Mills, John Milton: Visits 07 ~ Matt 26; When Jesus Visits

The message today is when Jesus comes visiting. I will read two scriptures. There are many others I want to bring to your attention, but just to point you in the direction. We'll read in Matthew chapter twenty six first of all, starting at verse thirty six. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Abide ye here and watch with me. And he went forward a little and fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them sleeping. And saith unto Peter, What? Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Now Luke chapter seventeen, m seventeen verse eleven. And it came to pass, as they were on their way to Jerusalem, that he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, who stood afar off, and they lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go and show yourselves unto the priest. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell upon his face at the feet of Jesus, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were not the ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there none found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger? And he said unto him, Arise and go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Let us speak to God again in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for the glimpses into the life of thy son that thou dost give us. You've given us glimpses of how he lived before he came into this world, and also how he lived in the days of his flesh when he was in this world. We marvel, our God. We thank you that he was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. And I was so that our hearts take courage to think that God manifest in the flesh could go through some of the same things that we do in our daily lives. We thank you for this. We desire to learn this morning about our lives, our Father, the times when he would unexpectedly come upon us to see what we were doing. So help us to be prepared for this, if not yesterday, at least for today and tomorrow. You know the hearts of those who are here, our physical brains, so prepare us to receive thy word by thy spirit and empower the lips of him who speaks. And we confess our sins, be faithful and just to forgive and cleanse, as you have promised. We commit all into thy hands. Bless, we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. In our Lord's parables, he puts service this way. He gives us something to do, and then he leaves. But in the parable, he doesn't come back until his return from heaven. But in reality, what he does is this, in our lives on earth. He gives us our assignment, and then he doesn't wait until he comes back from heaven to check up on us to see what we're doing, but he makes periodic visits into our lives to see what we are doing with the goods that he's committed unto us, or how our prayer life is coming along, how our study of the scriptures. The Lord Jesus makes periodic visits into our lives, and often he makes them unexpectedly. I knew I was going to preach this morning, and so I have to shave and put on a suit of clothes and look presentable. I assure you that if you caught me unawares, I would not be dressed like this. It doesn't make any difference so much in a physical sense, how we are when people come upon us unawares, but the important thing is this: what is our spiritual condition when our Savior comes into our lives and sees what we're doing? This is so good, because if our Lord told us what to do and then left us alone and gave no attention, encouragement, correction until the end of our lives or when he was coming back again, then most of us would say, there is abundant time, it doesn't matter, and our whole life would be gone, and our savior would come and nothing would be done. But what he does is soon after he gives us an assignment, he comes and checks in on us, and then later and later and later. And so the parables really show us only that we have a responsibility placed upon us, and we're going to answer for what we've done with our lives and God's goods when our life comes to an end. But our Savior is more attentive to us than this. I'm so glad, because if he did not come and see what I was doing wrong and correct me and get me in the right direction again. How miserable, what a failure my life would be, and yours too. But he does come, and he reproves us, he teaches us, he corrects us, he encourages us, he does all things that are necessary to help us along the way. But he does not always tell you when he's coming. I remember my mother telling me this. She said that when she was a little girl, she was full of mischief, and her grandmother would say, when everything was quiet and mother was nowhere to be found, she would say, go find Blanche, and whatever she's doing, tell her to stop it. So that is how certain she was that she knew that she was doing something wrong. Well, let me ask you this. If God looked into your life and called you by name, aren't you afraid that many times he would say, go find this one, and whatever he's doing, tell him to stop. Why? Because so often he's doing things wrong. But I'm going to bring to your attention today not only the unexpected visit of our Lord that found his disciples doing things that were wrong, but also some visitations when he found his disciples doing something that was right. How depressing if every time he looked in on them, they were doing something wrong. And how embarrassing to you and me if every time he looked in on the disciples, he found them doing something right. But in the scripture, he examines their lives while he's training them, and at times they're doing bad things, and at times they're doing good things. So, how much time I have? I'm going to tell you about these things, and I will tell you all of them, the good and the bad, and then, as time allows, I'll tell you about these good and bad things. The bad times that he came upon them, and they wish that he had not found them that way, was when they were at the foot of the mountain, when they were in the marketplace, and when they were in the garden. On those three occasions, he came upon them unexpectedly, and he found bad things. But in Luke seventeen, when the leper was cleansed, I read you about that, and elsewhere in John five and in John nine, he found things entirely different from the bad things he found in the first illustration that I gave. The Savior said, were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was there found none that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger? He looked and he found a man that was worshiping him. That's good. And in John chapter five, the Savior had healed this impotent man, and it said he found him in the temple. Isn't that good? From a place of incapacity, but when the man received strength, with that strength he went into the temple of God. And then in John chapter nine, this might seem contradictory, but he found him not in church, but excommunicated. You say, well, why is that a good thing? Because he was excommunicated because of his stand that he took for the person and work of Christ. And so when God looks into my life, may he find me as he found that leper, as he found that impotent man, and as he found that blind man after he had blessed them in their bodies and in their lives. And may it never be that he finds me as he found these disciples at the foot of the mountain, in the marketplace, and in the garden. So let's see, when Jesus comes upon us unawares. The Christians have made a mistake in thinking that once God has imparted to you some ability, that that ability is yours, it never alters, it never is taken away from you, but you're wrong, and the disciples found that out. In Luke chapter ten, the Savior had empowered his disciples, and they went out and exercised that power. And when they came back, they were filled with gladness. They said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in thy name. And the Savior said, oh, and spoke to them. But in Mark's gospel that was read to us, the Savior, having come down from the Mount of Transfiguration to the foot of the mountain in the valley, he found nine disciples powerless and not strong to cast out demons, but powerless before the power of demons. Now think of that. Here are disciples who at one time had boasted, even the demons are subject to us. But today, the Lord Jesus comes upon them, and they say, we weren't able to cast that demon out. Now I wonder if that's your life. If I ask you, what have you done for God in the past? You can tell me great things that you've done. Well, let me ask you lately, how much strength have you had for God? You say, well, I don't know, for some reason, what he gave to me is not the same as it was before. No, and it never shall be. I've been telling you these past weeks about God who does nothing for us that we can do for ourselves. As for this ability to cast out demons, and this is in New Testament times, understand. Unless the Lord Jesus had imparted this special gift, they never would have been able to cast out one demon. But in as much as he had given them that gift, you would think that anytime they pleased, here comes a man with an unclean spirit, and he would say, depart from him in the name of Jesus. But our Savior has explained to us, and we'll take it as it is in the King James. He says this, when the disciples come and think they're powerless at the foot of the mountain, and they're so embarrassed and ashamed for this reason. Before, they've been able to do what they were called upon to do, and now this man brings his son that is controlled by a demon, and the man says, cast out this demon. And so they prepare as in the past to cast out that demon, but they speak the words, and nothing happens. And in like manner, some people try to teach the Bible and preach, and they speak words, and they are powerless. They have no effect upon the soul. You say, well, I don't understand. God empowered me to preach. What is wrong? Well, that's what the disciples were experiencing at the foot of the mountain. They said, what's wrong? Why could we not cast this demon out? And the Savior said, this time cometh not out saved by prayer and fasting. So, I see. They had been given a gift, but they had not practiced self-discipline, and they had not been communing with their God in prayer, and they were exposed when a challenge came to them. So, if I'm called upon to preach, and I haven't prepared the message, and I haven't communed with God and besought him to empower the words that I speak, then I can get up and speak, and everything will fall flat. And then I say, why, Lord? He will say, why? Did you think just because I gave you the ability to preach the word of God that you could do it without praying to me, communing with me, practicing self-discipline? Did you think that I was going to give you something that in a carnal way, in a way that's unworthy, you could go about performing? Never. And so this is what the disciples found, that even though God had empowered them, unless they cultured that power, nurtured it, unless they practiced and exercised that gift that God had given, they found out that it waned in power. It became less and less. And what they were able to do yesterday, they are not able to do today, and they are at a loss. Why couldn't we cast it out? The Lord knows. He said, you haven't been praying. You haven't been disciplining yourself. So remember this. I told you that God is not going to do for you what you can do for yourself. You couldn't cast out a demon if you wanted to. But if the Lord empowered you to, then just because he's empowered you, if you stop praying and if you stop denying ungodliness and worldly lust, he's going to take that power away from you, and you're going to be so embarrassed, the same way that Samson was. Here is Samson. An army could come upon them, and he would laugh at them, and he would strike them hip and thigh with the jawbone of an ass and kill them, piles of them. And then on another occasion, Samson, the Philistines be upon thee. He said, I will go out as in other times. It said he wist not that the Spirit of God had departed from him. And instead of overcoming them, he was overcome, and his eyes were put out, and he's seen as a beast of burden grinding at the gristmill. Why? Because there are certain things that God will not let you do. So you take a gift that God has given you and neglect it. Quit praying to God. Break off all fellowship with him. Let your flesh take over and do anything you please, and still get up and think that you can do what you could in the past. God will say, we'll see. Samson, I'll go out as in the past. And God's spirit said, try doing it without me. And Samson can do nothing. And a man preaching the word of God, well, I'll get up and preach a mighty sermon. God says, try it without me, and we're helped. So this is how Christ found them, but I'm so glad he did. Suppose they had had power and had lost that power, and the Lord had never said anything to them. They had gone through life dejectedly. I used to be able to cast out demons. I used to be an overcomer, but now I experience defeat all the time, and I don't know why. The Lord Jesus says, this is the reason why. That's the reason. Then you mean that even though I wasn't successful today, I can be successful tomorrow? Yes. If you will pray and practice self-discipline, that power will return. And that's what happened. Isn't that a good consolation? You say yes. So thank God that he does come and visit us along the way, find out what we are doing wrong, and correct us. But what embarrassment, how ashamed they were. And yet this embarrassment registered upon them, and so they say, if I'm going to do anything for God, I've got to pray. Yes. And I have to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. That's right. Even though I have been gifted, I still have to commune with God. That's right. This gift is not independent of communion with God. Then I must maintain unbroken communion with God. That's right. Or else you who once was powerful, you will find yourself powerless. And this is what they discovered. All right. Let's find the second time. It says in Matthew chapter twenty that a man who has a farm goes out looking for laborers. And I'm abbreviating this. He finds some of them, and he says to them, why stand ye here idle all the day? Then let me ask you, what have you done for God this past week? If God had found you, would he have found you actively engaged in preaching the kingdom of God, witnessing, studying, praying, communing with God? You say, no. Then he would have found you standing in the marketplace, idle. It says that we are to be about our father's business. We are to be busily engaged in whatever task he has laid on us. But he found some of them in the marketplace standing idle. But this is their justification. He says, why stand ye here in the marketplace idle all the day? And they said, no man has hired us. All right, suppose that you have that excuse. You're willing to work, but nobody offers you anything to do. Well, let me ask you this. In as much as this farmer who was looking for laborers came to the marketplace early in the morning. He had been coming back and back and back. They weren't there when he came the first time. But when he did come later on in the day, they were standing there. You see, they had only presented themselves at this late time in the day to get a job. And so if God had been looking in the marketplace for you, he wouldn't have found you. But once in a while we say, I'd better get busy, I'd better start doing something for God. And so the Lord says, why are you standing here idle in the marketplace? Well, nobody's ever given me a job. Well, God would have given you job, a job from the very first, had you presented yourself unto him to work for his glory. So all of you, here you are now, you say, I'm a child of God, I've been born again. Then the Lord says this, son, go work today in my vineyard. Go work today in my vineyard. And now you have no excuse. You say, nobody gave me a job. I can assure you that God has a multitude of things that you can do. I do mine, you do yours. But if you think, you say, what needs to be done in the kingdom of God? I just think of the things you're criticizing right now. Think of all the hypocrites in this meeting. Think about all of those people that aren't visited, that need visiting. Think of the people that know, don't know the word of God. Well then, why don't you learn the word of God? Why don't you visit those people that you think others should visit? And at the same time, all of the criticisms that you have of this meeting, why don't you get busy and go and do something about correcting those things? You say, why should I? Because you are God's servant, that's why. And unless you are working for him in whatever way he places upon you, and you must ascertain that before God, he'll say to you, why are you standing idle in the marketplace? And now you can't say, because nobody's given me anything to do. I assure you that if you will come and ask, what is a good thing for me to do, there will be something found that you should do. And then you're not standing idle in the marketplace, but you'll be engaged in beneficial activity for God, and at the end of the day, the Lord will come and give you a reward. How sad if you never present yourself a servant for God, and at the end of your life you find yourself saved but having no reward. How sad. Do you know who you are? You are one that the Lord has found standing idle in the marketplace, doing absolutely nothing. And now you have no excuse. Nobody gave me anything to do. There's much to be done. Find out what it is and get busy for God. Now, I think this is the saddest of all. When the Savior had specifically told Peter, James, and John, he said, my soul is sorrowful even unto death. He said, watch with me. And then he went a stone's throw from them, and he prayed the prayer that I read to you in Matthew's gospel. And when he came back, he found them sleeping. Now that's the saddest thing, that the Lord has said, there are only three of you. I'm giving this opportunity to watch with me. Personal communion with me, the Son of God, in my hour of sorrow and heaviness of soul. I want you to watch with me. And the Lord Jesus comes back, and I know they weren't expecting it. He comes back, and he finds them sleeping. Had I known the Lord was coming, I would have fought sleep as much as I possibly could, so that when he came, I would have been watching. But, you see, he's a stone's throw. I don't think he can see what I'm doing. And so you sit down and you're sleeping. Sleep is a good thing. You talk about people that drink and take drugs. It says he found them sleeping for sorrow. There are times in your life that it becomes so difficult that you would shut out the world if you could. And so the disciples did it by sleep. They went to sleep, but the Lord came back, and he gave them not one chance, but he gave them more chances than one. And when he came back the other time, he found them sleeping. Isn't that sad? If in my whole life, God had had one reward to give me, I think the greatest reward would have been this. When the Lord Jesus said, watch with me in my hour of sorrow, will you watch and pray with me? And I remained awake and prayed with the Lord. But when the Lord comes back and finds me sleeping, it is something that can never be undone, because there's never going to be another Garden of Gethsemane, and there's never going to be another time when Jesus says, you watch with me. It's gone. So some of these opportunities that the Lord gives you, they're gone. You won't have that opportunity again. Some of them may repeat themselves, but not this one, and not these choice disciples, and they were without excuse because he told them to watch. He came back and roused them from sleep and told them to watch and pray that they enter not into temptation. And now, not only sleeping and prayerless, but fallen into temptation and failures and temptation. Why? Because the master who came and checked in on them unawares, he found them failures, and they did not avail themselves of the second opportunity that he gave. Now let me ask you this, how is your prayer life? How is your service for God? And at the same time, the power that you have in living and serving the Lord, what is its exact measurement? You say, I'm ashamed to answer those questions. Well, this is the Lord this morning visiting you unexpectedly, and if you are weak, you can become strong, and if you're idle, you can become actively engaged in the Lord's work, and if you're guilty of sleeping instead of praying, and if you have neglected coming to remember our blessed Savior, because that's the nearest thing today. He said, this do in remembrance of me, and he comes, and he looks, and you're not there, and he says, what? Could you not watch with me one hour? You confess that I died for your sin. Well, am I worth one hour? No, Lord, you're not worth one hour. You should remember that. And so the Lord comes, and this intimate communion that he wants, he finds you sleeping, or he finds you absent. All right, those are the bad things. What are the good things? When he healed the leper, something that was spontaneous, something from the very inception of his life as a clean man began. All of them obeyed the Lord. He said, go show yourselves unto the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed. And one of the lepers who had seen his body filled with horrible sores, he looked at himself and he was clean, and he fell upon his face at the feet of Jesus with a loud voice glorifying God, giving him thanks. And the Lord Jesus noticed that, and he said, were there not ten that were cleansed? Repent. Where are the nine? What happened to you when you say, I trusted Christ as Savior? Well, if you know what a sinner you were, and then you see that he's cleansed you by his precious blood, where is that spontaneous giving of thanks and with a loud voice glorifying God? Where is it? The others were cleansed, the nine were cleansed, but the Lord took note that one of them came back, and he fell upon his face at his feet, and he gave our Savior thanks. There's something wrong, and I'm suspicious of all of those who say, oh yes, I'm a child of God, and thankfulness and gratitude and glory to God are missed. Why? Because it says the condemnation in Romans one is this. It says, mankind, knowing God, glorified him not as God, neither gave him thanks. And it says, whenever we pray, it is to be with thanksgiving. Now, this is something good that the Lord finds. In the very hour that he's cleansed, he sees that he's cleansed, and spontaneously he thanks and glorifies God. Is that something that's present in your life? Or you want to say, oh yes, I thank Jesus for cleansing me. I would think this, if the Lord would let you return to your leprous condition, your spiritual condition as a sinner, let the drunkenness, the vileness, all of those things come upon you again. I wonder if you would thank him every day. If you knew that was going to happen, if you didn't, you say perhaps I would. But most of us are so happy just to take all the blessings of God and go our way and not give thanks. And so a good attitude of the heart is one of continual gratitude and thanksgiving for what he's done. You say, I'm saved by grace through faith, I'll never perish. Well, then never stop thanking God for the fact that you will never perish. It says, be ye thankful, and that's what God wants. And the time to start it is when he first saves you. And if you haven't started it, start it now. The second thing is this. We say, oh God, give me strength. Why should I pray for God to give you strength? What are you going to do with the strength that he gives you? Think of your life. I've seen sick people, and at times I wondered, it might be better, Lord, if they remained in that condition. I've seen some people when they're weak and helpless, and they're so spiritual, and they're so dependent, and they're so grateful, and you give them a little bit of strength and they get to their feet, they're independent of you then. They don't give that strength back to God. But here is this man who was impotent, and the Lord Jesus healed him. And the next time the Savior found him, he was in the temple. Now that's good. Why? Because with the strength that he did have, he went the place that he should be, in the temple of God. So you start out, and the Lord finds you praising him. That's good. You start out, and the Lord finds you weak, but he gives you strength, and then he looks for you, and you're with the people of God, applying it to us today, in a house dedicated to the glory of God. And then this. Tell me, are you willing to be ostracized and excommunicated to Jesus? You say, why? This blind man who had been given light by our Savior. They said, who opened your eyes? A man named Jesus. How did he do it? He kept telling them. They said, we know that this man is a sinner. And finally, this blind man could take it no longer. He said, whoever heard of a sinner being able to perform such miracles? This man is from God. And they said, you were altogether born in sin, and they cast him out. And so here is a man who is on the outside of organized religion because he took a stand for the person and work of Jesus Christ. And Jesus found him, and may God find me outside of organized Christianity that denies the Savior, salvation through his flesh- precious blood, his deity, his person, all of his miraculous power. May they excommunicate me. But if so, the Lord will go outside of organized Christianity, and he will find you, and he will comfort you, and he will give you additional blessings. So, let me ask you this. If Jesus came upon you unexpectedly this coming week, what is he going to find you doing? By God's grace, may he find good things in your life and not bad things. Time is gone. Let us pray. Our Father, with shame we think of the times that you do look in upon us when nobody else knows, and you find us in sin. Forgive, Lord, and let us take these routine visits when you find us wrong, and let us put things right. And then let us look at those whom you found that were doing good things when you visited them, and may we follow their example. Let us be filled with thanksgiving and praise, and let us be faithful in not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. And Lord, let us be willing to go without the camp, bearing his reproach. Let thy son find us when and where in the place that we should be. Bless us to this end, we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.