Faithful to the Finish Line - Danny Hertzler 6-8-2024

Greetings in the name of the one who said, be thou faithful unto death,

and I will give thee a crown of life. In that brief sentence

to the church at Smyrna, Jesus gave the finish line for each one of

us. He did it in very stark terms. It's dead, it's dead.

That's the finish line. He said, be thou faithful, that's the

conditions for reaching that finish line. And then he gives a reward. I

will give you a crown of life. I've appreciated these meetings and the passion

I see for building the Kingdom of God. It's one of my passions.

And maybe I get a little carried away sometimes with that. But the desire

to finish a project and to finish it successfully and well is natural to the

human race. We like to do something well, we like to get our

jobs accomplished. But we often find ourselves with a competing desire, and that's

a desire for diversions that so easily can cause us to lose our focus on

the end of the project. You've all felt it, I've felt it.

Esop illustrated this very well in one of his best known fables the hair and

the tortoise. In that fable, the hair or the rabbit was taunting the

tortoise, why are you taking so long to get anywhere? And the tortoise

took it, and they had some exchange and finding the tortoise said, okay,

let's have a race in the rabbit, of course, he's very willing

for this, no problem, And so they set a starting line and finish

line. I forget which one of the animals was the starter. And so

the rabbit took off and he easily outpaced the tortoise. He took off,

but pretty soon he saw a side trail that looked inviting. Well, I'm

so far ahead, I can run down this side trail, and he did.

He came back and he saw that he was still ahead, and he

ran a little further, and he was tired, so he lay down,

took a nap, and when he woke up and got to the finish line,

just to see the tortoise put his foot across ahead of the rabbit.

The rabbit was diverted by his own desires. This fable well series of truth

that Fanny Crosby wrote in her hymn Victory through Grace not to the strong as

the battle, and not to the swift as the race, but to the

true and the faithful. Victory has promised through grace. And this reflection of

Ecclesiastes nine, verse eleven not exact rendering. I'd like to base my thoughts

this evening on three historical figures who left testimonies of faithfulness to death. One

was a young man who was in his early thirties when he died. Within

twenty four hours before he died, he stated this in a prayer to God.

I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which

Thou gavest me to do. You will find that in John seventeen, verse

four. The second man was a middle aged man when he died, who

shortly before his death stated this in a letter to his good friend and a

co worker. He said, I've fought a good fight. I have finished

my course. I have kept the faith. The third man was an old

old man when he died, and someone else gave this testimony of him that

he barely was faithful in all his house as a servant. I'd like to

use these three individuals. You recognize them as Jesus the Apostle Paul and Moses

the prophet m M. I want to note here at the beginning that the

finish line doesn't come at the same point in life for everyone. They got

on the program something about empty nesters. Let me tell you, young people,

middle aged people, older people. The finish line doesn't always come for

an empty nester, or the finish line also comes for other people. It

will come for each one of us, but don't depend on it waiting until

you're an empty nester. M. It doesn't necessarily come after you reach age

seventies. Finish Some reach the finish line when they are twenty or in their

twenties. A few years ago, over a fairly short period of time,

we learned of four or five young men who violently met their finish line.

They came to the finish line totally unexpectedly, but there it was in a

violent car crash, in violent car crashes, three three separate incidences. They

were, I think, all in their twenties, but their testimony and the

testimony of others were that they were faith to their finish line. Some might

reach the finish line in their forties, like a forty two year old mother

recently reached the finish line mother of twelve children. She was not expecting to

reach a finish line, not then, and so it is possible. I

want to say this, it's possible to be faithful no matter what age you

are. When you reach that line, it's possible to be faithful. But

don't depend on that line being sometime after you're an empty nester, or after

you're seventy five or eighty. What can we learn from the lives and teachings

of these three men, Jesus, Moses, and Apostle Paul that will help

us to be faith to the finish line. I have seven points I'd like

to briefly consider. Some of these have been somewhat spoken on already, Please

bear with me. The first point I have is start when you're young.

I'd like everybody that is twelve years old to stand up. How many twelve

year olds do we have? Okay, a bunch of people went home.

Just stay standing. I think I see three here, and maybe i'll pick

on this one up here. The best time to prepare for a faithful finish

that's when you're young. At your age and your age Jesus went to a

fellowship meeting like this twelve years old, he went to a fellowship meeting.

When they were done, his parents left and they thought they had Jesus with

him. Three days later, Jesus' parents found him back in Jerusalem, back

at the temple three days. I don't know if he spent all the time

there, of those three days talking to the brother Steve and Brother Clayton and

all the other preachers, that how would you like to spend three days here

discussing scripture with these preachers that we have here. But that's what Jesus was

doing. Okay, you can sit down, but remember this. That's not

maybe the most important thing about this little story. The next verse says,

well, his mother found him and he said, what have you treated us

like this? He said, don't you know that I must be about my

father's business. At twelve years of age, he was about his father's business.

But you know what, the next verse is very powerful, very telling.

What does it say about Jesus. It says he went home and he

was subject. He was subject to his parents. Now, that does not

only apply to twelve year olds or eighteen year olds or twenty seven year olds.

The Bible tells your daddies and mommies and your granddaddies and grandmommies. To

be subject as well. It means to obey, It means to listen to

others. It means to listen well and take instruction from those whom God has

put into your life. At twelve years of age, the primary ones are

your parents, but for daddies and mommies it will be somebody else. For

granddaddies and grandmommies, it won't be my parents anymore. They're not living.

But the Bible still tells me to be subject one to another and to be

subject to higher powers. The same word that uses for Jesus when he was

subject. Now it also says that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature,

and in favor with God and Man. I'll make this statement. You may

challenge it, but I would say increasing and wisdom and favor with God and

Man is a direct and guaranteed result of being subject to God appointed authority,

whether it's your parents, whether it's the administrators of the state, or whether

it's your church leaders. If you want to grow in wisdom and in favor

with God and Man, you will be subject to those people whom God has

given to you start when you are young, learn that lesson well, and

carry it on through to the finish line, whether you're twenty or forty five,

or seventy five or ninety five. Point number two second point is closely

connected to point number one. Choose carefully a scriptural church fellowship and then support

it wholeheartedly. The Apostle Paul's desire for the church that lay out of Seal

was evident in his letter to the Colossians when he wrote, okay, didn't

have it quite right now, am I? We're two fot away? Okay?

Okay? Is that better? The Apostle Paul's desire for the church that

lay out of Seal? And you remember that that church was one of the

ones in the Book of Revelation in Final one, and there was an anything

good said about this church at lay out of Seal. But the Apostle Paul

wrote his desire for the church at lay out to Seal. When he wrote

to the Colossian church, he said this, for I would that ye knew

what great conflict I have for you and for them it lay out of seal.

And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.

And here's what he wanted, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together

in love. One translation says it this way. I want you woven into

a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God.

Now notice this next. Then you will have minds confident and at rest

on Christ, focused on Christ. I'm sorry. Then you will have mind's

confident and at rest focused on Christ. I like that. I don't always

go to other translations. I brought a little bit of an object lesson along

and maybe this will help rivet it. Those of you that are in the

grass seat business recognize this as a woven poly bag. It's not. It

had bird seed in it, and so a woven poly bag is made up

of many, many threads. And of course there's some printing on here.

There's some different colors, and they're woven together. If you like birds,

there's some birds there. But the point is this, those are woven together

so tightly that you can hardly break them apart. I can't do it with

my bare hands. I try it, I can't pull them out. I

can't care it apart. But part of this bag is not part of that

weaving. Part of this bag is only attached to the bag. And there's

a point I want to make on that it's attached by a thread that is

easily here. It is that's easily detached. It doesn't take much, doesn't

take much effort. Well, it snagging up there until the illustration is coming

apart, but that's easy to detach. I'm doing a little bit, doesn't

take much effort. My point is this, sometimes people think they are woven

into the tapestry of a church, when they are only attached by a thread.

Some decision is made that they don't like, some standard is set that

they don't like, or the preacher says something they don't like, and pretty

soon you find doubt that they are only attached to that congregation, and they

can easily pull the rip cord and they're off and go on. The apostle

Paul's desire, if you want to finish faithfully, you will become woven and

be willing to lose your identity in the fabric of the church. I can't.

I don't think I can stress that strongly enough. And that's why I've

put as much time into that one as I have. M M choose the

congregation carefully and then allow yourself to be knit into their culture. The Hebrew

writer said of Moses that he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God

rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now, Moses

was a very unique individual in the history of the world. But he chose

that. And when the going got tough, Moses didn't cut and run.

God offered him an out. He said, step back, Moses, allow

me to wipe out this congregation. Step back and and I'll make it.

I'll make a nation out of you. Okay, what did Moses do?

No, he was part of that turning gas. He said, God,

don't do that. And you can read the account. You can read the

account the Nexus thirty two and Deuteronomy nine. Because of his commitment to God

and to the people of God, Moses finished faithfully in all his house.

And I was impressed with that statement. He said as a servant. He

didn't as a boss or as king tut over to the children of Israel.

It said, he was faithful as a servant. I like that. So

what, brothers and sisters, So what if there are some things that you

think you ought to be allowed to have, and you're willing to split and

fly off, separate yourself because of those things. I'm here to tell you

that there is nothing, there is no blessing on earth that equals being knitted

together in love with a faithful congregation. If you want to finish faithfully,

you will do that. I was blessed this afternoon the song I Love the

Kingdom Lord. Whenever I sing that, there's there's a nostalgic and emotional response

in me. I don't think Brother Evan's here anymore, and I don't know

if he remembers this, But twenty eight years ago, when we were getting

ready to move to Chwila, Washington, our last communion service, Brother Nevian

selected this song as we were singing washing feet. He selected this song,

and it had long been a favorite of mine. But whenever I sing that,

I think back to that communion service. And yes, we went willingly,

maybe not always as joyful as we should have, but there was a

there was a tearing. It felt like a terror from our dear congregation at

Tangent. They were very supportive, they're very lovely, and all of that.

Now I can very hard. If I did hold it out with it,

I can pull a thread out. But it's not easy, and it

should not be easy for us. Point number three witnessed joyfully. The day

before Jesus was crucified, he spoke these words to his disciples, These things

have us spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and

that your joy might be fool Twenty four hours later, where do you find

the disciples. They were hunkered down in fear and discouragement and sadness behind locked

doors. It was not a joyful scene. I think we can safely assume

that. But what the scriptures tell us they thought they had lost their leader.

They thought they had lost the cause for which he came to set up

a kingdom to redeem Israel here on earth. But six or weeks later,

the scene changed. Jesus came back from the dead. He spent six weeks

forty days teaching the disciples about the Kingdom of God. I don't know what

all was there. I would love to have that recorded, but it's not

the first couple of verses in Book of Acts tell us this that he's spent

those days teaching them about the Kingdom of God. And I think we have

a lot of those teachings throughout the rest of the New Testament. That's what

I think. And people sometimes say, well, if Jesus didn't say it,

it doesn't hold any meaning. You don't know, And I don't know

what all Jesus told his disciples there, but I think he told them a

lot of what we have recorded that people want to throw out. But at

his last meeting with them, he said, go and teach all nations,

and ye shall be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Then he

physically left them again, and this time for good, well not for good.

We know he's coming again, but he didn't come back after three days.

But there was a major shift in the disciples mood after this parting between

Jesus and his disciples. Instead of hunkering down in fear and doubt and confusion,

they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. From that hilltop wherever it was,

they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising

and blessing God. What a change. Ten days after Jesus left, and

under the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, Peter preached a powerful message,

after which about three thousand souls made a decision for the kingdom of Jesus.

The fruit of the Spirit is joy, and I believe that joy gave

added power to the message Peter preached the Apostle Paul, after years of suffering

abuse for his gospel witnessing, said that none of these things moved me.

None of the suffering moves me, so that I might finish my course with

joy. Act twenty twenty four. I think it's interesting to know that all

eleven of those disciples, after they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they

finished their course and finished it well. And I believe this joy that Jesus

promised to them was a major factor in finishing well. Niam I told his

people said, the joy of the Lord Lord is your strength, and that's

true today. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. The second one mentioned

there point number four. Pray continuously. We have the Lord's prayer, we

have Jesus High priestly prayer, we have his all night prayer and his Guestsemite

prayer as notable examples of Jesus making prayer an integral part of his ministry and

his life. To the very end, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian

Church to pray without ceasing Paul also wrote this to the Ephesian Church and his

discourse on the Christian Armory. Praying always with all prayer and supplication, with

all perseverance and supplication for all saints. One who is faithful to the finish

line will be focused not only on his own needs, but on the needs

of others as well. Pray continuously if you want to reach the finish line

faithfully. Number five. And this point has been discuss some, I'm going

to go ahead and give what I have here. Point number five. Live

frugally and give generously. And those are not mutually incompatible either. They are

not mutually exclusive. They are they compliment each other. Live frugally and give

generously. We live in a time and a place where all the bells and

whistles seems to be the preferred criteria in our purchases, especially among the male

side of the house. While we're all mixed together here, especially among the

masculine set, whether it's a pickup truck or barbecue grill, or a hunting

rifle or whatever, all the bells and whistles, it seems like, is

the criterion. In contrast, Jesus said, I don't even have a place

to lay my head. Interestingly enough, there are millions and millions of people

that don't have a safe place to lay their head to night. I wonder

what Jesus would think if he saw a small mountain of pillows on the spare

bed that he was asked to occupy for the night. Just one example,

Paul said, all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not

expedient. I don't know what all that entails, and I'm not going to

try to outline that. I just made one example. Maybe I shouldn't have

given that one. All things are lawful, but not all things are,

but all things are not expedient. Jesus got very pointed five. And this

was not a parable. It was not a parable about the Kingdom of heaven.

He said. He said, when the Son of Man cometh, we

know he's gonna come. When the Son of Man cometh, and he goes

on there and describes a scene about those who minister to the needs of the

needy and those who did not minister to the needs of the needy. And

then he said the ones who did minister. Now, I know there's other

things. We all know there are other things besides ministering or not ministering to

the needs of the needing. But that's the criteria Jesus used in this.

In Matthew twenty five, just before he went to his crucifixion, he said,

those administered to the needs of others, come in and be blessed.

And to the others, he said, go away into everlasting punishment. To

those who withheld what they could have done, and they withheld it from the

needy. And I would say, in America, we spend on ourselves things

that we would not need to. And I'm guilty too. I wanted to

say at the beginning that I'm not lifting myself up. I'm guilty on these

points as well, and have room for growth. I want you to know

that. But when we withhold what we could and don't do it, that's

what Jesus said is send you into everlasting punishment. I think it's interesting that

both Jesus and paul Us very impoverished people to illustrate what they feel is what

God, how God wants us to give. We know well the story of

the of the needy will or the poor widow. The impoverished widow two little

coins and she put them into the offering. She gave them to the work

of the kingdom, and that was all she had. She didn't have enough

to go home and buy anything. It said, it was her very living,

and she gave it. The Apostle Paul read used the Macedonian Church,

and I'm going to just read four verses here in Second Corinthians aid, you're

over, brethren, We do you the grace of God bestowed on us and

the churches of Macedonia. And notice how he described this church. None of

us here fit this this description, none of us. How that, in

a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty

abounded unto the richest of their liberality. And to get that for to their

power, I bear record yea. And beyond their power. They were willing

of themselves, praying us with much entreaty, that we would receive the gift

and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. Somebody mentioned

discussion this afternoon about Apostle Paul taking gifts back to Jerusalem. I think this

was part of it. Notice that out of their deep poverty, none of

us fit that. But number five, if we want to finish faithfully reach

a finish line. Faithfully, we will live frugally, give generously. By

the way Ethan thought of contentment is very pertinent to this whole discussion. I

appreciate that you brought that in number six. If you want to finish,

If you want to finish faithfully, consider the past. Before the children of

Israel undered the land of Canaan, Moses stood before them, and we've been

having teaching out of the Book of Deuteronomy, and he recounted their history of

the previous forty years. That speech takes up most of the Book of Deuteronomy.

One thousand, five hundred years later, the apostle Paul wrote to the

church at carinf to think about that same period of history. You can read

that in Second Corinthians ten. He recounted five First Corinthans ten. I'm sorry.

He recounted five blessings that all the children of Israel experienced five blessings,

the clouds, the passage through the sea, the baptism, the spiritual meat,

and the spiritual drink. Five blessings. Then he warned the Corinthian Christians

about five things the Israelites did, yet they should not repeat fornication idle worship.

I don't have that right in front of me, saw one, but

you can read that in first Grendon's tent five more things. He said,

don't do these things. And sometimes we hesitate to point out the negative lives

of people. But the Apostle Paul had a point to make. He wasn't

just filling up parchment here. He was making a point that consider the past.

Now, this was a gentile church, and he was telling them to

go back and look at Jewish history. Go back and look at Jewish history.

They were gentiles. And then he makes this statement, here's the reason

all these things happened under them for ensamples, and they are written for our

admonition, for our learning, for our growth and spiritual life us today.

Almost two thousand more years later, after the Apostle Paul wrote that about events

thirty five hundred years ago, there written for you to you and I to

learn from. Then he adds this stern warning, wherefore or because of this,

let him that think if he standeth, take heed lest he fall.

I think that's a sober warning for us. If we want to finish well,

we will consider the past over the past sixty years. I'm going to

reminisce just a little bit here. I hope you bear with me. I've

observed quite a number of families and individuals who followed there, who went after

their own course. I've talked about pulling the ripcord and separating fairly regular intervals.

Two families here, three families there, another small group. Over the

last sixty years, I've observed this. There's at least two common threads that

run through most of these, almost all of them. One is they were

disgruntled about something that even the church or the leadership. Does that sound familiar,

yes. The second common thread is that the results for them and their

family are not what they hope for their family when they left. There was

a couple that left our church when I was a teenage. Their oldest daughter

was a couple of grades behind me in school, and there were some things

happened in our congregation that they were not in agreement with. They and another

family left. About twenty or twenty five years later. We stopped and to

visit them. I still considered them a friend, very friendly. She was

our late bishop's daughter. We stopped in to visit them, and I don't

know how we got on the subject but we were sitting around the dining room

table. They were sitting across from us, and they made this. I

think the dad made this statement. He said, we are very sad about

where our children are at. But he said, we blame ourselves. It's

our fault for the way we left that church. And they cried, I'll

never forget that. And I wish I could draw that picture for people that

are making similar decisions today. I told them, one father of one young

family, I said, the choice that you've made and the reasons you made

it does not have a good history of turning out well. And he said,

I know, and that was all he said. Somehow people think they

can dodge that bullet. I say, consider the past. If you're thinking

along that line. Now, we have we have many, many resources from

the past. I have a thick blue book on my bookshelf, Sword and

Trumpet, combined volumes from nineteen twenty nine to nineteen thirty nine approximately. It's

a wealth of material in there that talks about trends in the church, and

dangers in the church, and false doctrine, and on and on. Brother

Edmund puts in our Fellowship newsletter Echoes from the Past read the things they're valuable.

Consider the past. If you want to finish well. Number seven.

If you want to finish well, live humbly. The Old Testament prophet Michaeh

told the Jews before they were carried into slavery in a foreign man, three

things that God required of them. He said, do justly, love mercy,

and walk humbly with God. That's non negotiable. That humble walk is

not negotiable. He says that He requires it. What happened. The children

of Israel ignored Micah's statement there, and they were carried away into captivity.

I don't know hundred years later. They ignored it. They didn't walk humbly,

They went after idle worship. They lifted themselves up in pride. The

rest is history. The children of vis well, the children of Judah,

never regained what they had during the when God was leading them. I'll use

Moses as an example. It says the man the Bible tells us. And

this is interesting. This statement is in parentheses in another discussion not totally unrelated,

but it says the man Moses was very meek above all the men which

were upon the face of the earth. Look it up. Sometime and God

told Moses, I will raise up another prophet like unto you, and the

people are supposed to listen to him. That man is Jesus, the Jews

I talked to on the billboards. I don't like to hear that, but

it's true. The apostle Paul wrote about Jesus that he humbled himself and became

obedient unto the death of the Cross. In his letter to the Flippings,

he says, have this mind that was in Jesus. You have that same

mind, and he's telling us the same thing. The path to a faithful

finish goes through the straight gate. We could call it the gate of humility.

There is no other way. If you want to eat that faithful finished

it goes through the straight gate. Ego and pride needs to be checked in

at that gate. If it is not checked in at that gate, you

will not walk the path to a successful Christian life. It's as simple as

that. Like I say, that's non negotiable. That's non negotiable. We

could give some examples, and maybe I'll just leave it at that. Of

people in the past, well, I'll I'll give it a little bit of

history here again. Over the last sixty years, I've known and listened to

a lot of ministers preach. I was eleven years old when the non conference

we called it non conference movement started, and later uh the Fellowship movement.

We have all kinds of fellowships. Now, some of these ministers, and

I'm maybe I shouldn't make this judgment call that seemed like they were arrogant,

and they were proud of their position and power, and they would sometimes throw

a challenge. I remember one who threw a challenge out at Fellowship meetings like

this. I know there's fifteen hundred people there instead of three hundred to others

that had challenged a decision that he made. Others would be little and cut

down their fellow labors. But there were some who very humbly and quietly and

faithfully led their flock and stilled solid values into their children. Those leaders,

as far as I know, that were part of that Fellowship meeting are all

gone. But it's those humbled quiales that have multitudes of faithful children, grandchildren

and great grandchildren still upholding the values that they held when they left confidence in

nineteen sixty or sixty one. Those are the leaders, those humble ones,

I believe. I can't prove this, but I believe they are the ones

that made the biggest impact on the Church of today by being humble and following

God's laws. When I thought about this, the words came to me that

were given in a blessing on the Israelites. Let me die the death of

the righteous, and let my last end be like his. I look up

to those, those faithful men. We're good friends with some of their descendants.

Let me die the death of the righteous. Let me end like those

righteous people. God does not only tell us to follow Jesus. He says

follow them who, through faith and patience inherit the promise. And my desire

is to be to end like those God has showed us to night what he

requires to walk humbly with him. Let us be faithful to the finish,

and I had to think of a songwriter again. Let us pray for each

other, not faint by the way in this sad world of sorrow and care.

We want everyone to be faithful to the finished and I trust will see

you there some day in the future.