R297 Experience God Through the Guarantee of His Power

Sometimes we worry when someone gives us a guarantee, but God's Word gives us a guarantee of His power in 1 Peter chapter 1. This is The Encouraging Word featuring the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton, and that's where we're headed.

1 Peter chapter 1 about this message on experiencing God through the guarantee of His power. As we plug into His power, know that we'd love to plug into encouraging you as well. Either telephonically on our phone number at 866-899-WORD, call anytime. We'd love to pray with you and for you. 866-899-9673, or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. So many folks are asking about the new book from Dr. Wilton.

That's there, as well as the loneliness solution. I'll tell you more about that in just a moment. Now, today's teaching with Dr. Wilton. Experiencing God through the guarantee of His power. Turn with me in your Bibles this morning to 1 Peter chapter 1. We are a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching, and we try to be a Bible-practicing church.

And it is very important to follow along in God's Word as we study His Word together. Experiencing God through the guarantee of His power. I wonder if you've ever woken up in the morning and decided that you don't want to get up.

Thank you. I knew there would be one or two of us who fell into that category. I wonder if you've ever woken up in the morning and said, Life is not worth facing today.

I would rather just sleep, and in fact, I would like to sleep for a long time. We do a lot of talking, and correctly so about the joy that awaits us when we go to heaven. I'm going to give you a guarantee this morning. Every single person who has by faith trusted in Jesus Christ is guaranteed that you're going to heaven. I know that I'm going to heaven.

How about you? There's one little missing link, isn't there? I'm not in heaven yet. Now some of you may think that you're in heaven.

You're not. Some of you may look like you're in heaven, but you're not. We are not in heaven yet. Clemson football supporters might think they're in heaven. Carolina supporters might think not.

But I'll guarantee you this has nothing to do with the ball game. You see, friends, there is something very, very critical about the Christian life. We have a journey from the time we're born until the time we go to be with Jesus. And when we give our hearts to Jesus, and we're born again of the Spirit of God, that journey in Christ begins.

You know, one of the greatest frustrations that I have personally in my own personal life is that I genuinely believe that I have yet to really understand all that God has made available to me as a Christian man. The Bible says, as it were, that there is an ocean of God's grace which flows right by us and is made available to us. And that what God wants us to do is to take our bodies, which is the vessel that God has given to us to carry his life through this journey, and then to dip our bodies, if you please, into the oceans of God's extended grace, and thereby to receive sustenance, nutrition, and joy for the life that we are living. It's as it were, if you please, that God is saying to us, why don't you just take that bucket I've given to you and dip it into the well stream of my abundant grace? And when you dip it into my grace, you will be able to draw out that bucket and you will be able to drink from the living water, and you will be sustained right throughout the fabric of all the ups and downs and all the challenges of life that you are confronted with and will be confronted with. How do we face this life that we're living?

The issue, my friend, is how do we deal with the challenges that confront us today? Let's have a look at what God's Word says in 1 Peter 1. Our subject this morning, experiencing God through the guarantee of his power. I'm going to begin reading at verse 3, and I may stop once or twice. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for in his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance, here it is, that can never perish, that can never spoil, that can never fade.

And what about this? It is kept in heaven for you. And if I might just say to you briefly, that word kept there is a military expression. It means that it is guaranteed in the heart of God, that God has placed a garrison of protection around his children that nobody can mess with. We are kept in heaven. We are guarded and we are protected.

How does this work? Well, let's read on verse 5. Who through faith are shielded by God's power. There it is. You see the shield of God's power.

You see, we have a military metaphor here. Who are shielded by God's power until when? Until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you greatly rejoice.

I like that, don't you? Because of this, because of God's guaranteed power, because of his protection, you and I have every reason to rejoice. Though now for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes, even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Even though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible joy. For you are receiving and are continuing to receive the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts. What is Peter trying to teach us here under the inspiration of God's spirit? In the first few verses of 1 Peter, we understand somewhat the designation that God has given to us.

What are those? We are elect, he tells us. We are sanctified, he tells us. We are cleansed, he tells us.

We are born again and we are bound for heaven. What is Peter trying to tell us? He's telling us something about the eternal nature and the character of God. What is the character of God? He's saying to us that God and God alone, choir, has total power in creation. God and God alone has total power in history. God and God alone has total power in providence.

God and God alone has total power in redemption. And God and God alone has total power in his eternal and final intention. God is the God of final intention.

What that means, orchestras, that God carries out what God says he's going to carry out. God is not a football coach. God doesn't call the team in and instruct them according to certain plays that are not guaranteed to work. God calls the team in and he instructs us in the plays of life that are guaranteed to work. He says, hey, you're a running back. And listen buddy, when you get that ball, nobody's going to stop you.

You're going to play better than Chet Williams did at Auburn University. God calls the plays. God is the coach.

And God's power to execute those plays is absolutely guaranteed. So to what extent does God's power enter into our lives because we are a vulnerable people? If we were to take a survey this morning, I would guarantee you that every single one of us could stand up and testify to the vulnerability of our Christian lives. Every one of us have got Achilles heels, if you please. Every one of us has a downfall.

Every one of us has a weak spot and some of us have spots, plural. Every one of us is susceptible and prone to the wiles of the evil one. To what extent does the power of God guarantee our lives as Christians?

Let's look at it briefly. Number one, we are guaranteed to be protected from the power of the flesh within. We are guaranteed to be protected from the power of the flesh within. Take your Bibles with me, please. Turn to Romans. Paul's letter to the Romans, very important to turn there.

Everybody, wonderful to hear those pages turning. Romans chapter eight, listen to what Paul says. We're guaranteed to be protected from the power of the flesh within us. Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Why? Because through Jesus Christ, the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. You see, Paul put it like this, folks, and I'm gonna read verse eight and nine in a minute. Paul put it like this.

He said, the good that I would that I do not and the evil that I would not that I do, a wretched man that I am. What was Paul saying? Paul was saying that there is a spiritual tug of war that goes on in the life of a believer.

It is pulling backward and forward and backward and forward and the Christian man and the Christian woman is engaged in spiritual warfare. That's why in his letter to the church at Ephesus, he said it is absolutely imperative that you and I put on the whole armor of God. That's why he said, fight the good fight.

Why did he say that? Because there is a fight to fight. We are guaranteed to be protected from the power of the flesh within. That within us, the law of sin and death, which is only conquered by the law of the spirit of life, which has set me free.

That's why people behave like they do. Look at verses eight and nine of Romans, those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. And so all of us would say, well, pastor, then that's it.

I might as well leave. No way I can please God. What hope is there? Because we all fall, don't we? And we all fail. You see that hope is in the spirit of life, which has set us free. It is the guarantee of God's eternal grace. I am what I am by the grace of God.

And lest any of you have never heard anybody say this before, the only difference between the best of us in here and the worst of them out there is what? The grace of God. That's the spirit of life, which Paul told the church at Rome had set them free.

My brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, I have an important announcement to make. In Christ Jesus, you are guaranteed to be protected from the power of the flesh within. That's what the Bible teaches. Look at verse nine. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the spirit. If the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. There's no such thing as a second class Christian.

No, sir. We're all on the same level. The coach calls the play for all of us exactly the same way. We are guaranteed to be protected from the power of the flesh within. But number two, we are guaranteed to be protected from the power of the world without. I want you to turn with me to 1 John. 1 John chapter 1, chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 15.

We are guaranteed to be protected from the power of the world without. Listen to what the Bible says. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 15.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has done and does comes not from the Father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. That's why we're doing experiencing God. It is knowing and doing and determining and carrying out the will of God. That's this program, this course, this worship experience that we enter in tonight.

Look what it is. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 17. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

How do we do the will of God? Well, the Bible says, my friends, that we are protected from the power of the world without. The world, my friends, is constantly squeezing, constantly tempting. I know some young men, some young ladies that I tell you are right on the precipice.

Can I say that lovingly here this morning? They're playing with this thing called life and death. They're hanging right on the edge. By the way, there's going to come a day I'll walk off the edge of this platform, I know that. I'm not planning to do it. But one of these days, it could happen, but that's okay, I can handle it.

We've got plenty of doctors in our congregation. So you need to be prepared. But you know, there are people, there are young people who are always, I mean, they just, they like this all the time. Folks, I took a risk doing that. I'm telling you, no, I'm not going back, Dr. Pownes. There are people who are walking on the edge, they are testing life, they're going right up to the precipice.

You know what the world out there is saying? Come on, come, come on. I dare you. Come on, what? Come on, man. What?

Are you telling me you're a virgin? Everybody else? Who cares?

I mean, look at the world, who cares? Why don't you sell your soul to the devil? Take some of this stuff, man. Listen, why don't you take this beer, man? Why don't you drink with the rest of us, man?

Make a real man out of you. The world is squeezing our young people to death. And the Bible says that the only guarantee that we've got is that we are protected from the power of the world without, because of the grace and the power of God. Would you say amen to that? You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word. He'll be back in just a moment.

Don't go away. He'll be completing this message, Experiencing God Through the Guarantee of His Power. But if you missed part of today's broadcast or would like to discover more about the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Wilton, you'll find it on our website, www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. You'll find today's program to hear again or watch. You'll find also opportunity to sign up for daily podcast and especially the daily Encouraging Word email. It's a tremendous infusion of God's Word into your email box every morning.

You can sign up online right now at tewonline.org. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. It's the only hope we've got. You play with fire, you're going to get burned, my friend. There is nothing more that the devil wants than to chew you up one side and chew you down the other and spit you out in the gutter where he wants you to be. What hope is there for the world today? We are protected from the power of the flesh within us. We are protected from the power of the world without. But we are protected in the third place from the power of the devil himself. Turn to 1 Peter, the passage we've been looking at, but go to the end of the chapter. 1 Peter 5 and verse 8. Listen to what the Bible says, Be self-controlled and alert. The Authorized King James Version puts it like this, Be sober and be vigilant.

Why? Because the devil is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

What hope do we have against the reality of Satan? Spent many years in Africa. One of my favorite things to do is to go on safaris and get out there in that beautiful African bush felt it's called. One of the most spectacular things that you'll ever see is a lion hunting its prey. It is spectacular to watch a lion hunting its prey. You can just picture the scene.

There's this big old lake out there. And the next minute here come a couple of hundred if not a few thousand deer. And boy, they just trot down there. They are so cute. I mean, they got these two ears, you know, that keep changing positions like this.

And they are, I mean, they are just darlings, you know, they are just wonderful and circling around this whole era, all the American tourists, you can tell because they got all these boom cameras sticking out, click, click, click, click. Everybody's taking pictures and here they are just, I mean, they're just eating away, minding their own business. Meanwhile, back here just a hundred yards away is the biggest, most vicious animal you've ever seen in your life called a lion. And that lion is so skillful that he puts down that big old paw of his.

Right there in the bush, he doesn't even break a twig. And when he puts that foot down, this one comes up. And it just dangles. Now, he'll dangle that paw as long as he wants to. He's not in a hurry, folks. Breakfast looks awfully good.

And that beats Hardy's biscuits. He looks out there and he says, yummy. And he just stands long as he wants to.

And then after a little while, I mean, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour, two hours, then it's a shift change. And he just changes paws and this one goes down. And up comes this one. And he just stands.

Meanwhile, down here at the pond, here's a little deer, deer. And they're just nibbling away, having such a good time. And suddenly, all the heads go up. And they look around.

The one turns to the other and says, Humphrey. Did you hear something? Don't be silly, Fred.

That's ridiculous. Who would want to harm us? Everybody loves us.

Look at all the American tourists here. We've paid our income taxes. We don't mess around with anybody. We don't even mess up the vegetation. Greenpeace is not even against us. We're not even destroying owls. We're not chopping down trees. We are just dear little deer. Who in the world would want to harm us?

We are law abiding citizens. So just go back to it, Humphrey. And boy, they go down there and they just nibble. And all of a sudden, pow! Out of the thicket comes this huge monstrous cat and he just pounces on the back of one of these dear little deer and he sinks his teeth right into his jugular vein and he holds on and he begins to bite and the blood begins to flow and the little deer, little deer begins to kick and scream and say, help, help.

And he kicks and he screams and his friends run away and they say, help, and he kicks and he kicks and he kicks and he kicks and he kicks and he kicks and he kicks. And the next minute, all that's left is a carcass for the vultures to come by and eat upon. The Bible says, precious people, be sober and be vigilant because the devil is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. You say to me, pastor, what hope is there for me, for my children? Beloved friends, God's Word tells us we can experience God how?

Through the guarantee of His power. How we pray that you have experienced that guarantee of His power and whether you have or have not, today is a day where you can. You've heard Dr. Wilton preach, but as he steps away from the pulpit into the studio, I pray you'd hear from his heart right now. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you've prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm gonna be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. Welcome to the family of God. I'm convinced that some of you were praying along with Dr. Wilton moments ago, some of you to give your life to Christ for the first time, some to rededicate your life, and some, you just need to pick up the phone and let's continue that conversation at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to pray with you, pray for you, and if you've given your life to Christ today, Dr. Wilton has a wonderful set of resources, whether you've given your life to Christ for the first time or rededicated your life that he wants you to have, absolutely free.

So call 866-899-9673 or meet us online at tewonline.org. There are a multitude of resources there, including the new book from Dr. Wilton about Dr. Billy Graham and also this book about dealing with loneliness and how there is a solution to loneliness. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. God gives us so many opportunities to share the gospel. I believe today that America is weeping. Our friends, family, and neighbors are weeping.

So what is God saying to us? We are the light of the world. Jesus brings hope. There is warfare, spiritual warfare going on like we've never experienced.

We'd had better wake up, America. We need to encourage one another in times like these. Speaking of encouragement, I have a life-changing ministry resource to send you from a good friend of mine this month for your gift of support to the encouraging word, the loneliness solution, finding meaningful connection in a disconnected world, book by Jack Eason. The loneliness solution is a great resource to encourage people on how to discover genuine friendships with others. I want you to get a copy for yourself and copies to keep on hand as you go about your day to give to others.

You will never know how much a word spoken or a gift given at the right time can change someone's life. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request the loneliness solution book for a gift of $15. Thank you for your prayers and continued support of the encouraging word as we share the gospel to deliver lost souls from the clutches of darkness around the world.

That's a great book and there are many resources on our website at www.tewonline.org. As a matter of fact, you can call and ask about your copy at 866-899-WORD as well. I would ask you to consider putting that phone number in your cell. Let us be a contact, 866-899-9673 anytime, day or night. As Dr. Don would say, we'd be happy to be one of your 2 a.m. friends to pray with you and for you or connect you with resources. The number again is 866-899-9673. Until tomorrow, have a blessed day.