All right, well, turn with me
to First Peter. That'll be the first place that
we go to this morning. First Peter chapter one, or excuse
me, chapter two. We began looking last week at
some blessings to the believers or privileges that we as the
children of grace receive from God. And no, it's not Cadillacs
and mansions and gold watches and perfect health and things
such as that, you know, big bank accounts. While the Lord can give things
like that, that's not what is promised, and that's not necessarily
the proofs of the Lord's saving, because there are many who are
poor and destitute in this life who are children of grace. And
if you don't believe that, then just go over into some of these
countries where the Lord has his people in places where they
literally have nothing. And that's what's always surprised
me is you don't see too many of these health and wealth preachers
going over in those areas and preaching their If you have enough
faith, you'll be like this, you know, type of stuff. And that's because it just won't
fly. They know that those people, they can't say that stuff to
those people. And I know it's not true, but here in health
and wealth America, where the land of the free and the home
of the brave and plenty of opportunity is had, they can preach that
kind of false message. But we're talking about some
of the privileges that really that money can't buy and that
your faith just doesn't, you know, doesn't by itself, I guess the
term that I could use is faith doesn't buy this either. But
yet we experience it by faith. We know it by faith. But we talked
about last week that one of the first and foremost things that
we have as privileges of being the children of God, is that
we have access to God. We are not estranged from Him.
There's no more enmity in our mind towards God. We've been
brought in reconciliation. There's no sin that is separating
us from God. We have direct access to Him
by Jesus Christ. We learned that there is intercession
by Christ for us and that His blood is ever there to intercede. And as I put last week, I believe
that His blood has interceded before the world began. It was
His blood that was the intercession whenever He entered in to the
most holy place. which is the pattern of things
below. As Hebrews talks about that tabernacle
in heaven is the one in which the one below was made after,
where the sacrifices was put in types and foreshadows. But
yet Christ had already been in the tabernacle that had been
before that in the heavens, the perfect tabernacle. And he had
offered up himself there as the lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. And that blood was the blood
of the covenant. Hebrew speaks that his blood
is the blood of the covenant. His blood is the, so to speak,
signature of that covenant. That everything that God covenanted
to do for his people was signed, sealed, and delivered in Christ's
blood. And so his blood speaks loudly. It makes intercession for us. Whenever Christ had yet to have
come before his appointed time to be crucified all those years
before, the blood spoke for all of his people who were sinners. After the cross of Christ, the
blood speaks for all of us who are sinners. His blood speaks. And so God has accounted the
blood of Christ for atonement. And so there is intercession
and that is a privilege not for everybody. It's a privilege for
only those for whom he died. And so we are truly blessed to
be a part of that. And then we ended last week talking
about eternal life, that Jesus, one of the things that we are
privileged to have is eternal life. In John 17, the Bible says
that he has power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given him. And so that eternal life is just
that, it's eternal. It has no beginning, it has no
ending. That life is in Him. He is life
and in Him is life. And so that life is His life. And we've been given that life
if we are His. And so that's a great privilege
to know that we have eternal life. I had a friend of mine
that I went to school with. He posted a question on Facebook. not say anything bad about this
gentleman but I believe that the the church that he's been
involved with for many years at least the one that he was
involved with the last time whenever I used to sing and travel we
sang at their church one time is a charismatic church and it
And I don't, you know, I don't approve of those churches, but
that was in my past. But anyway, so I know that he's
been involved in that and on many of the preachers that he
talks about are charismatic preachers, but he posted a question this
last week. And said, you know, that he'd
always grown up believing that once a person is always saved,
or saved, that they're always saved, which obviously he must
have been, he must have grew up with some sort of a Baptist
influence because I don't know too many other denominations
really that teach that, you know, if you allow me the word denominations. But anyway, he was saying that
he had been listening to this John Bevere guy, who's a false
teacher, but this guy had thrown doubt into his mind about that
truth. And there were some people that were jumping on there, and
others that were, who were my friends, who I knew, who were
also schoolmates of mine, who was telling him that they weren't
denying that once you're saved, you're always saved, but they
were saying that the reason is your walk with God. You know,
long as you continue to walk with God, then you'll have that
eternal life. There were a few that were saying
that, you know, that once you're saved, you are always saved because
it is not about works, but about what Christ has done, even though
they continue to talk free will about it. And I just shared with
him that the work is a work of Christ alone and that his salvation
cannot be lost because it wasn't ours to gain. It wasn't by works.
It was only by grace given to us. And if it was by grace that
was given to us, it can't be taken away by works. It wasn't
gained by works. It can't be taken away by works.
and gave him like about 10 or 15 passages of scriptures to
encourage him in the hope that was in Christ. But as I was listening
to a lot of the conversation on that, it was not a gift. It was an attainment that one
gets. Eternal life was an attainment
that one gets by believing, or it was an attainment that one
got by continuing to believe. and to walk faithfully. And so again, we see that even
though the verbiage is there, eternal life, it's not, and I
mentioned this to him, I said, you know, Jesus said, you know,
that I give unto them eternal life and no man shall pluck them
out of my hand. I said, if it's eternal life,
it's eternal. If you can lose it, then it's
not eternal life. I said, one who's born again
cannot be unborn. One who becomes spiritually born
again cannot lose that ever again. And so hopefully that encouraged
him. There was a couple of people
that liked what I said, not many, compared to how many was speaking.
One gentleman actually contacted me and asked if he could be my
friend on Facebook. He said, I really appreciated
what you said. So I don't know, he may be a
doctrines of grace believer. Eternal life is a privilege,
but it's not a privilege that we gained by anything that we
did. And it's definitely not something
that we keep. Otherwise it wouldn't be eternal
life. So that's a privilege that we had. Now this morning, another
thing that we are given by God to, uh, to see as a privilege
or something that he's given for us is that we might, um,
grow in the grace and knowledge." Now, that's a pretty common verse
that we use around here that we grow in the grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ. But there's another passage of Scripture
that kind of speaks to that. 1 Peter 2, verse 1, it says, "...wherefore,
laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk
of the Word that ye may grow thereby. And if so, be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious." So, if you're a child of grace, what
this is saying in essence, if we extrapolate the meaning of
what's coming out of what Peter is saying here, is if you are
a child of grace, and we know that because The Lord is gracious
to those whom he loves, right? We're the ones who has experienced
his grace. He has graced us. And so if we
have tasted that the Lord is gracious, that speaks of only
the believers. That doesn't speak of anybody
else. Other folks, they may taste facts about a gracious God, but
they may not taste that the Lord is gracious, because those who
taste that the Lord is gracious truly believe that it is by grace
alone, through the work of Christ alone, by the work of Christ
alone. Those who have not tasted that
the Lord is gracious believe facts about a gracious Lord that
it's something that's up to them to do though. There's a difference
in that. So whenever Peter says, if so
be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, he's saying this
is the person who will thereby grow from the sincere milk of
the word. So the word of God has been given
to us as a place by where we might grow. We study the word of God. The
scriptures tells us that we are to diligently study the word
of God, to study to show ourselves approved, a workman who need
not be ashamed. Now I know that that admonition
was to Timothy specifically as a pastor and as a preacher, But
brethren, that is an admonition that can be passed along to every
one of God's people, is that we should study to show ourselves
approved. Do you want to be a husband like
God wants you to be? Then study to show yourself approved
so that you'll be leading your family the way you should lead.
If you want to be a wife, if you want to be a child, Study
to show yourself approved. And then all of us, as we share
the Word of God and as we minister the Word of God to those that
we're around, we study the Word of God. But not only to prepare
us for works of service, but we study the Word of God to grow
in that grace and knowledge that comes from God. As we study the
Word of God, we learn more and more of grace. And as I was mentioning
to you guys last week, or a couple weeks ago, you know, the more
I go back and re-examine my past theology, you know, and especially
whenever I speak with my family and things, and they tell me,
just go back again, remember these guys you used to listen
to, remember the things that you used to be told and were
taught and everything. And I go back and I do, I re-examine,
I honestly do. I go back and I look at those
verses to see whether or not I'm looking at those through
the lens of some other theology or some other system of theology,
I should say. And every time I go, I'm more
solidified that what I'm believing here about the free grace of
God is what's the truth. And it just causes me to grow
more and more in my knowledge of Christ and my understanding
of that grace. And I see the grace on every
page. It's of grace, it's of grace,
it's of grace. It is nothing of worse. And so
here we see that one of the privileges of being a believer is that God
has given us the Word of God that we might grow in that grace
and knowledge of Him. So we should study. I'm encouraging
everyone here. We should study the scriptures.
And we should do that regularly. You know, I'm not going to sit
up here and say that you need to get up at this time every
morning and spend this many minutes, you know, studying it. And then
at night before you go to bed, you need to study this minute.
And then whenever you have every waking minute that you're not
physically doing, Something like cooking or eating or bathing
or working that you should be spending every second and minute
Studying this word. Otherwise, you're you know Wasting
your time here on earth. Okay, I've heard those kind of
stories before maybe not that extravagant but close to it You
know, I hear people say the more you study God's Word the closer
to God you'll be Well, if that's the case, then why don't you
study the Word of God? non-stop I mean, don't we all want to
be close to God? Well, if you want to be close to God, then
why don't you nonstop study the Word of God and pray? See? Oh, well, we've got other things.
Well, okay there. Then there are things that you
love more than God. See, the things break apart when you start
adding everyday logic to it. So, you know, I know it's strange
to hear a preacher say, you know, I'm not telling you that you
have to study your Bible, you know, 25 hours a day. or even 15 hours a day. Now is
that beneficial? Absolutely. If you want to do
that, that's definitely good for you. I'm not knocking and
saying, don't do that. But here's what I'm saying is
we as the children of God will want to study. Number one, he
also uses this, uh, uh, this, uh, uh, analogy here of, of,
uh, the word being milk. Okay, as a newborn babe desires
milk. Okay, whenever a baby's born,
you can't feed that thing, you know, a chicken leg. You ain't
gonna be able to eat a chicken leg. You really can't even give
it the mushy food that comes in the baby jars. A newborn babe,
all it can eat is milk. And it has to be basically fed
that, you know. And so he's saying here, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word, so he's equating
us as be like babes who desire the milk. They can't get enough
of it, you know. They have to have that. They're
fed several times throughout the day. Well, go to God's word. Study God's word. And I found
that the people of God, they will desire that. They will want
that. It's hard for me to understand
that somebody that is a Christian that can go a whole entire week
or longer and just not really want to read God's Word. And
so we have a privilege of God's Word, and we have a privilege
of being grown by that Word. And so we grow in the grace and
the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And so that, in and of itself,
is a privilege. Turn with me now to Hebrews 2. This is one of those privileges
that to me is just really, I mean, flabbergasting. To me, this is one of those privileges
and truths of scripture. This is a truth. Now, I'm not
saying that we need to get out of bounds wacky and go around
like some of the charismatics do, and start flaunting and throwing
some of this stuff around in a wrong context in a wrong way. But brethren, this is truth.
This is the truth of Scripture, what I'm about to read. And we
should let this encourage us, as well as instruct us, but encourage
us in the Lord. Hebrews chapter 2, and I want
to start reading in verse 9. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God should taste
death for every man. Of course, we know as we read
in context that that's not talking about every single person. But
here it is, verse 10. For it became Him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which causes for which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren." Now, let me just stop there. Number
one, that's already something that I can't hardly fathom, how
that God himself in Christ can call me, Mike Smith, a sinner,
a vile sinner, an unholy person, brethren. That's just, it just
escapes me that that is a truth of scripture. Now granted, it's
only a truth of Scripture because Christ interceded for me. He died for me. He substituted
for me. He obeyed the law of God for
me. And His righteousness was put
to my account. and I don't stand in my own righteousness. That's the only way I could be
called brethren. But brethren, the fact that he even chose to
do that is just beyond me. So that in and of itself is a
privilege, but listen as we go on. Saying, I will declare thy
name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, will I sing
praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. So there the context takes
you back to verse 9. That tells us who the death was
for. The children that God had given him. But again, to be called
a child of God, not just a brethren, but a child. And here we are, verse 14, for
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
just like Christ. He also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.
Wherein all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His
brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of His people. For
in that He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to
succor them that are tempted." Brethren, we are brethren with
Christ. We are children of God. And the Scriptures also tells
us that if we are children, if we are children, then we're heirs,
right? We are joint heirs with Jesus. We're not subservient heirs with
Jesus in the fact of how God sees us. Why? Because the righteousness that
we stand in is Christ's righteousness. We stand in his righteousness
So every time Christ looks on his child of grace It is the
righteousness of Christ. He sees no difference That's
what he looks for But this kinship with Christ being a privilege,
you know, it's a privilege to be called a brethren Right. It's a privilege for you guys
to be my brethren. I Kindred in the Spirit, right? That's what it means to be brethren.
We're kindred in the Spirit. But these children are my children. And they are heirs. So they have
a kindred to me different than anybody else does. See, they have a claim to everything
that I own. If I would die, they would be
the recipients of everything I owe. Sorry it isn't more. It isn't much, kids, but it is
what it is. You get what I got. But anyway,
they are heirs to all that is mine. And so there is a thing
here that we're seeing that God wants us to know that not only
are we just kindred in spirit, but brethren, we are kindred
in relationship as far as a father and a child is concerned. As
far as children, each one of these children have as equal
right to everything that I own as anybody else does. Now, I
know that doesn't always play out in everybody's lives, and
if you've ever been through an inheritance situation, you find
that out, that there's lots of times there's fights that happen
over things because, but these children, not one of these children
have a right, some would say the eldest should have the most,
But each one of them are My children and each one of them have the
right to lay claim to everything that is Mine. God says that we are His children. And that we are joint heirs of
all that He has and owns because we are kindred with Christ. Now
that to me is amazing. But I want to share something
a little more amazing in that regard. And turn with me if you
would back to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. Now, I could go down and read
and make points through the whole entire chapter here of not only
pertaining to what I'm talking about, but Lots of other things,
but I'm gonna try to reserve myself to just a couple of passages
here. Let me start reading with verse
16. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Now, I'm gonna pause for just
a minute to send you on a rabbit trail, not now, but later. Let's stay focused here. How many of you have ever been
outside the world? Have you been anywhere else besides
the world? We're not of the world, it says. He says, they are not of the
world even as I am not of the world. Now that can mean location, but
it also can mean in relation to the world and all of its system. Okay. However, let me say this. There was a point in time where
these apostles were of the world. So he says they are not of the
world just as Christ was not of the world. Well, Christ was never of the
world ever. But yet, there was a time when
we are of the world, and we still are in flesh, that is, of the
world, of the earth earthy, still prone to the things of the world,
the temptations of the world, the weaknesses of the world,
okay? So, a little bit of study for
you to go home and look at, is he talking about the world system,
or is he talking about this place? And if he is talking about this
place, it says they are not of this place. But yet this is the
only place we've ever been. So that kind of takes me back
to that eternal seed, that eternal vital union. And is he talking
about who we are in that aspect? That life that was hid with God
in Christ. before the foundation of the
world. Were we really, before the foundation of the world,
individualized when we were given to Christ? Or was we given to
Him as this ethereal cloud of elect? The Bible says that we
were, our names were written in His hand. The Bible says that in the book
there were names that were written before the foundation of the
world. Because it says there were names who were not written
before the foundation of the world. Which means there were
names in a book before the foundation of the world. Individuals. So something for you to go look
at. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the
world, even so have I sent them into the world. And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself, and they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone..."
Okay, so to all the... ones who keep on saying that
this prayer was only for the disciples, but for them also
which shall believe on Me through their word. So anybody that has
ever since this time believed the Word of God, then it's speaking
to them too. And everybody in the past that
believed on the Word of God. It speaks to them too. That they
all may be one as thou art in me and I in thee. So he's praying
for a unity among those people as there is unity among him and
the Father. that they also may be one in
Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the
glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them, that they may be
one, even as We are one." Now, here's where it gets just unbelievable,
almost, to me, apart from faith being given to us. I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them.
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast
given me. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known
that Thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
the name, and I will declare it, that the love wherewith Thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." So not only is
He showing that He is in us and we are in Him, that is amazing
to me. That we are not only brethren,
but we are children, but also we have a relationship to where
He is in us, and we are in Him. But brethren, if you look back
a little bit further, in that passage, he says, I give unto
them eternal life to do as many as Thou hast given them. This
is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God.
I have glorified Thee on earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto
the men which Thou gavest Me. Thine they were, and Thou gavest
them Me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that
all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me, for I have given unto
them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received them,
and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have
believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them, I pray not
for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for they
are Mine." they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I am glorified in them." So we are God's. We are His. And He has prayed
for us that we would receive all these things. But the thing
that is so amazing to me is that He has prayed that we would be
one even as He and the Father is one. Now that's pretty inseparable. So if that's not a place for
security for the believer, then I don't know where he is. He
prayed that those whom he prayed for would be one with him as
he and the Father are one. What an amazing thing. Not just
brethren, not just children, but one even as he is one. Now
I'm not saying that we're gods. He's not gonna make us gods.
Okay? We don't want to get off into
that heresy. We're not gods, but brethren, he has brought
a unity and a fellowship and a relationship so tight, so close
that we can only say it's just one. We are one. We are one with
him. We are the same with him. That's
why the Bible says that we are joint heirs with Christ Jesus,
because we and Him are one. He and us, we and Him. We share
the same life. Whatever that eternal life is,
however it is, it's His, but it's also ours. He's given it to us. It wasn't
ours inherently. It's His inherently. Eternal
life is His inherently. But yet He gave it to us. And
so that is a privilege. But the privilege of oneness
with God is something that far exceeds being a brethren. Far exceeds just being a child.
It is a bond that cannot be separated. It is an eternal, vital union. That is a privilege that we have.
Kinship or vital union with Christ. Vital union with Him Himself. So, we only go under if He goes
under. We only lose out our inheritance
if He loses out the inheritance. Have you ever thought of that? For those who might be doubting
the security of the believer, think on these things. If we
are joint heirs with Jesus, then all the promises that were made
to Christ, all the things that will be given, everything that
is Christ to inherit as the heir of God, the Bible says we're
joint heirs with Him. And so the only way we will not
receive those inheritant promises is if Christ don't receive them. Now there's a promise. There's
some security there, brethren. Not security in what you do.
I'm not talking about security in your law keeping. I'm not
talking about security in your religiosity. I'm not talking
about security in your baptism or church membership. I'm not
talking about security in your faithfulness. I'm talking about
security that was made in a promise because you are united to Christ. That's why you're getting what
you're getting. Because you're united with Christ. Do you have a comment, brother?
I see you're looking at some scriptures. Is something on your
mind? No, I just... It is my fault. I was just reading here
in Ephesians 1.18. Amen? Amen. Look over at 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We'll
look at this and we'll take us a break. 1 Corinthians chapter
6. Look down, if you would, at verse
9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Someone can say, well,
everybody, there's an unrighteous, no, not one. So there's no one going to inherit
the kingdom of God. Well, brethren, the ones that
are righteous are the ones who have had imputed righteousness
laid to their account. Those are the ones it's speaking
of. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were
some of you..." Okay, so there we were unrighteous. "...but
ye are washed but ye are sanctified. But ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." So, just
to pause here for some theological straightening out. Who washes? Who sanctifies? And by who are we justified?
not by faith, not by works, but by the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful unto me,
but all things are not expedient. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go
that far. I meant to stop at verse 11. The such were some of you the ones that are inheritors
of the Kingdom of God. The ones who have been washed,
sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by
the Spirit of God, these are the ones who inherit the Kingdom
of God. These are the ones who are the
ones in view in the verses we just read in Hebrews. We are
the ones who have been justified. And therefore, because we have
been justified, we are able to lay claim to the things of Christ. We can stand here, although humbled
by these, we still can boast in the Lord and we still can
proclaim the truth that we are. one with Christ, and we are heirs
of His, recipients of the inheritance. But let's not go around saying,
I'm a child of the King, and I can just do whatever I want
to do. It's not a license to sin, and it's surely not a license
to boast in yourself as if you attained it. Why? Because it
was by the Spirit of God that we received and be made partakers
of the kingdom of God. All right, any thoughts on that? All right, well, let's pause
here, and we'll take a break, and we'll come back in.