Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to the book of John, chapter 14. John 14. Our Lord in telling His disciples,
that he would soon be leaving, told him, in verse 16, that he
was going to pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. He was going
to send the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but
ye know him. For he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you." Great promise. And then our Lord said in verse
18, And oh, may the Lord teach me
this, I will not leave you comfortless. I'm not going to leave you as
an orphan. I will come to you. Though God's people are pilgrims,
strangers in this world. Though they are strangers to
the world's religion, they weren't always, but now they are. Regenerated by the grace of God,
they come out from among them. God's people are separate. They
don't stay and listen to a lie. Once God teaches a man, a woman,
the truth, they find the place where they
can hear the gospel preached, the gospel of God's grace, God's
mercy. But when they come out from among
them, and they are separate, they are not left as sheep without
a shepherd. David said, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord promised, I'm going
to give you pastors according to my heart. They're going to
teach you, feed you. They're not left to a world that
has no mercy and kindness toward them. They're not left to provide
for themselves to scratch out a meager existence and try to find some food, some
spiritual food. The Lord is going to teach them. That is mercy. I tell you, they
may find themselves having to drive a little farther. They
have to move. But God's people are going to
be where they can hear the gospel. God's sheep are God's sheep. They're the beloved of the triune
God. They are the bride of Christ. He's going to watch over her
and protect her and provide for her. They're heirs of God. They have a heart Regenerated
by the grace of God, they have a new heart that they're going
to have eternally in heaven. Let me ask you this. What loving parent would leave
his children willingly destitute? What parent would leave his child
to suffer when he had it within his power to help him. Almighty God, our Savior, who
has eternally stood as the surety from that moment, and as I have
said so many times, I do not know how to speak eternally.
Everything that I know relates to time. I can say the word eternal,
but I can't perceive the depth of eternity. But I do know this,
there's never been a time, there's never been a time that the Lord
Jesus Christ was not the surety of the sheep. Before the foundation
of the world, I've loved you with an everlasting love. The
blood slain. from before the foundation of
the world. He who has ever possessed the
heart to redeem his sheep, to bear their guilt in his own body,
his delight was ever with his people. He who was brought up
before Jehovah. He who in time came and died. He who in time robes them in
righteousness. Isaiah 49, 15. Can a woman forget
her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, they may forget Yet will
I not forget thee." You'd say a woman that has a
baby that she's nursing, supposed to be nursing, and here's a baby
screaming out of want of milk, just screaming his lungs out,
and a mama just Forget? You say, she's beside herself. She's not in her right mind.
The Lord said a mother may forget. He said, I'll not forget you.
Psalm 2710, when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. He said, I will not leave you
comfortless. Now listen, there's not a person in this
congregation this morning that doesn't need some comfort. There's not one person in here.
There's not one believer for sure. But there's not one. There's not one person that doesn't
need comfort. He sees himself. He sees his
family. I will not leave you as an orphan,
just left to yourself. You do the best you can. Scratch
out for yourself. I will come to you. after he was raised from the
dead, after his resurrection. He appeared, John 20. John 20,
19 and 20 says he appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden. John 20, verse 14. The Lord spoke to Mary, verse 13,
Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they
have taken away my Lord, I know not where they have laid him.
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, she saw
Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. And Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the
gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence,
tell me where. thou slayed him, and I will take
him away.' And Jesus saith unto her, Mary.' And she recognized that voice. She turned herself and saith
unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master, He appeared to His disciples
on the road to Emmaus. He caused them to not be able
to recognize Him. He talked with them along the
way. It appeared as though that He was going to go farther. And
they beckoned to Him and said, days late, won't you come in
and sit down. Scripture says that He went in
and broke bread with them. And when He broke the bread,
their eyes were opened. And they knew it. And he left. And they had this confession.
Didn't our heart burn as he opened unto us the Scriptures? I read that passage of Scripture
and I think to myself, Lord, would you send revival here?
Would you send revival to Katie? Lord, would you cause our hearts
to truly burn? Lord, may it be more than just
coming together. Cause our hearts to burn. Lord, may we look away from ourselves,
each other. May we look to you. Lord, would
you give us a heart? appeared to His disciples, and
they were hiding for fear. John 20 again, verse 19, then
the same day, that even being the first day of the week when
the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith
unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed
unto them his hands, his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. I am not going to leave you comfortless. I will come to you. To his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias in John
21 verse 4, And the morning was now come,
Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it
was Jesus. Then Jesus said unto them, Children, have you any
meat? They answered him, No. He said unto them, Cast the net
on the right side of the ship, and you shall find they cast
therefore. And now they were not able to
draw it for the multitude of fishes. And therefore that disciple
whom Jesus loved, that just blesses my heart, John, I'm sure it was
John, the one that wrote He penned the book. He never referred to
himself. He doesn't say an I. He said
that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. He comes to his own. Oh, and
that regenerating power and grace when it pleased the Lord. He
calls His own out of darkness. I will come to you. You know, the assurance that
I have this morning is that I know that all that He's everlastingly
loved, all that Christ has redeemed, all that the Father has chosen
and given to the Son, I know that He's not going to leave
them orphans. I know that He's going to come
to them. And this morning, I pray by the grace of God, I pray God
have mercy coming to His own, comforting them, calling them
unto Himself. Oh, He set forth the fullness
of the indwelling of His Spirit and promised His disciples in
Matthew 28.20, He said, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world. Amen. And the believer hears
those words and he says, Lord, as You have come to me in regenerating
grace, Lord, would You come afresh to me right now and reveal yourself
to me afresh. Lord, I need this moment. Lord, by the grace of God, I
come to You. He said that. He said, My sheep
hear My voice. I know them. They follow Me. Come unto Me. All you that are weak and heavy
laden, I'm going to give you rest." And a believer says, Lord,
I come. I come knowing in myself that
I have nothing but You. And that's everything. I come to You, Lord, because
You've come to me first. I love You because You first
loved me. He comes to his own. In the hour of their need, and
I know this, I know especially that He is
going to come to His own in the hour of their precious departure, of their precious departure from
this world. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. That's a precious thing. When
Almighty God is pleased to take them out of this empty world
of woe and heartache, how old do we get? Listen to this precious departure.
I wrote this down. It's when Stephen was being stoned. Listen how precious is this.
Acts 7, 55, 56. But he, at his state of being
full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven. And the Scripture says he saw
the glory of God. And Jesus, standing on the right
hand of God, said, Behold, I see the heavens opened. Isn't that
precious? I see heaven opened. I see the
Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Nobody saw it but
Stephen. Oh, but Stephen saw it. And with
that sight, the Lord manifested to Stephen in that moment, I
will not leave you comfortless. Not even in the moment of your
departure, I will come to you. And he made good on that promise. What happens at the moment of
a believer's departure? Precious. And the Scripture says they stoned
Stephen, and there was Stephen calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, Receive
my Spirit. Truly, Lord, You never left me
comfortless. And now I know it of a surety
by sight. And truly, He shall come for
all His people in His precious second coming. 1 Thessalonians
4. 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 13-18. Here the Apostle Paul, under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, says this, But I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. Now, every
believer that has left this world, that has departed this life,
that body is in the grave. They are sleeping. That is how
the Scripture refers to it. They sleep. They sleep in the
Lord. Do you know where their soul
is? Do you know where that spirit is? It is with the Lord. It is
with the Lord. Absent from this body, present
with the Lord. For if we believe, verse 14,
that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him. Their soul, that spirit of life
created in righteousness, that new man that Almighty God created
and imparted to the believer. That is with the Lord. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent, we are not going to
go before, them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel
and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise
first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort
one another with these words." Believer, hear the Word of the Lord. I will not leave you comfortless. Yeah, but you don't know what
I'm going through. I will not leave you comfortless. Yeah, but I'm suffering. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And a believer says, Lord, come
to me. A believer that says that, he
has already not left you comfortless. He has come and drawn you to
himself. And a believer with a heart of
thanksgiving says, Lord, thank you. Lord bless these words to
our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.