? Now when'er my soul sings praise
? Each note shall echo God's free grace ? T'was grace that
quickened me when dead ? And grace my soul to Jesus led ?
Grace brought me pardon for my sin ? And grace subdues my lusts
within "'Tis grace that sweetens every cross, "'Tis grace supports
in every loss. "'In Jesus' grace my soul is
strong, "'Grace is my hope and grace my song. ? Tis grace upholds
when danger's near ? By grace alone I persevere ? Tis grace
constrains my soul to love ? God's grace is all they sing above
Tis thus alone of grace I boast, and tis alone in grace I trust. For all that's past, grace is
my theme. For what's to come, tis still
the same. In countless years of grace,
I'll sing, adore, and bless my heavenly king. I'll cast my crown
before his throne and shout, free grace, free grace alone. Please be seated. For our call to worship, let's
read from Psalm 56. Psalm 56. The caption at the start of this
chapter is to the chief musician upon Yonathol Halim Rakeem, which
translates to the silent dove of far off places. Be merciful unto me, O God, for
man would swallow me up. This man. He fighting daily oppresseth
me. Mine enemies would daily swallow
me up. For they be many that fight against
me, O thou most high. What time, I'm afraid, I will
trust in thee. In God I will praise his word.
In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me, this flesh. Every day they rest my words. All their thoughts are against
me for evil. They gather themselves together. They hide themselves. They mark my steps when they
wait for my soul. Shall they escape by iniquity?
In thine anger, cast down the people, O God. Thou tellest my
wanderings. Put thou my tears into thy bottle.
Are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall
mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me. In God will I praise his word.
In the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man
can do unto me. Thy vows are upon me, O God.
I will render praises unto thee. And then he tells us why. For
thou hast delivered my soul from death. Wilt not thou deliver
my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light
of the living? Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our merciful Father in heaven,
Lord, we come to you and we confess that we are our own worst enemy,
that we and snare ourselves and we need a savior. Lord, that
is your son. We thank you for the blood that
was shed on Calvary. We thank you that you've made atonement for us, that you've
delivered our souls from death for all of your elect every single
one already. Thank you for bringing us here
together this morning. I asked that you would Bless your word
as it goes out here and in any other pulpit across the world,
Lord. We know that you've promised
that where two or three gather together in your name, you'd
be there in the midst of them. It's in Christ's name we pray,
amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 11 in the Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book. Number 11. ? With broken heart and contrite
side ? ? A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry ? ? Thy pardoning
grace is rich and free ? ? O God, be merciful to me ? ? I smite
upon my troubled breast ? ? With deep and conscious guilt oppressed
? ? Christ and his cross my only plea ? ? O God be merciful to
me ? ? No works nor deeds that I have done ? ? Can for a single
sin atone ? ? To Christ the Lord alone I flee ? ? O God be merciful
to me ? ? And when redeemed from sin and hell ? ? With all the
ransomed throng I dwell ? ? My raptured song shall ever be ?
? God has been merciful to me ? Please be seated. Rebecca Vincent's in town, so
she's gonna bring some special music now. What can cover a guilty sinner? Wash his guilt, make him white
as snow. What from law can his soul deliver,
breaking its bands and letting him go? The blood of God, the
blood of God, rock can anger my soul. Blood from the veins of the God-man,
Jesus, truly the blood of God. What can comfort a poor believer
Bowed down low neath the heavy load? What can silence our soul's
accuser answer his charges, making him go. The blood of God, the
blood of God. Can anchor my soul, blood from
the veins of the God-man, Jesus, truly the blood of God. What will be my song in glory
when his face I at last shall see? What will be my song forever? Christ is the one who made me
free. The blood of God, the blood of
God. can anchor my soul. Blood from the veins of the God-man
Jesus, truly the blood of God. Thank you, Rebecca. Let's open
our Bibles together to First Samuel chapter 30. First Samuel
chapter 30. We looked at this story last
week, and we're so encouraged to see that David is a type of
Christ. And that after David and his
600 men are on a military campaign and when they come home to Ziklag
where their wives and their children lived, they found that the city
had been burned and that all the inhabitants had been carried
away. And we can only imagine the the
grief that gripped these men's hearts when from a distance they
saw the billows of smoke coming from that city and feared the
worst to come home and find out that it in fact had happened.
And David's men, you know, David
had suffered many injustices at the hand of Saul, but he always
had his men in support of him. But now the grief is so strong
in the hearts of these men and their anger must be taken out
and they take it out on David. David is now not only on the
run from Saul but David now doesn't even have the support of his
own loyal troops. He's truly forsaken and distressed
with no place else to go. And we read in verse six, and
David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning
him because the soul of all the people was grieved. Now I looked up that word grieved,
it actually means enraged. They were so filled with wrath
and anger, they were blaming David now for the loss of their
loved ones. And They were grieved because
every man for his sons and his daughters. And here's the message
this morning. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord, his God. I've titled this message, The
Way Up is Down. And how our Lord in his mercy,
puts us often in places like where he put David, so that we
have no place else to turn but to him. And in our distresses,
we're able to find comfort and encouragement and strength only
in the Lord our God. David, in strengthening himself,
encouraging himself in the Lord, then goes before the Lord in
prayer and asks what he should do. And the Lord said, pursue
after the Amalekites. And David does. And the Lord's
promise was that he would recover all. And David did. He recovered all. There was no
harm nor hurt done to any of the wives or their children.
They had no way of delivering themselves from the strength
of the Amalekites. They were dependent upon David
to come deliver them. And by God's grace, in David
strengthening himself and encouraging himself in the Lord, left by
himself with no support where his very loyal troops are now
wanting to put him to death, He strengthens himself in the
Lord and he pursues and he recovers all. He needed strength, he had none. This word encouraged actually
means to strengthen. how the Lord reveals the weakness
of our flesh and the weakness of our resources and the weaknesses
of our ability. And Paul said, I will glory in
my infirmities for when I am weak, then I am strong for his
strength is made perfect in my weakness. To be put in these
places is never never easy. The Lord speaks of that in Hebrews
chapter 12 when he speaks of the discipline of God and he
talks about how grievous it is for the moment. David is in a
grievous place and you've been in some grievous places and I've
been in some grievous places where we had no one to turn to,
no hope, no comfort. And he turns to the Lord and
when the Lord speaks of that in Hebrews chapter 12, he says,
no discipline is easy for the moment, but grievous, but in
the end. It leads to the peaceable fruit
of righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
peaceable fruit of righteousness. And the Lord sends these troubles
in your life and in my life to lead us to Christ. There's a
little article in your bulletin this morning interpreting Romans
chapter 8 verse 28. What is the good that God brings
out of our troubles? Are we going to be like the world
just looking for a silver lining on a cloud? Are we going to think,
well, the power of positive thinking, we'll see something good come
from this. The good that comes from this is the only good that
there is. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only good one. and the peaceable fruit of righteousness
is resting in Christ and believing on Him and dependent upon Him
and receiving from Him His strength in our weakness. And God in His mercy often places
us in these positions like He did for David so that our strength
is His strength. Listen to 1 Chronicles 16, verse
11. Seek the Lord and His strength. Seek His face continually. I love the way the Lord tells
us to seek His face. Lord, let your face shine upon
us and we shall be saved. Seeking the face of God is seeking
His person, His beauty, When he, the Song of Solomon speaks
of the kisses of his mouth being our comfort and the kisses of
his mouth is the gracious words that proceed out of his mouth
and they come to our hearts. And here we're told to seek the
face of God. How oftentimes you and I have
selfishly sought not his face, but rather his hand. Lord, I
just need you to do something here. I need you to give me something.
I need you to provide something. And we're guilty of what James
said. When he said, when you ask, you
ask amiss that you might consume it upon your own lust. Let us
seek his face first. And with his face will come his
hand. And whatever provisions he has
in his hand will be sufficient. They'll be sufficient. He told
Paul when Paul prayed for the Lord to remove, Lord, give me
your hand and remove this thorn from my flesh. And what did the
Lord say to the apostle Paul? My grace is sufficient for thee. And that's when Paul said, his
strength is made perfect in my weakness. David's in a horrible
place here. These biblical characters are
not just some character. You put yourself in David's place,
what would it be like? The people that were supporting
you have now turned against you and you've lost everything, everything. They wept to where, look at verse
four. And David and the people that
were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had
no more power to weep. You ever been there? Or I just,
I don't even know how to cry out anymore. I'm just, I'm at
my wits end. Here's the glorious truth. God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the wise, the strong. He's chosen
those things which are not. He has to make us weak and how
he places us in these places where we've got no place to go,
it's a blessed thing to be shut up to Christ. It is a blessed
thing. It's a work of God's mercy and
God's grace that he would give to me and you no place else to
go because the natural man will find his hope and his comfort
anywhere else other than Christ. And here's the Lord's promise,
every mountain and every hill, that's man in his exalted pride. That's us. That's what we are. Oh, we're so proud and self-sufficient. Every mountain and every hill
shall be made low and then the valley shall be lifted up. God
has to make us low before we can be lifted up. We must be brought to the end
of ourselves. We must be in the place where
we can find no help from anyone other than God. David expresses
that in Psalm 107. If you'll turn with me there,
Psalm 107. Look at verse 25. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof. Oh, the
way of the Lord is through the seas. The turbulence and the troubles
that this world brings that God brings to us in this world. That's his way of salvation.
That's his way of grace. That's his mercy. And the scripture
when describing heaven says there is no more sea. The sea represents
separation. The continents are separated
by vast oceans. The sea represents trials and
troubles. And here we are, separated from
God by the troubles that we cause, often ourselves, by our own sin
and unbelief. And the Lord exposes those things
through these waves and winds. The disciples said, What manner
of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey his voice? Oh, they do brethren. They obey
his voice and he stills the storm. Look at verse 26. They mount up to heaven. They
go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man. And they are at their wits end. They are at their wits end. No
place else to go but to God. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
God remembers that we're made of dust. He remembers that we
are that we are of little faith. He remembers that we are self-righteous
and proud and independent. And in his mercy, he brings these
storms that we might be brought to our wit's end and that our wisdom be swallowed
up by these things that we might find in our God. Notice in our
text, he comforted himself or encouraged
himself, he strengthened himself in verse six of 1 Samuel chapter
30, in his God. The one to whom we bow. the one we worship, the sovereign,
the omnipotent one, the all-powerful one, the one who has revealed
enough of his glory for us to know that in us there is no good
thing, the unchanging God, the self-existent
God, the one who holds my life in his hand. And he's the one
who said, is there anything too hard for the Lord? And when the
Lord said that, it was when Sarah laughed that here at 90 years
old, she would become pregnant with child. Oh, she had gone through menopause
many years before. This is not possible. And she
laughed. And the Lord said, is there anything
too hard for me? No. No. Nothing too hard. With man, it is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Brethren, the way up is down.
And it begins in the new birth. God has to kill us before he
can make us alive. He has to reveal to us how that
our flesh is nothing but flesh and that the flesh profiteth
nothing. Otherwise, we will depend on some fleshly efforts. We will
depend on our will, we will depend on our running. And God says,
it is not of him that willeth, it is not of him that runneth,
it is of God that showeth mercy. God has to slay us. Paul said,
I was alive once without the law. Now Paul never was without
the law. He was raised and taught by Gamaliel,
he was an expert in the law. And yet, he said, I was without
the law. I reported myself to be a law
keeper and no man could find anything in my life that I was
guilty of concerning the law. I was without blame. But when
the law came, when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. The way up is down. Paul speaks of his conversion
on the road to Damascus as being a pattern for all those that
God calls. What was Paul doing? He was shaking
his fist at heaven, breathing out threatenings against God
and against Christ and against the church. And God knocked him
off his high horse and put him in the dirt. slew him, stripped
him of his righteousness. That's what the Lord has to do.
The way up is down. We're not going to be at our
wits end. We're not going to find Christ
to be all of our righteousness until we have no righteousness
of our own. And there's the work of the Spirit
of God in the new birth. He convicts us of our sin because
we believe not. of our righteousness because
Christ has ascended into heaven and he's seated at the right
hand of God and he's our righteousness before God and of judgment because
we can't satisfy the justice of God, only the judgment that
the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied on Calvary's cross when he offered
himself as a sinner's sacrifice to his heavenly father was God
satisfied. of judgment because the prince
of this world has been judged. In the new birth, it's the first
time we see ourselves for what we are. You don't know you have
an old man until you get a new man. And when you get the new
man, you see what that old man is. Before, you were proud of
that old man. Before, you thought that old
man was somebody and that old man could do something. And now
the new man looks at the old man And he says, I don't know
anything. I can't do anything. I don't
have anything. That old man can't help me. That
old man's dead. Dead. He's a slave to sin. When Peter, we looked at this
last Wednesday night when the Lord performed that miracle of
the great catch of fish for Peter. Peter questioned the Lord. He said, we've toiled all night. Now we're the expert fishermen
here. Nevertheless, at thy word, master,
and that word master means overseer, we'll do it. He didn't believe
God. He had God and he thought he
was a more, he knew more about fishing than God knew. Nevertheless,
and now they bring in so many fish, they almost sink two boats. He'd never seen that many fish
before. And Peter falls at the knees of Christ and says this,
depart from me, Lord. Lord, you're my sovereign. You hold my life in your hands. You're my God. Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man. We often speak of God saving
sinners, but there Peter describes what a sinner is. If something's
full, you can't put anything else into it. and a sinful man
is a man who's nothing but sin." And that's what Paul said about
himself, he said, I'm dead, I only hope I have
is that my life will be hidden in Christ. It's the same experience Isaiah
had. If you read the book of Isaiah, you'll find in the first
five chapters that Isaiah, as a prophet of God, being faithful
to the word that God had given him, was pronouncing judgment
against Israel because of their unbelief. You know, there's no
sin so grievous and so offensive as not believing God. And yet
there's a spirit of unbelief even among God's people. Why?
Because we still got that old man. Lord, I do believe, help
thou mine unbelief. Question God. And Isaiah is pronouncing judgment
against Israel and he says, woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto
you, six times, woe unto you. The number six is a number from
man. And then in Isaiah chapter six, I saw the Lord, I saw the
Lord, high and lifted up. And the seraphim hovered over
the throne of God and they cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. Heaven and earth is filled with
his glory. Oh, Isaiah had a personal, a personal revelation given to
him of the holiness of Christ. And what was the first words
out of his mouth? Not woe unto you, woe is me. What was me? I'm undone. I'm
unclean. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
live among a people of unclean lips. There's nobody that can
help me. Mine eyes have seen the king.
I'm dead. The way up is down. David had
to be brought down to nothing. He didn't even have the support
of his own army and he had everything stripped from him. before he
strengthened himself in his God. And you and I are no different
from David. We'll not depend upon his strength only until
we have no strength. And what a blessing it is when
God takes away all the strength of our self-righteousness. You
know, you think about it. We're not talking about here
just temporal circumstances and troubles that come in this world
to all men. We're talking about the conviction
of sin. The truth is that money and time
will solve every single problem that you and I face in this world.
Every one. You can either buy your way out
of it fix it with money or time eventually will solve it. You
say, well I've got a problem that time, no. In the appointed
time you're going to cease to be in this world, so am I, and
in that time all your problems in this world are gone. Every single problem that you
and I face, every circumstance that we have trouble with in
this world can be solved with money or time. Save one. No amount of money. Why do you
spend money for that which satisfieth not? The grace of God is free. You can't buy it. You can't offer
God anything to obligate him to give it to you. It's free. That's what grace is. Grace is
free. It's a work of God. Time, no
amount of time will solve the sin problem that you and I have.
Not time in this world, nor time in the next. And that's why hell
is eternal. Because no amount of suffering
in a horrible place like that will satisfy God's justice. The only thing that God's pleased
with is the sacrifice that His Son made on Calvary's cross to
put away our sin. You and I have a problem. It's called sin. And our sin
has separated us from our God. And until God slays us and makes
us so that we have no money. We, blessed are the poor in spirit. That word poor means to be in
abject poverty. I don't have two pennies to rub
together. I've got nothing. I've got nothing. That's where God has to bring
us. The way up is down. God has to kill us in the new
birth. He has to strip us. He has to
make us poverty stricken. He has to take away all other
hopes before we will strengthen ourself in God. In the walk of faith, The way up is down. When God enables the believer's
heart to pray, it's not a reluctant responsibility or a tedious religious
duty. It is a delight, it's a privilege. It's a joy to come before the
throne of grace and pour out our hearts to God. But I'll tell
you this, and I'll tell you this from my own experience, and I
believe it's true for you as well. The labor concerning true
prayer is the afflictions that God must send in order to get
us to pray. Is that not true? He must, this walk of faith,
the way up is down. Oh, the Lord often reminds us
of our sin. And that old man rears his ugly
head and God sends billows of storms into our lives. Why? That we might come boldly before
the throne of grace and find help. in our time of need. The way up is down. What David has experienced here
is true for all believers. Turn with me to Psalm 102, Psalm
102. And look with me at verse one. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let
my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in
the day when I am in trouble. Incline thine ear unto me in
the day when I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed
by smoke, like smoke, and my bones are burned as on hearth. My heart is smitten and withered
like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread. Now turn over with me to Psalm
119. And look at verse 71. David says, it is good for me
that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Look at verse 75 in that same
chapter. I know, oh Lord, that thy judgments
are right. and that thou in faithfulness
and in love hath afflicted me, let I pray thee thy mercies,
thy merciful kindness, be for my comfort according to thy word
unto thy servant." David saying, oh Lord, these are acts of mercy
that you've given to me to send your spirit and to convict me
to send troubles into my life and put me in this place where
David is in great distress and at my wits end, I've got no place
else to go. This is the way. This is the way of faith. It
was Naomi's way of faith, wasn't it? Naomi's husband, Elimelech,
took her from Bethlehem, the house of bread, And he saw better
opportunities over in Moab and he took his family over there.
And Elimelech and Naomi's two sons all died in Moab. And now
Elimelech is a widow. She's got nothing. She comes
back to Bethlehem with Ruth and they say, is that, could that
possibly be Naomi? Look at her. She didn't look
like she did when she left here. And she says in response, call
me not Naomi, but rather call me Mara. And Mara translated
means bitter, for the Lord have dealt bitterly with me. The Lord
sent her to Moab and sent her back with Ruth. And what she
didn't know at that time was that Ruth was gonna meet Boaz,
Christ. and that they were gonna get
married and give birth to Obed, and Obed was gonna give birth
to Jesse, and Jesse was gonna give birth to David, and Naomi
herself was gonna be the great, great grandmother of King David,
and in the lineage of the coming of the Messiah. She didn't know
any of that, but there's the blessing that God brought for
her. as a result of this bitterness
that she experienced in Moab. Brethren, the way up is down. It's God's way. He said, my way
is not your way. It's not your way. My thoughts
are not your thoughts. As the heaven is high above the
earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts and my ways above
your ways. God's ways are right. God's ways
are filled with mercy. It was God that ordained those
Amalekites to come and burn the city of Ziklag. It was God that
put such bitter spirit in the hearts of these men and turned
them all against their king. And it was God that moved in
David's heart to be brought to his wit's end to seek the Lord
and to find his strength and his encouragement in his God. The way Up is down. And the way up is down at the end of this life. Let me
show you that. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This
is every believer's lot. God's ordained purpose and the
way up into glory will be down in physical death. Look at 1
Corinthians 15 at verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed, for
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death down is swallowed up in victory. The way up is down. It was that way in your new birth.
By God's mercy, it is that way in the walk of faith. And it
will be that way in our glorification. No other way up, but down. It's God's way. Now, all of that
having been said, and I wanted to apply this to our own experience,
I believe the first and most important understanding of this verse of
scripture, and perhaps we should spend a whole nother message
on this, is the incarnation, death, and resurrection and ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ. to bring us up, he had to come
down. Oh, what infinite condescension. We can't even begin to imagine
how the God of glory seated upon his throne and being worshipped
by the seraphims could be made in the likeness of sinful flesh,
could be could be born of a woman and could take his habitation,
not in the glories of heaven, but rather in an obscure village
where no one knew him, but as the son of a carpenter." He's
the son of God. He's being known as the son of
carpenter. The way up for me and you was
down for him. Scripture says that when the
Lord spoke to his disciples, he said to them, oh, faithless
and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How
long shall I suffer you? Their unbelief They hear the
Lord is going from, He's suffering the contradiction of sinners
and He's God. And the way up for me and you
was the way down for Him. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
26. Matthew chapter 26. Not only
in his incarnation did he condescend infinitely beyond anything we
can imagine. We can't imagine. Eyes not seen,
nor is ear heard, nor is it entered into the imagination of man the
things that he's prepared for us. We can't even begin to imagine
how glorious heaven is and how glorious it was when he departed
that place. Neither can we imagine because
you and I aren't much affected by sin. We're really not. Apart from what God convicts
us of, we can get along with it pretty well. But the sinless
son of God, oh, what he saw and what he felt and what he heard,
we cannot even begin to imagine. the contradiction of sinners
that he experienced in this world. But the only way for me and you
to go up was for him to do that and come down. And now he's going
to have to go down into the grave and here's what he says, look
at Matthew chapter 26. He's in the garden of Gethsemane
with the disciples. In verse 36, then cometh Jesus
with them into a place called Gethsemane and saith unto his
disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. The son of David, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is greatly distressed. His own friends have turned against
him. They are enraged as David's men
were against him. They want to crucify him as David's
men wanted to stone him. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and began to be sorrowful
and very heavy. And he saith unto them, my soul
is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and
watch with me. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, oh, my father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as
I will, but as thou wilt. He comforted and strengthened
and encouraged himself in his God. That's what David was doing. David was picturing what the
Lord Jesus would do. He had no place else to go. He
needed God to help him. And it wasn't from being crucified
in the physical act of being put to death as David was grieving
over these men stoning him. It was this cup that he was going
to drink from. The Lord Jesus Christ, the holy
and harmless one, the one who is higher than the heavens, had
never experienced sin. And now he knows, beginning now
in the Garden of Gethsemane, He's gonna drink the bitter dregs
of our sin. And he's gonna experience the
shame and the sorrow and the separation that sin brings. And he's gonna cry from the cross,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Lord Jesus is
going to be distressed beyond any experience that we've ever
had. We have a high priest who is
able to sympathize with our sufferings. He was in all ways tempted as
we are yet without sin. Don't think for a moment that
the Lord Jesus Christ cannot identify and relate to and help
you in your time of trouble. He knows it very well. Verse 40, and he cometh unto
his disciples and findeth them asleep and saith unto Peter,
what could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that
you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And he went again the second
time and prayed saying, oh my father, if this cup may not pass
away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. He was
strengthening himself in his God and our strength is this very
thing, thy will be done. Thy will be done, Lord. I know
that what you do is right. And he came and found them asleep
again for their eyes were very heavy. He had no one to help
him. And he left them and went away
again and prayed the third time saying the same words. He's sweating
drops of blood. He's distressed like David never
knew distress. He's distressed like you and
I never knew distress. He's about to bear the sins of
his people and put them away by the sacrifice of himself.
And he strengthened himself in the Lord, his God. Why? Because the way up was down. And the only way that you and
I can go up was for him to come down. Down to the cross, down to this
world, down to the cross, down in the grave. And then on that morning, that
men all over the world this morning are celebrating came the glorious
resurrection. Why? Because the way up out of
that tomb was down into that tomb. And he accomplished the salvation
of his people and proved it by the resurrection of himself from
the grave. Truly, brethren, God's way is
down in order to go up. Always is, always has been, always
will be. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Lord, forgive us for our unbelief.
Increase our faith and cause us to be able to say with our
Lord, thy will be done. Lord, what you do is right. Give us hope in Christ. Lord,
kill us again and again and again, that we might say, I die daily,
that our life would be only in thy son. For it's in his name
we pray, amen. 256, let's stand together. you. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot,
thou hast taught me to say, it is well It is well with my soul
It is well with my soul, with my soul It is well, it is well
with my soul Though Satan should buffet, though trials should
come, let this blast assurance control. that Christ hath regarded
my helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought! My sin, not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul.