is today's race. I don't want
to talk about yesterday's race. I don't want to talk about the
race that took place 12 years ago, 14 years ago, or 100 years
ago, or back in the 1700s, or what may come next week. Today's
race. We have a race today. And as
my old friend used to say, this is God's word for this hour.
I'm confident of it. I'm confident of it as I've ever
been confident. This is God's word for you for
this hour and for me. Mary's going to do some cometh-ing
and some runneth-ing and so are we if we're God's sheep for his
people. It says in John 20 verse 1, the
first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early. Not in the nick of time, early. When it was yet dark, unto the
sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
Now who is this text speaking about? Mary Magdalene. What was
she doing? Cometh. Cometh. She had came to the Lord. She
was coming to the Lord. And if the Lord was standing
there, and he will be in just a few moments, she's gonna still
come to him. While she's hugging his feet,
she's coming to the Lord. She cometh, cometh to him. Why
did she come? There's a whole lot of other
things going on. Family was in town, the ball
game's going on, my back hurts, my legs cramped up, I got the
kids. The list goes on and on and on.
We're potty training. My dog's sick. A lot of things going on. Why
did she come to this tomb? She was loved much. She had been
forgiven much. And so she loved much. She had
to. She had to. Turn over to Luke
chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. I had mentioned
this the other day, but it's good to read it. Luke 7, verse
36. This is when the Lord forgave a sinful
woman. Luke 7, 36. And one of the Pharisees
desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the
Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman
in the city, which was a sinner, When she knew that Jesus sat
at meat in a Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. She came, she came to it. She
brought something with her and stood at his feet behind him,
weeping. Weeping and began to wash his
feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head
and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when
the Pharisee which had been in him saw it, he spake within himself. He didn't say it out loud, he
spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet,
would have known who and what manner of woman this is that
touched him, for she's a sinner. He wouldn't let this happen.
We know her. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee, and he saith,
Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, and
the other fifty, and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly
forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of
them will love him most, not be the least critical, which
one is going to love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And the Lord said unto him, thou
hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,
thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my
feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou
gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath
not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore
I say unto thee, her sins Which are many, this is good news,
are forgiven, every last one of them. For she loved much,
but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he
said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meet with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith has saved thee, go in peace. Go, go wherever you want to go.
Go do whatever you want to do. You're mine, I've forgiven your
sin. Go in peace, go in peace. If this wasn't Mary Magdalene,
this was Mary Magdalene. And if this is Mary Magdalene,
this is me. I was drawn. I was made to come
to the Lord. He broke my heart because he
gave me a new heart in it, made me a new creation. I wept because
of him. I wept because of myself, because
of the sin that was forgiven. And he said, peace be unto you.
You go in peace, your sins forgiven. I loved him. Well, how did I
love him? Because I'm so good? Because he loved me first and
revealed that to me. It's a magnet. I had no option
but to come. That's just the verb we happen
to call it. People call it natural attraction. This is an almighty
attraction. If this wasn't Mary, this was
Mary. It says in chapter eight, verse two, this certain woman's
done by the people that's coming with them. It was the 12 and
a certain woman, which was healed of evil spirits and infirmities.
Mary called Magdalene out of whom seven devils was cast. Someone
that was healed in perfection. That's a, that's a big center,
isn't it? A great center. Did she choose to come? Did she
choose to come to bring that alabaster box? Did she choose
to come to this sepulcher that we read that she's bringing spices
to anoint the Lord's body? You think she got there and saw
that Joseph and Nicodemus had already covered him in fine linen
and myrrh and aloe and she threw that box down and started throwing
a little fit? Bet she didn't. She didn't care. She was there to honor her Lord,
wasn't she? Did she choose to come? Does anyone choose to come? Did you just sit down and say,
today I'm gonna read the scriptures and I'm gonna find God? That did not happen. You may
have said you did that, but you didn't find God. Scriptures say
there is none that seeketh after God. Well, how did she come?
Turn back to John six. John six, verse 37. The Lord says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come unto me. And him that cometh to me, I
will know whilst cast out. You come to me. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh, I will
know whilst cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me. I wonder
what the Lord's will is. I think a lot. I want the Lord's
will to be done. I want what the Lord will have for us. I
want what the Lord will have for you. What's His will? The
Lord tells us, this is the Father's will. which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose none, nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." Now, if you end up with
a Ford or a Chevy, does it make a difference? What if I live
in a mansion or a tent? I have everlasting life. That's
the Lord's will. Now the means by which he brings
me to that point, that's okay. That's okay. If it's pain or
poverty or being a prince, it doesn't make a difference. This
is the Father's will. Verse 41, the Jews then murmured
at him because he said, I'm the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto him, murmur not among yourselves. They hadn't come
yet. They had a bunch of questions. They hadn't bowed. No man can
come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. Is that women too? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Young and old, rich and poor,
Jew and Gentile, bond or free, male or female, it don't make
a difference. He has to draw them. The Father
draws them. As it is written in the prophets, they shall be
all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Because I learned so good. No,
because the Father drew you. He just said that. This is the
Lord's work. There's absolutely nothing that
we can glory in or say, well, I did pretty good at that. Nothing. If they're a little bit wrong,
how much living will live in the whole lump? A little leaven. Leaven it the
whole lump. There can't be any leaven. The
Lord has to put us clean out of it and do all the work and
do all the saving, do all the drawing, do all the sustaining.
And that's good news. You know what leaven you are.
What was the driving force of her coming? A father has to draw
them. How's he going to do that? What's the means by which that's
going to take? John 14. John 14. And that's when she came to his
feet and anointed him. That's when she came to that
tomb. That's when she cometh and dropped down to his feet
again, whenever he revealed himself to him. John 14 verse 4. It says, And whither I go, ye
know, and the way ye know. And Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest. And how can we know the way?
How can we come to you? We don't even know where you're
going, and we don't know the way it's gonna take to come to
you. And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. Him and the Father. One, the
Father has to draw him, and it's gonna be by Christ is how we're
gonna come. I thought we was coming to Christ.
Yes. We're coming by him and to him. That's good, isn't it? We looked at this, I've seen
how long it's been, March of last year, so it's been a while.
I'll remind you, those are definite articles, not indefinite articles. It's not a way, a truth, and
a life. It's the way. I mean, it's just one, that's
it. The truth and the life. You remember that life? That's
what we lost in Adam. This is who we're coming to and
the means by which we're coming. This is the surety of our coming
to Christ, of our cometh. We were dead. We died in Adam. The Lord said in Genesis 2, He
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest eat freely, but of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. And Adam kept breathing oxygen,
and he was graveyard dead in the spirit. As soon as he ate
of it. And he's like, I'm naked. Get
me some fig leaves. And then he blamed God. That's
disgusting. I'm sure I've done it. When a
man blames his wife, or a man blames God because of, well,
you gave her to me. Wouldn't call out a man. That
one that came to save us from ourselves. It says in Ephesians
2, and you hath he quickened, you hath he gave life, who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Were you wounded or were you
dead? What can a dead person do, other than be a paperweight
and smell the room up? Nothing. Can you hear? They can't
hear, they're dead. Can they say a prayer? They can't
say nothing, they're dead. Can they wash? They can't wash,
they're dead. They can't do nothing, they're
dead. That's a simple word. It's a four-letter word. It ain't
complicated. One syllable. The Lord taught
in one-syllable words. They're dead. He gave them life. He's the life. He gave himself.
See that? He's the lie, and the truth.
There's something else we lost. Whenever the serpent came to
Eve, I heard an old woman on a documentary from Appalachia
the other day, and she said, they said about a snake getting
in her house, and she said, I ain't going back in that house till
that snake comes out. And they said, you don't like snakes?
She goes, it's just a black snake. And she said, there's enmity
between me and the serpent. So I heard that growing up too.
Still is with this one. That serpent came, and there
was never a lie told on this globe we were living on until
Satan talked to Eve. And was it bold-faced? It was
subtle. It was a little bit of living,
wasn't it, Cass? Just a little bit. It wasn't air. It was damnable
heresy that cast the entire human race into eternal spiritual death
apart from Christ. It was a little lie. And it wasn't
just that Eve was tricked by the first lie. It's that she
believed the serpent over the Lord. That's when we started lying,
wasn't it? We just read the other day, the wicked are estranged
from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born speaking
lies. Lies wouldn't them and there's
a way that seems right on the man There's now I tell you I've
just been thinking about this and there's a way that I think
this is gonna work out But the end thereof are the ways of death
because that's all we are is dead He has to be our life He
has to be the truth Not what I think that's what heresy is
opinion. I It has to be him as our truth. But God, oh man, of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. Christ is the word. And
we have this written word. If it's not according to the
scriptures, there's no life in them. There's no life in them. None. That's what he said. It's
plain, isn't it? And he's the way. We lost that
too in Adam. The Lord clothed Adam and Eve after that. After
Adam blamed God with that lamb skin, a lamb was slain, something
had to die because what you had is going to wilt away. It had
to be durable, it had to be lasting. And he set those cherubims to
guard the garden with a flaming sword and he did it on purpose.
He does everything on purpose. And it says in Genesis 3, he
drove out the man and he placed in the east of the garden of
Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way
to keep the way of the tree of life. What'd the Lord say to that sword?
Smite the shepherd. That's how we live. He's the
way. He's the way. Christ is the way
and the place of reconciliation. He's the way to the place and
he is the place. Everybody wants to go to heaven.
Sure sounds nice. They don't know that that's a
person. Capital H heaven, not just a noun of a location, it's
him. He went to prepare a place, that's
what it says up in verse two there in chapter 14, isn't it?
Atonement, at-one-ment. That is who Mary was made to
come to the first time, and she cometh. If the Lord makes somebody
come to Him, they cometh. They ain't gonna quit. Now that
path's gonna, they're gonna get wore out. They're gonna run a
race. She had to do some running. She had to do some coming, didn't
she? and you're going to get tired, and you're going to slow
down, and then you're going to go downhill for a while, and
you're going to speed up and catch your breath, and then you're going to get
off to this side a little bit. But that's the tenor of our life.
Once the Lord has made us come to Him, you're going to keep
coming. You ain't going to quit. You ain't going to quit. And if you
make it to the end, and you ain't proved to be faithful, you don't
believe Him to the end, He didn't draw you in the first place.
You're just following somebody else, not Him. There was a lot
of obstacles for Mary to come that day, wasn't there? There
was an earthquake. We just read that. Well, the
roads might be closed. They just about closed the road
up here. They've been working on it all day. Well, the road
might be out. You know, big storm come through.
Maybe that's what the earthquake was. And it was dark. It was
early in the morning. Wasn't as dark. Well, what if
I broke my leg? I'm getting of age, you know, and I'm in the
dark, walking through the dark. I can't see everything. Or if
it's dark, what if there's a mountain lion out there? I think it'd
eat me up. I can't fight no mountain lion.
There were guards at that tomb. That's what we read about too,
weren't there? They might beat us. If we come there, they're
going to kill us and make up another lie, aren't they? Even
if they aren't there, say those guards were on break, that stone's
heavy and they sealed it on top of it being there. And we're
just a couple of women. We can't move that stone. What
are we going to do? A lot of obstacles. You can Have AI print
you out $2,000 if you live that long. Obstacles are nothing. Nothing. If the Lord's pleased to call
one of his children to himself. We worry about all that stuff.
Lord don't. He's the ruler of it. He's sovereign and he's on
his throne and he does what he wants. Because he's God. You understand that? A whole
lot of things in Mary's life that could have gotten in the
way. What'd Paul tell us in Romans 8? For I'm persuaded that neither
death nor life, life getting away, life gotten away for me
until 4.47 p.m. today. There's doctor's appointments
and physical illness and everything else. That's no obstacle for
the Lord. If he gives a word for the hour,
he's gonna give it. He's gonna give somebody ears
to hear at that hour. You ain't gonna plug your ears
up, you can't. He's gonna bring you, and you're gonna listen,
you're gonna rejoice. Walk away glad. He said, I'm persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who's
Lord over all. She came to her Lord. That's
who she came to. She didn't come to an altar.
She didn't come to a priest. She didn't come to the Lord's
table. She didn't come to an ordinance. She didn't come to
the baptism. She didn't come to the right
set of doctrines. She didn't come to a confession of faith.
She didn't even come to her own faith and her own security. And I think this is right. I'm
pretty warm and fuzzy. She didn't even come to that.
She cometh to a person. That's who she came to. She came
on the command of her Lord and her God, just as every other
sinner ever before or ever will is gonna happen. Ain't nothing
new. This is the way it is. Because
he made them a new creation and they're holy and they're righteous
and he makes them come and they come. If we were truly made to see
that we ain't nothing but dogs, The master says, come. Y'all
have no little Lola. She comes to me. You want a treat? Come. She'll run right up to
me. We'd understand that just as clear as anything, wouldn't
we? And rejoice in it. He's a good master. That's what's
happened throughout time. Do you know that? Genesis 7,
the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the
ark. Come into Christ. Come on. For
I have seen righteous before me in this generation. You've
been righteous. Well, how'd that happen? I made
you that way. That's that new creation, isn't
it? Eric and I text her in John 20. John 20, verse one. The first day of the week cometh,
Mary Magdalene, early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher,
and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. Then she
runneth. She was coming to the Lord, and
she saw the stone move, and then she ran. No, she runneth. She had a race to run. She was
alive, wasn't she? She hadn't quit running. She
hadn't run for a little bit. She runneth. That's what the
word is. We can learn something from it. I used to do that. No,
you don't. Not if the Lord made you run.
You'll keep running. She'd been given some lot. She
had seen something, she saw that stone was moved. And the second
she saw it, she turned around and ran. We read another account,
she was commanded to go. But she has given some light,
she's given some understanding, and she was gonna tell her brothers
what she saw. Lord wasn't there to talk to,
so she was gonna go to her family. Isn't that what the Lord told
John and his mother, Mary? He said, behold your son, behold
your mother. And John said, when we went home that day, she went
to my house. That's my family now, family. One that cometh to Christ, when
a sinner cometh to Christ, as soon as they think he's not there.
If you've been made to come and you don't see his face and you
don't hear a word from him, the sole drive in your being is to
find him. If you ain't with your brethren
and you don't see the Lord's face, and you don't hear the
preaching of the gospel, it will consume you to find him, to find
him. When Mary saw that stone was
moved, she immediately went to her brethren because she had
to be where her Christ was, where her King was. Asaph asked that
and Psalm 77 said, is his mercies cling on forever? Not forever,
but for a little bit. Sometimes the Lord's pleased
to hide his face. Is it fun? No. I wonder why he
did it. That's his business. It's right.
It's right. Sometimes he doesn't give a word.
Sometimes we can't hear. Is it their fault? I guarantee
it is. Is the father chasing his child
and teaching him just as a perfect father and a wise father does,
and there's going to be an expected outcome? Is he going to get the
job done? Yes. Yes, he is. And Isaiah 54 said,
in a little wrath, I hid my face from thee for a moment. But with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord
thy Redeemer. Thy Redeemer. Mary had been given
some light. Do you remember that scripture
reading we had out of Matthew 28? So the angel answered and said unto
the women, fear ye not, for I know that you seek Jesus, which was
crucified. He's not here, for he is risen. And he told them, he said, come
see the place where the Lord lay. And they saw those linens
laying there. He didn't leave in a hurry. He
didn't bust out of jail. This was the king. the right time
walking out. And he told him, he said, go
quickly and tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead.
And behold, he goes before you into Galilee. And there you shall
see him. And lo, I've told you. I told
you. You tell him something new. He
just told him what happened. There's somebody getting on a
faithful man of God. I think they're trying to insult
him. And they made him real happy. They said, all he does is tell
us what that word says. You know that's a miracle? God says it's
a miracle if the poor have the gospel preached to them. Well,
man don't think so. Who cares what man thinks? Lord
said it's precious. I want it to be precious to me.
He said, I told you. And it says they departed quickly
from the sepulcher with fear and with great joy. That's something
the Lord teaches us too. We don't come in here for a party.
We don't come in here showing our face and how much we've been
fasting. We're to worship God. Psalm 2
says, you serve the Lord with fear and you rejoice with trembling.
And it says, they went with fear and great joy and did run to
the disciples. This word. There in John 20 verse one again.
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early. She had
a race to run. Hey, go over there. And she gave it all she had.
She cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark under the
sepulcher and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher
and she runneth. You can look at the root words
of all these things, it means she was sprinting, giving it
all she got, as hard as she could go. And cometh to Simon Peter
and to the other disciples whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them,
they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we
know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth,
and that other disciple John, and came to the sepulcher, so
they ran both together. They didn't mosey over there.
They didn't stroll over there. Well, we got a little time killed.
Y'all want to stop and get something to eat on the way? They both ran
together. And the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first
to the sepulcher. We touched on that last week,
too. Does that mean that John loves... They don't even say...
Mary's probably winded. She might have been 10 minutes
behind him. Does that mean John loved the Lord more than Peter
did because he got there first? No, that means he was a faster
runner. You know, I said that about Abraham and Sarah. It says Sarah was so beautiful,
the king. She's up in her 90s. Do you know what that means? That
means she's real pretty. That happened. There's a lot
of spiritual meaning to that, but practically, physically what
happened, John just outrun Peter. He was younger. He's a better
runner. Mary had a race to run, she ran it. Peter had a race
to run, he ran it. John had a race to run, and he
ran it. And they ran at different paces and seemingly different
objectives, right? She went to go tell them, they
went to go see. And they probably had different
pain in different areas of their body when they were running this
race. One of them's right leg hurt,
the other one's left leg hurt. One of them got a side stitch
and they didn't know how to breathe out to get rid of it. They had a cramp or
something. They had different ailments through that. What's
that show us? Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 12. He
said, for the body's not one member, but many members. If
the foot shall say, because I'm not the hand, am I not the body?
Is it therefore not the body? I got a right foot and I got
a left hand. Ain't they both a part of me? I want to keep
them, I can tell you that. Yeah, it's a part of us. He said,
does the ear say to an eye, well, I'm not an eye, so I'm not a
part of the body? Of course not. They're different, they serve
different purposes, but we're all part of the body. He said
in 1 Corinthians 12, 18, The Lord gave each one of them a
different ability to run that day for that day's race. The
Lord's given each one of us in this room a different ability
to run. And different, different cramps,
different sides, titches, different dehydration, different pain,
different joy, different endorphins. Some may say, well, I just attend.
No. No, you don't. The Lord's given us something
to do. He's given you something to do. To pray, to work, to support
the gospel, to clean, to read, to sing, something. The Lord's
gave us something to do. He said, go forth and preach
the gospel. Well, if I'm tied up cleaning and setting the songs
and doing all the working and doing everything, I'm sorry,
but that's what the Lord gave to me and did everything else. Well,
I ain't got no time to preach the gospel to nobody. That's
why I gave deacons and all these other things. That's why you're
here. God gave us something to do. I can't pray for me all the
time. I don't want to. I got to pray for you. So you
got to pray for me. That's how that works. And I
want to be made faithful. God gave me a race to run and
I want to run it rightly and to honor him. I do. He has to make me that way. I
fully understand that. And I want to ask him to make
me faithful to do that. I don't want to look back on
my service to the Lord and just painfully obviously see how slothful
I was and the job that he gave me to do. Whether that's cleaning
that toilet back there or rewiring one of these lights or preaching
the gospel. I don't want to see how flippant I was and how just
lackadaisical I am. Well, you know, that's okay.
That's just what we do. I don't want to see how I didn't take
it seriously. How I pushed it off. And as we said, I shirked
my responsibilities. God gave us these responsibilities.
Now he has to make me do it, but I won't ask him to make me
do it. Whatever the race, I want to run a good one. Because I
love him. I'll have my sin forgiven. That's
a reasonable thing. That's a reasonable obligation. A steward has to be proven faithful.
I want to be made faithful. I want to fight that good fight
of faith, and I want to lay hold of eternal life. That's what
Paul was telling Timothy in 1 Timothy 6. He was talking to Timothy
about Timothy and about preachers and all that, but he talked about
himself a little bit. He was reminiscing on his race.
Turn over to 2 Timothy 4. I think we got time to do it.
2 Timothy 4. Look here in verse one, 2 Timothy
4.1. Paul writes to young Timothy
and says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead in his appearing
and his kingdom. Preach the word. Preach the word. Whatever the Lord gives you for
that hour, preach it. And you preach it according to
this word. Rightly divide the scriptures. Study. Prove yourself
worthy by study. That's what I told Timothy. I
read that often. Study, Timothy. Prove yourself faithful. Preach
the word. Be instant in season, out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. He didn't say you're going to
be good at it. Gabe preached that a couple months ago. He
said, it doesn't matter if I have liberty or not. If the Lord's
going to bless it, he's going to bless it. It doesn't matter if I'm
the kindest person you've ever met or I'm a jerk. It doesn't
make a difference. The Lord's going to bless it
if he's going to bless it. Now we want to be kind and we won't be good at
it, but that don't matter. Do it. For the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine. You're going to rebuke,
you're going to exhort, you're going to reprove, and it's going
to be with long-suffering and keep doing it, and it's going
to be according to this word, and there's going to come a time
they won't hear it. Well, he don't know nothing. But after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having
itching ears. If you ain't telling them yes, they'll find a yes.
They'll keep asking every preacher they can find until somebody
tells them what they want to hear. And they shall turn away their ears
from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in
all things endure affliction. Do the work of an evangelist.
You go to other places and preach too. Make full proof thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered.
I'm telling you these things because I had experience, Timothy.
I'm ready to be offered. I'm ready to go home. And the
time of my departure is at hand. I want to impart some last minute
knowledge to you. I'm telling you these things. Paul says,
I fought a good fight. I have finished my course. That's
running a good race. I have kept the faith. 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. I thought that crown was going
to show up. No, his appearing. He's our crown. He's our king. What's the reward we're going
to get? We're going to get crowns and different levels and I'm
going to be in a bigger mansion. I'm going to have jewels or something.
No, it's Christ. And to everybody that loves his
appearing, I want to see, I want to smell him. I want to hug him.
I want to thank him. There'll be 30 minutes in glory
that we're going to just cry. We're just going to be so happy.
We can't stand it." And he said, then I'll walk away all you tears.
You ain't gonna cry no more. I'm with you. I'm going to love that appearing.
Sometimes I see them clouds rolling over them hills back there. It
did this evening when the pressure was just right. And I thought,
oh, maybe that's it. Maybe it's opening up and this is done.
I'm going to be ready. If I live another 43 years, I'm
really going to be ready. Mary ran and told Peter and John. I thought of another woman that
had a race to run. The Lord used a lot of women,
didn't he? They thought so little of in
a misogynistic day and age. They can't use the authority
of a man. They're not to be teachers. But the Lord uses his daughters,
too. They don't sit around and get special treatment. Puts them
to work. Whole list of them. there was
another one at a well what turn over john for this is sweet and
then i'll go real quick and explain it and we'll close john four
there was a woman at a well that ain't right woman that came to a well john
four verse three speaking of christ and he left judea and
departed then departed again into galilee well that's where
he met them disciples and Mary and all them, wasn't it? That's
where it says it's going to appear to him. And he must needs go
through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus
therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well. And it was about the six hours,
about high noon, and the Lord came there and he sat down. Who
was there first? He was. Verse seven, there cometh,
and there came, there cometh, a woman of Samaria to draw water.
And Jesus said unto her, give me to drink. You know what? Didn't
Mary come to him? All the Marys come to him. You
know Mary, that's a real popular name, too. That's Mara. Remember
what Mara meant? That's what Naomi was wanting
to call her. Bitter. Bitter. She was made
bitter. All the ones made bitter, they
cometh. They cometh. Well, he talks to her. Are you married? How many husbands
you have? He told her everything she had
probably forgot about, too. This man told me all things.
And she ran, and she went into the city. She ran, and she told
those men in the city, those people she was friends with down
at the public house, down at the pub, and she said, come see
a man. Come see a man. This man spoke
like no man's ever spoke. Come hear him, come see him,
come see. And they came, didn't they? Because
she asked, they came. Why Peer and Jonka? She had given
some lot, Mary had been given some lot, and she told her brothers,
and said, come, and they came. They come running, didn't they?
This woman went to her fellows and said, come, come. I came,
you come too, come. Come hear about a man. And they
said, all right, we'll go because of you. And the Lord spoke to
them. And then some of them believed,
and then he spoke for another two days, and some of them believed more,
more of them believed. And it says down in verse 42,
John 4, 42. Remember the will of the father? Was it everything everyone given
to him is going to come to and they're going to have everlasting
life? He ain't going to lose none of them. Here's the means by which the
Lord does that. Those men, they believed and
they said unto the woman, John 4, 42, now we believe we came
first because you asked us to. But now we believe not because
of thy saying, it wasn't because of you. for we have heard him
ourselves and know that this indeed, this is indeed the Christ,
the Savior of the world. What was that woman's race? Samaritan,
that half-breed. She came to Christ and then she
ran. Go tell about Christ. Well, they
do. They came to where Christ was.
Christ revealed himself. He had drew them. He revealed
himself. And now they declare, you just happened to tell me
to come. I ain't believing because of you. I'm believing because
of him. And that's the Lord right there. That's the king. That's
the king. How'd you get here? Lord brought
you. And you heard what we do now.
Well, we got a little bit of race to run, don't we? We ain't
gonna just sit on our laurels and twiddle our thumbs and talk
about things. We got some work to do. I won't
tell somebody else. I got brethren out there that
ain't heard this shit, and I won't tell them. Just cause somebody
come told me. Precious how the Lord works,
isn't it? All right, let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the faithfulness of our Redeemer. Thank you for
the long suffering he is towards us, kind and full of tender mercies. Oh, forgive us for what we are.
Though it be painful, use us. Use this local assembly that
you've gathered in this vast Egypt. Lord, and allow us and
make us to speak of Christ only. And as you promised, draw all
of your children to our Lord. We know this will be done, Lord,
but we ask it. And make us faithful and keep
us till the end as you promised. We know your promises, Lord.
We're so grateful for them. Me with our brethren, here and
throughout this world, and those that we don't yet know. We haven't
revealed who they are and who Christ is to yet. That all judgment's
been satisfied. Give us a word of peace for them.
Thank you for this hour, Lord. It's because of Christ we ask
it. Amen.