From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: I want you to think about something. Suppose you were to read what the newspaper would write about you, not what they write in the obituary because that is really dressed up, but if the paper just wrote about you, if God wrote about you right now, what would He say? Would you be glad because you lived your life well to the full, to the glory of God, or sad because of all the wasted opportunities?

We want to talk today about leaving a godly legacy, a legacy that starts at home and it goes not only to your children but to their children and their children and down through the generations.

Larry Nobles: What does it take to leave a godly legacy? Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. Now, most of the month we've been exploring the idea of legacy and how to leave one that will be a positive impact on those who come after us. Today, we've got a message that will take what we've studied so far and give some conclusive and complementary understanding of the power of legacy.

This month, for your support to From His Heart of any amount, we'd like to say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's new eight-message series, Leaving a Legacy: Lessons from the Life of Samuel. You can get yours when you go to fromhisheart.org and make a gift of any amount and request the Leaving a Legacy series, which is also the title of our single message today, "Leaving a Legacy," Part One. Turn to Psalm 112 and let's begin.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Many people know the name Nobel. Did you know that Alfred Nobel was famous in his lifetime for inventing dynamite? He invented dynamite in 1867. He became very rich because of his invention of dynamite, and he invented it for the mining industry because he said, "Hey, this is an invention that can help us as we mine."

But you know what happens with inventions that have good uses; they can also be turned for bad uses. People began to use dynamite to blow others up. They began to use dynamite in all sorts of crimes and in war. In 1888, Alfred Nobel, his oldest brother, Ludvig, died. The newspaper got the information wrong, and they thought that Alfred had died and not Ludvig.

They wrote an article in the paper, and this is all true, and the article said this, the headline: "Alfred Nobel, the Merchant of Death, dies." In the article, it said this, that Nobel became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than anyone ever before. Alfred Nobel is reading this about himself. They're calling him the Merchant of Death.

He was a good guy. He was a philanthropist. He wanted to do good. That so shook him to the core, that that's how he would be remembered as the Merchant of Death, that he said, "I have to do something to reverse this legacy." He poured his vast wealth into creating a prize for those who made a huge difference in the area of chemistry and physics and mathematics and peace and literature.

He developed the Nobel Peace Prize. Upon his death, most of his money went to funding the Nobel Peace Prize. When you mention the name Alfred Nobel, many people say, "Ah, that's the guy with the Nobel Peace Prize." They don't think of him as the Merchant of Death.

Hey, I want you to think about something. Suppose you were to read what the newspaper would write about you. If you were able to read what people thought about you, not what they write in the obituary, because that is really dressed up—I mean, it's rose-colored glasses when you read the obituary. You never read an obituary that said, "Well, he was a loser." You just don't do that in the obits because somebody's paying for that, and they're not going to.

But if the paper just wrote about you, if God wrote about you right now, what would He say? Would you be glad about it or sad about it? Glad because you lived your life well to the full, to the glory of God, or sad because of all the wasted opportunities? We want to talk today about leaving a legacy and leaving a godly legacy, a legacy that starts at home and it goes not only to your children but to their children and their children and down through the generations.

There's a man named Jonathan Edwards, the Puritan preacher of the 1700s, one of the principal preachers in the First Great Awakening in America. He and his wife, Sarah, had 11 children. They were godly people who left a godly legacy. Somebody did a study on the descendants of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, and this is what they came up with.

Because of the impact of his life and his wife's life, they had one US Vice President in their legacy, three US Senators in their family legacy, three governors, three mayors, 13 college presidents, 30 judges, 65 professors, 80 public officeholders, 100 lawyers, and 100 missionaries. Man, that's quite a family posterity, but it started at home with Mom and Dad leaving a legacy.

You know the Scripture talks about this in Psalm 112. The Scripture says this: "Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Light arises in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious and compassionate and righteous. It is well with the man who is gracious and lends; he will maintain his cause in judgment, for he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear evil things; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld, he will not fear, until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries. He has given freely to the poor; his righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted in honor. The wicked will see it and be vexed; he will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish."

The legacy of a godly man, of a godly person. So here's our question today: what does it take to leave a godly legacy? I want you to notice with me three insights from this passage about leaving a godly legacy.

Insight number one: a godly legacy requires a godly life. Not very profound there. We would know, okay, if I'm going to leave to my children and to my children's children and to their children's children, if I'm going to leave a godly legacy, well, I have to be godly. I have to have a godly life. Verse six says that the righteous will be remembered forever.

It's interesting in the book of Proverbs, it says that the name of the wicked will rot, but it's the righteous—his name, her name—they go on and that name goes on and on and on because God blesses the righteous life, God blesses the godly. So what does it say? Look at verse one again. "Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord."

If you're going to live a godly life that produces a godly legacy, first of all, you have to fear the Lord. You have to live a life in the fear of the Lord. The Bible is clear about that. It says in just the Psalm above it, Psalm 111, verse 10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." It says in the book of Proverbs, chapter one, verse seven, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

The fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God, but it's understanding who God is. It's having a constant awareness of the fact that God is God. He is over all. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good, and there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

That is God. He sees everything. He knows everything. Before you speak a word, God already knows it. The fear of the Lord is you acknowledge that God, You're God and I'm not God. You're God and I'm the servant. You are the mighty God who is over all, and one day I'm going to have to give an account to You.

That's the fear of the Lord. Doesn't mean I'm afraid of God, but I'm very aware of God. Now, we live in a world today where the fear of the Lord has gone on hiatus. The Bible makes it clear, Proverbs 23:17, "Do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the Lord always." Sinners don't fear God.

You remember when Jesus was dying on the cross and the thief was talking to the other thief when he was hurling abuse at Jesus? He said, "Hey, buddy, don't you fear God? Don't you even fear God? We're dying here, and this man is not like us," speaking of Jesus. "He's done nothing wrong, and you don't even fear God as you're facing death and judgment?" That's the kind of world we live in today. People don't fear God.

The Bible says in Psalm 36, verse one, "Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart: there is no fear of God before his eyes."

Larry Nobles: Is there fear of God before your eyes? Well, we'll continue to explore this legacy of truth from Pastor Jeff in just a moment on From His Heart. You know, the older we do get, the more we likely find ourselves thinking about the legacy that we will leave when we're gone. What kind of person will we be remembered for?

Our value is not determined by what people think of us, but by the truths, the faith, the kindness, the caring, the love that they have experienced and learned about because of our lives. It's our testimony. It surely won't be the kind of house we lived in, how successful we were financially, or how busy our schedules stayed. What matters is what remains in the heart of the people around us.

What will you be remembered for? You can study this topic in great detail when you get Pastor Jeff's new eight-message series called Leaving a Legacy: Lessons from the Life of Samuel. When the Lord called Samuel in the night, recorded in the book of Samuel, he asked God, "Speak, for Your servant is listening." That's in 1 Samuel 3:10.

We should have the same response. What is God calling us to do, you to do, say, or believe? Will it bring Him glory? You can learn how to know what He's telling you when you get this wonderful series from Pastor Jeff. It's our gift of thanks to you for your support to From His Heart this month of any amount.

You can get all these lessons on CD, DVD, USB flash drive, or a media MP3 download. To get yours, make a gift of any amount to From His Heart this month when you go online to fromhisheart.org, and you can also call us at 866-40-BIBLE. That’s 866-40-BIBLE, and we'll send you the series in the format of your choice.

Thank you for joining in this effort to help people around the world to respond to God's voice in their generation and in generations to come. Now, back to this lesson, "Leaving a Legacy."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Let me give you an example of no fear of God. About 10 years ago, Kathy Griffin, the comedian, was awarded an Emmy for some kind of role she had on television. She got up to the podium to receive her award and she said this: "A lot of people come up here and say thank you, Jesus, for this award. Well, let me tell you, no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."

The crowd is laughing. "Oh, you're so funny." Then she said these words, and I can't repeat exactly what she said, but basically, in effect, she said this: she held up her award and she said, "In your face, Jesus. This is now my god." Now, I watched the clip again today. It's from 2007. What struck me is that God didn't just immediately take her life.

God is so gracious and so kind. But listen, every idle word that men shall speak, they'll give an account of it on the Day of Judgment. She's going to have to answer to God for that. You know, when Belshazzar the king in Babylon, in Daniel chapter 5, he mocked God. He took the vessels that they had taken from Jerusalem, the holy things dedicated to God, and he took them and he offered a toast to his gods.

He was laughing and having a big time, mocking the God of Israel. As soon as he did that, there was a hand that appeared on the wall opposite him, just a hand that began to write. He started to get very afraid because there's no body, there's just a hand. That hand wrote these words: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin."

Nobody could figure out what that meant, and Belshazzar was so afraid. Then it was told to him, "Hey, there's someone in the kingdom. His name is Daniel, and your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar used to consult with him a lot. You've put him on ice. You've put him on the shelf. You never talk to him. But he's here. He can interpret that."

So Daniel comes in and he talks to Belshazzar. He said, "Let me tell you something. You knew about this God because you heard about Him from your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar." He says these words to the king. He said, "The God in whose hand is your life breath and your ways, you have refused to glorify."

He said, "Because of that, let me tell you what that means, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. It means hasta la vista, baby. You're done. You're not going to pass go. You're not going to collect 200 dollars. You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting, and your kingdom is coming to an end." That night, Belshazzar the king was slain, and the Medo-Persian Empire took over Babylon.

Hey, there was no fear of God in Belshazzar's eyes. There's no fear of God in Kathy Griffin's eyes. The God in whose hand is your life breath, the God in whose hand are your ways, you have not glorified. Hey, to fear God means that you recognize my life is in His hand. He's got the whole world in His hand, and that includes me.

I need to glorify God because that's what I was made to do. Isaiah 43: we were made for His glory. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that the chief aim of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That's why God put you on the earth: to glorify Him.

So, praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord. So that's the first thing that the godly man, the godly woman does: they fear God, and they live in the fear of the Lord always. Secondly, they desire and obey His word. It says, "who greatly delights in His commandments." Greatly delights. That means you take pleasure in God's word, in God's commandments.

You long to spend time with the Lord and to read His word and to fellowship with God by reading His word. It says in the Message Bible, Psalm 119:20, "My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous, insatiable for your nourishing commands." You know, the Bible says of itself that the Word of God is milk, the Word of God is bread, the Word of God is meat. It's food for your soul and for my soul.

Just like in the physical realm, if you don't eat, you lose strength. If you continue to not eat, you start to get really, really weak, and eventually, you die because you're not eating. Now, when a baby comes into this world, a baby comes into this world with a natural desire for mother's milk. That's just the way God made it.

So they come into this world and what do they do? They start screaming and they're hungry. They don't care what time it is. They don't care that mom's asleep, dad's asleep, 2:00 in the morning. If I'm hungry, if I'm wet, you're going to get up because it's all about me and it's all about my needs, and right now I'm hungry.

They have this natural hunger. You know the Scripture says that when you are born again, when you're a child of God, God puts within you a natural hunger for the Word of God. Peter said in 1 Peter chapter two and verse two, "Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow with respect to salvation."

Now, we need to cultivate that. We need to ask the Lord, "God, give me a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Give me a hunger and thirst for Your word." God, I'm going to spend time in Your word, and I'm going to make a quiet time a priority time in my life. I'm going to memorize Scripture and I'm going to get the Word down in me. Why? Because the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word of God is your sustenance; it's what strengthens your soul. It is so important.

Now, inherent with this phrase in verse one, "who greatly delights in His commandments," inherent in that is not only that you delight in His commandments but that you do His commandments. Because if you say, "Oh, I delight in the Word of God, I love to spend time in the Word of God, I love to memorize and I love to read," but then you don't do it, well, that would be a contradiction.

It's understood that if you're going to study God's word and delight in God's word, that you're going to want to do God's word. Jesus said, "If you know these things, you're blessed if you do them." The blessing doesn't come in the knowing; the blessing comes in the doing. The Scripture says in James, "Don't be a forgetful hearer, but be an effectual doer."

Now, I want you to notice this little equation I heard some years ago: Information minus application equals information. You can come to church and you can hear all sorts of stuff that God says you're to do this, you're to put this into practice in your life, but you don't. You're just a forgetful hearer. Information minus application equals information.

But information plus application equals transformation. Sometimes people wonder, "Well, you know, I'm coming to church and I'm reading the Bible, but I'm not seeing God transform my life." Well, here's the question: are you doing what God says to do? Because if you're not, then it's just information minus application, which equals information, which doesn't change anyone's life.

If you know these things, you're blessed if you do them. So you live in the fear of the Lord, you desire His word, you obey His word, and then you trust Him day by day. It says in verse seven, "He will not fear evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord." You know, that's the Christian life in a nutshell.

Somebody ever asked you, "What is the Christian life really all about? How do you live the Christian life?" It's just in that word trust. The Christian life is all about trusting the Lord. It's just trusting Him day by day. How do you get saved? You put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone for salvation.

That's how a person comes to know Christ. It's repentance: I turn from my old way of life and I turn to Him and I trust Him to save me. I'm not trusting in a feeling, I'm not trusting in any kind of external thing, I'm trusting His word and what He promises in His word, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That's the Christian life: I trust Him every single day. Each day when I wake up, I say, "Give us this day our daily bread, Lord. Give me, Lord, what I need for today. I'm trusting You today." Tomorrow may never come. All I have is today, and what I'm supposed to do today is trust You. You know, when Jesus talked about anxiety in Matthew chapter 6, He told the multitudes, He said, "Consider the birds." He said they don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

Hey, if God takes care of the birds, won't He take care of you, O ye of little faith? And the answer is, of course. It's the lesser to the greater argument. If He takes care of these little things, He's going to take care of the greater things, and you are a lot more valuable than birds. One of the things that you notice about birds: birds don't worry. Birds aren't fretting. Birds aren't up in the nest saying, "I don't know, we had food yesterday, but there might not be any today. I just don't know."

Birds get out there every morning. They get out there and they start digging around and they start looking around. As they look and as they dig and as they work, God provides for them. That's a lesson for you and me. Trusting the Lord doesn't mean you sit around and do a bunch of nothing. It means you get out there and you work as if it depends on you, and you trust as if everything depends on God, because it does.

As you work and as you get out there and as you engage, God will provide for your needs. It's a daily walk with Him. A godly legacy requires a godly life.

Larry Nobles: Well, this has certainly been an eye-opening lesson today called "Leaving a Legacy" that echoes his teaching found in his new eight-lesson series, Leaving a Legacy: Lessons from the Life of Samuel. It's our gift to you for your support to From His Heart this month of any amount.

Simply go to fromhisheart.org or call 866-40-BIBLE and request the series, Leaving a Legacy. You can do that when you make a gift to the ministry of any amount. God bless you. Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, inviting you to be here tomorrow for Part Two of this clarifying and encouraging lesson. Join Pastor Jeff again as he'll have Part Two of the "Leaving a Legacy" message right here on From His Heart.