(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, so Romans chapter 8, like what a great chapter, it's a great chapter, but then every chapter in the Bible is great, you know, so I kind of get tired of myself saying that's a great chapter, but every chapter is great, and you know, we look at verse 35 there, it says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, the title of the sermon tonight is the love of Christ, the love of Christ, who shall separate us from the love of Christ. One thing that, and I've shared this before, but one thing that I guess kind of burdens me as a pastor or breaks my heart is just how many people go through problems and tribulations and just things in the past, things in the present, or things to come, the concerns and the worries that so many families and so many people have, and I don't know what it is, I mean, I'm not saying that I don't have problems, of course I have problems, but it just seems like, you know, my life's okay, you know, generally speaking, like when it comes to even things that are problems, you know, they're easily overcome, but then I look at other people and heavy burdens, and that's why I often say that, you know, we all have problems, you know, it's really woken me up as a pastor just to understand that everybody has problems, everyone has problems, and sometimes very deep ones, very hurtful ones, and when we go through problems in life, I guess questions might be asked about the Lord, and you say, Lord, are you angry with me, and I'll never say to you that God is not angry at you, because maybe God is angry at you, God does get angry at wickedness, God gets angry at sin, of course, and, you know, just like any loving father, you know, if we're in disobedience, the Lord can step down in His wrath and chastise us, correct us, and, you know, just like any father would, like if you see your children being disobedient, and, you know, you might have to step in and chastise your child, and you might get angry at your child, of course, you know, because they've done that, but you know as parents that even if you have to chastise your children, you love them, it's not like you turn around and say, well, I hate you, that's why I'm chastising them, you know, you chastise them because you love them, because you want to give them direction and you want to profit them in life, and one thing that you learn here is that, you know, because we definitely all go through different struggles in life, one thing that we're reminded here in verse number 35 is who shall separate us from the love of Christ? One thing I want you to understand is that as a Christian, even if you go through troubles and difficulties, even if it is the hand of the Lord, you know, correcting you, judging you, I want you to know that the Lord loves you, the Lord loves you, you know, the Lord cannot hate His children, you must understand that, just like you parents, you're not going to hate your children, even when they're in disobedience, you love them, you might get angry at them, but you love them, and one thing I want to just reinforce here is that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Now, when you go through difficulties and problems and tribulations and, you know, one thing that you need to understand is it's not necessarily that God is even mad at you, you know, it could be that you will live in a perfectly, you know, as perfect as we can in this life, righteous life, you're doing the right things, you're following the Lord, you're serving Him faithfully, and you will still have troubles in life, because this is part of the world, you know, the curse that's fallen upon this world. We saw earlier in this chapter that's been read that all of creation has grown in, just waiting for that redemption, because even all of creation, this whole earth, has this curse that man has brought upon this world, the curse of sin, and so we will continue living a life of difficulties and problems, just, this is how the world is, this is life, and you need to accept this is what life is, but again, you know, and I'm saying that because again, I don't want you to just turn around and think, oh, because someone's going through difficulties, therefore God is mad at them, they must be doing something wrong. No, you could be doing something right, which I'll show you through this sermon today, and you'll still have problems, you'll still go through difficulties, okay? But one thing I do encourage you to do that if you are going through some type of trial, you know, tribulation, and it can be so many things, it can be financial difficulties, right, it can be, it could be card difficulties, right, it could be relationships, you know, it could be stresses in life, and mental problems, it could be, I mean, there are so many problems that we could create in life, persecution, you know, it might be that you've lost, just lost a love for God, and maybe your heart's turned into earthly things, and carnal things, and listen, we all go through trials, or there might be like this big sin in your life that you're just struggling to overcome with, and it's causing you grief and sorrow, or whatever, you might feel, you know, like a nobody, you know, and you feel like you've achieved nothing, and you might feel depressed about your own life, there are so many struggles, you know, physical issues, you know, sicknesses, illnesses, whatever, there's so many, so many things that we could go through, and every time these things happen, I want you to just remember this one thing, first assess your life, you know, have a look if there's anything that is, you know, quite wrong in your life, is there something, Lord, that, you know, that I'm clearly in sin against you, Lord, and, you know, if that's what it is, then I would say identify that as the issue, and fix that up in your life, clean your life, okay, but a lot of times you're going to go through difficulties and hardships, and you would turn around and say, well, Lord, you know, I'm coming to church, Lord, I'm soul winning, Lord, I'm reading my Bible, Lord, I'm praying to you, Lord, I'm serving the local body as best as I can, Lord, I've been faithful in my family duties, or whatever, whatever it is, and I'm still having these difficulties, hey, pastor, I just can't figure out exactly what, you know, could God be angry at me, could he be mad, well, I'll say, you know, if you live in a pretty much clean and righteous life, and, you know, when you do sin, you're quick to confess it before the Lord, you know, you're not hiding behind your sins, or trying to justify your sins, and, you know, then I'll turn around and say, well, hey, you know what, this is life, trials and tribulations, this is part of life, and, you know, thank God that he allows us to go through these things, because it helps us to grow, helps us to mature, helps us to have the right perspective on life, you know, maybe the Lord has put that difficulty in our life, because he's preventing us from following sinful, lustful things, temptations that might arise in our hearts, if we didn't have these tribulations otherwise, but if we keep going in that verse, Romans 8 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, stresses like worries and sorrows, or persecution, or famine, even if there's a lack of food, will that separate from the love of Christ? And if you're going hungry, and there's just, there's no food on the shelves, all right, you know, you go, man, God, are you, are you upset, you know, have, do you not love me anymore, Lord? No, it says not even famine, or nakedness, I mean, I don't know if anyone's really experienced nakedness, I mean, we've all got clothes, we've all, you know, I don't think there's ever been a point in our lives, besides being born, where you just literally had nothing, you know, you're stripped of all things, and you were literally naked, and not even that can separate from the love of Christ, or peril, or sword, you know, someone's out to literally slay you, is that going to separate you from the love of Christ? I mean, these are some serious things, even the point of death, you know, sword can, you know, sword separate from the love of Christ. Verse number 36, and again, the reality of life, or especially as a Christian, as it is written, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. So remember, this is our life, we're counted as sheep for the slaughter. Okay, there are problems, there are persecutions, there are trials and difficulties and tribulations and sorrows that we go through. But then it says in verse number 37, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Notice again, the love, Christ loves us, we are more than conquerors. And so, you know, just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're not going to go through problems. Everyone goes, even the unbelievers go through problems. Okay, even the unbelievers go through problems. But you know, one advantage that we have, we have the love of Christ that will get us through those difficulties. We should as Christians, we should be better at coping with difficulties and tribulations than the lost world. Because we have Christ, because we have his love, okay, the love of Christ. Verse number 38, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, even problems in the future to come, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So I want you to remember that, you know, we've seen a list of difficulties that you might go through in life. And I never want you to turn around as a Christian and say, well, Lord, maybe you don't love me. Is that the issue? Again, God might be chastising you. You need to be aware of that. You know, I'm not going to try to hide the facts. You know, if, I mean, this is what God does. If you've not been chastised by God, then you may, you might be a bastard. If you're one of his sons, if you're one of his children, he will chastise his children, okay? That's a positive thing. If you get chastised by the Lord, you know, Lord, I'm definitely in sin, and you've, you know, you've given me this difficulty, Lord. I know it's coming from you. That gives you further confidence that you're saved. Not that you really needed the extra confidence, but again, it just reinforces the fact that you are saved. You're a child of God, and he's disciplined you. But, you know, regardless of what we go through, brethren, the Lord loves you. You know, and if he loves you, he's going to help you through that, isn't he? You know, as parents, if we see our children struggle in life, say, well, we love our children, we're going to try to help them. We're going to try to, you know, get them through. We might even say to our children, hey, you need to go through this struggle. You need to go through this difficulty, so you can learn that life is not easy, that you need to keep pushing forward, and not quit. You know, and remind yourself that the love of God will always be there. Nothing can separate you from that love. Well, turn with me now to Luke chapter one. Turn with me to Luke chapter one, and verse number five. Luke chapter one, and verse number five. Because what I want to reinforce in this sermon is that you can be doing all the right things, and still go through difficulties. You can be doing all the right things. I mean, Job. Job is a perfect example, isn't he? Doing the right things, serving the Lord. There's no one upright like him on the earth, and yet, he lost it all. But let's have a look at some other stories here. We're going to look at the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. Zacharias and Elizabeth. Luke chapter one, verse number five. Luke chapter one, verse number five, it says, there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. All right, so you can see that these are part of the priestly line. You know, even Elizabeth is a child of Aaron, right? The first high priest. Look at verse number six. I want you to notice the next words. And they were both righteous before God. They were both righteous before God, okay? These are righteous people. They're saved. They're serving the Lord. We'll look at later on that Zacharias is serving in the temple, doing his duties. It says here, look at this, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. Blameless. Like, you can't find better people in Judea, you know, besides Zacharias and Elizabeth. These are like the top Christians. These are the best. They're serving the Lord faithfully. It's so obvious, blameless, okay? Doing what is right before the Lord. But look at verse number seven. And they had no child. Hey, Elizabeth was barren. We know that it is the Lord's, you know, business to open or close the womb. The Lord had closed the womb of Elizabeth, okay? And then look, again, take your mindset away from 2022. Because in 2022, if you say, I can't have a child, you know, be like, whoo, then, all right, I mean, no burdens, you know, then you can live your life, you won't be tied down. That's not the mentality of the Bible, okay? When a lady could not have a child, it was a heavy burden. It was a heavy stress upon them. Look at this. And they had no child because Elizabeth was barren. And they both were now well-stricken in years. I want you to understand that this is not easy for Elizabeth. We'll have a look at this shortly, that this is not easy for her to go through. This is something that's on her mind constantly, something she's suffering with. If you drop down to verse number 24, please, drop down to verse number 24. Now, eventually, God does give him that child, which is John the Baptist, but it says here in verse number 24, and after those days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived and hid herself five months, saying, I want you to notice what she says. So she's fallen pregnant. It says, thus have the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked upon me. So she says, look, the Lord has finally looked upon me. The Lord has finally answered my prayers with this child, even though I'm well-stricken in age. And notice the next words. It says, to take away my reproach among men, to take away my reproach. The word reproach means like a disapproval, you know, being criticized. She says, look, I've been living my life. I'm well-stricken in age. I've lived most of my life being married, and we've not been able to have children, but hey, in the community, in society, they've looked down upon me. You know, people have maybe mocked them or criticized. Well, they must be wrong with the Lord. You know, why can't they have children? They're serving the temple. You know, they're of the priestly line. You know, that if she hasn't fallen pregnant, then maybe there must be something wrong with them. Maybe they're not right with the Lord. You know, it seems like they're blameless. It seems like they're keeping the commandments of the Lord. But she says, look, there's been a reproach. And because she fell pregnant, she says that to take away the reproach among men, there were people criticizing her about that. She goes, finally, that reproach is gone. Finally, I can show that I am pregnant. Okay, you know, this is finally a blessing of the Lord. He's opened my womb. But I'm sharing that with you because, you know, you can be doing all the right things, right? You can be doing all the right things, and you can still be going for a struggle in life. And yeah, you know what? For a woman like Elizabeth, someone that understands the Bible, understands her role, and what God created for her, not falling pregnant, being barren is a heavy burden. You know, I've seen this burden on ladies. I've seen ladies who struggle to fall pregnant, you know, who are godly, who understand the Bible, understand, you know, they're wired to desire this in their life. And it's such a heavy burden. And they think maybe the Lord's not happy with them. Maybe the Lord's angry. Maybe the Lord's not happy. Maybe the Lord's forgotten to love them. Why has God not blessed me in this area of my life? But again, verse number six, they were both righteous before God, walking all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And so, again, the reason I'm saying this Brethren is because I don't want us to be people like the people that lived around Elizabeth, that, you know, gave this reproach, you know, that made her feel this way. I don't want us to be that kind of church, where if someone's going through trials and difficulties that we turn around and say, well, we know why. Yep. You know, it's that, yeah, I know why, brother. I know what you're going through, because you've not been right with the Lord, right? Or, yeah, I knew it. I knew Sister so-and-so's going through this difficulty because she's just not right with the Lord. Listen, Brethren, that's the wrong attitude. You don't know. You don't know. Okay? You have no idea. Okay? And it might be that someone has no problems for a period of time, and they're in all matters of sin. They're all in all matters of rebelling against the Lord, you know? And you might think, oh, well, they look great on the outside. They live in a great life, but we know our Lord God. He's merciful. He's slow to anger. One day, judgment's going to fall upon that person. Okay? So we don't know. Like, we're stuck in this time. We only observe the outside, right? The Lord looks in the heart. We just don't know. And you know what? There are probably many of you that are going through difficulties and pain and suffering, and there's nothing wrong, though. Like, you're doing the right things. Like, instead of beating yourself up, instead of saying, well, woe is me, just say, look, I'm walking in the ways of the Lord. I know I'm doing what is right. And so the Lord is going to bless me in His time. Whatever that blessing looks like, He's going to bless you. Okay? Don't beat yourself up, is what I'm trying to say. If you're doing what is right, okay, you know you're walking after the commandments of the Lord. You know you're living the life that He wants you to live, and you have problems, say, well, this is life. This is the curse of the world. This is what we have to go through. Thank you, Lord, for the trials. You must be teaching me something. You must be allowing me to go through a trial. You must be refining me with your fire. And that's the right approach. And again, we don't want to be a church that is critical toward people that are going through difficulties. I know that every family here is going through some problems. Easy. All right? And you know what? When we come on a Wednesday night, and we bring our prayer requests before the Lord, you know, we should not be embarrassed, because we have problems. All right? We shouldn't say that, because what if I don't want the family so-and-so to think that, you know, I'm not right with God or something like that. We don't know. You know what? I just take the approach that you guys are right with the Lord, and I know you sin because I sin, and we sin, and we try to get right with the Lord straight away. Confess that before the Lord. Say, sorry, Lord, help me to walk in your paths. I want to be in your righteousness. I want to be in fellowship with you. And you keep going, moving forward. All right? I don't want to be like these people, you know, around Elizabeth who made her feel this way. But I want you to understand the burden that Elizabeth had, and yet she was living righteously. Let's stay there in that chapter. Let's look at verse 11. Let's go backwards a little bit to verse 11. Verse 11. There are some other things that we can learn in this trial that Zacharias and Elizabeth is going through. In verse 11 it says, And there appeared unto him, that's unto Zacharias, an angel of the Lord standing on his right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. Notice the words of the angel. It says, And the angel said unto him, Fear not Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. For thy prayer is heard. So, brethren, what should we be doing when we're going through difficulties? What should we be doing when going through trials? When we have sorrows and griefs and pain? We should be taking that to the Lord in prayer, shouldn't we? We should be going, Lord, this is my situation. And of course, what are they praying about? They're praying to fall pregnant. See, this is not just a burden on Elizabeth. This is on Zacharias as well. He wants children, all right? He's been praying about this. Now, I don't know. Again, they're well stricken in age. I'm just giving my thoughts here. I don't know. I could be wrong here, but I kind of think he's probably given up on praying. He probably prayed about this a long time ago, when they were struggling. And then they got into an age where they think, well, we just can't fall pregnant now, all right? But the prayers being answered at a time they're not expecting is what the point is, okay? The Lord has heard their prayers. And so he sends this angel this great news. So, brethren, when you're going through difficulties, keep praying, all right? Wednesday night prayer requests. I've got a situation. Pray for that. You know what? One day at the right time, the Lord's timing is going to answer that prayer. It says at the end, continue verse number 13, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shall call his name John. Look at this, verse number 14. And thou shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. So this sorrow, this pain, all right? The Lord comes through. The Lord says through the angel that they're going to have joy and gladness. And, brethren, if you're sad, if you're a little bit upset and grief, full of grief, you know, the Lord can turn that into joy and gladness. The Lord can do it when he answers your prayers. Many shall rejoice at his birth. Verse number 15, how great is this? For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord. Boy, I'd love an angel to come to me. Well, I'm not so much an angel now, because I love the word of the Lord. But I would love the Lord to say, you know, one of your sons or your children, they're going to be great in the sight of the Lord. I mean, I can't just imagine the rejoicing that Zacharias would have hearing these great words. And shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. They've heard about this son. He's going to be a great soul winner. He's going to turn the hearts of the people toward God. What a great soul winner John the Baptist was. He keeps going there. And he shall go before him in the spirit and the power of Elias, which is Elijah, and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. So he's going to teach even those that disobey, he's going to give them wisdom. He's going to be a great preacher. And look at this, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. What a job, you know, to get the people ready for Jesus Christ, to win souls, to teach the wisdom of God to the people that are lost and disobedient. That's great news. It's great news. Okay. And, you know, again, I want to show you this is that, you know, sometimes God's going to use that pain and suffering to bring something greater in our lives. Okay. I suppose they could have had children, many children potentially, but God was saving them to go through this trial, to be prayerful, so they would bring John at the right time. I mean, if they had John Baptist earlier, we know when Christ would come, there'd be a bit of an age gap. There'd be a bit of a difference there. John the Baptist got them ready, okay, for Jesus Christ. The timing was perfect. Okay. But they were righteous. They were living Zacharias and Elizabeth. They were righteous. And yet they were going through these trials and difficulties. Now it did tell us in verse number 17 that John the Baptist will go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, which is Elijah. So now let's have a look at Elijah. Please turn with me to 1 Kings. Let's turn to 1 Kings chapter 18. Elijah, very famous prophet in the Bible. 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 38. 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 38. In 1 Kings 18, we have the famous story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. And just to bring you up to speed of what takes place here, you know, a great test is being conducted here as to which God, Baal or the God of Elijah, would actually answer the prayers and bring down fire from heaven to burn a sacrifice. And of course, the Lord God comes through. You know, Baal never answers the prayers. Baal's powers are restricted by the hand of the Lord. But then we get to verse number 38 here. 1 Kings 18, 38. It says, then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. So it's a powerful fire that comes from heaven. It says in verse number 39, and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. Okay, so not Baal. Baal is not the God. We know the Lord, the Lord God is the God. Verse number 40. And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them and Elijah brought them down into the Brook of Qishon and slew them there. The prophets of Baal were put to death. Okay, this is a great victory for Elijah. A great victory. Okay, he's turned the hearts of the people back to the true God. You know, it kind of reminds me of John the Baptist. The fact that they are so far gone, the nation is so far gone, that God has to have a prophet prepared there, you know, preparing them for the Lord's coming, preparing them for Jesus Christ. Elijah is pretty much fulfilling a very similar role. He's turning people's hearts back to the Lord, back to the Lord, not to Baal. And so what I want to show you there, just in verse number 18, is that Elijah is having this great victory, right? He's defeating the false prophets, right? The false prophets are being put to death, you know? It's an amazing victory, a spiritual high. Like you can't turn around and say, well Elijah, you must not be right with the Lord at the moment. You say, hold on, this is one of Elijah's greatest victories in life. You know, this is one of his, he must be on a spiritual high right now. All right, great. Go to chapter 19, 1 Kings 19, verse number 1. It says, And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and we follow how he had slain all the prophets with a sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as a life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. So basically it's saying, look, you're going to perish just like the prophets of Baal, okay? Verse number 3. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life. Elijah runs away to save his life, okay? So, you know, he's being threatened to die, to be put to death, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down upon a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. Say, what in the world? Elijah, just a moment ago, you had a great victory. A moment ago, you had turned the hearts of the people back to the true God. You know, you had slaughtered these prophets of Baal. You know, the Lord is on your side. You had this miracle of fire coming down from heaven. What's the next thing that we see? He's running for his life. He's being persecuted. He's going through tribulation. That Elijah must not be right with the Lord. Listen, this is life, okay? Even when things are going well, the next day, you could be running for your life. Well, I don't know. Maybe not in Australia so much, not in these days just yet. But there could come a day like that. There could come a day in Australia that, you know, we're in church, things are going super well, and the next day, there might be persecution against God's people. You don't know, okay? And Elijah, he runs, and he finally gets to this point under the juniper tree, and he says, Lord, I'd just rather die. Can you kill me, Lord? I mean, he's so cast down. He's so depressed. And again, I want you to remember that if you're going through difficulties and you're cast down, you're not unusual. You're not like, I'm just this horrible Christian. It's just how we are. You know, no one likes to go for negative things, right? No one wants to be persecuted. No one wants to go for tribulations and difficulties. It doesn't feel nice at the time. Like, it's not rewarding at the time, okay? You might even get to the point, it's like, I just don't want to live anymore. Lord, just kill me then, Lord, if, you know, I'm running away. I'm in the wilderness here. You know, just yesterday, Lord, I had a spiritual eye. Just a few days ago, we were doing so well, Lord. And now, it's just, I'm being chased. I'm so burdened. I'm so cast down. Have you ever been so cast down that you just thought, Lord, just kill me then? I'm sure these are thoughts that have crossed many minds. Verse number five, and as he lay and slept under the juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals. So just miraculously, God gives him a cake, okay? And a cruise of water at his head, so it satisfies thirst. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again. So it's like, all right, he eats, but it's not enough to get him excited. Like, could you imagine if you just went into the wilderness, all right? Just ran away from everything, and then a miracle takes place. You'd be like, this is amazing. But Elijah just lays down again. And that's how it is sometimes. You know, when you're going through difficulties, have you ever been so burdened? I've been like this once, maybe more than once, where I've just had just so much on my mind, so much to do, so much heaviness, that you just lay down, and you just can't get back up. Like, you go to sleep, and you just don't want to go through the day. You know, you just rather sleep, because kind of sleep just takes it away for a brief period of time. You know, you need to get up. It's like, ah, just back to bed, you know, because it's just so burdened, so heavy. You know, your body may not be tired, but just the stress, you know, on your mind just ties the body. Have you ever been that tired? You know, that's how Elijah's feeling right now. Verse number seven. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb the mount of God. And so, once again, God provides for him. A second time, praise God that we have a merciful God. Praise God that He doesn't give up on us. He loves us. Hey, the Lord loves Elijah. He gives him another chance. The Lord's not giving up on Elijah. Like, the Lord's not turning around and saying, come on, Elijah. You just had this victory against the prophets of Baal. Get up. Stop being lazy. No, the Lord gives him time. And even then, when Elijah fails to get up the first time, the Lord gives him a second opportunity, you know, to arise and eat. And you know, the food that he eats this time, of course, by the miracle of God, is enough to get him through forty days and forty nights, you know, to continue this journey unto Horeb the mount of God. Now, we're not going to go for the next verses, though they're great verses. I encourage you to read it in your own time. Amazing verses. The Lord begins to speak to Elijah and encourages him. Okay. He encourages Elijah. You know, I want this sermon to be an encouragement for you. You know, if you're downtrodden, if you're cast down, if you're wondering whether the Lord loves you, you know, I want you to be encouraged. Because one thing that we see after the Lord encourages Elijah is this in verse number 19. Drop down to verse number 19. Something great happens to Elijah. It says, So he departed thence, and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. And Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. So this is the meeting of Elijah with Elisha. And of course, Elisha will become his good friend. Okay. Elijah will be the mentor, and then Elisha will do great things for God. I've never counted it myself, but I've heard that Elisha did double the miracles that Elijah did. You know, even greater than Elijah did. But I went to notice that this greatness, this friendship that develops had to go first. Elijah first had to go through some turmoil, some problems. You know, the concern of loss of life. You know, suicidal thoughts. But then, the Lord gets him through. The Lord helps him out, and then he gives him this friend Elisha. Verse number 20, it says, And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. So that pass and all the mantle thing was a clear indication, hey, come and follow me, right? And he said unto him, Go back again, for what have I done to thee? Verse number 21, And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him. So Elisha ministers unto Elijah. Elisha's gone to be help and support to Elijah. But you see, how did he meet Elisha? After running away into the wilderness, after going through problems, after going through turmoil, eventually through those problems, he found himself a good friend, a brother in the Lord, someone that can encourage him in the Lord. So Elijah would not feel that he's alone. Because again, in that chapter you'll find that he thinks he's the only one, and the Lord has to remind him, no, look, there's a seven thousand that have not bowed their knee to Baal. Okay, there are seven thousand in the land, but the Lord gives him a friend, gives him Elisha, just to reinforce him, hey, you're not alone. You know, there are other people that love the Lord, there are other people serving him. But again, I just want to show you, Elijah's done nothing wrong, goes through turmoil, loss of life potentially. Okay, but as he's gone through that trial, the Lord's come through on the other side with something greater for him, Elisha. He would mentor Elisha, and Elisha would do twice as many miracles as Elijah did. The love of Christ. Okay, the love of Christ is the title for the sermon tonight. And I know, even though I don't necessarily know everyone's heart, I know there's a lot of people that are hurting, you know, stressed, and I just want you to remember that the Lord loves you. You know, you've not been moved away from the love of Christ. You know, stay close to him, fellowship with the Lord, you know, be in his presence, you know, be encouraged by the Lord, and he'll get you through that trial. You know, not just get you through that trial, but something greater, there'll be something greater for you on the other side of that difficulty. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. Turn with me to Isaiah 53 and verse number three. Isaiah 53, please. And Isaiah 53, again, the famous chapter about Jesus Christ and his suffering from Isaiah. Isaiah 53 and verse number three. As I said, the title for the sermon was the love of Christ. You know, Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you. It might seem like sometimes your family doesn't love you. It might seem like society doesn't always love you. You know, it can be that. It can feel like the world hates you many times, and I guess if you're going to stand for God's word, the world will hate you. I mean, this is no surprise. Jesus Christ taught us, but Jesus loves you. God loves you. God loves you, you know. And in Isaiah 53 verse three, I want you to see this. Kind of blows me away when I read it. It says, he, speaking of Jesus, he is despised. Elizabeth was kind of despised. Right? She was a reproach on the land because she could not fall pregnant. But you know what? Jesus Christ is despised and rejected of men. Have you ever felt like a reject? No one, you know, you can't get along with anybody. No one wants to be your friend. Okay. It just seems like every relationship you have turned sour, you know, rejected. Well, Jesus Christ was rejected of men. Jesus Christ was despised. Look at this. A man of sorrows. You know, I'm sure you've got sorrows in your heart right now about different things. Jesus Christ is a man of sorrows. Jesus Christ had sorrows. You know, Jesus Christ did not live an easy life. You know, of course we know of the crucifixion and everything that took place, and this is what it's about, but he suffered. You know, Jesus Christ went through the same issues that we go through in life. Even greater. Even greater. Look at these sorrows. A man of sorrows. Look at this. And acquainted with grief. Jesus knows what grief is. You know, the grief you're going through today, if you're going through grief, Jesus knows what you're going through. He knows how you're feeling about it. Okay. You say, how can you know what I'm going through? How can you know my feelings? How can you know the burden that I have? It says here, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Now, this is why Jesus Christ knows your grief. It's not just like, you know, like if you're going through grief, right, you're saying past, I'm going through some difficulties in life. I say, you know, I might say a brother or sister, you know what, maybe I can relate. I've gone through some grief myself. But really, I can't really relate. And that's why we often say, look, I don't know what you're going through, but, you know, I'm praying for you. I often say, like, we don't really know, because we don't really know what each other are going through. Right. We don't really understand the hurts and the pains that we're going through. But this is why Jesus Christ can know the grief that you're going through. Because in verse number four, it says, surely he have borne our griefs. Surely he have borne our griefs. Jesus Christ did not just have the same griefs that we have, that we've gone through. He's taken our griefs and bore it upon himself. You need to understand that. Okay. We say, well, Jesus Christ died for my sins. Yes, he did. But there's more to it. Even the grief, if you have grief tonight, that was on Christ. The same grief you're going through, Christ felt it. It was on his body. It was upon himself, that grief. It says, and carried our sorrows. Our sorrows. Your sadness. Christ felt that. Christ had that sadness on himself. It's amazing. Because, like, we struggle with our own sadness, don't we? We struggle with it, and we think, maybe, Lord, I just can't handle it. You know, life is so difficult. What if you had to carry every single human being that's ever lived and ever will live sorrows on yourself? Feel that pain, that grief upon yourself. I mean, I can't even understand the sacrifice of Christ, really. I can't really comprehend it. I mean, just how massive, how massive for him to take such burdens upon him. Carried our sorrows. Yet we, yet we did esteem and stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, and with his stripes, we are healed. We are healed. Brethren, yes, we're healed from our sins. We're forgiven. But there's healing for our sorrow. There's healing for our griefs. There's healing for our tribulations and problems that we go through. I don't know. Let's say you're going through financial difficulties. Okay? The stress that you might have. That was given to Jesus. You understand? Okay? And he wants to heal you. Okay? By the power of his love is really the way he does it. He's going to get you through that. Jesus Christ bore that. You know, if it's a relationship issue, right? Conflict between family or friends, right? The feelings of betrayal, right? All of that was put on Christ. All your feelings like that. Not that he experienced that himself in his life, which he did, but the very ones that you go through were put on Christ. Of course, Christ loves us. He bore these pains. He knows exactly what you're going through, brethren. He knows the troubles, the sadness, the sorrow, the feeling even of maybe, God, do you hate me? Jesus Christ says, why has thou forsaken me to his Father? The feelings that he's gone through. But I want you to understand there's healing in his stripes when Christ was beaten and this burden put upon his body. Okay? There's healing through that. Please turn with me to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four, verse number 14. Hebrews chapter four, verse number 14. You know, Elizabeth's burden of not having children, that was on Christ. Christ bore that pain on his body. Elijah running away in the wilderness, the fear for his life. Christ felt that on his body, right? The desire to just give up, Lord, then just kill me, slay me. That burden, that sadness was on Christ. Christ felt it all, all of it. And not just these people, but yours and mine were all put on Christ. Hebrews chapter four, verse number 14. It says seen then, and by the way, before I go there, Jesus Christ suffered a lot for us. Yeah? Suffered a lot. Like the trials you're going through, I'm not trying to minimize the problems and the hurt. I'm not trying to do that. But Christ suffered much more for you. So you can be saved. So you can have a home in heaven. So you can be a child of God. Okay? But even then, Christ went through the suffering. And what again, right? Jesus Christ was without sin. He lived a righteous life. We know he kept all the commandments. There was no sin in Christ. He took our sin. He took our sin. Okay? But thank God we don't serve, a dead Savior. He rose again three days later. He had victory, right? And then he was exalted. He sits at the right hand of the Father. He has a name above all names, Jesus Christ does. He says, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. So what I'm trying to say, even though he suffered so much for you, he came out on the other side even better. The power of his resurrection will allow you and I to one day have that same resurrection power. And so, you know, all these examples, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Elijah, Jesus, they all did what is right. And yet they suffered, didn't they? They went through hardships and problems. And that's why we do. We go through these things. But Hebrews 4.14, we looked earlier with Zacharias, that he was praying. Okay? Even when they felt that the Lord had forgotten them, you know, the womb of Elizabeth, they were praying. They were praying people. And it says in Hebrews 4.14, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Reverend, our high priest is in heaven, Jesus Christ. Verse number 15, for we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the filling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. All points, all your struggles, all your problems, Christ knows. Again, it's not just I became a man, so he knows what it's like to be a man. Yes, that's true. But all of your infirmities, all your sicknesses was put on Christ. We saw that before, right? All of it, brethren. Like, think about the infirmities that people suffer with. Cancer, right? Just your common flus and colds and the things that knock you out in life. You know, it might take a few days to recover, right? I mean, just think about all the different struggles, problems, breakdown, you know, broken legs or whatever issues you might suffer. You know, appendicitis or whatever. You know what? Christ felt all of that. All of those illnesses, the pain, the sorrows, Christ knows what it's like. So when we go through that, brethren, you go to Jesus. He's our high priest. Say, Jesus, help me. Jesus, you know what I'm going through. Don't think that God does not know what you're going through, okay? Not just because he's God, he's all-knowing, but he's felt what you're feeling, okay? And he wants to heal you from that pain. He wants to heal you from that hurt. Verse 16, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Right, isn't it amazing? As children of God, we can come to God boldly to his throne, okay? Now you and I, we've never been to heaven, but the moment you bow your head and say, Lord, and you go to the Lord in prayer, you are spiritually before the throne of God. That's what the Bible says. You're at that throne of grace. Spiritually speaking, you are there bringing your petitions before God in heaven, spiritually speaking, okay? I mean, when you think about heaven, you think about, you know, the great, you know, the angels and the heavenly host praising the Lord, and you think about the Lord maybe looking upon the affairs of men, the moment you just stop and say, Lord, heavenly Father, and you go to him in prayer, he stops. What do you have to say, son? Okay, that's how bold we can be, you know, everything else. All right, I need to hear what you have to say. How can I help you for this time of difficulty? Prayer is so amazing, isn't it? Prayer is so powerful. It's spiritual. You know, when we get together and we pray, we just see physical bodies gathered together, bring a request. It's nice, but there's something greater happening right there. We're before God's throne. We're seeking his mercy. We're seeking his help, right? And again, this just demonstrates, brethren, that we can never walk away from the love of God. God loves us, brethren, the love of Christ. What can separate you from the love of Christ? What? Nothing, brethren, not even death, okay? Not even angels, not principalities, height, depth, height, length, depth. Is that how it goes again? I can't remember it all, okay? Well, brethren, we cannot be separated from the love of God. I want you to remember that because we go through problems. We do, and then we think God's far away, and he might be, but again, it's far away. It seems like it because you've walked away, because you're in darkness, okay? Because you've got doubts. You've got struggles, and again, when that happens, don't beat yourself up. It's human. That's what it's like to be human, okay? We don't like negative things. We have negative things, so I have negative thoughts, okay? And then we lose sight of the true God that we love, but I want this sermon to just encourage you, brethren, okay? Yes, you're going through difficulties. Yes, you're going through trials. We all are. Everybody in this church is. Everybody in this church is, okay? Everyone in Sydney is. Blessed are Baptist Church. Any church that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, any true church of Christ, you've got people, families going through difficulties and problems, every one of us, okay? But let's not be critical. Let's turn around and say, hey, I know why, okay? You don't know why. You have no idea why, okay? And look at yourself. Examine yourself. You know, find out, Lord, maybe I'm in deep sin, Lord. Maybe I'm just completely rebellious against you. Then I need to fix that, Lord. Thank you for highlighting this for the trouble that you've given me. But if you can truly say, Lord, I don't see any issues really in my personal life, seems like you're doing what is righteously, you know? Please remember that even God's people, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Elijah, even Jesus, you can be doing the right things and you're still going to go through difficulties and still going through problems. But the Lord loves you. The Lord loves you and He wants to heal you and He wants to answer your prayer, get you through that difficulty and give you a brighter future than what you came out of. Okay, brethren, let's pray.