The Last Tear — Ralph Sexton

The Coming of Christ and a Changing World

I believe with all my heart Jesus is coming. I believe the world is screaming that Jesus is coming. I believe the geopolitical maps of the world are screaming that Jesus is coming. I believe science, China, announced yesterday that they became the seventh nation with the power to clone human life by going and producing a pig in a cloning situation.

They're playing with the very concept. Just a few months ago a DNA scientist stood in London, England in a press conference and he stood up with a chart and he held in his hand a computer printout and he said, Here is the human genome.

Here's every DNA cell. It's marked. It's labeled. We have taken apart the human structure. We know what it takes to make a man. He said, and I quote, We are only months away from becoming just like God.

I tell you folks, the world is changing. But while all the explosion of knowledge and technology is taking place, we always wondered how Revelation 13 would be fulfilled. How could men and women take a mark in the right hand?

And how men and women could take a mark in the forehead? But since we were here last year with the tenth, already the government, the key officials of Mexico, the president, the cabinet, and the key officials are now already implanted with a chip in their right hand.

They're already opening doors. They're already accessing secure areas. They're already opening secure files. But nothing more than an implant that is inside the human body. Even our own Secretary of Homeland Defense has now suggested with the increase of terrorism, maybe Americans could and should consider having an implant, a chip.

And he said, I am willing to have the plant put inside of me so that we can decide who's in our borders legally and who's here illegally. We wondered how Revelation 13 would ever happen. But now, because of fear and terrorism, while you've even got conservative people saying, we need a chip, we need a bio-identification marker in the human body, I don't want someone to cause a fear to kidnap my baby or my grandbaby.

And now the sexual predators are loose on the children. Isn't there some way we can mark our children? And we're seeing Revelation 13 getting ready to be fulfilled right in front of our eyes. With all of these things happening, the economy, the world, oil, crude oil went up $2 a barrel today.

And now we're seeing the power, the manipulative power of the energy markets around the world. And really, the governments of the world are at the mercy of those that are controlling energy around the world.

And we're seeing your world change. This world is getting ready to change. We've always said we've got deep pockets. We can always buy anything we want. You see, God's got another way to get our attention.

If we won't come in tenderness and find a place to kneel down and say, God, be merciful unto me and to my family, and may my blessing and my prosperity not push me away from you, but, oh God, make it a magnet of my soul and draw me to you.

If we won't repent in His goodness, if we won't repent in His prosperity, then all it takes is a few weeks and a few months and a few more jobs leaving and a few more hours of the economy changing. And then, my friend, it might change the story in America.

But I pray tonight, and I hope you pray tonight, that with all the world changing and the world economy changing and the Bible prophecy being fulfilled, I haven't even talked about Israel. I haven't even talked about the new alliances.

But at 4 .30 in the morning last Thursday, a new alliance was announced as Iran announced that they had made a mutual agreement with Red China. China had made an alliance with Syria, providing them with silkworm missiles.

In a matter of hours, we had Russia making an agreement with Iran, making an agreement with Syria. And as these chess pieces are moving on the field, the book of Ezekiel, the book of Revelation, you're beginning to see things happen.

You never dreamed, and I never dreamed we'd see in our lifetime. But you turn around. You've got the revived Roman Empire rising up out of Europe. One nation uniting together, calling for world peace, trying to get rid of little Israel, writing and passing laws not to trade with Israel.

Let's get rid of Israel. The United Nations declaring, we can have peace in the world if it wasn't for Israel. And then all of a sudden, while that's taking place, and Germany and France are pushing Europe to be against Israel, while that's happening, all of a sudden, an alliance is announced at 4 .30 in the morning last Thursday.

And now we see the kings of the east, the bear of the north, and they're all making an alliance around a little piece of real estate called Israel. And when we see these things, Gershon Solomon, the leader of the Temple Mount Faithful, he called me just a few weeks ago from Jerusalem, and he said, Ralph, he said, you must get on a plane today.

You've got to come to Jerusalem today. And I said, what's the matter, Gershon? He said, how can I put it into words? He said, you are my brother. But he said, the Messiah is coming. Do you understand this?

Now remember, he doesn't believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah. He's an Orthodox Jew. They're already cutting the cornerstones to rebuild the third temple. He doesn't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. But he calls me on the phone in North Carolina, and he said, you've got to get on a plane.

You've got to come. He said, the Messiah is coming. He said, everything is just about ready. He said, you've got to come. I said, Gershon, I can't come. I said, you don't know if he... He said, he's coming.

He said, you've got to know. Surely a man like you that knows the book must know that he's coming. He said, Ralph, I can't explain it to you, but you get up in the morning, you eat your breakfast, and you walk outside the doors of your house.

And he said, when you go outside, he said, those little bumps get on your arm. And they begin to stand up. I said, bumps. He said, you know those things you have? I said, goose bumps. He said, yeah. He said, walk outside and get on the street.

And he said, the goose bumps jump up on your arm because you can feel the presence of the Messiah. And he said, you and I must be here together in Jerusalem to greet him. He said, I'm going to call you just as soon as he gets here because he could come today.

And he said, stay by the phone. If you can't come, he said, stay by the phone. I said, Gershon, I'll tell you something. I bet you I'll find out to glory to God before you can call me on the phone because the king is coming and the king could come today.

He could come at any moment. And you know, where we find in most of the church, we're finding the church in despair, in depression, in discouragement, and in defeat. God's people. We ought to be living in victory.

We ought to be walking in victory. We ought to be talking in victory. But instead, we're finding God's children beaten down by the circumstances. We're not excited about the imminent return of the Lord.

We're not loving the Lord like we used to. We've allowed the world to pressure us out of measure. And God warned us in his word that we should not be conformed to this world. And what's happening in this world is that we are being conformed with the pressures.

It's like being inside a mold and you're being pushed and pushed and pushed. Instead of looking like the Lord, we're looking like the world. Instead of acting like the Lord, we're acting like the world.

Instead of talking like the Lord, we're talking like the world. And what we need is an old time, Holy Ghost, heaven sent, sky blue, wind a rattling, hell shaking, life changing, born of God, old time, Holy Ghost revival meeting to break us out of our lethargy, our unconcern, our half heartedness.

And beg God one more time, would you look our way and have mercy on our household, our family and our children that our families can see the power and the demonstration of God. One more time in this day and in this hour.

And the only way that's going to happen is for God's people to break out of the fear factor that's got us bound down. Yes, there's a last time. Yes, there's a last trial. Yes, there's a last time. Yes, there's a last try.

The Promise of the Last Tear

But I also want to encourage you tonight with this thought, one day, by the help and grace of God, there will be the last tear you will ever shed. Hey, if we're going to have revival and beg God to get on lost people, we've got to have some Holy Ghost, heaven sent first aid.

We've got to have the rescue rangers from another world. We can't keep dragging the burdens we've got. We can't take these old broken down bodies and do what we need to do unless God Almighty settles in on the church one more time and breaks us out of our routine and our lethargy and our lack of commitment and our lack of concern.

And we say, God, by Your help and by Your mercy, I want to get my eyes off the storm. I want to get my eyes back on the Savior. I want to quit looking at the walled cities that I have looked at all these years.

God, may I look at the One that is taller than the walled city. God, may I get my eyes off the giant. But God, would You look me up into heaven. Put 440 in my soul and let me see the God that's taller than the giant that's taken this day and this hour.

Oh, God, would You revive us again. Would You stir us again. Would You thrill us again, God. Would You liberate us again. God, would You restore our souls. With the spirit of the eagle. That we can rise up for this day and for this hour and see revival sweep our home, our family, our church, and by the help and grace of God, our town, before Jesus comes back.

The only way that can happen is for us to understand where we are and that God will deliver us. In Revelation 21, notice what the Word of God says in verse number 1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. And there was no more sea. Verse number 2 says,. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, glory to God, adorned for her husband.

Hallelujah, we're headed to a wedding. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. Oh, listen to this. And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Now here's the verse I want you to take home tonight and highlight it, underline it, write it on a note card, stick it on the refrigerator. Look at verse number 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

One day you'll shed your last tear. One day it'll be the last time you cry. Last time your heart'll break. Last time you'll have to experience the frustration of this old world. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are what? Passed away. Now God said here that we would see the church being prepared for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in verse 3, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. If you need to be encouraged tonight, you be encouraged with this thought. Even though you may be in deep water, even though you may be in a circumstance you don't understand, if you're saved, if your name's been recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life, if you've been washed in the blood of the Lamb, then you tonight are the people of God.

God’s Presence With His Suffering People

You are God's son. You are God's daughter. He loves you enough to let His darling son die for you. He didn't save you to forget about you. He didn't save you to let you be played with by the devil. Somehow we get in our mind that after we get saved, we turn into a little old toy for the devil.

Have you ever seen a cat play with a mouse? Have you ever seen them catch a little old field mouse? And they'll catch that old mouse and they want to show it off to you. They'll bring it on the front porch or the back porch and they'll say, Come and look at this.

I've got this mouse. And then that cat will raise its paw and that little old mouse thinks, I'm out of here. And he'll start running and then that cat will pounce right back on top of him. And then he'll get that mouse down and he'll go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

And that little old mouse will flop, flop, flop, flop. And then he'll sit there for a minute and he'll lick that mouse and let that mouse know, I'm that close. And then all of a sudden he'll move those paws and that mouse will take off again.

Woo, I'm out of here. And just as he gets about two feet, that cat will pounce on him again. And those claws will dig into his back. And that little old mouse will roll over and then that old cat will go wang, wang, wang, wang, wang, wang.

And he'll bounce him around. And you know what? That's cruel and that's mean. But somehow we've got it in our head that that's what the devil has the power to do to the child of God. And I've got news for you.

You're not some play pretty for the devil's entertainment. You are a child of a three times holy God. Your God was God early this morning. He was God at lunch. He was God at supper. He'll be God at the midnight hour.

And not one thing is going to come to your house unless it's been by the throne of a holy God. It's got to go through God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. It's got to go through the blood that was shed on Calvary.

Not one thing can come to your house, to your family, to your wife, to your husband, your children, unless it's been by God and has the approval of His handiwork. And he said, Yes, sir, that's my child.

Yes, that's my daughter. Yes, you can send it over there. But I've got news for you. When it gets there, I will be there. And my grace will be sufficient for them. And I'll not leave them. And I'll not forsake them.

I'll not abandon them. They are my child. We've got the documentation in the inerrant, infallible Word of God that God will take care of His children. Verse 4 says,. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain. The former things are passed away. What are the former things tonight? There's five former things if you're making notes.

Number one, tears are a former thing. Death, number two, is a former thing. Number three, sorrow is a former thing. Number four, crying is a former thing. Number five, pain is a former thing. Now, you say, Well, Brother Ralph, how do you know that anyone under this tent is hurting tonight?

How do you know that somebody needs the Lord and His care and His comfort? I'll tell you how I know. Because if you're alive and you're breathing and you're pulling air in your lungs and you've got blood circulating in your vein, you're going to be associated and acquainted with these five things.

If you're alive and you are on this earth, you're going to know about tears. You're going to know about death. You're going to know about sorrow. You're going to know about crying. And you're going to know about pain.

The Human Experience of Tears, Death, Sorrow, Crying, and Pain

Listen, this is so prevalent that our little children that can't even talk know how to cry. Our little babies, when they need something to eat, they don't even know how to say, I'm hungry, I need a Big Mac.

But they do know how to cry. And they will cry. When they get hungry, they cry. When they need a little change of situation, they cry. When they get too tired, they cry. When they get frustrated, we're handing them around like a toy, they cry.

They don't even know how to talk. But the way you know they're alive is they know how to cry. Now the good part is sometimes as an adult in the hands of a holy God, I don't know, God, what You're doing.

I don't know, God, I don't know if You know how hungry my soul is. I don't know if You understand, God, what I'm wading through. I don't know, God, if You know how lonely this night is being. I don't know, God, if You understand how frustrated I am.

God, I don't know if You know what I need today that I am so pressed out of measure. But I know that inside my bed that my soul is crying and groaning. I don't know how to tell my wife. I don't know how to tell my husband.

I don't know how to tell my mama. I don't know how to tell my daddy. I don't know how to tell my best friend. But when you can't even put it in words, when you don't know how to verbalize it, inside of you is the living Lamb of God, the sweet third person of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost of God.

And He said, when you're like a baby and you can't even put it in words, He said, I'll take your groanings. And I'll say, oh my goodness, this one's hurting so bad, they don't even know how to say it.

Let me just take those and I'll run up to the Father at the throne and say, she's down there on the front row. She don't know what to tell you, but here's what's going on on the inside. Hey! And the Holy Ghost will carry to the ear the Father, the petition of your soul.

And you can understand that God knows all about the crying. Not only the physical crying, but the crying of the soul. These five elements become five evidences of life. Tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain.

The Incarnation Reveals Christ’s Compassion

And God wants you to know that He knows that we're hurting. He's aware of what you're going through. He's not a stranger. He's so identified with us that He allowed His only Son to put on a fleshly tabernacle.

Can you imagine that awesome day in eternity? God was not caught off guard by man's sin. God didn't sit up there with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit one day and they went, oops! Look what Adam just did.

Can you believe that? That didn't happen. He's God Almighty. But God, in His love, one day, my kinsman redeemer, my elder brother, one day, he's there on the throne, and he said, Father, Galatians 4 .4 is here now.

It's time. Okay, son. Jesus reached over and took His royal robe of righteousness. He said, Dad, I'm just going to lay this here on my throne. I'll be right back. Took off His crown of righteousness. And He put it there.

Slipped off His meritorial throne. And in a moment, the Holy Spirit whistled back up to heaven and said, I have prepared the womb of a virgin. He didn't have to look for a place to go. He didn't have to go up and down the road and wring His hands and say, I wonder what I'm going to do to invade this mud ball of sin.

But He left His throne, left His robe, left His crown, and stepped off when the Holy Ghost said, I have prepared a virgin's womb. And my friend, down in little Bethlehem, all of a sudden we see a little teenage virgin who was espoused to be married to a stonemason named Joseph.

And He started to put her away for the shame and embarrassment because she was going to have a baby. And she didn't have a husband. And she said, I've not been with a man. And Joseph said, who would believe such a story that you could have a baby and not be with a man?

But the angel of a holy God said, hey, hey, hey, before you pick up any rocks to throw them, you better know what God has chosen her to do. And God allowed His Son to invade this world, put on a little robe of flesh, and came out of the womb crying and identifying with pain and sorrow and death so He could know how you feel when you're laying on the gurney, rolling down the road to have your chemotherapy, when you're there in the ER and they're on top of you, pushing on your chest, trying to get you to breathe, and the angels are standing around saying you can't go anywhere unless God says it's time for that child to leave.

And the God I serve, a big God, a powerful God, my sanity is in His sovereignty. He's God Almighty. And He allowed you to know that He identified with our flesh. And Mary takes that little baby boy and all he can do is cry.

He's the same God that spoke and whirls flew off His fingertips. The same God that spoke stars into their sockets. The same God that hung planets and galaxies in the universe. And now all of a sudden He puts His hand over his mouth and says, I won't talk.

I'll just cry like a baby. Hey!

Because one night all you'll be able to do is just cry like a baby.

And Jesus will say, Hey, I've been right there.

I know how it feels.

I know what you're going through. And I promise you, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. What a God! And Mary takes that little baby and suckles it to her breast. And she is now feeding the One who's going to save her soul who'd believe such a thing.

She's hugging the Lamb of God. She's hugging the Lion of the tribe of Judah. She's loving to her breast the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Kinsman Redeemer, the Bride of the Morning Star, the Alpha and the Omega.

He's God of little fleshly form so you can know He understands the former things. Pain, sorrow, death, crying, He knows all about them. You know why? He loves you. You say, I'm just 15 years old. He knows you need Him.

You say, but I'm just 10. He knows you need Him. Well, I just turned 21. He knows you need Him. Well, I just had my 40th birthday. He loves 40 year olds. Hey, I just turned 55. I'm a double nickel man.

Hey, He loves you. You just turned 91. He's in love with 91. I just had 104 birthdays. He loves you if you're 104. And your heart's been washed in the royal red blood of Calvary. And your name's been recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.

You're going to leave these former things and we're going to head into revival for all eternity because we're in the presence of a holy God. What a God and what a Savior. When we begin to think about His power.

God Comforts His People With His Presence

You see, when I read this Bible, you know what I find out? I find out that God doesn't comfort me in my hard times with things. Have you noticed that? God doesn't comfort you when you're in your storm.

I'm not going to give you a verse of Scripture here tonight. And it's going to read something like, when you're in the valley and you don't know what to do, I'll give you a bigger house. When you're walking down to the valley of the shadow of death, I'll give you a new car.

There's not one verse of Scripture in this Bible that talks about God giving us the promise of paying our bills, our prosperity. He doesn't talk about making you famous. He doesn't say they're going to erect statues about you and put your name in lights.

He doesn't talk about fortune. He said no. He said when you're dealing with these former things, when you're dealing with tears and death and sorrow and crying and pain, He said, I want you to know, I will be with you.

I am the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. I am the one that will never leave you and forsake you. I am the one that you can cast all your care upon me because I care for you. I am the refuge in the storm.

I am your anchor in the harbor of life. I am the place that you can go to find sustenance and strength and encouragement because I know all about the former things. I wish I had time to tell you tonight, but is there a reason there's a difference between tears and crying?

Between tears and crying? Have you noticed that He said tears, death, sorrow, pain, and crying? Sometimes it gets past tears. Sometimes that heart is broken. You see, all those material things of this world, they will not reach the pain that's behind the eye.

When the doctor's written his prescription, and it won't touch it. When the shot won't reach the pain. When the IV won't reach the pain. Only God can get behind the eyes of where the pain is. When you're there in the privacy of your home, and dad and mom is expressing the sorrow of a son or a daughter that's become a prodigal.

A new car can't take that away. Another million dollars in the bank, while you'd give all your money and all your cars and all your houses, if your prodigal son had come home. Your prodigal daughter. It's not in the price of this little old world.

Life is not measured in the amount of toys or trinkets that I possess or you possess. Life is measured in the abundance of the one who possesses me. That's the true measure of life. God knows that right before his darling son comes back, we will be a hurting people.

Sin has separated so many that we love. Sin has separated marriages. Sin has pulled children out of the arms of loving parents. Sin has caused people to weep and to cry all night long. Sin has caused families to be separated by pride, by greed and by selfishness.

Moms and dads, many times are left all alone to grow old and don't even have their own blood children to care for them. Tears of fear, tears of anxiety, tears of panic, tears of sickness, tears of loneliness.

God Remembers Every Tear

Jews in the Old Testament and the New Testament were so impressed with the human suffering that if you go over in that culture, if you go with me over to the Holy Land, I'll show you they make clay bottles and they're called tear bottles and they'll catch those tears as they run out of the eye and they'll bottle up their tears to show how their heart is broken and how they're grieving over a loved one or a family member.

Psalms 56 verse number 8 it says put thou my tears into thy bottle they not in thy book. He said, Psalmist David said, God I'm so broken, I'm so suffering on the inside, you put my tears in your bottle.

They're far past the human tear bottle on this earth. Jesus, you remember when he was in the Garden of Eden and he said, God if it be your will let this cup, let this cup do what? Pass. A lot of the Jewish scholars I've studied with in Israel, they tell me that that word is translated in the Hebrew tear bottle.

Let this tear bottle pass from me. He was weeping over a lost and a dying world. It wasn't a cup to drink, but it was a cup to catch the tears. He was weeping over a lost and a dying world. It could be, ladies and gentlemen, tonight we need to know more than ever that God is going to see you through.

He's going to see your family through. He knows about the last tear one day we'll shed. He knows about the last funeral we'll go to. He knows the last time you'll go to the cemetery and leave your loved one.

The Last Funeral and the Last Sorrow

Back in February this year, I went and helped do a funeral for a preacher friend whose 20-month-old baby got sick and died in a matter of hours. There's a sweet young couple, love God, love their church.

They want to see revival. Why did they have to go to the cemetery and bury their little baby boy? How many times have you been to the cemetery and seen a husband bury his wife, a wife bury her husband?

Death takes a friend, takes a parent, a sweet mother, a loving dad, a best friend, a child. There's one day we're going to go to the last funeral. One day we'll shed the last tear. One day there'll be the last sorrow.

Sorrow's not always about pain and sickness. Sometimes sorrow is sorrow over regrets, things we did wrong. Why didn't I speak up? Why didn't I say something? Why didn't I do this deed? Sometimes sorrow is over omission, things we've left out of our lives and it caused pain.

Sometimes there's sorrow as adults because our kids are grown and we were just too busy. And there's sorrow over being too busy. Not only are there tears and death and sorrow, but there's the crying, the crying of the broken heart.

Not just tears, but sobbing. The crying of the enter man. And then that last one is pain. That's cruel pain. That's that migraine headache. That's that abscessed tooth. That's that broken bone. That's that IV that has broken out of its vein and swollen up the arm.

That's the ventilator. That's the pain of the intensive care. That's the pain down at the burn center. That's the pain of the transplant. That's the pain that's so blinding, red hot, searing the human body that people don't even know how to put it in words.

It's pain many times that people can't see. And God says, I know about that pain. I know about that crying. I know about that sorrow. I know about that death. I know about those tears. I know what pain is in the human body.

But I also know what pain is to a soul. The pain of sin. The pain of separation. And Christian, sometimes the pain of silence when we can't hear from God. Where's God in the middle of my storm? How do I get that pain to be removed?

God said tonight, church, I want you to know that all around you are people just like you. And they're all experiencing tears, death, sorrow, crying and pain. Some of them are saved. Many of them are not saved.

And unsaved people, now you think about this, unsaved people have tears, death, sorrow. They have the same things, but they don't have Jesus in their heartache. That's why God wants us to have revival.

That's why God wants us to make these next few nights so important. Because one day, we have the comfort of knowing that there will be the last tear. The last time.