Joseph Hart, writing that hymn,
spoke of those scourges that tore his flesh. And yet he said
there were sharper scourges that tore his heart. And we need ever
be mindful that the soul sufferings of our Lord far exceeded the
pain that he endured in the flesh, though that was more than any
man, according to what the scripture says. He was marred more than
any man. And yet the grief that he bore
in carrying our sins and bearing our sorrows cannot be comprehended,
the depths of it. He has not expected us to be
able to bear that or contemplate those sufferings, for he bore
it, that we might not have to. But he did remind us and he did
command us to remember that he did die for us. And that's what
we come here today to do in that method in which he told us to
do it. We're looking in 1 Peter. 1 Peter. chapter 1, and we looked at the
first two verses of this chapter, and we're going to continue there
in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that
fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who were kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. Now we'll look at those verses,
perhaps we'll go further, but blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we read in the scriptures
that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. And of course over time, men
have set forth many theories as to exactly what that means.
And I wouldn't be here today to tell you that I can completely
and fully explain what that means, but I do know this, that it means
that Jesus Christ came forth from the Father in humanity in
a measure which no other man has ever been. Because he came
forth from the Father as God in the flesh. He didn't come into the world
born of a man and a woman's union together as all other men are.
He was solely begotten by God in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
Now, that is a very important point for us to believe because
it is of the essence of two things. Number one, that He is the absolute
God. He is the Creator. He is the
King of Kings. He's the beginning and the end.
We have one God. And yet the Lord has seen fit
to reveal Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Now a lot's
been written on that, I've said some things about it. I don't
ever want you to believe that I don't believe God is Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. But I don't ever want you to
believe that there's three gods either. Because there's one God. And he is, from the beginning,
he said the Lord our God is one. And yet he has revealed himself
in a plurality. Now again, men have often taken
that and in their quest to be able to explain that to the thinking
of men, they have sought to explain something that cannot be explained.
And they've said things that are more confusing and give people
more misunderstanding than what it is. I believe this, that we
should say what the scripture says about it and nothing more.
And when the Lord reveals himself as the Father, we rejoice. When
the Lord reveals himself as the Son, we rejoice. When the Lord
reveals himself as the Holy Spirit, we rejoice. But we do not entertain
the notion that there's some kind of a three-headed being,
you know, that's all separate, because there's no separation.
between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost insofar as
what we would define as separation. Now it is indeed true that the
Lord spoke to his Father. He prayed to his Father and he
sent his Spirit into the world. We deny none of those things.
But we just pause in what we say about these things and realize
that there's more about this that we cannot understand than
there is that we can. And so when somebody comes to
you and they say, well, I've got this simple explanation of
how it is you need to walk on, because nobody has a simple explanation. Nobody's ever written a book.
Nobody's ever put down on paper the glory. that is in this God
whom we speak of. It can't be. And it is foolish
for men to argue with one another over this point about it and
that. In fact, men have been put to
death because they chose to say something a certain way that
was not in keeping with those who were in places of ecclesiastical
power that they agreed with. And they said, well, he's a heretic.
He needs to be killed. The subject of what's called
the Trinity and baptism by immersion, believers' baptism by immersion,
more people have died over those two things than any other thing
among religious men. And religious men are those that
have persecuted other religious men over them. How foolish. Because brethren, None of us
have any real understanding. I mean, this is the mystery.
The mystery of godliness. I mean, it can't be explained.
I can't fathom it. And yet I know that it's true.
It says here, and we read it, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was begotten of his Father.
And in a way in which no other has ever been begotten or ever
will be. He is the only begotten Son of
God. And he's blessed because he is
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The only way that any
man will ever know God. is through his son, Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ is the revelation
of God to men. The Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There's no other way. There's
no other way he can be seen. No other way he can be known.
There's no other way he can be entered into fellowship with.
but in Jesus Christ. And so we rejoice in him. We rejoice in him who is the
father of the Lord Jesus Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ
rejoiced in him. He said, I came not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now that's a glorious
thing. If you just pause and think about
that simple thing, It can blow your mind completely. He came
to do the Father's will, not his own will, and yet it was
his own will, because his own will was to do the will of the
Father. Brethren, these things are beyond us, and they cause
us to fall down and worship. You see, when men can define
God, it lessens the glory of Him. You know, a lot of men think
they can define God and increase the globe. Men go about always,
as Paul said, they go about to make God in their own image,
how they think about Him. And often men will get mad with
you when you tell them something about God that doesn't fit in
with what they think about God. You see, a lot of people, they
believe God, you know, well, He just, it wouldn't be fair.
if God didn't do this or he would never do this or he'd never do
that because it would impugn his character. The only thing
that the Lord has ever said is that he would not lie. And what
he meant by that was that he would do what he said he would
do. You can be sure of it. Whatever God has said He will
do, He will do. He will not go back on that thing. He's ever faithful to that. And
so He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world
as the Savior of sinners. And had He not been human, had He
not been the same flesh and blood that we are, He would not have
been a suitable sacrifice for the sins of his people. The blood
of bulls and goats could never take away our sin. Why? Because
they're just goats. I mean, they're just animals.
They're not humans. Had he not been God, he could
never have accomplished it. Because it required that there
be one who is without sin. Now, to be without sin means
to be even as God. Now, you and I, we have been,
we've had the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in
that way, we're without sin, but you see, our being without
sin is because we're in Christ. Christ is the only one who is
without sin. as a man, only one that's ever
lived. But he was tempted in all points.
That is, he was tried in every fashion as a man. He walked among
men as all other men walk among men, and yet he was without sin. He came into the world without
sin, and he left the world without sin. because he carried our sin
away as far as east is from the west. Now that's a glorious thing.
And the only way he could have done that was by being that eternal
Son of God who is triumphant over all things. And so we rejoice
today as we read, blessed, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And then we read about what it
is that he's done. Which according to his abundant
mercy, Now listen to this, He hath begotten us again. He has begotten us again. Now we said that Jesus Christ
the only begotten Son of God and He is. But we have been begotten
by God. That is, we have been born again.
That's what he says here. We have been begotten again.
This word here, born, or begotten, means we have been born from
him. You know, you read in the, over
in the Old Testament, there's a couple of chapters, and we
call it the begets, because it's just a whole chapter of so-and-so
begat, so-and-so begat, so-and-so begat, so-and-so. It means that
was his offspring. And so it is that we have been
begotten of God. And he says we've been begotten
again. That's what he said to Nicodemus, was it not? Nicodemus,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And so it is, it's true. That's the work of God in men
to cause them to be born, not of flesh and blood, well they
are born of flesh and blood by his decree, but they are born
again by him according to his decree. And not all men are born
again. And so he speaks of this here. By according to his abundant
mercy, he has begotten us. Now why is it? that we have been
the objects of his grace. Mercy. See, mercy, there's no
such thing as a man earning mercy. You can't gain mercy. No way
to do it, because mercy is that which is bestowed without anything
in the person. Grace is unmerited favor. And
the Lord has given us more than just simply restoring us. He has raised us from the position
we were in. You see, Adam, many people think,
oh, well, you know, that was a glorious thing. Adam was in
the grandest place he could be. No, Adam was not in the grandest
place he could be. But those who've been redeemed
in Christ, they are in the grandest place it could ever be. Now indeed,
because you see, Adam, he was still merely a man of flesh and
blood who was placed in paradise, but it's not the paradise. I
mean, we're not gonna be brought back to the same garden that
Adam was in. We've been given something much
greater than what Adam was given. And it says here we've been begotten
again, we've been born again unto a living hope, a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we
do have a hope. Our hope is Christ. You see we have, our hope can
be defined in many ways. Our hope, number one, is Christ. See, we don't have a hope outside
of Christ. There's nothing that we can gain
beyond this world that is not found in Christ. He is our hope. But what he's speaking of here
is not only has he awakened us to see that Christ is our hope,
he has worked in us a hope that is real within our bosom. so
that we actually hope in Christ. This is an activity that the
Spirit of God works in us so that we see that and we delight
in it. In other words, it's just not
something that's out there, but it's something that he has given
to us at the present time. As Peter goes on to say, I believe
it's in the second chapter, unto you therefore which believe he
is precious. I mean, that's a glorious thing.
See, we love to contemplate that which Christ has done because
it's precious to us. It's that which we delight in.
It's that which makes us to have rest in our soul. And that's
what he says here. which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again, born us again. Because we didn't
have that by nature. We couldn't gain it by nature.
See, a man can, you can read the Bible a hundred times and
never have the hope that is here through natural ability. You
can't ever do it. But when the Spirit of God gives
a man that hope, Not that he would ever want to,
but he can't be free from it. See, he has that hope. We have
a hope in him because it's a living hope. That's what he says here,
a lively hope. That hope which is alive within
us. And why is that hope alive within
us? He says, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now the Lord said to his disciples
that they should remember him. until he comes again. Paul said,
do this until we remember his death, until he comes again.
Because we have a lively hope. That is, we believe that Christ
was raised from the dead. Now there are those that say
that was just kind of a, he wasn't really ever dead, number one.
They say, a lot of people say, he wasn't really ever actually
dead. He was just kind of fainted.
He was kind of just laying there in a coma, and you know, laying
there in the coolness of the tomb and everything, and his
consciousness came back to him. Well, that's contrary to what
the scripture says. Scripture says he was dead. He
died. He was just as dead as anybody
that's ever lived in this world in flesh and blood, he died. He poured out his blood, even
unto death. And he laid in that tomb for
three days and three nights as a dead man. Now, how can I explain
that? I cannot. Because you see, that can't be
explained. Neither can it be explained how that on the third
day, that same life, which he had from all eternity, came into
that flesh and blood body and he came up out of that state
of death, and he laid aside the windings that were put upon him,
and they were folded up, the scripture says, there where he
lay. Now how do we explain that? You know, of course, there are
those that claim that they found those windings, you know, and
they have that this has got his imprint on it and all of that
stuff and people get all worked up about it. Oh, is it real?
Brethren, our hope is not built on the shroud of Turin. Our hope
is not in what men have told us. Our hope is built on Jesus
Christ and His righteousness. And it's built on the fact that
the Spirit of God has convinced us that He has been raised from
the dead. Now you can't convince a man
that Christ was raised from the dead any more than you can convince
him that God created the world. But the Spirit of God can. And
the Spirit of God does. And He does cause men to believe. And He gives men a hope, begottenness
again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. Now what is our hope? Our hope
is that because He has been raised from the dead, we too shall be
raised from the dead. Now how's that gonna be? You
know, the scripture says the graves will be open. Now, I don't have any problem believing
that's a literal thing, that the ground's gonna burst open,
then people's gonna come out of it. Well, people say, well,
there ain't nobody in there. Oh, yes. You see, the resting
place of every one of God's people is marked out. And known unto
him, the scripture says known unto the Lord are all of his.
He doesn't forget them when they die. The scripture says precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And he took
Moses, even though Moses was not allowed
to go into the promised land. The scripture says that the Lord
buried Moses. Now, you know, and this is a
point that I think needs to be made in our society because it
is a common thing that men feel that it is proper
and good to burn a body when it's dead. Now I don't think
there's anything, nobody's under condemnation that would do such
a thing, nor does the burning of a body prevent it from being
raised in the final day. But we don't have any example
in the scripture of any of God's people burning bodies. The Lord buried Moses. He could
have burned him. He didn't burn him, he buried
him. the Lord Jesus Christ. They could have took his body
out and burned it. They didn't. They buried him. And so it is,
dear brethren, if for no other reason than to follow the example
of Christ, I believe that that is the proper method of disposing
of the bodies of the deceased. Now you don't have to agree with
me on that, but I'm telling you, you're gonna search hard to find
a scriptural reason why bodies should not be buried rather than
burned. It may be convenient, it may
be cheap. All those things might be true.
But it can't ever erase the fact that there is prescribed in the
scripture a means of the disposal of the bodies of, especially
God's people. Now the pagans have always burned
bodies. That's all, I mean, the Vikings,
you know, you've all seen the movies where they put the old
guy on the ship and they send it off out there and burn it
and everybody's, oh, this is great. And over in India, they
pile them up and burn them like cold wood. You know? That's going
to be the way that that is, but I'm talking to God's people here,
see. Because God's people are separate
from the world. We're not taking our clue from
what the world is, but from what the scripture would say to us.
Now that's not here in the scripture, but it just came to my mind as
we think about the body of the Lord Jesus Christ being laid
in a tomb. and being brought forth from
that tomb. And in the day of the resurrection,
the Lord's gonna gather all of the bodies and He's gonna raise
them. Now, I believe that all men are
going to be raised. Some are gonna be raised to the
resurrection of damnation, the scripture says, and some are
gonna be raised to the resurrection of life. Those who belong to
the Lord have a resurrection that's quite different from the
reanimation of the bodies of the damned. Now those are things
that, you know, they're fearful in some ways to consider, but
nonetheless true. But the people of God, you see,
death is not the end. The death of these bodies is
just another chapter in our lives because actually, when we were
born into the world, we were progressing towards death at
that moment. We've never been getting further
away from it. Now, I know you listen to all
these guys, they talk about, well, pretty soon we're gonna
have a pill you can take and you're not gonna die. Well, it's
not gonna happen because these bodies were designed to live
and to die according to the good pleasure of God. It's appointed
unto men once to die, and after this the judgment. So if anybody
needs to go, somebody asks you about do you believe in reincarnation? The best answer I can think of,
you can give them. It's appointed unto man once
to die, and after this the judgment. And so it is. We have a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven
for us. We have an inheritance. Our inheritance
is in Christ. Now, we would not have an inheritance
if it wasn't that Christ was the heir. Never forget this.
Christ is the heir just like he is the first begotten, the
only begotten. He's the first begotten from
the dead, but he's the only begotten son of God. And he is the heir. But you know what he's done?
He's made us joint heirs. See, he's the one to whom the
promise was made. Not to Abraham and his seed,
his seeds as of many, but to his seed as of one, even Jesus
Christ. He is the only begotten heir
of God. But the glorious thing is that
what he has done for us, by his death, burial, and resurrection
is that he has ascended into the heavens and made us heirs
and joint heirs with Christ. And that's our hope. And you
know, the critics of what we believe will say, oh, well, he
believes in the pie in the sky, by and by. And you know, that's
kind of a crude way to put it, but we do believe that we are
going to live again. And the reason that we do is
because we believe Christ lives in the present hour. And I believe
that he lives in the present hour in a body that can be seen. If you could get there. You can't
get there. There's only one way to get there,
and that's through the portal of death, or to be among those
whom the Lord will translate at his coming who will not taste
death. Don't ask me to explain all of
that, because I can't. But he has a body in the present
time. In many ways, it's very similar
to the body that he had when he was born from the Virgin Mary,
except he has a body that is no longer susceptible in any
wise to death. His body actually was never susceptible
to death except for one reason, that he willed it to be so. He
could never have been put to death. I mean, that was nothing
that men could have ever done, but according to the ordained
purpose of Almighty God, as Peter said on the day of Pentecost,
ye have taken him by wicked hands, have slain. But it was according
to the purpose of Almighty God, not because men were able to
overcome him. Even as he said to Pilate, you
could have no power at all, except it were given to you. And so
the Lord is that one who ever lives to make intercession for
us in the presence of God. See, he is at the right hand
of God. Now there's not God and he's
over here on this little throne on the right hand. That's not
what it means. It means he is in the seat of power of almighty
God. And he is that one who intercedes
for us. That is, He is our substitute. He is that one who has bled for
us. And He doesn't make prayers.
There's no prayers in heaven. The only prayer that's in heaven
is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at the throne of God as
the eternal substitute for His people whom He loved with an
everlasting love. He is our resurrection. He's our hope. And we have a
hope in Him. And so it is that we know that
He dwells in a body because what happened outside of Jerusalem
40 days after He was raised from the dead, He ascended up before them in
their eyes. And now what did he ascend in? He ascended in a body that had
walked with him, talked with him, and even ate with him. And yet he walked through the
doors of the building where they were sitting. And how could that be explained?
And yet, he was in that body and the angel said, why men,
why are you gazing up at it? He said, this same Jesus shall
come in like manner as ye have seen him go. The same one. Now if they could see him go
with these eyes, when he left here, is it not true that they
will see him with these eyes when he comes back? Oh, didn't
Job say, in my flesh? He said, though the skin worms
eat my flesh. Men don't like to think about
that, do they? But that's what's gonna happen if any worms can
get in there. Now you might can get you one of these, I saw these,
you go down to the funeral home and they got these vaults that's
got lifetime guarantees. And they say, you know, this
thing's sealed up, buddy, you're gonna be in there and nothing
can happen to you. But I'll tell you this, if time goes on long
enough, that the skin worms will ultimately get there. and they
will eat your flesh and you will go back to the dust from whence
you were made. But he said, though the skin
worms eat my flesh, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Because he's coming back. You
see, and Paul said, brethren, if the dead rise not, we're of
all men most miserable. We're of all men most miserable
because we don't have any hope. But more so than that, if the
dead rise not, then it means that Christ was not raised. Now what did he mean by that?
He said because if Christ has been raised, he will surely raise
those whom he loves. And so we have a hope. See, we
don't have a hope just in this life. We do have a hope in this
life. And it is that which gives us encourage that we might continue
on looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of God. And he
is coming again for his people. And we have that reserved in
heaven. for us. May the Lord help us
and ever keep us mindful that what we do here this morning
is a temporary thing. We remember his death. Now we
use photographs, do we not? To remember someone. But a photograph
is not the fullness of it. You see, if you have a loved
one that goes off for a long journey, you might be comforted
in looking at their picture, but the picture's not the thing
that you want, is it? It's the one whom you love. And
the Lord Jesus Christ has given this to the people that he loves
so that they might know that this is a temporary thing till
he comes. Oh, that the Lord might give
us a mind to do that today, to think on this work that he's performed
in our behalf. Even as we have these common elements, they're of the
earth. You know, this is made from flour
and oil. All products of the earth, they
come from the earth and the wine. And the Lord used these things
to represent his body. Now his body was a fleshly body. It was made up just like yours
is, mine is. And he used these things, and
he said, I want you to partake of this, and I want you to do
it to remember me until I come to get you. Now, when will he
come? He'll come when he's ready to
come. When did he come the first time?
He came when he was ready to come. Now, it was a long time
from the time that Isaiah said a virgin shall conceive It was
over a thousand years before he actually came. But he came
in such a time as men didn't think about it. They didn't know
it. And the same will be true when he comes again. The scripture
says that or delivered this to Paul, said
the same night in which he was betrayed the Lord took the bread
and he blessed it, he broke it and gave it to his disciples
and he told them to eat. And that's the same thing we
found. See, God's people through many ages have done exactly what
we're gonna do here today because this is what the Lord commanded
us to do. And I know some have corrupted
it and all these different things. But it is a supper that God's
people are commanded to take. But it is that which no one should
take without a proper regard to what it is. This isn't just
bread. It's not just some ritual that
we go through. It's not gonna take away your
sin. It's not gonna do anything for
you except that by as the Spirit of God ministers the truth that
Jesus Christ spoke it causes us to be reminded in our minds
of the actual reality of the fact that his body was broken
for our sake and his blood was poured out. So may the Lord give
us a mind to partake of that even as he said. So let a man
examine himself not to see if he's He's worthy, but to see
that He is taking it worthily, that He has a proper regard,
that He has a regard to what Christ has done, do we believe
that? And if we do, then we must protect
of this, because He commanded us to. And we testify that His
body broken and His blood shed is our hope for both now and
forever.