Ron Dunn Podcast - The Truth About Christians

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

Ron Dunn speaks from 1 Peter chapter 1

The first chapter of 1 Peter, beginning with the first verse and reading through verse 9. When you and I write a letter, we usually wait until the end of the letter to sign it, but the apostles had a better idea. It really makes more sense when you think about it. They signed their letters at the beginning so you would know the very moment you opened the letter who was writing to you. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,

Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy

hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. In order that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise

and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. A year or so ago, I was out on the parking lot. One of the ladies in our church driving a new car. I asked her how she liked it, and she said, oh, I love it. It's just great. She said, the only thing, though, there's something wrong with the windshield wipers.

I can't get them to turn off. So we got in the car, and she started the engine, and for a moment nothing happened. And then the windshield wipers did this and went back and they waited about 10 seconds and they did this and went back and waited about 10 seconds more and they did this and went back again she said i've turned those things off a hundred times i've turned and turned and turned and they won't go off. Well, since I had encountered this phenomenon before, I was well equipped to solve this problem. I said, you don't realize, but you have intermittent windshield wipers and you don't turn them off this way. You have to go back the other way and you turn them off. Solved the problem.

I went away, though, amused because the same thing had happened to me. What I thought originally was a defect was really a luxury item. And it taught me a lesson that when you buy a new car, you ought to sit down and read the owner's manual. You really miss out on a lot if you don't. I remember I had a little Mustang. I bought it in 1966. I drove that thing three years.

Owner's manual in the car. Never looked at it. After all, I know where the steering wheel is. I know where the clutch and the brakes are. I don't need to read an owner's manual. I drove that car for three or four years before I realized that there was a very handy little compartment in the console. And I was always looking for more glove compartment space. And one day, quite by accident, I just happened to push on a certain little place, and I was always looking for more glove compartment space, and one day,

quite by accident, I just happened to push on a certain little place, and there it opened up, and it even had a light in it, and would light up, and it was a terrific place to hide things. And I thought to myself, how ridiculous, how stupid. For three or four years, I've been driving this thing around, didn't even know all that I had. You know, there are a lot of Christians who live all their Christian lives with a lot of luxury items they're not even aware of. And a great many believers, what they think is really a defect in their Christian life

is really a luxury item. You ought to read your owner's manual when you get saved. And that's really what we have here in this passage that I've just read to you a few moments ago. And I want us to talk about this morning the truth about a Christian. What is a Christian? What is involved in being a Christian. What is a Christian? What is involved in being a Christian?

What happens? What kind of person is he? In this passage, it's a tremendous passage, and I think there are not many more nine verses in all the Bible where the author packs as much amazing wealth into those nine verses as you'll find here. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Peter touches on practically every major truth of the Bible. And what he is doing in this greeting, this opening salutation to these people to whom he is writing is he is giving them a description,

a well-balanced and a well-thought-out and a well-detailed description of what a Christian really is. And I think of it just as an owner's manual. And what he does is to give us a glimpse behind the scenes of salvation and analyzes our salvation and shows us exactly what a Christian is, what is his nature.

And once you understand what the truth about a Christian is, then this will answer a lot of unanswerable questions. It'll begin to make sense out of some things that happen to us. Have you ever seen a tapestry from the wrong side? If you look at it from the back side, from the wrong side, it seems to be nothing more than a tangled mess of threads going nowhere, never knowing when it arrives at that place, and always looking as though somebody out of their mind had sewn it together.

But when you step around and view it from the other side, you see a beautiful composition, a beautiful picture, a beautiful pattern. Now, we view our lives from the wrong side most of the time. And a lot of things that happen in your life, many of the things that happen in my life, looks as though there is some blind fate that has it in for us.

And our life seems to be nothing more than a tangled mess of threads that make no sense and have no real meaning. But you know, if you could just step on the other side of your life and stop looking at it from your viewpoint and look at it from God's viewpoint, you would see that it is a beautiful, a beautiful composition.

As a matter of fact, in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10, God says, the Bible says that we are God's workmanship. We are God's workmanship. And the Greek word translated workmanship is the word from which we get our word poem. We are God's poem, not haphazardly thrown together, but composed by God with balance, with meaning, with music. It is a beautiful composition that God has made. And so I want us to see salvation from God's point of view and make it our point of view. What does it mean to be a Christian?

Now, someone mentioned to me last week that they went to hear a very dear friend of mine preach and his sermon had seven points in it. And they gave me notice that I was to get with the program and stop preaching these three-point sermons. Well, I have made a stab at it. I have five points this morning. Do not despair. I probably will never finish it. But in these opening verses,

there are really six things that he says about the Christian, but I'm saving one until tonight. But there are five things that he says about a Christian. This is the truth about a Christian. Number one, the Christian is a person who has been selected by God before the foundation of the world. He is a person whom God has personally selected

before the foundation of the world. Look at the second verse, and if you're reading from the King James Version, it's the first word of the second verse. Now, in the Greek Testament, it really comes in the first verse, but in the English translation, it is the first word of the second verse, elect, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Now, the minute you say the word elect or any of its relatives like predestination, you walk into a dimly lit room. And I do not understand election, and I do not understand predestination. This is where faith can walk with a sure foot,

and understanding will stumble and fall on its face. Someone asked me not long ago, do you really believe in election and in predestination? I said, I have no choice to believe in it. The Bible teaches it. I don't understand it. I cannot comprehend it. To me, it seems like the other side of that tapestry. But I know that God knows what he's about. And the Bible very clearly states that before the worlds were ever spoken into existence, God elected, God chose us, He picked us out.

The word elect means to select from others. It means to individually pick out, to choose. It means that we have been chosen by God and we have been chosen for God because the word means that you pick out something for yourself. You pick out something for yourself. And God, the Bible says, even before I was ever born, even before the world was ever created, God picked us out for himself, chosen by God and chosen for God to be his. Now let's read a few verses of scripture that say the

same thing basically in a little different way. Luke chapter 18 and the seventh verse, Jesus says, and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with And then in Romans chapter 8 and verse 29, Paul says, did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now look in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him,

when? Before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Now look at the 11th verse. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose

of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Then one more verse. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and the 13th verse. Paul says, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. It is a fact. Jesus says in John chapter 6, All that the Father hath given unto me shall come unto me,

and I will raise him up in the last day. No man, no man cometh unto me except my Father which hath sent me draw him. Salvation is never initiated by you. It is always initiated by God. You think you chose the Lord. You really didn't. You were just seconding his motion

because he chose you first and you said amen to his choice and that's when you entered into salvation. But before the foundation of the world, God picked you out and chose you for himself. Isn't that great? Why should I worry about my salvation? Why should I worry about my circumstances? Why should I fret about what's going to happen?

Even before the worlds were founded, God picked me out for himself. I belong to him. I've been his even before the foundations of the world. Don't ask me to explain it. Just enjoy it. God chose you. That's grace. Now, I want you to notice the basis

upon which God has elected us. He says in that second verse that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. This choice that God has made for us is based upon God's foreknowledge. Romans 8, 29 says, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Now, let me stop here for just a moment and try to clarify something. I have heard, and you have too, I'm certain, foreknowledge and predestination explained like this. Whom he did foreknow, he also did

predestinate. And it's been explained like this, that God looked down through the corridors of time, and he saw all of us here. Now he knew all of us and knew facts about us, and so God knew beforehand who would believe and who wouldn't believe. God knew who would respond to the gospel and who would not respond to the gospel. And so God, on the basis of his foreknowledge, looked down into this present hour, and he saw that you would believe and that you wouldn't believe. And so God, because he knew you would believe, he chose you and predestinated you.

Doesn't that make sense? But it's wrong. That's not true. For two reasons. Number one, if God chose us on the basis of what he saw in us and did not choose you on the basis of what he did not see in you, that would be salvation by works. In other words, God finds something in you and sees something in you

and sees an act in you that he doesn't see in somebody else and so he makes his choice on the basis of that. That is not grace. That's salvation by works. Ephesians chapter 1 says that he has chosen us, now get this, according to the good pleasure of his will. Why did God choose us? Because he wanted to.

He saw absolutely nothing in us to commend us to God. Now let me hasten to say that the Bible says that God chooses us in Christ. It never says that God predestinates anybody to be lost. The Bible never says that God chooses and elects anybody to ever go to hell. And I cannot reconcile these two things, but Jesus says, All that the Father hath given unto me will come to me, and whosoever will, let him come. Whosoever will, let him come.

Anybody here this morning that wants to be saved can be saved. But you'll understand it by and by when you see Christ face to face that really you did not make the choice. He chose you, and you are simply responding to his choice foreknowledge doesn't mean that God saw something in you he didn't see somebody else and so he made his choice on the basis of that second reason is because that's not what foreknowledge means

foreknowledge does not mean that God foreknew information. It does not mean foreknowledge in the sense of having information. It means foreknowledge in the sense of being acquainted with somebody. When it says that God foreknew us, it didn't mean that He knew facts about us. It means that He knew us personally as a person. In Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, you have a tremendous illustration of this. God is calling Jeremiah. Jeremiah just can't fathom why God wants him. And listen to what God says. He says, before you were formed, I knew you. And before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you. Before you were ever born, he says, I knew you.

And the word know means to know by experience. It is used of the word, it is used of Joseph when he knew his wife Mary, when he had relations with her as a husband and wife. The word know does not mean to know facts. It means to know intimately, to be acquainted with a person, to know them personally, not to know facts. I know facts and information about Richard Nixon, the president, but I do not know him. I do not know him. And foreknowledge simply means that before you were ever born, God knew you. He was acquainted with you. He knew your ways. He knew everything about you. And he knew you and acquainted himself with you. And that knowledge is salvation because Jesus said,

to whom to know is life everlasting. The Lord knoweth them that are his, is what Paul writes to Timothy. In the found, before the foundations of the world, God chose us. And you know what that means? That means we're saved by grace. You didn't have a thing to saved by grace. You didn't have a thing to do with it. You didn't have anything to do with it. God chose you before you did anything bad or anything good. That's what makes us secure. The believer is a person who has been specially

selected by God. God knew you before you were ever born. Now, notice he says that this selection is made effective by the Holy Spirit in sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience. Now, you have there the skeleton on which the skin of salvation is supported. First of all, God selected us. He foreknew us. And then the Holy Spirit came and set us apart. And I'll show you how that works. Let's suppose we have two lost people in the service today. They hear the same message. They hear the same songs. Everything is exactly the same in the service. There is no difference whatsoever. One person goes away unmoved, unconcerned, he couldn't care less. But the other lost person goes away gripped. He can't escape it. It follows him. It stays with him. He's under conviction. God continues

to work on him. Now, what's the difference? What's the difference? It wasn't a difference in the sermon because both men heard the same sermon. I'll tell you what the difference was. The difference was the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. In God's time, the Holy Spirit came to this lost man and set him apart. That's what the word sanctify means. It set him apart and began to deal with him, begin to deal with him, to convict him, to move upon him, to convince him that Jesus Christ is Savior. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13, we read a moment ago, he says that God has saved us or chose us, and this was made effective through

the sanctification of the Spirit. Have you been under conviction? Have you not been able to get away from some things that God has been saying to you. There was a time in your Christian life when these things were, in your lost life, when these things were unimportant. You were disinterested. You could go to church and just slough them off, never think about them again. But in recent days, in recent weeks, you've not been able to escape them. I have news for you this morning. The Holy Spirit has drawn a circle around your life, and He says, you're it. And I'm going to convince you, and I'm going to convict you, I'm going to draw you to Jesus, and I want you to know something. He's not going to let up until you say yes to Jesus.

And when it comes time for this lost man to be saved, the Holy Spirit will draw a circle around him and begin to work on him. And all of this is so that we might be obedient, obedient, that we might submit ourselves to the lordship of Jesus. All right? First of all, the believer is one who is selected by God for God before the foundation of the world. Number two, a Christian is a stranger in this world, selected before the world, but he is a stranger in this world. Selected before the world, but he is a stranger in this world. He is a stranger in this world. In the first verse, Peter is writing to strangers scattered throughout the different areas.

He is writing to strangers. Oh, this is a tremendous word. The word stranger means a short stay in a strange place. A short stay in a strange place. It means a person who's just passing by on his way to somewhere else. And every Christian can sing that song, this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. The Christian is a pilgrim in this world. One day, a man is a native of the United States. He's a native of this world. He is a citizen of this world.

But the Spirit of God grips his heart, and he says yes to Jesus, and immediately the native becomes a foreigner. That person who at once was at home in the world suddenly feels ill at ease in the world. That person once who had all of his affection centered on this earth, suddenly he becomes a stranger. He becomes a stranger. And the Bible says he has a heavenly citizenship. He has a heavenly citizenship, a heavenly attachment. The true Christian is a person who cannot, he cannot feel at home in this world. And you know what makes so many believers miserable? And you know why so much of their frustration and anxiety, where it comes from? It's a Christian trying to be at home in a

foreign land. You just cannot do it. And you need to know this morning, believer, that you will never be happy attached to this world. You will never be happy attached to this world. You will never be happy attached to this world. God has fixed it up so you want. You may not know it, but you belong to another world. You are a citizen of another world, and your heart is at home in heaven, and you will never, you will never be satisfied with the things of this world. Like a fish trying to live out of water. You just cannot do it. There is a heavenly attachment and there is also a higher allegiance. A higher allegiance.

We are strangers. This world does not set its customs for us. This world does not fashion us. This world does not dictate to us. We have a higher allegiance. Well, everybody's doing it. Not everybody in glory. My allegiance is higher than this world. But this is the way the world is. I don't care. I don't belong to this world. I have a heavenly citizenship. My allegiance is not

to this world. My allegiance is not to the things of this world. My allegiance is to Jesus Christ. He's a stranger. He's a stranger. And all the way through 1 Peter, he keeps coming back to that. Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. You know, there's something that happens to a man when Jesus Christ comes into his life in all of his fullness.

He finds that God weans him from all else beside so that he alone with Jesus can be satisfied. He finds in the song that we sing sometimes, though all seem straight and narrow, all I claimed was swept away, my ambitions, plans, and wishes at my feet in ashes laid. He finds he's a stranger.

He's a stranger. He's no longer at home in this world. He is never content with living according to the fashion of this world. He's a stranger. He's a stranger. He's no longer at home in this world. He is never content with living according to the fashion of this world. He's a stranger. But not only is a stranger to this world, in the third place, the Bible says he is scattered throughout the world. He is scattered throughout the world. Now, this is extremely important. Look in that first verse again. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, etc., etc. They had been scattered. In Acts chapter 8, when the persecution arose in Jerusalem,

the Bible says that the disciples were scattered abroad. Same Greek word that's used here. James chapter 1, he speaks to those who are scattered. Do you know what the word scattered means? It means seed sown by the sower. Now to me that's beautiful. In describing a believer in this world, he describes him as seed that he, the sower, has sown in this world, he describes him as seed

that he, the sower, has sown in the world. Now let me just very briefly say what that means, put it in a nutshell. Christian, you are a seed. You belong to God. You are a seed. And God has taken you and he has sown you in a certain place

in order that you might bring forth fruit from that place where you are. I don't care where you are, where you live, what job you have, what room you sit in in class, what desk is yours at class. You have been providentially placed there by God because he wants some fruit in that place. You did not move to Irving by accident. God sold you as seed and placed you here because he wanted fruitfulness from your life in this place. You did not simply by accident move into that house where you live. God needed some fruit in that neighborhood, and you were

his seed, and he sowed you there. You know what this means? This means every believer ought to do two things. First of all, accept where he is. And secondly, he ought to thank God where he is, because this is where God has placed him. He is seed, and God is expecting you to bring forth fruit wherever you are. And you know what's an amazing thing? When the Christian opens his eyes to this and accepts his position where God has placed him and begins to praise God for it, all of a sudden he begins to see opportunities to witness and to share. All of a sudden the next-door neighbor will come over with a problem,

and he'll have an opportunity just to share what the Lord means in his own life. Once he sees himself as providentially placed by God, then he sees that he is simply scattered throughout the world. Once in a while, we'll have people leave this church, moving off to another town. Some of our finest couples, some of our best couples in this church, the most spiritually in tune, have moved off.

When that first started happening, I began to wince just a little bit, and I said, Lord, I tell you what, we have some more couples I'd like to recommend that you move. I don't, you know, if you're taking recommendations, I don't know if you can find them. We've not been able to find them for three or four years, but surely you know where they are, and why don't you just take them? Boy, they'd be good living down there. I mean, they're no use here. Let them be no use somewhere else. But you know, the Lord always seems to pick up your finest. You remember

in the book of Acts, the Spirit of God said, I want you to separate me, Paul, and Barnabas. That's the best they had. Did you notice that? Have you ever noticed that? He didn't say, now I want you to separate me so-and-so down there who's not too swift, and we'll send him out on this preaching mission, and we'll send him out on this mission tour. He didn't say that. He said, I am selecting the finest, the best of your church. I can imagine somebody saying, but Lord, don't you know Barnabas is the biggest giver?

Don't you remember he is the one that sold his land and gave us every penny he got for it? Don't you remember, Lord, if you take Barnabas, he's our biggest giver. Paul is our finest preacher. Holy Spirit said, separate unto me Paul and Barnabas and send them out. And they did. They were seed. And when one of these young couples that's got right with God in our church and the Lord has filled them with his Spirit and they move off somewhere else,

I say, Lord, thank you. that's got right with God in our church, and the Lord has filled them with His Spirit, and they move off somewhere else, I say, Lord, thank you. You're sowing seed in another place where there needs to be a harvest and fruitfulness. The Christian is seed scattered throughout the world. Point number four, and folks, listen faster. Point number four. He is selected before the world. He is a stranger to the world. He is scattered throughout the world he is a stranger to the world

he is scattered throughout the world number four extremely important he suffers while in this world Paul, Peter lifts the believer up to the mountaintops in verses 3 and 4 and 5 man the believer is an elite person.

God himself is watching over him. And you'd think this meant that everything in his life was smooth sailing. And almost with startling, startling intrusion comes verse six, wherein you greatly rejoice. You rejoice in all of these things, though now for a season, if needs be, ye are in heaviness.

Some people who are Christians believe it's a sin to be in heaviness. They believe that to be saved and spirit-filled is to go around with a smile on your face all the time and jumping up and down and laughing and laughing and laughing. And they think if you're ever in heaviness that there's something wrong. But notice the normal, one of the normal experiences of a believer is that there's something wrong. But notice the normal, one of the normal experiences of a believer is that there are times for a season, for a while, if need be, ye are in heaviness through many, many tribulations in order that the trial of your faith

being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. You know what I believe? And I'm greatly concerned about this. This past week I was in another church here in the city of Dallas preaching on the Spirit-filled life.

We had a great time. I can't remember when I've been in a church meeting like this when the people have been so hungry and so thirsty and so responsive and receptive to the Word. And we just had a rejoicing time. I flat enjoyed preaching every night. And they listened and they came and God did a work in their lives. But as I left Friday night, we closed Friday night, I left with one regret. I said, Lord, there was not time to tell them what to expect. And what happens so often is a new Christian,

a person receives a new glow from the Lord, and everything is just tremendous, and there's joy bubbling like a fountain in his heart, and he expects now everything, everything to be smooth and easy. And he goes for a day, a week, a month, and suddenly he falls into a pit of suffering and trouble and difficulty. And there is heaviness, heaviness placed upon his soul. And he throws up his arms and he says, Lord, what have I done? What sin have I committed? He doesn't know. He doesn't know that it is in the plan of God that while we're in this world, we're going to suffer. We're going to suffer

and be in heaviness. Now, I have to say three things, four things very quickly about it. Number one, it's God's appointment. God's appointment. Listen, are you going through suffering right now? Are you going through trial right now? Are you going through difficulty right now?

I want you to know, my friend, God foreknew you before the foundation of the world. You don't have anything to worry about. And God has planned everything in your life, and God has appointed this time of suffering in your life, whether it's physical, emotional, or spiritual. God has appointed this. You're there by God's appointment. Number two, you're there for God's time. You'll be there just as long as God wants you there. And when he says time's up, he'll remove you. It says for a season. There for God's time.

Number three, you're there for God's purpose. He has a purpose for putting you in that place. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, might be found unto honor and glory and praise. He's purifying your life. He's purifying your life. You're there for God's purpose. But I want you to notice something else.

While you're there, you're being kept by God's power. We are kept by the power of God. We are kept by the power of God. We're going to talk about that tonight, but really, literally what he's saying in verse 5, and I'll anticipate a little bit, he says, we are kept in the power of God. And the word kept means a fort or a garrison. Now get this. Here is a believer and he is going through suffering and heartbreak and heaviness and it seems as though God has abandoned him. And it seems as though the Lord

has just unleashed the devil and all the demons of hell upon him and there is heaviness and oppression and depression and melancholy and he just can't seem to get out from under it and he thinks God has abandoned me. But I want you to notice something. You know where you are? You're in a fort. You are surrounded by the high walls of God's omnipotence, and nothing is going to happen to you unless God allows it

to happen. You're there in God's keeping. The believer will suffer in this world. One last thing. The believer, the Christian, will be saved out of this world. When the world is on fire, the believer will be saved out of this world. The ninth verse says that we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Now he's talking to people who've already been saved, but he is talking here about that full and final and ultimate salvation when the Lord Jesus Christ splits the heavens with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and he comes and those that he has chosen and

those that he has selected and those in whom the Spirit of God dwells, he will speak their name and they'll rise out of the grave. And if they've gone down in the sea in ships, they will come up out of the watery grave. And if they've died on battlefields, God will call them up from there. And then we who are alive and remain shall be snatched up to meet the Lord in the air. We shall be saved out of this world. God never abandons.

Notice it says we will receive the end of our faith. The end of our faith. I'm glad he put it like that. I want you to know something this morning. If you ever receive a beginning of your faith, you're going to receive the end of it. If you ever got saved at the beginning, you're going to be saved at the end.

You can squirm and squall and holler all you want to, but God's not going to abandon you. You say, well, what about somebody that denies the faith? They never had any faith to deny. Jesus said in John chapter 6, all that the Father hath given unto me will come unto me. And then he just skips all of this trouble we're in right now, and he says, and I shall raise him up at the last day.

You know what's going to be great someday? When we gather around the throne with the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's going to say to the Heavenly Father, Father, everyone you gave to me before the world was ever founded, when we met in the councils of eternity, and everyone you gave to me, Father, they're all here. All of them present and accounted for. Lord, I haven't lost a one.

I haven't lost a one. And I've saved them out of the world. And then God will be able to pour out his wrath upon the world such as the world has never seen. But you and I will be saved out of it. That's why the Christian is happy to be a stranger. Man, I don't mind being a stranger in a place that's going to be destroyed. I'm passing on.

Somebody said the world is a bridge. Wise men will pass over it, but only a fool will build his house on it. Some of you built your house on the bridge. God calls you a fool. This world is already in judgment. It's already been determined by God to be destroyed. I'm so glad to be a stranger. I don't want to settle down here.

I know what's coming. I wouldn't build my house in the path of a flood. I'm not going to build my house and attach my heart in the path of God's wrath and judgment. I'm happy to be a stranger just passing through. And I'll get on through before it all happens, and I'll be with him. I'm so glad I read the owner's manual. I'm glad I know what it means to be a Christian. And that's really just page one. There's so much more in that manual,

and you'll never really understand it until you see him face to face. Talked to a man last week. He said, I have a lot of questions I want to ask Jesus when I see him. I said, well, friend, I have a lot of questions too right now. But I said, I want to tell you something. I said, I think when we see Jesus, all the questions that we've had will vanish. Somebody will say, what, you're going to ask him a question?

What question? I don't remember any questions. Just seeing him in his glory, in his fullness, face to face. That answers all questions. Brother Ed was standing by that day, and he said, you know, I was reading in Revelation where it says the four and twenty altars are around the throne. He said, I notice that they're not around the throne asking questions.

They're around the throne worshiping and praising. The believer is going to be saved out of this world even so come Lord Jesus I wish everyone here this morning go with us when it comes and you can you say well what about that election

I don't know but Jesus said whosoever will may come I want to tell you something if you have the want to God's chosen you I don't understand it I don't care to understand it I'm glad I can understand it wouldn't be much to it

if I could understand it Jesus said whosoever will let him come and he that cometh to me I will know why is cast out I want you to know brother

if you'll come to Jesus this morning he won't turn you away. He'll save you, make your life new. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn.

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