Foundations of Faith: Confirmed Prophecy

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In the United States, it's common to find a Bible in your hotel room or the waiting room at the doctor's office.

Many of us have multiple physical copies in our homes and instant digital access to a plethora of translations on our computers or phones. But let's never allow this easy access to keep us from remembering what it is we hold. God's own self-disclosure. The words of our very creator and redeemer. In this message, Pastor Rich lays out the prophecy and promises of God's Word and the life-changing implications that come with them.

Let's listen in. This is part four of a message titled Foundations of Faith Confirmed Prophecy. It was first preached on July 30th, 2023 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's the verse that we have printed above us here. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

You want to know how to turn the light on? Live this. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. That's how you live the Gospel.

Now I'm going to get down to the nitty-gritty of that, and you're not going to like it. But it's words that Jesus said. Here's what he said in Matthew 5.

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. You therefore must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. What is he talking about there?

It's a tilios. This is the purpose he has for you. This is the work that he's doing in you to conform you. He's predestined you to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. And he says as Christ walked on the earth, as Christ walked, so you walk in his steps. You see, he didn't just stand aloof and tell us you have to do this. He sent us a man to follow in his steps. An example.

Not only an example, but a means. Because we do this only by the grace of God. As he transforms our hearts and our minds through regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

It's his purpose for us to become like Christ, to love God, to please him, to be satisfied in him, and thereby to glorify him. Because Jesus said, Jesus said, I am the light of the world, but he also said what? You are the light of the world. It's not your light, okay? No, don't think I have to be brilliant. You see what I did there? It's not your light.

You are simply reflecting a light. Perfectly like Christ, we will be perfectly like Christ when we are face to face with him at his coming. And we can count on that based on the record of history and what God has done and fulfilled all of his promises in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ promised, I am coming back. Listen, we can count on that, and we can live in that expectation. That's what he calls us to do.

You can count on it as sure as I'm standing here this morning. So I think what Peter is saying here in verse 19 is another way of him saying what he did in 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 7 to 9. Speaking of the kind of your suffering that you're having to experience, that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in what? Praise, glory, and honor when at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you do not see him, you love him.

Though you have not seen him, you believe in him and what? Rejoice with what? Joy, inexpressible, and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. I think what he says here at the end of verse 19 is exactly the same thing of what he said there. Live in the light, proceed forward, persevere forward in the light, live as people who remember.

Because if you don't remember the light, you're going to be walking in darkness and there's confusion and collision in the darkness. So let me conclude today by considering the the prophecy that Peter referred to in this text. This prophecy more fully confirmed in Jesus Christ where the father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And at the end of the prophecy for Psalm chapter 2 verse 12 he says, kiss the son, kiss the son. The word kiss in Hebrew comes from the word, it says it's in Psalm 2, it comes from a word that means to fasten together. And it is a demonstration of devotion and homage. When you kissed a superior, you kissed what?

His hands or his feet. When you kissed an equal, you kissed them on the cheek. Very, very common.

It was common in the culture that I grew up in in South America. You see somebody, you embrace them with a big hug. You might kiss them on the cheek or at least do the kiss sound anyway. What does it mean?

What does it mean? I embrace you. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. Why kiss the son?

Why embrace? Why fasten yourself to the son? Why surrender yourself in faith to this one who is your creator and redeemer? Why lest he be angry and you perish in the way?

What is that talking about? It's talking about his necessary wrath when he comes back as a judge. If you are in him, you are free from that wrath. If you are not in him, you will be under that wrath necessarily.

Why? Because God is a good God. He is a holy God. So he says, for his wrath is quickly kindled. His is a holy wrath.

Because God in his very being defines what is good and anything contrary to his character and his purpose cannot abide with him. It is a holy necessary wrath. And then he says, blessed are all, blessed are all who take refuge in blessed are all. What is that blessing? It is the righteousness that we receive from him. It's the reconciliation to him. It's the regeneration that we have in him by his spirit.

He does the work in us to make us like him. Blessed are all who what take refuge in him. You are rescued from the holy necessary wrath of God through your surrendered trust in him. You see, that's the gospel and that prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. He came once and when he came first, he did the work necessary to rescue you and me.

When he comes again, it's not going to be about rescue. He's going to judge justly, righteously. Have you found your rescue in him? Have you surrendered yourself in faith to him? This is what Peter is calling us to this morning. This is the justification, this is the justifiable basis of our faith. Jesus walked in history, objective reality, man walked among us. He died, he was buried, he rose again, he ascended. He promised he'd come back and we do well to pay attention to that, to give ourselves to it. This is the word of God.

Would you stand with me, please? After I pray, we're going to close with the same song that we sang just before, the gospel song, the song that we sang just before Nathan came to read the scriptures this morning. Father, you are good, you are holy, you are just. Had you not made yourself known to us in the way that you have through the prophets and in the person of your son, we could not know you.

We could not know you according to your grace and your steadfast love. Father, we are so enriched by your word. I pray, Father, if there is someone here this morning that has not surrendered themselves in faith to you, that your goodness would lead them to repentance, that they would acknowledge their desperate need for you. For those here this morning that are in Christ, Father, I pray that you would encourage them with the confidence of these truths. As we look forward to a confident future, rescue us, Father, from being too tied down to the things here that cannot bring us satisfaction.

But find us, Father, living as people who remember living with abandon, with delight. Father, I pray that you would work in hearts this morning. Where there is doubt, Father, I pray that you would bring light and clarity.

Where there is ambivalence, Father, I pray that you would bring conviction. Father, thank you for turning your light on into our darkness. Thank you for what you have done for us in the Lord Jesus, who came to us to rescue us, so that we can enjoy you forever. I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.