A Message for Preachers and People

Q: What does the Bible say about God's grace in the lives of His people?

The Bible reveals God's abundant mercy and grace towards His people, highlighting their flaws along with their faith. Scripture presents a candid portrayal of God's chosen servants, showing both their strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the life of Abraham showcases his faith, yet it also acknowledges his doubts. Similarly, Moses is celebrated for his humility, while also revealing moments of anger and failure. This honesty serves to encourage believers, demonstrating that even God's most faithful servants struggled with sin, reminding us of His grace that sustains us despite our shortcomings.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of perseverance is true?

The doctrine of perseverance assures that those truly saved will not fall away, as their standing in Christ is secured by grace. The doctrine of perseverance teaches that once a person is truly saved, they cannot lose their salvation. Romans 14:4 states that no one can judge another's servant because it is before their own master that they stand or fall. This indicates that God's grace keeps us standing firm. Furthermore, scriptures affirm that our relationship with Christ is not predicated on our works or failures, but on His sovereign grace. As such, believers can find solace in the assurance that they are kept by God's power, and this truth provides profound comfort amid life's trials.

Q: Why is love important for Christians?

Love is central to the Christian faith, as it is the evidence of genuine faith and the foundation for all obedience. In the Christian life, love is not merely an emotion but the very essence of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Jesus emphasized this when He asked Peter if he loved Him, highlighting that love is the primary commandment for believers. It is through love that believers demonstrate their faith and commitment to Christ. Moreover, love covers a multitude of sins and is the driving force behind good works. Faith expresses itself through love, making it essential for a faithful Christian walk, as stated in Galatians 5:6, 'For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which works by love.'

Now, the title of this message,
as I mentioned a moment ago, is a message for preachers and
people. I thank God that the Scriptures,
the Word of God, unlike the books and biographies
written by men about men. Do not relate only the good qualities
of God's people. I thank God the scriptures tell
us the truth. Now many of you have read biographies
and I've read them. I've enjoyed many that I've read. But when you read the biographies
written by men about men, you'd think that these men never erred,
that they never sinned, that they never failed, and were led to believe they
were always praying, or preaching, or singing, or rejoicing, or
living on the victory side. But that's not true. That's just
not true. And our God, to encourage people
like you and me, ordinary people, to encourage us and to keep us
from despair, and to reveal His abundant mercy and love to us,
He tells the truth. about even His chosen. He tells
the truth about His choice servants. Have you noticed that? I tell
you this, when we only in our writings
and in our admissions, when we only tell the good part and we
hide or cover up the truth about ourselves, and about others and
about our leaders, we're not only dishonest, but it reveals
an uncertainty about what we believe. You follow what I'm
saying? If you're so careful only to
tell the good and that which is admirable, and you hide that
which is not so good, You're going to great lengths to try
to make things appear as they're really not, and that shows an
uncertainty about what you believe. You're just not sure about this
grace of God business. But our Lord, when He talks about
Abraham, He praises Abraham's faith. But Abraham's doubts and
fears are recorded too. The Word of God praises the faith
of Abraham and the faithfulness of Abraham, but God, very particularly,
reveals his doubts and fears. And then Moses. Moses' meekness
and humility are strongly portrayed in the Word of God. But so is
his temper, and so is his humanity, and so is his failures. And we
see him up there on top of Mount, what was the name of that mountain?
But he was on top of that mountain and God took him there and killed
him and buried him. We see him sitting up there looking
over the promised land. And why is he there? He's there
because God said, you didn't sanctify me before the people,
you exalted yourself. And that's why he's up there
on that mountain. He had the last thing in his life, was sitting
up on top of a mountain looking at a land he had never entered
because of his temper. Elijah's courage and boldness
are recorded in the Scriptures. You see him and how envious I am of his courage
in the face of what, 850 false prophets? 400 prophets of Baal and 450 false
prophets, challenging them to a duel, a duel of prayer to see,
to prove who is the true God. My, his courage and boldness
are to be envied. But just a little while later,
you hear him crying for death when he found out Jezebel was
after him. He said, just kill me, because
I'm the only one left, he said. I'm the only one jealous for
your glory, so you might as well kill me and not have anybody.
That's pride there too, isn't it? And God rebuked him. But he didn't cover it up. And
then David, David's devotion and consecration to God are his
strong points. Twice God called him a man after
his own heart. That's written twice in the Scriptures.
but David's sensuality and self-defense. We hear all these other things
about him, but one particular point in his life showed his
real humanity. When he sent down there to what
was Abigail's husband, Nahor, and wanted some food, and the
guy refused him, he said, I'm not going to give that rebel
any food? Why give everybody that rises
up against King Saul food? I'll be feeding the whole world.
I'm not going to feed him anything." David grabbed his sword and buckled
it on and told all his men to buckle on their swords. He said,
we're going down there and kill every male in that whole camp. And he started. God didn't hide
that. And then Job. We read about Job's
patience. Is any like him? Oh, I tell you,
I'm so envious of his patience under such miserable trial. Though he's slaving, I'll trust
him. And on and on. But if you read
carefully, woven in all that is Job's self-righteousness.
It just stands out. He confessed his sins before
God, but not before his friends. He said, I'll put my righteousness
up against anybody. Now that's a weakness. That's
a weakness. Is there anywhere in the Word
of God an enigma like Solomon? Man of God. Man chosen of God,
blessed of God, the wisest man who ever walked on this earth. And the dumbest in so many areas. That's right. He's an enigma. What about Lot? The Bible calls
this man Lot, a righteous man. And out of a whole city of thousands
of people, God killed every last one of them and saved that fellow,
Lot, out of the mist up. The fellow that was going to
give his daughters to those wicked fellows to keep them off the
back of his guests. I can't figure him out. What
about Samson? Anybody got any clue to Samson?
What about Jacob? God called him a prince. Oh my, I tell you, And then when
you come to the disciples, the Lord doesn't hesitate to publicly,
publicly rebuke His disciples. Turn to Philip one day. Philip
said, well, show us the Father. And our Lord said to him, now
listen to these words. If you don't catch how the Lord
says these things, you miss the rebuke. Philip, have I been so
long time with you and you don't even know me? My, what a rebuke! Or Thomas. When he appeared to
the disciples and Thomas was there this time, Thomas said,
I won't believe He's risen until I put my hand in this side. And then he appeared and he didn't
say anything to anybody. He appeared and looked right
at Thomas and said, alright, reach hither your hand and be not faithless. Believe. It whittled him down too. It
fell on his face. And Peter, can you imagine this?
Get thee behind me, Satan! Satan! James and John, they were
arguing about who was going to be the greatest. Their mother
even got in on it. Wanted one to sit on Christ's
right hand and one on his left when he came into his kingdom.
And our Lord said to them, except you be converted and become as
a little child, you're not even going to enter the kingdom of
heaven. And then the disciples, oh, ye of little faith. But the
Apostle Peter, now here we come to our text in John 21, the Apostle
Peter seems to be singled out so often. Peter is always on
stage. Just always on stage. He has
so many highs and lows. He has so many bad points and
good points. So many wise words and dumb words. And someone said one time, his
impulsiveness, his impatience, and his ignorance is astounding. And yet the Lord loved him. Yet the Lord loved him. And He
never cast him off either. He never left him. In fact, when
our Lord arose from the grave, Peter, with all of his impulsiveness,
impatience, and ignorance, when our Lord arose from the grave,
he said to the women, go tell my disciples, and he added two
words, and Peter, and Peter. Give a special invitation to
the weakest one of all and tell him I'm waiting on him. I wish
we were as compassionate as our Lord. I wish from the pulpit
and privately and publicly and personally that we could be so
forgiving and so affectionate and have
a love that believes the best and hopes the best and looks
for the best and trusts the best, beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. No, our quick retort is, well,
if you're saved, you wouldn't have done that. Or so-and-so
just not saved. You know, we're quick with that.
We're quick to cut people. I tell you, there are two things
you want to watch. These are fatal. Watch accusing
someone of not being saved now. That carries eternal implications. Not saved? Don't know God? Be there very slow, very slow
to commit people to hell now for faults or failures or weaknesses
or whatever. Isn't that right? Be there very
slow about this thing now. Some of us preachers have a problem
with that now, committing people to, well, you're just not saved.
They're not saved. Be careful. Be careful. My Lord never said that about
these disciples. And then secondly, be very careful.
Be very, very careful about charging a man with not preaching the
gospel. Be very careful. There's not any worse thing you
could say about a preacher than to say he's not preaching the
gospel. Can you think of anything worse? So those statements ought to
come. Maybe we ought to say, well,
he didn't mean this, or she didn't mean that, or perhaps this was
a weak point, or perhaps we caught him at a bad time. I heard one
sermon. Maybe that was not his best sermon,
or so forth and so on. Be careful to accuse someone
of not being saved. Because all these men I've been
telling you about, how would you judge Lot? I wonder what we would do with
Solomon in our discipline committee. We wouldn't even have David speak
here. Go on and on and on, you know,
and they were God's choice men. And look at Peter. Listen, I
just picked out a few incidences in the life of Peter. It was
Peter, it was Peter, Simon Peter, who answered when the Lord said,
Whom say ye that I am? And Peter spoke up and said,
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. That was his
high. But it was also Peter who wanted
to build three tabernacles up on top of that hill. One to Moses,
one to Elijah, and one to Jesus. And stay there. It was Peter,
when the Lord turned to the disciples and said, will you also go away?
After all this crowd had left, he turned to the disciples and
said, will you go away? It was Peter who said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe
and assure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. That's his high. But it was also Peter who objected to the Lord washing
his feet. You'll never wash my feet. That's
his low. It was Peter who dared to walk
on water. The only one of the disciples,
when he saw Christ walking on the water, he said, bid me walk
on water. The Lord said, come on. He stepped
out there and there he goes. But there he goes too under the
water. That's me. Is that you? Can you identify
with him? There he goes. It was Peter who drew his sword. Now he meant business. He was
not aiming at that fellow's ear. I guarantee you he wasn't aiming
at his ear. That's all he got when he swung. But he was going
to defend his Lord. They came to arrest the Lord
Jesus, and he was going to defend Him single-handedly. But a few
hours later, it's Peter sitting over there swearing he doesn't
even know Him. There is his load, up and down. It was Peter who
jumped into the water. I just read it. They said, it's
the Lord. He grabbed his coat 300 feet
from shore. He wasn't waiting. He was so
anxious to see the Lord, he just started swimming and let those
other fellas bring the boat. But it was Peter who resigned
from the ministry and had them out there fishing in the first
place. He said, I go fishing. They wouldn't have been out there.
They'd have been in that room praying. But Peter said, I'm going back
to what I've always done. I'm going fishing. They said,
well, we'll go with you. It was Peter who led the great
revival at Pentecost, was it not? where 3,000 were saved,
but it was Peter who led the split at Antioch and had to be
rebuked by the Apostle Paul. That's the reason I just say
we just need to exercise so much patience and tolerance and care and concern
for one another. Our Lord did. And this is, all
of this is recorded. This is all written for our learning,
for our example. Not for our imitation now, but
for our example. You know, it was also Peter,
right here, the Lord, here he stands and the Lord described
how he would die, you know, and suffer. Crucified. Somebody said
upside down. And he listened to that. Now
that's a critical time. The Lord is telling him how he's
going to suffer for his glory. You know how he reacted? He turned
and looked at John and said, well, what's he going to do? Oh, my. My, my, my. There's just, I tell you, Unless
you can see the heart, you cannot judge the spiritual state of
another. Now, you just can't do it. You
just cannot do it. And how we ought to be careful
about judging the spiritual condition and the state of other servants
and children of God. Turn to Romans. Let me show you
something over here in Romans chapter 14. Chapter 14. 14th chapter of Romans, verse
4. Look at this verse and put a
big mark beside it so you'll see it every time you turn by
here. Romans 4, verse 14. Listen to this. Who art thou?
Who art thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master he standeth
or falleth, Yeah, he shall be holding up,
for God's able to make him stand. Why does he need to be made able
to stand? Because he's not in himself able
to stand. But God's able to hold him up,
and God's able to make him stand. God's able to use him and bless
him. God has chosen the foolish things of this world, the weak
things of this world, the despised things of this world. He'll use
them for His glory. Another verse that I thought
about right here on this point is Galatians chapter 6. And we
read these verses and we quote these verses, but we need to
apply these verses. In Galatians chapter 6 verse
1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, if there seems to
you, it may not even be so, but if there seems to you to be some
weakness or some difference or some transgression or some failure,
what do you do? Well, you damn him. You condemn
him. You cut him off. You withdraw
fellowship. You talk about him. You go to
somebody else and tell him you suspect some weakness. That's
not what he says. He says, if a brother be overtaken
in fault, you which are spiritual or think that you are, restore
such a one. Restore such a one. in the spirit
of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear
the other fellow's burden. Bear his weakness. Love covereth
the multitude of sins. Bear his failures, and you'll
be fulfilling the royal law of King Jesus, and that's the law
of love. I'm telling the truth. I tell
you this, if one sheep of Christ could fall away, if one could
fall away and be utterly, eternally lost, my soul would fall a hundred
times a day. Would yours? If one sheep could
fall away and not be whole enough and unable to stand. You see,
our relationship with Christ He said, another man's servant,
and that's what we are. I preached on that Sunday. Servant.
I'm not a servant of men, I'm a servant of God. But our relationship
with Jesus Christ is not determined, is not determined, thank God,
by our works, by our words, or by our wisdom. Aren't you glad? It's determined by His grace.
Our relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord, is not determined by
the opinion of others. I don't like for anybody to say
that I'm not saved. I don't appreciate it. But it
doesn't alter my salvation. It doesn't affect it. It's like Spurgeon said one time,
I don't mind being called an antinomian. He said, but I sure
don't want to be one. I don't mind somebody saying
that I'm weak on the gospel, but I don't want to be weak on
the gospel. But his saying so doesn't make
it so. I don't mind one saying he doesn't
preach the gospel. That's all right. My relationship
with Christ is not affected or influenced by anybody's opinion. It's by His grace. And my relationship with Christ
is not changed by committees, conferences of counsel. My relationship
with Christ is a heart matter. A heart matter. Me and Him. My Jesus, I love Thee. I know Thou art mine. For Thee,
all the follies of sin, I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior
art Thou. If ever I love Thee, my Jesus
is now. I love Thee because Thou hast
first loved me, and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree. I love Thee for wearing the thorns
on Thy brow, and if ever I love Thee, my Jesus is now. And I'll love thee in life, and
I'll love thee in death, and I'll praise thee as long as you
give me breath. And I'll say when the death do
lies cold on my brow, if ever I loved thee by Jesus' name." You see, this thing of a man's
salvation, consecration, devotion to Christ, is not a matter that's
settled by the opinion of others or the deeds or works of that
man. It's a face-to-face relationship with Christ Jesus, a face-to-face
issue to be settled between Him and His Lord. That's what we
have here in verse 15, John 21. Let's look at it as I close. So when they had dined, John
21, 15, So when they had dined, Jesus
said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas. There wasn't but one
Simon, son of Jonas there, Bob, just one. It is as if no one
else was around, Charlie. The blessed Redeemer looked at
Simon Peter and said, Simon, son of Jonas, Don't be mistaken
to whom I'm speaking. You. One person singled out. This isn't a group thing. Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me,
Simon son of Jonah? Lovest thou me? He didn't ask
Peter how much faith he had. He didn't talk to Peter about
his works. He didn't ask Peter how much knowledge he had. He didn't talk to Peter about his
fears and failures and sins. He just asked him one question.
Do you love me? Is that not the issue? It's not when and what and where
and how much knowledge and so forth and so on. It's Simon,
do you love me? I believe that's right. Do you
love me? Do you love me? You see, love
is the evidence of faith. By this shall all men know you,
my disciples, if you love. Love is the evidence of faith.
He that loveth is born of God. Love is the motive for works.
Paul said, the love of Christ constraineth me. Faith worketh
by love. Love is the greatest of these. He said, knowledge, I may have
knowledge, I have not love. I may have guilt, have not love.
I may have faith, have not love. You see, love is the greatest
of these. Love is the cover for sin. It covers a multitude. Satan is the great counterfeiter. He can counterfeit feeling, he
can counterfeit emotion, he can counterfeit Knowledge, he can
counterfeit works, he can counterfeit anything, but this, he cannot
produce love for Christ. He cannot produce love for Christ.
And that's the question. Simon, do you love me? But he added something more than
these. I've looked at that several times,
and I just I get the picture here. These men were in the room,
and a lot of things had happened. There was a lot of uncertainty
and confusion, and Christ had appeared, but he'd left them
alone. They were alone, and I don't know what transpired, but Peter
just said plainly, I just go a-fishing. I go a-fishing. See, that's what he was all his
life, was a fisherman. That's where the Lord found him,
Peter the fisherman. That's what he's called, the
big fisherman. And he said, I'm going back. And they said, wait,
we'll go with you. So they all left. And that's when they were
out there on the sea fishing, and the Lord appeared on the
land here. And there they are out there.
What in the world? This is the moment of crisis. This is the
most solemn moment in the whole life of these men, all that they
had talked about, Christ had preached about, His coming, His
death, His burial, His resurrection. Here they are out fishing. Instead of contemplating, if
my Father sent me, so send I you. Instead of, I give you gifts.
Instead of contemplating what was ahead of them and praying
for wisdom and direction and seeking the Lord, they are out
fishing. With nets and everything. Now a man doesn't take nets if
he's going pleasure fishing. They took nets. They were commercial
fishing. Isn't that right, Bob? You're
a fisherman. These men were commercial fishermen. And they were fishing. And they hadn't caught anything.
And he said, well, just throw your nets on the right side there.
And they did. Boy, their net was 153 fish. And they weren't those little
bluegills from Waynesville, North Carolina, either. They were big
fish. The net didn't break, though.
And Peter, John said, that's the Lord. And Peter, here he
came to shore, you know, and they came rowing in. And they had eaten, and then
the Lord said, Peter, do you love me more than these? More than what? The other disciples?
No. Those nets. Those boats. Your vocation. What you've dedicated
your life to. Do you love me? more than these
things. That's what he's asking. Well,
that's where it is. I don't have to be a theologian
to be saved, but I have to love Christ. Does that make sense? I don't have to know everything
the old writers wrote, but I do. I must love Christ. You love
me more than these. Well, it's a good answer. Do
you know what? There was a time when Peter would
have said, yes, I do. There was a time. Let me just
read you something over here in Matthew 26. We're looking at a different
fellow here. Just let me read it. Peter answered
and said to Jesus, though all men shall be offended because
of you, I'll never be offended. I'll go to the death. Now, back
there, if the Lord asked him to love him, he said, I love
you. Everybody knows I love you. I love you more than these fellas.
Not now. Here's his answer. Yea, Lord,
thou knowest I love thee. You know it. You know it. He didn't say, I know it. All
men know it. Everybody knows it. He said,
you know it. This is where it's settled. This
is where this issue is settled. I'm not trying to impress anybody.
There's no need for that. I'm not trying to convince anybody
that I love Christ and know Christ. No need for that. But I'll tell
you one thing. He knows I love Him. Can you say that? He knows I
love Him. tenfold bumbler and fumbler and
whatever, but He knows I love Him. He knows I love Him, and
I don't have to convince anybody else. He knows I love Him. And Peter kept saying that. Listen,
the Lord said to him the second time, verse 16, Simon, son of
Jonah, do you love Me? Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love
you. And he said to him the third
time. There's been a lot of speculation about that. After all, did he
not deny the Lord three times? But he said to him the third
time, and Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time if
he loved him, but he still held to the same answer. Just made
it a little stronger. You know all things. You know
I love you. Well, the Lord said, feed my
sheep. The question, do you love me? Do you love me? this preacher all around this
room tonight would receive that question personally,
directly. I'm not asking you when God saved
you. I'm not asking you how much you know. I'm not asking you
if you can stand up here and give a doctrinal recital of all
the points of Calvinism. I'm just asking you what Christ
asked, and let him ask it, not me. I'm not going to ask it.
Do you love me? And let's be able to reply with
the Apostle Peter, Lord, thou knowest all things. You know
I love you. Well, he said, feed my sheep. And Brethren, preacher Brethren,
he didn't say, shear my sheep. He said, feed them. He didn't say, discipline my
sheep. He said, feed them. He did not
say, determine who my sheep are. He said, feed them. And he also
said, feed the lambs. All the sheep aren't rams. Some
of them are lambs. All of them aren't the big burly
kind. Some of them are just little fellers, apt to get under feet,
apt to be overlooked. apt to be lost in the shuffle.
But you know who he said feed first? My lambs. Then he said, feed my sheep.
What do I feed them? I feed them this right here,
the Word of God. It's the Word of God by which
men are begotten. It's the Word of God by which
faith is given. It's by the Word of God that
men grow in grace. It's by the Word of God that
men are comforted. It's by the Word of God that
men are sanctified. Sanctify them through Thy Word.
Thy Word is true. It's by the Word of God that
men are kept from sin. That's right. David said, I will hide Thy Word
in my heart that I might not sin against Thee. Do you love
me? That's the issue, isn't it? If you love our Lord, we
love each other. And I mean love each other. Not
tolerate, but love each other. Let's sing, My Jesus, I love
Thee, Mike. I know Thou art mine, for Thee
all the follies of sin I resign. If ever I love Thee, my Jesus,
tis now. What number is that?

A Message for Preachers and People

What does the Bible say about God's grace in the lives of His people?

How do we know the doctrine of perseverance is true?

Why is love important for Christians?

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A Message for Preachers and People

What does the Bible say about God's grace in the lives of His people?

How do we know the doctrine of perseverance is true?

Why is love important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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