Transcription
There's one thing guaranteed for every single person that will ever be born here on earth. They will go, we will go through difficult, sad times. That is the consequence of living in a fallen world.
But we also have a promise. We also have a savior and his name is Jesus Christ. And did you know, yes, Jesus is compared to a lamb and he's also compared to a lion. But did you know that one of the figures that Jesus is also compared to is an ox? Because an ox was an animal that would carry the yoke, pull the yolk that would pull the plow and break the ground. An ox was an animal that would carry the burden. Jesus Christ was an ox who carried the burden of sinful mankind on his back. And he took that yoke to the cross and he paid the price for it.
So sadness and difficult days are guaranteed to all of us. But what we also have guaranteed, what you also have guaranteed is that that sadness will not defeat you. It will not break you. It will not last forever.
I want to read you this psalm. Psalm chapter 30 verse 1-5. This is King David. And he writes this psalm at the dedication of the temple. Yes, his son Solomon built the temple, but he's dedicating the temple in advance. And look what he's saying here.
"I will extol you, oh Lord, for you have drawn me up." In other words, Lord, I've been through many, many sufferings, but you have lifted me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. And this is not just speaking about physical people, but it's also speaking about spiritual attacks. Those battles, those battles are also foes. There are also enemies that come against you. And he says, "You didn't let any of those foes prevail over me."
"Oh Lord, my God, I cried to you for help and you have healed me." Lord, I'm calling out to you. Lord, you see my suffering and you healed my heart. You healed my mind. And this is something that I can relate to every single day. I want God to always continue to strengthen my mind. Strengthen my heart. Strengthen my soul.
This is a promise you have. "Oh Lord, you have brought me my soul up from sh meaning sh the grave." He felt as if his soul was in the grave. He was in those deep trenches, those deep pits of depression and sadness and pain. But he said, "Lord, you rescued my soul from that grave, from that pit, from that muddy swamp. Lord, you rescued my soul." And this is a promise for all of God's children. He will rescue your soul from that slimy, muddy, stinking pit of darkness, of sadness, of depression. He said, "You rescued my soul from there."
Let's continue to read. "Sing praises to the Lord, all you his saints." See, now he gots a different perspective. Now he gots a different song. He used to have a sad song. Now he has a joyful song. "Sing praises to the Lord, you his saints. And give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment and his favor is for a lifetime." God's love and favor for you is forever.
And look what he continues to say. "For weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." Let me read verse five one more time, the last part of it. "For weeping may tarry for the night." In other words, weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Do you know who that mourning is? Do you know? Do you know who that sunrise is coming out of the horizon? His name is Jesus Christ. And he's living inside of you. And he's in your life. Even though darkness and sadness might last for the night, joy comes with the morning. Jesus Christ is bringing his joy with him. And he's inside of your life. And he's going to teach you how to walk out in that joy. He's going to teach you how to let his joy manifest in your life. See, the word manifest simply means to be made visible, to be something that is easily seen. He's going to begin to teach you how to manifest his joy in your life. Remember, to make it visible in your life, he's going to teach you how to walk out in that joy.
Now, talking about your pain, talking about your sadness, talking about your fears, you're not alone. Remember Jesus Christ, he's not only a man. He's not only a lamb. He's not only a lion, but he's also compared to an ox because he carries your burdens. He carries your pain. He feels what you feel. He is sympathetic. He has sympathy for what you go through. And he's not just going to feel sympathy and not do anything about it. No, he feels sympathy like the book of Hebrews tells us. He feels sympathy for us and he's going to help us.
Look what the Bible says here. John 11 verse 1-17 and on. This is the story of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. And he dies and those are very difficult times. When a family member passes away, those are if not the most difficult times that anyone could ever go through. And they're sad. Their brother died unexpectedly. Mary and Martha are sad because from what I know, from what I read in scripture, that was the only man figure in their life. And if you didn't have a man figure in your life, it was pretty much like a death sentence in those times. So, here's their only brother, the one that was going to carry their name and he died. Mary and Martha are extremely sad. And not only that, this is even the worst thing. If if you're speaking humanly, this is the worst thing. Jesus was the friend of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And Lazarus still died. Does that sound familiar? How we can question God many times. How we can become angry at God many times.
But look what happens here. "Now when Jesus came and he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem about 2 miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to him to meet him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died. But even now, I know that what you ask from God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'"
What Martha says. Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus responded to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall live again. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world."
So she goes up to Jesus. She says, "If you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died." Jesus says he's going to live again. Yes, I know. On the day of resurrection. Jesus says, "I am the resurrection. Everyone who believes in me, they don't die." What is he speaking about? Did you know that there's something worse than physical death that the Bible calls the second death? Why is the second death worse than physical death? Because though someone died physically like the Apostle Paul did before the Apostle Paul who wrote one-third of the New Testament died before he died he said to live is for Christ and to die is a gain. And he said because while I'm present in the body I'm going to serve him but if I'm not present in my body that means I'm with him. You see, when someone who believes in the Lord physically dies, they're absent from their body, but they're with the Lord. They're in his presence. But when someone dies without the Lord, not only are they absent from the body, they're absent from the presence of God. And God is the lifegiver. God is life. God is light. So the Bible calls the second death the worst death because the second death means you are eternally separated from God. How does someone fall into the second death? By not being born again. I heard a pastor say this. People who are born again only die once. People who are born once die twice. Meaning you're born physically the first time. But then when you receive Jesus Christ, you are born again. So even if you do die physically, you live spiritually in the presence of the Lord. But for people who are born the first time, which is the physical birth, but are not born again, meaning they don't surrender to the Lord, they're not saved by Jesus Christ, when they are absent from the body, they die twice. They are eternally separated from God. So that's what Jesus is telling Martha. Everyone who believes in me doesn't die. There's a worse death than the physical death, and it's that spiritual death, being eternally separated from the Lord.
But look what Jesus continues to say here. I want to show you how he feels our pain here on earth. "When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, 'The teacher is here and he is calling you.' And when she heard it, she rose quickly quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to go to the tomb and weep there." So, everybody sad. It's a funeral. Of course, it's going to be very sad.
"Now when Mary came to to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would have not died.'" When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come to her also weeping, listen to this. He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. Why would Jesus be deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled if he knew he was going to resurrect Lazarus? Why would he deep be deeply moved and troubled? Let me tell you why. Because in your pain, in your suffering, God is not letting you go through it alone.
Remember, he is not just a man, Jesus Christ. He is not just a lion that defends. He is not just a lamb that took our place on the cross, but he is an ox. One of the symbols of Jesus is an ox. He carries the burden of all sinful mankind from the time of Adam till now and in the future until his coming. He carries the burden of all mankind and he took it to the cross. He knows your burdens. He knows your pains. He knows your fears. He knows your worries. He knows your depressions. He knows your anxieties. And listen, it's not going to last forever. Remember what the book of Psalms said. Sadness might last for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Look what it continues to say. "When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled." Look what verse 34 says. "And he said, 'Where have you laid him?' And they said to him, 'Lord, come and see.' Verse 35, Jesus wept." Can you imagine Jesus crying at a funeral? I want to let you know this. Jesus is still crying to this day in funerals. What do I mean? And he's in heaven right now. Right now. Right now. Crying 24/7. Well, I don't know if tears are coming down his cheeks, but I do know this that the Bible says that he's interceding for me and for you. You know what interceding means? He's praying. Even right now in heaven, Jesus is feeling what you feel. Even right now in heaven, in your loss, in your pain, in your sadness, in your troubles, Jesus is feeling what you feel. But he's also going to help you overcome that. It's not going to last forever. No, he's going to help you overcome it. He's not brushing it off. He's not belittling it. He feels what you feel, but you're not going to stay there forever. He's going to help you overcome it.
Jesus wept. And then right after that, look what he does. "So the Jews said, 'See how he loved him.'" Like, man, even Jesus is crying at the funeral of Lazarus. But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?" Listen, when we're going through pains and sadness and troubles, we could see it two ways. We could see it like the people who finished the verse when I read that said, "Why couldn't he do something about this?" Or we can see it how Jesus told Mary and Martha, "Those who believe in me never die."
I've had family members that pass away. And listen to this. The ones who are sad, hopefully this gives some closure to many people, but the ones who are sad, it's not them. It's not the ones who passed away. They're in heaven. They're literally every tear was wiped away from their eye. They're in heaven. The ones who stay sad is us because then we are the ones who start going through regret and we feel remorse and we say I should have spent more time or I didn't spend enough time and you know we come out with 101 things and the devil's quick to condemn and to make feel guilty but the truth is that they the ones who passed away and closed their eyes here in time and open it in eternity, they the ones who are with the Lord, they don't feel sad. They could have probably died in a horrible way. But right now, they don't feel sad. Not at all. Not one% of sadness, not one ounce of sadness is in their heart because the presence of the Lord shines that out and outweighs all of that. The ones who feel sad as us. But hope hopefully this gives a little bit of closure to someone now. Us knowing that they don't feel no pain, that they don't feel no hurt, that they don't feel no regret. Now us knowing that they're in the presence of the Lord. Now hopefully we can surrender that pain to God and say, "Lord, thank you." Because they're in your presence now. Lord, help me with my pain. Help me with my sadness.
Now, that was in the state of or the situation of someone who lost a family member. But if that's not the situation, God sees your pain. God sees your trouble. God sees the depression. God sees the anxiety. God sees the worry. God sees the doubt. He sees the darkness. He sees the nighttime. Sadness is in the night. But joy comes with the morning. And I want to let you know that Jesus is not letting you walk through that alone. He's walking through it with you. And he's going to help you come out of.
Psalms 23. What does it say? "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." And then what happens after the valley of the shadow of death? "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies." And those same shadows of enemies that were overpowering and hovering over me, in that same presence of those enemies, you're going to walk me out that valley and you're going to sit me down. And you're going to prepare a table for me, a table of blessing. And those same enemies that were overshadowing me are going to be the same enemies that are going to see me be blessed by you, God. That's what I want to let you know. Those shadows, those enemies, those fears, those worries that seem that they're overshadowing you and they're going to overpower you. They're not. It's just a valley. You're going to go through it. God's going to help you. You're going to overcome. And not only are you going to go through and overcome, not only are you going to have those tears wiped away from your eye also, not only that, but you're going to be able to be a great blessing and encouragement to many, many people. You're going to be able to tell someone one day, "Listen, I was going through exactly what you were going through right now, and I felt worse than you, or maybe the same pain, but Jesus Christ helped me overcome. Yes, I went through it, but Jesus Christ helped me overcome." Your life is not going to end up in defeat. It's going to end up in a testimony.
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