Address—John Kaiser
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Let's begin with number 42 in the appendix Savior.
Lead us by Thy power, safe unto the promised rest. Choose the path away, whatever seems to Thee, O Lord, the best. Be our guide in every peril. Watch and keep us night and day, else our foolish hearts will wander from the Strait and narrow way #42 In the Appendix.
Savior.
Say within till I promise pride.
Cheers, but I don't wake my brother.
Is being all over the hell.
And thine rise and fall away.
From your.
In my grave we have gone. We can bother.
This afternoon.
I have before me a subject, a wonderful subject. This book is full of them. You know, a wonderful subject, something that.
Is wonderful and yet we take it for granted. Something we depend on.
Habitually.
And habitually ignore.
Let's turn before we pray to look at a few scriptures.
In Genesis to start with.
Genesis chapter one.
Verse Genesis chapter 17. I'm sorry, Genesis chapter 17 and verse one.
And when Abraham was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am.
The Almighty God.
Walk before me.
And be thou perfect.
And then?
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Verse 18.
And Abram said unto God, Oh that.
Ishmael.
Might live before thee.
Turn to Psalm 16.
Verse.
8.
I have set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand.
I shall not be moved. Verse 11 Thou wilt show me the path of life.
In my presence is fullness of joy.
At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Isaiah chapter 63.
S.
Verse 9.
In all their affliction.
He was afflicted, and the Angel of his presence saved them.
And in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them and carried them all the days of old.
The Angel of his presence saved him.
And then one more verse. An axe.
X.
Chapter 10.
And verse.
33 The middle of the verse.
Now, therefore, all we are, are we all here present?
Before God.
To hear.
Some while ago.
I was sitting in meeting, we were singing this hymn.
Which we just sang.
42 in the appendix in And then we sang in thy presence we are happy in thy presence we are secure in thy presence. All afflictions we can easily endure.
In thy presence we can conquer, we can suffer, we can die. And I thought.
You know, my experience doesn't live up to that.
And I know the experience of those around me doesn't always live up to that expression.
This is an expression of faith, as our prayers ought to be, and hymns are properly expression of faith. But.
They ought to some measure, also be an expression of reality.
If his presence makes us happy.
Why are we not always happy?
If his presence makes us secure, why do we worry?
If his presence enables us to bear afflictions, why do we get complaining, get impatient?
If His presence enables us to conquer, why do we struggle?
On my own conviction, from my own soul.
Is that we don't really.
No, and appreciate his presence as we are.
And so what's my desire this afternoon just to look in Scripture and see where his presence is mentioned?
And to learn a little bit better.
What that means now I can give you a definition of the word presence.
It comes from 2 old words pre which means before an essence, which means to be. It means to be before. That's the meaning of the word.
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But if I were to define the presence of the Lord, I would limit it.
It's a word he uses, and the best way to understand it is to see how he uses it in Scripture.
And we find it first.
In Gen. in the book of Genesis, very early in Genesis. And let's look at that passage.
Genesis chapter 3.
Verse eight we know the story.
And they heard Genesis chapter 3, verse eight. They heard the voice of the Lord walking.
In the garden, in the cool, the day.
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.
Now if you have a modern translation like the NIV or something some other paraphrase, it may read as the NIV does. They hid themselves from the Lord.
And that's an impossibility.
But Skechers says they did hide themselves from the presence of the Lord.
They sought to remove themselves from being immediately before him. And that's why I read the passage about Abraham, because that was the sense that God says walk before me. That's what presence means, at least as far as the English word is concerned, to be before.
It is our privilege. We know it is. We're going to look at some passages of Scripture to bring this out. It's our privilege to walk before the Lord, to live before the Lord, not just in this life.
But forever.
And so the Lord Jesus to his disciples, he said, I go to a prayer place for you, that where I am, there ye may be also.
Says Revelation 22. They shall see his face.
That's another way the scripture uses to express his presence, to see his face, see his countenance.
And how sad it is that right at the beginning Adam and Eve were uncomfortable in his presence. Well, we know why it was They were guilty. They had a bad conscience. They saw themselves naked. And Scripture says all things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Everyone in this room, whether you are saved or lost, whether you're a child of God or not, you are going to have to do with God.
And he is dealing with you right now.
Adam and Eve sought to remove themselves.
From being right before God. It didn't succeed, of course, but God made a provision for them. He provided coats of skin and you would have thought.
The mankind would have learned the lesson.
We know what happened in the next chapter.
Cain slew his brother.
And the Lord appeared to Cain. Notice what it says in chapter 4.
Verse six The Lord spoke to Cain.
The Lord said to Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy Countess fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin or sin offering life at the door, God was ready to make provision.
For Cain, as he had made provision for Adam and Eve.
But notice.
Umm, what it says in verse 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.
Cain chose to go from before the face of the Lord. He turned his back on the Lord.
And we say, oh, what a terrible thing we read yesterday about someone else who did that.
Physically went out of the presence of the Lord, says Judas did the same thing. It says he went out.
And it was night, a dreadful thing for him to do.
It's a dreadful thing to turn your back on the Lord, you say I'd never do that.
Turn to the book of Jonah.
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Jonah, Chapter one.
Now the word Jonah chapter one verse one. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the Son.
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
And that's the course of the flesh. And we all have the flesh.
And we have. We know what it is.
By experience, there are times when we have turned our backs. We who know the Lord, who are believers in.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah. God picks His servants. Jonah was one of his servants.
Jonah knew about the Lord. Matter of fact, Jonah felt free to pray to the Lord later on in the chapter.
There was a relationship there, but Jonah had a will and the Lord asked him to. Well, the Lord ordered him to do something that was contrary to his culture.
Contrary to his inclinations, contrary to his tastes. And the Lord does ask us to do those things sometimes.
Because he's Lord of all.
He's not one to be ordered by our whims, our preferences. And so God sent Jonah to Nineveh and Jonah culturally, religiously.
Politically.
Naturally hated Nineveh.
And he didn't like the message he was supposed to take to them either.
You and I have responsibilities, and they're not all. Not all the responsibilities the Lord gives us are easy or pleasant.
Jonah got up and he went to Tarshish. He found a ship.
And God prepared a fish.
And we know the result. Jonah went to Nineveh.
And that was God's mercy.
Sometimes when we rebel, God says, all right, I'm going to use somebody else.
In this case he used John anyway, and God often uses us despite.
Ourselves.
But the sad thing is, it's recorded in Scripture here that Jonah fled.
From the presence of the Lord.
We don't have time to look at all the instances and the scriptures full of instances of the Lord being present in in lives, but I'd like to look at umm.
Enjoy is a strike. There's a striking example in the case of Joseph, which I've become to appreciate just recently.
We looked at Abraham already. Abraham was told by the Lord, walk before me. And Abram sensed that that was a privilege, and the Lord's presence is a privilege and.
He desired that for Ishmael. He said all that Ishmael might walk before thee. Well, the Lord had other purposes, and we find that in Abraham's descendants. We have one called Joseph, and we'll look at a little something in his life here.
Uh, Genesis.
Chapter.
Umm.
39.
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar. This is verse one. Genesis 39 Verse one. Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar. And officer Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian brought, bought him at the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the House of his master, the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him.
Now, you know, I suspect, I don't know for a fact that Joseph, I suspect that Joseph may not have been conscious that the Lord was with him. If I'd been Joseph's situation, I would have felt pretty abandoned. He'd been betrayed by his brother and sold. And I can imagine that as far as feelings were concerned, Joseph felt pretty alone. It says that the Lord is with him.
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That's a wonderful thing about the presence of the Lord. It's not something we're necessarily conscious of.
The Lord is with us because His presence is His presence.
And he can do what he likes with it. And he chooses to be with his own. Now. That's been his choice from eternity.
Here he was with Joseph. We don't know if Joseph was conscious of it, but it's interesting that Joseph's master was conscious of it. It says his master saw that the Lord is with him.
And you know, we may not be conscious.
Of the Lord being with us, sometimes we may feel alone, rejected and neglected.
But if we're walking to please the Lord others.
My sense is presence. Just a thought.
Oh right, let's look at another person that really learned to appreciate the Lord's presence was.
Moses.
It says of Moses in Hebrews 13. He endured as seeing him who is invisible. Let's look at.
At Exodus chapter 33.
And see what it was that Moses had that helped him to endure Exodus chapter 33.
In verse 12.
And Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people.
And thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me, Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast found grace in my sight.
Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now the way.
That I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation.
Is thy people, and he that the Lord said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. That's a wonderful promise. If you remember some chapters earlier in Exodus.
Umm, Joseph's father-in-law had visited the camp and he'd seen how Burton Joseph, uh, I'm sorry, Moses, Moses father-in-law had visited the camp and he'd seen how burdened Moses was and he said this is too much for you. And he suggested, umm, delegating responsibility.
You know, I have the sense that I don't. This is the sense of my own soul that.
Somehow that didn't do a whole lot to relieve Moses.
And there are those commentators who feel that that was a mistake altogether for him to delegate responsibility that God had given him in any case.
He still needed rest.
Moses was, I believe was at this time I I can imagine most of the time he must have felt pretty much at wits end with the people of God says he was the meekest man in all the earth, but he lost it on an occasion we know.
And he said if my presence go not with me, carry me, not offense.
If the Lord was with him, he could do it.
And the Lord gave him a promise. He said, Not only will I enable you to go with you enable you to do it.
I will give you rest.
Now we have those words before us this morning in Sunday school where the Lord Jesus said, Come unto me.
And I will give you rest.
You know there's rest in his presence.
We're gonna get to glory and we're gonna experience it, but we can experience it down here. The Lord Jesus said come unto me and I will give you rest.
We're gonna see if we have time later, we'll see how David expresses that. But it's interesting here how Moses says.
Verse 15 he said to him, If thy presence going out with me carry us not offense. Moses is thinking of God's people.
And he says, For wherein shall it be known here that I and my people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? And so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth?
The presence of the Lord Moses was counting on it, not only for himself, but for the people of God.
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And and there are a number of passages we can turn to to show.
That God did accompany his people. We read one in Isaiah. The Angel of his presence saved them.
God accompanied his people. Matter of fact, he put He made it very evident there was the cloud.
The pillar of cloud which at one time stood between them. The fiery pillar of cloud that stood between.
The Israelites and the Egyptians at one point.
And other another time went ahead of them in the wilderness. God made his presence very evident, not only to the heathen, but to the children of Israel themselves. And yet there were times when they failed to give him his due.
What does that mean, to give him his due? Well, he's a simple verse in Proverbs that we often quote.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding and all thy.
Ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
The Lord is with us. You know what, it's so helpful. I, I have bad eyesight and I find it helpful to travel with other people and I can ask the directions and uh, I can ask them to, I have a, a, a, the other. Just the other day my, one of my son said, I've heard you say right sight for a while. Well, I haven't. Sometimes when I, because I have difficulty focusing, I'll be looking to the left because that's my side and when I'm driving and I'll tell the person on the right.
Look right, as you say, right sight, and I'm glad I have them there to consult. It says in all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. You know we read in, in umm, Psalm 16 because he is at my right hand. That's close, isn't it?
When you want to take control of something, most of us because our right hand, we reach out with the right hand and he's right there.
He's right there, handy, and I don't mean to be disrespectful.
It says.
Another place that the Lord is a present help. He's right there and since an amazing thing. Well, I'm taking the some of these scriptures all out of order that I'd hope to speak on in the I'm getting losing the order I hope to stick with, but I've got so much to share I might not get it all in anyway.
It's a wonderful thing we see in Scripture is that we can get away from the Lord, but He's still near.
When Paul spoke to the heathen on Mars Hill, he spoke of the Lord being near. We find the same expression in Romans chapter 10.
Because God, if you look in Jeremiah 23, says am I not a God? Let's look at it. Jeremiah 23. I can't quote it right.
We may be far off. Ephesians chapter 2 Says that by nature, we're a far off God.
Speaks of his own people saying they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, and we may be far off from God. But notice what it says in Jeremiah 23. In verse 23 am IA God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God far off.
Can Annie hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? So we may be away from the Lord, we may be wandering, we may feel ourselves afar off. We may be a far off spiritually and not feel it. But the Lord's near. Isn't that wonderful? Now we think of the Lord Jesus told the story of the prodigal son. We looked at that a little bit this morning.
No, that father, he was just a physical father.
So we find him staying at home when the sun wanders off. But that father in that story was fairly wealthy.
And if I had been a wealthy father, I'm just going to suppose.
I might have sent somebody out to look at my son, see how my son is getting along, and see when he's ready to come home. We saw because we find the Father watching for his son. I'm maybe he watched for him from the day he left. I'm sure in his heart he did. But my point is, God is always interested in us. Whether we're interested in him or not, He's always interested in us. And so Moses had this promise for himself and for the people of God. Now notice.
Joshua turn to Joshua, chapter one.
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Joshua chapter one and verse 5.
It's amazing the encouraging words that God gives to Joshua.
Joshua chapter one, verse five. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life, as I was with Moses.
So will I be with thee. I wasn't that grand encouragement as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
You say, well, that's a wonderful thing for for Joshua to hear. Not only did Joshua have to cope with these ornery people, but he was no longer leading them through a wilderness. He was going into battle. They were going to conquer the land. He needed that same presence. And you and I have a lot of things to face.
We need that same presence. We got it. Let's read this verse here.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee.
Nor for safety. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
He Hebrews chapter 13 verse five, it says let your conversation be without covetousness, that means love of money and be content with such things that you have or be content with present circumstances.
For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Who is this written to us? Flavors Christians? It's written to us the same promise that God gave.
Joshua.
What's the same God?
My presence shall go with me.
David was another. Let's look at some of the David's, uh, things that David enjoyed. We're familiar with Psalm 23, so we'll start there. We already read a little bit in Psalm 16, which is also a Psalm of David. And if you want to enjoy the presence of the Lord, read the Psalms. The Psalms bring us into the presence of the Lord. The Psalms recount the effect of the presence of the Lord. You want to know the presence of the Lord, read the book of Psalms.
You know, the Old Testament Saints had the book of Psalms and you find a lot of things in the Psalms that sort of make those you that suggest that the presence of the Lord is conditional. But it's a wonderful thing that what things were conditional in the Old Testament because they were under the law.
R unconditional in the New Testament because we're under grace.
And so in Psalm 23.
We find these words.
And we we enjoy these words, people like this verse, Psalm 23 verse one, it says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
And then they think, oh, if they think about wanting, wanting things, and we're occupied with things and wanting, wanting, wanting. That's the nature of this society we live in. Everybody wants things.
And so of course the sense there is I shall not need anything and people aren't anxious about needs.
So the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. But there's something better later in the Psalm.
Psalm 23.
And verse.
Four. Yeah. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me, Thou art with me.
Not merely as the Lords of faithful shepherd. And he takes us to a good pasture, and there's plenty there.
But he himself is there, the sense Notice, notice the connection.
Thou prepare us to table before me in the presence of mine enemies. I'll notice my head with oil. You don't do that at a distance.
The the psalmist here, David himself, enjoyed the near presence, the presence of the Lord, not just the provision of the Lord, but the Lord's presence, and he refers to it often.
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You look at Psalm 27.
Verse four. One thing I've desired of the Lord that will I seek after.
Is this what we're seeking after? That I may dwell on the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble or the day of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of His Tabernacle shall He hide me, He shall set me up on a rock. Verse 8 When thou says, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
That's why God said that David was a man after his own heart. When God says look here, seek me.
David says yes.
Are we continually saying yes to the Lord?
Seeking his presence. Enjoying his presence. Now notice.
Umm.
Umm, now let's go on. We're I, there's so many songs I could refer to and, and David's Psalms, and I'm going to skip some. We're missing some precious passages, but I want to look at a verse in, uh, Psalm 119. It just comes to mind. Psalm 119 and the verse 150.
You know, David had some awful experiences in his life.
And that there was a time when he came back and found Ziklag destroyed and says David encouraged himself in the Lord.
Well, that's because David enjoyed the Lord's presence. He felt comfortable there.
This Psalm is not written by David, but it's an interesting verse in Psalm 150.
Psalm 100, a hundred and sorry, sorry. Psalm 119, verse 150. Psalm 119, verse 150. It says they draw nigh that follow after mischief.
They draw an eye. Ever felt pressured?
They draw an eye that follow after mischief. They are far from thy law. Thou art near, O Lord, and all thy commandments are truth. Matter of fact, some have said that the Hebrew here is stronger. Thou art nearer. You feel pressured.
The Lord is nearer than those pressures.
He is not a God afar off, it says in Philippians chapter 4. Let your yielding us be known to all men.
The Lord is at hand. He's near. He's ready to deal with it in ways we can't.
Well, we looked at at umm.
David, we've looked at Abraham, Abraham and there were are others perhaps we could look at. We're running out of time and umm, like to look at a verse that has impressed me just recently and 1St Corinthians chapter 6.
And you notice most of these examples I've used so far deal with the Lord's presence in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, it's brought into more detail. Uh, we, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.
Uh, we have those passages with the we just.
Touched on in the Upper Room ministry where the Lord said let not your heart be troubled, and He was going to talk about His own presence with His own there.
But there's a verse here that just struck me recently that.
First Corinthians, chapter 6.
First Corinthians chapter.
6.
Verse 15.
Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them?
The members of an harlot, God forbid what know ye not that he which is joined to his and harlot is one body for two, saith he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is 1 spirit.
Joint.
Join. How close is that?
Well, you know, I've read this path these many, many times and I would say, yes, I'm joined. I'm part of the body of Christ, and yet the body of Christ is scattered. And I didn't understand the significance of this passage until just yesterday. At least I think I got a little bit more light on it. I don't say that I've got a full understanding, but notice the context here. It says he that is joined to a harlot IS1 body. That's a close contact.
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For who saith he shall be one flesh? But he that is joined unto the Lord is 1 spirit.
He joined to the Lord.
That's really close. That's the context here.
And that is why God, you know, it's, it's, there's no distance as far as God is concerned. And that's why sin is so odious to him because.
When we get involved in sin, we're bringing it close to him.
He that is joined to the Lord. Oh what a privilege. I saw an example of that recently.
Uh, somehow or another I ended up on a YouTube, I don't recall how. It was a YouTube video of Siamese twins.
Two sisters.
Add 2 like.
They were rejoined at the hip.
They in a way they could not be separated.
Two hearts, 2 heads, 22 separate umm sets of organs in the upper torso.
They're joined.
What one did, the other had to do, or had to go along, or else there would be conflict, a lot of discomfort. They had learned they were the the video introduced them in their teens. They had learned to live with each other, to appreciate each other, to care for one another.
Uh, still not a life I would envy at all.
We have something far better than that.
But it gives a little bit of a taste. We are closely joined to Christ.
Rejoined to him.
Now there was one passage I skipped over I want to go back to. It's very precious in Psalm 31, one of David's umm Psalms.
Psalm 31. I feel we'd be missing a lot if we missed this passage. Psalm 31.
And then I want to look at some other things.
Uh.
Psalm 31.
In verse.
20.
Just a little phrase is kind of different. Psalm 31, verse 20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret or the secret place of thy presence.
A little bit different aspect.
I think that's perhaps what David enjoyed, that time when he.
Found Ziklag.
Where could he go? His men were all around him in distressed. Where can he go? And sometimes we're in situations where there seems like there's no relief in our circumstances. There's still the secret of his presence.
You say, what is it? Where is it?
You'll have to go to him to find it.
But is there the secret of his presence? Thou wilt hide me. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
Just a precious verse to remember. Now we talked about the presence of the Lord with us individually and we've talked a little about the presence of the Lord with his people collectively. I'd like to just look at an interesting, some interesting pictures we get in Luke chapter 24.
Luke chapter 24. You know, the Lord is with us because he's with us individually. He's with us collectively.
And, umm.
Now, simply, I guess I'm just, I'm gonna say interesting pictures. Something to consider here in Luke 24.
Verse One. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing spices which they had prepared.
And certain others with them, and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
In the case you pass. As they were much perplexed there about, behold two men stood by them in shining garments.
And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye, the living among the dead? He is not here. Just a picture. They weren't really looking for the living presence of the Lord, but they were looking for the Lord as they had known Him. They were looking for His physical presence, and it wasn't there. It was where they expected it to be, and it was not there.
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He is not here, they were told. He is risen.
Well, let's go a bit further down the chapter, verse 13 and behold, two of them went up the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs and they talked together of all these things which had happened.
And it came to pass. While they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. With them. These two were traveling together, and Jesus joined them. He went with them. We talked about the collective presence of the Lord. Here it is in its simplest form. The Lord was with them, not with each of them, but with them. He was there as He is with His people, and they didn't know it.
It is possible to be in the Lord's presence collectively and not know it.
Why didn't they know it well?
Notice what it says down here.
Verse 25 And he said to them, O fools, and slow of heart, to believe.
Faith, lack of faith. We walk by faith, we enjoy our benefits by faith down here, and we enjoy the Lord's presence by faith.
After the Lord said that.
It says.
Verse 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them, and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So he brought before them the Scriptures.
Then they drew nigh unto the village whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone further.
But they constrain him, saying, abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent, And he went in to tarry with them.
Came to pass as he sat with them. He took bread and blessed it and break it, and gave to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew him.
And he vanished out of their sight. Then they recognized His presence. They heard the scriptures, and they broke bread with him, and they recognized His presence.
But he was there before.
You know what's the The presence of the Lord is a wonderful thing. I was just thinking, when was it that the children of Israel celebrated?
The Lord's presence with him as after they crossed the Red Sea, but they, as far as God's purposes were concerned, were just as safe. Before they crossed the Red Sea, God stood between them.
And the Egyptians, they were safe then, but they didn't appreciate it once they got across the Red Sea. They appreciated the Lord's presence they saw.
And the Lord sometimes does things in our lives.
To cause us to be conscious of His presence and His provision.
Now look at verse 36.
Uh, well, no, Let's let's.
Verse Verse 33 These are the two that were on the way to Emmaus. They rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the 11 gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
I'm just gonna mention that God there there's no accidents in Scripture.
It says.
Verse 30 He took bread and blessed it, and their eyes were opened. They said down here he was known to them in the breaking of bread. It's not an accident that God expresses that God records these things for us.
There is That is one way we experience the presence of the Lord.
And.
Verse 36 As they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said, peace be unto you. Oh, that was a wonderful surprise. Here come these people from Emmaus and they're all excited. We've seen the Lord and the others are sitting there. It's like we wish we'd seen him, and there he is.
Someday we're gonna see him.
That was a wonderful surprise for them, but it it wasn't just the fact that the Lord was present. We know he was present there, it says.
Jesus himself stood.
In the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. He was present, but he was present.
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In a special way. Why do I say that? Because it says in the midst.
And that's not an accident. That's not an insignificant detail. God records it because.
Those words belong to the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst. Turn to Psalm 22, please.
Psalm 22.
In verse 22.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Is that a picture of victory?
Preeminence. Triumph.
And that's the place that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst.
Turn to Zephaniah. I'm just looking at a few passages. Zephaniah.
Chapter 3.
This is prophetic Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 17. The Lord thy God.
In the midst of thee is mighty. He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy.
He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing.
What's this? A picture of power?
Turn to Revelation Chapter 5.
And we find the presence of the Lord. What do you? We're going to have a heavenly scene. Of course you're going to find the presence of the Lord here.
But notice what it says. Revelation chapter 5, verse six. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. What's that a picture of?
Authority. The Lord Jesus come into his own. There's a Lamb slain who has the right.
It says.
Verse two who is worthy to open the book? And our gaze is directed to the Lord Jesus in the midst, who is worthy?
That's the place that belongs to him in the midst.
Now.
So wonderful thing to be in his presence.
Let's turn to Matthew chapter 18 and verse 20.
Matthew 18 verse 24 where two or three are gathered together.
In my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Yes, the Lord is present there. He is going to be present from the mere fact that His owner there.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name though, it says.
There am I in the midst of them? I'm assuming we're assuming here as we're talking about believers, where believers are the Lord is present, but His presence.
He has desire for his presence. It says there am I in the midst of them?
That place of preeminence, of authority, of power.
And it says.
What's the condition where two or three are gathered together in my name?
What's connected with his name is authority. This is an authorized, shall we say an authorized assembly.
It's not a whimsical assembly, it's an authorized assembly.
What what I mean by authorized? Well if.
Some woman walked into this hotel, presented herself at the front desk over there and said, I'm Mrs. John Kaiser, we'd have a problem.
She might produce some credentials of some sort, but there's only one Mrs. John Kaiser, only one other person here that bears my name.
And it's legal. It's authorized. Only one person qualified to bear it, and the Lord is possessive of His name. You might find that that funny. Others might find it confusing. I would.
I'd be very concerned. The Lord is his name. It's not a play thing of man. You know what's interesting? It says in in.
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X is 20. I shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, and people just limit it to swearing.
We need to be careful what we apply his name to. Let me let's look at.
Deuteronomy.
Chapter 12.
Deuteronomy chapter 12 we see the Lord being possessive of his name.
Umm Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse one. These are the statutes and judgments which he shall observe to do in the land which the Lord thy God, the God of thy fathers, giveth thee to possess it all. The day is that ye live upon the earth.
Verse 5 Unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes.
To put his name there, you find that expression repeated in this chapter.
The Lord makes the choice and His name.
Where is put? That's his prerogative. It's his name. We have no right to put it where we choose to put it. He puts it where he chooses it.
His name and his presence are his name and his presence.
Now just one other verse that I I remember reading this as a young person and being impressed with the fact that God is exclusive. God is exclusive.
He reserves to himself the right to his things.
Let's look at.
First Kings.
Another passage that impressed me much as a as a young person.
First Kings Chapter 9.
Verse one I came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the House of the Lord.
And the King's house, and all Solomon's desire, which he was pleased to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time.
As he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and thy supplication, which thou hast made before me.
I have hallowed this house.
Which thou hast built to put my name there, to put my name there forever.
And mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. While the Lord was present with his people, but He was uniquely present here.
Yes, the Lord is present with his people. We we have passage after passage, but he was uniquely present here. He says, I have hallowed this house which thou has built to put my name there, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually, His eyes, his discernment, his heart, his affection.
He was uniquely there.
No place better in Israel for the presence of the Lord than right there.
And so to me, that gives a lot of weight to the verse. Matthew 1820.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I.
In the midst of the.
Now you say, well that's interesting. Do we have any examples in Scripture?
Of the Lord.
Uh, not present in assembly. Well, I don't think with scripture ever puts us that way, but I believe we have an interesting picture in Revelation chapter one. Uh, chapter 3. I'm sorry, Revelation chapter 3.
And this is just something for our hearts to consider.
Revelation chapter 3.
In verse.
14.
Not to the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write these things, saith thee, Amen the faith, one true witness.
The beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.
I would the tower cold or hot. So because thou art Luke warm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
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, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.
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And white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyes have, that thou mayest see as many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door.
Where does the Lord place himself relative to this assembly? Does he picture himself in the midst? No, this assembly is is satisfied. The Lord's there, He's with his people, He's right at the door, but he does not picture himself in the midst. They might have thought he was there. They said they thought everything was OK.
And as a matter of fact, they were so sure of it that if you would visit the assembly, you might have agreed with them. This is assembly that felt good and looked good.
But the Lord was not in the midst.
He's at the door.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chase, and be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and Sup with him, and he with me. Here is the Lord now at the other end of the book, and the Lord still seeking fellowship, still seeking that communion.
Our enjoyment of his presence, he says open the door and I will come in to him.
You know.
This whole book is about relationship, not religion.
Relationship is expressed by fellowship, and fellowship is best expressed and enjoyed.
By companionship, that's why we have these conferences. That's why families have get togethers.
Companionship.
Now God has one standard for that. My time is up. I want to say something very briefly.
We said that God is exclusive. He is heaven's exclusive.
In the beginning.
In the beginning of Acts we find God's people gathered together, enjoying his presence. There's no question of that. And there was one practical fellowship. There's no question about that either. We get to the end of the book, the Book of Revelation. We find in the very end all things gathered around the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God's purpose.
Why did it happen that way in the beginning? Why was there one practical fellowship in the book of Acts? Because in the beginning, Because that's the way the Spirit of God worked.
We get to the end.
We're all gathered around the Lord Jesus in heaven. Why? Because that's God's standard. That's where God's standards are displayed. God's.
Standard hasn't changed. The way God's Spirit works hasn't changed. It's just us. They've introduced change.
In the interim.
Something to think about, pray about.