and then put your finger in 1st
Peter chapter 2. So Revelation chapter 1 and 1st
Peter chapter 2. The name of the message is the
Royal Family. The Royal Family. Tonight I'd
like to have us consider the Royal Family. If one is part
of the Royal Family which we'll look at tonight, It is the greatest
honor in the world to be a member of the royal family. It's a very
high privilege. And I'm not speaking of any royal
family on this earth. I'm not speaking of a royal family
with an earthly king. I'm speaking of the body of Christ,
who's a royal priesthood, a chosen people with no claim. Now this
is the main thing too. A royal people with no claim
on the royalty that's bestowed upon them. No claim at all. No claim in our natural estates.
Look at this in Revelation chapter 1. John writes this in verses
4 to 8. John to the seven churches which
are in Asia. Right away, we know from this,
what's said right here, he's writing to born-again, blood-washed
people. Churches there is the ecclesia,
the called-out assembly. To the seven churches which are
in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him, from God, which
is, and which was, and which is to come. You could say the
same yesterday, today, and forever. We see right there, he's unchanging.
and from the seven spirits which are before his throne, and from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. Christ is the faithful
witness of God, and the first begotten of the dead, and the
prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him, now let this sink in.
Again, this is written to born-again believers. Unto him that loved
us. How long has he loved us for?
Well, for eternity. He's loved us for eternity. And
look at this, and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Remember this morning we looked
at the pandemic of sin? There's only one way for that
pandemic of sin to be taken away from us, that we could be free
from that pandemic that has a 100% kill rate, is to be washed in
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's clearly
stated right here that He washed us from our sins with His own
blood. That means he gave his life because
the scripture declares the life of the flesh is in the blood.
And hath made us. Now look at these, look at the
verbiage here that's used. And hath made us. It's not well. If you make a decision, or, well,
if you do this or that, is it? I read something today. I thank
God he delivered me out of religion. I'll tell you. I was telling
Vicki about it. I was going through Facebook,
and on one of the Facebook pages, I've told you, it's this Calvinistic
debate page. I just like to read sometimes
what's put on it. I'll tell you why. Rejoice if
you're in Christ. John, you and I have talked about
this. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you
free. You know, there was a lady on
there that asked the question. This was her question. Well,
I once used to believe that Christ was my Sabbath. Well, that's
scriptural, right? And that he was my host. and
that, but now I'm gone reformed and I realize that now I have
to keep the Sabbath. Can I exercise on this day? She
was asking these other people on this board if it was okay
if she could exercise on the Sabbath. Praise be to God. Just
think of that. Praise be to God that we have
been set free from religious bondage. Christ is our Sabbath. He is our hope. He is our altar. He is our sacrifice. He is our
Passover. He's our all in all, Paul wrote. That means He's our everything.
And Paul wrote, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made you free. If the Son hath made you free,
what? You're free indeed, aren't you? Oh my, that doesn't mean
we have a license to go nuts. That crazy out there in sin,
that doesn't, no way, no preacher would ever tell you that. Oh,
what freedom we have in Christ. You want to exercise on Sunday?
Go ahead and exercise on Sunday. You want to exercise on Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday too? Go ahead
and do it. Christ has made us free. He set us free. He set
us free. He's our Sabbath. That means
rest. He's our rest. Now do we have
a Sunday where we come together? Of course we do. Of course we
do. And we gather together and we
worship our king, right? In spirit and in truth, don't
we? Because we love him and because of what he's done for us. And
look at what it says here. This is incredible. Unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and
hath made us. Now right there, the statement,
hath made us, right? What's he made us? Kings and
praise unto God and his father. The verbiage that's used here
makes it impossible for us to make ourselves kings and praise.
It's he who's made us that way. And oh, what freedom we have
in Christ. Oh, what freedom, what liberty
we have in Christ. He hath made us kings and priests
unto God and His Father. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. That's why we give God
all the glory. That's why we give Him all the
praise. Because He's done it all. And
it's so clearly and plainly stated here, isn't it? That He's done
it all. Behold, he cometh with clouds. He's coming again. And
every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.
And all the kingdoms of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, amen. And then look at this statement.
I am Alpha and Omega. That means he's the beginning
and he's the end. And we know by deduction he's
everything in between. If he's the beginning and the
end, he's everything in between. beginning and the ending sayeth
the Lord which is he was an eternity which was he came to this earth
and which is to come he's coming again beloved and then he finishes
off with the Almighty what a statement what a statement but the thing
I want us to take away from here to to tie in with the royal family
message is this and hath made us kings and priests unto God
God's done this And to his father, Christ has done this. Christ
is God in the flesh. He hath done this. He hath made his people
kings and priests unto God. He done it. So clearly stated
there, it's impossible for us to do it. He's done this. And
because he's done this, we give him all the glory forever and
ever. And we will give him all the glory forever and ever. There'll
be a time when we never cease to glorify him. Isn't that gonna
be wonderful? When we're in glory, we will never cease to glorify
him. Oh my. We see through a glass darkly,
don't we, right now. But then, face to face, oh my! Think of this too. Earthly royal
families are made up of people who are born into the royal family.
They're born into the royal family through blood. But the heavenly
royal family are not born into this kingdom by flesh and blood.
No. They are born into this kingdom
by being born again by the Holy Spirit of God. But no one is
born in the flesh in this kingdom. You must be born again. Remember
our Lord said that? To see the kingdom of God, you
must be born again. Words of the Master. Now turn,
if you would, to 1 Peter 2, and look at this. In light of what
we've seen over there in Revelation 1-6, where He hath made us kings
and priests unto God and His Father. Look what it says here
in 1 Peter 2, verses 9 and 10. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood. A royal priesthood, a holy nation,
peculiar people. But ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in times past were not a people, but now
the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy. See the Greek? See the word there
for royal? This is a royal priesthood. In
the Greek, it means royal. It means belonging to, and I
like this, appointed suitable for the king. We are being made,
we are now appointed suitable for the king. We know in Colossians
it says that we're made meat for heaven, which means we're
qualified for heaven in the Greek. Oh, how it ties in right here,
doesn't it? Made to be appointed, and this is the thing that grabbed
me, appointed suitable for the king. Well, by whose appointment?
God's. By God's appointment. Let that
sink in, we who are the members of this royal family. Because
God's family is a royal family. And again, we're not in this
family by birth. We're appointed by God to be
in this family. That's what that word royal is
bringing out there. See, we read that word and we
think, oh, it just means royalty. No, no. It means that, yes, but
it also means that we're appointed. Wonderful. Now, some in royal
families in this world can be very snobby, can't they? And
it's usually due to their royal standing. They're called highborn. They used to be called the highborn
ones. I got to see the queen once when I was a kid. She just
looked like a normal person, except she had a crown on her
head. She was arrayed in jewels and everything, but she just
looked like everybody else. But she wasn't as pretty as my
mom, you know. She's just a normal person with a crown on her head.
But she was born royalty. She was born royalty. She was
born of high privilege because of her birthright. But you know
it's not so in the family of God. It's not so in the family
of God. We know that we're just sinners
saved by the grace of God. We know we're just sinners saved
by the grace of God, saved by the mercy of God. And we know
we have no right to be in the royal family of God, don't we?
We know that. It's not based upon anything
we think, say, or do that we're part of the royal family of God.
And we're actually the opposite of the, if you want to call some
people who are relatively snobby, or high-minded. That's a nicer
word to say than that. High-minded. We actually feel
like we're in the dirt, don't we? We're the total opposite
of earthly royalty. We're a royal family. Let this
sink in. We're a royal family made suitable
to be in the king's presence. sinners made suitable, now called
a royal family, made suitable by God to be in the presence
of He who is King of kings and Lord of lords. And we're only
made suitable, now think of this, we're only made suitable by being
clothed in, and I'm gonna say this, the royal righteousness
of Christ. You know why his righteousness
is royal? Because he's king of kings and lord of lords. I was
thinking about that, putting this message together. Our righteousness
that we're clothed in, which is not ours, it's Christ's, is
a royal righteousness. The king of heaven was the one
who wove it. He became a man, dwelt upon this earth. He came
and died for his people. Now on earth, there are only
a few people who are part of this royal family of this world. Usually royal families, when
you consider the population of a country, royal families are
relatively very few people. Very few people. And in the age
which we now live in, there's very few royal families. They're
more just figureheads now. They don't have any more power.
One time they had power, but now their power has been set
aside and they're mere figureheads. But they're still considered
royalty by the world. and they're of a very small population
of people. When you consider the world's
population, they're a very small amount of people, small percentage.
Not so for the royal family of God. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Not so for the royal family of
God. It's made up of a number that no man can number. And who's
made that number that no man can number? Kings and priests, God. God's
made them so. God's made them so. In this royal
family is all redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Purchased, there are purchased
people. Purchased by one who's called
the Prince of Life. The Prince of Life, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And all the people of God and
Christ are made kings and priests before God. All those who the
Father gave Christ are appointed by our great God to be clothed
in the royal righteousness of Christ, the royal righteousness
of the King of Heaven, the Word of God, God incarnate in the
flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we who are His people are
adopted into the family of God, were adopted into the family
of God in Christ by He who is King of kings and Lord of lords.
And each child of God, born again by the Holy Spirit, redeemed
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been granted
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They are called
the family of God. They are called the sons of God. And they cry, Abba, Father, to
Jehovah. Why? Well, all because of the
mercy and grace of God, which has been showered upon them in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now one may ask, how can sinful
men and women like you and I become the sons of God? We know we're
not sons by nature, because we're all born dead in trespasses and
sins. We all come into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. And though we'd be errors, because
God knows that we're errors, we don't know. You and I did
not know before the Lord saved us that we were errors of God.
We had no idea. Matter of fact, most of us probably
thought we'd be the last people that that would be said of, right?
Yeah. It's true, we've been heirs of
God from eternity, in God's mind, in his sovereign plan. But by
nature, the heir differs nothing from those who are not heirs
in the flesh. No man has a natural ability
to make themselves the sons of God. Number one, we lack the
power. Number two, we lack the ability.
And it's wrong. for people to say that men and
women can do that. Have you ever heard this? People say, well,
I was born into the family of God. I've heard that a lot. And
always, my answer's always the same. No, that's impossible.
You're born a sinner, just like me. But people believe that.
They do not believe we're born dead in trespasses and sins.
By nature, we're the children of wrath. Look at Ephesians chapter
two. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter two. Look what it says
so clearly here. Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians
chapter 2, we'll read, we'll read verses 1 to 3. And you,
Hattie Quicken, who were dead in trespasses and sins, were
in times past. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversations in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh. and
of the mind, and were what? By nature, the children of wrath,
even as others. You could not tell an heir of
heaven from a child of wrath in our natural state. Can't tell.
Can't tell at all. No. Epistle of John says this,
the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil,
whosoever does not righteousness is not of God. So those in Christ,
clothed in his righteousness, are children of God. All are
by nature born in sin. That was clearly brought forth
in Ephesians chapter 2. All, children of wrath. Sin is
hereditary, isn't it? It's in us. It runs in the family
of Adam. And think of this, grace is anything
but hereditary. It's given to us. I'll tell you
this, holy men and holy women in Christ, they don't have holy
sons and holy daughters, do they? Just ask a parrot. Yeah, no,
our sons and daughters are born sinners. They're born sinners,
just like us. And when I say holy, we're only
holy in Christ, because we're still sinners while we're on
this earth, even after we're saved. So our kids are children
of our nature, sinners just like we are. The apostle says in the
condition, conduct, and state in those verses we looked at
in Ephesians, that Jew and Gentile, himself included, lived and walked
in sin. That's our natural state. Our
course of life was in the lust of the flesh. And this has to
do mainly with the body, its appetites, its corrupt desires,
its sensual delights. And we fulfilled the desires
of the flesh and mind. That's what we did by nature.
Desire is the will and thoughts of our evil minds. And not only
is our flesh corrupt, but also our affections. Now, again, sin
has so infected men that from the top of their head to the
bottom of their feet, they're sinners. Everything we do, everything
we say is tainted with sin. Spurgeon said, our best prayers
are tainted with sin. And we sinned because we willed
to sin, didn't we? We wanted to sin. We walked in
darkness. Why? Because we love darkness.
That's what it says in John 3, 19. And the reason for this is
because we're children of wrath by nature. We're born with a
dead nature. And this is the root or cause
of our sin, immeasurable slavery. From conception, birth, and cradle,
we are by nature the children of wrath, and the spirit The
Spirit leaves the heirs of glory, leads them to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He grants us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. That's why our Lord
proclaimed, you must be born again. That's why preachers repeat
that again and again and again. You must be born again. You have
to be to enter the kingdom of heaven. You must be. And then
the epistle to the Galatians says, ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. We're children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. My. So at one point, we were
by nature children of wrath, even as others, and then after
we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, we're children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And who's the one who's made
the change? Not no man, eh? We have no ability. It's only
God and God alone who's made it so. Of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus. What does the Apostle John say?
I love this verse. He says this in John 1, 12, as
many as received Christ, to them gave he power or privilege, right,
to become the sons of God. It's by his power, and he has
the privilege to give it to whomever he wills, to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. Oh, God's people
believe on him. They trust him. God's people
are a part of the body of Christ. We are members of his body, united
in faith, one in the royal priesthood, in whom Christ the Father sees
no spot in his well-pleased. Brother Roy and I were talking
about this in our little devotion there before service, and he
said, Wayne, God looks at us and sees us in Christ, and I'm
like, amen, brother. He sees us in Christ, again,
clothed in that royal robe of righteousness. Never let that
become commonplace, that we're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, because it's Christ who wove that for us by his obedience
to the law of God perfectly. And then he dies in our place,
the sinless one. And our sins are placed upon
him. And he bears them all, the sinless sacrifice, dying for
sinners. And he pays it all. And he cries,
it is finished. And when we're made the righteousness
of God in Him, aren't we? My, it's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So when
we are in Christ, the Father sees no spot in us. He's well
pleased with us. But we're sinners, Wayne. Uh-huh.
Yeah, we are. And we will be till the day we
breathe our last breath. But his brother Roy said, when
God looks upon his people and he sees them clothed in that
beautiful, perfect righteousness of Christ, he sees his son. And he has mercy upon us because
of his son. And we're forgiven for what?
For Christ's sake, aren't we? Right? It's wonderful. So in
our natural state, you and I know nothing of God's royal family.
Did you even know? I didn't know anything about
that. about God's royal family, those who are clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. I never even thought anything
like that, because I thought I had to work my way to heaven.
That's what I thought. Boy, was I in for a big surprise.
Praise God I was in for a big surprise. Praise God He didn't
leave me where I was. You could say the same, hey,
praise God He didn't leave us where we were. My. And no doubt the sons of God
are foreknown and chosen from all eternity and predestined
to adoption. We know that. And they're called
in due time and they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But
it's not until then that you and I can be certain that they
are sons of God. And only God knows if that faith
is true, right? Only God knows that. Beware of
the deceptive notion that all men and all women are in heaven,
whether they have faith in Christ or not. That's a lie from the
pit of hell. That's what that is. That false doctrine cannot
be proved from the Word of God because it's false. Only the
born-again, blood-washed child of God is an heir of salvation. And to think that one is automatically
a child of God by birth is a deception hatched in hell. And people try
to soothe themselves with that while they're on the way to hell.
Have you ever heard this say? People say this. You ever hear
people say this? And this is what they say, because I used
to say it too. But listen to this and tell me if you've heard
this before. They say this. Well, people are good. They're
not that bad. You ever heard that? You ever
heard people say, well, I'm a good person. You know, when they say,
well, people, when they generalize it, though, when they say, well,
people are good, they're not that bad. You know what they're
really saying? They're saying, I'm good. That's what they're
really saying. They're generalizing, but they're
really saying, well, I'm good. I'm not that bad to warrant to
go to hell. Yes, yes, you are. just like every person on this
earth. And this is a belief, when people
believe that, they're not that bad. This is a belief that will
leave them in serious peril. And many are trying to soothe
themselves from the truth, which declares, there is none good,
no not one. There's none righteous, no, not
one. They just use that broad statement
to try to soothe themselves and to deceive themselves into saying,
well, no, that's not true. Well, let me tell you, it's not
the words of Wayne Boyd. It's the words of a holy, almighty
God, the one true living God. And he says, there's none righteous,
no, not one. He says, all have come short
of the glory of God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's God's words. God is the
creator of all mankind. He created all things. He's the
great first cause of all things. He's the creator of all mankind.
And in Him, all men, whether Christians or heathens, have
their life. they move and have their being
in him, whether they believe it or not. And all this is unquestionably
true in the sense that Paul told the Athenians that a poet of
their own had truly said, we are his offspring in Acts 17.28.
And let this Well, let this be clearly and
plainly stated, it is impossible for sinful man to approach God
except through a mediator. And that mediator is not no man
in a robe. It's only possible, it's only
possible for sinful man to approach God in Christ and Christ alone. There's a false church out there
that millions follow, They claim you can go to another sinful
man and tell him everything you've done wrong, and he tells you
to repeat 15 prayers, and now you're absolved of your sins.
That's impossible for man to do. He makes that person twofold
a child of hell. There's only one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for
all, and he gave himself a ransom for every single one of his sheep.
So no man is born naturally or by our first birth into the family
of God. Baptism cannot put you in the
royal family of God. Church membership cannot put
you in the royal family of God. No man or woman can claim a saving
interest in Christ without believing on him. And the only way we believe
on him is if we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Regeneration
always precedes faith, always. May God be pleased if you do
not know him. to make it so for you, for anyone
who will listen to this. May God be pleased to grant you
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of
your soul. And being born into a so-called Christian family
cannot make you part of the body of Christ, no. Repeating a prayer
that someone else tells you to repeat cannot put you in the
body of Christ, cannot put you in this royal family. Fall on
the Roman's road, they say this Roman's road path they got. And
at the end, they get you to say a prayer that you're just repeating
someone else's confession. That can't put you in the royal
family of God. You know what that is? That's
called decisional regeneration. There's no Holy Spirit regeneration
in that. You must be born again. You must be. And if you are born
again, you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know
the scriptures declare that no man can claim a saving interest
in Christ unless they believe on Him. The question is, do you
believe on Him? Has God given you faith to trust Christ, to
believe on Him only? Where there's no faith in Christ,
it's foolish to say that a man or woman may take comfort that
God's his Savior, because they can't. God is a reconciled Father
to none but the members of Christ, to none but those who are born
again. Somebody said, well, that's pretty narrow, Wayne. That's
pretty narrow. Well, it's not me who said it.
The Lord Jesus Christ said that. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man. or woman, or child, cometh
unto the Father, but by me." And then in John 3, remember
he's talking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. He's talking
to one who read the books, read the law. And he said to him,
you must be born again. Remember he said, are you not
a teacher and you don't know these things? I'm paraphrasing
that. Basically, that's what he said to him. No, because he
was the blind leading the blind. Now, I think Nicodemus was saved
later on. I believe that. But when he came
to the Lord at night, he was a lost man. So hold fast to the
doctrine of Christ. Hold fast to salvation in Him
alone for sinners. Hold fast to a perfect, complete,
sin-atoning work of the Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hold fast to that. There's no inheritance of glory
without sonship to God. There's no sonship to God without
a saving interest in Christ. There's no saving interest in
Christ without your own personal faith in Christ, which is a gift
from God, not of works lest any man should boast. And this is
God's truth. Never forsake it. You must be
born again. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. So examine ourselves. Ask ourselves
before God. Ask it in God's sight. Have you
truly been born again? Have you truly repented of your
sins before God and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Ask
yourself whether you're truly acquainted with Christ, united
to Him in heart. If not, you may be sure you're
no son of God. You are not yet born again. You
are yet in your sins. God is your Creator, but you
are not reconciled to Him as a pardoning Father. Some people
may tell you to the contrary. I remember people telling me
this after the Lord saved me. I had people tell me that when
I was religious, people who knew me when I was religious, people
when I was in religion, people who knew me really well, people
who I did some things with in the church that we were in, or
churches that we were in. I had one fellow, though, tell
me, after the Lord saved me, that, Wayne, when you were at
our church, you were saved. He told me that. He said, you
were saved. I told him, I said, no, I wasn't
saved. And he kept insisting. He kept
insisting that I was a saved man in religion. And I asked
him this question. I said, does God know if I was
saved or not? And he said, yeah. And I said,
do I know if I was saved or not? He said, yeah. I said, I'm the
only one who'd know other than God, right? Well, he had to say
yes. He had to say yes. And I told
him, I was not saved in religion. And then they understood, even
though I knew doctrine. And I knew doctrine. I was a
Calvinist. I knew doctrine. I could quote
scriptures to you. I could do all kinds of things
that way. I could have a theological debate with you then. I could.
But now I know what Paul meant. It was all knowledge with no
grace. Knowledge with no grace. I'd
made a profession. I'd not yet been born again.
But praise be to God, God had mercy on me, and he saved my
soul. I was born again by his power.
I did not know what the grace of God was when I was in religion.
I was nothing but a legalist. And that's what I was. That's
Vicki. She'll tell you how I was. I praise God she's still with
me after going through all that stuff. My, you must be born again. I was a legalist. I was blind
to those things, the things of grace, the things of mercy until
the Lord showed me. And then you know what he showed
me? He showed me that I was a worm. He showed me that I was nothing
without him. As Bonnie said before with that message by Henry Mahan,
we're like maggots on a dunghill, and he just reaches down and
picks us up. That one's mine. I purchased him, or I purchased
her. She's mine. I redeemed them with
my blood. the Lord says. So without faith
it's impossible to please God, and that faith for the born-again
child of God is in Christ and Christ alone, nowhere else. And
no sinner, friend, or religious legalist who may listen to this,
may God show you your sin, just as He did for me, just as He
did for every born-again child of God. May He show you your
sin. May He show you your need for Him. And may by the grace
of God you be clothed in the royal righteousness of Christ
and given faith to believe on Him. and not be entangled again
in the yoke of bondage. That's one thing I noticed in
religion, and I've talked to a few of you who came out of
religion too, was the bondage, the legal bondage. You never
felt good enough. But what freedom we have in Christ.
For the believer, all things have passed away, old things
have passed away, all things become new. And the sinner who
comes to Christ receives full forgiveness of all their sins,
a full pardon, acceptance in the beloved, all by the mercy
and grace of God, all because we're an heir of salvation according
to the grace of God. Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 3. We'll look at this. Galatians
chapter 3, verse 26. And then we're going to go all
the way to Galatians 4, 7. Sometimes the chapter breaks
are not always a good thing. So what we're going to do is
we're going to start in Galatians chapter 3 verse 26, and we're going to
go all the way to Galatians chapter 4. Again, who is Paul writing
to? He's writing to born-again blood-washed
saints, the church at Galatia. Look what he says here. For ye
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Remember
who made us? Who made us kings and priests?
It's Christ. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. this, there's neither
Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither
male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. All sinners
saved by the grace of God, one in Christ. And if ye be Christ,
look at this, look at this, and if ye be Christ, then you are
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Beloved of God,
We as God's people can look at the promises of God in the Old
Testament, and they are all for us, yea and amen, in Christ. Look at that, it says we're heirs
according to the promise. And now we're going to continue
in the next chapter. Look at this. He's still continuing this
thought. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant. So you cannot
tell an heir of salvation, one who was chosen by God in eternity,
This plainly states here that you could not tell the difference
between a vessel of mercy and a vessel of wrath in their natural
state. See, so none of us can go, well,
yeah, that person right there is one of the elect. Spurgeon,
I love what Spurgeon said. You've heard me say this many
times. I'm going to say it again because it's worth repeating. He said
if there was a yellow stripe on the back of all God's elect,
we'd just lift up the back of their shirt and preach to them.
But no, it's not like that. But it's not so, is it? We can't
tell who the elect of God are. And that's what the scripture
says here. It says, now I say that the heir, as long as he
is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be
Lord of all, though he be an heir of glory, an heir in Christ,
but is under tutors and governors, look at this, until the time,
what? Appointed. appointed of the Father. Let that sink in. Wherever you
heard the gospel, and under whoever you heard it, it was appointed
by God that that would be your time of love. Oh! Doesn't it
just get richer and richer? This salvation we have in Christ?
It just gets richer and richer. It's under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the Father. So there's a time appointed
of God the Father that every one of The lost sheep of God
will hear the gospel. And notice, too, it's appointed
by God, so that takes us out of the equation, doesn't it?
You ever hear people say, just make a decision for Christ. Just
do this. Well, yeah, we do run to Christ,
don't we? At the time appointed of the Father. Isn't that wonderful? So we can witness the folks,
we can tell them the great things that Christ has done for us,
and the results are all in his hands. That's why the gospel.
We send the gospel forth from here, out it goes in sermon audio
out into the world, and God does with it whatever he's pleased
to do with it. And we rejoice. We rejoice. Even so, even so
we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements
of the world. Remember in Ephesians chapter
2, we were dead in trespasses and sins? That's just the same
way of saying that. We were in bondage. But when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law. Why? Why did Christ come to this
world? To redeem them that were under
the law. That's us. Remember, he's fulfilling
the law for us. He's perfect. He's sinless. God
is well pleased with him. To redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because
ye are sons, because God chose you in Christ before the foundation
of the world based upon absolutely nothing in us, right? And because
ye are sons, remember before I said according to God's plan
and purpose, we're sons. We don't know that. By nature
we're children of wrath, the scripture declared that. But
look at this marvelous truth here. And because ye are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts.
You must be born again. And when you're born again, you
cry this. Abba, Father. Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. Look at that. And if a son, then
an heir of God through Christ. Let's go back to Revelation chapter
1. And let's read that again. Let's
read that again. Revelation chapter 1, I want
to read that again, that portion that we read. Revelation chapter
1, and we'll look at verse 5. And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, the
prince, the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. Then verse 6, and hath made us
kings and priests. He's done it. He's done it all. Unto God and his Father, to him
be glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen. My oh my. God's people have received mercy. And whoever there is among the
hearers here that is a son of God, it's all by the mercy of
God. Then rejoice. If you are, rejoice.
Rejoice. Be exceedingly glad of your privilege,
because it's a privilege. So many others God has just passed
by. But you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. So rejoice. And in knowing this precious
truth, and knowing that God has chosen us in Christ and before
the foundation of the world, and knowing that we were appointed
to be sons of God, I would say that gives us great cause to
rejoice. I would say that gives us great
cause to be very thankful. Amen. I'll say it. Amen. Yeah. Great cause for us to rejoice.
Turn, if you would, one more portion of scripture, and then
we'll close quickly. 1 John 3 1. Look at this. Remember when we
went through the study of 1 John, this is one of the verses that
just spoke peace to my heart. 1 John 3 1. Behold, behold, give
your attention to this, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Behold. Look at it with awe. Look at this verse with wonder.
What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. And who
has he bestowed that love to us through? Christ Jesus our
Lord. See the word bestowed there?
It means this in the Greek. To give of one's own accord with
goodwill. God has given this that we should
be called the sons of God of his own accord. and of his own
goodwill. It also speaks of the source,
author, or cause of the favor or benefit to anyone. It speaks
of the grace and favor, the goodwill of the giver, the goodwill that
the giver shows to the one who's bestowed with the gift. All the
one who's bestowed with the gift is, is a receiver. That's all. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. So marvel at this wonderful truth, beloved of God,
that the holy God should set his affections on sinful men
and women and admit us into his family. Marvel at that. No wonder
the world does not understand believers in Christ. Men of this
world will laugh at us. They'll cast out our name as
evil because of what we believe. They'll laugh at us. Let them
laugh. If God is your Father, you have no need to be shamed.
If you are an heir of salvation, you have no need to be ashamed.
No. We have reason to rejoice, don't we? The Queen of England
can create a nobleman, can't she? She can give knighthood
to people. She can make them lords, little
l, right? She can do all that stuff. In
religions, bishops can ordain clergymen and priests. But think
upon this. The queen and religious bishops
and priests and priests all together cannot, of their own power, make
one son of God. They cannot make one son of God.
No, this is a work of God and God alone. And the man or woman
that can call God their father and Christ their elder brother,
that man or woman may be poor and lowly in this world, and
yet never need to be ashamed, because they're a child of the
King of kings and of the Lord of lords. And they are clothed
in the royal righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, all by
the mercy and grace of God. Amen and amen.