Well, it's been great. Chris,
thank you so much for taking the time to come down and be
with us, bringing the girls. And it's been good. And I pray
the Lord will bless you this morning, brother. Well, again,
I appreciate y'all having us. We've enjoyed the meeting so
much and just enjoyed seeing all of you and fellowshipping
together. I've enjoyed Brother David's preaching. It's been
a while since I've heard Brother David preached, and I've just
been blessed by it, instructed by it. Thank the Lord for him. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4 and start there. I just want to read a brief passage
in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 13. Yesterday morning we talked about
faith from Hebrews chapter 11, and this passage starts this
way, we having the same spirit of faith, and we do all the Lord's
people do. Isn't that what Paul said in
Ephesians? One faith. We want the faith of God's elect. We all have that from God. That's
the means whereby God causes us to lay hold of the Lord Jesus
and experience His grace in Christ, by faith. And having that same
spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and
therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. If you know Him, you're going
to say something about it, aren't you? Sooner or later, to your
children, to your friends, sooner or later you're going to have
to say something. The Lord told several people, don't tell anybody,
and they went and told everybody anyway. Knowing that He which raised
up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall
present us with you for all things are for your sakes that the abundant
grace might through the thanksgiving of many Redound to the glory
of God. For which cause we faint not? But though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory while we look. We don't faint Our outward man may perish, there
may be affliction, there may be poverty, there may be want,
there may be need. Paul said, I know how to suffer
want and need and yet rejoice therein, be content. There may
be great affliction, great perishing of the outward man, but the inward
man is renewed day by day while we look. at the things which are not seen
so what is it what what can you look at that will help you not
to faint that will rejoice your heart that will renew you on
the inside where it really counts every day even though everything
on the outside would cause you to faint and perish what can
you look at that would give you joy and strength and comfort
and renewing. But it's something you can't
see. You remember, I know you all remember the story from Numbers
21, when the people of Israel had sinned grievously, murmuring
against the Lord. And God sent fiery serpents into
the camp. And they began to bite the people,
and they bit all the people. There must have been a bunch
of them. The Lord sent a bunch of fiery serpents to bite them,
and they cried out, didn't they? They went to Moses and said,
we've sinned. We've sinned. See if the Lord
will have mercy on us. We've sinned. And the Lord told
Moses to make a serpent of brass, just like the fiery serpents
that had bitten the people, and lift it up on a pole and tell everybody, everybody
that looks, shall live. And then the Lord Jesus told
Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up that serpent upon a pole in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And everybody
that looks to Him will live. Everybody that believes on Him
shall not be condemned, but shall have everlasting life. What will
you look at this morning that you can't see? But if you look,
you'll have life. You'll have strength. You'll
be encouraged. You'll have power. You'll have
comfort. You'll be able to rest and rejoice. Well, that brings us to Leviticus.
Lamentations 1. Let me just read you a verse.
You can turn there if you'd like to. But Lamentations 1. I just want to read one verse
and then, by God's grace, maybe we can consider what was said
here in this one verse. Lamentations 1.12. You're familiar
with it. This is the Lord Jesus speaking. And He says, Is it nothing to
you, all you that pass by, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger. Is there any sorrow like mine?
Behold, and see something that cannot be seen, Something that
the natural eye cannot gaze upon this morning. Examine and consider. That's what the word there is.
Behold, examine and consider. There was a group of people that
says when the Lord was actually physically nailed to the cross
that day on Calvary, it says they sat down and watched Him
there. And that's what we're called upon to do, but in a more
significant way. You could have seen Him that
day with these eyes and never seen Him. But if you see Him
with the eyes that this is talking about, you've seen Him indeed. Behold and see. Look and live. Is there any sorrow like His? We're commanded, I believe, here
to do this very thing. Don't you think? Behold and see. Let's look into the matter from
God's Word. And this won't be even a thorough study of this,
much less an exhaustive one, but just a few thoughts on this. Behold and see if there's any
sorrow like his. First of all, there's no sorrow
like his sorrow because of who it is that suffered. There can't
be anything like him or anything he did. Is that right? Because
it's the nature of Christ's person that everything that He is and
everything that He did is unlike anything or anyone else. You
think about that. No man ever spake like this man. They said, never from the beginning
of the world has it been seen that anybody's ever opened the
eyes of one that was born blind. Everything He did. And everything
that He was. He was man. He was like us. Yet. Don't forget that yet. Without
sin. Oh my. Man. Human. Bone of our bone. Flesh of our
flesh. Yet. He wasn't like me. Aren't you
glad? Aren't you glad he's not like you? Oh and God. The Son of God. Great is the
mystery of godliness. If we could ever behold and see
that one thing, we'd never be the same again. God was manifest
in the flesh. When Paul presents and stretches
forth for our consideration that golden chain of salvation in
Romans 8, and he talks about the infinitely glorious accomplishments
of the Lord Jesus Christ by His sin-atoning death, Namely, our
justification. He talks about how we're unchargeable
before God and men. Who shall lay in heaven, earth
or hell, shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. We're
guiltless. He talks about our receiving
every good from God. Everything that happens, everything
that we experience, everything that might cause us to fail,
it's for our good. It's for our good. And all he
needs say about that victorious death that has accomplished all
that, to exalt it to the place to where later he would say,
God forbid that I should glory in anything else but the Son
of God hanging on a cross. All that he needs say is this,
it is Christ that died. It's who died. It's who He is. You'll never know what happened
on that cross until you know who it was hanging there. It
is Christ that died. There was no sorrow like His
because of who He is. I wish I could say that right.
He emphasizes there and gives due regard to the wonder of the
suffering itself that God could die. That the church of God,
it was bought with the very blood of God. It says in the book of
Acts that God purchased His church with His own blood. And we think
about His sufferings, but you can't rightly consider His sufferings
without considering the one who suffered. That's why there can
never be any sorrow like He is, the Person. What shall we say
then to these things if God be for us? Who can be against us? If God come down here and die
for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. It's
God that sought to it. It's God that did something for
Him. It's God that satisfied God for me. It's God that paid
my sin debt. for me. It's God that justifies. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. No, there's no sorrow like His,
because there's no one like Him. And then there's no sorrow like
His with regard to the intensity of it, the magnitude of it, the
depth of it. Is there? I mean, how can we
even think about that? How can we properly express it? We don't know how to express
it. And if we did, the English language wouldn't suffice, would
it? Is there any calculation whereby
to measure the grief and pain that my sin deserves before God?
What about all of the sins of all of God's people for all time?
Can you calculate that? Even those who suffer in hell
will never know the depth of his sorrow, will they? They'll
have to suffer forever and it'll never be enough. It'll never
reach the equivalent of his suffering. Hell is eternal because the cup
of God's wrath against sin has to be drunk forever. And forever
and ever and ever, it can never be drained by any sinner. And
yet my Lord drank the entire cup dry. And not for Himself,
but for all of God's people. And not only that, consider this,
how can one who is holiness itself become sin for His people? And we ever have any idea what
that even means. How can we, considering the magnitude
of His sorrow, that takes it way beyond us, doesn't it? The
sinless one became sin. My sin was laid upon Him. The measure of a fall must take
into consideration the original height of the one who fell. And
He came from the throne of glory. He was the sinless Savior, the
spotless Lamb of God that takes away sin. And so those who suffer
in hell, even if they were able to ever descend to the depth
that our Savior did, they would not have done so from where He
did. And then there's no sorrow like my Savior's sorrow in that
He suffered willingly. It's all we can do to endure
suffering. We may be able to endure it,
but I'm not going to wish it on me, are you? Whatever suffering
we may endure at death, in our death, and his sorrow, his sorrow
was unto death. Whatever suffering we endure
at the time of our death, we don't consciously decide to endure
that. I was talking about that with
somebody the other day. I want to die in my sleep, don't
you? I just want to go to sleep and
not wake up. That would be good, wouldn't it? I don't want to
suffer. I don't want to go through what
I've seen some of my friends and family, loved ones go through
when they die. But our Lord Jesus Christ, for
the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising
The shame. And that word there means he
counted it a small thing. It doesn't mean it was a small
thing. But he counted it as such for the joy. For the joy. There's no sorrow like my Redeemer's
sorrow in that His sorrow was vicarious. I may suffer in this
life. I may suffer more than you do.
Or you may suffer more than me. But I can't suffer for you. I
can't take your sorrow, it's yours. I may be able to talk
to you and say something to help you, but that's your sorrow. He took my sorrow. By His stripes I was healed. He took my sins upon Himself.
I can suffer with you. I may suffer over you. But I can't suffer for you. We've
all suffered a little bit in this life, haven't we? I've brought
a lot of suffering on myself. I can't suffer for you, nor you
for me. But surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Nobody ever suffered that way. And then there's no sorrow like
the Savior's sorrow because of all that He accomplished by His
sufferings. My sorrows don't accomplish anything.
They're the effects of my sin. The results of my own sin. His sorrow for me was effectual
sorrow. It got something done. That's
what effectual means. Jack used to always say the definition
of effectual, this is the Texas definition. It gets the job done.
His sorrow got something done, but my salvation. The taking
away of my sorrow, my sin, the penalty and guilt and shame and
consequences of my sin, He took upon Himself and got it done. It's finished. It's finished.
When Moses and Elijah met with the Lord Jesus Christ on the
Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John witnessed it.
It says there that they heard them talking together. The Lord
Jesus Christ and Elijah and Moses were talking, and you know what
they were talking about, don't you? It says that they spoke
of the death that Christ should accomplish. My death's not going
to accomplish anything. It'll be good. It'll be a good
thing, won't it? There won't be any sting in it,
but that's because of what He did. That's not me accomplishing
anything. That's because of his death accomplishments. But they talked of the death
that he should accomplish, and here we are speaking today still
of the death that he did accomplish. Everything, and I don't know
how to say it strongly enough to make us understand that When
I say everything, I mean everything. Everything revolves around the
cross. Everything. Everything. There is no sorrow like His because
all other sorrow except His is deserved. We deserve the sorrow that's
brought upon us. like to blame it on other people
or blame it on God. It's what we like to do, don't
we? We like to blame our sorrows and our troubles on God if we
think we can get away with it. We were visiting door-to-door
one time a long time ago. I was with someone I shouldn't
have been with. I was in religion. They used
to like to go door-to-door and ask people if they wanted to
go to heaven. We never did find anybody that didn't and wasn't
willing to say a few words and repeat something in order to
do it. Have you ever found anybody that wouldn't do that? But we
knocked on one door and this guy wanted to know, he said,
why did God kill my son? Why did God kill my son? I saw
the pain in his face. It must have happened recently.
And I didn't say anything, but the truth of that is, if you've
suffered anything like that, loss or sorrow or woe or grief
in this world, it's your fault. And the truth is, God did it
because He wanted to. God kills and makes alive and
He does it because He wants to. I don't think He wanted to hear
that. And I probably didn't know to even tell Him that then. But
we've brought all this on ourselves. But I like what that thief said
when the Lord opens his eye. He said, we're hanging here because
we deserve it. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. That's why there's no sorrow like his. That's another
reason right there. He hath done nothing amiss. We
deserve a whole lot more than we've ever suffered. In fact,
we really don't know what sorrow is, do we? And I don't mean to
minimize if you've gone through some things in this life. I understand
a little bit about what suffering is in this world. But we really
don't have any idea what sorrow is. And if you're His, thank
God, you never will. You never will. And that's my
last point, really. There's no sorrow like His because
His sorrow precludes sorrow in His people. We're not going to
suffer like He did. We're not really going to suffer
much at all. The sufferings of this present life are not worthy
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.
Why? Because He suffered in our place. That's why. And that's
why there's no sorrow like His. In Luke 4.18, our Lord announced
that He was sent to this earth to heal the brokenhearted. And
He's done just that, hasn't He, David? We was broken hearted
over our sin. When He turned the light on,
when the law came and sin revived and I died, we were broken hearted.
And He heals us. He touches us. Only God can reach
the heart and He reaches in and takes hold of our heart and heals
it. Just as surely as He touched that woman and that issue of
blood was dried up. When she touched Him, And He
was able to touch, He smeared that mud on the eyes of the blind
and I could see He touched our heart, healed our broken heartedness.
If we believe that He died on that cross, that God came in
human flesh and suffered in our stead, that He carried our sorrows,
then we can't sorrow as those who don't believe on Him. Much less like we deserve to
sorrow. You ever wondered how people make it in this world
that don't have a refuge? I guess everybody has some kind
of a refuge, don't they? But there's nothing to it. There's
nothing to it. Oh, then to the rock let me fly. To the rock that's higher than
I. If I didn't have Him, what would I have? What would I have? Where would
I go? How can I lay my head down in peace and sleep like David
said? I'll lay my head down in peace tonight and sleep because
Thou, Lord only, makest me to dwell in safety. And I do think about that sometimes.
I see people going through things and if they don't know the Lord
Jesus, what possible comfort in this world can they have? Because we believe by His grace,
by His sovereign Almighty grace, whereby He was pleased to show
us, reveal to us Himself. We believe that He died and rose
again for us. We believe that that man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief, bore our sins and our sorrows and made
them His very own, as the songwriter said. We'll never know what it
is to bear the sorrow of sin, really. to be crushed under the
weight of God's wrath. That's what that word is. When
it says, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, you made reference
to this, to bear down and crush. That's what that word is. He
crushed His own Son and He did it for me. And I'll never know
what that is. I'll never know what God's wrath
is. And bless His holy name, we won't. Because there was no
sorrow like His, one day for us, There won't be any sorrow
at all. Even what we call sorrow now
will be gone then. No sorrow, period. Revelation
21-1, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. That city is not a location,
that's a people. And she comes down like a bride,
arrayed in beautiful clothing, coming down to her husband. And he said, I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them. and be their God, and God,
you think about this statement, God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away. I like what he calls all
of our sorrows and pain and trouble, don't you? Former things. The
former things. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me,
It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be his God,
and he shall be my Son." I'm able to read that and to rejoice
in it because my Lord suffered for me. And there was never any
sorrow like his sorrow. Thank you, Brother Milton.