John Chapter 16. The sad thing about what I was talking
about is that we can't drum up this spirituality no matter how
hard we try, can we? I mean, we grit our teeth. I'm
going to sing this like I mean it. It's just what I'm talking
about. It's the reason this thing takes
some preparation, all. It's a continual walk. That's
the reason you can't just run right in, sit right down and
worship God. It can't be done. No way. That high priest of old,
if he'd have done that, God would have killed him on the spot.
Killed him on the spot. That's what he said there in
Isaiah 1. He said, I'm so sick. That's what God said. I'm so
sick of this stuff. Didn't He? Let's rush right in. Let's get this over with. But
that's the reason I say that, because there's a whole lot more
involved. And we try. We try to come in, and
we try these things that are said in the scriptures. They
convict us, so we just can't drum it up. You can't do it. It's a walk. It's a continual
walk. I'll say this to myself, too. I go through such dry times and
it's so miserable because I've got to stand up here no matter
how I feel. No matter how I feel, I've got
to stand up here and hope that it comes out with some feeling
to it. Oh boy, we need grace, we need
grace, God's mercy and grace. And we're responsible, responsible
mature adults. God gives us directions. We're
to avail ourselves of them. God Almighty walked this earth
in the form of a man. I wish I could just enter into
that, that God was—this is probably the reason that we don't enter
into this like we should. It's kind of a... it's just a story or something.
You know what I'm getting at? It's kind of like, it's all just
so much... it sounds good, and every now
and then it touches us, but... it's just really, it's just so
far removed from us. But He did. God walked this earth.
He's just as real and just as alive as a man in glory. just
as much as if he were now was the time. But he walked this
earth, the creator of man himself, made himself to be a man. And
that's what Paul says over in 2 Timothy, he says this great
mystery, God has manifested in the flesh. And if we have any
inkling or understanding of this, we're the most blessed people
on earth. People back then were, if they
saw his glory, they were so blessed, salvation had come to their house.
It's the same way now. If we have the least bit of...
It's the reason it's not the amount of faith you have. It's
really not your walk. It's not your walk that saves
you. It's just that little seed faith. Mustard seed faith. Just
a little bit. It's not the amount. It's the
kind. It's the kind of faith. It's the object of faith. But
I think about this. I thought about this in this
message. I sat down and looked at these verses of Scripture
and not particularly feeling impressed by them or whatever,
and I thought, goodness gracious, this is God Almighty talking
here. Used to be a time when God spoke audibly. You better
believe everybody paid attention. And yet this is the same thing.
This is the words of God Almighty. Rick, this is the Son of God
talking. Every word he speaks ought to have our utmost attention,
shouldn't it? Just riveted. It ought to. But I thought about this. When
I was looking at all this, And here's the thing I try to do
in this thing of preaching. I'm really not trying to get
through 45 minutes. Personally, I'm glad when it's over. I'll
just be honest with you. I'm just glad when 45 minutes is up. But
that's not my objective. That's not my mean. It's just
to get through the time, get it over with. I want the Holy Spirit to bring
out the meaning of this. I want him to teach us, to lead
us, to show us. to talk to us, speak to us, show
us what he's saying here. And I looked at this and I thought,
God is talking here, and God walked this earth. And I thought,
what must have gone through his mind walking upon this earth?
What was he, what were his thoughts while he was walking this earth,
this God? I'll be honest with you, I wish I, I wish I could
have walked with him in person. Someday we're going to. I wish
it could have been one of those disciples. Wouldn't you stand,
wouldn't you have liked to have sat around that fire? God. He was a God. Sit around by the
fire and look into those eyes that, you know, some people have eyes
that are piercing. What must his eyes have been
like to look him in the eye when, Nancy, he looked through your
soul and what you were thinking? We have a hard time hiding our
emotions and so forth from one another, don't we? He knows our
heart. He knew. What must he have been
thinking while he was walking this earth? Scripture says that
his thoughts were higher than the heavens and the earth. I
mean, God was confined to a body, confined himself to a body, and
walked around this earth in the dust and the mire and the muck
and the mire and the sin and so forth, yet his thoughts were.
He was still controlling the universe. Ever thought about
that? There he never relinquished his
lordship. He's still in control of all
things, yet he was confined to this body. It's a mystery, and
great is this mystery of godliness. God confined to a body, yet still
controlling it. I thought about this, what things
he could have spoken. The things he could have spoken. Oh, man. He could have spoken
great and marvelous things. He did. And what power he could
have displayed. You know, the children of Israel
saw that Red Sea party. That must have been a glorious
sight. I mean, the sea just... I'm just sure they just fell
back on their backs, just amazed at this power and glory. What
could Christ have done while He was here? Oh, my. He did, though. Every now and
then He displayed His divinity. He let it out just a little bit.
He let it seep out just a little bit for a purpose. We don't know. But He'd walk on that water,
on those raging waves. And at times when He did, when
He did display His divinity, at times men were just frightened. But he couldn't. Joey couldn't
let it out. We couldn't have stood it. We
couldn't have stood it. Maybe that's the reason for our
weakness. We couldn't stand it. We couldn't live every day if
we constantly walked in such spiritual closeness and all.
But he'd walk on the water every now and then and raise the dead.
Goodness gracious. Transfiguration, one time he
really let some of them in on it. He took some hand-picked
disciples up and said, You're going to see something. I took
them up on that mountain, and they saw the brightness of His
glory, literally. They fell asleep before it happened. Well, that gives us some encouragement,
I suppose. But do you know what? I talk
about God Almighty walking this earth. Do you know what the greatest
display of His person was? The greatest? No, other than
the cross. Some of you have an understanding. Immediately you
think it's a cross when he hung on that cross. Yeah, that's right.
I'm talking about the greatest manifestation or revelation when
he revealed himself. The things he did or his actions
or whatever. The greatest display of his person
while he was on this earth. Are you following me? God. I'm talking about God walking
this earth. And the greatest display of his person. You know
what that was? When he opened his mouth, grace poured from his lips. Every time, Terry, every time
he opened his mouth, it was full of the infinite, eternal omniscience
and wisdom of God Almighty. Not an idle word. And every bit
of it had eternal consequences. Every word. Every time he opened
his mouth. The heavens stood still. Everybody stood still. Every
word of Christ, Scripture says, was quick, powerful, sharper
than a two-edged sword. Piercing even the dividing asunder
of the soul and the spirit should get right down to the heart of
the matter, to the joints and the marrow and discerner of the
thoughts and the intents of the heart. Christ's speech revealed
inner thoughts. That's what he said to some of
them, didn't he? You say, why do you reason thus
in your heart? How do you know? Maybe murmur,
why do I do that? I believe that's why the psalmist
said, I put a watch over my lip, put my hand over my mouth. Goodness
gracious. But you know, truly, the scripture
said, God has magnified his word above all his name, or all of
his glorious character, his word. That's Christ. That's the reason
he's given Christ that name. word. It personifies it. It explains it all. Every word
was a fulfillment of the scriptures and the covenant. This is why
we're so finite in our understanding of this book. You know? Every word. Every word that was
spoken. Every word that's recorded here
has eternal significance. This is the reason we're so finite
in our understanding of it. So finite. Because the meaning
of every passage can be sevenfold. The meaning of three words in
one verse of Scripture could have a hundred meanings. Eternal,
you see what I'm saying? And you know what this makes
me think about when I look at that? I think, why am I standing up here? Goodness
gracious, sit down, man, and shut up. That's what Paul said. Who is sufficient for these times?
Now, I ask you, now, do you pray for me? Take our text that we've been
going through from John 13 to 17. The words of Christ before
he goes to that cross. The greatest event that all history
revolves around this event, and everything he said Everything
he did was leading up to this time, everything he said. Goodness gracious, how are we
going to understand? What I want to do is enter into
the feeling of it. I want to understand what he's saying here,
how he's saying it either. I'd like to be able to read the
Scriptures as Christ said it. It can't be done. It just can't
be done. It is grace. Goodness gracious,
it is grace. Well, let's look at it. Let's
get into it here. But all that in mind, I apologize,
because this thing just overwhelms me at times. You know, I look
and search and pray about it, and I just sometimes, I just
say, I don't know. I can't get into it. It's God talking. Who in the world is going to
explain God, for Christ's sake? Henry, maybe we ought to just
read it and get on out of here. You reckon? Well, he said this here. Look at verse 16. This is where
we end the stop. Christ said, a little while and
you'll not see me. And again, a little while and
you shall see me. A little while. Now, he's not
only talking to his disciples. Like I said, everything he said
had eternal consequences, significance. He's not just talking to these
disciples here. He's talking to us, too. He's talking to us. And let me say this spiritually
speaking. There are seasons, there are times when we do see
his glory. We do see him. Very short seasons out there.
Just very brief moments. We do see him. A little while.
We see him. 10 minutes. Right? 45 minute message. We might be
in there 30 minutes. Maybe 45. God gives us a break.
God gives a preacher utterance. We might see him a little bit.
Our hearts rejoice. Then he's gone again. Right?
And we don't see him anymore. In a little while, we see him
again. But he's been out of view now for a generation. He's been out of view for a generation.
But the Scripture says he's soon to be seen again. It says every
eye then will see him. That's the reason I say the time
is so short. And this ain't no fairytale. Goodness gracious. I tell you,
some folks are going to wish it was. I think about it. I heard a fellow say one time,
how do you know Jesus Christ is alive? How do you know all
this is so? And I said, how do you know it's
not? He said, we're going to find
out, aren't we, bud? We're going to find out. Take a gun and blow
your brains out. Let's find out. Come back and
tell me about it. This is real. This is real. We don't see it.
We don't understand it. We know, in part, these things
don't touch us like it's real. It's real. We've tried to refute
this. Man has tried to destroy this
and refute this. He did everything he can to it. The opponents of it are dead
and gone. They're facing the God they tried to refute. But
it's real. Christ is real. He stood on this
earth. He said some things. He did some
things. He went back to the Father. Scripture said He'd come back
again. And everybody will see him then. And then they say,
it's too late. And it's too late. It'll be too
late to find out. It'll be too late to believe
the gospel, won't it, Rick? It'll be too late. What is it I'm supposed
to believe? What am I supposed to do? Too
late. Sorry. It's too late. Too late. He says, a little while
and you'll see me. And you'll not see me. And again,
a little while, you will see me. Now, he's talking to us,
Henry. A little while, it's just a little while. A day is a thousand
years, and a thousand years is a day. You don't know what tomorrow
may bring forth. Scripture says, in a moment,
a twinkling of an eye, the trumpets will sound, the heads shall rise,
and Christ shall appear. A little while, just a little
while in it. That's the reason I say it's so serious. It's so
serious. It's the reason there's urgency
about our children, our young people. It's urgent. It's urgent. It really is. You know, I sound urgent
to you right now. Goodness gracious, I don't have
the urgency that I wish I had. If I did, I'd be begging God
over the soul of that child. Begging Him at every opportunity
and everybody I know and love. Right? Right. A little while,
he said, a little while, you'll not see me. And again, a little
while, you're going to see me. Who's me? God. That's the reason we can't enter
into this, because we... God. I mean, we can't figure
out God. We can't know God. We can't describe
God. God. We want to see God. That's
the reason they didn't believe Him back then. They didn't know.
If they'd have known, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory.
If we'd have known, we wouldn't have passed this off so lightly.
We wouldn't be so careless about this. If we knew this was the
Lord of Glory, if we knew that this was truly the words of God,
eternal words, and had eternal significance. We wouldn't pass
it by so carelessly and lightly, would we? What? Could you not watch with me one
hour? Christ said, one hour? Forty-five minutes? No, Lord,
we can't. We can't. Well, then said some
of these disciples, verse seventeen, they said among themselves, well,
what's he saying here? A little while you're not seeing
him again, a little while you see me because I go to the Father.
He said, therefore, what is this? I don't understand. Can you hear in Henry what they're
saying? Lord help me. I don't follow
you. I'm not getting this. I know James, John, we're the
same way. We're the same way. We can't
really enter into it either. We can't really tell what he's
saying here either. We claim to know some things,
believe some things, have an understanding of some things,
but we really just know in part. And when we're confronted, like
David, you know the reason why David always was praying for
his enemies not to be exalted over him? Because most of the
time they were. Most times, David was a cowardly,
sniveling little idiot like the rest of us wasn't he? That's
the reason he's saying that. I'm talking to all of us. Most
of the time, that's the reason. David went down to Ziklag and
frayed, you know, acted like a wild man in front of the Philistine
king, just scared, like the rest of us. Like these apostles, scared. Oh, I can't see God. That's my
problem. That's our problem, isn't it?
Can't see Christ. I know He lives here. I think
I believe there. I believe there. I can't see Him. I don't know
Him. I'd like to see Him. I'd like to see Him. I'd like
to really know some power here. You know what I'm saying here?
And that's what they say, and you know, message after message,
and I don't claim to know everything I'm saying. But I don't understand
here. This is not getting a hold of
me here. I don't know. We really, we know
in part, so dimly, so dimly, like that blind man that had
his vision partially healed. I see, but men are walking like
trees. I see a little bit, but it's
just not very clear, not very clear. And we certainly believe
very weakly, don't we? And most of the time act like
we don't believe at all. Now, I started out by kind of
making us feel bad, but this is going to make you feel good,
believe it or not, especially if God will help us. They said, I don't understand.
Lord, we just don't know what you're saying here. We can't
enter into what you're saying. Now, look at verse 19. Look at
these three words. Now, Jesus knew. You see what I'm talking about?
Just a few words. You just stop and look at two
words. Now, Jesus. Who's Jesus? Call His name Jesus. Savior. Now, Jesus. He knew. He knew what they were
thinking. He knows what things you have
need of even before you ask. He knows our thoughts. He knows
our hearts. And you know, this creates a
two-fold feeling within me. It makes me ashamed, for one
thing. It makes me, it makes me ashamed
and a little bit fearful. He knows my, he knows the hypocrisy
in my heart. He knows my heart. God's not
mocked. He knows what's, he's looking
on the inside. And no matter what I, how much, he knows me. I can't fool God. God's not mocked. And that kind of scares me a
little bit yet. It comforts me, in spite of that. That comforts me, knowing that
He knows my heart. He knows it's there, yet He still
bears with me, still is patient with me. That comforts me. He
knows my heart. It's kind of like the relationship
of a father and a child, or a mother and a child. You know everything,
or a husband and a wife. You know everything about that
old scoundrel. I mean everything about it. Ain't nothing been
hid from your eyes and your ears, right? You know him. Especially
if you've been married a hundred years like some of you. You know
him, not her. Yet, you love him. You bear with
him. That's love. And it comforts
you. Really, it comforts you, doesn't
it? Even though this person that
you live with knows everything about you, you know that it's
a well-kept secret. It's guarded. You're not worried
about being put to shame and grief and so forth. You know,
they know you, but they still love you and still even proud
of you. Well, that comforts me right
there that Jesus knows. He knows. And it says there,
verse 19, He knew that they were desirous to ask Him. He knows
what you want to ask Him when you can't even put it into words. You know, when you come, do you
ever attempt to pray? Are you ever able to pray? Most
of the time for me, 99% of the time I come to pray. I may sound
pretty good to you here in public, maybe not, I don't know, but
I go to pray in private. Most of the time, I'll be honest
with you, I... Daddy, I don't know what to pray. Don't feel like praying. Things
run through your mind. Lord, he knows. He knows what
you need to ask. That's what he said. That's what
we studied back over in chapter, what was it, chapter 13 or 14.
He said that the Spirit has to give us utterance, groanings
that can't be uttered. We need the Holy Spirit to pray
for us, don't we? He knew what they were desirous to ask him,
and he said to them, very patiently, I'd like to hear him say that.
I'd like to hear him say so many things. He said here in verse
19, he said, Are you inquiring among yourselves of what I said?
Now, he told them, he just told them, right? We went through
it there. He started over there in chapter
14, he said, Now in my father's house, I'm in a mansion. If it
were not so, I would have told you. Now, I'm going to prepare
a place for you." And they said, where are you going? We don't know
where you're going. And he explained it to them over and over again.
He told them where he was going. He said it to them many times.
I'm going to send the comforter to you. Now, I'm leaving. I'm leaving.
You're going to be sad, but I'm going away and I'm going to send
the Holy Spirit time and time again. And finally, and they're
still, they're still, just don't. And that's it. I said, hear the
gospel. And what is there? Tell me that
gospel again. I just, I've got to hear it.
I'm not sure I understand. He says very patiently, very
tenderly, well, are you asking again? Are you inquiring again
among yourselves of what I said a little while ago? Are you? Are we asking the same old questions
when we've been around a good while? We ought to be teachers. Are we asking the same old questions?
Well, I don't understand. Why does God do this? That's us, isn't it? Well, he
says here, look at it. He says, oh, barely, barely,
verse 20. Now, any time he says that, he
prefixes what he's about to say, truly, truly. Any time, we need
to give careful heed to what he's about to say there. Any
time he says that, any time he opens his mouth, but particularly
when he gives double emphasis to barely, barely. I say unto
you that you shall weep and lament But the world shall rejoice."
You're going to weep and you're going to lament, but the world
shall rejoice. Now, this has at least a twofold meaning. Stay
with me. I can't make this real to myself, let alone you, so
just stay with me, bear with me. This at least has a twofold
meaning. Primarily, in the context of
what he's saying here, he's saying this because he's leaving. He's
leaving them, going back to the Father, and they're going to
be sad about it. They're going to be sad about it. But through
this hour of terrible sorrow and sadness and pain and suffering
and so forth, what he's saying here is that you're going to
weep, but this world of sinners is going to rejoice because of
what I'm about to accomplish. The place I'm going to prepare
a place for sinners to enter in, and you, you don't even realize
it, but you are going to prepare a place for you, and you're going
to weep and lament right now, but there's going to be joy the
world over. what's going to be accomplished
through it, in spite of these disciples, their confusion and
scattering. You know, in the book of Acts,
it talks about when they were scattered, disbursed abroad,
people came down hard upon little churches here and there and persecuted
them and so forth. They were scattered all over
the world, though. God's purpose and will, the church
was scattered. It was placed all over because
of it. And they were sad and sorrowful and hurting and pain
and suffering. Persecution, this and that and
the other, they were sad, they were weeping and lamenting, but
the world rejoices because of that. In God's wisdom, the world
rejoices. And the elect, though they're
scattered all over the world, where the carcass is, the eagles
gather and the elect have gathered. Secondly, this means that believers
are going to experience tribulations and trials and Sufferings and
sorrows distress us while this world prospers. We're so distraught over, like
David. You know, David, his palms are
full of it. He says, I don't understand it,
Lord. We see it, we read it, the affliction of the saints
and the prosperity of the wicked. We see it, we read it, we understand
it's the way it is, but still we don't understand it. Why? Why do you let God's people...
Why does God let His people suffer like this when the world prospered?
Because this is all the world has. They've got for themselves
dust and ashes. We've got a better inheritance.
It hath not yet appeared unto us the things of God. This is
the reason I said we don't see it, Lord. We don't see it. We
don't understand. This is their sadness. Because
we don't understand. We just don't, like little babies,
you know. I want, I want, I want. It's
not time yet. I'm trying to tell you, he says.
I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to show us. The world's
going to be happy though. They're going to be so happy
and fat and sassy and getting rich and doing good jobs and
money and cars. Not a care of trouble in this
world. Pick that boss man that, goodness
gracious, gives you such a hard time. He doesn't know God, spit
cusses God's name. Here you are trying to follow
the true and living God, and you're struggling. I don't understand
that. They said it happened. That's
the only thing we can do, just believe it. Believe it. He said,
their time's coming. David said, that's what he said,
well, this is too painful for me. When I thought upon it, it
was too painful for me. It's when unbelief creeps in. Why? Why would God let his daughter
or child or his go through such pain and suffering? Why? Surely
a God of love. Yeah. We don't understand it. Do you inquire among yourselves
about these things? Christ said He knows. And he
says, though, like David said, but when I entered into the sanctuary,
when I heard the gospel, I saw, I saw that here I had no continuing
city. And like a wise father, he's
weaning us from those things that are hurting us. These things
that would captivate us and take us from him, he's weaning us
from. He's telling us, don't get your hooks here. Don't, don't
get, don't like this place. Love not the world. These are
the things of the world. Don't do it. If we didn't have
any troubles, we'd love it, wouldn't it? It'd be a wonderful place.
No pain, no sorrow. It'd be a wonderful place. We
wouldn't want to leave it. We'd kick and scream, trying to hold
on, don't take me. That's what people do down to
their deathbed, don't they, of this world. That's the reason
they're trying to find any and every cure. There's a health
kit going on now, a youth rejuvenation to consume this world, aren't
there, when it's dying. Like a flower, like dead—the
beauty of this world is corrupting, the Scriptures say. It's like
trying to hold on to a flower and it's dying. And God in His wisdom is—don't
do it. Plucking those—He's plucking
the petals off of it right in front of our eyes, isn't He?
Sometimes He plucks a little petal. My parents lost the apple
of their eye, a 21-year-old boy. It gave them nothing but pleasure
and happiness. Oldest child, boy, son. Pluck that pedal. Plucking these,
that's what he's doing. Pluck. Now, pluck away this good
health you got. Why? Because you're dying. Go
into your turtle hole. Pluck away this, and I'm not
giving you a particularly good job. Why? So you won't just be
consumed with greed and avarice and lust and this and that. It's wisdom in it. He said, do
you inquire among yourselves? See, it's barely, barely a saying
that you're going to weep, you're going to lament. Scriptures talk about joy unspeakable. It's so unspeakable, I can't
speak about it. I don't know anything about it, Terry. I hadn't
experienced it. I hadn't been there. That's what Paul said
when he got back. He said, I can't tell you about
a man that went up there. I can't tell you. It's unlawful. You just have
to see it yourself. What he was saying, your sorrow
will be turned to joy. Joy. As we read back there, it
says, weeping may endure for a night, and it seems like a
long night. You know, when your children are sick, it seems like
a long time. Or when you're sick personally,
the night time seems like it lasts forever. It endures. You think, how long? Like Hannah,
when we're going to Florida, we say the same thing in this
journey of life, don't we? How long, oh Lord, how long?
Do you say that? Say about every day, David said
in Psalm 13, how long? How long? He said three times
in Psalm 13. How long? How long? How much
longer? We'll get there. We're going
to get there. We're coming. It's coming. Henry is about 60
years old. Oh, it's coming. It's on you. Right at the doorstep. You probably
think you'll be 35 again. Just like that, wasn't it? It's
coming. How long, oh, Lord? It's right there. Right on the
doorstep. Tomorrow. A day. Right, Joe? Right around the corner. You're
a grandfather. Yeah, I bet you it feels like just yesterday
that Stephen was Joseph Aaron's aide, doesn't it? Just yesterday,
doesn't it? Goodness gracious. It's here. A little while. A
little while. A little while, you'll see me. And your heart will rejoice. Joy unspeakable. Your sorrow
will be turned to joy. Verse 21, he gives this application,
this illustration. He says, you know, our joy or
our sorrow is going to be turned to joy, but this world, the joy
is going to be turned to. Heart-stopping fear. There's
going to be a prayer meeting. Scripture talks about a prayer
meeting, a big prayer meeting on the final day, but not to
God. Men praying for rocks, praying
to rocks and hills of all things. To fall on us, kill us, hide
us. You know, what's our prayer?
Hide me, O my Savior, hide me. Rock of ages, cleft for me. That's
our prayer by the grace of God. But some days there's going to
be a prayer meeting of this world when their joy is going to be
turned to sheer terror and utter sorrow. Weeping, wailing, gnashing
of teeth such as has never been heard before. Sounds like there's
so much fairy tale, doesn't it? It's true. It's happened before,
since the beginning of time, and it's going to happen one
more time to end all times. It's weeping. And Rama, there
was heard a great voice, weeping, wailing, gnashing of their teeth. But she was not. Well, he says here in verse twenty-one,
Now, woman, you ladies have had children, babies. You can enter
into this. A woman, when she is in travail,
has sorrow. And you ladies, you think, when
you're in that labor room, you think, oh, it's never going to
come out. It's never going to end. Mindy
was in labor for almost 24 hours. Oh, and I witnessed her for a
while. I fell asleep. After a while. She could understand
it. I had been up with her for about 24 hours already, and we
had another eight to go. And I just couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't watch with her another
hour. And she, well I'm not going all that, but she didn't fall
asleep. Goodness gracious. She would
have loved to, wouldn't she? Loved to fall asleep. But she
didn't. She was in travail. She had one
thing on her mind. One thing on her mind, getting
rid of that baby. And all I'm having a baby, getting
rid of it. Sorrow, terrible sorrow, her
hour and weeping and wailing and gnashing of their teeth.
She gnashed her teeth at me. You did this. Her sorrow, sorrow,
pain, suffering, because her hour was there, his hour of travail.
But as soon as she had delivered that child, what pain? What pain? I said to her, boy,
sure was rough, wasn't it? What? Bring that little girl
over here again. Let's look at her. What pain? What sorrow? Oh, when she lost
sight of that child's face, you know, she got a little sore.
As long as she had that baby in her arms, she was... What
pain? What pain? As soon as she's delivered
of the child, she remembers no more of the anguish for joy.
that a man is born into this world. And there's real joy in
knowing that a man was born into this world. We're trying to get
at this morning and this evening both. A man. A man. I heard a man preach a message
at a national conference years ago. It's indelibly printed on
everybody's mind that heard that message. A man in glory. A man. Do you remember that?
A man in glory. The right hand of God. The man
that stood here was none other than the God man. God himself. And now that same man went back
to heaven. Went back to heaven to plead
our case. And he never loses a case. He
says he's talking to Nancy Farley. He's got your name. There's a
man up there with his name on your lips talking to God. Pleading
your case. That's your joy. It should be. A man up there
said, Nancy Parks. Isn't she something? Loved her. Died for her. She's mine. She's
mine. Father, you loved her. You chose
her. That's the reason I went. Died for her. Established that
righteousness for her. Justified her so. All she needs
is work. A lot of it. But we'll dung her
a little bit. Work with her. We'll conform
her. I'll bring her. I'll bring her back. Bring her
around. A man. There's a man. A flesh and blood,
excuse me, flesh and bones man. Spirit has not flesh and bones,
but a man. A man. You don't have any blood.
He poured it out. He poured the blood out. Sacrificed
that. But the joy in knowing that a
man came down here to do blood. God took the form of a man. did
for us what we couldn't do for ourselves, a man born into this
world, and now there's a man at the right hand of God, our
only hope, our comfort, our peace. Verse 22, and I'll quit. He says, you now therefore have
sorrow. You have sorrow. You know, Peter
said, we studied it last week, Peter says, now for a season,
if need be. If need be? You know where the
need be comes from? if God sees the need for it to
be. If now you're in manifold heaviness through manifold temptations,
if need be, according to God's will, you have sorrow. He says,
you now therefore have sorrow. He says, there's a reason I wish
I'd have been there to hear this. Someday I will. I'll see you
again. I'll see you. You ever use those
parting words to somebody? See you. I'll see you later.
You really hope you win. You really hope to. We bid the
Stonikers goodbye, and they're coming back tonight, spending
the night with us. But I want to see them again. I want to hear from them. I want
to see what went on, what took place down there, what the Lord's
doing. I'm interested. I love them.
I'm interested. We bid them goodbye. See you
later. That's what Christ is saying here. I'll see you later. Terrence, what he's saying there?
Terry Kinsley, I'm leaving. I'll see you later. I'll see
you. I got a poem for you. All right,
boy. See you later, and your heart
shall rejoice. He said, no man, no man, I'm
not going to take it from you then. You know, men take it from
us now, don't they? We get a little bit of joy. All
we need to do is, after a message or something, we might be rejoicing
in a message. You walk up and talk to somebody else, and they
take it away. The fowls of this earth, everything,
takes it away, takes away our joy. We're at Sunday night, you
know, we get a joy out of the message. Well, bright and early
Monday morning, Stan, they take it right away, don't they? A
man comes in and starts cussing God right off the bat, and you
say, oh, here I am again, back to the real world. Right? Take
it from me. He says, they're going to wait
a time, though. They ain't going to take it away. Unbridled eternal
joy. I want you to read this with
me. Maybe this will have a better meaning to you now, these verses
of Scripture. Romans 8. I know we went through
this, but let's look over here at Romans chapter 8. I'll read
this in closing. I'll read this in closing. Romans,
chapter 8. Romans, chapter 8. You know, I'm saved because Christ
came and established a righteousness and died to satisfy God's justice,
and He rose again, proving that that sacrifice was accepted by
God Almighty, and now He's seated on the throne interceding for
me and pleading my case. And I'm saved because there's
a man at the right hand of God. Because of what he did, what
he's doing now. Because the scripture says, as he is, that's how I
am. As he is, so are we. So are we. Well, I'm holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight. That's what the gospel says.
That's the good news to sinners like you and me. Even though
we don't feel it. Well, look here, look at this.
Do you sorrow? Look at Romans 8, verse 31. Now, I've tried to preach some
things to you here, and we try to talk about, you know, look
at verse 30. It says, "...moreover whom he
did predestinate." We looked at that Wednesday night. We're
going to look at it again next Wednesday. "...And whom he called, he justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified." Past tense. This is comforting the child
of God, and all these things are taking place. It's all in
his hands. It's all sure, because we've got a surety. It's all
sure. There's nothing left to be done.
You don't have to pray through. You don't have to repent of that
last sin before you die. You don't have to worry about
that. It's all been taken care of. That's the good news. Past
tense, whom he did foreknow, that is, forechoose, foreordain,
he did predestinate. And whom he did predestinate,
he called them. He's by the gospel. And whom
he called, he justified. They're accepted. But look at
me, Lord. No, it's accepted. Sins and iniquities,
I remember no more. Nothing on the record. Justified.
I can't. It's too good to be true. It's
true. This is the truth. The gospel of your salvation.
Justified. Just as if you'd never seen Barbara
Rock. You think about that. But I am, I know. To God. If we could enter into that,
it'd bring us such joy. And whom he justified, he glorified.
It's as if we're already there. To coin a phrase, you know, we're
already there. We're seated in the heavenlies
with Christ, as if we're already there. We can't enter into it
now. But look at verse 31. What's your reaction? What do
you say to these things? Some people say, I don't like
that. Not. What do you say. You've got. A smile on your face. Could be against not even you
Terry. You could be against you you're
your grace. You're leading yourself to hell. God says no no you know. I've
overcome. I've overcome. Who shall lay
anything? What shall we say to these things? If God be for us,
who can be against us? Because He that spared not His
own Son and delivered up His own Son, that precious blood
we talked about this morning, how shall He not with that wonderful
sacrifice freely give us all things? He's given us the house. Why wouldn't He give us the lawn
mower? He gave us the sun, the apple
of his eye, why wouldn't he give us eternal life? Now he will. Who then, verse thirty-three,
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Everybody's trying
to, but Satan, the devil, is called the great accuser of the
saints. He does it every day. And this is what we need to plead
with him. This is what we need to plead. Who? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
God to justify. Who's he that condemneth? Christ
died. The Lord Jesus Christ came down
here to die for sinners, and that's me. Yeah, right there,
he's risen again, even. And he's even at the right hand
of God. He ain't in the grave. He came
to die, to live, to die for old rotten, wretched, rebel, no-good
sinners like me. He said so. We say it. Take him
at his word. He's faithful. He's too true
to lie. Take him at his word. Said he did. He went to the cross
and said he paid for my sin. And then he rose again, not in
a grave like the Romans say he is. He rose again. And he's even
at the right hand of God making intercession for me. Call him
by name. He also makes intercession for
us. And this is what Paul's saying
here in verse thirty-five. Can you enter into it? Who then
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who? Tribulation? We're going through it. Violent?
Is an operation on your neck going to separate you from the
eternal love of Christ? No, no, no. It might make you
think it will. It might make you feel so weak
and so down and so lowly like you're going to fall and it's
all over. But no, it's just no, no, no
way. Who? Tribulation? Distress? A lot of you are in distress.
Some of you feel just depression and distress all the time, don't
you? Boy, I know what you feel. Distress,
you're under stress and strain and depression and stuff. Is
that going to finally bring, is it going to be your undoing,
distress? No. Persecution? Do you think, well,
I'm such a coward? Such a low, no, I can't. You know, he said that whoever
denies me before me and all that, it's going to be my undoing.
One of these days he's going to, I'm going to deny him in
front of somebody and not speak up and God's going to say, OK,
that's it, old boy. You ever think like that? Sure you do.
I do. Is that going to do it? Persecution? No. He's too kind. He's too long suffering. Aren't
you glad? He's too long suffering. Famine? What was I talking about a while
ago? We go through these famines of the hearing of the word, don't
we? Where the gospel just doesn't touch us. It just doesn't mean
a thing to us. And God ought to. He ought to snuff us out
on the spot, shouldn't He? You mean you're hearing the story
of how I sent my son down there and brutally killed and butchered
my son for your salvation, and you don't give a thought to it?
He ought to snuff us out, shouldn't He? And you talk about roast
beef afterwards. You see what I'm saying? Amen. Thank God for mercy. His mercy and grace. He's long
suffering. That won't do it either. It ought to. Or nakedness. We can't cover up
our sin. We just we can't get rid of it.
Nakedness. Sin. unrighteousness, wickedness,
thoughts, that we're just naked and open before God, aren't we?
We're perverse, our minds are wicked, aren't we? Oh, wicked,
that's the best word we can use for us, wicked, aren't we? Every
one of us, any soul in here is just not perverse to the core,
right? If we had our thoughts and lives
even, our secret lives up on a screen, not just the Put up
there on the screen, we'd run out of here. Wouldn't we? We'd
run out of here and never show our faces again. Nakedness. Is that going to do it? God sees
us. No, it won't do it. It won't separate. You see how
it's all mercy. You see how it's of grace. You
see that? You see how salvation's all of
grace? 148,572,000% grace from first to last. Salvation of the
Lord, you see how it is? nakedness. Peril? Oh, my goodness
gracious. Sword? Encounter? We don't know what tomorrow brings.
We don't know what kind of peril we're going to be in or whatever.
But he says it's not going to do it. It's not going to do it.
As it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long.
We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us." And
I'm persuaded, Paul says, and we need to be persuaded. This
is what the gospel persuades us, the gospel of a person. I
know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able. He's able. I'm not able. You
able? I'm not able. He's able, though, and Paul says,
I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels, not the
highest devil, No principality, no powers, no things present,
no things to come, no height, no depth. No matter how high
I get full of pride, no matter how low I get in sin, nor any
other creature can separate me from the love of God in Christ. Is it any wonder he says, Rejoice? He says, Again I say, O believer,
rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord, I say. He
says, I say rejoice. It's grace. It's grace. Preach any other message, believe
any other thing, and we've got reason to be terribly sad and
afflicted and go mourning all the day long, don't we? But we've
got reason to rejoice, because it's a grace. God's grace. That song, God, grace, grace. God, let's sing that song. God's
grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, that's
marvelous grace, isn't it? That's Brother Joe's, one of
his favorite songs, isn't it? 209. Let's sing it. Let's stand and sing a few verses
of that. 209. You. Harborless grace of our loving
Lord Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt Yonder on Calvary's
loud outpouring There where the blood of the Lamb Must be grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that will pardon me. With Him, grace, grace, God's great grace that is greater
than all our sin. Now, let me read the third verse
to you. Dark is that stain that we cannot hide. That's that nakedness.
What can avail to wash it away? Why, look, there's flowing a
crimson tide. Blood is the only thing that
makes atonement for the soul. He says, whiter than snow you
may be today. Let's sing the last verse. Marvelous, infinite, patchless
grace. We bestow on all who believe. You that are longing to see His
face. ♪ We'll be there for you, we'll
be there for you ♪ Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse
within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all. Our Father, we thank you for
your grace, marvelous grace. We thank you. Impress it upon our hearts, our
minds. grace. Let our speech be seasoned with this grace, always speaking
of God's grace, ever mindful of His graciousness to us in
Christ. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.