Luke

[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me again, I would direct you again to Luke 22, verse 28.

[0:24] Luke 22, verse 28. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.

[0:39] Luke 22, verse 28. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.

[0:51] Those of you that were here this morning will know we tried to speak a few things from this verse.

[1:04] And notice the pathway. First that the Lord Jesus walked in a pathway of trials.

[1:19] And his disciples followed him. They continued to follow him.

[1:29] They trusted in him. My friends, there may oft times be temptations as to whether this can really be the God, the Lord Jesus, the Redeemer.

[1:53] You know there were many on earth that could not receive him. They could not believe that this could be the Christ.

[2:09] Why here was the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the lost. They couldn't receive him.

[2:21] They couldn't believe it could be him that was born and laid in a manger in the stable. They did not believe that the Lord Jesus would come in such a low place.

[2:39] But this was he. And many things might be said regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:51] They could not receive him. But Jesus came. He came to do his Father's will.

[3:07] He came to redeem his dear children. Many might say, well, how can this surely be the Christ, the Son of God?

[3:25] Why, what, being tormented, being ridiculed, being hated? My friends, that many things might be said regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:44] Could this be the Christ that was suffering upon the cross? My friends, this was the Son of God.

[4:01] This was the Christ. This was the Messiah. He came to do his Father's will. He came and laid down his life as sacrifice for his children.

[4:15] And my friends, there would be many tried, tempted, the devil, the enemy, that great enemy of Christ, the great enemy of his children, the church.

[4:35] Why, he would tempt the Lord Jesus, his followers, he dared to tempt Jesus himself.

[4:47] Why, some would say, can this really be him? Can this really be the Christ, being subjected to the temptations of the devil, and being so hated and ridiculed and spurned upon?

[5:07] Yet, my friends, there were those, there were the disciples, there were his chosen people. They continued to follow him.

[5:19] Ye, are they which have continued with me in my temptations? Why do they continue with him?

[5:33] Why, my friends, do his children today? Why do you and I continue to follow him?

[5:45] Why, my friends? Is our eyes upon him? Do we see this blessed man, the Messiah?

[6:01] Do we see this man as the Son of God? Do we see him as our Saviour? My friends, if we do, then I believe, I know, it is because these things are revealed to us through and by the Spirit of God.

[6:27] And when these things are revealed by the Spirit of God, there is faith. And so, my friends, there will be a following.

[6:41] There will be a trusting. And the disciples, they continued to follow him.

[6:52] Ye, are they which have continued with me in my temptations, in all my trials, in all my persecutions, and in my death and resurrection.

[7:08] My followers have continued to follow him. And my friends, it will be so. Yes, it will.

[7:19] The Lord's children will follow him. They will wait for him. Whatever comes. Whatever trials.

[7:31] Whatever temptations. And my friends, there are many trials and temptations in this solemn day that you and I live in.

[7:43] There are many temptations. There are those things that we have to pass through and come into.

[7:55] And my friends, I would say that there are those in religious professions and even some of the Lord's own children that will not own us.

[8:15] There are times, my friends, when we come into trials, when we are falsely accused.

[8:29] And my friends, they won't want nothing more to do with us. But my friends, how different it is with our Lord.

[8:45] My friends, he is not as man. He's not as man. Man judgeth on the outward appearance. The Lord looketh at the heart.

[9:00] He sees his children. He sees where their heart is. He sees what they're longing for. He sees what they're waiting for. He sees whom they are trusting in.

[9:15] He sees who they are following. Why, my friends, there's many of the God's children that have dragged along to the house of God time and time again through afflictions, through afflictions, trials, sometimes feeling a speckled bird.

[9:38] But they've come. They've ventured. Sometimes they've even hidden, hidden in the background, in behind a door or somewhere where they could not be seen.

[9:56] But they heard. They came. They continued to come. They couldn't give up because their hope was in him. They knew that there was mercy to be found through him.

[10:11] It's like that woman that had the issue of blood. She tried many things. She spent all her living. She tried every means she could.

[10:22] But she got rather worse. She didn't find any healing. And, my friends, that's how it is with a poor sinner that is spiritually a sinner, which is guilty, which will try and make oneself better, will try and make oneself presentable to this holy God.

[10:50] But, my friends, you will find this, that you'd rather grow worse, rather grow worse. You can't earn salvation.

[11:02] You can't merit God's favor, however well you might live, however much you might refrain from sinning.

[11:12] You're still a sinner. You still sin. No, my friends, that is the wrong way. That's the way the flesh and the devil will blind our eyes to keep us away from Christ.

[11:27] But, my friends, we shall be convinced in our heart, as the Lord is pleased to shine in the heart and show us the way of salvation.

[11:45] I say, then, there'll be a following after him. There'll be travail. There'll be seeking after him.

[11:57] There'll be wrestling. There'll be prayer. There'll be coming. A coming. Again and again. To his footstool. A coming into the house of God.

[12:10] There'll be a following in him. And there'll be a continuation of it. It will go on and on through life right down to the end of the journey.

[12:23] I know you may be saying in your heart sometimes, perhaps even today, or perhaps over the last weeks or months, oh, I shall never, never get through.

[12:37] I shall never come to that blessed place where the Lord is. Why won't you? Well, you say, I'm so unworthy.

[12:49] I'm such a sinner. There's so much darkness. My friends, the word of God says that none shall come in vain.

[13:03] None shall seek the seed in... That the seeking seed of Jacob will not seek his face in vain. Who are the seeking seed of Jacob?

[13:15] They are God's chosen people. They are those whom he is teaching. Those whom he is separating.

[13:26] What is he separating them from? From sin and death and Satan. You say, but surely I won't escape death.

[13:40] No, you won't. But the Lord will take the sting out of death for his dear children. There's no sting in the death for his children.

[13:50] It is a blessed place to come. I know, naturally speaking, we look upon death as a ghastly thing and with great fear and trembling.

[14:04] But when our dear Lord Jesus comes, my friends, then we can be gone. We can leave this world. And my friends, that's how it will be with every one of his children.

[14:20] He'll come. He'll come at the end. However we may be troubled in the last hours of our life by the enemy, unbelief, doubts or fears, my friends, nothing will keep us from a precious Christ.

[14:40] Those whom he has chosen, they shall come and he will deliver them out of the hand of the enemy. He will, as it were, collect them.

[14:57] I use that word, I hope, in a right way. The Lord will collect his children. Yes, he will. He won't leave one behind.

[15:08] Oh, I like that parable, my friends, of the lost sheep. The shepherd and the lost sheep. And one escapes.

[15:19] One wanders off. He's lost. How often his children come there. They wander off. They get lost. They can't find their way back.

[15:32] Can't find their way back to the fold. Can't find their way back to his footstool. Can't see the blessed shepherd. But he can see them.

[15:44] He finds them. He looks for them. Yes, he knows where they are. And when, my friends, the time comes, he goes and he fetches them. Yes.

[15:56] Just as the natural shepherd does. He has times when he numbers his sheep. He rounds them up.

[16:07] And if there's one missing, then he'll go and he'll search for it till he finds it. So it is with our blessed Lord. He loves his children with an everlasting love.

[16:21] And, my friends, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Not afflictions. No. Not a bed of languishing. No.

[16:33] Not the loss of our faculties. No. And not the loss of our mind. No. Nothing.

[16:43] Nothing can separate us. My friends, that mad gathering that had a legion of devils within him. He couldn't be separated from Christ.

[16:55] No. Because the Lord loved him. What a mercy it is, my friends, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

[17:06] Hence, my friends, there'll be this drawing, there'll be this continuation. This continuation. This continuation in the pathway. There'll be endurance.

[17:19] Why do you think there were the martyrs that went to the stake, that were burnt to death, and they refused to accept the deliverance, because, my friends, they loved the Lord, and because, my friends, they could not dishonor him, or disown him, or deny him.

[17:43] No. They refused. And so, their lives were taken. But, my friends, you might wonder, why the Lord didn't deliver them?

[17:55] Ah, he did deliver them. In another sense, he delivered them from this wretched, evil world, and he took them to be in heaven with himself. Yes, he did.

[18:09] Sometimes the Lord is pleased to deliver, sometimes he is not. Naturally, the three Hebrew children that were cast in that fiery furnace, they were delivered, they were brought out, alive.

[18:24] They never suffered any harm. Why? The Lord is a sovereign. My friends, he made those that witnessed it to realize that there was a God even the king had to own.

[18:42] Did not we cast three into the fire? Behold, there is four, one like the Son of God. You see, my friends, the Lord works as he pleases, but he will have all the honor and all the glory.

[18:58] We cannot understand God's ways. We cannot understand why the enemy is permitted to go to such lengths. We can't understand why we should have to endure such afflictions and torments and persecutions and to be falsely accused and many other things and misunderstood.

[19:23] But my friends, these things are all in his hands. He controls. He can bring them to nothing.

[19:34] But there is a purpose. Is there not a cause? My friends, it is often the very means in the Lord's hands to keep you and I from getting puffed up with self-righteousness and pride.

[19:52] It is to drive us to the footstall of mercy else we wouldn't go. My friends, we need something to drive us to the Lord.

[20:05] We don't like to be dependent. We don't like to be as a little child dependent upon its parent. But that's the way.

[20:16] That's the way to heaven. God's people will be made as a little child and they'll come to their father, their father in heaven and they'll tell him all and they'll seek guidance, they'll seek help.

[20:36] My friends, there's so many. There was one, I can't think of the man's name now but he had a leprosy and he was commanded by the prophet to go and dip himself seven times, I think it was, in Jordan but he was, he was in a rage.

[21:05] He objected to it. He didn't want to humble himself and do that. He expected that God's prophet would do something spectacular in a different way and manner but this was not God's way and my friends, we found he had to prove that when he humbled himself and walked therein he was healed and my friends, our God is the same today.

[21:38] He will have you and I obedient to his holy will. There is a pathway for us to walk in. We are to obey him whatever the cost, however humbling.

[21:54] And there are those things my friends which we have to walk in at times which are very humbling, very humiliating.

[22:05] But my friends, there will be as we are rightly exercised and concerned we shall trust in him, we shall walk in those paths, we shall commit the thing into his hands, we'll leave the issue in his hands.

[22:24] There are those things we come into and we cannot see how they can possibly end right. There are some things my friends, some of us have walked in years now, no signs of them ever being put right.

[22:42] that my friends, we are to leave it in his hands. We are to continue. What?

[22:52] To continue with him, with him. Yes, they, the disciples, continued with him in his temptations.

[23:03] They didn't turn back. They didn't give up. They didn't say, oh, how can this be the Messiah that's passing through things like this?

[23:18] No, my friends, they were taught by the blessed spirit. They had been enlightened. They, they knew that this was the Christ.

[23:35] Ah, my friends, the Lord asked on one occasion, but whom say ye that I am?

[23:48] Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ. My friends, if you and I can say that with belief from our hearts, it is only because it has been revealed to us through and by his blessed spirit.

[24:13] Because, my friends, God is a spirit. We cannot see him face to face. But, my friends, faith will believe, faith will receive, and faith is given by God himself.

[24:38] Well, there will be then, if we have this faith, there will be a continuation. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.

[24:54] Yes, my friends, there will be those times when we don't know how to continue. We seem and feel to come to the end.

[25:07] How can I go any further? It seems that I'm forsaken and all men are against me. But, my friends, the Lord says that we are to follow him.

[25:26] Oh, you say, yes, well, I want to follow him, I will follow him, but I want some evidences that he's with me, that he cares for me.

[25:39] My friends, there are times when his children have to follow him in the darkness, darkness, and they cannot see him. They cannot see him.

[25:51] But they trust in him. Their hope is in him. My friends, you can't see a thing that you hope for.

[26:08] And so, my friends, there's a hope in, a hope in him. we trust that he will bring us through at last.

[26:22] My friends, how is it with you and I what makes us continue in this way?

[26:37] When we are sometimes prevented from coming to the house of God through various things and afflictions, how is it with us?

[26:53] Is it all dead? Is it all darkness? Or are there those times when the dear Lord comes where we are, in our bed chamber, comes in his word, whispers into our heart, gives us a spirit of prayer, God?

[27:14] Ah, my friends, these are evidences of our Lord, of his care, of his love, of his mercy.

[27:27] It does not depend, the Lord's blessing does not depend on us coming into the house of God, whilst, my friends, it is right, it is wrong, not to come, when we are able, we are not to forsake the gathering of ourselves in the house of God, but there are times when we are unable to gather through various things, and my friends, there is no sin in that, moment.

[28:04] But the Lord is a sovereign, he will feed our souls, he will not leave us altogether. There may be many trials in that period of time, in that affliction, there may be much questioning, there may be much temptation, temptation, but all my friend, have you had to come, have you had to consider our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who was driven of the Spirit, yes, of the Spirit, that is, it was according to God's will and purpose that it must be so, he was driven into the wilderness, and there have he remained for forty days and forty nights, to be tempted of the devil, the adversary, and my friends, you may have had a long season away from the house of God, and in your bed chamber, in some place, where the enemy has come, but the

[29:12] Lord Jesus conquered sin and Satan, and my friends, he can conquer your heart, he can bring you through, he can bring you out, yes, there are those seasons I say, where the Lord hides his face from his children, he hid it from Job, Job had to go into a very dark season, where he was greatly tried, where he lost many things, many things, but the Lord blessed Job in his latter days more than his beginning, ah, my friends, the thing is, if the Lord's begun the work, then he'll finish it, yes, he'll finish it, and he'll, he'll, he'll hold us on, he'll hold us on our way, he'll keep us, yes, he'll keep us, he keeps us under his watchful eye, he comes where we are, he feeds our souls with living bread, oh,

[30:21] I know it may well be a great trial to many of us, the feeding of our soul, for we come and go so many times in the house of God, and cannot claim a real blessing from the Lord, ah, you might say, oft times, ah, that was a good word, that was the truth, but my friends, what comes into the heart, and enters, and touches it, and does it good, and attends unto the needs of our heart, ah, my friends, how different it is, when the dear Lord comes with his blessed word, and seals it into our heart, and lifts us up, when he makes the crooked things strain, when he takes, he makes the storm a calm, when he removes the burdens, when he enables them to lie him down at his feet, and leave them there, we're still in the same path, but the burden's gone, the weight's gone, they're blessed seasons, ah,

[31:39] I was going to say, they're few and far between, oh, there's such a gap between his visits, it seems they get longer and longer, but all my friends, is the desire and prayer of your heart and mine, that they might more frequent be and longer last, the hymn writer, you see, he knew all about it, yes, he did, so it's not something strange, it's not something peculiar, just to you and I, we find there are those of God's children that have passed this way, I say what a mercy it is that the dear Lord has left on record these things in his holy word, and that he has caused men to walk in his path, and then write those blessed hymns in the book that we have, why my friends, at times they are confirming to us, we have to acknowledge, yes,

[32:54] I know something of that, I've been there, I am there, oh my friends, the Lord will cause his word to come where his children are, that's why they continue, because they've had a taste, because they've had a taste, the disciples, they had heard his words, they'd heard his words, they proved the power of his words, they couldn't give him up, they couldn't turn back, no, not even in the days of trial and persecution, and in, not even in death, no, there's been many put to death, for Christ's sake, but my friends, there's been a continuation, ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations, ye are they, oh I say my friends, how does the Lord look upon you and

[34:17] I, can it be said of you and I that we have continued with him, continued with him in our pathway, in our trials, in all those things that dismay us, oh many things come upon the Lord's children, there are many things in this dying, perhaps different things in different ways, but my friends, there's so much lightness to dying, there's so many that don't want the old paths, and those that do want the old paths and walk therein, they're often frowned upon, they're speckled birds, they're set aside, they're not wanted, you say what?

[35:16] Surely not in our denomination, yes, yes it is my friends, there are all these things in our denomination, I love our denomination, there's no other denomination my friends that I could choose to go to, but I'm solemnly grieved because of the things that are happening in our denomination, and we need to be on our watchtower, we need to be much in prayer about it, about the welfare of Jerusalem, about the welfare of our denomination, about the future of it my friends, for there is a falling away, the Lord is withholding his power, he is grieved, and where will it come, if it goes on and on, the Lord will depart from us, and then that will be the end, it will be terrible, there will be no feeding, there will be nothing, ah you say but the

[36:22] Lord won't leave his children, no my friends I know the Lord can come and he'll make a way and he'll feed but all my friends there might be, there might be a solemn dearth, there might be that time of I can't just think the word, when there will be a no place to go, the Lord will feed his children, yes he'll feed them, but all my friends we need to be concerned about these things, we need to consider where we have come as a denomination, why the church is up and down the land for the most part, half and well much half, less than half empty, many of them, many of them, and all my friends it, it seems with many there are just a handful of aged, people, people of the Lord we believe, and when they're gone, where will what will be the end, why we've seen many shout, many, oh my friends, what a solemn and dark day, and we read in the word of

[38:11] God, when Jesus will come, when he comes again, shall he find faith on the earth, shall he find faith on the earth, shall he find any religion, so my friends we see clearly by the word of God, that religion will come to a very low ebb, at the end of this wall, and isn't there every evidence that these are the days that we're living in, and we're fast hastening there, and we go on as if we're going to live here forever, we go on unconcerned about eternity, and where we will be landed, I say, I don't say we're always like it, but for the most part, my friends, if we're honest, aren't we often more concerned about our daily trials and duties, and sorrows, and everything else, yet, my friends, the hymn writer says, how stands the case with me, am I ready to meet God, am I made a real question washed in the

[39:33] Redeemer's blood, these are the concerns, my friends, of living souls, are they yours, are they mine, ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations, my friends, all that we might be unable to continue, continue to walk in his ways, continue to follow him, my friends, I say, the Lord knows them that are his, he knows those, in some cases, which are cut off, they're cut off, they're cut off, sometimes from the church book, they're sometimes cast out of God's house, they were in the days that the

[40:46] Lord Jesus was here below, but my friends, they weren't cut off from the Lord Jesus Christ, he went to them, and my mind goes to Paul and Silas, who were cast into the prison, and before they went into that prison, my friends, they gathered with Lydia and some others for prayer, they were perhaps young in the way, young in the way, but my friends, what was Paul's concern when he came out of that prison, back to Lydia, that was his first thing, his first thought, he wanted to go back to them, because he realised what effect it would have on them, he wanted to go back to them, to reassure them, and my friends, oh, there was more of that spirit today, in the churches, instead of casting one another off, but I say, my friends, man may cast us off, but our

[42:00] Jesus won't, no, he won't, he looks at the heart, yes, he does, and he'll comfort, yes, he'll come, he'll help, blessed be his name, or he does not leave his dear children, my friends, to despair, you may feel to come very close sometimes, you may, you may wonder how you'll ever get through, but my friends, the Lord gives strength equal to our day, yes, equal to our day, it's not always as you think we have need, but he knows, my friends, how far we can go, he knows whether we can walk a little further, he knows whether we are going to continue a little longer, and follow and trust in him, and he knows when we've come to the end, he knew when the prophet had come to the end, when he lay down in that wilderness, when the

[43:24] Lord sent his angel to the prophet and said, rise, eat and drink, for the journey is too great for thee, he knew, the Lord knew, he couldn't do any, take any more, and yet that man, that prophet had been so greatly blessed, just previously, when he had been blessed, when he called down fire from heaven, and the Lord consumed the sacrifice, and the prophets of Baal, they shouted and called unto their gods all day long, could not pull down the fire, call down the fire, and my friends, they were all destroyed by the prophet Elijah, but then you see how quickly the tables turned, the enemy came in like a flood, and the poor man was sorely tried, and fearful, fearful for his life, because the queen had declared that she would take his life, for what he had done, and he had to flee for his life, you see, and my friends, and yet how safe he was, how safe he was, he was in the Lord's hands, but he couldn't see, he was fearful, and there he laid down, there he requested that he might die, but it wasn't the right time, it wasn't the set time, no, no, the Lord revived him, and the

[45:13] Lord will, he knows when to come and revive his children, he knows when to revive you and I, he knows when we can't continue following any longer, without something, without a meal, without a portion, without an evidence, without a revival, without a faith, yes, oh my friends, what a mercy, these things don't rest with you and I, the Lord gives the strength, he gives the faith, he gives the life, yes, he gives the willing spirit, well, where do these things find you and I, where, how does the Lord look upon you and I, ye are they, which continue with me in my temptations, my friends, these are God's children, they are, we know they are because in the next verse it says, ye are they which have continued me, with me in my temptations and I appoint unto you a kingdom as my father hath appointed unto me, and so my friends, there, this, this is an evidence oh, my friends,

[47:00] I know you might say, well, oh, am I really one of his or not, because Judas Iscariot wasn't, we read of his solemn case, there was one, you might say, he continued, yes, he continued, he continued in the outward form, yes, how do you continue, is it in an outward form, or, is the language of your heart, give me Christ, or else I die, if you're in an outward form, my friends, your heart will not be soft, Judas Iscariot's heart wasn't soft, it sought to betray his Lord, it sought to betray him, my friends, if you and I are his, and if we are found continuing in the Lord, there will be a calling upon him, a calling upon him for strength, and help, and endurance, that's the secret, why these continue, continue with the

[48:32] Lord in his temptation, they continue, because they seek his help, because he draws them, all my friends, is the Lord drawing you and I, is he?

[48:52] Well, the Lord knows them that are his, he knows what's going on in your heart and mine, oh, may the Lord bless his word to us, may it have a drawing effect in our hearts, may we have some evidences, that we are following him, may the Lord bless his word, amen.

[49:23] Amen. Amen. Amen.