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The Best is Yet to Come | Warren Wiersbe Sermons | Warren Wiersbe | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Best is Yet to Come | Warren Wiersbe Sermons
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[Music]
you are listening to the teaching and
preaching of Dr Warren weby this message
was recorded while he served as pastor
of Calvary Baptist Church in Covington
Kentucky or the Moody Church in Chicago
Illinois for additional resources please
visit tofit you.com that's the number
two p r o p h tu.com and now Dr Warren [Music]
[Music]
weby first Peter 4
is a fascinating chapter because in it
Peter looks in two directions at one
time don't ever drive like that John
bunan has an interesting character in
The Pilgrim's Progress called Mr looking both
both
ways but that's not what Peter's doing
in chapter 5 of First Peter he's
remembering and he's looking
forward as you read this chapter you see
him sort of reminiscing about some of
his experiences with Jesus Christ
in verse one he uh remembers his
suffering in verse two where it says
feed the flock he must have remembered
that breakfast meeting when Jesus said
take care of my lambs and feed my
sheep when he talks about not being
Lords over God's Heritage Peter must
have remembered those times when he and
the other disciples argued over who was the
the
greatest when he talks about being
clothed with humility verse 5 that
certainly reminded him of the upper room
when Jesus put on the Garb of a servant
and wash their
feet that little word make you perfect
up in verse 10 is the same word for The
Mending of the Nets when Peter wrote
that word he must have remembered that
time when he was mending the Nets and
the Lord Jesus called him talking about
Satan as a lion in verse 8 certainly
reminded him of that evening when Jesus
said Simon Simon Satan has asked to have
all of you disciples that he may sift
you as wheat but I'm praying for
you that your faith fail not so
throughout these words Peter is looking
back but he's also looking ahead and
over and over again he talks about Glory
verse one the glory that shall be
revealed verse four the Crown of Glory
verse 10 he's called us to his eternal
glory verse 11 to him be glory the path
of the just as is The Shining Light that
shines more and more into the perfect
day and I think the great theme of
chapter 5 is that the best is yet to
come he's talking about the wonderful
future we have as Christians now
everybody doesn't have a wonderful
future if you're here tonight and you've
never been saved you've never been born
again you don't have the life of God in
your heart you don't have a wonderful
future in fact you have a very dismal
future it's appointed unto men once to
die and after this the
Judgment depart from me ye that work
iniquity I never knew
you the Lord knows the way of the
righteous but the way of the ungodly Shall
Perish but for those of us who know
Christ and are seeking to live for
Christ there is a tremendous future
awaiting Us in fact in chapter 5 of
First Peter the Apostle describes for us
four persons
who can look forward to a very wonderful
future now of course they're all
Christians but they are Christians who
are going through certain
experiences even though every believer
in Jesus Christ is going to
heaven not every believer is going to
have a well done when he gets to
Heaven even though every true Christian
born again through faith in Christ will
experience the glory of Heaven not every
Christian CHR is going to have the Crown of
of
Glory or the glory that is earned through
through
faithfulness and so we ought to examine
Our Lives tonight and see whether or not
we fit into what Peter's talking about
here now who are the four persons that
Peter talks about who have a bright
wonderful future ahead of them verses 1
through 4 those who are
serving verses 5 6 and 7 those who are submitting
submitting
verses 8 and N those who are
standing verse 10 those who are
suffering now if you are a Believer who is
is
serving you've got a wonderful future
ahead of you if you are a Believer who is
is
submitting you've got a wonderful future
ahead of you if you're a Believer who
standing against the Ws of the devil
then youve got a great future ahead of
you and if you're a Christian who's
suffering you've got a great future
ahead of you let's meet these four
persons verses 1- 4 the Christian who is
serving the elders who are among you I
exhort who am also an
elder Peter didn't claim to be anything
more than
that he didn't call for himself any High
position in the church he didn't claimed
to be something that he wasn't he was an
elder and a witness of the sufferings of
Christ and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed Shepherd the
flock of God which is among you taking
the oversight of it not by
constraint but willingly not for filthy
looker but of a ready mind an eager mind
not as being Lords over God's Heritage
but being examples to the flock and when
the chief Shepherd shall appear you
shall receive a Crown of Glory that
fadeth not away he compares the local
church to a
flock to sheep that is a marvelous
picture someday I want to write a book
about the pictures of the church in the
Bible I think many Christians don't
understand the great privilege it is to
be a part of a local church we're
members of a body we're stones in a
temple we're part of a bride we're
soldiers in the
Army many pictures of the
believer but the one that you find over
over again is the
flock the flock sheep he Compares us to
sheep and our Lord was very wise when he
did that you see we Christians as sheep
are prone to wander that's why we have
to have
Shepherds one of the great Delights of
the ministry is studying the word of God
and preaching the word of God there the
shepherd feeds the Sheep but all one of
the difficulties of the ministry is
chasing the Sheep
down finding the sheep that are
wandering and going off and saying look
you ought to get back where you ought to
be sheep are prone to wander sheep are
very defenseless they have to have
someone protect them Sheep by and large
enjoy flocking together and when they
get away from the flock they get into
trouble and I've seen this with
Christians sheep are clean animals and
they're useful animals you can you can
fleece them they can reproduce you can
get milk from them and Christians ought
to be useful to the work of the Lord he
compares the church to A Flock now A
Flock has to have a
Shepherd in fact in the New Testament
Church there was a plurality of Elders
as we have here at Moody Church we have
Elders who are on the Pastoral staff we
have Elders who are elected by the
church and we work together to give
leadership to the church he's suggesting
here that the flock of itself cannot
function apart from leadership it was
not the Sheep who led the Shepherds it
was the Shepherds who led the
Sheep this is why God has ordained that
out of his church people are called they
are endowed they are gifted to give spiritual
spiritual
leadership now it's not an easy
job somebody likes every once while I
meet someone who likes to tell me
stories about preachers I guess every vocation
vocation
has jokes I suppose you're told jokes
about musicians and organists and
doctors are always told doctor jokes the
ones I feel the most sorry for are
undertakers in the first place most of
them don't have a sense of humor in the
second place there's nothing funny about
what they do it's difficult but you
heard about the little boy who said to
his friend um what does your father do
living I'd much i' rather uh punch a
clock from 8 to 4: be a lot
easier do you ever stop to think of the
burden of souls giving an account for
your ministry among people not easy and
so he exhorts these elders and says now
look beware of certain
sins number one is the sin of laziness
he said don't you do it because you have
to do it do it because you want to do it
I know men who preach because they have
to say
something I'd much rather preach because
I have something to
say I feel sorry for that preacher who
constantly has to be urged pushed moved
or that Elder that church
officer beware of laziness there's no
room for laziness now you can be a lazy
preacher during these past seven years I
could have crawled up into my Crow's
Nest up there in my study and read comic
books nobody would have known the
difference except on Sundays when you
stand in the pulpit and have nothing to
say or you go out to a funeral and you
have nothing to say watch out for
laziness he warns them watch out for
greed don't do what you do to make
money that's a
danger then he goes on to say watch out
that you don't do what you do just to
get Authority don't be dictators we have
pastors like that
today they're dictators instead of using
their authority to build up the people
they use the people to build up their
Authority little tin
Gods if you don't agree with them and
their way of doing it they can't listen
to you it's got to be done this way this
is the way we did it in our last church
and if you don't like that he said don't
be like that you're not supposed to be a
dictator did you noce you can't drive
sheep you lead them if the shepherd Gets
behind the flock and tries to push them
they'll go in the opposite direction
sheep love to do that they just love to
go the wrong way the shepherd has to go
before the sheep and lead them by love
he warns them that each Shepherd each
Elder has his own particular Ministry
neither is being Lords over God's
Heritage that word heritage means a
different part of the
inheritance it's the same word used when
the Jews went into the promised land
they cast lots and and this part was
given to Dan and this part was given to
isachar and this part was given to Judah
uh in the church the the ministry is
divided the church isn't divided but the
ministry is it's impossible for one man
to do everything and so he says you have
your responsibility over here and
another Elder has a responsibility here
and another Elder has a responsibility
there now work together and don't be
envious of somebody else's
Ministry it's always a sad thing when a
church looks for a wonder man who can do
everything it would be utterly
impossible to find such a man
man now what he's saying to us in verses
1-4 is if you're faithful in serving the
chief Shepherd is going to appear and
when he appears he'll give you a Crown
of Glory that's not going to fade away
when the runners in the races won they
were given a crown of
leaves and after a few days those leaves
had faded away if you and I are faithful
in our work you're doing your job I'm
doing my job the elders the deacons
doing their job when the chief Shepherd
appears he'll say Well done here's your
crown in other words we don't do what we
do to please
people we don't do what we do to please
ourselves we do what we do to please the
Lord the serving for in 5 through
7 he goes on to discuss the
submitting those who are submissive to
the Lord can anticipate God's blessing
in like manner ye younger submit
yourselves unto the Elder now there the
word older means older in the
faith yay all of
you you say I'm not young and I'm not
old all right this includes you all of
you be subject one to another and be
clothed with humility Peter must have
seen that night when the Lord Jesus put
on a towel got down wash their feet
clothed with humility for God resisteth
the proud but he gives grace to the
humble humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of
God that he may exalt you in due time
humble yourselves there literally means
permit yourself to be
humbled sometimes we humble ourselves in
Pride we tell everybody how humble we
are casting all your care upon him for
he carth for you God will bless those
who are submitting you see one of the
dangers in a church is competition
somebody belongs to this Sunday school
class somebody belongs to that group
someone belongs to this group and
there's a danger of
competition there's always the problem
of the younger Christians who are coming
along saying well these old fogies up
there they don't know what's going on in this
this
church he's talking here about the
danger of division in the
church and often division is along the
lines of
age now it takes young and old to build
a church I'm out in pastor's conferences
I anticipate even more of them in the
days to come and every once a while I
hear some Pastor say I want to be a
church of young people I said that's
great where you going to get your
wisdom kind of hard to have deacons who
are all young people Elders who are all
young people somebody else says oh I
can't stand these new crowdy young
people coming along boy give me the
great uh I think I'm one of the Saints
who came out of the 40s I got saved in
1945 but one of these days we won't be
here you see how foolish that is it
can't be all the young and all the old
it needs to be both and each submitted
to the other the young submit to the old
for wisdom the old submit to the young
every church needs new enthusiasm and new
new
ideas back in Peter's Day the Greek
cities were divided up into youth
guilds we think that our big youth ideas
are so new they aren't they had them
back in
Greece and the various young men and
young women would get together in Guilds
now when these people got saved they
organized the church into guilds they
had youth conferences and youth meetings
and sometimes these young people would
refuse to submit to the leadership of
the older
ones Peter said that's a
sin the older ones need to listen to The
Young and the younger ones need to
listen to the older ones one has wisdom
one has Zeal one knows the roots of the
past and the mistakes of the past the
other has the great vision for the
present and the Zeal for the future now
put them together you've got a winning
combination get them fighting each other
you got problems
and so the answer is to submit humble
yourselves under God's hand if you get
under God's hand one day his hand will
turn over and lift you up but you exalt
yourself you say well if we can't do
what we want to do we'll go someplace
else a that won't solve any problems you
just take your troubles with
you and you create division in the
church and dividing the church is a
great sin because the word of God says
let's strive to maintain the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace and so
some of you younger people don't like it
when the elders say this is our policy
they have no right to make a policy like
that oh yes they do and you better
submit to it the Elder may not like it
when the young people say well we've got
to make some changes here don't make
years can't be like that we have to
listen to one another that's the beauty
of the church the shepherd and the Sheep
the old older and the younger in unity
and in love the submitting now I suggest
to you that if we don't submit one day
we're going to answer for
it if we don't submit if we are the
cause of trouble friction competition
instead of
cooperation we're going to answer for it
someday I don't think God ever called me
to destroy his
work verses 8 and N he talks to those
who are standing and boy if anyone knew
anything about the devil Peter did camel
Morgan has written a marvelous little
book called Peter and the church he's
also written a book called The Voice of
the devil you got to get those two books
and read them together because Peter has
a great deal to say about the devil be
sober be vigilant because your adversary
the devil like a roaring lion walking
walketh about seeking whom he may devour
whom resists steadfast in the faith
knowing that the same afflictions are
accomplished in your brethren that are
in the world we're not going through
this alone now what are we supposed to
do about the devil uh here he's compared
to a lion other places he's compared to
a serpent as a serpent he
deceives as a lion he devours if he
cannot deceive my mind he seeks to
devour me with suffering and Peter knew
these people were going to go through
suffering he talked about that f y trial
that was going to come and part of that
fiery trial was going to come from the
fire of Hell Satan has always been the
adversary of the church the Apostle Paul
warned the elders at Ephesus in Acts
chap 20 he said you watch out the wolves
are going to get in they'll scatter the
flock they'll destroy it well if the
Wolves can do it what about the
lion I enjoy seeing wild animals I'm
always glad there are bars between me
and the animal animals we were in the uh
Kenya game park over there in Africa we
didn't see anything really
dangerous got about two or 3 hundred
feet away from a
rhinoceros but he wasn't paying any
attention to us he was bigger than the
car was and he knew
it but I've never wanted the tangle with
a lion I love cats I always enjoy when
my cat comes along jumps into my lap you
know and takes over that doesn't bother
me i' hate to have a l do
that now Peter gives us three
instructions about the devil and people
better Heed These instructions number
one you respect him be sober you don't
joke about the
devil you don't laugh about the devil
respect him be
sober recognize him be
vigilant keep your eyes open keep your
ears open because Satan's always at work
respect him recognize him and resist him
how do you resist him whom resists
steadfast in the faith steadfast
standing fast in what in the faith what
faith faith in Jesus Christ that's what
Jesus did he didn't run when Satan came
roaring at him he just stood there and
said it is written it is written it is
written now Satan's going to do his best
to to Devour the flock and to Dev divide
the flock he always wants to do this and
sometimes he finds Christians who will help
standing excuse me those who take their
stand in the faith those who take the
sword of the spirit which is the word of
God those who take the shield of
Faith they'll fight him they'll resist
him and they'll overcome
him but alas there always are those
Saints who give in to the devil Peter
himself did it Jesus warned him he said
Satan's after you he wants to get a hold
of you I'm praying for you Peter boasted
and said oh though the rest of this
crowd forsake you I'll never do that and
pride walks right into the devil's
trap because pride is one of Satan's tools
those who are
standing can look
forward to God's blessing and God's
glory finally verse 10 and verse
11 but I'm always glad for that little
word but it means a contrast here we're
talking about Satan coming at us as a
roaring lion but the God of all
Grace who hath called us unto his
eternal eternal glory by Christ Jesus he
will give me Grace and Glory they always
go together there is no glory without
Grace and when you have Grace it always
leads to Glory the God of all Grace who
hath called us un his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus after ye have suffered a
while make you
perfect establish strengthen settle you
to his him be glory and Dominion forever
and ever amen he's talking here about the
the
suffering suffering Glory suffering
Glory this is always the Bible pattern
verse one of chapter 5 a witness of the
sufferings of Christ and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed
chapter 4: 13 but rejoice in as much as
ye are partaker of Christ's sufferings
that when his glory
is shall be revealed you may be glad
also with exceeding Joy verse 15 don't
suffer is a murderer verse 16 if you
suffer as a Christian don't be ashamed
let him glorify God all the way through
this book it's suffering and Glory
suffering and Glory Paul says the same
thing I reckon that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory Now ladies and
gentlemen we're going to
suffer there are going to be the the
human sufferings of everyday life we
aren't getting any
younger there's going to be sickness
there's going to be pain there's going
to be surgery there's going to be
medication there's going to be death
these are these are things that belong
to the to the human part of life there
are things that belong to the spiritual
part of life Satan's going to fight us
we're going to go through
suffering in fact one of the best things
that can happen to the Church of Jesus
Christ in America is a good taste of
suffering it'll separate the the men
from the boys it'll separate the the
sheep from the
goats it'll separate the hangers on and
Spectators from those who are laying
their lives down to serve Jesus
Christ The
Suffering now what does Peter say about
suffering he says number one God
provides the grace
if you're worrying about tomorrow or
next week or two weeks from now God
provides the grace he's the God of all
Grace all Grace not part of the grace
all Grace God has cornered the market on
Grace and his throne is a throne of
grace and his word is the word of his
grace and the Holy Spirit is the spirit
of Grace and Jesus Christ is full of
grace and truth and so you and I can
depend upon God providing all the grace
not only does he provide the grace but
he promises the glory the God of all
Grace who has called us to his eternal
glory now in between the grace and the
glory what is God
doing in between the suffering and the
glory what is God
doing Grace in suffering Glory no
suffering what happens in between he
tells us what happens make you perfect
that word means mature you equip you
develop you why is God doing what he's
doing in our lives he doesn't want us to
diapers more problems are created in
churches by people who have been saved
long enough to be teachers but instead
they're still in diapers and they demand
attention burping them and giving toys
to them and changing them now you do
this because you love them but oh you
wish they were doing it for somebody
else book of Hebrews was written to a
church like that he says for the time
you've been saved you ought to be
teaching others but now somebody else
has to teach you the ABCs you're back in
a spiritual second childhood what does
God want to do he wants wants to mature
us he wants to equip us to get out and
help other people not be taking in all
the time but giving
out that's what that word
means after you have suffered a while
make you perfect so God provides the
grace and God gives the promise of glory
and in between the suffering and the
glory god is perfecting our character
God is building into US patience and
love and faithfulness and
loyalty and
devotion and the result of this is he establishes
establishes
us make you perfect establish now Peter
knew the meaning of that word establish
it means to stand solid like a rock and
that was his name
Rock now there was a time in that man's
life when he was like shifting
sand Simon was a sand dune that blew
about but oh he went through suffering
and when you take sand and you put it
under pressure and heat you come out with
with
Rock and we say oh Lord why are you
doing this I'm making a rock out of
you do you know that the old ultimate of
this is a jewel if that if that pressure
continue the result is a beautiful
Jewel and I read that in the Book of
Revelation when it describes the the
jewels up
there we're going to be a part of those
Jewels you see I can't take any more
pressure yes you can I can't take any
more heat yes we can God is taking us as
clay and he's putting the clay in his
furnace and there's pressure and there's
heat and there's suffering and he's
making a jewel now if you want to be a
lump of clay that's
fine you want to be a half formed piece
of stone that's all right that's your
business God won't force it on
you but all the Lord says you know I can
give you Grace I can give you Grace for
surgery I can give you Grace for
heartache I can give you Grace for
anything you go through I'm the God of
all Grace and I he giveth more Grace and
if you'll just trust me all of this is
suffering I think this is a good chapter
for me as I uh look forward to a new
ministry I think it's a good chapter for
you as a church as you look forward to
God calling a new pastor here we don't
look back we look ahead now we look back
to think of what Jesus has done for us
Peter did that but we look ahead it's
glory it's glory all the way there's
glory in serving don't give up the
ministry God's given to
you keep on serving whether it's in the
choir or ushering or teaching a class or
visiting or holding an office or
wrestling with problems on a committee
keep on serving it leads to Glory
keep on submitting if pride and
competition get in there will be trouble
submit to one another learn how to say
let's try it your way learn how to say
let's work together on this keep on
standing if you don't stand you go
backward keep on standing resisting the
devil and keep on
suffering the church is the purest when
the church is suffering the church has
the most power when the church is
suffering when we are at ease in Zion
when we are lacad isical when we're in
our rocking chairs when we're complacent
God can't Bless but oh when we're going
through the furnace he's walking with us
when we're going through the waterers
he's right there to make sure we don't
drown oh it's wonderful just to walk
with the
Lord and The Best Is Yet To
Come Jesus is going to
come I must one day give an an account
to the Lord for my Ministry and that's
why I want to be in the center of his
will you must one day give an account to
the Lord of your ministry that's why you
want to be in the center of his will we
don't do it for people we don't do it
for human praise we do it that one day
he might look at us and smile and say Well
Well
done brothers and sisters The Best Is
Yet To Come let's live in the future
tense because the next step is Glory
Glory Glory all the way let's pray
pray gracious father thank you for the
Abundant Life we have that has taken us
off of a dead end
Street and put us on that marvelous Road
the path of the just which is as The
Shining Light that is shining more and
more under that perfect day thank you
for the Moody Church Family Help Us Lord
to be faithful faithful to
stand faithful to serve
faithful to submit faithful to
suffer because we realize that
faithfulness leads to
Glory I pray oh God speak to every heart
here if someone here has never been
saved is walking on that broad road that
leads to Hell May that one tonight come
and Trust Christ if there's some
careless backslidden worldly Christian
here Lord convict that heart and bring
that one to a place of
dedication we would give our ourselves
amen all of Dr Warren web's material is
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