Steadfast

I would like to bring before you this afternoon five scriptures in which we find the word steadfast. Before reading the first one, I would like to mention or say that we know we live in a very difficult day, in a day in which everything seems to be failing. And I suppose that in Christendom, there's nobody that has failed as much as those who have professed to be gathered to the Lord's name, because the more truth we have, the more responsibility we have, and God holds us responsible.

But I would like today, beloved friends, not to talk about these failures. We know them, don't we? Each one of us, we know them. We feel them.

We see what is happening. I remember speaking to a clergyman recently, and he said to me, would you admit, would you be willing to admit that during the last ten years, that group of Christians across the street from where I preach, there was a meeting room across the street, he said, would you be willing to admit that perhaps during the last ten years, your meeting has declined? And I said, yes, sir, we have declined. We must admit it.

He said, well, I was severely criticized because I wrote an article in which I said the sect that I belong to, I won't mention the name, has failed. And he said, the leaders came to me and said, we don't want you to write those kind of things. We don't want to hear that.

Well, we told this man that we believe he had failed, but that Christ is the answer, brethren. I am convinced, and I'm sure most of us or all of us are convinced, that Christ is the answer. And so I'd like to turn to these scriptures one by one.

The first one is in the ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel. The ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel and verse 51, And it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go up to Jerusalem.

Well, the first place we have is the face of the Lord Jesus set steadfastly to go to the city of Jerusalem. Now we know that that city was a city that was filled with religion, and yet rejected Christ. And yet the Lord Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to that very city.

And in the nineteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel, I believe it is, we find that when he came to that city and beheld that city, he wept over it. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that a marvelous thing that the Lord knew exactly what was going to happen in Jerusalem? But he would go there because he had come here to glorify God his Father and to bring blessing to man, to bring blessing to you and me. And so when he got to the city that he knew was going to cast him out, he looked down on the city and he wept over it.

Well, that is quite a challenge for anybody who lives in a city like Montreal, where we come from, where we can go up on that mountain that's in the center of the great city and there's a lookout there. You can stand there on that rail and look over the city of Montreal, which has, I suppose, two million five hundred thousand people, many of them in darkness. And I have to confess that I have done that several times, but I've never wept over that city.

That city, the great crowd doesn't even know who we are, but here was the Lord Jesus looking over that city that was soon to say, away with him, crucify him. And he wept over the city. Oh, dear brother, what do you and I know about this weeping over men's souls? Do we really weep as we hear and think of the sorrows that are all around us today? Well, the blessed Lord looked over that city and he wept over it.

Now let us look in the book of Acts, where we have the word again brought before us. And verse nine, Acts chapter one, verse nine, And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Well, how wonderful this portion is, beloved. Here was a man who had won these apostles' hearts by his love and his grace and his goodness. He had told them that he was going to suffer and be cast out and die, and I suppose they never really entered into that truth about this glorious person.

But at last it came to pass that the Lord Jesus was dead upon the cross of Calvary, and then he rose again. He said to his disciples in the sixteenth of John, he was going to go away, but he said these wonderful words, But I shall see you again. Wasn't that wonderful? I shall see you again.

What an encouragement it is for Christians in connection with loved ones who departed to be able to say they look forward to that day when they are going to see that glorious person again. I shall see you again. And so each one of us can look forward to that day when we see the Lord and see all our loved ones by the grace of God in the Father's house above.

And now he was going to leave them again. Again he was going to leave them, and it tells us here in the ninth verse, he was taken up. Isn't that wonderful? He was taken up.

Can you imagine the joy in the Father's heart? The joy of heaven as the angels looked down and saw that blessed man, there he was, that lowly man, that humble man, that obedient man who had gone through death and burst the bonds of death, had been raised from the dead, and now he was being taken up. And beloved Christians, isn't this to be soon our portion? We're going to be taken up. He was taken up, and we're going to be taken up.

And it's wonderful to think that when the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, that the dead, other dead, remained in the graves. He came out, an out resurrection. And that's exactly what's going to happen to us if we pass through death before the Lord comes.

We're going to be taken out of our graves, and with those who are still living, be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. For our resurrection is like his resurrection. It's an out resurrection from among the dead.

And we can see these men as that glorious person was taken up. And I suppose the glory cloud received him out of their sight, and it says, And why do they look steadfastly up into heaven? Isn't that wonderful? They looked up steadfastly. Why did they look up steadfastly into heaven? Because the one they loved was going there.

The one that they trusted, the one that they knew so well was going there. And so that's where they looked, steadfastly up into heaven. Now, the devil is trying today, beloved, to make the Lord's people worldly.

And he's having good success. And the more prosperous the two nations in North America become, the more our eyes are turned to the world. Isn't that true? The more our eyes are turned to the world because of prosperity.

And so how nice it is to think today that everything that we see is temporal. Everything we look at is going to pass away. But we can turn our eyes away from the whole mess, for surely we must confess that the whole business is becoming more and more of a mess.

Can you imagine a man or a woman who is building their foundations in this world? What have they got? Nothing. Absolutely nothing to look forward to, but more and more failure, and more and more trouble, and more and more sorrow. Only the Christian, only the man or woman who is in Christ has any right to be happy, has any hope for the future.

And so these men looked up steadfastly into heaven. And oh, may the Lord encourage us today to look up steadfastly into heaven, not to be discouraged, but to remember that He's there and He loves us with an everlasting love. I think it's so wonderful to think of the Lord's precious words, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.

Continue ye in my love. You know, there was a time when the Lord was preaching in the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, and many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. I think it's a very precious portion.

And the Lord turned to those twelve men, and He said, Will ye also go away? And Peter had the answer. He said, Lord, to whom shall we go? And as we see this great world turning more and more against the Lord and away from the Lord, might the challenge not come to your heart and my heart? Will ye also go away? Can we answer like the Apostle Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? We have nobody else. We have nobody else, beloved, like Him, who will be so faithful and gracious to us.

And then they heard these wonderful words. I think this is really heartwarming how often it has cheered our hearts to read these words. This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.

Now that's so encouraging to us today, to think of these words. It's the same Jesus. We read the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, and how often these four Gospels have been used by the Spirit of God to warm up our poor hearts.

I remember our brother Armistead Barry told me, he said, I hope that we'll never graduate from the Gospels. How nice it is, he said, to stay reading those Gospels time after time to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. And these men had seen this one, and now they were told these words, this same Jesus.

Now we know He's a glorified person with a glorified body. But isn't it wonderful that He's the same Jesus? I'm sure their hearts were stirred and cheered as they thought of Him whom they had walked with, whom they had talked with, whom they had heard pray. And they knew something about Him.

They knew there was something about this Jesus that had won their hearts, and it was going to be the same Jesus, the very same Jesus who has won your heart and won my heart. He's coming back again, this same Jesus. I suppose that Peter and John and the other apostles, especially Peter probably, and John, they must have gone home and said, isn't this a wonderful thing? It's going to be the very same Jesus that comes back again.

We're going to see the same Jesus that we've come to love and to know so well. Now in the second chapter, in the forty-second verse, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. This takes us back, does it not, to the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came down to this world, a divine person, and brought together those 120 disciples, forming the one body of Christ.

And he indwells the body of each one of us and unites us today to that glorious person at God's right hand. And so here we have what they did in these early days, now beloved Christians, how wonderful it is to be gathered to the Lord's name. And I ask myself this question first, and then you.

Do we really appreciate that in these dark, dark days that we are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ outside the camp, to him alone, owning no other name but his, not only in the name of the brethren or the Plymouth brethren, but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? For there is no reproach in being one of the Plymouth brethren, because they just say, well, of course, they're wonderful people and we know all about them, we read about them and so on and so on, we heard about them. But when you say, I'm gathered by the Spirit of God to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, even born-again Christians are not satisfied. They say, but you must have a name.

You have to have a name. What is your name? The name of Jesus is cast out. But here they were together, all together, so that the Church of God in that day was in one place.

Not like today. If we got a letter today addressed to the Church of God at Burbank, who would claim that letter? We certainly couldn't claim it here. Who else could claim it? There's nobody could claim it.

It had to go back to the dead letter office. But here they were all together. I want to draw your attention to this verse which we know so well, which is always so precious.

And they continued steadfastly. Now there's much to the scourge. You know, you go to the little meetings and you see sometimes three and four and sometimes five or six, and you say, what is going on here? Look at all these other places with a hundred and two hundred and three hundred.

And here's these six Christians sitting down in a little room. There they are. But, oh, beloved friends, those who look into that room fail to see the one who is in the midst, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

How glorious that is to think that we today, this is a marvelous thing, and we should never stop praising God that we're saved first and that secondly, we're gathered to the Lord's name. Oh, when you think of what's happening in Christendom today, when you read what's brought before us of false doctrine and other things that are brought in, how we should praise God that we're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if I was to stand here and say anything unfaithful, untrue to the person of Christ, I would rightly be censured at the very end of this meeting.

You wouldn't go home and say, well, that's his opinion and I have my opinion. No, we go by the word of God. And so they did here.

And they continued steadfastly. Now, are we going to continue steadfastly? Are we going to give up the truth? Are we going to say our numbers are getting smaller? And that's for sure. Are we going to say, well, everything is failing, or are we going to continue steadfastly? What in? In the apostles' teaching, in the apostles' doctrine, not our teaching, not our doctrine, but the doctrine or the teaching of the apostles, of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are we going to continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship? And beloved Christians, we need fellowship. There are some Christians who say, well, I sail alone. But those Christians haven't got God's mind at home.

For God would have us in fellowship. He would have us together as fellows in a ship, close together, so that we might go on together and join Christ together. And in fellowship.

Isn't it wonderful to have fellowship with Christians? Oh, is there some young person today, maybe you're getting into the company of the world, and they're slowly but surely, they're weakening you and they're dragging you down. You remember when Samson sat in the arms of Delilah, and she tried to find the secret of his strength, he told her something like this, if I tell you that I will be the same as other men, and that's exactly what Satan is trying to do. He's trying to make God's people the same as other men, but we're not the same, beloved.

We're not the same. You say, well, are we better than them? We don't say that, but we belong to Christ, and we're separated from this wicked world. The world hates Christ, and the world is against our God and our Father, and we're a separated people to this blessed name in fellowship and fellowship together with the people of God.

And how nice it is to meet the Lord's people. Now, we meet Christians, and you do too, who are not gathered to the Lord's name, and we can talk about Christ with them. Isn't it nice to talk about Christ? I remember a sister gave me the name of a man I had never seen in my life.

I'd heard his name mentioned, but I never knew this man from Adam. But she said, do you want to speak to a warm-hearted Christian, a Christian who will talk about Christ to you? I said, I sure do. So she gave me this number, and I phoned up, and you know, I was going to talk to him, but I didn't get much chance to talk to him, because he talked to me.

And what did he talk about? He talked about the Lord Jesus, and he just wore my heart out. Oh, how nice it was. And then, you'll pardon this personal reference, at the Montreal Conference, as we stood beside the microphone to give out the announcements, the sister came along with this man.

And before I knew it, he grabbed me into his arms, and he pulled me into him, and he kissed me and hugged me as if I was one of the dearest friends he ever had in his life. And he had never seen me before, and I had never saw him before. But you know, there was a link, and that link was Christ.

He knew that I belonged to Christ, and I knew that he belonged to Christ. And we found each other in our arms. Oh, how lovely that is, when we meet the Lord's people, to feed them with Christ.

Oh, dear brethren, there are so many Christians discouraged today. So many Christians are unhappy, and they need the Lord, and they don't get the truth, and they don't know the truth that you and I know, and how lightly we handle it. How careless we are, as we'll see in a moment or two, by the grace of God.

Thirdly, in the breaking of bread. Isn't that wonderful? The breaking of bread. And I was thinking this morning, sitting over there, of the first time that took place.

And who was there? The Lord Jesus. You know, it says he gave thanks, but it doesn't tell us what he said as he gave thanks. I wonder what he said to his father, as that day he gave thanks and took that bread and broke it and passed it to the man he loved so dearly and said, What did this do in remembrance of me? And then the cup, and he passed it to them, and he said to drink of it.

This is, speaking of his precious blood, oh, dear Christian, is this what you do on the first day of the week? You know, it's a challenge to all our hearts, is it not? We've heard these things before, but they do bear repeating. We've sometimes said, if in Montreal or in Canada, the Queen was going to be at the meeting, and it was announced the week before that next Sunday morning at 10.30 sharp, Her Majesty the Queen will be sitting in the special chair in the front of this room. You know, there wouldn't be one person stay home.

Now I know there's some who are sick, I don't mean those who are aging, because their hearts are there, but I'm talking about carelessness of those who just don't come to the Lord's Day meeting, morning meeting, except occasionally, on special occasions. Maybe they miss two and come the third, but if the President was going to be here, what would happen? Oh, this room would be packed with people. I suppose in Canada, if the Queen was going to be there, they'd be standing outside as far as they could get, trying to get into this room, or the Montreal meeting room, to see the Queen.

But there's somebody better than the Queen. There's somebody better than the President, and that is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to be in the midst.

Brethren, do we really believe this? It's so easy to quote Matthew 18 and 20. It becomes a habit to us. We read it, and we talk about it, but do we really and truly, are we convinced that there's a divine person in the midst? If we did, we'd be here.

There'd be no staying home to water the gardens. There'd be no staying home to fix the automobile. There'd be no staying home to sleep in Sunday morning, if we really believed our Lord Jesus Christ was going to be in the very room.

And if we walked into the room, and He was here in person as a man, and looked up and saw you walking in, or me walking in that door, and He smiled at us and said, I'm so glad you came to meet me this morning, wouldn't that thrill your heart and my heart? But it's true, brethren. It's as true as God lives. The Lord's in the midst, and how nice that is.

Then we have something else, and in prayers. Now this is a very interesting subject, and in prayers. What do we know about prayer? We sometimes, I'll speak about my own assembly.

We sometimes find that on Tuesday night when we have our Bible reading, there's an awful lot of activity. I suppose sometimes 12, maybe more, take part on Tuesday night. And there's a big crowd there.

But on Thursday night at the prayer meeting, there's quite a few less, and all of the long pauses, waiting to pray, and this weird issue, oh brethren, why don't we pray at the prayer meeting? We come to the prayer meeting to pray. Isn't that nice? And then I like to say this, and you'll pardon me for saying this, please. And that is, there's no amens.

Recently a brother said to me in a certain place in Canada, he said, when I finish my prayer in my little assembly, there's never an amen. He said, brother, why? What's the matter with the amens? Now we know there are groups, I won't mention their names because you know them, who get very excited about this amen business, and I don't mean that. But surely when a brother speaks to the Lord in worship and adoration and praise, there should be some amens in our lips.

And this is the prayer meeting, and it's the powerhouse, beloved brethren, it's the place where we should be, on the prayer meeting night, not at home, not at home, but to come to meet, not the brethren, but to come to meet the Lord, to come to meet the Lord. Somebody has said that the last meeting that's given up is the breaking of bread. You probably noticed that.

First of all, we find that the prayer meeting's given up, and then the Bible reading, and then the gospel meeting, and finally, lastly, the Lord's Day morning meeting is given up, and none of us can boast, can we? Only the grace of God can keep us. But surely there should be a desire in your heart, and in my heart, that if the saints of God gather to the Lord's name, we're going to have a prayer meeting, then we should be there. Now there's some, of course, like mothers who must stay with their little children, and the Lord knows that, but I'm talking about those who have no excuse like that, or we found steadfastly, continuing steadfastly in these wonderful four anchors that we find in Acts 27, where the apostle speaks, where the word of God speaks of the four anchors that were cast out.

Surely these four anchors, beloved, are something that really should exercise us today. Now, we dare not boast, we must not boast, because as we mentioned at the beginning, we have failed much. We acknowledge that.

We know we've failed. We know that we're not as real as we should be. I was walking down the street in Montreal with a young man who I don't believe is saved, but he was brought up in a Christian home.

He challenged me about hell. He said, do you really believe there's a hell? And I said, well, I certainly do, because it's in the word of God. I have to believe that.

He said, well, then, he said, look at all these people walking down the street. If you really believe there was a hell, where men and women were going to be weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth, he said, you wouldn't let one of them pass. You'd stop every man and woman and boy and girl on the street, he said, and you'd tell them about the Lord Jesus.

Now, as far as I know, he's not saved yet, but he had that discernment to see. And what a challenge it was to my heart. Oh, beloved brethren, how afraid we are.

How afraid we are to speak of Christ. How afraid we tremble and we shake when it comes to meeting a man on the street, and some poor man may be just longing with a broken heart to hear something that will give him some rest, some peace as he goes through this troubled world. And you and I know the answer, and we pass him by.

We just pass him by. Oh, beloved brethren, may the Lord help us to be more, to continue on steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. You know, there's going to be a testimony to the Lord's name until the shout is heard.

There's going to be a testimony, and if everybody gives it up, God will raise up others, because it's God's ground of gathering, and it's God's name, that name that he has given, the name of Jesus. And if every one of us who are gathered to the Lord's name today in the whole continent of America say we're going to give the whole thing up, then God will say, then I'll raise up others, because there's going to be a testimony until the Lord comes. I believe we learn that from that well-known scripture in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26.

For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death, till he come. So I believe that God, who has honored his Son, is not going to allow man to dishonor his Son and give that testimony up. He's going to gather others to that blessed name.

What a wonderful thing it would be if when the Lord Jesus comes, you and I, by the grace of God, are still gathered to the precious and worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the next scripture is in Acts 7. And I know, and don't pretend that anything I'm saying is new, but how precious the Word of God is. We may read it a thousand times and say, well, I read this last year, like the books that men read, we read their books and then we discard them.

Now, you're just reading them twice. But this book never gets dry. This book is always fresh.

There's always something we can find in the Word of God. Now, here we have Stephen, the first martyr, and I'm just going to read this 55th verse. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

Now, if we just look a moment at the end of the 6th chapter in the 15th verse, it says, And all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. And immediately, in his long discourse, he starts off in the 7th chapter bringing to their attention the God of glory, the God of glory. And he ends the chapter with the man in the glory.

But his face, beloved, there was something about Stephen's face that they looked upon steadfastly and they saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Well, I don't suppose any of them had ever seen an angel, but there must have been something about Stephen's face. And I believe, dear brethren, and I speak for myself, there should be something about our faces that mark us out that we've been with Jesus, that we've been with Jesus.

Oh, sometimes on the rates in Catherine Street in Montreal, you see the people pass by, long sad faces. You see the priests as they pass by with their long sad faces. Surely your face and my face should betray to the people we pass by.

There's something different about that man. There's something different about that one. What is the secret? How can they be happy in this world? Oh, we've been with Jesus.

Stephen was God's man. And he made this long discourse here, and we know it very well. And he spoke about their being stiff-necked in the 51st verse and so on, and then he speaks about the prophets their fathers had persecuted, the just one they had slain, and the law and so on, and the Holy Spirit.

But now he himself, being full of the Holy Ghost, notice what it says there, but he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, the very place where the Lord Jesus had gone. That's where Stephen looked, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and what did he see? He saw the glory of God. Why, the God of glory in the first verse.

But now he sees the glory of God. As he looks up steadfastly into heaven, he sees the glory of God. Here is something that never can be done away with.

Here is something that never man can tarnish or spoil or decrease, the glory of God. But he saw something else, as we know. He saw Jesus.

He saw the man. He saw the man in the glory, the God of glory. And he saw the glory of God, and he saw a man in the glory.

This is one of the great truths of Christianity, that there's a man in the glory. And Stephen saw the man in the glory, standing on the right hand of God. Now we know that we believe he was standing there in case Israel would receive their Messiah, which they did not.

They sent a message saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. But there's another thought that I enjoy. Maybe you've heard this before.

I enjoy this. That the Lord Jesus was standing there to receive into the glory his first martyr. Isn't that precious? There he was, standing.

You can see his face shining in his glory as he would receive his first martyr into his blessed presence. And then it says, in the 56th verse, that Stephen confessed this. Notice, he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man.

He didn't say, I see Jesus, but I see the Son of Man, the cast out one, the one who is coming back again, the Son of Man. And he said he's standing on the right hand of God. Now listen.

Didn't Stephen know what this was going to happen to him? Didn't Stephen realize that by confessing that, he was going to die? He did. I believe he did. But he boldly, he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

And the apostles said, we cannot help but speak the things which we have seen and heard. We can't help speaking about it. And Stephen just couldn't keep this quiet.

Even though it meant his death by stoning. He said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. What a bold confession this man made, beloved Christians.

We know nothing of persecution in this country or the country to the north. What do we know about being persecuted for Christ? What do I know? People laugh at us. They give them a gospel tract and maybe they sneer at us, but that doesn't hurt us.

We never have had to go to prison for the Lord. We've never felt the lash on our back. We've never felt the punches in the face that others of our brethren have felt.

We've never had to really suffer persecution for Christ. This dear martyr did. And he boldly confessed that he saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

And what did they do? They cried with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord, and they cast him out of the city. They cast him out of the city. What is the city, beloved? It's man's order.

The city speaks of man's order. You remember it's been said before that when Legion in the fifth chapter of Mark came along, where did he come from? Possessed with the demons, he came out of the city, man's order. When Simon carried the cross for the Lord Jesus, where did he come from? He came out of the country, for that's God's order.

But they put him out of the city. And beloved Christians, you know as well as I do, if we speak well of Christ, they'll put us out of the city, out of man's order. Isn't it a good place to be out of man's order, which is confusion? Man's order is disorder.

Man's order is confusion. So they put us outside. They don't want a Christian in man's order of things.

And so they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. Last Monday night we heard our beloved brother give that excellent address on Paul going to Jerusalem and to Rome.

But here we have, I believe, a wonderful display of the grace of God. Who was this Saul of Tarsus? The chief of sinners? Yes. He hated the name of Jesus.

He hated the very truth of Christianity. He was going to, if he could, blot out everything to do with Christ. But he is the man that God chooses to place, as it were, in his care as a man on the earth by the Spirit of God, the church that he loves so dearly.

Isn't this just like God? Who would ever have chosen a man like Saul of Tarsus but God? If we didn't know the grace of God, we might marvel. Here they lay down their clothes at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

Now, you remember another sinner we mentioned the other night, the thief on the cross. He heard the Savior's prayer. Father, forgive them that they know not what they do.

And it touched his heart. And here I believe the heart, the hard, cold, steeled heart of Saul of Tarsus was touched by the grace of God. He heard this man pray and say, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And it touched the heart of Saul of Tarsus and probably broke his heart and led very soon after, I believe, to his conversion to Christ. And what a great servant of God he became, as we heard the other night. Then it says in the 60th verse, And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Well, as we often have said, the Lord Jesus must have the preeminence in everything. And so when he was on the cross, he prayed first for his enemies, and then he said at the end, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

He thought first of his enemies and secondly of himself. But Stephen, while a true servant of God, thought of himself first. He said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And then he said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. How blessed it is to see the difference in our precious Savior and his devoted servant here. You know, there's a lovely thought that just came to my heart, and that is when they said of the Lord Jesus, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil? Now as a Jew, that was a real insult to a man who was a Jew.

But the Lord Jesus brushed that aside. He accepted that. But when it came to the glory of God, and they said, and hast a devil, he said, I have not a devil.

Isn't that wonderful? Doesn't that magnify the person of Christ? How wonderful, how glorious that you and I belong to that glorious person. He owns us. We're so real and so precious to his heart that if somebody touches you or me, we touch him, as we learn from the ninth chapter of the book of Acts.

How wonderful, how blessed. Just before we turn to our last scripture, I notice that the second verse here, And devout men carried Stephen to his burial. Now it doesn't say here that devout men carried the remains of Stephen.

But it says they carried Stephen. That is to say, God said this is Stephen's body. I remember speaking at a funeral one time, and at the end of the message I said, and now we will take the remains of our beloved brother to the cemetery.

And somebody corrected me and said, you know, that's wrong to say that. You should say, we're going to take the body of our beloved brother to the cemetery. And I believe the person who told me that told me the truth.

Because here we learn that devout men carried Stephen to his burial. And it says about the Lord Jesus, There lay they Jesus. It didn't say anything about, I speak reverently, any remains.

His spirit had gone, we know. He had dismissed it to his father, into his father's hands. But still it was Jesus.

How nice it is to see how we can learn from the Word of God. Now finally our last scripture, in 1 Corinthians 15. The great resurrection chapter, and it tells us in the 57th verse, But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then this final verse, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now isn't that wonderful? Are you discouraged today? Don't we sometimes get discouraged? I remember one time, a little mission in Montreal in a place called Carchival. And I remember our brother Willie Martin and I went up the stairs to pray before the gospel.

And we came down and he went to his chair and I went to the platform and I turned to the audience and I counted nine people. Only nine. There was never more than twenty.

But there were only nine there that night. What an discouragement. And as I stood there and looked down on those nine people, a voice said to me as clear as day, You have eight more than I had at the well of Sychar.

Eight more. Oh, what a cheer that was. Beloved young people, don't be discouraged.

Don't be discouraged. Our brother Hale often said to us in Montreal, Never try to count your converts because you'll never count enough. May I give a personal illustration? I remember a dear sister in Smith Falls and somebody told me, they said, You know this dear young sister was converted once when you were speaking in Rideau Ferry.

I never knew that. So if I had counted my converts, I would have counted one short. But I remember going to her and asking her and she told me she sat that day in the Rideau Ferry Hall.

She came to Christ. What an encouragement that was. And oh, dear brethren, isn't it nice to be encouraged by the Lord himself? Therefore, my beloved, not just my brethren, but my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast.

Now we know that the Lord Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. We know the apostles looked up steadfastly into heaven. We know that Stephen himself looked up steadfastly into heaven.

But now he says, Be ye. You and me. Be ye steadfast.

Then he says next, Unmovable. Isn't that wonderful? Unmovable. Like the mighty rock of Gibraltar.

Can you move it? I think it's Mr. McIntosh who says that a man who tries to prove the Bible is not true is like a schoolboy shooting peas at the rock of Gibraltar and saying, I'm going to knock that great rock down. Well, there it stands, unmovable. And the Lord says to you and to me and I speak particularly to the young men who preach the gospel, who try to serve the Lord, Be ye steadfast.

Unmovable. Maybe the great crowds don't bring the blessing. I remember at the Montreal Conference some years ago, I went to Mr. Harry Hale and I said, Brother, there's not many coming this year.

And he said, Brother, crowds don't bring the blessing. I never forgot that. And so it is true, beloved.

It's the Lord that brings the blessing. And so he says, Be ye, therefore, be ye steadfast, unmovable. All was abounding in the work of the Lord.

Who was the perfect servant? There was only one and that was the Lord Jesus. And his path was uncheered by earthly smiles. It led only to the cross.

But was that blessed one discouraged? No, beloved. They all turned against him. His disciples forsook him and fled.

And he stood alone. He stood alone. But I believe that while he was a man of sorrows, there was never a happier man in this world.

He was always conscious of the delight of his Father in him. His delight in serving his Father. How wonderful was the joy of the Lord.

And that's to be our strength, his joy. The joy of the Lord shall be your strength. And then also it says for as much as ye know.

Now this is one of the ye know as a scripture. Let us all lay hold on this truth, beloved. For as much as ye know.

Not think. Ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. What an encouragement.

How wonderful are the ways of God that he would encourage us today. Are you serving the Lord in Sunday school? Are you serving the Lord in the Gospel? Are you serving the Lord going maybe to some camp up north or in the mountains to speak to young men and young women or going to some nursing home to sing or to preach? And you say, I'm so discouraged. Listen.

Your labor, beloved friends, that we have here is not in vain in the Lord. For the end of the 16th chapter of Mark, that gives us the perfect servant. We find the perfect servant is working with his imperfect servants.

And we marvel at the grace of the Lord who said, of whom we read the other day, we read it in the 16th of Mark, that he umbraided them for their unbelief and their hardness of heart. And then he said, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel. How wonderful that is that the Lord will stand by us.

Let us be steadfast. Let us go on with Christ. Let us remember what we are, poor failing creatures.

And how much we fail, we know we have. We confess to God we have. But he has never failed us.

And by the grace of God he never will. He's our dearest, our dearest, our truest friend. And may we seek by the grace of God to remember that the Lord will never give us up.

And the Lord will never fail us. He is faithful.