A hundred and sixty-seven, please.
Nine, six, seven, when my life work is
ended and I cross the swelling tide, then
the bright and glorious morning I shall see,
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach
the other side, and His smile will be
the first to welcome me.
Nine hundred and sixty-seven, please.
1 Peter, and we're at chapter 5.
You'll notice that we're taking four verses.
First four verses of 1 Peter, chapter 5.
And if you've looked at your notes carefully,
you will find that I have divided the
four verses into ten headings.
And I assure you that when you get
ten headings out of four verses, you must
be looking at the verses very carefully.
That's what we intend to do.
Now, the principal subject of these four verses
is this expectation of Peter to the elders
to seed the flock of God which is
among you.
And it's this great phrase that we are
to underline most this evening.
Seed the flock of God.
And when Peter gave this expectation, he was
emphasizing two things.
He was emphasizing, first of all, the work
the elders must do.
And especially the elders who are given over
to word and doctrine.
They must seed the flock.
That's the great job of any man who's
got gifts from God, and picks the plates
of an elder or an overseer, or a
shepherd who is given full time to word
and doctrine.
That is his job, is to seed the
flock.
And there are two ways of doing it.
You cannot seed the flock, you know, by
giving them bulls instead of Bible.
That's what some of them are trying.
They're making bull in our age.
Well, that won't seed the flock, I assure
you.
And if you give them tennis instead of
truth, that won't seed the flock.
Or if you just thought to have an
entertaining night, that won't seed the flock.
You know, the flock is fed on the
word of God.
It's the only thing that will seed the
flock.
You know, Peter knew all about this wonderful
job of feeding the flock.
Just turn back to the second chapter there,
1 Peter chapter 2, and do you remember
him saying this?
Our newborn babes desire the sincere milk of
the word that ye may grow thereby.
You see, that's one of the things that
the elder or the teacher or the shepherd
must pay attention to.
That there are always young believers in the
congregation.
And I assure you that each Tuesday in
this class, there's a special part put into
every Tuesday meeting that is for the young
people.
It's just milk that they may grow thereby.
And they need that.
That's how they grow, and that's the feeding
for them.
And it's up to me to get it
out of the word of God.
But you know, Paul knew better about this
feeding too.
Let's have a look at what he said
in Hebrews chapter 5.
Hebrews chapter 5.
And he's talking here about our Lord Jesus
Christ.
And in verse 10 he says, He was
called of God and high priest after the
order of Melchizedek, of whom we have many
things to say and hard to be uttered,
seeing ye are dull of hearing.
For when for the time ye asked of
the teachers, ye have need that one teach
you again which be the first principle of
the oracles of God.
And I'll become such as have need of
milk and not of strong meat.
For every one that use of milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness, free as
a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are
of full age.
And you see, each Tuesday as I come
to these particular portions, I must remember that
there are babes here, some only a week
or two saved, some coming out of the
depths of darkness, some who have certainly ever
opened the word of God before.
And I must remind myself that I must
get milk for these babes out of the
word of God.
But then there are children here, all believers,
men and women who know the doctrines of
God.
And I must feed them on strong meat.
And so that's my task.
I've got to feed the flock.
I've got to see that the young ones
get the milk of the word.
And I've got to see that the older
ones get the meat.
And so that's how the feeding's done.
It's done by milk and by meat.
And in some places there's neither milk nor
meat.
Yes, this is the great exhortation here.
Feed the flock of God.
But I want to point out to you
that Peter is emphasizing two things when he
gives this exhortation.
He's not only emphasizing the word, feed, but
he's emphasizing the phrase, flock of God.
You know, some people who are kind to
me come along and say, you know, Mr.
Monk, you've got a great flock down there.
Well, my dear friend, it's not mine.
It doesn't belong to me.
That's one thing that's sure.
It's not my flock.
It's God's flock.
And every sheep in the flock is purchased
by the blood of Jesus.
And every sheep is marked with this crimson
slot.
They're being bought out of the market of
sin.
And God is carefully taking them home.
And on the way to heaven, I'm one
of the sellers he employed to feed them.
The flock doesn't belong to the Baptists, remember.
This is one thing that I keep telling
all the Baptists.
If the Baptist council happens to be sitting
now in Fitzwilliam Street, and they think they
own this flock, they've got to think again.
Because they don't own a sheep in it.
And I think it's one of the things
that will guard us from popers.
Men don't own this flock.
And men have nothing to do with this.
And men must learn this.
That the flock is the flock of God.
It is God's flock.
It doesn't belong to anybody else.
It's a great thing to learn.
Because it makes me respect you all the
more.
Because you're one of the sheep of his
pasture.
And I've got to be very careful with
you.
This is what is stressing here this evening.
It's stressing that we should feed the flock
of God which is among us.
But I want to take the whole paragraph
and do it properly.
And it begins with this phrase, The elders
which are among you.
And I want you to notice that Peter
is recognizing the elder figure.
You know, I'll be amused when I look
at some of the Brethren commentaries.
And I know we've got Brethren here this
evening.
But I'm going to you this, that if
you look at all the Brethren commentaries, they're
afraid to acknowledge that these are the elders
that God has sent.
They all talk in all the commentaries that
this is elder Brethren.
That this is the elder ones among the
assembly.
It is nothing of the kind.
Now, supposing I said to all the elder
Brethren here this evening, Feed the flock of
God.
Let me pick one out.
Mr. Gilliland's an elderly man.
Supposing I said, Mr. Gilliland, next Tuesday you'll
come and you'll take the bibles out and
you'll feed the flock of God.
You know what he would do?
He would say, Mr. Moore, I can't do
that.
I'm not able to do that.
This is not talking to elder Brethren.
This is talking to elders who are a
gift from God.
You know, in every true assembly there are
elders.
They're afraid to say this because they couldn't
find the elders.
Yes, but there are elders, you know.
And it's a gift from God.
You know, when a company of people meet
in a room and they may meet for
a bible reading or they may meet for
some kind of spiritual entertainment or a spiritual
night of singing or praying.
Remember when a group of people meet like
that, they do not constitute a local church.
I think you know that far too many
meetings spring up and they almost take their
churches.
Let me tell you that a local church
is composed first of all of God-given
elders and of teachers who are elected by
the assembly and the faith.
And any meeting in a room is not
on the governmental lines of God, you know.
And I think we just push the government
of God aside too much, too often and
think we can do away with it.
God has given us the qualifications for elders
and for deacons in this book.
And the New Testament church is composed of
elders and of deacons and of saints.
You know, when Paul was writing the letter
to the Philippians, let's have a look at
that now, the letter to the Philippians.
Here's what he said in the first verse.
Paul and Philosia, the servants of Jesus Christ,
through all the saints in Christ Jesus, which
are the Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.
See the word bishops there?
And it's a very interesting one.
It's a Greek word, episkopos, and it's the
word that the Episcopal desk takes its name
from.
It's the very same word as in our
chapter tonight when we come to the word
oversight.
Let's go back to the chapter for a
moment and then I'll tell you what I
was going to tell you about Philippians.
You see our chapter, 1 Peter 5?
Now, the word elders there in verse 1,
that's the word presbytery.
That's the Greek word presbytery.
That's where the Presbyterians get their name from.
They believe that they should be called Presbyterians
because they have an oversight of elders.
And so they have, because that's what the
word means, it's elders.
And of course the Episcopal church takes its
name from the oversight, which is episkopos, which
means the Episcopal.
And they just say that they're the Episcopal
church because they've got an oversight of bishops.
But the word elder and the word bishop,
it's the same word.
And I don't know why they should have
divided on it, because both are the same.
The elder and the bishop and the shepherd
and the oversight, it's all the same person.
And we'll find as we go through it's
the same person.
What I wanted you to see in the
Philippines is that a local New Testament church
is composed of bishops or elders or oversight
or shepherds, whatever word you like to take
now, or rulers, that's another one.
But you must have these elders or shepherds,
or you must have this God-given oversight
or rulers, or you can't have a God
-given assembly.
And then you must have beacons.
The elders look after the spiritual side of
the work, and the beacons look after the
material side of the work.
We're going to paint this church soon, and
the beacons don't ask me what color they'll
paint it, nor do I care.
If it's green, white or gold, I'll accept
it, or orange or purple, whatever I like,
it's all the same to me, I don't
care about colors.
That's their job.
And if you have any barley with them,
don't come to me, I'd love to do
the painting.
The deacons look after the money and the
material side and many other things.
The elders or the bishops or the shepherds
or the rulers or the oversight, they've got
to look after the spiritual side of things.
So I want you to get the hold
of this, you know, this is God's order.
You know, in the New Testament church, there
were just the saints.
And let me say this, there were not
two membership roles.
Myself of the rest, no one joined themselves
on the rest.
They didn't take any solutions.
Just came, and then got the deacons out
of them.
And then God gave them elders.
And this is what Peter's talking about.
He's talking about the God-given elders.
Now, which I'll let you see into the
depths of this subject.
Let's go to the Acts of the Apostles,
and we're at chapter 20.
The Acts of the Apostles, and we're at
chapter 20.
Now, Paul is passing very near to the
coast of Ephesus here, and he stops at
a place called Miletus in verse 17.
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and
called the elders of the church.
Now, if these elders had not been recognized
by the church, the church wouldn't have known
who to send.
But this local church at Ephesus, they had
God-given elders, and the church had recognized
them.
And Paul was sending for them, and they
came to him, it says in verse 18,
and when they were come to him, he
began to speak to them.
Now, among other things, this is what he
said to them in verse 28.
He said, "...take heed therefore unto yourselves, unto
all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost's
house made you overseers."
Now, do you see that the word elders
and the word overseers is just the same?
Because he calls for the elders, and then
he immediately calls them overseers, so that you
can see quite clearly that the oversight, this
is the elders' board.
And I want you to notice this.
He said, "...take heed therefore unto yourselves, unto
all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost's
house made you overseers."
It isn't the church that elects the elders
and all.
The Holy Ghost gives them, and it's up
to the church to recognize them.
And in a moment you'll find you ought
to know them that have the rule over
you.
But I want you to get the hold
of this.
That he's saying to them, "...take heed therefore
unto yourselves, unto all the flock, over which
the Holy Ghost's house made you overseers, to
feed the church of God."
You see, the flock of God is the
church of God.
It's the local church he's talking about now.
It's the local church at Ephesus.
And that's the flock of God at Ephesus.
But I want you to get this bit.
"...over which the Holy Ghost's house made you
overseers, to feed the church of God, which
he hath purchased with his own blood."
With the blood of God, if you like.
That's a very tight one for some of
the boys who don't believe in the deity
of Christ, you know.
You see, the name of Christ is not
in the verse at all.
Somebody said maybe he was talking about the
Holy Ghost.
All right then, is it the blood of
the Holy Ghost?
Somebody says it's bound to be God, because
he says the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his own blood.
Yes, you know, the blood of Jesus Christ
is so precious that there is divine value
in it.
That you could say, the blood of God.
Mind you, that's a tremendous statement.
And I want to tell you that that's
what makes the flock very precious, because it's
a purchased flock.
This flock was never bought at Fitzwilliam Street.
This flock was bought by the blood of
Jesus.
And when you're purchased by the blood of
God, you'll never perish.
God will get the flock home, you know.
Don't think that it's indulged into the market
of sin to buy the sheep to let
somebody take them off them.
How dare you?
He'll take them home.
And they'll not be a hoof left behind
either.
They're purchased by blood, and the blood that
paints on them will never lose its power.
But the bit I want you to get
is that elders and overseers are one and
the same.
And I want you to see clearly that
the elders and the oversight is given by
the Holy Ghost over which the Holy Ghost
has led you overseers.
You know, that's most interesting, isn't it?
Now, let me show you something else that's
interesting.
Let's go to 1 Thessalonians, and we're at
chapter 5.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 5.
And this is what Paul is saying to
this assembly at Thessalonica.
Chapter 5, verse 12.
He says, And we beseech you, brethren, to
know them which labor among you and are
over you in the Lord's.
That's the overseers, you know.
That's the oversight.
That's the elders.
That's the bishops.
I want you to get the hold of
this, that are over you in the Lord
and admonish you.
And he says, We beseech you, brethren, to
know them.
You must know, good elders.
And to esteem them very highly in love
for their work's sake.
You just don't know how much work's put
into it for you sometimes.
But maybe one day in the sweet by
and by you'll wake up.
He says, Beseech you to know them and
to esteem them and be at peace among
yourselves.
It's always somebody else of the congregation shooting
arrows at the elders.
Ah, well, we'll survive no matter about you.
You get to my place, you don't worry
about Eucharist.
They don't take any sleep from me.
They're too carnal to be thought twice about.
Yes.
Here's what you ought to do, if you
can read right.
You should esteem them very highly in love
for their work's sake.
And that's the Word of God.
And it's the thing to put in the
back of your mind.
But let's go a bit further with this.
Have a look at 1 Timothy, chapter 5.
1 Timothy, chapter 5.
And Paul wrote this very carefully.
It's inspired, you know, verse 1.
Rebuke not an elder.
Why don't you do that for your information?
You know, sometimes I have been liking young
fellows and sometimes young girls who like to
come and tell me how to do it.
And you'll only come once here.
When I finish with you, you'll not come
again.
And I have no mercy on anybody who's
too stupid.
You couldn't carry this class on for two
nights and you're not coming to tell me.
I was sent here by God and gifted
by God.
And I'm one of the rulers here, just
one of them.
And when you start to take the job
of me, I'll throw you in the street.
And I'll see that the assembly does it.
And if they're not prepared to do it,
then I'm prepared to go.
But I'm not taking any of those cheeks
from you.
It's quite plainly put here, you know.
Rebuke not an elder.
You just wouldn't know what you're talking about
at times.
Or you just keep your tongue in between
your teeth.
And here's what it says further down the
chapter, you know.
It says this, verse 17.
Let the elders that rule well be counted
worthy of double honour.
Now, what does it mean by ruling?
And what does it mean by ruling well?
And what does it mean by double honour?
Well, you'll see in a moment what double
honour means.
It says, let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honour.
Especially they.
And now it's making a differentiation between the
elders.
Especially they who labour in word and in
doctrine.
You see, we've got a bunch of elders
here.
And I think there's not the like of
them in the country.
But I'm the one that sets apart the
labour in word and doctrine.
And that's all I do.
And let me assure you, it's all I
intend to do.
Because that's my job.
My job is labouring in word and in
doctrine.
And I can challenge this assembly for 19
years now.
Have I done it?
My, I have laboured in word and doctrine.
Now, I'm specially set apart.
And I'm to be counted worthy of double
honour.
All the elders of honour, or should have.
But the one that's set apart is to
have double honour.
You see, here's what it means.
It says, let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honour.
And especially they who labour in word and
doctrine.
For the scripture says, thou shalt not muzzle
the ox that treadeth out the cause.
You see, I'm the labourer here.
And the labourer is worthy of his reward.
Yes, of course I get paid.
Of course I'm supposed to get paid.
You don't want to muzzle me, do you?
You'll neither muzzle me one way or another.
No.
I refuse to be muzzled.
Remember how the old jurors used to treat
the ministers.
They used to say, Lord, you keep them
humble and we'll keep them poor.
Is that the way they worked?
Well, you're not supposed to muzzle the ox
that treads out the cause.
And I tell you that it takes a
bit of treading out sometimes.
Sometimes I'm working till five o'clock in
the morning, treading the corner.
Going upstairs half-dead, just for an hour's
sleep before the day begins.
Well, that's just to point out that there
are elders who labour in word and doctrine.
And then here's something I think that should
be put in red letters in every New
Testament, verse 19.
Against an elder, receive not an accusation, but
report two or three witnesses.
Now, you'd wonder why God put that in.
Well, I can tell you this.
You see, if I labour honestly for God,
and if I sit down for hours and
I tread out the cause, and I'm determining
in my heart to feed the flock, I'm
determining to bring milk to the babes in
Christ to build them up.
And I'm determining all the time to bring
strong meat to them who are full-aged.
You know, I'm building up the flock.
I'm keeping it healthy.
I'm keeping it on the way.
There's not a way to have it.
The old devil doesn't like it.
So you see that every man that would
labour honestly in word and doctrine is a
target for the enemy.
And somebody will tell Ivan, or bring an
accusation, Oh, I could spend the night and
the rest of the night teaching him about
it.
I knew where there was a godly old
pastor, a man who could handle the word
of God and feed the flock and bless
the saints.
And you know, a woman whom he visited
because he thought she was a maid, she
told a lie on him.
She said he came in and put his
arms round her and knocked her down on
the couch and a whole lot of things.
And I met him in the vestry and
he was crying and he said, I never
did it before my nature, I never did
it.
Oh, but the church brought him up before
me.
And he stood at the front of the
church and put his hand on the Bible
and the big steers gliding him.
And he says, In the name of Jesus
Christ my Lord, I never laid my hand
on that woman's shoulder either.
And she rose from her seat and walked
up the aisle and put her hand on
the same Bible and said, In the name
of Jesus Christ, he knocked me down.
And the church split like that and they
hadn't the right to.
She would need two or three witnesses according
to this book.
And I stood by the pastor just because
there were no witnesses.
And I would do it again.
And six or seven years later when she
was dying of cancer, she said to three
of the elders that stood by him and
held onto her hand and said, I told
a lie on him.
He never did it.
He never touched me.
The bitch.
I had to put an adjective or two
to that thing.
And I was saying, God would forgive me
too.
Yes.
I'll tell you this.
Learn this from my thing.
You might save somebody's broken heart.
Don't you receive an accusation unless there are
two or three witnesses.
And you'll be going by the word of
God.
Because the devil would always shoot the man,
you know.
A lot that has been done.
Many a time I have fought for a
man of God.
And for all that I have fought for
a man of God once, when about 40
of them were against him.
And a wee lot, two lays on him.
Oh, I could tell you all about it.
Yes, it's a wonderful thing to be sent
of God.
It's a great thing to be used of
God to bless the flock.
It's a wonderful job, and one wouldn't have
it any other way.
But the old devil can see, though, exactly.
You know that Richard Baxter was one of
the greatest ministers of the word of God
that Britain ever had.
Or maybe ever will have.
And a Roman Catholic woman going to have
a baby blamed it on Richard Baxter.
Richard Baxter never was near the woman.
And when she was dying, she confessed that
the priest in the town told her to
blame Richard Baxter for his hair.
That terrible thing.
Don't you ever be on the devil's side.
You make sure that you are on the
side of this book.
And when you find some man of God
being accused, look for the witnesses.
And if they are there, you are all
right.
Yes, there is a great loss in this
book, you know, about elders.
There are men who are saints of God
to the flock, to feed it.
You'll notice as we get back to 1
Peter chapter 5, that there is not only
a recognition here, but there is an expectation
here.
You see, elders can exhort elders.
And we didn't go into that too much
this evening.
But you know, there is a humiliation here.
I like this bit.
You know, the more that I listen to
Peter preaching, and the more that I study
the writings of Peter, the more I love
Peter.
I think that Peter was one of the
greatest men that God ever had.
Oh, it's true, he was only a fisherman.
Here is what he said here.
The elders which are among you I exhort
to, I am also an elder.
He's not taking the place of the Pope
there, you know.
He's just taking the place of being an
elder, that's what he is.
He says, I'm just one of the elders.
You know, when you see this man, right
through this book, one day he went into
the house of Cornelius, you remember now.
And Cornelius immediately fell down on the ground
and wept.
And he lifted him up quickly and said,
stand on your feet.
I also am a man.
He could educate the lot of the boys
who liked people to bow at their feet.
You know, he met men as a man.
He preached to elders as an elder.
He's writing this book as the apostle of
Jesus Christ to the churches scattered throughout Pontius.
He was a great character.
But how humble and how lowly this man
followed the Lord.
But you know, there is not only a
recognition here of elders, and an exaltation here,
and a humiliation here.
You know, there's a commendation here.
The elders which are among you I exalt
who am also an elder, and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ.
You know, that should commend him to any
writer.
He was one of the witnesses of the
sufferings of Christ.
And you know, I don't need to go
into that this evening, or I take too
much time.
Because I wrote a little booklet on the
witness of the sufferings of Christ.
And I point about that on the day
of Pentecost when Peter was preaching.
He talked about the time when men with
wicked hands took Christ and crucified Him.
You know, it must have been a very
moving moment in Gethsemane When that crowd came
through the gate with the torches, the eastern
moon was shining, and our Lord was away
alone under the old olive tree.
And you know, as He came out from
the shadows of the olive tree, He said,
Whom seek ye?
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, Here I am.
And you know, they took Him with wicked
hands.
It must have been a terrible moment to
see them bending His hands behind His back
and firing them.
No wonder Peter drew the sword.
I feel if I had been there with
a sword, I'd been with them.
Only I wouldn't take one ear off, I'd
take one off on one side, and one
on the other, and the bit in the
middle between.
Ah, He was moved.
Yes, He witnessed the cynical sufferings of Christ.
That's the bit I want you to get
the hold of.
And then when He talked to the nation,
you know, in ecstasy, He said, you know,
He denied the Holy One and the just.
And He desired a murderer in His place.
And when He talked to the whole Sanhedrin,
that great council of the Jews, He said
to them, This is the stone that you
builders rejected.
You know, He saw the national sufferings of
Christ.
It's a terrible thing, you know, when the
nation rejects you.
And it's a terrible thing when the nation
rejects the King of Kings.
Yes, Peter saw the physical.
Peter saw the national.
But we were reading here the other week.
Turn your page back again to chapter 2
again.
See verse 22.
Talking about Christ, He said, Who did no
sin.
Neither was guile found in His mouth.
Who, when He was reviled, reviles not again.
When He suffered, He present not.
But committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.
Who, His own self, bear our sins in
His own body on the tree.
You know, He saw that bit.
That's substitutional.
That's not physical sufferings.
That's not national sufferings.
That's He, His own self, bearing our sins
in His own body on the tree.
You know, He was a witness of the
sufferings of Christ.
He got the right to speak to men.
And this is what commends Him to them.
You see, there's the recognition here of elders.
And there's an expectation here, I exhort.
There's a humiliation here, who am also an
elder.
There's a commendation here, a witness of the
sufferings.
There's an expectation here.
You know, I like this, what Peter says.
He says, a witness of the sufferings of
Christ.
And also, a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed.
There was no loss.
Forgetting that's above itself.
Oh, He never even thought about being lost
again.
He says, you know, I'll be in the
glory.
My dear friend, He never even thought anything
else.
He says, I'm a witness of the sufferings.
And I'll tell you this, I'll be a
partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
You know, that's the way Paul talks.
Paul talks about rejoicing in hope of the
glory of God.
That's the way he talks.
That's the way John talks.
John says, when He shall appear, we shall
be like Him.
We shall be glorified.
My, these great men of God never bothered
with this erroneous doctrine of being lost again.
They were heading for the glory.
Yes, Peter says, a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed.
Now, I want you to get this.
There's an identification here, the flock of God.
I have already told you that they were
purchased by blood.
And they were purchased by blood eternally.
The blood would need to lose its power
before we could lose the flock.
Yes, that's the blood that bought them out
of the market of sin.
But I want you to get this little
bit in.
Let's go back to John's Gospel, chapter 10,
for a moment.
John's Gospel, chapter 10.
And the Lord Jesus is speaking here.
He says, verily, verily I say unto you,
He that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way,
the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door
is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep
hear his voice.
And he calleth his own sheep by name.
You know, this is one thing about the
flock of God.
It's not only purchased by blood eternally, but
every single individual member is called by Christ
personally.
Calls them all out by name, you know.
You remember when Saul the Baptist was getting
saved?
Why, the Lord bent over the bough of
the street of heaven and said, Call!
Call!
Call him by name.
As he calls me by name, I can
remember the day he called me.
Called me out of darkness into marvelous light.
The flock of God is, first of all,
purchased by blood eternally, called by Christ personally.
And then what he says here, he says,
Yes, and when he putteth forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep
follow him.
You know, they're guided by Christ continually.
You get that?
Because that's for the young folks.
You're purchased by blood eternally.
You're called by Christ personally.
You're guided by Christ continually, and you're nourished
by the Word, spiritually.
This is your only food.
Don't substitute anything for this.
My, this is the food for your very
soul and spirit.
Yes, this is the flock of God that's
identified with you.
And then we want to get back to
1 Peter.
Let's look at this now, because this is
something I wanted to say.
1 Peter, chapter 5.
I think we've got this as we go
along now.
There's a recognition here of elders.
There's an expectation here, I exhaust.
There's a humiliation here, Peter calls himself an
elder.
There's a commendation here, he was a witness
of the sufferings of Christ.
There's an expectation here, he's a partaker of
the glory that shall be.
There's an identification here, the flock belongs to
God.
It's purchased by Him, called by Christ, guided
by Christ, nourished by His Word.
Now, there's an explanation here.
Peter is saying, keep the flock of God
which is among you, taking the oversight thereof.
And what oversight?
I've already told you, it's Episcopos.
That's the word that Episcopalian comes from.
You know that old Nicholson, when he was
here preaching, he couldn't say Episcopalian.
I can hardly say it either, I have
to fiddle about with him a bit.
But he always said Episcopian.
He's going to introduce one or two of
the old Church of Ireland ministers as Mr.
Jones from the Episcopian Church.
Well, it was all right, wasn't it?
I don't know what Episcopian means, but I'm
sure it fitted them all right.
But this word is the word Episcopos, and
it's the word that the Episcopal church takes
because they have an oversight.
Oversight of bishops.
For they don't seem to realize that the
word bishop and overseer and elder are all
the same thing.
You see, at the first of the chapter
he's calling them elders.
Here in the second verse he's saying, take
the oversight thereof.
But you know, while these words are all
intermingled with each other, there's a difference in
this one.
Not only does it be rendered oversight, not
only bishop, but it's rendered by a very
interesting phrase.
Shall I show it to you?
Have a look at Hebrews.
And we're at Hebrews chapter 12.
And you need to read from verse 14
to get the truth here.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14.
Follow peace with all men.
Well, that's a complete phrase, remember?
And the emphasis is on following.
He's trying to exhort these ones to follow
peace with all men, and then there's an
apostasy.
And you know, if you're a man of
God at all, you'll want to follow peace
with all men.
But if you're a faithful man of God,
you'll not be at peace with all men.
I've been following for a long time, but
I haven't caught up with it.
You see, I say things out loud in
this Bible class.
I've got to do that if I'm faithful.
Then it annoys some people.
They don't like me to say it.
So they're at war with me over that.
Well, no matter how hard you follow, you
won't catch up while you're down here.
But still you're being exhorted to follow peace
with all men.
And then it says, follow peace with all
men and holiness.
You see, you have to follow holiness too.
Of course, I would think that a man
or woman who professes to be saved, and
they're not following peace and they're not following
holiness, I don't think they're saved at all.
I think when you get saved you want
to be holy.
Our secretary prayed at our morning meeting last
Sunday morning, standing beside me trembling, I could
feel him shaking.
And he said, Lord, help us to be
as holy as is possible for human beings
down here to be.
And I said, Amen.
I said, Amen.
If we follow peace and we follow holiness
too.
And he said here to them, without which
no man shall see the Lord.
You see, I believe that if you don't
follow peace and you don't follow to be
more holy, you're not saved at all, you'll
not see the Lord.
Because I know that there's a lot of
holiness meetings distort this doctrine.
I went to preach at the big convention
once, and a big banner across the hall
as I went in, read like this, Without
holiness, no man shall see the Lord.
That's not the text at all.
That's a distortion of the truth.
That's not what this book says.
This book says follow peace and there's a
comma there, and holiness.
Without what?
Without the following of the both of them,
no man will see the Lord.
But the fellow who takes the word without
and puts it on the other side of
holiness, and says without holiness no man shall
see the Lord, is writing a wee Bible
of his own and he's not allowed to.
Surely you've seen it a thousand times and
people swallow it.
On the day that I went to the
convention, you see, I preached from a banner.
He told them how far on, but I
wasn't at peace that day, I can assure
you.
And a good lot of the so-called
holy boys weren't holy either.
They were mad.
Well, they're not allowed to write a Bible.
Who told you you could write a Bible?
You couldn't write anything.
Don't you dare to distort the word of
God.
Don't you dare to take the commas out.
Don't you dare to shift the words.
I could shift the words and make a
wonderful text too.
You're not allowed to do that.
You're leading people up a blame valley.
You're not even preaching truth, you're preaching error.
You see, when I talk about them like
that, they don't like it.
Never ask back again.
You're not holy enough for them.
Well, I'm telling you what it says.
You can read, can't you?
Follow.
That's what he said, follow.
Peace with all men is the comma there.
And holiness, you're to follow the two of
them.
Without which, no man shall see the Lord.
And then, that's not the end of the
statement.
He says, looking diligently.
See those two words, looking diligently?
Well, it's one word in the Greek New
Testament.
It's episkopos.
You know what an overseer is, don't you?
Some of you women are overseers in the
military.
You examine the cloth, don't you?
You're overseers.
What do you do?
You look diligently.
It's the same thing, isn't it?
You're learning Greek and you didn't know it.
Yes, looking diligently, that's exactly what you do.
You examine it very closely.
This is exactly what the elders have to
do.
That's why they're rulers.
That's why they're the overseers.
They've got to look diligently at the cloth.
Got to watch the cloth at all times.
You see, there are three things they've got
to watch for.
It's looking diligently, lest any man fail of
the grace of God or fall from the
grace of God, as it is in the
march.
You see, sometimes I hear young folks talking
and they mean well enough, you know.
But I can tell you this, you know,
they're getting away from grace and they're putting
the emphasis on work.
Well, it seems to me we're just packed
of fancy that's going all around now.
And this is the greatest baloney in this
world, you know.
Because this is bargaining with God.
This is saying, I'll give you so much
if you give me so much back.
Ah, well, that's not great.
You're a race of bargaining with God now.
You're going to buy blessings, aren't you, love?
You're a being who drinks and somebody's enjoying
you being a race.
You don't buy anything from God.
God, who gave His Son freely, with Him,
gives us all things.
That's gracious.
You say, I'm not worthy of it.
That's stupid.
Nevertheless, that's grace.
Don't you go back to bargaining with God
or trying to buy blessings from God.
You're failing or falling from the grace of
God.
You're back to work, you know.
You're going to do something, you're going to
give something to get something.
Ah, that's not grace.
You know, we need to look diligently, not
only left some fall from the grace of
God, but we need to look diligently left
any root of bitterness springing up trouble you
and thereby many be defiled.
You know, sometimes a fellow can get the
bit between his teeth.
The dear little woman here, she's here now,
came to see me yesterday.
She said, dear wee woman, I once had
you there, so you didn't worry.
You just sit up as if it wasn't
you.
And she said to me, I've arrived with
my husband this morning.
So she's not the first one, you know.
There's a load of them here.
She said, what's the temple?
And in the temple, I went out and
slammed the door.
I went down the street and I said,
I'm going to have an action on the
way.
I'm going to get rid of this.
Just like that.
So finally it's not as easy to get
rid of all that.
And I sat down beside her and I
said, you know, you lost the temple.
And you've made a proper fool of yourself.
And you're all wrong.
You're wrong.
And she was a being, you know.
I never forgot her.
She looked at me and she said, I
expected you to say that.
And you know what's wrong with you.
Well, let's pray about it.
We'll pray way up the street and tell
the solicitor to stop this man.
Go way back and put their arms around
him and love him.
This root of bitterness can get into you,
you know.
And it should make a proper fool of
you.
And there's nothing in the thing at all.
Oh, I've seen men walking about and you
should see their faces.
They're in misery.
There's some wee thing annoying them.
It's the great pity of them.
They get all fussed up about it.
There's nothing in it.
And when you sit down and give thought
to them, you know, you can put it
right, because you've got to look diligently at
where the flaw is.
And then you know the oversight has got
to look diligently in case some people get
away from grace and let the root of
bitterness spring up within them, unless there be
any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who
for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
You know, there are a great lot of
careless Christians in Ulster.
You know, this booklet our father fought for,
tried to take this off us once upon
a time, you know, and they tried to
close the doors of the meeting so that
we couldn't have it and we couldn't preach.
And the head of Scotland was died with
the blood of the covenants.
And that's why we have it tonight.
And if some of them would rather sit
at home and look at the old Surrey
TV and they're going to let their heritage
go.
We're an open door here on Sundays.
And we have a playing band.
But there's a crowd of bastards and I
don't know where they are on Sunday night.
We are holding a fortune on them.
And if it's good on you and you
lose it, you'll cry along with me.
I assure you, you never can when you
have it.
You'll have to go to hell.
And you can fiddle about, you're wonderful.
Oh, I can see diligently, you know, I
can see the flaws.
And tell me you pulled your socks up
and got back into the gospel battle again.
Because the Lord has needed you.
Casey's explaining here what the Oversight is all
about.
Let's get back to 1 Peter.
We must do it all now when we're
at it.
1 Peter chapter 5.
There is not only the identification of the
flock and the explanation of the Oversight, there's
an obligation here upon all the elders.
Casey says, Feed the flock of God which
is among you, taking the Oversight thereof, not
by constraint but willingly, not for self-delucre
but of a ready mind, neither as being
lords over God's heritage, but being in samples
to the flock.
You know, the elders are the examples.
And in so many ways.
Let's have a look at Hebrews chapter 12
for a moment.
Hebrews chapter 13 it is.
Hebrews 13.
This is the great text I preached on
at one Sunday morning.
Verse 7.
Remember then which have the rule over you,
who have spoken unto you the word of
God, whose faith follow.
Considering the end of the conversation, Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday and today and forever.
You know, the elders must give an example
of faith.
And you'll find the elders at all times
with their eyes on the Lord, not worried
about the rebels.
Silence all the Lord round about us.
For through many of God's people are on
the boat quaking.
Have you not got the Lord with you?
And the Lord's looking after you.
Nobody touches you unless the Lord allows it.
And if he allows it, then it's the
best thing that ever happened to you.
Wish we could settle it like this.
If the elders, they should be an example
in faith.
They should be an example in faithfulness.
Let's have a look at this quickly.
This is 1 Thessalonians.
This is a lovely one and I don't
want you to miss it.
1 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 1.
For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto
you that it was not in vain.
But even after that we had suffered before
and were shamefully entreated, as you know at
Philippi, we were bold in our God to
speak unto you the gospel of God with
much contention.
For our expectation was not of deceit, nor
of uncleanness, nor in guise.
But as we were allowed of God to
be put in trust with the gospel even
so we speak, not as pleasing men, but
God which trieth our hearts, neither at any
time used we flattering words, as you know,
nor a cloak of covetousness, God as witness,
not of men sought we glory, neither of
you, nor yet of others.
Yes, you know, the apostle was going in
here under faithfulness to God written all over
it.
You see, verse 7.
But we were gentle among you, even as
a nurse cherishes her children.
You know, there's not only the faith of
the rulers to follow, but the faithfulness.
And then there must be the friendliness.
You know, the friendliness of the nurse is
a great thing.
When I was in hospital they put me
in a little room all by myself and
I was really delighted about that.
I'm a lone ranger and I can stick
it forever and ever.
I would have made the best monk in
the country.
No bother at all, but the sister came
in one morning with the nurse with her
and she said to me, my dear, thus
you look miserable.
Well, I said, sister, I have watched you
for days and you are miserable every day.
And the nurse laughed, you see.
And the sister said, what do you like?
She said, you know, what Mr. Bollinger just
said to you is what we have been
saying for months.
She said, every time we meet you, sister,
you are fit.
It just looks as if you are going
to tear us apart.
And then she laughed, you see.
She said, you know, I'm really a happy
person.
I said, sit down for a minute on
the side of the bed, sister, to tell
you.
And let the weaner sit down for a
minute too.
Give her a minute off.
And I began to tell her how happy
I was and the joy that was in
my heart and the peace that was in
my soul.
And you know her happiness wasn't coming from
the same source at all.
But this girl became one of the most
gentle nurses to me I have ever seen.
She came in there every day, you know,
fiddling about fixing the pillow just to get
a yarn with me.
And she wasn't in love with me, you
see.
And you know, she would say before I
left the place, gloriously saying, you see, you
know, the elders need to have a faith
and a faithfulness and a friendliness.
I think that around here the young folks
can come and tell me anything.
And no, I won't tell their dad or
their ma either.
If I can be trusted, they can come
and rattle it up.
And I'll help them.
And they know that.
And you need to have a friend, you
know.
You see what he said down the chapter
a bit.
Verse 11, he said, you know how we
exhorted and comforted and charged every one of
you as our father doth his children.
Yes, there needs to be the faith to
follow.
And there needs to be the faithfulness to
see.
And there needs to be the friendliness that
attracts.
And there needs to be the followliness that
can both charge and exhaust.
Ah, yes, you see, this is the example
of the elders.
You know, there's an appreciation here.
This is really lovely, let's have a look
at it.
1 Peter 5.
He says, verse 4, And when the chief
shepherd shall appear.
You know, I like that bit.
That's our Lord Jesus.
That's one of the titles of Christ when
he comes again.
You know, when he came the first time,
he was the good shepherd.
He had come to give his life for
the sheep.
And when he rose again from the dead,
he was the great shepherd.
The God of peace brought again from the
dead the great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant.
But you know, when he comes again, he'll
be coming as the chief shepherd.
He loves the flock more than any one
of us could ever love the flock.
But when he comes, he's coming to reward
his servants.
And I'll have you notes here, that the
elders who have done their work well, shall
receive a crown of glory.
But faith is not a way.
You know, when we all stand at the
judgment seat of Christ, there'll be crowns handed
out.
Those who have been saving souls will get
that crown of rejoicing.
When you have hard work, saving souls.
And Paul talks about ten forces weighed up
from the crown of righteousness.
You know, to walk right all the time,
it's hard work, it's like a tight wire
rope.
Some of us fall off now and again.
Yes, and he talks about the crown of
life.
If they beat our people unto death and
they'll give you a crown of life, we
must be prepared to die for him.
But I can tell you this, only the
elders will get a crown of glory.
And only the elders deserve it.
Hardest job of all is to feed a
flock.
You get no medals.
And you're not mentioned in despatches.
You get all the kicks and curses and
criticisms of carnal Christians that could be ever
levelled in anybody's head.
Ah, but when the day dawns and the
shadows flee away, crown of glory.
Dr. Ryan said, Willie, I'm going in for
them all.
I'm getting that crown of righteousness and I'm
getting that crown of joy and I'm getting
that crown of life and I'll get that
crown of glory.
And an old woman standing by said, I
didn't think you worked for the Lord for
that.
He says, dear, when I get them I'll
just cast them at his feet.
I won't be able to cast them at
his feet.
It's lovely to cast the crown of glory
at the feet.
Great portion for next Tuesday, have a look
at it before you close your Bible.
See what it says there.
Verse 6, it says, humble yourselves, therefore, under
the mighty hand of God.
What does that mean now?
Oh, we need to get into that next
Tuesday.
God bless you.
660 days.
660, when this passing world is done.
When has sunk yon redeemed son.
When the paragate I gain never to go
out again.
Then, Lord, shall I fully know.
Not till then how much I owe.
660 days.
When this passing world is done.
When the paragate
I gain never
to go out again.
Dear Lord, part us in our fears.
This our blessing.
Help our friends on the road home.
Lift the fog a little bit.
Lord, give us Thy tender touch as we
part.
For Thy name's sake.
Amen.