Well, good evening. If you care
to open your Bibles with me to Psalm 126. This will serve as
our text this evening. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dreamed. Then was our
mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue was singing. Then
said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things
for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof
we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. bringing His sheaves with Him. Thank God for His Word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, oh, how thankful
we are that You've given us another opportunity to come together
to worship You. Father, I pray that You would
send Your Spirit upon us and that You would enable us tonight
to worship you in spirit and in truth. Don't let us just go
through the motions of religion, but Father, let us hear a word
from Thee. Give us a heart that hungers and thirsts, that pants
after righteousness, that hungers and thirsts and pants after the
message of Christ our Savior. Father, give us a believing heart.
Let us believe the things of the Savior that we hear preached
tonight. And let us rest in Christ. Let us leave here tonight rejoicing,
despite the many reasons that we may have to weep and sorrow. And while those things are still
will still be true, let us leave here truly rejoicing in the heart
in Christ our Savior. Father, let us worship Thee.
You ought to be worshiped. And in this flesh, we're completely
incapable of doing it. But Father, would you enable
us to worship you tonight? Cause your gospel to run well.
Father, we thank you for who you are. That you are God alone,
ruling and reigning over everything in your creation. Using it, bringing
it to work together to accomplish your purpose of the redemption
of your people. We truly stand in awe of who
you are. And Father, as high above us
as you are, how we thank you that you hear the cries of weak
sinners, that you reach way down to lay hold upon your people
and redeem them, save them, comfort their hearts and be with them. Father, how thankful we are.
And Father, we thank you for the many blessings of this life
on top of making us rich in spiritual blessings, how you've blessed
this congregation abundantly in material and physical things,
and Father, we're thankful. Father, we continue to pray that
you would give us a generous heart to use the things that
you've given us generously and wisely for the good of your church
and the good of the people. Deliver us from being a miser
and hoarding up the many blessings that you've given to us. Give
us an open hand as you've been so open-handed and generous with
us. And Father, for your people that are in a time of trouble
and trial, we pray for those who are sick, those who are brokenhearted,
those who feel like they're in a narrow, narrow place and they
can't turn, can't escape, can't see up. Father, bless, bless
your people, we pray. Be with them in a special way.
We know and we're thankful to know that these things have not
come upon your people accidentally, but sent in your wisdom and love
for your people, to them on purpose. Now, Father, fulfill your promise
to them, comfort their hearts with your presence, and lead
and guide, enable them to learn the things you'd have them to
learn. Father, deliver, we pray. All these things we ask, and
we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. What a fellowship, what a joy
divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what
a peace divine Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure
from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms
Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way On the everlasting
arms Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day Leaning
on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? I have blessed peace with my
Lord so dear Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and
secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning That was great, Isaac, thank
you. Alright, if you would, turn with
me again to Psalm 126. Psalm 126. The title of my message tonight will
be of particular interest to some of you, and to the rest
of us, it will be of particular interest at some time soon. This
is a psalm for the weeping saint. I took my title from verse 5.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. God's people often,
often find themselves heartbroken. How often have you found yourself
crying out to God with a broken heart through tears in your eyes? And let me say this about about
sorrow. You know, you read the scriptures
and what I'm telling you about the life of a believer, you know
it's so, that often we're broken hearted or weeping. And you know,
there's nothing wrong with sorrow and sadness. You know, sadness
and sorrow are not signs of weak faith. And you know, I don't
ever want to be found guilty of finding fault with God's providence.
But you know, just because you're sorrowful about what God's brought
to pass does not mean that you're questioning God's providence
or that you have weak faith. God often gives his children
good reason to weep and to cry and be filled with sorrow. But
while, now I'm speaking especially to believers now, while we weep
and cry, and it's for a good reason, but even while we weep
and cry for a good reason, we should always remember this.
that the believer also has many reasons to rejoice. Always. Now, we don't know who the author
of this psalm is. It's not relevant, not important. But it seems to have been written
about a time when Israel would be delivered from bondage. A lot of people think that this
is written about when the Lord delivered Israel from when they
were in bondage in Babylon. Maybe that's true. I don't know.
But could be. Could be. Maybe David is the
author of this psalm. And this was written many, many,
many years before Israel went into bondage in Babylon. Maybe
this psalm was written for the comfort of God's people, to encourage
God's people and give them comfort because there's a prophecy of
how the Lord will deliver Israel from bondage. So even though
Israel would have good reason to weep, when they were in bondage
in Babylon, they had good reason to weep, didn't they? Very good
reason. But the Lord in their captivity also gave them reason
to rejoice, didn't he? He gave them a promise that they
would be delivered. And that is exactly what God
has done for all of his people. For all spiritual Israel, God
has given his people precious promises. That even though we
weep, and we have good reason to weep and be sorrowful, we
still have reason to rejoice. And I want to give you four reasons
from this psalm this evening. for reasons the weeping saint
has reason to rejoice. And the first one is this. The
Lord Jesus Christ has graciously delivered his people from their
captivity, from bondage to sin and death. Look at verse 1. When
the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dreamed. Now suppose this is talking about
the time that Israel was delivered from bondage in Babylon, and
really it would apply to many other times that they were in
bondage, but particularly when they went down into captivity
in Babylon. The scriptures prophesied hundreds
and hundreds of years before Israel went into bondage in Babylon,
the scriptures prophesied that that would happen. God told them
in advance, you're going to go down into captivity in Babylon.
But the scriptures also prophesied that there's going to be a deliverer.
This deliverer is going to come after 70 years of captivity,
and this deliverer who's going to come is going to be a heathen
king, and God called him by name. Two to three hundred years before
Cyrus, this heathen king, was born. Two hundred to three hundred
years before he was born, God said, Cyrus is going to come
and set my people free from captivity. Let me show you that in Isaiah
chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44. In verse 28, that saith of Cyrus,
he's my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure. Even saying
to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built into the temple. Thy foundation
shall be laid. Thus saith the Lord. to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden." God had raised him up
to be king. This man named Cyrus. "...whose right hand I have holden
to subdue nations before him. And I will loose the loins of
kings to open before him the two-leaf gates, and the gates
shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make
the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates
of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron." The Lord's just
going to remove every obstacle. This man, everything he does
is going to be successful. And I will give thee the treasures
of darkness, and the hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest
know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the
God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name.
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am
the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I
girded thee, though thou hast not known me. Now hundreds of
years after Isaiah wrote that, one night old King Cyrus had
that scripture read to him. And he thought, that's talking
about me. And you know what he did? He
let Israel go free from their captivity. He told them, you
go back to Jerusalem, you build the walls. You go back to Jerusalem,
you rebuild the temple. And God told them hundreds of
years before Cyrus was even born, that's who's going to deliver
them. After 70 years of this horrible,
horrible captivity in Babylon, it was just like one of us being
in captivity to ISIS. That's who they were in captivity
to. Just in a day, suddenly, instantly, they were free and
sent back home. You go back home. Worship your
God. Build the walls of the city. Build the temple. And they thought,
this is too good to be true. I must be dreaming. Can you imagine
how happy they were? I dreamed this the other day.
I dreamed I was out running. I was out running down that road.
Oh man, I was just gliding. And I was, oh, so wonderful.
I was so happy. And I woke up and I thought,
oh, you should have known you were dreaming. You should have
known. But this wasn't a dream. They were free. Free from all
that just horrible bondage. And you know what? If they would
have been reading the scriptures, they'd have had some comfort.
If they'd have been reading the Scriptures, they'd have read
about God's promise that one day, and God even said after
70 years, this man Cyrus is going to come set you free. If they'd
have been reading the Scriptures, they'd have had some comfort
in their tears. Now the Lord sent Cyrus to set
Israel free. But who set Israel free? King
Cyrus. He ruled the world. He gave commandment. You go back and build the walls.
But now wait a minute. Who gave commandment that Israel
go free? Who set Israel free? Oh, it wasn't Cyrus, was it?
It was the Lord. He said, I'm doing this that
you may know I'm God. I'm God who rules everything.
Now all that's given to us is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Cyrus, our Deliverer. The scriptures promised 4,000
years before he was born incarnate that the Deliverer is coming.
as soon as Adam sinned in the garden. And when Adam sinned
in the garden, he plunged his whole race into captivity. He
plunged his whole race into bondage to sin. And that's all of us.
Adam had good reason to weep, didn't he? Good reason to weep
and be sorrowful. And God came to Adam and cast
him out of the garden. Cast him out of the presence
of God. No longer would Adam walk with God in the cool of
the evening. Oh, how much sorrow. He had good reason to weep, didn't
he? But the same time God cast Adam
out of the garden, what did He do? He gave him a prophecy of
the Deliverer. The Lord Jesus Christ, the seed
of woman, the mighty King, is going to come, and when He comes,
He's going to set His people free from their sin. And Adam
and Eve knew exactly what the Lord was talking about. Eve had
a boy baby, and she said, Lord, give me the man. This is the
one. They immediately began looking. The Deliverer is coming. Now,
bondage to sin. And that's what all of us are
born in. And just bondage to sin, the effects of sin, causes
God's people many, many tears. And with good reason. We should
cry over our sin, shouldn't we? I mean, not just the effect of
our sin. We should weep over our sin. We should weep over
the fact we've got a nature that can do nothing but sin against
a holy, perfect God who's never done anything but good to us.
We ought to weep over that. And the believer does. We don't
do it probably as much as we should, but we mourn over our
sin. But now we've got to remember this. The believer can also rejoice
in Christ, who's come and set his people free from bondage
to that sin through his sacrifice for their sin. You know, the
Lord gave Israel just a few verses here of a promise Cyrus was coming.
God's given us a whole book that tells us the deliverer. The deliverer
is coming. And He's going to come at the
set time and He's going to set His people free from their sin.
By His obedience to the law for them. By His sacrifice to put
away their sin. Christ was set up from everlasting.
The Lord just told us about Cyrus two or three hundred years before
He was born. Christ the Savior was set up from everlasting.
When nothing was. He was set up to be the Savior
of His people. Who would come and set His people
free from the prison house of sin. Now I understand we're in
the prison house of sins. Those who do not know the Lord,
they're in the prison house of sin and we ought to weep over
it. But now I'm telling you, from reading this book, we ought
to know, look for the deliverer. Cry out to the deliverer. We
ought to know to come to him and beg him for mercy. Just from
reading this book, we ought to know there is a deliverer. We
know his name and we know we ought to come to him and beg
him to set us free. But when the Holy Spirit comes in power, I think about the time that I
was growing up. I'm just talking to Janet about
this at her dad. She and I grew up hearing the
greatest gospel preacher of the 20th century. I mean, every single
week. And it was nothing more to me
any other thing that I would learn from a book in school. And one day, all that changed.
One day, God the Holy Spirit came in power and He revealed
Christ. Not the doctrine, not the Calvinistic
doctrine, not the... He revealed Christ to my heart.
He gave faith to believe. And suddenly, you see, You were
blind and you couldn't see Him before. You were dead and couldn't
know He was there before. Now you see Him and it was too
good to be true. It was like you're dreaming.
This is too good to be true. Someone hears the Gospel and
they say, now do you mean to tell me that the Son of God would
become a man? That He would humble Himself
to become a man, to become flesh and bones To be my representative? I mean, not just good people
out there, but to be my representative? That's too good to be true. You
mean the Son of God, the Son of God, life Himself would die
bearing my sin so that I could go free? That's too good to be
true. You mean to tell me that God
would save me by His grace without any of my works being added to
it? That's just too good to be true. And some will say, wait
a minute, just like Cyrus could say, I set the Jews free. Some of them might say, but wait
a minute, I believed. I did that. I believed. I am
the one that came to Christ. I am the one who serves the Lord,
serves His kingdom, serves His church. Well, that's true, you
are, but let me ask you this question. Who gave you the faith
to believe? Who gave you the faith and the
life to come to Christ? Who gives you the breath to breathe
that you might live serving Him? Oh, the Lord did that, didn't
He? The Lord did that, and He did it by His grace. Salvation
is by grace through faith without any works of man. Salvation is
entirely the work of the Godhead. It's entirely the work of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And He performs that
salvation for His people and in His people. Now the salvation
of sinners, sinners who all of their sin is against God, God
would save them. Their salvation must be of the
Lord. And someone would say, I see
my sin. I see my sin against God. And
you're telling me that God, the one I've sinned against Him,
the one I've rebelled against, the one I've hated, the one I've
shook my hand and fist in His face and said, I'll not have
this man reign over me. You mean to tell me that's the
one who has saved me? No, that's too good to be true. I've got to be dreaming. You
know, I know that seems too good to be true to the natural mind.
But that's the truth that we preach and we believe in. God
saves His people by His grace. And whatever it is that's causing
us to weep, we can still rejoice in that. Salvations of the Lord. Salvations of the Lord. Alright,
number two. Back in our text. Psalm 126.
While we weep, we can rejoice because the Lord has done great
things for His people. Look here at verse two. Then
was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue was singing, Then
said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things
for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof
we are glad. Now especially you who believe,
if you've lived long enough, you understand exactly how you
can laugh and cry, how you can be sorrowful and rejoicing at
the same time. And the best illustration that
I can think of is when one of our loved ones who knows the
Lord, when they die and the Lord calls them home, We're so filled
with sorrow and sadness. We weep at not being able to
have their presence anymore. Not being able to sit and talk
with them anymore. Not being able to fellowship with them
anymore. Not being able to feel their arms around us in an embrace
anymore. We weep. But at the exact same
time, we rejoice. And one doesn't take away from
the other. We weep in genuine sorrow. And we rejoice with genuine
joy. Oh my goodness. The Lord has
called His loved one home. That's what we sit around saying
at the visitation, don't we? Can you imagine what he's seeing
now? Can you imagine what she's seeing now? Seeing the Lord face
to face. We laugh. Our mouth is filled
with laughter. All the joy we have in the great
things God's done for His people. So that's the whole life on earth
for the believer. It's joy in Christ. in the midst
of our sorrow. The journey home for the believer
is a long trail of tears. A long trail of tears that's
filled with joy. On that journey home, the believer
shouts and sings the glory of Christ our Redeemer. And we do
it through our tears. Our message is to the Lord Jesus
Christ, God has done great things for us through Him. Oh, what
great things! That's our message to the heathen,
isn't it? And even the heathen know, the Lord's done great things
for them. Just ask them, they'll tell you. That's our message
to the heathen. God has done great things for
His people. You're not too great of a sinner,
God won't save you. You're not too great of a sinner, the blood
of Christ can't wash you white as snow. Now you come to Him.
You come to Him. And when we preach the Gospel
to the believer, we preach the Gospel to one another, you know
what we're doing? All we're doing is reminding
each other what great things God's done for His people. That's
all we're doing. There's too many of them to name, but I wrote
down just a few. The eternal God, whom the heavens
cannot contain, one day became a man. He became a baby in the
womb of a virgin, so that He would be born and be the representative
of His people. The miracle of incarnation that
God would be manifest in the flesh Now that's a great thing
God's done, isn't it? And the Lord came and He put
away the sin of His people by dying in our place as our substitute. And He did it because God loves
sinners like you and me. Now that's a great thing. Sometimes
it's hard for us to love one another, isn't it? But God loves
sinners. And He proved it by sending His
Son to die for them. Now that's love. That's a great
thing. The Lord Jesus Christ took the
sin of His people and He paid for it. with His own perfect,
precious blood, so that it is no more. The Lord gave His people
life by dying in their place. Our life came from His death.
That's a great thing. Look at Luke chapter 24. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
He suffered and He died. And three days later, by His
own power, He raised Himself from the dead. Look here at Luke
24. This is after our Lord's resurrection. And He appeared to His disciples. Verse 33. And they rose up that same hour,
and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together,
and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed,
and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were
done in the way, and how He was known of them in the breaking
of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst
of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." They're up
there scared to death. They got that door locked and
bowed. They're scared to death. They saw what happened to the
Lord. They're afraid. They're next. They're afraid. This mob's got
a taste of blood. Now they're coming for them.
They're scared to death. And suddenly, the Lord appeared and
said, Peace be unto you. And they were terrified and affrighted. And it's supposed that they'd
seen a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are you in trouble?
And why do these thoughts arise in your heart? Behold my hands
and my feet, that it is I myself, handle me and see. For a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when he
had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them,
have ye any meat? And he took that meat and he
ate it. Now think about this. These disciples,
these 11, they were with the Lord for three and a half years.
And the Lord plainly told them, before He went to the cross,
He told them, I'm going to go to Jerusalem. He told them what
was going to happen to Him. He told them how the chief priest
would conspire against Him, how they'd give Him to the Romans
and the Romans would kill Him. And He would rise again the third
day. Well, here it is three days later. And some of their friends
came and told them the Lord's risen, we've seen it. And when
the Lord appeared to them, they thought, I must be dreaming.
It's too good to be true. It's got to be a ghost. Isn't
that our nature? It's too good to be true. The
Lord died and He rose again as the evidence. His death justified
His people, made them without sin. That's not a fairy tale.
That's the gospel. And the Lord continues to bless
His Word as it's preached so that dead sinners understand
it, and they believe it. It's so simple, a child can understand
the gospel. Yet it's so simple, the smartest
human being cannot understand it or believe it. Yet God makes
people believe it and understand it. That's a great thing. And
the Lord blesses His people, and He keeps them to the end.
How is it that the Lord reveals Himself to a man or a woman,
and 45 years later, there they sit, still listening to the gospel,
and the Lord calls them home? How's that happen? Because the
Lord has done great things for His people. And He will present
every last one of them holy and spotless before the Father. Now that is such a great thing,
only God could have done it. And He did it for His people.
Now the next time you're crying in sorrow, and I mean you've
got a real reason to do it, you remember this, you remember that,
that God would do something so wonderful for the likes of you
and me, In spite of all of our sin and all of our failure, God
has done something so wonderful for the likes of you and me.
Maybe that will give us a reason to find some joy in the midst
of our tears. You reckon? And here's another
great thing that God does for His people. You know, you think,
I can't do that. I just can't see myself finding
any reason to rejoice in a time of trial. I can't see it in myself
to be able to say with David that it's good for me that I've
been afflicted. I can't do that. Well, here's another great thing
the Lord's done for His people. You're right, you can't do that.
But He can. But He can. And He comforts His
people in every trial. God's grace that is sufficient
to save us from our sin without any of our works being added
to it. is also sufficient to comfort our hearts when our hearts
are crushed in a time of trial. And when the Lord comforts us
in the midst of those dark, dark, dark trials, we think I must
be dreaming. This is too good to be true.
How can there be any comfort for me in all of this mess and
all of this loss and all of this sorrow? But it's not too good
to be true. You're not dreaming. That's God
doing great things for His people. Comforting their hearts, even
when they're broken. And we think, well, that's too
good to be true. Why would God do something like
that for me? Oh yes, He will. He will if you're
His child. If you're His child, He's promised
you His grace will be sufficient. And that will give you cause
to laugh, even when you're weeping. Even when you're weeping. We rejoice while we weep because
the Lord continually saves His people and preserves them. Look
what He says here in verse 4. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams of the south. Now this is the prayer of a believer.
Lord, thank You. Lord, thank You for saving me.
Thank You for turning me. Thank You for granting me repentance
to turn to Christ. Lord, thank You for saving me.
And Lord, keep saving me. Lord, thank You for turning me
to Christ. But Lord, keep turning me to
Christ. Lord, thank You for enabling
me to look and see Christ. But Lord, keep me looking to
Christ and only to Christ. Thank You for turning me to Christ. Turning me from my dead works
and turning me to trust Christ. But Lord, keep turning me. Keep
turning me. Or I'll go back. Lord, keep turning
me. Lord, You made me look to Christ, but keep me looking.
You're looking to Christ and coming to Christ. That's not
a one-time thing, is it? No, we continually look to Christ.
Peter said, to whom coming? We're continually coming to Christ.
Just like the rivers keep flowing south. Lord, keep me like a river
flowing south. Keep me flowing south. Keep me
looking to Christ. Keep me coming to Him. Keep me
depending on Christ. And I'll tell you why that has
to be our prayer. Now, it just stands to reason.
that anybody whose works are dead works, who must be saved
by grace without any of our works, it just stands to reason that
we're going to need God to keep us by His grace without any of
our works. Because we're never going to
have any works to boast of. So Lord, keep me coming to Christ. Keep me looking to Christ. You
just find it true in your flesh that you think, oh, I've done
something good. And I want to look at it. I want
to boast in it. And it makes us weep for embarrassment, doesn't
it? Just weep for embarrassment. Now, you know I'm never making
any excuse for sin. But you just remember, the next
time you're weeping in embarrassment over your sin, there's forgiveness
with the Lord. There's forgiveness with Him.
Oh, we just do things... A believer ought to know better.
We just ought to know better. I hadn't acted like it. Well,
there's forgiveness with the Lord. When any man sins, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
And we think, now that sounds too good to be true. You know,
I can see the Lord saving somebody, forgiving their sin, but then
when they keep sinning, and they keep needing His forgiveness,
forgiveness is going to eventually run dry. No. No. No, no, no. And we think, oh,
I must be dreaming. No. That only sounds too good
to be true to the flesh, doesn't it? But that's the hope of every
believer. Salvation would be too good to
be true if it depended on our flesh. It would be too good to
be true. It would fall down in a heartbeat. But it's not too
good to be true if it all depends upon Christ. And if we'll remember
that, the next time our pillow is filled with tears, we'll find
a reason for joy. Even in the midst of tears. Even
in this heavy, heavy trial. We're in this flesh. So this
is what the believer is prone to think in a painful, painful
trial. The Lord's punishing me. Now
I've done this, that, or the other, and the Lord's punishing
me with this sickness, with this loss, with this heartache. And
this is the comfort of every believer. Now God saved me, and
He's keeping me. He's keeping me saved. And this
trial does not mean He's cast me off. No, this trial means
He's teaching me something. Now, only hearing of Christ,
only thinking of Christ will comfort the hearts of God's people.
And every time we think of Him, even in the midst of sorrow and
tears, we'll find reason for joy. It's all in who He is, isn't
it? Alright, here's the fourth thing. We rejoice while we weep
because the Lord sanctifies the tears of His people. Verse 5
in our text, Psalm 126. They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him." Now primarily, this is speaking
here of Christ our Savior and this is our confidence, this
is our cause for rejoicing, this is our comfort in times of sorrow. The Savior was a man of sorrows
and he was acquainted with grief. He was well acquainted with grief.
You and I can't imagine how acquainted with grief the Holy Son of God
was to live in the cesspool of this world, surrounded by sinful
flesh, surrounded by 11 disciples who truly believed Him, yet were
such weak, sinful men. He was well acquainted with grief.
And He had many reasons to weep and cry, didn't He? But the worst
time, the worst time for Him was when He was in the garden.
preparing to go to the cross, and when he was on the cross,
in the garden he cried many tears, just at the thought of being
made sin. And again, we just can't even
imagine how horrible that was, because sin's all we know. We
don't think it's that bad. I mean, we think there can be
little sins and big sins, because sin's all we know. This is the
holy Son of God who never knew sin was going to be made sin
for His people. And He wept. Father, if it be
possible, deliver me from this, deliver me. And the Father sanctified
those tears. Look at Hebrews chapter 5. The
Father sanctified those tears. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 7. who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death,
and was heard, and that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obeyed him." Now there where it says in verse 8 that he learned,
learned he obedience, that word learned is experienced. He experienced obedience. He experienced being obedient
to the law. He experienced being obedient
to his father even unto death. He willingly suffered and died. He did that willingly. He learned
obedience, experienced it. And that obedience that caused
him to be obedient even unto death is our sacrifice. That
obedience caused him such tears and suffering how he suffered,
he cried, my God, my God, why is thou forsaking me? We just
can't even imagine the depth of his soul suffering. But by
that horrible experience, he brought about the salvation of
his people. He made his people perfect. See,
that's how the Father sanctified the tears of the Savior. He used
that horrible suffering on the cross to bring about the salvation
of his elect people. See, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
went forth in tears, but he went forth bearing his precious seed
with him. And what is that seed? When we talk about our seed,
we're talking about the seed of our children. Well, God's seed,
the seed of Christ are his people. The Savior carried his seed by
carrying his people, carrying their names written upon his
heart, just like the high priest of old had the names of the 12
tribes of Israel on his breastplate. Our Savior bore the names of
His people, His seed upon His heart. And by His sacrifice,
made in that weeping and tears, He perfected all of His people. He put away their sin forever
and redeemed them. And when He returns, He's going
to bring all of His people with Him. And when He goes by after
He returns and gathers His elect, He's going to take them to the
Father and He's going to bring all of His seed with Him. They'll
all be there. And you think that's too good
to be true. To be taken from this life to glory? That's too good to be true. Notice
what the writer says here. Doubtless. Back in our text,
verse 6. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless, doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. See, there's
no thought that Christ could fail to save all of God's elect. The Father gave Him a people
to save, and He saved all of them. They're His harvest. Remember
the Lord told His disciples to go out into the harvest? The
harvest is God's people. He's going to gather that harvest,
all His people in, and He's going to present them all to the Father. Well, they'll all be with Him
for eternity. Now I know that sounds too good
to be true to the flesh, but that is the foundation of everything
we believe in. That the Savior cannot fail to
save His people. That's the foundation of why
we keep preaching week after week after week. Because we know
God's going to bless His Word. We know He's going to save His
people and bring them all to Him. And knowing that glory is
coming for God's seed, gives God's people reason for joy in
the middle of this veil of tears below. Yes, we have real reason
to weep right now, but oh my, think of what's coming. This is not forever. This is
not forever. I've said it so many times, I
remember Brother Henry saying this at a funeral, we won't do
this there. When you think of what's coming,
oh, that gives you some comfort, gives you some reason for rejoicing,
doesn't it? But these verses also speak of the believer. They
speak of the people that Christ saved. And let me give this to
you quickly. God sanctifies our tears too.
Don't think that your tears of sorrow are wasted. God sanctifies
the tears of His people too. And God sends many trials to
His people so that we will weep in sorrow. And let me give you
three ways those tears are sanctified. Number one, the Lord will make
even our trials be a blessing to us by what we learn in these
Now, don't ever be mistaken into thinking that you're going to
be happy for the pain. No, it's not the pain that will be a blessing.
It's what we learn from the pain that's the blessing. See, we
learn to trust God more fully. We learn He is faithful. And that's a lesson worth learning.
That's a lesson worth learning. Octavius Winslow said this, talking
about the trials that cause tears. He said they're the school of
heaven. That's the school of heaven. Trials are how God teaches
His children. So in that way, by what we learn
in times of trial, those tears are sanctified by the Father.
Number two, the believer often weeps while we pray. And you
know the Lord sanctifies those tears. The Lord is nigh unto
them who are of a broken heart. One of the reasons the Lord brings
us so low in prayer and breaks our heart, causes us to weep
in prayer, is so that he'll answer in blessed. He hears the cry
of a broken heart. So in that way, the Lord sanctifies
the tears of his people. Maybe next time we're brought
so low that we weep, weep in prayer. Maybe we won't be quite
so upset. Maybe we'll find some reason
for rejoicing, some comfort. God hears the cry of a broken
heart. And then thirdly, the Lord sanctifies
the tears of those who preach the gospel. Now this much I know,
the Lord is not going to bless a proud man preaching from a
proud, self-righteous heart. God's not going to bless that.
People don't like hearing a man preach like that. I mean, you've
heard somebody preach down to you, you know, like he's in this
big ivory tower and he's so much higher than you and he preaches
down to you. You don't like that. Let me tell you something, the
Lord doesn't either. The Lord's not going to bless
that kind of preaching. But when we preach with a heart that's
broken over our sins, Then, then we can start being a blessing
to other people who are broken hearted. God's got to break our
heart first before we can be a blessing to other people who
are broken hearted. We're preaching to broken hearted,
weeping sinners. And we tell them that forgiveness
and comfort is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you flee to
me. I know you've got a broken heart. I know you do. Let me
tell you, from experience. See, you can only tell somebody
from experience that the Lord's broken your heart. Let me tell
you from experience, you flee to Christ. He's everything you
need. You flee to Him. And we carry the precious seed
of life with us. That seed of life is the Word
of God. And we preach it with a heart that's broken. Broken
over our sin and broken over this unbelieving world that's
perishing to condemnation. I preach to people who I know
hate what I'm preaching, who do not believe what I'm preaching. It makes me weep to think unless
God does something for them, they're going to perish and be
condemned. But when we've got a heart like
that that's broken, overseen, broken over the result of it,
maybe then the Lord will start blessing our preaching and call
His people out from the water. See, that's how the Lord brings
in His sheep. That's how the Lord brings in His harvest. It's
by sanctifying the tears of our Savior and by sanctifying the
tears of His people. Maybe, maybe that might make
us start weeping over this lost world. Our Savior looked at Jerusalem
and wept over their unbelief. Maybe we'd start weeping over
this lost world. Maybe that'd start giving us
a reason to preach the gospel boldly and clearly. Maybe that
would give us a reason in the midst of this veil of tears below
to witness to people with joy. Joy in Christ. He's able, isn't
He? He's able. Alright. Let's bow
together in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. We thank You for this time we've had together this
evening. And Father, I pray that You bless
us. Bless your word. Bless the seed as it's been sowed
into the hearts of your people. Father, enable us to, while we
have so many reasons to weep and sorrow, enable us to see
so many, many greater reasons to have joy in Christ our Savior. Give us faith and hope and confidence
in Him. Cause us to look to Him and rest
in Christ and Christ alone. is in his blessed name, we pray
and give thanks. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.