Good song. Just one word before we begin. It seems that most that I have
talked to about the evening service time at six o'clock seem to be
in favor of what, shake your head if you are and no if you're
not. That's bad, isn't it? I don't
know if we ought to take a vote or what. Everybody I've talked
to so far, I've just got one no vote. Well, we'll keep considering
it and thinking about it, and I'll keep talking to all of you
about it. Okay. John chapter 16 is where
we're going to dwell a little while. John chapter 16. We're now looking at the closing
words of this, what we've been calling the pastoral discourse,
or this sermon or message that Christ gave to his disciples
right before he went to the cross. These were his parting words
to his disciples. And somebody said this, that
it's the greatest sermon ever preached, and it's followed by
the greatest prayer ever prayed. But the words here, the words
that Christ has been—we've gotten several, several messages out
of just a few chapters, and I'm sure there are many, many more.
We could spend much time on each verse. He's just about to leave them,
and just before he himself is going, before he is going to
pray to the Father, he begins to talk to his disciples about
this thing of prayer. And this is what we're going
to look at in a minute here. He begins to talk to his disciples
about prayer. And this should be very interesting
to us, if you're interested in talking to the Father people
are, it should be very interesting too. Now let me ask this question
first of all. Why did Christ come? Why did
he come down here to this earth? To save? Yes, yes he did. But he said this, he said, I
am come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly. It's more than being saved. from
hell or even from our sin, but it's to have a life, a life of
God, eternal life. It's the quality. It's life.
We've been dead in trespasses and sin, but He came to save
us from sin and destruction, but it can be summed up in this
way, that He came to reveal the Father. He came to reveal God
to some people. He came to show us the Father. Whom to know, he said in verse
3 of chapter 17, is to have eternal life. This is eternal life that
you might know Him. And by nature, we're all very
ignorant of God. This is the reason men and women
make up and imagine all sorts of wild and crazy things about
God, because we're ignorant of God, unless He reveals the Father
to us. And He came down and expressed
image of the Father himself to reveal the Father, to bring us
to God also. And it was the love of God that
sent Christ to a people who will be his children. It was the love
of God which sent Christ down here. Now, in a sense—stay with
me, I wrote all this down as an introduction—there's a sense
in which Christ came to appease the anger of a holy God against
sin. There is a sense in which he
did come to do that. Yet he came because the Father,
this holy God, did love a people. And this is the mystery. He did
love a people, but as he saw them holy in Christ. He came
because the holy God loved a people freely and determined to stay
his wrath that was abiding upon these people. So it was the love
of the Father that sent Christ, and Christ came down here to
bear the wrath of God, to stand betwixt God and those people
that He loved, and to bear the full brunt and force of that
wrath against their sin as a shield, as a rock, as a hiding place,
as our shelter in the time of that storm of God's wrath. Hanging
there on that cross, He spread His wings. As on that cross,
it was like He spread His wings for us to gather into His bosom,
and He took the full force of God's wrath against us. But it
was the love of God that sent Him down here. And it's the Scripture
says it's the goodness of God that leads thee to repentance,
that brings a man or a woman to see God, to see themselves,
and to see Christ. It's the goodness of God that
He would show anybody that. He doesn't have to. As we saw
one time over there in Job 33, Eli, you said He gives not an
account of His matters to anybody. And we need not stop and consult
insects and so forth where we do anything on our property. And God doesn't have to reveal
Himself to anybody. But it's His mercy and grace
that He does. It's the goodness of God that leads a man to see
Him and thus brings him to repent of his sin. And then the ultimate
goodness Point that man or that woman to Christ and show them
the refuge, the hiding place. Now get in there. Get over there
under that rock. You remember that illustration of the ants
that I was talking about one time and one of them got under
a rock? That's us. It's the goodness of God that
points us, leads us to the rock. Get over there under the rock,
man. Fire's coming through. The death angel's coming through. Better have the blood on the
door. Lord, let your blood be propitiation. Let it be a covering. It's the goodness of God in it,
to lead you to that point. And all of this is because of
the kindness and the love of God the Father. But, and this is the reason we've
got this thing and that the Scripture has this thing in order that
it does. Listen to this. You don't come to see God as
Father until you first see God as God. I'll repeat it. You don't come to see God as
Father Unless you first, until you first see God as God, listen
to this, until you first see Him as holy, sovereign, just,
righteous, unapproachable, unapproachable. Listen to this illustration.
A father, some fathers in here, to your children, the first thing
you do as a father is establish yourself as the authority, the
head of the home, right? the head, the authority figure
in discipline and chastening. And I had to tell my daughter
that this afternoon. I said, Honey, you think Daddy
just likes to tell you what to do, don't you? They don't understand
it, see. But I told her, I'm trying to
make you the best child you can possibly be. I'm trying to mold
you and make you in such a way that people will love you. and
that you'll get along in this world. And God is molding us
and making us like his son, Christ. And it takes a lot of chasing,
doesn't it? A lot of pruning, a lot of cutting, a lot of discipline.
And God, we see God first of all as God. And a child must
first, a parent, a father especially, first teaches that child respect
and authority, respect for all authority, particularly his,
and obedience in order to receive You teach your children respect
and obedience in order for them to receive love and honor. Now listen, you can forget about
today's psychology of raising kids. You can just forget about
it. It doesn't work. Loving a child into obedience.
You'll find that you've got a monster on your hand that needs to be
broken. You can forget that. This thing
of dialogue instead of discipline. Bury the rods for all the childs,
Scripture says. I believe God knows a lot more
about it than modern psychologists. Why? Because of their depraved
nature. They've got a will. We've got
a will that has to be broken, right? We're like wild asses,
folks. Unless we're broken, we will
be wild the rest of our life. That will must not be allowed
to surface in a child. It takes many forms. I'm not
going to go into that, but it's got to be broken. There's a fine
line, and this is where it takes wisdom and prudence, and God
must lead us and guide us. There's a fine line between breaking
a child's will and breaking their spirit. There's a difference. You don't want to break their
spirit, but you've got to break that old Adamic will, Adamic
like Adam, that will. You've got to break it, or it
will rear its ugly head in your face. It will. You parents, older
parents, know what I'm talking about. Now, sometimes it's too
late, and after you've learned, it's too late. But modern theology
is much like modern child, really. Isn't it? Modern theology is
much like this. Tell people of the love of God,
you know. God loves you. Christ died for
you. Win them with the favor of God. Win them. Win them for Jesus,
you know. A smile on your face and the
love of God. And money in their pocket. That's
what modern theology does, doesn't it? Win them. It won't work. It won't work. A religion for
favor. First of all, because there's got to be a brokenness
over sin. This sin question's got to be answered, right? There
has to be a fear and awe and respect or worship of the Holy
God. The fear of the Lord is the very
beginning of understanding and wisdom. A person's got to first
fear the Lord and bow down and worship Him as what? Authority. God. This is what I was just
saying, right? There's got to be a desperate
need of a Savior, or else Jesus Christ is just, he's no different
than anybody else, any other martyr, right? Unless you see
your desperate need of his perfect, provided, imputed righteousness,
and his shed blood, the only blood that will remit all your
sins, he's not going to be a friend to you, is he? So these things
have to be shown to us first. If you tell a person only of
the love of God to them, and God's good intention, What will
be their thoughts when the love of God fails them? Right? When things start going bad,
what are they going to say? Well, where is this God that loves
me? When people get sick or whatever, where is this God? Well, say,
God didn't mean this, Satan. Well, that's confusion, right? Well, you mean Satan? Who's God here anyway? Men don't know. Some men do,
by his grace. God's God. And he sent it on. So I want to say all that at
the outset, that you cannot know the love of the Father unless
you first see the holiness of God. Unless anybody's understood
that, I've said all that. Because you can't know anything
about the love of God and the fatherhood of God unless you
first see God as God. And unless he, by his Holy Spirit,
gives you the spirit of adoption by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God's not your Father until you have first seen God and bowed
to his sovereign person and repented and come to Christ by faith. You can't expect the favors and
the privileges of the child of God until you've been born from
above, either. Born. So right here in John 16,
Christ speaks to his disciples right before he's about to leave.
He's speaking to his disciples again, his precious words. These
apply to us, too, if you're one of his disciples. Listen to verse
23, and I'll hurry through this. Christ said, In that day you
shall ask me nothing. In that day you shall ask me
nothing. He's talking about when he leaves.
He's getting ready to leave, and he's talking personally to
his disciples. I read a lot of writers on this. I'm not sure
any of them are satisfied. Me, I'm sure I went along with
him completely, but in the context of what he's saying here, he
said, I'm leaving you. I want to send the Holy Spirit.
He says, now I'm leaving you very soon. And in that day, the
day that I leave you, you shall ask me nothing. That is, when
I leave, the day of the Holy Spirit, because up to this point,
these disciples had been asking Him everything. Lord, what about
this? You know, they'd come, they'd go outside, they'd go
out in the world and come running back. Lord, what about this?
Or what about that? Lord, we don't understand. Lord, they
were constantly appealing to Him, weren't they? Everything.
Lord, there's a man down here casting out death. Lord, when
shall be the end of this thing? Lord, every question they wanted
to ask. Lord, Lord, He said, I'm leaving.
I'm leaving you. And in that day, in that day,
you'll ask me nothing. You've got somebody else to appeal
to. This is what he will show us
here in a minute. When I go back to the Father, you're going to
have free access to God. Look at it. In that day, you
shall ask me nothing, but verily, verily. Remember when he uses
this double truth here? Truly, truly. Wonderful. Truly, truly. I say
unto you, I wish we could get a hold of him. Whatever you ask
the Father in my name, He'll give it to you. The Holy God. You can come right up to God
and ask Him. What if you'd have told the people
at the foot of Sinai there? That mountain trembling. Anybody
who wants to go up to God now can go. This is what Christ is saying
here, and this is probably not a more misunderstood verse, a
more confusing and abused verse of Scripture, other than 2 Peter
3, 9, more abused anywhere than this verse. The health and wealth
religionists, they love this verse, don't they? The health
and wealth people, charismatic, they claim this as meaning you
ask for anything. Whatever you ask the Father in
my name, in the name of Jesus. You want a Mercedes? Ask Him
in the name of Jesus. Claim it. It's yours, Henry. Claim it. Claim you a new service
station. It's yours. What's wrong? A little weak face? What's wrong
with you? Throw away your glasses. Claim
a good eyesight. Claim it. Whatsoever you ask,
it's what's said there, doesn't it? That's not what he's saying.
That's not what he's saying. Now listen to me. I love my daughter. I love her so very, very much. And I'm willing to do just about
anything for her. Aren't we, Mindy? I mean, we're
willing to go to the moon if it was necessary. If there's
something she needed on the moon, I'd be on the space shuttle Columbia
to mark her. If at all possible, if it was
within my power, I'd do whatever was necessary for her, just about
anything within reason, as long as it wasn't harmful to her,
right? Anything that's good for her,
anything that's necessary, anything that's needful for her, she's
going to get it from Daddy, because I love her so dearly. And first of all, the beauty,
now listen, I'll get to this thought here in a moment, the
beauty of this verse. Listen to what I say here. I
thought about this carefully. The beauty of this verse is not that
you can get what you want out of God. That's not the beauty
of this verse. That's not what I was saying
anyway. That's not the beauty. The beauty of this verse is that
you can come to God now. That's what Paul said over in
Hebrews. Therefore, having boldness to
enter into the Holy of Holies, holiest of all, by the blood
of Jesus, He said, let us draw near. That's the beauty of this
verse, Terry. We can now come to God, to Baal,
and rift into it. Access to God is free to all
his children. Free access. Boneless. Confidence. Assurance. Come, come to the
Father himself, to this holy God himself. That's the beauty
of this verse. If we could enter into it, we'd
forget all about the rest of this. Anything. The glory of
this verse is full access to God the Father. And this Father
who loves you, just like you parents love your children, he'll
do just about anything. He that spared not his own son,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things, right? He'll do just about anything
for his children whom he loves, within reason. What reason? His glory. Within reason. I'll do about anything within
reason. What's reasonable? She says, Daddy, I want to go
swimming in the lake across the road. No, no, you're liable to
drown. That's not within reason. That's
a bad illustration, but God's not going to let us do anything
that is harmful or hurtful to us. Every now and then, in His
wisdom, He'll let us have something we ask for. Just teach us a lesson. When it's really not something
good for us, you say, OK, you keep asking for it, I'll give
it to you. And then we'll learn later on,
hey, I didn't need that after all. I didn't need that after
all. Things needful is what he's promised
us, right? He hasn't promised us anything
but what's needful, didn't he? He said, having food and raiment,
let us therefore be content. Right? Right? Right. Right. What things? What things
are needful? Things that are for His glory.
Things that are for our eternal good. Things that edify. Things
that profit us. Good things, right? Spiritual
things. Eternal things. Oh, yeah, bread,
water. You got that? Everybody here's got some clothes
on. Everybody's got a car to get to service. Everybody's got
a home. Everybody's got a place to stay tonight? If you don't,
we've got some extra bedding. Got some food? He's given it to us, hasn't He?
Everything. Everything we need. Now, what is really needful?
Terry prayed for it. The Lord teach us. We need to
be taught. We need to sit and learn of Christ,
don't we? We need to sit here and be taught. We're so ignorant.
We're so dumb. We're so foolish. We're just
such little children. Now, remember, He is a Father.
He is a Father. And whatever is going to—whatever
will conform us to Christ is what He's going to do. And this
father, he's a father, and the father's first responsibility
is to lead, to guide, to teach, to instruct, to mold, to prepare.
And everything has been predestinated. Everything in our lives, we have
been predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. And it
takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of work. It's a lifelong work by the Heavenly
Father, by the Holy Spirit. Now look, look at verse 23 again. He said, Whatever you ask in
my Whatever you ask the Father in my name. What does a name
tell you? Brother Milton preached that
message. What's in a name? What does the word name tell
you? I looked it up. The word name
here means character. It doesn't mean just title. It
means character. When you think of Moses, what
do you think of? When I say the name Moses, you only think of
one person. You think of this great leader
of the people, strong. faithful servant of God. We think
of David. I say the name David. Who do
you think of? Thinking of that sweet psalmist
of Israel, that faithful man of God, man after God's own heart,
loving follower of God, John the Baptist. Boy, you think of
a zealous messenger for God, don't you? You think of his character,
don't you? When I say the name. How about when I say Jesus Christ? Who do you think of? Name me
about 25 adjectives or names, titles, prophet, priest, king,
intercessor, mediator, messiah, the anointed one. Just keep going,
right? Every one of these offices, messiah, reconciler, the covenant
head, sacrifice, substitute, prophet, savior. When I say the
name Christ, that's what you think of, don't you? You don't
have a picture in your mind? You don't have this picture of
this long-haired fellow that they have that. No. You think
of this person and his character, wholly righteous, loving, gentle,
kind, obedient, submissive, faithful, true. So to ask in the name,
listen, to ask the Father in the name of Christ is not a mere
incantation. In the name of Jesus. It's not
like that. It's not socus trocus, dominocus,
open the sesame. You know, that's like a magical
incantation. That's what these fools are doing
today, isn't it? I command you in the name of Jesus. That's
not, that's not at all. Why do the disciples heal people
and so forth? Why? So they get a notoriety
so they can stick their names all across the building and say
Jimmy Swagger Bible College? They did it so they could what?
Preach the gospel that would save their eternal souls. That's
the reason Christ gave them the credentials he did to save, to
heal people. That's the reason, the only reason.
They didn't go around saying, look at that, heal in the name
of Jesus, just so they could be healing folks, so they could
show off. In the name, when they did something in the name of
Jesus, they preached to them. It was for the glory of God.
That's when they grabbed ahold of Paul and these guys, didn't
they? Said, Oh, you gods are among us. No, we're just men
like you. Don't worship us. Let it be known
this day in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth this man was
healed. Now we do these things among you. He gets all the glory
here. He let a man start truly giving
God the glory in these healing crusades. I might, I just might,
I doubt it, but I just might lend a little credence to what
he's doing. But there ain't nobody out there, is there? They're
all doing it for their own names and so forth. Look over Philippians
2 real fast with me. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians
chapter 2. To ask in the name of Christ
is to ask in the character of Christ, the mind of Christ, the
will of Christ. That's what it is to ask in the
name of Christ. to ask in the will of Christ,
what was the will of Christ? Look at Philippians 2, verse
4. Look not every man on his own
things. Did Christ ever pray anything for himself? Never. One time, John and I were discussing
this in a study, one time he said, if it be possible, let
this cup pass, but nevertheless, not my will. but thy will be
done." And Joe, I really believe the only reason he said that,
the only reason that's recorded, is to show us that we're not
to ask things strictly for our own personal relief or whatever,
but to ask for the will of the Father, else we wouldn't have
known. I'm glad he said that, not my
will, but thy will be done. But let not every man on his
own things, and Christ didn't, but every man also on the things
of others. Let this mind be in you. This will, this character, this
mind-set. Let this mind-set be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus. What was that? Verse 2. Who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Why? Because he was God. But he made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant. A servant. made in the likeness of men,
be found in fashion as a man, and humbled himself." Goodness,
what humility! "...humbled himself, and became
obedient," that's a key word, obedient, submissive, subjective
to the Father's will, obedient unto death, even the ignominious
death of the cross. Wherefore," look at verse 9,
"...God also hath highly exalted him." and given him a name that is above every name, but
the name of Jesus. You see, this is the will and
the character and the mindset of Christ. And God, as a result
of this, God highly exalted him. And how is God going to exalt
us? What does the Scripture say? Him that what will be exalted? He that abases himself. will
be exalted, right? He that exalteth himself shall
be abased. He that abases himself shall be exalted. God is nigh
unto them of a broken and contrite heart. Broken. Thus saith the
high and lofty one who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy.
I dwell in the high and lofty place, and with them that are
weak and lowly and contrite and broken. That's how we're going
to be exalted, by being broken and humble at his feet. by Christ's
will, not my will, and we ask in the submissive will and character
of Christ for that which is needful and glorifying the God, and he'll
give it. That eliminates a lot, doesn't
it, Rick? That would eliminate a whole lot. He said it's okay
to ask for bread, it's okay to ask for this, it's okay to ask
for anything, but you're not promised you're going to get
it. He promises here, though, you're going to get what you
ask the Father in my name. in this will and character. Right? All right, look at verse 24.
Listen to this. I think I've got something here. Verse 24. Hitherto, and the reason I had
to spend so long on just a couple of verses, he says to his disciples,
hitherto, that is, up until now, have you asked nothing in my
name. Hitherto. Up until now, you've
asked nothing in my name. What's he talking about? Henry,
let me pick on you. I always pick on you. Henry,
in your lifetime, 60 some odd, 50 some odd years,
do you ever recall one time ever asking for something with a pure
will and motive strictly for the glory of God Almighty and
for your eternal good. One time, do you ever remember
asking for nothing for yourself, but strictly for the glory of
God and the glory of the gospel of Christ and for my eternal
good, whatever it takes? Take it away from me if it has
to, for my good, my eternal good, and for God's good. Ever. Anybody? Anybody want to raise
their hand about this? Anybody done this? Give or take. Have you asked nothing in the
name of Christ? Right? Nothing. Nothing in the will and the character
and the mind of Christ. Nothing. This is what the disciples
did. What were they asking Him? Oh,
this is going to be great. Lord, when will these things
be? Lord, grant that John be on the
right hand and James on the left. Lord, I need a new job. I need
a new car. The car is about to break down.
I need a house. Lord, I wish. Why don't we start asking
this, if we could? Father, glorify your name. Wouldn't it be great if you could
really ask that from the heart, deep down in the heart? Father,
glorify your name in my life. Glorify yourself in my life.
He might just speak and say, I've glorified it, and I'll glorify
it again. Right? Wouldn't you like to pray
like that? That's what this is talking about.
No doubt in my mind whatsoever. No doubt. Hitherto have you asked
nothing. We've asked, all right, but we've
asked the mist to consume it upon our own. Hebrew 2, have
you asked nothing? That is, in the spirit and attitude
and the mind of Christ, for the glory of God and eternal life.
But he says, ask. Look at verse 24. Ask in my name. Ask and you shall receive that
your joy may be full. Your joy. Now, you see, you remember
when we looked at this up here in verse 21 and verse 22. He
said, your heart will rejoice and your joy, no man take it
from you. What joy do you have in this
world, in this life? Well, that little girl gives
me a great deal of joy. And my wife. But God's going to take them
someday. He may take them right out from
under me just tomorrow. Ask Brother Danny Blair. Ask
some of these people. What is your joy? Something to do with this world?
It's soap bubbles, right? Like a child has so much fun
playing with soap bubbles. Oh, it's beautiful. They chase
them around the yard and pop. And they cry. Someone kills them,
someone blows another one, right? Where's your joy found? Christ
said if you had the true joy, that joy no man take from you.
He couldn't take it from you. What joy is that? You remember
when the disciples, we look for this, when the disciples came
running back to Christ and saying, Lord, the devils are subject
to us. He said, don't rejoice in that. Don't rejoice in that. Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. Rejoice in the gospel, is what
he was saying. He said that, oh, where was that, John? Jeremiah
24, Jeremiah 24. He said, Rejoice in that you
know and understand Me. Then nobody will take that joy
from you. That's the reason. That's how men could go, and
women, back to martyrs and so forth, all the apostles, that's
how they could go to, Ed, that's how they could go to the stake
and have somebody tie them up and their children stand before
them, watching them burn and smithereens. That's the only way. Because here we had
no abiding, for here we had no joy, no real rest, do we? I tell you, your joy will be
gone. If your joy has anything to do with this world, if you're
a child of God, it'll be removed for you. It'll be removed. Well, when later on, you know,
these disciples, later on by His Spirit, they were enabled,
and then us, when we mature in the faith, are enabled to set
our affection, our mind, our heart, our desires on things
above. And I've experienced just a little
bit of this, not nearly like I want to, but just a little
bit of this thing of joy, just a little bit. Whenever you, when
God does give you a mind and a mind of Christ to set your
affection on things above, not on things on this earth. Ah,
it's joy. It's joy. And God give us the
mind of Christ, give us the Holy Spirit to enable us to pray for
the things that we ought to pray for, and to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and
His salvation more than anything else, because He promised that
no man could take that joy from Him. Oh, you might be sitting
on a dumb heap like old Joe, scraping your balls with a pot
shirt. But you'll still be able to say,
amidst tears running down, ash stained faces, I know my Redeemer
liveth, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. But I know
I'm going to see Him. And in my joy, weeping will endure
for a night. Oh, but joy cometh in the morning. Right? This joy no man will take
from you. And this is what Christ is saying
here, I believe. Ask. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Ask in this way. The things that
are needful for God's glory, He'll give it to you. And if
you ask, He'll give it to you and your joy will be full. That's
what He's promised. Is that good enough? Is Christ
good enough? It's not to the world, is it?
To this religious materialistically religious world. It's not good
enough. Christ's not good enough. That's the reason they preach
all this garbage, isn't it? Health and wealth. Christ's not
good enough. They haven't seen the unsearchable riches of Christ
yet. Oh, you see, here's riches. You'll be able to say like David,
the Lord's my portion. What else do I need? What do
I need with a Mercedes? The Lord's my portion. The Lord
is my portion. That's what he told Abraham when
Lot was getting the well-watered plains of Sodom. Abraham's standing
there probably pouting. I'm the one, I'm the faithful
one. He said, Abraham, I am not exceeding the great reward. Reward, singular, never in the
plural, singular. I am thy reward. And anybody
looking for a pie in the sky and a sweet bind buying mansions
and a cabin in the corner of glory and a yo-yo or whatever,
you know, they're not going to get it. I'm going to be there.
Anybody looking for Him, be found in Him, they're going to see
Him as He is. And they're going to be delighted and full of joy
throughout eternity. Now, He'll have their reward.
And that's what they're seeking for now, true disciples. That's what they're seeking now.
Well, let's stand and sing a verse of Cherokee. 63. I thought about this. I hadn't
looked at the words yet. I might not want to sing it. 63. Take the name of Jesus with
you, child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give
you. Take it then where you go. Let's stand and sing. birth through
this. Take the name of Jesus with you,
child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give
you. Take it, then, where'er you go. Precious name, oh, how sweet,
hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Last verse. At the name of Jesus
loving, all in prostrate at His feet. King of kings and heaven
will crown him when our journey is complete. Rest the slain,
O house free. Hope of earth and joy of heaven,
rest the slain. Oh, how sweet the hope of earth
and joy of heaven. Well, I think the ladies have
got a surprise for me. They'll stay here diving. I just want to thank you. You don't
sneeze around here unless I know it, but nobody likes to be the center of attention. God's
people don't like to be, I don't know, the center of attention,
and I certainly don't, not at all. We're here to worship God,
worship Christ, and gather around him, fellowship around him and
his gospel. But I do appreciate everything you do for me. I'm
really very ashamed of how little I've done this past year for
some of you, but there's no excuse. I'll do better. But I thank you. It is a good thing to, not just
me, but to recognize one another, to tell one another, to appreciate
one another. Scripture says to give honor to whom honor is due. And we're to honor and esteem
one another better than ourselves. We need to let one another know
that we appreciate one another. It helps, doesn't it? It helps. It makes you feel loved. We all
need to feel loved and needed. None of us are needed. You don't
need me. I do need you. You think the
opposite. But you don't need me. God would
raise up another man just like that. But it is nice to feel
loved. And I appreciate it. And I love
and need you all. And I appreciate you. So you're
listening.