Luke 24:45-59
The Lord Jesus talked to His disciples before His ascension. Verse 48. He had commanded to witness and to speak
the name of Jesus to everyone, everywhere and at every opportunity they had.
The disciples were converted before the "Pentecost." Jesus prayed for
His disciples in John 17 that His Father should not take them out of the world,
but that He should keep them from the evils of this world. I believe, this may
be called the Lord’s prayer: the Lord Jesus praying
for His disciples. The one in Matthew 6:9-13 is the "Disciples’
prayer." After Jesus prayed for them, He gave them authority over demons
and diseases. These were not given to unconverted men. Now having said that,
how shall I encourage you to be praying people? Without prayer we cannot
achieve anything. Between one who is with prayer but without intelligence and a
man who has intelligence but without prayer, I would choose the former. The
difference between a Christian and a non-Christian and between a live Christian
and a dead Christian is prayer. Unfortunately there are dull, dead Christians
not conscious of the essentials. But people who have the certainty of the
presence of the living God will pray. There is something real and struggling in
their souls. We need immediate contact with the other world where Jesus sits at
the right hand of His Father. We pray in the power of the Holy Ghost. We are praying
people speaking with none else than the Lord Jesus Himself. There needs to be
that brilliant spark and wonder that we speak with none else than the Lord
Himself. Because Jesus by His Holy Spirit actually opens our understanding and
we receive the joy of the Holy Spirit. I am not speaking of the joy of Adam. I
am speaking of the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. This joy should be bubbling in
our souls. In the Acts of the Apostles we see it was a time of very little
instruction. But it was much action.
We are filled with joy and wonder. The words of the disciples ought to have
the power to penetrate the hearts and minds of people. In Acts second chapter
it is written the people were pricked in their heart. People listened to the
preaching of Peter, and they were pricked in their hearts. "Pricked"
in Greek is a very powerful word, more powerful than pierced. They were
shattered in their hearts. What made the difference? Young men will preach;
young ladies, you will tell the gospel. Young men, you will live the gospel,
young ladies you will live the gospel. What is the difference between us and
the disciples before the Pentecost? The difference is when we live our lives, we live it in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we
preach we speak in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the difference. It
will pierce the people like a spear. It will cause the people to fall upon
their knees, beat their breasts as they did when they listened to Peter. They
martyred Stephen when he preached. The heavens opened
and received him. The grave did not get him. We see in the four gospels, the
disciples had many, many, many questions. "Teach us prayer. Why could we
not cast out the demons? Help us to understand. Show us the way." And so on
and so on. The Acts of the Apostles has the answers to all the questions in the
gospels. When you pray, you expect a difference. You expect answers. You expect
God to reveal Himself and to do mighty works. In the gospels, only Jesus
expected these of His Father. "I am not praying this because of myself,
but because my disciples will understand." Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a
famous preacher in
I have three children. I have not spent even one evening worrying about them. They are not drug addicts. They have lived for the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank the Lord for them everyday. My children called me their friend and I call them my friends. When the time came for them to choose their partners they paused to consider: Will these partners love their daddy or just tolerate their daddy? Each one of the spouses of my children loves me and comes to me as a counselor. So three plus three, I have six children walking in the counsels of God. It is only by the grace of God, by His eternal mercies and by His blessings He has blessed me and blessed my children. Now grandchildren are coming. We are praying for them. They say over the phone, "Grandpa, we are loving Jesus." I say, "Hallelujah." The little one at the phone says, "Grandpa, I think you are dancing." There must be a difference between our children and others. Your children should respect mummy and daddy. They must be obedient. Our children must stand for Christ. There must be a clear difference seen in our homes, there must be a difference seen in our places where we live and where we work. There must be a sharp separation from the world.
Great love for prayer In the gospels remember how the disciples prayed! They slept. Do you ever go to sleep when you are praying? I am supposed to be a preacher and I am supposed to be different. Something is lacking in us when we fall asleep when we ought to pray. In the Acts of the Apostles they could not sleep. They were always in prayer, lifting up their hearts to God. The difference was the Holy Spirit had come upon them. Suddenly they were deeply aware of God. The words of their mouth and the meditations of their hearts showed forth his praises.
Last of all, they loved the Scriptures. Do you read the Scriptures? A man
taught me- He said, "Read the word of God when you can, read the word of
God when you cannot, read the word of God in the morning and read the word of
God in the evening." The Psalmist says, "Thy word have I hidden in my
heart that I might not sin against Thee." One day I was searching for my
commentaries, Collins and Scofield. This man came in
and asked what do you think you are doing. "I am
studying this piece of Scripture," I said. "What have you
discovered?" I shared with him whatever it was I had discovered. He seemed
dissatisfied. "Was it wrong to discover these thoughts?" I asked. He
fell upon his knees and prayed, "Lord, show him what is wrong with him.
These are good thoughts, these are nice thoughts. When he read the word of God
let the Holy Spirit give your thoughts to him." Having prayed this he went
away. You cannot read the Scriptures with the spirit of Adam. One little sin in
our lives and all reality becomes blurred. What made
I was in the army, I liked walking in the mountains. And one day I met a Welsh man Bob Grips. He was not educated. He could not speak much English. Welsh is completely different from English as Tamil is to English. He was walking alongside of me. "You were in the capel", he said. Capel in Welsh means chapel in English. "I do not remember seeing you," I replied. He said, "I saw you." As we met in the next weeks and months he would bring pieces of Scriptures and explain them to me. He did not study after six years of age. He was a shepherd. There they had no electricity; they had candles. They were very poor. Their house was built of mountain stones. When I needed to be blessed, I would go to Bob and sit and talk about the Scriptures. I had to teach English and he had to teach me a little Welsh so that we could communicate. One day, my minister saw me going to Bob’s house. He asked me where I was going. When I told him, he too accompanied to Bob’s house. Bob was nervous because the minister was there. "Do not be nervous, tell me the Word," I said. So he started to tell us the Word. The minister was so taken up with the word of God that he forgot himself. The minister said, "I had no idea that here was a man of God." I said, "I come here often to this man of God, to learn." "He is a rich man," said the minister. "He is a humble man, full of the Holy Spirit," I said.
Once more we will look at the precious verse at Luke 24:49, "And
behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of