And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus
himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they
should not know him (Luke 24:15-16).
Our hearts are often troubled, and we do not understand why the Lord seems to
hide His face. How little do we realize that often Jesus is communing with us.
How seldom do we realize that in all our trials that Jesus Himself draws near
and becomes part of our company, but we cannot see Him.
We read in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me.” Sometimes our eyes are closed, and we do not realize that Jesus
is standing at the door knocking.He walks with us and talks with us, but we do
not realize it is Jesus.
The events of our text took place at a time of perplexity and trouble. The
Saviour had been slain and taken away from His disciples. The women had come to
the disciples and told them things that were beyond belief. They said He had
been raised from the dead and that they had seen Him. We read in Luke 24:11:
“And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.”
Two men were walking to Emmaus, and Jesus joined their company, and said to them
in verse 17: “And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these
that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?”
Continuing in verse 18 we read: “And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas,
answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not
known the things which are come to pass therein these days?”
While we are walking in perplexing circumstances, the Lord Jesus Christ is
walking with us and communing with us. In these circumstances, He reveals
Himself and brings to pass His will even though it is hidden to our eyes, even
though we do not see and understand.
I want you to see in one instance why the Lord Jesus hides Himself. We read in
Luke 22:31: “And the Lord said, Simon Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have
you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Peter had a lesson to learn. The Apostle
Peter was so secure in himself. He had come to where he was such a great
Christian within himself.
In this perplexing circumstance, we must not overlook that the Lord Jesus Christ
said in verse 32: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Did
Peter’s faith fail? Certainly, but the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ in Peter
did not fail. We have so much faith in us, we have so much faith in what we can
do, but the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ did not fail.
When Peter was being sifted, the Lord left him over to the point where he was
cursing and swearing and denying that he ever knew Him. This was the man who was
so strong in himself and said: Though all men should forsake you, yet will not
I.
We need to understand the difference between our faith and our human reasoning.
Peter used human reasoning, and he thought it was faith, but this was sifted out
in the sieve of Satan. As we are sifted and the Lord is hiding His face, He is
sorting out all that is of ourselves.
FOR OUR FIRST POINT, we want to speak about a hidden Jesus.
FOR OUR SECOND POINT, we want to discuss why Jesus hides Himself.
FOR OUR THIRD POINT, we want to talk about how Jesus may be found after He has
hidden Himself.
Peter had to learn to know himself, and so must we. As Jesus walked with these
men, He explained to them out of the Scriptures how these things must surely be,
but in the breaking of bread He revealed Himself.
In Luke 9:23 we read, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” In the way of
crucifying that old flesh of ours we see where the Lord Jesus has hidden
Himself.
We read about Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 32:31: “God left him, to try him, that he
might know all that was in his heart.” The Lord withdrew Himself from Hezekiah,
so Hezekiah, a dear child of God, might know what was in his own heart. The Lord
already knew what was in Hezekiah’s heart.
We read in Luke 22:31, “And the Lord said, Simon Simon, behold Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” This was for the same
lesson that the Lord was teaching Hezekiah, that Peter might learn what was in
his own heart. This is why He had hidden Himself from Hezekiah and Peter. He
hides Himself from you and me that we might know what is in our hearts, that we
might know the pride of our hearts, that we might learn to see our own
self-sufficiency. This must all be weeded out and sifted in the sieve.
In Luke 22:53 we read how Jesus told the chief priests and captains of the
temple, “But this is your hour, and the hour of darkness.” The Lord had left
them over to an hour of darkness to fulfill the very counsel of God. They did
not know what they were doing. When the Lord Jesus was hanging on the cross, He
said: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). They
were fulfilling the counsel of God.
When Peter was reproving those who had crucified Christ, they replied in Acts
2:37, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” He had told them in verse 23: “Ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” the Lord of life and
glory. The Lord had withdrawn Himself to bring about His own purpose.
In Ecclesiastes 11:8 we read, “But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them
all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many.” The
days of darkness are those in which the Lord has withheld Himself, those days in
which He has hidden His face. He has not forsaken us, but He has withheld
Himself from our eyes.
Jesus had withdrawn his Spirit from Peter, and Peter was in darkness, and we
read in Mark 14:71, “But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this
man of whom ye speak.” The Lord withdrew His restraining power and restraining
grace.
For three days and nights, Peter was in the bitterness of his soul. The Lord
Jesus had turned and given him that look of love, and Peter had gone out and
wept bitterly. His Jesus was in the grave, and Peter had no knowledge of what it
was about. It was all hidden from his eyes.
In Mark 16:10 we read: “And she went and told them that had been with Him, as
they mourned and wept.” The disciples had no knowledge of what this was all
about. Jesus was hidden from them.
We read in Luke 24:11: “And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they
believed them not.” This was after the women came and told the disciples that He
had risen as He had said He was going to. They just could not believe it. They
could not understand it. The Lord Jesus had withheld their eyes from seeing.
Now we read in verses 14 and 15: “And they talked together of all these things
which had happened. While they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself
drew near, and went with them.”
When you and I have riddles, problems and perplexing things happen to us, we
come together and talk about it. We discuss these things and pray about these
things. He began to unfold the Scriptures to them concerning Himself, but they
did not realize it was Jesus they were talking to. They did not see the hand of
God. They did not see the Lord Jesus Christ in their trial. They did not see Him
even though He was walking with them and talking with them.
How often is the Lord Jesus knocking at our door to gain our attention to
something, and we are not listening? How often do we not behold Him? That word
behold means now listen, take notice, understand.
In Revelation 3:20 what was the Lord Jesus knocking on their door for them to
understand? We read that in the previous verses. Verse 17 says: “Because thou
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked.”
Their ignorance was their problem, and we are so often not cognizant of why the
Lord Jesus is dealing with us. Their problem was complacency. They were too
self-sufficient. They had come to the point where they were too capable of
walking without Him.
He says in verse 18: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that
thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that
the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve,
that thou mayest see.” When we start to see how naked we are before a holy and
righteous God, then we start to understand that we need the clothing of that
fine linen, which is the perfect robe of Christ’s righteousness.
What does it mean to anoint your eyes with eyesalve? When the Lord Jesus Christ
opened the eyes of the one born blind, He spit on the ground and took the dust
and the spittle and made eyesalve and opened the eyes of the one born blind.
Continuing in verse 19 we read, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be
zealous therefore, and repent.” We have to have our eyes opened to see that
Jesus is in these very trials, that He is doing these things to get us to focus
our eyes on Him.
The Lord may be hidden from our eyes while we are communing together and talking
together. I want you to see though how the Lord is there. In Malachi 3:16 we
read, “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord
hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for
them that feared the Lord, and thought upon His name.”
This is synonymous with the context of our text. While they communed and
reasoned, Jesus drew near. The Lord bows down His ear, and He hears this
conversation. He hears the inner thoughts and intents of our hearts. As our
hearts cry out to Him, He hears these things, and a book of remembrance is
written, while we talk together, and while we commune together, and while we
discuss these perplexing circumstances we do not understand. Every one of those
prayers are written and remembered before the throne, and in His good time, He
answers them.
He reveals Himself, but there are certain ways and means whereby He does so, and
we want to notice that a hidden Jesus is still a praying Jesus. Jesus says in
Luke 22:32: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou
art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” While you are going through this sin,
while this is all taking place and I have withdrawn myself, I am still praying
for you. This is the Lord Jesus, our intercessor.
Peter was so big and strong in himself, and this trial was to bring Peter as a
little child before the Lord. It says in Matthew 18:3: “Except ye be converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
By nature we are self-sufficient and big within ourselves. We cannot enter the
kingdom, we cannot serve the Lord, in a spirit of self-sufficiency. We cannot do
this until we come to the point where our hearts are broken down as a little
child. A little child sitting at the table has no concern about who is paying
the taxes, the light bill or who paid for the groceries or where they came from.
The child has childlike faith knowing that his father has provided. That is all
they know.
Jesus told Peter, “When you are converted,” in other words, when you have become
like a little child, when you come to the point where you know how to depend on
me. Peter was so self-sufficient he said that though all men would forsake Jesus
he would not, but this same Peter cursed and swore and denied that he ever knew
Him. Now we see who Peter is in himself. Now we see a Peter who becomes
converted.
Do you know what is strengthening for the brethren? It is when I can come to you
and say: Well, I see the circumstances you are in. I am not a stranger to that.
The Lord allowed me to stumble, and the Lord allowed me to fall, and the Lord
allowed me to become a little child. When I became a little child, then I knew
what it is to walk with faith in Him. I have no strength within myself. Now
everything is, Lord, what will you have me to do, and to totally surrender
myself to His will.
In Mark 6:45-46 we read: “And straightway he constrained his disciples to get
into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent
away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to
pray.”
Again we see a hidden Jesus. In verse 48 we read, “And He saw them toiling and
rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them.” The disciples thought they were
going to be destroyed in the waves, but Jesus was in the mountain praying. They
were toiling in their own strength, but Jesus was watching. Jesus was there in
spirit. Jesus saw them and was praying for them. A hidden Jesus is still an
instructing Jesus.
We read in Luke 24:27, while He seems to have His face hidden from us: “And
beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Even while He has hidden His face, He
is bringing us through school. We have now entered the schools of Christ, and He
is teaching us by these trials that He brings us through.
For our second point, let’s talk about why Jesus is hidden. Jesus is hidden to
teach us the way of the cross, to teach us to take up our cross daily and follow
Him. He is teaching us what it means for everything of the flesh to be cut off.
That old man of sin must be crucified.
Have you ever studied Romans 6 to understand what it really means that we are
crucified with Him and that we are raised with Him unto a newness of life? We
partake of the Lord’s supper in remembrance of Christ’s death. When we think of
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, what are we remembering? In that He died, He
died unto sin. In that He lives, He lives to God.
The wine signifies sanctification. To make wine, grape juice is put into a
vessel, and it is left to settle out. The dregs are left in the bottle, and the
wine is emptied from vessel to vessel. Each time this is done, the dregs are
left behind, so this symbolizes the process of sanctification. When we serve the
wine in the Lord’s supper, it is to teach us that when He died, He died unto
sin. We must learn that death process, that way of the cross.
Peter did not understand the way of the cross. We see in Matthew 16:21, “From
that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto
Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” Then in verse 22 we read,
“Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”
A few verses earlier, in verses 16 and 17, we read, “And Simon Peter answered
and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and
said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” This was a revelation
from God the Father.
Peter was not an infidel. Peter was not a stranger to grace, but Peter did not
understand the way of the cross. The Lord Jesus hid Himself from Peter to teach
Him the way of the cross. When Peter rebuked Jesus in verse 22, he was reasoning
with the flesh, and in verse 23 we read, “But Jesus turned, and said unto Peter,
Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savourest not
the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”
Jesus is saying to Peter: That is not of faith. It is human reasoning.
In Isaiah 55:8-9 we read: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
If the Lord loves us, He will not allow us to build ourselves an empire of
self-complacency. He will not allow us to build ourselves a position where we
have no need of Him. If the Lord loves us He will make us as little children
totally dependent on Him.
Jesus is hidden from our eyes through unbelief. Peter thought he had faith, but
it was unbelief. It was human reasoning. Through our human reasoning and through
our unbelief, we make it so Jesus withdraws Himself.
In Luke 24:6 we read how the angel told the women at the grave, “He is not here,
but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee.” The
Lord Jesus told them these things were going to happen, but they did not
understand. Unbelief had so blinded their eyes. In verse 7 we read, “Saying the
Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and
the third day rise again.”
The angel told the women this at the grave, and the women went to the disciples,
but “their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not” (Luke
24:11). That is unbelief, and through this unbelief, Jesus was hidden from their
eyes.
I want you to see verse 25, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken.” He was withdrawn from them because they were acting so
foolishly. They did not believe what Jesus had told them, but now He unveils the
Scriptures before their eyes to train them. These things were prophesied, these
things I told you. These were the very things you were told.
They were rebellious. They did not want to accept the truth. Do you understand
sometimes why the Lord Jesus is withheld from us? So often we are filled with so
much rebellion. Our hearts are still so rebellious to be able to unconditionally
surrender to what He has already told us. That is what had been happening here.
Next, let’s look at Jesus hidden through idleness and fullness of bread. See how
the Lord withholds and withdraws Himself because of our sins. One of the most
grievous sins is one that we least suspect. It is the sin of Sodom. Do you
understand that the destruction of our nation today is the sin of Sodom? I am
not saying sodomy. Sodomy was the judgment God pronounced upon Sodom because of
their sin.
Let me read to you about the sin of Sodom in Ezekiel 16:49: “Behold, this was
the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of
idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of
the poor and needy.”
How often you and I are guilty of the sin of Sodom. How much pride is there in
our hearts? How much self-sufficiency? We can build ourselves an empire to the
point where we do not need God. We cannot confess this to ourselves, but we are
now looking through God’s glasses. We become self-sufficient, and that is what
happened to Sodom. They had become so wealthy that they did not need God, and
they became proud. They had lots of time to entertain.
This is the sin of America—so much idleness, so much entertainment. You go out
on the sabbath day, the day that is set aside for serving the Lord, and we see
that it is now the greatest day for entertainment. They are stealing the Lord’s
day for their own gratification. We see in America today the Lord leaving them
over to themselves. They publicly defend sodomy as an acceptable way of life.
That is the judgment of God that we read in Romans 1:25-28: “Who changed the
truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the
Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto
vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which
is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which
is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which
was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient.”
This is the judgment God sends for the sin of Sodom.
In Ezekiel 16:50 we read, “And they were haughty, and committed abomination
before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.” We do not understand by
nature how much of that haughty pride we have in ourselves.
I went one time to preach in a Rescue Mission to a group of people as a captive
audience who had to hear the preaching of the gospel before they could have a
free meal. How could there be any pride in those people dressed in rags? What
did they have to be proud of? Yet, when I talked to them afterward, they boasted
of themselves and their families. There was such pride in those people, it would
make your head swim. I thought to myself, What a glaring example of our human
nature. What is it that we have to be proud of? Even man in his best estate is
altogether vanity.
In Revelation 3:17 we read, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Do you see that sin of Sodom?
FOR OUR THIRD POINT, let’s talk about how Jesus may be found, and this is the
important point.
The sin of Sodom was, “Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and
needy.” Jesus may be found by strengthening the hand of the poor and needy, by
doing those things that Jesus did, by walking in the footsteps of our Saviour in
the way of the cross, in the way of crucifying self and reaching out to do those
things that are pleasing to the Lord.
Jesus may be found by observing His day according to His will. When we do that
which is pleasing to the Lord, then the Lord does that which is pleasing to us.
He gives us that reward. Let me show you in Isaiah 58:6-7: “Is not this the fast
that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to
deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to
thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide
not thyself from thine own flesh?”
The sin of Sodom was that they did not strengthen the poor and the needy.
Continuing in verses 8 and 9 we read: “Then shall thy light break forth as the
morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness
shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt
thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I
am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the
finger, and speaking vanity.”
We find the hidden Jesus by doing the things He has commanded us to do. What
more would you and I like in our prayer life than for us to call and hear the
Lord respond and say, “Here I am.”
We read in verses 10 to 12: “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and
satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy
darkness be as the noonday: And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and
satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a
watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that
shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the
foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the
breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”
Jesus may be found by keeping the sabbath as we see in verses 13 and 14: “If
thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy
day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt
honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor
speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I
will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
We find the hidden Jesus by delighting ourselves in the Lord and delighting in
His day, that we delight ourselves in doing what is pleasing to Him.
Does this mean that we can impose this on the ungodly? No. I want you to see
what it says in Hebrews 4:9-10: “There remaineth therefore a rest [sabbath] to
the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased
from his own works, as God did from his.”
There is no rest for the wicked, and you and I have no right to try to impose on
the ungodly one of the greatest privileges God has given His church. This day of
rest is one of the greatest privileges God has given us, that we have a day when
we can rest from all our labors, which is the emblem of eternal rest, a day we
spend praising and glorifying God.
Jesus may be found through submission and through obedience. I want you to see
this in John 15:7: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
Notice the word if. There is contingency with God. The Lord has His decrees that
He has decreed from eternity, but as far as you and I walking in His blessed
presence and having His nearness and having His love, it is contingent on our
obedience.
Has Jesus been hidden from our eyes? Maybe we have to examine our own hearts and
see in what area we are walking in a way that displeases the Lord. Maybe we have
not abode in Him. Maybe our hearts have been lifted up in the things of this
life. Maybe our hearts have strayed away as lost sheep, and we should ask as
David did in Psalm 119:176: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy
servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.”
I want you to see in John 14:23: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and
my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with
him.”
Jesus may be found through faith, and what is faith? It is the obedience of
faith. It is the exercise of saving faith. We read in James 1:5-8: “If any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind
and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the
Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
We find the Lord through faith. It is by asking and believing. Are you going to
say you are asking in faith while you ignore abiding in Him, while you are
walking in your own way?
Mark 11:22-24 says: “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For
verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou
removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but
shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Are our prayers not mingled with faith? Is this part of the reason why Jesus is
hidden from our eyes?
Jesus may be found through forgiveness. We read in Mark 11:25: “And when ye
stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also
which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” That word may is so
powerful. That is saying that if you do not forgive, the Father in heaven may
not forgive you. It would be against His own character to do so. As we read in
verse 26, “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven
forgive your trespasses.”
Turn with me to Colossian 3:12: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering.”
Do you understand what this is saying? This is talking about the Spirit of
Christ. Do you want to find Jesus? You will find Him in the Spirit of Christ.
Continuing in verses 13 and 14 we read: “Forbearing one another, and forgiving
one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you,
so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of
perfectness.”
Charity is to speak of your fellowman in the best possible light. If you and I
want to be critical there is no human being we cannot take apart, but that is
not charity. If I have something against a person, and think I am justified in
doing him harm, I do not have charity.
Psalm 50:20 says: “Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou
slanderest thine own mother’s son.” Three verses later we see how pleased the
Lord is with praise: “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that
ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” This is what
the Lord really drove home to me. Instead of taking each other apart and being
critical, we should be finding what is there in that person that we can praise
him for. What is there in that person that he has done or what is there about
him that I can use to edify him, to build him up? That is charity.
Colossians 3:15-17 says, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the
which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
This is similar to what we read in John 15:7: “If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
The Apostle Paul goes on to say in Colossians 3:18 to 20: “Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your
wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all
things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.”
What a precious thing it is when we see the harmony that there is in the word of
God, when we see what God is revealing to us as His will. If His word abides in
us, our walk of life will demonstrate an understanding of His word.
Jesus may be found in the way of repentance, in the way of turning, in the way
of remorse over sin. We read in James 4:1-3: “From whence come wars and
fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your
members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain:
ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not,
because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
We see so much contention in the world today. Homes are being split. Nations
rise against each other. We see wars and fightings. It is all that human nature.
It was such a privilege this past year when we had a drought, and the governor
of Montana called for prayer, saying let this week be a week of prayer. The
newspaper said that according to weather patterns it was going to be dry the
rest of this year, next year and probably the third year. Before the week was
over we had three inches of rain, and it turned into a wet year, and we have
above average moisture. The weather people were put to shame by people turning
to the Lord. God wants repentance, for us to acknowledge our iniquities, that we
have transgressed.
We read in Jeremiah 3:3: “Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there
hath been no latter rain.” Continuing in verses 13 and 14 we read: “Only
acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy
God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye
have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith
the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two
of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”
Jesus may be found through prayer as we see in Luke 11:9: “And I say unto you,
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you.”
There is a preciousness in all the ways where Jesus may be found.
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