1 Peter 1, look at chapter 5. One verse in chapter 5 that really
caught my attention, that became the basis for this message, and
I believe it will be the title of this whole series of messages. Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter
5 verse 12, he writes in the middle part of that verse, I
have written briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of
God wherein you stand. Right there it is. He sums it
all up, everything that he writes in this epistle, this letter. And that's the title of this
message, the true grace, true grace. of God, part one. Chapter one. Now turn back there. Chapter one. In five chapters,
we're going to see what the true grace of God is. For salvation
is by grace. Salvation is by grace. True grace,
now, it's not—grace is not an offer. Grace is not an offer. The true grace of God is not
an offer, something God just has and anybody that wants it,
he just, they need to accept it and use it. No, no, no. The
true grace of God is something that's done to you. It's something
that happens to you, not offered to you. It's bestowed upon you. Grace, grace means unmerited
favor, an unearned gift, a gift. All right? And this gift of God,
this grace of God, he purposed it, he sent it, and he applies
it. The true grace of God. Chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1,
verses 1 and 2. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers, scattered. throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect. Stop right there. This true grace of God is electing
grace. God's sovereign electing grace. The true grace of God, wherein
you stand, is electing grace. Sovereign electing grace. Now,
in Adam, all died. You know this. We're going to
be saying many of the same thing. You've heard this preaching before
so many times. I think about that. I really
do. I think they've heard this so many times, but I have too. I bet I've heard it more than
you. Since I was a baby, this is all I've ever heard. I've
heard 1 Peter 1 a thousand times, I know, one way or another. And I still rejoice, we still
rejoice in God's sovereign electing grace. It's grace that God elected
anybody. A lot of people have trouble
with election. A lot of people don't like even
the sound of the word. But now, buddy, now, here's the
thing about it. Adam died, and Adam all died. All the human race died in Adam. became corrupt, fallen, full
of sin, but God in mercy and grace purposed to save some of
this fallen race of human beings, sons of Adam. God purposed, determined
to save some of them. None of them deserve to be saved,
but God in mercy and grace determined to save some of them. And so
he chose to save some of them. He didn't have to save anybody. But he decided to. Now who he
saved is his business. The fact that he chooses, the
fact that he purposed to save it all is grace, is mercy. But who he saves is his divine
prerogative and business. And so he chose. But it wasn't
like he just was, you know, just a few. Scripture says he chose
a people as the sands of the sea, stars of the sky. He chose a people. Elected. Yes, he elected them. Ephesians
1 says, before the foundation of the world. And as we've heard Charles Spurgeon
say, I know he elected me before I was born because if he'd have
waited, he sure wouldn't have chosen me after. That's what
Romans 9 deals with. Go home and read Romans 9 for
yourself. It says, The children being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, it was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. God chose them that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. That the purpose
of God according to election might stand. It was said unto
her, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Neither one
of them deserved to be saved. Jacob was just as ornery as Esau,
but God chose Jacob. That was mercy and that was grace.
That was sovereign electing grace. That's what Exodus 33 said. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. God chose a people, elect, according
to the foreknowledge. That doesn't mean that he looked
to see who was going to believe on him. That doesn't mean that he just
knew that they were at some time were going to believe. To certainly
know something, it must certainly come to pass. How are you going
to certainly know something? Well, if you make it come to
pass, you know it, don't you? Else it's just a guess. God's
foreknowledge is not just that. It's foreknowing. It's foreordaining. It's forecausing. for determining,
predetermining. According to the foreknowledge
of God, read on, elects. This is sovereign electing grace. He chose to save a people, persons,
through sanctification of the Spirit. Now, God gave these elect
persons to Jesus Christ. And Christ came to this world
to save them by his righteousness. to redeem them by His blood.
He tells us here. We're not redeemed with the way
we live and all of that. No, not tradition or form or
ceremony, but with blood. Precious blood. The blood of
Christ. And righteousness. We're made
righteous not by works of righteousness, which we do, No, but works of
righteousness Christ did for his Elohim, and imputes it to
them. All right? And verse 2, he says,
and they're sanctified by the Spirit. This is what the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, through what I'm doing right now. And I am
not skilled to understand how God uses it. But I know He does. That it pleased God, not the
foolishness of preaching. I feel myself to be such an inadequate,
helpless, but this Word's not going to
return void. And what's being said right now,
this gospel, this Word, this is what God uses to open the
eyes. This is what God, the Holy Spirit,
uses to give life. Well, who's sufficient for these
things? And the Holy Spirit sanctified, and what that means is set apart.
What sets apart a believer from an unbeliever, a child of God
from a son of Adam, is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, through
the gospel, says, Believe. It convinces you of these things. Well, look at verse 2. And under
obedience and sprinkling of the blood, that's obedience to the
faith. God says, Believe. And we won't believe until he
gives us faith. Median. And sprinkling of the
blood of Christ. All who Christ died for, they're
going to believe. All the Father gave to him, they're
going to come to him in faith, in repentance. And they're going
to keep coming to him. And they're going to hold steadfast
to the end, the beginning of their confidence. Head out. Grace unto you. Grace unto you. This is the true
grace of God now. Electing grace. Sanctifying grace. Believing grace. Grace unto you,
and peace to be multiplied. And it will. The older you get,
the more it will be multiplied to you. The more you'll believe.
The more you'll be convinced that God chose me. Grace and peace will be multiplied.
Peace by believing. Trusting Christ, looking to Him.
Verse 3, blessed, and Paul says this is the only thing we've
got to say to that, blessed be God. Oh, blessed God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, or who, according to His abundant
mercy, hath begotten us, given birth to us. Peter says that
over in verse 23, born again. He's given birth to us, begotten
us. Romans 8 says that we receive
the adoption of children. Children, begotten us, unto a
lively hope, verse 3, a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. The Apostle Paul, nearly every
message he preached in the book of Acts, he spoke much of. Christ rising
from the dead. Nearly every message. Why? Because if you read 1 Corinthians
15, Paul said, if Christ be not risen, what we're doing is vain. We're of all men most miserable.
Why are we? If that One who came 2,000 years
ago, said he was God, and said he came to save his people by
doing what he did, and said he came to die as a lamb, and he
died and was buried. Now, if he didn't rise from the
grave like this book says he did, it was all a lie. He was just a man. And we're
a bunch of fools. Because that means this is all
there is, this world. It's all there is. And why are
we doing without? Let's just eat, drink. Paul said,
let's just go after the world because this is all there is.
You better grab all the gusto while you can. If this is living,
you better go at it. But he said, no, no, no, no,
no. But now Christ is risen. He did rise from the grave. Proving
who he was. Proving who he was. He came out
of that grave. He was seen by over 400 people at one time.
Paul said, and I saw him as one born out of due time. I saw him.
Peter said, we saw him. We're not telling this. We're
not making this up, Peter said. This is not a cunningly devised
fable. We're eyewitnesses. We saw him. He is risen. And we saw him go
right back, just pass into the heavens, and we're right now
seated at the right hand of God. Stephen said he saw him sitting,
standing there. He's a risen Christ. He's a real
Lord, living person, right now. And now this hope that we have
in him, it's real. It's like just, it's not following
some We're not hoping against hope. We're hoping in a person,
a real person. See that? When he came back from the grave,
he said, touch me. Didn't he? Handle me. It's me, myself. It's me, myself. It's me, myself. And I'm going
to walk into heaven right now and leave you, but I'll come
back for you." Now, there's no, not hoping in
doctrine, hoping in the hope of, hope of, hope of, hope of,
wish, oh, I hope. A real person died, rose again, came back and
said, now look, it's me, it's me. He was dead. He rose and said, it's me. Now,
I'm coming back. Gird up your loins. I'm coming back real soon. Gird up your loins and hope.
Rejoice." And he left. Paul said, we've got a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Ah, boy. This is a grace of hope. Hope. Verse 4 says, Now because
of him we have an inheritance. Verse 4. We have an inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, is reserved
right now in heaven for you who are kept by this gospel. Kept. Kept hoping. Kept believing. Kept looking
to Christ. We have an inheritance. An inheritance
now. Inheritance really depends on
the... Being an heir is not a right. Being an heir to someone's inheritance
is not a right. Some of you may find that out.
That when your mom or dad or your great uncle dies or whatever,
you might not get a dime. It's up to them, isn't it? Depends
on whether or not they liked you or not. Right? That's what it depends upon.
Depends on the one who leaves you inherited. On his mercy. On his grace. It's not my right
to get everything that my dad leaves. It's not my right. No,
it's not. The law doesn't say that. But our God now says, In Christ,
he's made us joint heirs with Christ, heir of all things. God's bountiful, generous—this
is God's generous grace. Generous grace. He gives—oh,
he's gracious. He gives a lot. How much? It's
inheritance. Nobody's seen it. We'll know,
and that's the reason we'll sing to the praise and the glory of
his grace from now through eternity. Grace, grace, grace, grace. Verse
five, we're kept by this grace, through grace of God, wherein
we stand, by the power of God, through faith, keeping grace. This is the true grace of God,
wherein I stand now, that I'm being kept by the power of God. I can't keep myself. You know
that. I know that. We try, you know, and we fail
so miserably, but we're kept by the power of God. He is able
to keep us from falling. I'm not. Oh, if one of God's
people could fall away, I'd fall a thousand times a day, the poem
says. We're kept by His power. Is that
the grace you stand in? Is that your hope? Henry, what's
your hope that in the end, when you die, you'll die in faith?
that Christ will keep you believing, right? What did our Lord say
to Peter? Peter, Satan has desired you
to sift you like wheat. Buddy, you're a leader here.
You're the chief apostle right now, and Satan wants you. What did our Lord say? But, Peter,
I pray for you. I'm your only hope, Peter. I'm
your only hope. I'm going to let you in a little
while. I'm going to let you fall. I'm going to leave you to yourself
just for about an hour. I know you're going to be the
most miserable man on earth, but Peter, I pray for you that
your faith fail not. Instead, that's what he prayed
in his high priestly prayer. Father, those thou hast given
me I have kept. But I'm not. I've given them
my word, and they believe. And they'll keep on believing.
Why? Because I will. That they whom you've given me
be with me where I am. This is the true grace of God
wherein you stand. You're going to stand someday
with Christ, in Christ, by this grace of God. And it's just not
a little hope. So, true thing. kept by the power
of God. And what's the power? Right there,
what I just said. I give you hope, John. All right,
verse 6 says, now wherein you greatly rejoice. Do you rejoice
in that? Huh? Do you rejoice in the electing
grace of God? Huh? Only the elect do. Do you
know that? Do you rejoice in the sovereign,
electing grace of God? Only the elect do. Do you rejoice
in the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit that he sets apart? Only the elect do. Do you rejoice in the resurrection
of Christ? Keeping grace of God? Do you
rejoice in that God keeps his people? Do you rejoice in that? the elective. Sound like you
might be in this true grace. Well, verse 6 says that you greatly
rejoiced, but now for a season. For a season. When winter was here and I was
outside, busting ice, scraping snow, I thought, will this ever
And we didn't even have a winter. We didn't even have a winter
to speak of. It keeps getting shorter. Isn't that so? Time is short. Well, but I thought,
well, winter, you know, oh, this is miserable, this is awful,
this is terrible. How long is this going to last?
Gone. Four seasons. Seasons don't last long, do they?
Neither will these trials, he said. Verse six, four seasons,
it need be. Who says need be? If need be. Who says, who determines
the need? God. And if He says need be, it need
be. It need be. If God says it need
be, it need be. Why it need be? Or it wouldn't be. Right? Right? If you believe this grace
of God, I want to see your head nodding. It need be. It need
be or it wouldn't be. Because God is. And all things
work together according to this plan. It need be. wherein greatly ye rejoice. So
now, first season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptation, different many and many trials." Heaviness. Real trials are heavy ones. What's
it all about? Verse 7, a trial of your faith. Why do trials come? Not to give
faith, but to reveal faith. Trials don't
give faith. Old days strengthened faith,
but it don't give faith. The gospel gives faith. Faith
cometh by hearing, hearing by the word. Trials reveal faith. Trials reveal faith. For who? Others. James. The whole book of James. Others. that they may behold
your good work and glorify God, et cetera. Trial of your faith. The only one way, trial reveals
faith. Faith, it says in verse seven,
is much more precious than of gold, much more precious than
gold. Saved by faith, justified by
faith, lived by faith. much more precious
than gold, it perisheth. And this faith will be tried
by fire, painful heaviness, and many trials, not just one isolated
incident, but many trials generally in older age. Abraham is the
father of the faithful, and his life shows us that. But it might be found unto praise. See this? Unto praise. What's faith, what's it all about?
that it might be found unto praise and honor and glory." Whose praise? Well, he's sure a strong believer.
He's a strong God. To honor, unto
His honor, unto His glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
The only way to appreciate a good boat And it can look good. Oh, it can look good. You can
build a boat in your garage and the whole world will admire it. And everybody will brag on it.
It looks good and it shines. And to have a big ceremony is
only one way. And you don't know if it's a
good boat by just putting it out there on a calm farm pond. Put it out there in a storm. See if she floats. Let's see if it floats. If it's
shipwrecked. Wasn't a good boat, was it? Wasn't a real boat. Wasn't
a good ark, was it? But if it floats, if it comes
through that storm, safely on the other side, in one piece, that's a boat. A boat floats. So is faith, true faith. Verse
8. Now you, at the appearing of
Christ, whom have you not seen? Nobody in here has seen Christ. But you love him. Our Lord called Peter's name,
didn't he? Personally. I'd like to call
every name in here. He will. So and so, do you love
me? Peter, do you love me?" Now, Peter said, now, we saw
him. Peter said, yea, Lord, I love
you. But Peter said, now, we have
a more sure word of hope. Wherein to you do well until
a day star ariseth in your heart, until Christ revealed himself
to you. Every believer can say this, I haven't seen him, but
I do love him. And in whom, verse 8, though
now you see him not, believe. I'm a believer. I don't say that proudly or presumptuously. I don't say that bragging on
any decision I ever made. I never made a decision, Don.
I never made a decision. Never! I never accepted Jesus
as my personal Savior. I never walked an aisle and shook
a preacher's hand. I never did that. Never! I didn't accept anybody. I didn't
make any decision. I was found. See, I'm one that's
lost. I was one that's drowned, and
somebody came in after me. I wasn't seeking the Lord. I
really wasn't. Darn hell, I wasn't seeking the
Lord. I was seeking meanness. I wasn't reading the Bible. Bless God, Christ read my name
in his poems. He came after me. And one day,
by his grace, through the preaching of the gospel, and I was only
doing that, I was only listening to that to get that girl right
there. I only came to hear the gospel so I could get me a good
job and get that girl. That's it. That's why. I wasn't
seeking the Lord, I was seeking Mindy Ballard. God, who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewith he loved me, even when we were dead in
sin, by grace, you say, hath quickened me together with Christ.
I heard the gospel. Christ revealed himself to me
and said, Believe. I believe. I'm a believer. I'm
a believer. Why? It's not me. By grace, you say, through faith
in all of yourself. This is that grace, that true
grace where I stand. I'm standing right here, literally
in front of you, because of the sovereign, electing, serving,
forgiving grace of God. Else I'd be in a gutter or dead
right now. I'd be one of these old hippies. If it wasn't for this grace,
where can I stand right now? I believe. So I rejoice with
verse 8, with joy unspeakable. I'm trying my best to tell you
what it means to me right now. I can't. It's unspeakable. And it's full of glory. I sure
can't tell you that. I haven't seen it yet. I've experienced
a little bit of it, a foretaste of glory divine. There's times
when I don't have to be preaching, but when another man's preaching,
if God, by His grace... I forgive me, you know, if I
get too... worked up, and I don't want to draw attention to myself,
but at times I act like I don't believe it all. I really do. But I do believe. By God's grace, I do believe. And those times, I pray, Lord,
help my unbelief. Do you believe? Do you or don't you? Do you? Or don't you? Yet believing, he rejoiced with
joy. Receiving, verse 9, believing
and receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your
soul. Oh, and he goes on to talk about
now the prophets. That's what all prophets talk
about. All of us. This one who came. I never saw him. As I never saw him. Did it? Oh, but read Isaiah 53. Read
his testimony. Jeremiah never saw him. But he
knew Jehovah's Seed Kenneth. Read chapter six. David never
saw him. Read all the Psalms. Samuel never saw him. Abraham
never saw him. Noah never saw him. Edith never saw him. Isaac
never saw him. Abel never saw him. None of them
saw him. I haven't seen him. But yet I rejoice with joy unspeakable. And it says that angels—look
at this, verse 12. I love this. The last line says,
angels desire to look into. A lot of talk about angels, isn't
it? Angels desire to look into. What
are angels interested in? These things. Angels are looking into. Verse
13. So he says, gird up the loins
of your mind. Hey, this is the true grace of
God that will make a man pull himself up by his bootstraps.
That's what gird up means. Gird up! Come on now, gird up
your loins of your mind. My mind's falling apart. Gird
up! We've got a real hope and a real person just for a season. He said he's coming. He said
he was coming. He did come. He said why he came,
he did it. Say he's going back, and he did.
Say he's coming again, and he will. Gird up. Gird up. Come on, Merrick. Gird up. The
loins of your mind. Let this world and yourself and
all this stuff. I lose my mind. Gird it up. How? What's the girdle? Phase and
six. Truth. Right here. Right here. It's just keep your mind. Just
keep your heart. It's what we're kept by. It's
what keeps your mind from falling apart. Gird up the loins of your
mind, he said. Be sober, verse 13. Be sober.
What does that mean? Get serious. Straighten up is
what it means. Straighten up. And hope to the
end. What for? The grace. The true grace of God. where
you stand. It's going to be brought to you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yes, it is. You're kept right
now. You're ready to be revealed the
last time. Ready to be revealed. You have
inheritance. Christ is going to come and reveal
it to you. Verse 14. As obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves. This is sanctifying grace. This
is keeping grace. This is how Christ keeps us from
going back to the world. Verse six, fifteen and sixteen,
God honoring grace, life changing grace. You know, there is a radical
transformation in God's people when he saves them. That's not
salvation. You know, a new life or, you
know, a fellow that was an old drunk and now he's No more drunk
and clean up. That's not salvation. But bless
God. It really happens. He really
does transform. Of people into the image of Christ. They really that he really does
turn hateful, rotten, no good son of Adam into a loving. Merciful, gracious. He really does. Most of us, all of us, wouldn't
have anything to do with one another. If you'd have met old
Henry Sword and he's in the army with tattoos on him, you wouldn't
want anything to do with you. It's a wonder, it's grace that
Roberta did. It's just sorrow, isn't it? You
sure wouldn't want to have anything to do with me. But God's grace makes a difference. He really does. Verse 17 now
and 18, he says, If you call on the Father, and do you? Well, you do or you don't. Call on God who, without respect
to persons, passes time of your sojourning
here in fear. Sojourning. Sojourning. Sojourning. Poor season. Sojourning. In fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. It's what's missing
today. It's what's missing today. No fear of God. It's not missing
God's people. They're God-fearing people. Always
have been. Always will be. Fear God. That's how you know them. They
fear God. They fear to even say the name. Fear God, verses 18. You know
this, what it took to save you. We're not worth saving. We're
not worth a dime. What did it take to save us?
Blood. Precious blood. God's Son's blood. How could I ever think anything
else had anything to do with it? I know this. You know this, John Davis? You
know this, you're not redeemed with this stuff, anything but
blood. That's why we're going to be
talking about blood throughout eternity, aren't we? Grace and
blood, grace and blood, grace and blood. Read on. Christ was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but revealed in these
last times for you, who by him do believe. See that? It's about
him that raised him up. Well, verse 21, it gave him glory
that your faith and hope might be in God. Do you believe God? Christ said, believe me. There's a lot of people that
believe in a God, but they don't believe that one named Jesus
is God. So therefore, no hope. I believe and I'm sure that he's
Christ, the son of the living God. He is very God of very God. He is God manifest in the flesh.
And I didn't figure that out. He revealed it to me. Do you
believe that? You believe that? Flesh and blood
didn't reveal it to you. Jehovah Witness organization
won't reveal it to you. No sir. The Heavenly Father will. To all of his children he reveals
that to them. That's God. Christ, that you hope. I have hope in a real person
who was God. Verse 22, you purified your souls
and obeying the truth. Does everyone believe everything's
been said thus far? It's the truth. And the same
thing with what Peter said, just repeating what Peter and Paul
and the rest of them said. That's the truth. This is the
truth. Have you believed it? Yes. Well,
you're purified through the Spirit and the unfeigned love of the
brethren. You know, God's people don't
tell each other they love one another at the drop of a hat. Do you? I don't go around telling
you, oh, I love you, brother. I've heard that before. Haven't you? Some fellow recently
called me brother, and he's no more my brother. And we don't tell each other
we love one another, but we do. Because it means too much. To
say, I love you, means too much to use it so carelessly, just
like the name of God, just like the word of God. It means too
much. It's too serious to use it lightly
and use it too often. Right? And when you say it, you
want to really mean it, or really want to feel it and convey it
in such a way that they believe what you say. Right? Well, we
do, don't we? We do love the brethren. Oh, that's the grace of God.
Isn't that the grace of God? Huh? The brother-loving grace
of God. That's the true grace. He takes the grace of God and
makes you love somebody that you're nothing like. Verse 23
says, you're born again. See, all of that is a result
of this, being born again. Again, not a corruptible seed,
no, but incorruptible by the Word of God, what's being preached
right now, which liveth and abideth forever. Because everything's
fading away, falling away, everything in this world, but verse 25,
the Word of the Lord endureth forever. We may hear, I believe
we will, I believe we're going to hear the Lord Jesus Christ
preach from 1 Peter chapter 1. Or maybe he'll have Peter do
it. And we're going to hear it for the first time. We're going
to hear, he's going to say, he's going to say about three words
and we're going to just shout. Yes, I'm, yes. I'm, it's so. Every word is so. Amen. That's what amen means. That's
the way it was and that's the way it is. We are, aren't we? Can't do it now, because so many things are getting away.
Don't worry the Lord and do us forever, and this is the Word, which is by the gospel, which
is preached unto you. What gospel? The gospel of God's
sovereign, electing, saving, redeeming, keeping, justifying,
sanctifying, faith-giving grace, the true grace of God, said,
wherein you stand. And you do stand, and you will
stand by that true grace, by that true grace. All right, may
the Lord bless that. Let's say number 209, grace greater. all our sins. Two hundred and
nine.