I'm a little flustered
because John said there were going to be
two special numbers and then he looked over
and said it's time for you and I
said I'm not that special number.
I lost all track whether it was morning
or evening, so I don't know whether any
of you folks ever get into that position
or not, but that's what I found myself
in, but thank you girls, that was beautiful.
Always good to have visitors with us and
today is no exception and if you're here
at Northgate for the very first time, we'd
like to bid you a special welcome.
Why must I
die?
Help me.
Is there no way to save my dying
soul?
Is there no plan?
Why must I die?
Is there not someone somewhere who knows the
way?
Is there no way to free my soul
from sin?
Is there no ear to hear my plea
for mercy?
Why must I die?
Can we not hear?
Why must I die?
There is a God eternal
love.
Well, you're moving to Pittsburgh, but you must
come back.
You must.
That number is indeed, that was beautiful.
Beautiful and so meaningful.
Billy, can you tell me where your brother
Les is this morning?
You know, it's so unusual.
Oh, Gene, you have a report.
Those that are hurting and stand in need
of help, shall we just bow in a
word of prayer?
Father in Heaven, we thank thee and praise
thee for the Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved
Son and our Savior.
And we are encouraged to pray one for
another.
And we will pray for our dear brother
Les Dobey, for his wife Mildred, and we
remember the Guthries, and we remember Ruth Pittman
and Gurney, and there are just a host
of names that come before us.
Robert Gianetta.
So many that find themselves in circumstances that
are not too pleasant.
And blessed Holy Lord, we hold them up
to thee.
Ask for your healing.
Ask for your special comfort for their hearts.
In the precious and worthy name of the
Lord Jesus.
Amen.
I'd like for us to read from Ephesians
chapter 2 this morning.
We'll be reading a couple of passages and
they're linked together and they make, I believe,
they will at least give you a better
understanding of what it is that we are
seeking to bring out.
Chapter 2 in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11,
Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past
Gentiles in the flesh who are called on
circumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at
that time you were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from
the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ.
And now to 1 Peter chapter 2.
I'd like to read from the 22nd verse
of the 1st chapter.
See that ye love one another with a
pure heart fervently, being born again not of
corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word
of God which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all
the glory of man is the flower of
grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever,
and this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you.
Chapter 2, verse 1.
Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile
and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desired the sincere milk of
the word, that ye may grow thereby.
If so be ye have tasted that the
Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto
a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God and precious.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up
a spiritual house and holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ.
Wherefore, also it is contained in the scriptures,
Behold, I lay in thine a chief cornerstone,
elect and precious, and he that believeth on
him shall not be confounded.
Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious,
but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a rock
of offense even to them which stumble at
the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were
appointed.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light.
Which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God, which
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy.
So often we are reminded that as Gentiles,
when you read in the scripture that we
were in the world without any covenant relationship
with God, and we were without hope.
It seems like all of the blessing was
being showered upon the Jew, the Israelite, the
sons of Jacob, and then when we get
to this wonderful word of God, we are
reminded that God by his grace had a
plan for us all along.
He wanted all men to be saved.
It is not the will of God that
any should perish, not the will of God
that any would ever fall under his judgment
and his wrath.
It is a wonderful day when we discover
that.
Perhaps there is something that has to happen
before we can enjoy that, and it is
that we are lost.
Spiritually, we are dead in trespasses and sin.
If you read in that second chapter of
Ephesians, we were indeed dead in trespasses and
sin.
God provided a way to rescue us out
of that dilemma, and whosoever will may come.
It is not limited to one nation of
people, not limited to one class of people,
whosoever will may come.
The invitation is extended.
It is a broad and wonderful, inclusive invitation
to whosoever will, let him come.
The only condition being that we acknowledge that
we have a need of that which God
is about to provide.
Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that you love one
another with a pure heart fervently.
Something happens when indeed you are born again
into the family of God.
Spiritual life, alive unto God for the first
time.
Scripture reminds us that the Spirit of God
has spread abroad in our hearts the love
of God.
I think a few weeks ago when we
were in 1 John, we put strong emphasis
upon the fact that God is love, and
indeed he implants in the heart of every
believer the desire to love.
It is wonderful to keep yourselves in the
love of God, but it is something else
to let that love as a fruit of
the Spirit emanate from your life and prove
it to the world that we live in.
I think Peter was one that was asked
that question.
It is a rather embarrassing question in that
it was asked of Peter because of something
he had said in the past to the
Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, Peter, very outspoken and very bold
in making known the feelings of his mind
and heart, had told the Lord that, I
love you so much that if everyone else,
your disciples included, if they abandoned you and
ran away, I would stay and die with
you.
That's how much I love you.
I don't have to tell you the story.
You know the account of how he withered
under the questioning of a small maid, and
she just simply asked him a question.
Do you know Jesus Christ?
Are you of that company that follow him?
And he said, no, no, no, I don't
know him.
I don't know anything about him.
Later, after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ, one morning on the beach, the Lord
Jesus Christ had prepared a breakfast for those
fishermen, Peter among them.
They came ashore and they ate of that
food that he had provided.
You know, you are kind of suspicious that
he will say something to Peter.
The one that always speaks out first, he
is about to be interrogated.
He is about to have our Lord ask
him some very pointed questions.
That question went like this, Peter, do you
love me?
Remember what he said in the past?
Remember about how shamefully he behaved there in
that judgment hall?
Peter, do you love me?
That question was put to Peter three times
over.
Our Lord started out with a term for
love that means, would you sacrificially give of
yourself for me?
Would you stand with me?
Would you die with me?
Well, of course, Peter had already proven that
not that kind of love.
Not that kind of love.
You know, we are often reminded that you
may love someone, but would you die for
them?
I think sometimes it is something that is
even stronger than that.
Will you live for that person?
Will you give of yourself for that person?
And you know, Peter was embarrassed, I am
sure.
But as our Lord probed and asked him
that question, he had to finally say, Lord,
you know all things.
You know how much I love you.
And if that question has been put to
each one of us this morning, how much
do we really love the Lord?
How much has his touching our lives and
giving us eternal life, providing the forgiveness for
all of our sins?
How much do we truly love him?
The word of God says this, and there
are words spoken by the Lord Jesus, if
you really love me, you will keep my
commandments.
If you really love me, you will keep
my commandments.
You will do what I have instructed you
to do.
And I thank Peter in thinking about all
of these things and the change that was
wrought in that man's life.
I think of people that try to live
the Christian life based upon something other than
accepting that one sacrifice for sin.
You know there are people that call themselves
Christians just because they have joined a fellowship
of believers or people that call themselves Christians.
They have been properly baptized in water by
immersion or sprinkling or some way.
And they base the relationship with God upon
something other than the one way that God
has provided for mankind to be identified with
him.
Without the shedding of the blood, without a
sacrifice, there can't be any forgiveness of sin.
And no one in their sin there approach
God or come into his presence, because if
you do, you are a dead man.
Those that come into the presence of God
and stand in his holy presence must stand
with all of their sins forgiven.
There must not be one iota of defilement
about that person that stands in the presence
of God, lest he suffer the judgment and
the wrath of God.
But people today brazenly and openly disregarding all
of that, dare to say that they will
stand in the presence of God, they even
speak like this.
If I'm asked the question, why are you
here?
Why are you in the presence of God?
I'm going to say I was always a
good person.
I always tried to do the right thing.
I tried to be a good neighbor.
I joined the church.
Any church.
I was sincere.
I can tell you, and sadly so, because
it's so disappointing to think that someone would
be so foolish in the light of what
has been provided in the word of God.
As far as truth and instruction is concerned,
you're a dead man if you stand in
the presence of God.
Because you're dead in trespasses and sin.
You need to be born again.
You need to have spiritual life.
You need to have the value of that
one sacrifice of sin put to your account.
Do you know when you do that, when
you make that decision and when you take
that step, you become as pure and righteous
and sinless as the Son of God himself
in the presence of God.
Oh, you're still living in this life and
in this flesh.
You still have defilement.
But we're talking about as far as accepting
the value of a sacrifice that would forever
clear you from experiencing that penalty upon sin.
Because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has
already paid that penalty.
And we're in Christ.
And positionally speaking, we're accepted in the Beloved.
The beautiful hymn in the Beloved to be
accepted.
Peter learned what it meant to be accepted
in the Beloved Person of the Son of
God.
There's a challenge that goes out.
Change is supposed to take place in our
lives once that has been experienced.
Some people say, I'm saved and that's all
I want.
I just want to be saved.
You have no desire to serve.
You have no desire to worship and praise
God.
You have no desire for fellowship.
What's wrong with you?
We are new creations in Christ Jesus.
For a child of God to say, I
don't desire any fellowship.
I don't desire to pray.
I don't desire to have a relationship with
God in the person of the Lord Jesus
is truly meaningful.
That's a strange, strange way to even think
about this great salvation.
When we accept Christ, we become a new
creation.
Indwelt by the Spirit of God as lively
or living stones, as Peter points out.
We become a part of the true church,
the body of Christ.
Oh, there are many, many, many fellowships of
believers across the face of the earth, but
there's only one church and it is the
body of Christ.
And he is the head of that church.
Call yourself by any name you want to,
but I think it's best just to be
satisfied.
I'm a Christian.
I'm a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm not demeaning you calling yourself something else
by being a part of some other fellowship.
If that's happy with you, I'm happy with
it.
But Jesus paid it all.
And all to him I owe the precious,
precious blood of the Son of God.
With all of my sin and the judgment
that it deserved, he paid the price before
God and made me fit for the presence
of God.
And I praise and worship him because he
is the one that has provided salvation for
our souls.
And none other, don't give your loyalty to
anything else on the face of this earth
other than the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Paul says he must have the preeminent place.
Beloved believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, give
him first place in your life.
Let him be enthroned in your heart.
You're going to run into things in this
life that can be devastating.
But honor him.
Honor him, the Son of God.
After all, he suffered judgment and wrath that
was meted out from the sovereign, holy hand
of God his Father upon sin and its
penalty.
God laid on him the iniquity of us
all.
How often we hear that.
Think of all of the millions, as we
were reminded, around the world today that are
still in sin's darkness.
They are blind spiritually.
They don't know.
They've never tasted of the goodness of God
in salvation.
They've never heard the gospel.
I'm so thankful that here in this land
we live, the gospel of Jesus Christ is
still being proclaimed.
Or you can hear it any time, day
or night, that you'd like to hear it.
Turn your radio on.
Bible broadcasting network.
You can hear the gospel any time, any
hour, day or night.
And there are many platforms today in which
this message is going forth.
God loves you.
Christ died for you.
And you as a poor son, all you've
got to do is accept that and be
saved.
Isn't that simple?
Isn't that so simple?
But men stumble over it.
He came unto his own, and his own
received him not.
You would have thought the Israelites, you would
have thought the Jews, looking forward to the
coming of their Messiah, would have been away
and embraced and accepted him.
Some did.
But as a whole, all of those Pharisees,
all of those leaders among the people of
God rejected the Son of God.
And it grieves his heart.
And it grieves his heart that you as
a poor sinner and me as a poor
sinner, any part of our lives were ever
lived rejecting him.
Thank God.
Thank God, the Spirit of God, through the
truth, awakened us to our miserable state and
our unacceptance for the presence of God and
provided a Savior for us.
And today he's in our hearts, he's in
our lives.
And we're looking forward to his return.
And one day we're going to be with
him and be like him for all eternity.
I don't know how much Peter ever experienced
in his own life, some of the things
that he calls to our attention in this
passage.
But it's not very complimentary to think that
any one of us could do any of
this, wherefore laying aside all malice.
How in the world could a child of
God, one that is made clean and acceptable
for the very presence of God, how could
he ever give place to malice in his
life?
You know, that's the active intent to harm
someone else.
I want to hurt that person.
I want to hurt somebody.
So you maliciously do something.
Can you envision a man that says, I'm
a Christian, I'm a born again child of
God, wanting to do something like that?
Malice!
Wherefore lay aside malice.
Man, don't let that be a part of
your life.
That's the works of the flesh.
That's that old Adamic nature that is within
you and me that wants to raise its
ugly head and it wants to act from
another part of our being that we would
to God.
It didn't any longer exist in any one
of us.
Lay aside malice.
Oh, guile.
Guile is something that is evil, something that
is deceitful.
Have you ever deceived someone?
You have to lie to do it.
You have to lie to deceive someone.
And yet there are those that would prove
guile, something so evil, something so deceitful.
Our Lord never, never entertained anything like this
in his own life.
And every believer is to be Christ-like.
No malice.
No guile.
Hypocrisy.
You know what a hypocrite is?
It's someone that puts on a mask.
That's what hypocrisy is all about.
You mask your true feelings toward someone else.
What you really have in your heart toward
them is malice and so many other things.
There's bitterness and there's hatred, but you put
on a mask and you smile and you
pretend that everything is okay.
Not okay.
I tell you something that should frighten us
when we even want to think about playing
the hypocrite is, God knows all about it.
He knows your heart.
He knows what's in your little mind.
And if you are a deceiver and if
you have malice in your heart and you're
a hypocrite, God knows all about it.
Envies.
To be envious of someone.
Envy.
Have you looked at someone that was very
successful and been jealous of them?
Peer pressure today among young people makes them
do some bad things.
Because they want to be popular and they
want to be accepted.
Adults do the same thing.
On a big scale, you want something better
than the neighbor has.
Better car, better home, better job, better security,
all like that.
I deserve it.
He doesn't deserve that.
But envy.
Being envious of anyone.
Our Lord never envied anybody.
He came into the world seeking to save
that which was lost.
Man, He addressed the basic needs of mankind.
He got to the bottom of things.
You know, our true condition of being lost
and without God was so important that all
these other things just faded into insignificance.
And as I'm pointing out this morning and
reminding you of where we came from, our
souls have been purified.
We've been made in a state and condition
before God of being acceptable by virtue of
what He did.
We ought to spend the rest of our
lives praising and worshiping God for what He's
done for us and honoring the person of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
So often that's not true.
And he adds, and evil speakings.
You know, sometimes I like to talk to
people who just got saved.
Newborn ones.
It's not like talking to some of those
that have been saved so long that they've
gotten used to it.
You got used to being saved?
Man, what's wrong with us?
I was dead in trespasses and sin and
now I'm alive unto God through faith in
Jesus Christ and He lives in my heart.
And I'm indwelt and empowered by the Spirit
of God and I get used to that?
Something wrong with me.
Not supposed to get used to it.
And newborn babes in Christ, they're excited about
being saved.
My sins are forgiven.
They don't know what hypocrisy is.
They don't want to practice any guile.
They're not envious of anybody.
I'm saved.
Saved by the grace of God.
You know we need a good dose of
that.
You need to get excited about being saved
and on your way to heaven and all
your sins forgiven.
And you're going to be in the presence
of God for all eternity with acting like
little children that don't know any better.
That's shameful behavior.
And I think Peter knew that.
For that to be said about a believer,
and yet that's what Peter said.
He must have had some experiences in that
area.
Don't you think he had?
He has met some people like that.
I'm not blaming him.
I'm telling you, I think the Lord really
did a work in saving his soul.
You can't grow by feeding your soul upon
the things of this world and all of
the fanciful things that will come into your
mind and heart.
Do not be conformed to the ways of
this world.
It will rob you of the joy of
your salvation.
It will reduce you back down to what
you were in your sins as far as
the flesh is concerned.
And you'll be miserable.
And God forbid that a child of God
would go back to being what they were
in the world.
We're strangers and pilgrims down here in this
world.
We're in the family of God.
We're children of God.
We're on our way to heaven.
We're too busy living and doing what we
want to do.
And he commissioned us to go out into
all the world.
My brother stopped out here the other day.
He said, where do you see the mission
field?
I said, anywhere you want to look is
the mission field.
A man tells me at the back of
this chapel, I want to be an evangelist.
I want to evangelize.
Where should I start?
Right outside that door.
Go out there and evangelize.
Go out and tell the whole world that
God loves us.
And that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
died for us.
You say that's all there is to it?
That's all there is to it.
He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God
doesn't have life.
I mean, quit muddying up the water.
All the courses on evangelism around the world
won't help you unless you have a desire
in your heart.
We're just beggars.
We're men that are starving and we found
some bread and we're telling other men and
women how to find it.
That's what it's all about.
God loved us and the Lord Jesus died
for us.
Peter knew that.
I like to find new believers.
They're excited.
They're excited about being saved.
They don't have any malice in their heart.
They don't have any of these things.
The evil fruits of the old nature, they're
not thinking about that and they're not responding
about that.
We're born into an entirely new world.
What would you think of someone that, and
you know what leprosy, if you read the
scriptures, you know what the conditions were like
for a person that was a leper.
The garments that he had on, all of
these ulcers, all of these loathsome things that
were a part of his body, so defiled
that everywhere he went he had to put
up his hand and say, I'm clean, I'm
clean.
Don't come close to me.
I'll defile you.
Do you remember one day the Lord Jesus
healed ten lepers?
Ten lepers.
Ten people in that condition.
It would be horrible to be in that
condition.
It would be wonderful to be healed of
that condition.
Do you think a person that had just
been healed would remember where he took off
those old garments, those stinking, filthy garments that
he had worn as a leper and say,
I'm going to put these back on.
They are very comfortable.
Can you envision somebody doing that, that was
a leper?
There ain't no way in your imagination, your
mind, you can't reconcile that.
Why would a child of God, a child
of God, now alive unto God, a new
creature in Christ Jesus, cleansed from all of
his defilement, his leprosy, the sin has been
taken care of.
Why would he ever want to go back
and become a part of a world that
everything in this world is geared to being
under the judgment and the wrath of God.
It groans under that oppressive weight of God's
judgment and wrath that is to fall upon
it.
And we re-identify ourselves with that world
and all the things that are so attractive
and pleasurable in that world.
Why is it we do that?
It happens, though.
It's not very popular to talk about it.
There's anger, there's deceit, there's slander, all of
these things that are so unbecoming to a
believer in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And yet it happens among God's people.
Oh, to know the word of God.
Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word
of God.
We're living stones.
Our Lord is that chief cornerstone.
You've heard the story of the building of
the temple, that glorious temple, and all of
those stones, they were cut out and quarried
where they were quarried, where they were cut
out of the stone.
Every one was measured so that there would
not be the sound of hammer or chisel
in the erection of that beautiful temple.
There's something significant about that.
Not a sound, quietly, stonemasons just sitting those
stones in their proper place.
But there was one stone there they couldn't
find where it sitted.
You know what the problem is today in
the lives of so many?
Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone.
It is said that the Masons looked at
this and looked at it and couldn't find
where it was supposed to go.
They rejected it.
We can't use that.
Isn't that what the world has done to
Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
What those Masons did, what the Israelites did,
people are still doing it.
I don't want Him, the Son of God.
I don't want that foundation stone of the
church, the body of Jesus Christ.
I don't want Him.
And He's rejected.
And that stone that they are offended by
is the one that loves them and died
for them and provided salvation for their souls.
God's people should be living stones.
We're a part of a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood.
You ever thought about what it means to
be holy?
The Word of God says, Be holy, for
I am holy.
Being holy means that you separate yourself from
all that is defiling here in this life.
Or you've been cleansed from the penalty of
your sin.
You are fit for the presence of God.
But down here, we need to get down
to the business of being clean and pure
and holy in this world we live in.
When you do that, Peter makes mention here
of God's people are a peculiar people.
We're not peculiar enough, I'll tell you that.
There's too much of the world that has
invaded our fellowships and our own personal lives,
and we enjoy it.
We find pleasure in doing things that are
of the flesh rather than that which is
of the Spirit of God that would have
us to bear that fruit of love and
joy and peace.
Peter's just telling us that it's easy to
get off track.
I've been off track lately.
Do you perhaps imagine in your mind some
way right now that maybe I'm a little
off track, a little off track, and I
want to get back on track.
All you've got to do is what a
man by the name of John, and he
wrote enough about it to convince us it's
true, and most of us have experienced it.
I trust that every person in this room,
as a believer, you avail yourself of what
he said.
Brother, we're not talking about salvation.
We're talking about being pure and holy and
fit for God's use.
The chief end of man is to glorify
God.
He says, confess your sin.
Confess your sin.
Not to me.
Not to your fellow believer.
Confess your sin to God.
He is faithful and just, and he will
forgive you of your sin.
That defilement that Peter is talking about, that's
robbing you of your joy in the Lord
and making us, as believers, a subject of
ridicule in the world that we live today.
Little wonder.
Little wonder that there's not enough of that
recognition that we are a peculiar people.
It doesn't mean eccentric.
It means we're different.
It means we're holy, and we recognize it,
and we want to live that way for
the glory of God.
That's what it's all about.
Our gracious Heavenly Father, as we bow this
morning in thy presence, message that has been
said before us.
Peter, our dear brother Peter, the man that
knew what it meant to fall and to
be weak and to need mercy and grace
and help, learned how to confess and forsake
his sin.
He's left us with a message, Lord.
Grant, we pray thee, that everyone in this
room this morning has by faith bowed to
me and confessed I'm a poor sinner.