Deepening Our Relationship with Christ in the New Year

Here we are on the first Sunday morning of an emu yard not that that matters in and of itself we know that these divisions which the world recognizes with respect to time more or less irrelevant and yet there is valley windham and it is good that we should observe we as Christians have got a new view of time our view of time is divided up colored entirely in terms of this person the Lord Jesus Christ we think of timers before he came when he came after he came when he will come again and it's good that we should be considering this whole question of time and the relationship to it and there's the world to which we belong does recognize these distinctions and divisions and where for the first time meeting together in 1968 on a Sunday morning it is good I say that we should examine ourselves and our religion a time and a life in this well now how do we examine ourselves well the one thing that seems to me to matter above everything else is that we should do so in terms of our relationship to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ here is a woman you see who having met him and having her be realizes that he matters above everything else that her relationship to him is the most important thing in the world and that's why she rushes back to the city to invite her fellow townspeople to come out to see him that's the thing that it's obvious as we've been saying about this whole matter now let us examine ourselves therefore in the light of what we are told here about this woman this process of self-examination is something which is really necessary for us there are many reasons why we should do this one is that the scripture itself commences and the exalts us to do so in many places you remember perhaps one of the most striking ones is in the second epistle to the Corinthians in the last chapter v us examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves no way not your own selves out of the Jesus Christ is in you except he be reprobate now why does the Apostle say that well he says that because of certain things that were happening in the Church of Corinth they were members of the church it was a Christian Church yet there were many things which you will in a very unsatisfactory condition in general and in the life of many of the individuals so the Apostle tells them that in the light of all this he can do nothing but exhort them to examine themselves all the truly Christian are they in the faith is Christ Jesus in the New Testament with its characteristic honesty makes it quite clear to us that it's possible for us to be members of the Christian Church without being Christians German reminds us that there were some who had joined the church they'd been received and yet he says they've gone out from us because they never really belong to us they were amongst us but they didn't really belong and we've been seeing on Sunday night some of us are there men simon magus in that city of samaria had been accepted into the church and have been baptized but Clare was never a Christian at all so you see the Scriptures exhort us to examine ourselves lest we be assuming that we are Christian when we're not we're all open to this we're all liable to this many of us may have been brought up in a Christian home taken to the Christian Church and AM assumed will therefore Christian but that doesn't make us Christian so you see it is necessary that we should examine ourselves but even if we know and have had a very definite experience it still is necessary that we should examine ourselves because again the New Testament shows us the danger of drifting you ought to pay the more earnest earnest heed to the things that you have heard says the author of the episode of the Hebrews lest at any time you should let them slip there's a danger of drifting drifting away from the foundations drifting away from the moorings drifting away if you like from everything that should hold us to the truth so for all of us it is essential that we should periodically examine ourselves and really make sure that we are in the faith now the experience of the church throughout the centuries confirms this history shows this very clearly the graph of the history of the church as I hope you pointed out is never asked certainly not a general assent it's a history of ups and downs clear periods of revival followed by periods often of lethargy and of deadness and a failure and a formality look at the long story of the judge and you'll see it and there again is something that should urge us to examine ourselves you can be a Christian and if you can become slack you can become indolent you can drop to a lower level you can fail to maintain and experience it once here so all these things urges can examine our self now how do we do so well it seems to me there is only one big question to ask and it's the very question suggested by this story of the woman of Samaria you know in the end it all comes down to this what does he mean to us he himself that's the great question come see a man will told me all things whichever I give is not this the Christ this person you see here this woman was now dominated by this person this cloud is a pretty and I say that this is the question that we must put to ourselves but again we need help and instruction even as to how to do that I say what does he mean to us how do we decide that do we do it in a purely subjective manner now we've got to have certain objective standards and tests in order to make sure that our subjective reactions and responses are really true and we've got abundant material here of course to help us what is the response as I say that should be true of us with respect to him well the answer to that question is go back to these Gospels and see the response of the reaction of men and women to him in the days of his flesh here's one but it's only one the Gospels were partly written in order to bring this out you see people amazed that he must study steady loving falling at his feet that's the kind of response well very well there is this abundant evidence then in the Gospels all these things are written in order to help us and you will find that those who were given the great privilege of seeing him even after his return to heaven what impresses them always is that he still the same person though glorified he still the Lamb that once was slain he still this same person who was characterized by the things which we can read of in the four Gospels but then having gone through the Gospels in that way you've gone to the book of the Acts of the Apostles now he has gone back to heaven and here are his people left in the world with persecutions and trials and troubles and tribulations what was their relationship to him what did they think of him what part did he play in their fight and again I would remind you that the book of the Acts of the Apostles is meant to be a norm of course it's there with unusual intensity but we mustn't do isolate it and segregated as it were and say that that does nothing to teach us that is how Christian people are mentally so there we've got another test and then you go on to the teaching of the epistles and constantly as I've showed me of the Apostles are asking their questions they remind the readers of the true relationship and then they put questions to have you so learned Christ is he that to you do you know that Christ dwelleth in you except ye be reprobates and so on so all these great questions even ending with the book of Revelation where he again dominates the whole and well they cry at the end is even so come Lord Jesus this still in this intimate touch and communion with him so there you've got abundant evidence whether you can test yourself as to your relationship to the Lord but you can supplement even that and is most important that we should do so as I've been pointing out a great deal recently I must mention it and emphasize it again there is no question at all that the greatest engine of all in the Christian Church at the present time is to put a wedge as it were between the New Testament and ourselves and to say that all that only belonged to that time and is impossible now and that we shouldn't even seek it it is this fatal assumption that the whole of the New Testament describes some ideal position that never is to be repeated to me it is the greatest fallacy of all nothing is so responsible for the quenching of the Spirit is just that attitude and the best way to correct that danger is to turn to the whole history of the church subsequent to the first century and you can do that in many ways you can read church history itself and see the great tides of the Spirit say these great movements of the Spirit of God and the church under people lift it up back again to the position of the Book of X and then you can take your biography individuals sometimes even in a time of drought tundra trainers and aridity but certain Saints given experiences which are just identical with those that you've read of in the New Testament thus giving the lie that wrecked to this false teaching that would discourage us from seeking the New Testament kind of experience and then you can always turn to your hymn book and especially the great hymns of the great centuries 18th century in particular always go for the eighteenth-century hymns rather than the 19th century that was the great century go back to these I say and there you will again find accounts put in verse and in terms of the experimental experiences of the relationship between these people and our Blessed Lord and Savior well very welcome now let's make use of all this together and as you reason you get a very different picture and the picture is what we are told here about this woman of Samaria he means everything to her come see the man this is the thing dominating our life more important than everything well no let's examine ourselves on this first Sunday morning of Annie we are in the light of these considerations I again put my question to you only one thing matters what does he mean to you are you like this one now let's look at it in two main ways but back at the best yeah we are changing from one year to another starting Annie we are well we will look back it's a good thing to do the Bible is always doing this look at the psalmist's they're constantly reviewing their own personal histories and the history of the nation of Israel they go back to the history from the beginning see the various vicissitude and it's an excellent thing to do let's do the same thing and as you look back I think these are the questions that you and I have to face can we say quite honestly as we look back that our knowledge of him is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us well that that was what was true all this woman she'd gotten past history but here our fees are separating is the biggest thing that ever happened to me meeting this person at last I've discovered reality so I put it in their phone can we say that without any question as we look back across our life many things have happened to us you may have had successes you've enjoyed happiness all sorts of things happen to you that have given you much pleasure much joy and much happiness but here's the question are you perfectly clear about this that the biggest thing of all is your relationship to him has this been the biggest factor in your life now there are many things that have controlled our lives many factors have been bearing upon us family home upbringing Association school university perhaps business whatever it is doesn't matter many things have influences many people have influenced us here is the big question what has been the biggest influence in your life what's been the dominating influence you see these are the things that matter there are no question there's no question about this it's what you're saying yes I'm a Christian and I am applying certain Christian principles in my living all right I'm accepting all that I'm saying that's not quite enough here is the question of questions he is he the biggest factor in your life is he being controlling your life can you say as you look back I've made many mistakes I fall into sin I've done many things that are wrong yet I know that the biggest controlling influence in my life has been the Lord Jesus or let me put it like this dude are you more proud of your association with him than of anything else I like to think of it like that we are proud of many things in our life proud of many associations there's nothing wrong in that they're perfectly legitimate the Bible in and of itself doesn't condemn them as long as they don't become inordinate we mustn't love the world but it's an item legitimate that you should take pride in certain things but they have happened to you in this world and of certain associations that you have but your is the test of tests always are you more proud of your association with him than anything else if called upon to do so would you always have been ready to sacrifice every other association for his sake you know these first Christians were called upon to take such a decision this was the great problem in the Roman Empire for every Christian where they prepared to go on saying that Jesus is the Lord or would they say no Caesar Islam they were pressed to this decision and they were told that unless they said Caesar is Lord that they be put to death and this was the test that they passed so gloriously they wouldn't deny him for the sake of Caesar for the sake of saving their lives no no they prefer to be bartered crucified torn from limb crumbling in the arena by the Lions in easy kazar there's none Lord their boast was in him and do you find I say looking back across your life that you're more proud of your association with him than you are of anything else has that been true in your experience what have you denied him for the sake of some popularity or applause from human beings have you denied him in order to gain something for us this is the question there's a woman you'll see because of a reveal life she knew exactly what everybody thought about her and she has to avoid people I tend to agree with the authorities who say that she went to the well at a time of day when nobody else went because she knew of the gossip and so on but all that's gone now she doesn't care what they think about what matters is what they think of him also we can test ourselves in that way but come let me put it like this he is the greatest rejoicing in your life all based upon what he has done for you here's a very good way of putting it you will enjoy your non happiness is the great source of your joy and your rejoicing your knowledge of what he has done for you you see this woman says comes the mm which told me all things that ever I did he's done that for her she knows he's done other things there's a change in her she's aware of this and that's the question I'm asking do you know that your sins are forgiven these are the questions by which we examine ourselves and decide whether we are Christians are not we are paying heed to the Apostles exhortation examine yourself prove your own selves whether you're in the faith in other words this is the way you do it you still troubled about your past sins you're still doubting will you forgive well if you are my friend I take leave to ask you to be sure again that you're a Christian at all so the Christian is a man who knows that his sins have been forgiven he is the son of God he knows that amongst the other sins that God the Father laid upon him where his sentence he knows that his sins have received their punishment but Christ has borne them falling and that they've been blotted out of God's book and as the result of that he has peace with God being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ have you got it have you found heart and peace and come heart and conscience peace peace in your heart peace in your mind peace in your conscience Oh let's examine ourselves is your mind at risk you're still trying to make yourself a Christian you're still trying to find a way of delivery and of salvation are you waiting for some book to appear which will give you some new insight are you dependent upon the researches of modern scientists is that your position are you still in uncertainty and looking and seeking and searching and hoping to arrive at some truth or do you know that he is the way the truth and the life and that you will come to the Father by him is your mind at rest as the we read searching and straining and try looking come to an end do you know him who is the light of the world and can you say with the Apostle Paul God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shining my heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is that your position and is your heart address is your conscience progress is there peace between you and calm do you know that all is well with your soul and well between human please my dear friends other things that matter above everything else at least let me put it like this deal is that the thing that matters to you above everything else if it is you're a Christian however all worthy however much you fail if this is the most important thing for you you're a Christian if it isn't the most important thing I'd leave to suggest you're not a Christian and here you've got in addition to that a sense of sonship a sense of belonging to God as his son take the words that I read to you from the eighth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God do you know that you're the son of God you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear are you living in fear the fear of God the fear of judgment the fear of death the fear of hell are you still in a spirit of heaviness and a bundle that's not the spirit of the child of God now we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father tell me as that try arisen from your heart as you look back have you come to know that you are a child son of God I say again I'm an unworthy and failing you still know you say with Peter now the rest that I love thee these are the things that we should look for and we aware as we look back that we've had a sense of his nearness and of his help you see these things are real these are not theoretical he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee have you found him at present help in trouble as he made all the difference to you at certain points of crisis this is the test you see it's comparatively easy for men like me to preach and for you to come and listen and to come to worship but the real tests of life and of our faith and of our relationship to him Oh what are we like when William trouble temptation and trial and all these things will look back across your life has he made all the different steel he always does when you rarely know him do you find that as you look back you see it doesn't enough just see us I believe I subscribe to the truth you can do that intellectually here is a profound test but in the moment of agony he suddenly appear all was different sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings it is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings have you known that it's been the universal experience of the Saints throughout the centuries and lastly as you look back have you being conscious of his working in you have you been conscious that he's been dealing with you have you been conscious of the fact that he won't leave you alone oh it's a wonderful test that can be a very painful one but it's a very delicate tested he won't allow you to go away for love that will not let me go have you known that have you known that is the pressure of his end is upon you that he's working dealing with him manipulating your life for your dollars this is the whole teaching of the scripture again the universal testimony of his Saints and people at all times now you have you been aware of that as you look back this morning is this the thing that staggers he was to see the way that he's Lennie what brought you anticipated you manipulated circumstances all along he's been there are you consciousness and that he's been working both the will and to do of his good pleasure these are certain infallible signs of our being in the truth and right relationship to him and again I want to supplement all this with yet another question before I leave the best has all that kind of knowledge of him been increasing now I made an announcement just now as I did nearly 12 months ago about that collection and I made a comparison as I've always done now you and I should do the same here's your knowledge of him increased it should you know this notion that you get your really big experience when you take a decision for Christ and just try to maintain that for the rest of your life and probably failed rather than succeed is a not a travesty of the New Testament teaching he's a person and these endless and the Apostle Paul you see praying for the Ephesians says that he prays that they together with all saints may go on to know what is the breadth of the length of the depth of the height and to know the Christ which passeth knowledge there's your knowledge of him increased do you know him better than you did twelve months ago is he more real to you more vital and are these things which come out of him more and more precious to you tell me my dear friend are you more amazed at him than you've never been are you more amazed at the scriptures are you enjoying them more than you did are you ravished by are you thrilled by just this knowledge seem to you more and more precious these are the things which alternately count your personal knowledge of him your awareness of his presence your confidence in him your understanding of the way of salvation has all of this been increasing these are the ways whereby we discover our true relationship to him well now then there it is we've been looking at the best let's turn and look at the future that's what you do at the beginning of a year isn't it inevitably and the really it's important that we should do this here you are you're starting a new yard how do you contemplate it and again I would say the vital test is this one are we all of us facing the future in terms of our relationship to him now that doesn't mean I don't mean by that that you don't consider anything else all I'm asking is is he the dominating factor again you look to this unknown future you think of possibilities and so on but here's the question is it all central considered in terms of him now the Apostle Paul in that same episode or Roma at the end of the thirteenth chapter he puts these things into the night perspective you see this is he says I'm a Christian looks at the future and that knowing the time that fought that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believe the night is far spent the day is at heaven let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust there are very well then I say as you look at the future is it essentially in terms of him now let me put that like this to you in a number of subsidiary questions what is your greatest desire as you face the future we've all got desires we've all got wishes there are certain things we don't like to happen and you think of these things as you look at the future what you've got in store for me well alright I ask what you want what's your greatest desire this is a very vital test and the Christian response to their test is this the desire to know him better come see a man that told me all things that ever I did come and listen to him come and look at him she wants an immoral or even forgets the part and everything else leaves it aside goes back which is the people this is it merely sits at his feet all that I could forever sit like Miriam master speak be this my happy choice tell me can you say honestly as you face this new er that your greatest desire at all is to know him better because of what you've already known look it are you like the Apostle Paul and can you say that this is the greatest desire all in your life that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the Fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain into the resurrection from the dead tell me my dear friend is that above everything your supreme desire to know him is if your desire to please him more to serve him more truly and to please him in all your ways tell me another thing do you desire above everything else in this coming year to see the success of his kingdom you look at your world you look at your country and it's right and good that we should all wish for economic improvement and prosperity and all these things these things are perfectly light you seek health strength happiness wealth all right I'm not criticizing any one of them but I'm asking this above and beyond all these things do you long above anything else for the success of his kingdom very long for revival Reformation seeing his truth manifested and preached with power sin rebuke men and women converted falling at his feet leaving even do you wish to see this country renewed spiritually for his glory sick are you grieved at the blasphemy of this age and do your lung above everything else even beyond the prosperity of the country to see the prosperity of the kingdom of our God and of our Christ is visit this is inevitably the response of all who are in this clue and living relationship to him and then I want to ask another question it's an obvious one isn't it how do you face the unseen possibilities what does this year hold for us who knows but the question is are you afraid of the future are you afraid to face it are you apprehensive do you say no don't tell me I am afraid is the future something of Terror from which you swing can you try to just enjoy yourself for the moment it because of the possibilities now this is a very vital matter there's a very vital distinction which we've got to draw up despite there are two ways in which we can look at the future there's a runway there's a morbid way which our Lord Himself condemned in the Sermon on the Mount at the end of chapter 6 of methyls gospel therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life woody shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than the meat and the body than raiment and so on and he goes on to deal with that you remember wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you O ye of little faith therefore take no Thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal or shall we be clothed all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly father now 30 of need of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof no people sometimes misinterpret that by saying this the Christianity says never look to the future at all don't consider the possibilities just live for the day that's a misunderstanding of their teaching what our Lord says is that we shouldn't be the victims of a morbid care and anxiety we should worry about the future but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't consider it at all in other words if that is the wrong way to face the future the right way is the way that the Apostle Paul did at the end of that section of the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans he looks at it and he says I am persuaded neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord that's the right way and it's very important when you do that the Christian is not a male who's afraid to look to the future the Christian is a man who does look at it and do envisages all the worst possibilities and there are tribes over them all in Christ Jesus that's the Christian response so you see we are unlike the world in every respect we do face the future and we face it honestly it's right that you should do so because these things are inevitable you'll be a year older if you're still alive in a year's time oh but it won't visit 10 years 20 years just sit down and remind yourself of that ill-health failure of your faculties these things are all bound to come and eventually death itself now I say that it is of the essence of Christianity that we face these things you don't just say no no no don't think they come soon enough that's the world the Christian looks at them all but he's able to face them and be more than conquerors through him that loved him this is the way so apply that in detail look at the immediate future what may come we don't know you may have a year of great happiness and jolly you may have disappointment and sorrow you may have a bounding healthy may lose it you may have lost you may have success accidents may come sorrow believe McMakin we don't know my girlfriend's but we're in the midst of life in the midst of life we are in death and this is life change and decay in all around I see but here is the Christian having looked at these possibilities these certainties sooner or later how do you react oh and this is where he comes him do you rely on him though you know that his promises are sure do you know that he will always be sufficient that he will never fail that's the question that's out of the Apostle face the future that's how the first Christians face it that's how Christians throughout the centuries of history the Christian is the greatest realist in the world you see it's the world that tries to forget its problems by entertainment or drink or drugs that Justin doesn't the Christian is a man who can afford to face them and believes in vision he's the only real is in the world it's the others who were playing and escaping the Christian is able to face them all because he knows him he's met this man come see this men we have told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ the Christian has met him and he says this one can do everything for me it matters not what may come to meet me I am ready for all things because he is the ruler of the universe the Lord of history the controller of my destiny though I'm led as a lamb to the slaughter whatever may happen to be I know that nothing shall ever be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord come let me pray to you the words that we're going to sing in a moment but let me read them to you because you know we sometimes sing without realizing what we are singing this is the test of the Christian your is John Wesley looking at him and this is what he says now hidden source of calm reapers thou all-sufficient love divine my help and reviewed from I my foes secure I am if thou art mine and love from sin and grief and shame I hide me Jesus in thy name thy mighty name salvation is and keeps my heavy soul above comfort it brings power pink and joy and everlasting love to me with idea name a given pardon and holiness and him Jesus my all in all the heart my resting toil my knees in pain the medicine of my broken heart as he did this to you as he beamed that to you and as you look to the unknown future what do you know is going to be the medicine of your broken heart in war my peace in loss my gain my smile beneath the thailand's crown in shame my glory and my crown in one my plentiful supply in weakness mine almighty power in bone my perfect Liberty my light in Satan's darkest hour has he been honest to you do you know he will be my help and stay where I call my life in death my heaven my own has he been dead to you is he there to you now do you know that he'll ever be that to you so that whatever may come all is well with yourself and ultimately as you look into the Haggard face of death can you smile and say oh death well is nicely o grave where is thy victory well there it is my friend what is he to you can you say quite honestly this morning though oh Christ at all I want more than all in thee I I haven't I find I know that I ever Shalva for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever [00:00:11]