The work of the Lord having a different effect on people. (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help this evening, I will direct your attention to the Gospel according to Luke, the 13th chapter, verse 17.

[0:11] The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 13, verse 17. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

[0:34] And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

[0:55] We therefore see that the work of the Lord may have a different effect upon people.

[1:11] Therefore, there will be those, and still are, that rise up against the work of God, being legal and addicted to the law themselves, and therefore will condemn the works of the Lord, but the Lord will answer so that they themselves are ashamed.

[1:42] And at the same time, there will be others who will rejoice in the glorious things that were done by him.

[1:57] And though the Lord Jesus moved about amongst the people when he was here upon earth, there were those that knew him, and there were those that knew him not.

[2:11] Those that knew him rejoiced in the glorious things that he had done, and was continuing to do. Those that knew him not hated him for all that he did.

[2:27] Those that knew him not. We shall drop into one of those categories ourselves. And it may be a personal exercise with some as to which category they drop into.

[2:43] But God is able to make everything plain. When he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

[3:01] We refer, first of all, to the context itself. And this, of course, is the observation made at the end of this remarkable case of this woman that was affected with a spirit of infirmity for 18 years, and was bound together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

[3:29] And we would consider the latter part of the verse in this respect, and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

[3:46] And here we have this woman that had been bound with the spirit of infirmity for so long. And the first glorious thing that we would notice is this, And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

[4:20] This speaks to us in a spiritual way. Infirmities will demonstrate our inability all the more.

[4:35] There was no question of this woman going to the place where she might find Jesus Christ.

[4:51] But Jesus Christ was found in the place where she was. And furthermore, the Lord was attracted to this character.

[5:02] And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him. We have before us the glorious thing of our Lord Jesus Christ, in that he had compassion upon her.

[5:22] And furthermore, that he was willing to heal her of her infirmity. We read that Satan had bound her this woman for these 18 years.

[5:44] A great mystery is here. Afflictions, trials, adversities may abide some people for years.

[5:58] And we would hesitate to make a clear pronouncement that the Lord had allowed Satan to have this advantage.

[6:12] But the Lord knew. And the Lord could speak clearly. And when he said subsequently, And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

[6:32] She was a daughter of Abraham. She was a daughter of Abraham. And here again, the Lord could look upon her. And he knew that she was a daughter of Abraham.

[6:46] Men, mere men, cannot speak with the same certainty. But the Lord knew who his people were.

[6:56] And when the Lord looked at this woman, what did he see but one of his children? And what did he do but at this appointed time deliver this poor woman from her infirmity?

[7:19] Many may have been able to look at the outside and seen the spirit of infirmity and the bowing together which was the result of this spirit of infirmity.

[7:35] But who can tell what thoughts went through this woman's heart? What battles and conflicts she was engaged in with the devil himself?

[7:49] What rebellion might sometimes have raised its ugly head? And what we might say almost hopelessness seemed to grip her very soul at times.

[8:08] And this went on for 18 years. Many might say but where is God? Why does he not immediately deliver this woman from Satan?

[8:25] And from his power give her freedom. God giveth no account of his matters. If he lays on affliction upon us whatever it is he who lays it on can also remove it.

[8:44] but there is an appointed time. We cannot hurry it neither can we delay it. In the meanwhile we should not forget this truth.

[8:59] Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot say. Neither is heavy that he cannot hear. let us not think for one moment that if the Lord does not come to our assistance that his hand is shortened.

[9:19] Let us not think for one moment that if the Lord does not appear his ear has been heavy and he hasn't heard what we've prayed. your time is always but my time is not yet.

[9:36] But be assured when the Lord's time comes he will certainly command a leverance. And if any of you should feel just like this woman well be encouraged by this thought that every day is a day nearer the end of the period that God has appointed for Satan to have the advantage but once the day of deliverance came Satan's advantage disappeared in a moment and the woman was free.

[10:22] These are the words that were spoken by the Lord woman thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

[10:34] And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. And all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

[10:49] there were some that the Lord healed who did not glorify God. We have this demonstrated with the in the case of the ten lepers.

[11:07] They were all healed but there was one that returned to glorify God. were they all barren by Satan in their leprosy but only one was delivered from his leprosy and also freed from the power of Satan for he returned to give thanks and glory unto God.

[11:39] Why? Because he beheld here the works of God and himself and this woman too would join with the people when they rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

[12:02] There is nothing that the Lord Jesus did when he was upon this earth and does now in the hearts of his people in the lives of his people in the circumstances of his people but what it must be pronounced a glorious work or as we have it here a glorious thing.

[12:34] That is that all his works praise him all his works bring glory unto his name.

[12:48] It is an important part of Christian experience to behold the glory of the Lord. People may go along in religion and learn quite a bit about the truth glory of the Lord.

[13:07] But that which is important to you and me is to behold the glory of the Lord. It was the experience of Isaiah has it been your experience to behold the glory of the Lord.

[13:24] The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The effect upon Isaiah was woe is me. For I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

[13:41] For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now this is a revelation which the Lord will never bring us to. An admission not merely of outward transgression but an admission, a confession of woe is me for I am undone.

[14:08] I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

[14:20] We shall not have to be blasphemers to be people of unclean lips. The word of God tells us that that which is not of faith is sin.

[14:33] And we shall not have to think very hard to be aware of how often our lips are unclean because so many utterances may pass through them and have not faith in them.

[14:57] At the same time where the fear of God is in the soul there will certainly be a desire to be preserved.

[15:10] Let your speech be seasoned with salt. That is seasoned with the grace of God. And how can it be seasoned with the grace of God except that grace be given?

[15:29] But what shall we say in regard to the grace of God as it is connected with these words before us?

[15:40] And all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. What is our personal testimony? Has he given us grace?

[15:51] Has he given us more grace? grace? And you know there is no end to grace? Since salt in the scriptures may sometimes have its connection with grace, we read of requirements made at the time when Ezra was alive and at the end of the list we have these words and salt without saying how much.

[16:29] And whatever may be needful for you and me as we go along life's journey and limitations may be put upon certain things yet one of the glorious things which must surely be considered that the grace of God will meet every circumstance there is no restriction to grace it is endless in its length it is profound in its depth and its height is out of sight so have we proved as we've gone along he'd give it more grace this woman needed grace she needed grace when she was bound with this spirit of infirmity and she needed grace when she was freed from it so we need grace under every condition but it's one of the glorious things which are which is done by the

[17:46] Lord Jesus Christ and by his spirit in the hearts of every one of the family of God when he gives them grace at all and it is so much more so when he giveth more grace according to their increasing needs now grace is a very my word there is the grace of patience and this woman needed the grace of patience enduring this spirit of infirmity over so many years but she was a witness and joined with the people surely that rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him while she was bound by satan giving her the grace of patience that she might endure her heavenly father's will and undoubtedly it was her heavenly father's will since she was a daughter of

[18:52] Abraham and we should keep that point in mind she was not just an ordinary person no more than the children of God are ordinary people they are to others but they're not so in the sight of God they are particular people in whom the Lord is determined to manifest glorious things and to bring forth glorious works and this woman was given the grace of patience to endure like Moses she endured as seeing him who is invisible not with our mortared eyes we beheld the Lord but some may say well she saw the Lord there were many that saw the Lord Jesus but they never perceived it was

[19:53] Jesus Christ they never perceived that he was the God of all grace they never perceived that he was their saviour and redeemer they never perceived that he was able to save even to the uttermost they never perceived that his sovereign purposes were being carried out in this poor woman over so many years it may be that your infirmity is not visible to all and sundry the heart knoweth its own bitterness and that may be well carried and you will need the same grace of patience that this woman needed if you have a bitterness upon your spirit a heaviness a trial which you have to keep completely to yourself it will mean crying unto God sometimes and here again we see glorious things that were done by him not only giving the grace of patience but also the grace and spirit of prayer and supplications you know infirmity and the bindings of Satan will not make you pray you will need

[21:28] God to do a glorious thing in you if you're going to pray even in a time of adversity could the creature help or ease us tell them should we think of prayer few if any come to Jesus to reduce to self despair and what took place in this woman by the power of God as she was sustained and being a daughter of Abraham born again in the spirit her name being written in the Lamb's book of life prayer prayer in her soul in the time of her infirmity she did not become a daughter of Abraham when she was freed it was because she was a daughter of Abraham that Satan's attention was fixed upon her

[22:28] Satan does not bother about the world he does not bother about those people that have a name to live to live and are dead who have Satan's religion he can lead them on and he gets little reward for leading them on because they're quite willing to do what he suggests and so he turns his attention to the people of God and as soon as they are manifested as such then you will know though it may be a negative knowledge when Satan's attention is drawn to you it is Christ formed in your heart to which Satan's attention is drawn and that is the image that he cannot bear and this poor woman was bound one of our hymns in speaking of the case of

[23:43] Lazarus when he came forth he was bound hand and foot by sin and would you think that you would know what that is to be bound hand and foot by sin glorious things does the Lord do to those who are bound hand and foot by sin because grace says this the gospel of Jesus Christ says this sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace but the woman was blessed we will surely believe it was so with the grace of prayer secret prayer infirmities sanctified by

[24:47] God will cause us to pray not very orderly always sometimes in such poor tones and very faint that we may be ready to dismiss it as prayer at all but if it is there let us not overlook this in which all the people rejoiced the glorious things that were done by him the Lord does things outwardly but he also does things inwardly this could not have been accomplished that the Lord did without the woman having faith we turn to the Acts of the Apostles where we read of the I think it was

[25:48] John and Peter looking steadfastly upon a certain man and we read perceiving that he had faith he said in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk faith is given implanted before anything can be accomplished and was it not so with this woman the Lord saw her and he called her to him and she could not have come without the new birth and without faith being in her heart you may wonder yourself as to whether you are born again of the Spirit well if Jesus calls you will have faith in him and it will not be that which you have manufactured but it will be the mysterious work of the Spirit of God can we consider very closely and to our amazement how we have sometimes come to

[27:04] Jesus Christ it hasn't been a natural advance it hasn't been the result of anything that was the cogitation of our natural mind and it was the movement of the Spirit the Spirit here calling the Spirit moving and all to be numbered amongst the glorious things that were done by him hence the glorious things that were done by him must include faith faith in the bleeding lamb oh what a gift is this what this woman saw in Jesus Christ we are not told but if you have been in this woman's shoes may not be so physically but spiritually you will better understand what you felt about

[28:17] Jesus Christ especially when he appeared especially when he commanded and especially when he healed especially when he delivered you from the power of Satan especially when he said to Satan loose him and let him go whatever fears you may have regarding the power of Satan upon you if God speaks and he does then power the power of Satan must immediately cease and it can be as sudden as that and it is as sudden as that if freedom is given to any person then that freedom is sudden one moment they are held the next moment they are freed and in respect to the soul irrespective of the outward circumstances we are bound to include

[29:35] God's work under this heading of glorious things that were done by him during the eighteen years of our affliction the days months or years of your affliction God has given hope which hope we have as an anchor of the soul it is God's work it is not a natural hope because it is a hope there was still hope in Jesus Christ in the most adverse circumstances and on the darkest day if you have been troubled like this woman over any period at all you will know how true the lines of the hymn are how our hopes and fears all turn and rise and comforts mingle with my sighs but the hopes have superseded all the fears in the end why we read of Paul of Paul

[31:02] I think writing to Timothy and he says God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of love and of a sound mind whatever our infirmities may be according to the flesh the spiritual mind is sound and the spiritual mind is blessed with love now this woman had a long bitter pathway to pass through and no one could help her and how she must have hoped against hope throughout the years I'm not making suppositions I draw these conclusions from personal experiences in darkest night he makes the day hope endures hope cannot give up hoping in

[32:20] God and what shall we say in respect to it shall we burn incense to our own drag and to our own net or shall we rejoice as we reflect upon 18 years or more or less wherein Satan hath bound us Satan hath prevented us from doing even those things that we desire to do but the time came when hope was rewarded when the thing that she hoped for deliverance the day that she would be delivered from all the power of Satan's restrictions because so to speak she became immobile by reason of her infirmities by such restrictions she would have been prevented from walking in the ways of

[33:28] God if those ways demanded a physical walking as they sometimes do but nevertheless the time came when she was freed and in the meanwhile there was hope in her soul and this is to be regarded as a glorious thing let us give attention to the word glorious the grace of God the grace of patience the grace of prayer and supplication the grace of faith the grace of hope how do they appear in your view and mine if they appear as God's gifts they can be nothing else but glorious in our view glorious things glorious things indeed that were done by him and they are glorious in this respect because no one else could accomplish them no one else can do anything that will in the first place create the newborn soul and in the second place sustain the graces of the spirit in that newborn soul so when you consider what God has worked in your soul if you can say that and bless it be God if you can however small then be assured of this it is a glorious thing and is that the way we look at it a glorious thing of God's performing and then there is love that we must surely consider we find the apostle

[35:37] John making this declaration in his epistle we love him because he first loved us we have a demonstration of the love of God in the action that he took when he saw this woman he called her to him and said unto her woman there are loose to mine infirmities on what ground must we not say it was all for love love that he saw her and love that he looked upon her and love that he called her and not just called her but called her to him and love too that he spoke to her as he did and healed her of her infirmity love oh the love of God to sinners how wonderful it is how glorious yea we may say it is the glorious thing which exceeds all other things glorious as they may be the love of God to poor and needy sinners as he looks down upon them and indeed in this very state and condition bound by

[37:01] Satan if we should look at this in respect to a person being born in sin and shaped in iniquity being in Satan's kingdom bound there over those years of unregeneracy and furthermore in this case completely satisfied to be bound by Satan and the Lord looking on him loved him and it was a time of love when the child cast out in the days of Ezekiel was revived yea he was born when the word the only word that was needful and was necessary live it was a time of love and this was a time of love with this woman and if you should feel something akin in your own personal experience to what we have here in this case the love of Christ looking upon you will it be anything else but a glorious thing because the glory of

[38:29] Christ is revealed that is why it is a glorious thing the glory of Christ is revealed in giving us grace and more grace the glory of Christ is revealed when we have the spirit of prayer and the glory of Christ is revealed when faith is granted to us so we believe and is maintained in us so that we continue to believe and the glory of Christ is revealed when we can not give up when we have to hang on sometimes it might seem like a slender thread but nevertheless we hang on to Christ Christ is the hope of his people the hope of Israel and what is all this this work of God in the soul this revelation of Jesus Christ as containing all the fullness of God and all the grace of God so as it could be said my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ

[39:43] Jesus glorious things it will be good and will occupy our time profitably to think of God's glorious things everything concerning God of course is glorious but the glorious things of God in respect to this 18 years of bondage and still continuing after she was freed the glorious things of God's faithfulness the Lord didn't change why the woman should be bound it is not for us to inquire but there was a time of deliverance and it was the best time it is the experience of the saints of God that however much they may be bowed down and laugh however long a trial may last they are at one point when they are delivered that this is the right time this is the best time this is the only time and though they may have had some misgivings and rebellion during the trial at times they will say no it is the right time and

[41:06] I would not have been delivered before let patience have her perfect work that she may be perfect and entire wanting nothing and then the glorious thing which were that were done by him must include not only faithfulness to the person concerned but faithfulness to the covenant and faithfulness to himself when we think about God's faithfulness really we should consider that primarily it's faithfulness to himself and that is why he is faithful to his creatures he is not a man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent and the only reason is this of the deep necessity the great importance of his being faithful unto himself we find in the

[42:22] Hebrews those words mentioned concerning the the oath of God wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel and there is faithfulness to his counsel and the counsel of God will include everything in your life and mine and that counsel is immutable it is unchangeable it is unvariable and it never needs to be varied and never needs to be changed because the will of God in respect to the heirs of promise is constant the Lord sees the end from the beginning he can tell you at the start what your end is going to be we may have many fears in between but if

[43:26] God begins he can tell you right away at the very first indication of the life of God in your soul that you will end up in heaven but the way is rough only when the way is rough and the coward flesh would start but nevertheless what does the Lord say cast he said on me thy care it is enough that I am nigh I will all thy burden bear I will all thy need supply but remember that the Lord is constant wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath when he could swear by no greater he sware by himself saying in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying

[44:30] I will multiply thee that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to die we might have a strong consolation of fed for refuge to lay upon the hope set before us the people that have fled for refuge dear refuge of my weary soul if the woman bound for eighteen years you might be bound for a long time and it makes you wearied wearied I have known the days when I've come to the end of a day being absolutely wearied but it hasn't been a result of a tremendous demand on my day with physical concerns there have been days when we've been wearied with the conflicts with the devil wearied and what is the cry of the soul under these circumstances dear refuge of my weary soul to be found looking under

[45:53] Jesus is one of the glorious things that were done by him that Satan will attempt to divert our attention everywhere apart from looking to Jesus Christ that the glorious thing that is done by him amongst others will be to keep our eyes on Jesus fixed and to cause our ears to hear those words look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved for I am God and there is none else none else this is demonstrated by rejoicing of the people for all the glorious things that were done by him they all believed that there was no other God save the Lord there was none that could do glorious things as he did we read in another part of the gospels he hath done all things well and when we are brought to that point in our soul he hath done all things well it will include the adversities the afflictions the eighteen years under satan's binding he hath done all things well as well as the years of freedom that may remain and therefore he hath done all things well can be a reason for rejoicing together and recognizing in just those few words the glorious things that were done by him may we be favored to bear our testimony to the glorious things that were done by him and thus may we give honor to whom honor is due them that honor me

[47:59] I will honor and them that despise me shall be lightly esteemed amen