You know, we sometimes as believers are faced with how to pray about
sickness or circumstances that we're in, that we're uncomfortable
with, that we're in trouble or trial, or how often sometimes
to even pray for our lost children. You know, we want folks to be
as comfortable in this world as they can. I want to be as
comfortable in this world as God will make it. I really do.
I don't enjoy trouble. I don't enjoy my children being
lost. There was a lady here a few weeks
ago, she was astonished that all my children wasn't converted.
She said, you mean you ain't got them saved yet? If I could
get them saved, they'd have been saved. I'd then have been saved. We
want to see people when they are diagnosed with a dire illness,
cancer, heart disease, we want to see them healed. We
don't want to see them suffer. We don't want to see them go
through heartache and sorrow and die slow deaths. And we want
to see our friends and brothers and sisters delivered from the
troubles and trials that they go through. We want to see them
safe from their awful circumstances. But at the same time, at the
same time, we want God's will to be done. At the same time,
we want God's will to be done. And though we would like to see
everything the way we want them, we'd like to see everything.
Get up in the morning, and just yesterday, me and Mary talked
about what a wonderful day it was, with no pressure. Nowhere
to go, nothing to do, nothing to do but just relax. What a
wonderful day. And I thank God for those days.
Though we'd like to see everything the way we want them. We'd love
to see the church prosper. We'd love to see sinners converted.
We'd love peace. And we'd love to see our sons
and daughters converted. And these things may be. And
I pray for them and you pray for them. But we say, the will
of the Lord be done. We're like Eli. It's the Lord. By God's grace,
like Eli, we say, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good.
I want to submit to the will of God. Don't you? I don't want
to pray against the will of God. I don't want to resist the will
of God. I want to bow to it, whatever it may be. And this
is what our Lord Jesus Christ does here. Look what happens
here. Back here in verse 39. And he went a little farther
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless. That's what I want to talk about. Nevertheless. Not as I will,
but as I will. And that's the way we need to
pray. Nevertheless, however, in spite of my circumstances
and situation. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. And you know our Lord did this
three times. He done it three times. Look
there in verse 42. He went away again the second
time and prayed. said the same thing. Father,
if it be possible, if this cup cannot pass away from me, except
I drink it, thy will be done. And he went again a third time,
in verse 44, and prayed the same time, saying the same words.
And so, beloved, here's the answer. Here's where we find peace of
heart. Here's where we find peace of mind. This is what'll satisfy
us. If we have to drink this cup,
If we have to go through a trial, if we have to go through a sickness,
if our sons and daughters are not converted, we say, nevertheless,
though my soul is exceeding sorrow, though my heart is heavy, though
you've given me a bitter cup, nevertheless, not my will but
thine be done. This is the answer. Here's our
peace of heart. This is our peace of mind. This
will satisfy us. And we can pray with importunity
like our Lord Jesus said. We can ask and ask and ask and
ask. Tell our Father what we want.
Tell our Father what we need. And we can do like our Lord Jesus
Christ did. And ask three times. But every
time He come back and said the same words, nevertheless not
my will but thine be done. Not my will but thine be done.
Nevertheless. And so that's what we do in this
matter of prayer. And I'll tell you something,
I can't reconcile, we can't reconcile this prayer of our Lord here
in Gethsemane with His desire, and on His part, not to go to
the cross. This has always been a thing
that's, you know, here He is. He says, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death. I'm ready, I'm going to die here
in this garden before I even go to the cross. I'm so heavy. My heart is so heavy. My soul
is so green. My soul is so in strain that
I'm not even going to make it to the cross. I'm going to die
here before I ever get to. Now, I can't reconcile that with
Him not wanting to go to the cross and yet at the same time
willing to go to the cross. And going to and knowing that's
what He come into this world to do. I can't reconcile that.
And our Lord's suffering was so great here that His sweat,
look with me over in Luke 22. Look in Luke 22. And this is what I want us to
understand today, that whatever happens to us, whatever goes
on in our lives, we say, nevertheless. Luke 22 and verse 43. You know,
He says here, And he says in verse 42, saying,
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven's truth in him. And watch this, and being in
agony, being in agony, in verse 44 here now, being in agony,
he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat, that's what kind
of agony he was in. That's the suffering that his
soul was going through. That's how earnestly he prayed
him. That's how his flesh was hurting
him so bad. That's how his soul and his heart
was in such agony. And his sweat were, as it were,
great drops of blood falling to the ground. Now, he prayed
in such agony that sweat poured from his body. Great drops of
it. Great drops of it. I get through
running, I'll take out my clothes and I'll wring them out. I can
get almost a half a cup of water just out of my socks in this
kind of weather. And that's not agony to me, but
here is agony. And he says, but nevertheless.
And what he's saying is, I'm going to die right here in this
garden. My nature is not going to live
through this. My human nature is not going
to live. I'm never going to make it to the cross. Now, beloved,
we don't feel sin. We don't even come close to what
our Lord felt here. But He in His holiness and in
His mental capacity as God and as sinless man, He comprehended
the weight, the awfulness, the greatness, and the consequences
of sin that was going to come upon Him. He understood it and
He felt And our sin and guilt on us sometimes grieves us till
we can hardly bear it. We loathe it so much. So you
imagine what it was like for this holy, sinful, perfect Son
of God when He's in the garden and He has this comprehension
of the awful sin and guilt and weight and consequences of what
sin's going to do to Him in the presence of God Himself. Huh? Oh my, when he saw before him
my sin, just mine, just take mine, and my guilt, my despair,
my shame, my rebellion, my evilness of
heart, my hatred for God, When he had up on him, and he said
this on him, and the guilt not only of me, but all of his elect
of all ages, and then that he was going to have to hang there
naked on that tree, beaten to a bloody pulp, and
that the Father was going to turn his back upon him. that
not only that, but the wrath of his father was going to come
down upon him. And when these things began to
fall on him in the garden, he said, I'm going to die right
here. So he says, pray, save me if it be possible. And how
many times have we said ourselves, save me if it be possible? But
our Lord says, nevertheless, nevertheless, regardless of what
happens, what I got to go through, Not my will, but thine be done."
Our Lord suffered so here, not just on the cross. And you find
that the first time our Lord ever cried out on the cross was
when God forsook Him. When God forsook Him. And He screamed, you think, All they did to Him, they beat
Him, they mocked Him, they put a crown of thorns on His head.
And when they put Him on the cross and nailed those nails
in His hands, nailed them into His feet, He never opened His
mouth, never said a word. Never said a word. But when the
Father turned His back on Him, He screamed. My God! My God! Oh, whatever hell is, that's
what it is. But be forsaken of God. And this
is the way to pray. That's what our Lord said. He
came to the Father over and over again, said the same words, but
He always says, however, However, let this agony depart from me.
However, nevertheless, in spite of, I'll die where you say die. I'll suffer what you say suffer.
I'll go through what you say to go through. Because your will
be done. And beloved, don't never, don't
never use the sovereignty of God as an excuse not to pray.
Don't never use that. Our Lord knew God's will. Did
he not know God's will? He knew it before he came into
this world. He said, for this cause came I into this world.
Mine hour is not yet come. He knew God's will. And he knew
God's will would be done. But oh, look how he prayed. Look
how he prayed. Ask. Seek. Believe. And pray without ceasing. And
say, the Lord's will be done. And now look with me over in
Luke chapter 5. The next time you get in one
of these situations, you remember what our Lord taught us to pray.
Nevertheless, not by will, the time be done. Now look here with me. Luke 5.1, And it came to pass
that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God,
he stood by the lake of Genesaret, and saw two ships standing by
the lake. The fishermen were gone out of
them, and were washing their necks. And he entered into one
of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he had thrust
out a little from the land. And he sat down in that boat,
sat down in that ship, and taught the people out of the ship. Now
when he had left speaking, got through teaching, got through
preaching and teaching the people, He said, Now roll your boat on
out here into the deep, and let down your nets for a great draft.
And Simon and Answer said unto him, Master, we have toiled all
night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I'll
let down the net. Now let me tell you what this
tells us here. Nevertheless, at thy word. God's word is our
rule. Not our own wisdom. Not our wisdom. We believe in God's absolute
sovereignty, absolute predestination. But we're not robots. We think,
we feel, we reason, we plan, we have opinions. But all of
these things, still, we say, nevertheless, that's your word. Huh? We're seeking the will of
God. We're at, not in visions and
dreams, but in the Word of God. We're seeking God's way. The
way of God and how He does things in this world. Where do we find
it at? In the Word of God. We're seeking the truth of God.
Where are we going to find it at? In the Word of God. And that's
what Peter said here. Peter was reasonable in saying,
we fished all night. He was an expert. That's what
they've done for a living. We fished all night. And he says,
reason says to him, says, we've told all night, we ain't caught
anything. And he says, well, move your
boat out there in the deeper water. Go ahead and let down
your net. And there'll have a draft. And
he says, oh, Lord, we've told all night, we've taken nothing.
They were tired and worn out and weary. And he says, nevertheless,
at your word, It don't look like it's going to work out. Nevertheless,
it's your word. Boy, I just don't think we'll
do that. Nevertheless, it's your word. Oh my. But reason bowed to the
word. And that's what reason will always
do. Reason will bow to the word.
Peter said, I'm not going to use human wisdom here. I'm not
going to use human wisdom. Human wisdom tells me that I'm
wasting my time. Human wisdom will say, well,
John, what do you think? You think we could go out there
and catch some fish? What do you think about it, James?
Follow somebody on another boat. You fellas think if we launch
out there we could catch any more fish? Do you think they started turning
around and everybody said, what do you think we ought to do?
How do you think we ought to handle it? How do you think water
do? He didn't say, Lord, I ain't
no way I'm going to do that. I've toiled all night and I'm
done. I'm finished. I ain't going another inch. No. No, no. He said, Lord, we've
toiled all night, but I tell you what I'm going to do. However,
in spite of toiling all night, in spite of not catching one
fish, I'm going to do what your word says. You said to do it,
that's what I'm going to do. And oh, beloved, I'm going to
find out what you say in your word, and that's what I'm going
to do. That's what I'm going to do.
God said He counts the wisdom of this world as nothing but
foolishness. And He says He takes the wise
in their own craftiness. Fellows think they've got it
all figured out, that all their wisdom in the sight of God just
don't absolutely mean nothing. And let me tell you something,
our plans and our purposes are contingent upon the will of God.
But God's will is contingent upon nothing. You know that? And some find it hard, now listen
to me now, some find it hard to submit to the Word of God,
especially when it conflicts with our beliefs and our way
of doing things. Find it very hard. That's why
God says, my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your
thoughts, so you forsake your ways and forsake your thoughts,
because they just don't amount to nothing when it comes to the
Word of God. And you know, God's Word is so
different, and everything about it is different than what this
world believes and what religion believes. Would you be fooled? God says you've got to be empty. Would you be rich? Then start giving everything
you've got away. That's right. You start giving
away. Would you receive? Our Lord said it's blessed to
give then. More blessed to give. Would you live? Then you've got to die. You've
got to die. Would you be wise? Then you must
become a fool for Christ's sake. Would you save your life? Then you've got to lose it. That's
what you've got to do. That don't make sense. But that's
what the Word says. Oh my. Let's reason. Let's question. Let's seek. But let's always say, nevertheless
is thy word. However, in spite of, I'm going
to listen to what you've got to say. And now look with me
over here in 2 Timothy. I want to show you something
else. Now that's what we do about, that's our rule. People say,
well, we say the Word of God is our rule. It really is our
rule. Somebody asked Wayne Boyd the other day, he said, What's
your articles, what's your confession of faith, what's your, you know they got the Heidelberg
Confession, 1689 London Confession, 1689 Baptist Confession, Philadelphia
Confession, all these confessions. And you want to know what his
confession was, what the church went by. He says, well, I guess
if I had a confession, it'd be Isaiah 53. And the fellow says, well, I
guess that works. You know, why do you need a confession
of faith if you've got the Bible? I have churches that get up,
and you know what they expound on? They'll take Article 1 of
the Westminster Confession, and this is what we're going to teach
you today. What a confession says about
it. We're going to take Article 14 out of the Heidelberg Confession,
and that's what we're going to teach you. Why don't we open
the Word of God and teach from it? It's the Gospel that God uses
to save men. It's the Gospel that God uses
to instruct men. It's the Gospel that brings faith
to men. It's the Gospel that causes men
to grow in grace and love. It's the Word of God, and we
need it. That's when I say it's our rule,
the Word's our rule. I really, truly mean that. Now,
do I walk in all of it? Do I keep it perfectly? No, there's
been lots of times that I've pulled out. I didn't say like
Peter did, nevertheless, that you were. There's been lots of
times that I've just went on my way. But that don't make it any less
true, does it? No. Now, look over here in 2
Timothy 1 with me. Paul says back up here in verse
8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved
us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
to the life through the gospel. Now watch it. For unto I am appointed
a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. Now
listen. For the witchcalls I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. Now, Paul here is a prisoner. He's in prison right here. You
go over to chapter 4, and he says, The time of my departure
is at hand. He said, this is, this is, he's
going to die here. He's going to die. And he knows
he's going to die. He's in prison. And you know what he says? I'm
not ashamed of this. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not ashamed
of being in prison. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not ashamed of these afflictions. I'm not ashamed of these burdens.
You know, here's the Pharisees. When we talk about trials, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, they had everything
in Paul's day. They had the finest clothes. They had the religious costumes.
They had the colors, and they had the robes, and they had the
colors. They had their degrees. They
had the best houses. They had good churches, and they
were full. And when they went into the synagogues,
they sat in the highest places among them. They had parsonages
that were provided by the church, guaranteed salaries, big salaries. And oh my, when people see them,
oh, master, master, rabbi, rabbi. And here's Paul. The man with the message, the
man called and said of God, they have everything else, but he
had the message. And here he sat in a dungeon,
rats crawling around, people watching every move he
makes, waiting on some reprobate Roman soldier to bring him his
food and his drink, and had a very limited audience. He's waiting
for death. The time of my departure is at
hand. He's hated, he's ridiculed, been
lied on. And you know what he says? Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. That's what they said over at
Colossians. They said, you know, he said, some people think that
they're going to add afflictions to my bonds. They're going to
make my bonds worse. Preaching Christ out of contention
and out of strife. Saying, we're not in prison.
We're preaching the same gospel. We're doing great things for
God. So that Paul must have really done something bad to be in prison.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed. I'm not embarrassed about this.
You know what? He said, I found Christ. They
may have a nice house, but I dwell in Christ. They may have riches
in this world, but I've got the riches of His grace. And I don't
have to have the approval of flesh. I don't have to have the
praise of men. I don't have to have the ease
and comfort in this life. He said, I know whom I have believed. That's all I need to know. Oh, Paul sitting alone in his
cell, alone, deserted. Look over here in chapter 4,
look what he says. Verse 11, look what he says here
now. He says, sitting in this cell alone, deserted. He says
in verse 11, only Luke is with me. Only Luke is staying here
where I'm at. And oh my! And he says over here
in verse 17, verse 16, verse chapter 4, he said, At my first
answer, no man stood with me. When I stood before him, nobody
stood with me. I had to stand there by myself.
But watch what he says, Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. The Lord wasn't going to stand
with those scribes and Pharisees. You know what he said about them?
How are you going to escape the damnation of hell, you generation
of vipers and serpents? How are you going to escape it?
And here's Paul. I ain't no doubt walk by and ridicule
him, but I thought you was a preacher. I thought you was an apostle.
I've heard great things about you. What are you doing sitting
in this jail, in this prison, in this dungeon? You know they're
going to execute you here just in a few days. They're going
to take your head off. He said, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. You know why
I'm not ashamed? Because I know whom I believe. Oh, when you've got a great trial,
you remember this. Why be ashamed? We know whom
we believe. And we're persuaded that whatever
we committed unto Him against that day, you know what He'll
do? He'll keep it. He'll keep it. Now look over
here in chapter 2. 2 Timothy 2. Look what it says
here now in verse 17. 17 And their word will eat as doeth
a canker, or a cangreen, of whom is Arminius and Philetus, concerning
the truth of earth, saying that the resurrection is past already,
and overthrow the faith of some." But now watch. Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord
knows him that are in us. These people, these people are
turning and leaving. They turn and they leave the
gospel. They leave the church. They leave Christ. And Paul said,
I'm marveled that you're so soon removed from the grace that's
in Christ. And these things disturb Paul. It disturbs us when we
see people. It disturbs us when we see folks
that can forsake the gospel for any reason at all. It troubles
us, bothers us. It's a burden to see folks that
just walk away and can do without the gospel. And that's what happened
here. He says, you know, And these
fellows are teaching things, and what they teach, it beats
on a man like a gangrene. And if you get gangrene in an
arm or a leg or something like that, that thing's coming off.
And he says, but oh my. He says, nevertheless, I don't
care how many walk away. And it troubles us. He said,
but I don't care how many. Demons, he's forsaken me. Alexander the coppersmith, he
done me much evil. And look back over here in verse,
chapter 1 and verse 15. This thou knowest that all they
are which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom art thou
jealous and homogenous. Oh my! And here it says here,
Thylidus and Demas can depart. Alexander and Hymenus, they can
depart, but nevertheless, People are going to go. But nevertheless,
God has a people. Demons can go. Alexander can
do us evil. People can go away after false
doctrines and false beliefs. I know a dear man, and I've heard
him preach. He was preaching at a church
out west, and something happened. I don't
know what happened. Although I know something about
him. But I do know this, that he left. And he left. He went to another western state. He was going to go to a seminary.
And here's a fellow that I've heard preaching. Now Armin is
strong on the grace of God. His pastor is strong on the grace
of God. Strong on the grace of God. Now this particular man
says, you know, Armin is treating me better than grace people do. And now he's going to listen
to a fella named Mark Visco, that's out in Washington. And
that fella wouldn't know the gospel if he met him in the middle
of the road. Look him up on the internet.
Just look him up and see what kind of foolishness he goes on
with. And that's where he went. And
I hope God will bring him back. And now some of my brethren,
one of my dear, dear brethren was close, close to this man.
Loved him, had him in his home and had him in his church. And
you're talking about a broken-hearted man that just broke his heart
to hear that. But he has to say this, nevertheless,
the foundation of God is going to stay sure. You may leave. You may leave next week. I may
leave. I may decide to believe something else one of these days,
if God don't keep me. But you know what? Whoever goes,
we don't want it to all die. We don't want it. We don't want
no demises. We don't want no Philetuses and
Hymenuses. We don't want no Alexanders. But if they are, nevertheless,
God's got a people. And they have this field. And
they're going to stand sure. You know why? Because the Lord
knows them better here. He knows every single one of
them. Ain't you grateful for that? Ain't that what we want? Oh, Lord, keep me. Keep me. When you see somebody go away,
I don't feel cocky about it, do you? It don't make me feel
good. It pleases me. You say, Oh, Lord,
will it be me next? Smarter men, wiser men, seem
to be more zealous men, do they go that direction? But God has
a people whom He calls, and when they come, they never leave.
Never leave. Now, look with me over in Philippians.
And I'm so thankful for that. I was talking to Brother Henry
years and years ago. People make professions and he
said, we'll see, we'll see. Talk about one fellow says, you
know, we'll see. Mentioned somebody else's name. He said, Oh, don't listen. God, that man is a saved man.
That, you know, you mentioned something. He said, 25 years
from now, he'll be right where he was. And there's people that that
way. As some of you, Bruce said the other day, I've been preaching
to him over 28 years, the other day, 2nd Saturday Sunday in July,
28 years. I hope it's 28 more. I'll be
old. Bruce, you want to be here 28
more years? And then we have depressions.
Sometimes you ever get depressed and get despairing of life and
just say, Lord, just please take me home. Please, I just want
to go. Well, look what Paul says here. He said in verse 23, in
the matter of depression, despairing of life, he said, I'm in a strait
betwixt two. Having a desire. Philippians
1.23, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ. That is
so much better. so far better than anything.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Now, you may be strong right
now and full of life right now, but tomorrow you may be like
Job, and you may be so down and have such depression and such
sorrow of heart that you say, will be better than the day of
my birth. You may be like Elijah and say, Lord, just go ahead
and please kill me. Just kill me. And that's what Paul says,
I have a desire. I have a desire to die and go
be with Christ. He said, it's in my heart. I
want to go. That's far better for me to be done with this fighting,
to be done with these fears, to be done with this sickness,
to be done with this frailness, to be done with these fears,
to be done with this life and its heartaches and my failings
and my sins and my flesh, to be done with it. But he says, nevertheless, oh Lord, But look what he says. Nevertheless,
to abide in the flesh, what? It's more needful for you. What he said is, I'm willing
to stay for your sake. And beloved, you know men need
each other. We need each other. People need each other. And I
told Mary this this morning, she says, listen to this statement.
God pity the man who needs nobody, and pity the man that nobody
needs. Do you need people? Does anybody need you? And in my relationship and my
standing before God, I don't need anybody. But in this life,
as much as I'd like to be done for, And my relationship before
God, I don't need anybody. But in life, for my joy, my happiness,
that's what Paul goes on to say here. In verse 25, having this
confidence that I know I shall abide and continue with you all
for your fervor and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more
abundant in Jesus Christ my God coming again to you. And see,
beloved, but in life, for my joy, for my happiness, for my
growth, for my knowledge, For my peace, for my enjoyment in
this world, I need family. I need my brothers, I need my
sisters. We need these things, don't we? Huh? You know, when we get ready
to go, boy, let's start packing now. All the folks we need. Oh my, I was talking to Brother
Tom yesterday evening. Tom Hardy. And they're still
in pretty big mess up there. Still in a pretty big mess. And
standing in their old house, you know, and they said, I'm
not going to spend a nickel on it. It just keeps us from having
to pay rent somewhere you can't rent. There was over a thousand
people without a home up there. And he says, you know, in his
office, you know, his computer's gone and he runs an air conditioner
all the time and it's up in the study. He says, you know, I run
that air conditioner all the time. He says, my Bible's still
soaking wet. My files, I've got them all laid
out still, just soaking wet. The water is so bad. Mold everywhere. And you know, we got to talking.
He's going to try to build a house here pretty soon, if he can find
a piece of property. And I said, Tom, you know, when
you start that, you'll have more help than you know what to do
with. And not only will you not have help, but the finances will
come in for you to pay for it all. You know why? Because we love one another and
we need one another. You know, he got depressed. He
was down. I've never known Tom Hardy never
to be down. But he started, got tears in
his voice yesterday when that Brother Locke passed away up
there. He said, you know, I laid him down. By the time his head
laid down, he was gone. Said had a nurse there, CPR specialist
there, man in medical school, his son going to medical school,
couldn't get him back. He said that was one of the saddest
days. Troublesome. But then we got
to talking about what the Lord was going to do for him and all
that, and he's back happy again. That's why we need. And that's what Paul's saying.
You know, Tom said, Lord, Savior, just let me go and get out of
this place. You know it. Lord, I won't go
through this no more. I'm just walking away. But he's preaching today in another
building. And he says, God is blessing
and the attendance has been wonderful. And when he gets ready to build
that house, we'll build him a house. There'll be a whole bunch of
folks showing up. You know why? That's going to be our joy, that's
our peace, doing these things. No matter what we go through,
no matter how depressed or despairing of life, we need one another. And then let me show you this
real quick, in Revelations. Revelations, chapter 1. Excuse
me, chapter 2. And I'll be done. Next time you get real depressed,
get real, real down, I'll tell you what you do. Call me. I know
what it's like to be depressed. I know what it's like to be down.
Next time you get feeling like that, give me a call. I'll talk
to you, pray with you. I'll do whatever I can for you,
just to talk. Sometimes we just need somebody
to be there though. That's why Paul said, oh, my,
he got such a strength. Oh, Lord, I want to go. But he
says, nevertheless, nevertheless, it's better for you. My feelings
don't go into this. My troubles, my heartaches, my
depressions don't go into this. He said, I'm here for you. That's
what he said. In Revelation 4, chapter 2, verse 1, unto the angel of the
church of Ephesus it writes, Be saved, saith he that holdeth
the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks." I know your works. I know your
works. I know your labor. I know everything
about you. I know your patience. And I know how you cannot bear
them which are evil, or you just can't bear it. And you've tried
them which say they are apostles, and you've tried them, you've
listened to what they say, you've watched their lives, you've watched
their message, you've listened to it. And you've found out that
they're not, and you've found them out to be liars. And you've
borne burdens, and have patience, and for my name's sake labored,
and has not fainted. Nevertheless, I have something
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. What he says here, you've left
your first love. Simon Peter, do you love me?
Yes, Lord. And ain't He our first love?
Is not Christ our first love? Is He not our first love? Don't
we love Him and need Him and desire Him above all? Of all
the love we have, He is the first. He's the first. What I mean by
first is that He's the first before everything else. And we can have everything right,
that's what he says, everything, doctrine, practice, ordinance,
discipline, and get caught up in that and forget our first
love, forget our relationship with Christ. Put all these things
in that place. Just don't never leave our first
love for doctrine. Don't never leave it for practice. Don't never leave Him for any
reason. He's our first love. He'll come
for everything else. Everything else. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Thank you, Lord, for instructing
us this morning, meeting with us, bringing the Word to our
hearts and our understanding. Lord, it's in your hands to do
with it as seemeth good in your sight. You cause it to bring forth fruit,
cause it to be powerful in hearts and minds, as only you can. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen.