Dear friend, "Four Kinds of Laughter" is only one of the hundreds of sermons that appear on Dr. Hymers' website. There are about 900 word-for-word sermon manuscripts available on a wide range of subjects. Please click here to read some of the titles of these sermons.

FOUR KINDS OF LAUGHTER

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los AngelesLord's Day Morning, February 3, 2002

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh"(Ecclesiastes 3:4).

The word "laugh," in its various forms, is given thirty-eight times in the Bible. Sometimes laughter is right and sometime it's wrong. Sometimes it is a fool who is laughing. Sometimes it is God Himself. This sermon is based on one by W. Herschel Ford, in which he said, "Without claiming any originality for these thoughts I want to call to your attention [four] kinds of laughter mentioned in the Bible, and I shall back each type of laughter up with the Scripture" (W. Herschel Ford, Simple Sermons for a Sinful Age, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972, p. 119).

I. First, there is the laughter of unbelief.

The Bible tells us,

"Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself…Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh" (Genesis 18:11,12,15).

Here is what happened. Abraham and Sarah were old and they didn't have any children. One day God told Abraham that he would have a son. Abraham was a hundred years old and Sarah was ninety. When

Sarah heard that God had told Abraham she would have a child, she laughed in unbelief. God said, "Wherefore [why] did Sarah laugh? Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:13-14). Sarah was then afraid. She said, "I laughed not" (Genesis 18:15). God said, "Nay, but thou didst laugh" (ibid.).

Sarah's unbelief in the power of God has been seen in the hearts of people throughout history. Many men and women are like Sarah today. There are young people here this morning who laugh at the power of God. When we tell you that Christ can save your soul and give you a better life in this local church, you laugh. When we tell you that there is a Heaven you can go to if you get saved, and a Hell that you should avoid going to, you laugh in scorn and unbelief. And when we tell you that Jesus Christ has the power to convert you and make you into a real Christian in this church, you make it into a joke, and laugh about it. You laugh in unbelief, just as Sarah did.

One day a man named Jairus came to Jesus. He fell down at the feet of Jesus and begged Him to come to his house and heal his little daughter who was twelve years old, and lay in her bed dying.

When Jesus got to the house, there was a crowd of people weeping and wailing outside because the girl was already dead. But Jesus said, "Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth" (Luke 8:52). Then the Bible says, "They laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead" (Luke 8:53). They knew that the girl was dead. They laughed at the Son of God when He told them she would live. They were filled with unbelief - and their lack of faith made them laugh at Jesus - just as Sarah laughed at the power of God. And then Jesus

"…put them all out [of the room], and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. And her parents were astonished…" (Luke 8:54-56).

Young person, you are as dead in your heart toward God as that girl was. The Bible says that you are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). The Bible speaks of "the blindness of [your] heart" (Ephesians 4:18). You are blind concerning God. And you are spiritually dead. But Jesus could give you life, if you will fully believe in Him. Jesus can convert you and make you into a real Christian.

What would happen if you became converted, and wanted to be here in church every single Sunday? What would happen? I know that your parents and your friends don't expect you to be saved and love to come here to church. They don't expect that to happen. If I said to your parents and friends, "That young person will rise up from being dead spiritually. That young person will become a real Christian. That young person will love coming to this church every single Sunday." If I said that to your friends and your parents, they would laugh at me just as much as those people laughed at Jesus when He said the girl would rise up and live. But when the girl actually rose up from her death bed, "Her parents were astonished" (Luke 8:56).

Your parents would be astonished too if you were converted and became a real Christian through the power of Christ. Most of you have parents and friends who would try their very best to keep you from coming back to this church if they thought you were going to get converted here and become a real Christian. They would laugh in unbelief now, but if you really got converted, they would be astonished and try to keep you from coming back here. Go ahead and astonish them! Come to Christ. Pay no attention if they laugh at you in unbelief! Come to Christ anyway! Only Christ can save you, and forgive your sins, and give you a home in Heaven. Go ahead and astonish your friends and your parents! Come to Christ and get converted. Have your sins washed away in Christ's Blood. Get saved. Why be lonely? Come home - to church! Go ahead and astonish your lost parents and friends! Blow them away! Become a Baptist and a real Christian! Come back here next Sunday - just do it! It's your life! Don't let them decide for you! Decide for yourself to become a real Christian! Let them laugh! It won't hurt you!

Yes, there is the laughter of unbelief.

II. But, second, there is the laughter of a fool.

The Bible says, "For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool" (Ecclesiastes 7:6). This verse pictures a pot hanging over a fire, with thorns burning under it, making a crackling noise. The thorns crackle as they burn, then they are consumed, and there is nothing left but cold, grey embers and silence. The laughter of a fool is like that. He is miserable even while he's laughing. After his fun and laughter is over, he is empty and dead. Something is missing in your life. Many young people go to raves, get drunk, or snort cocaine to try to

be happy. But the Bible says, "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth [or joy] is heaviness" (Proverbs 14:13).

The loneliest person in the world is the one who doesn't know Jesus. When your friends leave, there is no one to talk to you and comfort you. When problems happen, there is no one to help you. When death strikes suddenly there is no one to go with you through the chilly waters. When judgment falls there is no one to stand up for you and defend you. The laughter of a fool does not last. Depression, despair, and loneliness haunt such people throughout life.

One evening a skinny, grey, sad-faced man entered the office of Dr. James Hamilton in Manchester, England. The doctor noticed the depressed look on the man's face. He said,

"Are you sick?""Yes, doctor, I am sick with a deadly disease."

"What disease?""I am depressed by life. I can't find happiness anywhere. Nothing makes me laugh. I have nothing to live for. Doctor, if you can't help me, I will kill myself."

The doctor said,

"The sickness won't kill you. You only need a change of pace. You need to laugh, and get some pleasure." "What shall I do?" said the man. "Go to the circus tonight to see Grimaldi, the clown. Grimaldi is the funniest man alive. I saw him a couple of nights ago, and I'm still laughing. Go and see Grimaldi the clown. He will cure you."

A flash of pain crossed the man's face, and he said,

"Doctor, don't joke with me. I am Grimaldi the clown!" (Paul Lee Tan, Th.D., Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, Rockville, Maryland: Assurance Publishers, 1979, pp. 754-755).

Young person, that's the way it is in life. You can be laughing today, and filled with depression tomorrow. "For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool" (Ecclesiastes 7:6). "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness" (Proverbs 14:13).

III. Thirdly, the Bible tells us about the laughter of God.

Here is a strange verse of Scripture:

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision" (Psalm 2:4).

Why does God laugh? We have to read the first three verses of the Psalm to understand that.

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision" (Psalm 2:1-4).

Matthew Henry comments, "Sinners' follies are just the sport of God's infinite wisdom and power; and those attempts of the kingdom of Satan, which in our eyes are formidable, in his are despicable" (quoted in Spurgeon, C. H., The Treasury of David, Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, n.d., volume 1, p. 16).

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh" (Psalm 2:4).

Let me illustrate God's laughter with a simple story. A few years ago, the Soviet Union disintegrated and Communism fell. For over 70 years the Communists had persecuted and murdered Christians. The greatest enemy of Christianity in the entire world was the atheistic communism of that "Evil Empire," as President Reagan called it. And then one day it all fell apart - quite suddenly. I picked up a copy of

Newsweek magazine. On the cover was a photograph of a huge statue of Lenin, the father of Communism in Russia. Ropes had been tied around Lenin's statue, and it was toppled, laying on its side with a big crack in the great statue. When I first saw that picture, I laughed - "Ha! Ha!" A short laugh of triumph over the enemy! I think that's very close to the way God will laugh when His enemies stumble and fall.

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision" (Psalm 2:4).

God loves people. He wants them to be saved. In His great love He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross so our sins could be paid for. But people reject the love of Jesus and the love of God. People say, "I can get along without God." I don't need to go to that old Baptist church every Sunday! What do I need that for? I don't need God in my life." Each person who does that is like a little version of the Soviet Union, a little picture of that mighty statue of the atheistic, God-denying Lenin.

Then calamity strikes that person. Their statue is pulled suddenly down. Judgment falls on that proud person who said he didn't need this church or this God of the Bible. And when that sudden judgment falls, God says, "Ha! Ha!", just like I did when I saw that broken, fallen statue of Lenin.

Listen to these words from God,

"Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity" (Proverbs 1:24-26).

My young friend, don't defy God! He is greater than you are.Submit to God. Come back to this church. Come to Christ and get saved. After all - why be lonely? Come home - to church! And come fully to Jesus Christ and be washed from your sins by His Blood!

IV. Fourthly, the Bible tells us about the laughter of salvation.

Jesus said, "Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh" (Luke 6:21). Heaven is the happiest place in the Universe.

After tragedy happened, my mother and I were very poor. People laughed at Mother. They joked about her being so poor. But my mother got saved, and she is now in Heaven. Those who laughed at her are in Hell. Mother used to say, "He who laughs last, laughs beset." That's an old American saying. And it's absolutely true. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

I simply cannot express this point any better than Dr. Ford, so I am going to quote him word-for-word, to conclude this sermon:

1. It will be a laughter of congratulation.You meet a friend here who has had an operation or been seriously ill, and you congratulate him on his recovery. And when we meet our friends in heaven, we shall laugh and congratulate each other.

We'll say to one, "The last time I saw you, cancer was eating away your body. Now you have a new body and you'll never be sick again. Congratulations." To another we'll say, "The last time I saw you, arthritis had crippled you. Now you can run as a messenger of the king. Congratulations." To another we'll say, "The last time I saw you, you were wasting away with tuberculosis. Now you have an eternal bloom on your cheek. Congratulations." To another we'll say, "The last time I saw you, you were grappling with sin. Now you have overcome it forever. Congratulations." To another we'll say, "The last time I saw you, you were burdened with sorrow. Now you have peace and comfort. Congratulations."

2. It will be a laughter of reunion. Have you ever been to a family reunion? Those who have not seen each other for a year laugh as they shake hands with a loved one or throw their arms around another one.

I remember the sad wail of a sick mother as her baby was wheeled away to be buried. She cried out, "Good-by, my darling. I'll never see you again." But there will be no such cry in heaven. Mother is gone, but we'll see her again. Father and brother and sister and child, husband and wife, they are gone, but not forever. We shall see them again in that blessed, better land.

3. It will be a laughter of forgetfulness. We have our difficulties and our differences down here. Up there we'll forget all of these. Up there we shall all love one another.

4. It will be a laughter of sweet memories. We'll talk about the good times we had down here and these memories will flood over us, to make heaven ever richer and sweeter. Here we remember the touch of a vanished hand, there we'll feel its touch again. Here we remember a voice that is stilled, there we'll hear that voice again.

5. It will be a laughter of victory and triumph. Satan often [gives us trouble] here, but at last we'll gain the victory over him. He'll be in hell where he belongs and he can never tempt us again.

Wellington returned in triumph from Waterloo. Teddy Roosevelt returned in triumph from Cuba. Pershing returned in triumph from France. Eisenhower returned in triumph from Germany. They had won some great victories and they marched home in glory, leading a triumphant procession.

Oh, but how much more triumphant, how much greater will be the heavenly triumphant procession! Jesus will head the procession and we'll be with Him laughing and rejoicing, all sin and sorrow behind us, and a glorious eternity before us.

As a Christian lay dying he said, "I see the letter 'W' written all over the skies." "What do you think it means?", someone asked. And he replied, "I think it means welcome, welcome to heaven."

Yes, soon life's little day will end and we'll be going home. Welcome will be written over the gate, over the door of our mansion, over the throne and all over heaven. So let us trust Christ and love Him and serve Him well. Then up there all our sorrow and sighing will be turned into blessed eternal laughter.

(W. Herschel Ford, ibid., pp. 127-128).

Come home to church! Come home to Jesus Christ! Come home to Heaven!

Thro' the gate of the city in a robe of spotless white He will lead me where no tears will ever fall; In the glad song of the ages I shall mingle with delight; But I long to see my Saviour first of all. I shall know Him, I shall know Him, And redeemed by His side I shall stand, I shall know Him, I shall know Him By the print of the nails in His hand.

("My Saviour First of All" by Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915).

Dear friend, "Four Kinds of Laughter" is only one of the hundreds of sermons that appear on Dr. Hymers' website. There are about 900 word-for-word sermon

manuscripts available on a wide range of subjects. Please click here to read some of the titles of these sermons.

(END OF SERMON)

Scripture Read Before the Sermon: Luke 8:49-56. Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:

"My Saviour First of All" by Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915).

You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internetat www.rlhymersjr.com. Click on "Sermon Manuscripts."

THE OUTLINE OF

FOUR KINDS OF LAUGHTER

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh"(Ecclesiastes 3:4).

I. The laughter of unbelief, Genesis 18:11-15; Luke 8:52-56; Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 4:18.

II. The laughter of a fool, Ecclesiastes 7:6; Proverbs 14:13.III. The laughter of God, Psalm 2:1-4; Proverbs 1:24-26.IV. The laughter of salvation, Luke 6:21; Psalm 30:5.

The Day God LaughsBy Dr. Bob KelleyOne of the vital parts of my life is holy laughter, Christian rejoicing! And it should be a vital part of the life of every child of God.Adoniram Judson, famed missionary to Burma, was so filled with the Spirit of God, so happy in Jesus, that the Burmese tabbed him “Mr. Glory-Face.” But we will look at a different kind of laughter—God’s laughter. Psalm 2:1–4 says:“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”Now turn to Proverbs 1:26–30.“I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.”Let’s read verse 26 again: “I… will laugh at your calamity.”God Is Not Known for His LaughterThe God of the Bible is not a laughing God. In fact, there is only one reference in the Scriptures where Jesus actually rejoiced.When? Under what circumstances? On what occasion did our Saviour rejoice?The answer is in Luke, chapter 10. Let me give you the background. Jesus has sent out His seventy disciples. They have labored in the harvest field for Him. Now they return giving their testimonies of the service they have rendered for Christ. And the Bible says that “Jesus rejoiced in spirit” (vs. 21).Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). But one thing moved His heart and stirred His soul to an inner laughter and joy: soul winning! When these men returned telling of the souls won and the lives changed, “Jesus rejoiced in spirit.”I want to make Jesus happy every day. I want the angels of God to rejoice. I want them to see Bob Kelley winning souls. I want them to see our church winning souls. Then they will experience Luke 15:10: “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” I am for keeping Heaven happy.But apart from that one reference, the God of the Bible is not a laughing, gleeful God.God had nothing to laugh about when He looked down upon the Garden of Eden and saw Adam and Eve hiding in their sin.God had nothing to laugh about when He looked down on the antediluvian world and saw corrupted people. He opened the windows of Heaven and literally poured out a universal flood upon the earth.God had nothing to laugh about when He looked down on Sodom and Gomorrah and saw Lot compromising his convictions and selling his family into sin.

God had nothing to laugh about when Moses came off Mount Sinai and found the children of Israel dancing naked and foolishly around the golden calf.God had nothing to laugh about that day when He looked down into the king’s palace and saw King David wallowing in adultery.God had nothing to laugh about that day when He looked down from Heaven and saw Israel given to idolatry, committing whoredoms with the Ammonites, the Amalekites and the Moabites; and for their heinous sins, the Bible says He turned them into Babylonian captivity.And certainly God had nothing to laugh about when in the fullness of time God sent His Son, the Messiah, born of a virgin, and He was rejected in the house of His own brethren. When God looked down on Calvary and saw Jesus dying the ignominious death of the cross, God had nothing to laugh about.I am saying the God of the Bible is not a laughing God.But one day God is going to laugh. One day the Heavens will ring with the laughter of a sovereign, omnipotent God. One day that sea of glass in Heaven (Rev. 4) will echo His laughter, and the angels and the redeemed of all the ages will cry, “Amen!”Psalm 2:4 says, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.” Proverbs 1:26: “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.”Is this the laughter of some kind of practical joker who has just played a trick on the earth and is getting a real kick out of it? Oh, no. Is this the laughter of a bloodthirsty tyrant who is bent on killing? Oh, no. Is this the laughter of some kind of jolly elf, a court jester? No, my friends.What Kind of Laughter Is It?Before we see what kind of laughter it is, I want you to see what kind of laughter it is not.First of all, this is not a “Sarah-type” laughter. Remember that day when the two angels of God came with our Lord Jesus (a Christophany) to Mamre? Abraham was sitting at the tent door when Jesus and the two angels made their appearance and said, “Abraham, you are going to have a son. The long-awaited promised seed will become a reality.”Sarah laughed behind the tent door. “I am ninety years old and going to have a baby? Ha, ha, ha!” Here was the laughter of skepticism. She snickered at the promise of God.You know, we have a whole lot of Sarahs in the world today.I was in Charleston, West Virginia. I picked up a Sunday morning paper and saw an article entitled “The Reporter Goes to Church.” The reporter told of a local preacher who stood in his pulpit and said this: “Don’t you come to me with that old mythology of a virgin birth. I want none of the Cinderella story of the bed of hay. I don’t want to hear about ‘no room in the inn.’ That is a fairy tale.”Yes, we have our Sarahs today who laugh at the promises of God. Listen to me! The laughter of God is not skeptical laughter.Again, the laughter of God is not a laughter like David’s. In Psalm 126:2 he said, “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.” Here David was rejoicing in the goodness and the blessings of God upon His land and people.But the laughter we look at has nothing to do with the goodness of God, nothing to do with the mercy of God. The laughter we envision tonight deals with judgment and wrath.Again, the laughter we look at is not the laughter of the redeemed. In Luke 6:21 Jesus promises us that there is coming a day when those who weep will laugh. Blessed day when our war with the world, the flesh and the Devil will end. Suffering ones, look up. There’s happiness ahead in the eternal day!When Is God Going to Laugh?

I have gone to my Bible and picked out three times when I feel definitely God is going to laugh.1. There is coming a day, in the valley of Megiddo, the valley of Esdraelon, by Mount Carmel, near the Mediterranean Sea, when Jesus Christ, “King of kings, and Lord of lords,” is going to laugh.Psalm 2 is a kingdom psalm, a millennium psalm, the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ psalm. In this psalm David is looking to that day when Jesus will sit upon the throne of His father David and rule from Jerusalem for a thousand years. In this psalm David is looking toward that day when Israel is going to “blossom as the rose” (Isa. 35:1). He is looking at that day when peace will cover the earth like the waters of the sea. He is looking at that day when “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid….And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp.” You cannot read Psalm 2 and not get a millennium picture.The key to it is verse 2: “The kings of the earth” are going to “set themselves” in the valley of Megiddo. They are going to set the battle in array against God and against His people, the battle of Armageddon. “And the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”I believe these startling statements will be fulfilled when the Asian man comes down over the great river Euphrates, when the Southern bloc of nations, the Arab bloc, comes up, and when the peoples of the North come and with their invading armies attack the chosen people of God. Jesus Christ Himself is going to intervene.He is coming on a white horse. His vesture will be dipped in blood. Out of His mouth will go a sharp, two-edged sword. He will be crowned “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” And in that day He is going to wreak deadly vengeance upon the Antichrist and his motley hordes. He is literally going to bury His sword in the bodies of human flesh. The Bible says the fowls of the air are going to pluck the “flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men” (Rev. 19:18).God is going to laugh! Why? Because “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord.” God is going to laugh. Here are little, puny, finite men standing against God Almighty, the sovereign God of the universe—the omnipotent, omniscient, immutable “Lord of lords, and King of kings.” These little men in the valley of Megiddo are going to shake their fists in the face of Almighty God and say, “Let us break their bands asunder”! God is going to laugh because we men are so silly as to defy Him! He will laugh and laugh, and throughout the valley that laughter will echo as He dips His sword in blood.Brother, don’t ever take the callings of God lightly. If He deals with you in any way spiritually or scripturally, don’t defy Him. Don’t fight God! It is a losing battle. The best thing you can do is agree with God Almighty and say, “Yes, Lord, I want Your will to be done.”Acts 23:9 says that man cannot “fight against God.” Job 33:13 says, “Why dost thou strive against him [God]?”If God calls you to preach, then preach! If God speaks to your heart concerning missions, then run to the mission field. If He wants you in the bus ministry, then sign up today.It is dangerous to rebel against God. The callings of God are without repentance. Do not stiffen your neck. Listen! ‘God will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh’ (Prov. 1:26). Don’t defy God! Never!Don’t defy God in salvation. If God is dealing with you with the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, pressing you to come to Christ, oh, don’t strive with Him! Don’t stand against Him as did Pharaoh of old. He may bring the lice; He may bring the frogs; He may bring the bitter murrain; He may bring the darkness; He may bring the blood into your life!

If God wants you saved, submit to His wooings. Don’t wait for a crisis, a tragedy, to drive you to Christ.Something happened to me when I was fifteen years old. A friend of mine and I heard a message on Hell. That night God implanted the fear of God in my soul. The preacher, being a tiny man, could hardly see over the pulpit. He placed his big Bible on the pulpit, and I have never heard another sermon like that one in my life! What a sermon on Hell! It singed my eyebrows! Man, I thought I was living on the brink of Hades. I just knew I was going to Hell!I didn’t get saved that night. I sat there like a fool. I gripped the bench until my knuckles turned white. I said, “No, Lord, not tonight. No, Lord, not tonight.” But in my heart I made up my mind on three things: I feared God; I did not want to go to Hell; someday I was going to be saved, marry a Christian girl and have a Christian family.But not the boy beside me, not my buddy—he took an altogether different attitude toward that sermon. He stood stoically, unmoved, and in his heart said, Who is that little pipsqueak to tell me I need to be saved? Who is he to tell me I am going to Hell? I don’t like hellfire-and-brimstone preaching, and I don’t like his big Bible. I’m the captain of my own soul!We walked out of the church together. We walked down the stairs together. We shook hands with the preacher together. We went home together after church.Even though we remained friends, we were separate in our philosophy. In that boy’s mind he said, I don’t want anything to do with God nor with the Bible nor with salvation. But I had made up my mind that I wanted to be saved someday; I wanted to be a happy Christian someday.Though we were still pals, we parted company philosophically.Five years later I was saved. Six years later I was called to preach. About eight years later I married a godly Christian girl. We have godly children. The Lord fulfilled all my dreams.About the other young man—my mother wrote me a letter one day: “Bob, did you hear about So-and-so? They found him murdered after a night of sin.”Who are we to defy God! It is a losing battle. One day He is going to laugh in the valley of Megiddo.2. God is going to laugh when the tears of His children are all wiped away.Look at Luke 6:21. Then we are going to compare verses. This is a beautiful couplet. Luke 6:21 is a definite promise to you and to me.“Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall [future tense] be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.”Job said, “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (5:7). This verse says, “Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall [at a future time, future tense] laugh.” When will that age of laughter come? When will that joy come? When will that bliss come?Turn to Revelation 21:1–6:“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." And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. [Here it is.] "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes [watch it]; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain [He is going to take

away the capacity for anything sorrowful and replace it with laughter and with joy]: for the former things are passed away." And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done.”I believe He means that His salvation is complete, all finished. Now the children of God are all Home with the Father. I believe He also means the plan and purpose of Almighty God have been completed. Truth has prospered over error, righteousness over sin, and right has whipped the wrong. “It is done.”Also the battle He had with Satan is finished. Satan is now in the lake of fire, and it is “Katy, bar the door” for the Devil. Now there are a new heaven and a new earth, and all the pain and agony of the first heaven and the first earth are gone.Hallelujah! Since there are no more pain, no more error, no more sin, no more heartache, the children of God can laugh for all eternity! Is that not precious?When Alexander the Great had no more worlds to conquer, the story goes that he sat down and wept. But it is just the opposite with God. When He has no more worlds to conquer, no one else to save, He and the children of God, instead of weeping, are going to laugh for eternity! We may weep today, but we will laugh tomorrow!3. God is going to laugh when wicked, blasphemous men are cast into Hell.I am not trying to picture God as a bloodthirsty, demagogic tyrant nor as one who enslaves men and gets some kind of gory satisfaction in killing others and sending them to Hell. Our God is a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of grace, a God of patience, a God of long-suffering.But look again at Proverbs 1:26. God is going to laugh at man’s calamity: “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.”What is the wise man saying? Look at verse 29: “For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.” He is going to laugh at those who hated the Bible. He is going to laugh at gaudy, ugly, filthy, dirty sinners who paraded sin as something beautiful. I am talking about the Playboyites and the Penthouseites and those sex hounds who peddle illicit sex all over America. He is talking about the Madalyn Murray O’Hairs and diabolical professors like Mr. Robinson who flaunt sin and picture it as good when it is evil (Isa. 5:20). He says, “I hate it, and you have not chosen the fear of the Lord.”Look at verse 30: “They would none of my counsel.” They would not listen to Him. “They despised all my reproof.”There is coming a day when God Almighty is going to laugh at those who spit on the cross, walk over the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, laugh and mock at a virgin birth and a bodily resurrection of Christ.There is coming a day when the modern-day Voltaires and Ingersolls are going to hear the laughter of God.There is coming a day when the Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Bloody Marys are going to hear Him laugh.There is coming a day when Mr. Marx and Nels F. S. Ferré and all others who hated God and turned their backs upon the Bible and despised righteousness are going to hear the laughter of God as they are cast into Hell.Two weeks ago a lady in our church handed me the most infamous article of blasphemy I have ever read.In this article Mr. William F. Willoughby calls Jesus, first of all, “a country bumpkin from Jerusalem.” I will give you just some of the little thoughts of his sewer verbiage. He calls the

resurrection of our Saviour “a tall tale.” He says, “Jesus was a little on the daffy side.” He says, “He lied about where He was born so He could say He fulfilled Micah 5:2.” He says, “He engineered His own crucifixion.” He says that one day He got together with Judas in some back room and they connived and planned it all.He went on to say that right before the cross Jesus was given a drug to make it look like He had died, and then as He swooned on the cross, everybody thought He had died; and then in the tomb the drug wore off and He walked out.Mr. Willoughby, someday God is going to laugh at your calamity. He is going to mock when your fear cometh.One day, I say, God Almighty will have the last laugh.Are you saved tonight? Do you know Christ? Are you defying Him in your Christian life? Are you rebelling against some call, some plan of God that He has for you? Please don’t do it! He will mock and laugh at your calamity.Editor Urges You to Decide for Christ Right NowYou have read the sermon “The Day God Laughs” by Dr. Bob Kelley. God loves sinners very much and wants every one of us to be saved. The Bible says in II Peter 3:9 that He “is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” First Timothy 2:4 reminds us that He wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” But if one goes on rejecting Jesus Christ, there is coming a day when God will laugh.Dr. Kelley has reminded you of Proverbs 1:26: “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.” What an awful thing to have God Himself laugh at our calamity!I join with Dr. Kelley in urging you to trust Jesus Christ now so that Jesus and Heaven may rejoice over your coming to Christ.If you will admit that you are a sinner and trust Jesus Christ as Saviour, then contact me to tell me so. I have some free literature I want to send that will help you as you set out to live the Christian life.

The Last LaughDaniel Olukoya 220 Daniel Olukoya sermons

Topic: Sermons on Sin: GeneralScripture: Psalms 2:1-2:5Denomination: PentecostalDate Added: April 2011Audience: General Young Adults (19 - 30)Keywords: Laughter, Enemies, (Suggest a Keyword)

Beloved, this week, we shall be looking at a message entitled, “The last laugh”. We shall start by

looking at Psalm 2:1-5. It says, “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and

against his anointed saying. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he

speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure”. Verse 9: “Thou shall break

them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

God laughs at His enemies and He laughs them to scorn. The first question is this:

WHO ARE THE ENEMIES OF GOD?

1. All those who oppose the gospel and all the lovers of the world are the enemies of God. The

bible says in 1 John 3:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any

man love the world, the love of the father is not in him.” And James 4; 4 says, “. know ye not

that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the

world is the enemy of God”.

So, those who are comfortable with the world system and the way it operates, are God’s enemies.

It gives me a lot of concern when those who are actually God’s enemies join others to sing the

popular song, which says, “Let God arise and His enemies be scattered.” It is foolishness for

those who are qualified as the enemies of God to be singing that song.

2. All those who hate the truth. Some people will prefer to believe lies to believing the truth.

Once you prefer lies to the truth, the Bible says you are an enemy of God.

3. All those who are not born again. As far as God is concerned, the spirit of the power of the air

controls all unbelievers. No matter how nice they are, no matter how educated, beautiful or

handsome they are, as far as they are not born again, they are enemies of God.

4. All those who attack God’s children. Apostle Paul before his conversion was attacking the

children of God. But while he was on his way to deal severely with the apostles, there was a

blinding flash of light and then the voice sounded, “Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? It is a

hard thing for thee to kick against thorns.” And Paul said, “Who art thou Lord?” He was

persecuting the body of Christ on earth, and Jesus made him to understand that it was He the

Lord he was persecuting. All those who are fighting the children of God in one way or the other,

constitute themselves as enemies of God. The Bible says the Lord shall laugh them to scorn. The

Lord sees them as jokers.

Psalm 37:12 says, “The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

The Lord shall laugh at him; for he seeth that this day is coming.”

When you look through the word of God from the beginning to the end, you will discover that all

those who wanted to serve God from the bottom of their hearts were always subjects of hatred.

Enemies in the Bible sometimes had to resolve their differences because they wanted to fight

against a child of God. It is still happening now. But the Bible says they imagine a vain thing.

Some stubbornly fight on even when they are losing.

WHAT WILL GOD DO?

The Bible says, “He shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” People like Pharaoh and Haman in

the Bible understood that message very well when they fought against the children of God.

As a child of God, when God is asking you to change, you better do so unless you want to belong to the

group of people who He laughs at. I don’t want you to belong to that category at all. Proverbs 1:24 says,

“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded.” For

example, if God asks you to stop drinking, or smoking, or going around with strange women, or moving

about like a ghost at night and you refuse, or He says, “Come” and you say you are not interested, verses

25-26 say, “But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at

your calamity: I will mock when your fear cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh

upon you.”

All who hear God’s call and pleadings and remain unrepentant, God says He will laugh when their own

calamities begin to come. Therefore, it is a very serious thing, which we must sort out within our spirit. If

somebody says he is repenting of certain things, and makes a vow that, “O God, I promise that this

particular thing I will not do it again,” and you go back to it, you have committed a terrible offence

because you have broken a vow that you made with God. At such a person, God says, “I will laugh.”

The fact that you fall asleep anytime you want to read the Bible, means that there is an enemy of God

inside you. If you find it difficult to pray even after you had determined to do it and you could not, shows

that there is an enemy of God in the camp of your life. The fact that anytime you want to move the way

God wants you to move, there is a force dragging you behind means that you have something within you

that is pitching its camp against God, that is why there is that struggle. If God tells you to come, and you

are able to run to Him, then there is no hindrance. But when He says come and as you try to move, you

find that your legs are heavy and you are moving slowly, know that there is an enemy inside dragging

you behind.

Your own enemy could be pride. It could be resentment, bitterness, anger, lack of concentration, or

unreachable spirit.

Sometime ago, we had a message entitled, “The rod of Elisha in the hand of Gehazi.” The rod of Elisha

could not function in the hand of Gehazi because the wrong person was holding it. The enemy of the

power in the rod was inside Gehazi who was holding it so, there could not be any cooperation between

them. I could wear the best cassock in the world, and yet there could be a conflict between the cassock

and me. A person could have a godly name and not be godly. There could be a conflict between my

name and what I am. Beloved, we must sort the things out. Immediately you sort them out, and remove

yourself from the group of those God is laughing at, then you become an Elijah who in I Kings 18:25-27,

displayed and boasted in his God.

I Kings 18:25-27 says, “And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves

and dress it first; for ye are many, and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. (Note

the way he was talking to them) And they took the bullock, which was given them, and they dressed it,

and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon saying,, O Baal, hear us. But there was no

voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar, which was made. And it came to pass at

noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing,

or he is in a journey, or peradventure he slept, and must be awaked.”

When you transfer yourself from the camp of the enemy of God to that of His friend, you can mock and

laugh at all the decisions and strategies of the enemy because you know that He that sixtieth in the

heaven shall laugh them to scorn and which He is already doing now.

Sometimes, the situation of Christians may seem as if God is no longer there, but at the heat of the

problem, God takes you out. The question is, why does He permit it to happen at all? When He allows it

to happen, and the enemies think they are having their way, He steps in and begins to operate.

LET US LOOK AT SOME REASONS GOD STAYS SILENT SOMETIMES

1. To give us the opportunity to develop our faith. Most of the strong prayer warriors we have around

did not become so out of personal decision. They became strong prayer warriors because they had

things to uproot and break down and in the process of dealing with those things, they became

aggressive. God allows it to happen before He starts His laughter.

2. To prove that the enemy does not have all the power. The enemy may do all sorts of things but he

does not have all the power.

3. God allows things to go rough sometimes before He delivers His people to make them develop

unshaken confidence in Him. And when other storms come, they will be able to stand because they have

been tested.

4. God sometimes allows the heat to be so bad before He comes in to strengthen our faith to teach us

some important spiritual lessons. God will keep repeating a particular lesson to a person until the person

learns. God is not fraudulent. Therefore, He would not allow anyone to fail in His examination. You must

pass before you can be promoted. For example, if the lesson God wants to teach you is to stop crying

anytime you have a small problem and you have not learnt it, He will keep repeating it until you learn.

5. God allows the heat to get bad to make people appreciate the worth of their deliverance.

6. God allows the heat to get bad to prove your spiritual strength, to know how strong you really are. It

is easy to say you are a Christian when there is no problem. But when there is attack here and there, and

everybody seems to be against you, then we will know whether you can really stand. You have no right

to say that you are not a thief until you have been given the opportunity to steal and you do not do it.

You cannot say that you are not a proud person until you are placed in an important position and you

remain humble.

Beloved, the believer will always have the last laugh. For 120 years, Noah constructed a boat and other

people laughed at him and called him a foolish man. But when the flood began to chase them and they

started to climb the trees, they changed their minds and cried unto Noah to rescue them. But Noah said,

“I am sorry, it is God who locked the windows and door. I cannot open the door. I am sorry.” Who

laughed last? Noah and his family.

A believer may look foolish and it may seem as if he does not know what he is doing. They may call him

the father or mother of Jesus or whatever, but he will laugh last. God passed the people of Israel

through the land of Egypt and the wilderness and allowed Pharaoh to get close to them to see whether

they would have confidence in Him or not. Why did not God send thunder and blast Pharaoh to pieces

before he got close? Why did God allow Saul to give David a hot chase of his life for twenty years? Was

God sleeping when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den? Was He sleeping when Shadrach, Mehsach

and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace? But David, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

had the last laugh.

When king Ahab wanted to go to war, and consulted with about four hundred prophets, they told him to

go that he would succeed. All of them said he should go because they were on his payroll. There are

many people today who have prophets on their payroll. All the four hundred prophets said the same

thing but somebody there, who was not convinced, asked the king if there were no other prophets apart

from the four hundred. The king said, “There is one called Micaiah the son of Imlah. The problem with

him is that he prophesies evil always. If you bring him now, he will prophesy evil”. But he was persuaded

to send for him. When the messenger got to Micaiah he said, “Micaiah, the king wants you concerning a

matter. Other prophets have prophesied good, make sure that when you get there, your words agree

with theirs.” And the prophet said, “What the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” When he got to the

king, he said, “I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said:

These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.” The king got angry and

ordered that he should be locked up. But when Micaiah said, “The Lord has prophesied evil against you,

He has called a committee meeting in heaven and they have decided that you must die.” Then the chief

prophet slapped him and said, “How can the Lord leave me to come and talk to you?” He was ordered to

be locked up and fed with water and bread of affliction until the king and his people came back in peace.

And Micaiah said, “If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken,

O ye people, everyone of you.” And Ahab never came back. Who laughed last? It was the man who was

fed with bread and water of affliction. (I Kings 22).

Why was the Lord Jesus Christ led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit? Why did Paul have to pass

through horrible things? God’s people know that God will always have His way in the wind and in the

whirlwind. It does not matter the wind of adversity and rivers of problems you are passing through now,

ensure that you are His friend and not His enemy and He shall laugh those your enemies to scorn.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Anything in me that is your enemy, O Lord, chase them out today, in the name of Jesus.

2. I dissolve every evil agreement, in the name of Jesus.

3. All spiritual vultures working against me, be roasted, in the name of Jesus.

4. Let all the vows and promises of the enemy on my life be nullified, in the name of Jesus.

5. Let every stranger in my life be consumed by fire, in the name of Jesus.

6. Father Lord, arise and let it be known that you are my God, in the name of Jesus.

7. Let the fire of God purge away every evil deposit in my life, in the name of Jesus.

8. I shall laugh last, in the name of Jesus.