impulsive but loving Christ. And our Lord said, will you also
go away? Thousands had left. They said, this is a hard saying.
Who can hear it? He turned to the twelve. He said,
will you go away? Peter again said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and we're sure that thou art the Christ.
We believe and we're sure. I believe. And I'm sure he's
the Christ, the Son of the living God. And here, when he closes
this epistle, in verse 12, he sent this by Silvanus, a faithful
brother. And he says, testifying, this
is the true grace of God. This epistle. This is the grace
of God. Well, let's look at chapter 5.
I believe it falls into three parts. We're going to go just
verse by verse, phrase by phrase. And I believe it falls naturally
into three parts. First of all, Peter has a word
for the preachers. There's several elders and preachers
here tonight. And Peter has a word for us,
those who teach and preach God's word. And then he has a word
for all the believers in the church, every believer. And then
he closes this fifth chapter and closes this epistle with
a sure foundation for all seasons, for all seasons, in season, out
of season, a sure foundation. And that's what I call this message,
a sure foundation for all seasons. Well, let's see what he says
to the elders, to those who teach and preach the words. The elders, which are among you,
I exhort, who am also an elder." I'm a preacher, he said. I'm
a preacher. Preaching is so important. I
made a statement in a message here not long ago. Never, never
underestimate the value of preaching. Preaching. Noah was a preacher.
Preacher of righteousness. David was a preacher. Solomon
called himself the preacher. He said, I, the preacher, was
king over Israel. And our Lord honored this calling
by preaching himself. Our Lord began to preach, preach,
and preach. And Peter says, I'm a preacher.
I'm a preacher, just like you are. I'm a preacher, an elder,
a minister of the gospel. And look, he says, I'm an elder
and I'm a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Now, in Peter's case,
this is twofold. He was an eyewitness of the sufferings
of Christ. Peter was sitting there in the
courtyard when our Lord was being harassed and tormented and spat
upon. And I just imagine he was somewhere
around that cross and he was an eyewitness. of the sufferings
of Christ. But you know, the sufferings
of Christ are the every believer's an eyewitness. The Old Testament,
let me show you that, an eyewitness being the eye of faith. Look
at Luke 24. The Old Testament, that's what,
these men who wrote the Old Testament were witnesses of the suffering
of Christ. And we can say we are eyewitnesses. Peter with the natural eye, but
we with spiritual eyes. And these men back in the Old
Testament, look at Luke chapter 24, beginning with verse 44. This is the Lord speaking to
the disciples after he had been crucified and risen from the
tomb. And he said to them in verse 44, Luke 24, these are
the words which I have spoken to you while I was yet with you.
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, Thus it is written," this is what the Old Testament is
about, "...thus it is written of Christ to suffer," the sufferings
of Christ, "...and to rise again," to rise from the dead, the third
day. These men in the Old Testament,
Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, were eyewitnesses of the sufferings
of Christ. They saw the sufferings of Christ
that would come, not only his physical sufferings. That's what
Peter saw with these eyes. But he understood with the heart
the spiritual sufferings. Our Lord not only suffered for
us in the body, he made his soul an orphan for sin. That was the
real agony. That was the real conflict. That
was the real pain and suffering. And agony was his soul. My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He made his soul an offering
for sin. And then we're witnesses of the
sufferings of Christ. Peter was an eyewitness, an eye
of faith witness. And then this is our calling,
to preach the sufferings of Christ. Paul summed it up, he said, I'm
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, and Him crucified, the sufferings of Christ. I'm
an eyewitness of the sufferings of Christ. All right, read on
verse 1. I'm an elder like you are. I'm a witness of the sufferings
of Christ, and I'm a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
What's he talking about here? He's talking about the glory
of Christ, the glory of the Lord Jesus. Turn to John 17. Our Lord,
in this great prayer in John 17, he tells us what Peter is
expressing here. He says in John 17, verse 22,
verse 20. Let's start with verse 20, John
17, 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
these disciples here with me, but I
pray for them which shall believe on me through their word, that
they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me, and the glory, and the glory which thou
hast given me, I have given them." Peter said, I'm an elder. I'm
a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And I'm by his grace,
in Christ as you pray, a partaker of his glory. I expect to be
glorified, and so do you. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness in his glory. The glory of his
perfection, the glory of his holiness, the glory of his presence,
the glory of his eternal life, a partaker of that glory. And
that's what he prays. The glory you gave me I've given
them, that they may be one as we are, and I in them and thou
in me." Oh, listen, we've got to read this 23rd verse. "...that
they may be made perfect in one, and that this world may know
that thou hast sent me, and you love them as you love me." I
know that's difficult for us on this earth with all of its
conflict and sin and struggling and suffering and pain and disappointment
and heartache and and old age and To realize that someday we
gonna be like Christ Hardly hold up, but it's so We're gonna see
him and be like him See him as he is and be like it. What a
day Mike sings that oh, what a day that will be We'll be like
Christ. And then he says, verse 2, feed
the flock of God. Still talking to the elders.
Feed God's people. Feed the flock of God, which
is among you. Who better can speak on this
subject than Peter? He denied the Lord. He doubted. He was fearful. He quit the ministry. I really believe when he was
with those disciples in that upper room, and they were waiting
together, Peter got weary, and he said, I'm going fishing. Now
fishing wasn't a hobby with Peter like it is with some of you fellas.
That was his livelihood. That's what he'd been doing all
his life, fishing. The boats, the nets, the sea,
that was his life, all of his life. And James and John, that
was their occupation. And he just got up and said,
I'm going fishing. They said, wait, we'll go with you. And so they
headed out to sea. They went out in the boat. And
they were, listen, they weren't, they were serious about it. They'd
taken their, thrown off their clothes. They just had these
little loincloths. They were fighting to catch fish. They were bringing nets in and
working hard back fishing. Back fishing. Don't worry about
the church anymore. We'll fish. We'll fish. They quit the ministry. And the
voice from the shore said, Children! Have you caught any fish? And
old John looked at Peter and he said, I know who that is.
That's the Lord. That's the Lord. And Peter grabbed
his fisherman coat and dived into the sea. I think several
reasons. I think number one, He wanted
to get to the Lord first and explain what he was doing out
there. I bet, you know, four of the rest of them got there.
Maybe, I don't know. But secondly, he was embarrassed. He was ashamed. And thirdly,
he did love Christ. He did love Christ. And he was
glad to see Him. And he was ready to go back to
preaching, too, I think. But he dove in, and he swam.
It was about 100 yards out, according to the Scripture. And he swam
in. And the rest of them got the nets. They had the nets out,
so they had to bring them in. And they all rode in. They got
there, and the Lord had a meal for them. He had fish, and he
had bread, already cooked. And they sat around to eat. And
then he called Peter over to the side. Just he and this apostle, this
man writing this word, he said, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Yeah, Lord, I
love thee. Then you feed my lambs. You let
somebody else do the fishing. You feed my lambs. And that wasn't
the end of it. He said, Peter, do you love me?
Yes, Lord. You know I love you. You feed
my sheep. Feed my little ones and feed
my big ones. That's what I called you to do,
to feed my sheep. To feed them. Didn't call you to shear them.
I called you to feed them. And then he asked him the third
time, he said, you love me. He said, Lord, you know everything.
You know I love you well. Feed my sheep. He got the message,
didn't he? He got the message. Feed my sheep. And that's what he tells you
and me. Elders, feed my sheep. Not entertain them. Not organize
them. Feed them. Feed them. I study, these pastors and elders
study, and we still have to study some more. I wish I could retain
what I've read. I wish I could retain it for
a day. But you have to stay with it. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing
this work. There's no excuse for an elder
to be unprepared. preach the way. No excuse. It'd be like a brain surgeon
going into surgery unprepared. You'd fire him, wouldn't you?
Well, preachers ought to be fired too. They're unprepared to teach
God's word. Paul, as he writes here in Hebrews,
chapter 13, verse 7, speaking to the church, he said, remember
them that have the rule over you. Like a father in a home, it's
a rule of love. It's a rule of responsibility. It's a rule of authority. It's
a rule of leadership. It's a rule because every ship
needs a captain. Every school needs a principal.
Every job needs a foreman. And without that, you have chaos.
And you have it going in all different directions. If three
men ride a horse, one of them's got to hold the reins. If all
three of them hold the reins, you've got problems. And this
is what it is. You'll see it in a moment. It's
not lording it over God's people. It's not controlling their thoughts
and their lives. It's ruling in love, leading. Listen to Hebrews 13, 7. Remember
them that have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the
word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their
conversation. Considering the goal of their
conversation considering the end and the goal of their message
is our salvation Again another verse there in Hebrews 13 verse
17 Obey them that have the rule over you submit to submit yourselves
to them they watch for your soul As they that must give an account
I've got to give an account of what I preached for 45 years.
You've got to give an account for what you've heard. Take heed
how you hear. They watch for your souls as
they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not
with grief. That's unprofitable for you.
If God sends a pastor, a leader, his minister to a place to preach
and to lead that congregation and people submit and listen
and follow his leadership and follow his message, it's well. But when they don't, it's bad. It's bad. It's unprofitable. And he says to these elders,
he said, you feed the flock of God, you take the leadership.
Back here in our text, 1 Peter 5, take the oversight there,
not by constraint, do it willingly. One man said about preaching
one time, well, it's a job. He needed to get out and get
out quickly. It's not a job, it's a calling.
It's a joy. And we take this leadership and
take this responsibility willingly, not somebody doesn't make us.
We don't do it not for filthy lucre. We don't do it because
it's a job. We don't do it to make a living.
We don't do it to make ends meet. We do it for the glory of God. and for the good of his people
and for their growth. You know, we have a lot of school
teachers in this congregation. Some of them have been teaching
a long time. Well, I can tell you this, there
ain't a whole lot of money in teaching school. But they don't do it
for that reason. They do it because they love
children. They do it because they want to see children grow
and mature and learn. And the very happiest thing for
a teacher is when a student does well. and learns and prospers
and makes something out of themselves. And that teacher said, well,
it's worthwhile. I could have made more money working somewhere
else. But money's not the issue. There's
not a whole lot of money in preaching. But that's not what we do it
for, is it, Pop? When Tom Harding went down to Pikeville to be
pastor, I appreciate this so much. They said, what are you
going to need to live on? He said, whatever you give me.
That's what I live on. God please through you give me,
that's what I live on. Don't do it for filthy lucre.
Don't do it by constraint. Don't do it as a job. Don't do
it because you have to. Don't ever step into the pulpit
because you have to. Do it because you want to. With
him. That's what he said. And verse
3, don't be lords over God's hair. Don't lord it over God's
people. See that's what I'm talking about. God's pastor, a good pastor
is a leader. And he's a firm leader, and he's
a dedicated leader, and he's a consecrated leader, and he's
a leader with a conscience and a heart, but he doesn't lord
it over God's heritage. We have one Lord, Christ. We
don't need any more. Don't call anybody master. You
have one master, Christ. Don't call anybody father. Christ
is your father. God is your father. And I'll
tell you who better to write this than Peter. Catholics made him the first
Pope. You talk about a man that would be horrified, horrified,
if he were on this earth and somebody tried to make a Pope
out of him. Peter says, you're not a lord over God's heritage,
you're an example. You're an example. And that's how you lead, by example.
Now I love this next verse. And when the chief shepherd,
you know why Christ is called the chief shepherd? Because he
is. We're under shepherds, aren't we? We're under shepherds. He's the chief shepherd. He said,
I'm the great shepherd, great shepherd of the sheep. I'm the
good shepherd. I'm not any of those things.
I'm just a shepherd under him. But he's coming back. He's coming
back. The chief shepherd's going to
appear. And you elders, you elders, you preachers, are going to receive
a crown of glory that fadeth not away. You're going to receive
a crown of glory that you can never lose. You're going to receive
a crown of glory that no one can take away from you. Well,
man, where are you headed? I've heard you preach so much
against rewards in heaven. I'm still preaching against them. The word rewards, plural, rewards,
plural, is never mentioned in the Bible in reference to a believer.
Isn't that right, Fr. Paul? Never. The singular word
reward, and you know who that is? Christ is my reward. He's
coming. His reward is with Him. It is
Him. And our Lord God said to Abraham,
I'm your reward. You're exceeding great reward.
What's Paul talking here about, this crown of glory? Let me show
you. He talks about it. What's Peter
talking about here? Well, he's talking about what
Paul's talking about in 1 Thessalonians. Turn to 1 Thessalonians. Let's
see how Paul describes this reward, or this crown of gold. 1 Thessalonians
2. 1 Thessalonians 2. Now, you need
to see this. This is the preacher's delight.
This is the preacher's crown, the elder, and the witnesses,
all of you. who ministered the gospel even to these children
in the nursery, in the little classes, in the teenage classes,
in the adult classes, wherever you've witnessed, wherever you've
taught the Word, here's your crown. Paul said, verse 17, 1
Thessalonians 2, But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short
time, in presence, not in heart, I'm with you in heart, the more
abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore, we would
have come unto you, even our Paul, once and again. I'd come
back, but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope? What is
our joy? What is my crown of rejoicing?
Well, he tells you. Are not even you in the presence
of our Lord Jesus at his coming? You are my glory and my joy. As I said, I pastored here come
September, 45 years. And I preached to a lot of you
and a lot of people. A lot of them, some of them are
gone. I saw Jeff Thornberry's sister this morning. Every time
I see her, I think of him. She looks so much like him. But
Jeff's in the presence of the Lord. I preached to him. I was
his pastor. And I can name so many more.
I wouldn't start naming them all because I just had him on
my mind. But I'm going to see the people I preach to in the
presence of the Lord, and that's going to be my joy. That's going
to be my crown of rejoicing. That's going to be the happiest
day. That's right. You're going to
see. Paul said here, he said, are you up? What is my hope?
What is mine? What's my crown of rejoicing?
It's when I see you standing in His presence, made in His
likeness, in His glory, and I'm going to jump for joy. That's
right. He gets all the glory. I didn't
have nothing to do with it. But I was close by when He called
you. He used me as the instrument to take the gospel to somebody.
I tell you, that's crowning up. That's glory enough, that's joy
enough, isn't it? Why, sure it is, and that's what
Peter said. And that's when the chief shepherd, when he appears,
you elders, keep preaching. You say, well, not many folks
listen to me. No, not many folks listen to
Isaiah either. He said, who has to leave my report? To whom is
the Lord revealed? Peter said one day, Lord, are
you to be saved? Yeah, but there's a few. Well,
if somebody's going to hear it, these folks have heard it from
all walks of life. They've heard it. Your folks
hear it. And I'll tell you this. If someone
can be the instrument through which God calls one of his sheep,
that life has been well spent. Just one. That's right. Especially if it's me. That's
right. Especially. If Barnard, if God
didn't save but one person under Barnard's minister, it's worthwhile
to me. I'm glad he came. I'm glad he
put up with everything he put up with. And endured everything
he endured. And walked every mile he walked.
Because he brought me the gospel. Alright, let's read on. Here's
a word to believers. In verse 5, likewise ye younger,
submit yourselves to the elder. This is not talking about two-year-olds
and three-year-olds and four-year-olds. It's talking about younger in
faith. You that are younger in faith. Somebody here may be 30
or 40 years old, but only been saved a year or two. And that's
who he's talking about here, isn't it? Younger in faith. Submit
yourselves to the, not just the elder in office, but the elder
in faith. That's right. You submit yourselves. See, a novice, is not to be followed. Older believers are to be followed.
Men and women with experience, who've been around a while. That's
what Paul said about laying hands suddenly on any man. He said,
don't do it. Let them first be tried. Tried
by years, tried by experience, tried by suffering, tried by
the Word. Let them first be tried, because
if you put a man in leadership too early, he might be lifted
up with pride. And God will have to bring him
down and you with him. So be careful. And you younger,
keep this in mind now. You listen to the older believers.
That's right. I know in this day, sometimes
young people are plagued with the idea that these old folks
don't know much. But believe me, they do. Believe me, they
do. They've been taught by God, taught
by the Word, and taught by trial, and taught by suffering, and
taught by experience. And it's good to listen to them.
It's profitable. So you younger, listen to the
older people. Listen to the, not just the preacher,
and listen to the older people. And then he says, yeah, I love
you. Every one of you, be subject one to another. Be subject one
to another. What does that mean? That means
don't let strife continue. Give in. Give in. Don't let strife and discord
continue. Don't let a matter be continued.
Drop it. Be subject. Be subject to other
people's feelings. Be subject to other people's
desires. Be subject to other people's
needs. Be subject to other people's wisdom. Be subject to one another.
And be clothed with humility. Now this is so important here.
I don't want to skip too much here. Have a humble heart. You
know, we read about Uzziah this morning, such a great king. He
was 16 years old when he started reigning in Israel, and he reigned
52 years, and he reigned so well. He was a benevolent, good king,
but what happened? But his heart was lifted up with
pride. And I tell you, pride anywhere
is abominable, but in a minister or in a believer, it's twice
abominable. Pride and grace are the two opposites. contradictory. Pride and grace
cannot go together. God is known to them of a broken
heart. What does he say here about pride?
He says God resists the proud. And that means any kind of pride.
Pride of race, pride of grace, pride of place, pride of faith. God resists the proud. He said
seven things I hate. The first one is pride. God resists
the He gives grace to the humble, so submit to the word. Submit to God. Submit to one
another. Come down. Come down. Come down. He says in verse 6,
humble yourselves. Humble yourselves. And everything
we have by grace, I know that. But I'll tell you this, when God sends us a word, or
an experience or a message. There's a responsibility for
the believer to walk in the truth, isn't there? Humble yourself. Well, I'll let God humble me.
You don't know what you're saying. He'll set your fields on fire
if he sets out. You humble yourself and he won't
have to destroy you. Isn't that right? Humble yourselves
under the hand of God, under the word of God, under the preaching
of the gospel, under God's teachings. Take what you hear and put it
in use in our daily lives. You know, I think sometimes we
go over these things and people say, that's good preaching. It's
more than good preaching, it's good practice. It's a whole lot
more than good preaching. And if that's all it is to us,
is good preaching, and we go on out the same way we came in,
just as self-centered, just as proud, just as high and mighty,
just as self-centered, then it hadn't been good practice. It
hadn't been good preaching either. Good preaching is when it's applied.
And when we take it and feed on it and walk in it, And say,
Lord, I'm going to do that by your grace. I'm going to be what
you want me to be by your grace. Or put forth every effort. You
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Yeah, but what then? He'll exalt you in due time. The fellow that exalts himself
is going to be brought down. The fellow who bows to the Lord
God, humbles himself under the hand of God, God will exalt him
in his own time. And that's permanent. That's
not the froth and foolishness and frivolity of this fashionable
world. That's God exalting you. And
it'll never, it'll never fade away. That's what he said, I'll
give you a crown of glory that fades not away. This earth's
praise and glory fades away. But when God exalts you, it's
forever. That's right. It's forever. All
right, listen to this. A word to the believer. Cast
all your care upon him. Cast the care of your body, the
care of your family, the care of your fears, the care of your
worries, the care of your years, the care of your children. I
sat there tonight, again, getting ready to come over here and preach,
and I read that, and I'm just so uptight about preaching. You
know what I mean. You all know what it is. And
I thought, cast that on him too. That's right. Just down on me.
Cast the care of the burden of preaching on him. That won't
keep you from studying that. Inspiration is 90% preparation. Presperation. But cast that on
him too. Some of you are facing some tough
days this week. Cast that on him. Some physical ailments and some
examination and tests and future surgeries. Cast it on him. Why? He cares for you. You know what
it means? It's twofold. He cares for you. He loves you. You know, used
to a boy say to a girl, I care for you, you know. He didn't
say, I love you. Big old macho fellas don't say,
I love you. They say, I care for you. He
meant he loved you. And you cast your care on him
because he loves you. And then you cast your care on
him because he cares for you. He provides for you. Usually
somebody you love, you'll provide for them. You don't have trouble
providing for them. Why? You love them. So that's what he exhorts us
to do. Cast our care on him. He cares for us. He loves us.
And He provides our needs. Sometimes we get our wants mixed
up with our needs, don't we? He gives us our wants, too, in
many cases, but not all the time. But our need, all our need, He
meets. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
And then He says in verse 8, be sober, be serious. Let me
warn you here. Frivolity connected with spiritual
things is deadly. There's a scripture in Ecclesiastes,
and I may not be able to turn to it because I didn't jot it
down, but it's Ecclesiastes, I think, chapter 10. That's where
it is. I see it here. Chapter 10, verse
1. I want you to look at it. Be sober. Be serious. Be serious. That doesn't mean Don't rejoice
and don't be happy. I'm happy, aren't you? I rejoice,
but I'm serious about this preaching business. I'm serious about worship,
that's what she's talking about. We have one great need, and that's
His presence. And don't be frivolous, because
watch this verse one, Ecclesiastes 10. Dead flies cause the ointments
of the apothecary to send forth a stinking odor. In other words,
in the pharmacia, in the pharmacy, in the drug store, the ointment
or the thing that flies in it, it's fog. It sends forth a bad
odor. As doth a little folly him that is in reputation for
wisdom and honor. When we get in this thing of
the gospel and God and eternal and the things of the scripture.
You mix a whole lot of folly with your teaching, and with
your exhortation, and in your life, and in your daily conversation,
when you get serious, nobody's going to pay attention to you. See what I mean? You can't,
the two, that's what he says in verse 8 of our text, be sober.
Serious. Special things of God. And he
says in verse 8, be vigilant. That word is be watchful. Be
watchful. Be vigilant. Because your adversary,
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he
may devour. He's subtle and crafty. He sure
worked Eve over, didn't he? Deceived her. And Peter was no
match. Satan deceived him. He denied
his Lord. And he's a roaring lion. And
in verse 9, it says, whom resist steadfast in the faith. How am
I going to resist him? I hear these preachers say, you
just do battle with the devil. No, you don't want to do that.
You don't want to do that. Michael, the archangel, gave
us an example of when Satan was contending with him over the
body of Moses, whether it was the body of the book or the body
of Moses, immaterial. They were contending over something.
And Michael said, Satan the Lord rebuked them and that's how we
resist him in the faith in the faith in faith of Christ in believing
Christ and Looking to Christ. I'll show you another way to
in Ephesians turn over here a moment. This is so important and I'm
telling you the truth What is the whole armor of God
in Ephesians 6 look at verse 11 Put on the armor of God, that
you may be able to stand against the wows, the deceptions, the
subtlety of Satan. We don't wrestle against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness
of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take
unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand
in that evil day in having done all to stand. Stand therefore,
here's the armor of God, having your loins girt about with the
truth Truth of Christ, truth of salvation, truth of the Word,
truth of the Spirit. Lead on, having on the breastplate
of righteousness, not my righteousness, his. Trust in him and his righteousness,
and your feet shall be the preparation of the gospel. This is the believers,
this is the knight of God. K-N-I-G-H-T, the knight of Christ,
the knight of the gospel. This is his armor. It's the shield
of faith. It's the breastplate of righteousness. It's your feet shod with the
gospel. And above all, take the shield of faith, and you'll be
able to quench all the fire darts of the wicked. And take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God. See that? That's the way. What am I going to do with this?
With my doubts and fears and satanic attacks and all these
things, you're going to turn to the Word of God. And use it
on him and you. Use it on you especially. When
Satan tipped at our Lord, our Lord always said, it's written.
It's written. It's written. And that's how
you can press down doubts and fears and all these things that
he plants. It's written. It's written. All
right, let me close just by reading this foundation for all seasons. In verse 9, resist in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brother
that in the world. We all have afflictions. The
word common is used in reference to the believer several times
in the Bible. We have all things in common.
The first time It says when our Lord preached, the common people
heard him. That's us. Common folk. They
heard him. And they were brought together
in a common faith. There's one faith. Christ. And then they enjoy a common
salvation. We're all redeemed. We're all
brothers and sisters in Christ. One in Christ. And then they have common afflictions. We're all hurt. Physically, we
all hurt in many ways. We all have trials and suffering.
We all have sickness. We all have loved ones who have
sickness. We all have death. It's common affliction. But,
verse 10, but the God of all grace, He's the God of all grace. Grace is only found in God. Did
you know that? I'll show you. If we have any
grace, it's God-given. I'll tell you what real grace
is. Real grace forgives the unfaithful. Doesn't matter who it is or what's
the circumstances. Grace forgives the unfaithful. Secondly, real grace welcomes
the prodigal, embraces him, clothes him, exalts him, and kisses him. Welcome. That's right. No reservation. Grace doesn't say, now don't
do this again. I'll take you in this time, but not next time.
I'll take you in next time, and next time, and next time. That's
grace. Grace counsels the dead. Grace
says, you don't owe me anything. Real grace doesn't just counsel
it, it forgets it. It forgets it. What did he say
to you? I don't remember. What did he
do to you? I can't remember that either.
You say, that's impossible. He is with you, but not with
God. He said, I remember their sins no more. That's grace. And grace continues to forgive
70 times, 70 times, 70 times, 70 times, 70 times, 70 times,
and infinitely. Oh, you say, I don't know anything
about that. I don't either. But he does. He's the God of
all grace. You won't find anywhere else
but in Him. I need that grace, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound. God of all grace, listen, who
hath called us under His eternal glory, that's the glory, Peter
said, I'm a partaker of that glory. He's called us under His
eternal glory by Christ Jesus. It's all in Him, of Him, through
Him, by His glory, by His grace. It's a gift after you've suffered
a while. And I was reading in Acts today,
it says, we bust through great tribulations, inherit the kingdom. Boys and girls, it's not over.
It's not over yet. You say, we've had enough. Not
yet. We'll have enough when he takes
us home. And after you've suffered a while, listen, he'll make you
perfect. He'll establish you, he'll strengthen
you, and settle you. well. That's his promise. To
him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.