The part of the chapter that I want us to be focused on there is John chapter 16 and verse number 19
It says now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him and said unto him
Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said a little while and you shall not see me and again a little while
And you shall see me
Verily verily I say unto you that you shall weep and lament
but the world shall rejoice and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy a
Woman when she is in travail have sorrow because her hour is come
But as soon as she is delivered of a child she remembereth no more the anguished
For joy that a man is born into the world and ye now therefore have sorrow
But I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy. No man taketh from you
You know as I've been thinking about our church and the brethren over the last few weeks
You know missing church for one week. I suppose isn't you know, too unbearable, you know
Going without church for two weeks
I guess you know, it's manageable
But when you start hitting the third week and the fourth week and now we're going into the fifth week
Well, we've not been able to gather for church and let me just say, you know
I know we're doing online services
But I don't consider this church because church is the congregation church is the assembly of the body of Christ together
And so I get the blessing of being to serve you, you know with the technology, you know
Technically we're not having church are we okay?
And so as we've been going through the weeks and we don't we don't want you know
The technology to become the norm we want to be able to recognize that this is abnormal. This is unusual
Okay
We're doing the best with what we have
But truly brethren our desire is to be in church to see our brothers and sisters in the Lord
You know when you come to church, we're going to be certain people that you get along with better than others
Nevertheless, you know the ones that I might have more in common with or those that I might have less in common with
I miss all the brethren that make up blessed of Baptist Church and
You know, I was thinking about how how I miss the brethren and I was thinking about a passage where you know
where do we have a passage where we know that somebody is going to be away and and there's that there's that love and
That desire to be together and I was reminded here of Jesus Christ when he was speaking to his disciples
And of course, you know, we can't parallel exactly what Christ went through
This is Christ speaking about him being arrested being crucified, you know being put to death
You know for the three days and three nights that he was but the point being is obviously
You know, they love Jesus Christ
They saw him obviously as their Messiah his Savior and Christ will be taken away from the brethren and Christ says look when we're separated
They're going to have great sorrow. They're going to miss him
And so I was thinking about well
You know what?
We can look at this passage and take the principles from this passage and apply it to how we might be feeling today
You know, I miss the brethren
I hope that you know people that make up our church can honestly say, you know, I miss my pastor
I miss my brethren. I miss my brothers. I miss my sisters in the Lord
I miss seeing them every week and singing together with them hearing God's Word together
I hope you can truly say that about yourself. And so the title for the sermon this morning is
missing the brethren
missing the brethren then we can have a look at this passage of what Christ said about the sorrow and the joy and
See how we can apply that to our
Situation
Now if we look at John to the 16 again verse number 19, let's start there. Once again, John 16 19
It says now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him and said unto them
Do ye inquire among yourselves of that?
I said a little while and ye shall not see me and again a little while and you shall see me
And so you can see there that Christ is saying look don't you want to ask me these questions?
Why am I saying that there's going to be a period of time where we don't see each other?
And if you keep going there in verse number 20 Christ says verily verily
I say unto you that ye shall meet a weep and lament
but the world shall rejoice and
Ye shall be sorrowful
But your sorrow shall be turned into joy, but the Bible says here Christ says that ye shall be sorrowful
You see when we're separated from the people
That we love when we're separated from the brethren that we meet on a regular basis on a weekly basis
Maybe multiple times a week, you know
You ought to have some level of sorrow like I trust I hope that within yourself you do feel boy
I I do miss my brethren, you know, I am sorrowful
I wish I could be in the house of God right now
Even though I know we need to be obedient to the to the restrictions and the and the lockdowns that are in Sydney at
The moment and the reason for this brethren. I'm going to quickly read to you from 1st John chapter 3
You don't need to turn there. But 1st John chapter 3 verse number 10
1st John chapter 3 verse number 10
It says in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil
Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another
And so this is a you know, one of the great commandments, you know, the great commandment was asked of Jesus
What is the great and first commandment?
And of course he said about love in the Lord your God with all your heart go your mind with all your strength and
Then he says but the second is like unto it and that is to love your neighbor
And in this sense, we're talking about loving your brother as yourselves
And this is one of the great things that God expects from us
You know when we look at all the things that God asks us to do as Christians
One of the great commandments is to love the Brethren and if you're saved and you have that new man in you
Then that new man will naturally maybe not the old man
Maybe not the flesh but the new man will naturally love the children of God. Your new man will naturally love
Your brothers and sisters in the Lord. And so the first point that I have for you brethren
Point number one is that sorrow is a natural response
Sorrow is a natural response, you know, if you're feeling sad you're feeling maybe a little bit lonely you miss church
You miss the Brethren. Let me just say that's a natural response. It's a normal response
In fact, I'd be concerned if you had no sorrow at all
Like I'd be concerned if you're like woo-hoo no church, right five weeks. No church. Yeah, great
You know then boy, what are you manifesting? Are you manifesting that you're a child of God or maybe
Potentially manifesting that you're a devil
Okay, or a child of the devil and I trust that no one's like that in church
But my point being Brethren is that this is a definitely a natural response. We ought to desire to be with the Brethren
Okay, we may not be a family in the biological sense
But we are the family of God. We're brothers and sisters, you know
We use these titles brothers and sisters because we really are a family. That's where it comes from. We're a brother
You know, we don't have the same blood in our veins
But we've been saved by the same blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us
And so what I'll get you to do. Can you please stay there in John chapter 16?
Stay there in John chapter 16 and please turn to 1st Thessalonians chapter 2
1st Thessalonians chapter 2 please and verse number 17
1st Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse number 17
What we have in some of the epistles many times as you know Paul, he was just one man
He would travel from city to city from place to place
Preaching the gospel establishing churches and then because he was one man
he would have to write letters to churches because he couldn't always be there and
Paul many times in his epistles speaks about how much he misses the Brethren how how sorrowful he is to not be there in
the presence of the Brethren and
Again, you know, we see that in Paul and we know that is a natural response
But notice there in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 17
The Bible reads, but we brethren being taken from you for a short time in presence. So he's saying look
I'm not present with you. I'm away from you not in hearts. He says
Endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire and
Brethren you know that that sorrow that we may have or not been in church and and not seen our brethren
We know that this is something that we need to understand as Christians that we ought to have a great desire
To see the Brethren Paul says look. I wish I was in your presence
You know, I want to endeavor the more to be out there with you abundantly
I want to be in your presence and this is a good response that the sorrow the sadness of not being together
And he says that he has a great desire a great desire to be with the Brethren
But I want you to notice verse number 18 now
We know that the reason we can't be gathered together is because of this virus
Whatever you think of this virus is insignificant to me whether you think it's a deadly killer
Whether you think it's the most contagious thing in the world or whether you think it's just the hoax or whether you think it's just
A little flu with no big ramifications compared to other flus as far as I'm concerned
I don't care about it
but one thing that we are facing are the government restrictions and lockdowns that we deal with and
That's what I'm basing my judgments on that's what I'm basing my decisions on and you know, we may call this
I do believe you know what we're seeing worldwide is the judgment of God, you know
And the world is being judged but also just as a natural consequence Christians are also facing the same consequences than churches
But I want you to notice verse number 18 in this passage
There can be other reasons and maybe it applies even today
Okay, because when God passes judgment he can use wicked governments like we see when we're going for Jeremiah
We can use the Babylonians to judge, you know a wicked government a wicked nation judging another wicked nation
He could use that sometimes God uses the devil himself and if you look at verse number 18
It says where for we would have come on come unto you even I Paul once and again
But Satan hindered us
But Satan hindered us you see it is Satan's desire to have the brethren separated
It is Satan's desire that we would not be able to come together collectively and worship in a church
But once again keep in mind that you know, some people don't understand the working of Satan's
They think like the world is like this yin-yang, you know, you've got God one side
That's 50% good and then you got Satan on the other side, you know equally in
In control equally in power and his 50% bad and you've got this yin-yang battle in play
That's not the case at all. You know, God just has to say the word and he can destroy Satan immediately
Okay, God says the word in the millennium and Satan is bound for a thousand years
There's nothing Satan can do in the power of God many times God will allow Satan to carry the plan forward
You know the wicked plan
We know that one day the Antichrist is going to raise be raised in the scene
Satan's going to give the dragon's going to give the power
unto the Antichrist these things have been prophesied to us by God and God is going to allow that to be the case to
Then show his full wrath and judgment upon this wicked world
But I want you to understand that even if we classify what we're seeing today as God's judgment
That doesn't mean that Satan's not busy. I believe Satan is extremely busy, you know trying to bring forth
his plans, you know to
Eventually bring forth his desired Kingdom and his desired Antichrist and again
I don't know when that's going to happen could be a long way from now
But still even days of Paul when he wrote second Thessalonians
He said that the mystery of iniquity doth already work. It was already in plan
It was already taking place in the time of Paul and if it was taking place in time Paul
It's still taking place today
Okay, and slowly as as time develops we've seen further layers of the devil's plan come together
But you know, we shouldn't be worried about that because all it takes is for Christ to come on his white horse
And he destroys the whole kingdom straight away. It's not a big deal
Okay
So don't overestimate Satan's power many times God would just allow Satan to carry out his wicked plans
To prepare for God's wrath and judgment to come upon this wicked world. Okay, but nevertheless Satan is busy
Okay. Now, can you please turn to Romans chapter 1 turn to Romans chapter 1 verse number 11?
Romans chapter 1 and verse number 11
Romans chapter 1 verse number 11
I just want to show you another passage where Paul is desiring to be with the brethren. He misses the brethren
He's sorrowful that he can't be together with them. It says there in verse number 11
For I long to see you and brethren I long to see you
For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift
To the end ye may be established
That is that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me
Brethren, why is it that we desire to be in church? Yes to come and hear God's Word preached to be fed God's Word
Absolutely to sing God praises and to praise him to worship him. Absolutely
But also verse number 12 said that is that I may be comforted together with you
You see Paul didn't know he was a leader in the church. He established these churches
His desire was to be in church. So he could be comforted with the brethren and that's what it is brethren
You know, we live in a wicked world and church is a refuge church is a place where things can be normal
Okay, we don't have to face all the propaganda that is being publicized in this world
We don't have to think about all the deaths and diseases and the works of Satan, you know
We can come to the house of God and comfort one another be like we've like-minded brethren worship God and just have some
Normality in life and to prepare us to go back into the world, you know to do our works to do our jobs
to do it to live our life and be engaged and understand what God's Word expects from us and
So you can see that Paul many times longs to be with the brethren and again
I hope that's your desire. But point number one brethren is that sorrow is a natural response. I hope you feel sorrow
I hope you feel sorrow that you can't be together with brethren in the house of the Lord
Now stay there in Romans chapter 1 verse 11. Can you please go up to verse number 9?
Same chapter Romans chapter 1 verse number 9 because this brings us to our second point
Okay, the second point, you know
of this sermon and if you look at verse number 9
Because Paul was away from the brethren. This is what he does. This is these are his actions and
These ought to be our actions
Okay, verse number 9 it says for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son
That without see sin look at this without see sin. I make mention of you always in my prayers
Making requests if by any means now at length
I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you
So notice that even though Paul desires and he wants to be with his with the brethren he wants to be at church
Notice what he does when he can't be together with a brethren. What does it do? He's laboring in prayer
He's remembering the Brethren in prayer
Continually and so brethren point number two for the sermon this morning is remember each other in prayer
You know, we haven't seen each other face to face, you know, we don't have the companionship right now, right?
This is our fifth week now, but you know what we can remember each other
We can remember each other's face
If we just go before God and bring each name each family that makes up blessed about this church in prayer
And I promise you this if you start bringing each individual person each family in prayer before God
It's going to be like you're together
It's like we're together because we're bringing up the good memories that we have of one another, you know
We're concerned about the different challenges that we go through
We can rejoice with the great successes that we see with the Brethren. Let's remember each other in prayer
I know we have the chat group. I know we have whatsapp and we have that chat group, whatever
But Brethren that doesn't replace prayer going to God remembering each other in prayer because we're all praying to the same Lord God
Okay, and it's God that's keeping us united as a body even though we're currently separated
Okay, not only did he pray for the Brethren, but notice what he said in verse number 10 making requests
So when we go to God in prayer, we're making requests to God right making requests
He says by any means now at length
I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you
So we ought to be asking for God's will for this church and asking God God our desire our request
Is that we can be in the house of God together? And so Lord, can you please change the hearts of the politicians?
Can you please put an end to this covert whatever, you know?
Dilemma that that we're facing in this world so we can be gathered together as a church
And so we need to be going to God not just praying for the Brethren not bringing just in remembrance of Brethren
But asking God God, can you please open the doors so we can come together in church?
And I believe if we as a church collectively are making those prayers
Continually, then the doors are going to be opened up sooner for us to be once again in the house of God worshiping
together with a Brethren. So point number two Brethren was remember each other in prayer
Can you please take your Bibles and go to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 and verse number 3
Colossians chapter 1 verse number 3
Colossians chapter 1 verse number 3 reads
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you
It's the same thing, right? Paul says that he prayed continually for the Romans
Now to the Colossian Church he's praying always for you
Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have to all the saints
Now drop down to verse number 9
Verse number 9
For this cause we also
So remember it says there
Sorry in verse number 4 it says
For we heard of your faith and of the love that you have for all the saints
Because it's love in the saints, it's love in the Brethren
That causes us to go before God in prayer
And so when we get to verse number 9
It says for this cause we also
So for the love that the church had toward the Brethren
For this cause we also since the day we heard it
Do not cease to pray for you
And to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will
In all wisdom and spiritual understanding
So when we go before God and we pray for one another
What should we be praying for?
That we increase in spiritual wisdom and understanding
Okay? You say well we can't have church we can't be gathered together
Yeah but you know what it's important that even though we can't have church right now
It's still important that we gain God's wisdom and spiritual understanding
That we continue growing in our Christian life
We can't make the excuse Brethren and say well we don't have church
Therefore you know I'm not going to grow spiritually
Or therefore I'm going to start backsliding
I'm going to start living out my wicked sinful life
Because I don't have church I'll replace church with something else
Brethren we ought to be praying because this is difficult times
When people are out of church it's easy to become a backslider
It's easy to get back into your old sins
So we need to remember to pray for one another
That we continue to grow in wisdom and understanding
Verse number 10
That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing
Being fruitful in every good work
And increasing in the knowledge of God
Strengthen with all might
According to his glorious power
Unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness
That's hard isn't it?
So I ought to be going in prayer
And I'll mention brother Tim because brother Tim's here
I ought to be going to the Lord
Lord can you please work in brother Tim's life
You know I know that he's facing these lockdowns
These restrictions
I know he loves to come to church and to mingle with the brethren
And Lord you know he's unfortunately you know in his situation
You know he lives with a flatmate and not his family
And so maybe there's some loneliness there Lord
But Lord I pray that brother Tim or whoever it is that we're praying for
That he would endure this with all patience and long suffering
Because brethren during this lockdown we need the patience
We need long suffering
The reason we get agitated
And we want to get out there and protest and make a noise
Is because we're struggling with the patience
We're struggling with long suffering
But not only should we pray for people to be patient and long suffering
It says that with joyfulness
Lord can you make brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so happy during lockdown
Can you please show them your presence
Can you show them your love
Can you show them your comfort
So they would rejoice even during these lockdown periods
Lord I pray that the brethren can rejoice even though we can't have church
Lord I pray that the brethren will rejoice
That they can't have church right now
So they understand and they value how important it is
When we are gathered together they would not take it for granted
And so brethren we ought to be praying for one another
Point number one brethren was sorrow is a natural response
Number two remember each other in prayer
Remember to pray for one another continually
I need your prayers and you need our prayers
We need to be praying for one another
You know if we're just praying for ourselves
Like if everybody is just praying for themselves
I'm just praying for my own needs not for the needs of others
And you're just praying for your own needs and needs for others
Well then there's only one person praying for you that's yourself
But if all of us in our church remember to pray for every single person
Every individual every single family
Then how many people are actually praying for you
You know how much more would God hear the words of you know collectively
Of blessed about this church if we're going before God praying for the brethren
Praying that we'd be strengthened
My hope is that when we can get back in church when we can get back together
That we're even stronger spiritually than we've ever been before
That we're even wiser than we've ever been before
That we have greater patience than we've ever had before
And that we have greater joy than we've ever had before
But that can only come if we're praying for one another
Alright now we did see earlier in the book of Romans
How one thing that might be restricting us from coming together
In the house of God is the working of Satan
We saw that Paul was hindered by Satan to come and meet the brethren
So can I get you to please turn to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8
1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8
We are going to come back to John 16 if you still have a finger there
But let's go to 1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 8
Let's just remind ourselves that Satan is on the loose
Satan does desire to destroy God's people
Not only does he hate God's people but he hates people in general
He hates God's creation
So the third point that I have for you brethren is what we find here in 1 Peter 5a
It says be sober and vigilant
Because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion
Walketh about seeking whom he may devour
Whom resists steadfast in the faith
Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world
So the third point that I have for you brethren
Is stay sober and vigilant
Stay sober and vigilant, why?
Because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion
Walketh about seeking whom he may devour
You see when we're without church and we're missing the brethren
As I said it's easy to get backslidden
It's easy to become weak in the faith
And Satan as a roaring lion that's what he desires
He'll see the Christian who's getting weaker and weaker in their faith
And then he'll go on the attack
He sees the weak Christian and then he'll take his advantage
We need to be sober, stay sober and vigilant
Sober means that we're aware of the situation
We're taking things seriously
We know that we live in a wicked world
We know that we're made of flesh and blood
We know we have a sinful nature
We know how easy it is for us to fall into our old habits, our old sins
And to be vigilant as well
To be watchful, be prepared for any attacks that might come
Maybe from the devil or maybe just from our own wicked heart
Being aware, being steadfast
And understand what is happening in this world
As I said, I have no doubt the devil is bringing forth his plans further
Furthering his plans
To bring him ultimately his desired kingdom on this earth
But I want you to remember one thing
This is not our world
I need to just constantly bring this to our attention
You know we've recently seen the protests in Sydney, Melbourne
And I don't know where other places there's been ones
I think in most major cities in Australia there's been protests
And you might ask me, Pastor, are you for or against those protests?
And you know the honest answer is neither
Neither
Now if you said to me, well are you for lockdowns or are you anti-lockdowns?
Well obviously I would favour the anti-lockdowns
My preference is that we would just deal with this virus
Allow herd immunity, let this virus go rampant like we do any other disease
Any other virus
And we're all going to die one day
We can't stop death, it's a natural part of life
But from what I'm seeing the recovery rate of this virus is very high
So as far as I'm concerned I think the lockdowns are an overreaction
But at the same time the reason people desire to go out and protest and fight these things
Even though I side with their argument more so
You need to remember that many of these people
Obviously the majority are unsaved people
This is their life
They look at the 70 years, they look at the 80 years they have of life
And they say, well look I'm losing one year of my life
I'm losing two years, three years potentially
Maybe four years of my life
And I can understand the desire to fight
I can understand the desire to protest
Because this is all they have
This is their world
They want it to be well, they want it to be well with them
But brethren listen I don't care
This is not my world
I'm going to be back here for a thousand years
And I'm going to be ruling and reigning with Christ
And I'm going to have the world exactly the way I want it
That's what I'm looking for
This is just the world
As far as I'm concerned let them fight, let them argue
Let all the turmoil of the world go
Whatever situation I find myself in in this world
I know that I'm not of this world
I know I'm of heaven
I know where I'm going when I die
And I know when I'm coming back I'm going to come back with Christ
And we're going to rule and reign with him for a thousand years
And we're going to have the world exactly how we want
But if you can please turn to John chapter 17
Turn to John chapter 17
I'm saying stay sober and vigilant
Don't get carried away with all the arguments
Whatever side your opinion is brethren
Don't get caught up, don't get entangled with the affairs of this world
We are looking forward to a world to come
You go to John chapter 17
I'm going to read to you from Matthew 10 16
Matthew 10 16 Jesus Christ says
Jesus Christ says
Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves
That's what we are brethren
You know I laugh every time someone says to me
You know you're a sheeple
Oh look at all these sheeples
Look at them they're just obeying the government
Yeah I'm a sheeple
That's what God says
That's what Christ says
Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves
But then he says this
Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves
So just because the Christian is a sheeple
Yes that's what we are brethren
I'm sorry to say that
Just wear it with a badge of honour
Christ was the sheep
He was the lamb
He offered himself to be a sacrifice for all mankind
He laid down his life
Will you be prepared to do the same
To lay down your life
You know what
As Christians we're just sheep amongst a pack of wolves
And yes our government is a pack of wolves
But you know what
Those protesting on the streets
I guarantee you there's a bunch of pack of wolves right there as well
Whatever side you're on
You're going to be eaten alive
Because you're not of this world
But we need to be wise as serpents
We ought not to be ignorant
We ought to be aware of the arguments
We ought to be aware of the positions
Be stable minded
Be sober
Be vigilant
Be aware
But at the same time
Don't stop being a sheep
That's what you're commanded to be
I'll read to you Romans 8.36
Romans 8.36
It says
As it is written
For thy sake we are killed all the day long
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter
That's what we are in this world brethren
We're sheep counted for the slaughter
Are you willing to accept that
And I tell you this
If you accept that
If you say you know what
I'm just a sheep amongst a pack of wolves on this earth
And that's how it is
You're going to be a lot happier
Okay
Because otherwise you're going to desire to be the wolf yourself
You're going to desire to be the serpent yourself
And be on the attack
And be concerned about the affairs of this earth
You know these 70, 80 years of life that you live
Listen be focused on the thousand years to come
Be focused on the new heavens and the new earth to come
That's where your focus ought to be
After those words are written there
About being sheep for the slaughter
It says in verse number 37
Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors
Through him that loved us
So this is the spiritual reality
You know the physical reality we're sheep
Okay
But the spiritual reality is that we're more than conquerors
As I told you
We're kings and priests
We're going to rule with Christ
We're going to be the government
We're going to be the royal family
We're going to be in charge
We're going to judge the wicked on this earth for a thousand years
So don't worry brethren
You know we're just passing through
We're sojourners on this earth
Don't be overwhelmed with this world
Keep your focus on the Lord
Keep your focus in the current situation we're in
Whether we have all the freedoms we desire
Or whether we're bound and we're locked up for the rest of our lives
Who cares?
Who cares we're sheep counted for the slaughter
But we're more than conquerors in Christ
Okay
And now you're in John chapter 17 verse number 14
Let me just remind you of this passage
John 17 14
Jesus Christ says
I have given them thy word
And the world hath hated them
Why does the world hate us?
Because they are not of the world
Even as I am not of the world
Now brethren we have a government that's trying to force vaccinations
Okay
Obviously I'm against that
Okay
But let me tell you something
If we had a government that was anti-vax
You know yeah it would be better
I agree
But you know what
They would still hate us
Okay
It doesn't matter
The unbelieving wicked world
They hate Jesus Christ
And they hate Christ's people
Okay
They hate Christians
They hate the preaching of God's word
It doesn't matter who's in power
The world hates Jesus Christ
And you need to learn this
You need to accept this
Yes there are people that might have our better interest in mind
But they're still going to hate Christians
Yes you might agree with the protest going on
I actually hope they succeed
I hope the protest
Take down the wicked government
And take down all the lockdowns and restrictions
But at the same time
Even if all those people were in power
And I stand behind the pulpit preaching God's word
They're still going to hate what we're preaching behind the pulpit
It's not going to change
Okay
You're not of this world
What else does Christ say?
Verse number 15
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world
But that thou shouldest keep them from the evil
They are not of the world
Even as I am not of the world
Now brethren do you think
If Christ was walking this earth right now
Do you think he would be in agreement with the lockdowns?
You'd probably say no
I agree
Do you think he'd be out there protesting though?
If he was in Sydney right now
If he was out there yesterday
Do you think he'd be out there protesting?
No he wouldn't be
Okay
You know what
He's not of this world
And if Christ would not be of this world then neither should we be
Let's not be overly concerned or worried
You know
Stop being so focused on this earthly life that we have right now
You know let's do the best with what we have
Okay
We're in lockdown
God knows we're in lockdown
So let's do the best we can with the current situation we're in
Okay
And let's keep our focus on eternity
Keep our focus on when we return back to this earth that thousand years
Brethren at that point we are in charge of the whole world
We're going to be judging the entire world
Stay sober and vigilant
Don't get carried away with all the dramas that's going on in the world today
Back to John 16 please
John 16 21
John 16 verse number 21
We're going back to obviously Christ saying how he's going to be separated from the brethren
And that we're going to have great sorrow
But John 16 verse 21 says
Jesus Christ uses this analogy
It says a woman when she is in travail have sorrow
That's her going through her labour pains
Because her hour is come
But as soon as she is delivered of the child
She remembereth no more the anguish
For joy that a man is born into the world
And I've seen that many times with my wife
Right the anguish, the sorrow, the pain of delivering the child
But as soon as that child is born
She's got the greatest smile on her face
I'm still in sorrow
The husband that watched the whole thing
They're still stressed out
You know but mum she's got a big smile on her face
She's been able to deliver that child into the world
And the point here brethren
The fourth point that I have for you
Is you have to let sorrow do its work
I know we would rather not sorrow
I know we would rather not have the situation where we're missing the brethren
But because we are facing that sorrow
We are dealing it
We'll let sorrow do its work
There's a purpose behind sorrow
There's a purpose behind pain
Labor pains and difficulties
There's a purpose behind
Missing our brethren
And for the woman giving birth
What was her purpose?
Well sorrow
The pain, the labor pains
It helps the woman focus on what's most important
That's to deliver that child
The woman pays attention to the sorrow
The way her body's reacting
So she knows when to push
She knows when it's time to deliver that child
If she pays attention to the sorrows of her body
When she's going through labor
She's not worried about what's on television
When she's in labor
She's not worried about what she's going to prepare for dinner the next day
When she's in sorrow
When she's bringing forth the child
All her focus and attention is on bringing forth this child
That's the purpose of sorrow
Sorrow has a job to do
And we need to let sorrow do its work
Brethren if you miss the brethren
If you miss church
Then let it do its job
You know what it's helping us do?
It's helping us focus on the importance of church
Helping us focus on the love that we ought to have for the brethren
Maybe if we didn't go through this time
And we're just constantly in church
Maybe we wouldn't be appreciating church for what it is
We wouldn't be appreciating the brethren that we have together
Maybe we need to allow the sorrow to do its work
So we value church
You know I don't know what people think about coming to Blessed Hope Baptist Church
We've got a small building
We're not very big in size
We haven't got all the activities
We haven't even got a place for the kids to run around and play
And it's been a while since we've been able to fix things up
It took time
We can probably have many things we can complain about
But when we're facing the sorrow
It helps us to focus back on what is most important
The desire to be in church, the importance of church
And unfortunately when we were free to meet for church
Even myself, we just took it for granted
Ah I'll miss church this week because it's going to be next week
Well you know what, eventually, there was no church next week
Eventually we've gone two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, now five weeks without church
And we should have appreciated it when we had
You know I was speaking to a brother in the Lord just this week
And he said to me that he was speaking to a friend who said to him
Oh man I want to get in church now
It's like it's too late now
Getting into church is when we had the freedom to get in there
To be together with the brethren
That's when we should have valued church
And so we need to let sorrow do its work
It's helping us focus once again on what's the most important
Instead of taking church for granted
Instead of taking the faces of the brethren, the collectiveness of worshipping God together for granted
Now we know sorrow is saying boy it's giving us our focus
Man we want to be back in church
We miss it so badly
Maybe we've not been praying for one another the way we ought to
Well being separated from the brethren
Calls us to be prayerful toward the brethren
Prayerful toward this pastor
So I pray that you know I ask that you would be praying for me
For wisdom and knowledge
Not just to you know work through the lockdown periods with the church
But also you guys know that we're planning to get back to the Queensland in October
I mean who knows what's going to happen right
It's all up in the air right now
And the desire to get brother Sam to come down here and be the main preacher for this church moving forward
You know there's a lot of things that need to come together
We ought to be praying for one another
And we live in such you know unstable times
But let's not forget that God's in control
God sees all things okay
The devil is not so out of control that God can't stop him if he desires
Let sorrow do its work
Can you please turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 7
2 Corinthians chapter 7
Verse number 9
2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse number 9
Let me just give you a context of what we're about to read
In our 1 Corinthians
If you read both books
1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians
This is a really messed up church
Okay
No matter how bad you think our church is
If you ever think our church is bad
Or you're in a bad church
Let me just encourage you to read 1 Corinthians
Okay
And even Paul even though that church was in such a bad state
He still felt that he could be saved
He still recognized it as a church of God
And still was there trying to help them get through a hard time
But they had many problems
They had divisions in the church
They were man followers rather than Christ followers
Paul says they were carnal
So they're just babes in Christ
They're not growing, they're not learning
There's divisions and there's great sins that are taking place
In fact 1 Corinthians chapter 5
Paul has to instruct basically the church to kick a man out of the church
For committing fornication
Okay
And so that letter of 1 Corinthians
Brought this church into great sorrow
When they realized just how bad they were
Okay
And they were being rebuked by Paul
And obviously as I said he brought great sorrow into the church
And as I'm mentioning right now
You know you need to let sorrow do its work
And so when we get to 2 Corinthians
Paul now recognizes
The improvements they've made
Since the letter, since 1 Corinthians
Alright
They've made change
Perfect even in 2 Corinthians
They're not perfect
But they've made a lot of good changes
They did end up kicking that guy out of church for example
Okay
And then Paul reflects in 2 Corinthians
About the changes that they've made
So in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse number 9
Paul writes
Now I rejoice
Not that you were made sorry
But that you sorrowed to repentance
For you were made sorry
After a godly manner
That you might receive damage by us in nothing
For godly sorrow
Worketh repentance to salvation
Not to be repented of
But the sorrow of the world
Worketh death
And so this church out of the sorrow
Of being rebuked by Paul in 1 Corinthians
What did they do? They repented
They got things right with their church
When it says here
That godly sorrow
Worketh repentance to salvation
This is not talking about the salvation of the soul
They saved their church
From being destroyed
They saved the church from becoming a disaster
Because they started to make these changes
In their church
Look at verse number 11 it says
For behold this selfsame thing
That you sorrowed after a godly sort
Now notice what happens
After they sorrow
When they're sorrowing it says
What carefulness it wrought in you
You became very careful
You became careful
You became full of care
For the brethren, for the church
Right?
It says yea, what clearing of yourselves
Yea, what indignation
Yea, what fear
Yea, what vehement desire
Yea, what zeal
Yea, what revenge
In all things you have approved yourselves
To be clear in this matter
Boy you know what
We need to let sorrow do its work
Because I'm hoping that when we get back to church
That like it says here
That we would have a vehement desire
That we would have great zeal
A great revenge
Right?
We want to get back in church
And do the greatest works we can for God
You know we can do the greatest works
Our soul went in
Right? I miss soul went in
You know what?
And this sorrow
Let the sorrow do its work
Maybe God's allowed us to bring the zeal back
The zeal of church
The zeal of hearing God's word
The zeal of soul went in
We need to let the sorrow do its work
So brethren it's not all negative
Okay
God allows us to go through these things
And you need to say
Well Lord this sorrow
What is it that you need to work in me
In blessed old Baptist church
I miss the brethren
But I'm excited about what the work
What work the sorrow can do in our lives
You know
Maybe when we come back
We can be a much more powerful church
Than we've ever been for the Lord
Okay back to John 16 please
John 16 verse number 22
Christ continues and he says
And ye now therefore have sorrow
But I will see you again
And your heart shall rejoice
And your joy no man taketh from you
Brethren the fifth point that I have for the sermon this morning
Is rejoice when we see each other again
We are going to see each other again
We are going to have church once again
You say what if the lockdowns continue until the day we die
Well we'll have church in heaven
You say what if some loved ones pass away
During lockdown we'll see them in the rapture
Listen what look we're going to see each other one day
And I don't believe that's all that's going to happen
I believe that within a few weeks maybe a couple
I don't know maybe even another month
We are going to be back in church
We are going to see the brethren once again
Okay brethren
But point number five
Is that we ought to rejoice when we see each other again
And again that's the whole work of sorrow
Maybe we haven't been joyful about church
Maybe we've been coming to church and we've just not had the joy
But you know what when we miss it when we've not had it
We've not seen the face of our brethren
We see them again we rejoice
I know it was like that before
I know it was like that last year when we had the lockdowns
What was it?
I think it was about four weeks here in Sydney
It was about six weeks in Queensland
And when we saw each other once again in church
Everyone was happy everyone was so
It's like this big relief just this great joy
Right to see one another
To be in the house of God together
And that's what sorrow can do
Okay
It helps us to rejoice when we see each other again
So that's point number five
Now can you please turn to Psalm 122
Turn to Psalm 122 in verse number one
I'm just turning to a very familiar passage to all
Psalm 122 in verse number one
The Bible reads
I was glad when they said unto me
Let us go into the house of the Lord
Of course for David here
The tabernacle was the house of the Lord for him
The house of the Lord in the New Testament is this house
I'm not talking about the building
I'm talking about the gathering together of the people
Okay
And you know for many of us
We make a conscious decision to go to church
But for our children they don't really make that decision
They go because mum and dad say
Hey let us go into the house of the Lord
Okay
And you know what
For those that are dragged to church
I need you to think about how important church is
Not just to your parents
But how important it is for you
And how important church is going to be for your children in the future
You know
And I know my kids
They're probably the last thing to think about right now
Is their kids
But you know what
We need churches to remain strong
To remain faithful
So that our next generations can have a church they can go to
You know what
Church ought to be a place
That you're glad when they say unto you
Let us go into the house of the Lord
In fact that very verse
We're going to print that up
We're going to go and stick it on one of these walls
Frame it
A nice frame, nice picture
We're going to stick it on these walls
So when we come into the house of the Lord
That we ought to be glad to be here
You know
Church ought to be a place where you can rejoice
Again
The flesh, the old man doesn't rejoice in church
That's why when it's time for church
I don't really want to
How far is it
What's the traffic like
I'll just watch it online
Okay that's the old man
That's the flesh
Okay
That's the lazy flesh
But the new man rejoices
When it's in the house of the Lord
Can you please turn to Esther chapter 9
Esther chapter 9 verse 20
Actually now go to Romans 15
I'll read from Esther 9
You go to Romans 15 please
Go to Romans 15 in the New Testament
I'm going to read to you from Esther chapter 9 verse 20
If you don't know the story of Esther
We have Haman who sought to kill the Jews
This was during the captivity period
The 70 year captivity of the Babylonians
Some Jews were taken into Persia
And Haman sought to basically kill all the Jews
And you've got Esther
Queen Esther who overcomes his plans
And then you've got Mordecai who was her cousin
Or maybe even her uncle
Some people refer to him that way
Because he was much older than Esther
But in verse number 20
Esther 9, 20 it says
And Mordecai wrote these things
And sent letters unto all the Jews
That were in the provinces of the king
At Hiserias
Both nigh and far
To establish this among them
That they should keep the fourteenth day of the month, Adar
And the fifteenth day of the same yearly
Verse number 22 says
As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies
And the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy
And from mourning into a good day
That they should make them days of feasting and joy
And of sending portions one to another
And gifts to the poor
And so what we have here is when
Esther and Mordecai were able to defeat Haman and his wicked plans
Where the enemies of the Jews were destroyed
Well what happens, their sorrow
Because they were fearful of being destroyed
Their sorrow was turned to joy
And so Mordecai establishes that day
As a day of rejoicing
As a day of giving of gifts
Of sending portions one to another
Of sharing one with another
And so brethren when we can come back to church
Again we're going to celebrate
Not only do we have to celebrate our three year anniversary
But we're just going to celebrate that we can see one another, brethren
Alright, so as soon as we have church
We've got to get the food out
We've got to get the gifts out
And we just have to learn and appreciate one another
I'm looking forward to that time when we can be gathered together
Now you're in Romans 15, look at verse number 30
Romans 15, verse number 30
Just reminding you about the fact that we're going to rejoice when we see one another again
Verse number 30
It says
Now I beseech you, brethren
For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake
And for the love of the Spirit
That ye strive together with me
In your prayers to God for me
That I may be delivered from them
That do not believe in Judea
And that my service
Which I have for Jerusalem
May be accepted of the saints
That I may come unto you
With joy by the will of God
And may with you be refreshed
Paul is asking, again collectively
That the Roman church here
Would pray together, okay
Paul's desire was that he would be in Jerusalem
Sorry, that he would be in Rome
With all the brethren together
But notice what is keeping him from being together
He says that I may be delivered from them
That do not believe in Judea
Okay
So there were non-believers in Judea
Non-believing Jews
That was prohibiting Paul
From going and being a blessing
And being in the presence of the church
And brethren, we have that today
You know, our government is made up of non-believers
You say, well, no, no, our Prime Minister
You know, Scott Morrison
He's a Christian
Yeah, he's a Christian
But he's not saved
He's not saved
He's a Pentecostal
They believe in a false gospel
They believe they can lose their salvation
These people are not saved
You know, we're being kept apart
Because of unbelievers
They do not understand the importance of church
Okay
But we need to remember
To be praying for one another
Okay
And that, don't forget what Paul says there in verse number 32
That I may come unto you
With joy by the will of God
We ought to be praying that God's will will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
The same way that Christ taught us how to pray
God, can you please have your will on this earth
Okay
And if his will right now is judgment
Let it be judgment
Okay
Let sorrow do its work
Let's be patient
Let's be long suffering
Let's be joyful
Let's thank God
Whatever scenario that we find ourselves in
But what I love about Paul
He says at the end of verse number 32
And may we view be refreshed
That's what we're looking forward to
We can become stale without the brethren
We can become stale Christians without church
You know coming together collectively as a body
Helps us to be refreshed in the Lord
Doesn't it
Okay
So being refreshed
Being recharged as it were
Right
That's something that we can be joyful about
That's something that we can be hopeful about
That's something that we can be looking forward to
And so brethren in conclusion
As I said the title for the sermon this morning was
Missing the brethren
I miss you guys
You know the reason I just put Jeremiah aside for now
I just wanted to preach on missing and missing the brethren
How we ought to think about this topic
And I just pray that maybe I've been an encouragement to you
You know I hope you don't get downcast
And backslidden and far from God
And you know but rather you would appreciate
The church and the time that we have together as brethren
But let me just go through those five points once again
Number one
Sorrow is a natural response
Number two
Remember each other in prayer
Number three
Stay sober and vigilant
Number four
Let sorrow do its work
And number five
Rejoice when we see each other again
Okay let's pray