John chapter 14, verse number 1.
Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have
told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will, what?
Come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be.
I like that part also.
Don't you love that?
That's comfort for all of us in the
Word of God.
For the sake of time, while you're in
John, I hope you'll read the whole chapter
in your personal devotions, would you move forward
to the 15th verse?
John 14, verse 15.
If you love me, do what?
Keep my commandments.
Now, the commandments we know are the Ten
Commandments, but we also know that when Jesus
was teaching, He was giving examples over and
over, out of the mouth of the Lord.
You look at John 13, if you have
a red-letter Bible, you're going to see
a lot of red letters in there.
Jesus is talking.
John 14, John 15, John 16, John 17,
and some verses in John 18 are out
of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He's teaching us, and He said, if
you love me, if you really call me
Lord, then do what I'm asking you to
do.
Because there's a lot of things in our
life.
Well, the Lord gave me this thought.
Survival in a sin-sick society.
I've been overwhelmed.
For a couple of days, I just didn't
even watch the news.
It seemed like every time I turned it
on, it was an Amber Alert, and those
tear me up.
I can't take those.
And then the cruelty, and the violence, and
the unbelievable sickness that we have, men treating
other human beings on this earth.
And then there's wars, and rumors of wars.
And your head almost spins, and you wonder,
how are we going to survive in this
sin-sick society?
How can we walk through this?
And I don't know if you've noticed or
not, but you can just sometimes turn on
the radio, turn on the television, be in
the mall, be in a restaurant, be in
the grocery store, and two or three aisles
over, someone's using every filthy four-letter word
that you...
You know, you can't even imagine they're saying
that in public.
We used to at least be respectful of
women and children.
And you turn around now, and it's a
woman and a child doing it.
That's how sick our society has gotten, and
the culture.
And how are we going to survive in
this?
How are we going to keep from being
overwhelmed with the things that we're facing?
In John chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and
17, sometimes Bible scholars or theologians will discuss
this passage, and they call it the Last
Supper discourse.
It's the conversation that Jesus was having with
the disciples before He went to heaven.
And He knew what was coming.
He's God Almighty.
He knew that they were going to celebrate
the Passover.
He knew that the next day He would
be arrested while He's in the Garden of
Gethsemane praying.
And He also knew He was on the
way to the crucifixion.
He knew He was going to be God's
Lamb offered as a sacrifice for your sin
and my sins.
So what He's doing, He's talking to these
guys, and He's trying to encourage them.
Now, I'm not going to be here tomorrow
night.
I'm not going to be here a week
from tomorrow night.
You're going to have to walk in this
old sin-cursed world without the Messiah walking
beside you.
So Jesus, the rabbi, the great teacher that
He was, He's instructing them how you can
do it after I'm gone.
How you can survive.
And I think the application is for me
as well as for those disciples.
And we're living in a spinning world of
sin and temptation, wickedness and materialism, violence and
cruelty.
And it's hard if we're not careful.
All of those ugly things cloud the beauty
of the wonderful things.
You miss the flowers and the birds and
your children and your grandchildren and the happiness
of having a family meal and watching a
ball game together.
But if you're not careful, all of the
ugliness will cloud the beauty and you'll miss
the beauty of your marriage, your family, your
children and the things that you ought to
be enjoying every single day.
And how can I possibly survive, pastor?
You say, how can I go to work?
How can I live?
How can I go to school, the university?
How can I love my husband, my wife,
my children, my parents, my friends?
And how can I walk in this world
and still be faithful to the Lord?
Look with me here in St. John 14
and begin with verse number 15.
If you love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another what?
Comforter.
And in your Bible, that word comforter is
a capital.
It is a person.
Notice this, that He may abide with you
for a few days, a few hours, a
few weeks, till you get in a real
bind, till you're scared, forever.
He said, I will abide with you forever.
Look at verse 17.
Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive.
Now, when it says the world, it's not
talking about the mud ball earth.
It's talking about the world system, world religion,
world political, the geopolitical world, the economic kingdom.
They're not going to receive the Holy Spirit
of God.
They look at you like you've fallen off
a truckload of wagon, or some kind of
ride into town with a country bumpkin and
a load of pumpkins.
I don't know.
But they just wonder, what on earth are
you talking about when you're talking about I'm
a spiritual person, I'm a spiritual being?
And that verse says the world, and in
the Greek, in the original language of the
Bible, it's referring to a world system.
And that's what we're living in.
Sometimes you're walking around thinking, you know what,
I just don't feel at home here.
Well, you're not home here.
Your home's in heaven.
We're just pilgrims passing through.
And every now and then you'll get homesick
because you want to see the Lord and
you want to be with Him.
And notice this.
When you see this verse, it says, the
Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive
because it seeth Him not.
They can't believe because they can't see.
But you believe because it's no problem for
you to believe it because why?
You enjoy Him on the inside.
You know the change.
Neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him.
That's what I just said.
For what?
He dwelleth with you and shall be in
you.
Verse 18.
I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you.
Have you ever just been overwhelmed and think,
man, I can't do this.
I can't do this.
I read the story.
It's a baseball story.
I love sports stories.
It's about a rookie who faced the old
pitcher, Walter Johnson, for the first time.
And Walter Johnson was just a big raw
bone throw heat.
I mean, that's all.
He just melted hot off the ball down
the middle.
And this rookie walked out and he sat
up and dug his spikes in.
He got ready.
He got loaded up.
And Walter's on the mound.
And this rookie's having to face this famous
pitcher for the first time.
And Jerry got ready.
You know, he's getting ready.
And all of a sudden that heat comes
in and pow.
And he couldn't even cock his arm to
swing.
And the ball's in the glove.
And the catcher throws it back to Walter.
Walter loads up again.
He's winding up the throw.
And what he does, that rookie, he's like,
I'll get it this time.
And he sat up, got ready, and hit
the glove.
And he just turned around and looked at
the umpire, threw his bat down.
He said, you can keep that third strike.
I've seen enough.
He wasn't even going to wait for him
to throw the next one.
Sometimes that's how you feel.
I've got two strikes.
I'm headed to the dugout.
I don't have to see any more.
Well, hey, church, have you ever felt that
way?
Have you ever felt like that, rookie?
Jesus promised, I will not leave you comfortless.
He promised no matter what the situation, He
will hear your prayer, and He will take
care of you, and He will deliver you.
How can we make it through this old
sin-weary world?
With its temptation, its fear, its sickness, its
anxiety, its panic, its depression, its death, its
separation, its crime.
How are we going to get through all
of this?
The materialism of today for our children and
grandchildren is an unbelievable temptation.
Verse 18 of John 14 says, I will
not leave you comfortless.
Now, if I read that verse in the
Greek New Testament, you know what you find
out, Josh?
That word comfortless there says that Jesus was
talking to those disciples.
Now, He said, now boys, I'm leaving.
I know some of you aren't connecting the
dots, but I'm not going to be here
for supper tomorrow night.
But I want you to know that I'm
not going to leave you, and if we
had been in that room, Jesus would have
said this, I'm not going to leave you
like an orphan.
That's the word in the Greek.
I'm not going to leave you orphans.
I'm not going to leave you comfortless.
It translates into our King James Bible.
But in the original language of that day,
He would have been looking at them and
He would have said, I'm not going to
leave you like a bunch of orphans.
How is it that you can be a
grown adult and be 40, 50 years old
and go to the cemetery and bury your
mom or your dad and walk out of
there and feel like you're an orphan six
years old on the side of the road?
How is it that you can feel that
way?
Well, one reason is we're human beings.
And God made that love connection great between
moms and dads and children.
And that's why you can be at a
cemetery and bury your mother and your father
and have you weeping because you have that
emotion or that sensation, even though you're grown.
You've got your family.
You've got maybe even children and grandchildren.
And yet you can feel like an orphan
because you went and buried mama.
You buried daddy.
I won't ever forget that day in the
cemetery.
I'm preaching the funeral for that little lady,
109 years old.
And I'm standing there and this man comes
around through the tombstones and he's crying and
he's barely walking, all bent over.
And there's a little old gray-haired lady
comes up to me.
And they both got to me about the
same time and said, are you Preacher Ralph?
And I said, yes.
And they said, are you going to preach
mama's funeral?
And that was their daughter and their son.
And they're barely going.
He was almost 90 and she was 80
-something.
And they were crying.
They felt like an orphan.
And I thought, my, that's in us.
That's in us.
And so Jesus connected to that.
He said, mama, you may have gone to
the cemetery and left papi over there, but
he said, when you go to the house
and you're all by yourself, you're not an
orphan.
Holy Spirit, I'll not leave you comfortless.
Be a single parent.
Today's crazy work.
Try to raise those babies by yourself.
The terror of the night.
Am I doing it right?
Take the blended families that we've got today.
Her kids and his kids and our kids
and all the stress and all the problems.
How are we going to get through this?
What are we doing?
And you're thinking, how can I survive?
What God said in this blessed book, he
said, you can get through here.
You can survive.
You say, but Pastor, my life's a disaster.
I've messed up.
I've done everything wrong.
I've gone back on what I know.
I've gotten involved with alcohol.
I've gotten involved with drugs.
I've gotten messed up with the law.
I've disappointed my family.
I've broken my mother, my dad's heart.
My wife, my husband thinks I'm just a
hypocrite because I've messed up so many times.
How can you tell me I'm going to
make it?
I can tell you today, if you'll bend
that knee and say, God, be merciful, unto
me a sinner, I'm sorry, I'm a prodigal.
You can come up out of that altar
and say, from this day forward, I'm going
to walk my faith in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said, I will walk beside you.
I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you.
I will be your friend, your comforter.
You will not be an orphan in this
crazy world.
What a God.
What a Savior.
He's a God of provision.
And listen, when we go through this, look
at verse 17.
Look at verse 17.
Look what the book says.
Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither
knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He
dwelleth with you, and shall be where?
In you.
Now, didn't I tell you the other day
the Bible is its best commentary on itself?
Alright?
Verse 17, Spirit of truth.
What does that mean?
Verse 26 tells you what 17 is about.
But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.
See, there's your explanation.
The comforter.
What comforter?
The comforter of verse 17.
The Spirit of truth.
The comforter of verse 18.
The comforter in verse 26, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in
my name.
He shall teach you all things.
One of the sobering responsibilities of the pastor
is that we need to be a church
of discipleship.
That people need to study the Word of
God and know the Word of God.
And I realize how weak and insignificant I
am to teach you the Word of God.
Now, boy, one night, it was up in
the wee hours of the morning, two or
three o'clock in the morning, and I
was thinking about how overwhelmed I am.
I'm just a little old piece of clay
that should have already been consumed for my
own wickedness.
But instead of getting and receiving justice, I
got justified.
I've been born again.
I'm into the family of God.
And now, not only did He save me,
but He set me aside to say, will
you tell people about my grace and about
my mercy?
And I say, but how can I do
that?
He said, you just present it, and I'll
send the Holy Spirit.
And He shall teach them.
See, if you're hungry, what was it Jay
said the other day about looking for his
car keys?
Yeah, you know, he lost his car keys.
And lose your car keys.
Just lose your pocketbook in Mexico.
Yeah.
Be in Israel and lose your passport.
Know when you're getting ready to go through
those, and watch them tear everything up.
Go looking for it.
And Jesus said, if you'll seek Me like
you seek your car keys, if you'll seek
Me like you seek your purse, if you'll
seek Me like you do for your passport
when you've lost it, He said, if you'll
seek Me, you can find Me.
If you'll call upon Me, I'll hear you.
It's just whether or not you want to
get intense enough to do business with Him.
That's why God blessed you watching a ballgame
last night.
Michigan State didn't make God nervous.
He knew they were going to lose.
And God got in your living room anyway.
And He said, there's my little lamb.
He said, He's over there at Trinity, pastoring,
loving on sheep.
He's got Him trying to build His house.
He's got a wife who's going to have
a baby.
He's as scared as I am.
And here He comes.
He knows that I am just a man.
The pastor is just a man.
Mark's just a man.
Jay's just a man.
Alan's just a man.
Jerry's just a man.
And now you come in there and you're
with all these guys.
And what are we going to do?
And Jesus said, well, I'm going to teach
them real quick because we're about out of
town.
So I'm just going to send the Holy
Ghost to you real quick.
Comes in there in the middle of your
ballgame.
Messed up your game.
And started hugging on you and kissing on
you and letting you know, I'll be there
with you.
One day Ralph may not be there.
Jerry may be out.
Alan may be injured.
But Ricky, if you have to do it.
You understand that?
Now, follow this with me for a moment
and maybe it will help you understand it.
Jesus was here on earth 33 and a
half years.
Now He goes into the grave.
Three days, three nights.
Good Wednesday.
Gets up on Sunday morning and goes to
see the Father.
And takes His own blood.
Takes His own blood.
And walks in and puts it on the
altar of God on the Holy of Holies.
And He said, God, when Ralph shows up,
it's paid for.
Let him in.
Hey, when Lauren gets over here, it's already
paid for.
Steve shows up.
Here it is.
Here's the blood that I shed so George
could go to heaven.
Here it is, right here.
And by the way, He said, from this
point forward, I was on earth visibly.
And now I am visibly representing you in
God.
I am your advocate.
I will present your petition to the Father.
I am your paraclete.
I am your comforter.
I am the visible representative for you.
Because the Father is in me.
And I am in the Father.
And you are in me.
And I am in you.
Hallelujah.
Boy, we've got a representative, a counsel, a
lawyer, an advocate in the Holy of Holies.
What a God.
What a Savior.
That will make an Episcopalian.
Amen.
You just rejoice in that.
Because of who you are and what you
are.
Now watch this.
Jesus leaves.
He dies.
Goes on the cross, resurrects, and goes to
the Father.
And He tells these guys before He leaves,
verse 17, verse 18, John 14, verse 26,
Now I'm gone, but I won't leave you
comfortless.
So Jesus was the visible paraclete.
He was the visible advocate.
Now watch this.
He says, I want you to finish your
race.
I want you to be like the Apostle
Paul.
I've run my little race here on earth.
I've finished this course.
I've kept the faith.
Now the devil is working every day to
try to get me to quit and to
get you to quit.
Danny, every one of these babies, there's a
target on their back.
Because the devil wants every child.
He desires their soul.
He desires them.
He desires your husband.
He desires your wife.
You talk about changing your prayer life.
Talk about being faithful to the house of
God.
And you can run your race of faith
for the Lord, but you've got to have
some help.
And I can't do it on my own.
Can you do it on your own?
I've got to have the comforter.
And I've got to teach my children and
my grandchildren that He's available.
That this isn't Hollywood and this isn't fantasy.
This is real.
There really is a God.
There really is a heaven.
There really is a help.
And there really is help.
There's hope.
I've determined by the help of the Lord
that I want the next 30 years in
the ministry to be the greatest for the
Lord.
Not for me, but for the Lord.
Because if I can go 30 more years,
like I went these past 30 years, they
went just like that.
If I can go 30 more just like
that and be wide open for Jesus, I'll
only be 69.
And bless God, I mean, that's not that
old.
No.
And just, do you remember Derrick Redmond?
You remember Derrick Redmond who ran for Great
Britain, the great athlete?
At age 19, Derrick Redmond had already shattered
the record for the 400 meter race.
And in 1988, he was to represent Great
Britain in the Olympic Games.
And he broke the record.
And he was competing in the 1988 Olympics
and went out of the starting blocks in
that 400 meter.
And just as he cranked up and got
up to full speed, he felt something pop
in his heel and popped a tendon.
And he had to fall down and come
out of the race.
And after that, Derrick Redmond had five different
surgeries to repair his foot.
Five different surgeries.
Doctors said he'd never run again.
His Olympic hopes were over.
Even though he was already a world record
maker, it was over.
Just as quick as it started, it was
over.
But Derrick didn't give up.
He kept working and in training.
1992, Summer Games, Barcelona, Spain.
Guess who's representing Great Britain?
Derrick Redmond.
He's there.
He's already running in the 400.
He's already been through the time trials.
Sitting up in the stands is his daddy,
Jim.
And Jim's got on a big t-shirt,
ESPN.
Remember, they covered the story and Jim had
a t-shirt on.
Said, have you hugged your foot today?
Because he knew his boy's feet were blessed.
And for him to be through five surgeries,
for him to be in the Olympics was
a miracle itself.
And there they go, the guns sounding and
that big final heat running for the gold
medal.
Barcelona, Spain.
And Derrick Redmond takes off and he's running
up through the traffic and all the crowd
into the first turn, the second turn.
And they're headed 175 yards from the finish
line.
And all of a sudden, Derrick hears a
pop, just like a gunshot.
He falls lame, hits the track, and his
right hamstring is popped.
And there he lays, crying in pain.
175 feet from a gold medal.
The other runners now catch up with him
and they run past him as he's writhing
in pain there on that track.
I believe Lewis from the United States won
that heat that day.
And won the gold.
And he's there.
And he's thinking, I can see the finish
line.
I'm that close.
And I can't even run.
And he got up and he tried to
hobble and he fell down.
And the medical personnel ran out.
His daddy's up in the stands.
65,000 screaming people are in that Olympic
Stadium.
Derrick's laying there on the track.
And his daddy's jumping down through bleachers, pushing
people.
And he's trying to get to the track.
And obviously, you're not allowed to go on
an Olympic Stadium track.
But his daddy didn't care.
He got to the rail, leaped over the
rail, down onto the track.
And two security people tried to get his
daddy.
And Jim said, that's my boy.
He's hurt.
I'm going to help him.
I'm going to go help my son.
And he went running over to him.
And old Derrick was crying.
And he said, Daddy, I don't want a
DNF.
I don't want it on my record.
I don't want a DNF.
He said, Daddy, please help me up.
Please help me up.
And he helped him up.
And he said, I'm going to try to
cross the line.
And he started hopping on his one foot.
And when he did, the crowd realized they
weren't going to take him off the track.
They realized he wasn't quitting.
And people started clapping.
People started standing up.
And he's hobbling.
And his daddy said, Hon, you just lean
on me.
You just lean on me.
We'll get there.
Boy, and Derrick's crying.
And he said, I don't want a DNF
on my record.
That stands for did not finish.
He said, I don't want a did not
finish by my name, Dad.
I don't want to look at a record
book that says Derrick Redmond did not finish.
He said, I want to cross the finish
line.
And he said, lean on me, son.
We'll go there together.
And they got right up to the finish
line just a few feet away.
And his daddy said, now, son, I'm going
to turn you loose.
You finish on your own.
You're right there.
You can do it.
And so he went and crossed the finish
line.
Oh, yes, he did.
There's no DNF by Derrick Redmond's name.
And church, as your pastor, the humble servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't want
you to have a DNF by your name.
I know you're going through a battle.
I know you're going through a hard place.
It's hard to understand when your husband's being
battled or your wife or your children or
you're going through financial or physical problems.
But I tell you, you've got to help
her today, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the comforter has come for this day
and hour.
You can't survive in a sin-sick world.
Jesus is here.
Cast all your care upon him, for he
cares for you.
I don't want a DNF by my name.
I want to finish, don't you?
And by God's help, we can.