View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Now shall we read together in the word of God from 2 Corinthians 3:12.
[00:00:08] Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech. And are not as Moses who put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel should not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.
[00:00:26] But their minds were heartened. For until this very day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remaineth it not being revealed to them, that it is done away in Christ.
[00:00:39] But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart. But whensoever they shall turn to the Lord, the veil taken away.
[00:00:53] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
[00:01:17] Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving. That the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
[00:02:00] For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake, seeing it is God that said light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[00:02:38] I just want to turn you to one or two scriptures this evening. First of all, in the passage that we read together in 2 Corinthians 3:18.
[00:02:54] But we all with unveiled face beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
[00:03:16] But we all with unveiled face beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit, the unveiled face, Chapter four and verse six, seeing it is God that said light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and then, if you turn to Ephesians 1 well known verse, verse 17 and 18, the prayer of the Apostle Paul for the believers at Ephesus and elsewhere, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward, who believe according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand.
[00:05:33] What I like to do this evening, as the Lord enables me, is to speak about vision. Now, there are a number of times when we have spoken about vision, its necessity, and so on.
[00:05:49] I shall say some things that we've said before, and I trust that we will move into some areas that perhaps we have not mentioned in connection with vision before. But if I was to be asked by any one of you, or by anyone for that matter, who knows the Lord, what do you consider to be one of the most vital necessities in the Christian life, or in the service of the Lord, or in the building of the church, I think I would answer almost without hesitation that it is this matter of vision.
[00:06:34] It is this matter of seeing the Lord with the eyes of our heart. It is this matter of having an unveiled face. You see, it appears that there is a terrible possibility that believers can still somehow have a veil on their face, that in some terrible way, having been saved by the grace of God, we can have a veil over our faces, either brought there by sin or by unbelief, again, disbelief, or in some other way of compromise, which is the same thing which stops us from really seeing the Lord, to see the Lord for the light of God, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to shine into our hearts. We need an unveiled face.
[00:07:37] We need there to be no barrier between us and the Lord. And it is so interesting, the Apostle Paul writing this great letter to the church at Ephesus, which was almost the high water mark of the whole Bible. If it is not the high water mark, he touches, as it were, the heights and the depth, the breadth and the length of our so great salvation of the purpose of God.
[00:08:07] He sort of stops having introduced the whole matter and tells us what his prayer is. He had no need to do that. He had no need to tell us what his prayer was. He could have kept all that in the background and prayed on for the church at Ephesus. But evidently the apostle felt constrained. We realize it was by the Spirit of God to put down into black and white what his prayer burden was for the people who were going to read this letter.
[00:08:34] This, to me reveals that you can read the Bible and still not see. You can study biblical doctrine and still not see. Somehow or other you can get acquainted with scripture as Scripture, and Biblical truth as biblical truth. And yet somehow the living, creative, active nature and character of the Word of God is a stranger to us.
[00:09:05] It is perhaps one of the most wonderful things in a Christian's life when he knows the power of the Word of God to convict him, to convince him or her to change us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, for that Word, as it were, to come out of the page and get into us. May the Word of Christ dwell in you, richly receiving the implanted or inborn Word of God. James writes another place.
[00:09:42] This, then, that we're speaking about this evening is of tremendous importance. And so, although some of you, many of you have heard me speak before about the necessity of spiritual vision, the first thing I would underline without and emphasize without any apology once more, is the necessity of spiritual vision. If you and I are ever going to stand like a rock in the days that lie ahead, it will only be because we endure as seeing him who is invisible.
[00:10:24] Anyone who is relying on second hand experience or the props of fellowship will finally be found out when that day comes.
[00:10:37] If you and I are going to go through, and those days may be nearer than we think, if you and I are going to be as rock like as our Lord Jesus Christ and so many in the early church, it must be because we are people who have spiritual vision. Spiritual vision always establishes a person. Spiritual vision always steadies a person.
[00:11:08] It puts something of the rock like nature of God into their beings, into their lives. And we see this all the way through the Word. Again, I must say that if we are to serve the counsel of God in our own generation, then we need such vision. You can serve the counsel of God according to a past generation, with a certain amount of intelligence. That's all you need, because all you have to do is to keep to a routine that's been established in a past generation. There are those, for instance, who will serve the Lord according to something God did in the Reformation. And we've still got the sort of routine, if you like, with us. Or there are those who will Go a little further and serve the Lord according to what the Lord did in the great Wesleyan revivals? Or are those who will go a little further and serve the Lord as what he did in the great Brethren movement? Or there will be those who go further than that and perhaps would feel that they can serve the Lord according to some of the things God did at the beginning of this century, in the 1906 revivals and so on that swept around the world. But all that, in one sense, does not require vision. You can just be in the sort of general aftermath of history.
[00:12:37] God did something so many years ago in such and such a generation, and something has become established which at that time was much spoken against, which was everywhere a sign spoken against.
[00:12:53] But now it's become accepted and acceptable and respectable. And you can therefore just coast along on the value of it. Now, what I'm saying is not for one single moment meant to kind of put a question mark over what God did in these times. For everything God did at any point in church history, we, by the grace of God, have come into its richness.
[00:13:18] But to have vision, if you and I are to serve the counsel of God in our own generation, I suggest we need vision. For only spiritual vision creates faith in us to stand out for God. Only spiritual vision enables us to obey the Lord in what he is doing, his command, His Word to us in the day in which we live. Though it may be spoken against, though it may be unpopular, though it may be derided, we can stand out with the Lord because we've seen something. Something has gripped us.
[00:13:55] Of course, when we speak about vision, we are not talking about visions.
[00:14:03] We are talking about vision, understanding, spiritual perception, spiritual seeing.
[00:14:15] It's everywhere in the Bible, of course. We often quote the verse from Proverbs 29:18. Where there is no vision, the people perish, or the people go to pieces.
[00:14:28] And this is a principle wherever we turn in the word of God or in church history.
[00:14:35] Where there is vision, there is cohesion.
[00:14:39] Where there is vision, there is strength and unity. Where there is vision, there is a sense of purpose, of aim.
[00:14:49] Where there is vision, there is also a recognition of divine authority.
[00:14:56] But where there is no vision, the people start to fall to pieces. The cohesion disappears, and disharmony and fragmentation take their place. Even more interestingly, if we look at the word, the Hebrew word, which is translated in the Authorized Version, the people go to pieces. We find it in Exodus, we find that used in connection with the people worshipping the golden calf, where somehow or other they overreach themselves.
[00:15:29] They sort of went wild.
[00:15:31] They sort of went, well, almost let loose, if you know what I mean. And that's exactly the meaning of this word. Where there is no vision, the people can't. They haven't got the wisdom or the understanding to really walk with God in a balanced way. They just swing to anything that happens to come along where that is no vision. Vision is not a luxury. It is a necessity. And I believe that this goes to the root of the whole matter. Because so many of the children of God tend to think that spiritual vision belongs to an elite few, a sort of inner circle of the Lord's particular favorites. He sort of ushers them into his secrets. This is just not true. Spiritual vision is not a luxury. And it's not just for sort of an elite, a spiritual, elite vision. Spiritual vision is a necessity for everyone.
[00:16:42] Wherever we turn, we find it. If we turn to Hebrews 11, we find all the way through the catalogue of these saints who have in one way or another overcome by faith. That vision was the thing that was at the root of the matter. For instance, we read of Abraham in verse 8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
[00:17:45] Again, it says in verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them, having seen them and greeted them afar off? Now just wait. What was this city which Abraham looked for, which had the foundation in the whole of Abraham's life, as recorded in Genesis? We do not find anywhere the record of a city.
[00:18:21] We do not find that he ever came to this city. What is this city which he looked for, which has the foundation, Stephen, in that great message before he was martyred, recorded in Acts 13, said the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, whilst he was in Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia, and said unto him, get thee out unto a place that I will show thee.
[00:19:05] The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham. Now whatever happened in that appearance of the God of glory changed the whole course of Abraham's life.
[00:19:18] He was spoiled for anything less. He was never the same again. And I suggest that when any child of God really sees the Lord, they are spoiled for anything less. There is nothing like seeing the Lord. We can never again be satisfied with this world. We can never again be satisfied with what this world offers. Once we have really seen the Lord with the eyes of our hearts, once we have been given that vision of our Lord, that understanding of him, then something happens to us. We just cannot be the same again.
[00:19:58] The idea that Abraham was some wandering, illiterate Bedouin shepherd with a few scraggy sheep and goats has been put around and believed by many who ought to know better.
[00:20:15] The fact of the matter is that Ur of the Chaldees was no mean city. It was a city of a very sophisticated and advanced form of civilization. It had its banking houses, its postal service. It had its ladies cosmetic shops. It had its hairdressing salons.
[00:20:35] It had all kinds of things which we tend to associate with a rather sophisticated type of culture. Not everyone would, of course, associate all those things with a sophisticated type of culture. But generally speaking, we would tend to. And it is very interesting that quite a lot of modern jewelry that the ladies in particular are so enamored of is now being based upon jewelry from the time of Abraham.
[00:21:07] They've got some eye for line, some artistic sense. They had some level of life. And if rabbinic tradition is anything to go by, Abraham came from no small family in Ur of the Chaldees. He had a very sophisticated life, standard of living and a level of education.
[00:21:30] But something happened to this man that was to turn him from being an urban dweller, a city dweller, into a wanderer in the desert.
[00:21:40] What was it that happened to this man which was to change the whole course of history? What was it that happened to this man that somehow or other so riveted him and took hold of him that he was never the same again? The God of glory appeared unto him.
[00:21:58] And whatever it was he saw in that vision of the Lord, it captured the man. So that even in his sinning he was never the same again.
[00:22:09] That may take some swallowing for some of you. But what I mean is this, that whereas before he might have fallen at some time in Ur of the Chaldees, and it didn't, well, it was just another bondage, another step, perhaps down in bondage. When he fell afterwards, this time it was in a different context.
[00:22:31] Always he was drawn back to the Lord and back again to the purpose of the Lord. And what the Lord had shown him his whole life was summed up then in what he saw.
[00:22:44] And evidently, according to the writer, to the Hebrews, when he saw the God of glory, he saw the city which has the foundation.
[00:22:55] He didn't see the city which has the foundation, whose builder and maker is God as something just, distinct and apart from God. But evidently in that vision, when he saw the Lord, he saw in that instant the whole purpose of God from eternity to eternity. Now, I want to suggest to you again something which some of you will not perhaps be able to understand straight away. But I pray that one day it will slot into place spiritually, as so often these things do. And that is, spiritual things are beyond time.
[00:23:34] And when God reveals something to us, it can be as if we see an eternity in a split second.
[00:23:44] And indeed, we may spend the rest of our lives coming to an understanding of what we saw in that split second when we looked into eternity and saw the Lord.
[00:23:56] All spiritual things are the same. When you catch a glimpse of the Lord. It's not sentimental.
[00:24:03] It is something that somehow is to do with eternity. And in that moment, you may have only seen one aspect, but the rest of your life you will see more and more and more out of that one thing. I can give you an example of this. I can take you right over to the apostle Paul. Where did so much of what the apostle Paul spoke of as the body of Christ? Where did it all begin? It all began with a vision on the road to Damascus, when he saw the Lord and heard that voice coming out of the blinding light, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
[00:24:43] And Saul said, who art thou, Lord?
[00:24:48] And the voice said, I am Jesus. Whom thou persecutest?
[00:24:55] The apostle Paul, or as he was then, Saul, not the apostle Saul, could well have said, but, Lord, I've never persecuted you. You're dead.
[00:25:06] It's these people who are named with your name that I'm after.
[00:25:10] But you see, in that moment, I don't think for a single moment that at that point Paul understood the vision. But later on, the Lord revealed it to him. It was Jesus, said, saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And in that moment, the apostle understood, at least later in his life, why the Lord and his own are absolutely one. If you touch the Christians, the children of God, the redeemed ones of the Lord, you touch him. They are members of Christ. They are one body in Christ. So if you touch the body, you hurt the head.
[00:25:53] And so out of that began to come all his ministry. He saw something. He saw something which was to govern and determine the whole course of his life. And later on, before King Agrippa, he said, wherefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
[00:26:08] He didn't mean some sentimental vision he had on the road to Damascus. He meant that there was something in which when he literally saw the Lord in that blinding light, he saw eternity and he saw the purpose of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and the redeemed of God in him.
[00:26:30] If you want a little more evidence for that, let me turn you again to Galatians 1, 15, 16.
[00:26:42] And this is what the apostle says. But when it was the good pleasure of God who separated me even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, when it pleased the Lord to reveal His Son in me. Not to me, but to reveal His Son in me. So the apostle Paul saw something. Evidently, when it pleased the Lord to reveal his Son in me, did that come out of the Damascus road in some remarkable way? I believe that the apostle later on would have said, if he were here tonight. It all came out of what I saw on that day. I didn't just see a person. I saw eternity. I saw the very purpose of God. I saw that the redeemed of the Lord were in the Lord and the Lord was in them. God revealed to me that His Son was in me.
[00:27:48] Spiritual vision, it's everywhere.
[00:27:53] I often, of course, tell you the story of Moses, because I suppose that's the most vivid illustration of this matter of vision. You know, after 40 years in the desert, when he had settled down at 80 years of age, to a somewhat more quiet life in the backside of the desert and he was out keeping the sheep, one day he saw over on the horizon or somewhere a little way away, he saw a flash of fire. He didn't take any notice of it. That's not such an uncommon sight when a thorn bush just goes up in fire and smoke ignited by the sun.
[00:28:40] But when the bush went on burning for a few minutes, he thought, that's some thorn bush, and went on dreaming his dreams. But a bit later, he turned back after 10 minutes and thought, that is a really big thornbush, and still went on dreaming his dreams. But after 20, 25 minutes, he turned around and saw, that is quite extraordinary. I will go over and see this great sight. And Moses went over to see this extraordinary sight. And as he came near to the thornbush, I think he found that it was probably a very small thornbush, not a very large one at all, but quite an average, ordinary, dried up, dead old thornbush on fire. And he saw that the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. And then out of the midst of the bush came a voice. Moses, Moses, don't come any nearer.
[00:29:39] Take off the shoes from off your feet, for the ground whereon you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
[00:29:57] Now, don't you think that was a remarkable thing, that God got into a thorn bush?
[00:30:02] Only God would do a thing like that. If God had got into a palm tree, think of it, it would at least had a bit more majesty about it. Moses would have looked up and seen that blazing fire up there and thought, my, that is really a remarkable thing.
[00:30:17] And as he came near, he would have heard the Lord saying, moses, Moses, take off the shoes from off your feet. The ground well on it would have all been marvelous. And then Moses could have said, well, of course, you see, this is the palm tree is a symbol of righteousness. And of course, it was the holiness of God.
[00:30:40] The ground whereon you stand is holy.
[00:30:46] I'm going to judge Egypt.
[00:30:49] Or as I've again often said, if it had been the acacia tree, think of what biblical expositors, the joy they would have had. That in your old authorized version, is the shittim twee. Just think that out of that kind of wood, all the furniture of the tabernacle was made. Why, it's a pretty tree. It's a graceful tree of the desert. And there are plenty of them in that part of the desert. And if the Lord had burned and blazed forth out of that, why, we biblical students, we would have had a whale of a time. We would have said, well, now, think of that. You see, there was the Lord saying to Moses, Moses, I want a dwelling place and I'm going to have a tabernacle tent, a meeting, and all the wood in it is going to be from this tree.
[00:31:39] It would have been absolutely marvellous. But the Lord didn't choose that. He took a scrubby little old thornbush, worthless, valueless, insignificant even. The camel will turn up its nose at the thorn bush. And the Bedouin are not too keen on the thorn bush for burning because it burns so quickly.
[00:32:00] And out of that bush at ground level, the Lord spoke to Moses so that Moses could look down at the Lord.
[00:32:11] Only God could do such a thing. So that Moses came and looked down and to his amazement heard, coming as it were, out of the bush down there, Moses, Moses, don't you come any nearer. Take off the shoes from off your feet the ground whereon you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
[00:32:35] Now why did the Lord do that? Do you think the Lord just has a sense of humor and thought, I'm going to give him such a surprise, I'll get into a thorn bush. He'll never forget that, not for the rest of his life. The Lord didn't just do that in a kind of arbitrary manner, capricious manner. The Lord did it with real reason. Do you know what he was saying to Moses? Moses? He was saying, you are not a palm tree and you are not an acacia tree. You are not an olive tree or a vine. Moses, you think you used to think you were. When you first came out of Egypt, son of Pharaoh's daughter. You thought you were something. Oh, you were the deliverer. You were the one who was going to deliver the people of God. You remember how you just came in and saw those two fines? Stand aside. Let me deal with this man. And you dealt with him, all right.
[00:33:27] He died.
[00:33:29] You thought you were really something. But Moses, I've had 40 years of dealings with you in the desert. And now you are just like this old, dried up thornbull. Worthless, valueless thornbush to a penny.
[00:33:47] Lived its life and dead. All its resources exhausted, its energies burnt up. You're just like this, Moses. You are the thorn bush and I am the fire. And you will always be the thorn bush, and I'll always be the fire. We've two got to get together, you and me together. We're going to go to Pharaoh, and I'm going to use your mouth. You're going to be the thorn bush and I'm going to be the fire. I am Moses, of course, as you know, just turned around to the Lord and said, lord, I can't do it.
[00:34:24] Anyway. He said, who are you, Lord? Supposing I go? And they say, and who told you to come? And I say, well, I don't know. It was someone who said, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Who shall I say sent me? And the Lord said to him, I am. I am. That I am. You say, moses, I am hath sent you. And I don't think that was just the fact that God was saying, I am almighty, I am infinite. I am everywhere. I have no beginning and no end. Of course, all that's true, but I think really what the Lord was saying was simply this. I am all that you need. And of course I quite sure that later on, John the Apostle, the Whole point of his gospel is to underline this fact. Jesus took this wonderful word, I am. And he said, I am the bread of life.
[00:35:17] I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the light of the world. I am the true vine.
[00:35:37] If you want absolute evidence that John did this deliberately, you find that the Gospel of John is built on the eight claims of the Lord Jesus. And one of them is this remarkable one before Abraham was, I am.
[00:35:56] In other words, the Lord Jesus was saying, I give the bread of life. I am the bread of life. And it's exactly what God was saying to Moses. Moses, he was saying, you're just a thornbush. But I am all that you need. I am your love, I am your grace. I am your power. I am your humility. I am your strength. I am your wisdom. I am everything to you, Moses, just what you need. I am.
[00:36:20] You are the thornbush.
[00:36:23] I am.
[00:36:25] And I am is going to get into the thorn bush. And that is exactly what Moses experience was all the way through the 40 years of his ministry. It was that he was the thornbush and God was the fire. And the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Of course, it was not only that. It was as if God was saying, moses, Moses, these people, they are a thorn bush. You may not realize it, but they are.
[00:36:49] You'll soon find out, Moses. You won't have gone far into that desert before you find they're covered with thorns. Just covered with thorns. They're no palm tree and they're no acacia tree. They're just a dead, dried up, worthless, insignificant, valueless old thorn bush. But Moses, just you be careful to remember that it's holy ground, because I am in them.
[00:37:15] And on one occasion Moses forgot. You remember he struck the rock three times and he said, you rebels, shall I be bringing water out of the rock for you? And God was angry with Moses because he forgot the lesson right at the beginning of his ministry. Moses, you forgot to take the shoes from off your feet.
[00:37:35] You forgot in seeing the thorn bush that I am is here.
[00:37:43] Doesn't that find us all out when we talk about one another? My we are very conscious of the thorns one another has got. We are often conscious of the deadness of the branches and all the rest of it. We forget that the Lord says, take off your shoes from off your feet. The ground whereon you stand is holy ground. I am here.
[00:38:02] Now. I am telling you that that was vision.
[00:38:06] Of course, I'm not saying that it didn't literally happen. It did literally happen. But I'm telling you that Moses saw far more than just a physical thorn bush burning with fire and the voice of God coming out of it.
[00:38:17] He saw something which was to master the whole of his life and his whole conceptions were governed and mastered by that vision of the Lord. He was never disobedient to the heavenly vision right the way through, or the necessity of spiritual vision. Then I'd like to say just something else in this connection. Go on to say something more. And it is this that I think there is a tremendous need to see the greatness of the Lord.
[00:38:48] We live in days of small things.
[00:38:52] We reduce everything to a little span.
[00:38:59] We make Christ so small. You know, sometimes when we speak, I'm as guilty of it as you. We put the hall of Christ in a circle, as if we can span him. We can say, this is Christ. If you want to know anything about him, you just come to me, tell you all that you need to know about Christ. I've had this experience and I've had that experience, and he's this and he's that. We give no sense of the greatness of Christ, of the infinity of Christ, of the majesty of Christ, of the profoundness of Christ. Somehow or other, he's quite small.
[00:39:36] We can sell him.
[00:39:39] We can put him over to you. We can reduce him to a formula. We can contain him in a creed. We can somehow or other, well, we've made him so small.
[00:39:51] Where there is no vision, Christ is very small.
[00:39:56] Whether it's on the personal level or whether it's on the corporate level. Where there is no vision, Christ is very small. We can reduce him to a formula. We can contain him in a set of doctrines. We can tell you all that there is to know about Him. He almost becomes mechanical.
[00:40:15] We can take him apart and put him together again. He's almost a puppet of our own making, an idol of our imagination. This is not the Christ of God.
[00:40:27] Oh, to see the greatness of the Lord. Do we really think that he's contained in the teaching?
[00:40:35] All there is to him is in the teaching that all there is to him can be found in one experience or two experiences or a few experiences. Do we really think that Christ can be contained in one single human being, even though that one is redeemed by the grace of God?
[00:40:56] Never.
[00:40:58] Oh, that we might see the greatness of the Lord. It said to so many of the prophets, every time they saw the Lord, instead of getting exhilarated, they fell down as one dead.
[00:41:10] So Vast, so profound, so absolutely majestic that somehow or other it was too much for even the Spirit that was in the man. We find Daniel falls down as one. We find Ezekiel falls down as one dead. We find that John falls down as one dead. They have to be ministered to by an angel who comes and sort of sets them on their feet and sort of pats them and says, now, now, it's okay.
[00:41:41] He'll come through this experience.
[00:41:48] Oh, the fathomless depths of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul speaks of unsearchable riches.
[00:41:58] He speaks of depths that none of us will ever be able fully to explore or fathom. It speaks in the Scriptures of his government, there being no end to the increase of his government and of peace. Oh, the greatness of the Lord Jesus. I'd like to just point you to one or two scriptures, I think, for instance, of ones that today we sing so easily, and I sometimes wonder whether we really understand them. Psalm 48:1 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. I don't think that is to be sung. Rather like someone says that Nixon is great, or so and so is great. You know, that kind of almost slang way that we say so and so is great.
[00:42:51] I hope that no one, when we sing this Great is the Lord. Just think of it like that. All the lords great.
[00:42:58] I don't think it means that at all. I think it means for much, much more than that.
[00:43:03] Great is the Lord Vast, vast, great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. Or again in Psalm 95, 3 for the Lord is a great God, and a great king above all gods. Or I Think of Isaiah 6:1 When Isaiah in the beginning of his ministry saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Out of that came the whole ministry of Isaiah. And we would all agree that Isaiah's ministry is of the greatness of the Lord. And it began with seeing the greatness of the Lord. Again, if you turn to Isaiah 12:6, don't you think it was that vision that made him say this? Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion. For great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.
[00:44:17] Everything about the Lord is great.
[00:44:20] Everything we have a so great salvation. If you want to note these down, I'll give you the Scriptures. We won't be able to look at them all, but we've got a so great salvation. Hebrews 2:3 we have a great calling. Ephesians 1 and verse 18 we're told that we might see what is the hope of his calling. What a tremendous calling we've got. We are partakers of a heavenly calling.
[00:44:55] And another place, we're told in Philippians, if you want to turn to that and chapter three and verse 14 we're told, I press on toward the goal, unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. A great calling. We have a great inheritance an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us. Again in Ephesians 1:18 it says that we might know what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. A great inheritance great power. I think of Psalm 145 and 147:5. Great is our Lord, and mighty in power his understanding is infinite Great power the exceeding greatness of his power to us. Ward I think of his great purpose, Ephesians 1, 8, 9, 10. Those wonderful words about which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times. To sum up all things in Christ. What a great purpose. I think of great love, perhaps that touches us more than anything else.
[00:46:35] It says in Ephesians 2:4.
[00:46:39] But his great love, Ephesians 2:4. But God, being rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ for his great love. And the apostle Peter puts the twin to that in 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, begat us again unto a living hope. Just because the Lord is great, everything about him is great. His love is great his mercy is great his name is great. There are lots of scriptures here.
[00:47:30] I can only give you one. I'll give you this one. Psalm 99 out of many, Psalm 99. 3.
[00:47:39] Let them praise thy great and terrible name. Holy is he. It comes again and again in the Psalms. His name is great great is his name. Great Promises 2 Peter 1:4. His precious and exceeding great promises. Just because he's so great, his promises are great, and there's something very wonderful also for us. And there's Great Peace, Psalm 119 and verse 165 Psalm 119, 165 Great Peace have they that love thy law, and they have no occasion for stumbling. Great peace, peace which passes all understanding or Isaiah 26, 4, which says thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. In Hebrew it is just peace, peace, perfect peace Whose mind is stayed on thee. Great peace have they that love thy Lord great. Everything about the Lord is great, great goodness. Psalm 145:7.
[00:49:05] 145:7 says, they shall utter the memory of thy great goodness. That comes a number of times in the Psalms. Thy great goodness. And of course, the last thing I think is great glory.
[00:49:20] Psalm 138, 5.
[00:49:26] Psalm 138:5. Yea, they shall sing of the ways of the law. For great is the glory, glory of the Lord. Or I think, of 1 Peter 5:10, the God of grace, of all grace, who hath called you unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus.
[00:49:46] Greatness, everywhere it's greatness. Oh, for a vision of the greatness of the Lord. Don't you think you have too small a Christ?
[00:49:54] Sometimes our mountainous problems are much bigger than our Lord. Our Lord is like a midget. And there's our personal problem, like a great mountain. And we look at the Lord and we look at the thing and we go, oh, dear.
[00:50:08] Sometimes it's ourselves. We are like great Goliaths, like in Gulliver's Travel, the Giant. You're some huge, great big man. And we look at the Lord and he's so small, we think, I'm too much for him.
[00:50:27] If only he had a John Wesley. So easy.
[00:50:31] I'm not sure John Wesley was so easy.
[00:50:34] Says that one occasion his wife dragged him down the high street by his hair.
[00:50:42] Any of you have ever read the story of John Wesley?
[00:50:46] There are certainly others who are certainly no easy people. But never mind. We all think that everybody else is easy except ourselves. And we think, oh, the Lord's got a really hard one with me.
[00:50:58] He's so small. I'm so big. I'm so difficult. So intricate, so complex. Why, dear child of God, the Lord's only going to just blow away.
[00:51:10] Just blow away. He would. But the Lord doesn't do that. Why? Because the Lord doesn't want automatic machines, that's why. He just loves you and he wants you to come yourself to the place where you will cooperate with him and yield to him and walk with him and allow him to deal with you. But you know, all our problem is that either our problems are so great or we are so great, or someone else who is a problem to us is so great. And we look at them and think, look at that. And then we look at the Lord and he's a little midget.
[00:51:41] It's so lovely. In the Bible. But it doesn't work, you know, Just doesn't work. Not in my office anyway. Not in my home, not in my circumstances. It's all there. Yes, I see. The way he carved the Red Sea into two. Well, of course, that was thousands of years ago. That wasn't the space age. It was easier for the Lord in those days.
[00:52:06] But now we've got men on the moon and we are in the sort of scientific age and it is much harder for the Lord to do these kind of things today. You see, he has become small and we have become big.
[00:52:20] But oh, when we see the Lord, when the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines into our hearts, it does something in us when we see the greatness of the Lord. I believe this is the basis of everything.
[00:52:34] This is why John, writing his letters, says this.
[00:52:41] In 1 John 3:20, he says, because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart.
[00:52:58] And then again, Chapter four and verse four. Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
[00:53:13] Oh, if only we were to see the Lord, catch a glimpse of the Lord. If only we had an unveiled face. Have you got a veil over your face? Or are you beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face. You are being changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Lord, the Spirit. Lastly, I would just like to say something else and take this matter one stage further.
[00:53:45] I believe there is a divine apprehension through vision. I will explain what I mean. Let me say it again. I believe there is a divine apprehension, apprehension through vision. God never reveals himself without apprehending.
[00:54:03] By revealing Himself by what we see, he apprehends us. Isn't that what happened to Abraham? I don't know what Abraham was doing on the day that the God of glory appeared to him. But in that split second of time, something happened in the life of Abraham that was to leave him a man spoilt for anything less than God, and anything less than God's best.
[00:54:32] Always through such divine vision we are apprehended by the Lord. Listen to the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12. Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect, but I press on. If so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are Before I press on toward the goal and to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, this man Paul is apprehended. Here is no mere preacher. Here is no mere Bible teacher.
[00:55:25] Here is no mere evangelist. I go further. Here is no mere apostle.
[00:55:35] This man doesn't have to rely on his office or his position or his title.
[00:55:43] This man has seen something, and what he has seen has become. Through it, God has apprehended him, and he can never be the same again.
[00:55:54] If I had seen a tiny digit of what the Apostle Paul saw when he wrote this letter of the Philippians, I would have been so thrilled. I would have settled down and said, I don't need any more. I've got it all.
[00:56:08] If I had written 1 and 2 Corinthians, especially 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 13, think of that. I could say I wrote that.
[00:56:19] Or I think of Galatians, all six chapters that dusted them up.
[00:56:30] I knocked spots off them without my word.
[00:56:34] Or I think of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, or I think of Romans. Think of Romans. Why just the first eight chapters?
[00:56:49] If I hadn't written the rest, just the first eight chapters, why, that would have been enough to put my name down for history.
[00:56:58] But quite honestly, if I hadn't written the first eight chapters, I'd be quite content to have written chapter nine, 10, and 11, because that would have mystified everybody for the rest of the age. I would have been quite content with just writing those three chapters and saying, you see, I saw something really done something big. I have.
[00:57:22] You see, the fact is, if I had written even a little or seen a little, why, in 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul says, I was caught up to the third heaven and I heard things which is not lawful for a man even to our time.
[00:57:35] But what does the Apostle Paul say? He says, everything that's behind, I leave it. I leave it. I don't even count myself yet to have apprehended, but I lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. I press on.
[00:57:53] I press on.
[00:57:55] This man knows as much to make him very small in his own estimation, and God very, very great.
[00:58:07] And it has created an insatiable hunger for the Lord.
[00:58:15] When you know a little, you can be very dogmatic and very narrow and very tight.
[00:58:23] But when you break the sound barrier of knowledge just a little, you suddenly begin to realize that there is a universe you do not know. Then you are caught by an insatiable hunger and thirst to Learn and learn and learn and know and experience and move on.
[00:58:46] And this is what's happened to this man.
[00:58:50] The measure of our vision determines how far we go.
[00:58:55] If we were to take the whole of church history tonight, I could prove to you, I think, from the evidence of church history, that every movement, how far it has gone, has been determined by how much the leaders saw at the beginning.
[00:59:14] It was that vision that first caught. And when they really caught people, it determined how far. This is true of any work. It's true of any person. Let me tell you this, and I don't know. You'll either take it or you won't. It'll go through one ear and out the other. But whether it goes through one in ear, out the other, or whether it gets into you, the fact of the matter is that in the end, one day you will say that that's absolute truth, even if you have to learn it. Negative. And it is. The measure of your vision will determine just how far you go with the Lord.
[00:59:48] If your gospel is just a matter of getting forgiven and making a decision that determines how far you'll go, if it goes a little further and you see something about winning others for Christ, you will go that much further and start to really seek to win others for Christ. If you go a little bit farther and see that you need to live a holy life, you will go that little bit farther and start to seek that. You may know in experience some real holiness. You may know what it is to be crucified with Christ and to live with him. If you go further and see the anointing of the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit, gifts of the Spirit, it will determine how far you go on. If you go further than that and begin to see the need for the building of the church, you will go further.
[01:00:35] And if beyond that you see this whole matter of overcoming and the essential materials that God is preparing out of every generation to build that city which is eternal, you will go further and further. But believe me, the measure of your vision will determine how far you go with God and how much you are prepared for God to deal with you.
[01:01:00] Vision always disturbs.
[01:01:05] Never forget that people get the idea that vision just sort of sets them on the mountaintop and fills them with exhilaration. Sometimes it does, but it's not long before you're deeply disturbed.
[01:01:16] If God once shows you himself, you will be deeply disturbed. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, it wasn't a moment after he heard those seraphim crying, holy, holy, holy. Is the Lord, that in the next moment, seeing the glory of the Lord, he heard, whom shall I send?
[01:01:41] And who will go for us?
[01:01:44] You'll be disturbed.
[01:01:47] Poor old Isaiah said, o Lord, I am an unclean man with unclean lips.
[01:01:55] God touched his lips. And later, when he heard the challenge from the phone, he said, here am I send. He was disturbed. Poor old Daniel, when he saw the whole of history set out before him, right down to the coming of the Messiah for the final time, was sick for many days.
[01:02:15] He was deeply disturbed. He had a headache.
[01:02:18] It lasted quite a while. The man was deeply disturbed. The Lord had to minister to him to set him up again. When Nehemiah heard about Jerusalem and heard about its visions, he wept so much that the king, he was the cupbearer. It normally happened that Jews always got into important positions that no Gentile wanted. And the cupbearer was one of them. Because obviously anyone who put poison in the cup, that person was the first to die. King never drank anything without first his cupbearer took a sip.
[01:02:55] And so, as always, some dear Jew got into the position that no one else wanted and became cupbearer to the king. The king was rather fond of his Jewish cupbearer. And one day he noticed. He was so sad. He turned to him and he said, what is wrong with you, Nehemiah?
[01:03:15] And Nehemiah took his whole life in his hands and said, o king, he said, it's Jerusalem that bothers me and the house of our God.
[01:03:29] And you know, the king was so touched that he said to Nehemiah, nehemiah, no more cupbearer. You go and do this job that's so on your heart. You see that the whole thing's done. As soon as Nehemiah got to Jerusalem, he went all round the wall by night and wept.
[01:03:47] Vision always disturbs. And may I say something else? If vision determines how far we go and if vision always disturbs us, in other words, brings us into a ministry of truth, then vision produces ministry.
[01:04:06] Listen to me, any of you who've got any kind of ministry. There's plenty of that kind of ministry that just comes out of a seminary.
[01:04:15] The church has suffered with it for centuries.
[01:04:20] Now, this isn't to discredit again, good, solid teaching which we need. But believe me, anointed ministry comes out of vision.
[01:04:30] It doesn't matter where we turn in the whole Bible.
[01:04:33] Every time God anointed someone and gave them a ministry, it came out of a seeing of the Lord. Jeremiah saw the Lord. He said, I Am a child, Lord. I cannot speak. And the Lord said to him, when you were in your mother's womb, I called you. Don't say that. You are a child. I formed you. I have been behind the whole of your life. Ezekiel saw the Lord when he was by the river Kibar in Babylon. And out of that vision his whole ministry came. Daniel saw the Lord when he was in Persia, or again in Babylon or Persia, all of them saw. Even our Lord Jesus said these remarkable words in John chapter 5 and verse 19.
[01:05:22] Jesus therefore answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father doing. For what things soever he doeth these, the Son also doeth in like manner. Isn't that interesting, what he seeth the Father doing?
[01:05:38] Ministry comes out of vision.
[01:05:42] And in the end we are changed into his likeness through vision.
[01:05:49] If you see the Lord, you will be changed into his likeness. That finally then, in summing that up, leaves me with just this to say.
[01:06:04] We need an unveiled face.
[01:06:12] You can have all the biblical knowledge in the world and all the correctness, but if there's a veil over your face, there will be no spiritual vision.
[01:06:24] We all with unveiled face. And isn't it beautiful? It says this. How did you get that veil taken away? When you first came to the Lord, you turned to him.
[01:06:38] Whensoever they turn to the Lord, or a man shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be done away. If there's sin, get it put right. If there is unbelief, let the Lord burn it up. Be like Moses, who, when he saw the Lord in the burning bush, in the thorn bush, and all through his life, met with the Lord face to face. When finally the Lord came to him and said, moses, is there anything you want? Tell me and I will do it.
[01:07:13] This is what Moses said. Show me thy glory.
[01:07:21] That is the mark of someone who has seen the Lord.
[01:07:26] He has got the same insatiable hunger and thirst that later on the apostle Paul was to have. Show me thy. I would have said, moses, surely you've seen the glory of the Lord. You received the Ten Commandments. You saw the whole of Mount Horeb smoking with fire, thundering with the voice of God. You saw the finger of God carving out the Ten Commandments in the tables of stone. Haven't you seen the glory of the Lord? Moses would have said, no, I've seen something that's just whetted my appetite. I've seen the outskirts of his waves. I've seen just the fringes.
[01:08:06] Show me thy glory. And the Lord hid him in a cleft of the rock and said, I will pass by and you shall see my glory. But my face you shall not see.
[01:08:19] The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[01:08:29] Spiritual vision May God give it to us all. Shall we pray?
[01:08:40] Dear Lord, thou alone knowest where there is a veil in this room.
[01:08:48] Thou knowest, Lord, every life.
[01:08:51] Thou knowest those of us who have got unveiled faces and those of us that there is some veil upon. Oh, give grace, Lord, that whatever causes a veil may be destroyed.
[01:09:09] Give us grace to turn to Thee as Lord, because thou hast said, when we turn to Thee as Lord, the veil is done away.
[01:09:21] Let that light and the knowledge of thy glory in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ shine into our hearts anew.
[01:09:31] Lord, give that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of thyself to us as a company, to each one of us as individual Lord. Hear and we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
[01:10:29] Unite my heart.
