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Looking Back No Regrets Msg 12 14 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: There is no way that I or anyone sitting in
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Speaker 1: this room today could know your past. No one knows
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Speaker 1: it like you do. We all have things that are there.
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Speaker 1: We are grateful no one else knows. However, I meet
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Speaker 1: all the time those who cannot get past them. And
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Speaker 1: so they have no new life. They live anchored, anchored
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Speaker 1: to the anguish of regret. The only solution, the only
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Speaker 1: relief will come from the cross, the cross. There is
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Speaker 1: no other answer for this kind of internal pain and
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Speaker 1: the world of regret. And today we focus on that,
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Speaker 1: and I'm so grateful you have a cross to look
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Speaker 1: at that hangs behind me. I seldom refer to any
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Speaker 1: thing in the room, but today it seems appropriate that
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Speaker 1: you focus on the cross. We sang of it in
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Speaker 1: each of the songs we sang today, the cross. If
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Speaker 1: you haven't the Lord Jesus in your life, if you
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Speaker 1: haven't the Savior who died on a cross for you,
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Speaker 1: you know nothing of what it would mean to bring
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Speaker 1: anything to the foot of the cross, which puts everyone
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Speaker 1: at the same level. And there we leave the pain
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Speaker 1: and the horror and anguish that comes from our past,
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Speaker 1: all the regrets. One of the joys of a meaningful
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Speaker 1: worship is that you are given time to be quiet.
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Speaker 1: One of the lies of the 21st century is that
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Speaker 1: everything must be loud and constant. Always, always, always filling
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Speaker 1: space with words, sounds, even musical notes. But it's good
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Speaker 1: to be quiet. Be still, my soul. we just sang.
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Speaker 1: In fact, that song was sung by those missionaries and
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Speaker 1: their wives before they left in the mid 1950s to
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Speaker 1: reach the Alka Indians, none of whom returned, all of
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Speaker 1: them martyred. I've had the privilege of meeting each one
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Speaker 1: of the widows, and they've told me that the song
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Speaker 1: they sang before they departed Said goodbye to their husbands
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Speaker 1: was that song we just sang. Be still, my soul.
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Speaker 1: And the song rang into the night. Again on their
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Speaker 1: hearts when they got word that each one of them
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Speaker 1: was a widow. Times like this prepare us for times
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Speaker 1: like that. Not as dramatic, perhaps, but just like that.
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Speaker 1: I spent time this week with a grieving family who
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Speaker 1: just lost their 21 year old son. The heartbreak and
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Speaker 1: the anguish they live with is palpable. God's word speaks
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Speaker 1: to this in the fourth chapter of second Timothy. Only
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Speaker 1: three verses. Verses 6, 7, and 8. May we stand
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Speaker 1: together for the reading of the scriptures. Paul, the apostle,
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Speaker 1: writes these words. 2 Timothy 4, 6. For I am
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Speaker 1: already being poured out as a drink offering, and the
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Speaker 1: time of my departure has come. I have fought the
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Speaker 1: good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept
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Speaker 1: the faith. In the future, there is laid up for
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Speaker 1: me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
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Speaker 1: will award to me on that day, and not only
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Speaker 1: to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.
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Speaker 1: Our Father, it is meaningful to read the words of
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Speaker 1: a man whose departure had come, whose life was being
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Speaker 1: poured out as a drink offering, whose days were now limited.
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Speaker 1: There's something meaningful about such last words. Give us ears
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Speaker 1: to hear. Take us again and again to the cross,
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Speaker 1: where our savior died, to the cross that we are
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Speaker 1: told to take up in order to follow his steps,
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Speaker 1: to the cross where we first saw the light and
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Speaker 1: the burden of our heart rolled away. May nothing have
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Speaker 1: that significance in our lives, nothing but the cross of
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Speaker 1: Christ in which we glory and to which we turn
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Speaker 1: over and over and over again to recover from the
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Speaker 1: anguish of our past. It is there and only there
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Speaker 1: we find full forgiveness and the remarkable divine erasing of
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Speaker 1: the horror of failures. How grateful we are, our Father,
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Speaker 1: for those who stood earlier in our midst. How honored
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Speaker 1: we are to have them among us who have known loneliness,
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Speaker 1: distance from family and loved ones, many of whom have
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Speaker 1: faced the enemy head on. who have buried their brothers
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Speaker 1: and sisters who fought alongside them, who have known the
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Speaker 1: anguish of war. We are free today because of them.
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Speaker 1: Watch over those who today are in harm's way. Give
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Speaker 1: them grace to go on to be deployed to fight
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Speaker 1: for us. Somehow make sense our Father out of life
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Speaker 1: and use your word in doing so. Our gifts are
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Speaker 1: given today that that might continue as long as we
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Speaker 1: are alive and many years beyond should Christ tarry. These
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Speaker 1: gifts are yours. We give them in the name of
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Speaker 1: the one who gave his body and his blood that
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Speaker 1: we might live eternally. in the Savior's name, we pray.
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Speaker 1: And everyone said, amen. When you consider all the alternatives,
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Speaker 1: growing old is not all that bad. Now, immediately you
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Speaker 1: think I'm referring to death and well, compared to death,
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Speaker 1: there are some things that are even worse and that's
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Speaker 1: living our lives full of regret. Webster tells us that
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Speaker 1: regret is distress over desire unfulfilled, disappointment with ourselves over
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Speaker 1: an unwise decision, or wrong actions that we cannot go
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Speaker 1: back and correct. If regret is strong enough, it can
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Speaker 1: ruin our later years. It's like dragging an anchor through
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Speaker 1: the twilight years of our lives. We can't get rid
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Speaker 1: of it. It's like a burden we're carrying strapped to us.
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Speaker 1: Like the man who wrote, across the fields of yesteryear,
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Speaker 1: he sometimes comes to me, a little lad just back
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Speaker 1: from play, the boy I used to be. He smiles
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Speaker 1: at me so wistfully when once he's crept within, It
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Speaker 1: is as though he had hoped to see the man
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Speaker 1: I might have been. Maybe that little piece of verse
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Speaker 1: is your statement. Maybe you feel terribly disappointed in yourself.
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Speaker 1: One of the greatest reasons I can think of for
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Speaker 1: believing in a God of grace the God of forgiveness,
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Speaker 1: is that you have someone who can truly help you
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Speaker 1: with your regrets. Even if the one who is cemented
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Speaker 1: to the regret has already died, you have a Savior
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Speaker 1: who can alone erase the stains of your memory. Otherwise,
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Speaker 1: you're eaten up by regret. There's a short story named
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Speaker 1: Piper's Tangle. about a man in that very fix. His
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Speaker 1: regrets were so great that they had turned to hatred
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Speaker 1: at the end of his life. He was eaten up
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Speaker 1: by them, his emotions were drained by them, and some
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Speaker 1: of his final words were cried out from the deathbed.
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Speaker 1: If only God existed! Without knowing it, he put his
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Speaker 1: finger on the very way one can recover from regret.
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Speaker 1: And that is through a relationship of one who can
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Speaker 1: forgive us. And so it is for all who come
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Speaker 1: to the end of the trail who have no relationship
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Speaker 1: with the living God. If only, if only I knew
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Speaker 1: someone who could take the burden and lift it off me.
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Speaker 1: How different those words are from Borden of Yale, who
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Speaker 1: was known for six words in his testimony, no reservations,
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Speaker 1: no retreats, no regrets. What a way to live. Oh,
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Speaker 1: what a way to die. How can anyone say that?
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Speaker 1: How can you live in that kind of real world
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Speaker 1: which sounds so unreal to most people today. Well, the
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Speaker 1: sting of death has to be taken away, and with
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Speaker 1: that sting, the grinding constancy of regret. And we hear
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Speaker 1: the testimony of one for whom that was true, who
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Speaker 1: records his words in 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4.
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Speaker 1: It's seldom that a sermon is based on only three
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Speaker 1: verses that can hold our attention, but these three are
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Speaker 1: an exception. The one who wrote the words is an
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Speaker 1: old white-haired man whose face is covered with a beard.
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Speaker 1: He's stooped, he's scarred. The old apostle has come to
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Speaker 1: the end of the trail. His travels are over. There'll
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Speaker 1: be no more miles, no more churches that he will found,
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Speaker 1: no more sermons he will preach. He is writing his
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Speaker 1: final words. There'll be no other young man he will mentor.
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Speaker 1: Those days are gone. He is on what we would
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Speaker 1: call today his death bed, except in his case, it's
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Speaker 1: a cold, dark, dank dungeon under the streets of Rome.
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Speaker 1: known as the Mamertine prison. He's there forgotten. He has
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Speaker 1: no money, no status, inadequate clothing. He's shivering from the cold.
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Speaker 1: He has little food, little respect is left. Those who
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Speaker 1: once traveled with him are out of sight except for Dr. Luke.
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Speaker 1: Those who once quoted him have now forsaken him. There's
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Speaker 1: not a hint of bitterness, however. There is not a
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Speaker 1: shred of resentment. There isn't a trace of regret in
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Speaker 1: verses 6, 7, and 8 in 2 Timothy 4. You
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Speaker 1: look for them. They're not there. Remarkable man. He's come
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Speaker 1: to the end and there are no reservations, no retreats,
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Speaker 1: no regrets. Now, if you look at the structure of
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Speaker 1: the letter, you will find that there's a change of subjects.
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Speaker 1: If you go back to earlier passages in the letter,
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Speaker 1: you will see frequently that second person pronoun, you, as
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Speaker 1: he refers to Timothy, but you, Timothy, you hold fast.
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Speaker 1: You take the things that I have deposited into your
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Speaker 1: life and you pass them on to others. You're living
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Speaker 1: in a day that's going from bad to worse, but you, Timothy,
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Speaker 1: stand fast. You are surrounded by those who have defected. You, Timothy,
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Speaker 1: stand strong. Hold to the things you have been taught.
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Speaker 1: You have had this in your childhood. You have been
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Speaker 1: taught by me to do such and such. You, you, you.
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Speaker 1: Up until now, it's been all about Timothy's ministry and life.
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Speaker 1: That's the first thing I noticed when we get to
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Speaker 1: this section of scripture. Up until now, it's been all
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Speaker 1: about Timothy's ministry and life. But from here on, it's
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Speaker 1: mostly about Paul's memories and death. How do I know that? Well,
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Speaker 1: look at verse six. Immediately, the pronoun changes from you
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Speaker 1: to I. I'm already being poured out as a drink offering.
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Speaker 1: The time of my departure has come. I have fought
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Speaker 1: the good fight. I have finished the course. I have
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Speaker 1: kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me
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Speaker 1: the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
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Speaker 1: shall give to me, not to me only, but to
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Speaker 1: all who love his appearing. I, me, my, the change
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Speaker 1: of subject. It's all now turning to the subject of Paul.
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Speaker 1: The inevitable has arrived. The hot breath of death is
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Speaker 1: now on him, surrounding him. He knew it. So rather
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Speaker 1: than deny it, try to escape it, he addresses it openly,
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Speaker 1: and I might add triumphantly. Triumphantly. What a model he
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Speaker 1: is for us. So we have time to reflect as
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Speaker 1: we get to verse six. Let's allow the words of
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Speaker 1: this warrior to sink into our minds today. Let's witness
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Speaker 1: what it was like for a man without regret to
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Speaker 1: look death squarely in the eyes and not blink. The
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Speaker 1: first thing I notice is this. He is acknowledging the
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Speaker 1: reality of his present situation. That's verse 6. He's not
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Speaker 1: escaping it, denying it, overlooking it, or ignoring it. He
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Speaker 1: is acknowledging the reality of his present situation. Look at
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Speaker 1: what he says. I am already being poured out as
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Speaker 1: a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
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Speaker 1: Interesting words chosen here, and I think there are really
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Speaker 1: two figures of speech that are worth noting. The first
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Speaker 1: is being poured out as a drink offering. What an
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Speaker 1: unusual way to refer to one's death. I was alongside
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Speaker 1: my father very close to the moment of his death.
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Speaker 1: I wasn't there at the moment. We got there just
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Speaker 1: only minutes after he had passed. I was not there
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Speaker 1: at my mother's death, though I was there within minutes
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Speaker 1: after her passing. So I didn't hear their last words,
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Speaker 1: but I know in their last hours I never heard
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Speaker 1: them to refer to themselves as being poured out as
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Speaker 1: a drink offering. Those are unusual words for us. What
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Speaker 1: do they mean? When you come across words like that
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Speaker 1: in the Bible, they deserve some thought and some research.
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Speaker 1: I found in my study that it was a familiar
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Speaker 1: Jewish custom to pour red wine across the base of
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Speaker 1: an altar which represented the blood of a lamb given
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Speaker 1: as a sacrifice. A wine was poured out at the
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Speaker 1: base of an altar representing the blood of a lamb
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Speaker 1: that was being sacrificed. If you go back to Philippians
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Speaker 1: chapter 2 verse 17, do that. Here he refers to
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Speaker 1: this same figure of speech in a little different way.
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Speaker 1: Philippians 2 verse 17. Even if I am being poured
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Speaker 1: out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service
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Speaker 1: of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with
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Speaker 1: you all. You may not know it if you're not
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Speaker 1: familiar with Philippians, but he's chained to a Roman soldier
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Speaker 1: as he writes this prison letter. He's not in a dungeon,
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Speaker 1: he's under house arrest, but a Roman soldier is literally
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Speaker 1: shackled to him. And he writes, knowing death is coming soon.
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Speaker 1: And please observe, it's not all in the past. He says,
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Speaker 1: I am being poured out as a drink offering. To him,
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Speaker 1: the altar was the sacrifice and service of their faith.
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Speaker 1: And he said, I'm being poured out on your behalf.
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Speaker 1: It represents an honorable sacrifice given at the end of
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Speaker 1: one's work or world or days. Now back to 2
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Speaker 1: Timothy 4, verse 6. It's like Paul, if he were
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Speaker 1: to use military words, I'm a veteran, I've been faithful
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Speaker 1: in discharging my duties. I've earned an honorable discharge from
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Speaker 1: service and I now leave it at the hands of
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Speaker 1: younger warriors to carry on in my absence. He's viewing
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Speaker 1: his death as an honorable sacrifice. They aren't taking my life,
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Speaker 1: I am releasing my life to my Lord. From the
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Speaker 1: Damascus Road conversion, all the way to this moment in
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Speaker 1: the dungeon, Paul has given over everything to his Lord.
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Speaker 1: His fame, his money, his time, his passion, his reputation,
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Speaker 1: his voice, his words, his gifts, His life's dreams, everything
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Speaker 1: has been poured out as a drink offering. So he
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Speaker 1: can say that literally. This is not bragging. This is
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Speaker 1: stating a fact. My life has been poured out as
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Speaker 1: a drink offering. I now leave it as a memory
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Speaker 1: in your life to go on from here. The drink
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Speaker 1: offering is interesting, I find. Look at the next word,
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Speaker 1: my departure. He's not only a drink offering. He says
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Speaker 1: the time of my departure has come. Very colorful Greek
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Speaker 1: term that is used in four different ways in word
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Speaker 1: pictures in both New Testament usage as well as extra
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Speaker 1: biblical usages. For example, it's used for unyoking an animal
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Speaker 1: from a cart or from a plow. Unyoking. For Paul,
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Speaker 1: death is an unyoking of his life from the toils
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Speaker 1: of of everyday responsibilities. The same term is used for
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Speaker 1: loosening shackles or bonds. Death for Paul was a release
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Speaker 1: of freedom at last from the pain of his experiences.
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Speaker 1: It's also used for striking a tent, cutting loose the
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Speaker 1: ropes that have held the tent tight. And Paul is saying,
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Speaker 1: I have made my last journey. I'm striking camp. There
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Speaker 1: will be no more of setting up a tent anywhere else.
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Speaker 1: One most colorful to me was the untying of a
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Speaker 1: ship from its moorings. Same word used as the term
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Speaker 1: translated departure, the time of my departure. Paul is now
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Speaker 1: launching out into the greatest depths of his experience, eternity
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Speaker 1: with his God. Alfred Lord Tennyson, before his death, wrote
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Speaker 1: Crossing the Bar, And in it, these familiar words, sunset
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Speaker 1: and evening star, and one clear call for me, may
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Speaker 1: there be no moaning of the bar when I put
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Speaker 1: out to sea. Same word picture. Paul is launching his
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Speaker 1: ship into the depth of the sea called eternity future.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, there's no panic. There's no fear.
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Speaker 1: There's no confusion. There's no resentment. There's no blaming. There's
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Speaker 1: no regret. What a way to pass. What a marvelous testimony.
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Speaker 1: So he's looked at his current situation, his present situation,
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Speaker 1: and he has identified it as a drink offering poured
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Speaker 1: out and a statement of his departure. Now there's a
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Speaker 1: second thing I notice in these verses. Look at verse 7.
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Speaker 1: He's remembering the challenges of his past. Paul is looking
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Speaker 1: at his life, and as you often do when you
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Speaker 1: get to this age or this place in life, you
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Speaker 1: begin to reflect on the way things were, things of
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Speaker 1: the past. Teachers relive classroom settings and conferences that they
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Speaker 1: had in their educational world. Nurses remember patients that they
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Speaker 1: cared for. Those who assist in financial matters remember those
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Speaker 1: occasions when Their portfolio was full and they worked with
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Speaker 1: others who were investing their money. They remember the years past.
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Speaker 1: Pastors remember churches and events and funerals and weddings and
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Speaker 1: experiences of their lives. Paul goes back and he calls
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Speaker 1: these things of his past a fight, a course, and
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Speaker 1: the faith. In fact, so significant are those three that
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Speaker 1: he reverses the order in the original. Literally, he writes,
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Speaker 1: the good fight I have fought, the course I have finished,
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Speaker 1: the faith I have kept. So here he's remembering the
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Speaker 1: challenges of the past. Three specific scenes flash across the
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Speaker 1: mind of this dying man. First, he remembers the battles.
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Speaker 1: The good fight he has been fighting. See how he
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Speaker 1: puts it? The good fight. I have fought. He's looking
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Speaker 1: back over how many years. If you were to go
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Speaker 1: from here in the dungeon back to the Damascus Road
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Speaker 1: where he was converted, remember? You go back 30 years,
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Speaker 1: three decades of time. As I span these decades, these years,
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Speaker 1: these months, these weeks of time, I remember the fights.
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Speaker 1: I remember the battles. And few people fought like the
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Speaker 1: Apostle Paul. One battle after another. I could ask you
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Speaker 1: to turn to 2 Corinthians 11, but I've chosen to
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Speaker 1: read it for you from a paraphrase that might bring
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Speaker 1: it to life even more vividly than if you just
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Speaker 1: looked at the words. Listen to Eugene Peterson as he
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Speaker 1: renders 2 Corinthians 11 Verses 23 to about verse 30
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Speaker 1: in the message. Paul's words. I've worked much harder, been
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Speaker 1: jailed more often, beaten more times than I can count.
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Speaker 1: At death's door, time after time, I've been flogged five
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Speaker 1: times with the Jews' 39 lashes, beaten by Roman rods
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Speaker 1: three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three
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Speaker 1: times and immersed in the open sea for a night
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Speaker 1: and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out,
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Speaker 1: I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with
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Speaker 1: friends and struggle with phone. I've been at risk in
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Speaker 1: the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert
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Speaker 1: sun and sea storm, betrayed by those I thought were
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Speaker 1: my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a
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Speaker 1: long and lonely night without sleep, missed many a meal,
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Speaker 1: blasted by the cold and naked to the weather. And
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Speaker 1: that's not a half of it. When you throw in
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Speaker 1: the daily pressures and anxieties, of all the churches, when
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Speaker 1: someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel
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Speaker 1: the desperation in my own bones. We're talking about fighting
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Speaker 1: a good fight. A number of you have known battles.
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Speaker 1: Some of you have known combat. A few of you
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Speaker 1: have been right next to death. Some of our own
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Speaker 1: number have been prisoners of war. Fingers broken, arms broken,
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Speaker 1: back broken, spirit broken. But compared to this, this is
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Speaker 1: 30 years of fighting a good fight. No regrets. Not
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Speaker 1: once did he name somebody and blame them for what
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Speaker 1: he was going through. Not once. There's not one if only.
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Speaker 1: If only I hadn't married her. If only he hadn't
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Speaker 1: come into my life. If only our kids had done so.
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Speaker 1: Don't go there. That never, that old list never ends.
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Speaker 1: Some kids. If only my parents would do so and so.
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Speaker 1: We're full of that. How easy to forget a guy
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Speaker 1: who lived like this. And that's just one part of
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Speaker 1: one chapter of one letter he wrote. We don't know
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Speaker 1: the fourth of it. I fought a good fight. He's
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Speaker 1: not bragging. He's tailing it like it is. He's just
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Speaker 1: remembering the battles he's fought. Look at the next one.
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Speaker 1: The course I have finished. He remembers the race, and
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Speaker 1: he remembers that he ran through the tape. He remembers
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Speaker 1: the race, and he remembers running all the way to
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Speaker 1: the very end. He didn't stop short. I finished the race.
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Speaker 1: In fact, come to think of that, hold your place
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Speaker 1: and look at Acts 20, verse 24. Go back to
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Speaker 1: the fifth book in the New Testament, the book of Acts,
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Speaker 1: chapter 20. and we're going to see Paul with a
29:20
Speaker 1: small group of elders from the city of Ephesus. These
29:26
Speaker 1: are his words actually recorded by Dr. Luke, verse 24
29:31
Speaker 1: of Acts 20. I do not consider my life of
29:35
Speaker 1: any account as dear to myself. By the way, that's
29:39
Speaker 1: refreshing in this day of me-ism, where everything revolves around
29:43
Speaker 1: me and my mind, where a spirit of entitlement pervades
29:47
Speaker 1: young and older alike. How wonderful to hear a man
29:51
Speaker 1: write or to see a man who has written, I
29:54
Speaker 1: don't consider anything to myself as all that significant. so
29:58
Speaker 1: that I may finish my course and the ministry which
30:01
Speaker 1: I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of
30:05
Speaker 1: the gospel of the grace of God. In the middle
30:08
Speaker 1: of his ministry, he said, my goal is to finish
30:10
Speaker 1: the course I've started. I'm going to finish what I
30:14
Speaker 1: have begun. Folks, let me tell you that it is
30:17
Speaker 1: not your prerogative to set your course. It's your prerogative
30:22
Speaker 1: to run it. No two courses are the same. So
30:27
Speaker 1: quit looking for somebody who's had it as bad as you.
30:31
Speaker 1: Because believe me, there are a lot of them. It's
30:35
Speaker 1: a waste of time to compare yourself with somebody else's journey. Furthermore,
30:41
Speaker 1: you forget the providence of God and his sovereign hand.
30:44
Speaker 1: You think he's surprised at the race you've been running?
30:48
Speaker 1: You think he's been walking up and down heaven going, oh,
30:50
Speaker 1: what am I going to do? It's so hard for him. Oh, my, my, my.
30:57
Speaker 1: Are you kidding? He is sovereign. He knows what you need.
31:05
Speaker 1: He knows what I need. God plans all the courses
31:10
Speaker 1: and puts together all of the journeys. We run them.
31:16
Speaker 1: We are, according to Hebrews 12, to run the race
31:20
Speaker 1: that is set before us. Admittedly, some races are flat, boring.
31:25
Speaker 1: Kind of like from here to El Paso. Just a
31:29
Speaker 1: straight shot. Other courses, I mean, there are sinkholes within
31:36
Speaker 1: the first year. Wretched turns, surprising curves, unexpected sudden deaths
31:46
Speaker 1: that took place. Loss, grief, sorrow. One lady stopped me
31:50
Speaker 1: after the first service and told me of the grief
31:52
Speaker 1: she cannot get past. The loss of her husband Untimely death,
31:57
Speaker 1: unexpected death. Who knows how many of those cross this
32:04
Speaker 1: man's life. I don't care whether it's flat or rocky,
32:08
Speaker 1: treacherous sinkholes, hills to climb or valleys to take care of,
32:13
Speaker 1: rivers to ford, no matter what it is, it's tough.
32:18
Speaker 1: It's tough. Furthermore, I can tell you without your even
32:22
Speaker 1: standing to tell me, you have someone you can blame
32:25
Speaker 1: for something. And so do I, if we choose to
32:30
Speaker 1: do that. What a treacherous way to give in to
32:35
Speaker 1: the enemy. Don't answer out loud, but how many of
32:40
Speaker 1: you right now would have to say you do feel
32:42
Speaker 1: like a victim? You know what? Every hand could go up.
32:46
Speaker 1: Because everybody in this place, everybody listening to me right
32:50
Speaker 1: now has been done wrong by somebody. Welcome to depravity. Furthermore,
32:59
Speaker 1: you have done wrong to someone else and so have I.
33:07
Speaker 1: That's the course. The question is, are we going to
33:10
Speaker 1: finish it or are we going to spend it standing
33:12
Speaker 1: around on the sideline complaining and grousing and blaming, looking
33:17
Speaker 1: for an escape to cut the course shorter? I received
33:22
Speaker 1: an email in our Insight for Living ministry just this
33:25
Speaker 1: past week where One woman wrote, and she said, there's
33:28
Speaker 1: hardly been a day in my life I haven't seriously
33:30
Speaker 1: considered suicide. A day in my life. We're reaching out
33:38
Speaker 1: to help her. Some of you wouldn't say every day,
33:45
Speaker 1: but you would have to say there have been a
33:47
Speaker 1: number of days that I've seriously contemplated that. Finishing the course,
33:52
Speaker 1: it's too hard. It's too much.
33:54
Speaker 2: Wait.
33:56
Speaker 1: A new life awaits you. A whole new life on
34:01
Speaker 1: which you can build from these things that have gone wrong.
34:07
Speaker 1: Look at the list of Paul's friends and enemies and
34:10
Speaker 1: all of those things. And he winds up without anything
34:13
Speaker 1: but a dungeon. And soon a blade across the back
34:17
Speaker 1: of his neck as his head rolls down the hill
34:19
Speaker 1: outside Rome. That's the end of it? Oh, no. That's
34:25
Speaker 1: the beginning of it. into this earth at the beginning
34:30
Speaker 1: of glory. Isn't it great that Paul doesn't say, you know,
34:34
Speaker 1: compared to Apollos, I've really gotten a raw deal out
34:37
Speaker 1: of life. Or Timothy, I mean, you've got most of
34:41
Speaker 1: your life in front of you. I've got all of
34:44
Speaker 1: mine behind me. None of that. No regrets. I've finished
34:52
Speaker 1: this course. You can feel gratitude in it. In fact,
34:57
Speaker 1: he said, I've kept the faith. Look at that third one.
35:03
Speaker 1: As he looks into the future, he says, I have
35:07
Speaker 1: kept the faith. Looking back, he remembers the treasure committed
35:12
Speaker 1: to him. He preserved it. He guarded it. He stayed
35:15
Speaker 1: true to it. He was faithful to it. He had
35:18
Speaker 1: no regrets. Now what happens? Verse 8, look ahead. You
35:22
Speaker 1: always remember when you're reading your Bible, if something addresses
35:25
Speaker 1: the past, and something addresses the present, guess what? Before long,
35:30
Speaker 1: almost without exception, there are going to be truths given
35:33
Speaker 1: regarding the future. In this case, the order is reversed.
35:37
Speaker 1: He goes to the present, then he reverts to the past.
35:39
Speaker 1: The present is verse 6. The past is verse 7.
35:42
Speaker 1: Now he goes to verse 8. And look at the reward.
35:45
Speaker 1: Look at the future. What a marvelous statement. He is
35:48
Speaker 1: claiming the assurance of his future reward. I love this verse.
35:54
Speaker 1: In the future... There is laid up for me an
35:58
Speaker 1: opportunity to laugh at people who did me wrong. Nope,
36:01
Speaker 1: that's not there. Not there. Nope. In the future, God's
36:06
Speaker 1: going to show me how right I was and how wrong. Nope,
36:08
Speaker 1: that's not there. Nope. Nope. That's all earthly stuff. That's
36:13
Speaker 1: the past. That's the stuff, if you're not careful, you'll
36:15
Speaker 1: build your entire life on and you'll miss the new life.
36:19
Speaker 1: Look at the response of a man with a new life.
36:21
Speaker 1: In the future? Wow. There is laid up for me
36:27
Speaker 1: the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
36:33
Speaker 1: will award me. You know, I cannot help but see
36:36
Speaker 1: a little irony in this. You know who's on the
36:40
Speaker 1: throne of the Roman Empire right now, as Paul is writing?
36:45
Speaker 1: An idiot named Nero, a real numbskull. You think you've
36:52
Speaker 1: known tough leaders. You ain't seen nothing like Nero. who,
36:56
Speaker 1: by the way, took his life in his early 30s.
37:01
Speaker 1: Pathetic leader. Godless murderer. And he is the one who
37:07
Speaker 1: declared Paul guilty and condemned him to death by beheading.
37:12
Speaker 1: You know what I see as the irony? There will
37:15
Speaker 1: come a time when there will be a magnificent reversal
37:18
Speaker 1: of Nero's verdict, when the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
37:21
Speaker 1: place on Paul the crown of righteousness. Isn't that great? Oh, my.
37:27
Speaker 1: Where's Nero? Don't ask. Not a good story. Look at
37:34
Speaker 1: what it says. The Lord, the righteous judge, will award
37:36
Speaker 1: me at that day. And he'll award it to all
37:41
Speaker 1: who love his appearing. What will he award? Well, it's
37:45
Speaker 1: got a definite article, so we know it is a definite,
37:48
Speaker 1: definite reward. Look at it. The crown of righteousness. You know,
37:54
Speaker 1: there are five crowns mentioned in the scriptures. We'll call
37:58
Speaker 1: them to mind in just a moment, but right here
38:00
Speaker 1: is the crown of righteousness. And his future, he will
38:04
Speaker 1: give it to me in that day. That day. How intriguing.
38:11
Speaker 1: What day? The day of rewards. The day of future rewards. Look,
38:18
Speaker 1: here's the way it works. What a wonderful opportunity to
38:22
Speaker 1: Help fill you in if you don't know about it.
38:25
Speaker 1: The very next event in God's plan for the future
38:28
Speaker 1: is the rapture of the church. The Lord Jesus Christ
38:32
Speaker 1: will come from heaven with a shout, with the voice
38:35
Speaker 1: of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the
38:37
Speaker 1: dead in Christ will rise first. Stop right there. Every
38:42
Speaker 1: cemetery will pour forth the dead believers. My mother will
38:47
Speaker 1: come back. Her body will be in a glorified form.
38:49
Speaker 1: My dad will come back. My grandmother will come back.
38:52
Speaker 1: Their bodies will be raised. Your grandmother who died in
38:55
Speaker 1: the Lord, your loved one, our loved ones, those forefathers,
38:59
Speaker 1: the martyrs, the great saints of the past, the cemeteries
39:02
Speaker 1: around the world will pour forth the dead bodies and
39:05
Speaker 1: they'll be alive and they'll be glorified. And the verse
39:09
Speaker 1: goes on to say, and then we who are alive
39:11
Speaker 1: and remain shall be caught up together with them in
39:15
Speaker 1: the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. This
39:18
Speaker 1: isn't on earth. It's in the air. It's in the clouds.
39:21
Speaker 1: So you got it? Next thing in the future, next thing,
39:25
Speaker 1: is the Lord's return and this reunion as we join
39:29
Speaker 1: ourselves as we're glorified in a body that will last forever.
39:34
Speaker 1: This old flesh will put on immortality and death will
39:38
Speaker 1: be swallowed up in victory and we will be brought
39:41
Speaker 1: up to be with the Lord forever. You know what's
39:44
Speaker 1: going to be great about that? You're going to see
39:46
Speaker 1: people you thought were never going to be on that journey.
39:50
Speaker 1: You're going to go, you're here. Let me tell you
39:52
Speaker 1: a surprise. They're going to say, and you're here? You
39:57
Speaker 1: know why? Because we have such limited perspective. Our judgment
40:01
Speaker 1: is all fleshly. It's all earth. It's all horizontal. We
40:05
Speaker 1: look at people and say, I can't be a Christian.
40:07
Speaker 1: And a person looks at you in a carnal moment
40:09
Speaker 1: and they say to you, to themselves, that person can't
40:12
Speaker 1: be a Christian. We don't know who the believers are.
40:16
Speaker 1: But that day will tell. And by the way, that
40:18
Speaker 1: will leave only unbelievers on this earth, and that is
40:21
Speaker 1: when all hell breaks loose. Sorry, sometime the old Marine
40:24
Speaker 1: Corps comes out in me. And there'll be a whole
40:27
Speaker 1: other subject that'll happen on this earth, but up in
40:29
Speaker 1: the heavens, this is the good part, we are there,
40:32
Speaker 1: our loved ones are there, we are forever with the Lord,
40:35
Speaker 1: and what'll happen? Day of reward will come. After we
40:40
Speaker 1: have been taken up to be with the Lord, He
40:43
Speaker 1: will individually address each one of us and will provide
40:49
Speaker 1: rewards or remind us of those things that were wood, hay,
40:54
Speaker 1: and stubble. You say, where do you get that? Glad
40:56
Speaker 1: you asked. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Go back. Now, come on.
41:00
Speaker 1: You're just staring at me right now. Go back to
41:02
Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians chapter 3. I want you to see this.
41:04
Speaker 1: I want you to see I'm not making this up.
41:08
Speaker 1: This is so good. It's about what's in the future.
41:13
Speaker 1: Here we are. Verse 12, 1 Corinthians 3, 12. If
41:19
Speaker 1: any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, and
41:22
Speaker 1: precious stones, those are deeds that are done in the
41:25
Speaker 1: activity in the spirit, the works of the spirit, or wood, hay,
41:29
Speaker 1: and straw, each one's work, man or woman, will become
41:33
Speaker 1: evident for the day will show it. We're back to
41:35
Speaker 1: the day of judgment. John 5, 22, all judgment is
41:39
Speaker 1: given to the Lord Jesus Christ. We won't stand before
41:42
Speaker 1: God the Father. He's not our judge. We'll stand before
41:45
Speaker 1: our Savior who died on the cross for us. He
41:47
Speaker 1: will be our judge, righteous, perfect judgment. The day will
41:51
Speaker 1: show it because it will be revealed by fire. The
41:54
Speaker 1: fire itself will test the quality of each one's work. No,
41:57
Speaker 1: not quantity, quality. If the Lord judges evangelists by quantity,
42:02
Speaker 1: Billy Graham is a slam dunk. But there's a lot
42:06
Speaker 1: of evangelists who don't hold crusades, but they're faithfully making
42:09
Speaker 1: Christ known, faithfully sharing the Lord, giving the gospel out.
42:13
Speaker 1: They'll be there with their quality of work. Whatever may
42:17
Speaker 1: be our work. Verse 14. If any man's work which
42:21
Speaker 1: he has built on remains, it will receive a reward.
42:24
Speaker 1: Right in the margin of your Bible. Crowns. Crowns. There
42:29
Speaker 1: are five of them. If anyone's work is burned up,
42:31
Speaker 1: he will suffer loss. Loss of what? Salvation? Never. Loss
42:35
Speaker 1: of reward. But he himself will be saved, yet so
42:38
Speaker 1: as through fire. How great is that? Now back to
42:43
Speaker 1: 2 Timothy chapter 4, and we wrap it up with
42:46
Speaker 1: three very searching questions. Number one, and I'd like you
42:52
Speaker 1: to write them down because I want you to think
42:54
Speaker 1: about them. When the sermon's over and you've gone your
42:58
Speaker 1: separate ways, and today is just a memory, I want
43:02
Speaker 1: you to go back to the three questions. Number one,
43:05
Speaker 1: have I acknowledged the reality of my present situation? Have
43:12
Speaker 1: I acknowledged, just like Paul did, the reality of my
43:17
Speaker 1: present situation? When Paul did that, he said, I'm pouring
43:23
Speaker 1: out my life as an offering to the Lord. Are
43:26
Speaker 1: you pouring out your life in that way? Is your
43:29
Speaker 1: life counting for eternity on a consistent basis? Take a
43:34
Speaker 1: look at where you are in the present reality of
43:36
Speaker 1: your existence. Am I living with a realization that death
43:40
Speaker 1: could happen at any moment Friend, we're burying them younger
43:46
Speaker 1: all the time. One of these deaths is going to
43:51
Speaker 1: be yours. If I knew which one, I would tap
43:57
Speaker 1: you on the shoulder. I'd call your name out. Am
44:03
Speaker 1: I living with the realization that my death could occur
44:06
Speaker 1: at any moment? Does that make any difference? Am I
44:12
Speaker 1: really ready in case death comes earlier than I expected? Searching,
44:18
Speaker 1: isn't it? I read this past week the story of
44:22
Speaker 1: a father who's kneeling by the bed with his daughter,
44:25
Speaker 1: and they're going over the little prayer that little children memorize.
44:29
Speaker 1: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the
44:31
Speaker 1: Lord my soul to keep. So he stopped and let
44:33
Speaker 1: her go on, and she paused, knowing he wasn't going
44:37
Speaker 1: along with her, and she goes, and if I should
44:39
Speaker 1: wake before I die, Oh, daddy, I'm sorry, I messed
44:45
Speaker 1: it up. And he paused and put his arm around her.
44:48
Speaker 1: He said, no, honey, what you said is better than
44:51
Speaker 1: the prayer. We all have to wake up before we die.
44:59
Speaker 1: You don't wake up after you've died. You have to
45:03
Speaker 1: wake up before you die. Or you're not ready. Now's
45:09
Speaker 1: the time to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with
45:12
Speaker 1: your whole heart. You won't have another chance after death.
45:16
Speaker 1: If you would, the book would tell us, and the
45:18
Speaker 1: book is absent of such things. Your opportunity is now.
45:26
Speaker 1: Have I acknowledged the reality of my present situation? Second,
45:32
Speaker 1: when I remember the events of my past, are there
45:35
Speaker 1: regrets I need to address? That's the second question. I
45:40
Speaker 1: cannot answer that for you. I'm busy answering it for me. Again,
45:46
Speaker 1: when I remember the events of my past, are there
45:49
Speaker 1: regrets I need to address? Have I been an offense
45:57
Speaker 1: to someone with whom I've not made it right? That
46:00
Speaker 1: person alive, have I contacted that person? Or if that
46:08
Speaker 1: person is gone, have I brought it to the foot
46:09
Speaker 1: of the cross and brought it before the Lord and
46:12
Speaker 1: left it there for him to forgive? Otherwise, I keep
46:15
Speaker 1: dragging it. Some wrong I need to forgive or someone
46:22
Speaker 1: else is wrong against me that I haven't forgiven. How
46:28
Speaker 1: about a person I need to thank? Is there someone
46:31
Speaker 1: I should be thanking that I haven't yet? No chance
46:35
Speaker 1: after death. Wrong decision I need to correct. Get rid
46:43
Speaker 1: of the memories. Number three, can I claim? Can I
46:52
Speaker 1: claim the assurance of some future reward? Some future crown?
46:58
Speaker 1: Can I claim the assurance of some crown? What are
47:03
Speaker 1: the crowns? Quickly, the crown of rejoicing. Philippians 4.1, leading
47:11
Speaker 1: others to Christ, you get a crown for being faithful
47:14
Speaker 1: in making the gospel known. Crown of righteousness mentioned here
47:19
Speaker 1: in 2 Timothy 4.8 for eagerly awaiting Christ's appearance. Crown
47:26
Speaker 1: of life, James 1.12, for suffering for the glory of God.
47:33
Speaker 1: either suffering as a martyr or suffering and enduring the
47:36
Speaker 1: suffering without complaint with your eyes on the Lord, the
47:40
Speaker 1: crown of life, James 1.12. The crown of glory reserved
47:44
Speaker 1: for elders and pastors and those who serve congregations, faithfully
47:49
Speaker 1: serving them in season and out of season. The crown
47:53
Speaker 1: of glory and finally the crown of mastery or the
47:57
Speaker 1: imperishable crown, 1 Corinthians 9.25. For keeping the flesh in
48:03
Speaker 1: subjection over sins of the flesh. Keeping yourself under control.
48:08
Speaker 1: As the apostle said, there is an imperishable crown awaiting
48:12
Speaker 1: those who do that. Now what's going to happen with
48:16
Speaker 1: those crowns? Well, you know, if we're not careful, we're
48:20
Speaker 1: going to think, well, I may have four and I
48:22
Speaker 1: go around heaven. Hey, look at that, huh? How many
48:27
Speaker 1: of you? Five. Oh, well, three. Look at these four.
48:30
Speaker 1: That's not going to be the way it is. According
48:35
Speaker 1: to Revelation chapter 4, verses 10 and 11, we're going
48:39
Speaker 1: to cast our crowns at his feet. What a great
48:42
Speaker 1: moment that's going to be, huh? The casting of the
48:45
Speaker 1: crowns moment. And in worship, we cast our crowns at
48:49
Speaker 1: his feet as we give him glory and praise and
48:52
Speaker 1: honor and majesty and dominion the rest of our eternity.
48:57
Speaker 1: And when we do, we will be face down on
49:00
Speaker 1: a brilliantly transparent shining mirror-like street where we'll see ourselves
49:08
Speaker 1: for the first time truly as God sees us in
49:11
Speaker 1: our lives. There's an old country song, will there be
49:15
Speaker 1: any stars, any stars in my crown when at evening
49:20
Speaker 1: the sun goeth down?
49:22
Speaker 2: Nope.
49:24
Speaker 1: No stars. No such thing. Oh, so much for that song.
49:31
Speaker 1: But will there be crowns? Only you know. He's a faithful,
49:41
Speaker 1: faithful God. He's a fair judge. He doesn't flippantly reward crowns,
49:47
Speaker 1: but he doesn't overlook one that's deserved. I urge you
49:51
Speaker 1: in the years you have left, who knows how many
49:53
Speaker 1: they may be or how few, that you turn your
49:56
Speaker 1: attention to things eternal, that you stop being so focused
49:59
Speaker 1: on the other person who is making your life miserable,
50:03
Speaker 1: that you refuse to live in the regret of yesterday,
50:06
Speaker 1: dragging around the anchors of resentment and blame, What a
50:11
Speaker 1: terrible way to live. You'll never know the new life
50:14
Speaker 1: if that is your current existence. Get rid of all that.
50:19
Speaker 1: Get rid of all that. And turn your attention to
50:22
Speaker 1: the possibility of living as Paul lived and died. Bow
50:27
Speaker 1: with me, please. Well, you've heard more truth today than
50:34
Speaker 1: most people will hear in a lifetime. Tragically, the ignorance
50:39
Speaker 1: of our world is is embarrassingly real. Most have no
50:45
Speaker 1: idea that there's a savior to say nothing of rewards.
50:50
Speaker 1: Most have never heard the clear-cut simple gospel that Christ
50:54
Speaker 1: died for our sins, paid the complete price, bearing the
50:59
Speaker 1: penalty we deserve, and was raised miraculously and bodily as
51:04
Speaker 1: a victor over death so that he might offer us
51:08
Speaker 1: eternal life. If you've never trusted in the gospel, What
51:12
Speaker 1: on earth are you waiting for? You will have no
51:15
Speaker 1: chance after death to trust in him. Trust now. Turn
51:23
Speaker 1: to him now. Our soul care ministry is at each exit.
51:28
Speaker 1: We are in each prayer room. We are here to
51:30
Speaker 1: help you. We exist to serve and to be of
51:34
Speaker 1: assistance to you. Maybe today is not the day, but
51:36
Speaker 1: you can connect with us either online or by the telephone.
51:42
Speaker 1: You let us know. We'll help you get your life
51:46
Speaker 1: turned around so that you can know the new life
51:52
Speaker 1: which is the only life worth living. Father, we're grateful
51:56
Speaker 1: for a life that can be lived free of regret.
52:00
Speaker 1: We're grateful for the cross where we can bring our
52:02
Speaker 1: burdens knowing that at the foot of that cross we
52:06
Speaker 1: can find forgiveness, strength to go on, the ability to recover.
52:13
Speaker 1: Help us, our Father, in this world of woe, heartbreak, hardship,
52:19
Speaker 1: sudden surprises and loss. Help us today to be ready
52:25
Speaker 1: as we walk in the strength of the Lord and
52:27
Speaker 1: in the power of his might. May we fight the
52:33
Speaker 1: good fight. May we finish the course, not simply run it.
52:38
Speaker 1: And all the while, may we keep the faith. In
52:41
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. We pray together. Everyone sit. Amen.
52:51
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Looking Back, No Regrets, was copyrighted in
52:56
Speaker 2: 2009 and 2015, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
53:00
Speaker 2: 2015 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
53:05
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.