Galatians chapter 6, I want to begin reading in verse
6. Let him that is taught in the
word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked, but whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be
weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint
not. As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are
of the household of faith. Let him that is taught in the
word, and taught by the word, and taught from the word, communicate
unto him that teacheth in all good things." Now this verse
tells us here what preachers and what our teachers and what
our evangelists are supposed to teach. They are supposed to
teach the word. Let him that is taught from the
Word, and taught in the Word, and taught by the Word. We're
not to preach our opinions, but we're to preach the Word. Preach
the Word. Teach the Word. The Word of God
is quick. That is, it's life-giving. It's
powerful. It divides the thoughts and intents
of the heart. Therefore, preach the Word. There's
nothing like the Word of God. Preach the Word. Where the Word
of the King is, there is power. Preach the Word. Be in barn again,
not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible by the Word
of God. Preach the Word. There is nothing
like it. There is nothing that can give
us life. There is nothing that can convert us. There is nothing
that can open our understanding but the Word of God. Preach the
Word. Let him that is taught from the
Word by the Word. When the sower went out to sow,
he sowed his seed. And those apostles came to the
Lord Jesus and said, Lord, declare unto us this parable. What does
it mean? And He said, The seed is the
Word of God. The seed is the Word of God. That's what we teach. That's
what we sow. Being born again of incorruptible
seed. This seed gives life. incorruptible,
eternal life. Therefore, preach the Word. And
I tell you, it's a blessed people. It's a blessed people who can
say it and have God's Word talked to. The best blessed people in
all the world that can have God's Word talked to. I don't know
how God's children would live. I guess they could, but I just
don't know how they'd live without being taught God's Word. Let him that is taught in the
Word, and from the Word, and by the Word, communicate unto
him that teacheth in all good things." Now here we have the
teacher. We have the preacher. And he preaches the Word. He
searches the Scripture. He gives the sense of it. And
now here we have those that he's teaching. The teacher expounds
the Word of God. He shares the Word of God with
his hearers, and here his hearers communicate unto the teachers.
They share with the preachers. The preacher shares spiritual
things, and they in turn share with the preacher their carnal
things. Now, I want you to look at a
couple of scriptures with me, and there's a reason I want you
to turn there. Look over here in Romans chapter 15. and 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. I'm probably in a sense this
evening, Romans 15, in a sense I'm probably preaching to the
choir, because you already know what I'm going to tell you about
this, about sharing with ministers and sharing with preachers and
those who preach the gospel. But where I was raised, in a
little Baptist church down south, I was taught that a preacher
should not be paid. That if you paid him, then that
was an indication that he was preaching for money, and that
was a sin. So we had a preacher to come
around once a month, and that was just fine with them. And
if my memory serves me right, and if I have any discernment
of what those preachers were talking about, what he said then,
What he shared with them was just about as skimpy as what
they shared with him. They give him two or three or
four or five dollars a month, that I remember right. And they
always posted, I never could understand this, they posted
what they took up in collections behind the preacher. Everybody
could see it when they come in. And I remember it was always
two or three or four or five dollars. And looking back now,
I wonder why would they post that? Was they proud of that
or something? That's what they paid him. But
I tell you, he didn't pay them anymore. What I remember about
some of the preachers that they had in those little freeway Baptist
churches, both of them were starved to death. They starved him to
death and he starved them to death. But that's what I was
taught. Now I know better than that and
you know better than that. And where have we learned from
these passages that you and I look at tonight? Let him that is taught
from the Word of God and by the Word of God share with them that
teaches you the Word of God. Look here what Paul says in Romans
chapter 15 and look in verse 25. He said, I'm going up to
Jerusalem. They have taken up a collection.
The Gentile churches have taken up a collection. To minister
unto the saints for it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia
to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are
at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them fairly,
and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been
made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to
minister unto them in carnal things." See what the preachers
do? They give their time to study
spiritual things. And they get up before the congregation
and they share the things of God with the congregation. And
the congregation in turn, they share their carnal things with
the preacher. Now look over here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. The apostle talks about this
some more here. A little lengthy reading, but
let me read a good deal of this portion of this chapter to you.
Look in verse 1. This is one of the things the
apostle is proving here. of this business of communication,
sharing. Am I not an apostle? Am I not
free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ
our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?
If I be not an apostle unto others, yea, doubtless I am to you. For
the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord. My answer to
them that do examine me is this. Don't we have a right to eat
and drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife,
as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and
Cephas, or I and Barnabas? Have we not power, don't we have
the right to refrain from working, or bear working? Who goeth to
warfare any time at his own charges? If a man gets drafted in the
service and they send him off to war, he don't have to call
home and borrow money for his uniform, does he, and his food?
The country supports it. The army supports it. Who planteth
a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth
the flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say thou
these things as a man, or sayeth not the law the same also? For
it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth
of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care of oxen? Or sayeth it altogether for our
sake? For our sakes, no doubt this
is written. that he which ploweth should
plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partakers of
his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a
great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" See what
he's teaching? Sharing. The preacher shares
with us his spiritual things. And we share with the preacher
our carnal things. He gives his time to studying
the spiritual things, and we give our time to work to get
carnal things. And we share it. We share it.
Now that's Scripture ain't it? If somebody comes up and tells
you, you should never pay your pastor, you know what to answer. Don't pay these preachers, they'll
just be preaching for money. That's one thing they do in the
Latter Day Saints. They don't have pastors. You
have to work. They're afraid to pay their pastors.
Well, they get just what they deserve, don't they? Man don't
pay his pastors, he gets just what he deserves. Of course,
those guys shouldn't be preaching anyway, but nevertheless. The
last portion of verse 6, look what he says in Galatians chapter
6. The last portion of that. Let
him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth
in all good things. Now, some would apply this, all
good things, unto the teaching, and others would apply it to
the giving to those who teach. But why can't it be both of them?
He teacheth in all good things. Well, that's so, ain't it? The
Word of God is good things. It's good to teach the Word of
God. The Word of God is full of good
things. The Word of God is light when
we sit in darkness. Ain't that good? That's a good
thing to have light in. It's instructions as to what
to believe, that's a good thing. To what to practice, to how to
walk, to how to live, to how to please God, that's a good
thing. The Word of God is our assurance in the midst of our
doubts. It's comfort in the midst of
our conflicts. It's correction when we've erred.
It tells us about our Savior, who is good, and what He's did
for us, what He's accomplished for us, what He's promised us,
where He is now, what He's doing there, what He's going to do.
These are good things. The Word of God is good, and
when we share the Word of God, we share good things with people.
You know, there's a lot of books, good books, that mere men have
written, but it's usually on certain subjects, And it's usually
just a certain people or certain classes of people or certain
ages of people. They're so limited when man writes
books. And I tell you, there may be
some things in there that will hurt you too, that do you some harm
if you ain't careful. But you know the Word of God
is not like that. There's nothing in this book
that will harm you. I mean, it's good. The good things
of God. Old Samuel said, God forbid that
I should cease to pray for you, but I'm going to teach you the
right way and the good way. This is the good way. It's the
good Word of God. You say, but Bruce, I was reading
it and it rebuked me. Well, ain't that a good thing?
As many as I love, I rebuke and I chastise them. But it made
me afraid. I was reading this passage and
I trembled at it. Well, you know what happens to
those who tremble at His Word? He saves them. He saves them. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. But it just broke me down. It
just broke my heart. He saves such as be of a broken
heart. It deals with us in a good way.
It's good, ain't it? It's good. It's good. Him that
shares in all good things. When we share the Word of God,
brethren, we share good things. It's good things. But then if
we apply this to what they share with the preachers of the gospel,
that's good too, ain't it? Communicate unto them who preach
in all good things. You know money is not an evil
thing. Money can be a good thing if it's used properly. Somebody
said that money is an evil thing, but money is not evil. The love
of it is evil. But if it's used for the glory
of Christ and the furtherance of His kingdom, it's a good thing.
It's a good thing. It can be a good thing. Food's
a good thing. Clothing's a good thing if we
use it for God's glory. Anything that's given, anything
that's used, anything that's done for our Lord's glory and
the feathers of His kingdom, it's a good thing. Look over
here what the apostle says about it just to your right a little
bit. In Philippians chapter 4. Look at a couple of verses. Here's
what the Apostle Paul says about some things that some folks shared
with him. And look at some words he uses
to describe this. Look what he said in Philippians
chapter 4 and verse 15. Philippians 4, 15. There's some
folks here in Macedonia that wrote to Paul about giving and
sending him some things, and look how he describes them. Now
you Philippians in verse 15, you Philippians know also that
in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia,
no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving
but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent
once again unto my necessities, not because I desire a gift,
but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all
and abound. I am full, having received of
Ephroditus the things which were sent of you." And he don't say
what they were. You and I can imagine, we can
speculate. We think about money, don't we?
We think about clothes. One place he talked about clothes.
Another place he talked about scrolls, books, the books, money,
books, clothes. We don't know what they were
that these people shared with the Apostle Paul. But look what
he says about them. than odor, than incense, a perfume
of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to
God." Ain't that amazing? You know, these are some of the
same words that's used to describe the sacrifice of our Lord and
Savior. He offered himself to God for a sweet-smelling Savior.
This is the very same word. Now his sacrifice was one of
merit to save us. This ain't of merit. This is
of grace and love. But the same word is used to
describe it. A sweet-smelling Savior. Look here at another place. Look
over here in Hebrews chapter 13. It says similar to the same
thing. Hebrews chapter 13. Look here
at what he said in verse 15. Talking about communicating,
giving and sharing. with those who preach the gospel
to us. Look what he said in verse 14.
Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him,
by the Lord Jesus, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God
continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to
his name, but to do good and to communicate, to share, forget
not. For with such sacrifices God
is well pleased." They're good. They're good. And I tell you,
they'll never go unrecognized of the Lord. You can bet on that.
You may never recognize them in this world, but he'll recognize
them in the world to come, won't he? I was a stranger and you
tucked me in. I was naked and you clothed me.
That's a good thing, isn't it? When the Lord Jesus Christ recognizes
somebody on that all-important day for those things that they've
done, for His glory and the good of His saints, it must be something
that He took time to give them recognition for it. I was thirsty
and you gave me drink. I was hungry and you fed me.
Those are good things, aren't they? Good things. When we use
the things that we have and we share it with God's children,
especially the preachers and promoters of His gospel, He calls
that a good thing. That's a good thing. A good thing. Back over here again in our text,
look in verse 7. Let him that is taught in the
Word, taught from the Word and by the Word, share with him that
teacheth in all good things. And he says here in verse 7,
Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. Now this verse, we've heard it
used and applied in several applications, and it will. It will suit many,
many, many applications. But if we keep it in the context,
in verse 6, it's speaking of supporting the ministers of the
gospel. Paul is saying here, if the Lord
sends you a preacher, and you're not concerned about his carnal
needs, then you're mocking God. You're mocking God. For God to
call a man to preach, and the people not support him with his
necessities, That's mocking God. And you can understand that,
can't you? Remember when the Lord sent the 70 out? He called
those 70 men out and sent them out to preach the gospel and
cast out devil and heal sicknesses. He said, you go into town and
you find a house that's worthy. And you enter into that house
and you stay there and whatever they give you, you accept it.
Whatever they set before you on the table, you eat it for
the labor is worthy of His power. The reason they didn't support
the preachers down south where I was raised up, I guess they
didn't think it was worthy. Once you're preaching, you're
not, you know, they wouldn't work all week. What if some people
worked all week and they went to get their check and they had
a big fat zero on it? They'd take somebody to court,
wouldn't they? They'd take their employer to
court. But it's alright to have that preacher down there and
not pay him hardly anything. I guess that's what they thought
he was worthy of. He's worthy of His power. That's what the
Lord said. And the Lord made this statement. He said, if they won't receive
you, then know this. He that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despiseth you, he
despiseth me. And he that despiseth me, despises
him that sent me. If they mock Christ's preachers,
then they mock Christ through his preachers. That's what Paul's
telling us. If the Lord in His goodness and grace is good enough
and gracious enough and generous enough to call a man and burden
him with the gospel and send him to preach to a people, and
they're too stingy and selfish to support that man, then they
may be mocking the preacher. But I tell you who they're really
mocking, and that's God. That's God. That's the Lord who
called him. Brother Scott Richard was up
here years and years ago, and there was a pastor up in this
area then. And one night Scott would come out and preach at
a prayer breakfast. And Scott and I went out there for him
to preach. And that place was full of men. Full of men. And men Scott sat there and they
were all, as far as I know, almost all of them were from the same
congregation. A lot of them old men. And sitting
right there next to men Scott, these fellows were talking about
starving a pastor out. They starved their pastor. They
didn't like him, so they starved him out. They got the rest of
the congregation, got mates together, and just starved him out. And
boy, I saw Scott. I saw his countenance begin to
change. And boy, he got upset. You don't starve a man out. If
he's not preaching the gospel, you boat him out and send him
on his way. But you don't starve a man out. You don't starve a
man out. And you sure don't starve one
of God's preachers, do you? You sure don't starve one of
God's preachers. That's what the Apostle Paul is telling here.
If God has blessed a person with material things, and they refuse
to share a portion of those things in support of the preachers of
the gospel, then let them offer whatever excuse they want to. They're mocking God. And if they
say, no we're not, then they've deceived nobody but themselves.
Deceived nobody but themselves. Look at the last portion of verse
7. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Well, I said I'm preaching to
the choir, and I am. I've had to turn down what you
folks have tried to give me, so this don't apply to you. And
very seldom I'll say this don't apply to you, but it does apply
to you. Because, bless your heart, you've
been so generous in every way. I don't know how many meals you
folks have bought for me, stuff you've given me, and bought for
me and did for me. And I'd be ashamed of myself
to get up here this evening and start harking on you not supporting
me. He's supporting me very, very
well, and I appreciate that. But he says here, Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And this is true in all
nature. If we look at these things and
apply it naturally, first of all, we'll say, yeah, that's
true. If we sow beans, we don't expect to go out there and get
potatoes off of those bean vines. If we sow beans, we expect to
get beans. If we plant carrots, we expect to reap carrots. Whatever we sow, that's what
we'll reap. If we sow good seed, we can live in the hope of having
a good crop. If we sow a lot of good seed,
then we can live in the hope of having a huge crop. If we
sow a few seeds, then we expect to have a little crop. If we
sow bad seeds, then we expect to have a bad seed. If we sow
nothing, Then what can we hope? Nothing. It's that way and it's
just naturally. And the Apostle Paul, he says,
we can apply this here spiritually. Whatever a man sows, that, that
shall he also reap. Now look at another passage with
me. And the Apostle Paul teaches this in 2 Corinthians chapter
9. Look at this. 2 Corinthians chapter
9 and look at verse 6. Now, in a way, we have to clarify
this. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. But
Paul is wanting us to realize here that we can relate natural
seed sowing to spiritual seed sowing. But I tell you, when
God rewards a man, it seems like to me it's always out of proportion.
We sow a little and reap a lot with him, don't we? But he's
showing us here how to compare natural reaping with spiritual
reaping and sowing. In chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians,
in verse 6, look at this. Now this I say, he which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace
abound towards you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound in every good work. As it is written, he hath
dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness
remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed
to the sower, both ministereth bread for your food, and multiplyeth
your seeds on. and increases the fruit of your
righteousness. So that's a marvelous thing.
You can go home and study that, and that's amazing what he's
saying in that passage. That God supplies you the seed
that you sow. It's Him that gives you the things
that you can share with others. And then as you give what He's
given you, He multiplies it. That's what He's saying. Whatever
a man sows, that shall he also reap. Now Solomon said this.
He said, there is that scattereth. There is a man that scattereth.
That is, he just sows everywhere. He takes his seed and he sows
beside all waters, and yet he increases. And Solomon was amazed
by that. Solomon said, he's just giving
away everything. He's just sharing all he has. And yet he's getting
richer. He's getting richer. And there is that withholdeth
more than he should withhold. And yet it tendeth to poverty.
Solomon said, I don't know why he don't sow, but he don't. He's
making excuses, or he's afraid, but he's hoarding things up,
and yet he's getting poorer and poorer and poorer. And he made
this statement in the very next verse. The liberal soul shall
be fat, and he that waters shall be watered himself. In other
words, as a man sows, so shall he reap. God will see to that.
God will see to that. Old Bunyan wrote a little poem
one time. He said, There was a man, some
say was mad, the more he gave, the more he had. And that's what
he's talking about. He that soweth, he that soweth,
that shall he also reap. I remember when I was a kid,
and some of you can relate to this, we used to plant a whole
field full of potatoes, the white potatoes. My dad down in the
warm house had a huge bin that we filled that thing full of
potatoes. And it would come about February or so, and we had to
quit eating potatoes because we ate them all up and all that
was left was seed potatoes. And my dad said, if we don't
save the rest of them, we'll have to go buy them. Of course,
we were poor, so we had to save them. So we couldn't eat all
of it. We had to wait and sow it. We had to save some to sow. And
we'd save some and about a hundred pounds of seed and we'd reap
about a half a ton of potatoes. But that's what Paul said. Don't eat it up yourself. Share
it. Share it. And as you share it,
you'll just keep reaping back. Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. Whatever a man soweth, in natural
things and his true and spiritual things. Look in verse 8 in Galatians,
chapter 6. Paul had already did this in
the fifth chapter. He distinguished between the
works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. Now he's going
to do the same thing again. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of his flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. He that soweth to
his flesh. You know it's not a sin to have
things. It's not a sin to have money.
But it's sin to love things more than God. And it's a sin to covet
after things. It's a sin to live to these things
and make these things the end for which we labor. That's the
sin of it. It's a blessed thing to be content
with raiment and food, but the flesh seldom is. Solomon said the eye is never
satisfied with seeing, and you and I know the heart, the covetous
heart is never satisfied with getting. The more it gets, the
more it wants. And if the course of our life
is to serve and pamper our sinful flesh and satisfy its every longing,
let's not deceive ourselves, brothers and sisters. If you
and I are living for that, then our end is going to be death,
and the end is going to be corruption. And the end's going to be destruction.
He that pampers his flesh, he that lives to his flesh, he's
going to die. He's going to die. And men can
deceive themselves about that if they will, but if we live
to the flesh, we die. We die. But, he said, but he
that soweth to the Spirit, those who are alive in the Spirit,
They live in the Spirit, they walk in the Spirit, they're led
by the Spirit, and they sow to that Spirit. They'll love that
Spirit and reap life everlasting. What is that Spirit? They that
sow to the Spirit. Well, that's the Spirit of God.
That's this third person of the Holy Trinity. The Spirit of God,
the Spirit of Christ. And who is God? What's He like?
Ain't He so generous? Ain't He so gracious? Ain't He
so loving? Ain't He so giving? For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall
He not with Him freely give us all things? My God shall supply
all your needs. What kind of God is this? He's
a generous God. He's a gracious God. A sharing
God. What kind of Christ do we have?
What is it about the Son of God? Well, He that was rich became
poor for your sakes. He became poor that you through
His poverty might be made rich. And here's the Spirit of Christ.
Here's the Spirit of the Father in heaven. And you know what
He leads us to do. You know what it means to sow
to the Spirit? Live like the Father. Do as the Father. Be generous like the Son. Caring,
loving, generous, giving, sympathetic, thoughtful. That's what it means
to sow to the Spirit. And He said, He that soweth to
the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. He that
hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need,
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion against him, how dwelleth
the love of God in him? It doesn't. It doesn't. If he
loved, then he is sold to the Spirit. What would he do? He'd
give what would meet the person's need. Paul is not saying here that
we earn or merit eternal life. I ain't going to stop him to
qualify this. We're above that aren't we? Having
to stop it. If anybody says Bruce is saying
that we're going to buy our way into heaven or we're going to
purchase life, then go back and look at these chapters that we
just finished with if anybody's going to be that silly. And I
know none of you are not going to say something like that. Verse
9, look at this. And let us not be weary in well-doing. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not." Let us not be weary and well doing. Why would we grow weary and well
doing? And we sometimes do. If we didn't, I don't think he'd
ever give us this exhortation not to grow weary. Why would
you and I ever grow weary and well doing? I'll give you two
reasons, and both of them have to do with our misconception
of things. We grow, we reap because of our
misconception of things, and the first thing is this, that
we're reaping a skimpy harvest. We're concluding that we're reaping
a skimpy harvest. We look up in the sky, and there's
clouds there with no water in them. All the clouds serve to
do is just hide the sun. There are seed laying right before
our eyes in the ground, and it's not germinating, not producing
any fruit. Instead of a harvest, we think
we're going to have a famine. That's our perception. Did you
ever think that? Even though we don't keep track
of the good things we do, sometimes our perception is, we're just
not reaping. We're working, we're laboring,
we're sowing, but we're not reaping. We're not reaping. Here's the
whole problem, you see. The harvest is not our business. In due season you shall reap. And you and I don't know when
the harvest is. Commit that to the Lord of harvest and just
be faithful to do good. You know, the Lord may not reap
in August and September like you and I do. He may reap in
other months. But leave that with Him. Leave
the reaping with Him. Paul made this statement, Brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounded in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Walk by faith and believe his
promise. Don't lean to your own understanding. Don't let your heart deceive
you to think you're going to have a skimpy harvest. That's
just our misconception. Believe His promises. In due
season, in God's season, you shall reap. Therefore, don't
faint. Don't faint. And secondly, we're
apt to faint because by our own perceptions, for the most part,
our well-doing goes unappreciated. Our well-doing goes unappreciated.
I'm the world's worst person and I confess this. Do not tell people, do not tell
you people how much I appreciate you. As a pastor, I see things that
nobody else sees. I see your hands in the things
and doing good things that nobody else sees. And I know so many
things that nobody else in this congregation knows about each
one of you and good things that you do without even being asked. And sometimes, sometimes, for
some reason, I don't always come to you and say, Boy, I appreciate
you doing that. I really appreciate you doing that. But I know it
in my heart. But you know something, I tell
you the most important thing. I may, I may not tell you, And
it may go unrecognized by everybody else, but I tell you this, the
Lord knows it. The Lord knows it. And He's not
unrighteous to forget your work and your labor of love that you
showed towards His name. And you know, if I'd rather have
it this way, I'd rather live in this world and be undervalued
and underappreciated. And let the Lord reward me. You
know, if everybody comes up and rewards you here, maybe that's
your reward. But if you just have to wait
and let Him reward you, that'll be worth waiting for, wouldn't
it? And He can reward you. I tell you, He can commend you
much better than anybody else upon this earth can commend you.
So don't be discouraged if people don't pat you on the back. Don't
be discouraged if people don't recognize it and you think people
don't appreciate you. That may be your misconception.
And I've talked to members of this congregation, and you all
appreciate one another, and you recognize one another, even though
you don't always tell one another. But the Lord remembers it. The
Lord remembers it. And He says, He said, My Father,
which seeth in secret, He'll reward you openly. He'll show
you. He'll show you what it was worth.
Next time you're tempted to faint, Remember, it's due simply to
our own misconception. Therefore, take heart. Take heart. Be encouraged and live by faith
and faint not. Now verse 10. Look in verse 10. And we'll close with this verse.
As we have their opportunity, as we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially to them who are of
the household of faith. Here's some rules. that our masters
laid down for us to live by. Here's the rules of our master's
kingdom. Look at this. Here's the first one. Let us
do good. Let us do good. We're forbidden
to do evil, but we're told to do good. We have been told to
shun the very appearance of evil, but we're told to do good. There's
the first rule. If there's any doubt how a Christian
should live and what a Christian should do, right here he has
his orders, doesn't he? Do good. Do good. If God has created you in Christ
unto good works, then do good works. Do good works. Secondly, Who do we do good works to? Who
do we direct them towards? Look at this. All men. All men. All. Be careful to maintain good
works towards all men. I wonder if that Levite, was
it the Levite and the priest that went down and saw the man
wounded and he was half dead and they passed by? I just wonder
sometimes if they didn't look over there and they said, I don't
even recognize that guy. He's not a member of our congregation.
He don't live in our neighborhood. So they just passed him on by.
Jews were bad for that. They'd go through Samaria and
why, you think they'd stop and help a Samaritan if he was dying
on the side of the road? Why no, no. We're Jews. We're separate people. We're
chosen people. We're special people. And if
you're not among us, then we're not obligated to help you. But
here the Apostle said, let us do good to all men. All men. Do good to all men. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers. You may find out someday you've
entertained an angel. I was a stranger and you took
me in. All men. All men. We got no right to mistreat
anybody, have we? I've heard of people going on
vacation, and they went on a vacation, and they have the nerve to tell
this, they go on a vacation where nobody knows them. And the reason
they want to do that, they just want to live like, just be free,
and treat anybody just as bad as they want to treat them. And
nobody will ever know about it. Be good to all men. Do good to
all men. but especially unto them who
are the household of faith." The Lord's people are special.
They do good to everybody, but especially to God's little children,
the blood-bought ones, the Lord's loved ones. You be good to them.
I tell you, sometimes only a child of God can do another child of
God any good. There's just something about
that. If you approach a dear child of God and he's in trouble
and you come to him and help him, I tell you, it means a thousand
percent more than if a lost man had come to help him. It's family,
ain't it? It's family. My brother, my sister
cares about me. And they did this for me. They
gave me this. And oh, they bless God for you.
Especially to them who are of the household of faith. And when
are we to give? Look at this. As we have, therefore,
opportunity. When you have an opportunity.
Opportunity. Well, sometimes, and you and
I are guilty of this, and we need to really be careful about
this. About having an opportunity and letting it pass by. And sometimes
make excuse for it or sometimes say, well, we'll wait. And sometimes
we wait and wait and the opportunity is gone. We'll wait, you know,
we're working right now. When we retire, you ever think
about that, Larry, when you're working? Boy, when I retire,
man, you just wait till I retire. Man, I'm going to do some great
things when I retire. But what are you going to do when you
retire? What are you fellas doing? And when you retire, boy, I'm
going to get a few things straightened out. Man, when I'm 90, I'm going
to have a lot of time. Well, you can't do anything then.
You can't do anything then. When you have opportunity, Who
makes the opportunity? The Lord sends us opportunity.
Ain't it a blessed thing, brothers and sisters, to have an opportunity?
And when He says an opportunity, He doesn't just mean that you're
there at the right time and the right place, but you've got the
means. Everything comes together, and there you are. And God has
secretly brought you to that place that you can do good. Take
advantage of it. Take advantage of it and do it.
We can't do everything. There's some things that we want
to do and we can't do it because we don't have the opportunity.
I'd love, I'd love, I love this place. I thank God for this place. It's so comfortable. But wouldn't
you love to be out on 3 somewhere? Out there on the main drag for
a better load. I'd love that. We don't have the opportunity
to do it. Brother Clarence has checked on some property out
there. I'm telling you, we don't have the opportunity to do it.
But if we ever do, We will. We will. As you have the opportunity,
let us do good. That's good Christian instruction,
David. Good instruction. And I know you'll receive them
by God's grace. Let's pray.