We Do Not Lose Heart, Part Two (Archived)

the following message by Alistair beg is made available by Truth For Life For more information visit us online at truthforlife.org well let's turn again to 2 Corinthians 4 where we have found our theme for the conference and uh the heading for these two addresses that I have been given the opportunity to deliver and we'll read from verse 7 to Corinthians 4 just through to the end of the chapter but we have this treasure in Jars of Clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us we're reflected in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying in 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 we also 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 life night 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 just a brief prayer Our Favorite old Anglican prayer father what we know not teach us what we have not give us what we are not make us for your son's sake amen well it is possible for us to say confidently that Paul was a basket case he was quite literally a basket case as we saw on Monday when we reviewed Ed the uh narrative in Acts and what is quite fascinating at least to me and I think it will be uh so to you that he recognizes himself that in the midst of a great catalog of Affliction one of the things that was emblematic was illustrative of his inherent weakness was in the very fact that in that Damascus encounter uh he said says quotes at the end of 2 Corinthians 11 I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped the hands of the one who was opposing him it's it's an almost a comic tragic picture isn't it when we think of the immensity of this man of the stature that he has in Christ and under god of the influence that he has been enable to exercise through the churches in his mission Endeavors his consistency in the gospel his unrelenting to Commitment uh in every aspect of things and yet he says if I think about things you know one of the things that I always remember is when I had to get in that basket and they let me down through a hole in the wall and it comes of course at the end of the classic catalog of his experience of Affliction and persecution remember he's taking on the false prophets in 2 Corinthians 11 he's saying if they want to boast I suppose I could boast I sound a little crazy to do so but if you want to know the things I'd like to boast about I'd like to boast about my imprisonments I'd like to boast about the times I got a whooping I'd like to boast about how many times I was near death and then he says five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 Lashes last one that be bad to get one of them those I mean it would be it's beyond comprehension to have that happen to you once imagine getting laid down stretched down somebody beat you with with with uh rods and they did it 39 times the few of us would actually be around for the rest of our lives let alone the rest of the week and this happened to him he says five times the lashes three times it was the rods once I was stoned three times Shipwrecked a night and a day I us to I was a drift at Sea and on my frequent Journeys I was in danger from Rivers Danger from robbers Danger from my own people friendly fire danger from Gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at Sea Danger from false Brothers in Toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure and apart from other things there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches who thinks they're weak and I'm not weak now this is familiar material to us isn't it and that's why on Monday uh we were considering the the immensity of this man's perseverance as we surveyed it albeit uh very briefly in acts in in the narrative there and then as we saw it in part at least to look at his testimony here in 2 Corinthians and then coming back to the passage we note as we have uh seen in the text that he says outwardly in terms of the way it looks outwardly we are wasting away though our outer self is wasting away I'm quoting the NIV outwardly we're wasting away as we read that we find ourselves saying no kidding in light of what we've just read in chapter chap 11 it's a miracle that you're actually even still alive and you say we're sort of wasting away then he refers to what he has endured as a light and momentary Affliction verse 17 for this light momentary Affliction and our response of that is that we're speechless how could you call this a light momentary Affliction and so when he says as he does twice in the chapter we do not lose heart beginning the chapter and coming back to it here in verse 16 the obvious question that emerges for us as we read the text is why not why not surely he has plenty of justification for having quit the race given up the fight thrown in the towel whatever metaphor you want to use why hasn't he done so and and also are the reasons for him not doing so are the reasons for his perseverance to be attributed simply to his apostleship to the fact that he was an apostle or even to his particular Constitution or to his character or if you like to his personality that's really question isn't it I mean can we look at this and find in this as the we used to say in campus Crusade are there any transferable Concepts here is it does it can can we move from what we discover of him here can we extrapolate from the reasons that he actually provides in the text that we can deduce from the text as to why it is that he perseveres so that we then taking a leaf from his book about to go back to our routine Sundays to the responsibil AB ities of church life to the ongoing drama of your life and mine can we then say in the strength of that we may take these things to ourselves both learning from them and asking the Holy Spirit to apply them to us that's really the orbit of of uh our time now and what I would like to do is to point out to you what I believe are the underlying reasons as to why it is he was able to persevere and then to make one or two points by way of application uh for ourselves I'm not going to delay on them and uh much of it you can follow up on on your own what are they why is it that he perseveres number one because he was in absolutely no doubt concerning the source of his ministry he was absolutely convinced of why he was what he was doing what he'd been called to do therefore verse one having this ministry by the mercy of God in uh chapter 2 uh he describes himself along with others as being completely insufficient for the task that is before him but in verse 17 as he ends chapter 2 he says we don't pedal the word of God but as men of sincerity as commissioned by God in the sight of God we speak in Christ so he knows that he's not on a Fool's errand he knows that he hasn't just fallen off his donkey as it were and bang his head on the edge of a bridge and and he's gone all kind of crazy religious on everybody no he knows now the reality of what ananas had to come to terms with when he recoils from the story that this Saul of Tarsus has actually been uh brought to his knees by the living Christ and uh the word that is given to ananas is this man is My Chosen instrument to Bear my name before the gentille and at the very heart of Paul's perseverance is the awareness that he is in this place because God has done what God has done in him number one number two he is clear not only about the source of his ministry but he is clear about the source of his sufficiency in Ministry he knows why He's in and he knows how it is that he is supported in it and chapter 3 uh let's go to verse uh uh five not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us unlike the uh folks who were strutting around Corinth with their counterfeit gospels we're not sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be Ministers of a new covenant again it's straightforward why am I in this position because God put me here how am I supposed to do what God wants me to do who's sufficient for a challenge like this none of us then where is my sufficiency my sufficiency is in God alone thirdly uh he is actually very clear about this Spirit of Faith we're now down in verse 13 of chapter 4 since we have the same Spirit of Faith according to what has been written now that that opening of this sentence is interesting and again you can follow it up on your own I take it that he is quite simply acknowledging that what he has read and he's quoting the septent of Psalm 116 that what he has read there he finds confirmation with in his own life that what the Samus was saying all those years before he concurs with what was the Samus saying in the context of suffering and opposition the Samus says I believed and so I spoke and so Paul says since we have the same Spirit of Faith as we find in the ministry of the psalmist so I believed and I spoke we believe and we speak the trials through which he has come which he's outlined here in verses 7 to 12 are in keeping with this expression in fact you could almost say that uh verses 7 to2 are an exposition of The Same Spirit of Faith uh we walk by faith and not by sight how do we explain the fact that he's Afflicted but not crushed perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not Forsaken and so on by the spirit of Faith because it is the enabling of the power of God that caused us to confirm the pist own words and it is in that context he says in verse 14 and this is number four knowing we believe we speak knowing what knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence the the the process is very clear we we believe we speak we suffer as we speak we suffer and we speak because we believe when we speak we suffer I've just been telling you about that he says in verses 7 to 12 but when we enter into the reality of suffering when death is all around us when we are exposed to death and when we are made aware of our Frailty when they drag me out of the city leaving me for dead in that experience and even he says as I reflect upon it now that all took place knowing this knowing that the same way in which the Lord Jesus Christ was raised so we will be raised up with him in other words it is in the hope of a future resurrection that his trials are both experienced and endured in the hope of the then it is the then which en AES him for the now one of the dangers of an over realized eschatology is that we actually lose any sense of the then as enabling us to face the now and some people even want to say that it's not very spiritual you know we are to be able to gut it out and handle it in the in the immediacy of everything no sometimes the only thing that gets us through is that there is something at the end of it that there is a promise at the end I remember one particular surgery I had years ago and and I never forget it as the fellow came at me with a large syringe it it was a it looked like it it was about 17 ft long and and he said to me he said if you can endure the next 40 seconds all will be well and I said you know I think I can and I did but he told me 40 seconds and it'll be over can you handle it that's what he's saying here we believed we spoke we suffered in the awareness of the then one of the absences in contemporary hymn today is the then when I was uh a boy in Scotland in a Bible class group I was in with a lot of boys they would take us in the k mountains in the in the highlands of Scotland and we were given uh horrible um uncomfortable boots um at least the ones my mother got for me were horrible uncomfortable boots I never had experienced blisters like it in my life and uh they gave you a bag you know a napsack to make you feel like you were a mountaineer or something I can't even remember what was in it I just remember it was heavy and off we would go with our fearless leader here we go and here we go so I'm after about a minute and a half I'm like how long is this thing um and then 5 minutes are we done are we there why oh man my boots oh could somebody hold this for me I mean I was a star pupil in this kind of thing I I really was and the leader would always say to is the same thing it's going to be worth it when you get to the top it'll be worth worth it when you get to the top shut up you'll be okay when you get to the top all right and then as if to pour oil on Troubled Waters he would say why don't we sing while we're going and and because it was so annoying to me that we were now going to sing I've never forgotten what he wanted us to sing it wasn't you know yo ho yo ho no not that he he was from a he was from a church background obviously and this these are the words I remember they went like this a few more marchings weary then we'll gather home a few more storm clouds dreary then we'll gather home or 's Rapid River soon we'll rest forever a few more marchings weary and then then we'll gather home now the point that he was illustrating for us was the reality of the experience of the Journey of life itself which is marked by weariness by steep climbs by difficulties by complaining people in your group and by elbows in the ribs and by spikes in The Shins and all of the rest of it and if we lose sight of the reality of the Resurrection then everything collapses because think about it in relationship to Paul's Ministry without faith in the in a future Resurrection Paul's Paul's experience would not only have been intolerable it would have been meaningless meaningless he would have been as the one he writes of in 1 Corinthians 15 the man who is most pitiable he would have been most pitiable wouldn't he and so it is he says we have the same Spirit of faith we believed and spoke we did so knowing that Jesus will raise us too fifthly why does he endure how does he endure in this way for it is all for your sake in other words Paul says this is not a about me this is not about how well it's going for me and this of course is not unique to 2 Corinthians 4 this is Paul's recurring emphasis for example in Galatians in chapter 4 remember he says my little children for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you that's an amazing metaphor for a man to pick up isn't it this is Agony for me this is the close he says that I think it is possible for a man to come to the experience of childbirth and the reason I am in this extremity is for your sake for your sake now I'm resisting the temptation to keep applying this because I'm going to come to it in a moment so we'll leave it as it is but notice how he goes on he says so that the H Clause so that as Grace extends to more and more people through the experience of suffering not only through his Proclamation but also through his endurance as that Grace extends to more and more people it will result and increase in Thanksgiving and that will be to the glory of God so the ultimate objective and the enduring Dimension is in relationship to the fact that this is for the glory of God sixthly he says my inner self for my inner man that Don was talking about yesterday and helped us out with and I need go back to it he says in our inner self our inner self is being renewed day by day now he comes back to is we don't lose heart he says you know what I'm telling you about here is that I've persevered and the reason I'm persevering is that although outwardly things are collapsing inwardly there is a daily renewal taking place now depending on how you're wired together this allows you when you're doing your personal study to say well at least I know one hymn that we're going to sing on Sunday morning depending on your context and you're going to include in the in the himn of the morning day by day and with each passing moment strength I find to meet my trials here trusting in my father's wise bestowment I have no need for worry or for fear he whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what he deems best lovingly the path of pain or pleasure till at last we come to find our rest that's what Paul is saying you can also include I need thee every hour that would be one in the World's Fair in Chicago where Moody and his team was involved in an evang an Evangelistic Endeavor when they gathered one evening at the end of the day's proceedings uh for a time of devotion the hymn that was given out for them to sing in the room was I need thee every hour most gracious Lord and uh in the singing of that hymn uh one of the men declared the fact that uh uh he really couldn't subscribe to that in its entirety he said that he needed he needed Jesus uh every moment he was an Englishman by the name of vley another person who was in the room was a a retired major and his name was Major Whittle and Whitt went up to his bedroom and um he couldn't get out of his mind the idea that we need him every hour but then the vley said you know I need him Moment by moment and before he finally got to sleep at about 2:00 in the morning he had written down dying with Jesus by death reckoned mine Living With Jesus this new life Divine and then my phone just quit on me with a photograph there we go uh looking to Jesus to Glory does shine Moment by moment oh Lord I am thine Moment by moment I'm kept in his love and Moment by moment I have life from above and I'm looking to Jesus till Glory does shine Moment by moment oh Lord I am thine never a trial that he is not there never a burden that he doesn't bear never a sorrow that he doesn't share Moment by moment I'm under his care this is Paul's testimony why is it that you managed to get through all this stuff Paul well because in my inner man I am being renewed now you see looked at from the outside his life is really a bit of a disaster his circumstances are terrible but uh it's only these false folks who are looking at the outside chapter 5 he says we don't commend ourselves to you again by giving you cause to boast about us this is 2 Corinthians 5:12 so that you may be be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart Corinth was just full of self-ag grandish and the church was not free from it and people were attracted by that kind of thing and so Paul says my outward Decay is contributing to my inward renewal there's a direct correlation between what's happening to me on the outside at the moment and what I'm able to endure and how I'm able to persevere seventhly and this is all in the text isn't it why is he enduring well he says because there is an eternal weight of Glory this momentary Affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of Glory beyond all comparison now those of you who were paying attention on Monday which limits the group significantly um will perhaps recall that I said in in the opening statement or so in verses 8 and N of of uh chapter chapter 1 that the phraseology there should be paid attention to because we can come back to it well now we're back to it and what we're talking about is in verse 8 of chapter 1 where Paul says we don't want you unaware of what we've been up against and here it is we were so utterly burdened weighed down Bey beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself okay now both in the verbal form and in the noun both weight and Glory you find them together you come back now to chapter 4 and what he does is he makes this again amazingly paradoxical statement this light and momentary Affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of Glory beyond all comparison in other words we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength but now we've discovered in thinking about it that the afflictions are actually light and the glory is weighty when he puts the two things on the scales as it were he says it is because the coming glory is so weighty that we can view this Affliction as being actually light how else can it be regarded as momentary momentary now the surgeon says to me you got 40 seconds that is momentary but 39 lashes is not momentary and certainly not five times and the catalog of Affliction he says so this light and momentary Affliction now you're saying to yourself Paul I think you've I think you're stretching it a little bit now but no it's momentary in light of Eternity it's light in terms of the immensity of the glory that will be revealed in us this Affliction he said felt sometimes like a huge weight around our necks but when we lifted our eyes to see the Triumph of Christ suddenly we realize that that was where the real weight and the real strength and significance lay you have the same thing don't you with Peter when when Peter in his first letter says in this you rejoice though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of Trials loved ones let's be honest we have marveled at our brothers and sisters whose lives have been marked by particular challenges in relationship to physical Affliction or to mental challenges or whatever it might be and we've fear to ever suggest you know it'll be over soon because it doesn't seem like it is ever going to be over but even an entire lifetime of suffering in the context of Eternity will be seen to be what it is just a little while now it is on account of that that he then explains and this is eighthly if you're even taking notes eighthly he says this is where we fix our eyes we're not looking to the things that are seen But to the things that are unseen what are the things that are seen outward Affliction his body you know we're all we're all uh disintegrating you know whether you like it or not some more obviously than others I think perhaps but uh we're all we're all approximating one way or another to the to the the picture in Ecclesiastes 12 where eventually we walk along like Grasshoppers and and desire is no longer stiring this is largely a male group and desire is no longer stirred you might not be there but you're going there outwardly this thing is collapsing he says that's not where we're looking the people who are the counterfeit gospelers that's exactly where they're looking that's why they've said to you you know Paul is he's a big shot when he writes his letters but if you see him up close he's nothing what does Paul do he doesn't say oh they're wrong I am actually something when you they just haven't really seen The Best of Me no he says they're right I am nothing I don't look like much I don't sound like much and frankly I ain't much but God is everything and it is because of that that I have my gaze where it needs to be I fix my eyes on Jesus he's is doing what elsewhere in the scriptures we're encouraged to do looking to Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith he is concentrating on inward renewal rather than outward Affliction inward Glory rather than external Decay and he's going to go on and encapsulate it in chapter 5 where he follows right through on the line of thinking and he says for we know that if the tent that is our is our Earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God you see the decay of the Godless is a really Melancholy and tragic picture isn't it cuz they had nowhere to go I hope they're not looking for their best life now I hope it is their best life now cuz what's coming next they're not going to like in the precious goodness of God he says we look here and then he says and I'll tell you why we do and this he ends the chapter with he says and the reason that we do this is because what we can see is temporary and what is unseen is eternal in other words he says if if if I look at my body and and how much time I've got left and and how well everything is apparently going this is not looking real solid he said but when I look at what what's going on in the heart this uh working of Grace and goodness then it changes everything okay so I'm suggesting to you that these not in exclusive terms but certainly these are key elements in his ability to endure and to provide in himself by the grace of God an example of endurance in the moments that remain let me just try and apply these things to us let's let's acknowledge that um his apostleship is unique but in so far as these are elements of the grace of God the adequacy of Grace in securing uh our endeavors as Ministers of the Gospel I I I think I think they serve as well uh James Stewart and the reason it's so important to quote J James Stewart in Heralds of God is because he says there are surely few figures as pitiable as the disillusion minister of the Gospel High Hopes once cheered him on his way but now the indifference and the recalcitrance of the world the lack of striking visible results the discovery of the appalling pettiness and Spite and touchiness and complacency which can Lodge in narrow Hearts the feeling of personal futility all these have seared his soul no longer does the Zeal of God's house devour him no longer does he Mount the pulit steps in thrilled expectancy that Jesus Christ will come among his people that day traveling in the greatness of his strength mighty to save dully and drearily he speaks now about what once seemed to him the most dramatic Tidings in the world the edge and Verve and passion of the message of divine forgiveness the exalted lyrical Assurance of the presence of the Risen Lord the amazement of Supernatural Grace the urge to cry woe is me if I preach not the gospel all have gone the man has lost heart he is disillusioned and that for an ambassador of Christ is a tragedy how then says steuart do you maintain yourselves against the Menace of this mood for maintain yourself you must or else don't try to speak to men in the name of God well and how I want to suggest to you by the very same pattern of Paul here you and I will not endure in pastoral Ministry over the Long Haul unless we can clearly identify the fact that God Alone put us in this deal that we may have aspired to the office of an overseer but it is God that put us in the spot that the source of our ministry is God McShan who was dead what at 29 in his trials before the preser in 1835 writes in his journal before he goes for his interview the following day if God see fit to put me into the ministry who shall keep me back if I be not fit why should I thrust forward to your service I desire to dedicate my service over and over again in other words he's Isaiah in the temple Would I Do Lord will I do God says yes you will do not because you're particularly eloquent skillful bright and so on but you'll do fine because you're my man Timothy Timothy says remember stir up the gift that was in you through the laying on of the hands of those men do you remember those big gnarly hands including mine the Tent Maker when they clasped on the back of your neck bring that to mind bring it to mind you'll need to you have to remind yourself why you're in this I had a wonderful illustration of it last night when a few of us had dinner together and one of the person one of the men in the group as we went around and spoke about pastoral Ministry and how long and how we're doing and so on and one man said you know if it were not for the fact that I had been ordained to this gospel Ministry and had been given that little thing that said X on such and such a day was set apart to the gospel Ministry he said well it not for that I would have chucked it a long time ago and the fact that I'm still in it owes in large measure to the fact that I am convinced that it is God who put me in it and if he put me in it then he can keep me in it and when I think about those men and their commitment to me it it sustains me do you remember when you were baptized if you were baptized properly um my baptismal hymn was oh Jesus I have promised remember that oh Jesus I have promised to serve thee to the end be thou forever near me my master and my friend I dare not fear the battle if thou art by my side or Wander from the pathway if thou will be my guide oh let me feel thee near me the world is ever near I see the sights that Dazzle the tempting sounds I hear my foes are ever with me around me and within oh Jesus draw thou nearer and keep my heart from sin Paul was doing this why are you still married why are you married are you married did you get married yes yeah and what did you say that day do you remember your vows do you remember when you said the first time ever I saw your face I felt the earth move in my hand and and your wife ran up the aisle and you're married to somebody else now no you didn't you didn't say that there was none of that you made promises for better for worse it's worse I'm sorry but you signed up Up For Worse how's the church thing going worse okay you signed up for worse it's not about us the source of our ministry if God hasn't put you in get out cuz you shouldn't be in and if you're not convinced get out anyway there's nothing worse than the person who says I don't really know I mean I don't know I don't know what kind of leadership is that but I'm a nice person I don't care if you're a nice person I mean I care but only a little bit if you fly out of Cleveland tonight you're not going to check in the cockpit if the guy's a nice person you don't want to know if he's called to fly airanes and if he can do so safely that's the issue number one that we are kept because we're put and along with Paul we're then aware of the fact that our sufficiency comes from the same place comes from God that we are competent in Christ not in ourselves in the same way that he says it is the same Spirit of faith that is the same for us Paul says to Timothy I want you to continue in the things you've become convinced of knowing those from whom you have learned them and how in your case Timothy sins from infancy you've known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation it is in that Spirit of faith that Timothy must now continue and so is so do so must we we will not endure if we lose confidence in the truth and in the power and in the relevance of the Gospel as soon as we begin to walk by sight and not by faith we're on Shaky Ground we believe we speak there's pushing back in that but in the same way it is the story of the glory of the Resurrection that keeps us that we've been born again to a living hope we're not distracted by the nonsense of those who are making a big fuss and a bother we are resting in the fact that our eyes will finally see beyond a beckoning grave as townin puts it fifthly in the same way for Paul it is for us it's not about us it's about the sake of Those whom we serve in in um on being a pastor Derek Prime tells the story of Sangster when he went to his charge in Wales the story is told by Paul sanster the the junior to Dr Sangster and apparently when he went they had an opening session on the Saturday night before he preached his first his first ceremon and they they had the people stand up from the various Departments of the church and everybody stood up and uh explained to the minister what he was going to have to do to meet their expectations and everyone explained that uh their their their little area of ministry was the key to the success and the influence of the church and it went on for so long that sster JR says that his father being totally overwhelmed by the presentation that had been made stood up and said I will try my best with God's help and then he sat down and as he pursued Ministry he said the thing that sustained him was the constant reminder that he had been put there by God's appointment and it was not for his own personal benefit but it was for the sake of those who were under his charge Char like another who when he took up his charge he said to the congregation I will be your servant but you must never be my master you are not my master we have one master namely the Risen Lord Jesus himself and so he says it is for your sake so that his grace extends to more and more people God will be glorified and this you see is the great corrective as I draw this to a stop but it's the great this is the corrective to the the the stultifying devilish temptation to constant comparison well what about him what about this what about look if I so so my brothers don't allow yourself to go there it is a it is a pathway to despondency or to arrogance to jealousy to anger and how things appear now is not how things necessarily are they're not we don't know how they are one man's Ministry that seems particularly powerful may actually prove on that day not to be gold and precious stones but to be wood hay and stule and some apparently small apparently inconsequential how could anything in the economy of God be inconsequential and these things that are apparently inconsequential will On that Day of Reckoning be revealed for what they are it is the day that will bring it to light it's the day that will bring it to light that's why we don't compare ourselves he he actually speaks of those doesn't he who who are comparing themselves with one another they're writing their own CVS and and and then uh and then heralding them around no he says we don't we don't we don't view things in that way we do not I'm looking for it desperately I'm sure it's in the Bible we do not not that is verse 12 of chapter 10 now that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are committ end in themselves but when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another they're nuts he actually says they're without understanding that's a really bad idea he says you're going to set up the standard and compare yourself against one another that's not a good idea we're not going to boast Beyond limits but we will only boast regard to the area of influence that God has assigned to us to reach even you for it is not the one who commends himself who is approved by the one whom the Lord commands in other words it's not what we say about ourselves that matters it's What God Says About Us that matters it's not what your congregation who like you say about you that matters or the ones that don't like you say about you that matters those things are not irrelevant we pay attention to them we don't R run rough shot we're impacted by them we may be lifted up we may be cast down but when we put our heads on the pillow at night we have to say with Paul listen we recognize that it it is in this Spirit of faith that we function and it is for their sake and that is why we can experience the daily renewal about which we to which we alluded in quoting from the hymn and then we can also turn our gaze to a weight of Glory that is our Prospect and as we turn our gaze to our Prospect then we gain perspective and the perspective we gain is in light of how he ends the things that are seen are Emeral they are transient they pass away but the things that are unseen are Eternal in other words learning to live now in all of the vicissitudes of life in light of the then two quotes and we stop this uh from the second volume of Martin Lloyd Jones as Ian Murray describes for as the end of Lloyd Jones's life I wonder do you remember this and if you haven't the two volumes of Lloyd Jones and your wife is buying your present this would be a really nice present and um you you'll come to cherish these books Ian Murray's writing and he's describing the fact that we're now in the final days of Martin Lloyd Jones's life um one of the men that came to visit him was a consultant um what we would call here uh I don't know what we call them here but um what do we call a doctor who's like a really good one what specialist nah not a specialist no anyway it doesn't matter this guy doctor came to see him and he'd been in his congregation since 1952 in other words what you become a doctor and then you become a better doctor in Britain and then you become a consultant and then you know you consult and um so the consultant came to see him I wish I hadn't mentioned that but anyway his name was Mr Williams in CL you're interested and and the Doctor Who Wasn't his it wasn't his GP that's the point he was he was a friend so he sees Lloyd Jones he's known him since 52 and um he he he wants to give him antibiotics Lloyd Jones has lost the power of speech by this point so he shook his head in disagreement well said his doctor when the Lord's time comes even though I fill you up to the top of your head with antibiotics if it won't make any difference his patient Lloyd Jones who of course himself was a doctor shook his head vigorously I want to make you comfortable more comfortable Mr Williams went on it Grieves me to see you sitting here weary worn and sad according from the hymn that was too much for Martin lyd Jones who'd lost the power of speech he blurted out not sad not sad the truth was that he believed the work of dying was done and he was ready to go last night Grant Williams wrote to mlj local doctor on the 25th of February quotes he refused to take any any antibiotic could hardly talk and I think will die very shortly I think he is very lucid and knows exactly what he wants to do his daughter Elizabeth sat beside him and he pointed very definitely to the words of 2 Corinthians 46-8 so we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day when I asked him says Elizabeth if that was his experience now he nodded his head with great Vigor endurance endurance that's quote one and this is quote two do you know this Wesley hymn I only really know the first verse of it I sing it to myself quite often in the morning when I'm driving along to parks side and the opening line is forth in thy name oh Lord I go my daily labor to pursue thee only thee resolve to know in all I think or speak or do and it goes on the task thy wisdom hath assigned oh let me cheerfully fulfill in all my Works thy presence find and prove thy good and perfect will thee may I set at my right hand whose eyes my inmost substance see and labor on at thy command and offer all my Works to thee give me to Bear thy easy yoke and every moment watch and pray and still to things Eternal look and hasten to thy glorious day for thee delightfully employ whatever thy bounous Grace hath given and run my course with even joy and closely walk with thee to Heaven that was the 18th century this is the 21st century Paul was in the first century what is he a testimony to the adequacy of the saving keeping grace of God the the exact same saving keeping grace of God which is yours and mine brothers who knows about this political stuff I dodged the question deliberately so who knows who knows we don't know but I tell you what we do know God has many people in these cities in which we live whom he has marked out to whom we go proclaiming the gospel and asking God to open blind eyes and to soften hard hearts and we go in the awareness of the fact that it's a big task that it is an unfinished task and it is quite remarkable what we have been included in the program and having put us there he will supply the needs that we have there and he will accomplish all these things for their sake through Grace To His glory let us pray together father thank you thank you that uh your word constantly turns us again and again to the Lord Jesus Christ who for the joy that was set before him Scorn the shame and uh really what we have described in Paul is a cruciform perspective on enduring and continuing to the end and so we pray that as we Ponder these things as we Face the ups and downs and challenges of our our everyday existence the The Temptations of our own sinful Hearts the People that Annoy Us the ones that um seek to encourage Us in strange ways whatever it might be Lord help us help us not to throw ourselves down in the middle of the race and for the for the challenge that is before us we acknowledge that all that the all that we need is granted to us uh by the Holy Spirit In Christ in whose 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 forli with alist beg visit us online at truthforlife.org

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 50,870

Keywords: Alistair Begg, Dependence on God, Gospel, Grace, Ministry, Perseverance, Service

Id: 4ahE_ogrDBA

Length: 56min 43sec (3403 seconds)

Published: Sun May 15 2016