(Transcript of a lesson taught at Landmark Baptist Church, Locust Grove, GA, on August 30, 2015.)
I love Bible character
studies. Bible people fascinate me. They are historic people, but that’s only
one of their dimensions. They’re often pictures of people coming after them in
scripture, but they’re also a select group of people who represent everyone
else in human history, since the Bible is a timeless book for the benefit of
all mankind.
Did you know that
you’re in the Bible? Maybe not by name, but there’s some character(s) that
reflects your character, for better or worse, and you need to get familiar with
them and learn from them. Paul said “For
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning…”
(Rom. 15:4a), in reference to the old testament, and there’s much in both testaments
that reveals our own character through the Bible characters and…the proper response thereto.
What I’d like to
show you this morning is a group of people who left a name behind them…forever;
and so will you. It’s not too late to be thinking about this. Some older people
have made their greatest contributions in their latter or even sunset years,
which is really no surprise, since your inner character has ripened by then,
hopefully to produce good fruit.
Your decisions
determine your destiny. Someone put it this way, “Sow a thought, reap an
action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a
character, reap a destiny.” One leads to the other, so the legacy you leave
depends on your thoughts, actions, habits, and character.
Let’s take a look at
several people in scripture, and the names they left behind. Remember that
these are the names that God inspired the writers of scripture to record for those
of us living in time and for all eternity.
11. Abraham, the Friend of God (Jas. 2:23)
a. Jas.
2:23—“Friend” with a capital “F”; called by whom? Well, Jehoshaphat, a godly
Judean king called him that (2 Chron. 20:7), but that’s not all—cf. Is 41:8…God called him his friend. Why?
b. Someone you can
trust; someone who loves you at all times and won’t forsake you (Prov. 17:17; 27:10)
c. God said that
about Abraham; as a man, Abraham had his faults, like all of us do, but at the
core of his being he was God’s friend: he trusted God and vice versa (Gen. 18:19)
22. Achan, the troubler of Israel (1 Chron. 2:7)
a.
His sin cost
others their lives (36 soldiers at Ai, then his entire family)
b. When the Israelites
were right with God, they were unbeatable, but because of Achan’s sin, they
suffered an unusual and unseemly setback, and God was very upset by it
c. Where we get the
expression “sin in the camp”; one man’s sin hurts everyone, and Paul applies
this to an erring brother in 1 Cor. 5:6: “a little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump…”
33. David, a man after God’s heart and the sweet psalmist
of Israel (1 Sam. 13; Acts 13; 2 Sam. 23)
a.
Even after his
fall, God didn’t take these titles back (grace), though David paid for his sin
b.
God doesn’t judge
you by an isolated incident in your life, but by the sum total of your life
c. You’ll have your
failures, but don’t let them stop you from going on for God. There’s too much
grace for that!
i.
Paul said
“forgetting those things which are behind…” (Phil. 3:13);
ii.
David—Ps. 37:24
iii.
Solomon—Prov.
24:16
44. Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin (1 Ki. 15:26, 34,
etc.)
a. None of his
successors in Israel were ever able to shake the idolatry he set up, even Jehu,
who killed all of the Baal-worshippers, but give up worshipping the golden
calves
b. Effects of his
sin were greater than Achan’s; nation eventually destroyed because of them
c. He started out
good (“industrious”; cf. 1 Ki. 11:28), but made some terrible choices that not
only ruined him personally, but an entire nation; O the power of choice!
55. Athaliah, that wicked woman (2 Chron. 24:7)
a.
2 Chron.
22:10-12—Jehu kills Ahaziah, Athaliah’s son
b. Ahaziah’s sister
hides his son Joash, with help of her husband, Jehoiada the priest from her in
the temple for six years
c. Jehoiada leads a
rebellion against her and no one stands with her, she’s so hated
d. Is it worth going
down in history and eternity as wicked to rule a country for 6-7 years? Her
mama was Jezebel, whom people name their dogs after, not their daughters
66. Haman, the enemy of the Jews (Esth. 9:10, 24)
a. Long before
Hitler, there was Haman (Eccl. 1), who wanted to destroy them all; but God used
queen Esther and her guardian Mordecai to stop him
b.
Only two books in
scripture don’t mention God’s name; but book doesn’t have to have God’s name in
it to be inspired
c. If you study
Esther, you see God working all through it in preserving his people through
Esther and Mordecai; no matter how hard Satan, antichrist, Hitler, and anyone
else try to destroy Israel they cannot do it; since God made covenants with
Abraham and David that they will be around forever
d. Don’t be an enemy
of the Jews, in any age! do your best to tell them about Jesus and how they can
be saved; Christ died for all of us, even the Jews who crucified him, so let’s
do all we can to bring them to him
77. Nicodemus, who “came to Jesus by night” (John 7:50,
19:39)
a.
His shame
recorded for ever, even though he comes out boldly later (God notes both)
b.
I’m not sure why
that is, but on the negative side it could be to remind us how bad it is to
fear man more than God; that’s why he came to Christ by night—he didn’t want
his fellow religious leaders to know, lest he lose his place of authority, and
perhaps his life
c.
God does not want
us to be ashamed of him; Paul said that he was not ashamed of the gospel nor
the suffering that it brought him, since his Saviour suffered for the truth also
d. We can’t expect
everyone to like us if we speak up for the Lord; some may, but most won’t
according to the scriptures, because most people love sin more than they love
God, which is very sad, considering the consequences (2 Th. 2:12)
e.
If you’re a
believer, don’t be ashamed of the Lord; your flesh will always be, but your job
is to deny it and let the Lord work through you despite it; I still battle it daily, but I recognize it for what it
is and ask God’s help to overcome it for his glory, and so can you!
88. Mary Magdalene—out of whom went seven devils (Mark 16:9;
Luke 8:2)
a.
Christ cast these
devils out of her; no doubt she was deep in sin to become possessed
b.
Luke 7:47—much forgiveness,
much love
c. Mary M. was at the
cross, she was first at the tomb on resurrection morning, and she was the first
to see the risen Christ; what grace!
d. Often those who
sink the lowest appreciate salvation the most; no need to go out and sin,
though; just immerse yourself in the Bible and God will show you how much you
need him and how thankful you should be for him saving you
99. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23-25)
a. Speaks of a special
love and intimacy between them, compared with the other disciples (note he
didn’t say “apostle”—humility…just another disciple; and didn’t name himself,
but rather his Lord; great spirit!)
b. God loves all of
us in Christ, but some in Christ are more intimate with him than others, and
you can be one of those
c. It’s up to you
how “close” you are to God, and the Lord will reward you more for being more
intimate with him
d. Works like this:
more intimate you become with him, the more yielded you become, then the more
obedient, earning you more rewards [contrast
John’s clear conscience in 13:25 with Peter’s bad one there and his braggadocio
in 13:37; he doesn’t betray the Lord, but he does deny him, whereas John only
deserts him for a time, when he’s en route to the high priest’s palace]
e. So press closer
to him; you’re part of his body, but you determine your level of intimacy with
him nonetheless (2 Cor. 6:14-18; “temple of God” must separate itself unto God)
110.
Judas, the traitor (Luke 6:16)
a. Remember Benedict
Arnold? Nathan Hale? One went down with a bad name, one a good
b. Judas, just like
Pilate, could have been a great man, but he was greedy and sold the Lord out
for a pitifully small sum of money (30 pieces of silver), so great was his
greed, and his hatred of the Lord
c. What tipped him
off? In John 12:1-8, Jesus stomped on his false piety in Lazarus’ house
d.
The Lord wants
worship first, service second (first and second commandments); Judas may have
looked good to men saying that, but inwardly he was full of hell, and the real
him, the traitor, came out soon enough
111.
Barnabas, a good man and full of the Holy Ghost (Acts
11:24)
a. Can’t be good without
the Holy Ghost; Paul said in Rom. 7:18 that he knew that in him, that is in his
flesh, dwelt no good thing, since there was something good in him, Christ
b. Only God is
good—that’s what Christ told the rich young ruler in three gospels (Mt., Mk.,
Luke)
c.
Don’t look to
yourself for goodness—you and I are full of sin; we need to look to God for
goodness
d. When you receive
Christ as your Saviour, God then sees you as good, and by living inside of you,
he gives you the power to do good in
every part of your life
e.
Isn’t that
awesome? God help all of us to be
good men and full of the Holy Ghost!
112.
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13)
a.
Paul doesn’t
blush to use this title; what a glorious thing that God would even send the
Gentiles an apostle, amen?
b. Not only
magnifies God’s grace to the Gentiles, but God’s grace to Paul, that he’d make
his greatest enemy his messenger to the world
c.
Makes sense, when
you consider the character of this age: God showing longsuffering and grace to
sinners, even the worst of them (Rom. 5:20)
d.
Imprisoned in
Rome the first time, Paul identifies himself with the Gentiles (Eph. 3:1)
e. Imprisoned in Rom
the second time, Paul identifies himself with the Gentiles (2 Tim. 4:17)
f. He could
truthfully say that he had “finished [his] course” of bringing the gospel to
the Gentiles!
113.
Demas, who loved this present world (2 Tim. 4:10)
a.
A servant of God
who went back
b.
He traded “a
crown of righteousness” (v. 8) for this present world. What a shame!
c. Sad truth is that
most Christians do the same thing; earlier in this epistle, Paul mourns that (2
Tim. 1:15), and few people stood with him at the end (none in his second trial
before Caesar)
d. This world’s
going to pass away one day, so doesn’t it make sense to invest in something
that will outlive this world? Live for the line (after Alcorn)…
114.
Jesus, a friend of publicans and sinners (Mt. 11:19)
a.
I’d be remiss if
I didn’t mention the Lord himself, but I’m happy to save him for last. He never
did mind putting others before himself, did he?
b. Note: publicans
and sinners, not Pharisees and Sadducees; religious folks didn’t think they
needed him, but riffraff did!
c. In Luke 18, two
men went down to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a publican (Luke 18). Which
one went down to his house justified? The one whose trust was in God, not in
himself (Luke 7:29-30)
d. That’s where the
Pharisee erred—he thought that God would accept him for the things that he had
done, not realizing that God would only accept him on his own terms, not the
Pharisee’s; same is true in this age (Tit. 3:5)
What kind of legacy
are you leaving? After you’re gone and people say your name, what will it bring
to mind? “He loved NASCAR!” I sure hope they remember how much you loved the
Bible? Will they? Or has your life mostly been about this world, and not the
next?
I
hope, that since I’m talking to a bunch of saints, that 1 Cor. 8:3 will apply
to every one of you, in this life, and the next. Do you know that verse? “But if a man love God, the same is known
of him.” Do people know that you love God, without you saying anything
about it?
One
of my favorite Christian writers is A.W. Tozer, who pastored in Chicago and
Toronto. His tombstone simply says this, “A Man of God.” I don’t know anyone who would argue that point. His
life spoke that and still does. Are you a man of God? Please take time to
think about the legacy you will leave
behind, like it or not, and may God help you leave a blesséd one.
