That's still 193. Maybe I slipped it on, but I
noted I didn't notice. It's probably still on his body. Yeah, okay. Let's begin this evening service
by standing and singing from 222. 222, there is a fountain. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's face. And sinners plunge beneath that
blood, lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty
stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his name. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. dying lamb thy precious blood
shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed church
of God be safe to sin no more, be safe to sin no more, be safe
to sin no more. Will all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more? For since by faith I saw the
stream, thy flowing won't supply. Redeeming love has been my theme
and shall be till I die. It shall be till I die. It shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme. It shall be till I die. In this portless spring, stammering
tongue lies silent in the grave. And in the nobler, sweeter songs,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. And in the nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. You would turn to number 110,
Alas and Did My Savior Bleed, 110. Blessed did my Savior flee, and
did my Sovereign die. Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I have
done He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace unknown And
love beyond degree Well might the sun in darkness
hide, and shut his morn'ries in, when Christ the mighty Baker
died, for man the creature's sin. The drops of grief can ne'er
repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away. Tis all that I can do. Thank you. I would like to read Psalm 16.
Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Mitch Tim of David. Preserve me, O God, for in thee
do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee,
but to the saints that are in the earth. and to the excellent
in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied
that hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood
will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The
Lord is my portion of mine inheritance. and of my cup thou maintainest
my lot. The lions are fallen unto me
in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless
the Lord who hath given me counsel. My rains also instruct me in
the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before
me because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore
my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall
rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Thou wilt show me the path of life in thy presence is fullness
of joy that thy right hand at thy right hand. There are pleasures
forevermore. Our heavenly merciful father,
we thank you for allowing us this great privilege, Lord, and
this opportunity to come together to assemble as a local body of
believers. Father, what a great, great blessing
it is that you have chosen that we may come together, Lord, to
hear this glorious gospel from week to week. And Father, we
thank you for taking care of all that is necessary that we
may one day enter into glory spotless without sin. because
our gracious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has performed all
that was necessary. He declared it was finished on
the cross. Father, will you allow us this
evening to enter into this rest and this peace that you allow
us to have by true saving faith? Father, remember Brother Eric
in this evening also. Each time is a new time. Lord,
will you give him the words to speak unto us? And Lord, give
him liberty. Pour out your spirit upon him.
Continue, Lord, to strengthen him and to give him what is necessary
as he prepares these messages. Father, continue to watch over
and protect us here in this location. We do not know the future, but
that we may always be looking unto you. And Father, remember
also those that are ill and are struggling with illnesses. We
think also of Valerie in Mexico, currently in the hospital. Father,
all things are in your hands perfectly. Will you remember
her and bring them home safely? Be with all of us, Lord, that
are struggling, maybe mentally and also physically. Father,
that we may find comfort in you. Father, remember us in mercy
for Jesus' sake alone, amen. I wonder if the batteries are
dead, it just seems like it's... Be right now. All right, brethren. Returning
to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. I had a message that I prepared
earlier this week and that I had finished up early in the morning
on Tuesday. But when I woke up today, around
6.40 in the morning. This has been the message that's
been on my heart all day. I could not shake it. I couldn't
get it out of my mind. And the Lord said, nope, that
one, that's fine. Put that one aside. This is the
message that I'm giving to you for your people tonight. And
my people, he said, will hear it. They'll hear it. So John
chapter 10 is where we're gonna begin And we're gonna start in
verse 10 in the middle of the verse, middle of the verse. Our Lord says to you, his people,
he says, I am come that they might have life and that they
might have it more abundantly. The Lord's word to you, brethren,
is, I love you. Your Lord's telling you, I love
you. You mean so much to me, so much
to your Lord, that He says, I'm coming. And He came. He came
to accomplish life in His people. He didn't leave them to themselves,
He didn't leave them to their own devices, He didn't leave
them in darkness. But He came. to give you life
and that you might have that life more abundantly. That life that he's speaking
of is eternal life. It's spiritual life. It's life
from the dead. He's delivered you from the bondage
of hell, the bondage of your sin, the bondage of death, the
bondage of the enemy. He's delivered you from all your
enemies that you might know him and have life in him and fellowship
with your God in the spirit that you might be called the children
of God. He's given you this life. All right, when you think about
it, your Lord, He loved you, and He gathered you together,
and He established you in a local church. He established His people,
gathering them together to feed them with the gospel. And to
some, they heard the gospel for the first time. They really heard
it. They heard what was being said,
and the Lord gave them life. We had some sisters that sat
in darkness, that were shaken for a time and troubled, wondering,
is Jesus my Savior? I know He's the Savior, but is
He my Lord? Is He my Savior? Did He shed
His blood and lay down His life for me? And in the process of
time, your God gave them life. They heard His voice and believed
and confessed Him in believers' baptism. He gave you that testimony. Right? And we also saw how that
our God, he brought some sheep that were alone and forsaken
and had no pastor. Right? He brought one and added
her to the congregation early on. He blessed her and she stayed
with us. And then we had some that for
a long time didn't know that the Lord had a place where his
people could go. And there they were out on some
hill, two sheep and the Lord blessed them to hear it and brought
them. And they contacted me and were
listening and reached out and their hearts were blessed. And
they continued to be blessed, devouring the word continually
and have joined themselves to us. and have told me this is
their home, this is their church, they're settled right here. Your Lord said, I've come that
they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
Some of you had life, right? Some of you had heard the word
and were already comforted. You heard from other pastors
in their local churches You heard them preach. You went to their
conferences. You had pastors come in and preach
the gospel to you that you might have life more abundantly because
that's what your God who loves you does for his people. He gives his people life and
those that have life, he gives it more abundantly. He gives
you an ear to hear so that your knowledge of him Your understanding
of Him, your sense and judgment of what He's done for you grows
and increases. He makes His life in you more
and more known to you so that you are settled in Him, you have
joy in Him and peace and comfort by your Lord and His word for
you. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. your God
who loves you did that for you. All right, now look at the beginning
of verse 10. He says, the thief cometh. He
cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. The thief cometh not but for
to. That's a lot of conjunctions.
That's a lot of conjunctions. And what the Lord is saying is,
The thief comes for one purpose, one purpose, and only one purpose. It's to steal, it's to kill,
and it's to destroy. What's this thief trying to steal?
He wants to steal the joy and the peace and the happiness of
the people of God. he wants to take away the riches
of your God in the Lord Jesus Christ that he's given to you
in the life that he's given to you and the abundance of life
when God the Father showered upon his people all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, the life that
He's given you, all those gifts, sending you the Holy Spirit,
bringing forth from you the confession of faith, so that you heard the
voice of the Son of God and lived, and faith was revealed in you,
the preciousness of His faith being revealed in you, so that
you heard and knew, He's my Savior, He's my God, thank you, Lord,
and you confessed Him, and followed him because he's your Lord and
he's your shepherd. You believe him and the thief
wants to steal that away. He wants to kill. Anyone that
he can get his hands on that'll give him the time of day, he
wants to kill them. If he could, he would shipwreck
their faith. He would bring them to an end.
He would bring that life that God has given them to an end
if he can. And so whom he can, as the scripture
says, He'll shipwreck their faith if allowed. He comes then to
destroy. He wants to destroy the work
that your God has established for you in love, giving you life
and the abundance of it in him. The thief would destroy that.
Break it down. Bring it right on back down to
ground level zero. No, the Lord isn't in it. It's
over. Just end it. Bring it back down to nothing.
That's what the thief will do. The thief comes for one purpose,
to steal, to kill, and to destroy. All right, that's what the thief
does. Now, that's troubling. That could
be a hard thing to face. That could be something that
troubles. The brethren, when they hear
that, when they recognize the thief, it breaks their heart. It makes them cry. It wounds
them. They're terrified. They're afraid.
How dare that thief come? But watch. Look at verse 11.
Your Lord says to you, I'm the good shepherd. I'm the good shepherd. That thief isn't coming to trouble
you, but I sent him. I know what's going on," your
Lord says. I know exactly what's happening,
but be settled. Don't be afraid. Don't you fear.
He says, I'm the good shepherd, meaning that he's taking care
of everything for you. He's providing for you. He gave
you his life. He's the good shepherd. He's
taking care of his sheep. He says, the good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. He saw you in the ruin of your
sin, the ruin of your nature in Adam, in enmity against the
God who loves you in eternity, who gave you life when he determined
that very moment, that's my child. I'm giving them to my son, committing
them to him, and therefore they shall be saved. Nothing shall
ruin them. They won't be lost forever. I'll
recover them and bring them into my fold, and I'll comfort them
with words of peace and life and joy. He's the good shepherd
and he giveth his life for the sheep so that he came to do for
us what we can't do. We couldn't work our way out
of the ruin that we were in. We couldn't undo the enmity in
us. We hated God, but he came in
peace. He came to work salvation for
His people. He laid down His life for the
sheep, going to the cross, making a sacrifice of Himself to the
Father as the Lamb of God for His people, so that His blood
has purged you of the stain of sin. He has made atonement for
His people, making us one with God to know Him. that we should
have life in him and fellowship with our God, making us righteous
by the death of himself and justifying us by his own blood, so that
we now are accepted and received by the Father, standing faultless
before the throne of God. We're in the fellowship with
holy God because of the good shepherd who gave his life for
the sheep. And you know what he does as
he gave his life for the sheep? He in love gives pastors to his
sheep. He gives a pastor to the local
body because he loves you. And just as the good shepherd
gave his life, he'll give you a man that gives his life for
the sheep. The Lord gave you a pastor. That's a precious gift given
to very, very few. And he gave you a pastor so that,
in my heart, and what I did for you was I forsook everything
that I had back there in the Northeast. A good paying job,
with great potential for high earning potential there, and
forsook all that, counting that as dumb. not considering it. My wife had just become a teacher
and had great opportunity there, significant benefits given to
teachers and a good ceiling for pay that she could have done.
All of it, dumb, despised it, counted it as worthless to me
because the Lord gave me a heart to serve him and gave me a heart
for you, brethren, his people that he gathered here. I forsook
all those things. That's what the Lord does. He
gives you pastors that also lay down their lives for the sheep. And the Lord, you know, all that
time when I knew that the calling of the Lord was upon me, I prayed
the whole time, Lord, if it not be your will, if you will not
go with me and bless that work, don't send me there. Just bring
it to an end. Don't let them ask. And if they
ask, let me say no. But if you are going to go with
me, if you intend to bless this work and bless your people, send
me. And the Lord sent me and my wife,
and he's blessed it. As one example, and I've said
this before, but as one example, when we got here, it was the
end of June in 2018. And June, I don't know if you
realize it, but all the hiring for the New Year's teachers is
done by the beginning of June. And we didn't get here till the
end of June. May and early June is when that comes. The jobs
were done. There was no more jobs for a
teacher. And so she put up her resume online on just some website,
thrown it out there, and there was no call. By the end of June,
July was pure crickets, not a sound. And she thought, you know, we
might have to take a an assistant job, just a low, low-paying little
job for an assistant teacher or working in daycare or with
kids with autism, which are all respectable, good positions,
but it would have been tough. But the Lord worked it out that
the spouse of a teacher, a science teacher in a school, got her
dream job so that she said, honey, I can't turn this thing down.
And she took it and it required them to move. And so she and
her husband, he put in his resignation, vacating the position and the
principals then were looking for a teacher and Michelle came
up and they loved her and hired her right on. And so it's been
good ever since. That's just one of the ways that
the Lord has blessed and confirmed that I'm here for you, that he's
given me to you, brethren. All right. After that, he says,
there are sometimes that there are pastors that are hirelings,
pastors that ought not to be there, right? They weren't called
and they wouldn't be there. And this is how you'll know those
pastors. All right, verse 12. But he that
is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not,
seeth the wolf coming. All right, he's not a dummy.
He can see things. He can recognize things that are happening and
he sees the wolf coming. The wolf comes because he smells
the scent that something's going on. There's a work of the Lord
being done over there, and I don't like it, the wolf says. I want
to destroy it. I want to destroy their joy.
I want to destroy their peace. I want to take out whoever I
can. I want to destroy the work that God has begun there, and
I want to scatter the sheep. I want to send them flying and
ruin the whole thing, all right? That's what the wolf does. He
comes. And what does the hireling do if he's not called of the
Lord? What does he do? He sees the wolf and backs up
and says, whoa, whoa, I didn't sign up for this. This ain't
that important to me. I don't care about the sheep.
Have at them. Do what you gotta do. But I didn't
ask for this kind of trouble. I didn't ask for this kind of
treatment. And he just steps aside and lets the wolf come
in. And what does the wolf do when
he gets in there to the sheep? He catcheth them and scattereth
them. He catcheth them and scattereth
them. If he can take one, he'll take
it and destroy it and have it for supper, if that's what he
can do. And he scattereth the sheep. Now the sheep are scattered. Why are the sheep scattered? Why would the sheep be scattered?
Because in that flock, In that flock, there's the Lord's people
there, and they know this ain't right. This ain't right. Sometimes
the hireling just steps aside. Sometimes if the wolf could have
his way, he would destroy the shepherd. He would destroy the
pastor. He would take that pastor out
of the way, and if he could, he would get at the sheep, and
the sheep would be scattered, because there would be some that
would be there that would say, this stinks. This ain't right. This is evil. It's wicked. It's
wrong. I don't want nothing to do with
that. I'm not going there to hang out with the wolf and hang
out with those that follow the wolf. I hear the voice of the
shepherd. And so if a church that was started
is destroyed, the sheep are going to pick up and move to where
a gospel church is, because they're not going to sit there and fellowship
with the wolf. It's over. He's destroyed the
flock and scattered the sheep. All right, he's done the work
that he's tried to do. So verse 13, the hireling fleeth
because he's an hireling and careth not for the sheep. I want
to strengthen your hands, brethren. I want to settle your hearts
and comfort you, to make your legs that are weak and weary. I want you to be strong and to
know I love you. I love you, brethren. I do care
for you. I pray for you, brethren. A lot
of times, most of the time, I pray for you, you men. you and you
wives and I pray for your children before I even get to my wife
or me I put you first and I pray for you even your your and I
pray for your little children and I pray for your older children
then that come and then that don't come I love you the Lord's
given me to you and and I don't I don't have any intention of
being chased off. I'm here for you. You that hunger,
you that hear the gospel, you that want to be fed and comforted,
the Lord has given you a pastor after his own heart to lay down
his life for you and to dispense and give out that bread that
he's given to me to give to you. So be comforted. You have a good
shepherd. The Lord is your shepherd. He's
a good shepherd, and he's not abandoning you. He knows. He knows, and he's here to comfort
and strengthen your heart, brethren. He knows. He says, I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of my sheep. I believe
that you that are his, you hear his voice right now. You know
exactly what he's saying to you. and you believe Him, and you
trust Him, and you're following Him right now in your heart.
He says, and I'm known of mine. You hear Him and you follow Him.
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. Meaning, whatever the enemy has
intended or planned to do to destroy the work of God, it won't
be successful. None of God's sheep, none of
the sheep that Christ died for, shall be lost forever. You won't
be plucked out of his hand. You won't be plucked out of the
hand of your father. He'll keep you. He's keeping
you, all right? He's providing for you. So you
be strong, be comforted, be comforted. You believe him, trust him. He's
telling you these words. All right now, let's go over
to Malachi chapter two. Malachi chapter two. Malachi
is the last book of the Old Testament, just before Matthew. Malachi chapter 2, now we should
start in verse 13. Malachi 2, 13, all right? Well,
what the Lord, well, I'll read it. And this have ye done again,
covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and
with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering
any more, or receiveth it with goodwill at your hand. So the
Lord saying, I'm not hearing you. He's saying to this people,
to these Jews here that Malachi is speaking to, he's saying,
I'm not hearing you. And they asked the prophet, why? Yet you
say, wherefore? Why won't the Lord hear us? Well, verse 14, because the Lord
hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth against
whom thou hast dealt treacherously. Yet is she thy companion, and
the wife of thy covenant. Now he's speaking here in the
context of a man and his wife, right? And that which the Lord
joins together is a union that he's put together. He's made
them one. The Lord did that, and they're
just putting their wives away. These men were just divorcing
their wives because they hated them. They divorced their wives
for any reason, and they were allowed to just dismiss them,
just push them aside and say, I don't love you no more. I don't
want you. Get out of my house. Just get going. And that's what
they were doing, and the Lord said, you that do that, I'm not
hearing. I'm not going to hear your cries
and the sacrifices that you're willing to make unto me, because
you're harboring hatred in your heart. That's what he says there,
all right? Now, this union between a man and his wife, it's a picture
of the church. And we know the greatest picture
is between his bride, the church, and the Lord, the Lord who's
the husband. And you're his bride, you're
his people. That's what it pictures. But it also pictures, there's
also a true sense in which it pictures the pastor and the church,
the under shepherd, who's under the good shepherd, who is sent
of him to minister the word to his people. They're a union that
God has made. And if you look over at Revelation
1, verse 20, I'll flip there, you can just read it. Revelation
1, 20. We read there, the mystery of
the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, this is Christ
speaking, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars
are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which
thou sawest are the seven churches. All right, so we see there that
in the church, the Lord has a pastor and the Lord has a people, right?
There's a star, which is an angel, which is a messenger, which is
the pastor, your pastor, right? And then there's the candlestick,
the light shining on a hill in a dark place. So he gives you
a star, and he takes a people, and he unites them together as
one, and he speaks to the pastor, who then speaks to the people,
right? Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, this is 2.1,
unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things
saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, right?
And so he gives the word to the angel who then comes and preaches
the word that God has given him to declare to the people, all
right? So there's that union that God
has put together. All right, verse 15. And did
not he make one?" Didn't God put together, make this union?
Didn't he establish this work? Yet had he the residue of the
spirit, right? The excellency, that word residue
is the excellency of the spirit. giving his spirit, he's put his
spirit and blessed the world. He's blessed it, right? This
is his sanctioned work that he has done. He's showing you his
love. He's showing you, not only am
I giving you life, but I'm giving you to be a body, a church in
this dark place, all right? All right, where are we now? All right, so the spirit, and
wherefore one? Why did he make you one? That,
it says in verse 15 now, that he might seek a godly seed. Why does a man, what happens
when a man and a wife marry? And they're made one flesh. They
have seed, right? They bring forth seed, children.
And the Lord's saying in regards to his church, the pastor and
the church together, he does it to bring forth a godly seed. people that and actually he says
the word that he might seek a godly seed in other words if God puts
a church in a place with a pastor and a people it's to seek out
that people those people that he's set his love upon in the
time of his choosing he'll do it when that church is established
he'll bless it and he'll keep adding to it as It pleases him,
all right? So he does it to seek a godly
seed. Therefore, all right, now he
says this to those that would destroy, that would put away
this union, just break this union that God has established. He
says, therefore, take heed to your spirit. All right, take
heed to what spirit you're listening to. You that would be so quick
to just destroy what God has put together, Slow down. Take heed. Think about what you're
doing. Take heed. Don't be so quick
to destroy what God has put together. Let no man put that asunder.
Don't break that apart. Take heed to your spirit and
let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Don't
divide the baby. Don't just destroy and do that
which God says is treacherous. Don't put it apart. Well, the
word treacherous there is unfaithful. Don't be unfaithful. Don't just
separate and put away the wife of your youth. You know, I think it's a beautiful thing
that For most of you, with very, very few exceptions, most of
you never sat under a gospel church, right? Never had a gospel
pastor. Some of you, a couple of you
did for a time, but most of you never had a gospel church that
you attended and never sat under the preaching of a faithful pastor. And so that's for you, and even
though Some of you are older, yet the truth is that we're still
young in terms of being an assembly of the Lord, of his work, of
his church, of his hand. The same thing, he's also brought
to you someone who's never been a pastor before. getting up there in years myself.
I'm as old as you guys, but I'm still new to being a pastor,
and so there's a union of youth there, right? And the Lord's
saying, don't ruin that, because he has a purpose in it, right?
Because each of us is growing and being taught and learning
by the Lord, by the leading of the Lord. His Spirit is guiding
us and keeping us teaching us, right? You're learning things
about yourselves and about being his sheep and being faithful
members of the church, and he's teaching your pastor, right?
Your God is able, is he not? I mean, you know that he's able.
Sometimes we think it's just this way and that's it, but your
God is able. He's much greater than all we
can ask or think or say or do or ask for. He already knows
what his purpose. So he says, don't despise the
work that he's begun. Don't be so quick to put it away.
Trust him. Trust your God that he's able.
And when I said, don't divide the baby, it's just that goes
back to Solomon when the one woman who didn't care for the
baby was more than content to see that baby split apart and
divided. Just rend it asunder. Who cares?
I don't care. And then there was the one woman
who loved the baby. And when Solomon saw it, he said,
whoa, don't divide the baby. There's a problem. That woman's
the false one. Send her away. She gets nothing.
You give that baby to the one that loves it. All right, you
give the baby to my people. And so the Lord gives the church
to his people. All right, he's given it to you
that love him and hear his word, all right? And so he goes on,
verse 16, for the Lord, the God of Israel, saith, he hateth putting
away. God's not gonna bless the dissolving,
the dissolving of the union. He says he hates putting away,
he hates divorce. That's true in our marriages,
husband and wife, and that's true in the union that your God
has established as a body, as a church here. He hateth putting
away. He does not bless it. And it
says, for one covereth violence with his garment. that he comes
in a cloak. Oh, it appears good. Oh, it's
just a shame that it has to be this way. It's really disappointing. I wish it could have worked out
better or been something different. It's a cloak. It's just a garment
to cover the violence of destroying the work of God. But he says
it's just a cloak. They're using a cloak of righteousness
to do violence against the work that God has established for
his people. Therefore, again he says it a
second time, therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not
treacherously. All right, don't be so quick.
to put your hand to the work that God has established and
started, and think that you're going to improve upon what God
has done, and that you can do something better, or that God
made a mistake. All right? Don't do that. Take
heed to your spirit, he says. All right? Now, let's go over
to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. I'm not going to spend a lot
of time because we were just here on Sunday, but if you remember
that what was taking place, the Lord had fed the 5,000, men and
then plus, in addition to that, women and children. And it was
now the next day. They're looking for the Lord. Actually, no, I'm sorry. It's
not quite the next day. But after he fed them, they were
excited. They heard some words. They ate
some bread. And they thought, this is it.
And they were about to incite an insurrection against the Roman
government, if you remember. They were going to incite an
insurrection against the Roman government. And that was dangerous,
very dangerous. That was a dangerous moment. that could have harmed the disciples
of Christ, his children, right? It was not good. And because
you think about it, if they had been able to say, this is Christ,
he's our king, how long would it have taken for that word to
travel up to the Pharisees and the priests who would have said,
oh, is there an insurrection behind Jesus? And they would
have taken that right on over to Pilate or Centurion to gain
an audience with Pilate and say, By the way, that Jesus of Nazareth,
they're saying he's a king. He's seeking to overthrow Caesar.
Why don't you go take care of that and get rid of him, right?
So there was an insurrection that was brewing and the Lord
immediately constrained his disciples to get into a ship into safety
out away from that. But there were other things that
we saw were going on. He was purposing to reveal himself
to his people in a way that they would not otherwise have been
able to see. He was going to appear more gloriously
to them in what was about to befall them, right? Because we
know that at even time in the evening, that's when they got
into the ship and that's when they set out onto the sea. And
it It became dark while they were crossing the sea. It actually
got dark. And Christ, the Lord Jesus, was
conspicuously absent from their presence. They were wondering,
where is he? Where's the Lord? And so it got
dark. And then in the course of time,
things got even more rough, right? It says that when they were out
25 or 30 furlongs into the sea. Now, we don't speak in furlongs,
and so I did a conversion online into miles. And interestingly,
the 25 to 30 furlongs is 3.125 to 3.75 miles. And I was thinking,
you know, if you put that into time, I came here, you know, you guys
called me and I was able to move here on June 20th at the end,
you know, there in 2018. And it was around the turn of
the year when you guys had called me and you asked me to come up
and be your pastor. And I got the news and I accepted,
I was rejoicing. So it's actually a little over
three years since I became your pastor, right? You asked me to,
take over the Bulletin, since I was your pastor, and you guys
were kind to me and expecting till I got here physically, right?
So it's been a little over three years, and it's just interesting
that now, three years into it, a wind has arisen, a harsh and
choppy sea, right? It's night now. And we're wondering,
how could this be? How could this happen? How could
the Lord allow this to happen? Where's the Lord in this? Something's
not right. And it's fearful, it's frightening,
it's scary, it's alarming. And you're wondering, Lord, why
is this contrary wind coming against us now? Remember, we
have a good shepherd that loves us. And we know that Christ constrained
them. He's the one who sent them here.
And though they were out on the sea and they didn't see Christ,
yet Christ saw them from the mountain. He saw them and he
saw them toiling and rowing against that wind and seemingly getting
nowhere because the sea, the winds were contrary to them. All right. And then he set out
and he began to come out. And in doing that, we saw that
Christ appeared to them in that way that they would not otherwise
seen him in all that glory and in his power to do for them what
they didn't even know was possible could be done. And yet the Lord
did that, all right? And so in this dark time, in
the night season, When you're terrified and afraid and scared
and skittish and nervous about what's going on, your Lord says,
it is I. Be not afraid. Don't be troubled. Don't you be troubled or worried
about this contrary wind in the night. I've sent it. I sent the
thief at the appropriate time. I sent the wolf at the appropriate
time that you would know that my hand is in him because he
proves his work. He proves his work. He proves
it to you so that you know, no, I'm not a hireling. I'm not all
of a sudden just backing down and running away, right? But
he sent you a pastor so that you know that and he proves in
your own hearts that, yeah, this is the Lord's work. No, I don't
want to see it destroyed. No, this is the Lord's work.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you. He proves that work
in you, and he gives you strength and comfort and peace in it.
And it says, verse 21, then they willingly received Christ into
the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither
they went. All right, some of you, all of
you, my prayer, are here and you that hear the words, the
Lord's word to you, it is I, be not afraid. He's already,
you hear his voice and he's already settled it in your heart. You've
already received Christ into the ship and it's done, it's
settled, it's over. It's already been determined
that this is the Lord's work and you're his people and he's
keeping you, right? It's a settled thing there. All
right, now, Let's go to John 15, and we're almost done now.
This is coming to a close. John 15. Verse 20 and verse 21. John 15, verse 20. Our Lord says, remember the word
that I said unto you. I'll give you a minute. John
15, 20. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
have persecuted me, if they came against me and troubled me and
tried to destroy me, your Lord says, if they've persecuted me,
they will also persecute you. They're gonna trouble you. They're
gonna come against you to trouble you, to make trouble. If they
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. All right, so
you that are the Lord, you hear his pastor, you receive the word,
because you hear the voice of your Lord and Savior in it, and
he comforts you. And so you follow him because
you believe the Savior. You are the Lord's, you're his
people, and so you hear him and you follow him, you stay with
him. Verse 21, but all these things
will they do unto you for my name's sake. The trouble they
give you, it's because they have a problem, not with me, but with
Christ and with his gospel. And not only with Christ, because
they know not him that sent me. They can't hear it, they can't
receive it, because they can't imagine how God works. They don't understand the way
the Lord establishes his people, that he has a purpose in it.
that he can make it appear tough and bring on night and bring
on tough times because for a young church and a new pastor, there's
learning that has to go on. He doesn't give it all away.
at the beginning, he gives life more abundantly. He reveals more
and more to us. And not only that, but you think
about it, knowing what you know now, having gone through the
darkness and terrified, doesn't it make his word come more alive
to you? He's able, for a time, if he
wills, to close the ear, to make it hard, to fill the hearts and
minds of his people with all kinds of distractions, and make
it harder to hear, to let weeds grow up so that the word is choked
and they struggle to hear and struggle to receive what it is,
so that they cry out to the Lord, Lord, help me, help my pastor. Help them be more clear. Help
them say things so that I can hear them and receive it and
believe it. Bless me, bless him, bless the
work. Lord, it's your work. Arise for
us. And so as you go through the
difficulty and face the contrary wind, Christ appears more gloriously
and his word again comes alive. It comes alive. So that again,
you're encouraged and helped and blessed in that work. So that's the word that the Lord
laid on my heart for you brethren. And I believe you've heard it.
And I'll close with just this illustration. I was thinking,
you know, I've never, I'm not a farmer. I've never owned oxen. I've never had to break in an
ox that serves, right? Never had to break in an ox nor
horse or donkey or any other animal. But I'd imagine, I just
have a sense that when you put that ox out in the field that
you want to plow, you don't harness him up with the heaviest thing. You don't put the whole plow
on him and send him out there because it'd be no good for him.
It'd be bad for the ox. But you start with maybe putting
on, what, a bridle and a bit or something like that on their
head just to get them used to the feeling. You might then,
after a little bit, apply a little bit more of the weight on them. Maybe eventually just put an
empty bar that they're dragging along just to feel a little tug
and a little pull against them and get used to that feeling.
And then, eventually, when they're ready, you put those hooks down
on that bar so that it breaks up that fallow ground. It'll
come, that time will come where it'll dig it in deep into that
dirt and break that fallow ground up and plow that field and yield
that seed, that fruit that the Lord has purposed to bring forth
for His work in seeking His godly seed. The Lord does that, right? But could you imagine if there's
a farmer who's trying to break in his ox, his servant, his ox,
and some guy who cares nothing for the farmer, doesn't care
for the field or what grows there, and certainly doesn't care for
the ox because it ain't his ox. It's not his servant. He's not
doing anything for him. were to come out there and say, I
don't think this ox is working out. Pull out his 12-gauge shotgun
and start firing holes and leave him out there for dead. Just
treat him like trash and get rid of him, because he's not
his ox. You'd say, that guy is psychotic. What are you doing? You don't do that to another
man's ox. It's the same thing with the
Lord. The Lord establishes a church. He gives the pastor that ox that
comes and serves, and it's not for any other man to put his
hand to that work and to destroy and defile what God has done. God has his purpose in what he
does, and we leave it in the hands of the Lord. You know,
you think about it, what am I? I am an earthen vessel, weak,
made of clay, and the Lord has given to me the riches of the
glory of His grace. And He's done the same for you.
And it's hard to contain that. and to be poured out like a drink
offering for the people, for the Lord's people, and then to
be filled up and poured out again. And it's, you know, the Lord,
though, He knows what He's doing. He knows exactly what He's doing.
It's all in His saying. So, again, I'll say this to comfort
your hearts. You that hear, you that hunger,
you that hear the gospel, you that want to be fed, the Lord's
given me to you. I'm here to to preach his word
to you, and so be strengthened. You be strong, believe the Lord,
bless his name for his goodness and kindness toward you, his
people, because he loves you. He's come to give you life and
that you might have it more abundantly. So it's his work, believe him
and trust him. Amen. All right, brethren, let's
close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your strength, your might, your power, your spirit.
Lord, we thank you that you are such a God. You are the true
and living God, and there is none like you. None like you,
Lord. And you're able to do exceedingly
above all that we can ask or think. And Lord, we stand in
amazement of your grace and glory. We believe you, Lord. We trust
you. Lord, though the seas be contrary,
we believe that your hand is in it, that you have permitted
it, and that you are proving your work and that your people
will not be destroyed, your work will not come to an end, but
that, Lord, we believe and trust that you are blessing this work
and that even if it needs to be stripped down and sifted and
brought to a smaller number, Lord, we know, we know that you're
able, that you don't need numbers and that Lord, I just believe
that you're set to bless this work all the more by removing
that which is broken. The bone needs to be set and
then the body will be healed and that your people will be
then comforted. The inflammation will be settled
down and then the body will be healed and get stronger and grow
again. Lord, we thank you for your mercy
and your grace. It's in the name of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Lord, bless
your people, comfort their hearts, strengthen their hands, strengthen
their hearts, strengthen that which is weakened and ready to
die, that your name would be glorified and that your people
would rejoice before you always. It's in the name of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Okay, brother. Let's stand and sing a closing
hymn, 287, Like a River Glorious, 287. Like a river glorious is God's
perfect peace. Over all victorious in His bright
increase. Perfect yet it floweth fuller
every day. Perfect yet it groweth deeper
all the way. Laid upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed, binding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. In and in the hollow of His blessed
hand, never foe can follow, never traitor stand. Not a surge of
worry, not a shade of care. Not a blast of hurry, touch the
Spirit there. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed. Binding as He promised, perfect
peace and rest. Every joy or trial falleth from
above, traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for
us to do. Hey you, trust Him wholly, find
Him wholly true. Made upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed. Binding as He promised, perfect
peace and rest. Thank you. Thank you, Eric.