TD Jakes - The Guardian
We are going to the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 14, Verse 1. There you will find our assignment for this morning. It is not often that we go to John 14 without a casket in front of the building, but we’re going there today because there is something that God wants us to learn from the text. I wanted to read the whole verse, but I figured it might be too much for you, so I selected verses 16 through 27 in the hopes that, at your own leisure, you might go through the entire context from which the text is extrapolated and thereby gain extra wisdom regarding what Jesus is summarizing to His disciples right before He exits. You know the text: «Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house, there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.»
I go—yeah, see, I knew you knew it— «I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also.» My cousin Buddy! Thank God I didn’t see you, man. Give God praise for my cousin in the house! Amen, amen! Yeah, go there and take a picture of it. Yeah! And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto Myself. Philip said, «Have I been so long with you, and yet you do not know Me? Show us the Father, and it suffices us.» Jesus said, «Have I been so long with you, and you still don’t know that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.» My God! That’s some good stuff! We’re going to start at the 16th verse. I was above it, but we’re going to go to 16, and we’re going to read it from the Amplified Bible because the Amplified Bible amplifies the text so that you can see that the particular words invested in the text have variances of meaning and that you might get a deeper, richer, and fuller experience as you go into the Word of God.
The Gospel of St. John 14:16. When you have it, say Amen! Amen! If you can’t find it, say «Pray for me;» don’t fake it! «And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby.» Good God of mercy! You’re going to let me have a Comforter, a Helper, an Advocate, an Intercessor, a Counselor, a Strengthener, a Standby to be with you forever? Let’s go on! «The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive and take to its heart because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He, the Holy Spirit, remains with you continually and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, comfortless, bereaved, and helpless.» I want to read that again: «I will not leave you as orphans, comfortless, bereaved, and helpless. I will come back to you after a little while. The world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. On that day, when that time comes, you will know for yourselves that I am in My Father and you are in Me, and I am in you.»
Come on! «The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who really loves Me.» No shenanigans, no slipping, sliding, ducking, hiding, night-riding; but the one who keeps My commandments and really keeps them is the one who truly loves Me. «And whoever really loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.» I will make Myself real! «Jesus is real to me! So many people doubt Him, but I can’t live without Him. Jesus is real to me!» I will make Myself real to him. Come on! Judas, not Iscariot, asked Him, «Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?» Jesus answered and said, «If anyone really loves Me, he will keep My word, My teachings, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our dwelling place with him.» Woo! Ain’t that something?
God says, «I and My Father will come together and make Our dwelling place with him.» Do you know God lives with you? «The one who does not really love Me does not keep My words, and the word, the teaching which you hear is not Mine, but it is the Father’s who sent Me.» «I have told you these things while I am still with you, but the Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby—the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf, He will teach you all things, and He will help you remember everything that I have told you.» «Peace I leave with you.» I felt anxiety leave the room when I said that! «Peace I leave with you! My perfect peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.»
Good God Almighty! You can go home now; that’s a sermon all by itself! What fascinated me about the text is what it said: when Jesus said, «I will not leave you as orphans. I will not abandon you. I will not leave you as orphans, comfortless, bereaved, and helpless. I will come back to you.» He’s setting us up for the advent of the Holy Spirit to take up residence in the world—our Advocate, our Helper, our Standby. And this morning, I’m going to call Him «The Guardian.» My subject is «The Guardian.»
Eternal and all-wise God, we come before You now as humbly as we know how, asking You to sanctify the Word in our hearts. Let the Word bring forth fruit in our lives. In the name of Jesus, we pray, Amen!
You may be seated. Home, yeah, I’m home. The first time I used this text publicly, I was 19 years old, preaching a funeral for a 17-year-old boy who was killed in a car wreck. I brought the family in: «Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s House, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you may be also.» Anytime we associate a text with a circumstance, sometimes we compromise the context from which the text is taken because our point of reference is limited to homegoing services and funerals. But in actuality, this is not a text of lament.
This is not a text that is meant to comfort people in times of emotional chaos and distress. This is a text that is given to explain to a nervous and restless group of disciples the feeling of abandonment that they are facing. The time has come in their lives for Christ to step away in His physical form, and they are being weaned from Him, much like many soldiers who go off to war, kissing their kids and wives goodbye, saying, «Let not your heart be troubled; I will come back to you.» It is a promise He gives upon His exit: they are not abandoned, but He will give them a Guardian, another Comforter, and also, Paraclete—a Helper who stands alongside to aid and give comfort. He is there to ensure that you don’t suffer in My physical absence. He is there, has been with you, and shall be in you.
It was interesting to note that one of the fullest classes we had on Wednesday night focused on the Holy Spirit itself because we want to activate the Holy Spirit. We want to know that He is more than goosebumps and chills but that He is a resonant force in our lives. He’s not just a feeling; He is a force in our lives. He is not an emotion; He is a personality of God revealed through human bodies. He is the light that lights the lantern; we are the lantern, but He is the light. I was looking at the moon last night. It was a quarter moon out, glowing beautifully in the night.
I said to a friend of mine, «The moon has no light of its own. It is at the mercy of its ability to see the sun, and to the degree to which it sees the sun, it illuminates in direct proportion to that visibility it experiences with the sun.» The only reason it is only lit to a quarter is because of the obscurity of the vision. The clearer the vision, the brighter the light. So, you might have some half-moon Christians right now who are going to get a vision that takes them to… Oh, y’all don’t get it. To full moon if you keep walking with Him. The moon is just a reflection of the sun in another part of the world. That’s what we are to be—created in His image, a mirror, a reflection of His glory.
There are many things, and one of them we’re going to talk about today is a reflection of His glory. What’s going to help us understand is that this is an allegory in its essence—a story or picture or piece of art that uses symbols to convey a hidden or ulterior meaning, typically a moral or political one. This is an allegory. In other words, I’m not saying that it didn’t happen; I’m saying that it has a double meaning. In its simplest and most concise definition, an allegory is when a piece of visual or narrative media uses one thing to stand in for a different hidden idea. The reason that the idea is hidden from us is that what Jesus is saying is consistent with what the bridegroom would say to the bride.
In Jesus’s day, they viewed marriage differently than we do today. At the time you were engaged, you were actually married, even though the marriage hadn’t been consummated. During that time period, you had entered into a serious and committed agreement. That’s why Joseph was going to give Mary a bill of divorcement, though he had not yet married her. He had betrothed her; he had entered into commitment with her, and that was a part of the marriage ceremony. What Jesus is saying to the disciples reflects the relevance of what marriage meant in biblical days. Can I go deeper? Marriage mimics the gospel. It is a shadow of how God brings us into the Commonwealth of Israel. In its purest form, marriage is adoption.
When I met my wife, she was Serita Jameson, but when I married her, I gave her my last name and adopted her into the Jake family. Are you hearing what I’m saying? After 43 years, if it didn’t take by now, it’s not going to take. The whole theme of weddings is important to God; marriage is important to God. It means a lot to God. Your marriage is important to God, but marriage, in general, as an institution, is important to God because it mimics His relationship with us—not just your marriage, but marriage itself mimics His relationship with us.
The church has often been called the bride of Christ for that reason. All throughout the Bible, God talks about marriage repeatedly; from the book of Genesis, where He begins—the very first thing He does before establishing the church, before establishing the community, is start with marriage. He puts Adam into a deep sleep, pulls a rib out of his side, and makes Eve to be his bride, performing the first marriage in the book of Genesis. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, where we’re at the marriage supper of the Lamb, the entire Bible is full of inferences and references to marriage.
In the second chapter of John, it opens with the marriage at Cana. We see marriage in Genesis; we see marriage in Revelation; we see marriage in the gospel of St. John. We see it over and over again. We see references to marriage. He tells one prophet to go and marry a harlot. It is not so much that He wants the prophet to be married to the prostitute; He is trying to show us an image, an allegory of what He is going through being married to His people. Maybe your marriage is being used as an allegory to show you what it feels like for Him to be married to us. I told you they weren’t going to like this message.
The second chapter of John opens with Jesus at the marriage at Cana. In the times of Christ, a Jewish wedding was a joyous and important event that typically lasted for several days. I don’t know how they afforded it; we did it in one day, and I almost went broke. The wedding was typically held in a couple’s home, in a rented space, a banquet hall, or a palace. The day of the wedding was considered a holiday, and many friends and people would come to celebrate this particular momentous occasion. The wedding started with the betrothal, a simple ceremony where the couple would pledge to marry each other. It all started way back then.
Some marriages took longer than others. After the betrothal, the couple would wait for a few months or even years for the wedding to take place. During this time, the couple would prepare for the wedding. Not just the couple, but the bridegroom would go and build a house for his wife because he understood that it was his responsibility to provide. So I want to make sure you get this: He engaged her, but He says, «I can’t marry you. I have to go prepare a place for you. If I go away, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.»
So, Jesus is speaking in language that is familiar to the Jewish people—He’s speaking groom talk. He says, «In My Father’s house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. None of them are suitable for you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also. And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto Myself.» Hallelujah! This is marriage talk. This is wedding talk. This is what the wedding ceremony is symbolic of. When we say that the wedding is sacred, it’s not sacred because Jimmy and Susie are standing there, because Jimmy might not be sacred and Susie might not be sacred either, but the institution itself is an icon and an allegory of a relationship that has a much deeper meaning than what society is talking about today.
This is not a sociological or political issue from the text; it is a theological issue. It always has been and always will be because marriage is a picture of the relationship that God has with us, in that He has adopted us and given us His name. Did He not say, «Whatsoever you ask the Father in My name, that will I do»? Did He not say, «Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus»? He has given us His name as a sign of betrothal of adoption. I will not leave you orphaned. I will not leave you doubting who you are. I will not leave you at the mercy of anybody else accepting you in order for you to be whole. I will come to you.
Are you hearing what I’m saying? On the day of the wedding, the bride and the groom would start their day with a church service, followed by a procession to the wedding ceremony. They would go through all of these routines. The wedding ceremony typically took place in a synagogue and was led by a rabbi. During the ceremony, the bride and groom would exchange vows and make promises to each other. No wonder we have precious promises—He made promises to us like any groom would make to his bride. Precious promises have been extended to you, and the good thing about His promise is that He always keeps His promises. He said, «I’m not a man that I should lie, nor the son of man that I should repent. Have I not spoken? Shall I not perform it? Have I not said it? Will I not make it good?»
After the wedding ceremony, there would be a grand feast attended by family, friends, and community members. The feast typically lasted for several days; that’s why you hear the book of Revelation talking about the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is a celebration after the wedding has taken place. In fact, on the cross, Jesus was giving His body to His bride. Oh, you’re going to get with me in a minute. On the cross, He was giving His body to the bride; in the Resurrection, the bride will give her body to Him, and we will enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb. Do you hear what I’m saying?
«Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.» Remember when Jesus rose from the dead, and Mary saw Him in the garden? She called Him «Rabboni,» and He said, «Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to My Father.» What He means by that is, «I have to put the blood on the Mercy Seat. I’ve got to sanctify a place for you. I’ve got to consecrate a place for you that where I am, there you may be also.» So, don’t contaminate My blood with your touch because I’m on a mission. I’ve made a promise that I have to go prepare a place for you. I did not rise from the dead just to prove to you that I am Lord; I rose from the dead so that My perfect, holy, spotless blood could hit the mercy seat and prepare a place for you to be able to dwell in the presence of the Lord. Do you hear what I’m saying?
So, all the friends and family would gather around for the supper that came at the end. It was a celebration of love and the commitment of the bride and groom. Are you hearing what I’m saying? The Jewish wedding took quite some time to take place. That’s where you get the parable about the five wise and the five foolish virgins who kept their oil lamps trimmed and burning, waiting for the bridegroom to come because no man knew the day nor the hour that the bridegroom would come back. They knew he was coming back; they knew he had promised to come back; they knew he had betrothed us; they knew that he had declared to us that we were his. They didn’t know how long it would take Him to prepare a place, but we were supposed to keep our lamps trimmed and burning, for we did not know what day the Master would return for us.
And this is why the Holy Spirit is so important to us, because keeping your lamps trimmed and burning is an indication of having oil in your lamp. Oil in your lamp is keeping yourself ready so that whenever He comes—if He comes before I get through preaching, if He comes before I close the service, if He comes before you leave the parking lot, if he comes in suddenly, if he comes in a flash, we will be ready because we have the oil of the Holy Spirit down inside of us, which is a guardian that lights the way so we can see the Father.
Philip says, «Show us the Father, and it sufficeth.» Jesus said, «Have I been so long a time with you, and you still don’t know that I and my Father are one? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.» Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. So here I go with my light, which is coming from my oil because I have the guardian down inside of me, and I can see Him. Philip said, «How can we go? We don’t know the way; we’ve never been there.» Jesus said, «I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father except he come by me.»
Throughout the Bible, there is an emphasis on marriage. Jacob worked seven years so that he might have Rachel, and instead, he gets her sister Leah and has to work another 14 years before he gets Rachel, the love of his life. It took a long time, but he came back for her. We see it over and over again; the importance of marriage in the Scriptures is symbolic of a much bigger issue. I am not saying that your marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church; I’m saying the institution, the ideology, the concept of marriage itself is a picture of Christ and the Church. Did He not say in the Old Testament, «I am married to the backslider?» Yes, you threw them out of the church, but I’m still married to the backslider.
That’s why I told the prophet to go marry a prostitute, and I let him go redeem her off the slave table because that’s what I did with you. I promised you, and you went a-whoring and had strange children, but I still want you. And if I have to buy you back, that’s what redemption means—to buy you back. I bought you back off the slave table. You embarrassed me, but I still bought you. You made me ashamed, but I still brought you forth. You scandalized my love, but I still brought you back. You took my promises for granted, but I still bought you. And if I have to go down to the slave auction and see you standing there butt-naked on the table, you’re still my wife. Your hair is all over your head; your makeup is smudged, but you’re still my wife, and I will pay the price necessary to redeem you unto myself.
Notice, it is not «dition,» it is redemption. I will buy you back; I will pull you out of your mess. I will pull you out of your shame. I will pull you out of your disgrace. I will pull you out of your trouble. I will pull you out; I will snatch you out because you’re still mine. Shake your head and say, «I’m still His. I messed up, but I’m still His. I blew it, but I’m still His. I haven’t been steadfast, but I’m still His.» He says, «I am married to the backslider.» So, what Jesus is doing in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of St. John is talking to us like a groom talks to his spouse, his fiancée. He said, «Don’t be upset. I know you’re in love with me. I’m going away for a little bit, but I’m coming back to receive you unto myself. We ain’t finished; we’re just getting started.»
And while I am gone, I will not leave you as orphans. I will not leave you in this world by yourself. I will not leave you in this world to deal with witches by yourself. I will not leave you in this world to deal with devils by yourself. I will not leave you in this world to face diseases by yourself. I will not leave you in this world to fend for yourself. I will leave you an advocate, a comforter, a standby. I will leave you somebody—a guardian that stands in for you until I return again. You are protected; you are covered; you are sealed; you are connected. He is in you. Glory to God! He is inside of you, protecting you. You might not always sense it, but the devil knows that you’re anointed.
The devil already knows that there’s oil in your lamp. The devil already knows that there’s glory down inside of you. Did not the Bible say, «Paul I know, and Jesus I know, but who are you?» That means that the devil can really detect when you have had an encounter with God. There are certain things he can’t do to you because you’re covered by the blood. Do you hear what I’m saying to you? So the Bible said that when the sons of God came around the throne, along with them, also came Satan. And God asked him, «Where have you been?» He said, «I’ve been going to and fro, up and down, seeking—watch this—whom I may devour.»
If you’ve got to seek whom you can devour, there’s got to be somebody whom you can’t devour. The reason you’re still here is that he couldn’t devour you. The reason you made it through your test is because he couldn’t devour you. The reason he didn’t take you out is because he couldn’t devour you. The devil can only devour some people. A thousand may fall at your right side; ten thousand will fall at your left side, but it will not come nigh you because I’ve got a guardian around you. Do you hear what I’m saying to you? So, Satan, otherwise known as Lucifer, says, «I’ve been going to and fro, up and down throughout the Earth, seeking whom I may devour.» And God said, «Have you considered my servant Job?» And Satan said, «Come on, please! You know I can’t do anything with him; you’ve got the guardian around him!»
Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! You’ve got a hedge all around him; you’ve got protection all around him. I can’t even get to him. I can’t get to his property; I can’t get to his children; I can’t get to his body; I can’t get to his mind; I can’t get to his emotions because you’ve got that force field around him. You’ve got that protection around him. That’s why you didn’t die of crib death; that’s why you didn’t die at an early age; that’s why you made it through three trimesters; that’s why you made it through adolescence and puberty because God had a guardian around you. You were not orphaned in this world; you were not alone in this world; you were protected in this world.
I need about a thousand protected people to touch somebody and tell them, «I’ve been protected all my life! I may have gone through trouble, but trouble didn’t go through me. I may have had a hard time, but it didn’t prevail over me. I’ve been protected all my life! When the enemy came in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard against it! I’ve been protected all my life! I never had to fight for myself because the battle was not mine; it belonged to God. Every time they thought they had me surrounded, I looked again, and I was surrounded by Him. I’ve been covered on the right; I’ve been covered on the left; I’ve been covered on the north; I’ve been covered on the south.
I’ve been covered while I was sleeping; I was covered even when I was wrong. I was covered when I made mistakes; I was covered in my foolishness. So when you see me praising God, don’t think I’m praising God because I’m crazy. I’m praising God because I’m protected! I want somebody to take 30 seconds and just begin to praise. Not only has He covered me; He’s covering me right now! Touch your neighbor and say, „God’s got you covered! Whatever you’re worried about, God’s got you covered! Whatever is getting on your nerves, God’s got you covered! Whatever the devil is threatening you with, God’s got you covered!“ Hallelujah! „Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me upon a rock. And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies; and I will sing—I will sing praises unto my God! Somebody sing a praise to your God right now!“ The Bible says that Herod’s daughter danced before the king, and the king said, „If you dance before me, you can have whatever you want.“ And she said, „I want the head of John the Baptist,“ and John the Baptist lost his head because that daughter found her dance.
Let me tell you something, if you dance before the King, He will cut the head off of your enemy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against you, God will condemn. I know you’re quiet; I know you’re conservative; I know you’re reserved; I know you’re intelligent. But when you’re in a fight with the devil, sometimes you’ve got to dance for his head! You’ve got to dance for a breakthrough! You’ve got to dance for deliverance! I’m going to take 30 seconds for a praise break because there might be something you want to kill. There might be something you want to annihilate; there might be something you want to destroy; there might be something you want to take out; there might be something you want to get out of your way.
There might be something you want to eliminate, and I dare you to dance before the King! Look at your neighbor and say, „Don’t make me go to dancing! If I go to dancing, no weapon formed against me shall prosper! If I go to dancing, yolks will break! If I go to dancing, walls will come down! If I go to dancing, doors will open! If I go to dancing, God will behead my enemy! If I go to dancing, God will give me the victory! I’m not in this thing by myself.“ I better stop because I feel something pushing me in the back! Hallelujah! I feel like giving God praise in this place! Slap seven people and tell them, „He promised! He promised! He promised! He promised never to leave me! He promised never to leave me alone! He promised never to leave me!“
I’ve seen the lightning flash; I’ve heard the thunder roll; I felt sin’s breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus telling me, „Still fight on! He promised, He promised, He promised, He promised!“ Sit down; I’m not finished yet! I feel something in this place, so I’m not finished yet! I feel something in this place! I feel something in this place! I feel an unction in this place! I feel the guardian in the room right now! I feel it! I feel it! I feel it! I feel it! I feel it! I feel it! I feel it! I feel it! I feel it! I feel somebody; the devil’s been trying to tell you you are an orphan, but the devil is a liar! God said, „I will not leave you an orphan!“ Hallelujah!
I will send an alos paraclete—someone who stands alongside to help. One who stands alongside to help, like Godparents do with parents at baby dedications. They stand alongside to help. They have a responsibility that if something happens to the parents, the guardians step in to make sure that the decisions for the child are taken care of, like the executive over a will or an estate. They step in as a guardian to make sure that the will is taken care of according to the testator who left a will for the children.
The executive over the will is there to ensure that everybody gets what they’re supposed to get. The Holy Ghost is there to make sure that everybody gets what they’re supposed to get. You don’t have to worry about nobody getting your stuff! You don’t have to worry about nobody getting your life! You don’t have to worry about nobody getting your job! You don’t have to worry about nobody getting your blessing because the Holy Ghost is the executive over the estate! Whatever the testator has willed for you to get, you’re going to get it! Can I get a good hand clap for the testator? Sit down; I’m going to go further.
Jesus' conversation was so real to the apostles that they were expecting His return at any moment. When they stoned Stephen, the Bible said that Stephen, while they were stoning him, didn’t look at the rocks but looked up into the heavens, and he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father. Once he saw Jesus, the rocks didn’t make any difference at all because he remembered that he had a promise from the Lord. Does anybody have some rocks thrown at you right now? But you’ve got a promise from the Lord! Look above the rocks and see that God is still with you! Somebody say, „He’s still with me! You hit me, but He’s still with me! You’re talking about me, but He’s still with me! You’re scandalizing me, but He’s still with me! You don’t like me, but He’s still with me! You curse me, but He’s still with me!“ Shout yes!
The last days were so paramount in the minds of the disciples that when Peter started preaching on the day of Pentecost, he reminded them. He said, „This is that which the prophet Joel spoke of: that in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.“ This is that which the prophet Joel spoke of in the last days. The last days began then. You are up here talking about how we’re in the last days. We’re not in the last days; we’re in the last seconds.
The Apostle Paul, who was a new convert and had been a follower of Judaism all his life—a Hebrew and zealous concerning the law—when he was converted on the road to Damascus, the very first book he wrote was the book of Thessalonians. So don’t read Paul’s writings in the order that they are in your Bible. The first writing of Paul came from Thessalonians, and he says that the day will appear, but not before the man of sin is revealed. Because all Paul knew was that the groom was coming back, it was years before he understood the death, burial, and resurrection.
It was years before he understood justification by faith. It was years before he understood the fruit of the Spirit. It was years before he understood the gifts of the Spirit. But while he was still in Corinth trying to establish a church, he wrote Thessalonians because the one thing he was sure of was that he was coming back. The guardian had not yet reminded him of all that Jesus taught, so as Paul’s understanding increased, his epistles increased. But the one thing he understood from the beginning was that he was coming back again. Tell somebody, say, „He’s coming back again. He’s coming back again. He’s coming back!“
You’d be surprised how differently people would live if they really believed He was coming back again. You’d be surprised at the habits you say you can’t quit that you would quit if you believed that Jesus was coming back again. You’d be surprised at the people you wouldn’t cuss out if you believed that Jesus was coming back again. You’d be surprised at the people you wouldn’t do evil to if you really believed that Jesus was coming back because the Bible said if you really believe what I said, you will keep my commandments. Not that you will dance, not that you will shout, not that you will holler, but the sign that you really believe me and that you really love me is that you obey me.
Oh, I lost you. Let me try you. Obedience is a sign of love. Obedience is a sign of love. Obedience is a sign of love! So that’s why obeying him is in the vow. It’s not because he’s smarter than you. It’s because your marriage is playing a role, and the bride is the church. And as a bride, the Bible includes the word obey in it because obedience is a sign of love. It’s not that you’re any lesser; it’s not about who makes the most money. It’s not anything that society is talking about today. That’s why the text said that society cannot see him. You’re trying to make the culture see Christ.
The culture can’t see Christ. The culture only sees what’s fair, what’s right according to the norms of the times that you’re living in. But this is not about you and Harry. This is not about you and Boo Boo. This is not about you and Frankie. You’re just an icon; you’re just a symbol. The union is a symbol of a far deeper principle and allegory that has way more strength in it than your personality does. This is not about you. I’m not obeying nobody. This is not about you.
Your marriage becomes a symbol of a struggling church to obey the Lord. Let me go deeper. Husbands, love your wives as I told you, playing a role as Christ has loved the church and gave Himself a ransom for it. I wish y’all would stop complaining about obeying because you got the best deal. It told the men to love you like Christ loved the church. Christ died for the church, and if you stay married long enough, I said if you stay married long enough, you are going to have to die—what you would do, what you like to do as a man, what you like to say, how you like to respond has to die because you’re playing a role. Husbands, love your wives as Christ has loved the church and gave Himself a ransom for it. Can I preach this thing this morning?
So God establishes the marriage as a prophecy that has meaning behind it because it is symbolic of Christ and the church. „I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also.“ „Whether you go, you do not know, but I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, save he come by me.“ Jesus is talking a language that they understood. He’s talking marriage talk. The reason it sounds like funeral talk is that we are in a different culture. So we bring bodies in, saying, „Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house, there are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you so. I go to prepare a place.“
We don’t even know what we’re talking about. What we’re really talking about is the promise of the betrothal of Christ to the church. What we’re really talking about is the dilemma Joseph was in because before he could build a house, Mary got pregnant. He said, „Let me give her a bill of divorcement privately to put her away,“ because had he finished the house, she wouldn’t have had Jesus in a barn. He didn’t have a prepared place for her, so she rode on a donkey. I feel like preaching this morning! She rode on a donkey because everything was going down so fast, and he said, „Well, maybe I should divorce her.“ But the angel said, „Don’t divorce her; that which is in Mary was conceived by the Holy Ghost.“ It put him in a dilemma because he hadn’t prepared a place for her. So he said, as a guardian, „I’m going to have to put you in the inn,“ but there was no room at the inn, so she had the baby in the barn. But because God is sovereign, He meant for her to have the baby in the barn.
Because she didn’t really have a baby—because babies aren’t born in barns—she had a lamb. Come on, come on with me, Church! Come on, come on with me, Church! Come on, come on with me, Church! Come on, come on with me, Church! Do you know God’s got a place for you? God’s got a prepared place for you. You are not in this world by yourself! Holler at me now! Behold the Lamb, the precious Lamb of God. Come on, come on, come on! She’s in delivery, and they wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and he was born in a manger while shepherds were outside tending the flock. They were tending a lamb, but she was having the precious lamb, the precious lamb, the precious lamb, the precious lamb!
Come on, come on, come on! That’s what I’m telling you! Is anybody glad you came to church this morning? I remember when I used to have to go out and speak a lot. I was going all the time, and my kids were real small, and they never liked for me to go preach. You know, they felt like I was leaving them. They didn’t understand I was taking care of them, but they felt like I was leaving them. They grabbed my legs and said, „Daddy, don’t go! Daddy, don’t go!“ I had suitcases at the door. „Daddy, don’t go!“ I said, „I’m coming. I’m coming back. I’m coming back.“ But I left you with your mother. „I didn’t leave you by yourself; I left you with your mother. You’re in good hands.“
And this is what Jesus is saying to His disciples. He said, „I’m not going to leave you by yourself. You’re not going to be without a guardian; you’re not going to be without a protector; you’re not without somebody who’s going to feed you; you’re not without somebody who will fight for you; you’re not without somebody who will take care of you.“ But Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit. Glory to God! Can I go deeper with this thing? Do you not realize that the Holy Spirit is your guardian, protecting you in the way that the anointing of God in your life is there to protect you?
So that people can get a lock of your hair and cannot curse you, so that they can make a doll that looks like you and stick pins in it, but you can’t feel it because you got the Holy Ghost! Because you got the Holy Ghost down on the inside, you are still here. Some of you are the only ones in your family that survived, but because of the Holy Ghost, you are still here. The disease that runs through your family ran into a wall when it ran into the guardian that’s standing up to protect you from all hurt, harm, and danger. Touch seven people and say, „I’m protected! I’m protected! I’m protected! God’s got me covered! I am protected.“ You ought to put ADT on your shirt and let hell know this house is protected! Don’t try to burglarize me because God has got me protected!
I wish I had a thousand people with the Holy Ghost in this place that would thank God for the guardian that you have over your life! The only reason you’re not turning tricks is that the guardian kept you when you wouldn’t keep yourself. The only reason you don’t have a needle in your arm is because a guardian protected you when you wouldn’t protect yourself! Slap somebody and tell them, „I’m glad I got the Holy Ghost!“ You need the Holy Spirit every day and every hour. You need Him to watch over you. You need Him to protect you. You need Him to guide you. You need Him to be a fence all around you. You need Him to be by your side. You need Him to make a way out of no way! Somebody ought to thank Him for the Holy Ghost—my guardian, my advocate, my comforter, my standby, my help in ages past! I’m talking about the Holy Spirit of God!
The Spirit of God is on you now both to do and to will according to His own good pleasure. I know there are a few witches in here, but I’m not scared of you because I got a guardian angel. And because I have a guardian, I understand that my root is stronger than your root; that I got more power in the hem of my garment than you have in your pocketbook. I’m covered by the blood of the Lamb! The Spirit of God is all over me, and He’s keeping me alive! Slap somebody and say, „The guardian did it! The guardian blessed me with my house! The guardian blessed me with my car! The guardian blessed me with my life!“ He’s just that good! He makes a way for me. He prepares a place for me. He opens doors for me. He provides for me. He protects me. When the serpent tries to bite me, it’s the oil that drives the serpent away from me! I’m covered by the oil of God!
Somebody shout yes! When I was in Jerusalem, I talked to an old shepherd, and the shepherd told me that the sheep are so dumb that they’ll stick their nose in the holes, and the holes in the ground are where the snakes live! But a good shepherd will take oil and put it on the sheep’s head. I said, „Why do you put oil on the sheep’s head?“ He said, „Because the oil is a snake repellent!“ Think of all the things you’ve stuck your head into, but because the oil was on your head! I heard David say, „The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want! He covers my head with oil!“ Satan, you tried to kill me, but I shook it off because I got oil on me! I got snake repellent! Look at your neighbor and say, „What are you wearing?“ Tell them, „I’m wearing snake repellent! I’m covered with oil! This is not Chanel; this is not Tom Ford! I’m covered with the oil of the Lamb!“
I’ve got a guardian protecting me both day and night! Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take! He kept me when I was asleep! He kept me when I was under anesthesia! He kept me in the operating room! He kept me in the car wreck! He kept me when my friends were enemies! He kept me when I was surrounded by witches! He kept me when the enemy tried to destroy me! He kept me! Down through the years, the guardian has made a way for me! The guardian has opened doors for me! The guardian has protected me!
I wish I had a hundred people that had the Holy Ghost! And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I’m His own! If you don’t like me, I’ll be okay, 'cause He tells me I’m His own! I’m not alone; I’m not by myself! If you think you got me, see, the devil is a liar! Hallelujah! God has me surrounded! He’s got me covered! He’s got me protected! He’s got me covered on every side! Hallelujah to God! He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty!
I have to quit, but I feel the power of the Holy Ghost all over this place. He’s real; He’s real; Jesus is real to me. So many people down Him but can’t live without Him. That is why I love Him so much. Yes, He is real—yes, He is! He’s real; He’s real; He’s real. Yes, He is; He’s real; yes, He is! He’s real in the morning; He’s real at noonday; He’s real when the sun goes down. Hallelujah! He’s real when I don’t have a job; He’s real in the courtroom. Somebody said He’s real! He’s real; He’s real! If you thought you saw me driving by myself, you are wrong; the Guardian was sitting right beside me. If you thought I was eating by myself, you’re wrong; the Guardian is sitting at the table. He’s real!
Oh, slap somebody and tell them the Guardian did it! Ain’t nobody hating on me; the Guardian did it! The Guardian gave it to me; the Guardian protected me; the Guardian surrounded me; the Guardian guided me. The Guardian brought me through the storms, through the rain, through the lightning, through the flood. He’s always been there! Every time I turn around, God keeps doing great things for me.
Somebody turn around real quick! Every time I turn around, He’s my God; He’s my King; He’s my Prince; He’s my Peace; He’s my Redeemer; He’s my Daystar; He’s my Shield; He’s my Buckler; He’s my Trumpet; He’s my Lily in the Valley; He’s my Bright and Morning Star; He’s my Kinsman Redeemer; He’s my Bulwark; He’s my Water in Dry Places! Yes, He is! He is! Yes, He is! He is! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Yes, He is! He is! Yes, He is! He is! Yes, He is! He is! GLORY! Glory! Glory! Glory! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Hallelujah! Stand on your feet! I’m going to show you something in close: Ephesians chapter 5. Put it up there for me! I might not have given it to you. Ephesians 5—find it for me. Uh-huh, I didn’t give it to you, but I still know it.
Ephesians 5 talks about wives obeying your husbands. You got it? Yeah, going down from one, not two—keep going! Uh-huh, keep going! Uh-huh, uh-huh, you’re right there! 5:21: „Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.“ Not out of who’s right or wrong, but out of reverence for Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Come on, wives—be subject, be submissive, and adapt yourselves not to men but to your own husbands as a service to the Lord. I know that’s not what you’re reading in the magazines today, but that’s what the Word says. Come on, keep going! „For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, Himself the Savior of His body.“ You’re supposed to see her as your body!
Let me show you something—hold it right there! I’m going to get the rest of it in a minute. When Adam woke up out of his sleep, before he saw Eve as his wife, he saw her as his body. He said, „She is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.“ So she is both the body of Adam and the bride of Adam. When the Bible says that „the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, Himself the Savior of His body,“ why are you beating on your body? I have never, to this day, met a man who beats his woman and loves himself. The reason you are beating on her is that you don’t like yourself. She is your body; she is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. Come on, I’m going to drive this home! „As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.“ Everything!
As the Christ is subject to the church. Now, neither one of us has it real right, because the church isn’t always subject and the wife is submissive, but the role you play does not make you lesser than; your role is an allegory of Christ and the church. So we’re in our parents' closet, and we’re playing dress-up, and you act like you’ve put on the church, and he has put on Christ, and we’re acting as the church has loved and submitted to Christ. That’s what it’s supposed to be! I’m not talking about what it is! „Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.“
I just have to be me; I just have to be me, man. I just have to be me! She doesn’t understand me; she doesn’t understand where I come from. This is how I am! So it’s wrong—it’s I; you’re supposed to do it as Christ has loved. So that He might sanctify her, He’s got to love her like that while she’s still not sanctified, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. Watch this—"that He might present the church to Himself, that where I am, you may be also, in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and faultless.»
If I had time, I would get into this: some of her purity is your responsibility. A lot of her anger is coming from the fact she has not been loved as Christ has loved the church. How can you submit to somebody who won’t be ahead? I’m just saying, if you decide to do it the way the Bible says do it, if you decide to do it the way they’re doing it now—I can’t teach on that; I don’t understand that—they’re doing something new; I don’t get it! Even so, husbands should love their wives as being, in a sense, their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. Ladies, stop marrying men who don’t love themselves, because if he doesn’t love himself… «For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and carefully protects and cherishes it.»
See where it keeps going back to? «As Christ does the church.» See, I’m kind of confused because it sounds like he’s talking about marriage, but I’m not sure because he keeps going back to «as Christ does the church.» Come on, give me some more of it! «Because we are members, parts of His body.» For this reason, a man should leave his father and his mother—oh, yeah, they’re talking about marriage—and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Come on! This mystery—underline that! —this mystery is very great, but I speak concerning the relation of Christ and the church. He’s not even talking about marriage; he’s only using marriage as a metaphor to talk about Christ and the church.
However, let each man of you, without exception, love his wife. He said, however, it’s still good for you to love his wife as being, in a sense, his very own self, and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband, that she notices him. This is all you’ve got to do—notice him, regard him, honor him, prefer him, venerate and esteem him, that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly. Now you’ve got to understand this: He says, «I’m really not talking about marriage; I’m talking about Christ and the church.»
But it’s still good medicine for you to understand how it really works. But what I’m really teaching you is «Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you so. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there ye may be also. And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; I will not leave you as an orphan, comfortless.» Oh, I want that to sink in! I will not leave you! The reason I wanted it to sink in is because so many of us feel so alone. Jesus said, «I will not leave you as an orphan, comfortless; I will give you a Guardian, an Advocate, one who stands alongside to help.»
If you need help this morning, you are not alone; the Guardian stands alongside to help you. If you’ve been in a hard place and you’ve been trying to do it in your own strength, you won’t fail at it. Let me tell you something! Sisters, you’re talking about, «I’m a strong woman; I’m tough; I take no stuff.» I wish you would know that being strong is overrated. It might be all right for about ten days or something like that. But when you get to about ten years, having to go to the grocery store, argue with the mechanic, carry the groceries up the steps, cook the food, help the kids with homework, drive them to school, go to work—every dollar that comes in the house you’ve got to bring it; every napkin that comes to the house you’ve got to buy it; every piece of bread—come on!
It’s overrated! Brother, you can’t be a man by yourself! Half of you didn’t have an example. Half of you didn’t have a good example! Some of you had a good example but wouldn’t listen to it. Now you’re trying to play a role by yourself. Y’all going out to church—you women are going out to church—should be beating her to the door. You’re the one that has to prepare a place! You’re the one that has to give a ransom for her! You’re the one who’s supposed to love, cherish, and nourish her! You’re the one that’s supposed to treat her like you treat your own body! You’re not supposed to starve her of your attention and affection! «Yeah, I’m starving her because she’s starving me.»
Did that? You might sanctify her. You’re supposed to leave her with no excuse to disrespect you! I’m not excusing her; I’m saying you’re not supposed to leave her with any excuse. Some of you gave her a license to cuss you and then got mad when she used it. The point of the message is I’m not preaching about marriage; I’m like Paul; I’m preaching about Christ and the church. All God is using marriage for is an allegory—marriage in general, not yours. So don’t write me anything about your anger. «What about when Fred comes in at 3:00?»
I ain’t talking about Fred; it’s just an example. A shadow mimics motion but shows no detail. Earthly marriages are motion and model but do not detail nor fully reflect. We are only talking about shadows, allegories. What we are talking about… I guess I don’t know whether it preaches for you or for me. When my mother died a long time ago, I’m okay now, but when she died and my father had been dead, it occurred to me that never again would I be able to walk into somebody’s house and just go into the refrigerator.
Never again would I have anybody that, no matter what I did stupid, would open up their door and take me in. Never again would I have somebody that I could come to their house at 3:00 in the morning, and my mama would swear she wasn’t asleep—no, I wouldn’t really sleep! «You hungry?» And I felt like an orphan—a 40-year-old orphan. And what really, really made me want to drive this home is that I suspect that some of you, with and without parents, with and without spouses, with and without people, feel like you’re in this world all by yourself. And you go to church, and maybe you even have the Holy Ghost, but you’re not really letting Him be a Guardian, and you feel like an orphan. You feel like this is the test; if people really knew who I was, they wouldn’t love me.
So you don’t get the benefit of fellowship, because fellowship is shared, and you’re hiding like torpedoes, buried in the bottom of the ocean, dust and dirt all over the top of you. And the Guardian is standing there with His arms outstretched, saying, «Come unto Me, all ye who are weak and heavy laden; I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; My yoke is easy and My burdens are light.»
And I know you’ve got your image to protect, and your ego needs a bottle, but if you let go of your ego and your image for a minute—if you’ve been fighting like an orphan in an orphanage… The whole reason your temper is so bad is you don’t feel safe! You sound pretty good; you don’t feel safe! And let me tell you something: needing to feel safe is not feminine! Even men need to feel safe! Are you safe to love? Are you safe to take care of? I don’t mind giving you a house as long as I know that it’s… why you’re with me. The truth of the matter is there are as many lonely married folks as there are single folks. The truth of the matter is there are as many miserable rich folks as there are desperate poor folks.
And the Guardian just wants you to be real for a minute and come to this altar and say, «I am not going to go out in that parking lot and get in that car alone. I don’t care what you say! I am going to get in that car with an awareness that I have been adopted into the royal family and the Commonwealth of Israel, and I belong somewhere!» I belong somewhere! I fit somewhere! I fit somewhere! I fit! Somewhere, He has a place for me! And I’ve been trying to shove into all of these places, and now I realize that the Guardian has a place for me! I don’t have to spend the rest of my life in a barn—neither did Jesus! There’s a place! God had me preach this to let you know He heard you. This message is a prophetic sign that God heard you!