Good morning, everyone. Many
of you, I know, I was out here a good five years ago. It's five
and a half now. So I remember you and I'm thankful
for you. I'm thankful we'll be back. I'm
thankful that you brethren have, that the Lord gave you a pastor.
And I'm thankful for that because that's precious. That's precious. And you've experienced it and
you know how precious that is. So I'm thankful. that the Lord
blessed you with a pastor. And I'm thankful for Kevin and
for Kimberly and their children, that they've come out here, that
the Lord gave them a heart to come out here and minister the
gospel to the Lord's people. And that's a blessing. That's
a blessing. All right, returning to John chapter seven, that's
our text. However, once you mark it, just
know that we're not coming back there until the very end of this
message. end in John 17. First, I'd like to speak to you
about what the scriptures teach us about believers, about the
experience of believers, describing them as having various troubles. difficulties, afflictions, something
that is no doubt familiar to you who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You're familiar with these troubles
that you have. For example, Noah was a preacher. of at least or about 120 years,
a preacher of righteousness, as the Ark was being prepared,
as the Lord told him. And he preached the gospel and
no man believed him. No man believed him, save seven
souls that entered that Ark with him. That was a trouble to him,
no doubt. And the children of Israel, we
read of them becoming slaves. for some hundreds of years to
the Egyptians. And when the Lord did settle
them in the land of promise, we read of them being troubled
by their enemies that surrounded them. And not only were they
distressed, but the scriptures often describes them as being
sore, distressed, very distressed by the troubles and the persecutions
that they were enduring by their enemies. We know that After some
time, the Northern tribes were taken captive and brought into
Assyria. And the Southern tribes as well
were taken captive and brought into Babylon. And they weren't
all unbelievers because we read of Daniel, a young man whom the
Lord turned his heart and caused him to look to his savior and
taught him very much through those trials and difficulties
and blessed us with the scriptures, the book of Daniel, having gone
through those very trials. And we read of the prophets who
mourned seeing the troubles and the difficulties that their brethren
were going through, things that were coming upon them because
of the hardness of their heart and how many others would suffer
and be tried greatly because of the sin of the people. And
they were put to death Some of them simply for preaching the
word that the father had given to them and sent them to preach
and declare to the people and tell them there's the wrath of
God is coming upon you. Hear the Lord, hear him, hear
his word of salvation. And they put many of them to
death. The Psalmist sums it up well, be turning to Psalm 25.
Let's see this. Psalm 25, and we'll pick up in
verse 15. David says, verse 15, mine eyes
are ever toward the Lord. For he shall pluck my feet out
of the net. Not if my feet get taken in the
net, but when my feet are taken in the net, it's the Lord. It's
the Lord that's gonna pluck my feet. He's the one that's going
to deliver me. We come into trials and troubles. We're snared by many nets and
every case, when it's the Lord, it's the Lord that delivers you.
We're not gonna figure it out. We're not gonna get ourselves
out of it this time, but the Lord has purposed it that we
might learn and know it's not our wisdom. It's not what I've
done. It's not what I said. It's not
that good decision I made here or turned away from that wickedness
there. In spite of us, it's the Lord
that delivers us from the net. It's his grace. It's his grace
that blesses you, brethren. It's his grace that saves us
from our sins. He goes on to say in verse 16
of Psalm 25, turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me. For I
am desolate and afflicted. Are you desolate? Are you afflicted? You're in the company of saints,
brethren. You're in the company of God's
saints, you that are troubled and sore, distressed. The troubles
of my heart are enlarged. Are your troubles increasing
and growing? Do you find some days and weeks
very trying? Very hard, very difficult. You're in the company of saints. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. Look upon mine affliction and
my pain and forgive all my sins. Our boldness before the throne
of grace is not because we're so good and I've put away all
our sins and started doing everything right. Our boldness is the blood
of Christ. It's the promise of God made
unto you who have no righteousness of your own, but have heard the
word of God and believe that Christ is our very salvation. He is our righteousness. He's
our all. He is your deliverance, not because
you're so wise. It's not because you figured
things out and do things right now. It's because God will be
gracious to you because he will be gracious to you in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because God is merciful and compassionate
to whom he will be merciful and compassionate. Consider mine
enemies, verse 19, for they are many. and they hate me with cruel
hatred. Oh, keep my soul and deliver
me. Let me not be ashamed for I put
my trust in thee. And that's what the Lord is doing
through these trials and troubles that you go through, you that
believe Christ. We don't have these clean lives
and everything's not perfect and going well all the time.
No, we're going through difficulties because the Lord is teaching
you. that in all these things, in spite of these things, he
is your salvation. He's your mercy. He's your deliverance. He's instructing us to know this
by experience, to come into these things and find that, no, I can't
deliver myself, Lord, if I'm to be delivered. It's by your
grace and mercy. And we don't know that by nature,
and we're hard We're hard of heart. We don't learn that in
this flesh. We learn it by the grace of God
who gives it to us, who instructs us, who teaches us in spite of
ourselves, in spite of what we deserve. He's very kind and compassionate
to us. So hear what the scriptures say
to us, to encourage us. Paul wrote to Timothy saying,
endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And he teaches
us, the spirit teaches us, all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. And it's not always persecution
in the way that we expect it to be, but it comes through various
trials and difficulties. And so Peter wrote, think it
not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you. Don't
think it's strange. Don't think that this is peculiar
only to you. It's purposed of God to try you,
to try that which he's given to you. And we're tempted by
various troubles, but James strengthens us saying, my brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. There's
a purpose. It's given to you of the hand
of God. Consider it all joy because the Lord is teaching you through
that. He's given it to you for your joy, for your comfort, for
your teaching, for your instruction. And so Paul wrote to the Thessalonians
saying, no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto. You've been appointed these afflictions.
This has not happened to you randomly or by chance or some
bad luck. It's happened to you because
God has purposed it for your good, for your teaching. And I will say this because I
know I feel for my brethren who are tender and worried by the
difficulties that they go through. It's not because you're not a
saint. It's not because God is giving
you a hard time and punishing you before he casts you into
hell for all eternity, just to make you feel bad. You're going
through these things because you are a child of God, because
you are his saint, because he cares for you. And he has delivered
you and is delivering you from death and ruin and utter everlasting
misery. He's doing this because he loves
his children, because he loves you who hope in him and believe
him. Rest in him and know he's all
my salvation Lord. I have nothing if I have not
you you're everything Turn over to Romans 5 go to Romans 5 and
let's look at verses 3 through 5 Paul says there in verse 3, And
not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that
tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us. And so he's teaching us, he's
blessing us to know that Christ is our keeper. He's the one that's
saving us. He's the one that's strengthening
your souls even in the midst of the trial, even in the midst
of the difficulty. He's the one that's keeping you
and you're learning that. He's teaching you that. We don't
always think we're learning it and we don't always realize what
he's taught us. until he settles us and slows
us down and causes us to see how our sustaining, our keeping
has been the Lord all this time. How is it, Lord, that I'm still
looking to Christ and still believing you and hoping in you and haven't
fallen away as so many have? Lord, it's by your keeping. It's
by your grace. It's by your mercy. Now, our
Lord is, through this, teaching us to trust Him in these distressing
times, in these troublesome difficulties, these afflictions, these hardships. He's teaching us to look to Him,
and He's the one leading you through it. In Hebrews, Hebrews
4, verse 15, it says, We have not an high priest, which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." You know, we
hear that. We hear that in a textbook manner.
You children going through school, you're learning things through
the textbook. And then you get out into the
real world and you begin to experience the reality of these things.
And by God's grace, you can reflect on them and realize, wow, I didn't
even understand what that meant. I thought I understood what it
meant. but now I've learned it through experience. And so the
Lord teaches his people to know the compassion and the care of
Christ who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities as
we go through infirmities, as we go through troubles and difficulties. That's where we learn. How merciful
and gracious to him that we are. Let me give you a couple examples.
Let's turn over to Matthew 14, Matthew 14, verse 23. Here we see a couple examples
in scripture of the compassion of Christ. And Jesus went forth, and saw
a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them,
and he healed their sick. I have no doubt that every one
of us here has not only experienced sickness, but many of you have
yet various sicknesses. Whether it's a physical sickness,
it could be a mental sickness, you could be very troubled spiritually. And that for a long time. And you read of how Christ healed
these people. He had compassion upon them. I can look back, I can recall
a few times where the Lord was very merciful to me and healed
me of some physical sickness, something that really tried me.
And I remember those things. But you know what I remember
more than those deliverances? How that through those physical
illnesses, things that you don't even see or know about, but how
the Lord kept me and blessed me in those and made that experience
more precious to me. Because as we have those sicknesses
and those difficulties and those struggles, which aren't taken
away, the Lord's teaching us, my grace is sufficient for thee. And there's a lot of times where
we've prayed and cried out like Paul more than three times. Lord,
remove this thorn in my flesh from me. Take it away from me,
Lord. I'd be so thankful if you'd remove it from me. And he doesn't. But it's in that that you learn
His grace is sufficient for me, because He makes it precious.
Those times when you finally cry out to Him in sincerity,
in the Spirit, how few they are. How few those times are when
God blesses it to your soul and is precious to you, and you see
just how great His grace is that keeps you in spite of your infirmity
and doesn't turn you away or cast you away, but holds you
up and blesses you. Enables you to be here and hear
that word and to continue staying upon him and not being turned
away from him It's made more precious to you. He's healed
you in a way that That's different than the physical healing in
a way more precious and more blessed to your soul Those are
the things I remember more than those times when he did remove
some physical ailment from me It's those ones that weren't
removed, but he's yet precious to me regardless of it And so
we see the mercy of God, and regardless if there's a healing
that he's done for every one of his children that's more precious
than a physical healing, or even a removal of a mental sickness
that we may have, it's that he's healed every one of us of our
sin sickness, so that my sin is no longer determining my eternal
habitation. My, the one who determines my
eternal rest and home is the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't stand
in the inheritance of Adam. I don't stand in the inheritance
of the inhabitants of the earth. I stand in the inheritance of
Jesus Christ. He's the one who determines where
I shall dwell forever and ever. And it's in his presence by his
grace and mercy. He's delivered us from that bondage
of sin and death where we labored under the thumb of the devil
and fear and doubts and worries trying to work a righteousness
for myself. That's put away. I see that Christ
is all my sufficiency. He's all my righteousness. And
that's what he does for his people. He's healed every one of us who
believe on him to stop hoping and spending and laboring for
that which does not satisfy and to rest in the grace of Christ
and the grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now let's see another
one, Mark 6, 34. Mark 6. And Jesus, when he came out,
saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them because
they were a sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach
them many things. Don't we have many things to
learn? Many things that we are slow to hear and have great difficulty
learning? Well, the Lord is teaching us
and he teaches us through the fiery trial. He leads us through
diverse temptations, giving us faith by which we endure these
temptations. He leads us along through these
afflictions that we experience, and in those, Christ is teaching
you many things. many things he's having compassion
on you and sustaining you and showing you his strength and
his power is sufficient to save you to the uttermost to deliver
you out of all your troubles even though you're going through
them we find that it's his arms that are carrying us through.
It's his arms that are embracing us. It's his arms that are keeping
us. He's bearing these troubles with his people. We have many
things to learn. You know, Paul was taught many
things as well. Brother Paul was taught through
the various trials, through the various temptations, through
the various difficulties that he went through, so that he wrote
in Philippians 4 verses 12 and 13, he said, I know both how to be abased, and I
know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me." He didn't just know that, he experienced
that. He was taught that through the
various trials, through the various persecutions and the beatings
and the hatred. and the hard times he was taught
that, that in all those things Christ was sustaining him and
keeping him. and blessing him and using him
to minister to the people and to fellowship with the brethren
and to be a comfort to them as well. He used all of that and
Paul saw that and that's what he's showing you. Yes, you have
afflictions. Yes, you have difficulties. Yes,
you have trials for your good and for the good of your brethren,
for the good of his people. And so like his disciples who
heard him He blesses you, right? That context there in Mark 6
is where he fed the 5,000. And we're told that he fed them
with bread, lest they should faint in the way returning home. And so it is that the Lord is
blessing you, giving you the bread of heaven through these
trials and difficulties, lest you should faint on your way
home to that heavenly inheritance, which he's promised to you and
gives you in Christ. And that same Savior, who walked
the earth being moved with compassion for these here, is yet moved
with compassion for you. And he's yet teaching you, and
healing you, and blessing you, and giving you everything you
need, even when you're indifferent to it, even when you don't recognize
his kindness, even when we're forgetful and treat him not as
a friend, but as... as an enemy, he's yet merciful,
and is a faithful friend to you, and keeps you, and doesn't do
to you as you deserve, but is kind and merciful. He's yet moved
with compassion toward you in all your distresses, and blesses
you to keep trusting him, and blesses you to not go away, but
keeps you, keeps you ever. And he gave his life to redeem
you, all that the father gave him. And Paul says, he taught
me this, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live,
I live by the faith, the faithfulness of the son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Paul was taught that, and that's
what you're being taught, the love of Christ for you, who keeps
you and blesses you and is kind toward you. So understand this,
brethren, that our Lord is teaching you the same truth and the same
way through trials, through infirmities, through sicknesses, through afflictions,
through hardships, through all these difficulties, he's teaching
you, he's blessing you, in this same manner so that you know,
as he said to his disciples in John 15, five, without me, he
can do nothing, nothing. And the only way you learn that
is by going through the trials and the troubles and tribulations
and being stripped down to see I've got nothing. I've got nothing,
but Lord, you're everything and you're everything I need. That
comes through trials. That's how you learn that without
them, you can do nothing. That's why you fall on your face
and why you see the evil of this flesh and the weakness of this
flesh and are hard of learning things often and have lessons
repeated to you because we have need of them being repeated to
us. that we might learn that without him, we can do nothing.
Lord, I'm reminded again and again and again and again, because
I need it and you need it. And that's why we go through
these these trials. That's why we're reminded, because
he's compassionate toward us. He said in Jeremiah 31 3, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee so that through them he feeds you the word of
the gospel. And he brings you here and gathers
you here and feeds you this word, though we don't deserve it, any
one of us, and yet he feeds you with that word and blesses it
to your heart. lifting you up and raising you
in Christ to see and know that He's everything I need. Why did
I turn my eyes from you? Why did I forget so quickly the
last time you blessed my heart? But here I am again, and you're
faithfully teaching me this truth again and again. Thank you, Lord. Now turn over to 1 Peter 5, 6.
1 Peter 5, and we'll pick up in verse 6. Read down to verse 11. Peter
says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time. Don't get angry with God.
Don't start cursing him. You thank the Lord for these
trials. You'd be glad for the difficulties that he's given
to you. Humble yourselves, because God,
that God may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon
him, for he careth for you. Be sober. be vigilant because
your adversary the devil has a roaring line walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the
faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. but the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. There is a great struggle going
on, but the struggle isn't with Christ. It's with the enemy of
our souls. He would sift you as wheat, but
Christ has prayed for you, and he intercedes for you, and he's
compassionate toward you. And so these things only touch
you insofar as the Lord allows them to touch you, and it is
for your good. It is for your blessing and your
keeping. That understanding which you
have now of your Lord, it's because he's prayed for you. It's because
he interceded for you. It's because he's provided for
you long before you ever knew him or knew of him or believed
him or trusted in him. He's provided everything for
your safekeeping and your provision. So with that, let's turn over
to John 17 now and just go through these verses real quick, verses
nine through 11. Remember, he's praying this here
for his disciples as our high priest, because he's returning
to the Father, but we're still here on earth. And so he took
He had compassion on them, that the Lord would provide for them,
that his father would provide for them. So verse nine, I pray
for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. So here he is, he's lifting his
disciples up to his father before the throne of grace. And he says
in verse 10, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and
I am glorified in them. You see, the Lord is going to
have his fruit. He's going to produce his fruit
by his grace and mercy in you. He's going to reveal in you that
new man. He's going to make every one
of his people new creatures whereby they glorify their Lord, whereby
they confess that he's all my salvation. He's everything. He's
delivered me from death. In spite of myself, he's my savior,
my all. my deliverer. And he's blessed
his people, pouring out his spirit upon them, who comes and seeks
us, who are lost sheep. And he doesn't find us doing
well. He doesn't find us having fixed
ourselves and got ourselves ready but rather he finds us in weakness,
in misery, in darkness, doing foolish things. And that's where
the Lord has mercy and delivers us from those things by his grace
through the preaching of the gospel made effectual in your
heart so that you know, I didn't do this for me. I didn't get
myself saved. Christ saved me by his grace
and mercy, that we might know the grace of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. We were lost sheep. And we would
be lost sheep ever if not for the grace of God. And he's the
one that keeps us and brings us back so that Christ is glorified. He's glorified in what he's done
for us. We have nothing to boast him. He's our wisdom. He's our
righteousness. He's our sanctification. He's
our redemption. That according as it's written,
he that glorieth, let him glory. and the Lord, we don't stand
here and boast about how I did this and I stopped doing that
and I started doing this and that's why I am here where I
am today. No, we've got nothing to boast
him, nothing. We're all sinners saved by the
grace of God who had mercy and compassion on us in spite of
us. Verse 11, he prays to the father. that the Father make this his
promise effectual unto us. He said, now I am no more in
the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy
Father, keep through thine own name, those whom thou hast given
me, that they may be one as we are. You think about what was
going on that night when Christ prayed that for you. He was only
moments away from his enemies coming and taking him away and
leading him to be crucified on the cross, not for any crimes
that he had done. But as the Lamb of God, sent
of the Father, because we are sinners, because we are wretched
and vile creatures who cannot work a righteousness for ourselves,
who cannot save ourselves or keep the law and make ourselves
white and righteous and perfect before Him, we need a Savior. We need a Savior. We need to
be delivered from this death because we cannot save ourselves
from it. The Father sent the Son and spared
him not, but delivered him up for all his people scattered
throughout the world. There's one Savior and it's the
Lord Jesus Christ whom he sent and he went to the cross. not
for any crimes that he had done, but bearing the sin of his people
before holy God to be roasted in the fiery wrath of God for
the sins that you and I who believe him committed, willfully even,
doing what we did in spite of the grace of God. And yet Christ
gave himself lay down his life to redeem us, to reconcile us
to holy God, that we may be gathered here together in joy and in gladness,
thanking our God, glorifying him for laying down his life
for me, for me, who loved me and gave himself for me. And
you that believe him, confess that same thing. Lord, you did
that for me, for me. Thank you, Lord. And so with
all that before him, not thinking of himself, but thinking of you,
he prayed and made sure you had provision. Before he returned
to the Father in joy and gladness, he prayed for you, that you would
be kept and blessed, and that this word would be made effectual
to your heart, and that through all these trials, it would work
good for you, for your good and your keeping. I pray the Lord
bless that word to your hearts and keep you, brethren. Amen. Amen. I'll pray and then we'll
be dismissed. Is that all right? Yeah. All
right. Our gracious Lord, we thank you for your grace and your love. Lord, forgive
us for our hardness of heart and our complaining and our bitterness,
Lord, how foolish we are to think that what comes upon us is is
either to punish us or because we've done it. Lord, we are fools. We make mistakes always and we
do foolish things and sin always, Lord, but you are merciful and
gracious to us and you've given us these things, not for our
hurt, not to punish us, not to make us feel bad, but for our
good, to teach us, to deliver us from death and to bless your
people as it is this day to hear your gospel and to glorify Christ
in our hearts being thankful because we see again and again
your mercy and kindness toward us, though it's undeserving,
but it's all deserving in Christ because of him, his faithfulness
and what he's done. Thank you, Lord. Continue to
bless us and feed us with Christ for Christ's sake. It's in his
name we pray and give thanks.