Transformative Power of the Gospel: Beyond Worldly Solutions

"means had you realized that leaving out Christianity that is all that the world can do for you I don't care what aspect of it you look at I don't care how high how Noble I say it never takes you further take a thing like education one of the greatest benefits and blessings that a man can ever have in this world and in this life what does it do for him I tell you that in the last analysis it does nothing more than this it just carries him daily that he may continue asking arms it can make life more comfortable it can can give a men intellectual interests it can enlarge his Outlook yes and while he's reading and studying he forgets the central problem but he doesn't solve the central problem the most highly educated men is a moral problem which is as deep and as Grievous as the most illiterate and uneducated and so it is with art and with culture and with all these things ah they interest you they help to make a little more happy and more enjoyable they relieve you of certain forms of suffering I throw in medicine I throw in law I throw in your social actions your social legislation I take the last 100 years of unmatched and unrivaled legislation acts of parliament passed in Westminster what have they all done I say they can be summarized like this they've simply carried us and made it a little bit easier for us to go on asking arms they haven't touched the central problem of Life take all your idealisms take all your Utopias take all the highest Endeavors of the human mind and the human heart your poetry or music or everything it never gets Beyond this it just carries us we don't have to sort of Shuffle on the ground to take up our position outside the beautiful gate of the temple they carry us and they put us there and we're in a more advantageous position but we're still Beggars we're still seeking arms and we're still paralyzed we're still helpless and we're still finally hopeless isn't it rather essential that we should realize these things had you my friend on this first Sunday night in 1959 realized that that is the position of every one of us by nature and that if we are looking to the world or to the Future to assuage our griefs or solve our problems we are doomed to disappointment they cannot they can do nothing Beyond just carrying us and putting us down outside the beautiful gate of the temple well there is man in his need there is the world without the gospel of Christ come let me take my second p the second point is the coming of the gospel and isn't it wonderful isn't it unlike anything and everything that you've ever heard of before look at this man here he's suddenly confronted by two men and he's never seen or known anybody like them something new something strange something wonderful and if you haven't realized that the gospel comes in like that you don't know anything about about the gospel well now then let me divide that up here's the first thing that I note about it the Romantic character of this gospel are you interested in romances well if you want to know something romantic read your new testament just look at this romance that was enacted there at this beautiful gate of the Temple look at this men if you want excitement if you want a thrill if you want something that absorbs you with its strange Romance here it is is there anything more beautiful more idic more wonderful but then let me know another thing the transforming character of The Gospel didn't you notice how when Peter and John came along and this interview began to take place that the whole situation was entirely changed just try and conjure up in your imagination the two pictures which we are given here in between the lines of this poor man think of him when his friends came for him in the morning to pick him up and to carry him as they' done every other day for so many long years to put him there at his particular pitch outside the beautiful gate of the temple just think of the picture ah they've come once more and they indulge in their greetings as usual well it's just going to be another day of arms giving let's hope it won't rain and let's hope a number of people will be going into the temple that I'll get a lot of arms and do well there it was that that was the mentality and the Outlook carried in his utter helplessness and paralysis to as arms and then look at the rest of the story look at the same men walking and leaping and praising God see him going home that night rushing into the house asking the people to look at him a complete entire transformation that's the Gospel of Jesus Christ did you know it had you realized that this is the power of God and to Salvation to everyone that believeth this isn't mere teaching this isn't mere good advice this isn't merely something that'll help you to forget your troubles or ease your situation a little bit this is the power of the creator of the whole Universe dealing with a soul renovating it transforming it the whole situation was entirely changed it's a rebirth it's regeneration it's a new New Creation it's transforming character but the thing that I want to emphasize most of all is what I have called its unexpected and its surprising character and you know this was my real reason for coming to this this Sunday night I verily believe that I was given the message and led to it but this was the thing that appealed to me the unexpectedness of the Gospel the surprising character of The Gospel I said to myself I wonder how many people will come and say well it's a New Year's first Sunday night of the new year I might as well go I wonder what this whole gospel has got to say is there any value is there any hope you may have come in a state of hopelessness my dear friend when you come under the sound of this gospel anything may happen listen for one thing to the time element in this unexpectedness did you notice how suddenly this thing happened to this man here he was born lame lame from his mother's womb and now above 38 years of age suddenly the whole situation is transformed and he's able to function and to walk as he was meant to do that is why I use this term romantic there is nothing more romantic than preaching the gospel there is nothing more romantic than the operations of the Gospel the fools who came to Scuf remain to pray the suddenness of it all you never know when it's going to happen you see when the power of God comes in well anything can happen at any moment suddenness and you never know when there is I suppose one of the greatest privileges that is given to a pastor just to watch people and he watches and watches sometimes with anxiety he says how much longer is that person going to listen to this gospel without being affected and sometimes he's expected all he's at the point almost of despairing when suddenly it happens and you never know when that is why I say when a man enters into a Pulpit like this it's the most romantic thing in the world you never know what's going to happen you never know who is going to feel the power of the almighty you never know when a soul is going to be brought due to this rebirth at any moment suddenly unexpectedly yes and very often when we least expect it I don't want to indulge in imagination but I can well imagine a conversation going on when that man was carried from his home that morning to the beautiful gate of the temple he says what Alik seeking arms begging day after day the dull the miserable routine but it was that very day it happened and so it has happened so often in the long story of the Christian Church you may watch a soul gradually surely declining going down and down and down and you do everything and every appeal is tried and the last reserves are brought out and they're all in vain and you feel the case is finally hopeless but just at that moment the power of God comes when you were at the very end of your ter when you felt you go on any longer when the agony of your soul was so great that you felt nothing could relieve you and you felt that even life was scarcely worth living when all was lost sudden he appeared our himym that we've just been singing has put it perfectly sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings it is the Lord who Rises with healing in his wings when there's no fruit and the Stalls are bare and when there's no f for the animals when there is drought and all is finished suddenly and unexpectedly he comes and you notice the other point in the time factor it's a glorious thing this Peter said unto him Silver and Gold Have I None but such as I have give I Thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones receive strength this isn't a c of treatment this isn't sending a man to a spiritual Spa where he has to go through a long course of treatment immediately oh I want these final ultimate principles to be clear this first Sunday night the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God and to Salvation and therefore it can put you right in a moment in a flash in the twinkling of an eye you needn't wait it's God acting he who said at the beginning let there be light and there was light immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength Ed you realize that it's possible for you this evening however you may have come into this service to go out of it walking and leaping and praising God ah but you say I've sinned for years I've neglected I've spermed the vice Divine do you say it can happen sudden of course it can it's God it's the power of God into salvation and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength what a gospel that can suddenly come to a man sunk degraded down in the depths of sin and of of iniquity and in a moment raise him up and put him on his feet take him out of the myy clay and the horrible pit and establish his goings and set his feet upon a rock immediately I'm not asking you to take up a course for 1959 I'm not asking you to start tonight and promise this and pledge that and go on and on no no I am telling you that God here and now immediately r who his dear son by the Holy Spirit can make you whole there are some thoughts on the time element but listen who is it that does all this to us who is it that gives us this but before I even answer that let me ask this question what is it the gospel gives us I need to keep you with this because Peter in this Immortal phrase has fixed it once and forever Peter said Silver and Gold Have I None you're asking arms I haven't got it I'm a poor man like yourself Silver and Gold Have I None and it's essential that we should emphasize this negative I don't spend my Sunday evenings in this Pulpit giving giv you pompous opinions about War and Peace and Industry and a thousand one other things and I'll tell you why they're of no value to anybody they're a waste of time they don't affect the situation at all I'm not called to do things like that Silver and Gold Have I None I'm not an expert on economics I'm not an expert on War I don't understand these things Silver and Gold Have I None Christian Church is not a political agency she's not a cultural agency she's not a social agency she's none of those things and well she tries to be she puts herself in series with what the world can do it just carries us and helps us to ask our arms or it gives us interest and excitement and eases our troubles and problems at various points but that isn't the business of the Christian Church Silver and Gold Have I None but such as I have give I Thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk what's it mean it means this there is something I can say to you and it is this I can offer you forgiveness forgiveness of your sins look back you have been looking back haven't you it's a time of stocktaking at the Turning of the year and you looked back across 58 and you look back across 57 you've reviewed the whole of your life and what you find you find sin you find failure you find shame you find sorrow sin the thing that spoils and ruins life the cause of all our ills and heartbreaks and unhappiness and the question is can anything be done about sin and the world can do nothing about Sin and it cannot give me forgiveness but I in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth announc to you tonight you can be forgiven now fully freely absolutely your sins can be blotted out as a thick Cloud such as I have give I Thee and that is the first thing I offer is forgiveness reconciliation to God the god whom you've ignored and the god whom you've rebelled against the god whom you don't know I offer you a knowledge of God and a friendship with God a communion with God a full reconciliation to the God against whom you've so grievously sinned I offer it you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and with his full Authority I go further I offer you New Life what you say New Life how can it be I've lived so many years I'm the creature of habits and of Customs you say I can have a new start I say you can start a fresh and a new I say you can be born again I say you can go out of this place feeling that you're a new man you won't know yourself you'll be amazed at yourself life renew the life of God In The Souls of men you can become this evening a partaker of the divine nature the Holy Spirit can Infuse into you a principle of new life and of divine life and all this of course leads to another thing which is power to live power to function as we should the paralysis gone strength in the feet and ankle bones moral power moral grit you know the gospel offers to give you this now as a free gift haven't we all known the futile striving in our own willpower yes we've said I'm tired of this I'm going to take a New Year's resolution I'm going to turn over the leaf I'm starting aresh I am resolved I promise I pledge and we haven't kept it for a day our Wills are weak they're paralyzed we haven't got the moral stamina there's a moral t perpetude that afflicts us and we've promised we've tried we've pledged and we've always failed there is no strength in our spiritual feet and ankle bones but I offer you immediately in the name of Jesus Christ power moral spiritual power the power of the Holy Ghost coming into you and transforming you and making you feel you're like a giant you can resist the devil and he'll flee from you you will be unable to pray I need the every hour stay thou nearby why will Temptations lose their power when thou art ly I fear no fo with thee at hand to bless it'll enable you to say that and the result of all this of course is Joy did you see this man walking leaping yes and praising God he'd never done it before but he has every reason for doing it now Joy has come flooding into his life the joy of a man emancipated the joy of a man liberated the joy of a man who has power and strength and vitality and stamina walking and leaping and praising God and then as he looks to the Future he has an eternal and an everlasting hope death is no longer the end to this men he sees through it and Beyond it to a glory that is awaiting him in the presence of God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and all the Holy Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect the beautific the Everlasting the Blessed hope that is what it offers Silver and Gold Have I known but such as I have give I Thee and there they are the past shall be forgotten a present Joy be given a future Grace be promised a glorious Crown in heaven and then the next surprising thing is the one who gives it I say and I needn't keep you it all in him these people were beginning to praise Peter and John stop says Peter why looking on us as though by our own power our Holiness we had made this man to walk no no he says it is the god of our father the god of Abraham Isaac and of Jacob who has done this and he's done it through his only begotten son and I imagine that this was the thing that surprised the crowd in Jerusalem on that famous occasion more than anything else Jesus of Nazareth they said who is he he's an impostor he's but the carpenter they cried saying away with him crucify him do you know what you did says Peter you crucified the just and the Holy One you killed the Prince of Life you killed the author of life we are not doing this says Peter it's that Jesus whom you rejected and crucified he's doing it he's risen he sent the power it is he in us and through us not us it is Jesus Christ and so I have the privilege of emphasizing and of reminding you this evening that all the blessings of God come through Jesus Christ his son neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved if you need to be blessed by God go to Christ it's all in this blessed person the one who came from the courts of heaven and was born of the virgin's womb he's the one who does it Jesus Christ have you been to him have you applied to him do you know him he is the Giver of the gift and perhaps the most amazing thing of all is the way in which he does it you killed says Peter you killed the Prince of Life you desired a robber to be given unto you and you put him to death but you didn't know it by dying he has purchased your pardon this Prince of Life this son of God who came into this world to give us this deliverance and all these Bountiful gifts how does he do it he does it by dying he has made himself his soul an offering for our sins he has borne our sins in his own body on the tree he was led as a lamb to the slaughter he didn't Grumble he didn't complain he didn't try to escape he said he could command 12 Legions of angels but then how should righteousness be fulfilled he came to die to taste death for every man he's died for you he saves you this God of Glory by Dying For You Upon A jibit and it is as the result of his death that we live it is by his stripes that we are healed he has borne our bruises and our iniquities he has taken our sorrows and our diseases upon himself that's how he does it what a story is the anything so amazing so unexpected and that brings me to the last point of all the gospel seems to be most surprising of all in what it asks of us and what does it ask of us well it's all here here are Peter and John on the point of entering into the temple and this men asked arms of them and Peter fastening his eyes upon him with John said look on us look on us and that's all the gospel asks of us what's it mean it means this it wants our attention it wants us to listen it wants us to listen to its own Proclamation about us it wants us to give the whole of our personality look here said Peter we can't give you what we've got to give as long as you're looking somewhere else to see who who's coming next and holding out a hand like that to receive something from me that's how you've done it with your arms yes you're looking for the next man who comes and asking me of arms no no says Peter look on us I want your whole concentration I want your entire personality I want you to give me your undivided attention now my dear friend this is most important this is really vital there are so many people in the world tonight who are not Christian who are not enjoying these blessings because they've never rarely given this matter their undivided attention have you have you really concentrated on the question of your soul and its diseased conditions have you really become concerned about your paralysis are you as concerned about your moral failure tonight as you are about these bums and about this rocket and this satellite tell me how often have you sat down and faced yourself it's New Year I'm asking you to do it look on us listen to what I'm saying while you're playing with your soul nothing will come of it you must give your whole attention you must listen to me when I tell you that you're only going to live in this world a very short time every hour you live is an hour near of death and it may come at any moment how many of us will be here in a year's time I don't know but death life is uncertain in the midst of life we are in death I ask you have you concentrated on the question of your soul have you faced the question of Eternity do you know your relationship to God are you as well versed in these things as you are in music or in art or in literature or medicine or law or politics or a thousand and one other things tell me have you ever given your undivided attention to this question of your own Immortal soul and your relationship to that Everlasting God look on us I say give your undivided attention concentrate you will never know the blessing until you're more concerned about your soul than you are about anything else in the world that's what it asks of us just that we listen just that we con just that we realize that these things are infinitely more important than the whole world together this evening and the second thing is simply obedience look on us Silver and Gold Have I None but such as I have give I Thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk that's what he said to a man who' never walked in his life that's what he said to a man who was about 40 years of age and had never moved a limb in the Name of Christ rise up and walk and he did obedience simple unquestioning obedience no arguing no putting forward of the difficulties no arguing on the basis that he'd be been paralyzed so long and that his very tendons were shrunken and that his muscles were atropy not at all the authority came in the word rise up and walk and he arose and Peter just gave him his hand if you were going to try to understand this glorious Gospel of redemption with you a pygmy mind you'll be as lost and as damned at the end of 1959 as you are at this minute my dear friend you have but one thing to do having seen the state of your soul and its precarious position listen in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Rise Up Walk believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved the moment you believe this testimony concerning him that he is the Son of God and that he died that you might be forgiven that he bore you a punishment that he stood in your a place that he's risen to justify you that he'll clothe you with his righteousness the moment you believe it whether you understand it or not or feel it or not the moment you believe it and commit yourself to it you will find that it is a fact you won't know yourself and it can happen here and now look on us listen in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth you who have failed hither to you who have been impervious to the most tender appeals of your own conscience and of your husband or your wife or your dear children or your family you who are paralyzed paralytic listen in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk you will go from this service walking and leaping and praising we do hope that you've been helped by the preaching of Dr Martin lyd Jones all of the sermons contained within the mlj trust audio library are now available for free download you may share the sermons or broadcast them however because of international copyright please be advised that we are asking first that these sermons never be offered for sale by a third party and second that these sermons will not be edited in any way for length or to use as audio clips you can find our contact information on our website at mlj trust.org that's mlj t.org" [00:26:17]