Open your Bibles with me, if
you would, to 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12. We'll read the
first 10 verses. It's not expedient for me, doubtless
to glory, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the
body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell,
God knoweth, such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I
knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot
tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise and
heard unspeakable words which is not lawful, it's not possible
for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory, yet
of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though
I would desire to glory, I should not be a fool, for I'll say the
truth. But now I forbear, lest any man
should think of me above that which he seeth me to be or that
he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations There was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing,
I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And
he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. We'll end our reading there.
All right, let's stand together as Sean leads us in singing our
call to worship. Let us join our cheerful songs
with angels round the throne. Ten thousand thousand are their
tongues, but all their joys are one. But all their joys are one. Worthy the Lamb that died, they
cry, to be exalted thus. Worthy the Lamb, our lips reply,
for He was slain for us. for He was slain for us. Let all that dwell above the
sky and air and earth and seas conspire to live Thy glories
high and speak Thine endless praise and speak Thine endless
praise. the whole creation join in one
to bless the sacred name of Him who sits upon the throne and
to adore the Lamb and to adore the Lamb. Okay, if you would, Please turn
to song number 204, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. O soul, are you weary and troubled? O light in the darkness, you
see There's light for a look at the Savior, and life more
abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face. The wings of earth will grow
strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting,
He passed and we follow Him there. Over us sin no more hath dominion,
For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you,
He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look
full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. Well, Jonathan's coming to read
scripture for us. Let me point this out to you. I put here in the bulletin the
address for Aaron Simpson while he's there in Columbus. And our brother's having a time,
and it's been a bad week. It's been a bad week for him.
He texted me yesterday and said the doctors told him he could
start to feel better, maybe tomorrow, but it's going to be a long,
long way. And if you got a bunch of cards from us, maybe to help
him. And I sure would like to do that
if I could, wouldn't you? All right. So I just want to
point that out to you. That address is there for you. All right,
John. Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Timothy chapter 2. Second Timothy chapter two, our
pastors asked us to read the first seven verses. Thou therefore my son be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou
has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men. shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that woreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for
masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The
husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
Consider what I say, and Lord give the understanding in all
things. We'll end our reading there. Let's pray together. Our Holy Heavenly Father, thank
you for drawing us here today. Thank you for not leaving us
to ourselves, not leaving us to worship ourselves or to come
before your holy to dare to come before your holy throne in ourselves. Thank you for not leaving us
to ourselves. Rather, thank you for drawing us to this place
where we may worship and be instructed. I pray that this be a fruitful
time, a time of worship and a time of instruction, a time that we
may see Christ, that your message be declared, that just as you
didn't leave us to ourselves in drawing us here, don't leave
us to ourselves now either. but rather let this be your time,
your message. Send your spirit and bless that
we in turn, that may be given to us, that we may worship in
spirit and also in truth. We pray that you be with our
pastor, that you not leave him to himself either, but rather
that message come through him from you. Leave us not to ourselves
as we listen, but give us a heart to understand, give us ears to
hear, eyes to see Christ. Father, give us, give us faith
that just as the song we just sang, these things of earth grow,
grow dim and in the light of Christ's glorious face, let it,
let us see Christ in this time. Father, remember, as you've promised
that we are, we are the dust and we're needy people. We pray for those that are undergoing
whatever the trial is that you brought. We think of our brother
Aaron, the family, that should be with him and be with them.
We think of Ed and others. We remember. Father, we pray that
you remember as well. Be with us through the trial,
whatever that trial may be, bring us through. Glorify your name
in the trial and glorify your name in this place this morning.
We pray this thankfully in Christ's name for his sake. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer that calls me from the world of care and bids me
at my father's throne make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief,
my soul has often found relief and oft escaped the tempter's
snare by thy Return, sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
sweet hour of prayer, the joyous I feel the bliss I share of those
whose anxious spirits burn with strong desires for thy return. With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face And gladly take my station
there and wait for the sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of
prayer sweet hour of prayer and wait for the sweet hour of prayer Alright, if you would, open your
Bibles again with me to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 2, the
passage Brother Jonathan just read for us. I titled the message this morning,
Be Strong in Grace. That's what Paul tells young
Timothy in verse 1. Thou therefore, my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Now, what does that mean
to be strong in grace? What does it mean? And more importantly,
what I'd like to know is how can you and I be strong in grace? Not just know what it means,
but how can we be strong in grace? When the first seven verses of
this chapter, Paul gives us three ways to be strong in grace, and
then he gives us three examples of it in action. Examples help
us kind of remember what we've been taught and illustrate the
point. Paul gives us three examples. So first, the three ways to be
strong in grace. Number one, the believer is strong
in grace by being dependent. Not being strong in ourselves,
but by being dependent on Christ. Paul tells Timothy, be strong
in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. All grace from God is
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it comes to us through him.
We can only have grace in Christ. We can't have grace by our works. You know, those two things are
contrary to each other, but how many people, this is the nature
of the flesh, try to earn grace by our works? By definition,
that's impossible. You can't earn something that's
free. Christ earned it for us, but it's given to us freely.
We can't have grace by our works, and we can't keep grace by our
works either. We're always completely dependent
on the Lord to be gracious to us and to keep being gracious
to us. And the example I thought of is a stream bed. You know,
that stream bed stays full of water as long as the fountain
head's producing water. That stream bed is completely
dependent on the fountain head to supply it with water, and
it'll dry up as soon as the fountain head dries up. That's the life
of a believer. You and I are the dry, dead stream
bed, and our Lord is the fountain of grace. We can't have grace
unless it flows to us from Him. And the Lord's given us grace.
Right now, He's given us grace. In the past, the Lord's been
so gracious to us, hasn't He? But you know what? We'll dry
up and be dead in just a few minutes if the fountainhead dries
up and quits being gracious to us. So we're strong in grace
when we're completely dependent on Christ to supply it. That's
how we're strong in grace. And if we think that we can add
something to Christ by our work, somehow we can make ourselves
better than we are in Christ alone. That's not being strong
in grace. That's weak in grace. Now it
sounds strong to the flesh to say, Ooh, I can do something
here to, to really add to this situation. That sounds strong
to the flesh, but really it's weak. We are never weaker than
we are when we depend upon the arm of the flesh. Never. Think
of Peter. Remember, the Lord was there
with his disciples and told them he must suffer and die. And all
of you are going to forsake me this night. And Peter said, not
me, Lord, not me. These other fellows, yeah, I
believe it. They're going to desert you. They're going to
get scared and they'll desert you. Lord, I'll never desert
you. I'll die with you. Sounds strong, doesn't it? To
the flesh, that sounds strong. but wasn't strong in grace. And
look where being strong in the flesh got poor Peter. It got
him denying he even knew the Lord. No, we're strong in grace
when we acknowledge our weakness. So we just depend on Christ and
His strength more fully. That's when we're strong. It's
just like growing in grace. You know how you grow in grace?
By growing in your own estimation of your weakness. We grow in
grace, but the more weak we see, the more frail we see our flesh
is, the more sinful that we see our flesh is. And the worse we
see ourselves, which is just a better estimation of ourselves,
the more clearly we see our sin and our weakness, the more we'll
depend on Christ. That's being strong in grace.
Growing in grace is growing, not in your own strength, not
in your own wisdom, not in your own might, not in your own ability,
but it's growing in dependence on Christ. Look at Ephesians
chapter six. The apostle Paul tells us something
just very clearly here about being strong. And that strength,
the believer being strong, is simply depending on the strength
of Christ. Ephesians six, verse 10. Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord. and in the power of his
might. The way we're strong is by trusting
in the might, the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul
has to warn us about this, about staying, being strong and staying
strong in grace because Paul had seen it. So many had departed
from the faith. They departed from depending
on grace. Back up here in chapter one,
verse 15, he mentions two of them. This thou knowest, not
just these two, but all they, which are in Asia, be turned
away from me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. These people,
they left the faith, they left the grace. Paul mentions a couple
of times, Alexander the coppersmith, leaving the grace, and we have
to be warned, don't think we can't be any of those people,
because we can. If God takes his grace from us for a moment,
that's what we'll do. So we're strong in grace when
we strongly refuse to depend on anything that we do to make
ourselves spiritually better. If we strongly refuse anything
other than Christ alone, that's being strong in grace. If we
strongly refuse to think somehow I can make myself better than
my brethren, I can be a better Christian than they are, there's
some sort of hierarchy here. If I strongly refuse to do that,
because we're equally dependent on grace, that's being strong
in grace. And notice Paul says here, be
strong in the grace, the grace that is in Christ Jesus. God's
grace, the only grace that there is. Now be strong in the grace,
in God's grace. Be strong, depend upon God's
electing grace. That you know, you depend upon
him choosing you, not you choosing him. Be strong. Depend upon God's redeeming grace
because you know the only way your sin can be paid for the
only way you can be redeemed from the curse of the law is
by Christ suffering dying for you by his blood Be strong in
God's calling grace depend upon God's calling grace because you
know You'll never come to Christ as God calls you and he draws
you to him Be strong, depend upon God's regenerating grace
to give you life because you know you've got no life in yourself.
You're dead in trespasses and sins and the only way you can
ever have life is God causes to be born in you, a new man.
Be strong, depend upon God's keeping grace because you know
this, you'll be one of those that depart unless God keeps
you. Be strong in that by depending on the grace from beginning to
ending, from the first step to the last step. because this is
what you know. The only way you'll ever arrive
in glory is the grace, God's grace to sinners. All right,
here's the second thing. A believer is strong in grace
by love. Paul says, thou therefore my
son, be strong in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. Now you know
this, Paul did not have any children. Timothy was not his natural son,
but he was Paul's son in the faith. And when he calls him
my son, that is such a term of endearment. It's a term of love. There's genuine affection between
these two men, Paul and Timothy. Just like there was between David
and Jonathan, there was genuine affection between those two men.
Well, believers stay strong in grace by depending on God's grace
and depending, relying upon God's love to us. Not our love to God,
God's love to us. You cannot be strong in grace. without love, because these two
go together. Grace and love, they're inseparable.
And the way we stay strong in grace is by continually depending
on God's unmerited love to us. Here is God's love. God commended
his love toward us in that while we're yet sinners. Christ died
for us. That's grace, grace that came
from God's love to his people. And being strong in grace is
staying dependent on God's love for sinners. Yes, Christ saved
me. Yes, he redeemed me, but I'm
still in this flesh and I'm still a sinner. I'm just as dependent
on God's love, his love for sinners as I ever was. And commitment. See, what Paul is talking to
Timothy about here is commitment. He's talking to him, he says,
stay strong in the grace of God that's in Christ. And for Timothy,
he means, Timothy's a preacher, he's a pastor. And he means for
Timothy to stay committed to this thing of preaching Christ,
believing him, relying upon his grace. And while all of us aren't
preachers, Paul's telling us, you stay committed to this thing,
do. Stay committed to this thing of the grace of God that's in
Christ Jesus. And you know where that commitment
comes from? It comes from love. Love. A good husband is committed
to his wife. Now, he's not committed to her
because he has to be. You know, people look down on
him, you know, if he leaves her. He's not committed to her because
the law requires it. You know, the law's going to
punish me if I leave her. No, a good husband's committed
to his wife because he loves her. He loves her. He's just
going to be committed to her naturally. And a good wife is
committed to her husband. Occasionally, he might be a jerk,
but she's committed to him because she loves him. See, commitment
comes from love. You know why a believer stays
committed to Christ? Why a believer stays committed
to the gospel, committed to the people of God? Because we love
God. Now, we only love Him because
He first loved us, but we do love Him, don't we? And real
commitment will come from that kind of love. It absolutely will.
And little misunderstandings, little hurt feelings, those things
are not going to drive me from Christ. They're not going to
drive me from His gospel. They're not going to drive me
from His grace. They're not going to drive me from the brethren.
You know why? Because by God's grace, I love
Him. I love His people too. And where there is no love, there's
no grace. God's grace always produces love. Always. If you know a person
has no commitment to God, has no commitment to Christ, has
no commitment to God's gospel, no commitment to the cause of
Christ, I can tell you why that's so. It's because there's no love.
There's no love of God. If God puts his love in somebody's
heart, they're going to be committed to God. They're going to be committed
to Christ and committed to his gospel. If you know a person
who has no love for the brethren, they're just, they're hateful.
They have no willingness to overlook faults in others. There's no
willingness to forgive and forget that there's just anger and malice
toward people. I can tell you why that's so.
There's no grace in the heart. That's exactly right. Is that
being too hard? Look what God's word says, 1 John 4. 1 John 4. Verse 10. Herein is love. If you want to
see love in action, here it is. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. Look at verse 19. We love him
because he first loved us. Now if a man say I love God and
hates his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth
God love his brother also. Where there is grace, there will
be love. And we're strong in grace by
love, by love, by God's love to us and the love that he's
put in the hearts of his people. All right, here's the third way.
A believer strong in grace by preaching grace, by preaching
it clearly, boldly, only, and consistently. Verse two, Paul
says in the things that thou hast heard of me, among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be
able to teach others also. Now it is a great blessing for
our community, for us, for God to give us a man who will consistently
preach Christ, who will only preach Christ, who will consistently
and only preach the gospel, who never, preaches works, who never
puts a burden of the law on people, but preaches Christ. That's a
blessing. That's a blessing that God gives
his people. But the only way we know that is God gives us
preaching. Somebody's got to preach Christ
before we know him. How can they believe on him whom
they never heard? You've got to hear of him. The
way God gives his people faith in Christ is by somebody preaching
Christ to us. And it's just so important. It's
very important for us to preach Christ. But Paul's telling Timothy
here something about learning. It's just important for a man
who's going to preach and someday maybe be a pastor, to sit under
a man who knows Christ, who knows how to preach the gospel, who
knows and demonstrates some leadership. The Lord's enabled him to preach
the gospel and to lead his sheep. It's just invaluable for a man
to learn that way. I think about those years I spent. Some people spend a couple years
in the seminary. I spent years and years and years
and years in the seminary, sitting under Brother Henry, and those
things are invaluable to me now. I just don't know how a man can
become a pastor without sitting under another one for a while.
I just don't know how many it happens, but it's rare. And that's
what Paul's telling Timothy here. He said, Timothy, you sat under
the sound of the gospel. Your mother, grandmother taught
you. I taught you. You heard this from me. Now,
Timothy, you take that that you've learned, that God's given you,
and you preach that same gospel. You preach it, you teach it to
other men and God send them out to preach because this is how
God calls out his sheep. This is how God feeds his sheep.
This is how God's sheep grow in grace and how they're taught
and edified. It's by somebody preaching Christ
to them. then that's the only thing we
better preach. That's the only thing we better, everything else
is useless. It really is. Paul tells Timothy,
you preach the same gospel you heard of me and these other witnesses.
Now reckon what Timothy had heard. Well, the summary of it, we won't
go back and read through the whole chapter, but the summary
of the gospel that Timothy heard from Paul is found in chapter
one. After you eat your lunch this
afternoon, go back and read this, chapter 1. This is the gospel
that Paul preached, that he taught to Timothy. Salvation is by the
will of God. It's by the purpose of God. It's
not by our will, it's by God's will. And salvation is received
through faith in Christ. That God gives His people that
faith through the preaching of Christ. This is the gospel that
Paul taught Timothy. God saved us. That's the gospel. We didn't
do anything to help save ourselves. God saved us by his purpose,
by his will, and by his doing. And God's salvation is eternal. God didn't leave it up to chance.
It's eternal. It's according to his eternal purpose and will,
which was given us in Christ Jesus when? Before the world
began. This is the eternal gospel. It's
eternal, but God reveals himself. He applies this salvation to
the hearts of his people through preaching. Don't ever underestimate
the importance of somebody preaching the gospel. This is how God gives
his people faith. Paul says, you've heard it of
me and other witnesses. Who are these other witnesses?
It may have been other men that came through preaching, but I
know this. Timothy heard the other witnesses
of the Old Testament prophets and saints. That's the word.
It's the only word of God that was available at the time to
his mother and his grandmother. That's the word they taught him.
Christ from the Old Testament Scriptures. It's the great cloud
of witnesses. They're found in Hebrews chapter
11. Abel came and witnessed to us, he being dead yet speaking.
Abel witnesses to us the salvation is pictured in his lamb. That
lamb that he sacrificed. God can only be worshipped in
the blood of Christ. God can't be worshipped by our
works. God's not gonna accept our works. Oh, but he's accepted
Christ, and you come to God in him. He'll accept you in Christ,
in his blood. Noah witnessed to us. Noah's
a preacher of righteousness. Salvation's pictured in Noah's
ark. Noah moved with fear. He obeyed God and built that
ark, giving us this picture. Salvation's found in Christ. Not by knowing the dimensions
of the ark, Not by knowing if it was shaped like a boat with
a point of bow or if it was a square. Not by knowing all these different
things about the ark. Salvation is not found in knowing
about the ark. Salvation is found in the ark. If you're going to
be safe from that flood, you've got to be in the ark. If you're
going to be safe from the wrath of God, you've got to get in
Christ. Come to Christ. Can I tell you one more time?
You come to Christ. Right now. You come to Christ.
Salvation is found by being in you. Oh Abraham, witness to us. Abraham, the father of the faithful,
he witnessed to us. Oh, it's in Christ the substitute.
He was going to kill his son. He found a ram caught in the
thicket by his horns, didn't he? Offered him up in the stead
of his son Isaac. Salvation is found in the substitutionary
death of Christ. He died as our substitute. Abraham
believed God and was counting him for righteousness. You believe
God. Just believe what God said. There's
so many witnesses. And we have witnesses now, don't
we? We have more witnesses than Timothy had. We have the Old
Testament and the New Testament scriptures. The whole Old Testament
scriptures have this purpose. Tell us somebody's coming. Someone's
coming. Just like a train going down
the tracks. The war on coal happened. We
don't have as many trains going by our house. We used to have
trains going by our house 24 hours a day. And you just hear
those wheels clicking down the tracks, clicking down the tracks,
clicking down. That's the Old Testament. Somebody's coming.
Somebody's coming. Somebody's coming. Somebody's
coming. We got the New Testament scriptures. Here he is. Here
he has come to fulfill all those Old Testament types and pictures. Here he is, and here's what he's
done for his people. Now you look to him. Just like
when Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness and said, look
and live. It's our message today from all these witnesses. Look
and live. Look to Christ and live. Look.
God's given us that message, just like he gave it to Timothy.
He's given us that message today. All these years, 2000 some odd
years later, we're still preaching the exact same message that Paul
gave to Timothy and Timothy gave to other faithful men. Now think
about that for just a second. God has given us this message.
He's entrusted the message of his son to us. Can that sink in just a bit?
The importance of that? Then brethren, let's preach it. Let's preach it boldly. Let's
preach it clearly. Let's preach it consistently.
Let's preach it as insistently as we possibly can. Let's never
get off on a tangent and preach anything other than God's grace,
which is in Christ Jesus. Let's not preach it and let's
not listen to it either. I mean, don't tolerate it for
a second. Don't support it for a second. Let's insist on preaching Christ
alone. Because brethren, our works don't
enter into this thing of salvation. Ever, never, ever, ever do they
before or after regeneration. Salvation is by the purpose of
God alone. It's by the obedience of Christ
alone. It's by the sacrifice of Christ
alone. It's by the life giving power
of the Holy Spirit alone. It's by the preaching of the
word of God alone. Now the flesh is going to resist
that. The flesh is going to fight against it. And when the flesh
bucks up against it, let's preach it more insistently. When the
flesh starts screaming against it, let's start preaching it
more loudly. Salvation is of the Lord, and God help us to
never stray a hair's breadth away from preaching and believing
Christ alone. That's being strong in the faith.
Now, Paul gives us three examples of what he's talking about, and
let me give them to you briefly. The first example he gives is
of a soldier, verse three. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier, Jesus Christ. No man that woreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who
hath chosen him to be a soldier. Now I've never served in the
military, but I know this. A good soldier obeys orders. That's what a good soldier does.
The captain gives him an order, he said, yes sir. Yes, sir. The
order might be charged into the face of that cannon. He says,
yes, sir. Yes, sir. The order might be jump out of
an airplane to land behind enemy lines and be surrounded by the
enemy with just four or five of you fellas. And you go hold
it, take a bridge, and you hold it, even though they got 100
men guarding it. And they say, yes, sir. Sounds impossible,
but they don't think about it. They just say, yes, sir. Yes,
sir. Well, God's people are soldiers. They're soldiers following Christ,
the captain of our salvation. And our captain has given us
an order. Believe me. Trust me. Look to me. And God's
soldiers say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Our captain says, go
into all the world and preach me and don't preach anything
else. And God's people say, yes, sir. And a good soldier is valiant. He will defend and protect his
country with his life if he has to. He'll never compromise his
position. He's not going to surrender now.
Not only will he defend his country, but good soldiers are going to
go on the offensive to win the war, to win the battle, to protect
his country. God's soldiers follow him valiantly,
valiantly. And we use the only weapon we
have, the sword, the word of God. The only weapon we have,
and we just go preaching it, preaching it. Now don't compromise. Don't compromise. Don't surrender
to the will of the flesh. Don't surrender. Just keep preaching
Christ. Just keep believing Him. Just
keep relying upon Him. Now here's being strong in grace. When the enemy attacks, harder
and harder and harder and harder. You know what a good soldier
does? He fights back. Harder and harder and harder
and harder. Those fellas at the Battle of
the Bulge, I mean, they didn't have any winter clothes. They
didn't have any protection. They run out of food. They're
running out of ammunition. And the Germans told them to
surrender. You know what their general said? Nuts. I'm not going
to do it. We take a dose of that. Never
surrender. Never surrender. Don't back off
even an inch. Our captain says, hold the line.
And we say, yes, sir. I'm just determined by God's
grace to preach and believe nothing but Christ. And a good soldier
is focused on the job at hand. A full-time soldier doesn't have
another job. He's a full-time soldier. You know why he's a
full-time soldier? So he's not going to be entangled
with the things of this life. He's not going to be entangled
with something that gets his attention off what he's supposed to be
doing, following orders. Good soldiers of Christ, they
believe Christ and they believe Him alone. And they're not going
to become entangled with the law anymore. They're not going
to become entangled with the things of this world anymore,
with the law and the ceremonies. They're solely focused on Christ. That's what a good soldier does.
The second example Paul gives us is an athlete. Verse five. And if a man also strive for
masteries, yet he not crowned except he strive lawfully. Now elite athletes, They're famous
for their obsessiveness in their craft. They're just obsessed
with it. Believers ought to be too. Obsessed with it. Be obsessively
focused on running the race God's given you to run. He's given
everybody a different course. Don't look at somebody else's
course. Maybe somebody else got to high
hurdles and you got to marathon. Don't think about the high hurdles.
Think about the marathon. Maybe yours is a sprint. Think about
the sprint. Focus on the race that God's given you to run,
and whatever it is, you're doing it the same way. Run the course
God's given you, looking unto Jesus, depending upon Him, the
author and the finisher of our faith. And just be persistent. Just
be persistent. Many of you know, I used to be
a runner. My running days are over, but
I still like to live through you fellows that run. I live
vicariously through you. You hear about Sam running. I
live vicariously through that. I miss it. I watch the Olympics,
and most people probably don't want to spend much time watching
the marathon. I do. I just love watching them people
run that marathon. I mean, oh my goodness. I was
watching it yesterday. This fell about 18 miles into
the race. They say the race don't even
start till 20 miles. Try running 20 miles and then
racing. This fell about 18 miles in. It's humid. And this fellow's
just sprinting. I mean, he's running a five-minute
mile. And he suddenly stops and just lays down on the street.
He just lays there. And he lays there for about ten
seconds and thinks, this guy's got heat stroke. They better
come out and give him mouth-to-mouth or something. He's laying there.
Just laying there on the road and thinking, what am I doing?
He got up and started sprinting again and caught back up with
that lead pad. Persistent. Persistent. Let's
be persistent in the faith. Just keep going. Just keep looking
to Christ. Just keep depending upon Him.
And don't look for a shortcut. Don't look for a shortcut. Stay
on the course. And follow the rules. Sam, he
runs. He runs track. Pretty good runner
from what I hear. Now every athlete, Sam, you probably
got somebody you think about when you're running. It's just
an opponent. It's just, man, you're neck and
neck with him all the time. It just takes everything you
can do to beat him. Sometimes you beat him. Sometimes he beats
you. Imagine running that 800. You've run a couple other races.
Now you're running 800. It's a sprint. I mean, it's just
a sprint, you know. You're about a lap and a half
through. I'm on this guy's heels. I cannot pass him. Sam thinks
I know what I'll do. I'll cut across the infield.
The finish line's right there. I don't have to go all the way
around. I'm just going to cut it. So he cuts across the infield. He dodges
people throwing the discus and shot put. He jumps around the
people, you know, doing a long jump. He gets to the finish line.
Woo-hoo! Sam, they're not going to crown
you. They're going to laugh at you. They're going to think,
what's he doing? You're not going to get the gold medal. God's
people are not looking for a shortcut. Brethren, there isn't one. There
isn't a shortcut. Our track is Christ alone. Our message is Christ alone.
Our message is faith in Christ alone. Our message is salvation
is by grace through faith, not by our works. If we try to take
what the flesh thinks would be an easy shortcut, the shortcut
of man's will, the shortcut of man's work to prop this thing
up, you're going to be disqualified at the finish line. Disqualified. There's going to be no gold medal
around your neck. There's going to be none of that wreath on
your head. When Paul talks here about being crowned for masteries,
he's talking about the Olympic athletes of his day. Paul said,
you'd be disqualified. That's what the word masteries
mean. Those of us staying up late to watch the Olympics weren't
good company. Paul loved the Olympics. He's
a fan of those things. And that's why he used that as
an illustration. So be like an athlete, be obsessively focused
on Christ, on needing him, on depending on him, and run the
race that God's given you. Don't quit, don't quit, and follow
the rules. Follow this faith in Christ,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. All
right, the third example Paul uses is a farmer. Verse six,
he says, the husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker
of the fruits. Now again, Paul's showing us
there's no shortcut here. If a farmer's going to enjoy
the harvest, he's going to have to be dedicated to his fields,
dedicated to them. In the spring, he's going to
be out there in his fields. He's going to be plowing. He's
going to be plowing those things up and planting in the spring.
All summer long, he's going to be out there in those fields.
He's going to be out there weeding those fields and fertilizing them and watering
them and make sure they've got everything they need. He's going
to be out in those fields every day. Sun up to sun down almost
every single day. He's out there in those fields.
If he's not out in the fields, he's working on something to
take out in the fields, to work on those fields. He's got to
take care of those crops. He's not going to have a harvest
in the fall unless he puts that work in day after day after day
after day all those months. That's the only way that he's
going to have a harvest. Now that's the illustration that
Paul's given us. And he's telling us Be strong. Those of us who are in God's
garden, be strong in grace. Work the field that God's given
you to work. Work it. Plant it with the word
of God. Water it with the word of God.
Fertilize it with the word of God and prayer. Work in it from
sun up till sun down. And when you get tired and it's
hot, keep working. When that alarm goes off at 4.30
in the morning, and you got to get up and milk the cows and
get ready to go out and work in the field, God's giving you,
get up. Don't hit your snooze, get up. Keep going, patiently
going. That's the only way God will
give the increase. Oh, God's going to give the increase.
I promise you that. I promise you God's going to
save His people. I promise you He's going to give the increase.
He's going to increase them in numbers. He's going to cause
them to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, but he's
going to do it by somebody sowing and somebody watering. God help
it to be us. I'd like to do that with you.
Just be diligent and be patient like the farmer. The Lord, in
my experience, almost always works slowly. So be patient. The end to this war is coming. Be patient. Then we'll enjoy peace. We don't enjoy it completely.
We have it, but we don't enjoy it completely now. Then we will.
Then we will. Then there's going to be a joyous
finish line. If you're running a marathon,
you've got to run 26.2 miles. But when you get there,
there's a joyous finish line. The spring might be cold and
rainy. The summer might be hot and dry,
but you keep going. Be patient now. God's harvest
is coming. And then we'll have joy. At verse
seven, Paul says, you consider what I say and the Lord give
the understanding in all things. Now go home, enjoy lunch with
your family and chew on these things. Take this week. Lord
brings them back to your mind. Chew on these things. I bet you're
like me. This week we asked him, did you
have a good week? He had a good week. There's some times it got mighty
tough. Going to next week too. When
it does, chew on these things. Keep clinging to Christ. Keep depending on Him. That's
how we're strong in the grace. that's in Christ Jesus. That's
how we're gonna make it through. The way we're gonna make it through
is not by our strength and our determination. The way we're
gonna make it through is the strength that's in Christ Jesus.
Then keep clinging to Him. Keep looking to Him. All right,
I hope I didn't muddy those waters and that's a blessing to you.
Let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for the precious, precious promises of
your word. that the end is coming. When you give your people perfect
peace, perfect rest, perfect joy, perfect glory. Father, until
then, we beg of thee that you cause us to be strong in the
grace that's in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, cause us to be
faithful to your cause. Cause us to be faithful to our
generation, to preach the gospel of Christ. Cause us to to be
faithful to one another, to help and encourage one another, to
continue pressing forward, looking unto, depending upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Father,
these things we ask for the glory of Christ our Savior. Oh, would
you show us your glory in our day and cause us to patiently
and continually look to thee. Of course, in the precious name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and give thanks. Amen. All
right, Sean. Okay, if you would stand and turn to
song number 495, Unsearchable Riches. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, wealth that can never be told. Riches exhaust us of
mercy and grace, precious, more precious than gold. Precious, more precious, wealth
that can never be told. O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold! O the unsearchable
riches of Christ, who shall their greatness declare? Jewels whose luster our lives
may adorn, pearls that the poorest may wear. Precious, more precious,
wealth that can never be told. All the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, freely, how freely they flow, making the
souls of the faithful and true happy wherever they go. Precious, for precious, wealth
that can never be told. All the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ Who would not gladly endure Trials, afflictions,
and crosses on earth Riches like these to secure Precious, more
precious Wealth that can never be told All the unsearchable
riches of Christ Precious, more precious than gold