Shade, shade each earthly joy, Jesus is mine,
break every tender tie, Jesus is mine.
Dark is the wilderness, earth has no resting
place, Jesus alone can bless, Jesus is mine.
10.45 please.
This paragraph that Peter is dealing specially with
being born again of incorruptible feet.
The great part of this short paragraph is
taken up with the new birth and how
we are born again not of corruptible feet
but of incorruptible by the word of God.
And if all the denominations in the world
had only listened to Peter we wouldn't be
in the confusion that so many are in
about how you are born again.
Because Peter is not talking about baptismal regeneration.
He is talking about being born again of
incorruptible feet by the word of the gospel.
And that we shall see this evening.
You'll notice that he has this word incorruptible
on his lips right through the chapter.
Many times did you notice it?
Look back again across the chapter.
See, verse 4, he's talking about these believers
having an inheritance and he uses that word
incorruptible and undefiled and that faith is not
a way reserved in heaven for you.
You know it's good for every believer to
know that we have an incorruptible inheritance.
You know they were pointing out at the
beginning of these lessons that Peter is writing
to Jews who got saved, who were born
again.
And he's contrasting the inheritance that the Jewish
nation had in the land of promise but
you know the Philistines corrupted it.
Yes, and it was defiled by the idols
of other nations.
But the inheritance that believers have is incorruptible
and undefiled and that faith is not a
way.
You remember when he was talking about our
redemption down the chapter a little bit?
He says in verse 18, Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold from your vain
conversation was made by tradition from your fathers,
but with the present blood of Christ.
And that's tantamount to saying incorruptible blood.
We're not redeemed with corruptible things.
We're redeemed with something that's incorruptible.
That is blood of Jesus.
You see that blood will never lose its
power till every ransom child of God is
bathed in the blood.
And after talking about incorruptible inheritance and incorruptible
blood, he's now talking about incorruptible seed.
See verse 23, Being born again not of
corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word
of God.
This is how men and women are brought
to the birth where they're born again.
It's when the gospel is applied to hearts
with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven
that men are born of the word of
God.
And that's the great portion in the package
this evening.
You know, I want to take a moment
just to say that I believe that Peter
was not only a great teacher of God's
word, I honestly think in my own heart
that he was a brilliant teacher.
Many of the great writers of the world
who do not believe at all believe and
say out loudly that these letters of Peter
are absolutely unique.
And you know that's very thrilling because he
was a Galilean fisherman and he had no
academic standard whatsoever.
In fact, the Bible says at one place
that he was a non-brained and ignorant
man.
And what courage this should give to each
one of us that God can take this
rough, Galilean fisherman, this unlettered man, this ignorant
man, and yet God can so move him
that he writes these great and brilliant and
unique, wonderful letters.
I think that Peter was a unique teacher.
Just to prove what I mean, let us
look quickly through the chapters tonight and see
how many doctrines Peter has touched upon in
each chapter.
I'll give you a word for each doctrine.
We couldn't do them fully.
You remember in that second verse, he was
talking about election.
Well, that's a mighty doctrine, isn't it?
He said that these people whom he was
writing to, they were elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father.
And you know he not only touched this
election there, but he's touching the fatherhood of
God.
And he's saying, away before they held an
order to it, in eternity there was the
eternal Father.
Of course, he must foreknow everything.
And these elect, remember they were elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father.
And that's a great doctrine that he's touching
upon, election.
And in the same verse, he touches on
sanctification, and that's a great doctrine.
He touches on a special side of sanctification,
sanctification of the Spirit.
You see, that's how people get saved.
Way back yonder, God elected those whom he
foreknew.
If he foreknew all who would trust Christ.
And then he worked it out like this,
that when the gospel is preached, the Holy
Ghost will come upon the congregation, and he'll
separate those whom he desires to see saved
that night, he'll separate them out by his
Spirit.
That's sanctification of the Spirit.
You know, Peter knew the doctrine.
And then look again at the third verse,
he says, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to
his abundant mercy hath begotten us.
You know, that's regeneration.
Of course, it's more deeply developed at the
end of the chapter.
But think of these doctrines, election, sanctification, regeneration.
And then watch this one, You know, we're
regenerated and we're giving a living hope in
an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled.
And then he says, in verse 5, Who
are kept by the power of God through
faith.
You know, that's appropriation.
You know, he got this doctrine off quite
well.
What a teacher this man was.
Yet he never went to any school that
mattered.
Yet he can just move across the page
of Holy Scripture and touch all these great
doctrines.
Why, we could have a nightlong every doctrine
and we wouldn't even touch the hem of
the garment.
When you think of election, how long I
could spend there.
And when you think of sanctification, why it
would take you a week to table it
out.
And when you think of regeneration and think
of appropriation, how we could go in day
by day and appropriate the things that God
has given to us.
Why, the peace of God is ours and
we should appropriate it.
The grace of God is ours and we
should appropriate it.
And the power of God is ours and
we should appropriate it.
Oh, this is a great doctrine.
And then he goes further.
Not only does he touch on election and
sanctification and regeneration and appropriation, but you remember
we had a nightlong examination.
You know, your faith must be tried.
And to every one of us, every one
of us who have exercised faith in Christ,
you can expect that faith to be examined
by God.
Oh, God will let the storm blow.
Yes, God will let burdens come.
God may even let the devil touch you.
Oh, yes, you'll be tried out, all right.
And we went into that fully one evening.
Don't you see the doctrines?
And then there, in verse 8, it's adoration,
talking about Christ, whom having not seen, he
loves.
In whom though now ye see him not,
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable.
Full of glory.
You know, this is a doctrine that Peter
loves and you can find it right through
these letters.
How he seems to sit down at the
feet of Christ and by faith, he adores
his living and his wonderful Lord.
Do you see the doctrines?
Do I need to go on with them?
You see inspiration there.
God, in verse 10, of which salvation the
prophets have inquired and set diligently, who trod
the side of the grace that should come
unto you, searching what or what manner of
time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify.
You know, these holy men of God were
moved by the Spirit of God to say
the things that would glorify the Son of
God.
And he goes into great details about inspiration.
Fancy Peter knowing all about selection.
Fancy him knowing all about sanctification and inspiration.
And if you like to put another one
in, redemption.
They knew all about redemption too.
What a wonderful thing this is.
All on the first page, all in the
first chapter, all outlined in detail.
Yes, this is one of the things that
God took up to bring to march.
Things that are, my, he would scare some
of them with degrees.
They couldn't follow it even.
These are the doctrines that are there.
Yes, I think you've got that all right.
Now the portion that we're after this evening,
just four verses, it would show some precious
things that Peter is still teaching.
Because he not only knew about election and
sanctification and regeneration and appropriation and examination and
adoration and inspiration and redemption.
You know, he knew about purification.
Ye have purified yourselves.
And he knew about our obligation, because we
have an obligation, just because we're redeemed.
And we'll come to that regeneration this evening.
And I want you to know that he
knew about the limitation of man, he says,
all slashes as grass.
And he knew about the jurition of the
word of God, for it endureth forever.
And he knew about the illumination of the
gospel.
All in four verses.
What to teach them?
How many of you fellows should get scared,
you know?
The Lord can take you up, you know.
You don't need to get worried too much.
All you need to get worried about, son,
is getting along with God.
Because if you go flipping the box, and
you stop doing this and that and the
other, you'll be nobody.
But you need to study, to show thyself
a true God to God.
What man is needed not to be ashamed
rightly, but writing the word of truth.
And you won't get that on the football
field, I say.
And it doesn't matter what tool you went
to, or whether you think you've got logic
or brains or anything else.
I assure you that God took this unlearned
and ignorant man, and many a once in
practice, yes, and they made something out of
him, just because they got along with God.
It should be an encouragement to every girl
in this meeting, and to every young man
in this assembly.
Now we want to see these things in
detail that Peter's talking about.
With address 22.
Saying ye have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit.
Now I want you to watch the timing
for you.
Saying ye have.
It's something that's already done.
He's talking to these people, you know, who
were redeemed, who were sanctified by the Spirit.
These people who were begotten of God.
He says ye, ye, you redeemed ones, ye
have purified your souls.
You know, that's very wonderful.
You see, the day that the Spirit of
God brought the truth of the Gospel to
our hearts with power.
Let us see the Christ who came into
this world to save sinners.
Let us see Christ dying for sinners.
Let us see Christ rising again as the
sinner's only living Savior.
And you know, when that great splash of
the light of the glorious Gospel entered our
hearts with power, and by faith we appropriated
this wonderful Savior, at that moment we were
purified.
Don't make any mistakes about it, you know.
That's something that's passed.
Ye have purified your souls because you obeyed
the truth brought to you by the Spirit.
It all fits as it was.
Yes, it's wonderful, you know.
I think that sometimes the believers don't see
it properly.
You know, as we stand before God's holy
spotless throne this evening, you know, we are
justified.
It simply means this.
We stand there just as if I'd never
sinned at all.
The Greek word justifies.
It's just as if I'd never sinned at
all.
You know, God says in this book to
sinners, He says, come now, let us reason
together, says the Lord, though your sins be
of God, they shall be of Christ the
Lord.
And the moment that a poor, lost, ill
-deserving sinner appropriates Christ by faith, by faith
he's justified.
By faith he stands at that moment whiter
than the snow.
That's what you call purifying your souls.
Isn't that very wonderful?
But you know, Nick's book goes on with
this message of purification after that.
You know, when Paul wrote through Titus, let's
go back to Titus, it's only a page
or two.
Titus, and that's the second chapter.
Titus, chapter two.
Now, try to follow this through with me
a little.
See the lot of preaching.
See verse eleven.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men.
You know, it's grace that brings salvation to
your door.
Because Christ died, because his blood was shed
as an atoning sacrifice, because God was satisfied
with that offering, then God's grace on that
foundation that Christ laid at Calvary comes to
every man's door with the offer of salvation.
I want you to get that.
I don't like this limited business here.
Because you know, you're only going to offer
salvation to a few, as some of you
are preaching.
But don't become around talking to me about
the grace of God.
Because I don't think that's grace at all.
I think that the grace of God is
so boundless that where sin abounds, grace is
much more abundant.
And there cannot be grace if it limits
us.
Oh, and all the grace of God bringeth
salvation to all men.
Oh, I know, and God knows that all
men will not accept of the grace of
God.
They can't pull this offer of grace under
their feet, some of them.
They do death fight to the spirit of
grace.
They'd better let the grace of God bring
a salvation to all men.
And I want you to look at this.
It says in verse 11, for the grace
of God that bringeth salvation to all men,
teaching us.
You know, the grace that saved us is
the grace that teaches us.
Every man that accepts of the grace of
God is taught that denying all godliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and
godly in this present world.
You see people say the grace of God
brings you salvation and you get saved for
grace and you can do as you like.
Not on your life you can't.
I think a man that talks like that
doesn't even know anything about the grace of
God.
But I can tell you that the grace
that saves you is the grace that teaches
you that you should live soberly and righteously
and godly in this present world.
And it goes a bit further than that
too, because the grace that saves you teaches
you and it gives you to look up,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ.
You see, grace brings you salvation.
And the grace that saves you is the
grace that teaches you to live soberly and
keep looking all the time for the blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ.
And then when he got to that spot
there, teaching Titus these things, he talks about
Christ.
He says, Who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and
purify us.
Comes back to this purification.
Only it's the continuation of what Peter was
asking.
Oh, you know, the day that you accepted
Christ, Yee-haw!
Purified your soul.
That bit's over.
Ah, but you know, you need to go
on obeying the truth.
Because the Lord wants you to obey the
truth.
There's a whole lot of other truths to
be obeyed, you know.
And the more believers obey the book, the
more they become purified in a practical sense.
Because that's what the Lord is asking.
You know, the psalmist knew this.
Wherewithal shall a young man praise his way,
but by ticking he dare to according to
thy word.
And the more the believer obeys the book,
the more he becomes purified in a practical
sense.
And I'll tell you, when Jesus comes again,
you know, he just lifts us out of
all this.
And then he presents us to the Holy
Spirit.
And that's eternal purification.
Think it's a great subject.
See how Peter deals with it, don't you?
He knew about, you know, the purification of
souls.
I want you to watch this bit very
carefully.
We're back at verse twenty-two.
First Peter, chapter one, verse twenty-two.
See ye have purified your souls in obeying
the truth through the Spirit.
Unto all sing love of the brethren.
See that ye love one another with a
pure heart fervently.
You know, I want you to watch that
love is twice in the verse.
It's our obligation, of course.
And I want you to watch it very
carefully.
It says, see ye have purified your souls
in obeying the truth through the Spirit.
Unto all sing love of the brethren.
See that ye love one another with a
pure heart fervently.
You know, I can remember when I was
a very young believer, I remember an old
atheistic critic stomping me in the street.
He says, I see you're running with the
belief.
I said, I'm following Christ.
Is there anything wrong with it?
He says, I don't believe there was a
Christ.
I say, sure, it doesn't make any difference
to me what an old feller like you
believes.
But this is the way to treat them.
He wants to go on with his nonsense,
let them go on.
He doesn't worry me.
He says, you know, I could show you
some things in the Bible that cannot be
right.
And I remember them turning to hear, and
I can assure you I knew precious little
about it.
He says, have a look at this.
He says, you see that Peter's supposed to
be writing to these saved people, and he's
saying, ye have purified your souls in obeying
the truth, in obeying the truth of the
Spirit unto unseen love of the brethren.
He says, these boys that have purified their
souls, did they love the brethren?
I said, they did.
He says, why does he say in the
next phrase, see that you love one another
with a pure heart, faith and blessing.
You can't have it both ways, he says.
You can't say that to do it in
Mary's bosom to go and do it again.
It makes you know there's something wrong, it's
a contradiction.
Now, when I was a young person, and
somebody came along and tried to tie me
up in a knot, and that would be
very easy to do with any child, I
always said, well, if I don't know the
answer, there's somebody who does.
And remember, there's an answer you may not
know.
And if you don't know it, just say
you don't know it, but just believe in
your heart that there's somebody who does.
And if I'd only known enough then, the
old teller was displaying more ignorance than I've
ever seen in my life.
Because there are Greek scholars in this class
tonight, and they know immediately, when they read
the Greek New Testament as I go on
preaching, they know that the two words love
here are two different words.
Of course, in our English, it looks the
same.
You see, the first one, unseen love of
the brethren.
Now, that's the Greek word phili.
You know, philadelphia means, it actually means brotherly
love.
Because phili is a Greek word for natural
affection.
And you know, this is perfectly true of
all of us here tonight.
Just because we're born again, just because we're
in the one family, just because we're redeemed
by blood, just because we're saved by grace,
you know, we have a natural attachment to
each other.
Oh, there are Presbyterians here, bless them.
They come along here and they're most welcome.
And there are old Methodists here, and there'll
always be old Methodists.
And they're most welcome ones, yes.
And there are saved Roman Catholics in this
meeting.
And they're just as precious as anybody else.
Saved.
And you know, just because we're all bound
up in a bundle of life, and we're
all in the one body, and we've all
been born again of one spirit, and we're
depending on one same precious blood, you know,
there's a natural affection between us.
Yes.
Ah, well, the other word is different.
You see, he's saying, ye have purified your
thoughts unto unseen love of the better.
And then he said, see that ye love.
But he used a different word.
He used the word agape.
That's a different word.
The word phili, in Greek, means natural affection,
loving with natural affection.
Ah, but the word agape in Greek is
the word that's used for God's love.
That's what you call divine love.
And you know, that's how we should love
one another.
Oh, I know because we're all saved and
we're all in the same body, I know
there's a natural affection among us.
Yes, I know that.
But he says, you know, what you fellows
want to do is not only to purify
your souls and have natural affection for one
another, but see that ye agape love one
another, love each other with God's love.
And you know, if we loved like that,
we should give our lives for the brethren.
And a whole lot of us are apart
from that.
Oh yes, we can put up with one
another, but then we'd put one another's throat
behind each other's back.
And that's not what he's talking about at
all.
He says, I know of us that are
natural affection, but see that ye get a
bit of divine love into us.
Oh, that's the way we ought to love
one another.
Yes, I tell you, if I'd only known
a bit of Greek in those days, I
could have fixed them.
Never mind, God knew his ignorance.
And when you don't know the answer, you
just remember that there's somebody who does.
Don't let it upset you.
Dr. Ironside told me about leading an old
negro to the Lord.
He was an old slave.
He says, you know, I've never seen a
man accept Christ just the way he did,
and his whole face seemed to be changed,
and day after day you could see him
with the very love of God shining out
of his eyes.
He said, I was coming past the common
green where they had all kinds of pictures,
and he was standing listening to a message,
and the emptiness was tearing Christ to pieces,
and the Word of God to pieces.
And the big man was listening, and Dr.
Ironside went through the clothes that he got
behind him, and just stared into his ear,
and he didn't see who was speaking.
What do you think of that now?
And the old negro without moving said, I
cannot answer him.
I cannot answer him.
But something inside me tells me he's a
liar.
That's a good boy.
That's the way to do it.
Yes.
You can't answer him, there's always somebody who
can, you know.
And this old man was running about picking
holes when he was as ignorant as the
devil himself.
Let's get the hold of this, you know
this is our obligation that he's answering.
You can see the purification of souls, and
then you can see the obligation of tongues
comes through.
And then he comes to the heart of
this paragraph this evening.
Watch how he comes to it now.
Hearing you have purified your souls and obeying
the truth through the Spirit onto unseen natural
affection of the brethren.
See that you divinely love one another with
a pure heart, fervently.
Be born again, not of corruptible seeds, but
of incorruptible by the word of God which
liveth and abideth forever.
And all you young folks should always mark
in red ink verse 23.
So you should be able to tell everybody
how you get born again.
And you don't get born again by somebody
putting water on you.
The man that drops water on a baby's
brow and says, I make thee a child
of God, he's a liar from hell.
They don't get born again like that, as
baloney.
Are you reading right?
You get born again of incorruptible seed by
the word of God which you personally accept
because the Spirit's working on you.
Yes, that's how you get there.
You know, if man would only take what
Peter said and what John said and what
our Lord Jesus said about being born again
there would be no problems in this world.
Do you see what John said?
We're at John's gospel and we're at the
first chapter today.
John's gospel, chapter one.
John's talking here about our Lord Jesus coming
into the world that He had made.
He was another fisherman, you know, with rough
hands and a rough voice.
But speaking about Christ in verse ten he
said, He was in the world and the
world was made by Him.
He didn't believe in evolution, you know.
He believed that the Lord Jesus made the
world and so He did.
He said He was in the world and
the world was made by Him and the
world knew Him not.
Yes, He had made it and He was
in it.
The world didn't know it's God.
He came unto His own and His own
received Him not.
But as many as received Him even more
there were some who received Him.
To them gave He power to become the
sons of God.
Even to them that belief and He's not
talking about babies because babies can't believe.
Even to them that belief on His name
which were born not of blood.
Oh, I like these not of.
You know, you can't get born again because
your father and mother are christened.
Salvation doesn't run in the blood in your
veins, you know.
You can't get born again just like that.
It's not of blood.
It doesn't come through your father and mother.
Oh, not at all.
You don't get born of blood.
And this is a good thing to mark
forevermore.
Which were born not of blood nor of
the will of the flesh.
You know, there's no man can say I'll
be born again on the 24th of September
or the 24th of November.
Not just when you want it, you know.
You either come and accept Christ when the
Spirit works with you and God wants you
to or you'll not come at all.
Or the Lord will strive with you and
you'll come back and strive again.
There'll come a time when they let you
go to hell.
Remember the Lord let Judas rise and go
out and go down the steps and into
the night and he let them go to
hell.
And he never made a move.
And he can do the same with you.
You'll not fiddle about with the Lord forever.
Some of you sinners think you can treat
God like a kid.
Father, you can't.
God can drop you and let you go
to hell and righteously let you go to
hell.
And you'll be damned.
You're born again, it's not of water.
And it's not of your father and mother.
It's not of blood.
And it's not of the will of the
flesh.
You just can't make up your mind when
this is going to happen.
And I want you to get a hold
of this.
Which we're born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man.
Oh no, no man can say when you're
going to be born again.
I just fell a knocking at the door
this morning before I was up looking for
salvation.
And I can tell you I was not
inside just as quick as all that.
And I tried to lead them to Christ.
And I pointed us away.
And I prayed to Satan.
And I had every bone in his body
rattle.
And he was telling me these things and
the tears were falling.
And he said, no, I can't do it.
And I couldn't do it.
It's not of the will of man.
And if I could have saved him, I
would have done it.
I can't save him.
I don't let him go.
Pray for him.
Pray that he'll come back again.
Pray that the Lord will save him.
I don't care what the Lord said.
So long as the Lord prays.
And you don't get born again of blood.
Or of the will of the flesh.
Or of the will of man.
It's of God.
It has to be God that should work.
Jesus said, no man cometh unto me except
the Father which hath sent me.
Draw him.
God has to work.
I know God was working this morning.
Then you can resist the Holy Ghost too,
you know.
Faith is a terrible thing.
And that's what Stephen said, you do always
resist the Holy Ghost.
It's your fault.
You know, the Lord Jesus spoke to Nicodemus
about being born again.
He let him see the necessity of it,
didn't he?
And then he let him see the possibility
of it.
So is everyone that is born of the
Spirit.
He let him see it's possible.
He let him see it was a mystery.
It's a necessity.
It's a possibility.
It's a mystery.
It's just like the wind blowing where it
lifts us.
So is everyone that is born of the
Spirit.
Now I kind of command the Holy Ghost
sometimes.
Just of the Spirit.
You see, when the Lord Jesus said, you're
born of water and of the Spirit.
Well, what did he mean by the water?
Did he mean the Holy Ghost with infant
baptism?
Is that what you like to preach?
Well, I can tell you that's the greatest
nonsense in the world.
That's John 3.
Supposing I went to John 4 and it's
the woman at the well.
He says, the water that I shall bid
you, do you think it's literal water?
Ah, no, it's like eternal, he's talking about
now.
We don't survive and cleanse thee by the
water of the word.
Cleanse me.
It means this book, you know, it's a
cleansing service.
You know, sometimes when I preach these little
speeches, they just run into your mind and
into your heart.
Because it's God's cleansing work.
Yes, it's through the word, you'll see that
in a moment.
It's incorruptible faith.
It's God that's at work.
It's the Holy Ghost.
It's by the Spirit.
And by the word of the Gospel.
It's just exactly what Peter's saying.
Now, let's get the hold of this.
Let's get back to Peter.
First Peter 1.
We're going slowly, but it's a great depth,
isn't it?
It's saying to these believers, Cleanse and purify
your souls in obeying the truth through the
Spirit, unto unseemed affection of the brethren.
He did divinely love one another with a
pure heart, flesh and blood, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever.
And then he comes to this.
For all flesh is as grass.
And we should emphasize the all.
All flesh.
And all the glory of man as the
flower of grass.
For the grass withereth.
Flower thereof, felt falleth away.
You know, Peter not only knew about the
purification of souls and the obligation of sons
and the regeneration of saints, but he knew
the limitations of man.
You know, I think this is a great
lesson to learn, you know.
It doesn't need to matter who you are,
you know, you're just like grass.
All flesh.
If you just like the flower of the
field, you can have a smile on for
a while, but you're going to perish, you
know.
But this is a great thing to learn,
you know.
You know, there's a wonderful phrase way back
in Isaiah.
Let's get it just now.
It's Isaiah chapter 40.
If I remember rightly, Isaiah 40, and he's
talking about God.
He says in verse 18, Isaiah 40, To
whom then will ye liken God?
Or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
Verse 22, he says, It is he that
sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and
the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.
You know, that's a tremendous thing to say,
isn't it?
And there was once upon a time when
there was a great national meeting in Westminster
Abbey in London.
And old Dr. John McNeill was the preacher.
And the King of England was there that
day in his robes.
And all the lords and ladies were there
in their soaks.
And all the judges of the land was
there in their wigs.
And all the colonels and all the commanders
of the empire.
For there were their medals on.
Big state affair.
And John McNeill took for his text all
the inhabitants are as grasshoppers before God.
Tremendous thing.
And I want to solemnly say to thee
that the King here is just a grasshopper
with a clown on.
And all these judges here are just grasshoppers
with wigs on.
And all these commanders are grasshoppers with medals
on.
That takes you down a bit, wouldn't it?
I think we should learn our limitations, you
know.
We struts about, you know, as if we
were somebody.
You can see these fellows getting so fussed
up with pride.
And, you know, they're like flies on a
windowpane.
All that we could learn our limitations.
You know, the most beauteous lady in the
world.
She's just like grass.
Oh, just like a flower for a while.
Ah, she'll fade away.
She doesn't hold the center of the state
forever, you know.
And the wisest man in the world, who
hath honor and glory as it were, he'll
marry her forever, you know.
And the most powerful man, ah, he'll fade
away.
Hitler's gone, and Nasser's gone.
Or what more of them will go?
And vile men will go too.
They're only grass.
Wicked men, they're only grass.
Ah, grasshoppers.
All that we could learn.
Why, this old fisherman, he had been to
a good school.
He was learning things.
You know, he knew the purification of souls,
and the obligation of sons, the regeneration of
saints, and the limitation of man.
He knew the duration of this word.
He said, For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the
flower of the field.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away.
But the word of the Lord endures forever.
Say that to Sinmohan.
That word that was inspired by the Spirit
of God, these mighty sayings, these mighty truths,
that, that is everlasting, that abideth, that is
living one, that is eternal.
Oh, if we believers only got a grasp
on the eternal things.
You know, the things that are seen are
temporal.
Oh, but the things that are not seen
are eternal.
If we could only get a grasp.
You know, I was going over this in
my mind today.
The eternal God is our refuge.
That's where I am tonight, you know.
The devil of bothered such a man.
Only if the eternal God arose to me.
And would that be alright if the eternal
God arose?
If the eternal God arose, that I'd be
blown off this evening, then it must be
alright.
And nobody can touch it until the eternal
God takes the head away.
The eternal God is our refuge.
And underneath, you know, our everlasting arms.
You know, we've got eternal promises.
I will never leave thee.
It's eternal, I will never leave thee.
We've got eternal redemption.
My good Christ entered heaven through his own
blood.
He had already obtained eternal redemption for us.
And our Lord is the author of eternal
salvation.
And you know, we've got everlasting consolations in
this book.
And we're loved with everlasting love.
Oh, I think we should get a hold
of these eternal things.
And you should always remember that every phrase
in the book is eternal.
I read this woman to the Lord on
Sunday night and showed her this phrase in
Romans.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
I said, I'll tell you this, Mrs. It
will be the same tomorrow.
And if you live till you're 90, I
said, it will be the same on your
90th birthday.
And when you're in heaven for 10,000
million years, I said, it will just be
the same.
It will abide forever.
Who has a book?
Didn't Peter know, did you two?
What's the chapter we had?
He knew about direction.
Knew about sanctification and regeneration and so on.
And purification and obligation and the limitation of
man and the duration of the word.
Look, I think the last phrase was very
wonderful.
It says, but the word of the Lord
endureth forever.
I want you to watch this carefully.
And this is the word.
It's the word of the Lord.
Which by the gospel is preached unto you.
You know, in Peter's day, when he was
writing this out, there was no New Testament
compiled.
Of course, he's only writing the first chapter
here.
He hasn't finished the letter.
He's got another letter to write to the
master of that.
And Paul is just writing some of his
letters too.
And it was a long time before the
New Testament was compiled.
But you notice that he was writing to
Jews who were saved and scattered throughout Pontus.
Of course, they believed with all their hearts
that the Old Testament scriptures were the word
of the Lord.
They were very solid about that.
Neither had any faith, belief, that as the
prophets were moved by the Holy Ghost, the
entire word was there.
They believed that the Old Testament was the
word of the Lord, and they were rational.
But what Peter's enforcing here is this.
The word of the gospel endureth forever.
That's what he's saying.
That's the thing you know we should grasp
when we're here.
He's saying the word of the Lord, and
they were thinking about the Old Testament endureth
forever.
And then as quick as a flash he
said, and this, this is the word, it's
the same word, which by the gospel preached
unto you.
Mind you, that old-fashioned gospel that we've
got in this New Testament, and that we
preach day and daily that Christ died for
our sins and was buried and rose again
the third day, man, that's the word of
the Lord.
And you make no mistakes about it.
That will endure forever.
And you young men learn to think about
the word of the Lord and the little
people, and to think of the book far
more than your brains.
Yes.
What a passage it is.
No wonder I said that he was not
only brilliant, but absolutely unique.
Next week, you know, we're getting into a
chapter that has many things within itself.
Bring your Bible and come early.
Yes.
Nine hundred and five, please.
Nine or five.
Jesus, and shall it ever be, a mortal
man ashamed of thee, ashamed of thee whom
angels praise, whose glory shines through endless days.
Nine or five.
Listen carefully for the tune.
Play the first track through five.
Now sing
the peace of heaven's heart.