looks for faith as the result
of his teaching. And that certainly is indicated
by the question that he asks. He says, Do ye now believe? The end of all preaching or the
result of all preaching is consummated in Either you believe it or you
don't believe it. That's the result of preaching. When I preach here from time
to time, the end result is that some believes and some don't
believe. Now, I find that over in the
28th chapter of the book of Acts. I remember the Apostle Paul had
something to say about this along this line. I think this is the
result of the result of preaching, and our Lord seems to indicate
that when he says, Do ye now believe? Look at the 28th chapter
of the book of Acts and verse 23, and listen to what was being
said to these people. And when they had appointed him
a day, that's the apostle Paul, they gave him a day, set aside
a day whereby he might do something. And there came many to him into
his lodging, many people came to where Paul was living at this
particular time, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets, from first light until the end
of the day, from morning till evening. He preached unto them
Jesus. You remember the Ethiopian eunuch was reading the scriptures, and
Philip joined himself to this Ethiopian eunuch, and he said,
Do you understand what you're reading? And he said, How can
I, except some man teach me? And Philip turned to the same
place that this fellow was reading. which was the 53rd chapter of
the book of Isaiah. And did what? And he preached
unto him Jesus. And the result was this fellow
believed. Well, here the apostle Paul preaches
unto these people who had come to him at this appointed time. He preached to them concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. out of what Moses had to say
and out of what the prophets had to say. And he did so from
morning till evening. And verse 24 says, And some believed
the things which were spoken, and some believed not. So I think
that I can safely say here this morning that the end result of
all preaching is that some believe and some believe not. And our
Lord here looks for faith as a result of his teaching. And
he says, do you now believe? Well, ask the question, why? Why did he say, do you now believe? Well, I don't know that I know
the answer to that question as the Lord had in mind, but the
answer to the question from my own heart would go something
like this. Do you now believe? Why? Well, for this reason. Anything
short of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ leaves a man short
of salvation. Do you now believe concerning
me?" They said, We believe that thou comest forth from God. He's talking about himself. And
so they said, We believe that thou camest from God. Why is it essential that we must
believe in Him whom God has sent? Anything short of believing in
Him whom God has sent does not result in eternal salvation. So it's imperative then that
every one of us here this morning believe on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If not, we'll fall short of eternal
salvation. The Philippian jailer He said,
what must I do to be saved? And the apostles immediately
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
So anything short of believing will leave us short of eternal
salvation. There's got to be a believing
in the heart. of what he is and who he is and
what he does and who he done it for. That's got to be. I'm
talking about a believing in the heart along certainly with
an intellectual belief coupled with it. Well, do you now believe? Let me ask the question to myself
as Well, it's you. You've heard many sermons. You've
heard a whole lot of preaching over the years. Do you now believe? Some of you is getting older,
your hair is getting gray, and the gospel is very familiar to
your ears. Do you now believe? That's what
our Lord said. Do you now believe? So according
to your answer to this question, do you now believe? According to the answer to this
question, we may, I believe, decide as to our true condition
before God. Do you now believe? Some believed
and some believed not. Those that believed are and were
eternally saved. And those that believe not will
be, unless God intervenes, will be eternally damned. To the apostles
here, now that primarily who he's talking to is the apostles.
Eleven of them, I guess, maybe all twelve of them. But he's
talking to some apostles here, twelve of them I believe at this
particular time. He, in other words, says there's
three years I've been teaching and preaching and working miracles
in your midst, have you at last come to a little faith? Do you now believe, he says,
I've been with you day and night, preaching concerning everything
that is important to the well-being and welfare of your eternal souls? Do you now believe? Raised men
from the dead, and you've been eyewitnesses to this. Fed thousands
and thousands and thousands of people. A couple of small loaves
of bread and a few fishes. I've walked on the water. I've
quelled the storms. I've given sight to blind men. I've unstopped deaf ears. I've cured the lepers. I've preached and I've preached
and I've preached day and night for three years and worked mighty
wonders in your midst. Do ye now believe? Do you believe? Well, have ye at last come to
a little faith? Well, there's something else
It's said here, apart from that too, which I believe must be
taken into consideration if we're to appreciate these three or
four verses that I read to you. And that's this, He reminds them
of another thing. In that their faith was a long
time coming, He reminds them it might be very quick in leaving
them. Notice what he says in verse
32 now. Now keep in mind, keep this in
mind. Their faith was a long time coming,
and it may be very short in its departure. It may leave very
quickly now. Behold, he said, the hour cometh,
yea, or yes, is now come. that ye shall be scattered, every
man to his own, and shall leave me alone." That is, a little
trouble might come your way, or some unseen difficulty might
occur. And when it does, I want to know,
where's your faith? Some things might happen here
that you'll not fully understand, things that will go contrary
to your persuasion. And where will be your faith
then? Now, you know that that's true
in our lives, and we've seen it and experienced it. Some of
us personally and others have seen it experienced in the life
of others. A little bit of trouble comes,
unseen difficulties, and people wilt like flowers in the heat
of the sun and walk with Him no more. A little persecution,
a little idle talk from some unbeliever, a little sarcasm
is manifested from someone, and where's your faith? Where is
your faith? Someone does not receive the
proper, or maybe the recognition that he or she thinks they ought
to receive, and they say, well, I'll take my game and go someplace
else. I don't have to stay here. Where
is your faith? Well, I've come to this conclusion
that you and I have no reason whatsoever to brag on our faith,
if we have any faith whatsoever. If we have a little faith, we've
got to realize that it took a long time for it to come, and when
it did come, it came because it was a gift of God. It wasn't
something that sprang up within us from something that we are
or something that we have done. You've got to remember, brethren,
that this faith that we have was a long time coming to us,
and you've got to remember how soon it might leave. That's what
he's telling these disciples here. I don't think they paid attention
to you. I don't think they paid close attention to what he was
saying. I don't know that you and I pay too much attention
to what's being said, from the Bible to our hearts in regard
to this faith. A long time coming, and it might
leave just a whole lot quicker than what it came. He told this
to these twelve apostles here. Do you now believe? Why, he said, the hour comes,
it's on us right now, and ye shall be scattered. In light
of this, do you still believe? Oh yes, we believe. We believe. Do you believe? Yes, we believe. I don't think they listened too
close to what our Lord Jesus Christ had to say. You remember
when after this, our Lord said, I must needs go to Jerusalem.
He said, there I'll be crucified and killed. I'll be beaten with
many strikes." And Peter immediately, and Peter was not by himself
because the Scriptures say that all of them said the same thing.
Peter said, though all men be offended because of thee, yet
I will not deny thee. If everybody is offended, If
everybody on the top side of God's green earth is offended,
Peter said, if these here are offended because of thee, yet
I'll never be offended because of thee. Not me. I'll not be
offended. I'll not be scattered. I'll not
depart from you. I'll not desert you. I am a tried and true friend. That's who I am. I don't think
Peter was listening very close to you. I don't think that there's
a whole lot of people in so-called Christianity, including myself,
listens too close. Well, these apostles say, though you
die, though you die, I'll die with you. That's what they said.
Yet I'll not deny you. If it comes to the place that
you really die, Peter and those 11 with him, they said, we'll
die with you before we'll deny you. We'll be identified with
you. You don't have to worry about
that. That's no problem. We'll be identified. We'll not
deny you. Well, we might say here this
morning as we look out and look over and think about one another,
and even think about some who are not with us. We might say
that there is no man among us who will ever be a traitor to
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will ever deny the Lord Jesus. We
might say as we think of one another and look in one another's
faces here this morning, there will never be one here that will
ever grow weary and tired of the way There'll never be one
here who will ever grow cold in heart. Well, if we would say
that, it'd only be self-flattering, because there's no truth to it.
Because what others have done, you and I are capable of doing
the same thing. If we think, if we think that
We are not capable of doing what these disciples did. It's our
pride and our pride alone that makes us think that, because
we have the capability. Others might desert the Lord
Jesus Christ, but I'll never do it. Others might walk out,
but I'll never do it. Watch out now. Hold on. Take
heed how you stand, lest you also fall." Watch out! You're
getting on shaky ground now when you say what you will do and
what you won't do. Best we say, by the grace of
God, Lord, help me, hold me, keep me, lest I fall. We need to learn how frail we
are, don't we? We're frail. We're weak as water.
Weak as water. We couldn't keep ourselves in
the love of God for a minute if it was not for the grace of
God and the Spirit of God and the gospel of redeeming grace.
We couldn't keep ourselves built up in the most holy faith. If
God would be pleased to leave us or withdraw His hand from
us and His presence from us and His providential grace from us
that's given to us in these various incidents and trials and troubles
that come our way, we deny them just as quick as Peter and James
and John and Philip and all the rest of the disciples did. What they're capable of doing,
or what they've done, we're capable of doing. We've got the potential,
the capability. We're frail. We're weak. insignificant
and insufficient in ourselves. We can't keep ourselves. If we're
kept, we're kept by God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to continually cry out unto God, Hold Thou me up and
I shall be saved. We need to say, Lord keep me,
I cannot keep myself. We need constantly as we pray,
We need constantly, as we walk and talk in fellowship with God
in Jesus Christ during the course of the day, we need to constantly
breathe out this prayer, Lord, keep me from falling. I'm not
talking about falling in the sense of apostasy. There's other
ways to fall apart from apostasy. I don't believe that a believer
ever apostatizes completely. I believe a believer falls, though.
He can fall into a known sin. He can fall into a practice which
is contrary to the Scriptures. He can fall into having a critical
spirit, a judgmental spirit. He can fall that way. We need
to pray constantly, Lord, keep me from falling. Keep me from
falling. I'm capable of falling. Lord, my brother fell over there. God have mercy on him. Keep me
from doing the same thing. We can do the same thing. I've
heard people say, well, I thought that man was a Christian, or
I thought that person was a Christian because of some particular act
that they committed or something that they've done. Well, I can't
think they're Christians. I can't think they're Christians. Well, if we was placed where
they were placed under the same circumstance and the same condition,
in their shoes, in the same frame of mind, in all probability we'd
have done the same thing that they did. What they're capable
of doing, we're capable of doing. And what they've done, we have
the capability to do. We need to learn how frail we
are. We're frail, we're weak. We can't keep ourselves for a
minute. Well, let's look at this then here this morning. Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
is now come that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own
and shall leave me alone." I want you to notice here this morning,
number one, I want you to notice the Lord's trial. The trial that was put upon our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now you notice it because you
may have one just like it sometime. You may have a trial just exactly
like the trial that the Lord Jesus Christ had here. What was
his trial? His trial was that he was left
alone. He was left alone, see? He said,
do you now believe? Has faith finally come? Do you now believe? Well, he
said, watch out, the hour has come. He said, it now is that
ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave
me alone. We'll never leave you alone.
Well, he was left alone. These disciples that gathered
around Him to whom He was teaching, preaching, and speaking to, they
are sure that they can withstand any fire or any attack from the
devil or any other force. They can withstand it. They can
endure whatever fight may come their way. They are sure that
they will be victors in this. They'll endure to the end. Well,
they'll not forsake Him, that's what they're saying. Yet, the
record clearly shows that not a single solitary one of these
disciples to whom he's speaking to here, when he says, do you
now believe, when this trial and trouble and tribulation falls
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, they all left Him alone, every one
of them. every single solitary one of
them. When he was in the garden of
Gethsemane, he told his three choices, closest friends and
apostles who were his bodyguards, Peter, James, and John. He said,
carry ye here and watch with me and pray while I go yonder
to the garden. And while he was at the garden,
agonizing, these fellows went to sleep. They went to sleep. He came back three times. There
they were. He said, couldn't you watch with
me for just one hour? Watch with me for an hour! Not a month, not a year, but
for an hour! Lord, all may deny thee But we'll
never deny you. You remember now how frail you
are. You remember what these done, you have the capability
of doing the same thing. In the garden, these three denied
Him. Before Pilate and before Herod,
there was none there to defend Him. There was not one voice. There was a multitude of people
there at the trial of our Lord Jesus Christ, so-called. There
was hundreds of people there. And there was not one voice lifted
up in defense of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was there alone. He said, ye shall be scattered,
every man to his own, and shall leave me alone." Is that possible? Well, it turned out that way. At Herod's court and Pilate's
court, there was not one voice that would be lifted up in the
behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one. Not one. I don't think
that it was necessarily hypocrisy on the part of these apostles
when they said, we'll do this and that and so forth, though
all men forsake you, yet we'll never deny you, and we'll be
found faithful. And when it's time to be counted,
why, we'll stand up. I think that they believed that
when they said it. I don't think that it was just
hypocrisy on their part. Even when Peter denied our Lord
Jesus Christ, when he looked Him into the face and they said
to him, they said, you know this, he said, I never knew Him, I
don't know Him, I don't know who He is. Never laid eyes on
the fellow before. He's a stranger as far as I'm
concerned. And he said, you say that I'm
one of them? It must be, it has to be a case
of mistaken identity, because I don't know this fellow. I don't
know him. I think brethren, even when Peter
denied our Lord Jesus Christ, yet there was a love in Peter's
heart for his Master. How that can be, I can't explain
it, but I believe there were. You remember over in the, I think
in the last, maybe in the last chapter of this book, let me
look real quick. Listen, in the last chapter,
21st chapter of the book of John. So when they had dined, 15th
verse, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Then look down to verse 17. the third time. Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest! Thou knowest! You know, though it does not
appear outwardly, visibly to me or to man. It doesn't appear
that I love you. But you who know all things,
who try the hearts of all men, who have the reins of all men
in your hands, you know, thou knowest, that I love thee." Huh? Even when he denied. Huh? I was left alone. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was left alone. I said, this was his trial. And
I said, for you and I to look at it, because you might have
the same trial that our Lord Jesus Christ had. You might be
left alone one of these days. You might be left alone by yourself.
Well, you said, well, John didn't deny Him. John, the beloved apostle
who laid his head on the breast of our Lord Jesus Christ, he
didn't deny Him. Yes, he did. It says every man
left Him, if you'll read that verse. that ye shall be scattered
every man to his own, every man, not every man except John or
every man except somebody else, but every man to his own, and shall leave me
alone. And I'll have to confront my
accusers by myself. All of you who are My friends,
or you say you are My friends, you will leave Me alone. Do you
now believe? Yeah, Lord, we believe. We believe
that you came from God. We believe that. We believe that
you know all things. Do you believe? Well, now, wait
a minute. Wait a minute. There is going to be a strange,
fiery trial here come upon us. And He said every man is going
to seek his own. and is going to leave me alone." Though I die, some of them said,
I'll not leave you alone. Well, I've read these narratives
that speak of the trials of our Lord Jesus Christ, these mock
trials, and I've found for a surety that there's not a single witness
there in His favor. Not one. There was not some crippled
man who had who had been restored to physical health, or a blind
man who had got his sight back. There wasn't any single solitary
soul that ever crawled in that place or squeezed in that place
and held up his hand and said, Now wait a minute! Though all
men accuse this man, I, if I'm only one voice, I rise up! to defend the Lord Jesus Christ,
not a single solitary witness in His favor. And He said that
every man has gone to his own. What did He mean there? Every
man has gone to his own. In my Bible, there's a little,
there's a letter, a numeral 3 behind that expression. And you find
that 3 over in your center reference column, and it says this. It
says that what this means in the original writing, every man
to his own, it means, or his own home. Every man went to his
own home. That's what it meant. Why I said,
ye shall be scattered, every man to his own. That is, every
man is going to look out for himself. Every man. Look out for yourself here now.
That's what they say sometimes, you know, with some of the crooks
and the bank robbers and Jesse James and his gang and so forth.
They say, well, the posse's after us. The posse's after us. It
doesn't look like we can stay in one bunch. Let's just splat
every man on his own. Every man on his own. And that's
what he says here. He said that every man to his
own. Every man to his own house. To
his own house. Why to his own house? that he
might find some comfort and security in his own house. At least he'll
have his family there. At least he'll have his wife
and his children and maybe his father and his mother. Maybe
some of his kinsmen will come in and kind of protect him and
comfort him and a man to his own house. Not a single solitary witness
there in favor of the Lord Jesus Christ or to defend the Lord
Jesus. Every man to his own. What does that mean? It means
every man to his own house. It means to preserve his own
life. Save his own skin. That's what it means. It means
they were going to depart from the Lord Jesus Christ and refuse
to be with Him by identification in order to go to their own home,
in order to save their own skin. We're going to screen our character.
We're going to preserve our character. That's just exactly what our
Lord is talking about when He says, if any man will lose his
life, he'll keep his life. He'll gain his life if he'll
lose it. But if he'll save his life, he'll
lose his life. That's what it means. And there's
a whole lot of people that are trying to save their lives. That is, they're trying to save
their character. They don't want to be identified
with this doctrine or that doctrine, even though they believe that
this doctrine is true. Even though they believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart, and they believe that
this doctrine is true. But they say, now wait a minute,
I don't want to go too far because I'll be identified, and I don't
want to be identified. Well, you know what they're doing?
They're saving their lives. They're screening their character.
They don't want to be identified. But little do they know, when
they save their life, they're losing their life. And Jesus
said, Whosoever will lose his life for My sake will save his
life, or gain his life. That's what these fellas was
doing. Every man to his own, to preserve his own life, save
his own character. Remember, he said, My hour has
not yet come, time and time again. He said, My hour is not yet.
They sought to kill him, and he would disappear from their
midst and say, My hour has not yet come. Well, I want you to
remember now that when this took place, when every man, to his own home, to preserve
his own life, to preserve his own character, to save his own
skin, when this happened, when this happened, it was when that
spatial hour was come. When our Lord said, My hour is
not yet come, it's come now. It's come now. This spatial hour
was come, and it was then that they left him. When the spatial
hour and the spatial need was come, they left him. They didn't, or when He didn't
need their friendship, they were His loyal followers. But when
He needed them, when there was a tight place, when they was
in a squeeze or in a bind here, and He needed them. Humanly speaking,
He needed them for comfort. by way of identification. He
needed them. But they wasn't to be found. They wasn't to be
found. Where are they now? These that
said up here in verse 30, We believe that thou camest forth
from God. These that said with one voice
in unison, Though all deny thee, all be
offended because of thee, yet will not be will not be offended. But where are they now? Well,
they're like the green leaves of summer. When the wintery blast
of winter has come forth, they're gone. That's where they are.
They're gone, all of them. They left Him. And I want to
tell you this. Now, their leaving Him was a
violation of an agreement, was in a violation of a bond, of
a pledge that they'd made. These that left him were pledged
to stand with him. They were his choice friends. These! They were those that he
called unto himself from the fishing boats. They were fishermen. And they heard him. And he called
them. And they willingly dropped their
nets and left their ships and gave up all, and pledged themselves
to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he called them his
friends, his choice friends. He made them his disciples. They were the chief men of his
new kingdom. These were the men that he said
that he would seat upon the throne And they would judge the twelve
tribes of Israel. These were the men to whom he
was talking to, and these were the men that were nowhere to
be found when that spatial need in the heart of the Lord Jesus
Christ was manifested at that trial. As he underwent trials
and troubles and difficulties, they were not to be found. Where
were they? They went to their homes. We're
not going to go that way. We're interested in this thing,
but we're not interested that much. Oh, no. These men were
bound to the Lord Jesus Christ like no other men were ever bound
to Him. You see, He expected some gratitude from
them, I'm sure, humanly speaking now. He knew, though, as God
manifests in the flesh, he knew what they were going to do. He
knew their frailty. But as a man, that human nature,
he expected them to stand with him. They were bound to him. They were pledged to him. They
were his choicest friends. He expected them to be there
Be it his beckon, that is his call. They left him alone. Which leads me to say this. Don't expect gratitude from your
fellow man. Don't expect any. You probably
won't get it, so don't expect it. If you get it, it'll be a
scarce thing. And I'll tell you this. The more
you do for people, the more you do, the less you'll get in return. So if you're going to do anything
in order to get something, you're wasting your time. Don't do it.
Don't do it because you're not going to get anything. And it
doesn't make any difference what your motive is in doing it, even
if your motive is for the glory of God in Christ Jesus, you're
not going to get much in return from your fellow man. That's
just the way it is. So learn that right now. If you
can remember that, it will help you. Sometimes you do things
for people and you expect them to, you know, to make some sort
of a response to it, whether it be a thank you or whether
it be in some other form. But it's rare in coming. It's
a scarce thing. The more you do for people, the
less you receive in return. Our Lord found that out, although
He knew it. Here he was now, left alone,
left alone to be bound, to be beaten, to be denied, and to
be crucified by himself with not a single solitary voice to
speak up in his behalf. Left alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, are you a believer this
morning? Are you really a believer? Do
you really believe? Do you really trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ with all your heart and all your soul? If I was to
say this morning, those that are believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ, would you stand? Would you jump to your feet?
Would you immediately say, Yes! I'm a believer! Well, if that
be the case, I'm not going to ask you to stand. I'm not going
to ask you to nod your head or hold your hand up. I'm not going
to ask you. I'm just asking you, are you a believer? Are you a
true, blood-bought, genuine believer and follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Are you? Well then, if you are,
what I'm saying is, don't you desert Him. That's what I'm saying,
don't desert Him. Don't abandon ship. Stay with
Him through thick and thin, through hell and foul weather. Don't you desert the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't desert Him. Let me read you a hymn I
was thinking about. I think it's in 378. It says this, Stand up for Jesus. Stand up for Jesus. Ye soldiers
of the cross, lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory his
army shall he lead, till every foe is vanquished, and Christ
is Lord indeed. Stand up, stand up! That's what
I'm talking about. Stand up! Stand up for Jesus,
his trumpet call obey, forth to the mighty conflict in this,
his glorious day, Ye that are men, now serve him against unnumbered
foes. Let courage rise with danger,
and strength to strength oppose. Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
stand in his strength alone. The arm of flesh will fail you,
ye dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor, each
piece put on with prayer, where duty calls, or danger Be never
wanting there. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. The strife will not be long. Remember that. The strife, the
trial, will not be long. This day the noise of battle,
the next the victor's song. To him that overcometh a crown
of life shall be. He with the King of glory shall
reign. Are you a believer in the Lord
Jesus? Do you really believe in Him? Then stand up! Stand up for Jesus. Don't desert
Him. Don't abandon ship. Stay with
Him. Stay with Him. Believe in your
heart that God is all-sufficient. Notice in this 32nd verse where
it says, Every man to his own, and shall leave me alone, and
yet I am not alone. He said, the Father's with me,
but I'm not alone. I'm not alone. Well, you remember
that. You're not alone either. When trials and troubles and
difficulties, whether they be from the outside or the inside,
whether they be from agnostics or infidels or atheists or the
sarcasm of a so-called believer or unbeliever, Don't you get all huffed up and
puffed up and say, well, now, this is more than I can take.
Nobody stands with me. I'm by myself and all. No, he's
with you. I'll never leave you. That's
what he said. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Be of good courage. Be not dismayed. I'll never leave you. I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll never do it. You may
forsake me, but I'll never forsake you. I'll be with you. Alright? Every man to his own, and shall
leave me alone, and yet I'm not alone, he said. I'm not alone. The Father's with me. And you're
not alone, because the Father's with you, if we are believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen. Oh, Job said, though
He slay me, yet I'll trust Him. He said, though He kills me.
Though God kills me, I'll still trust Him. Could you do that?
I hope I could by the grace of God. I hope I could say that.
I hope I could say it is His to do as He wills. It's mine to trust Him. Let Him
do what He wills. I'm still going to trust Him.
I'm still going to believe in Him. He's still my Lord. He's
still my King, even though He killed me. He's still my Lord.
Can you say that? Well, listen, you remember now,
you might have this trial. Trouble is going to come. Does
not the Scripture say that man that's born a woman is full of
trouble? Full of trouble! I haven't had
much trouble in my life. I've had some. I've had some
trouble. But I can honestly say, honestly I can say this, that
my life has been more sunshine than it has been cloudy or wintry
weather. I've had more sunshine than I
have had the other kind. I've had more good days than
I've had bad days, but I've had some bad days. And what I say
may be true with you. But I can say this, I do know
there is days when trouble will come. All of us are going to
have some trouble, going to have some trials. A man that's born
a woman is full of trouble. He's got lots of it. And you're
no exception, and I'm no exception. Your flesh or my flesh, we're
all subject to it. That's the reason I want you
to pay attention to this trial of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
left alone. You may feel like you're left
alone, but you're not alone. You feel like, well, I've got
some trouble. Well, let me tell you, you might have some trouble,
but I want to tell you it only lasts for an hour. It only lasts
for an hour. That's what our Lord says. Behold,
the hour cometh. That is just an hour. The hour comes when I'm going
to have some trouble. Just an hour. It's not a year. It's not a month. It's not even
a day. But it's an hour. Just an hour.
An hour. That is an hour in light of eternity. Let me read something to you
over here in, I believe it's 2 Corinthians. Turn with me,
I want you to see this, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, look at this. Keep this in mind, when trouble
comes, it will not last long, only an hour, not a year, not
a month, not a day, only an hour, only an hour. Our trial is only
for an hour. Surely we can endure these trials
that come upon us that only last for an hour? For the honor and
glory of God, surely we can. Surely we will not fly mad if
someone says something to us that is maybe unbecoming. Surely if someone insults us
or hurts us, surely we'll endure. Surely we've got enough grace
that we can smile and say, well, if it's the will of God that
this come upon me, let it come without retaliating, without
making a response to it. Surely we can do that. Surely
if it's only an hour, if it was for six months, or six years,
or sixty years, that would be something different maybe, but
he said it's only an hour. Surely you can endure anything. I don't... pain, trials, troubles, whatever it
is, but only lasts an hour. Surely you can endure that, can't
you? Ah, for Christ's sake! He endured, didn't he? And for
your sake, it looks like you could endure for him sake, but
it's only an hour. Now look at this over here in
2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16. For which cause we faint not,
that though our outward man perish, that is, this tabernacle of flesh,
it perishes, yet the inward man, yet the That which is true, that
which is real, that which is genuine, that which will last
forever, that which is the most important thing we've got, our
soul. Yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Now listen, for our
light affliction, what did Paul call a light affliction? He was
beaten with forty slaps a couple of different times. He said that
was a light affliction. Paul was down to Philippi preaching
one time, and some people got offended with what Paul was saying. And you know what they did? They
knocked him down, and the crowd gathered around. They got a bunch
of stones, and they stoned him there, and they thought he was
dead. Maybe he was dead, I don't know. They took him by the heels
and drug him to the outskirts of the city. They thought he
was dead. They stoned him with stones. He said, this is a light
affliction. That's what he said. It's just
a light affliction. Is that what he said? But our
light affliction, which is but for six months, a year, two years,
no, it's for a moment. It's just an hour. It's just,
it's not going to last long. See where I'm driving at? You
have some trouble, some difficulties? Endure it for Jesus' sake, because
it won't last very long. It won't last long. Well, you say, well, what if
someone slanders my name? Well, it won't last long. And
probably told the truth about you anyhow. What if he told the
whole truth? I often think about that. Folks say, well, preacher,
he ought not to have said that about you. And I think in my
heart, sometimes I say it. Well, boy, I'm glad he didn't
tell it all. I'm glad he didn't tell the whole
truth about me. Ah, listen. Our light affliction is but for
a moment, and it worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory." These afflictions which are just for a moment,
just fleeting, they work for us, he says, a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. He calls them a light affliction. Well, I hope this has been of
some help to you. Do you now believe? Huh? Do you now believe? You say,
I believe now. Well, everything's going well now. Everything's
fine now. The sun's shining. The sun's
shining, the weather's warm. Your sail is full. The coffers
are full. Everything's going well. You're
healthy. You got a good job. Your wife
loves you, and your children love you and respect you. Your children have good jobs.
They're all going to church on every Sunday morning. You look
around, you see they're all here. They're all gathered with me.
Boy, I think, but wait a minute, wait a minute, there may come
a time, I'm not saying it will, there may come a time when things
won't be as rosy as they are today. Things may be stormy and
cloudy, and torrents may come, and it may be that you'll be
left alone. What are you going to do then? What are you going
to do then? Are you just going to wilt? Are you going to wilt?
Are you going to dry up like the leaves do in the summer,
and when the wind comes, blow away? Are you going to do that?
Or are you going to stand up for Jesus? Are you going to stand
up and be counted, say, sink or swim as for me in my house? As for me. As for me. Can't control
the house sometimes, but as for me, I know what I'm going to
do. I'm going to trust the Lord. See what I'm saying? Do you now
believe? Do you now believe? When the trouble comes, just
for a moment, just only for a moment, you can do it. You can take it.
You can stand anything. You can stand anything for a
little while. You can stand for a man to take a knife and cut
you open without any Anesthetic for a little while. You can stand
it. You may faint. It may just black out, but you
can take it. For a little while. I don't say you can stand there
under that knife and do it for a month or a week or even 24
hours, but for a little while. You can stand anything for Jesus'
sake. That's what I'm saying. For Jesus'
sake. For Jesus' sake. That's what keeps me keeping
on, don't you? Do it for Jesus' sake. There's not too much rewards
here. I don't have people busting the
door down at my house congratulating me on what a fine fellow I am
or what a wonderful preacher I am. I don't have none of that.
I have just the opposite of that. Criticism. Criticism. I get that. I get more of that than I do
anything else. And you do too. And you do too.