Eternal Family

According to John chapter 19, I want to share a little bit about, maybe even more about priorities today. Plan on it that way, but having proper priorities in our life. We're on the crucifixion, and I shared, some of you weren't here last week, but I shared a little bit on the human timeline.

Why, that doesn't work very well. The human timeline, and right here in the middle of this is the cross. Everything is centered.

God designed the human timeline where everything is centered on the cross. Even our dating system is centered right there. And so everyone from Adam was encouraged to look this way.

Look to Jesus. Isaiah 41, I believe it is. Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth.

The Old Testament, they were encouraged to look to the Messiah, the coming Messiah, the one that was represented by that Passover lamb every year. Look to the cross. Jesus is coming.

And today we are encouraged to look unto Jesus. We're looking back to the cross. And I shared last week how that when the Lord came, He had that last Passover meal, which was pointing forward to the cross, and when they finished the supper, it said, He took that bread and He took the wine.

And after they had eaten the Passover, He said, Now I want you to take this bread and this wine. This is the new covenant in my blood. We're moving now from looking to a slaughtered lamb and a coming Messiah, and we're transitioning to now we're going to look back to me, the true Messiah and the true Lamb of God.

And so you and I live 2,000 years after Christ, and we're looking backward on Him. Throughout the Old Testament, they look forward. But this is at the center.

And so when we talk about the crucifixion, we're looking at the center of everything, the human timeline, and everything kind of funnels to the cross. So last week we looked at the sufferings of Christ and all the prophecies that were concerning His suffering, and John has a number of them here. Psalm 22 talks a lot about His beatings, His suffering, the crown of thorns, the difficulties that He faced.

He was so badly beaten. More than any man, He was in such a bad condition that He couldn't carry His cross, and Simon is compelled to carry the cross up to Golgotha. The women along the side as they observe this scene, it doesn't say that they're believers, but they have the mother's heart, and they see this 30-year-old young man having been so badly beaten that as He is trying to walk up this hill, they are bewailing Him and moaning at what they see.

And of course, Jesus responds to them that, don't weep for Me, but weep for yourselves, because the days are coming in 70 AD that Roman army came through and obliterated the nation, atrocities, incredible atrocities. You can read about it. Josephus, the great historian, wrote about the slaughter that occurred in 70 AD.

The Jews rejected the Messiah and crucified Him, and they paid a penalty for it. And they were scattered to the ends of the earth. It's called the Great Diaspora, and they're in all parts of the world from that day where God just scattered them.

So we come here to John chapter 18, and I'm only going to take a few verses. Excuse me, John chapter 19. I'd like to kind of go through this whole account a little slower as we think about the cross of the Lord Jesus.

But Jesus made seven statements on the cross that are recorded in the Scriptures, and seven is always the number in the Bible of completion and fulfillment. So this is the completion. We could have a sermon on the seven statements that the Lord Jesus made on the cross while He was hanging there, but three of those statements are here in John's Gospel.

But there are seven in total. Three of those statements were made to men, and four of those statements were made to God. I'd like to just go through them real quick, and then we'll go down and look at this story of Mary standing there by the cross.

The first statement Jesus made was, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Luke chapter 23, verse 34.

Again, Jesus was others-minded. He had no desire for personal pity. He had no desire for justice.

He didn't hang there on the cross and say, you know, I'm being treated so unfairly, and complaining about the justice system and all the things that He could have, because He truly was being unjustly tried and crucified. But there was none of that. The second statement He made is also found in Luke 23, verse 43.

Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. So He made that to the thieves. The Bible says He was to be numbered with the transgressors.

And so as you looked upon Jesus, there in the middle there were two thieves, on each side of Him. So the Lord is reaching out. He's not complaining, murmuring.

Those kind of things are for unbelievers. Jude 16 says these are murmurers and complainers, walking after their own lusts. You remember when the Israelites came out of Egypt and they followed the Lord out of the wilderness, and ten times they were murmuring and complaining about not enough food and not enough water, and Moses, you shouldn't have the authority, and we should set up judges and all these things, and all the murmuring and complaining.

Finally the Lord said that's enough. You're not going to make it into the Promised Land. You know, if our spirit and our heart is full of murmuring and complaining, we're not going to make it into the Promised Land either.

A spirit-filled life and a fruitful life that is represented by the land of promise, and so let's repent from murmuring and complaining. Oh, I got it so hard. Oh, it's so difficult in my situation.

No, it's not. You just need to walk in someone else's shoes for a while, especially we in America. We have nothing at all to murmur and complain about.

Oh, my. Oh, it's so cold out. The third statement He made is what we're going to be looking at here this morning in John 20, verse 26 and 27.

He talks to His mother, woman. He talks to John, woman, behold thy son. And in verse 37, He talks to John, behold thy mother.

Jesus here is making preparation for death. I think it's always a good thing. And I think these things, Jesus is showing us how to die.

He's making sure that people are reconciled. Father, forgive them. He's reaching out to a lost soul, and that's something I think we ought to do.

We have a concern for the lost. Maybe people who are still not in the kingdom, we can reach out to them and then to take the practical matters into His hands here. Mother, I need someone to take care of you, Mother.

And so He takes care of His mother, making preparation for death. Isaiah 38.1, in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death, and Isaiah the prophet came unto him and said, Thus saith the Lord, set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Set your house in order.

I think that's what the Lord is doing. He's setting His house in order. He was the firstborn son.

There is no mention of Joseph. Perhaps Joseph has passed away, but Jesus is responsible for His mother, and so He is setting His house in order. I think it's good for us men to do that, to have our house set in order.

I know sometimes death comes suddenly, but we ought to plan and prepare for those who we leave here, to set our house in order. So the Lord takes that responsibility. The fourth statement He made is, now He's turning His attention to His Father.

He says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And the rest of these statements are going to be this way. The fifth statement He makes is found in John 20, verse 28. We'll talk about it maybe next week.

I thirst. And there's a lot of things to talk about with regards to those two words, but Jesus cries out, I thirst. And then the sixth statement, it is finished.

And I believe the sufferings of Christ ended right there. I don't know what you think. Some of you will think that Jesus descended into hell and suffered three days in a lake of fire.

I don't think that's a biblical concept. I think when Jesus cried, it is finished, His suffering was over. And then the last statement He made is found in Luke's Gospel.

Father, into Thy hands do I commend my spirit. So those are the seven statements of the Lord given to us here in the Gospels. But I'd like to look at the one that He makes here to His mother.

We're in John chapter 19, starting in verse 25. And we'll just take some time here to talk about this statement. I'd like to pray and then we'll have some teaching on this statement that He makes to His mother.

Heavenly Father, we acknowledge You again in all our ways. Thank You for the truth. Lord, I know that many of us don't value this book that we have, that has come from You and given to guide us through our life and to guide us into eternal life.

I think of what Paul told Timothy, that his grandmother and his mother, and how that they had shown him the Scriptures which were able to make him wise unto salvation. Lord, may we value this book that we have. May we value every word of it.

Even as You've spoken, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. And Lord, we're going to look at some of those words that proceeded out of Your mouth. And may we learn and find instruction from them.

Pray Your blessing upon our time now this morning. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, well, I can't tell you the graphic scene that's going on there.

I mean, I told you last week that, what was it, 20 years ago, they came out with this movie called The Passion. Maybe some of you saw it. I never saw the movie.

But we had a couple of brothers that we were interested in maybe going up and witnessing to people who were coming out of the theater. Thought maybe it would be a good time that their heart would be open. It was really pushed as an evangelistic movie.

I mean, millions of people were watching it. Lots of people were coming to see it. It was really heralded as one of the great evangelistic things that were going on.

So we went up to the movie theater up here in Mount Vernon. And as people were coming out of that theater, we stood out there in front of the theater and we tried to talk with people. And I was just amazed at how they came out.

Women would come out just crying, weeping. Men would come out and I would say, Sir, can I talk to you? No. They just stunned.

And they had just seen a very brutal and probably a very realistic scene of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And it is brutal. From the descriptions of the Scripture here, it's a very brutal scene.

But as the Lord is hanging there on the cross, and this is probably sometime in the morning between 9 and noon, in verse 25 we read these words, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. And it's interesting there that Mary is Jesus' mother's name, and so there are three Marys here. Three individual sisters named Mary.

And they're standing there by the cross. And Mary is there. Mary is the mother.

You mothers, you can imagine. Some of the things that she is going through as the mother of Jesus. And remember that 30 years earlier, Mary heard the angel say these words.

In Luke 1, I thought about this. Luke 1, verse 28, Hail, thou art highly favored. Think about that.

Mary, thou art highly favored. An angel is talking to Mary. Mary, you're highly favored.

The Lord is with you. Wouldn't you like to hear those words? Wouldn't you love an angel to come to you one night and stand beside your bed and say, Brother Chris, you are highly favored. The Lord is with you.

And then these words that many Catholics have really taken to heart. Blessed art thou among women. Mary, you're a blessed woman among all women.

Blessed art thou. I mean, how would you feel after hearing those words? Mary's probably an 18, 19, 20 year old young lady. And this angel comes and tells her she's highly favored.

Tells her the Lord is with you. Tells her that she is blessed among all women. And then two verses later, the angel says, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast done favor with God.

I don't know how you'd feel, but I'd feel pretty special. God sent an angel. Let me know how he felt about me.

Obviously, Mary was a good woman. She wasn't a sinless woman, as some are trying to say. But Mary was obviously a fine young lady.

And I thought about this. I don't know what Mary might have thought. And those around her who believed that Mary had seen this vision, she probably shared it with others.

But probably if you're Mary, you're probably thinking, My life is going to be a good life. I mean, I'm highly favored among women. God favors me.

And I'm blessed. I'm going to have a good life. But it's interesting.

As I thought about Mary's life, all that she endured, I just want to go through a couple of things that Mary had to go through. And I want to share this at the beginning because I want you to realize that just because God favors us and we're saved and we're redeemed, and maybe you're living a godly life, and you're like Mary, and you don't have issues in your life that you're dealing with, you're overcoming, and you're walking with God, and life ought to be good. Well, Mary went through great hardship.

Simeon comes there when the baby is born eight days old, and Simeon makes this comment to Mary, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also. Oh, this is an exciting time for Mary, and she's just heard months before about how blessed she is, and now Simeon comes from God and says, There's going to be a sword go through your soul.

What's that mean? Well, Mary, you're blessed. You're favored. But Mary, you're going to go through great trial and afflictions.

You know, when people go through trial and afflictions, it doesn't mean that God's upset with them. You know, I thought of Mary and the birth of Jesus. Do you realize that when Jesus was born and Mary held that baby, we were over there last night by the John Moniker's house, and we saw that little newborn baby, but when Mary held that baby, do you know there was many accusations coming toward her and toward Joseph? Mary, you're a harlot.

Mary, you gave birth to a child out of fornication. Most people didn't believe that Mary was a virgin and going to be giving birth to a baby born of a virgin. They didn't believe that.

And Mary, you're a liar, you're a deceiver, and that child of yours is illegitimate. Mary grew up. Well, you know, as a young lady having given birth, she faced those accusations.

And God put that upon her. False accusations. It was her calling.

Now, you just put yourself in Mary's place. You know the baby is born, and Joseph, your husband, gets a dream, and you're told to flee into Egypt because Herod is seeking this baby of yours to kill it. And not only that, you hear that many of your friends' babies have been slaughtered.

Every child two years old and under has been slaughtered. And some of your dear friends' children have been killed, and maybe relatives of yours. You know, we read those stories and don't put ourselves in those positions.

Man, those were tough first two years. Now she has to leave her home, and she has to run for her life with Joseph and go down into a foreign country, into Egypt. I can imagine Mary saying, I thought I was highly favored! I thought I was blessed, art thou, Mary.

And so she's having a difficult life at the very beginning. We're not told much about the life of Jesus and Mary as they went up through adult life, but when Jesus was a 30-year-old man, certainly Mary's heart was for her son. I think Jesus was a very fine young man.

Obviously, He was without sin. But Mary also endured. You know, we talk about how Jesus was hunted, how they tried to stone Him, how there were false accusations, how He was called a false prophet and a false teacher, and Mary would say, that's my boy! You know how it would be, mothers, when your son is falsely accused and maligned, and even people try to kill him! So Mary, she had to deal with that.

In her own life. Mary also had her other children. I don't know how many children.

I didn't do a lot of research, but I don't remember if the Bible talks about how many, but there are other children in the family. The Bible calls them the brethren. Jesus' brethren.

Maybe there were five or six children, but in John 7 it says that the children did not believe Him. They did not believe He was who He was. Can you imagine Mary raising her family, knowing that Jesus is the Messiah, and her other children don't believe Him? A divided home.

You know, we think of Mary and Joseph, probably had this perfect home. Everything went well. John 7 says, they didn't believe Him.

And now, you're standing, and you're looking at your son, and he's being brutalized. And the fulfillment of the passage, of swords shall pierce through your own soul also. And so Mary's had a difficult time.

And I say all that just to say this, just because you're a son of God, and you're favored, and just because you're walking with God, and doing the best you can, doesn't mean you're not going to have a hard life. You're not going to have a hard life. I mean, here you have some of God's choicest servants, who He said are favored and blessed, and they go through great trial and affliction.

And Mary, a dear lady, has had 30 years. She's probably 50 years old. She's had a rough time.

I think of some of these servants of God who are greatly favored. How about this one? The first begotten of God, Jesus Christ. Was there anyone more beloved than Jesus of God? No, there wasn't.

What did He go through? Can you imagine? How about the Apostle Paul? You know, here is a man that would love God with all his heart. He's got an amazing heart, and surrenders his life to give it totally over to the Lord. And after he gets converted, he comes and he's getting baptized, and Ananias says to him, now Paul, I want you to know this.

God wanted me to tell you that you're going to suffer great pain. God said, go show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. Oh, I just got converted.

How about John? This man who we're talking about here. John who wrote this Gospel. The disciple whom Jesus loved.

He's exiled to the Isle of Patmos in the book of Revelation. How long he's there? I don't know how long. He's exiled.

And of course, who can forget Job? Everybody remembers Job. But here's what was said to Job. God said to the devil, have you considered my servant Job? There is none like him in all the earth.

Hey, here's a guy that nobody approaches him in spirituality. This guy is a God-fearing man. A perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.

Boy, you talk about a hard life. Job was a man that was... Oh, he lost his children. He lost his property.

His wife cursed him. He had sores all over his body. His friends betrayed him.

But he's a godly man. I say all that to say this. Think it not strange concerning the trials that are to try you.

As though some strange thing happened unto you. You know, just because you're walking with God and your heart is clear, and everything is going well, doesn't mean that you're going to have a lot of money. Life is going to be easy.

Your family is going to be perfect. You're going to have to go through trials and afflictions. And so Peter said, don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you.

Just don't suffer, he says, as a murderer, as a thief, or as an evildoer in other men's matter. But if you suffer, suffer as a godly Christian. I remember preaching when I went through the book of Mark on that storm that Jesus and the disciples went through.

And one of the things I brought out in that message was the fact that if you go back to that story when they went across the Sea of Galilee and that storm came, almost sunk the boat. You know, Jesus is sleeping in the back. The disciples are bailing water to try to save themselves.

But at the beginning of the story it says the Lord told them to get into the boat and said, we're going to the other side. And I was just preaching on the idea that God led them right into the storm. Those disciples were obediently following Him.

He said, come with me, let's get in this boat, we're going to the side. And they walked right into the boat and God took them right into the storm. And so sometimes God just walks you into a storm.

They're not easy. Some of us know what storms are like. And oftentimes in storms we start questioning God, am I highly favored? You know, Lord, what have I done wrong? And it may be good for us to search our hearts and to ask that question.

But just because you are going through a very difficult time, does not mean that God is in a sense upset. And Mary is a good example. I wanted to bring that out here from verse 25, but let's get down to really the main thrust of this passage here in verse 26.

When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, that's John, He said unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Now how many times we read the Bible and we don't understand the significance of what's going on here. I've read that verse many times. You've probably read it too.

And maybe you've picked up on what is happening and that's good. But I'd like you to stop and think for a minute. Just stop and think for a minute.

Mary had other children. If she is 20 years old when she has Jesus, and Jesus is now roughly 30, she's around 50 years old. If Jesus was born 30 years ago and she has other children, that means that she has maybe a 28-year-old.

She may have a 25-year-old. She may have a 22, a 21. She could have as young as a 10-year-old.

And so she has other children. Just imagine for a minute. Take someone the age of Brianna here.

How old are you, Brianna? 24. I'm sure she had children that were 24. Jesus was 30, 31, 32.

Can you imagine Brianna standing there at the cross with your mother, Mary? And you're looking up at the cross. And Mary is weeping. Your mother is burdened.

Mary is looking at Jesus. All of a sudden, Jesus says to your mother, Mom? John there, a disciple. You probably know John.

But he's not in your home. He looks at John. He says, John, here's your mother.

And he looks at Mary and says, Mary, here's your son. And I want you to go to his house. What would you say, Brianna? Wait a minute.

That's my mother. What do you mean, you're taking my mother to your house, John? She's my mother. Can you imagine how those children of Mary felt when Jesus said to John, John, here is your mother.

Take her to your house, John. Wow. Children, how would you like someone to come to your mother and say, leave your children and go to another man's house? Whoa! Wait a minute.

That's my mom. So there are no doubt children who are perplexed. John, here is your mother.

Take her to your own house. Here's something else to think about. What does John's mother think when John brings another woman to the house? Hi, Mom.

I got another mother here. Her name is Mary. She's Jesus' mother.

She's going to live with us now. Oh. And what about maybe some of John's children now have two mothers? We probably don't think through those things very often.

Well, what's happening here is the Lord is transitioning from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The Old Covenant has to do with temporal things. The New Covenant has to do with eternal things.

The Old Covenant's sacrificial system, the entirety of it, was a temporal system. It was established for temporal purposes to show or to picture something that is eternal. In Hebrews 8, verse 13, it says the Old Covenant is passing away.

It is not necessary. It is not needful anymore. We are entering into a new covenant.

Something that is eternal. The Old Covenant used types and shadows to show something that was coming that was real and eternal. All those things in the Old Covenant, that sacrificial system, were pointing toward eternal things that were coming with the Lord Jesus.

The offering of lambs was a temporal institution. We don't do that anymore. Praise God that we don't.

As a matter of fact, it wouldn't be a good thing for you to do that. It was temporal. It was waiting for the eternal lamb to be offered up.

The high priests, they were temporal offices. They were all waiting for something eternal. And, I know I'm going to touch on some sensitive subjects here this morning, but you know marriage is temporal.

Did you know that? Jesus said in heaven, they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Marriage is a picture of Christ and the church, that eternal relationship that is coming. There is a wedding coming.

Some of you have been married already. You are going to be married again. You were married into a relationship that was temporal.

Death is going to end that relationship. And it is not going to pick up in heaven. But that relationship that is temporal is a picture and a shadow of an eternal marriage.

And if you want to read about your next marriage, it is in Revelation 21, where you are going to marry the Lord Jesus and become a bride to Him forever. But you know something else that is a temporal institution? That is family. Our families are temporal institutions.

And they picture something that is eternal. Do you know what that eternal thing is? The family of God. The church of the Lord Jesus.

And you don't understand what Jesus is saying here unless you understand that He is moving people away from the natural temporal family to the eternal spiritual family. The family of God. So Jesus is transitioning John and Mary's hearts to an eternal family.

You know, there is only one time in the New Testament the word family is used. I would like you to look with me at Ephesians chapter 3. And it is not talking about the natural family. It is talking about the eternal one.

Ephesians 3 verse 13. Wherefore I desire that you think not of my tribulations for you which are your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family... That is the only time it is used in the New Testament.

The whole family in heaven and earth is named. Notice it doesn't say the whole family. There is a family.

And it is a singular family. And it is a family of God's children who are not only in heaven, they have already passed away and died, but also they are here on this earth and God considers them His eternal family. How many of you like being a part of family? I do.

In a million years, you are going to want to be a part of this family, the eternal family. Amen? That family, that is going to go on forever. And I know there are some funny things said and poems made, but truly, if you can't get along with your brothers and sisters in this present world, realize you are going to live with them forever.

And our family is going to be together forever. Brother John over there is going to be my brother in a million years, in ten million years. I will talk to you probably, Brother John, throughout eternity.

We will know each other. And we won't have any limitations with regards to our physical flesh and the sin that is a part of it. But when Jesus is there on the cross, He is not thinking about natural, temporal.

He is thinking about eternal. And He is transitioning His mother and John who are in that eternal family to start thinking eternal. And another family.

The word household is used a couple of times in the New Testament. Galatians 6.10 it says, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. That household.

Now you have natural households. My household, we have about five children and two parents. And that's my household.

But there is a spiritual household. It's called the household of faith. Those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

And then if you're there in Ephesians, there's another place here it's mentioned in Ephesians 2.19 Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. I don't know what you think about when you think about being a part of a family or being a part of a household. But I want to encourage you in this that the Lord would like you to think about it bigger than just your local natural temporal family, but you think of it as the believers and my family eternally.

God's children. So if I ask you this question, who is your mother? We ought to have our minds so eternally minded that we would say, oh, I have many mothers. Yes.

Rachel. Rachel. Marlene.

Sandy. Many mothers. Who is your father? I have many fathers.

You're brothers and sisters. So we have natural families and those are good things. God has intended for us to take responsibility and Jesus does.

He takes responsibility as a firstborn son with His mother. But those natural families are only going to be together for 40 or 50 years. I got married when I was 35 to my wife.

We started a family. If I live to be 85, that's 50 years. My family will be together and then it won't be together anymore.

We'll no longer be a family unit. It's a temporal institution. But our spiritual family is an eternal institution.

So maybe this is bad news for you. You're stuck with me forever and I'm stuck with you too. Let's just put it that way.

So yeah, we're part of the family of God. But listen to this. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 18 While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So Jesus is looking past the temporal. John, you've got your own natural family. It's temporal.

I'm going to look past your family and I want to look into the eternal. John, here's your mother. Your eternal mother.

Mom, here's your son. Your eternal son. So Jesus here is conveying to John the transition to a new family and a new household.

So in the New Testament, we see a lot of spiritual fathers, spiritual children, spiritual sons and daughters. If you could turn with me to Matthew 12. Matthew 12.

There's a good example of this here. Probably one that you're familiar with. Matthew 12 verse 46 While He had talked to the people, behold His mother and His brethren that's His brothers and sisters, stood without desiring to speak with Him.

So there's a crowd of people. Jesus is speaking to this crowd of people and outside the circle are His brothers and sisters. And some of the people in the crowd are listening to Jesus and kind of looking over.

His family's over here. And listening to Jesus and looking over His family. I wonder if He knows His family is here.

They're waiting over here and He is speaking to the crowd. Then look at verse 47. Then one said unto Him, Behold, hey, hey, hey, Jesus, look, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee.

You get the picture. Hey, Jesus, you're not paying attention. Your family's been over here.

Your mother and your brethren for probably 15, 20 minutes. They're waiting, desiring to speak with you. Verse 48 But He answered and said unto Him that told Him, Who is My mother? Wow, what a statement.

Can you imagine in that crowd, who is My mother? Has He lost His mind? Who is My mother and who are My brethren? That's kind of strange, isn't it? You know, He's thinking eternal, though. He's not thinking natural. You know, Jesus is thinking about eternity.

So He asks them, Who is My mother? And who is My brethren? Well, let's keep reading here in verse 49. And He stretched forth His hand. Boy, this is... Look at this.

Here's what He did. He's teaching these people. Here's what He says.

He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said, Behold My mother and My brethren. Here they are right here. Wow.

I don't know how Mom felt over here. I don't know how the brothers and sisters felt. He said, These are My family.

And then He gives a little bit more of a graphic description. Verse 50 For whosoever shall do the will of My Father, which is in heaven, the same is My brother and My sister and My mother. These are My family.

And you know why the Lord said that? I think we can all understand this. Here the Lord is. He has the Spirit of God in His life.

Over here is His brethren standing off to the side. There's maybe ten of them. They don't have the Spirit of God.

They're not believers on the Lord Jesus. And Jesus is teaching His disciples and they're believers. They have God's Spirit in their life.

And so there is a family connection. You know how it is. Brother Ruben, Sister Rachel, they had children.

Those children have a family connection to them. They have their genes. They look alike.

They act alike. They come out of Ruben and Rachel. So we have a connection.

We are born of the same Father. We're born of the same seed, the Word of God. And so this is my connection right here.

And I have no connection over here. There's no connection with these people. Yes, naturally I was born into their family, but I don't have any connection to an eternal birth and to an eternal family.

And so sometimes the Bible talks about this. Maybe there's a family over here and one of them is converted and has the Spirit of God and there's a connection here, but not a connection to others. In the Old Testament, there was a bunch of genealogies and all the concern about who you're connected to and father, mother, cousin, second cousin, aunt, uncle, and you had all these genealogies.

Matthew and Luke talk about these genealogies, but in the New Testament, there's a change in genealogies. Boy, this is important. How many of you have children? You say, what are you talking about? Can't you see my children sitting right beside me? How many of you have spiritual children? How many of you have spiritual grandchildren? How about spiritual great-grandchildren? You know, there's probably some here that are spiritual grandpas.

How do you become a spiritual grandpa? You win someone to Christ. That becomes a son in the faith. That son wins another person.

And you have a birth and another birth. You know, I think if the Lord were here, He would ask us, how many children do you have? I think our natural response would say, well, I have five. No, no, no, no, no.

How many spiritual children do you have? In other words, how many souls have you won to Christ? And train those children like you do your own naturally to win others and to have their own families. Like my son Esther here, he got married. He's starting his own family.

These are spiritual principles where I'm to win someone and train them up like a child we would train in a natural home so they can go out and win others and start and have more babies and we can duplicate ourselves. In a spiritual family, oftentimes we're very much consumed with the natural world and with the things that are temporal. Let me ask you this.

Mothers, are you a spiritual mother to anyone? Men, are you a spiritual father to anyone? Do you have sons and daughters in the faith? You know, oftentimes we talk about our physical descendants and we can go back many generations, but what about our spiritual descendants, our sons and our daughters? Are we birthing newborn babes in Christ? Wouldn't it be great to stand before the Lord and say, I see your sons. Oh, you're talking about Ezra and Judson and Zach and Tommy. No, no, no, no.

I see your spiritual son. Spiritual son. A songwriter said, Must I go an empty-handed? Must my dear Redeemer meet Not one soul with which to bring Him? Lay no trophy at His feet.

You know, we think that it's a curse and in the Jewish time, it was a curse to not have children, not to be able to have children, but how many of us will stand before God someday childless, spiritually? Childless. I love big families, but I love big spiritual families better. Amen? Spiritual families.

Having given birth. I'm going to read a couple of verses here and I'll wind down. Matthew 19, verse 29.

Many of these are familiar, but they make sense when you read them in this context that we're talking about. Matthew 19, 29 says, And everyone that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children, that's all family there, your mom, your dad, and then you've got marriage, your wife, your children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. So sometimes you're a father and maybe your wife is a Christian and your children are not and you need to make decisions that you have to forsake them because there's no tie.

There's no spiritual tie. I remember I thought it was an amazing testimony. There's a man in South Dakota.

I was up there a few years ago. He was a Hutterite. And he came up to me at the end of the service and he said, My name is this and this and this.

And we started talking and I found out he was from a Hutterite colony. A lot of Hutterite colonies up in that area. And many Hutterites are getting converted.

And he told me his story. He said, As a Hutterite, I needed to choose to either follow Jesus and forsake my wife and three little children. He was probably 30, 32 years old.

Or stay in the Hutterite colony and deny Jesus Christ. And here was a man. I thought it was amazing.

A man that was 32. And he was telling me that my wife and children, I hadn't seen them for like three years. And I had to choose between Jesus or my family.

Can you imagine? There's people doing that even in America. Having to make that choice. But I think it's a wise choice because there is an eternal family and he yoked up with the brothers there.

And that is his family. I know that some are a little cautious about this. But we oftentimes elevate missionaries in the past.

Many names we could bring up and talk about. I've read some of those missionary stories. Your children have read them.

And we've read many of them. But many of those missionaries in the past, they left their homeland. They left America.

They left England. And they went to Africa. They went to India.

They went to South America. And they left their children in boarding schools. They left, even sometimes, Abinam Judson, I've read his story.

He had to leave his wife for years. And I thought of Brother Cleve. Leaving and taking some of his children.

Leaving some of his family here. And even being willing to lay down that natural love and affection for an eternal purpose. Here's another passage.

Luke chapter 14. And I'm getting close to finishing here. Luke chapter 14 verse 25 is another verse that we're familiar with.

Jesus says, If any man come to Me and hate not his father... That's a strong word. Hate not his father. That's a natural attachment.

And his mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. In other words, if you are going to follow Jesus, you're going to have to address sometimes these connections. And say, I am willing to love the Lord so much that I need to break relationships.

Some of you have had to do that. With father, and mother, and wife, and children. And I know it's a wonderful thing, and we try to encourage this, but it's a wonderful thing for our natural family to be both our natural family and our spiritual family.

That's a wonderful thing. All my children are truly converted and in the kingdom of God, and I can have a connection spiritually with each one of them, and my wife, and not only can we enjoy the natural world that we're in, but we can also have a spiritual family. And that happens oftentimes, the New Testament talks about, you know when Cornelius was converted, it says he was converted with his whole house.

Well that's certainly the goal, and it's our desire, but I want to say this and just kind of get your mind thinking in a little different way, that family is a bigger concept than what sits with you here in church. Your immediate, natural, temporal family. There's a bigger concept.

And Jesus is representing that concept as He's on the cross. John, here's mama. And mom, here's your son.

Naturally, no you don't connect. You don't have the proper genes. You're not naturally each other's relation, but spiritually, mom and son.

So let's let the Scriptures alter, maybe if we have some concepts that need to be altered. I mean we, in a million years, family will be something that will be long gone. And you'll be with the people of God.

Marriages will be long gone. You'll be with the people of God. So let's make sure we're with the people of God.

And all these temporal institutions that God has designed are to picture something that is eternal. All right, I'm going to close then. And then we'll have a word of prayer.