these.
And he said unto him, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Hereafter ye shall see heaven
opened, And the angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man.
Thou shalt see heaven opened, And the angels
of God ascending and descending on the Son
of Man.
Do you understand?
Can you guess what Jesus meant by those
last words?
Surely we remember that dream that Jacob had
when he saw a ladder set up on
earth, the top of which reached to heaven,
and the angels of God ascending and descending
on it.
And I believe Jesus was pointing Nathaniel and
the others back to that old story and
claiming that he and his cross were the
spiritual counterpart of that ladder that Jacob saw
in his dream.
I think it would be good if we
just turn to Genesis 28 and saw that
old incident to which Jesus referred in the
New Testament.
Genesis 28, and Jacob went out, verse 10,
went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
And he lighted upon a certain place and
carried there all night, because the sun was
set.
And he took up the stones of that
place and put them for his pillow and
lay down in that place to sleep.
And he dreamed and behold, a ladder set
up on the earth and the top of
it reached to heaven.
And behold the angels of God ascending and
descending on it.
And behold the Lord stood above it and
said, I am the Lord, the God of
Abraham, thy father and the God of Isaac,
the land whereon thou liest, to thee will
I give it unto thy seed.
And thy seed shall be as the dust
of the earth.
And thou shalt spread abroad to the west,
to the east, to the north and to
the south.
And in thee and in thy seed shall
all families of the earth be blest.
And behold I am with thee and will
keep thee in all places whither thou goest
and will bring thee again into this land.
For I will not leave thee until I
have done that which I have spoken to
thee of.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and
he said, Surely the Lord is in this
place and I knew it not.
And he was afraid and said, How awesome
is this place!
This is none other than the house of
God and this is the gate of heaven.
And many centuries after, Jesus said to the
Nathanael, You will see the heaven opened and
the angels of God ascending and descending on
the Son of Man.
And so Jesus claimed that he himself and
his cross were the spiritual counterpart of that
ladder that Jacob saw in his dream which
linked earth to heaven.
Some time ago, my wife and I were
in Switzerland for some meetings and in the
home where we were staying, on our last
morning there, the daughter of the home had
to leave for work before we were up.
And so she left a little note attached
to the door of our bedroom.
A little note of thanks for our coming
and a little note of good wishes to
us as we went on our way.
And this young woman was taught of the
Lord and she included in her letter these
words, If your pillow be like a stone,
there is a ladder going up from it
to heaven and the angels ascending and descending
upon it.
If your pillow is like a stone, there
is a ladder.
And that ladder takes this deal to us.
We have it of its own authority that
we can take it in that way.
And we can have that ladder even when
we're having a hard time.
Even when our pillow is like a stone.
I want to consider first of all the
man to whom this dream was given, Jacob.
Then I want you to look with me
at the dream itself and then the man
in the New Testament who was promised a
realization of the dream in his experience, Nathaniel.
It was a very unhappy young man who
lay down to sleep in the open air
that night.
It was his first ever night away from
home.
He found himself in a strange country on
a long journey.
Darkness had overtaken him and he had to
sleep in the open air gathering stones for
his pillow and feeling very homesick.
And what I believe added to his unhappiness
was the consciousness that the situation in which
he was in was his own fault.
It was because he had wronged his brother
and stolen by subtlety the birthright from the
dying father, Isaac that Esau was infuriated and
bound to kill his brother.
And his mother told him there's nothing for
it but to leave home and go to
her relatives hundreds of miles away.
And if Jacob is alone and homesick and
disconsolate that night he really has nobody to
blame but himself.
And I believe the stone on which he
made his pillow was symbolic of the fact
that he was having a hard time.
And I'm quite sure he would have felt
he felt that this was the last place
in the world where he was going to
have a new experience of God.
As he looked round I think he said
if anything for God's forsaken place this is.
And yet that was the very place where
God revealed himself to him so much so
that he had to say surely the Lord
is in this place and I knew it
not.
Now there may be some of us rather
like Jacob.
You may be, if the truth were known
in an unhappy state of heart because of
the situation you're in.
Yes, we often find ourselves in a difficult
situation in difficult circumstances.
And that sometimes adds to our sorrow about
it all is the fact that to some
extent it's our own fault.
If we're in a jam we may well
be to blame for it.
We've acted foolishly, we've put people against us
and here we are in this unhappy situation.
And deep down you know you have contributed
to it.
And you may well feel that your pillow
is like a stone.
And when we're in these situations you naturally
feel that it's the last situation in which
to expect a brand new experience of God.
And yet as in the case of Jacob
it may well be the very place where
you're going to have such a new experience
so that you'll end by saying surely the
Lord is in this place.
This place which I thought so God forsaken
and I never knew it.
And so this is something of encouragement for
some of us here.
And I very little bit, very believe if
it's true that the old hymn says our
grace it is thy boast to come into
our unlikest hearts we can also say our
grace it is thy boast to come into
unlikest situations even of yours.
And you can have a brand new experience
of the Lord even as Jacob did.
Indeed in Jacob's case it was his first.
Up to then Jehovah had only been the
God of Abraham and Isaac but at Bethel
he became the God of Jacob.
So how did he have this revelation of
God?
And it was a revelation of the God
of grace that he had.
It was of course by means of this
dream.
And in the dream as he lay there
tossing somewhat uneasily on his pillow of stone
he saw heaven opened.
That was new one to him.
He thought obviously for a fellow like him
heaven would be shut but it wasn't.
He saw heaven opened but he saw it
wasn't unattainable.
He saw there were steps leading from him
right up to that open door.
I believe that the Hebrew can be better
translated not a ladder but a staircase and
he saw a marvellous staircase leading up from
where he lay right up to heaven.
And more than that he noticed that going
up on that staircase there were angels.
And then he looked again and he saw
other angels coming down and there he was
lying at the base of this staircase.
And above the top of that staircase, that
ladder there was Jehovah himself speaking words of
incredible good for Jacob and his seed.
And Jesus would have us see in that
ladder a picture of himself.
It is one of the Old Testament foreshadowing
of Jesus and I don't know any that
teaches us more about the Gospel, about what
Jesus has for us as Christians than this
beautiful type of the Lord Jesus.
Very often we understand things in the Scriptures
better by contrast than any other way.
And what a contrast this ladder is to
the ladders which we have been trying to
erect for ourselves.
You know man has a constitutional love of
ladders.
If we want to get to know the
Lord it's always by means of a ladder.
By that I mean there are certain steps
to take certain heights to attain certain rules
to keep.
And if you are assiduous in climbing Jacob's
ladder don't be discarded, you're going to get
there and you're going to get to know
the Lord.
And it's very simple, it's by means of
a ladder.
And if having got to know the Lord
we want to improve our relationship with God
invariably we see it by means of a
ladder.
Once again we frame certain steps we've got
to take or rather we're told there are
there are certain heights we've got to attain.
We must improve, we must do more we
must be more devout and there are various
rules to keep.
And if we seek to keep the rules
and do what we're told we will without
doubt improve our relationship with God and we'll
have a deeper experience of Him in our
lives.
And if we fall into a pit of
depression and sometimes we do or into a
pit of guilt and we feel so bad
and guilty about ourselves we're quite sure the
way out is by means of a ladder.
Indeed Ebenezer Carter Ebenezer Carter has a different
sort of ladder but it's always a ladder
he suggests to you and he counsels you
and he things to do and things not
to do things to tell yourself and not
to tell yourself and lo and behold you'll
soon be out of your pit so he
thinks, so he tells us.
And then in Christian service today how are
we going to enlarge the coast of the
church?
How are we going to bring souls to
the Lord?
And invariably that which the church goes to
is some sort of ladder, some sort of
method.
Today is the great day of methodology.
The one thing that's necessary is simply knowing
how to and there's a great proliferation of
how-to books and everyone is simply putting
towards us a ladder which if we climb,
if we ought to it will lead us
to the desired haven and we shall see
blessing and outreach in the church.
And so I would say that man has
a natural love of ladders and that's a
natural thing for us all to gravitate towards.
These ladders are really variants of the way
of work.
We all know that by grace are we
saved through faith not of work.
And we're happy to be saved that way
but when it comes to going on and
getting further and getting the victory and getting
the fullness we forsake that way by which
we began, the way of grace and subtly,
if not quite clearly we resort to some
form of work and we begin to fashion
and direct our various ladders.
I want to say three things about these
ladders which it is so natural for us
to have recourse to and which very often
we're taught is the way.
First of all, they do not start where
we are.
This good advice we're given, these things we
ought to do don't take account of the
fact that we've been what we've been and
done what we've done.
They all assume that we are better than
we really are and we're well capable.
It's only we make up our mind to
doing this thing.
But you know we're really much lower than
our counsellor thinks.
He doesn't know the whole story of our
past.
And really, these ladders that others would propose
to us or which we propose to ourselves
do not reach us where we are.
They all assume that we are better and
more capable than we really are.
And we are hardly able to reach the
first rung let alone the subsequent ones.
And then secondly, the top of these ladders
never really reaches to heaven and to victory.
If you do manage to climb the ladder
to a certain extent your conscience tells you,
but that's not enough.
There's more you should do.
There's higher heights that you must get to.
And eventually you feel you just can't win.
Take one illustration, and I don't select this
because it's any more important than the other
things.
Take our devotions.
They can be a ladder, as many other
things can be too.
But just think of our illustrations.
Maybe you felt how lacking your personal daily
devotions are.
What do you say?
David?
Yes, David.
Oh, are Christians supposed to have a time
every day?
Yes.
Oh, well, no wonder I've not been getting
on very well.
All right.
I'll set aside a time every day for
prayer.
Fifteen minutes.
And you adjust your schedule accordingly and learn
the whole day you are having your little
time.
You're getting on quite nicely and finding it
helpful.
Then someone comes along who tells you, of
course, he never spends less than half an
hour.
Oh, half an hour.
All right, let it be a half an
hour.
And you make it half an hour.
And then to spoil it all, someone comes
along and says, of course, the real successful
Christians never spend less than an hour.
An hour?
And so you say, well, all right, let's
make it an hour.
And then to your horror you discover you
can't kill an hour.
There's no prayer beyond a few minutes.
And the Bible says.
And to finish you off altogether, you pick
up the book about praying hard and you
found there were whole nights when you didn't
go to bed.
And you say, oh, you just can't win.
Do you know, these laddies, they all have
something of that order.
The top of them never reaches to heaven.
They never really land you in victory.
And if you get into a pit and
you seek to get out of the pit
by means of a ladder, it's only to
discover that you put the ladder against the
wrong wall and you come out of the
wrong side, further away from God than you
were before, more of a Pharisee, and therefore
further away than you were before.
And these ladders, attractive as they might seem
to be and so reasonable, in the event
never reach to heaven.
And then they all involve climbing.
After all, what's a ladder for?
What's a staircase for?
But for climbing.
And what is that chorus the children sing?
We are climbing Japheth's ladder and we think
we must climb.
And these prophet answers to our needs all
involve striving and struggling on our part.
The problem is that though there's nothing wrong
with a ladder, there's nothing wrong with the
good advice, we are too weak so often
to take it and to climb it.
And yet the feeble attempt to do so
only lands us in despair.
Indeed, it would seem to me it were
better not to have a ladder than having
a ladder rather not having the strength to
climb it more than a few steps.
And it simply mocks you.
Now this is typical of all the various
prophet variants of the way of work.
It's the gospel we preach to our heart.
Every one of us is a preacher of
the gospel here.
You are preaching, I would say, almost every
day to your own heart if to no
other.
And you know you don't always preach the
right message.
And very often you tell yourself the trouble
with you is you haven't managed to climb
those steps of the ladder.
You tell yourself if only we're going to
get higher up all will be well.
But the problem is getting higher up.
And thus these ladders are all a disappointment
to us.
But how different was the ladder that Jacob
saw?
That ladder, that staircase, we're told, was set
up on the earth.
It began exactly where Jacob was lying.
And Jesus and his cross begin just where
you are.
It's assumed that you have been the sort
of Christian you have.
He assumes you've done what you know you've
done and he tells you he's settled for
the lot way out there on Calvary's cross
when he said it is finished.
And this Jesus and his blood are available
to you on street level.
And he is not shocked at what you
have to tell him.
This really is the truth.
He is available to you as the true
sinner you've been.
As the one who's done those shameful things.
Who's manifested that spirit you have.
And you're not given something that begins up
there where you've never been.
But right down there as deep as sin
is so is the cross of Jesus erected.
And Jesus is available to us on street
level.
And then I want you to notice that
Jacob's ladder the top of it reached unto
heaven.
There was the staircase and it didn't fall
short of the objective but it entered right
up there within the veil.
And this ladder which is simply Jesus and
his finished work brings you right into heaven
right into victory.
I remind you that Jesus was raised from
the dead and went back right into the
holy places not made with hands the top
of that ladder reached unto heaven and listen
he entered he was raised from the dead
and went back into glory do you know
how Hebrews tells us?
By his own blood.
Did you know that?
Jesus wasn't raised from the dead just because
he was the son of God.
Jesus went back to glory he didn't go
back just because he was the son of
God but Hebrews 13 tells us he was
raised from the dead by the blood of
the everlasting covenant he'd taken our sins and
our sorrows he'd made them his very own
therefore the penalty of taxing to our sins
death was his and then he would have
remained had there not been power wonder-working
power and the blood of the Lamb and
it tells us in Hebrews 13 he was
raised again by the blood of the everlasting
covenant and then Hebrews 9 tells us he
entered into the holy place not made with
hands with his own blood but for that
blood he couldn't have gone back there he'd
become an effigy of sin he was made
sin but they shall in no wise enter
into heaven anything but defile it not even
the son of God could have gone back
there except for the fact there was power
wonder-working power and the blood that he
said that blood's taste of the judgment of
God for the sins he'd accepted on our
behalf as being exhausted and the everlasting gates
lifted up their heads and the king of
glory went in how?
with his own blood and if that blood
was enough for Jesus it's certainly enough for
me he had on himself more sins than
any man had the most any man can
have are his own sins but Jesus had
the world and yet the blood was enough
for him and it's certainly enough for you
and your father and that is not what
your spiritual condition or lack of it it
covered it which is into heaven and the
way by which he entered you must enter
too by the blood of the everlasting covenant
and if only you're willing to get to
him at street level immediately in him you're
at heaven's level of course getting to him
at street level is a matter of you're
willing because you don't get there without repenting
but when you get there such is the
power of the blood of Jesus you're in
him at heaven's level and the prophecy reaches
unto heaven I want to tell you Jesus
really does bring me to him in a
way that man's ladders never did and then
with regard to Jacob's ladder Jacob was surprised
to find there was no climbing for him
he was very glad to see that not
only was heaven open there was a staircase
leading up there just fine he was about
to take his coat off and start the
steep ascent to heaven when he noticed there
were angels ascending and the rather angels descending
those angels ascending were bringing up his need
to God and those descending were bringing down
God's mercy to him and he didn't have
to do any climbing the angels did it
it was all done there for him in
that blessed heaven the traffic on the on
the land on the staircase on the ladder
and I like to think that an angel
going up met one coming down and I
like to think they had a little word
or two together and the one going up
said that fellow down there he's in a
bad shape you know he's as homesick as
I've ever seen anybody he's so full of
unhappiness and so fitty and he's blaming himself
like anything down there it's all right said
the other angel coming down he said I'm
just I'm bringing down God's mercy and God's
grace for a man in just that condition
and he's discovered that this wonderful ladder was
different than any other one he didn't have
to do the climbing I want to remind
you the big point when Jesus told the
story was not the ladder in fact Jesus
didn't actually mention the ladder the big point
was the traffic on the ladder and do
you know it's interesting that famous hymn Blessed
Assurance fits on this very thing angels descending
bringing from above echoes of mercy whispers of
love I tell you the hymn writers seem
to know their Bible better than we do
and they see the point and this is
a picture of this ladder which is Jesus
himself it's good to know there's a ladder
it's good to know there's a staircase and
just as you're bracing yourself for a new
promise and a new attempt to be the
better Christian and climb that steep ascent to
heaven you discover you don't need to do
it it's already been done for you in
that very Jesus for in Jesus all our
needs have already been brought up to God
and in Jesus all grace has already been
brought down to our level there's nothing more
that I can do since Jesus did it
all there's a new cause I don't believe
that this particular incident is really teaching us
anything about angels I believe in angels Billy
Gray has written a book on angels but
I don't think this particular incident is meant
to teach us anything about angels it's meant
to teach us about Jesus and it needs
all these aspects of the picture to give
us an adequate picture of Him what it
simply means is it teaches the Father that
in this Jesus all fullness should dwell that
in Him the climbing up has already been
done the coming down has already happened there's
no need firstly to aspire to heaven or
humble ourselves low or something like that it's
all done and all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily is made available to us right
where we are in our misery and need
and defeat and it only needs the willingness
to acknowledge that fact and there I am
at the foot of the ladder but coming
to the foot of the ladder in Him
I'm at heaven's level and I want to
tell you that's happened in my experience again
and again I want to tell you I
haven't been able and I haven't needed to
try and climb into the highest of all
by my own improvement I've had to simply
admit where I am and come as a
failure to Jesus on any new point He
may show me and when I come that
is the power of His blood I'm through
into victory and that without struggling and climbing
but you say what about these things in
our Christian life aren't we meant to do
something don't we ought we not to be
witnessing ought we not to be spending times
in prayer yes of course we should but
not in order to get into the holiest
of all but because through this ladder we
got there I want to tell you you're
going to have a longer devotions are you
just fine how are you going to manage
having a half an hour prayer every day
when your heart's cold when there's no song
in your heart I want to tell you
prayer will never take away sin I do
not read in my Bible that prayer bore
my sins in its body on the tree
even reading the Bible will not take away
sin this Bible wasn't crucified for me it's
me coming as I am as a failure
as a needy empty Christian again repenting of
what God what's gone wrong and then seeing
Jesus has done it all and the blood
of Jesus brings me right through into victory
with what without I want to pray oh
I only can say to you not that
I can't fill up your lot in time
but it isn't long enough and the word
I'm having such a good time but I've
got to rush off to work or the
children call or they're out of duty and
it's delight I want to tell you these
means of breakfast are not the way to
Jesus but Jesus found as that ladder available
to me where I am that is the
way to these things and that it is
I find I'm not committed to weary strugglings
which never come off promises which are never
fulfilled but I continue coming to Jesus as
I am and I find my chains fall
off my heart becomes free I rise, go
forth and follow Him because He's already done
it all because all fullness flows in Him
I don't need to have to come to
the cross and then think well I better
go on to Pentecost no no it's all
multiplied to be there at the foot of
the cross in that place of brokenness where
I confess my name what a wonderful picture
this is what a wonderful picture so there
is that second part and now a word
or two about the last we've looked at
the man to whom the dream was given
we've looked at the dream itself and then
the man in the New Testament who was
promised a realisation of the dream in his
experience Nathanael very wisely Philip didn't try to
argue with him and try and answer his
intellectual doubts he just said come and see
and as Philip, as Nathanael was coming to
Jesus Jesus said behold and is the light
in whom is no guile and Nathanael heard
him saying this and he said whence knowest
thou me I don't think we've ever met
Jesus said before Philip called you when you
were under the fig tree I saw you
now that was deeply significant to Nathanael I
can only imagine that that fig tree was
a very special tree for Nathanael I can
only imagine it was that tree under which
he used to sit when he wanted to
sit, when he wanted to perhaps try and
pray he wasn't much at praying but there
were times when he thought he needed God
though he didn't as yet know the Lord
there were times when the most innermost experiences
of his heart were expressed that tree and
it would seem to me the previous day
was a very special time for Nathanael under
his fig tree.
I can only infer and I'll tell you
why in a moment that on that occasion
there'd been a taking off the mask, off
his face and off his heart with regard
to God as never before because as a
result of what happened under the fig tree
Jesus could say of him an Israelite indeed
in whom is no guide and I believe
under that fig tree he said oh God
I'm a failure oh God I'm supposed to
be a godly man and a synagogue but
I'm a I'm a failure I'm a failure
as a father I'm not the head, spiritual
head of my house and in every other
ways I'm a failure and frankly Lord in
spite of my religious upbringing I don't know
about you so I don't really know you
and the Lord was content to let Nathanael
be honest about himself and Jesus knew that
and that's why when he said there's an
Israelite indeed in whom is no guide he
didn't say an Israelite indeed in whom is
no sin, there was plenty of sin in
Nathanael but there was no hiding of sin
Jesus knew that by what went on under
the fig tree and when Nathanael heard that
he said you saw me when I was
under the fig tree and you knew apparently
what went on under the fig tree there
were only two people who ever did know
it, one was me and the other was
God you must be God and he's convinced
of it without the Christ, the son of
the living God and then it was to
that man that Jesus said you're going to
see more than that you're going to see
heaven and this vision of the cross with
the angels of God ascending and descending on
the son of man now these are the
ones who are given a vision of the
cross a vision of the ladder a vision
of the staircase such as Nathanael was talking,
those of us who perhaps are learning to
be honest who perhaps I don't know whether
there's a special place a special place where
you pray but it doesn't matter but perhaps
some of us are beginning to take the
witness box against ourselves before God and we're
daring witness in God's presence against ourselves telling
the truth that we're phony in this area
we're phony in the other and I want
to tell you something tremendously restful, instead of
climbing to climb the ladder starting admitting what
we really are and I want to tell
you the Lord is very interesting you know
if anybody in a prayer meeting doesn't pray
the usual prayer of aspiration in the first
person plural but begins to pray a prayer
in the first person singular, I and starts
admitting where they are Lord I've had a
bad day today Lord I've let you down
at the office Lord I haven't been a
witness today I'm in bad shape today if
someone prayed like that what would happen?
do you know what would happen to you?
you'd be praying here you'd hear that prayer
and you'd and you wouldn't be the only
one that said a man would get the
interest of people it would certainly get heaven's
interest if you want to catch get God's
ear start taking off the mask I'm not
necessarily talking about open public confession but in
actual fact between you and God it sometimes
involves honesty with ourselves too but basically with
the Lord and God will be able to
say to you whatever else he is, he's
a saviour everything he says about himself is
completely true but I'll say this about him
he's not hiding it and that man is
now a candidate for that vision of the
cross which is going to make all things
new he is going to see in the
hour of his honesty heaven open for him
and the angels of God ascending and descending
upon that dear son of man echoes of
mercy whispers of love to that man and
he's going to find that he who felt
himself so far off isn't far off at
all by the mighty power of the blood
of Jesus he's been brought into the haven
of God's presence and he's back there and
this is a step that is often reiterated
it's only until the next time when something
goes wrong and when something goes wrong you
know what to do before you didn't the
best you knew before was a frantic climbing
which got you nowhere but you know there's
a ladder there's a ladder custom made for
me and those things are gone now and
you needn't be down and defeated for any
longer than it takes you to get to
the foot of that ladder again only to
find Jesus there the one who forgave still
ready to forgive the one who cleansed still
ready to cleanse and that power of the
blood bringing you once again into the haven
and it could be that some of us
the best we know in our Christian life
is being facetious, climbing and trying to adhere
to rules and formulas we've all done it
no one has done it more than I
and you know I can very easily slip
back to the old way and the Lord
has to convince me Roy you're striving again
you're not coming to the cross struggling instead
of repenting but oh I praise God he
brings me back to that old rugged cross
in your hymn books we haven't got them
here of course it doesn't matter we have
the hymn beneath the cross of Jesus in
most American books you only have three verses
we have five and the two omitted verses
are probably some of the best here's one
of them Oh safe and happy shelter speaking
of the cross Oh safe and happy shelter
Oh refuge tried and sweet Oh Christ in
place where heavens love and heavens justice meet
as to the holy patriarch the wonders dreams
of gift so soon my Saviour's cross to
me a ladder up to heaven that lies
beneath its shadow but on the farther side
the darkness of an awful grave that gapes
both deep and wide but there between it
stands the cross two arms outstretched to save
like a watchman set to guard the way
to that eternal grave but you know these
old hymn writers they got it I believe
what's needed is for the preachers to come
up to the in their preaching to come
up to the words of the song the
message of grace and mercy is in our
hymns if it's been lost so often in
our books and there it is as to
the holy patriarch the wonders dreams of gift
so soon my Saviour's cross to me a
ladder up to heaven and that little note
on our bedroom door says even if your
pillow be like faith dear one and you're
as down as you've ever known there is
a ladder leading up from it to heaven
and the angels of God ascending and descending
on it and that ladder whose foot is
on the earth and the cup in heaven
is these and the foot of that ladder
is available to you as it possibly can
just be an evangelist, just start taking off
the mask, just can start taking a knee
and you're at the foot of the cross
and if you're really at the foot of
the cross you've got to into victory, into
peace such is the mighty power of the
blood of Jesus, Amen now let's sing a
hymn because Pam you ready Pam are you
to add a word number 50 there is
a balm in Gilead to make the wounded
whole can anybody tell me what
verse this hymn is based on, can you
tell me the book of the bible where
it comes from there is a balm in
Gilead oh there's no good singing these things
you might think it's just a hymn writer
making it up well I don't blame you
it's not a very well known one but
a beautiful one listen, at the end of
Jeremiah 8 is there no balm in Gilead
is there no physician there why then is
not the health of the daughter of my
people recovered is there no balm in Gilead,
that was where the balsam trees grew in
Gilead, they were there in abundance, is there
no physician there, of course there are there
were more doctors in Gilead than anywhere else
then why in the world is the health
of the daughter of my people not recovered,
I don't know it's not the lack of
balm and it's not the lack of physician
the blood of Jesus has never lost it's
power is there no balm in Gilead, no
power in precious blood, of course there is
is there no physician there, of course then
the question is why then is not the
health of the daughter of my people not
recovered, well it can only be we're not
calling sin sin or we're not daring to
believe there's something better than many struggling up
a ladder yes there is balm in Gilead
as this hymn says, alright now you've sat
for a bit quite a bit while I've
been talking, just stand and sing a verse
or two of this great one there is
a balm in Gilead there is
a balm there in Gilead there is a
balm in Gilead in
Gilead there
is a balm
well now please sit down, that's not exactly
what you call a great success I was
as much to blame as you I hadn't
really checked up on what version of the
music we had our pianist did the best,
he didn't know where it was going and
you didn't either but never mind, hallelujah there
is a balm in Gilead, there is power
in the precious blood of Jesus, now let
me rig my wife up for a moment
praise the Lord that there is balm in
Gilead I wonder whether as you've been listening
to Roy you began to feel there is
a balm in Gilead, did you?
I was thinking as I was listening to
him that the message of grace really only
comes to us as power when we've been
trying to climb these ladders and we've just
got discouraged and we felt that we really
couldn't make it and then the message of
grace comes and you feel my there's something
else, this is something else, there's some verses
in Job don't worry too turn to it
it's Job 14 and it says there's hope
of a tree if it be cut down
that it will sprout again and that the
tender branch thereof will not cease though the
root thereof wax old in the earth and
the stalk thereof die in the ground yet
through the scent of water it will bud
and bring forth boughs like a plant and
I feel really that the message of grace
is like the scent of water you begin
to hear something different and it's the Lord
saying if your pillar has seemed like a
stone there is a ladder there is balm
in the land there is power in the
blood and you know sometimes as we're going
round people say well what really are you
doing?
what sort of message are you bringing?
a message of revival, repentance of renewal of
the blood of Jesus and we really like
to say well really we feel that the
Lord is helping us to share the message
of grace as we are finding it and
I think it is a very misunderstood word
theologically in our churches today people say oh
grace keep grace go on living as you
like go on coming back asking the Lord
to forgive you but you just go on
really grace if we truly understand it is
much more demanding than law you know we
can be very good church going people we
can go Sunday Sunday morning evening Sunday school
Wednesday prayer meeting be involved in all sorts
of things if really the Lord started to
shine his light into our homes into our
relationships with one another into our work that's
something different and the Lord is not content
with these things as I gave my testimony
last night and we can be doing things
but not really walking the feet of and
I just praise the Lord for this grace
and what it's meant to me I can't
tell you what it means to know that
I can come to the Lord as I
am that I don't have to climb this
ladder you know we are all I believe
in in our churches even the best of
our churches climbing ladders and we're not real
you know it comes across somehow it comes
through books it comes very often through preaching
it comes sort of down through tradition somehow
that we've got to climb a ladder and
so we look at each other and we
feel that so and so well they're up
a bit further than we are and so
we can't be real because we don't want
other people to see that we are not
climbing there and I just
feel it's terribly important that we get hold
of this and I praise the Lord as
I was thinking of dear old Jacob how
different he was from Nathaniel Jesus said of
Nathaniel an Israelite indeed in whom there is
no guile but Jacob was an Israelite indeed
in who was full of guile I mean
that's the whole picture of Jacob isn't it
I mean you know the story so well
better than I do probably and how his
name was supplanter, deceiver and how he was
always engineering everything in order to get things
to turn out his way and yet God
spoke into his eyes just when things seemed
to be really so terribly difficult for him
and he had messed everything up and there
he was and yet God came and God
spoke to him words of incredible good what
grace that God came to Jacob at that
time Roy and I read
together just as the Lord seems to lead
us from book to book and as much
as we feel he guides us to read
day by day and a time ago we
were very much in the Old Testament and
I think probably we started in Exodus and
we saw there with Moses do you remember
how Moses said to the Lord I beseech
thee show me thy glory do you remember
that bit and how the Lord put him
in the cliff and the rock and he
passed by and he proclaimed the name of
the Lord and do you know how it
said he proclaimed the name of the Lord
merciful and gracious I don't want to read
all this it's going to take too long
and we started off thinking about that the
Lord merciful and gracious and then as we
were reading in the Old Testament we saw
that phrase of the Lord repeated again and
again wherever we were reading in Exodus and
the Psalms Deuteronomy this was the name of
the Lord and really the name means the
character as you know and we were thrilled
with that and it meant a lot to
us now you've got all, I don't know
if you've got King James you've got different
versions and I think it probably is different
but in the King James that's what it
is but then we were thrilled to see
another pair of words and that was the
poor and the needy you see if you've
got a King James if you read the
King James just how often the poor and
the needy comes and it was something that
we kept on seeing there you are, there
it is again and it's quite interesting to
see how often these two pairs of words
come but then we saw something else we
saw that again and again the Lord's merciful
and gracious was on the side of the
poor and the needy and that is everywhere
and that was tremendously encouraging to me I
thought well praise the Lord how wonderful it
is that she's on the side of the
poor and the needy not on the side
of Joseph climbing some sort of ladder those
of us who think we're getting on well
or feel perhaps that we ought to be
getting on well but on the side of
those who are willing to see that they're
poor and needy poor without any means of
meeting any spiritual Jesus says, doesn't he blessed
for the poor and the needy well that
blessed me so much I can't tell you
it was just a new sight of grace
for me I knew about coming to Jesus
as I was finding in him all I
needed and finding that there is power in
the blood but it encouraged me to go
on and you know if I felt down
I'd say well Lord, well I do feel
down but thank you that you're on the
side of the poor and the needy and
forgive me for feeling down I mean this
is something you know you not because I'm
saying it I'd like to say you don't
know what you're listening to it's dynamite really
it really is I know I'm saying this
in a very soft, gentle sort of way
that sort of voice I've got but it
really is, if you can get hold of
this this is what the ladder's all about
this is Jesus this is grace this is
the scent of water this is the balm
and Gilliland that makes the wounded whole you
know this is not talking about people who
are outside of Christ this is talking about
us Christians who've been finding it such hard
dare who feel we can't really make it
well now if you feel that that's not
true all I can say is that you
haven't tried hard enough you try hard enough
to make the Christian life work and you'll
soon find you can't make it work if
you're real well this is balm as I
say to me I rejoice in it now
Roy and I have been married only since
1968 his best wife Revel you will see
on those books which they draw in Revel
Heston I don't know if you've noticed that
she was my dear and great friend and
she meant so much to me and she
was killed in a car crash in 1967
and that was a tremendous thing for all
of us in England we loved her so
much the Lord had used her so much
amongst us, she was so anointed of the
Lord, I'd never heard a woman speak with
such anointing as Revel and when the Lord
took her we felt what a tremendous thing
it was, what a loss it was, and
yet we praised for her because she knew
she was with him but you know Roy
and Revel were so close I can remember
when a friend of mine called me on
the telephone and gave me the news of
this accident they said you know we have
to tell you that the Lord's taken Revel
and I said how Joy and they said
we don't know she's been injured but we
don't know how badly and I can remember
my words at that time and I said
it would be a mercy if the Lord
took him too I don't know what he'd
do without Revel and that was true because
they were so close and the Lord used
them so much as they came together that
the Lord healed Roy and brought him back
to us and then in about a year
not as long as that we were brought
together in a most wonderful way well now
this is a day big thing for me
because as I said Revel was very gifted
and she was very much loved at home
and over here and you know I thought
well how am I going to follow her
much as I love her how do I
follow her and then one day Roy said
to me he said you know and this
was right early on either just before you
married or just after he said you know
I asked Revel one day if she could
sum up in a few words what she
felt the Lord had done for her what
the Lord had shown her since the days
when she met him in Revival years ago
and she told me that she thought of
it and she said well I feel that
I've seen a new sight of the character
of God whereby I can afford to be
real got it I've seen a new sight
of the character of God whereby I can
afford to be real now that meant so
much to me I just praised the Lord
and I thought praise the Lord I've seen
a new sight of him the character of
God too I've seen he's merciful and gracious
and I can afford to be poor and
needy and it just set me free in
a new way I felt well much as
I liked her I didn't have to try
to be like her and climb some sort
of ladder that I could never climb but
I could afford just to be real and
to be me and I praised God for
that it meant so much to me but
you know it's so easy to know these
things and yet not to put them into
practice and you know you catch yourself out
climbing ladders at evenings you'd go around like
this and there was a time in South
Africa we were on a tour like this
and you know I'd been sharing this various
thing that had blessed my heart so much
and then one day we were staying in
a guest house missing a guest house where
we enjoyed the fellowship with a lot of
people who you know were in fellowship and
just enjoying things with the Lord together and
one day I'd made up my mind that
I was going down to the shops and
we were talking at breakfast time with some
people and I said to Roy why don't
I just go off and go down to
the shops get my coat so I left
the room and I left him talking with
these people and I went upstairs to get
my coat to go off down to the
shops and then before I left he came
up and he said oh you know those
people we were talking with they'd asked me
to go and pray with them one of
the ladies there hasn't been well and they
asked me to go and have a special
time of prayer so I said well that's
fine, did they ask me to come and
he said well no as a matter of
fact they didn't and so I said well
that's alright and he said well of course
they don't think you're as spiritual as I
am which of course is true you know
it's just so mind shaking and anyhow we
laughed about it you know how these things
happen didn't think any more about it and
I said okay you go and pray I'll
go down to the shops but do you
know as I walked down to those shops
the devil came to me and he's the
accuser for breaking and he said well there
you are you see told you sir you
haven't made it after all of these years
if they thought you were someone you know
a woman of prayer they would have said
she should have been your wife wouldn't she
you see you really haven't made it and
he showed me how I hadn't climbed that
ladder I hadn't got there and you know
I listened to him and I got so
in the dark and I really felt so
sort of despondent and I thought really you
know after all this time I still haven't
made it as a Christian and I really
did get in the dark but if the
devil is the accuser the Holy Spirit is
the encourager of the virgin and you know
he came along and he said to me
on the other side he said but Pam
what have you been saying what have you
been saying with people about the Lord the
merciful and gracious being on your side you're
poor and needy and if they don't ensure
anything much aren't you poor and needy and
if you haven't come to some spiritual heights
aren't you poor and needy and I said
oh Lord thank you thank you for showing
me again thank you for being on my
side when I'm like that and I just
came back like that missionary I told you
about yesterday as I was walking and I
said Lord forgive me for forgetting and forgive
me for all the things that make me
poor and needy and I found that there
was pines of life and there was barns
of earth and the darkness went and the
sun came up and I was praising the
Lord and I went back to Roy and
I said Roy this is a wonderful thing
and if people can really see that the
devil cannot put them down too far that
Jesus is there because he's on the side
of the poor and the needy and there's
pines of life you can't back win every
time and that's true, you can't back win
if you walk in prayer now isn't that
the center portion isn't that barn isn't that
something to rejoice about you know when we
hear about revival we think that we're into
a sort of traumatic time of weeping and
all that kind of thing but revival is
really the saint rejoicing again you know when
the angels announced that Jesus was born behold
great tithings of great joy sad tithings of
great joy but you wouldn't think it really
would you when we're all climbing ladders and
not able to get there we get so
sort of well you know you wouldn't think
it was sad tithings of great joy but
when we see those pines of life when
you see there's balm in Gilead when you
see that this Lord master and basic is
always on the side of the poor and
needy that there is a matter we rejoice
let's sing there's a balm in Gilead let's
record it I think you're all right on
that say
the word please heal is the word in
the original to heal the sins of God
all right there's a balm let's
look at the words of number 49 right
across the page turn your eyes upon Jesus
look full in his wonderful face and the
things of earth will grow strangely dim in
the light of his glory and grace turn
your thoughts upon Jesus think deep of his
comforting love and the thought of self and
of sin and strife will be lost in
that rapture above give your heart unto Jesus
cast each heavy burden aside and the joy
and peace of his presence near will enter
and ever abide today as Roy and Pam
shared with me for about three hours at
lunch the thing that they did was to
help turn my eyes upon Jesus and that's
what they've done tonight and as we go
away I think that would be the uppermost
thought in our mind that we've seen Jesus
in them and their honesty and their love
and love for us and love for the
Lord and love for each other so let's
stand together for prayer and be dismissed one
of the reasons that I'm not asking you
for sharing your testimony tonight is because we're
a we're a fairly new church not yet
six months old we're not even sure what
God's trying to do this week we know
he wants to do a lot and we're
open to whatever it is he's trying to
do but we're just trying to find out
what he's trying to teach us and frankly
as pastor I don't know I know he's
already said a lot to my heart this
week and although we're not going to worry
about too many steps but I think he
is taking a step at a time and
this is now the end of the third
service and I think after the next four
services we'll have a pretty good idea of
what God is trying to say to us
and then Sunday morning and maybe tomorrow night
and the next night Thursday night or Friday
night we'll have a time of sharing and
anytime you want to praise the Lord in
a word of testimony you're welcome to do
that you're welcome to do it now if
you just really have to and we'll be
glad for you to do that but however
the Lord works this week and I and
several of you have prayed that we're not
going to try to put the Lord in
a mold you know we don't know how
he's going to work and he's sovereign and
we're going to allow him to do that
this week he's even sovereign through my mistakes
that I made Sunday morning I give the
people an order of service and totally missed
part of it and yet by Sunday evening
I was rejoicing in the Lord in spite
of that because of the blood of Jesus
and that's what time says again that's under
the blood so everything that happens is under
the blood good or bad it's under the
blood and we need to turn our eyes
upon Jesus but Sunday morning we want to
have a time of sharing and a time
of praising and we may have some of
that this week and we may not but
we'll just touch the Lord to leave but
I do know that God is working in
my heart and I'm looking forward to if
not before then sharing many of the things
that he shared with me and then I
know he's working in many of your hearts
and so we probably won't have any preaching
Sunday morning so that we can just share
with each other what God has done during
this week let's bow our heads together Father
I continue to be amazed at your mercy
and your grace and have you continue to
focus our eyes upon yourself Father I'm inclined
to look at people I'm inclined to look
at myself I'm inclined to look at a
week like this and think I know what
you're going to do even when I say
that I don't Father I praise you for
the precious word that was shared tonight through
Roy and his hand I thank you that
you have caused my eyes today once again
to be turned upon you I praise you
from the depths of my heart Lord that
I have ceased at least today to struggle
and strive and please anybody except you I
thank you that it's such a delight and
I find it very easy to put all
of my sins my entire life under the
blood of Christ and I rejoice tonight in
the word that I've heard and the encouragement
that I've had today through these dear people
and I thank you for what you're doing
in the heart and the lives of our
people sometimes it's not obvious and yet it
doesn't have to be as Brother Roy said
revival and spiritual expression is just the life
of Jesus and Father we come to you
just wanting his life to be lived through
us and we don't know how that's going
to take place except through the message of
brokenness and repentance and turning our eyes upon
you but I thank you as a pastor
for the word that's put my heart tonight
and I saw a new vision of grace
and mercy and although what Pam said is
true that under grace there are more demands
than lost I recognize all of those demands
were made in the person of Christ and
kept in him not by me so I
thank you for this body of believers and
we commit this entire week to you and
pray that you would bring each night those
people that you want cause us to be
faithful because we know Father unless we're hungry
and thirsty and poor and needy then we'll
feel that we don't need it and we're
sufficient but we come Father tomorrow night we
look forward that we anticipate the service tomorrow
night to serve your feet as you can
through Lord and Pam bless each one of
us as we go our way and may
we just remember that every sin that we
commit tonight and tomorrow immediately should be placed
under the blood so that we can experience
your mercy and your grace we pray in
Jesus precious name and for his sake Amen