Get a fresh grip

Let's turn together, please, if you will, to Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 9. What I wish to notice with you for the first part of this meeting today, very simply, is very, very elementary, but I want just to try and encourage our hearts in view of the fact that from here we go back home and back to the fields, back to the pigs, and all the rest of the things, back to school, and back to home, back to the children, back to our marriages, to our mates, and that's where we prove our Christianity, in our homes, to our neighbors, in our workplace. So I trust that the Spirit of God, who has given us his word, he will make it applicable to us, and as well that we will receive it gladly and trust to be benefited by it, and listen to the exhortation of our blessed Lord. Let me just mention this in passing, the different words that are used in the scriptures for, there's teaching, and when we think of teaching, what we have is that a man, a servant of God, will take a passage and he will tell us what it means.

He's teaching us from it. And then, of course, there is exposition, and exposition is going to take God's word and unfold the character of the word itself. That's expounding to us, and that indeed is very necessary and very precious.

But then there is exhortation. Exhortation is not pointing fingers and clubbing heads. Exhortation, the word means put fresh heart.

Give it a fresh heart. And I do trust that's what God will very graciously help us with today, that we may just have our heart touched and something to take home with us from this conference again, as well as what my beloved brethren have capably given to us and shall continue to do so. So we'll read, please, in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 9 and verse 1. And he entered into a ship, our blessed Lord, and he passed over and came into his own city.

And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk, but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house. And he arose and departed to his house.

I want you to think of the expression, please, at the end of verse 2, Son, be of good cheer. Cheer up. This word can be fitly translated, Get a grip.

Get a grip. Get a fresh grip. Cheer up, man.

Get a fresh grip. Your sins are forgiven you. And of course, it's a very revealing statement because it is showing to us that the Lord had a knowledge of all this man's thoughts over the days, over the weeks, over the years that he had spent upon this bed.

He had a perfect knowledge of it. So he says to him, Get a grip, man. Don't panic.

Be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. So I'm going to just move from one to the other as we go along, so I want to notice just a few things concerning this first passage that we have read here together.

First of all, we realize the Lord Jesus is seeking to teach others through this man, and it's a case of priorities. And we realize, of course, that the priority of man's health is in our hand as well as it is in the Lord's hand. But what the Lord is undermining or underlining in this passage is this man's going to be a testimony.

And first of all, let me notice it's in his own city. That's where you start. So every one of us in this room today, like the Lord Jesus, it was his city also, in his own city there's going to be established a testimony.

So get a grip on this, man. It has to do with your confession of the forgiveness of sin. That's where the whole hinge is going to be in this little passage.

There's a testimony to be established, and this man who has been totally helpless lying on the bed, lying there too long, and the Lord Jesus is going to say to him, cheer up man, your sins are forgiven, arise and walk. So I want to notice a few practical thoughts in this little passage concerning this man in his own city and the words of the Lord Jesus to him to be a help as well as to give him power for the commandment that he is going to ask him to obey. One thing the Lord Jesus did not say to this man was, how are you feeling? He had a perfect knowledge of how he felt, and it is very precious to me when I read in the epistle to the Hebrews concerning the Lord Jesus, he says he is touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

The Lord Jesus Christ felt for that man. He knew exactly what his problem was. He knew exactly the elements that had come into his life in different manners to discourage him, but one thing that the man is going to realize from the purposes and the teaching of the Lord Jesus is that in the midst of even the fact that you do have a trial that is burdening your heart, you may be a testimony.

So I hope that it will help us today, and let me just take it in application and speak to each heart here today. I speak kindly to you brethren. Are you lying on a bed looking for pity? You know, pity is not what we need, brethren.

What we need is to get a fresh grip. We've got to get a fresh grip on something, and the Lord Jesus is going to give that to this man. Pity, when we're feeling pity for ourself, we are occupied with self and not with testimony, not with the purpose of God in the affliction that I am found in.

Sometimes it is an affliction of being on a bed. Whatever may be that affliction, the point is, brother, sister, don't stay on the bed. You've got to get a grip on the words and the teaching and the presence of the Lord Jesus.

Let me notice with you how the Lord Jesus is going to emphasize his word here to this man. Not only is he going to give him his word, arise and walk, but he emphasizes it here, and he's going to show that his word, through his life, is going to close the mouths of the opposition around him. That's his testimony.

And dear brethren, it is a response to the word of the Lord Jesus that this man is going to have to get a grip on. All he has is a word. That's all he has.

Son, cheer up. Your sins are forgiven. Which do you think it's easier for me to say? What do you think there is in my word? Is it power or is it just doctrine? There is power in his word, beloved, and that's what this man is going to get a fresh grip on in his life, and it's amazing.

He left home that morning lying on a bed. I don't know if he had pity, but undoubtedly he had days when he was pitying himself, but he's going home a different man, and the first person to see him is going to be his family and then his neighbors. And what is going to be his testimony? What the Lord Jesus said to me.

That's our testimony, brethren. That's what God wants us to get a grip on, his word, and the Lord Jesus is establishing that before these men who quarreled about his word. Sadducees and Pharisees, they argued back and forth about the word of God and the word of the Lord Jesus, and here is a man.

And God, the Lord Jesus says to him, get a fresh grip on this, my dear man. Priority, first of all, is your testimony as a forgiven sinner. You know, that man didn't know if he was going to get off his bed yet.

He didn't know. And sometimes, beloved, we have to be taught the lesson that whether he leaves me still on my bed or not, my testimony is that I am a forgiven sinner and people need to hear about it. That's what the Lord is teaching this man, first of all, even the friends that brought him.

What's going to happen now? So our Lord Jesus steps into the picture once again, and with his word he says, get up, rise up, and walk. And that's the way he went home, brethren. That's his testimony.

I ask each of our hearts as I leave this little passage with you, will there be a difference in my attitude at home? Get a grip on it, brethren. Will there be a difference in your attitude at home? Can I appeal to those who are young here today? Dear younger people, don't act like the world acts in their home. You're a Christian.

Your sins are forgiven. That's the way, the kind of person you should be acting as, a forgiven sinner, not a continuous sinner. Wrong attitudes, nasty words, talking back, no such thing should be in your vocabulary as a believer.

Oh yes, mistakes will be made, but they are confessed and put away because it's unbecoming. The word of the Lord Jesus is, cheer up, take a fresh look at this, get a fresh grip on this. The priority is you act as a forgiven sinner.

That will affect your walk. Let's turn to a second one, please, in chapter 14. And verse 22, chapter 14 of Matthew, and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away.

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. And the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary.

And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.

But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, be of good cheer. It is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

And he said, come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink.

He cried saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Cheer up.

Get a fresh grip. Here are disciples. Let me notice with you.

They're following the instructions of their Lord. He said, get in the ship and go to the other side. He knew the pathway or rather the voyage that they would have upon the Sea of Galilee.

He understood there would be a storm and he let them go into the storm. Now, this is a different type of storm than the first one. The first one was physical and had to do with the man being sick who could do nothing for himself.

But here are men and they had spent many a day fixing sails, fixing oars, getting a fresh grip on the oars. That isn't what the Lord said to do. He didn't tell them to hold up the sails, boys.

The wind will finally carry if you get a good grip on the sails. No, brethren, we get our grip on the sails of life. We try to manage our own little boat as we're moving along the pathway of obedience.

Now, let me bring that into practical character in your life and again as younger believers. And some of you here are young and you're looking for a partner in life. That is very natural and it is biblical.

But let me say very kindly, you be careful when you begin to run into a storm that you don't just keep going in the storm until you sink. When the storm gets rough, that's a time to bring the Lord into the situation. And can I say just a little word of counsel to you? Don't jump too quick.

Take your time to recognize the presence of the Lord in your situations or you will go down. And so may your marriage. That is far from the purposes of God.

And here, that's just a simple side view application. What we're looking at here are believers who are following in the path of the Lord's leading and it's a difficult path. Sometimes obedience to the will of the Lord does cause, it is a cost to some believers.

In fact, to each of us, if we're going to take the pathway that the Lord gives to us in obedience, we're going to come into rough waters. That's inevitable. But get a grip on this, he says.

Cheer up. You're not going to go down. There is not a reason for a believer to go down.

We make excuses for ourselves, but there is no reason. Because of what we see in this passage, our blessed Lord is going to come near to them at the very moment in the fourth watch of the night. There's three things mentioned about the velocity of this storm.

They'd been all night in the storm. This is the fourth watch, the last watch of the night. It's total darkness.

They'd been working in the dark. I don't know how many times they had to fitch the sail. I don't know how many times they were hanging on both hands on the oar.

They were working. And waves, it says they were tossed back and forth. The waves were coming over the side.

Discouragement. Sometimes even in God's assembly, there are waves, there are storms. Brethren, get a fresh grip on what the Lord is going to reveal to these dear believers who are in that ship.

Let us just notice it, what he says to them. He says, cheer up, get a grip. It is I. Be not afraid.

The other thing that I failed to mention, I mentioned two things to you. The third one is their fears. Twice it's mentioned, they were afraid.

They were afraid of two things. They were afraid of waves that were capable of turning their boat upside down. And they were afraid of what they saw.

They thought it was a spirit. The devil's against us or somebody's coming. It's out of hand.

We're lost. We don't know how to do it. Get a grip, says the Lord Jesus.

Take a fresh grip, dear brother, dear sister. Cheer up, he says. It is I. And he dispelled their fear.

So this is what they're to get a grip on. The person and the presence of the Lord Jesus in their path of obedience. There is no way that the Lord Jesus will ask you to obey his word and then forsake you.

That's impossible. Cheer up, brother. You may be in the waves, but the Lord Jesus will never let you go down.

Then he said to dear Peter, when Peter had the courage to step out of that boat, and he's walking on top of the water, and he begins to look at the same waves. And sure enough, he started to sink. But the Lord Jesus stretched out his hand to him.

I like that. Get a grip on the hand of the Lord Jesus. You know, the psalmist in his experiences, dear David, he writes these beautiful words, he holdeth me by my right hand.

Can I ask you, dear brother, dear sister, older one as well as younger one, have you in the privacy of your own dealings with with the Lord, have you ever felt the tenderness of his hand as he takes a hold of yours? When does he do that? When we're in fear, when we're timid, when we don't know which way to go next. And it may be I'm speaking to a heart here today, and you can't even cry anymore. As by your bedside, you pour out your heart so continually, and the tears just don't come anymore.

You give up on them. Listen, you can give up on them, but never give up on God. His hand is there to be grasped.

Get a grip, he says. I am here, the great I am, the controller of every wave, the controller of every sea, the controller of every pathway. He asks his people to tread in separation unto his person, in sacrifice of life for his honor, and in service in his assembly.

Yes, brethren, we're bound to hit times of waves, but get a fresh grip. Cheer up, brother, the Lord is near, and his hand is ready to be grasped, that you may be preserved from going down. I like the way the psalmist puts it when he's feeling the same experience as these dear believers.

He says, my foot had almost slipped, almost slipped. Dear younger brother, has your foot almost slipped? Been playing with something you shouldn't be playing with as a believer? There's so many avenues in our world today that are calculated to tantalize the affections and the chemistry of every human being. And let me say, dear brother, if you slip towards it, do you know what the psalmist said in another passage? My feet had almost gone.

Oh, but for the grace of our faithful holy Lord, he says, get a fresh grip on this. My presence is always near. In the time when you feel you're gonna go down, get a fresh grip on the hand of the ever-present Lord in the time of a storm.

But you notice, the storm didn't stop because the Lord Jesus was walking on the water. It didn't stop till he got in the boat. Then it says the wind ceased.

That's it, brother. It's you and me by our bedsides in the time when we don't know which way to look, and we don't have the answer, and we feel like throwing the thing away, and that's it. I quit.

Get a grip on this, he says. When I get in the boat, the wind will cease. Ah, brother, he is the controller of every wave.

And when he stepped into the boat, when by your bedside and me by my bedside, we lift our eye away to him, away from the storm, and he enters the situation of our experience, that's when the wind ceases. I trust that we may be encouraged. First of all, get your priorities right.

Get a grip on priorities. And in this one, get a grip on the person of the Lord Jesus in the time of testing and trial. Let's turn to a third one, if you will, please, to Mark's Gospel, chapter 10.

What time am I supposed to stop here? I must have a look at that. Mark chapter 10, and look please at verse 40. We'll read at verse 46.

They came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho and his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, be a good cheer, rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way.

I like this passage. Many a time it has been a cheer to my heart, and I hope that it will help some heart today. Here's a blind man, and the words of the people are, get a grip on yourself, man.

Cheer up! He answers prayer. He heard you. You called.

He heard you. He's saying, come. He answers prayer.

Here we find a young man. I want you to notice Bartimaeus means the son of Timaeus. In fact, it says that.

So here's a young man, and he's wandering in the dark. He's got a cane and a cup, and he's sitting begging. You know, sometimes our life does seem that way.

That is to say, when younger believers are wanting to please the Lord, and they're looking to the Lord for work, and they're looking to the Lord for the pathway as well, where they should be living. And it just seems as though you're still blind. You don't know which way to go.

You haven't got a handle on yourself, and you haven't got a handle on things, and you don't have a handle on the Lord. Listen to what he's saying to you. Cheer up, man.

There's no need for you to sit by the wayside begging anymore. No need. You don't need that cane, and you don't need that cup.

You don't need to be sitting home doing nothing. You don't need to be just waiting for something to happen. You pray, and remember, he answers prayer.

And what we see in this dear blind man, as we notice in our passage here in connection with Timaeus, this young man, he heard three things. First of all, he heard that Jesus, the son of David, was passing by. Now he must have heard that at home, this boy, son of Timothy.

Must have heard father talking about him, because he'd never seen him. Couldn't see. So he didn't know the nearness, and he didn't know the intimacy and relationship with this man, Jesus.

But he believed what his father taught him. I hope you believe the truth that your father's teaching you, young man, and you also, dear younger sister, as to your deportment, as to your language, as to your manners, as to your relationship with the Lord Jesus. Because as the son of David, what he's really saying is, Jesus is king.

Jesus is king. We're his subjects. We're subjects of his kingdom.

Therefore, it is his word that is going to rule the kingdom. He says, get a grip on this. Your king answers prayer.

Cheer up, man. Cheer up, dear younger person. God wants you to get a knowledge of him, Christ, in your life, in this way.

Pray, and pray like this, dear man. Pray intelligently. He's speaking.

He's addressing himself to Jesus. That's how he was known, of course. That's the savior of the world.

He's the son of David. He's the king of divine program, the person of our Lord Jesus. But then he heard another voice.

Somebody said to him, stop it. What's the matter with you anyway? He'll have no time for you. He'll just look at you.

What have you got to offer? You're not even working. Here you are sitting around. He's got, listen, when he heard that, you know what he did? He prayed more than he did before, and that's the thing to get a grip on.

You must get a grip, dear younger brother, to bring into the discipline of your life intimacy with God alone in your room. Will you put that into your program? You're wanting to know which way to go. You're wanting to know how and where you should look and be useful.

Get alone in the sanctuary with Jesus, the son of David. He is king. He can command.

He will give instructions. In fact, there's going to be a third voice that hears, and the third voice says, cheer up. He heard you.

And I'd like to guarantee to you, dear younger people today, get a grip on this. He hears and answers prayer. I would love to relate to you the manner in which the God of heaven and all the greatness of his being, it humbles my heart to think of it, the manners in which he has answered prayer in our lives.

He can and will do the same for you. That's what he heard. Cheer up.

Jesus answers prayer. Get a grip on that. Bring it into your life.

Make it the discipline of your life. Yes, you'll pray more than once, and there will be things that will say to you, well, he's not listening to you. You just pray all the more.

And if you wish a great example of that, can I turn you to the Lord Jesus himself? I know that you are moved when you think of Gethsemane, and so am I. But oh, I think of the Son of God. Three times he prayed, saying the same words. Were they wasted? Never wasted.

His Father heard every syllable. He felt every pang. He understood every voluntary willingness and submission and the spirit of the Lord Jesus in every word he spoke.

But he prayed. Keep at it. Get a grip on the blessed fact that the Lord Jesus hears and answers prayer.

And of course, then the question is put to him. Now that you're praying, what do you want? What are you really going to pray for? What is it that you want? What do you want, dear young man? Do you want to serve God? Do you want your life to count for the blessed man who loved you even unto death in the shedding of his life's blood? Do you want to get a hold of the fact that you can enter into service for him? What is it you really want? Get a hold of it. Bring it to the Lord in prayer and tell him the truth.

That's what this man did. Lord, he said, that I might receive my sight. Just show me the way.

You know what it says about him? It says he followed him. Beautiful. That's what the Lord's looking for.

That's the answer to prayer. He'll open before you a pathway that you can step into with the confidence that it is an answer to prayer. Let me turn to another one quickly, please, if you will, and look at John's Gospel chapter 16.

Turn towards the end of the chapter. We will look, please, at the teaching of the Lord Jesus at verse 30. Now we are sure, now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee.

By this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yes, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Cheer up.

Get a grip on this. My program will be carried out. That's what the Lord is saying by saying, I have overcome the world.

There is nothing going to stand in the way of the program of our blessed Lord. Do you know what the next thing on his program is? To step to the air, to receive his people home to heaven. Cheer up brother.

Dear sister, let us get a fresh grip on this blessed fact. While in our world we see tribulation, and we may have more tribulation than we may expect, we do not know how much longer that we will have in this world before the Lord Jesus comes. But one thing is sure, the longer he waits in the patience of his grace to see sinners get saved, the more difficult it's going to be for testimony.

That's what the word reveals. That's what we understand. That's why we need to be taught doctrine, as we've been hearing this weekend.

That's why we need to indeed heed the exhortation. Get a fresh grip on intimacy with God, because in the world ye shall have tribulation. But he says, cheer up.

Get a grip of this. My program will be carried out. Let me just spend a moment with you, beloved, to notice the program of our blessed Lord, as he steps to the air from the presence of the Father.

He's coming with a voice of magnificence and power, and the great voice that will be heard is as a trumpet. And we shall rise. I like the words of the bridegroom in the book of Song of Solomon, and even the bride responds to it.

Arise and come away. Brethren, that's what's going to happen in a moment of time. And we who are living, we shall rise together, changed in a moment, and we shall be like our beloved Lord to stand in his presence.

Marvelous change. Be glad to be finished with the flesh, brethren. We'll shout hallelujah.

We'll be glad to have our new house, which is from heaven. We will stand in a body never to be touched by time nor sin again. We'll be able to serve our glorious Lord in a fashion that is altogether perfect, never lacking, never forgotten, never missing a point, full, absolute, perfect, sinless obedience forever and ever.

Oh, what a program is the great power of redemption that awaits us. But let me remind us our hearts as well. As soon as we step into his presence, there's the judgment seat of Christ.

You see, the judgment seat of Christ for younger folk who are here today is not the Lord going over your sins, judgment in that sense. The word for judgment means evaluation. The final evaluation of your life as a believer will be revealed.

You and I are being evaluated every day by our Lord. He's watching every moment. He sees every motive.

He understands all your thoughts while you're sitting there. Are you wanting to take in something? I hope the little something that we have read, you will take in with you, and whatever else my beloved brethren may give you, I hope you will receive heartily because the Lord is watching. He wants to see you taking him at his word, bringing it into your life, and at that great day of evaluation, he will reward and give eternal honor and everlasting trust of service to him in his coming glorious kingdom because of your obedience and commitment to his will.

That's what's coming. That's his program. And for those who have gone before us, what a marvelous day.

I love to think of it. You know, when the Lord Jesus died at Calvary, the graves were opened. But when the Lord Jesus comes to the air, the graves aren't going to be opened.

They're going to be emptied. Marvelous. Totally different.

Marvelous wherever they have gone. It's a marvelous thing to consider. It's impossible to our mind to grasp, for some have drowned at sea.

Others have been eaten by sharks out there in the sea. But they shall be raised. Triumphant is the glory of our wondrous Lord, all-powerful.

Brethren, cheer up. Get a fresh grip on this blessed fact. The program of our Lord Jesus will be carried out to the letter.

And the next thing is the moment when you and I will hear his voice and rise away. Then the 70th week of Daniel will be completed also, and Israel will be restored after those terrible years of trial. But in all things, the Lord Jesus will fulfill the promises of his program.

My time has come to close. I'm going to leave the last one with you to look up yourself. It's found in Acts chapter 23, and it's about Paul.

And Paul's in prison and he's discouraged. You know what the Lord Jesus said to him? Cheer up, Paul. I'm going to send you to Rome.

He says, you've been at Jerusalem and you preached well. Now I'm going to send you to Rome. Brother, get a fresh grip on this.

Your life of service is not finished yet, nor is mine. Let's keep at it. Cheer up.

Don't quit. Have you been silent in the assembly? Get a fresh grip, brother. Your years of service are not finished yet.

Nor you also, my beloved sister. Some of you are older. Spend just a little more time praying.

We need you to pray. Your work is not finished yet. Cheer up.

Get a fresh grip. May God help us to do so for his name's sake.