Well, like I said, the first
service, it's good to be here. Good to see familiar faces, new
faces. This place holds a special place
in our hearts, my wife and I. We've been through a lot, we've
seen a lot with Maurice and now with Dave. It's just good to
be here, it really is. Turn with me, if you would, to
Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Before we
get started, Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit,
there was often times that there would be no room to sit in the
auditorium So Spurgeon asked his folks if they could alternate
Sundays, or if they would go downstairs. And they didn't have
a speaker system, that type of thing. And he asked those that
went downstairs that they would be in petition while he preached. And he said, it's no telling
how the Lord honored those prayers and the salvation of so many.
And kind of with that theme, Before we start services at our
place, we just have a time of silent prayer. Because boy or
girl, woman or man, if you understand the gospel, you are fellow helpers
together with the one who's trying to preach. And so if we would
just have a time of silent prayer and ask the Lord to bless your
pastor's work down there with the moose, Nathan Terrell is
preaching for me. I ask the Lord to bless him and
I ask the Lord to meet with us this morning, if we would. Let's
have a time of silent prayer. Father, as we gather together,
may it be only under your banner. May it not be under my banner,
may it not be under any particular man or woman's banner, but may
it be under the Lord Jesus Christ. May he rule and reign in our
hearts. May our soul desire to see and
to hear of him and to be exalted and lifted high up. Father, we
are very aware, if we know anything about you and your gospel, we're
very aware of our insignificance. We're very aware of our shortcomings,
our vile corruptions, our iniquities. But Father, we're also very aware
that you drank them all dry, that you flushed them away with
your soul-cleansing blood. Father, it's you who we talk
about, it's you who we listen to, it's you who we meditate
upon, So on that final day when we draw our last breath, we'll
be looking at you and seeing you with whom we've had to do
all these years. Father, I pray that you'd give
me the strength and the words to speak that would honor and
glorify you, and that your people would be comforted much. I ask
it in your name. Amen. Hebrews chapter 12. starting in verse one, wherefore
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us. looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Do you have not yet resisted
unto blood striving against sin? And have you forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children? My son, despise not
thou the chasing of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him for whom the Lord loveth. He chases. and scourges every
son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father
chastens not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had our fathers of our flesh, which corrected
us, and we have given them reference. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits? and live, for they barely
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for
our profit, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his
holiness. Now, no chastening for the present
seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
Thereby, wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the
feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that
which is laying be turned out of the way, but let it rather
be healed." And we're going to stop there. If we would have
read the previous chapter, chapter 11 in Hebrews, we would have
heard of that good and profitable grace we call faith. Grace of
faith is blessedness and the trials would surely accompany
it. Verse 36 of the previous chapter,
and others, had trials of cruel mockings, scourgings, yea, moreover,
the bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, sawn asunder,
tempted, slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, oh, incidentally,
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves in the earth, and all these,
Having obtained a good report through faith, receive not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect. So we see the struggles. It's still grace. Nobody said
being a believer, it's not like these bumper stickers and this
fundamentalist being preached, you know, what's being preached
today that once you get Jesus, everything is fine. No, it's
not fine. It's not fine. Struggles. We
don't have to look anywhere other than the scriptures and see past
saints, ancients gone by, the struggles and tribulations because
the world is not the believer's friend. We have to be in the
world, we have to live in the world, we have to make a living,
pay taxes, have neighbors. How are your neighbors going
to hear unless you say something to them? So, you know, there's
a point, you've got to rub shoulders with the world. I'm not saying
that. But you who believe, one of the exhortations to pastors
and elders and deacons is, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And
so if you are comforted, then I thank God for that. Because
I want to look at one word. One word in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 11. Afterword. Afterword. Now, no chasing for the present
seemed to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterword. It yields the peaceable fruit
of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Now in this chapter, the writer
exhorts the elect of God to endure those things which are in conflict
to faith and to persevere or remain steadfast in the faith
of God's elect. And for our use and help today,
I just wanna look at this one word, afterward, afterward. The Greek, literal the Greek
is, at the last. At the last. Now, some of you
younger believers, I don't know, just maybe put this back here,
because right now, you know, you're raising children, you're
doing all this stuff, it's all happening really fast, but there's
going to be a time when the kids are gone, And you're going to
think about stuff that's happened to you. Because nothing happens
by accident. Nothing happens by chance. And
my folks know in Missouri, they don't use the word luck around
me because there's no such thing as luck. It doesn't happen. Everything
is providentially controlled by our sovereign God. Afterwards. Afterwards. Or at the last. Is not this where we want to
be? At the last, at the end of our
journey, to be tucked away in Christ, by Christ, and because
of what Christ has done for us, not what we've done for ourselves.
You and I can run a race well, but if we don't finish, or won't
finish, or can't finish, it's all in vain. it's all in vain. And the scriptures is very clear
about those who endure to the end the same shall be saved. Now I don't know how long, Melinda
probably knows this, 25, how long I've been pastoring over
there and we've had a lot of people come through the doors.
We've had folks, actually they broke a record about a year ago. We usually have people stay two
or three years and then they start hearing something and then
they kind of, then they And then they leave. Well, we just recently
had somebody there six and seven years, and finally had had enough. And it breaks your heart. I mean,
it's pretty discouraging, really. But I look at this, I say, afterwards,
afterwards, that's where I want to be. I want to let us together
this morning look at some examples of afterwards and remember all
these trials, all these hardships, all these tribulations we encounter
along our path is for our good and for God's glory. It wasn't too many years ago
that I was in bed Thought I was having a heart attack, but it
was as tremendous stress as what it was. And Melinda and I kept
on saying, Romans 8, 28, we kept on quoting that. Now no chastening seems to be
joyous, but grievous. Why do I got to go through this? Afterwards, afterwards. Turn
to Genesis chapter 37 for our first example. And these are
just four I picked out and you maybe have a favorite lesson. Genesis chapter 37 verses 3 and
4. This man called Joseph, verse
2, these are the generations of Jacob, Joseph being 17 years
old. And he was feeding his flock with his brethren. Now Israel,
that is Jacob, loved, verse 3, Joseph more than all his children,
because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat
of many colors. Election. Election of grace. Verse 4 accompanies
right after verse 3. You've got to take it all in
context. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him
more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak,
what's that word, peaceably. Afterwards, which we'll look,
Joseph, he had that peaceable fruit of righteousness. But let's
look at a little bit of this one. Here we go, O chosen of
God here this morning, you're selected to receive riches and
honor from the sovereign redeemer and ruler over all, Jesus the
Christ. You're gonna be dogged and ridiculed for such favor
from above. Your fellows, neighbors will
despise you and Satan will try to sift you as wheat. Let's just
look at Joseph's life. His brethren conspired to kill
him. They took him out, they conspired to kill him. Then their
mind was changed about that. They sold him into slavery. He had hard trials under the
house of Potiphar, if you remember. Falsely accused, he goes to jail. And the jails aren't like they
were now. It was more like a dungeon. He's in prison cell. And then
he helps one of his prison mates. And then he says, remember me,
tell my cause to the king. And then the prison mate forgets
about him. And on and on and on we could
go with the story of Joseph. Then afterwards, in the fullness
of time, God's time, in God's wise and good providence, he
teaches his child an unchangeable truth. That's what we're saying
in the hymn, unchangeable truth. God's unchangeable. He taught
him an unchangeable truth about who God is, who he is himself,
and his distinguishing, sovereign, free grace. Turn to Genesis 45.
Later on in Joseph's life, Genesis 45. Joseph said in verse 4, Genesis
45, Joseph said unto his brethren, he's revealing himself unto them,
come near me, I pray you. And they came near and he said,
I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grieved. Don't be angry with yourself.
You sold me thither, for God did send me before you to preserve
life. If that's not sweet enough, turn
to Genesis chapter 50. Afterwards, in the fullness of
time, he says, now I'm over you and
you all are coming for me for corn. Genesis 50, I love this
verse. And this is kind of one of the
other verses that the Lord used when I'm laying flat on my back. But as for you, he's talking
to his brethren, you thought evil against me, but God meant
it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive. Afterwards, Joseph had peace, because he
had realized the things that God had taught him. Only did this come in Joseph's
life afterwards. Yes, you bet, oh such peace and
comfort afforded to such sinners as we are. We despise the mention of his
name. We despise grace. We thought we could work our
way to heaven. We thought we could do all this on our own.
Religious has taught us that. We have absolutely nothing to
do with our salvation. He chose us from before the foundation
of the Word. Ephesians chapter 2. I love that. I've probably shared this. One
of the first times I understood or was shown an election, I had
a Greek and Illinois Bible and I'm looking at all the backgrounds
to see what, maybe it means something else. Like Henry says, it means
what it means. It means what it says. And I
looked at it. He had chosen us before the foundation
of the world. And I looked it up and quite
literally, He selected us prior to the conception of the cosmos.
What are you going to do with that? Well, afterwards, it's hard for
us to kick against the bricks. But he's got to bring us there.
Afterwards, afterwards, after the storm,
the calm comes. Afterward comes the diploma.
We just went up to Indiana to see our daughter graduate, get
her master's. A lot of hard work. She called us every week, just
fatiguing, just aggravating, irritating. But after all that,
the diploma came, but this took many years in the making. Afterwards
came the sweet tasting honey to Samson's lips after he killed
the lion. And it was afterwards, in Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress, that Christian is able to find sweet rest and
repose once the hill difficulty is climbed. Remember that arbor?
He climbed up there, wore out, and there's an arbor set there
by the Lord of the hill, the Lord of the Celestial City, for
him to find repose afterwards. And we may be there now. And
like I say, if you're younger, you may not be there. But if
you're a believer at all, you've experienced some of these prior
things I'm speaking about. And do I need to remind each
and every one of us where Pilgrim's Progress was written? It was
written when he was in jail. Oh, he could have just sat there.
It's not fair. I got my rights. I'm entitled. No, afterwards. Does not to us. Afterward, become a real and
honest and sincere truth to our very souls as we recollect our
days prior to God dealing with us in mercy. We were lovers of
self, lovers of pleasures of this world. The world enthralled
us. We were guilty and not even knowing
or even caring to know God. Then the word of truth came in
the preaching of Christ's gospel, the three R's perhaps, ruin by
the fall, redemption by blood, and regeneration by the spirit.
Haven't heard that in a while, the three R's. I heard that first
here. Afterwards, then we had peace
and harmony and reconciliation by blood payment. God's appeased,
God's honored, and law's fulfilled, and we're pardoned. It is afterwards. Turn to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. Starting in verse 11, he's speaking
a parable, and this man, a man had two sons. The younger of
them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods
that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his
living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all
together and took his journey into a far country, and there
wasted his substance with riotous living, and when he had spent
all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to
be in want. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields
to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man
gave unto him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hired servants do my fathers have bread enough
to spare? And I perished with hunger."
Now here we are, verse 13, not many days after The son gathered all together
and he took his journey and he wasted it there with riotous
living. Maybe we weren't, maybe we were
the favorite son at home or the favorite daughter. Spiritually,
we did this. Wasted our living, wasted and
with riotous living. And we spent all, we spent all
trying to please, please ourselves or please others, mainly ourselves. And then after that, verse 14,
we begin to be in want. And we'll join ourselves to a
church. Anybody can help me get rid of
this feeling of guilt I got. Because a person who's in want,
they know, they can start to sense it. God's given every one
of us a conscience. We begin to be in want, so we
try to fix it ourselves. Join a church. We give a little
bit more if we can. We act spiritual. And so we do what the world would
have us to do. Look at verse 16, and no man
gave unto him. That's exactly right. If you're
looking for salvation in a man other than the man Christ Jesus,
you're not going to find it. Absolutely will not find it. Verse 17, and when he came to
himself, oh there it is, there's free will right there. It says in verse 14, he began
to be in want. Now how come he didn't go, how
come he didn't come to himself back then? No, this is Holy Spirit conviction. You can't muster up. a desire
to follow Christ, not the Christ of the Scripture. Then the Holy
Spirit convicts us and causes us to remember, when he came
to himself he said, how many hired servants at my father's
house they have bread enough and spirit, I'll perish with
hunger. So now all of a sudden he sees, he remembers his father.
I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father
I have sinned, there's confession of sin, against heaven and before
thee, Sounds like David in Psalms 51. And I am no more worthy to
be called thy son. Every person who's called a child
of God, they're amazed. I've talked to a few, last night
I've talked to a few this morning, amazed that God, that you can
call God your father. There's no entitlement there.
Because we know we don't deserve the least of his mercies. Absolutely
not. I'm no more worthy to be called
your son. Make me as one of your hired servants. But he rose and
came to his father, and when he was yet a great while off,
his father saw him, had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck
and kissed him. And his son said unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. Twice he repeats that. But the
father said unto him, Bring forth the best robe, put it on him,
and put a ring on his hand, and his shoes, and his feet. Bring
him to the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be merry."
Now those two verses, those three verses, 21, 22, and 23, but mainly
22 and 23. He's got the best robe, he's
got it on, he's got the ring on his finger, he's got shoes
on his feet, and he's eating. Now you tell me, was his first
estate the best estate or at the last? Afterward. That's what I want. I want at
the last. I don't want to be thinking, well did I do this
enough for Jesus or did I do that or whatever. No. I don't
want to be thinking that. I want it to yield the peaceable
fruit of righteousness. Afterward. Our last is better
than our first. Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. Verse 1, And
they came over unto the other side of the sea in the country
of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the
ship, Christ immediately there met him in one of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the
tombs. And no man could bind him, no, not with chains. because
that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and
the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken
in pieces, neither could any man tame him. And always, night
and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and
cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshiped him and cried with a loud voice and said,
what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high
God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said
unto them, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked
him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name
is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him much that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was
there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine
that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them
leave. And the unclean spirit went out and entered into the
swine. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea,
about two thousand, and were choked in the sea. And they that
fed the swine fled and told it to the city and the country.
And they went out to see what was done. was that was done. And they came to Jesus, and saw
Him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion sitting,
clothed, and in His right mind, and they were afraid. The gospel, it's a fearful thing, to fall
in the hands of a living God. The gospel, every time it's preached,
it's effectual. The flesh in our old nature can't stand it.
The Spirit loves it. So you tell me, verse 15, they
came out and they saw this man that had the legion, he was sitting
clothed and in his right mind. Afterward, he was clothed. After word, he was in his right
mind. And I just, I was curious, I
looked up the word right mind, what's the word right, he was
of sound mind. So before this, and really before you heard the
gospel, you're not of sound mind. You may be of sound mind to the
world's view, but not to God's, not in God's perspective. So
he saw Jesus as Lord over all indeed. Amen and amen. Afterwards, afterwards, if you
want wine, if you want the sweet nectar that grapes produce, you
gotta smash them. Afterwards, you're gonna get
wine. We have lemon balm in our garden. And after you smash it,
and you crush it, and you press it, it will yield its wonderful,
rich, full scent. Now it's got a little bit of
a scent, but once you And it's kind of by our path, so if you
step on it, but it's afterwards. We have to lose in order to gain. We are made full by being made
empty. So then my friends, afterward,
may seem to the world wrong, upside down, and unprofitable,
but to you who have been called and quickened and have had all
manner of sin covered and forgiven, afterward makes perfect sense,
for we live by faith and not by sight. Now, no chastening for the present. Seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, afterward, it yields peace, peace. You know, after a hard
day's work, That's what I want. I want rest and relaxation. I
just want peace. And sometimes when you talk to
older believers, you get a little envious. I remember Ms. Coleman, but I remember our
Ms. Coleman was Lucille Gilliland. Older lady. Moved from Oklahoma
during the Dust Bowl. Came to Cape. I met her at the church. Faithful
to the end. Had to sell her house and move
into a nursing home. One bedroom nursing, actually
two beds, small room. Everything that she had gathered
over the years, she had it in two suitcases. And she had a woman in the next
bed who was religious who couldn't stand when she played tapes,
cassette tapes of hearing the gospel. Every time I'd go see her, and
she got to where she couldn't come to church anymore, no complaints. She had peace. And that was probably the first
time I realized I wouldn't mind being 90 years old. I was 30,
whatever. I thought, yeah, yeah. But I didn't want to go through
all she went through to get there. It's like Henry told me. He said,
I can't touch you and bestow anything on you. You got to go
through life. You're going to have to go through
it, the bruises, the bumps, the hardships. the losses, death,
it's there. But remember, in all that, if
you understand Christ, if you understand His gospel, if like
Abraham, you believed Him, afterwards, there's going to be peace that
passes all understanding. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Afterwards
is in this situation, in this text, is grace in seed form to
us now. But soon, very soon, it's going
to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Then shall
patience have her perfect work. And Christ will be most honored. Because Christ, as the scripture
says, He will have the preeminence. So, may we go out those doors,
whatever come what may? Lord, afterwards, You've seen,
You've led, and You've fed me all the way to this point. You've
given Your Son to live, breathe, and die for
my sins, who is still oftentimes ungrateful, unthankful, and may
we realize afterwards that we need to be more thankful, and
we need to be more gracious, we need to be more long-suffering,
one towards another. Look around. This is the family
of Christ in Madisonville. Walk the sojourn together, but
remember afterwards, afterwards, after the struggle, after the
trial, our Lord's going to be there like He was, like He has
been all the time. He's unchangeable. And He will
not forget those whom He has foreknown. And those whom He
has foreknown, He has predestinated to be like Him. I heard Donny
Bell or somebody saying, we used to go to Silver Dollar City years
ago, down by Branson's, my mom lives down by Branson, and you
go by and there's always somebody whittling on something. I think
Donny Bell said, that's us. We're not the whittler, we're
the piece of wood. And we may think, that looks
pretty good, and he's like, nope, I'm taking that off. And he may
think, I may think, well I like how that leader is looking, I
like how... No, I'm taking that off. He's preparing us. It says He's prepared a place
in heaven for us, but He's preparing us for heaven. Afterwards. Afterwards. May God give us grace
to finish the race. To finish the race with those
of like mind. Clinging, embracing, and trusting
Christ. To God be the glory. Let's close
in prayer and then I guess we'll be dismissed. Father, I can't thank you enough for the
book that you've left. For your people to read and to
understand about who we are and about who you are. The grace
that's been given. The salvation. Your free and marvelous grace
to the likes of us. Unworthy worms. Unworthy dead
dog sinners as Mephibosheth said. But he was at the table of the
king. He was at the table of the king and was guaranteed food
for the rest of his life. And his legs were under the table.
They were seemingly hid. You knew about him and he knew
about him. but we're being fed by Christ. May we gather together
often, frequently. I know the whirlpools, I know
the struggles of life, but Father, this is the truth. This is the true family, the
true message. You've revealed yourself to this
place, this small place, geographically, Madisonville on the map, in the
whole state of Kentucky. is pretty insignificant. But
Father, where you're there, all the blessings, the blessings
of grace that we've seen, and I pray that we will continue
to see, for your name's sake and your glory's sake, amen.