2 Kings

[0:00] Turn in our reading this evening in the epistle of Paul to the Philippians chapter 3. The third chapter of the epistle of Paul to the Philippians.

[0:21] For the benefit of friends not with us this morning may I just mention again the home call of our dear friend. The Lord called to himself during the Thursday night last.

[0:38] The funeral is to take place on Wednesday next when there will be a service, God willing, at Appleton Church at 2.15.

[0:49] Conducted by the vicar, the top will in conjunction with myself. And the interment will follow at Abington Cemetery. After that service.

[1:03] Any friends who desire to be present at Appleton, let us know. There will be available space in cars to take you and bring you back, of course.

[1:17] You'll just let us know this evening. I won't say further than that, but I shall have a word to say at the service on Wednesday.

[1:31] With regard to our dear friend, I would only say this, as I said this morning, to me, it will be a joy to lay him to rest in sure and certain hope.

[1:48] For the glorious return. Now for the word of the Lord. As he may enable, I would ask you to turn with me again to the second book of Kings in the fourth chapter.

[2:06] And in the center of verse 26. The second book of Kings, chapter 4, in the center of verse 26.

[2:18] Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, it is well.

[2:32] This morning, having looked a little at the background, as it were, underlying this question and the need of it.

[2:48] Then following on a little to notice something of the searching inquiry that is embraced in these works.

[2:58] I won't enlarge upon that, but seek, as enabled to direct your minds a little further, first into the consideration that here we have a solemn inquiry.

[3:16] Searching, yes, the solemn. The question, my dear friends, that only God can speak, of course, and enable you and I to answer, but it's a question that comes to you and I this evening, each one of us.

[3:36] It's solemn because of its importance. In the human realm, there are many answers to this question.

[3:48] You might say, well, to a young man, is it well with you in business? Are your prospects good? Have you a good position?

[4:01] Are you happy there? And so on. And the answer may well be, yes, it's well. To those growing into years, perhaps drawing near to the time when they will leave the scenes of business, and we might ask, is it well, in the prospect of your retirement and so on and so forth, there are a thousand and one considerations of this.

[4:27] There are a thousand and one considerations of this. There are a thousand and one considerations of this. In the human realm. There is only one in the spiritual realm. Only one. Is it well with you?

[4:40] Is it well with me, my dear friends, in the light of eternity? Well, we've got to face it. When it will be, it's not for me to say.

[4:52] One. Now, dear friend, was taken in early life, what we should term the prime of life. Another is taken, and we heard her during this past week, of one celebrating the 103rd birthday.

[5:08] Yes? Who can tell? It's a solemn question, my dear friend. The same thing to you and to me is, is it the ground?

[5:19] In the life of eternity. We may spend the whole of our lives discarding and disputing these verities that are recorded in the word of God, that are embraced in the gospel under which you have been brought the sound of.

[5:41] You may question many, many things, my dear friend, and you may even question the very reality that God has clearly revealed in his word, that one day you'll have to stand in his presence, and so you may question it.

[5:59] But time will prove it's a reality. Is it well with you in the light of it? God has been told. Now, dear friend, again, was taken in a very brief season.

[6:14] A very brief season. Others lay aside for years upon years. Who can count? And recently I learned that one of our ministers, one of the servants of the Lord, cut down in a moment, in the middle of London.

[6:39] Let none be idly saying, I have life before me. And let certainly, all my dear friend, hesitate before you question the living God.

[6:53] Let none be idly saying, I don't believe a word of it. Be an awful awakening, my dear friend. Now, my own soul craves to be preserved from it.

[7:08] To awaken, and through the hour and article of death, where life has left the body, and there's an entrance there. Because of it, it is a reality.

[7:23] Because of it. Because of the import of it, in the reality of it. It's solemn because of the issues of it.

[7:35] For it means, my dear friend, one or two things. Heaven or hell. I pray God, may give me grace, to be very faithful, in this evening hour, we're dealing with very vital, solemn matters.

[7:56] It's been brought, as we've been brought many times, some of us at least, into the presence of death. Another has gone from the midst, and it leaves us searching and inquire.

[8:10] This solemn question, that now we think, I have no hesitation, I'm not going to rely upon this, as I have said, but I have no hesitation, not a shadow of it, my dear friend, concerning our dear friend, not a wish.

[8:29] But the question comes, it comes to my soul. Now you say, what to a minister? Yes, my dear friend. You cannot be too certain, upon this matter, if it's wearing you.

[8:48] Hast thou the truth within? Hast thou a humble hope? Hast thou a trembling desire? Hast thou a wish so weak, that it may be so, it does it concern you?

[9:03] For when the hour, and when the medium, and when the length of it comes, we've no ordering of that, but when the moment comes, my dear friend, you've no power to prevent, it'll be one moment here, and the next moment on.

[9:18] It's that. It's that soon comes, when death is in that house, and it's a dead body, it's a child in this case.

[9:31] As I reminded you this morning, it's obviously, it's quite a lad. He was carried to his mother, he rested on his mother's knee until he died, it must have been quite young.

[9:45] It be it young or old, my dear friend, it matters not. The issue, it's life, for it's death, and none of us can escape.

[9:57] This is the searching inquiry, and the solemn inquiry, because of the very nature of it, and looking at these things first, we should get beneath it, as enabled, before we leave it.

[10:10] But this is the question, actually. We read of one, we were not, who it was very well from his estimate.

[10:24] My land has flourished, I've got so much, I don't know where to fit at all, the accumulation, and my great endeavours, and my capabilities.

[10:36] There's only one answer to it, so I have to fall down into the barn, and build greatness. Forgive me, my dear friend, my dear friend, do something about barn, and about the increase, wrought by his activity.

[11:02] But I'm not referring to him, when I remind you again, and go back to the words, of this man, who's a little, look at the accumulation, I'll build greater barn, and I'll tell them, when they have reached, the capacity, that I decide, in my own mind, I'll say, you've got enough, for the rest to be done.

[11:29] Take it easy. Don't mind about anybody else, there may be starving people, all the way round, but you've got enough, you've got all the resources, sit down quietly, enjoy, the truths of your life.

[11:48] There's only one word, that came from heaven, heart, the fire,bur, 드, vêTekere. Eekere. this night, thy soul is quiet, after, is it well, is it well?

[12:13] God may have blessed you, in quality, and despise at them, accept them as they did, you may have accumulated many things in the literal sense that I won't even stop to enumerate but I would remind you this mighty thing that the old book says is riches in tweets and they do set not your heart upon you set not your heart upon you I knew a man in London a godly man a member of one of our churches and he was tremendously blessed and God and listening I heard him say personally on more than one occasion he knew the extent of his wealth he was very liberal in his gifts he was very careful where he made his gifts but I was in his presence he didn't direct the words to me personally but I was in his presence when he said somebody had commented upon his liberal gifts to the cause of God and he said friends you don't know how much grace you need to minister the substance that God has given the Lord is pleased to bless as it pleases him and to give to us the accumulation of things that this is clear naked we came into the world and naked we must go out that's it is it well that they should pass your life from this scene where many things have been well in the human sense in the liberal realm is it well you think for the life of the hastily approach to the eternal solemn inquire to discard it you do it at your peril my dear friend for remember that as you have been privileged to sit under the sound of the gospel

[14:43] I don't mean from my lips but from many others doubtless remember you will be judged according to life and knowledge that's it I pray God we give you grace to be faithful as the blood of none shall ever lay upon my head in relation to my poor ministry it should well with it it should well with I help it well with this dead body yes yes no hesitation there was no ifs and buts no ifs and buts no ifs had beens the answer was I was not I hope so you know my dear friends there are some I have met with many I have met with that would even dare before God to suggest to my poor son that I cannot hope and I cannot expect and I didn't ought to pray for assurance and expect it more than perhaps once in my lifetime my dear friend

[15:53] I can't receive it I cannot receive it my God would have me to know about it my soul prays to know and I have only read from this evening to you that portion from Philippians that is enough for me and that dear man says I know I know now friends you can't you can't go on I know not tomorrow's light may see you and I in glory is it well is it well with me to surprise to the man in the pulpit is to you in the pulpit it's a solemn inquiry very solemn indeed but I would rather remind you too that this is a personal inquiry it's a personal inquiry

[17:00] I believe I mentioned to you this morning in that searching consideration that the prophet is not directed here to come and say is it well with all of you in the household the Lord doesn't deal that way sir matters not how many there are in your household he says is it well with me is it well with your heart is it well with your child he didn't say is it well with all three of you she cannot answer for her husband though she may have the witness oh yes I've had the witness I'm satisfied about my dear friend but my dear friend has seen inquiries come personally they cannot answer for you in the vital aspect of it in solemn nature is it well with me you will have to stand before God and you will have to stand for yourself not for me or any other so that it becomes very personal as all matters are personal in the realm of divine grace and as they will ultimately they are not yet but they will ultimately become essentially and equally personally in the realm of judgment you have a manifestation of that referred your minds to it more than once in the parable of the virgin

[18:51] I know there is a sense in which you may consider it collectively but I believe my dear friend it has a personal application there without going into the details for I mustn't digress but the word was I never knew you I never knew you my dear friend I knew nothing more awful and to hear those words from him he's sitting upon the throne as I stand before him I never knew you come so it's a searching it's a song but it's a personal inquiry how stands the case my soul would be heaven and I forget it was clear to sound the truth of it that no young person say I have my life before me my dear young friend is gone that is humanly speaking his life before him so far as anyone would see surely and nobody would question it and let none say it depends upon anything it is well it is possible it must be as I have reminded you many many times the sacrifice of

[20:30] Christ the mercies the blessings of Christ all that Christ is is essentially possible you can read it through the scriptures from cover to cover he deals with a collective assembly of people yes all who were given to him of the father as John 17 declares it but I say he deals with them individuals you have abundant evidence of this my even in the span of your life and I know not where you've all been thus far in your life did you ever know yet leaving out warfare did you ever know yet an incident where a whole village was slain in the night let alone a town you hear one here one over there one there so it is is well you say oh I say the solemnity and the personal aspect of this my dear friend you you cannot afford to lay your head down to rest this night before without you have some evidence god

[21:59] I cannot how small it may be some gracious evidence that it is well just one other thought before I do want to get to the underlying feature of this which I haven't even mentioned yet just one other thought this aspect of the well here my defence is from god's standard and not yours and so this aspect of the well here is god's standard and not yours in the human realm in the unregenerate days we had our own conceptions as man to die out in the world has the same conception as to what he considers to do well and he will tell you very plainly and in a very few words you needn't worry about me

[22:59] I can deal with this matter I know what's needed he knows it all this question my dear friend is it well according to god's need then my dear friend it will not be a matter of satisfying it will be a matter of satisfying unless you conform to the pattern of his devising in my defending force I've referred to the man in the gospel I might refer to the rich man and Lazarus and you've got it there I might refer to many many others what profit my dear friend I want to refer to you and to me in this diet we've been singing that lovely hymn tis with the righteous well drawn of course based upon the precious word of our

[24:12] God say ye to the righteous it shall be well with them because God according according to his standard of the well of the well is it well with them now I must come to the underlying future of this for the very inquiry my dear friends here suggests a need the very question propounds to us a necessity prophet prophet prophet of God didn't send the message to the woman and say don't worry it is well he sent the inquiry is it well which implies to my poor mind a trust revealed and thought of the spirit of God that it wasn't always so and so it is mine the inquiry is upon that ground we were not born into this world in a condition that is well before God for we were born in sin and shape and in iniquity we were born without

[25:43] God and without hope inheritors of that which our first parents had procured for us which was a corrupt nature that fought against God had no desire for God and certainly had no condition to meet God had it been so there would be no need my dear friend for the sacrifice of Christ I am come that they might have life then they were dead see implications so here in the question is it well within for it never was at one time it hasn't always been well is it well within now so that the reminder here is a reminder that we are soon in need of salvation we're in a condition by nature before God that he cannot look upon us let alone receive us we're in a position upon which into which we have brought ourselves by our folly into which we are under the just condemnation of a holy law and the law demands it's life there's nothing my dear friend that can remove that condemnation by meeting it so Christ declared when he came when he came he didn't come to abrogate the law he came to honour it to meet it so the glory of this my dear friend who by wondrous grace have been made put into a position wherein it's well with them

[27:40] Christ has dealt with that judgment that rested upon them Christ has made every claim in the sacrifice of himself nothing short of it was sufficient the law demanded and he though he was the co-equal and co-eternal son of God he had no power to abrogate the law who gave it it's not in the plain of puny man where he can make a law one day and abrogate it the next and perhaps bring it back again the next just to suit his whim past no God has given the law once and too it's never been awful it's never been happened and I say again even the eternal son of

[28:41] God thou in human flesh has no power though he resigned not any of his power as he became like under his brethren he became a man indeed he had no power to lay aside the law and say it doesn't apply to him even if he had I'm only supposing for the most even if he had his answer would have been this child of mine is under the law and to redeem him from under that condemnation I must come there and put myself under the law to the region now that is great wondrous glorious invincible good sovereign grace everything else is right from trust to love for the father conceived the plan where's man who could have conceived the plan with all the capabilities of men all put together and live as one that could have even conceived the plan let alone put it into execution but all my dear friends you that have been made the recipients of grace in its saving power do let us stop and think again what wonderful things we've done

[30:10] I'm sure we haven't grasped yet I'm sure we haven't responded oh I know I've said it myself dear friends but oh it doesn't satisfy to just say well the day will come when we shall praise him as we ought alone sometimes not always natural heart does come up on me sometimes but I trust there are times when I go to his dear feet and tell him if I can only praise him as he's worthy not even as I ought but as he's worthy of his sheep he said to the man Jesus said to the man in the gospel that he dealt so lovingly graciously with and the man responded always let me stop the reaction of course to every heart that is blessed that is great that is

[31:12] Jesus to me look go home to your friends and tell them what I've done to you so go home to thy friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done what great things and if my dear redeemer calls them great things my dear friends what should I call them he procured them and he bestowed them they're not his in that sense they're mine and he calls them great what do you call them friends what do I call them wondrous grace love love love love to try and speak a little about when the spirit of the Lord in aid to be enabled to glance only at the glories that

[32:16] Christ is Lord you having finished the world seated at the right hand seated seated the emblems a symbol in divine truth of contentedness even in the human realm when you come home perhaps from the hard days labor drop into a chair and say well this isn't on the same plane that seated my Jesus is contented not only that he saved his people but he's going to gather them home friends I've been thinking about that in connection with our dear friend he saved him and now he's seated there waiting for the moment and when the moment came he said

[33:17] John he said God this is grace this is salvation this my dear friend and this only is what gives you and I to be brought into this designation of it being well only to be saved from sin it's an old passion thing I can't change it my dear friend while I have breath to speak about and as the Lord enables to speak a little about it I don't want to change it no other gospel for me I'm entirely with the dear hymn writer when he said the only gospel we can own sets Jesus Christ upon his throne I glory in the grace the wonder of grace yes but I glory in the heart that can lift the sinner out of the prospect of that the certainty of that the unquestionable aspect of the deservedness of that and look upon him as he does thou art all claim that thou art there is no spot in that that he might be well not well in body not well in health not well in pocket not well in prospect not well in friends and companions and so on and so forth but well in

[34:58] Christ in the prospect of the hereafter this brief span of life sod dear John it's only been the matter for roughly 30 years what is it compared with eternal as we say as we shall be saying at least if I don't tend to touch and will and wend what is our life it is for the vapour that soon passes the wife as the morning dew when the sun appears he's gone there in the living Christ in the crucified redeemed he came to seek and to save the lost the hell deserving the wretched the corrupt the defiled no words are bad enough or strong enough to speak of he can display your condition of mind by nature and no words can begin to describe the glory

[36:12] Jesus well with his son do these things have any meaning is there a secret that is set within thine heart where there is that jewel of divine grace that can never be taken away the only way my dear friend I repeat in which it can be well with it's got to be a living reality I bless God for the gracious hope I bless God for the weakest feeblest desire but all I want the reality of grace the one came to say as David cried I know he lost it I know it's a different matter in one case but nevertheless the words apply as he cried and yearned and yearned and pleaded saying to my and

[37:15] I salvation that's what you need to know what is all the wealth and the banks and in the world as I've quoted it to you many times even in my brief sojourn among you what is a man what is a man it's in the form of a question again and you are required to give the answer what is a man for again the whole world it's not possible but even if it is even if it is man has attained to great heights of possessions positions prospects dignity and so on and all that earth can unfold but if he had everything that was under the whole canopy of heaven what is he property if he loses his own soul what can a man give in exchange for his soul that's what you would know

[38:24] I've got to praise it isn't a question of being even blessed of God and I'll bring it up to his heart being blessed of God to be enabled to expound the scriptures to be enabled to give an eloquent dialogue I was going to say upon the doctrines of grace and expound them to their depths and heights it isn't a matter my dear friend of attending every service that was available in the house of God it isn't a matter of spending every day and every hour of the day on your knees in prayer it isn't a matter of reading the scriptures morning noon or night or anything else you like to ask one question why is Christ in me the hope of glory as the apostle and he puts it in the assertion of it

[39:32] Christ in you the hope of glory better make you well you may have a very feeble body physically you may suffer much pain and suffering in the bodily realm but if you have a health my dear friend in divine grace something to be covered oh this comes this comes under the divine appointment and these divine appointments somehow I believe are ordered in this respect I know in the deeper sense and so only my dear young friend the time has come and the Lord said your time is finished gone from home and I believe the Lord appoints these things to give us a reminder I don't know exactly how many times I spoke the open grave and laid the dear saint of God to rest but many many but each recurring one brings the same return a reminder to God you can't call them back and it will come back and when the time comes for you you'll be

[41:01] God there's no questions they can bring in all their again they call them doctrines they're not worthy of the name they can bring in all their suggestions and their tenets and so on and so forth of purgatory that so long as I pay enough for the church to have sufficient prayers offered for me while I'm in the flames of purgatory preparing myself and pitying myself to go at last into heaven oh what an awful tragedy what an awful thing to even stand and suggest oh God save me for anything like that from deluding any portion thousands and thousands of paying out and paying out and I hear people say I heard one only this week saying to me I went

[42:02] I went I forget where it was on the Roman Catholic Cathedral beautiful beautiful you ever been in Westminster Cathedral in London I've been in there many times I don't know whether they finished and I know they estimated themselves it would take 50 years they were going to line the whole of it with solid marble where's the money coming from where's the money out of the pockets of the poor soul that could do with it to provide a meal and they swallowed it up to the one none they told it they might have said they're either in Christ or out of Christ is it well this evening hour money

[43:02] I never want to be dramatic God saving it in that but I want to get to reality so solemn reality I know not I may never have occasion to speak to you again but this is the last time I have been faithful to set the gospel before you Jesus only can do helpless sinners good if he can and he doubts is it well with this yes yes yes is it well with your husband yes I know he told me we have conversed together that's how I know I can't look in his heart I can't estimate anything there but he's told me and that's enough I know is it well with the child yes the child couldn't talk

[44:04] I said this morning I am not going to enter into the sphere of instant salvation that may come another time perhaps that's better in the matter of Bible study but we have our definite views upon that it is well with it is well with thy husband it is well with child this evening my Jesus in all in all shall have the preeminence and that preeminence has got to start in this evil heart of mine and he's going to have preeminence there and break down that stubborn rebellious heart and it was here friends it was here I can enter I said it more than once and I would repeat it

[45:05] I can enter into the world the hymn writer I fought with hand uplifted heart that he had the preeminence blessed his dear heart he brought me down to his dear feet pleading wrestling suing upon the ground of that rich atoning sacrifice and I hope before his holy presence and receive me now I have the witness may God confirm it that it is well when he called is it well with me he because he is right at he was