GOD WORKING
Peter S Barlow
Luke 15: 24; 15: 4, 5, 8, 11-13, 17, 18 (to “… father”), 20-23
I would like to raise a question, dear hearers, in relation to the first verse we have read. Are you dead? Are you lost? I am not asking the question in an ordinary way, as we would normally do it; I raise it as a question that God would raise with each and every one of us, tonight. He raises it with me. What is absolutely vital and important in the glad tidings is that each and every one of us should have our own personal relationship and link with God. In Ephesians we are told: “you, being dead in your offences and sins”, chap 2: 1. Is that how you feel? Does God mean anything to you? You may have sat under the gospel preaching many times, as I have. I have preached many times, but the question still needs to be asked in relation to my soul. Does God mean anything to me? It is so easy, beloved, to speak about things, but I feel the edge of the word myself. I raise the question with my own heart as I would with each one here - are you dead? Are you lost? Are you dead towards God? Are you lost and far from God, lost in your iniquities and sins? We move through a world that has no place for God. One who had some place in this world once said, ‘God is dead’. The response later when he died was that that person was dead. That person will have to do with God as will each and everyone of us, have to do with a living God, an eternal God. The gospel is proclaimed, not to bring in agitation, but to draw you to a glorious God who desires your blessing.
What I wanted to bring out in reading this chapter is the way divine Persons are working; God is working for you. He has a desire for you, and has a desire that you should have part in what is for Him. I think that is wonderful! God in this blessed dispensation in which we are, a dispensation of grace, has fully made known His heart of love and continues to do so through the glad tidings. God has made Himself known in three divine Persons of the Godhead and we get them here in figure - it is the Lord’s own parable, in His own words.
We read firstly as to what would speak typically of the Lord Jesus Himself and what He has done. He speaks this parable to those who murmured against Him saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them”, v 2. You think of that, God came into this world in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ to draw near to sinners, to draw near to you and me, to remove and take away entirely that which marked us, that which made us dead, that which made us lost to Himself. How God feels our state as being away from Him - His heart of love feels that. His desire is that all men should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. What is that? Come to know Him as a God of love, as the One who has delighted to reveal Himself.
We get a beautiful picture here of the Lord Jesus Christ, a beautiful picture that shows that you and I, every one of us, are precious to the Lord Jesus. Here He goes off to find that lost sheep. It speaks of leaving the ninety and nine, but I think what that emphasises is that the Lord Jesus Himself has His eye upon each one of us and wants to have an individual transaction with you and with me; and that is most wonderful. It is so easy to share out your time with the many, but all Christ’s time is for each and every one of us individually; it is impossible to understand, but possible with the Lord Jesus, for He is reaching out to you. What He has done is for you! He has gone to find the one, the one sheep that was lost, the one sheep that was dead towards God. There was once nothing for God: that was me, and He went and secured me, for He went “until He find it”. Where did the Lord Jesus go, until He found it? He went further than any man ever could, and He had to go that way in order that the heart of God, the love of God, should be made fully known. It was in order that there might be a basis on which God, in all His majesty and greatness and His holiness and righteousness, should be made known. The Lord Jesus had to go the way of sorrow, the way of the cross, to shed His precious blood, in order that we might have a living, vital, relationship with God.
That which was most precious to God, He gave up, in order to secure me and you for Himself. We have had it more than once recently in the gospel here - if it was only you or only me that was a sinner, the Lord Jesus would still have had to have passed the way He went as coming into this scene. You wonder at that, the greatness and glory of the One who came here: in His own Person God, yet moving in wonderful infinite lowliness among His creatures. He came to His own and His own received Him not, for this world has no place for Christ, has no place for God, the Creator of the universe and all that is in it, the One in whose hand our breath is. Have you a place for Him in your heart? Or are you dead towards Him? Are you lost and far away from God? Beloved, one sin is sufficient to keep you forever banished from the presence of God. That is not good enough for God - He has given His only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, the One who has gone to find that lost sheep and gone until He find it. Has He found you? Has He found an answer in your heart to what He is and what He has done? You know about that sin, that offence, that iniquity, that unease, that which finds its satisfaction here; but do you know what is for the pleasure of God? That which satisfies me and my will sets me against God; that is what sin is: does that burden rest upon you beloved? Jesus has taken it all away for those who place their faith and trust in Him. He has taken it away and more than that, for it speaks in this parable of finding the sheep, which, it says, “He lays it upon his own shoulders” and brings back; you are brought back to God.
Beloved, think of that beautiful touch. That is what the Lord would seek to do for you in all your need: He would take you upon His shoulders and bring you to where God would have you. He has borne a burden far greater than you ever could, for He has borne the burden of sin. Has He borneall your sins? He has borne the sins of all those who have placed their faith and trust in Him. He has borne them vicariously, bearing the judgment that was due to me and to you, Christ has borne that. He has borne that at the cross, the cross that man awarded Him, for this world has no place for Christ. What did they do? Wicked hands took Him and nailed Him to a cross of wood. Beloved, He went that way as suffering for me. I was lost, I was dead to God, but Christ has gone that way for me. He has borne all that which stood between me and God and entirely removed it. He has taken me upon His shoulders He has brought me to where God would have me. Can you say that, beloved? Can you say that Christ has brought you into wonderful blessing? All that burden, all that sin, all that offence gone and gone for evermore.
You may remember Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress, at the cross, where it says that the burden on his back rolled away into the tomb. Sin and sins have been put out of the sight of God forever - they are gone because Christ has taken it all and done it all. What fell upon Him, the wrath of God upon sin, is greater than we will ever know or understand. What took place in those three hours of darkness when my Saviour hung upon a cross; who can know it, who can encompass it? I thank God, that God is fully satisfied in what the Lord Jesus has done. His arms are outstretched in blessing to you tonight, for God does not want you lost or dead, He does not want you away from Him. What God wants is for you to come into the joy of His blessing. Through the glad tidings the opportunity for salvation is freely offered because the Lord Jesus has done it all.
This woman with ten drachmas impressed me. Maybe I am not using the typical teaching, but it struck me that the woman might speak to us of the blessed Holy Spirit’s activities. There are ten drachmas, and one is lost. I speak carefully as we cannot say a divine Person would lose anything, but I think what it might mean is that if one is not in the enjoyment of salvation, there is something lost, something incomplete as it were, for God. We have to be careful; we have to be reverent, but I think you will understand what I am trying to say. If you are away from God, God has lost something. You think of the heart of God having lost something, for God feels it. The work done is complete to meet the need of every man, woman, and child. Sadly there are some with whom the opportunity of salvation is forever passed; let it not be so for you; let it not be you. Lay hold of the gift of salvation by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ whilst the opportunity is yet available. If you have not given yourself to Jesus, do so now; do not put it off, do not wait as He is coming again very soon for His own. Maybe in a few moments’ time: what glorious joy and bliss that will be. Are you going to be there or are you one of those who are still dead, still lost towards God? What I seek to bring out here is that any seeking after God is the result of God’s own operations as seen here in the Spirit. It is God moving in sovereign, divine unqualified grace.
There is this one drachma missing, one drachma lost. The ten drachmas in the times of this parable would speak of a necklace worn by one who was betrothed but now there is something incomplete. Are you the one who makes things incomplete? God is reaching out to you tonight in the gospel. The drachma is lost but the wonder is that what is lost is found by light; what is suggested is a divine Person as it were taking a lamp and seeking it, searching for it. I like to think of the light as being the revelation of God through the gospel, shining on you tonight. The Holy Spirit seeks to work in you - but quite often at first things actually seem to get darker in someone’s life. This has been suggested in relation to the beloved apostle Paul: the Spirit of God was working in him even at the stoning of Stephen, but you see how dark Paul got before that shining light exposed him. That drachma was found on the Damascus road, and the light revealed to Saul what he was. That is like the work of the blessed Holy Spirit, like the operation of the gospel as the Spirit speaks in the glad tidings. They bring you into the light of the countenance of God to reveal what you are. We have the sweeping, and the removing so that nothing is hid, and it is all to reveal what you are. Then there is rejoicing as you come to yourself in the presence of the light from God.
That is why I read of the young man and his “coming to himself”; I think that speaks of repentance. You come to the realisation that you have a need, and get a view of yourself as God sees you. The answer to that need is available and presented to you in the gospel, for “the word is near thee … that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom 10: 8-9),no more dead to God, nor to be lost and far from God. What joy there is in heaven as you come to the knowledge of what you are and find that the answer is in the Lord Jesus Christ; and look to the One who has died, the One who was crucified, the One who was put in the tomb. That glorious One has come forth and come forth triumphant and He is glorified on high, and that is who God is presenting to you in the gospel. This is the alone way of salvation for the beloved apostle says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16: 31) - how simple the glad tidings are. Come now to a realisation of what you are and find that your Saviour is Jesus, whom God has raised from among the dead, has “highly exalted him” (Phil. 2: 9), and “crowned him with glory and honour” (Heb. 2: 7), and you will be brought into glorious nearness and relationship with that One.
My desire in this passage is to bring out the glory of the gospel as seen in all that God has done. Here we have a young man, and his actions in asking for the share of the property that falls to him said that his father was dead to him. If you read the footnote to “what he was possessed of” it says, ‘what they had to live on,’ as ‘substance’. We were talking a little earlier today as to what God provides, for He provides for all our needs. The danger is that what He provides becomes the object, and not the Giver. I feel that in my own life; what it is that may fill my time and draw my attention away from the Giver of all good, may have no hold on you or be of any interest to you, and what you have may be of no interest to me; it is God’s wonderful provision for us. What He provides and always will provide, whatever our circumstances are, may be what draws our attention away from the One who gave it. That means we are getting into a half dead state. I suppose it would be a good example of the parable of the good Samaritan. Beloved, we begin to move away from the wonder, joy and blessing of the glad tidings.
God will provide; God will bless; God will bring us through: there is no shadow of a doubt on that. The question is whether I seek that He brings me through according to what I want, or will be satisfied with what He provides. That is the challenge to me more than anyone here. That is what I thought to bring out simply here. Here was a young man, and he had taken no account in figure of God, the One who had provided for him. He had been set in the very best place. You think of Adam and Eve set in the garden of Eden; yet they believed God had held some good thing back. That was the serpent’s insidiousness work, for they fell to his subtle wiles and believed him rather than God. I know that in my own heart; I believe I know better what I want, but the truth is God knows infinitely better what I need. Not what I want, but what I need. How gentle the father is here; he gave; even though the son had pretty much said to him he was dead to him; he gave what fell to him. Soon it was gone. Beloved, it does not last; if you get out of the Father’s presence there can be no satisfaction. Satisfaction is alone to be found with the Father. The younger son comes to himself; that, I believe, is repentance; as the light shines in and reveals what you are, you realise that there is only one place where true satisfaction and joy is found, and that is as bowing to the will of Another, bowing to the Father’s will. The son arose and went to the father; what did he find there? Did he find retribution? No, he found there the father’s love. You too can find that - how rich and full the gospel is. As soon as you move in the way of repentance, as soon as your heart turns towards God, God is there, the Father is there, and He is there in wonderful compassion. What joy and delight are in His heart as He finds one who was dead, one who was lost. He finds now that that one is seeking Him out, and seeking the blessings that He delights to give so freely.
I remember a story that I read and it was of a father and his daughter who, reaching a certain age, decided she knew better and went off to another city. Every day the father looked out the window for her return. She went to the city and soon became very much like this younger son, she fell into gross immorality, became much in need and want, but could find no satisfaction. She feared returning home, because of what her father would think. In the end she reached such dire straits that she knew that the only thing she could do was to go and throw herself at the mercy of her father. Every day he had looked out the window for his daughter’s return. There was no retribution or judgment when she returned, for he received her with the love of a father that was unchanged. How much greater a Holy Father’s love, as the living appeal of the gospel reaches you and you turn again and find the Father’s love, the love of a Holy Father who has in mind only the best for you and has provided the answer for you. It is the best robe; not any robe will do, only Christ. The best robe speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ in all His worth, that is the robe that the Father provides so that you are suitable for His house: Christ Himself. Think of the ring, the seal of love, that unbroken ring, it would speak of the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
Have you received the precious gift of the Spirit? Ask the Father, for He would freely have you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the One who makes you suitable, fit for the presence of the Father’s house. As set free, you can enter into the merriment, the joy and the dancing that belongs in the Father’s house. Dead? No, alive. Lost? No, found. That is the portion that the gospel offers, that God offers to you now, to find your place amongst those that love Him and whom He loves, a love unchanged, unfailing, unceasing. Beloved that is what the gospel offers, and it is for the Father’s delight, maintained and kept even in the scene in which we find ourselves as being shod with the Father’s own provision, sandals for our feet. We are kept in this scene, but belonging in the Father’s house, belonging amongst those that love the Lord Jesus. That is why we have the precious privilege of knowing what it is to be part of that glorious vessel which is for Christ Himself, His assembly, those with whom we can know the joy, the merriment, the liberty of the Father’s house and as one we can be together and enter into it. What do we eat there, what are we appropriating, what are we partaking of? The fatted calf, Christ Himself, that glorious One, so that we are formed like Him. What wonderful blessings, beloved, not dead, not lost, but living and found.
May it be the portion of each and every one of us. For His Name’s sake.
Sunbury
28th March 2021