If you would, open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter
6. Thankfully, we have been able
to start printing our bulletins again. There is a call to worship
in it. Since you're not used to getting a bulletin, if you
don't have one, if you raise your arm, Ronald will bring you
one. Somebody forgot to get one. The print quality on these things
is is iffy. It's hit and miss and I apologize
for that. It's driving me crazy and I'm
working on it and try to have a little more crisp printing
for that. We'll be working on that in the
weeks to come. You'll notice that there are three Bibles down
here on the table for our three high school graduates this year.
Kinsley, Maggie, and Tyler, their names are conveniently printed
on the front so you will know which one that you're signing.
And like we do every year, when everybody comes sign these Bibles
for them. They can't have them till everybody
signs them. So don't, look at Maggie, don't
make her wait now. Don't make me tell her she can't
have it because you haven't signed it yet. So everybody come sign
this and we'll have a dinner to celebrate them in two weeks. So it would be wonderful if we
could give them to them then. So everybody come sign these.
Lord willing, Wednesday night, Brother Eric Floyd will be preaching
for us. I'll be in Lexington getting
another steroid shot for my back, which the doctor is very hopeful
will help. So I look forward to that. All
right, 1 Timothy chapter six. We'll begin our reading in verse
17. Charge them that are rich in
this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in a living God. who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in
store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that
they may lay hold on eternal life. We'll end our reading there. All right, let's stand together
as Jonathan leads us in singing my very favorite call to worship. Sing it out. With harps and with viols there
stands a great throng In the presence of Jesus and sings this
new song To Him who hath loved us and washed us from sin, unto
Him be the glory forever, Amen. All these once were sinners,
being piled in His sight. Now arrayed in pure garments,
their voices unite. God loved us and washed us from
sin. Unto Him be the glory forever. Amen. He maketh a rebel, a priest,
and a king. He hath bought us and taught
us this new song to sing. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto Him be the glory forever. Amen. How helpless and hopeless we
sinners had been, If He had not loved us and washed us from sin. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, Unto Him be the glory forever, Amen. Aloud in His praises our voices
shall ring, so that others believing this new song shall sing. Turn with me, if you would, to
page 158. Page 158, Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly
Dove. ♪ Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove
♪ ♪ With all thy quickening powers ♪ Kindle a flame of sacred love
in these cold hearts of ours. Look how we grovel here below. fond of these earthly toys. Our souls, how heavily they go
to reach eternal joys. In vain we tune our foremost
songs In vain we strive to rise Hosannas languish on our tongues
And our devotion dies Here, Lord, and shall we ever live At this
foredying reign Our love so faithful, so bold
to Thee, and Thine to us so great. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
with all Thy quickening powers, Come shed abroad a Savior's love,
and that shall kindle our fire. Let's open our Bibles to John
chapter 10. John 10, and we'll begin reading
in verse 22. And it was at Jerusalem, the feast
of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the
temple, in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them. He said,
I told you and you believe not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not. because
you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
in me is greater than all, and no man was able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. We'll
end our reading here. Let's pray. Our God, Father in
heaven, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity
to gather together. Lord, to read thy word. Lord, to to sing hymns of praise
unto Thee. Lord, chiefly to hear a word
from Thee. Lord, we pray for our pastor,
pray that You would bless him as he stands in this place. Lord,
who's sufficient for these things? Lord, take that which You've
laid upon his heart, that which he's studied and prepared, and
Lord, Preach clearly and plainly to us. Lord, open our ears to
hear thy word. Lord, to rejoice in thy word.
Bless us with your presence here this morning. Lord, cause us
to not just hear the words of a man. Lord, be pleased to speak
to thy people in power here this morning. Lord, for those of our
number who in a time of trouble, difficulty, Lord, we pray Your
hand upon them. Lord, You know the needs of Your
people. Lord, You guide Your people. You direct
Your people. Lord, bless us with Your presence. Lord, we pray
that Your hand of mercy and grace be upon us. Lord, in all things,
cause us to look to and rest in Thee and Thee alone. Again,
we thank you for this day. We thank you for your many blessings. We pray for our community, our
country. Lord, we pray for these many
young ones that you've blessed us with. Lord, that you would
hedge them about and protect them, keep them, defend them.
Lord, above all things, reveal unto them the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we pray for your presence.
set aside the thoughts and cares of this world. Let us see Christ. In his name we pray and give
thanks. In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this
solid ground Firm through the fiercest doubt and storm What
heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled,
when strivings cease My Comforter, my All in All Here in the love
of Christ I stand In Christ alone, who took on flesh The fullness
of God in helpless babe, This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones he came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus
died, The wrath of God was satisfied, For every sin on Him was laid,
Here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground his body
lay Vied of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in
glorious day Up from the grave he rose again And as he stands
in victory Since curse has lost its grip on me For I am His and
He is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life,
no fear in death This is the power of Christ in me From life's
first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. power of hell no scheme of man
can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home
here in the power of Christ I'll stand If you would, open your Bibles
with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6. A passage that we read to
open the service this morning. I titled the message, Laying
Hold on Eternal Life. I took my title from verse 19
where Paul writes, laying up in store for themselves a good
foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on
eternal life. Now, this is the second time
in this very chapter that the apostle has told us lay hold
on eternal life. Verse 12, he says, fight the
good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. The writer to
the Hebrews, chapter six, verse 18, said that by two immutable
things in which it's impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold. lay hold on the hope that is
set before us. And here we're told lay hold
on eternal life. Believers lay hold upon the hope
that's set before us. And the hope that's set before
us is a hope of grace. It's a hope of salvation by grace
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul says lay hold on eternal
life. The life that he's talking about
is spiritual, eternal life. Lay hold upon it. But this life
is a life that must be given to us. We don't have spiritual
life by nature. That's the life, spiritual life.
That's the life that Adam lost in the garden. When Adam sinned,
Adam and Eve both instantly died spiritually. And everybody who
ever came from Adam's loins was born dead, spiritually dead without
life, just like Adam. Our Lord said in John 17 that
spiritual life, life eternal, is knowing the true God and Jesus
Christ whom God has sent. Well, by nature, we don't know
God. And with our natural minds, we can't know God. We can't figure
God out. Spiritual life is something that
can't be produced by us. Spiritual life is only found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 5 verse 11, John said,
and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life.
and this life is in his son. Eternal life is all in Christ.
And spiritual life is the gift of God. We can't have it. We
cannot have spiritual life unless God sees fit to give it to us.
It's his gift. Paul said in Romans 6, verse
23, the wages of sin is death. If you want what you can earn,
you got what's coming to you, it's death. The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God, is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Spiritual life is given in the
new birth, when there's a new man born. Spiritual life is not
giving life to the flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It'll only ever be dead, sinful flesh. Spiritual
life is given in the new birth, when there's a new man born.
And that new man has spiritual life. He does have faith in Christ.
In John 1, verse 12, we read, but as many as received him,
To them gave he power, the right, the privilege, the ability to
become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born. They're born again. They're born
not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man,
but they're born of God, of the power and will of God. Try as
we might, we cannot make ourselves be born again. I don't know why
people think that we could make ourselves be born again spiritually,
Spiritual life is so much higher than physical life, isn't it?
We can't give ourselves physical life. How do we expect we can
give ourselves spiritual life? The only way we can have it is
God the Holy Spirit gives it and causes us to be born again.
Spiritual life comes by faith in Christ, by believing Him.
But we don't have faith by nature, do we? Faith, just like everything
else, is a gift of God. In John 5 verse 24, our Lord
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word
and believeth, believeth on him that sent me, he's the one that
has everlasting life. He has life and he shall not
come into condemnation. He's passed from death unto life. The evidence he's passed from
death unto life is he believes God. He believes the Lord Jesus
Christ. So you and I can only have eternal
life if God gives it to us. The scriptures make that plain,
don't they? We can only have life if God gives it to us. Salvation
is of the Lord. When we say salvation is of the
Lord, this is what we mean. Salvation is all the Lord's doing. It's of the Lord's planning,
it's of the Lord's execution, and he's the one that finishes
it. And you and I are completely and utterly dependent upon God
to do all of the saving and to give us eternal life. That's
true. Then how can we lay hold on eternal
life? Well, I believe I have six ways
from the word of God that will show us how it is that we can
lay hold on eternal life. Look back at Genesis chapter
32. Here's the first one. We lay
hold on eternal life when we seek Christ and we refuse to
let him go. Genesis chapter 32, verse 24. And Jacob was left alone and
there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint
as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go for the
day breaketh And he said, Jacob said, I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what is
thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said,
thy name shall be called no more Jacob, Cheet, supplanter, but
Israel. For as a prince, thou hast power
with God and with men and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him
and said, tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, wherefore
is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of
the place Peniel. For I have seen God face to face
and my life is preserved. Now Jacob prevailed with God.
He wrestled with, he laid hold. This man here, you know, is a
pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ and Jacob laid
hold and would not let go. Now, You and I can't physically
lay hold upon the body of our Lord Jesus, but we can do something
better. We can be where Christ is. The
Savior said he would be with his people when they meet together
to worship him. They don't even have to be a
big crowd, just two or three, where people are gathered together
to worship him, where God's name is being preached. The Savior
said, I'm going to be in the midst of it. Now you and I cannot
save ourselves. But I'll tell you what we can
do. We can be where Christ is. We can be here to hear Him preached. That is laying hold on eternal
life. It's seeking Christ where He
is. It's seeking Christ where He is to be found and absolutely
refusing to leave. Absolutely refusing. Refusing
to quit seeking Him. We can, we can refuse. Now we can't save ourselves,
but we can just refuse to leave the place where the gospel is
preached and go somewhere else. We can refuse to just, I mean,
just refuse to quit and go fishing. I can't insist I'm going to stay
right here under the sound of the gospel. I know full well,
Lord doesn't have to save me. I know that. But I tell you what,
He's not going to save me somewhere else. He's not going to save
me somewhere where the gospel's not preached. So I can't do anything
to get God to save me. But I can make sure I'm under
the sound of the gospel. Because that's how the Lord reveals
Himself. Eternal life is knowing God.
Jesus Christ whom I have sent. Well, how can you know Him without
a preacher? How can you know unless God sends you a preacher?
Well, if God sends you one, make it your business to hear Him.
Because God's going to save you. He's going to reveal Christ to
your heart. That's how he's going to do it, through the preaching
of the gospel. And I can just determine I'm
going to be there. I mean, I remember a time. I know I didn't know
God. I know I didn't believe Christ. I know I didn't trust
him. But I knew somebody was preaching to him. And I just
determined I'm going to be there, whatever it costs. The Lord has
given me this place at this time and this opportunity to hear
the gospel preached. Well, I lay hold on eternal life
when I refuse to let this opportunity pass me by, this opportunity
to hear Christ preach. And again, I can't stress this
strongly enough. I cannot save myself. I can't do something
to get God to save me, to obligate God to save me. But I can avail
myself to the means of salvation, the means by which God makes
himself known, the preaching of the gospel. And when I just
utterly refuse to go somewhere else and I insist I'm going to
be there to hear the gospel preached, that's laying hold on eternal
life. All right, now look at Matthew chapter eight. It's going to go through some
scriptures here and look at some examples of these people who
laid hold on eternal life, who laid hold on Christ. Here's the
second thing. We lay hold on eternal life when
we bow and we worship the Lord. Matthew eight verse one. When
he has come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him
and behold, there came a leper. and worshiped him, saying, Lord,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth
his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. Now this leper came and worshiped
the Lord. I told you we lay hold on eternal
life when we worship. Let me give you three quick notes
on true worship. First, worship. is taking my
proper place before God. It's my proper place. An honest
recognition of who I am is I am completely helpless. I'm a sinner. I'm undone. I'm
without hope, without help, without God in this world. I'm just,
I'm completely helpless. I'm completely dependent on God.
That's worship. And you can't worship without
humility. And you know, humility is not
this, you know, Humility is a right view and a right estimation of
myself. And if God ever gives me a right
estimation of myself, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going
to bow. I'm going to bow before Christ. I know I can't earn anything
from God but wrath. I can't do anything to get God
to save me. But I worship him. I worship God. when I just bow
before him, admitting he's the only one who can do anything
for me. And I worship him, not because he has done anything
for me, just because who he is. I bow before him. It's just right
that it's humility. It's, it's the proper recognition
of who God is and who I am. And if God shows me that God
gives me humility, I'll bow. I'll bow before him. That's worship.
Second worship is admitting God's crown rights. that do with me
as he pleases. And whatever he does is right.
It's right. True worship says, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. Now, there's no doubt about the
Lord's ability to save. Salvation is never a question
of God's power. Salvation is a question of God's
willingness to show mercy to me. Will he show mercy to me?
Salvation is not a question of my willingness to accept Jesus.
That's not the question. The question is, is God willing
to accept me in Christ? That's the question. Lord, if
you will, you can save me. And third, here's true worship.
It's worshiping God for who he is. Not because of what he's
done for us. Now, I'm thankful. Oh, I'm so
thankful for God's mercies and grace to us. But worship. is not just because of what God's
done for us. This leper worshiped the Lord.
He is still a leper. Lord hadn't healed him yet. He
wasn't worshiping God for what he would do for him, what he
had done for him. He was worshiping God for who
he is. Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. You can make
me whole. That's worship. And laying hold on eternal life
is bowing in worship to God and waiting on him. Waiting on him
to show mercy and not getting tired of it and going off somewhere
else. Not saying, well, he didn't show
me mercy, so I'm going somewhere else. Laying hold on eternal
life is knowing this, that Christ is my only hope of salvation. This leper knew this. The only
hope he had of being healed is this man, Jesus the master. Buddy,
he wasn't going anywhere else. He wasn't going anywhere else.
And I determined this by God's grace a long time ago. If I'm
going to perish, I'm going to perish at the feet of the Savior
who can save my soul. That's laying hold on eternal
life. I can't save myself, I know that, but I can wait at the feet
of the one who can and see if he will, ask him if he will.
All right, now look at Matthew chapter 15. Here's the third
thing. Laying hold on eternal life is begging. It's begging
the Lord to save me. We're so full of pride, we got
a problem with this one, begging. Matthew 15, verse 21. If you
want to know what a beggar is, here's one. Then Jesus went thence
and departed in the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a
woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him,
saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter's
grievously vexed with the devil, but he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him saying, send her away for
she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I'm
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She met
the doctrine of election head on, didn't she? Then came she
and worshiped him. Saying, Lord, help me, help me. And he answered and said, it's
not me. It's not right to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. She said, truth Lord, yet the
dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Now,
there were some very offensive things happened to this woman. In 2021, we'd say this is not
politically correct. We would just all the things we'd say
and write about somebody, treat somebody like this woman was
treated. But you know what? After all those things were said
to her, she never left. You know why? You cannot offend
a sinner by calling them a sinner. Now you can offend a self-righteous
person by calling them a sinner, but you can't offend a sinner
by calling them a sinner. You can't offend a needy beggar by
calling them a needy beggar. You can't offend a hungry beggar
by telling them you're hungry. You know, counselors today would
take this woman, they'd try to treat her for low self-esteem.
And her daughter would still be sick. Think what happened
to her. The disciples of the Lord of
glory came and told the Lord, would you send her away? God help us. God help us. They asked the Lord to send this
poor woman away. She didn't go off enough. She
came and begged the Lord, and the Lord didn't answer her a
word. He didn't even say no. He just didn't even answer her
a word. She didn't get offended and go off enough. Just like
that leper, she bowed. She bowed and worshipped and
said, Lord, help me. Now that's worship. She worshipped
the Lord, and then the Lord called her a dog. She didn't go off on a huff.
She stayed right there at the master's feet. And she said,
Lord, you're right, I'm a dog. But would you make me your dog?
Just give me some crumbs from your table. Just give me some
crumbs from your banqueting house of grace. Buddy, today, well,
I don't know if they don't have women's libs cards today. Back
in the 70s, I remember there were women's libs cards. She
had lost her woman's lib card, wouldn't she? I mean, boy, oh
boy, right then and there. Counselors today would want to
improve this poor woman's self-esteem. But you know what? There's nothing
wrong with her self-esteem. Her estimation of herself is
right. Wasn't it? That's humility. She needed the
Lord. She is a dog. She is needy. And
the Lord helped her. The Lord helped her. The Lord
healed her daughter. He called that insistence. I'm
just, I'm not leaving. I'm going to keep begging and
keep begging and keep begging and you can't offend me and run
me off. The Lord called that great faith. Great faith. Well, that's laying hold on eternal
life. It's staying at the feet of Christ and begging for mercy
and just not leaving. No matter what. It's just, it's
to keep begging God for mercy as long as it takes. As long
as it takes. I don't care how dark, dark,
dark, dark, dark night. You just keep begging. I don't
care how long the night you just keep begging, keep begging, keep
because that shows your dependence on the Lord. Just keep begging. That's laying hold on eternal
life. See, a true sinner is not going to get offended and leave
because of the gospel. When the gospel offends the flesh
and the gospel offends the flesh every time it's preached, the
gospel offends our pride by telling us you're nothing. You're just
nothing. You're worthless. You're nothing.
You deserve for God to send you to hell. That offends our pride,
doesn't it? The gospel offends our self-reliance. I can do this
myself. The gospel says, no, you can't.
The gospel offends our righteousnesses. So those best religious things
that we do, the gospel tells us, don't you bring them to God?
No, Christ is your righteousness. The gospel offends our wisdom. Boy, we're educated. We're, you
know, there was, there was a time not so awful long ago, people
didn't get much past an eighth grade education. Everybody here
is so educated. You just, I mean, educated like
nobody in the history of the world. I don't care how educated
you are, how smart you are, how many degrees you have after your
name. This flesh, the wisdom of this
flesh, cannot figure out God. It cannot figure out how it is
that God saves sinners. And the gospel offends the flesh
that way. But a true sinner, when the flesh
is offended, will stay right there at the feet of Christ,
begging and saying, truth, I am worthless. I do know nothing.
I am worthless. Would you save me? I do know
nothing. Lord, would you give me the wisdom
of Christ? You're right, I'm helpless. I
can't do anything for myself. Lord, would you do it all for
me? Lord, you're right, I had no righteousness. Would you be
my righteousness? That's laying hold on eternal life. It's just
refusing to quit begging God for mercy. All right, here's
the fourth thing. Look at Mark chapter five. Laying hold on eternal life is
to reach out to Christ in faith. Mark, excuse me, Mark chapter
five, verse 25. And a certain woman, which had
an issue of blood 12 years, and had suffered many things of many
physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse when she had heard of Jesus,
came in the press behind and touched his garment. For she
said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. In
a straight way, the fountain of her blood was dried up, and
she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And
Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone
out of him, turned him about in the press and said, who touched
my clothes? And his disciples said unto him,
thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou who touched
me? Everybody's trying to touch you.
And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her,
came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. And
he said unto her, Daughter, this is the only time the master called
someone daughter. Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.
Go in peace and be whole of thy plague. Now this poor woman had
been sick a long time, and she came up to the Lord behind him,
crawling up behind him to his feet to touch the hem of his
garment. See, it was her misery that brought
her to the Lord. She was so miserable. I just
can't imagine how miserable this woman was, and she had to have
help. Her failure brought her to the
Lord. She had proven she could not
make herself better. She had proven the doctors of
the day could not do anything for her. It was her failure that
brought her to the Lord. It was her sickness that brought
her to the Lord. She's gonna die unless the Lord
heals her. He's the only one who can. I
tell you all the time, I'm gonna tell you again, you come to Christ. Right where you sit, you come
to Christ. I tell you that all the time
and I know when you'll come. I know when you'll come. I tell
you that I'm not begging you to do something. I know when
you'll come to Christ. When the Lord makes you a miserable
failure because of your sin, because of your sin sickness,
you can be the most successful person in the world and be a
miserable failure because of your sin. Your sin sickness is
killing you. Your sin sickness has separated
you from God and sending you to hell. When God shows you that,
you'll come. You'll come to Christ. This woman
came to Christ because of her misery, because of her failure,
because of her sickness. But it was also God-given faith
that brought this woman to Christ. She had no question about it.
If she touched him in his garment, she'd be made whole. She knew
that. And she came and she touched him. And just like the disciples
said, there were people just thronging our Lord. Many people
were touching Him. I mean, they were just touching
Him constantly. They were just pressing up against His body. But one
person touched Him. I mean, touched Him. Reached
out and touched Him by faith. And when she did, she was instantly
healed. Instantly made whole. See, she
believed that Christ was all she needed. She didn't come to
Christ to touch Him, and bring Dr. Healing, or Dr. Morality, or Dr. Works, or Dr. whatever else you want to add
to it, she knew Christ alone was what she needed. And she
touched it. She did whatever it took to touch
it. That saving faith, this believing, He's all I need. It's just crawling
up to Him in the dust. And you know when you'll be willing
to do that? When you believe Him. When you believe He's all
you need. It was faith that made her know
healing was just in a touch. Just like when Moses lifted up
that brazen serpent in the wilderness, he said, look and live. We preach
Christ crucified. We lift him up in our preaching
and say, look and live. Salvation's in a look. It's a
look of faith. Looking to him, believing. That is laying hold on eternal
life. It's just believing he's all
I need. Now look to him. Depend upon him. Laying hold
on the Lord Jesus Christ is our duty. Anything I can do to lay
hold on him, even if it means called up behind him in the dust
at laying hold on eternal life. Now look at Mark chapter 10.
Here's the fifth thing. Laying hold on eternal life is
to refuse to quit begging the Lord to save me. Mark chapter
10 verse 46. And they came to Jericho. And
as he went out of Jericho, it's so interesting, he just came
and passed through. Didn't stop for anybody in Jericho. Came to Jericho, and as he went
out with his disciples, a great number of people, with a great
number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, Have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. But he cried the more a great
deal. Thou son of David, have mercy
on me. And Jesus stood still, the Lord
of glory. God Almighty stood still at the
cry of a beggar and commanded him to be called. And they called
the blind man, saying unto him, Oh, be of good cheer, be of good
comfort. Rise, he calleth thee. And he
casting away his garment rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, what will thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him,
go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the
way. Now blind Bartimaeus, I don't
know much about his life, don't know anything about his life
really. But somewhere, somehow, at some time, he'd heard something
about Jesus of Nazareth. And this is what he determined
in his heart. He heard this. And somehow he
knew this. I mean, I know how the spirit
revealed it to him. But he knew that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Messiah. You know how I know he knew that?
He called him the Son of David. Scripture's playing the Son of
David's the Messiah. The Savior's the Son of David.
He knew this man was the Messiah. And Bartimaeus had heard that
the Lord Jesus healed diseases that nobody else could ever heal.
And this is just what he determined. He determined if he's ever near
me, I'm going to ask him to heal me. If he's ever near me, I'm
going to beg him. He's my only hope. And he heard
that the Lord was passing by. There he sat by the highway side.
He's got this old Somebody, one day, they went to the store and
they bought him a nice robe or garment, whatever, you know,
and they wore it a while. It got dirty, kind of threadbare,
and they threw it away. They just took it to the city
dump. Somebody gave that to Bartimaeus. That's what he had clutched around
him. Just, oh, he hadn't taken a bath in so long. His hair,
his beard, oh, just can you imagine how dirty and smelly and just
how awful he looked. There he sat, and he heard the
Lord was passing by. But he started crying. Nobody
had to teach Bartimaeus how to beg the Lord, did they? He didn't
have to read a book. He didn't have somebody read
him a book, tell him, you do this, and you do this, and you do this.
Nobody had to tell him that. He knew how to cry. He cried,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Oh, help me. And
the Lord of glory stood still at the cry of that poor beggar.
People tried to shush him, didn't they? He wouldn't be shushed.
No, he wouldn't be quiet. They didn't want him to mess
up their parade. You know, this dignitary come to town. We're
having us a parade. We're trying to have some urban
renewal here. Make Jericho look good. You're casting us in a
bad light, you know. He wouldn't be shushed. See,
a needy beggar, I said this before, is just not ashamed to beg for
food. They're not ashamed to beg for
help. A blind beggar is not ashamed to beg that somebody give him
sight. And you know our biggest problem that stops us from coming
to Christ? It's pride. It's pride. We're just, if we
haven't come to Christ, I can tell you exactly why. We're not
needed yet. That's why. We're too proud to
admit we're nothing. We're too proud to admit we can't
do anything to save ourselves. We're too proud to admit there's
just not something good enough about me. proud to make ourselves
the dependent one. We all want to help somebody
else, but we don't want to be the dependent one. We're too
proud to admit that we're guilty. We're too proud to admit, I deserve
for God to send me to hell. That's exactly what I deserve.
We're too proud to admit that. My mom has been telling me I'm
a good boy all my life, and I believe it. I'm too proud to admit otherwise.
But when the Lord reveals our sinful, blind condition, that
we're going to go to hell and there's not one blessed thing
we can do about it, then we'll beg for mercy. We're not gonna
be too proud to beg and we won't quit begging until the Lord is
merciful. And if you think that you've
begged God for mercy and he hasn't been merciful, I don't know why,
but it could be this. It could be you're not really
begging, but you're bargaining with God. You're kind of testing.
Well, you know, if God would be merciful to me, then I'll
believe him. You might just be trying to make
a deal instead of begging for mercy, begging for forgiveness.
And if you are begging God for mercy, if you're truly begging
him for forgiveness, keep begging, keep calling, make a spectacle
of yourself. Just keep calling to God. The Lord's going to answer
sooner or later, just like you did blind Bartimaeus. That's
laying hold on eternal life. It's just refusing to quit. All
right, now look back at our text. First Timothy chapter six. Here's
the last thing laying hold on eternal life is to live depending
upon and serving the Savior. Now you notice here that Paul
is telling Timothy. Timothy is a believer. Timothy
is someone who has eternal life and Paul tells him to lay hold
on it. A believer who already has eternal
life, they lay hold on eternal life by continuing just how they
started, by depending on Christ. A believer who already has eternal
life lays hold on eternal life. They lay hold on it with both
hands by pressing, pressing to know more of Christ, pressing
to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. We lay hold on eternal
life by committing ourselves to Christ. That's why the apostle
Paul, he already had eternal life. He said, I'm seeking to
win Christ and be found in him. I'm seeking to have the righteousness
of Christ, which is by faith, not my righteousness by me trying
to keep the law. Paul, who wrote the lion's share
of the epistles in the Bible, said, I'm seeking to know Christ.
I want to know him. He said, I want to know him better.
I want to trust him more fully. Paul said, God save me. He's been merciful to me. He's
given me eternal life. He said, but brother, I haven't arrived.
I'm pressing for the mark of the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. I'm pressing towards it. That's
laying hold on eternal life. And Paul gives us a clue here
about what that looks like in our everyday life. Look at 1
Timothy 6 verse 17. Charge them that are rich in
this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy. Now if the Lord's made you rich
in this world, don't be high-minded. Don't be full of pride. There
is nothing more unbecoming to a believer than pride. Now, we
all know that. I mean, we don't have anything
God didn't give us. Whatever it is that we are, we are by
God's grace. There's nothing more unbecoming to a believer
than pride. There's nothing more disgusting
of a creature of the dust being proud before God. We're just
dust. Don't be full of pride. And this
is speaking to every last one of us here. You know, all of
us are rich. We're rich. We are. We have cars
to ride in that have air conditioning. I mean, just almost every single
time I get in the car and turn on the air conditioning, I tell
Jane, I love air conditioning. I mean, I just love it. That's
rich now. We have houses that have central
air and central heat. If you're just a little warm,
you just go push a button. Before long, you'll cool down.
If you're a little too cold, push a button. You'll warm right
up. That's all you got to do. How rich are we? We have indoor
plumbing. We have the library at our fingertips
on this thing that sits on our desk. We don't have to go to
the library anymore. We're so rich. Solomon, in all
of his splendor, would have told us we're We're rich. He would
give just almost anything to have what we have. We're so rich.
Now don't be proud. Don't be proud and think the
Lord made you rich and blessed you this way because you did
something right. No, don't think that. Don't be proud and think, oh,
Lord blessed me. I'm the most religious, most
doctrinal, straight person in the room. I know more than everybody
else in the room. I can tell everybody else what's what, how
to do what and how not to do what else you know. And that's
why the Lord has blessed me. Don't be arrogant. Don't be arrogant
and think that you've earned anything that you have. Anything
you have, whether it's financial, whether it's material, your health,
your knowledge, faith, The fact that you have a place to come
here, the gospel priest, everything you have, God gave you as a free
gift of his grace and live in that way. And that kind of thanksgiving
and humility, despite how much God's blessed you, that's laying
hold on eternal life. This arrogance and pride and
just looking down our nose at everybody and being so harsh,
judgmental with everybody. Like, you know, there's nothing
wrong with looking at something and saying that's wrong. And
I don't want to do that. I mean, sin is sin. There's nothing
wrong calling sin, sin. The problem is being judgmental
and saying, I wouldn't do that, so I'm better than them. That's
not laying hold on eternal life, that's just being arrogant. Laying
hold on eternal life is living in dependence upon God. Knowing
everything and thanksgiving, knowing everything you have,
he's given you and he'd take away in a heartbeat. And if he
did, he'd be right. That's laying hold on eternal life. Read on
verse 18. Charge them this Timothy, that
they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute,
willing to communicate. A laying hold on eternal life
is doing good works. And I tell you this all the time,
talking about a good work, that's not two four letter words put
together. Believers are commanded to do good works. And the word
Paul uses actually, it means here being kind, being kind,
and being giving to others, especially to other believers. A good work
is a work done on the body of Christ, on his people, for his
people. Laying hold on eternal life is
not being selfish with what the Lord's given me and storing it
up that I might use it later. Laying hold on eternal life is
being generous with what the Lord gave me. The Lord gave it
to me freely. Shouldn't I give it to you freely
if you need it? Should I give it freely to you to help you?
The Lord gave it to me freely. The Lord has blessed. He has
blessed this congregation freely. His mercy, his grace. Shouldn't we give to support
the gospel freely that others might know him? Eric prayed for
our community. Shouldn't we give freely? The Lord gave it to us
freely. God, Paul says, gave these things
to his people to enjoy. Now the things that God's given
you, enjoy it. Most of us are going to go home
today and eat a good Sunday dinner. Enjoy it. Be thankful for it.
But don't forget this. Enjoy sharing. Enjoy giving generously. Enjoy that. Enjoy giving freely
after God has given freely to us. That's a good work. And that's
laying hold on eternal. It's living our life like God's
done something for me. Verse 19, laying up in store
for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that
they may lay hold on eternal life. Now, this isn't saying
that we can lay the foundation of salvation or, you know, somehow
all of our good works are laying the foundation for some sort
of reward in heaven. Now, scripture is playing on
that, isn't it? The father laid the foundation. The foundation
is Christ. the precious cornerstone that
gives God's elect a refuge that cannot be shaken. So what's Paul
saying here? Well, it's like I said a minute
ago, he's saying, live like God's done something for you. Be thankful,
be thankful for everything that God has given you. Those things
are a blessing. Be thankful for them. But don't trust in them. But don't trust in them now.
Be thankful for them. God's given those things to you
to enjoy. There's nothing wrong with that. God's given you these
things to enjoy sharing and giving. It really is better to give than
to receive. Enjoy that. Be thankful for those
things, but be ready to let them go so that you can lay hold on
Christ. Laying hold on eternal life is
laying hold on Christ with both hands. with both hands. He's
your only hope. Laying hold on Christ is laying
hold on Him with both hands so that you are committed to Him. You're committed to serving Him.
You're committed to following Him. You're committed to believing
Him and you will not go anywhere else. You won't cling to anything
else but Him. It's hang on to Him with both
hands. I tried to figure a way to say
this I couldn't figure a way to say it that made sure I was
clear, so I'm going to illustrate it. You can't lay hold on two
things at once if you have to hang on to it with both hands.
Now, I've been up here talking, and I always like a drink of
water while I'm preaching afterwards, but I like my water, I drink
water. But I love the Word of God. I love to read it. I love
to hear it read. I love to hear it preached. I love to think about it. I love
God to reveal Christ. Now, I'm going to pick up one
of those two things and hang on to it with both hands. I can't
pick up both of them. I can't hang on to both of them
at the same time with both. I pray to God, He made me to
lay hold on Him with both hands. Be thankful for everything else,
but be ready to let it go and hang on to Him with both hands. I hope that makes sense. I hope
that makes sense. And I hope God bless that too.
All right, Jonathan, you can leave us in closing. Let's stand and turn to page
287. 287, Like a River Glorious. Like a river glorious is God's
perfect peace, over all victorious in its bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth bolder
every day, Perfect yet it groweth, Keeper all the way. Stayed upon Jehovah, Hearts are
fully blessed, Finding as He promised, Perfect peace and rest. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed
hand, Never foe can follow, never traitor stand. Not a surge of worry, not a shade
of care, God, a blast of hurry, touch the Spirit there. State upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed, binding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Every joy or trial, knowledge
from above, traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for
us to They who trust Him wholly find
Him wholly true. hearts are fully blessed finding
as he promised perfect peace and rest