Do You Know What Is Following You?

Text: I Timothy 5:24-25

 

I.         I guess my wife and I are reaching another milestone in life. People we’ve known, who are our age, are beginning to pass away.

            A.        It might sound sad, but it really isn’t. I was thinking about the passing of someone recently. He had a few weeks warning, but he did pass quickly.

            B.        In life he was a simple man. He was a math major, a teacher at a school for troubled youth, a preacher in a small church, a family man.

            C.        In death it was apparent that he was more than he appeared as those whom he touched in life came to give tribute by the thousands.

            D.        I ran across I Timothy 5:24-25 and thought that here was a man whose reputation could not stay hidden.

II.        What proceeds you

            A.        Wicked

                        1.         Jeremiah 2:34 - Didn’t have to look hard

                        2.         Some have no shame of their sin - Jeremiah 6:15

                        3.         Ahab was one - I Kings 16:30-33

            B.        Righteous deeds are meant to be seen - Luke 11:33

                        1.         Matthew 5:16 - Let your light shine

                        2.         Being filled with the fruits of righteousness - Philippians 1:11

                        3.         Cornelius was well reported of - Acts 10:22

III.       What follows you and cannot stay hidden

            A.        Wicked

                        1.         Judas

                                    a.         People knew he pilfered, but the depths of his sins was not known - John 12:4-6

                                    b.         Yet in death it was clear - Acts 1:16-20

                        2.         Balaam

                                    a.         Known as a prophet, seemed to say all the right things - Numbers 22:5-6

                                    b.         But we know after his death that he was driven by greed - II Peter 2:15-16

            B.        The righteous

                        1.         Abel still speaks after death - Hebrews 11:4

                        2.         Dorcas, well known and continued past her death - Acts 9:36-39

                        3.         God will make your light shine - Psalms 37:5-6

IV.      Your reputation is like a perfume - Ecclesiastes 7:1

            A.        People may notice it before you arrive and it lingers after you are gone.

            B.        A person doesn’t set out to make a name for himself; that is, you don’t do things just to be seen by others - Matthew 6:1-4

                        1.         Rather a person seeking after righteousness will have a reputation of being righteous because of what he does.

            C.        What you do, your fruits, says more about you than words about you - Matthew 7:16-20

V.        God, through Balaam, made an interesting point - Numbers 23:10

            A.        When it is time for me to die, will it leave behind memories of the righteous deeds that I had done?

            B.        Psalms 116:15 - The righteous are precious in God’s sight, and who better to please with my life?