Well, yesterday I spent my 40th
birthday driving through the blizzard between Wheelersburg
and here. And so I had about 13 hours to
think about those 40 years. And there was times I could move
along, you know, kind of fast. And then there was not real fast,
almost normal speed. And then there was times that
I would have to get down to about five miles an hour drive. So
I got thinking about that I got thinking about the clouds and
the storm and how that our life is sort of like a trip like that. It's called a pilgrimage. And sometimes when the weather's
good, the pathway's clear, we move along at a fast pace, and
we're busy, we're moving, the music's playing. And during those
times, we don't think much about God, usually. And it's alright
to enjoy the things given to us, but we need to remember what
our true Solomon, through the Spirit of God, has said here
in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 1. He said, remember now thy creator
in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them,
while the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not
darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain. There's coming
a day when the body will start to fail, and that's why the writer
says here that youth is vanity. It's fleeing. And there's coming
a day when it's going to fade, and it fades quickly. But do
you really want to know the Lord? Do you really want to know the
Lord? And you that know Him, do you
want to know more of the Lord? You know, I promised to preach
Christ to you. when I'm here, I promise to preach
the Lord Jesus Christ to you. And the Lord has promised to
save through the preaching of the gospel. This may seem foolish
to those who don't know the Lord, but the Lord has been pleased
to save and continue to save and keep His people through the
preaching of the gospel. So come here. Come. You can't hear the gospel if
you're not here. I can't preach the gospel to
you if you're not here. So come and hear. And when you
come, come to hear. Come to hear Christ and be ready
to hear, ready to pay attention to the message. And the Holy
Scriptures, Paul told Timothy, the Holy Scriptures are able
to make you wise unto salvation. God's pleased to save through
preaching and He's pleased to use His Word to do so. When I
preach to you, I'll give you scripture references. I want
you to turn to them. When I write the bulletin, I
give you scripture references in the bulletin. Take that bulletin
and look those references up and really study these scriptures.
Study if you really want to know Him. Look into these things. and read these things. Remember
Him right now. It's good to hear the Scripture
read as we look at it, but it's good to turn to it and read it
as it's being read. That's why I always encourage
you to bring your Bible, and I always encourage you to use
your Bible, and to look into the Bible. He's the wise man. Those bulletins, I'll give you
a bulletin and in the bulletin it'll have short articles from
each of the verses we looked at from the week before. So you've
heard it, you looked up the scriptures as you heard it, and then you'll
get a bulletin the week after before we move to the next passage
to where you can look up those scriptures and refresh yourself
with them and take that bulletin and put it in a binder somewhere
or something. You might not be as interested
in it now, but you might be interested in it someday. and you can go
back and look those things up and see. I spend time on each
of those statements and I want you to consider those statements
and look at the scripture references and see if those statements are
true. Don't take any man's word for what he says or writes. Look
those things up and see if they're so. But that's what the Lord
teaches through the Spirit is to remember now thy creator in
the days of thy youth. Seek these things. Look these
things up because it might not always be sunshine or light or
the moon or the stars shining. They'll be darkened one day.
Well, the second thing I thought about is other times when we
travel along, we're slowed down to a crawl. That way we have
time to consider just how fast life goes by. We have to be slowed
down to think about that. You know that? We have to be
slowed down to really think about life. I listen to folks calling
in on the radio and complaining, you know, about snow, what have
you. Look over at James chapter four,
James chapter four. Folks, murmuring a little, complaining
a little about the snow and how it was hindering things. Do we
murmur? Is our life just complaining
and grumbling, fussing and always uneasy about something? Well,
we won't have to complain for long. Just as quickly as that
snow melts that's out there, this life will be over that quick.
Look at James 4.14, beginning there with the second sentence.
What is your life? What is your life? Here's what
it is. It's even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away. When that road's impassable,
we're unable to see the way, and we can't see it in front
of us, we begin to consider our utter frailty then. We begin
to think about our mortality, about how fragile this life is. I called Brother Donnie Bell.
He had a birthday the day before mine, and he turned 60. And while
I was down in Ohio, Brother Bob Coffey's granddaughter is in
that congregation. She had a birthday on February
the 9th, and I believe she turned 8. I believe she's the same age
as Emma. But you know, yesterday, yesterday,
I was the age of Emma. And tomorrow, I'll be the age
of Brother Donny. Just that fast. It's just that
fast. He says, Behold, thou hast made,
this was David, he said, Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth. Mine age is as nothing before
thee. He said, Verily, every man at
his best states altogether vanity. Job said, Man that's born of
a woman is a few days and full of trouble, full of trial. He cometh forth like a flower
and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and
continueth not. You think how the shadows, you
look out there and you see the shadow from the big oak tree. You look back out there and a
few hours later and it's gone. He said that's what our life
is. What is your life? What is it? I have friends who
are sick. And I like to talk to them because
they know the value of a day. Believers who are sick. Paul said to me, to live is Christ
and to die is gain. And he said to depart and to
be with Christ is far better. And he said, but to stay and
to be with you is needful. And he said, I'm in a straight
between the two. I talked to a friend recently that's sick,
and he said, I understand something about that now. And he said,
I want to go be with Christ. I want to depart and be with
Christ. Then at the same time, you know that there are perishing
sinners who need to hear the gospel. And you know it's needful
for them to hear the gospel. What is your life? If you died
We're facing death today. Could you say right now that
to die is gain for you? That's something to think about.
Could you say if you died today that it'd be gain for you? And
then if you live and continue as you are expecting to do, is
that for the good of Christ's brethren and for the good of
needy sinners? Is that why? Or is it just all
about me? and mine and what I'm going to
do. Well, here's the third thing
I thought about. All along the way, on our pilgrimages, the
believer's kept in peace by our God. He's kept in peace. You know why it's hard to enter
into these things and to understand these things and have an interest
in these things? Because you don't know the peace
of God. Those who don't know the peace
of God find it very difficult to understand why believers even
want to come and hear the gospel preached. In Isaiah 26.3 it says,
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on
Thee because he trusteth in Thee. You'll keep him in peace. In
all those thoughts yesterday I found myself thinking that
how thankful I am that the Lord The Lord came to me and the Lord
opened my eyes and He gave me ears to hear and He gave me a
heart to believe. He gave me life and faith and
repentance and He caused me, He put love in me. His love in me, revealed His
love for me in me. The world passes away and the
lust of it, The things that attract you to this world, they are going
to pass away. But the Scripture says, but he
that doeth the will of God abideth forever. He won't die. He had part in the first resurrection. He's been born of the Spirit
of God. Resurrected in newness of life.
And the second death won't have any... First death, he'll just pass
into glory with Christ. And the second death, which is
judgment and being cast out. There's two deaths, you know.
There's a death from this life and then there's judgment. And
those who aren't in Christ will die a second time. But the one
who has part of the first resurrection, the second death has nothing
to do with him. Here's my piece. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, did the will of God. When you hear a
scripture that says, He that doeth the will of God abideth
forever, do you think of yourself? He did the will of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ did the will of God. He knows my joy. He went to a marriage feast at
Cana. He knows what joy is. And he
knows my trial. He suffered a more severe trial
than any man's ever suffered when God made him who knew no
sin to be sin for his people. He knows all my infirmities,
all my weakness, all my sickness, all my frailty. He knows I'm
dust. That's all I am, dust. And he
knows that. And because he knows it, he's
able to comfort me. Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ
from heaven, Through this Word, when I'm hearing it preached,
He comes in the Spirit and He comforts me in the heart. Isn't
that nice to know? That's nice to know. That's a
joy to know that, that He does that. And He keeps His people
in peace. He speaks to our hearts and He
keeps us in peace. The peace that He's accomplished
on our behalf, the peace that He's made between His people
and God. He's reconciled us to God. so that we don't have anything
to worry about. We may worry because we're in
this flesh and that's what this flesh is, is worry. But we got
no reason to worry. We got no reason to fret and
worry. I want you to look at James chapter
one with me just a second. James chapter one. I looked at
this at the end of the message last week, but I want you to
see this. I want you to see this and really get this. James chapter
112, it says, happy is the man that endureth temptation. We
talked about all those little trials that come along in life.
The Lord said, in this world, you shall have tribulation. That's
what this world's about. It's about trouble. He said,
my peace I give to you, not as the world gives you. The world
may give you what it calls peace, but it lasts about that long.
He said, the peace I give you is everlasting peace. It will
not end. And he says, happy is the man
that endureth temptation, for when he's tried, he shall receive
the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that
love him. You see that word Lord there
in verse 12? That means the Lord Jesus Christ
has promised it to him. Look over at James 2 now. It says, verse 5, Harken, my
beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world
rich in faith? He's made them rich in faith,
made them heirs of the kingdom which He, who God, God has chosen
and He has promised. to them that love Him. He's promised
them a kingdom. Now we see here that the Lord
Jesus Christ has promised a crown of life. We see here God has
promised a kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
and He's promised. And He doesn't just promise this
at the beginning. and make us to hear it. He promises
us throughout our life, throughout our walk, throughout our day,
He continues to make this promise in the heart. His mercies are
new every morning. And we find that He's great in
His faithfulness towards us. And you see that? The Lord hath
promised this. The Lord Jesus Christ has promised
this. Let me give you an example now.
Turn over to Genesis 22. Genesis 22. We touched on this
just a little bit Sunday, but I want you to see it now just
standing by itself. You know, Abraham was told to
go up there to offer up his son Isaac. And we saw how Abraham
was patient, and he endured, and he didn't waver, he didn't
look to himself, he put off all reason, put off all the excess
of his thoughts and his understanding, and he walked, and he followed
God. He did what God said for him
to do. And he told his son all along, he said, God will provide
himself a lamb, son. Abraham's faith was he saw Christ's
day. He saw that Christ, Jesus the
Lord, the Son of God, was going to come in the flesh and that
he would put away his sin according to God's promise to him and robe
him in righteousness, which he was robed in already. And he
said that, my son, if God has done that for me, I know when
we go up this mountain, he's going to provide a ram. He's
going to provide a sacrifice of some sort because he's given
his son for me. He's given himself in the person
of his son. He will provide every lesser
thing. Now, Abraham went up to that
mountain. And it says, after he offered
or was about to slay his son, Genesis 22, 11 says, look there
with me, the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven.
Now, and he said, Abraham, Abraham, and Abraham answered. And he
said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything
unto him. For now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son, from me. It didn't have to be proven to
God, but now it's manifest before all men. That's what he said
here. It's manifest. It's openly manifest that you
really believe me. All can see and know you believe
me. And look now at verse 13, and Abraham, oh, but I want you
to see this now, get this, at the beginning of 11, he says,
the angel of the Lord called, and at the end of verse 12, he
said, you've not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
So you see that this is the angel of the Lord, this is not, Created
angel. This is the angel. This is the
Son of God. This is Christ Who was before
before he even came in the flesh? He was the Christ God's Christ
God's Messiah for his people in whom all the promises of God
were made before the world began in whom he put his Son and he
said you haven't withheld your son from me Hey, this is the
one speaking who's going to come and lay down his life for Abraham
And he provided therefore for Abraham. He provided for Abraham. Because he was going to lay down
his life for Abraham. He would provide for Abraham
anything else. Do you see that? Do you see the
point? That's why he provided that ram. Because he would provide
anything for Abraham. He was given the ultimate sacrifice
for Abraham. His own life to purge him of
his sin and make him righteous. Now look. James said, he that
endureth to the end, he's going to receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. The point
I'm making to you is, as we go through this life and we walk
through this life, the Lord Jesus Christ continually makes this
promise to us in our heart. He continually reminds us and
renews these mercies and reveals this in us. Now look at verse
15. And the angel of the Lord, this
is Christ, the son of God, called unto Abraham out of heaven a
second time. Now look what he says to him,
verse 16. And he said, by myself have I
sworn, saith the Lord. For because thou hast done this
thing, hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, because
you believe me, because you manifest by trusting me and willing to
do anything I command you to do, because you know it's right
because I've told you that I'm going to provide for you, look
at this, this promise. that in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars
of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and
thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. In thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast
obeyed my voice. Christ is that seed. And Christ
is the one making this promise. He said, in me, Abraham, I'm
going to bless you and continue to bless you because I've sworn
by myself I will do it. But I thought, I thought Christ
is somebody different from God. Didn't God make this promise?
And then Christ says here, I've sworn by myself. God and Christ
are one. They're one. We believe in a
triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
And the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who came in the flesh, they're
one. One in purpose, one in mind,
one in operation, one in blessing. And he said, I've promised this
to you. And look at verse 14. And Abraham
called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. It means the Lord
will provide. The Lord will provide. Jehovah
Jireh, the Lord will provide. Do you believe the Lord will
provide? And here's what Abraham said, and it is said to this
day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. The mount of
the Lord is wherever Christ reigns. He reigns not on an earthly mount
Zion. He reigns in heavenly mount Zion,
which is a picture of the church. Hebrews 12 says, we've come not
to mount Sinai, not to the law, we've come to Mount Zion, to
heavenly Jerusalem, not to an earthly city, to a heavenly city,
to the spirits of just men made perfect, to angels who are interested
in the things you're hearing right now, who want to know these
great mysteries of God, who want to look in and hear the Word
of God and the mysteries of Christ revealed. And he said, in the
mount of the Lord, in his church where he reigns, in the hearts
of his people where he reigns, in the daily lives of every believer,
just like when Abraham was walking there for three days, going through
that great trial, walking up that mountain. He was continually
kept by the grace of God. He was continually renewed in
his heart by the Spirit of the Lord. He was continually refreshed
in the thoughts that God has provided Himself a lamb in the
person of His Son. And He will provide everything
I need in the midst of this trial. He will provide everything I
need in this life. That was His peace. That was
His peace the whole way up that mountain. It wasn't in His thoughts.
You won't have any peace there. It wasn't in what He could do
to try to save Himself in this trial. You won't find any peace
there. You'll find more and more trouble
there. This peace was God's going to provide Himself a Lamb. And because he's going to provide
himself a lamb in the person of his son, he will provide a
sacrifice for this boy. And Abraham went up there, accounting
God was able to raise him from the dead. He wasn't concerned
what God would do. He knew God would provide. And if he went up there and actually
had to slay that boy, which was in his heart, he did that. He
drew back the knife and was going to slay his son. But he knew
even if he did that, God would provide. God was able to raise
up even from the dead. And He said, in the mount where
Christ reigns, just as He has made this promise to me saying,
I promise you the crown of life. I promise you I'm going to bless
you in all things. I promise you. He said, even
so, wherever Christ reigns, in that mountain, it's going to
be seen. It shall be seen. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Have you seen it? Have you seen
it? Do you know it? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely
give us all things? That's the peace. That's the
peace. That's why I say, seek Him now. That's why I say, look into these
things and find out. There's nothing, there's nothing
else worth knowing. You know why you're going to
school every day? You know why you need to go to school and
listen to your teachers and learn how to read and how to write?
So you can read this Word. So you can hear this Word and
read this Word. Give yourselves to it. Give yourselves
to that. I see myself stumble and I see
my coldness and I see my failure to provide for my brethren as
I ought. I see my utter insufficiency
to pastor a people. I see that. I know that. And
I don't have any trust in that I'm doing the will of God. That's
not my peace. That's not my hope. My peace
and my hope is that He did the will of God. He said, I must
be about my Father's business. Even when He was in His time
of joy and He was at the marriage feast of the land of Cana, He
was there turning the water into wine, teaching His disciples
who He is and the miracle of His grace. Throughout His days
as He walked, whether it was in a trial of any kind, whether
it was from men or it was from Satan, His constant charge, His
constant operation was to teach His brethren, to edify His brethren,
to build up His brethren. When He went to the Garden of
Gethsemane and He was troubled so with the sin of His people
that He was sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. He said,
My soul is in trouble. My innermost being is in trouble. Even then, He kept going back
to His brethren. not to scold them, not to rebuke
them. He went back to them and saying,
watch and pray. Did you catch Art in that scripture
you just read in Ephesians 6, the last of that? It said, praying
and watching thereunto with all supplication for your brethren. That's what he was telling them.
Pray and watch. What am I praying and watching
for? You know what Abraham was praying and watching for the
whole time he went up that mountain? He was praying for Christ and
watching for Christ the whole time he went up that mountain.
And Christ spoke from heaven and said, look at that ram over
there caught in that thicket, Abraham. And Abraham looked and
he said, I see him. I see him. I see Christ. That's where my confidence is. That's where my hope is. And
what made him so faithful? What made him have this faithfulness
about him? We could answer that in a lot
of ways. We could say it's because there's no sin in him. We could
say it's because he's the righteous servant of God. He is the faithful
one. But you know what the Scriptures
tell us? One reason this faithfulness
was in him? He ran the race set before Him
looking for the joy that was set before Him. You know what
the joy that was set before Him was? The joy that was set before
Him was to declare His Father, the glory of His Father, the
glory of God, the righteousness of God, to declare Him just in
justifying His people. Declare that He's just and He's
the justifier. And His joy, the joy that was
set before Him was to make His people the righteousness of God
in Himself. Even when He who knew no sin
was made sin, His joy, the faithfulness that was set, the joy that was
set before Him that was the very moving factor of His faithfulness
was the glory of God and making His people the righteousness
of God by what He would accomplish. in His very person. He's our
righteousness. And by what He did on the cross,
He's justified us of all sin. His people right now that He
died for are righteous and just before God. They just don't know
it yet. And the will of God is for Him
to send forth the Holy Spirit and bring every one of them to
newness of life, to behold Christ, to rejoice in Christ, to know
Christ, and to be led of the Spirit of Christ all their days.
And he's done the will of God, he's doing the will of God, and
he shall continue to do the will of God. And he that doeth the
will of God abideth forever. When he died, he bore the offenses
of his people, and when he was raised, he was raised for our
justification. When he comes into the heart
and we behold him risen and seated anew, it's the justification,
it's the evidence, it's the proof in the heart that full satisfaction
is made. You know how I know when men
don't really believe Christ? You know how I know when men
truly don't enter into the fact that satisfaction is made? That
they're accepted of God? That full satisfaction has been
made? You know how to know a man doesn't
know that? He's still trying to do something
to make himself accepted with God. Holiness is being separated from
that vileness, being separated from those carnal thoughts, those
thoughts that there's something else for you to do. If your holiness
is that you're doing something in order to be more holy and
more accepted with God, that's the vanity you've got to be sanctified
from, into Christ who is our complete holiness. Now you behold
the acceptance of God, perfect to be accepted of God. He did
it for the joy that was set before him, not the joy of this life.
I'm trying to get the point to you that in this life, you're
not gonna find joy. It's gonna be fleeting, temporary,
and as soon as you get it, you, okay, let's ask this. Vincent and Anthony and Joshua,
you have some video games, don't you? You happy with the first
video game you got so that you didn't need another one? Just
content with that one? Got old pretty fast, eventually,
and you want another one. You get another one, are you
happy with that one? Takes just a little while, you want another
one, don't you? That's how everything about this
life is. You get a new car, and sooner
or later you see somebody else got one that's shining a little
more than yours. If it's a job, you get that step up on the ladder,
and you see somebody else's, looks like they got a little
better. And when you climb and climb and get and get and get
and get, in the end, what you're gonna find, if you don't have
Christ, is there's absolutely nothing outside of Christ that's
gonna bring you any satisfaction. None. But in Christ you can rest,
you can lay down, you can rejoice that you have Him who abides
forever and that in Him, by His eternal spirit abiding in you,
you shall abide forever. And you have this promise from
Him, Him continually speaking in the mountain where He reigns
saying, I will provide for you. So when you don't have that thing,
that new car that goes by and you're driving the old clunker
along, It's all right. I got something. I'm rich in
faith. He's given me faith from him. I'm an heir of the kingdom of
God. I'm the heir of all things because of him. When you get
passed by for the promotion, you can say, it's all right. Rich beyond anything the carnal
eye can see because of what he's done. Do you believe God? Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ? Somebody might say, how can I
know I'm a believer? How am I going to know when I
believe Him? How am I going to know when I truly believe Christ?
Here's what Peter said, unto you which believe, He is precious. Precious, valued above everything
else. The one thing, that you prize
above everything else viewed in honor above everything else
first highest above everything else. Christine, hold out your left
hand. Let me see it. Hold out your left hand. Let
me ask you of all the jewelry you got of all the jewelry you
possess. What's your most prized? Valued
above all else. It's precious then. Precious. To them that believe he is precious. Valued above everything else. And I'm talking about him. I
had college professors. They loved the writings of William
Shakespeare. I had to take classes in English
that was just nothing but total classes devoted to nothing but
William Shakespeare. They loved to teach about his
life. They loved to study the themes
of his writing. They loved to look into the hidden
things that he was implying underneath everything that was being written
about in what he was saying. Loved it. Loved to teach it.
It never grew old. They loved it. They thrived on
it. They delighted in it. But not a one of them knew William
Shakespeare or loved him. Not a one of them. I'm talking
about the person Christ Jesus the Lord. Knowing Him unto you
which believe He, Jesus Christ, is precious. Let me read something
to you Robert Hawker wrote yesterday in his morning and evening portions. He said, Is Jesus precious in
His person? Precious in His work? Precious
in His offices? Precious in His relations? Precious
in His whole character? Do you know Him so as to love
Him? to live to Him, to rejoice in
Him, to cast your whole soul upon Him for life and salvation? Is He precious as the Father's
gift, the sent, the sealed, the anointed, the Christ of the Father? Is He so precious that there
is nothing in Him but what you love, nothing that you would
part with? Can you say that about anything
else? Anybody else? Our dearest companions have something
that we say, I wish I could change
that, but not him. Listen to this. He says, his
cross is dear as well as his crown. Afflictions with Jesus
sweeter than prosperity without him. I like that. Affliction,
is affliction with Jesus sweeter than prosperity without it? And
he said, pause over those questions. Think about those questions.
Is Jesus Christ your life? It's sad how often and how much
time we spend in those things with our children that the Lord
clearly says. We want them to have honor, we
want them to have a name, and we want them to have some riches. And it's sad how much time we
spend wanting those things for our children, which the Lord
himself has said will only hinder and make it virtually impossible
for them to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, real soon this time called
life is going to be over. And if Christ is not precious
to you, and if He is precious to you, if He's not and if He
is, either way, seek Him while He may be found. Seek Him while
He may be found. Paul ended his letter to the
Philippians and he said, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are
true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things
are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any
praise, think on these things. Now did you hear that? Where
are you going to find those things? Who is those things? It's Christ
Jesus the Lord. Make Christ your first thought
and your last thought. your meditation in the midst
of your busiest day and in your most silent hour, to know more
of Christ, the son of God's love, the son with whom God is well
pleased, the son who is satisfaction, the son who is holiness, the
son who is righteousness, the son who is peace, the son who
is love, the son who is mercy, the son who is joy, to know him. Think on him. to know more of Him. That's the
sum and substance of my prayer to the Father for me and for
you, to know more of Him. To know more of Him. That's the
sum of everything I want to pray for, is to know more of Him.
I hope that's a blessing to you.