Consistent Christian
Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 6
Date: June 7, 2024
Brother Nemshield has been the pastor of Clearview Baptist Church for 16 years. Doing a wonderful job over there. God’s blessed.
And that just sounds like God’s just putting his hand on that work and using it and blessing in many ways. Of course, we know Brother Garrett came to our church a couple years ago, but what a great spirit Brother Garrett brings. It’s just excitement. He’s a good family, and it’s just awesome to get to know his family more and see God work in and through them. We’re honored to have Brother Neppschild tonight. I had the opportunity to hear him preach at the men’s retreat at the Sole Lord and got a blessing out of that. Looking forward to tonight. So I appreciate him. He’s on vacation, and sometimes a preacher says, “Man, I’m on vacation, I don’t want to preach.” And I guess that every once in a while you need that. But I appreciate him traveling through and being willing to preach for us tonight. So would you give him a warm Rutherford County Baptist welcome as he comes to preach for us tonight?
We’ll take your Bible tonight, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, if you would. Let me just say what a privilege it is to be here. I’m thrilled to be in this service. We’ve been looking forward for quite some time to be in here. We had planned all along to finish our vacation travels by coming here, being in the services. I spoke with the pastor a while back, and he was so gracious to give me the opportunity to preach, and I’m honored to do so.
I do not take that lightly. I am always encouraged and humbled when someone gives me the privilege to stand behind their pulpit, and I want to say, preacher, I sure do appreciate that. Don’t take that for granted at all. I love the Chisgar family. I don’t know them well, but over the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to get more acquainted with Pastor Chisgar. I’ve watched and listened to many of your sermons and enjoyed his preaching, and we have texted a time or two and then enjoyed a meal together tonight. What a joy! I’m always encouraged to see someone who’s been faithful through all the years here at this church and this place. What a blessing you have to have a pastor that has stayed all those years. I just want you to know that. Sometimes we take that for granted. But to have a pastor who has given his years and labored among you, that’s a real treat. And my hat’s off to you, preacher. Thank you for being faithful. It’s an encouragement to me.
As he mentioned, we are finishing some family time away. We just got on our way this morning from the Smoky Mountains and headed back home to the Mississippi side of the Memphis suburb. I have lived all week on junk food and ice cream. I have no idea what the sermon’s going to be like tonight. I could eat junk food, and I could spend all my week’s salary at an arcade. I’m just being honest with you. I love old-fashioned arcade games, and it’s amazing how fast you can spend the money there. I mean, just in 30 minutes, you’ve already spent quite a bit of money, and I haven’t won very many tickets, so I always struggle with that. But boy, I enjoy those, and that’s vacation to me. You may not like that. You may say, preacher, that’s foolish, and I know it’s foolish, but it was vacation. We had a good time, and we’re looking forward to getting back home. The Lord’s been so good to our ministry. I’ve been the pastor over there now for several years, and we are blessed to be there and thankful for how the Lord has given us opportunities.
2 Corinthians Chapter 6 is where we are. After the service, we’ll be doing a fundraiser for your school, and I’ll be holding Garrett down, giving him spankings if you’d like to be a part of that. I think that would go well for the ministry, I believe. Second Corinthians chapter 6.
In chapter 6 and chapter 7, the Apostle Paul is closing some final instruction. If you’re familiar with the book, and I’m certain that you are, he’s finishing chapter 6 and chapter 7 with some exhortations about the ministry. Right before he’s going to challenge the church, the Corinthian church, about a heart of giving, going through the rest of 2 Corinthians, he told his readers that in spite of all the trials, he could never think about quitting. And what a great testimony that is. Paul, after having been beaten and falsely accused, after all that he had been through, he still loved both the Jew and the Gentile. He wanted them to know that not only did he love them, but God still loved them.
Ladies and gentlemen, you realize tonight that God has not declared war on the world yet. At the cross of Calvary, he declared peace. But there’s coming a day when he’s going to declare war, and then it will be too late for those who have rejected the Savior. The Apostle Paul has given one more reminder here, if you will, about the fact that these who are listening, these who are reading, now is the time for them to believe on the Lord. Now is the time to be starting churches—all these things that he’s going to write about in these last couple chapters. Now is the time to invest in missions. All of that is what we believe defines who we are as a Baptist church. You realize that Satan wants to do everything he can to tear the church apart. He’s out to destroy families. He’s out to destroy me and you. It’s a struggle sometimes because we live in a wicked world, and we have to battle Satan. You’ve got to get up tomorrow and go to work and deal with the struggles and the frustrations of this world. Paul is just encouraging them: “Boy, keep on living for God. Keep on being faithful for the Lord.”
As I read this passage of scripture, it’s familiar to us. We’ll be in the first couple of verses here of chapter 6. A thought struck me in verse 3 that we’ll read here in just a moment. I got to thinking about the fact, with all Paul had been through, wouldn’t it be good to come to the end of your life and know that you’ve been consistent as a Christian? We want to stand before the Lord and know that day by day, you’ve been consistent. If I were to give tonight’s message a title, I think that’s what it would be: A Consistent Christian.
Let’s begin reading verses 1, 2, and 3. I won’t ask you to stand. I’ll read these and then we’ll pray. “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed.”
Father, thank you for the privilege and the joy of being able to stand and to preach the word of God. I pray that you’ll help us tonight as we’ve gathered on a midweek. Lord, many are busy in the middle of their week, perhaps tired as they’ve come straight from work. For just a few moments, I ask that you would arrest our attention. Help us, Lord, to be focused on what you have for us. Please don’t let Satan cause our minds to wander. Help us, Lord, not to pass away the time in the Word of God. Speak to us. We need your help, and we’ll thank you and praise you in Christ’s name. Amen.
In the second round of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft, the Baltimore Orioles selected an early player and an unlikely player. Most people said that he was too tall and too lanky to be a shortstop. Most people said that he would never really amount to anything in baseball. Truth be told, it was several years before he did amount to anything—1978, 1979, '80, '81—before he ever got to the big leagues. He spent several years in the minor leagues. But Cal Ripken Jr. finally got his opportunity in the major leagues, and he was determined not only to be a success, but to just keep plugging away. If you’re familiar with Cal Ripken Jr., or at least the name, in 1982, he played the first game of what would become known as the streak. Any baseball players in here know of the streak? It went from 1982 to 1998. Cal Ripken Jr. played 2,632 games consecutively in the major leagues. It’s a record that still stands today, the most games consecutively played by any baseball player.
As I think about that, I’m reminded that success is not just about ability. Cal Ripken Jr. was a great baseball player. He didn’t have the talent that some sluggers had. He didn’t have some of the status that some would have had, but he was certainly a great baseball player. Success is not always about the ability that you have, but sometimes it’s just a matter of being consistent. If you want to be a successful Christian, you’re going to have to be consistent. One of the major battles or struggles that we face is the issue of day by day just being consistent. I don’t know about you—I would suspect that we’re all probably the same—but I struggle every day with just being the right kind of Christian that I’m supposed to be. We all battle the flesh. We all have difficulty. You say, preacher, why is it so hard for us to just do what we’re supposed to do? The answer is because we have a sin nature. We’re still battling our sin nature. My granddaddy was a preacher. He lived to be 92 years of age. I remember him saying at 91 years of age, “You never get over your sin nature.” I was only in my 20s. I thought, man, I thought we’d do better than that. But the rest of your life, you’re going to have to deal with that. Our flesh pulls us contrary to what the Holy Ghost of God wants for us. Sometimes our flesh causes us to be indifferent. Sometimes it causes us to be irrational. Sometimes just ignorant of what we’re supposed to be. In fact, the Apostle Paul, who’s writing this, Paul knew of that. In Romans chapter 7, he said, in his own life, “I delight in the law of God. But I see in my members another law.” Paul said later that he had wars within himself and fighting and struggling. It would seem like the Apostle Paul, this great author of these epistles, he understood what it was to have that internal struggle. So he uses his life. He uses the example of the Lord Jesus Christ in these two chapters of 2 Corinthians, and he emphasizes: look, you and I just need to learn to be consistent, day by day. Consistent. That means when you get up in the morning, you’re going to live for God that day. You’re going to get up tomorrow and do the same thing and live for God. And the next day. Before you know it, five years have passed, and 10 years have passed, and 20 years have passed. What a great thing to be consistent in your Christian life! Unfortunately, if you’ve been in church any length of time, you can look around and you can see people or see seats where people used to sit. Those that used to serve with you. People who maybe were dedicated for a while and then something changed.
Can I encourage us or challenge us about that consistency in our own life? Let me give you a couple things maybe to jot down or just as we work through the text here. Can I encourage you to keep your Bible open? I want to point out some words here in just a moment. I think there’ll be a help to us. But first of all, notice if you would, the caution for our work. Look at verse number one of chapter six, the very first word. What is it? We. We.
Now, if you would, just kind of hold your finger there, flip back a page, or maybe it’s across the page. Look at chapter 3, verse number 1. The Apostle Paul is continuing a theme, and it’s important for us to get it. Chapter 3, verse number 1: “Do we?” Look at chapter 4, verse number 1: “Therefore, seeing, we have this ministry.” Chapter 5, verse number 1: “For we know.” There’s a theme that’s here. Chapter 5, verse number 11: “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Verse number 12: “For we commend not ourselves.” Verse number 13: “For whether we be beside ourselves…” Then in chapter 5, verse 17, he gets to probably one of the familiar verses in this text: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Before he finishes chapter 5 in verse number 20, he says, “Now then we are ambassadors.” Verse number 21, he says that we might be made the righteousness of God. Do you see a theme there?
In chapter 6, verse number one, he is reminding them—the same group of people. These people who have been transformed. These people who are new creatures in Christ. It would stand to reason. He’s writing to Christians. He’s writing to saved people. He’s writing to believers, those who’ve trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. That might be Timothy. It might be Titus. It might be some of these others that Paul has won to Christ. Paul is saying, “No, wait a minute. We are all in this thing together. We are workers with God.”
Ladies and gentlemen, can I remind you serving God’s a team effort? We’re on the same team. We need each other’s help. We need each other’s encouragement as we stand for Christ, as we live for Christ, as we reach others for Christ. It takes “we.” It takes all of us. If you want to be consistent in your Christian life, then you ought to come alongside someone and encourage them. There are those in your church that are relying on you encouraging them, because we are all in this thing together. This is the foundation for what he’s about to say in just a moment, and there’s a lot in this world to discourage us. There’s a whole host of things to get us down and frustrated, but we are workers. We therefore encourage one another. It is you and I together in a labor of love. You’re not against your preacher. Your preacher’s not against you. You’re not against your preacher’s family. They’re not against you. You’re not against someone across the aisle from you. We are in this thing together for the cause of Christ to make a difference in this community and to reach someone for the cause of Christ. “We then, as workers.” It’s pretty clear who he’s addressing. You and I then, as workers together with whom? With him.
In other words, Paul said, whoever it may be—the Corinthian Church, perhaps Timothy or Titus or whoever else it may have been, Philemon or some of these others along the way—Paul is writing to them and encouraging, “Look, we are in this labor of love together.” Paul was able to share the gospel with a whole lot of people, and a whole lot of people got saved, and he is reminding them, “You and I then, we’re in this thing together.”
But now, notice. Now he gives them the caution. Notice the next phrase of verse number one: “beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” Now, just in case, just to make sure, he’s writing to whom—saved or lost? Saved people. And he’s writing this letter to which church? The church of Corinth. So the caution is pretty clear. What Paul is saying is, “Look, don’t receive the grace of God in vain.”
Well, you would have to ask yourself the question: Well, preacher, how does someone receive the grace of God in vain? What does that mean? I would say to you that we could take the rest of the sermon and just answer that one question. There are a lot of ways to understand and apply that particular phrase. Some people would have you believe you receive Jesus as your Savior, and then you lose him. But ladies and gentlemen, the Bible is very clear that a believer cannot lose their salvation. John chapter 3, verse 16, reminds us that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might have everlasting life. In verse 16, in verse 17, in verse number 18, he reminds us over and over and over of the promise of eternal life. Romans chapter 8, verse number 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” 1 John chapter 5, verse number 13: “These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” Make no mistake about him. A person that trusts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior doesn’t do something that one day makes them forfeit their salvation. If you’ve trusted Christ, you’re not responsible for keeping yourself saved. Jesus does the keeping.
There are those who would want us to believe, as you read their blogs and you follow their YouTube channels, that, well, you know, you’ve received the grace of God in vain; you’ve lost your salvation. But that’s just simply not true. It’s just simply not doctrinal. It’s just simply not Bible. I trust that in this place, and under the preaching that you receive on a weekly basis, that’s foundational for us.
But understand, ladies and gentlemen, some people are very confused about that. Paul is writing to believers in Corinth who had come under some false teaching, and those had come along and said, “Well, unless you accepted the law of Judaism, you probably have lost your salvation; then probably you’re not going to heaven anymore.” Paul is setting that straight, and he’s reminding them, “You didn’t receive the grace of God in vain. The grace of God that saved you is the same grace that’s going to get you to heaven.”
But he’s not primarily writing to lost people. He’s writing to “we.” He’s writing to saved people. So what happens if we become spiritually apathetic about the lost or about the Lord? Is it possible for a person to be saved and not care about soul winning? Is it possible for a person to be saved and lose their love for the Lord? It happened to the Church of Ephesus. I believe that’s what it says. In fact, specifically it says they left their first love. It’s possible that I could have trusted Christ and somewhere along the way, maybe I got carnal in my thinking, or maybe I just got tangled up in worldly things, or maybe I just got apathetic and got involved in too many things, and I have received the grace of God, but it’s been in vain. Like these people at the Church of Corinth, in particular, they abandoned their faith and they went back to their former pagan lifestyle.
Now, if we were to go to chapter 8 and chapter 9, you would read how that Paul condemns the fact that they once believed in Christ, but then they went back to worshiping idols. Ladies and gentlemen, can I just remind you tonight? It’s a shame once you’ve trusted Christ for you to go back to the old man and the old ways of who you used to be. It’s a shame when you’ve been saved to go back to the habits and the addiction and the thrills of the world. The world has nothing to offer to you, and the world has nothing of lasting value to you. It’s a shame for us. Perhaps Paul would say, “Is your salvation not worth more to you than that? Have you received the grace of God in vain?”
“Oh, I’m glad that I’m saved and I’m on my way to heaven, but I’m living solely for me. I’m living to please myself.” Are you growing spiritually? Are you making your life count for the Lord? Are you concerned about others and the work of Christ and the gospel of Christ? You can receive the grace of God in vain if you don’t care about anybody else receiving that grace.
Years ago, during the Great Depression, there was a man by the name of John Griffith that moved to the state of Mississippi in search of a job. Several years ago, probably five or six years ago, a man visited our church and told me part of this story that I’m about to tell you.
It was an extended family member who had moved to the state of Mississippi. John Griffith was setting out with his new bride. They were trying to start a family. The depression had hit. He had no work and no hope for a new fresh start. So he found a job working a trestle bridge on the Mississippi River. It was a bridge at that time, and I think part of it still exists, that they would raise the bridge for the ferry boats or the barges to come down the river, and then they would lower the bridge for the train to go across the bridge and continue on out west. I think they call it maybe a trussle bridge or a lift bridge or whatever type of bridge that may be. John found that kind of a job, and it was a pretty boring job. You showed up to work. If a boat came, you lifted the bridge, the boat went by. If a train came, you lowered the bridge, and the train went across. Pretty boring.
They had prayed for a child. They wanted to start a family, and for several years, his wife did not have a child, until finally one day she became with child, and God gave them a boy—their only child, their only son. John would come home every day as his son would grow and tell him these vast stories about this amazing job that his dad had, all these places that he went on these boats and these amazing voyages. When in truth, he just sat by the river and pushed a button. He had his son convinced that Dad had this amazing job, and he saw all these sights and met all these people.
When his boy was five, six, and seven years old, he begged his father, “Can I go to work with you one day? Dad, I want to get on the boat with you.” He would always tell him no, until finally, at seven years of age, he allowed his son to go to work with him that day. He went to work, and of course, he knew he was going to have to explain to him that some of the stories were just stories. But as they sat that morning, he painted a picture, looking down the river, of all these boats that would pass by and these important people that would ride on these boats and all these wonderful things. As a seven-year-old boy, he was just amazed. His eyes were wide open; he was just mesmerized.
They had just let the bridge up, and it was right about lunchtime. A boat had just come by. John thought, “I think we’ll walk to the top, and we’ll eat our lunch up there where you can see a long way down the river.” So they climbed up to the top of that trestle lift, and they sat up there on the top, and I’m sure they probably dangled their feet off. If John’s wife knew about that, he’d have got in trouble when he got home, I’m sure. But they got their lunch out and began to eat. Time got away from them as he was just investing in his son.
Then off in the distance, he heard a train whistle. He looked down at his watch, and he knew that it was the 1 o’clock Memphis Express, and he knew that it was coming that way. He thought for a moment, “There’s no way I could run all the way down the edge of that bridge and get back to the guard station to lower the bridge and do so while walking along with my 7-year-old boy.”
So he said to his son, “If you’ll just stay here”—there was kind of a little walkway there—“and just stay here. Let Daddy run back there, and we’ll put the bridge down. You can stay here and you can watch the bridge go down.” He took off. As he began to make his way down that trestle bridge and off to the guard shack, he heard the train whistle again and knew he only just had a short amount of time, and if he didn’t get the trestle down, then obviously there would be a problem.
He made it to that little guard shack, and as he stepped inside, he turned to look back at that trestle bridge. What he didn’t realize was his son was following him the whole way down. When he got to where the bridge would pivot, his son had slipped and fallen down into where those massive gears turned to maneuver that trestle.
John only had just a few seconds, or what seemed like a few seconds, to make a decision. If he climbed down in to rescue his son, then surely the train and all those people on it would perish. But if he pushed the button to lower the draw, surely his son would perish. What seemed like an eternity, all these events were racing through his mind. By this time when John heard the whistle, he looked and he could now see the train, and the train was coming. He knew what he had to do. On the Memphis Express, there could be as many as 300 people—passengers coming on their way to head out west on that day. Either he was going to cost them their life or it could cost his son his life.
The whistle sounded again, this time only yards, it would seem, from the draw. John lowered his head, and he pushed that button. The bridge began to lower, and looking beneath, he saw his son caught in the wheels of those giant gears as it began to grind. That bridge came to its full closure just about the time that train came zipping by.
At this point, John is in that little glass shack. He said, “I looked up, and tears were running down my cheeks.” I saw in the train cars as it went by. I saw ladies reading the newspaper. I saw men sipping their tea. I saw little children at play. He said, “I couldn’t help it. I threw my hands against the glass, and I beat against the window, and I said, ‘Don’t you care? Don’t you care? I gave my own son so that you could live!’” And yet they whipped by on that train, not even knowing that John was there, not even caring that his son had died in the wheels so that they could zip on by.
Do you ever wonder if there’s a God in heaven who looks down over the bowels of heaven and says, “Don’t you care? Don’t you care that I gave my Son so you could just sip your tea and read your paper and play your games and go about your life with no concern that my Son died for you?” Do you realize, ladies and gentlemen, that’s receiving the grace of God in vain? You’ve been saved, thankful for it? What are you doing for others? Don’t you care? Paul is challenging an entire church. You’re just going to go about your life while the train zips by, as if you don’t care.
Number one, there is a caution for our work. Number two, and I must hasten, notice if you would, the call for our witness. Look at verse number two. We are quite familiar with verse number two: “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” If you’re a student of the Bible, or maybe you have those little notes in the middle margin, you would know that Paul is quoting from Isaiah chapter 49, and he is reminding them: there is a time of salvation. The day is today, and the time is now. I’m assuming that on a Wednesday night, many folks gathered in the church tonight have somewhere along the way trusted Christ. I hope that’s been the case. I hope you know for sure that you’re on your way to heaven. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no guarantee that any sinner will ever have tomorrow to trust Christ. There’s no guarantee. In fact, the very fact that the Bible says now is the accepted time must mean that there is coming a time when it will not be acceptable. There is coming a time, and it must grieve the Holy Spirit of God. It must grieve the God of heaven that so many of us who have been saved for years, and so many of us who have been enjoying the blessings of Christianity, yet we never reach others for Christ. There’s a day when others will not be able to accept Christ. For you and I, as believers, there is a call for us to witness.
D.L. Moody said, by his own admission, he made the biggest mistake of his ministry on October 8th, 1871. He had been preaching in Chicago, and that night was the largest crowd; it was night number five. Thousands of people had gathered, and Moody preached a message entitled, “What Will You Do with This One Called Jesus?” In each of the services throughout nights one, two, three, and four, many had responded and trusted Christ. But now on the fifth night, D.L. Moody said that his crew was tired, and he was tired, and the crowd was tired. So he gave an invitation, and here’s what he said, and I quote: “I want to give you a week to think this over. When we come together again, you can respond with what you will do with Christ.”
In between that day and the next Sunday was the Great Chicago Fire; hundreds died. A hundred thousand people were without a home. On that Sunday, Moody stood up with tears. He said, “I have no doubt that there are some who heard the message last service, and they died in the scorching flames.” And then he said this: “Nobody ever has a week to think about salvation.” Do you know how imperative that puts a desire in our heart? This last Saturday, we organized soul winning. Man, everybody in the church ought to be a part of that. We ought to do everything within our power to say, “I’m going to be there on that last group.” We’re going to go out. We’re going to see that we can see others in the house of God and others trust Christ as their Lord and Savior. We must do that because now is the time of salvation. Behold, now is the day.
You look through the scripture and you’d find Pilate thought he’d get another opportunity. You remember Felix said to Paul he would think it over for just a little bit. It was blind Bartimaeus that said, “It might be that he may not pass by here again.” Ladies and gentlemen, can I just remind you, nobody has ever guaranteed tomorrow. So you and I must be busy about the work of the Lord. There’s a call for our witness.
And then finally, number three, in the last verse, verse number three: The concern for our walk. Look at verse number three: “Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed.”
Just for kicks, can we, just for a moment? He’s writing to whom—saved or lost? He’s writing to the Church of Corinth. So he’s writing to believers. Paul says, “I’m concerned that we’re going to be consistent. I want to live in a way that it’s not going to offend anybody, no hypocrisy or carnality.” I’m concerned that your example needs to be right.
Notice the words in verse number three: “Giving no offence.” It’s not what it says, is it? But that’s what we sometimes make it say: “Giving little offence in some things.” That’s not what it says either. It says, “Giving no offence in anything.”
Pastor Chisgar, I can’t say that I’m always 100% in everything. Can I ask you a question, friend? Is there anything in your life that would lead your wife, your children, your husband, or your neighbor into error or sin? Isn’t it a shame how some Christians live their life? Just to be fair, it brings dishonor to the Lord. The truth is, there are some people that take offense at anything. There’s a world of people that are looking to take offense. “Well, I don’t think a Christian should live that way.” Well, I don’t think they should either, but we’re human. There are some people that are looking to take cause with everything, and they want you to believe, “Well, I wouldn’t go to that church because everybody in that church is…” Oh, you must have some of those here like we have in Mississippi. Has everybody in your church a hypocrite? No! Is everybody in every church a hypocrite? No! But would you agree tonight that the way some people live gives people reason to think that? Excuse me, just because we’re in church on a Wednesday night doesn’t mean that we’re exempt from that.
“Giving no offence in anything.” Nothing. It would seem to me as if Paul didn’t want any stain on the virtue of the gospel. He didn’t want his credibility. He didn’t want his testimony. He didn’t want the message of Christ to be marred or hindered in the heart of another believer. The world is skeptical, and the world is watching you. Maybe you take the attitude and say, “I don’t care what people think about me.” You better care what they think about you, because the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ is at stake. As believers, we’re not to give offense in anything. But the ministry—what is the ministry? It’s not the Rutherford County Baptist Church, though that’s the ministry. It’s the gospel. The gospel is not to be blamed.
David Brainerd, you know the name, first went to the American Indians. He offered to share the gospel with one tribe, and they declined. He offered to a second tribe, and they wouldn’t listen to him. Finally, David Brainerd got an audience with the chief of a third tribe that he tried to witness to. After spending quite a bit of time with the chief trying to witness to him and get the chief to allow him to share the gospel, David Brainerd said the chief gave him words of wisdom he never lost. Here’s what the chief told him: “Why you want Indian to be like Christian? When Christian is worse than Indian. Christian teach my people to be drunk. Christian teach my people to steal. Christian take land from my people.” Whether the chief was right or wrong about that, he said, “We will not become like Christian. We will die like our fathers died and go where they go.” It’s a shame for somebody in your neighborhood to know that you go to the Rutherford County Baptist Church and would say, because of the way you live, “I wouldn’t go to that church.” Somebody that you work with would watch your life in secret and say, “If that’s what Christianity is, I don’t want any part of it.” Ladies and gentlemen, your testimony affects others. Don’t you want to get to the end of your life and have stayed consistent?
Now, just in case we’re not sure what that looks like, look at your Bible. If you already closed it, I didn’t tell you we were done yet. It’s not even 8:00. Not yet. It’s real close. Look at verses 4 through 10. We’re not going to read them, so don’t get nervous. But if you’re a student of the scripture, can I give you something to look at? Paul gives us a checklist. Here’s what that looks like. He uses three words: the word “in,” the word “by,” and the word “as.” Notice verse 4: “in” much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in stripes, in imprisonments. Verse number six: “by” pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering. And then when you get down to verse number nine: “as” unknown, as dying, as chastened. From verse 4 through 10, he gives us a checklist. He says, if you want the ministry to not be blamed and you to be consistent, this is what it looks like. There’s a great study for your personal devotions. Lord, how well am I doing in that? By the way, if you look at that list, some of us are great Christians when it comes to our witness, but when it comes to the imprisonments and the stripes and the trials, we’re terrible Christians. Some of us are great Christians when it comes to dealing with struggle, but when it comes to our witness, we’re not real good at it. Paul said, when you get to the end of your life, be consistent. Here’s a question for you: Can anyone use your life as an excuse to reject the Lord?
Father, I pray that you would take the word of God and help it to be applicable and personal. Lord, I’m so thankful that these dear people are in the house of God. Lord, I’m thankful that they have come and they’ve opened their hearts and they’ve listened. I just believe that probably many of us, all of us, have the same desire to get to the end of our Christian life and just day by day have been consistent. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would impress that upon our hearts in this hour. In Jesus’ name, heads are bowed, eyes are closed.
Original File: Dr. Cory Knepshield - Consistent Christian - Sunday PM 05222024