I prepared this message this
morning. I did not give it a title. I came over here this evening because
I couldn't think of a title. And I came over here this evening
and Mike came in early and he said, do you have any suggestions
for a special? And I said, well, not really. Why don't you pick out something
and we'll collaborate, talk about it. So I went on about my business
and came back in here and he said, what about when Jesus comes? I said, I love that song. Then
Jesus came. I said, let's sing that, let's
have that as a special. And that's when I wrote down
a title for this message, because it's exactly what I'm going to
talk about tonight. For all is changed when Jesus
comes to stay. For all is changed. That's the title of the message.
For all is changed. There's an awesome change when
Jesus comes to stay. And when he comes, he comes to
stay. He doesn't come unless he intends to stay. When we come
to him, we stay. And there's a change. Now, Brother
John read 1 Peter chapter 1. I'm going to read a few verses
from chapter 2. This is my text. 1 Peter 2, wherefore, laying
aside all malice and all deceit, the word guile is deceit, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow
thereby If so be, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to
whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
rejected of men, despised of men, but chosen of God, and precious. You also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood, the house of
God, the temple of God, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a cheap cornerstone,
that Christ elect Christ is mine elect, God said. Precious, and
he that believeth on him shall not be ashamed, confounded, disappointed,
guilty. Unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the
head of the corner. and a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But you, but
you, you're a chosen generation. God loved you and God chose you.
You're a royal priesthood. He's made us kings. Royal is
king. a kingly priesthood, a holy nation
in his holiness, a peculiar, different, purchased people,
that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time
past were not a people. You were enemies and aliens and
strangers. but you are now the people of
God, which have not obtained mercy, but you now have obtained
mercy." Now my friends, salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord
from Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end. The salvation of sinners
is of the Lord in its origination. back before the world began,
before God laid the foundations of this earth. He entered into
a covenant. He established a kingdom. He
elected a people. He gave to his son a kingdom,
made Christ the surety of the Lord in its origination. It began
with God. It was purposed in the heart
of God and willed. And God said, I purposed it,
I'll bring it to pass. known unto God of all his works
from the beginning. Salvation is of the Lord in its
origination. It's of the Lord in its execution. He by himself purged our sins. He sent his Son into the world.
No man hath ascended to heaven save he that came down from heaven.
Who never left heaven in a sense is in the bosom of the Father.
He came down. and redeemed us by His blood
and by His perfect obedience, by His life. Salvations of the
Lord in its application. We have obtained mercy. The Lord
came to us, we didn't come to Him. He sought us, we didn't
seek Him. He chose us, we didn't choose
Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, He loved us. He
made us an object of His love, everlasting love. And with loving
kindness, he's drawn us. Salvation's of the Lord in its
application. Moses says, show me your glory.
God said, I'll make my glory pass before you, my goodness.
I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I'll be gracious
to whom I will. It's of the Lord in its application.
It's of the Lord in its sustaining power. John read over there in
verse 4, 1 Peter 1 talked about our inheritance,
it's incorruptible, undefiled, that faith is not a way reserved
in heaven for you who are kept, for you who are sustained, for
you who are kept by the power of God. Through faith, not without
faith, through faith, but we're kept, sustained. of the power
of God. Now unto him who is able to keep
you from faultless, and to present you faultless, before his presence
with exceeding glory, unto the only wise God our Savior, God
our Savior, be glory both now and forever, and salvation of
the Lord in its ultimate perfection. He said, I'll raise him. I'll
raise him. I'll conform into the image of
Christ. Our redemption planned by God,
purchased by God, applied by God, sustained by God, and completed. I am confident, Paul said, that
he who hath begun a good work in you, he'll finish it in the
day of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of God, and I'm careful.
And by God's grace, I shall always be careful to give him the glory. Not some of it, not the major
portion of it, all of it. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus. Of his will, of his purpose,
of his power, of his grace, are you in Christ. The reason you're
in Christ, the cause of your being in Christ, is the hand
of God. And we give him the glory. No
flesh should glow in his presence. Because when the Lord is pleased
to call one of his elect by his grace, by his word, by his spirit,
by his power, he calls them out of death. You have bequeathed
them who were dead, salvations of the Lord. Where he found us
was in the grave. No one is helpless as a dead
man. A dead man doesn't even know
he's dead. A dead man has no power to raise
himself and no desire to raise himself. God raised us from death
to life. And not only did he find us in
death, spiritual death, but he found us in spiritual darkness.
And it says over here a moment ago, I read, where He had translated
us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His Son. He
called you, verse 9, the last line, He called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's
where He found us, dead in trespasses and sin. In darkness. And not only that, but in bondage.
in the bondage of sin and in the bondage of religion. And
he brought us into the freedom of Christ. If the Son shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. And he called us out of unbelief
to faith in Christ. Salvations of the Lord. Salvations
of the Lord. The eunuch said to Philip, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The day before
that, he didn't know a thing about Christ. But God sent him
a preacher and taught him the gospel and called him out of
death, out of darkness, out of bondage, and out of unbelief
to Christ. Oh, what a change. What a change. That's the change. When God saves
a sinner, there's an awesome, awesome change that takes place. And it's called four things.
Now, I want you to listen to this. This change, when God calls
a man out of death to life and from darkness to light and from
bondage to freedom and from unbelief to faith, there's a powerful
change that takes place. And it goes under four words.
First of all, there's a change called regeneration. regeneration. The Holy Spirit comes and gives
life, regeneration. We have no interest in spiritual
things before he comes. We have no concern for spiritual
things before he comes. Oh, religion, yes, I'm talking
about the things of God, spiritual things. We have no love for We
have no fear of God. We have no interest in God. Dead
to all things spiritual. And the Holy Spirit comes and
gives life and regenerates. That's a change. He lives. He lives. The man has an interest
in the Word of God. The woman has an interest in
the things of God. Has a desire for these things.
seeks God, hungers for God. That's a change. Regeneration. Secondly, there's a change which
goes under the word revelation. Before God saved us, we were
blind. We had eyes, but we couldn't
see. We could read the Bible, but we didn't see Christ. The
amazing thing is before God opened my eyes and gave me life and
light, I was in religion. I was in a preacher's school. I was pastor of a church and
stood in the pulpit and sat in the study and read this book
here. But I read it as a religious
textbook and not as the words of life. There's a difference.
I had eyes, but I couldn't see Christ. I couldn't see His glory,
His beauty, His effectual work. I couldn't see these things.
I couldn't see the sovereignty of God and the covenant of grace
and the election of God and the effectual redemption. I couldn't
see these. I couldn't hear. I had no heart
to understand. I was blind to spiritual things.
And when God came in revelation, He said, the Son of God hath
come and given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true, and we're in Him that is true. This is the true God, and
this is life eternal. Oh my, understanding. God hath revealed these things
unto us by His Spirit. Revelation. Revelation. And then there's a third word,
there's regeneration. He gives life. That's a change. A powerful change. We were dead,
now we live. Have an interest. And not only
an interest, but an understanding. And then thirdly, there's redemption. Redemption. What a change. Turn
to Galatians chapter 3. What a change this is. In Galatians
chapter 3, listen to this. In Galatians 3 verse 10, it says
this, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse. Under a curse. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written
in the book of the law to do them. I'm not only was dead in
sin. I not only couldn't see the glory
and beauty of Christ or hear His voice or understand who He
is and what He did and why He did it and where He is now, but
I was under a curse, under the wrath of God, under the curse
of the law and under the curse of God's justice, condemned,
damned, guilty. and not able to justify myself."
Verse 11, that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God.
It's evident that just shall live by faith. The law is not
of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Now
here's what he did in redeeming me. But Christ has redeemed us
from the curse. What a change! What a change! From a child of
wrath to a son of God. from a cursed man to a blessed
man, from a condemned sinner to a free son. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse upon us. That's how He redeemed
us. He took our judgment. He took
our condemnation. He took our sins in His body. He paid the the ransom. It's written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. And now, there's no judgment
to them who are in Christ. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again, who is ascended unto heaven, who is seated at
the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Who can
separate me from the love of God. You talk about a change.
For all is changed. Now I live. Now I see. Now I hear. Now I understand. Who Christ is. Why Christ had
to come. In order that God may be just
and justify. And now I'm not condemned. The law has no charge against
me. Justice is satisfied. I'm free! But there's another change. It's
called sanctification. And this is what the Apostle
is writing about here in 1 Peter chapter 2. There's a change. There's a change. There is a
sanctification that is complete. Once for all in Christ we are
holy, we are righteous in Christ. But there is a sanctification
that is performed by the Word, by the Spirit, in which men grow
in grace and in the knowledge of Christ and grow in the fruit
of the Spirit. There's a growth, there's a change. There's a change. And this is
what the apostle is writing about. In other words, when a man is
converted, he's a new man. He's not a dead man anymore,
he's a living man. He's not a blind man anymore,
he's a man of sins. He's not a condemned man anymore,
he's a free man. And he's not a man who lives
for self and sin and the world, he's a man who lives for God. and walks with God. The scripture
says he's a new creature. The scripture says he's a new
man. There's not only a change in his doctrine, there's a change
in his walk. There's not only a change in
his theology, there's a change in his attitude. And not only
a change before the law, there's a change before men. There's
not only a change before justice, but there's a change in his daily
conduct. There's a decided, definite change
in the heart, in the nature, in the conduct, in the conversation
of everybody who has been sanctified. That's right. He's not the same
person toward God. and toward the life of glory,
and he's not the same person toward me. He's converted. That's the reason our Lord said
to the Apostle Peter, when you're converted, when you change, strengthen
your brethren. You'll be a strength. You'll
not be a bad influence, you'll be a good He was a bad influence
for a while, he became a leader, he became a good influence. You
see, here's what I'm saying, the child of God, now listen
to this. The man who's regenerated, who
has been, had revealed to him the person of Christ, and has
been redeemed, he is a man who is totally, completely sanctified. holy in Christ. He's clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. Turn to Colossians chapter 1. Make no mistake about that now.
He's totally, completely justified before God, redeemed from the
curse of the Sanctified with his spotless garments on, I'm
as holy as God's Son. Nearer, so nearer to God, nearer
I cannot be. In the person of his Son, I'm
as near as he." Colossians 1, verse 12. It says here in verse 12, Colossians
1, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet. That word means sufficient, totally
sufficient in Christ. to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life who have delivered us from the power of
darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of God the
Son. That is sanctified by God the
Father and sanctified by the blood of Christ. And we are perfect
in His sight. But there is a growth in grace
and there is a maturity And there is a sanctifying of us daily
by the Word of God. I want to show you some scripture.
There's a spiritual maturity, there's a growth in understanding,
there's a growth in usefulness. There's a growth in grace. Now
let's turn to some scripture. First of all, in John 17, our Lord is praying for his people.
In John 17. And of course, you're familiar
with this prayer, and he said, you've given me power, I should
give eternal life to as many as you've given me, and I've
finished the work you gave me to do, and I've manifested thy
name and thy word to them, and I pray for them, I pray not for
the world. But he says something else about
them down here in verse 17. He says in verse 17, sanctify
them through your word. Sanctify them through your word.
Your word is truth. And that's what our text is saying
here in 1 Peter 2, verse 2. Peter says, as newborn babes. Now, we're children of God, we're
born of God, but we're spiritual babies. We're babes in Christ. We're fully a child, we're fully
a son, we're fully redeemed, we're fully fit for heaven. But
we're still babes. And as newborn babes, he tells
us, to desire the sincere milk of the Word. That we may what? Grow. Grow. Mature. Change. Growth is change. Change. Let me read you some more scripture.
2 Peter 3.18. Listen to 2 Peter 3.18. But grow in grace. Grow in grace. That's maturity. That's change.
And grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be glory both now and forever. Grow in grace. Desire the milk of the word that
you may grow. Sanctify them through thy word.
Thy word is truth. Turn to 2 Timothy. And listen
to the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Chapter 2, there's a change and
it's going on all the time. There's an awesome change in
regeneration. There's a powerful change in
revelation, darkness to light. There's a wonderful change in
redemption. And there's a progressive, steady
change. in sanctification, in growth. Now 2 Timothy, listen, chapter
2 verse 15, study, study what? The Word of God, study, study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane
and vain babblings, they'll increase unto more ungodliness. That's
a growth. Study. Study. Now turn to Ephesians 4. I want
you to look at this one carefully. Ephesians 4. Now this is a change. All is changed. And being changed. Ephesians 4 verse 10, now listen
to it. For he that descended, no man
hath ascended but he that descended, this is Christ, he is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fulfill
all things. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
or the perfecting of the saints. I thought we were perfect. We
are perfect in Christ. We are perfect before God, before
the Lord. But this perfection here is a
maturity. It's a growth in grace. It's growing up, maturing, changing,
being more like the Master. Let's try it, for the perfecting
of the saints, listen, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity
of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a mature
man. No more babe, but a mature man
unto the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ. This
comes from the Word. The teacher, the pastor, teaching
us, teaching Himself through the Word and teaching you that
we listen, that we be henceforth no more babies, children, infants,
don't know where we stand, tossed to and fro, carried about with
every wind of doctrine, every thing that blows, the slight
of men, the cunning craftiness, they lie in wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love, we may grow up, grow up. Our children are going back to
school next week. Why? That they may grow up, grow
in knowledge, maturity, understanding, grow in all ways, studying and
growing. That's what we do with the change. Grow up in all things. which
is the head, even Christ. Now you read that verse 14, that
we need the teacher, the preacher, the pastor, we need to study
the word to grow up. There would be no more children. Always offended or troubled or
upset or uncertain. Turn to 1 Corinthians 14. Now
listen to this. This is an interesting scripture.
This scripture tells us to be children, but don't be children.
That's what it does. Be children, but don't be children. You know, our Lord said, except
a man become as this little child, he will no wise enter the kingdom
of heaven. In that way, become as a child. Now listen to this
scripture, 1 Corinthians 14 verse 20. Brethren, be not children in
understanding. Grow up in understanding, in
grace, in faith, in love, in doctrine, in depth, in being
settled, strong, influence. Don't be a child in understanding,
how be it in malice, be children. Children don't hold grudges,
grown folks do. Children get over a slight, grown
folks keep it for life. So he says in that way, be like
a child, be forgiving. Be a child in malice, but don't
be a child in understanding. You see that? In understanding
be men. Well how in the world are you
going to be men in understanding if you don't study? If you don't
look into the word, if the Holy Spirit doesn't make you a mature
man. See that? Alright, let's go back
to the text. That's what we're talking about.
We're talking about growth in grace and you know exactly what
I'm talking about. It's the thing I desire for myself
and for you and for all to whom I preach. Now let's look at the
text just briefly. Chapter 2, verse 1. Wherefore,
laying aside, All malice. What's malice? Ill will, ill
feelings, hurt feelings, grudges. All malice. Lay it aside. Now
notice these things. It's not once and for all. He
says laying it aside. Just keep laying it aside. Be nice if we could just lay
it aside and never have any more problems with it. But lay it
aside. Work for laying aside. Continuously. Continual effort,
laying aside all malice, all guile, deceit, hypocrisy, envy,
evil speaking. These things are disagreeable
to our fellowship with the Lord, disagreeable to our fellowship
with one another. Lay it aside. How do you do that? As we are taught in the Word,
as we grow in grace. Lay it aside. Let me turn to
this and just read it to you. Colossians 3 verse 5, listen,
mortify your members, crucify, nail them to the cross, your
members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry. He says in verse 8, put off all
these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy talk, out of
your mouth. Don't lie to one another. Seeing
you put off the old man. Put it off. Lay it aside. The
old man with his deeds. Put them off. And put on the
new man. Putting off the dirty clothes.
Putting on the clean clothes. Putting them off. We come in
from work during the day and the evening and take a shower
and put off the dirty clothes. Keep putting them off. Putting
on clean clothes. That's what it's all about. Put
off the old man. He's with you. That's growth, that's maturity,
that's what he's saying in my text, I read on. In 1 Peter 2.1,
put off these things, lay them aside. And as a newborn baby,
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
As a young child desires and thirsts for the milk, it's mother's
milk, let us thirst and desire this word here. And what kind of milk is it the
child desires? The sincere milk. The sincere
milk of the Word. Not man's idea, this is what's
wrong with religion right now. The trouble is not out there
in the pew, it's up here in the pulpit. Instead of preachers
today doing what I'm trying to do tonight, Verse by verse, reading
the Word, saying, this is what this says, this is what this
says, and this is what it means. This is God's Word. Instead of
doing that, they're watering it down and taking the edge off
of it, and they're preaching their ideas, and their clever
sayings, and their thoughts, and their traditions, and not
the Word of God. He says, as a baby, desire the
sincere milk of the Word, the plain, true Word of God. The bare Word of God. Don't dilute
my milk, give me the real milk. Don't give me that powdered stuff,
give me the sincere milk, the word of God. I'm telling you this, somebody
said this, the ear of a believer is the mouth of
his spirit. The ear of a believer is the
mouth of his spirit. What do you mean? Well, our bodies
develop and grow by what we put in our mouths. This is the only
place right here that I can put anything into this body to sustain
it, develop it, make it grow healthy. Now, the mouth is What's
sustained, what I put in my mouth. And my spiritual body, what I
put right in here. Isn't that right? That's what
I hear. Faith comes by what? Hearing. This is the mouth of
the soul. And I could draw a thousand conclusions
from that. If nothing goes in here, you
know what's going to happen to the soul. and the spirit and
the mind. If nothing goes in here, you
know what happens to my body. If nothing goes in here, I'm
not going to have faith, love, joy, peace, humility, meekness,
understanding in the end. That's right. And a lot of it's
the preacher's fault mainly, but it's the people's fault too
that don't go and hear it. avail themselves of every opportunity
to hear. Folks are a product of what they
hear. Read about Mickey Mantle. He's
gone. His body was gone. Why? What'd he put in his mouth? He
put poison in here and killed him. And you put poison in here
and it'll kill you too. Kill your soul. We need some good meat. Milk. Meat of the word. Oh, that's
so important. Oh, at verse 3, now all of this
is if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. If you have. If I have. This is a quotation
from Psalm 34. I'll just flip over there and
read it to you. Psalm 34, listen. Verse 8, listen. Oh, taste and
see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts
in Him. So, this is applicable to those
who have tasted. If I have by experience tasted
the Lord's love, then I'll love. If I have experienced the Lord's
forgiveness, then I will forgive. If I have experienced the Lord's
mercy, Then I'll show mercy. If the Lord has given to me,
then I'll give to others. It's called learning Christ.
Learning Christ. Let me show you a scripture in
Ephesians 4. This is an important scripture.
This learning. Learning Christ. Now let me show
you this and then give you an illustration. Ephesians 4, learning
Christ. This is what we're doing tonight,
we're learning Christ. And as a result of what we're
doing, we're going to develop, we're going to grow, we're going
to mature. Words are going to help us to grow in grace. In
Ephesians 4 verse 17, Now this I say therefore and
I testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk. Don't walk like the other people
of this world in the vanity of their minds. Don't walk like
them, dress like them, talk like them, act like them, live like
them, compete with them. Don't! Vanity! Verse 18, they have their understanding
darkened. They're alienated from the life
of God. through the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their hearts, who past feeling have given themselves
over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness and greediness. This is their lives. But you
have not so learned Christ. That's not the life you learned
from Him. That's not the way you learn
from Him and I learn from Him. That's not the way we learn from
Christ. Can I illustrate that, learning
Christ? Turn to Matthew 18. I want to
illustrate that. Matthew 18. We learn. When we're with Christ, we learn
from Christ. When we observe Christ, we learn
from Christ. He said, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. Learn of me. Learn of me. Now Matthew 18, now stay with
me. Verse 23. Therefore is the kingdom
of heaven likened to a certain king, which would take account
of his servants. When he had begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents.
That's an awesome amount of money. In your reference Bible, in the
middle there, it says a talent is 750 ounces of silver, and
he owed him 10,000 talents. But for as much as he had nothing
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, his wife and children,
all that he had, payment to be made. We owed a debt we couldn't
pay, didn't we? My debt was bigger than this.
I owed a debt I couldn't pay. And God's Word says, take him,
him and his wife and children, all he has, and put him in prison. And the servant therefore fell
down and worshipped him and said, Lord, have patience with me,
and I'll pay you. Have mercy upon me. Then the
Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him
and forgave the dead. Wiped it out. No more. That's what he did for me. That's
what he did for you, didn't he? All right, read on. But the same
servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which
owed him a hundred pence. Peanuts! Peanuts! And he laid hands on him and
took him by the throat and said, pay me what you owe me. And his
fellow servant fell down on his feet just like he did before
his master. He said, have patience with me.
I'll pay y'all." And he would not. Cast him into prison until
he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were very sorry and they came and told
their Lord what he had done. And their Lord, after he called
him, said to him, O wicked servant, you didn't learn that from me. You didn't learn that from me.
What you learned from me was I forgave you because you desired
it. I forgave you. That's what you
learned from me, to forgive. But you didn't forgive, so you
didn't learn. Shouldest not thou also have
had compassion on your fellow servant as I had pity on you? And his Lord was angry and delivered
him to the tormentors. till he should pay all that was
due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every
man his brother their trespasses. Where do we learn to forgive?
Watching our master forgive. We learn of Christ. You see that?
You have not, this man did not learn that from his master. You
have not so learned Christ. That's not Christ. That's what that verse 3 in our
text. Let's go back. I'll give you
a couple more things and then quit. Somebody said one time, Lord,
lead me to seek thee. I'll never seek you if you don't
lead me to. And seeking thee to find thee. and finding thee
to love thee and loving thee to obey thee. That's right. I need his help on all of it.
I need his grace and strength for all of it. Not seek him and
find him and love him by grace and then serve him by works.
No sir, it's all. Lead me to serve thee. But it's through the word. Now
read the next line. Verse 4, to whom coming? To whom
coming? We're coming to Christ. Believing
on Christ and repenting and coming to Christ is not a once and for
all isolated act. It's a continual coming to Christ. I'm still coming to Christ after
45 years. Still coming to Christ. It's
a state of being. I have been saved. I'm being
saved. I'm still coming to Christ, coming
to Christ as a living stone. He's my foundation. He was, then
He is now. He's my fortress. He's my refuge. He's my fountain of life. He's
my bread and wine. He's my shepherd, husband, brother,
friend. He's all in it all. I keep coming
to Him. I know He's disallowed and rejected
of men, but He's chosen of God, and He's precious to me, and
it is precious. And that's why I want to be like
Him, because I love Him. I want to honor Him, and glorify
Him, and grow up in Christ, and bring Him praise, and adorn His
doctrine. Be more like Him. Look down at
verse 7, "...unto you therefore which believe, He is precious."
Precious. Precious. I read a story, a young
lady, was entreated by her parents
to marry a certain young man. You know we parents a lot of
times want to pick out someone for our son or daughter and we
make a mistake if we try to do that. But they did. They had a young man in mind
that they felt like she ought to marry this young man. And
they said to her, dear daughter, we seek the best for you. the
very best for you. And that's true. They do and
they always did. And they said we feel you should
marry this young man. And they began to give the following
reasons. They said he's young, he's handsome,
he's financially secure, he's dependable, he's well liked,
he's a great influence in the community, he can give you all
of the finer things of life. Why won't you marry him? To which she replied, I don't
love him. I don't love him. I don't even
know him. Father and mother, if I really
knew him and really loved him, it wouldn't matter if he was
rich or poor. It wouldn't matter if he was
old or young. It wouldn't matter if he was a great man or an unknown
man if I loved him. he'd have my hire and all of
me. And that's what he's saying here.
If so be you've tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming
as unto living stone chosen of God and precious to you who believe
he is precious. He's your living stone. He's
your chosen of God. He's precious. He's altogether
lovely. He's your beloved. That's all
the motivation we need. Preachers have tried to motivate
men to believe, to join churches, to godliness, to morality, to
generosity, to humility, to kindness in a thousand ways. Through fear,
you go to hell if you don't do this. Through promises of reward,
if you do this, God will do that. Appealing to their pride, and
preaching the law, but none of these things will work. Here's
what will work. To you who believe, He's precious. Precious. And we long to please
Him, to glorify Him, to be more like Him, to learn of Christ. To grow in grace and in the knowledge
of Christ. There's a change. All is changed when Jesus comes. Changed. The change in regeneration,
revelation, light to darkness, redemption, no charge, no condemnation. But this change, by God's grace,
keeps on going. Keeps on going. Till I leave
here, it keeps changing. And this is the
food, isn't it? Goes in here. Comes in here. Sanctified in here. Our Father,
bless this message to our hearts. We know the truth of it. Enable us to experience the power
of it. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, but the righteousness
which is of the faith of Jesus Christ, and know Him and the
power of His resurrected life, growing in grace and the knowledge
of Christ. Make it effectual to all of our
hearts and give us a hunger and a thirst for Christ. In His name I pray, amen.