The verse that I want to focus on, there are some other thoughts that I may draw out of the chapter momentarily,
but the verse that I want to focus on is in verse 8 where the Bible reads,
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
What I want to talk about this morning is not quitting, finishing what you start.
The Bible says that the end of something is better than the beginning.
It even goes so far as to say in verse number 1,
a good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
Even when it comes to your life,
he says it's better to come to the end of your life than to be starting your life.
You see, finishing a task brings great satisfaction and great joy and gratification,
and many people start so many things and then they don't finish.
And sometimes it even makes people sad and depressed
because they have so many things that they've started and they can't finish things,
because it brings a great sense of accomplishment when you finish something.
And we should get ourselves in the habit of finishing what we start
and not have, as a part of our character,
be a person who always starts things.
Have you ever played a board game with somebody and they don't want to finish the game?
You know, you get into a board game and it's a long game,
like let's say Monopoly or Risk or what's another really long game?
What is it?
Chess.
Chess or something, you know.
Well, hey, if you're playing against me, it won't take long.
Yeah, chess can go long.
You know, a long game and people will just say,
you know, I'm bored of this game.
Let's just quit playing a game and you're, no!
You know, and then you try to save the board and you put it up on the fridge.
You're not going to be able to come back to it.
You've got to finish it.
And it can be frustrating when people won't finish things.
And there are so many times in our life where we start things and we don't finish.
It's a lot easier to start something than it is to finish.
For example, whenever you're looking at buying something like,
I've noticed that when you're buying like a foreign language course,
or you know, lesson one has been sold like five million times.
Lesson two has been sold a lot less.
And you know, you got a special order lesson four
because it's so rare that anybody finishes and gets it.
I mean, everybody's probably read Genesis chapter one probably a hundred times
because they kept starting to read the whole Bible.
And they've all read the book of Matthew and they've all read the book of Genesis.
But have you read Malachi?
Have you read Revelation?
Did you finish the job?
Have you finished reading the entire Bible cover to cover?
Have you finished all 66 books?
And so we don't want to be the type of people who start something and don't finish it.
Finish it.
Finish your food when you eat.
The Bible says,
He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.
We used to go to our grandparents house and there would be a cans of cole.
It was like a paradise when we would go to my grandparents house
because there were all these little apple juices,
you know those little Martinelli's where the bottle is shaped like an apple.
There were all these sodas and apple juices
and we could have as many as we want.
But as long as we finished it,
we would be punished if we would start a soda and leave it.
And they say you can drink five of them, drink ten of them.
But it must be finished.
You must finish the can.
You must drink it all.
And that's a good lesson that we were being taught to finish things.
Let's look at this in the Bible.
Look at Luke chapter 14.
Luke chapter number 14.
There are so many places in the Bible to talk about this.
But go to Luke 14.
While you're turning there, I'll read for you from Luke chapter 9 verse 62.
It says,
In Jesus said unto him,
No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit
for the kingdom of God.
That doesn't mean that you're not safe.
A lot of people will try to pervert this and corrupt this and say,
you know, you got to endure to the end to be saved.
No, that's talking about the tribulation.
Get that into context.
That's Matthew 24.
It has nothing to do with going to heaven or hell.
It's talking about your flesh being saved.
And that's what it says.
No flesh could be saved.
But the Bible says,
No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.
You know, you might be saved, but you're not fit.
And the Bible is teaching that when you start the job of serving God,
when you put your hand to the plow,
because by the way, serving God is hard work.
Like pushing or pulling a plow is very hard work.
And that farming illustration is used a lot about winning souls to Christ,
preaching the gospel to every creature,
sowing the seeds of the word of God,
watering those seeds, reaping the harvest.
And so when we put our hand to the plow,
God is telling us,
Don't look back.
Don't even think about quitting.
Don't even look back and decide whether you want to quit.
Just keep going and finish what you start.
Look at Luke 14, 28.
It says,
For which of you intending to build a tower,
sit not down first and count the cost,
whether you have sufficient to finish it.
I mean, imagine you're going to build something
and you don't count up how much the materials are going to cost.
And you know,
you only have a certain amount of money
and you buy like half the materials
and you know,
you lay the foundations and you build the walls,
but you just don't have enough to finish the roof.
Basically,
now your whole project is a waste.
And so he says,
If he's foolish to build a tower without figuring out first,
whether you have the money and time and resources to finish it
and to build the whole thing.
And it says in verse 29,
Lest happily after he had laid the foundation
and is not able to finish it,
all that behold it begin to mock him,
saying,
This man began to build and was not able to finish.
Or what king goeth to make war against another king?
Sit not down first and consulteth,
whether he be able with 10,000 to meet him
that cometh against him with 20,000.
Or else,
while the other is yet a great way off,
he sendeth an amassage and desireth conditions of peace.
So likewise,
whosoever he be of you,
that forsaketh not all that he hath,
he cannot be my disciple.
You see,
it costs something to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Being saved is free.
The gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ.
But if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ,
remember,
Jesus Christ had thousands and thousands of people
who he preached to that got saved
and baptized by John the Baptist,
baptized by his apostles.
But he only had very few disciples
that followed him wherever he went,
that were really the ones who were doing the work.
He said,
The harvest truly is plenteous,
but the laborers are few.
He only had very few laborers
because serving God being a disciple is hard work.
And God tells us that it's going to cost us something
and that we need to put our hand to that plow
and decide we're going to serve God with our lives
and never look back.
Don't quit.
How many people used to go soul winning?
You know,
I'm not asking for a raise of hands.
How many people...
Oh,
I used to go soul winning back in the day,
back then.
We're living in the past.
Go soul winning now.
Don't be the guy who is living in his glory days.
And the Bible says,
forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Don't glory in the past.
Don't glory in all the things you did a long time ago.
That just makes you a quitter.
Put your hand to the plow
and don't look back and serve God.
Don't used to have read your Bible.
I used to pray.
I used to go to church.
I used to be free to thrive.
Now I'm a Sunday morning glory.
You know,
don't be a quitter.
Put your hand to the plow
and work hard
and run the race all the way to the finish line.
And don't expect it to be easy.
Jesus is just flat out telling you.
Well, some of you can't even be my disciple
because you're going to quit
because you haven't counted the cost
because you don't realize
that it's not always going to be a walk in the park.
It's not always going to be a bowl of cherries
and therefore some of you should probably not even start,
you say.
I mean, that's what Jesus...
I didn't say that.
I probably wouldn't have said it that way.
But you know,
Jesus Christ did say it that way.
He said,
Get in for the long haul or get out.
He said,
Put your hand to the plow and don't look back.
Look if you would at John chapter 4.
You see, this is a theme.
This is a theme with Jesus
and it's a theme throughout the Bible
but Jesus talked about this a lot.
Especially in the book of John
is when he talked about it the most.
And you'll find different themes.
Like you'll find different themes in Matthew.
Mark kind of has a different theme.
Luke has a different theme.
He's got it showing us different things.
Well, this is a theme of the book of John.
You remember the famous statement
that Jesus made when he was on the cross
when he said,
It is finished?
That's found in the book of John, okay?
But there are some things in the book of John
that build up to that statement.
That statement is not reported in Matthew, Mark and Luke, okay?
It's recorded in John
because it's built up
by some other statements that he made.
Look at John 4.34.
Jesus said to them,
My meat...
They're trying to offer him food
and he says,
I have meat to eat that you know not of.
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me
and to finish his work.
He said,
I'm doing God's will
and guess what?
I'm going to finish it.
Look at chapter 5, verse 36.
Just one page over.
But I have greater witness than that of John
for the works which the Father
had given me to finish,
the same works that I do
bear witness of me
that the Father has sent me.
So he said,
The Father has given me work
and I'm going to finish it.
He said it twice now.
Look at John 17.
John, chapter number 17.
This is when Jesus is praying to the Father.
It says in verse 1,
These words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour has come.
Glorify thy son
that thy son also may glorify thee.
But look at verse 4, John 17.4.
I have glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do.
This is right at the end of his ministry.
He's about to die on the cross
and he says,
I have finished the work
that thou gavest me to do.
And then, of course, in John 19.30,
the famous statement in John 19.30,
it says,
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar,
he said,
It is finished.
And he bowed his head
and gave up the ghost.
Just interesting that the book of John
just records all these statements.
In a row.
Unlike the other gospels,
it emphasizes this one point
of finishing the work
that the Father had given him to do.
He said, what was that?
He went, he did a lot of works
because, you see, the interesting thing is that
not only did Jesus Christ die on the cross
for our sins,
but he also lived a life of doing good works
for 33 and a half years on this earth.
He went about doing good.
He had all these works
that the Father had sent him to do.
And, you know, if you look at those statements,
he said, my need is to do the will of him
that sent me and to finish his work.
He said, I've come to seek and to save
that which was lost.
He was preaching the word of God.
He was doing miracles.
He healed people.
He did all these different things.
That was the work that he was supposed to be doing
while he was on this earth.
Because not only would we believe on Jesus Christ,
not only are our sins
are basically imputed unto Jesus
because he died for our sins on the cross
and our sins are not imputed unto us,
but the righteousness of Jesus Christ
is imputed unto us.
His sinless, perfect light is imputed unto us
that we don't have our own righteousness,
but the righteousness of Jesus Christ
is imputed unto us,
and that's how we're saved.
And so Jesus Christ,
when he said it is finished,
okay, he's referring back to all these other statements
he made in the book of John
when he talks about all the work
that he was supposed to do on this earth.
He said it in John 17.
He said it in John 19 that it's finished.
It's funny because a lot of people
try to take this verse in John 19,
and this is their proof text
for the fact that Jesus did not go to hell.
Now, this is what's so foolish about that.
First of all, it's foolish
because the Bible says Jesus went to hell.
Now, I know that's not very complicated,
but let me keep your finger there.
Go to Acts 2.
It's just a few pages over.
In Acts 2,
just a couple pages to the right in your Bible,
it says in Acts 2, verse 31, it says,
he, seeing this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ,
and then he gives us the two aspects
of the resurrection of Christ.
It says that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption.
So the resurrection was Jesus' soul
coming up out of hell
and his body physically rising from the grave.
That's what it was.
You see, Jesus said, as Jonas was,
three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth,
in the nether parts of the earth.
The Bible also says in Ephesians chapter 4
that Jesus Christ descended first.
Before he ascended,
he descended first into the lower parts of the earth.
And so people attack that doctrine today
and say that Jesus didn't go to hell.
Well, then Acts 2, 31 is wrong.
And they'll say, well, hell doesn't really need hell.
Okay, well, what else in the Bible
do you want to change while we're at it?
Oh, does heaven mean heaven?
Does all mean all?
Does Jesus mean Jesus?
Is the cross really a cross?
Does death really mean death?
Does sin really mean sin?
I mean, what else do you want to change while we're at it?
While you're changing the King James Bible,
that's the Word of God,
what else do you want to change?
Because every single time in this book,
hell is mentioned.
It's a consistent definition of what hell is.
And that's what it says.
And I don't know, I just believe it.
You know what I mean?
And so people will tell you,
well, you know, if He said it's finished,
that means that He did everything
that needed to be done for us to be saved.
Hold it now.
Hold it.
He hadn't risen from the dead yet.
And that is the most important part
of the plan of salvation.
The thing that saved us
is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The gospel is the death, the burial, and the resurrection.
So when He said it is finished,
He had not finished everything
that was needed for our salvation
because He still had to conquer hell and death
and rise from the dead.
Because the gospel is that Jesus died,
according to the scriptures,
and that He was buried,
and then on the third day, He rose again.
So the gospel was not complete until Jesus what?
Rose again from life?
No, from the dead.
And so Jesus rose from the dead,
but He finished the work
that He had been given to do.
And He says that many times there in the book of John.
Go, if you would, to 2 Corinthians 8.
So you see, Jesus finished the work that He was given.
He finished the job.
I'll read for you a famous passage
while you're turning there.
Hebrews chapter 12, a very famous passage says,
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which could so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,
for consider Him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against Himself,
lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind.
You see, as we are running the race of the Christian life,
as we are running the race
and enduring the affliction of serving God,
we are to be looking to Jesus
and thinking about His example of how He finished His race,
we need to finish ourselves.
You see, when we look at what He went through,
it's more than anything that we're asked to go through.
Most of us have never been beaten
or whipped like Jesus was or the apostle Paul.
We've never been beaten 39 stripes like these guys were.
These guys went through pain and affliction
and suffering, Jesus Christ of course,
the author and finisher,
but then also other men that like the apostle Paul
and the other apostles that were beaten, that suffered,
and the Bible says that we should look at that endurance
that they had and we need to have the same endurance
and to finish the work that God gave us to do
just as Jesus Christ finished the work
that the Father gave Him to do.
We need to run with patience
the race that is set before us, patience.
That's why the Bible said, the first verse I read you was,
that the better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereof,
and the patient in spirit
is better than the proud in spirit.
You see, anybody can pridefully talk about
everything they're going to do.
Well, one day I'm going to start a church
and I'm going to knock all these millions of doors
and I'm going to...
You know what? Great.
But you know what would be greater
when you're finishing that work?
That would be the great thing
because many have started
and were not able to finish.
Many have started out serving God.
They get into church.
They get excited.
We'll come back to 2nd Corinthians.
Go actually, if you would, to Mark chapter 4.
Mark chapter number 4.
You see, many have started.
Many people that I've even seen at this church
and of course in other churches.
They come to church and they get excited.
Wow, you know, we're learning the Bible.
It's so exciting that, you know,
I'm learning from the preaching.
I'm going home.
I'm reading the Bible on my own.
I'm going through my first time cover to cover.
You know, I'm already in such and such the book
and I'm growing like I've never grown
and while I'm out knocking doors,
I'm actually preaching the gospel to somebody.
I'm actually seeing people get saved
and they're excited but then they quit.
Don't tell me that's never happened.
Anybody who's been in our church for a long time
can tell you that that has happened
and I've grown up in many other churches.
I've seen it happen my whole life.
You see people get excited
and their hearts in the right place.
They're legitimately reading their Bible every day
like they should.
They're legitimately preaching the gospel.
They're legitimately cleaning the sin out of their life.
They're actually praying.
They're actually growing in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
but they don't finish.
They do it for six months.
They do it for a year.
They do it for two years
but they're not in it for the long haul.
They're not in it for the lifetime.
They quit.
They fail.
Look for example at Mark chapter 4.
Let me turn there myself.
Mark chapter 4 is the parable of the sower
and of course there are the different types of ground
that are listed there
and the one that I want to talk about
is the one that was sown in stony places.
It says in verse number 16,
and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground
who when they have heard the word
immediately receive it with gladness
and have no root in themselves
and so endure but for a time afterward
when affliction or persecution arises
for the word's sake immediately they are offended
and these are they which are sown among thorns
such as hear the word and the cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches
and lusts of other things entering in
choke the word and it become unfruitful.
So they're of course the ones
that were sown by the wayside.
That was the person who didn't even get saved.
The Bible says that the seed was sown
and fell by the wayside
when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom
and understandeth it not
then cometh the wicked one
and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.
This is he who received seed by the wayside.
So first of all as the sower sows the word
as God's word is being preached
there are many
and of course this parable of the sower
does not include every human being on the planet.
It's just talking about four different types of people.
There are those who hear God's word preached
and they don't understand it
and then the devil comes and takes away
what they heard so that they don't later
lest they would believe and be saved he says.
He catches it away that they not believe and be saved.
But then there's the one who receives it in stony places.
They received the word of God right away.
In Luke when he tells the exact same one
he says the people in the stony places they believe.
Okay?
And so they receive it right away with gladness.
But as soon as persecution and tribulation come
they are offended.
They fall away.
You see they're saved
but they don't stay in it long enough
to bring any fruit to perfection the Bible says.
The one that is in the good ground
is the one who hears the word
who keeps it
who believes it and then keeps it
and then they are in it long enough
to bring fruit to perfection.
You see when you plant to plant
you don't instantly reap a harvest the next day.
I mean you don't plant a seed
and then the next day you're picking the fruit.
No.
It takes time for the plant to grow
and different types of trees and plants
can take years.
You can plant a tree and feed it and water it
for years before it brings forth any fruit.
But when it does bring forth fruit
it brings forth a lot of fruit.
You know you look at an orange tree
that just produces hundreds and hundreds of oranges
but for years that tree produces nothing.
Because it was growing.
It was just starting out.
It was just getting in there.
And so people who aren't in it for the long haul
are never going to produce the large amounts of fruit.
And the Bible says
the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
and he that win its souls is wise.
You see our fruit
we should bring forth fruit
that is a tree of life.
The Bible says the fruit of the righteous
is a tree of life.
So our ultimate goal
as Christians who are bringing forth fruit
is to actually bring forth fruit
that will become a tree of life.
That is when the cycle is complete.
When I preach the gospel unto someone
and they get saved
okay, so I'm reproducing here.
I'm bringing forth fruit.
I'm multiplying after my own craft.
And then when that person
begins to bring forth fruit
now the cycle is complete.
So the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
he that win its souls is wise.
When I win somebody the Lord
and then I can teach and train them
to do likewise
and then they become a tree of life
and they are producing fruit
and they are multiplying
and they are bringing forth
some 30, some 60, some 100.
That is when the cycle is complete.
But you know what?
That's not going to happen overnight.
That takes a long time.
That takes coming to church for years
and learning and growing
and reading and praying
before you can honestly say
and point to those
who you've won to Christ
and that have been baptized
and that are now out winning souls for themselves
but you say,
well, that's not happening for me.
It takes time.
You can't quit
and you can't just come to church
for six months or a year
and just try it.
You've got to get in there
and get planted
and read the Bible
and reread it
and grow and learn
and toil
and it's going to take a lot of work
and it's going to take a lot of plowing
and it's going to take a lifetime.
And you can't be a quitter
or you're not going to bring any fruit to perfection.
Perfection means completion.
You're not going to bring forth
the complete fruit
unless you stay in it longer.
And so if you're in the shallow ground,
if you don't have any root in yourself,
well, think about a plant that doesn't have a root.
Is it going to be easy to move or hard to move?
Easy, move it around.
It has no root or it has a very shallow root
and just pick it up and stick it over here.
You know, one day they believe this.
One day they believe something else.
One day they're going to this church.
The next day they're going somewhere else.
The next day they're going to a different church.
One day it's this.
One day they're soul winning.
The next day they don't believe in soul winning.
And then one day they're doing this
and it's just really easy to move them around.
Try moving a tree that has a huge root.
It's impossible.
It cannot be moved.
Once a tree gets to a certain size
and the roots are a certain size,
it is impossible to move that tree.
And that's the way we should be.
Unmovable, steadfast,
always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Always abounding in season, out of season.
And so those that are having no root here,
they fall away.
Persecution, tribulation, affliction.
What times of temptation?
Jesus said in another place about the same people,
the stony places people.
He said time of temptation, they'll fall away.
You see, as soon as people in their family
start attacking them for serving God,
that's when they'll fall away.
Because they don't have a strong enough root system.
So people in their families
start giving them a little opposition,
they're going to fall away.
They're going to quit.
And that's what we're preaching about this morning.
Quitting, not quitting.
They're going to quit because people at work
start giving them a bad time.
People at work are attacking them.
Not, just going to quit.
Or maybe it's just not fun and exciting and new anymore.
Because we live in this ADD society
where everybody has Attention Deficit Disorder.
Like it's some kind of a disease
when you won't just sit down and shut up
and do the same thing.
You know, and just apply yourself.
You know what it's called?
Let me give you another word for ADD.
It's called impatience.
Isn't that what it's called?
It's just being impatient.
That's all it is.
Attention Deficit Disorder.
Because you want to switch from one thing
to another all the time.
Guess what?
It's being impatient.
Patience is when you can stay on the same task
for an extended period of time.
When you can sit down at the piano
and practice your piano for hours on end.
That is patience.
That takes patience.
But when you practice your piano for two minutes
and then, oh, I'm tired of this.
I want to go do something else now.
You're never going to become a great piano player.
You're never going to go anywhere or achieve anything.
It's not the patience to apply yourself to that task.
Same thing with your job.
People who always have to just take breaks all the time.
I need a break.
And some people literally take up smoking
just to get the breaks.
Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
It's true.
People will look around and they'll see,
man, the people who are smoking,
they get to take more breaks.
Because they're constantly going out for the cigarette,
going out and taking the cigarette break.
That's why I wouldn't hire somebody who smokes.
It's probably against the law of discrimination or something.
I wouldn't want to hire somebody who smokes.
Because you know what that tells me
when I know that they're smoking?
It tells me one thing.
They're going to be taking a lot of breaks.
You know, some people when they smoke,
they can go the whole day at work without a cigarette
and actually apply themselves to work.
But let's face it,
a lot of smokers are constantly taking breaks.
And a lot of people who don't smoke,
they just constantly need a break.
Or how about this?
I'm bored.
People who are bored, they're impatient.
It's not ADD, it's impatience.
And the Bible tells us that with patience,
we need to bring forth much fruit.
He said that the patient in spirit
is better than the proud in spirit.
The end of a thing is better than the end of a...
And to get to the end, it's going to take patience.
To get to the end of that long board game,
you have to have the patience to stay with that game.
You know, not that that's an important thing in life.
I'm just using it as an illustrator.
Look, it's important for you, okay?
It's not that important.
But the bottom line is,
I do think it's important to finish things.
I like to just be in a habit of finishing.
Because I noticed earlier in my life that
in some cases I was not finishing things that I started.
And I just noticed that about myself
that that was a habit that was creeping in.
That I would start things and not finish them.
So then I just started to really try to train myself
to just, if I start something, I'm going to finish it.
To the extreme to where literally,
if I started singing a song out of the song book,
I would finish that song.
And it sounds stupid, but I was just like,
you know what, I just want to be a person that finished it.
If I start singing this song, I'm going to sing the whole thing.
I'm not going to sing a few lines
and then switch to some other song.
Because it's just a bad habit of just always switching
and not staying on target.
The secret to getting things done in your life
is to pick one task and focus on it and get it done.
I mean, whether you're in a factory,
whether you're in the service business,
whether you're installing a job,
whether you're doing electrical work,
you focus on one task and you get it done.
And you have to have patience to do that for hours on end,
that same task, and to stay with it and to work on it again.
Same thing with Bible reading.
If you're going to read your Bible for one hour straight,
you've got to have patience.
You can't have ADD.
You have to patiently sit and read the Bible
and not say, oh, I'm bored after one chapter.
Let's see what's on TV.
And TV has brainwashed people to be like this
because TV is constantly changing.
Like even if you're watching a TV show,
like I remember when I was a kid,
you know, the soap operas would be on TV.
Do people still watch soap operas today?
Does it still exist as a genre?
Does it exist?
Yeah, the daytime soap operas.
And you know, one thing about these soap operas
is I remember they would switch.
There would be like four different stories
going on at one time.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
There's like four totally separate stories going on.
And it's only like a half hour show or an hour show.
But you're constantly, you'll watch like two minutes
of one story, and then it switches to like two minutes
of another story.
And a lot of movies are like that too.
It'll be like two minutes of this,
and then it switches to two minutes of this,
and then it's a commercial.
So you're just constantly changing, changing, changing.
Instead of just focusing on one story
and just seeing that story through to the end,
you're just jumping around.
And look at the commercials, how long are they?
10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds.
And it's just this, and then this,
and then switch to this, and then this, and then this.
It's a half hour of this, half hour of that.
That's why people don't have the patience to come to church
and listen to a sermon that's a long sermon.
Because they get bored, and they can't stay on task
and just sit down and listen to preaching
for more than 15 or 20 minutes because they have an ADD.
No, it's being impatient.
It's not being able to finish things.
When you come to church, start out with me
listening in the sermon,
and then don't start fading throughout the sermon
and thinking about where you're gonna go out to lunch
or something, and you're doing all your housework
in your mind or something.
Finish, stay with it.
Start the sermon and finish the sermon.
Start the thought and finish the thought.
Do the work that God has given you to do and finish it.
If you start, you know, people start learning
a foreign language, but they don't finish.
It's pretty easy to start learning a language.
Yeah, hola, buenas dias.
But you know what, it's really hard to finish.
It's a lot of work, very difficult to finish that language.
Pretty easy to start learning a new musical instrument, huh?
But it's hard to finish.
It's pretty easy to start learning anything,
to start out on that exercise program.
But to finish, that's another thing altogether.
To start out learning some other skill,
to learn to be an electrician or a plumber or a carpenter.
It's really easy to start, but it's difficult to finish.
And we as Christians need to be finishers,
especially when it comes to the things of God.
And you need to look at the work of God
as a job that needs to be finished.
Not just as a thing that we just, oh, we come to church
and check it off every week that we came to church.
No, we are workers, we're laborers.
We are running a race.
We are soldiers fighting a battle.
And the war is not over.
And the Bible says there is no discharge from this war.
It says in the book of Ecclesiastes.
We are in a fight, we're in a battle,
and there are those who they started fighting at the beginning,
but then as soon as the battle gets tough,
they start running away.
And they're cowards.
And they're running and they won't stay in it
until the end of the battle.
They start running the race and they don't finish.
You know, there's no glory in losing a race.
But let me tell you something.
Only one person wins, right?
I mean, if you run a race, there's only one winner
and there are many competitors.
And not everyone's going to win.
And it doesn't mean that those who lost,
that they, you know, completely failed.
But you know what?
At least they finished, right?
But what about the guy who he loses,
but he just walks off the field and he won't finish?
Right?
See, there are even people, you know,
there are even athletes who've been injured in a race
and they limp across the finish line just to finish.
You know, or some, maybe their trainer even has to help them.
You know, you've seen like these track and field events
where somebody gets hurt,
and their trainer will help them limp across the finish line
so that they can finish.
Because they want to finish.
Because there's glory in finishing.
Now, the supreme glory, of course, is in winning.
But if you don't win, at least you can finish.
Because there's only one winner.
And so the bottom line is that God is likening our lives
to a race, to a battle,
to a job of building a tower that needs to be completed.
And he's demanding that we finish it.
That we keep going.
And there are people that are under the sound of my voice
right now, as sure as I'm standing here,
who will quit.
It's a fact.
There are people who are sitting in this auditorium right now
that they will quit serving God someday.
I mean, I hope not.
But just statistically, I mean, just as experience has shown,
just as history has it,
there will be people that are listening to me right now
that will quit.
And they might even, and it might not even be the people
that you think, it might even be the people
that are the most zealous, the most on fire,
running the hardest, sprinting the fastest.
Because remember, some of those stony places, people,
they received the word with gladness.
They were fired up, they shot right up.
But wait a minute, they weren't in it for the long haul.
And because of that, they're not going to accomplish anything.
Because you can serve God with all of the intensity
you want for six months.
And the person who just keeps plugging away their whole life
will get more done for God.
It's like the old story of the tortoise and the hare.
It's the same thing.
Staying with it.
Go, if you would, to James chapter 5.
James chapter 5.
While you're turning there, I'll read you another scripture.
2 Timothy 4 says,
For I am now ready to be offered
in the time of my departure's hand.
I have fought a 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 is appeared.
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me,
for Demas hath forsaken me,
having loved this present world,
and his department under Thessalonica,
crescents to Galatia, Titus, and to Dalmatia.
Only Luke is with me.
Take Mark and bring him with me,
with thee, for he is profitable for me for the ministry.
So Paul said, I finished the work.
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
But he said, others quit.
Titus, crescents, and Demas.
He said, they have all quit on me.
Only Luke is the only one who has stayed with it
and finished with me.
At the beginning, there were many who went out,
but there were only two who finished.
And then, of course, Mark is brought up.
He said, take Mark and bring him with thee,
for he is profitable for me for the ministry.
He is one who had quitted previously.
He is one who, when the times got tough,
Paul and Barnabas and John Mark,
Mark went home.
He quit.
But thank God he got back in the race.
Because, look, you say, well, what if I've already quit?
Then you get back in.
And Paul here is talking about quitters.
And he's calling out these guys for quit.
Demas is a quitter.
Crescents is a quitter.
Titus is a critter.
Or a critter, a witter.
That.
He said, not Crescents is a critter,
but Crescents is a quitter.
There we go.
Say that ten times fast.
He's calling out these quitters.
And he says, these guys are all quitting.
He said, praise God for Luke.
He's still with me.
He hasn't quit.
He said, if my first answer, no man stood with me,
but all men forsook me.
But he said, you know what?
Take Mark and bring him with thee,
for he is profitable for me for the ministry.
So he's able to forgive the guy who quit in the past.
Mark had quit, but now Paul has forgiven him.
So the bottom line is, if you have quit,
then it's time to start back up again.
It's time to re-enlist.
It's time to get back up.
Let's say you started reading your Bible cover to cover
and you quit.
Well, then it's time to get back in.
Be a John Mark who's going to be profitable for the ministry.
Because even though you quit in the past,
you're going to start up again,
and this time you're not going to quit.
This time you're going to go all the way through.
And don't keep starting in Genesis 1 either.
You know, if you already...
Just start where you left off, for crying out loud.
You know, how many people just keep...
I always tell that to people.
People always say, you know, I'm going to read the whole thing.
And I'm starting in, you know, Matthew chapter 1.
I'm going to read the whole New Testament.
I'm like, wait a minute.
How many times have you started this before?
Several.
Didn't you get to Luke or something?
You know, why don't you just start in Luke?
Instead of just keep reading Matthew and Mark
over and over again.
You know, maybe you'll get further this time
if you start where you left off.
So pick up where you left off in that Bible reading
and finish it.
And I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands today,
but you know who you are
if you have read the whole thing cover to cover
and who hasn't.
And if you haven't, you need to.
If you've been saved for...
This is what my pastor used to say in Sacramento.
If you've been saved for a year or more
and you haven't read the Bible cover to cover,
he said, you're a backslid.
He said, you are not right with God.
You need to read your Bible and catch that up.
So if you haven't read the whole thing cover to cover,
that means you started it.
I'm sure you've read something.
But did you finish it?
Did you finish the book?
Or did you just start it?
You started out soul-winning.
You started out learning how to go soul-winning.
Finish it.
Become a soul-winner.
Become the one who brings forth much fruit.
Don't become unfruitful.
But I had to turn to James 5.
It says in James 5, verse 10,
Take, my brethren, the prophets
who have spoken in the name of the Lord
for an example of suffering, affliction,
and of what?
Patience.
Behold, we count them happy, which endure.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job
and have seen the end of the Lord,
that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
The Bible says that endurance
is what's going to make you happy.
You want to be happy in life?
Finish what you start.
In every area of life,
it will make you a happier person
if you finish things that you started.
He said we count them happy, which endure.
Those who are patient are happy.
The impatient person is not happy.
The ADD person,
the person who's always jumping around
from this to that and the other
and they can't finish things,
that person's not going to be happy.
But the person who can home in on something
and actually plow that field
and get that job done
is going to be a happier person.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11, 27,
by faith, this is Moses,
by faith he forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king,
for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
Endurance.
He said in 2 Timothy 2, 3,
thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Stay in it when it's hard,
when there's opposition,
when it's getting boring, quote, unquote.
God, somebody help me out.
Is the word boring in the Bible?
Where is the Bible talking about being bored?
Where did Jesus say, I'm bored?
Where did the apostles say,
God, Lord, what do we do when we get bored?
But yet, isn't that just such a part of our culture
and our lives that we just always think about things
being boring and not boring and boredom?
You know, it says something about your character.
And obviously we're all going to become bored at some point.
But when you're just constantly bored.
I'm bored.
This is boring.
Church is boring.
Reading the Bible is boring.
There's nothing wrong with church
and there's nothing wrong with the Bible.
There's something wrong with you.
If you're the one who doesn't have the attention span,
you're the one who doesn't have the patience
to endure preaching,
to endure Bible reading.
And it's amazing how the same people
who think that the preaching is too long
are the same people who will go and sit in front of a movie
for two hours.
Or they'll sit at a sporting event for four hours.
And they're not bored at all.
So their problem is with you.
The Bible is not a boring book.
The Bible is a very interesting book.
You say, well, you know, Leviticus is boring.
No, it's not boring.
I was flipping through the channels on my XM radio.
This sermon was brought to you by XM radio.
But I was driving down the road
and I have an XM satellite radio
because I do a ton of driving.
I'll drive for thousands of miles, literally.
In the last several days,
I've driven about 2,000 miles, literally.
And as I'm driving down the road,
I sometimes turn on...
I have the Bible on CD
and I also turn on the XM radio
and listen to Siege Band,
which is like a news...
You know, you can listen to the Congress and the Senate.
It's not like...
It's not like a ranting and raving news.
It's just like you just actually hear the actual speeches.
And it's just kind of the raw information.
You just kind of make your own decision about it
because they just...
You just listen in to the Congress and everything.
And, you know, I was listening to it.
And I was listening to one of these...
One of the congressmen or whoever
was speaking on the floor of the house
or the Senate or whatever it was.
And he's speaking.
And he was criticizing a certain piece of legislation.
And he said something about how it was...
It was about as tedious...
And it was about as tedious
as the Book of Leviticus.
All right.
Or, you know, he was saying it was just so monotonous
and repetitive or something.
And he was pretty criticized the Book of Leviticus.
And it made me mad.
And I said, you know what?
I'm going to quit listening to you right now.
And I'm going to pull out my CD right now
of the Book of Leviticus.
And I'm going to listen to the Book of Leviticus right now.
Because I think the Book of Leviticus
is more interesting than you right now.
Because, you know what?
The Book of Leviticus is a really interesting book
to those who have taken the time
to not start reading Leviticus
but to finish reading Leviticus.
And then to finish the whole Bible.
And then to understand Leviticus.
And then read it for the second time, the third time.
And I'll be honest with you.
The first time I read through Leviticus, I bailed.
I bailed our way through.
You know, because I was going to read my Bible
cover to cover.
I was a child.
I don't remember exactly how old I was, maybe 11.
And I was going to read the Bible cover to cover
over a summer in three months.
And I had it all laid out.
It was like, Genesis X is Leviticus.
And I was like, oh, man.
And I got about three days behind.
And it was like, I had like 45,
because I had to do 15 chapters a day
to get it done in three months.
So I was doing my 15 chapters, 15 chapters, 15 chapters.
But then I got to Leviticus and I got a little behind.
So then I was like, oh, okay.
I have to read 45 chapters today.
And they're all Leviticus and Numbers.
And it's just, you know, what I should have done
if I was smart, I would have just pushed back
the deadline three days of when I was going to finish
and just kept reading my 15 chapters.
But I just looked at that and just said,
I can't read these 45 chapters.
You know, but I was immature.
I was a child, so I just quit.
I failed.
And you know, the next time I read through Leviticus,
it was heavy plowing.
It was difficult to get through it.
But I was a child.
And I went through it the third time.
I went through it the fourth time,
fifth, 10, 15, 20, and let me tell you something.
Now the book of Leviticus is interesting,
because I'll tell you right now,
it gets more interesting every time you read it.
Anybody who's read the book of Leviticus
knows that the first time, it wasn't very interesting.
Second time, it was a little more interesting.
Third time, it was a little more.
That's how the Bible is.
The more you read it, the better it is.
The more you understand it,
the more interesting it becomes.
It makes sense to you.
You know, that idiot that's mocking the book of Leviticus,
okay, he's just too foolish to understand,
not even saved, so he can't understand the word of God.
So it's foolishness unto him.
But unto us which are saved,
the word of God is the power of God.
And so we understand it, we believe it.
Grow up spiritually to the point
where you don't find anything in the Bible boring,
to where you find the world boring,
to where Hollywood's boring,
because everything is a sequel,
and everything's a remake,
and there's no new thing under the sun,
and where life of the world becomes boring,
and where this book becomes
the most interesting thing to you,
it's called maturity, it's called patience,
it's called endurance, it's called growing up,
it's called being steadfast and unmovable.
That's where we ought to be as believers,
and we ought to start this thing and finish it.
Start the Bible reading and finish it.
Start everything and finish it.
Did I have it turn anywhere else?
Second Corinthians.
Second Corinthians chapter eight.
Let's go there and finish this.
Second Corinthians chapter eight.
I don't want to stop my sermon until I'm finished,
because that would be ironic.
If I were preaching a sermon about finishing,
and then I just...
I think I'm just going to end this sermon early.
I'm not going to finish it.
Second Corinthians chapter eight.
It says in verse five,
and this they did,
not as we hoped,
but first gave their own selves to the Lord,
and unto us by the will of God.
So these are people who really offered themselves to God,
and the Bible says,
to seek ye therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies
a living sacrifice unto God,
holy, acceptable unto God,
which is a reasonable service.
We're supposed to present ourselves to Him,
and offer ourselves as His laborers and as workers.
And it says that that's what these people did.
In verse six it says,
And so once that we desired Titus,
that as he had begun,
so he would also finish in you the same grace also.
He says, I'm glad that you've offered yourself to the Lord,
but he's saying I want you to finish.
And every single person
who's under the sound of my voice right now
should decide right now,
I am going to be a finisher.
Maybe I'm not going to be the best.
Maybe I'm not the most talented.
Maybe I'm not the greatest preacher who ever lived.
Maybe I'm not the greatest Christian who ever lived,
but I can endure.
I don't have to quit.
I can be a finisher,
and at least finish the work that God gave me to do.
And you know what?
If you finish that work,
God will give you that crown of righteousness
that he promised to those who finish.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your work,
and we thank you for an exciting book
that we have that can help us to understand
all the mysteries of the universe,
of life, of the things of God.
Just please, Father, help us to finish things.
Help us to finish our Bibles if we haven't already.
Help us to finish out the race of the Christian life.
Help us not to fade and become a has-been
and to start coming to church less
and soul winning less and reading the Bible less.
Help us to do more and more
and to abound and increase more and more
as we see the day approaching.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.