Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we kick off today's teaching, we want to let you know that you can stay in the know about what's happening at Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email or email us.
updates. When you do, you'll also receive Skip's weekly devotional email to inspire you with God's Word each week. So sign up today at connectwithskip.com.
That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Stop. What did they do with their confusion? They talked their confusion out loud. They weren't afraid to say to each other, hey, Peter, John, James, I don't get it. Do you understand what he said?
Because I don't see it. They were not too proud to ask the question and admit their confusion. Now I have met some people who are too proud to ask questions. Thus, they never get answers. I've met people who are too busy to discuss spiritual matters so they never grow to maturity. There's an old Chinese proverb that says, he who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. But he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. These disciples didn't get it.
They're confused and they talk their confusion out loud to one another. That's healthy. That's good. Confusion can challenge joy. Here's the second. Promises can anchor joy. Now I want you to watch this.
To me it's quite stunning actually. Verse 19. Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask him. And he said to them, are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said a little while and you will not see me again a little while and you will see me? Most assuredly, anytime you read that or if you have the old King Jimmy, verily, verily, it's a profound statement of importance.
What I'm about to say, boys, is important. Now he makes a promise. Most assuredly I say to you, you will weep and lament but the world will rejoice and you will be sorrowful but your sorrow will be turned into joy. What is stunning to me is that Jesus does not explain in detail what he had just said that they don't understand. He doesn't want to weep and lament by a little while and a little while. So here's the deal. Here's the eschatology. He didn't do that.
No real explanation. Instead he gives them a promise. In fact, the first part of the promise is not very good. Second part of the promise is great but the first part is, okay, I know you're sorrowful now and you're confused.
It's going to get a lot worse. You're going to get so sorrowful that you're going to want to weep and lament while the world rejoices. Second part, your sorrow will be transformed, changed, converted, turned into joy.
I've discovered something throughout the few years I've been alive. Promises are more important than explanations. We Americans want everything explained to us. We're not happy until it's explained. We want an explanation. What is?
Okay, well, that's not good enough. I want a real explanation. One of the best books I ever read by Warren Wiersbe and his son David about how to minister to people with broken hearts, bereaved hearts, they've lost children or parents or spouses, cautions the minister in this book not to try to offer long explanations of why God would allow this to happen. I don't know what's going on when they're ready for it but at first in the crisis, give them a promise, don't give them an explanation. Wiersbe writes, even if the minister can give a rational explanation for this tragedy, explanations do not heal a broken heart. People live on promises, not on explanations.
We don't need reasons, rather we need resources. So here's Jesus and he gives them a promise of future joy. It's bad now, boys, it's gonna get worse but it's gonna get really good after that. Now he gives them a promise of future joy and it all hinges on a little phrase and what is that little phrase that is repeated eight times in this one paragraph? It's the phrase a little while.
He keeps using that and they keep using that and then Jesus uses it. Eight times the phrase a little while. You're gonna be happy in a little while. It's gonna get really bad but in a little while. It's gonna get really good. So what does that mean?
When is a little while gonna happen? Well, I'm glad you asked. Indulge me. Let me explain that there are three options.
You can pick which ones you think suit you the best or suit the text and the context the best. I'll tell you what I think. Number one, that this was going to be fulfilled immediately. Immediately. Jesus in a few hours would be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. They would become very sorrowful. The next day Jesus would die on the cross. They would be extremely lamentably sorrowful. But three days later he's gonna rise from the dead and when they see him alive from the dead, they're gonna go from sorrow to joy in an instant. It could mean that it's gonna be fulfilled rather immediately. In fact, that is exactly what happened when Jesus appeared to them in the upper room, the Bible says in John 20, as he spoke he held out his hands for them to see and he showed them his side. They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord. So it did happen immediately.
Number two, here's another option. Many believe that Jesus wasn't meaning that this would be fulfilled immediately, but rather imminently. Soon, but not immediately. Eventually, but not immediately.
And this is how it's interpreted. Jesus would die, rise from the dead. He'd be with them on earth for 40 more days, the Bible tells us.
Then he would leave, right? He would ascend into heaven. Standing on the Mount of Olives, watching them go all the way up into heaven.
And they would not see him anymore in the flesh after that. But, though they were bummed out that Jesus left them, their joy would be rekindled when as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit would be sent to them to be in them and upon them. And as they would minister around the world in the power of the Spirit, that would bring them joy. Which also happened in Acts 13.
The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. So could it be that Jesus meant it would be fulfilled immediately? Could it be that he meant it would be fulfilled imminently?
Here's another possibility. That this will be fulfilled ultimately, or eventually, futuristically, or if you want another term, eschatologically. Not immediately, not imminently, but eventually. Well, that also is true. In the end, when all believers are gathered and we see the Lord, there will be a sense of joy that is amazing, will be absent from the body, will be present with the Lord. So, if that is the case, then a little while means our lifetime.
And, in fact, even the entire church age. I know what you're thinking. That didn't sound like a little while to me. A long haul.
Not a little while. However, consider the kind of joy Jesus says they're gonna have would be permanent. Look at verse 22 at the very end. He's alive right now, but I still know many Christians who know that he's alive and live very sad and sullen lives. Or, if it means the Holy Spirit, I know many believers. They all have the Holy Spirit living within them. Some are experiencing the power from time to time of the Holy Spirit, but still lack a sense of joy. But the third is definitely true.
When you're in heaven with the Lord and he wipes away every tear and there is no more sorrow, you will have a joy that will be permanent and everlasting and no one can take it from you. Also, consider this. The term, that little phrase, that recurrent eight-time phrase, a little while, that's a relative term.
Would you agree? Let me explain. I discovered that that phrase appears four different times in the New Testament Gospels. Jesus said the phrase four times. He may have said it more, but it's recorded four times that he used the phrase a little while. Now listen to this. In one instance, a couple chapters before, John 14, Jesus uses that phrase.
Let me read it to you. John 14, 19. A little while and the world will see me no more. Now that meant that night he was on his way to be arrested.
He would be crucified. A little while meant like a day. But in John chapter seven, which happened a year before this event, Jesus says this, I shall be with you a little while longer and then I will go to him who sent me.
So do you see in one instance, a little while means one day and another instance, a little while means a year. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig, Weekend Edition. Before we return to Skip's teaching, we want to help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ from cradle to cross with Nate Heitzig's new book, Christmas Under the Tree. Told through the eyes of an unlikely character and graced with illuminating illustrations, this gripping tale is rooted in the limitlessness of Christ's love and helps young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. This exciting resource, along with a companion audio experience, are available to you now as our way of saying thanks for your gift of $25 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. Now we start to get the perspective of Jesus, indeed the perspective of God, that he sees time differently than we do, because I would say a little while. I would say like what, like five minutes. That's a little while, a year, that's not a little while, especially if you're like two years old. That's half a lifetime. But understand that to God, time is completely different because he's outside the time-space continuum. He's in eternity. In fact, what did Peter say?
1 Peter 3 verse 8, a thousand years with the Lord is like one day, and one day is like a thousand years. You know, we get all jazzed. There's a new iPad out.
Man, this is like so cool. And God must go, yawn. Everything is like so new and so cool and so innovative and the latest this and, you know, we live in this period of history. But if you were to just begin to see it from God's perspective, and this might help, somebody tried to take world history and condense it into a 50-year span of time, 50 years all of history.
This is his perspective. Five months ago, the printing press was invented. Twenty days ago, Ben Franklin discovered electricity. Nineteen days ago, the telephone arrived on the scene. Eighteen days ago, two high school dropouts invented the airplane. Ten days ago, the radio was first invented. Five days ago, the TV was invented.
And five minutes ago, the first jet airplane took off. To God, in eternity, a millennium is a little while. Heard about a man who prayed something like this. God, it says here in your book that a thousand years is like one day to you. And I also read here in your book that you own the cattle on a thousand hills, so like a billion dollars is like one dollar to you.
So God, could I just have a dime? And the Lord spoke to him out of heaven, yes, my son, wait just a minute. Perspective changes things. From eternity's perspective, a lifetime is a little while.
Now here's the principle. We can endure the present trial when we know that it's going to end. And that's the comfort Jesus gives to his disciples. You guys are sorrowful. You're about to enter a dark night of your soul. It's not always going to stay this way. You're going to be lifted from sorrow to joy in a little while.
Let's look at the third and then we'll close. Not only does confusion challenge joy, not only do promises anchor joy, but sorrow can lead to joy. I know we want to avoid sorrow, but it can lead to joy. Verse 21, a woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Therefore, you now have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you. Now that's a little illustration, right? That's a little parable of childbirth. And the parable is based on the principle. And the principle is found in verse 20. It says your sorrow will be turned into joy. And then Jesus says it's like this. And everybody would be able to relate to it. It's like a woman having a baby.
Now the point is simple in the parable. Having a baby really hurts a lot. There's pain and there's anguish and there's sorrow and men kind of don't get that. So Carol Burnett tried to help us. She said, men, if you wanted to try to relate, it's like taking your bottom lip and trying to pull it back and stretch it over your head. And you get an idea of what pregnancy and having a baby is like.
I tried that once. It wasn't good. It hurts a lot. I don't know if you've gone through the Lamaze classes like I have. And when we were having Nathan, that was the big buzz.
Everybody went through that. And, you know, the idea, at least it was told to me. This is the perception I had is that, you know, it's just so natural and it's so holistic and it's so good. And you can just teach her to breathe right.
It's just going to be wonderful. Didn't work. With all due respect, if you're into Lamaze, for us, I'm, honey, and I'm the cheerleader. And then I get bopped in the head by my wife in the middle of it. Shut up. This really hurts.
I read this verse differently now. Here's the point. I always want to get back to the point.
The point is this. Despondency will be overshadowed by ecstasy. Just like maternity gets overshadowed by delivery. And that baby is born, and as that baby takes form and grows, all of that pain, all of that suffering, all of that anguish gets pushed back. She doesn't even remember it.
What she sees in front of her is the payoff. Now, does this refer to the resurrection? Does this refer to the coming Holy Spirit? Does this refer to the second advent?
Because all three are true, right? When Jesus rose from the dead, they were reunited. When the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, he's called, came upon them, they were further united, and one day in glory will be ultimately united. Now, I found a verse that I think ties a bow on this better than any verse in Scripture. It's out of Romans chapter 8.
Let me read it to you. All of creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us also groan, we too wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as children, including the new bodies He's promised us. And so, whatever you're in right now, the Lord wants to lift up your eyes and say, in a little while, things will be different.
Here's the question as we close. What do you do when you're sorrowful? I mean, really, just think about what you do typically when bad news gets delivered to you. Because I got to tell you, the world copes with sorrow in a number of ways, typically. They drink it through, or they take drugs to get themselves through, or they try to entertain their way through it, just soak in entertainment. You know, I was flabbergasted when I read this week that 35% of Americans report their method for combating depression is to watch television.
That's like saying, I want to get my disease cured by getting reinfected. So, what do you do? What should you do when you're sorrowful? I'll give you three bullet points to walk home with. Number one, replace your thoughts with His truth.
Whatever thoughts go through your mind and try to derail you and detract you, you know what that's like. Some of those voices are strong. The disciples voiced their thoughts. Jesus tried to replace it with His truth. Here's a promise. There's 7,487 promises in the Bible that God made to man, enough to get you through a lifetime. Dr. D. Martin Lloyd-Jones was a medical doctor who went into the ministry and he writes about depression.
This is what he says. We must talk to ourselves instead of allowing ourselves to talk to us. Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. He was basing that on taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and replacing your thoughts with God's truth, God's truth, God's truth. So that's number one, replace your thoughts with God's truth. Number two, replace yourself with your God. When we are sorrowing, we are self-absorbed. All of the energy we expend during a time of sorrow is typically focused inward. Why am I feeling this way?
How do I get out of this? We are self-absorbed and self-consumed and the cure is to turn from inward to outward, replace yourself with your God. What did Job do when he heard his family was all killed, all of his children and his property? It says he fell down and he worshiped. He said, naked, I've come into this world.
Naked, I'm going to leave. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He replaced himself with his God. Third and finally, replace your past with his future. Don't live in the past. Yeah, but I feel so bad. It's over. You can't fix it. Let it go.
Don't live in the past. Paul said, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. What lies ahead? And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, the former things that passed away. When's that going to happen? A little while. In the scope of eternity, a little while.
It might happen this week. And I don't mean by that that you might die and go to heaven this week. I mean that God may deliver you this week from just that thinking, that problem into a whole new arena.
But either way, a little while. The worst thing I can think of in life, from my perspective, the worst possible experience is to grow old as a non-believer. As a non-believer, as you grow older, just this is what happens. You will go from sorrow to sorrow to sorrow to sorrow to ultimate and eternal sorrow. As a believer, whatever sorrow will be turned into joy. And you can even have it now as you frame it in the right perspective.
That's enough to make any Eeyore get turned into a Tigger. We're glad you've joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $25 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Nate Heitzig's new children's book, Christmas Under the Tree, which includes a companion audio experience.
Just in time for Christmas, this book will help young readers understand why Jesus left heaven to be born under and die upon a tree. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to download the Connect with Skip Heitzig app, where you can access messages and more content right at your fingertips. We'll see you next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig weekend edition. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
