I want you to turn with me to
Acts chapter 11. Not the first time I've said
this following a message, but I think the challenge for
me is to be sure not take anything away from what we've just heard.
What a wonderful encouraging message. Encourages me to try
it. Try to preach it myself. I want
to begin here and read. It's a lengthy reading, but I
want to begin in Acts chapter 11 and verse 27. Acts chapter
11 and verse 27. And in those days came prophets
from Jerusalem unto Antioch, and there stood up one of them
named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should
be great growth throughout all the world, which came to pass
in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man
according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren
which dwelt in Judea, which also they did, and sent it to the
elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Now about that time,
Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the
church. And he killed James, the brother
of John, with a sword. And because he saw it pleased
the Jews, he proceeded farther to take Peter also. Then were
the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him,
he put him in prison and delivered him to four quarterians of soldiers
to keep him. intending after Easter to bring
him forth to the people. Peter, therefore, was kept in
prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God
for him. And when Herod would have brought
him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers,
bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door kept
the prison. And behold, the angel of the
Lord came upon him, and light shined in the prison. And he
smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise quickly.
And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said
unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he said unto him, Cast thy
garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out, and followed
him, and wished not that it was true which was done by the angel,
but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first
and second ward, they came into the iron gate that leadeth them
to the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed
on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him.
And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety
that the Lord has sent his angel and hath delivered me out of
the hand of Herod and from the expectation of the people of
the Jews. And when he had considered the
thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose
surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
And as he knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to
hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice,
she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter
stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou
art mad. But she constantly affirmed that
it was even so. Then said they, it is his angel. But Peter continued knocking,
and when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But he beckoned unto them with
a hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had wrought
him had brought him out from the prison, and he said, Go,
show these things to James and to the brethren. And he departed
and went to another place. Now as soon as it was day, there
was no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter. And
when Herod had sought for him and found him not, he examined
the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death.
And he went down from Judea, to Caesarea and their abode.
And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon,
but they came with one accord to him, and having made Blastus
the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace, because
their country was nourished by the king's country. And upon
a set day Herod arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne,
and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout,
saying, It is the voice of a God, and not of man. And immediately
the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten of worms, and
gave up the ghost. But the word of the Lord increased
mightily." I wasn't going to preach on this. I had something else I was gonna
preach on, but as I was coming down here Monday, or Thursday,
I turned on the radio to listen. My, there's a big crowd here,
ain't there? Man, I just noticed that. I get caught up in something,
folks, and I'm sorry. I never thank the pastor, never
thank the ladies and all the cooks. I'm sorry, I just get
caught up in my mind. and I get tucked off and I can't
help it, so forgive me. But I was coming down here Thursday
thinking about what I was going to preach on today and tomorrow.
I heard this preacher on the radio, and he was talking about,
pretty quickly now, the catastrophe that was coming on our country,
the great trial that the church was going to face, and it was
pretty devastating. And I got not much doubt in my
mind that some trouble's coming. Trouble's coming to the church.
But he gave two remedies for what was coming, and he hinted
at another one. He said, this trouble's coming,
and you need to make preparations. And the two that he gave was
this. You need to store some food back.
You need to have a couple of months at least of a supply in
your cupboard or in the basement or somewhere because people's
going to be killing each other for food. And the second remedy
he suggested was this. Hang on to your guns. Don't let
them have your guns. And then he handed out another
one. You need to get rid of some of your dollar bills and 20s
and 100s and keep some gold in your safe. And I thought, my
goodness, I've got a couple of guns. My wife, he cans. We grow a garden and she cans
and we could probably live 30 days. But if this comes and my
poor neighbors come to my door and they're starving to death
and say, I know you've got some beans in your cupboard. What
am I going to do, shoot them? Am I going to send them back
home hungry? Where's the compassion in that?
Listen, I'm a Christian, but if you don't get out of here,
I'm going to shoot you. I've got no doubt that trouble
is coming to the church. But you know the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal. They're mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds. And when God is pleased to put
His church through a trial, I'm telling you, He removes these
supports anyway. He kicks every prop out from
under His church, and when He sends her through trials, here's
her message. hangs my helpless soul on thee. That's where he brings us to.
And as that preacher was talking about that, I thought of this
message that I preached several years ago. And my mind went back
to this message. So I thought, well, I'm going
to look that up. My little satchel, I carry quite
a few with me. And I want to look at that this
morning. And the reason I want to look
at that, it doesn't include our guns. It does include storing
back food, and I own some guns, and I have my food. I don't have
any gold. I got a little plastic card my
wife lets me carry with me. That'll get me home. But I'm
not dependent upon that. The church faced the trial. This is the worst trial, the
most difficult trial the church had gone through up until this
time. They'd been tried. Mainly it was false religion
that tried them. They couldn't get to the Lord
Jesus. His hour had not come, but when
it did, and He gave Himself under their hands, they slew Him. And
when that's all they could do, they got upset, and then when
His disciples began to preach the same message He preached,
it is I, then they turned on His disciples. They whipped them. They threatened them. And they
said, don't you speak in this name anymore. If you do, we'll
treat you worse than we have up to now. But they increased. They multiplied. The Lord blessed
them. But then the persecution got
worse. Then Saul of Tarshish began to
persecute in strange cities them that called upon the name of
the Lord Jesus. And then he killed them. He put
them in prison. Then they stoned Stephen. But
then something else happened here that had never happened
to the church up until now. Two things happened to them that
was devastated to them. You would think it was going
to shut the church down. And brothers and sisters, this
is why this is so important. The continuance of the church
of Jesus Christ, its well-being, is not determined by these helps. It's not even determined by the
means. All the means were denied them. Persecution came now from the
state God usually uses the state to uphold and protect His church. What would you and I do this
morning if the state turned against us? What if they come here and
said you're not allowed to do this? Leave now or we'll jail
you. Go home. Stay in your homes.
Go to your jobs and never mention His name again. Or you'll suffer
at the hands of the state. All the preaching at this time
had all but ceased in public. I tell you, James wasn't preaching.
James had his head cut off. Peter wasn't preaching. He was
in jail. Everybody was hiding out for
fear of King Herod. What would we do, brothers and
sisters, if the state turned on us? That which God had used
to protect the church and give us some peace when we assemble.
What if he removes that protection? And those which protected us
now turn against us. That's what happened here. But
not only that, something else happened. This drought came.
Boy, the gardens dried up, the cornfields, the seed wouldn't
even come up. A drought came up. Everything
seemed to be against the church. Now, we've never seen it like
that, have we? What good would our guns have done us then? We
had no food to store back. We couldn't even worship in public.
If I thought the well-being and the welfare of the church depended
upon me or any carnal means, I would despair. The church continues
because the Lord Jesus Christ is its head. And He said upon
this rock, I will build it, and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. And you know what? It's a miracle,
is it not? It's a miracle. Somebody says,
well, why hasn't the church, if it's such a God-given institution,
why hasn't it won the world by now? Why has it defeated all
its foes by now? Well, here's the miracle. It
continues despite its foes. It continues in the midst of
an ungodly and perverted generation. And how does it do that? By a
miracle. You see it in your life, don't
you? How have you continued? How many years have you been
on the way? How many years do you continue to believe and cleave
and hope and wait? It's a miracle, is it not? I
tell you, it's in times like these, the trials to the church,
that we'll see our God's hand at work. You'll see now all those
means that you've depended upon, I'm removing them, and you've
got nobody to hang upon but me. And boy, that's when we'll see
some things happening, isn't it? That's when we'll see some
of the iron bars and gates opening of their own will. Now that's
amazing, ain't it? I don't believe that man has
a free will, but here are the iron, these iron bars had free
will, didn't they? And they opened at their own
will. But we see something here when
there's nothing else that this church could do What in the world
did they do? Well, what did they do? Did you notice what they did?
They couldn't preach. Peter couldn't even read. They
wouldn't let him have a scroll there to read. What did the church
do? They prayed. They prayed to God. Prayer was made continually of
the church to God for Peter. I tell you, if I had one thing,
and I don't know that I'd ever do this, but if I had one thing
to promote over preaching, you know what it would be? Praying.
Praying. Little is much when God is in
it, is it not? And you can take a lot, and it's
nothing if he's not in it. And you know when you can know
that God's going to bless? When the church is pouring out
their hearts to God. Somebody comes up to me sometimes,
they say, oh, that was a good message, Pastor. And sometimes
I'm almost tempted to ask, are you a praying person? Are you
a praying person? My ministry's not helping you
at all if you're not a praying person. Well, at least I can do is pray
for you. That's the most you can do for
me, is pray. I can't do anything, pastor.
I can't give you anything. I don't have anything. I really
don't need very much. I need your friendship. I need
your love. But you know what I covet from
you folks more than anything else? Your prayers. to get along
with the Lord and pray for me. Pray for me. That's what Paul
said. They prayed. And you know they prayed in faith.
He gives us a good indication here of what it means to pray
in faith. And you know to pray in faith
doesn't mean that you know God is going to do what you ask Him
to do. It doesn't believe, I know God
heard my prayer and I know He's going to answer just what I ask
Him to do. It doesn't mean that. That's
not the prayer of faith. Seldom, I mean I could probably
count it on one finger, the time I prayed and knew God was going
to answer my prayer. I usually have to wait and see,
don't you? But you know what the prayer of faith is, believing
He's able. They were shocked when the Lord
answered their prayer. They couldn't believe it. They
said, Rhoda, you're mad. You're beside yourself. You're
insane. That's not Peter. She said, well, haven't you been
praying the Lord led him out of jail? Here he is. Yeah, but
we don't believe that. You've seen his ghost. You know what prayer is? It's
believing the Lord that you pray to is able. If you will, you're
able. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised he
was able to perform. That's faith. That gives glory
to God. I don't know. I don't know if
he wills to do what I ask him to do, but I know that he's able. And that's the prayer of faith,
isn't it? I don't know if Peter could even
pray now. I don't know if they'd let him pray. He'd have to pray
in his heart, wouldn't he? You're not going to pray and keep these
two soldiers awake. You're going to feel a prick
in your side from one of the swords. Shut up. Shut up. But
I tell you what he did, and this was the most amazing thing. When
you can do nothing else, when you can't read, when you can't
pray, when you can't preach, you can rest. And this is one
of the most amazing things when I looked at this about this man
by the name of Peter. He slept between these two soldiers
wrapped up in these two chains and the reason I say this is
the most amazing statement is because Peter was so intimidated
by people. He looked at a little maid and
denied the Lord. He was scared of a little maid.
He denied the gospel in Galatians chapter 2 because of the fear
of man. And here he lays between these
two soldiers and the Bible says he was sleeping. Ain't that amazing? That's amazing. That just caught
my eye a number of years ago when I read that. And something
else about Peter, this was the very night before he was to die,
probably a violent death. If you knew the next morning
they was going to bring you out and cut your head off, could
you sleep very well that night? My imagination would be running
wild with me, but not this man. He rested. He was asleep. And
this is a man that knew something about death. He knew something
about heaven. He knew something about hell. But he slept. He rested. Now that's amazing, isn't it?
He's amazing. And I said all of this to say this. I want to
give you right quickly, if I can, seven things that Peter knew. And if persecution comes to you,
if persecution comes to the church in our day, Here are seven things
that will help you. And I say that because it's seven
things that we know for sure that Peter knew. It's recorded
in the Word of God. And the first one is this. He
knew the Lord Jesus Christ. Now boy, that'll keep you stable.
That'll keep you stable. Two times in the scripture we
find Peter confessing this, that he knew the Lord Jesus Christ.
Two times in the gospel. And both of them really tell
us something about what it means to know the Lord. And when I
tell you that you must know the Lord, you must know the Lord
Jesus Christ, I can't go into detail of telling you how that
comes about. He's in heaven. He's hid in the
bosom of the Father. But you can know Him. And you
must know the Lord Jesus Christ. This is life eternal, to know
Him. But when we consider the two
places where Peter confessed thou art the Christ, I think
it tells us something about what it means to know Him. And the
first place is this, you remember it in Matthew's Gospel. When the Lord was asking His
disciples, who do men say that I am? Remember that? And they
said, some say that you're Elijah, some say that you're Jeremiah,
some say that you're John the Baptist, or one of the other
prophets. And he looked at Peter and he
said, Peter, who do you say that I am? And Peter said this, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And you know what
he said? Lord, you're not John the Baptist.
You're not Jeremiah. You're not any of those prophets.
Those were holy men of God. But you're different. You're
not like those prophets at all. You're the Christ, the Son of
the living God. What does that tell us? That
means He esteemed Him over all, over everybody. This knowledge
of Christ that Peter had was an excellent knowledge. There's
none like you. There's none beside you. You're
the Son of God. And this is the way you can know
that He's been revealed to you. There's nobody else like Him.
You count everything lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, the Lord. And you'd never use His name
in a flippant or vain way. And when you hear others doing
it, Lord have mercy, don't that bother you? That's your Lord. And to know Him is the most excellent
knowledge. And Peter professed to him another
time in John chapter 6. The Lord had just been preaching,
except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in
you. I come down from heaven and I
give my body, a broken body, for the life of this world. I
give my blood to atone for sin. Then all the crowd started leaving
him. And he said, Peter, are you going
to follow him? Now's a good time to slip away
if you want to go. And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall I go? You have the words of eternal
life. And I believe and I'm sure that
thou art the Christ. And you know how Christ was revealed
to him there? In the gospel. Peter didn't understand
it all. I'm sure he didn't. But he understood
enough in this broken body, in this shed blood to say, man,
that's life. That's words of life to me. And
this is the way we know Him through the gospel. He's revealed to
us through the gospel. And you know Him and you must
know Him. And I tell you when trials come
and persecutions come and you can't do anything else if you
know Him. And this is the covenant promise.
They shall all know me. I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and iniquities. Will I remember no more? Do you
know him? Do you know? Has God the Father
revealed him to your understanding? And I can't explain that and
I don't want to confuse you about it. Sometimes the assurance of
knowing him just floods your heart. I've talked with people
and they said, oh, it just, there was no doubt about it. He was
so revealed to my understanding. And other times, boy, it's not
that way, is it? Brother John Mitchell told me
one time, he said, knowing Christ, he said, two ways I like to explain
it. He said, sometimes it's like
going in a dark room and flipping the light on. And boy, there
he is. That's him. I know him, that's
him. And the other time, he said,
it's like the slow rising of the sun. slowly coming up, dispelling
the darkness and the mist. The knowledge of Christ don't
flood your heart. It's slowly. And there, I know
Him. I know Him. Yes, that's Him.
I know Him. But we must know Him. The only
way to know Him, as Peter did, not flesh and blood, but my Father
has revealed Him unto thee. Here's the second thing Peter
knew. that enabled him to sleep between these two soldiers the
night that he was sure he was to die. Peter knew that Christ
had done something for him concerning his sins. He told us plainly of this, didn't
he? He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And then he says he suffered
for our sins. Now listen, brothers and sisters,
here's why Peter could lay down and sleep. He knew that his sins
had been put away in a way that's consistent with God's justice
as well as His mercy. And if you can understand and
believe that God has put away your sins in a way that He's
satisfied with, then I'm telling you, you can have some rest in
your mind. What is it that bothers us about
death? When we think of dying and eternity and the judgment,
what is it that makes us draw back? It's not just dying. It's this business of sin, isn't
it? But boy, if I can know, if I
can believe in my heart that my sins have been punished and
been atoned for and heaven holds nothing against me, And I'll
never come into condemnation because Christ has put away my
sin. Then I can rest in my conscience. If my conscience is easy, then
I can rest. But oh, I tell you what, we've
got to know this business of sin is finished. That this fountain
has washed it all away. that there's peace been made
through the blood of the cross and then we can lay down and
we can rest, we can sleep. Thirdly, Peter knew this, he
experienced this, that he had an advocate with a father, one
to plead and maintain his cause. He experienced that. Remember
when the Lord Jesus told him, Satan has desired to have you,
that he may sift you like wheat? You're going to deny me, Peter,
three times. You're going to curse and swear an awful, awful
sin you're going to commit against me. But I have prayed for you. You know the only thing that
saved him was that advocate? But I have prayed for thee. I wonder if Peter remembered
that. I bet he remembered it here because he was sleeping. I love to read the book of Hebrews.
It's one of my favorite epistles and I like it because it tells
us so much about our faithful high priest on the right hand
of God. This starts at the beginning and goes all the way through
and he does it all for us. The priest represented the people
before God. Wasn't that their office? The
prophet, he spoke to the people on God's behalf. The king, he
reigned over the people. But the priest represented the
people before God. That's what Jesus Christ is.
And the Bible starts there in Hebrews chapter 2 and it says
that we're for Christ. THAT HE MIGHT DELIVER US FROM
THIS ONE WHO HAD THE POWER OVER DEATH THAT HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL
AND FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THANKS PERTAINING TO GOD TO MAKE RECONCILIATION
FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE. THAT'S WHAT HAD TO BE TAKEN CARE
OF. RECONCILIATION HAD TO BE MADE. AND THEN THE SCRIPTURE
SAYS OUR HIGH PRIEST ASCENDED UP THROUGH THE VEIL And he entered
that holy place for who? For us. He's the forerunner for
us. He's entered heaven. Can you
imagine that? On your behalf, Sammy. He's taken
possession of heaven on your behalf. And then the Bible says
he's not entered that holy place made with hands, which are a
figure of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God. For who? for you. So he died
for us, brought in perfect redemption, ascended, entered that place
for us, and he's there right now at the right hand of God
to plead and maintain our cause. It's well with you in heaven. And if it's well with you in
heaven, who gives a hoot how it is on this earth? Well, I'm
having an awful time at work. Yes, but when you get home, isn't
it wonderful? Go home to the wife and kids
and everything and sit down and fix you a glass of iced tea and
just relax. Well, you've got to hit it again
tomorrow. Yes, but you'll know when you get home things are
well. Things are tough in this world, brothers and sisters.
We run into some trials and heartbreaking situations, but oh, when we go
home, Things are well at home. My wife loves me. My kids love
me. And we can live on this earth
and endure these hardships if we know that things are well
in heaven. Are things well in heaven? Yes. We have a representative there,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Things are well in heaven. The
father looks upon him and says, my son, I'm so well pleased in
you. Ask me anything and I'll give
it to you. Father, all I ask for, keep your
eyes upon my little children. Guard them and keep them from
evil. Father, when they sin, look upon my wounds and forgive
them. It's well with you in heaven,
brothers and sisters. Peter knew that. If it was well
with him when his advocate was here, how much more that his
advocate now is in heaven. And he sleeps. He just lays down
and this timid man sleeps between these two soldiers. The older
I get, the more I appreciate a night of rest. Don't you? And when I have a good night's
rest. But I bet you if this situation come to me, and I can know and
believe what Peter did, I could rest. I could rest. Peter knew that. Fourthly, he
knew this. that Jesus Christ, the Son of
Mary, that he had sometimes leaned upon his chest and spoken to
here. He tells us in 1 Peter 3, 22
that Jesus Christ has gone into heaven and is on the right hand
of God, and listen to this, angels and authorities and powers are
subject unto him. You know what that word subject
means? Slaves. He is Lord of all. Who is Harrod anyway? Who is
Harrod? Who is Obama? Who is Bush? They're just pawns. Jesus is up in heaven and he's
turning their hearts where so ever he will. He is working his
sovereign will in this earth. And since he controls everything,
even my line here between these two soldiers, and since he says
where I'll live or I'll die, then I'm just going to rest and
leave it all into his hands. Boy, I can just hear these soldiers
laying here saying, man, I pity you. In the morning, they're
going to cut your head off. I pity you, you poor Galilee. You stupid man. Why don't you
entangle up in this relief? Why don't you just recant and
go back up to Galilee? Maybe He'll let you go. You poor,
I feel so sorry for you. Tomorrow's your last day in this
world. Is that right? Says who? Tomorrow is your last
day. I tell you, the Lord has no difficulty
disposing of His enemies, does He? Oh, you're telling Peter
tomorrow's his last day? No, tomorrow's going to be your
last day. Harry's going to kill you tomorrow. And then who are you going to
pity? I tell you, this world better not be too pitiful towards
the church and feeling sorry to the church. They better pity
themselves. It's well with the church, live
or die. You're the one that better worry
about yourself. and heard making this big speech,
everybody shouting, it's a God. He's a God. How in the Lord's world the Lord's
going to, I bet, just see the Lord up in heaven wringing His
hands. What are we going to do with Him? Oh, my soul. He's a king, you know. Look at
the people He's killed. I've tried, I've tried to persuade
him and you know he's got free will. He's a powerful man. I don't know what we're going
to do with him. Brothers and sisters, our Lord is sovereign. He rules over every minute detail
of your life, failures as well as successes. And he can dispose
of your trials, your heartaches, your enemies. I don't care what
they are, whatever farm they come in. He rules over it. Well, I just found out I've got
cancer. Who's sovereign over that? Just got a neighbor and
he's giving me all kinds of problems. Who's sovereign over that? We wouldn't get so near upset,
would we, if we lived out what we profess? The Lord's going to dispose of
Herod just like He does all these other fellows. He's got Mr. Obama in the White House. I pray
for him all the time. But when He's finished with that
man, He will dispose of him. He'll use him for His glory to
correct His church, to show mercy to His church, to teach His church,
and when He's finished of him, He'll either save him or damn
him. at His own prerogative. He is Lord. Everything is subject
to Him. I worship a God like that, don't
you? And I'm ashamed of myself when I fret and worry right in
His face. Fifthly, and I'll hurry, Peter
knew this, Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20. The Lord Jesus,
just before he ascended back to heaven, here's what he said,
Peter, I will be with you always, even to the end of the world. He had a promise that the Lord
Jesus would never forsake him, not for one instant. He is so
near him that he's abiding within him. Was he here with Peter at
this time? Or is he just with us when the
sun's shining and we're free? No, he was here between these
two soldiers, sleeping in Peter. And sleeping Peter, there's where
he was. Let your conversation be without covetousness. Be content
with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never
leave you nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, I
will not fear what man can do unto me. If Christ is with me,
my Savior and my Lord, I don't care what I face. I don't care
who I face. One man said, I'd rather be in
hell with Jesus than to be in heaven without Him. Hell would
be heaven with Him. Heaven would be hell without
Him. That's how much we value His presence, is it not? and
Peter was laying there, tomorrow, boy, you're gonna die. Peter,
I'm with you. I'm with you. Okay, then, Lord,
I think I'll sleep. I think I'll rest. Sixthly, this. Peter had been in jail before.
Experience is a valuable teacher, isn't it? This wasn't the first
time this man had been in jail. This wasn't the first time the
Lord had delivered him from jail. He and John were in jail back
in chapter 5 of this book, and the Lord sent His angel and delivered
them then. I tell you, it's good. This is
why we encourage young people. If no other reason, you young
people, you children, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek your
Creator. Remember your Creator. When?
In the days of your youth. You get to know Him early. He not only keeps you from evil,
but when you get older, boy, you look back on a life. And
you can see every step of the way, through every trial, he's
never failed me, just like he said. And he'll do you the same
in the future that he did you in the past. Newton said through many dangers,
through many, and trials and toils I have already come. was grace that brought me safe
this far. Ain't it wonderful to experience
that? I've never prayed for a trial, but I tell you what, I wouldn't
give anything for what I went through because I've seen His
grace. Look back on 43 years of grace
bringing me safe this far, and I know this, that grace will
lead me home. He's not going to deliver you
in the past and not deliver you now, is He? That's not like our
Lord. Lastly is this. I want you to
turn to this and I'll close. 1 Peter chapter 5. I still haven't got to our guns. And a pantry filled with food. Got nothing against guns, brothers
and sisters. I've got a couple myself. We was moving a bed a
while back, and I had a huge bed, and I asked this man if
he'd come help me move my bed over. And we picked it up and
set it over, and there was a shotgun, and a rifle, and a huge holster
knife underneath my bed. Boy, he looked down at him, his
eyes got sort of big, and I said, well, I said, my wife's a postmaster,
and I'm afraid she's going to go postal on me. I need some
way to defend myself. But look here what Peter says.
Here was something else that he knew. This is wonderful. The
elders in chapter 5 and verse 1, the elders which are among
you I exhort. who am also an elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed." What does that mean? What in the world
does that mean? Peter was saying, you know what
awaits me? The glory that awaits me. I've been praying for and
hoping for and I'm sure to be a partaker of. To be with Christ
for one thing, is that not glorious? To worship Him, as dear old Scott
used to say, with undimmed eyes and an unsinning heart, Darryl.
To get rid of this flesh that's been such a burden to me, a hindrance
to me, and to leave it laying here for a while and ascend up
to heaven and to be with Christ. Peter said, that's glory for
me. Let them take my head and cut it off. I'm going to be with
Christ. Oh, do you have that hope? If
you knew that if you died tomorrow, you'd be with Christ, would you
fear death? Why you wouldn't, would you? And to be there with
Him, and to be there with the Father, and to be there with
the angels, and to be there with those spirits of just men made
perfect, waiting even for a better day. that when the Lord Jesus
descends from heaven, that you come in with Him, and this old
body that's going back to the dust, this body is going to be
raised, this corruptible, this old thing is going to put on
incorruptible, this mortal is going to put on immortality,
and the soul and body is going to be reunited, and you look
just like the Lord Jesus Christ, glorious Peter said, I'm waiting
for that. I'm living in expectation of
that. Go ahead, kill me if you will. I'm a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. And I'm telling you, brothers
and sisters, this life, with all its temporal troubles and
trials, is not worthy to be compared with that glory that's to be
revealed in us. Study about it. It's all in the
scriptures, isn't it? and live in the hope of that
and rest, rest in Jesus Christ. Thank you pastor.