God’s Great Mercy R1704

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton, all about God's great mercy. This is The Encouraging Word featuring Dr. Don Wilton and his teaching. Dr. Don, best known as a pastor, as a seminary professor, as an evangelist, and as an author. And today, allow him to be your teacher as we open up 1 Peter, beginning in chapter 1, verse 3, and study these seven or eight verses about God's great mercy. We all not only need to receive God's mercy, but we need to be instruments of God's mercy as well. As we study the Word together, know that we're available for you, connecting on our website right now at www.tewonline.org, that's www.tewonline.org, and this phone line, 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. You need to open your Bibles to 1 Peter. We're gonna be in 1 Peter.

I don't often do this. Maybe I should do this more often, but I'm gonna ask us all in the hangar at Genesis and here in the sanctuary, I want you to stand in honor of God's Word today. And when I read this Word, we're going to pray together because God is going to consecrate his Word.

We're in 1 Peter chapter 1, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so 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 praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Though you have not seen him, you love him, though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully. Inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicated when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which the angels long to look. Our subject today comes from the first part of verse three that I read to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a statement that God makes and we read it. Who according to his great mercy, God's mercy is the core ingredient of his motive. Mercy is God's motive. The product of his mercy is his grace. That undeserved favor is the product of his mercy.

Because God is merciful, he pours out his grace on us. And in the first two verses of first Peter, he establishes who he's applying this mercy to. And God calls us his elect.

That's what he says to those who are the elect. And that word there is very fundamental to understanding who the God and Father of our Lord Jesus is. And in understanding that, you begin to somewhat understand the full impact of God the merciful one toward someone like you and someone like me. In that while we are sinners, that Jesus would have died for you and me. What mercy. So that we are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves. Watch this. It is the gift of God, not of works.

How could it be? Because this is fundamental to the essential attributes of a holy and a righteous God. So why does God call us his elect? We must, you and I need to understand this together. Because it's out of this that comes out triumphant living.

We've got such a reason to say tomorrow is so exciting. Yes, we can. Because God does. We can take hold of who he is. Why does God call us his elect? Well, first of all, because God is the one who draws us. We don't draw ourselves into the heart of God. That's the work of God the spirit.

John chapter 6 verse 44. Jesus said, no one can come to me unless the father who sent him draws me. Why does he call us his elect? Why are we so uniquely qualified to be the recipients of God's mercy? Because only God draws us. Perhaps second because God owns us. That's why we are his elect.

He owns us. If you turn to Acts chapter 15, for example, verse 13. In the institution of the New Testament church and the conversation that was going on between the elders and the leaders and the new church members facing all the things that they were doing and they were discussing, one can just imagine the meetings that they held and the conversations they held trying to figure out what it is and on what basis were they able to trust God and to what extent. Acts 15, 13 brothers, listen to me.

Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. That's what God does. God in a sense, watch this folks, God in a sense, this is really simplistic. His spirit is hovering around in this place today.

He's moving around because he's everywhere and because of God's grace mercy. He is drawing you, somebody right now, into the heart of God and when he does, he takes full ownership of you. He owns you. God owns me. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me.

If there was anything that I would want you to know about Don is I'm a Christian man. I am owned and operated by the God and father of my Lord Jesus. I'm not partially owned.

I'm not on loan. I don't belong to God on Sunday morning, but definitely not on Monday. I'm his elect because God draws me because God owns me. But there's a third that I, there's so many because God prospers me. Prospers me?

Oh yeah. God prospers us. Ladies and gentlemen, for decades, decades, for generations, God has taken this church and has prospered this church. How do you define prospered church?

The witness of the church, the fruit bearing of the church, fruit that remains. God does that. Therefore, if God chose us, we are his elect. If God chose us, what did he choose us to receive? He chose us to receive his love. You mean God is love and I am the recipient of that because I'm chosen? If God chose us, we've been chosen to receive his forgiveness. Be a forgiving people. Be a forgiving church.

No strings attached. It's a command of God. We have received, this is God's great mercy which has been, you want to be triumphant? And you've got that brother of yours and you're all now 50 and 60 years of age and you haven't talked to each other in donkey's years because you fell out at a Christmas party you were having and he brought a green tree and you wanted a brown tree? Make good on it. Don't put strings onto your forgiveness. Go to your brother, to your sister, to your mother, to your father. If you're out of fellowship with your parent, go to them and say, I'm coming you today and I ask you to forgive me.

Don't put strings on it. Don't go and say, please forgive me, but I just want you to know something. Can you imagine if Jesus did that?

I'm dead, man. This is the triumphant church. And if God chose us, he chose us to be the recipients of his love. He chose us to be the recipients of his forgiveness.

Watch this one. He chose us to receive his image. We are in the image of God. I love Romans 8 verse 29.

You've got to listen to it. Romans 8 29, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. The image of God. Do we smell like Jesus, look like Jesus, behave like Jesus? And all because of his great mercy. So what does God's mercy give us? Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment.

But don't we want to have that aroma of Jesus on our lives? One of the ways we do that is spending time in God's word every day. If you're not receiving the email from Dr. Don, sign up for it today. You can do that online at tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org. Just click on the devotion.

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John 3 16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. We aspire to reach as many people as possible with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Will you join us in this mission? We need your support. Become a ministry partner today.

Call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 to request information on how you can help support the work of the Encouraging Word. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton and the message, God's Great Mercy. I'm the recipient, you the recipient. What does God's great mercy give us?

What does he say? I'm going to tell you it's the never-ending blessings of knowing Christ as Savior and Lord. It's really what it means to be the recipient, to be the recipient of God's great mercy.

Well, he lists some things here just to help us. I just simply give them back to you because he tells us right here in chapter 1. What does God's mercy grant to us? Number one, a brand new life. He has caused us to be born again. There it is.

Are you totally different than before? The things you say. You cannot talk.

Blasphemies, foul, hatred, and unforgiveness and claim to know Christ at the same time. He owns you. He tells us. He's caused us to be born again, and I love that statement, born again. Remember Nicodemus, not unlike, what do I enter the second time into my mother's womb?

Jesus said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. What does God's mercy give us? Brand new life, which leads to everyone here builds.

This is like foundation, all right? So bottom line, a brand new life because you've come to know Jesus. Here's the next level. Number two, a living hope. It produces the brand new life, which is the spirit work that comes from God's mercy, now brings the second tier of God's mercy, which is a living hope.

He says it right there. I've been born again. You've been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. You can't understand the resurrection unless you've been born again. Up to that point, it's just like an event that Christians do, and you will respect it, but the living hope of the resurrection of Christ lives in me, lives in you. It takes me into the heart of God.

That's why even when it comes to grief, we grieve, but not as those who have no hope because we've been born again into a living hope, and we all face imminent death, all of us, and you become set free from that. So what's the next level? Where does it go from there? God's great mercy, according to what Peter is saying to us, produces, first, a brand-new life, second, a living hope.

Now watch how this begins to build. Third, a guaranteed inheritance, a guaranteed inheritance. Look at verse 4, to an inheritance. What is an inheritance?

Well, we all know that. The inheritance simply put in our day is wealth passed down. It's an allotted assigned passing of something to the next. It's an inheritance.

Now let's put this in the heart of a merciful God. He actually defines it. He uses three words to define this guaranteed inheritance. First word, he uses the word, this inheritance is imperishable.

Do you know what that means? It means that the inheritance that God has given, all that he's given to his son is given to all those that love him, and it's imperishable, which means it is not subject to death. It's imperishable. It is inextricably and spiritually intertwined into the very resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is fully alive in every way.

And when the disciples saw him and they said, it is he. The second word that's used to describe this guaranteed inheritance is the word, undefiled. Imperishable means our inheritance is not subject to death. Undefiled means it's not subject to pollution of any kind. It's unstained. In other words, not anything in our fallen world can blemish, stain, or pollute the fullness of the richness of all the inheritance that God has for his own son. Wow.

Guys, can I just say this? Bring on the fed. The stock market is not connected into this inheritance. It doesn't rise and fall on a statement or on inflation or pollution. You can blow all the smoke you want to. You can get all the electric cars in the universe.

You can really put one in the eye of all the Arab countries in the world and say, from now on cars are gonna run on sand. It'll never, even so much as a blimp, touch the inheritance that God's given to us. And the third word he uses, the word unfading.

If imperishable means it's not subject to death, and undefiled means it's not subject to pollution, unfading means it's not subject to the loss of fragrance or color. The metaphor here, the descriptiveness here that God is giving to us is so powerful. And to add to all of this powerful descriptiveness concerning our image and concerning our inheritance, God tells us it's reserved where? Where is the bank? In heaven. Where is heaven and who lives there? God does.

And you can send everybody you want to the moon. Nobody is ever going to be able to infiltrate God's throne. It's impenetrable.

It's reserved there. And he adds to that, he says not only is it reserved up in front of you, but it's guarded to the point at which nobody will ever get to it or plunder it. It is protected by the very power of God.

Somebody say amen. What a merciful God. What does God's mercy give us? Brand new life and a living hope and a guaranteed inheritance.

Let me give you two more quickly. A lifetime of joy. Remember we're building one precept on another.

A lifetime of joy. Look at verse six. I love verse six. In this, remember your English teacher would say, well, what is the this for? In this, what? Well, now we've got to go back and re-preach the whole message, right?

You rejoice. And he puts it in context. He says even though you go through trials and tribulations, God's mercy produces a life that stands firm no matter what. God's got it. He'll get you through. You do it God's way. You trust him. Watch what God does. He never failed you yet.

He stands by every word. God's mercy gives us a time of joy. This is joyful. We need to be joyful. Teach your kids to be joyful, parents.

Don't be the passes on of perpetual morbidity. Teach them. Show them.

Show them the face of Jesus because that's the face you wear. Because in fact you've broken an alabaster box and actually you smell like Jesus. And one more and I'll close with this.

It's getting building precept upon precept. What does God's mercy give us? A heart of praise. Verse 7 is just so clear that we may be found to result in praise and glory and honor.

And don't we long for that, that praise and that glory and that honor. You've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word, and it's our prayer that you've heard more than just his wonderful South African brogue, but as he has been opening the living Word of God and speaking as the servant of God, we pray that you've heard the voice of God, reminding you that God loves you. He has a great plan for your life right now, a purpose for you, a purpose for living, a place for you in heaven, an opportunity to have your sins forgiven today. Again, you've been listening to Dr. Don as he's been teaching and preaching from the pulpit. Open your heart now to what he wants to share next.

Well, hello again, my friends. Are you ready to give your life to Christ? You know, you've been listening like this, and God has been speaking like this, hasn't he?

And he's speaking to your heart. I'd love to help you give your life to Christ right now. Why don't you pray this prayer, make this your prayer, because you know that God not only hears our prayer, but he answers our prayer too. Pray this prayer with me. Dear God, I know that you love me very much.

I believe Jesus came and died on a cross just for me, and that he gave his life for me. Right now, I confess my sin to you, and by faith, I receive you into my heart and into my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Well, if you've prayed that prayer right now, in just a moment we're going to send you some information.

I want you to listen real carefully, because you can take note of that. We've got the means by which we can connect together, and I want to connect with you, because you're part of my family. You're part of the family of God. You are my brother, my sister in Christ.

God bless you today. Yes, sir, Dr. Don, back with that phone number that will connect you with some friends, not just now during the broadcast, but 24 hours a day. It's 866-899-WORD. Jot the number down.

Store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'll connect you with one that's happy to talk, or listen, or pray, or connect you with powerful resources that will help you grow in your faith. Right now, we have a number of resources that are available on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org, and the one that really everybody has been excited about in these last few weeks is Dr. David Jeremiah's book, The Handwriting on the Wall.

Dr. Don and Dr. Jeremiah have been friends for a great long time, decades now, and in this wonderful combination of Dr. Jeremiah's book and Dr. Wilton's message, Judgment Day, Standing Before God, you'll find remarkable insight that gives us a perspective of not only today, but the future as we look forward to the world which we realize is changing rapidly. Know that these resources are available either by calling 866-899-WORD or visiting us on our website www.tewonline.org. Again, that's www.tewonline.org. While you're there, discover more about who we are at The Encouraging Word and consider prayerfully and financially supporting this ministry. All the details are on our website www.tewonline.org. Thank you for watching and we'll see you next time.