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Paul Mahan

Heavy Trials

1 Peter 1:1-9
Paul Mahan July, 28 2021 Audio
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1 Peter

The sermon titled "Heavy Trials" by Paul Mahan explores the themes of divine election and the assurance of salvation as articulated in 1 Peter 1:1-9. Mahan emphasizes the concept of election as fundamental to understanding God's grace, asserting that believers are chosen according to God's foreknowledge and predestined to salvation, which is a cornerstone of Reformed theology. He supports his arguments using Scripture references to affirm the significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, highlighting that believers have a "lively hope" grounded in this event. Additionally, Mahan addresses the reality of trials and tribulations in the believer's life, explaining that these are purposeful and contribute to their faith's development. The practical significance lies in the assurance that believers are kept by the power of God through faith, even amid trials, culminating in the ultimate salvation of their souls.

Key Quotes

“Isn't this really the first truth that you learn when you learn who God is? Doesn't this distinguish God from the one, the false God being preached against?”

“If it be, it need be. Or it wouldn't be.”

“If we keep believing, if we keep coming, He keeps us.”

“You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Are we weak and heavy laden?
Yes, most certainly. 1 Peter 1, what a blessed book this is,
chapter, letter. This is a letter, this one, the
first letter, the second letter, are letters to God's people,
to the elect. It's full of comfort, full of
promises, warnings, corrections, instructions, exhortations, reproofs,
rebukes, all of these things. Comfort. And all of God's children
receive it all, need it all, receive it as little children.
This is to the elect is how this begins. Let's go ahead. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. He was writing to churches and
places that he had not visited. And people that he did not know,
they were strangers to him, but they were not strangers to God.
They were not strangers to the covenant. but believers. Isn't it a joy to meet brethren
that you didn't know you had? People maybe show up here for
a Bible conference or you go someplace else and you meet somebody
that you didn't know before. It doesn't take long until your
hearts are knit. We speak the same language, don't
we? We have the same desires. I don't
think there'll be any introductions in heaven. I don't think we'll
need any introductions. We'll know even as we've been
known. Right now there are many strangers
we don't know that know the Lord. He calls them elect. Verse 2,
elect. He begins by calling these believers
elect. Why would you do that? Because
that's where the whole purpose of salvation began. Election
by the Father. Sovereign election of God of
a people. This is the first truth. Isn't
this really the first truth that you learn when you learn who
God is? Doesn't this distinguish God from the one, the false God
being preached against? Isn't this the distinguishing
mark that God chooses whom He will, has mercy on whom He will? It's amazing that He has mercy.
It's amazing that He has grace. It's amazing that He chooses
anyone. And if anybody finds fault with
that, it's he chooses many. That's the stars of the sky and
the sands of the seashore. Yet, he doesn't choose them. He did the choosing. He chose
a people before the world began. Gave them to Christ. This is
the first truth. The gospel begins there. It began in God's mind by choosing
a people. Setting his love upon them. Elect according to the... foreknowledge
of God. That foreknowledge is He knew
them, like Adam knew his wife Eve. He knew her, and they became
one. And He loved her. Bone of my
bones, He said, and flesh of my flesh. So are God's people
to Him. And He foreknew. For whom He
did foreknow, He did what? Predestinate. Now, this is election
by God the Father for knowledge. You know what false religion
says. They say God looked down from heaven to see who would
believe and then chose them. Well, why did He choose them?
They're going to believe. What's He choosing them to? They
did the choosing. That's not election. This is
the forelove, predestinating election of God, the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit. Now, how do you know
you're one of God's elect? Sanctification of the Spirit.
I actually did quote 2 Thessalonians 2.13 out of my mind wandering,
because I always quote that. Bound to give thanks to God,
beloved brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of spirit
and belief of the truth. I always quote it that way. Well,
what is sanctification of spirit? That you believe the truth. What
truth? All the truth. The election by
the Father, redemption by the Son. sanctification and regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. Now this is the sanctification
of the Spirit of God. He sets apart a people to believe
the truth. He chose you to believe the truth.
Your sister, your brother, your mother, your father might not,
but He chose you. Why? Because He did. And we thank
Him for it, don't we? And other people just won't have
it. I don't. They say, I don't see it that
way. No, you don't. You're blind. And so were we. Until God gave
us eyes. He chose to give us eyes. Right?
This is sanctification spirit. I like to use the analogy of
a cowboy on a cutting horse. Okay? You ever seen them? Seen
that? Cowboy on a cutting horse? Alright?
There's a bunch of calves in a pen, okay? And that cowboy
and that horse has their eyes on one calf. Right? Not all of them. Not saying,
here calf, calf, calf, come on calf. No. He's got his eyes on
one calf. And he is not. According to how
good that horse is and that cowboy is, buddy, he's going to get
him in. He's going to hit him in. And the cowboy on the rope
and dives on that thing and wraps it up. And that was for old days
when they would brand them. That was the purpose of that.
Well, that's what God does through the preaching of the gospel of
the Holy Spirit. He ties you up and throws you
on the ground and puts His brand on you. C or E, elect. That's exactly right. You ain't
getting away. And once He does that, you're
so glad He wrestled you like Jacob, aren't you? That's sanctification
of the Spirit. You're set apart from the herd.
To be branded one of God's elect. Why? How? You believe the truth. Believe the truth. Obedience. That's what obedience is. That's
the first thing. Look at verse 22. Seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth. Obeying the truth. That's the
first thing. And yes, verse 14, as obedient children. Now, God's
people are not, you know, we sin, we do acts of disobedience,
but we're not children of wrath as we used to be. We're not walking
according to the course of this world, children of disobedience
like Ephesians 2 talks about. Not anymore. Do we fall and fail and sin? Like Newton says, I'm not what
I want to be, I'm not what I'm going to be, but thank God I'm
not what I used to be. And I want to obey, don't you? Absolutely. I didn't before.
I didn't care. I was a child of wrath, disobedient,
but God. So this is what he does. And
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sprinkling. And that
alludes to, you know, baptism, christening and all that is not
true. You know that. I'm not going to go into that.
But this alludes to Hebrews 9. It speaks of the sprinkling of
the blood of Moses. It says all things were sprinkled
by the blood. He couldn't dip everybody in
the blood. Wasn't enough blood to go around. Now there's enough
blood of Christ for us to wash in. But the sprinkling, I'd say
all things were purged by the blood, the book, the people,
everything, the altar, everything. And I thought about that song
we just sang. Blood of Christ so rich and free,
let some drops now fall on me. Sprinkle me. Sprinkle my conscience. Sprinkle my soul. Cover it in
the blood of Christ. Well, it is. The blood of Jesus
Christ. And he says in verse 2, Grace
unto you and peace be multiplied. Grace and peace be multiplied. Oh, it has, it is, and it will. Hasn't it? How gracious has God
been to you? And He has been, He is now. The fact that you're sitting
here is the greatest grace that God can show you. You know, if
left to your sin, left to my sin, we wouldn't be here. This is the greatest grace that
God can show to you. He has been, He is now, and He
shall be. It will be multiplied. Multiplied. How much grace do you need? You
need a lot. Like Isabella. I want too much. I need too much. There's no such thing as too
much. He's a God of all grace. He's full of grace. Like mercy. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy. How merciful has the Lord been
to you. Oh, abundantly. Oh, His abundant mercy hath begotten
us, given us a new birth, begotten us again, born again by the Word
of truth. Look at verses 23 through 25
again. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, the seed of man, but of incorruptible, by the Word of
God. Human beings are born of God. The Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. All flesh is as grass, all the
glory of man is a flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower
thereof falleth away. But the Word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the Word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you. Everyone born of God is born
by the preaching of the Gospel. When God is pleased. So many
people sit and sit and sit and sit. I did. Sit and sit and sit
and hear and hear and hear, but don't hear, don't see, don't
hear, don't see, don't believe. Unconvicted. And one day, according
to the time, the fullness of time of God, the Holy Spirit,
He says, open their eyes. Open their ears. Break their
hearts. Make them believe. And it happened.
And no stopping it. I'm so glad. See, that's our
hope for our lost loved ones. That's what happened to me. That's
what happened to you. And we have lost loved ones,
and that's our hope. And people I've preached to time and time
and time again, and they don't respond. No reaction. My hope
is when it's time, it's time. And we'll rejoice. We've gotten unto a lively hope.
Look at that. I like that word. I like the
King James. Lively. Lively. It means full
of life. Living, yes, because it's in
a living Lord. But it's lively. Lively. You know, no man spake like our
Lord spake. Wouldn't you have loved to have
heard Him? There are times when God, the Holy Spirit, speaks
in power at our hearts, and man, it makes you lively. It's a savor
of life, the response in life. In this life, we laugh, don't
we? If you're alive, you hear something funny or wonderful. Spiritually speaking, you hear
something that... We laugh, don't we? Old Brother Henry Breedlove
down in Sylacauga, Alabama. I've told you this, but I love
to tell it. I went there as a child growing up every summer to their
Bible conference. And Brother Henry was a pastor.
And Dad would preach, and Pharaoh Griswold, and so many others.
And Henry Breedlove, the pastor of that church, oh, he loved
to hear the gospel. He'd rather hear it than preach
it. And he'd sit on the first or second row, and I, the preacher's
kid, would have to sit on the front row. All right, he'd be
behind me, and he'd just start laughing. And I remember thinking,
I didn't hear anything funny. What's he laughing at? I didn't hear a joke. He'd just
laugh. I catch myself doing that the
whole time. You're doing it right now. Holy laughter. Psalm 126, When
the Lord turned again, our captivity were like them that were dreamed,
and our mouths were filled with laughter. People said the Lord
had done great things for them, whereof we are glad. It makes
us glad. You can't be glad and not laugh.
It's the savor of life to life. You laugh, you cry, don't you? You weep. All these emotions
that we feel, the gospel excites those. It's lively. It's a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He is our
hope. Why do we believe what we believe?
Because Jesus Christ lives. Because he lived. He is our hope.
A living Lord. We don't have hope in a dead
letter of the law or dead doctrine. We have hope in a living Lord,
a risen Lord. Paul preached a risen Lord every
time he preached an act. Every single time Paul preached
an act, recorded messages, he brought up the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because if he didn't rise
from the grave, he's not who he said he was. He didn't do
what he said he did. What description? This Bible's
not true. But he did. 1 Corinthians 15 says, Yet now,
but now Christ is risen. Oh, don't you love that chapter?
That our Lord rose. Try to imagine, not talking about
a lively hope, the resurrection of Christ. Try to imagine the
apostles. For three days, it was the saddest
days of their life, when they thought the Lord was dead. They
thought it was all over. They thought, was none of that
true? Then He appeared to them. Then
He appeared to them. Try to imagine. How they felt
when the Lord... That's why they didn't believe
Marian on it. No, no way. Thomas said, I will not believe
till I see the nail prints in his hand and the Lord appear.
That's why Thomas hit his knees, just buckled. He's alive! Lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. To an inheritance, verse 4. An
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. Incorruptible. Why does he talk so much about
all flesh as grass? Why does he keep saying that? Ron read James 1 that speaks
of that, all flesh as grass. Why does he keep saying it? Because
it is. Because we put our hopes and we have, you know, our joys
and things in things that perish. Perishing things of clay, born
but for one brief day, pass from my heart away. These are perishing
things, aren't they? They just don't last. And they
actually, when you lose them, they give you more pain and more
sorrow than they gave you joy. Right? But this is an inheritance,
incorruptible. It fadeth not away. Well, describe it, preacher.
I can't. It's indescribable. Paul came
back and he said, I heard things unlawful. I can't put them in
human language. I hadn't seen it or hadn't heard.
Neither had the energy in our hearts fully. The Spirit hath
revealed them. We see through a glass dimly
though. We see just enough to give us a great desire, a further
desire to be with Him. But it's dim. The reason we can't
enjoy these things as much as we would because we'd have a
hard time living here. You know that? Paul, that's why
Paul, he said, whatever comes. He died when they stoned him.
That's when he went to the third heaven, okay? They took him up
for dead. That's when he went to the third
heaven. He wouldn't mention his name. And he milked it. And he
said, I heard things unlawfully uttered. And he came back, and
that's why he just said, I have a desire to depart and be with
the Lord. It's far better. He said, I'm ready. He'd been
there. He heard. He saw. And the Lord
gave him that to give him a zeal, to give him such a lively message,
an enthusiastic message for those of us who haven't been there. So it's an inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled. You know, an evil relative can
defile your inheritance. Oh yeah. The inheritances we have here
are defiled because there's so much sin and greed in it. The
reading of the will of whoever causes rifts and separations
between brothers and sisters. Now, blood can, and they'll never
speak to one another again. Over what? Aunt Jamie's old apron
or something. It'll tear them apart. The reading
of this will brings us together. The reading of this will unites
us. We're joint heirs anyway. It's
His. It's His. He has the right to
it. And we're just joint heirs and glad to be a part of it. So, it's undefiled. And it fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. Notice there's no period. This
is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of
God. Reserved in heaven. Reserved
in heaven. We have a seat awaiting us. One time, I forget, our 10th
anniversary. Mandy, was it our 10th? She's
in a nursery. Was it our 10th? But we went to Nantucket, Massachusetts. It's an old whaling village.
And I wanted to make it special, so I looked up one of the most
romantic little restaurants on that island, you know. And we
found it, and I made a reservation. Well, we went there, and they
brought us in, and lo and behold, they put us at the best seat
in that whole place. Now, there were people there,
high-muckety-muck. I mean, there was some people,
there was somebody there. And we were not on a railroad.
Was there a railroad? Yeah. And so we had the best
seat in the house, and people were looking at us like, how'd
they get that? Who are they? Are they somebody? They don't look like somebody.
Well, we are. Kings and priests with God. Here's
the point. Every seat reserved for God's
people is the best seat in the house. We're all going to have
an unobstructed view of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of us, like Mephibosheth,
are going to sit right there at his right hand, like the king's
sons, reserved in heaven, who are kept. Kept by the power of
God. Don't you love that? Oh, how
we know it. Oh, how God's people know that
we can't keep ourselves. If we're kept, it'll be by His
power. If we keep believing, if we keep coming, He keeps us.
Brothers and sisters, if you can leave, you will. If you can leave, you will. We
are our own worst enemies. But if we're kept, we can't.
If you can leave, you will. If you're kept, you can't. You
like that? Kept. I always like to say, God's
Christ wife, they're all kept women. That's why I'm glad. What
is the power of God that keeps us? It's His Word. He upholds
all things by the Word of His power. He created all things
with the Word of His power. Let there be light. That's how
He regenerates. That's how He gives new birth.
Let there be light. He didn't ask the sun to shine. He told it. And He doesn't ask you to let
the sun shine in your heart. He shines it. That's how you're
born again. It's by power. It's the power
of God. We're kept by the power of God, the Word of God, the
Gospel. I read it to you in verse 23
and verse 25. This is the Word which by the
Gospel is preached unto you. When the gospel comes by the
Spirit of God in power, buddy, you're going to believe. And
you're going to rejoice. You're going to rejoice. Look at it. Kept by the power
of God through faith. Through faith. Where does faith
come from? Well, it's not of yourself. You
didn't decide to believe on David. Huh? Boy, it's a miracle. It's according
to the working of His mighty power, Ephesians 1, verse 19.
Right? Working of His mighty power,
the working of His gospel, everyone that's saved is saved by the
preaching of the gospel. Somebody says, I don't believe
that, then you haven't heard it. That means you're not born
again. I don't know of a believer on
the face of God's earth that didn't hear the truth from the
preaching of God's Word. Not one. None of them argue. They love it. Why does God do
that? So they'll keep hearing the preaching. So they keep being
blessed by the preaching. So they keep coming, keep coming,
keep coming. This is the blessing. This is
where God is. Salvation belongeth to the Lord. Psalm 3. And thy
blessing is upon thy people. And the blessing is in Zion.
It's in His church. That's the fold. That's where the sheep belong.
That's where they hear the Master's voice. And that's where they're
kept by the power of God. Doesn't the Gospel keep you?
It keeps your heart, your mind, your soul. It keeps your thoughts
in check. It says, so we're kept through
faith. We believe and our faith is strengthened unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Romans 8 says that everything,
the whole creation is waiting for the manifestation of the
sons of God. The whole creation groaneth,
waiting for this whole thing to end when all the sons of God
appear. And glory, the glorious liberty
of the children of God is come. In Romans 8. John said this,
Brethren, now are we the sons of God. But it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. But we do know when he shall
appear for we shall be like him. You're going to be like Him.
And you shall be like Him. In Pilgrim's Progress, the second
part, Christiana and Mercy was her companion. Christiana and
Mercy. They were on a journey together like Christian and Hope
and Faithful. And Christiana and Mercy went
all the way, I think it's those two. They crossed over the River
of Jordan, or Death, and got into the Promised Land. And it
says in a moment, in a twinkle of an eye, they were both changed.
Immediately changed. All their garments came off.
They were dressed in shining garments. They said they both
looked at one another. They were standing there looking
at one another. And Christiana said to Mercy, You're beautiful.
And Mercy said, No, you're beautiful. You look so beautiful. We all
want to look just like you. Revealed in the last time. Verse
6, wherein you greatly rejoice. You are, I see it in your face.
Some of you are smiling, you're laughing. You greatly rejoice. Don't you rejoice in the gospel?
My, my. Go now for a season, if need
be. You're in heaviness through manifold,
many, varied, various temptations. Though now, for a season, we're
through heaviness, and this is the title and subject, rejoicing
with heaviness. We have this heaviness, don't
we? It's called sin. Pilgrim, once again, he began
that journey with a book in his hand and a weight on his back,
a burden on his back that he couldn't remove, and a cry in
his heart and a longing for the celestial city. He had this burden
on his back, and it only came off when he got to the foot of
the cross. All right? Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
aren't they? But we still have a burden called
an old man, and we carry him around with us, and he's a heavy
burden. He's a heavy weight. He weighs us down. We want to
fly. We want to mount on the wings of eagles, but what do
we do? We grumble. That's why I like that hymn,
Psalm 158. See how we grovel here below,
fond of these earthly toys. Our souls, how heavily they go
to reach eternal joy. In vain we tune our formal song.
In vain we strive to rise. Hosannas languish on our tongues
and our devotion die. We grovel, don't we? Why? This
old man, he just brings us down all the time. We come in here
and the burden is taken off. The old man, we forget him. And
with just about the time we're ready to just float away, we
have to walk back outside. And it starts all over again.
It brings us down, doesn't it? It just weighs us down. Oh, through
heaviness. Notice, it's for a season. It's
not going to last, like the seasons. None of them last too long. Winter always seems too long,
doesn't it? Summer always seems too short.
But soon there will be one long eternal glory. But no, now we're
in heaviness. Heaviness of sin, the heaviness
of trials. And all of us go through these
trials of grief, sorrow, heavy, heavy trials, weighty. Leave
us weeping all night long, heavy laden with grief. And our Lord
knows that. He himself was compassed with
these infirmities. He went through them. He was
called a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He came to the tomb
of Lazarus, whom he loved. He loved Lazarus more than Mary
and Martha did. You can count on that. He loved
Lazarus more than Mary and Martha. He came and he saw them all weeping.
What did he do? He wept. He wept. For the sin that caused our death.
For their grief. He wept over their grief. Unconsolable
grief. An aching heart that just wouldn't
go away. He wept over their grief. He
wept over the thought of bringing Lazarus back. But he went, didn't he? He knows.
We have not a high priest that's not touched with the feet of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, tried
without sin. He knows our prayer. He knows
our every weakness. Heaviness of life. Life itself
is heavy. The responsibilities of life,
the worries, the troubles we have, family, church. That's what Paul talked about.
That was the last thing he talked about. He said it was the greatest
trouble, all the cares, the troubles in all the church that he bore.
What do we do? A heavy laden. What do we do? Our Lord stood one day and he
cried. Come unto me, all ye that labor
in our heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. To whom cometh. That's why we come here, don't
we? We come here to hear some words to console us, to comfort
us, to assuage our grief, don't we? To dry our tears. Our tears
are in His bottle. You know that? Every tear that
God's people have shed are in His bottle. David said that.
I believe that. Is it Dave or Joe? Dave. Oh,
he knows. And it says, but now for a season,
if need be, you're in heaviness. Who decides what needs be? Aren't you glad? Would you choose
any trouble for yourself, for your loved one? None. Any sorrow? None. But he does. And it's His grace. It's His
mercy that's good. If need be. You've heard the
saying, if it be, it need be. Or it wouldn't be. If it be,
it need be. Or it wouldn't be. For all things
work together for what? Good. According to God's purpose. If it be, it need be. But it's for a season. It's brief.
This is why Paul said it's light. These light afflictions. Worketh
for us a far more exceeding eternal weight. That's not going to be a burden,
but glory, a weight of eternal glory. And these light afflictions,
they're brief, they're seasonal, compared to eternity. They seem
so long now, don't they? Well, what is our life, though?
It's a vapor, isn't it? Many of us are in our 60s, 70s,
80s, even 90s. It's just so brief. We're just
one breath away from eternity. It's not going to last long.
I hope no one goes out of here with a heavy heart. I hope you
go out of here with your head lifted up because your redemption
draws nigh. Now is our redemption nearer
than when we believe? Our salvation. But now we go
through these manifold temptations. That means every temptation there
is, we're going to go through it. Our Lord did. That the trial
of your faith, verse 7, the trial of your faith, it's all to try
our faith in Him. Not faith in us, it's in Him. His promises. to try us whether
we really believe the Lord. So God had Job tried more than
anybody ever at one period of time. More heavily than any human
being ever with the exception of our Lord and maybe Paul the
Apostle. He had Job, he put everything that a human being could go through
ten times over. He lost all his children. He'd
be tough enough to lose one or two, but all of them. He lost
all his goods. Every possession. He lost all
his health. He lost all his friends. He lost
everybody in the community that didn't want anything to do with
Job anymore. But in all this, Job sinned not. No charge to God foolishly. And
here is the cry of faith. The Lord did this. Job didn't understand. They spent
chapter after chapter trying to figure it out. They were better
off not trying to figure it out. Just trusting Him. He was better
off when He didn't speak. And he did say this in the beginning,
and it's proof that he believed God. He said, the Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He said, though he slay me, I'll trust him. He did slay everyone
I love and everything I own. He did. But he did it, and he's
too good to do me evil. I believe him. I trust him. Now
who could say that except someone that's been given this precious
faith? That's why he calls it precious.
He said that in 2 Peter, didn't he? Those who have obtained light,
precious faith. It's more precious than gold
at perishing. Gold will perish. We're going
to lose all that, but not this faith kept by His power. It's going to be tried with fire.
Remove the dross. All this stuff, and it's going
to be found in the end unto praise. Whose praise? Not ours. His. Like Job. His praise. And honor. God's honor. God's true to His
Word. He is 100% true to His Word. He said, My grace is sufficient. Paul said, Lord, please remove
this trial. He said, Nope. But my grace is sufficient. And
it was almost an unbearable trial for Paul. He asked him three
times, please. God said, nope. My grace is sufficient. And you know what Paul said?
It is. God is honorable. It's the praise
of his honor and glory. Glory. We don't think of trials
as glory. You read that in James 1. Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation. that goes through these things
and still believe Him when it's all over. That person belongs
to the Lord. It's obvious. To the praise of
the glory of His grace at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Oh,
man. I love this book. Look at verse
8. It says, Whom have you not seen
you love? Do you? I believe you do. I believe most
of you do. I see it on your faces. I preach
to you. It's all we do is preach Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ.
And you keep coming, you keep smiling, you keep laughing. We
tell the same things over and over again. You keep smiling.
And you even come up to me and say, could you preach that again
next week? Whom have you not seen yet? Because He's real, He's living
Lord. Doctrine won't produce that.
You'll get tired. If it's just doctrine, you'll
get tired. If it's just doctrine, you'll want something else. But
if it's Christ in you, the hope of the Lord, you want nothing
else. Even one thing, you need Him. It's a relationship, he
said, with the living Lord Christ in whom you love. It's a loving
relationship between a husband and his bride, a father and his
child, in whom, though now you see him, not yet believe him.
I believe. Brothers and sisters, I mean
this with all my heart. I feel weaker spiritually than
I've ever felt in my life. But I believe the Lord Jesus
Christ more firmly and strongly than I've ever had in my life.
I don't think there's anything that could happen, anything anybody
could say that could convince me otherwise. I believe him more
strongly. I feel weaker than I've ever
been, but I believe him more fully. I feel more sinful than
I've ever felt. That's why I believe him so much.
In spite of my sins, he keeps me covered. Keeps me coming. He keeps me. I'm kept by this
power. I preach the gospel to you, it's
the same gospel. I'm kept by it. So he says, you rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory. Joy unspeakable. You know, we haven't been there. It would
be like a worm being changed into a human being and going
to a symphony, hear an orchestra and all that, and hearing all
that, and tasting the best foods on earth, and flowers, and going
all over, seeing the Grand Canyon, and then go back to being a worm
and try to tell those other worms what he saw. Right? Unspeakable. You know
there's going to be silence in heaven for 30 minutes? Why? We're
going to be speechless. You ever seen something or experienced
something or tasted something or whatever, gone through something,
it just left you speechless. There's no words to describe
it. Lots of things are better off
without words. In 30 minutes we're all going
to be... And they were going to break
out laughing. Break out laughing and praising
Him to high heaven. I love always saying it's all
over but the shouting. Joy unspeakable and full of glory. Glory awaits us. Sin and shame
down here. Why do we want to stay here?
It's nothing but sin and shame and weighty, heavy burdens and
sorrows and troubles. Oh, Lord, but glory, joy and
a weeping endurance in this night time, on this land of darkness. Oh, but joy cometh in the morning.
That's why Paul said, My soul waiteth more than they that watch
for the morning. Waiteth more. And we're going
to receive, verse 9, the end of our faith. What's that? Salvation. The salvation of our souls. What does that mean? Well, I
don't know. I just know it's going to all
be over. Nothing to worry about, nothing
to fear, nothing to trouble, no sorrow. Read it for yourself. Lord, God's going to wipe away
all tears, no more pain, no more suffering, no more sorrow, no
more sin, no more departing, no more death, salvation, saved
from it all. Who does this? The Lord. Okay,
stand with me.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
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