The Cross and the Crown

Well, Brother Tom, I especially
appreciated and was blessed by your reading of Isaiah 40. Why do you read the Word of God?
It's evident that you do read it. No one could read so well
who was not accustomed to reading the Word. I read a story one time about
a soldier who was put on report and taken
before his commanding officer and charged with sleeping on
duty. And the commanding officer brought
him into the office and he said to him, said, how do you plead? He said, not guilty. I was standing watch, but I was
not asleep. His commanding officer said,
but the man who passed by saw your eyes closed. He said, well,
my eyes were closed, sir, but I was not asleep. I was praying. And the commanding officer said,
well, suppose you pray for me. The young man said, you mean
now, sir? He said, I mean now. You pray for me. And so the young man bowed his
head, and he began to pray. And when he finished, he said,
in the name of our Lord, we ask these petitions. Amen. And the commanding officer
said to him, son, go about your duty. And try not to close your
eyes anymore when you're praying on duty. And the young man said,
sir, you believe me, that I was not asleep, that I was praying?
He said, certainly I believe you. One could not pray so well
who had not had a great deal of practice. And this is true of the reading
of this book. I'm not lauding Brother Harding,
but I'm simply saying one could not read so well who was not
often in the practice of reading the Word. I want you to turn to 2 Timothy,
chapter 3, and it's our own loss when we don't read it. It's our
own loss, and what a horrible, horrible loss it is. Too many of us are abreast of
all of the current issues, problems, and conflicts, and know so little,
know so little about this book. And I thought as I prepared the
message for tonight, why do I read the Word of God? Why do I read the Word of God?
And I found the answer here in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. I have about six reasons why
I read the Word of God, why I spend time reading it, why
I love to read it, why I love to hear it read. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, because
number one, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. I read this Word and love to
read it because it indeed is the Word of God. It's not just
a religious book. It's not just a denominational
handbook. It's not just a rule to live
by. It's not just an ancient manuscript. This is indeed the
Word of God. It is the Word of God, infallible,
inerrant, verbally inspired. Scripture says, holy men of God
moved or spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This is indeed
God's Word. It's without error. It is the
Word of the living God. It is the truth, and it is the
only truth. Everything else is the works
of men. This is the work of God. Is that
right? That's why I read it. It is the
word of God. It is given by inspiration, that
is, it is God-breed. This word is God-breed. And I'll
tell you this, there may be no one here, may be no one in this
congregation who puts a question mark on the verbal inspiration
of this word. But I'll tell you this, any man
who puts a question mark on the fact that this is indeed the
word of God, inerrant, unchangeable, eternal, then he takes away from
himself any true foundation of faith. He has no reason to believe
anything that he believes. No reason at all. The second reason why I read
it is this, and it is, it is given by inspiration, and it
is profitable for doctrine, doctrine. In other words, this book is
profitable for discovering, discovering. And I tell you this, before we
come to this book, we may have opinions formed, but they're
not worth the time it takes to tell them. There's a way that
seems right to us, and yeah, even to our fathers, but the
end is death. We don't bring our doctrines
to the Word of God to prove them. We come ourselves to the Word
of God to discover his doctrine, the doctrine of Christ. If they
speak not according to the Word of God, it's because they have
no light. They're in total darkness. It
doesn't matter who they are. We come to the Word of God for
discovering and for confirming and for teaching us all doctrine,
all truth concerning God, concerning men, concerning redemption. It's all here or it's not true. If it's not here, it's not true. For doctrine concerning eternal
life and for all subjects relating to that life. It's all here in
the Word. All right, thirdly, I read the
Word of God because it is indeed the Word of God, and secondly,
it's profitable for doctrine and profitable for reproof. What
is this reproof? Reproof is the reproof of error. The reproof of error and the
reproof of heresies and false teaching contrary to this Word.
This Word is good to show me that which is wrong and that
which is error. And if it's not according to
the word of God, it's error. And I could give several examples,
but there's no need for that. But this word exposes, it exposes
the false teachings of men. And that's why I read the word,
to find out not only what's right, but what's wrong. Who's right
and who's wrong. And then fourthly, I read the
Word of God for correction, for correction, correcting me, correcting
me in my attitude, correcting me in my spirit, correcting me
in my practice. The Word of God corrects me.
It is so dangerous for us to form permanent set patterns too
early in life. It's so dangerous. We need to
always stand before the Word of God, ready to be corrected. And then I read the Word of God
in the fifth place. He says, for instruction. Instruction
in righteousness. Whose righteousness? Well, it's
certainly true. We have no righteousness. Well,
for instruction in his righteousness. or that I may win Christ and
be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that righteousness which is by the faith of the
Son of God." Do you want instruction in righteousness? Who decreed
it? Who designed it? Who perfected
it? Who purchased it? Whose righteousness
it is? Where it is to be found? How
it is to be acquired? Then you are going to have to
go to the Word of God. or instruction in righteousness. And then in the next place, verse
17, that the man of God may be perfect. Now, we were in the
study a little while ago, and if you'll just hold that place
there and turn back to Philippians. Brother John Flanning was reading
from Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Now then, the word perfect. is found often in the Word of
God. And here it says, I just read
to you, the Word of God is given by inspiration of God that the
man of God may be perfect. But if one thing I know, it doesn't
mean that the man of God may be without fault, without sin,
and without any error, because that's an impossibility in this
flesh. Well, exactly what does it mean?
Well, we believe it means that the man of God might be mature.
In other words, we read the word of God that we may mature in
Christ, that we may grow up. Grow up. He said, be children,
be like children in your attitude, that is, be like children, quick
to forgive, quick to love, quick to forget, easily entreated,
easily instructed, be like children that way. But be not children,
be not children in understanding. Read the word that you may grow,
that you may mature. Our goal, our goal ought to be
as we grow older, as we mature, as we get 40, 50, 60 years of
age, that we become like a strong sturdy oak that doesn't always
need to be propped up like a sapling, but a strong, sturdy oak that
others may lean against and be propped up themselves. A strong,
sturdy oak in which others can find shade and refuge. A strong,
sturdy oak that will not and cannot be moved. And that's a mature believer.
not driven about with every wind of doctrine and every change
and everything that comes along, but that strong oak that has
been there a long time and continues to get greater and stronger and
its shade heavier and shielding from the sun and dependable and
shall not be moved, mature. You see what I'm talking about?
Mature. All of you go out and plant little trees and you have
to put You have to put a fence around them, you have to tie
a wire on them to keep the wind from blowing them over. Well,
they're trees and they've got life, but they don't help anybody
else much. But I want to be mature, and
that's what this is talking about. I desire the sincere milk of
the word that you may grow thereby, that you may mature. Now let
me show you in Philippians 3, this word perfect means maturity. Now Paul is saying in verse 11,
Philippians 3, if by any means I, I, this fellow right here,
might attain, might attain unto the resurrection of the dead,
and that's the first resurrection, not the second resurrection unto
death, not as though I had already attained, I haven't already arrived,
I'm not there yet. And I'm not already perfect.
I'm not perfect. I'm not without sin. I'm not
perfect. I'm not absolutely holy. I'm not yet like Christ. I'm
not there yet. But I do this, I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. I count not myself to have arrived,
I count not myself to have laid hold upon that for which I've
been laid hold of by Christ, but this one thing I do, I forget
those things which are behind, and I reach forth unto those
things which are before, and I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore
as many as be perfect." Wait a minute, he just said he wasn't
perfect. He just got through saying that he wasn't perfect,
he's the apostle to the Gentiles, he's a bond slave of Jesus Christ,
he's a man who's in prison right now for preaching the gospel,
this is one of his last epistles, he's not going to be around much
longer, and here he is saying, let us therefore as many as be
what? Mature. Examples. Grown up in Christ. We've got
a little age in the gospel, a little maturity in the gospel, a little
depth in the gospel. So, go back to what I was reading
in 2 Timothy 3. That's why I read the word of
God. Verse 17, that I might be made perfect, mature. And the word there is truly,
truly furnished unto all good works. I want so much, don't
you, to have the wisdom of Christ. the wisdom of Christ Jesus, the
wisdom of Christ in believing, the wisdom of Christ in daily
living, and the wisdom of Christ in communion with others. Wisdom,
wisdom. Zeal without wisdom is dangerous. Knowledge without wisdom is dangerous. But I want to add something to
this outline here that Paul has given in 2 Timothy 3. Why I love
and cherish and read the Word of God. In the next place, in
the seventh place, I read the word of God for comfort, for
assurance in Christ Jesus. You see, I'm a man of like passions. I'm a man of human infirmities. I'm a man of weak faith. Are
you? Weak faith. I stand with the
disciples every time the master rebuked them and said, oh, you
have little faith. I feel like he's talking straight
to me, don't you? And I find little comfort in
feelings. Feelings come and feelings go
and feelings are deceiving. I find very little comfort in
feeling. I find very little comfort in religious experiences. I wrote
down in this note, I find no comfort in feeling, but I wanted
to leave a measure of room, but very little. I find very little
comfort in experiences, very, very little. I find very little
comfort in doctrine, very little comfort. But I'll tell you this,
I do find great and rich comfort indeed in His Word. Could I show
you that in the book of Acts chapter 27? The Apostle Paul is in a very precarious
place in this 27th chapter of Acts. He's on board a ship that's
being driven about in a mighty storm, and everybody on the ship
that was a qualified seaman had given up hope. They had lightened
the ship, they had thrown everything overboard, they had done everything
they could to save it, and they were about ready to abandon ship. And Paul stood there before them
in Acts 27, verse 24, verse 22, and he said, verse 22 of Acts
27, And now I exhort you to be of good cheer. In other words,
be comforted. For there shall be no loss of
any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood
by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not, Paul, for thou must be brought before
Caesar, and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with
thee." Now watch this. Wherefore, sirs, be of comfort,
be of good cheer. while the wind was blowing, I
guess, at hurricane force to stir up this biggest storm. Have
you ever been in a storm at sea? I was in a typhoon one time where
waves were much higher than the deck of the ship. Everything
had to be tied down. There were ropes everywhere.
No one was allowed topside. Everything was tied down. The
ship was rolling. You would go down like this,
you know, It looked like he was looking down into a deep hole,
and you'd look up the other way, and the waves would be way up
there. And that's the way this little old ship was being tossed
about. I was on a pretty good-sized
ship, but Paul was on one not like that. And he says to
these men, he says, be of good comfort. Be comforted. Well, how can you be comforted
in a place like this? Four words for I believe God. I believe God. I believe God. And I believe it shall be even
or exactly as he told me. Now wait a minute. He told me
is not hearing somebody else say it. It's he told me. See what I'm saying? It shall be be a comforted, be
assured. I believe God. I don't believe
the preacher. I believe God. I believe the
preacher as he quotes God. I believe God. That it shall
be as he told me. Not as I thought and not as my
denomination thinks. And not as all the religious
people around me think. But as he told me. He told me. He told me. Oh, I tell you, He
told me. I believe God that it shall be
even as it was told me. Even as it was told me by God. I believe God. So with that in
mind, turn to 1 Peter chapter 1 now. 1 Peter chapter 1. Here's my comfort, here's my
source of comfort, here's my cradle of comfort, the Word of
God. They say this is the oldest epistle,
I do not know. But I do know this, in verse
1 of 1 Peter 1, the man whom God used to write it identifies
himself in this way, Peter. Peter. He didn't say he was the
vicar of Christ. Nor did he say he was the successor
of Christ, nor does he say that he's the head of the church.
He says, I'm an apostle. I'm a servant. I'm a messenger. And he's writing not to any church
in particular, or to any one person in particular, as John
wrote to the elect sister, so forth, or as Paul wrote to Philemon,
but he's writing to the strangers, to the strangers and pilgrims.
as to all of God's people who scattered abroad, scattered because
of persecution, scattered because of what they believed, scattered
because what they believed was not in keeping with what the
religious world believed. Scattered abroad, scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, and he calls
them the elect. He calls them the elect. elect,
the elect of God. And I want you to notice something
in the next two verses. You talk about comfort. Now listen
to this. In these next two or three verses, verses two, three,
and four, he gives us three things, and he repeats it twice. He first
gives us the cause of our election, the cause of our election. He
secondly gives us the means, the means. to carry out our election,
and then thirdly, he gives us the end or objective of that
election. Now Peter, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, an apostle, and an apostle was a man who had seen the Lord,
and a man who got his revelation and gospel directly from Christ,
not from anybody else, right? That's an apostle. That's why
today there are no apostles. There were only 12. Judas disappeared and one took
his place. And there's been an argument
for 2,000 years whether it was Matthias or Paul. But whichever
way you go, they both saw the Lord. And he says, I'm writing
to the strangers, I'm writing to the pilgrims, I'm writing
to the sojourners who are scattered abroad because of persecution. driven out of their homes and
out of their land, and they are elect. They're God's elect. And
here's the cause. They're God's elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father. The foreknowledge of
God the Father, whom he foreknew. When's this talking about this
foreknowledge? Well, he said God hath from the
beginning. chosen you to salvation. Isn't
that what the word says? The word also said God chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's what the
word says. That's what he said. That's what the book says. We
elect according or because God foreknew us. Our Lord said concerning
his sheep. I know my sheep. I know them. And they follow me. I'm the good
shepherd, I know my sheep, I lay down my life for my sheep, and
other sheep I have, not might have, I do have, and them I will
bring. And all that my Father giveth
me'll come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. The cause of our election is God's foreordination, God's
foreknowledge. You said God knew what would
happen, the only way God knows what is happening going to happen
is because God has the power to make it happen. The reason
you don't know what's going to happen is you don't have any
power over the circumstances to bring it to pass. You couldn't
bring it to pass if you wanted to. But God knows because God
decrees. All right? That's the cause of
our election. And this foundation of God's
standard sure having this foundation, the Lord what? Knoweth them that
he is. He foreknew them. Has God ever
forgotten anything? No, sir. If God ever forgot anything,
He's not all-knowing. Well, has God ever learned anything?
Well, no, sir. If He ever learned anything,
He's not omniscient. He's not all-knowing, huh? So
known unto God are all His works from the beginning. You see,
what you've got here is the very character of God at stake. The
character of God. And I tell you, if I held a doctrine
that put in ill repute the character of God, I'd junk it pretty quickly. If I held a proposition, no matter
how much it soothed my feathers, if it discredited God, I'd get
rid of it. So the cause of our election
is the foreknowledge of God, all right? The means of our election
is this, through sanctification of the spirit. Sanctification,
do a study of it in the Old Testament. Means in the New Testament, what
he meant in the Old Testament, to set apart. To take that which
is common and that which is ordinary and set it apart. Set it apart
for God. set it apart for holy use. God
said he sanctified the Sabbath day, that's one day out of seven,
set it apart, said that's mine. God sanctified the firstborn,
yea, even the cattle of the field, said that's mine. God sanctified
the vessels in the temple, set them apart, said they're mine.
God sanctified the priesthood, God set these things apart, was
sanctified by God the Father, by choice, by his decree. We're sanctified by the Spirit
of God or by the Lord Jesus Christ in that we're made holy. We're
declared to be holy. We're recognized as holy. God
uses the word sanctify in reference to himself. Moses struck the
rock and God rebuked him and said, you didn't sanctify me.
You didn't sanctify me in the eyes of the people. Well, how
can you sanctify God? Well, somebody says, sanctification
means to eradicate the old nature and to become holy. When did
God ever have an old nature? But he's saying, Moses, you didn't
regard me as holy. You came before the people and
disobeyed me and put me in a bad light in the eyes of the people,
and you didn't regard me to be holy. And in the same way, in
Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ's perfect righteousness and obedience,
we are actually, by God, considered and regarded and accepted as
holy. by the Lord Jesus. And we're
sanctified by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. We're
brought to Christ in faith. We're given a new nature. We
are actually made holy people. We have given to us in regeneration
a holy nature, a new nature which cannot sin. It's the nature of
God. So that's the means of our sanctification.
You see, the cause of our election is God Almighty's foreordination
and decree. And the means of bringing about
our redemption and the results of this election is by the power
of God's Spirit and the Word of God, the Word of God. All
right, now notice this, we have the end, our goal of our election,
unto. You see, election's not salvation,
it's unto salvation. It's unto salvation. We are led,
according to the foreknowledge of God, through or by the work
of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, unto, unto what? Unto obedience. Unto the obedience
of Christ. and also unto the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. To what does that allude there,
the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ? It goes back to
the Old Testament when Moses took the blood and sprinkled
the book and sprinkled the people and sprinkled the tabernacle.
And the great high priest sprinkled with hyssop and blood the mercy
seat, and cleansed it, and justified it, and made it so that a holy
God could have something to do with it. Peter says, I'm writing
to the elect, to the elect. And let me tell you something
before I'm through. You're going to realize that there is no comfort,
consolation, or assurance for any person who does not believe. in a covenant of God's grace. There is no assurance. I'm sorry.
If you're looking for assurance in your profession, looking for
assurance in your determination, looking for assurance in your
dedication, looking for assurance in your cooperation, looking
for assurance in anything having to do with you in any shape,
form, or fashion, you have no room or right to claim any assurance
because you are a changing creature. Change and decay. Tell me one
thing that won't change. Come on now, you name me one
thing, just name me one thing. I'll name you one, God. God. He said, I'm the same, I change
not. Come on now, you name something
else, you're going to change. You're going to change, but not
Him. All flesh is what? You read it, grass. And all the
glory and goodliness of men as the what? Flower? It withereth
and fadeth. But he said, Behold your God,
the word of God endureth forever. That's right. That's right. Elect according to the decree,
design, determination, will, and foreknowledge of God the
Father. and sanctify, set apart, called, made holy, operated on
by God's Spirit and His Word and made in Christ a new creature
to the end results, that I might obey Him and love Him and be
sprinkled with His blood. The preacher said one time, I
want to say to all the sons of Adam, God loves you and Christ
died for you. If that be so, every son of Adam,
bar none, Judas, Adolf, Hitler on down, will be in heaven. If
God loves him and Christ sprinkled him in the blood, he's justified
in the sight of God Almighty. payment God's justice cannot
twice demand. First at the bleeding shirt of
His hand, then again at mine. Sprinkled by the blood. I'm telling
you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. And
I'll tell you this, this is the end result of that election.
Grace be unto you. Grace be unto you. Let me ask
you a question. Are you familiar with a verse
in Hebrews that goes like this? He took not on him the nature
of angels. Is that right? Did I quote it
right? That's it. He took not on him the nature
of angels. But he took on him, who's it
talking about, Christ? That's Christ, is it not? But
he took on him the nature of the sons of Adam. Is that what
that says? Everybody thinks that's what
that says, raise your hand. That's not what that says, that's general
redemption. But it says, now listen, here's
the way it's written. Turn to Hebrews 2.16, let you
look at it. Hebrews 2.16, He deliberately,
willingly, from all eternity, assumed a nature, assumed a responsibility. Hebrews 2.16, For verily He took
not on Him the nature of angels, But he took on him. Oh! Oh! The what? The seed of Abraham. You ever read the book of Galatians?
Who's the seed of Abraham? Believers. That's what it says. He said he's not a Jew which
is won by outward things. He's a Jew inwardly. He's not
a Jew that's circumcised in the flesh. He's one circumcised in
the heart. They're not all Israel that are of Israel. The seed
of Abraham are those who believe. Is that right, Charlie? That's
what Galatians says. Read it. That's the seed. They are the sons of God. The
children of Abraham are the sons of God, and they are the sons
of God by F-A-I-T-H, faith, and Jesus Christ. Now, here's what
he's considering here in Hebrews 2.16, two races that fell. The
angels fell, a third of the heavenly host, they say. They fell before
man. And they're reserved in everlasting
chains of darkness under that great day. And he took not on
himself the nature of angels, angels, all angels considered.
He took not on himself the nature of angels. But he took on himself,
not all men, not their nature, the seed of Abraham. That's deliberately
written there, the seed of Abraham. Go back to my text. What are
you saying, preacher? I'm saying, blessed are the elect
of God. They're bought with Jesus' blood.
God did love them in His Son long before this world begun.
They, the seal of this, receive when in Jesus Christ they believe. All their sins are washed away
by His grace. They'll stand in that day. And
that's my comfort. David found his comfort there.
David, sweet psalmist of Israel, David, king of Israel, David,
man after God's own heart, lying on his deathbed. And he said, although it be not
so with my house, God, God made with me an everlasting covenant,
unchangeable, immutable covenant. Ordered in everything. Ordered
from Alpha to Omega. Ordered in all things and sure
as God's in the heavens. And this is all my desire. And this is all my hope. And
this is all my salvation. And you make fun of it. And you gnash your teeth against
it. And you say there's no such thing. David is no such thing. He's been with God longer than
you have. God never said I was a man after his own heart. He
said David was. That man walked with God. And I'll tell you where I'm going
to find my comfort. I'm going to ski down right over
there by him. And I'm going to get under that blessed refuge
of Christ Jesus. God of purpose. God of truth. God of unchangeable covenant.
And if you don't, you're in trouble. Let's watch
the next verse. Listen. Once again, cause, means,
and end. Listen. Verse 3. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Cause, which according
to His abundant mercy. Not according to my merit. I
have no merit. It's not merit, it's mercy. Lord,
if thou shouldest mark iniquity, who would stand? I'll tell you who'd fall first,
the religious Pharisee. I'll tell you who'd fall first.
If God should mark iniquity, who would stand? Who could stand?
I'll tell you who'd fall first, the self-righteous. Because there's
nothing God hates like self-righteousness. He said, six things I hate, and
the first one's a proud look. For I tell you, which according
to His mercy, mercy, mercy, not merit, mercy, mercy, indescribable
mercy, undeserved mercy, unsought mercy, according to His mercy,
He hath begotten us again unto a living hope, a living hope. Who's living in this hope? Well,
you're not much of a... example of life. Christ is the
living one. He's the living God. He said,
because I live, you live. Because I live, you live. He
has begotten us unto a living hope, watch it, through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection. I'll tell you
this, that resurrection, it tells me two things, and I've got to
hurry, but I want you to turn to 2 Scriptures, Acts 13, that
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is so much to do made over
the resurrection? Acts 13. Why is so much to do? Well, I tell you this. You see,
in His resurrection, when you see Him come forth from the tomb,
you see all that He is and all that He's done. His birth, His
life. His righteousness, His sin offering,
His substitutionary work, it's all there because if it had not
been accepted of the Father, He never would have raised Him.
That's the evidence that God the Father had given to the world
that He has accepted Christ and all who are in Him in that He
raised Him from the dead. Look at Acts 13, 29. And when
they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, You know, these
fellows that nailed Him to the cross, they did what was written
of them. These fellows that spit on Him, they did what was written
of them. These fellows that betrayed Him and lied on Him, they did
what was written of them. That's right. And they took Him down from the
tree and they laid Him in a sepulcher, but God raised Him, the Heavenly
Father. All right, Acts 17. Now turn
over to Acts 17. Listen. Verse 31. Act 1731, because God has appointed a day
in which He's going to judge this world. And He's going to
judge it in pure, perfect, holy righteousness. He's going to
judge it in pure righteousness. There's just going to be two
standards at the judgment. He has perfect, holy righteousness
in our guilt. We're going to be in one place
or the other. We're going to be perfect or we're going to be cast out.
That's right. He's going to judge the world
by righteousness, in righteousness by that man who he hath ordained,
that man Jesus Christ whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath
given assurance, confidence unto all men, and that he raised him
from the dead. Here he is, God said. There outside
Jerusalem in that garden where that stone was rolled away and
Jesus Christ came walking out, God saying to the whole world,
religious and whatever, there's one Savior, there's one
Redeemer, there's one substitute, and there He is. And all that
He did in representation from the time He was our surety in
a covenant of grace, He's the surety of a better covenant. He's the great shepherd of the
sheep, brought again from the dead through the blood of the
what? Everlasting covenant. Whom he represented, those whose,
that seed of Abraham, whose nature he took, that law he faced for
them, those sins he bore in his body on the tree, as their scapegoat
went into the dark tomb, and God said, release him, let him
go. And he came out, and God said,
there's salvation. That's so. That's so. And here's the end results, verse
4. God, according to His mercy,
He hath begotten us unto a living hope, and proved it by the rest,
gave evidence by the resurrection of Christ from the dead, verse
4, 1 Peter 1, to an inheritance. Watch this now, an inheritance.
What is an inheritance? It's that which a father leaves
a son. A son, and nobody else. If I
had an awful lot of money, an awful lot of money, I got two
sons here and another one somewhere else tonight, and a daughter,
and a daughter-in-law, and they'll be my heirs. A little boy down
on Front Street can come to the lawyer and say, I want in on
that. You're not a son. You're not a son. You're not
in the family. But Lord, I preached in your
name and did many wonderful works. I never knew you. I know my sheep. I never knew
you. But I did this. I cut your yard. And I swept your walk. And I emptied your garbage. But
you weren't in my family. You're not an heir. This is an
inheritance. Huh? That's what I'm saying. Like Tom read a while ago, we'll
make our own God. We'll make our own Bible. I don't
like this one. I'll just rip that page out and
throw it away. And when you did, just throw
it all away and buy you an asbestos suit. Blessed be God according to His
mercy. He hath begotten. What's begotten?
He's my begotten. born, sired, conceived, begotten,
thus unto a living hope, not a dead religious profession,
not a dead religious creed, not a dead religious fundamentalism,
a living hope by the resurrection of the Son of God from the grave
to an inheritance of sons. Watch it now, incorruptible.
It doesn't decay like your religious denominations and organizations.
It didn't rust like your treasures laid up. It's incorruptible.
It's undefiled. There's no sin in it. You know
the reason it's undefiled? There's no men in it. Somebody said he knew why the
moon was not pure in God's sight because men had landed on it
now. Anything man has anything to do with is defiled. And this
covenant of grace, my hope, and my salvation doesn't have me
in it, you in it, or nobody else in it. It's undefiled. That's
right. And it fadeth not away like everything
else. The passion of this world, John,
what does it say? Fadeth away. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. But you never tell him goodbye.
That inheritance will never fade away. And what's this? Oh, I
tell you, it's reserved. I want to know, anybody here
ever worked in a restaurant? You ever been a waitress or a
waiter? Well, if someone comes to you
and you stand at the door and he says, I have reservations,
what does that mean? That means somebody called ahead and reserved him a table. And
you look, you'll find his name on it. Ain't that right? That's
a reservation. You got a reservation? No, I
crashed the party, not this party. There was a fella that did, and
he didn't have on a wedding garment, he got put out. You don't crash
this party. This inheritance, Paul, is reserved. And you know who called in? And
you know when he called in? And you know for whom he called
in? God, before the foundation of the world, chose us in Christ
and wrote our names in the book of life. And we have an inheritance,
undefiled, incorruptible, that fate is not away because it's
reserved. Been there ever since heaven's
been there, because God doesn't change. Ain't that right? I tell you. And that is our comfort. That is our comfort. That's our
consolation. Look at the next verse. Where
in? He says, verse 5, what's this? He says, to an inheritance,
verse 4, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, there's no period there, for you comers
who are kept by the power of God. It was the power of God
that regenerated you, it's the power of God that sustains you,
and it's the power of God that'll keep you. Watch out now. Somebody
said, well, you believe man be saved whether he believes or
not. Don't be a fool. Look at the next two words, through
faith. And the only reason anybody say
anything like that is he's a dumb fool and doesn't know anything
about the Word of God. We are kept by the power of God
through faith, through faith. God said they'll not depart from
me and I'll never depart from them. Never. Never. And that salvation is unto salvation
and it's ready to be revealed. Ready! It's been ready a long
time. We're in. Watch this now and I'll quit.
We're in. This is what we've been talking
about. This we're in. wherein you rejoice. What I rejoice
in? Well, I rejoice in my good deeds.
Oh, it didn't say anything about our deeds there, our merit. It
says God elected you, foreknew you, begotten, begat you, reserved
you, and that's what you rejoice in, wherein you greatly rejoice. Oh, boy! I rejoice in this. I rejoice in His grace. I rejoice
in His covenant. I rejoice in His mercy. Though
now for a season, for a little while, if need be, you're in
heaviness, you got a lot of troubles, many temptations and trials.
Well, God's working on you that the trial of your faith, which
is more precious than a gold that perishes, and it has to
be tried with fire, But that faith is going to be found, that
faith is going to be found, watch it now, unto praise, honor, and
glory. And you know what it fundamentally
says? It's going to be found to our praise, our honor, and
our glory because He's going to stack crowns on our heads.
He's going to give you a crown because you worked a little harder
than Him, and you'll have a smaller crown. Tough, Ronnie. I'll come
see you. And Jim, you know, you'll have
a cabin, though, son, in the corner of glory land. See, that's human praise. That's hogwash. That your faith,
watch it now, your faith, the trial of your faith might be
tried with fire and be found under the praise and honor and
glory at whose appearing, when you walk into heaven, at your
appearance, At your coming, one fellow sang on the television
one night, it made headlines in heaven when I got saved. You
mean they didn't know about it? They put out an extra. He surprised
God. Yes, God, he did. Poor fellow. But this faith, this precious
faith, that's like the precious blood and the precious word and
the Son who's precious, is going to be found to the praise and
honor and glory when He appears. His praise, His honor, and His
glory. Now let me tell you something.
If I don't come back and don't speak to you again, like Paul said, if I never meet
you again, never see your face, I'm telling you, according to
this book, that's the only foundation of any assurance or any hope.
for now or eternity is God's mercy. That's right. That's right. He's going to get all the glory.
He that gloweth in glory in the Lord. In glory in the Lord. All right. Mike's going to sing
the closing hymn. Here's the Right
along the line I'm talking covenant mercies. Do you know the word
covenant is in this Bible almost 300 times? 300 times. And it's very seldom ever mentioned
in the average book.

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