...again this evening, first Peter, and that's the
first chapter, and we're going through from verse
thirteen this evening down to the end of
verse twenty-one, down to the end of
verse twenty-one, nine verses this evening.
And if I take five minutes for each
verse, it's forty-five.
But then some of these verses would merit
more than five minutes.
So we might be a little bit over
the forty-five.
But you should notice that in this paragraph
we have some exhortations.
My Peter comes out and begins to exhort
the believers that he's writing to.
And there are great, marked exhortations in the
paragraph this evening.
And then there are considerations, because we're considering
the Father here in this paragraph this evening.
And there are revelations, and very unique revelations
too.
And I put the headings out like this.
Exhortations to the flock, considerations of the Father,
and revelations for the faithful.
And these are the bones of the paragraph
that we're studying this evening.
Now we want to look at these exhortations
that Peter sends to the flock.
Verse thirteen begins with the word wherefore.
And that makes us think of everything that
has gone before.
He's telling us to look back and saying
just because of what I've taught you, you
need to gird up the loins of your
mind.
You see, if you run down the chapter
quickly, just because you're one of the elect.
You see, he was writing to those who
were the elect according to the foreknowledge of
God the Father.
And just because you have experienced sanctification of
the Spirit, and just because you're under the
blood, and just because God hath begotten you
again unto a living hope, and just because
you have an inheritance incorruptible reserved in heaven
for you, and just because you're rejoicing with
joy unspeakable, these are the things he's been
touching on.
He says wherefore, just because of all these
things, gird up the loins of your mind.
Isn't that a mighty statement?
Gird up the loins of your mind.
It's the figure of speech, of course.
And it's the figure of speech that both
Paul and Peter are used, giving again and
again.
I wonder, do you remember Paul writing to
the Ephesians?
Let's have a look at that.
At Ephesians, chapter 6, please.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and at the
sixth chapter.
And if you know this letter to the
Ephesians, in the first two chapters he's talking
to the saints in Christ, and reminding them
of the blessings they have in Christ.
And then he's talking in the next two,
and reminds them of what they were as
sinners before they accepted Christ.
And now in these last two he's coming
to talk to them as soldiers, soldiers on
the battlefield for Christ, fighting the good fight
of faith.
And he said to them in this sixth
chapter, verse 11, put on the whole armor
of God.
And you know, when he talks like that,
he had the figure of a completely dressed
Roman soldier before him.
And it's wonderful how Paul can spiritualize every
part of the armor of a Roman soldier.
See, down at verse 17, he's saying to
these warriors at Exodus, take the helmet.
And of course his eye was on that
great shining helmet that the Roman warrior wore.
Of course he's spiritualizing it now, and he's
calling it the helmet of salvation.
Because the warrior for Christ must first of
all be saved.
He must have worn the helmet of salvation.
And then as you go backwards, at verse
16 he said, above all, taking the shield
of faith.
You see, his eye was on the great
shield that the Roman soldier carried on his
left arm.
And of course he's spiritualizing it again.
He said the soldier for Christ must not
only have the helmet of salvation, but he
must have the shield of faith.
And by this shield of faith, he can
keep the fiery dots of the wicked from
harming him at all.
See, verse 15, he said, and your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace.
Of course he was looking at those very
fine and very strong leather sandals that the
Roman soldier wore.
You can see them in some of the
pictures, leaf crossways right up his leg.
And they were solid, and yet they were
soft.
You know, you couldn't send a soldier out
to battle with some man with a sword,
if he was wearing some of these high
-heeled shoes that the ladies wear.
Oh, he wouldn't do much with those.
And so he's getting this spiritualized.
He says, you've got to have on the
helmet of salvation.
And you've got to carry the shield of
faith.
And you've got to have your feet properly
shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace.
And then in verse 14, he says, and
therefore having your loins get about with truth.
You see, he had noted the Roman soldier,
and he had the helmet, and he had
the breastplate, and he had the shield and
the sword, and his feet shod with the
preparation.
But he also noted that he'd got a
little firm leather stick around him.
It's almost a mini-stick.
I'm sure that's not where it came from,
but never mind.
Yet, you know, this leather stick was to
defend him.
Because sometimes when somebody need a swipe with
a sword, and he'd just stop them with
the shield, it would skid off, and it
could easily hit them, yes, on the loins.
And he's protected there for that eventuality.
And he's spiritualizing it.
He's saying, having your loins get about with
truth.
Because this is what keeps the Christian soldier
safe in the battle.
He has the helmet of salvation, and he
has the shield of faith, and his feet
are shod with the gospel that he understands.
And bless God, he's got his loins get
about with truth.
We can match the enemy at every turn.
Now, it's this sort of figure of speech
that Peter is taking up, only he changes
it a little bit.
He's not talking about having your loins get
about with truth.
He's talking about gird up the loins of
your mind.
You know, that's very wonderful, isn't it?
You know, he's wanting the believer that he's
writing to, to guard his mind.
Ah, that's the point.
That's just in plain English.
He says, you guard your mind now.
You're in luck, aren't you?
That you're sanctified, and you've got an inheritance,
and you're rejoicing.
For I'll tell you this, you'll need to
guard your mind.
You know, the mind is the great subject.
I spent a long, long time on this,
and it has been a blessing to me
ever since.
You know, I think that the believer's mind
can become the playground of the devil if
you don't guard it.
All you need to know about guarding is,
you know, the devil can push with dust
in there.
And that gives you trouble.
And he can put fear in there, too,
make you more anxious than you ought to
be.
And he not only puts doubt and fear,
but worry.
Why some people toss all night.
Yes, and he not only puts doubt and
fear and worry, but sometimes hatred.
Oh, Christians have been dizzy of that.
And jealousy, and envy, and malice.
What are things he can put in your
mind, mind you?
And I feel that sometimes the mind of
a true believer has become the playground for
the devil.
And this is why Peter's coming out strong,
and he says, get up the lines of
your mind.
You need to guard your mind, mind.
And you'll need to know how to do
it, too.
Yes, you know, it's quite a wonderful study,
isn't it?
Can I show you just one or two
things about it?
Let's go through Philippians chapter 4, please.
Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 4.
I want you to watch this very careful.
Paul tells in verse 6, be careful for
nothing.
Whereas the old translation translates it like this,
be anxious for nothing.
You know, the devil can bring something to
your mind and make it stick there.
The psychologists talk about things sticking in your
mind.
They become an obsession with it.
And you can become more anxious than God
wants you to be.
You become over-anxious.
Now he says, don't become over-anxious about
anything.
Be careful for nothing is the way it's
translated, and it's a good translation.
He says, you know, this is one of
the ways you can guard your mind.
You know, when things come to your mind
and they begin to stick there, and they're
making you more careful than you should be,
or over-anxious, if you like the word.
You know, there's a simple exercise.
Be careful for nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God.
You know, when you begin to worry about
things, for any fakes would go and get
on your knees at your best years, and
you won't find anything in the heavens better
either.
And if you don't go and tell the
Lord, that's all.
And believe me, devil, let your requests be
made known in the world, asked for the
Lord.
We used to sing a chorus, a little
talk with Jesus makes things right, all right.
See, I hear them coming to the door,
and they're looking for me, and they want
to pour it all onto me, and I
allow them to do so, but I know
they're on the wrong track, you know.
They're looking for the wrong man.
If one of the half of you would
learn to go to the Lord and cast
your care upon him, you would get on
a lot easier and a lot quicker.
If this is one of the ways of
God in your mind, you just go and
tell him plainly just how you feel.
Don't put a word out of place, just
tell him exactly how you feel.
Now watch this, be careful for nothing, but
in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, that's a tremendous
phrase, isn't it?
The peace of God, which passes all understanding,
of course it does, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.
You know, it's a wonderful thing to think
that you can have the peace of God
in your mind.
You know, if you were to ask me
to come for the next two weeks and
preach an hour every night on the peace
of God, I would never exhaust it, you
know.
Try to think about the peace of God.
Hitler was a character on this world called
Hitler, and do you know how he stirred
up the German nation, his ability to do
that?
And he caused great terror and havoc and
desolation and destruction on the face of this
earth.
I'll tell you, he never disturbed God for
a moment, never disturbed God.
Why, that we miserable character, Donald O'Connor,
with all the shouting and yelling that he
could muster, he never disturbed God.
The peace of God, the mighty.
And all the wars that ever blasted this
earth of ours never disturbed God.
Friends, I want to give this over to
you.
That this blessing, the peace of God, can
be yours, and should be yours.
Belongs to you.
You would know how to go about it,
when something begins to stick there and it's
going to annoy you.
Leave the dishes, Mrs. Leave the factory, dear,
if you must.
Go and shut the door and get down
on your knees, and don't pretend to pray,
get the hold of God.
If God's hell up there is just how
you feel, do you think?
You know, something happens.
The peace of God begins to fill your
heart and mind.
You know what you're doing?
You're giving up the noise of your mind.
That's what you're doing.
You know, that's one way of doing it.
That's what I call speaking up.
Just go on talking to God, just speaking
to God.
We can show you another way of doing
it.
Have a look at Colossians.
It's the next book, Colossians chapter 3, verse
1, and the word is there can be
rendered since, since he then be ridden with
Christ.
And pick those things which are above where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God,
and set your affection on things above, and
not on things on the earth.
You know, if you get too earthbound and
you're taken up with stains of time and
chance completely and continually, I'll tell you this,
the old devil will get in on you.
He needs to forget about some of the
things that's down here.
And set your affections on things above, and
fear God.
I'll quickly show you in the hour of
trouble in the morning what it means to
see Jesus when the storm blows.
Old Eve is your mind a lot.
He's still in control from that, you know.
It doesn't matter too much about Heath, or
Wilson, or Lynch, or anybody else for that
matter, because you can only see the Lord.
You know, the hymn writer must have got
this.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look through in his wonderful face, and the
things of earth grow strangely dim.
And we could all quote it, you know.
We never do it.
We just get earthbound.
You know, if you can speak up, and
look up, you're beginning to guard your mind.
Let me show you this.
We're at Colossians.
Go back to Philippians.
Philippians chapter four, verse eight.
Finally, that is, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good repose, if there be
any virtue, if there be any things on
these things.
You know, that's what to fill your mind
with.
Have a look at them again.
Whatsoever things are true.
I don't think you get too much of
it on the TV.
I think there's more lies shown and told
than anywhere else in this world.
And if you let the devil stuff your
mind with it, he'll get in on you.
But I can tell you where you can
get truth, you know, all the time.
If we would only spend a half of
the time with our minds in that book
that we do with our minds in the
TV, the mind would be in far better
order, far better shape.
We don't know how to guard and guard
the loins of our mind.
If you take all the things that's mentioned
to you, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things
are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things
are of good repose, if you take all
these, you know, you'll find them all in
Christ.
He was truth.
He was honest.
He was just.
He was pure.
He was lovely.
I think you'll find that this is a
modern painting of Christ, if you like.
It's wonderful, you know.
I think, you know, if he would only
take time to get quietly alone, and just
look through in his wonderful face, and fill
our mind with the beauty, and the candour,
and glory, and greatness of Christ.
You need less tablets.
A lot less tablets, I can tell you.
Yes, get up the loins of your mind.
You know how to do it.
Get down on your knees and speak up,
and get down on your knees and look
up, and get down on your knees and
fill up your mind.
Yes, think on these things.
You know, I think this is really wonderful,
and the one that we have for Sunday
morning, remember, just belongs to this category.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on thee.
You know, you don't only need to speak
up, and look up, and fill up, you
need to prop up your mind with God
stayed on thee.
Yes, and you got it now, because it's
tremendous.
You know, I was doing one of the
promises the other morning.
Oh, I think I should maybe do a
little bit of it now.
Have a look at this.
This is Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5, Let your
conversation, and that's a very old Greek word,
and when it was used here, it meant
behavior.
Let your behavior be without covetousness, and be
content with such things as you have.
For he hath said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee.
And this is the promise I took on
Monday morning at the prayer meeting.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
And I pointed out very carefully, quickly to
the meeting, that this is a verbal promise.
He said it, came from his own lips,
it's not something that's written mystic letters.
For he hath said, he says, Jesus Christ
came out into the Lord of Light and
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee.
Mind you, it's not only verbal.
It's unconditional.
There are no conditions.
Any promises in this book are conditional.
You know, you have to fulfill the conditions
before you can claim the promise.
There are no conditions here.
He just comes out into the Lord and
looks into your eyes and says, listen, listen
to me, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee.
And he didn't say, if you join the
Baptist, I will never leave you.
No, he didn't.
He just simply said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee.
You know, it's an unconditional promise.
It's a dual one.
It's two things.
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
It's not just a repetition, you know, he
doesn't preach like that.
I know he's just saying this, I will
never leave thee in time, nor forsake thee
in eternity.
Duality.
But it's not only verbal, and it's not
only unconditional, and it's not only dual.
Mind you, it's eternal.
I will never.
It means that.
Oh, I just think of that.
You see what it does when you accept
it just as it is.
Here's what it says.
It says, verse 5, and be content with
such things as you have.
For he hath said, you see, it's the
basis of contentment.
That's what it is.
Oh, that's the wonder of it, you know.
It's as the Lord was saying, cheer up,
I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
You could lose your wealth, you know, quite
easily.
And you can lose your health.
And you could lose your land.
You'll never lose your Lord.
He'll always be there.
You can close your eyes at any time,
put out your hand and feel his hand.
He's there.
Never leave.
And do you know what it does?
It brings contentment.
It's building up, you know.
It's getting your mind.
Oh, some of us don't know how to
do it.
Oh, I think I'll take a lecture sometime
on the mind and mental affections and so
on.
Yes, I want you to get the hold
of this, you know.
This is what Peter's at this evening.
He's trying to show them the road to
happiness.
He says, just because you're saved and you've
got all these blessings, get out the loins
of your mind.
It's a wonderful sacred speech in which you
are placing something round the outer parts of
your mind to keep the devil from getting
in.
And you can do it by speaking up
to the world.
And you can do it by looking up
and setting your affection on things above.
And you can do it by filling up
your mind with the things that are lovely.
And you can do it by cheering up.
Yes, knowing that he's at your side and
he never leaves, you know.
This is what he's trying to exhort the
believers to do.
So you go out this week and begin
to work at this, you know.
This is enough exercise for you to just
get out the loins of your mind.
This old Peter was Peter, wasn't he?
And then he went on with another exhortation.
In verse 13 he said, therefore, get out
the loins of your mind, be sober, and
hope to the end for the greatest that
is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ.
You know, that phrase, hope to the end,
is the mighty phrase, is exhausting them, of
course, to hope to the end.
And if you've got the marginal reference Bible,
there's a little number at the word hope,
or at the place to end, because it
means to hope perfectly.
That means to never lose hope.
You know, it says of the Lord Jesus
that having loves his own which were in
the world, he loved them unto the end.
And that's the very phrase that's there, to
the end.
And it means this, that he loved them
the whole way through.
You know, when Peter denied him, and had
to go out a week and sit in
the shadows, the Lord loved him the whole
way through, didn't he?
And when Thomas ran about for a week,
you know, miserable because of his unbelief, ah,
well, the Lord loved him right through the
week of unbelief.
You know, the Lord loved him right on
to the end.
The Lord will never give up.
Ah, well, this is what Peter's turning round.
He says, now you hope the whole way
through.
You hope.
And do you notice what he's saying to
you?
He says, hope to the end for the
grace that is to be brought unto you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Oh, what a wonderful moment it will be.
Grace will take the job then, won't it?
You see, it was grace that wrote my
name on life's eternal book.
It was grace that gave me through the
line through all my sorrows, too.
You see, wherever sin abounded in my life,
and I assure you, it abounded in many
courses.
Ah, well, the grace of God hath much
more abounded, for grace saved me.
You see, it was the grace of God
that saved me.
I'm saved by grace, that works.
Oh, no, I'm only saved to work.
I don't work to be saved.
Oh, they're putting the cart before the horse.
Oh, no, I'm saved to work for the
Lord.
I didn't work to be saved.
I'm saved by grace alone.
But you know, the grace that saved me
is the grace that keeps me.
You know, His grace is sufficient for me.
And I'll tell you this, this grace that
put me on the road, this grace will
take me on the road.
And then this grace will meet me at
the end of the road.
Oh, yes, come on, to the end, for
the grace.
This will come to you.
You know, grace will come and meet you
one day, and life will change, and it
will be like that.
No more will it be.
Then God will take you into heaven, and
all the angels will stand up to you.
And God, in the ages to come, will
demonstrate the riches of His grace when He
takes a thing like me and presents me
before His own fortress, like the Lord Jesus.
What a moment.
And then there is hope of grace.
You know, you need to move on, and
I'll show you why in a moment or
two.
If He is exalting them to God their
minds that they might be happy, and He's
exalting them all about hope, that they might
hope on to the end.
And He's not only exalting them about happiness
and hope, but He exalts them about holiness.
You need to read this very carefully with
me.
It begins at verse 14.
As obedient children.
Now, remember, he's talking to and about the
children of God.
And remember that children of God are not
always obedient to God.
I think you'll need to get that very
clear just now.
Sometimes God speaks to us in this book
about believer's baptism.
Sometimes He speaks to us in this book
about remembering His Son on the first day
of the week.
Sometimes He speaks to us in this book
about coming out to pray.
And there's a thousand little things He talks
to us about in this book, very personally
and very sceptically.
And some of the children of God just
don't bother their heads.
They're disobedient, that's all.
Well, let me tell you, son, that you
needn't talk to me about holiness.
A lot of the folks come round talking
to me about holiness and they obey God
themselves.
Oh, they're wonderful with their ideas.
Well, holiness belongs to obedient children.
That's what it belongs to.
Just in case you didn't know.
Let's get it proper, of course, from the
book of obedient children.
And then he takes up the negative side.
Not fashioning yourselves according to the form of
lusts and your ignorance.
Well, you cannot be obedient children if you
go back to the things you used to
do.
Those used to people saying, I'm saved by
grace and I'm elect and predestined and I
can do what I like.
This book doesn't teach you that.
This book doesn't teach you any such nonsense.
This book expects you to be an obedient
child.
If I want you to get that, I
don't need to butter up the negative here.
But it turns from the negative to the
positive.
As obedient children.
So be ye holy, because it is written,
be ye holy, for I am holy.
You know, holiness is a tremendous subject.
And a whole lot of books seem to
know nothing at all about it.
They talk about their experience all the time
as a thought of doctrine.
My dear friend, don't you ever bring your
experience up to the platform as a doctrine
for other people.
I think that a great lot of books
talk about holiness and sanctification because holiness and
sanctification are both the same Greek words, you
know.
You see, you cannot say holy-fy, that's
not good English, so you have to say
sanctify.
And both words are one and the same.
And it has to be translated sometimes by
sanctification.
You couldn't say holification, could you?
But holiness and sanctification is one and the
same word, and I assure you it's the
same Greek word.
And, of course, the basic meaning of holiness
or sanctification is just being set apart.
That's the basic meaning, there's no problem with
it.
It means being set apart as obedient children
of God.
And a whole lot of folk would like
to tell me they're holy and they're afraid
to obey the Lord in the waters of
baptism.
Oh, they know it's there already.
And they jump over it every time they
come to it.
And, of course, they never come to remember
the Lord when all the time the Lord
is holding out His hand and saying, this
you in remembrance of me.
But they would love to talk to me
about holiness.
And they're not obedient at all.
You don't talk to me about holiness.
You know, so many folks try to say
that holiness and sanctification is a sort of
a blessing that you get.
My dear friend, you never were so far
away from the truth in your life.
Let me tell you this, that the Lord
Jesus was sanctified.
You might dig around and tell me he
got the second blessing, because I would shame
you when you come here.
Well, let me tell you, if you're preaching
that sanctification is the second blessing, then you're
saying that Jesus Christ got the second blessing.
And that is rubbish.
You know, in this book, shall I show
you this?
I didn't mean to go along this line,
but maybe the Lord means it.
This is 1 Corinthians, and it's at the
table if I remember rightly.
Corinthians chapter 7.
I want you to watch this very carefully.
Verse 14.
For the unbelieving husband, now tell me this,
is he a non-believing husband?
You're quite sure of that.
He's a non-believer.
He's an unbelieving husband.
Well, it says here, for the unbelieving husband
is sanctified.
Is he not?
Or is he not?
Well, I assure you he is.
Of course, you wouldn't like to bring in
your doctor in there, sure you wouldn't.
You wouldn't like to tell me that the
unbelieving husband has got the second blessing, because
you would know you were talking rubbish now.
You see, there's a great lot of rubbish
talk.
It's the greatest lot of baloney in this
world.
This unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife,
you know.
What does it mean when it says the
Lord Jesus sanctified?
Does it mean he became holier?
Does it mean that he got a blessing
he'd never had before?
When it says the unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the wife, do you mean the unbelieving
man has got the second blessing?
I don't think I need to punch it
too much.
You must see that you're on the wrong
place.
You see, it's because of the rubbish that's
been talked about sanctification, and put over his
hands as if it were a doctrine.
Now, don't for any sakes go out and
say that I said somebody didn't get a
blessing.
A lot of old dead bastards could do
a blessing.
Just because a fellow is carnal, and he's
in the world, and he's not playing the
game of the law, and he messed up
and let his wife put right.
Well, he got blessed, all right, thank God
for that.
But that is not sanctification.
That's an experience he's had with the Lord.
And don't you bring your experience up here
to preach it as a doctrine and then
put a word on it, because the word
will condemn you.
That's where the trouble is now.
They don't even know what they're talking about.
Because the moment you say that sanctification is
the second blessing, you're saying the unbelieving husband
has got the second blessing, and you know
that's rubbish.
So, you'd better change your tune or get
them to change the book.
It's as simple as ABC, that holiness and
sanctification, that means that you're cut apart for
sanctification.
You see, God sets his Son apart to
be the sacrifice for faith.
The Father sanctifies the Son and sends him
into the world.
He just sets his Son apart to be
the sacrifice for faith.
There's nothing wrong with that.
You see, when Paul is preaching to the
Corinthians, he's thinking of growing into a little
village.
They try to keep it simple, as I
already stated.
Supposing there are 20 houses in the village,
and he stands out in the middle of
this village, as some of our missionaries have
done in Africa, and he preaches the glorious
gospels and welcomes and praises the woman in
the front house.
Now, you know, she knows the Lord now.
She's had the thrill of sins forgiven.
She's gloriously saved.
She's had this brief experience the Bible called
the new birth.
Now, there's nobody else saved in the village.
Well, her husband lives with her.
So, he's different from all the other men
in the village now.
He's set apart now with a woman in
the house who has the life of the
glorious gospel.
Is there anything wrong with that?
The unbelieving husband is set apart because he's
waiting for change.
She can tell him every night, and she
can walk before him every day.
He's different from the other souls.
They haven't got any life.
Ah, there is no problem.
I can go through the book, you know,
on sanctification.
But when the Lord is talking here, when
Peter is talking here about being holy because
God is holy and uses the illustration, God
is holy, you know, he's not thinking of
sanctification or holiness in the same way as
we're thinking about the Lord being set apart
or about the unbelieving husband being set apart.
He's thinking of practical holiness, practical sanctification.
You know, in John 17, when our Lord
is praying, he holds up his hand, he's
praying for the believers.
He says, Father, faith be triumphant through thy
truth.
Look at me.
That means when you used to put me
on the bed, you've become different.
And when you don't obey it, don't talk
to me about holiness.
There are things about us that are just
and grumbling, look at God, you will not
be baptized, don't tell God that thing.
But don't be telling me you're holy after
that.
Strange you get sanctified in a practical manner
by obedience to the book.
You know, when I got first saved and
I didn't know anything at all, I can
remember just like yesterday, sitting down at five
o'clock in the morning, not knowing where
to read, just plundering through the book almost
anywhere, and reading, servants, be obedient to your
masters.
With singleness of eye, I'll come to Christ.
You know, I was a simple believer.
I said, Lord, I'm going to my work
this morning.
I'm to work at my work just as
if it was for you.
All right.
You know, this gave me a great throw.
I went out, I was washing flower pots,
great big tub, ice, ice on the tub,
had to break the ice, you know, and
get the sleeves up.
All the rest of the boys walk up
and down, you know.
How the Lord looked at me, you know.
I said, Charlie, he's gone mad, you know.
That's what they were saying.
You know, this gave me a great throw,
saying, well, you know, I had the greatest
joy in my soul because I was washing
these flower pots for Christ.
And let me inform you here, I could
do it again.
And I wouldn't be a bit ashamed to
do it.
I see Jim Cousins running down the street
with no bother brushing the road.
And I said to him the other day,
in a few days, that you're brushing that
road for the Lord.
He says, please stay back.
Yes, this is what he does Brushing the
road for Christ.
It's a good job, you know.
There's nothing regrettable about it.
I can do it any day if the
Lord asks me.
And I'll tell you, if you begin to
let the book take the hold of your
life, you become different.
You obey the book.
You become obedient.
You become holy.
You're getting set apart.
You're exalting them about holiness.
They only want to talk about holiness in
this country.
They don't want to obey the law.
It's just a conflict.
It's when you obey the book, then you
become holy.
Your faith's dead on there.
You're very small, this is me.
So these expectations are to the flock about
happiness, and about hope, and about holiness.
You know, there are some great considerations in
this chapter about the Father.
I think this is something you should mark
in your reading.
Just look at the chapter when Peter begins
in the first verse and preaches to these
strangers scattered throughout Pontus.
Then he said to them, elect according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father.
You know, it was the Father who elected
them.
You know, God set his love upon us.
You know, this is the thing of love
that drove me through and through and through,
that God shooed me away from all this
holiness, and he pushed me out of the
cross.
I think of Paul speaking once about the
young farmer, Kenneth, who had come to live
in the farm next to the Pontus.
He just an adopted boy.
His father had gone down and took him
out of the home, and he was going
to make him one of the servants on
the farm.
Just an adopted lad, nobody knew who he
was.
And you know, one day he was cutting
the heads when the princess came by.
He said, hello.
And you know, she stopped to smile, and
she stopped to wash, you know, and had
a chat with him.
Had a chat with him the next morning,
and the next, and they were getting on
fine.
Then, you know, he said to her, you
know, don't ever think about my wife.
And she said, oh, Lord, she was the
princess.
He said, oh, I'm the princess.
You don't know who you are.
He said, this is the Lord, yes.
He said, oh, how do you understand this,
young woman, that my father came down to
a big home of boys and took me
out, and your old man just had to
take what he got.
So it was great, you know, to get
that slant on the next one.
God picked me out, you know.
I was chosen.
Yes, it was the Father who set his
love upon me.
A Father who loves us.
See down the chapter where we are tonight,
verse 17, and if ye call on the
Father, you know, the Father hear us.
You know, I think one of the great
things for these days is to remember the
Lord Jesus saying, and ye, when ye pray,
enter into thy closet, and shut thy door,
and pray to thy Father which is in
secret, and thy Father which is in secret
shall reward thee openly.
You know, he not only loves us and
cares us, but he rewards us.
Oh, yes.
And I want you to get the hold
of this, verse 17, will I?
And if ye call on the Father, who
without respect to persons, it reminds you that
the Father has no respect for persons in
the church.
My dear friends, I think this is something
we must get the hold of.
The most lowly saints, the most humble saints,
the most ignorant saints, if you'll let me
use the word, just to say the preciousness
to the Father, it's one big family, and
there are no favorites.
And if you have been elected by the
Father, if he's setting love upon you, and
you pray for him, mind you, there is
no respect to persons before him.
He judges, because the Father judges according to
every man's worth.
You know, the Lord stays in our hearts
all the time.
You see, it's so easy to take your
glasses off, and close your eyes, and fold
your hands, and pray your heart out, and
pull your soul out, and at the back
of your mind it's only for the Father
to judge you.
You're not getting off of that.
You're not allowed to do that.
You're not allowed to try to fool God.
You're asking a mistake.
You'll never get an answer.
The Father will judge you.
You can see, you know, just what you're
getting about.
These are great considerations of the Father.
The Father loves us.
The Father hears.
The Father judges.
Yea, the Father chastens us.
But I want you to get this.
And if you call on the Father who,
without respect to persons, judges according to every
man's worth, now he's starting on a different
theme now.
He's saying, pass the time of your sojourning
here in fear for as much as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things but with the precious blood of Christ.
You know, just remember all the time that
you're redeemed.
I want you to get this into your
heart.
And just because you know you're redeemed, and
we'll go into redemption in a moment, for
as much as you know this, now for
your whole pilgrimage right through to the end,
till the hope is revealed, you just more
chastely pass the time of your sojourning.
See the word sojourning.
It just tells you that you're a pilgrim
down here, and you're marching to Zion.
And you pass the time of your sojourning
here in fear.
Now, it's not that you should be afraid
of somebody or afraid of something.
It's the fear of God he's talking about.
And the old word, Greek word, that's very
often translated fear of God, it's the old
word reverence.
You know, the early church had a great
reverence for God.
I think we've lost this, you know.
Very conscious all the time that the Lord
was there.
You know, some of the old saints talked
about closing their eyes and touching God with
their hands.
Very conscious of the Lord's presence.
Now, just because you're redeemed, you just cannot
do what you like, or go where you
like, or say what you like, or act
how you like.
You're to walk softly.
You're to pass the time of your sojourning
down here in reverence to God.
And I wish this would come upon our
nation at this time.
It would be good for us all if
the fear of God would come upon us.
It would be the great blessing.
You see, there's to be reverence because of
redemption.
Mind you, we've been bought out of the
market of sin.
You know, when you think that once upon
a time you were enslaved to Satan, the
God of this world, my highly domineers, the
children of disobedience.
And you can see the difference between obedient
children and the children of disobedience.
Why, the old devil's working with a lot
in our country just now.
I'm going to want to tell you this,
you're redeemed out of that.
You were bought out of it, man.
You used to stand in the market of
sin like a slave.
Now that you're redeemed, and just because you're
redeemed, and you belong to God, and you're
a child, and you're waiting for the hope
that grace will bring, you're to walk softly.
You're to be reverent.
I want you to get the hold of
this.
You know, there's to be reverence because of
redemption, and because of the remedy of the
ransom that was paid for your redemption.
You see, the whole package has to go
together.
Pass the time of your sojourning here in
fear, for as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things of
silver and gold, from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ.
You know, it's precious blood.
You know, I was preaching last night in
Bellarmine, and I was talking about the eternal
redemption that Christ hath obtained for us through
shed blood.
You see, this blood of Christ that was
shed at Calvary in Second of Life, it's
purchasing blood.
It has purchased for us eternal redemption, because
at the same time it's purging blood.
It has purged our conscience that we may
serve God not with dead works any longer.
But it's not only purchasing blood and purging
blood, it is pardoning blood.
Without shedding of blood there is no pardon.
You can't get pardon without Christ's shed blood.
Mind you, when you think that one day
we'll overcome Satan by the blood of the
Lamb, it's powerful blood.
Did you get it all in a glance
now?
It's purchasing blood, it's purging blood, it's pardoning
blood, it's powerful blood, but it's precious blood.
You see, it's the blood of the only
human who ever lived on this planet without
sin.
It's the blood of the Lamb who hath
made us spotless.
It's precious blood.
No wonder we should walk softly, because we're
redeemed, and because we're redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ.
Now, I want you to get this, because
the whole statement goes together.
"...past the time of your sojourning here in
fear, for as much as ye know that
ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of
a Lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world."
Isn't that tremendous?
You know, God foreordained Christ to be the
payment for our redemption, not the word before,
before the foundation of the world.
Now, if you have any quibbles about the
pre-existence of Christ before this world began,
you should have no nerve.
Ah, yes, God just set them apart.
God said, who will go to us, Christ
without us?
Nonetheless, this was before the world began.
Oh, God, who knows everything, He could see
the man He was going to make, and
He could see the mess the man was
going to make of it.
And He couldn't be a holy God if
He was going to make a man and
let him make such a mess without first
having made a remedy.
Oh, God, and it all settles, you know.
Yes, He had a Savior prepared in the
Eden above before Adam sinned in the Eden
below.
It was all done beforehand.
You know, He is what He says He
is.
He says, who was verily foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but which manifests in
these last times.
You can see the foreordination country before the
world.
You can see the manifestation in these last
times.
In the end of the age, Christ appears.
Look, I want you to get this read,
because you miss everything else.
Who was verily foreordained before the foundation of
the world, but which manifests in these last
times for you.
For you.
Is it true that God's blood is for
you?
Is it true that Christ shed His blood
for you?
Is it true that this mighty, wonderful experience
of redemption was for you?
For you.
And it doesn't end there, because it says
this.
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of
the world, but which manifests in these last
times for you.
Who by Him, it was through Him, you
know, you pursue belief in God, the God
that raised Him up from the dead and
gave Him glory, that your faith and hope
might be in God.
Look, I want you to get this.
You know, your faith, it looks back to
the cross, where the blood of the Lamb
is shed to take the place of your
redemption.
You see, that faith, looking right back to
God, looks back to redemption.
Ah, but hope looks on to the revelation
of redemption.
Hope is looking on to the end, to
the day that shall be brought to you
with the revelation of Christ.
Ah, but I want you to get this.
You know, your faith and hope should be
in God.
Your faith should be in the God who
plans redemption.
And your hope should be in the God
who promises revelation.
And if you've got your faith and hope
right, you know, you can look back to
the cross and be depressed, be impatient, and
you can look on to the coming, and
you know that the grace of God will
make you perfect in that day.
What a wonderful, blessed bit of writing, from
Peter, a great character.
God bless you.
Let's sing together this lovely hymn, 138.
The blood has always precious been, it's precious
now to me, let alone my soul have
rest from fear and doubt set free.
138.
Dear Lord,
part us in thy fear, and wish thy
blessing through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.