I want to begin reading with
verse 1 and read down through verse 5. Verse 1 through verse
5 of the first epistle of Peter, chapter 1. Peter, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius
Galata, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In Isaiah chapter 40 verses 1
and 2, God spoke to Isaiah the prophet, he said, Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. Now I take this to be my responsibility,
I borrow from Jeremiah this statement, this is the burden of the Lord
to me. I take this to be my responsibility,
that is to comfort God's living family. To tell them what the
Lord has done for His people. Tell them what the Lord has for
His people. He is the God, we read in the
scriptures, of all comfort. He is the God of all comfort. Now one preacher said, I will
humble them, let God comfort them if He will. Well, God said,
you comfort my people. He spoke to the preacher and
said, you comfort my people. You speak comfortably to Jerusalem. You tell them what it is that
I've done for them, what it is that I purpose for them. You
tell them about my provisions in the everlasting eternal covenant
that I have made for them. You spell it out to them that
they might be comforted. You cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. and that her iniquity is pardoned,
that it is pardoned, that there is remission of sin, that sin
has been put away, that blood has been shed by the innocent
Lamb of God, and sin has been pardoned, it's been put away.
We preach an accomplished salvation, an accomplished salvation. We
do not preach a salvation that we're working on. We do not exhort
men and women to work on their salvation or to accomplish their
salvation. Salvation has been accomplished
for us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an accomplished
thing, and so we preach it as something that has been accomplished.
Well, the persons whom Peter addressed in our text here this
morning were in great need, I believe, of comfort. They needed to be
comforted by the Word of God, a word from God, if you please. Now, they were, in verse 1, strangers,
and they were scattered far from home, they had in consequence
to suffer many trials, and therefore needed plenty of solid consolation,
solid comfort. Such, I believe, is our position
as God's children, as God's people, as pilgrims in this weary land. This is our position in a spiritual
sense. We're not at home in this world.
This is not our rest, the prophet said, for it is polluted. This
place here is not our eternal rest. for it is polluted. We
too are strangers and foreigners, pilgrims and sojourners here
below, and our citizenship, the Bible says, is in heaven, from
whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
change these vile bodies of ours and make them like unto his own
glorious body. Our citizenship is in heaven. We need Yes, I believe we require
much comfort from the hand of the Lord. For what did Jesus
say in John 16, 33? He said, In the world ye shall
have tribulation. And beloved, we have had it,
and we're not so naive as to believe that it's all over with. As long as we breathe in this
world, if we have the true faith of the gospel in our heart, wherever
you find it, wherever you find a true child of God in this world,
you will find trials. You will find tests. Wherever
you have God-given faith, it will be tried. It will be tested. God's people are going through
many, many trials in this world. Is the devil converted yet? Absolutely
not. Is my flesh entirely sanctified? Has it been entirely all sin
eradicated out of my own nature? Is my flesh entirely set apart
unto God? Absolutely not. Is the world
now a friend of grace to help us on to God? Absolutely not. This world is no friend of ours
if we be friends of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we be separated
from this world unto God, then this world is not our friend.
No, my friend, except the Bible says expect that through much
tribulation we'll enter into the kingdom of God. Through much
trouble, through much test, through much trial, We'll enter the kingdom
of God. Now Jesus said, if you were of
the world, the world would love its own. But because you're not
of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you. Now Jesus said, you're not of
the world, even as I'm not of the world. And because I've chosen
you out of the world, and the world can tell that I've done
something in you, the world can tell that I've separated you
unto myself, the world can tell that I put my spirit in you,
and they don't understand it all. but they hate you because
I have affected and touched your life and claimed you and owned
you for my very own. So we too, my brethren, chosen
out from among men to be peculiar people of God, must expect to
be partakers of the cross, for the servant is not greater than
his Lord. He is not greater than his Lord.
Therefore, to you is this word, I believe, of consolation and
comfort sent. even as to the ease of Peter's
day. Now let us look, beginning here
with verse 2, if you please, where it says, Grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied. The people of God are happy recipients
of the grace of God. This is the river that makes
the people of God glad, that flows smoothly and flows to the
satisfaction of the people of God. And all that we have has
sprung from the grace of God. The grace of God is the very
source of all spiritual blessings. The grace of God is the source
of eternal life. The grace of God is to be multiplied. Peace, he says, also be multiplied
unto you. Now in verse 3, he blesses the
Lord, or blesses the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And why not? And why not? Why
should we not bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Think of His unspeakable gift
that God has given unto us. That unspeakable gift of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How else could we have received
Christ except for Him to be given unto us as a gift? We couldn't
have got Him any other way. He had to be given to us as a
gift. which, note, is according to
His abundant mercy." I like this very much. This is a real blessing,
and I want you to enjoy it with me. He says, "...which according
to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope,
or a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead. Abundant mercy. Beloved, we were
in a position by nature where no other attribute would have
helped us had mercy refused. We were in a position by nature
where no other attribute of God could have helped us had mercy
refused to help us in that particular state we were in. As we are in
a state of nature, We were condemned by the inflexible justice of
God. We were condemned because we
had walked contrary to the holy law of God, and we had sinned
and broken that law, and we had walked contrary to God's commandments,
and the holiness of God frowned upon us. We stood in a position
deserving of judgment. a position deserving of the wrath
of God upon us forever and ever. We were in that position where
if we would have died in our sin, we would have suffered the
death that never dies, we would have been forever separated from
God, we would have been in everlasting torment, and only the mercy of
God could affect our situation. Only the mercy of God could do
us good in that particular state. Now the power of God would have
crushed us and sent us to hell. Truth confirms the threatenings
of the law, and the wrath of God would have fulfilled it.
Yes, it is from the mercy of God that all of our hope begins. God have mercy upon my soul,
and in my case, The mercy of God has been abundant mercy. In my case, I say, I don't know
how you look upon the mercy that God has shed upon you or shown
you, but in my case, it was abundant mercy. We were defiled with sin,
and only the abundant mercy of God could pardon and put those
sins behind His back, as far as the East is from the West,
that they never be remembered against me anymore. Only the
mercy of God could do that. Now you listen to Paul in 1 Timothy
chapter 1. I want to read here what he said.
1 Timothy chapter 1 beginning here with verse 11. According
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed
to my trust, And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled
me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but
I obtained mercy, but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly
and in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus, but I obtained mercy. Now the Apostle Paul judged himself
to be the chief of sinners, and I believe that, as we've often
commented, that we don't think that Paul was just attempting
to be, you know, a humble soul in the presence of others. He
was a humble soul, but just simply to fill space with words The
Apostle Paul knew that he was the chief of sinners, he knew
that he had broken God's law, and he knew because he had persecuted
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and had hailed men and
women, putting them in prison, committing some to death, we
know as he stood by, O righteous Stephen, holy Stephen, when he
was being stoned to death, this great conviction came upon him
until Until Saul of Tarsus would say, I obtained mercy. I obtained
mercy. All I did, I did in ignorance
and in unbelief. It was in unbelief. I thought
that Jesus, I thought that he was just one who had come on
the scene, that he was a fake. I didn't believe that he was
the Messiah. I didn't believe he was heaven sent. I didn't
believe he was God's only begotten son. I didn't believe he was
that one that would come and give himself for my sin and my
guilt. I didn't believe that. I was
in unbelief. But he said, I obtain mercy. Well, I want us to look
back here again in 1 Peter chapter 1. And notice that this abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively or living hope. Now one of the first evidences
of divine mercy in our lives was that there came a day when
we were born from above. There came a day when we were
born again. Now the true people of God, I
believe with all of my heart, are a regenerated people. They
are alive in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have been begotten by God. They are spiritually alive. Now, let the world snickery,
if they will, and laugh. But I want you to understand,
even so the things of God knoweth no man. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, because they're spiritually
understood, spiritually discerned. And I know that this world does
not understand the new birth. I know they do not understand.
And so Nicodemus did not. He said, can I enter again into
my mother's womb and be born? He didn't understand it. And
men of our day and time do not understand it either. But God's
people are a regenerated people. They are a people that are alive. They've been begotten by the
Word of God and by the will of God. And as we said, the Bible
in John 5 and 24, let me point this out, Jesus said that we
pass from death to life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me
hath everlasting life, will not come into condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life. God's people are alive in the
Lord. Now, to be born once will be
a subject, will make us a subject for eternal bewailing, my friend. To be born just naturally. The Bible says in John 3 and
verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. If we be not born from
heaven, if we have not the new birth, By the Spirit of God,
then, my friend, we are, as the old preacher said, in for the
judgment of God, and it would be better if we'd never been
born into this world. I ought to be begotten again
by the seed of God, by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. Well,
this will be the theme, I think the joyful theme, of an unending
song for the people of God. To sing this song unto God that
we've been regenerated and we've been brought back from death,
resurrected from spiritual death into life. Now the Holy Spirit
comes, I believe, upon the elect. in the appointed time and creates
in them a new heart that knows Him, a right spirit, gives them
an understanding that they might know Him that is true in a supernatural
manner, a principle, a new principle is implanted, a new life is created
within the soul, a new man, the living one, the Lord Jesus Christ
is created in our hearts and we have a living hope. we have
a living hope. Next note this in this particular
verse, a risen Savior. Now we read this here, through
his abundant mercy he's begotten us again unto a lively hope or
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. A risen Savior. Now beloved,
this ought to chase away, I believe, from us all the gloom of this
life. It ought to chase it away. A
risen Savior. We serve a risen Savior. Our best friend is not dead.
Isn't that wonderful? And whoever else is dead, as
long as our best friend is not dead, hallelujah, this ought
to chase away all of our gloom in this life. Look at the empty
tomb. He's not here. He is risen. The Lord Jesus is
risen. This, I believe, is the church's
hope of victory. The fact that Christ has been
raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ must reign, the Bible says. He will triumph
over all of his enemies. The victory is his. The Lord
Jesus won it at the cross. And the Lord Jesus is the ultimate
victor in this world. He shall reign. and because he
lives. Now, our omnipotent Savior is
not in the tomb today, but at the right hand of God. Paul,
in Romans 1 and 4, it says that he's declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead. He lives. He ever lives. The
Bible says in Hebrews 7.25, to make intercession for us. He's ever living to make intercession
for us. Now no sound of greater gladness
can be heard in the church than this, the Lord is risen, the
Lord is risen indeed. Now he died for our sins and
rose again for our justification. Now this is what Romans chapter,
I believe it is chapter three, says, that he died for our sin,
he was raised again for our justification, and because, he would say, because
I live, because God has raised me from the dead, because I'm
alive, seated at the right hand of God, and you're in me, ye
shall live also. We live because Christ lives.
And if it was not for our living head, the body would have no
life. We have life because of our head. And he's living. And as long
as the head shall live, the body shall live. Let me say that emphatically. God's people are safe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. They have everlasting life. Jesus
said, I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. So we have a
living Savior. The next thing we have here is
an incorruptible inheritance in verse 4. to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. In that God has given his people
new life, then there must be possessions and there also must
be a place suitable for that new life in eternity. A heavenly
nature requires a heavenly inheritance. Heaven-born children must have
a heavenly portion. Now this inheritance, as to its
substance, is incorruptible, praise the Lord. It all perishes,
the Bible says, all these things in this world, all these things
that are temporal, all these things that we can see with our
natural eye, they all will perish with the using. The substance
of everything earthly, by degrees, passes away. Rusty metal, you've
seen it. Rotten boards, decay, decay. Everywhere you look in this world,
even solid granite will rot and crumble away. You go to some
of these old cemeteries and you see how these old tombstones
have rotted and how they've crumbled away. But I'm telling you the
inheritance that God's people have is one that is incorruptible. It is incorruptible. forever
and forever will be the blissful portion of the sanctified, those
whom God has set apart in the eternal covenant of grace. Those
set apart by God and for God shall have an inheritance that
is incorruptible. Heaven and the streets thereof
are all said to be of precious stones and pure gold because
they are imperishable. They're imperishable. Well, Paul
said in Romans 8, verse 16 through 18, that if children, if children,
that is so significant to get this, then heirs, heirs of God,
and joined heirs with Christ. Now, this is the glory of our
inheritance, that we're heirs of God. In Revelation 21 and
verse 7, it says, he that overcometh shall inherit all things. shall
inherit all things. That, my friend, is the extent
of your inheritance. You will inherit all things through
your head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I defy any man to feel or
any soul to feel that they shall overcome in any except in our
beloved elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our overcoming
is in Him. We shall overcome because He
has overcome, and as we stand in Him, we too shall overcome. Now Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter
3 and verse 21 and 22 says that all things are yours. Whether
Paul, or Paulus, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours. Now beloved, the richest man
who ever lived could not say that all things were his. make
any difference what he had, how much money he had, make any difference
how much reserves he had. In the financial institutions
of the world, he could never say that all things were his,
but the poorest among us. the poorest Christian in the
world. Find him wherever you will find
him, whoever lived, whenever he lived, if he lived before
the flood or after the flood, wherever he lived in time, he
could say this, that all things are mine. They're all mine. All
things, the scripture says, are yours. We are the heirs of salvation. We're the heirs of promise. We're
the heirs of the kingdom, which God has promised to them, but
love him. But Paul said we're heirs of God. What does that
mean? Heirs of God. It means that we're heir to all
that God has, whatever it is that he has, What God has, we're
the heir to it. What he has is ours because we're
in Christ and we're his, we belong to him. Now God himself belongs
to his people. David said, the Lord is the portion
of mine inheritance, in Psalm 16 and verse 5, and of my cup. The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance and of my cup. And this is what every child
of God can say, so that the portion of each child of God is not only
what God has, but what God himself is. We are inheritors. We're heirs of God, don't you
see? We have God's power to protect
us, God's eye to guide us, God's justice to defend us, God's immutability
to be constant to us, and God's infinity to enrich us. We have
God's heart of love, God's hand of power, God's head of glory. Well, time would surely run out.
for us to tell all that God has and is towards His people. For all He has and is is ours
forever and forever. Mark Him great and make Him great
in your hearts, reverence and adore Him as your God and as
your portion, the one who fills your cup forever and ever. Now
notice, if you will, the ground. This is so important of this
airship. If children then heirs. Now I'm satisfied that some of
you have already said that I have no part in this. Some of you
said, you know a lot of people that sometimes won't go down
to hear the will read of their loved ones. They say, I know
how that they felt about me, and there's no need for me to
waste my time going down there to listen to that, read that
will, because I'm not going to be included in it. And I know
there's some of you here this morning that maybe have already
said, well, this don't involve me any. Heirs of God join heirs
with Christ. This don't involve me. Incorruptible
inheritance, it doesn't involve me in any way. Well, remember
what Paul said, if children, if children, then heirs. This is not the result of creation. You say, well, you mean to tell
me that something's involved here other than just being created
by God? Absolutely. There's something
involved. We're not the children of God
by creation. Don't let anybody tell you that
we are. I mean by us being descendants
of the natural man Adam who was created by God and put in the
Garden of Eden and was our representative, our own nature's representative.
We are not heirs of God because we were born naturally into this
world. But listen to me. It does not
depend upon our natural desserts. You say, well, I think that I
came from a pretty good parents preacher. Well, I'm glad you
did. I'm glad you have some measure of comfort in that for what it's
worth. But I'm telling you, we are not,
we don't have an inheritance, we do not have a heavenly incorruptible
inheritance because of natural descent or natural desert. What we receive from God is all
of grace from the beginning to the end. Not what you are by
nature, but what you are by the grace of God determines whether
or not you have part or lot in this matter of this inheritance. Now, I believe it to be very
important for us to understand whether we're involved in this
or not. Anytime there's a will read anywhere that if I think
that it involves me, I will try to be there. I will. And whenever
we read such things as is in our text this morning, I believe
that it's my responsibility to be here to listen to what it
says, and I'm listening. I'm listening to what it says. Well, neither can it come, I'm
telling you, it's determined by what the grace of God does
in you and what the grace of God does for you. Neither can
it come by meritorious service. If children, then heirs, not
if servants. Somebody said, don't you think
we ought to be the servants of God? Absolutely. I think we ought
to serve God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of
our strength. But if children, then heirs. You can walk, listen to me, you
can work all your life. All of your life. That will not
make you an heir of God. Work, work, work. And we ought
to work. Oh, pray that the Lord of the
harvest would thrust forth labors into the field. Work while it
is day. The night cometh when no man
can work. Work! We need to get the gospel
out. We need to preach the gospel
to every creature. Preach, preach, preach. Think
about preaching from morning to night. Think about your loved
ones and their need of the gospel. Think about your neighbors and
their need for you to witness to them of the gospel. Work,
yes, work, but you can work all of your life and that will not
make you an heir of God. Sonship is absolutely essential
to heirship. You cannot be an heir of God
without being his son, without being his child, without belonging
to him through the new birth. You cannot win heaven by merit
or obtain the favor of God by your own exertion. Ye must be
born again, not all the outward forms on earth, nor rights, that
God has given, nor will of man, nor blood, nor birth can raise
a soul to heaven. The sovereign will of God alone
creates us heirs of grace, born in the image of His Son, a new
peculiar race. If children, then heirs. If children, then heirs. Do we possess this qualification
which is absolutely essential to our heirship? Are you born
again? I do not mean, have you read
about this in some confession of faith? I do not mean that.
That's not my question. Have you read about being a son
of God, a child of God in some confession of faith? Or have
you experienced it? Have you experienced it? Have
you become a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus? Paul,
speaking to the church at Galatia, he said, we are all the children
of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And that's how you become
the children of God. All of them without an exception.
Now, I think I should make this clear because I know that in
some circles we have the super Christian, we have Christians
on different levels, different planes, and I've heard it. through
my Christian life, you know, that there are some eagle saints
in the world, and then there are saints that are lower and
lower and lower, and when the Lord comes back, He'll take maybe
the eagle saints, and He'll leave the rest, and so on and so forth.
A bunch of Tommy Rock foolishness, as far as I'm concerned. But
here, beloved, if children, then heirs. You have here the universality
of heirship to all the children of God, to every one of the children
of God, all of them without an exception. Prove, if you will,
that they're children and you have proven that they're heirs.
All you got to do is prove that they're children and they are
heirs. The love of God is the same toward
all of his children, not so in the families of this earth. The families of this earth Many,
many times parents don't treat all the children the same. They
just don't treat them the same. They have fallen out with their
children. Some of them have gone so far as to disown them. And
some children go so far as to disown their parents. Love is
not the same in this world, but in the family of God. I mean,
if God loved his children before the foundation of the world,
then he did. I tell you, he did. If God loved His children without
cause, as far as their part of it is concerned, He loved them
freely. Loved them freely, without cause. They didn't cause it. God loved them freely. Now if
that be so, and God knows all things, knowing to Him all of
His works from the beginning of the world, we're dealing with
a God that's predestinated to all things according to the work
of His counsel. We are dealing with a God that is able and a
God that knows everything and he foreknows nothing that he's
not already predestinated. God loves his people and he's
predestinated his people to an inheritance. He's not left it
up to them. Somebody said, well, you know,
preacher, I've been trying to manage my situation a little better.
Do you think that's going to assist me in my effort to have
this inheritance? Manage it better? Oh, my friend,
have we not all been trying to manage it better? for a long
time, manage this old flesh, manage the mind of the flesh,
manage the carnal nature, have we not been trying to get something
more out of this old thing, rev it up and get something more
out of it as we went along trying to get a little better so that
we would be entitled to a little bit more than Johnny down the
road or this sister up the street here, just a little bit more?
Listen to me. William Gatsby said this, in
this solemn contract talking about the everlasting covenant
of grace. This covenant of grace, the eternal, in this covenant
of grace, the eternal trinity took a survey. Now this was before
time ever began. Whenever the everlasting covenant
was entered into, the eternal trinity took a survey of all
of their sins. all of the sins of the people
of God, and all their weaknesses, and all their misgivings, and
all of their backslidings, and all of their temptations, and
all of their besetments, and all of their slips, and all of
their tumblings that this body would have from the beginning
to the end of time. And in this immortal covenant,
God made provision to meet all. And so to meet it as to be glorified
in saving them all from all the horrors and consequences of their
sin. I think that's a wonderful statement.
I think that's a true statement. I believe that God is undertaken
for his people. And you say, well, I just kind
of think, you know, that it's up to us to manage it the best
we can. I'm all in favor of you just
managing it the best you can. You do whatever you can with
it, but don't ever get to the place where you think you've
got this situation in hand, where you're not going to sin anymore,
and where you're not going to do anything. There's no more
besetting sin in you, and that you're just as clean as a hound's
tooth. Because there ain't any truth
to it. There's no truth to it. If children, now the children
of God are all favored with the same promises. I'm talking about
the fact that God loves His children all the same. He loves them.
He loves them. He's loved them from everlasting.
He loves them. And then we're all, we're favored
with the same promises. I dare any man to rob me of my
hope. of my hope in the promises of
God. I hang my heart on the promises
that God has given in His Word. I mean I hang my heart there.
I don't hang my hat there. I hang my heart on the promises
of God. I believe in them and I believe
that deter me in that that I've gotten the wind of the Spirit
in my soul, and that my life has been turned around and changed
by the power of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in my heart. I have title to the promises
of God, to read them, to study, to meditate upon them, and to
assimilate them into my spiritual system, where all heirs according
to the promise and all heirs of the promise. Now listen to
me, the inheritance is large enough for all the children.
Isn't that good? It's large enough for all the
children. Again, this is not an earthly inheritance we're
talking about. This is a very comforting reflection. You, my
brother, if you're a child of God or an heir of God, and so
am I, and I do not have any less of God because you have Him,
and you don't have any less of God because I have Him. We do
not. We have an equal inheritance. Now listen to me, the whole of
God belongs to Christ. How do I know that? John 3 and
35 says that the Father has given all things into the hands of
the Son and the whole of God belongs to Christ and the whole
of God belongs to the least member of Christ. All the heirs of God
join heirs with Christ. All the children of God are the
heirs of God because the inheritance is an infinite one and there
is an infinite inheritance for each one of them. That might
get a little bit deep for you, but you think on it, you meditate
on it, you chew it like an old cow would as could, and eventually
you get some sweetness out of it, some blessing out of it.
Now think with me, if children then heirs, it does not say if
children then apostles. None of us would tame ever to
that office. It does not say if children then
preachers here and there. We have one of them sorry fellas.
here and there. It does not say if children than
rich men, some of us are poor and probably never will in this
world be anything else but that. It does not say if children than
healthy, no, some of the living family are sick and some are
afflicted, some are aged, some can very, just very, just barely
can care for themselves. It does not say if children than
filled with assurance, No, no, because many of God's people
are vexed with doubts and fears, and they tremble every day because
of their state in this world. Well, what does it say? It does
say, if children, then heirs. And if this preacher has any
fault, and I've confessed it several times to most of you
that are close to me, and that is that when I get to hammering
on something, I just keep hammering on it until the nails clear out
of sight. And that's exactly what I'm doing right here. It
does say, if children then heirs, rejoice that we're heirs. Now then, let's look back here
at Peter again in verse 4 and see the security of this. And that it fadeth not away is
reserved in heaven for you. It is secure, it is reserved
in heaven. Now heaven is not to be scrambled
for like land in a land rush. Have you ever saw pictures of
in Oklahoma and other places back years and years ago when
they were scrambling for land when there was a land rush? People
were trying to go out and stake their stake, put their stake
in a piece of ground that would be theirs. Well, heaven is not
to be scrambled for like land in a land rush. It's reserved.
It's reserved. Did you ever, did you like to
go someplace and there's a line in a restaurant? And you got
your table reserved. And you just walked right past
everybody, just kind of like you were real important. And
you walk past everybody to a place, to a table that's got this little
card on it that says, reserved. That's right. Well, that's the
way it is. There's a place in heaven for
you, which not anybody else could fill. Nobody else. There's a
place there for me, which you can't fill. Nobody can fill it
but me. There's a harp, which no fingers
can play but yours, and a crown that'll not fit any head but
mine, and I shall cast it at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Because
it's only through Him that I would have a crown. I would have no
crown if it had not been for Him. It all belongs to Him. Believe
it. It's reserved in Heaven for you. Believe it. It is reserved. And
then too, I must hurry on, the security here in verse 5. Notice
what it says, "...who are kept." And this is talking about the
people of God who are kept by the power of God through faith
under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. The
inheritance is kept for you, it's reserved for you, and you
are kept for the inheritance. Now the word here is a military
word. It signifies a city that is garrisoned
and defended. Think, if you will, of a city
that is besieged And that, I believe, is an emblem of your condition
in this world. Now, I read years ago, and I
remember faintly hearing about it when it was taking place,
when I was a lad, about Stalingrad. I believe it was when the Germans
had that city surrounded. And before, I forget now just
exactly how long they were besieged, but there was not a bird, somebody
said, when it was flying overhead. There was not a rat or a mouse
or a dog or any animal left in the city. They had scraped the
wallpaper off of the walls and had boiled the paper to get the
paste off of the back for some nutrition. Terrible, terrible
was that siege. Now the enemy keeps up the fire
day and night, sets the city on fire. That is the way it is
with us. Satan bombards us with temptation,
beleaguers us with all the host of hell, and why? Why? To bring our faith down. But
herein is our confidence Our captain has walled us round. He has appointed salvation for
walls and bulwarks. We're safe. And our brother read
the 91st Psalm. I hope you listened to it today.
And if you didn't listen to it, go home and listen and go home
and read it again. Read it. because therein safety
is spoken of for the people of God. We are safe, though all
the devils of hell surround us in this world, for we are garrisoned
by omnipotence, and we must remember this. We must remember it. I
know you feel alone, and I know there are many, many times when
you feel that you're not safe. You feel that you're in a very
precarious situation, a very difficult world, and you don't
feel safe. But I'm telling you, you are
kept. You are kept. Though all the
devils surround us, we're garrisoned by omnipotence. God is greater
than the spirit of this age. And God's Holy Spirit can manage
all the demons of hell. And don't ever forget it. God's
people are kept. Each believer is kept by the same power which
bears the earth's huge pillars up and sustains the very arches
of heaven. The keeping is complete and continuous. It will never end until we shall
need keeping no longer. Isn't that great? Isn't that
glorious? God has pledged it to his people. Kept, kept. An old man who had walked in
the way of faith for many, many years, and he was close to death,
and his family asked him, what would you like for us to put
on your tombstone? And after a long and thoughtful
silence, the old man said, put kept. put kept. And I think that that would be
a fitting epitaph on the tombstone of any child of God. Kept, kept. This is a good description of
every believer's life. Kept by the power of God through
faith. Know we are kept and preserved
in life by the power of God until the appointed day of our calling.
I like Jude chapter 1. And I'd like to read, if you
would let me, this verse of Scripture. Jude chapter 1, verse 1. It's
only one chapter in Jude. That Jude, the servant of Jesus
Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified,
that word is set apart, by God the Father, that was an eternal
election before the world began, and preserved in Jesus Christ,
and called. I do believe that at the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, all of the elect were for eternity
sealed. I believe they were sealed in
the covenant of grace, and I think certainly that we were all eternally
justified at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were preserved
in Him. Preserved in Him. No chance.
of any of the elect ever perishing, ever going to hell, all of them
are kept, preserved. And then, he says, called. Called! That's the experience that we
have in life. Somewhere between the cradle
and the grave, when God lays hold of us by His Spirit, and
we experience the new birth. This is what the Puritans call
prehenient grace. It is grace that goes before
and prepares the way for God's saving grace. in Christ. Because God made an everlasting
covenant of grace for us, chose to save us in eternal election,
redeemed us by the blood of Christ, He kept us, provided for and
protected us until the hour that He experientially gave us in
life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we are kept and preserved
in the way of faith by the same power and the grace of God. Listen,
we're about to close. Listen to Christ, what he said
to his elect. And I quoted this verse earlier.
I must do it again. I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10 and 28. And
I would admonish each and every one of you to memorize that verse
and make that part of your spiritual collection in your heart. Memorize
that until you can quote it to yourself over and over again.
Jesus says, I give unto them eternal life. They'll never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, and my Father
which gave to me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them
out of his hand." All who trust Christ are kept in all their
ways by the power and grace of God throughout their pilgrimage
upon this earth. You can read that again, Psalm
91 verses 9 through 15. Mortals are immortal here on
earth. until God is done with them,
until God is finished with them. Mortals are immortal here until
God is done with them. Somebody said, well, it was an
accident and old John has been taken away. Here a while back
there was a fellow killed in an old Lincoln here in town.
And it was somebody, and I really think they're my enemies. I'm
not sure, but I kind of think they are. But anyway, one of
them called my house to see whether or not that was me or not. He
wanted to know whether that was me or not. It was taken out.
And I assured him, no, no, no, no, I'm very much, very much
still here in this world, very much alive, very much so, so
you can just kind of relax. Mortals are immortal until their
work is done. Until God is finished with you,
there ain't anybody going to take you out of this world. I
like what old Spurgeon said about that. He said, until your time
comes. 10,000 demons couldn't put you
in a grave. But when your time comes, 10,000 angels couldn't
keep you out. And brother, sister, that is
the truth. That is the truth. We're kept
by the power of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Though the flesh
opposes, and it does. And though Satan roars against
us, and he does. Trials and troubles, they do
vex us. We are kept by the power of God
through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this morning that
in some measure, I guess I should not in any way stint myself in
my hope. I do know the possibility and
the probability of people getting everything that you say being
able to hide it away and keep it. I know that maybe tomorrow
morning there won't be a third of you be able to say, well,
I know what that preacher talked about yesterday. I know what
he preached about. I know he was trying to provide comfort
for the dear children of God, for those who were believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that's what it was
about. Praise the Lord. And I hope you've been comforted.
I hope you have. I have been. It's been a blessing
to me. These things mean more to me
every day I live. Every day I live. Closer I get.
I don't feel any closer now than I was years ago, really. But only God knows, doesn't He?
Only God knows. I do know this, that every breath
we breathe, God has to give it to us. I know that. You don't
get a breath unless God gives it to you. And I know this, that
God has to wake you up every morning. Is that right? If He
don't wake you up every morning, you're not going to wake up.
He has to do that. So worship God. Get your heart
in this book. Study this book. Pray over these
things. May God bless you. Father, in
the name of Jesus, take this message and use it for thy glory. May fruit come from it, and may
we be able to sing and praise your name as we ought, as a kept
people, as a people that have been sanctified by God the Father,
preserved in Christ Jesus and called. strengthen us now, and
go with us. Thank you, Lord, for bringing
us here today, and for enabling us to overcome our physical weaknesses
and frailties, and to come here today. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus'
name. Amen.