And I don't hear any particular
person sing. I can hear these ones singing. Some people have really good
voices. I didn't know that they'd sing
like that. Darryl was down here. He's got
a great voice. And Margaret, I've heard that. Mindy's told
me she's got a beautiful voice. Vicki, I hear her sing. I think
y'all sing solo every now and then. Yes. Alright, turn with
me to Luke chapter 9. I don't have a good voice. It's got to
make do with what you've got. Luke chapter 9. I've been wanting
to look at this, or I have been looking at it, wanting to look
at it with you for a long time now. As you know, we've been
going through, thanks for the Luke, And I've got my stuff right
here. Oh, there's so much here. Read verse 10 with me. Do you remember this? The apostles,
when they returned, they told the Lord all that they had done. And then He took them and went
aside privately into a deserted place. Not a wilderness, but
a deserted place where nobody else walked. Belonging to the
city called Bethsaida. He knew this place. He had it
reserved just for them. For his disciples. And he took
them privately, him and them, to this place that nobody else
was around. Now you see why we read Psalm
91? He that dwelleth in the secret place. But they came back. You remember this? Let me refresh
your memory. They came back. He'd sent them
out preaching. And he told them, don't take
nothing for your journey. Don't take stage. Don't take
script. Don't take bread. Don't take
money. You remember that? Don't take two coats. You remember
that? You know, we came in this world naked. We came in this
world, right? The Lord provides everything
for them. What do we have we have not received? And when we
leave, we're not going to have anything but Him. So He sent
them out to show them that He's going to provide everything for
them. They're going to be in the midst of a dangerous world. I was talking to someone recently
that, you know all these sick people that came to the Lord?
And the disciples were right there in the middle of it. All manner of sickness, every
kind there was, came to Him and the disciples were right there.
You'd think they were afraid. Lepers, sure they were. They're human. The Lord protected
them. Sure did. Sure did. But they came back, remember,
and they were thrilled. They were overjoyed with all
that happened to them. They said, Lord, everything you
said is true. After a long time, they came back, everything you
said that you do for us is true. And our Lord said, not one word
of mine shall fail. It's all true. Heaven and earth
shall pass away. My word won't fail. Not one word.
Everything that God has said, every prompt is true. We may
believe. We should believe. We ought to
believe. Why don't we believe Him? They said, Lord, everything you
said is true, your Word, your power. We didn't lack anything.
We never lacked anything. We did fear, but we didn't need
to. We were afraid. We went someplace
and stood up and some people looking at us. Lord, your Word
changed them right there. Your Word was successful. You
blessed us. Years later, after three and a half years, The Lord
said to them, after three and a half years, none of them ever
worked a job. Right now, we're maybe afraid
we're going to lose some of our comfortable lifestyle. We're
going to lose our income. We're going to lose all that.
The disciples didn't work a job for three and a half years. Didn't
hit a lick. Didn't earn a dollar. Had to get by. Same way you and
I are. Better than that. Forty years,
the children of Israel went through the wilderness. They didn't work
a job. Didn't plow a garden. Too many faithful. Sinners all. How'd they get by? The same Lord. Right? But we worry. We worry. And then three years
later, He said to them, while I was with you, did you lack
anything? In fact, they all said, not one
thing. Not one thing. Can you not say,
brethren, brothers and sisters, can you not say that all these
years, I've lacked for nothing? Can you not see that Lord's hand
in providing all things? Can you not? Can we not? Some
of you clearer than others. Got an old man sitting right
here. Yes, he is. 8 over 80. Can you not say, John,
loud and clear, the Lord has provided your every need, hasn't
He? Protected you, watched over you, led you, guided you, hasn't
He? He's done it. Is He going to? Is He going to continue to do
that? Didn't He say in Isaiah 46, I've
carried you from the womb. And out to your hoary head. And
now look, your head is hoary. Who's your wife? Her almond tree
is flourishing. White hairs. He's never going
to let go of you. Never. He's promised. You're
smiling. I'm glad. His Word has been true. Every
word of it has been true. Everything He said, we see it
all around us. We see the Word of God. coming
true, being fulfilled, everything, and we all, can we not all say
His grace has been sufficient? It truly is. In all things, at
all times. You remember your memory verse,
Psalm 62a? Trust in the Lord at all times,
you people. All times. We don't have to trust
Him when everything's going well. You know? When you don't have
any fear, we're not trusting Him. No, we're not. We're not trusting the Lord To
trust the Lord is to trust Him in the face of fear. Trust the Lord at all times,
ye people. God is a refuge for us. He really
is. The Lord is indeed our Shepherd. We shall not want. We shall not want. We shall not
want for food, for raiment, for provisions, for protection, for
all these things. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. His presence, His Spirit, His
goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life and
shall ever follow us. That's what He said. He cannot
lie. Is anybody getting any peace from that? I am. I need it. Matthew 14. Now go over to
Matthew 14. This is the same story. But Matthew
gives a little more detail. Matthew 14. Everybody listening
over next to their turn there, I want you to see this. This
is another account of this story. At the same time, the disciples
came back from preaching and the Lord blessed them and just
people were hearing it and believing the truth and devils cast out
and so forth. And they were provided miraculously.
And they came back over joy. They were just thrilled. Catherine,
they were just, Lord, you're so good, you can't believe. You
know, we say that all the time. You just can't believe. Of course
he can. He told you. Oh, it was so good. They were just filled with joy.
They were thrilled. They were overjoyed at the same
time. At the exact same time. John the Baptist had his head
cut off. At the exact same time. John
had his head cut off. You think some of our world leaders
are bad? Nobody's ever seen anybody like
that. If he didn't like you, kill him. And he did. John the
Baptist. You know how many people loved
John the Baptist? You know how many people went to hear John
the Baptist? His disciples, he had a lot of people love to hear
him. The disciples of our Lord heard him. They heard him. They
loved him. And he had his head cut off. Can you imagine? Can you imagine?
Well, this thing came and cut my head off. Huh? It's happened. Do you know how
distraught they were? Why? Lord, don't you know they were
all, why? This is John and we need him. Lord, who did that? The Lord
did it. That's the most awful thing you
can think of. They thought. But his ministry
was over. Later on, worse than that, the
disciples saw their Lord hanging on a tree, dead. Worst two or
three days of their life. And they all thought, this is
the worst thing that could possibly happen. Who did that? Who did
that? Men did it for evil, didn't they?
They meant it for evil. Men did what their wicked hand,
but they did what God determined before to be done, and it is
the greatest good ever. Alright, so these disciples of
John, look at verse 12. John's disciples came and took
up the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. Alright? So, sister, at the same time
that his disciples are coming back thrilled, overjoyed, their
hearts just bursting with happiness, John's disciples are breaking
beyond belief. Here's the picture. Here's the
lesson. That in this life, the lot of
God's people is going to be joy, unspeakable, and grief unspeakable. That's the lot of God's people. Joy mingled with sorrow. In this
world, he said, you shall have tribulation. When John was on
the Isle of Patmos, John the Apostle, he saw that multitude,
no man could number it. Singing. All of them were singing.
No joy, I mean no tears, no troubles, no fear, no nothing. They were
all singing, singing, and singing louder. They were all trying
to outdo one another. Why? So happy! Why? John said, who are these people?
He said, you know, these are they which went through great
tribulation. They don't have any now. 9-0, God wiped away all their
tears. They washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, just
like He said, that not one person had trusted Him till Perry. They're
singing at the top of their lungs. They tried it before, now they're
really singing. And to Him that washed us, saved us, kept us,
just like He said. True art thou, O Lord of hosts,
King of saints." Everything he said. In our lives, the life of God's
peoples, we're going to have a heart filled with wonder and
prayer. We're going to have a heart that's broken. Ecclesiastes. Go back there.
Ecclesiastes. The whole book of Ecclesiastes
is to teach us this lesson, isn't it? That this life and everything
in it is vanity. Everything but what we're doing
right now. This is what the preacher says. He began it in chapter 1 and
he ended it in chapter 12. He began and ended with this. Vanity, verse 2. This is what
the preacher says. Vanity of vanity. All is vanity. What profit hath
a man, a woman, of all their labor? Huh? What? And he went all the way
through here. And down in chapter 2, look at
chapter 2, he said, I tried it all. I gave my heart, I gave
myself, I gave my mind, I gave my energy, my effort, I gave
my money to building this, to building that, to try happiness,
to try this, try that. What did he say? The rest is
all over vanity. It doesn't fulfill. It doesn't
give anything. It's all over, it's empty, you
lose it. And the sadness of losing it is often greater than the
joy of gaining it. Look at verse, chapter 2, verse
14. The wise man's eyes in his head, the fool walketh in darkness.
I perceive that there's one event that happens to them all. What's
that? Death. I said in my heart, verse 15,
as it happens to the fool, it's happening to me. I'm going to
die. Then what? Then what mattered? Then what
mattered? Nothing. Not who you were. Not what you knew. Not what you
did. Not what you own. Nothing. Nothing matters. What matters
is that your name is written in the Lamb of God. That's all
that matters. Oh, my people. My, my. Well, look at chapter 3 here
at Ecclesiastes. Look at chapter 3. You know these
verses. Everything is a season. Time,
every purpose, unto heaven. Time to be born. Time to die. I am 60. I'm going to be getting
Medicare this year. That boggles my mind. It just, doesn't it? John, doesn't
it? 80, you can't believe you're
80 years old again. I know you can't. I can't. Where did it
go? Our Lord said that. In Psalm
90, didn't He say, it's asleep. You're going to wake up and you're
old. Then you're going to wake up in glory. Amen. Time to be born. The day that my daughter was
born, one of the happiest days of our lives. Oh, we rejoiced. She's 36 years old! And for five years, Ricky, I was
calling our first granddaughter Hannah. Why? Because it hadn't sunk in yet. It's like, she can't be this
old. Yeah. Time to die. When is that time going to come?
We need to get this through our head. When is that time going
to come? When the Lord says it's time. That's why He said a thousand
will follow you, ten thousand, it's not going to come to you
until. And when He says, a whole army is not going to protect
you. When He says it, nothing and
no one is going to stop it. Alright? And you'll be glad of
that. You will. He'll give you dying
grace. I was going to go read All of it, but you read it for
yourself some other time. Ecclesiastes 7. Go over there. Oh, everyone turn and look at
this. Everyone listening, turn and look at this. Ecclesiastes
7. This is it. The wise man is concluding this
matter, okay? Look at it. Ecclesiastes 7, verse
1. A good name is better than precious
ointment. That is, if you can truly say
that you are a son of God, A child of God. A Christian. Belonged
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's ointment. That's soothing
ointment. A balm of Gilead. The day of
death is better... The day of death than the day
of one's birth is better. Not to the world. It's the worst
day of somebody's so-called life when they die. But not to God's
people. You just hang on. The Lord said, wait, you'll see.
Just wait, you'll see. And we all think, I'm such a
sinner, you know, I hate, I fear dying because the Lord is going
to, you know, I'm going to perish in the end. Not if you trust
Christ. No sir, that can't happen. God can't lie. And you say, but I'm not ready
to die. Then you must not be dying. Our daughter got sick and we
thought, we thought, we didn't know if she was going to make
it. She's in the hospital with an unknown ailment ten years
ago. We were worried. Until finally,
and she was worried, she was fearful of dying, leaving small
children, her husband. Finally, my wife, in wisdom,
said, you're not dying. You're not dying. I said, you'd
have more grace than this. But Lord, give you dying grace,
if you are. Do you understand that? So if you're afraid of dying,
it must not be soon. Okay. All right. All right. Look at this. Ecclesiastes 7,
verse 2. It's better to go to the house
of mourning than the house of feasting. But this is the end
of all men. It's the end. It's the end. What's that? Death. The end of
all things. Didn't Moses say, oh, that they
were wise and would consider their latter in? If they were
wise, they would see clearly it's all going to end. It can't
last forever. The world, their secret thought
is that they're going to last forever. The secret thought of
this modern generation is they're going to come up with a fountain
of youth. And we're just going to keep
living. And we're going to find, we're looking in the black hole,
and we're going to find some creatures up there who have the
power of the view. They're going to come get us.
We're going to live forever on Venus. That's the wisdom of man, isn't
it? They're going to show us how to grow something that can
heal everything. Honestly, that's what people
think. Stephen Hawking. And people listen to him. And
won't listen to the Son of God. God who came down to earth. Verse 3, Sorrow is better than
laughter. By sadness of the countenance,
the heart's made better. What's that? To this man when
I look, he's as poor and of a contrite heart and trembles at my word.
Everybody right now is trembling at things. They fear things. They fear like Esau. God's people fear him. And that's
the one He looks to in mercy and grace. And they believe His
Word. They believe His Word. And they're
looking to His Word. And they're seeking His will.
And they're seeking His face. And they're calling on His name.
They're asking Him for mercy. Because He revealed Himself to
them through His Word. They fear Him. And they're broken
hearted over their sin. They're broken hearted over the
judgment of God. They're broken hearted. And they're
calling on the Lord. And He said, if My people do
that, I'll heal them. The heart of the wise, verse
4, is in the house of mourning. The heart of fools is in the
house of murder. Better to hear the rebuke of the wise. Are there
any wise men today? Well, there are a few that are
preaching in. Give our hearts to wisdom. Listen
to this. Now go back to our text in Luke
9. Here's great comfort. Our Lord,
the Scripture says in Isaiah 63, In all their afflictions,
He was afflicted. He bore God's people's grief
and carried their sorrows. The disciples came to Him just
overjoyed. You know He's smiling. He's just smiling. He's happier
than they are that they believed Him experienced his work. He's happier than they are. Yeah,
I told you. It's good, isn't it? I told you.
All right. His other disciples came and
he's sadder than they are. He came to Lazarus' tomb, he
who knows the end from the beginning, and did all this, and yet it
says he wept. Have you wept? Have you ever
wept over it? He mourned. He mourned. Yeah, in all their
afflictions, He was afflicted. Have you ever suffered? He mourned. Much more. Remember that. Now
remember that. And God didn't put anything on
His Son that wasn't for a purpose and for our good. And He doesn't
put anything on us that's not for a purpose and for our good.
And our Lord is touched with the feeling of our infirmity.
He rejoices when we rejoice. And he's sad when we're sad.
He mourns for us. Just like a parable. So the Lord,
here's what the Lord did. He took these 12 apostles aside
privately. Come with me. I'm going to take
you to a place. And I'm going to cheer you up.
I'm going to comfort you. He took them, this verse 10,
it says, took them aside, that is, multitude, because everybody
found out where he was always. They took them privately into
a desert place, a deserted place, just him and them, a place no
one else knew, nobody else was there, the Lord and his little
flock. Where was it? He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. It's him. He is that place. Do you understand a little bit
about that? Alright, when you're fearful, when you're afraid,
when you're sad, when you're troubled, when you're downcast,
all of these things, where do you go? You go to Him. What does He do? He takes you
under His wing, doesn't He? Covers you with His feathers,
the Scripture says. His truth is your shield and
your buckler. It's your help. It's your help. And listen to this in Psalm 27
verse 5. We have some ladies, people that
this is their favorite Psalm. Bonnie. He said in Psalm 27 verse
5, In the time of trouble he shall hide thee, hide me in his
pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle
he'll hide me. In the secret of his tabernacle.
Is anybody getting any peace right now? Little more than when
you came. This is a city of refuge, the
church. This is where the Lord has promised
to be. Yes. Now we don't trust in a place
or a preacher, you know, our salvation is not in it. But nevertheless,
the Lord has a place of His people. Though He's promised where two
or three are gathered together, I'm right there. to give comfort,
to give consolation, to give peace, to tell them things. He's
not telling the world. He hides it from the wise and
improves it and reveals it unto His people. You know what He
was saying to them in private while they were in that private
place? You know all He was saying to them? And Teresa, while they
were with Him, their sorrows were going away. Their troubles,
their fears were going away. The Lord was telling them, stilling
them. Speaking to him. Everything he
said and did was written in a book the world couldn't agree. Aren't you grateful for this
place? And the world goes by. Look at
that. And he's right now showing us
things that he's not showing everybody. So he said, you know, that verse,
He had me in his pavilion. I remember the first time I looked
at that. That's not talking about a big
place. We think of a pavilion as some great big place. Actually,
it's the opposite. It's a very small place. It talks
about a little basket made with reeds, a little small, like a
thing in the bushes. Do you remember when Pharaoh
was out to kill every child? Catherine, can you imagine? They're
going to come and get your boy. And they did, Ricky. And Moses,
dad and mom, you know what they did? Believe in the Lord. Trust the Lord. They put that
baby boy in a basket, an ark it's called, and put him in the
bulrushes. A little pavilion, that's what
it was. They put him in a little pavilion. And they cast their
son on the water. Think about it. Can you think
about it? Rick and Catherine watching John Thomas go off.
Lord, can you imagine? Can you imagine that? What happened? What happened? Exactly what the
Lord said would happen. for His people. In fact, He showed
His sovereign power so greatly that He had the man that was
out to kill Him, save Him. Pharaoh said, I'm going to kill
them all. I'm going to get that Messiah. His daughter comes in
and says, can I have this bed shared? What's one little Jew? God has to change. And He gives this world for His
people. He gave Ethiopia, Sheba, for
our ransom. The same God. And He put Christ
on the cross for His people. He is our Ark. That is our Savior,
Christ, like Moses. And nothing moves or nothing
harms us while we're trusting Him. It's all good. Wait and
see. God's people are coming out. They're coming out. Because
of Christ. Well, where am I? Luke 9. So,
they were just sad and happy all at the same time. And we
are too, aren't we? Right now, you're smiling. You have a look on your face
right now like, I believe. It's true what God's Word. You're going to hit that door.
I'm going to hit that door down there. And you know what's going
to happen? These same fears are going to
come in our heads. And we're going to hear all these
voices. And the field is full of fear. And for a little while
we'll forget what our Lord said. And they did too. They did too. They forgot it all. You remember
in the end? They came for him in the garden.
And they got him. And they were distraught. And
they all ran. They thought life's over. No.
No. He that liveth and believeth
in Christ shall never die. No, no, no. Life is about to
begin. It's about to begin. He had His Word on Him. He's
been true from the beginning. He hides His people in the secret
place, the tabernacle of the Most High, which is Him Himself. He takes His people privately
and shows them things. He doesn't show the world. You
see all this stuff. He gives them comfort. He gives
them consolation. He doesn't give other people.
Everybody else is worried, sick, dying of fright. You know there
are 136 suicides a day in the United States. That was before this plague.
You know it's doubled a day. Over a million a year in the
world. Suicide. People destroyed, distressed,
no hope. That's what you do. When you
kill yourself, I have no hope. No help. He's taken us aside
into a private plane and showed us, you have hope. You have good
hope. Through grace, you have hope.
You may sorrow, but it's not without hope. Hope! Are you hearing
me? Hope! You have hope, a good hope,
a sure hope. And the only reason it's called
hope is because you don't see Him yet, but just wait. Hope's
going to give way to sight. Faith is going to give way to
reality, and you're going to be with Him who was your hope.
He said so. Is your hope built on nothing
less than Jesus Christ, blood and righteousness? Is it hope?
Mine too. Shall we be with Him sometime?
Is it all good? Did He say that? With a smile. I think they left this little
private place happy. So Lord, you did this to John?
I sure did. His ministry was over. Now I'm
here. John, he was a forerunner. It's
over. Don't need him anymore. He's
gone to be with the Father. And I'm here. Now, brethren,
disciples, the Lord said, they're going to take me. And they're going to beat me. And they're going to strip me. And they're going to put crown
thorns on my head. Go back to Psalm 22, you'll see
it. They're going to do all these evil things to me. And they're
going to put me on a cross. But God's doing that. And He's
done it for you. And I'm going to die, and I'm
going to be buried. But let not your heart be troubled.
Okay? And you're going to have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. And
after a few days, you're going to be distraught like never before.
But after a few days, you're going to be happier than you've
ever been in your life. Joy unspeakable and full of glory.
The same is true for us. The same is true. Look what's
happening. Look what they're doing. Look,
look, look. It's awful, isn't it? And it is for some people. But it's not for God's people.
Do you believe that? Our God in heaven, oh my, we
sure thank you for what you've shown us. Oh, how we thank you. We'd be without hope even as
others. We'd be in darkness even as others.
We'd be in despair even as others. Though we are in distress, we're
not without hope. consolation and comfort. Oh Lord,
may we have the sentence of death in ourselves, like Paul said,
I'm ready to die. But to depart and be with the
Lord is far better, greater. But to live is Christ. Die is
gain. Oh Lord, show us this absolute
truth that you, there in Ecclesiastes, that death is better than one's
birth, if you know the Lord. Give us comfort, give us peace,
and trust in You. Let us see that everything is
Your hand, and all for the good of Your people, and for Your
glory and honor. It will end well. It will end
well for Your people. Say unto the righteous, It shall
be well that they are souled. In Christ's name, Amen.