LUKE 6:24-26 FULLY SATISFIED IN JESUS PART 22011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 6:24-26 Fully Satisfied In Jesus Part 2

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

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Well, last week we began this message, which we're really continuing on today. We were talking last week about being fully satisfied in Jesus. And we looked at Luke chapter 6, verse 17 through 23, and we saw the message that Jesus was proclaiming there, the teaching that he was bringing forth, and the blessings that he promised to his followers.

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We saw a couple things just to remind you and refresh your memory because now as we continue on in verse 24 through 26, we're continuing on with that same message that Jesus was proclaiming and talking once again about being fully satisfied in Jesus. We saw in verses 17 through 19 last week that Jesus heals with power.

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He is able, whatever infirmity we have, whatever difficulty, we can come to him and there's nothing he is unable to heal. He has power to heal us and restore us completely. And so we were encouraged by the scriptures to go to the Lord and to ask him for healing, to ask him to restore and to do a work with power in our lives and in our hearts.

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We also saw as we looked at verses 20 through 23 that Jesus promised blessings. Now the blessings that he promised were really to be fully satisfied. The word blessed that he used over and over again, it means to be fully satisfied. It's one who is satisfied not from circumstances but from God.

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And so it's not just that you're fully satisfied because, you know, you got a new car, you got a good job, you got a roof over your head. It's not just about whether or not things are going good or things are going bad, but you're fully satisfied internally because you have a real connection to the true and living God. And he's given you peace which passes all understanding. And he's fulfilled your heart and there's not that emptiness that was once there.

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Jesus promises blessing to people in certain conditions. There's four specific conditions that he refers to, and he promises blessing to people in those conditions. First of all, he said, blessed are the poor. Blessed are you poor, he says. You will be fully satisfied because to you belongs the kingdom of God. He also says, blessed are those who are hungry or those who hunger.

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He says, if you're hungry, you will be fully satisfied because you will be filled or you will have abundance. You will overflow. He said, blessed are you who weep. Why? He says, well, you'll be fully satisfied because you will laugh. And then finally he said, blessed are you who are persecuted or blessed are you when men hate you for my name's sake.

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He says,

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And for me to remind you of what we studied last week is not tedious. And as we continue that same line of thought this week and talk about many of the same things that we've already discussed, it's not tedious for me. Instead, it's safe for us. We need to revisit these truths that we've heard and these truths that we know. As it's often been said, if it's true, it's not new. And if it's new, it's not true.

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The reality is you and I do not need new information. But we need to put into practice those things we've already learned and already been taught. And we need to live out the truths that have already been revealed to us.

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These things are really important to consider because, well as we shared last week, you and I, we get under the impression, we get the idea in our heads that we are not fully satisfied because of some external condition which we face.

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I would be fully satisfied if I had that job or if I got that position. If I was, you know, accepted in that group or if I won the lottery, if I had that car, if I was able to be in this place, if I could live there. We have all these thoughts of then I would be fully satisfied. Then there would be fulfillment within. Then there would be that peace. Then I would not be empty any longer.

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And you and I are often deceived by that type of thinking. We always think it's those external things. But as we saw, Jesus declared, you'll be fully satisfied, you'll be blessed when your condition is that you're poor, spiritually speaking, and hungry, spiritually speaking. And when you weep and you're persecuted, then is when you will be fully satisfied. Then is when the promised blessing of Jesus is fulfilled.

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And we came to the conclusion last week, if you are not fully satisfied, it is because you are lacking in your relationship with Jesus. If you're empty, if you're seeking, if you're craving within, it's because you are lacking in your relationship with Jesus Christ. That is what it boils down to. And as we continue that line of thought,

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This morning we're looking at verses 24 through 26 and we're looking at kind of the inverse of the blessings that we studied last week. The other side of the coin really. Jesus gave blessings, here he promised blessing for people in four types of conditions. The poor, the hungry, those who weep and the persecuted. And now he pronounces woes to people in four different conditions. It's the opposite of the conditions we talked about last week.

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He pronounces woe upon the rich, upon those who are full, upon those who laugh, and upon those who everybody speaks well of. And so we're looking at the other side, the woes that are pronounced. He says there in verse 24, but woe to you who are rich. And so Jesus here is pronouncing woes for us to listen up to or pay attention to. In contrast to blessing.

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In contrast to saying you have this promise that you will be fully satisfied. Now he says, woe. Woe to you. This word woe is an exclamation of grief. It's a cry of sorrow. And it's not that Jesus is wishing woe upon people here.

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But really he's issuing a warning. He is saying you will experience woe. You will be crying out in grief. You will be crying out in sorrow if you are in this condition. It's a warning. You will be hurt or you will hurt someone. You're going to be involved in something and it's going to cause an exclamation of grief. And people are going to cry out in sorrow and say woe.

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You could look at it this way. Maybe this will help you connect it a little bit. Woe to you who text and drive. You see, the point is you're going to get hurt or you're going to hurt somebody. It's going to happen. Woe to you. There's going to be an exclamation of grief if you continue that practice. Woe to you who drink and drive. Woe to you who play with fire. Woe to you who eat yellow snow. There's going to be an exclamation of grief. Sorrow.

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That's what Jesus is talking about here. And so he's pronouncing woe. He's saying look. There's judgment that will come. If you continue on in that condition. And you will cry out in sorrow. And you may hurt others in the process along the way. Some people do not like to think that Jesus could pronounce judgment. But we see very clearly here in the gospels. All throughout the scriptures. It's the same Jesus.

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who pronounced the blessings that we loved and studied last week, that pronounces the woes that we're studying this week. And sometimes it causes people to ask, how can a God of love bring judgment? And of course, we're not going to explore that question entirely, but it kind of sums up with, it's really the wrong question. It's not that we should wonder why a God of love could bring judgment.

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Really the question that we need to ask is, how can God promise blessing at all? How can God provide for us mercy and grace? Because judgment is not a mystery. You can look around the world today and you can see the injustice. You can see the terrible acts, the wickedness. And you can recognize and realize there needs to be justice.

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And so judgment in that case is not a mystery. And then we can look in the mirror and we can realize, I mess up. I am sinful. It's not a mystery that I would receive judgment. I mean, you can just start with the Ten Commandments. You go, well, I've broken that one, broken that one, broken that one, broken that one, all the way down. Yeah, I deserve judgment. I deserve to be, well, I'm sinful.

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I deserve for woes to be pronounced upon me because I have broken God's law. I have disobeyed him. Judgment is not a mystery. The real question is, the real mystery is, how can God extend to us forgiveness and grace and mercies?

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That's what's amazing. Last night we were at the marriage study and we were looking at Ephesians chapter 1 and the comment that was being made as we looked at the portion over and over again was it's just so amazing how much God has done for us and it's all His work. It's in Him that we receive forgiveness and redemption and all these blessings He has in store for us. That's what's amazing. That's the mystery that God would love us.

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And care for us. And offer to us forgiveness and grace. And so yes, Jesus does pronounce woes. And we need to pay attention to these woes that he announces. He brings both judgment and blessing. But here's the key. He lets us choose which one he will receive. Think about it this way. We hand you a paper as you walk in today. We didn't, but just imagine we did. And on the paper is two boxes. You get to check which one you want.

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One box says blessing. The other box says woe. You check the box. Whichever one you want. Go ahead. Which one are you checking? Of course, we would want to check blessing. We don't want woe. But that's what Jesus does. He hands us a card. He says, okay, you pick. You choose. I offer blessing. I announce woe. You get to choose which one you will receive. That's what this passage is all about. And listen, as we're here this morning studying this, I want to point out once again, verse 20.

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Look at verse 20 of chapter 6 here real quick. It says, Then he lifted up his eyes toward his disciples and said, Blessed are you poor. It says there in verse 20, he lifted up his eyes toward his disciples. We saw last week, there's a whole crowd there. But these blessings that he pronounces or these blessings that he promises and these woes that he pronounces are

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He does so with his eyes towards his disciples. This is a message not for people who are not here. This isn't a message for everybody else. This isn't a message that somebody else needs to hear. This morning, I want to encourage you. I want to challenge you. Jesus is looking at you. He's looking at people in the church. He's looking at his disciples. People who said, yes, I want to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And if that's your proclamation, if that's what you have declared,

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He's looking to you and he's saying, woe to you if you are in these conditions. And so there's warnings that are not just for people in general. Of course it applies to everybody, but specifically he's looking you in the eye. He's looking at me face to face. He's saying, watch out. Be warned. We need to take heed. So he's looking directly at you this morning and he pronounces these four woes.

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The first one we find is there in verse 24. He says, Woe to you who are rich. Woe to the rich. Why? He says, For you have received your consolation. Again, woe. He's saying there's going to be grief and sorrow. This is a warning. You will hurt someone and you will be hurt if you do not take heed to this warning. Woe to you who are rich.

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Is Jesus talking about how much money you have in the bank here? No, of course not. We saw this last week. He's not talking about physical condition. He's not talking about your financial records or your financial standing. He's talking about spiritual truths regarding your heart. He's talking about internal things, not external things.

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We saw that as we cross-referenced and looked at Matthew chapter 5. There the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus is pronouncing blessings that go right along with the blessings we studied last week. And in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3 Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit. And so he's not talking about your financial standing, whether you're well off or in need. He's talking about

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Something within. He's talking about a spiritual condition. An internal condition. And so last week as we studied the blessed are the poor.

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We saw that the poor were those who acknowledge their need for Jesus. And those who acknowledge their need, those who recognize, I can't do anything to save myself. I'm bankrupt spiritually. I am sinful and I need a savior. That's who the poor are. And those who are poor, those who acknowledge their need, are the ones who receive eternal salvation. They receive eternal life.

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And so now as he pronounces a woe upon the rich, he's addressing those who are in the opposite condition of the poor. And so instead of saying, like the poor, saying, I need Jesus, the rich are those who say, I don't need Jesus. Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who would say, I don't need Jesus.

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Now, when I say that, I don't mean just, you know, that you vocalize the words, but woe to you if that's how you live. Woe to you if that's the attitude and the condition of your heart, that you live in such a way that you believe, I don't need Jesus. I don't need a savior. When your heart is, well, I can do it on my own. I have enough good works. Woe to you.

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When your heart is, well, I just think, you know, God's love and he wouldn't send anybody to hell and everybody makes it to heaven. Woe to you. When you think anything else besides Jesus is the only way of salvation and I'm desperately in need of him. Woe to you. Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Again, it's not just something that you say because of course we know better than to say that out loud. But it's about how you live. Let me ask you.

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Does your life prove that you need Jesus? The way that you live your life, does it demonstrate, does it prove that you need him? That you're desperate for him? That you're lost and hopeless without him? If not, woe to you. There's going to be grief. There's going to be sorrow. You're going to hurt. And you'll probably hurt somebody along the way if you do not live in a constant state of needing Jesus.

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of relying upon him, of being desperate for him. Now again, this is a real danger. It's a woe that Jesus is pronouncing and he's looking at us in the eye saying, woe to you if this is your heart, if this is your condition, that you live in such a way that declares, that states, I really don't need the Lord. So much so that Jesus even addressed one of the churches in Revelation chapter 3. Remember as he's writing to the church of Laodicea?

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It was the lukewarm church. He says, man, you're not hot, you're not cold. And so I'm going to spew you out of my mouth. You've got one foot in the Lord, one foot in the world. You're not on fire. You're not in desperate need of me.

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And so he says in Revelation chapter 3 verse 17, he says, because you say, now let me remind you, he's writing to a church. He's writing to a group of people who said, yes, I want to follow Jesus. I want to be his disciple. I want to walk with him. He's writing to the church saying,

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And he says, because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing. And you do not know, Jesus says, that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. The church's condition that Jesus was writing to was that, well, they thought, hey, I'm rich, I'm wealthy, and I have need of nothing. Here in Luke 6, Jesus says, woe to you. There in Revelation 3, Jesus says, you don't realize.

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You think you're rich and you think you don't need anything, but you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. You see, that's why Jesus is able to say, woe to you who are rich. Because you think you don't need Jesus and you don't realize how wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked you are. He goes on in Revelation 3 saying, I counsel you to buy from me.

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He talks about the gold and the garments and then the ointment for their eyes. He's saying, look, this is your condition. You're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. And I have what you need. So my counsel to you, Jesus says, is come to me and I'll give you what you need. You don't have to continue on in that condition of woe, but you can come to receive the promise of blessing. You don't have to continue on with that heart, that attitude. You can be poor in spirit and acknowledge that

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That you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. And receive the promise that you will be fully satisfied. Because he said, blessed are you poor. The reality is, you need Jesus. And you might be like the Laodicean church and you might say, I have need of nothing. But although you say that and although that's your heart. That doesn't make it true. You need Jesus. I need Jesus. And even though we've been Christians for however long.

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That has not changed. And we must never forget. Today I need Jesus just as much as I did when I first gave him my life. I need Jesus. I'm desperate for him. I'm lost without him. So woe to you who are rich. Who do not acknowledge. Who do not recognize that. Who do not live with that understanding. Woe to you. Why? Well he says for you have received your consolation.

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That word received, it means to receive in full. You have received in full your consolation or that's another word for comfort. Here's what Jesus is saying. This life is the best it will ever get for you. The comfort that you have now, the peace that you have now, the fulfillment that you have now, it's the best you will ever receive if you're rich, if you don't need Jesus, if you won't acknowledge your need.

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Right here, right now in this life. This is the best it gets for you. And so woe to you. Do you remember the account that Jesus gave in Luke chapter 16? I'd encourage you to check it out later on and consider it. There Jesus talks about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. The rich man did not walk with God but Lazarus the poor man did. And he was a poor man who begged every day at the gates of the rich man.

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And then they both die. And they go, because Jesus had not yet been crucified, they go to a temporary place. But one side of it is a place of comfort and the other side is a place of torment. And the rich man who did not know God, did not want God in his life, he went to the place of torment. The poor man, Lazarus, who did walk with God, who did have faith in the Lord, he went to a place of comfort.

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And Jesus tells the account how the rich man looks across the chasm and he sees that poor man. He sees Lazarus there with Abraham. And he's crying out because he's in torment. And Abraham responds to him in Luke chapter 16 verse 25. He responds to the rich man and he says, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented.

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Abraham says to the rich man, you were comforted in life. You didn't want the things of God, but you had lots of luxuries. You had everything you could hope for in life. That was the best it got for you. And now you're in a place of torment. Lazarus, on the other hand, he suffered evil things. He was poor. But because he trusted in God, now he's experiencing comfort. Now he has peace.

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And so that's why Jesus is able to say, woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. He's saying, this is the best it gets for you. If you don't receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, if you don't cling to him because you desperately need him, woe to you because this is the best it gets for you. And what's in store for you in eternity is not comfort. You've already received all your comfort. What's in store for eternity is

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in eternity for you is torment if you do not acknowledge and receive Jesus Christ and say yes I need him so how do you fix being rich if this is your condition and Jesus says woe to you and you say wow that's me how do you correct that because you don't have to stay there you can check a different box and you can say I want to be blessed

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I want to enter into eternity where God says he'll wipe away every tear, where there's much more comfort. There's greater things than I can imagine in store in heaven for me. That's what I want. I want to be with the Lord for eternity. So how do you correct being rich? Well, you start by admitting your need. Just like Jesus told the church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3. You don't realize that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, but I counsel to you,

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Buy from me. Come to me. Admit your need and ask God for help. Ask God for grace and mercy. That's how you turn it around. You confess. You agree with God. I need a Savior and I'm lost without Jesus. If you insist that you do not have a need, what you experience in this life is the best you will experience. It's all downhill from there.

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So woe to you who are rich. Blessed are you if you're poor. Blessed are you if you acknowledge Jesus and acknowledge your need and grasp hold of him. But woe to you who are rich. The second woe he pronounces in verse 25 is woe to you who are full for you shall hunger. Woe to you who are full.

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What's the difference between being rich and being full? Again, we're speaking spiritually here. It's not about external physical things. The rich person says, no thanks. I don't need help. I don't need a savior. I don't need salvation. I can do it on my own or I don't believe in that or whatever they want to say. But they say, no thanks. I don't need help. The full person says, no thanks. I don't need to grow. I don't need...

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More knowledge of the Lord. I don't need more wisdom. I don't need insight or direction or a closer relationship with God. Fullness is really about us growing in our relationship with God. Or rather us not growing in our relationship with God. So Jesus says, woe to you who are full. When you walked in here this morning, were you hungry? Now, I know it's 1120, so I'm not talking about physical food, okay?

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I'm not talking about McDonald's or Jack in the Box or Burger King or Farmer Boys or breakfast or lunch. I'm talking spiritually. How did you come in here this morning? Did you walk in here hungry? Hungry for the things of God. Pastor Dylan used to always remind us when he was here. I remember him telling us, telling me specifically, always come to service, come to Bible study expecting to receive from God.

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Always come with the expectation, God wants to speak to me today. And he would go on to say, you do that. The way that you do that, the way that you come with that expectation and be ready is to have a pen and paper out. Because you're there with a pen and paper. You're with that expectant heart saying, God, I'm ready. I want you to speak to me. And I'm ready to write it down, to take it seriously, to pay attention to what you say. Not just to hear it, but to live it out.

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Did you come hungry this morning? Where's your pen and paper? Or maybe you use your phone like I do. But where's your manner of recording it, putting it down? Your expectation, God speak to me. I want to hear you. I want to pay attention to what you're saying. And I want to respond to it. We need to have that kind of hunger when we come to spend time with the Lord. Woe to you who did not come expecting for God to speak to you today. Because you're full.

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You're not ready to receive. This past week, we saw, last week, we saw blessed are those who hunger. And so I would ask you, were you hungry this week? Did you spend time with God in His Word? And if so, what did He say? What was He speaking to you? What was He encouraging you? What was He correcting you? And what was He challenging your heart in? Because God is speaking to us through His Word.

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Did you spend time with him? Woe to you who did not hear from God this week. Woe to you. You're full. You're not able to receive what God is saying to you. Did you spend time in prayer this week? Did God reveal himself to you as you spent time with him, communicating with him back and forth? Woe to you if you did not spend time in prayer.

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If God hasn't been speaking to you, if you haven't been speaking to him, woe to you. You're full and you're not hungry. Perhaps you did those things this week and yet you didn't have an encounter with the true and living God. Yeah, maybe you read your Bible. Maybe you spent some time in prayer. Maybe you attended church. But there is no real connection with God. And God didn't speak to you. God hasn't been working in your life.

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woe to you if that's the case you see you and i can be very religious but be full that was the condition of the religious leaders as jesus was walking the earth he spoke to them in john chapter 5 verse 39 and he said you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me jesus looks at the religious leaders and he says look you guys are studying the bible

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And you think, yeah, I'm fine. I'm great. Because I'm a good student of the Bible. I know it backwards and forwards. And I know all the trivia questions. And I know how to answer all these things. But Jesus says, look, you're missing the point. It's good to study the scriptures. You need to do so. But he says, these are they which testify of me. The religious leaders were rejecting Jesus while holding on to the fact that they studied the Bible. Woe to you if that's

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How you are. Yes, you're religious. Yes, you go to church. Yes, you read the Bible. Yes, you pray. But you don't have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. We can go through the motions. We can go through these things without looking to God to receive from Him. Without that expectation. Without that desire to be filled. Without that craving. That longing for more of Him. That longing for Him to work, to speak, to grow. To draw us near to Himself.

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And so Jesus says, woe to you who are full. Why? Well, because you will hunger. If you won't hunger now, you will be hungry later. But woe to you because when you're hungry later, that's not a good time to be hungry. It's too late at that point. It's amazing how many times you and I, we go through life and we come across a crisis and we're unprepared.

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We've been lazy in our relationship with God and then death strikes or the accident happens or the finances are gone. There's some kind of crisis. There's some kind of thing that happens and we're completely unprepared. We've got no solid foundation, no relationship with God to rely upon. We've been full. We've not been hearing. We've not been listening. And it's at that time that then we go, oh man, now I got to try to seek the Lord.

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And so in the middle of a crisis where there's all these emotions, all these pressures, now you're at the same time trying to learn how to hear God's voice and learn how to walk with Him. That's a bad time to try to learn to walk with God. Woe to you. You'll be crying out in woe because you'll be saying, I don't know what to do. I don't know how I'm going to survive this. I don't know how to get through. If you're not hungry now, you will hunger later.

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And maybe it's when the crisis hits or maybe it's when you enter into eternity. And it's too late. And you'll be hungry for the rest of eternity for God. But unsatisfied because you have to hunger now. You have to draw near now. You have to call upon Him and seek Him. You have to be hungry. So how do you fix being full?

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If that's the case, that you've been full, you've been in that condition of, you've not really been receiving from God. You haven't been expecting for Him to speak and He hasn't really been revealing Himself to you. How do you fix that? How do you correct that? Again, you get to check the box. You want blessing or you want woe? Well, you receive blessing by being hungry. I like what Pastor John Corson shares about this idea of being hungry. And I would say to you, I would sum it up with,

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Don't spoil your appetite. We're coming up towards Thanksgiving in just a couple weeks. And I don't know if Thanksgiving for you is like Thanksgiving for me, but usually on Thanksgiving, you're looking forward to that big meal of the day, right? Usually 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It's kind of an early dinner, late lunch. But while you're waiting for that big meal of the day, there's chips over here, there's pretzels over there, there's nuts over there, there's all these different snacks. And if you...

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in the snacks and you're eating chips, you're eating pretzels, you're eating nuts over here and then you get to the Thanksgiving meal and you're full. You ever have that happen? And it's like, there's the turkey in front of you, man, the mashed potatoes, the ham. I'm making you hungry, aren't I? That's the point. Are you hungry? You see, Pastor John Corson shares, spiritually speaking, that's what you and I do. Very often, you and I, we fill ourselves with

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The news, the sports, the conversation, the gossip, the, you know, favorite TV shows, everything. We fill ourselves, we fill our days, we fill our lives with so much. And then we finally get to the word. We finally get to spend time with God. And it's like, I can't receive anymore. I'm full. I can't take in anything else. I'm trying to read. I'm trying to study. And it's just like, oh man, it doesn't make sense. Because I've filled my mind with

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With all the junk, all the snacks. And so when it comes to the main meal, my relationship with the Lord, I'm full. I'm unable to receive. And so how do we fix that? Don't spoil your appetite. Get to the meal first thing. Make sure. Carve out. Spend time with God.

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Then later on, if there's time, you can enjoy the snacks. You can have a good dessert. You can, you know, watch the game or be involved in that. You can enjoy those things. Those things are not always bad, but we fill our lives with those things and then we don't have time. We don't have the capacity to receive when we get to our relationship with God. I think the other thing to consider in regards to fixing this condition of being full is James chapter 1 verse 22. James chapter 1 verse 22.

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Where James says, be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. The person who is only hearing the word, it's going in one ear and out the other, James says, is deceiving themselves. They're full. It's not going in. It's not producing change. It's just going in one ear and out the other. They're deceiving themselves because they think, hey, I read my Bible today. I'm pretty good. All right. God's pleased.

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He says, don't deceive yourselves and just read it. You need to do what it says. Put it into practice. Don't just read it, but read it and say, Lord, what do you want me to do from this? How do you want me to live this out today and tomorrow? What does this look like in my life? Lord, what are you speaking to me? We need to have that hunger, that desire to draw near to God, to hear from Him and then to live today.

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in obedience to what he speaks to us. And so Jesus says, woe to you who are full because you're not receiving from God. You're going to be hungry when the crisis hits or when you enter into eternity. You're going to be hungry. That's a guarantee. But you've not received. You've not drawn near. And can I remind you again? Verse 20, Jesus lifted his eyes and looked at his disciples. He's looking at you. He's looking at me and he's saying, woe to you if you're in that condition of being full.

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If you're not receiving from him. Well the third woe he pronounces there in verse 25. Is woe to you who laugh now. For you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you who laugh now. What is it that God has against laughing? Does he want you to be miserable all the time? Is that what it is? Does he not have a sense of humor? Why does God say woe to you who laugh?

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Again, we're talking about an internal condition, not an external thing. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, that God gives us richly all things to enjoy. It's God who gave us our sense of humor. It's God who gave us the capacity and the things of life to enjoy. It's not that he wants everybody to be miserable. But again, it's the opposite of what we looked at last week.

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Remember, blessed are the poor, woe to the rich. Blessed are those who hunger, woe to those who are full. Blessed are those who weep, woe to those who laugh. And last week we talked about that idea of weeping and being fully satisfied, being blessed because we weep. And why do we weep? Well, we weep because we love. As I shared last week, people die all the time. Doesn't bother us a bit. But then people we love die and we weep.

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Bad things happen to people all around the world all the time. We never really think about it. We don't pay much attention. But then it happens to someone that we know, to someone that we care for, and then we weep. We weep because we love. And we love because God has given us love. Because, well, Jesus said, by our love for one another, the world will know that we're his disciples. John tells us later on, we love because he first loved us.

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We love because God's loving us and he's working and putting that love within us for other people around us. And so there's people that we know that we love and they're lost and they're hurting and they die without Christ and we weep. There's people in our lives who separate from us. As Jesus said, I came to bring a sword.

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And mother will be against daughter and son will be against father because of a relationship and a commitment to Jesus Christ. And there will be that pulling away and that weeping that results. There's a weeping over the seriousness of life, the severity of sin, the destruction that is going on and the deception of the enemy. And so we do love and we are blessed and fully satisfied in Christ. But there's also the weeping. Just as God weeps over those things...

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Now you and I learn to weep over those things. Well, the other side of that now, Jesus says, woe to you who laugh. I kind of liken it to this. It's like the guy who makes jokes in the movie so that he doesn't cry. You ever been with one of those guys? Well, if you've been to the movies with me, you've been with one of those guys, okay?

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I don't like to cry. I hate to cry. So it's easier to make fun of his shirt or to make fun of the comment or to laugh or, you know, think of something dumb so that I don't have to feel like that. And some people do that with life. Jesus is talking about those who live only to please themselves. And they're seeking to please themselves to try to drown out the sorrow. Instead of dealing with the reality, life is hard. And there's tragedy there.

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There's good reason for us to weep. But there are those who instead of weeping, instead of dealing with the difficulty, instead of dealing with the sin, instead of dealing with the tragedy, instead they try to like pretend it's not there. And so then they fill themselves, they fill their lives with pleasure, with entertainment, to try to be satisfied and distract them from the emptiness that's within. I kind of, again, liken it to the prodigal son.

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The prodigal son had this emptiness. He had this void. He said, you know, I would really be happy, I'd really be satisfied if I got my inheritance right now. So he goes to dad, dad, I want my inheritance. He gets his inheritance. And he goes out and he lives and wastes away his inheritance. I mean, he's throwing parties, he's drinking, he's just doing everything he can.

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All the while, unsatisfied, unfulfilled. He got the inheritance. He thought, this is it. Now I'm going to be happy. No, I'm still not happy. All right, well, let's throw a party. Let's get lots of friends. I'm still not happy. He finally came to the point where he's

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broke. He's lost everything. No more friends, nothing. He's there feeding pigs and the food he's giving to the pigs is desirable to him. And there he realizes, I'm still empty. I'm still not satisfied. And you know what I really need? It was there all along. I need to go back and be with my father. But he laughed. He filled his life with laughter, with entertainment to try to distract him, to try to

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Remove that emptiness. Jesus says, woe to you if you're like that. If you're not willing to deal. Yeah, there's hard things in life. Woe to you if your life is only about fun and entertainment. And there's no concern for the lost. There's no love for others. Woe to you if you're in that condition. You will mourn over your sin. There will be weeping. You can try to run. You can try to fill your life with other things. But there will be weeping.

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And if you reject Jesus Christ, it will not just be weeping, but it will be with gnashing of teeth. It will be judgment. Woe to you who laugh now. Deal with your sin. Take it to the cross. Take it to the Lord. Agree with Him. Yeah, people abandon you. People betray you. And you love them. Don't try to just put a band-aid over it and pretend like everything's okay. Go to the Lord. You'll be fully satisfied in Him. You will weep.

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But he'll bring you comfort. And he'll carry you along the whole way. So woe to you rich. Woe to you who are full. Woe to you who laugh. And finally, woe to you who are spoken well of. Verse 26. Woe to you when all men speak well of you. For so did their fathers to the false prophets. I think this is a really interesting one for us to consider.

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Especially today in this time where everybody is obsessed with the idea of political correctness. And offending people is thought to be, you know, such a wrong thing in our society. The idea, the mentality is, how dare you offend me? I'm going to sue you for everything you got. But Jesus says, woe to you when all men speak well of you. I think we all have a desire to be liked, to be accepted, to be spoken well of.

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But when everybody speaks well of you, Jesus says, you're in a condition of woe. You're going to be hurt. You're going to hurt somebody. There's going to be an exclamation of grief when everybody speaks well of you. Why? Well, John chapter 15, verse 18, Jesus says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Think about that. Here's Jesus. Never sinned.

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completely perfect, creator of the heavens and the earth, God incarnate, he's there, you would think everybody would love him. I mean, if there's anybody who could say all the right words, he could do it. If there's anybody who could make everybody like them, it's him. If there's anybody who everybody should like and love and speak well of, it's Jesus. But that's not what took place. Men hated him. The world hated him. The religious leaders hated him.

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To the point that they crucified him. And so Jesus says look if the world hates you. Don't be surprised. You know it hated me before it hated you. You should expect. There to be a certain amount of hatred. As you follow Jesus Christ. He goes on to say. If you were of the world. The world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world. But I chose you out of the world. The world hates you. He says look.

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If the world hates you, that's a good thing because it means that you've been set apart from the world. If the world loves you, that's a dangerous thing because, well, it means you're part of the world. You're part of the world system. You're part of that system that is in rebellion against God. And so if everybody likes us, we're doing something wrong as a Christian. If everybody likes you, you need to go back to the drawing board and consider, Lord, where am I missing it?

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Because the world hated you. And you told me not to be surprised when the world hates me too. Now again, just to make sure I'm clear. I'm not saying that people should hate you because you're a jerk. Or they should speak evil of you because you rip them off. Or because you do something that's wrong. Jesus points out, we saw last week in verse 23, or verse 22. He says, for the son of man's sake. They hate us for Jesus' sake.

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Not because we're jerks. Not because we're mean or rude. But because of Christ in us. Because of our stance on biblical values. Because of our proclamation of the truth. Because of the gospel message that we present. He says, woe to you when everybody speaks well of you. Because if everybody's speaking well of you, well that means you're probably not bringing the gospel message. You're not standing up for the truth, for righteousness.

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You're not being faithful. So do you have any enemies? Maybe you need to go make some. We don't like that idea. We don't like that concept. But as we talk about making enemies, I want to encourage you, we need to do it like Daniel did. Remember Daniel in Daniel chapter 6 when he's thrown into the lion's den? All that his peers, those who are in authority along with him, they look at Daniel, they hate him. They don't like him. And so they begin to investigate his life.

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We kind of see that happening today, right? With all the elections, you know, preparation going on and all these candidates are there and they hate each other. Everybody hates everybody else and there's these investigations that go on. Alright, what dirt can we dig up? How can we smear them? How can we eliminate them and disqualify them from the race? Well, they do an investigation into Daniel's life.

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And in Daniel chapter 6 verse 5, here's what they conclude. It says, You see, when I'm talking about us having enemies, I'm not saying that it's because we're doing something wrong. No, when they investigate our lives, they should find there's no charge we can bring against this person unless it has to do with their relationship with God.

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Because they don't waver from what the Bible teaches. They don't waver from what God has said. They don't waver from that gospel message. That's the only way. If we're going to bring something against them, it has to do with the relationship with God. That's the kind of enemies that we need to have. Not that they could bring something against us because we said something, we did something, we're doing something wrong. But because we hold fast to the things of God. Woe to you if everyone likes you.

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Because he says, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. If you look back in the Old Testament, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, the people hated the prophets that were the true prophets, the prophets of God. But the false prophets, the people loved. They embraced. They said, oh, wow, tell us more. We want to hear. They didn't have anything wrong or against the false prophets.

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And so Jesus says, woe to you if everybody likes you because it means you're like a false prophet. You're just telling people what they want to hear. Well, I don't want to make waves. I don't want to rock the boat. Woe to you. Woe to you. You need to speak the truth. You need to stand up for righteousness. You need to present the gospel even when it's not popular. And so Jesus pronounces these woes. Again, it's the other side of the coin for the blessings that we saw last week. And through all of this,

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My encouragement to you, my exhortation to you is connect with Jesus. Be hungry, be thirsty. Cry out to Him, call out to Him. Admit that you desperately need Him and pursue Him with all your heart. You will be blessed. You will be fully satisfied. But if you choose, and it's your choice not to, then be warned. There are woes ahead. There will be exclamations of grief because you refuse to respond.

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To what God has said. This morning we get to partake of communion together. And before we do. We want to spend a few moments. And just get our hearts ready. And so the worship team is going to come up. And lead us in a song. And as they lead us in this song. I want to challenge you. I want to ask you to prepare your heart. That as we come to the communion table this morning. That we do not come.

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In the condition that Jesus is describing here. That we do not come to the communion table rich. With the attitude that man I don't really need God. I don't really need a savior. I can do it on my own. And again maybe we know better than to say those things out loud. But check your heart. Check your life. Does your life demonstrate that you desperately need him? It's time to examine our heart. To prepare ourselves for communion. Check and see. Am I full? Or do I come to God expecting something?

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Desiring to grow. To receive. To hear. To be directed. Am I just filling my life with entertainment. So I don't have to deal with weeping. With reality. With things that God has said. And God has declared. Or am I fearing men over God. And so I'm too afraid to make enemies. And so I don't stand up for what's right. I don't stand up for the truth. It's a time. It's an opportunity for us right now. As we sing this song. Examine your heart. Repent.

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Make sure that as you head to the communion table in just a few moments, that you're poor, that you're hungry, that you weep, that you're ready for men to speak evil of you for the name of Jesus' sake. So let's worship the Lord together and allow Him to challenge our hearts in those things. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.