94-72 Embarassing Questions

296 in Mission Praise, this old hymn which needs to be sung rapidly but also thoughtfully, speaks of the sinner's experience of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. 296. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me! In which the angels beheld him and came from the world of light.

His comfort in the sorrows he oversold that night. How marvelous, how wonderful was my soul to ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me! He took my sins and my sorrows with angels very young. He bore the burden to Calvary that suffered I alone.

How marvelous, how wonderful had my soul to ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me! And in glory in praise my love shall sing. I'll sing my joys to the angels to sing of his love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me! He took my sins and my sorrows with angels very young.

He bore the burden to Calvary that suffered I alone. How marvelous, how wonderful had my soul to ever be! How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me! And Father, we sing a fast-moving hymn, but not mindlessly. He took my sins and my sorrows, he made them his very own.

Lord, we're amazed. Amazed at what you in grace would do for us. Undeserving, very often not even having received your mercy.

Showing the fullness of gratitude by the consistency of life. And yet your compassions remain. Your grace is intact.

You'll deal with us according to your character and not according to what we deserve. You remember us, you remember a fallen and a broken world. And we thank you, you empathize with sinners.

You do not excuse their sin, but you make it possible for the disease to be dealt with through the shed blood of our beloved Savior. Father, we ask that this night of all nights as we come around your word and come around this table that you will speak to us and convince us of our sins and show us afresh the marvelous salvation. We thank you for a gospel service.

We thank you for the grand old word, gospel. We thank you that it's good news for people like ourselves. And we pray not just for this congregation.

We pray for your church worldwide. We pray not just for the needs of our town. We pray for the needs of our country.

We pray for the needs of the world. Lord, hear as we pray. In these days pour out your spirit upon all flesh.

And cause many to behold wondrous things from your word. And cause many to kneel at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where the arms of God are outstretched to save.

In his name. I was once in darkness. Now my eyes can see.

I was lost, but Jesus sought and found me. Oh, I want no remorse. No more peace he gives.

I will sing forevermore he lives. Alleluia, Jesus. Alleluia, Lord.

Alleluia, Father, I am shielded by his word. I will live forever. I will never die.

I will rise up to meet him in the sky. Let's lift it and go for it again. I was once in darkness.

Now my eyes can see. I was lost, but Jesus sought and found me. Oh, I want no remorse.

No more peace he gives. I will sing forevermore he lives. Alleluia, Jesus.

Alleluia, Lord. Alleluia, Father, I am shielded by his word. I will live forever.

I will never die. I will rise up to meet him in the sky. I was once in darkness.

Now my eyes can see. I was lost, but Jesus sought and found me. Oh, I want no remorse.

No more peace he gives. I will sing forevermore he lives. Alleluia, Jesus.

Alleluia, Lord. Alleluia, Father, I am shielded by his word. I will live forever.

I will never die. I will rise up to meet him in the sky. Amen.

It sounded as though you believed that. Please sit down. And let's have just a little selection of readings from Scripture.

We're glad to have your company this evening. This evening we're going to be coming around the table of the Lord in a little while. And we're concerned that if you are offered bread and wine, that you do so, that you take it, because you do love the Lord Jesus as your Savior.

We're coming around the Word for an explanation of the significance of the bread and wine. At least we'll lead into that in a little while. That prepares us for coming around the Word of God, prepares us for the table of the Lord.

So let's turn to 1 Kings chapter 19. And here's a man who's not very happy. So if you're like that, in fact I'm not very happy myself at the moment.

I can't even see the text. So I'll go to the larger print Bible that we've got here really for Tim Saunders. 1 Kings 18.

And we're centering our attention on Elijah. 1 Kings 19. He's desperately in trouble.

Verse 3. 1 Kings 19. Verse 3. Elijah went into a cave and spent the night, and the word of the Lord came to him. What are you doing here, Elijah? Let's move on to the prophecy of Jonah.

Page 819 in my Bible, but that probably won't help you. It's tucked away after Obadiah, which is more difficult to find than Jonah, so that doesn't really help either, does it? Work your way backwards from Malachi. And there's another man who's in difficulty.

Jonah chapter 1. There's a storm that's come on the sea. There are storms in the Bible sent by God. There are natural storms and storms that are sent by the devil.

Well, this one came as a result of God's activity, and the sailors weren't very happy. And ultimately, Jonah wasn't very happy. Jonah had gone below deck.

This is halfway through verse 5, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep? Get up and call on your guard. Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish.

Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let's cast lots to find out who's responsible for this calamity, this storm. They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? Then nip over quickly to the New Testament and to Galatians.

And here is the Apostle Paul, and he's addressing a company of believers, Christian people. And he calls them fools. You fools, you foolish Galatians.

Chapter 3. Who has bewitched you? Or another translation. Who has cut in on you? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. Paul wants to know why these folk departed from what they knew about the truths of the gospel.

Pardon me for making a personal allusion, but I was sent yesterday from the States to read this American version of the book I wrote on the preaching of Lloyd-Jones and examination of his understanding of function and what it means for the spirit to fall upon you, but also an examination of his preaching. Now, this man who I used to hear when I was a student in London, he had a characteristic in his sermons which would often come out towards the end. You see, there are little sort of tricks of the trade, so to speak, that a preacher can use.

And one of them is to continue to arrest the attention of the congregation by questioning them. And sometimes Lloyd-Jones would put as many as 20 questions to his congregation right at the end. He's been speaking, one particular example I give, he was speaking on our Lord Jesus being the way, the truth and the life.

He'd been preaching for 40 or 50 minutes, that was one of his shorter addresses. And at the end he really hammered the congregation, do you believe this, have you responded to this, do you realize that unless you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then there is no help for you? And so he went on challenging his congregation, struggling with his congregation, wrestling with his congregation. Well, questions are a very important aspect in trying to confront the will.

On a more humorous note, I recall one unfortunate chaplain ministering in a mental hospital in the chapel. And he got a group of patients around and one of them was much more sharp than he. He was trying to emphasize the fact that, well, they come together to worship the Lord.

So he put up the question, why are we all here? And one bright member of the congregation, you do get them from time to time, said, because we're not all there. At least he was getting some sort of response. When Peter was preaching, he got a response too.

You remember his sermon debut when, in the Acts of the Apostles, it was explained about Jesus. And the people are so concerned to ensure that they're right, that they say to Peter, what must we do? And on one occasion when Paul was preaching a Philippian jailer, he put a question to Paul, what must I do to be saved? I was thinking earlier this afternoon as I was looking into this subject matter of questions that embarrass. What about our Lord? Did he use this ploy, this tactic? And indeed he did.

Listen to some of the questions. Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am? What will you give in exchange for your soul? Who is your husband? To what shall I compare this generation? What is the kingdom of God like? Would you be made whole? Well, here in the illustrations that I read to you, two from the Old and one from the New Testament, you come across two characters and one group of people, and they are embarrassed by questions that are put to them. I mean, here's Elijah, a prophet in depression.

What are you doing here, Elijah? Here's Jonah, a preacher on the run. What do you do? Jonah? And here's a church congregation of people knocked off course. Who has bewitched you? Who has cut in on you? Well, the somber questions, they made the individuals Elijah and Jonah sit up, and also this group of Christians in Asia.

They were significant questions addressed to their particular circumstances. Elijah, why are you as you are? Jonah, why are you on the run? You Christians in Galatia, why are you defaulting on your Christian testimony? Not only are they significant and somber questions, but they are surprising in terms of the questioner. You see, God can use many ways to embarrass us.

God can use many ways to disturb us. As far as Elijah was concerned, it was the voice of the Spirit who activated this particular thinking in Elijah as to wasn't it disgraceful for a man like him to be in the condition that he was in? Because that's what Elijah basically thought actually was wrong. I'll show you how God softened it in a moment or two.

And Jonah, well, it wasn't the paraclete, the Holy Spirit, it was the Phoenicians, the sailors, who embarrassed Jonah, speaking really on behalf of God and on the lesser. Who are you? What do you do, Jonah? Why have you got us in the mess we're in? As far as the Galatians was concerned, well, it was their pastor. Because there are times when a pastor has to cut, but always with sympathy and with compassion.

So these questions were surgical, as well as somber, as well as surprising, as well as significant. Let me ask you a few questions. Speaking personally, as though you're asking the question of yourself.

When did I last pray? When did I last systematically read my Bible? Do I tithe my income to the work of the Lord? Is there enough evidence if I was on trial for being a Christian, say we were in Iran or Iraq, to convict me? Questions that could embarrass if you find that you can't respond with a positive. Well, let's come back to these two men for a moment or two, and to this congregation. Elijah, a prophet in depression.

What do you do here, Elijah? Why are you here? And the fact of the matter is that he was in the state that he found himself to be in as a result of a woman. He was afraid. Jezebel, well, you know a little bit about her.

She was one of the less attractive characters of the Old Testament. Her husband, as I mentioned this morning, was a bit of a vacillating fellow. He's made out of rubber.

Elijah himself, well, he'd been doing a lot, hadn't he? I mean, he'd been in Carmel, at the top of Carmel, the prophets of Baal. He'd taken them on board. His diary was crammed, his file of facts absolutely chock-a-block with pages of notes of his activities and so on and so forth.

And he moves out into the wilderness because, well, this man is just overworked. He's on overload. Why here, Elijah? And Elijah has actually got the wrong answer.

God, however, who always deals gently with his children when they're in difficulties, far from bouncing Elijah, what does he do? Well, he ensures that one of his emissaries cooks Elijah a meal, some bread in the kitchens of heaven, puts him to sleep, sends him on his way. And then there's an experience of God that Elijah has, and he's sent back to his task, restored and able to continue. Elijah, the prophet in depression.

Jonah, a preacher on the run. I mean, here is this fellow. You remember his story.

It's a very easy one to recall from Sunday school days. This man who should have gone to Nineveh but decided he'd go to Spain. Now, one of the problems is that you can't get out of the presence of God because he circumnavigates the globe.

And even when you go to Thomas Cook's office in Joppa and try and get a ticket out of the will of God, it doesn't quite work. So, here is Jonah, and he's on this ship, and the voyage is not very easy. A storm blows up, and these are primitive, and yet, in one sense, admirable sailors.

They realize that there's something uncanny about this storm, that it's as a result of someone's disobedience to one of the gods. They throw lots, and the lot falls on Jonah, so they have him up from the first-class cabin and say, Hey, who are you? You know, that's a gift question. Who are you? Where do you come from? What have you got to say for yourself? I recall on one occasion being in Latin America.

I was in Montevideo, and I was taken to a radio headquarters of the national radio in Uruguay. They brought me into a studio, and the thing was live. The interviewer put a question to me, and she said I was part of the Dulos compliment.

Why have you come to Uruguay? Have you got a message for our country? It's a gift, isn't it? I mean, ten minutes later, she was still trying to get another question in, but I was exploiting the opportunity of answering her question on primetime radio. Now, Jonah can't do that, can he? Because, well, the fact of the matter is he's running away from the Lord, and it's the sharpness of the questions of these sailors that brings the context of his disobedience to the forefront of Jonah's mind. Yes, I am a Hebrew, says Jonah, and actually, it's no use praying to all the gods, because there aren't any other gods.

The God that I represent is the God, and Jonah actually is squeezed back into the position that he was running away from, and there he was giving testimony, and he's theologically accurate, and you cannot but deal compassionately with Jonah at this point. But the fact of the matter is that what brought Jonah to book were questions. Who are you? And really, he ought to have been able to have answered those questions in Nineveh had he gone to Nineveh in the first instance, because that's what he was destined to do, but God in his great compassion.

See, he uses Jonah, even in the state of disobedience, to witness to these sailors, and there along the storm ceases, and Jonah's got a wonderful experience in a theological seminary, ten, twenty fathoms below the surface, theological aquatics, that God baptizes Jonah in. Jonah, the founder of the mission to deep sea fishermen. Elijah, a prophet in depression, Jonah, a preacher on the run.

What's the common denominator of these two? I haven't forgotten the congregation, I'll come to them in a moment. The Galatians. Well, remember that neither of these men are novices.

I mean, they haven't come straight from Moreland's Bible college, or London Bible college. I mean, they've been on the road for quite some time. Elijah's a national figure, and Jonah, he's had a very successful evangelistic crusading in Galilee, if you check the books of Kings, you'll discover that that's not an exaggeration.

The fact of the matter is, my friends, that sometimes, even though you're an experienced Christian, circumstances can be such that you go into default. And God, in his grace, will sometimes use a similar sort of circumstance as he did with Elijah and Jonah to bring you to book. The questions came, and they looked in the mirror, and they saw themselves.

And in great compassion, God dealt with both Elijah and Jonah. He hadn't finished with them. Despite their frailty, despite, as far as Jonah is concerned, his failure.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. God used the embarrassing questions of those primitive seamen to bring Jonah back to his senses. God, in compassion, enabled Elijah to get his circumstances into perspective, and went back to his ministry.

As for the Galatians, well, the apostle Paul in that third chapter says, Who's bewitched you? Who's running on you? This is a church that's gone off course. Tony Ford and I were running yesterday, at least. We started to run towards Ferring, and then when we turned back, we got so involved in conversation that my wife noticed that neither of us was perspiring when we got back to our house.

Now, Tony's not like Zola Budd. Do you remember Zola Budd? South African runner, ran barefoot. I tried it myself, and I was crippled for about a month on the seafront because, you know, those little things that the tide leaves as it goes out, the sand, all uneven, and you've got to have strong feet to be able to cope with that without your shoes on, without your trainers on.

Well, Zola Budd, she was running, was it at the Mexican Olympics with Mary Decker? And her feet, because she runs in a very angular fashion, stuck out, and poor old Mary went straight over and took a dive and was not very happy about it, to say the least. She was tripped up because Zola ran in on her. And the Apostle Paul, speaking not just to one congregation, but to several congregations, in what's the equivalent of a county in British terms, he speaks to the Christians in Galatia, and he says, look, you did so well.

Now, here's the embarrassing question. Who cut in on you? Who bewitched you? Who took you away from your initial commitment to Jesus Christ? Because I placarded Jesus in front of you. What a powerful word.

I portrayed Jesus in all His holiness. I portrayed the wonder of His death before you. And you made a commitment, one of you, two of you, hundreds of you.

Churches formed in Galatia. And somebody, somehow or other, has cut in on you and turned you off course. Who did it? So it embarrasses them by this question.

And the whole of the Galatian epistle actually is directed to these errant Christians to try to get them back on course. So it's right that questions are put. Questions are answered.

I had an interesting question. A series of questions put to me last Wednesday after the Bible study. You know that dear Sherry Timble is back in the States because of sickness as far as her sister's baby is concerned.

And Nick Well, he was out looking after one of the camps. And I'm neurotic, as many people will tell you, especially about lights being switched off and the place kept in order. And I saw this light in the entrance to our offices, the stairs going up to the flat.

So I opened the door, switched the light off. Have to mess around with the burglar alarm, which I never understand. Shut the door, got into my car.

The burglar alarm starts to go off. Got out of my car, back into the doorway, into the office. Switch on the light, switch off the burglar alarm.

And just as I'm coming out, a squad car comes along. I mean, I didn't know that Nick had got somebody staying in the flat there. And he told them that if the burglar alarm rang, they had to pick up the phone and call the police.

So as I opened the door to go back down the passageway into my car, these coppers come in and they say, Who are you? What are you doing? Where have you come from? And I say, I'm the pastor of the church. They say, What's your name? I say, Sergeant. Then they took their radio and checked me out at the local police station.

I mean, I wasn't guilty, but I felt it. Questions are basic to the act of taking communion. Did you know that? Let a man examine himself.

And so let him take of this bread. Take and drink of this wine. Now look, the questions that we put to you or ask for you to put to yourself here at the tab are the questions of the confessional.

They're not the questions of the inquisition. You see, this is the thing about God, and this is the thing about true preaching. Preachers are not bruisers.

I mean, Joan of Arc, she was set upon by a crowd of bruisers, wasn't she? You know how she eventually got burned? But if you read the account of the interrogation, it is horrific. Now, the questions that God sought to be put to Elijah and to Jonah and to these groups of churches in Galatia, although in one sense they were embarrassing, they're not questions that were meant to squeeze the very life out of these people. The questions were to help.

The questions were to be remedial, to be restorative, so that as a result, these churches could get themselves back into line. Before you take bread and wine, here are some questions. What do I think about Jesus Christ? What do I think about His cross? What do I think about my sin? What's your answer to those questions? Embarrassing, yes, in some degree, but they are asked so that you might make an honest response.

And as you contemplate the cross of the beloved Christ, you know that there's an answer to the difficulty caused by your sin. All right, so you're a Christian. You know all about the mechanics of forgiveness.

Now here's a question. Have you ever entered into the reality yourself of being forgiven? You see, there are some Christians who God has forgiven, but they haven't forgiven themselves. The hymn writer puts it, Be of sin the double cure, save me from its guilt and power.

Some Christians have been saved from the power of sin, but not from a sense of the guilt of sin. Have you forgiven yourself for what God has forgiven you for? Think that one through. If you're a Christian, have you esteemed your fellow brother and sister in the way that you should? Have you tried to put a wrong relationship right? Have you done the best you could in each circumstance this past week? Are you sorry for failure? Do you know what it is to enter into the total benefits of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you? See, all those questions are not cutting, are they? Some are a little embarrassing.

Some are very soft. And some, as you give the answer to them, as you respond to what the question causes you to do, it brings you into a sense of forgiveness and wholeness. So we're going to come around the communion table in just a moment.

And I remind you afresh that God deals graciously with sinners. He dealt graciously with the prophet in depression. He dealt graciously with a preacher on the run.

And he dealt graciously with a people who are knocked off course. And he will deal graciously with you as you come to him. Every individual here, your circumstances are different.

You're in different grades in Christianity, so to speak. Some of you have got a lot of knowledge, some of you have got very little knowledge. Some of you are just on the edges of being Christian.

Whatever your circumstances, let's now just come to the Lord and ask that in his grace, he will meet with us. Let questions come into our minds, perhaps some that I've just articulated, or some that the Spirit will bring right now. And you respond to the questions that are asked and take the action that you know needs to be taken in terms of asking for forgiveness and confession, in terms of determining to put relationships right with other people.

Lord, we ask your blessings now to be upon us. As we move around the table in a moment and perhaps preface this by a period of reflection and worship, make those moments filled with a sense of concentration and release your presence amongst us so that not one moment, not the good of one line of a hymn or a song is lost because our mind went into neutral. Lord, we pray that we might be able to enter into the good of the forgiving work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and as a result of his resurrection and his exaltation, help us to bask in the good of the gospel for the Saviour's sake.

Amen. Now as we prepare for the second part of our service, let's take number 85 to help us to move around the table. Come and see, come and see, come and see the King of love.

We worship at your feet where wrath and mercy meet and a guilty world is washed by love's pure stream. 85, we'll stand and sing. Come and see, come and see, come and see the King of love.

See a purple robe and crown of thorns He wears. Soldiers march, cronies kneel as He lifts the cruel cross. Soldiers march, cronies kneel as He lifts the cruel cross.

We worship at your feet where wrath and mercy meet and a guilty world is washed by love's pure stream. For us, we will face sin, O help me take it in. Tears of love cry out, Father, for me.

I worship, I worship the Lamb. We come and mourn for your sin and misdeed there. So much deeper than the wounds of war and pain.

All our pride, all our grief, all our fallenness and shame. And the Lord has laid the punishment on Him. We worship at your feet where wrath and mercy meet and a guilty world is washed by love's pure stream.

For us, we will face sin, O help me take it in. Tears of love cry out, Father, for me. I worship, I worship the Lamb today.

To restore us to your hand, till we bow in awe beneath your search divine. From your tears comes our joy, from your death our life shall spring. By your resurrection our unbelief shall rise.

We worship at your feet where wrath and mercy meet and a guilty world is washed by love's pure stream. For us, we will face sin, O help me take it in. Tears of love cry out, Father, for me.

I worship, I worship the Lamb. My lips shall praise you, my great Redeemer. Worship almighty Savior.

My lips shall praise you, my great Redeemer. My heart will worship almighty Savior. Things may call my guilt away, turn the darkest night to brightest day.

You are the restorer of my soul. My lips shall praise you, my great Redeemer. My heart will worship almighty Savior.

Love that conquers everything, in the midst of trouble you draw near. You are the restorer of my soul. My lips shall praise you, my great Redeemer.

My heart will worship almighty Savior. You're the source of happiness, bringing peace when I am in distress. You are the restorer of my soul.

My lips shall praise you, my great Redeemer. My heart will worship almighty Savior. My lips shall praise you, my great Redeemer.

My heart will worship almighty Savior. Almighty Savior. Almighty Savior.