Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Be of Good Cheer" by Neal Pollard

Transcript

"Be of Good Cheer" by Neal Pollard · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Good things continue to be happening here,
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and it's an indication of all the, the love and effort that's being put
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forward by this congregation to be what God wants us to be
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in this community. You may have remembered that a couple of months ago,
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Kyla Ballou was baptized into Christ on a Sunday afternoon.
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It was exciting. A lot of her family came, and among
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the folks who were present was her boyfriend who had been attending
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church services with her. Immediately thereafter,
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2 of our elders, Roger and Russell,
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set up a Bible study with Brandon and began studying with him. And,
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uh, this afternoon at 3 o'clock, he put
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on his Lord in baptism. And so yet another soul has been added
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to the kingdom. That says so much good. That talks about the importance
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of an invitation and how when someone reaches
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out to someone else, that they will often say yes. And It encourages us
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to try to do more of the same, but it also is exciting to see
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shepherds who are willing and able to sit down with
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a soul and to study with them. And so we know that God gets all
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the glory. We give him proper credit, but we're so grateful to have men
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who oversee this church who also are capable
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in the Word like they are. I want you to
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think about the dearest, most important person on
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this earth to you. Who is no longer here?
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Do you remember the last words that you spoke to them?
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And do you remember the last words that they spoke to you? Perhaps they stand
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out because you remember something about those words. When we
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think about the last words that Jesus spoke to his apostles as a
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group, there are a lot of different places that we may look, but with regard
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to the last instruction that he gives them before he goes to the cross and
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he dies, We just read, at least according to John's Gospel,
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the last words he says en masse to all of these men.
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And he says, these things I write unto you that in me you may have
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peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be
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of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
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Those are the words in John chapter 16 and verse 33.
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And yes, a case could be made that not long after this, on the same
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night that Jesus is speaking to the whole group in the Garden of Gethsemane,
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and we don't know exactly what he said, I don't know what he says,
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but in essence, he says, you stay over here and I will go over
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here and I will speak to the Father, Matthew 26:36.
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And then we see that shortly thereafter that, when he comes back after praying
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and the Jews come out to arrest him, that Peter takes a sword
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and he cuts off Malchus' ear, the servant of the high priest. And Jesus
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rebukes him. He speaks out to him.
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And then we go all the way to the cross, and there's Jesus hanging on
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the cross. And as he hangs there, he looks down, and at the foot of
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the cross, there is his mother And there is the apostle whom he loved,
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John. And you remember, he speaks to John on
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that occasion, giving him instructions and her with regard to
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him. And then we go on the other side of the crucifixion
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and the death to the resurrection, and there are the multiple appearances that Jesus
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makes to the apostles, included in which are some rich teaching. You remember in
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Luke chapter 24, and then at the very end of the
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40 days when Jesus is about to go back to heaven, Jesus speaks
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more words of comfort to them as he is ascending in Acts
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chapter 1 and verse 8 and Matthew 28 and verse 20.
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But there is a special sense in which this is the
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end of the classroom discussion where the teacher is with his pupils,
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and this is the words that he wants to leave them with before
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they're about to go through that collective trauma of his being led away from
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them. Jesus wants them to know that while it
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won't seem like it in just a short period of time, that they need
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to be of good cheer, that even though everything seems to be in doubt,
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Do you notice how he says it here? I have overcome
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the world. Not a hand has been laid on him.
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He has not gone through that overnight interrogation.
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He has not stood before Pilate after having been
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through the mockery of justice with the chief priests of the Sanhedrin.
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He has not been beaten in a way that would kill some
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individuals. He has not been mocked in front of Herod.
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He has not gone through the indignities and the pain of hanging on the cross
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for 6 hours until his life is laid down, John 10:16 and 17.
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And yet he says, I have overcome the world.
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Now, whenever you look at a large body of text in the Bible, it's good
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for you to maybe walk through that and see if there are some
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repeated phrases that can help you to understand what's being said in the overall context.
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And that can be done in John chapter 16. And when you
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do that, there are at least a couple of phrases that I want you to
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take notice of. One of them is this phrase that he says to them repeatedly,
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these things I have said to you.
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Now, if you'll walk through the chapter, notice what he attaches to that. He says
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in the first place, these things I have said to you that you
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may not stumble, verse 1.
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And then he says, these things I have said to you that you may remember
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that I said them to you, verse 4. And then he
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says the third time, these things I've said to you and sorrow has filled your
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heart, verse 6. In verse 25,
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He says, these things I have said unto you in figurative
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language. And then in the verse that we have just seen, He says,
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these things I have said unto you that in Me you may have peace.
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He is wanting them to know why He is saying the things
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that He is saying to them, some of which had to be very hard to
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hear. And then there's another phrase He says in the middle of that chapter.
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He says, these things— He says, a little while.
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As Jesus is trying to gear them up for what's about to happen,
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he says in verse 16, a little while you will see me not.
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In the same verse he says, and then a little while you will see me
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again. And they don't really understand what he's talking about
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and he has to explain it. And so from verse 17 through 19, he tells
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them why he is saying a little while.
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And so these things function in a way that we'll see as the lesson unfolds
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tonight. But there are also— there's something else you could do. Print off sometimes
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a chapter of the Bible. You could do this with John 16. And when
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you print it out, you're going to find that there are some repeated words.
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And when you look at those words together, they also play a role.
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When the Holy Spirit moves a writer to keep saying a word over and
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over again, he's saying it serves an important role.
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So as you walk through John 16, you'll find him 8 times saying
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the world. Well, that's important because they're going
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to be left behind in the world and he's going to go away and they
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feel like the world is winning and he wants He wants them to see the
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place the world is playing in all that's going on. But I want you to
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notice the contrast to that. He mentions 12 times the
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Father. 13 times he mentions in
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some way the Holy Spirit with some synonym or with
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that word, the Spirit. And then what I find remarkable is that 48
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times in the 33 verses that make up this chapter, he says either
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I or my. He is wanting them
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to take their focus on what's going to just be enveloping them and suffocating
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them in a few moments, the world. And he wants them
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to put their focus on God, on the Godhead,
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because if they're going to make it, they're going to have to focus in the
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right place. That's why the last thing that he says to
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them is, be of good cheer, I've overcome
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the world. We consider the fact that Jesus has laughed,
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has lived with, and has led these men over figurative
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and literal mountains and valleys all over Israel. And now they have come
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to Jerusalem and things are about to take a dramatic change.
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There in Jerusalem, Jesus, after— you remember the discussion in Matthew 16
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when Jesus asked the apostles saying, who do men say that I the Son
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am? Peter gives the right answer. He's the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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And Jesus Jesus praises him for that answer. And having
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that understanding, Matthew 16:21
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says, from that time Jesus began to tell them how he had to go to
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Jerusalem and there suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests
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and the scribes, and to be killed and to be raised again the 3rd day.
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Are these words of good cheer? Not to Peter,
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because Peter rebukes Jesus for saying them. Matthew 16
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and verse 22, And so Jesus is saying, the things
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that I'm saying to you, I want you to take cheer in,
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to understand that I overcome the world. And because it doesn't seem that
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way, they're going to have to have faith in the promises of Jesus
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that they're seeing and hearing him say he's about
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to die. And he's saying, I want you to believe in me. Everything that you
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have seen me do, the faith you've had in me, I want you to continue
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to have that. John 16 was not primarily written
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to you and me. It was written primarily to them. We make application
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from it. But 2,000 years this side
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of the cross, we still need that same encouragement to
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be of good cheer. Because as they were looking at things,
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it doesn't look like it is as Jesus is painting the picture.
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And as we look at the world and its ways, and it seems like they're
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winning in blowout fashion, we need to understand that Jesus has
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overcome the world. What I want
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us to do for a few minutes is I want us to look at John
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16, and because what Jesus says is true,
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I want us to see 4 things that are true in our lives today.
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Be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world.
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Well, what does that mean for us? Number 1, be of
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good cheer, Christ has overcome the world, therefore you
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may not stumble. That's how Jesus begins this part of this discussion
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with them. Now, as we look at the book of John, John 1 through John
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12 is a passage or is a part
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of the Gospel of John that's Jesus' public ministry. Jesus is
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teaching everyone and is doing so through the signs and through the teaching that he
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does. And John 13 through 16 is his private discourse where
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he speaks to the apostles specifically. And then John
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17 is his prayer to the Father, and John 18 through 21 is
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his atonement for us. In John chapter 16,
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Jesus says, these things I've said unto you that you may not stumble. In the
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context, why might they stumble?
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Well, Jesus tells us, they're going to cast you out of the synagogues.
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He says, there's an hour coming when everyone who kills
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you will think that he's doing a service to God. And this they will do
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because they have not known the Father or me. We read that in verse 2
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and verse 3. The mission is first going to the apostles,
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and he is telling them that there's going to come a time shortly after these
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events when they're going to want to tell the world. They're going to
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want to share the good news of Jesus' saving grace, and they're
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going to be surprised that not everybody embraces that and believes
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that. In fact, he says, they're going to make you an outcast, and beyond that,
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there's going to come a time when they're going to kill you and think that
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they're doing a service to God. Does that make you think of anybody in the
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New Testament? Immediately my mind goes to Saul of Tarsus in Acts
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chapter 23 and verse 1. Even after he's a Christian, he looks back with the
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Jews and he says that I have lived with a clean conscience unto this
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day. Paul was one like many others in the book
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of Acts that thought that they were doing something right when they were hurting
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the cause of Christ. So Jesus says, these things I
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say unto you that you may not stumble.
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That word stumble is a very interesting word. It's from the Greek word skandalizo.
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And that word skandalizo, can you hear the word in that, scandal?
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The word itself means to be angry and offended
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at what someone says or they do.
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Now, this word is going to be used about 20 times in the New Testament,
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and I find it interesting the way that it's sometimes used. For example, in 1
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Corinthians 1:23, the Apostle Paul is
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saying, that the preaching of the cross is a stumbling
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block to the Jews. That word stumbling block
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is our word. The preaching of Jesus is a scandal.
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It offends people. It makes people angry that we
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would believe that something so— was so necessary as an innocent
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one dying because we are guilty and we need a price
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to be paid in our place. Now, But the Bible
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nowhere says that we cannot stumble.
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In fact, when we think about the parable of the soils in Matthew 13:21,
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Jesus talks about those on the wayside are those that have
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no root in themselves, and in time of affliction and persecution because of the
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word, immediately they fall away. That word
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fall away there is from our word skandalizo.
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Sometimes when we're seeking to follow Christ
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there's an offense because of that, we fall away. Who does that describe?
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Well, sometimes it describes a new Christian who
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comes excitedly out of the water having their sins forgiven and
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are trying to live the Christian life. And then something comes along
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and they stumble and immediately
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or gradually they disappear from our midst.
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But think about how it may also describe someone who has been a child of
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God for some period of time. And then some personal trial comes
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into their life, or maybe they're overwhelmed by a sin problem that
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takes over for them, or maybe there's some adversity, and in the midst
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of that, they turn away. It's not a popular truth, and it's certainly
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not one that's shared by a lot of the religious world, but the Bible makes
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it very clear that a Christian can fall from grace. Paul says
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as much in Galatians 5 and verse 4. He says, you who are trying
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to be justified by works of the law, you have fallen or severed
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from grace. Then the Hebrews writer says, if we sin
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willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice
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for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation
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which shall devour the adversary. He that despised Moses' law died without
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mercy under 2 or 3 witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment do you suppose
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he shall be thought worthy who has trodden underfoot the Son of
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God and done despite of the Spirit of grace and has counted the covenant with
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which he was sanctified an unholy thing? Hebrews 10:26-28.
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26 through 29. Peter says that if one has
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obeyed our Lord and become a part of Him and has turned away
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from Him, the latter end is worse with him than the beginning. That's the
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truth of Scripture, 2 Peter 2:20 and 21.
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We know that. And yet what I want us to consider
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in light of what Jesus says is that He has done everything
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He can short of overtaking our will,
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To help us not to stumble.
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Jude ends his book by saying, now unto him who is able to keep
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you from stumbling and to cause you to stand in his presence with rejoicing,
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with great joy before his glory, Jude 24.
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Have you stopped to think about all the resources that
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God has given us, that Christ has given us so that we'll stand
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and will not stumble? Jesus says, these things
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I'm saying unto you that you may not. Okay, Lord, what have you done to
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help us in that? I want you to think first of all about the spiritual
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resources that he gives us to keep us from stumbling.
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As I thought about this, I thought, what's the best way to illustrate that?
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And I thought about one chapter of scripture. I know
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it's a chapter that was so significant that we studied the entire chapter for a
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quarter some years ago, but I want you to think about Romans chapter 12.
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In Romans chapter 12, Paul regards this
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as the transformed life. He says, be not conformed to this world,
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but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And think about
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the resources we find in this one chapter. What can help us not
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to stumble? Verse 3, be humble. What can
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keep us from stumbling? Verse 5, be united.
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What can keep us from stumbling? Verses 6 through 8, be active.
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Verse 9, be good. Verse 10,
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be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
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Verse 12, be devoted to prayer.
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Verse 13, be generous and be hospitable.
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Verse 15, be empathetic. Verse 17 through
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21, be forgiving. Now you take all of those
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resources one by one and you incorporate those into your life and see
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if that doesn't help you to stand. And by the way, that's not even all
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the resources that are in that chapter. But what Jesus is saying is,
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in whatever direction that you turn, I'm giving you something that will help
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you to make it. But then he also gives us spiritual
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blessings to keep us from stumbling. Again, we talk about that. Perhaps the
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passage, if we were to reflect on it, that we would think about first
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of all would be Ephesians 1:3.
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There the Apostle Paul says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
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Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
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in Christ. Now, if we were to try to examine
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just in that one book, 6 chapters, relatively brief.
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Have you thought about maybe studying the book of Ephesians sometime
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from this standpoint? Go through and count all the spiritual blessings
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that are found only in Christ. I'm confident
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I may have gotten it wrong. I would encourage you to go home and
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count them. And if you have a different number than me, let me know what
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it is. I counted 36 blessings to be
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found in Christ that help us to make it.
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When we go back to chapter 1, verse 3 through 14, we see the Godhead
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blessing us in a great way, that the Father selected
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us, he chose us, that the Son saved us,
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and the Spirit strengthens us.
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God is blessing us, and in John chapter 16, we see some
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of these blessings, and he is indicating to us, if you think that
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you're blessed in this life, think of all the blessings that I have prepared for
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you after this life. And so there's the spiritual resources, but then there's
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also the spiritual blessings that he gives us to keep us from stumbling.
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But then there are the spiritual alternatives that he gives us that keeps us from
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stumbling. You think about the fact that you— when you're
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faced with giving in to sin or submitting to God, you can always choose
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what's right. I love for us to give an emphasis to
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Joseph in Egypt in Genesis chapter 39. You remember that Potiphar's
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wife had him hemmed in a pretty tight corner, and yet he got
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away from that and he ran away. We have here an example that
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God is telling us that you'll never be in a situation where
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you can't escape. How about 1 Corinthians 10:13? There has
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no temptation taken you but such as is common to man,
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but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above
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what you are able, but will with the temptation provide a means of escape that
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you may be able to bear it. Walk through the New Testament and see that
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we are encouraged to flee fornication, 1 Corinthians 6:18.
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World says culture has changed so much we can't expect that of anyone,
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that that's just following your feelings and that there's no way
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around it, but Paul says you can flee it. Flee idolatry,
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1 Corinthians 10:14, that it
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may not be a stick or a stone, it's anything that comes between us and
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God, run away from that. 1 Timothy 6:11,
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flee the things that are contrary to the man of God life.
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2 Timothy 2:22, flee youthful lusts.
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And at the same time, he tells us, resist the devil
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and he will flee from you, James 4:7.
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You know, championships are often lost not because of
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years of failure, because of momentary lapses.
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For the baseball fans in the group, Bill Buckner, one of the best defensive baseball—
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first basemen of his time, played most of his games games with the
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Chicago Cubs, had thousands of chances, and some of them were incredible
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defensive stops. I don't know how many Gold Gloves he won.
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Then there's Steve Girard, one of the best soccer players we have, has handled thousands
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of passes successfully. Lindsey Jacobellis was
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blowing out the competition in the 2006 snowboard
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event in the Olympics, and all of them are remembered not for their
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career, but they're most remembered for a moment where they blew
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it. I'm not suggesting that we
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are going to flush everything away and we lose all hope if we,
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we blow it, if we have a momentary lapse
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and we stumble. But so many have squandered so much because
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they have overlooked what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:12, therefore let
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him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. What Jesus
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is saying to his followers here in John 16 and what he says to us
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is, I'm writing these things so
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that you may be kept from stumbling, so that you can understand
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that you don't have to trip on the bumps on the narrow road
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on your way to heaven. Be of good cheer,
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Christ has overcome the world. Number 2,
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be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world, therefore you may remember.
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Verse 4, he is wanting us to understand
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that we're not exempt from difficulties in living the Christian life. He's wanting these
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men to recognize this, but he wants them to be able to
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look back on this moment that the worst that the world can do to
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us does not have to catch us by surprise.
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Man, they have been riding the waves of victory for the 3+
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years that they have been together, and now it's about to change. And when they're
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in those valleys of trial, he wants— he's driving a stake in the ground,
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and he wants them to be able to look back and to remember The words
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that he's saying to them, you may remember.
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I don't know when all of this changed, but— and it depends on what kind
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of device you have, and I can speak more to Apple than I can to
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PC devices or Androids and that sort of thing, but just
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think about all the passwords that we have stored and we have saved
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in the keychain. It's on my phone or on my
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computer, It's just dozens of them.
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And you know what they tell you is that you don't want to make your
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passwords predictable, and so that means that they're not memorable.
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And so when you make these passwords up that are so obscure,
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you got to take all this time, you got to go to all this trouble
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and all this inconvenience to try to retrieve that password that you
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made up just to do it again. And think about how that's changed
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the way that we interact with others. You know,
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I can tell you my phone number from my 3rd grade,
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377-1007. And maybe you have
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a number that you can remember that well. I do know my number, but barely.
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I know Cathy's because she's had it 20 years. I don't know any of our
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3 boys, and I bet she doesn't know my number. It's stored. You don't have
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to remember. You know, it is possible for us to forget
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things in this life and we don't pay a price.
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But Jesus is talking about the extreme importance
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of remembering, remembering the things that can have tragic
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consequences if we forget. Remember Jesus is teaching
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us about the rich man and Lazarus and the rich man
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did well in life and he had someone in his sphere of opportunity and
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he did not reach out to him. And as the result of that,
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the Lord holds him accountable and the rich man and Lazarus die
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and Abraham speaks to the rich man and he says, son,
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remember that you in your lifetime received your
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good things and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he's comforted
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and you're tormented. New Testament writers are going to say,
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I want you to remember about the second coming of Christ and the
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time of judgment, 2 Peter 3:2 and Jude 17.
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Peter only too late remembers what Jesus warns
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him is going to happen that very night in Matthew 26:75.
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You know, some of what the Lord wants us to remember is helpful and
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exciting. As we walk through the New Testament, here's what scripture says.
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It says, remember the sinful past that Christ saved you from,
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Ephesians 2:11-12. The Apostle Paul
25:05
is about to die in prison, and he is in chains, and he
25:09
says, remember Jesus Christ and the gospel are not
25:13
changed, 2 Timothy 2:8. The Hebrews writer
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is going to say, remember your leaders and imitate their faith, Hebrews 13:7.
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There are some things the Bible holds up for us and says,
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if you'll remember this, it will help you, it will encourage
25:29
you, motivate you to keep on living in the way that brings
25:33
peace. But sometimes he says to remember some things that we
25:37
need to remember because it's dangerous if we don't.
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The 7 churches of Asia that he writes to. The first one is the church
25:44
at Ephesus. In Revelation 2:5, he says, remember therefore
25:48
from where you have fallen and repent and do the things that you did at
25:52
first. But memory is so important. And so
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Jesus says that when it gets hard,
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will you please remember? Look, in me you have peace, but as
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long as you're in this world, you're going to have tribulation.
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Before we leave this point, I'd like for you to keep in mind that
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when life and faith get very hard, will you remember a few things?
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First of all, will you remember that it does not last
26:20
forever? His anger is but for a moment,
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but his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may
26:28
endure for a night, but shouts of glory come in the morning.
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When you're going through something very difficult, you may feel like that there is no
26:36
end in sight and you'll never see the end of that trial, But we
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have this assurance in scripture that when life and faith is hard for you,
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will you remember that it's going to come to an end?
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When you are finding it very hard to endure in your faith,
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will you remember that you're not alone? That passage that we
26:56
looked at a moment ago in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, in verse 13, it says
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that these temptations are common to man. Others understand
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what you have been through. I think about when Leah came forward this morning.
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And all of those folks that surrounded her and encouraged her,
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it's yet another reminder. We do that because we love
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the one that goes forward, and we also are expressing to them that we understand.
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Maybe the particulars, the specifics are different for us than they are for
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you, but we know what you're going through. We've been
27:28
there. And doesn't it help? Not that somebody has to say that,
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but to know that they do know. And then when
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faith is difficult for you, realize that you're not the first one to
27:38
go through that. That's the passage we referred to
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a moment ago. When you think about what Jesus said, that you're— I'm going to
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be with you always, we see that there are others who understand.
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We also see that when life and faith is very difficult, that the
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Lord is our helper. And I love what that passage says in Hebrews 13:6,
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the Lord is my helper. What shall I fear? What will man
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do to me? Foxe's Book of Martyrs tells us that except
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for the Apostle John, every one of these apostles are going to die a violent
28:10
death for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and throughout the ages that has happened.
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And while that may not happen to us, we may pay a severe price for
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our faith, and so what Jesus would say is, be of good cheer.
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I have overcome the world, therefore you may remember when
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faith and life is hard, it's not going to
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end that way. But I love that third promise,
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be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world, therefore the Holy Spirit
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will help you. This is one of those key words, you remember, that we see
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in John chapter 16, and when we look at the help,
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he is called the helper in verse 7, and we see the help that he
28:49
supplies to them, and while the help he supplies to the apostles is
28:52
a bit different than the help that he gives to us, the principles are the
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same and the truth is the same. The Holy Spirit helped
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the apostles, and the Holy Spirit helps us.
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First of all, he was going to help them to convict the world, and he
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does that for us. He says he will convict the world of sin
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and righteousness and the judgment.
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Now, he does that through the— the Holy Spirit did that through the word
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that he gave those men that they shared with the world.
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He convicts the world today through the message that tells us about sin
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and righteousness and the judgment. Judgment.
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But then he says he will also guide you into all truth.
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The Holy Spirit's work is as a bridge.
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Jesus has begun for 3 years. He has ministered
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with them. He has taught them. He has mentored them. And now he says,
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I'm about to go away. And as I go away,
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the Spirit is going to come and he's going to guide you into all the
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truth. Think about what Jesus has taught about the truth. He says,
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I am the truth, John 14:6. He says,
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I'm the arbiter of truth. If you continue in my word,
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then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the
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truth shall make you free. He brought grace
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and truth, John 1:14. By Christ,
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truth came, John 1:17. And Jesus would
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say in John 8:45-46, I tell the truth.
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And so they were guided into the truth. Now they were guided into the
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truth in a different way. He says in that moment, Mark 13:11,
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when they arrest you and they bring you before them, don't worry
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beforehand of what you're going to speak because in that hour it will be given
30:38
to you, for it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit who speaks
30:41
for you. It would be nice. I could
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have saved myself several hours if the Holy Spirit was just going to give me
30:49
my message in this moment. I didn't have to study that, but the Spirit
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gave us the Word that we can study and absorb and internalize
30:57
and then share. Publicly and one-on-one.
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And so many has been the case. I've heard it even recently as
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this week where somebody is saying— somebody who's been a student for a long time
31:08
who was in a study with somebody, it's remarkable how often you
31:11
bring to mind in those moments what you need.
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But Paul tells us how the Spirit was going to give us the word in
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1 Corinthians 2, verse 12 and 13. He says, we have not the spirit
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of the world and human wisdom, but the Spirit of God combining spiritual
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thoughts with spiritual words. And so we have the same comfort
31:31
and assurance as the scriptures give us
31:35
the Spirit's guidance into all the truth.
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Anything that matters to life and godliness, it's in the
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word. The Spirit has supplied it. 2 Peter
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1:3. And then he will help us because he will disclose those
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things which are to come. Again, think of
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the Spirit's work in this all the way to the present. Jesus, when He's
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on earth, He talks about the future. He talks
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about the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew 24. He talks about eternity
32:06
in the parables of preparation. He talks about heaven, hell,
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and the judgment. But then the Spirit moves the apostles
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to write us more about the future. And aren't you thankful
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that the Spirit moved these men to write about the things which are to come?
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What joy to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and to read
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about the resurrection of our bodies and what it's going to be like in the
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end in those new spiritual incorruptible bodies. You think
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about Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 or 1
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Thessalonians chapter 4, or Peter in 2 Peter chapter 3 telling us
32:39
about the second coming of Christ, or to
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read the words of John in Revelation 20 through 22 when he talks
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about the judgment and heaven and hell. Think about the impact
32:51
that those words had on Felix as Paul talked about righteousness
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and temperance and the judgment to come. Or those folks
32:59
up on Mars Hill in Acts 17:30-31, he has appointed a day in which
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he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.
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But think about how much comfort it had to bring the apostles. The Spirit
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tells us why we're here.
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And what's after here? And he tells us through his word
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so that we can share that with others, and then he helps us because he
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will glorify Christ. The Spirit came to shine a
33:27
light on why Jesus came. Jesus came to save us,
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Luke 19:10, and when we share the
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message, we're glorifying Christ. He helps us through the message
33:38
that changes lives. There's something that's hard to
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describe when you share with somebody the truth of the gospel, and they
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see that, and they come to understand what it means in their
33:51
life and the difference that it makes.
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Jesus is saying, be of good cheer, I have overcome
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the world, therefore, the Holy Spirit will help
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you. Isn't it wonderful to know that God has given us a resource that can
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help us make it all the way home by his Spirit in the inner man
34:08
who strengthens us, Ephesians, chapter 3, and verse 16?
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And then fourth, he says, be of good cheer. I have
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overcome the world. Therefore, your heart will rejoice.
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This is the way that he ends the chapter. Remember again,
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they're about to go through some mourning. They're about to grieve,
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but Jesus is telling them that that grief can be transformed.
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And really, if you pan out and you look at the entire chapter,
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what he says in the entire chapter was going to transform
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their present grief into future joy. That first
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of all, he says, having access to all the truth is going to have a
34:48
transforming power to take them from grief to joy.
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To know that this message that he has left with them, that the Spirit was
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going to bring into their remembrance, was going to supply them what
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they needed in every situation. And it does the same thing for us.
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It transforms tears into triumph,
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but then also having the presence of Jesus will transform our
35:12
grief to joy. Jesus says,
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in a little while you won't see me, and then in a little while you
35:19
will see me again. He is first referring to the crucifixion
35:23
and the burial, his death, and then he's referring to his post-resurrection
35:27
appearance. Can you imagine? In fact, you don't have to read the gospels, the impact
35:31
that his death has on them. They all go each to their own home.
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Jesus says, the hour is coming and is now here when each of you will
35:35
be scattered to his own home. Verse 32,
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they're dejected, they're confused, they're disillusioned,
35:43
they're afraid. What they thought was going to be has now not
35:47
come to pass. It hasn't gone the way that they thought that it would.
35:51
But when they see Jesus again, the impact is
35:55
a joy that was so immeasurable that they
35:59
took it to all the world. That doesn't mean that they've grasped it in the
36:03
moment. They're going to forsake him and flee that very night, Matthew 26:56,
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but after the resurrection, for an example, think about
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Peter and John who are flogged by the Sanhedrin
36:13
Council, and they go away from that rejoicing that they should suffer
36:17
shame for his name. The presence of Jesus in our life
36:21
is different than it was for them when he came to them personally, but Jesus
36:24
reminds us, lo, I'm with you always, even to the
36:28
end of the world. You'll never take a step without Jesus' help in your life.
36:33
But then he says, the love of the Father, the Father himself,
36:38
he will transform your grief into joy. He says, ask whatever you will of
36:42
the Father and he will give it to you, verse 23. You have the Father's
36:46
love, verse 27. You know, we have the
36:50
ability to call God our Father because of what
36:53
Jesus is about to do. You are of God,
36:57
little children, have overcome them, for greater is he that is in you
37:01
than he that is in the world, 1 John 4:4.
37:04
Whoever overcomes, we overcome
37:08
by faith. And who is he that overcomes but he who believes that Jesus
37:11
is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-5. No matter how deep
37:16
the valley of struggle or adversity is,
37:21
there's going to be a transforming joy that
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comes because not only of the promises of Christ, but the truth that
37:29
he gives us access to. The presence of Jesus in our lives
37:33
and the heavenly Father, and the world can take everything away from us, but it
37:36
cannot take that. These are
37:40
the important words that Jesus wanted to leave the apostles. And I
37:44
find it interesting, this is a very favorite word of Jesus. He likes to use
37:48
that word that's translated, be of good cheer.
37:52
It literally means, take courage. Do you know
37:55
this is the word that Jesus uses in Matthew, chapter 9, and verse 2,
37:58
when he heals the paralytic? He says to him, Be of good cheer, and he
38:02
heals him. And then in Matthew chapter 9 and verse 22, there's a woman
38:06
who has an issue of blood. She's hemorrhaging for 12 years. She very stealthily reaches
38:10
out and she touches the hem of his garment and she's healed immediately. And when
38:14
Jesus speaks to her, he says, take courage, be of good
38:18
cheer, Matthew chapter 9 and verse 22. And then there's the apostles on the stormy
38:23
Sea of Galilee and at the height of the storm when they're so afraid,
38:26
Jesus in Matthew 14 and verse 27 says, take courage, be of
38:30
good cheer. Blind Bartimaeus, one of the most pitiful characters
38:34
in all the gospel, in Mark 10:49, Jesus chooses to say to him,
38:39
take courage, be of good cheer.
38:43
We leave this wonderful cocoon of fellowship that we have with
38:47
one another here, and we're about to go out into the world. And as we
38:51
leave the presence of one another and we leave this special time
38:54
of rallying and strengthening, We need to be reminded
38:58
what Jesus says, his parting words,
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be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
39:07
I don't know if you know who that is. This is a picture of him
39:08
when he was a bit younger. His name is Arland Williams Jr.,
39:13
and you'd have to be of a certain age to know who he was,
39:15
to remember this, but maybe you're old enough, some of you, to remember
39:19
an event that took place with Air Florida Flight on
39:23
January 13th, 1982, a plane crash
39:27
caused by weather that crashed into the icy Potomac. There were 74
39:31
passengers on board. Only 5 survived,
39:35
and 4 of them survived because of that man, Arland Williams Jr.
39:40
If you watch the footage on YouTube, you'll see how a helicopter
39:44
lifeline drops its ladder, and it's dropped for him first.
39:48
And he passes it along to someone else. He does this
39:52
several times, and 4 of the folks that he helps and
39:56
he passes off that lifeline, they survive.
40:00
If you read about Arland Williams Jr., the thing that really
40:04
is remarkable to me is by all accounts, he was terrified
40:09
of swimming. He was afraid of the water,
40:12
couldn't swim. But Arlin Williams Jr.,
40:16
when he was tested and tried in a way that we'll
40:19
never hopefully have to imagine, he showed courage.
40:24
He showed selflessness. He didn't overcome the waters. He's the
40:27
only one in that crash that died by drowning,
40:31
but he showed great courage.
40:35
You know, scripture tells us that the things of this
40:39
world may physically overcome us, may even emotionally overcome us.
40:44
We don't have to be spiritually overcome. We can overcome.
40:48
It's interesting to read the book of Revelation. If you read at the end of
40:52
every one of those 7 churches of Asia, there's a promise: to him that overcomes—
40:55
we even sing it in our song— to him that overcomes, the crown of life
40:59
shall be. Jesus is telling us he wants us to overcome.
41:04
The last words he wants to leave with us before he goes to the cross
41:08
is be of good cheer. I have overcome the world,
41:11
therefore you may be kept from stumbling. Yes, it's a possible—
41:15
a possibility to fall from grace, but our Lord
41:19
has done everything he can so that that doesn't have to be the case for
41:22
any of us. He says, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world so you
41:26
may remember, and the
41:30
Holy Spirit will help you. And your
41:34
heart will rejoice. Even if you're in a season of
41:38
grief, it can be transformed into joy.
41:42
Now, after this, Jesus goes and he sheds his atoning blood for us
41:46
so that we may have access to all of that, those resources,
41:49
those blessings, and those alternatives.
41:53
He says, I will go as far as free will will allow,
41:57
and then I want you to respond. He wants us to respond.
42:01
It may be that you have not yet put Christ on in baptism.
42:04
In light of all that he's given, he says, give yourself to me.
42:08
Luke 9:23-26. Believe that I'm
42:11
the Son of God. Mark— John 8:24.
42:15
Repent of sins. Luke 13:3.
42:19
And be baptized. Mark 16:16. And if you're
42:23
a child of God and you've been overcome by this world, and the things
42:26
that have been challenging you have overcome you,
42:29
come back to me. That's where I want— I want you to make it.
42:34
If you need to respond to his call, won't you do so right now as
42:37
we stand and sing?