Read with me again verse seventeen. Verse Peter four, verse seventeen. For the time is come that judgment
must begin at the house of God, the church. And if it first begin
at us, what shall the end be of them
that obey, or believe not, the gospel of God?" I really believe that this verse
of Scripture is being fulfilled in our day more so than at any point in
history. I really do. I believe this passage
applies more to Our day is being fulfilled now more than ever. I really believe, as the scripture
says, a winnowing process is going
on. The prophet came and said his
fan shall be in his hand. He shall winnow the threshing
floor and separate the chaff from the wheat. If you've ever
seen back in the early days pictures of how they used to separate
the kernel of wheat from the husks, they would take a large
pitchfork like fan thing and they would sift it, throw it
up in the air and the chaff would be blown away by the wind. The
husks, the non-fruit would be blown away by the wind, but the
kernel would remain, would be grounded, would fall on the ground. And I believe that a winnowing
process is going on. That's a type of how God will
winnow his threshing floor, this workplace, this earth. I believe
it's going on right now. I really do. I really do. I believe there's a separation
going on between the chaff and the wheat, between sheep and
goats, a separation between true believers and from the merely
religious. And that fan, that fork, if you
will, has many tines on it, that which God uses to sift or winnow
as many times upon it, and some of which are trials, is sifting. Here it says, the house of God.
Trials, persecution, and perhaps the greatest sifting thing of
all is prosperity. Prosperity, where the chaff is
being separated. It is increasingly difficult
in this day to tear people away from this world to worship God. It's increasingly difficult in
our day, this day of materialism, to tear people away from the
world just to worship God for an hour, to tear people away from the
pursuit of money and happiness and pleasure, to thank the God
who gave it all. It's sad. One old preacher said it's hard
to attract a crowd. when the only attraction there
is, is God. That's the reason in religion
today there has to be so much going on, so much entertainment
and music and singing and the likes of that. But the fact is, the fact is,
God's people, believers, God's people, they want to worship
God. They want to worship God, and
they're willing to worship God. They're desirous to worship God. They're desirous toward the things
of God. God's people are. They are made
willing. In the day of his power, in the
day of his gospel, when they hear his voice, his sheep, they
follow him. And where the carcass is, that's
where the eagles are gathered. Where the body is being presented,
that's where the the sheep are. Where the shepherd is, that's
where the sheep are. Believers want to worship. Now,
once again, this is a portion of Scripture that is written
to believers. You know, when I read these passages
of Scriptures, I think of those who do not know God and do not
believe God. I look at it, and I think This
just doesn't apply to them. I'm going to preach to a crowd,
and there surely will be some unbelieving people there, and
young people. And I read scriptures like this,
and this just doesn't apply to them. Now, this is another portion
of Scripture that's a word from God to his people. Look at chapter
4, verse 1 again. 1 Peter 4, verse 1. It says,
For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us, for as much
then as Jesus Christ came in the flesh and died on a cross,
who suffered, who died, who bled, who paid the penalty of sin for
us, Jesus Christ came and died for a people. Not all people,
but a people, us. Who's the us? Turn back to chapter
one there. As I've said so often, that most preachers are guilty of
lying on God Almighty. They're guilty of taking the
Word of God and making it apply to everyone without exception.
It doesn't. It does not. any more than when I write a
letter to my wife and address it to Mindy, whom I love, my
wife, and someone else would pick it up. Some other woman
would pick it up and apply it to herself. I didn't write that
to her, did I? Look at chapter one. We'll see
who this is written to, who the us is. Who's the us? Peter says
in verse 1 Peter, an apostle of Christ, to the strangers scattered,
strangers to him, not strangers to the covenant of promise, but
strangers to him, those he did not know. Verse 2, he describes
them. They are elect. To the strangers, to the elect
strangers, or that is the chosen of God, elect according to the
foreknowledge of God, the foreordination, the forelove, purpose of God Almighty before
the world began, Ephesians 1 says, in choosing a people in Christ. He left. God did the choosing. Man doesn't do the choosing.
God does the choosing. This thing of salvation is not
a man choosing God. Salvation is God choosing man
and giving them to Christ and Christ doing everything necessary
for their salvation. Read on. They elect, according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through, and this is
the means which he uses, sanctification of the Spirit. In other words,
the Holy Spirit comes through the preaching of the gospel,
preaching of the word, and separates the sheep from the goats. He
said, My sheep hear my voice. When the gospel is preached,
the sheep hear it and they believe. Why is somebody saved? Because they believe? No, they
believe because they're saved. Somebody believing, does that
make them sheep? That's after the fact. People believe because they are
sheep. They're the chosen people of God. They're the chosen people
of God. Through sanctification of the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes and sets them apart from the
rest. That's what sanctification means.
right? Set apart for holy youth. The
Holy Spirit comes in power, as Christ said in John 3, like the
wind that blows where it listed, where he sovereignly decides.
So is everyone that's born of the Spirit. It's not the preacher, it's not
the soul winner, it's not a person deciding. John 1 verse 13 said,
not of will, not of the will of man, not of the will of the
flesh, but they're born of God. God and the Holy Spirit. Sanctification
of the Spirit unto, and here is what they are set apart unto. Look at it. Verse 2. Obedience,
that is obedience to the faith. They believe. They believe. And sprinkling of the blood of
Christ. The blood is applied. Grace unto you. You. And peace be multiplied to you,
he said. Who is he talking to? Everybody
without exception? All men and women on the face
of the earth? No. Grace and peace is not unto all
men. It's some people under the wrath
of God. And we'll experience that wrath.
But the elect sanctify believers. And he goes on down, verse 5.
Look at verse 5. You who are kept by the power
of God. Kept by the power of God. What's the power of God? This is not just talking about
God's personal power or strength, as it were. What's the power
of God? The gospel. Romans 1.16 says
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believes. Right? How are we kept? By the
gospel. And so these elect, these chosen,
these sanctified, these believers who have grace and peace multiplied
to them, they're kept by the power of God. They're kept by
this gospel, and they keep coming to where the gospel is. That's
how they're kept. They're kept by this gospel.
This gospel is what keeps them coming. This gospel is what keeps them.
Keeps their feet grounded and settled. Keeps their mind in
working order. Keeps their heart in the right
place and not here and yonder. The gospel is what keeps them.
Have you ever seen that in that way? That's how we're kept. And they keep coming to hear
it. Verse 8 says these people, they love somebody they haven't
seen before. These are those whom having not
seen Jesus Christ, that is, in verse 7, Jesus Christ, whom having
not seen, you love him. This is written to those who
have never seen Christ with these eyes, yet have seen him with
the eye of faith, and they love him. They actually not just believe
he came and lived and died and rose again, just the fact of
the matter. No, they're not just that. They actually love this
person. They've met him through the preaching
of the Word. Verse 14 says, "...they are obedient
children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust
in your ignorance." These are people who are not going with
the flow. These are people who, as he said
in another play, who are not conformed to the world, per se,
but have—are transformed by the renewing of their mind. A people
who no longer go with the crowd, but they're going with Christ. And not a people who are going
with the crowd, they're going with Christ. Where are y'all
going? The world—you say to the world,
where are y'all going? We're going here, we're going
after this, we're going after that. Where are you going? I'm going
after him. These are people who are no longer
followers of the world, its thoughts, its opinions, its ideas, its
way of thinking, its principles, or lack of them. These are people who are not
followers of the world, but they're followers of the Lamb. Verse 22, it says that seeing
you have purified your souls and obeying the truth. These
are lovers and believers of the truth. I mean, they love the truth. Not much like most of our generation. who can abide the Word of God.
They just can't abide it. If you read passages like Romans
9 or Ephesians 1 or what I just read there from 1 Peter 1, people
says, I don't like that election. Well, it's still the truth. You don't like it, but it's still
the truth. And believers don't love it.
They realize if God hadn't chosen me, I'd have never chosen him.
That's the truth. And I love that. I love him for
doing the choosing. They love a God who's God, not
a God who wants to and can't, who tries and fails, who wants
to do something for you and he can't do it unless you let him.
Phooey on that peanut God. Phooey on him. I challenge him
to a fight. That God that doesn't have any
hands but your hands, no legs but your, I can whip him. Like that old farmer said, if
he tries to save me and I won't let him, if he tries to send
me to hell, I won't let him do that either. What kind of God
is that? It ain't no God at all. That's
an idol, a figment of men's imaginations, isn't it? Men are made up of
God like that. That's not the God of the Bible. The God of
the Bible is God, who reigns and rules and created and He
owns everything. Do with it as He will. He says,
I can, I will. God says, cannot I do with my
own as I will? Yes! And that's exactly what
I do. The God in whose hands our breath
is in all our ways, the Scripture says. Not a God who's in our
hands. There ain't no such God. But
the God who's God. You love—that's true. That's
true. That's the only true God. He said in 1 Thessalonians 1,
he said, you've given up serving idols to serve the true God.
Do you love that true God? Oh, that's the truth. He is God. I bow before him. I love him
to be God. I love him. They've obeyed the
truth through, look at it, verse 22. Why does anybody believe,
why does anybody believe this truth? As some of you in here
that said this before, I know when you first heard this peculiar
message. You know, the truth is so rare
in our day. These things that I'm saying
right now are so rare in our day that if somebody says it,
people say, what kind of doctrine is that? Don't they? What kind of God have you got?
He doesn't love everybody? What kind of God is that? Only
God there is. God of the Bible. You just don't
know him, friend, because your preacher's not preaching you
the Bible. He's afraid he'll lose his jobs
if he withholds it. He's afraid the crowd will go
down from 300 and he can't report, you know, 40 baptisms for that
month. And his salary will go down,
so he withholds the truth and preaches smooth things, what
people want to hear. Why does it, you know, some of
you that sat and listened to that stuff before, and you came
and you heard the gospel for the first, you heard of God proclaimed
who is God, and of Christ proclaimed who is Christ, and actually saved
the people, not everybody, but those he came to save, didn't
fail at any of it, concerning any of it. And you heard it for
the first time, you said, I don't like that. Didn't you? Are you that way, Henry, when
you first started? I don't believe that. Did anybody say, I'll never
believe that? Ah, boy. That's one plate of
crow you don't mind eating, isn't it? Huh? I'll never believe that. Well,
it's the truth. I don't care. I had a fellow say that to me
on the railroad where I worked one time. He said, I just read
Romans 9 to him. He said, I don't believe that.
What? I just read you the Word of God.
You're a Bible-believing Baptist, aren't you? Yeah, but I don't
believe that. You might have said that at one
time, didn't you? Did you ever say that? Barbara, Charles, what
did you say when you first... I'll never believe that. Oh,
but by the grace of God, you won't. But one day, but God said,
old Barbara Ross, she was young at the time, Young Barbara Ross,
God-hating, unbelieving, self-willed, she's going to bow to a certain
God. She's going to believe what she
hated once. She's going to love what she once hated and believe
what she despised. And she's going to go back around
and tell everybody, You know what I used to believe? Don't
believe it anymore. Disregard what I used to say. And they love the brethren. Verse
22, the only ones that do love the brethren, unfeigned love
of the brethren. They love the brethren. Chapter 2. Now, I'm
telling you who this is written to, right? I'm just going through
this letter, this letter written by the Holy Spirit, penned by
Peter, and just telling you who this is written to, all right?
We're going to look at chapter 4. This is not for everybody,
because everybody does not love the truth. Everybody's not to
like it. Everybody doesn't like this gospel. All right? Chapter 2, verse 7,
"...unto you therefore which believe he is precious." Oh, what a text. Oh, what a text. 1 Peter 2.7, "...unto you therefore
which believe he is precious." You know, what the word means
is an honor, a privilege. There's preachers standing up
in pulpits today thanking people, actually thanking people for
coming to worship God! Can you imagine that? actually
acknowledging men and women for coming to worship the God who
gave them everything they have. Can you imagine that? Who's getting the glory standing? Can you imagine that? Begging
people to come worship the God who gave them the very breath
they're breathing, and the car they drove there in. And the
job they have to pay for the car they drove in, and the breath
they breathe while they drive it, and on and on the list goes. Can you imagine? But unto you,
therefore, which believe, which whom the God revealed to you,
God of Scripture, this is not something you're to be thanked
for. This is a privilege, a high honor, an unworthy Isn't it? And this preacher doesn't stand
up and thank anybody for coming. He says with Paul in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13, we're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren. Not thanking you for doing something
for God. No, that's blasphemy. Right? Oh, I thank God, John Caesar,
that he brought you here. Otherwise you would not be here. Right? Who gets the glory in
this thing? Thanks. That's what he says over
here in chapter 4, in verse, where is it? Chapter 4, verse,
I've got to find it. Verse 11 says that, the last
part of verse 11, that God in all things may be glorified through
or because of Jesus Christ. To him, to whom be praise and
obedience forever and ever. And in chapter 2, verse 9, look
at that. Chapter 2, verse 9 says there
are chosen generation. There it is again, that word
again. There's that word again, chosen. It doesn't say you have chosen
him, does it? It doesn't say that. It says
you are chosen. You are chosen. And I've been
qualifying, clarifying who these are. Elect, according to the
foreknowledge of God, chosen, a peculiar people, a peculiar
people. Believers are a peculiar bunch,
and the world thinks them so. Y'all don't believe like everybody
else did. No, we don't. Well, you think you're right
and everybody else is wrong? No, no, we didn't say that. We think
God is right and everybody's wrong. You know, they probably said
that to Noah, didn't they? Noah? You think you're right and everybody
else is wrong? No, Noah said, I'm just a sinner who found grace
in the eyes of God. But he said, I know this, you
better be in this ark or you're going to die. And I say this, a man better
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ or he's going to die. Better
be in the ark, better be in the right one, better have the right
Jesus because there's another one going around. And he can't
safely. And all that are believing him
are going to perish with him. All right, chapter four. And
I could go on and on with telling who these people are. Chapter 4 now, verse 1, as we
read this, if you were able to pay attention and follow along,
it says, Then for as much then as Christ hath suffered for You see, John, don't you, why
it's important that you understand who he's talking about. Who'd
Jesus Christ die for? Every man? If he did, they're
going to be saved then. Because the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses. Because God said, when I see
the blood, I'm going to pass over. Isn't it? Because God said
it's the blood that make atonement for the soul. Because everyone
whom the high priest offered that blood up for is relieved,
is atoned for, right? Then who did Jesus Christ die
for? John Owen's great saying. John Owen was Scottish. Well, yeah, he was
Scottish and preached all over England. And I may have it wrong,
it may be English. At any rate, my father was preaching
over there in the British Isles, and he was either in Scotland
or England. At any rate, he stood up and made this statement
by John Owen, this great old statement. He said, Now, if Jesus
Christ died for all of the sins of all men, then all men are
going But if Jesus Christ died for
some of the sins of all men, then nobody's going to be saved. Because every sin has to be paid
for. Some of the sins of all men, nobody's going to be saved. But, he said, if Jesus Christ
died for all of the sins of some men and women, then some men
and women are going to be saved. And there was an old white-haired
gentleman that heard that on a Scottish fellow, or I think
he was Scottish, came up and he said, I never thought I'd hear that from
a Scottish pulpit again. They're not preaching that today. They're not preaching it here
either. It's saying God loves you and
Jesus died for you, but you might go to hell anyway. Then what's
the love of God and the death of Jesus Christ have to do with
anything? Huh? What good is it? If Jesus
Christ died for me and I might go to hell anyway, fool you on
that. I don't need him dying. I'll get there another way. The scripture says that Jesus
Christ died and put away the sins of his people. That article
in the bulletin, he made an atonement, a full, final atonement for his
people. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself for everything. His people. His people. Us. Are you one of the us? Are you us? Are you with us?
So, are you with us? Come thou with us. We will do
thee good. Yes. Well, he says, he warns
here, for as much then as Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm
yourselves likewise with the same mind. You're going to suffer
too. You're going to suffer too. What are you going to suffer
for, chiefly? Huh? Read on. Read on down here. It says in verse 3 and 4, "...the
time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought or worked
the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness,
lust, wine, revelry, manquity, and abominable idolatry." In
other words, at one point in time, this was what you enjoyed
doing—a life, if you want to call it that, a life you enjoyed
living. the things you enjoy doing, the
people you enjoy being and doing it with, and life of the party. Verse 4 says, though something
happened, sanctified by the Spirit, elect of God, chosen of God.
The gospel comes and is set apart by the Spirit, and then it doesn't
make you holier than thou and ultra-pious. And looking down
on people just makes you a sinner saved by grace. That's what it
does. You don't look down on people
and you don't go around preaching teetotalism or looking down on
people. You understand where they were.
Just the fact is that's not the way you want to go anymore. Right,
that's what verses 1 and 2 meant. Cease from sin, that means, that's
where I used to enjoy being and who I used to enjoy being with
and what I used to enjoy doing, that's it. My old cronies, my
buddies and what we used to do and so forth, I used to enjoy
that. That sufficed, made me happy. But now, no, I'd be like
a fish out of water. put me in the midst of that,
and it just, it's not that I'm any better than them, it's just
a change, something that's different, changed. I didn't do it, and
I didn't do it. And verse 4 says, they think
it's strange that you're not running with them the same excess
of right, speaking evil of you. Yeah, he went and got religion.
Old John went and got religion. John didn't went and got nothing.
Yeah, this old boy, you can attest to the same thing you weren't
looking for. Also, Saul of Tarsus, was he
looking to join the church? Now, salvation is not man or
woman looking for anything or seeking anything, per se. It's
God Almighty seeking them. It's the Good Shepherd seeking
his lost sheep and finding them and washing them and changing
them and setting them in the right path. You see, we were
as sheep. We were as sheep. All we like
sheep. That means you always were sheep,
never were a goat. All we like sheep have gone astray, headed
over the hills. precipice of the hill with the
rest of the goats and sheep, some sheep. And the good shepherd
comes and says, Whoa, sheep. Whoa, sheep. And lassos them. Takes the staff, I rod and I
staff. Takes the cord or rope or lariat,
whatever you want to call it, a lasso of the gospel, and says,
Come here, come here, come here. You're not going with them. Oh,
yeah, I want to. Yeah, yeah. You're coming to
me. You're coming to Christ. And
when they get there finally, that's where they want to be.
And if the good shepherd, you know, would say, OK, you're free
to go. You want to go back with them? They'd say, no. I want
to stay with you. Now I'm living. Now this is living. Right? This is life. I thought
I was living. I thought I was living it up.
I didn't know I was dead while I lived. But they think you're just strange,
just got religion. No, I hadn't even gotten anything. Wasn't after it, wasn't seeking
it. Something happened to me. That's the difference between
just getting religion and being saved. There's a difference between
getting saved and being saved, you know. A lot of people out
there are turning over a new leaf, you know. You know the
other side of that leaf just as bad as the other one? It's
worse. It's self-righteous. Whew! I
don't want to turn over the leaf. I want a new one. People get religion. They quit
their drinking and smoking and choose Jesus as their personal
Savior. Oh, and they just quit a few
things, and they become two-fold more the child of hell than they
were to begin with. Self-righteousness will damn you quicker than open
immorality. God save sinners. He didn't come
to call righteous. They think you're a strange bird, that you run not within the same
excess of right. You can't explain it either,
really. Come run with us. I don't want to, I'm not kidding. Where are you going? And at first
you're kind of, You. Yeah. Now you're ashamed of the
fact that you're ashamed. Right. But now you say you think
them strange, you know, you know who the strange ones are. You
know, who's strange? It's people who don't give God
a thought. Who are rushing toward eternity
at breakneck speed. old men and women who are just
one breath away from dying, then what? People like that who never
give God a thought. Now, that's strange. They're
the strange ones. Right? Now, verse 5 says, "...they
shall give an account." They shall give an account to him
that is ready. He's ready to judge the quick
and the dead. They shall give an account to
him. Payday someday. Payday someday. I don't believe
in God. Why? Because I got away with
this. He doesn't always pay up immediately, but to be sure,
he will pay. Verse 6, and this call, the Gospels
preached also. been alive, has heard the gospel. That's what that means. The gospel
has been preached from the beginning. Verse 7, read on quickly. The
end of all things is at hand. You know, we seem to have been
taken up with that here for the last few years. The end times,
Christ's coming, second coming, heavenly. Why? Because I think all things point
in that direction. If you want to read something,
jot this down. 2 Timothy 3. You go home and
read it. It's a clear description of 1995.
It's as clear a description of 1995 as any and all the scriptures. 2 Timothy 3. Let me make sure. That's the one. Yes. And we've been taken up with
that. The end of all things is at hand. Verse 7. Be ye therefore. Who's
ye? You believers. Believers. It's
time to get serious. Be ye therefore sober. That's
what sober mean. That's what sober mean. Serious. Serious about what? Serious about this thing of your
relationship with God. Be serious. Be serious about
this thing. Watch, he says. Be you therefore
sober or serious and watch unto prayer. What's watch mean? What
are you watching for? Waiting or watching, looking
for his coming. Watching for signs of his coming. They're all around us. I could
go into it, but I'm not. If you've been watching, you'd
see. Watch unto prayer. Prayer. What's prayer got to do with
it? Well, I need a lot of wisdom. Don't you? To get through this. But I need some direction. I need grace to keep me. To keep me from going
back. Don't you? I need restraining
grace to keep me. following him. If I go again
astray, I need that grace. How are you going to get it?
Ask. He giveth liberally. Verses 8 and 9, he says, Above
all things use love, hospitality, entertain the brethren. Why should
we entertain the brethren? Why should we entertain the brethren? Verse 9, you see that? Use hospitality
one to another. Who's that? One to another. Brethren. Do good to all men, but especially
the household of faith. Why should I cultivate a relationship
with Stan Anderson? Why should I invite him over,
and he me, and why should we cultivate this relationship?
I'm going to be spending a long time with Stan in a few years. I'm going to spend an eternity
with him. Better get to liking him now. Right, Stan? I'm sorry, but you're just going
to have to like me. No, you'll like me then, buddy,
because I'll be changed. I'll be just like Christ. And
I'll like you, too. We like each other, and that's
the grace of God, isn't it, Stan? Hospitality one to another. Verse
10 says, Every man that has received the gift, the gift, minister
the same one to another. What's the gift? Don't say, a
gift. The gift. What's the gift? This
unspeakable gift. The gospel of Christ. Faith and
cry. You receive the gift, minister
one to another. How's that? What are we talking
about? Well, as you see the day approaching, exhorting one another
so much more as you see the day approaching. Exhorting one another
to what? Faith and cry. Don't leave. Don't leave. He's
almost here. He's almost here, exhorting one
another. So much more as you see the day
approaching. Minister the gift. Verse 11, any man speak? That's
me, I'm speaking. How am I supposed to speak? As
a mealy-mouthed little pinhead preacher who apologizes for everything? Who's afraid of stepping on toes
and hurting people's feelings and telling the truth? Who's
afraid to exert any authority whatsoever? who's afraid men won't like him,
so he pears down the edges and tones down the message. The bank
president's there, and he's afraid he'll quit giving so he doesn't
say something that the man might not like. No. That ain't no preacher. Verse
11, "'If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.'"
What's that? That's the very authority of God Almighty. Paul
said, "'As though God did beseech you by us.'" Yeah, but you're
just a man. That's right. But standing here
with this book before me, declaring what it says, you'd better listen. You'd better
listen. And the directions given, and
it all ought to be, verse 11 says, it all ought to be to the
glory of God, that God in all things may be glorified through
Jesus Christ, to whom be praise forever and ever. Beloved, verse
twelve, don't think it strange that these fiery trials come
upon you. Don't think it strange that some
strange thing happened to you. He's talking about hatred and
persecution and speaking evil of you. Listen, Matthew 5, Christ
said, You're blessed when men shall revile you and persecute
you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Like that fellow calling me names,
and they do that to you, too, and look down on you and call
this church a false church and doctrine of devils and all that.
Christ said, You're in good company. They persecuted the prophets
before you. This is not strange happening.
It's not something new. You're not preaching something
new. This is the old, old way, and
men have hated it from the start. Men have hated God from the start.
From Cain, the first man who got mad at God for being God,
down to the last man that walks this planet who is going to hate
this same thing. They'll hate you, too. Christ
said, They hated me. They'll hate you. They won't
love you. They'll hate you for just telling the truth. And Hebrews
11 talks about this great cloud of witnesses. And 1 Peter 4,
look at verse 13. It says, Rejoice inasmuch as
you are partakers of Christ's suffering. You're partakers of
Christ. Rejoice. You're in good company.
You're in the company of Christians. The world doesn't hate most religionists,
you know, that love Jesus and good old boys and moral men and
women. They don't hate them, but they
sure hate people who insist on sovereign God and sovereign Christ.
Well, rejoice if they do. Oh, it's hurtful. Yes, it is.
And the lies and slander on you is hurtful. It's all false. They
hated me. Christ said, Scripture says,
They hated me without a cause. I haven't done anything to deserve
this. Christ said, Be happy. Rejoice, because you're telling
the truth. But, verse fifteen, don't suffer
as a murderer, evildoer, you know, old Jim Baker. Remember old Jim? Is he out of sight, out of mind,
old Jim? He was on everybody's lips for a while. Old Jim Baker,
that's what a fellow called me, too. Old Jim Baker, when he got put
in prison, you know, he said, Well, I'm suffering for Christ.
Oh, my. You're suffering, bud, because
you took everybody to the cleaners. You're suffering because you're
a crook. ain't suffering for Christ. But those of you who
just believe the truth and declare it and endeavor to do and say
what is right, if you suffer, verse 16, don't be ashamed, glorify
God on this behalf. Four, verse 17, four, and here's
the text, the time has come. Judgment must begin at the house
of God. It's here. It's here. Judgment. Christ went into the temple.
Did you teach on this this morning? Christ going into the temple
and purging the temple? Well, as Christ went into the
temple and purged the temple, remember that? Jesus, as Catholicism
likes to call him, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, got him a whip. sat outside the temple one day,
the church house, on a Sabbath, and plaited him, made him a leather
whip, took the time, sat down, thought about what he was doing,
made him a leather whip, and walked bust through those doors and started flailing people and
kicking tables Christ went in the temple and
purged it, full of moneymakers, full of part-time religionists,
full of merchandisers of men's souls. He said, My house shall
be called a house of prayer, not singing, not moneymaking,
not entertainment, not a social club. Prayer. Worship. And he said, You've made it a
den of thieves. And that's what's going on in
the temple today. And true seekers, it says here,
the time has come, judgment begin at the house. True seekers, true
worshipers, real thankful people. I looked out over the congregation
as we sang these blessed songs. You know, teenagers are so loath
to sing. It's so embarrassing to sing
these songs to them. Oh, my. Oh, my. True, thankful people. True worshipers. People whose
hearts in this thing. Not to just body in the pew on
Sunday morning. People whose heart is in this
thing. People whose hearts in this thing. It says, if it begin at us, oh my, I need winnowed people,
I need these things winnowed out of me, don't you? I need
winnowed. And it says, verse 17, look at
it, if it first begin at us, true believers, what's the end
going to be of those who don't care, give a flip for the gospel?
If the righteous, look at that, verse 18, if the righteous scarcely
or hardly be saved, or with difficulty, it's not difficult for God, mind
you. John, the kingdom of heaven suffers
violence and the violent take it by force. That's for you,
John. That may scarcely hardly live
with difficulty. People leaving here leave the
gospel been around while. I know better than they were
what made them leave the righteous scarcely be saved. You know,
this person you thought was believing, trusting Christ, loving the gospel?
Huh? Right, Sherry? Oh, I loved the
preacher. I had people come to the door
back there after the message and say, oh, I loved that. Oh,
that's what I believe. That's my Christ. And they're
gone. It's the righteous scarce to
be saved. What about these who don't give a flip for the righteousness
of God? It says here, where shall they
be? Where does that center appear?
Where's that going to put them? So, verse 19, let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit, commit, commit, commit. What's commit mean? What's commit
mean? It means in, get in, in or out. You're coming or going. You're
hot or cold, in or out. You start to go over a fence,
you say, are you going to go over the fence or stay on the
other side? Don't straddle the fence, it's
dangerous. It won't get you anywhere, in
or out. Or as Moses said to the sons
of Korah, It still applies today. I think there's a great big giant
line being drawn in the sand across this universe. And the
sons of Korah made it plain. Sons of religion. Korah was offering
up incense. They were religious. Sons of
Korah in this world making it plain, we don't want that God.
We don't believe that gospel. We're not. No. That's not the
only way. Moses, you all, you people have
taken this There's more of God's people than just you. Granted.
That's true. But you ain't no other gospel
than this one. Ain't no other gospel than this one. Ain't no
other gods than this. So a giant drunken lion being
drawn in the sand, who is on the Lord's side? Moses said, Let him come to me.
Let him come to me. And the axe, as John said, the
last of the prophets said, the axe is being laid to the root.
And this giant thing is coming down. Save the earth. Polishing brass on a sinking
ship. Ain't no saving this earth. She's
gone. But there's salvation for some souls. salvation after this
thing's over. Who's on the Lord's side?