New Things in John 13:14

I do not believe we are going to be here in another 50 years. I know I certainly won't, but as far as the Lord's coming, and yet sometimes what we need to do is we need to live as if he's coming today. Following what we've been hearing, I'd like to turn please to John chapter 13.

John chapter 13, I want to tie in what we've been hearing as well with what we were looking at this morning, because we're in the same spot. We're in the upper room ministry of the Lord Jesus, a teaching that is very rich, very instructive, very tender, as the disciples gather on this Passover to listen to the Savior. They really don't know what's coming.

It's not anything that they expect, and so I want to turn to the end of chapter 13 and verse 33. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me, and as we read all of these statements, picture what the disciples are thinking and feeling.

Transpose their ideas their concepts their experiences with what they're hearing now from him. You shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go ye cannot come. So now I say to you, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you.

The Lord doesn't simply give them a new commandment. He gives them the qualifier, the condition on that commandment, as in the same way according to how I have loved you. How did he love them? Selflessly, sacrificially, nothing, no stone left unturned, telling them what they needed to learn when they needed to learn it, and eventually dying for them.

He says, as I have loved you. Then he says that you also love one another, and he repeats it. Then he says, by this shall all, now you can take out the word men because the translators did that for us.

They italicized it, and the word here for all is very encompassing. It includes everything. We normally would read this with the idea that so that unbelievers will see, that all men will know that we are his disciples.

It is a testimony. It's wider than that. It's you love one another just like I've loved you so that all will know, everyone involved.

Yes, unbelievers will know. The other fellow believers will know. God will see you so that there is a very encompassing aspect of this love.

Then he says, all men will know that you're my disciples if you have loved one to another. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? You can see he kind of skipped the verse before. He hasn't really registered that part.

All he hears is, you're going? You're going? You're going? Where are you going? Jesus answered him, where I go, whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life. We've been hearing that.

He's saying, I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou? Will you lay down your life for my sake? Verily, I say unto thee, the cock shall not grow till thou hast denied me thrice. I wonder how that sat with Peter.

Big boast. All of a sudden, deflation. Let not your heart, it's as if the Lord Jesus, of course he knows everything, seeing Peter's face, feeling what's happening, he immediately adds, let not your heart be troubled.

Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest.

Then how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Oftentimes, you'll read of specific verses for specific situations.

If you're lonely, read this passage. If you have enemies that are attacking you and you feel threatened, read this passage. If you need consolation, read this.

In loss of it, read this, and so on. And it's wonderful to have those specific passages that we can go to to get just those things. But I would say John 14 and this section here, and particularly even the Upper Room ministry in its entirety, is a passage for all seasons, for all needs.

You come to a conference like this at this time of the year and you think, what do we wear? You know, how's the weather going to be? I don't know what clothing to put on. Well, this passage solves anything like that as far as what you're experiencing. There's something for everyone.

There's something that as the Lord Jesus brings Himself to bear, there is something for every need, everyone, every situation. In fact, the Lord is bridging the gap from the old to the new. And He is saying to them in answering their questions, in probing into the very aspect of their hearts, that I am the way to the Father.

And they never had that before. I want you to think in terms of, as He bridges this, it is the answer to everything, even theology. Think about it.

Here are a group of men, and they have come out of centuries of monotheistic theology. What that simply means is one God. Israel stressed one God.

And so when you go back, you have the great Shema, the Hebrew Shema, the Lord our God is one. That was the statement of the Hebrews, right? But what they failed to see in that monotheistic view is that that oneness was a unified oneness. And in fact, the word there for the Lord our God is one is the same word that was used of the cluster of grapes in Eshkol.

It was one cluster, but there were numerous grapes. They failed to see even what's embedded in the word Elohim. They failed to see the plurality, as it were, of the Godhead.

And so as the Lord Jesus unfolds to them as He has been, I and my Father are one. What we looked at this morning in terms of John 17, the oneness of the Father and the Son, you have to put yourself in their place. They're getting bombarded with all kinds of things in the three and a half year period.

They're being expanded. They're being taught. The one that they've sought for centuries has come.

The Messiah is here. And so theologically they're being now hit with Trinitarian doctrine. This is an answer in John chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, even to replacement theology.

That is something that is becoming more and more pervasive. Replacement theology is where there is the teaching that the church has replaced Israel, and that the promises of God to the nation of Israel that were given in a physical, national way have now been transposed to be fulfilled in a spiritual way. Well, the Lord Jesus makes that clear in these passages that you are a distinct company.

And that is really what I want to emphasize here as we move on. The newness, the distinctiveness of this company, of what He is saying and what He is giving to them. And I want us to be able to appreciate who we are, what we have.

This is not a matter of wishful or positive thinking. This is biblical truth and doctrine. And it comes from the mouth of the Son of God Himself.

Take it in today, appreciate it, revel in it, plumb the depths of it, and it will encourage your soul. It will lift up your head and your heart, and it will give us something to take with us in addition to all that we've been hearing. Eschatology here, the study of future events, is found here.

I will come again. And the Lord Jesus is pointing them ahead to the newness of this aspect of His coming and His return. Pneumatology, the study of the Spirit, as the Lord Jesus now introduces them to truth in relation to the Holy Spirit that was very limited in the Old Testament.

There is very limited understanding and teaching of the Holy Spirit of God in the Old Testament. Now the Lord Jesus unfolds that He's going to be a comforter. He's going to be called alongside.

He is going to be with you. He's going to be in you. Later on, Paul is going to tell us, He's going to seal you.

He's the earnest of the inheritance. He is literally the down payment for more to come. And so as the Lord Jesus unfolds the truth of pneumatology and the Spirit of God, this is new to them.

And then eternal security is found here so clearly in this passage. I hope there's no one here that thinks there is any possibility that once a person is saved, they can lose their salvation. Because in these passages and many others, there is clearly taught that you cannot.

Once a person is saved, he receives eternal life and he or she will never, never perish. But practically in this section too, there's instruction how to pray, what to pray for. Look at the prayer of the Lord Jesus, what to pray for.

Obedience is found here. Peace is found here. Joy is found here.

Guarding, watchfulness, diligence, all of these things, it is a full-orbed package of truth for us in these verses. And so as the Lord Jesus then brings before them, He's going to tell them about a new commandment. He's going to introduce new things.

Isn't it interesting? He says a new commandment. Here were a people that were linked with commandments. They knew what it was to get commandments.

And there weren't just 10 of them that were given on Mount Sinai. There were actually 613 precepts embedded in the law, both the Decalogue and the ceremonial law that would have caused those people to conform in a very, very strategic, narrow way to what they would eat, what they would wear, where they would go, where they wouldn't go, what they would do. And so the Lord Jesus now says a new commandment, a new commandment.

But you know what's interesting? This word new is the Greek word kainos. There's two different words in the original. One has the thought, one is kronos, the other is kairos.

And the idea there is that it's new not in time, although it was new in time, it's new in character. It's new in quality. There's a newness about this.

There's a freshness about this. But you know what's interesting even more? He says this, a new commandment, give. Give.

Like so many other things in these passages, there is the idea from the heart, I give. On Mount Sinai, the nation of Israel received commandments from a God that was on the mountain in blackness and darkness and there was fear and they were shaking. Here they are with a Savior, the Lord of glory that is stooping down, washing their feet.

He's serving them like the household servant. And as He does all this, He tells them, a new commandment I give you. How could you refuse that? But even greater is to come.

Because as we've been hearing, He is going to lay down His life. And so we have all these things. I want you to now think about these disciples for a few moments.

The Passover is taking place. There are likely two million people that have come to Jerusalem. The city is swarming, hustle and bustle, busyness.

Arrangements have to be made. Things have to be done. Maybe last minute and they're moving around and the Lord is telling them what to do in this upper room.

It was one of the three feasts that was obligatory on all the males in Israel. You have chosen to come to this conference. Nobody forced you to come, unless maybe there are some children here that your parents did.

But when it came to the nation of Israel, they didn't have a choice. It was mandatory. The Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

It was obligatory that all the males appear. And here are 12 men that are there. Then on top of that, He washes their feet.

He stoops down. The Lord who stood in the storm and commanded, stop, peace, be still, is now stooping to wash their feet. None of them did it.

And not only then, what follows is a discourse on feet washing. And then He's going to tell them that what I've done, you don't even know what I've done. So can you picture now all of this that's going on in that upper room? And then the mention of Judas and the son of perdition.

And then the mention of a betrayal. And then Peter's denial, calling Peter out. You're bragging Peter is wrong.

You're not going to lay down your life. Not now. He says, you're going to deny me.

And then His departure with the caveat that you're going to look for me. You're going to actually seek me. And you're not going to find me.

And He says, and where I'm going, you can't come. So all of these things, picture on your mind, please just come with me. Put yourself, dear brother, sister, you want to get something out of the Word of God, put yourself in the text.

Try to appreciate where these people are, what's going on at the moment. And then He's going to tell them now, I'm going back. I'm going back to heaven.

You see, this is a very different departure. There are people that go places. He's going back to where He came from.

He's going to return to the Father. Now, can you picture them? Three and a half years? What's three and a half years? You just got here to teach us. And even after He dies now, the planet, think about it, three of the darkest days in this planet's history, well, everything will be swept away.

A tsunami of sorrow will engulf these people, and you can hear them as they trudge back to their homes. We had hoped. We had hoped that it was Him that was going to redeem Israel.

All our hopes, there's almost a note of betrayal in their language. We had hoped. We left everything.

And where is He? And then the way He died, violently, murderously, mockingly, by Rome and their own leaders. And here is a group of men that feel totally isolated and alone, in fact, so much so that after the Lord does die, and they don't know, and they're in an upper room, and what does it say? For fear. The doors are locked.

They're hunkered down. And so the Lord gives them these words, and He tells them. He tells them, though they can't understand Him, or even you wonder if are they even hearing Him, that everything is not just going to be greater.

That's the gospel of John. Numerous times you'll read that expression, greater, greater. In John chapter 14, this chapter, He tells them He's going back to the Father, and My Father is greater than I. What is He saying there? Jehovah's Witnesses will take that verse, and they will say, aha, see? He is inferior to the Father.

He is a little God. The Father is a big God. That is not what that passage is saying, nor does any other passage of the Bible tell that.

What the Lord Jesus is simply saying is this, when I go back to where I came from with the Father, the Father's location is greater. Where He is is greater. My Father is greater than I am, but I'm going back to be with Him.

And they're sad. That's the gospel of John. But not only is it going to be greater, it's going to be better.

That's the book of Hebrews. And not only is it going to be greater and it's going to be better, it's going to be new, new. And so He tells them a new commandment I give unto you.

Then He's going to tell them about a new peace. And as He starts in chapter 14, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me.

Now that could be taken two ways. It could be taken in the imperative. You believe in God, believe also in Me.

Or it could be taken as a question. You believe in God, believe also in Me. Either way, ultimately it points to Christ and places Him on equality with God.

So that the unshakable faith and the unmovable God that has been Israel's for centuries in the past, that has brought them through dangers and dynasties, is their God. That any one of them can have an approach through Christ. The one that they've seen, the one that they've touched, the one that they've handled is actually that God.

What must it have meant to them when they come into the full realization of this? Now, we're looking back on that 2,000 years later. So how do you feel about that? That the God of eternity, the God that we say when we worship and we pray, the God who made the universe is actually your God. So is it any wonder He says, let not your heart be troubled? He's giving them a new peace, a peace that they could never have prior to this, a peace that the Judaism never offered.

You see, there was a great lack when it came to the Jews' religion, when it came to the sacrifices, that what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, so that it could not accomplish peace to a conscience. It could not accomplish an end point. Taken from materials of this creation, moving upon a commandment that could never be fulfilled, leaving men with a conscience that could never be satisfied.

He accomplishes all that. A body has now prepared me. He is the Lord from heaven.

The first man was of the earth, earthy. All of that religion failed. All of their sacrifices failed.

It brought God no pleasure, but in Him, it is fulfilled. It pleased the Lord to Him. And so He says, on that basis, on who I am, what I'm going to do, I am giving you peace.

Let not your heart be troubled. I can't see your hearts. You can't see mine.

And I have no doubt there's troubled hearts. Troubled about different things. Troubled about family.

Troubled about health. Troubled about assembly experiences. Troubled about your own failures, your own inadequacies, our own losses.

There's a million things we can be troubled about, but there is one great thing that will give us peace, one great object. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me, and I am yours, and you are mine.

There's absolute security in that. The New Testament puts it this way. He is our peace.

So making peace through the blood of His cross, and He came and preached peace. Let not your heart be troubled. A new peace.

But then He's going to tell them about a new place, a new place. In my Father's house are many abodes, many mansions. You know, back in the book of Genesis, Jacob knew about house of God.

The Lord Jesus is talking about His Father's house. And so Jacob knew what house of God was. And when it comes to Israel, they had known what the tabernacle and the temple were, the dwelling place of God.

But no one, except for Jesus, had ever known the dwelling place of God as His Father's house. Did you catch the personal pronoun? He did not say, in our Father's house. He said, in my Father's house are many abodes, many mansions.

Heaven would become a place of family, of reality. Heaven is now our home, not here. I wonder how many of us really long for heaven.

I wonder how many of us really get up and go through the day and think, I wonder if today's the day I'm going to be there. I'm going to see Him. I'm going to leave here.

I know there are burdens that tug at us. There are burdens of unsaved ones. There are burdens of things left undone.

There should be the burden of unfinished service. Because once He comes, there is no more ability to earn reward. It's done.

But above all of that, He is telling them, my Father's house. I just wonder sometimes if we're so attached to here that we don't really long for it. He tells them about a new place.

What is interesting, too, is though He tells about a new people. He says, I will come again and receive you unto myself, a new people. You see, presently, He says there are abodes there.

In my Father's house are, as He spoke, there are many abodes. These abodes are for others. They're angels.

They're Old Testament saints. But He says this, I'm going and I'm preparing a place for you. For you.

This is something distinctive. This is something unique. This is something special as He speaks about the Father's house.

So if you'll allow me to use a term, and I'm using it reverently, we've got the best seat in the house. It's unique. Special.

I'm going to prepare a place for you. That where I am, you may be also. Now, brethren, that verse right there should prove that He's not talking about going to the cross.

Because there are many that take it that the Lord Jesus is going to prepare a place, and that is to going to the cross. Well, He had already said, where I go, you can't come. But now He says, you're going to come.

This is different. This is distinct. He's saying the whole reason I'm going is to come back and get you so you will be with me where I am.

And I will tell you this, the moment the Lord Jesus ascended and stepped into heaven, that place was ready. His presence prepared it. Nothing left.

What a place. It's interesting to me in the Bible that there is more, well, how do I put this? There's more said about what is not there than what is there. So that all that we are familiar with here escapes.

And the familiarity of earth should make heaven so unfamiliar in that sense. In other words, if you're learning and looking and trying to seek to identify what is in heaven by what's here, don't do it. It's totally unearthly.

Totally in opposition to everything we know. The very principles of life, the very existence, the very housing is different. The Bible points us to the heavenly Jerusalem, the home of the redeemed, tells us about that city.

I'll talk about that more in a moment. But it's a new people. And the entirety of John's gospel has been presenting the believer that is absolutely distinct from the world and to combat replacement theology from the nation.

John's gospel begins with the rejection of the nation. And he's calling out a new company, a distinctive company. There's a new promise here.

I will come again. That's a new promise. You say, well, wasn't that in the Old Testament? Nope, not like this one.

It's new for several reasons. It's number one, it is new because of its distinction from the promise of his first coming. That's number one.

He's already come. He's already been here. He says, I will come again.

So, it's obviously distinct from that promise. It's distinct as well. It's new because it's distinct from his prophetic coming of which the Old Testament speaks of.

He will touch down, Zechariah tells us, on the Mount of Olives. The mountain will cleave in two. He will come back to establish his kingdom.

That coming is a prophetic coming that is well-known, well-documented, and totally distinct from this coming. So, it's new because it's distinctive from his prophetic coming. It is new.

I'm going to give you at least seven reasons why it's new. It is new because of who he is coming for. He's not coming for the nation of Israel.

He's coming for his own. He's coming for those during this dispensation, this time, he's coming for those who are in Christ. He's coming at the rapture.

So, it's who he's coming for. It's new because of why he is coming. He is coming to deliver us from the earth and to take us home.

Whereas, he's coming to the earth. He's coming to deliver the nation. And he's coming to set up an earthly kingdom.

He's coming then that will be very visible. Every eye will see him. This coming is, as far as the world is concerned, unobserved, silent, unknown.

It's new because of where he is coming to. In the prophetic coming, the second advent, it is a coming to earth. This coming is new.

It's to the air, to the air. We've been hearing about enemies. And one of our great enemies, you have the world, the flesh, and the devil.

I would ask you, who do you think your greatest enemy is? Tell you who your greatest enemy is, it's you. My greatest enemy is me. The devil doesn't always attack me, but I always have me with me, sadly.

But in those enemies, I want you to think when it comes to this, when he comes, he's coming to the air. Why is that significant? Because Satan is the prince of the power of the air. He is literally going to come as an affront against Satan in the very sphere that he occupies to take us as his trophy and his bright home.

What a statement that will make. When he ascended, it says he spoiled principalities and powers, literally stripping them away in a victorious ascension in the very sphere of the one who tried to defeat him. When he comes back, this coming, it will be in the same sphere.

He's coming for his body. He's coming for his people. It's new.

I would be absolutely glad if I never get to finish this message if he comes right now. Maybe some of you will too, I don't know. But it's new because of where he's coming to.

It's new because of when he is coming. You see, this coming is unknown. There are no signs.

We say that the coming of the Lord in the rapture is imminent. It's an imminent coming. Do you know what that actually means? I mean, it does mean he could come at any moment.

But what it actually means when we say that his coming is imminent, it means that nothing more needs to happen before he does come. That is not true of his coming to the earth. There needs to be the alignment of the nations.

There needs to be the coming of the Antichrist. There needs to be a covenant that's made with Israel. There needs to be many things that will be done before he comes to the earth, but not in this coming.

This is a new promise. We read of two things in the Word of God that are very important, especially for younger ones, all of us, to understand. There are the times of the Gentiles, and there is the fullness or the full number of the Gentiles.

They sound similar, but they're totally distinct. The times of the Gentiles began in the times of Nebuchadnezzar. Israel is taken away.

There's a captivity, and Gentile world domination begins, and the dynasties of Israel are displaced, and the authority of national government is displaced, and there's Gentile domination. The times of the Gentiles, and that carries through. The fullness of the Gentiles begins with God setting aside the nation of Israel and now dealing with the world whosoever.

Now, these two times, while they did not have the same starting point, they do run concurrently for a period of time, and the fullness of the Gentiles will end when Israel is awakened, and God takes up dealings again with the nation. Romans chapter 11 makes it clear. Blindness, in part, is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in or be accomplished.

When that happens, Israel then, we talk about being woke. They'll be woke, all right, but in the biblical way. Woke now is not biblical, but it will be here, and the nation then, God will start dealing with the nation again.

Now, what's interesting is this, and I do not believe, and the Bible tells us, we should not set dates, and no one knows, but you will at least allow me a biblical formula to tell you that I believe the Lord's coming is very, very near. You have 2,000 years of God's involvement with the Gentiles, from the beginning of our Bibles up to the calling out of Abraham, Genesis 12, Genesis 13, a 2,000-year period. Now I've got everybody awake.

Now I can think, what's he going to say next? From the calling out of Abraham and God now dealing with the nation, calling them out, a covenant, people, to the time of Christ, the time of the church, 2,000 years. From the time of the day of Pentecost to where we are right now, 2,000 years. 2,000, 2,000, 2,000.

That's 6,000 years. When the Lord comes to establish His kingdom, He's going to introduce and initiate the millennial kingdom, 1,000 years. What follows that 1,000-year period? Eternity, the day of God.

Now brethren, just allow me this. I'm just using the Bible as a formula and looking at it. If there's 2,000, 2,000, and now we are coming to the very end of that third 2,000 period, I tell you what, just based on what I see in the Bible, I believe His coming is very near.

I just hope and pray that everybody in this audience is ready. Tremendous thing is the Lord spoke to His people. A new promise, I will come again.

A new path, by me. No man comes to the Father, but by me. Now, I love to use this verse in the gospel, and I know you do too.

Keep using it. But He's speaking to those who are believers. He's speaking to His own disciples.

He's telling them of what is absolutely significant, that all access to God, all access to anything spiritual, anything having to do with the Father is by the access of the Son. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, that all access. When we pray, we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's not a formula. It's not something we tack on to the end of a prayer or the start of a prayer. We are acknowledging of what He's saying, that all access to God is through the Son, so that our worship, our prayers, our service is made acceptable by Jesus Christ.

In fact, if we were to read 1 Peter 2 and verse 5, you don't have to turn to it, but it says, you are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Think about it. It's new.

This is a new path. All these people have known for centuries is the access of one man at one time a year in one specific place into the holiest of holies. No one saw.

No one really knew. They had to wait outside. They had to hope.

Now there are millions at any time, anywhere, that have access to God through Him. And no matter what we're experiencing, there it was for a specific need, the sins of the people, the day of atonement. For us, if you have sorrows, you have trouble, difficulties, talk to Him.

Go to Him. Can I challenge you? Did you ever just talk to God? Did you ever just talk to Him? You don't have to inform Him of a need. You don't have to tell Him that, you know, I need this now.

I need that. Did you ever just talk to Him? The Lord knows what experiences you go through. He has experienced them.

Talk to Him. This is when He's telling His people this. This is what He's telling His disciples, that access, no man comes to the Father but by me.

Here I am, and there I will be. What an encouragement to His people. And so I'm thinking as I end my little message, we're on the eve of, well, I say the eve relatively, of elections.

I know some of us are troubled about that. I'm thinking, I do not want this person to get in. What will happen if these two people get in? What will happen if this woman or whoever gets in? I'm not politicizing.

But I am praying that certain ones don't get in. But ultimately, I am praying that God's will is done. Troubled by that? How's that going to change your tax status? How's that going to change this? How's that going to change that? The Lord says, let not your heart be troubled.

You believe in God, believe also in me. Some of us spend way too much time on YouTube, way too much time getting involved and saturated. I'm not, now listen, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be aware.

I really, I feel, I actually feel sorry for some people who know nothing is going on because then you really can't pray intelligently. But to be overwhelmed and saturated, that's something else. There's a fine balance that's struck, like in everything else.

I think of financial distress. There are people with inflation and what's happened, and it's put a crunch on things. There are people in this audience and wider who we've been praying for some and others, doctors and medical ability.

We put our trust in the medical field and their ability, and we're wondering what's going to happen. Family issues that break our hearts. Children that once gathered to the Lord, and they're not with us anymore.

Children that may be in the course of this gospel meeting that will follow, and the parents who are sitting in this audience will just take a side glance and is their child listening? Does he seem concerned? Does she seem bothered? Oh God, let not your heart be troubled. Personal singular issues of loneliness, misunderstanding, unfair treatment. They don't understand.

You meant to do something good. You were misunderstood. You were blamed even for something you did not do.

Let not your heart be troubled. Peace. Three statements here that he makes.

I go. I will come again. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I look at Esther, and I think of her going back in the Old Testament. She was going to go. The nation was on the brink of possible destruction, and yet again, God had made promises to that nation.

They could have rested in those, but she is going to go in to the king, and she says this. If I perish, I perish. I don't know what is going to happen.

We will never perish, and you can have boldness to go into the presence of the king, and you can do it with confidence and encouragement. That king that day never invited Esther in. She had to go in.

Our God is inviting us. Come. Come.

You mentioned last night one of his favorite words. Come. Come now.

Come at all times. Come into the presence. You know, one day, all of us are going to enter in.

We're all going to be called home, but until then, let us take confidence, assurance from this. Let's be busily engaged. Let's not be slothful.

Let's be active in light of his coming. He could come today. Let me take what my brother Brandon so ably said and gave us in an encouraging way, and let me just… What is it? Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10? Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

Can I leave you with a little insider interpretation about that verse? It's not a private interpretation. It's what the Bible says. When Solomon is writing that, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, that little word at the end of that, with thy might, is a very interesting word.

It's a word that comes from and is linked with a lizard. It's linked with strength. It's linked with force.

It's also used at some times for fruit, a variety of different fruits. It's even translated in our Old Testament as chameleon. You say, what in the world does that have to do? Well, whatsoever anything and everything you find, your hand finds to do, do it with adaptability.

What does a chameleon do? He gets over here. Now, I'm not talking about being a chameleon and being a phony and just blending in, right? There's people that are like that. They just blend in.

They can become all things to all men. And when they want to go with this group, they can be like them. And when they want to go with that group, they can be like them.

And there's no distinction about their Christianity. I'm not talking about that. What the Bible is simply saying in that verse is this, be adaptable.

Don't be like the man in the Gospel of Luke, the steward who says, you know, to dig, I'm ashamed. No, to beg, I'm ashamed. I'm not going to do that.

It's beneath me. And whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Do it in light of the need.

Do it in light. What does it say? As I have loved you. What did the Lord Jesus do? It didn't matter if there was a little child.

It didn't matter if there was a dead person. From a little child, to a person that had died, to a giant storm, there were needs. He met the need.

Nothing was beneath Him. He washed the disciples' feet. Their feet were dirty.

He's using the opportunity not only to meet the need, but give them a lesson. He lost no opportunity, don't you? Time is short. The Lord Jesus is teaching them.

Whatsoever your hand finds to do, younger ones here, there's older ones that invite you to their homes. They give you dinner. They have fed you.

They've invited you in. Hospitality, wonderful thing. Older ones, keep at it.

But you younger ones, you can return the favor. You can do it. You say, I don't have a house.

I don't have that. Take them out to eat. I'm sure they'll love to go out to eat.

Just not McDonald's, okay? That's not good food. Do something for them. Look for needs.

Listen. Listen. Look.

Learn. Do. That's exactly what we read that is coming from this passage.

And whatsoever your hand finds to do, do with your might. Because you know what? There's a day coming, and it might be today that you and I won't be able to do anything more. Not here.

All service done. As far as opportunity, done. Opportunity for reward, done.

Now is the time. Go in for it, every one of us. He's coming, and he could come today.