saints below and saints above, and they had the same song of
praise. What a blessed thought. Would
you turn back with me to 1 Peter chapter 1? Tonight, Andy Davis is going
to bring the message. And I want to remind you, we're
taking up an offering for Cody Groover's truck. I saw in the statement this morning that
we have almost $9,000 for him, and I'm thankful for that. And
I hope we can give even more to help him get this new truck. We'll keep taking up money to
the end of September. Now, as I have previously announced,
I've entitled this message, A Portrait of THE Christian. And when I was looking over my
notes this morning, I had entitled this message, A Portrait of A
Christian. And I marked that out. And I
thought, no, this is not a portrait of a Christian. This is a portrait
of THE Christian. If you are a Christian, I will
be, or Peter is painting a very accurate portrait of you. It's not going to be abstract.
It's not going to be impressionism. It's going to be very realistic.
You will see yourself, if you're a Christian, in this portrait. raises my interest. I want to
know if this is a portrait of me. I want it to be a portrait
of you. I want it to be a portrait of
me. Now I want you to remember that
the Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God. Second Timothy 316
says all scripture, scripture we just read, everything in this
book you have in your lap, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Somebody says, can you prove
that? No. No, I cannot. I also cannot prove that God
created the universe, but I have no doubt that he did. It takes much more of a stretch
of blind faith to not believe that he created the universe
than that he did create the universe. To think that life somehow arose
out of some primordial stew, now that takes a stretch of blind
faith. Where did the primordial stew
come from? Everything has to have a cause.
Things can't just be. God is the cause. And if God created the universe,
he could certainly verbally inspire a book through the tongues and
pens of sinful men, just like me and you, and preserve it infallible. And we have that this morning.
And if we don't have this, the inspired word of God, what do
we have? My opinion? Your opinion? Well, here's what I think. Who
cares? Really, who cares? I'm not saying that, you know,
mean way, I hope, but I feel kind of mean in a way when I
say, here's what I think. Nobody cares what you think.
What does God's Word say? What is the meaning of this book? Now the Bible, the inspired Word
of God, is given to tell us who God is and what He's like. There is
no way that you and I will know the living God, the God who lives,
apart from this book. The Bible was given to tell us
who man is, a creature, a creature created by God himself and what
he's like. a fallen creature, a sinful creature,
unable to save himself. And the Bible was given to tell
us how people like this, fallen
and sinful, can be saved by this living God of whom the Bible
speaks. That's the purpose of Holy Scripture.
And the Bible is given to give us a portrait, a picture, a likeness
of what somebody looks like and what they're like, whom the God
of this book has saved by His grace. I repeat, The title of
this message is A Portrait of the Believer. And if you are
a believer, if I'm a believer, this will be a portrait of you
and I. We'll see ourselves in every
single one of these points. And if I fail to see myself in
these points, it's because I'm not really a Christian. And you
know, if I'm not a Christian, you know what? I want to know
that. I want to be shown that even
this morning and be given grace by God to be a true Christian. A portrait of a Christian. Now, there are many portraits
of the Christian in the Bible. The first one that comes to my
mind is the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor. Those that
mourned, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who were
persecuted for righteousness sake. In that, the Lord tells
us what a believer is. Not what he should aspire to
be, but what he is. And in this passage of scripture,
we're given just as clear a portrait as to what a believer really
is. A portrait of the Christian. Verse 1, Peter, an apostle, That word simply
means sent one. Sent one. An apostle of Jesus
Christ. You know somebody's really sent
of Christ, I want to hear what they got to say, don't you? To the strangers. Now here is the first portrait of the Christian. He
is a stranger. A stranger. To the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia. Now a stranger is somebody who
is from somewhere else. And this world is not their home. You know, home is where you feel
comfortable. Some place that's not your home,
you don't really feel comfortable there. A stranger. This would describe
every believer a stranger. This world we live in right now
is not our home. We are strangers here. And that's the way we really
feel. In John chapter 17, verse 22, the Lord said, they are not
of the world. Speaking of all of God's people,
they, the Lord said earlier in that chapter, I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given
me. They are not of the world. Where are you from? I'm not from here. This is not my homeland. Every believer is a stranger. The world's religion, the world's
values, the world's maxim, the world's priorities are not ours. We are strangers, foreigners,
sojourners, pilgrims passing through. As Hebrews 11, 13 says, concerning
every believer, we confess that we're strangers and pilgrims
here on earth. We confess that. We know it. We're looking for our home city, the place where we're from, heaven. We're willing to go back to our
home city. Now, I don't understand that.
You say, were you ever in heaven? Well, if Christ was ever in heaven,
I was, because I'm united to him. He's the land slain from
the foundation of the world, and my original place is not
of this world. It's of heaven. And oh, how I
yearn to go back to my homeland. and to be out of this place of
sin, unbelief, misery, particularly speaking of my own sin. We're strangers here. Are you
a stranger? Or is this world your home? Is
this the place you really feel comfortable? You know, I see
some people who profess to be believers, but they seem so comfortable
in this world. They seem more at home in this
world than they do in the world to come. But every true believer,
every true Christian is a stranger. Now look what he says in verse
2. This is what initially drew me
to this passage of scripture. I've been thinking about this
passage of scripture, reading it every day since... Actually, it was the day I was
driving up to Cleveland in order to have this surgery. This passage
of scripture got on my mind, and I've read it every single
day, knowing that this is what I wanted to preach on. Not knowing
exactly what I wanted to say about it, but knowing I wanted
to preach on this. I love the way Peter says, elect. What is every true Christian? He is elect. You do not have to debate with
the elect about election, do you? If you're saved, you know that
he saved you. And that's what election is.
"'Tis not that I did choose thee. For Lord, that could not be.
This heart would still refuse thee, had thou not chosen me. Elect. I love the word. Elect. according as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world." Elect. All election says is God is God
and salvation really is all of grace. All of God's elect without
exception love election. Can you preach the gospel and
not have election as prominent? No way. You don't like to think
of Peter if somebody after he wrote this epistle said, well
I don't believe in election. What? Who are you? You certainly have a low view
of God, and he certainly has a low view of you. Elect. Elect. You can argue and debate about
election if you want, but the elect won't. Elect. What is a true Christian? Elect. According to, look in verse 2,
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now I love
this word foreknowledge. I think it's interesting how
people use this word to deny what election means. Well, God
foresaw who would believe. He looked down through the telescope
of time and because he's God he can see everything that would
take place. And he foresaw who would believe. He saw Todd would
believe. Therefore he elected him. I wish I could say what I want
to say about that. Can you guess the word? Bingo. That's it. You guessed it. The only other time the word
foreknowledge is used It's in Acts chapter 2, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. That's God's foreknowledge. That's
his absolute, complete control over everything. The Christian
is someone who lives in the world of God's foreknowledge. And we love it. Don't you love
the fact that God controls everybody and everything? Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through, look in verse 2, now election, understand
this. Election doesn't mean if you're
elect you're going to wind up in heaven, you're going to, how'd
I get here? No, no. You're elect through,
through sanctification of the Spirit. If somebody says, what
in the world does that mean? It means you're sanctified, set
apart by God the Holy Spirit, given a holy nature, sanctified. This is the work of God the Spirit
in salvation. The work of the Trinity is clearly
set forth in this passage of Scripture. Sanctified by God
the Spirit. Second Thessalonians 2.13, Paul
says we're bound. to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, you know what that means?
What is the evidence that I've been sanctified by the Spirit
of God? I believe the truth. Beloved, if you believe the truth,
it's because God the Holy Spirit has sanctified you and given
you a new nature, a holy nature, a nature that was not there before.
You've been sanctified by God the Spirit, and the evidence
of that is you believe the gospel. Do you believe the gospel? Well,
there's a reason. You've been sanctified by the
Spirit of God, but let's go on reading. Verse 2, According to
the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Now I think it's interesting
that I read probably 15, 20 different translations to see how they
dealt with this passage of Scripture. And the great majority of them
translated this scripture, you've been elect unto obedience to
Christ and the sprinkling of his blood. You know, that just jars. Would I talk about my personal
obedience and put it in the same sentence as the sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ? Now this is not saying a believer
will not be obedient. He goes on to speak of obedient
children. But this is talking about the
obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5, that
every thought may be brought into captivity to the obedience
of Christ. Now, here is why I'm sanctified
by the Spirit. Here is why I'm elect, because
of the obedience of Christ and the sprinkling of His blood. Now here is something that every
Christian believes with all their heart. That the obedience of
Jesus Christ is the only righteousness that I have. And that the sprinkling
of His blood, His shed blood applied to me by God is the only
way my sins can be forgiven. What can wash away my sins? What? Nothing. but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now, this is something that all
of God's elect have in common. They know the only righteousness
there is, is the perfect obedience of Christ to God's holy law as
their substitute. And His precious shed blood,
the blood of sprinkling, the scripture says, that speaks better
things than that of Abel. Hebrews chapter 12. You remember
when God said to Cain, your brother's blood speaks to me from the ground? What does it say? Get him back. Vengeance. Justice. What does the blood of Christ
cry from the ground? Yes, it cries for justice, but
you know what else it cries for? Forgiveness. Mercy. Grace. Oh, the obedience and
the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Verse 2, the last phrase, grace
unto you, and peace be multiplied. Now what word comes to your thinking
as a believer? If you have the obedience of
Christ, the sprinkling of His blood, if you're elect, if you're
sanctified by the Spirit, what comes to your mind? Grace. A toll could be grace. This is the grace of God. And
what comes as a result of that? Peace. Peace. The peace of knowing that
all God requires of me is found in the obedience and the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why I've been sanctified
by the Spirit. That's why I'm elect. Christ
be my first elect, He said. Then chose us in Him our living
head. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy. have begotten us again unto a
lively hope, a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. Two things are said of the believer
here. He's been born again, begotten
again, And number two, he has a living hope. Not a dead hope,
but a living hope. And the reason he has these things,
being born again and having a living hope, is because of God's abundant
mercy. Every Christian traces the stream
of their grace to God's abundant mercy. Not their works, not an
act of their will, not something they've done, but God's abundant
mercy. And the Christian has a living
hope because their hope lives. My hope is Him who lives. And because my hope is Him who
lives, I have a living hope. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now, all of my hope is found
right here. The resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. There's my living hope. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now listen to this scripture.
Romans 8 31 says, If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that's risen again. You see, my living hope is not
because I see something in me My living hope is because Jesus
Christ rose from the dead, and all my hope is in Him. He is my hope. Verse 4, every Christian is an heir. to an inheritance. Now, everybody in here knows
what it's like to be in debt, to owe money. You know, if you
knew that you would inherit $100 million, that debt wouldn't be
bothering you so much, would it? It wouldn't. It may look bad
now, but it's going to be good. An heir. Now what is an heir? An heir is somebody who gets
everything they have solely because of their connection with somebody
else. It's not because they earned it. It's not because they deserve
it. It's wholly because of their
connection with somebody else. I'm an heir of God solely because
of my connection with Christ. Joint heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, Come ye, blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. And look how this inheritance
is described in verse 4. Every Christian is an heir. And
remember, if you're a Christian, you're an heir of God, and it's
wholly because of your connection with Christ. It's not something
you've done, it's something He's done. and you've been united
to Him and you're in Him. Whatever He has coming, you have
coming because you're connected with Him. You're an heir of God
through our Lord Jesus Christ to an inheritance and He uses
four words to describe that inheritance. To an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved, in heaven for you. Incorruptible. It's not liable
to corruption. Undefiled. Free from that which
could debase it. Sin. It fades not away. It's perennial. It's eternal. And it's reserved. It's reserved. The Lord said,
Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also
in me. Do you believe that God is all-powerful? You believe that? Me too. Do you believe that God is eternal
and never had a beginning? You believe that about me. You
believe He's all-wise, sovereign, just, gracious, whatever you
want to say. Believe in me also. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. And I go and prepare a place for you. Now that doesn't mean he went
up there to tie the upper room for you. He went to the cross. to prepare this place for you. And it is reserved. It's got your name on it even
right now. There's a lot of seats in heaven.
A lot of seats. And every one of them has a name
on it. Reserved in heaven for you. Well, who's the you? Look in
verse 5, it's reserved in heaven for you who are kept. A Christian is someone who is
kept, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Now this tells me, first of all,
a Christian knows that they cannot keep themselves. If God withdrew his hand from
me, and left me to myself. Without doubt, I would be as
bad as Satan himself. You couldn't tell the difference
between the two of us. I think of the Gaderonic demon-possessed
man crying, Let us alone, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God.
Well, who's crying? The man or the demons? Can't tell the difference between
the two? A Christian is one who is kept. They can't keep themselves. They're
kept by the almighty power of God. Now that's a portrait of
Christian. He's somebody who's kept. Christian,
why haven't you fallen away? One reason. Only one reason. I've been kept. Kept by omnipotence. Kept by the power of God. The
only thing that'll keep me is omnipotence. You believe that
about yourself? The only thing that'll keep me
is the mighty power of God through faith. Don't ever leave out faith. Faith is the gift of God, but
you're kept through faith. What's that mean? You're kept
by continuing to look to Christ as all you have in salvation.
That's what that means. Kept through faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, Satan has desired to have
you that he may sift you as wheat. And it wasn't in the hard time
for him to do it, did he? turned inside out, but the Lord said,
but I prayed for you. What? That your faith fail not. And that's what a believer is.
He's somebody who believes. That's what believers do, isn't
it? What's a believer do? He believes. He believes. Kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation. I love the word salvation. Matthew
121, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. That's what I need. I need to
be saved from my sins. I always give three Ps. Probably
every one of you know them. I'm going to give four this time. First, I'm saved from the penalty
of sin. Christ bore my penalty. Secondly, I'm saved from the
power of sin. There was a time when I could
not believe. I lacked the ability to believe.
I do now. There was a time when I couldn't repent. I'm repenting
right now while I'm talking to you. There was a time when I
could not love. I love him now while I'm speaking
to you. Why? I've been saved from the power of sin. Now, if
there's anyone who thinks, I'm not under the power of sin. I
mean, I can keep from this sin. I can keep from that sin by the
grace of God. All you prove by that, you're
under the complete dominion of sin. You're under the power of
sin. Somebody who's been saved from
the power of sin sees that the only way they can be saved is
by what he does for them. Amen? That's the truth. Saved from the presence of sin,
that is in glorification. I'll be saved from the presence
of sin where I won't sin anymore. But here's the fourth P that
I don't know if I've ever given before. We're saved from the
penalty of sin. We're saved from the power of
sin. We're saved from the presence of sin. But listen to this. We're
saved from the pleasure of sin. What's that mean? Do you know
when I'm in heaven, in Christ's presence, I will find no pleasure
in sin? And scripture says there's pleasure
in sin for a season. If there wasn't pleasure in sin,
you wouldn't sin. There's pleasure in sin for a season. But oh,
when I'm in his presence, I will be saved from the very pleasure
of sin, where it's, don't want to have anything to do with it. What a blessed thought that is.
Verse 6, wherein in this salvation you greatly rejoice. Don't you rejoice in being saved
from sin? You greatly rejoice in that. That's what a Christian
is. Though now, I love this, though now for a season If need
be, if it's necessary, you're in heaviness through manifold
temptations. Now, he says to the Christian,
right now, you're in heaviness, distressed, distraught, brought
down, depressed, through manifold temptations. Temptation to sin,
temptation to walk away, temptation to give yourself completely to
the flesh, temptation. Temptation from people, people
who misrepresent you, people who slander you, people who abuse
you, people who don't do you right, You're in heaviness through
these manifold temptations. Now listen to this. Every one
of these things are for you. They're for you, given by the
kindness of God, who knows exactly what you need. Whatever trouble
that is, this is for you. It's for your good. It's for
His glory. There's a needs be to it. It's
exactly what you need. Your Heavenly Father, who is
too wise to err, and too kind to be cruel, gives you exactly
what you personally need. This was made for you. all the trouble that I have, it's for me, for my good, for
His glory, given to me by my kind and loving Heavenly Father. If need be, you're in heaviness
through manifold temptations, that the trial, the testing of
your faith, be much more precious than that of gold that perishes,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, when Jesus
Christ appears, and you have persevered all the way to the
end, and you've made it through all these trials, you know who's
going to get the glory and the praise and the honor? You? No. No. Him. What a trophy of grace
you will be. What a monument of the power
of His grace. Every believer. Verse 8, Whom, having not seen,
you love. Now this can only describe the
Christian He loves somebody he has never seen much more than
anyone he has seen. I repeat, this can only be said
of the Christian. He loves one he's never seen. Now you know I've never seen
the Lord Jesus Christ physically. And I love Him by grace more
than any human being I know. I see Him as altogether lovely,
beautiful, glorious. And I've seen Him by faith. I've seen Him by faith. I've
seen by faith that He's God. I've seen by faith that He's
all to God, that He's all in the Bible, that He's all in salvation. I've seen by faith that He's
all to me. He's all my salvation. I've seen him by faith, but I've
not seen him physically. Whom having not seen, you love. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know all things. You know how weak I am. You know
how sinful I am. I can't fool you. You know what
a hypocrite I am, you know how self-serving I am, you know how
sinful I am, and you know that I love you. You know. Might be nobody else knows, but
you do. Whom having not seen, you love. Though now you seem not yet believing,
believing the gospel, Believing what you cannot see, you rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls. A believer's a
receiver. He's a receiver. What do you have that you didn't
receive? What a beautiful portrait of
a Christian. A stranger, elect, living in
the world of God's foreknowledge, sanctified by the Spirit because
of the sprinkling of the blood and the obedience of Jesus Christ,
one who has been begotten again by the abundant mercy of God
unto a living hope totally caused by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, one who's an heir, one who's kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, One who greatly rejoices
in this salvation, if need be, there in heaviness, through manifold
temptations. One who passes the test. How? By persevering to the end. The
trial of their faith. Whom, having not seen, ye loved,
and whom though now ye seem not, yet believing, ye rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now, if I'm a Christian, Every
one of those things are mine. May God enable us to enter into
this beautiful portrait, so realistic, nothing abstract about this,
of what a Christian is. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank You for Your
Word. How we thank You for Your grace.
How we thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation
that's in Him. Lord, we stand amazed. We stand amazed that You would
make Yourself known to us. And we give thanks. Lord, take
this Word and bless it. for your glory and our eternal
good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Matt, got a closing hymn for us?