1 Peter chapter 5. I've been thinking on some brethren
that have been suffering various different troubles and trials,
physical, soul suffering. And verse 9 came to my mind. 1 Peter 5. that says the same
afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world. Accomplished. These afflictions, these trials
are sent by God on purpose to accomplish His purpose. And I
was thinking of that, well I kept reading. And verse 12, the end
of verse 12 really stuck out struck me that this is the true
grace of God wherein you stand, true grace. He said that's why
I'm writing this epistle, to testify, exhort, encourage, exhort
that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand. And I
began to think about that, that trials And afflictions are the
grace of God. They really are. And our Lord
said to Paul, who begged the Lord to remove a trial from him. He said, I asked him three times
earnestly. He said, all the Lord said to
him was, my grace is sufficient. And so then in the end, Paul
said, I glory in infirmities. Now I know that he sent these. for my good, and his grace is
sufficient. And it's all to the praise of
the glory of his grace. I hope we'll see that. Grace,
as you know, is not an offer. It's an act of God. It's something
God does for his people. Something God does to his people.
Something God does in his people. It's not an offer. And I don't
want to talk too much about false religion, but it's in all the
prophets and all the epistles, isn't it? Peter warns of them,
and our Lord does, and on and on it goes, John. But modern
preaching talks about grace as if it were just an offer that
God has put out there, and whoever accepts it, it's what you do
with it that makes it effectual. It's an offer of God, like that's
what they say of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, isn't
it? United Methodist so-called church, that's their slogan,
offer them Christ. And so he made this sacrifice
and it's an offer, whoever takes it. And so your faith, your acceptance
of that, of God's grace, of Christ, It's what saves you. So it's not by grace, is it? That's making a work out of faith,
isn't it? That's making you accepting Christ's sacrifice. And God patting
you on the back for doing it. The opposite is true. It's God accepting what Christ
did on our behalf. commending His Son for what He
did for worthless sinners. Okay? Grace is an act of God. Not an offer. God who does all
things. Salvations of the Lord. And God
does all things. He's called the God of all grace.
Verse 10. The God of all grace. Whatever
we have, whatever we know, whatever we do, it's by the grace of God. What do we have? We have not
received. And if we received it, not accepted,
received it, why would we boast as if we had not received it?
We don't. God's people don't. We boast in the one who did all this.
We brag and glory in Him. Don't we? We're ashamed of ourselves. We humble ourselves. All right? And I've used this illustration
before. It's just as good as I know. The difference between
accepting and receiving is night and day. Okay? Receiving something, you're passive.
You have nothing to do with it. You understand? I wish I had
a glass. We should have a glass, but an empty glass, and that's
what we are, empty vessels. Until the Lord fills us with
His grace, the fullness of pride. The glass has no say. I pick
up a glass. It's a vessel of mercy. I'm going
to fill it. Right? It's empty. And I take
this water. Christ is the water of life.
And I pour it in a glass. The glass didn't accept it. Glass
didn't say, I don't know if I'll take that or not. It has no say. Our Lord said,
I'm the potter. You're the clay. And some are
vessels of mercy. You receive mercy. You don't
accept it. God doesn't offer it and say,
well, you have this. I don't know. That's proud, arrogant presumption. It's taking credit. Glory. It's you doing something for
God. It's blasphemy. And I spent too much time on
that. But I pour that water in a glass. It received it. It didn't
accept it. Now, if I offer you water, you
say, I don't want it. You're rejecting it. You say,
okay, I'll take it. That's accepted, right? Grace
is not an offer. You hath he quickened who were
what? Dead. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
by grace. I never get tired of preaching
it. I want to be very simple this morning. I don't want to
presume that everyone in here knows each time. Look at chapter
1, verses 1 and 2. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, Bithynia, that is, throughout the world, elect. That's how he addresses them.
God's people. He calls them elect. Why? Because that's what they are.
That's what Christ said. He said, I'm going to send the
angels to the four corners of the earth to gather, mine, elect. Didn't He say that? Elect, according
to the foreknowledge of God. Bless God who has chosen us in
Christ. When? When you believe. before the foundation of the
world, the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. He said, I love this one, I hate
this one. Why do you say that? I know it's
so. Jacob knew it's so. Oh, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God. Look at verse 2. Through sanctification of spirit.
That's the spirit. Set you apart. Say, I'm going
to reveal the truth to this one. God said, that's one of my elect.
Holy Spirit, go and take this gospel. Open their ears. Open
their eyes. Open their hearts. That's the
one I chose. Not that one. That one. Speak
to him. Sanctification of spirit. set
apart, made holy. And to obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. That is to receive the obedience,
the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ upon
your soul, which makes remission for our sin. Nothing else. Oh,
grace be unto you. You see that? These are the three
R's. I mentioned that Wednesday night,
have you ever heard this story? Maybe you have, I want to tell
it again. Years ago, and maybe everyone in here doesn't know
what the three R's are, but years ago a young girl, a member, a
child of members of the church in Ashland, was in school and
the teacher in elementary school, we used to call it grade school,
one through six. There was no kindergarten. One
through six and then junior high, seven, eight, and nine in high
school. Well, she was in grade school, elementary school. And
the teacher said, anybody know what the three R's are? And she
raised her hand and said, I do. I bet her name was Edith. You
know that story? Anyway, the teacher said, stand
up and tell us. She said, ruined, redeemed, and
regenerated. There's not a seminary professor
on the top side of God's earth that knows the three R's of the
truth. You know that? Ruined by the
fall. redeemed by the blood, regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord. That's the three R's. The teacher
looked at her like, what in the world are you talking about?
She probably had a master's degree, maybe a doctorate. She's talking about reading,
writing, and rhythm. You know the three R's? Our children do.
That's verse 2, isn't it? The grace of God, if you do know
that. Election, redemption, regeneration. Paul's epistles, Peter's epistles
begin with grace, don't they? Because all things did. Everything began with a covenant
of grace that God made with His Son and the Holy Spirit before
the world began, before you were ever born. That's the true grace of God. It's not an offer. It's something
God purposed. The purpose of God and His salvation
by grace through Christ. It was given us in Jesus Christ
before the world began. 2 Timothy 1 and 9. That's the gospel. That's the
truth. Anything else is not grace. This
is true grace. Alright? There's trying grace. Trying grace. Look at verse 6. And we've been looking at this
a lot lately, haven't we? We've got people getting older.
People going through trials. Everywhere. The afflictions of
your brethren throughout the world. Everywhere. I tell you,
there's some brothers really suffering. A dear, dear brother.
Brother Clare Sharon in Lexington just, hmm. What he's going through. Larry Rockwell in Dingus, the
church in Dingus, right-hand man of Brother Roland Brown. He's soon to be with the Lord,
but it's so tough on his wife and everybody. And we've been
there. We're all there. Same afflictions. Who sent them? God did. Our God is so different. Our
God is God in you. Aren't you glad? It's no God
at all who... And this is called deism. Deism. That they believe they're a Creator,
but He created all things in natural law, and then He sets
back and He has nothing to do with the creation from then on.
He lets it go. And act according to the natural
law that He has. He's a bystander. And He's kind
of like us. He's hoping everything turns
out alright. That's deism, I'm telling you. That's what John
Newton believed. That's what John Newton believed
before he heard a man named George Whitefield preach the gospel. Boy, that is amazing grace that
saved a wretch like me who once was lost Now I'm saying, I'm
blind. Now I see. Deist? Oh, he's a
theist. One who believes in the God of
the Bible. Trying grace, 6 and 7, verse
6 and 7, you greatly rejoice, but if need be, and you've heard
this quote, if it be, it need be. Or it wouldn't be. Who made
it be? God did. All things. All right? Heaviness through
manifold temptations. Many different trials. There's
a trial of your faith. It's more precious than gold. Faith. Gold's going to perish. Faith won't. True faith. It's going to be
tried with fire. And true faith by the true grace
of God, it's a gift. is going to be found under praise,
honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And I've seen it in you. I've seen it in others. The true
grace of God in sending trials to try faith, and the faith that
God gives is true faith, and it comes out shining. Because you can't, as a human
being, you cannot endure this thing but by the grace of God.
If it wasn't true grace, you'd curse God. You'd get mad at God. You'd leave. What's a good in
this religion? Not doing me any good. All I'm
doing is suffering. No. You say, God did this. Blessed
be His name. That glorifies God. Mary Parks
contacted me back and forth. She said, Stephen's been through... The procedure I went through
left me with some damage. And I wake up all the time and
have difficulty doing certain things. And I think of other people. It was so good for me, because
now I think of other people. And I immediately think of Stephen.
I'm not going through that. Painful. And so that's good,
isn't it? Keep you from thinking about
yourself. But Mary said, God is so good. God is so good. Her husband is
in real pain, excruciating pain. It's going to last a while. God
is so good, she said. And I wrote her back. She said,
we're blessed to be tried like this. Aren't we blessed to be tried
that God sent this? What a blessing that God sent
this. He doesn't do that to unbelievers. He leaves them alone and lets
them be happy and forget Him. Then He forgets them in the end.
You understand? That's faith in the face of difficulty. Everybody says they're blessed
and they believe when everything is going well. But Job lost everything
and everyone. And he said, the Lord did that.
Bless Him in His name. I'm a blessed man, he said. Now
that's true faith. And that came by grace. That's
the grace of God. By grace you save through faith.
That's not of yourselves. That's the gift of God. Some
of you have lost children. That's got to be the most difficult
trial a human being can go through. I don't want to go through it. I might have to. Nobody wants
to go through that. Every parent thinks that we're
supposed to go before our children, don't we? But no, God did it. And he's too wise to err. He's too good to do wrong. And
some of you in tears, I'm looking at someone with tears on her
face, lost her son, nodding her head, smiling. That's right.
God did this. That's true grace. That's true
faith. That's God-given faith. It's
for His glory, you see. Our testimony glorifies Him.
It doesn't glorify God and everything's going well, and you say, oh,
God bless me. That doesn't glorify God. That's
easy to say, isn't it? That's walking by sight, not
faith. Look at me. I must be blessed.
Everything's well. Job, look at Job. Look at his
three friends. They didn't have any problem
in the world. Who's blessed? Who did God accept? Who did God
say, this man's just. He's upright. He's perfect. Nothing
like him in the earth. The man who lost everything and
everyone, his health and everything. Sitting in the ashes. Scraping
his boils. God did this? Yes, He did. Why? So that Job would tell this
unbelieving world, God did this. That glorifies God more than
a time of prosperity. Yes, it does. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. It's for our good. David said
this in Psalm 119, it's good for me that I've been afflicted.
Why, David? That I might learn your statutes.
You don't understand God's Word until you're afflicted, until
you go through troubles and trials. You really don't. You say, I
believe. I believe God's sovereign. Yeah, I believe God's sovereign.
The devil believes that. And trembles. But then when he takes
everything away from you, takes that which is dear to you away
from you, and then you say, God's sovereign. That's a blow. That's a saving thing. And that's
for our good to see that I don't understand immediately, right
now, the purpose of all this, but I will. Because He's good. He's true. He's just. He's my
Heavenly Father. And He does everything that's
right. He's the Judge of the Earth. And I bow to His sovereign
will and all things. I believe Him. I trust Him. Oh,
boy, does that glorify God. And you know what He'll do? He'll
give you that comfort. That's the consolation, you see.
That's the comfort He gives you. If you don't, you get mad at
Him. Leave you to yourself, and you
crawl off in a hole somewhere, and you just die without God,
without peace, without comfort. Right? You say, Lord, you did
this, I know you did. I don't understand, but I believe.
You come and you, Job, what's the first thing Job did when
God did all of you? Worshipped him. So what'd God do? He sent more
trials. Wait a minute, I don't understand.
Yes, you do. This is not our home. This is not our portion. This is not the source of our
happiness, is it? It's not this world. We live
by faith, not side. Faith, not feeling. Faith. This is what God says. I don't
care what the world says. I really don't care what the
world says. Do you? That's the way you need to be.
You need to listen to God. He can't lie. Satan will lie
to you. God didn't want that to happen.
That's what Satan will tell you. Well, trying grace, it's for
Our good, you tell me when the Lord has
ever been more near to you, and dear to you, and more real to
you, and spoken to you from His Word more than when you were
going through a child. Isn't that right? Whereas we've all guilty of playing
religion now. We're all guilty of drawing near
with our lips when our hearts are far from it. When your heart's
breaking, and you've got no hope, no help but in God, and you come
and worship God, He's going to comfort you. He's going to speak
to you. He's going to give you peace
that passeth understanding. That's only for those that have
tried. The world doesn't know anything
about that. How can she go through this?
How can you say God did this? Because God's grace is real. The Lord is near to you. It's
for others. As I said, if you're happy and
healthy and everything's fine, you're not thinking of other
people suffering. You're just not, are you? But if you're going
through something similar, You have compassion with them. You
feel for them. You think about them. Our Lord was tempted and tried
in all points like as we are. Compassed with infirmity, didn't
He? Try in grace. It's a gift. Trials
are a gift. Grace is a gift to endure. Blessed
are they that endure. suffer, mostly physical, many
in the world suffer mostly physical, some emotional heart troubles
and trials. But the book, this book tells us of a different
kind of suffering. Look at chapter two. Look at
chapter two. You have it? It says in verse
five, you're a lively stone, living stone in a spiritual house.
That's the true church. There's a true church. There's
a false church. You have it? Holy priesthood, that's what
he said. Spiritual sacrifices accepted by God, by Jesus Christ
in Him. So it says, it goes on, you have
it? 1 Peter 2, 6. It's contained in Scripture.
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. Elect. We're electing
Him, aren't we? God didn't choose you because
you were good boys and girls, but He chose you in Christ. The
only good man truly that ever lived by nature. Precious, he's
precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. He really is. This is true grace. to make Jesus Christ your only
hope, your only source of hope. That, you know, something precious
to you is something valuable, something dear, something you
don't want to do without, something you wouldn't sell for anything.
Anybody have anything that is still precious to you, a gift
somebody gave you and you wouldn't take anything for it? I've got
a few things, you know, just things, but you know what I'm
saying. I've got letters from my older
brother. I've still got them. They're 1969, 56 years old. I've still got them. I wouldn't
take a million dollars for them. I've got a cat that wouldn't
take a million dollars. You've got dogs, don't you? Little things,
and those may be bad illustrations, but if you really believe Christ
is all to you, you're on Him, He's precious, and you're not
going to sell out, you're not going to forsake Him, because
He's not going to forsake you. But you won't take anything for
this gospel. Is the gospel precious to you,
what you're hearing right now? He's precious. But to them which
are disobedient, those who don't believe the truth, He's the stone
which the builders disallow. He's the head of the corner. Look, read on, verse 8. He's
the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Now let me just dwell
here a little bit. True grace is offensive. The true Christ of Scripture
is an offense. Why do you think men killed Him? He offended them. He offended their morality. He
offended their religion. He offended their will, their
works, their everything. He offended them. Sovereignty of God is offensive
to man's pride. Well, I'll have you know, I did
this, I did that, I obtained this by my... No, you didn't.
It was all given to you by God. That offends man's pride. It's self-rule. We will not have
this man reign over you. Yes, you will. He does. He always has. And if he, by
grace, lets you know who he is, causes you to know who he is,
you're going to be thankful that he reigns and rules over all. Sovereignty offends man's pride. Election offends man's free will,
so-called. It offends him. I'll have you
know I have free choice. No, you don't. No, you don't. Adam was the only
man who had free choice. The only one, free will. What
did he do? What did he do? What did free
will get us? Ruined by default. Satan said, you will be as God. You are as God. You have free
choice. Who is God to withhold anything
from you to make laws? You're in the image of God. You're
a God. Choose what you will. He doesn't
have to reign over you. You reign over. He's put you
in charge of this earth. It's up to you. That sounds good,
Adam said. I want to write any rule. But God did. What happened? He died. Adam died. He lost his
sense. He lost his understanding. He
became dead. He didn't know God, didn't know
himself, didn't know the truth, but God. Revealed to him. The only reason
I shouldn't destroy you, Adam, is the Lamb slain. And I'm going to sin and cover
your sin and your filth and your rebellion against me like I'm
covering you right now with the robe of this sheep, this lamb
that died, this blood for the remission because you sinned. And I said, you'll die. And if
you don't die eternally, it's going to be because somebody
dies for you. That's it. That's it. You can ask Adam to
do anything. He said, this is what I'm going
to do. This is a covenant I made with my son. That's grace, isn't
it? That's grace. The election offends
man's free will. Redemption by blood offends man's
worth. I don't have too many redeeming
qualities, but I've got a few. No, you don't. You don't have
any. Right? That's the best woman
in here. Who would that be? Nobody raise
their hand on that. But the one you think is the
best, do you have any redeeming qualities?
Do you have anything why God should have mercy and grace? Not whatsoever. In my flesh,
she would say, to the praise of God's glory, the glory of
His grace, she would say, I'm less than the least of all sinners.
I'm not fit to be called a disciple. He says, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, O wretched man that I am. I've heard him, now
I see him, and I hate myself. It's only the grace of God that
I'm not a harlot on the street. That's what the best woman in
here would say. Isn't that so? Every woman in here needs to
say amen. That's grace, people. That's
true grace. If I stood up and said this in
the First Methodist Church down here, oh, they'd run me out of
town on rails. You know that? United Methodist
Women's Missionary Society. Go stand up and tell them that
they're no better than a harlot on the street. Stand up and tell
them that. Why? Because it's so. That offends me. I'm only in chapter 2. Revelation. Revealing grace. God revealing this truth offends
man's wisdom. You can't figure this out. You
can't know God. No man knows the Son but the
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son, and he
to whom the Son will reveal it. Paul said, I didn't know the
law. I didn't know anything. I didn't know God. But when it
pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by the gospel of His grace to reveal His Son in me, then
I now know. I didn't have a clue before.
I was dead, but God. Revealed it to me. Sovereign
revelation. God before the world again said,
I chose Patrick Collin, and I'm going to reveal myself to him.
I'm going to reveal himself to him. I'm going to show him what
he is. I'm going to show him who Jesus
Christ is and what salvation is. And he's going to praise
me for the rest of his life. for choosing him, for sending
my son to die for him, and revealing this gospel, sending a preacher
to preach this gospel to him, and now he's going to be sitting
in glory with Christ and all the same, because God in sovereign
grace chose him, called him, redeemed him, kept him, and brought
him all the way home for Christ's sake. Don't you love that? Is
that the truth? That's the true grace of God. Anything more? Anything less?
It's not grace. Hmm. Chosen. Where am I? Where am I? Oh, my. Look at chapter
3. Okay? Chapter 3. Look at this. It says in verse... Where do I start and stop? It
tells us to have compassion on one another and love as brethren.
Verse 8. Be pitiful, be courteous, don't render evil for evil, railing
for railing. Contrarywise, blessing, that's
what you're called to do, to inherit a blessing. He that will
love life, and he said in chapter 2, our Lord, when he was reviled,
reviled not again, didn't he? Verse 10, he that will love life,
see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil. Man, we
need grace for that, don't we? In his lips, they speak no guile.
In all this, Job sinned not with his lips. I want to be like that. Don't you, brother? Verse 11,
it's, Chew evil. That's what Job did. That's what
I want to do. And do good. Let him seek peace and sue it.
Blessed are the peacemakers. The eyes of the Lord over the
righteous, his ears open unto their prayer. The face of the
Lord is against them that do evil. It's against. God's against the people. Who is he, verse 13, that will
harm you if you be followers of that which is good? Meaning,
if you do what's right, you won't suffer for it. If you suffer
for your own faults, don't act like you're suffering. You understand? That's what he's saying. If you drive a speed limit, you
won't get a ticket, okay? But look at this, verse 14, verse
13, 14. But if you suffer for righteousness
sake, happy are you. Don't be afraid of their terror.
Don't be troubled. Sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Understand that he did this,
sent it. for a trial, be ready to give an answer to everyone,
ask you a reason of the hope that's in you with meekness and
fear, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil
of you as evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse
you. A good conversation in Christ. So it's better if the will of
God be that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Christ suffered
for sin. He's talking about suffering
for righteousness sake. Okay? You know what that means?
Sure you do. We're not defending our righteousness. We're not preaching our righteousness.
Huh? I was going to have you turn
to 2 Peter chapter 2. It says, Noah in his day was
a preacher of righteousness. Do you know what that means?
Could you tell somebody that? They ask you what? You don't
hear that word anymore, except in grace pulpit, do you? And what men think that is, is
you act right, you do right, and God will treat you right,
and be right, all right with you when it's all over. If you
just do the right thing, you'll go to heaven. That's self-righteousness. That's works righteousness. No,
we're saved by the righteousness of another. We're saved by the
works of another. We're not saved by our works
before or after we're saved. No, no, no, no. We're saved by
the work of Christ. We're saved by the righteousness
of Christ. We preach righteousness, but it's the righteousness of
God. I was going to have you turn to Romans, but there's not
enough time. But this righteousness we suffer
for, he said, this is what you're going to suffer. You're going
to be persecuted. Like Noah, he preached that God
is righteous. Describe God in one word. You
ask God's people to describe the chief attribute of God that
describes Him more than anything else. They all know the answer
to that. Holy. The same word is just. The same
word is righteous. He will by no means, can you
quote the rest of it? Will by no means clear the guilty. Well, all are guilty. How then can He clear the guilty? You've got to be clear. It must
be perfect to be accepted. You must be as righteous as God,
as holy as God. How can God justify the ungodly
and the sinner and the unrighteous? How can God? Well, the Gospel
declares His righteousness for the remission of sin. Who? Christ.
We're Jehovah Witnesses. Jehovah Sidkenu. Please remember
that name. Please remember that name for
when the next time Jehovah Witnesses come to your door. You tell them. You're Jehovah Witness? Yes.
Oh, I am too. Do you know this name? If you
don't, you're not Jehovah's Witness. Jehovah Sidkenu. What's that
mean? The Lord our Righteous. The Lord
who? The Lord Jesus Christ. Romans
10 verse 4. Christ is the end of the law
for righteous to everyone who believes. This righteousness
is imputed. It's not something you earn.
It's something Christ earned and imputed it, charged it to
you, robed it. God brought the prodigal son
home and he wasn't worth it. And the first thing the Father
said, bring the best robe. Bring the best robe. Offer it. Put it on him. Strip him of those
rags. Filthy rags. All our righteousness
are filthy rags, Isaiah 64. Do you know what that means?
It means all our religious things, all our doings and not doings
and this and that is self-righteous. God despises it. Because if righteousness
comes by us doing anything, Christ didn't need to come here. This
is the true grace of God. Righteousness imputed. It's not
a doctrine. It's somebody doing everything
for you. It's God giving you what somebody else did for you. And giving him what he should
have given you. Death. That's grace. Chapter 5, let me close. It says
here in verse 8, be sober. Don't be intoxicated with anything
in this world, anything or anyone. Don't be inebriated. Don't be
so taken up with people and things that you're out of your mind. That's what alcohol does. It puts you out of your mind, not
in your right mind. Be in the right mind, the mind of Christ.
All this is given by God and it will be taken away. In a day of prosperity, the scripture
says rejoice. But in a day of adversity, consider
this. God sets one against the other.
So you won't find anything here. That's what he said. You won't
find anything here. That's what he did to Job. And true grace
and true faith said God gave it all. God took it all away.
Bless his name. You need to know that now. Be
sober, be vigilant, watchful, watch unto prayer, because your
adversary the devil, he's a lot stronger than you. He's a master
of human nature. He walks about seeking whom he
may devour. What's our hope? That's what
he said to Simon Peter, didn't he, who wrote this. Simon, Satan
hath desire to sift you like wheat. Oh Lord, they'll They'll
leave you, I won't. Okay, Simon. I'm going to let
him have you. And you're going to realize,
without me, you're nothing. Where would you be if I hadn't
called you? Where would you be if I didn't keep you by my side?
Where would you be? I'll tell you where you'd be.
Dead. Verse 9 says, resist in the faith. What's that? That's Christ. Looking to Him. Calling upon
Him. Trusting in Him. You can't make a move without
Him. Your adversary is out there. But now, here it is. I'll close
with this. The God of all grace. Who called you unto His eternal
glory by Jesus Christ. After you've suffered a while.
It's just a while. Just a while longer. Just a while
longer now. It won't be long now. They're
not going to be long now. After you've suffered a while,
according to His wisdom, make you perfect. You know, I want to be a man
of the faith. We need to quit ourselves like
men, you know. No one. Women? I don't want to be a baby.
A big baby. Do you? I want to grow up. Be
a man of faith. David was a man when he was 16
years old. Wasn't he? Is there not a cause? What's wrong with you all? Don't
you believe God? Yeah, but look, what's wrong
with you? You don't believe God, do you?
I do. I'm going to take his head off. That's a man. Believe in God. Not in himself. Believe in God.
That's maturity. He says, after you've suffered
a while, make you perfect. Establish. Establish you. That will be established, don't
you? Stand firm. Stayed is what that means. Stayed upon Jehovah. That's what I want to be. Unmovable. That's the next thing, isn't
it? Strengthened. Strengthened you.
Strong in the faith. Settled you. Is the truth settled
in your heart and mind? Is it? Is it settled? Settled. Heart, your mind, your
soul, and your body. Some of you are still in the
same seats you were when I came here 36 years ago. Still in the
same seats. Amazingly, some of you, not many,
John Cheesley still looks like he did 36 years ago. He's in
that same seat, doesn't he? Doesn't he, Wendy? Nancy, doesn't
he? That's the do of youth. That's
the grace of God. But right there he sits, settled. Like he's going to stay here
in the house of God, worshiping Christ, believing the gospel,
the true grace of God, until the day he dies. That's what
Brother Henry Sword did. Right there. He sat on the second
row. Virgie sat right back there. Settled. Just settled in for
the long haul. Not going anywhere until God
comes and gets you. My dad, Joe Parks. And on and on it goes. Ellen
Frailer, right back. It's settled! Don't move away from the hope
of the gospel. Are you settled? Is it settled in your heart and
your mind that God reigns? That you have nothing to fear
and no one to fear? No matter what the Surgeon General
says? No matter what they say? Is that
settled in your heart and mind? If it is, You'll have peace. And you'll sit right here, believe
in this gospel until the day that Christ comes and says, bring
him home. Bring John Sheasley, sat there
long enough. Bring him home. Earlene, come
home. Well done. Now good and faithful
service. And you're going to say, I didn't
do anything. It's all by grace. Is that what you believe? This is the true grace of God.
Okay. Let's stand.