Turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter
1. 1 Peter chapter 1. Some solemn things to say to you here
at first. There's nothing that grieves
a pastor and God's people more than to see someone leave
the gospel. Nothing. I am relatively young, but I
have been involved with a large congregation for many years. Over the years, I've seen many
people come and go, many people. I saw a man that I greatly respected. I grew up respecting this man.
He was a longstanding member. He was a deacon, first of all.
Then he became a teacher and then made an elder of the church,
a respected leader of the church. I saw that man get a promotion
on his job and then leave the church eventually and never to
return. I've seen respected men and women
of twenty, thirty, thirty-five years attending in attendance. I've seen them just up and leave
over something very petty. very trivial, that didn't amount
to anything. I've seen preachers leave their wives, their children,
the gospel, and not even go to church anymore. It always shocks and surprises
us when somebody we love and respect and think highly of leaves. It always shocks us. You just,
you never can really get used to it. But it really shouldn't
surprise us. It really shouldn't, because
the heart, the scripture says the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? There's not
a man in here, I don't care how long he's been coming, who really
knows his own heart, who knows what he's capable of. And knowing
your own self, Henry, knowing how sinful you are, You've been
here a long time, but you're still a wretch, aren't you? Knowing
how sinful you are and how selfish and how full of this world you
are and how, when it comes to the things of God, how dull and
cold and lifeless and without the Spirit of God, it's a wonder
you stay at all, isn't it? It's a wonder you hadn't already
left. It's really surprising to anybody's face. Everybody in here would eventually
quit if we could. We're looking for excuses. You
just let the preacher say the wrong thing and you're gone.
You let the preacher's wife wear her hair differently and some
people will leave. You think I'm exaggerating? Churches are split over putting
curtains up, wrong color or whatever. You name it, anything. If left
to ourselves, we'd find some kind of excuse, no matter how
ridiculous, to leave the gospel, forget God. That's our nature,
isn't it? Our nature is not to want to
retain God in our knowledge. Not to want to think about God.
And dive back into this world with all the gusto we've got. We've still got it in us. We'd
just love to dive right back in, wouldn't we? Never give another thought to
religion. If left to yourselves, you'd leave your husband in a
minute. You'd leave your wife in a minute. And those children you claim
to love, you'd be worse than an infidel. You'd be gone if
left to yourself. If left to yourself, you'll leave
them, you'll leave the gospel, you'll leave the church. I, I'm
speaking to myself too. Bring reproach upon your family,
upon friends, upon the church, and not care a hoot. Not care
who you are. And don't think for a minute
that you, or I don't think for a minute that I am above reproach
here. Because much finer men and women
have left than me. Much finer men than myself have
left this time. Made strange turnabouts. David said this. David said,
my own familiar friend, my own familiar friend whom I
trusted has lifted up his heel against me. He with whom I've
eaten bread and Christ, that was speaking of Christ, my friend. Terry, you'll turn coat on me
so fast and call me a heretic if left to yourself. And go on
a rampage. I've seen young preachers promising,
we know one, that, man, he's one of the finest preachers I
ever heard. Go on a personal crusade against Henry Mahan in
the Gospel on the 13th Street. Go on a personal crusade. Call
them heretics. Christ said to his disciples,
all of you this night, every one of you will be offended because
of me. He said that one night to his disciples. Paul said this,
he said, Demas has forsaken me. Demas, having loved this present
world. Demas, evidently he was a close
companion, Demas. Demas has forsaken me. Because
he wrote and told everybody about it. Demas was so well known. Paul
said in another place, all in Asia have turned away from me.
He said everybody's turned away. Another place, he said, all seek
their own, not the things of Christ. Now, I'm quite sure that there's somebody in this room.
I've said this before. I said this when I first got
here, and sure enough, it has come to pass. I preached the
message on, will you also go away? And sure enough, some people
have gone, gone, gone. Some people have come, yes, and
I rejoice for some people have gone. And I'm quite sure that
somebody in this room today will someday leave this assembly,
never to return again, except when we put your body in a box
down here, and then you'll expect me to get up here and say some
nice things. That's direct, isn't it? But
that's so. There's some people who want
me to bury them. They don't want me to marry their children or
marry them or whatever. That's all good preachers are
really good for, you know. But somebody in this room is
going to leave. Whether it be a young person, probably a young
person, leave and not return again. They're just biding their
time. It could be, it could even be that in a few short
years this will be an abandoned building. the grass growing up. It's happened. Yes, it has. It's happened. Just a vague memory
of a church. It has happened to larger plate
Spurgeon's Tabernacle. It's not even a ghost of what
it was in Spurgeon's. It's gone. Just a shell. Preaching Arminianism over there
right now. What's going to keep this from
happening to you? What's going to keep you from
falling, or me? If I remain true to Christ, if
you remain true to Christ, true to the gospel, true to God's
people, a saved man, a saved woman, a believer, a true believer,
what's going to have to happen? Now look at verse 5. It's only
going to be because. You've been kept by the power
of God. That's the only reason. Only
reason. Just as it takes the sovereign
power of God Almighty to call a sinner to himself, to call
a hell-bound sinner to give repentance, to turn that, like me, a young
wild hippie, rebel to turn me around, my way of thinking and
my way of life, to completely turn me around and shake me up,
open my ears, open my eyes, and point me in the right direction,
point me to Christ, give me faith in Christ, constrain me to call
upon God Almighty for mercy, to give me eyes to see, ears
to hear. The same power it takes to save somebody is the same
power it takes to keep somebody. It takes the same power and grace
of God to keep us from falling, to restrain us from all manner
of evil. I could just dive right back
into that world, except for the grace of God restraining me,
keeping me from it, to keep me from becoming an apostate like
old Demas or Judas. Look over 2 Thessalonians, 2
Thessalonians chapter 2. Look at it with me. solemn and
serious, but so, so necessary. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 7. Paul says, now, the
mystery of iniquity, that is, this spirit of sin and iniquity
and Satan himself is working already. It's already working.
It's working in you. Only he who now lets or prevents
it will let it. until he finally take it all
out of the way, do away with him, with Satan. And then shall that wicked, but
before then, that wicked one will be revealed, whom the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth some day, and shall
destroy the brightness of his coming. Even him, whose coming
is after the working of Satan, with all powers and signs and
lies and wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,
and them that Why? Because they receive not
the love of the truth. Forget the gospel. Who cares?
Who cares about the gospel? Verse 11, for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. A lie. that they all might be
damned who believe not, that is, held not to, look to, trust
in the gospel, the truth, Christ, but had pleasure in other things,
unrighteousness, pleasure. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
he hath from the beginning God has, from the beginning, chosen
you to salvation through a setting apart of the Spirit and belief
of the truth. Now, look back at 1 Peter. You see, although many people despise
this mention of the word election, they despise it. You just mention
the word, John, and they rise up in arms, don't they? They
despise it. Even though many people despise
it, it's my only hope. Not it, per se, but my only hope
is He elects some people. That He chooses some people.
That God Almighty chooses some people to eternal life. And it's
my hope and it's my comfort and my assurance. Because look at
1 Peter 1. Look at it. Peter says, Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers, strangers, You
know you were a stranger at one time? Could be somebody is right
now. Stranger. Stranger. It's obvious to some people,
strange to this gospel. It makes no, has no effect on
them. Sit there like this. Or whatever, you know, or. It's
obvious they're a stranger to things of God, but some people,
Ephesians chapter 2 says this, at one time, You were aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers from the covenant of
promise. Strangers to this gospel. Rick,
you and I one time were strangers. Buddy, were we strange. We were
strange looking. Strange young fellas. Strangers from this covenant
of promise certainly. Strangers from the gospel having
no hope without God in this world. Strangers. It hadn't been so
long ago either. Not so long ago at all that I
was estranged from the house of God, a stranger to God's gospel,
to God's people, to God's house, not thinking, not caring, not
wanting anything to do with the gospel. Stranger! It was strange
to me, and I was strange to you. Not strange to God, though, because
He knew me in the foundation of the Word. But, God, I was
a stranger. But I know but God, who is rich
in mercy, for His great love, that eternal love, wherewith
He loves me." Look at verse 1 again. Scattered. Scattered. You know,
most of us didn't even know one another a few years back. Didn't
even know one another. Didn't. Now we appear to be closest
brothers and sisters. Most of us. Closest brothers
and sisters. What happens? Scattered throughout Pontius,
throughout Franklin, throughout Henry, throughout Ashland, throughout
wherever. New York. Scattered strangers. Scattered strangers. The first
two. Bloody okay. That's your only
hope. It's my only hope. It's anybody's
only hope. It doesn't cause me problems.
It causes me to be jealous. What happened? Not who, but what,
but who? God elected and chose the people,
hand-picked them out of this mass of humanity that's hurling
over the precipice of eternity into hell itself. Somebody said,
God doesn't elect people to hell, they're going there anyway. God
doesn't predetermine men to go to hell, that's where they're
headed. All men, by nature, are headed to hell. God doesn't choose
to send anybody to hell, that's where we're going. All have seen
and come short of the glory of God. Is none that doeth good?
No, not one. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that did understand. There was none that did understand.
None that seeked after God are going their own way, which is
what? There is a way that sings right unto man, but the end thereof
is what? Falling head over heels into
hell itself. Death, destruction. But God reaches
down and he elects to save. That's election. He chooses to
save some out of that mass that's going to be damned. They're getting
what they deserve, everybody. But, in mercy, God reaches down
and, no, no, no, hitherto have you come, but no further. And
he reaches up and pulls you out of the mire and the muck and
the pit, delivering you from going down into the pit. I found
a ransom. A ransom. Not a possibility.
A ransom. Pay the price. And he sets us
up, this is election, he sets us up, molds us, makes us, gives
us faith, repentance, and makes us into a child. Behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should
be called sons of God. You don't do that of your own.
He calls you, he makes you, he chooses you. Election, hand-picked,
predestinates us to be conformed to the image of his Son. Elect
according, look at verse 2, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Does that mean that God saw who
would believe? That's what people say, and that's
what they say election is. Does that mean that God saw who
would believe on Him, and then He elected them? That doesn't
even make good sense. Goodness gracious, that means
God takes credit for something He didn't do. But the Scripture
plainly says, it says that God has saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works. but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before
the world began. Besides, that would really be
us electing God, wouldn't it? Election, that's what they
say. God votes for you, Satan votes against you. You elect
God. Here's God standing. Won't somebody
vote for him? That makes my blood run cold
to hear things like that. That's exactly what's being said.
God chose you, now why don't you choose Him? What did He choose
me for? If He ain't going to do something
for me. No, it's according as if He hath chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. It's not a mere point
of doctrine to argue. It is my hope. He said, not doctrine
argue, this is my only hope and my only plea is that when Christ
died, he actually died to save me. My only hope, according to
his good pleasure. Why did he do it? Well, he sure
didn't have to. I sure didn't deserve it. I didn't
deserve it any more than Charles Manson or somebody does. Just
as evil and just as wicked on the inside. I know better right
now still than anybody else anywhere. Still a wretched, hell-deserving
sinner. Yes, I am. And if you don't know
that, you don't know yourself. But this is how it is. You see
how I think? This is how it is. Verse 2 of
chapter 1 of Peter. "...elect according to the foreknowledge
of God," that is, God foreordained, foreloved, foreknew. You know how Adam knew his wife
Eve? Says he knew his wife Eve. That
means he entered into a personal, physical contact, union with
her, that the two became one. God foreknew Terry Kinsley. That is, he set his love upon
her and joined himself, put Christ in you, thereby saving you, determined
to save you. We are saved in God Almighty's
eyes. We're justified, eternally justified,
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. God, of God are
you in Christ, who of God has made unto us all these things
that we need, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
We are saved in God's eyes. We are being saved right now. We are being conformed to the
image of Christ. We are being saved from this untoward generation. We are being saved right now.
How? Through the hearing and preaching
of the gospel and so forth. Molding, making, teaching, leading,
guiding us in the spirit of truth by the gospel. We will be saved. We are saved. We've been saved.
We will be saved someday. Why? When? When this whole thing's
over. John, someday we're going to
say, when we lay this thing down, we made it. How'd we make it? He did it. And that's the reason
we're going to be singing praises to him for that eternity. Unto
him. Unto him. Not under me, not under
you, not under this fellow, under Him who loved us. That is, for
He loved us before the foundation of the world and washed us from
our sins in His own blood. When did He do that? We weren't
even born yet. He did it 2,000 years ago. He washed those sins
away. And now lives. I live. He said, because I live,
you shall live also. That's the only reason. Because
there's an intercessor. Because there's a mediator. Because
there's a man that established righteousness at God's right
hand. You as a man will be there. God foreknew, foreloved the people. He chose to save them from Adam's
doomed and damned race. And look at verse 2 again. According
to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through the sanctification
of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification. Everybody's a
little bit confused about this thing. Sometimes it means made
holy. That'll work every time. Both
he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all one. Because
he's holy, we're holy. Christ said he prayed, because
I sanctify myself, sanctify them. Because Christ made himself holy
and established rights, therefore we're made holy in him. But this
means principally, chiefly, to set apart. Sanctify. Step apart. Now I'll illustrate
this to you so you never forget it. Set apart. My aunt and my
uncle, they raised and trained what are called cutting horses.
They raised a national champion one here, cutting horses. You
know what cutting horses are? They ride them, too. They get
on this horse, and they've trained this horse so fairly, they started
a chute, and they let a cow go out of a chute. Have you ever
been to a rodeo or whatever, and you've seen cutting horses?
This cow will run out of this chute, and this horse with this
rider will run out after him. Now, it's not like you see in
a rodeo where they rope them, but these just cut them, make
them go wherever they want to go. The horse does it. My aunt said these horses are
so intelligent, so smart, that you don't even have to do anything.
You just sit there and let them cut those cows. Cut them wherever
they want. There's a prescribed course on
which they're to cut those calves. Cut them over here. Cut them
over there. Get out of here. Move over here. Set them apart. What they
do is what they used to do years ago in a herd of cattle. Cut
a cow out to brand it. They'd cut one out of the herd.
They'd have their eyes on one cow, one calf, and they're going
to get at that calf. They're going to cut that cow
out of that herd. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
He got his eyes. According to God's foreknowledge,
God said, There! There's Rick Williams. Get him.
Send the Holy Spirit. Get him! Is he going to get him? He got him. There he sits. That's
cuttin' out, that's sanctifying. And the Holy Spirit sets apart.
Why? For his use, for God's glory,
for his salvation. Sets him apart out of the herd.
You're still just a lot of bull, aren't you? Out of the herd. Cuts him out. Sets his eyes upon
him and sets him apart. Set aside, set apart, separate
from the rest. Scripture says, Know that the
Lord has set apart Him that is godly for himself." Who's godly? There's none godly. Christ died
for the ungodly. Well, who's godly? All those
made godly in Christ, made righteous. Now, Paul said, God has sent
the members, every one of them, in the body as it pleased him.
Cut them out. Holy Spirit sends the Holy Spirit
to cut them out. Yeah, he does. When will a man
or a woman be saved? Paul says, when it pleased God
who separated me. who set me apart, when it pleases
God." That's what a man will be saying when the Holy Spirit,
through its blow of where it lives, just says, Oh, you! Then and then on. Not when a
man up beside, well, I'd sit beside you and say, no, no, no.
It's not it at all. Sanctified by the Spirit. That's what it says there, doesn't
it? Set apart. God, the Holy Spirit, in time,
separates us And he calls us by his grace. That is the call
of the gospel. What is the gospel? That God
is holy and that we're on the road to hell. God is holy. We offended this holy God. He
didn't need anything. He didn't need anybody. He didn't
need us. We're on the road to hell, but we sure need him. And
the gospel is of God seeing our need and choosing to save some
of us. He didn't save anybody. But some
sent his son down here to live a perfect life as a man, because
we couldn't do it. And he came down here and lived
this perfect life as a man, and established as a man a life that
God will accept. God saw his son and said, Now
there's a man I approve of. And somehow, between the father
and the son, supernaturally, they got together and said, OK.
And they joined hands and said, OK. will give that life that
Christ lived to some people. Not everybody or everybody would
be saved, right? Some people, who? The ones that
God chose. They got a name written in a
book, and Christ gave that life to them, and Christ took their
sins upon himself, their rebellion, and went to the cross, and God
saw them in Christ and punished their sins. punished their sins
in Christ, killed Christ. But who he killed, really, was
you and me or whoever God chose and saved. And then God, because
of what Christ did, justifies or declares innocent, acceptable,
holy, all of those people. Now look at it, verse 2. Through
sanctification or setting apart of the Spirit, calling us by
his grace, as Paul said, unto obedience. Now, principally,
he's talking about his obedience, Christ's obedience, not our obedience.
By the works of the law, by the deeds of the law, no place can
be justified. But by the deeds of the law, somebody will be
justified. By the deeds of the law of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we're justified. Because of what he did, we are
justified before God. That is, declared innocent by
his obedience. But he does make us obedient
unto the truth, willing and obedient. He does make us obedient unto
the faith, that is, to look to Christ, obey His voice and to
believe Christ and Him alone. Now look at it, it says, sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sprinkling of the blood. It's
not talking about baptism, sprinkling. No, no. Baptism implies death
and burial and resurrection. This is talking about that sacrifice
of that high priest in the Old Testament, whereby all things
were purged by the blood. He sprinkled blood. On the people,
the book, the wall, everything was sprinkled, covered, applied
with the blood, everything. That's what this is talking about,
and this is the type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the application
of the blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit, our Elder, upon
our doorpost and lintel of our heart and our soul. That's what
that is, applying because of all this, and this only. Because of all this, because
of this work of God, the Father choosing us, and the Holy Spirit
setting us apart, in the blood of Jesus Christ, His death, look
at verse 2. Grace unto you. There's grace. Now see, this
is not a free offer. This is something that has been
done. Something that has been done, and that grace be unto
you. The gift of eternal life. is God's grace, and it's bestowed
upon you. It's not offered to you. That's
not in the Scripture. God bestows eternal life on you. He bestows it upon you. It's
like you're sitting there, and I've got something for you, and
I come over here, and I put it in your lap. I don't ask you
to accept it or reject it. I said, there, it's yours. And
because of the virtue of the gift, the beauty of it, Irresistible. It's irresistible.
You've got to have it. You say, oh, I'll take it. Irresistible
grace is what we call that. My wife, I'll use this illustration,
when I saw her, one day I saw her and I fell in love with her
and I had to have her. Nobody else would do. Nobody
else would do. She was irresistible to me. And
that's what God does with the gospel and with Christ. He shows
you the beauty of Christ, and Christ is your only hope of salvation. He makes Him irresistible to
you. Irresistible. And you're made willing in the
day of His power. What power? Irresistible, drawing
force and goodness and grace. Whom He predestinated, He called.
Whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified.
Done. Done. He says, Grace unto you. And
people so misconstrue that word, don't they? So misconstrue it.
Grace, it's not an offer. It's a free gift. But not for
anybody's acceptance or rejection. But it's bestowed upon people.
A free gift. And it doesn't say anywhere to
accept it. This is not just a mere point to argue. The glory of
God is at stake here. Right? Access to this God. Fellowship
with the Father and with His Son. Christ has broken down this
middle wall of partition. And we can come in. We can come
in boldly. And he says here, verse 3, Blessed
be the God and Father, our Lord, because He did. Bless God, because
He did this. Bless God. Bless His holy name,
because He did this. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant and
much mercy." He's singing, so, oh, how merciful. We mouth the
words, oh, how merciful. Gracious sakes. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his abundant
and mercy. If we got what we deserve right now, we'd be going
to hell for listening to this gospel with dull and Blessed be the God, the Father
and our Lord. Begotten us again to a lively
hope, a living hope. Begotten, behold what manner
of love the Father has bestowed upon us. Call us sons. We'd better be glad it's grace.
We'd better be glad God won't kick His children out, because
we're every one of us rebels right now, right now. And the
worst thing of all to despise and to take for granted and to
esteem this so lightly, this gospel, begotten us again unto
a lively hope, a living hope. How? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, a living Christ, a real hope, a real hope. Look at 2
Peter 1 with me, 2 Peter chapter 1, a living and a real person,
a Christ You know, if Christ is no more than a concept and
a doctrine to you, if Christ is no more than believing in
your head some doctrines, then you will fall asleep at this.
But if Christ is a real person whom you love and are following
after, and esteem as all, as everything
to you, and love to hear about him, then that will altogether
determine your attitude toward this gospel. No matter how it's
preached. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1 verse
16. Peter said, We haven't followed
Cunningham to buy a stable. Folks, this ain't. Not going
through religious motions here. We're not just meeting together
because it's time or are we? We haven't followed cunningly
devised fables. Somebody didn't make this up
when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But we're eyewitnesses. I can
imagine the, well I feel it sometimes, how tough it was for Peter to
get these things across. He said we were eyewitnesses
of his. And they were the same way, though.
Peter was the same way. When Christ, right before his
passion, they fell asleep in the garden. Christ, can't you
watch one hour? One hour. He said, we received from God
the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory. We heard this voice from heaven
saying, this is my son, my beloved son, in whom I will plead. We
heard this voice. And after we heard this voice
which came from heaven, we were with him in the holy man. We
heard him, we saw him, we touched him, we tasted him, we handled
him," John said. He's real. He's a real person.
Do you know him? And he says in verse 19, we have
also a more sure word of prophecy. What? What I'm reading to you
right this morning, to me. Wherein to you do well and say,
to listen to as a light that shines in a dark place. Oh, we're
in darkness. We're in a world full of darkness.
And our minds and our hearts right now have got this darkness
that's seeping in now that will destroy us from hearing the gospel.
Our only hope, our only hope of growth. But God has given us an inheritance. If we can't be enticed with seeing
Christ come down here and do His thing, if we're so dull at
hearing that marvelous, goodness gracious, God choosing us and sending His
Son down here and butchering His Son because of us, what we
deserve, that won't do it. to an inheritance. We've got
an inheritance. It hath not yet appeared unto
us the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. It doth
not yet appear. We've got an unfading, unchangeable,
uncancellable reservation in him. And we don't deserve it. Goodness gracious, we don't deserve
it. And it's reserved in heaven for you. So it says for us. in my margins. Us. Who's the
us? Those who are kept by the power
of God. I'm telling you right now, I'm
looking in the faces of people right now, that this is so obvious.
If God doesn't keep us, we're gone. We're gone. Somebody says it seems so unreal,
it just seems like an old book, you know. It's a book.
I've never seen Christ in it. Well, look at 2 Peter chapter
3, verse 1. Peter says, He uses this four times in this
chapter three. Beloved. This is who he's writing
to. Beloved. God's beloved. Elect. Elect. Chosen of God. Beloved. Loved of God. Elect. Beloved. I write unto you. In both which
I want to stir you up. I want to stir your minds up
by way of remembrance. And that's what preaching is
every week. That's all it is. I've got the same thing to say.
I'll do the same message. Sometimes I feel guilty about
saying the same thing over and over again. God forbid! Yet I
should feel guilty about telling the words of life. Paul said, I think it's fit to
always have in your remembrance of these things. And Peter said,
I want to stir your minds up by way of remembrance, that you
be mindful of these things, thinking about them, rejoicing over them.
They're spoken of by the holy prophets and Commandments of
us apostles. Look at verse 8. Beloved, I know
it's tough. I know it's tough. And I know
this thing happened a long time ago. And I know you've never
seen Christ with your own eyes. And I know the flesh tugs at
you. And I know the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is sore.
I know those things. And I know it seems like He's
never going to come. And I know it seems like a fable to you,
a tale to you. But it's true. This is true, oh so true. If
this thing withers down to two or three people, it's still true
that He's coming. God help me, I want to be there.
I want to be in Christ. I want to be like those virgins
that had the oil on their lamps. That is true faith of Christ,
the Spirit of God dwelling in them. Not just looking like one. Beloved, don't be ignorant of
this one thing. One day is with the Lord a thousand
years. A thousand years is a day. But
the Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count
slackness. But He's longsuffering to us who are kept by His power. He's
longsuffering. Terry, He's longsuffering to
us. We better be glad. He made a covenant with his son.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, that is, that covenant
that he made with Christ to send him. He did send him, and he
took him back, and now he's going to send him again someday. He's
not slack concerning that promise. As surely as Christ came the
first time, he's coming again. But he's longsuffering to us.
And what I'm trying to say here, what he's saying here, is that
if God doesn't mold us, and make us, and conform us, and change
us, and give us a spirit of repentance, and teach us, and lead us, and
guide us, and fill us, and restrain us, and constrain us, and do
not mold us, and do all this for us, we're gone! He's long-suffering. Spending
all his time on you. You don't deserve it. I don't
deserve it. Spending all his time on me.
He shouldn't, ought to drop me. You ought to say it's useless.
But it's not in His hands. It's not.
It appears to be that way. But He's long-suffering to us
when He's not willing that any of us should perish. Thank God that He's not willing
that I should perish, but that all who's all All who have been
chosen and sanctified and set apart and loved by the Father
and died for by Christ will come to repentance. We still need
to repent, John, this morning. Our lives need to be one continual
series of repentance toward God, don't they? That all should come
to repentance. Beloved, don't be ignorant of
that, but grow. Verse 18, look it, grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How
do you grow? It's right here. It's right here. You sit up straight. You put the Bible before you.
You put your ears up open. You pray, God help me, to hear
your voice when you speak. And you may just teach it, and
you may grow. You may grow and look to Christ
and Him alone, to Him whom be glory both now and forever. And
if anybody leaves, you're just going to have to say this about
them. They went out from us. They went out from us. I hope,
you know, if you love the people, you say it with a tear in your
eye. They went out from us, but they weren't of us. If they were of us, they no doubt
would have remained with us. But they went out from us. Why?
He goes on to say that it might be made manifest, that it might
be clear to who? To everybody. God uses people,
Father, to show His people. See there? That could be you. The rest of
those disciples, Saul, Duke, Judas. Oh, Lord, save us or we
perish. Well, you say, how do I know
if I'm elect? If you look to Christ, you're
elect. Look to Christ. Don't look to
see if you're elect. Scripture says give diligence,
though, to make your calling and election sure. Well, how
do you do that? Don't worry about being elect. Keeping you, keeping
your soul is God's part. I hate to say it this way, but
I'm going to. That's God's work, keeping His people, saving them,
keeping them. That's all His work. But He gives
means, and this is one of them right here. And I'll exhort you
as long as I'm here concerning these means. Keeping us is God's. Seeking him is our responsibility. I'll not lessen our responsibility
any more than I will God's. Seeking the Lord is our responsibility.
And I say this to you, say this to me. Seeking him, you'll find
him when you search for him. When you have a heart with one
eye open, all the heart. God demands all
of us. He doesn't demand anything from
us. He won't take anything from us. But when He sets His love
and affection upon you, He demands all of you, not a half-hearted
discipleship. I've illustrated this before.
Christianity is discipleship. It's following Christ. Now, a
man that's sitting there is not following, right? The man that's
actually up and behind Christ and walking in His footsteps,
is following Christ. Saying the words, believing doctrine,
and so is not following Christ. It's a life. It's a life. It's looking to Christ. It's
believing Christ. Yes, in the head, but it works
its way down in the heart, and then it gets those feet moving.
Gets those hands going. Gets those eyes streaming. Get that mouth a-talkin' for
His glory. Gets this whole body, changes
this whole person, new creature, new creation. Be conformed to
the image of Christ. Was Christ silent? Was Christ
still? Was Christ idle? Was Christ unbelieving? Was He dull? No. And discipleship
is following Him. Tell me what's good for us. For
me, if we know what's good for us, we ought to give the more diligent
and earnest heed to these things we've heard, lest at any time,
this time right here, we let them slip. Go right on by. What did you say? What did the
preacher preach on this morning? Forget. Let them slip. And everything
I say is vital and eternal consequence, isn't it, John? Yes, sir, it
is. Vital. What do you say? I have no idea. Let's go eat. I'm not seeking to please anybody,
obviously. I have a responsibility to God's
Word and to your souls Tell it like it is. This thing is a whole
lot more serious than we even think it is. Our eternal souls
are at stake. I'm glad, I'm so glad that it
depends totally upon Him. My I so. My I so. But it manifests itself outwardly. Outwardly. So give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer.