You'll turn back with me now
to 1 Thessalonians 2. I was reminded again through the
messages I heard in San Diego of the privileges which God has
bestowed upon both His assemblies and those He's called to minister
to those assemblies. No king. No president, no governor,
no head of state has ever been given a higher privilege than
those chosen of God and called into His kingdom. They are sons
of God. Just let that sink in for a minute.
Sons of God. Richard, do you really believe
that this Bible teaches that guilty fallen sinners have been
chosen by the Lord, predestinated unto the adoption of children?
Do you really believe? That's exactly what I believe.
Exactly. Given power to become sons of
God, even to them who were born. These He calls His jewels, His
beloved, His sheep, His bride. God loves them with an everlasting
love. He loved them before they ever
had been. The psalmist said, He knew me
before I was ever formed, before I was ever curiously wrought
by the dust of the earth. Before His hand formed me, before
I was made, He knew me and loved me. He loved them even when they
were dead in trespasses and sins. He loved them and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for their sins. He loves them with an inseparable
love. In Christ, God loves us as He
loved Him. That's what the Scripture says.
He loves us as He loved His own Son. I cannot find terms too strong
to emphasize the love of God for His people. He loved us and
gave Himself for us. He spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all. And before the foundation of
the world, love, sovereign, almighty, immutable love set apart a people
in whose salvation God would manifest the glory of His great
name. And this He would accomplish
through the person of His dear Son and our Savior. Privileged. Privileged. Just let that word
settle deep into your heart. Privileged. Distinguishing grace
set us apart. Distinguishing grace made provision
for you. A covenant was struck. All through
the Scriptures, you read about this covenant. The covenant,
the covenant. David, the last words of David,
the sweet psalmist of Israel, the man after God's own heart,
the very last word, he said, although it be not so with my
house, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. A covenant was struck. An everlasting
covenant of grace and a covenant surety ordained. One who would
keep all the precepts of the covenant. One who would make
it sure, a surety. An everlasting high priest made
a surety of a better covenant. And He's our guarantor. He's
our guarantor. And He's our substitute in head.
The Scripture said, to Abraham and his seed were the promises
made. What promises? Promises of blessing. Promises of life. Promises of
inheritance. To Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of thy seed, which is Christ. He is the surety of
all the covenant promises. He is the one mediator between
God and me, and He is the Christ. The Christ. What does that mean? It means that God has ordained
Him and appointed Him as our Savior and as our Prophet, our
Priest, and our King. Our Prophet to bring life and
immortality to light through His glorious person and work.
John said, we know that the Son of God has come. And in that
coming, He has given to us an understanding that we might know
Him that is true, that we are in Him that is true. This is
the true God and everlasting life. This is what eternal life
is all about. We might know His mercy and know
His grace and know His kindness and love and know His righteousness
and know His justice. And not just to know about Him,
but to know Him in an intimate, loving way. To know Him that
is true and to know we're in Him that is true. This is the
true God in eternal life. He's our prophet and He's our
priest. You cannot come to God, worship
God, or receive God apart from a priest. You can't do it. Has
to have a priest. There must be a priest. The high
priest and his sacrifice was the most preeminent part of typical
worship. You go back, you remember our
studies when we went through Genesis and Exodus, and especially
in Exodus. That high priest was ordained.
You couldn't do anything in public worship apart from that priest.
And no matter what you did wrong, you had to come through the priest.
Atonement was made through the priest. Worship was conducted
through the priest. uses these things in Hebrews
9 to describe the work of our Redeemer. Distinguishing grace
has given us privileges that other men do not have. God has
appropriated means to call out and save His redeemed ones. He
said it's not given to them to understand the mysteries, it's
given to you. That's distinguishing grace.
That's sovereign grace. That's God who sits upon the
throne, this all-wise God, saying, I'm going to reveal my mercies
to Winston Worley, but I'm not going to reveal them to him.
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. That's sovereign
grace. Distinguishing grace. Distinguishing
grace. Made appropriation for you. He's our priest. And we look
at this distinguishing grace, and it's given us privileges
that others don't have. God has appropriated means. He ordained and inspired and
preserved a book, which He tells us is the Word of God. This book, when I was growing
up, was just a book. Now, I knew it was something,
because my dad always read it. But it was still just a book.
I didn't understand until the Lord began to work in my heart.
This is the Word of God. This is the Word of God. We pay attention to what's in
this book. Now, we can debate about scientific matters. We
can debate about how this and that and all these things and
what the thousand-year flood range is. We can debate about
that. But we don't debate about things
in this book. This is the Word of God. Without
this book, we just pray for the rulers of the darkness of this
world. Without this book, we're left to our own imaginations
and fleshly reasoning. Without this book, we're left
to ungodly men, deceived men who have no light. Our Lord said,
if they speak not according to this Word, it's because there's
no light in them. God ordained and inspired and
preserved the Word of God, and believers are built upon the
foundation of this book. And then God has ordained gospel
preachers, men ordained to the ministry, called and separated
to the gospel, and sent to declare God's testimony of Christ to
lost sinners. Their work is ordained of God,
and their work is necessary. And their work, these words that
we speak according to the Word of God, is the seed of regeneration. This Word which I preached unto
you. That's what he says over there
in 1 Peter 2, verse 25. Gospel preaching and faith and
repentance are the evidence of God's election of grace. That's
what Paul told these Thessalonians in that first chapter. I know
your election of God. Because you heard our gospel.
And that gospel came in power. Came in power. And then God has
given to us the privilege. He's given to us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's gift
to the church. Preaching and understanding and
believing would be impossible without His presence. It would
be absolutely impossible. Our words would just be words.
And not even the princes of this world were able to perceive what
God had appropriated for His elect. None of them could. Eye
hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God." It's the Spirit of God
which regenerates us. gives us life from the dead,
and He uses the gospel seed, and He dwells in us, and He preserves
us through faith. Peter said we are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. And then another privilege we
are given is to assemble ourselves, to assemble ourselves together
with the church of the living God. called the Church of the
Firstborn. This is a privilege. It's not
a duty. I suppose it is. It's a commandment
of God. But it's more than a duty. It's
a privilege. It's a high privilege to be able
to assembly. I want you to just look around
this morning because somebody in this place, somebody in this
place is a child of God. One day they're going to stand
in that white robe throne. And even the elders in heaven,
even these angels who have been here from the beginning are going
to look at them and wonder. These are the children of God.
Who are these robed in these white? They are they which come
up out of great tribulation and have washed their robes in the
blood of the Lamb. Some of those children are here.
Some of them are here. What a privilege. A privilege that God has given
us to gather together with such men and women. Privileged individuals. We gather ourselves together
in worship. We don't come to old Mount Sinai,
but we come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. to an innumerable
company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and Jesus the Mediator
of the New Covenant. We gather ourselves together
in worship. And there is not a more privileged
man or woman on all the faces of the earth than that chosen
sinner written upon the heart and shoulders of our great high
priest. His name, our names are burned into His heart and are
on our shoulders to bear us up before God. Even the angels of God are sent
forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.
You think about what a privilege I'm talking about. Angels watching
over your well-being, everything you do. He said, be careful how you talk
to one of His children, because their angels are standing before
the throne of your Father. All your Father has to do is
will them to come, and they'll come. Now I'm telling you something,
we're in Christ. And when Christ was upon this earth, even Satan
knew that. He said, He's given His angels
charge over you. Lest you stumble. Lest you trip
and fall. Our Lord said, could I not right
now ask my Father and would He not send a legion of angels down
here? I'm talking about privileges.
Spiritual privileges. Godly privileges. Privileges
of distinguishing grace. Not all men can say this. But believers can. Believers
can. As God used Pharaoh to minister
to Moses, even so our Lord causes all the powers that be to minister
to our needs. Our God worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will, and so we obtained our inheritance
in Christ and are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Privileged
above kings and lords and All things, Paul said, are yours.
You're quibbling over whose message you heard. Don't you know that
all things are yours? The apostles are yours. The ministers
are yours. The world is yours. Whether it's Paul, or Apollos,
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
all are yours. And ye are Christ's, and Christ's
are God's. One of the wonders of heaven
will be that white-robed throne that surrounds the Lamb. Oh,
my soul. Are you down in the dumps? Are
you weary of this world? Are you sick of being sick? Are
you isolated, persecuted, rejected? What's your problem? Think on
this. In a short time, we'll close
our eyes in death and go to be with the Lord. We're going to
be with Him. Him who loved us. Gave Himself
for us. No more sorrow. No more pain. No more disappointment. No more
weariness. No more temptation. No more sin. No more torment. We, the elect
of God, shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. At
the last trump, for the trump shall sound, and the dead in
Christ shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. This
mortal will put on immortality and will stand with Him. Then
shall we praise God and sing, O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? Maybe blessed might be a better
word than privileged. Blessed. And my friend, around
you this morning in this very place is some of these ones loved
of God from the beginning. We'll join with the multitude
and sing in perfect harmony, worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. I wish I had the words to set
before you the eternal blessings and privileges given to those
who believe. But my friend, this is what worship
is all about. This is what worship is all about.
It is to worship God in the experience of grace, trusting in His Son,
seeing what He has done for fallen sinners, seeing what He has done
for this sinner, for this sinner. Oh, my soul, my heart ought to
raise up in praise 24-7. And this is why we minister and study
and preach. This is why we walk in sacrifice. our money and our time, and this
is why we dare not let anything come between us and this ministry.
Paul said to that little church, he said, ye are our glory and
joy. This is what brings me joy. This
is what makes my heart to rejoice. It's not how many who gather
here, but those in whom God has begun a good work. to meet one
of them, to share some time with one of them, to sit and communicate
with one of them, to have communion, to have that common union of
grace. And those in whom He continues
to work, and those He shall preserve under the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And when you see the wonder of
it, and the glory of it, and the eternality of it, and the
power of it, you can't help but rejoice. You have to rejoice. There's nothing left to do. Huh? Oh my soul, you watch a man and
their life's just going downhill, downhill, downhill, downhill,
and all of a sudden God arrests them. It's like this big invisible
hand comes down and said, hither shalt thou come and no further.
Just like He did those proud waves of the sea. And He puts
a halt to it. And then He begins to open your
heart and show you something about the glory of God in Christ
and show you something about the divinity of God and the majesty
and glory of God. He begins to show you those things.
And He captivates your heart. And He begins to turn you from
yourself. And the more you look at Him,
the more you hate yourself. And you just turn from yourself.
And you turn to Him. And then you learn something
about worship. Then you can pick up that book
and you can sing Amazing Grace. Huh? Is it Amazing Grace to you? Oh, Amazing Grace. How sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was lost, but now
I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Huh? That's amazing, right? Well, preacher, don't you ever
experience trouble? Well, sure I do. But listen to
what Paul says here. He said, we're troubled on every
side. Every side. No matter what I do, I run into
trouble. Run into trouble. I'm troubled
on every side, yet not distressed. I'm perplexed, but not in despair. I'm persecuted, but I'm not forsaken. I'm cast down, but I'm not destroyed. And all these things He said
are for your sakes, that this abundant grace might through
the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. God not only has given to us
the privilege of being His heirs, but also to labor with Him in
the gathering in of His elect and to minister to them and minister
to their spiritual needs. Richard, where do you get out
of all this? Let me read it to you again. Ye are my glory and
joy. Where do you get out of it? I Thessalonians 2.19, For what
is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? or not even ye
in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. To think that one day some of
you in this place might actually stand with the Lord in that day.
What we say and do in this place might have been of some benefit
to you. That God used His church and used His Word and used this
preaching. To think that God called this
sinner out of darkness and superstitious religion. And even so, He called
some of you. And in that calling, He's given
me the ability to preach to you and to talk to you about these
things. And Paul knew that when God raised up a church, He intended
to do something there. He intended to do a work there.
He intended to do for men what men could not and would not do
for themselves. He intended to arrest them in
their ungodly lives and to turn them from themselves and this
world to Christ Himself. And what makes hard work and
sacrifice and suffering worthwhile is to know that something is
being accomplished. I tell you, we had a pretty rough
day yesterday. We had a pretty rough day. But
it was well worth it at the end of the day because we could look
back and see something was accomplished. It wasn't just for nothing. The reward of the ministry is
to see the hand of God as He works through us. You know, I
built houses for a living. And I can go back 40 years and
show you a house I built way back in the very beginning, still
there. And along the way, I can show
you different structures and houses that I built. That's rewarding
to be able to go back over your life and see what you accomplished. My wife had a cleaning business.
And she cleaned a house or a business in less than 24 hours, it was
totally destroyed. Totally destroyed, totally gone,
you couldn't even tell she'd ever been there. That's not rewarding. That's not rewarding. The reward
of the ministry is to see the hand of God as He works through
us, building what will stand forever. It ain't going to disappear. It ain't going to fall. We're
not of them who fall back onto perdition. We're of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. And we're not here for fame and
reputation or striving to leave some kind of a legacy behind.
It's simply doing what God has given us the privilege to do,
and seeing His hand and blessing upon it. When Paul wrote these letters,
I swear, if you'll read and study his epistles, you'll swear that
each time he wrote a letter, it was as though that was the
only church in Asia. He poured out his heart to them.
He made them feel like they were the only people on the face of
the earth. And he loved them. He loved them. And then he'd
write to the Colossians and he'd tell them the same thing. He was tolerant and kind as God
had been with him. God's preachers love those under
their care. And they look and watch their
spiritual growth and lives and families. That's my concern. I don't mean by that that preachers
are socialites. I mean that they're on his mind
and heart all the time. What we have here, what I'm trying
to tell you this morning, is what we have here is precious.
precious. We are highly privileged and
blessed of God. And God help both you and I never
to take these things lightly. Never treat them as something
common and ordinary. These things are supernatural
gifts of God. Paul said in Ephesians 4.1, he
said, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called, with
all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one
another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace." That's my hope for this congregation.
And I think I can say with him, unless I'm just totally deceived,
I think I can say with him, ye are my joy and my glory. I look around and I see God working. working in this little congregation.
And it brings joy to my heart.