Salvation is by the will of God. It's by the will of God in purposing
it. It's by the will of God in sending
forth His Son. The will of His Son was to do
the will of His Father. And He did that will. It's by
the will of God, irresistibly calling his sheep to himself.
And this will of God to save his people is immutable, does
not change. This will of God is sovereign. It will not be frustrated, it
cannot be resisted, it shall accomplish, it shall accomplish
his purpose. This will of God is the most
certain, stable foundation in which the believer rests. If
God has willed to save me, I shall be saved. And those who desire
for salvation to be in some regard based upon the will of man have
no idea what they're asking. The will of the flesh is the
most unstable, changing, fickle, feeble, foolish thing that a
man could ever trust in. Ever. I want to look at two people
in Scripture today to see why the believer delights that our
salvation is by the will of God and not by our will. Turn with
me, if you will, to Numbers chapter 16. We're going to read quite
a bit of Scripture this morning, and as we do, I'm going to comment
very little, and I have but two brief points for you when we
finish reading these Scriptures. Numbers 16, verse 1. Now Korah, the son of Ishar,
the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, And Dathan and Abiram,
the sons of Eliab, and An, the son of Pelath, sons of Reuben,
took men. And they rose up before Moses
with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty
princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, Ye
take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then
lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord.' And
when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face, and he spake unto
Korah and to all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the Lord
will. the Lord will show who are His
and who is holy. And the Lord will cause him to
come near unto Him, even him whom He hath chosen will He cause
to come near unto Him. Now through Moses the Lord commanded
Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and An, to bring those 250 princes up
there to the tabernacle with incense burners full of incense. And He also commanded Aaron to
come. Aaron was the one God had chosen. Now, look down at verse
28. Verse 28, And Moses said, Hereby
ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works,
For I have not done them of mine own hand. If these men die the
common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation
of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord
make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them
up with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick
into the pit, Then you shall understand that these men have
provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he made
an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave
asunder that was under him. And the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained
unto Korah and all their goods. They and all that appertained
to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed
upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round
about them fled at the cry of them, for they said, lest the
earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from
the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense. Now, turn with me, if you will,
to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. The night that the Lord Jesus
ate the final Passover with His disciples, He instituted His
table. And we read here in Luke 22 verse
19, And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave
unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament
in my blood, which is shed for you. But, behold, The hand of
him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the
son of man goeth. Christ says, surely I go, as
it was determined. But woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among
themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. And
there was also a strife among them, which of them should be
accounted greatest?" Now hold your place right there. Turn
over to Matthew 26 and look at verse 31. This is the same time. They've left now and they've
gone out to the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All
ye, talking to his disciples, all ye shall be offended because
of me this night. For, because, this is why it
is a must, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and
the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But, after
I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered
and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him,
Verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow
thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I
should die with thee, yet will I, I will not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Now look back at Luke 22 and look at verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you
as wheat. The sifting had already begun.
That's why he was saying, I will and I will not. But I have prayed for thee. Already he had. He said, I have. But I have prayed for thee. That
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And he, Peter, said unto him,
Lord, I am. There's one I am. It's not me
and it's not you. Peter said, I am ready to go
with thee, both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell
thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou
shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. After the Garden of Gethsemane,
the Lord delivered Himself to the soldiers to be taken captive
by them. And we read in verse 54. Then took they Him, and led Him,
and brought Him into the high priest's house, and Peter followed
afar off. And when they had kindled a fire
in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter
sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him
as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This
man was also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman,
I know him not. And after a little while another
saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man,
I am not. And about the space of one hour,
after another confidently affirmed, saying, of a truth, this fellow
also was with him, for he's a Galilean. And Peter said, man, I know not
what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the cock crewed. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. And Peter remembered. the word
of the Lord. How he had said unto him before
the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out
and wept bitterly. The title of my message this
morning is Korah and Peter. The first thing I want you to
see is that Korah and Peter Korah and all his company that came
with him. We'll just focus, we'll just
use Korah to represent them all. Peter and all the disciples.
We'll represent Peter. We'll use Peter's name alone.
Korah and Peter. Korah and Peter likewise sinned
against God. They both were given the word
by the Lord. Both were given the word by the
Lord. Moses was sent and he delivered
the word to Korah that Aaron was the high priest. The Lord
himself taught Peter here. The Lord himself taught Peter
and his disciples his word. He said, Then saith Jesus unto
them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For
it is written, I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep of
the flock shall be scattered abroad. I will, and it shall
come to pass. It's written. This is the word
of God, the Lord said. But after I'm risen again, I
will go before you into Galilee. They both spake against the word
of the Lord. Korah withstood the Lord's messenger,
Moses, murmuring against God's word that he had chosen Aaron
to be the high priest. But in reality, Korah withstood
the Lord himself. You can take Moses and Aaron
out of the equation. That's who Korah was speaking
against. Moses said that in verse 11 and number 16. He said, Thou
and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord. What's
Aaron that you murmur against him? You gather together against
the Lord. Peter spoke face to face with,
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself. Peter answered
and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended. Directly against the word that
the Lord said must and shall be fulfilled. He said unto him,
Lord, I'm ready to go with thee. Both into prison and to death.
Peter said, though I should die with thee, yet I will not deny
thee. And likewise also said all the disciples. Both these
men were striving for preeminence. Korah was striving for preeminence
over Moses and Aaron. He said, ye take too much upon
you. seeing that all the congregation
are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them, wherefore
then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord." What did the disciples begin
to strive about? There was also a strife among
them which of them should be accounted the greatest. In both Korah and Peter, We see
the evil pride of sinful flesh. This is the best you can accomplish
by your will. It's the best I can accomplish
by my will. These six things that the Lord
hate. Do you know the Lord hates some
things? These six things doth the Lord hate, seven are an abomination
unto him. The first of them is a proud
look. This wise man said, pride goeth
before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. The pride that entered into the
heart of all men without exception in the fall of Adam and through
the conception of that corruptible seed of Adam is this proud look,
this proud defiant will that I will. I will and I will not. I will and I will not. The Lord says, there's none that
willeth, none that seeketh. None. But man says, I will. Man says, I will. He says, unless
the will of God keep you, you'll perish. Man says, I will not.
I will not. The heart is deceitful above
all things. I can think of some pretty deceitful
things. But God says, your heart and
my heart is deceitful above all things. And desperately, ever
seen a man who thinks his rights are being infringed upon? How
desperately that man responds, how he reacts in desperation.
This heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Desperate to hang on to this
pride of self-will and self-sufficiency. Desperate to hang on to it. And
the Lord said, and who can know it? In other words, you and I
won't even realize it. You and I will have no idea that
it's taken over. and that we're in captivity in
this snare. You and I won't even know it.
Cora was an unregenerate, religious sinner. Peter was a regenerated
child of God. But we see here that old, deceitful,
sinful flesh wherein the born-again child of God yet resides. No difference in His flesh than
Korah's flesh. Not any. None. Turn over to Romans chapter 7
with me just for one moment. Romans 7. Paul is a converted man. He's been called by God, regenerated
by the Spirit, made anew in the inner man. And Paul says this
in Romans 7.18, For I know that in me, that is, here's what I'm
talking about, in my flesh, in the very way that I've been born
in Adam, in me, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me. That's the will of the new man.
That's the will, thy people shall be willing in the day of my power.
That was there because God put it there. He had a willingness.
But now watch. But how to perform that which
is good? I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that, I would not. It's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. There's where the willingness
is. But I see another law in my members, in my flesh, in what
I am, warring against the law of my mind. And here's what it
does. It brings me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. brings me captive, takes me over,
puts me in chains that I can't free myself from. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
captivity, from this body of death, from these chains of my
flesh? Who's going to deliver me from
this self-will and this self-desire and this proud look of the flesh?
Who's going to deliver me from that? I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So first of all, in these two
men, we see that there's absolutely no difference in these two men.
One was an unregenerate, self-righteous man. The other was a regenerated
child of God. Yet in their flesh, there was
no difference in them. Korah and Peter. Here's the second
thing. I want you to see now the difference
between these two men. Both these men had been taught,
just like I'm teaching you now, this call's going forth to all
men right here. Both these men had heard the
general call of the gospel. Both of them had. Both these
men had made a profession to trust the Lord. Both these men
sinned against God. One of these men was swallowed
up into the earth and went down into the pit alive because of
what he did in his own willful rebellion against God. And one
of these men, though he willfully rebelled against the Word of
God, against the Lord Himself, against His disciples, and attempted
to stand by that proud self-will, self-righteous hand, he didn't
go down into the pit. What in the world is the difference
between these two men? The only difference that made
these two men to differ was the grace of God. That's all. Paul said, who maketh thee to
differ from another? And the word is, who makes a
distinction between you and another? From what we've looked at here
in Korah and Peter, there's really no distinction between them.
But who makes the distinction between men? Who makes you to
be distinguished, set apart from another? God does. If it's his will, it shall be. Paul said, what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Not what hast thou that thou
didst not accept. That's that proud look. that
which you didn't receive, freely given to you. Now, if you received
it freely, Paul said, why dost thou glory as if thou hast not
received it? There's an article in the Bulletin,
Dave Emerson wrote about receiving. Read that, receiving. Well, here's
the difference in these men. This distinguishing difference
of grace is first of all electing grace. That's what it is. The
difference for Peter and for every child of God was that before
God made the world, He chose His children in Christ based
on nothing but God's own purpose to save whom He will. whom He will." Now you think
on this. Think long and hard on this idea, this thought right
here. If God's choice to save was based
on some foreseen merit in you or me, if it was based on some
aspect of our will at any point in this salvation,
our ability If it was based on anything of the sort, even on
our faithfulness, do you see how that all salvation would
have been lost for Peter? Do you see that? The Lord said, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob, ye sons of the supplanter, ye sons who are exactly like
this changing, fickle supplanter named Jacob. Therefore, because
I've changed not, you're not consumed. That's the only reason. The only reason. Turn over to
Romans 9 verse 11. How do I become a son of Jacob?
What makes the distinction that I'm a son of Jacob? What is that? What is that? What makes that
distinction? Romans 9. Look at verse 10. Not only this,
but when Rebekah, that was the mother of Jacob. Not only this,
when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that, now here's why it's this way, here's why
it's this way, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand, might stand, unchangeable, unchanging, that it might stand. What's the purpose of God in
the purpose of election? Scripture says, whom He did foreknow,
He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Here's
the purpose, that His Son might be the firstborn among many brethren. God's going to make sure that
purpose stands. You see, the first purpose is
not for you and me. The first purpose is for the
glory of His Son. God chose whom He willed, that
according to the purpose of God, according to election, his purpose
might stand. His son's going to receive glory,
all the glory and honor. And it was said unto her, before
they were born, have it done any good or evil, the elder shall
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's how you become a son of
Jacob. True son of Jacob. God choosing. His will. What shall we say then? Well,
that's unfair. God's unrighteous to choose some
and not choose everybody. God's unrighteous, God forbid. He said to Moses, now here's
the will whereby men are saved, not your will. Here's the will
whereby men are saved. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, It's not of Him that willeth. It's not of your will. Christ
didn't say, you're not my sheep because you don't believe. Christ
said, you don't believe because you're not my sheep. It's not of him that will. It's
not you putting your stamp of approval on God and making the
blood of his son effectual and making it having accomplished
something for you, applying it yourself by your act. That's
not the case. God chose whom he will. Christ
redeemed all that were given him and all that the father giveth
him shall come to him and he will in no wise cast them out.
No man can come to Him except the Father which sent Him to
draw him. He's got to apply the blood. He's got to make the sinner
willing in the day of His power and draw him to the feet of Christ.
Does this offend you, the Lord said? Does this offend you? So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
That's the first thing that made this distinction between Peter
and Korah. These men who in their flesh
had no distinction between them whatsoever. Here's the second
thing, redeeming grace. The difference for Peter and
for every child of God is that Christ Jesus accomplished all
things necessary to make us accepted of God. That's the difference. Christ was his surety. You know,
Christ, at the time Peter did this, Christ hadn't been to the
cross yet. Why then wasn't Peter just consumed in an instance?
Why wasn't Abraham? Why wasn't Abel? Because Christ is the surety.
He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. When
God entered into covenant grace, covenant mercy with Himself,
God the Father, God the Son, They struck hands and He became
the surety. It was never as if Christ would
not accomplish this. God, who knows the end from the
beginning, He calls those things that be not in time as though
they already were in time. Because there's no possibility
they won't be. The Savior was about to go to
the cross and He was about to endure the wrath of God toward Peter. for everything
Peter just said and did. Not only that, for every secret
thought, for even the sin that he hadn't even manifested, that
nobody ever saw, that deceitfully, desperately wicked heart that
Peter himself didn't even know. Christ was going to be made sin
for Peter and bear the wrath of God toward Peter on his behalf. All this took place as the Lord
said, you see this broken bread? This is my body, which is broken
for you, Peter. You see this wine? This is my
shed blood. This is the New Testament confirmed,
ratified, established, sure, because of my blood, which is
shed for you. And Christ was going to that
cross, and He went there, and the Savior was plunged into the
justice of God, into the teeth of God's justice, and bore the
wrath of God, that eternal condemnation, that eternal separation from
God. And He bore it, not... He bore
all of Peter's sin. And He bore it all away. Till
God's infinite justice said, Satisfy. Satisfy. from the foundation of the world,
Christ had presented Peter faultless before God. That's what Ephesians
1 tells us. He chose us in Christ and He
blessed us with all spiritual blessings that we should be holy
and before God in love. And Peter was. He always was
in Christ. In Christ. And even right here
when he sinned against God, face to face with Him, and said, I
don't care that your word says that, it's not happening with
me. Christ was the surety in whom
Peter was absolutely holy before God. And Christ went to the cross
then and laid down his life and completely, totally redeemed
him. He made that a reality that God
said was a reality from eternity. He made it a reality in time.
And it was only because of Christ Jesus, the Son of God, that God's
love for Peter was not changed one iota when he denied the Lord
three times. You really want to trust in your
will? That fickle, foolish thing? You really want salvation to
be based on that? The third grace that made the
difference, the distinguishing difference between Korah and
Peter was the regenerating, calling, keeping grace of God. Now, some
might say at this point, well, the difference, the reason why
Peter wasn't swallowed up and Korah was, is Peter repented. Well, he did. He did repent. Sure did. And he believed Christ.
But where did that faith and that repentance come from in
the beginning? Where did the life come from that made Peter
alive? Where did the ears come from
that made Peter hear? Where did the eyes come from
that made Peter see? I'm talking about the spiritual
eyes and ears. I'm talking about the spiritual
life. I'm talking about where did faith and repentance come
from in the very first place? Where did it come from? Look
over to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and look
at verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with
Christ, by grace ye are saved. Look down now at verse 8. For
by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Paul said, what do you have that
you didn't receive of God? The life you received of God.
the faith you received of God, the repentance you received of
God, a gift freely given, not earned, not merited, not worked
for, freely given. That's where it came from. Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power, God said to
his son. That's when they're going to
be willing. God has to give you a willingness. And it's not a
willingness to say, I stand on my own. I willingly came to Christ
and I willingly saved myself. That's not it. It's a willingness
to say, I was the captive of Satan under his will and his
power. Now, I'm the bondservant of Christ
under his will and his power. You're not your own. Whether
you're under the power and dominion of Satan or you're under the
power and dominion of Christ, either way, you're not your own.
Either way. In that first hour of His power,
He makes His children willing. And in every hour, in every error,
in every boneheaded stunt like Peter pulled here, and like you
and I pulled, in every hour, it has to be His power that makes
us willing to acknowledge our sin, to acknowledge our transgression,
to repent from ourselves and lay hold of Christ alone. Every
hour. from the first to the last. We
saw how many times Peter said, I will, I will not. I will, I
will not. I will, I will not. You know
what mortified that self-will? You know what mortified that
proud look? You know what made him ashamed
of himself and that I will, I will, I will? You know what made him
ashamed? It was not until this. While he yet spake, the cock
crew and the Lord turned and looked at him. Looked him right
in the eye. Is he looking at you this morning?
Is the Lord looking right into your heart this morning? He looks square into the eye
of His face. He turns and looks at you. And that turns you. And that's
repentance. Listen. The Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. And Peter remembered. His own word. Peter remembered
the word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord. Peter,
this shall be. This shall be. Somebody grab
that. Peter, this shall be. He remembered that. And Peter, it says, went out
and wept bitterly. He repented. Because God granted
him repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. And that's the
only time a sinner will. The only time. What made it so
Peter's faith never failed? The Lord said, I have prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not. I have. You see, Satan desires,
he desires to have you that he might sift you as wheat. And God permissively allows him
to have his desire until his set hour. And then God says,
no more. But you can't deliver yourself
from the snare of the devil. You can't deliver yourself from
the power of the prince of the air. You can't do that. I can't
do that. But God can. God can. And when we get to feeling like
we can do it, Satan's desire, let me have him, let me have
him, let me have him. And the Lord allowed him to sift Peter.
The only reason Peter wasn't consumed by him is Peter said,
the Lord said, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. We behold the perfection of God's
strength, the perfection of God's power, the perfection of God's
wisdom in all these things when he makes us to behold our total,
the totality of our weakness. That's exactly what Paul said.
The Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for thee. And he
said, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. You're going
to behold my strength when you behold your absolute weakness.
You're going to behold my will when I've made you to behold
your will's nothing. Your will's like a little grasshopper
hopping around on the ground. It won't accomplish anything.
Well, I got an application for you. And I want you to think
of this and what we've seen here. The Scriptures tell us that knowledge
puffeth up, but charity edifieth. Peter had been regenerated. He
began faith to believe on Christ Jesus. He had been taught knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Lord Jesus Christ, about
the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Lord Jesus Christ. He had been
taught. And in his own mind, this is
what he was taught. He was taught the doctrine. He
was taught the knowledge that God teaches every believer through
this Gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. All power, all might, all wisdom
is of God through the blood of Christ Jesus, through the Spirit.
And it's not by your might, it's not by your strength, it's by
His Spirit. This is the Gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. If
at any point you have some ability to stand on your own, some ability
to persevere without the preserving grace of God, then you have to
go to that last chapter in the book of Jonah and cut out that
text that says salvation is of the Lord. You've got to cut it
out. And in fact, you've got to take the whole book and throw
it away. And you'll try to do that until God makes you see
what this book says. But when He teaches us that knowledge,
that our sufficiency is not of ourselves, it's of God, we get
that knowledge. And then, like Peter, we become
puffed up in that knowledge, and we start thinking and acting
the very opposite of what that knowledge has taught us, what
He's taught us in that doctrine. We begin to think we can stand.
We begin to think that we can hold ourselves up, and I will,
and I will, and I will not. We begin to think those things.
That's what God has to save us from in the first hour. That's
what He has to keep saving us from, our own proud look, our
own will. But in knowledge alone, this
knowledge alone, doctrine alone, you can get that without God
teaching you. You can get the doctrine of grace. You can come to those without
God ever doing a thing in the world for you. This is what always
happens. Knowledge alone, doctrine alone,
without the power of God's love working in the heart and in the
experience of our daily lives will only make our natural darkness
greater darkness. Self-righteous religious darkness
is the worst kind. That's true. Knowledge puffeth
up, but charity, love edifies. Now you consider this. God not
only teaches us this knowledge through sound doctrine, just
as we come here together, through His Spirit. He not only teaches
us this doctrine so that we understand and believe and bow to the truth
of God, but in His everlasting, unchangeable love, God is sovereign
to edify His children by His love and with His love for us
by working everything in our lives to bring us to experience
that it is always continually God that careth for us, that
keeps us and preserves us. And through these painful trials,
through this chastening hand of our Lord, the sovereign, unchangeable
love of our Heavenly Father brings each of His children down from
being puffed up in the knowledge He's taught us, And by these
providential dealings with us, He increases love for Him by
showing us His love can't be changed toward us. No matter
when we do something just like what Peter did. Turn over to
Mark 16. And we'll close. Mark 16, verse
5. The Lord had gone to the cross.
He had given up the ghost. Cried, it's finished. He had
been laid in a tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the
mother of James came. And it says in verse 5, And entering
into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right
side, clothed in a long white garment. And they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not
affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid
Him. But go your way. Tell His disciples and Peter. Go tell His disciples and Peter
that He goeth before you into Galilee Therefore shall you see
him just like he said unto you, back before all this sin and
rebellion took place. You see, our rebellion and our
sin don't change the love of God. It don't change the will
and purpose of God to save whom he will. That's the will I delight
in. That's the will I desire to stand
in. That's the will I trust to keep me from this fickle will
of my flesh. That's why when the Lord not
only sent that Word, He came to Peter. And He not only sends
this Word, He comes. Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to
where we are. Just as real as after He was
risen, He came to His disciples three times. And that third time,
He said to Peter three times, Peter, do you love Me? Peter
said, Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love you. Peter was grieved
by it. He said, Lord, you know all things.
You know I love you. And the Lord three times told him, feed
my sheep, feed my lambs. And then he told Peter, he said,
Peter, you walked where you would when you were younger. He said,
when you get old, he said, somebody's going to bind you. And he said,
he was signifying the death that he would die and how Peter would
glorify God. He was telling him, Peter, You're
going to willingly do this. You're not going to forsake me.
You're going to willingly do this. And Peter's been taught
through this how he's going to do this willingly and glorify
God by the will of the Lord. As soon as he got through saying
that, John was walking along behind him. And the Lord told
him, he said, now follow me, Peter. As soon as he got through
saying that, they're walking along, and John's walking behind
them. And Peter said, well, what about John? What does he need
to do? And the Lord said, Peter, this
sovereign, unchanging love of God said, Peter, if I tarry,
if John doesn't die till I come again, what's that to you? That's
none of your business. Don't be looking at him. Follow
me. Follow me. And so Peter, when
he wrote his epistle, he said, humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God. It's going to do any good not
to? Not if you're His, it's not. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that instead of you exalting
yourself, saying, I will, I will not. Instead of you exalting
yourself, that He may exalt you. in due time, in His time. And do this, casting all your
care, all of it, all of it, upon Him. Why? Because for every chosen, redeemed
child of God, this is certain. Peter knew it by painful experience.
Because He careth for you. I pray the Lord bless you.