Let me give you my subject for
tonight. I'm going to preach this evening
in the 630 hour from the book of Acts, chapter 24. If you'd like this afternoon
to read the scriptures that we'll be looking at this evening, Our text will be the first 16
verses of Acts chapter 24. The message tonight, our confession
of faith. Our confession of faith. Now
this morning, you might turn to the book of
Titus. I have two scriptures I'm going
to use in this message. the book of Titus, and the message
this morning is entitled, Resting, Resting in the Hope of Eternal
Life, Resting, Resting in the Hope of Eternal Life. Now, the goal of the gospel ministry
is really twofold. The goal of the gospel ministry
is really twofold. It is to glorify God chiefly. Man's chief end, no matter what
he's doing, is to glorify God. And the gospel ministry is to
glorify God and to bring God's elect, to bring God's elect to obtain
the salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory. That's
what Paul said when he was down there in prison, writing to young
Timothy, and he said, I'm here in jail, I'm enduring all manner
of affliction and trial and trouble and persecution, but I'm doing
it for the glory of God, and that God's elect might obtain
God's elect might obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ
with eternal glory. Now, we preach that you may hear
the gospel, that you may hear the good news of salvation. And
we preach that you may come to faith. I don't want you just
to hear it. I pray that God will make our
words not just words, but effectual. You see, Paul talked about the
Israelites. He said they heard the gospel.
They heard the gospel. But it didn't profit them because
it wasn't mixed with faith in them that heard it. So I want
you to hear it. I want to preach the gospel.
I want you to hear the gospel. But I want that gospel to be
effectual in your heart to saving faith. And then we preach the
gospel that you may acknowledge that truth yourselves and be
established in it. You see what I'm saying? Be established.
God strengthen you and establish you. Establish you. Spurgeon asked a man one time,
said, Well, what do you believe? He said, I believe what my church
believes. Well, he said, What does your church believe? He
said, They believe what I believe. Well, he said, would you mind
telling me what both of you believe? He said, we believe the same
thing. Didn't even have a suspicion.
And I don't want us to be in that state. I want to preach
that you might hear the gospel, that you might believe it, and
that every one of us might be established in it, be able to
give a reason for the hope that's in us. Don't send them to the
pastor to find out what the reason is. You tell them. See what I'm
saying? And then fourthly, that you may
rest. Rest in the hope of eternal life. Rest in the hope of that life
which God, who cannot lie, promised you. Titus 1, let's read it. Verse 1, a servant of God and
an apostle of Jesus Christ. According to the faith of God's
elect, that's what I said, he's an apostle, he's a preacher,
preaching the gospel, that the God's elect might believe, the
faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth, established
in the truth. You acknowledge it, you hear
it, you believe it, you acknowledge it, after godliness in hope of
eternal life, resting in the hope of eternal life, which God,
who cannot lie, promised before the world began. You follow those
two verses. Let me read them in another translation. You look at them now. Paul, a
bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ the Messiah,
to stimulate and promote the faith of God's chosen ones, and
to lead them on to accurate discernment and recognition and acquaintance
and acknowledgement of the truth, which belongs to and harmonizes
and tends to godliness. And verse 2, resting in hope
of eternal life, which the ever-truthful God, who cannot deceive promise
before the world or the ages of time began." That's what it's
all about. That you might hear, that you
might believe, that you might be grounded and established in
that gospel, acknowledging it yourselves, and that you might
rest. You see, my friends, in this
natural life, there are plenty of uncertainties and plenty of
fears. You have a right to be uncertain,
and you have a right as far as natural flesh is concerned to
regard certain areas with fear. But there's one area where one
does not want to wrestle with fear and doubt and uncertainty. There's one area in this man's
life in which he does not want to entertain doubts and fears
and uncertainty. You know where that is? My relationship
with Christ. I want to rest there. I want
to rest there. Rest. And that's what this message
is all about, resting, resting in hope. of eternal life, resting. Now, I know that a good hope
is the gift of God. I know a good hope will be based
on the Scripture. And I know a good hope is to
find that hope and rest in Christ Jesus. But I want you to turn
to the book of II Thessalonians, and I want to give you some reasons
for this hope. Turn to II Thessalonians, chapter
2, and I can give you the foundation of this rest. You say, Preacher,
that's what I desire as much as anything in all the world,
just to rest, peace, joy, as far as my relationship with God
is concerned, my hope of eternal life. Well, I believe Paul gives
us several reasons for resting, a foundation for
resting. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. He says in verse 13, But we are
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. That's the first reason I have
for resting, is because He chose me. I didn't choose Him, He chose
me. Now, if it was dependent upon
me to choose Him, I wouldn't have any reason to rest. But
I'm resting because He chose me. I thank God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you, disciples. You know, one day, years and
years and years and years and years and years, millenniums
ago, two men met out in the field one day. You can read about it
in the book of 1 Samuel. One of them was named David,
and one was named Jonathan. David was God's anointed, soon-to-be
king over Israel. He knew it. His friend Jonathan
knew it. All who knew God knew it, that
David was God's king. God had anointed him. Right now
he was in exile. Right now he was running from
the present king Saul. Right now he feared for his life. But David was the one who was
going to be king. And Jonathan, his friend, who
was the son of Saul, the present king, And Jonathan said to David,
he said, now David, they loved each other, their hearts were
nipped together in love for one another. And Jonathan said, David,
you're going to be king. I know that. And he said, when
you come to your throne, when you are sitting on the throne
as king, would you show mercy to my family? Because you love
me, because of our friendship, show mercy to my son, show mercy
to my family. When you get to be king, take
me by the hand and promise me, swear to me, enter a covenant
with me that you'll be merciful to my family." And David said,
I will. They struck hands and they made
a covenant. Well, David became king. Jonathan
was killed. His father Saul was killed. The
old administration was gone, and David was now sitting on
the throne. One of the first acts of David, after he became
king in total power, he said to his servants, he said, is
there anybody left of the house of Jonathan, the house of Saul,
that I might show mercy to him for Jonathan's sake? And Ziba
said, yes, Jonathan has a son. His name's Mephibosheth. And
when news came of the death of Jonathan and Saul, the nurse,
he was five years old, and the nurse took him up and was going
to run with him, and he fell and was lame on both his feet.
And he's a pitiful cripple down in the house of no bread. And
David said, go fetch him. He didn't say, go invite him.
He said, go get him. And they went down to the house
of Lodibar, no pasture, and brought this helpless cripple up and
laid him on the floor in front of David. And David said, Lefebvre,
I'm going to restore to you everything you lost, all of the property
of your daddy Jonathan, your granddaddy Saul, all the servants,
everything. You're going to sit at my table
and live as my son? And you're going to have everything
you want. And old Mephibosheth said, Who
am I that you should show such mercy to a dead dog? And David
said, Fear not. Don't be afraid. Don't be uncertain.
You can rest in this. I'm showing you mercy for Jonathan's
sake. That's the reason. Now, I want
you to turn. I want to read something to you.
You say, Is this for sure? Now let's turn to 2 Samuel, just
a moment, chapter 21. 2 Samuel, chapter 21. Now listen to this. Some more
time passed. In 2 Samuel 21, I want you to
look at this now, this is important. There was a famine in the days
of David, three years, year after year, and David inquired of the
Lord, and the Lord answered, the famine is because of Saul.
and because of his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
Now Saul went down among the Gibeonites, and because they
had befriended David and fed him, he killed eighty-five priests. Eighty-five priests he slaughtered
of the Gibeonites because they were good to David, fed him and
his men when they were in exile. And these people were angry,
and God was judging Israel because of Saul's sin. And the king called
the Gibeonites, David called them, and said to them, Now the
Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant
of the Amorites. And the children of Israel had
sworn to them, and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the
children of Israel and Judah. Wherefore David said to the Gibeonites,
What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the
atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?
And the Gibeonites said to David, We'll have no silver or gold
of Saul, nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man
in Israel. Well, he said, What shall I do
that, what you shall say, that will I do for you? Tell me what
to do. They answered the king, and they said, The man that consumed
us, and that devised evil against us, King Saul, that we should
be destroyed from remaining in any of the coast of Israel, let
seven of his sons," seven of his sons and grandsons. You see,
grandsons were included as sons. Seven of his sons, "...be delivered
to us, and we'll hang them." We'll hang them up unto the Lord
in Gibeah of Saul. whom the Lord did choose, and
David said, I give you the seven sons. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son
of Saul, because, why did he spare Mephibosheth? Because of
the Lord's oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan,
the son of Saul. When David handed over seven
of Saul's sons and grandsons to be hanged. He said, there's
one you can't have. He's a son of Saul. He's a son
of Jonathan. But you can't have him, because
I loved his father and I made a covenant back yonder that I'd
show mercy to him. And that covenant stands. I swore
And Almighty God, in a covenant of mercy, because he loved Christ, gave you to Christ, and you'll
never perish. That's right. I thank God for
you, brethren. Back to our text. Because God,
from the beginning, chose you. Oh, when I stand before his throne,
dressed in beauty, not my own, When I see thee as thou art,
and love thee with an unsinning heart, be it Lord, shall I fully
know, and not till then, how much I owe, how much I owe to
his grace, his love, his Son, his covenant, his mercy, and
not to anything I've ever done or given. Chosen not for good
in me, wakened up from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's
side by His Spirit sanctified. Teach me, Lord, on this earth
to show by my love how much I owe." And old Mephibosheth stood there
while seven of his relatives hung from a tree. And he said,
I ought to be there with them. I'm part of the rebellion. I'm
part of the family of Saul. I'm part of the sin. I'm part
of the bloodshed. I'm part of the traitor's den. But I'm here because David showed
mercy to me for Jonathan's sake." Now, you can rest in that, but
you can't rest in that little profession you made back yonder
25 years ago. It's old and it's stayed old. You can't rest in a few dollars
you gave to the kingdom of God. You can't rest in a few messages
you preached or songs you sung or duties you did. You rest, you want to rest? Then
you rest in covenant mercy. When David came to die, his last
words were these, God made with me a covenant, eternal and sure,
ordered in all things. This is my salvation. And this
is my rest. And let me tell you, brethren,
it's not reserved for death day. It's my rest right now. I'm resting,
resting, resting in the sure mercies of David. Covenant grace. All right. The next word, verse
14, whereunto he called you. What's the foundation of rest?
God chose us and God called us. Who called? He called. He called. Turn to I Corinthians chapter
1. He called. Verse 26 says, "...you
see your calling, brethren." He called you. How that not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are
called, verse 26, verse 21, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and the base things." and things which are despised hath God chosen,
yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught the things
that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of
him are you in Christ? He called you to Christ. Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? Who called? He
called. Whom did He call? you and me. As far as this world
is concerned, the nothings, the nobodies, the base, the ignorant,
he called you. How did he call you? By our gospel. That's how he called you, by
our gospel. When Paul wrote to this church
in the first epistle, I Thessalonians, look at chapter 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, in his
first epistle to the Thessalonian church, Paul said in verse 4,
chapter 1, verse 4, he said, I know, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. I know your God's elect. How
do you know that, Paul? Because, verse 5, our gospel
came to you, not in word only, but in power. Our gospel came
to you in power. In the Holy Ghost, in much assurance,
he called you by our gospel. Now back to the text. Here's
our foundation. God chose us, verse 14, God called
us by his gospel. Watch this now, to the obtaining,
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. What's
that word, obtaining? Paul uses it a lot. He said,
I obtain mercy. I was a blasphemer, I was injurious,
but I obtained mercy." Peter talked about it, "...you
who have obtained like precious faith." Well, I'm not a Greek
scholar. For that matter, I don't know
any Greek scholars. But I want to tell you something
about this word, obtained. Obtained. The word obtained and
the word obtained. Obtained, O-B-T-A-I-N, and obtained
comes from two great words. Obtained means to acquire, to
acquire, obtain, to get, to acquire by purchase, by purchase. Obtained means an acquisition,
a purchased acquisition, a possession that's mine. because the price
has been paid, a purchased possession. And that's what he says here.
God chose you, and God called you, supernaturally, mysteriously
called you, by His Spirit, by His Word, by His Gospel, called
you to obtain, to the obtaining, to the acquisition, to a possession,
or a purchase, paid for. This church here furnishes me
with a car. When one wears out, they get
another one. And they drive it in my driveway and hand me the
keys. They drive it. Well, now, how
much do they owe you? It's yours. But how much do they
owe you? Nobody owes anything. We paid
for it. See what I'm talking about? Just enjoy it. Just get
in it and drive it and enjoy it. And that's what I'm telling
you this morning. Get in Christ and rest. Your inheritance rests. It's been paid for. You know
what I say? Don't bring anything. In my hands,
no price I bring. Don't do that. Don't aggravate.
You know, if these men here handed me the car and I kept trying
to pay, they'd say, preacher, get off our backs, will you?
Will you please? Don't you trust us? Don't you
believe us? Rest! Don't you believe God? Oh, He's infinitely greater than
these men. I mean, if your word's good, would I question His? You know, we need to learn two
things. We need to learn how to give. We need to learn how to be given,
too. You know that there's nothing as sweet and precious as a generous,
gracious giver. But the same token, there's nothing
more fulfilling than a gracious recipient that'll let you, that'll
let you be good to them, that'll receive it with gratitude. You
see, is that clear what I'm trying to say? I know what I'm trying
to say. I know what I'm trying to say. Rest, it's paid for. That's what obtaining means.
All right, verse 15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you've been taught. whether by
word or by epistles. God, what's our foundation for
resting? God chose us. God called us to
an inheritance paid for, and God taught us. Brother Griswold,
some of you remember Brother Farrell Griswold, outstanding
preacher of the gospel of God's grace. I heard him preach one
time years ago, and he gave this illustration. He said he heard
a man preaching one time on different religions and different interpretations
of the Bible, and he said all of them tell what they see, what
they feel, what they've experienced. He said, for example, here are
four blind men, and they bring an elephant up. They're totally
blind, four blind men, and they walk an elephant up, and they
say to these blind men, tell us what an elephant is. And one of them gets a hold of
his trunk, and he says, but an elephant's like a tree. The other
blind man pushes against the elephant's huge, massive sides,
and he says, no, an elephant's like a wall. The other fellas
down here, the blind men holding on to the elephant's tail, they
said, y'all wrong. Elephant's a lot like a tree,
it's a lot like a wall, it's like a rope." And he said, that's
the way it is with the Bible. He said, everybody just tells
what they, what comes to them. And Pharaoh told the fellow after,
he said, now, what's two things wrong with your illustration?
The first thing that's wrong with it is salvation is no elephant. And the second thing that's wrong
with your illustration is God's people aren't blind. And that's what he's saying here.
We've been taught. Taught of God. Taught of God. Turn to John chapter 6. Taught
of God. God's people are not blind. Blessed
are your eyes, he said, they see. And blessed are your ears,
they hear. Yeah, the world's blind, the
religious world. They have eyes, but they don't
see. They have ears, but they don't hear. Hearts, but they
don't understand. But you have a revelation from God. John
6, verse 44, Christ said, No man can come to me except the
Father which sent me drawing, and I'll raise him up at the
last day. It's written in the prophets. Listen. They shall
be all. taught of God, and every man
that hath heard and hath learned." What have we taught? We taught
Christ. What have we learned? We learned
Christ. He said, You have not so learned
Christ. We've been taught of God and
learned of the Father, and they'll come to me. Oh, I know the natural
world, eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath
it entered the heart of men, the things God hath prepared
for them that love him. But he hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. What man knoweth the
things of a man, save the Spirit of man that is in him? Even so,
the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God, and
he hath given us of his Spirit." We know that the Son of God hath
come and given us," I want you to read this and underscore it,
I John 5, I John chapter 5. We know that the Son of God hath
come and has given us an understanding. I John 5, 20, circle this passage. The Son
of God hath come and given us an understanding that we may
know Him that's true. And we're in Him that's true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. What am I talking about this
morning? Resting in hope of eternal life. On what foundation? God chose us, God called us to
the obtaining of an acquisition or possession, already purchased
And God taught us and is teaching us and will teach us more and
more about himself. Teach us. And I tell you, as
you tribulation workers, patience. Patience, experience, maturity,
and experience, hope. And the more we grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, the stronger is that hope, based
on what he said. Well, let me give you a couple
more and I'll quit. Verse 16, this is one of those comforting
verses for the people of God. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
Lord Sovereign, Jesus the Man, Christ the Messiah, Prophet,
Priest, and King, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God Almighty,
even our Father, the Almighty God of heaven and earth, our
Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said,
I go to my Father and your Father, hath who loved us, God chose
me, God called me, God taught me, and he loves me. He loves
me. He loves me. And he hath given free without
charge, he hath given us everlasting consolation, encouragement, that's
what that word means, consolation, encouragement, and a good hope. It's a good hope. It's a good
hope because God gave it. It's a good hope because it's
in Christ. It's a good hope because I didn't
have any part in it. It makes it a good hope. It's
all of grace. A good hope through grace. That's what makes it a good hope.
A good hope through grace. Old Abraham said, God said to
Abraham, He said, when I said Saba was going to have a son,
she laughed. And God asked this question. He said, Abraham, Genesis
18, He said, Abraham, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? My friend, you can rest because God chose you, God called
you, God taught you, and God loves you, and God has given
you a good hope, a good hope. Now, Doris and I were talking
about that this morning, and I gave her something that we
both like. When you talk about a gift, You
talk about a gift, even a small gift or a great
gift, but a gift, a free gift, the value of it, the worth of
it, the longevity of it, depends not on the recipient, but on
the giver. One thousand percent on the giver. The gift, the value
of it, the value of great or small, it's up to him. It's his
choice. It depends on his willingness
to give, it depends on his power to give, and it depends on his
love for the one to whom he gives it. Isn't that right? And I'll tell you this, he's
willing, and he's got the power, and if you can rest in his love,
there's no gift too great. Isn't that too hard for God?
I mean resurrection, life, eternal joy and glory. Verse 17, may
he comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work
and bring you and me to rest. This thing's finished. My Lord
said that it's finished. It's mine because he chose me. He called me, and He taught me,
and He loves me, and He's almighty, and there's no gift too great.
There's nothing too hard for my Lord. Rest in it. Our Father blessed the Word this
morning. This is all so glorious and great,
it's so good, so precious, precious, precious promises from Him who
is precious through His precious blood to His people who are to
Him precious even in death. Lord give us, let us cease from
all our labors as our Lord and enter into His rest. and peace and joy amid all our
conflicts and troubles. Let us rest in our Redeemer. Give that mercy and blessing
to all of us here this morning through Thy Word, by the goodness
and grace of Thy Son. In His name I pray, amen.