For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.For behold, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone.For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;For, lo, the winter is past; The rain is over and gone;
4 sermons cite this verse
And Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we're here, we've gathered, we're here to hear from you. So Lord, would you speak? Would you open our eyes, open our ears, open our hearts? Would our hearts be soft to you speaking to us, that the seeds of your truth would go down deep into our hearts, changing us from the inside out. And we're expectant today for what you have for us. And we love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Okay, good. Just making sure you're still awake. This couple, I love this passage. This couple is giddy. They love each other. They are each blossoming. Over the past couple of weeks, we've seen them grow individually, but their relationship is blooming and growing together. She's lighting up at the sound of his voice and he's running to her and speaking tenderly to her. And as we look at what a godly engagement looks like, we see that their relationship has, number one, maturity. …
and be our guest. Open our hearts, our minds, our wills to the God who enlivens us through you. Amen. Please be seated. While it's always exciting for me to be back at Duke Chapel, it's especially exciting today on Dean Powery's first Sunday as chaplain to Duke University. If there's anything better than preaching on your first Sunday, it's listening to a guest preacher who was already on the schedule. so that you can catch your breath. As for those of you who might have hoped you would be hearing him today, take heart, for lo, I am with you but this little while, and he shall be with you always. Plus, James is the real preacher today, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. All I really have to do is stay out of his way. I wonder all the time about how Christianity would have shaped up if James had been half the letter writer Paul had been. If you put all the letters of James and Peter and John together, those who knew Jesus in the flesh, their combined witness is shorter than Paul's two letters to the Corinthians. …
The pardon of sin also makes a change in all that surrounds the one who is forgiven. That is a terrible text of Scripture, "I will curse your blessings: yes, I have cursed them already," and many a man has realized in his own life the truth of that Divine declaration! The whole world, as far as it is loyal to its great Creator, is against the man who is the enemy of God, even as the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. But to the man who is at peace with God we can say, as Eliphaz said to Job, "You shall be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you." Paul was not a whit too positive when he wrote, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Deliverance from sins seems, to the forgiven man, to cause such a change in everything around him that the things which he used to regard as curses now appear to him as blessings, just as before his blessings (as he called them) were transmuted into curses! Blessed is the man who has had his sins forgiven! He is the man who can truly say, "The winter is past, the rain is over and done; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come." And it is to him and others like he that the Lord says, "You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." The saved man is such a happy man that like John Bunyan, when he was converted, he wanted even the crows in the field to share his joy! …
But someone objects, "I am so unworthy of Christ. I can understand eminent saints and beloved disciples being greatly indulged, but I am a worm and not a man, utterly below such condescension!" Say you so? Know you not that the worthiness of Christ covers your unworthiness and He is made of God unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption? In Christ, the Father thinks not so meanly of you as you think of yourself! You are not worthy to be called His child, but He does call you so and reckons you to be among His jewels! Listen, and you shall hear Him say, "Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you. I gave Egypt for your ransom; Ethiopia and Seba for you." Thus, there remains nothing which Jesus cannot leap over if He resolves to come to you and reestablish your broken fellowship! To conclude, our Lord can do all this IMMEDIATELY. As in the twinkling of an eye the dead shall be raised incorruptible, so in a moment can our dead affections rise to fullness of delight! He can stay to this mountain, "Be you removed and be you cast into the midst of the sea," and it shall be done. In the sacred emblems now upon this Supper Table Jesus is already among us. Faith cries, "He has come!" Like John the Baptist she gazes intently on Him and cries, "Behold the Lamb of God!" At this Table Jesus feeds us with His body and blood. His corporeal Presence we have not, but His real spiritual'Presence we perceive. We are like the disciples when none of them dared ask Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord. He is come! He looks forth at these windows—I mean this bread and wine—showing Himself through the lattices of this instructive and endearing ordinance. He speaks. He says, "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone." And so it is. We feel it to be so—a heavenly spring-tide warms our frozen hearts. Like the spouse, we wonderingly cry, "Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib." Now in happy fellowship we see the Beloved and hear His voice! Our heart burns! Our affections glow! We are happy, restful, brimming over with delight! The King has brought us into His banqueting house and His banner over us is love. It is good to be here! …