Here in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 18, he says, the reason
Christ suffered for sins, for our sins, because of our sins, was for the purpose of bringing
us to God. I want to consider that this
morning He already did so when he died, he brought us to God.
But he shall also yet bring us to God. I thought it might be good to
begin where we left off last Sunday when we met here. You
remember how we ended our service that morning, how we ended our
conference by singing the hymn on page 82 of our hymn book. God be with you, we sing, till
we meet again. Till we meet again, till we meet
at Jesus' feet. God be with you, till we meet
again. I couldn't help as I mentioned
then, and several of you mentioned to me afterwards, when we sang
that hymn to think of what John saw in Revelation 7. Until we meet at Jesus' feet,
until every child of God arrives here, brought to God by the Great
Shepherd, and we enjoy this, this that John saw, After this
I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man can number of all
nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the
throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in
their hands. What a day that will be, Joe. A day that shall never end. And
they all sing the same song. Nobody's off key. Nobody's out
of tune. In heart and mind and lip, they're
in perfect unison when they cry with a loud voice saying, salvation
to our God, salvation to our God, salvations of the Lord,
which saith upon the throne and unto the land. Yes, we will meet again. That's the title of my message.
till we meet again. Look again at verse 18 of 1 Peter
3. He says, For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust. The greatest theme in the Word
of God. It is the theme of the Word of
God. It's about the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This was God's purpose. This is why Christ came to be
made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He came to do God's will and
he did it perfectly. He did it perfectly. He left
nothing undone, all that he intended. All that God entrusted for him
to do in coming into this world, why God was made man, he accomplished. He accomplished. Now just about
everybody in what we call grace churches and free will churches,
If they'd heard the statement I just now made, I dare say they
would all say amen to that. Oh yes, Christ did what he intended
to do. But Peter didn't stop there,
did he? This was the purpose in his coming. This is the fruit of his coming. This is the certain outcome of
his coming. And this is where those who of
whole man's will over God's will would back up and say, oh, now
we can't do that. Well, God's Word does it. What
was the purpose of Christ's suffering? What was the purpose of Him being
made sin? That He might bring us to God. That's not a question mark. That
He might bring us to God. Christ didn't die for a Perchance? Or a maybe? Or a hope so? Oh no, children of God. This
is what gives us comfort. This is what gives us hope. It's
the only thing that does. When the storms of life are raging,
We lay our head upon this sovereign pillow of His mighty grace. He
loved me and gave Himself for me. What John saw is a certainty. They shall all be brought home
to the Father's house to be with Him forever. I said that This
speaks of what Christ did when he died, and it also refers to
what he shall yet do. He will bring us to God. Turn
back, if you will, to Romans chapter 5, where it speaks of
the result of his death in bringing us to God by being made sin for
us, in burying our sins away. Here in verse 10 of Romans 5,
it speaks of that. For if, when we were enemies,
Now look at it. We were reconciled to God by
the death of his son. When were we reconciled to God?
When Christ died. When Christ died, he reconciled
us to God. Now in time, in our experience,
he comes and reveals that to us. Reveals that to us. We lay down our arms against
God, we surrender to him, but our reconciliation was made by
Jesus Christ at the moment he died. For if when we were enemies
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. He brought us to God. There are
many texts from which we could preach the blessed truth that
all God's saints by his grace, shall one day surround the throne
of the Lamb. We have a good hope, don't we,
brothers and sisters? Don't we, Lord? Could it be any
better? Could it be any more secure?
And I find comfort in this, in the negative, so to speak. That
hope in no way depends on me. Oh, I'm glad of that. Because
we just sang a moment ago, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. That's just so. That's a fact. Oh, I'm so glad that my coming
to heaven, entering glory, in no way depends upon me. not my good works, not my bad
works, it all depends upon him. That's what gives us hope. It's
resting upon this sure and certain foundation, Jesus Christ himself. Paul, in writing to the church
at Thessalonica, his first epistle in chapter 4, I said, don't sorrow
for those who have died in Christ, not like you would for others
who died without Christ, who died without hope, who died without
hope. If they died without Christ,
they died without hope. Without Christ, without hope. Without Christ, without salvation. Without Christ, without grace. Without Christ, without righteousness. Without Christ, all they shall
hear, all they must hear is depart from me, I never knew you. Without hope. But Paul says to
the believer, that's not the case with you. That's not the
case with you. for the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and we which are alive shall be changed,
the dead believers shall be raised, and at the same time, all together,
all of his glorious bride shall be caught up, and aren't these
wonderful words? To be with the Lord, and Paul
says, and so shall we ever. ever be with the Lord. David
said in Psalm 84, the Lord is a sun and a shield. The Lord
shall give grace and glory. Now again, the foundation of
that promise rests where? The fulfillment of it, the certainty
of it, rests where? The Lord. The Lord, God Almighty. The Lord, Jehovah over all, the
Lord whose hand none can stay, the Lord who has his way in the
world wind, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what
doest thou? Oh, the Lord. Your greatest concept
of him and mine in our best moments of true worship fall so far short
of realizing just a little of his majesty and his greatness
and his glory. The Lord shall give. The Lord shall give. Well, now,
if the Lord shall give, then I shall have. If the Lord gives,
then I shall have it. And what shall he give? He shall
give grace and glory. Grace. Think about that. He shall give grace. Not grace
that attempts. Not grace that waits for its
success on the cooperation of those to whom it's offered. No,
no, no. He gives grace. He doesn't offer
grace. He bestows grace. He shall give
grace. All the grace you'll ever need.
Grace for our dear sister in Indiana whose heart's been torn
watching her daughter suffer. And in addition to that, the
greatest heartache is that she doesn't know God, her daughter,
the heartache that you and I have for our children as well. But
God shall give grace. He'll grant grace. Underneath,
underneath when we feel like the bottom has fallen out and
I'm just in a free fall, out of control, not so. I feel like
it, oh yes, I do too sometimes, but you know what? It's not so,
it's not so. It's not reality. No, no, no. No, underneath are the everlasting
arms, the arms of the Lord that shall give grace and glory. Be assured of that. Be assured
of that. We shall meet again. Turn, if you will, to Matthew's
Gospel, chapter 24. As we said, so many places, so
very many places we could turn to concerning the promise of
our Lord's coming for His own or our going to Him and forever
being with the Lord. But here in Matthew 24, verse
27, The Lord Jesus speaking says,
for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even
unto the west, hmm, looks pretty evident, doesn't it? Doesn't
seem like a secret. Oh no, when it happens, we'll
know. So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. Skip down to verse 30. And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, those who don't know him. And they shall see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. With power and great glory. Among those that mourn at his
coming will be a multitude that profess to know him. They'll
find out that this one that's coming with power and great glory
was not the same Jesus, was not that phony that they trusted,
not that one that couldn't have his way. They find everlastingly
too late that he was an imposter. Oh no, this one that appears
is God in flesh, verse 31. And he shall send his angels
with the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together
his elect. They'll gather them all. None
shall be lost. They'll gather his elect from
the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Look down
in chapter 25. Chapter 25. You have this warning. Well, let's look at verse 36
of chapter 24. I got ahead of myself. Here's
a warning. But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But
as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. And these things he mentions
are common everyday things. Just the same old, same old.
That's how it'll be. That's how it'll be. to this
world is going on in their same routine day in and day out. This is what he says. For as
in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, that's pretty ordinary, marrying and giving in marriage,
that's pretty common, until the day that Noah entered into the
ark and knew not, knew not, until the flood came and took them
all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Now in
chapter 25, verse 6, and at midnight, there was a cry, may behold,
the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. And while those
foolish virgins, those mere professors, While they went to buy, the bridegroom
came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage,
and the door was shut." Oh, my. The door was shut. The door was shut. The door of
mercy and grace. The door of salvation. The door
to glory. It's shut. When once the master
of the house has risen up, our Lord taught, and shut the door,
and you stand without and knock and say, open to us, you know
us, he says, the door is shut. I never knew you. Remember what
happened concerning Noah and the ark. Let me read just a few
verses to you. In Genesis 7, And the Lord said
unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee
have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Noah was clothed with that perfect
robe that every child of God is clothed in, the righteousness
of Christ. That's what God saw. And Noah
went in, and his sons and his wife, and his son's wife's with
him, into the ark because of the waters of the flood. They
that went in, rather in, male and female of all fleshes, God
had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. The Lord shut him
in. Are you shut in or are you shut
out? You say, Larry, I'm in church
this morning. Are you in Christ? Are you in
Christ? I'm in the right doctrine. I
can rattle off five points. Are you in Christ? Are you in
the Ark? There's only one Ark. There's
only one place that God Almighty will accept any sinner, and that's
in Christ Jesus, all but if you're in Him. If you're in Christ,
listen, there is now, therefore, no condemnation, there never
will be, to those who are in Christ Jesus. They and they only
will meet one day in glory, those who have experienced the grace
of God here below. Again, our text, Peter says,
he suffered thus, that he might bring us to God. Us, Peter says,
not all men, but all those God gave him, all those he redeemed,
all those he called, all of them, he'll bring to God. Turn if you
will to Hebrews chapter 9 for just a moment. Hebrews chapter
9. Both aspects of our Lord's coming
are spoken of here and the results of each of them in Hebrews chapter
9 verse 24. It speaks in these verses of
the first time he came and what he did, the second time when
he comes and what he shall do. In verse 24, for Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself Now to appear in
the presence of God for us. Don't you like that? For us.
Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest
enters into the holy place every year with the blood of others.
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put
away sins, sin rather, by the sacrifice of himself. And he did. And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this to judgment, that's final. Likewise, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. What he did shall never be repeated. It doesn't need repeating because
he got the job done the first time. All those whose sins he
bore away, all those will be with him in glory. Those he represented,
When he was made sin, every one of those, when he came the first
time and put their sins away, when he comes the second time,
those and those alone shall be gathered with him in glory. We will meet again. Isn't that
good news, child of God? Isn't that good news? Can you hear good news too much? Can you hear good news too often? As long as this sinner is in
the world having to cry, Lord, I believe,
but help mine unbelief, I need reminded of this. As long as
I cry with the apostle wretched man that I am, why am I like
this? I need reminded of this. We shall
be changed. We shall be changed. It's not
always going to be like this. Turn, if you will, to John, John
chapter 6, John's gospel chapter 6. Let's look at our Lord's words
that he spoke concerning his people. Here in John 6, you know the
context, the multitude had been fed. They got hungry again, so
they crossed the sea looking for him, hoping he would fill
their bellies again. That's the only reason they came.
And in verse 35 of John 6, the Lord says this, Jesus said unto
them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me, and believe not. You believe not. Will that make
God's purpose void? The week or so before our conference, I don't know how many people
I invited to our service. I asked Pat to make up extra
bulletins, the one that had the conference schedule in it, and
I handed out every one of them. Not one person came. Not one
person that I asked came. Does that make God's purpose
void? Did this? Oh, no, listen. Verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. You haven't come. You haven't
believed, he tells them. But all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me I will in
no wise cast out." Put a circle around that. All. All that the
Father gives me. All means all. All that we're
given, they all shall come. He says the same thing down in
verse 39. And this is the Father's will, the will of God. which
it sent me that of all which he had given me." All. Don't you like that? I should
lose nothing. Joe, nothing. I should lose none. Isn't that what the prophet said
concerning the results, the fruit of the suffering Savior? He said
in Isaiah 53, he shall see of the prevail of his soul and be
satisfied. Why? Because they all, they all
shall come to me. I shall lose none. All certainly means all. From
the first sinner ever saved, who was that? Adam. From the first sinner ever saved
until the last sinner hears his voice, and he's drawn when by
sovereign grace that last sinner given to him by the Father, that
last sinner whose sins he bore in his own body on the tree,
when that last sinner, that last sheep hears his voice and he's
fetched, he's drawn to the great shepherd of the sheep. When they
all come to him, all that the Father gave him, All those he
purchased, all those he called, Christ says they shall all meet
again in glory. They lived at different times,
they lived in different places, but they'll all be gathered together
at the last. My soul, Christ said he shall
present them to himself a perfect bride without a spot or a wrinkle
or a blemish or any such thing, but holy, righteous, just like
their bridegroom. Their bride presented back to
him rather, his bride shall be worthy of him. who suffer for
their sins that he might bring them to God. And so shall we
ever be with the Lord. We, all believers from all ages,
ever. How long is that? As long, as
enduring, as forever as Jesus Christ himself is. Wow. Wow. Forever. I just can't hardly get a grip
on that. I got that. You got that right.
Neither can I. Neither can I. Like my little
granddaughter says, Pawpaw, that's a big, big word. Forever with
him. We've said goodbye. I thought
about this last night as I was looking over my notes. We've said goodbye to many just
in this little flock. In what time I've known you. Say goodbye to Dot and then Bill. Say goodbye to Wallace and Louise.
Say goodbye to Herman. Say goodbye to Tommy. And we'll
soon say goodbye to others of our dear friends. Carter Brown. This is where I
met Carter. It sounds like we'll soon be
saying goodbye to him. And Mary Bell. But only until we meet again. Only till we meet again he shall
bring us to God. Robert Murray McShane on various
occasions would write hymn songs about things he experienced.
That song that Bobby sometimes sings, Not till then shall I
know what a debt of love I owe, McShane wrote that. He had a
friend that died afterwards, a believer, a fellow believer.
And McShane wrote this. He said, I little thought when
last we met the sun on earth was nearly set. I said what I'll
never forget, dear friend, we'll meet again. I stood beside thy silent bed. Thy marble brow was cold and
dead. Thy gentle soul was fled, was fled. Dear friend, we'll
meet again. The precious dust beneath that
lies shall at the call of Jesus rise to meet the bridegroom in
the skies. That day, we'll meet again. We have a good hope. We shall meet I've got to hurry
along. How shall we meet briefly? And
we've already mentioned this. We'll meet without a spot or
wrinkle. A perfect bride for her perfect
bridegroom. Because there'll be no sin. No trace of sin. No trace of sin. No evidence of sin. The blood
of Jesus Christ will have so completely washed us from all
sin and glory among that multitude that none can number. Look at
anyone you want, head to toe and inside out, you won't find
any sin. Look in their mind and there's
no thought of sin. Look in their heart And there's nothing but a heart
that loves God with all of its being. There's no sin. Isn't
that something? You remember in Luke 17 when
those ten lepers stood afar off and seeing Jesus walk by said,
have mercy on us. What do you want? Oh, we want
to be cleansed. And he said, go your way, show
yourself to the priest. And as they went, we're told,
can you picture that? I've often thought of that. Here
those ten leopards go. Why are we going to the priest?
What good is that going to do? The priest is the one who said
we were unclean and told us to leave, that we were outcasts. Now he's sending us back there
and one looks at the other and says, whoa, you're clean. And they stop. We're not leopards. We're not
leopards anymore. We're clean. Brothers and sisters
in Christ, listen. I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,
and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem. That's us. That's God's church. I saw the New Jerusalem coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned
for her husband. Last of all, The sweetness lies
right here, doesn't it? As we sang last Sunday, we shall
meet at Jesus' feet. Listen to these words, my fellow
brother and sister in Christ. Listen to what the captain of
your salvation has said. Let me just read them to you.
You know them by heart, I do too. But listen to this, tried,
tired, let not your heart be troubled.
And you remember, you remember when he said this word? Immediately
when he told Peter, you're going to deny me tonight, you're going
to deny that you ever knew me, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go, I will come again and receive you unto
myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." And then in
chapter 16, listen to these words and how often they describe us.
And ye now therefore have sorrow, man that is born of woman, He's
full of trouble, a few days and full of trouble. And he now therefore
have sorrow. Aren't you glad that's not all? But, but. These are the words from that
one who loved you and gave himself for you. He's speaking these
words to you. You now therefore have sorrow
but I will see you again. I will see you again and your
heart shall rejoice. Your heart shall rejoice and
your joy no man taketh from you. I will see you. I'm not sending
an angel, not a cherubim or a seraphim, but I'm coming for you. I'm going to gather you to myself. Oh, can you imagine that? To
see that multitude that we began with by reading Revelation 7
verses 9 and 10, seeing that multitude before the throne.
Oh, won't that be glorious? Won't that be something? But
here is a glory that excels even that. First and foremost, I want
to see him who loved this worthless rebel. I don't know why. There's never been a time he
didn't love me. And he gave himself for me, John.
Oh my. He gave himself, all of himself,
for me. My soul, look at that multitude
around the throne. Excuse me, Paul. Peter, would
you step aside? John, let me by. I'll talk with you later. I want
to see him. I want to see that one. I want
to cast this crown at his feet. And I want to sing, worthy, worthy
is the Lamb. You remember Saturday night,
Brother Don's message, five questions. The fifth one was this. How strange
it must sound to an unbeliever. But he said, what would it mean
to you to know that dying was the best thing that could ever
happen to you? We're going to close this. But
turn, if you will, to Luke, the Luke's gospel, chapter 23. Don
said, what would it mean to you if you knew that dying was the
best thing that would ever happen to you? Only a child of God can
think along those lines, can he? In Luke chapter 23, verse 39, and one of the male
factors, one of the thieves, one of the rebels that he confessed
himself was getting exactly what he deserved, which was hanged,
railed on him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and
us. But, but, there it is, but, but
grace, but mercy, but everlasting love calls this. But the other, answering a rebuke to him, saying,
Does thou not fear God, seeing that thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, For we
received the due reward of our deeds, but this man had done
nothing amiss. And he says, he said unto Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Remember me. Our Lord answered that a long
time ago. He said, can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me. I'll never forget you. Verily
I say unto thee, the day thou shalt be with me in paradise. That's what happens when a believer
dies. The master wants him to be with
him, to be with him in paradise forever. Another McShane song and I'll
close. He wrote, like mist on the mountain,
like ships on the sea, so swiftly the years of our pilgrimage flee. In the grave of our fathers,
how soon we shall be, dear children, today, how soon shall we lie,
dear children, today, to a savior fly. Do you ask me for pleasure? Then lean on his breast, for
there the sin laden are weary, and weary find rest. In the valley
of death, You will triumphantly cry, if this be called dying,
it is pleasant to die. God be with you till we meet
again. God bless you.