We'll give them a couple of minutes. Maybe the rest of us have a few giggles to get out. I think all of us have had in our life experience the departure of someone very precious to us. There was in the life of my wife and I, and when our first two children were just small, family that meant very much to us, especially the husband and wife of that family. I was in the city of San Antonio having a series of meetings many years ago, and I received a long-distance call, saying, Donald, if you want to see Irma Farre alive, you must come now. I remember driving hard all night, and finally going from way down in the southern part of the state of Texas, way up into the north part, up toward the Panhandle. And when I got there, exhausted, I went to the bedside of Irma Farr, and when I looked into her face, emotionally, I could not contain myself, and I fell beside her bed on my knees and wept and couldn't look at her. She had been what you would consider a little bit overweight all the time that I had known her in our association together. what I'd call really a fat woman, but just a little beyond, we'll say whatever is normal, she was a little on the heavy side. She was as kind or more kind than her beauty was physically. She just really was a lovely soul, and she had such love it just knit its way into our heart. My wife and I, she'd become really a mother to Gloria and I, a mother away from our mothers. I began to pray, and I can't to this day tell you just exactly what I said God only would know, but I prayed out of a heart that was broken because I saw death on her face. And just a very short few days later, she passed away and I was asked to conduct the funeral. It was one of my heartings because that woman had been very dear to my wife and I, and like I said, almost like our real mother. For some three and a half years the Lord had gathered about him in a very intimate way twelve men. He ate with them, he slept with them, he journeyed with them, he talked to them, he listened to them, and as we read this morning he loved them unto the end. Our brother Leonard has been speaking about godliness. He's been defining it for us, describing it. One way you can look at godliness is God-likeness. God-likeness. I appreciate it so much that it's a little bit ago, even though we had gone over together in our trailers, as he gave it out, he just was more emphatic. This matter that he took up a long ago, devoted well. Godliness, one who was devoted well. to someone else. How well are we devoted to the Lord? Now, you know, some of these disciples were devoted so well until his going away was crushing us. Most of us have stood by the casket of some departed loved ones and rung our hands and had all kinds of physiological movements that may or may not have had any significant meaning other than the fact that we were emotionally broken. And we stood there and wept. Well, here the Lord is walking right into the very mouth of death. It's all over him. He set his faith as a friend to go toward Jerusalem. He had one purpose in mind. It was Calvary's cross, and he was determined to be there, and the devil was going to do everything he could to stop it. How much the devil knows, I'm not prepared to say, but I'm confident that he knows more than most of us think. He well knew. that these disciples were going to miss their Lord. And he said in John chapter thirteen, as we looked at it this morning, if I, verse fourteen, if I's in, your Lord and Master. Now sometimes the word Master is the translation of the word Lord. But sometimes it's the translation of the word didactic, meaning teacher. Here, as well as in verse thirteen, he said, you call me teacher and Lord. Master, there is the word didactic. One who teaches in a didactic fashion. Gynacritism is giving out certain information in a form or a way or a process that is laid out where you can take it in. So Jesus had said, you call me master or teacher and Lord. And that's correct. And you say, well, for so I am. If I've been your Lord and teacher have watched your feet, you also ought to watch one another's feet. Now in chapter fourteen, we see him taking up something a little different. But in the interim, in the latter part of chapter thirteen, notice what he has to say beginning at verse thirty one. This is John chapter thirteen verse thirty one. Therefore, when he was drawn out, that is Judas Iscariot, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. The word glory can also be rendered estimation. It is the word doxa, and it can be rendered estimation. That word in the Greek language is seen in action in the Hebrew language in the Old Testament. And don't forget that we have a Greek Old Testament called the Septuagint. You remember Alexander the Great, the son of Philip of Macedon, had moved in to the land of Palestine, conquering. And when he had conquered that nation, Israel, he subjugated them to many of his customs, his language, his culture. And I'll say this for the Greeks. They were a wise people. And to this day, you'll find that they had... one of the best of languages, if not the best. Anybody that studies that language seriously has to admit it is one of the most precise languages, and not is it any too little a thing that doctors in the medical field have chosen to use Greek to define many parts of human anatomy. That word in the Old Testament, you can see in action in Genesis one, God made thus and so, and it was good. What do you have there? That's glory. This is God's estimation of it. God values that. He did it. He placed a value on it. It was glory. Now notice here. Jesus had said, therefore, when he was gone out, Judas, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified. Now I want you to get a real estimation of what I am. And if I've understood Brother Leonard, this is what he's exhorting us to do. Get a look at the Lord. Make a proper evaluation and estimation of him. And the more we begin to look at the Lord, the more we're going to begin to look like him. And that's what's brought out in Second Corinthians chapter three. If you don't mind, we'll look at that just for a moment. Second Corinthians chapter three, we were holding our place in John. We'll be coming right back. Second Corinthians. I have to turn kind of slow because this Bible is about to fall asleep. And I'm like the little kid with the blanket. I don't want to give it up. I drag it around. Chapter three, verses seventeen and eighteen. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we're all with open faith, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. Now notice, he says, are changed. Now the word changed is the same, absolutely the same Greek word that's rendered transformed in Romans chapter twelve in verse two. Thee transform. Same word. That word in the original language is a word that you've used in biology. It is the word metamorphosis. Morphe is the Greek word of form that's intrinsic, not form that's outward. Form that's outward is schema. That's our English word, schematic. Someone makes a schematic drawing of the integral parts of this microphone. That shows how each part relates to another. That's outward form. But remember that Morphe is intrinsic form. And you can see that brought out clearly in Philippians chapter two where he says, Who being in the form of God? That is, Jesus Christ is the very essence of what God is. For he is God. We were hearing about that this morning as we came together to eat the Lord's Supper. But here in Second Corinthians three and eighteen, but we all with open faith. And open faith has the idea with the veil removed. We all with unveil faith, beholding as in the glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed. change. Now, not outwardly. That's what the Jesus freak so-called trying to do a few years ago. They were going to grow beards, and some of them grew long-haired thinking that the Lord Jesus was a long-haired man. I got news for them. It's simple that the Lord Jesus didn't have long hair on his head. Maybe on his teeth, yes, but not on his head. Well, you get that. Quite simple. First Corinthians eleven. It's a shame for a man to have long hair, and my Lord certainly wouldn't go around in shame like that. Just very simple. Notwithstanding the artistic views of Italian artists and others who have followed their concepts. And we won't get into what denominations they belong to. But their headquarters is wrong. Now remember, the writer is saying, the Apostle Paul, the same one that we've been hearing about this afternoon, talking to Timothy. He's talking to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, and he said, we are all with unveil faith, beholding as in a glass, a mirror, that which reflects, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord. Now remember, there are some glasses that one way you see through it, the other way you see yourself. We are all with unveil faith, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. are transformed or changed. Intensically our form goes through a change from glory to glory. The Lord has said in John thirteen, if you'll flip back to it please now, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. The Son of Man you're going to see in a proper estimation and God you're going to view in a proper estimation in the Son of Man. You're going to get a glimpse of what God is like because God is about to send his son to death. I've mentioned Irma Farah, the dear friend of my wife and I, and it's a year and a half before her death. If you had told me Irma's going to go into death, I would have looked at it so sadly until it would have crushed me. Never dreamed what was going to happen. He had two fights with cancer in her breast. The first led to the second, and after the second operation, she never really recovered. It would have saddened us to learn of her death. We didn't really realize until the latter moment. And then we saw that handwriting on the wall. Here the Lord is saying, I'm going to die. He's already told them. You can see in Matthew chapter sixteen. You can see in Matthew chapter seventeen. And I believe it's chapter nineteen or twenty. Three different times that the Lord spoke of his crucifixion. Let's just look at it. I can't do anything better than leave Scripture with you anyway. You know I'm going to use the time, so we just as well, as Milo watching you, we just as well as prepare, isn't it? Milo, I'm not going to about five yet, you have to bear it. Matthew sixteen. Look, if you will, at verse twenty-one. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go to enter Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and the children, to raise the gain of the third day. Now chronologically, this is some long time before Jesus announced these words, in John thirteen quite a bit of time span there look if you will chapter seventeen verses twenty two and twenty three while they abode in Galilee Jesus said unto them now remember he was in Caesarea Philippi when he unfolded it the first time of his death he unfolded it in Caesarea Philippi and the next time he's in Galilee that's south of Caesarea Philippi Verse twenty-two and twenty-three. While they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him. And the third day he will be raised again, and they will be feeding stars. This shows you something of their response. In chapter twenty and verses eighteen and nineteen, chapter twenty, verses eighteen and nineteen, he's there going up to Jerusalem, very likely in the area of Jericho. He's moved farther south. Each time he gets a little farther south. He started in the north, and he moves farther south until he gets finally to the place of his death. Now in John chapter thirteen, Jesus is saying, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself. And immediately shall glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I'm with you. Here's a tender way of saying I'm getting ready to leave. So the message this afternoon that I'd like to share with you is, number one, the going of the Savior, number two, the coming of the Spirit, and number three, the teaching of the saints. The going of the Savior, the coming of the Spirit, and the teaching of the saints. You shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go, you cannot come. So now I say to you, I am going away. This is my farewell address. I am going to be leaving you. I have watched your idiosyncrasies. I have seen your weaknesses. I have seen your outright wickednesses. I have followed you step by step in an intimate way for some three and a half years. And yet in John chapter thirteen he says, beloved of the men. The very thing that our brother Leonard was stressing a moment ago, I tried to stress this morning that down in you and down in me is something that responds to sin and has an insatiable appetite for that which is evil. It is corrupt. It is vile. And it's foolish on our part ever to seek to culture it or train it or win it. It is sin that dwells in it. And knowing full well all about man, for he's the author of man, Jesus loves us to the end. Now this very one that loves us like that says to the disciples, I'm going away. I'm going to be leaving you. Let your heart get into the emotion of this if you can. Journey with me back to that time in the upper room when the Lord is speaking to these hymns that have traveled with him, have eaten with him, have slept there with him in the area. have suffered some of the abuses of the society about them, with him, watching their reproaches, sense his love, seeing his powers, and then for him to announce to them, I'm getting ready to go. Just a little longer, I'll be with you, and then I'm going. A new commandment, I give unto you that you love one another. Let us go back to the Old Testament. You know, that's our picture book, and let us go back to that portion in the book of Genesis. where Joseph is talking to his brethren. Chapter fifty. Verse fourteen. And Joseph returns into Egypt he and his brethren. And all that went up with him to bury his father, and after he had buried his father. When Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph, will prevent your hate us. It will certainly require us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall you say unto Joseph, forgive I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren, for they did unto the evil. And now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph rept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his faith. And they said, Behold, we give thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you sought evil against me. But God meant it unto good, to bring the fast, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore, fear you not. I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them. Now remember, here is one speaking kindly to those who had done evil to him. Here are sinners being spoken to who are dealt in real evil ways towards the one that's speaking to them, Joseph, and he entreats them timely. Now tell me, do you think that those disciples, do you think that they didn't have evil in them? Certainly they did. Sometimes we get to think the disciples were way up here somewhere and they were just out here in the stratosphere and they weren't real human beings. They put their shoes on just like we did. They dressed just like we did. They got hungry like we did. They thirsted. They pired out like they did. And they had the same conflict with evil. And I'm sure when the Lord would say something sometimes, down in their heart they think, now, Lord, I don't know whether I want to do that or not. You know, Peter just spoke it out. Peter was less guile. It had less guile in him, I think, than some of the rest of them. Because after all, what he felt he usually spoke. And the rest of them were a little more subtle about it. But Jesus was speaking so kindly and so tender to them. He said, the new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. He knew what was in their heart. Now some of you are going to miss this, but I don't stop and pause and let you get taken because I'm getting rough conditions by the near place. It is difficult in the afternoon to stay away. A new commandment I give unto you. I'm not going to be here to settle your argument. I'm not going to be here to straighten out the club. I'm not going to be here to take the brunt of a sharp edge of your words against the resonance. So I'm going to command you a new commandment. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. as I have loved you that ye also love one another. Why was this verse given at this particular place? Why did he state these words at this strategic moment? For the very simple reason is that they were going to have to demonstrate what God was like, for God himself in the person of his son was getting ready to leave. The going of the Savior is going to leave. By this you will only know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another. Joseph well knew that after his departure, They were going to need something to comfort them. Jacob knew this. Jacob passes the word on to them and Joseph certainly entreats them timely. Here you see in this particular chapter the Lord is going to say in verse thirty six something through Peter. Peter says unto him Lord whither goest thou what he's saying is Lord you've indicated you're going to go where are you going to go Jesus answered him whither I go thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards Peter said unto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay down my life for thy sake Do you think he meant that? I believe he meant it. I really believe he meant it. And furthermore, brethren, here's where I may surprise some of you. I think he proved it. I believe he did. I said, wait a minute, don't you? You didn't read the rest of the chapter. I was in the moment. I believe that Peter proved he would lay down his life for the Lord. All you have to do is go back and read the account. When our Lord is there in the garden... He's surrounded by those few disciples. A multitude comes out with spears and swords and bludgeons and whatever else they may have had. And it was a multitude. And what did Peter do? The wrong thing, of course, but what did he do? He pulled out his sword. Now, you'll never convince me he didn't intend to die right there to the Lord. The Lord had already told him he was going to die. So Peter, on the spur of the moment, decided, well, Lord, this is the last man. I'll pull out my sword. And you know how, most of you know how I feel about what he did. I don't think Peter was all that clever as a butcher. I don't think he belonged to the cutlery union, you know. I believe he intended to make two of Malchus, and Malchus somehow, but God's providence dug in God just one of his ears. Because I think he intended to cut him right in half, and he was ready to start the fight. And would have died. Listen, if they had fought with one another, you can be sure if it had just been man-to-man, they would have gone down. First place, Peter was out of the will of God, wasn't he? Jesus said, put up your sword and you achieve. They that take the fortress of the sword. Now, notice what Jesus says. He said, Where thou go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thee for thy sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou lay down thy life for thysake? Truly I say unto thee, the comp shall not crow until thou hast denied me thrice. The rooster is not going to crow until you have denied me three times. Peter, let you know me. You know, as long as the Lord Jesus was around the disciples, they seemed to do real well. But the Lord had only gone from him just a few short steps. He was up on the praetorium, or up on the elevated area of the praetorium, and Peter was out there in the courtyard. And if you've ever been over that area, you can see in the old temple area where that a person could be, and where the temple proper was, and it wasn't very far. And I and I walked over some of that area last year. And Peter is out there in that porch or portico park. of the Petorium area, and he's warming his hands at the fire of those who hated the Lord. He got him of the wrong crowd, and there's a man, a boy, and a girl, or a man, or a woman, that's gotten into the wrong crowd. And in that wrong crowd, your true character, your true natural character, has come to the surface in such a way in dishonored God. Here's Peter. He gets in the wrong crowd, and you know the story as well or better than I. He denies that he knew him. three times before the rooster crowed. When the rooster crowed, he looked up and saw those flaming eyes of love and went out and wet bitterly according to the book of Luke. But here in this chapter, Jesus simply announced that before the rooster crows, you're going to die three times. Now, noticing we're not going to be able to get into the coming of the Spirit at all when we have time for that this afternoon or even the teaching of the saint. We'll save that for later. But let us go a little farther about the going of the Savior. He says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house. are many mansions or places to abide. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Now here's the going of the Savior once more. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest. And how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, you would have known my Father also, and from henceforth, or from now, and you know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. In other words, that's sufficient for us. We'll be satisfied. That'll be sufficient. Just show us the Father, and it'll satisfy us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. And how saith thou then? Show us the Father. I like those wonderful verses that are given over in the book of Hebrews. Would you chat with me in that portion? Would you just turn with me and we're going to talk about it a little bit? I know that our time is up and I'll just cut it off right here in a few moments. But turn to the book of Hebrews chapter one. Let's just talk about the Lord as he's seen there. Hebrews chapter one. Then we're going to glance at the book of Colossians also. And then I'll close out the study this afternoon. Hebrews chapter one, God, who at sundry times, and in divers manner, spake, and time passed unto the fathers, by the prophet. Now notice, by the prophet has in these last days spoken unto us, where it says here, by his son, it's literally in son. where it says by the prophet, it's literally in the prophet. God with hundred times and diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers in the prophet. In those men, God was speaking. But now to contrast those men with this one man, he has in these last days spoken unto us in the Son, whom is appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his glory, and he expressed image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made. And I thought, I suspicion that was the case, where it said, being made, I'd like to throw this in. Please, please do not be offended at me. Let me stress something that's very important in our day. There is one name that I do name publicly. It's the Jehovah's False Witnesses. Now they go by another name. But the Jehovah's false witnesses teach that Jesus Christ was made or a created being. Let me tell you, my beloved friend, that that term is not used anywhere in the Greek and the Testament. It is the word genami, which means to become. So here he became so much better than the angels. In other words, he's speaking of the Son of the Son. as not only the Son of God, but the Son of Man. And as the Son of God, Son of Man, the dual role that he absolutely lived, he became so much better than the angel, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Quickly, man, Colossians. Quickly, in Colossians, let us notice a little bit of the image and the form of the Son of God found there. Colossians chapter one. Beginning at verse twelve and following, giving thanks unto the Father who has made us meet, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love. In whom we have received, or we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things whole together. And he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fully swell. Chapter two and verse nine. Now notice. In him should all fullness dwell. Now in chapter two, verse nine, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the fullness of the Godhead bodily within the Lord Jesus. So therefore in John chapter fourteen, something very relevant there, you'll notice what Jesus said. He said, Philip, have I been so long time with you, verse nine, and yet hast thou not known me? He that has seen me, has seen the Father. And how saith thou then? Show us the Father. Believe it thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father me, the works that I seek unto you. I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells in me. He does the work. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father of me, or else believe me, for the very work's sake. And he said in John ten and thirty, I and my Father are one. Imagine one so holy, so harmless, so undefiled, so separate from sinners, walking among men as a man. He stood before them, and he said, I'm going to leave you. I've never lost a friend like that in this earth. I've lost a lot of friends, even some of my family, but I've never lost one like that. And just thanks, the disciples were getting ready to experience the going of the Savior. And that will set the stage for the coming of the Spirit and then the teaching of the saints. The Savior has gone back to the glory, but he went by way of death. And his death was no right thing. Never was there a death like Jesus' death. Or was there an individual that ever bore sin in his own body on the tree, as he did as our substitute? I'm wondering this afternoon if I'm speaking to anyone or any person that have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Or you say, Don, you're speaking to all Christians here. Wonderful. That's just wonderful. That's the case. But so often, someone is struggling in what they call their Christian life. Trying to live the Christian life. Trying to be godly like our brother Leonard has been talking about. Going the way he said not to go. That is trying to do things or not do things. So in order that they might be godly, they would have the approval of God and men. But somehow you don't seem to get power. You don't seem to have any power in your life. There doesn't seem to be any real driving force. And you seem to constantly be a failure at your Christian life. Here's the question I want to raise. Is your soul safe? I'm not asking have you confessed faith in Christ. Many have. Many did in the Bible and weren't saved. Is your soul saved. Have you had a personal experience of receiving Christ? Now listen to me. Please listen carefully. I want you to get the distinction. The Bible makes it. If not confessing Jesus as Savior, that isn't what the Bible says. If thou so confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, to be your Lord. One on the cross said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. It was his last day on earth, but he acknowledged Jesus as Lord, not just an escape from the fires of hell. And if we have really received him as Lord, if he's confessed him as Lord, if we've trusted him as Lord, then there should be evidence of his Lordship in our life. And if there is, He'll be a God with Jesus. And only to the degree that Jesus, in a practical way, is Lord in our lives. He will be God in us. A God like us. In our lives. We will be those who are. Oh, my beloved friend. The Savior was leaving. He was going. By way of the cross. He died on that tree. Baring our sins in his own body. Have you visualized that in your heart and mind? Have you said, Lord Jesus, never was there love like that? Do you believe in your heart God raised him out from among the dead? It's so. The scripture says, with the heart man believes under righteousness, and with the mouth, concession is made under salvation. It's the time right now that you've searched and found out that you have really been saved, because after all, you might just be a professor without really possessing eternal life. If that's the case, I seek you, I plead with you, I ask of you earnestly right this afternoon, say, Lord Jesus, right now, I am willing to receive you as my Lord and my Savior. I want eternal life. I want to be like the Lord Jesus. And I'll tell you, the moments we receive him will settle forever. But you must receive him if you do it now. Father, we thank you for this time and this place and these circumstances. We thank you for thy word that gives light. The entrance of thy word gives light. You have understanding under the temple. Oh, Lord, may these days be days of real enlightenment But more than that, real empowering to be godly in this sinful world, to be holy, separated unto thyself, and from evil, that the world may know that Christ is in us. And then help us, Lord, to demonstrate what the Lord Jesus talked about when he said, By this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one to another. Oh, may this camp season, this year be a demonstration of real Christian love. Lord, may we just sense the love of God flowing in us and through us toward each other. May we appreciate each other as we should, recognizing each other as a member in particular, in the body of Christ, serving a particular function that all of us might get the benefit and God might get the glory. Lord, we can say, any of those who are yet unsaved, whether professed or not professed, that they too may know the joys of sin for them.