was a man who was very used to
trouble. In Acts chapter 20, verse 22,
he said, 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. They're waiting. But, none of
these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself,
so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which
I've received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the
grace of God. Now in Acts chapter 21, a prophet,
one who could foretell the future, whose name was Agabus, made this
prophecy regarding Paul. Look in verse 10 of Acts 21. And as we tarried there many
days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus.
And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle and bound
his own hands and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so
shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle. and shall deliver him into the
hands of the Gentiles." Now, here's a completely human response.
I certainly understand it. When we heard these things, both
we and they have that place beside Him, not to go to Jerusalem.
If you go there, look what's going to happen. Stay away from
there. And here's how Paul responded,
verse 13, then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break
mine heart? For I am ready, not to be bound only, but also
to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Now remember, Paul didn't count
his life dear to himself. We just read that. He really
didn't. I don't count my life dear to myself that I might finish
my course with joy. Paul said, I am ready. I'm ready,
not only to be bound, but to die for the name of the Lord
Jesus. Is Christ not worthy of that
readiness? I have entitled this message
I am ready. I am ready. Now what does it mean to be ready?
Being ready is the opposite of being unprepared. For instance,
when I preach, I prepare for it. I don't come up here unprepared. I seek a message from the Lord.
I study, I pray for the Lord's help and blessing, and by His
grace, I don't want to come up here unprepared. Whether or not
it's blessed is up to Him. That's out of my hands. That's
out of my control. But I am to always be prepared. And may God deliver me from ever
daring to come up here without giving it my best, being prepared. That's so important to me, to
be prepared and ready. Now, when we are ready and prepared,
there has been forethought, there has been planning, there has
been preparation. Now, everything God does is what
he prepared to do. He never reacts. Man, we react
so often, don't we? We react. Somebody says something,
we react. We respond. God never does. He's
never reacted to anything. He only acts. He never responds. He says, I've spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I also will
do it. That is the God of the Bible.
He's always prepared. And on judgment day, he'll say
to every one of his people, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. He said to his disciples, let
not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. In
my father's house are many mansions. I go and prepare a place for
you. Turn with me to Matthew 24 for
a moment. Matthew 24. Verse 42. Watch therefore, for you know
not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if
the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his
house to be broken. Therefore, be ye also ready. And this is what he says to every
one of his people, be ready. For in such an hour as you think
not, the Son of Man cometh." Now this thing of being ready,
what is it? Paul said, I am ready. And I want to be able to say
this. I want the grace to be able to say the same thing Paul
did. I'm ready not only to be bound, but to die for the name
of the Lord Jesus. Is he not worthy of that? Is
he not infinitely worthy of that? You know He is and every believer
in this room wants to have this preparedness, this readiness,
the same readiness Paul did. Now the first thing I want to
say about being ready, this thing of being ready is by grace. The only way me or you will be
ready is if the grace of God enables us to. Now you're there
in Matthew. Look at Matthew chapter 25. This will show us this. Matthew 25 verse 1. Then shall
the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took
their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom, and five
of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish
took their lamps, their profession, but they took no oil with them. They were unprepared, weren't
they? But the wise took oil, in their
vessels with their lambs and I have no doubt that that oil
represents the grace of the Holy Spirit. You have a profession
and you have the grace of the Holy Spirit. Now while the bridegroom
tarried, they all slumbered and slept. This shows how that naturally
there was no difference between the wise and foolish. They all
slumbered. They all slept. And at midnight
there was a cry made, behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye
out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose
and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the
wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the
wise answered, saying, not so, lest there be not enough for
us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell and buy for
yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came,
and they that were ready. What was the difference? The
grace of the Holy Spirit, the grace of God. That's what that
oil represents. They all had lamps. They all
had professions. Only the five had the oil. They
that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the
door was shut. Afterward came also the other
virgin, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said,
Verily I say unto you, I know you not. What's there for? For
you neither You know neither the day or the hour when the
Son of Man cometh." Now turn over to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. This shows us
just how much this readiness is of grace. Verse 6. And I heard, as it were,
the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters and
the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him. For the marriage of the Lamb
has come and his wife hath made herself ready. Now, how'd she
make herself ready? And to her was granted. graciously bestowed, given. To her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints." Here's her readiness. This beautiful
garment she had on, the righteousness of the saints, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. That's the righteousness of the
saints. It's not some righteous deed she did. It's the perfect
merits of Christ given to her. And that made her ready. I'm
ready. You know, if the Lord comes,
I'm ready. Being clothed in Christ's righteousness,
what else do I need? I am ready. This thing of being ready is
by grace. Now what is it that will make
somebody ready for the return of Christ, ready for judgment
day? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this scripture. First John chapter four, verse
17 says, herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness
on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. Does that make you ready? I'm
ready. And I'm not boasting in it. I
know it's the gift of His grace. I know it's because He's made
me ready. But I am ready. I can say even so. Come, Lord
Jesus. Wouldn't it be wonderful if He
came tonight? I'm ready. I'm ready. In Christ, I am ready. Turn to 1 Peter 3. Verse 15. but sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts." Now, how in the world do you sanctify God? By
regarding Him as holy. You can't make Him holy. You
can't set Him apart to be holy, but you can regard Him as holy
in your heart. Sanctify the Lord God in your
heart and be ready There it is. Be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that's in you. And
you do this with meekness and with fear. Always be prepared
to give an answer. Now one thing that's implied
by that, and you can't escape this really. It's never happened to me. I don't think, I don't remember
if it has, but we ought to be conducting ourselves in such
a way that people see us and see our attitude, our graciousness,
our merciful attitude, our submission to providence, our love to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to be conducting ourselves
in such a way that somebody says, what's the reason for the hope
in you? What is it that causes you to be that way? Yeah, I see
people in here that, I'd ask you that. I'd ask you that. Always
be ready to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason,
a reason for the hope that's in you. You want to know what
my hope is? I have a hope. A hope is a confident expectation with
regard to the future. I have a hope, a sure hope, that
when I stand before God in judgment, He's going to say to me, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. And the reason I have
that hope is if He says that to Christ, He says it to me.
I have a hope that all my sins are forgiven. Look in 1 Peter
chapter 2. Here's my hope, verse 22, speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who did no sin. Neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, he reviled not
again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to
him that judgeth righteously, who his own self bare our sins
in his own body. on the tree. Now here's my hope.
You want to know what my hope is? My hope of being saved. My
hope of being accepted by God. It's because Christ Himself bare
my sins in His own body on the tree and put them away. That
we being dead to sin, what does sin have to say to me? Nothing. You see, I'm not guilty. Christ
bore my sin. He put them away. I have no sin.
I'm dead to sin. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now, if God says for me to reckon myself to be dead indeed
in sin, it's because I am indeed dead to sin. Sin has nothing
to say to me. That seems too good to be true,
doesn't it? But it's true. It's the Gospel. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. He made me to be dead to sin. Look what it says next. By whose
stripes you were healed. It doesn't say by whose stripes
you are healed, but it says you were healed. That healing took
place by what Christ did without reference to anything you do.
Is that good news? Is that a hope? Oh, that's the
hope that's in me. If anybody asks me, what's your
hope? It's easy to answer that. It's Christ stood in my place. My sin became His. He bore my
sins by His stripes, by His death. I'm healed. When He was raised
again, I was justified. It's real easy to give my hope.
It's Christ only. Always be ready to give every
man that asks you a reason for the hope that's in you. Look
in Romans 1. Verse 13, Paul says, Now I would not have
you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I have purposed to
come unto you, but was hindered, let hitherto, that I might have
some fruit among you. Also, even as among other Gentiles,
I'm a debtor. both to the Greeks and to the
barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much
as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at
Rome also. I am ready. I'm ready to preach
the gospel. Now, there's a whole lot of folks
who are ready to preach. I mean, just a lot of them are ready
to give them an opportunity. I'm ready. I'm ready. I've seen
that so much. I'm ready. It's one thing to
be ready to preach, but it's a totally different thing to
be ready to preach the gospel. The gospel of God. Look what he says in verse 1,
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God. And he identifies exactly what
that gospel is, which he had a promise to for by his prophets
in the Holy Scriptures, the gospel of the Holy Scriptures, concerning
his son. Jesus Christ, our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead." That's the gospel I'm
ready to preach. Look in verse 16, right after
he says, as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel
to you that are at home also, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. And you know, I'm not either.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm proud of it. It's a gospel
worthy of God. It's a gospel that's altogether glorious. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel, is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it's written, that
just shall live by faith. And this righteousness of God
that he speaks of, that's revealed in the gospel, That righteousness of God, the
righteousness of God, however you want to say it, that's my
righteousness. Every believer is the very righteousness of
God. I'm looking at some people right
now who literally, truly are the very righteousness of God. Now that's the gospel that I'm
ready to preach, that gospel that shows the righteousness
of God. Turn to Titus chapter 3. Verse 1, put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers, to submit to authority, to obey
magistrates, to be ready, to be ready, to be prepared with
a forethought, with purpose, to be ready to every good work. And for me to be ready for every
good work, I'm going to have to have some kind of understanding
what a good work is. Now, what is a good work? Well,
I know what comes to my mind first thing I think of is that
woman with that alabaster box of ointment that broke it on
the Lord's head and let it pour all over him to anoint his body
to the barrel. And that's the only thing our
Lord ever called a good work. Throughout his earthly ministry,
he said, she hath wrought a good work upon me. Now you wanna know
what a good work is? A good work is anything done
for his glory. For His sake, out of love to
Him, out of obedience to Him, anything done for His glory,
anything done for Christ's sake, anything you do for Christ's
sake, men will know about it, but it doesn't matter. He knows
about it, and He calls it a good work. Now, good works, I know
this. If I have any good works, it's
only because the grace of God caused me to have them. We are His workmanship, Scripture
says, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. And I want to walk
in good works, don't you? For the glory of Christ. You
know, the Lord said, let your life so shine before men that
they may see your good works and glorify who? Your Father,
which is in heaven. Now, if I'm wanting to have good
works to glorify myself, they're evil works. But if I'm truly
wanting His glory. You know, the Scripture actually
says, Be zealous of good works. I'm zealous. Do I feel like I
have good works? Not really. Not really. I can
look at everything about me and I can tear it up and you can
too. But I'm zealous of good works. I want to have them for
the glory of Christ. And he says be ready. Be ready
to every good work for the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. How are we ready? How are we
prepared for good works? Well, first, we ask for grace
for good works. Lord, give me the grace to walk
in good works, works that honor the Lord Jesus Christ, and by
looking for opportunities for good works. I'm to look for. Well, I don't do that much, do
you? I mean, I see the scripture like this, and it makes me realize
how little I... May God give me the grace from
here on out to be ready to every good work. Turn to 1 Timothy
6. Verse 17, charge them that are
rich in this world, that they be not high minded, high opinions
of themselves, nor trust in uncertain riches. You know, riches are
so uncertain, aren't they? I dare say about everybody in
here has lost quite a bit of money this year. Riches are so
uncertain. Certainly nothing to be trusted. But here's who we're to trust
in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy,
that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready
to distribute, ready to give, willing to communicate, laying
up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to
come that they may lay hold upon eternal life. Now, this thing
of giving, be ready, be prepared. Make this your purpose. That's
not just talking about what you give and put back in that box. That's
talking about giving of yourself. But it's also talking about giving
financially, giving of our time, giving of our efforts. Be ready
to give. Be prepared. Now here's the one
I want to close with and spend a few minutes on this one. 2
Timothy chapter 4. 2nd Timothy chapter 4, beginning
in verse 6. Paul says, "...for I am now ready
to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand." You know, Paul knew he was going to be martyred very
soon. As a matter of fact, this is his last letter. He knows
he's going to die. And he calls his death a departure.
The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me that day, and not to me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing." Now here is a man who is ready
to die. He said, I'm ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at
hand. I'm ready. And he gives three
reasons as to why he was ready to die. He said, here's why I'm
ready to die. Bring it on. Bring it on. And here's why I'm ready to die.
First, because I have fought a good fight. Second, because
I finished my course. Third, because I have kept the
faith. Now, how does that make you feel
when you hear him say that? He said, I fought a good fight. I'm ready to die. I can look
at my fight, and I'm ready to die. Now, here's the first way
I understand that, and you've got to get here first. If Christ fought a good fight,
I did too. He fought a good fight, and if
he fought a good fight, I fought a good fight. And because of
that good fight, I'm ready to die. This can first only be understood
in light of union with Christ, because I don't think anybody
here feels like you can look back at your life and say, boy,
I've done really well. I'm ready for judgment. I mean,
bring it on. No, if he fought a good fight,
I fought a good fight. And this is what the Scripture
actually teaches. Whatever He did, I did. When
He kept the law, I kept the law. When He died, I died. When He
was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. And this
really is my hope of being able to say, I fought a good fight.
Because if Christ fought a good fight, I did too. I am united
to Him. And whatever He did, I did. But Paul is also saying, I'm looking over my life. Now, this fight, it means two
words, two things, this word fight. First, it means an athletic
contest called a fight, like sometimes translated race, an
athletic contest. And it also refers to conflict. Now, I fought a good fight, Paul
said, in the sense that I've kept the rules of the race. You're
there in 2 Timothy, look in chapter 2. Verse 5, And if a man also strive
for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. Lawfully. In this sense, in fighting
this fight, this athletic contest, I've kept the rules. In this
sense, I've preached the gospel. I've depended totally on the
Lord. I've not looked at myself for a thing. That's the only
way somebody can preach, by keeping the rules in that sense. But
it also means a conflict. And I want you to think of what
a conflict it is to be a believer. There's the flesh, there's the
world, and there's the devil. And what a conflict that is. There's such a conflict in my
own heart. Me? How could you think something
like that and be a believer? How could you do something like
that and be a believer? You're such a hypocrite. You're
so inconsistent. You know, every man is such a
contradiction, every one of us. We say one thing, we do another.
What conflict there is in the flesh? Well, I'm looking forward
to getting rid of this. I surely am. What a glorious
day. But what conflict there is? Conflict
with the world, this world that hates the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conflict with the devil. You have an adversary. Peter
says, Your adversary, the devil, walketh about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith.
Now, we have a conflict. We have a fight. And Paul said,
I fought a good fight. Now, how could he say that? Paul
is saying I'm looking over my life here's what he's saying
I'm looking back first he's saying this thing if Christ fought a
good fight I did but he's also saying I'm looking over my life
without regrets my life by grace is not wood, hay and stubble
but gold and silver and precious stones you know nobody on their
deathbed will regret trusting Christ too completely, will they? They will never regret living
too much for His glory. And they will never regret commending
Him too much to others. Now, Paul wasn't talking about
the legacy he's leaving. You know, People talk about wanting
to leave a legacy, and honestly, I don't care a thing about leaving
a legacy. I mean, in the sense that I'm going to be dead. I
don't care. I'll be in glory. I'll be in the presence of Christ.
I won't be worried about anything happening down here. I hope it
goes well with you if I go before you, but I won't be thinking
about you as far as this thing of leaving a legacy. People want
to leave a legacy. But this is also true. I don't want to look over my
life regretting the way I've served Christ. I don't want my
life to be filled with regret. I read the story of a young man
who was going to be a missionary and his parents were against
it. But he went off anyway, a man
in his twenties, wasn't married, didn't have any kids, went off
to be a missionary. And I don't remember where it
was, but within three weeks, he caught some kind of disease
that was in that land, that he didn't have the antibody, whatever
it is you had to have to protect him from it, and he died. Three
weeks later. And his parents were crushed.
And his dad went over to get his remains. And he was looking
at his belongings, he was thumbing through, and he picked up his
Bible. And he opened it up. And that young man wrote in his
Bible, no reserve, no retreat, and no regrets. Wasted life? No. No. No. Oh, would to God that that could
summarize the me and you. no reserve, no retreat, and no
regrets. I don't want to be one of these
people who when they die, you know you can't see into their
heart, you don't know what was really there, but you wonder
about it. You wonder, did they really know
the Lord? It sure didn't seem like it the way they conducted
themselves. Did they really know the Lord? You just don't know.
I don't want to be somebody like that. I want to be somebody who...
He knew the Lord. He believed the gospel. There
wasn't any question about that. And I think that's what Paul's
talking about when he's saying, I fought a good fight. I want to fight a good fight
in that sense, don't you? I don't want to have regrets. He says,
I finished my course. Now we all have a race to run.
God has given you a specific race to run. Paul said, I finished
my course. Now we know what that course
was because he already said in Acts 20, 24, he said the ministry,
which I've received. Neither can I my life dear to
myself 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." Now that was his course. That's my course. That's your course. It's to testify
the gospel of the grace of God. We've got a course to run, and
we are to finish it. Looking unto Jesus, let us run
with patience the race that's set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame that is set
down at the right hand of God. He says, I finished my course,
so I'm ready to die. And then thirdly, he said, I've
kept the faith. I've kept it. There's something in the Scripture
called the definite article, the faith. It's the faith of
God's elect. It's the common faith. It's the
faith that all believers have and possess. And Paul says, I've
kept it. First of all, I believed. I believe
the gospel. You know, I do. I believe the
gospel. I'm relying on what the faith
is that Christ Jesus is all in salvation. I'm relying on that.
I've kept the faith. Secondly, I've guarded the faith.
in the sense that, you know, if you love the Lord, you love
His truth and you can't bear anything that said contrary to
it, you can't stand that. David said, I esteem all thy
precepts and all things to be right and I hate every false
way. If you keep the faith, that means
you guard over the faith. You don't want anything to be
changed. You want it exactly as the Lord delivered it. You
want to be faithful to His Word, don't you? That's what it is
to keep the faith. And by His grace, You're faithful. I've kept the faith. By His grace,
He's enabled me to be faithful, to continue in the faith. And
then, He says in verse 8, henceforth, I'm ready to die. The time of
my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I've 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." Now,
I love his appearing. I love his first appearing when
he became a man. I love the appearing that he
has right now as my High priest and intercessor, I love it. I
love the thought of him representing me. It just gives me such confidence. And I love, I'm going to love
his appearing when he shall come with trumpet sound, when every
eye is going to see him, when he's going to come like lightning,
lighting across the sky. Here he comes. I love his appearing. So this crown of righteousness
that Paul has, you know who else has it? everybody who loves his
appearing. And you know who that is? Every
believer. It's not one crown that one's
going to have that somebody else doesn't have. We all have the
same crown, the crown of righteousness. And what inspired this message
was it just moved me when I was reading Acts 21 where Paul said,
I'm ready, not only to be bound, but to die. for the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to have that same
attitude, don't you? I want that readiness, ready by grace to
suffer for His name's sake, ready to give an answer to everybody
that asks me, a reason for the hope that's in me, ready to preach
the gospel, ready to every good work, ready to give, and ready
to die. Let's pray.