The Example of Jeremiah

(Transcript of a message preached at Bible Truth Baptist Church, Griffin, GA, on 28 December, 2014.)

 

 Text: Mt. 16:13-14

The old testament is a great resource for “learning…comfort” (Rom. 15:4) and “instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16) as Paul tells us in his epistles. It’s also replete with pictures of the Lord Jesus, since he told the Jews in John 5:39 regarding the scriptures, that “they are they which testify of me.” And since, as the Lord tells us, we live by “every word of God” (Luke 4:4), it behooves us to study the OT, since it’s about 75% of our spiritual diet. Even though parts of it are boring, we need to make friends with it and give it its proper place if we want to grow properly in the Lord.

An outstanding figure from the OT that I’d like to study today is the prophet Jeremiah. I’m finishing up this long book in my daily reading, and I was impressed about how much that we can learn from his life and example, even apart from what he actually prophesied. You know that he’s a significant figure for a number of reasons. One is quite obvious: God inspires him to write the second longest book in the Bible (word-wise, next to Psalms). Another reason is found in our text. When the Jews were trying to identify the Lord Jesus, one of the men he reminded them of was Jeremiah. What a godly, honourable man he must have been, for people to compare the Lord Jesus to him. In this message, I’d like to point out seven things about Jeremiah’s character that are good examples for us and that connect him with the Lord Jesus Christ. Since there are seven, we’ll have to be fairly brief with each, but I hope that they are edifying to you and will encourage deeper study., 

1. Jeremiah had an intimate personal relationship with God. In Jer. 12:1-4, what strikes me was Jeremiah’s reverence for God and his boldness with him. He acknowledges God’s righteousness (v. 1) and omniscience (v. 3), but he feels liberty to express his doubts about God’s ways to the Lord himself. He’s not being rude with God at all. He begins by exalting the Lord, but then he expresses his weakness to the Lord, that he can’t understand God’s ways. He’s not finding fault with God at all…he’s just trying to understand. And God respects that. “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Ps. 103:14). Where did this intimacy spring from? 

Firstly, Jeremiah loved God’s word. Jer. 15:16, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” You can’t be intimate with God and not love his word. Scripture is God’s primary means of communication with us, so if you don’t love what God communicates to you with, you don’t love the Communicator. Think about the people you know who are intimate with the Lord. Don’t they invariably love the Bible? If they don’t, they’re not intimate with the God of scripture, who primarily uses his word to relate to us. [God, including the Holy Spirit, will never do anything contrary to his word; so, in a sense, God has subjected himself to his word. That is why he is said to have “exalted it above all [his] name” in Ps. 138:2.]

Secondly, Jeremiah communicated with God passionately through prayer. In Jer. 7:16, God tells Jeremiah not to pray for the Jews, “neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me…” So evidently that’s what he had been doing. What were his prayers like? I think that 13:17 gives us a glimpse into his closet: “But if we will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.” His prayers were earnest, intercessory cries for those he loved, including the disobedient. That’s why he’s often referred to as “the weeping prophet.” He speaks openly of his weeping here and elsewhere (cf. also 9:1), as a part of his ministry. Christ prayed so earnestly in the garden that he not only sweated but also wept (Heb. 5:7).

2. Jeremiah’s intimacy with God, coupled with personal failure, produced a humble, broken spirit. When you read Jer. 20:7-18, it reminds you of Rom. 7. Jeremiah is down (vv. 7-9), then he’s up (vv. 10-13), then he’s down again (vv. 14-18). Isn’t that comforting?—that the holiest men in scripture were “men of like passions with you” (Acts 14:15), who struggled with the flesh and had their ups and downs. Jer. 20 is sort of “rock bottom” for Jeremiah. He accuses God of deceiving him (absolutely impossible; cf. Tit. 1:2, Heb. 6:18) and then curses his day, indirectly cursing God for giving him life. But before you jump on him, as we’re so quick to do, consider the agony of his ministry, y’all. He was literally a one-man army against the apostate Jews and the nations of the world, whom he prophesied against as well (ch. 46-51). It’s not easy standing alone, is it? Look at Moses and Elijah, the two witnesses in the tribulation and the Lord’s companions on the mount of transfiguration. Both of them collapsed under the strain of the ministry, but you know what happened? The same thing that happened to Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, and others. They were broken and humbled, and God picked them up in his strength and used them for his glory. The longer I live and the more believers I meet, the more I’m convinced that God uses the broken and humble the most mightily. True, God can use a fool like Balaam for his purposes, but don’t forget these principles: “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (1 Pet. 5:5c).” And, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Ps. 34:18). Jeremiah was one of this elite group, the brokenhearted; God touched the spiritual “hollow of his thigh” (Gen. 32:25), and he was never the same thereafter. 

As believers in Christ, we have a choice to follow the Spirit or the flesh from moment to moment (Gal. 5:17), but there are milestones in our Christian life; for example, when we grow out of our carnality into spirituality. Now overall that’s a process, but there is a point of transition. I think that the same is true of brokenness, or, to use the more Pauline term, humility. It’s a process overall, but there are points of transition. You see that here with Jeremiah. This failure doesn’t make him bitter; rather it makes him better. The trial of persecution breaks him and humbles him before God, but he gets up and God uses him, I might argue, even more mightily than before, since he trusts himself less and God more on this side. So failure is not always a bad thing; it’s often what makes us spiritually, rather than ruins us. Our God is fully able to turn the darkest valleys of our lives into the greatest triumphs. If you’ve never seem him do that, just keep your eyes open. It’s still going on all the time and will until the rapture, I believe.

3. Jeremiah obeys God first, then the powers that be. Since he has God in his proper place through intimate fellowship and brokenness, he also has earthly powers in their place. He never ceases to respect the office of his political superiors, even though four of his five sovereigns were wicked men. A great example of his balance is found in 37:16-21. Zedekiah presses him for a word from the LORD, and Jeremiah prophesies to him and reproves him; but note his respect for Zedekiah in v. 20, “…I pray thee, O my lord the king…” And God rewards that respect by moving Zedekiah to transfer him to a better prison and providing him rations. It never pays to disobey or disrespect earthly powers, folks. Paul tells us in Tit. 3:2 to “speak evil of no man,” and the context of that statement is v. 1, “principalities and powers…magistrates.” I know that most of our political leaders are not good men and women, but they still deserve our respect for their office; and if you disagree, that just proves your carnality and rebelliousness, not your spirituality. Have you ever written an evangelical letter to your political leaders? Or do you just sit around complaining about them? I have letters from Dick Cheney, Sonny Perdue, and others that I wrote to, telling them that I was praying for them and including some salvation scriptures for their consideration. Do you really care about these men’s souls, or do you just want to criticize them? I don’t think that Jeremiah would join you, unless you were trying to reach them in meekness, like he did those God put over him. 

4. Jeremiah stays faithful in good and bad times. His ministry begins in the days of Josiah (1:2), very prosperous times for Judah spiritually. But the seeds of wickedness are still in the hearts of the people (1:11-16), if not in their righteous king, and God inspires Jeremiah to warn them even during better times. Jeremiah is deeply touched by Josiah’s death (2 Chr. 35:25), but he’s not derailed by it; to the contrary, he continues preaching through the reigns of Josiah’s four successors, with much opposition. In Eccl. 11:4, we read, “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” The context here is giving as pictured by sowing; if you look at circumstances, you’ll be less likely to give, but the encouragement throughout, I think, is to go ahead and do it and leave the results to God. Jeremiah rose above his circumstances, good and bad, and stayed faithful no matter what times he found himself in. Did you know that good times can be more dangerous spiritually than bad times? What do we tend to do in good times? Relax, become lazy, become indifferent, even turn away from God. So we must be on our guard even in good times, lest we become useless to God because of them. 

5. Jeremiah fulfills his ministry, despite lack of support. When you look at the book as a whole, only four people could really be called his friends: (1) Ahikam, a ruler or scribe (cf. 36:10) who saves his life (26:24); (2) Baruch, his secretary (Jer. 36:4ff.); (3) Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian eunuch who saves his life (ch. 38-39); and (4) Seriah. the “quiet prince” (51:59-64) who carries a book of judgments for Jeremiah to Babylon. Only Baruch was an actual companion of his, while the others assist him at certain points of his ministry. So his ministry, like that of most of the prophets, was a lonely one. James says in Jas. 5:10, “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.” Part of their suffering, I think, all the way up to the greatest Prophet, the Lord Jesus, was rejection. Truth has never been popular and never will be. Even our apostle, Paul, was forsaken by all but a few of his friends at the end of his ministry. But his last words are words of encouragement to Timothy to fulfill his ministry, just as Christ gave Paul the grace to finish his. Jeremiah seems to have minimal support from start to finish, but I think that he’s a fine example of the song lyric, “Though none go with me, I still will follow…” and that’s exactly what he does. 

6. Jeremiah stays with his people, despite their errors, but admonishes them for them. When Jerusalem falls, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard, Nebuzaradan, offers Jeremiah safe escort to Babylon and sustenance there (40:4). But Jeremiah declines and stays with Gedaliah the governor until his assassination, then with the fugitives led by Johanan, who drives Gedaliah’s assassin into exile. The fugitives stubbornly decide to emigrate to Egypt, against Jeremiah’s warnings (42:7-22), but he meekly accompanies them, rather than striking out on his own (43:5-7). With both Gedaliah and Johanan, I think, he shows that his heart is with the people, rather than on his own self-interests. Nebuzaradan had told him “all the land is before thee” (40:4); i.e., he could dwell wherever he wished, but he chooses to join himself to Gedaliah. I think that he could have justifiably parted with Johanan, since Johanan rejected the word of the Lord, but Jeremiah again puts the people before his own self-interest, even though he knows that they’re headed for trouble. To apply this to believers today, you’re not going to find a perfect church, and most of the time you’ll have to lay aside your own views on non-essentials to keep unity. When Paul speaks of the unity of the Spirit in Eph. 4:1-6, the aspects of that unity are core things like the Trinity and salvation, not minors like diet and holidays (Rom. 14). To get along with the body, folks, you have to give up some things. You can’t have everything your way. So many spoiled, selfish Americans make lousy church members. But Jeremiah, who was more spiritual than all of the Jews put together, laid aside his personal interests in the interests of the group. Does that remind you of someone else? But we’ll get to that in a few moments…

7. Jeremiah is honoured by his people as a whole, in the end. In Mt. 16:14, he’s mentioned with the best, as one of them. So if Jeremiah wasn’t revered by his people during his lifetime, he was thereafter, since hindsight is always clearer than foresight. As a believer in Christ, this reminds me of the future judgment seat of Christ: even if the church doesn’t honour you down here, they will up there. You will get the honour you deserve from a perfect, righteous judge (2 Tim. 4:8), no matter what anyone thinks or says about you down here. What a comfort that is! Because of the weakness and sinfulness of our flesh, even as believers, we don’t treat one another right much of the time. Some of your deepest wounds may come from other believers rather than unbelievers. But up there, God will set everything straight. So be of good cheer, Christian soldier. There somebody up there watching everything going on, inside the church as well as outside, and your work will not go unrewarded. “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shown toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Heb. 6:10).

So that’s a sevenfold survey of the Jeremiah’s exemplary character, but this message wouldn’t be complete without pointing out how all of these things are pictures of a greater prophet to come, the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Christ had the most intimate communion with God that man has ever seen. He said before raising Lazarus that the Father “hear[d] [him] always” (John 11:42) and that he did “always those things that please him” (John 8:29).
• Although Christ had no personal failure, as such, he did learn “obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8), which took self-humbling, according to Phil. 2:7-8.
• Christ obeyed God first, then the powers that be. He was not a rebel or revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination. He came to fulfil the law, not destroy it (Mt. 5:17) and to “confirm the promises made to the fathers” (Rom. 15:8); he paid his taxes, even though he was so poor that he had to get them from a fish’s mouth (Mt. 17:24-27); and, when put on the spot about submission to earthly powers, he struck a perfect balance between heavenly and earthly obedience (“Render unto Caesar…”; Mt. 22:21).
• Christ was faithful in good times and bad times. In his public ministry, he ministered at feasts and when he didn’t have time to eat, when the public praised him and when they called for his blood. Even before he went public, he faithfully labored as a carpenter in a Podunk town (John 1:46, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”)
• He fulfils his ministry despite lack of support. His closest followers desert him in Gethsemane, and even though John the Beloved is present at Calvary, he’s not crucified with Christ. Seems like he and Peter should have been hanging beside Christ rather than two thieves, doesn’t it?
• He stays with his people, the Jews, despite their errors, but admonishes them for it. Christ was a Jew among Jews, born under the law, and he never dissociated himself from his people. He was primarily sent unto them (John 1:11), just like the other prophets before him, and he faithfully admonishes them, even unto death.
• Christ is honoured by his people, as a whole, in the end. Though rejected by them the first time he comes, the next time he comes it will be “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD” (Mt. 23:39). The Jews will realize their error and give him the honour due unto his name. 

It all comes back to Jesus, doesn’t it? Any goodness or virtue that we see in the OT and NT saints all traces to him. Jeremiah was a great man, one of the greatest who ever lived, but he, like so many others, was only a shadow of the greatest man, the man Christ Jesus. Let me close by asking you a question. Has your spiritual hunger led you to Jesus Christ? We’ve all met good men and women in our lives, but admit it—none of them are perfect, and none of them can satisfy you completely. That place in your heart, dear one, is reserved for Jesus Christ. The sooner you realize that and come to him, receiving him as your Saviour, the one who died for your sins and rose again, the more blessed you will be. We’d now like to give you an opportunity to do that, as we sing a song of invitation.

A Biblical Survey of Settling for Less

(Transcript of a sermon preached at Bible Believers' Baptist Church, Madison, AL, on 30 November, 2014.)

Text: 2 Timothy 4:1-10

I recently read a passage from literature that stirred me deeply and turned my mind toward these things. I’ll talk about that passage at the close of this two-part message, but the thrust of it was that a saint had to be content with less in heaven because they were content with less on earth. That’s the general idea I’d like to explore, though my survey won’t be limited to saints. Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:11 that “all these things happened unto them [Israel] for ensamples: and they are written for our [the church’s] admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” So I’d like to look at numerous examples of this decision in scripture for our admonition, learning (Rom. 15:4) and application. 

     Let me start off with a quote from Christian literature that highlights the magnitude of this decision to settle for less. This is taken from C.S. Lewis’ The Weight of Glory:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and [lust] and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” As I take you through examples of settling for less in scripture, see if things are not exactly as Lewis asserts.

OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES

1. Adam (Gen. 3). The head of the human race certainly settled for less. He put a woman before God, a very common sin among men. Much, if not most, of popular music through the ages is the idolization of women by men. Bro. Ruckman made a great point in his notes on 1 Cor. 11, where a woman is referred to as “the glory of the man” (11:7). So if you find a society glorifying women, you know that they are declining from God, since a woman is man’s glory, not God’s. When you hear men sing, “You’re all I need,” you should cringe. That’s idolatry, folks, and utterly false! No woman can satisfy a man totally, since man’s spirit can only be satisfied by its creator, God. Perhaps that’s how Adam tried to console himself after the fall, but he soon found that Eve was a sinner just like him, full of faults and imperfections. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, preached at Prince William’s wedding several years ago, and he said that as “the reality of God has faded from so many lives in the west,” more and more people are seeking fulfillment in human relationships. According to Chartres, this puts too great a burden on the partner, which is as incomplete and in need of forgiveness as the other. Adam chose falling with Eve versus abiding with God, and here we are today, because he settled for less. As an addendum, I would like to assert that the patriarch Adam was not saved: (1) when Jesus mentions the righteous blood shed from the beginning to end of the old testament, he begins with Abel, not Adam (Mt. 23:35); (2) the “Hall of Faith” in Heb. 11 begins with Abel, not with Adam; (3) he was a contemporary of Enoch for 314 years, and scripture never says that he walked with God or pleased God like Enoch (Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5), and it is Enoch, not Adam, who is translated (Heb. 11:5). It seems fitting that the man who brought condemnation on the whole race should be condemned, but maybe the grace of God kept him his whole life; however, it doesn’t look good to me. 

2. Cain (Gen. 4). Adam’s terrible firstborn, who was “of that wicked one” (1 John 3:12), chooses self-righteousness (the foundation of false religions) over a relationship with God. His brother Abel sought fellowship, so he brought blood, which he knew had restored his parents to fellowship with God. Cain, however, like Frank Sinatra and Elvis, “did it my way” and God rejects him. You can tell by Cain’s pouting and impudence that he was not seeking God, but wanted God to accept him no matter what. If he truly wanted God’s favour and fellowship, he would not have been wroth but, upon discovering his error, corrected it and did what God required. God stands his ground with Cain, however, and says, in effect, “My way, not your way, Cain.” But, as we see in Jude 11, Cain goes his own “way” and likely ends up in hell, attending church all the way home. I’ve no doubt that the Cainites were religious. If you look at the names of his progeny, some of them contain “-el” or “God” (Gen. 4:18). The trappings mean little, folks, if God doesn’t have your heart, and he never got Cain’s, even after his horrible murder. 

3. Esau (Heb. 12:16). This “fornicator” and “profane person…for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” He grossly exaggerates his exhaustion upon returning from hunting, and he’s so carnal that he willingly sacrifices the permanent upon the altar of the temporary. Whether Esau understood the spiritual side of his birthright or not, he had to understand that the birthright included his father’s wealth. But the future meant nothing to this fool, only the present, like SO many men after him. Their whole life consists of gratifying their lusts as quickly as possible, with great frustration when they’re the least bit hindered. If you don’t believe that, visit any restaurant in America and see how impatient Americans are with service and how particular they are about their food. Join me for lunch one day at the Subway near my office for an object lesson. These ingrates are Esau’s children, in my opinion. They settle for less, just like he did. 

4. Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh (Num. 32). Oh didn’t they settle for less! Numbers 32 is the story of their poor choice. These carnal Israelites put their cattle before fulfilling God’s word. Seems to me like their God was their belly, and they are not exalted in Israel’s history. No one from Reuben ever reigns over Israel, and the Gadites and Manassites have only minor roles in Israel’s national affairs through the years. But didn’t they help the other tribes conquer Canaan? Yes, they did…upon threat of judgment. We use the verse “be sure your sin will find you out” in our dealings with others, but the context of that was judgment upon the two and a half tribes if they didn’t help with the conquest of Canaan. The sad truth is that even sharing in the conquest of Canaan didn’t change their hearts and give them a taste for their real inheritance. They were set on living outside the best that God had for them. Know anyone like that? Sad to say, that’s where most believers live. Their hearts are in this world, not heavenly places where they ought to be (Col. 3:2) and actually are (Eph. 2:6). If your heart is down here, it’s in the wrong place, because your true spiritual location is up there, and one day you’ll be up there physically. That’s why Paul says what he does in Col. 3:2: so our lives down here will be consistent with our life up there, until we’re taken there physically (Phil. 3:20-21).

5. Achan (Josh. 7:1; 1 Chron. 2:7). This covetous Judean loses not only his own life for a stylish garment and some cash (Josh. 7:21), but the lives of his entire family and the 36 soldiers who die in the failed attack upon Ai (Josh. 7:5). Achan, known to posterity as “the troubler of Israel” (1 Chron. 2:7), is a classic example of the folly and price of sin for oneself and others. Note Joshua’s last words to him: “Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day” (Josh. 7:24). Here we see a solemn example of the law of sowing and reaping, and since you reap more than you sow, Achan dies a dishonourable and horrible death, since his entire house and possessions are right there with him. Oh what a terrible price for settling for less!

6. Eli (1 Sam. 1-4). What great potential! Seems like his progeny would have continued in the priesthood, but with Abiathar’s ejection under Solomon in 1 Kings 2:26-27, over 100 years later, all of them are eventually put out of it. Why? Because this man put his sons—and food—before God’s word. God’s charges against him with honouring his “sons above me” (2:29) and “mak[ing] [them]selves fat with the chiefest of the offerings of Israel…” So although Eli reproves his sons for their sins, he does not restrain them when they ignore him (3:13, 2:25), and it appears, due to his heaviness (4:18), that he may have partook of the offerings extorted from the Israelites. How many have settled for pleasing their children rather than being right with God! How can your children have God in his proper place if you don’t have them in theirs (1 Tim. 3:5)?! Small wonder that Hophni and Phinehas ignore Eli’s reproof. Their disrespect as adults began and was tolerated during their upbringing. What a solemn warning for us as saints! Here is God’s priest, someone close to him, losing his family and ironically Samuel, who witnesses all of this, makes the same mistake, since his sons are low-lifes like Eli’s boys. True, all four sons chose their own path, but there seems to have been some disconnect between fathers and sons in both families, with tragic results. 

7. King Joash of Israel (2 Kings 13:14-19). When word reaches this evil king that Elisha is dying, he comes weeping over the departure of the true strength of his kingdom, what is meant by “the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (v. 14). Quite a humbling admission for this king, that it was the prophet of God who was keeping his country together. So he makes a good decision to seek him out before he departs. True to form, God rewards the king’s humility, just like he rewarded Ahab’s many years before when he repented under Elijah’s final rebuke. Elisha, in figure, shows him that he can be delivered from Syria, to the degree of his choices. The first act shows him clearly what the arrows stand for. So when it comes time for him to strike, the expectation is that that he’ll do it numerous times for complete deliverance from Syria (v. 19). But for some reason, likely unbelief, he only strikes three times, provoking Elisha (and indirectly, God) to wrath. He settles for less, and his triumph over Syria is only partial. Isn’t that the way it is with us too? God tells us that our triumph over sin is complete in Rom. 6, but we balk at full conquest and congratulate ourselves that we don’t drink and smoke. Let me tell you, folks, in the long war against sin, ceasing from tobacco and liquor is only a skirmish. Your biggest battles are going to be with pride, covetousness, envy, laziness, gluttony, and a host of other enemies. When you think about it, drinking nasty firewater and breathing smoke are not natural to begin with. But pride and covetousness sure are, aren’t they? John Paul Jones said, “I have not yet begun to fight!” Neither have you, if you’re not trying to subdue your inner sins as well as your external. 

NEW TESTAMENT

 

1. Rich young ruler (Mt. 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-23). This gentleman is an important figure, doctrinally and practically. When he asks Christ what good thing must he do to have eternal life, Christ does not say, Believe Paul’s gospel. Christ hasn’t even died at this point, and Paul hasn’t been saved or received the revelation of the gospel for this age. The gospels are under the old testament economy, though they are properly placed in our Bible since they institute the new testament. They have to go somewhere, and of course they’re in the proper place in our King James Bible. This ruler (Luke 18:18) is, of course, important practically as well. We’ve all heard about his dilemma of following Christ or keeping his possessions and of the sad outcome. He puts his possessions before God, and loses his soul for them. A very solemn warning. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37) Paul adds in 1 Timothy 6:9, “For they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into divers and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Perdition is loss, not of eternal salvation in a saint’s case, but of other things like testimony, power, and peace. Don’t settle for this world’s trinkets like this young man did. He was so close to salvation, it said in Mark 10:21 that the Lord loved him. But he didn’t go far enough, he settled for less, and it cost him his soul.

2. Rulers of Israel (John 11:47-48). While Jesus was raising the dead, they were fretting about keeping their “place and nation,” i.e. their position of power and influence over the Jewish people. For that lust, they sell out the Son of God and, ironically, keep neither the place nor the nation, both being swept away by the Romans less than 40 years later. Their putting their “place” before the nation, which the Holy Spirit carefully records here, costs not just them their lives, but the life of the entire nation. See how awful it is to be selfish, folks, and how diligent we need to be in mortifying all of its forms in our lives and teaching our children these principles as well? Selfishness hurts, not just you, but those around you. If you want to bless others, you must deny and forget yourself. The degree that you do (or don’t) do that will determine your helpfulness (or harmfulness) in life.

 

3. Judas (Mt. 27:3-10). Judas gets his piece of land…the potter’s field. Which is probably what he wanted. The Lord gives you what you want, you know. He gave them their heart’s desire and…sent leanness to their souls. An old testament example of this is Gehazi. When he denies his extortion of money from Naaman, Elisha sees in a vision right into the servant’s heart and even what he wanted to use the money for (2 Kings 5:25-26). Wow! What a terrifying example of the omniscience of God! He knows what, deep down, you really want, for worse or for better. In Judas’ case, it was a piece of cursed ground, at the cost of innocent blood! How many other men have given their souls just for a piece of ground, like King Ahab for Naboth’s vineyard. Ahab meets a violent, premature end just like Judas for a piece of land at the cost of a righteous man’s blood, a type of the one betrayed by Judas!

 

4. Pilate (John 18:33-19:22). I think that the interview between Christ and Pilate in John 18 provides the most insight on Pilate’s heart of all the gospel accounts. Let’s begin with 19:11. Jesus told Pilate that to crucify him (v. 10) would be sin, and that is the last word that he ever says to Pilate. According to Christ, Pilate’s sin would not be as great as that of the Jews that delivered him to Pilate (“he” applies to the Jews generally; cf. Acts 3:13, John 19:12), but it would still be sin. Why? Because Christ revealed who he was to Pilate in chapter 18, and Pilate missed it since he was not “of the truth” (vv. 37-38). He has a conscience (look at 18:38), but he doesn’t follow it to salvation, so when he enquires as to Christ’s identity in 19:9, “Jesus gave him no answer,” since Pilate had rejected truth earlier and was not enquiring in sincerity this time either. So what was the problem with this man? How did he settle for less? Note the turning point in 19:13: “When Pilate therefore heard that saying…” What saying? Look at v. 12. “…but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.” Whoa! Now Pilate must choose between earthly loyalty and heavenly, since the man standing in front of him claims to be from heaven. “Whose friend will I be?” thinks Pilate. Per Mt. 27:24, he “saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made…” The Jews are not going to back down from this ultimatum and are beginning to riot, so he chooses to sell the Lord out rather than risk his own neck. Of course he did: “Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life” (Job 2:4); and, “…the friendship of the world is enmity with God (Jas. 4:4).” What a pity that Pilate chose to be Caesar’s or the world’s friend rather than God’s. He could’ve gone down as one of the greatest men in history, rather than one of the most infamous. 

 

5. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). This couple got off to a good start by believing Peter’s message on Pentecost and attaching themselves to the apostles, but they make a fatal error in Acts 5 (the number of death) by holding back part of the value of their land but pretending like they didn’t. If I read Peter’s rebuke in v. 4 correctly, both the sale and the offering were voluntary; it was the pretense that angered the Lord and brought swift judgment on both man and wife. Ananias and Sapphira are like so many of us, though, in that they can’t let go of everything; so they settle for less than the best, and wow does it cost them. Now in Acts 5, the kingdom is being offered to Israel, so there’s a dispensational difference in this context, but the principle is still there: settling for less has dire consequences, both in this life and the next, and should be avoided at all costs. 

 

6. Diotrephes (3 John 9-11). This shady character pops up in the shortest book of the Bible (299 words), and wow does he stick out like a sore thumb. He craves the preëminence among one of the churches that the apostle John is looking after, to the point of resisting John himself and “churching” anyone who wants to associate with John and his fellowlabourers. Nice fella, huh? But do you see where he settled for less? He wanted preeminence or praise from men rather than God. The Lord notes this about the Jewish elders who feared to confess Christ during his earthly ministry. He said that “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:48). That must be one of the saddest verses in the Bible, when you consider who you’re seeking praise from. Is. 51:12 says, “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth;” and Jesus said in John 5:44, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” Why are we concerned one whit about man’s praise when we could have the praise of God. Oh yes, Paul says in 1 Cor. 4:5 that faithful men in this age “shall have praise of God” at the judgment seat of Christ (isn’t that what “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” is…praise?). But what happens sometimes is that men, including Christian men, want to be praised by others instead of striving to please God alone and for him to get all the glory. That’s where I believe Diotrephes settled for less and ruined himself. He started craving the preëminence that belongs to Christ (Col. 1:18) for himself, just like Lucifer wanted God’s glory for himself. Same agenda…and same results, I believe, since John mentions Diotrephes’ “prating…with malicious words,” and Proverbs 10 warns twice (vv. 8,10) that “a prating fool shall fall.” Remember the old hymn, Be Thou My Vision? “Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise…” Do you believe that? Your life will show who you are trying to please; please don’t follow Diotrephes and settle for man’s praise rather than God’s. 

 

7. Demas (2 Timothy 4:1-10). I don’t think that this survey would be complete without mentioning this brother. And he was a brother; in fact, Paul calls him one of his “fellowlabourers” in Phile. 23. So Demas wasn’t a rank and file believer. He achieved a place in the apostolic company, and was apparently successful at first. But somewhere between Paul’s release from Rome the first time and his imprisonment the second time, Demas departs from Paul, and Paul is obviously grieved by this. Now, Demas wasn’t the only person that Paul names as forsaking him. In 2 Tim. 1:15, we read about Phygellus and Hermogenes turning away from (good definition of forsaking) Paul, and if I read 4:10 correctly, it looks like Crescens and even Titus bail at the end. You have to study the circumstances, folks, to understand why these men who had labored with Paul previously turned away from him. This time it wasn’t like it was with Barnabas, when they were arguing about the practicality of bringing John Mark along. No, by now, Paul had testified before Caesar, been released, and locked up again. I really think that his suffering was an embarrassment to some, since he tells Timothy not to be ashamed of his suffering in 1:8 and says in 1:12 that he’s not ashamed of it himself. But I think that others were, and perhaps also afraid that continued association with Paul would land them in the hoosegow.  Paul’s complaint about Demas is that he “loved this present world.” That is a tragedy, since the world that he loved is called evil by his mentor (Gal. 1:4) and his Saviour (John 3:20, 7:7, 17:15, etc.). What business does a believer seated in heavenly places have loving an evil world? I think that we’re getting closer to the root of this thing. Look at v. 8. Paul says that he’s expecting an eternal reward for loving Christ’s appearing from heaven. Somehow Demas got his eyes off the blessed hope, folks, and the only other thing to love is this world, folks. Col. 3:2, Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. It’s one or the other. Paul also warns in Col. 1:22-23 about being “moved away from the hope of the gospel” or the blessed hope. The consequences are found in v. 22: blame and reproof at the judgment seat of Christ, instead of eternal reward. O Demas, why did you settle for less? You could’ve reigned with Paul and many others in glory if you’d kept your affection set on the right thing. Lady Georgiana Fullerton, an old-time saint, said, “Make me reach, my God, the degree of holiness to which Thou didst call me in creating me!” She wasn’t about to settle for less, but Demas was, God only knows why, and oh how he’ll regret it hereafter.

I’d like to close this sermon with my inspiration for it, a passage from Dante’s Paradiso. Many of you have heard of Dante’s Inferno, which is a long poem describing his tour of hell. Well, that’s just the first part of a larger work called The Divine Comedy, written 1308-1321. The Paradiso, which describes his tour of heaven, is the last. 

As Dante enters the lowest level of heaven, he meets a woman named Piccarda, who is assigned a lowly place in heaven because she broke her Catholic vow of chastity on earth, apparently for marriage. Now to us that’s trivial, since it’s natural for a woman to marry, but for a Catholic woman to break this vow was discouraged, though not sinful. But in Dante’s theology, this cost Piccarda greater rewards in heaven because she settled for less (in his mind) on earth. He notices that she’s content with her lowly place, and when he enquires why, she replies that “his will is our peace.” When I read that quote I was moved, because I believe that’s how it will be for us in eternity. There will be a divine peace about our reward, but also the awareness that we could have had more. Piccarda knew that, but God in his goodness will give us peace in our glorified state, unlike those in hell, who will remember with anguish for ever what they could have had.

Isn’t the Lord utterly kind? Don’t you want to give him everything? Does it frustrate you when you don’t? Why settle for less, dear one, while you still have the chance to lay up even greater rewards in heaven? Don’t let anyone deceive you, including yourself, that anything down here amounts to anything except what you’re doing for eternity.

Exhortation: Thankfulness

(Slightly edited transcript of a sermonette preached at Bible Truth Baptist Church, Griffin, GA, on 23 November 2014.)

Around this time of year, it’s traditional (and appropriate) to read psalms of thanksgiving. I’d like to read Psalm 100 to you this morning, because there’s an important word in it: “thankful.”


1  Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 
4  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. 

Notice the word “thankful” in v. 4. While the words “thank,” “thanks,” and “thanksgiving” each appear numerous times in scripture, the word “thankful” only appears three times: once here, and the other two times in the new testament.

Rom. 1:21, Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Col. 3:15, And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

I’d like to give you a few brief exhortations this morning.

1. The word is “thank-ful.” We should be full of thanks, not sparing. We tend to thank God around mealtime, but we need to thank him “always for all things” as Paul tells us in Eph. 5:20.

2. Speaking of Paul, I noticed that he begins 11 of his 13 letters with thanksgiving. We should begin things with thanksgiving: prayer, correspondence, meals, and other things we do. Everything that we have comes from God, and to thank him (and anyone else) is to acknowledge that he gave you something. “…and what hast thou that thou hast not received?” Paul asks in 1 Cor. 4:9. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

3. Paul even thanks God for the carnal Corinthian believers, some of his most disobedient converts. Principle: find something to be thankful for, and look for people’s virtues rather than their vices. It’s easy to spot anyone’s vices, given enough time, but it takes grace to note people’s virtues, even at low points in their lives...like when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians.

4. Lastly, note the three groups that thankfulness is aimed at.

     a. In Psalm 100, the Jew was told to be thankful, and rightly so. As
     God’s covenant people, they had tremendous blessings that they 
     owed God thanks for.

     b. In Col. 3, the church of God was told to be thankful. As the body
     of Christ, we have been blessed “with all spiritual blessings in
     heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3), so we certainly should be 
     full of thanks for all that we’ve received, amen?

     c. And in Rom. 1:21, God condemns the Gentiles for their ingratitude.
     So God is looking for thankful hearts in all men, since those three
     groups (1 Cor. 10:32) make up mankind.

5. How about you, Christian? Is your heart full of thanks? I hope so. If not, read through Paul’s epistles and see how much God has given you, and may your heart be filled to overflowing with thanks for the grace that you’ve received.

When Will Sci-Fi Catch Up with the Bible?

At work this week I found a copy of a magazine whose cover portrayed the earth as one big city.  This reminded me of something from a series of sci-fi books that I read years ago, The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov.  The capital of the universe in that trilogy is a planet named Trantor, which is actually one big city (remember the "Death Star" from the original Star Wars trilogy?).  What a thought!  A planet that's one big city.  But is that thought original to Asimov?  Note Isaiah 5:8 in the King James Bible: "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!"  Beginning with Cain, who built the first city (Enoch; Gen. 4:17), fallen man craves to join house to house for self-preservation.  Cain is succeeded by Nimrod, who rules over multiple cities (Gen. 10:10), and later in Genesis (ch. 13-19) we see five cities of the plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar) adjacent to one another.  The city of Nineveh in Jonah's day took three days to walk through (Jon. 3:3-4), probably due to expansive suburbs.  Even today, as some cities expand, they actually join with other cities into a population region (e.g. Atlanta).  My thought: if men were not checked by God, they would turn the earth into one city, since by nature they want to avoid the curse of sweaty, agrarian labour imposed on them with the fall (Gen. 3:17-19) and live together in cities (the pre-flood, Cainite world!).  So Asimov's thought is not original.  Every thing that man comes up with can ultimately be traced back to the Creator and his thoughts recorded for us in scripture. If man could come up with something outside the scope of God's thought, then he would be the Creator, but the fact that he cannot proves that he is a creature and not the Creator, who is blessed forever.  Amen.

Things that God Says Are Awe-some

In the United States, you often hear people, especially younger people, refer to certain people, places, or things as "awesome." Not sure how that got started (maybe the hippies), but the common usage is the same as saying "great" or "wonderful." But the scriptural usage is something different, and that’s what I’d like to discuss in this post. 


The word "awe" appears in scripture only three times, all in Psalms, and that’s no coincidence, as we’ll see later. In this brief devotional, I’d like to (1) show you these references; (2) define awe; and (3) look at each passage to see what we can learn about awe from it, since it’s a grace that should be present in our hearts. First, let’s look at the three references to awe in scripture.

References
• Ps. 4:4, Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

• Ps. 33:8, Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

• Ps. 119:161, Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.

Definition
The second reference above, I believe, provides the scriptural sense of "awe": a holy fear, like we saw in Ps. 66:13. "Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him." See how a word in one part of the verse helps define a more difficult word in another part? The Bible is full of this, and it’s a principle of Bible study that the English text defines itself. So awe is a holy fear, since the context is either a holy God (Ps. 4:3-4, 33:8) or his holy word (119:161). In Heb. 12:28 we read about “serv[ing] God with acceptably with reverence and godly fear,” but not all fear is godly. Prov. 29:25 says, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.” So some types of fear are good and some are not, and we’ll discuss that more later.

Principles
1. Awe is a heart condition that begins with the individual. Ps. 4:4 and 119:161 are directly aimed at individuals, and their heart attitude toward God and his word. For both objects, the attitude or spirit should be one of holy fear. Awe is what we call a grace, like humility, faith, kindness, etc. Heb. 12:28, which I referred to earlier, says that godly fear is a grace that ought to be present in our lives. One can even be in awe when lying down. In Ps. 4:8, the psalmist mentions laying down to sleep, but between the time he lies down and falls asleep, he’s communing with his own heart and feeling God’s awesome presence. Great way to end a day, amen? When you go to bed, think about the day and how good God has been to you, and “stand in awe before him” in your heart.

2. Awe leads to holiness. Ps. 4:4 says, “Stand in awe, and sin not,” so awe discourages sin. Prov. 16:6b affirms this, “by fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” And even under grace, Paul says that our business should be “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).

3. Awe should be universal, but it has limits too. All the earth should fear the LORD and stand in awe of him, not just individuals, and they will in the millennial kingdom, which this psalm is pointing to prophetically. But believers in Christ are not to be in "awe" of princes like we are God and his word (119:161). Paul tells us to "Render...fear to whom fear" is due, namely "rulers" (Rom. 13:1-7), but I think that, Biblically, awe is a higher fear due to God and his word than that due to "the powers...ordained of God" (Rom. 13:1). Princes should be in awe of God and his word themselves; maybe then they wouldn’t persecute believers, and we should pray for them along these lines (1 Tim. 2:1-6). But if we want others to be in awe of God and his word, we need to start with “the man in the mirror.” The reason why there’s so little respect and reverence for God in our government and society is because these things are so lacking in the church. This leads to my fourth point.

4. Awe should characterize our worship as well as our walk. All the references to awe are found in the Psalms, the praises of Israel, which is no coincidence. Praise should include a holy awe of God: both testaments affirm this.

a. Ps. 5:7b, “and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.” Someone might say, “Well, that’s the Jews in the old testament.” OK, let’s see what Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, has to say about it.

b. Eph. 5:18-21. This passage deals with the filling of the Spirit, and its results: worship (v. 19), thanksgiving (v.20), and submission (v. 21)…in the fear of God. If you don’t fear God, you’re not filled with the Spirit! Remember 2 Cor. 7:1, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God”? Look at Acts 9:31, “…walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Ghost produces a holy fear, in our walk and worship, because it’s part of his work—to prompt men and angels to fear and worship God (Is. 11:1-2).

We live in a generation that says this is awesome and that is awesome, but let’s make sure that we’re in awe of the two most important things in the universe: God and his word! Awe is a heart condition that begins with individuals, and it should lead to personal holiness. Awe should be universal, but it has limits too. We should be in awe of certain things, not everything. That’s why I think the common usage of the word detracts from its power, though the world naturally uses it because it’s a powerful word. Finally, awe should characterize our worship as well as our walk. Worship is acknowledging God’s worth, and truly grasping God’s worth will produce holy fear in us and make us rejoice in him “with trembling” (Ps. 2:11).

Give ME the Book of God! or, Wisdom from Wesley

The following selection is taken from the book, "Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind (Readings)," by Abingdon Press.  In it many of John Wesley's thoughts about the word of God resonate with my own...and perhaps your own.

"To candid, reasonable men I am not afraid to lay open the inmost thoughts of my heart. I have thought, I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence I am no more seen--I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven--how to land safe on that happy shore.  God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven.  He has written it down in a book.  O give me that book! At any price, give me the Book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me.  Let me be homo unius libris [a man of one book].  Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone: only God is here.  In his presence I open, I read his Book; for this end, to find the way to heaven.  Is there a doubt concerning the meaning what I read? Does anything appear dark or intricate? I lift up my heart to the Father of lights: 'Lord, is it not thy Word, "If any men lack wisdom, let him ask of God"?...'. I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture, 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual.' I meditate thereon, with all the attention and earnest ness of which my mind is capable.  If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God, and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak.  And what I thus learn, that I teach."

Personal Testimony: David Jared

(Slightly edited version of a testimony given at Bible Truth Baptist Church, Griffin, Georgia, on October 1, 2014.

TEXTS


• Job 36:24, Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold (context is creation, but I’d like to apply it, devotionally to the work of salvation).

• Ps. 66:13, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul (this is a good verse for any dispensation, past, present, or future).

In this testimony, I’d like to magnify the grace of God by telling you, briefly, what God hath done for my soul to bring me to Christ 26 years ago. Some other time, as the Lord allows, I’ll talk more about my post-conversion experiences, but so as to preach as well as testify tonight, I’ll stick to my salvation experience.



I was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1969 to Roman Catholic parents, the youngest of seven children (four girls and three boys). My dad was from east Tennessee, but his family worked their way north and ended up in Dayton. He was from a mixed religious background and had little interest in matters of faith, though professing Roman Catholicism. My mother came from German stock and old-school Catholicism, so her parents insisted that my father convert to their faith to marry her. He complied, but I think that he was a skeptic at heart despite his profession. My dad was a hard worker and influenced all of us children positively in that way. I can’t imagine the challenges that children of lazy parents must face, since mine always set an example of diligence, for which I’m truly grateful. My parents were also faithful to one another for 50 years. As Catholics, divorce was not an option for them, and they kept their vows to each other and loved each other for life, another great example for me. They also encouraged my siblings and I to do well in school, which had big payoffs for those of us who took the academic route.



But the greatest influence my parents had on me, I think, was pointing me, by example, toward the spiritual. By God’s grace, I’ve been in church all of my life. While many of the teachings of Roman Catholicism are false, it was the positive things about it, I think, that helped prepare me to receive Jesus Christ. If a Catholic is sincere, and not skeptical, you won’t have to convince him that there’s a God, that Christ is his only begotten Son, even that Christ is the Saviour of the world. I believed all of that from my youth. I even knew, in my conscience, that the Bible was God’s perfect word, even though I had never read it.



But the one thing that Catholicism hid from me was, ironically, the most important: how to appropriate the work that Christ did for me. You see, even though Catholics acknowledge Christ as the Saviour of the world, they do not understand how he saves: by grace through faith, without works. While a Catholic may believe that Christ died for our sins (I did), most of them don’t understand that the proper response to that is complete trust in Christ’s work to save him, apart from any works of his own. Paul said in Rom. 4:5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” I’m grateful that I finally came to that point, but I don’t consider my years as a Catholic wasted…by any means. God is far too wise and good that. God puts all of us in the right place from the start. If I had been put in any other family, I might not have come to Christ. I may not have had all the truth growing up, but I had enough to prepare me for more, plus God was faithful to provide it for me at just the right time. Under my parents’ roof and authority, it would have been hard to trust Christ despite them, but when I left home my parents left it up to me which spiritual path I would take, unlike many other Catholic parents, especially in other countries. Someone might say, what about children who were abused by their families? I would answer that’s a terrible thing and God has no pleasure in it, but I’ve heard enough testimonies of abused children who came to Christ to trust in God’s wisdom and goodness, no matter how bad things may look on the surface. So I thank him, with all of my heart, for giving me the parents, family, and religious upbringing that he did. It certainly helped prepare me to receive Christ.



The gospel came to me “at sundry times and in divers manners” (Heb. 1:1), but the person most instrumental in my salvation was a young convert named Mike Stephens. Although I was born in Ohio and spent my childhood there, my family moved to Texas for a while and then settled in north Alabama, where my parents retired and my dad passed away years later. I went to high school there and graduated in 1988. As a young person, I was always interested in math and science, and at my dad’s encouragement, I decided to pursue engineering. I applied at several engineering schools engineering and ended up at Georgia Tech. Before leaving for school, though, I took a summer job where God had strategically planted Mike Stephens. I got to know this peaceful young man gradually, and the more I got to know him, and the more he spoke to me about the Lord, the more I was drawn to him. I recommend his approach to those who want to win others to Christ. He was gentle and kind and took a sincere interest in me as a person, not as a mere prospect. I remember visiting his home, doing things together, and later accepting his invitation to attend church. That’s soul winning, folks. Please turn with me to 1 Thes. 2:8. According to Paul, it’s not just giving people the gospel, but your own soul, to reach them. Let them see the peace, joy, and assurance that you have in Christ that they don’t. Don’t be critical of their religion, if they have one, until after they’ve come to Christ; then you can lovingly point out where it’s in error and encourage them to seek the right kind of fellowship.



Although Mike and I never prayed together for me to receive Christ, he planted the seeds that led to my salvation in the following months, when I went off to school in Atlanta. I’m not sure exactly when I trusted Christ, but I know that I did, and that’s what counts. Don’t worry if you can’t pinpoint the exact time that you trusted Christ. The important thing is what are you trusting in right now: Christ or yourself? I know right now that I have eternal life because I’m resting in Christ’s work for me, and not my own merits. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:12, “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him (my soul) against that day.” I remember reading William Shakespeare’s last will and testament, and I was thrilled to see him commit his “soule into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merites, of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlasting…” (internet). I hope that you can say the same, that you’re trusting in Christ alone to save you, and not any good works that you’ve done. It seems so simple to those of us who believe, but we must never forget how miraculous our salvation was, that we’d let go of our stubborn self-righteousness and trust in someone that we’ve never seen. Most people never come to that point, but don’t let it be you! You can choose to receive Christ, or choose to reject him. I, and every believer here, pray that you’ll make the right choice, to receive him, and join our happy family forever.



So that is how I passed from darkness to light. The Lord’s been good to this “buckeye,” and thank you for letting me share my salvation testimony with you tonight.