Now, as all of you are aware
by this time, that Darce and I are involved in a traumatic
move. We came to Ashland, Kentucky. We were married just a few months. We came here in 1947. I began a ministry here 61 years
ago. And we have lived for the last
51 of those years on Stevens Avenue in Ashland, Kentucky. Made a lot of wonderful friends
and the Lord blessed the ministry there. And our children though
feel at our age that Doris and I need to move closer to them,
and I think they're wise, and I think the Lord has led us to
engage in this effort of moving to Rocky Mount, Virginia. Both of us sought the will of
the Lord in this matter, and prayed and discussed it, discussed
it with others, sought the will of the Lord, and after about
three years of retirement, and already both of us past 80 years
of age, we sat down and decided we better move over close to
our children. And so we put the house up for
sale. I was looking for some some evidence. You know one time Brother Tom
Harding preached at Rocky Mountain years ago, I guess twenty-four
years ago. And he came to 13th Street and
walked in my study and we sat and talked a while. He said,
those folks over there talk to me about being their pastor. He said, you know, he said, I
believe that if a man makes a move like that, he ought to have some
evidence from God. You remember that? I do, like
yesterday. I feel like he ought to have
some evidence from God that God is in it. And I said, I agree
with you. And he waited a little while
longer and the evidence came here. And he was called as pastor
of this church. Well, Darcy and I have sought
some evidence that the Lord is in our move. It's a traumatic
move. And y'all know, don't you? Bridget and Tom moved. So we put our house up for sale.
It was in the paper. And my good friend Mark Breeden,
I asked him to be my real estate representative. So he put it
in the paper. He sold it in three days. He
said that's pretty good evidence And so, Darce and I went to Virginia
and visited with our children and we started looking for houses.
We found one and bought it in three days. And everything seems
to be moving in such a way that the Lord is giving us an evidence
that that he's in this matter. And I thank the Lord, I thank
the Lord that Brother Tom let me come down today and visit
with you all and bring a message because who knows what the future
holds. But I was this close and I thought
I'm going to come down here and visit with the folks at Zebulon. And the Lord allowed me to meet
you all many years ago and I'm thankful. I'm thankful that he
allowed me to have a little part in this ministry here. I've got a scripture here I want
to share with you in regard to the ministry. I've been in the
ministry a long time, and I'm reaching the twilight years of
my ministry, and Tom's right in the heart of his ministry,
and the other men who are just starting. You're in the prime
years, and I'm in the last years. But there's a scripture here,
I want you to turn to Psalm 40. Psalm 40, there's a scripture
here in which our Lord, Jesus Christ, set forth his testimony
and his ministry, and I believe he sets forth, Brother Tom, your
ministry and my ministry, right here in this scripture. Psalm
40 beginning with verse 7. The Lord Jesus said, Then said
I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written of me.
And that is true of every true minister of God. God calls him,
God puts him in the ministry and God gives him a message and
gives him a hearing. And then our Lord said this,
I delight to do thy will. You know, he taught us to pray.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done. on earth as in heaven. And our
Lord says, I delight to do the will of God. And then he said,
O God, thy law is within my heart. I tell you, God will never give
you a man a message that he doesn't put in his heart. He puts that
message in his heart and then he tells people and rejoices. And our Lord said, thy law is
in my heart. And then he said this, I have
preached righteousness. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation before all the people. I have preached
righteousness. You know we have too. I have,
Tom is. He made him to be seen for us
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And that's the
righteousness we preach. That he made him to be seen in
our place instead. and he made us righteous in him
and he says I preach that message and I have not refrained my lips
O Lord thou knowest and then look at verse 10 I have not hid
thy righteousness within my heart and I thought about this what
is it to hide the gospel He said, I have not hid thy righteousness,
thy gospel, thy truth. I haven't hid it in my heart.
I preached it. What is it to hide the gospel? Well, let me give you a point
here. To hide the gospel is to keep
back portions of scripture for covetous reasons. You know, Paul
said this, I kept back nothing profitable unto you. And that's
the first way that they hide the gospel. They hide portions
of scripture they don't want the people to hear. They don't
want to be identified with. Secondly, I tell you, what is
it to hide the gospel? It's to entangle truth with eloquence
and human wisdom. It's to wrap it in the cloth
of human wisdom and intellect. That's what it is. And thirdly,
it's to cover the truth with enticing words. Just preach it. Just preach it. And then fourthly,
it's just to hide the gospel. It's to preach the letter of
the law without the love of Christ. Without the grace of Christ.
Just preach the letter. And then fifthly, our Lord said
this, I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared
four things. Four things. Three things. I have declared three things.
I have declared God's faithfulness, God's salvation, God's loving
kindness, and God's truth. Three things. That's what we
preach. That's what we preach. I have declared God's faithfulness. Faithful as God. I have declared
thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness,
but I have declared thy truth to the great congregation." Oh
my, the truth of God. Great is His faithfulness. Oh God, my Father. There's not
a shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not. Thy compassions
fail not. Great is Thy faithfulness. thy loving kindness and thy truth. And I covet, I have for years
coveted the spirit of love in my preaching. I tell you, it's
one thing I hear people say, well I just love to preach. Well I do too. I do too. That's my colleague. But I tell
you it's quite another thing to love the people to whom you
preach. I want to preach the truth of
God and I want to preach it in love. Love. Somebody said one time, does
this man preach the gospel? Well, he preaches doctrine, he
preaches theology, he preaches different things, but to preach
the gospel is to preach the gospel in love and grace. The angel
said to the shepherd, we bring you glad tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all the people. You see what I'm trying to say?
And this man preaches the gospel in love and grace because he
loves the people of God. Paul said this, the servant of
God must not strive. We're not called to argue, we're
called to proclaim the gospel. We're not called to argue with
people. The servant of God must not strive. He must be gentle. Gentle with
all men. Apt to teach. Patient. In humility. Instructing people
who oppose themselves. That's our calling. We have to
instruct people who are at war with God. But we won't do it
by fighting them. We won't do it that way. We don't
do it with conflict and argumentation. We do it with grace and love. Be gentle with all men. I want you to turn for the message
this morning to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. Here's what I
call this message. I call this message the gospel
one more time. The gospel. One more time. Richard Baxter said one time,
I preach as one who may never preach again. I preach as a dying man to dying
men. Oh may God give us one more message. the gospel the gospel one more
time in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 did I tell you 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5 beginning with verse 10 for we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that which he hath done whether
it be good of whether it be bad. What Paul is saying here is there
will be a judgment. God must punish sin. God will punish sin. There will
be a judgment, but not for believers. But not for believers. There
is therefore now no judgment to them who are in Christ. There
is therefore now no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus.
Because Paul said, who can lay any charge? Who can lay any charge? Anything to the charge of God's
elect. There is nothing there. Our sins
are forgiven. Our sins are forgotten. Because
they are put away through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, Paul said this too. God hath appointed a day. That's
what he says here. There must be a day. We'll be
witnesses of the judgment, but we'll not be participating in
that judgment. We'll be witnesses, but not participate
in it. God hath appointed a day in which
he shall judge the world. Not the believer, he'll judge
the world. and God's going to judge the
world in righteousness and he's going to judge it by that man
whom he hath ordained whereby he hath given assurance in all
that he raised him from the dead he's going to judge all men in
Christ if they did not believe in Christ they'd be judged and
God said this Vengeance is mine. I will repay. Don't you take
vengeance. It's not our business in any
way to take vengeance against anyone. God said vengeance is
mine. I'll do the paying. God says
he has appointed a day in which he'll judge. Look at verse 11. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, what did the word say? It's a terrible thing to
fall into the hands of a living God. It's a terrible thing. Knowing the terror of the Lord. I don't claim to have any special
revelation of that day of judgment. I don't know anything about it.
I don't have any revelations about it. But I do know this.
I have seen in the word the wrath of God. I saw the wrath of God
in the scriptures in Noah's day. the wrath of God. I saw in the
scriptures the wrath of God upon Sodom. I saw in the scriptures
the wrath of God upon the firstborn in Egypt. And I'll tell you,
the destruction of Jerusalem is the wrath of God. The destruction
of Jerusalem under Titus the emperor. But listen, listen,
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, what are we going
to do about it? We are going to persuade men. We persuade
men to flee from the wrath of God. We persuade men to flee
from the wrath of God. We are not going to spend our
time preaching on hell and judgment. We are going to preach Christ
and persuade people to flee to Christ. When we were growing up in Alabama, we knew a preacher there. Jesse
Henley was his name. And Jesse Henley, this was his
reputation. He preaches hellfire all the
time. Almost every sermon that Jesse
Henley preached was about hell, wasn't it, Dorothy? Jesse, that's
the way he preaches hell. But I'm not preaching hell. And
it's not the fear of hell that drives men to Christ. It's the
goodness of God. It's the grace of God. It's the
story of Christ. It's not the fear of hell that
converts a man. It's the goodness of God that
leads men to repentance. It's the grace and mercy and
love of Christ Jesus. But knowing the terror of the
Lord, we persuade men But we're made, look at this verse, but
we're made manifest under God. And I trust are made manifest
in your hearts, in your conscience. This is our message. It's the
message of love and grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. And that's
our message, and I'm persuaded that's your message. Look at
verse 12. For we commend not ourselves
unto you. What's Paul saying? We don't
commend ourselves. We don't preach ourselves. We
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. And ourselves
your servants for Christ's sake. We don't commend ourselves, not
at all. Paul said I've planted, Apollo's
watered, but God gives the increase. Neither is he that plants anything.
Nor he that watereth is not anything. God is everything. And it is
God who gives the increase. Let's learn that. We commend
not ourselves. I have planted, I've watered,
but God gives the increase. God is everything. And God is
the only one who can give the increase. But he said but. I'm
going to show you something here. But give you. I give you occasion
to glory on our behalf. We have a ministry. God gave
us that ministry. God sent us to preach to you
and others that you may have somewhat to answer those who
glory in appearance and not in heart. We want to make this plain
now. That we commend not ourselves.
We don't glory in ourselves. But we bring you a message that
brings the glory to God. And you give us the proper respect
and admiration and whatever that comes that way through the preaching
of the gospel. But people glory in appearance
and not in heart. And that's sad. But now watch
this, verse 13. This is interesting right here.
See if I can give you a little help on this. For whether we
be beside ourselves, what does that mean? Here's what he's saying,
I may seem a little fanatical to you, I may seem a little fanatical,
a little radical, maybe too serious, maybe too uptight, but it's for
your sake. Listen, for whether we be beside
ourselves, it's to God, if I feel like I'm preaching to Firmly
and to harshly and to sometimes it is to God That seemed like
a radical person. It's to God whether we be sober. It's for your your sake Now I
want you to do something here See that verse right here verse
13 whether we be mad Upset beside ourselves. It's to God Whether
we be sober serious solemn. It's for your cause. I Turn with
me to Acts 26. Acts chapter 26. And I want you
to see Paul when he preached to this fella Festus in Acts
26. Old Festus thought Paul was a
bad man. Look right here, Acts 26 verse
23. Listen to this. Acts 26, 23. And here's what
Paul was saying. Acts 26, 23, that Christ should
suffer and that he should be first that should rise from the
dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. And as he thus spake for himself,
Festus, that emperor, that ruler, said with a loud voice, Paul,
you're beside yourself. Isn't that what Paul said? You're
beside yourself. Must learning have made you mad? Must learning have made you mad?
And old Paul answered him, he said, I'm not mad. most noble
festers, when I speak words of truth, seriousness, soberness. For the King knows of these things
before whom I speak freely. I'm persuaded that none of these
things about Christ Jesus, His death, His burial, His resurrection,
these things are not hidden from the King. This thing was not
done in a corner. King Agrippa, don't you believe
the prophets? I know you do. Deep down. Deep down. I tell you this, I
don't believe anybody is an atheist. They may claim to be. They may
profess to be. But I beg your pardon. I beg
your pardon. In here, God reveals himself
to people in their conscience, in creation, in all things. You can't hide from God, you
can't hide God. That's right. Brother Barnard,
Brother Barnard was raised by a godly mother and father, and
they wanted him to be a preacher so bad, so badly, that he wanted
to be a preacher. And so when he graduated from
high school, they sent him to Hardin Simmons Baptist University,
down in Texas, to study to be a preacher. Well, he rebelled.
He became president of the Infidels Club in a Baptist University. Rob Barnard was president of
the Infidels Club in Hardin Simmons University. That's right. And
after I met him years later, he said to me, he said, I used
to say there was no God. All day long I talked to young
people about there's no God. At night when I went to bed and
the lights were out, I prayed to the God I didn't believe in
to let me live to the morning, so I'll tell everybody, don't
believe in God. There is no ace. No, sir. And old Paul says, I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm very serious. And I may appear to be a little
fanatical, a little radical, a little too serious. But I'm
doing it before God. for your sake. This is the truth. We preach the truth. Alright,
look at verse 14. Verse 14. For the love of Christ,
the love of Christ constraineth us. The love of Christ constrains
me, it motivates me. It impels me. It impairs, but
the love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge, if
he died for all, then all were dead. We're not constrained by
love for money. We're not constrained by a desire
for a reward. We're not constrained by gain
or glory. We're not constrained by a fear
of hell. We're constrained by the love of Christ Jesus. I watched
you as you preached this morning and taught us the love and grace
that flowed through you to us. It is God's love and mercy and
grace that he died for us and if he died for us, if he died
for us, then we are all dead. Let me give you maybe an outline
here, something you can hang on to right here. If Christ died
for us, We must have been hopelessly condemned. For the Son of God
to come here and die for us, we must have been in a fix, in
a terrible shape. Secondly, if He died for us,
then there's no other way to be saved. If Christ Jesus came and died
in our place, there's no other way to be saved. Thirdly, if
He died for us, the Heaven and the Father must have willed it The Heavenly Father must have
willed and sent his son to die for us. God did it. It pleased
God to bruise him. That's right. Fourthly, if he
died for us, he must have loved us with an incredible love. With
an indescribable love. With unspeakable love. If he
died for us, such wretches. Oh, what love. Oh what love that
Jesus should die for me. If he died for us, here's my
next point, would not such love and such grace be enough motivation
for me to serve him and labor in his cause and live for his glory? If he
died for me. Look at verse 15. And that he died for all that
they which live should not live for themselves but unto him who died for them
and rose again. That's our motivation. Love of
Christ constrains us, impels us, motivates us, because He
died for us. Spurgeon summed it up this way.
Here's the sum and substance of a true ministry. He died that
we might live. He died that we should live,
spiritually, eternally, and never die. He died that we should live,
not for ourselves, not to serve ourselves, not to profit or honor or hold ourselves in reputation,
but to live in obedience to Him and to honor and glorify Him.
He died that we should live for His body, the church, for His
sheep, because He said, as often as you've done this, Unto the
least of these my brethren, you did it to me." I may have given you this illustration,
but there were two little boys, one about ten or twelve and one
about four or five. Poor boys, little poor street
urchins, and they were sitting on the steps of an apartment
building, watching people go by, two little boys. Pretty soon
a man, a nice young man, drove up in a car and parked his car
right in front of those two little boys. And the man got out, and when
he got out of the car, those two boys just walked straight
to that beautiful, shiny, brand new, wonderful looking automobile. Oh, it was something else, something
to behold. And the man stood there and watched
these little boys look at it and reach out and touch it, you
know. And the man looked at him and said, the son said, you boys
like my car? Man, he said, I never seen anything
like this before. Jimmy, look at that car. Isn't
that a wonderful car you've ever seen in your life? His brother
nodded. And then Jimmy looked at the
owner of the car and he said, did you buy that car? And it
must cost you a lot. And the man said, no I didn't
son, my brother gave that car to me. Your brother gave you
that car? Your brother gave you that car?
Free? For nothing? That's right. Boy, that boy said, little brother,
he said, Jimmy, I wish I could be a brother like that. And the
man said, what did you say, son? He turned to his brother, Jimmy,
and he said, I said to Jimmy here that I wish I could be a
brother like that. I'd like to be a brother like
that. That's what we're saying here. Verse 15, if he died for
all, then they which live should not henceforth live for themselves,
but in him that loved us, died for us, and rose again. Verse 16, look at this. Now henceforth,
wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh. We know
no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
when He was in the flesh, yet henceforth now know we Him no
more in that way. The word here, know no man after
the flesh, means this, that we don't esteem and value and approve
of any man in the flesh. Because all men in the flesh
sin and come short of the glory of God. Man at his best state
is altogether vanity. Our Lord once walked this earth
in the flesh and we esteemed him, worshipped him, held him
in highest regard because he was perfect but we don't esteem
or value or approve of any man in the flesh solely because he's
in the flesh but now what's the next verse but verse 17 therefore
if any man be in Christ if he's in Christ he's not in the flesh
he's in Christ He's in the flesh, human to speak, but he's in Christ,
spiritually. He's a new creature. He's a new
creation. Old things have passed away,
and behold, all things become new. The word creature here is
creation. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. He's a new creation, regardless
of his color, regardless of his class regardless of his culture
if he's in Christ he's a new creature and we love him and
we honor him and we esteem him quite highly like I love and
esteem you and I believe you love and esteem me we're in the
flesh but we're new creatures new creatures in Christ Jesus
you know why we're called new creatures Because the creation,
the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. And God said
let there be light. And there was light. He created
man. But this new creature is by the same author as the one
that created the earth. It's God that did it. Secondly,
this new creature, this new creation is done by the same word. God
said, let there be light. And the same word and the same
spirit. God moved on the face of the
waters. The spirit moved on the face of the waters. God said,
let there be light. That's how we were created. The new creature
is created out of nothing. Out of nothing. The world was
framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were
not made of things which do appear. There wasn't anything in you,
wasn't anything in you that motivated or drew the love of God. It was
Christ. You witness the new creation
is by the same author, by the same word, same spirit, out of
nothing, And these creations, watch this, that old creation,
that old creation is kept by God awaiting what? Destruction. Heaven and earth should pass
away. And this old world is passing away. And this old body is fit
for destruction. It's passing away. We look for
a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and we
look for a new body. Way and dwelling. Righteous. Preacher, I wrote myself a note. Do you understand what you're
saying? How that we are ourselves the
old man born in sin, the old man that will one day die and
go back to the dust and rot. Yet in Christ you say by the
will of God and the power of God that we're in through faith
in Christ we're a new person born of God and cannot sin because
we're born of God and will never die and we're brand new creation
that didn't get anything from the old creation. Do you understand
what you're saying? Yep. But I don't understand it. I don't understand the mystery
of godliness. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. I don't understand that. Christ
became a lamb. God was justified in the spirit. God died on the cross to justify. He was seen of the angels, prophesied,
committed to the angels. Priest to me and you, Gentiles. Raised up forever. I don't understand
that, but I believe it. One thousand percent. One thousand
percent. Then I'm going to quit. Verse seventeen, Therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, These old things have
passed away and all things in Christ have become new. Everything
in Him is new. It's all new. And all things are of God. All
things in regard to these things are of God. He has reconciled
us to Himself by Jesus Christ and given us a ministry of reconciliation. John Newton said this, he said,
well, I'm not all that I ought to be. I'm not all that I want
to be. I'm not all that I expect to
be someday. But I'm not what I once was.
I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus by the grace of God. And
I will grow in that grace and that knowledge of my Lord and
Savior until he called me home. Old Brother Barnard, he was my
friend for many years and one of the greatest preachers that
I ever listened to. He taught me the gospel of God's
grace. And he told me a story, he said he went to hold a meeting at
a church And one of the ladies of the church
was a faithful, faithful believer in Christ. She attended all the
services, but her husband never came. He never attended. Because he owned a tavern. He
owned a drinking place down the street, so he didn't come with
her to church. But she asked Brother Barnard
And one night after the service, I said, would you come to my
house for dinner? You and the pastor, would you
all come and let me fix you a nice dinner? Oh, he said, I'd be glad
to. Now she said, my husband won't
come to church. I said, he's a nice fellow, but
he owns a tavern. And he said, I don't mind coming
and eating with you and your husband. So Brother Barnard went,
and they sat around the table, the pastor, Brother Barnard,
and the husband here, and the wife. You know, slight of conversation
a little bit, because of that, his rebellion. And he looked
at Brother Barney, he said, Preacher! He said, I guess you notice I
don't come to church. Yes, Barney said, I saw that. He said, do you want to know
why I don't come to church? Yes, he said, I'd like to know
why. He said, well every time I go down there, through the
years, Preachers try to get me converted and try to get me to
sell my tavern. And he said, I'm not about to
sell my tavern. Barnard looked at him and said,
you don't have to sell your tavern to be saved. That ain't the way
a man gets saved by selling his tavern. He said, you know, I
think I'll come hear you preach. This is true stuff. So she went
and he went with her. And they listened to Brother
Barnard preach, not about taverns, He preached Christ, the Lordship
of Christ, the love of Christ, the mercy of Christ, the goodness
of Christ. And that old man came back again.
And he came back again. And you know what? The Lord saved
him. The old man saved him. You know what he did next? He
sold his tavern. Don't turn it around. Don't turn
it around. Find him. And these other things
will just fall off like dead leaves fall off a tree, like
things that you used to do so much and people you used to run
around with and all this. You just don't have time for
them anymore. Christ is the answer for all things. Christ is the
Lord. Have Him, you have everything. Our Father, we are grateful for
your word, oh how thankful we are that you revealed the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ to our hearts and brought us to love
him and rest in him. Thank you so much for this dear
pastor and his wife. And these dear folks here that
have been so faithful through the years, I pray you'd continue
to bless this ministry, bless this pastor, bless this congregation
as you have already. We give you the praise and the
glory for all things. We pray for our children, our
grandchildren, pray for our loved ones. Pray Lord you'd give them
a love for Christ, interest in the gospel. Lord, edge them about
with your tender mercies. Keep them safe. Bring them to
the knowledge of the Savior. We thank you for this time together.
Thank you so much for your word. Pray that you'd bless this message
according to your will in Christ's name. Amen. Hmm.