We Do Not Lose Heart — Part One (Archived)

the following message by Alistair beg is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truthfortheworld.org two Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 1 I'm going to read the whole chapter therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God we do not lose heart but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's Word but by the open statement of the truth we would command ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God for what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake for God who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ but we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies for we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh so death is at work in us but life in you since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written I believed and so I spoke so also we believe and so we also speak knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence for it is all for your sake so that his grace extends to more and more people it may increase Thanksgiving to the glory of God so we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal amen are just a brief prayer father as we turn to the Bible we pray that the Spirit of God will enable us in both speaking and in hearing in understanding and believing trusting and obeying your word for we humbly pray in Christ's name Amen well in these main sessions as the program has identified we're going to be following as it were the pattern of Paul in his ministry considering his prayers considering his preaching and considering the way in which he persevered in one sense we are heeding his exhortation to the church in Philippi where he said to them brothers join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us and what I would like to do having been entrusted with the responsibility of tackling Paul and his perseverance is essentially begin for us what is the theme of the conference taken here from this particular section of 2nd Corinthians where he says we do not lose heart immediately he mentions it in verse 1 and 2 that he returns again in verse 16 and as we begin in this way we recognize the fact that Paul is he gives us his life story as it we're never disguises any of this stuff from us there is no sense in which he is representing himself something other than he so clearly is and it is a quite wonderful thing that by the time he's writing his final letter at least as we have it his swan song in second Timothy he's able to say to Timothy and to all the readers of second Timothy I have fought the good fight I have finished the race and I have kept the faith now there was no sense of bravado in that Paul recognized as he wrote to the Philippians that God had begun a good work in his life and he was bringing it to completion and he would bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ and when we reviewed the story of Paul's life we realized that his perseverance takes place in the face of daunting obstacles and severe trials and it's important for us immediately to acknowledge the fact that Paul here is not an example to us of a peculiar personality although he surely was that nor is he an example to us of somebody who is able to just establish the grit and determination of someone who wants to see it through although clearly he is able to do that he is not here as an example of someone whose perseverance is on account of a decision of his will but rather as in the case of every chosen saint of God as a result of God's will and so for example in the Westminster Confession where it tackles the issue of the perseverance of the saints it reminds us as follows the perseverance of the saints including Paul does not depend upon their own freewill but on all the unchangeableness of the decree of election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father on the efficacy of the merit of the intercession of Jesus Christ on the continuing presence of the spirit and the seed of God within them and on the nature of the covenant of grace these are grounds of the certainty and infallibility of their perseverance so Paul would have been quite happy to sing along with us the work which His goodness began the arm of his strength will complete and when he writes to the Colossians he gives us that wonderful juxtaposition between the work of God within him and his own endeavors when he says I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me with that by way of introduction what I'd like to do is move through the Acts of the Apostles as quickly as is sensible and then move to the epistles I do this because this is what I did for myself when I realized that this was my assignment i sat up one morning early in my bed and securing for myself a little citadel of my own that I make with pillows to keep my wife out of things to protect her from the light of my iPad I I just read through the Acts of the Apostles and I said to myself now let's just see how often and how quickly we find ourselves confronted by Paul and the indication of his perseverance and of course excuse me in the in the Acts of the Apostles it's just a wonderful adventure is full of imprisonments and beatings and riots escapes resurrections shipwrecks trials and all manner of stuff and at the very heart of it all so often is this gentleman Saul of Tarsus Paul the Apostle to say I'm gonna go through the entire Acts of the Apostles is a daunting thought at any time but at this point in the afternoon on a Monday it seems a ridiculous venture and it may prove to be a ridiculous adventure but we're going to begin let's begin in Acts chapter 9 you can follow with me or you can trust me and then check later and see whether your trust was valid or not Acts it's always good to check and make sure that the person who is speaking from the Bible that stuff is actually in the Bible so I just after 9 Acts chapter 9 we're not going to deal with his experience of conversion his great encounter there but we pick it up from the time that he's been baptized he arose verse 18 and was baptized and taking food he was strengthened and then we're told that for some days he was with the disciples at Damascus and immediately proclaimed Jesus and then we're told that he had to overcome the fact that the people there were fearful as to his motives verse 21 has he not come here for this purpose to bring us bound before the chief priests and so we're told that the Jews then plotted to kill him and he made quite interesting exit from the city by being lured down the wall in a basket so it was just pause for a moment and say imagine that he's being interviewed by Christianity today Saul of Tarsus has apparently become a Christian how have these early days been going for you Paul well I'd have to say that they've been interesting I was under threat of death from the Jews but I had a wonderful ride down the wall in a basket and that's that's that's where we are as of now well how about Jerusalem turn over the page and there you are in verse 26 and he went to join the disciples and they were all afraid of him for they did not believe that he was a disciple so he said to himself I'm done with this Christian stuff what a miserable bunch of people these are and he went on his way from there no mercifully Barnabas takes him up and brings him into the company and he spoke and disputed against the Helenus and once again verse 29 they were all seeking to kill him and they send him off to Tarsus well we can fast-forward to chapter 13 which will be an encouragement I'm sure in Antioch in Pisidia the Jews there we're told were filled with jealousy the whole Sabbath the whole on the Sabbath the whole city had gathered verse 44 to hear the word of the Lord but when the Jews saw the crowds they were filled with jealousy and as you read on through that Theoden in verse 50 incited the devout women of high standing and the leading man of the city and they stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district and Paul shoot the dust from his feet as did Barnabas against them and went on to Iconium well surely by the time they get to Iconium things will be looking up verse 5 when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews with their rulers to mistreat them and to stone them they learned of it and decided to go to Lystra so let's just pause for a moment and acknowledge this has not been going swimmingly well has it this is this is not exactly a walk in the park now here is this newly converted man who is devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ and as he proceeds to these various places he is confronted by distinct and determined opposition it is almost unassailable and no matter where he seems to go it continues to follow him in verse 19 here of chapter 14 the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having infiltrated and persuaded the crowds they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city the people suppose that he was dead but they gathered around him and he was raised up and he entered the city that's quite persevering isn't it and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derby he didn't say you know I think I'm gonna have to go off to the Mediterranean coast here for a little while I'm sure someone has a nice cottage that I could go and stay in it would have been legitimate I'm sure but he doesn't do it when they have preached the gospel there and made many disciples they went back to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God are you sure you really want to go back Paul I mean why would you go back well we should go back why to strengthen their souls nevermind the souls Paul what about your face what about all those stones well we must encourage them to continue in the faith we should go back and let them know that it is through many tribulations that they will enter the kingdom of God let's go to chapter 16 Philip I the Macedonian called the conversion of Lydia the problem of the fortune tellers and then their imprisonment verse 20 and when they had brought them to the magistrates they said these men are Jews they're disturbing our city the crowd join in verse 22 in attacking them and the magistrates tore the garments often but a nice group these are the magistrates these are the people's forces sit behind the bench and behave themselves they were so energized by it they said let's rip his clothes off their bags and they gave order to beat them with rods and verse 23 when they had inflicted many blows upon them they threw them into prison the verb is important there they threw them into the prison the order the jailer to keep them safely in that place well perhaps come back to the impact of that later on but we can fast forward again go to Ephesus and there in Ephesus you see this persevering preacher verse 8 he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly reasoning and persuading about the kingdom of God this is no short-term mission project on his part he is absolutely convinced and absolutely clear and he is continuing to do what he has been set to do things of marriage as Luke records them for us and by the time you get down to verse 10 he has relocated to the lecture hall of Tyrannus where once again you will notice he continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord both jews and greeks into chapter 20 and his farewell to ephesus and as he parts from them verse 22 he says now i want you to know that i'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me that's what I know I don't know much but I do know this that it is now part of my journey to be confronted by the immensity of this challenge and by the peculiar horrible way in which I am physically treated but look at verse 24 but I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself now we're beginning to get some kind of insight here aren't we if only I may finish my course that sounds like perseverance doesn't it you know in order that I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus I'm not a volunteer and a conscript and that ministry is to testify to the gospel of the grace of God now that I think is one of the key sections in all of Acts in terms of Paul in relationship to this subject and and hopefully that will become apparent to us at least by Wednesday lunchtime if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the grace of God now I'm gonna leave you to follow on with that by yourselves but let me just point out to you verse 27 he says I did not shrink from declaring to you the counsel of God verse 31 I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears verse 35 I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive you see this you see this sort of compelling dimension of the Apostle where else where really says it is the love of Christ that compels us constrains us and you see this working itself out in him I didn't shrink I didn't cease I've shown you that by working hard I think about this by the time he writes to Timothy in his final letter to him what it says you know it is the hard-working farmer who will be the first to receive a share of the crops it is the athlete who competes according to the rules it is the soldier who submits to his commanding officer and so he says study to show yourself our clan who doesn't need to be ashamed and here he is providing by his own personal testimony the reality of what it means to be work King for the Lord Jesus I could not work my soul to save for this my Lord has done but I can work like any slave for love of God's own son Acts chapter 28 you'll be encouraged because there isn't an acts 29 Acts chapter 28 at least not in the Bible Acts chapter 28 just one thing to notice he's now in Rome verse 20 for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain here's his badge of office he's not he's not talking about a thing that you wear around your neck that says you're the mayor of Rome now he says this is it is because of the hope of Israel the Messiah that I am wearing this chain it's similar to how he ends Galatians isn't it he says I don't really want to have a lot of trouble from any of you folks that I'm writing to how does he finish that he doesn't say because you know who I am don't you I'm the I'm the great persevering Apostle Paul no he says don't let's have any trouble for any of you because I bear in my body the marks of Jesus his badge of office is the fact that as you track through his ministry with him he has fought the fight he has kept the faith he has finished the race now in the Acts you have that if you like by way of summary when we turn to the epistles and to one in particular from which we have just read then we view this if you like by way of testimony so as you read through Acts in the narrative you have this picture of his perseverance in summary form when you come to his own writing in his own letters we're able to tackle it as it were by way of testimony or if you like then we have Paul in his own word now I'm not gonna roam around the epistles and I want really to be in Chapter four but I need to begin for a moment in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and in chapter 1 he states things very clearly incidentally I think 2nd Corinthians is arguably the most personal letter of Paul I think when you read the letters Paul reveals his feelings at least as much if not more in 2nd corinthians than he does in any of the rest of his letters you may want just to check that on your own but i think you'll find that that's possibly the case and the picture that we're given of paul is not one of somebody who's able to run roughshod over the concerns of others it's not of somebody who is unaffected by the damaged relationships that have taken place within the corinthian context as a result of misunderstandings in fact it's quite the opposite of that he's very very clear he is not able to simply say none of this really is a concern to me none of this really matters to me you see there in verse 8 of chapter 1 he says we do not want you to be unaware brothers of the affliction we experienced in asia why what was it like well he says let me tell you we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself that's a pretty straightforward statement isn't it I mean you've had a bad Sunday or two and so of I but that is to requite remarkable we we have been completely burdened beyond our strength the language he uses is strong language and we need to know that because we'll come back to it later in the week but it would seem to be even beyond our strength so that we despaired of life itself we felt that we had received the sentence of death but that was actually quite good because it helped us to understand how dependent we are on God so that we don't have the sense of Paul being able on account of the peculiar gifts that he's been given because of the privileges in ministry that he's enjoyed but he is somehow now by this stage of the game a nerd from these things you know it's other people can deal with that stuff other people can handle the burdens you know he's now saying you know I'm the one that writes the letters I'm the one that speaks at the conferences no he says the fact that the matter is that together we felt so under the burden of it because he was engaged in it because he cared about it there's an anecdote concerning a young psychiatrist and an older psychiatrist that just pops into my mind and now that I've mentioned it to you I have to tell it to you but I may regret that but there's nothing I can do about it now so the young psychiatrist is in a building with a number of physicians and and he is he is listening to the people's woes and concerns and complaints and everything day after day and he emerges from his business in in the day just a complete wreck his tie is all gone as shirt is half unbuttoned his hair is all over the place and as he gets on the lift on the elevator at night he gets on the lift almost routinely with a with an older psychiatrist who is very well put together his hair is nice and his suit seems to be just perfect and his caller and so on and the fellow he looks at this fellow every day and he sees him and he thinks how and I saw he says I'm gonna ask this fellow one day you know how he does this I mean he comes out of his practice looking like a million dollars and I look like I got run over by a tractor and so eventually he finds himself one day in the that lifts by by himself with the man and he says sir I've noticed this about you you're always leaving in the evening and and you seemed completely unruffled he said you know how do you how do you listen to all of that stuff then the man said who listens who listens it's an anecdote do we listen do we actually get under the burden of the thing or have we become so used to the story I mean we know the story we can complete the story after the first sentence we've heard it all no he says we were actually burdened utterly burdened burdened beyond our strength and he says we don't want you to be in the dark concerning this we want you to know that this is what it actually meant for us and whether this was physical or whether it was spiritual or whether it was a combination of the two it doesn't really matter they were at the end of their tether and it produced in them what he's going to say later on at the very end of the letter that which is most necessary in the service of God namely that the fact that they were forced again and again and again to trust God entirely the gospel ministry as we know brothers provides us with immense privileges and also with peculiar pressures and those pressures and those privileges explores our frailty they can either appear to our ego and so we're destroyed or they make us feel so perilously hopeless that we feel we must make a run for the border as fast as possible and Paul's point as we come now to 2 Corinthians 4 is that God in the economy and wonder of his purposes has determined that it should be this way so verse 7 he this ministry that we have he says is by the mercy of God we are in a great spiritual battle we know that God is sovereign over these things and the fact is the treasure is in jars of clay we carry this message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary life in the unadorned clay parts of our ordinary lives I didn't that's probably JB Phillips it sounds like him but there here's here's where we are basics 2016 a conference for unadorned clay pots speakers an American a Canadian an English and a Scottish pot all of them remarkably unadorned in the purposes of God Paul writes in first Corinthians he says not many of you were not many of you were it's absolutely true isn't it it looks like craziness what a strange group to put together what an odd choice of individuals that's what the people in Corinth were saying why can't he be high sounding like some others why can't he be impressive the way many of these other teachers are impressive why is he so apparently inept and weak we have this treasure what is the treasure you can decide whether it is the apostolic ministry of verse one or the gospel of verse four or the knowledge of the glory of God in verse six or you can do what I do and that is decide that it must be all three and take it that it is the Ministry of the gospel of the glory of God but it is in an old clay pot it's a description of human weakness terracotta pots that were 10 a penny in the marketplace that were both fragile and expendable well we know that don't we that we are fragile and we are expendable frail as summer's flower we flourish blows the wind and it is gone all men are like grass and the glory of man like the flower of the field the grass withers the flower falls but the word of the Lord will stand forever we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us the King James Version remember the King James Version some of you please don't shout out now the King James Version which is a good version King James liked it and and we can check and we can check with dawn but I think there is some reason here to consider this and you can use it in a Q&A session for later but the King James Version translates this verse but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not us may be of God on not ours I wonder whether Paul is not simply saying that it is in this that the power of God is displayed which is obvious but that it is only in this that it is only in this ie in weakness and in humility that it is discovered that it is known at all so that pride and arrogance and self assertiveness and an undue focus on our own abilities or our backgrounds or whatever else it is will deprive us of the very power that is necessary for persevering and completing the task think about it the most dramatic displays of divine power when you read through the Bible are found in those who are prepared to acknowledge that they are nothing very special isn't that true Moses I'd like you to go up to Pharaoh Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh he doesn't say excellent choice I'm glad you didn't think of my brother because man he talks all the time but he's no good no you've got the fellow here thank you thank you so much I'll get it out on Facebook let everybody know Pharaoh here I come No Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh Gideon you mighty man of Valor pardon you're talking to me I am the least of the lousy family you're my man now we could run through it is tedious isn't it but let's just take the principal Isaiah 66 - this is the one to whom I will look says the Lord he who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word in other words the very things that is one of the Puritans says it says that we in in shunning trials we miss blessings in seeking to disguise the reality of our own frailty we fail to enter into the dimension of God's power that he uses to manifest his glory that seems to me what Paul is saying pride and arrogance negate by definition divine power divine power that's not for us to determine what is a display of divine power or not on the day that will become apparent we may get it completely wrong now but in terms of our own approach to things we now get an inkling of why it is that by the time Paul is writing at the end of 2 Corinthians he says to keep me from becoming conceited to keep me from becoming conceited how jolly honest is that to keep me from getting a Fathead he says oh he's the Apostle Paul he couldn't get a Fathead what are you talking he he's that he's a champion of fat heads jars of my background very good background very good university very good theology and keeping the law remarkably strong on that he knew that that was his background I'm your man until they realized it was according to the mercy of God by the mercy of God I have this ministry that His mercy was shown to me or the the chief of sinners he says and even at this stage of the game when in an experience of God's amazing power towards him that would have played very very well on you know like Christian television in Corinth if there had been such a thing he says I'm going to talk about this in the third person in fact I'm not gonna talk about it at all I was caught up I experienced this but here's the real issue I was given a thorn in the flesh so that I might discover that when I am weak then I'm strong now let's just pause can we just for a minute and say are we going to actually embrace this I ask myself I'm looking speaking to myself - are we gonna embrace this are we gonna are we gonna buy this or are we gonna just keep going the way contemporary evangelicalism is going in North America looking for more superheroes and presenting ourselves as very accomplished and managing to do this and managing to do that and capable of this doing that well Paul has explained this - as in verses 8 & 9 in his apps you didn't know he had apps did you but he has apps and I'll just point them out - there's four of them afflicted perplexed persecuted struck down those are his apps a for afflicted we are afflicted in every way or we're troubled on every side we're perplexed in remember he writes to the Galatians and he says my dear children I am perplexed about you what he's saying is we don't always know what to do we don't always know what to think verse 9 we persecuted he who had hunted down the Christians chasing them down like an animal now finds himself on the receiving end of the same treatment afflicted perplexed persecuted struck down as in a wrestling bout or as in a boxing match in the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade and he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down and cut him till he cried out in his anger in his pain I am leaving I am leaving but the fighter still remains Paul knows what it is to have been thrown down on the mat and so do we don't we I remember him in Scotland years and years ago a gentleman who's become legendary at least in my mind now big man called mr. Collins who scared me dreadfully as a young man in my early 20s and I used to visit him in his home because I was supposed to and and on one occasion in the afternoon he was hiding me for certain elements of my preaching it and he said and and he had a stick that he had beside him in his chair why he needed it when he was in his chair I don't know but it was threatening and he had to stick with him in the chair and he said and and I'll tell you what Sonny he says you better stick with that Bible he says cuz if you start any nonsense in this church I will stand up in the pew with my stick and I will shout heresy I said thank you mr. Collins thank you and I remember getting my car going in this guy's on my side this is the Lissie this fellas trying to help me and he was representative of quite a few now what does he say of course well what we observe is that the surpassing power of God is revealed not in preserving Paul from affliction perplexity persecution and being struck down but rather in those experiences look at what he says we're afflicted but were not crushed we're perplexed but were not driven to despair close as we saw at the beginning in chapter 1 but not despairing ultimately were persecuted but we're not forsaken were knocked down but were actually never knocked out were not destroyed now what is this a testimony to is this a testimony to the ability of Paul to withstand trials no it is a testimony to the adequacy of God's grace and look at what he says this is a life and death issue we're always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies while we live were being given over to death for Jesus sake so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh in a nutshell Paul is declaring that it is in dying that life is discovered and displayed which is of course in keeping with the teaching of Jesus jesus said if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever once the save his life will lose it whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it suffering writes James Danny for the Christian is not an accident it's a divine appointment and as Paul walks in the footsteps of Jesus here he finds that in his very own physical frame he bears testimony to the fact that he has been included in Christ now we could go on from there but we won't because we should finish so let me just make one point by we have application and we'll come back to application if any of us are left on Wednesday so in acts the narrative gives us something of the perseverance of Paul in summary in the epistles and we'll come back to this we have it by his testimony the words of his own mouth just one point by way of application and it's already inherent in what I've said and it is this that it is our cell sense of insufficiency in these matters it is our sense of insufficiency that will be a plus rather than a minus it is in our awareness of the reality of these challenges you see we lay ourselves open to all kinds of dangers when we attempt to deny or to disguise our frailty we lay ourselves open to all kinds of temptations we should actually be more afraid of commendation than of criticism now I know some of you are sitting there going why I'd like I'm just a little commendation especially from my deacons that would be nice just once before I finally make a run for the border but no in fairness I think you will prove that to be the case that more spiritual progress is made a disappointment and in tears than in then is made in success and laughter when people made more of us than is justified they do not help themselves and they do not help us they absolutely don't my boss in the early days Derek prime would always remind me of these two salutary truths he said remind yourself that if they knew of you as you know yourself they would never make much of you in fact the opposite which is true isn't it if people really knew us they knew how tempted we are how frail we are how easy it is to be ensnared by all kinds of things some of the men in our church think that somehow or another because we've been called into pastoral ministry we we sort of move around the world as if we didn't see anything we didn't see how attractive that girl was we didn't see those magazines in the airport when we were passing through no we don't see those things you know no we weren't tempted in that way that's not true that is not true yes we were and to the extent that I seek to deny or to disguise the reality of what it means to make our way through this world and create an illusion for people to make you common day Tory you harm yourself you harm those people it's only when we see things in the light of the eternal that we can rightly make sense of the temporal and this was Derek again he said you know we find ourselves aware of stars only when we cannot see the Sun we are preoccupied with men only when our minds are turned away from God and one of the ways in which God chooses to bring that home to us is to remind us again of our frailty so that we might rest in his sufficiency can I can I end by just saying let's let's not run from this notion of of what we really are in terms of being old clay parts let's let's let's embrace let's embrace our ordinariness and let me finish with a quote from George Eliot in Middlemarch the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistorical and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who live faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs those who faithfully live a hidden life and one day will rest in unvisited tombs how many of us will even be a footnote in history even the history of our own families but this should not depress us because it is in this very frail T and in this awareness of our own transient existence looking at the life of Paul before us we might be enabled by God's Spirit eventually to say I managed to finish the race God helped me keep the faith I fought the fight well hopefully as we proceed through the next couple of days as the word of god has opened up to us we might be encouraged because some of us were probably here at the point where we're saying I think I could maybe just get to Wednesday and then go home and retire which is quite a thought since you're only 29 years old let's pray father thank you that you make us really aware of the fight that the best of men are men at best that on our best day were actually unprofitable servants that Paul does us a great service by being so amazingly transparent in revealing his heart we were burdened beyond our ability to frankly cope with it even to the point that we despaired of life itself however knowing the grace of God so we want to ask that right even in this moment that the Spirit of God will come and meet with us and fill us up and turnes afresh to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we receive one blessing after another and in his name we pray amen this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living to learn more about truth for life with Alistair beg visit us online at truthfortheworld.org

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 53,453

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Keywords: Alistair Begg, Biblical Figures, Gospel, Grace, Dependence on God, Perseverance, Suffering

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Length: 49min 44sec (2984 seconds)

Published: Sun May 15 2016