He brought Me

… Our first reading comes from Psalm 40, the 40th Psalm. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. And then on to the Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 1. I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to a banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. And then to Ezekiel, the book of Ezekiel, chapter 47. Ezekiel, chapter 47. Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house. And behold, waters issued from under the threshold of the house eastward. For the forefront of the house stood toward the east. And the waters came down from under the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the outer gate by the way that looketh eastward. And behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters. The waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters. The waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters. The waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over. For the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. For when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea. The waters shall be healed, and it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither. For they shall be healed, and everything shall live, whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass that the fishes shall stand upon it from En Gedi, even unto En Aglaim. There shall be a place to spread forth nets. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the miry places thereof, and the marishes thereof, shall not be healed. They shall be given to sort. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaves shall not fade. Neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit, according to his mouths. Because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary. And the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Three words we read this afternoon in our scriptures. Same three words in each of the scriptures that we read together. He brought me. He brought me. Has a fitting text to pin our thoughts on this afternoon. He brought me. In the 40th Psalm, we read of one who waited patiently for the Lord. One whose prayers were answered. And as a result, he says, he brought me up also out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock. Before we go any further, I wonder if every one of us here this afternoon can say those words from personal experience. He brought me up out of a horrible pit. I'd like to begin there because there may be some here this afternoon who've never had that experience. Once at a film where I was asked to counsel in the Billy Graham films, I saw men, very tough looking men about my own age go forward, and I went forward with him. And then we went together into the quiet room at the back of the picture house. He said, can you tell me any experience I ought to have had and haven't had yet? I said, well, have you had this first experience? Have you been born again? He recounted his experiences as a member of a choir, church member, and members of various committees and so on. I said, have you had this first experience? Have you been born again? And I took him to the experience of one who came to the Lord Jesus by night, Nicodemus, religious man, religious indeed, but the Lord Jesus said, you must be born again. And so before we begin, I'd like to say to everyone here, have you had this experience? Because if not, none of the other things I'm going to say really apply to you at all. You can't say he brought me up out of a horrible pit because you're still there. You may not think it's a horrible pit, it seems a very pleasant place, seems a very good place to be in. Very nice world and you may have a good home, you may have good health, all sorts of things to enjoy. This psalmist realized, first of all, that he was in need. He realized there was one that could meet him in that need. He brought me up. And so I come to this very first experience. He brought me up. Thank God for every one of us who this afternoon can say from personal experience, he, the Lord Jesus Christ, came down where I was, like the Good Samaritan. Just where I was, he saw me in all my need and he brought me up out of a horrible pit. And for those of us who have been saved for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, however many years some of us may be able to count, it's perhaps good just to look back and remember. Oh, I know there are some times when we're told we mustn't look back. That's true. There are certain things we mustn't remember. We're told to go on, press on. But sometimes we're told to remember. In the book of Isaiah, a little later, it says, chapter 51, look unto the rock wherein you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit when she had digged. It's good to remember that we were once in a horrible pit. When we're so smug, so content, so happy in the place where we are, and so we ought to be, it's well perhaps to spare a thought for those that are still in that pit, to remember that but for the grace of God we should still be there. But with mercy in coming down, thy mercy found us in our sins, we were saying, and gave us to believe. Then in believing, life we found, and by thy Christ we live. We've been brought out of death into life, up out of the pit, feet set on a rock. It does us good sometimes to remember where we were when God found us, how low we had sunk in sin and misery when he found us. In the New Testament too, the Ephesian saints were bidden to remember, wherefore remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, at that time you were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, without hope, without God, in the world, that's where we were. He brought me up out of that place, brought me into this wonderful place of fellowship with himself. Fellowship, of course you've noticed that because it goes on to say, our mouth, a new song in my mouth, praise unto our God. When we're saved we don't still continue to be lonely individuals. We're brought into fellowship with all the saints. So he goes on to these Ephesians and say, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are light in the Lord. Walkers, children of light, you're children of a family now, members of God's family. There's a family of light. It was a horrible pit, it was a place of darkness, but he's brought me out of that. He's brought me into a place of light and life, God's family. What a wonderful place he's brought us into, up and into. That brings us on to the next part that we read when we were going on in some songs, chapter 2. He brought me to. He brought us up out of, but he brought me to the banqueting house. It's good to know from what we were saved. It's also good to know to what we are saved. When the children of Israel sang that wonderful song on the shores of the Red Sea. The Lord has brought us out, they said. The Lord has brought us out. Presently the Lord will bring us in. He will bring us in. He didn't bring them out into the wilderness, as they said, to leave them there to die. He didn't bring them out there to starve or to die of thirst. He brought them out that he might bring them into the promised land. He brought them out that he might give them the place that was to be an inheritance for Jacob and his seed forever. God has brought us into a wonderful fellowship. He brought me to his banqueting house. His banner over me was love. He brought me. It's all of his grace. We didn't bring ourselves there. You may say, but I chose to come here. I chose to be here. Did you really? Did you really choose to be among God's people? Of course you didn't. It was his choice. Wonderful grace that brought us into this banqueting house. His banner over us is love. Remember that first chapter written to the Thessalonians where he says, You turn to God from idols to serve the living and the true God and to wait for his son from heaven. You turn to God, as he put first, to God from idols. He brought us out of the horrible pit to the banqueting house. He brought us here that we might enjoy himself. His banner, love. The house of wine. The poor vile sinner is brought into the house of wine to enjoy refreshment, to enjoy fellowship with him. So what have we been brought? I'd like to quote from Peter who says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. The people of God. Not only just the few of us here this afternoon, but all those that by grace have responded to his call. All those that today are under that wonderful banner of love are the people of God. His peculiar treasure, for whom the Lord Jesus suffered and died. He died indeed to bring us into that place of fellowship, the house of wine. The house of wine speaks of joy. It speaks also of refreshment, doesn't it? It speaks of that delight that we have in fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, and with all those, I repeat, all those that belong to him. Isn't it wonderful sometimes to come into contact with a Christian. I went to see my son the other week, and he said, I'm sorry I'm late in. He wasn't there when we got there, and he turned up very late. He said, I met a Christian. We just couldn't get away from each other. I met a Christian in the course of business. He said, we just couldn't leave each other. It's a refreshing thing. I don't know if he really knew which church he went to. It didn't matter at all. He was a believer. He just had to stop and talk it out. They had something in common. Their love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Their delight in him. And what a joy it is to meet them from whatever company they may come. Because they are his. The fellowship of saints. And the wonder of it. The wonder of this enjoyment. I was just thinking of what Paul says when he's speaking to the Ephesian saints. When he thought of the shared enjoyment of Christ, that he may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that he might be filled with all the fullness of God, to comprehend with all saints. I like that. Somebody said to me once, yes, but you know those people down there, they haven't got the light that we've got. I'm afraid I was rather snappy in my answer. I said, why not? It's our fault if they haven't. They ought to have the light. We ought to be sharing it with them, the light that's being given to us. Because we should comprehend with all saints the wonderful depths of the riches of Christ's love for us. What do we know of it for ourselves, for our experience? What do we know of it? The more we know of it, the more we should want to share with all saints, all the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, to share with them the riches of his grace. I was thinking of those words of Charles Wesley, O love divine, how sweet thou art! When shall I find my willing heart all taken up by thee? Do we really thirst, as he says in that hymn, do we thirst, do we hunger and thirst, to know more of the love of Christ? Do we really? Then we should want to share it with all saints, because he brought me into this place. Not that I should be just one lonely stranger, as we sometimes sing, as though there's just some low place within his door, just one stranger on the threshold. No! To comprehend with all saints the fellowship of the church of the living God is something really wonderful. We have something to share, haven't we, with all saints? He brought me to it. How can we praise him enough for bringing us to this place of fellowship, to his house of wine? That brings us on to the prophet Ezekiel. I shan't excuse myself from reading from this book, because you know it's one of my favorite books, the prophet Ezekiel. I read it, shall I say, almost by accident for the first time when I was about 18. My sister spoke about the prophet's wife dying. She said, do you know about that? I said, no, I don't. And so I started reading it, the first chapter. What a wonderful book. What have I missed all these years? What have I missed? What a wonderful book this is. I had to read right through to chapter 24 before I found about his wife dying, but it was worth it. I had to read the other 24, too, to enjoy it. In fact, it was that experience with the book of Ezekiel that set me on systematic Bible reading and Bible study, for which I can thank God. Have you noticed in chapters 40 to 47, I haven't counted them, it might be a nice piece of homework for you to count, how many times it says, he brought me, he brought me and he brought me, then he brought me, afterward he brought me, he brought me. This wonderful person here appears to Ezekiel with a special vision for the coming days. He says, Jerusalem is going to be inhabited again. The temple is going to be rebuilt. The land is going to be inhabited. The barren places are going to be fruitful again. There's going to be wonderful blessing. He brought me, until finally in this 47th chapter, we find, he brought me through. He brought me through the waters. And so in this 47th chapter, we find this well-known scripture, often quoted, often applied spiritually, in different ways, I'm sure, according to the way God speaks to us, through the reading. But this afternoon I'd just like to think that perhaps in four ways, we find four stages in the being brought through in this chapter. The waters proceeded from the right side of the house, the south side of the altar. Then he brought me out of the way of the gate northward. No, there ran out waters on the right side. And then he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters, waters to the ankles. Waters to the ankles. What does that mean to us today? Waters to the ankles. If these waters represent, as I suppose they might do, the work of the Spirit of God, judging by the New Testament interpretation of this figure of speech, particularly, I suppose, working upon the Word of God, to what does he bring us? To what does the Spirit of God bring us as we read the Scripture? He brings us to use our ankles. Two first miracles of Peter and Paul in the Acts are of lame men. In one we read, His feet and ankle bones received strength, and he walked, and he leapt, and he praised God. He walked. The baby doesn't walk immediately he's born. Some animals do. They're quickly on their feet, and they struggle away, and they're walking. But human babies have to learn to walk. It takes them quite a long time, and we patiently watch them, don't we, as parents, looking for the first step to be taken. What a wonderful thrill, when that first step, that first step, he walked on his own today. He took two steps, two tottering steps. He walked. If we've had this experience of being born into God's family through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God expects us to see us take our first step. When that baby begins to walk, that toddler, you don't explain to him how many thousands of steps he's got to take in his life. He'll sit down straight away and refuse to do another step, I'm sure. If you say to him now, as you get old, you'll count back the steps, and you'll say, I've done so many thousand, thousand, thousands of steps. He'll say, I can't do it. No. You're concerned now about his first step. His ankles receive strength to walk, and this is something that is constantly brought before us in the New Testament as the normal experience of a Christian. There's no standing still. Once you're born again, God expects you to walk, and you've got to learn to walk. He brought me through. Waters to the ankles. We don't have to do these steps alone, not even the first step. He brought me through the waters, waters to the ankles. How do we walk? We walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith. I read of a man who was presented with a river that looked pretty deep and wide, and he wondered how he was going to get across. There was a man on the other bank who said, come straight ahead, you'll be all right. He took his man's word for it, and he started walking. The water got deeper and deeper, and he stopped. The man said, keep going, keep going, it gets better presently. So keeping his eye on the man, he walked through, and true enough, it got better and better, shallower and shallower, and he was safely on the other side. He was walking by faith. He kept his eye on the man. He trusted to give him the right word. It was true. We can't always trust people, I'm afraid sometimes they tell us we can drive through a ford and our engines break down halfway across, and they're just waiting with a breakdown lorry to earn some money, but this man wasn't like that. He could be trusted. He said it gets better presently. Just keep going. That's what the Lord Jesus says to us. He doesn't say, from the other side, keep going. He brought me through the waters. We have his presence with us. We walk by faith, not by sight. If we walk by sight, as many of us still like to do, we like to see our way, we like to see what's ahead of us, we like to see what's going to happen. We can't. We don't know what's going to happen even this evening. We don't know what's going to happen in an hour's time, or ten minutes' time for that matter. But he knows, and he will bring us through, water to the ankles, bring us through by his grace. Our eyes are to be kept on him. I always remember a postcard I had from a brother. He said on the back of it, look after your eyes. The Lord will look after your feet. What did he mean? Looking unto Jesus, he preserveth the feet of his saints. Those two texts are enough, aren't they? Looking unto Jesus, we walk by faith. He will preserve the feet of his saints. As long as we look after him, look unto him, he will keep our feet. Then too, the apostle speaking to the Ephesians says we have to walk in love, as Christ has loved us. This is practical walk. When we see a person going along, they tell us we can learn a great deal from the way they walk. You can see a self-assured man, you can see a hesitant man, you can see a smug man, you can see a discontented man by the very way he walks. The shoemakers tell us that you've just got to look at the pattern of a person's shoe and they know what sort of person it is. They can tell by the way they walk, by the way they wear their shoes out, what sort of character a person's got. I wonder if they can tell if a person is walking in love. God can. What's the measure? Walk in love as Christ has loved us. It's very hard, isn't it? He brought me through. Only he can give us that love, love to one another, love to all saints, love to all that are his for his sake. Walk in love. Then too in Romans he says we are now to walk in newness of life, newness of life. We've finished with all that behind. We've finished with that which once we walked upon. That old road is a dead end. Now we are in newness of life, the way that leads to himself. He brought me through, waters to the ankles. What do we know of this newness of life? Are we truly dead to sin? Are we truly dead to the old man? Do we mortify the deeds of the body? I wonder how much we know of all this. We know it as a theory, but how much do we know in practice? May he bring us through this, to walk in newness of life. Then too the waters go on in a thousand cubits later, deeper waters, waters to the knees, to the knees. Something characteristic about human beings, they've got knees. Why did God give you knees? I remember hearing of a surgeon who performed an operation on a woman who hadn't been able to bend her knee for years. The operation was successful and she said, thank you. Can I bend my knee now? He said, yes. And then and then in the hospital she bent her knees and gave thanks to her God and Father. She said, I haven't been able to kneel in prayer all these years. The doctor was startled. He said, it was worth all the other experiences I've had, all the disappointments of the operating table, to hear that woman say, I can bow my knees in prayer to God. To bow the knees. Paul used those words, didn't he? I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I bow my knees to him. What a privilege we have, isn't it? To bow the knees in prayer. Then too, I would say, we bow the knees in worship, don't we? And worship is something higher still. We think of those in the New Testament like the leper that found it was clear that he fell on his face and worshipped him. God desires this from us. The Father seeks worshippers. The Father seeks worshippers in spirit and in truth. We worship. That is, we ascribe all worth and honor and glory. He's not thanking him for what he's done for us. He's being so occupied with himself that we don't see anything but him. Like the disciples in the mountain, they'd seen the Old Testament worthies, isn't it, Elias? But when they opened their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. I'd rather pray this might be our experience today. May we pray it. May we have this experience too, today. To see no man save Jesus only. That's true worship. How little we know of it. We're so often conscious of ourselves as we come together in worship. We're so often conscious of our responsibilities in a certain way. We think we ought to do this and we ought to do that and we ought to say so much. Instead of just seeing him and falling on our knees in worship to him who is worthy. Thou art worthy. That's the song of heaven, isn't it? We can't get any higher than that. God has given us this opportunity here below to say thou art worthy or thou wast slain. Apart from all our blessings, apart from all the privileges, apart from all the thanksgiving and the praise, we can worship him. What a wonderful privilege. God has given us knees to bow in worship. I suppose that's why the writer to the epistles of the Hebrews says we're to strengthen the feeble knees. There are some whose knees are getting feeble and they can't worship and they can't pray as they ought to have done. Like the old plantation days when the slaves used to go out into the bush, into the quiet place they chose for themselves to commune with God. And someone would say, Brother, the grass is growing over your track. Is the grass growing over your track? The track to the secret place of prayer with him? Is the grass growing over that track? May God indeed give us grace to strengthen the feeble knees that they may kneel again in prayer, in worship, in occupation with himself. The promise has been given. The declaration has gone forth. As God says, Every knee shall bow to me. And this has been reiterated in the New Testament. God has given him a name which is above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. We can anticipate that, can't we? Here and now we can bow the knee gladly to him. Him is our Lord we gladly own. We sometimes sing it. Do we really mean it? Bow the knee to him. So we have the ankles walking. We have the knees, shall we say, worship. Then we find another thousand cubits measured. The water's worth of the loins. The loins. The place of the girdle. The place of service, or shall we say, work. Or warfare, if we like to keep to a W. Walk, worship, warfare. There's a fight to be fought. We're told to gird up our loins to be sober. For adversary of the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Old-fashioned talk, yes. Very up-to-date too. We need to have our loins girded. Our shoes on our feet. Our lamps burning. Because the Lord Jesus is coming. We've been saying this a very long time. How much nearer must it be today? How few may be the opportunities to work and war for him here below. In the old days with the long-flowing garments they couldn't fight. They couldn't serve unless they hoisted up their robes and tied their girdles tightly around their loins. That's why we're constantly told to gird up the loins of our minds. And then too, we're told what sort of girdle we should have. The loins girt about with truth. The loins girt about with truth. This is something that catches us much more than we realize. There's so little truth in the world today. There's so much false. Falsehood. False values. False standards. There's so much falsity altogether that it's very difficult now to see what is the truth. And yet the Christian should be one upon whom we can rely to be wholly true. That's why I suppose truth is spoken of as a girdle. It's not only the face we put on it but from behind as well we can be seen to be true. On both sides, whichever way one looks at us we are true. We are seen to be true. Girt about with truth. The loins girt about with truth. Truth in our business. Truth in our family relationships. Truth even to each other as brethren. We speak half-truth so often, don't we? We conceal much that we ought to reveal. We say something that is perhaps largely true but exaggerated. How much there is that passes for the truth today and is no truth at all. Where shall we find the truth? In him. He brought me through the waters. He who is the truth. And that's why he speaks of truth in the inward man. If it's in the inward man, if it's right inside us then it will be seen on the outside as well in all our dealings. It's so hard to be honest in business today. It's so hard to be honest in anything today. We need him to bring us through the waters up to the loins so we are girded for service and for warfare. And then finally he brought me through a thousand cubits but I could not pass over for the waters were risen. Waters to swim in. A river that could not be passed over. Waters to swim in. Walk. Worship. Warfare. Wonder. We sang it in our hymn just now. Lost in wonder, love and praise. Where can we begin? As we come to the threshold of this Christian life we hadn't dreamt it could be so wonderful, had we? All there are disappointments. All there are frustrations. All there are sorrows. All there are stumbling blocks. But the glory of it all surprises everything. He brought me. He said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me and called me to return to the brink of the river. He said, now I want you to see. I want you to see now what it is that I've given to you. I want you to know, as we were saying, to comprehend with all saints the wonder of the grace, the riches of the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Peter speaks of it, doesn't he? To grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Are we doing this? Are we growing in the knowledge of Him? There's no limit to it because there's no limit to Him. He's eternal. He's infinite. As we go on, is there more and more of Christ to be seen in us? There should be because, again, in the scriptures we're told we're changed from glory into glory as beholding the image of the Lord. As we are occupied with Him, we're changed from glory into glory. Even here and now as we wait for Him to come, with all our limitations, with all our stumblings, He's able to keep us from stumbling because He's going to complete this work that He's begun in us. He wants us to know the depths of the riches, unfathomable though they be. He says, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Have you seen what God has to offer you? Have you seen the riches that are here in the scriptures? Have you seen the wonder of the experience of being with Christ day by day? Have you seen what God has in store for those that love Him? Have you seen all the wonders, all the glories that He's going to reveal in you? He wants us to know this now. He doesn't want us to wait. Some people say, well, I'm quite content to wait. God doesn't want you to wait. He wants you to know it here and now. But we notice in the newspapers and magazines, in January, they always start putting in the holiday advertisements. In January, of all months, when everything seems as dark and unlikely to think about summer holidays as ever, they start advertising holidays. Why? Because they know that part of the joy of a holiday is not just going on holiday, but anticipating it. Even if you never have the holiday, it's nice to have all the brochures and see all the places you could have gone to. But that's not so with God's experience. He's not going to show you a wonderful brochure and say, this is what you could have had. This is what you're going to have. And He wants us to know it now, in anticipation. He wants us to know all the glories of Heaven. Because our citizenship is in Heaven, from which we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us to enjoy that already. Like the Queen of Sheba who came to King Solomon. She said, I heard a report in my country, but the half was never told. That will be our experience. The half was never told. We should certainly say that. It isn't to say we're not to find out what that half is. God wants us to know more and more and more of what He has in store for us. We should only find that as the Spirit of God reveals it from the Scriptures of truth. He brought me. He said, now, Son of Man, hast thou seen this? Again, I go to those that are perhaps at the very threshold. Those who have just begun their Christian life. You don't know what's ahead of you. You don't know the wonders. You don't know the glories that are ahead of you. God wants you to learn about them. God wants you to know them. God wants you to experience them, even as you're waiting for Him to come. The glory of it all. He brought me up out of a horrible pit. He brought me to His banqueting house. He, too, will bring me through. He doesn't leave him, you notice here. He brings him through until he brings me to the other side, where the glory is. He will bring us through, safely, through this pilgrim pathway until, finally, we see Him face to face. …