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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/daniel-shutt/lord-is-it-i/
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 26, and a rather unlikely place to read at the beginning of a conference. And yet, there are principles involved here that I think are very pertinent to my own heart, and I think, logically, by extension, the hearts of all of God's people.
Matthew, chapter 26, and verse 17, now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? Now, you know the story that follows, and they came to the large upper room.
Verse 20 tells us that when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve, and as they did eat, he said, Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
And he answered and said, he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him. So we already know how this story is going to turn out. And the Holy Spirit tells us that Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I?
Just going to point out a little thing here that you need to notice these kind of details. You'll remember that the other disciples said, Lord, is it I? There was a relationship with him that was expressed in their sorrow.
But this word that Judas uses is just a casual word. It's the word for teacher or rabbi. There's no sense of appreciation of the Lord Jesus found in it. Whatever. Just, Master, is it I? And he said, unto him thou hast said.
Now verse 31, then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night. We have gone from one man who is going to betray him to all of them who were going to be offended because of me this night.
For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Unless you should pick on Simon Peter, the Holy Spirit has protected him in the following statement.
Likewise also said all of the disciples. I don't know why you came to this conference this weekend. I'm sure there are a lot of motives. Some of you are here to see your families. Some of you are here to see old friends.
I don't know. Maybe somebody is looking for a spouse. Don't come to me. I can't help. But I would be very interested tonight if we would adopt this little phrase that the disciples said as they listened to the Lord speak.
I hope we're going to hear God speak this weekend. I am not the least bit interested in sermons or well-worn phrases or preachers preaching, not interested in just that sort of thing. I would like to hear God speak to me.
I need that. Don't assume that because some of us are in the Lord's work that we somehow are exempt from needing to hear God speak and needing to be restored in our souls. Maybe we need it more than anybody else.
But I would love to, just before we start this weekend, to think about these simple words, Lord, is it I? To not simply listen to ministry and rate the preachers, not simply to say, well, he was funny and he told good stories and, you know, he spoke on something I've never heard before, or perhaps the inverse.
He spoke on something I've heard so many times, I could tell it by heart. But that if God does indeed speak, as we have been humbly praying, that there might be the attitude in every one of our hearts, Lord, sorry for the vernacular here, but I want to make sure that nobody misses it.
Lord, are you talking to me? I need that, by the way. You'll remember that there were times in Israel's history when the voice of God was silent. There was a time when there was a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.
I'm so glad that we have Bible conferences. In fact, I'm glad we have Bibles, aren't you? But unfortunately, we're living in a day of biblical illiteracy, when people are more interested in what they see on TV and on the Internet than what is found in God's word.
Wish I didn't have to say that, but it's actually true. And the heart longing of the psalmist, you know, thy words were found and I did eat them and they were to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, has just been replaced with a lot of empty babble from a godless world.
I want to hear God speak. And more than that, I want to have an attitude in his presence that does not assume that I am above correction, that I am above sin, that I am above failure, because I'm not.
Lord, is it I? Some of you who lived in the Midwest here, who are at least my age, remember a dear older servant named Mr. Archie Stewart. I'm sure Brother Eric preached with him on a number of occasions.
I was saved through his preaching and I revered him highly. He used to say something at conferences that used to confuse me. He used to say, my prayer is that the Lord will preserve me from dying a wicked old man.
Uncle Archie didn't invent that phrase, but he said it as memorably as anybody I know. You see, we have to face the fact that all of us are liable to failure and sin and spiritual collapse. And unless we are preserved by the almighty power of God, it's not a question of whether it'll happen, it's a question of when it will happen.
You know, I think it was C .H. Macintosh said famously, he said, I do not trust myself for a single moment, for if I am not kept by the power of God, there is no depth of sin into which I will not fail.
Do you believe that? Not about your wife or your husband, do you believe that about yourself? You see, these disciples didn't believe that. See, that's why I read the two halves of the story, because the one half of the story is laudable.
It is a group of broken men who are saying, Lord, is it I? But tragically, the story ends with men who are saying, I will never be saved. I will not be offended. I will not deny they. You know what the problem with that is?
They did on both counts. I know that when God saved me, I understood in some small way that I was a wicked person. But the older I get, and the more that I know about God's holiness, and the more that I know about the flesh that resides in me, I scare myself more and more.
And that is why we need not have the hubris of assuming that there are things that we will not do. Because a man who says, I will never do that, is on a short track to doing that very thing. May God humble all of our hearts this weekend.
And remember that but for the grace of God, we would not even be here tonight. And I think that the pathway to safety, the pathway to spiritual help, the pathway to divine preservation, begins with this, Lord, is it I?
You know, it's amazing. The blessing that is possible when a man realizes that God is speaking to him. I think about Samuel. Think of the trajectory of his life. Beginning as a boy, recognizing God is speaking to me.
And from that simple recognition is a life that is fragrant with service for God. My interest in this conference is not merely that God's people will survive. I have no time whatever for the sort of ministry that suggests that what we need to do is hang on by our fingernails and hope that the Lord comes.
Now, by the way, I'm looking for the Lord's coming. And if your feet have almost slipped, then do by all means hang on by your fingernails. But that's not the point. I don't know whether you believe this or not, but I do.
That the best days of assembly testimony in Waukesha and in Wisconsin or wherever you're from could still lie ahead of you if the Lord be not come. I've no interest in people like Hezekiah who just say, oh Lord, just hold things together until I die.
Don't worry about the future. That's rubbish. We need to recognize that if we listen to God's voice, if we allow His word to correct us, to strengthen us, to create greater likeness to His son, that there are days of blessing that can yet lie ahead.
I think you know that Mr. Topley and I are here to preach the gospel. That's why we're preaching the gospel. Because we're men who believe in the future, in God's ability to save souls and to add people to local assemblies and to preserve testimony for His name until He comes, whenever that is.
But at the very foundation of everything is just simply this. Will we, for two days in the spring of 2016 at a Waukesha conference, will we listen to God speak? And will we say earnestly and genuinely from our hearts?
Nobody's gonna go home and wonder what Mr. Schatz spoke about tonight. Lord, is it.