I invite you to turn back in
your Bibles, if you will, to the book of 1st Peter chapter
1. The book of 1st Peter chapter
1. I want us to look this morning
primarily at the first five verses of this chapter. And this, primarily
this morning, will be a message of comfort. A message of comfort
to God's people. I do feel somewhat called to
minister to the Lord's people, to comfort them and encourage
them, and to show them, if I can, what the Lord has done for them,
what the Lord has been pleased to give to them in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Isaiah, chapter
14, verses 1 and 2, the Lord spoke to Isaiah these words. 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 then to be the
responsibility of mine, that is to comfort the people of the
living God. Isaiah was told to speak comfortably
to God's people. Now I recognize that there are
those in the world, and I've met up with some preachers who
say this, well we'll humble them and let God comfort them if He
will. Let God comfort them if He will. But my friend, God said, you
comfort my people, those of you that speak the word, those of
you that occupy that sacred place and preach the gospel of the
grace of God, you comfort my people. You minister comfort
unto the Lord's people. You speak comfortably to Jerusalem
and you cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished and that
her iniquities, that they are pardoned. You tell them what
I've done with their sin. You tell them what I've been
pleased to do on their behalf. You tell them about the treasures
of my grace. You preach to them and you comfort
my people. Now, the persons whom Peter addresses
here in this first chapter of Peter, they're in great need. They're surely in great need
of comfort. And we read in verse 1 that they're
strangers that are scattered. They're strangers that are scattered
out over a vast area and they need to be comforted by God's
servant. They're scattered far from home
and they had in consequence to suffer many trials and therefore
needed plenty of solid comfort. They needed consolation. They
were deprived of their home, they were deprived of relatives
and friends, deprived of livelihood, and they needed somebody to comfort
them. Now such is our position spiritually
as we stand in this world. In a spiritual sense, God's people
are not at home. We're not at home in this world. You've heard the old song that
says we're not at home in this world, we're just traveling through
this world. Well, certainly that is true,
and we're strangers and foreigners, the Bible teaches, and we're
pilgrims and sojourners here below, and our citizenship, the
Bible says, is in heaven. We're not citizens of this world,
spiritually speaking, but our citizenship is in heaven. And
we need, yes we require, comfort. We must have it, and we must
have it from the hand of the God of all comfort. And He does
minister comfort through His ministers and through His Word
to the hearts of His people. The Lord Jesus said in John 16
and 33, in the world, He said, as you live in this world, you
will have tribulation. And we have had it, and we are
not so naive as to believe that it's over and that we're not
going to have any more of it. The people of God are a people
that have trouble and they have affliction and they have tests
and trials and difficulties in this world. Is the devil converted? No, the devil is not converted.
Is my flesh sanctified wholly? No. we still have and carry about
with us this body of sin? Is the world now a friend of
grace to help us on to God? No! This world is no friend of
grace to help us on to God. No, my friend, expect that through
much tribulation we will enter into the kingdom of God. Expect
it! But then also, on the other hand,
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. You're
going to receive this kind of treatment from the world. You're
going to be hated and you're going to be despised and looked
down upon. and ridiculed and persecuted
by the world. And so therefore you need comfort.
Now my brethren, we have been chosen out from among men. God has an elect people and we're
told that in verse 2, 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 be unto you
and peace be multiplied. Now, beloved, in that we have
been chosen out from among men to be peculiar people of God,
we must expect to be partakers of the cross, of the cross of
the Lord Jesus. For the servant, the Lord Jesus
said, is not greater than his Lord. Therefore, to you is this
word of consolation, is this word of comfort sent, even as
to those in Peter's day. This word is sent to you that
are in this world, the Lord's people, being tested and tried
and being brought under Satan's temptations and under the various
afflictions that God's people endure. in this world. Now let
us look at verse 2 here, if you please. We're told here that
God's people are the elect of God, but then in the last part
of the verse he says, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Now beloved, that ought in itself
to be a source of great encouragement to God's people in that they
know that the grace of God is toward them. The grace of God
is toward them. That's the favor of God. Now
my friend, I cannot believe that anybody could feel overwhelmingly
depressed if they know that the favor of God is toward them. Now whenever God favors a man,
well, He saves that man and then He bestows upon that man covenant
mercies and covenant blessings and that man is cared for and
watched over all of his life from the time he comes into the
world to the time he leaves. The grace of God is toward God's
people. And He says, and peace be multiplied. Now if you've never experienced
the peace of God in your soul, And Paul said, therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now if you've never experienced
the peace of God in your soul, you wouldn't understand what
it would mean for that peace to be multiplied unto you. But beloved, God's people will
have experiences. They won't have this every day,
but they will have different times in their life when God
is pleased to bestow upon them a tremendous measure of peace. God's peace will be multiplied
in their souls and this will be a healing peace. It will be
a blessed peace because it will just lift up the child of God
and strengthen him for the various trials and difficulties that
is then present in their life and then those that will come
to them. And so peace will be multiplied. But God's people are in a favored
position because the grace of God is toward them and because
the Lord periodically is going to multiply His peace toward
them. Therefore, to you, beloved, this
morning, as you look at this, you can take some comfort in
that that the grace of God is toward you and that His peace
is going to be multiplied. Now in verse 3, He blesses the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And why not bless the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? My friend, think of that
unspeakable gift which God has been pleased, God the Father
has been pleased to give unto His people. The Lord Jesus Christ. How could you have ever received
Christ? How could men and women in this
world ever have the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, how could
they get it any other way except to be given unto them? And God
has been pleased to bless us with the Lord Jesus Christ, His
own beloved Son, Heaven's best, Jesus Christ has been given unto
His people. Now those of you that have studied
the Bible to any degree know that Jesus Christ is the best
gift that the Father has to give to anyone. That he has nothing. You say, oh he's got the world,
he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, I mean he owns everything
in the world, the earth and the fullness thereof is his. No,
but my friend, the Lord Jesus Christ is the best that the Father
has to give. And so Peter here blesses the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we ought to bless
him too and bless him daily for the gift of his Son, the Lord
Jesus. Now, we note further here in
this very verse that he says, which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, beloved, I want you to notice
this according to His abundant mercy. According to His abundant
mercy. Beloved, you and I were in a
position where no other attribute of God could have helped us in
any way had mercy refused to help. I'm trying to tell you
here this morning that you and I needed mercy. We needed the abundant mercy
of God. And praise be unto God, we've
received it. As we are in a state of nature,
justice could only condemn us, and holiness could only frown
upon us, and the truth concerning the threatenings of the law could
only cause the wrath of God to fall upon us. And when that wrath
would be fulfilled, my friend, we'd have to go to hell for all
eternity. But it was the abundant mercy
of God that sent the Lord Jesus Christ and to live and to die
under the law and satisfy its just penalty in order that you
and I might receive a righteousness whereby we could stand before
God and be accepted of God. Yes, it is from the mercy of
God that all of our hope begins. There, my friend, is no hope
for any man except the abundant mercy of God undertake for him. And except mercy comes, my friend,
there's no hope. There will never be any hope.
The word hope wouldn't be in the vocabulary of man if it was
not for the abundant mercy of Almighty God. And in my case,
the mercy of God has certainly been, I testify to you this morning,
it has been abundant mercy in my case. I don't know how many
of you could say amen to that, it's been so in my case. You
could say, well, it's been so with me. But beloved, it truly
has been so with me. We were defiled with sin, and
only the abundant mercy of God could pardon and put those sins
away. Only God's mercy. Now, you listen
to what Paul said over in the book of 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Listen to
these words. And verse 12, he says, 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 in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. And so Paul's testimony was like
our testimony. Paul said, I've received mercy.
because he says I was a sinner I did what I did in ignorance
and in unbelief but God had mercy upon me and I found that the
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant with the
love of God and so God's love is toward his people and God
has mercy upon his people. Now if you look back here to
1st Peter 1 again notice that this abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope. What has been the results of
God having mercy upon His people? Well, beloved, it's the new birth. One of the evidences of divine
mercy in our lives is that we're born again. The true people of
God are a regenerated people. They are alive in the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's people are not dead in
sin. God's people are alive in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let the world snicker and laugh
if they would, but God's people are born again. John chapter
5 and verse 24 speaks of us being passed from death unto life. God's people were dead in sin. They're now, as they're in Christ,
as they're trusting Christ, they're alive in the Lord Jesus. Now to be born once will be a
subject for eternal bewailing, my friend. It'll be a subject
for eternal bewailing if you're only born just into this world. If you're not born from heaven,
if you have not the due birth by the Spirit of God, because
John 3 and 6 says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's all it is. But that which
is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And so we need to be born of
God. We need to be born of heaven.
We need to have this living, this living hope. And we need
to have it by the Spirit of God. are to be begotten again by the
seed of God, by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, will
be the theme of a joyful and unending song for God's people. That we've been made alive, that
we've been come, that we've been brought out of death and brought
into spiritual life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Holy Spirit
comes upon the elect in the hour that was appointed and creates
in them a new heart to know Him, a right spirit. And this is a
supernatural work. There's a new principle that
is implanted, a new life that's created within the soul. And
this gives this living hope. And God's people have it. They
have a living hope. Now notice next, if you will,
here, that he speaks of this being brought about by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now this all, the fact that the
Savior is risen, the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, that He
had the power to come forth from the grave, The fact that he's
risen, this ought to chase away all the gloom that's in our hearts
this morning. All the gloom that we ever have
in this life ought to be chased away by the fact that the Lord
Jesus Christ is not dead, but he's alive. Our best friend is
not dead. Our best friend is alive. Look at the empty tomb. He's
not here. He is risen. And this is the
church's hope of victory. The power of the resurrected
Lord Jesus Christ. Our omnipotent Savior is not
in the tomb today, but He's at the right hand of God. And there
He sits, giving repentance unto Israel and the remission of sins. Now in Paul in Romans 1 and 4,
he said, "...and declared to be the Son of God with power
according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead." The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God with power.
And it is this power by which He regenerates the soul and brings
the lost, the dead sinner, out of his sin and brings it into
life and makes him meet for the inheritance of the saints in
life. It's the resurrection power of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He lives and He ever lives. Hebrews
7 and 25 said, to make intercession for us. Christ is alive. Now no sound of greater gladness
can be heard in the church than this. The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Now beloved, this ought to comfort
the hearts of God's people. He who died under the wrath of
God, the judgment of God for my sins, as he went into the
grave The power of God brought him out and he died for our sins
and rose again for our justification and said, because I live, ye
also shall live. The people of God live because
their head, the Lord Jesus Christ, lives and because we're in Him,
we are alive today. There's only one place where
there's life for a dead sinner and that is as they get into
Christ. Christ is alive. There's life
in Christ. And when you get in Him, you
have life. There's no life anywhere else
except in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the next thing we see here
is that we have an incorruptible inheritance. Notice in verse
4. To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you. Now in that that God
has given his people new life, then there must be possessions
and a place that is suitable for that new life. A heavenly nature requires a
heavenly inheritance. and having been born as children
of God, then we must have a heavenly portion. There must be a place
for the redeemed soul. There must be a place provided
by God for all those that He plans to bring home, because
He's going to bring us all home to glory. and the fathers prepared
a place. Now this inheritance, as to its
substance, we're told, is incorruptible. It's incorruptible. Now the substance
of everything earthly, by degrees, passes away. Rusty metal, rotten
boards, Even granite will rot and crumble. And my friend, everything
in this world is passing away. It's passing away. And you notice it yourself. You have everything new and it's
all painted and it looks real nice. But in a short time you
begin to see that it's decaying, that it's rusting and it's rotting. And that's because we're in this
world and the things of this world. That's the nature of the
things of this world. But the people of God, forever
and forever, will the blissful portion of the sanctified, those
that are set apart by God and for God, be theirs, an undefiled
inheritance that will not fade away. Heaven and the streets
thereof are all said to be made out of precious stones and pure
gold, and that's because these things are imperishable. Well, Paul said in Romans chapter
8, and I invite you to turn with me here to this text. I want
you to see this. Romans chapter 8, and look at
verse 16 and 17. And listen to what he says. I
just wanna talk a little bit this morning to you about this
inheritance, because to me, this really got a hold of me, and
I enjoyed it, and it helped me, and it comforted me, and I want
it to be a blessing to you. Look at verse 16 and 17 of Romans
8. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And then verse
17, and if children, And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ. Now, this is something that I
want you to see. If children, then we're heirs
of God and we're joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the glory of our inheritance that we are heirs of God. Now think about that a little
bit. Some of you might have inherited a little something in your lifetime
or maybe you think you will later on inherit a little something.
But I want you to know that the people of God, their inheritance,
this inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and that failures
not away, this inheritance is in God. We are heirs of God. Revelation 21 and 7 says, He
that overcometh shall inherit all things. That, my friend,
is the extent of your inheritance in Christ. All things. Follow with me closely, if you
will. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3, 21 and
22 says, All things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos 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. He might have had many, many,
many things, much possessions, but he could not say, all things
are mine. But listen, the poorest child
of God, the poorest man or woman who's got the breath of God in
him, and who lives by the Spirit of the living God, he is never
dying, soul is alive in Christ. He can say it. All things are
mine. My inheritance includes all things
and whatever that means. Now we are the heirs of salvation,
the Bible says. It says that we're heirs of promise. All the promises of God belong
to God's people. And we're heirs of salvation.
We're heirs of the kingdom which God has promised to them that
love Him. But Paul said we're heirs of
God. What does that mean? It means
that we're heir to all that God has. Whatever it is, all that
God has is mine. Think what God has. What He has
is ours because we are His. Whatever God has. Now listen
to me this morning. God Himself belongs to us. David said, the Lord is the portion
of mine inheritance. And this is what every child
of God can say. The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance. Now, it is so, so that the portion
of each child of God is not only what God has, but what God Himself
is. What He is, is our inheritance. Now we have God's power to protect
us, we have God's eyes to guide us, we have God's justice to
defend us, we have God's immutability to be constant to us, and we
have God's infinity to enrich us. We have God's heart of love,
God's hand of power, God's head of glory, and well, time would
certainly wear out for me to tell you all that God has and
is towards His people. But I just want you to get the
idea this morning that the Lord is the portion of our inheritance. Now then, make him great in your
hearts. Reverence and adore him in your
heart. But when you do so, do not forget
to say, my God, my God, my God. And the Lord Jesus said, my Father
and your Father, my God and your God. We're heirs of God. The Lord is the portion of His
people. Now my friend, when you begin
to think about this, how wonderful it is. Now the ground of this
heirship, the fact that we have this inheritance, Paul tells
us here, he said, if children, if children, then heirs. If children, then heirs. Now this is not the result of depend upon our natural descent. It doesn't have anything to do
with your bloodline. It don't make any difference
who your daddy was, or who your mother is, who your grandfather
was. It don't make any difference.
This is not going to put you in line, even if you could trace
your ancestry back to noble blood, it will not put you in line for
this inheritance. You've got to be born of the
Spirit of God and become a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus
to have this inheritance. Now listen, it's not what you
are by nature, but it's what you are by grace that determines
this. Determines that you have this
inheritance. Are you a child of God with grace?
Neither can it come by meritorious service. If children, then heirs. Not if servants, then heirs. And so it don't make any difference.
You can work all your life, but that will not make you an heir
of God. Sonship is absolutely essential to heirship. You cannot be an heir of God
unless you're God's child through faith in Christ Jesus. You cannot win heaven by merit
or obtain the favor of God by your own exertion. You must be
born again. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh and that's all it is. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. Listen to the poem. 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. Only by the grace of God, if
children, then heirs. Do we possess this qualification? Which is absolutely essential
to our heirship. Are you born again? Are you a
child of God? Are you in Christ Jesus? I don't
mean have you read about it in some confession of faith. Have
you experienced it? That's what I mean. Have you
experienced the new birth. Now you have here also, I think,
the universality of heirship, and that is to all the children
of God. It's to everyone. If children,
then heirs. All of them without an exception.
Oh, you say, well, I don't think I'll ever attain to that. Well,
my friend, if children, if children, then heirs. Prove that they're
children and you've proven that they're heirs of God. And that's
all it takes. You say, well, I'm one of the
least in the kingdom. Well, you may be the very least
in the kingdom, but you're still a child of grace, a child of
God, and you are an heir of God. You have an inheritance that's
reserved in heaven for you. Now, the love of God is the same
toward all his children. Now, that's not so in the families
of earth. There are parents who have favorite
children. And if they have money to give
or if they've got something to pass on, many times they'll pass
it on to those that they like the best. The best loved children
in the family get the cut of it. You know I'm telling you
the truth. I'm telling you, but that's not
the way it is with God. God loves all of his children
the same. There ain't any difference. He
loves them all just like he loves Christ. And he loved Christ because
Christ was his own beloved son, the son of his love, and because
the Lord Jesus Christ did always those things that was pleasing
unto Him and all of us in Him have done all those things that
were pleasing to Him too and so therefore He loves us all
the same. In Christ we're all loved the same. Is there anything
wrong with that? Anybody quarrel with that? Anybody don't like
that arrangement? Well, I like that arrangement
myself. That's wonderful. The children
of God are all favored with the same promise We've all got the
same promise. There's an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. That's
the promise of God. And that's to all the children
of God. Now listen to me. The inheritance
is large enough for all the children. It's large enough for everybody.
And again, that's not so of earthly inheritance. I've heard of the
inheritance money being sacked away by the lawyers. I've heard
of it being taken away by this or that or something else. And
I've heard of people suing to get part of it. And it ends up
that there's not enough to do anybody any good or one member
of the family get wealthy and the rest of the poor people,
the rest of the children, they end up just as poor as they was
before. There's nothing left. The inheritance
is not large enough. But my friend, 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 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. None of us have any less of God
because somebody else enjoys Him and because somebody else
has Him. God's big enough to be an inheritance
for all of His people. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
marvelous? Now, listen to me, the whole
of God belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and the whole of God belongs
to the least member of Christ because all are heirs of God
and they're all joint heirs with Christ. And so in Christ God
is our portion. 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. Now, I know
that's getting maybe kind of deep, but I want you to know,
beloved, that this, if you want to know how blessed you are,
if you want to really be comforted, you've got to get down to business
and dig into this thing and find out what this inheritance business
is all about. You're just not as bad off as
you think you are. You're a whole lot better off
than you ever suspected you were, because the Lord is the portion
of our inheritance. God! We are heirs of God and
joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now think with me, if
children than heirs. It does not say if children than
apostles. No, we could not attain to that
office. We could never be apostles because
they were chosen by our Lord in the first century and there's
been no apostles since those that were chosen by our Lord. It does not say if children than
preachers. Here and there we'll find one
of them, but the most of God's people are not public preachers
and public speakers. It does not say, if children,
then healthy. No, some of the people of God
are sick, and some are afflicted. It does not say, if children,
then filled with assurance. No, no, because some of God's
people are vexed day by day with doubts and fears. Well, what
does it really say? It says, if children, if children,
then heirs. If children, then heirs. And so rejoice that we're heirs. You say, well, I don't know whether
I'm in or out. Well, if you don't know whether you're in or out,
if you don't know you're a child of God, there's a difference
between being dead and alive. And if you don't know whether
you're dead, if you don't know whether you're alive, you don't know where you
stand, then God pity you. You ought to be finding out pretty
soon. But if you're in Christ, you're alive and you're an heir
of God. You're an heir of God. Now let's
get back here to Peter again. Back to the book of Peter. And
let's look here and we'll try to wind this up here in just
a moment. Let's look at this again here in 1 Peter. 1 and
verse 4, we see here where that this is secure, that this is
a secure inheritance because it's reserved. It's reserved. I have to say something about
that because heaven is not to be scrambled for like land in
a land rush. No, no, no, no. Heaven is not
to be. Listen, heaven is a place. Listen
to that word, reserved. Reserved. What does that mean
to you? Well, there's a place in heaven is what that means
for every one of God's children. A place which I could not fill
for you, and you could not fill for me. There's a place reserved
for all the people of God. There's a harp which no fingers
could ever play but yours, and there's a crown which will not
fit any head in heaven but mine. That's right. That's what I believe.
Reserve! Reserve! This inheritance is
reserved. Believe it, beloved, it is reserved
in heaven for you. And then we have the security
of it also here in verse 5 when it says, who are kept by the
power of God. Now God keeps, the inheritance
is kept for you and you are kept for the inheritance. Now isn't
that something? God not only keeps the inheritance
reserved and up there for you, but he also keeps you for the
inheritance. Now this word here, kept, it's
a military word and it signifies, it has reference to a city that
is garrisoned, garrisoned about and defended. God keeps his people. He garrisons them about and defends
them. Think of a city, if you would,
that's besieged. That is an emblem of your condition,
as it were, in this world. The enemy keeps up the fire day
and night and sets the city on fire, and this is the way it
is with us. Satan bombards us with temptations
and beleaguers us with all the host of hell, and he would bring
our faith down. But here is our confidence. Here, beloved, is our confidence.
Our captain has walled us around. He has appointed salvation for
walls and bulwarks. We are safe. God's people are
safe in this world, though all the devils of hell surround us.
for we are garrisoned by omnipotence and we're walled about. God's
people are kept in this world. Each believer is kept by the
same power which bears the earth's huge pillars up and sustains
the very arches of heaven. God's people is a kept people. Now this keeping is complete
and continuous. And it will never end until we
need keeping no longer. Now that's the blessing of it.
We're kept. We're kept. Now, an old man one time who
had walked in the faith of the gospel for many, many years,
he was asked when he was getting ready to die by members of his
family, they said, what would you like for us to put on your
tombstone? What would you like for us to
write there? Well, after a long silence, the old man spoke up
and he said, put the word kept. kept on my tombstone. Now, this is a good description
of every believer's life kept by the power of God through faith
in Christ Jesus. That's the way it is with every
one of us. If God did not keep us, my friend,
what would become of us? what will become of us. Now,
I want to just mention these three things quickly here and
we're done. Number one, let me say that we
are kept and preserved in life by the power of God until the
appointed day of our calling. Now this is what the old Puritans
call prevenient grace. It is grace that goes before
and prepares the way for God's saving grace in Christ. Now what
I mean by that is this, that when God's people are born into
this world, God cares for them, protects them, and keeps them
until the hour appointed for their salvation. And nothing
is going to take them out of this world until they experience
the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to these
words in Jude. And there's only one chapter
in Jude and the first verse of that one chapter says, Jude the
servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them that are sanctified
by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Sanctified, meaning that we were
set apart by God to be His, and this was by God the Father, we
were preserved in Jesus Christ who was the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, and in time we were called in actual
experience out of sin into life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
there you have it, because God has made this everlasting covenant
of grace for us, He 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, the very hour that He gave us
life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you ever have a lot of close
calls before you were converted and wonder how you ever got out
of it? Well, I'll tell you what, God Himself has kept you until
He saved you, kept you, because He meant to save you. He determined
to save you before the foundation of the world, and so He kept
you alive until you would experience forgiveness of sin and eternal
salvation, the love of God toward your undeserving soul. Now, number two, we are now kept
and preserved in the way of faith by that same power and grace
of God. Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ,
what He said about all of His elect. He said in John 10 and
28, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. For my Father
which gave to me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them
out of His hand. So God preserves and keeps His
people in this life after they're converted as well as before their
conversion. Number three, all who trust Christ
are kept in all their ways by the power and grace of God throughout
their pilgrimage upon the earth. Psalm 91. Listen to these words
in Psalms 91. If you want to just listen, just
listen. I'll begin reading here at the 9th verse. Because thou hast made the Lord,
which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation, there
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy
dwelling. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot. against a
stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion
and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample
under feet. Because he hath set his love
upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because
he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I
will answer him. I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy
him and show him my salvation. So the Lord will undertake, and
though the flesh opposes us, Beloved, listen, mortals are
immortal until their work is done in this world. God's gonna
keep his people. You don't have to worry about
it. Go on out and get in the automobile
and go on down the highway. Drive like you have some sense,
but don't worry about it. Mortals are immortal until their
work is done in this world. And though flesh opposes and
Satan roars against us and trials and troubles vex us, we are kept
by the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
it wonderful and marvelous to be in Christ and to have the
arms of the Lord about us and to know that we're in His hands. Now listen to this little story
I'm going to tell you here at close here this morning. There
were two men that were horticulturalists and they were out one day, they
loved flowers and they were out looking for rare specimens of
flowers and so they found over the edge of a cliff down about
15 or 20 feet, they found this one flower that was growing and
they'd never before been able to get it. They only saw pictures
of it in books. And so it was a beautiful specimen
and they wanted it. And so they didn't know how they
were going to get it. It was growing right out of the rocks
on the side of this cliff. And so there was a little boy
that came down the road with a fishing pole over his shoulder. And so they said to him, Little
fella, we'll give you two dollars. If you'll just... We're going
to tie this rope we've got. We've got this real strong rope. And we'll tie it around your
waist. And we're going to let you down there. We're going to
give you this tin can. I want you to go down there and
I want you to pull that flower out real gently for us. Put it
in that tin can and we'll pull you back up. And so the little
boy, he looked down there and he said, well, that sounds pretty
good because he'd never had $2 at one time in his life. And
so he said, oh, I'd like to do that. But then the more he thought
of it, he said, that's, boy, he said, that's pretty risky.
That's a long ways down there and just straight down inside
that bank. And so he said, as he hesitated,
the fellows kept upping the money. And so finally, they got $10.
He said, we'll give you $10. If you'll just let us tie this
rope around your waist, just let you down there, no danger
in it, get that flower, bring you back up. And the little boy
finally said, well I'll tell you what I'll do. He said, I'll
do it if you'll let me go home and get my father to hold the
other end of that rope. And I'll tell you something,
this morning, the people of God, isn't it wonderful, isn't it
marvelous, As poor sinners we can get a hold of something and
it gets a hold of us. And on the other end of this
thing is God. God's on the other end of it.
Now you see that may not mean a whole lot to you until You
know, as long as we're in this world, isn't it amazing? We discuss
all kinds of things. We discuss, you know, whether
brown rice is better than white rice, and whether a Ford is better
than a Chevrolet. And we discuss all these different
and various things that don't mean anything. You give your
opinion, I give my opinion. And my opinion is not worth a
snap of your finger. Your opinion is not worth a snap
of my finger. But I'll tell you this. When
it comes down to being buried six feet under the earth, when
it comes down to dying, you know, then my friend, isn't it wonderful
and marvelous to be able to know that your Heavenly Father's got
a hold of the rope, that He's got a hold of the other end of
this thing, and that He is keeping His people. He keeps His people. And we belong to Him. And He's
not going to let go of the rope. I appreciate that little boy.
He had the right attitude. He wanted somebody he could trust
on the end of the rope. He didn't care how big that rope
was. We've got the rope of the gospel,
but the thing that makes it effectual is the fact that our Heavenly
Father is on the end of it. He's the one that's got to hold
that rope. And that's what secures the people of God. That's why
we can rejoice in the inheritance. That's why we can talk about
being kept. And know that we're talking about
something that's real. It's because God's on the other
end of this thing. He's got a hold of the rope.
And it's okay. Isn't that right? Amen, that's
right. May the Lord bless you this morning.
Give you some comfort from these things that we've talked about.
Give you a blessing in your soul. Father, we thank You for Your
Word, and I pray that some poor sinner here this morning might
get a hold of something that will hold them for all eternity,
that they might rejoice with us in Christ. In His name we
pray, Amen.