Your Works Will Follow You

I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails me. And all my days have been held in your hands. From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head, oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. I love your voice. You have led me through the fire. And in darkest nights, you are close like no other. I've known you as a father. I've known you as a friend. And I have lived in the goodness of God. All my life, you have been faithful. All my life, you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, I will sing. We will sing. We will sing. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. With my life laid down, I surrender now. I give you everything. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. With my life laid down, I surrender now. I give you everything. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. All my life, you have been faithful. All my life, you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. I will sing of the goodness of God.

We will sing of the goodness. The Bible says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and they are saved. I'm so glad that we serve a God that no matter the trials or the tests or what the enemy throws our way, we have a firm foundation that we can stand strong on, that is our Christ Jesus. Galatians 5 says that we have been called to live a life of freedom, so we no longer have to be bound by fear, shame, or anxiety because we know that our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly and above everything we can ask, think, or imagine. So today, turn your eyes toward heaven and know that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. Your goodness is running after me, running after me. Running after me. The life I have, it's all I have. I can't have more than this. Your goodness is running after, running after me. Thank you, God bless you, amen. Thank you. Alleluia. Hallelujah. Everybody in here was placed on a path. Your steps have been ordered by the Lord, your days numbered. When Danny and I and Gwendolyn, Dennis and Janice and a host of others that work in this church were running around as teenagers not knowing what we were doing, not knowing where we were going. God had a plan and God has a plan for you and for your children and they may be running askew but God has a plan and I don't know how to explain everything I preach theologically. I just know scripture. I believe God heard you the first time you prayed.

I believe God wants your children saved. I believe God wants your children to make a big deal out of Jesus by the life that they live. So I thank you young men and women for your commitment to the Lord. What talent. We've been buddies a long time Danny, a long time. Father I thank you now for the truth that sets men free and and I'm just going to thank you right now before I preach for the help you're going to give me to preach and for the hearing ears and soft hearts that this precious word will fall on today. In Jesus name we pray. Everybody said amen. Thank you for being seated. Good to see you here today. Of course we greet everybody in Weatherby Hall behind us, Lake Park which is in Monroe and Wilmington. Everybody watching from around the world. We're going to review the scriptures today. Isn't that what it's about anyway? I wanted to go to the fifth chapter, I'm sorry the 14th chapter of the book of Mark and I want to read one of those well-known, often rehearsed, much preached passages of scripture. So they'll put it on the screen. If you'd like to read along with me feel free to do so. Mark 14 beginning with verse 3. And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spiconard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on his head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said, why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor. And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said, let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always and whenever you wish you may do them good. But me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial. Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. Isn't that beautiful? And there are three or four more passages in the other gospels about women who broke flasks and anointed Jesus with the fragrance and the oil and and they wept and dried his feet with their hair. There are several of these passages. But in every one of them Jesus says the same thing to the scoffers, leave her alone. She's doing this for me. One translation says she's done this to me. And if there's one thing that sticks out in my study,

it's that Jesus is saying, whatever a believer does is never done to a person, it's done to me. A person might be there, but whenever a kind act, or even a bad one, is performed to that person, it's actually done to me. So I actually opened the door for Jesus this morning. Whatever kind thing you did for somebody today, you did it for Jesus. You never heard him audibly say thank you, but the day is coming when he will. I've read in scripture to the point that I am totally, 100% convinced of what I'm telling you. That when I became a Christian, all of my actions, deeds, thoughts, became avenues to Jesus. And if you're a sinner, if you don't know Christ, you need to know too that your rebellion is against Christ. You're not rebelling against mommy and daddy, and your environment, and your culture, and all of that. No, no. This is a personal thing between you and your maker. When I became a believer, I began to realize that my life is not my own. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, and whatever I do, I do, whatever I do, I do as unto Christ. Yeah, let me give you scriptural examples, and I've given them to you before. In Matthew chapter 25, remember when Jesus is talking about the judgment of the nations, and he says, there will be a group called before me one day, and I will say to this group, he called them sheep nations, saved nations. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was naked, and you gave me clothes. I was in prison, and you came and visited me. And they said, we don't remember doing

that. What are you talking about, Lord? He said, in as much as you did it to the least of these my children, my brethren, in that particular case, he's talking about the Jewish people in the tribulation. In as much as you did this to them, you did it to me. Whoa. He turns to the other group that he calls goat nations, rebellious nations, and he went through the whole list again. I was hungry, you didn't feed me. I was naked, you didn't give me clothes. I was in prison, you didn't visit me. I was thirsty, you didn't care. And they said, when did we not do this? We don't understand. He said, when you didn't do it to them, you didn't do it to me. So church, it puts a whole new perspective on how we treat one another, because how I love my wife is how I love my Lord. I cannot be any closer to my Lord Jesus than I am to my wife, Sandra. If I ignore her, abuse her, disrespect her, that's exactly what I've done to Jesus. We've become bone of bone and flesh of flesh, and we are one. And what I do to her, I've done to him. But the reminders go on. If you remember in Acts chapter 9, when Saul, the great persecutor of the church, his intent was to wipe Christianity out, and he traveled with vigor and determination and anger to do just that. And on the road to Damascus to kill and incarcerate Christians, the Lord Jesus met him and said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Pretty personal, isn't it? You touch one of his, you touch Him. You stick your finger in the eye of one of His, and you've poked God in the eye. You harm one of His little ones, and you have disrespected Him. In Acts chapter 5, maybe I ought to tell

us an embarrassing story first, before I tell this next one. And I'm really embarrassed to tell you, and I wish I were the kind of person that just wouldn't do this, but I feel like you need to know that I fight the same battles you do, the same temptations you do, every day of my life. Maybe to a greater degree than you do, because if something happens up here, something's going to happen up there. Well, I have two hobbies. I'll tell you one. One is golf. I enjoy playing. And not long ago, Dennis and I were playing with a couple of brothers. And I was doing all right. Really, I was doing all right. I got up to the tee box on one hole, and I mean I duck-hooked it into the woods. If you're not a golfer, I can't explain all this. That is a bad shot. So my partner let me out to look for the ball, and he went on to his, which was in a very nice place. Well, as the Lord would have it, it wasn't that deep in the woods as I thought. And I actually had a shot. And I took out the club. And I said, if this can't do it, nothing can. And I smoked it. And I smoked it over the trees. And it hit the side of the bank, and it was perfect. And it rolled down the bank, but it rolled past the cup, down another little bank. And everybody saw that. So when I got up there, I took out my sandwich, and I'm down there now, and they're up here getting ready to putt like decent golfers. And I'm down there, and I get under it, and I pop it up, and it goes about this far. And I said, shoot. So I walk up to it, and then this time, I made good contact, and I laid it almost up beside the cup, and I putted it in. And my partner said, Pastor, that's an awesome par. My word, that is the greatest. Wow. Guys, did you see this? Pastor just parred the hole after that terrible lie he had, not knowing that I was about to tell one.

So we get up there, and he's still going on, and I didn't have a par. I had a bogey. He's just going on and on. So we got in the cart, and I went to the next tee box, and I'm so disturbed. I'm almost to the point of tears that I, at this age, having served the Lord this long, am still wrestling with something, listen to me, as meaningless and foolish and temporary as that. So when we got up to the next tee box, I walked up to him. I said, listen, I did not have a par. I had a bogey. He said, I saw a par. I said, I said I made a bogey. He said, well, I wrote down par. It doesn't matter anyway. I parred it. We won the hole. I said, yeah, it does matter. It does matter. Winning the hole or losing the hole is not the important thing. It was the fact that truth was at stake, and I had to fight back the tears because I was just so upset with myself that I didn't say it right back there. But then the Holy Spirit helped me. He said, you ought to be thankful you have a conscience because plenty of people wouldn't even think twice about it. And then I got happy. I really did. I said, thank you, Lord, that I haven't seared my conscience. Thank you that I'm still sensitive, that I can cry about things. Lord God, thank you that I want to be honest. It's not just about going to heaven. It's about pleasing the Lord in everything. It's about who cares about a golf score? Who cares about anything? Because that hesitation to tell the truth was a hesitation in the presence of my Lord, who knows my heart, who sees all things.

He knew it. But I stood on that other tee box, and I thanked God for the forgiveness of sins, for a good, clean conscience. Because the Bible says, who's coming to the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in his holy presence? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. And I praised him. And I didn't play very well the rest of the day, but it didn't matter. Hallelujah. I went to bed with clean hands and a pure heart that night. But wait. And I told that embarrassing story because the next example affirms it. There were two people in the days of the new church named Ananias and Sapphira. And all the Christians were selling their properties and lands, and they would take the proceeds, the money, and they'd bring it and give it to the apostles so the apostles could feed the sick, et cetera, et cetera, feed the hungry. And these two people came in and said, here's the money. This is what we made on our property. Whoa. And Peter said, why have you lied to God? We got people in here that, oh, I wish we could get back to the book of Acts days, the days of power and outpouring.

Oh, we need a revival to get back to Acts. You better watch out what you pray for. We'll have more funerals in this church than you can count. Our funeral staff's not big enough to take care of what will happen if God starts killing people for lying and deceiving. Why have you lied against the Holy Spirit? You've not lied unto men, but unto God. See, do you hear me, church? You never lie to a person. You never lie to a lawyer. You never lie to your wife or husband. You lie to God. And the pressure that's on believers in this world, when they pressure you to sell warranties to people they don't need, parts to machinery that you don't need, to finagle with the numbers and fudge on things, that pressure is constantly there. And the believer finds him or herself in this quandary. Do I do this and save my job and please my boss? Or do I do what's right in the eyes of God? And the choice must always be, I'd rather serve God than man. Because the Bible teaches nothing is ever done in secret. The Bible teaches one day every hidden thing is going to be made manifest. That's what it teaches. Every word, every act before God is going to be brought to the light one of these days. That's kind of horrifying, isn't it? That disturbs me.

That's why I want to keep a clean slate. I want to take advantage of confess your sins. And he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Sometimes, because of our faithfulness, God will bless us now. You know that, don't you? He will just look down and say, you know, that moves me. I'm going to bless you right now. There was a guy by the name of Cornelius. The Bible says he prayed all the time. He was a friend to the Jews. He gave much alms. He was a godly man. And God said, you know, I think I'm just going to bless him and his house. I'm going to send old brother Peter over there and let him preach the gospel. And his whole house is going to be saved. And they're all going to be filled with the Spirit. Because of his faithfulness and goodness, God blessed him on the spot right then. God knew his name, Cornelius. Did you know that? names matter to God? Have you ever noticed how protective God is of His name? He wants people to get it right. Did you ever notice how particular God was in the names He gave to certain individuals in Scripture? Do you remember a guy by the name of Jacob? His name was Cheater, Deceiver, Liar, and Conniver. That's what Jacob meant. But God got a hold of Jacob and they had a wrestling match. And Jacob said, I hate the way I am and I'm not gonna live the way I live

anymore and I will wrestle with God all night long about me. I want to change. And God said, you did it and I'm gonna change your name. You are no longer called Jacob. I'm calling you Israel, blessed of the Lord. Names matter to God. You got a name. God knows your name. Jesus said in John chapter 10, He knows His own sheep by name. He calls them by name. That fascinates me that God would know my name. Names matter. Your name is known in heaven. The thing about names, let me say this. In one passage, Jesus talked about Lazarus. That's a name, right? Remember, Lazarus and what? The rich man. No name. Lazarus and the rich man. It came time for both of them to die. The Bible says that the angels came and took Lazarus to Abraham's bosom, but the rich man died, had no name. He's just a man known because he had some money. Gained the whole world and lost his own soul. Didn't care about the poor man at his gate. Last thing on his mind was helping somebody. What's his name? We don't know. He's just a rich man, but the rich man went to hell. A nameless, horrible place and that's where the man is, but Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham, the presence of God. There's another occasion when Jesus said there was a certain rich man. No name. Rich man. And he looked around one day and said, my, this has been a bumper crop year. Wow. My barns are too small. They're packed. I can't get everything in it. I got wheat coming in, corn, what did I say? Avocados, olives. Where am I gonna put all this? I know what I'll do. I'll tear my barns down and build new ones and fill them up and then I will say, soul, soul, you've got a lot of stuff for a lot of years. Eat, drink and be merry. And God said, excuse me, fool. Oh, that's what God called him. Fool. That's not a name. That's an insult. That's a condemnation. Excuse me, fool. You've got all this stuff, but what has it profited you? Tonight, I require your soul of, of you. And then whose will all this stuff be? Jesus said, so is everyone. Listen, everyone that is not rich toward God. See, if you're rich toward God, if you've been, if you've been washed in the blood, if you know who he is, you got a name and God knows that name. You are not a nameless, unidentifiable entity. When you get to heaven, God won't say, hey, it's good to see you and tell me what your name is. Oh no, he'll be, your name will be heralded down through

the hallelujah halls of glory. Even today, your name is echoing through heaven's prayer closet. throne room of God is hearing your name and my name, because Jesus knows His own by name, and He's calling it out in prayer, even as we sit here today. But you're going to get a new name. Ha-ha. He knows this name, but you're going to get a new name. Well, I turned over. That's how Pentecostal preachers do it. Have you noticed that? Well, I turned over to Rev- and I don't care what you think about me anymore. I can't help it. I am a Pentecostal preacher. I'm not just a happy Baptist. I'm not a mundane Methodist. I'm a Spirit-filled, Word-preaching minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't care what you think about me. Well, one time I was preaching down in Florida to a mostly African-American. I used to say black. I was told not to say that anymore. Mostly African-American congregation, and I got up and said, I got something to say. One stood up and said, you better say it. Another one said, you got to say it. You can't hold back. They got to talk it among themselves. He's got to say it. He's got to tell the truth this morning. It gave me time to get my breath. So what I'm trying to tell you is I got something to say this morning, and I'm going to say it the way I want to say it this morning. I read over in Revelation chapter 14. Listen to this. I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them. Hallelujah. There is a day coming when all of these efforts will no longer be required. There'll be no more devil, no more flesh to fight, no more temptation to cheat on a golf score, no more temptation to look at a woman or a man, no more temptation to cheat on your

taxes or hold back on your ties or call somebody a name or do something you ought not to do. That day is coming, my brother. That day is coming, and you will rest from your labors. Every prayer will be prayed. Hallelujah to God. Every work will be accomplished. Every battle will be won. We'll be in the presence of Jesus, and the works have ceased. Glory to God, and now it's just glory and euphoria and blessing in the presence of Him who loved you and gave Himself for you. But that's not all of it, that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them, and their works follow them. Loran's imagination. One of these days, I'll breathe my last, and I'll open my eyes, and there will be Jesus. Loran, my little brother, come here, Loran, my redeemed, come here. He will take me by the hand and put His arm around my shoulder and say, guess where we're going? We're going to the throne room of my Father. Come on. And we walk in. Father, He's not going to introduce me. There are no introductions in heaven. You'll be known even, you'll know even as you are known. He'll know you, and you'll know Him. Father, here's Loran. This is the one you sent me to save. Hello, Loran. My son says you are worthy. By the way, Loran, what next you think you should be here. And I will say, oh, my father. And I'll take those arms and those hands and I'll push back the sleeves and I will hold up the hands of Jesus and say, father, you see this? That's what qualifies me to be here. See, father, he paid for my sins. And father, and he'll just barely lift

that glittering lightning light hymn of his garment. And I'll see the nail prints in his feet and say, father, see those beautiful nail prints? That's why I'm here. And father, I know under that robe, there is a scar. That's why I'm here. Jesus paid it all. And he said, you're right. I accept you today in my presence, Loran, because of my son, Jesus, whom you've honored by believing in him. But now, Loran, I'm gonna ask you to do something that I told you not to do on earth. I said, be sure and don't do this when you were on earth. But I'm gonna ask you to do it now. What is it, my father? I want you to turn around and look back. Turn around and look back. Oh, yes. He said, remember, I told you to press toward the mark of the high call of God in Christ Jesus. Remember, I said, don't go back, go forward. Remember, I said, run the race with patience. Remember, I said, everything of yesterday is behind you. Look forward, go forward, go forward. Race, run, fight, go forward. I remember, Lord. He said, but now I want you to turn around and look back. I turn around and I look back, and there stands goodness and mercy.

And the father said, this is their last day on the job. And I thought you ought to meet them personally, because I sent them, and they were in the delivery room, the day that the doctor slapped you on the bottom and made you cry. They followed you home to Lawrence and Maddie's house. They went to the first day of school with you. They watched you learn how to write. They were there when you went into junior high school, and you started getting with the wrong crowd. They were there when you cheated on that test. And they were there when you stole some grapes out of the Winn-Dixie grocery store that day. And they were there when you started using really bad language, and they were there when you took your first drink. They were there. They were also there when you knelt down in your daddy's living room one day as a teenager, weeping and saying, I don't know what to do with my life. I don't like the way I'm living. They were there. They were there when you graduated from high school and went to Lee University. And oh yes, that night that you were on the fourth floor of Walker Hall and ran down four flights of steps, and ran into the furnace room and knelt across an old wooden bench and cried out to me and said, save me, I can't do this anymore. They were standing right behind you then.

In fact, they are the reason you were there. And then I was with you, or they were with you when I called you to preach. They were there when you took Sandra's hand for the first time. They were in the room when I called you to preach. They were in your wedding. They saw you bring home your first baby. They helped you raise all four babies. They've been with you every time you've walked to the pulpit. And today they are with you on their last day of the job because they have ushered you into my presence and you are welcome into the joy of your Lord. And then the Lord will say, now, goodness and mercy, would you please just step aside? Keep looking behind you, Lorraine. And I look behind me and, oh, there's a parade. There's a parade. There's a parade. There's a parade. There's a parade. There's a parade. And it's coming to the throne. There's a parade. There's a parade. What is that, Father? Oh, Loran, your works are following you here. Every kind deed you did is in that parade. It represents a crown.

Every sacrifice you've ever made is in that parade. It represents a reward. Look how long it is. But Father, I don't even remember some of those things. I know, Loran, but I remember them all. I saw every one of them. And because of my goodness and because you have been faithful in these things, you can rest from your labors and now enjoy the pleasures of your Lord. All of it's over. You've laid up treasure in heaven, and now it's time for me to divvy it out. Yes, goodness and mercy brought you here, and now you're able to revel in eternal life. Can I preach to the church here for just a moment? Don't you dare quit doing good works. Don't you dare stop. God saw you when you took care of your mother and had to bathe her every day. God saw that young man you took to rehab. Hey, you ladies that are always cooking dishes for the funeral people, you try to make a nice meal for them, and they call you at odd times and say, can you make a pan of chicken, or can you boil some beans? It's the worst time ever. But you did it anyway. You just laid up a treasure in heaven.

Every sacrifice you make, every uneasy thing you do, every uncomfortable act of kindness is laid up in heaven, and it will be in your parade. Brother, I want a long parade. I want God to be glorified, and that's the point anyway. It's not about me. It's about God getting all the glory. Why? Because I did this for Him. I did this for Jesus. I'm not preaching for you. I'm not doing anything for you. I'm preaching in the name of Jesus for the sake of Jesus because Jesus loves His sheep. I'm doing this in the name of Jesus, and you ought to do the same thing. Stand with me, please. Some of the hardest-working people in this church you don't even know about. Right, Pastor Greg? If I were to bring them on stage, you'd say, who are they? Those are the people out in the nursery right now. Those are the people who visit during the week. They go to the homeless shelters and feed them. They go to nursing homes and read to them.

If I bring them up on the stage, you wouldn't know them, but God does, and what we fail to realize is we think something is small, we think something is small, but it's gigantic to God. And I promise you, when you see your parade marching towards Him for His glory and His namesake, you will indeed step out of the way with goodness and mercy while He gets all of the glory. What a day that's going to be. What a day. And their works do follow them. Here's what we can do this morning. First of all, I want to give somebody that may have cheated, and you think you can just push it aside. You can't. You can't. There are some things in life that just stink, and you can't get rid of the stink. You can put it under a rug. That was funny to me. You can just put a paper napkin over it. Put it in a box, but it still stinks, and eventually the aroma will come out.

So you can try to hide that golf score. You can try to hide that tax return or that phone call made to that girl. On the job, you know you should have never called her. You can try to hide all of that. Or, or you can bring it to Jesus. And in a half millimeter of a second, he will wipe it away and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Here's something I thought about at the 830 service. Either your sins will be blotted out, or your name will be blotted out. I prefer to let him blot out my sins. Don't you? I'm sorry, I can't. The Lord can blot out that sin this morning. That's what Peter said to the group, the crowds on the day of Pentecost. Repent and believe the gospel. Turn around, that your sins may be blotted out, that you can enjoy the presence of the Lord. Oh, this is the time to do it, friend, while we're on earth, while we're still breathing. You don't wait till you've breathed your last breath, because there will be a day when multiplied millions will stand before God, and he'll say, you don't have a name, I don't know you. And they will go into the blackness of darkness forever with their sins still on the books. But praise God.

Everybody just kind of folded right then. Oh, that was a good message till you got there. No, here's the good part. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Say amen, somebody. So here's what I want you to do as quickly as you can. Come down front, everybody. Everybody, as quickly as you can. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Isn't this a beautiful sight? Look at this. ♪♪ ♪♪ Sing it. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Father, we are gathered here in your presence. And I, as the shepherd of this flock, I pray with all the energy I have left and all the faith that I can muster, if there is somebody here today guarding a secret, something that's killing them spiritually, robbing them of spiritual vitality, something that has become an obstacle between them and you,

Lord, let them right now on the spot. They don't have to advertise it. They don't have to go around and tell everybody. Just let them in your presence confess this thing and then make it right. And, Lord, I ask also that you will cause every one of us to see the dire importance of maintaining good works, being kind one to another, uplifting one another, blessing one another, helping one another, because there really is going to come a great day when we stand before you and you will reward us for all of these things. I thank you that this prayer was heard. I thank you that you're coming soon. It's the reason I got up this morning. This could be the day. Now, Danny, sing, What a Day. What a Day. That will be when my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land. Oh, what a day, a glorious day that will be. Oh, yes, what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land. What a day, glorious day that will be. And now let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Oh, Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, amen.

We pray that today as you watch Pastor Livingston's message, you will be encouraged and ready to dig deeper into a life with Jesus. To help you on this journey, Central has two resources for you. First, you can sign up to receive Central's Jail and Prison Correspondence course through the mail by writing to Central Church, Jail and Prison Ministries Discipleship Center, 5143 Sardis Road, Charlotte, North Carolina, 28270. Second, by using Central's app and clicking on the button below, you can read a short daily devotional that will encourage you to read and pray daily as you draw closer to Jesus. Thank you for watching. ♪