Last week we had a man here who was ordained
to be the pastor of this very church. He said 1968. He was 24 years
old. And I was telling my brother
Bill that I was just as nervous as could be. that I was going
to be standing before a man who was actually a pastor here that
long ago. And Bill said, you didn't look very
nervous. I said, well, that's just because once I start preaching,
I forget about what John is. And I forget about the things
about what John is capable of in the flesh. And I just preach
what God's word is before me the best I can. Pastor Gene told me once, actually
no, he told me more than once, he says, may God never, never
let you feel that way, comfortable. May he always give you the feeling
of nervousness before you preach. This is important folks. We're talking about the souls
of people. Our souls. We're all going to go through
that door marked death eventually. There's one thing in this world
that is 100% sure. We're all going to die. And the Lord has that day marked. And the means by which we will
pass from this world into eternity marked. So what we're here to do this
morning is extremely important. This is
not something that we just do because, oh, it's so much fun
to go to church. I like it. I enjoy it. I became
very, it was very strange when I first
started coming to church and Kathy would look at me like,
what, you don't want to watch football today? No, I'm going to go to
church. Why? I don't know. I just need to go. Eventually, that was all that
became of any importance to me on Sundays anymore. We sing a
song more about Jesus. Oh, how that touches my heart
to hear more about the one who loved me so much. that He gave Himself for me,
despite, despite what I am. Would you turn in your Bibles
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Last week our subject was about the leading characteristic
of a true believer. A characteristic that must be
measured by the individual. In other words, we can't say,
oh, look at this guy over here, man, he's such a Christian. Look
at how good he is, you know, man, he's doing all this. Folks,
you can't see the hearts of other people. Our Lord says, the heart
is desperately wicked, who can know it? That's talking about
you and I. We really don't know how wicked our heart is. until
the Lord removes His restraining hand on that heart. You want
to know why the world is so much in chaos around us right now?
Why people are living and believing lies right now? Because God's
hand is being removed from people and they are allowed to listen
and hear a lie. Our Lord warns us about this
in Scripture all the time. They will believe lies. They
will think that lies are evil is good and good is evil. This is not something that you
can look at somebody else and say, look at this, I can see
it right here, I can see this one. It must be measured by the
individual. In 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5 we
read this, examine yourself. Not others. Examine yourself. whether ye be in the faith, prove
your own selves, prove to yourself, know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be rope rebates? We
consider those words as we looked into God's Word, looking at our
own hearts in this question, Dost thou believe? You see, the
main quality, the main characteristic of every true child of God is
we believe the Word of God. And this is the Word of God. Why did I need to keep coming
back here to this church and rescue an hour away from where
I lived in Sacramento? Because I needed to hear truth
in a world where all I saw was lies. We looked into God's Word. We
considered five points in God's Word. Now these five points will
not save a single person. They will not bring a single
person to salvation. But there are five points that
if a person who has been brought to salvation, who is the Lord
Jesus Christ, he is salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. These
five points all true believers will agree with, and that is
total depravity of man. When Adam sinned, he threw the
entire mankind into sin. We're not sinners because we
sin. We sin because we're sinners. And we come into the world that
way. And we love that way. That's what God's Word says.
We love darkness. We would not come to the light.
We considered unconditional election. For no reason, for no part of
man, God looked and He chose a certain people for Himself.
He wrote the names of those people down in a book called the Book
of Life before the world ever began. That's in God's Word.
You either believe that or you don't. Limited atonement. And what that
means is that Christ went to the cross and He paid for the
sins of His people. He shed His blood for the sins
of His people and for His people alone. Everyone that was covered
underneath the blood of Christ shall be saved. I love saying this, there will
never, ever, ever be an empty seat in heaven. Everyone will
be filled with exactly who's supposed to be there. We consider the point of irresistible
grace. God's grace is not sitting around
waiting for men to do something. His grace is effectual. When he called his disciples
just as he called Lazarus from the grave, just as he calls every
one of his people through the preaching of his word, he calls
them with the power of God. And then we consider the last
point, which is perseverance of the saints. We are kept in
the power of God. By His power, by His authority,
by His rule, by His sovereignty, He will lose none. Today I would like to consider
my walk before the world. And I can't leave anybody else
as an example, so I'm going to use myself as an example tonight,
this morning. How do those around John see
John now compared to what they saw before? Look at verses 1-6 of 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 with me if you would please. Therefore seeing we have
this ministry As we have received mercy, we
faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid in them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. This is the light that shineth,
what we read in verse 6. For God commanded the light to
shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light,
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. That's the
light that shines in God's people. That's the light that shines
in the elect of God. Those who have received and experienced
irresistible grace. Those who see that the atonement
made on the cross was effectual. It wasn't an offer made, it was
an effectual atonement. It paid the price of that sin
for each and every one of them. This is the light that all of
what we just said was in the glory of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. Now turn with me, if you will,
over to 1 Peter chapter 2. People who know me best, those
who knew me before the Lord of all, the one who called me from
darkness, the one who rules over everything, including the hearts
of men, they see a difference in me. What is it they see? Do they see a different man? A man who sins no more? A man who walks uprightly and just
and perfect? Not. Spend 30 minutes with my
wife afterwards and she can tell you. I let her. I allow that. No. No, they do not see that. I may try But the truth is this,
I'm just not what I just said. I am not a man who sins no more.
I am not a man who walks uprightly and just and perfect. Many, this
very day, in the very world that we live in today, and many of
you walk more righteously than me. It makes me a little uncomfortable
to say that, but that's the truth, folks. Many could be seen as better
people than I am, better Christian than I am. Ride with me for a few moments
in traffic. Sit in the passenger seat next
to me when someone cuts me off. Walk with me as I forget who my Lord is at
times. What do those who cross my path
see in me that was not there before? Is there truly a light shining
in John? How often have we, before the
Lord called us, said, man I was lucky today. Kathy and I were on a motorcycle
ride on Highway 49 coming down into Nevada City. And the road
coming up out of the canyon is very narrow, very windy. And she was out ahead of me.
I always like to ride with her ahead of me so that I could see
and watch and make sure she was OK. And that if anything did happen,
I could stop right away. I've seen so many times where
something would happen and people would ride for miles. And then
they look back, oh, where'd there's some very short passing
lanes on this part of the road. And if you're on a motorcycle,
it's very tempting to try to pass slower vehicles on a windy
road. And Kathy shot out across in
front of the guy, and so I'm out of space. I've got to get
there with her. I don't want to lose her. So I jumped on it.
And what was a 15 mile an hour curve, I think I hit doing 40. And I remember watching Kathy ride
off this way as I continued to go straight. I couldn't get the
bike to turn. And as I was watching her, I don't know how this happened. I really don't know how this
happened at all. And I'm not trying to say I'm not trying
to tell you that there was a miracle that happened. I'm just sharing
with you the experience of what it was. I was watching Kathy
right away and thinking to myself, my God, I'm going to die right
now. This is it. I'm going over the cliff. It's
right in front of me. And for some reason, I leaned the bike.
And I found this out later, that if you look in a direction on
a motorcycle, that's the way you will automatically start
to lean. And so in looking towards Kathy, I leaned that bike over
as far as it would go and there's a little gutter piece that goes
right before the railing and I hit that gutter piece and it
literally just shot me right out back into traffic like nothing
ever happened. Now there was a time in my life
I would have said, I was lucky that day. I'm pretty sure that was before
the Lord called Kathy. For five years the Lord brought
me to church. It was five years after that
He called me that He called Kathy. I'm pretty sure that that was
a time before. And the only thing I could talk about when we got
to the top of the hill was, praise my Lord. And she was like, what? What
are you doing? She didn't know. Oh, you're pretty
lucky. You get where I'm going with
this story? What do people see in John Reeves? For a long time, Kathy would
say, I can't explain it to you, John. You're just different.
I don't know what it is, but you're just different. You don't
do things the same way anymore. Luck is not a part of my life
anymore. And those whose luck is still a large part of their
lives, they look at me like, you're weird. One who has been given the gift
of faith. As one who has been given that
gift of faith, that gift to believe God's Word, I now credit all
things that happen to the One who rules all things that happen. Is that not true in your lives
too? Do we give God all the credit
for everything in our lives as we walk through this world? I
don't do it perfectly. And if you say you do, then you
might want to reconsider what you're saying. I slip every once in a while,
and I continue to use that word luck. It's part of the world
that I was in. But when I do, I try to be quick
to correct myself. And I do what I can to give my
Lord and Savior all the glory. the one who will have all the
glory. He will not share it with another,
and that includes John Reeves. I try to give credit where credit
is due. It's called living for Christ. What is it about me that is different
from what I once was? what I once did. Have you heard
of the word repentance? It means to turn from something
to another. It doesn't just mean turn from
something, it means to turn from something to another. I used to walk in darkness, now
I walk in His light. I used to take credit for everything
I would do. Now I try to give Him all the
glory. It used to be all about me. Now
I try to make it all about Him. The difference between then and
now is now I believe God, then I believed in me. We read that
verse again, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There is no
subject more important than the nature and the extent of the
inward change that takes place when a man is savingly joined
to Christ. Some think that this sanctification
is God's work and that man has nothing to do with it. And then
they say that God saves us and sanctifies us and He works His
will in us and we need to give no concern to the matter of holiness. And others think that the work
of sanctification is a personal holiness in man's own work and
it's in His work entirely. That God gives us the means of
and waits to see what we will make of ourselves. Peter is about
to cut both of those errors out by the roots. On the one hand,
he teaches that we are the elect of God, born of the Spirit, given
a new nature, a new heart, a new direction, and indwelt by the
Spirit of God. But on the other hand, this dramatic
change is accomplished through the knowledge and the belief
of the truth. It's called being born again. We are born again, but we are
babes who must mature and grow. God has appointed the means of
growth, and the means is the Word. The means is prayer. The means is worship. The means
is fellowship. The means is trials. The means
is personal determination and effort. Look with me, if you would, at
1 Peter chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. Wherefore, laying
aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies,
and all evil speakings." Peter is talking to God's elect. Look
over at chapter 1, verse 2. Elect. Chosen of God. People of God. Israel. Those
who belong to Jesus Christ, because He bought and paid for them on
the cross. Lay all the malice that you have
in your life aside. Lay all the guile and the hypocrisies
and the ivvies and all the evil speakings. Peter exhorts us to
lay aside those things. They're disagreeable and contrary
to spiritual life. But this is not something we
do just once. once and then it's accomplished
forever. This is a continual effort laying aside these things
over and over and over again because they raise up their head
in our lives. It's the battle that we fight. Never used to fight that battle
before. Before, it didn't bother me at
all to go against God's Word. I would just go about doing whatever
made John feel good. called the lusts of the flesh.
And you can put anything you want in that description and
what that meaning of lust of the flesh is. Oh, I've got to
have more money today. Doesn't matter how I get it,
but I've got to earn some more money today. That's exactly what
lust of the flesh is, and all kinds of other things. Malice
means ill will, ill feeling towards others. And it's born of love
for yourself. Guile is deceit. The word is
used for all dishonest ways of gaining your goals. Hypocrisies,
this is the opposite of sincerity. It's pretending to be what you
aren't. Speaking with your lips and not your hearts. Envy is
the natural effect of malice and reveals the absence of love
for others. Envy is the uneasiness that a
person feels in happiness, prosperity and success when they have done
it through evil ways. Evil speaking is when we usually
think of blasphemy or dirty words, but perhaps the worst and the
most damaging form of evil speaking is gossip. Slandering one. Criticizing another. whispering a fault about one
to another for no reason but to expose that fault. Verses
2 and 3 we read this, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk
of the word that we may grow thereby. Our Lord takes us, or Peter takes
for granted that we are born again and that we are little
children in the family of God. Therefore, as babies, we need
to desire the breast milk. We should have the same hunger
and thirst for the Word of God that we may grow in grace and
love and in knowledge and in patience and humility and in
faith. The sincere milk is the pure,
unmixed Word of God. This is our real food. Not the tradition of man's ideas
and thoughts, but the Word of God Himself. In verse 3, we read this, it's
a reference to Psalms 34. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
Him. If so be ye have tasted, the
Lord is gracious. Oh, how we desire the sincere
milk of the Word. I was talking with Pastor Gene
earlier this week. We've been reading in Friday
Night Bible Study about a book that Don Fortner wrote, Going
Home. It had to do with preaching the
gospel. Why do we continue to preach
the same gospel message every Sunday? Because that's the food God's
children live on. That's what we take within us
and the Lord places on our hearts and applies it to our hearts
as we go through the world of death, the valley of the shadow
of death. Our Lord knows how to separate
the wheat from the tares. That's not your or my business.
It's like I said a moment ago. We don't judge others' hearts.
You want to come in and sit down and be quiet and hear the Word
of God preached? Great! Love to have you. Doesn't matter
who. Anyone's welcome to come and
listen. My Lord does the work of separating the wheat and the
tares, and He does it by the preaching of His Gospel. Blessed is the man that trusts
in Him. If we indeed tasted and know by our own experience that
the Lord has been good and gracious to us in Christ, we will seek
to lay aside the fleshly deeds that are dishonoring Him and
the uncharacteristics of His children, and we will feed on
His Word, which is our bread and our meat. The new man lives
on spiritual food. The ear is the mouth of the mind. Verse 4 we read, "...to whom
coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God and precious..." Is there anything that can be
interpreted that as anything other than Christ? To whom coming? Believing on
Christ and living in Christ are not isolated facts of faith,
but a continuous coming to Christ Jesus our Lord. A continual exercise
of faith in His love, faith in His grace, faith in His blood,
faith in His intercession for us. We came to Christ and we
continue to come to Christ, looking unto Jesus, who is the author
and the finisher of our faith. We come unto Him as a living
stone. Peter is not the rock upon which the church is built.
Let me go back a few moments on that. What the Lord did is
He was with His disciples and He said, whom do men say that
I am? And His disciples answered and
they said, well, some of them say you're Isaiah. Some of them
say you're this, you're that, you're a prophet, you're this.
OK, well who do you say that I am? And Peter stood up and
he says, well thou art the son of the living God. And then our
Lord very clearly said something, and I want you to hear this very
clearly. Blessed art thou. Blessed art thou, each and every
one of those who He calls out of darkness, because you stand
in the same boat Peter did. If you know this for a fact,
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, it's
because God the Father revealed it to him. Flesh and blood hath
not revealed that unto you, but My Father which is in heaven.
And then He said, upon this rock. And mankind took that saying
and said, upon Peter. Because that's what Peter means,
rock, you know. Upon Peter. But that's not what the Lord
Jesus was saying at all. He's saying upon the rock that He
is the Son of the Living God. That He is the One who reveals
Himself to His people. That's the rock, Jesus Christ. He is our living stone, as unto
a living stone. Peter is not the rock upon which
the church is built, but Christ is that foundation. He's the
foundation stone, the cornerstone. He was rejected and refused by
religious leaders, but chosen of the Father as a surety, head
of the church, Savior of the body, and heir of all things. Verses 5 and 6 we read this,
"...Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ, wherefore also it is contained in the Scriptures,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." That's
a lot net right there. We are lively stones. Yes, Cheryl. She brought that up in our Friday
night Bible study. We are made living by the power
of God through the authority of God when he calls each and
every one of his children and says, come forth. We who were
dead in trespasses and sin, living according to the course of this
world, we now live for Christ. And living for Christ means we
believe in what He says. It means we no longer, we turn,
we repent from what it was before. John was God to himself. Others
may have gods to other things. Money might be a god to you.
You have turned. If you belong to Christ, He will
turn you. He will grant repentance to His
children. And they will turn from themselves
to Him. This one who is the cornerstone
was rejected and refused by religious leaders, but chosen of the Father.
Believers are the stones that were found in the same quarry
as all men, but dug out by God's grace, separated by God's Spirit
and given life through Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not by
our own will that we get up and say, I will make a decision for
Jesus today. It is by God's will that He brings
us to the throne of grace. We've been dug out of the quarry
of all men. We are the tabernacle of God.
We are a holy priesthood, like the priests of old who offer
sacrifices of faith. faith that was given to us by
the Lord Jesus Himself. We offer sacrifices of love,
love to our Lord because He first loved us. We offer sacrifices
of praise because when we see the depth of our depravity, when
we see what we deserve and what He took upon Himself for us,
we give praises. And those praises are acceptable
to God in His Son, the Lord Jesus. In verse 6 we read this, Wherefore
also it is contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect precious, and he who believeth on him shall
not be confounded. That's a quotation from Isaiah
28, 14, and 15. These false religionists sought
acceptance deliverance and protection from the judgment and condemnation
in form of ceremony, in the form of works. That's exactly what
religion is today. If you'll just come forward and
pray the prayer that we give you, if you'll just make a decision
for Jesus, if you'll just get into the baptism, if you'll just
do this. That's what they all say. They were not afraid, for they
felt secure in their false religion. But their refuge of lies shall
be destroyed. However, we have an assurance.
We have a confidence. Those who know the Lord Jesus
Christ, those who have been called out of that darkness, we have
a refuge. And that refuge is in Christ
himself. We have no confidence in our
own flesh, for we know our flesh is weak and full of sin. The
only confidence of salvation any one of God's children can
have is in the Lord Jesus Himself. He is the stone, the precious
and sure stone that God laid and tried, and who rests in Christ
shall never be put to shame. Verses 7 and 8 we read this,
Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them
which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner. The very one who
those who stood in a crowd and said crucify him, crucify him,
that very one is the head of the stone, the head of the corner.
He is the one that the church is built on, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail. Verse 8 says, "...and a stone
of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed."
We talked last week about a light being turned on. If you're in a room that's so
dark you can't even see your hand before your face and somebody
turns the light on, you know what it was just a second ago,
don't you? It was dark, but now I see. That's what the Lord does
when he shines his heart, light in the heart of one of his people. A moment ago, I saw what I was
in. Mike's told us this all often. Mike, you brought your own testimony
before us of what he was before the Lord called him out of darkness.
He was a self-righteous religionist trying to earn his way into heaven.
And he knows that now because he can look back and see the
darkness of that room he was once in. John was all about John
then. What is it different about John
now? What is that light that shines in me? I give all the
glory I can to my Lord and Savior for everything. Not as good as I want to, not
as well as I want to, but I do do it and it's different from
what I was before. Romans 9, verse 32 and 33, read
this. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. Did you catch that? Wherefore,
because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the
works of the law. Those who are trying to earn
their salvation through their good works. Look at me. Look
at what I do now. Look at all the wonderful things
that I do now. Instead of, don't look at me,
but look at my Lord. I have nothing in me but my faith
which is in Him, and that faith is a gift of Him, as it were,
the works of the law. For they stumbled at the stumbling
stone. They cannot understand what it
means. Oh, how often we've looked into
God's Word, we say, why can't people see this? It's so plain
and so clear. It's because they don't believe. They stumble at the stumbling
stone, our Lord Jesus Christ, the ruler of everything. As it
is written in verse 33, as it is written, Behold, I lay in
Zion a stumbling stone, and a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. They stumble at His birth. They
stumble at His parentage. They stumble at His outward poverty.
How can that man be my Savior? Not only is He poor, He's ugly.
They make this really nice looking picture of Jesus. I've seen a couple of those guys
walking around down in San Francisco. They've got hair down to about
here. Big old bushy beards. Pretty good looking guys for
a guy. Scripture tells us our Lord was
comely. Not one to be looked upon. And
he definitely didn't carry around a big wad of cash with him either. He didn't need it. He said, go
over and pull a fish out of the water and where was his money?
Right there in that fish's mouth. Scripture says that Pharaoh hardened
his heart But did you know that it also says that God hardened
Pharaoh's heart? The Scripture says that wicked
men crucified Christ. But did you know it also says
that they did what God determined before to be done? We can say
that the stumbling and destruction is the appointed end of all who
reject Christ as cornerstone. Or we can say that those who
willingly refuse Christ and stumble at his gospel of grace and substitution
were vessels of wrath from the beginning. Tears. And we'll be right about both.
Look with me if you will and I'll bring this to a close at
verses 9 and 10. But ye, remember who Peter is speaking
to. He's speaking to those who belong to Christ. But ye are
a chosen generation, chosen from before the foundation of the
world, as we see in Ephesians 1. A royal priesthood. We are priests
with Christ. Can you imagine that, Mike? I can't. Oh, how often I just
don't see myself worth anything being out there at all, yet my
Lord says I am a priest and an heir with Him. And holy nation. A peculiar people, meaning God's
own people. that ye should show forth, that
we should announce forth the praises of Him who hath called
us, who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,
which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which hath obtained." It's already ours. It's already ours. I'm not getting
any better I'm not any better than I was the day the Lord called
me out of darkness. And I'm not going to be any better
until the Lord takes me out of this earth. But I am going to
look to my Savior for all things. And I'm doing it because He has
brought me to do it. He has granted me the ability
and the repentance to turn from John Reeves to my Savior. The songwriter puts it this way,
I ask you again, how am I different than before? The songwriter puts
it this way, amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. was blind, but now I see. What is the difference between
John then and John now? Don't look at this, but if you could see my heart,
I could tell you I believe my Lord and Savior. That's the difference. I believe
Him. I see the glory of God in the
face of my substitute, and my substitute is Jesus Christ, the
Lord, whose is yours. Will you stand?