In verses 145 through 152, we hear the Lord's Prayer. We hear our Savior praying to
God His Father right here. David obviously prayed this,
but David being a prophet, God putting it into his heart to
pray. We know David spoke the word, our Lord Jesus spoke, and
it's very evident right here. I want you to hear our Savior
praying to God his Father. Let's read it one more time.
145, he said, I cried with my whole heart, hear me, O Lord,
I will keep thy statutes. I cried unto thee, save me, and
I shall keep thy testimonies. I prevented, I went before the
dawning of the morning and cried, I hoped in thy word. Mine eyes
went through the night watches, through all the watches of the
night, that I might meditate in thy word. Hear my voice according
unto thy lovingkindness. O Lord, quicken me according
to thy judgment. The next verse makes it sound
like he was in the Garden of Gethsemane as Judas and the soldiers
approached. He said in verse 150, they draw
nigh that follow after mischief. They are far from thy law. Thou
art near, O Lord, and all thy commandments are truth. Concerning
thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded
them forever. Our Lord, when he walked this
earth, taught us to pray. It was a very direct prayer,
a very simple prayer, a very short prayer. It's not something
you have to pray, those exact words, but he gave you a basic
outline of what prayer is, a very simple And then we heard our
Lord pray several times when He walked this earth. He prayed
in John 17, and that's the true Lord's prayer, John 17, and that's
the prayer He intercedes for His people. But here again, we
see our substitute praying, and we truly learn everything from
looking to the Lord Jesus. We're following Christ. We learn
everything that He teaches us about God by looking to Him.
We learn everything about our salvation looking to Him. We
learn everything about how we're to walk and pray and all we are
to do by looking to the Lord Jesus. So I pray he will see
him here and hear him and that he would be the one to teach
us right now some things concerning prayer. Now, first of all, we
see how he prayed. We see how he prayed. He said,
I cried with my whole heart. Verse 146, he said, I cried unto
thee. Our Lord cried. This was fervent
prayer. This was heartbreaking prayer. I cried fervency. And he said, I cried with my
whole heart. His heart was holy. A holy heart
is a whole heart. Now before we can ever pray,
God has to regenerate us and give us a whole heart, a holy
heart. Or we can't pray with our whole
heart. Remember whenever the Lord regenerated the apostle
Paul, That's when he told the priest to go to him and he said,
he prayeth, behold he prayeth. For the first time, Paul prayed.
He had a whole heart. He had a holy heart. He prayed
with that whole heart. But here it also means with all
his heart. All his heart. He was calling
on God with all his heart. And he cried to God, his father,
alone. I cry unto thee. Hebrew writer
said, He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death. And that's what's going on here.
He's crying with strong crying and tears. He's crying to him
that is able to save him from death. What made him cry to the
Father? What made him do so with his
whole heart and with all this fervency and cry to the Father? Christ knew perfectly, he's holy
and he knew perfectly the sin that he was going to bear of
all his people. He knew the guilt he was going
to be made before the just judge of heaven and earth. He knew
the wrath of holy justice that was about to be poured out on
him. And he knew what was at stake.
He knew he came to glorify God his Father. That was the chief
thing here. He knew that he came to fulfill
all the law and the prophets and establish God's holy law
in perfect obedience. That's what he was facing. and
he knew he was trusted to save each and every one of God's elect. All that was on him at one time
here. The shame of the sin, the guilt
of it, the wrath of the father was about to be poured out on
him, the glory of God's at stake, the magnifying of God's holy,
just, and good law, and all the justification of all God's elect. All this was on our Savior at
once. And not only that, But when he
went to the Garden of Gethsemane, he experienced the weakness of
our flesh. He began to sweat great drops
of blood. He experienced the weakness of
our flesh. He was experiencing the devil
throwing everything at him at one time that he could possibly
tempt him with to try to get him to fail in this work he was
set to do. And he experienced this also.
There was no man to help him. He went to his apostles, he'd
asked them to watch and to pray, and he went to his apostles,
and bless their heart, they're sleeping. They fell asleep. In Gethsemane, he said that he
was exceeding sorrowful even unto death. That's how heavy
this was and what the Redeemer was suffering. He was about to
die right there in the garden. He knew the Father was the only
one able to save him from that death at that moment. So our holy suffering substitute in complete and total obedience,
in perfect faith, in total meekness, He cried to God his Father with
his whole heart. He cast his entire self upon
God his Father. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience through the things which he suffered. That's what
Hebrew writers said. Though he were a son, He's the
Son of God. He's God on high. But He learned
obedience through the things He suffered. And being made perfect,
having accomplished the justification of His people, He became the
author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. Now, our sovereign Savior, He's
in glory. He's at God's right hand. And
he's teaching his saints, using his providence, arranging things
in our lives. He arranged the things that brought
David to the place he was right here when he used David to pen
these words. But he's arranging things in
providence and bringing us to a place to where as we suffer,
he closes you in and makes it heavy. and makes
you see there's nobody else that can help you. And He's teaching
us to cast all our care on Him, like He cast all His care on
His Father. That's what He's teaching you
and me to do. Christ alone is able to save us. He alone's able to save us. That's when we're really praying.
when He alone is able to save us. And that's why He prayed to the
Father. He was the only one able to save Him. So when we consider
our affliction, whatever it is, when you see what all Christ
had on Him and what all He was suffering, you see our afflictions
light. It's light. It doesn't matter
what it is. It may be the worst thing we've
ever encountered and seem the worst thing anybody ever encountered
while we're going through it. But in comparison to what Christ
was under there in the Garden of Gethsemane, our affliction's
light. It's light. But our tribulation is good. It's so good. Because when it
brings you to be shut up to Christ alone, to him alone. That's why he gave it. That's
why he gave it. Until then, we'll look to mama,
we'll look to daddy, we'll look to sister, we'll look to brother,
we'll look to neighbor, we'll look to anything and anybody
else until he closes you up to realize you don't have but one
savior. And what He's saying by the providence
and the things He's doing is, cease ye from man. Stop looking to yourself. Stop
looking to anybody else. Cast it all on Christ. He alone is able to save. That's
His grace teaching us that very thing. And you know when you'll
do it? When He's brought you to that place, Even if he left
us to ourselves and brought us to that place, we still wouldn't
pray on him with a whole heart. When He brings you there, the
Spirit of God helps your infirmities because you don't know what to
pray for as you ought. And Christ speaks in your heart
and He says, Seek my face. He doesn't speak with an audible
voice. All this is spiritual. All this is Him. You just find
your heart not able to do anything but just cry to Him. And the psalmist said in Psalm
27.8, When thou saidest, Seek ye my face, My heart said to
thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. When you said, seek your face,
that's when my heart said, your face I will seek. Now, if there's
anybody destitute, that's what it is to be destitute, is to
be to the point where you say, he alone is able to save. I can't save myself. Nobody else
can save me. You see that, and you see He
alone is able to save. You're destitute. Well, then
this is His word to us. This is what prayer really is. This is His word to us. Humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God. God did it. God did it. Whatever it is you're
suffering, whatever the affliction, whatever the tribulation, God
did it. It's His hand. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you
in due time. That's what our squirming and
finagling and trying to prove this and that's all about. We're
trying to exalt ourself and get off under it. Humble yourself
under His hand. He'll exalt you in due time.
casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. That's
what our Lord was doing in the Garden of Gethsemane, casting
all His care on God. Now secondly, what was our Savior's
motive in His prayer? Why was He asking, crying unto
God? What was the motive of His heart?
What did He want? What did He really want? He said in verse
145, Hear me, O Lord, I will keep thy statutes. Verse 146,
save me and I shall keep thy testimonies. If you see the margin
in Psalm 146, save me that I may keep thy testimonies. That's
what he's praying. Now, this was the motive of his
heart. This is why he prayed. It's the
motive of the heart that God is looking on. This is why he
was praying to God. That makes all the difference
in the world, what our motive is in our heart. In the Garden
of Gethsemane, when the Lord asked the father, when he said,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, what was he asking
the father? At that moment, he said, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. And he's praying, the Hebrew
writer said to him, that is able to save him from death. He said he was about to die right
then. This crushing load had come upon
Him right then and He was about to die right then. He was asking
the Father, now read what our text says, He's asking the Father,
hear me and save me that I might go to the cross and fulfill all
your statutes and all your covenant testimonies that you've made
concerning the salvation of your people. Hear me, O Lord, that
I may keep your statutes. Save me, and I shall keep your
testimonies. Our Lord wasn't trying to prevent,
stop, or pray God not let him go to the cross. He said before,
for this hour came unto this hour. He's asking the Father,
hear me, Lord, Save me, give me strength right now so I can
get to the cross and fulfill your law and make good every
covenant promise you've made to your people. And you notice
right here too, notice now, that was the motive of his heart.
Notice this, he's depending entirely upon the Father. Hear me and
save me, oh Lord. Though he were a son, Yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. He's depending only
upon the Father to save him in that hour. But Christ's motive here, you
see, it wasn't nearly to be saved from the suffering. When we pray, what's really our
motive? We just want to be delivered
from the suffering? We just want the affliction to be over? That
wasn't Christ's motive. That's not what He was praying
for. That's a selfish motive. His motive was to glorify God
and save His people. His motive was He wanted to serve
the Father as He promised and glorify God and save His people.
That is a prayer God will hear and God will answer. That's the
motive. God will hear and God will answer.
God the Father heard him. That's what the whole Hebrew
point of that is. He heard him. And so Christ went
to the cross and you know what he did? He kept all God's statutes. That holy, just, and good law,
He magnified it and honored it in perfect holiness, perfect
justice, and perfect goodness. He fulfilled the law, and doing
so, He brought in an everlasting righteousness for all God's elect. Fulfill the law like me and you
never could have done it ourselves whatsoever. You can't put anything
else in it. You can't add anything else to
it. I mean, he fulfilled it in perfect righteousness. The righteousness
God said, I'm pleased. God the Father saved him in that
hour, and Christ went to that cross, and he fulfilled all God's
testimonies. God had been testifying that
he would come. God had been testifying that
he would save his people. God had been testifying that
he would honor God's law. God had been testifying, testifying,
bearing witness, saying, this is the record, this is my son,
he's salvation, here I am, look to him! And God saved him in
that hour, and he went to the cross. and fulfilled every covenant
testimony God had made concerning Him and every promise God had
made concerning the salvation of His people. When God's saints are asking
our Lord Jesus to hear us, that we might keep His statutes, we're asking God to give us grace
that we might keep God's commandments to repent from ourselves and
our sin and everything we are and believe on His Son and continue
persevering, looking to none but His Son. Do you ever pray
that? Do you ever beg God, God, please,
please help me and save me. Please give me strength. Please
help me to believe you and trust your Son. Keep me persevering
in faith. And when we ask Him to save us,
that we might keep His testimonies, we're wanting God to make us
a witness to His, a testimony of His grace. To show by Him
saving us and keeping us, so that we can go forth and tell
others and bear testimony and say, He did it all. He saved
me. And tell Him what great things
He did for you. And bear record and bear testimony
of Him. that Christ our Redeemer and
all the covenant promises of God in Him are yes and they're
amen. We can prove it. I was a goner
and He saved me. And He's kept me. Testify of
Him. Christ asked the Father that
He might go to the cross and keep all God's law and make every
testimony sure in His blood. We're asking that He might save
us from our sins and our corruptions and our weaknesses, that we might
continue in faith, believing on Christ, that we might be able
to testify and bear witness of Him that He did it all. That's
the will of God. That's the will of God. That's
what it means that He said, I will not share my glory with another.
I will have all the glory. It means He's gonna bring you
to believe on Christ. That's the only way we fulfill
the statutes of the law. We establish the law one way,
believing on his son, because Christ established the law on
behalf of his people. And it's the will of God that
we give him all the glory by believing the son he sent to
do just that. And God's testimonies all bear
record of his son. This old book's bearing witness
of his son. And that's God's will for you and me to believe
on his son and to bear testimony of him and all that he's done. And if this is your motive in
all your crying to God, He will hear you and He will save you
in every hour of tribulation. If that's what you want, that's
what you really want. Listen to this. John said, this
is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hears
us, whatsoever we ask, we know we have the petitions that we
desired of Him. If we know we're asking His will
to be done, and we know that He will grant that petition,
because His will shall be done, then we know when we pray we're
getting exactly what we asked for. And get this now too, when
God's will is our motive, And you want to see your brother
who sinned, you want to see him given faith and strengthened
in faith, and you want to see him to be a testimony of God's
grace and power? He said, if any man see his brother
sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. This is what our
prayer is for our own selves and for our brethren, if our
motive is true. Because that's what you want
for those you love. You want to see them believe and go on
in the gospel, trust in Christ, and be a testimony of His grace,
bearing testimony of His grace. So that's the motive. That's
the motive. All right, thirdly, we see our
Lord prayed, and He kept praying. He prayed with importunity. He
kept praying. He kept knocking. Verse 147,
he said, I went before the dawning of the morning and cried, I hoped
in thy word. Mine eyes were opened through
the night watches that I might meditate in thy word. We found
our Lord several times. Matthew said it, Mark said it.
He went away from the multitude, went up into the mountain alone
to pray. Mark said he did it early in
the morning, way before the dawning of the day. He went up and prayed. Now, that night in the Garden
of Gethsemane, our Lord teaches us, don't pray to be seen of
men. You can see here, prayer is a
serious thing, real prayer. And he said, don't pray to be
seen of men. That's what you see folks doing in restaurants.
They want everybody to see them praying. You can pray with your
eyes open. You can thank God. I thank God
every time I sit down to eat in a crowded restaurant and nobody
sees me do it because it's in here. It's in my closet. And
he said, you go in your closet and you pray to it. He'll hear
you. But our Lord showed us that he was always going apart to
pray. And that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, even when he took
James and John and Peter with him, he made them sit here and
he went on further by himself and prayed. And that night, he prayed all night. He prayed
through the night watches. You know, the Romans divided
the night into four watches. That's what a preacher, he's
a watchman. You know, Jeff Smythe stands
watch, they're watching. And they're sounding the alarm,
they're watching. And our Lord told them, watch and pray. And
he went forth and he was watching and he was praying. And the Romans
divided the night into four watches, but the Jews divided it into
three. And this may be implied to tell us something of our Lord's
prayer. Our Lord told His apostles to
watch and pray, and He went to them three times. And they were
sleeping all three times. But He kept praying that whole
time. He was casting all His care on the Father that whole
time. But God didn't answer our Savior
immediately. Even though all that weight was
upon Him, He's sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. He's
exceedingly sorrowful unto death. One time He went back and He
said He prayed more earnestly. But God the Father didn't answer
him immediately. He didn't help him immediately. So he kept crying to God. He
just kept crying to God. Remember our Lord's parable.
Let's go to Luke 11. This was our Lord's parable concerning
this. He spoke of a friend who went
to the house, a man who went to his friend's house at midnight
and started knocking on the door because he needed bread. And
the man, it was midnight, the man was already in bed asleep,
he wouldn't wake up. But he just kept knocking, he
just kept knocking. And the Lord said in verse 8, I say unto you,
though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend,
yet because of his importunity, He will rise and give him as
many as he needeth. And I say to you, ask. Ask God. Call on God. Cry to God and it
shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asketh receiveth
and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he
ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he
shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him?" Notice there what he gives. What do we think
God, how do we think God answers prayer? You see this all through the
scriptures. You see it with our Lord Jesus, what we're fixing
to see with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. And you've experienced
this in your life. You've seen it with your brethren,
if you've been in the faith very long at all. God answers your
prayer, not so much by changing your providence. He doesn't so
much change the circumstances you're in. He did not do that
for our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He did not take
any of the suffering away. The suffering got a lot worse. And your suffering may get a
lot worse if your blessings are counted based on what you have
outwardly and how easy your life is. That's a dangerous place
to be. Because as sure as somebody falls
around you, you'll puff yourself up thinking, that didn't happen
to me because I'm doing good. That happened to them because
they did something bad. That's self-righteous legal dungs, what
that is. But our Lord answers your prayer
by the Holy Spirit quickening you in the heart. And he don't have to change the
providence when he does that. He sets your heart on Christ.
He makes you know you're His. He makes you know He's done everything
for you. He makes you know it's well with
your soul. He makes you know He's with you. He doesn't have
to change your providence when He makes you know that. Prayer
is not us moving God to do something outwardly for us. Prayer is God
moving us inwardly to lay us whole to Christ and trust Christ.
And it's doing this by the Spirit. You picture a flock of sheep,
and they're scattered out in the pasture, and they're grazing,
and the shepherd's out there, and they're all scattered about
in the field. Our Lord sovereignly, He rules every trouble that comes,
and here comes trouble into the field. And those sheep are going to
flock to that shepherd, huddle up together at the feet of that
shepherd, crying to that shepherd, to be their protection with His
rod and His staff. That's what God always accomplishes
in His children through every trouble, whether He sends it
personally to you, whether it's small, it's big, or whatever
it is. Whatever He's willed to work in you, He's bringing you
to the feet of Christ and setting your heart on Christ. That's
how He answers prayer. The word of our Lord to us is
knock. Don't stop knocking. Keep crying
to God. God will open. He will open. That's His testimony to you.
That's His Word to you. That's His promise to you. Notice
what the Lord was doing as He cried, I hoped in Thy Word. I meditated in Thy Word. This
was Your Word, Lord, that You would hear me when I knock, that
You would hear me when I call. And He said, and the whole time
I had my eyes open through the night watches, I was hoping in
Your Word. you and me will understand a
whole lot better how and what to pray if we throw away all
the other books except this one right here and start asking God
to teach it to us. And keep knocking and asking. By hoping and meditating in God's
Word, he knew what to base his plea upon and he knew what to
ask. Because he meditated in God's
Word, because he hoped in the Lord's Word, he knew what to
base his plea on, and he knew what to ask. Look at verse 149. Hear our Lord Jesus speaking
now. Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness. O Lord,
quicken me according to thy judgment. Having the Word of God, He based
his plea on God's character. Hear my voice according to thy
lovingkindness. You know, the sinless, obedient
Lord Jesus Christ could have pled his merit, he could have
pled his righteousness, he could have pled his perfect love to
the Father. but he based his plea on the
loving kindness of God the Father. That teaches every sinner that
saved by grace, don't base your plea on anything about you. Our
faith grows weak, our love grows lukewarm, sin and unbelief's
mixed with all we do, and usually if we're really truly praying,
that's part of why we're really praying. We need the Lord. because we're so weak. Base your plea on the loving
kindness of God, and here's why. It's always the same. It never
varies towards His elect people. God is gracious and he's plentiful
in mercy, his love's perfect, his faithfulness to us is perfect,
and it never varies based on anything in us. When he spoke
about his covenant to David, and he said, and he's speaking
about his covenant to Christ, and he said, and if his children
disobey, I'll chase them. He said, but nevertheless, I
will not take my love and kindness from them. David pled God's loving-kindness
throughout the Psalms. How excellent is thy loving-kindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. When he sinned,
he said, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out
my transgression. He based it on God's character. And then by meditating and hoping
in God's Word, our Savior did something else. He's asking for
strength, He asked to be quickened, but He left it to God's judgment. Look here, O Lord, quicken me
according to Thy judgment. When He said, Lord, if it's possible,
let this cup pass for me, what did He say? Nevertheless, not
as I will, but as Thy will, O God. If it's Your will for me to die
right here in the Garden of Gethsemane, Your will be done. He prayed in that garden for
strength. That's what he's praying for.
Lord, quicken me. Because of the cup he was drinking
at that moment. But he left it to the Father's
judgment to quicken him and to do it in his time and however
he's pleased to do it. The Father was going to do it
in the right way. He was going to do it in the right time. He
didn't do it for him when he prayed the first time. He didn't
do it when he prayed the second time. But he went back and he
kept praying and he kept praying. And in that third time, that
third watch, the Lord sent an angel and strengthened him. The
Lord's timing is right. Now you hear this as David praying
and you understand this. David's not asking God to regenerate
him. A dead man don't ask God to regenerate
him. He's a regenerated believer.
He's asking God to renew him. He's asking God to strengthen
him. He's unable to quicken himself. He can't revive himself. But
he asks God to do it according to his loving kindness and according
to his judgment. I want to learn this, and I do
think the Lord is maybe teaching me a little bit on it. I want
to learn to plead based on God's character. I don't have anything
in me to base it on. I want to base it on God's character,
on His Son. I want to ask God for strength,
help me, save me, quicken me, and leave the timing and all
the rest to God's judgment. I won't speak for you, but I'll
speak for me. I spent too much time telling God what He ought
to do for me. I don't know what He ought to
do for me. He does. It's better for me to just leave
the judgment with him. Well, what was the occasion and
what was our Lord's confidence? Verse 150, they draw nigh that
follow after mischief. They're far from thy law, but
here was his confidence. Thou art near, O Lord, and all
thy commandments are truth. In Gethsemane, he knew Judas
was coming, he knew the officers were coming, they were drawing
nigh to arrest him, and he knew he was going to be all the beating
and the scourging, and he knew that he was going to be crucified,
he knew every bit of that. They're pursuing him, they're
coming. You know, it's interesting, Christ and his apostles never
pursued anybody, not even their enemies. It was always the other way around,
the enemies pursuing Christ and His apostles. Still that way. The chief priests and the scribes
pursued Christ. They sought Him, they hunted
Him, they tried to find out against Him, until at last they finally
trumped up some things and just crucified Him. And they did this
thinking they were glorifying God and keeping His law, and
He says right here, but they are far from thy law. They did
it glorifying God, saying they were glorifying God and keeping
God's law. The law of God is to believe
on His Son. That's the law of God. If you
sum up all the commandments, you believe on His Son. Because
that's the only way we establish the law. They, being eager of
God's righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth." They did a bunch of works, but it was all rejecting
Christ, and it all culminated in crucifying Him at the end.
But what was our Lord's confidence in that? Now listen to me. You're
going to come into a situation like this, I'm fixing to show
you the Lord has promised you this. You are going to face this. if you're a child of God. But
what was our Lord's confidence? Thou art near, O Lord, and all
thy commandments are truth. The Lord had commanded all that
was coming to pass, and he had told Christ beforehand everything
that would come to pass. He told him everything that would
come to pass, and God was commanding everything that was coming to
pass. But the Lord promised Christ, I'll be near, and I'll fulfill
my word to you. And that was his confidence.
Thou art near, O Lord, and all Thy commandments are truth. His
saints have the same comfort. In John 16, listen to this. Just
like the father gave, the Lord told him everything he would
suffer, the Lord, remember how the Lord told Paul, I must tell
him what things he must suffer for my namesake. That's what
he sent Ananias to tell him. And he's told you and me things
we are going to suffer for his namesake if you're a child of
God. A man's enemies will be they of his own household, he
said. You're gonna suffer if you're a child of God. It's never
gonna be the other person's fault. It's gonna be your fault. That's
what the charge is gonna be, but you're gonna suffer. Look
to Christ, look to his apostles, look to Paul, every single per
David, all of them, Moses, all of them. This is what Christ
said, these things I've spoken to you that you should not be
offended. Don't let them scandalize you. They shall put you out of
the synagogues. They're gonna put you out of
the churches. Yea, the time comes that whosoever
killeth you will think that he does God's service. And these
things will they do to you because they have not known the Father,
nor me." The love of God in our heart don't let you kill your
brethren. It just don't. These things I've
told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I
told you of them. All His commandments are truth.
He's telling us everything that's going to come to pass. But He
said, I'll send a comforter to you. I'll be near you. He said,
he'll glorify me, he'll receive of mine, he'll show it to you.
He said, and I'll show you plainly of the Father. And he said, and
that day you'll ask in my name, you'll pray to me, just like
he was doing right there in the Garden of Gethsemane, you'll
pray to me. And he said, and the Father will show you plainly
too. And he said, I'm not alone, the
Father's with me. And he said, and I'm gonna send
a comforter, and I'm gonna be with you. And these things I've spoken
to you, that in me you might have peace. You're not going
to have them anywhere else. He alone is able to save. Nobody
else is. That is the lesson. Oh, I pray
God would make us hear that, brethren. That's what he's teaching
us. I can't save you. Nobody else
can save you. The one sitting in the pew next
to you can't save you. Christ is the only one able to
save you. And if you're his, everything
you're going through is making you go to him and beg him to
save you. And if you're not, all you can tend on is, let's
just, let's do God's service and root him out. But I've spoken this to you.
Christ said that in me you might have peace. In this world you
shall have tribulation. We believe Christ. Do you believe
his commandment? That's his commandment. He commands
this, and that's why it comes to pass. In the world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And
you know what that means? You're going to overcome it.
You're going to overcome it. Now, the last verse, and I'm
just going to show this to you. This is where the Lord brought
him. The Lord, He went to the cross, our Savior accomplished
the redemption of His people, He arose to the Father, now what's
His witness concerning everything He went through? What's His witness
to you and me, testifying to you and me? This is what His
motive was, Lord, that I can fulfill your statutes and bear
testimony to you. Well, here it is, He's bearing,
Christ is bearing testimony to us of what He taught, the Lord
Father taught Him through all of that. Verse 152, concerning
thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded
them forever." In other words, every word you promised me, Father,
every bit of it you brought to pass. And everything Christ has
promised you, child of God, He's bringing it to pass. That's what
the Lord's teaching you and me, and everything He's bringing
to pass. He's closing us in on all sides, making us cry to Him
alone, casting all our care on our sovereign Savior. He makes
the motive of our heart to ask Christ to hear us, that we might
persevere in faith, that we might bear witness that all His covenant
promises are true. He makes us hope in His Word,
He makes us plead His love and kindness, and He makes us leave
all the judgment into His hand. And He makes us know He's near,
and every covenant promise is sure. You come to his throne. That's what he commands you.
Come to his throne to find grace and mercy to help in time of
need. He has suffered being tempted
and he's able to succor them that are tried. Come to him. Cast all your care on Christ.
Trust His judgment. He will make you know that God
the Father in His Son has founded His testimonies forever and every
promise of God is yes and amen to you in Christ. Amen.