Open your Bibles with me to Exodus
chapter 11. Exodus chapter 11. God has performed nine wonders
in the land of Ham. Wonders by which he gave stunning
displays of his sovereignty and his power and dominion as God. Wonders which caused people to
stand up and pay attention. But wonders by which he continually
hardened Pharaoh's heart. Six times we're told the Lord
hardened Pharaoh's heart by the wonders he performed. because
he was doing something working his way to a great climactic
wonder performed in the land of Ham we refer to it as the
Passover the night the Lord God passed through Egypt and destroyed
all the firstborn of all Egypt being a picture of Christ our
Passover who is sacrificed for us let's read beginning in verse
1 of Exodus chapter 11 And the Lord said unto Moses,
yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterwards, he will let you go
hence. When he shall let you go, he
shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. He's not gonna just
let you go, he's gonna say, please go. Speak now in the ears of
the people. Tell it to my people, only to
my people. Don't say a word to the Egyptians
about this. And let every man borrow of his
neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver
and jewels of gold. And the Lord gave the people
favor in the sight of the Egyptians." Isn't that astonishing? They
hadn't been in favor with them for 400 years. And all of a sudden,
the Lord gave them favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover,
the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, and in
the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.
And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go
out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt shall die. Remember God gave his law just
a few chapters later and he said the firstborn is mine Everyone
that opened the womb is mine and he gave laws in Israel concerning
the firstborn because the firstborn pointed to one person Christ
Jesus the Lord the firstborn is described by God as he that
openeth the womb and It doesn't refer primarily to the son who
is first born in a household, though he was typical of the
firstborn one. The church of God is called the
church of the firstborn, the church of Jesus Christ. There
is but one man, just one man, who opened the womb of his mother
in his birth. That's the man who is God, our
Savior, who came into the world through the virgin's womb. So
the law of the firstborn and this slaying of the firstborn
in Egypt and the preserving of the firstborn in the land of
Israel by the law of God, was a prophecy of the virgin birth
and the incarnation of our Redeemer. This one, the firstborn one,
who alone, by the sacrifice of himself, could save his people
from their sins. And all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that
sitteth upon the throne, even to the firstborn of the maidservant
that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts,
and there shall be a great cry throughout all the land and for
Israel for this I'm sorry shall be a great cry throughout all
the land and for Israel for this specific purpose what it says
what it says here in verse 7 that ye may know that the Lord doth
put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel that you
may know that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians
and Israel. Against the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue." Isn't that wonderful? Against the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue. Why has God done all that he
did in the land of Ham? Why did God send Abraham's children
down into Egypt? Why did God send them hardship,
bondage, difficulty, severe affliction for four hundred years? Why did
God caused such a turmoil to be raised in Israel while they
were in Egypt. And Moses, at last, driven away. God slaying the firstborn of
every child in Egypt, every family in Egypt, of Israel, because
Pharaoh feared the people. Why did God do that? Why did
God send Moses back and when Moses came and announced his
mission, Pharaoh said, well, you folks got too much out of
time on your hands and made the work even harder, made the bondage
even more severe. Why the plagues one after the
other? Why did God do everything he
did in Egypt and in Israel? Everything he did to the Egyptians
and everything he did to and for the children of Israel, that
you may know. how that the Lord doth put a
difference between the Egyptians and Israel. The title of my message
tonight is The Difference. The Difference. My purpose in
bringing the message is because I want you to see and know and
rejoice in the difference there is between believers and unbelievers,
between God's elect and the reprobate, is a difference that must be
traced to the distinguishing grace of God alone. You see, such is the pride of
our depraved natures that we most naturally cherish, nurture,
and cling to, and promote in ourselves and in our families,
especially in our children, that which is the most abhorrent thing
on the earth in the eyes of God. Pride. Pride. We cling to it. We cherish it. We promote it. We nurture it.
Pride. The original sin of Lucifer.
The original sin of our father Adam. And the sin with which
we constantly struggle every day and every hour while we walk
on this earth. Pride. Horrid, horrid pride. Pride is the thing that hardens
the heart and keeps sinners from coming to Christ. Daniel tells
us the wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek
after God. Why? The pride of his countenance.
He's too proud. Too proud to seek mercy. Too
proud to come to God acknowledging what he is. Too proud to trust
Christ as his Redeemer. Jeremiah tells us that nothing
but pride nothing but pride Causes men to reject the Word of God
in Jeremiah 43. He said all the proud men rejected
God's Word nothing but pride men don't reject God's Word because
they are smart and they don't see the basis for it and they
don't have an understanding of it and it doesn't jive with their
notions about science and notions about reason and philosophy.
They reject the Word of God because every man wants to be his own
God. Men deny the Word of God for pride because they will not
bow to the Word of God. The root, the cause of all carnal
strife, division, whisperings, backbitings, and slanders among
men is pride. It's pride. Pride showing itself
in envy and jealousy. Pride is the great deceiver of
men. It makes men and women behave
in cruel, mean-spirited self-righteousness under the guise of doing God's
service. The Pharisees acted like they
did in pride. I've been reading a good bit
just recently in church history and I reading one particular
biography, and I found it astounding, just astounding. how that they
uh... set up rules in this church in
london many many years ago of discipline investigating folks
and prying into people's business prying into their business each
one attempting to set himself as judge above another over another
determining what is godly for you and ungodly for you as if
I am the standard It is pride that displays itself among religious
men under the guise of doing God's service and under the pretense
of humility. Be warned, O my soul, pride goeth
before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall. He hath
showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require
of thee, but to do justly to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God. O Spirit of God, teach me what
I am, that I may walk humbly with my
God, trusting Christ for everything. Teach me what I am, painful as
it is. Teach me what I am. that I may
walk humbly before my God, trusting Christ for everything. Now, turn
with me to a very familiar text of scripture. I quote it real
often, deliberately. I don't quote it by accident,
just deliberately. You can quote it yourself, but
I want you to turn and look at it. First Corinthians chapter
four and verse seven. First Corinthians chapter four
and verse seven. I'll give you a minute to get
there. I want you to look at it. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? My subject is the difference.
Who makes you different from somebody else? Who maketh thee
to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Let's
look at the three questions Paul asked. These three questions
may and should be applied to any and all differences which
appear among men. Natural differences. In this
room, there are as many differences as there are faces. Difference
in appearance, difference in mental abilities, difference
in physical strength, and in physical health. Who makes you
to differ? There are differences among preachers,
all preachers, all of us. Differences in gifts, differences
in abilities, Differences in usefulness. Differences in the
place where they serve. Who makes you to differ? The
differences between believers and unbelievers. Eternal differences. Who maketh thee to differ? What do you have that you have
not received? And if you received it, why do
you glory as if you had not received it? I want to spend a little
time with this first question. Leaving the other two for the
summation of my message. But I want you to see three things
here. Number one, there is a sense in which God's elect do not differ
from other people. And we know it. There's a real sense in which
God's elect do not differ from others, and we know it. We've
been chosen by God the Father in eternal love and eternal grace. We've been redeemed by the precious
blood of God's darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been
born again, regenerated, sanctified, called by God the Holy Spirit
in his mighty operations of grace. And yet the people of God in
this world are sinners still. This is a sad fact, but it is
a fact we must never forget. No, not for a moment. Grace does
not eradicate or in any way even slightly moderate or change what
man is by nature. Grace hasn't changed a thing
about your original nature. Not one thing. Not one thing.
Grace subdues it. Grace rules it. Thank God one
day grace will destroy it. But our old Adam nature is exactly
the same now as it was the day we came out of our mother's womb.
Exactly the same. We know about the depravity of
our hearts. For out of the heart, out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessing,
blasphemy. Pastor, that's what's in your
heart and in mine all the time. That dear lady you're married
to, it's in her heart, all the time. The one I'm married to,
all the time. That's all there is in you, by
nature. Nothing else, nothing else. That's
a shocking reality to God's people when they first learn it. I was
just a young man when God saved me, not quite 17 years old. And
I never had the idea, I never had the notion, I never had the
thought that I would become sinless and I wouldn't have any more
trouble with sin. But I really thought, I really did think as
a young man that the Lord had saved me and now I wouldn't have
trouble with those things like I used to. I wouldn't have that
same heart of corruption I used to
have. And I woke up one day to the shocking reality. Don Fortner
is just exactly what he always was. I'd been kicked out of high
school when I was 15. And I went back to school after
God saved me. And I went back to school. It was the first year
they had integrated schools in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
And I had a black teacher in English, and he was cocky and
arrogant, and he was proud that he was there. And he pushed buttons
all the time. And these new folks knew what
I had been, I didn't know beforehand, knew how I'd behaved. Now, I
profess to be a Christian. He picked and picked and picked
and picked and picked all the time. Finally, one day, he pushed
just the right button. And I jumped up out of my seat
and pulled my fist back. I was fixing to hit him right
in the jaw. I said, damn you. And I realized what I'd done.
and I sunk to my seat like a whip up. I didn't believe, Dylan,
such things could ever come from Don Fortner again. What a shocking,
shocking discovery. I am every day made increasingly
aware of the depths of my depravity. And yet I know I haven't even
begun to discover the hideous enormity of my own sinfulness. We know that our best deeds of
righteousness are just filthy rags before God. John said, if
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sin, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned. Mike, you just got up here, did
a great job leading sin. Make you folks feel welcome.
Came here on Tuesday night to serve God, worship with his people.
Man, that's a good thing. Don't ever imagine there's anything
good about that. If you say, I don't care whether you just
got through praying or thinking about praying. I don't care if
you're talking about reading the scripture or preaching. I
don't care if you fix it to give your life as a martyr and you
imagine sin is not involved in it. You deceive yourself. If
we say we have not sin, we make God a liar and his words not
in us. I have sinned. I do sin. I am sinning. The worst of it
is this sin is what I am. Sin is what I am. It's my name
and it's my game and it's my shame. You too. You too. All that I am and all that I
do is sin. I can't touch anything with these
polluted hands. I can't do anything with this
defiled body. I can't do anything with this
corrupt heart that doesn't involve sin. If Don touches it, Don dirties
it. The same's true of you. Same's
true of you. Let me see if I can state this
as a matter clear enough you can't miss what I'm saying. There's
nothing in the world that I desire Find more delightful than prayer,
real prayer. But there's nothing I find more
difficult. God forgive me, but that's just
fact. There's nothing, absolutely nothing
in the world I desire. Like I desire to believe God. But nothing's more troublesome
to me than my unbelief. There's nothing in the world
I want more than I want to worship Christ and walk with Him in sweet
communion. But nothing seems further from
my reach. There's nothing in this world
I strive harder to attain than conformity to Christ. Oh, that
I might know Him. in the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable to his death. Know him in the power
of his resurrection. But the more I strive after knowing
him, the more elusive it appears. The more I strive after being
conformed to him, the more elusive that conformity appears. The
fact is, I am a man Constantly at war with himself. Flesh lusting
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. So that I
cannot do the things I would. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. Either I do or I'm a liar. Either
I do or I don't know God. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. But how to perform that which
I desire, I can't find. Flesh lusting against the spirit,
spirit against the flesh. Yes, God's people are sinners
still. John Newton put it this way,
talking about that struggle. If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed
tell me, is it so with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
find my sin a grief and thrall. Would I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love it all? But this fact is the one fact
about my nature that gives me hope. God has mercy on sinners. Christ
came to save sinners. Christ died for sinners. God
receives sinners. That man in glory who is God
in our flesh, he still receives sinners and eats with them. Sinners
have hope before God. You and I who are gods, we who
have been born of his spirit, we are sinners, yes, but sinners
saved by God's free grace. First Corinthians 4 7 and our
text back in Exodus chapter 11 verse 7 Clearly shows us that
there is a distinction made between God's people and the rest of
mankind The question who maketh thee to differ would be redundant
if there were no difference Believers are men and women Who are different? Sinners though we are we've undergone
a marvelous change turn back over just a page or two to first
Corinthians 6 first Corinthians 6 verse 9 We've undergone a marvelous
change Verse 9 know you not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I Be not
deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But watch this, but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. We've been washed
from our sins by the blood of Christ, so that our old record
is expunged. God remembers our iniquities
against us no more forever. We're sanctified by the Spirit
of God, making us new creatures in Christ, making us partakers
of that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. And
we are justified by the work of our God, sprinkling the blood
of Christ upon our hearts, in the work of sanctification, giving
us faith in Christ. Why does Paul here mention by
inspiration? Why does he mention by inspiration
that we are washed, then sanctified, then justified? Because that's
the order in which we experience it. There's no way to know that
you were justified in eternity. Justified at Calvary until first
you've been born again by God's Spirit. And when God gives you
faith in Christ, your conscience is purged from dead works. If
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature old things are passed
away behold all things have become new The scriptures make this
abundantly clear Grace changes a person's life We call it conversion. We call it the new birth. We
call it regeneration You may change your way of life without
grace. A fellow who's a drunk can get sober. A fellow who's
been a whore monger can become very moral. A woman who's been
a prostitute can clean up her life. A dope addict can get clean. But you can't experience the
grace of God that brings salvation without change. You can change
your life without grace, but you cannot experience God's grace
and experience no change. George Whitefield, during the
Great Awakening, when preaching in New England and in England,
he preached and God saved men. The coal miners used to have
donkeys in the coal mines down in the pits where they worked.
And they had trouble, after God had saved them, getting the donkeys
to obey them. They didn't recognize Master's
voice, because he was cussing them all the time before. That's a true story. That's a
true story. They cussed them all the time before. After they
saved them, they cussed them. Couldn't get the donkeys to work
like they should. God's grace teaches us to deny ungodliness
and worldly lust, living soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present evil world. living soberly, righteously,
and godly. What does that mean? It doesn't
mean that God's grace makes people walk funny, and talk funny, and
dress funny, and act funny. All the things the world looks
at and calls that righteousness and godliness, forget that nonsense,
forget that nonsense. The Word of God speaks specifically
about faith, and charity, and grace, and mercy, and kindness. The Word of God speaks very clearly.
Believers are men and women who've undergone tremendous change.
Grace has given us a new master over our lives, the Lord Jesus.
Grace has given us a new motive for which to live, the will and
glory of God. And grace teaches us godliness,
teaches us to live unto God. And believers do. Believers do. We live unto God. Believers are not people who
continue to live after the lust of their flesh, but they live
unto God. The people who have been and
are continually taught of God to live in this world. I stress
this because it needs stressing. I've heard folks say, I've read
things, folks say, as long as you believe the gospel, your
character and conduct don't matter. I started to say, I beg to differ. No, I stand on my feet and speak
as loudly as I can. That's just not right. Character
and conduct matter a great deal. Turn to Ephesians chapter four,
let me show you. Ephesians chapter four. The religious world tells you,
you know, you can't have a glass of wine with your meal, and you
can't chew tobacco anymore, and you can't go to a movie show,
and you can't wear shorts, and that kind of stuff. It's got nothing to
do with godliness. It's got nothing to do with godliness.
It's all right for you not to chew tobacco anymore. All right
for you not to have a glass of wine if you don't want it. All
right for you not to wear shorts and go to the beach if you don't
want to go. All right for you not to go to movies if you don't
want to go. That's fine. It's wrong for you to think that's
got something to do with godliness. That's wrong. It's wrong for
you to consider somebody else to be less holy, less godly than
you are, because they participate in things you don't. What is
it then? Look at Ephesians 4, 17. This
I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that's in them, because of the
blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all in cleanness with
greediness. Now watch this. But you have
not so learned Christ. You have not so learned Christ
If so be that you've heard of him and have been taught by him
as the truth is in Jesus That you put off concerning the former
things Put off concerning the former conversation the former
manner of life quit living like you used to the old man Which
is corrupt according to the spirit of your mind and that you put
on the new man this new man which after God is created in godliness
and in true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor. For we are
all members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not
the sun go down on your wrath. Neither give place to the devil
let him that stole steel no more But rather let him labor and
working with his hands the thing which is good Working for a different
reason Working for a different reason I was just talking to
the mark for services and he's living in Berea, Kentucky back
in 83 And he said he didn't know God then he came out here and
started a business That's about time. He came out here started
business mark somewhere that time I'll tell you why he started
it. So you can get more. That's exactly why he started
it. Want more. More of this stuff. It's gonna
burn. I want to get more! Now, you who used to steal, trying
to get more, work faithfully with your hands. Now watch what
it says. For this purpose. I don't know many folks who work
for this purpose. Well, I do too. I know a lot of God's people.
I know a lot of God's people. that he may have to give to him
that need it. Well, who would work for that?
Anybody who knows God. Anybody who knows God. I'm talking
about godliness now. I'm talking about godliness.
I'm not talking about stuff you can pretend. I'm talking about
real stuff. let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth. That don't mean quit cussing,
though you can certainly put that in there. But that's not
what it's talking about. When you're talking about corrupt
communication, you're not talking about using bad language. But
that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. What's he talking
about? Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking, gossip, whispering,
backbiting, lying be put away from you with all malice. I'm talking about godliness now. I'm not talking about stuff you
pretend. I'm talking about real godliness. Did any of you see
the movie with Gary Cooper called Sergeant York? You remember the
movie? Sergeant York was a war hero. He's buried down just across
the state line in Tennessee, where he came from. And Walter
Brennan was the local store clerk and the preacher. This was back
in the old days, back in the sticks and the hills in Tennessee. And York was converted. Went to church and made a profession
of faith. And then they called him to be
drafted for the war. And he refused to go. And he
was about to be arrested for going, for not going. And he
went in and talked to the preacher about it. And Walter Brennan
said, oh, you didn't get your son to go to meet in religion.
You got the real thing. You got something that matters
to you. What have you got? What have you got? I'm talking
about real godliness. I spoke to Amy coming over here.
She wrote over with us. Her grandfather, you know, Emberl
Murlhart. I've been his pastor now for
34 years. I've never known him, Eric, not
in 34 years, to be out of sorts, to speak evil of any man. Never
saw him raise his temper, never saw him get mad, not one time
in 34 years. I don't live with him, but I
know him pretty good. Amy said, I have to honestly
say I haven't either. That's called godliness. Godliness. Read on. What does it mean to
be godly? Be ye kind one to another. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one
another. Even as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven you. Oh God. Teach me such godliness. Forgiving one another for the
very same reason God has forgiven you. For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Read on. Be
ye therefore followers of God. You know what the word is? Imitators. Act like God. That's what the
word is. Act like God. Act like God. Be you therefore imitators of
God as dear children and walk in love. How do you do that? As Christ also hath loved us
and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to
God for a sweet smelling savor. Well, who did this for you? Who made you such? Who maketh
thee to differ from another? God. In sovereign election, He chose
you. By the precious blood of His
darling Son, He redeemed you. That's the reason you're gods.
God chose you. Christ redeemed you. That's what
makes the difference. God, before the world began,
predestined everything needful for your soul's conversion, everything
necessary for your soul's conversion, for your eternal salvation, for
you to be born again, saved by His grace, and in His providence,
He arranges it, all of it, all of it. God Almighty, God Almighty,
has ordered the universe for me. Because of his heart set upon
me from eternity. Can you grasp that? Now, what
service is too demanding? What sacrifice is too great?
Christ redeemed me. God gave his son for me. We've
been made distinct from all other men. by the effectual call and
irresistible grace of God the Holy Spirit. It's been 47 years since God
saved me by his grace. And in these 47 years, Brian,
I've seen lots of folks come and go. Lots of them. I've seen lots of preachers come
and go. Lots of them. Lots of them. I've seen a lot
of folks make a fair start in religion, lots of them. Lots
of fanfare, lots of sparkle, lots of talk, lots of show. And
after a while, fall by the wayside. And I've seen a bunch, a bunch,
who had a heap more for you to look at and judge them real than
I have. And yet here I am, in the teeth
of all my sin, with all my weakness, with all my depravity, with all
my corruption, still clinging to Christ. How come? Cass is just one reason. He's
still holding me. That's all. That's all. That's all. Except he hold me fast, my guilty
soul, alas, would fall a thousand times a day. That's just that. Who maketh
thee to differ? Only God, only Christ, only God
the Spirit. And sooner or later, we're gonna
learn this. Every one of us, if we're gods,
Noah had to It took that horrible experience
of his drunken stupor and his son uncovering his nakedness,
but he learned it. He learned it. David had to learn
it. It took the matter of Uriah the
Hittite and the death of his son, but he learned it. Paul had to learn it. It took
a messenger from Satan. buffeting him three times, or
buffeting him constantly until he cried out to God and prayed
three times, take this thing from me. And the Lord Jesus said,
live with it and learn that my grace is sufficient for thee.
And Paul said, now I've learned to glory in my infirmities for
when I'm weak, when I find myself so low I'd
have to jump up to kiss a snake's belly, then I'm strong. Then
I'm strong. And when you think you're something,
you're nothing. Preacher, hear yourself. When I'm weak, then
I'm strong. When you think you're something,
you're nothing. The apostle Peter had to learn it. I'll follow you to death! If James and John, the rest of
them, do forsake you. I'll do it. I'll not do it. I'll
not do it. And the Lord Jesus said, Peter, Satan's desired
to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Then Paul asked, what hast thou? that thou didst not receive."
Nothing. Nothing in nature, nothing in
grace, nothing in time, nothing in eternity. Nothing. Nothing. My dear friend, Brother Donny
Bell, won't mind me telling you this, I don't think. I'm sure
he won't. I'm sure he won't. He got out
of Vietnam and wound up in a mental hospital in Chicago. Doctors
told his wife, Mary, go home and forget him. He'll never know
you're alive. He'll never know you're alive. And God restored
his good mind to him, saved him by his grace. I've known Donnie
now for, I guess, 35, 36 years. You know what I've never done? I've
never sat at the table with him, he and I, together, and him pray. He didn't use these words. God,
I thank you for a sound mind. Who made you to differ? Who fixed your body to be what
it is, Brian? Our Heavenly Father did that for you. Not to you,
for you, for you. Who makes you to differ? Only
God. Now, if you received it, whatever
it is you have, by which you serve God and serve his people,
if you've received it, whatever you have that distinguishes you
from somebody else, why do you glory as if you'd not received
it? Preachers, Sometimes get pretty
break. They think themselves something
they think themselves something But you read this book and read
history you'll discover That for the most part They're not many of us Called
by God into the work of the ministry who have any natural abilities
for what we do If there had been a category
in our high school yearbook most likely to fail, that'd been me.
Most likely to be in jail, that'd been me. Most likely to be put
to death, that'd been me. Most likely to be killed in a
fight, that'd been me. That'd been me. Who's most likely
to serve God? Anybody else. Anybody else. You see your calling, brethren?
Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called. God
hath chosen the base things of the world. The stuff that other folks throw
away. The stuff other folks find useless.
The stuff that nobody wants. That's what God chose. And that's
what God uses. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. So that as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Satan desires to have you that
he may sift you his wheat. and our Savior from time to time
will run you through the seal to separate the precious from
the vile. When that happens, do you remember
when our Lord Jesus said to Peter, before the sun rises tomorrow,
before the cock crows three times, you're gonna, before the cock
crows twice, you're gonna deny me three times. And Peter denied
it. And then he denied him again.
And that rooster crowed. Can you imagine the shock, the
terror, the horror that must have shook Peter when he heard
that rooster crow? The Lord said, Peter, before
that rooster crows a second time, you're going to deny me three
times. He said, not me, not me. And the rooster crowed. God,
what have I done? What have I done? But such is our fallen nature
that we can't prevent ourselves from anything. Except the Lord
hold us. And Peter denied the Lord a third
time. The rooster crowed and the Lord looked at Peter. Do
you remember what our Lord's next words were to Peter? Do
you remember what his next words were? His very next words. Peter, fallen, depraved, weak,
helpless, sinful. Peter, loved of God, redeemed
by my blood, saved by my grace. Peter, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. And Peter denied the Lord and
he walked out and left me. He said, fellas, I'm going fishing.
I'm going back where I was when the Lord called me. And then
the Lord arose and he met with those ladies. Sent his angel
to meet with those ladies and said, you go tell his disciples
that he's risen just like he said he was. And they started
off, I can just picture them, they started to get around the
bend away from the tomb and the angel said, wait, wait, wait!
Be sure to tell Peter. Be sure you tell Peter I'm gonna
meet him in Galilee just like I said I would. And the Lord
met Peter in Galilee. And he said, Simon, you love me more than them? Lord, you know everything, you
know I love you. And he asked him a second time, Simon, do
you love me more than them? Lord, you know everything, you
know I love you. And then he asked him a third time, and he
changed the word. He said, Simon, now you said you did. You said
you were gonna follow me to death. You said you really loved me.
You said you did. You said you did. Do you love me more than
this? And that time he used the strongest
word found in the Greek language to speak of love. He said, now
Peter, let's get down where the rubber meets the road. Do you really love me? And Peter responded in the most
remarkable way. You remember how he responded?
You can read it for yourself, John 21, 17. He said, Lord, thou
knowest all things. Now to the religious hypocrite,
Mark, there's nothing on this earth more disturbing than that.
Lord, thou knowest all things. That's how Peter speaks to the
Lord Jesus. He said, Lord James and John and my brothers, all
they knows what they saw and heard. You know everything. You know
that I love thee. And this is why the Lord does
everything he does for you, children of God, to make you to know his
love for you and to make you to know your love for him who
been redeemed by his blood and saved by his grace. What's the
difference? It's the difference God makes
by his grace. May God make the difference for
you. Amen.