In Genesis chapter 5 there is a nugget that R.C. Chapman was asked one time what would be a good description of a biography, and he said he thinks it would be Genesis 5, verse 22. In this chapter, there's nothing really significant said of anybody other than who they were, who their dad was, and how many kids they have, how many years they lived, and they died. And when he gets to Enoch, it says this in chapter five, verse 22, of significance, then Enoch walked with God. And Chapman just stopped there. He said, I think that would be a good description of someone's biography. And that's what would make them significant. And I'm about To give this message, I thought it was fitting to find some scripture to read at the beginning. That's what he said. And ask the Lord to help me, and ask the Lord to help you. It is, hands down, the most significant Christian life I've ever read about. And so it is, hands down, the most difficult thing to try to accurately preach. And just as Romans is the most difficult book to preach through, and it was my first book to preach through, this would be the most difficult biography to preach a biographical sermon on, and it's my actual first. We've had some bits and pieces of some small ones, but this is actually the first full-length biographical message. So the Lord seems intent on starting me off with the gold standard of everything. So I ask Him to give me the grace, the same grace that brought me through the book of Romans. Let's pray. So Father, grace upon grace is what I ask for tonight. Lord, there are saints on my mind right now. Some here, some not here. Though, Lord, there are so many enduring and being squeezed. Lord, I know what the conclusion of this message is tonight and how I want to run quickly to get to it, but I know It needs to be set up, and so would you help me, I pray. Would you explode the devil out of the way of so many Christians through this message? And I want to pray a very bold prayer. Would you forever change this church as a result of what is spoken tonight? That 20, 30 years from now, we look back at the influence that the life of this man had as it was spoken and chewed and tasted tonight in our souls. In Jesus' name, I pray and ask you for these things. Amen. One of my books that I have gives a description of Charles Spurgeon that goes like this. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a British Baptist preacher who began his London ministry as a 19-year-old in 1854 and remained in the same pastorate until his death at the age of 57. He was a phenomenon. Long before the modern megachurch, 6,000 people crowded every service to listen to him preach. No building seemed large enough to hold the masses that wanted to hear him. When he was only 27, he preached to 23,654 people at the Crystal Palace without amplification. Sometimes he had to ask the members of his church not to attend on the following Sunday so that newcomers might find the seat. Once in 1879, the whole congregation left so that more people could come in and listen. These people were waiting outside still, even after the congregation left and a whole new flock of people came in, there were still people outside that found no seat. Spurgeon's messages were printed in newspapers individually with sales of single copies running up to 25,000 per week. 25,000 sermons printed per week. His collected sermons fill 63 thick volumes, the largest set of books by a single author in the whole history of Christianity. Christian History Magazine asserts that Spurgeon is history's most widely read preacher apart from the biblical ones. Today, there is available more material written by him than by any author. living or dead, if evangelical pastors were surveyed as to what their choice for greatest preacher is since biblical times, Spurgeon would almost certainly be selected. So we have to obviously conclude with that kind of description that he must have been a remarkable man. Which is why we also have to conclude the man I want to speak to you about tonight must of necessity be a remarkable man. Here's why I say that. My first description that ever landed on my ears and entered into them about R.C. Chapman came from Spurgeon. And this is how Spurgeon described him, quote, the saintliest man I ever knew. So this is just the flow of how I met R.C. Chapman. I heard that and I thought, if Spurgeon said that about him, he must be a remarkable figure. That was my first initial thought. And my second was, how come nobody ever told me about him? You would think you would hear. I mean, everybody knows Spurgeon, right? I mean, people that don't even have a clue, really, what Spurgeon taught, quote Spurgeon. But I had never even heard of this man. Who is R.C. Chapman? And so what did I do? I mean, there's one reason I may have never heard of him. I mean, he lived from 1803 to 1902 when I was never around was born in 1983. But so did Spurgeon and I've heard about him. So I did the only thing that someone like me would do, and I found the biography. And so I have the bigger one here, just if any of you want to see it and buy it and read it. It's not that big, but it's the bigger one. And here is another one, a smaller one, that just has some lessons from his life. So I'll have them up here if you want to. take a look at him. So I got the biography, and I wanted to see what was Spurgeon talking about. I mean, I wondered, even though I didn't know about, I wasn't there from 1803 to 1902 to see his life, I wondered what about his life, since it's such an unknown life, made him so well-known in his day. that Spurgeon would say that. And page after page after page, one theme continued to rise to the top. His love. That's what continued to rise, page after page after page after page. Incredible, incredible love. And so let me just give you some samples of how well known this man was in his day. From page 14, Robert Chapman became one of the most respected Christians of 19th century Britain, and y'all probably never heard of him, just like me. He was a lifelong friend and mentor to George Mueller. You have heard of him. So let me build some repertoire for this guy. Not only did Spurgeon say that, he was the guy George Mueller went to for counsel when he got ready to start his orphanages. And we never heard of him. And he was an advisor to Hudson Taylor, who was in charge of the China Inland Mission, one of the greatest missions movements ever in history. of the church and often conversed with. And here's another from page 158. Toward the end of Spurgeon's relatively brief life of 58 years, he became isolated, spurgeoned from Baptist leaders because he had this outspoken stance against what they called higher criticism. And that was just like liberal scholars who didn't believe the Bible in that time. That's what they called So Spurgeon went through this bad period. Spurgeon had his gout, Spurgeon had his depression, the battle, and it says that Chapman had passed through the agony of dealing with this thing already and could well sympathize with Spurgeon's English. Always the comforter, Chapman visited Spurgeon at his London home and was there again a short time before Spurgeon died. On page 163 in this book, we read this, he was one of George Mueller's oldest and most intimate friends. More than once in critical periods of this work, Mr. Mueller sought and obtained his valuable counsel. In this confidence, Mr. Chapman responded to by always showing the liveliest interest in Mueller's work. One person, I love this story. While I was living, it says, this is a woman named Mary recounting a story. Just giving you a feel for people's opinion of this man. And so it says, while I was living in a station in the country, Mr. Chapman came to preach in our village. They preached in the open air. He stood all alone. and people were gathering around him. My master and I stood by the door, listening for a little while, and suddenly, I thought I would go and get a chair for him to stand upon. My master, observing my movement, said, what are you going to do, Mary? I replied, going to get a chair for that dear, blessed young man to stand upon, for most blessed truth was pouring out of his mouth. He said, get the very best chair you can find, Mary. These are lost people. Here's another one. He had gone through Spain and had a very good reception of people. He found people quite interested to listen to him talk and share the gospel with him. And we read this on page 70. No doubt Mr. Chapman's countenance Apparently you can just, by your countenance, draw people to you. It says, no doubt Mr. Chapman's countenance, which revealed his kindness of heart, was a great help to him in securing the ear of the people. He told me that one day when he was seated in a public stagecoach in Spain, though he had not opened his lips, he's just sitting there, A man and a woman began to quarrel furiously in French. And at last the woman said, quote, I affirm that I am as innocent of that of which you accuse me as is that holy man of God sitting in the corner whom anyone can see is going straight to heaven. And he had not even said a word. Just as apparently his face or piece or shining like Stephen, perhaps, I don't know, but something, there was a glow. So he was a well-known man, but he was also an unknown man. Here's from page seven. Leaders of his time, as some of you know, commonly kept journals that maybe you didn't know that they commonly kept them with an eye to eventually publishing them. So sometimes we read these and we think, wow, like maybe it was Humboldt. It may have been, but they did know this was gonna happen many times. But Chapman kept no journal. and destroyed practically every piece of correspondence he received. He permitted only one photographic portrait to be taken of himself, and that was when he was in his nineties, so someone else stole another. There's three, and I guess he had a paparazzi or something because he only allowed one, and somehow someone got hold of two more, and this is one of the three that's up here. Only a few snapshots in which he appears exist, those are the ones I just mentioned. Even the writer of his obituary in a local newspaper noted how difficult it would be to put together a comprehensive story about his life. And the author of this book says this has proven to be true. Again on page 7 it says, the remarkable Robert C. Chapman served God in an isolated corner of 19th century England. It wasn't in a well-known place. He deliberately avoided publicity because he did not want the focus of attention that properly belonged to his Lord. Yet, by the end of his life, he was known throughout the world. So there is this odd mixture. That I began to see as I read through there. An unknown man, yet a well-known man. An obscure corner, and yet somehow his influence diffused like an essential oil through the whole house of the world. And so I'm reading along, trying to figure this out, and he reminds you here of the Lord, Matthew 9, 30 to 31. And their eyes were opened, speaking of the two blind men, and Jesus sternly warned them, see that no one knows about this. But they went out and spread the news about him all throughout that land. And that's kind of what happened with Chapman. The more he asked people not to spread it, the more they spread it. The more he tried to hide it, the more they disclosed it. And so, as I said, I got the biography, I began to read it, and want to know, I was curious, how did this unknown man become so well known? And here's a quote from the end of the book. The author agrees with me, or I agree with the author. Chapman was not renowned as a theologian, yet he had a powerful grasp of scripture. He did not become a famous hymn writer, although he composed many excellent hymns. He was not a famous orator, although he had a magnificent voice. He did not acclaim as a preacher, although his peers recognized his excellence and his preaching reached the hearts of thousands. Robert Chapman became famous for his exceptional love. He became so well known, listen to this, in England that a letter from abroad, through the post office of the time, was delivered correctly to him, addressed only to, quote, R.C. Chapman, University of Love, England. The post guy knew who to take it to. He became famous, he says, as an apostle of love. Love touched all of his actions. So, R.C. Chapman's unknown life became a well-known life because it was a life of love. So my aim in this message is two, to achieve two goals, that's it. I want to set before you a taste, and if you want to pick it up and read it yourself, you will not greatly err in doing so, but I want to set before you a taste of just the characteristics, some of the ones I've gleaned, some of the characteristics of His love. And then secondly, I want to set before you the incredibly encouraging, glorious conclusion that I think we should draw from this life. It's just one. So I don't have nine applications, I got one. I just want you to walk out of these doors tonight with one conclusion. So, I'm calling this, the saintliest man I ever knew, the unknown, well-known life. of R.C. Chapman, aim number one, the characteristics of his love. First, his love was balanced. Balanced with both conviction over here and yet compassion over here. He knew how to swing the whip in one hand and cleanse a temple and hold a bruised and battered reed in another hand. without doing damage to it. His love was balanced. He could reach to both. He had a long wingspan in his soul to do both. Let me give you some examples from the simple to the amazing. He used to go on long walks, walk 13 miles before breakfast every day and walk through the town. He was the old man that went through the town that everybody knew, checking on everybody, tending to everybody. And it says this on page 13. Mourning Mr. Chapman was a common greeting from the townspeople who met him. Robert Cleaver Chapman followed their greeting with a warm acknowledgement and often a portion of scripture. Now what do I draw from that? He wasn't simply just sprinkling gospel tracts on people. There was a warmth to it. There was manners, you could say, to it. Like he knew what Peter said, let your behavior be excellent toward the Gentiles. Like elegant behavior, excellent behavior, well-mannered behavior. He knew what Paul's exhortation was in Titus 2.10, that believers were to live in such a manner, quote, that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. You know the word picture there. A mannequin in Dillard's with no clothes on it is no good. But clothes with no mannequin is no good. Convictions without compassions are no good. Compassions without convictions are no good. Paul says have both. It's not either or, it's both and. Have the truth, have the doctrine, have every truth in the Bible, but have compassion. Rapture, he says, adorn the doctrine. So you can just think of this every day when you're putting on your makeup, when you're fixing your hair, and you're brushing your teeth. You're adorning yourself. To go out in public, should we not do it with the gospel? Should we not adorn the gospel? So that's one example. Here's another from page 29 that I like. His first attempts at preaching consisted of carefully constructed and sometimes convoluted arguments typical of a lawyer. That's what he was. We'll see that in a second before being a preacher. After a while it says he realized that this type of preaching was not very helpful. to most listeners, they needed encouragement and a demonstration of concern, listen to this, as well as doctrinal instruction. They needed a demonstration of concern as well as doctrinal instruction, and it all needed to be presented simply. Another from page 29. After hearing his first sermons, this is notable, some of Chapman's friends offered an opinion about them. They said he would never be a good preacher. This undoubtedly caused him a lot of anguish, and his reply was this. Quote, there are many who preach Christ, but not so many who live Christ. My great aim will be to live Christ. Pretty epic. Another, page 64. Harrington Evans remained Chapman's constant supporter. This was, we will see in a minute, the preacher he was converted through and under, and sat under for a time. In 1842, Evans wrote a letter from his residence in London. Listen to this. R. Chapman has just left us. He slept here last night after preaching for me at John Street. Oh, what a man of God is he. What grace does he exhibit. Courage, meekness, love, self-denial, tenderness, perseverance, love for souls, all springing out of love of Christ in God seem beautifully blended together in beautiful symmetry. Somebody said that about his soul. The word balance comes to mind. Harmony of grace. Page 98, you read about this when Chapman was going through Ireland on his walk. He had a walk that he went through Ireland, a mission trip on foot. Walked around Ireland. It says Chapman carried with him a quantity of half pence, that was the currency, which he gave to destitute people whom he met as he walked. He used almsgiving to initiate conversations, not just alleviate hunger. So this goes both ways. Not just have the doctrine, but not just have conviction, but also have compassion. Have compassion, but also have it with convictions. So he wasn't just a leader, he wasn't a peace corps. His feet were shod with the gospel of peace. Page 99, although he had given away his fortune, and we'll see that in a minute, and had no fixed income, he lived a radical, I mean, radical. Look, his friends were George Mueller, okay? You know how he lived. And so he had no fixed income. I mean, daily bread, like literally, daily bread being prayed for. But you know what, Chapman did not believe that all of God's children must do the same. Chapman's chosen lifestyle of poverty was a covenant between himself and God he did not press upon his friends. I thought that was significant, it was balanced. Page 101, in the afternoon there was fine weather. and I preached in the square with little interruption. The greater number heard me gladly. I love this. One struck me on the ear in temples with a football. He must have had some convictions. But another besought me to use her handkerchief to wipe off the mark. That's so epic. Like conviction and compassion, right there. Hit in the head and someone else comes up to wipe off the mark. Here's my favorite. Chapman had a best friend named William Haight. And he always wanted Haight to go to the same church with him and co-pastor with him. And perhaps I can share more of that in a minute, but Haig finally, through a series of providences, was in Barnes-Staple, where he pastored at, and they were together, and they were the best of friends. And Haig was in his 90s at this point. Chapman was in his 80s. And remember I said Chapman walked through the town every day, like greeting people, tending to people. And so when Haig came, he started going on his walks. And these two men, tell me if this is not sweet, these two old men, best friends, they would walk through the town together and Chapman would hold Hake's arm because he had trouble walking in case he would slip and fall. When have you ever seen anything like that? But as sweet and as compassionate as that is, there's two accounts of him being involved in disciplining people out of the church. You're like, how do you wrap around both of those in just that beautiful symmetry again, that balance? So, I'll say number one, if you read this, you will see his love was balanced. And there's something for us to learn there, to have both. Second, his love was condescending. And what I mean by that, he shattered social statuses. Shattered them. I mean he shattered every division and distinction of human beings and the body of Christ you could think of. This began with his, let me tell you about his family history. They grew up, his family did, in the town of Whitby in England. And they had a, it was called Whitby because the way the sun came in and hit the mountains, it had like a white, and the roofs of the house had like a white reflection. So White Bay, that's why it was called Whitby. And they were, They had a business of importing and exporting goods. That's why his last name is Chapman. That's what that word means. So he was the sixth of ten children, and he knew nine languages when he died. So these are the ones that his mother taught him at home, English, Danish, and French. He learned German and Italian. from a tutor. After he was converted, he learned Hebrew and Greek. And then because he wanted to go on mission trips into Spain, he learned Spanish and Portuguese. He knew nine languages. But a war broke out, and the person that won the war demanded that the borders be shut down. It ruined the family business. And yet the king's heart, right, is channels of water in the hand of the Lord. And so this happened. It shut down the family business. Their money began to dry up. They had to move. And they come to another town. And so Robert can no longer live what they call the gentleman's life, which is you just study poetry and writing all day. And they're just so filthy rich, you don't have to work. And so you're just into literature and everything. Well that got shattered because of this and so he had to find work and he went to law. At 15 years old, he joined with another man and became an apprentice at a law firm. And for five years until he turned 20, worked with him and then set up his own law firm. 15 years old. collided thought. And during that time when he set up his law firm in his early 20s there, at 20, he got into the world a little bit, the parties and everything that they had to offer, and he began searching and doubting everything, skeptical of everything, what is truth, and going through all this existential crisis. It seems like the fact that he was a lawyer kind of primed his mind about standing before the throne of God. Like that subject was kind of pressed upon him. And a friend of his in another firm that had come across him and knew he was searching happened to be a deacon. in the nearby church and he invited him to hear Harrington Evans, the man that said he had this beautiful symmetry in his soul. He was a preacher who had gotten kicked out of the Church of England because he saw the doctrine of justification by faith and started preaching it and the higher class people didn't like it. And can you guess why? What does the doctrine of justification by faith do? Paul tells us there's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. We're all one in Christ, right? That's what it does. It just goes right through the pews and just saws everybody off equally. There's no status left. because we all have sinned, right, and fall short of the glory of God, therefore there's no distinction, and all who are righteous are righteous by faith. And that's something that anybody can do, no matter what their race, no matter what their status. And so that chapman went to that meeting Harrington Evans still set ablaze by that doctrine, just opened the oven of his soul and propounded it and the love of God melted all of Chapman's skepticism and he was converted at that meeting, the first one he went to. This was interesting, his family members were offended at his conversion, because he said he didn't need to be converted. Sound familiar? It's always wonderful when you read in Christian history, you're like, I'm not the first guy, like this is kind of the way it goes. And so that was in there, that was interesting to see. He instantly, because he was converted under Harrington Evans preaching the social status demolishing doctrine of justification by faith, started ministering to the poor, interestingly, in the same slums in England that are written about in Charles Dickens' book, The Christmas Carol. I thought that was interesting. He instantly began ministering to there, and even early, new baby Christian brought was seen regularly bringing an older, poor, blind woman to and from church with him. He opened a hospitality house for the poor and tired Christian workers, so what we're trying to see here, remember, is that his love was condescending. crossing social barriers. He invited the poor in, he did not charge them. When he bought his house in this place, he sold his law firm, eventually got rid of it. I mean, he kept enough to buy a home and he bought a home too big. and he set up his, quote, hospitality house, he called it, and the poor could come in and everybody, everybody was so scandalized. I mean, Christians came by and thought he had fallen off his rocker. It was too radical. I mean, he went to the poorest, most poverty, so you got this guy who was going to be living the gentleman's life, living in the slums of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. Just what an example. And people were just naturally bothered and convicted by it. And even though he, you know, well this is just for me and whatever, it was still convicting. And they came, they offered him a different house to stay in, you know. He felt he wanted, just like Christ who became flesh and dwelt among us, be right there in the midst of the people. He wanted to eat the same food that they ate. He didn't want anything different. And so he did. And they came. And when he began to preach, one fitting example of how he crossed all these lines, one day he used to baptize people in the Towel River. They didn't have a baptistry that they baptized in the river. And he baptized the rector's daughter, who was a person of dignity, and a farmer, who was not a person of dignity at the same time. And the town is just watching. It was a marvelous event and demonstration of the gospel. He later took mission trips to Spain where he, you should see the maps in here, it's like Paul's missionary journeys or something, on foot, so that he could be right there with the people and talk to them and see them and look in their eyes and speak to them. And his burden for Spain, I believe, was partly kindled because they were overcome with the Catholics at the time, and of course, you know, the common man can't have the scriptures. So you see his love for them, he wanted the common man to know the word of God. This was interesting. Much of his interaction, this comes from page 101, much of his interaction throughout his trip was with children. It's not only socioeconomic lines did he cross, gender lines did he cross, age lines there was condescension. So it says here, one time when he was in Westport was no different. On Monday afternoon, he says, I dressed a goodly company of children together with their parents and I had joy in it. This was so much to write. I just wrote the page number down. I want you to see Philip shaft wrote a Book about Christ and he made this comment. He said all great men no matter how smart they are our lovers of children and Chapman was no different Let me just give you a hint, a little taste of some of the things that he did. H.B. McCartney said the reason for this is he constantly communed with God and he himself was childlike. in his relationship with his father, and he thinks that's where this came from. Let me read you. About 1890, it says, when he was in his 80s, Chapman visited Scotland and was a guest at the house of J.R. Caldwell. Caldwell observed, he was mentally and physically fresh and vigorous. He rose early, as was his want, yet was able to address meetings nearly every evening, and his ministry was such as to leave a lasting impression upon all who heard. Mr. Chapman chiefly emphasized the reading of and meditation upon the whole of the scriptures, a bright, genial, loving, and attractive spirit. You would think, like, what? I haven't read anything about children. Why would any children be interested in all that? A bright, genial, loving, and attractive spirit drew out the confidence even of the little ones. He used to play with our little girl, being two or three years old in the afternoons, at a childish game on the carpet. just as if he were a child again all over himself. And one morning before the household was awake, the parents woke up and this is what they found. He had made a paper kite for our son, then about six years old, and was out with him by nine o'clock helping him fly it. Truly, the memory of his visit remains with us as a precious illustration of how far God can reproduce in a believer, even here, the image of his son. One lady recounted that when she was a young girl, Chapman asked her, can you tell me, my dear, why Jesus was led as a lamb to the slaughter? He just popped that question on a little kid. She had not thought on that before. And Chapman did not give her the answer but just left her with the question. She later asked her mother about it and was directed to Isaiah 53. There she read, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. "'All we like sheep have gone astray. "'We have turned everyone to his own way. "'The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.'" And she understood the question as well as the answer and opened her heart to the Savior. Chapman's friend, this is the last one, H.W. Saltow. recounted how his children loved to have Chapman visit their house, because they liked to talk to him. Think of this, on one occasion, Chapman and others were guests at a meal, so this is like a really important meal, and they had the children sitting over here, and then they had like the adults over here, and it's one of them environments where like, you don't really wanna bring your kids, or like if you bring your kids, You make sure you bring the well-behaved kids, like they just need to sit over here and mind their, and Chapman called the atmosphere. And so when he got ready to sit at the table, he requested that all the children sit with him. And so they got up from like, they didn't have a little tight table in that day, but whatever it was, and they all got up and sat with Chapman. And the people were just blown away at that. One little girl, I don't have it written here, but I remember one little girl, he was staying in their house, and they were eating, they got through eating, and they were just sitting, conversing in the living room, and having adult talk, and all of a sudden he addressed a little girl. He asked her if he could have her Bible. She was about eight. She said, well, she handed it to him. He asked her if he could underline a few verses for her. and he underlined three verses in John 15 and two in the Psalms and gave her Bible back to her. Just seemed like ever drawn to children. Really an amazing thing. The final thing about how he crossed lines that nobody even knew the name of their church. The records, Chapman called them the Christians that meet at Bear Street. That was a road. Another guy called them the brethren, like another guy called them the assembly. And that was a reflection of Chapman's anti-denominational attitude, where he just sought the unity of all believers in Christ alone. There it is, that justification shining through again. And so he crossed many lines like that. As a matter of fact, there was a big, I may be getting to this in a minute, there was a big falling out in his day later on that he was so bereaved about, about the millennium and it was kind of early dispensationalism. And he would have been what some call a pan-millennialist. And so you got pre-millennialism post-millennialism, you got amillennialism, and some of you don't know what the world I'm talking about, but you got all this stuff, a pan-millennialist is someone that just believes it's gonna all pan out in the end anyway, and he would have been that, like he would have joked about it on purpose because he never let it create division between him and other brothers. Matter of fact, there was one doctor, and forgive me, I don't remember what it was, there was one truth that he differed from all the other elders in the church, and he decided, he just made a decision in his heart not to ever teach about that particular difference that he had, so as not to create division. And so he's a good example of crossing all sorts of lines flowing from justification, my faith. I better speed up so we don't have part one, two, and three of this biography, but number three, his love was theological, what I've been saying flowing from justification by faith. So I can kind of move past that because I've already gotten into that a lot. What I mainly want to emphasize here is, okay, his love was balanced. That was number one. His love was condescending and crossing. It's to say he wasn't just doing all this stuff out of being nice. It flowed from the truth. And so that's the third one. The fourth is love was practical. One of the first things he ever did was counsel to brothers that were about to have a lawsuit with each other and open up 1 Corinthians 6 and tell them, you know, it's a shameful thing to do that. So he was concerned with all kind of practical things. I mentioned his hospitality house. He would have people over and he would always request they put their shoes outside the door so that he could shine their shoes. before they would get up in the morning. Anybody stayed at his house. He had a little lamp, a little table set up, a little nice warm rug, and he would wake people up that stayed with him at whatever their time was. One man that stayed with him relayed his account of it in here, what the stay was like. He requested to be awoke at a certain time, and Chapman came in and lit the candle right at the time. And it says, gave me as my morning portion from Deuteronomy. As for God, his way is perfect. And then he had a married couple stay with him and he came in at just the right time and lit the candle and said, I'll fear no evil and went to the next room. Just was just such a mixture of warmth and truth. But it was practical things. Was it just in the books, it's practical, shining shoes, lighting candles, fixing tees. getting a rug out for people to sit on and read their Bible in the morning. One of the reasons he wanted to go through Ireland, the trip there, was because there was a famine that came out. The potato crop had a disease and like 700,000 people died. It was terrible. And he wanted to go, his church took money, give to the poor, he walked throughout the whole land. I thought perhaps he would have got healed, but he didn't. He was known for giving away things. One brother gave him a coat one time, and he saw him at the end of the day without the coat. And, of course, thought, well, what happened to the coat? And he had already given it away to somebody else. One time, him and a group of friends, they were headed to a train ride, and someone had given them money for the train ride. And they went through their little journey that day or whatever, and they got back, and they needed the money. And he said, I'm sorry, I gave it away. There was an old lady. who needed money, and they gave her the money. And they're like, why are we going to get on the train? And he said, the father knows all about it. And this was his classic statement. And so they're just like, okay. And right about that time, some guy just comes panting, running up behind. He says, R.C., he said, I was trying to hurry up and get to you in New York and be here today. I had set aside some money I just wanted to give to y'all to pay for y'all's trip. So he just gladly, very wittily took the money and turned around and looked at his brother and said, Father knows all about it. And they boarded the train. So it was practical. He gave away coats. He gave away money. One time, people saw him the most burdened and really sad for him. They thought something was wrong. He was at a conference, some meetings. He was severely burdened, you could tell. And one brother went to go check on him and what was upsetting him. was the fact that some Christian had entrusted a large sum of money to him, and he did not yet know who to give it all to. And so he was just burdened having this money, like, I need to distribute this money. I mean, it tells you something about his soul. Number five, his love was providential. I've told this story before, so this leads into that, the way he's acting there. It was providential, it was faith-based looking to God. As I said, he always said, the father knows all about it. So one day, he was the means of supplying the needs to Mueller's orphans. Again, children. He woke up one morning, just felt burdened. He took a whole trip and took some of their church's money, felt like to give to Mueller. And when he got there and knocked on the door and gave it to him, Mueller had already blessed the food for the children, which there was no food, and he already had a servant and a stagecoach ready to go to the grocery store to pick up the food, and there was none. And so Chapman handed him the money, he handed it to the guy, the guy went and got the groceries, and they ate the food that they thanked God for. And it was providential things like this over and over. I think his family background was a providential thing. It was a sort of throne that he descended off of, just the status that he had and then lived in those slums. And so I think there's something there for us. What thrones do we have? Maybe we're a boss, maybe we're a pastor, maybe we're a husband. You know, there's some authority or place that we have. What do we do with that? And so there's something there. There was this amazing account of the Christians losing their building. Unbelievable. So some people left because they didn't like some of the changes he was making, so they left to go to this other church that the Anglican church occupied, and then they left, so it was free, so they left. They're like, we're gonna meet here. Well, then the Anglican church wanted to come back, and so these group of Christians come back and says, actually, R.C. and y'all, on the trust deed of the property and all that, it says that y'all can't use it because y'all are violating original intentions or whatever. And understandably, some of the Christians were kind of outraged. This is unjust or whatever. And R.C., he prayed about it. He felt like, you know, the Lord said, don't resist him who's against you or whatever. And he just handed over the trustee to them. They just handed their building over. And so then they found another one, and they thought, well, maybe this is where we're supposed to meet. And they go meet there. Well, then the Anglicans come back and said, actually, they were going to buy that one just right after they had got in. And so they thought, what do we do now? And Chapman prayed about it. He thought of Philippians 4, let your gentle spirit be made known to all men, and the Lord is near. He handed it over to them. So it was kind of like Isaac's wells in the Old Testament, where they dug a well, and someone took it, they dug a well. someone took it, and they finally, third time was the charm, they got Bear Street Chapel where he stayed. How many other of these stories can I tell about Providence? He made a comment when he was wanting Hake to hurry up and come, remember I mentioned he came later in life, and at one point Hake was like, no, I'm going to stay teaching in the school where I'm at, and Chapman made a comment, he said, he will not pluck the fruit until it's ripe and it falls in his lap. So it was like he just kind of trusted God that it wasn't the time yet for hate to fall into his lap and moved on. I mentioned, no, there was the bus ticket. I didn't mention that one. One brother got on the bus one day, and there was Chapman, seated on the bus, had his suit and everything on, his little briefcase, and he was sitting on the bus, and he's, ah, RC, you know, so he'll go sit by him and talk, and they're waiting on everybody to load, and all of a sudden he thinks, you don't got a ticket, do you? And he's like, father knows all about it. And so he paid for his ticket. He got on a bus, sat on it, quietly. He just thought the Lord wanted him to go, so he would have provided, and he did. So that was one. I mentioned these other two. Here's an interesting one, a more serious one. When he was going through Spain, he was by himself. There was civil war going on. It was pretty dangerous. And one evening, like right at dusk, two men were walking behind him. He overheard the conversation. that one of them said he's alone and it was obvious they were about to try to attack him and he didn't turn around. He said immediately he lifted up his heart to God in prayer and turned around and they were gone. One man wanted to kill him. Yeah, maybe it's not on. Battery's dead. So that happened, one account was, so what we're saying here is that his love being providential allowed him to do dangerous things. One account he was going to go witness to man, the Christians like pulled him aside like this is Saul of Tarsus, like don't go, speaking to him, and he just paid no attention, went right on in, spoke to him, the man received him kindly, took the Bible from him, and I don't know what happened next, but he just had that kind of fearlessness because of his, you know, not one bird falls off the limb, right? Apart from your father. And so those are real encouraging to see. One account, He was walking through town. There was a man that actually I was mentioning before this happened, wanted to kill him. And the man didn't kill him. He laid in wait for him and didn't kill him. And later he said, why? Because there was a couple of other men walking in front of Chapman. He couldn't get to them. And there was no other man. Chapman was alone. Apparently it was two angels. His love was obviously then prayerful, if it was providential. I could just mention so many here. Spain, there was a missions movement into Spain after him, and little do we know, he walked through Spain and really primed the pump for that, and he bowed down and prayed on top of the mountain overseeing Spain. And so far as it seems, the Lord really And ABRC was the prime of that whole thing, just his prayers. And he was always praying. There was one account, he preached in a hell storm. He was walking through the hell storm and he preached in it. It was bad weather, severe weather. He thought to pray and ask the Lord for help. And he said the answer that was given that day was His grace was sufficient. And so he just kept on. preaching. Another account, him and he met another man on his way. They was traveling together. They got lost from their hotel. They're walking down the street and R.C. looks at the other man and says, brother, do you know the way back to our room? He said, no, I don't. And he said, well, that's all right. So they bowed down to pray, and he prayed, he asked the Lord to help him, guide him back to their room, and lead him to somebody to speak the gospel to along the way. And so they were walking, and you remember, he knows nine languages, so they were walking down the town. He noticed English writing on this one store, so he went into the store, and out came a man, a paper cap, He was a bell hanger. That's who the guy was. It was his occupation. And he said, are you English? And the guy says, yes. And he was so glad to hear his mother tongue. And Chapman told him where the errand, you know, the business we're on is we're preachers and we come to preach the gospel. And he said, well, if that's your errand, you need to come in. And no sooner was he in, the guy relaying the story. Chapman's Bible was open. A conversation was happening. And he had begun asking the man, are you a Christian? When were you converted? And the man responded, he said, not only has no one ever asked me that question, but for a long time, he said, no one has cared to even speak to me. And years later, Chapman found out that that man was converted through that encounter. and he even became a preacher in Spain. You know, he had prayed for Spain on that mountain. So there's so many of those. Go past it, you can get the book. I need to finish. His love was sympathetic. He was picked on as a little kid because he knew so much literature and it hurt him. Of course, he took that blow about his preaching. He made a comment that all of this. He just seemed to have a keen awareness of people's pains, hurts, and griefs. The things that hit him. in his life allowed him to see that people and when people had been hit in theirs. So it was really a second Corinthians one. His suffering made him a comforter. I think that was part of it. Let me mention eight, so I'm skipping quicker here. Eight, his love was powerfully influential and contagious. There's one account of a girl named Eliza Gilbert who was converted and she became sick. And Chapman would visit her and write her letters all the time. And her mother did not like him. And all through the years, he'd visit her. If she was sick, he would encourage her, write letters to her. And nobody knew the whole time was having an effect on her mother. And her mother was converted right at the end of her life. There was an unknown boy in Ireland who, where he had walked through, this young boy got sick, he caught that disease, Chapman and Marty went through and left, and unknown to Chapman until years later. Remember, Catholicism was big in the land, so when he got sick, they asked him, you want us to call for the priest? He says, call for that sweet old man who I heard come through the town talking about Christ the other day being all sufficient. And he said, for he's all I need. And for what we know, he died in that state of faith in Christ. And Chapman found out about it years later. I thought, what illustration of my word will not return to be void, but it'll accomplish the purpose for which I sent it. I have to tell you all this. So, the friend that I mentioned he was with when they met the guy with the paper cap, something happened right before that. It is the most epic thing, count of grace, I've ever heard. The only thing that matches it is the Who Kissed Me story. Anyway, so they come to that hotel they were going to stay at. They had left afterwards. That's when they got lost. When they first got there, the guy who was carrying their luggage imposed upon them some more money to have them carry their luggage, and it was an act of injustice, and they knew it, because that had already been included in what they had paid for, that service, and yet the guy was imposing on them. And the guy who was with Chapman was like, absolutely not, you know, like making them like, you're not taking me in like that. And all of a sudden, he felt a little hand on the shoulder, and R.C. said, just give the man the money. He said, no, I'm not giving it. If you want to give it, you give it. So R.C. steps up. and pulls out his purse, that's what they called it back then, and he pulled out his little purse and carefully counted out the exact amount of money that the man was imposing upon him. He took the money in his hand and he held it out to the man. When the man touched R.C.' 's hand, R.C. put his other hand around the man's hand and held it there and he said, he told the man he was quite aware that it was an imposition, but they had come to preach the good tidings of salvation about God who so loved the world. And he gave his only begotten son, and whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. And the biographer said, made a comment, the money must have burned in that man's hand when he did that. I don't know how that man didn't just fall prostrate on the ground. I mean, can you imagine an 80-year-old, sweet, full of love man, like, quite aware that you're treating him unjustly? And then that's how he holds your hand and says that. Unbelievable. I mean there was one account that I just remember there were some people just acting all crazy and everything and he just made a comment that they were hitting him with all kinds of insults. and everything. It was so Christ-like, he said, but my heart was full of love and pity toward them the whole time. So many people were motivated to go to Spain. One brother, they had put this last one about how influential and powerful his love was and the difference it made on people. One particular brother was put out of the church. I have two more left, so hang in there. One brother was put out of the church for something, and he began slandering Chapman bad. And then one day they crossed the street. It was that awkward moment they crossed the street, and Chapman just went over and gave him a big hug and told him, God loves you, Christ loves you, I love you. The man just burst into tears and repented. was restored back to the church just through that. His love was witty. Let me tell y'all some of the things he did. I got this one and one more. He would, when he was trying to encourage a believer who was going through trials, he would actually on purpose make a mistake when he quoted the scripture. I'll show you what he would do. So it says, when visiting the home of a believer who was having some sort of trial, one of Chapman's favorite methods of teaching was to quote a portion of scripture and make a slight mistake. The believer would note the mistake, correct him, and then all of a sudden realize he was making that point. So for example, he would tell one, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall want. And then the lady who was distressed about her future said, oh no, I shall not want. She corrected him, and he just looked at her with a glassy eye and walked off. Another time, Chapman announced cheerfully to a new acquaintance, I can do all things. And the startled listener said, through Christ who strengthens me. And again, it had the same effect. Someone once asked Chapman how he was feeling at the end of a meal. He would always reply, satisfied and full. And if the inquirer didn't know what was coming next, he soon learned, for Chapman would put the caboose on the end. Satisfied with favor and full with the blessing of the Lord. Deuteronomy 33, 23. Once a person asked, how are you? So he's just going through his day. How are you doing today? He says, burden, brother. And the guy leans forward like, what's the matter? Psalm 68, 19, he daily loadeth us with benefits. One time Chapman and Haig had invited a man to come to their home of rest. On the first day of his visit, The man was talking with Chapman while Haig was absent for a moment, and during a pause in the conversation, Chapman said this, Mr. Haig is a very provoking brother. He has been provoking me all morning. And the man was startled, leaned forward. He knew Haig to be a godly man. Well, what ever happened? He said, he's been provoking me unto love and good works all morning long. Amazing thing. I mean one time someone asked him about a certain brother, you know, how's how so-and-so? He says never did we know our need of patience until that brother came among us He just had a way of saying things he knew Ecclesiastes 3 3 4 there's a time to laugh There's a time to weep You don't ever want to weep when it's time to laugh, but you don't ever want to laugh. I when it's time to weep. And it really takes the Spirit of God to know when to rejoice for those who are rejoicing and weep for those who are weeping and how to be always sorrowful and always rejoicing. So his love was witty. The last one I want to say is his love was not perfect. One time he was given a check for his boat fare, and he tore up the check. Believers at church gave him money, he tore up the check. And he said he wanted to be fully dependent on God, and apparently it was a blight in his character early on, maybe of some pride, they think, because surely he should have known that God uses means. And the believers gave him the money. He tore up their check. So that happened. One time his hospitality house declined, like people stopped coming, and he got real burdened about it. He went to the Lord in prayer, Lord, why dost thou not send thy servants to me? And he recognized maybe he'd been a little lifted up in pride about what he had done. He confessed it, repented, and the Lord sent people again. And so he himself mentioned this. Certain times he would be convicted, he should have asked God for help, and he didn't. That's aim number one. Set before you the characteristics of his love. But aim number two is the last thing I want to say. And it's what I want you to walk out of here with, the conclusion, the glorious, encouraging, unbelievable conclusion. His life is not encouraging because I ended it by saying his love wasn't perfect. That is encouraging. When you listen to a biography, you read one, Satan can just come in and turn it on its head and everybody walks out the door with no assurance. And you were supposed to be encouraged. So it is encouraging to know that his wife was not perfect and that God still used him in that way. But this is what I think is most the biggest conclusion in his life. As a pastor, the more years go by, I think, more Christians, maybe stay-at-home moms, even working, there's different challenges. Working moms have different challenges and struggles, and dads do, and everyone, with wanting to live a significant life and feeling like You know, only the preachers can do that, and only the theologians can do that, and only the people with all these extra significant gifts can do that, and with many learning, they can do that. And I've never forgotten a quote from John Piper. If Edwards had a sermon, Sinners in the Hands of the Angry God, and Paul Washer had a sermon, The Shocking Youth Messages, something that the Lord just seemed to just put his hand on. If God ever put his hand on John Piper, it's when he said this, you don't have to know a lot of things to make a huge difference in the world. You just have to know a few glorious, majestic, simple, eternal, mighty things and be willing to live for them and die for them. You don't have to have a high IQ. You don't have to go to a great school. You don't have to pass any test in this world. You don't have to have any thing. All you have to do is be gripped by one thing and live it out in the people that are around you. You have to shine shoes. You have to roll around on the floor with little kids after systematic theology. You have to be hospitable. You have to go take a blind lady to church. You have to do the seemingly insignificant things. And a simple little guy in an obscure corner of England in an unknown life suddenly becomes a well-known life that people just send the mail to him. R.C. Chapman, University of Love, England. And people know where to bring it. And it's so encouraging because it wasn't his intellect, it wasn't his poetry, it wasn't his nine languages. It wasn't his family background. It's that beautiful symmetry in his soul. So I'll end with this. I think it is so unbelievably amazing. His tombstone, the lady that helped him with the hospitality house died before him. And it wasn't even set up where he was going to be buried. And something happened with the town government where they suddenly allowed for two people to be buried with one headstone and there was one spot open. And he got buried right beside Elizabeth was her name. And the tombstone reads, you can still see it today, God is love. And when they were giving away all his earthly belongings that he did have left, one of the things somebody tried to pack up and keep was his nightgown. And they tried to pack up his nightgown and suddenly they made a mistake and realized they put it in the wrong box. They put it in the box of the goods that they had sent to the poor people in the town. And so some poor person ended up with R.C.' 's pajama gown. And they thought, I think he would have liked that. The saintliest man I ever knew. The unknown, well-known life of R.C. Chapman. I hope you never get over what you heard tonight. And I hope you remember, it's the best news in all the world. It means the tiniest, feeblest, weakest, loneliest Christian on the face of the earth can make an unbelievable difference. Because you don't have to know many things to live a significant life. You just need to know a few. and lay down your life for them. So let's pray together. Let's see what the Lord does with this. I'm going to pray, Jeremy.