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[0:00] 954-Q-348ました pontificأ collegבׄ lit God is so strong.

[0:54] Heavenly Pennide. Stay with the bright sound to come archives.

[1:12] Take control. Sal samples from the stars, The wings we할 some events, Darʘe's knees ourbaren, Were you alone.

[1:44] I hope to take my surprise.

[1:55] To save me from this dream we dreamers.

[2:12] To save me from this dream we dreamers.

[2:26] To show me from this dream we dreamers.

[2:40] Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave.

[2:54] To save me from this dream we dreamers.

[3:12] Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave.

[3:24] Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave.

[3:38] Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave.

[3:52] To save me from this dream we dreamers.

[4:08] Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave.

[4:22] Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave. Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave. Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave. Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave.

[4:38] Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave. Oh, Jesus Christ, now live in the grave.

[5:02] The part of God's word that I would ask your attention to this evening, as the Lord should help me, is in the chapter we were reading, the eighth chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, verses 38 and 39.

[5:21] The 38th and 39th verses of the eighth chapter of the Gospel according to Luke. Now the man, out of whom the devils were departed, besought him that he might be with him.

[5:39] But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee.

[5:50] And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

[6:06] On four occasions at least in this chapter, we read of certain persons beseeching the Lord Jesus Christ to do something for them, or to permit them to do something pertaining to himself.

[6:23] I realize, my friends, that the word beseech or besought is one that has died out of the general usage of our language.

[6:35] And of course, in modern translations of the Bible, so very largely false as they are, you will find that what is considered to be a very simple term will take its place, and that is, a word such as ask will be inserted instead of besought.

[6:58] But I do want to make it quite clear, friends, that this Old English word that is in our Bible is a very valuable one, because it goes far beyond in description anything else that can take its place.

[7:12] There is something about this word besought that signifies, first of all, the humility of the one who seeks or asks, if I may use that modern term.

[7:26] The humility of the person. Beseeching betokens the fact that the one who asks or beseeches is an inferior to the one to whom the prayer is addressed.

[7:39] Well, of course, friends, that is good doctrine. But also, it is essential experience. Be quite sure of this, if we pray and we ask in our prayers rightly, we shall believe that the one to whom we address our prayers is not like ourselves.

[8:00] Although he did become man in his own dear son, but nevertheless he is high and lifted up, and the train of his glory fills the very temple of the heavens, that he is God and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

[8:18] It seems to me then in the first place that this word beseech or besought signifies that the one who prays like this is declaring that the one to whom they draw nigh is worthy of the name of God and is very God.

[8:33] And then it seems to me that in this word besought, there is something else of real necessity, a desire that is expressed in necessity before the Lord.

[8:47] There is something in the person who is using this word that says, well, now I really need this, I really want this, this is my deep longing.

[8:59] Now, sometimes, friends, people are apt to ask for things concerning which they are very unconcerned, really, whether they possess them or not. It won't trouble them if there is a refusal very much because probably they have got plenty more of the thing that they are asking for and they can do even without the thing they are asking.

[9:20] But I am quite sure of this, that this isn't in the word besiege. There is something more than that. There is a necessity, there is a desire, there is a great longing for the thing that is besought.

[9:35] And then in the third place, in this word besought, there seems to me to be an aspect of fervency. It isn't just simply a casual request. That because a person has just seen something that in a moment just appeals to their fancy, they say, well, I'll ask for that.

[9:54] But no, friends, here is something that, well, it is so important to them that there is fervency in the matter of their asking. Now, I believe there is much more than this in this word besought that I have mentioned.

[10:07] But I think that the few things that I have said will go to show, friends, the wonderful power of the Spirit of God who has covered our translators in their translating of the Greek and in the Old Testament the Hebrew Scriptures in such a way that we have words that are used here that contain so much divine truth.

[10:32] So much truth that is sound doctrine, contains gracious practice, and also is a declaration of real Christian experience.

[10:44] Well, in this word besought, I want us to notice, friends, that it does really express the desires and prayers of those who come before the Lord. And this evening, of course, it's really the subject of prayer that I want to bring before you.

[11:01] There may be some persons here, I don't know, I hope not, who will say, well, I am very well informed upon the exercise of prayer, the subject of prayer, and I don't think that there's any person living who can teach me anything fresh about prayer.

[11:19] I had a letter read in my hearing the other day from a young minister, and this young minister was writing to one who I think was rather older than he was, one whom he esteemed, anyway, as being much better informed in the things of God than himself.

[11:37] And he said, I shall bless my God if you're able to teach me anything, and I shall bless my God if you're able to reprove me of anything that is wrong.

[11:49] Now, friends, that seems to me to be a demonstration of grace in humility, demonstrated in humility. Here is a person who says, if only God can make a man to be the friend of my soul, either to my teaching and establishment, or to the pulling down of my errors, and the rebuke of my sin, then I will be thankful to my God for granting me such a friend as that.

[12:19] Well, it seems to me, my friends, with regard to our position concerning prayer, we need such a teacher. And I'm quite sure of this, that as we turn to this chapter, we shall find, friends, that here we have before us the teacher who is above all other teachers in the matter of prayer.

[12:40] He is the teacher of it in the Word, he is the teacher of it in his own example, and also he is the teacher of it in the approval that he manifests to those who pray to him.

[12:53] Now, in those three ways, I want you to remember the perfect superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ to all other teachers in prayer. But as I think about this, you might say to me, well, Mr. Rowe, do you come to us this evening, and would you teach us in this matter of praying or prayer to the Lord, because you feel yourself to be superior to us?

[13:19] My friends, as I've come here today with these thoughts upon my mind that have been unfolding, and I trust not without the favor of the Lord to my own soul, I'm quite sure that there was in my spirit a realization that there was nobody who could come to this place with a greater sense of poverty in the exercise of prayer than the man who stands before you.

[13:46] You may say, well then, if you make that confession, how can you be our teacher? Well, friends, all I feel I can do is this, I can venture to this word, and I can but tell you of the deformity and infirmity and poverty that these words have discovered in my own spirit, and I can but tell you also of the way in which these things that are recorded here for our instruction have been for my instruction today, and I can but show to you, my friends, how this poor man, so poor in his prayer, he needs to lead upon the arm of divine grace and beg that not only will the Lord exercise him more deeply in prayer and teach him more thoroughly in prayer, but also that he may abound in prayer on my behalf.

[14:45] Now, of course, that is the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ now. We read, do we not, in this word, that he ever liveth to make intercession, and I am quite sure that some of you here will appreciate what a dear man of God said in my hearing years and years ago.

[15:05] His soul has been in the presence of the Lord now for ever so many years. I refer to dear Mr. Henry Patterson. I only heard him preach once or twice in my younger days, but I shall never forget him saying in my hearing at Stockfold, Hope Chapel Stockfold, on the occasion that I did hear him there, that there were three things that he needed the Lord to do with his prayers.

[15:32] He needed the Lord to take ever so much away from them. Of course, you may say to me, no, I don't think so. Well, friends, how many times have you asked a miss?

[15:46] How many times have you asked foolishly? How many times have you prayed to the Lord and in those very prayers as you've looked upon them afterwards you've seen that instead of glorifying the work of the Spirit of God you've rather grieved the Spirit.

[16:02] Well, friends, there are things that we need because of our rebellion and petulance and self-seeking and arrogance and pride we need the Lord to take away from our prayers.

[16:13] and in the simplicity of his utterance he said, I need the Lord to add so much to them. Well, of course, that is true as well. My friends, be sure of this, there's no merit in our prayers.

[16:27] Rather, my friends, in our praying we have to confess our complete lack of demerit, our complete demerit before God and our complete lack of merit before Him.

[16:38] There is no, there is no merit in faith. as faith is the gift of God so also true prayer is the gift of God and therefore there cannot be any merit in the exercise or the possession of a gift.

[16:52] My friends, put merit away from it altogether with regard to this. But, says the dear man, I need the Lord to add things to my prayers and of course we do.

[17:04] We need, my friends, the Lord to add His righteousness to our prayers because we haven't got any. And we need the Lord to add His cleansing to our prayers because they're always polluted coming from the heart of a sinner.

[17:18] There's so much that we need the Lord to add to our prayers. And then, He said, I need the Lord to take these prayers of mine and present them for me before the throne of grace.

[17:32] You see, friends, if a man considers that he has been charged unjustly under British law, he considers that the best thing he can do is to find the finest barrister to defend this case that he can possibly find.

[17:48] He wouldn't go alone if he got plenty of money to be able to secure an advocate who had, on many occasions before, defended those that were falsely charged and there secured their complete remission.

[18:04] Well, friends, I want to tell you this, we have, there is no human advocate to be compared with Christ. We have that one advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

[18:19] So absolutely suitable to our need. There is nothing, friends, that your need contains before a holy God with all its sin and violence and foulness and rebellion and every hateful thing.

[18:33] There is nothing that your need contained, but what is meant in the fullness of the supply and power and advocacy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[18:45] Therefore, you see, the dear man said how he needed that there should be one who would present his poor prayers with all his worth and advocacy before the throne of God.

[18:58] Well now, it is along those lines that my thoughts have been moving with regard to this subject. But also, friends, I have faced the fact that in this chapter we have a display of the great sovereignty of God in the matter of his hearing and answering prayer.

[19:19] And I would have us remember this. There are some people who seem to think that the Lord's dealing with prayer is always along a stereotype line. That because he has dealt with them and their prayers in a certain way, of necessity, he will always deal with another's prayers in exactly the same way.

[19:41] Now, I want us to notice, even with regard to the very verse that we've been reading, that on this occasion, the Lord said to a certain man that he was to go his way and publish that he was to go to his own house and show how great things God hath done unto him.

[20:01] Well, now, there were occasions when Christ had done some great things and he told people that they were not to say anything about it. Now, I want you to notice the difference.

[20:14] You see, on one occasion the Lord says, now, you shall say nothing at all about what I've done, not until at least I have been risen from the dead. But on another occasion he tells this man to go straight home to his own house and not keep silent concerning the things that God had done for him.

[20:36] Now, you may say to me, are you going to attempt to explain the reason why the Lord acted so differently? Well, friends, if I can explain the sovereignty of God, then I must be equal to God or superior to God, and I'm neither of those things, and I don't ever want to feel that I am, God forbid that I should fall into the sin of such frightful conceit as that, such awful pride.

[21:07] No, friends, there are things concerning the sovereignty of our God that are great deeds, and we just simply have to leave them with our God. We say, Lord, we do not understand now.

[21:19] We only know in part about the mystery of thy sovereign dealings, but we trust there is coming a time when we shall know even as we are known.

[21:30] Now, friends, I don't think eternity can be too long for the unfolding of the mysteries of divine sovereignty. They're so wonderful, so glorious, the outcome has been so blessed, and yet we did not understand, and even now we do not understand, the fullness of the wisdom, grace, and love of God in his mysterious dealings with his people.

[21:57] William Cowper was persuaded of this when he said, God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. You see, one way, in one way, with one person in one way at a certain time, with another person in another way at a different time, God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform, he plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.

[22:28] Mind you, these mysteries of the Lord's sovereign dealings, they are not always well received by us. I'll tell you why, friends, and that is because we have an evil heart of unbelief within our person.

[22:43] That's the trouble. if we had got a full heart of faith, well then, of course, it would be easy to believe, even if we couldn't understand or see the reason.

[22:55] But it's because we have an evil heart of unbelief that the dear hymn writer has to go on to say, blind unbelief is sure to earth, and scan God's work in vain, but God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.

[23:14] Well, now in this chapter, friends, there are a few people who come with prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to notice that although it wasn't a formal prayer, nevertheless, there was a supplication of a kind when there were persons who came to Christ and said, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to see thee.

[23:44] Now, we do not know to what degree the Lord really granted an answer to that prayer. You may say, well, we do know that the Lord said something in answer to that word of those people about his mother and his brethren.

[24:02] Yes, I know that he does, but whether the mother and the brethren did have any lengthy conversation with him, or they stayed with him for any length of time, we are not informed.

[24:14] But I do want to notice this, that the request of the mother and the brethren to see the Lord Jesus Christ resulted in very, very blessed teaching. The Lord Jesus Christ turns to those persons who come to him, and they say, my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it.

[24:37] They're the persons. They are the persons that are really related to me. Now friends, grace and a relationship to God through Jesus Christ is not hereditary.

[24:51] It doesn't run in the blood. The grace of God is always a divine gift, and relationship with God is always through and by adoption in Christ Jesus.

[25:06] Let us remember that. Lots of people perhaps in the world today, they will spread their hands wide and they will say, all the whole world is united into God, they are his sons and his daughters, we believe in the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man, and so they will go on.

[25:30] But I want you to remember friends, in the face of such false teaching as that, completely inconsistent with the whole teaching of the word of God. Man's relationship with God was completely broken by reason of his sin, and can only be restored by adoption in Christ Jesus, and in answer to that suggestion I say that there were those who the faithful and true witness said to on one occasion, ye are of your father the devil.

[26:00] And my dear friends, I pray that each one of us here may be delivered from that sentence. And remember this, if we are delivered from that sentence, we shall be delivered from it because Christ died for us.

[26:16] And that's the only way in which we can be delivered from that sentence. Scriptures are so emphatic when they tell us that we were born in sin and shapened in iniquity.

[26:29] And such a state as that, my friends, owes relationship to the devil and not to God. Oh, we are his creatures right in life. We are accountable unto him for all our deeds.

[26:42] We shall be subject to the judgments of his holy law. There is not the slightest doubt about that. But my friends, to claim a filial relationship when the heart is far distant from God and hard and arrogant and determined against the counsels of the Most High, this of course is infamous sin and rank hypocrisy.

[27:04] for a man to speak like that. There is only one way of relationship between a poor sinner and a holy God and that relationship is through Jesus Christ.

[27:16] And notice friends, the dear Lord, he says, here is the manifestation of the relationship. The relationship is by adoption. In experience it's known by the possession and exercise of faith.

[27:30] And in practice it will be known in this way that they shall hear the word of God and they shall do it. There is the fruit of faith, the obedience of faith to the word of God.

[27:43] Our friends, the precious Christ says there is relationship, there is relationship. Are you thankful, friends, that when the mother and the brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ came with their request and they would have seen him, that Christ for our instruction has told us these things, instructed us in these things, warned us against the folly of thinking that because we are what we are we can claim some relationship to God.

[28:09] And there to show to us friends if we think rightly I believe and are taught rightly by the spirit of God to be able to see that it is only, only through the righteousness and death of the Lord Jesus Christ and by blessed God given faith exercised toward this person that we can ever know a filial relationship to God.

[28:35] I came out of Zion Chapel, Leicester some years ago and a dear old man came to me who has recently died in the aged pilgrims homes in Evington and he said to me, Mr.

[28:47] Rowan, I want to make a confession to you. I said, what is it friend? Well, he said, I used to talk very glibly about God being my father in my early days.

[29:02] I knew he'd been brought up in Armenian circles and of course, well friends, people in those circles they talk rather glibly like that. You see, they come without any invocation of the holiness of God in their prayers and they just simply talk about their father.

[29:21] He said, I used to talk about God as my father very easily and glibly in my early days. And he said, then there came a time when I dare not speak about him as my father.

[29:34] I couldn't speak about him as my father. I felt I had no right to speak about him as my father. But he said, I want to tell you, Mr. Rowan, that the time has come now when I feel as a little child I can address him as my father.

[29:50] Good teaching, friends. Good teaching. Good teaching. When a man is brought right down off his conceits and he's laid in the dust of humiliation before his God and the Lord teaches him the very lesson that is contained in these words of Christ's answer to his mother and to his brethren as they come seeking him.

[30:12] You see, the relationship to God is entirely in Christ and by his grace alone. And that relationship, my friends, is demonstrated by the blessed works of faith within that soul and within that person.

[30:32] Well, then I want us to notice in the second place, friends, there were some other people that asked the Lord Jesus Christ to do certain things in this particular chapter.

[30:44] And that was the disciples when they were in the boat and the Lord Jesus Christ displaying the perfection of his humanity. He went to sleep in the boat.

[30:55] Now I want us to remember that, friends. It is a wonderful thing to know that the Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly human, that he had a perfectly human body.

[31:12] Even in his resurrection, he turns to one of his disciples and he says, handle me and see, a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.

[31:23] And here is one of the demonstrations of the perfect humanity, of course sin is absolutely accepted here. Don't think, my friends, that when we speak about humanity we must of necessity speak of sin, because in one blessed person who was verily man but also verily God, there was no sin.

[31:45] And of course in Adam and Eve until they fell, there was no sin. But mind you, there is a difference between Adam and Eve and Christ in this, that Adam and Eve were peccable.

[31:57] I use the theological term there. What it means is this, they were liable to sin, they could sin, you see. But my friends, in Christ there is an impeccable human nature, he could not sin, it was impossible for him to sin.

[32:13] Because he could not sin, he never did sin. And consequently my friends, in his blessed person and life under the law of God, there is a righteousness by his obedience provided for the unrighteous.

[32:25] Guilty men and women such as you and I are within this place, a provision made for them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Christ is asleep in the boat and the storm comes on.

[32:40] And we read my friends of how these disciples went to him and they woke him. And they said, Master, Master, we perish. In one of the other gospels, because these events are recorded in three of them, they even are as ascribed as saying, carest thou not that we perish?

[33:01] The awful indignity, friends, of suggesting that Jesus Christ is careless about the welfare of those whom he has called to follow him, those whom he has set his love upon and demonstrated his love toward them in no uncertain way.

[33:18] And yet, dare I throw a stone against these disciples and say, I am better than they are, because they said, carest thou not that we perish?

[33:29] And my dear friends, hasn't the same thought been my own spirit, when there perhaps some difficult, hard thing has come in my pathway, and my spirit of natural rebellion and unbelief has risen up against it, then I've said, surely the Lord doesn't care, he's not mindful of my condition, he's not willing to hear my prayer, he's careless.

[33:50] At least, that is the spirit of the thought if it's never been expressed in the words. Ah, friends, how dreadful is the inward sin of the human heart manifest in such a way as this.

[34:03] And of course, the Lord answers their prayer. Oh yes, he answers their prayer. But I want us to notice, my friends, that this prayer wasn't of great faith.

[34:15] In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ says, where is your faith? One of the other gospels is described in this way, O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

[34:28] Where is your faith? Where is your faith? And so, friends, I shouldn't say that this was the prayer of great faith. It seems to me to be rather the prayer of fear, apprehension, distress, despair.

[34:45] When a man driven out of all ability of his own to calm the waves or get along through the storm, he comes to that place where he says, well only God can help me, and consequently there, my friends, as a last resource, they go to the Lord.

[35:01] But even that prayer the Lord answers, a prayer of little faith, a prayer concerning which Christ had to say, where is your faith? Where is your faith?

[35:14] Oh, friends, I do hope you'll have a prayer of greater faith than this before you're done. But I do want you to remember, friends, that the Lord does condescend to men and women of low estate.

[35:28] I love those words in the psalm where we read, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, for he knoweth our fame, and remembereth that we are but dust.

[35:43] It's right that the Lord should chide us in the matter of our prayers, and the lack of faith. It isn't because, my friends, there has been any lack in him. It isn't because he has faltered or he has failed in the past.

[35:57] It isn't because a poor sinner has put him to the test and he's failed in the hour of testing. It isn't because of that. But it all dwells in here. It's the unbelief that's within our person that causes us to speak in the way in which these disciples did to the Lord when they woke him up.

[36:15] Very little faith here. Very little faith. Then I come to something, my friends, that is most amazing and that is I find that devils beseech the Lord Jesus Christ.

[36:29] Same word as the other three words, the same word occurring three other times in this chapter. It's the same word. I read, friends, that when the Lord Jesus Christ was in Gadara and there that demoniac man was before him, the devils recognized who it was walking across the plain there.

[36:57] Oh, they recognized who it was. They knew that this was none other than the Son of God. Art thou come to torment us before our time? My friends, they know that there is a time set when they will be plunged down into all the torments of that lake of fire prepared for the devil and all his angels, that fearful abyss.

[37:19] They know the time will come. Art thou come to torment us before the time? Now, friends, they know that they are before one that is superior.

[37:31] That, of course, is one of the points I made about this word beseech. Here is the one that's all-powerful and there they are, just simply creatures. Of course, very powerful creatures.

[37:41] We know that. Some here know it all so sadly and so well that the devil and his hosts, my friends, are mighty creatures. They have great powers, powers to tempt, powers to assault, powers to accuse.

[37:56] They have great powers. Here is one that is mightier than them all, superior to them all, and they beseech him that they might go into the swine.

[38:10] and he permitted them to do so. He permitted them to do so. Now, friends, what was this prayer really, what's it really composed of?

[38:23] What is the position of these devils? They are just simply beseeching Christ that they may be delivered from the torment and the discomfort and the distress and the despair of the abyss.

[38:40] That's all they are asking him for. Nothing more than that. Nothing concerning the glory of Christ, really. Nothing concerning the honor and glory of God, really.

[38:50] Nothing concerning the benefit of the creatures upon this earth. There is no desire for the welfare of the church of Christ at all. All they are doing, my friends, is to try to save their skin.

[39:02] You know what I mean by that? I'm not suggesting that devils have skin, but I'm using the term that is usual among men. You see, they are just simply, my friends, determined to save themselves from some dreadful, desolate condition that must come upon them.

[39:20] Now, friends, faith goes a lot further than that, you know. Oh, it does. There is no real faith here, you know. No exercise of real faith here.

[39:33] Here is a despairing petition, a petition just simply to save oneself from a most dreadful and fearful doom. Let me assure you of this, my friends, there have been many, many poor sinners that have seen hell staring them in the face, and they've known that that is the rightful judgment of God upon them.

[39:58] They've had to say within their heart, if my soul be sent to hell, thy righteous law approves it well. But you know, friends, when a person comes under conviction of sin with gracious purpose of God and of the Holy Ghost, he doesn't leave them there.

[40:16] Doesn't leave them there. No, they go on to plead for Jesus sake that God might have mercy upon them. And in the end, my friends, they are pleading that God may be honored and Christ may be exalted in the matter of their salvation.

[40:32] They desire that Christ may be lifted up in this matter and faith is exercised toward the dear Lamb of God. I've heard a few agonizing cries from the lips of men when they face death, but sometimes I've wondered, my friends, whether in that agonizing cry, there's been any real faith in Christ, you know, any real faith in Christ.

[41:01] I mean, this word, oh, it does search me here. Is my prayer like the devil's only? Just simply to be delivered from some trouble or some torment, some fearful thing, some awful abyss?

[41:15] Is that all it is? Is there no love to God? Is there no desire for Jesus? Is there no longing that this blessed one who suffered, bled and died for guilty men might be exalted above all things?

[41:29] And that through his condescension the glory of the Lord in the riches of his grace might be revealed? Is it only just, my friends, to be merely saved from doom and nothing that would seek the glory of God in Jesus Christ?

[41:45] Well, here we have before us, you see, the prayer of the devils. And, of course, it was granted, but only to their own destruction. Don't think that I'm suggesting that I understand the whole of this narrative, I don't, friends.

[42:03] There are deeps here that I do not understand. I don't understand what it means about going out into the deep, not fully, nobody can.

[42:13] I hope you'll never understand it experimentally, to be plunged down into the deep. God deliver you from that. And, my friends, I'm sure of this, we shall only know it subjectively, when there, a poor sinner, saved by grace, gets to heaven, and the Lord shows us what we are saved from, and what we are saved to.

[42:38] Then we shall understand the meaning of the deep. deep. Then we shall understand the meaning of the deep. Either we shall know it, my friends, to our groaning and sighs to all eternity, or else, my friends, we shall know it to the glory and praise of God to all eternity, because we now see that which we have been saved from by his grace.

[43:08] Then I notice also there was another kind of prayer, another beseeching in this chapter, and that was when the other people in Gadara hear about the swine having gone down the steep place into the lake, and they have perished there, and they come out to the city, and they see this man clothed in his right mind, and we read, they are full of fear, and they ask the Lord Jesus Christ to depart from them.

[43:35] they have lost their property, and they don't want to lose any more, and because they value their property more than they value the Lord Jesus Christ, they ask him to leave them.

[43:49] my friends, if you value your property more than the Lord Jesus Christ, if you value your comforts and your possessions more than the Lord Jesus Christ, you're in the gravest of danger of asking the Lord Jesus Christ to leave.

[44:10] And friends, if the Lord shall leave you and me, we're in the most dreadful and terrible position that man or woman can ever know, and the same thing applies to nations, and I believe that's what God is doing to our nation now, he's leaving us alone, to our own sinful devices.

[44:26] There can be no more dreadful judgment that can come upon any nation than for a nation to ask God to leave them, and thereby their actions dismiss him from their counsels, and he leaves them to their own devices, and at last they sink down into most dreadful desolation in the end.

[44:43] Oh, my friends, may God, by the riches of his grace, cause a little remnant in this country, to cry to the Lord not to leave them, not to leave them, but to still manifest his power and grace in the midst of the land.

[44:58] But I feel I must emphasize this most solemnly, that the Lord, my friends, should take heed to the prayer, the beseeching of the people of Gadara, and he should take ship and leave their coast, because they ask him to go.

[45:12] mind you, I know there's a record later on in one of the gospels in which I think he goes back again. If my reading of the chronology of the gospels is correct, I believe he goes back again later on, and it seems to me that the Lord so blessed the witness of this man that was sent home to speak about him, that my friends, the people welcomed him when he came back again.

[45:37] But I leave that aspect of it. Perhaps you may read your Bibles and see what you feel about that. Well now I come, of course, to the words of our text, where, hear this dear man, for whom the Lord hath done so great a thing, he beseeches the Lord Jesus Christ that he might be with him.

[46:02] I should think so. I should think so. Did your deacon the other week give out that hymn? Oh, for a closer walk with God, a calm, a heavenly frame, a light to shine upon the road that brings me to the lamp.

[46:21] Well, you say that's the kind of comfort I want, the presence of the Lord with me, and for me to be permitted to be nigh unto the Lord in sweet spiritual soul experience.

[46:33] It's just what the man wanted, the comfort of Christ, the comfort of Christ. That was it, the comfort of Christ. The comfort of his presence, and the comfort of his word, and the comfort of his miracles, and the comfort of his power.

[46:47] He wanted the comfort that is Christ. It isn't only what Christ does that is the comfort of his people, it's his person, it's his person. That's it, that's the comfort, it's the person of Christ that is the comfort of the dear people of God.

[47:03] And here the Lord, you say, he refuses his request. I told you friends, the Lord is a sovereign, you know, in this matter. He's a sovereign. Do you know, it seems to me, perhaps you may feel differently about this, I don't know, but it seems to me that the Lord virtually says to this man, my dear child, because that's what he was, he was the Lord's child.

[47:29] You see, saved from a dreadful, dreadful possession of devils, the Lord's child, the Lord's beloved. He belongs to him, his own property. My friends, see what the redeemer has done, he's broken the very thralldom of this man's spirit and set him free.

[47:49] Now he says to him, my child, your comforts will come. There will be a time when you will be with me forever and ever. But that time of comfort for you has not yet come.

[48:04] I have something else for thee to do. And in my wisdom and my love I appoint to you that you shall go home and tell them at home what the Lord has done for you, the great things that God has done for you.

[48:19] Of course the dear man might have said in the misunderstanding of his mind if such he laboured under, but I don't think he did. You see, he might have said but Jesus it was you that healed me, that delivered me from the devil, from the host of devils that infested my spirit.

[48:38] Ah, friends, but the dear man doesn't reply like that. It's God. Ah, he says it's God. It's God. It's like the man who hangs upon the other cross by the side of the dear Redeemer in the hour of his agony.

[48:52] You see? And there, my friends, as they have been going on in their blasphemy, suddenly the Lord calls him by grace. There's no other explanation. And he turns to his friend in crime and also his friend in blasphemy and he says, are you not afraid to speak like this?

[49:11] We indeed justly receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he turns to him and he says, Lord, that's the title, the right one.

[49:21] Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Ah, friends, and who taught the man that? You see? In such a few moments, a few seconds, who taught the man that this one hanging upon a cross in agonies and blood is verily the Son of God from all eternity, the Holy Messiah, the Redeemer, the appointed one to save his people from their sins?

[49:46] Who taught him that in so short a time? Well, of course, my friends, it's none other. than the Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of Jesus Christ that teaches him this.

[49:56] That's the one. And so, the Lord turns to this man and he says, return to thine own house and show how great things God hath done unto thee.

[50:09] Don't forget, when you speak about this, although you will mention my name, my precious name, the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, an unparalleled name, although you will mention that name, don't forget to go home and tell what God hath done for thee.

[50:27] My Father, myself, my Holy Spirit, were three blessed persons in one God, go home and tell them what God has done. But it was God the Father's purpose that you should be delivered from this bondage.

[50:41] And it was the Son's mighty operation whereby you were delivered. And it's the Holy Spirit's work that will be with you and accompany you and indwell you so that you'll be able to proclaim what God hath done for your soul.

[50:55] That's what you must do. You must go home and declare what God has done for your soul. And if you feel weak and helpless and people won't listen, remember this, I've commanded thee, and rest upon that, that it's my word, my command, my promise with the command.

[51:10] that's the one who has told thee to do this. And the word of the Lord shall not return to him, boy, but it shall accomplish the thing whereto he is pleased to send it. And so, friends, although the actual prayer of this man wasn't answered, the Lord appoints for him a blessed, glorious task to go home and declare what God hath, the great things that God hath done for him.

[51:37] I'm afraid, friends, most of us are rather apt to put our lights under bushels. You say, well, I haven't got much light. Well, surprising, my friends, on a very dark night, how far the light of a very flickering candle will carry.

[51:52] Isn't it? Have you ever thought about it? So you haven't got much light. Well, my friend, it's surprising, you know, surprising how that little flickering light will carry a long distance on a very dark, clear night.

[52:06] God's light. So it is with some of those who feel that they've got very, very little light and perhaps very little to talk about. And sometimes they think it's better to be done than to go on just muttering over a few little things that even they themselves have to put a good deal of discredit upon.

[52:26] Well, friends, here's the word. Of course, the Lord had done a great thing for this man. Go home. Go home. Go home to thine own house and show how great things God hath done unto thee.

[52:40] And he went, is why, and published throughout the whole city how great things God had done unto him. Now, the time's really gone, friends, but I just want to leave two other thoughts with you before we conclude.

[52:54] The first of these is this, that as we go on further in the chapter, we shall find that there's another dear man that besieges Jesus Christ to do something for him.

[53:05] He asked Jesus to come to his own home because his own little daughter is ill. That's how Mark puts it, I believe. My little daughter is ill. The word little there isn't only just simply the fact that she was very young and very small, but it's a term of endearment.

[53:21] He says, oh, how I love her. How I love her. So, my friends, the people of God, loved as they are of God, sometimes find that loved ones are greatly afflicted.

[53:37] But I do want you to notice that when loved ones are greatly afflicted, friends, it can be an occasion in the Lord's hand to bring that poor, afflicted one who bears the affliction of the other before the Lord at the throne of his grace and give him much liberty and enlargement in prayer and to strengthen his faith to believe in God even in the face of death itself.

[54:03] Now, here's the kind of man. Here's the man that the Lord has done another great thing from who comes to the feet of Jesus and he falls down there and besought him that he would come into his house and heal his daughter.

[54:19] He goes, but as he goes, he's hindered. Well, of course, that's how men talk about it. really, friends, it's just the performing of the purpose of God.

[54:32] You remember another occasion when the Lord Jesus Christ stayed in a certain place and he says to his disciples, I'm glad for your sakes I wasn't there. I wasn't unmindful of the case of Lazarus and his illness, but I'm glad for your sakes I wasn't there, that ye might believe.

[54:50] Believe me. It isn't egotistical when Christ says that. Of course, it isn't, friend. There's only one salvation for any sinner upon this earth and that is believing Christ.

[55:02] No other way. If you're destitute of living faith in Christ, you'll perish miserably. There's only one way. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.

[55:15] As they come, they come believing in him. And him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. So people talk about hindrances, but I talk about the performances of the purposes of God.

[55:28] A woman comes behind and touches the hem of his guard. You say she doesn't praise, she doesn't beseech. My friends, whatever is that stretching out of the hand and the touching of the hem of his guard, if it isn't the answer in practice of the experience of faith within her soul, just as my friends the word of prayer is the answer in practice of the exercise of faith toward a precious Christ.

[55:58] That's real prayer. That's real prayer. She comes and touches the hem of his garment, she says within herself, if I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole.

[56:13] She spent all her money on remedies, she suffered much at the hand of the physician, she's not a little bit better. You'd have thought my friends that anybody who sets himself up as a healer would have been suspect to such a woman as that.

[56:29] But no, not when God gives faith. Do you know this woman seems to go a little bit beyond one of our hymns when she says I can but perish if I go.

[56:42] But this woman says I shall not perish if I go. If I can but touch the hem of his garment I shall be made whole. That strength of faith reads.

[56:55] The Lord doesn't say to this woman where is thy faith and he doesn't say to this woman O ye of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt because he's given her a great faith in his sovereign grace.

[57:08] There that great faith is exercised toward the dear Lamb of God. Oh friends if only in our churches God would turn unto us in the riches of his grace and bless us with this stronger faith.

[57:24] This stronger faith. I'm afraid we're laboring laboring friends under dreadful bondage and dreadful lack and poverty with regard to this.

[57:36] You say well where's the remedy friends the remedy is in Christ and nowhere else. Nowhere else. He only my friends can give faith by his Holy Spirit.

[57:47] but he does give liberally and upbraid not the word sense. The remedy is in Christ. Seek it there. Seek it there. Whatever may be in the way seek it there.

[57:59] Whatever hindrance there is in your spirit seek it there. Even if you feel you've only got a little faith to go with and it's almost extinguished well may God give you grace to go perhaps as you get nearer and nearer to him and you're running after him and you're desiring and you're coming and you're going and you're worshipping and you're praying and you're attending upon services and so on.

[58:21] As you get a little bit nearer and nearer to him you may find that faith begins to strengthen like this dear woman's did and in the end she stretches out her hand toward the hem of his garment.

[58:31] She says I shall be made whole if I can touch him. If thou canst make me clean. Oh and great is thy faith.

[58:42] Go in peace. Be it unto thee as thou will. Oh friends what blessed words of Christ. Oh don't forget this is the answer of a prayer.

[58:52] This beseeching this fervent beseeching of a precious Christ. Of course in the meantime little girls died. This dear little girl has died.

[59:06] Trouble not the master the child is dead. only believe all things are possible to him that believe it. Keep looking to me poor man.

[59:19] I know you've got every course to look somewhere else. Your wife's weeping at home and so are all the people there and they're fetched in the hired mourners and they're all making a noise and their little corpse is on the bed.

[59:31] You've got plenty of other places to look at. But here my friends there's a power with Christ that draws the eye of faith and the heart of faith from that poor troubled man to his own person.

[59:47] We don't know my friends how his feet and legs and knees trembled as he went home but Christ was with him. Christ was with him. That's where the eye is fixed upon Christ.

[59:59] Christ goes into the room with that praying man and the row there is something terrible. Weeping and wailing they're carrying on making a great noise and he puts them all out and he says the damsel is not dead but she sleeps.

[60:18] She's sleeping. She's sleeping. She'll wake up again. I shall raise her from that condition of death in which she is. This isn't the time for the second death to seize upon this dear girl.

[60:34] She'll have life in her body again. They laughed him to scorn knowing that she was dead. If you ever want my friends a proof of the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ listen to that laughter down in that house.

[60:52] There's a girl that was verily dead and they knew she was and they said we know she's dead and it's an occasion for laughter for anybody to say she isn't.

[61:05] They laughed him to scorn. They said he can't do anything. He never had known the case of a child being raised from dead to life again and certainly this man won't be able to do it.

[61:18] Of course my friends you see if you don't believe in the Son of God you don't believe in his power. That's what was the trouble down in that house you see. There was only one man there at that time that really believed in the power of Christ and that's the man that besought him to go to his own house and heal his child.

[61:42] In the meantime the child had died. But Christ's interest, his care, his love, his salvation is still exercised there. He's the same precious redeemer that started out on the journey that comes at last into the house.

[61:59] Damsel I say unto thee arise and she did of course. She did, he takes her by the hand and he lifts her up. All things are possible to him that believe it.

[62:11] All things are possible to him that believe it. My friends just as I close I'd like to say this you know. If we come with our prayers seeking our own self-gratification we shall find there's something sadly lacking in our prayers.

[62:32] But if in our prayers we can come by God's grace looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith we shall find that those prayers are not in vain.

[62:45] I've tried to show you from these lessons this evening it's been a strange sermon I know but I've tried to show you from these lessons this evening that the Lord Jesus Christ does mysteriously deal with prayers he doesn't always answer in the way that we expect to.

[63:04] But my friends if he does forbid that we should have the immediate answer to our prayer as he did to that mad Gadarene that had been so wonderfully restored and who wanted to be with him if he does deny the immediate answer to such a prayer as that be sure of this he will give a very blessed thing very blessed thing I've sometimes said my friends that if the Lord does deny our particular petition it is because in his wisdom and his love he's determined to grant some better thing some better thing that's what he's seeking for his people the best the best that's what he's purchased for his people the best he came into this world to seek and decide that which was lost and give them the best you see that's what he came to do he's able to do exceeding abundant about what we ask of him says the apostle he's determined to give the best may the

[64:07] Lord add his blessing amen Lord will Mr.

[64:19] Kendall and the preacher on Monday next week close with him number 320 June 160 hope God moves in mysterious ways wonders to perform plants his footsteps in the sea rising on the storm 320 June 160 CHOIR erosion Arkansas winner CHOIR SINGS

[65:43] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

[66:45] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS Thank you.