I'm going to read 1 Peter this evening.
1 Peter, and we're at the 3rd chapter.
1 Peter, chapter 3, and you'll notice we've
just taken two verses this evening.
It's quite a short paragraph, but I think
in the chapter this is a paragraph on
its own.
1 Peter, chapter 3, just brings it together
carefully.
Finally, being all of one mind, having compassion
one of another, love of brethren, be pitiful,
be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or
railing for railing, but confer thee wise blessing,
knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye
should inherit a blessing.
And if you look up these two verses
carefully, you will find that they divide into
two very easily.
There are quite a lot of expectations there.
Peter is giving expectations to Christians, and there
are quite a number of expectations that we're
going to look up carefully.
And not only do we have expectations, but
we have explanations.
He's explaining to these believers that he's exhorting
that they should bring blessing to other lives,
that they themselves should inherit a blessing.
And we'll go into this this evening.
I want to remind the class that Peter
began these expectations a way back in the
2nd chapter.
Just let's go back a page now.
And at the 2nd chapter, verse 11, he
said this, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as
strangers and pilgrims.
And there he was pleading with believers, as
strangers and pilgrims.
Because this is how we should behave ourselves
as we pass through this world.
We should never forget, you know, that down
here on the sands of time, that we
are strangers and pilgrims.
This is not our home.
We're just a passing through.
And he's just pointing out how we should
behave ourselves.
How we should behave ourselves in the state?
Because the moment that he gets this across
to these strangers and pilgrims, he says in
verse 13, Submit yourselves to every ordinance of
man for the Lord's sake, whether it be
to the king, or to the king, or
unto governors.
You see, he's just saying, as strangers and
pilgrims, passing through to the glory land, that
we should be submissive to the state.
Of course, that means we're in the state
S, in the realm of state.
It's the state to leave the realm of
state and try to dictate to the church.
You come round and tell me to preach
the gospel no more, then I shall rebel
against the state.
I will have to say to the state,
ought we to obey men rather than God?
And while the state acts in the realm
of state, then I'm to be submissive to
the state.
And it's wonderful that Peter teaches respect, to
be submissive to the state.
He doesn't teach the church to rule the
state.
Just to be submissive to the state.
So the state acts in the realm of
state.
And then he went on with these exhortations,
and in verse 18 of chapter 2 he
said, servants, and the old Greek word there
can be translated, slaves, because they were Christian
slaves.
And he's teaching them to be subject to
your masters with all faith.
You see, he's telling us how to behave
in the state, and he's telling us how
to behave in our employment, because Christians ought
to behave in employment.
We should be on time.
We should do our work, as unto the
Lord.
I was in a big shop the other
day talking to the manager and this, you
know.
And I said, you know, that raw stuff
there, it's really tremendously placed up there.
I said to the girl that does that
thing, it pains.
We said, and then she came along, and
she was tidying it up, and I said
to her, I said, dear, that's a credit
to you.
She said, you know, I do that for
the Lord Jesus.
Yes, you can do that, you know.
And the teacher is teaching us how we
should behave in the state, and how we
should behave in employment.
And then when we came to chapter 3,
he changed it again, and it began likewise,
he-wise.
And he began to exhort Christian women how
they should behave in the home.
Yes, he's a great old teacher, how we
should behave in the state of strangers and
pilgrims, how we should behave in employment of
Christian slaves, how saved wives should behave in
the home.
And then last week we were looking at
verse 7, likewise ye husbands.
And he was telling husbands how to behave
in the home.
It's a tremendous passage.
And now we come to these exhortations this
week, and these are to all.
You can see that he said, finally.
And that doesn't mean for a moment that
he's coming to the end of the book.
Oh no, it just means that he's coming
to the end of these exhortations.
He's been exhorting the strangers and pilgrims, and
the slaves, and the wives, and the husbands.
And now finally he's going to talk to
the whole church.
He's talking to all.
He says, finally, do ye all.
And he's talking to every belief.
And so these exhortations are for all of
us here this evening.
And you'll notice what he pleads for.
He pleads for unity first of all.
He says, be ye all of one mind.
You know, I think that Peter learned this
great and glorious truth, probably in a hard
way.
You know, he knew the value of Christians
getting together and being of one mind and
one accord.
You remember Pentecost, don't you?
Let's go back there for a moment.
Let's go back to the Acts of the
Apostles.
And at the very first chapter, the Acts
of the Apostles, chapter one, And the Lord
is about to ascend from the Mount of
Olives, and he's talking together with his disciples.
This is the last little message before he
goes away.
Verse four, And being assembled together with them,
commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which saith he, ye have heard of
me.
And you'll find that Acts chapter two begins
like this.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully
come, they were all with one accord in
one place.
In one accord about what?
Well, they were all in one accord, just
waiting for the promise of the Father.
That's quite clear.
And I believe that the revival that our
brother was praying about will come if we
believers could all get down with one accord
and wait on God for the glory of
Christ in Austria.
I'm sure it will come.
I wish we should get with one accord
like that.
And I think, you know, they were not
only waiting with one accord, but they were
waiting with one accord believing the promise of
the Father.
It's great to get together with one accord
and believe the promises.
Peter knew something about the blessing that comes
from unity.
He was quite sure of this.
It says here, And when the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with
one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
as of a rushing mighty wind.
Mind you, it wasn't a rushing mighty wind,
it was just a sound, and the only
way that Luke the writer can describe it
is, as of a rushing mighty wind.
And it filled all the house, I want
you to get the phrase, where they were
sitting.
They were not ruling in what they call
holy rulers or anything like that.
They were just sitting, that's all.
And they were sitting, waiting.
And they were sitting, waiting, believing that the
promise of the Father would come.
And when they were all in one accord,
waiting, believing, God gave them Pentecostal breakfast.
I think Peter learned this on another occasion.
Let's go on to chapter 4 for the
moment.
And I don't want to waste time here,
but you remember that Peter and John had
to stand before the Sanhedrin in this chapter.
And they questioned him, and their lives were
in danger because the Sanhedrin was determined to
slay them.
But Peter answered by the power of the
Holy Ghost so wonderfully that they silenced the
court.
And the court became amazed, and they had
to let these men go.
And it says down in the chapter when
they were let go, verse 23, being let
go, they went to their own company, and
reported all that the chief priests and elders
had said unto them.
And when they heard that, they lifted up
their voice to God with one accord.
What a wonderful prayer meeting that was.
That's the whole believing company, isn't it?
Not a deacon missing, not an elder absent,
not a member away somewhere.
They're all together in one accord in prayer.
It was great unity.
And you'll find it said here, verse 31,
And when they heard the praise, the place
was shaken.
You know, I think that Peter learned this.
He learned the value of believers getting together
in one mind, in one accord, being united
to wake upon God and believe, and being
united in prayer.
I think he learned the test of this
unity from his own experiences.
Remember what we were looking at on Sunday
morning?
Let's do it again.
It's John's Gospel 21.
Gospel by John, and it's chapter 21.
And this is after the resurrection, and the
disciples are away back up at Galilee again.
Verse 1, after these things Jesus shows himself
again to the disciples at the Sea of
Tiberias, which is just another name for Galilee.
And on this wise stood he himself.
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called
it enough, and Nathanael of Cana and Galilee,
and the sons of Zebedee, and two other
of his disciples.
I don't think you've ever seen that bunch
together before.
You can go through the list of the
names of the apostles and disciples, wherever you
find them, and you won't find this list
anywhere in the New Testament, only here.
And what's the crowd that's here?
Simon Peter.
He's the one who denied the Lord.
And Thomas, he's the one that just simply
wouldn't believe.
And Nathanael, he's the one who thought that
no good thing could come out of Galilee.
And the two sons of Zebedee, well they're
the two boys that were looking for Chris
in the passage.
They wanted to be on the right hand
and the left.
You know, all the boys from the disciples
are here.
And there are two others more named, so
that they would fit any two of us
here this evening.
Holy Ghost has done that very wonderful, I
think.
Simon Peter said unto them, I go fishing.
Can't you see him, you know?
He's been restored, all right.
Because, you know, he denied the Lord, and
then when the Lord looked at him, he
went out and left bitterly.
And I think he got parted from the
company for two days, and then on Resurrection
Day, and we don't know where it happened,
the Lord appeared to Simon.
He just said, the Lord hath appeared to
Simon.
No comment about what went on.
I think Peter's sitting somewhere in the shadows
weeping, and the risen Lord comes and sits
beside them, and puts an arm round them,
and brings them back to himself, and he's
restored them.
And you know, he's away up now at
Galilee, and he's just walking along the shore,
and he's got the tired looking round them,
and where's the master, and what's going on,
and he gets edged up about it, and
with an impulse he says, I'm going back
to the peasant.
Because that's what he actually said, I go
fishing.
You can get turned up, you know, with
Christian service this time, and even when you're
called away from the boat, and the fish,
you can turn them back.
And maybe every one of us has been
guilty of this.
And so I'll tell you this, when a
nigger makes a blunder like this, he always
takes others with him, because the moment he
said, I go fishing, they said, we're going
with thee.
We asked to go with thee, and they
went forth, and they caught nothing.
You know, he was stepping out of the
mind of God, and he was dislocating the
company, and he's disunited, and he's a Nazi.
Lots of people, you know, if there's a
little huff in the church, they're always going
to start one of their own.
It's a great pity of you fools, a
great pity.
I would never do that.
If they said, have trouble here, I would
get out and leave the flock alone.
I'll never be guilty of flipping the people
of God, not even if I die.
No, no, no, no.
People learn, you know, you learn when you
get out of touch and dislocate the people
of God.
There's no good of it.
You catch nothing after that, fellows.
Do you remember this great experience he had
in Galatians?
Let's take a look at that now.
Galatians, and you know that Galatians was written
a long time after Pentecost, don't you?
Well, after all, Paul wasn't saved at Pentecost,
and he wasn't saved away on into ex
-separation mind.
And it's a long time after that even,
before he goes out and proves thy ministry,
and goes to Galatia.
And it's a long time after that before
he wrote this letter.
Actually, if you like to measure it, you'll
find that this is exactly sixteen years after
Pentecost.
Sixteen years.
And Paul is away up north, in Syria,
in a little place called Antioch.
And Jim and I were not very far
from that place one day.
We were both at Damascus one day together.
And Antioch, just a little bit to the
left there of Damascus.
It's actually Antioch in Syria.
Remember, there's another Antioch in the New Testament,
which is Antioch in Pisidia, which is actually
in Asia.
But this one was Antioch in Syria.
There's a little church there.
And Paul was up there.
In fact, he was one of the leaders
there, and he preached there often, one of
the great gifts.
And Peter thought that he would come from
Jerusalem just to visit this church, just like
our friends have come tonight.
And Peter came.
But when Peter was come to Antioch, verse
11, Galatians 2, verse 11, but when Peter
was come to Antioch, Paul says, I was
stood him to the face, because he was
to be blamed.
You know, he was going wrong again.
Yes, before that certain came from James, that
is, before that certain dude came from James,
he did eat with the Gentiles.
Having a jolly good old time with the
Gentiles.
He was down in Antioch, and nobody knew,
so he could go round to the Gentile
houses and have a bit of fellowship, and
he was doing pretty well, like some of
the brethren preachers that I know, when they're
away from the faith meetings, they can do
all right.
Yes, the fact you know, why do you
not cover up the fact?
Then when you get back into the past
place, they wouldn't know you then.
I just think that's apocryphal, that's what I
think about that.
Good for you, Jim.
We'll kick off soon together, isn't it?
But what exactly what happened here, before that
certain dude came from James, he did eat
and drink with the Gentiles, and when they
were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing
them which were of the circumcision.
He's afraid of these Jews.
And the other Jews, up there at Antioch,
dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also
was carried away with their dissimulation, and the
word dissimulation just simply means hypocrisy.
And again, you know, he's breaking the unity!
But Paul's taking no nonsense with him.
If he was the first pope, Paul wasn't
a bit afraid of him.
Paul set him back in his heels.
I can assure you of that, because Paul
took him to task.
I don't believe that Paul or anybody on
that age believed this will be written here.
I don't think that Paul just took him
and shook him, because he was not doing
it right.
I don't think that there was so much
nonsense about that.
I think that Peter learned from this.
He learned the value of Christians being of
one mind.
You know, I think that David had got
the hold of this thing long before Peter.
It says, look, it's Psalm 133, just for
a moment now, so you see.
Psalm 133, and
David came this many years before Peter was
ever thought about.
He said, behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity.
And then he took an illustration.
He said, it is like repressive ointment upon
the head that ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard that went down to the
script of his garments.
And I remember asking a big class of
faith class scholars one day, how was the
ointment on Aaron's head like unity?
Because that's exactly what David says, it's like
unity, it's like the ointment on Aaron's head.
And here's the answer.
When they pulled it onto the high priest's
head, it ran down to his head and
his beard, and his beard touched every stone
on the breastplate.
And the whole crowd of them united together
upon the heart of the high priest, who
was blessed with the blessing of the high
priest, all these great brethren.
That's what it does.
And that's what Peter's leading us to be
tonight.
In this short statement, it begins with, be
ye all of one mind, and it ends
with the blessing of God, that ye should
inherit the blessing.
Yes, I think you know that Peter has
learned this great and mighty truth.
And may God help us to bow to
this book, for this book is the mind
of God.
And if we're ever going to be in
the mind of Christ, let this mind be
in you, which is also in Christ Jesus.
You'll have to be saying, God, thank the
Lord, to all the things that's in the
book, and say the Lord's word to me.
And I'll tell you, it would bring us
closer to each other if we bowed to
the book.
Now, let's see these other exhortations in 1
Peter 3, verse 8.
Finally, he said, be ye all of one
mind, having compassion one of another.
Oh, couldn't we take a long time this
evening?
Having compassion one of another.
You know, this is quite a study for
you young Christians and for you gospel preachers.
And I'm only starting you off on the
theme, and I don't mean to go into
it very much.
You remember when the widow of Nain, when
her son was being taken to his last
resting place, you remember it says that when
the Lord Jesus saw her, he saw this
old widowed mother who had lost her only
son now, when he saw, it says, he
had compassion one of another.
That's the word of Jesus.
And you know, we should ask the Holy
Ghost to compensate this enough, that where bereavement
comes, at least there should be real compassion
in our souls.
And you know, at the time of real
bereavement, one always feels how miserable they are,
and how small their words are, and one
cannot say very much.
But you know, a gentleman told me just
the other day, he said, you know, so
and so, he came to see me when
my mother died.
He said, you know, it wasn't what he
said, he didn't say very much, he just
leaned on my shoulder and wept just for
a second, just a few things.
And it would be good to ask the
Lord to give us real compassion, one for
another.
And you remember when the man that was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he
shouldn't be going down, you remember how the
old devil got the hold of him.
Then the thieves destroyed him, and he's lying
there.
You remember how the Levites and the priests
walked past from the other side, and the
good Samaritan, it says, came near and had
compassion on him.
And before you leave this world, you're going
to find a brother who has fallen, you
know, and the old devil has wounded him.
Ah, well, don't you dare to pass by
on the other side.
You just ask the Lord for a bit
of compassion.
He would need it, you know.
I've been trained to give him mercy more
than anything else.
And every brother or sister that has fallen
knows that they have me to lean on.
And I'll have to, no matter who criticizes
me.
And I wish I could do it better.
This is exaltation, isn't it?
You know, I was talking to a father
some months ago, which may be a year
ago, I forget time sometimes.
And this big son, you know, had taken
a lot of money out of the house
and had gone away and had loosed it.
They said to me, you know, he'll never
get in that door again.
I said, it's a good job you were
not the father of the Prophets.
Don't tell me what the father of the
Prophets did.
Ah, don't tell me
you're a father if you're such a shameless.
This is an exaltation.
Yes, there's plenty of exercise for this compassion.
There's a lot of foot mauling around us.
And there's a lot of wounded backsliders.
And the world is full of cradicles.
And once upon a time, I was one
of them.
Do you hear the Lord talking to you
tonight?
It's this word that's translated compassion to you.
It's a Greek word and you can look
it up when you go home.
It's sympathy, s-u-m-p-r-p
-h-i-e, with a stroke above the
e.
And it's where we get our English word
sympathy from.
Oh, and God would teach us that we
should stay together in one mind and one
accord.
And that was the power of compassion.
One of another.
What a Christian family it is.
And he goes further, he was a great
old preacher.
He says, finally be ye all of one
mind, having compassion one of another.
Love of brethren.
You know, this is something that is stressed
right through this book.
If you want to know first Peter, there
are five chapters.
And I'll tell you this, there are two
lines of truth going right through the five
chapters like railway lines.
In every chapter you will find something about
separation.
And in every chapter there is something about
love and brotherhood.
Every chapter.
Just have a look at it.
Let me look at mine now.
See chapter one, verse twenty-two, after talking
about redemption, he says, seeing you have purified
your souls, verse twenty-two, seeing you have
purified your souls and obeying the truth through
the Spirit unto unseen love of the brethren.
See that you love one another with a
pure heart, fervently.
See chapter two, do you remember this, verse
seventeen?
Honor all men, love the brotherhood.
And Peter is the only writer in the
New Testament who uses that great word.
Imagine that doesn't belong to the Old Order.
Somebody asked me the other day, this is
said in this book, fear God, honor the
king, derry off from on the boy.
Well I can tell you it says fear
God and honor the king, but not a
bit of a derry off from on the
boy, not a thing about it.
If in this world the word brotherhood doesn't
belong to the Methodist, nor does it belong
to the Old Order, it belongs to Christian
brotherhood.
See Peter's like this right through this chapter,
right through this whole book, in the first
chapter, in the second chapter, now in the
third chapter, and in the fourth chapter see,
verse eight, he says above all things have
heaven charity among yourselves.
And in the last chapter, chapter five, he
says greet ye one another, last verse, with
a kiss of charity.
You know friends this is something that Peter
seems to hum a lot.
He says suffer for Christ and love one
another.
All that we could get in these exhortations
properly, because what the church said it would
mean, if we were all of one mind,
and we had compassion, and we were loving
each other as brethren, then the Lord ought
to do so.
And then he goes further with these exhortations,
verse eight, in chapter three, finally be ye
all of one mind, having compassion one of
another, love as brethren, be pitiful.
Isn't that a tremendous word to bring in.
You know when you look at the word
pitiful, and the word charity, which is love,
and the word pitiful, you know they are
very near relatives one of another.
In fact it would be very hard to
dissect them.
The only ecclesiastical dissection I know exists.
That love, it comes from the heart.
You love with your whole heart.
And I think it's pitiful comes from the
whole soul.
The whole soul rises in pitiful.
And I think it's pitiful comes from the
whole mind.
You remember the Lord talking about, you rise
to pitiful.
And you know very often we say that
when we saw in such a state, one
of another, you see you fear, and then
your mind thinks.
Wouldn't it be a great family if we
were all of one mind?
And there was this sympathy, and this charity,
and this pitiful.
And then he goes further and he says,
finally be ye all of one mind, having
compassion one of another, love as brethren, be
pitiful, be courteous.
And if you have a revived version in
your hand, and some of you have, the
word there is be humble minded.
You know that's a great thing.
You know sometimes some of the young fellows
ask me this question.
They say, Pastor, do you ever preach the
same message as Christ?
But I assure you I preach them more
than twice.
There are some messages that the Lord gave
me that I must have preached a hundred
times.
And if God gives me grace I'll preach
them a hundred more.
And I'll not be asking your permission, whether
you like it or whether you don't.
You know my Master is my example.
And there was one whole message that he
preached over and over again, word for word,
for some of you critics, of different verses,
of different lines, to different people.
Can I let you through and do it,
and then you'll be through.
Have a look at Matthew's Gospel, and we're
at chapter 23.
Matthew, chapter 23.
You know it's good to get exactly what
was going on.
If you go back to chapter 21 you'll
get a start maybe.
And then they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and
were come to Bethpage, unto the Mount of
Olives.
Now this is the time that Jesus Christ
was coming into Jerusalem for the very last
time.
You know he's going to send the two
disciples to get the ark here.
And then he rode into Jerusalem, it was
Palm Sunday, that's the bit you do know.
He came riding in on the ark.
And then of course he preached in Jerusalem,
and then he went out every night and
stayed I think on the Mount of Olives,
and came back in every day.
And in chapter 23, he's back in Jerusalem
again, and of course in these chapters you
know, he deals with the Pharisees, and he
deals with the Sadducees, and what a wonderful
master of the word the master was.
And here he's speaking to the multitude in
chapter 23, Jesus to the multitude and to
his disciples.
Preach the saints and sinners together, you know
there's nothing wrong with that.
Saying the scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat.
And then he goes on to tell just
exactly how proud they were.
And he says this, he says verse 8,
But be not ye called rabbis, for one
is your master, even Christ, and all ye
are brethren.
And call no man your father upon the
earth, for one is your father which is
in heaven.
Never be ye called masters, for one is
your master, even Christ, but he that is
greatest among you shall be your servant.
And here's a bit of the message that
he was really pointing home.
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased,
and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted.
Now that's in Jerusalem, and I think it's
in the temple grounds, talking to the crowds.
Now if you go to Luke's gospel, it's
chapter 14.
Luke's gospel, chapter 14.
You'll find that one of the Pharisees has
brought them to his own house.
It seems to pass that he went into
the house of one of the Pharisees to
eat bread on the Sabbath day.
It's a different day, and certainly it's a
different place.
And the Lord is saying to the people
there, verse 10, I'm just saving time, But
when thou art bidden, go and sit down
in the Lord's room, that when he that
bowed thee cometh, he may say unto thee,
Friend, go up higher.
Then shalt thou have worship in the presence
of them that sit at meat with thee.
For whosoever exalts himself shall be abased, and
he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
And that's the exact same wording.
And he's preaching the same message.
And you know, if you want to have
another look at it, chapter 18, I think
it is.
And he's talking to his disciples now, verse
1.
He speaks a parable unto them to this
end, that men ought always to pray, and
not to faint.
And he gives so many expressions, and he
talks about the Pharisee and the publican.
The Pharisee, verse 11, stood and prayed thus
with himself, God, I think thee that I
am not as other men are extortioners, I'm
just a doctor, or even as a publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing as far off, would
not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven.
And the Lord Jesus said this in verse
14, I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other.
For everyone that exalts himself shall be abased,
and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
You see, the Master underlined this message.
This is something that was very precious to
the heart of the Lord.
Everywhere he went, whether it's in the temple,
whether it's in the house, whether it's talking
to the dogs, this is something that he
underlined, this humility.
I tell you, this is something that we
all need to learn, and this is what
Peter is trying to get out of here.
He says, be courteous, be humble minded.
You know, I think that one of the
things that has spoiled some of the great
gifts in the church, sometimes, you know, you
see young men coming up, and you've got
to realize that God is blessing.
And then they get too big for the
books, and there's nobody on God's earth who
knows anything for them.
And from that day forward, they're no good.
I want to tell you, young men, this,
that John the Baptist, and the Lord said
he was the greatest born of women.
You know, he never reckoned himself above being
above in the wilderness.
He wasn't looking for any academic standard.
He was just a voice in the wilderness.
That's all he was.
And I think that Paul was one of
the greatest characters the Lord ever had, or
ever will have.
And you know, when he got along the
road a bit and knew all the great
doctrines that he teaches us in the New
Testament, he says, I whom last and the
least of all saints.
Unless you keep your feet on the ground
and your face in the sky, you'll never
be any good.
With all people learn these lessons, you know,
and be all of one mind, having compassion
one of another.
Love as brethren, be pitiful, be cautious, be
humble-minded, says the Revised Verse.
And you see, he's not only pleading for
unity and sympathy and sanity and pity and
humility, but he's pleading for sanity.
You know, this is a great word for
us.
Not rendering evil for evil.
Why wasn't that a sensible thing to say?
You see, then there's something inside the whole
bunch of us.
And when somebody does something wrong on you,
you're ready to fight.
Yes, that's so, but that's not how the
Lord wants the Christian to act.
You know there are evil things being done
in this land.
And I may have got no fear to
say this, but all around us tonight there
are evil men and women.
I have no hesitation in saying that I
want to say that God doesn't want the
Christian to render evil for evil.
And I mean that.
It is not God's way at all.
Let me tell you that if you do
evil, even against evil, it doesn't make you
evil enough.
It is so evil, how could it be
found to do it?
If the optimandos against you is evil, then
if you're going to do the same in
retaliation, isn't it so easy?
And so evil doesn't make anything right.
This is the teaching of this book that
we've been saying about it.
You know you're not to render evil for
evil.
Isn't there something in all of us that
wants to avenge?
Ah, but this is something the Lord doesn't
want the Christian to have at all.
This is something that must be claimed in
you.
He says, look, don't you do that.
Vengeance is mine.
I want you to get that, because that's
tremendous evil.
First of all, I want you to get
this.
When God says, render not evil for evil,
I want you to get that.
Secondly, I want you to get this.
Not only have we God's teaching, but we
have God's word to us tonight.
There's dangers in life.
That's going to be God's way.
We're bound to bow to God's word and
we've got to lead God's way to God's.
Good to know there's something far deeper than
that, you know.
You know, if evil took up against me,
some of my sons told the prayer, let's
me put a blanket over you.
I'm only doing this to teach.
I mustn't go out.
Doing good to anybody.
In fact, I'm to pray for those that
despisefully use me.
In fact, then, I'm not to render evil.
I'm to render blessing to those that do
evil.
I want you to get this.
This is what God teaches me and by
his grace I shall go through with it.
Vengeance doesn't belong to me.
Vengeance belongs to my God.
He says, I'll repay.
Don't you worry yourself.
You stand to the side a wee minute.
Pull you out of the touch line.
You're not in the battle at all.
I will repay.
But there's something deeper than that.
If God permits, if God allows my son
to be called, my God is worthy of
it.
How can I render evil?
Have you got it?
Because that is tremendous.
God is a teacher of me.
God is telling me.
God is trusting me.
He says, I'm telling you, don't you render
evil for me.
I'm teaching you that I will pay.
I want you to trust me.
I'm working everything out for you.
Oh, I wish we could learn.
This is Christianity, isn't it?
Very difficult for sinners to save by grace,
you know, but there is grace to follow
here.
He says this.
He's making a plea for unity and sympathy
and chastity and pity and humility and sanity.
He's saying, not rendering evil for evil, that's
deed for deed.
Or not rendering reeling for reeling, that's word
for word.
Oh, let them curse me of the will.
I shall only bless back.
Oh, what kids sing for us in these
days.
Why, you would think the teacher was writing
this book for this very evening.
I tell you, this is a masterpiece of
writing.
The man that argues with me about inspiration,
I would just take him to that there
and tell him the fellow that wrote that
was an old fisherman with rough hands who
never went to school.
I wonder how he got it all.
Yes, let's get this into its proper perspective
now.
We've got all these expectations.
You see, he's not only wanting us to
be united, for he's pleading for unity and
sympathy and chastity and pity and humility and
sanity, he's pleading for spirituality, that we bless
people that curse us.
That's what the Lord Jesus said once, bless
them that curse you.
You know, that's a tremendous thing.
I want you to get this explanation, you
know.
He's saying this.
He's saying, but contrary ways, blessing, it's the
very opposite you do, knowing that we are
there on your cause.
Now, that's the difference.
He's explaining it now.
He's away from the expectation of explaining it.
He doesn't want to explain it to you.
You were called to bless people that do
evil to you.
You were called to do that.
You remember Paul being arrested in Philippi, given
into the hands of the guilty?
I don't know whether he was big or
small, but I know this, he was cruel.
And while Paul's back was licked in furrows,
you remember how he hounded Paul and Silas
into the innermost prison and put their feet
fast in the socks.
And their bare bleeding backs were against the
wall and the chain and they're sitting on
the ground and their feet fast as in
the socks.
Fast in the socks.
You know, this man didn't care two wits
about it.
He just slammed the door and went away
down the long corridor and went to bed.
And fell asleep.
A lot of evil people can sleep, you
know.
Now, I'll tell you this, that when Paul
and Silas prayed and Sanchez and the prison
walls shook, this boy jumped out of bed,
he drew a thought.
He's afraid now.
If these men are us, I'll get what
for.
And he's going to explain to them how
Paul knew in the dark and so far
away, I don't know, but Paul's correct.
Some of us would let him go.
Some of us would maybe take a sword
and have to.
No, Paul was a blessing too.
Paul was a blessing too.
And Sanchez, I knew a servant of the
Lord, he's in heaven now, standing in our
school one day preaching, just an old open
air preaching, you know, on his own.
In the park.
And a big Irish man came up and
just hit him and knocked him kicking across
the footpath.
Got up and wiped his face.
And the guards came in and arrested the
man and he got remorse.
But every week that he was in Mountjoy,
the old preacher visited him.
And the day was coming up, he had
a new suit for him, new clothes, he
had a new job ready.
And I thought to this guy, so I
hit him one day and afterwards, he says,
wasn't that fellow preaching that one day?
He says, that fellow became a blessing to
me.
I, as a woman for Christ, I wonder
can we get this, that we're called to
be a blessing.
Can we get the hold of this?
You know, there are teachings that we're called
to.
You know, we're called to witness.
We're called to witness for Christ in this
world.
There's so many ways of witnessing.
And we're called to shine as lights in
the world.
We're to be blameless and harmless as the
sons of God in the midst of a
crooked and perverse nation among whom we shine
as lights in the world.
You know, we're called for witness for Christ.
We're called to shine in the world.
We're called to be a blessing to evil
God.
We're called to be a blessing.
That's what you were called to do, to
be a blessing.
He's saying, if he seeks in them to
bless these evildoers, yes, yes.
That's where you've got it.
This is Christianity.
I tell you this.
You know, friends, he knew what he was
about, Peter.
You know, if there's this real unity among
us, if we can get together down on
our knees to plead the promises of God
and wait for the blessing.
And if there's this sympathy among us when
we have compassion one of another, and there's
this charity when we love with brethren, and
there's this pity, and there's this humility, and
this sanity, and this spirituality, I tell you
this, my dear friend, you will inherit a
blessing.
Oh, that's it.
What a wonderful verse.
It's only two verses.
That's all.
It's Christianity in full bloom.
Well, we've got a great portion for next
week, and then we're coming on to that
great portion that there have been so many
arguments about.
Peter preaching to the prince and princess.
Oh boy, we'll need an extra hour for
that.
Well, of course, the clocks were put back
and we have an extra hour, so we're
alright then.
Let's see.
We're singing 625.
625, first, second, third, and the last two
verses.
First three, last two, 625, thou sweet, beloved
will of God.