From every stormy wind that blows,
from every swelling tide of woes, there is a calm, a sure retreat. There is a place where Jesus
sheds the oil of gladness on our heads, a place that all besides
more sweet, it is the blood bought mercy. ? There is a scene where spirits
blend ? ? Where friend holds fellowship with friend ? ? Though
sundered far, by faith they meet ? ? Around one common mercy united
? Ah, whither could we flee for
aid, when tempted, desolate, dismayed? For how the hosts of
hell defeat, as suffering saints no mercy see? ? For there on eagle wings we soar
? ? And sin and sense molest no more ? ? And heaven comes
down our souls to breathe ? ? While glory crowns the mercy of God
? All right. For our scripture
reading tonight, I'm going to read from 1 Corinthians chapter
2. The message, we'll read a few
verses from this chapter, but it's good to see it twice and
to see it in context here. So 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and
I, brethren, When I came to you, came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul just said, I came with the
testimony of God. And then tells us, I preach nothing
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the testimony of God. And then he says there in verse
3, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect, Yet not the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world, unto our glory, which none of
the princes of this world knew, for had they known it they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,
I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither I've entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his spirit, for the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so,
the things of God knoweth no man. but the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. that the natural man receiveth,
oh, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man, for who
hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you for being able to come this night
to sing the hymns that praise our God, that speak words that
are in our hearts of thankfulness and joy, of awe and wonder at
the mercies and the glories and the grace of our God. And Lord,
we're so thankful for brethren We're thankful for the Word. We thank you for the preaching
of the Word. We thank you for the giving of
your Word, Lord, because that is such a mercy and a blessing
that comes from your hand and is given to your people according
to the riches of your grace. And Lord, we're so thankful for
our Savior, so thankful for complete salvation that we have of your
hand given to us fully completely in Christ and all of it by grace
none of it having to be earned or obtained by the works of our
hands but you've provided everything and we're thankful because we
know that in ourselves there dwelleth no good thing and we
would surely come short of of the glory of our God, if anything,
depended on us. Lord, thank you. Thank you. Father,
we think of our brethren. We think of our brother Scott
and the concerns and worries that he has, the fears he has
concerning his foot, concerning his health. And Lord, as we see
here that no man knoweth what a man is thinking, what's in
his heart except the spirit that's in him and lord you know you
know him for you know all things you know us you know every one
of your people and lord you know our fears you know our worries
our doubts however foolish and silly they may be lord you know
that we are but dust and you know how weak we are lord we
ask that you would Remember our brother, that you would look
upon him this night, even now, Lord, that your hand would be
upon him for good, that you would bless him, that you would heal
him and comfort his worried and troubled heart, that you would
set his mind on Christ in the heavenly places where Christ
is seated. Lord, that you would give him
that liberty to focus on Christ and to rejoice in what He's done
for him. And Lord, help him to get well,
to be able to be rid of the BiPAP and any other inconveniences
as well. Give him strength, give him dexterity,
give him balance, and help him, Lord, to be able to move about
with liberty and freedom And Lord, that you would bless
Johnny, that you would comfort her heart. Lord, you know that
that is her child there that you gave her, and she loves him.
And the concerns that she surely has on her heart and mind for
him, and how her heart is broken for her darling son. Lord, bless
them. Help her, give her the words
to say when she speaks to him, help her in her prayers for him,
and comfort her heart even this night, Lord, as only your spirit
can do. And Lord, we pray for all our
brethren. We pray for this body here. You know all things. You know
what we stand in need of. You know our fears. You know
our doubts. You know our struggles, our sins.
You know our joys, our gladness. Our rejoicing, Lord, because
you give it all of your hand in Christ. And we thank you for
every blessing that we have in him. Lord, be with us this night. Bless our worship together of
your holy name. Bless the preaching of the word.
Help me, Lord. Help me to faithfully declare
Christ to the people. And help us to hear that word
which you have given. and bless us in Christ's name,
for Christ's sake, Amen. If you would, let's sing 354.
What a friend we have in Jesus, 354. What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Everything
to God in prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear Oh, because we do not carry Everything
to God in prayer Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge,
Take it to the Lord in prayer. Thank you. Let's be turning to John chapter
16. In this passage, our Lord is telling
his disciples and preparing his disciples for his departure. And I can only imagine the sorrow that
has filled their hearts at hearing this news. But He tells them
that He is sending them another Comforter. Another Comforter. Let's see this back in John 14.
This is the same message He's been preaching. John 14 and verse
16. He tells them, I will pray the
Father and He shall give you another Comforter. That means
that Christ is our Comforter. and he's sending another comforter. He is the comfort of our hearts,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's sending us another comforter
that he may abide with you forever, forever. This other comforter
is the Holy Spirit, and when he comforts us, when he comes,
he shall comfort us as our Lord Jesus Christ comforts us. As He has comforted us, so the
Spirit shall comfort us. He's going to teach us of Christ. He'll teach you of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who He is. and your need of him and he leads
the sheep of Christ to the shepherd. He leads us to Christ our Lord
and the Holy Spirit is the one who keeps us looking to and trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the work of the Spirit. Now look down at verse 26 John
14, 26 But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you. What the Lord reveals to us is
that without the Holy Spirit, without the Holy Ghost, we would
not know Christ. Without the giving of the Holy
Spirit, you and I could not know the Lord Jesus Christ. We would
only know Him insofar as this flesh knows Christ. That would
be it. And there's people that think
of Him and speak of Christ and have some knowledge of Him, but
they don't know Him as their Lord and Savior. But you that
do, you that call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you whose hope
Christ your righteousness, and you have no other righteousness.
That's the grace of God that has given that to you. You know
him, you call upon him, you trust him and believe him because you
have the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter
that Christ speaks of here in this passage. And so this faith
which you have You be strengthened, you let your heart be strengthened,
and you take comfort in this, because faith is the gift of
God, not the product of our flesh. Faith is the gift of God. You
who hope in Christ, who have no other righteousness, that
is the gift of God. He tells us that in his word,
believe him. And that faith is manifested
in us, revealed in us by the Holy Ghost. Paul wrote, the spirit
of itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. He's talking about the faith
which he reveals in your heart that looks away from self, that
has no confidence in this flesh, that knows, I am a vile, wretched
sinner, and I don't dare come before God in my own works. But
we come with boldness in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know. That's it. That's my
only hope. That's my only acceptance with
holy God is the blood of Christ. And our God tells us, He promises
all you that trust in Him, all you that call upon His name,
you shall never die. You shall never be ashamed. You are received of the Father. Your sins are put away. Now, in John 16, verse 12, back
in our text here, that's where we'll pick up, John 16, 12, Christ
says, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot
bear them now. What could these things be that
Christ has yet to say to his disciples? We know from the scriptures
that everything that the Father gave Christ to say, He spoke
it. He said exactly what the Father
sent Him to do. We see this back in John 15,
verse 15. John 15, 15, here's this fact. Henceforth, I call you not servants,
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. but I have called
you friends. That's why we can sing that hymn,
hymn 354, what a friend we have in Jesus, because he calls us
friends. What a grace, what a grace. You are friends for all things
that I have heard of my father, I have made known unto you. He's declared that which the
Father gave him to speak. He's declared it to his disciples.
And when he prays to the Father, he says this as well. Look over
in John 17. John 17, verse 6 and 8. 6 through
8, he says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. And they have kept thy word.
Now they have known. that all things whatsoever thou
hast given me are of thee. That which I have received is
from the Father, the Father who sent me, for I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. Therefore, when our Lord
says to us, I have many things, to say to you, I have yet many
things to say unto you, it's not something new that he's revealing
to us. It's not something new that he's
going to reveal to the disciples or to us, but what he is saying
is that it's going to be more gloriously clear to us. Those things that we have heard,
that we heard without understanding, will be made known unto you. In the power of God, in the day
appointed of God, he makes known to his child the things we have
need of known, the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be more clearly
understood by us. So he's told his disciples that
he must die and that he will rise again. And they heard him
say those words. They heard him say those words,
but through a very dim, dark glass. They heard him say, I'm
going to be, the Son of Man is going to be lifted up, and I'm
going to draw all men unto me. And he spoke of his death, and
he spoke of his resurrection, but it wasn't until Thomas saw
his risen Lord saw him come in the flesh, with the wounds yet
in his flesh, that he then exclaimed, My Lord and my God. Why? Because then he understood
more clearly the words of Christ that he had heard. He heard,
he understood with great power and authority from God. It was
brought home to him. Christ said he cannot bear them
now. But you will, you will, and He
will make sure of it by the gift of the Holy Ghost. Look now at
our text in John 16 verse 13. Howbeit, when He the Spirit of
truth is come, He will guide you into all truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. And he will show you things to
come. So Christ sends the Holy Spirit
to dwell in your hearts, you that believe Christ, you that
call upon Him. knowing that he is your very
righteousness with God, it's because he reveals the mystery
of God to you. The mystery that Paul writes
of in his epistles is the mystery revealed in your hearts. The
purpose of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. The purpose
of God in sending Christ to provide an atonement, to provide reconciliation
for you and your sins with holy God. He makes known Christ to
the people, to the hearts of the people. His people know that
He is their Savior. He's their Savior. He's a personal
Savior. He's not just the general Savior
of men. He's made unto us. my Savior, my Lord, my God. Without Him, I can do nothing,
nothing. And so you believe Christ because
the Holy Spirit was sent to you and He makes known to the sheep
what Christ has accomplished for each one of you. He makes
you to know that. He shows you this redemption
through regeneration. Through regeneration, we understand
that none of us by nature can bear the words of Christ. In nature, in our sins, in Adam,
we cannot bear the things that Christ says to the people. We cannot bear them except we
have the Spirit of God. This is why Christ said to Nicodemus,
he must be born again. You must be born again. I must
be born again without the regeneration, that's what we call it, this
new birth is the regeneration, being made alive again, being
raised up from the dead by the spirit, by the power of God,
by the resurrection in the spirit of God. Without that, we cannot
bear the words of Christ. We cannot understand the purpose
of God. which is purchased for us by
the Lord Jesus Christ and made known unto us by the giving of
the Spirit, who reveals to us the Lord Jesus Christ, who reveals
to us what God has purposed in sending Him. Why did God send
His only begotten Son? Because I cannot save myself
and I'm a wretched, vile, worthless sinner who has no righteousness
of my own and no ability to make a righteousness of my own, but
he's provided everything in his darling son. And I know this
now and understand this to the degree that He's given it to
me in Christ by His Spirit. To know and understand what Christ
has done for me. His power and salvation is shown
by and applied by the Spirit of God. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
2. 1 Corinthians 2 and we're going
to pick up in verse 6 and 7. Paul says, how be it we speak
wisdom among them that are perfect. You that have the spirit of God
are perfect because you've been made perfect by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yet not the wisdom of this world
nor of the princes of this world that come to nothing. But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. This is revealing
in Christ we understand the mystery of God, the purpose of God in
creating this world. in creating Adam and Eve and
bringing us forth from him. He has a people whom he has ordained
to make his very own peculiar people in the blood of Christ,
born of the seed of Christ. Drop down to verse 11. For what
man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which
is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God,
which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. But the natural man, this man
of flesh, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. And so it is the Spirit which
is given to you, sent to you by the Father and the Son, who
makes known to us our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So that's
not just a carnal, natural understanding of Him, but a hope, a true hope
that He is my righteousness and that I'm nothing without Him.
I can do nothing apart from Him. And so the Spirit makes us to
know and to understand as those who have an ear to hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches. You only know it by the Spirit
of God. So this is true for us in the first hour of faith. And
it's true for us all the way until the end. It's true for
us always, without the Spirit, we do not know Christ. And so
God has graciously, not by merit, not by our earning, God has graciously
given us his Spirit, and the Spirit is poured out upon the
people. And the Spirit comes and diligently
shines the light, and diligently sweeps up the place, and diligently
seeks out the lost sheep. to gather them, to bring them
home, to bring them to Christ. And so the Spirit finds those
who are lost and the Spirit guides you into all truth. All truth. How does He do it? Well, one thing our Savior says
is He shall not speak of Himself. He doesn't do it by turning you
to the work of the Spirit and gifts and miracles as though
that's all your hope. The Spirit doesn't speak of himself,
he doesn't glorify himself, he speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back to John 15, John 15,
let's go to verse 26. But when the Comforter has come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of who? of me, of the Lord Jesus Christ. In our text, in verse 13, Christ
said, Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. What's he
hear? He's testifying to you of Christ. He's making known to you those
things which he hears, those things which he has been given
to say. He's testifying to the people
of Christ. You know, this is why Paul said
to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 2, he said, I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And as we saw in verse one, that's
the testimony of God. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I didn't know anything when
I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why? Because the Spirit of God dwells
in Him. The Spirit of God dwelt in Him
and testified of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said
those things, because he had the Spirit of God. and the Spirit
of God manifested, revealed this mystery of God in Christ Jesus. And so just so we're clear here,
the Holy Spirit is not giving us new revelation. The Holy Spirit
isn't given to give us new revelation. The Spirit speaks according to
this word right here. You keep reading this word. The
Spirit speaks according to this word. These scriptures right
here. He uses the word of God to teach
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He teaches you this word and
what this word is teaching and revealing according to the mysteries
of God, making them known in Christ, in Christ. So Isaiah tells us to the law
and to the testimony, and we know, now I'm just gonna read
it here just so we remember it again. In 1 Corinthians 2.1,
and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. And that's what he comes preaching,
the testimony of God, for I determine not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. In other words, the testimony
of God is Jesus Christ and him crucified. And so to the law
and to the testimony, Isaiah says, if they speak not according
to this word, it's because there is no light in them. There's
no light. That's why men can preach through
the Bible, can preach through the books here and the scriptures,
and never see Christ, because they have no light in them. They're
not speaking according to the testimony. They're not speaking
according to the law and the testimony which is given to reveal
Christ, to reveal all our sinners, that we might receive the promise
of God in the faith of Jesus Christ. That's why the scriptures
are given. That's what they're testifying
to us. And that's why we read in Luke 24, 27. This is Christ
after he rose on the road to Emmaus with those two men. It
says that beginning at Moses and all the prophets, Christ
expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself himself because that's the testimony of your God the
Lord Jesus Christ look to him behold my servant behold the
Lord Jesus Christ he is the salvation of God freely given to save sinners
lost trembling afraid, sinners who have no righteousness, no
reason to hope that God will receive them, Christ has come
and is given to you. Look to Him. Look to Him. He
is the very salvation of God. Paul reminded Timothy that from
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. Christ Jesus, 2 Timothy 3.15.
So a lot of men know the scriptures, and a lot of men know doctrine,
but that doesn't mean that they know the salvation of God, which
is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that
they know him. This is why our Lord, when he
was speaking to the Jews in John 5.39, tells them, search the
scriptures, Do that, for in them you think you have eternal life,
but they are they which testify of me." They testify. This is the testimony of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to know whether a
man is speaking by the Spirit, who does he testify of? Does
he speak of what man must do for God, and what man must do
to save himself, and what man must do to make God's salvation
effectual to him? Or does he glorify Christ? Does
he declare to you and show unto you what Christ has accomplished
for the people? and does the Spirit make it effectual
in your heart that this is my hope, he's my salvation, he is
all my righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ, except
God intervene by grace, men will die in the darkness of their
sins. And that's what our Lord said
next, ye will not come to me that ye might have life. Because
man, the natural man is content and happy to read the scriptures,
looking for mysteries that tickle his fancy, but he never sees
Christ. He never sees Christ. And that's
what we need to see. That is the light of God. He
is the very testimony of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe
Him. Believe Him. He is the very salvation
of God. It's God that makes the difference
in men. The Father chose His people. The Son purchased His
chosen people, given to Him. He purchased them with His own
blood. And it's the Holy Spirit who is given to show us in these
scriptures the very testimony of God is declaring to you and
speaking to you of Christ Jesus. And when the Spirit's given,
He reproves. He reproves the world. His people
scatter throughout the world. Doesn't matter if you're a Jew
or a Gentile, there's but one Savior. There's but one salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Spirit's given to
reprove us of sin, to know I'm the sinner. I'm the guilty sinner.
I'm the one who's offended God. I'm the one who's trespassed
against the laws of holy God. I'm the one full of iniquity
and sin and death and darkness. And the Holy Spirit reproves
us of righteousness. I have no righteousness of my
own. Christ is the righteousness of God. And he says all who look
to him, all who call upon his name shall be saved. They shall never be ashamed. And he says that the Holy Spirit
reproves us of judgment. that you should know, you who
hope in him, you who venture all your hope upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, that you would know the weight and the power of those
words which he spoke from the cross when he said, it is finished. It's finished. Judgment is put
away from you. Your God is satisfied in that
peace with you through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the spirit makes you his
lost child, found. He brings you into the light.
And he brings you to know that all these things which God is,
which all these things are, all these fruits in me are wrought
in me by God. They're wrought of God, by God,
by and by the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. He makes these things known to
us. Come to Christ, believe on Him and trust His righteousness.
You shall never be ashamed. You'll never go away sorrowful.
When you stand before that throne of God, you shall be accepted.
you shall be found faultless. Because in Christ Jesus, all
your sins have been put away. Put away in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You that believe on him, they're put away. All the promise of
God by faith of Jesus Christ is contained in these words in
John 16, 13, which says, and he, the spirit, will show you
things to come. He shows you Christ. He shows
you the risen Savior who accomplished our redemption. He shows us what
He came to do and what He accomplished in His coming. And He shows us
that He shall return just as He promised. And He shall raise
us up from the dead. And we shall be with Him forevermore. For evermore the Spirit shows
us that testifying of Christ, delighting our hearts, reminding
us, when it's dark and we're in the valley of the shadow of
death, look up, your redemption draweth nigh. Christ is your
Savior, your God and your Savior, rejoice in Him. John 6.45 says,
it's written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. You that are taught of the Father,
of the Spirit of God given to you by the Father, you come to
Christ. He is salvation. He is the very
testimony in your heart, testifying to you that you are the children
of God, you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Father
and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, He came to reveal this living
faith in us that looks to Christ and believes Christ is my all. He's all my salvation. He's everything
to me. And He gives you that peace and
that comfort and rest. And when you are troubled, when
you stumble, when you fall, it's Him that turns you again back
to Christ, to look to Him to behold your salvation, your Savior,
who breaks your heart, who teaches you what you have need of being
taught again, and shows you Christ. Christ, Christ is all. And that's
what our Lord confirms for us, saying in verse 14, John 16,
14, he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you. The spirit doesn't even glorify
himself, he glorifies Christ in your hearts. So that Christ
is your hope and joy. Listen to these scriptures in
Colossians 2. You can turn there if you like,
in Colossians 2, verse 6 through 10. Paul encourages our hearts, saying,
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the
faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Be thankful. When you don't know
what to pray, when your heart is cold and hard, Begin with
thanking your God. Thanking your God who does not
pay us according to what we deserve, but shows us grace and love and
kindness and mercy. Thank Him. Thank him for his
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Begin right there, thanking your
God. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Christ, because
that's the testimony of God, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye
are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power. And so the Spirit makes him all
our pursuit and all our happiness. Peter said, grow in grace and
in the knowledge in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Savior is Christ. He is our
husband. He is our friend. He is our Lord
and our Savior. And your Father, your God, has
put all things into his hand for your care and your keeping. And he sends you the Spirit,
the other Comforter, to comfort your hearts, and he shall be
with you forever. forever. All things that the
Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you. What's he talking about? The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things into his hand. We're told it pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And so the Spirit
takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto you. He shows
them unto you. Now, he says in verse 16, a little
while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and
ye shall see me because I go to the Father. Let me just say
it this way. When Christ was taken away from
his disciples, they had sorrow. When they saw him crucified on
the cross, they saw him die, and his lifeless body taken down
off that cross, and he was wrapped and buried in a tomb with a heavy
stone put in front of it. He was dead. He died and was
buried. And they were sorrowful. And
the world rejoiced. While they were sorrowful, the
world rejoiced and were glad that he had been put away. But
he rose again. then they were very joyful, very
thankful, very happy, and the world was made sorry. That's
what he says in verse 20, verily, verily, I say unto you that ye
shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice, and ye shall
be sorrowful, but your joy shall be turned into, but your sorrow
shall be turned into joy. This is the joy which the Holy
Spirit gives to you in the new birth, because Christ is risen. And the Day Star is risen in
your hearts whereby you believe Him and call upon Him because
you see and know He is your Savior. He is the only salvation that
God has provided and He is sufficient, full, perfect, complete. His blood has purchased everything
we need and He has made you perfect in His righteousness. Trust Him. Rejoice in Him. Be thankful to
your God for Him. Because Christ is all. And He's shown you Christ. And
given you faith in Him. This is the ministry of that
Comforter. The other Comforter which Christ
spoke of. And He dwells with you forever. Forever. Thank God for that. Mercy and
grace. I pray He bless that word to
your hearts. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your grace. Lord, you know how insufficient our
words are, how lightly we grasp these things so often, how unable
we are to bear the words of our Savior. But we hear and know
your promise, that you have sent another Comforter to abide with
us forever, the Holy Spirit, who testifies in our hearts of
Jesus Christ, your very salvation, whom you sent, whom you love,
and in whom you are well pleased. Lord, ever keep us beholding
the face of Christ, ever seeing the perfection and the sufficiency
of Christ, Keep us ever feeding upon His flesh and drinking His
blood, that we may live only by Him who is the very Bread
of Heaven. Lord, we are weak in ourselves.
We are small and insufficient in ourselves. Lord, receive us
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Gather us together in His arms.
Make our eyes to see Him, to see what Your Spirit sees, to
see what You see, that we would not see as other men who have
nothing but this flesh. Let us see as You see, Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and make Him precious to us. Make us alive
in Him and unto Him, that we may hear Your words, that we
may hear Your testimony, that we would be delighted in the
very testimony of God, which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Lord, thank you for your grace.
Thank you for hearing us in Christ. Lord, remember again our brethren
whom we love and pray that you would touch them and comfort
them, give them peace and joy in Christ. You know our needs,
you know our sorrows. Lord, you know us better than
we know ourselves. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks, amen. Our closing hymn is 332. My Jesus,
I love the 332. Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou
art mine. For Thee, O the follies of sin,
I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior
Thou art. If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus,
tis now. I love Thee because Thou hast
first loved me. and purchase my pardon on Calvary's
tree. I love thee for wearing the thorns
on thy brow. Ever I love thee, my Jesus is
now. I'll love thee in life, I will
love thee in death, And praise thee as long as thou lendest
me breath. And say when the death do lies
cold on my brow, If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, tis now. In mansions of glory and endless
delight, ? I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright ? ? I'll
sing with a glittering crown on my brow ? ? If ever I love
thee, my Jesus, just now ?