Affection

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

John chapter 19.

John 19 · chapter mention

If you're here this morning and you do not have, in fact, Jessica, if you don't mind, hand me that worship guide right there.

If you do not have a worship guide, would you uh please just raise your hand?

We have a few back there, back here.

Uh make sure, Larry, thank you, uh Harry, that they get a worship guide.

Because on the back, we have our outline, and you know, we've been looking at the words from the cross, the last words that were that were recorded from the cross.

Now we don't know for sure that that was the only words that Jesus spoke, uh, because we do know that there was a conversation going on in the morning between the two thieves and Jesus, no doubt about it.

One thief was, in fact, they both started out that morning cursing him, making fun of him.

They really did.

And then somewhere, and I think it was shortly after the first word that he spoke, when he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

In Luke 23, 34.

That was our first word that we looked at, the word of forgiveness.

I think uh the conviction came over that one thief.

He realized that Jesus was not just a mere man, but that Jesus was the Messiah.

And you remember the sinner's prayer, and the Lord turns to him and says, Today thou wilt be with me in paradise.

So, what a powerful conversation going on.

But we do know for sure that Jesus made some profound statements from the cross.

The first word that we looked at, as I said, was the word of forgiveness.

Then the next word we looked at was the word of assurance, which he spoke to the thief that day that got saved.

Uh, today thou shalt be with me in paradise in Luke 23, 43.

And then last week on Easter Sunday, we spoke of the word that he uh I'm talking about with a loud voice, cried out, Matthew said, To telestee, to teleste, it is finished.

And we looked at in detail what he meant by the word of triumph.

And today, even in the midst of all that unbelievable, uh, that this third word, and this was the third word that was spoken from the cross, uh, we see that there's such a powerful, affectionate, loving, compassionate Savior that makes this profound statement to his mother at the time, but he's about to no longer be her son.

He's about to be her Messiah.

And there's a tremendous transition that happens right here on the cross from a mother-son relationship to a sinner-savior relationship.

Powerful truth that we're gonna look at today.

So, today we're gonna be looking at the son's confidence in his mother, the son's courtesy to his mother, and the son's care of his mother.

So let's begin.

Let's look at verse 26 and verse 27 in John 19.

Powerful.

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple, who was the beloved John, who laid his chest on his breast at the Last Supper, whom he loved, there was a special place in the heart of Jesus for the beloved John.

There really was, and you'll see why.

So he said, He said to his mother, When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, not that he didn't love the other ones, but there was a special place, he saith unto his mother, now again, he's using the word mother here.

He said, Woman, behold, thy son.

Now, I think if you have the NIV translation, it says Dear woman, I think.

Dear woman.

Or the Greek word, by the way, there is guma.

Guna.

And it literally for woman.

And it literally means a woman, it means a lady, or it means a wife.

So in this context, he's talking to his mother, and what an endearment term it is.

It's not a male chauvinistic term as a lot of people try to make it.

Oh, that that, you know, when you use the word woman, that uh, you know, you're just belittling the lady or the wife.

No, no, no.

In the Old Testament, the word woman was an endearing term, it meant really a woman of honor, especially if you were a wife, a woman of honor and respect.

So you gotta understand that.

So he's given his mother the highest compliment that he can give.

And he says, Behold thy son.

In other words, behold the beloved John.

Then said he to his disciple, Behold thy mother.

And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Wow.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

You know, as we look, there were four people standing at the cross when these words were spoken at that time.

I'm talking about within the the um embracement of Jesus' disciple and women that were very dear to him.

Now, there were a lot of others.

In fact, a cross, a crucifixion was a place where the people from the city would come and they would laugh and they would throw sticks and stones at the uh criminals.

They would spit on them.

I mean, it was almost like a carnival atmosphere sometimes, because they were laughing and jeering, spitting and throwing all kinds of sticks and stones.

And the guy in the middle, what most people don't realize, was literally the worst of the worst.

In other words, when they crucified three together in sequence, that was for a purpose.

That meant that you had three of the most notorious criminals, you know, you could have the rapists, the murderers.

I meant the worst of the worst.

And then they would put the worst of the worst in the middle.

And so, really, the jeering and the unbelievable uh throwing of the stones and the rocks and the spitting and whatever else they wanted to throw, it didn't matter.

Most of it took place on the guy in the middle where Jesus hung.

So you gotta get this in your mind how bad this was and what Jesus is going through when he makes this profound statement.

Now, there's definitely the word of agony that we'll look at next week when he says, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?

And then the word of anguish when he says, I thirst.

And then the final word would be the word of confidence into thy hands, I commit my spirit.

But here we see the word of affection out of all those other unbelievable, uh expressible, painful words.

We see the most compassionate word of who Jesus really was, and the love of God expressed in the midst of his most torturous time.

Wow, what an example for us to follow.

Can I get an amen?

What an example.

So, with that said, let's look at the first thing.

This is the greatest picture of the most devoted love that we could see.

Number one, the son's confidence in his mother.

Look at verse 26.

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, the word saw there carries the thought that he took in everything.

The very sight of Mary, the very sight of Mary sitting there looking up with a broken heart, probably weeping almost uncontrollably.

Thought back, brought back the thoughts, and no doubt, not only of him, but of her on that day when they dedicated him.

They took him to uh Simeon.

And they took him to be dedicated and to the temple.

And as they're walking up the steps, Simeon meets them and he makes a profound prophetic prophecy.

And here's what he said, I want you to see it.

In Luke 2, 35.

He said, The very sight, I think Jesus, when he saw, he remembered the saintly Simeon had first uttered them at Jesus' declaration.

Here's the words on that eighth day.

Looking at Mary, he said, A sword will pierce through your own soul.

Wow.

He couldn't help but revert back and be thinking.

And Mary, there's no doubt in Mary's mind as she's standing there weeping, she's remembering the prophetic utterance of what Simeon had told them.

That one day a sword will pierce your soul.

And I thought to myself, how many of us have had our souls pierced because of our children?

Hello.

Some of us has even, hey, some of us have been guilty of piercing our own, hey, mom's and dads' souls because of our life and the way we lived.

Until we got saved.

Amen?

Until we changed.

So we see this unbelievable, true, a true mother's world, not just them.

A true mother's world is a truth.

I've got the daughter.

I've got the document of that that I've got to work on the cards.

No wonder.

In the first place, are you wrong?

Don't forget when I saw this.

I said, God, thank you for teaching me.

And I said, God forgive me for some of these points.

I'm about to show you what agape love really is.

Because I'm guilty of not doing it.

But notice what love we saw right here.

And this is why Christ, as he's looking at his mother, is so compassionate and caring.

He's expressing the same agape love that hey, he has seen in his mother.

Here it is, number one, a sacrificing love.

In Luke 2, 7, it says, And she brought forth her firstborn son and laid him in a manger.

Was ever a mother put in such a plight as Mary?

Oh my, oh my.

From the moment of conception to the point of delivery of the child, here was a sacrifice in love.

Think of the misunderstandings, the misconstructions, and all the gossip and all that went on when she conceived Mary's pregnant.

Hey, Joseph, she's hey, Joseph's supposed you know, they don't know if Joseph and Mary have, you know, had sex before marriage or has she had sex with another man.

Joseph had not really been with Mary at all.

We know that.

I mean, all this going on, even to the point when she got ready to deliver the baby, she had to be, hey, she, no room in the end for Mary.

She had to be placed in an old stinking stable and gave birth to her child.

And then what?

Wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and he was laid in a manger.

My soul, what sacrifice?

Ladies and gentlemen, you get to go in a hamlet.

She rode a donkey.

Hello.

Talking about sacrificing, but never grumbling, never complaining.

Let me tell you what sacrifice love is.

Are you ready?

Oh boy, this is gonna hurt.

You know what sacrificial love really is?

Helping people, serving people, and not complaining.

And everybody says, Oh me.

Amen.

By love we serve one another.

Galatians 5.13.

But this is a sacrifice.

Look at it.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

Think again of that tender scene there in the in the uh stable.

The cows, the sheep, and all I mean, but yet she's glorifying God in the highest.

Notice the second type of love it is.

Not only is it a sacrificing love, putting others before yourself.

And by the way, this is the love that Jesus says in John 13, 34.

A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

That's John 13, 34 and verse 35.

He says, And by this shall all men know that you are my disciples by your love, when you are sacrificially giving without complaining.

Hello.

What a truth.

Notice the second kind of love, though.

It's a sheltering love.

It's a sheltering love.

Look at Matthew 2, 13.

Behold, and an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take your child and its mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

Wow.

Away there in Egypt, cut off from home and loved ones.

Mary sheltered the little life from those who were seeking to destroy him.

Then they came back to Nazareth, and we see another love.

But can you imagine true agape love is a sheltering love, it is a protective love.

Kids all the time say, I don't know why I have to do that.

I'll tell you why, because we love you.

I'm doing that.

How many of you have said this?

My kids used to hate this saying.

When I would look them in the face and say, I'm doing this because I love you.

Well, here we go again.

Huh?

How many of you had heard that and thought the same thing?

When your parents says, I'm doing this because I love you.

My grandparents used to say, you're going to be in before 12 o'clock, no later than 12 o'clock.

And we're doing this because we love you.

And my granddaddy said, and if you're going to eat, you're going to, hey, hey, you're going to go by my rules.

Hello?

But there's a love there.

It's called sheltering.

We do things.

Hey, did you do you hate the word no?

Only four of us?

But we use the word no.

Why?

Because we shelter the ones that we love.

Amen?

Boy, this is good truth.

Your young people need to hear this.

I ought to come preach this to your young people on Wednesday night.

This is it.

This is true parenting love.

It's sacrificial.

It's sheltering.

I do a lot of things to shelter my wife.

I really do.

My grandkids.

Why?

Because I love them.

I love them with all my heart.

It was a sheltering love.

By the way, for God so loved the world.

Listen to this, John 3.16.

I paralleled it.

I said, man, this is good.

For God so loved the world.

Sacrificial love is plenteous.

Sacrificial true agape love is sacrifice.

Hey, is plenteous.

It's for everybody.

Our problem is we're selfish and we choose to love who we want to love and how we want to love.

Hello.

And especially if it, oh, if it benefits us.

The way Mary loved, nothing benefited her personally.

In fact, she caught havoc for it.

Think about that.

What a woman.

But it was a sheltering love.

And for God so loved the world, it was plenteous, eh?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that none should perish.

It was not only a plenteous, it was a protective, it was a sheltering love.

Identical of what we see in Mary.

And then number three, it was a serving love.

Look at Luke 2, 51.

He, Jesus, went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them.

Remember, he's 12 years old now.

He's been through the bark mythos.

So really he's turning into a young lad.

And you remember the story.

He's in the temple.

Hey, debating the high officials of the law, the Pharisees and scribes, bewildering them with his answers.

Now, what I don't understand is how Mary and Joseph had missed it.

It took them three days to realize he was missing.

Must have been a big caravan.

And no one, Mary and then knew Jesus was obedient and honorable, so he was just hanging out with his friends, or maybe his half-brothers.

I don't know.

I'd really, that's a question I really want to ask.

If we can ask questions when we get to heaven.

I think somebody said you're not going to want to ask any questions because you're going to know, you're going to know the answers.

Well, that'll take the fun out of it.

I like to ask questions.

And trust me, my wife, if she can't ask questions, we're in trouble.

Don't be sitting close to her if she can't ask questions.

Because you got to explain everything to her.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Actually, she really helped me.

I grabbed the I grabbed the paint gun and I just grabbed this thing.

I said, Well, I remember Adrian teaching me, I watched him spray the house the other day.

That's where I got the idea.

I said, I can do that.

Boy, well, that wasn't really a good idea.

By the time I got through, I was doing pretty good, but at the beginning it was going everywhere, running.

And I thought to myself, why did I do this?

But I'm that kind of I, man, wall needs paint, bless God.

We're gonna take this wall.

And I didn't want to roll it.

I didn't want to roll it.

I'd already seen that.

It took a day and a half.

I ain't doing that.

I'm spraying that sucker.

Even if I spray the flowers and the car and everything else, I'm spraying the wall.

You should have.

Yeah, I wish y'all would have been there.

It was worse.

We'd have made the home's funniest videos, I believe.

But Susan's right behind me trying to cover the flowers, and I'm here, my flowers! Yeah, they look good.

I know.

I learned I didn't know all that.

I'm learning.

I know, I know.

But but now watch this.

This is it's so beautiful here.

When you are sheltering love, what are you doing?

You are looking out for the best of the person you love the most.

Amen.

And then that turns into serving.

Now notice, he's at the temple.

They don't know, they come back to the temple.

Now, watch this.

This is powerful.

Very powerful.

And he, Jesus, in Luke 2.51, went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them.

Mary was bringing up the little lad.

Hey, with all that tender care.

But now this is not stated in the scriptures, but a lot of theologians believe that by this time that Joseph the dad may have passed away.

Because there's no mention of Joseph anymore in the scripture.

Now, I I'm not saying I agree with that, it's a false.

I don't know.

There's no word.

And I've learned not to speculate where there's no word.

Somebody said, Well, you're narrow-minded.

Well, good, I'm narrow-minded.

If the scripture doesn't say it, then I have my own, and if I was to tell you this is what I think, I'm really not sure.

But I do know we do not hear of Joseph anymore after this.

So we see right here in this powerful passage, serving is so important.

In fact, this is not, again, it seems to indicate that he had already, you know, died, but we're not sure.

But what we do see is the serving attitude not only of Mary and Joseph, but also Jesus.

Because they went back.

He didn't argue, he didn't debate, even though he was about the father's business.

What did he do?

He submissively, and we'll see this again, to her, hey, and served his mom and dad, and she was serving him by taking care of him.

So it's very important that we love.

He that is greatest among you shall what?

Be your servant.

Shall be your servant.

Matthew 23, 11.

Now notice the other thing, which leads right into it.

Not only is it sacrificial, not only is it sheltering, not only is it serving, but it's submitting.

Look at John 2.

Remember the story at Jesus with his mother at the wedding in Canaan?

In a moment of crisis at the wedding in Canaan of Galilee, Mary had to come to Jesus and notice what she said in verse 3 and 4 in John 2.

She said, They have no way.

And he replied in verse 4, Woman, what does, hey, your concern have to do with me.

My hour has not yet come.

Powerful statement there.

Now, at the first glance of these words, you know, it may suggest a measure of rebuke, but it wasn't.

Very likely, Mary may have been expecting Jesus to use his situation and circumstances to actually launch his ministry.

Because by now, right now, he's at the age of about 30 years of age.

He's getting ready to launch his three-year, three and a half-year ministry.

So she thought this would be a great opportunity, possibly, for him to launch the ministry.

Now notice, and this is pretty good.

But he says, notice the word, but his hour had not yet come.

Without disputing the matter, we see this.

Mary showed her submissiveness to the authority of her son, now the anointed servant, and she stood back and waited, knowing that he could and would do something.

But she was submissive.

True agape love is submissive.

Do we like that word submissive?

Does anybody just wake up every morning and say, I can't wait to submit to everyone today?

Hello.

Do you wake up, Melvin, and say, I can't wait to submit to Terry today?

Yes.

There'd be no liars in heaven.

I honestly say, I don't get up in the morning and say, I can't wait to submit to my wife.

Amen?

Oh me?

But we see that it's a submitting love.

And by the way, in a marriage relationship, it's both of the husband and wife submitting to one another.

It's not a one-way street.

Can I get an amen?

So we see this agape love so beautifully expressed right here in Mary.

And then the last thing, folks, this is powerful.

Sacrificial love, sheltering love, serving love, submitting love, and then the last thing is suffering love.

Verse 25 in our home passage.

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus' mother and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene, and then the beloved John.

Three women, one man standing there.

You know, the illustration.

I was reading as I was, as I always do, I read so much when I'm taking a passage apart.

And one of the illustrations that G.

Campbell Morgan used, I thought was powerful.

It's very simple.

A woman was calling on a friend whose children were brought in, and the caller said, evidently with, hey, no thought of meaning anything, here's what she said.

Oh, I would give my life to have such children.

And the mother immediately looked up and said, That's exactly what it cost.

Man, that's profound.

That's exactly what it costs.

It cost your life.

Babies change things.

There was a Christmas song.

First time I heard it, it just wheeled.

The baby changes everything! Is that not true?

It changes everything.

Powerful illustration.

Powerful.

Can you imagine this brave heart, broken, yet controlled little woman suffering while she stood there at the base of the cross?

There he hung before, hey, their eyes.

She was helpless.

There he was, bleeding and wounded and beaten beyond recognition, but yet she couldn't wipe the wounds.

There he was, thirsting, but yet she couldn't give him a drink of water.

Have you ever been there?

Like right now, I know my daughter, when we left, we went up for Braden's six-year birthday party, and Mary's got the flu.

Stephanie's got some kind of symptom of asthmatic breathing right now.

I mean, my kids, when they're hurting, what do you want to do?

You want to be able to take their place.

How many times have you seen them go in there and you see them when they're in the hospital and they're being stuck with those needles or whatever has to be done?

And you pray, I've done it several times.

You pray out in your own heart, Lord, can I take their place?

I wished it was me.

How many times have you been in a situation that you would have swapped instantly with your kids if you could?

Well, now you know the feel of Mary.

But you couldn't.

She couldn't take his place.

No one can take his place.

He was dying for the world.

He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

And the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed.

Isaiah 53, 5.

Powerful.

There she is, suffering.

Nothing she can do but suffer and feel the pain.

When I saw this, I for the first time I kind of got a glimpse of what Paul meant.

In Philippians 3 10, that I might know him and the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering.

This is where we see the suffering.

When we go through the pain for the ones that we love, and there's nothing we can do about it, but endure it.

But aren't you glad for God's grace?

God's grace is sufficient.

His, hey, his strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.

Most gladly we can suffer.

Because when we are weak, he is strong.

Wow.

The son's confidence.

The son's confidence in his mother, number two.

The son's courtesy to his mother.

Look at verse 26.

Jesus saw his mother and said, Woman.

Gunat.

Highest possible courtesy is embodied in this term, woman or dear lady.

The Lord Jesus here, I thought to myself as I was looking at this, the Lord Jesus right here fulfills to the letter that ancient command, honor thy father and thy mother, for it is well with thy soul.

He was embodying that on the cross.

Wow.

That really term gripped my heart.

Him talking to his mother.

So I went back, and there's three times in the gospel that he addresses his mother.

Three times.

Let's see what it says.

In the first instance, there is number one, under the son's courtesy to his mother, is the courtesy of an approved son.

Look at this.

Why is it that you sought me?

Remember Luke 2, 49, back at the temple?

Why is it that you sought me?

Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?

At the age 12, when he became a son of the law, Barmitphus, Joseph and Mary again had taken him there.

And hey, he says, Why is it that you sought me?

He asked his mother, surely you would know that I would be about my father's business.

Then he went back with them to Nazareth and was subject to them.

We know that.

And Jesus, now watch what happened.

Now you gotta see this.

Go to uh Luke 2, 49, 52.

And because right here he was an approved son, he was an obedient son, he honored his mother and father.

Look what took place in his life.

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them.

But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

She knew that he, hey, was now becoming, hey, that to that next step.

He was no longer a little boy.

He was no longer the little Jesus boy or the little baby boy.

He is now becoming the Son of God.

He's becoming the Messiah.

And she was now going to watch him literally be transformed in three areas of his life.

Here they are.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.

This is unbelievable.

First of all, he grew in academia, in wisdom, in studies.

He grew.

Hey, that's why we believe in education.

We need to grow.

We need to read.

We need to go to school.

We need to be taught.

But notice what else he did.

He grew in statue.

He grew physically.

We need right nutrition and right exercise and all the healthy things that we need to do, which he did.

And then watch.

And in favor with God, he grew spiritually.

You and I must grow spiritually.

It is so important.

And hopefully we're looking at ways that we're going to start, hopefully by this fall, we're going to start a Bible study on campus somehow, somehow.

May only start with four or five or three or four classes, but we're going to start that on this campus.

Because you've got to grow.

You got to grow.

Can I get an amen?

You got to grow.

It's so important that you grow spiritually.

And then with God and man, you grow socially.

Some of us are just social misfits.

You really are.

Now I don't have that problem.

I'm I'm a I'm a bother.

I I mean, I'm that guy that I just interrupt the party.

In fact, uh Rochelle and them were going on vacation, but my neighbor, they had a big party at her house, and she thought only three or four people were gonna come over, and they had a block of cars, and they're only three, and I kept, we were walking, Susan, I and Rocky were walking doing our exercise, and I said, I'm crashing the party.

She said, No, you're not.

I said, Well, I'm the pastor you watch.

But I didn't.

I was I was submissive.

And then Rochelle said, Well, you should have come in.

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.

I said, next time I will.

But we why do we come to church?

Why do we have a church fellowship?

Why do we eat together?

And I'd encourage you to do that with us as much as you can on Sunday.

And let me tell you what I'd encourage you to do.

Here's what most of us do: we find somebody we know real well, our buddies, and sit down and eat with them.

Find somebody that you know them by seeing them, but you really've never talked to them.

Sit down with them, say, hi, my name's Danny Lovett.

Do you mind if I eat with you?

Because if you do, I'm gonna eat with you anyway.

I love you.

Now, what's your name?

I'm not gonna do that, Pastor Danny.

I might be intrusive.

But sit down and have lunch with somebody you don't know and get to know them.

You know, you don't know what somebody is until you sit down and eat a meal with them and really get to know them.

It's amazing what you can learn about people over.

Why do you think throughout the New Testament?

Why do you think throughout the New Testament they're always breaking bread together?

Have you ever, why do you think we have the love feast here every Sunday?

That's why it's intimate fellowship.

That's one of our core values, intimate fellowship.

Sit down, get to know people.

And and I love it when I come to your house and I try sometimes to time it when I know you're gonna eat.

I just love it, and I walk in and I say, Oh, I'm sorry I didn't, I I I you know, I didn't mean to interrupt supper, and I'm praying, Lord, let them ask me to eat, please.

Well, uh, I'll come back later and say, well, would no, well, well, we'd like to.

Well, we've got plenty.

Would you like, yes, thank you very much.

I would like to.

But there's a reason for that.

One, I'm hungry.

But no, I want to get to know you better.

I want to sit down and and ask questions and talk to you and get to know you.

There used to be an old song when I was a teenager.

I want to get to know you if I could.

Y'all remember that?

Some of y'all remember that.

Maybe I'm the only one.

I remember that song.

It was a good song.

But hey, I want to get to know you.

Might have been out of the wrong context, but the courtesy of an approved son.

Number two.

Y'all think I'm crazy, I am.

The courtesy of an anointed servant.

I saw, I saw Terry say something to Melvin.

I think so, and then that's why I said that.

Yeah.

But now, what's this?

The courtesy of an anointed servant.

Look at John chapter 2, verse 4 again.

John 2:4

He says, Woman, what does your concern have to do with me?

My hour has not yet come.

30 years of age.

And uh according to the Old Testament, 30 years of age is what they call the age of responsibility.

So let me help you.

For you that are under 30.

You're not responsible.

Hello.

Yet we think we know it all.

Hey, hey, I came out of seminary, I knew everything.

Till I met Sister Fluffyhead, and I realized I knew nothing.

Amen?

Really?

And by the way, the word neotes is up to age 40, is a young man.

So you're still a young man learning and growing until after 40, and then you become hopefully a wise man as you begin to grow more.

Amen.

That's that's what the scripture teaches.

So some of you that are between 18 and 25, and think you're the smartest thing, God's gift to intelligent.

No.

No.

You're not.

Amen.

Grow in stature.

Amen.

Grow in wisdom.

Amen.

Grow.

Always keep growing.

Always keep growing.

Now we we spent about an hour and a half the other day in a big bookstore.

And I got in the religious, I always go to religion.

And I just I was reading and reading and and uh uh grabbed a little book on the five points of Calvinism because that's always a big issue.

And I read most of the book standing there.

I just for an hour and a half, I just weren't ready.

And and I knew, and I picked up a couple of things.

I said, hmm, good thought.

Good thought.

So I bought the book for a dollar.

You go to the cheap bookstores.

Amen.

I don't care if somebody else is written in them.

In fact, Mark to me kind of, I like it because I can see what they were thinking about a thought.

That's really pretty educational.

Amen.

It really is.

So, anyway, we see what says.

In Matthew 3.17, notice what he said.

Remember this?

After you come to the age of accountability, when he stood on the banks of Jordan, the heavens opened.

Remember this scene?

And the Spirit of God descended as a dove.

Look at it in verse 17.

Oh, and and rested upon him, and a voice declared, This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

Wow.

No doubt Mary was there, and she would understand what this meant.

He was no longer that little Jesus boy, but God's anointed servant.

When God spoke, this is my beloved son.

No longer Mary's son.

I know that's tough, ladies, but this is the transition.

No longer, hey, Mary's son, but now he's hey, he's about to become Mary's Savior.

And let me go ahead and help you.

Mary had to be saved just like anybody else.

There's only one sinless person.

And his name was Jesus.

And we see that right here.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

So it was that later at the wedding of Canaan of Galilee, when she knew that there was a shortage of wine, she came to him with confidence and put the situation before him, then said, Jesus, lady, leave it to me.

And she went away and told the servants, I love this part, verse 5 in John 2.

Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

Nike did not come up with that.

Hello.

Mary did.

They just copied the scripture.

Isn't it amazing?

Scripture has the answer for everything.

Another illustration.

With uh G.

Campbell Morgan.

Listen to what he says.

He said, Many of the world's greatest leaders have bowed in submission to their mothers.

For example, Balzac, a giant of French letters author, continued to sign his letters to his mother.

Thy obedient son.

Even though his influence and reputation as an author grew beyond bounds, his devotion to his mother was evident in those three little precious words.

Thy obedient son.

And then number three the courtesy of an appointed savior.

Powerful.

Powerful.

The courtesy of an approved son, the courtesy of an anointed servant, now the courtesy of an appointed savior.

Look at John 19, 26 and 27 again.

Woman, behold your son.

Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother.

None of us can understand or even can imagine the pain and the suffering Mary must have been going through as she stood there.

And this is another reason we feel like Joseph probably had gone on to be with the Lord, because if he had been alive, he would not have told his mother to go live with the beloved John.

Well, that's why the theologians believe by now, which he's 30, so in between 12 and 30, we probably, Joseph went on to be with the Lord.

But here we see such a tremendous truth.

Look at it.

She's standing there, all the pain, the blood trickling down his face.

Oh, it was in the midst of such agony that he looked down and he said, Lady, there is your son.

And to his disciple John, behold your mother.

Oh, the courtesy and the thoughtfulness that we see in this profound statement.

Which leads me to the last thing: the son's care for his mother.

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, again in verse 26, he said, Woman, behold thy son, behold.

And then to the disciple, behold your mother.

Here's an example for all whose parents are still living.

This is a part that I'm seeing deteriorating unbelievably in our society today.

I mean, it's really heartbreaking.

Where parents are being tossed away by their kids.

Now my wife's got a plan.

She says, after your dad goes on to be with the Lord, I'm gonna spend all the money and then I'm gonna go take turns living with each of the kids.

Now she was joking, but I thought I I I turned and I said, Whoa, go, mama, go, go.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me say something.

I have been in situations where I've had kids come to us and ask us to take care of their parents.

I was in a situation where because their dad had worked at a place, they thought we ought to take care of them.

No retirement, nothing.

And you know, here's the one first question I asked, I said, what about you?

Well, don't you think he deserves it?

I said, Well, let's just be scriptural.

I said, what I think doesn't matter, what you think doesn't matter.

Let's see what the scripture says.

Okay?

Are y'all ready?

I want you to see this.

Don't you miss this.

This is powerful.

Unbelievable.

1 Timothy chapter 5, verses 4 and 8.

1 Timothy 5:4

I want you to watch this.

Paul said this: if any widow has children or grandchildren, not just children, but grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents, for this is good and acceptable before God.

Do you see that?

I want a whole amen right here.

Whole church.

Amen.

Let's read it again.

Go back.

Go back to the front of it.

Ready?

But if any widow having children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents.

In other words, take care of the parents.

Now look at verse 8.

But if anyone, mm-mm.

For if anyone does not provide for his own, I'm reading a different translation, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Now say that again, sister.

My, my, my, my.

Is that not powerful?

Hello.

The last thing, one of the last things Jesus did before he gave up the ghost was to make sure his mother was taken care of.

Oh Greg.

When I watched my papa change my grandmother's diapers for 13 years, he was paralyzed, couldn't move, and I watched that kind of love.

This is the kind of love it was.

Right here.

Right here.

There was no way.

And and probably in a true medical sense, it would have been a legitimate reason to put her in a place where she could get 24-7 care because of her sick.

I mean, she couldn't, she couldn't go to bed.

I mean, she just lay there.

But there was no way.

My grandfather was going to let her go to any home.

He said, I'll die first.

Is that not powerful, folks?

Is that not powerful?

Is that not convicted?

Look at it real quickly.

What kind of love?

One, the selflessness of the son's care for his mother.

It was selfless.

When Jesus saw, do you realize suffering can be selfish?

I've been around people that they're suffering and they're drawing attention to themselves.

Hello.

Oh man.

Get a life.

Get a life.

Let me say something.

You start feeling pity, and I've been there.

Oh, I can have the biggest pity party of anybody.

I've got news for you.

There's always somebody a lot worse off than you.

Every time, yeah, that's every time.

Thank God for where you are.

Thank God it's not worse.

That's like praying for patience.

Don't do it.

The Bible says tribulation worketh patience.

I've got enough tribulation without praying for it.

Hello.

You with me?

It was a selfless love.

As his words were to others.

Listen to this.

As he was walking down the Via de la Rosa, bleeding from head and back, he bat hey, holding the weight of the cross as the women wailed and cried out.

He turned to them and said, Look at Luke 23, 28, daughters of Jerusalem, ooh, do not wait for me, but wait for yourselves and for your children.

It wasn't about him, it was about them.

Then later he prayed for those who crucified him.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what to do.

And then the repentant thief who hung at his side, his words were, Today you will be with me in paradise.

The whole time he's going through this excruciating pain, he's thinking of others.

Is that not good?

If I was here, he'd say that's good preaching, preacher.

The whole time.

I have something, first thing I want to think is, whoa, why me, Lord?

What have I ever done?

That's a song.

Another song.

Let's not go there.

I can't help songs.

They just, that's the way I think.

So once again he opens his mouth in concern for his mother.

Not only was there a selflessness, no, number two, there was a thoughtfulness.

Woman, behold your son.

Now, who was he referring to?

The beloved John.

There was only one person with whom he would leave his mother.

And that was John.

Why?

I asked my question that.

What about the other brothers?

Half-brothers.

What about the other disciples?

Why John?

You ready?

This is a nugget.

You ready?

Three things.

I know it.

Just write them down.

I got this after I'd done the outline.

Number one, he had proved himself because of his love he had found.

He proved himself because of the love he had found in Jesus Christ.

He was the one at the Last Supper that was seated to the right with his head upon his chest.

There was no one that had taken the teachings and the wisdom of Christ more literally and more beautifully than the beloved John.

That's why he had such a vision of the revelation.

He saw things that the other boys didn't see.

Because there was such a love and obedience and respect for the master.

Big exclamation point.

You really want to know him.

You gotta love him and respect him and honor him and obey him like you've never before.

Now you understand why he was special.

Man, that's good.

His love, notice secondly, his loyalty.

Uh-oh.

Hey, who's at the cross?

Three Marys?

One John.

Where are the other loving?

Even Peter, and that's who I'm like the most.

Where's Peter?

He's around the campfire cursing.

Hello, just a thought.

Boy, you look at Peter, we all have hope.

Can I get an Amen?

You look at the blubber John, I'd say, I ain't gonna make it.

I look at Peter, I got a chance.

Amen.

Wow, that's good.

His loyalty.

Folks, I'm gonna tell you something.

If I don't know anything, I know this.

The more you love him, the more you obey him.

And the more you obey him, the more you know him.

You can't know him without obeying him.

You can't know him without following him.

You can know about him, but you can't know him.

And then lastly, wait, wait, wait.

I found another one.

Listen to this.

Same thing.

This, I'm telling you, G.

Campbell Morgan had some awesome illustrations about this passage.

The same tone of concern is seen in the account of a gentleman, listen this, in a large city whose practice it was to spend a few minutes each evening with his mother.

His mother lived three blocks distance, and for 30 years her son had never failed to go and bid her good night.

If he was in another city, no matter what the weather may be, no matter who his guest are, I mean, when he's at home, his husband would never fail to run over to his mother's and bid her goodnight at the same time every night, 9 o'clock, said the gentleman's wife.

When his business compelled him to go away from the city, he writes to her every day.

If only a single line, her mental powers are beginning to fail, and she forgets many things so that her mind is blank on some points.

But when nine o'clock strikes and comes, she always knows the hour and says, it is time for Henry to come by and say goodnight.

Wow.

That's powerful, folks.

And then the last thing, and I'm through.

The costliness of the son's care of his mother.

Verse 26, woman, behold.

Well, excuse me.

There was one more.

Love, loyalty.

Oh, the last one is liberality.

I'm sorry, I get so emotional.

Liberality.

In other words, John was willing to open his home, hey, to this, hey, to Jesus' mother.

He was always giving, giving, giving.

He was liberal with everything he had.

Nothing he owned was his, it was all Christ.

And then the last thing, the costlessness.

The first time, don't you miss this as I finish.

Even on this last occasion, he was breaking the painful truth that henceforth there would not be the son-mother relationship.

Here it is.

The first time he called her woman or lady, there was a transition from an approved son to an anointed servant.

Now there was the transition from anointed servant to an appointed savior.

Never again could she say son.

Never again should she could he say mother.

From that moment onward, he was moving into another realm.

Listen to what Gampbell Morgan said.

No one could revive his revile his mediation ministry.

No one woman could have preominent, I meant pre prominence in his life, even his mother.

Mary Magdalene, you remember her, who would caress his feet and wash his feet with her hair, must not touch him until he had gone to heaven and represented his love passionately for the entire world.

So Mary looked at Jesus for the last time.

Watch.

Here's what he said.

In a natural union.

After Pentecost, there would be a mystical union.

Wow.

Powerful.

And she would be just a humble disciple.

And that's deep.

Now that's deep.

But that's the gospel.

Do you realize Jesus?

Jesus loves you just as much as he loves Mary.

His mother.

Because from that moment on, he didn't see Mary any more important or special than each and every one of us that he's died for.

Wow, that's good, preacher.

So let me ask you this morning.

Do you know him?

Do you really know him?

Do you know him as not just a person?

Not as a master teacher.

Not as a figure, a figure, excuse me, of a historical person, but do you know him in an intimate relational way?

Wow.

Because that's salvation.

Do you know him like the beloved John knew him?

Oh, the beloved John loved him so much that when everybody turned his back on him, John was there.

His love, his loyalty, and not only was he there, not only did he love Jesus, but he loved Mary so much that he took her in that day.

And she became his mother.

Is that not beautiful?

Now that's Christianity, folks.

And I'm gonna say something right here.

We don't see a whole lot of that today.

And I don't understand why.

Maybe because we have too much, we're too selfish, it's all about us.

It really is.

And I'm gonna say something right here.

I know everybody's talking about this election, but I got news for you.

If the judgment of God is starting to come upon America, so be it.

But if the judgment of God is coming upon America, we've never seen terrorism like we see it right now.

If it's coming, here's the question.

Behold, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

He's coming.

See, some people are doomed.

Listen, 2 Timothy, I hate to quote this verse because people say I'm pessimistic, and I'm not.

2 Timothy 3.13 says it's gonna get worse and worse to the end.

But there's good news to that worse, worse.

That means he's coming soon.

If we don't see a drastic change, and I don't see it coming, I see a drastic change, all right.

The church is gonna be raptured out of there.

The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we which are alive, hey, and remain, shall be caught up in the air with him to be with the Lord forever.

It's coming, and it's a lot closer.

Hey, we don't know the time, no man will know, but he says you'll know the seasons.

And I got news for you.

It's budding, the bushes are budding, the time's getting close.

Do you know him?

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at TheChurch at CW.

Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at cw.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.