As we go through this life as
Christians, as believers, we have all sorts of fleeting encounters
on the Christian walk. We have visitors, as we have
today. We have visitors go by, and it's a delight to be together. But you know, we don't know whether
we will see one another again after today. And other separations
arise. One already has from our number.
Rick has already gone from us, and I'm sure that, well, I'm
not sure, I don't know anything, but it's quite likely that I'll
see him again a few times this side of eternity. It's possible,
I don't know, but it's a separation, he's gone, he's somewhere else.
These things happen, these things happen. We also live in perilous
times, as Paul wrote to Timothy. Perilous times shall come. We're
in those perilous times. There are perilous times. We
live in a world that is, godless isn't the right term for it,
but it's just so materialistic. It is just so earthbound. It
has no thought for where does that soul come from that is inside. We live in perilous times, and
we have these fleeting encounters, And you ask the question, will
we all, those that we view as Christian brethren, will we all
arrive in glory? And how will we get there? Will
we all arrive in glory? How will we get there? In a sense,
true believers are there already, because as Paul writes to the
Ephesians, in Ephesians 2 verse 6, we're seated, present tense,
in heavenly places in Christ. Christ's people are now seated
in heavenly places in Him, outside of this space-time state in which
we live on this earth. But we don't experience it now,
we don't know the experience of it, here and now. As John
says, it does not yet appear what we shall be. We know when
we shall see him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him
as he is. But now, it's something in the future, it's something
that's a hope for us. How are we going to get there?
How are we going to get there? Warnings abound all around in
the scriptures of many who look like Christ's sheep. The Old
Testament warnings, we saw some a few weeks ago in 1 Corinthians
in the study, how those People in the wilderness wanderings
who were consumed by the wrath of God for their disobedience
are to stand as warnings to us, not to presume. Warnings abound
of many who have an appearance of the sheep of Christ who turn
out to be false and to be lost. Where can we get any assurance
from that those that we pass on this journey through this
Christian life are with us going to arrive in glory? Now this
passage in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 20 I think gives us some
comfort and gives us some pointers as to where we need to look.
This was the account of Paul on his way back to Jerusalem
to face the reckoning of appealing to Caesar and of the various
judgments and ending up in Rome and eventually, eventually being
martyred for his faith. And he's on his way back there,
and the church at Ephesus has been like a tender child to Paul. Very, very close to his heart.
He took the gospel there, he ministered to them, he spent
three years there laboring with them. But now he's going back,
and he hasn't got time to call in at Ephesus. and speak to them. He hasn't got that time. He's
in too much of a hurry. He wants to get back to Jerusalem
by the day of Pentecost, it says in verse 16 of chapter 20. And
so therefore, he calls for them to come and meet him at this
place, Miletus, where they called in on their ship. And so, what
we see, look at verse 18, we'll just quickly read down. He calls
for them and then he says to them, you know from the first
day I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at
all seasons. They knew him well, they'd seen
him, they'd seen his life. And he's able to say that he'd
served the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and
temptations which befell me by the lying in the weight of the
Jews. And he kept back nothing that was profitable unto them.
God gave him his word and he taught them the word of God.
He showed you. He's taught you publicly from
house to house. He's been somebody who's been
utterly dedicated to his ministry amongst these people. Here he's
got these Ephesian elders who've come from the church at Ephesus
and they're with him at this place Miletus and he's telling
them, he's reminding them how he taught them. and how he testified
both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance. What was his message? Repentance
toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. He determined
to know nothing other among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And he says, now I'm going bound
in chains to Jerusalem, bound in spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing
the things that shall befall me there but this, that there
had been testimony. there was that one who testified,
if he went to Jerusalem he was going to suffer persecution,
he was going to suffer bonds and affliction. He says, there
it is, he says, I don't know what's going to befall me but
I know it's not going to be good from a fleshly point of view.
The Holy Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me, wait for me. Verse 24, but none of these things. If that was you, you'd be a bit
worried, wouldn't you? Your stomach would be churning
over. What's going to happen? It's not I don't know what's
going to happen, I just know that unpleasant things are going
to happen to me. But none of these things move
me. They don't disturb me. He's anchored on a rock. He's
built on a solid rock. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself. I'm not clinging on to it. You
know, he that would save his life will lose it, and he that
will lose his life for my sake shall find it. he doesn't count
his life dear to himself, that I might finish my course, like
he says to the Philippians, this is what he wants to do, he presses
on towards the mark, that I might finish my course with joy and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify
the gospel of the grace of, the good news of the grace of God,
the good news of the free gift of God of salvation. And now,
behold, I know that ye all, these elders meeting him, whom he'd
spent so much time with, among whom I have gone preaching the
kingdom of God. I know that you're not going
to see me anymore. You shall see my face no more."
And it was that that cut them. It says in verse 38, they sorrowed,
they wept sore, they wept bitterly. They loved this man. He taught
them the gospel of grace. They knew he was going to a very
uncertain Well, a certain future that wasn't good from a fleshly
point of view. But what did they sorrow most of all for? The words
that he spoke. That they should see his face
no more. This was going to be a fleeting
passing. And then, they weren't going
to see him anymore. Remember what I said at the start?
We have these fleeting encounters in the Christian life. We have
such strong bonds of fellowship when we meet. People we've never
met before, and yet we're the closest, warmest friends in no
time, because there's nothing else does that in this world. There is nothing else at all. The camaraderie of the clubs
and the societies of this world don't come anywhere near what
the gospel of grace does in uniting people that are separated by
miles and miles and miles. But they're fleeting. And he
says, you'll see my face no more. Therefore, I take you to record
this day. I'm pure from the blood of all
men. I've diligently taught the gospel. I haven't shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God. He hasn't held back on
anything. He's taught them all the counsel of God. This is what
we must seek to do. All the counsel of God. That
counsel which the flesh despises and hates and shrinks back. Oh,
you better not preach that, you'll not get people come and listen
to you if you preach that. You'll scare them off. No, all the counsel
of God. And then he gives them an exhortation. an exhortation, verses 28 to
31, take heed therefore unto yourselves, you elders of Ephesus,
and to all the flock, the church, the sheep, the flock of sheep
is how the people of God are described, to all the flock over
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseas, we don't know how
many people there were in the Ephesus church, I imagine it
was quite big, they needed several elders to shepherd them, they
probably broke up into smaller groups for the sake of teaching,
Take heed to them, to feed them, all the flock over which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseas, to feed the church of God. This
church is precious to God, and he exhorts these elders as he's
parting from them, and he's not going to see their face again.
He exhorts them to feed, to care for this precious thing. How
do we know it's precious? God himself has purchased it
with his own blood. You know, what a strong testimony
of the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ is
the blood of God, with which he purchased his church. He's
purchased his church with his own blood. And he says, this
is why you need to diligently take heed to yourselves and to
them, to feed them. For I know this, that after my
departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you. What's he
talking about? He's talking about those whose intention is not
the prosperity of the true gospel of God's grace. He's talking
about those who are actually wolves in sheep's clothing. They
look like sheep. They appear as angels of light.
They appear from the outside as harmless, but inside they
are ravening wolves, it says elsewhere in the Scriptures.
They won't spare the flock. And also, see that's bitter isn't
it? There's going to be error come
in, teachers are going to come in who are going to, so you be
careful, you take heed to yourselves, you feed them, you protect them.
Like a shepherd protects his sheep because wolves are coming,
they're going to come in from the outside, but not only that,
not only that, verse 30. from amongst your own selves
shall men arise. Those that you thought, you know,
wheat and tares, the parable of the wheat and tares, what
shall we do, tear them all up? No, no, you might tear up the
wheat with the tares. Leave them, the harvest day,
God will send his angels, they will do the separation. Of your
own selves amongst this number of the people that all look like
sheep shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away
disciples after them. It's with great sadness and bitterness
that we recall examples of those who in the past have seemed to
preach a clear gospel of grace and who now we know bitterly
the testimony is that they've departed from it. That the things
of this world have diverted their attention away from that which
God has revealed. Their God being their belly,
They have sought after material things and they have adjusted
their gospel so that it's no gospel at all. And they have
departed from the truth. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. He exhorts them. He exhorts them
to watch for these sheep, to feed them, to shepherd them,
but also to know their own inability. They cannot do it in their own
strength. These sheep are weak by their
very nature. Sheep are weak. They're helpless. Is that not us by nature? In
the flesh, we're helpless. Spiritually, we're unable to
keep ourselves. Spiritually, as that hymn says,
prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I
love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and
seal it, seal it from thy courts above. We're sinful. We're prone
to the enemy's deceit, the deceit of Satan. We're prone to that
besetting sin of unbelief. We're prone to all of these things.
Yes, we need, like Nehemiah, to pray to our God and to set
a watch, but we need to pray to our God. We need to know our
own inability except God should keep us. If he doesn't keep us,
we can never by all of our efforts keep ourselves. You see these
highly organized churches in this world that are very, very
strict, and they try to keep their people with activities,
with programs, with discipline, with all of these things they
try to keep their people. If God doesn't keep them, You
know, it's the Lord that builds the house, it's not man that
builds it. Yes, you watch and be diligent, and you watch for
them, and you feed them, and you be on the lookout for the
wolves that will arise, not only from outside, but from amongst
them. But know your inability, and know that unless God keeps
them, you will never keep them by whatever you do. And so we
come to verse 32, and this is where I want to focus our attention
in the time that remains. And now brethren, Remember, context. These fleeting encounters of
true believers. And now brethren, I commend you
to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build
you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Commending to God. I commend
you to God. I commend you to the protection
of God. He is sovereign which we heard
in a message last week means highest rule. He is the one whose
rule is over all. He is the sovereign who does
whatever he wants to do. His will cannot be thwarted and
he has promised to keep his sheep. This is the will of my father
which sent me of all that he has given me that I should lose
none but should raise it up at the last day. Of all that you've
given me, he says in his high priestly prayer, I have lost
none except the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
He's promised to keep his sheep and to lose none. And so he commends
them. Paul commends these elders and
that church. He commends them to God. He commends
them to God as a father. He's the father of his people. God, the father. Jesus says,
following the resurrection, John 20 verse 17, and he says to Mary
Magdalene, I think it is, go to my brethren, this is God who's
purchased the church with his own blood, says to Mary Magdalene,
go to my brothers, go to my brethren, and tell them, I go to my father
and to your father. to my God and to your God. Paul commends these elders and
this church. He's not going to see their face
again. What's he going to do? How's he going to discipline
them? How's he going to watch? He can't do it. What does he
do? He commends them to God, who is a father over his people.
I commend you to the father. I commend you to my God and your
God. I go to him. He commends them
secondly to God's oversight. He commends them to want, you
know, those of you that have got children, you know, you don't
always know where they are or what they're doing. I mean, generally
speaking, even if you know they're in the house, if it suddenly
goes quiet, you get the idea that they're up to no good somewhere,
that you're going to know about it before too long. What are
they up to? I wonder what they're doing? He's being awfully quiet
this morning. Because you can't see everywhere. You're not able
to see everywhere, but God is. I commend you to the one who
sees everything, to God's oversight. Psalm 33, verse 18. The eye of
the Lord. Believer, listen to this. The
eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. He sees all that
we do. He watches over us. He looks
after us. And does he ever go to sleep?
No. Psalm 121, verse 4. He that keeps
Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Even the devil who is our enemy,
is at his behest. The devil is God's devil. Satan. Have you seen my servant Job?
Who instigated it all? It was God that instigated everything
that came upon Job at Satan's hand. God instigated it because
Satan is at God's behest. I commend you to God, to God's
oversight. There's nothing going to slip
by him. There's nothing going to take him by surprise or catch
him unawares. I commend you thirdly to God's
power. This is the one who is all-powerful. He is everywhere. He's omnipresent. He knows all
things. There is nothing that is hid
from him. He's omniscient. But he's omnipotent. Omnipotent. All-powerful. He can do all things. The psalmist says in 119 verse
117, Hold thou me up and I shall be safe. I commend you to God
to hold you up by his power. If God holds you up, you shall
be safe. I commend you fourthly to God's
love. I commend you to God. I commend
you to God's love because at the root of it all, at the root
of salvation, the motivating cause of all grace is the love
of God for his people, the undeserved love of God. Jeremiah 31 verse
3, I have loved you says God, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Why me? You
know, the child of God says, why me? When I look at the world
around, the fallen world, why did he call me? Because he loved
me. Why did he love me? I don't know. But he did, because
of his grace. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. When did he start to love me?
Before the beginning of time. There was never a time when he
didn't love me. Oh, what, when I was a child of wrath, even
as the others? Yes, even then. Even then, I
was the object of his love. God loves his elect from before
the beginning of time. And as, did we land upon it in
the study in 1 Corinthians 13? Love never fails. The love of
God never fails. G. C. Philpot gives an illustration
of this. Imagine a mother with a baby
and she's in an absolutely poverty-stricken state and she cannot care for
that baby and she cannot nurture that baby and feed that baby
and clothe that baby. She's utterly poverty-stricken.
I'm sure in parts of the world there must be cases of such extreme
poverty as there were in this country in years gone by and
she goes to a rich man's door and she leaves the baby wrapped
up in a cradle on the doorstep. Knocks on the door and then retreats
and watches. Will somebody come? What's she
doing? She's commending that child to
the care of that rich man. And the servant comes and opens
the door and takes the child in and the child is cared for.
This is what Paul is doing with the people of God, the elders
of Ephesus and the church of Ephesus. He's commending them
to God who has the power and the infinite inexhaustible resources
to care for them. And so as we pass one another
on this journey to eternity, we must encourage, we must exhort
one another, we must watch for one another, we must warn one
another, we must feed and protect one another, but above all, we
must commend one another to God. We might not see your face again,
you might not see our face again, but we commend one another to
God. And not only that, I commend
you to God and to the word of his grace. Paul commends these
Ephesian elders and the church of Ephesus to the word of his
grace. What is the word of his grace? Beautiful phraseology, isn't
it? I commend you to the word of his grace. It's not just words
on a Bible page. Lots of people read the Bible,
they read these same words that we read, and they do not deduce
from it anything to do with the grace of God. The word of His
grace is that word that comes with the power of the Holy Spirit,
and speaks not just in the ear and in the mind, but speaks in
the heart by the Spirit of God. Speaks in the innermost being.
It's the word of the gospel is the word of His grace. It's the
word of redemption effectually accomplished. I commend you to
the word of redemption effectually accomplished. That's where I
leave you. God has come in Christ and has
perfectly redeemed his people from all their sins. From all
their sins. He has paid redemption's price.
There is nothing left to pay. It is all paid for. We must all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ and receive the things
done in the body. Well, that's not going to be
good for me, is it? No. God is going to look for sin
in Judah. He's going to look for iniquity
in Israel, and He's going to find none. Why not? Because Christ
has taken it out of the way. He's removed it as far as the
east is from the west. He has effectually accomplished
redemption. There is nothing left to do.
He hasn't got me so far and then told me it's now it's my responsibility
to sanctify myself, to make myself more and more fit for heaven.
Not in the slightest. His word tells me He has saved
me from my sins. It's the word of His grace. It's
the word of the gospel. It's the word of the blood of
Christ that cleanses from all sins. We know that we have sin,
we know that in us, in ourselves, in our flesh, there dwells no
good thing, but we know this, we have an advocate with the
Father. And we know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
from what, why? Because that blood is the lifeblood
of the Son of God, the infinite lifeblood of the Son of God.
The soul that sins, it shall die. When he assumed his people's
sins, he made those sins his own. The Psalms where he cries
out, my sins have swept over me, I'm in this storm. It's because he who knew no sin
was made sin for us. He assumed, God made over to
him the sins of his people. And when he made them over to
him, they became his sins. He took responsibility, he never
committed a sin. He was always sinless, but the
sins were made over to him for the purpose of redemption. And
the purpose of redemption, the price of redemption, was his
life. The soul that sins it shall die.
And the life is in the blood. And the blood was poured out.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, therefore, cleanses us from all
sin. How do you know your sins are
forgiven? Because the blood of Christ has been shed. He was
lifted up for our transgressions. He shed his blood for our transgressions. And then he was raised for our
justification. It's this word of redeeming blood
that speaks peace, where there once was enmity, children of
wrath even as others, where there was enmity and now that blood
comes and speaks peace. How often do you hear Paul and
the other writers of the epistles and their greeting is peace from
God? How can there be peace with God when we're sinners and sin
separates us from God? The only way is by peace being
made, and peace is made in the blood of his cross. It's that
peace that he has accomplished in the shedding of his blood.
It's that word of grace that turns the fear of death and of
judgment into a lively hope of eternal acceptance in the beloved. He says of his people, you are
accepted in the beloved. You are accepted in Christ. And
there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation. Nothing. There's nothing that
is going to wag a finger, come the judgment seat of Christ.
There is nothing that is going to speak any words of negativity
about, well, you've done alright, pretty good effort, but no, not
good enough. There is nothing that is going
to say that. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
What will keep the people? You elders at Ephesus, Go and
take care of these people and discipline them and tell them
that they're subject to the law and enforce upon them moral reformation
and get them to be constantly seeking progressively to be sanctified. No, not at all, not at all. He commends them to God and to
the word of his grace. You ask the military, what do
they prefer? Pressed men, you know, the Navy
in the 1700s, 1800s in this country. Many of the ratings, the lowly
seamen, they didn't join up, they didn't volunteer. They got
drunk one night and the press gangs would come round and they
would club them and bind them and take them off and the next
thing they knew they woke up with a hangover and they were
sailors. in the King's Army, in the King's Navy, and that's
how they became members of that fighting force. They were pressed
men. But you asked the military, what
would you sooner have for some mission that you're going on?
Half a dozen volunteers who really want to do it or a dozen pressed
men who don't want to do it. Of course, you want the volunteers,
and God says, I will make my people willing. I will make them
volunteers. Did you choose, if you're a believer
this morning, did you choose Christ? And you're all gonna
go, no, this is reformed grace. No, we didn't, he chose us. Oh,
yes, you did choose him. He made you willing in the day
of his power. You wouldn't have chosen him
if he hadn't, but you chose him. He made you willing in the day
of his power. He constrained you. And all of
our following on actions are constrained by what? Law? By
discipline? By all of these things that religion
tries to... No, constrained by the love of
Christ. It's the love of Christ that
constrains us. As he is lifted up, our Lord
Jesus Christ, as he is lifted up, what draws his men, his people,
to himself? It's as he is lifted up. I, if
I be lifted up, will draw all men, he means all his people,
to himself. And what will keep them? The
word of his grace will keep them. I commend you to the word of
his grace. The word of his grace will keep them. Do you remember
when some of the disciples who looked like disciples were going
away in John chapter 6? And many, many went away because
he said things like, no man can come to me unless the Father
draws him. No man can. And they said, this is a hard
saying. Who can stand it? Who can take it? Who can keep
it? And many of them went away and
didn't walk with him any longer and ceased to be his disciples.
And Jesus said to the ones that remained, he said, will you also
go away? And of course you know what Peter
said, to whom shall we go? We can't go anywhere else. You
have the words of eternal life. You have the word of his grace,
of God's grace. This is heart knowledge. This
is not just, you must know it in your head, but it becomes
heart knowledge in the true believer. Do you know what it is? To hunger
for the word of his grace? Do you know what it is to have
a barren time when you don't hear the word of his grace? Do
you know that sense of spiritual hunger? I don't care what it
takes but I just must get where I can hear it. I just must put
myself in a position where I can hear it. The world cannot understand
the believer's desire to hear preaching. The world cannot understand
it. Those who call themselves Christians
cannot understand the true believers hunger and desire to hear Christ
and Christ alone preached. They go, oh go there, there's
a good preacher there, he'll be alright, and you'll have some
friends, and you go, and it's barren, and it's sterile, and
it's empty. Why? Because there's no Christ.
There's no Christ in it. These are they, the words, which
speak of me, he said. Beginning at Moses and the prophets,
he expounded, Jesus expounded to those Emmaus Road disciples
the things concerning himself. And when the child of God doesn't
hear the things concerning Christ, it's barren. It's sterile. It doesn't satisfy. It's empty. There's nothing in it. You have
this hunger and thirst for the word of his grace, for these
soul-satisfying gracious words. This is why Paul was determined
not to do anything else than preach the gospel of Christ,
to know Jesus Christ and him crucified. Determined. Didn't
speak about anything else, that was his message. What's your
message? It's the gospel. What are you going to preach?
I'm going to preach Christ. But haven't you taught them about Christ? No,
he must do it again and again. For woe is me if I preach not
the word of his grace, the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
commends them to God and to the word of his grace because that
word, this is our next point, is able to build you up. It's
able to build you up. The word of God's grace, what's
going to look after, as we go our separate ways, what's going
to keep us? The word of his grace is able
to build you up. The word of his grace is able
to do that. The word of his grace establishes
the people of God on solid foundations. In the natural human heart there
is no understanding of the things of God. All there is there is
the shifting sand. Remember what Jesus taught in
the Sermon on the Mount? The foolish man built his house
on the sand. This is the human heart as it
is by nature. It's shifting sand. It isn't
a solid foundation. It's whimsical. It changes from
one day to the next. But that which is solid is Christ.
The rock which is Christ. That's where to build. The wise
man built his house upon the rock and the winds blew and the
storms came and it stood and didn't blow away. Psalm 95 verse
one, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation,
to the solid foundation of our salvation, to that word of his
grace, which is the gospel of the grace of God in Christ. Let's
make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. And what is
that rock? We don't need to speculate. Paul
tells us, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 4, and that rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. That rock
which those Israelites in the wilderness came to, that rock
was Christ. That rock was the presence of
God with them, the word of God with them. Other foundation can
no man lay, says Paul to the Corinthians. You know, people
build all sorts of things, but other foundation can no man lay.
Christ is the chief cornerstone of the building. He's the chief
cornerstone of the temple, which is his body, which is his church.
He is the foundation. There is no other. No other foundation
can any man lay. He is the headstone. Remember
when we were looking at Zechariah and the rebuilding of the temple
following the Babylonian exile? Zechariah 4 verse 7, he shall
bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings crying grace,
grace unto it. It's Christ. He's the thing that
knits, he's the one that knits the whole church, the whole building,
the whole temple of God together. He is the one. All of our fleshly
attempts at fitting us for eternity as we go on in this life are
just wood and hay and stubble. And you know what happens to
them if anything catches fire? They just get burned up. There's
nothing left of them. But redemption in Christ has
accomplished, it's achieved its purpose of redemption. He is
the solid rock. Nothing can change that. He cannot,
that cannot be altered. So in the believer's experience,
what do you experience? You who are believers, you know
this, you're conscious of your sin. A sinner is a sacred thing,
the Holy Ghost has made him so. To know that you're a sinner
is a blessed thing. It shows that God is working
in your heart and showing you what you are, conscious of your
sin. But what happens? The word of
God's grace comes and speaks in your heart. And what does
it give you? Assurance of acceptance. You know, my sin would condemn
me but the word of God's grace comes and gives me assurance
of acceptance because it tells me of the blood of Christ that
has cleansed his people from all sin. We go through trials
in this life. We go through trials, difficult
trials. God as a father chastises his
children. Those he doesn't chastise are
not his children. He chastises his children with
trials. And these trials are intended
in the purposes of God to loose, you know, we want to cling on
to this life and this world and the things that we have and God
is going, he's rising the fingers back one by one that we have
an open hand. It's his, it's his gifts to give
us. It's not ours to cling on to.
The trials come and in the midst of them, the word of his grace.
And what does the word of his grace do? We either experience
the lifting of those trials only to go on to some others, or we
prove that God's strength is made perfect in weakness, as
Paul prayed for that thorn in the flesh to be taken away. Fourthly
then, and quickly, this word of his grace, not only is it
able to build you up, but it's able to give you an inheritance
among them that are sanctified. An inheritance, an inheritance
amongst them that are sanctified. This word of God's grace gives
a part in, gives the assurance, the guarantee of a part in, a
share in, that which God has bequeathed to his set apart ones,
his sanctified ones. Who are they? The ones that he
foreknew. Romans 8, 29, 30, 31, you know,
he foreknew them. in electing love. And he predestined
them to be conformed to the image of his son. And those he predestined,
he also called before the beginning of time. I know you always think,
oh, it's the call of the gospel. I think that is the naming of
his people. That's the marriage. That's the
betrothal of his people to his son before the beginning of time.
He called them with his name. He put that mark upon them. They're his people. They're his
set-apart ones, for his purposes. God has bequeathed an inheritance. He is, he said to Abraham, I
am your exceeding great reward. He, God is. 1 Peter chapter 2,
verses 9 and 10. This is what he says. This speaks
of the inheritance. But ye, speaking to his people,
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, sanctified, set-apart,
and holy nation. peculiar people. I know the world
thinks we're peculiar people, but the sense of the word here
is, is one on its own, not like anything else. That you should
show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness,
that's where you are by nature, into his marvelous light, which
in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
This isn't, this isn't fleshly arrogance. This isn't self-righteousness
that gives assurance, it's the word of his grace. The word of
his grace gives us this inheritance, it's able to give you an inheritance
amongst those that are sanctified. It assures us of eternal glory,
based entirely on what? The righteousness of Christ.
Not on anything that you have done, for as Paul writes to the
Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1 verses 30 and 31, but of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, of God you are in Christ Jesus. By his sovereign
choice, you're in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness. He is made righteousness to us.
And sanctification. Not progressive, that we do.
He's done it. And redemption. He has purchased
his own people. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth. Where are you going to glory?
If you know this gospel, where are you going to glory? That
you've done pretty well? That you deserve some rewards
when you get to glory that others will not get because they haven't
been as good as you? No. Him that glorieth, letting
glory in the Lord. Have you heard the word of God's
grace spoken in your innermost being? I can't watch for my own
soul. I can't effectively watch for
my own soul. Never mind yours or anybody else's
too. but I can commend you and we can commend one another to
God and to the word of His grace. Amen.