of course many in our fellowship
who are unwell. One of the most delightful stories
in the New Testament is the story in John chapter 11. And here
we are beginning our service and we come to ask our Lord's
blessing upon us that he might come and visit with us. And so
in the scriptures we have these wonderful examples of prayer.
And one of the ones is in John's Gospel in chapter 11, and it
begins, Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany
in the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary that anointed
the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose
brother Lazarus was sick. And therefore his sisters sent
unto him, saying, so they sent this prayer request to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I love how the Holy Spirit
has directed these prayers, and I love the significance of it. Listen to what they say, these
two sisters. Lord behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. They could have said, couldn't
they, we love you very much and we'd like you to do something
for us. We've had you in our house, we've fed you, we've cared
for you, we've loved you when so many others have rejected
you, we've provided you and your disciples with a place. And they
could have said similar things about Lazarus, couldn't they?
But look at their petition. Not about us. Not about anything
that we do whatsoever. Their petition is to the character
and the glory of God, isn't it? Lord behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. He whom thou lovest is sick. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to him and we come to
our God and Father in heaven, not ever on the basis of anything
that we've ever done. We come to him and we're welcomed
into his presence because we come to him in the name of his
dear and precious son. And we come to him acknowledging
and pleading the very thing that he has promised, isn't it? That
he loves them. He loves them. Jesus loved Mary and Martha. and Lazarus and he proved that
love to them by sending them a simple word isn't it that this
sickness will not end in death this sickness will not end in
death All those for whom the Lord lovest, the sickness of
sin and the sickness of this world will not end in death. The Lord Jesus Christ died our
death and took it away and now he lives in heaven to intercede.
And we come into the presence of holy God on the basis of who
the Lord Jesus Christ is and what he does. If he loves you,
you are loved eternally and infinitely, and you're loved to health. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we do thank you for gathering us together. We thank you for
the testimony and the witness of your character that's revealed
in your scriptures and supremely in the finished work of your
dear and precious son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And we come, Heavenly
Father, as people who look to you who is the promised maker
and the promised keeper. And we praise you, Heavenly Father,
for your promises to gather your people together to bear witness
to who you are in your dear and precious Son, and to minister
to the hearts of your people. Oh, our Father, we have many
for whom we can say, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. And we do bring them before you,
Heavenly Father, trusting your provision and your providence
and the goodness and the glory of your character as you've revealed
that you do all things well. You never leave nor forsake your
people, Heavenly Father, and you hold them in your arms and
you care for them. And you carry them through the
storms and the trials of this world. Bless us yet again, Heavenly
Father, with the reality of your promises and your presence with
us, and we pray, Heavenly Father, the blessed Holy Spirit, we once
again take the things, the glorious things of the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he might reveal them to
the hearts of your people here today, our Father. for the preaching
of the gospel, both here and throughout this world, that you
would be honored and glorified, Heavenly Father, as you create
the witness and you create the fruit of lips that give and sing
praises to your holy name. Bless us, Heavenly Father, for
the sake of your dear and precious son. And we pray in Jesus' name,
amen. We're gonna sing yet again. We
sing. Now we have it on your sheet
there, thanks Norm, don't you? Christ receiveth sinful men. Receiveth sinful men. uh Sinners, Jesus will receive. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway lead. All who linger, all who fall,
sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive this sinful man. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ, receive the sinful man. Come and he will give you rest,
trust him for his word is plain. He will take the sinful last,
Christ, receive the sinful man. Sing it o'er and o'er again,
Christ, receive a sinful man. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ, receive a sinful man. Now my heart condemns me not,
pure before the law I stand. He who clenched me from all spot,
satisfied its last demand, sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive a sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive a sinful man. Christ receiveth sinful man,
even me with all my sin. Hurts from every spot and stain,
heaven with him I answer in. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ, receive a sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive a sinful man. I'd love to spend a few minutes looking
at our inheritance again this morning. as well as reminding
you of the verse in Acts 26 AD that we have been looking at
for this last few weeks. There is a commission of the
Apostle Paul and the commission of the Church. It's not only
a commission, it's a promise of what God is going to do in
the hearts of all of his people. He's going to send send a light
from heaven, he's going to send a gospel preacher, he's going
to send a messenger and the result of it will be that there will
be an opening, verse 18, opening of eyes and a turning from darkness
to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may
receive the forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in me. There is a glorious
work of the Lord Jesus Christ in delivering his people. He
turns them from that power of Satan, from that kingdom of darkness,
and he transfers his people into the kingdom of light, the inheritance
of the saints in light. I'd like you to turn with me
to 1 Peter and we'll have a look at these well-known verses that
talk about our inheritance. Quite simply, in terms of the
inheritance, if you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have it
all. He's heir of the universe, and
we're joint heirs with him. So Peter begins, Peter an apostle
of Jesus Christ to the strangers. Are you a stranger to this world? Is this world a stranger to you?
Are you in its company and do you find them speaking strange
things to your ears? Do you say, that's another world
to me. That's another world and another
righteousness and another religion. We can be living in the midst
of them and have them as our friends and we find ourselves
strangers. Scattered throughout Pontius
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to
the full knowledge of God through sanctification of the spirit
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. If you're any of those, if you're
a stranger, if you are elect according to the full knowledge
of God and you are sanctified through the Spirit and you've
been brought to the obedience of faith and the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ has been sprinkled on you, you are the recipient
of grace. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Then he begins. this glorious
description of our God. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again into a lively hope, into a living hope, 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 are kept by the power of God through faith,
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations, through manifold
trials and testing, that the trial of your faith being much
more precious than gold that perishes. Though it be tried
with fire, it might be found under praise and honor and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And I love this description.
Whom having not seen, we haven't seen him with the eyes of flesh. We've seen him through the eyes
of faith. Having not seen, you love. In whom though now you
see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls. of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that
should come unto you, searching what, or in what manner of time,
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified
beforehand. If you want a summary of all
of the Old Testament, here it is, isn't it? The sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. unto whom it was
revealed that not unto themselves but unto us did they minister
the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into." We have the extraordinary privilege,
brothers and sisters, of witnessing things that the angels are in
awe of right now. Isn't it remarkable? Wouldn't
it be a blessed thing today if you could go away saying, I haven't
seen him, but I love him. And even though I don't see him,
I just believe him. I believe the testimony of God
regarding his son. And the result of believing,
as Paul says in Romans 15, it's the joy and peace of believing. You rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. That's what we're gonna sing,
number eight. Thanks, Norm. How great thou art. My God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I
hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe
displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings
my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art How great
thou art! When through the woods and forest
plains I wander, And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain branches, hear the brook, and
feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. on the cross, my burden gladly
bearing. He bled and died to take away
my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come, with
shout of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill
me in humble adoration, and there
proclaim, My God, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! then sings my soul my savior
god to thee how great thou art how great thou As Tom was singing, I was thinking,
I've had a chat to Greg yesterday, and their church, they're having
the trial run of their church on this coming Wednesday night
and hope to be there next Sunday. So Greg, among many others, will
be greatly relieved to be there. So they send their greetings,
as does Todd and Chris Cunningham and Peter and others. We have been blessed with a fellowship
of believers around this world who pray for us and care about
us. And so such is part of the inheritance,
isn't it? Our verse in Acts 26 verse 18,
it speaks of those who receive an inheritance among them. Whatever I inherit, all my brothers
and sisters in Christ inherit. There are no bigger crowns and
shinier crowns in heaven. The crown, according to Isaiah
26, is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's the crown and all
believers get exactly the same crown. We have an inheritance. I was listening to that hymn
that's one of the remarkable things about the glory of this
gospel of grace that Peter was declaring. He was declaring a
gospel that comes through grace and it brings peace and it's
a multiplying grace and a multiplying peace and it comes to those who
believe. And it's as simple as that, brothers
and sisters. It's not believe and, not believe
plus. It's not anything other than
simply trusting Him. He says in 1 Peter, if we stay
there for a little minute, that for as much as you know that
you were not redeemed, you didn't have the forgiveness of your
sins, you weren't brought back from that place of darkness and
bondage, you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver
and gold, From your vain conversation, 1 Peter 1.18, from your vain,
your empty walk, this world, all it does is offer emptiness,
doesn't it? Vanity, nothingness. It's empty. If you look back on all of your
life and all the things you think you achieved before you got to
meet the Lord Jesus Christ, what's it all mean? What is it? What's all done? It's just... dust to be blown away from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. I love this next phrase. Where
does this faith come from? The inheritance is an inheritance
received and held onto by faith. God wants his people to know
the security of their salvation. He wants them to know the preciousness
of believing the testimony of God about his son. He doesn't
want them to be concerned about issues that Paul, the character
of God that this world, this religious world, especially finds
so offensive, doesn't it? Foreordained from the foundation
of the world. Elect according to the foreknowledge. That foreknowledge is the love
of God that he had for his people before the foundation of the
world. The sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's sprinkled on the hearts of those people who he redeemed. who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. Who by him, who by him do believe
in God? See, real faith. has its origins, not on the things
of this earth, but it has its origins in the things of heaven.
And real faith delights in the things of heaven and delights
in all the glorious character and nature of our God as revealed. Who do believe, by him do believe
in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory,
that your faith and hope might be in God, if it had anything
to do with the things of this world and the things of your
activities, you would be boasting in that and you would be holding
on to it, just like those people in Matthew 7, 21, when they get
to the end of their lives, having been warned and warned and warned
by God, and the many turn up there and say, look at the works
we've done! Look at the quantity of them! Many! Look at the beauty of the
many wonderful works we've done! in his name. You see, they get there on that
last day with something in their hand to offer God. Brothers and sisters don't do
it. God accepts his son and God accepts all those who in his
son and he accepts nothing else but his son. All that God requires,
God provides and God will only ever accept all that God has
provided. That your faith and hope might
be in God. Listen to what he goes on to
say. We're going to speak of sanctification a little bit.
Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit. You might recall Peter's great
message to those legalistic so-called Christian Judaizers in Acts 15. These people have purified their
hearts. These Gentiles have purified their hearts by faith. and God
declares it to be a purifying of their heart. You see, you
have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit
and to unfind love of the brethren. If you love him, you will love
those that have forgotten of him. It's one of the glories
of God gathering his people together. that we can have the opportunity
to exercise that love, that love that has its birth in God and
has its outworking in the fellowship of God's people. You love one
another. You love the brethren. See that
you love one another with a pure heart, fervently, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. because for
all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower
of the grass. I'm going to mow my lawns today
or tomorrow and I'll be cutting off thousands of little flowers.
and you'll go back there next week and you'll try and find
one of their flowers and they're gone, aren't they? That's the
glory of man, isn't it? It rises up and looks shiny and
polished and it has the esteem of others and it seeks the esteem
of others and just for a little while and it's gone. It's gone
forever. The grass withereth and 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. We were speaking about inheritance
last week and there are so many glorious pictures of inheritance
in the Old Testament. Abraham went to that place which
was to be his by inheritance and he went there and he looked
around and he was looking for a city. His builder and maker
was God and all he ended up owning in all of that land. a cave which the Lord Jesus Christ
will empty when he comes back. And all of that dust, all those
people will be raised again. But in that land, when they have
that promised land, the tribe of the Levites, the priests,
were told that they didn't have any inheritance in that land.
The reason they didn't have an inheritance in that land, in
many places in the Old Testament, the Lord says, Numbers 18, 20
and Ezekiel 44, 28, I am their inheritance. I am their possession. As he's told Abraham, he says,
I'm your shield and your exceeding great reward. If you read on,
if you're still open there in 1 Peter, we read on in Chapter
2, It says, speaks of us as a priesthood. So your priesthood has no possession,
no earthly possession in the land, because the Lord is their
possession. Verse 4 of 1 Peter 2. To whom coming? We are always coming. We never
stop coming, to whom coming? We're always coming to him. As
unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious, ye also as lively stones are built up into
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay and sigh on a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. This world is full of confounding
and confusing, and more so as the days wax on. But unto you, therefore, which
believe, he is precious. He's precious to you, brothers
and sisters in Christ, isn't he? He's precious. Beyond price. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which has builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being
disobedient, where unto also they were appointed. Don't be
dismayed by the stumbling of this world. Stumbling over the
very precious reality and the character of our God, finished
and glorious work of our Lord Jesus Christ, stumbling over
his election, stumbling over his foreknowledge, stumbling
over him having a chosen people in this world. It's all appointed by God. But ye, verse nine, are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,
a particular people. We might seem to be peculiar
to this world, and particularly to this religious world. We are
chosen. We are a royal priesthood right
now, a holy nation a peculiar people, that you should show
forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light." That's what the gathering of the Lord's
people together is all about, isn't it? That we now are declaring
we are made to be a witness. We are a place in which the Lord
Jesus Christ witnesses to himself and witnesses in the hearts of
his people. that he's called us out of darkness into his marvellous
light. In time past were not a people,
but now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have attained mercy. We're a royal priesthood. We
have no inheritance in this place, brothers and sisters, but he
is our inheritance. And if you have Him, you have
all. There is one passage among many,
many, many in the Old Testament. You can go back and look in the
Old Testament and look at all the wonderful and glorious things
of the inheritance of God's people. He calls you his, and he says
that you're his inheritance, and he is your inheritance. To have him is to have it all. We don't have time to look at
it in any great detail, but you might recall in Genesis chapter
33, Jacob had been off in Laban's country and amongst Laban's people
for all those years. He worked there to earn his bride,
both of his brides, and it seemed to him like just a little time
because of his great love for her. But on his way back, he's
very fearful and rightfully fearful of meeting Esau, his brother,
from whom effectively he had stolen his birthright, although
Esau had given it away. Jacob is a man loved by God,
but You might recall that as Jacob gets closer and closer,
he gets more and more nervous, and eventually he gets to the
place where he knows he's going to meet Esau, and he sends ahead
a whole flocks and wives and others. And Esau comes and he asks him,
in verse 8 of Genesis 28, he said, what means all this drove?
which I met and Jacob was trying to earn the favour of Esau and
he said these are to find grace in the sight of my Lord. Esau
said I have enough. The Lord had blessed Esau's material
possessions in this world because of his association with the children
of God. He says I have enough. My brother
keep thou which thou hast unto thyself. and Jacob said, Nay,
I pray thee. If now I have found grace in
thy sight, then receive my present at my hand, for therefore have
I seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou
wast pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my blessing
that is brought to thee, because God hath dealt graciously with
me. God had been gracious with him,
if you go back and read The previous chapter, the latter part of the
previous chapter, you see that that night, that previous night,
Jacob had wrestled with God, had wrestled with God and had
prevailed. The Lord Jesus Christ had met
with him and he'd changed his name from Jacob, which means
deceiver and supplanter, to Israel, a prince with God. He had a new
name and he had a new walk in this world. He walked a limping
in this world. the tendon of his thigh was put
out. He says, God has dealt graciously
with me. If you have met him, you have
been in close proximity to him, and you have survived, you've
been dealt with very graciously. Because I have enough. God has dealt graciously with
me, and I have enough. Esau said, I have enough. Esau
was saying that in this world I have very, very much. I have
much. When Jacob said, I have enough,
Jacob was saying, I have absolutely everything. I have everything. I have the whole that means. I not only have all that this
world has for the pilgrims and the strangers that wander through
it, the care and protection and the carrying of my God through
this world. I have everything because I have
him. That's the inheritance, brothers
and sisters, that God gives to his people. We are receivers. We are receivers because our
God is a giver. When he gives, we receive and
he makes sure that the reception is ours both now and forever. Can you say with Jacob, I have
everything. If you have Christ, you have
everything. May the Lord bless his word to
our hearts. We're just going to have a break for a few minutes
and then come back and look at the glory