Increase my faith. Let's take
our Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 3. I'd like to look at verse 22. And actually, the last part of it, Lord willing,
we'll pick up next time. I'll tell you what intrigued
me when I first saw, looked at this passage of Scripture. If you'll notice in your Bible,
it's got at verse 22, see that little symbol right there to
the right of verse 22? It looks like a little backward
P. If my understanding is right, that's paragraphs, markers where
they, you know, kind of mark a paragraph. Verse 22, you know, it's got
one and then it's got one, starts another one in verse 23. And I looked at that and I thought,
you know, that obviously, There's a complete
thought that's set forth in that 22nd verse. It'd been real easy
for me just to pick up. I'd just go, you know, 22, 23,
24. Maybe three or four of them, you know. And I'm used on that. Really, for a day or so. And thought about that. And looked
at that. And read it. And this is what
it said. After these things came Jesus
and His disciples into the land of Judea, and there He tarried
with them and baptized." You know, it would be so easy
for me just to read that and just pass over it. You know, just a thought. I pray this morning that the
Spirit of God give us a heart just to consider. Let's just
stop for just a minute and just consider that one verse of Scripture. After these things came Jesus
and his disciples into the land of Judea. You know what I know,
first of all, about that Scripture? I know that there were some that
the Lord had some intimate communion with. They were His disciples. I know
that the Lord has a people. I know that. I know that by faith. That's the only way I know that,
is that Almighty God... I want you to look. Let's turn over to John 10, 23. Now, you know, I know that man
by nature resents this truth, that God has a people. Now, this is the reason God so
loved the world, the order of man. God so loved the arrangement. He loved mankind and wasn't going to let mankind
perish. God was pleased. When I consider the heavens,
David said, what is man that thou art mindful of? Mankind. Everything else is going
to perish. But mankind, God was pleased. He was not going to let the order
of man be obliterated and live eternally under His judgment. Not all of them. And Almighty
God was pleased in infinite mercy and grace to choose a people
and called them His sheep. John 10.23 says, And Jesus walked
in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews, round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt, if
thou be the Christ? Tell us plainly. Jesus answered
them, I told you, and ye believe not. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because
ye are not of my sheep. as I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand." Now you know, for a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, to hear those words, you believe
not because you are not of My sheep. And a believer says, to be in that light. Oh, God,
thank You. Thank You that You would not...
An unbeliever hears that and they don't even care. You believe
not because you're not of my sheep. They'll think, well, who
does he think he is anyway? They're arrogant. Man by nature
is arrogant. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
say that it didn't affect them. You're not of my sheep. God has
a people. I know this. Well, after these
things back in John 3, after these things, after what things? Well, after John the Baptist,
who didn't know him, John was baptizing The scripture says
the baptism of John. John was actually baptizing,
but the ministry of John the Baptist was called the baptism
of John. That was his ministry. The baptism
of repentance. Was there a difference between
John's baptism, the baptism of repentance, and believers' baptism? Yeah, I believe there was. What
was the difference? Well, John said, I didn't know.
I didn't know. I didn't know who he was. That
the Messiah was coming is a fact. That the Lord Jesus Christ would
actually come was a fact. But John didn't know who he was.
I knew him not. He was baptizing on the basis
that God was going to send the Messiah. But he didn't know who
he was. Believer's baptism is the confession
that Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, He is the Christ. He is. Believer's baptism is the confession
of faith in the revealed Messiah. You see what I'm saying? The Scriptures set forth after
these things became Jesus. After John had set forth, behold,
there's the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. After John set forth by the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, that's Him. That's the One. A lot of
people claim to be the Messiah. There He is. That's the One. That's God's Christ. after the
Lord had called out His disciples, after the Lord had gone through
at the time of the Passover and purged the temples, after His
discourse with Nicodemus, after these things. Think about the order of Almighty
God. That took place, and this took
place, and this took place. The infinite, merciful, Almighty
God. He who is eternal humbled Himself. The Word made flesh. He came
unto His own and took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. No sin in Him. There He was a
man. I thought about that when you
said, and He marveled. There's Scriptures that set forth
the absolute humanity of Christ. And when you read that, you say,
you know what? There's the Son of Man. He marveled. As God Almighty,
He would never marvel. But when it said He marveled,
Dave, I agree with you. He marveled. And I've read that
too. I've read that and I thought, He marveled. I'm just going to
bow to that. After these things came Jesus
in absolute perfect timing. All that He did, He did absolutely
as God dictated, as the Spirit of God led Him. The Spirit of God was said to
drive him into the wilderness. He who was given the Spirit of
God without measure. You think about this now. He
walked in absolute obedience before God by faith. By faith. By the faith of Jesus Christ. By Him. We look at Him, the object
of our faith. After these things, He said,
He that sent Me is with Me. The Father hath not left Me alone,
for I do always those things that please Him. After these
things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea. That
ought to arrest our minds and just stop us, just make us realize
He is He who absolutely was obeying God, doing exactly
what His Father had caused Him to do with His disciples in that
very place. And listen to this precious part
of this Scripture. And there He tarried with them. There He abode with them. abide with me." He continued
with them. There he tarried with them. There were some that he had everlastingly
known. They were his sheep. He had always
loved them. He told Jeremiah, he said, you
know, before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. In time, it came forth. And now here is the Lord Jesus
Christ with some that the Father had given Him in electing grace.
And He's tarrying with them. Think of the grand privilege
that those few men had Now here He was in the flesh. Here He
was walking on this earth. And He was pleased to tarry with
them. He had given them a heart to
want to be there with Him too. What comfort! That great mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. absolutely was with them right
there and in heaven at the same time. Now
listen to this Scripture. We looked at this last week,
but I looked over this. I read this again. No man hath
ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even
the Son of Man which is in heaven. Now, you know, if that would
have said, the Son of God, that would have made it, I would have said,
well, I can understand that. But the Son of Man, which is
in heaven. Now, how do I know that He was
with them right there, tarrying with them, praying? At times, the Scriptures set
forth to His Father in heaven, And He Himself saying, even the
Son of Man which is in heaven. He didn't say which should be
in heaven. I know, I've read where He did ascend up. I read that where the angels
were standing there and said, you men of Galilee, why stand
you here gazing into the heavens? This same Jesus that you see
shall in like manner return. How do I know that he was in
heaven at the same time? He said he was. And that just
settles it. Not up for debate. He that said that he tarried
with them right there also said that where two or three are gathered
together in his name, I am in the midst of you. And do you
know how we know that? By Christ, by faith. We know
that. We believe that. He tarried. He tarried with them. And I know this, that without
a shadow of a doubt, He tarries and abides with His
people right now. How do I know that? He said,
I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. He tarries with His people all the days of their life in
regenerated mercy, grace, Christ in you, the hope of glory. It doesn't say what was said, It doesn't give any discourse
whatsoever between them. What it says is He tarried with
them. Now, I want to make a couple
of comments and we'll close. But I want you to think of this.
Think about as He tarried with His disciples then. Think about the comfort that
we possess when we realize that He chose
to tarry with His people. I know that He tarried with them,
but what about me? I struggle. I get up every morning
and I struggle, and I struggle trying to get a day going. Those disciples came with the
Lord into that place. Turn with me to Numbers. I want
you to look at something here. This is a precious passage of
Scripture. Numbers 10. Numbers chapter 10.
I'll give you a second to find it. Numbers chapter 10. Numbers 10, verse 33 to 36, And
they departed from the mount of the LORD three days' journey.
And the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in
the three days' journey to search out a resting place for them.
And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day when they went
out of the camp, and it came to pass ark set forward that
Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered,
and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee. And when it rested,
He said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel."
Now the part that I want you to look at is in verse 33. It went out. The ark of the covenant
of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey to
search out resting place for them, a place where they could rest,
settle down. You see, the ark was the symbol,
the ark was the evidence of the presence of God. That was the
ark. Now, right here in our passage
back in John, It's evident that the Lord Jesus Christ was with
His people. He was with them. He tarried
with them. Back in the Old Testament in Numbers 10, the Ark of the
Covenant, there is the evidence that God Almighty is with us. What's the evidence that He's
with us today? How do we know it? By faith.
We believe it. Don't see it. I can't behold
it. But I'm going to tell you something.
I know. I know. Paul says, I know whom
I have believed. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And
here we are, assembled together in this place with just a few
more minutes. And by the revelation of the
Spirit of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is here, tearing with
His people. We pray that the Spirit of God
bless the Word that honors Him. And here we are abiding. In the Old Testament, the Scripture
says that the ark, the ark of the covenant of the Lord, went
with Him. It sets forth. that the ark went
to search out a place of rest for them. The ark. The ark. The covenant God Himself. He set forth. He said, I'll find
a place of rest for you. You know, sometimes in our walk, and we
do walk, just like Enoch. We walk the steps of a good man,
those made so by the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We walk daily, don't we? We walk. Every day we get up and we go.
And you know, just as the ark chose
the place of rest for the children of Israel. And just as the Lord took His
disciples into the land of Judea and tarried with them there,
He was the one that led them to Judea. They went with Him.
He wasn't following them. They followed Him. My sheep hear
My voice. I know them, and they follow
Me. The Spirit of God directs, orders. Now there are times when He is
pleased to find a place of rest for us, and it is a situation
that is, to our understanding, hard on the flesh. Maybe He places
us in situations where we are tried. But that's where He's
pleased to tarry with us. That's where He's pleased to
place us. And wherever He's pleased to place us, it's good. That's
a good place. But the comfort of it is that
He tarries with us. I won't leave you. We've lost some dear, precious
friends and brethren lately. And that's been on our flesh,
it's been hard. But do you want to know the comfort
of it? There He tarried with them. It
may be that He allows us to go through times that are agreeable
to our understanding, what we would call joyful, as times that people get sick Pass away? Sometimes quickly,
sometimes not. But you know wherever it is,
He tarries with them. I know this. I don't have sense
enough to know where to make the choice to tarry with Him.
Isn't it wonderful to know that He chooses? Lord, as you said,
as you direct. Lord, that's where you're pleased,
to tarry with us. What I ask is grace to bow, grace
to be taught, grace to rest, grace to perceive, grace to believe
Him. Wherever He chooses, we tarry in heart with Him. Outwardly,
we're in a situation But wherever we are, inwardly, we're tarrying
with Him. We're in an outward situation. Wherever it is, Lord, if You
settle my heart, I'm okay. Whatever it is, I'm okay. If You settle my heart, I can
lie down at night and I can go to sleep. I can rest. Why? Because I know You're there. You're tarrying. You are our
resting place. Because we do know this, there's
a day coming wherein we're going to see Him with perfect sight,
perfect rest, perfect understanding. Scripture says we're going to
be like Him. And there we shall forever tarry with Him. Forever
be with Him. Oh, may He grant me greater understanding
to perceive the truth that His Holy Spirit is the earnest of
my inheritance. There is something that every
believer, and that something is eternal life. Life given. Christ with you. In you. carrying with you. And right
there, I know by faith that I can perceive and understand this
is part, in my understanding, this
is the earnest, this is the down payment, this is a given, this
is part of. You're experiencing right now,
you that believe, you're experiencing right now in part. We know in part. We
prophesy in part. We see through a glass darkly.
But we do see. But we do know. But you're experiencing
right now by faith that which will fully be revealed in heaven. There's something that you have
right now that you will have totally unveiled and seen in
eternal glory with the Lord Jesus Christ. He tarried with Him. Oh, may the Lord teach us of
the wonder of Him tarrying with us. For Christ's sake, we thank
Him. Amen.