I am delighted to be here, and
my wife is likewise delighted to be here. We've been here many
times. It had been six or seven years
this time since we had had the honor of being in the Grace Baptist
Church, but it is an honor to us, and we're glad to be here.
And some folks came with us from Texas. It's not enough to take
over the state of... Where are we anyway? What state
is this? Kentucky. He had to make a remark about
the Alamo. He claims that most of the people
that fought in the Alamo were from Kentucky. And North Carolina. They got a lot better when they
got to Texas, I know that, whatever they were. It's a joy to be with you. Brother
Chris Cunningham and Vicki are some of my favorite people. In
fact, they're like my children. About twenty-something years
ago, I looked up in our church and there was a man sitting there
with a a young man, almost a boy, and I found out that the man
was a friend that I had known many years ago, and the boy that
was with him was Chris Cunningham. And Chris stayed there. I said he wouldn't make it, but
he stayed there. He was there 20 years, long enough
to become my son, really. If I could, I'd put him in the
trunk of my car and take him back down there. But he won't
allow that, so I'll leave him up here. But Chris and Vicki,
I took Chris to a Bible conference in Tennessee, and I thought he
might spy out a young lady, and sure enough, he did. And there
was Vicki sitting over there, and we both looked at her, and
she looked at us, and that's how it got started. And you can tell how it ended
up, or it's not ended up yet, but they have three wonderful
children, and they got married and had those children, and I
count them as my grandchildren. And I want you to know that it
was a big thing when we gave up the Cunninghams to Tennessee. And I may do something about
it yet. I don't know about it. We love
them and we miss them, but I know God's will. I see God's will
in him moving where he moved and them living in Tennessee
and being a blessing to everybody up here. We're glad to have some
folks come with us. We have Linda Howard, and Desta
has been in our church for, oh, I don't know how long. She just
sang. And we hear that beautiful singing all the time. She's been
with us about 25, 30 years, I guess. She is Brother Walter Gruber's
daughter. And like Don said, she's the
best thing that ever happened to Walter Gruber. She really
is. that daughter. And Ray and Betty McMahon came
with us. I know you've met Ray and Betty.
They've been with us a long time down there and they love the
preaching. My wife and I decided to come
because it was anniversary time and we decided to take an anniversary
trip and this is it. We've been married now 57 years. And a school teacher asked her
class to define love. And a little girl held her hand
up and she said, Yes, honey, what is love? And she said, It's
when two old people live together for a long time and still like
each other. I still like her. And so we've had 57 good years
together. We have four children and several
grandchildren, and God's blessed us richly. Now look at Romans
8. Romans 8, verse 18. Is this for any purpose up here,
this little doodad here? What's that do? Looks like a clock. I didn't
know I was going to be on a clock. Okay. Well, I'm not going to
do anything to it. I'll just leave it alone. Okay. Romans 8 verse 18, For I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Paul the Apostle
wrote those words, and then Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11, 4-11, And the same Paul said, not that
I speak in respect of want, for I have learned. Paul said, I have learned in
whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. He had to learn
that. And I have been attempting to
learn, as Paul did. bad job of it, but I'm attempting
to learn as Paul did. I'd like to learn because we
know so little. I read some of the great theological
debates that have gone forth recently on the e-mail and so
forth. I must say, every time I read
all of those pages of theological consideration, it confuses me
a great deal. So I guess I'll just tell you
what's on my heart without trying to teach you a lot of theology. Theology is good. The study of
God is good. But we need to keep things, I
believe, where we can understand what we're talking about. The
subject I have here is how Paul learned. Paul said, I have learned. How did he learn? Well, in Romans 8, 18, he said,
I reckon. I reckon. Now, that's a good word. My mother
used to use that word, only she didn't have the slightest idea
what it meant, and she said it in a different way than reckon. She said reckon. I'll never forget
her all those times she said reckon. You ask my mother something,
and she'll say, I reckon so. I reckon so. I can hear her saying
it now. And so she didn't know much about
the word, but my mother was a genteel, wonderful woman. I reckon so. Now, the way she said it, she
was saying, I guess so. But when Paul said, I reckon,
he's saying it as to count or to regard as being. It's a fact. I reckon." That's
what the word reckon means as Paul used it. Now, we might think
that Philippians 4.11 was written by someone who didn't suffer
much in this life and didn't know much about the depth of
suffering that many know. But the Apostle Paul, as you
well know, was subjected to the worst suffering that men can
be put into. 2 Corinthians 11. We'll just read a couple of scriptures
tonight. 2 Corinthians 11. You're familiar with all of these. Chapter 11, verse 23. And he
says, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I'm more.
in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day
I have been in the deep, in journeys often, in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils
by the heathen, in perils in the city and in the wilderness
and in the sea and among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness." And he said, besides those things, that's
not enough. Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily,
the care of all the churches." Now that was a load there. All
the churches that he had established, he would go back and care for
them and find out how they were doing and take care of those
churches. So Paul was a man who didn't
know the comfortable, easy life. He was hated by his kinsmen and
beaten black and blue, and he knew what it was to be deprived
not only of comforts, but also the bare necessities of life. But he was a cheerful man. What was the secret of Paul's
overcoming troubles and trials? Well, he said, I reckon. He's
doing some reckoning. And he looks at his life, what
all is happening to him, and then he goes on and looks at
the life that's coming. And he looks at that and he says,
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
even worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Optimist. Paul was an optimist. And the reason, the first reason
for his optimism was that he knew the sufferings of a Christian
are a brief duration. He said this present time. These are things of this present
time. I'm glad that everything that
we're going through here are for this present time, and they're
not for ever. This is in great contrast from
the sufferings of those who do not know the Lord Jesus. Are
you here tonight without a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do
you realize the sufferings that you face, not only in this life,
but throughout eternity? Your suffering shall be eternal
forever. If I read my Bible right, forever
tormented in the lake of fire, I don't know exactly what that
means, but I know it's awful. The believer's sufferings are
restricted to this short life, which is compared to a flower
that comes forth and is cut down, and a shadow that flees and continues
not. A few short years, and I mean
they're Some of you are young. Some of
you are older. Some of you are middle-aged.
You don't know how short. I've seen 76, and it seems like
last year was 21. They're gone. The years are gone, and I won't
be here long, according to I won't be around very long, a few short
years at most, and we're going to pass from this veil of tears,
and there's plenty of tears in this life, and we'll go into
that country where groans and sighs and tears are never, never
heard and seen. Won't that be wonderful? Wonderful. You don't think I ask the Lord
every day, Lord, is it time? Let's go. It's time to go. And he said, no, not yet. Not
yet. I thought perhaps this year,
the way this year has gone, that it was time, but it's not yet. Somebody wrote this. They asked
the question, is this the right road home? Is this the right
road home, O Lord? The clouds are dark and still,
the stony path is sharp and hard, and each step brings some fresh
hill. I thought the way would brighter
grow, and that the sun with warmth would glow, and joyous songs
from free hearts flow. Is this the right road home?
Yes, child, this is the very path I trod. The clouds were
dark for me. The stony path was hard to tread
and not sight, but faith can see that at the end the sun shines
bright forever where there's no night, and glad hearts rest
from earth's fierce fight. Is this the right road home?
Yes, it is. It's the right road home, whatever
you're going through, whatever God has put you in, it's the
right road home. And so the apostle first of all
was cheery about his reckoning that this present time, he said
this present time, this present time will be gone and then it
will all be over. And then secondly the apostle looked
forward with eye of faith to what he called the glory. I reckon
that the sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. Now to Paul, the glory was something
more than a beautiful dream. It was a reality that exerted
a powerful influence on him, consoling him in the most trying
hours of adversity. This is one of the real tests
of faith. To Paul, all was good. And I talked this morning, or
was it yesterday morning, to Bill Myers. Bill, where are you?
I still remember your name. I always forget names, but I
got his written down. He said to me, he sat down at
the breakfast table, and he said, I've been wanting to meet you.
And I said, well, I don't know why, but here I am. And he said,
when I first heard you on tape, I thought you were Scott Richardson. And I said, you better not tell
Scott that. And he said, I heard you tell
a story. He didn't remember exactly what
it was. It had something to do with everything
being good. And I said, well, I'll just tell
that again tonight. I've told it everywhere I've
ever been. I guess most of you have heard it, but it won't hurt
you to hear it again. This is good. There was a king
who had a good friend in his kingdom, and they went out hunting
together. And when his friend had something
odd about him, no matter what happened, he'd always say, This
is good. No matter how bad, he'd say,
This is good. He'd say, This is good. And so
they'd go out hunting. They went out hunting on one
particular occasion. It was the friend's job to load
the guns for the king. And he loaded a gun and handed
it to the king, and the king aimed it and pulled the trigger,
and the gun blew up and blew his thumb off. Well, his friend looked at that
and he said, And the king said, this is not
good. And he took his friend and had
him put in jail. And a year later, the king went
out again on a hunting expedition, and he went into a part of the
country that he knew better than to go to. There were cannibals
there. And sure enough, they captured
him. And they were going to put him in the pot, and just as they
were about to put him in the pot, they noticed that one of
his thumbs was missing. And they had a superstition that
if they ate a man that wasn't whole, that they would die. And
so they turned the king loose, and he went back home, and he
got to feeling bad about his friend being in jail, because
it was good that he lost that thumb. So he went down to the
jail and got his friend out and said, I'm so sorry that I put
you in jail. And his friend said, no, this
is good. Well, his king said, why is it good that you were
in jail for a year? Well, he said, if I hadn't been
in jail, I would have been with you. Now that was good, wasn't it?
This is good. No matter what you get into,
can you say this is good? That's hard to do, isn't it?
I was making coffee this morning, a simple job. I know it's simple
to make coffee, but I can foul that up. And I put the coffee
in the little do-jigger and put it in there and poured the water
in the back, put the pot under there. And I went back in a little
while, and it hadn't made any coffee. And I said, what on earth
is the matter? And so I got to fooling around
with it, and I saw I had to have a little top on the pot before
it would make the coffee. But I pulled the pot, a little
of it had run in there, and I pulled the pot out, and I spilled it
on my hand. I said, isn't that the dumbest
thing any man ever did? And I looked at my wife, And
she smiled, she said, this is good. And I had to smile and say, this
is good. Everything's good. Can you learn
to say this is good? Oh, what a tough job that is,
to say this is good. The believer, if you're a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a solid support in the times
of affliction which the unbeliever has not. The child of God knows
that in his Father's presence is fullness of joy, and that
in God's right hand there are pleasures forevermore. And faith lays hold of those
things even now. Just as Israel in the wilderness
was encouraged by sight of what awaited them in the promised
land. Did you ever notice that? Look
at the book of Numbers. We'll look at this one other
scripture. The book of Numbers, chapter 13, how encouraging it
was to the children of Israel to see what they were going to. Numbers 13.23, they came unto
the brook of Eshkol, and cut down from the fence a branch
with one cluster of grapes, and they buried between two upon
a staff. Can you imagine carrying a little
cluster of grapes and took two men to carry them? And they brought
to the pomegranates and to the figs. Well, all right. How is
that going to encourage the Israelites? They went and came to Moses,
and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children
of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought
back word unto them, and to all the congregation, and showed
them the fruit of the land." Look what we have. Look at these
grapes. This is what you are going to
award. Look at the size of these grapes. It took two men to carry
these back to you. And it encouraged them greatly.
So when you get discouraged, you just look at the greats that
God has laid up for you. Look what God has for you. Pleasures
for evermore. Fullness of joy that you're not
able even to take in. It's so great. You think about
what God has for you. And so the one who today walks
by faith and not by sight always contemplates that which I have
not seen nor heard but which God has revealed to us, but as
it is written. I have not seen nor ear heard,
neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that
God hath prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed
them unto us. Look what I have for you, all
of these things that he has for us. But God hath revealed them
unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God, and so Paul He looked at the
glory, the glory that was coming. He could see the glory, if you
could get a glimpse of the glory of God, what He has for His people. Or if I could get a little glimpse
of it, just the glory of God. To see the Lord Jesus Christ
in all of His glory. And then thirdly, the apostle
rejoiced not only in the glory, but he said, you notice, he said,
the glory which should be revealed in us. He did say that, didn't
he? We don't understand all that
means, but we're shown much of it. And someone wrote this, which
I like. It's called The Other Side. You
want to see The Other Side? This isn't death, it's glory. It isn't dark, it's light. It
isn't stumbling, groping, or even faith, it's sight. We're
going to see. This isn't grief, it's having
my last tear wiped away. It's sunrise, it's the morning
of my eternal day. It isn't even praying, it's speaking
face to face. It's listening and it's glimpsing
the wonders of His grace. This is the end of pleading for
strength to bear my pain, nor even pain's dark memory will
ever live again. How did I bear the earth life
before I came up higher, before my soul was granted its ever
deep desire, before I knew this rapture of meeting face to face
the one The One who sought me and saved me and kept me by His
grace. He is the glory that we're going
to see. The Lord Jesus is all the glory. And He'll be revealed in us.
The glory is revealed in us. I don't even know what that means,
but I know it's something wonderful. Think about Not now, but then. What's coming? What's coming? And you learn to say, this is
very good. Everything's good. And then Paul saw this. He saw
that the glory is the glory of a perfect body. Won't that be something? Do you
hurt anywhere? Oh, everybody hurts. Just hurt. Hurt. It just hurts. Everything seems
to hurt, doesn't it? We're going to have the glory
of a perfect body. I can't even imagine what that's
like. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 49, and
as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly. And in that day this corruption
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal immortality,
and that which was sown in dishonor, shall be raised in glory, and
that which was sown in weakness shall be raised in power. power as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall bear the image of the heavenly. And
Paul said, For our conversation is in heaven, from whence we
look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body. according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. A new body. And then there'll be the glory
of a transformed mind. Wouldn't you like to have that
mind you have transformed? 1 Corinthians 13, 12, For now we
see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know
in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known. And each mind will be an arb
of intellectual light. What capability of understanding
will our minds enjoy? Then will all mysteries be unraveled,
all problems solved, all discrepancies reconciled. And then shall each truth of
God's revelation, each event of his providence, And each decision
of his government will stand clearer and brighter than the
sun itself. Do you, if you're like me, do
you, as you try to learn, do you mourn the darkness of your
mind? The weakness of your memory? And the limitation of your intellectual
faculties? Do you mourn that? Then you rejoice in hope of the
glory that's to be revealed in you when all of your intellectual
powers, Bill, will be renewed and developed and perfected so
that you shall know even as you are known. And I won't have to ask Bill
his name four or five times. I'll just know everybody. I'll
know everybody. Wonderful. You'll never be dumb again. Would
you like to get out of that dumb stage? I sure won't out of it. Well, we're going to get out
of it. Not going to be dumb anymore. Then best of all, there'll be
the glory of perfect holiness. God's work of grace
in us then will be completed, and he has promised to perfect
that which concerns us. That's what Psalm 138.8 tells
us, the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. And then
will be the consummation of purity. You and I have been predestinated
to be conformed to the image of God's Son. And when we shall
see him, we shall be like him. And then our minds will no longer
be defiled by evil imaginations, our consciences no longer bothered
by a sense of guilt, and our affections no longer given to
evil objects. No wonder Paul said, I glory
in this. What a marvelous thing is this,
a glory to be revealed in me. That's what he said. Be revealed
in me who now can hardly reflect a single ray of light in me. so wayward and so unworthy and
so sinful and living in very little communion with God who
is the Father of lights. Can it be that in me this glory
shall be revealed? No wonder Paul said, the sufferings
of this present life are not even worthy to be mentioned when
I see the glory. that I'm headed for. That's what
the word of God says. If I'm a child of light, I am
a child of light through being in him who is the outshining
of the Father's glory. Then it's true that the glory
shall be revealed in me. Old Jack Shanks have the glory
revealed in him. Wonderful. If you're not glad
right now, you ought to be glad. This is good. This is good. And finally, the Apostle weighed
the sufferings of this present time over against that glory,
and as he did that, he said, the one is not even, let's don't
even mention That's what happens in this life. It's not worth
mentioning compared to the glory. I tell you what, dear friend,
one second of glory will outweigh a lifetime of suffering. And what were years of toil and
sickness and battling with sorrow in every form when compared with
the glory of Emmanuel's land? What is sickness and toil on
this life? Nothing. One drink of the river
of pleasure at God's right hand, one breath of the paradise of
God, and one hour to stay amid the blood-washed ones around
the throne shall more than compensate for all the tears and groans
of earth." And there are tears and groans
on this earth in this life. We had two grandsons. Our daughter
had two boys. Her husband was killed many,
many years ago. And she had the two boys, and
she raised them with our help. They got to be men. One was 19
years old, one was 22. Beautiful boys. And one of them, the 19-year-old,
for some reason, went out and parked his car on a railroad
track. And a train ran over him and
killed him. And that's a great sadness. That
boy, so talented and wonderful, And then his 22-year-old brother,
two years later, lay down at night to go to sleep, and he
went to sleep and never woke up and died. And those two boys are gone. But listen to this. Look at what God does. Their mother, our daughter, Carolee, a few months ago called and told us that the Lord
had been gracious to her, and she understood now what we had
been trying to tell her all these years. And we visited with her, and she's not the same person. Losing those two boys was greatly
the cause of her seeking the Lord. And we helped her. And we talked to her. And you
believe me now, I get e-mails from her that you wouldn't believe.
So beautiful in what she knows about the Lord now. Wonderful. And so I reckon, I reckon that the sufferings of this present
life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us. Let's pray, please. Our Lord, we are so grateful
to thee for showing us these great things. What a wonder it
will be to be in thy presence. What a wonder it will be to see
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and to know that he is the one
that redeemed us and brought us there to live with himself
forever. and that forevermore we'll worship the Holy Christ of God, worship
God Almighty. We're so glad that we have the
glory to look forward to. And Lord, may we in this life,
whatever happens, Lord, help us to say this is good, because
it's all in your divine plan and purpose. And we thank thee for everything you do. You're our great God. You're
our benefactor. Our love, we love Thee, and Lord,
we're just so grateful. Bless this dear church, bless
the conference, bless the dear brother that's to preach afterward. May the Lord Jesus continue to
be glorified and worshiped. Thank you, Father. In His dear
name we pray, Amen.