tonight we begin a brief Series in First
1-12 Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to
the sojourners scattered throughout
pontis galatia capid doia Asia and
bethenia elect according to the for
knowledge of God the
Father through sanctification of the
spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus
Christ Grace unto you and peace be
multiplied blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who according
to His abundant Mercy hath begotten us
again unto a living
Hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an
inheritance Incorruptible and
undefiled and that fadeth not away
reserved in heaven for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last
last
time in this ye greatly
Rejoice though now now for a season if
need be ye are in heaviness through
manifold trials that the trial of your
faith being much more precious than of
gold that perisheth though it be tried
with fire might be found under praise
and honor and Glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye
love in whom though now ye see him not
yet believe
ye Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of Glory receiving the end of your faith
even the salvation of your
souls of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently
who prophesied of the grace that should
come unto you searching what or what
manner of time the spirit of Christ who
was in them did
signify when he testified IED beforehand
the sufferings of Christ and the glory
that should
follow unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves but unto us they did
Minister the things which are now
reported unto you by them that have
preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Spirit sent down from heaven which
things the Angels desire to look
into if we were to read read this entire
letter tonight we would find that Peter
is talking about
suffering this is a letter of
encouragement he's writing to Christians
who were scattered in various parts of the
the
world and he's writing for the purpose
of encouragement now we need
encouragement these days doesn't take
much to discourage some of the
Saints but even the strongest Christian
has his days when he's just a little bit
discouraged now as far as the world was
concerned these people weren't very
important he calls them strangers or or
sojourners resident aliens here were
people who had no permanent
home and I can just see their friends
and neighbors saying you we feel sorry
for you people you're Christians you
just don't have any permanent home
you're really strangers in this world
and they were scattered they were
scattered throughout these different
provinces and so here we have sojourners
who are scattered who are suffering in
verse 6 they were in heaviness through
manifold trials over in chapter 3
beginning about verse 13 He talks about
having to submit themselves and the way
people were lying about them and falsely accusing
accusing
them over in chapter 4 he talks about
the trial the fiery trial they're going
to go through down in verse 12 and so
here were scattered people
sojourners strangers to this world
people who were going through suffering
and they needed some encouragement now
in these first 12
verses the Apostle Peter does such a
beautiful thing he says as far as the
world's concerned you are strangers
sojourners scattered you aren't too
important but as far as God is concerned
you belong to the
elite in fact some of the translations
read like this Peter an apostle of Jesus
Souljers now if you look at the word
Sojourner you'd get discouraged this
world is not my home the world doesn't
love me the world doesn't want me
there's nothing here that I want but
here I am so don't look at the word
sojourners look at the word elect that
word elect dignifies the
Christian we belong to God's Elite we
are God's special
people that's the whole themea this
first part of the chapter verses
1-2 so when you find yourself
discouraged when the world Slanders you
and when life gets difficult when
business isn't working the way you think
it ought to or when your own life is not
what you think it ought to
be when you look into that mirror and
say I'm never going to make it read 1
Peter 1: 1
through2 and notice the
distinctives that make the Christian
special now there are four of them there
are in this section four
distinctives that take the Christian and
lift him out of the
herd make him special take him out of the
the
crowd and make him special now what are
these distinctives well verses 1
through3 we are special because we
belong to a special
family verses 3 and four we are special
because we share a special
future verses 5 through n we are special
because we possess a special
faith and verses 10 through 12 we are
special because we enjoy a special
Fellowship now let me repeat those we
belong to a special family that makes us
Elite we share a special future that
makes us Elite we possess a special
faith that makes us God's
Elite and we enjoy a special Fellowship
now let's take these distinctives
individually and I hope we can go out of
here into the murky night and say praise
God I'm glad I'm saved first we belong
to a special family we have been born
again according to verse three this term
born again is being thrown around quite
a bit I notice in the TV Guide this next
week there's going to be a special
television presentation on the born
again I'm always a little bit afraid
when something that belongs to the
Christian becomes common property out
there in the entertainment world that
sort of cheapens it just a little bit
but we're glad for any witness that can
be given the Greek people were not
strangers to this term Born
Again a lot of people have the idea that
when Jesus said to emus you must be born
again he was inventing something new no
the Greek people had used this phrase
born again whenever they wanted to refer
to any new stage in something when there
was a change in the seasons nature was
born again when a child moved into a new
stage of life such as from childhood to
adolescence he was born again whenever
there was a change politically and the
the nation moved into a new phase of
History they said the nation has been
born again the phrase Born Again carries
with it the idea of change something new
and you and I have been born
again we belong to a special family now
Peter explains the process to us in
verse two look at it God the father is
involved elect according to the for of
God the Father you can't be born without a
a
father God the spirit is involved
through sanctification of the spirit and
God the son is involved unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ a man said to me one day I don't
know why you people emphasize the
Trinity well we have to emphasize the
Trinity because our Salvation depends on
it we have to emphasize the Trinity
because all of the revelation of
scripture depends on it here we have God
the father and God the spirit and God
the son all involved in this marvelous
experience of being born
again you see Peter is not telling
unsaved people how to get
saved Peter is telling Christians how
they got saved he's not
explaining salvation to to unbelievers
trusting they'll believe he is
explaining salvation to Believers you
would not understand your own physical
birth if somebody didn't explain it to
you and Peter says I want you to
understand your spiritual birth how did
all this come about number one
elect according to the forn knowledge of
God the father now you cannot separate
election and Grace he had set up here
Grace be unto you peace be multiplied
you can't separate
those my God and your God is light he's
Holiness and he could condemn everybody
and nobody say a
word God is love and in his love he
might want to save everybody but if
everyone is saved what about his
Holiness if everyone is condemned what
about his
love what is it that resolves the
theoretical conflict between a holy God
who judges sin and a loving God who
forgives Sinners the grace of
God and the grace of God means that God
in his grace
chooses before the foundation of the
world some to be saved now at this point
someone looks at me and all of the
arguments all of the problems stem up
but may I remind you that the entire
Trin trity is involved in
Salvation election is not a detriment to
Salvation it's an encouragement to
Salvation if you're here tonight and
you're not a Believer I don't know if
you're among God's elect or not but I do
know this Jesus died for
you I do know this God is not willing
that any should perish I do know this
God who will have all men to be saved
and I do know this he's commanded me to
as far as God the father is concerned I was
was
saved when he chose me in Christ before
the foundation of the world but it took
more than
that as far as God the son is concerned
I was saved when he died for me on the
cross as far as God the holy spirit is
concerned I was saved on May the 12
1945 when the spirit of God put all of
this together convicted me and I
believed on Jesus Christ and then I
discovered I was chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the
world it's a beautiful picture here
chosen by God the father now we're
chosen by God the Father according to
his for knowledge forn knowledge does
not mean to know beforehand there are
those who say God the Father looked down
the ages and he saw who was going to
believe so he chose
them there's a problem with that because
this word word forn knowledge is used
over in the book of Acts 2: 23 relating
to the death of Jesus
Christ Jesus Christ died according to
the forn knowledge of God does that mean
that God the Father looked down the ages
and saw that somebody was going to kill
Jesus so he chose it to happen no for
knowledge is the same as for
ordination God the father in The
councils of Eternity by his own Grace
has chosen
foreordained that's all the word of God
tells us one of my professors used to
say to me and to our class try to explain
explain
election you may lose your
mind but if you explain it
away you could lose your
soul either we're saved by grace or we
aren't saved at all if it's Grace then
it's the working of God God the Father chosen
chosen
through sanctification of the spirit now
the holy spirit of God goes to work to
set apart The Sinner to be saved now how
does he do this he does it through the
word of God look at verse
22 of 1 Peter chapter 1 seeing that ye
have purified your souls in obeying the
truth through the spirit verse 23 being
born again not of of corruptible
seed but of Incorruptible by the word of
God so God the Father chooses God the
Holy Spirit uses the word of God to
speak to the unbelieving Sinner and to
set him apart and bring him to Faith
where does faith come from faith comes
God now Peter believed that and so did
Paul PA over in 2 Thessalonians Paul
tells us how the people got saved in
thessalonica listen to this second
Thessalonians chapter 2 but we are bound
to give thanks verse 13 always to God
for you Brethren beloved of the Lord
because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to Salvation you can't escape
it through sanctification of the spirit
there it is and belief of the truth unto
which he called you by Our Gospel how
does God get people saved people go out
with the
gospel and they share the gospel the
good news and God the spirit uses the
word to impart saving faith and a new
nature to the believing sinner which
leads us to the third person who's
involved chosen by God the Father set AP
Heart by God the spirit unto obedience
now what does that obedience mean it
means the same thing it says in verse 22
of 1 Peter 1 saying you've purified your
souls in obeying the truth did you know
that the unbelieving sinner is a
rebel God doesn't suggest that we repent
God doesn't hint that we repent he has
commanded men everywhere to repent and
The Sinner who says I will not believe
is disobedient
but the sinner who is convicted by the
spirit of God enlightened by the word of
God believes he is obeying the truth
unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ it costs something
for us to be born
again our Lord Jesus Christ had to die
his death is given in verse two his
resurrection in verse three unto a
Living Hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead the cost of our
Salvation what did it cost God the
Father to choose me what did it cost God
the spirit to sanctify me set me apart
what did it cost God the son to make
this possible he had to die now
salvation is free but bless your heart
salvation is not
cheap and the person who says I will not
believe is not only disobedient to the
holy SP Spirit he is walking on the
blood of Jesus
Christ that's why rejecting Jesus Christ
is such a serious thing you sometimes we
witness to people as though well take it
or leave it if you leave it so what oh
no it's
dangerous to play with the gospel
invitation and it is deadly to reject it
now what happens when we believe on
Jesus Christ we're sprinkled by his
blood in the Old Testament you find the
sprinkling of the blood in three
cases number one the nation was
sprinkled with the blood of the
sacrifice when they were entering into
their Covenant with
God when they became a holy nation they
were sprinkled with the blood of the
sacrifice two the priests were
sprinkled when a when a man was made a
priest he was sprinkled the blood was
applied to his body three the lepers
when a leper was cleansed he came to the
priest and the priest spent a week
examining him finally he says you're
clean and he sprinkled him with the
blood that's what happens when you're
saved I came to Jesus Christ as a
citizen of this world I didn't belong to
any holy nation and when I trusted him
he sprinkled me with his blood and I
became a citizen of
Heaven I came to Jesus Christ I was not
a priest that was an outcast I couldn't
offer any worship or spiritual
sacrifices to please him but when I
trusted Jesus Christ he said I'm going
to make you a priest and he sprinkled me
with his blood I came as a
leper not a cleansed leper either I came
as a leper I came as a moral leper a
spiritual leper I was dying I was in a
living death and he sprinkled me with
his blood and made me one of his
children Peter must have had this in
mind because over in Chapter
2 he talks about
this in verse 5 ye also as living stones
are being built up a holy
priesthood so we're a
priesthood also in chapter 2 verse 9 you
are a chosen
generation a royal priesthood a holy
nation so when you trust Jesus Christ is
your savior this is the result of being
chosen by God the Father set apart by
God the Holy Spirit who uses the very
word that I'm preaching and you're
sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ
we belong to a special family now that
makes us Elite
chosen set apart
apart
sprinkled by the blood of Christ
no Christian ever has to walk
around with a sad
expression his head down his chin
dragging saying to himself oh how
terrible I'm a
Christian the way most of us live that's
our attitude instead he should stand
tall and straight and just look anybody
right Square in the eye and say you know
what I may be suffering and I may be
part of a scattered people and I may be
a stranger in this world and you may
think I'm a strange person but I want
you to know something I've been born
into a special family I belong to a
special family I am among God's
Elite and by the grace of God I'm proud of
of
it a second distinctive is given to us
we not only belong to a special family
but we share a special
future you see some people are looked
upon as being very special because the
family they belong to I was waiting at
the Hancock Center one day a friend was
going to meet me there and we were going
to go off someplace for lunch he arrived
just about that time a very well-dressed
lady came out of the Hancock Center with
some other people got into her limousine
and off she went he said did you know
who that was I said no but I could tell
she some somebody special he told me who she
she
was some people brag because of the
family they belong to we belong to a
special family some people brag because
of what they're going to get I'm going
to inherit something someday oh I tell
you I'm in my uncle's will I'm in my
father's will and I'm going to inherit
something my future is tremendous I'm
special well we share in a very special
future look at it verse three he has
begotten us again unto a Living Hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead to an inheritance who are kept
by the power of God now here's a
marvelous thing we share a special
future now when I was not a Christian I
future none at all I was without God and
without hope in this world have you ever
hope I've gone into hospital rooms maybe
you've had this experience I'm sure
Pastor filin has had this experience in
his visitation Ministry and the doctor
has said to the family now there's no
hope that's a hard thing no hope we
Christians Never Can Say no hope because
we're born again unto a marvelous hope
we share a special future now he makes
two remarks about this hope it's a
Living Hope verse three It's A Lasting
Hope Verses 4 and five now I want a
living hope I don't want a dead
hope most of the world is living on dead
hope I want a Living Hope and our hope
is a Living Hope because it depends upon
a living Christ as long as Jesus Christ
is alive I have
hope he lives by the power of an endless
life he ever lives to make intercession
for me and he being raised from the dead
dieth no more and he is my hope now my
hope is not a promise my hope is a
person Jesus Christ without Jesus Christ
The Promise means nothing and so it is a
living hope it's a Living Hope because
it's based on the living Christ it's a
Living Hope because it's based on the
Living Word Peter tells us here we're
born again not of corruptible
seed when my mother conceived me and
when your mother conceived you that was
a conception of corruptible seed and the
instant you're born you start to
die and you and I are physically headed
for corruption unless our Lord returns
and changes our bodies we are redeemed
we are born again not by corruptible
seed but incorruptible by the word of
God which
liveth so I have a Living Hope because
of the living Christ and I have a Living
Hope because of the Living Word now when
a hope is a living hope it's always
growing a dead hope gets smaller and
smaller and
vanishes but a Living Hope gets brighter
and brighter and bigger and bigger and
that's the kind of hope we have as
Christians we share a special future
because we have a Living Hope and the
path of the just is as The Shining Light
that shineth more and more unto that
perfect day and Peter's encouraging
these Saints he's saying I know you're
going through the furnace but remember
you've got a living
hope you may die but your hope will
never die your job may die but your your
hope will never die your whole world may
Fall to Pieces around you but that hope
will never die on the other hand quite
the contrary that hope will get bigger
and bigger and brighter and brighter
because it is alive it's a lasting
hope some of us can remember when
Neville Chamberlain came back from
meeting with Adolf Hitler with his
umbrella in one
hand and a piece of paper in the other hand
hand hope
hope
peace we've averted a
war yeah for how
long about 5 weeks was it and then
Poland was invaded and we were on the
Move in World War II there are some
hopes that
die we have a hope there is a Living
Hope and A Lasting Hope look at it to an
inheritance now the only way to get an
inheritance is for somebody to die well
he did die then he arose again to make
sure nobody would steal the inheritance from
from
us my Lord Jesus Christ is not only the
testator who made out the will and then
died so the will goes into effect he's
also the executive of the estate he
arose again and now he is taking care of my
my
inheritance an inheritance
Incorruptible every Earthly
inheritance Falls to Pieces eventually there's
there's
corruption the moth and the rust can
ruin material things thieves can break
in and steal someone leaves you a
beautiful estate a lovely house and
you've got to spend thousands of dollars
to keep it from falling apart our
inheritance isn't that way it's
Incorruptible there is no
damage it cannot be damaged it is
undefiled it cannot be stained it cannot
be defiled there's no
dirt it fadeth not away it cannot Decay
flower you've had people bring you
flowers and they're so beautiful when
they come those Roses are so gorgeous
and they open up a little bit but after
two or 3 days what happens to them you
finally pick the whole thing up shake
the water off of them throw them in the
trash can they fade away
we fade away but our inheritance doesn't
Fade Away we have a lasting inheritance
because it is reserved in heaven for you
I was preaching over in Denmark back in
1957 and I had to travel all the way
from Copenhagen Denmark way across the
islands there about 400 Islands there on
by train to a a a village where I was
going to
preach and no one told me that on Danish
trains you have to have a
reservation now you do on American
trains too I
understand Pastor Smith is the only one
who travels by train around here he's
the train
addict and so I'm on this train and I'm
sitting on this seat and going to enjoy
the Danish
Countryside and some conductor comes
along and looks at me and begins to say
things in Danish that I did not
understand and so I no speak of the
English you
know so finally someone there who knew
English and danish said you know you're
sitting in somebody else's seat who has
a reservation you've got to have a
reservation I said where do I get one he
said off the
conductor and so I felt around for some
croner to see if I could afford a
reservation and I got a
reservation it's a marvelous thing when
you're going to a concert or going to a
ball game just to relax and say I've got
a reservation
I arrived at a motel one morning about
1:30 in the
morning and the reservation had not been
covered now she said I'm sorry if you'd
have been here at 6:00 we could have let
you in but that room is gone 130 in the
morning now The Inheritance that I have
in Jesus Christ is
reserved in heaven for us who are kept
you say oh it's a marvelous thing to
have the inheritance it won't fail but I
may fail oh no Jesus Christ cannot throw
you out of his
will I'm glad I haven't had any
relatives and I don't know of any now
that would do it who kept holding the
will over my head you better be good you
better do the I'll cut you out of my
will our Lord will never do that he says
not only am I keeping the inheritance
for you up there I'm keeping you down
there we are kept by the power of God
we're not kept by ourselves when we put
Faith in Jesus Christ the power of God
goes to work in our lives and we're kept
we're preserved we are reserved it is a lasting
hope now we've noticed that we belong to
a special family that makes us Elite and
we share a special future we don't have
to worry about the future but there's a
third distinct of the believer verses
5-9 he possesses a special Faith I've
had people say to me oh I wish I had
Faith you've heard that haven't you oh I
wish I had Faith you know what the
answer to that is you do have faith
everybody has
Faith the only difference between my
faith and the faith of an unsaved
neighbor is what we're trusting
everybody's got faith a little baby's
got faith put a pacifier in the baby's
mouth that takes Faith the baby doesn't
know what it is feed the baby some kind
of food takes faith our dear little
children have faith they trust us
everybody's got faith the difference is
that a Christian has put his faith in
Jesus Christ now we possess a special
Faith it's a faith that can be
trusted and it's a faith that can be
tested that's a good kind of Faith to
have it's the faith that can be trusted
who are kept by the power of God through
faith that word kept is a military term
soldiers now the Bible does say keep
yourselves in the love of God doesn't
say keep yourself saved keep yourselves
in the love of God the way children by
their obedience keep themselves in the
love of their parents it does say keep
yourself from idols it does say you'll
keep yourself from the wicked one but it
never says keep yourself saved it says
unto him who is able to keep you from
falling I am the Alpha and the Omega the
beginning and the ending being confident
of this very thing that he that hath
begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ so it is a
faith that can be trusted because we are
guarded who are kept by the power of God
through fath
Faith literally it says having once and
for all been
kept the tense of that verb is you have
been kept you are being kept you always
will be
kept which sort of hints to me that a
truly born- again person cannot lose his
salvation we possess a special faith it
can be trusted why can it be trusted
because we're kept by the power of God
we are not kept by our own power or by
the power of a church or by the power of
sacraments or ordinances or ceremonies
were kept by the power of God what why
are we being kept because he has
something marvelous in the future
through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time I have been
saved from the guilt and the penalty of
sin it's all settled I am being
saved from the power of sin he talks
about that later on thank God one day we
shall be saved from the very presence of
sin that's the Salvation he's talking
about waiting for the adoption that is
the Redemption of our
bodies so it's a faith that can be
trusted can your faith be
trusted there are a lot of people who
are trusting a faith that can't be
trusted our faith is special because it
can be tested a lot of folks have the
idea Christians don't go through any
problems look at this in this ye greatly
Rejoice though now for a season if need
be you are in
heaviness through manifold trials but
you know you go from heaviness to
happiness verse eight joy unspeakable
and full of Glory now only a Christian
can have heaviness and happiness at the
same time only a Christian can have
sorrow and joy at the same time only a
Christian because of his
faith can go through the
furnace and praise God you know what
he's saying here he's saying our faith
can be tested Don't Be Afraid we have a
faith that has passed every
test now God always tests your faith he
tests my faith he called Abraham and
said Abraham you go to a land I'm going
to show you Abraham said all right I'm
going to go so he went no map he marched
right off the map there was no no no
place for him to know where he was going
he got there and discovered the place
was U hungry it was a famine his faith was
was
tested Along Came lot one day and lot
caused trouble Abraham's Faith was
tested God said Abraham I'm going to
give you a son he waited and waited and
waited his faith was
tested finally when Abraham did get the
son the son was grown God said Abraham
want you take that son now and lay him
on the altar his faith was tested a
faith that can't be tested can't be
trusted you say oh I don't know why I'm
going through these difficult I tell you
why God's testing your faith you say but
God knows me that's right you don't know
me and you don't know you and you don't
know God I don't know God as I should
and so as I go through these
difficulties I am learning what my faith
is like I am learning what I am like and
best of all I'm learning what he is like
it's a faith that can be tested tested
he Compares it
to an a Sayer who takes
ore you know back in the Gold Rush days
a fellow would be digging away and he'd
find what looked like gold ore might be
fool's gold and he takes his ore down to
the assaying office he says you test
this ore and so that ore is tested and
then out comes the
report now what Peter is saying is this
the report is worth more than the ore
because the report says hey there's more
wealth back there now our faith is
tested God puts us through the refining
furnace God takes the dross away from us
God purges us our faith is tested and
then when we come through the trial of
our faith is much more precious than the
trial of gold cu the gold perishes but
you know when you've been through the
trial and your faith has stood the test
that is worth more than everything
because then you know you can face the
next trial and you can always trust God
and the result of it is joy unspeakable
and full of Glory would you connect
verses 8 and N in your Bible
believing receiving
believing receiving that's the way it
works suffering believing
believing
receiving we possess a special
faith and Peter tells me in verse
7 that the best part of the test is not
here oh we know we get joy unspeakable
and full of Glory as we go through the
trying of our faith our muscles grow we
have joy we Rejoice we are refined
that's not the best part of it might be
found under praise and honor and Glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ it will
be worth it all when we see Jesus and
somebody here tonight is saying oh I'm
going through it I'm going through it I
don't know what I'm facing God is trying
me well it's going to mean blessing to us
us
here but when we see the Lord Jesus and
he smiles and says I know what you went
through and you stood true you trusted
me and that's going to be praise and
honor and
glory in heaven
we're a special people because we belong
to a special family and we share a
special future and we possess a special
Faith real quick now in the latter part
of this section verses 10 through
12 we enjoy a special
Fellowship a person is known by the
company he keeps he's also known by the
enemies he makes but he's known by the
company he
keeps and there are always people who
like to be name droppers do you have any
friends who are name
droppers I have a an acquaintance who's
in Christian music if I named him you'd
know him because you've all heard him
sing but oh what a name dropper he is
and you can't be with him you cannot be
with him 30 seconds before he's talking
about having seen Frank
Sinatra or somebody else or somebody
else it gets nauseating cuz I'm not
interested in
that a person's
Elite position may come from the company
he keeps look at the company we keep we
are a very special people because we
enjoy a special Fellowship the
prophets the apostles the Holy Spirit the
the
Angels here are the prophet did you know
me Isaiah worked for me so Jeremiah
Hosea went through all he went through
with his wife for
me you know David did it for me that's
what he says this salvation that you are
enjoying the Old Testament prophets were
inquiring into and they would polish
their by focals and they would read the
Old Testament Scrolls and they'd listen
to the message of God and they'd say
what is this all about in one place he
talks about a suffering messiah in
another place he talks about a glory
glorious Kingdom what's going
on they were working for me they were
working for
you unto whom it was revealed that not
unto themselves but unto
us they did Minister the things that are
now reported to you that just blesses me
that gives me the whole Old Testament
that makes Jonah my friend and Ezekiel
my friend and Solomon my friend cuz they
work for me that's great
Fellowship someone says who are your
important back when I was in Youth for
Christ we used to have a lot of teenage
conventions and Carol th will remember
this because she was a part of the
ministry there for a while we'd be at
these conventions you know these kids
were great autograph
Seekers they come up to you and say are
important I had one friend who'd say yes
I am he'd take the Bible and he'd sign
do you know anybody important I sure do
Moses you don't look that old Moses
Moses
David you see I'm a special person long
before ever I was born God had all the
Old Testament prophets working for me
and then there's the
apostles they did Minister the things
which are now reported unto you by them
that have preached the gospel unto you
these were second generation Christians
these people had never seen Jesus Christ
whom having not seen you love the
apostles came along and and helped to
win these people to Christ that gives me
my new
testament here is Paul in a in a
Roman prison and he's chained to a Roman
soldier and he's writing Ephesians you
know why it's for
me Paul worked for me
and Peter worked for you and me and so
did Matthew and Mark and Luke and
John and John's an old man and he's on
the aisle of patmas and and God says
John I want you to write the things that
you've seen and write them down cuz weby
someday well you want to know how
special we are look at the fellowship we
keep we belong to a very special
Fellowship we've got friends that are
fantastic the Old Testament prophets the
New Testament Apostles and preachers and
then there's the holy
spirit in fact he mentions the Holy
Spirit several times here in this
passage verse 11 searching what or what
manner of time the spirit of Christ did
signify when he testified the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should
follow verse 12 they preached the gospel
unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down
from heaven here's a remarkable thing
the holy spirit is a part of my fellowship
fellowship
he lives in me and he wrote the Old
Testament through the prophets and he
wrote the New Testament through the
apostles and now he teaches me what he
wrote I can recall when I was in my
student days I would like to have gotten
some of those textbook authors right
there to ask them a few
questions well I've got the author
living with me you say do you have any
special friends I certainly do you
belong to any special group I certainly
do I got the Holy Spirit who wrote the
Bible teaching me what the Bible
says doesn't stop there we've got the
Angels which things the Angels desire to
look into so kind of an interesting
picture it really means which things the
Angels desire to stoop over and peek
into did you know the Angels watch the
church when the church gets together to
worship Paul says over in Ephesians chapter
chapter
3 verse 10
that God is through the church teaching
the Angels oh are they
learning I'm sure the Angels must learn
a great deal from some business meetings
some committee
meetings the angels are watching us now
and the angels work for us are they not
all ministering Spirits sent to do
Salvation I'm not going to stand here
here for the next half hour and give you
story after story of how the angels of
God have protected the people of God we
could all tell stories like that it's
true all the world laughs at this the
world says we're crazy but we aren't
crazy we belong to a special Fellowship
the prophets and the apostles and the
Holy Spirit and the
angels so what difference does it make
what kind of a house I live
in when I've got friends like that
what difference does it make what kind
of a future there is for the economy
when I've got an inheritance like this I
want you to go away
tonight with a
Sanctified superiority
complex now not a false not a carnal
superiority complex oh no no Jesus
doesn't want that but a Sanctified
superiority complex the kind that the
Roman citizens had that Soldier picked
up that Whip and Paul said I am a Roman
dropped whenever you feel like you're
left out you're one of the scattered
people a Sojourner a resident
alien the world is moving faster than we
are the world's got more than we've got
we seem to be on the losing end of every
deal just
Elite you belong to a special family it
started way back before creation it's
going to end way down there when Jesus
comes you share in a special future an
inheritance Incorruptible undefiled that
away you possess a special faith and
that faith is going to be tested but the
testing of our faith is the secret of
our joy and our
Victory and you enjoy a special
Fellowship you're never
alone the prophets are working for you
and the apostles are working for you and
the Holy Spirit is working for you and
the angels are working for you now don't
take any of this for
granted please don't take any of this for
for
granted because all of this cost Jesus
let's go out this coming
week humbly
proud that we are a part of God's
Elite we don't have to
apologize we don't have to hang our
heads in defeat and
shame because we belong to
him gracious Father in
heaven we Marvel that we are here here
tonight because back in
eternity you chose us we don't
understand all of the ramifications of
this marvelous
process but we're thankful that we
understand enough to know whom we have
believed I pray for any here tonight who
have never been born into the
family tonight they'll trust Christ who
have no bright future before them they
fire I pray Heavenly Father for those
who have never put their faith in Jesus
Christ for those oh Lord who don't
belong to this marvelous
Fellowship that they'll trust
him and father I pray that those of us
who are saved and know
it will rejoice in
it and not look upon it as some kind of a
a
handicap but rather look upon it as the
greatest experience in all the world I
pray in jesus'
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