2nd Timothy, we have one of these instances,
there are a few in our King James Version, where the chapter break
was made in a very unfortunate place, and you have an example
of that here. Really, chapter 4 begins at verse
16 of chapter 3, because in verse 1 of chapter 4, Paul says, I
charge thee therefore, And what's he referring to is what he had
written to Timothy in verse 16 of chapter 3. The therefore refers
to what's written there. It speaks of the use of God's
word, what God himself makes of his word, that is, the scriptures.
And Paul says, since this is the case, therefore, Timothy,
do it. Since this is the proper use
of God's Word, use it in that way. So let's begin our reading
at verse 16 of chapter 3. All Scripture, not some Scripture,
not part of the Scripture, all Scripture, is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works. I charge thee, therefore,
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick
and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
shall not endure sound doctrine. But after their long lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. But watch thou in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. Paul speaks of his
death as a departure, an exodus out of this world, just moving
from one place to another. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5,
we know that if our earthly house, this tabernacle, this body, this
flesh were dissolved, we have one made without hands, eternal
in the heavens. Joe and Abby, moved into their
new house last weekend out of that apartment. You didn't mind
that, did you? You don't miss that apartment,
do you? And Paul said, the time of my departure's at hand. I'm ready to move. I'm ready
to go home to be with the Lord. And it doesn't sound like he
minds it at all, does it? He's looking forward to it. Verse
7, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I
have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing. Do thy diligence
to come shortly unto me, for demons have forsaken me. was all that we read concerning
Demas. We would have hope for him because
forsaking Paul didn't mean that he necessarily forsook Christ,
but all these next words, they're alarming, aren't they? Why did
Demas forsake Paul, having loved this present world? To me, That
pretty well proves that Demas' profession was only that. Because
John writes, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. He forsook Paul, having loved
this present world, and has departed into Thessalonica, Gratias to
Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark. Mark, you remember, departed
from him in Barnabas, and they split over it, but Mark came
back, not like Demas. Mark, and bring him with thee,
for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Anticheus have
I sent to Ephesus. The cloak that I left at Troas
with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee. Winter's coming
on. It's cold in this dungeon. Bring
that cloak and the books, but especially the parchments. Those
parchments were probably scrolls of the Old Testament. Even to
his last hours, Paul was studying the Word, studying about Christ. Alexander the coppersmith did
me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works, of whom be thou were also, for he had greatly
withstood our words. At my first answer, my first
defense, my first trial before Nero, no man stood with me, but
all men pursued me. I pray God that it might not
be laid to their charge, notwithstanding Paul says, I wasn't alone. Notwithstanding,
the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might
be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was
delivered out of the mouth of the lion at my first hearing,
at my first answer. But now Paul is sure when he
appears before Nero the second time, that'll be it. That'll be it. And I think he
refers to this in verse 18. And the Lord shall deliver me
from every evil work, even by the hand of Nero, I'll be brought
in to the presence of my Redeemer. And the Lord shall deliver me
from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly
kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The faithful An old soldier writes
this epistle to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy. And he
urges the young preacher, the pastor of the church at Ephesus,
he urges him to the faithful discharge of his ministry. Timothy,
be faithful. Be faithful. He does this in
two ways. First, by his own example, that
is, by Paul's own example. He says, Timothy, fight the good
fight like I have. Verses 6 and 7 again. He says,
I finished my course. I finished my course. Meaning
his life was soon to end and of course his ministry would
end with it. When life is over, the preaching
of the gospel by this faithful apostle would be over too, but
not before. Not before. Paul would not lay
down the gospel of God's grace until he laid down his life.
He wouldn't cease preaching that glorious gospel that was committed
to his trust until his race was over. And he exhorts Timothy
to do the same thing. His race is nearly run. It's almost over. Turn, if you
will, back to Acts chapter 9. Let's look at just a few verses
of scripture. Acts chapter 9, we have the record
of when Paul began to run this race. It was in this chapter
we're told that on the Damascus road, that this proud rebel,
on his way to arrest God's people, this self-righteous Pharisee
that considered Jesus Christ, Jesus, to be an imposter. He didn't consider Jesus to be
the Christ, and he hated him. but he met him. He met Jesus
on that road and found out that he is the Christ, that he is
king of kings before whom he bowed and found that he was indeed
all that he claimed to be, the mighty God. And he's converted
there on the Damascus road, but look at verse 15 in Acts 9. These
are the words of Ananias, whom God sends to Paul. But the Lord
said unto him, to Ananias, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel
unto me, that is Paul. He's a chosen vessel unto me
to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel,
for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my
name's sake. And my, how he suffered. from
day one until that time we just read of it, 2 Timothy 4. We'll look down at verse 20 of
Acts 9. This is speaking of the apostle,
and straightway after he was baptized, received his sight,
straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is
the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed
and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which call on
this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that
he might bring them bound unto the chief priest? but Saul increased
the Moor in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is very Christ, that is, that Jesus was indeed
the Christ. Turn to another place here in
Acts chapter 20. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. When he arrives there, he's arrested
almost immediately. But en route to Jerusalem, he
calls for the elders of the church at Ephesus, and they meet him
at Miletus. And look what Paul says to them
at verse 17 of Acts 20. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus
and called the elders of the church. And when they were come
to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that
I came into Asia, After what manner I have been with you at
all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and
with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying
in wait of the Jews. and how I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught
you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the
Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." There was no red carpet
rolled out for Paul. Verse 24, "'But none of these
things move me, but none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course, that I might finish my course with joy, and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify
the gospel of the grace of God." And in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy,
we read Paul said, I finished my course. My race is over. It's been ran. Timothy, the finish
line is in sight. I'm ready to cross it. And I see among that great cloud
of witnesses, we read of in Hebrews 12 and 1, that we're compassed
with Paul says, let us run the race that's set before us, looking
unto Jesus. And Paul says, Timothy, I'm so
close now. My race is over now. And I see him who loved me and
gave himself for me. And I'm ready to depart and go
to be with him. Paul would soon after this experience
what you and I yet here only sing about. Farewell mortality,
Jesus is mine. Welcome eternity, Jesus is mine. Welcome, O loved and blessed.
Welcome, sweet scenes of rest. Welcome, my Savior's breast. Jesus is mine. Paul's experienced that right now. Yes, by his own example,
Paul tells Timothy, you finish your course too. God's committed
this same gospel into your hands too. So Timothy, Do as I have
done by the grace of God. Run the race. Endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Finish your course too, Timothy. And these words are just not
to pastors and preachers, it's to all believers, all believers. Every child of God has this precious
treasure committed into his hands, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Several times, more times than
I can remember, to be honest with you, while I was preparing
this message, and especially when I read over and over again
Paul's words in verses 6 and 7, and imagining the circumstances
that he was in at the time in the dungeon cell, cold and lonely, I laid down my pen, quit making
notes for this message, and raised my heart to God. Make
me faithful. Make me faithful like this man. Make me faithful
to your gospel. Make me more committed than what
I've been. Forgive me for not being more
faithful to that glorious gospel that you've entrusted into my
hands. But Paul gives another reason to Timothy, one that has
even more weight for the charge that he gives in verse 1. Look
at verse 1. I charge thee therefore before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. First, Paul encourages him by
his example, or rather we considered that first, but now he gives
an even weightier reason. Paul seemed to take young Timothy
by the hand, and then this solemn charge gives him, or rather given
to him, as though he were standing right in the presence of God
Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ. I charge you, Timothy, not in
the light of some ecclesiastical hierarchy, but I charge you before
God Almighty, before the Lord Jesus Christ, as though they
were looking on when Paul wrote this charge to Timothy. And they
were. My soul. That's serious, isn't
it? That's serious. By these words,
he seems to take Timothy into God's presence and tells him,
behold, Timothy, God himself and the Lord Jesus Christ himself
are witnesses to this charge that I'm giving you to preach
the gospel. No wonder Paul in another place
said, woe unto me if I preach not. and I hope you know that's
not what he said. A lot of people claim to preach,
but Paul said, "'Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel.'"
The gospel. Verse 2, preach the Word. Preach the Word, Timothy. The
title of my message is, Let's Stay the Course. Let's stay the
course, Louie. The first message that I'm preaching
to you in 2014, this new year, but that's a minor distinction,
isn't it? That's rather a minor distinction
in comparison to what the message is. The subject, the Word of
God, is about God the Word. The glorious gospel that concerns
his son is much more important than what particular time it
is preached. Paul said, Timothy, in season,
out of season. In other words, all the time. All the time. I heard Brother
Henry refer to this one time. Somewhere he was preaching and
I was present. I don't remember where it was
at. It doesn't matter. But he said, in season, out of season.
When they like it, when they don't. When they rejoice in it,
when they don't. Preach the word, Timothy. It's
always in season. My brother, the fisherman, that
comes down and visits me since I've moved down here, I once
heard him say, more than once actually, the best time to fish
is when it's raining and when it's not. Pretty well covers it. Timothy,
Paul says the best time to preach is in season and out of season.
All the time. The gospel is always necessary. The gospel is always essential. The gospel is always relevant. The gospel is always needed. There's no substitute for it.
There's nothing equal to it. There's nothing as important.
Look what he said again in verse 16 of chapter 3. God uses the
Scriptures, his Word, the Gospel for these things. I was driving home Friday before
last from Kentucky, and I was listening to a CD, a message
about my former pastor. Mr. Fortner. And during the playing of the
message, my phone rang, and it was Mr. Fortner. He said, what
are you doing? I said, I'm driving home, listening
to the message you preached. And I mentioned the text. He
said, oh, I preached that a few weeks ago. I said, no, this is
several years ago. It was the same text, but a different
message in time. But it didn't matter. It was
current. It was relevant. God's gospel
is always in season. Always. It's timeless, isn't
it? It's timeless. Like the Lord Jesus Christ himself
who changes not, his message changes not. And our need of
it changes not. But our time, our time here,
will change. Our time here is not endless. The time we have to declare his
word, to spread his glorious gospel that's been committed
into our trust, it won't be long, will it? I was reading a message of Spurgeon's
the other day in which he made the statement, the time that
I have to labor among you won't be long. It won't be long. And he began to pastor that church
when he was 19 and God called him home at age 58, I think it
was. My soul, I was 60 when I came
here, so my time will be extremely, shorter than his. But the truth
is still the same, isn't it? Our time to labor together in
this place for the glory of God, the proclamation of his glorious
gospel, it's going to be brief, Lord. It's going to be short. It's not going to be for very
long, is it? Mr. Spurgeon's words, I take
to be my own. My time to labor among you won't
be very long. This opportunity that God's given
us is going to be brief at the very best. And remember, these
are Paul's last recorded words. Now that's significant, isn't
it? That's something to think about
in itself. His last recorded words. If you
knew today, if you knew today, that this was the last day you
had. And it may be. But if you knew
that the day before the sun went down, before tomorrow dawns,
that you would be gone, you would be ushered into the presence
of God Almighty, how would you spend it? What would you say to your loved
ones? What farewell would you make? These are Paul's last words,
his last will and testament. It's very possible, likely, that
by the time this letter reached Timothy, Paul was already gone.
He was already in glory. Think about that. Paul knew he
had no time to waste. And he deals with that which
was most important for Timothy to hear, that which is most important
in the apostle's heart himself. That charging is this. Preach
the Word, Timothy. Preach the Word. Keep preaching
the Word. After you preach the Gospel,
preach the Gospel. After you preach the gospel again
and again and again, preach the gospel again and again and again. This, as I said, young man was
pastor of a church at Ephesus. I recall when I was ordained,
as it were. Shouldn't have been, but that's
another story. Not at that time. But I was given advice about
How to dress. A tie. One doctor of theology. This guy was a doctor of theology. You know what he advised me to
do? Keep some mints in my pocket. Don't want to offend anybody
with bad breath. And, of course, I don't. But that was it. That
was it. Not a word. Of course, they didn't
know the gospel, so that's why they couldn't urge me to preach
it, but they did not a word about that. Paul tells Timothy, not in order
to keep folks interested, keep them entertained, whatever that
takes. Every now and then, every week
or two, I get a letter in the mail at the house directed to
the worship director. the worship director of Fairmont
Grace Church. I'm not sure what that is, but
I don't like the sound of it. I can about imagine. But Paul
doesn't tell Timothy, keep those folks entertained at Ephesus.
Do whatever necessary. Have a traditional service for
the old fogies that can't boogie anymore. But then have a contemporary
service for everybody else with Christian rock music and puppet
shows and dramas and dancing. Whatever it takes. Whatever makes
people feel good, Timothy, do it. Well, my soul, of course
not. Of course not. I've had people tell me about
all that nonsense and that's what it is. It's nonsense. But
I've had people tell me concerning such goings-on, well, it's okay
if it reaches the young people. It does not reach the young people.
Not with that which is their real need. Their real need is
grace. Their real need is God's mercy.
Their real need is to be brought to the place where they realize
they're lost. Until they realize they're lost,
they'll never see God's mercy. It won't happen. And I guarantee
you, plays and dramas and contemporary services will not bring the conviction
in their heart that they're lost before a holy God. It won't happen. It will never happen. The only
thing that can produce that most necessary experience is the preaching
of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Timothy, preach
the word. Just keep preaching the word. This is God's Word, Timothy.
It's as authoritative as when the Word made flesh walked among
us and spoke. He spoke with authority. Peter
said, we're not following fables in his second epistle. He said,
what I'm telling you is not a fairy tale. We were with him in the
Holy Mount. We were eyewitnesses of his glory. But you remember what Peter went
ahead and wrote after that? He said, but we have a more sure
word of testimony than that. What could that be? More sure
word than seeing what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration?
What, Peter? What could be more sure than
that? You know what? That Bible you're holding in
your lap. That's what Peter said. We have the Word of God that
was given to men as they were moved on by the Holy Spirit. I've heard people say, well,
God said it, and I believe it, and that settles it. No, God
said it, and that's what settles it. God said it, and that's what
settles it, whether a man believes it or not. Timothy, preach the
word. Look what he says in verse 3.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. and they'll turn away their ears
from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. The time will come. That time has come, hasn't it? If there's one place that you
dare not preach the gospel of God's sovereign grace, it's in
the average church in America. That's just so. That's sad, but
it's so. Itching ears. Tell us not what
we need to hear, but what we want to hear. And we'll pay you. We'll pay you well if you'll
just tickle our ears. Paul said, Timothy, that's
all the more reason to preach the Word. Because we've entered into that
time, haven't we, brothers and sisters? Paul experienced for
himself the results of what he told Timothy himself to do, that
is, to preach the gospel. Paul saw by experience, Paul
saw firsthand what happens, what God Almighty is pleased to do
when his word is preached. So many examples we could give,
but let's just look at one. Turn, if you will, back to 1
Thessalonians 1. Look what Paul said here. And
this was the result of the preaching of the gospel. Only that can
produce this, what we're about to read of in 1 Thessalonians
1, verse 5. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. And ye know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake. And what happened, Paul? and
ye became followers of us and of the Lord. Having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were examples
to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad,
so that we need not speak anything. Our gospel came unto you, not
in word only, but also in power and much assurance, and you became
followers of us and of the Lord Jesus Christ." My soul! Could anything be more glorious
than that? Could anything? be more necessary
than that, more important than that. You mean the gospel is
the means that God uses that calls sinners out of darkness
into his marvelous light? Indeed. Indeed it is. That's what Paul tells us here.
And Paul saw it firsthand. That's why he says Timothy preached
the Word. God made me pleased. with that
one you invite to hear the gospel, that one you give a CD to, that
one you witness to. God Almighty may be pleased because
it pleased God by preaching to save those that believe. He may
be pleased to do that to that individual that you speak to,
witness to, give a tape to. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't
that be something? Especially if that one was your
son, or your daughter, or your companion, or your loved one,
or your neighbor. Oh, Timothy, preach the Word.
Preach the Gospel. Paul also saw what happens when
God's Word is not given priority. When other things are considered
to be as important as the preaching of the gospel, he saw the sad
consequences of that too. Writing to the church at Galatia,
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of God and to another gospel. Brothers and
sisters in Christ, when tradition is allowed to come in, God's
Word goes out. God's Word goes out. The Lord
Jesus Christ himself said to the scribes and Pharisees, you
reject God's commandment that you might keep your tradition. That sounds familiar, doesn't
it? Doesn't that sound familiar? You reject God's commandment
that you might keep your tradition. I've had people tell me numerous
times concerning the church they attend,
we don't have scripture for this, what we teach, what we believe. It's our tradition. That's sad. I had a fella tell me, because
he believed in what they called the Baptist bride. He kept saying
bride, but to me it kept coming out pride. Baptist pride. That is, they're going to have
the first place in glory and everybody else are second class
citizens. And I looked at him. I was scheduled to preach there.
And I did preach there, but he said, we don't have Scripture
for that, but we believe it. I said, what? You believe something
like that and you don't have Scripture for it? Oh, that's
sad, isn't it? Consider why Paul gave this charge
to young Timothy. Our Lord himself did, did he
not, to each of us? He appeared to his disciples
before he ascended back to glory and sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high and he said to you, Job, and to you,
and to me, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. One translation says, as you're
going through the world, Preach the gospel to every creature.
Use every opportunity God is pleased to give you. Our Lord
told them, go preach the word. Preach the gospel. He that believeth
shall be saved and he that believes not shall be damned. Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. I think you know
this. I think you know this. I hope you do. There's only one reason that
Fairmont Grace Church is here. Only one reason. For this commission of the captain
of our salvation to all of his church, as you're going through
the world, preach the gospel to every creature. God is being
pleased. Isn't it marvelous? Isn't it
marvelous? God's been pleased to keep the doors open here.
Isn't that something? This is the Lord's doing. It's
marvelous in our eyes. We have this treasure, we, of
all people, Lester Buckner, you, me, Larry Crest, we have this
treasure, His gospel, of all people. Paul, in his second The
epistle to the church at Thessalonica said the time will come, just
as he told Timothy, that they won't endure sound doctrine and
because they turn away, God will send them strong delusion. They
don't want to hear it. God won't allow them to hear
it. They refuse to believe. God won't allow them to believe.
But he didn't stop there, did he? He didn't stop there. He said, We're bound to give thanks. Oh,
but, church. But, believers at Fairmont Grace
Church, we're bound to give thanks because God had, from the beginning,
chosen us to salvation. How? Through sanctification of
the Spirit and belief of the truth, the preaching of the gospel. Oh, isn't that glorious? Being
so blessed of God. puts us, me, under obligation
to God, doesn't it? Such grace given brings responsibility. I have a responsibility as your
pastor, the under-shepherd, the overseer. Pray for me. As Paul said, pray for me. This
gospel is a savor of life unto life in those that believe, or
it's a saver of death unto death unto those who refuse. No wonder
Paul said, who's sufficient for these things? And I promise you,
by the grace of God, I promise you, when we gather here, that
I'll preach the glorious gospel I'll preach those things that
concern the Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that I ever stand
here and give you my opinion about things. I remember years ago when I met
that big fella in Danville, that Fortner fella. First time I met
him, called him up. He told me where he lived. He
was in West Virginia then. And he was in a place not maybe
40 miles from me, but it was called Lookout. I think the reason
they called it Lookout because if you didn't look out, you would
drive right through and not even know you'd been there. Wasn't
much there. But I drove up there to visit that fellow because I wanted
to talk to him. And I got there, I think, before
noon. Spent the whole day talking. about the glorious gospel of
the blessed God. Evening rolled around and I was
still there talking with him. And his little wife named Shelby
came in and said, you going to stay for supper? I said, I'd
love to. And after supper, I was still there talking to him. I
thought, Don, isn't this something? Isn't this glorious? It's not
of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
But God had mercy on this sinner. The sun went down. The night
came. And I was still there talking
to him. Couldn't get enough. And when
I left, he loaded me down with cassettes. And then a year later,
he was gone. Went to pastor a church in Danville,
Kentucky. And for a while, I didn't have
any place where I could regularly sit down and hear this glorious
gospel of the blessed God. Oh, how I missed it. To you who
profess faith in Christ and are a part of this assembly, as you
have a right to expect me to preach the gospel to you, to
be faithful to your souls, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us
be here. Let us support the ministry of
Fairmount Grace Church, not just financially, but with our prayers,
with our presence. You've heard this asked, haven't
you? What kind of church would this
church be if every member in it were just like me? I thought
of that again last night in preparing this message, and I thought,
like me, if they were just like me. Again, I had to go to my God,
ask forgiveness and mercy and grace. If everyone exhibits the
same faithfulness as me in worship, in prayer for one another, in
encouraging one another, in being there for one another, in witnessing
and spreading the gospel, oh God, make me faithful. The commission
of our Redeemer is, go preach the gospel. And then also this,
we've already mentioned, we'll be brief. But because it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. Men and women will not be saved.
They will not be saved apart from hearing the gospel. That's
plain, very plain in the Word of God. And Paul knew this. Paul knew this, didn't he? Can
you just picture that faithful man? He's an old man now. He's sitting in the dark. He's
alone. He's cold. And he says, I'm just
about ready to leave this world. And when I do, Timothy, preach
the gospel. In his first epistle, he said,
Timothy, I was a blasphemer. I was injurious. I was a persecutor. But Timothy, I obtained mercy. He said, I
obtained mercy. Years after the Damascus wrote,
Paul wrote that. He said, Timothy, I obtained
mercy. Timothy, he loved me and gave
himself for me. Paul never got over that. He
never got over that. God Almighty, instead of striking
him down on the Damascus Road when he persecuted Christ and
the Christ Church the same as persecuting him, Christ said,
why do you persecute me, Saul? You've done it unto the least
of these, my brethren. It's the same as doing it unto
me. And instead of striking him down in wrath and casting him
into an eternal hell, God brought him down in mercy and saved him. Paul said, my soul, he had mercy
on me. I can't get over it. I can't
get over it. And he shouldn't. But he loved
me. He loved me. He loved Larry Criss. Christ was made sin for me. I
obtained a mercy. I obtained a mercy. And because
I have, I'll never perish. I'll never hear, depart from
me I never knew you into everlasting fire. But I'll hear because I've
obtained mercy, come ye blessed of my Father. Why? Because I've been made to differ
by the grace of God. I've told you before about a
dear woman whom God had gotten lost, was under conviction of
sin. She was seeking God's mercy and
prayed, O Father, O God, if you'll save me, if you'll have mercy
on me, you'll never hear the end of it. I dare say we all said something
like that, didn't we? When we were seeking mercy, God,
if you'll save me, you'll never hear the end of it. And our Lord
said to that saved demoniac, go home to thy friends and tell
them what great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had
compassion on thee. Richard Baxter wrote in 1656. He was a pastor and preacher
of the gospel. But he wrote this, he said, I
confess that I seldom hear the bell toll for one that is dead,
but conscience asks me, what have you done for the saving
of that soul before it left the body? Now don't be startled at
that statement because Paul said, I become all things to all men
that I might by all means save some. He used language like that.
Baxter wrote, there was one more gone out into eternity. What
did I do to prepare him for it? When you are laying a corpse
in the grave, how can you help reflecting with yourselves to
this purpose? Here lies the body. Here lies
the body, but where is the soul? Last of all, last of all. preach
the Word. Use all means God puts into your
hands because the love of Christ constraineth us. Out of love
for Him, our Master. Out of love for lost loved ones. Years ago, I was asked to preach
at a church and I knew the pastor was somewhat hard shell. But I'd preach in the Vatican
if I'd get an invitation. Love to, would love to, Joe.
But during the Bible class, before I preached, there was a young
man there, a protege of this pastor, and he was teaching.
And he said, I was talking to somebody the other day, and they
said, oh, they were praying for their son to be saved. They were
just praying for their son to be saved, and they were crying.
This mother was, and I said, and he slapped down his fist
on the podium, this young fella, and he said, I told her, quit
worrying about it. If God's gonna save him, he'll
be saved, and if he won't, there's nothing you can do. Quit worrying
about it. Man, it was like somebody threw a cold dish rag in my face. I thought, my, so I've got to
follow that? I've got to preach behind that
nonsense. I thought to myself, God, don't
ever allow me to be as cold-hearted as that. Brothers and sisters
in Christ, if a belief in sovereignty, in God's election makes you think
it doesn't matter, you don't understand those things right.
Paul, Paul, more than anyone else wrote about those things,
didn't he? He wrote more than anyone else about God's sovereign
mercy, but he said, I become all things to all men. I use
the means that God's given that I might save some. As we said, soon after this, Paul was taken out and most likely
beheaded. Being a Roman citizen, it was
against their law to crucify him, so they probably beheaded
him. And at that very instant, as
Paul himself wrote, he was absent from the body, but he was present
with the Lord. Just like that. Welcome home,
faithful servant. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. I don't want no more than that.
To you, God bless you.