Well, turn to 1 Peter and the
first chapter. We'll continue in this study
in the first epistle of Peter. Now, remember I said when we
started last week that this epistle is all about God's gracious work
of salvation. From start to finish, it's God's
gracious work of salvation. But throughout it, believers
who have seen and experienced and known that gracious work
of salvation They don't stay passive. They respond to it.
They respond to it. They don't add anything to or
take anything away from their standing in Christ, but they
respond. They graciously respond to what
they've seen and heard and known in their hearts. Now, I've called
this message today, Precious Faith, because that's based on
verse 7. Your faith being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth. precious faith. And I want us
to see four things about this precious faith that is yours
and that is mine if we're in the Lord Jesus Christ. If He
shined the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ into our hearts, we have this faith. We have this
faith as a gift from God, not of ourselves, lest anyone should
boast. It's not because we're good people,
but because He gave that gift. And if you have it, here are
some aspects that I want to see. Four things that firstly, it
is a tried and tested faith. Just as the jeweler refines the
gold and refines the jewels to make them more pure, it is a
tried and tested faith. But it is a faith that has a
sure and certain and confident end. It's definite. It's definite. It is an absolutely eternal jewel. It is not one that is going to
rust and decay. You know, nearly everything that
you own nearly everything that you own is going to get worse
as the years go by. But you might just have one or
two precious stones that have been left you or that you've
bought at some stage through your life and they're not going
to decay like the other things because they're precious, they're
pure, they're immune to the oxygen all around us that would cause
them to decay and to rust. And so there's that certain end. And then thirdly, This faith,
from the point of view outside of the believer's experience,
how did it come about? How was it formed? And I want
to look at salvation revealed by the prophets and what that
tells us about this jewel of faith. And then fourthly, I want
to look at the heavenly audience that there is of this faith and
the object of this faith, the heavenly audience. So first of
all, it's a tried faith. Look in verses 6 and 7. Having
gone through verses 1 to 5, And I said last week, it's a summary
of Tulip. Tulip. The five points of Calvinism,
as we call them. In those first five verses. It
says in verse six, wherein, in those things you greatly rejoice. Though now for a while, for a
season, if need be, ye are in heaviness. You're not rejoicing. Life isn't bubbly, bubbly, haha,
all good all the time. You're in heaviness. Through
manifold temptations, many temptations. that the trial of your faith
your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though
it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ if God by grace has given
you faith to see that you have an interest in the things in
verses one to five that those things apply to you you rejoice
in those things remember what I said it's tulips Total depravity. When you see what you're really
like, in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. Do you really believe that? No
good thing. You know, we've had Don with
us recently, and I've heard him preach a few times, and he's
always picking on Shelby, who's sat there looking so pretty in
the audience, and in the congregation. And he'll tell you, as much as
he loves her, that in that heart, that from the outside everybody
would think was so sweet, There's everything that there is in the
fallen human heart. And so it is with each and every
one of us. That is what flesh is like by
nature. It's self-centered. It's against
God, contrary to God, rebellious against God, totally depraved. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. We are a valley of dry bones,
very, very dry bones. There's no hope of life in us,
in and of ourselves. As young as you are, There's
no hope of life in us as we are. We're totally depraved. But there's
the election of God. Why does He elect some and not
others? He doesn't tell us. It's unconditional. Unconditional. Not that some
were more deserving than others. It's unconditional. And the testimony
down the years, you look at some of the objects of grace from
history. You look at a man like John Newton,
the servant of slaves. Such an object of the grace of
God and yet such a foul slave master on those cruel ships crossing
the Atlantic Ocean. Such a cruel man. But the God,
the God of the universe shined the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God into that man's heart and absolutely broke him
down. Unconditional election. And limited
atonement sounds so negative, doesn't it? It's limited. Well,
particular redemption is a phrase that I prefer, but it means this. redeemed by the Son. And if you're
among that number that is in Christ, that's such an important
concept. A number that is in Christ. It's
an innumerable number from our perspective, but it's limited
by God. It's particular by God. It's
specific. He came to die and to redeem
those people and those alone. And He proved it by the resurrection
from the dead, that it was completely accepted. Those who are totally
depraved and unconditionally elected are redeemed by the blood
of the Lamb and irresistibly called in time. For when you
were children of wrath, even as the others, you who believe
were children of wrath, even as the others, walking through
this life, but the Holy Spirit came and irresistibly called
you. I can't remember the sort of phrases that Don uses, but
they're good American phrases about hurtling headlong down
a hill with no breaks to hell. That's how we were. nothing in
us that might stop us and God comes and gets his people and
calls us and calls us and we hear a voice and others around
can't hear it like the Apostle Paul on that road to Damascus
and he irresistibly calls us and then he keeps us he preserves
us to the very end for my father is greater than all and no one
can pluck my sheep out of my father's hand no one can we persevere
to the end to that inheritance that is preserved for his people
and what do Respond to? How do you respond to that? Wherein
ye greatly rejoice. What a gracious distinction.
Peter mentioned it in his prayer. What a gracious distinction. Why me? Look, there's far more
deserving people. Ah, it's not about deserving
or not. It's by the grace of God. What a gracious distinction
that God has numbered me among those who are destined for eternal
bliss. A glorious thought. Hence, rejoice. Verse 8, with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. Describe your joy. I can't. It's
unspeakable and full of glory. Thinking of these things. You
know, we used to sing all sorts of choruses like, I've got a
home in glory land that outshines the sun. But if you strip away
the triviality and get to the real meaning, that's what it
is. I've got a home in glory land that outshines the sun.
A hope. But for a while, we're depressed
with many temptations. If for a season, if need be,
you're in heaviness through manifold temptations." What's he talking
about here? He's not talking about what I
would call the jam-side-down lot of the common man. Do you
know the old adage is that you've just buttered your toast and
you've put your jam on the toast and you're about to eat it and
you drop it, and the adage goes like this. Which side's it going
to land? It's not going to land jam-side
up, is it, so that you can pick it up and eat it. It's going
to land jam-side down, so it picks up all the crumbs and the
dirt off the floor. And, ugh, can't do that. And
people, everybody, all of us, Christians and non-Christians,
suffer the same things. You miss the train. You need
an operation. The roof starts leaking. All
sorts of things go wrong. All sorts of things. It's not
talking about those. Though in the life of a believer,
God causes all things to work together for good. You know everything
that we go through. You know the pluses and minuses
and the ups and downs of life. I don't believe these are the
trials of faith specifically. Though in the life and experience
of a believer, God controls all things for their good. He's specifically
talking about trials of your faith. It's the trials of your
faith. The trials of your belief in
the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of His grace. and the
things that come from it. And in different times and in
different places throughout history, those trials come as persecution. We read the history of the great
persecution that there has been against people who believe what
we believe. And the great opposition that there has been. You know,
locking John Bunyan up in prison for 12 years to stop him preaching
the sort of message I'm preaching this morning. You know, our neighbors
and ancestors of 300 years ago Just up the road, locked the
man up for preaching this message for 12 years. And far worse things,
they burned them at the stake. Opposition, threats, you will
either stop that or we'll close you down. You will either stop
that or we'll raise some scandal about you and discredit you. Or the trial of faith that comes,
which we particularly see where we are in our day, of tremendous
apathy. in this godless society that
surrounds us. So many nice people in this civilized
society, yet absolutely godless. They did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, says Romans chapter 1. They didn't like to
retain God in their knowledge. God was an inconvenience. God
was an unpleasant thought that they just wanted to get rid of.
so that they could live their lives freely and do what they
wanted. They didn't want anybody telling them what to do or any
restraints put upon them. That great apathy. And then here,
I think, is the greatest trial of faith that we're subject to
these days. Here in Nedworth, in this fellowship,
in Britain, in 2009, is it not the trial of unbelief? Is it
not the trial? The flesh is so prone to unbelief. The flesh warring against the
Spirit, so prone to unbelief. You see, God refines faith like
refining gold. Like the jeweler, like the, I
can't remember what you call them, the people that work with
these molten metals to refine them. He refines faith, the faith
of his true saints, like refining gold. But we read here that faith
is more precious. Gold is precious, isn't it? Gold
is used for wedding rings and all sorts of jewelry. Gold is
precious, but faith, we read here, is more precious than that. You see, when you refine gold,
you put gold with impurities into the crucible, that little
pot dish, and the burners, the gas burners, get it so intensely
hot that it melts the gold, and the impurities rise to the surface,
and the jeweler skims off the impurities to refine it, to purify
it, to make it purer. Oh, it comes out more pure, but
there isn't any more of it comes out than went in. What comes
out is only the same amount of gold that went in, never any
more. But with faith, as the trials, the fiery trials, because
they're hard trials. Fire is a hard place to be. It's a painful place to be. And
these trials come, but faith comes out of it refined and stronger,
and with a greater grasp on its object, and clearer, and seeing
more clearly. There's more of it comes out
of the trial than went into the trial. That's why God does it.
What are the agents of the trial? How are the trials brought to
us? Well, they're the principalities
and powers that Ephesians 6 verse 12 speaks about. We wrestle not
with flesh and blood, but principalities and powers. They're satanic in
origin. Not that he's got free reign.
You know what God said to Satan concerning Job? It wasn't Satan
that said it to God, it was God said to Satan, have you considered
my servant, Joe? And so God says to Satan, have
you considered my servants? And he doesn't tell Satan, but
he says their faith needs refining. So go and do this much to them.
You're allowed to go and do this much. And they come along. And
it's most evident, as I've been saying, in unbelief, because
we live in such a godless, materialistic world all around us, isn't it?
The world view all around us. is that you can be anything you
like, but don't be one of those who believe that. You know, if
you're being considered for a job teaching children, or as a social
worker, or something like that, it's almost as if you can be
just about anything in our wicked society, but if you believe what
we believe, you're a danger to children. You're a danger to
people. You're a danger in this society. We don't want people
like you in key positions, isn't it? That's the sort of society
that we live in. with such a minority and then
Satan comes and starts to say in the quietness of your heart
and mind as he said to Eve, do you know the first thing that
Satan said to Eve in the Garden of Eden? Has God really said? Has he really said? Is this really
true? This can't really be true, can
it? He comes and he says to you and me today, he says, is it
really true that only those who are in Christ from before the
foundation of the world are destined for heaven? Is that really true?
It can't be true, can it? There are so few of you. Oh well,
there are here so few of us at the moment as we see it, as we
see it. But he comes and he casts doubts.
He casts doubts. Doubts of unbelief. And these
are trials of our faith. But if you've got real faith,
you see, there's a faith which a lot of people express, but
I'll tell you it's only this. It's just the belief of the flesh.
It's just fleshly belief. It's just the belief of the flesh.
It isn't the belief, it isn't the faith of the new man that
the Holy Spirit plants within a man or a woman. When that new
birth occurs and that new nature is planted within, that one keeps
on believing. But the belief of the flesh,
lots of people have belief. A lot of people will tell you
they have faith, but it's the belief of the flesh, not of the Spirit
of God. And it's rational. And it only works when it fits
in with everything all around. And the trials come along, the
hot trials of unbelief and it just burns away and there's nothing
left of it. You know I heard, I heard somebody
saying who claims to be a Christian that because of a certain train
of events that's happened they're not speaking to God anymore because
of a certain train of events. I think, what's your faith? What's
your faith? Is it just fleshly belief in
a lucky charm God? who must do all things good for
you. Or is it the belief of the new
man created in Christ Jesus, planted by the Holy Spirit within?
You see, God keeps His saints. God keeps His saints in these
trials of faith. Believe Him. He's given you a
new man inside if you're His. He keeps His saints in these
trials. He gives, as Hebrews 4.16 says,
grace to help in time of need. Oh, if you've got a time of unbelief,
He gives grace to help. His strength, He says, is made
perfect in weakness. In your weakness. In your weakness
of unbelief, His strength is made perfect. Show me the Saviour.
Bring me to the Saviour's side. Show me Him. Show me the... I'm
almost thinking of the words of that children's hymn that
you wrote, Sam. Bring me to Him. Show me Him.
And He causes us to see things aright the way He orders them. Psalm 119 verse 75 says this,
I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness
has afflicted me. God in faithfulness. I'm going
through these trials of faith. It's God in faithfulness afflicting
me. Why? Because he's going to bring
me out of that refiner's fire with a purer, stronger, faith
with a greater grasp on its object which is our Lord Jesus Christ.
In every situation we have this promise 1 Corinthians 10, 13.
In situations of temptation. Temptation not only to sin but
to that greater sin of unbelief. Temptations to unbelief. He provides
always with the temptation a way of escape. A way of escape. And
as we read right at the start, He is strong. When the enemy
shall come in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord shall lift
up a standard against him." God protects His people. Look at
John chapter 6 at the end of it. I just want you to see here,
verse 66. John chapter 6 and verse 66. Christ had been teaching about
sovereign grace. You know, give me the... you'll hear people say, I can't
be doing with all of you Bible. There's all sorts of weird things
in there. I can't touch the Old Testament.
It's just full of such violence. I don't want to hear anything
to do with that. But just give me the Sermon on
the Mount. That will do for me. That's good, good social Christianity
is the Sermon on the Mount. That will do for me. Be a good
neighbor. Do unto others as you would have them do. That would
be great. That would be utopia on this earth. And that's it. That's where they stop. They
don't read what Christ really taught. And he taught about sovereign
grace. He taught about particular redemption.
And he said in verse 65, he said, Therefore said I unto you that
no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my
father. Strong, strong sovereign grace. And then verse 66. On hearing
that, from that time many of his disciples went back and walked
no more with him. they went away because their
belief was the belief of the flesh. They were there just because
they thought this is rational, this is sensible, this guy's
good, he's got some good things to say. But then when he started
to say how it really was in sovereign grace, many of them went back
and walked no more with him. And Jesus said unto the twelve,
will you also go away? Ah, there was a difference. Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the
words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou
art the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus answered
and said have I not chosen you twelve but even one of you is
a devil Judas Iscariot even one of you but the others who believed
there was a new man there was a new man there was the gift
of faith to see and to believe these things so faith is tried
true faith is tried this faith where these things wherein you
greatly rejoice, yet for a season it's tried on every front. It's
a tried faith, just like precious jewelry is tried and comes out
more refined, so faith, if it's true faith, the trials and the
doubts come, but they refine it, and you come out of the other
side stronger. But then secondly, it's tried
faith, but secondly, it's precious faith because it has a certain
end, a certain eternal value a certain imperishable value
true faith will be kept to the end to the appearing of the Lord
Jesus Christ though it be tried verse 7 with fire might be found
unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ
whom having not seen you love in whom though now you see him
not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation
of your souls. You haven't seen Him. Not with
physical eyes. We haven't seen Him, have we?
We haven't seen Christ with our physical eyes. Don't believe
anybody that says that they have, because they haven't. But we
have seen Him, if He's given you faith, with the eye of faith. We haven't seen His physical
form, but we've seen by the eye of faith, as the Holy Spirit
has taken the things of Christ and revealed them to the heart
of faith, We've seen what He's like. We've seen His love and
His grace and His power and His majesty and glory and all of
this is a gift from God. Faith, that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. And having not seen Him, even
though you haven't seen Him, you love Him, it says. Believers
love the Lord Jesus Christ. They love Him. They're wedded
to Him. That's what it means. You know,
marriage is such a picture of Christ and the church. Such a
picture of Christ and the church. The way in which I'll get it
the right the right way round because in the picture the wife
is the church but just as a loving wife in a true strong loving
marriage would do anything for the honor and the respect and
the help of her husband so it is with the believer whom having
not seen Christ you love him You'll do anything. You'll lose
yourself for his cause. He who would gain his life and
grasp it shall lose it, said Jesus. But he who will lose his
life for my sake, he shall find it. He shall find it. You see
him by faith, not by sight, but you believe his promise is true. You believe it. You believe that
these things are true of what he's done in sovereign grace,
in particular redemption. And you rejoice because why do
you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory because it's
such a confident hope if he saved his people that way how certainly
are they saved how absolutely surely are they saved how confident
are they that when they die you know you read the account of
I remember if you read John Warburton's The Mercies of a Covenant God
and the last few pages of the account of one of his sons of
the weeks it took him to die. He was ill in bed for weeks and
weeks and weeks before he finally died. But it was a constant,
although the body was getting weaker and weaker and weaker,
every speaking word he was able to speak was one of closer and
closer to glory and eternal bliss. So it was. You have confidence
of eternal bliss after death. But not only then, but look at
verse 9, receiving Receiving, you know, that's a thing happening
now. Receiving the end of your faith,
even the salvation of your souls. Even now in this life, your apprehension
of it is growing. You're receiving the end of your
faith, the salvation of your souls. Do you see how it's like
a jewel? It's a jewel that gets tried and refined and purified,
but it's one that is so solid with such a certain sure end
in sight so then number three salvation revealed you see the
first two were from the perspective of a believer but how did God
bring us to this position how did he reveal these things to
us but you know we read that by the foolishness of preaching
it pleased God to save those who believe how did he bring
us to this position look at verses ten to twelve Of which salvation
the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow, unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
This is how he did it. God who at sundry times and in
divers manners spoke unto the fathers by the prophets has in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son. That's the opening
of Hebrews. But throughout the Old Testament
era he spoke by the prophets. Prophets were moved by God and
they worked hard diligently searching and praying and seeking and finding
by revelation of Christ's Spirit. You see verse 11, the time that
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, just as
an aside, the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit of God. What
does that tell you about Christ? He's God. When those who come
along casting doubts on those things, the Scriptures are clear.
The Spirit of Christ, He's God. The Holy Spirit is His Spirit.
He says that He was revealed, that these things were revealed
by Christ's Spirit. And this is the message that
they were to preach and to write. And what was this message? It's
in verse 10. It's grace. The grace that should
come unto you. It's the grace unto God's elect. That's the message. The grace
of God. The great riches at Christ's
expense. His message to His people. And
verse 11. In verse 11, there are two themes
in this message. And where do you find this message?
Throughout the Old Testament. For these are they which speak
of Christ. Throughout the Old Testament.
Two themes. What are they? when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow. You say, I don't see anything
about the sufferings of Christ in the writings of the prophets.
Oh, read again. What about all the Old Testament
sacrifices and the temple worship? What's that all about? The sufferings
of Christ. The sufferings of Christ. That's
what it's all about from start to finish. It's all there to
picture and illustrate and show the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow. The glory of God in the salvation
of His people. That's what it's all about. Layer
on layer, like a pearl. Do you know how a pearl is formed?
A little bit of grit gets into an oyster. And due to agitation,
a layer builds up around it. And as the years go by, the pearl
grows. And it gets a great big perfect
pearl. As the oyster lays down this
material on top of that little bit of grit that starts it off.
layer by layer, like the pearl of greatest price. Is that not
what the gospel is? Jesus in a parable said, like
that person that finds the pearl of greatest price. And all the
other pearls pale into insignificance in value, compared with this
precious jewel. You see, this is what it is.
The revelation of the Old Testament is like the growing of that pearl
in the oyster. The revelation of God, revealing
that perfect jewel, a pearl of greatest price, to His people. We have this glorious faith,
this tremendous jewel which is tried by fire, which has such
a solid objective in the end, that has been revealed and built
up layer after layer in the Scriptures by the prophets, by the revelation
of God. And verse 12, we see, unto whom
it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did
minister the things which are now reported unto you by them
that have preached the gospel. unto you with the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven." Just turn back a couple of pages to
Hebrews 11. We read these verses in the Faith Gallery in Hebrews
chapter 11. In verse 39, speaking of all
these Old Testament people who had the faith of Jesus Christ,
all these, having obtained a good report through faith, they're
saved by that faith, by that sight that they saw of what should
happen. They received not the promise.
They died before it came to fruition. They died before Christ came.
They died before He went to the cross and paid the price for
His people's sins in this realm of time. God having provided
some better thing for us because we look back to it. We look back
to see it accomplished. We look back to see Him having
gone to the cross, having been in the tomb, having paid the
penalty for sins, and having been raised from the dead for
the justification of His people. But together, all God's people
they without us should not be made perfect we're all going
to be made perfect together on the basis of this gospel they
being made perfect without seeing the in time accomplishment of
salvation should not leave us who have seen it behind they
shouldn't leave us behind but we'll all be taken to glory and
this is the revelation and the outworking of the mystery of
salvation this is what Colossians chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 says
the mystery This is the gospel, which has
been hid from ages and from generations, but he's now made manifest to
his saints. That's who he reveals it to.
He reveals it by faith to his people, to his saints, to the
ones he set apart in the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. A great treasure, a pearl of
greatest price is this faith, this precious faith. But then
I want you to see, finally, just in closing, the heavenly audience. Just the final phrase of verse
12, which things the angels desire to look into. Now, we could spend
an entire sermon just on that little phrase alone, but we won't.
We'll just mention it now. You know the expression, beauty
is in the eye of the beholder. You know, I mean, you might look
at something and think, oh, that's absolutely beautiful. And somebody
else stood next to you might look at it and say, there's nothing
for me, I'm afraid. The beauty of it is in the eye
of the one looking at it. But if any of you watch the Antiques
Roadshow on television, you know, where people take their antiques,
things they've found, you know, family heirlooms, things they've
found in the attic, they take them to have them valued. Now,
the beholders, in the Antiques Roadshow are reckoned to be experts
in antiques. So somebody will have an ancient
chest of drawers and they'll take it along and there's the
expert in chests of drawers of three or four hundred years ago.
And he's the beholder. Now, what do the people want?
You see, you might look at it and think, well, it just looks
like a chest of drawers to me. But to the one who is the expert,
if he goes, oh my, look at that, that, oh, If it's beautiful in
the eye of that beholder, isn't it a beautiful thing? You can
see it on the face of the person that owns it. Wow! He thinks
it's a beautiful chest of drawers. What a beholder! He is thinking
it's a beautiful chest of drawers. What we've been talking about
this morning is looked at in heaven by the angels of God. These pure, elect beings who
never fell, who've never known sin. They have a glorious fascination
a glorious fascination with the fact that the Holy God, whom
they know and they see and have never been out of intimate fellowship
with since their creation, should find a way in His eternal purposes
of bringing such as we are, sinners deserving of nothing other than
hell, to be made perfect like His Son, so that we and they
together would worship Him. The revelation, I can't refer
to any Scriptures at the moment for the sake of time, but they
join us in worshipping God. Let's remember this. However
humble are our circumstances as we gather together around
the gospel of God's grace, as we think on these things and
as we parade them, even by a DVD of a sermon preached many years
ago, as we parade these things the angels of God join with us
and worship with us. desiring to look into these things,
how can God save sinners from their sins? They've got this
glorious fascination with the redemption of sinners and they
meet here with us. Ephesians 3 verse 10 says this,
to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places, that's the angels, it's not just the satanic angels
of chapter 6, the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. God
has ordained that His church, in preaching the gospel of His
grace, should make known to the angels what this is all about. You say, why? You know, you've
heard the expression, oh, He's preaching to the converted. Why
is He preaching the gospel? You don't need to preach to the
converted. Well, there's scriptural reason for preaching this gospel,
because God desires that the angels should look into what
His church on earth says about how He has saved sinners from
their sins and shouldn't that make us take this matter of worship
more seriously that as we gather like this we're thronged around
open his eyes Lord said Elisha about that servant that he might
see that it's not the armies of Syria all around us but a
great throng of angels he hedges his people about so this is precious
faith precious faith tried in the fire of trials trials of
unbelief, trials of persecution so precious it has a solid imperishable
end formed in eternity and revealed layer on layer down the ages
by the prophets and beautiful to the angels beautiful in the
eyes of such perfect beholders what an eternal jewel is your
faith wherein you rejoice what riches of his grace you think,
oh I don't have much money in this life How much do you need?
Just enough. But oh, what riches we've got
in glory. Amen.