Who To Count On
You can't count on your own faithfulness, because you'll fail, because you're human. But you can count on your Savior.
Transcript
Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, dear radio friends. How in the world are you? [chuckle] Yes, this is your friend, Bob Cook, and I’m glad to be back with you, to share from God’s Word, as we study the Gospel of John together. I trust things are going well for you, and if perhaps, chance, you’ve struck a rough day, remember, the key word is ‘through.’ “When thou passes through the waters, they shall not overflow thee.” God brings you through. So look up and trust your blessed Lord today. Talk to Him, tell Him that you’re trusting Him, and believe Him, then in faith, to guide you step by step, and He will. You can depend upon your blessed Lord. That’s what we’re gonna get at, as we get a running start into John Chapter 14, by reading the last couple of verses of 13, “Peter said unto Him, ‘Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.’ ” If he was talking today, he’d say, “I’m willing to die for you, man. I’m willing to die for you!”
Jesus answered him, “Wilt thou indeed lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow, ’til thou hast denied me thrice.” He said, “Before you ever hear the rooster crow tomorrow morning, ye will three times have denied that you even know me.” But He went on speaking and He says now, in this First Verse of John Chapter 14, “Let not your heart be troubled.” He said, “You can’t trust yourself. I know that you mean well, Peter. I know that you are sincere when you say, ‘I’m willing to die for you,’ but you can’t trust yourself. Before the rooster crows, you will three times have denied that you even know me. But don’t worry about that. You can depend on me.” Isn’t that… That’s a great concept.
We’ll get back to it. He says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.” He has plans for you. That’s the second point we’ll take up. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again.” He’s gonna personally implement those plans. And then it says, “That where I am, there ye may be also.” He wants you to be with Him. “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” This is the wording that is used in His high priestly prayer. “I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.” This is part of the divine plan. He wants you, beloved, to be with Him.
Oh, man, this is the full circle now, of God’s redemptive plan. What happened when sin came into the world? Adam and Eve disobeyed the command of God in this matter of the tree, of the knowledge of good and evil, and they ate the fruit of the tree. They became aware of the fact that they needed some clothing, and they also became aware of the fact that, suddenly, they were afraid of God, there was a separation in their spirits between them and their creator. They went and hid. Later on, after God had covered them with coats of skins, the first shedding of blood, on account of sin, then they placed the angels with the shining sword that turned every way, to keep them out of the garden, and separation from God’s presence, and God’s blessings, and God Himself, was now complete.
“Your sins,” says the prophet, “Have separated between you and your God, and have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” That was the dreadful result of man’s original sin, and so it has been all down through the years. And Paul says, “As by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.” You can’t make it on your own. This is the truth that you have to learn and acknowledge, if you’re ever going to be saved. You can’t make it on your own. You can’t save yourself. You can’t forgive yourself. You can’t make yourself as clean and holy, as a holy God demands. You have to have God’s imputed and imparted righteousness. Anyhow, there’s that separation that is as old as the Garden of Eden. Now, you hear Jesus saying, “I’m gonna fix all that.” He said, “I want you with me, back again into the presence of God, back again to behold His glory, back again to commune with Him in untrammeled and unstressed relationship.” God has gone now, through the whole route of redeeming His fallen creation, and you and I are the recipients of that, through the Lord Jesus Christ, incidentally.
Aren’t you glad that since you trusted Christ to save you, you feel comfortable with God? To be able to say sincerely, “Dear Heavenly Father,” is such a luxury, isn’t it? To be able to be in the presence of God, and to know that His arms of love are around you, to sense that the presence of the blessed Holy Spirit of God, who indwells the believer, to sense His presence in your life, the warmth, and the blessing, and the comfortableness of just belonging to Jesus. Isn’t that great?
Well, that’s what He bought for you on the cross when He died for you. And that’s part of His divine plan, and that’s a foretaste of what you and I are going to enjoy throughout the ages of eternity. Paul describes what will happen at the second coming of Christ, there in the Fourth Chapter of First Thessalonians, “The trumpets shall sound, the dead shall be raised first, then we, which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord, shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be… ” Here it is, “With the Lord.” Not just with one another. I expect to see my sainted mother, who died when I was just 16 months old. I don’t remember her humanly, except from what relatives have told me, but I expect to see her. I expect to see my father, who through the years, prayed for his boy, as well as for his older daughter, and prayed, and worked, and trained, and encouraged. I’ll see him. I’ll see all of the other friends that we’ve made down through the years and relatives, loved ones, all of that.
But all of that concept pales into insignificance when you think of the fact, that you’re gonna be with the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let me go back now, then to the concept with which we began these few moments. Jesus said to Peter, “You can’t trust your own motives. You’re sincere alright, Peter. Will you indeed… ” He said, “Lay down your life for my sake? Well, I believe you mean it.” “But,” He says, “Before the rooster has a chance to crow, you will have three times denied that you even know me.” “But,” He said, “Don’t worry. Let not your heart be troubled.” We say, “Don’t worry. You can count on me.” You can count on God. You can depend on God and Jesus is your link, as we’ll see later on in this very chapter, with all of the faithfulness of God, “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” Jesus is your link to all of the faithfulness, and mercy, and love of God. You can count on Him.
You live awhile and you go through some experiences, where you wish you could go back and redo it, where you’ve had to kneel down and say, “Lord Jesus, I blew it. I failed you.” Have you been there? Well, if you haven’t, you will, because we’re all human beings. But in those moments, I want to tell you the sweetest thing in all the world, is to sense that your Savior is saying, “You can count on me. I died for this in your life as well. I died and rose again to be your living, righteous high priest, and your advocate, and your intercessor, to pray for you, to name your name before a holy God.” “He ever liveth,” the Bible says, “To make intercession.” That’s His number one job. And so, in those dark moments, I may be speaking to somebody who’s going right through it now. In those dark moments, when you’re so discouraged with yourself, and tended to despair, and give up, oh, look up, and trust your Savior. You can depend on Him. You can count on Him. He’s still there. He didn’t go off the throne of glory, just because you failed today. He’s still there. “He’s still able to save,” the Bible says, “To the uttermost, all of them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Intercession in the part of our Savior. Intercession is job one. “Yonder, in the glory,” and I don’t understand, with my finite mind, how he can encompass all the millions of believers all over the world and speak of us to a holy Father, but He does. He does. How God can listen to all our prayers, but He does. How He can answer, specifically, prayers that are prayed at the same time, in so many different languages, by people who are His children all over the world, but He does. “Great is thy faithfulness,” the prophet explains. “Great is thy faithfulness.”
Alright. “You can’t trust yourself, but you can trust me,” Jesus said. “And I’m your link with all of the faithfulness of God.” Oh, those times when I’ve been so burdened and I’ve waited before God. I remember, particularly, as I’ve told you, I guess, once or twice during these years, of the time when I sent the family to bed, and sat down on the floor of the little den that we had in our home, and the fire was just simmering out, as the fire in the hearth was just about gone. I sat there in the dying glow of those embers. I said, “God, I’m so upset, and I’m afraid of tomorrow, and I just need some help.” And so I sat there, in tailored fashion, legs crossed on the floor, just waiting on God. And then I felt that blessed warmth of divine love coming over me, the presence of God to comfort me, and the blessing of God to bless my heart, the confidence that God can build in a heart that waits on Him. By and by, I said, “Thank you, Lord,” and went on off to bed.
Oh, if you’re troubled today, beloved, if you’re under stress today, if your heart is breaking today, if you’re afraid of something that’s staring you in the face, concerning the future, whatever it is, Jesus is your link to the faithfulness of God. And you can’t count on your own motivation. You can’t count on your own faithfulness, because you’ll fail, because you’re human. But you can count on your Savior. Underneath are the everlasting arms. The Bible says, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down.” That word ‘fall’ is our word ‘stumble.’ “Though he stumble, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.” You’re upheld by a divine hand, the hand with the nail print in it. Jesus has hold of you today, beloved. Trust Him. Trust Him. Well, you can’t trust yourself. You can trust Jesus, He has plans. That’s the next point that He made here. He has plans for you. We won’t get around to discussing that this broadcast, but we can take it up the next time we get together. He has plans, beloved, for you. You, that is, as an individual. And you, as a group of believers. Jesus has plans for us.
Father God, today, help us to depend on thee, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!
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