Our scripture reading for this morning, Psalms 114, verses 1 through 8. Psalms 103 through 118 are psalms they would sing before a great festival like the Passover or something. We don't know who the author is to this psalm, but it's very poetic. It kind of reminds me like when Mike Loveless writes a poem, it gives God all the glory. And if he had a book of all his poems, it would be like a book of psalms.

Psalm 114, verses one through eight. When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob, from a people of strange language, Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it and fled. Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like whams. What ail thee? And thou see, and thou fleddest, thou Jordan that thou was driven back ye mountains that you skipped like rams and you little hills like lambs tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob which turned the rock into standing water the flint and the fountains of water always fear that understanding to as well.

Turn to the 36th chapter of Ezekiel, please. And while you're turning there, allow me to read from Deuteronomy 33, verse 13, where these words were given unto Joseph. And of Joseph, he said, God speaking, and of Joseph, blessed of the Lord be his land. Blessed of the Lord be his land. for the precious things of heaven.

We spent our time last week talking about the love that God has for his people. And we began the service with some great words, and I'll bring those in in just a moment. But I want to talk to you this morning about precious things of heaven. Have you ever sat back and wondered what heaven is like? Some of you may recall, I shared this before, Bill and I, we'd be talking, and a couple of times the conversation came around to that very thing, you know, what's heaven like? Of course, the Bible tells us there's streets of gold and pearls and all these wondrous things that we'll see, and it always came around to this. Whatever heaven is, that's what Christ is. Whatever heaven might be the center point, the focal point, is going to be our Savior, to be in His presence forever, praising His name, giving Him the glory for such love, for such deep love.

You know, when God comes to us through the Spirit and convicts us through the preaching of His Word what we are before God, We see, like I mentioned, we become humble. How would God even listen, let alone look upon this one who will ascend against him? This perfect, righteous creator of all that is, how could he even think about this poor sinner. When you grasp that, even if it's a little bit, because I don't think we, it's like we were talking about Friday night study, I don't think any of us can grasp the total depravity of ourselves in the flesh. What am I capable of? I don't even want to know the depth of what I'm capable of. I've seen myself in some pretty desperate points. I've seen myself so angry at a man who cut me off that I chased him down with my car. And if it wasn't for this beautiful woman right here pounding on my shoulder, stop! I probably would have done something pretty stupid.

When we think that God has loved us from the beginning of all things, that he has created everything that is for his people, How precious, how precious it becomes. He becomes.

Look here at Ezekiel, chapter 36, beginning at verse 17. Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings. Their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Can you get a glimpse? Can you get a glimpse of what we are in this flesh? Does that ring to your heart at all?

When we go about as we do in this world before we have been regenerated, born again, have the new heart, the new soul that God comes to us and cuts away that old stony heart and says, I will not have this one rule over me, and we bow the knee to God. We can see, can't we, before it was all about I. I will. That's why this religion, so-called G-Christian religion of free willism is so dangerous. It's so dangerous because it takes man and it puts him in the place of God. If you would just exercise your will and make a decision and obey God, you could be saved. And it says nothing. It says nothing about the fact that we can't. It's not in our nature, the nature that we were born with. We have to have a new nature.

Our old nature was just exactly what 17 says there. Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land. That's what that's talking about. We were dwelling in our own selves, in our flesh, in that nature that we came into this world with. They defiled it by their own way. And by their doings, their way was before me as uncleanness of a removed woman. And you can interpret that any way you want.

Wherefore, it says in verse 18, because of that. I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. I scattered them among the heathen and they were dispersed through the countries. According to their way and according to their doings, I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen withered, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, these are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name."

Oh, folks, that is so important. Stop there for just a moment. Why did God have pity? Was it because of something you did? Was it because of something you thought? Was it because of anything of you? No. He says, I pitied for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, But for mine holy namesake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went, I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes."

You know how I can tell the best that any man can tell? I can't read your hearts, OK? But here's what I listen for when I'm hearing somebody tell me that they're a Christian and that they believe God. Here's what I listen for. Who's glorified? You know how often I'm sitting there, and Don said this one time, and I didn't really understand it until the Lord put me here in this position. I don't like telling people that I'm a pastor. Because it means right now, all of a sudden, I've got to start hearing about your confession, your conversion. And 99.99% of the time, it's always this, I, I, I. When I hear people like those of Danville, Kentucky, praise the Lord. I'm a sinner. I'm unworthy of anything of God, yet God has loved me and therefore he's blessed me with this view of his scripture and truth. I'm allowed by God. I am privileged by God to worship him in spirit. When I hear that, I'm thinking to myself, you know what? There's a pretty good chance this is a brother in Christ. I love to hear people praise the Lord rather than themselves. What that's doing is it's sanctifying God in me. It's sanctifying God in you when you give God all the glory. For everything. Not just for the making of the sign and that, but even my will. He is the one who has caused us to follow after Him. He is the one who has caused His people to come into His house and worship Him in truth and in spirit. That's what that's talking about right there.

They shall know, the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified, honored in you before their eyes. Look at verse 24. For I will take you from among the heathen. Here's where God comes in and He takes us out of this world, this world that is all about I, and He puts us into His world, which is all about His Savior. It gives Him all the glory for everything.

I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all the countries. He's going to bring us in. Look at what we've got here. Look at the difference of the people we have right here. You know, I used to think that the only people I could hang out with were bikers, because I was a biker. I liked riding motorcycles, so I just hung out with motorcyclists. And that's where I was. Well, folks, we're here today because we have something in common. We're sinners saved by grace. We give God all the glory for everything. I don't want to hear about what this and you've done. I want to hear about what the Lord has done for you. I want to be one who the Lord will sanctify. The people of the world will see Him. Now, they may not think they see Him. They may not know that they're seeing Him. It's definitely not by my actions, but for His sake.

I will take you from among the heathen, gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then, oh folks, I can see it. I can see the Lord's Word working in the preaching of it. He says, then will I sprinkle clean water upon you. Oh, to hear the Lord's Word preached, the water, the water, that's what it normally is referring to in Scripture, is the gospel, the good word. He will sprinkle good water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness. How are we clean from our filthiness? Only in Christ. That's what we were reading earlier from 2 Corinthians. or from Corinthians where it says, and he hath made him to be sin who knew no sin, that we would be made the righteousness of God in him.

Clean you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you, a new heart. Do you catch that? This is what this is talking about. I want to bring before you this morning these precious things of heaven. Well, what are these precious things of heaven? A new heart, the Lord says here in verse 26. I will give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

God has blessed all of his elect with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Isn't that what we read in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3? We're very familiar with those words, aren't we? He who gave us his son, he who spared not his son, has given us all things in him. Every bit of my righteousness can be found in Christ and only in him. Every bit of my obedience can be found in Christ and only in him. That doesn't mean that we go out and just sin willy-nilly. If you're a homosexual and you continue in that life, you're rebelling against God completely. I would want to examine myself. Am I truly in the faith and still able to do that? What is the faith? What is it that we're to be in the faith? And that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Romans 8, verse 32, isn't that what it's telling us? That He who gave us His Son has given us all things in His Son. Consider with me this morning, if you would, five things, five precious things of heaven revealed to us in Holy Scriptures. Turn to the book of 1 Peter. And the first of those five precious things of heaven that I want to bring before you this morning is our precious Savior. Look at verse 7 of 1 Peter chapter 2. Just the first couple of words we read unto this, Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.

Everything that is precious to me resides in my Savior. It's like I was talking about a moment ago. What do you think heaven's like? I don't know. It doesn't matter whether it's streets of gold, It doesn't matter if it's a place where Harleys don't leak oil anymore. That was a big joke that Bill and I had. People used to joke around about how if you brought your Harley in your front room, you'd change your oil. You'd have oil all over your front room. And the reason they joke about it is because most of the guys who own Harleys did that. It's too cold to do it outside. We'd bring it inside the house. It doesn't matter. What matters is, is Christ there. What matters is, I'm face to face with my creator. What matters is, I'm looking into the very eyes of the one who died and gave himself for me. Isn't that wonderful? Wouldn't that be precious to you? And to you, therefore, which believe he is precious.

When we consider were that we began last week's service with. And if you recall, I asked you all to close your eyes for just a moment and picture that this was speaking to you from John 15 verse 9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. This is Christ speaking, telling you and I that as God the Father loves Him, can He love Him anything less than perfect? Can He love him anything less than all? I don't even think there's a word to describe it. Christ is telling you and I that He loves us. Do you know we're the apple of His eye? That we are precious in the sight of God because of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Oh, you talk about wrapping your mind around something. If I tried to wrap my mind around that, I'm pretty sure it would pop like a balloon. Christ loves us. I can't help but feel emotions when I think of the depth that my Savior has for me.

You want to talk about something precious? I love Kathy. I love her more than any person that walks this earth. But God Almighty, my Savior, the Lord Jesus, is more precious to me than even her. And she knows it. And it wouldn't offend me one bit if it's the same for her, but I won't speak for her. Who is your precious? Who is the one that you would hold in your hands, stand before, and grasp as he sits on his throne? Kneel down at his feet because I'm so lowly to him. Who is your precious? When we think of those words, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, we cannot help but with this new heart, our new heart, our new spirit that I just read about in Ezekiel. We cannot help but to love Him back. When we consider these words from Matthew 1 verse 21, You know how reassuring that is to this man who wakes up every day, looks in the mirror and sees nothing but sin? If I belong to God, I cannot be lost. If I'm lost, I deserve it, and I've earned it. And God has every right to do with me as he would.

Back to that precious, but God. I may deserve his wrath, but God has taken what I deserve upon himself. I want you to understand that. I want you to grasp a hold of that. I want you to see the precious things of heaven for you and I, the people that He's created all this world for. Oh, how much His love is precious to you and I. More precious than anything else of this world. How can He, who is our Savior, be anything less to one He has loved than precious?

There's one word in the Bible which in itself forms an entire library. If you were to sum up what everything in this book, everything in the original language, all the different translations that we see through, there's one word that is summed up in all of it, and that word is Christ. Christ. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, They knew they were naked when they sinned against God. And they tried to clothe their nakedness by making coverings for themselves out of whatever they could find in the garden. Not good enough, was it? God didn't accept it, did he? God himself shed blood that he would clothe his children. And that's what Adam and Eve were. Were they sinners? Absolutely. Did they deserve the wrath of God? Absolutely! Yet God made a picture. A picture of what His Son, the Lord Jesus, would do. How many ever thousands of years that was. And I'm not going to sit here and try to guess. Better men than me can do that. And that was He shed blood and covered them. Covered them Himself. And that's what this is. That's what we're talking about here. This Word is Christ.

In the Old Testament, it's the word Messiah, meaning deliverer, savior. And that one is the uncreated Son of the living God, the eternal Word, and to know Him is to have life eternal. I'm not talking about to know about someone called Jesus. I'm talking about to know Him personally, to be affected. affected personally by His love for you. And He does that in different ways. To know Him is to have life eternal. As our Savior, we see how He gave Himself for us. And oh, how precious that is to one who is a poor sinner, undeserving of it. Christ is the treasure that is hid in a field, the pearl of a great price. for which every believer has gladly sold all that he has to obtain that treasure and to have that pearl. Everything about me, this is what this is talking about. Sold everything that you have. Everything about me bows to the Lord Jesus. My free will doesn't bow, or it doesn't come first. John Reeves in the flesh doesn't come first. Everything about me. Everything about God's people is that we bow to the Lord as our King. We talked about that just not too long ago. King of the Jews, remember that one? He's made Himself our King. Ruler over all that is to us. And we bow to Him. We would gladly sell all.

The second thing is precious blood. His precious blood. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 18 and 19. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spots. Oh, how precious it is to think of how the Lord shed His blood. We came to the table of remembrance last week. Part of that remembrance is taking of the cup. Folks, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. How precious the blood of Christ is because it's His blood.

in the one body, the one body that was prepared by God Almighty Himself for His Son, the one body that came from a virgin, not defiled by the seed of Adam with sin, but with the perfect seed of the Spirit of God. This is the blood that was foreordained of God as the atonement for our sins. When God the Father made the pact with God the Son, the covenant, before the world ever was, He looked at His Son, knowing that His Son would do exactly what God the Father willed Him to do. Because He was one with God the Father. They were one accord, one mind. Three separate persons, absolutely, yet one mind. And He said, He inspired the writer of Revelation to write these words as of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Oh, how precious the blood of God is.

So precious that it made payment. That's what the word atonement means. Payment, satisfaction for our sins. The blood reveals our Savior's love for us. The blood satisfies divine justice. When God looks upon His people, He sees the blood of His Son. Just like when the angel of death came through Egypt and each and every one of His people had the blood of a lamb on their doorpost, the angel passed by. Why? Because the blood. When the angel of death comes to visit us, his people, he cannot do anything but pass by. Good stuff, huh?

But God. See why that phrase is so precious? But God. Oh, the blood secures our forgiveness. The blood secures our pardon. The blood secures our justification. The blood secures our eternal glory. The blood was shed for you and I in all things. And all these things make the blood of Christ so very precious to His people.

Thirdly, we have the precious promises of God. Look at 2 Peter 1, verse 4 this time. To whom coming is unto a living stone, disallowed or rejected, speaking of Christ, indeed of men, but chosen of God. Here's the promise. Remember what I said a moment ago about the word Christ, Messiah, Deliverer, Savior, this is what this is talking about. It's talking about the one who is chosen of God, who made the promise that there's one coming. That's what the death of that animal in the garden was all about. It was a promise that God was making. There is one coming whose blood will redeem his people. Not maybe, not might, because the power of God in that blood Oh, the promises, how precious they are to you and I. They're given unto us with great, exceeding, precious promises.

The promises of God are precious because they are God's promises. They are sure, they are amen, yea and amen. They are unquestionably sure. They speak of exceeding great and precious things. They speak of pardons. They speak of peace. They speak of provisions. It speaks of preservation and providence and perfection.

And then we have our precious faith. Precious things of heaven. The precious faith in God. By the gift of God's grace, we have obtained like precious faith. That's over in 2 Peter 1. We have obtained life, precious faith, as with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. You see how precious this is? Our faith in Him. Folks, God doesn't give His faith to everybody. It is a gift of God. Isn't that what we read in Ephesians chapter 2? It's a gift that God gives to whom? To those that He is gracious to. We can't be saved without faith. But faith is not what saves us. Faith is in the One who does save us, the Lord Jesus. And it's a gift of His that makes it even more precious. My belief in Him is not mine, it's His given to me, and it makes it so precious.

Oh, the doctrine of faith, the teaching of faith, the gospel is precious indeed. And the grace of faith is precious indeed. Precious because it's rare. It honors God and it saves the soul.

And then the last thing we have is precious trials. Go back to 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 7. That the trial of your faith. What we were reading, was it last week maybe? Might have been Friday night's Bible study. We were reading about Paul with Thorn in his side. I think it was Friday night's Bible study. section of scripture, Paul declares that he glories in his trials. He had a thorn in his side that he went to the Lord three times to ask the Lord to remove this from him, and the Lord said, my grace is sufficient. And Paul says in those words right in there somewhere, I glory in my trials and my tribulations.

Do you realize that if we didn't have the knowledge of how sinful we are, and how unable we are to do the things that God has asked us to do, we wouldn't see our Savior as the great Savior that He is. Oh, yeah. He saved me from this. Maybe He saved me from that. But you know, I'm not such a bad guy over here. Hogwash. Bolonialism. I knew I could use that word one more time somewhere.

If it wasn't for our trials, folks, Remember what he said? He said, I'm not quoting exactly right, but in weakness, my strength is made perfect to that effect. If you're not weak, you're not going to see his strength, and he's not going to be precious to you. So that makes our trials precious, doesn't it? I'm not saying that makes it easier to go through them.

Our brother Mike Smith, even though he knew his mother was dying, he's going through a very Difficult moment right now. It wasn't that long ago he went through the same thing about his son who died in an accident in a kayak. I feel for the guy. But he understands because he's one of God's people and he reads God's word and God's word tells him that our trials bring us to our knees to look up! Not to this one who stands here, but to our Savior! Repent! Turn from yourself and turn to Christ. That's what trials do.

Oh, how precious. How, how precious the things from heaven are that bring us trials. They prove that our faith is genuine. And they reveal our Father's love. The trial of faith is precious because it causes our love, our faith, and our joy in Christ to grow.

Our Pastor Gene is not doing really well. He was back at the hospital again. In your 80s, things are not going real great for you, as far as the bodies can be. But you know what? He's happy as can be. I don't care who you are. If you've got to go through what he's going through right now, and you're happy about it, that's what we're talking about, our trials being precious.

Why is it precious to Him? Because it's bringing Him to His knees and looking to Christ. He's growing in grace and in the knowledge of His Savior, the Lord Jesus. Trials cause us to enjoy and to anticipate our inheritance in heaven. And it gives us great cause to praise and to honor our God.

And we are precious Folks, the Lord tells us that our soul was precious in thine eyes in 1 Samuel 26-21. He says in Jeremiah chapter 33 verses 8-9, And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned. and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, of praise and honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto them."

Did you ever tire of hearing these words? Jeremiah 31 verses 1 through 3, at the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. And then down towards the end of verse 3, it says, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn thee.

Do you ever get tired of hearing that? I don't. I've been hearing that same message for over 26 years now. And every time I hear it, it's as the dew on the morning grass. It's new every time.

Listen to these words, and I'll bring this to a close. Psalms 25, verse 4 through 6. Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. Unto thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness, for they have been ever of old.

Psalms 5, verse 7, we read these words. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy. and in thy fear will I worship toward the Holy Temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies make thy way straight before my face."

Folks, I never tire of praising about my Savior, and I'm always praying that the Lord may bring someone through that door, just like he did me, just like he did my wife, just like He did with you, that you might hear, that they might hear the truth as we have, the truth of our Savior, that we may go out into the world praising His name in all that we do