Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter
4. As I told you a little while
ago, this message was born to my heart this morning. I know that in light of the passing
of our dear and precious brother, Brother Henry Mahan, I've had that heavily on my mind. Brother Henry, as I've shared
with many of you, was instrumental in my, in the Lord, let me say
it like this, blessing the Word and Lord training me. He'd been a dear friend to me.
I met him many, many, many years ago. And when I lived in Louisiana,
he was there. He was in my home, preached in
the church that I was pastoring, in the church that was nothing
more than a free will, false, No truth there. And God was pleased
to teach me the gospel. And as I began to teach it, it
wasn't very long that I wasn't there anymore. And Brother Henry
continued to be my dear friend when I lived in Tennessee. In
my house there, I was in his house many times. fellowshipping
with him. After I moved here, that friendship
continued. And I'm not here this morning
to give praise to a man, God forbid. But I'm here to make
a few comments about God Almighty and the faithfulness of Almighty
God, who has loved and redeemed and regenerated and kept his
people. And I want to read from a passage
of scripture where the Apostle Paul made reference to himself
and God having done that very thing for himself. We're here
to exalt our matchless Savior for His sovereign mercy to His
people. And to rehearse the words from
God's Word that is concerning every true and faithful believer
who has been brought to the end of this earthly life. We don't know. We don't know
when. We don't know when. But I can tell you that as we
do get older, we began to think more and more of leaving this
world and the reality of leaving this world and truly being trained
up as a child, as God's child, trained up by God in the way
that we should go, be kept and not depart from it. I'd like
to just Read from verses 6 to 8, 2 Timothy 4. The Apostle Paul, in speaking
on this very subject, says, For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. I'm ready. Paul realized that
he's now coming to the end of his life. And the scripture declares
for him to say, I'm ready. Now, I've heard a lot of people
make this statement. And it's people that I knew weren't
sitting under the gospel. And they would make statements
like this. Well, I'm ready to go on home.
I'm ready to, you know, I'm ready. And I think to myself,
well, according to these scriptures, you're not. But Paul said, I
am ready. And I thought, as I was musing
on these scriptures this morning, When is a man, when is a woman
ready? I am ready to be offered. I'll tell you the only time that
a man or a woman is ready to be offered is when the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for them. And God has
put away their guilt through the Lamb. when their sin has been charged
to Him, and He'd been made sin for them. He who knew no sin. When Christ has borne their guilt
and put away their sin, put away the guilt of it, and secondly,
when they're robed in the righteousness of Christ, when they have no
guilt with which to answer, or for which to answer, When they
have no guilt, there's no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
When a man or a woman has no guilt before God and they're holy, they're holy
in the Lord Jesus Christ, robed in His righteousness, Paul then
says, for I am now ready. That's a man or a woman ready
to meet God and have some hope. Any other way. Oh, no, you're
not ready. You're not ready. You're going
to meet Him, but you're not ready to meet Him. Paul said, I'm ready
to be offered. Oh, the blessing of beholding
a settled heart. One that is prepared to leave
this world. Paul said, I am ready to be offered
and the time of my departure is at hand. Now this is something
I know. Death, the death of this body
right here, death is not the annihilation of the man. Death is not the annihilation.
Death is the separation of the soul and the body. When Paul said I'm ready for
my departure. He's talking about his soul going
back to be with the Lord. Absent from this body, present
with the Lord. I'm ready. The time of my departure
is at hand. Time of my departure. It's time
to be born. It's time to die. And Paul says
now, it's time of my departure. Brother Henry had been praying
a long time for the Lord to take him. Doris was doing the same
thing. Lord take us home. But God was not pleased to do
so. It's appointed unto man who wants
to die. And I was thinking, one of the
things that was such a blessing to me in just knowing As he and
Doris would pray that God would take them, I thought, what a
blessing it is to me to behold the confidence and the assurance
and the hope. That hope. A good found a good
hope. I'm going to be with the Lord.
It was just a confidence to me. That was so encouraging to know
they'd pray. Paul says the time of my departure. He looks back and reflects upon
his life after the Lord had called him. And he said, you know, verse
7, he said, I fought a good fight. Such an honorable sound to me. But I can tell you this, Paul
would have been the first one to tell you, he said, the fight
wasn't mine. The battle is the Lord's. The battle is the Lord's. We're
more than conquerors through Him. He is the mighty, victorious
Lord. 1 Timothy 6.12 says, the good fight of faith. I fought a good fight. How do we fight? Well, the scripture
says we put on the whole armor of God. Take the shield of faith. Paul said, I fought a good fight.
What is he saying? I believe God. I fought a good fight. I believe
the Lord. I believe God. I fought a good
fight. How's that? I have on the helmet
of salvation. What do you mean, Paul? I mean
salvations of the Lord. That's what I mean. I fought
a good fight. I've taken the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. Paul said, I know, I know this. This gospel is the power of God
and salvation. This is not my fight, it's the
Lord's fight, and the Lord provides. I've fought a good fight. My loin's been girt about with
truth. What are you saying, Paul? Christ is the truth to whom I
look. My feet's been shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. This is the only message. If
any man preaches any other message but this message, let him be
accursed. Paul says, I fought a good fight
with that which the Lord has given me. The shield, the helmet,
the girdle of my loins, feet. Then he says in verse 7, I finished
my course. The Lord has now brought him
to an end. The Lord is now bringing him
to the end of his race. I fought a good fight, I finished
my course. Hebrews 12, verse 1, Let us lay
aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us.
Let us run with patience, perseverance, the race, the struggle that is
set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher. of our
faith, Paul said, I finished the course, my ministry that
the Lord gave me, that the Lord called me to, that the Lord trained
me in, that the Lord kept me in. Then he says in verse 7,
I've kept the faith. Again, Paul's not bragging on
himself. I've kept the faith because God
kept me. That's the only reason I've kept
the faith. That's the only reason I've run the race. That's the
only reason I finished my course. Paul's profession of faith, the
truth of the doctrine of Christ that was committed to his trust
and God's faithfulness to his people. He said, I'll send you
pastors after my heart. I'll call them. I'll keep them.
I'll teach them. I'll train them. Now these words of the Apostle
Paul concerning that fight and finishing and keeping, you know.
We know that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build
it. Paul knew, I don't have any power
to do this. And these things that he was
saying, I've fought a good fight, I've finished my course, I've
kept the faith, those things were not that which established
or maintained his righteous standing before God. This course was laid
out by the Lord. And Paul was the means of God
teaching His people and calling them to Himself. Luke 17 10, So likewise ye, when
ye shall have done all those things commanded you, say, We
are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. What does that mean? We're unprofitable
servants. That means we didn't add anything
to it. I thank God for raising up faithful,
faithful preachers of the gospel. Faithful men, faithful women,
faithful, and teaching them, establishing them, and using
them as the means of calling out God's sheep. But I can tell
you this, we are but vessels of His mercy. Objects of His
grace, compassion. We're the clay, He's the potter.
What do we have to glory and save? Christ and Him crucified. That's all we have. Christ alone
is Paul's triumph. Paul said in Philippians 2.13,
For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of
His good pleasure. Paul says in verse 8, henceforth,
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. There's a certainty in this salvation. There's a certainty. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Something awaits
according to these scriptures right here that the Spirit of
God taught through the Apostle Paul that awaits at the end of
this race. Righteousness that has been completed,
finished in the believer. something that shall be eternally
shown to be for the good of God's people and the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ, a crown of righteousness. I jotted down something that
Brother Henry said on this crown of righteousness. I thought it
was so good, I'm just going to share it with you. It said this
crown of righteousness is God's declaration of the perfect holiness
that is ours through the redemption and the imputed righteousness
of Christ. What is a crown of righteousness?
It is Christ Himself who is our righteousness. That is our righteousness. I wrote down, hold your place,
Matthew 25, verse 31-34. Matthew 25, verse 31-34. I'm
going to read a scripture to you. Here is the crown of righteousness. Here it is, right here. Matthew
25-31, When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the
holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His
glory, And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divided
his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. OK, now get ready. Here it comes. Here's the crown
of righteousness right here. Here's the crown. Here's the
crown. Here's the victory. The victory. The victorious victory.
Here's the crown. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come. you blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
There's the crown. There's the victory. Come. Inherit. Well, I thought I was
going to be having all kinds of crowns on my head and I was
going to be, no. No, there's going to be one.
that's worthy of crowns. And we being found in Him, we're
a joint heir with Him. Man, I'm telling you, people
think I'm going to be just, it'd be hard for me to hold them up.
Here's the crown. That perfect holiness that is
ours through the redemption and imputed righteousness of Christ. Yes, something truly awaits God's
people. It's not earned. The scripture
declares this. Henceforth there is laid up for
me. There is something laid up for
me. There is something laid up for me. What is it? It's a crown
of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me at that day. What day? The day of judgment.
Separate the sheep from the goats. And He's going to turn to the
sheep. Enter in. Enter in. That crown is not laid
up because of our merit. It's totally ours according to
God's everlasting covenant of grace and mercy. He earned the
righteousness that is said to be our crown. And all the glory
that's due, the wearer of that righteousness, all the glory
that is due, the wearer of that righteousness, the bearer, let
me say it like that, of that righteousness, all the glory
is His glory. What happened, the Scripture
declares in Revelation chapter 4, Revelation 4, 8, He had taken
the book, the four beasts, and four and twenty elders fell down
before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vows full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. They
sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
open the seal. Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. They all
praised the Lamb. The Lamb. And in closing, Paul
says in verse 8, The righteous judge shall give
me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also
that love his appearing. Now I know that there is coming
a day when the Lord is going to come back. The trump of God
is going to sound. The dead in Christ is going to rise. we which
remain on this earth will meet them in the air, and every eye
is going to see them. God's people are going to love
His appearing. They love His appearing. Let me ask you this. Do you not love the appearing
when we assemble ourselves together as brethren? And this is it. There's nothing sweeter than
the fellowship of God's people on this earth. This is the greatest
blessing, humanly speaking, that we got. That we can assemble
ourselves together as brethren. Now let me ask you this, what
did the Lord say when two or three are gathered together in
His name? I'm in the midst of you. Don't
you love His appearing? Don't you love it when we come
together? brethren meet together. The Lord
said, I'm there. I'm there. Don't you love His
appearing? When we partake of the Lord's
table, we take a cup of wine and a little piece of bread. I hear again, two or three are
gathered together in His name. He said, I'm in the midst of
you, but you know what we're doing? We're doing something
very, very special. That blessed ordinance is in
the remembrance of Him. And as He ate with His disciples
on that very night in which He was betrayed, He eats with us. We, by faith, with Him. But we remember Him. Don't you
love the appearing of the Lord when God is pleased to call out
one of His own? call them out of darkness. And
we behold, there's the appearing of God's mercy and grace. God
called out one that He'd everlastingly love. And they say, I want to
confess the Lord in baptism. I want to associate myself with
this body of believers. I want to be an encouragement
to you and you to me. What you love is appearing. In
that time spoken of a little while ago, we was talking about
enter into your closet. And pray to your Father in secret. The Father that hears in secret. Don't you love the appearing
of the Lord to you? To me? When we seek Him and ask
Him. We knock at the door of His mercy.
We ask, we seek. Lord, have mercy. And He hears. He hearkens. Don't you love His
appearing? To you, the Scripture says, that
love His appearing. There is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give
me at that day, and not to me only, but to everyone, but unto
all. them also His love, His appearing. I pray God bless this to our
hearts. I know right now that our hearts
are very tender. As I told Brother Paul Henry's
son, when I knew that it passed, I was talking to Gabe too. The
moment I heard it, Brother Henry's past, I said, I thank God for
that. I thank God for that. I rejoice. I rejoice. I said, there's a
big hole. There's just a big hole in my
heart. But we miss him, don't we? But I'm telling you the truth. Like Brother Scott, miss him.
I love to see him. He's sitting right there where
you are, David. I love seeing Him there, talking to these men. Brother Henry who said one time,
the greatest loss this world ever suffers is when God removes
an aged and taught believer, faithful, faithful, faithful
believer. But precious in the sight of
the Lord is the death of His saints. And we bow and rejoice. But to all that know Him, they're
ready. They're ready. ready for their
departure. Their time has come. They've
run their race. They've finished their course.
They fought a good fight. They've laid up now a crown of
righteousness for them. Not only them, but every one
of them, that love is appearing. I pray God bless these to our
heart. Amen.