Christ - Precious to Believers

All right, turn to 1 Peter, chapter 2. Charles Spurgeon once told a
story about a young minister And all of us, no matter how
old we are, are still young in the ministry. Brother Barnard
used to say, Henry, someday I'm going to enter the ministry.
He was about 65 then. But this young man brought a
message, a sermon, in a Welsh chapel. And after he finished
his sermon, he remarked to an elderly gentleman in the congregation,
What do you think of my sermon?" And the old man replied, it was
a very poor sermon indeed. And the young man said, well
it took me a long time to prepare it, and the old man said, I'm
sure it did because it was well prepared, very well prepared. And the young man said, Did I
have a poor delivery? Oh, no, he said, young man, you
have a fine voice and you have many gifts. God's given you great
talent. And you delivered the message
very powerfully. Well, he said, were my antidotes
and illustrations, were they misapplied or wrongly applied? And the old man said, no. He said, your arguments and your
illustrations were excellent, but it was a very poor summer.
And the young man said, well, why do you say it was a poor
sermon if it contained great preparation and was powerfully
delivered and the arguments and illustrations were well applied?
How can you say it was a poor sermon? He said, there was no
Christ in it. There was no Christ in it. The
young man replied, but Christ was not in the text. We must
stick to the text. We must preach what's in the
text. And Christ wasn't in the text. To which the old man replied,
Son, Christ is in every text. In every text there's a road
that leads to Christ. And your business, when you take
a text, is to find that road and get on it as quickly as you
can and take people to Christ. Because he says, no sermon will
do any good unless it leads men to Christ. And the best sermon
is the sermon which is fullest of Christ. My message this morning
is the one, I hope, that's fullest of Christ. To you that believe,
he's precious. And God begins right away. Look
at verse 6 of 1 Peter 2. Verse 6 and 7, he said, it's
contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, I lay in Zion
a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. When sin first came into this
world, the Lord God gave our parents
the first promise concerning Christ. When sin first visited
this world, when sin first appeared in this world, when man first
fell in that dark hour, the Lord God of Heaven said to the man
and woman, I'll give you a Redeemer. This Redeemer will be the woman,
see. That's the first promise. There
Christ, there the foundation, there the chief cornerstone,
there the Redeemer is promised. And then these promises were
multiplied, these prophecies were multiplied as ages rolled
by. The Redeemer was set forth under
different types and pictures and shadows and ceremonies and
sacrifices. God promised the Redeemer and
then God pictured the Redeemer. That rock was Christ. That old priest that took the
blood into the Holy of Holies and put it on the mercy seat,
Christ is the mercy seat, Christ is the blood, Christ is the priest,
Christ is the tabernacle. It's all Christ. And now all
these pictures and prophecies and promises are fulfilled. One
day when the angel appeared to the shepherds on those Judean
hillsides and they said, Behold, we bring you glad tidings of
great joy. unto you is born, not promised
only, not pictured only, not prophesied only, is born a Savior,
Christ the Lord. Behold, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign, a virgin shall be with child, and thou shalt
call his name Emmanuel, provided by God in the fullness of time,
when it please the Lord in his own good time. He sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were born under the law. The Word was made flesh. God
Almighty actually clothed himself in a human body and walked this
earth. God Almighty, who made heaven
and earth, who created all things, God Almighty actually came down
here through the womb of a woman, nursed at her breast, was led
by her hand, was subject to his parents, subject to the civil
laws, the moral laws, the ceremonial laws, all the laws, thirsted,
knew what it was to hurt, to suffer, to thirst, to hunger,
a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and died on a cross
and was buried in a grave. God Almighty walked this earth
in human flesh. The Savior was provided, promised
by God, pictured by God, prophesied by God, sent by God. He hath appeared. He hath come. And this Redeemer is the foundation. God said, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, and that takes us back to Isaiah. I want you to
go back here just a moment with me to this scripture which which
the Apostle Peter is quoting here. In Isaiah 28, this is where
it is. Isaiah 28, verse 16. This is the scripture that he's
quoting. Isaiah 28, 16. Isaiah says, Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, I lay in Zion. This is not a plan that was brought
forth by men or angels. God said, I lay in Zion. for
a foundation, a stone. He's a stone, unchangeable, immovable,
certain. He's a stone. And he's a tried
stone, tried by the law, tried by Satan, tried by men, tried
in all points, yet without sin. He's a tried stone, tried by
Old Testament saints. He never failed. Tried by the
apostles, tried by the reformers. He never failed, a tribestone.
And then he says he's a precious cornerstone, precious to the
Father, precious to every believer. But he's that cornerstone that
holds together Jew and Gentile, who holds together Old Testament
and New Testament, who holds together black and white, who
holds together people out of every kindred, tongue, nation,
tribe unto heaven. He's that cornerstone that holds
the whole building together. And then he says he's a sure
foundation. Alléanzine. God said Alléanzine,
a stone, immovable, immutable, unchangeable. Alléanzine, a tried
stone. He's been tried every way that
the flesh could be tried, every way that the spirit could be
tried, every way that the soul could be tried. He's a tried
stone, and he's a precious stone, and he's a stone that is sure. The believer's foundation, my
friend, contrary to what some people may teach, is not doctrine. Now, doctrine is precious, but
doctrine is not our foundation. Christ is our foundation. I love
election, but we are elected in Christ. We are chosen in Christ. I love to preach redemption,
but we are redeemed by a person. by a person, not just by his
work, but by a person. Forgiveness is in a person. Redemption
is in a person. We are accepted in the Beloved. Our foundation is not doctrine,
it's Christ. Our foundation is not a feeling,
it's Christ. Our feelings are so changeable.
Oh, I tell you, I wish we weren't so subject to our feelings, don't
you? Glad feelings hurt feelings. Proud feelings humble feelings. Feelings come and feelings go,
but Christ is the same. He's our foundation. Aren't you
glad you don't have to rest upon how you felt this morning, or
how you're going to feel tonight? Christ is the same. Our foundation
is not experience. I'll tell you, salvation is a
great experience, but experience is not salvation. Our foundation
is Christ. And I say this so often, I repeat
it again, if you have to go back even an hour to prove your salvation,
there's some trouble somewhere. We don't go back to an experience,
we don't go back to something that happened back there to prove
that we know God. Christ lives in our hearts. On
Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and
strength. Christ is our foundation. The
Apostle Paul did not say, I know what I believe. He did know what
he believed. He did know what he believed.
The Apostle Paul didn't say, I know when I believe. He knew
when he believed. That's true. The Apostle Paul
didn't say, I know why I believe. He did know why he believed,
but he said, I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have
believed. It is no proof at all that you
are saved because God answers your prayers. The proof of your
redemption is that Christ represents you at the right hand of God
as your mediator. It is no proof at all that you're
saved because you feel good or you feel holy or you feel righteous. The proof of your salvation is
He pleads His wounds and His stripes and His blood and His
broken body in your place in God's right hand. Christ is our
foundation. I know whom I have believed.
Saving faith is the knowledge of a person. Not an event, not
an experience, but a person. I know whom I have believed,
and I am confident, I am persuaded that he is able. I'm not able. I tremble when
I think of the enemies that surround me, and I'm not talking about
human beings. Yeah, you can say I'm not afraid
of anybody, but I'll tell you this, I'm not afraid of any body
either. But we wrestle not against bodies,
we wrestle against principalities and powers. And our Lord taught
us to pray, Lord, deliver me from the evil one. Deliver me
from the evil one. I sure don't want Satan to come
before God this morning among the sons of God and say, let
me have a shot at old brother Bill Lancaster. Let me have a
shot at Henry Mahan. Let me have a shot at Art Young.
Lord, the only reason he serves you is you've hedged him about,
you've given him blessings, you've given him friends, you've given
him loved ones, you've given him good health, you've given
him a good life. Let me have a shot at him today. I tell you, when I think what
can happen, when I think of the potential, when I think of the
possibility, you know, our Lord said, Peter, Satan hath desired
you that he might sift you. But I
prayed for you that your faith fail not. Oh, I am confident
he is able. I have no confidence in this
flesh, but I'm confident he's able. I know whom I have believed. I don't believe in myself. I
don't believe in you. I love you, but I don't believe
in you. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed
to him. My soul, my hope, my future,
my eternity, my salvation, I've committed it. Lord, it's yours. I'm resting just like the old,
the bricklayer goes out there and they pour that foundation.
It's poured just right. He takes that first block and
he puts a little mortar down there, you know, and I'd be good
at it, wouldn't I? He puts that mortar down there and takes that
block and sets her down. And that's where she's going
to stay. And the longer it sits there, the more it merges into
the foundation. The more it becomes a part of
the foundation, the more sure it is. It just sits there. That's
where we are in Christ. God has taken us as living stone,
not as concrete blocks, living stone. And He, first of all,
He said, I lay the foundation. The foundation forms the shape
of the building. The foundation is the strength
of the building. The foundation is that upon which the building
rests. I laid that foundation. It's
a stone. It's a tried stone. It's a sure
foundation. Hell won't shake it, he said.
Satan won't shake it. Time won't shake it. Men won't
shake it. The Roman Empire can't shake
it. It's a sure foundation. And I'm going to take you living
stone. I'm going to lay you on that foundation. And all I do
is lay there, Bill. I'm not struggling. I'm not trying.
I'm not doing something for God in order for God to recognize
me. I've been laid on a foundation, Christ Jesus. He's a sure foundation. Now watch this. He says, "...and
he that believeth," verse 6, "...and he that believeth, he
that resteth on Christ, he that trusteth in Christ, he that lays
on Christ, shall never be confounded." Boy, I found a lot of meanings
to that word. First of all, it says this, he
shall not be disappointed. He shall not be disappointed.
You know why? Because Christ is able. What's
he able to do? He's able, first of all, to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by him. Somebody said
he's able to save to the guttermost, to the uttermost extent of sin,
to the uttermost extent of rebellion. to the uttermost extent of depravity,
to the uttermost extent of eternity. He's able. All who come to God
by Christ, He's able to save. So I can say this morning, I
don't care who it is, whosoever will, let him take the water
of life. Whosoever will, let him call on the name of Christ.
I can say to any person, God is able in Christ. to put away
all your sins, no matter how black, no matter how filthy,
no matter how wicked they might be. He's able. And he's not only
able to save, but Abraham said he's able to perform everything
he promised. And not only that, but he's able
to... Brother Mahon, I tell you, I just don't know. I've thought
a lot about this. I've listened to you preach and
read God's Word, but I don't know. I don't know. I'm so weak,
my flesh is so weak, I just think that I might not hold out." Now,
wait a minute. He's able to keep you from falling. You know, so many people want
assurance and strength before they believe. Belief in Christ
comes first. You know, we say, Lord, show
me and I'll believe. It's the other way around. We believe
and then, boy, he shows you. He gives you a new nature. and
a new heart and new desires and a new direction. He brings you
to love things you once hated and to hate things you once loved.
You say, I'm just afraid I couldn't stay away from this one or that
one or the other one if I came to Christ. Oh yeah, you can't
now, but when you come to Him, the way they talk and the way
they live and the way they act will be obnoxious to you. It
won't attract you. He's able to keep you from falling,
and He's able not only that, but He's able to change our vile
bodies, Paul said in Philippians 3, and make them like His glorious
bodies. So I'll tell you this. God said, I laid that foundation.
And that living stone that's resting in Christ, that believes
in Christ, He'll never be disappointed. He'll never. And then secondly,
he'll never be ashamed. That's what Paul said in Romans
9.33. Paul used this same scripture in Romans 9.33, and he quoted
it this way. He said, it is written, Romans
9.33, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Well, first of
all, we'll never be ashamed. that we believed on Christ. We'll
never be ashamed that we trusted him. You'll never say, I trusted
him and he failed me. You'll never be ashamed that
you cast your lot with Christ, that you believed on him. And
then you'll never be ashamed, watch this, at his coming of
your nakedness and your sin. Adam's sin, and the first thing
he did was run and hide from God. Why? Because he was ashamed. He was naked. And I'll tell you
someday Christ is coming in all of his glory, the brightness
of his glory, and I'm going to meet I'm going to meet him, and
I'm not going to be ashamed, because he hath made me pure,
he hath made me holy, he hath made me unblameable, unreprovable
in his sight. I'll not be ashamed. I'll not
be ashamed. And then thirdly, Isaiah 28,
16 says, he shall not make haste. Now watch this. We're not at
our wits' end. We're not in a hurry, we're not
dashing to and fro, we don't fret and fume and worry. If we
are believers, we have entered into his rest. Now, we need to
learn this in 1978. That stone which has been laid
on that foundation, that stone is laying there, depending on
the foundation. The stone is not depending upon
itself. Not depending upon the man who
laid it there. He's depending on the foundation.
Resting. Resting. Trusting. He that believeth
is quiet, calm, confident, and assured of his interest in Christ. Oh, the wind beats against it
and the rain beats against it and the storm blows against it
and causes it some difficulty, but it rests there on the foundation.
Resting in Him. I like that story. Someone told
years ago about some old preacher of grace that stood before the
ecclesiastical court which demanded that he deny his confidence in
Christ and trust for salvation in the church and in the priest
and the pope and they had tried him and he just wouldn't recant,
he wouldn't be in, he just stood there calmly before them as they
tried him and they grew angry. Finally one of the judges said,
we'll take away all your property. He said, It's not mine, it's
his. Naked I came into this world. Naked I shall depart. The Lord
gave and the Lord hath taken away. Well, one of them said,
We'll exile you. We'll send you away from home.
We'll send you to the far island somewhere. And he calmly said,
Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I sin in the heavens
out there, if I make my bed in hell out there, if I take the
wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea, even there thy hand shall hold me, the night shall be light
about me." And one of them got so angry he said, We'll kill
you! He said, For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
And besides all that, he said, I'd really died thirty-seven
years ago. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."
Finally one of them looked at him and he said, he's a fool. Let him go. Now this is peace. He that believes it will never
be disappointed, he'll never be ashamed, and he'll never make
haste. He's resting. He's not dashing
here and there. I get concerned about folks that
are running over here to see what this one's saying, running
over here to see what that one's saying, running over here to
see what somebody else is saying, and trying this and trying that
and trying the other. That stone that is laid on Christ
is resting. I know whom I have believed.
If he falls, I fall. If he fails, I fail. Sink or
swim, I go to him. And then the last one, he shall
not be confused. He that believeth shall not be
confused. This is a confused generation. Now, you know it so, and I do
too. Somebody said recently, when I think how this generation
has been confused by its preachers and politicians and philosophers
and poets, it's difficult for me to have any pity for them.
Yes, they have more light than ever before, but their eyes aren't
so good. They have more light. Yeah, we
have more light. Somebody says, well, your doctrine's
an old-fashioned doctrine. It's a first-century doctrine.
No, it's older than that. It's older than that. Well, your
doctrine is old-fashioned. You need a new approach, a new
revelation. Your doctrine's first-century.
No, it's older than that. Our doctrine goes back to the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Our doctrine goes
back to in the beginning, God hath from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation through sanctification of the spirit belief of the truth.
Our doctrine goes back to when the morning stars sang together
and the sons of God shouted for joy, and before that, when God
in his everlasting counsel decreed that Christ should be our foundation. That's how old it is. And then last of all, verse 7,
look at it, "...unto you that believe, unto you therefore that
believe." He's precious. He, the foundation, is precious.
I tell you, my friend, He's precious in the hour of conviction. Have
you experienced that? Have you experienced Holy Spirit
conviction? Now I'm not talking about going
through some sort of experience of weeping and mourning and mourning
apart for a certain time and all of that. I'm always afraid
that we'll set up some kind of pattern and turn men's attention
away from Christ. I'm always fearful. This is what
causes me to tremble when I think about testimonies. They're good
and all that, but you notice the apostles didn't talk too
much about their testimonies. They talked about their Lord.
But have you experienced this, when the Holy Spirit took the
law of God and the holiness of God and smote your heart until
it broke? Do you remember, or have you
experienced it all along, when your conscience was so smitten
because of guilt that all you could do was groan, Oh God! Oh God! Have you ever wept over
your sins against God? Have you ever been led like the
publican into the presence of God, so ashamed you would not
so much as raise your eyes to heaven, but smote on your breast
and cried, Oh God! Be merciful to me, the sinner."
Now you think about that. But I'll tell you, if you ever
experience that, Christ will be precious. Because in that
hour, God will speak peace in Christ. And you'll see His blood
was a propitiation for you on the mercy seat. And that God,
because of Christ, can cast your sins behind his back into the
depths of the sea, as far as the east is from the west, and
remember them no more. Oh God, my sins are ever before
me. Be merciful to me. And in that
hour, God says, because of my Son and his blood and his intercession,
all your sins are gone. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. Half of it is the man. You can't
find that in an altar. You can't find that in water.
You can't find that in a sacrament. You can't find that in a procession.
That's only in Christ. And that's when he becomes precious.
He's precious in the hour of faith, when our feet reach for
a rock, in the flood, a place. Have you ever, when you were
a kid, we used to have a Kids nowadays go to swimming pools.
We used to have a creek just 50 yards in front of our house.
A creek. A clean creek. It was a beautiful
creek with a big spring and a swimming hole. That's where we bathed.
That's where we washed clothes. That's where we swam. That's
where we had socials. Everything at the creek, you
know, didn't have no place else to go. But I remember when I
was first learning to swim and I got out too far. And there's
a big rock out in the middle. We used to dive off the diving
board and swim out to the big rock. Well, somehow, I got out
in the deep part, and buddy, she was coming up. And I started,
my feet started reaching, you know, for the big rock. And boy,
was I happy when my feet hit that rock. Was I happy. And I'll tell you, in that hour,
when your feet, you just reached out for all these different things,
and finally God leaves your feet to be placed on Christ. And man,
you just come up out of the water, you know, just, whoo, that's
so good, resting in Christ. And when our hands, when you're
slipping and your hands are groping for something to hold to, and
suddenly a big strong hand reaches out and says, I got you. When our ships are out there
in the storm and we're looking for a haven, we're looking for
a hiding place, we can't, there's nothing we can do. But when we
find Christ, that haven of rest. He's precious. If that big rock
in the middle of that creek was precious to a boy that couldn't
swim, how precious the rock Christ Jesus ought to be to us who can't
swim. And how precious that hand that
reaches down and says, I got you. Lord, save me, I'll perish.
I got you, Peter. And he lifted me. From sinking sand, he lifted
me. With tender hand, he lifted me. from shades of night to planes
of light. Oh, praise his name. You'll quit
praising the Baptist church and you'll quit praising all the
forefathers and you'll quit praising your doctrine, you'll go to praising
him, if he ever lifts you. And then he's precious in the
hour of trial. Oh, Satan comes with his ifs.
Have you ever been on the receiving end of his ifs? Satan's ifs? Our Lord was. If you're the Son
of God, cast yourself off. If you're the Son of God, make
those stones break. If you're the... You ever been
the recipients of those errors, Satan's ifs? I have. If you's
a Christian, would you have thought that? Huh? Have you ever been,
huh? If you's really saved, would
you have said that? If God was really in there, would
you have done that? and then friends and relatives
who knew not Joseph. Oh, they're tough. That old Pharaoh
came into power. Israel would get along fine until
that Pharaoh came in power who didn't know Joseph, and life
became miserable. Brother, I tell you, some of
you are here this morning, and how good it is, and it's going
to get better this week as new people come in from other places
who love Christ, who believe Christ, and you talk about the
same things and rejoice in the same things, and your conversation
can take any direction, but it always comes back to Christ.
And some of you have to go home, and there sits your husband.
He couldn't give a flip for what you believe. And he's there in
the chair reading the paper, you know, and your heart's been
filled with joy this morning, you've heard Christ preach, and
you go in there, he said, when's dinner going to be ready? That
tough, isn't it? And then maybe you go to work
in the morning, you just had a good day today in the conference
this week, and you go to work Monday morning, you've left all
this sweet, precious fellowship, and you go out there and you've
got to meet that those people out yonder. And I tell you, we
preachers, there are preachers here this morning, we ought to
sympathize with our folks. I think about the men of this
church, and I'm sitting in there reading the Bible, ten o'clock
in the morning or eleven o'clock in the afternoon, I'm sitting
there, you know, playing a tape, reading the Bible, Bill reading
some literature, and they're out yonder in hell. They're out there battling. And
we bawl them out because they don't come to church. We bawl
them out because they don't study. We bawl them out because they
don't pray. And that's all we do. We got it easy. We don't have any conflicts.
We don't have any problems. We don't have to face the rottenness
and the hell and the trials and the temptation that those men
have to face out there. And one of them stumps his toe,
we get a committee and throw him out of church. Under God. I hate that. But I'll tell you, in time of
trial, he said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I never will. He's precious. He's precious. And then he's
precious in our sorrow. Job, the sheep are all gone. Job, the camels are all gone.
Job, the oxen and she-asses are all gone. Job, all your sons and daughters
are dead. And that's when Christ became
precious. And old Job went in and bowed
before the Lord. Well, he said, I came here without
anything and I'll leave without anything. And God gave it to
me. Mike sang about it a while ago
to brighten my life for a little while. Though he slay me, I'll
trust him. I know my Redeemer lives. And
He's precious in old age, even down to old age. All thy people
shall prove thy sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love, and one white
hair shall their temple adorn, like lambs they shall still in
my bosom be born. He's precious in the day of death.
I like what that old man said who was dying. He'd been lying
for weeks between life and death, and finally the hand of God was
poised to release the prisoner. And one of his sons came over
and leaned over the old dying man's face and he said, Pop,
how are you? And the old man looked up and
he said, Son, I'm almost well. I'm almost well. He that believeth on me shall
never die. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, because I'm strong. Thou art with me. I'll work with
him. He's precious. And I'll tell
you, he'll be precious when we see him like he is. Somebody
said, if he's precious here, marred and spit upon, how precious
will he be when he's adored and worshiped. If he's precious on
a cross, think how precious on a throne. If he's precious looking
through a glass dimly, how precious he'll be when I see him as he
is. The half has never been told.
The fraction's never been told. Now we see through a glass dimly.
I talk about the preciousness of Christ and I stumble and fumble
and falter and don't have anything to say. You just hang around
when we see him as he is. He that hath this hope purifies
himself. And if he's precious as Jesus
of Nazareth, think how precious he'll be as King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. My, my. Young man, let me ask
you in closing, the young people here, is Christ precious to you? Is he precious? Peter, do you
love me? That's what Christ asked him.
I'm not hammering you over the head with doctrines. Doctrines
are precious, and I'm not apologizing for them. I'm just saying you
don't arrive at Christ through doctrine, you arrive at doctrine
through Christ. He's precious to you. Remember, this world's
an empty dream. I warn you. I was your age one
time, and though you attain your highest ambition, I guarantee
you it'll crumble like ashes someday in your hands. That's
right. You'll watch it all go. You may
attain your highest ambition. I want to be this, I want to
be that, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to get this,
I want to get that. When you be it, gain it and get it, it'll
be like ashes. But he lives on. Men and women
in middle life, I want to ask you a question. Is Christ precious
to you? You've come through a whole lot, haven't you? You've wept
a lot of tears, you've had a lot of broken hearts, you've struggled,
you've raised your family, you've toiled, you've labored. What
have you found? As the years increase, haven't
you found this, the sorrow increases, the disappointments in this world
I'm talking about. There's nothing And I promise
you this, in this life there's nothing ahead but more weariness,
and more loneliness, and more trial. But if you have Him, you
have all things. All things are yours in Christ.
He's precious. Old men, old women, let me ask
you this, your life's almost gone. What is your hope for eternity? When tomorrow comes, and you
stand before the throne of God, will you stand in Christ? Will
you stand in Him completely? Is Christ precious to you? Why
should I let you in my heaven? Lord, I was a member of the 13th
Street Baptist Church. Lord, I did my best. I made a
profession. I read my Bible and prayed and
a lot of things like that. I never knew you, apart from
the Why should I let you in my heaven? Because Christ died for
my sins. Because Christ is my hope. Because
Lord, you said in your word, he that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And Lord, you know I believe
on Christ. And to me, he's precious. The
trio sings a song, someday this stammering tongue will falter
no more, and a grander, sweeter song I shall sing. for i'll join
the ransom choir on heaven's bright shore forever to praise
my king and while the ages roll i'll keep on praising him and
my voice will never tire or grow old and my song shall ever be
praise the lord who died for me and i'll sing it while the
ages roll and you're not going to sing that unless you can start
singing it here that's right he'll be precious here but he
won't be precious there The same life which God has begotten,
the same love, the same faith, is that which we'll have in glory.
Eternal life is now. Death doesn't transport you suddenly
into eternal life. It only does away with those
things that have hindered that life and held it down and troubled
it. We have eternal life. When a million years have passed
in that wonderful place, my song of praise will just have begun,
for my joy will never end while I look on his face, and my song
will never be done unto him who loved me and washed me from my
sins and made me a king and priest unto God. Unto him be glory both
now and forever. I can't guarantee any man salvation
who walks an aisle. I can't guarantee any man salvation
who makes a profession. I can't guarantee any man salvation
who believes some facts. But I can guarantee any man salvation
who receives Christ. Because he said, to as many as
received him, to them gave he the right to become sons of God. Christ, he's precious unto you
that believe. Our Father in heaven, take the
message and use it for thy glory and to accomplish thy purpose
in this hour. And Lord, to open the hearts
of men and women, boys and girls, to see the glory, the beauty,
the redemptive glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Unto you that
believe, he's precious. And Lord, we believe we can say
truly from our hearts, Lord, he's precious to me. He's my
hope, he's my refuge, he's my foundation. Without him I can
do nothing. Anoint this message and use it
for thy glory, for Christ's sake. Amen.

Christ - Precious to Believers

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Christ - Precious to Believers

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