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This is both a Author and Archive Document resource.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9591,"menu_order":24,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"resource-type":[184],"class_list":["post-8597","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource-type-gospel-topics"],"acf":{"content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"module_section","row":[{"column_gap":"","column":[{"module":[{"acf_fc_layout":"rich_media_block","image":false,"header":{"":null,"title":"Record of preaching in gospel hall by Bruce Hales","heading_level":"h2","header_styles":{"":null,"background_colour":"","background_image":false,"text_colour":"black"},"make_separator":false},"content":"
Luke 22:<\/span>\u00a052, 53<\/strong>; And Jesus said to the chief priests and captains of the temple and elders, who were come against him, Have ye come out as against a robber with swords and sticks? When I was day by day with you in the temple ye did not stretch out your hands against me; but this is your hour and the power of darkness.<\/p>\n Luke 22:<\/span>\u00a063\u201371<\/strong>; And the men who held him mocked him, beating\u00a0[<\/span>him]<\/span>; and covering him up, asked him saying, Prophesy, who is it that struck thee? And they said many other injurious things to him. And when it was day, the elderhood of the people, both\u00a0[<\/span>the]<\/span>\u00a0chief priests and scribes, were gathered together, and led him into their council, saying, If\u00a0thou<\/span>\u00a0art the Christ, tell us. And he said to them, If I tell you, ye will not at all believe; and if I should ask\u00a0[<\/span>you],<\/span>\u00a0ye would not answer me at all, nor let me go; but henceforth shall the Son of man be sitting on the right hand of the power of God. And they all said,\u00a0Thou<\/span>\u00a0then art the Son of God? And he said to them,\u00a0Ye<\/span>\u00a0say that I am. And they said, What need have we any more of witness, for we have heard ourselves out of his mouth?<\/p>\n These verses came to one\u2019s mind thinking of the reference in the earlier preaching as to Jesus going through all quarters; I think it says He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power. It\u2019s a wonderful matter, beloved, that we can be in touch with power for good in the glad tidings. Jesus is available today to have to say to every matter, every power that would be working against the believer in this world and in your heart, Jesus has had to say to. I just thought of these verses, the reference to the power of darkness, the Lord says, this is your hour and the power of darkness. This was the hour when, you might say, men were in control, at least externally. Jesus was, you might say, under the power of these Jews, these men that hated Him, as we read of earlier in the day, men that had become haters of Christ. And they took Him, they took Him by night, they thought they would take Him unawares, that\u2019s the way they came to take Him, came with Judas. And this was their hour, the Lord says, and the power of darkness. You might say, the Lord was in control infinitely, but this was the moment, as it would seem, of the enemy\u2019s power, the combination of the forces against Christ: sin, and death, Satan, the whole world really. That\u2019s what the world is comprised of, it\u2019s comprised of sin, and the power of Satan, and death, that\u2019s a summary of this world. Wherever you look that\u2019s what you\u2019ll find, you\u2019ll find the power of Satan, and you\u2019ll find the power of sin, and then you\u2019ll find death everywhere. And these forces were combined against Jesus. He says, this is your hour. It was a limited period of time, as we\u2019ve often been told, God limited it, God, you might say, made it finite.<\/p>\n Think of what it was for Christ to suffer at the hands of men. You think of Him being held, held like a common criminal, He was held. It says here, the men who held Him. Think of men holding Jesus, holding your Saviour. Is He your Saviour? Have you owned Him as your Saviour? Don\u2019t go on lightly, we\u2019re in the presence of the power of God, it\u2019s for salvation. And that\u2019s what the Lord refers to here, that\u2019s why I read, He says, henceforth shall the Son of man be sitting on the right hand of the power of God. Think of Christ looking right on past this period, this hour, you might say, when men were against Him and were holding Him and beating Him and mocking Him. Think of what Jesus endured. It says, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not. See, Jesus could have dealt with them in a moment, He had the power to do it, but He suffered. Why did He suffer, beloved? He suffered to set you and me free, He suffered to set us free from this power of darkness. That\u2019s what\u2019s against your soul, that\u2019s why Jesus went into death. You think of the guilt that He bore. That\u2019s the effect of sin, if you\u2019re going on in your sins you\u2019ve got guilt, guilt on your conscience, guilt on your heart. Jesus bore it, He was made sin; think of that, beloved, Jesus was made sin, He died, has been made sin, and in that He bore the guilt. It says, He bore the guilt of many. I think that\u2019s what Isaiah says, he says, He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. That\u2019s what Jesus has done, beloved, He has done it for you and me. Oh, take advantage of it today, take advantage of the power that\u2019s here for salvation.<\/p>\n These men were haters of Christ, the Lord accounted it to them as their ignorance. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But you think of the power of darkness that was against Christ, and yet here was the power of God. He looks right on, He says, but henceforth shall the Son of man be sitting on the right hand of the power of God. That would be in judgment finally. He is Son of God, it says,\u00a0Thou<\/span>\u00a0art then the Son of God? And He says,\u00a0Ye<\/span>\u00a0say that I am. Think of the glory of His Person, you might say, revealed, the glory of Christ\u2019s Person, Son of God; but then He is Son of man, He has come in on our side. But He is the One that\u2019s going to execute final judgment, He is coming back and He will be executing judgment against these Jews, these chief priests and these Pharisees and these elders and these scribes, these men that held Him. You think of the men that held Him. Christ is coming back and He is going to execute judgment in the power of God, because He is God.<\/p>\n O beloved, may it come into our hearts what we\u2019re having to answer to, you might say, in the glad tidings. Jesus went the whole way in love, He went to the cross, He went right on to crucifixion, He allowed these same men to crucify Him; think of them putting the nails in, the same men that held Him, then nailed Him to the cross. O beloved, let it fill your heart, to see what Jesus has done to set you free, to relieve you of the power of your own will, relieve you of the power of sin and your own sins, that need to be met and cleansed in the blood of Christ. Think of His blood being shed, cleansing power of Christ to remove the guilt. He can do it for you today, that\u2019s just the appeal I had, that He can do it; and there\u2019s the power of God available, it\u2019s on our side now. He is the Son of man still, and power is available now, it\u2019s not preaching of judgment; we\u2019re telling you about the judgment, judgment is coming.<\/p>\n See, this was, you might say, the time of Christ\u2019s weakness. Think of what He was, going about amongst men, and He held Himself out from the power of men, held Himself from it, until the time when He submitted to it. This was the time of His weakness. Think of it, in weakness and defeat He won the meed and crown. Think of Him allowing Himself, you might say, to get into a position of weakness. What for? To answer the whole sin question, to remove it before the sight of God eternally, and to have to say to your sins, bearing them in His own body on the tree. O beloved, take advantage of today, don\u2019t go on light about the gospel, don\u2019t go on light about the message of salvation, see that time is short. See, you might feel strong when you\u2019re young, you might feel the strength of youth, go anywhere, do anything, say anything, finally become weak when you\u2019re old, and you experience weakness. Christ was a real Man, Jesus is a real Man, He experienced weakness. Think of the weakness, think of how He was held, submitted to these men, and yet He looks on, and it\u2019s like a warning, like a warning of judgment, and He has to say to them, He answers them, He says, if I should ask you, ye would not answer Me at all, nor let Me go. He knew that the, you might say, the outcome was inevitable; God was over it, God was in it to set us free. May we take advantage of it, may we find a real answer in our souls, and find power come into our life in testimony through answering to the glad tidings. For His name\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n