Well, good morning. I would like to say thank you
to all of you for everything. I'd like to say thank you to
all of you men who have done everything to put on this meeting. I know and we know what it takes
to have a meeting. And thank you to all of the work
that goes into the grounds and the building. And thank you,
Art, for leading the singing. And thank you, men, for reading
the scripture and praying for us. And thank you for running
the streaming And thank you ladies for all of your cooking. It is
just so critical but special whenever
a body of believers in one heart and one mind come together for
the same cause and the same purpose. And it means the world to us. It just means the world to us.
The food is delicious. And I truly thank you for that. I thank you, my longtime dear
friend, for having me. Sorry. Thank you for still being my
friend. And thank you to this congregation
for being my friend and his friend. Thank you for being the friend
of the brethren in Kingsport. Thank you for giving to us and
helping us with our building. I just, I honestly can't put
into words how much I love you and I thank the Lord for you.
And I pray the Lord will help me right now to do what I'm called
to do. I'd like to close out our meeting
here with a favorite verse of scripture of mine. I have so
many, I say that all the time. But this is a favorite. And it's found in 1 Timothy chapter
1. If you'll turn with me there
to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 17 is going to be our text
this morning. And it says, now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. That is a beautiful summary of
a saved sinner's heart. If you want to read the summary
of a saved sinner's heart, the conclusion of the whole matter,
if you want to get to the conclusion of the whole matter, that's the
glorious declaration of it. That's the glorious declaration
of Christ. Verse 17 says, now unto the King
eternal. We're going to be crying this
for all eternity. If you want to know what eternity
is going to be like, you want to know what heaven is going
to be like, we're all with one voice and one heart and one spirit
and one mind going to be crying, now unto the King eternal. The King Eternal. I was reading
this this morning and I couldn't help but think of Michael the
Archangel heralding to the congregation. Now unto the King Eternal. And all of heaven cries, Amen. He says, Immortal. And all the congregation cries,
Amen. Invisible. Amen. The only wise God. Amen. Be honor. Amen. And glory. Amen. Forever and ever. Amen. Amen. The Apostle Paul just announced
in verse 15 that he was the chief of sinners. That's one of my
favorite verses. Chief of sinners. But he said
in verse 16, I obtained mercy because that's who Christ came
to save. He reiterated the fact that this
man receives sinners. And all of God's sinful people
who have obtained mercy, the same way Paul did, he said, I'm
the pattern. How God saves me is how God saves
all of them, in spite of me. And all of God's people, all
of them have this to say in return to their Lord who saved them.
Now unto the King eternal. immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Those final words, those heart
concluding words, they are sometimes referred to as a benediction. Giving a benediction. There are
benedictions all over this book. Wonderful benedictions. I wrote
down a few that I want us to read together, and enjoy together,
and say amen to together. Alright? Let's look at just a
few of them. Then we'll come back to this one right here.
Let's begin with the first great benediction that stands out in
my mind. Our Lord gave this to us in Numbers chapter 6. If you
want to turn with me over there. Numbers 6, verse 22, it says,
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and
unto his sons, saying, On this wise shall you bless the children
of Israel, saying unto them. The Lord said, This is what I
want you to say to them. These are my final heart concluding
words to my people. Verse 25. Verse 24. The Lord bless thee. He said,
Moses, I want you to tell Aaron and his sons to tell all my people. The Lord bless thee. And keep
thee. The Lord make His face shine
upon thee. and be gracious unto thee. The
Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace."
He said, you tell them, that's my concluding thoughts. And those are my concluding feelings
toward them. You tell them, I will bless you. I'll keep you. I'll make my face
shine upon you. I'll be gracious to you. I'll
be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. And if I chose to be gracious,
I'll be gracious. I'll lift up my countenance upon
you and I'll give you peace. That is beautiful. That's beautiful. That's what
the God, the God, has to say about His people. That's just beautiful. This one
is a short benediction, but I love how this one ends. Turn with
me over to Psalm 89. Psalm 89 verse 52. It says, blessed be the Lord forevermore,
amen and amen. One amen on that is just not
enough. That's just not enough. David
said, I have two things to say about that. Amen and amen. Blessed, blessed, blessed. Oh may the Lord let us enter
into this. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Things always get better when
we stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on the Lord. Things always get better. Blessed Be the name of the Lord. Turn with me to Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3 verse 20. I love this. One of my favorite
verses. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think. We have it how we would like
things to go. It's in our mind. This is how
I would like for things to go. This is what I would love to
see happen. If you will, not my will, but thine be done, if
you're willing, Lord, this is what I'd love to see happen.
If what I'm thinking, if it could end this way, that would be wonderful. now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think. Not just do it and not just do
above it, but exceeding abundantly above
it. According to the power that worketh
in us, Verse 21 says, unto Him be glory. In the church. By Christ Jesus. Throughout all
ages. World without end. Amen. Amen. That is a glorious benediction.
Look with me at Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 verse 20. It says, Now the God of peace. Don't you love that? Now the
God of peace. What made Him to be the God of
peace? Verse 20 says, He brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's what made Him
the God of peace. That's what wrought peace and
secured eternal peace for all of His people. Nothing sounds
better than peace. Nothing sounds better than that.
That peace is found in the blood of the everlasting covenant of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father chose the sheep. The
Son died for the sheep. The Spirit called the sheep.
And because of that, all the sheep are eternally secure. They're all perfect. They're
all made perfect. And they're in perfect peace. They're in
the Prince of Peace. That's who Christ is. The Prince
of Peace. Let me show you one more here. Go with me to Jude. This right
here is one of my favorite verses. Jude 24. Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Can we enter into
that? Now unto the one who is not only
able to keep us from falling head first into an eternal hell, Not only is He able to stop that
from happening, He is able to present us faultless before the presence of His glory
as He does it with His own exceeding joy. Our Lord endured the cross
and He despised the shame. He did all that for the joy that
was set before Him. Verse 25 says, to the only wise
God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. These benedictions, these
are what we will cry throughout all eternity. Just across my page in Revelation
1, the middle of verse 5 says, unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. This is what they're crying in
glory. Thou art worthy for thou was
slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood. Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom, strength,
honor, glory, blessing. This is what we'll be crying
throughout all eternity. We're gonna cry these heart concluding
words to Christ our Savior. And that includes the one that
is our text this morning. So go with me back to 1 Timothy
1. Verse 17 says, now unto the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and
glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's just line by line
see what we're saying in this. Number one, who are we speaking
to? It says, now unto the King. Now unto the King. Now unto the
One who wears the crown. Now unto the One who is in control. Does it at all bring comfort
and peace to your heart knowing that your Lord and King is in
absolute sovereign control in a world that appears to be falling
apart? among lives that appear to be
falling apart. Everything appears to be falling
apart. Aren't you so glad to know that your king is seated
on his throne, wearing his crown, ordering every exact thing that's
taking place for the good of his people, for all these benedictions
that he's given to his people. That word king right here in
this verse of scripture, when you look it up in our concordance,
it's a Bible dictionary. It tells you the original meaning
of these words. When you look it up, the word
king means the sovereign. That's what it means. The sovereign. Now unto the sovereign. If a sinner ever has his eyes
open to see Jesus Christ as he is, not how man wrongfully thinks
he is, not how man has imagined him to be, not how man stands up in pulpits
and preaches him to be wrongly, But if a sinner ever has his
eyes open to see Christ as He is, he's going to see the Sovereign. He's going to see the Ruler.
He's going to see the Controller. He's going to see the Lord God
Almighty. I want to show you a couple of
men who saw Him as He is. Turn with me if you would over
to Job 42. Job 42 verse 5, he said, I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. He said, I heard of you. I heard
about you. But he said, now I see you. Now
I have seen you. And in verse 6 he said, Wherefore
I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. I heard, but oh now I've seen
and I repent. I repent. He went on to say the
Lord was rebuking him and Job said, I think it's time I put
my hand over my mouth. I think I'd better not say anything
anymore. seeing you for who you are. Look with me at Isaiah chapter
6. We quoted this yesterday. We'll
read it today. Isaiah 6 verse 1 says, In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. Do you notice that that word
Lord is capital L, lowercase o, lowercase r, lowercase d? You know who that is? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings. With twain He covered His face,
and with twain He covered His feet, and with twain He did fly.
And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. And the
post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and
the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen
the king. The Lord. You see that capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D? That's Jehovah, the great
God I am. He said, when I saw the capital
L lowercase O-R-D, I saw the capital L uppercase O-R-D. I have seen the King. I've seen the King. Turn with
me over to Daniel 3. I don't want to overturn you,
but I want us to see these. Daniel 3. Let me show you one verse here, so
we can see who Nebuchadnezzar is talking about, alright? In
Daniel 3, this is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I'm sure we know
that story. And they're in the fiery furnace.
Nebuchadnezzar has thrown them in there. And it says in Daniel
3, verse 25, Nebuchadnezzar, he looked into this fiery furnace.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men. Loose, he said, I thought
we threw three in there. Didn't we throw three in there?
They said, yeah, King, that's what we threw, three men in there.
He said, I see four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire,
and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the
Son of God. Who is the Son of God? Jesus
Christ. That's who Nebuchadnezzar is
dealing with here. In chapter 4, that's who dealt
with Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was lifted up
with pride. And he said, look at everything
I've done. Look at everything I've built.
And the Lord said, I'm going to deal with you. And He made
him as a beast of the field. And you know that story. Out
there, you know, eagles, feathers, and claws, and those kinds of
things. And it says in chapter 4, if you look at chapter 4,
verse 34, At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned
unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored
Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? At the same time my reason returned
unto me, And for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness
returned unto me, and my counselors and my lords sought unto me,
and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added
unto me. Verse 37 says, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
praise and extol and honor the King of heaven. all whose works
are truth, in His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride
He's able to abase. He said, let me tell you from
first-hand experience. He said, I thought I knew what
a king was. I thought I was one. He said, now I've seen the king.
I have seen the king. He said, we're dealing with the
king here. The king. I'll show you one more
man. The very man who penned our text, look with me at Acts
chapter 9. Acts 9 verse 1, it says, And
Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went up to the high priest. And what a foolish thing
that is to do. Our Lord's going to tell him,
you mess with them, you're messing with me. You persecute them,
you're persecuting me. But verse 2 says, He desired
of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found
any of this way, this way, Christ's the way, whether they were men
or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as
he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Lord, King, Sovereign,
what will you have me to do? What is your will? He saw immediately,
it's not what I'm going to do with you. It's not what I'm going to do
for you. It's what are you going to do with me and what are you
going to do for me. He saw immediately who was in
absolute control of him. And he cried, O sovereign Lord
and King, what would you have me to do? What's your will? Thy will be done. I'm your servant.
You're not mine, I'm yours. I'm yours. If the Spirit of God
ever reveals Christ to a sinner, as he is, then this is what the
sinner will say. Go with me back to our text,
1st Timothy 1. Now unto the King eternal, forever,
forever. That brings great comfort to
me. If you ever had a president who
you really, really liked, Now he's gone. You know, a lot of
people liked different ones over the history books and all that
kind of stuff. Have you ever thought, I wish
he could be president again. But those days are over. Alright,
now this is the king eternal. Don't you love that? He has no
successor. He's the great high priest because
there's no successor. Now unto the King Eternal. He is the King and He is going
to be the King forever. When the angel came and told
Mary of His birth, the angel said, He shall be great and shall
be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto
Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over
the house of the sinner, Jacob. That's who His people will be.
And He said He'll do it forever. And of His kingdom, there'll
be no end. No end. By God's grace, by His
Spirit, He has caused us to desire, He's caused us to want only one
king. Who do you want to be king? While
man says, I want to be king, really, who do you want to be
king? He's caused us to desire one king, and thank God, the
only king we desire is going to be king forever. Forever. Jesus Christ, our Lord. Whenever the Queen of Sheba came
to see Solomon, And she brought all of these gifts and things. After she saw what he had, after
she saw his people and his cupbearers and his ascent up to the temple,
there was no more spirit in her. And she realized, I'm nothing
compared to this man. But this is what she said. She
said, after I've seen the king, this is what she said, because
the Lord loved Israel, He made you king. That's the only conclusion
you can come to. Every man has his own vine and
fig tree. There's peace on all four sides. Because God loved His people
truly, He made Christ king. Greatest king of kings that there
is. Verse 17 says, Now unto the King
eternal, immortal. That means uncorruptible. Cannot
die. Cannot decay. Cannot be destroyed. He said, Whoever lives and believes
in Me will never die. The reason He said that is because
He cannot die. He's immortal. In Him, whatever
He is, that's what we are. In Him, we are immortal. We're
immortal. 1 Corinthians 15 says this mortal
is going to put on immortality. This corruptible is going to
put on incorruption. Can't wait for that. And he said
death is going to be forever swallowed up in victory. The only thing that's going to
die is death. That's it. Victory. Immortality. That makes
God's people cry. Verse 17, Now unto the King eternal,
immortal, invisible. Invisible, that means His fullness
and His greatness and His majesty and His power and His glory could
never fully be seen. Never. The glory of His person
is past finding out. Never will we exhaust the fullness
of Him. The other thing that means is,
He is both visible and invisible. He is seen right now on His throne.
He is seen by those who have gone before us. They are worshipping
at His feet, looking upon Him. Job said, with these eyes I'm
going to see Him. He is visible. And, I'm telling you the honest
truth, If two or three of us are gathered right here in His
name to honor and glorify Him, I'm telling you, He is inside
this room. Can you imagine actually worshiping
in the presence of God? He's in this room. Best seat
in the house is that middle section. He said, I'm in the midst of
you. Verse 17 says, Now unto the King,
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. This is what God's people say.
This is honestly what God's people say. It's His word and His word
alone. I don't care what any man has
to say. I'll take that to this level. I don't care what I have to say.
I don't care what I think. I'm not interested in my opinion.
Solomon said, of the writing of many books, there's no end.
Much study is a weariness of the flesh. I don't care what
men have to say. It's His Word, and it's His Word
alone. For all eternity, we're going
to be crying, it's Your Word, and Your Word alone. Whatever
you say. You're the only wise God. Verse 17 says, Be honor. That word means value. All value is bestowed on Him.
Verse 17 says, and glory, that means magnificence. All magnificence,
all majesty, all praise, all worship is bestowed on Him. Verse
17 says, now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. And ever and ever. And ever and
ever. And ever and ever. And ever and
ever. And ever and ever. And ever and
ever. When we've been there 10,000
years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
His praise than the first day we got there. Forever and ever
and ever. Verse 17 says, Amen. Amen. That word means, that's
the truth. That's what the word means. It
means, so be it. That's what the word means. Along
with every other sinner who Christ saved, it means, I wholeheartedly
agree. Amen. Amen. In the Bible dictionary, when
you look up that word, it says the word Amen is the direct translation
of the Hebrew word Believe. It's the direct translation,
the same word. Amen means I believe. That's what it means, I believe. Which is the same translation
of the word Faithful. Full of faith. Full of faith,
I believe. In verse 15, Paul said, this
is an Amen saying. This is an Amen saying right
here. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And
every sinner that He came into the world to save cries now unto
the King Eternal. Immortal, invisible, the only
wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. I believe. I believe. I pray that God will give us
faith to believe. Thank you.