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[00:00:00] 1 Peter and chapter 2. The first letter of the apostle Peter, chapter 2, from verse 1.
[00:00:14] Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation, if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious unto whom coming a living stone rejected indeed of men. But with God elect precious.
[00:00:45] Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, because it is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. Elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.
[00:01:14] For you, therefore, that believe is the preciousness, but for such as dispensation believe the stone which the builders rejected the same was made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, for they stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.
[00:01:38] But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
[00:02:12] And then, if you will, turn to the first letter of the apostle Paul to the church at Corinth, from verse 10, 1 Corinthians, chapter 3 and verse 10, first letter. The apostle Paul to the church at Corinth, the Corinthian Letter, First Corinthian Letter, Chapter 3, Verse 10.
[00:02:45] According to the grace of God, which was given unto me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
[00:03:09] But if any man buildeth on the foundation, gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble, each man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire. And the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is.
[00:03:34] If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a recompense or reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as through fire.
[00:03:55] And then lastly, in John, the Gospel of John and chapter six, from verse 35, the gospel of John, chapter six, from verse 35.
[00:04:21] Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
[00:04:26] He that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
[00:04:36] But I said unto you, that ye have seen me and yet believe not.
[00:04:42] All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.
[00:04:53] For I am come down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
[00:05:00] And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
[00:05:16] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholdeth the Son and believeth on him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day.
[00:05:45] Just have a word of prayer together.
[00:05:47] Lord, we do want to thank Thee that when we come into Thy presence, Thou hast said Thyself that the Spirit of Truth himself shall lead you into all truth.
[00:06:02] And O Father, we do bow before Thee just to recognize our need of Thee.
[00:06:07] It's something we say again and again, Lord, whenever we come to Thy word. But, Lord, we want just to confess that our natural man does not receive the things of Thyself.
[00:06:21] We know, Lord, they have to be spiritually discerned. And only Thy Holy Spirit can give the ability to communicate Thy word and the ability to hear it and do it. Lord. Wilt thou grant that this time, this evening may be of such a character?
[00:06:38] We ask it together with thanksgiving in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
[00:06:48] Last week I spoke about foundations.
[00:06:53] And I said then that I was going to dwell upon our responsibility in the whole matter of foundations.
[00:07:06] And we spent last Thursday evening considering this vital, vital matter to do with foundations, especially in Luke and chapter six, and this little word in verse 47.
[00:07:25] Every one that cometh unto me and heareth my words and doeth them, them. I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who digged and went deep and laid the foundation upon the rock.
[00:07:48] He digged and went deep and laid a foundation upon the rock. It's always easier to have a. A shortcut in building, to get on with the job, to overlook things that take time, that are sweaty, that are unpleasant, that are messy.
[00:08:15] But if we don't dig deep and lay a foundation upon the rock, when the storms come, whether they be the normal storms that come to every human being in normal life, illness, disappointment, bereavement, disillusionment with friends or with career or something else, we shall be undone when that storm comes. If it's not that, we know very well that the scripture says that at the time of the end there will come a period of shaking such as there has never been in the history of mankind. And it is my own conviction that we have entered in this century into this period of progressive shaking, and particularly in the post second World War era, we have more and more and more been moving into a period in which God is shaking everything.
[00:09:26] Now, it's not only economic and political and military and moral matters that God is shaking, but in the end, it will be the very heavens themselves that will be shaken. According to Matthew 24 and Luke 21, it says that the stars shall be shaken and. And will fall. And there will be signs in the sun and the moon, and the waves as a result of something happening to sun and moon will roar and men's hearts will faint for fear.
[00:10:04] Now, we believers, we trust that the Lord is going to come and take us to be with himself. But we have absolutely no ground for saying that we are going to be taken before any of this comes to pass.
[00:10:24] We don't know how far we shall have to travel into this time of shaking. And that is why this matter of foundations, spiritual foundations, is all important.
[00:10:40] It is absolutely, absolutely vital.
[00:10:44] People can look so nice, they can have their Christian lives, they can say the right things, they can come to the right meetings, they can have the right phraseology, they can apparently have the right standards. But when the storm comes, we suddenly discover that they have no foundations.
[00:11:08] It's been built on the topsoil of their own ingenuity, of their own character, of their own strength, of their own resources.
[00:11:20] And so when the floods come, it washes away all that topsoil of our own energy, our natural strength and character, and suddenly the house collapses because it never was built through the topsoil onto the rock beneath.
[00:11:45] And that's how we spoke last Thursday, last Tuesday evening, the Tuesday week, when we last spoke on this matter.
[00:11:59] Really, it's no easy matter to dig and go deep.
[00:12:06] But you, all of us, young and old, it's no good blaming it on leadership or upon those who've got some kind of spiritual responsibility for the direction of the work. The fact remains that every single single one, from the youngest to the elders here in this room, is accountable to God in this matter. Jesus said we must not only hear the Word, we must do it.
[00:12:38] Now, you see, there are some Christians who don't even hear the Word. I mean, they don't read the book, they don't meditate on the book.
[00:12:47] They don't ever come into a gathering where they could hear the Word. They seem to feel that they can exist without the Word.
[00:12:54] But it is not enough even to study the Word of God and to meditate, as it were, upon it to a certain extent or even to memorize it unless we do it, unless the Word of God has a concrete, substantial effect on our lives in obedience and character building and in direction.
[00:13:21] The Word is merely the Word of God objectively.
[00:13:28] And our Lord did not say the man who built his house upon the sand was a man who did not heed the Word, but he says he was a man who heard the Word but did not do it.
[00:13:45] And I think that is horrific because we're so used to a kind of almost misinterpretation subconsciously in our minds of this passage, we tend to think, here are people who hear the Word and here are people who don't hear the Word. And here the people who hear the Word, they've got foundations they're building on the rock and here are people who don't hear it and, and they're building on sand and it'll all collapse. But it's not what the Lord said.
[00:14:14] The Lord said both people heard the Word, one did it.
[00:14:27] And that is the only possible antidote to future collapse.
[00:14:37] I don't care whether you've been to a thousand theological seminaries and a hundred Bible colleges and got so many degrees after your name that it would run right off the paper.
[00:14:50] The fact of the matter is this. You can stuff your head with Bible knowledge and know it inside out, but when the storm comes, you can collapse.
[00:15:01] It is obedience to the Word that is, in the final analysis, the only way in which we dig and go deep and lay a foundation upon the rock. Now this must be true not only of individuals. It's true of us as the people of God. Corporately, we cannot rest on one man's ministry, one man's experience, one man's way with the Lord, even one man's anointing. There's no doubt if we had an Apostle Paul amongst us, we would undoubtedly have lent upon him and honored him and respected him. We would have soon got to know his faults and failings and probably chatted about it.
[00:15:48] Living all the time would never end with our discussions. But nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that an anointed ministry is an anointed ministry. And it's silly to say that you, you, you, you wouldn't Miss it.
[00:16:03] Those little companies of believers must have felt sometimes dreadful when the Apostle Paul suddenly moved on with the whole band with him, and then they were suddenly left to themselves.
[00:16:15] Then the whole question was whether corporately they followed a kind of system or began to really know what they had been taught in their own corporate experience.
[00:16:30] They began to dig corporately, go deep and lay a foundation upon the rock.
[00:16:39] Then when the storm comes, the communists come or some other atheist antichrist force and they take the leaders and they take the elders and they take the responsible workers in the measure in which every member of the body has been really grounded and founded in the Lord will be the measure in which that company will triumph and come through and come through and come through and come through.
[00:17:07] You get what I mean?
[00:17:10] And that's where we are. I mean, we all believe that times of great distress are coming to the believers. But when actually we get down to it, we don't be behave as if we believe that these times of trouble are soon to come upon us.
[00:17:31] Now there's a lot more we can say. The Apostle Peter, writing in his second letter to the Church, said, make brethren give diligence to make your calling and election show.
[00:17:48] For if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble, never collapse, but so shall be ministered to you an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.
[00:18:08] Well now we spent, as I say, the last time on this whole matter of foundations.
[00:18:16] Do not think a single one of you that you are some inferior child of God, some special category of believer that has been sadly, I can't think of the word sadly neglected or it's even more than that. I want another word, but I can't find it. Deprived. That's right. You see, lots of believers, when you get right down to it, think that they're deprived persons.
[00:18:57] Brother, so and so never spent time with me.
[00:19:03] I have never had the advantages of so and so and so and so and so and so. I am a deprived person.
[00:19:16] Don't think that there are any such people as deprived people in the house of God. Everyone is a son or a daughter of the King.
[00:19:27] And for everyone special provision of grace and power has been made.
[00:19:34] So this matter of foundations. Do not blame it on circumstances or background or the company of believers you're amongst or the leadership or other Christian friends around you, or your parents, or if your parents your children, or your husband if you're a wife or your wife if you're a husband.
[00:20:01] Just face up to the fact that God is giving you an opportunity in your particular circumstances to dig and go deep and lay a foundation upon the rock. And at the present time we have got more time. We have a period of grace given to us and we should be using this period of grace to the full whilst we have it.
[00:20:33] So that when these times of distress come, thank God we've got foundations.
[00:20:43] Now, that's one side.
[00:20:45] I would like now just to say something about the other side.
[00:20:52] Really. I've been speaking up to now about your responsibility. My responsibility, Human responsibility.
[00:20:59] I would like to speak for a little while about divine faithfulness or the security of the Child of God. I don't think there is any subject over which there's been in some ways more confusion or any subject over which there has been more controversy at least in times past, or any subject that is more glorious than this matter of the security of the Child of God. Now I think we will ask Kevin if he would like to open both those doors wide.
[00:21:42] Otherwise I shall melt the. And you will sleep.
[00:21:51] I don't know. We've seemed to go. Yeah, we've got some windows not.
[00:21:55] No, that's lovely, thank you, thank you.
[00:22:13] All these lovely little human touches are faithfully recorded on the tape recordings. And I must tell you that people from all over the world ask me about what the bells are that ring at various points and other things.
[00:22:31] Yes, I always say that we are actually a special form of Catholic at this point. When someone bows, rings the bell, we all go down.
[00:22:43] Well, now this marvellous matter of security, turn to John chapter 6 and verse 37.
[00:22:55] All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me. And him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.
[00:23:07] For I am come down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that sent me. That of all that which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
[00:23:27] Now, I don't know whether you ever allowed those marvelous words of our Lord to sink deep into your consciousness. They must provide you with some problem, but how comprehensive they are.
[00:23:44] First of all, we suddenly realize that our salvation is not just a matter of making a decision in time, but goes back into before times eternal, into pre creation history, if you like, into the very heart of God. Listen to these wonderful words. All that which the Father hath given me shall come unto me.
[00:24:10] Isn't that marvelous?
[00:24:12] You're born of God, you've been saved by the grace of God.
[00:24:17] You are part of the Lord's inheritance, His heritage. You are those that the Father has given to the Son.
[00:24:29] Now, I don't ask you to understand it fully, and I certainly cannot explain it, but the fact of the matter is, it's here, and it's put not once but a number of times in the most plain manner.
[00:24:49] All that which the Father hath given me shall come unto me. And him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.
[00:25:00] Now, my, what a problem.
[00:25:07] You thought it all began with some decision you made.
[00:25:11] From the human point of view and from the progression of time, it did.
[00:25:17] But from the divine point of view, it's another story.
[00:25:22] You, when you came into that meeting, or when you met that Christian friend, or when suddenly some circumstance came into your life which deeply disturbed you and made you so unhappy and brought you to face the emptiness of your life, it was something to do with eternity.
[00:25:45] Somewhere in eternity past, the Father gave you by name to His Son.
[00:25:56] And the Lord Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
[00:26:08] All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me. And him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.
[00:26:20] And then he goes on, listen to this. You can't get away from it. For I am come down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now, why did he say that there, unless it is somehow to do with the will of God over your life? Jesus said in John 15, in those marvelous and fathomless words, you did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear much fruit.
[00:26:55] Now, some people tell me, well, the Lord chose, in his infinite wisdom, on the basis of his foreknowledge, he chose all those who would choose Him. And I find this a little bit of a problem, to be perfectly honest, because it seems to me that we are taking words to make other words not mean what they plainly say.
[00:27:21] I mean, if you say, if the Lord said to you in so many words, you didn't choose me, me, I chose you.
[00:27:29] Surely it must mean that although in some wonderful way God brought you to the place where you knelt at his feet and surrendered to him, behind it all lies the election of God.
[00:27:50] This doesn't mean that we don't go out on the streets, that we don't seek to win people, as some have deduced, that we have no evangelism, that we don't believe in any form of outreach. That we have no burden for the unsaved.
[00:28:07] I remember on one occasion, wasn't it that the Apostle Paul spoke of a certain place? I think it was the Apostle Paul and said, the Lord has much people in this city.
[00:28:19] In another place, the writer of the book of Acts and all those ordained unto eternal life were added to the church.
[00:28:29] So we have another side to truth. And it is very wonderful. Now, again, I want to catch you on this whole thing, because you can't get away from it. It is perfectly true that other scriptures must balance this scripture, and we'll come to that in a moment. But the fact still remains that you have here, in one of the most important gospels in the New Testament, a declaration, a statement by our Lord Himself that goes to the very heart of our salvation.
[00:29:02] He says, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that Satan sent me. Why did he say that? In connection with all. That which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.
[00:29:17] And him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.
[00:29:21] For he said, I come down from him not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
[00:29:29] And then he goes on. Listen to these words.
[00:29:33] And this is the will of him that sent me.
[00:29:37] That he has come to do that. Of all that which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
[00:29:53] Now you can't get over that. So now we have come to the ultimate. We have come from before times eternity, before times eternal. We've come to the ultimate.
[00:30:06] The last movement of God's symphony of salvation is the raising of your body.
[00:30:18] He saves you in a moment.
[00:30:22] Your spirit is justified.
[00:30:25] You have a lifetime in which your soul is possessed.
[00:30:29] And you are conformed to the image of God's Son. And the end of your salvation is the redemption of your body, the miracle of it. I don't understand. All I know is this, that your body as it is is extremely and exceedingly precious to God.
[00:30:49] There are Christians who've got some idea about the kingdom to come, that we shall float around in the ether.
[00:30:56] They seem to think that we will be disemboweled spirits, sort of disembodied spirits floating round in some spiritual sort of milieu without body.
[00:31:13] This is a Greek idea.
[00:31:16] The idea that somehow or other we disappear from life, but that the flesh is essentially evil, but the spirit is pure. So when death comes, you're parted from your body, never to have it again.
[00:31:30] And your spirit flips away into Another world into a pure world.
[00:31:38] You leave behind the corruption of the flesh.
[00:31:43] This has never been the revelation of God's word. It has never been a Hebrew concept.
[00:31:50] The Hebrew concept as revealed by God in his word is that man was made in the image of God, spirit, soul and body. And there is nothing about a man or a woman's body that is in its original making and concept sinful.
[00:32:14] And therefore the glory of our salvation is not that one day we're going to be parted from our bodies and our bodies are going to go back to the dust, never again to be used.
[00:32:27] And we shall become spirits, sort of in heaven, floating round like angels.
[00:32:37] But we shall be redeemed human beings.
[00:32:44] Spirit, soul and body. We shall have a different body, we shall have different appetites, but we shall still be spirit, soul and body. Now, the Lord Jesus said this wonderful thing, and I will raise it up at the last day.
[00:33:02] But we know the absent from the body present with the Lord. It's as if the Lord is saying, don't worry at all.
[00:33:09] All that which the Father has given me shall come to me.
[00:33:14] And all that which he hath given me of that which the Father giveth me, I will lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. Now, if God is so concerned, if our Lord Jesus, our Savior, is so concerned about our actual bodies, about the redemption of our body, and stresses and emphasizes the fact that he is going to raise up our body at the last day, how much more our spirit and soul.
[00:33:50] So here is the security of the Child of God. Now, there are people who tell me that if you preach this kind of thing, people live in sin. They sort of say, well, well, of course. Marvelous. See, we're saved anyway. We're secure, we can do anything because God is loving. This isn't so. Will come to that, all in a moment.
[00:34:14] You can't live in sin that grace may abound.
[00:34:18] You will not lose your salvation, but you will lose a tremendous amount. And what you lose will bring very real regret to you.
[00:34:32] But you don't lose your salvation. What does the apostle Paul mean when he speaks of a fire trying every man's work? The foundation is there, he says, but if a man builds on it, wood, hay, stubble, which can go up in the smoke, he loses everything. But he himself shall be saved. So as through fire, no reward, no position of responsibility in the eternal government of God, no place of great usefulness, he will be saved. He will still be in the family. He will still be in the kingdom.
[00:35:14] But sage Soweth through fire. Now, if that is really true, it does two things to me. First of all, I worship the faithfulness of God.
[00:35:28] I think it's the most wonderful thing in the whole world to know the faithfulness of God. And the second thing is, I fear very greatly that through my own stupidity I should build with wood and hay and stubble.
[00:35:52] What a stupid position to be in.
[00:35:56] To have been saved by the grace of God. To have been provided with all the grace of God and the power of God to do what he wants to do and to become what he wants me to become.
[00:36:11] And I throw it all on one side.
[00:36:18] Don't you think that would be a tragedy? Of course.
[00:36:25] So this matter of the faith, of divine faithfulness is something tremendous. At least I think so.
[00:36:33] Listen again, if you want a few more scriptures that will underline this marvelous matter. Look, for instance, at Luke 21:18.
[00:36:46] Now, this is right in the midst of a dreadful passage about martyrdom and persecution and distress and trouble. And suddenly the Lord says in verse 18, and not a hair of your head shall perish.
[00:37:02] And he just said, ye shall be delivered up even by parents and brethren and kinsfolk and friends. And some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And then he says, and not a hair of your head shall perish.
[00:37:24] What a wonderful phrase. I mean, the Lord had said, and nothing of you will perish. It would have still been marvellous. But to say, not a hair of you shall perish. I think that's wonderful. Why, even the youngest of you must surely lose hairs every day.
[00:37:42] And some of you lose much more than a few hairs a day.
[00:37:50] And yet the Lord says, and not a hair of your head shall perish.
[00:37:55] What can it mean? Unless it means that you are so precious because you, in the sight of God bear the mark of the Redeemed.
[00:38:11] You're one of those marked by the Lamb of God in your forehead, and therefore because of that, everything about you is precious to Him.
[00:38:24] I say, I find that simply tremendous. Look at Luke chapter 12. And by the way, it's interesting. It's a doctrine, isn't it? Who says this? Who notes these little details are not in some of the others? Chapter 12 and verse 7.
[00:38:40] But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
[00:38:51] Isn't that lovely?
[00:38:53] As I say, a doctor. Only doctors can think like this. I think others wouldn't bother about hairs.
[00:39:06] But here's a Little point seems to have come home at least arrested. Luke, another hair of your head shall perish.
[00:39:13] So all will be left, will be preserved, will be redeemed, will be there at the end.
[00:39:25] Now, why I find this so wonderful is this. Am I really to believe as Son that you can come in and out of the salvation of God at will? Since you came into it by will, you can get out of it by will. And you can jump in and out and in and out and in and out. And if you happen to die when you're out, that's bad.
[00:39:48] I can't. I just. I find it an incredible thing. This is where I feel the people of God need theology.
[00:39:55] And when we all despise theology, we say, oh, theology.
[00:40:00] We don't want theology. But, you know, you need some theology.
[00:40:04] We'd be preserved from a lot of mistakes if we had a little theology.
[00:40:08] Do I really believe that you can jump in and out? Now, I know that not all those who believe that you can lose your salvation believe that you're in and out and in and out. But some are taking it to that extent where one Sunday you were in and the next Sunday you were out.
[00:40:25] It seems to me a very strange thing. And the Lord says, all that which the Father hath given me shall come unto me, and him that cometh me, I will in no wise cast out.
[00:40:37] And then he says a little later, all that that the Father has given me, I will lose nothing. In the last day I will lose nothing, but in the last day I will raise it up, even the body.
[00:40:57] And then what does it mean when we read these wonderful words in John chapter 17? Now I want you to listen to this very carefully because it goes to the root of this whole matter. Look at it in John 17:9.
[00:41:15] This is Jesus praying, I pray for them.
[00:41:20] That's the 11.
[00:41:25] I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given me.
[00:41:31] For they are thine, and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine. And I am glorified in them.
[00:41:40] And I am no more in the world. And these are in the world. And I come to Thee, Holy Father. Keep them in Thy name, which Thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are now. Listen.
[00:41:56] While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name, which Thou hast given me.
[00:42:05] And I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the Son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
[00:42:14] But now I come to Thee. And these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.
[00:42:26] Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word.
[00:42:34] Now have you ever, ever pondered on these words?
[00:42:41] What did it mean? What did Jesus mean when he said, I kept them and guarded them through Thy name which Thou hast given me.
[00:42:53] And not one of them perished but the Son of perdition.
[00:43:03] What I want to ask is this. Think for a while. How did Jesus keep them?
[00:43:10] How did he? Does this explain why so often he went away and spent the night in prayer?
[00:43:18] We often think he was praying that he might get through a day.
[00:43:21] Perhaps he was praying for them.
[00:43:24] He was interceding for them.
[00:43:27] He was guarding them, their squabbles, their jealousies, their petty self centeredness.
[00:43:37] All those things which would have destroyed them, which would have picked them up, that would have bound them, that would have brought them back into the world.
[00:43:46] He was taking it all to the Father, guarding them through the name which the Father. And what is the name Jesus?
[00:43:56] And what does it mean?
[00:43:58] The Lord is salvation.
[00:44:03] So is that the way he was guarding them? He was saying, father, I am their salvation.
[00:44:10] Remember that I am going to give my life for them.
[00:44:13] Don't let the enemy trip them up. Don't let the enemy get them down. Don't let blindness come into their eyes. Don't let self centeredness lead them into a position where the enemy will sweep them out.
[00:44:30] Marvelous words.
[00:44:35] Now listen to this.
[00:44:38] Hebrews, chapter 7, verse 25. Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost all those who draw near unto God through Him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
[00:44:58] He doesn't save us by the skin of our teeth.
[00:45:02] He can save us gloriously, abundantly, completely to the uttermost. Why? Because he ever lives to make intercession for us. Do you think that our Lord has forgotten your name?
[00:45:18] You think that he doesn't bear you up and you say, but how can he? How can he remember all the millions of names?
[00:45:25] I don't know. Except that the high priest went before the Father, before God, with all the names of the tribes on his heart and on his shoulders.
[00:45:37] Twice he bore them on his shoulders and he bore them in his heart.
[00:45:44] And it seems to me the most wonderful thing to recognize the intercession of the Lord Jesus. The old puritans used to write books, enormous tomes on this subject. You hardly ever hear a message preached upon the intercessory ministry of the Lord Jesus. And yet there isn't a believer in this room who is not here tonight because of the intercessory ministry of the Lord Jesus.
[00:46:08] We ignore it. We hardly ever thank Him.
[00:46:12] And yet he is keeping us and one of us to perish because we've been given by the Father to Him. We are his heritage.
[00:46:25] He has a jealousy over us.
[00:46:28] He will not allow one of us to succumb to the enemy. Finally, even if we are saved so as by fire, yet we shall be saved because of the intercessory ministry of the Lord Jesus. Look again if you want another scripture at Romans, chapter 8 and verse 34.
[00:46:51] Well, we'll read from verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God the justifier, who is he that condemneth. It is Christ Jesus that died, yea, rather that was raised from the dead. Who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
[00:47:16] Doesn't it mean the love of Christ expressed in an endless ministry of intercession?
[00:47:24] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And then he says, shall tribulation or anguish. Now mark the words. Tribulation, anguish, persecution, famine.
[00:47:41] That's to be in dire want and need.
[00:47:45] Nakedness or peril or sword.
[00:47:53] Even as it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, now listen.
[00:48:02] In all these things we are more than conqueror. This is no prosperity gospel.
[00:48:14] We are not told here that we shall be delivered from these statements. We shall be delivered from tribulation, anguish, persecution, famine, nakedness peril or sword.
[00:48:25] Thank God that He does keep us from so much of it. Many of us, the Lord knows, if it came to us, would be bowled over by this time tomorrow.
[00:48:38] And in the mercy of the Lord, he will not allow it to come.
[00:48:41] He loves us so greatly.
[00:48:44] But this does not mean that we are not being given time for our to dig deep.
[00:48:51] To dig deep, to dig and go deep and lay a foundation upon the rock.
[00:49:00] In all these things, anguish is no wonderful ecstatic experience.
[00:49:07] Nakedness is no wonderful experience, static experience.
[00:49:12] Peril is no lovely west cure.
[00:49:17] Sword is not exactly a Sunday morning meeting.
[00:49:23] But he says, in all these things we are more than conquerors. Through him that loved us, he ever lives to make intercession. So his intercession doesn't necessarily save us from these things.
[00:49:44] But in these things we reach the close.
[00:49:52] In these things we come to the position that he is destined for us in the government of God. Therefore we need Foundation.
[00:50:05] We are not made spiritual heroes and heroines overnight, as if somehow something falls upon us and we become, as they tend to think in. In. In these heathen pagan circles, you know that some kind of spirit falls on and a person becomes strong and mighty.
[00:50:26] This is not the biblical and true experience. The apostle Paul speaks about being weak, being among them in much fear and trembling. But he says he's there to speak not in the wisdom, the persuasive wisdom and language of men, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Isn't that an amazing paradox? I'm amongst you in much fear and trembling and weakness, but it's in demonstration of the spirit and of power in another place. He speaks about being perplexed, yet not under despair, smitten down, yet not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus. That the life also of Jesus might be manifested. Here is another level of living, another dimension of spiritual life. These are real foundations.
[00:51:32] So if I may say this, God can never lead you into a deeper way, a more costly way, till first you begin to recognize and taste the faithfulness of God.
[00:51:53] The enemy will see to it that when you're in that trough of anguish or when you're in that great furnace of affliction, the enemy will come and say, what about this and this and this and this that you did?
[00:52:07] You don't think God is going to be with you now?
[00:52:10] Don't you remember you should have done this and this. And what about that person that you never forgave? And what about that person that you stumbled? And what about this that you should have done and you never did it?
[00:52:23] And what about this you did, and you should never have done it.
[00:52:29] And then at that time of great pressure and trial, you will be divorced, the Lord in your mind, unless you know that there is one who ever lives to make intercession for you.
[00:52:48] Oh, how wonderful was the intercession of the Lord Jesus. He said, holy Father, you know I kept them, and I guarded them through thy name, and not one of them perished but the Son of perdition.
[00:53:05] There was a time when our Lord was speaking about something. And Peter said, never, Lord, never.
[00:53:12] I will die with you.
[00:53:16] And it was a little after that that our Lord said, it is recorded, I think, in Luke 22.
[00:53:21] Simon, Simon, Satan hath obtained thee by request.
[00:53:29] Listen.
[00:53:30] But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not now. I would have thought that our Lord's prayer was never answered in what followed.
[00:53:44] Because if you and I were to write naturally a kind of title for the chapter or two that follows, we would call it the collapse of Peter's faith.
[00:53:54] A little snippet of a serpent girl, a maid of all things. I've got nothing against the sisters at all, but I mean, if it had been one of the high priestly family that came down and suddenly spotted Peter there and said, oh, you, you were with Jesus.
[00:54:17] I can see that rugged fisherman quailing. Before sat some member of the high priestly family.
[00:54:25] Or if it had been one of the big Pharisee leaders who was riding through the courtyard and saw Peter there and wheeled round and said, you, I saw you on that day. We were questioning Jesus, you're one of his.
[00:54:42] And I could see the rugged fisherman quailing in front of this great leader.
[00:54:48] Or if it had been one of the doctors of the law. I've always found them the worst of the lot.
[00:54:53] Those piercing eyes they had, looking above their glasses in that legal way, seeing right through you and saying, you are wearing him.
[00:55:15] I remember your face.
[00:55:18] And your language betrays you.
[00:55:21] You're a Galilean.
[00:55:25] You've got the old Yorkshire broke.
[00:55:32] But no, it wasn't. It was a little servant girl.
[00:55:37] Now, I must tell you, sisters, you often think you're trampled on and walked over and all the rest. Women have the greatest power in the world. They can make huge men quail.
[00:55:51] It's true.
[00:55:53] It's absolutely true.
[00:55:56] Some strange reason.
[00:55:59] Look at Jezebel. She didn't even look at Elijah. She just sent a message to him.
[00:56:06] She was a very feminine lady, by the way, highly made up cosmetically, hairdos, everything else. She just sent a message.
[00:56:17] God help me if I don't do to you what you've done to my prophets by this time tomorrow. And that great hairy hulk of a man fled into the desert and never stopped till he got to Beerseva. I mean, it's someone, those of us who know the land. I mean, he went all the way down from Galilee, all the way through the hill country, down into the desert. He never stopped. Once he flung himself exhausted under a tree and said, oh, God, let me die.
[00:56:51] And we think, what has happened to the great Elijah? He stood up there with all the people of God, with all the. The Israelite people, and they were all against Him. And 400 prophets of Baal and 400 priests of the Ashtaroth, and he never quailed once, but a woman just sent a message.
[00:57:14] He was gone.
[00:57:15] It's happened again and again.
[00:57:19] There's this little. So you be careful of your power, you sisters.
[00:57:23] You just be Careful. Just remember, that's why the scripture says you must learn, you know, how you behave, how you act. You can destroy meetings. Yes, absolutely.
[00:57:35] Some sisters, they can destroy one of those group meetings by just sitting there.
[00:57:39] You don't have to say a word.
[00:57:43] Any man who gets up is tied up before he's got up.
[00:57:50] So just remember, you're not necessarily doing God's work.
[00:57:55] That little snippet slip of a servant girl, in she comes, and she takes one look at him and she's, oh, you.
[00:58:04] You're one of them.
[00:58:06] And in that instant, this great rugged man collapsed. All his protestations, all his confessions of faith in the Lord, all his revelation from God about Jesus being the Messiah, the Son of God, all his determination to follow the Lord, he collapsed in a heap. You would have called that the collapse of Peter's faith, because he denied. He said, I never knew him. And he said it with an oath.
[00:58:40] And three times, each time more vehemently than the last. He said, I never knew the man.
[00:58:54] I would have called it the collapse of his faith. But Jesus said, holy Father, just before it happened to Peter, Holy Father, were all with him the 11 someone heard him, for they recorded it, Holy Father, I have kept them and guarded them through the name which thou hast given me.
[00:59:22] And none of them has perished. What wonderful words.
[00:59:26] They were all to deny him. Now, you see, we all let poor Peter have it, don't we? We all say Peter. And then we all talk about people who are impulsive, impetuous, the extrovert, you know, because most of us are not that way. So we can always talk about themselves. Oh, you know, he was an extrovert.
[00:59:43] But the scripture says a very interesting thing. It says, and so likewise did all of them.
[00:59:54] They all collapsed.
[00:59:58] Now, what I find so interesting is this, that before they collapsed, knowing full well they would collapse. For he said, the sheep will be scattered, the shepherd will be struck, and the sheep will be scattered, and all of you will be offended. In me this night He, Jesus knew it. He prayed and said, holy Father, I have kept them and guarded them to the and I. And not one of them has perished save the Son of perdition.
[01:00:23] And at that very time, the Son of perdition was doing his very work.
[01:00:28] Jesus knew it all before.
[01:00:32] Isn't that wonderful? And do you think that the Lord is surprised about you and your failings and faults and when you get out of the way of God and collapses and everything, as if the Lord says, oh, my goodness, if I'd known it, I would never have Saved them in the first place. Place no. The Lord knows all about you, knows all that lies ahead. Your books an open, your light's an open book to Him. There's not a chapter written that he doesn't already know.
[01:01:06] And he knows the Phoenix. He knows the finish of it. He knows the end, the conclusion, it's all there.
[01:01:11] And he prays for Him.
[01:01:16] If we had such an intercessory ministry behind our life, behind our fellowship, behind our being built together, behind our being transformed and conformed to the image of His Son, behind our service and work, don't you think it's incumbent upon us to discover the provision of grace and power and use it to the full divine faithfulness?
[01:01:49] How marvelous then it is to know the Lord in that way in another place. In Hebrews it says that he has gone into the presence of God, there to appear before the face of God for us.
[01:02:07] How very, very marvelous.
[01:02:12] Now if that is so, I think we must begin come to a close. Now if that really is so, then we come to a marvelous discovery. We come to an old fashioned word in scripture called election.
[01:02:29] And suddenly we discover that this word elect, election is what we've been talking about this evening.
[01:02:44] And the word church comes out of it.
[01:02:48] Ecclesia.
[01:02:50] It is as it were connected to this same word.
[01:02:57] Those with a called out of God, those whom God has chosen. And then we hear the most wonderful words in Romans chapter 11 and verse 29. The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
[01:03:17] Now I believe in the future of the Jewish people and of Israel for this very reason.
[01:03:27] And this is why I have a great contention with those who are Calvinist by persuasion but who believe that there is no future for the Jewish people.
[01:03:38] The calling and the election of God it is said of them primarily and firstly is irrevocable.
[01:03:50] Jacob, have I loved.
[01:03:56] The love of God is one of the most marvelous things in the whole wide world. Now you all agree with that, that's why you hardly nod you to talk.
[01:04:06] But now I want to tell you something.
[01:04:09] The love of God is the most horrific thing in the universe.
[01:04:17] Well perhaps that's a hard word to use. Let me put it this way terribly in the universe. No, no, no, you can't.
[01:04:26] Oh yes it is.
[01:04:28] There is a steel like strength in the love of God.
[01:04:36] There is a sinew of jealousy in his love. Not, not self centered but determined not to be put off, not to be prostrated.
[01:04:52] That once he has set his love upon you, he will never rest until he has you before his father's face.
[01:05:02] And this is at the same time the most wonderful, wonderful thing in the universe and the most terrifying thing, because God will take a lifetime to divest you of all the things that you've hung onto, even if it's on your deathbed.
[01:05:22] He will go through and on and on and on and on till he's corners you finally. Or you say, no, no, no, no, no. He's so loving, you have the idea of some dear old sentimental gentleman can be pushed around and the wool pulled over his eyes and you can get round him and he's always got sweets in his pocket.
[01:05:53] God isn't like that. He doesn't give you spiritual stuff, sweets, lest you lose your spiritual teeth.
[01:06:06] That's the kind of love he has.
[01:06:09] He has a responsibility for you. He doesn't let you get away when you're a baby, he lets you get away with murder.
[01:06:17] But once you start to grow up spiritually and once you say, I'm going to follow you, you don't get away with any.
[01:06:25] That's the kind of love you've got. And you've got problems. And the problem is you won't open up on your problems and you won't surrender to the Lord. So the Lord knows. He knows just how to put you on the shelf and leave you for 3, 4, 5 years, 10 years, just on the shelf. And then he'll take you down and dust you, put it rather crudely, and you'll be back in the fight again and another opportunity. And if you don't go through, he'll just take you, put you on one side again for a while. But he'll get you.
[01:06:58] You say, no, no, no, look what he's doing with the Jewish people.
[01:07:08] Step by step, stage by stage, he corners them, divests them of everything they put their trust in, because he has set his love upon them. And in the end he will save them.
[01:07:26] That is election.
[01:07:29] And that is divine love, which lies behind election.
[01:07:34] Jacob I have loved.
[01:07:37] Esau can get away with murder.
[01:07:39] Esau can do what he wants. Esau can enjoy himself hunting. Esau can go here, can go there, can take wives from here, wives from there, and do this. And God blesses him and God prophesies over him, and God gives him promises and God cares for him.
[01:07:58] But Esau is not in the kingdom.
[01:08:03] He is not being trained for us for this one.
[01:08:10] Jacob is.
[01:08:13] And once God loves, he pursues.
[01:08:18] And when he pursues, he knows exactly how to use circumstances or situations or whatever to bring you finally to the place where he's got you.
[01:08:31] Love has a way of winning.
[01:08:36] Not always the way we think, but it has.
[01:08:42] So I say that this matter of the love of God is both the most wonderful thing in the universe and the most terrible.
[01:08:54] I am so thankful to know the love of God.
[01:08:57] And yet, in some strange way, though I call that other side of it terrible, I'm very, very glad for it.
[01:09:06] Because he won't let me go.
[01:09:09] He would rather have me saved as truth as to fire so as to fire, than not at.
[01:09:25] Now, of course, this raises problems with you, and I will spend just a few moments as I finish on the problems, because people are bound to say, yes, but there are other scriptures, you know. Yes, you're quite right, there are.
[01:09:37] Well, what about these scriptures? You know, John 15, every branch that beareth not fruit in me, he taketh away and purgeth it, and burns it and, and, and so on and so forth.
[01:09:50] And there are other things too. What, what can we say about all these things? Well, first of all, I say that the larger number of scriptures which apparently or many people think refer to losing one's salvation, do not refer to losing one's salvation, but do refer to losing one's reward and one's position in the kingdom of God. I believe you can be found in the kingdom, but not in the city.
[01:10:23] And that may be wonderful. But my, what a loss.
[01:10:28] Especially when the grace and the power was made available to us on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus, that we might come to God's end.
[01:10:47] So that's my first point.
[01:10:50] Many of the scriptures that I think people take to refer to salvation when you look into it, do not refer to salvation. Like when the Apostle Paul said, having I beat my body and bring it in subjection, lest having preached to others, I myself might be a castaway or a reject. Is his word a reject? What for? Or not for salvation, but a reject for the throne?
[01:11:18] He puts it himself in Philippians 3, where he says, I count everything but loss, forgetting the things which are behind. I press it forward toward the goal, unto the prize, unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
[01:11:42] Then there is another realm. I believe according to 1 John, chapter 2 and verse 19, many who say that they are Christians are not Christians.
[01:11:56] They go out from us because they are not of us.
[01:12:02] This is why we must make our calling and election. Sure. Don't let us rest on some sort of technical type decision that we may. Let us be sure that we're born of God. And if You. Now I hardly like to say this because I know many people meet. Oh dear, dear. Perhaps I'm not, perhaps I'm not. But others can tell you a family of God give. You should have the witness of God in your own heart. Some do lack assurance in this matter. And the Methodist, the early Methodist used to speak of a definite experience, assurance of faith as a second experience amongst many others.
[01:12:43] But you know there are though especially in the States, there are in the so called church who are not born of God. I have seen little children of 3, 4, 5 walking forward, an appeal given and then not the 3 year olds, but certainly 5, 6 year olds taken up and baptized and taken into church membership.
[01:13:15] Now I'm not saying that a child of five can't find the law, but I can't help wondering how many of those really were born of God. And this is the reason why we get people sitting in committees, councils, diaconates and so on who got all the jargon, but they're not spiritually alive.
[01:13:37] Then there is a third category and it's a very, very small category, but it is a category and we call it apostates.
[01:13:46] Judas himself is the first and best example of apostates. Jesus spoke of him as the son of perdition.
[01:13:56] And there are such people who crucify to themselves the Son of God, of faith.
[01:14:08] Very few.
[01:14:09] And if you think you're one, you are not.
[01:14:14] It's as simple as that.
[01:14:16] Because the apostate is so totally hardened that he couldn't care less.
[01:14:26] Apostate.
[01:14:29] Well now I hope that that's been of some little help to you.
[01:14:36] Don't want to end on apostates.
[01:14:39] We'll end on a foundation, the sure and certain foundation of God. Isn't it a marvelous thing? God is doing a building work. So I come back to the word that I began with the the first message I gave on this matter. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious.
[01:15:07] And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.
[01:15:15] Anyone who not only trusts his life to the Lord Jesus will not be put to shame.
[01:15:25] But everyone who on every succeeding spiritual crisis takes another step of faith and trusts the Lord and his word and does it, that person will never be put to sh.
[01:15:49] The reason we don't surrender is that we don't really believe that God wants our best and we don't really believe that what the Bible says will be true of us.
[01:15:59] But he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.
[01:16:04] If the word of God says he that honoreth me I will honour it means it.
[01:16:09] If the Bible says humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He might exalt you you in due time, it means it.
[01:16:18] If the Bible says bearing about always the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our mortal body, it means it.
[01:16:29] If Jesus said, he that loseth his life for my sake of the Gospel's the same shall find it. He means it.
[01:16:38] He that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. But you won't be in the building unless you continue to believe and go on believing on every single successive step. You've got to take that further step and trust him. Then you find he is the cornerstone from which the whole building takes its shape and strength.
[01:16:58] Elect precious. And in him you become elect.
[01:17:05] I'm precious.
[01:17:06] You suddenly find that you are in the elect one of God. You're in the election of God.
[01:17:13] You're in this marvelous invincible movement of God that the Spirit of God is directing.
[01:17:25] May God give you grace to dig, to go deep and to lay a foundation upon the rock.
[01:17:44] Lord, we lift up our hearts to Thee. We need the Lord.
[01:17:49] It has been a close and sticky evening, but Lord, we thank Thee that Thy Word still has power to come into our hearts and lives and do its work.
[01:18:00] We pray that Thy Word may dwell in us richly.
[01:18:04] Lord, we've all got to confess that there's a lot of topsoil in our lives, not only individually, but corporately.
[01:18:14] There's a need, Lord, for us to dig and go deep and lay this foundation upon the rock.
[01:18:19] And Lord, there are areas in all our lives where we're not trusting Thee, where we're not really believing Thee. Thy Word. We don't think it applies to us or it's not relevant to us, Lord, or somehow or other we just feel that we're different to the rest.
[01:18:35] O Lord, break in by Thy spirit. We pray so that Thy Word has its way in us. And we suddenly begin to realize Thy Word can be trusted at face value.
[01:18:50] Lord, help us in this matter. We don't want to be put to shame in the day of shaking. Whether it's the personal things that come to all of us, family things, or whether it is this great shaking that finally will come to the whole earth.
[01:19:05] We don't want to be put to shame.
[01:19:07] We want, Lord, to be that spiritual house offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Thee through Jesus.
[01:19:19] Father, hear us then, as we commit ourselves to Thee with thanksgiving in the name of Jesus.
