A Tribute to Charlie Payne

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus as the shepherd?

The Bible describes Jesus as the Good Shepherd who provides, protects, and restores His people. In Psalm 23, David expresses confidence in the Lord as his shepherd, illustrating how He leads His people to provision and peace. Jesus, as the fulfillment of this image, embodies care and guidance, ensuring that His sheep do not lack for anything essential (Psalm 23:1). He provides spiritual nourishment through His word, guides into paths of righteousness, and offers comfort in the midst of life's trials and dangers (John 10:11-14). It is through knowing Him personally that believers find true peace and stability amidst their struggles.

Q: How do we know that God works for our good?

The Bible assures us that God works all things together for good for those who love Him. Romans 8:28-30 confirms that for those called according to His purpose, God works everything for good. This assurance is rooted in His sovereign will and loving character, meaning that every event in the life of a believer, no matter how challenging, is allowed or orchestrated by God for their ultimate benefit and His glory. This faithful promise provides comfort and hope, particularly in the face of suffering and loss, reminding believers that nothing is without purpose in God's redemptive plan.

Q: Why is knowing God important for Christians?

Knowing God is essential for Christians as it deepens their faith and provides true comfort and guidance. A personal relationship with God, particularly through Christ, transcends mere knowledge of the Scriptures. As illustrated in the sermon, it's not enough to know about the Lord; one must truly know Him as the Shepherd. This relationship informs and shapes a believer’s life, providing the assurance of His presence in trials, the promise of peace, and the comfort that comes from His guidance (Philippians 4:7). This knowledge is foundational for living a life in line with His will and experiencing the fullness of joy that is offered through Him.

Q: What does it mean that God restores our souls?

God restoring our souls means He reconciles us to Himself and renews our spiritual vitality. The notion of God restoring our souls, as mentioned in Psalm 23, speaks to the comprehensive work of redemption accomplished through Christ. This includes forgiveness of sins and the reconciliation of a wayward heart back to God (2 Corinthians 5:18). The act of restoration signifies an active work of grace where God revives, nurtures, and brings peace to the believer's life, reflecting the ongoing process of sanctification. In knowing that He has taken away our guilt and shame through Christ, believers can rest assured in their renewed standing and relationship with their Creator.

Last Thursday morning I went
up to the hospital, St. Mary's Hospital, to visit with
Brother Charlie Payne. They were going to perform heart
surgery Thursday morning at 7 o'clock. I didn't know whether I'd be
permitted to see him or not, but when I arrived at the hospital
they let me go in and speak to him and he was so happy and alert
and glad to see me and we had a good talk he said now if I
can remember some of the things he said he said I'm going to have this operation,
this surgery, because I have to. I can't stand the pain. I've got to have it. I said that
I wouldn't have it again, but I have to. But he said, I do
know this. He said, after this surgery,
I'm going to be temporarily well or completely well. And he said,
I'm not concerned. I'm not in distress. He said,
and this is what the Lord is my shepherd. And he said, the gospel that
we believe is the rock, that's the foundation, that's our peace
and our joy. That was the direction we talked. I want us to read that 23rd Psalm. Psalm 23. And this man of whom
I speak, I've known him, I've known Brother Payne for almost
30 years. He's been a dear brother and
a faithful help, elder and preacher in this church for a long, long
time. And I can confidently say this
morning that he not only knew the psalm, he knew the shepherd.
There's a difference. A lot of people know this psalm.
I hear people say, my favorite scripture is the twenty-third
psalm. It's one thing to know the psalm, it's another thing
to know the shepherd. And when you know the shepherd,
the psalm has richer comfort. David said, the Lord is my shepherd,
the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ is my shepherd. Therefore, not
because I deserve it, not because I'm worthy, not because I've
done anything, but because he's my shepherd, I shall not want.
That's the only reason. I do not want for righteousness.
My righteousness is in him. I do not want for forgiveness.
My forgiveness is in him. I do not want for daily provision.
He is my provider. He's my shepherd. The shepherd
loves the sheep. He said he did. He'll take care
of the sheep. He'll provide for the sheep. He'll meet every need
because he's my shepherd. And that's the only reason, because
he's my shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. You know what that is? That's
his word right here. A friend of mine, Brother Charlie
Jackson, pastor out in Texas, lost his 34-year-old son two
or three weeks ago. His son died. And having been
through this particular trial, I wrote to Charlie and I told
him that there's nothing I could say that would help him in this
awful, awful time. Nothing anyone else could say.
Human words, while we appreciate them, yet they do not comfort.
Because they come from a palpable source. I can't back up my words. I can say, be comforted, but
I can't comfort you. I can say be strong, but I can't
give you strength. I can say smile, but I can't
give you any reason to smile. But I said, Charlie, there are
two sources of comfort in this time. One is everything God does,
he does on purpose, he does for your good, he does for his glory,
and he does it because he willed to do it. Now, I know that. Charlie's
death is no accident. God willed it. And secondly,
your second source of comfort is the Word of God. Lie down
in the Word. He makes me to lie down in these
green pastures. The children's bread. Our Lord
said to Peter, you love me, feed my sheep. What am I going to
feed them? The Word of God. The Word of
God. The Word comforts me, the Word
encourages me, the Word convicts me. The Word of God gives me
peace. Faith comes by hearing the word
of God. Comfort one another with these words. He makes me to lie
down in green pastures. That's the word of God. Pastures
of tender grace. And then he leadeth me beside
the still waters. You don't want to take the sheep
down there where the waters are rushing and raging and falling
over the rocks and scare the sheep to death. Take them down
to drink that living water by the calm waters. The battle's
over. My Lord won the battle. He conquered the enemy. He calmed
the waters. He said, My peace I give unto
you. He leads me by still waters, quiet waters, in the green pastures
of the world, by the quiet waters of his peace and fellowship.
I have peace with God, peace in my soul, and peace with others,
because he made that peace through the blood of his cross. And he
restored my soul. My soul was lost, lost in Adam,
lost with the Father, separated from God. My sins and transgressions
separated me from God. I was lost. There was a price
on my soul. Justice and the law had a claim
on me. And my Lord came down and paid
that price and ransomed my soul and restored it back to the favor
of God. I'm in the favor of God. Thou
hast found favor with God. The angel said, Mary, blessed
are you among women, you are highly favored of God. Christ
reconciled us to God. Somebody said last week, God
doesn't need any reconciliation. Oh, I beg your pardon, God's
angry with the wicked. God must be reconciled. He reconciled
us to himself through the death of his Son. God was in Christ
reconciling us to himself. And I'll tell you this, he that
hath not the Son of God, the wrath of God abideth on him.
He restored my soul, satisfied the law, paid the debt of sin,
put away my transgression, and restored my soul into the favor
of God, reconciling us to God. And he leadeth me in paths of
holiness. I hear these, oh bless their
hearts, I feel sorry for the religious blind people of this
day, they talk about holiness. Holiness, holiness, our holiness,
holiness. My friends, there's no holiness in your name.
There's no holiness. All compared to other people,
you're the finest folks on earth. Fine mothers and daddies and
brothers and sisters and children. I appreciate you, thank God for
you. But I'll tell you, in the flesh
dwelleth no holy thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. When we stand in the light of
God's perfect, immaculate, eternal holiness, we have to blush. Man at his best state is vanity.
The finest person in this building, in the light of God Almighty's
holiness and righteousness, would have to brush with shame over
just the thoughts you've thought this morning, over just the attitude
that you woke up with this morning, just the spirit you have toward
other people and toward other things. The spirit and attitude
you have toward the providence of God Almighty We're grumblers
and gripers and fault-finders and murmurers, and if God gave
us what we deserve, he'd send us to hell and rid his earth
of our contamination, right? And you know it and I know it. But he who restored my soul by
his obedience and death, he, he, leadeth me." He had to bring
me there. I couldn't even find it. I didn't
even know where righteousness was. We don't even know what
holiness is! And he led me in paths of holiness
for his namesake. He did it, John, for his namesake.
He did it for his glory, and he did it! The Lord Jesus Christ
has given every believer a perfect standing before God, a perfect
holiness in the eyes and in the presence of his Father. He presents
us in himself through his obedience and righteousness and blood.
He presents us before God this morning wholly unblameable and
unreprovable in God's sight. Don't ask other people what they
think of you, they really don't even know you. What they know they like, but
what they don't know, oh, they wouldn't like that, would they,
Cecil? We let them know what we want them to know. But God,
all things are naked and open before him with whom we have
to do. And yet, my Lord, Jesus Christ, by his birth and life
and death and resurrection, had given to this old sinner whom
he represented before God a perfect holiness. Even God can find no
fault with me, because he's my shepherd. You
see that? He's my shepherd. And yea, verse
4, though I walk through this valley of the shadow of death,
that's not just when we come to die. We're walking through
the valley of the shadow of death right now. Death all about us. Death is
in us. The moment we were born and our
hearts began to beat, it was one beat closer to the grave.
Someone says the beating of the heart is nothing in the world
but the drums rolling and beating toward the grave. One less every
time it beats. One less. It's the point of the man who
wants to die. I'm walking through a valley of the shadow of death,
but let me tell you something. This valley of death contains
nothing for the child of God but shadows. There are no enemies. Christ has put them all away.
Now, the shadow of a dog will scare you, but it won't bite
you. The shadow of a gun will scare you, but it won't kill
you. The shadow of a knife will scare you, but it won't cut you. And all these around us, these
fears and trials and all these things, are but shadows. The
Lord Jesus has taken the sting out of death, he's taken the
power out of the hand of Satan, out of the power of him who controls
it, by God's permission. And all these are shadows. They're shadows, that's all they
are. These trials and sufferings and things, I fear cancer, I
fear heart trouble, I fear No, they're but shadows. All they
can do is take me into the presence of God. They can't hurt me. They
can't harm me. They can't damn me. They can't
condemn me. All these things. Somebody said
pneumonia is the old man's friend. Well, so's every other enemy,
because God's conquered them and He'll do nothing but take
you into His presence. He'll usher you into glory, like Bill
Border's son, Gary, said the other day, My daddy's about to
graduate, going to a higher place. I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for he's with me, thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, thy rod
to chasten me, thy rod to correct me. Get back in line, he says
to the sheep. reaches out with that hook on
that staff and pulls him back in. Thy rod and thy staff, even
his rod comforts me and his staff comforts me, and he prepares
a table before me in the presence of my enemies." Who are our enemies? Well, we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and
spiritual wickedness and high places and rulers of the darkness.
You don't even see them, because he takes care of them. And right
in the presence of all these enemies of God, and enemies of
the covenant of grace, and enemies of Christ, and enemies of the
glory and kingdom of God, he just sets his people down and
says, let's feast. Those enemies there, don't worry
about them. I've already taken care of them. Right in the presence
of our enemies, he prepares the table, and he anoints my head
with oil, and my cup just runs over. My cup runs over. Surely, surely because he's my
shepherd, surely because he's restored my soul, surely because
he's given me a righteousness and satisfaction, honored the
law, surely goodness, his goodness and his mercy, and that's what
I want, is his mercy, shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I will. dwell in the house of the Lord
forever." I sat down and wrote the tribute to Charlie Payne
last night. I got word last night that he
couldn't survive this, and the Lord took him home at 10 o'clock But I want you to listen to what
I wrote here. Charlie Payne does not live here
anymore. His father called him and he's
gone home. And Charlie will not worship
the Lord with us here again. He's with the glorified church
this morning. He's in the company of angels.
He's rejoicing around the throne of the Lamb. Can you get hold
of that? And besides, he wouldn't be content
to be here anymore. Imagine listening to us sing,
Mike, after hearing the heavenly choir. Imagine trying to listen to me
try to preach after he's heard the Master speak. That wouldn't
be. He wouldn't want that. Imagine coming down here like
we are today trying to look at Christ through a glass dimly
when he's already seen him face to face. He wouldn't be content here. Charlie will not preach again
here in person. He won't preach at Cottageville. You won't preach at Vermont,
or Albany, or Mexico. We love to preach at Mexico. But he'll preach again, for he
being dead yet speaketh, and is spoken of. Y'all been talking
about him all morning. He'll preach. Somebody said,
are you going to preach so-and-so's funeral? No, it's already been
preached. I'm just going to give a tribute, but he's already preached
it. For like Abel of old, by faith in Christ Jesus, Charlie
trusted that excellent sacrifice. He didn't bring his works, he
came by the blood. He trusted that excellent sacrifice
by which he obtained the righteousness of God. God testifying of his
gifts of love, faith, joy, meekness, gentleness and kindness, and
by his testimony he being dead yet speaketh, and is spoken of
by all who knew him and all who heard him. Charlie will not be sending birthday
cards to you anymore. He'll not be mailing the Sunday
tapes and bulletins to the missionaries every Monday. Did you know he
did that? For years and years and years. He'll not be taking
his friends out to eat. He loves to do that. He'll not be coming by the parsonage
every week to encourage his pastor and to tell him that he'd pray
for him while he preached. And you'll not be designating
his special gifts for the missionaries anymore, and the needy. He helps so many people. But by his example of grace and
generosity, the Lord is going to carry on
that ministry of love through us. Charlie won't send a card, but
you will, because he set a good example. Huh? And Charlie will never be sick
again. He'll never hurt anymore. He'll never weep anymore. He'll
never die. This mortal has put on immortality. The weak is now strong. He's now glorified. The corruptible
has put on incorruption because of the mercy and grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he's with God. And God said,
I will be their God, and I will wipe away all tears from their
eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain, for all these things are
passed away. And God said, I make all things
new. Now, I'm going to do something
very unusual, but I feel led of God's Spirit to do it. Several days ago, I asked Brother Charlie one Wednesday
night if he would come up here and say a few words. I felt definitely
impressed of God to do that, and I asked him to read a scripture
because I felt really this was going to happen. He's been a
very sick man a long time. And he came up here and told
us goodbye, didn't he? You remember you that were here
on that Wednesday night? He told us goodbye. And we have it on
tape. And last night over here, Ronnie
and Bob and I played it. His goodbye. It's just short,
but I want you to hear it. Would you mind listening to it
again? Ronnie said, I heard things I didn't hear that Wednesday
night. Ronnie, you come up here, would you? And bring that tape.
and i want you to listen to a man who i think he knew i think charlie
knew that this would that was the last time he'd speak to us
i believe he knew that and it was and uh... i want you to set it right up
here and i want you to listen to this i want to get it just
right so you can hear it well we're deeply grateful tonight
to have brother charlie paine back home again after an absence
of almost three weeks, a trip to Mexico and all points south. I've asked him to come and give
us a word of greeting and read the scriptures for us and lead
us in prayer. Brother Charlie. I'm going to read from 1 John
chapter 4 if you want to, but I'll make a few comments before
we read this scripture. And first of all, I want to thank
all of you for your calls and cards expressing your concern
and love for me. Love is mutual. I don't know
of a place on earth where there isn't any place. Look at this,
where I want to be, right here. And when I'm away, I think about
you all. And being in Mexico, I'm visiting
with Walter and Betty, and they're doing well. Things are going
well. I visited one of the schools
that Walter has with the pastors down there, and Walter graciously
invited me to speak for an hour or so for the group there, and
I enjoyed that thoroughly, and was pleased that when Walter
was interpreting, I could make that out, head shaking. Walter has taught those men well. If the time ever comes, which
it might, that Walter has to leave there, that work will go
right on. Those pastors who are there now,
they are grounded in the truth. We thank God for that and thank
God for Walter giving his life to that work down there. They
are looking forward to our pastor coming down next week, I think
it is, and then going on over to shop us with Milton and Claudia. We were down there last year,
and the work there has progressed and come along real well. But
I am glad to be home. This is the one place in the
world that I would rather be than to be. with missionaries in Mexico.
I like to go down there, but I'm ready to come home when the
time comes. I just, well, I know you love
me. That's been evidence not only
the last few days, but ever since I've come to this church, it
seems like that the people here just took me under their arm
and guided me in my ignorance, and I know now your patience. because I know a little bit more
now than I did when I first came here. I can see back over the
years how you overlooked my faults and my ignorances and led me
and taught me, and especially my dear pastor, Henry Mahan. A man dear to my heart, dear
to your heart, and he is dear to many hearts around this world. We thank God for him. But it's
good to be home. It's good to know one of these days I'm going home, and as well as I love you, the sooner the better. To be with Christ, I don't know
of anything in this world that... I know you love me and you'll
grieve me, but don't weep for me. I'll be with
him. I'll be weeping for you. If I'm
conscious by last breath, I'll be weeping for you. You've got
to stay here in Egypt. I'm going to Canaan's land. Well,
that may be 20 years from now, but I'm looking forward to it. I want you to know that. I don't know how to say it. I
hate to leave you, but I want to see him and be with him.

A Tribute to Charlie Payne

What does the Bible say about Jesus as the shepherd?

How do we know that God works for our good?

Why is knowing God important for Christians?

What does it mean that God restores our souls?

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A Tribute to Charlie Payne

What does the Bible say about Jesus as the shepherd?

How do we know that God works for our good?

Why is knowing God important for Christians?

What does it mean that God restores our souls?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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