Welcome to our Wednesday evening
service. With all the turmoil right now in our world and in
our country, we're doing things a little bit different. So enjoy
the service. We're going to start with scripture
and we're going to read from John 25 through 29. I'll give you a moment to get
your Bibles open and find that on your cell phones or your Bible
or your tablets. John 19, 25 through 27. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife
of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by, whom he loved, and saith
unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the
disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her unto his own home. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
Your world and our home is in turmoil right now. We look to
you for comfort, for solution, for faith, and for strength.
Please hold us in the palm of your hand, Lord. Take us away
from fear and panic and drive us closer to you and to your
word, your gospel. For the power of prayer will
save us and your miracle and your grace. And in this we ask
in your name, amen. Well, this is a bit unusual for
many of you, not so much for me. I used to preach to empty
seats when I was 10, 12 years old in the parsonage of Grace
Baptist Church. But we are in Grace Gospel Fellowship
Auditorium No one's here but camera crew and myself and maybe
a few painters who are working, but we're glad you joined us.
And we're going to take again one of the seven sayings of the
cross. On Wednesday evening, we've been
talking about the seven things that Jesus said when he was hanging
on the cross. First, Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do. And then last Wednesday, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise, which he spoke to the dying thief
who was hanging there with him. Today, we take the third saying
from the cross, where Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple
standing by, whom he loved, he said unto his mother, woman,
behold thy son. Now, I won't keep you long tonight,
but there's some vital truth found in this saying, woman,
behold thy son, and son, behold thy mother. In viewing the cross
thus far, We've heard a word of forgiveness from the mouth
of the Savior as he spake as the great high priest, and he
said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. We
have listened to a word of majesty when he opened from the cross
the gates of paradise, speaking as king of kings and Lord of
lords to the dying thief and said to him, today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. Let us listen today to a word
of love, which he spoke as a human son to a human mother. Like her son, Mary was not unacquainted
with grief. It was no light matter for Mary
to become the mother of our Lord in this mysterious and unheard
of way. She was the Virgin Mary. She
had never known a man. So, in giving birth to the Savior,
there was a lot of gossip, a lot of hard things that was said
to Mary and about her, that she was an adulterous woman, that
she was having a child because of her fornicating life. She
no doubt sorrowed over having to lay her newborn babe in a
manger. There was no place in the inn,
and he was born in a stable. What anguish she must have felt
when she heard of Herod's intentions to destroy her infant's life. What difficulties she faced as
she fled into a foreign country and lived there for several years,
fearing for the life of her infant son. What grief must have wrung
her heart when he was hated and rejected by his own nation. But who can estimate what she
felt as she stood there at the cross, of Calvary. There stood by, the scripture
says in John 19, there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother. Neither her own danger nor the
sadness of the sight nor the insults of the crowd could restrain
her from performing the last office of duty and tenderness
to her divine son on the cross. When the world had cast out the
child of her womb, she stands there by the cross, held by the
golden chain of love to the dying savior, her son. Near him in his death as in his
birth. never such bliss at a human birth,
and never such sorrow at a human death. Here's one of the things
that we see from this third saying from the cross. Simeon prophesied
in Luke 2 and verse 34, he said, yea, a sword shall pierce through
thine own soul also Mary. She it was who first planted
kisses on the brow, now a crown of thorns. No mother ever suffered
as she suffered. Who is it that can measure the
hours of sorrow and suffering as that sword of grief was solely
drawn through Mary's soul? The words of this prophecy spoken
some 33 years before was now being fulfilled. The second thing that I want
to talk to you about from this third saying from the cross is
how far many are from speaking the truth about Christ and his
mother. The truth is simply this. Unless
Mary had Christ in her heart, as well as at her breast, she
perished as a lost sinner. Actually, her son was her savior. Books are filled with the exaltation
of Mary and the downgrading of Christ. We're told that Mary
came to the aid of her son on the cross, and that without her,
it is said he could have never accomplished the task of atonement. The mother of God, I read this
week, had to cooperate with the son of God. And this kind of
heresy, has invented two mediators, whereas God only has one. The mediator between God and
man is not Mary, it is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It robs Christ in order to deify
and glorify Mary. Now I know some of you are probably
having problems with what I'm saying here tonight. The teaching
of Mary being a mediator destroys the real atonement, and events
another which does not atone. Mary was no proud Madonna. The
Mary of the Scripture differs greatly from the Mary of superstition. There is a big difference between
the two. She was a member of the fallen
race. She was a sinner by nature and
a sinner by practice. She was blessed among women,
but not above women. She was human, a real member
of our fallen race, a sinner needing a Savior. And so I say
to you tonight, you that are watching, it is not believe on
the Virgin Mary, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. Come to Him as a sinner and see
Him as your only Savior. I think something else that we
see from this saying from the cross, and that's simply this. We see a perfect man setting
an example for children to honor their parents. Mark the tenderness
of the Lord's love for his mother. He felt no different than any
other loving son would feel for his weeping mother. To his parents,
Christ was the best of sons. Let not the parents of this church
be smitten like eagles in the fable who was smitten to the
heart by an arrow winged from their own feathers. In other
words, what I'm saying, the children of this church, have a responsibility
and we will teach them here to love their parents, to respect
their parents, to follow their parents, to obey their parents. The words of Exodus 20, 12 are
appropriate here. Honor thy father and thy mother,
that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee. They have never been repealed,
those words. They're still our standard. Honor. This word honor embraces love
and affection, gratitude, and respect. At the end of tonight's
viewing of this message, I hope you'll call your dear mom and
dad. Let them know you love them,
that you respect them, that you're sorry for the grief that you
have caused them, that you heard tonight the words of Christ from
the cross, how he honored his mother. And you heard from your
pastor how you are to honor your mother and father. Children are
to reverence and obey their parents. The scripture is so plain about
that. And one of the things that we
see from the cross that's so important, and I hope you'll
get this and feel the weight of this tonight, is to honor
your mother and father. Joseph, prince over all of Egypt. You remember in the Old Testament,
in Genesis 48, he bowed down before his aged father and expressed
his love for him. Children should be submissive
to discipline, Hebrews 12, 9. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence.
You know, one of the things that we have seen in our day, and
maybe this whole virus thing is going to bring us back to
the essentials of respect and life and godliness. I don't know
what God is doing, but I know there are great lessons to learn.
And tonight would be a good night for you to express to your parents
by phone your respect and love. Think about the rebellion. that
you've had in your own life with regard to mom and dad. Think
about what you owe them who tried to get you off of drugs, many
of you, who tried to restrain you and their discipline actions
made you very, very angry and you said things you shouldn't
have said. It would be a good time as we approach Easter Sunday
to get things right with mom and dad. Children are to love
their parents. I am so grateful to have had
a mother and father who first of all knew the Lord and who
constantly pointed me to Jesus Christ. I hope you do love your
parents and I hope you will express that love during this season.
All right, that's my message for tonight. I'm going to close. I hope you've got something out
of it. I know I've been pretty pointed tonight with regard to
Mary and to talking with you with regard to children. I hope
that you will gain something from this, that you will listen
and that you'll call mom. God bless.