I'm sure I speak for the rest of
you, I have been appreciating this special music.
I so enjoyed the little girls last night.
Not the little girls, I keep saying that,
and it was a mixed girls group.
There were some smaller girls, and some quite
young ladies.
And then, of course, Adele's solo tonight.
Shall we turn our Bibles, please, to the
2nd Epistle of Timothy, chapter 4.
We want to continue in our study of
the five crowns.
First, Monday night, we studied our occupation with
Christ, and now we would like to study
our occupation for Christ.
The Scriptures mention five crowns we have considered
thus far, the incorruptible crown, and under that
crown we saw the figure, the Christian, compared
with a runner.
Then last night we saw the sole winner's
crown, the Christian compared with a messenger, an
ambassador.
Tonight we want to consider the crown of
righteousness, and the Christian is compared with a
warrior, or a warrior is brought before us.
And both the experiences of the Apostle Paul
and we who look for the Lord Jesus
both the fighting character of the Christian faith
and the longing and looking character of the
Christian faith combine to produce the crown of
righteousness.
2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 5.
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist, make full
proof of thy ministry.
For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at
hand.
I have fought a good fight, more properly,
I have fought THE good fight.
I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness.
Which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give
me at that day.
And not to me only, but unto all
them also that love his appearing.
Now this, I believe, is the warrior's crown.
The Apostle speaks of his fighting the good
fight, finishing his course.
It would almost seem that that would bring
before us again the Christian seen under the
figure of a runner.
I have kept the faith, and the word
kept here is really guarded.
I think the thought is military all the
way through.
He has fought the good fight, not a
good fight.
It was not simply that the Apostle Paul
had done well, although he had done well
in his service for the Lord.
I'm sure that no one would gainsay that.
But he fought THE good fight, the very
good fight that you and I may fight
as well.
And he was a warrior.
I have finished my course, I have guarded
the faith.
Even as a warrior, and how it needs
guarding.
I have kept the faith in that sense.
Now why, why is the reward for this
kind of Christian life, why is it regarded
a crown of righteousness?
We have noticed already that all of these
crowns that we have considered thus far are
compensatory.
And all the crowns that we are going
to study are compensatory.
They are given in compensation of the Christian
life down here.
And this I believe is a compensatory crown.
It's a special recognition.
Now all the crowns are not literal.
I wouldn't say that any of them were
literal.
Even the Thessalonian Christians and the Philippian Christians
were in themselves the crown of rejoicing.
And Paul considers himself distinguished by them when
they get to glory in the presence of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now these crowns will certainly set aside certain
Christians for certain recognition.
A crown of course sets anybody aside who
wears that crown.
That crown sets that person aside for special
distinction.
And the crowns that are given us, if
not literal, and we have feeling, I have
a conviction that they are not literal, set
us aside for special distinction, special honor.
And of course it will be our privilege
if we are fortunate enough to win these
crowns.
And certainly God sets them before us as
a goal to cast those crowns at the
feet of the Lord Jesus in that coming
day and say of course that he alone
is worthy.
But back to our question.
Why is it a crown of righteousness as
the warrior's crown?
And there are two, I believe, two as
we've already mentioned, two elements that go to
make up this crown.
A fight and then a longing for the
Lord Jesus.
Because he mentions here that this crown is
not only his but it belongs to everyone
who longs for the appearing of our Lord
Jesus.
We'll see the connection a little later.
Now I think that it's a crown of
righteousness because if we have to fight, if
the Christian experience is a fight, then it's
a fight because we've got enemies.
And we do have enemies.
And I feel sometimes that we forget the
fact that we do have enemies.
But Christianity is a fight because of our
enemies.
And those enemies are doing their best to
destroy our righteousness.
They're doing their best to bring ill repute,
to bring reproach against the name of Christ
through destroying any practical righteousness in our lives
and any inwrought righteousness by the power of
the Spirit of God.
Now I'm talking about practical righteousness.
I'm not talking about the righteousness that is
imputed to you and to me the moment
that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
which has been already expressed in prayer as
the righteousness of our standing.
I'm talking about the righteousness of our speech.
Now Paul wouldn't have to limit the crown
of righteousness to anybody.
He wouldn't have to speak as he does
here in this 8th verse of the 4th
chapter of 2 Timothy if indeed it's the
righteousness that fits us for the presence of
God.
I believe this is the righteousness that is
seen under the figure of a garment.
In another place in the scripture, in Revelation
and in Psalm 45, it's the practical righteousness
that you and I have, the practical righteousness
that our threefold enemy wants to destroy, wants
to obliterate, wants to besmirch.
The righteousness that indeed the Lord would like
to see in us, in you and me.
Now we have an enemy.
Christianity is a fight.
That enemy is a clever enemy.
The enemy is mentioned in his threefold character.
I say threefold character.
That would seem that he is an individual
that is just one entity, but that's not
true.
We have our threefold enemy mentioned in Ephesians
2.
All of them right there.
We may refer to him as him.
All of them would be more proper.
Ephesians 2, if you please.
And you happy quickens who were dead in
trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world.
Now there's enemy number one.
According to the prince of the power of
the air, there's enemy number two.
The prince of the power of the air
is none other than Satan himself.
The spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom, among those children of
disobedience also, we all had our conversation, manner
of life, and times past in the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others.
The lusts of our flesh.
Enemy number three.
We have the world and Satan and the
flesh.
Mentioned all three of them here in this
one passage of Scripture.
Now they are mentioned in other parts of
the Scripture, but not mentioned as they are
here altogether.
Now we were under the complete dominance of
that enemy at one time in our life.
That was our helpless condition.
First of all, we were dead.
And then we walked according to the course
of this world, which is ever downward, away
from God, at enmity with him.
According to the prince of the power of
the air, we were blinded.
If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost.
In whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not,
let the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God.
I forgot, but I thought I'd left out
a word there and it threw me.
He is the one who seeks to blindfold
us.
And we were blindfolded, absolutely.
We were oblivious of our danger.
We did not realize it.
We didn't realize, many of us.
He had us so blindfolded that we thought
that we were perfectly all right.
And your speaker was one of those, because
he was a very religious person.
I regretted that I had to say that.
I have to say that, but I think
that perhaps God permitted me to have a
religious experience, so that I would be better
equipped to deal with people who are religious
in character, who are religious by their activities
and their affiliations, and yet don't know the
Lord as their own personal Savior.
Because I was a very religious person, a
very earnest person.
And I was not saved, and I did
not know Christ as my Savior.
And I think that that's just as much
a part of the work of Satan, to
give people religion.
He is seen in the Scripture as an
angel of light.
And I think, indeed, he did have me
deceived.
And I have to say, with a very
famous preacher of the gospel who won many
souls for Christ, who is now in the
glory, Oliver Smith, religion almost took me to
hell.
Now, some people wouldn't understand that statement at
all.
But I'm telling you, I know what it
means.
Now, that is the activity of Satan.
He doesn't care how much religion we get,
just so we do not know that we
are saved, and just so that we will
trust in that religion, and then, of course,
be depending upon a faulty foundation, where there
is none other foundation laid than that is
laid, which is Christ Jesus.
He is the only foundation for eternity.
And then there is the flesh.
We were under the domination of the flesh.
And the flesh can be religious on occasion.
And if we were religious at all, it
was the flesh that was religious, because we
didn't have Christ.
Maybe we'd better distinguish between religion and salvation.
There are lots of people that don't make
any distinguishing, don't distinguish between them, and that's
miscreant.
Now, the scripture does talk about religion.
And you and I can have it.
You and I can be religious.
We can have religion.
And I think God wants us to have
it.
He wants us to have Christ.
Now, let's distinguish between the two.
Religion is something that we do.
Salvation is something that God has done.
Now, that's just the difference.
True religion.
Let's notice James, just to distinguish between the
two for the moment.
James, chapter 1.
Pure religion it is.
James 1 and 27.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the
Father is this, to visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction and to keep himself
unspotted from the world.
Now, this is activity.
One is positive and one is negative.
One is doing good, and one is keeping
himself from evil.
And that is pure religion.
And it's all right.
But it's something that we do.
Whereas salvation is something that God has done.
Now, the devil would like to have us
be religious.
And he doesn't care how many carrybacks we
do.
And we can indeed walk on the clean
side of the footpath, the broad road.
We can take the footpath, the clean footpath.
And he doesn't care.
There are many, many people that are going
to hell that are going to be the
most miserable of all because they're going to
have to associate with people that they wouldn't
think of associating with in this world here
below.
They're going to have to associate with people
that they wouldn't wipe their feet on, if
I may use that figure.
And they're going to be bound up with
them in hell for all eternity because they
didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ as their
own personal Savior.
They walked in the clean footpath, but on
the broad road.
And Satan doesn't care how much religion we
have, just so we do not know Christ
as our Savior.
Oh, how wily he is.
And then there is the flesh.
Oh, we were talking about the flesh.
Well, Satan and the flesh work together.
The flesh can be religious because we can
have religion even before God saves us.
We can have dead works, not good works,
and not wicked works, but dead works.
There is a distinction to be made between
dead works and wicked works.
There are many works of good and kindness
that can be done in this world that
could not be classed as wicked works, but
God just sent a class of them as
dead works.
Good works have to be done, of course,
by a child of God.
And I have plenty of dead works, to
my credit, I feel.
Now, here we have this threefold enemy, and
we commonly refer to them as the world,
the flesh, and the devil.
I don't know why we refer to them
in that way.
They're not listed in that way in Ephesians.
But we refer to them as the world,
the flesh, and the devil.
Now, the world is an external enemy.
He's all around us.
The flesh is an internal enemy.
He is within us, or the flesh is
within us.
And the devil is an infernal enemy.
So we have the external, the internal, and
the infernal enemy.
And oh, how they combine, how they combine
to destroy our righteousness.
Let's take the world, first of all, and
see what it is and see how it
works.
Now, let's not forget our objective in these
meetings.
We're just not studying these crowns that we
might learn about them in an academic way.
We are trying to provide ourselves with a
means of winning these crowns as we talk
about them.
Now, the way to practical righteousness is to
know our enemy.
I don't very often give the devil a
satisfaction of talking about him.
And when I do talk about him, sometimes
he makes himself manifest.
I've had that happen.
And I wouldn't be a bit surprised when
you do it here tonight, before the meeting
is over.
Although I know that greater is he that
is within you than he that is in
the world.
I had a little experience out in a
daily vacation Bible school in Paxton, Colorado, last
spring.
I drew a picture for the boys and
girls in that daily vacation Bible school.
This picture was about the activities of the
devil.
I drew a picture of a roaring lion
seeking whom he might devour.
And that was the lesson that day, and
it was about the devil.
And a woman had a little baby there
that was one, oh, just about a year
old.
And the baby began to cry.
Just about the time that I really was
showing those boys and girls how that Satan
would seek to keep them from being saved,
that baby began to cry.
And I've seen temper tantrums before, but I
never saw one to compare with it.
And strangely enough, the lady, the mother, did
not take the child out.
She was determined to conquer the child.
Well, I'm telling you, it was most evident
to me, I could almost smell a devil.
So I thought, I didn't get much done.
I'm telling you that.
I've had those things happen before.
So the world is that fraternity of unbelievers.
It is a fraternity.
That fraternity of unbelievers that are bound together
in their common objective of putting God out
of their thoughts, out of their lives, and
out of their whole future.
The world is a fraternity.
It acts together as a fraternity.
Turn with me, please, to John chapter 15,
if you please.
We do not get a proper conception of
the world by looking at an individual.
We get a proper conception of the world
by being a group of unsafe individuals together
and then watching the course of action.
Then watching what happens.
Then you begin to see a picture of
the world.
Now, it is a closely-knit, well-organized
fraternity with a real objective.
Now, notice in John chapter 15 and verse
19.
If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own.
But because ye are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
Now, we're not talking about something that's abstract.
The world hates.
And who does it hate?
It hates you and me.
We who belong to the Lord, we are
hated.
The world hates you.
It's a real powerful force.
Now, I think a lot of Christians do
not distinguish between the world and the things
that are in the world.
They are distinguished in 1 John.
Notice them if you will please.
Notice that distinction, rather, in 1 John chapter
2, where the distinction is made.
Verse 15 of 1 John chapter 2.
Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.
All that is in the world, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world.
The world passeth away, and the lusts thereof,
but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever.
Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world.
Now, some people, some Christians, think of the
world as being the things that are in
the world that distract our eyes away from
the Lord.
Now, there are indeed things in the world
that will do that.
But the world itself is a fraternity, a
real powerful force.
A force that's personal enough to hate.
The world hates us, and they want to
swallow us up.
Now, why does the world hate us so?
Well, we read there in John 15, because
the Lord chose us.
The Lord chose us out of this world
for himself, and the world hates us.
And by the fact that the Lord has
chosen us, he has put his image upon
us, and he reminds us that the world
hates us because it first hated him.
That's in verse 18 of the 15th chapter
of John's Gospel.
If the world hates you, you know that
it hated me before it hated you.
Now, the world hates us because we remind
them of Christ.
They hated Christ because he brought their sin
before them.
Notice, if you please, John chapter 3.
Verse 18, he that believeth on him is
not condemned.
But he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is condemnation, that light is come
into the world.
And men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil.
And every one that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the
light, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God.
The world hates Christ because he reproved them.
He showed them up for what they are.
And the world hates us especially if we
live for Christ.
Now, it's entirely possible that a Christian can
be accepted by the world.
That is, if he bears no testimony for
Christ at all.
But if we live godly in Christ Jesus,
we will suffer persecution.
Now, I think sometimes that that's enough to
exercise any of us.
But I think that the world sometimes has
more ways of showing their displeasure with us
than with sticks and stones and with the
things that can hurt.
They leave us out of their plan, they
shun our company, and they smile sometimes when
our back is turned and talk with others
about it.
There are many, many forms of persecution.
But they don't like it.
Now, the world will take a Christian that
is going on for the Lord, and they'll
try to tone down that testimony.
But the only comfort that they can get
is to tone down that testimony.
The world, David complained that men fighting against
him daily would swallow him up.
And I think the world would like to
swallow us up and get us out of
sight.
Swallow our testimony.
They want to destroy our practical righteousness.
They want us to be one of them,
or try to make us one of them.
Now, the devil, we've already mentioned, would
like to have us, would like to trick
us into sinning.
The devil appeals to the flesh that is
within us.
We hardly need talk about the flesh, because
the flesh is that internal soul that is
inside of us.
It's our nature, it's our tendency, our proneness
to evil.
We have an evil nature within us that
is a selfish nature.
And that nature wants, indeed, its own way,
and it will raise its head up against
God.
The flesh is at enmity with God at
all times, and is not subject to the
law of God, and neither indeed can be.
Now, the flesh is inside of us.
Now, there is where the devil gets his
stronghold in you and me, is through the
flesh.
Now, the flesh is the fifth column of
our enemies.
The fifth column works from within.
The term fifth column was, I understand, the
term was born during the Spanish Civil War,
when two Spanish generals were looking upon a
city that was to be taken.
They were viewing the city, viewing the attacks
on the city with their binoculars.
And one general said to the other, he
said, I see four columns attacking the city.
And the other general says, ah, but he
says there are five.
And he says, he looked over the situation
again, and he said, no, I only see
four columns.
But the other general said, yes, but there
are five.
You're forgetting the column that is within the
city itself.
And thus, the term fifth column was born.
Now, the flesh is the fifth column of
our enemies.
He is the enemy that is inside of
us, ready to betray the force.
Now, Satan works on that enemy.
And all the cruel purchase that he has
upon our soul through that flesh.
He works on that flesh.
Now, Satan has no power to command you
and me.
As Christians, we may be his children before
God saves us, but after he saves us,
we're God's children.
And Satan has no power to command you
or me.
But I'm going to tell you a power
that he does have.
He has the power of suggestion.
And that power is terrible.
Because he knows the flesh, and he knows
what appeals to the flesh, and he makes
it appeal through the flesh.
And it's tendency to selfishness.
Satan suggested to put it into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, the daring to betray our
Lord Jesus Christ.
I suppose that Judas had a thought came
into his mind, and he failed to identify
it.
He failed to realize where it came from.
Judas one time thought, now listen, he said,
I've seen the Lord Jesus Christ nearly captured
before, and I have seen him work his
way out of the most, the tightest net
of the most impossible situations, and he has
worked his way right through the crowd, and
they cannot, they cannot lay hold of him.
And I suppose that Judas thought, Judas thought,
now I know that the priests and the
Pharisees, the scribes and the Pharisees want to
lay their hands on the Lord Jesus.
Tell you what I'll do.
I'll go to them.
I'll sell him to them.
I'll betray him.
They will come to apprehend him.
He will slip out of their fingers.
I will have fulfilled my contract.
I'll have the money, and they won't have
their man.
It was a clever design, only it didn't
work out like Judas thought it would.
They captured the Lord Jesus, and he was
convicted.
And when Judas saw that he was condemned,
he went out and hanged himself.
Satan has the power of suggestion to you
and to me, and the power of suggestion
can be a terribly powerful force.
Hypnotism is nothing more nor less than the
power of suggestion.
And I think sometimes that the devil is
the master hypnotist.
The power of suggestion can be so strong
that he cannot command us.
I am thankful for that, that he can
suggest.
You and I ought to examine our thoughts,
our ideas, as to what we do, because
those thoughts may well be suggested by Satan.
He has access to our minds.
We ought to check up on them.
I think that Satan is working today to
destroy our practical righteousness, and may I suggest
that his most effective weapon is yoking the
saved and the lost together by the marriage
yoke.
I believe that if Satan can accomplish, I
think that Satan can accomplish more by that
one single act than any other single thing
that he can do to spoil a Christian's
testimony.
Linking the saved with the unsaved in the
marriage, in the bond of matrimony, in the
marriage yoke.
And he does it.
And he's still doing it.
And he's responsible for it.
Oh, he can always have one of his
children around to attract the eyes and the
heart of a Christian.
He can always have his children around, and
sometimes God's children are not so alert and
sometimes they are not so aware of his
devices, and they fall into the unequal yoke
of the sorrow of their hearts.
Now, this threefold enemy that we've talked about
would like to destroy our practical righteousness.
And fighting against the threefold enemy will leave
us weary.
It will leave us tired.
But thank God for this threefold enemy, we
have a divine antidote.
Because we have it opposed against the flesh,
we have the Spirit of God as his
opponent.
Now, how can we gain practical, practical victory
over our threefold enemy?
Let's notice Galatians chapter 5, if you please.
We've already noticed the world and the Father
in opposition in John's gospel.
Perhaps we'd better notice it again.
Let's hold your finger, please, in Galatians 5,
and notice 1 John chapter 2, if you
please.
1 John 2 and 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.
Now, the Father is opposed to the world.
The world spreads its delicacies before our feet.
It would seek to distract us from our
journey to the celestial city by the things
that it spreads at our feet.
You remember in Pilgrim's Progress that it was
said of Vanity Fair, that Vanity Fair was
established right on the pathway from the city
of destruction to the celestial city.
It was established, first of all, by the
Lord of that land, to distract travelers in
their journey to the celestial city.
That fair was placed right on the road.
The device was so successful that the fair
became a permanent thing, and it was called
Vanity Fair.
That is the picture of the world, and
you remember, perhaps if you have read Pilgrim's
Progress, that Christian and faithful came to Vanity
Fair, and they immediately attracted a lot of
attention.
Their clothes were different, their speech was different,
and they would not buy any of their
fairs.
And they, first of all, derided them.
Then they threw them in jail, and faithful
was martyred.
Now, the world can be very cruel, it
can be seductive, but the world can be
very cruel.
But there is in our Father the divine
antidote to this enemy, the world.
Now, the world spreads its things before us.
Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world.
Now, our Father gives us many, many things
to enjoy.
Let's notice Romans chapter 8, if you please.
Romans 8 and 32.
He that spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us
all things?
The world provides this thing, and our Father
provides his things.
And certainly the things of our Father are
better than the things of this world.
But it seems that there is a competition
there.
And our Father is the divine antidote to
this world.
The things that are in Christ are better
than the things that are in this world.
And if we go on for the things
of the world, it's because we do not
realize the preciousness of the things of God.
Now, back to Galatians chapter 5.
We have an opponent for the flesh in
the form of the spirit.
Verse 16 of the fifth chapter of Galatians,
This I say then, walk in the spirit,
and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of
the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh.
These are contrary, the one to the other,
so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would.
Now, the spirit and the flesh are opponents.
The flesh would rule us, but the spirit
of God would rule us, too.
And there is an opposition there, so that
there's a continual warfare inside of us, going
on within us.
And this warfare is certainly an enervating thing.
It will certainly wear us out.
The flesh opposed to the spirit.
But the rule is simple.
Walk in the spirit, in the power of
the spirit, in the fear of the spirit,
in the light of the spirit, and ye
shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
If we will follow the spirit of God,
the flesh, indeed, will be minimized.
And we're to put that flesh, that old
man, the old man is more comprehensive than
the flesh, but we are to put that
flesh in the place of death, the old
man in the place of death, and the
flesh right along with it.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ and Satan are
opposed.
Our Lord Jesus is the one who is
our Lord and who has a right to
command us.
But Satan, by his suggestions, would lead us.
Now, we are to resist the devil.
We're never told to flee from the devil.
We're told to flee from the lusts of
the flesh, but surprisingly enough, we're never told
to flee from the devil.
We're told to resist the devil.
And that's exactly what God wants.
You say, I'm no match for him.
Resist him.
Nevertheless, greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world.
And Christ is in us, as well as
the spirit of God.
And he is the opponent of the devil.
They always were opposed to one another.
And we see that opposition in the desert
when our Lord was tempted of the devil.
The conflict of the ages, indeed, is the
conflict of Christ and Satan.
Satan is jealous of him, always and ever
jealous of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He tries to limitate him, even to having
two horns like a lamb in the book
of Revelation.
And believe me, he's trying to have his
church in the ecumenical church.
Satan wants to have his church as Christ
had his church.
They're opposed all through to scriptural stories.
Now, the world and the flesh and the
devil have in the Trinity of God a
perfect opponent.
And you and I are not without recourse
in the Christian battle.
We can indeed depend upon what we have
in the Godhead.
And the battle is not lost.
Now, if indeed we will fight the Christian
fight, and the fight is on, old Christian
soldiers, I don't know whether we're conscious very,
very much of fighting in our Christian experience
or not.
But we should be conscious of it.
And the fight is on.
But oh, I'm so glad that the crown
of righteousness is reserved for those who will
fight the good fight of peace.
Now, that is one side of it.
Now, the other side of it is love
to the Lord Jesus.
Shall we turn back to 2 Timothy, chapter
4, please.
And you'll notice there that the crown of
righteousness is not only for those who fight
the fight of peace, not only for the
Apostle Paul.
He says in verse 8 of chapter 4,
Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and
not to me only, but unto all them
also that love his appearing.
Now, loving the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ also will produce righteousness.
Now, one is the positive side of it,
and one is the negative side of it.
Love for the Lord will produce practical righteousness
in you and me.
And fighting against our enemies will keep those
enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil,
from taking that righteousness away.
There are two sides of the same truth.
Now, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
has a very, very practical effect in our
lives.
Some say that it is entirely a devotional
study, but I think it's a practical study
as well.
Now, notice, please, in 1 John, chapter 3,
loving the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just a moment, I have the wrong book.
1 John, chapter 3, verse 2.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
And it does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him, or
we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in
him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Looking for the coming again of our Lord
Jesus Christ will have a purifying effect in
your life and in mine.
And as a matter of fact, I would
make bold to say that we cannot be
living a life of sin and at the
same time be loving the appearing of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
The two just do not go together.
If we are expecting the return of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we will evidence it by
living a life that is a righteous life.
There will be a difference.
If we are really expecting the Lord to
come, we will live as though we expected
him to come.
There is another verse in Romans, if you
please.
Romans, chapter 13.
Verse 11 of Romans 13, and that, knowing
the time that it is now, that now
it is high time to awake out of
sleep.
For now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed.
The night is far spent.
The day is at hand.
Let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armor
of light.
The day of our Lord's appearing is at
hand.
Let us therefore, or let us because of
this, cast off the works of darkness and
let us put on the armor of light.
If we really believe and love the appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's going to
have the effect of personal righteousness in our
lives.
There are many things I'm sure that we
would not want to be doing if our
Lord Jesus Christ comes.
As a matter of fact, I have seen
a little motto that I think is so
good.
Do nothing that you would not wish to
be doing when our Lord comes.
Say nothing that you would not wish to
be saying when our Lord comes.
Think nothing that you would not wish to
be thinking when our Lord comes.
He is coming, and we would be embarrassed
to be in some place, to be doing
some things, to be saying some things, if
our Lord Jesus comes again.
I recall an incident that brought this most
forcibly to me a number of years ago.
Perhaps some of you have heard me talk
about it.
In Colorado Springs, I was listening to the
news one day and also working in the
basement.
I had my radio turned up quite high
because I wanted to hear it downstairs.
It was not the kind that I could
carry downstairs, either.
So I turned it up quite high, and
I was listening to the news.
Well, the news was over, and an orchestra
came on, and the radio began to jump.
And it was very loud, and I began
to start upstairs to turn the thing off.
Because it wasn't the kind of music that,
well, a Christian should be listening to.
And just as I got up to the
top of the stairs with this radio blaring
out, there was a knock at the door.
And I couldn't make up my mind whether
to go to the door first or to
the radio.
But I went to the radio and turned
it down.
And I went to the door, and there
stood one of the brethren in the meeting.
I felt my face getting red.
I wondered, does he think that I listen
to that kind of music?
And you know what I did?
I explained the situation.
I don't know whether I sold him entirely,
but I explained it.
I could not let that pass.
I was embarrassed in that experience.
You know, sometimes, it's not going to be
a knock on the door, it's going to
be a shout in the air.
And it's going to be the Lord.
And he's going to catch us up into
his presence.
Will I be ashamed before him at his
coming?
I know I'm making a misapplication of that
scripture by quoting it at this time.
But will I be ashamed because of his
coming?
You know, this should have a practical effect
in our lives.
The Lord Jesus is coming.
Now, if he were really coming, and we
really believed it, we would do something about
it.
The story is told, and with it our
flow.
A father left his children on a business
trip.
And he had a number of children, and
he said, Now, children, I'm coming back this
week.
And he says, I want you down to
meet the train, the train that he would
come in on, every evening until I come.
Now, I may come on Monday, I don't
know how long.
It will take me to complete my business.
And so, Monday evening, the children were all
down at the station to meet their father,
all nice and clean and nicely dressed.
The train came in, and their father was
not on the train.
So, Tuesday evening, they were all cleaned up,
all dressed up, and down at the station.
And the train did not come in.
Wednesday evening, the same thing, and no father.
Thursday evening, the same thing, and no father.
Friday evening, the same thing, and no father.
Well, they went down Friday evening, and their
father was on the train.
And they said, Daddy, why didn't you come
earlier in the week?
We were cleaned up, and we came down
to the station to meet you every night.
Well, he says, I kept you clean, didn't
I?
They were expecting him every night, and he
had kept them clean.
Now, these two things combined will move toward
producing for you and me a crown of
righteousness.
That is, the keeping of ourselves in a
state of personal righteousness, that is, being righteous
in our faith as well as in our
standing, and not letting Satan take that righteousness
away.
And then there is that personal righteousness which
will be produced by love of the Lord
Jesus Christ, through love of Him, and love
of His appearing.
And of course, it goes without saying, we
will not love His appearing unless we are
loving Him.
And I hardly can see, if you'll pardon
me for saying this, and I don't think
you'll need to, I hardly can understand how
we could be loving His appearing if we
didn't love Him, first of all.
And love of the Lord Jesus will indeed
produce righteousness in you and me, pleasing Him,
but especially in His appearing, because He is
coming to take us home, to be with
Himself and to reward us there.
And if we indeed are loving His appearing,
you can be sure we're going to live
the kind of life that will merit the
crown of righteousness.
And God help us in this respect.
Brother Nelson Cook, would you close with a
word of prayer?
We won't be able to take much time
tonight to review.
We've been studying about the crowns of scriptures,
the crowns in the scriptures, and we have
thus far considered the incorruptible crown, the crown
of rejoicing, the crown of righteousness.
We'd like to have before us tonight the
crown of glory and the crown of life.
We're going to try to budget our time
a little better than we did last night.