In this message Mr. Albert Jones about God's love for His children and His plan for all of mankind. He encourages believers to recognize the special relationship they have with God as His chosen children. Albert Jones also discusses the importance of God's spirit working within believers and the privilege of being called sons and daughters of God. It highlights the hope and inheritance believers have as joint heirs with Christ. This video concludes by urging believers not to take God's grace for granted and to live as servants of God, enduring trials and tribulations.
The message that I have prepared for you this morning is entitled, A Father's Love for His Children, A Father's Love for His Children. I want to just sample a few of the scriptures that speak to God's relationship with us and his perspective of us, how he feels about us. Not just the elect of God, but all of his creation, mankind, if you will. We often see and talk about the other side of the flood and all of those that died on that side of the flood, yes, Satan wreaked havoc over there.
He came in and he destroyed relationships and opportunities for mankind on that side of the flood. So much so that God said that it truly grieved him that he had made man, having seen the depth that we can fall off and the direction that we can go as human beings. But God, from the very beginning, had laid out a purpose and a plan for all of that, as we know, and as revealed by the Sabbath and Holy Days, we understand that God's plan wasn't threatened then.
That from the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ would come, a savior would come and make a way for us to overcome all of that. And Christ's blood and sacrifice, as we know and we've been learning, extends back and it covers those sins on the other side of the flood. So in the second resurrection, they will come up and have an opportunity to have a relationship with God. But brethren, we have our chance right now. Our opportunity is here today.
And we have been encouraged by God to recognize this one, this very valuable relationship. We are called the children of the Father. We are the children of the Father. He selected us. He called us by name and brought us into his circle, brought us in a, I like the way the scripture puts it, onto his bosom. And he wraps his arms around us. For my first scripture this morning, let's turn to Romans. Romans 8. This is a favorite chapter of all of us.
Romans 8 and verse 14. Because the calling was the beginning and having accepted it and recognized the change in our personal lives, we embraced the calling. We accepted the calling. We admitted that we needed God and that his spirit was working with us. And we went on to recognize a need that in that relationship being physical, we needed something extra in our life. We repented and changed. That was the first step. Faith in Jesus Christ and his blood.
Yes, we do believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he is our savior. But we needed an extra ingredient. Understanding this truth is made possible and comprehending this truth is made possible by God's spirit present in us. And so recognizing, at the time it was with us, but recognizing that we needed God's spirit within us. We came to understand from the scriptures that after baptism we needed to have prayer given and the asking of God to grant us his presence within our very being.
That our minds would be changed. Their orientation would be changed. And our hearts would be yielded toward God and not hostile against him anymore. That we wouldn't be a stubborn people. That we wouldn't be a difficult people. But we would recognize that our loving father is extending to us something very special. And through the indwelling of God's spirit, that's what we have. So let's read it here. Here's the reality of our relationship with God and the game changer, as I like to refer to it.
Verse 14. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, again, that's the way God drew us to him. By working with us with the spirit, we began to see, we began to recognize and have a yearning for God through his spirit. Led by the spirit of God. And then we received it within us and now we are truly led by it. So as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
Now, verse 15 further expands upon this truth. Now you have not received a spirit of bondage, again, unto fear. Again, the game changer. Before we were alienated from God, we were hostile against God, we were far off. But the father has now begotten us. God has united with us through the spirit indwelling with us, united with the spirit within us. So we are God's temple. Indeed, we are God's house. We are God's children. He says, no more unto bondage with the fear that our sins are going to result in our death.
But now we have hope in his son. He says, but you have received a spirit of sonship. So the relationship is not just one of salvation, brethren. Yes, Christ made salvation possible for us, not just us, but all of mankind. But now that we have God's spirit within us, we belong to him. We are his sons and his daughters. That's a different relationship than we had before. We can see who we are in our lineages and in our families.
We might even come from kings. But truly, we are made in the image of God to be born into his family. The most incredible blessing that we can have as God's people is to be called a son or daughter of God. To have the potential and the hope in front of us that we have, which is to be born a spirit being in God's kingdom as his begotten son or daughter. So let's focus on that. So verse 15, again, let's read the whole verse.
Now, you have not received the spirit of bondage, again, unto fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship, whereby we call out. We cry out to God. We petition his throne in this manner. Father. That's what we cry out. Our father, Abba. Father. And that is significant and very, very, a privileged thing to be able to do. And again, verse 16, the spirit itself, the very indwelling of God's presence, bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are.
The children of God. And if we are children, verse 17, if we are indeed children, we are completely and wholly incorporated into the family. We have an inheritance with the son, Jesus Christ. Verse 17, if we are children, we are also heirs, truly heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. What does that say? We're not adopted into the family. Right? We're not some illegitimate child, some far-distance, you know, forgotten stepson or something. We have been incorporated into the very family of God that when we say Abba, Father, it applies to us.
And we walk in that faith and in that hope. And we journey in this life, struggling against the flesh and against this world and all the things that may come against us with that knowledge and with that truth. Verse 18. Okay. Let's go back to 17, the last half. So it talks about this relationship with Christ. If indeed we suffer together with him, that's true. In this physical life, we're going to have trials, testings, chastisement, difficulty.
Those things are a part of existing in the flesh. But God tells us to hang on, to be strong, to endure, to work with one another, to help each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. So if indeed we suffer together with him, so that we may also be glorified together with him. Because, again, Paul recognizing the comparison, he says in verse 18, Itself is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God, because the creation was subjected to vanity.
Not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected it. In order that the creation itself might be delivered from the bondage of corruption, which Satan has brought upon this entire world into the freedom. And we are free, brethren, today because God has made us free. You see, we have been called. We are under this covenantal relationship with God. That promise and that grace is applied to us. We stand in grace, justified before God because of what God has done in our lives.
As his very own, the God and sons and daughters. In order that the creation itself, verse 21, might be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know the creation is groaning together and travailing together until now. And not only that, yes, we ourselves, even we ourselves, who have the firstfruits. The firstfruits of the Spirit. That's right. We're the first, but not the last. And we're the first.
It's a privilege. It's a blessing. It is not because we carry so much greater credential than anybody else in the world, indeed. We are the weak. God is calling to him the weak. You know, the humble, those who recognize their need for God. Not only that, but even we ourselves, who are the firstfruits of the Spirit, also groan within ourselves, awaiting the sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For by hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope.
But why would anyone still be hoping for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we ourselves wait for it with patience. So let's continue to walk in patience, trusting God, and not wavering for a moment in terms of doubt, in terms of what God is doing in our life. Yes, we are the sons and daughters of the living God. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 6. And let's read something here that Paul speaks of, verse 1.
He speaks this way in terms of the work that he and the other apostles were doing. He says, we then, working together with him, that is Christ. As Christ is doing this work on behalf of the Father, perfecting us, bringing us to an understanding, bringing us and developing within us a knowledge of God's word is true so that God's Spirit can do that perfecting within us. We then, working together with him, are also exhorting you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
Don't take it for granted. Do not take this calling for granted. Verse 2, for he says, in an acceptable time I have heard you. In a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is an acceptable time. Behold, now is a day of salvation for us brethren. This is our time. This is our day. And we're walking in this time and in this day with God the Father and Jesus Christ actively working in our life.
Verse 3, we do not give offense, Paul says, to anyone in anything so that the ministry may not be blamed. But in everything we are confirming ourselves as servants of God. In much endurance, yes. In tribulation, yes. In necessity, yes. In distress, yes. In stripes, in imprisonment, in tomotes, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, yes. Those of us in the ministry. We are blessed to be in a day when we're not pressed upon hard, at least in America and most of the nations, we're not pressed upon every day to be able to do this job.
But it is a commitment. And it is a work. And it requires a commitment and effort on the part of those who are doing it. We see the prayer request list. What you don't see in the background is that opportunity to encourage each other during the Sabbath services or to be at the other end of the phone call when a brother called that needs some counsel or just to be encouraging one another when there's despair. Satan has come against God's people in so many unique ways.
He throws rocks at us, yes, but he's also stealthy. He goes behind and attacks our children. He goes behind and attacks our families. In trying to bring us down, he tries to bring us to a point of feeling despair and losing hope. No, God is telling us, hang on, watch, continue to trust in him. Paul is making this point here. Let's go on verse 6. Again, in pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love, unfringed, there's got to be just unending amounts of love poured out from God to us and from us back to God and from us to one another.
Pray for that, brethren. In the word of truth, yes, studying God's word. We are trying to bring not only more resources through the various mechanisms that we have with the Christian Biblical Church of God, but we are bringing additional study opportunities through Bible study, through Sabbath service and opportunities to do that. In this past week, as an example, this is one of those full weeks for ministering to God's people in that there were two Bible studies this week on Tuesday and one on Thursday.
We come to GoToMeeting last night, and we have a sermon this morning. We'll have a sermon today as a part of our regular Sabbath service, and then we'll have a live stream. What an incredible treasure trove of resources available to us as God's family. And again, God has made all of this possible for us. This is a gift from him. Again, in the word of truth, in the power of God, through the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, that's because we're not turning to the left nor to the right, but we're straight on with Christ our Lord and Savior in our view.
And we're walking toward him. We're not going over into the world. There's nothing over there. There's nothing on the left side. All is ahead of us for Christ is extending his hand, and he is our light and our guide and our strength and our way and all of those things the Bible talks about. You can see the vision. You can visually see what I'm describing here is a walk with God. In verse 8. Nothing but possessing all things.
Who can compare to that? Yes, in the midst of trial and difficulty, we have God. In the midst of all things, we have God. I think Fred has expressed it in a sermon entitled, When All Else Fails, Just Remember That God Loves You. God loves you. So that is what we are hanging on to is that relationship that we have with him. Let's go on down to verse 18 here. It says, O you Corinthians, let me just say, O you members of God's church everywhere.
As Paul says here, our mouths have been opened to you and our hearts have been enlarged toward you because we want you to be in God's kingdom. We want all of you to come into God's presence. And brethren, my wife and I had a conversation recently. We are the next generation. We used to be the little ones in the church back there. That is, those in my age group now. We used to be the little ones back there in the church, young ones coming up and being instructed by the elders in the church.
But we are the next generation. And behind us, this is what I like to think on. God is still calling. God is still bringing new babes in Christ into his fellowship. God's church is growing. God's family is expanding. Nothing will prevail against God's church, not even death in the grave. So we have a relationship with a God who is eternal. We put to rest many of God's faithful servants. But they have had an impact in our life, and we are having an impact in that next generation as well.
So look around you, brethren, at the babies in our family. Look around you and see the brethren. And let us encourage them. Let us be that light and example to them as well. So again, he says in verse 12, you are not suppressed by us, but you are restricted in your own hearts. Now, in return for our ministry, he says to you, I'm speaking to you as to children. You should enlarge your hearts toward us. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
You see, this is where it matters. Family matters. Love the family. Love the children. Love the brethren. Love the mothers and the fathers. We should give honor to one another. Encourage one another. Lift each other up. We are a special treasure to God. No, don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers. But what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common? And what fellowship does light have with darkness? And what union does Christ have with Belial? And what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And this is, again, just a difference.
Darkness, light, that's just the truth. They don't get along. An unbeliever and a believer, you're talking about casting your pearls before swine. No, it isn't that they're filthy, but sin is. But that they are not called of God at this point. And there is no understanding in them. There is no knowledge of God in them. But over here is the family of God. Truth is there. Light is there. Spirit is there. Brothers and sisters who are together in this fight, we're together in God's family.
So our focus and emphasis is on God's people. We pray for stability in the world. We pray for leaders. We want peace so that we can do God's will and do God's work. But we don't hang out, if you will, and embrace the ways of Satan. We are separate from that over here where God's family is. Verse 16. And what agreement is there between a temple of God and an idol? For you are a temple of the living God.
Exactly as God has said, I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. That is not just a quote, brethren. That is a truth. We are the people of God. Therefore, he says, come out from the midst of them, that is those in the world that are blinded and deceived by Satan the devil, so that you don't get caught up in that mess, in that filth, which Satan has spawned in the world.
God wants you to have a life of peace, joy, and all the things that come from his spirit. Be separate, he says, and be separate. Be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean, and I will receive you because, right? Justification before the Father through Christ. Christ died so that we could have that access. In verse 18. And I shall be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and my daughters, says the Almighty, the Lord Almighty.
So this relationship, God has laid it out for us very clearly in just a couple of verses there, right? But let's go on to Matthew 5 now. Let's go to Matthew 5. Matthew 5 and verse 1. God tells us how he sees us, right? He's not saying these things for us to become these things. This is what he sees, right? But seeing the multitude, he went up into the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And he opened his mouth, and he taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He goes on to say, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. These are, if you wanted the list of things that God is promising to give you, in an understanding of your standing before him as he sees you. You are the poor.
Yes. You are those who mourn after him. Yes. You are the meek. There is no haughtiness or lifting up of self. We know that we are but dust. Verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Are we hungering and thirsting after righteousness? For they shall be filled, God says. If you want righteousness in your life, I'm ready to give it to you. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
He's talking about the elect of God. Blessed are the peacemakers. That's what we should be doing, making peace every day. For they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. You've seen it in the past. Yes. It's coming again. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Hang on. Endure. Verse 11. Blessed are you when you are reproached. I'm sorry. When they shall reproach you and shall persecute you and shall falsely say every wicked thing against you for my sake.
We know there in the book of Revelation, it speaks of those who are martyred in the faith and who endure, who don't take the mark of the beast neither in their hand or in their forehead. Let's go to verse 13 now. He says, you are the salt of the earth. You're the salt of the earth, brethren. If the salt has become tasteless, with what shall it be salted? For it no longer has any strength, but is to be thrown out and to be trapped upon by men.
Salt with seasoning has a purpose. Salt without seasoning has no use. God called you to be the salt of the world, to be that light. So let's put it to use here. Verse 14. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a mountain cannot be hid. God doesn't want us to hide our light. He wants our light to be seen. And if you're hiding in a cave, you got to come out and let your light be seen.
In the way you walk and the way you live. We're not standing on soap boxes around the city. We're not going somewhere, you know, lifting up a personal campaign, if you will. God has called us and he does everything according to, in an orderly way, through his church, through his ministry, through his people. And we all understand our roles there. So in the same way, verse 16, you are the light. Let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and may glorify your father who is in heaven.
And so we have that as an encouraging word from God. Christ gives us this truth as his brethren and the elect of God. We are able to receive this truth because of the indwelling of God's spirit within us. Let's go to John, the Gospel of John. And chapter 16, Gospel of John, chapter 16. And this is where Christ is talking to his disciples, that he would give them the means by which they can do great works.
You see, even the ability to get great things done does not originate within the individual. It comes from God. All the great works that have happened in God's church over the millennia are a result of work that God has done and the people's willingness to yield to him. But in verse 12 of chapter 16, let's pick it up there. He says, I have yet many things to tell you, but you're not able to bear them now.
However, when that one is come, even the spirit of the truth, it will lead you into all truth because it will not speak from itself. Again, this power emanates from the father in Jesus Christ to us. OK, so here's how you are able to comprehend and understand truth. But with whatever it shall hear, that is, given power to express to you, it shall speak and it shall disclose to you the things to come. Again, the spirit is not a personage, right? So we understand the power of the spirit probably better today because of cell phones and Internet and computer systems.
God is sending a message to you through the spirit. And that message enables you to comprehend something from the other end. God extends power to you to understand spiritual things. God extends power to you to understand his will. So it shall speak and it shall disclose to you the things to come. Verse 14. That one, that is the spirit, shall glorify me, that is Christ, because it shall disclose to you the things that it received from me.
Everything that the father has is mine, Christ is saying. For this reason, I said that it shall receive from me and shall disclose these things to you. A little while. You shall not see me, he told them. And again, a little while. And from God's perspective, it is but a little while. And you shall see me because I'm going to the father. So he's with the father and he's sending back to us the power to do what God wants us to do.
And so we want to continue to be tuned in and connected to that power. Let's go to verse 23 now. Verse 23. So he again says, in that day you shall ask me nothing. Truly, I tell you, whatever you shall ask the father in my name, I will give you. Until this day, he says, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full. This is a simple verse.
Ask God what you need to live and walk this way. Ask and he's going to give it to you. Jesus Christ died and went through what he did to make that possible. It's one of the benefits of his death in the flesh. For the joy that lay ahead, he endured the cross. Brethren, Christ wanted to make this possible for us. And so he did what he did so that we could access it. You remember how precise he was.
You remember how dedicated he was in his prayer and his actions and his love for the brethren. He knew what he was doing. His mission was fulfilled. He is alive and he is at the right hand of the father now doing these things. Ask in his name, he says, and you shall receive that so that your joy may be full. These things have spoken, he says in allegories. But the time is coming when I will no longer speak in allegories, but I will plainly disclose to you the things of the father.
I am doing that today. This is from the father. These truths are from him. Let's go to 1 John. 1 John. 1 John 3. And let's pick it up here in verse 1. You see, the father sees us as his little children. That's how he views us because he has begotten us. Now he wants to nurture and bring us to full birth. To full birth on that day when Christ comes back. In 1 John verse 1.
Behold, what glorious love the father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God for this very reason. Because we are the children of God, begotten of God, different from the world. We don't line up with it. We don't mix well with it. It's like oil and water, light and darkness, right? The world does not know us because it did not know him. Verse 2. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.
But we know that when he is manifested, when we see Christ as he is, we shall be like him. Because we shall see him exactly as he is. And everyone, every one of us now, who has this hope in him, purifies himself. We have this hope, even as he is pure. And we are walking in that hope, living in that hope, striving in that hope, worshiping in that hope. Yes, his desire, that is, Christ's desire for us, is to stay on the path of righteousness and to avoid sin.
All sin. Let's go to verse 4. Everyone who practices sin is also practicing lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. The author of that is Satan the devil. Verse 5. And you know that he appeared. He appeared. He appeared. That is, Christ came into the world in order, as it says here, that he might take away our sins. Take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Now here we are in this relationship with God and our justified standing before God.
Now our walk is with purpose. Obedience is with purpose, right? Through love, not fear. Our relationship with God is on a different plane. One of a son and a daughter. Not of a stranger. Not of one who is cut off and far over there and don't know God. We walk in this relationship with our Father, crying out every day in prayer, Abba, Father, as the scripture said then in Romans. Again, verse 6. Everyone who dwells in him does not practice sin.
Anyone who practices sin has not seen him or know him. Again, verse 7. He says, little children, do not allow anyone to deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is not of God, brethren. Practicing sin, meaning that that individual is given over to the other way. That individual has given themselves over to darkness and allowed it to rule their life and to pull them back into bondage.
No. The one who practices sin is of the devil. Because the devil has been sinning from the beginning, as it says there in verse 8. And the latter part of that verse now. For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil. No more bondage, brethren. No more bondage. Yes, the prisoners have been made free. He does not have control over us. We belong to the Father. And we were made free by our elder brother, his son, whom he sent to come and save us and rescue us from this present evil world and all that Satan has.
So he desires for us to stay on this path of righteousness and to avoid sin. Let's go to Proverbs 4. I want to get this scripture in here, this section, if you will. It really defines how God has given us instruction in this section of the Bible, this section that is called the book of wisdom, if you will, from my perspective. The wise sayings, if you will. So let's go to chapter 4. Let's just read one of those things that kind of speak to this discussion that we're having.
Verse 1. He also taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast my words. Keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom, he tells us. Get understanding, he instructs us, brethren. Forget it not, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her and she shall keep you. Wisdom referred to in the feminine gender. She will keep you. Wisdom will keep you. He goes on to say, love her and she shall preserve you.
Wisdom is the principal thing. Get wisdom, and with all you're getting, get understanding. Not just read the word, but understand the word. Not just read the precept, but comprehend the precept, the law, the statute, or the judgment of God. Exalt her and she shall promote you. She shall bring you honor, brethren. Honor when you embrace her. She shall place upon your head a garland of grace. She shall bestow upon you a crown of glory. This is what wisdom is sent to do.
Fueled by the spirit of God so that you have that honor, that grace, that glory, and not be pulled down by Satan, the devil, into the pits of despair, misery, drama. And distress in life. God wants us to stay on that path that I mentioned earlier. Verse 10. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in the right paths.
When you go, your steps shall not be hampered, and when you run, you shall not stumble. Remember I said a moment ago, we are that next generation. These things have been instructed in God's family from the very beginning, in God's church from the very beginning. I look back at my 40 years or so in association with God's church. And I see God's teachings and instructions and examples and all of those things given to me by other family members now are really making sense to me when they didn't then.
Yes. Too soon, O. And not wise, right? That may not be the exact expression of that proverb, but we recognize that in our old age, if we only had that understanding in our youth, that time has passed. But God is still in our life. And let's continue to look to him to help us and guide us in that way of truth. Let's go to verse 13. Keep hold of instruction. Do not let it go. Keep her, for she is your life.
Do not enter into, that is, enter not into the path of the wicked. And go not in the way of evil men. Yes, God's way is truth. And what God says is if you are approached by sin and evil, he says to do this. Avoid it. Sight, step it, get away from it. Do not go in it. Step through from it and pass on. This is what God instructs us in. I'll let you read the rest of Proverbs 4.
But God, again, has called us to a way of righteousness. And he wants us to live that way in which he instructed us to do so. He tells us, children, the work of God is to save his children from death. He tells us not to be in bondage to sin anymore. Let's turn to James 1. James 1. James speaks to this principle. In James 1, and let's pick it up in verse 16. He says, do not deceive yourselves, my beloved brethren.
Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of light. With whom there is no variation, he is perfect in his ways. No shadow of turning, he is precise, consistent. The same today, yesterday, today, and forever. No variation, no turning. Verse 18. According to his own will, he begot us by the word of truth. That we might be a kind of first fruit of all the created beings, his created beings.
For this reason, again, his created beings. All of mankind, God's plan covers his creation. Those who are made in his image, especially. Right? So that we, though, might be a kind of first fruits of his created beings. For this reason, he says, verse 19, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to anger. Because man's wrath, that is, any indignation worked up in you. For what you see around you does not work out God's righteousness.
God works out his righteousness and his time and his way and his purpose. You see the evil around you, God has got that taken care of. You can't change the heart of man as an individual. But God is working in you so that your heart can change. So that in that day that you are born into his family, you will have some capability then to influence mankind. But today, you are being worked with. Judgment is upon you and me and God's family.
Verse 22 then tells us that we are to be doers of the word. Not only hearers deceiving our own self. If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one is like a man considering his face in a mirror. Who after looking at himself went away and immediately forgot what he was like. Now we see ourselves and we understand who we are and what we are. And that we are a product of God's calling and God's work.
Let him have his perfect work in you. Verse 26. If anyone considers himself to be religious and does not control his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is vain. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this. To visit orphans, widows in their affliction. To keep one's self, one's self unspotted from the world. Yes, the work for eternal life is between you, Jesus Christ, and God the Father. And the work for eternal life is between every other person, Jesus Christ, and God the Father.
But we have been called to be assistants to Christ in this manner. Preach the word. Preach the gospel. Be lights in the world of the great things that God is doing in your life. And then they will see. So yes, God has called us to this truth. So yes, he doesn't want us to be in bondage to sin anymore. God has called us out of the way of the world. Christ paved the way for a new life in him.
Let's read that in 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4. In 1 Peter 4. Let's pick it up right there in verse 1. Consequently, since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh. Now when it says for us, he's talking to church members. But we know that Christ, that God so loved the world that he sent his son into it, right, to be a savior for the world. We'll read that here in a moment. And in 1 Peter 4, verse 2 now.
So consequently, verse 1. Since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished living in sin. No more of that. To this end, that he no longer lives his remaining time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. Now, that lust of men is not out there. That lust of men is in here. The law of sin and death within mankind.
It pulls. It wants to go over there where it's comfortable. But the spirit of God within you says, no. The pings of conscience say, no, that's not the way. And it instructs us to get back in line, get back in the way of God. Don't do that, it says. As we read in Proverbs 4. Verse 3. For the past time of our lives, all that time leading up to my calling and my baptism and my commitment toward this way and receiving of God's spirit.
Again, the past time of our lives, as it says in verse 3, is sufficient. Is sufficient to have worked out the will of the Gentiles, those cut off from God, those who do not know God or understand his purpose for them. When we ourselves at that time walked in licentiousness and lust, and we were debauched with wine, carousing, drinking, wanton idolatry, whatever form it might have come in. So if you were the bestest of Catholics, you were the best of Protestantism, whatever it was, underneath was not sufficient to have a right standing with the Father for eternal life.
Verse 4. And seeing this difference now in our behavior because God has called us and he dwells in us, he says here, they are astonished that you do not rush with them in the same overflowing debauchery anymore. And they revile you, it says. But he says, they shall render an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Their day of judgment will come. Your day is today. So, for this purpose then, as I said earlier, here's what we do.
The gospel was preached to those who have died so that, although in the flesh, they may in fact have been judged according to man's standards. On the other hand, they might live according to God's will and the Spirit. Now, the end of all things has drawn near. Therefore, be serious minded and be watchful in prayers. But above all, have fervent love among yourselves because love will cover a multitude of sins. This is our relationship in God's family as we walk in his truth, doing his will.
He tells us to be hospitable to one another without complaining, in verse 9, that each one, according to as he is received from God, be using it to serve others as good stewards of the grace of God, which manifests itself in various ways. Yes, within the family of God, each gift edifies the members. Verse 11, if anyone speaks, let it be as the words of God. If anyone serves, let it be from the strength which God supplies so that everything, God, may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power into the ages of eternity.
As I said, everything that is good within God's family, everything that is good within God's work is from God. He is the author of it. He is executing it. We are instruments in this overall work God is doing, privileged, very honored, desiring to be an effective instrument in his hand. But we of ourselves have no power, brother. It is from God. The glory is to him. Right? So let's turn now to the book of 1 Corinthians.
Yes, 1 Corinthians 5. A couple of more scriptures here, and we're about to wrap it up here. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, let's pick it up in verse, 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, not 1 Corinthians, I do that often. 2 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 5, and let's pick it up in verse 17. He says, In the various programs that are out there that are ministering to the people, preach repentance, reconciliation, as a few of the things that are preached.
Verse 19, which is that God was in Christ, the Savior of the world, right? Reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. And he has entrusted to us this message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. And God, as it were, is exhorting you through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For he has made him who knew no sin. This is a great investment, the great gift.
He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. So that we might become the righteousness of God in him. There's the power. There is the plan of God. So he has given to us, brethren, that way. And that way is in his son, our Lord, who is our light. He is the truth. He is the way. And he is the life. His way is the straight way. As proclaimed by John the Baptist. Let's go there and read that.
John the Baptist. The Gospel of John. In verse, chapter 14. John 14. The first six verses here. Where he says, let your hearts not be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. This is Christ speaking. And in my father's house, he says, are many dwelling places. If it were otherwise, I would have told you. Christ says, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.
So that where I am, you may also be. Let's go back to John 1. How do we get there? Let's see how we get there. John 1. And let's pick it up here. Let's just read verse 23 again. This is John the Baptist proclaiming Christ, right? A voice crying in the wilderness here. He said, I am a voice crying in the wilderness, in this world, in this darkness, to those who are lost in this desolate land, if you will.
He says, as God has instructed him, make straight, quoting from the prophet Isaiah, make straight the way of the Lord. As Isaiah the prophet said. Yes, Jesus Christ is that way. Let's go to 1 John 1 for a final verse. 1 John 1. Let's read that. 1 John chapter 1. So here we have it described for us again. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our own eyes.
Now, this is John giving a firsthand account. We believe the gospel as preached here by John preserved for our instruction in the word of God. Their own eyes saw, touched, heard, experienced Christ. As he says, latter part of the verse, that which we have observed for ourselves in our own hands handled concerning the word of life. And he says that the life was manifested and we have seen and are bearing witness and are reporting to you the eternal life, which was with the father and was manifested to us, given to us as a gift, as he's saying, sent from the father to us for the purpose of saving us.
Verse three, that which we have seen and have heard and are reporting to you in order that you may also have fellowship with us for the fellowship. Indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. He says, these things we are also writing to you so that your joy may be completely full. Question, are you rejoicing brethren in this truth? Are you celebrating the life that God has made possible for you? Brethren, this is the father's and the son's gift of love to us.
His children, freedom, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, faith, hope, love. And let's remember the greatest of all of this is God's love. And I'll just close with with the expression that I that I embrace so well within my life. And that is when all things fail, when everything around you may crumble and seem to have hit a wall. Remember, do not forget that God loves you.
