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Very good evening to you all. Those who are alive and remain, that is. Makes you believe in partial rapturism, doesn't it? Having better get onto that subject. Turn with me, please, to Luke's Gospel and chapter nine. Luke's Gospel and chapter uh nine. For the sake of time, we will break in at verse twelve of chapter nine of Luke's Gospel. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve and said unto him, Send the multitude away that they may go into the towns and country round about and lodge and get provision, for we are here in the desert place.
But Jesus said unto them, Give them to eat. And they said, We have no more than five loaves and two fishes, except we should go and buy food for all these people. For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, make them sit down by fifties in a company. Move down, please, to verse twenty eight. When it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and the raiment, and his raiment was white and glistening.
And behold, there talked with him two men who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his decease, which should accomplish, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake, they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass, as they departed from him, that Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three booths, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. While he thus spoke, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
Drop down to verse thirty eight, please. And behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech you, look upon my son, for he is mine only child. And lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and it teareth him so that he foameth again, and bruising him, hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and, uh, bear with you? Bring thy son here. Verse forty six, please.
And there arose reasoning among them, which of them should be the greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child and set him by him, and said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me. Whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me. For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great. And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out demons in thy name, and we forbade him because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us.
And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a village of Samaria to make ready, uh, for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did? And he turned and rebuked them and said, ye know not what manner of spirits ye are of, for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.
And they went to another village. Would you turn now, please, to the first epistle of Corinthians, chapter one, First epistle of Corinthians and chapter one. Reading from verse twenty six, chapter one, First Corinthians. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, whom of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorifieth, let him glory in the Lord. We'll ask God to bless the precious reading of his holy word. Now, last week we looked, didn't we, at something to do with this business of taking up our cross and following our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, from the, uh, two references that we used, we found it was a must, and in failing to do so would mean, in fact, that we were not disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pretty serious stuff. Pretty serious stuff. We learned that there was no middle road. It was either you followed, bearing your cross, or you did not bear your cross, nor follow. And it does seem to me today that we have two groups of Christians. We have the group who love to, uh, call the Son of God Jesus, and true to the meaning of his name, he has forgiven their sin. They have accepted him as their Lord and Savior.
Period. Full stop. Amen. And sadly so finish. But then we have this other group of Christians who not only call him Jesus, but call him the Lord Jesus, for indeed he is Lord of their life. And dear friends, when we read such verses as, uh, Romans chapter twelve verse one and two, we realize, don't we, that great gift that God gave of his son Jesus Christ. It is then indeed our most reasonable service to render our lives not a dead offering, not a dead sacrifice, but a living sacrifice unto God, that he who has bought us with his precious blood should have his leadership over us.
That indeed our cross bearing may not be irksome, but indeed a privilege. Yes, maybe it may be to suffer for Christ, but indeed there is no greater joy in life than to suffer for Christ. It's suffering with a purpose, you see. And how often in suffering we find precious lessons to be learnt. Last week we, uh, closed out with a little story, didn't we, about that grandchild who was walking down the street with his grandpa. You remember? The sun was shining from behind them, and the little boy's fascinated with these two shadows that are, uh, uh, moving along in front of them, and he tries to cross over his grandpa's, uh, uh, shadow and tries to lose himself, doesn't he?
And he can't quite manage it until he grabs hold of grandpa's hand, and he's walking right close to grandpa now. In fact, they're walking in steps, and hey, all of a sudden there's just one big shadow, grandpa's shadow, and the little boy shouts out to grandpa, hey, look, grandpa, I'm lost in you. The secret of discipleship, isn't it? Of losing ourselves in Jesus Christ. And having lost self and living for Christ, then indeed is our joy full here below. Sometimes though, sadly to say, as we have said, that there are many who, uh, have never taken up their crosses, and, uh, when questioned, it's often that they fear that they will fail.
They fear that they may not be able to keep up the standard. They fear that the cost may be too much, but invariably it is their fear of weakness. You know, I'm reminded of Moses of old. My, that man had a mouthful of excuses for God, didn't he, when God says, hey, listen, I want you to do a little job for me. I want you to lead the children out of captivity through the Red Sea, cross the wilderness for forty years, and pop them into the Promised Land for me. Just a little weekend job, huh? Moses, well, he balked at it, didn't he? He's, well, Lord, you've got the wrong one. I'm not articulate, I'm not this, that, and all the other, and uh, it seems as though the Almighty said, well, that's the very reason I chose you.
That's the very reason I chose you. And talking about this business of being hidden in the Lord, you take Moses as a prime example of this. There he was, he was hidden in the bulrushes, wasn't he? He was hidden in Pharaoh's palace, wasn't he? He was then hidden in the wilderness. He was so hidden in the desert, he was hidden in the rock, and finally he was hidden in his grave. He seems to have spent most of his life hidden. But my, the scripture's got a fair bit to say about Moses, hasn't it? And his mighty exploits for God, as he toiled with those stubborn, stiff-necked generation of Jews that were miraculously brought out of Egypt.
It really does give us evidence, doesn't it, about this business of losing ourselves in him in order that he may live through us and use us. So then, was that perhaps your worry, as we concluded out last Sunday night, that that's all well and good, Brother Lacey, for you to speak like that, but you see, I'm just not made of this sort of stuff that can enable me to be a true disciple, therefore I will not be taking up my cross, for I fear to fail. I fear to fail. Luke chapter, uh, six uh, verses twelve through sixteen would tell us much of the failings of the disciples.
And I thought for a, a strange form of encouragement tonight, we would have a look at this motley crew that the Lord selected and walked three and a half some years with and sought to train as his disciples. And I trust and hope and pray that you will find as much encouragement through them and through what eventually the Lord did through them as I have done myself. In Luke six verse uh twelve we read this, and it came to pass in those days that Jesus went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.
And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve. whom he also named apostles, Simon, whom he also named Peter, Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon called Zealots, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. I find it interesting that our Lord Jesus Christ went himself and, as it were, hid himself in a mountain that previous night.
All night long. Not a wink of sleep, but in total communication and communion with his heavenly father. For the next day, he had to descend that mountain and pick out twelve of these to be his disciples. Those who would follow him, those who would watch every movement, every glance from that eye, every action of that hand, every footstep that would walk, and every syllable that dropped out of his lips.
And so he cho- chose, uh, and chooses these twelve. And in Luke chapter nine, as we read, we have, as it were, a very, very sort of in a nutshell view of some of the attitudes, some of the characteristic traits of these twelve disciples. Open your Bibles again, please, at Luke chapter nine and go there to begin with at verse twelve and you'll see that these disciples, they were only interested in working office hours. They were nine to five disciples. I guess they would have liked, perhaps, to have had the occasional public holiday.
And of course, they hadn't got Easter, and they hadn't got really sort of Christmas rigged up in those days, so perhaps they, they missed out on those. But it was getting towards the close of day, and they wanted to round things off nicely, and they didn't want too much more bother. Certainly didn't want to have to feed this motley crew that had surrounded the Lord. Five thousand men plus their wives and children. Goodness only knows how many there would have been in total there, hey? Do we get a bit like that sometimes? Hm? I'd have a bit time off church, hm? Like to please, um, have a vacation from church. Heard recently how some Christians, when they go on vacation, they take a vacation from church as well.
I can't quite really understand that myself, but perhaps that's something peculiar with me. Drop down to verse thirty two and we find these privileged three taken out from the twelve, taken up the mountain with the Lord for a very intimate experience, and what do they do? They go to sleep on the job. They go to sleep on the job. Can you believe this? Here are these three chosen of God, of the Lord, to experience this intimate fellowship with him, and they're asleep. Now, of course, we never go to sleep in services here at church, do we?
I mean, we just wouldn't even think about it now, would we? I mean, we we we come purposely refreshed so that we won't, don't we? Another pity that sometimes we do, though, hmm? Drop down to verse thirty three, impetuous Peter. He opens his mouth, he hasn't put his brain in gear, and he hardly knows what's coming out. Is that the wise way of Christians to speak? Especially in the presence of the Lord? Or are our hearts prepared before we open our mouths? In fact, so, uh, out of, uh, uh, the, uh, situation, and and Peter's mind is in such a situation that on one occasion the Lord had to turn around and rebuke him and even call him Satan, didn't he?
Go on down to verse forty. Here we find the disciples totally powerless to help the needy. There they were, they confronted them on every hand. Was it their diminished faith? Was it they hadn't got the right tools? We have the needy all around us, don't we? Dear me, we can certainly identify with these twelve disciples now, can't we? Go down to, uh, verse 49 there, look, and see how intolerant John and the others could become, uh, when they saw a little competition, as it were, hmm? Verse fifty four, see there how James and John, how how they lacked Christian love.
You know, sometimes we, uh, maybe unfairly call these ragtag bunch of men a little uncouth, a little unlearned. But you know, they remind me, don't they, of, uh, Isaiah forty two verse three: a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. The tireless patience that our Lord had with these men, eh? And let's admit it, the tireless patience he has with us too, hmm? This is, seems to me, the raw material that our Lord Jesus Christ is more willing to work with than he is with the highly educated, the well-off of society.
For as we read in one Corinthians chapter one verse twenty six, for you see, brethren, how that not many wise men are chosen after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things that are, uh, despised has God chosen, yes, and the things which are not to bring to naught the things that are, that are, here we are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. It is indeed most moving, isn't it, when we see God work through our lives and make them an impact on others, and we cannot, dare we, uh, we cannot take that glory for ourselves, can we?
Indeed, to see God work at all through our lives is one of the greatest privileges to us, his blood-bought children, and that we should hold back because of seeming thought of weakness. Let us admit that there is nothing in us, and that we need to give ourselves wholly and unreservedly to our Lord for his service, in order that he can take of these frail things and turn them into something strong, something effective. Our Lord is not looking for the perfect, but he is looking to perfect with love that which is imperfect. We ask the question, don't we?
Are we willing? First of all, are we willing to admit that, yes, we are weak, we are frail, we are prone to falling, to failure, to inconsistencies, to unfaithfulness? And now is the time to come and say, well, Lord, now that you happen to mention this, I have to confess that it's very true about me. I can begin to identify myself as being right in the middle of those twelve disciples and being no better than them. And how I need your Holy Spirit to come into my life on a daily basis. Yes, dear friends, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God when we accept Jesus Christ, but how much do we allow him to roam free in our daily lives?
One wrote this, are you willing to fail in following, or are you scared to fail so you won't follow at all? It's rather telling, isn't it? Are you willing to fail in following, or are you scared to fail so you won't follow at all? I thought we would have a look at these twelve disciples then this evening. Take them one by one. I thought perhaps we would, um, what do you think, about half an hour a disciple? That cut it down to about six hours, wasn't it?
Now, it's Sunday night, we haven't much else to do after this, have we? There's a bunch of on the satellite or the cable, no else to do nothing. Well, we might as well just plod on, might and we enjoy ourselves for the next six hours. Sit back, put your feet up, and don't go to sleep, like these three disciples did on the mountain. If I see your eyelids flicker longer than a millisecond, I shall call your name publicly. We will see how we will go. First of all, our dear friend Peter, what a lovely character. The first and the last words of our Lord Jesus Christ to Peter were what? Peter, follow me.
Peter, follow me. The very first words to Peter, follow me. Very last words to Peter, follow me. Did he? Well, I guess he did, yes. After a style. You know, when we look through Peter's life, dearo, dearo me, he seems to stumble more than he does to follow, doesn't he? And oh, what lessons we can learn. First of all, this dear chap, he, he seems to have failed the Lord in Mark eight, doesn't he? Where the Lord has to rebuke him. He failed the law by not walking on the water in Matthew fourteen. He speaks, as we've already discussed in Matthew seventeen out of turn.
He wants to turn the people away in Luke nine. The Lord has to deal with his racial attitudes in Acts chapter ten. Not to forget John eighteen where we see Tika, poor, poor Peter, denying his Lord three times. Why? Because he followed. Oh yes, he was following, but at a distance. He followed at a distance. Peter seems to me to be like a toddler. He's young, he's enthusiastic, he's full of the fun of life, but he's too eager to walk. In fact, he's not content with walking, he wants to run.
And of course, the many times he falls over, he bruises his knees, and he has to be giving, been given a hand up, the knees dusted down, as it were. And so we see our Lord there at the end of his time here upon earth, coming graciously to Peter and asking him, hey Peter, do you love me? Peter, I asked you to follow me, but Peter, there's been times when you've failed me. Is it because of your lack of love? We can turn that question around to ourselves, can't we?
We can use it as a mirror. We can, uh, identify in many of those situations with Peter. We could almost put our name in Peter's name, couldn't we? And perhaps we ought to put our name there, uh, o- on that situation when our Lord Jesus Christ confronted Peter, when he asked him, uh, Peter, do you love me? Dear friends tonight, how much do we love our Lord Jesus Christ? How much do we truly love the Lord Jesus Christ? Is our love to be matched with his love as unconditional love?
Will we just love the Lord Jesus Christ because of what we have obtained from him, or will we love him for who he is? Love him for who he is. Hey, it's easy to love somebody who gives you gifts, isn't it? I mean, you can snatch those gifts, go off, enjoy them, but never have much regard for the giver. In fact, you can take advantage of them, you can take them for granted, in fact. You can abuse their generosity, can't you? Are we guilty of this at all? By denying him the access of our life.
Sometimes because we use the excuse we're afraid to fail, and so we never follow. Wonder if we have any preachers here this evening. Hmm? Are you willing then to fail in following? Or are you scared to fail, so you're not going to bother to follow at all? God forbid. Let's move on to James, shall we? James, of course, was the second of the chosen three, that inner group, wasn't he? Is he any better than Peter? Well, he's the son of Zebedee, who, uh, seems to have been a wealthy man, had servants and so on, so, uh, maybe it was Peter, he was from a lower class, and therefore, uh, well, he was just a bit sort of too rough, wasn't he, around the edges.
Maybe the Zebedee's, uh, son, having come from a better background, might be a a little better, you think? Doesn't appear to be so to me. He is, of course, the brother to John. I wonder what an influence he was to John, or what an influence John was to him, come to that matter. And here we are too, when you come to think of it, brothers and sisters in Christ, what influences for good, bad, or indifferent are we on our brothers and sisters? Both he, that is James, and his brother John were known as the sons of thunder. My word, I'd uh, I'd have liked to have joined them in an open-air preaching ministry, wouldn't you?
They'd have been heard from the center of the city to the city boundaries. They were of loud voice, they were full of zeal, they were bursting to go out and do it. They were great hustlers, as we would say. But a closer study of James would reveal that he was very short-tempered. He was judgmental. He was conceited and very strongly opinionated. Sort of guy, if, uh, things didn't go his way, he either took the whole thing and went his way, or he wouldn't be much of a part of it. James is a little like Peter, I think, don't you?
He's a, he's a little quick to shoot off his mouth. He's soon called, uh, seen calling fire down from heaven like Eli- Elijah. He's quick to ask for the top job and the most important job in heaven. He's got completely the wrong concept of the Lord's ministry, and he's that self-centered and selfish, the things beyond a joke. In actual fact, if he were to be here in Nassau tonight, I think we would use that local expression, he's bigoted, or he's bigoty. But, you know, like Peter, when his life is surrendered to the Holy Spirit, wow, what happens then?
Here's Peter, who's been blundering around these last three and a half years, when the Holy Spirit breaks into his life, he's standing up and he's bold and preaching, isn't he? They're hearing in their own language. These are unlearned, uneducated men that God has taken up to you. What a different picture. What a different picture. In fact, James was one of the first, well, he was the first of the twelve disciples who was, uh, uh, uh, martyred for his faith. In fact, he was faithful right to the very end of his Christian walk. Now that's something to be able to say and be said to people today, isn't it?
So many folks are seemingly losing their faith or getting so buried into the things of this world, you wonder if there's any sign of spiritual life left at all. You know, when I see these strong traits of James, when you see the potential of men like this and Peter, you yearn to see them surrender these strong wills of theirs to the Lord. These guys, as we can see and know, were tremendous missionaries for the Lord, weren't they? They were tremendous men of God in their own right.
Dear friends, are you strong-willed? Strong-minded? Does it get you in trouble? Does it cause dissension with your friends, those you live with? Those same qualities in discipleship, in cross bearing, are just what the Lord is looking for. If we give them over to his control, if we submit them to his will, my, think of what the Lord could do with them compared with what we try and use them for ourselves, for our own gain, for our own satisfaction, all of which is going to fail, all of which is transient, all of which is temporary, compared with giving and using these gifts for the Lord for the everlasting glory of his name.
We better run on, otherwise we will be here till midnight. What about his younger brother James, third of the inner three, of course, the son of Zebedee? Well, of course, John is the one who wrote the gospel, isn't he? He also wrote three epistles, and he wrote the revelation of Jesus Christ. Surely then John must be better than these other two put together. Well, it's possible, isn't it? What I do find about John is, though, he's the one to be found living probably the closest to the Lord. It's John, isn't it, who's found there reclining at supper, and what a beautiful picture that is of, uh, uh, John there reclining on the bosom of the Lord.
Resting there so peacefully. Able to hear the heartbeat. Being surrounded by the, uh, comfort of the Lord's embrace. I always remember in those days when I used to travel extensively in the UK, coming home towards the end of the week, the children having stayed up to see daddy come home. My daughter was very young there and was only just able to stay up until the hour I'd return. And within a few minutes of being through the front door and laying off on the layoff chair and putting her on my chest, she was out to the camp, gone. What a pretty picture it was. Peace, security, unconditional love, and she rested, and she slept.
Dear friends, this is where we need to first come and find that rest, that comfort, that security, experience his unconditional love. It's then not surprising, isn't it, that John's epistles tell us so much about that fellowship and walk. It's not surprising that his gospel would enlighten us on the deep spirituality of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the contrast of spiritual darkness and spiritual light, the impossibility for man to know God unless he comes to the eternal. Also not surprising that while he's in Patmos with the same strong nature as his brother and judgmental attitudes and short-temperedness and self-opinionated, uh, uh, ability that he had, that there in the revelation you see a tempered, judgmental nature bursting through in his writing.
There you see him, even though he's incarcerated and in exile there, he's where? He's in the spirit on the Lord's Day. He's not foaming at the mouth. He's not cursing and bringing fire down from heaven like Elijah did. In fact, he's so intimate with God in the spirit on the Lord's Day that the Lord visits him and imparts the whole of the revelation, all twenty two chapters of it, and says, hey, write this one off to the seven churches for me, please. Wow, what a privilege. And as many countries, tribes, nations, groups of people who have the Bible in their language have had the privilege of reading John's writing.
Because John submitted his strong wills and natures and his abilities and qualities to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Does it encourage you, dear friends, as it encourages me? Not to worry about failing to follow, but to follow knowing you will fail, but he is able to forgive and restore and set us on our feet again, rejoicing. Let's move on to Andrew because time is really going fast. I know Andrew, uh, he- he- he's a little more of an encouragement in some respects.
He's a quick learner, you see. He tends to pick up things quickly. He only had to hear the messages of John the Baptist, and he was off. He was off on a run. He goes off to get his brother and also Nathaniel, and uh, he's a, he's a soul winner in early days, isn't he? You, you don't seem to be able to shut this guy up. He wants to witness, witness all the time, and it's beautiful, it's lovely, isn't it? But then again, when it comes to that uh, big crowd that needed feeding, well, the faith doesn't seem to be quite there. What is it, just these few fish and these couple of loaves of bread, Lord? I mean, it's impossible to feed this lot.
Seems his faith only went so far, doesn't it? Do you know that this same Andrew in church history is reported to have been the first missionary to Russia? That's something, eh? Some of us have been there, done that, got the t-shirt and seen the video, as the expression goes, and left a few behind the Bibles behind us. But here was the first man who was willing to leave home, use that insatiable thirst that he had for the gospel and the love of Christ in his heart to go and share it with others. He too was martyred for his faith.
He too was faithful to the very end. Do we have any Andrews here tonight like that? That love and appreciate the Lord so much they're bursting at the seams to go and tell somebody else? They are prepared to leave home, prepared to leave loved ones, because the call of the gospel to the needy. Hey, I'd welcome you back in England. England, the country that sent out more missionaries than any other country put together, is in desperate need of missionaries. The country is so godless. I wouldn't dare speak of Wales, that's not my principality.
Nor Scotland, nor Ireland, but I do know about England. Let's move on to Philip, shall we? Dear Philip, now this little chap, he's, he's a little unsure of your s- uh, of himself, you know? He's not very confident, and he, he, he tends to doubt. He also is there questioning the feeding of the five thousand. He's not also very sure as to what to do with those Greeks who want to meet with Jesus, is he? And off he goes to get his stronger-natured brother Andrew. But he is there in Acts chapter one verse thirteen. He's right there with the disciples there. He's praying and he's supplicating the throne of God, and he's also in unity with his brethren.
What a dear, lovely, precious brother this guy is. No, he- he- he's never in the limelight. He doesn't seem to have any desire to be in the limelight, but he's your faithful brother. I would imagine he would be the one that when the church doors are open, he'll be right in the pew. He would be the one to make sure that everything ran smoothly. He would have the church set out just so. Not prominent, no, but loyal, faithful. It's interesting, dear Christian brother and sister in Christ, isn't it, to see all these varying ability- abilities having a very important part.
Sometimes we tend to, uh, admire those with a public ministry more than those with the, the quieter, more backroom ministry. But hey, those with a public ministry could never perform, unless it was those who were faithful in the background. I wonder if we see a Philip lurking inside our breasts, do we? A little shy, a little reserved, not one to desire the limelight of public ministry. How God cherishes your abilities, your qualities, and would love, and is waiting to put them to work.
What about Bartholomew, otherwise known also as Nathaniel? Introduced to the Lord by Philip. Couldn't believe that anything good could come out of Nazareth, could he? And so Philip drags him along to see the Lord. The Lord tells him he sees him under the fig tree even before, uh, he saw the Lord. Hmm. Wonder if I talk to one here tonight who's waiting for some blinding revelation from the Almighty this evening. And not willing to follow till he gets one. Well, maybe God might be gracious to you, but, uh, in this day and age in which we live, it tends to come more by the visitation of God's Holy Spirit, pricking the conscience, first of all, doesn't it?
Convicting us of our need of Christ as our Savior. Convicting us of our sinful nature and the sins that we have committed against God and against others and against ourselves. I wonder if you tonight would come, as uh Nathaniel did on that occasion, and make a a co- complete and full confession that he is the Son of God, this Jesus. That he is the King of Israel. And that he needs to be your savior. And so great is his faith that the Savior says he will see greater things.
And so shall we who exercise our faith too, won't we? And sometimes it starts from just little things, doesn't it? But those little things have tendencies of growing into bigger things, don't they? Until we feel safe and confident to take a leap in the dark of faith, knowing in whom we are trusting, for we have experienced him in lesser situations before. Are we ready then to change our stubborn beliefs? Are we ready to confess? Are we ready to see and to do greater things? Are we a Nathaniel? Or are we willing to fail in following, or too scared to follow at all?
What about Matthew? He was very different from most of them, wasn't he? He was that man who was so bitterly despised by the locals, his own fellow countrymen. He was ranked together with the, uh, thieves and the murderers and the traitors of their country and culture. They, uh, used to, uh, collude with the Romans, didn't they, these tax collectors, as Matthew's occupation was. No, he was certainly no fisherman, but nevertheless, when the Savior called his name, he didn't say pardon, did he?
He didn't say, what, you calling me or you calling him? He arose and he followed immediately. Instantaneous was his reaction. What a step of faith. There is no way that Matthew could have walked back into his job again after being with the Lord, was there? To some extent, and they did do it too, didn't they, those fishermen, they could go back to fishing. Dear friends, when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no way we're going to go back into our old life, is there?
Is there? To those old, greedy, selfish ways, ways of extortion, deriving great profits out of those who aren't as well off as ourselves. Other than possibility of Matthew having a bit of a banquet to say goodbye to his old cronies and use it as a time of testimony, Matthew went on with the Lord. And what did the Lord use of Matthew and his accountancy ability? Well, you wouldn't have thought that the Lord could have used an accountant any more than you would have thought he could have used a lawyer. Excuse me, brother. But he did, didn't he?
Look what I did to Paul. You read Romans. What a lawyer's mind. And the accountant's mind, what did he do with that? Well, of course, Matthew was a Jew, wasn't he? And what an incredible gospel we have written by Matthew. Specifically and most accurately, it portrays the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the King of the Jews. It speaks often of his kingdom too, doesn't it? Ah, isn't it wonderful when the Lord can use our profession, our career to his end and to his glory? It thrills my heart these days to know of young people who have used their college degrees to go to countries where missionaries are forbidden to go, but they've gone there as an accountant, they've gone there as a legal clerk, they've gone there as a nurse or a doctor, and because they are present using those qualities and qualifications, they're also using their Christian life very gently, sometimes totally undercover, sometimes privately and very secretly, sometimes living in very dangerous conditions.
There are some missionaries that I know of who communicate back home with England through letters to the Times newspaper of England in the personal column, and that is the only contact they have with anybody outside their sphere of labor for the Lord in Islamic countries. Demand our respect, don't they? Demand our prayers, don't they? Dear friends, what capabilities do we have, hmm? That may be unique to us, that God would love to take and to use.