Go with me back to 1 Peter 1.
1 Peter 1. Christ is all we need. I feel like I could go home. I'm in the habit of writing Silah
in my Bible. Let's just stop and think about
that in my notes. Stop and think about that. I
wish the Lord would let me enter into that and let that not be
a passing statement. Christ is all we need. I mean, that's it. Our precious God in love and
in mercy, he is going to put us in a position where we truly
say from our heart, Christ is all we want. You know that? Look at verse 8 right here in
1 Peter 1. Verse 8 says, Whom having not
seen, you love. You love. Whom having not seen,
you love. Can we agree with that? Whom having not, here we all
are. The songwriter wrote, Who can
cheer the heart like the Lord Jesus Christ? By his presence
all divine, true and tender, pure and precious, oh how blessed
to call him mine. Knowing what we know, knowing
how high he is and how low man is. Aren't we so blessed to say
he's ours? I am his and he is mine. Love of Christ so freely given,
grace of God beyond degree, mercy higher than the heaven, deeper
than the deepest sea. What a wonderful redemption.
Never can a mortal know how my sin, though red like crimson,
can be whiter than the snow. Every need his hand supplying. every need, every good in him
I see. On his strength divine relying
he is all in all to me. By the crystal flowing river
with the ransomed I will sing, all of God's ransom, and forever
and forever praise and glorify the king. All that thrills my
soul is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is more than life to me, and
the fairest of ten thousand in my blessed Lord I see. Whom having
not seen. Think about that. Whom having
not seen. Now we have been given eyes of
faith, haven't we? We have been. We have been given
eyes of faith. But the Apostle Paul wrote, we
see through a glass darkly, very darkly. He said, I hath
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that
love him. Hadn't seen. Can we say with Peter though,
whom having not seen, we love. We love Him. We love Him. I believe we can say that. We
love Him. Why do we love Him? Well, it's because verse 1 says
we were strangers scattered throughout. Look at verse 1. It says Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, and the Tri-Cities." Kingsport, Gray, Irwin, Abingdon,
Johnson City, and Dungan. Strangers scattered throughout. Isn't that right? Turn with me over to Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2, look with me at
verse 11. Wherefore remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. What
that means is you were not God's people. That at that time you
were without Christ. being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. That was us. That was us. You know, we lived
our life. We traveled down the road doing
our thing. totally oblivious to our God. Strangers. Just strangers. Scattered throughout. Aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise having no hope and without God in the world. Had
God left us right there driving around like we were doing, we
would have driven our way straight on into hell. Had He just left
us to ourselves. No hope without God in the world. That's where we were. Alright,
now hold your place right here. We're going to come right back.
Go back to our text. 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 says,
But you were elect. You were elect. God chose you. Growing up, I used to love watching
the commercials of Ed McMahon showing up to somebody's house
with a camera crew, a microphone, and a check for $3 million. I
loved it. I got so excited. As soon as
they opened the door, they know what's going on. And they're
so excited, and the anticipation just thrilled me. And I wouldn't have minded having
the money. But I used to envy Ed McMahon. I used to think, he's so exciting. He gets to go tell people, you
won. He gets to walk up and say, you
won. What? Me? Yeah. I got your name on this. It says your name right here. The Apostle Paul said, oh that
I might win Christ and be found in him. God has called me, and
I say this with fear and reverence, I'm not trying to be silly, but
God has called me to be a greater than Ed McMahon. I get to tell
greater news than Ed McMahon. I get to say, in Christ, God
chose you. Your name is on it. Verse 2 right here says, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit, that means God's Holy Spirit set you apart, unto
obedience of Christ. Christ's obedience. He set us apart to Christ's obedience. It says unto obedience and the
sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ. He obeyed it and he shed
his blood and God's Spirit set you apart inside that. So he
says grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Now look with
me back at Ephesians 2. He says the same thing right
here. And this is just wonderful. Ephesians 2 verse 11, he said,
Wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world, But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes
far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for He is our
peace." Whenever you, as you go through this world, And you
realize, you get a hold of the fact that, okay, this is turmoil,
and this is turmoil, and this is turmoil, and this is turmoil,
and that was turmoil, and I can foresee this is gonna be turmoil. You remember this, He is our
peace. He is our peace, who hath made
both this stranger and himself one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law and commandments contained in ordinances,
for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and
to them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. And you are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom you also are builded together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit." You know what he's saying right
there? In Christ, you won. That's what he's saying. You
won. Christ has gotten the victory
and Christ has given it to you. Given it to you. Go with me back
to 1 Peter 1. Verse 3 says, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He begat us, didn't
He? ruined it. And He should have
ruined us. Do you know what we do when people
mistreat us? We say, I'm going to ruin you. And that's what He should have
done to us. He should have ruined us. But verse 3 says, according
to His abundant mercy, He hath begotten us again. Isn't that
great? This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great. We praise Thee, O God, for the
Son of Thy love, for the Lord Jesus who died and is now gone
above. Hallelujah, thine the glory.
Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory.
Would you revive us again? Verse 3 says, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible. It is incorruptible. It's incorruptible. Thanks be
to God, sin cannot corrupt it. Has this thought ever gone through
your mind? God made all of the world and made Adam and everything
was sinless. But sin entered and man fell. Oh, I hope that doesn't happen
again. This inheritance is incorruptible. Sin cannot corrupt it. The adversary
cannot corrupt it. Time cannot corrupt it. I cannot
corrupt it. It is incorruptible. Verse 4
says, To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you. What is this inheritance
that's incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away? It's Christ
himself. Christ himself. He said, let
not your heart be troubled. I'm going back to my father to
prepare a place for you. I'm going back to make reservations. for you. Verse 4 says, to an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you. Don't you love that story
that, well I forget who, it will come back to me in a minute,
but he said he had a dream that he died and went to heaven. And
when he got there, the most beautiful choir ever heard was singing.
And he thought, oh, I wish I could sing with that choir. And he looked up into that vast
choir, and there was one empty seat. So he made his way up,
all the way up those steps. And I forget who it was, but
let's say it was Charles Spurgeon. It wasn't. He got all the way
to the top, and he looked on that seat, and there was a sign
that said, reserved for Charles Spurgeon. It's reserved for you. It's reserved. It already has
your name on it. It already has your name on it.
Reserved in heaven for you. Verse 5 says, who are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. Ephesians 2 says, by grace are
you saved through faith. Faith. That looking, that trusting,
that believing, that following. The faith of Christ that God
gives to every elect sinner. That faith is saving faith, keeping
faith. That belief on Christ that he
puts in there is the power of God that keeps a sinner. all
the way to the end, all the way to the very end. Look at Hebrews
11 with me, go back a couple of pages to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 verse 13 says, These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
with those eyes of faith. And they were persuaded of them,
and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. What they're saying is, I don't
deserve this. I'm a foreigner, I'm a heathen,
I'm a stranger just traveling through. Verse 14, for they that
say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful
of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
opportunity to return. But now they desire a better
country, that is, and heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."
He's made a whole city reserved with their name on it. He's not
ashamed to be called their God. Back in 1 Peter 1. Verse 3 says, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and 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 you
greatly rejoice." If any believer is going to glory, he knows there's
only one place it can be, in the Lord, wherein you rejoice. If a believer is going to find
happiness, he knows there's only one place it can be, in the Lord. And that place of our rejoicing
is incorruptible, undefiled. It'll never fade away. So, no
matter what trial comes, and they will, and no matter what
sorrow comes our way, there's one thing that we can rejoice
in forever. When everything else is gone,
I mean when it's all gone, We have no happiness in anything
that we can see on this earth. There's one place that we will
be able to forever rejoice. Verse 6, wherein you greatly
rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness
through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not
seen, you love." You love, no matter what trial, what temptation,
what sickness, what sorrow. All of God's elect are going
to be kept all the way up to the appearing of Jesus Christ. All the way up. And as soon as
He appears, as soon as He appears, every single one of them are
going to cry, there He is. There He is. It could be any
minute. It can be any minute. All of the weight of sin and
all the cares could fall off any minute. I mean, it can be
any minute. I love how the bride a couple
of Sunday nights ago, we were in Song of Solomon. And in chapter
3, Song of Solomon 3 verse 4, the bride says, I found him. She was looking for him. She
was going around asking everybody she could see, have you seen
him? Where is he? I can't find him. Where is he?
Finally, she cried, I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him and would not let
him go. Is that our heart's desire? Is any minute Jesus Christ is
going to appear? Any minute. If it's 1,400 years
from now compared to eternity, that's a fraction of a second.
Any minute Jesus Christ is going to... Is that our heart's desire?
As soon as He appears, like the Marys did when He walked out
of that tomb. As soon as they knew it was Him,
they just fell down and grabbed His feet. Do we greatly rejoice
at the thought of His appearing? On this earth, every soul in
this room has trials. Every soul in this room has trials. Do these trials seem like light
afflictions compared to eternal glory with Him? Are they worth
it? Are they nothing compared to
eternal glory with Him? Do we love Him? Do we love Him? If we do, Verse 8 says, Whom
having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. What he's saying is, every soul
who believes on him, And every soul who looks for him is watching
and waiting for him and loves him and hopes in him. Every soul
who does that will get him. Every single, you will not hope
in Bain. You will not believe in Bain. You will not look in Bain. Every soul will get him. Every
soul who rejoices with joy unspeakable in Christ alone. Christ alone
is going to receive the end of his faith. He's going to receive
the object that his faith was looking to, Christ himself. The Apostle Paul said at the
end of 1 Corinthians 16, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be cursed. Isn't that what he said? If any
man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed. This is our
question tonight. After a sinner sees with the
eyes of faith, we have not physically seen him. But we have seen him
with God-given eyes of faith. And after a sinner sees him as
he is, for who he is, and what he's done for sinners, how on
this earth could you not love him? How could anybody not love him? That's a mystery to me. That
really is a mystery. How could you not love him? He is altogether lovely, the
altogether lovely one. And Peter said in verse 8, Whom
having not seen, you love. Whom having not seen, you love. You think you love him now? Wait
till you see him. You just wait till you see him.
Whom having not seen, you're madly in love with him. Wait
till you see him. A child of God who has a heart
for Christ truly does cry, come quickly, Lord. Come quickly,
receive us to yourself and cause us to receive the end of our
faith. We want you. We want you. We're looking to
you. Cause us to receive the end of our faith, even the salvation
of our souls. That's what we want. All right,
let's all stand together.