Back in Philippians, chapter
2, let me just remind you the background of when Paul wrote
this epistle. Of course, we mentioned in the
reading that he was in prison. He was a prisoner at Rome. The
book of Philippians was written to the saints while Paul was
there, a prisoner in Rome, in a dungeon. What do they call
presents today? Country clubs? But no, Paul wasn't
in no country club. He was in a prison, in a dungeon. And in the midst of great heaviness,
Paul here teaches us. Now remember, he's being dictated
to by God's Holy Spirit. This is God telling us to rejoice
in Christ. Rejoice in Christ. In the midst
of great tribulation, He teaches us by His example. Be content
with the Savior. Be content with His providence. Just trust Him. Just trust Him.
In sunshine and rain, clear skies or cloudy, just trust Him. He changes not. We'll never be
forsaken. The Philippians might well remember.
See, what Paul was telling them had this their knowledge of Paul's own
experience gave credibility to what he was saying. Paul wasn't
an armchair theologian, was he, John? I mean, he wasn't sitting
around just discussing fine points of doctrine. He was in a dungeon
in Rome waiting to be executed. And these Philippians well remembered
that when Paul first came to them, you remember that, in Acts
16, preaching the glorious gospel of Christ, he was put in prison
then, too. Remember, after he had been beaten,
he ensiled us with many stripes. So Paul knew what he was talking
about. That very night, the prisoners,
you remember, after they'd been beaten, cast into the inner prison, The guard was ordered, you better
watch them. If they escape, anything happens
to them. Before we bring them to trial,
you'll forfeit your life in the place of theirs. And while that
was happening, you remember what Paul and Silas were doing? They
were singing praises to God. And the prisoners heard them.
They sang praises to God. So Paul, by his very example,
shows them shows them where their joy lies. It's in Christ. He calls upon them to follow
his example. In the midst of terrible, difficult
circumstances, that's what Paul always did by the grace of God. And he repeatedly, repeatedly
throughout this letter, these chapters, speaks of Christ and
calls upon them again and again, rejoice in the Lord always, and
I'm going to tell you again, rejoice. Rejoice. The words joy,
and I realize I've pointed this out before, but the words joy
and rejoice appear 16 times in this brief letter, this epistle,
and references to Christ out of these 104 verses. You know how many times Christ
is referred to? with pronouns, of course, but
referring to Christ 61 times. Out of 104 verses, Christ is
referred to 61 times. Now what's that teach us? That
Jesus Christ, not circumstances, are the source of our joy. Are
the source of our joy. It's obvious by Paul's letter,
by his own experience, and the experience of every believer.
You can witness to that, can't you? How could a man, as Paul,
in the midst of such adversity, express such joy in every direction? Joy in his heart, joy for them,
joy for the gospel? How could he do that? How could
a man who was about to be executed on trumped-up charges sound such
a joyful note of comfort and contentment? What was the secret
of his joy? I cannot rejoice in my sorrows. No. but I can rejoice in the
Lord who sent them to me. I can't rejoice on my bed of
languishing, but I can rejoice in the Lord who makes my bed. I can't rejoice in bereavement.
No, the Bible doesn't tell us to. But I can rejoice in the
Lord who gives and takes away at his will, and by grace join
Job in saying, blessed be the name of the Lord. I can't rejoice
in my emptiness, oh, but I can rejoice in his fullness. I can't
rejoice in pain, but I can rejoice in his sweet presence, the presence
of my great physician who giveth and he giveth, and just giveth
more grace. And here in chapter 2, Paul,
again as we mentioned in the reading, is exhorting us to live
our life in a way that honors Jesus Christ. Bobby, your text
to me the other evening, yesterday, was such an encouragement. You
don't know that, but it was such an encouragement that you were
asking God to give you grace during this difficult, difficult
trial to honor Him. Paul tells us how we ought to
live in this world and why. And as we said, he gives the
most supreme example, the best example that he could give, and
it wasn't Paul. It was Jesus Christ. Look how
high he was. Look how far down he came. I
think it was Spurgeon who said, I don't know what to admire most
about the Lord Jesus Christ, the heights of his glory or the
depths of his poverty. Hallelujah. What a Savior. In
verse 1, Paul would experience the consolation of Christ, the
consolation of his power, his promise, his presence, his faithfulness. Everything about Jesus Christ
is yea and amen. There's nothing negative about
him. It's all good. It's all good. He's the good
shepherd of the sheep. But Paul tells them, who also
were experiencing the same difficulty, trials to some extent as Paul,
He tells them about the consolation. The consolation in Christ. And he says, you pass that on
to your brethren. Just like I'm passing it on to
you. If there's any consolation in Christ, spread it around.
Tell them what you've experienced. Those hurting, suffering Christians,
your fellow brethren in the Lord, tell them about the consolation
that Jesus Christ has applied to yourselves. in your circumstances,
in your heart, and it'll encourage and console them as well. Now
let's take these three precious words, just three words, and
I want you to look at them with me. In verse 1 here of Philippians
2, and this will be our text. This is our text, this is our
message. Consolation in Christ. Consolation in Christ. Now we can pitch tent right there. We don't need to go any further
than that. There's three things, and the
first is this. Here's the first thought. Consolation
needed. Consider that. We need it. We need consolation in Christ. When Paul says, if there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, notice at the end of that sentence,
there's not a question mark. There's no question about there
being consolation in Christ. There's no if about it. Paul
speaks rhetorically. And he says, if you experience
it, then prove it. Prove the reality of it. This
word consolation means comfort. Comfort ye, God told the prophet
Isaiah. Isaiah, comfort. Comfort my people. Consolation, comfort, confidence
in the Lord our God. What's most needed? Brothers
and sisters in Christ, I ask each of you right now, each of
you, look up here. Hey Delilah, look up here. I'm
asking each of you, what do you need most? What do you need most? What do you desire most? What
is that that's most soothing to a troubled and sorrowful heart?
When you're weeping, when it seems like weeping endures through
the night and the morning's never gonna come again. You feel like,
will the sun ever shine on my darkened soul ever again? What
is it that you need most? Comfort. Is that not so? Consolation. I talked to a young
man several months ago, and he just broke down, weeping, weeping. He said, oh, I wish I had somebody
just to hug me. I mean, I stood up and gave him
a hug. He wasn't getting it from his wife, his child, anyone else. Oh, I just wish I had someone
to give me a hug. Oh, he needed comfort. He needed
consoling. In this world, we're living in
a place of sorrow and grief, are we not? Trouble and pain
of all sorts, physical, emotional, mental. Someone well said, you've
probably heard this, God only had one son without sin, but
he had none without sorrow. Isn't that right? He was the
man of sorrows, Jesus Christ was, and acquainted with grief.
Remember what old Job said? We referred to him last Sunday.
That's what the brother referred to that called me this morning.
Job in chapter 5, verse 7, Yet man is born unto trouble as the
sparks fly upward. Again in chapter 14, Job, man
that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Just chucked full of trouble.
Romans 5 and 12, Paul tells us why this is so. Wherefore is
by one man sin entered into the world. Oh, there's the tyrant. There's the reason. Sin entered
into the world. And what did that bring? Death
by sin. Pain. Weeping. Sorrow. Before Adam disobeyed his God,
he never cried. He never shed a tear in the Garden
of Eden. He was happy all the time. He had everything he possibly
could want or need. Oh, but he sinned. And so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And that brings
sorrow, and sadness, and heartache. You pass the cemetery, sin. That's the result of sin. Your
physical sufferings? That's the result of sin. Because
man has defiled the world with sin, the world in turn brings
sorrow to him. Remember again Adam? What did
God tell him after he disobeyed God? Let me read it to you. And
unto Adam God said, because you have not hearkened unto the voice
of your wife, this is Genesis 3, and has eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you, don't eat of that tree. Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake. You brought this on yourself, Adam. In sorrow, in sorrow, shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. And what happened to
our daddy Adam happened to all his offspring, you and me. Thorns
and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field in the sweat of thy face. I don't think Adam
had a problem. It was a joy to be in the garden
and eating. But after he fell, in the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Till thou return into the ground,
for out of it was thou taken. For dust thou art, and to the
dust you'll return. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
I don't need to look, as I mentioned last Sunday or not too long ago,
I don't need to look any further than this little flock right
here for examples of what we're talking about. In the world,
you prove the words of our Redeemer in your own experience every
day. In the world, you shall have tribulation. Can anybody
tell me they're exempt from that? Would you raise your hand? Because
we need to talk. We need to talk. No, we all know
it so. Those who've been redeemed by
Jesus Christ and called out of darkness into His marvelous light
are not exempt from pain and sorrow and trouble and grief
in this life. Contrary, contrary. And I've
got to be careful not to go off on a tangent here because it
upsets me when I see people making merchandise out of the souls
of men with their lies about a health and wealth gospel. It
just bugs me. And it should. Telling lies. Telling lies. And I've got loved
ones that believe those lies. God wants everybody healthy and
everybody wealthy. That's a lie. That's a bare-faced
lie. And the only one that's making
wealthy is those liars that's telling. Telling it to people
and milking them for all they can get. Who's that false prophet
in Houston, Osteen? But contrary to that, contrary
to that, God's people suffer. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
your pastor, and I don't think I need to tell you that, he's
not exempt from being discouraged. Pray for me, pray for me. I'm
not made out of anything any different than you are. I look
it up out at these empty pews and it troubles me. I'm sad because
First, I know and I look at the places where they were. They
would be here if they could. But providentially, they can't
be here. Like Mike Giddens and Sandy,
Lester and Bobby at times, all of us at times, Pete this morning
and others. Me, two weeks ago, I wasn't well
enough to preach. That doesn't trouble me as much.
Makes me as sorrowful as much as those who could be here and
have chosen not to be. That's just so. Now we can make
excuses and we can pretend it's not so, but there are some that
have left us without a cause. That's exactly right. I know
some things you don't. And those people that have walked out of
our fellowship, walked away from hearing the glorious gospel of
the blessed God, if they bothered to tell me at all, which some
don't, they gave me the lamest, most unscriptural excuses that
you can find. That hurts. John, that just hurts. I was blessed. I was blessed.
When I was making these notes and that one I just shared with
you, there came across my desk And this was the Lord's doing
from Brother Tom Harding, another transcribed, written out sermon
by Brother Henry Mahan. Remind me and I'll send it to
you. But this one was preached on May the 27th, 1984. And Brother Henry faithfully
continued to preach and pastor that church for 19 years after
that. He retired in 2003, and that
made a total of 54 years. 54 years. And he's now in glory,
as we all know. This is what Henry said in his
message, his TV message that morning. He said, I have for
you today a very special message. I'm calling this message, He
That Believeth on the Son. This is the title. This is the
topic. And it was from John 3 and 35. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things to his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him." And I'm still reading quoting Henry's words. And as
I was preparing this message and studying this verse of scripture,
this thought came to my mind. My life on earth and my ministry
for 30 some odd years, that's what it was at the time in 84,
for 30 some odd years in the gospel would be to me, as far
as I am concerned, a total success if someone would lay hold of
the powerful truth revealed here in verse 35. Be worth it. It would be a complete success
if as a result of that life and that ministry, someone listening
to this television ministry, or listening to me in the pulpit
at 13th Street Baptist Church, or wherever I am preaching, if
someone would lay hold of the powerful truth revealed in this
verse. I would consider my life well
spent and my ministry quite successful if someone would lay hold upon
the truth taught in John 3 and 35. The father loveth the son,
and hath given all things into his hand." Oh, that was like
rain from heaven to my heart yesterday when I read that. And
I said to myself, Brother Henry, thank you. Thank you. You being
dead, yet speaketh. What a blessed consolation that
was to my discouraged heart. It'd be worth it. John, me and
you talked about this over lunch the other day. If God, I told John, I don't
think I've ever told you this, but I told John, John, if God
is pleased to use me, for however long he sees fit,
just to comfort and help his little flock here at Fairmont
Graves Church, what an honor. I'm sincere. What an honor that
is. It's worth it. It's worth it. We believers read God's word,
don't we? We search the scriptures. We call upon the Lord in prayer,
seeking consolation. We go listen to God's messenger,
hoping for a word from God that might be exactly what we need. An Eric Horn for consolation. Real consolation. Consolation
in Christ. Not like this plastic, pretend
pasted on stuff the Pentecostals parade around with. Oh no, my
soul. That's disgusting. That's just
disgusting. Oh yeah, yeah, John. Yeah. Just one worm bragging on another
worm. That's all it is. Being religious. Look at me. Look, aren't I something? No, no. That's not going to help
me. That's not going to help me.
I need some real, not pretending, not pasted on, not being a hypocrite,
not acting religious, but some real, to my heart, comfort and
consolation. Now where am I going to get that?
Where is that going to come from? And that brings us to our second
thought. Where is this consolation? And our text tells us plainly,
consolation In Christ. Everything, as you know, everything
that God does for his children is in Christ. Ephesians 1. Everything. How many times does that expression
use those two words? Our choosing, our election, redemption,
calling, everything in between that and being brought to glory.
In Christ Jesus, over and over again. Everything God does for
us is in Christ Jesus, and everything God does in us and to us comes
from the same source, in Christ Jesus. Real comfort and consolation,
like all the gifts from God the Father to His children, is in
Christ. We can't find it anywhere else,
or from anyone else. Who else knows me like Jesus
Christ? Who else can be touched with
everything that troubles me? Who else but Jesus Christ knows
exactly what I need and when I need it, the best time to give
it to me? Again, I repeat, when Paul and
Silas were in prison at Philippi, the only thing they were guilty
of was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, what was the
source of their consolation? Christ. Christ. That's why they sing praises
to God. Was Paul faking it? Was Paul faking it? Of course
not. Paul was experiencing the truth
of the gospel that he preached. Jesus Christ said, Paul, I'm
never going to leave you. Paul, you're going to suffer.
Ananias, you go tell Paul. He's a chosen lesser than me.
He's going to suffer. But he's going to bear my name
for kings and rulers. And I'm never going to leave
him. And I'm never going to forsake him. They could lock Paul in
prison. They could lock Paul in, but
they couldn't lock Jesus Christ out. The Lord said, I'll come
to you. I'll come to you. And he came,
carrying the sweet consolation of his person in his presence. That's why Paul and Silas were
singing praises to Christ. They were given all the glory
to the one from whom they had received all the grace. Paul
wasn't faking. How could you sing praises to
God, Paul, who allowed this to happen to you? Why don't you
just quit? These people in Philippi don't
want you here anyway. I mean, a lady, Lydia. Lydia, I mean, you know, all
this labor, all this suffering for her, just one? Just one?
What you should be doing is this, Paul, get you a good lawyer and
just sue the whole shooting match for everything they got." No,
of course not. He sang praises to them. Paul
and Silas sang praise to God always. God who always causes
them to triumph. Paul wrote those words, didn't
he? through the Lord Jesus Christ. They gave sincere thanks to the
God of all grace, knowing that he worketh all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are be called according
to his purpose. Paul wrote that, he believed
it, and he acted like he believed it, didn't he? Paul practiced himself what he
preached. James said, show me your faith. You say you have faith? Prove
it. Show it to me. Show it to me by your works.
People talk about faith. James says they have no works.
That's the kind of faith that the devil has. But true faith
is not the cause of salvation, but it's the sure evidence of
salvation, of true saving faith. Show me. And what an example. What a demonstration it was of
God's all-sufficient grace to see Paul and Silas with bleeding
back, sitting in that dungeon, singing, glory to God. God be
the glory. Great things he hath done. Paul and Silas, if you would
go up there and ask them, how can you do this? Paul would say,
it's all worth it. It's all worth it. Me and him
have been emboldened by my example to preach Jesus Christ. And some
of them don't do it for the right motives, he said in chapter 1,
but so what am I going to do? I'm going to rejoice that Jesus
Christ is being exalted. Whether it's by my life or by
my death, I rejoice in that blessed, blessed fact. It's worth it. Paul would say, not unto us,
not unto us, O God, but unto thy name give glory for your
mercy. And for your truth's sake, thank God for that sweet, heartfelt
reality of consolation that's in Christ Jesus. And brothers
and sisters in Christ, is it any wonder that the devil, our
enemy, the enemy of God's people, is always trying to keep us from
coming to Christ? He doesn't want us to find comfort
and consolation, does he? He knows by keeping us away that
will continue to be cast down and depressed and discouraged
and just plain miserable. Oh, keep looking, looking at
the storm, looking at yourself. Just keep your eyes fixed on
that. Just focus on that. You deserve it. I mean, my soul,
how can you ignore it? Just keep focused on that. And
like Peter, we start to sink. Oh, he doesn't want us to see
Christ walking up on the storms, the angry waves of our troubled
heart. But when by His grace we're brought once again to cast
all our care upon Him, learning afresh, sometimes I think I've
told Robin this. My daddy used to tell me, son,
if you can't listen, you're just going to have to feel. You're
the hardest of my five sons. What's wrong with you? And that
was just true. And I think the same thing is
true, John, in my relationship to Christ. It seems like the
only lesson I can learn is the hard way, just the hard way. It seems like the Lord says,
like my father did, son, if you can't listen, you're just going
to have to fail. And I felt, learned afresh what
I thought I already knew. And sometimes I look back and
think, man, have you learned anything at all? But when by
his grace, we're brought again to cast all our care upon him,
we learn again afresh that he cares for us. He cares for me. Satan, get behind me. You're
lying to me. You're a liar. He'll never leave
me. He'll never. I don't know why
I'm going through this. I don't have a clue. I wish I
wasn't, but I am. But I know this. Jesus Christ
loves me. He loves me. He loved me everlastingly. He laid down his life for me.
He lived for me. He died for me. He intercedes
for me. He wants me with him in glory. He's never going to
leave me. He's not going to ever let me go, no matter what. Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ,
you can bear witness to this as well, can't you? When Jesus
speaks comfort to your soul, He speaks as no one else can. And what a difference it makes.
What a difference it makes. What a difference. You can read
these words, and sometimes it's just words on a page. You can
hear somebody else read them and preach a message from them.
Oh, but when he comes, and he whispers to you, and he says
in his eye, be not afraid. Oh, my soul. What a difference
it makes. Oh, then you can sing it as well
with my soul. Did the storm stop? Oh, no. The
storm's still raging. The wind's still blowing. My
little vessel is still being tossed, but I found out. He's
reminding me again. He's the master of the sea. Billows
his will, obey. Nevertheless, our Lord said to
his disciples in John 16, I'll tell you the truth. Is it exceeding
for you that I go away? And remember, they were troubled,
confused, just bewildered. He said, I'm going away. But
if I don't go away, the comforter, the comforter, will not come
to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you. The Holy Spirit
is the Comforter, but Christ is the Comforter. The Holy Spirit
is the Physician, but Christ is the Medicine that He applies.
The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ Himself is the Consolation. When He, the Spirit of Truth,
has come, He said to them again in John 16, He'll not speak of
Himself. No. He won't talk about Himself. He'll take the things of mine
and He'll show them to you. He'll remind you. He will speak
to your heart, the Spirit of Christ, and show you things to
come. He will glorify me, for He will
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine. Therefore I say that He, the
Comforter, shall take of mine and show it unto you. Oh, the great comfort! When we
are downcast, feeling all alone to hear him speak, to hear him
speak words like this, let not your heart be troubled. Again,
you know well when he said that, John 14, the verse before, the
last verse of chapter 13, he told Peter, you're going to deny
me. You're going to deny me. You're going to leave me. You're
all going to leave me, but let not your heart be troubled. Oh, what a gracious, tender-hearted,
great shepherd he is. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there
are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Not for Judas, Peter,
but for you. You're going to deny me. You're
going to curse. You're going to betray me. You're going to
dishonor me. I'm preparing a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you. And to myself,
that where I am, you may be also. And whether I go, you know, and
the way you know. If we trace the steps of Jesus
Christ, the good shepherd of the sheep, from the highest throne
of glory, as we read here in Philippians 2, to the cross of
his deepest sorrow, then follow him through the grave, up again
to the majesty of heaven and see him bring all that the Father
gave him to himself, being mighty to save. And even in that day,
when he delivers up the kingdom again to God the Father, all
along that glorious pathway, we shall surely find flowers
of sweet consolation. All the way, my Savior leads
me." There's a hymn in our book, hymn book, Footsteps of Jesus,
on page 438. The last verse is this. Then
at last, when on high He sees us, our journey done, we will
rest where the steps of Jesus end at His front throne. These
are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, and we're
going to follow Him right up to glory. We're just going to
follow in His footsteps till we see Him face to face. footprints of Jesus that makes
the pathway blow. We will follow the steps of Jesus
where'er they go. Glory to His name. That's why, brothers and sisters
in Christ, when we gather here, I stress, I stress, and remind
you when we come in, come seeking a word from the Redeemer. Come
seeking to worship your God. Come seeking to bow down before
He who loved us and gave Himself before us. That's what you need
most of all. That's what you need most of
all. Pray that God prepare your hearts. Don't come in and talk about
everything, all the troubles out in the world. Man, we're
coming here to get away from that for a little while. I mean,
it'll be there. I mean, turn on the news. I mean,
you're sick, you're hearing it. Don't need that here, do we?
No, come to God's house, someone said. Don't come to the Lord's
house and forget the guest of honor. All the bad news will
be waiting for you when you leave. Oh, but God give us grace when
we come to seek the honor and worship Him, seeking a word of
consolation from Him. And you'll find it, sweet consolation
for your souls. We all remember this song. He
giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more
strength when the labors increase. To addeth afflictions, he addeth
his mercy to multiply trials, his multiplied peace. He's doing
it, isn't he, Bob? When we've exhausted our store
of endurance, and that doesn't take very long, when our strength
is failed, ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of
our hoarded resources, our Father's forgiving is only begun. Philip, where are we going to
buy bread that all these may eat? And this he said to prove
him for Jesus knew what he would do. Fear not that thy need shall
exceed his provision, or God ever yearns his resources to
share. Lean hard on the arm everlasting
availing. The Father both thee and thy
load will upbear. The Father both you and your
load will upbear. The great shepherd went out seeking
his sheep, he picked him up. He picked him up, that sheep,
put him on his shoulders. He carried that sheep and everything.
Lo, that sheep was king. He carried them all. He carried
the sheep and the sheep's burdens, the sheep's trials, the sheep's
heartaches. He carried it all. His love has
no limits. His grace has no measure. His
power no boundary known unto men. For out of its infinite
riches in Jesus he giveth and he giveth and he giveth again. Of His fullness have we all received,
and grace for grace." Here's the last thing. We'll wrap this
up. Last of all, when His consolation
is experienced. Now what we've already said,
where consolation is, these things are so much intertwined, I don't
even know if there should be a division. Nonetheless, Consolation
experience. Consolation in Christ. How do
I find this consolation I so much want and need? Just do what you did for the forgiveness of all your
sins. Who were you looking to? When you came to Jesus Christ
loaded down with the guilt the burden, the heartache of knowing
that you were the sinner. Where did you get rid of that
love? Who took that away from you? Did you do it yourself? Oh no, no, you tried. Oh man,
I could tell you a long story. Drop by sometimes and I'll tell
you. We'll get together, I'll tell you. By a soul, people pointed
me in every direction, but Christ, the altars, the water, the doctrine,
everything, the prayers repeat after me, blah, blah, blah. Hmm. No. When you look to the only
one God, the only one that God sent to be the Savior of sinners,
when you look to Jesus Christ and nothing else, when you came
to Him praying something like this, nothing in my hand I'll
bring. I've tried. You won't accept
that. But simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for
dress. Helpless look to thee for grace.
Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I'm a goner. I'm gonna die. Brothers and sisters
in Christ, stay right there. Just stay put. Just stay put. Only Jesus Christ has the right
and the authority to speak words like this to your troubled soul.
And when he says so, John, it's so. When Christ says it's so,
it's so. Let anybody else say what they
will. Something like this, thy sins, which are many, are all
forgiven thee, go in peace. Go in peace. And just stay right
there. After you've come to Christ,
keep coming to Christ. After you've beheld the Lamb
of God, just keep beholding the Lamb of God. Don't look for salvation
in Christ, then look for yourself for the consolation of that salvation. Keep your eyes upon Christ. If ye taste it, that the Lord
is gracious to whom coming continually, continually, continually coming. I like what Mr. Spurgeon said.
He said, I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against
the rock of ages. It's worth the storm if it lands
me again upon the rock of ages. The other evening, I was in the
backyard. We're trying to decide between
my stuff and Robin's stuff, how much of that stuff we can get
rid of. We got too much stuff. I told Robin that day, I said,
honey, I got to get out in that office. I'm about to pull my
hair out. Everything's crowded. I can't
move. And that office was stuffed.
Man, I've been working. We've been working. Been working
hard. Moving us from there, trying to get so I can get moved out
there. Taking some out to the barn. The barn was stuffed. So
we had to get rid of some stuff in the barn to make room for
the stuff out of the office. Well, I'd done this before many
times, picking up limbs and stuff after a storm. But we got, there's
a wagon at the house. Man, I load that thing up. And
the other evening I was doing it. Don't need this, don't need
that. This can go, that can go. That
wagon was loaded up many times, many times. I got that wagon,
John, and started pulling it out of the backyard, up to the
curb. You know that little incline
just up where you get to the road? Man, when this old 70-year-old
gets to that, man, it feels like Pike's Peak. Man, it's all I
can do. Well, the other evening I was
doing that, had a big load. I thought, ooh, I thought, Rob,
this is going to be tough. This is going to be heavy. She said, you know
you can hook that wagon to the riding lawn mower and drive it
up there. I said, say what? I've been doing this for three
years with her now. She has seen me out there pulling,
and grunting, and sweating, and fussing. And she said, now you
know you can. I thought, she's making that
up. Her expression. I said, you're joking, right
Robin? This was just Tuesday evening or something. I said,
are you serious? And she was right. I got the
lawnmower, brought it around there, just flipped it, took
a little pin out of the handle of the wagon, and just put it
on the mower, and away I went. Man, it was so much easier. So
much easier. And I came back. Man, I shouldn't
look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say, but I said, honey,
Why did you never tell me this before? You see me out there
struggling and all I can do to get that wagon up the hill there.
Why did you never tell me this? Well, now I know. You'll never see me out there
pulling that wagon again unless my lawnmower's broken. That's
sort of a picture when we tried to carry our own burdens. and
troubles, instead of taking them to Jesus Christ, is pulling and
tugging and sweating and fussing and bawling and getting discouraged,
instead of casting all our cares upon Him, because He cares for
us. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Don't pull that wagon. Bring it to me. Bring it to me.
Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me. I am meek and lowly
in heart, and you're going to find rest. You're going to find
sweet consolation for your soul." Remember that's what old Bunyan
said Christian did, didn't he? In his famous book, Pilgrim's
Progress. He said, as I was walking through
the world, I lighted up on a certain place and there was a den and
I laid down to sleep. And as I slept, I had a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw
a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place with his face
from his own house, and a book in his hand, and a great burden
upon his back. Oh, my soul, what a burden that
was. What a burden that was. But when
he wrote, I looked and saw him open the book and read therein. And as he read, he wept and trembled,
and not being able to contain He broke out with a lamentable
cry saying, what shall I do? You remember that? Remember that? Remember when it was God's grace
teaching your heart to fear? Oh, but remember the joy when
that same grace relieved your fear and the burden of your heart
rolled away? Bunyan talked about that too.
This is my favorite passage. I know, I've shared it with you
a dozen times. He said, when I saw in my dream
that the highway of which Christian was to go was fenced on either
side with a wall, and that wall was called salvation, up this
way therefore did burdened Christian run, but not without great difficulty,
because of the load, that great load on his back. He ran thus
till he He came at a place somewhat ascending, and upon that place
stood a cross, and a little below in the bottom a sepulcher. So
I saw in my dream that just as Christian came up
to the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders. I'm not thinking about Pilgrim
now, I'm thinking about Lurie Crear. My burden loosed. from off my
shoulders and fell off my back and tumbled and continued to
tumble until it came to the mouth of the sepulcher and it fell
in and I've never seen it since. Jesus Christ bore all my sins
in his own body on the tree and I don't need to bear them anymore.
Larry, Chris, stay right here. Don't move. Like old Simmy. We're told he was waiting for
the consolation of Israel, didn't we? Old Simeon was waiting for
the consolation of Israel, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Mary and Joseph brought him in, Simeon was brought in
as well by God's providence. He waited for Christ, the Christ
of God. He looked for the Christ of God,
and God directed him to the Christ. Christ was revealed to him, and
Simeon embraced him. And sometime after that, he died
and went to be with Jesus Christ, God's consolation. Paul said
in Romans 8, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us. Let me read you another old hymn.
If I could sing it, I would. When we are tried and things
go wrong, we sometimes say, oh, Lord, how long? Let's trust in
him and wear a smile. It's worth it all to be his child.
Although we bear reproach and shame, it's worth it all for
his dear name. The tides of life may rise and
fall, but the love of God is worth it all. When here on earth
our race is run, we see the rays of the setting sun. When we shall
hear that final call, we'll tell the world It's been worth it
all. What everlasting consolation
will it be when we shall see his face? When God began to lay
this verse on my heart, it was setting out back, Robin and I. And I said, Robin, you know,
pretty soon, pretty soon, I said, it's not going to be very long,
pretty soon, I'm going to see Jesus Christ. Face to face. And you know when
we do, all these trials are just going to vanish. They won't mean
nothing. It'll be worth it all. Now the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even the Father, which had
loved us and had given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word.
and work. Amen. God bless you.