2 Timothy, the last chapter,
chapter 4. 2 Timothy, chapter 4, and the
very last verse. I just have one verse of Scripture
this morning I want us to think on for a few minutes. The very last verse of 2 Timothy,
chapter 4. This is Paul's benediction, his
closing verse to his son Timothy. And I thought as I was reading
this and thinking upon this statement here that it's an all-encompassing
benediction. And I think after we think on
it for a few minutes, you'll realize why I call it that, an
all-encompassing benediction. And it simply states this in
verse 22. The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be
with you. Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ be
with thy spirit. I love to go through Paul's epistles
and other epistles. And two things I like to do,
I like to get the introduction and the closing, the benediction.
And the Apostle Paul especially has some good ones. He had severely
rebuked the Corinthian church. But he closes like this, My love
be with you all, in Christ Jesus. He said, you better be thankful
I'm not coming there, because I'll skin you alive. You say,
boy, his letters are weighty, but his bodily presence is weak. But he said, when I get there,
you're in trouble. But he said, I love you. All my love to you
in Christ Jesus. And then he, one of the greatest
of benedictions, I guess, most people say, is in 2 Corinthians,
the way he closes this out, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.
Takes in the entire Godhead. And then in Romans, he's writing
all those deep things about God's decree and election and reprobation
and so on. Oh, the depths. Both for the
wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable is judgment.
And he closes Romans to God only wise, be glory forever and ever. And I love the last verse in
the entire Bible. John's benediction, and he closes
it out like this. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. What a way to close the Bible.
How is God going to close this inspired book? What's the Holy
Ghost going to tell a man to write, to seal up the whole book? The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to save you, grace to keep
you, grace to strengthen you, grace to establish you, grace
to receive you to heaven at last. What a benediction. But I think
probably of all of them as we begin to think about them, this
one here of the Apostle Paul to Timothy probably encompasses
more than all the rest of these. They're all good, but I love
the one that we're going to consider. And just think about this morning,
I don't have any deep theology. I'm not a theologian. I've not
come here this morning to tell you things that you've never
heard before. I'm just thinking about this
verse and here's some thoughts that I have you to think with
me on this blessed verse. If you and I could live in the
faith and the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ being with
our spirits, wouldn't that be wonderful? Just to live in reality
of that. What could we possibly need more
than that? What could we possibly want more
than His gracious presence with our spirit? Could we have any
more divine comfort? Could we have a better divine
companion than Jesus Christ? Could we be strengthened with
any more strength than this divine strength? Would there be anything
in this world to encourage us any more? than His presence with
our spirit? The Lord Jesus Christ be with
thy spirit. And what aspect of our being
will He keep company with? This is what makes this so precious.
What aspect of our being will He keep company with? This essential
aspect. That part of our being that is
most needful to have divine company. And that is our spirits. Our
spirits. Oh, that part of us which God
must quicken. And that part of us which must
know God and worship God and serve God. Our spirits. That part of us which must be
most tender towards God. and most tender towards men.
And yet that part of us that's most assaulted by the spirits
of the underworld are spirits. The Lord Jesus Christ be with
your spirit. How essential is this presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with our spirits. I tell you,
brothers and sisters, we cannot stand. We cannot stand. with anything less than the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we need nothing more than
His presence. His presence with our spirit
will supply all our need. How long did you and I live without
the presence of Jesus Christ with our spirits? And you know
something, we never realized it, did we? And moreover, we
never even cared But now it's different, isn't it? You who
know His presence, what value do you put upon that presence?
You can't estimate it, can you? Can't we witness with David,
in thy presence is fullness of joy? And the more you get to
know your Lord, don't you say that, it's fullness. There's
nothing that can be added to your presence. It's the fullness
of everything I need and all that I desire in this world and
in that world to come. And we can say with Moses, if
your presence go not with me, don't carry us up hence. I can't
go, I can't live without your presence. I'm sure for myself,
and I can bear witness to this, that there's no real and lasting
comfort or strength or true companionship, especially to my spirit, apart
from the presence of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. Without
Jesus, we can't face living. And without His presence, we
can't face death. But with His presence, we can
face both. Without Him, we can't face this
life, and without Him, we can't face the life to come. But with
His presence, we can face both. Without Him, we can't face the
removal of one breath. But with His presence, we can
face the removal of this world and the entire universe. See
how this is all-encompassing? Oh, what an encompassing benediction! Nothing less will meet our awful
need, and nothing more is required or needed but the presence of
Jesus Christ with our spirit. I've often said this, and I think
probably it would be true. I'd rather be in hell with Him
than in heaven without Him. Hell would become a heaven with
Him, and heaven would become a hell without Him. Heaven is
where His presence is. And don't you feel sometimes
there's a heaven in your soul? There's a heaven in your spirit
because the Lord Jesus Christ is with your spirit. Consider three or four things
about this this morning. And first of all, consider this.
This benediction is very instructive. Because it teaches to us that
Jesus Christ is no ordinary person. He's no great prophet, though
He is that. And He's a great person, but
He's more than that, isn't He? He's a divine person. You may say to me this morning,
Bruce, you're going off on a trip and my thoughts are with you.
And my prayers are with you. But you know something else?
You're not with me. You can't go with me. You and
I are bound physically to one location at a time, aren't we?
But not Him. Not Him. Jesus Christ is everywhere. Physically, there was a time
when He was in this world, and now He's physically in heaven. But in His divine character,
He is everywhere. He's not only in this earth and
in heaven, but He fills the earth, and He fills this heaven. In
Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 24, He said, Can any hide himself
in secret that I see him not, saith the Lord? Do not I fill
heaven and earth, saith the Lord? Who is that speaking? That's
Jesus Christ. That's the Son of God who is
very God of very God. One of the most amazing statements
that our Lord made while He was here. And I'm sure if they had
thought about it, they would have said, how can this be? He
said, no man has ascended up to heaven, but the Son of Man
who is in heaven. Isn't that an amazing statement?
Here He stood in His body upon earth talking to men, and He
said, I'm in heaven. How can that be? He's not an
ordinary person. He's more than a great person.
He's divine. He's the eternal Son of God.
He is God incarnate. I don't have to come here this
morning and go from Scripture to Scripture to prove to you
the divinity of Jesus Christ. I'd be preaching to the choir,
wouldn't I? But all I have to do is read
this one passage and it cries out loud and clear, this man
is divine. He is divine. How can He be with
your spirit and with my spirit and the spirits of all His children
all over the world if He is not divine? He is divine. In Galatians 4.6 it says, Because
you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
heart. Now here's the amazing thing.
He said that to every believer all over the world. That's to
every believer. He's in your heart. And He's
in your heart. And He's in your heart. You know why you and I love the
same Christ? You know why we sing of the same
Christ and preach the same Christ and worship the same Christ? Because the same Christ is in
us. The same Christ that is in me
is in you and all of His children, no matter where you see them. The Lord Jesus told His disciples
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
And then He said, I am with you. I am with each one of you wherever
you go and as you go. I am with your spirit. And I can imagine as those men
went off into Rome and Asia and Spain and Europe and Africa and
sometimes they would meet up somewhere and they would say,
did He go with you? Yes, He was with me. And they
say, He was with me too. He was with me too. How can He
go in all these different directions? How can He be everywhere? He's
the Son of God, isn't He? And He's God the Son. When we
leave here this afternoon, the Lord will go with me and He'll
go with you. And all of His children, He'll
be with their spirit because He's God. Sometimes read Psalms 139. I wanted to go over there, but
I'm not going to take the time. That's where David talked about,
there's nowhere I can be, he says, that you're not. Your presence
are everywhere. And apply that to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus watching over
His church, over His people. The second thing about this benediction
is this. It's very instructive because
it teaches us that Jesus Christ is divine. And then secondly,
it's the source of true and lasting comfort. The source of true and
lasting comfort. When the Lord Jesus said, I'll
send you another comforter, He was speaking of Himself. You say, Bruce, but he said another
carpenter, another kind of carpenter. He wasn't going to abide in them
in his flesh. He knew that's impossible. That's
utterly impossible for him physically to get inside of them and dwell
with their spirits. He said, that's why it's so necessary
for me to go away. If I go not away, the Holy Spirit
will not come. But if I go away, I'll send Him
unto you. But who is Him? Who is He? He's Christ in the Spirit, isn't
He? He's Christ in the Spirit. God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son. The Holy Ghost is Christ. The Holy Ghost is God. See, we
worship. We worship a triune God, don't
we? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But
we can't divide these up. They're manifested in three glorious
divine persons. But they're one God, indivisible. If we had to say the pledges
and allegiance of the flag, I don't know about much pledge and allegiance
to some flag, but I like that part that said, one nation under
God, indivisible. He cannot be divided. He's one. And when God comes to the heart,
Christ comes to the heart. And the Holy Spirit comes to
the heart. And he said, therefore, when I send the Holy Spirit,
it's me coming. It's me coming. I will send you another, what?
Comforter. Comforter. And you know something,
when the Spirit is comforted, You can't cause anybody any trouble.
I mean, we've got no trouble. I don't care as we get older,
as we age, and we get weaker and have these diseases. If the
Spirit is comforted, everything's well in the soul. Though the
outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. And what renews this inward man
but the manifested presence of Jesus Christ. with His Spirit. David, as you read the book of
Psalms, you often see David complaining about his spirit being overwhelmed,
his spirit being troubled. Listen to Psalms 142. In the
way wherein I walked have they privately laid a snare for me. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed
within me. I don't know if it was some physical
problem, if they had threatened to attack David physically. I
don't know if the devil was laying snares, but it got to his spirit. And when you get to a man's spirit
and trouble him, I don't care how well he feels in the flesh,
he has no rest. He has no rest. So he said, my
spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate. Hear me speedily, O Lord, for
my spirit fails. Hide not your face from me, lest
I be like to them that go down to the pit. I stretch forth my
hands unto thee, O my soul thirsteth for thee as a thirsty lamb. And then in Psalm 76, he said
this, I commune with my own heart. And my Spirit made diligent search."
My Spirit made diligent search. What's He searching for? He's
searching for a manifestation, favor, the face of His Lord. Nothing else will uphold the
Spirit. When Job said last week, or not
Job, you've got Job on my mind, Randy. When Jonah said last week,
I'll look again. I look again to thy holy temple.
His spirit within him was overwhelmed, and that's what he was seeking
for. I want you to manifest yourself to my spirit. Nothing else will
hold me up. And listen. Listen to Isaiah
62. Ginny and Remy have to leave
for a couple of more Sundays. So don't mind them. Listen to
Psalms 66 and 2. I love this passion. It tells
something about the comfort that nobody else can comfort the spirit
but the one who made it. You get sick and you may have
a nurse to take care of you. You get medication. You receive
comfort for your body. But I tell you, when it comes
to a man's spirit, there's only one that can uphold that spirit.
When that spirit's broken, there's only one that can mend it and
heal it. And listen to Psalm 66 too. To
this man, this is the Lord speaking, to this man will I look, even
to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit. Why does the Lord look
to him? To uphold him. To protect him. to strengthen him, to comfort
him. To this man will I look. I'll
look to his broken spirit to mend him and pour in oil of comfort
and joy into his spirit. How many times, brothers and
sisters, have you been in a deep trial? Nobody didn't know it. It didn't show on your countenance.
But it showed in your spirit. Your spirit was heavy. It was
overwhelmed. And you knew. that the only one
that could come and strengthen you and uphold you and restore
you was the one who made your spirit. The sacrifices of God
are what? A broken spirit. But he said,
I'll save those. I'm going to save that spirit
because nobody else can. I'm going to comfort that spirit
because nobody else can. There was a time when you and
I were so spiritually dead, we didn't even recognize we had
a spirit. We didn't, did we? I went for
23 years of my life. I didn't know I had a soul. All
I thought I was was flesh. And that's what I served, my
flesh. And that's what I lived to, my
flesh. But God awakened us. He gave
us spiritual life. And now our chief comfort is
spiritual comfort. That's our chief concern. And
our chief spiritual comfort is the very presence of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and our Savior. Take Christ's presence from our
spirit, and what happens to us? We're miserable, aren't we? We're
troubled. David said, Lord, in Thy favor
Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. And then he said,
Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled. That's all it
takes to trouble a spirit. Let him hide his face. If his
presence is the greatest comfort and joy to our spirits, then
the hiding of his presence is the greatest discomfort and grief. I think Mr. Newton was right
when he said, A prison would palaces prove if Jesus would
dwell with me there. I'd rather be with Him in prison
than be without Him in a palace, wouldn't you? His presence is
so comforting. Oh, this lost world knows nothing
of this abiding presence, and that's why this world is miserable. This world don't know it, but
it's miserable, brothers and sisters. And one of the reasons
we know it's miserable, because it don't have the abiding presence
of Jesus Christ with their spirits. He said in John 14, 16, I will
pray the Father and He will give you, He'll give you another comforter,
that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom
the world cannot receive, because it knoweth Him not, it seeth
Him not. For He dwelleth with you." Who
is He talking about? Himself. I am with you now. And He shall be in you. I will
not leave you comfortless. And the word there means orphans.
I'll come to you. I'll comfort you. We may boldly
say, the Lord is my helper. His presence is my help. And
I will not fear what man shall do unto me. I won't fear what
man can do unto me. What can man do unto us? Well,
sometimes I get to thinking, what will we do? How will we
feel if the violence comes to our community that is going on
there in the Middle East? How would we feel? I'll be honest
with you. I'm not going to stand up here
and be so arrogant to say it wouldn't bother me. It would
scare me to death. If men threatened to cut my head
off, To put that knife and start sawing at my throat, that would
scare me to death. My flesh would fear. But my spirit,
if Christ is with me, my spirit and your spirit has no reason
to fear. The body they may kill, but that's
all they can do. You can't kill a spirit. They
can't kill your spirit. They can't touch your spirit.
And when the time comes, if it should come, that we should suffer
violence like that, then you know something? He'll so comfort
and strengthen the spirit that you can abide whatever you have
to abide in the flesh, even murder. Somebody was talking about one
of the martyrs the other day, and they put him on the pile
of wood and tied him to a stake and set him on fire. And his
flesh was literally dripping. The oil out of his flesh was
literally dripping down into the flames. And you know what
he was doing? He was singing. He was singing. You probably remember who that
was. He was singing. How could a man do that when
his flesh is on fire? The Spirit. The Spirit. Why was the Spirit rejoicing?
The Lord of Glory, the King of Nations, the Lord of Lords and
King of Kings was with His Spirit. Oh, are you and I worthy of such
divine company? Aren't you humble to think about
it? Oh, the King of Kings dwells and abides with my Spirit. So it's instructive. It's a competent
benediction. And His divine presence with
our spirit, lastly, is this. It's a freedom from every want. What do we want? What more could
we desire if we have His presence with our spirit? Freedom from
covetousness. Listen to this. Let your conversation
be without covetousness, and be content with such things as
you have. For He has said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee." There are people who make all
kinds of money, and they're not content. They want more. There are people who play all
the time, but they're never content with playing. They want to play
more. There are people who travel all the time. They are always
on the go, but they are never content with going. If a man
possessed all that this world had to offer, he would still
be coveted and he would still be discontent. The only thing
which will wield a death blow to heart covetousness is for
the heart to find another treasure outside of this world. And what
is that? Jesus Christ. Let the heart find
Him. And you know what the heart will
say? Let the Spirit get a hold of Him and see Him and know His
presence. And you know what the Spirit
will say? I want nothing else. I want nothing else. You keep
your temporal advantages. You keep your worldly fame. You
keep your praise of men. Keep all of this world and everything
it contains. I have Jesus and I am satisfied. I am content. David Beatty, sitting back here
on the left on Sunday evening, his mother said to me one time,
we were watching some young people They were so discontent. They
professed to know the Lord. She knew it and I knew it. And
she looked at me one day and she said, you know what the problem
is? They're not content with Christ. They're not content with
Christ. Why wouldn't a person be content
with Christ? He must not know Him. He must not know Him. He's the fullness, is He not? He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. In Him is fullness of joy. And you can't add anything to
fullness, can you? If I fill that glass up to the
brim with water and you put one more drop in it and it goes over
the side, it's full. And the One that dwells with
our spirit is full. It's full. You need nothing else. There is nothing else. So if
you've got His presence, I tell you it's freedom. It's free. Turn with me in closing to Romans
chapter 8. Let's finish it up like this. This presence is not optional.
It's not optional. The presence of the Lord Jesus
is not for just a handful of select people. If you don't have
His presence, you're not saved. It's vital, isn't it? His presence
is vital to be with our spirits. And look what He says here in
Romans chapter 8 and look in verse 8 and verse 9. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, He is none of His. You know, there are some people
in this world that's never going to have the Spirit of Christ.
They're never going to have it. And God has decreed that. In
election, there's also reprobation. And that tells us that the reprobate
will never be saved. He'll have nobody to blame but
Himself, and He'll be judged with a just judgment, but no
reprobate will ever have the presence of Jesus Christ with
His Spirit. And He'll be none of Christ's.
He'll be none of His. But you know there are some elect
souls out there that are ordained to salvation. They don't have
the Spirit of Christ yet either because He's not called them.
He's not regenerated them. And they have no reason to believe
that they're His. You know the only reason you
can sit here this morning and you can say, I'm His, because
you have His Spirit. His Spirit's been sent into your
heart crying, Father, Father. That's how you know that. These fellas, some of these Pentecostals
that tells us that you can be saved and not have the Spirit? That you're saved today and somewhere
down the road you have the Spirit? No! It don't matter what a man
professes. If he does not have the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His, is he? How else can we know Christ
without the Spirit? Flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. We cannot know
the things of God, the deep things of God, except the Spirit teach
us. I will give you another Comforter
and He will guide you. There is no repentance. There
is no faith. There is no salvation apart from
the blessed Holy Spirit abiding within. It is vital, isn't it? Oh, I wish I had His presence.
You've got to have His presence. It's essential. It's essential. And notice something else in
verse 11. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. That's our hope of the resurrection,
isn't it? If we die without the Spirit
of Christ, without His presence, we have no hope. Paul said, you
have this Spirit and you're getting older, but this inward man is
being held up and revived, and this old flesh is going to die. But he said, is He a temple?
Are you a temple? Does He dwell in you? Then He's
going to raise you up by His Spirit that dwells in you. That's why we're not afraid,
brothers and sisters, to lay this old body down when it's
time, with hope of a resurrection. Because the Spirit is in this
body. Isn't that a comforting thing
then? What a wonderful benediction that is. The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And not just His grace, but His
presence. The Lord Jesus Christ be with Let's pray.