Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to 1 Peter chapter 4 and reading
for our text the last verse, verse 19. Wherefore let them that suffer
according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls
to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator. First Epistle of Peter chapter
4 and verse 19. The keeping of our souls. Sometimes in the word souls is
used to describe the whole of the person. every soul of man,
all people. And really, in one sense, with
a human being, with a person, you cannot separate between the
flesh and the soul. In fact, if you do, then that
is what death happens, is a death. The soul separates from the body. And our Lord, our Lord's work
at Calvary was to redeem both body and soul. Job, he says that, though after
my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I seek
God. whom I shall see for myself and
not another. And he knew the reality of the
resurrection. He knew the existence of his
soul. The Apostle Paul speaks, absent
from the body, present with the Lord. Solomon, the spirit of
the beast that goes down into the earth, and the spirit of
man that goeth upward. But what is especially upon my
spirit here with regard the soul, we can, and a natural man will,
and it's right, it's inbuilt with us, to do everything we
can to preserve our lives. If we see something dangerous,
something threatening our bodies, we'll avoid it. If we see something
coming towards us that's going to crush us, We jump out of the
way. If there's some danger, we will
do everything we can to preserve our lives because we know the
worth of our lives. We know what it is to be injured. We know what it is to have pain.
We fear death and putting an end to our life. But how much do we value our
souls. We sang in our first hymn about
Stephen, the first martyr. I may refer to him later. But we think of the martyrs that
rather than deny their faith, rather than deny the Lord Jesus
Christ, they would give their bodies to the flames. So they
were not thinking firstly, here's my body, here's something threatening
my life, therefore I'm going to do all I can, I'm going to
deny the Lord, I'm going to recant, I'm going to change my views,
everything I can do to preserve my body. They didn't think like
that because they were looking at the value of their souls and
they knew what the Lord had said, fear not them. which kill the
body and afterwards there is nothing more they can do. But
fear him that after he hath killed, hath power to cast both body
and soul into hell. Yea, fear thou him. And so the
worth of the soul is so much more than the body. In fact,
if the soul is saved, The body will then be resurrected after
death and is saved as well. If the soul is lost, the body
is lost eternally as well. Eternal banishment and in hell
and with the wrath of God upon for eternity. And so we need
to think of our souls and what worth we put upon our souls. and what actually threatens our
souls, what things would take away the life of our soul, and
in an equivalent thing, we know what would threaten our life
naturally, but do we know what threatens our soul? And especially
false doctrine, things of this world that deaden the soul, that
grieve the Lord, there are things that are a great danger to the
soul, especially imbibing errors. You see, with the Apostle writing
to the Galatians, he saw the real danger that they were taking
up with a false and wrong doctrine. And the whole epistle is him
attempting to deliver them from going back to believing in salvation
by works and to trust on Christ alone. And we see John in his
epistles, the second epistle, if any bring not that this doctrine,
the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, if there's error, don't
let him into your house, don't bid him God's speed. He that
biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds. And all the
time the aim is preserving the soul and delivering the soul
from error and those things that would cause fatal in that way. The soul of man is a very, very
precious thing and it's vital that that be preserved. But then
we have to think of another thing as well, regarding our souls. By nature we are dead in trespasses
and sins, and our soul is incapable of communion and fellowship with
God. It is spiritually dead. Yes,
it is that which makes us different from the animals. It gives us
reasoning, it gives us ability to think and to think things
through. And we see in Paul's epistle
to the Corinthians, how much wisdom God has given to man,
and that resides in the seat of the soul. Man is made in the
image of God, a spiritual being, a person that has a soul that
is eternal, that will never cease to exist, and the soul that then
gives it the authority over one another and over the beasts and
over the earth. It is in the seat of the soul.
But Paul says that in the wisdom of God, it pleased God that man
could not find our God. He cannot search our God. And
no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. And none can come unto the Lord
except the Father draw. And none know the Son except
the Father, reveal her. The way to salvation, the way
to redeeming the soul is solely in the hand of the Lord and is
taken out of the hand of man. No man can redeem his own soul,
nor can he redeem the soul of his brother. That is salvation,
which is of the Lord. Jonah, could not deliver himself
out of the whale's belly. The Lord had brought him there
to preserve him, but he couldn't get himself out. But he cried
unto the Lord, and the Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited
him out on the dry land. And he says before he left that
fish, salvation is of the Lord. And so we need that conversion,
we need to be partakers, of eternal life. And Paul says to the Corinthians
that though it pleased God to take away man's wisdom so he
cannot find out God, yet it pleased God through the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. That's why we gather around the
preached Word. That's why a poor sinner gets
up and declares the Word of God, preaches the Word of God. Our
commission is to preach the word, and the Lord's blessing is promised
upon it to quicken souls into life, to feed souls, feed my
sheep, feed my lambs, was the commission to Peter, Peter where
we are now, and when they are converted, strengthen thy brethren,
and it is all to strengthening, feeding the souls of the people
of God. We don't come for natural food,
we don't come to exercise in the gym as to exercise our bodies,
but we come to hear the word of God and be exercised spiritually
and to feed. And it is through this means
that God will give eternal life and will cause those souls that
he's opened their ear to hear and to be instructed and to grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. The soul is the
vital, most important thing and it is essential for us to be
careful over our souls, to watch what we read, what we see, what
we expose our souls to and have a value of that soul. But, however
careful we might be, we are not able to keep our own silence,
even naturally with our bodies. I often pray for the Lord's keeping
on the roads as we drive. But unless the Lord keeps us,
you know, we could be the most careful driver out. But you,
we're passing another car just a foot or two away going the
same speed the other way, and all the time death is so close,
just one turn of the wheel for one person not looking, and that
would be instant death probably to both occupants of both cars. And we need to be kept in that
way, but how much more so with our souls that we need the Lord
to do it. And that's where our text comes
in. And it comes in the shadow of
two verses that again emphasize the need of keeping by God. It's told in verse 17, the time
has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it
first begin at us, What shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel of God? So he's picturing the church
of God, and he's picturing the world. And God says that judgment
will begin with the church, with those who have made a profession
that have had the word of God. Greater shall be required of
us who have had the light of truth and especially where we
have made profession of it. And then he said, if it begin
at us, what shall happen to those that are not even concerned at
all about their souls, those who don't even attend outwardly
the means of grace, those who are complete strangers to the
way of God, or worse, rejected the Lord, will not have this
man to reign over us, and really all of us by nature, that is
our language, that is how we are born. We are born haters
of God. And so the question is asked,
and if there's any that does hear me this evening, and you
do not know the Lord, you're not seeking the Lord, you're
not attending regularly a place of worship where you're hearing
the word, you're neglecting your soul, You're going on as if there
was no God, then know this, that there is a judgment, and you
and we must appear before God, and if we must appear first,
then where will you appear? It may be a doubtful thing whether
someone attends a place of worship, whether they're saved or not,
but one who is completely rejected and turned away desires none
of these things, it is very clear where they will be going and
the judgment against them. And so really tremble if that
is your case. And then in verse 18, if the
righteous, that is if God's people, scarcely be saved, where shall
the ungodly and the sinner appear? Again, it's this comparison between
the two. those that are righteous, those
that are God's people, and those that are ungodly, those that
are not. And it said, if the righteous
scarcely be saved. That is in their own apprehension,
in their own thoughts, in their own feelings. They feel so much of the opposition
of self, of flesh, of the world, of the devil, and there's many
fears. There's a need to be saved, and
of our own selves we will not be saved. And that is why there
is our text which has the wherefore. If these two verses before, the
judgment beginning at the house of God, the righteous scarcely
be saved, Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the
will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing
as unto a faithful Creator. So it is the keeping of our souls
that is my burden this evening. I want to look first at who,
who may commit to God the keeping of their souls. And then secondly,
to whom we are to trust the keeping of our souls to. And thirdly,
how we are to commit the keeping of our souls to God. But firstly, who? Who may? The text says, Let them that
suffer according to the will of God. That is who we are. You say, well, may not others
also? So if someone knows that they've
got a soul, then cannot anybody? Well, picture someone that is just
living for this life, living for the world, And they say, well, I've committed
my soul, my life to God. I trust that when I die, I'll
go to heaven. It will be all right. And they're living at peace with
the world. They're living as if this is
their home, but just as a little insurance thing. They've just
committed their soul to the Lord. But the text says the ones that
can commit their souls unto Him are then that suffer according
to the will of God. Now the answer and the description
of it is given in the passage. Firstly it is given positively
and then negatively. Perhaps I'll look at the negative
first, in verse 15. But let none of you suffer as
a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody
in other men's matters. Interfering in other men's matters. That's the one that's much more
likely to affect many, perhaps in the Church of God. That's not suffering according
to the will of God. If we suffer because we are those
things, that is a just and righteous suffering, because we are walking
contrary to the will of God, the Word of God, and contrary
to all men, and we're actually just reaping the fruits of our
doing, our evil doing. and that is not what is meant
of suffering according to the will of God. But we have it then
in a positive way. In verse 14, if ye be reproached
for the name of Christ, happy are ye. Here's the people that
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're like the man that had
been born blind, that suffered reproach from the Jews, they
said, we are Moses' disciple, thou art his disciple. They cast
him out of the temple. Why? Because, and even his parents,
they would not say anything concerning the Lord because it had been
agreed. If anyone was to confess that Jesus was the Christ, they
would be cast out of the temple. And so there was a a real reproach,
there was a cost to owning the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the word is here, if ye be
reproached, for the name of Christ's happy are ye, for the spirit
of glory and of God resteth upon you. And again, here is a type
of the difference of what is happening. On their part, he
is evil spoken of, But on your part, he is glorifying." This
word was much blessed to me years ago, probably when, for most
of you here, you're older than I was then. I was 23. And I had
been through my apprenticeship. I was then in drafting and design. And in the firm I was working
for, we had apprentices that I found out did not know how
to read a drawing. They could machine up a casting
that already looked like something. They could recognize what to
do. But given a sheet of metal on
the wall, an oxy-acetylene set, they didn't know how to read
the drawing and how to cut it up and make something from it.
So I offered to teach them how to work hours, my hours. When they finished early enough,
we did, and they came in and they I taught them in the evening,
and they well knew, all of them knew in the firm, my profession,
and they used to bait me, they'd write numbers on a piece of paper,
they'd say it was God's phone number, and they'd say and they'd
do all manner of things just to try and provoke me. And many
times I went home and I thought, if they do this next time, I
can't do it, I can't continue. And next time they were quite
well, and they were all right, so I said, I'll do it some more.
And so I taught them still. And there's one time they were
particularly bad, and I was standing in front of the whiteboard trying
to teach these, they weren't much younger than me, they were
probably 17, 18, five or six years younger than
me. I really felt I could hardly,
couldn't take any more. And the Lord dropped this word
in just as clearly as if he stood right beside me and spoke this
word. On their part he is evil spoken
of and on your part he is glorified. And the thing was I felt that
as I was their teacher, that I was responsible for what they
were doing. And when they were blaspheming,
and when they were speaking against the Lord, that that was my fault
because I was teaching them. And this completely settled the
matter. And it's been a precious word
ever since. In fact, my father gave me part
of the word at the time of my baptizing, which was about that
same time, just afterwards. And it is when we make an open
profession, when we're walking in a workplace, and it's good,
perhaps, to realize sometimes you might look at a minister
and think, well, it's all right for him. He's a minister. He
just preaches. He doesn't know about me and
my workplace and my colleagues and what I'm having to cope with. that many of us in the ministry
we have. We've had years in engineering,
we've had years in the trade, we've seen, we've heard, we've
experienced many, many things, and many times been reproached
for the name of Christ, and there's many things that have happened. And it is when we openly, clearly,
are vowed to be a Christian, a follower of the Lord. And it is in that way that we
are suffering according to the will of God. It is walking as
a Christian. Verse 16, if any man suffer as
a Christian, as a follower of Christ, that's what a Christian
were. The disciples at Antioch were
first called Christians. Let him not be ashamed, but let
him glorify God on this behalf. The Lord has said that, He so
shall be ashamed of me and of my word, of him shall my father
be ashamed before the angels. And it is a hard thing. And when I was first called,
I wrestled with the fear of man. It was a hard thing. to speak
the things of God. I haven't found it so hard recently,
and since really being baptised or so, and once the Lord helped
me in this, took away the fear of man, and yet sometimes it
still does come. But I find the best thing is
to always before whoever you're with, you live your life as one
that is a believer. It's part of your life. When
I went into work in secular work, and a colleague working in the
same office, did you have a good weekend? I'd asked him, yes,
he did. And he'd tell what things he'd
done on Lord's Day. Did you have? Yes, I did. Yeah,
I heard this minister. I preached from this text. I
went to this chapel. This is what I spoke from. And
I just share it with them, they're unbelievers, but they've told
me about their weekend, I tell them about mine, not the Saturday. I can tell them about the Saturday,
but some days well. And they get to know, this is
your life. Paul says, when Christ who is
our life shall appear. If we were to ask those of our
colleagues, those that we work with, those of our clients, What
is my life? What is your life? Would they
know anything about the things of God? Would they know anything
of what we stood for at all? And I always feel it is right
to be open. When I go away preaching, quite
often I'm staying away at Airbnb, sometimes in other people's homes,
and on my profile it is always, I am a minister of the gospel,
And oftentimes when I'm staying away, I'm preaching, I'm visiting,
and nearly always leave a Bible, I speak to the host, and it is
accepted as to who we are. We need not be ashamed of our
Lord, but there will come times that we will suffer for it, we
will be maligned for it, or evil spoken of, or separated, From
men's company, because of it, there is a cross. And the Lord
spoke of taking up the cross and following Him. An open profession
is that. Yes, following whose we are,
and whom we serve, and who is our life, and where our hope
for heaven is. And so there is a walking this
out. We have another aspect of suffering
as well, which in the epistles that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
in his first epistle in chapter 3, he says, I think it's chapter
4, he says in verse 3, For this is the will of God, even your
sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication, that
every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in
sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles which know not God." And in the context
as well, of our text, it is one that is walking as a new creature
in Christ. And one of the things then that
they suffer as a Christian is from the conflict within, their
old nature, the mortification of sin, resisting the devil. We're told we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but principalities and powers. spiritual wickedness
in high places. The Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews
2 is said as a high priest who suffered being tempted so that
he is able to succor them that are tempted. And there is a path
of suffering that men do not see outside, but it goes on within. It is a real conflict and a battle
It's intimated in Hebrews 12, you have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. From the moment the Lord begins
and quickens a soul into life, one of the hymns speaks about
it, then there is the battle, the conflict, the war with the
Satan and the world, all seeking to attack the soul. If you read
Bunyan's Holy War, Mansoul, and the loss of it, and then the
regaining of it, and all the assaults against it. It is a
spiritual warfare, and there is a suffering that is entailed
in that, where we get worn down, and tired, and despondent, dejected. It is in this part, especially
when we feel so many attacks, we think, I try to to mortify
sin in that way. I try to not look at those things.
I try to stop doing this. I go a different route there
to avoid that temptation. But all the time I try, there's
something coming in another way. And as soon as I perhaps block
this and this and this in my life, then it comes in another
way. And all the time there's the
assaults and the soul may be left, how can I persevere? How
can I be saved? Sometime I'm going to fall. Satan's
going to have the mastery. I bring reproach upon the Lord. I'll lose my soul. I'll do something
terrible. And so we have wherefore let
them that suffer. according to the will of God.
Why is all this conflict and all this trouble? It's because
the Lord has given life, he's given a new birth, he's given
a new soul. And that soul then conflicts
and the world is conflicting with it. So there's outward and
there's inward as well. And this is a suffering according
to the will of God. May that be an encouragement
and a help to some of you in that. You think, surely the Lord,
does he not know all of the struggles that go on within? Yes, he does
know. He does know. And he'd have us
to commit the keeping of our souls to him. Now, who is it
then, in our second point? To whom we are to trust the keeping
of our souls. If we had something that we really,
really valued, and we were going to go away, and we thought, now
who can I trust to keep this safe? You would want that person
to be trustworthy. You would want it to be a person
that took, well, good care over what you were going to commit
to them. And so it is with the soul. If
we are going to commit the keeping of our soul to someone, then
we must be able to trust them. We're not thinking here, well,
I'm going to do all I can, I'm not going to really trust in
that, but just in case I fail, I'm going to trust in this one.
Really, the whole trust is to be in the Lord. And that won't
make us to be careless and indifferent and sin that grace might abound.
No, because then if we walk in that way, we cease to be the
ones that are able or should commit their souls to the Lord
because the reproach of the cross will be gone. But if we are walking
in the Lord's way and suffering in this way, suffering without
and within, then the one that we are able to trust and must
trust is God himself as unto a faithful
creator. And I want to think of these
two words really here. Faithful, faithful. One that
will do as promised. One that won't let us down. One
that has already said, and we come into the times of the seasons
of the year, sea, time and harvest, summer and winter, cold and heat,
they shall not cease. The faithfulness of our God,
of our Creator in the world, in His creation, opening His
hands, satisfying the desire of every living thing, feeding
the souls, All of the birds, the fishes, all the Lord says,
be not anxious, be not careful over all these things. For those
things, all the Gentiles go after. What shall we do? What shall
we eat? What shall we put on? But seek
ye first the kingdom of God. But the Lord is faithful, even
though men hate him. Reject him. He gives the rain
on the just and unjust. He shines on all. They all partake
of his goodness. He is good to all. The tender
mercies are over all his works. Even in that way, we view a faithful
God. And many of us can look back
over our lives and see how the Lord has been so faithful. We've
never lacked. We've not lacked spiritually.
We've not lacked materially. We have not lacked in direction,
in guidance, in help, in strength. The Lord has been our strength
and our helper, and we are to really remember that. But here,
the one we are to commit unto is one that is faithful, but
also a creator. The one that has made this world
The one that has created it out of nothing has that ability,
and the one that maintains that world, that he is able to restrain,
he is able to overcome, in Daniel's case, the lions, in Esther's,
Haman's designs against the Jews. Our God is able because he controls
and he is above all these things. The disciples, they said that
even the winds and the waves obey him. What manner of man
is this? But also he's the creator of
the plan of salvation. Who thought that up? Who designed
it? Who decided on those councils
of peace? Who first made the covenant?
Who first ordered it? that there should be the fall
and the remedy through the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, who ordered the idea that his people should be in
the body, in the world, but not of the world, that they should
have a soul that is renewed, but have a constant conflict
with the old nature, with the flesh. These are all appointed. It's all ordered by God. It's
not just happened, but God has ordered it in that way. It's
unto him that we commit the keeping of our souls. The one who has
been the author of the new birth, who has made us to be what we
are, the one that has made that change. Paul would have said,
the one that met with me on the Damascus road, the one that made
the change, the one that revealed himself to me, He is the one
that I may commit my soul to, now that I, who once was the
persecutor, am the one that's being persecuted. And they sought
to take him. He was let down with a basket
over the wall to escape them. And a man of times, he was delivered
out of the hand of those that sought his life. Well, it was
because of the new birth, because of what God had done, that all
of these things were coming upon him. Well, what better one to
commit our souls unto than the one who first quickened us, who
gave us our spiritual life? He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. He is also the creator of the
new heavens and new earth. wherein dwelleth righteousness,
where we shall spend eternity. He has made that. He's made the
place there for each of His people. I go to prepare a place for you. Best to commit our souls to Him
that has made the way, made the place, given us inheritance. If one soul were lost, The honour and glory of God would
be at stake. If one for whom Christ had been
given by the Father to himself to redeem, one that he had died
for, if that person was lost, if that soul was lost, then really
God would not be God. His honour and glory is at stake,
says the hymn writer, to save me from the burning lake. And that is what we have to have
in mind when we're committing our souls unto the Lord. Our Lord is not disconnected
with our souls. It's not as if we would ask someone
to keep a diamond for us, and that diamond had no connection
with them whatsoever. Our souls' connection with the
Lord is what He has done for our souls, and what he has willed,
where we should be with him in heaven. If our souls are lost,
he suffers loss, we say it with reverence. But he has an interest
also in keeping our souls. We might think we're the only
one that has an interest in it, because if our soul is lost,
we're lost, we will suffer eternally. But the Lord has an interest
over all of his people. He loves them, and he cares for
them, And how much better then, when they come into this suffering
and this trial, that His people turn to Him and they in effect
confess, I am not able to keep my soul. My soul I value, I want
to be kept, but Lord keep it for me. And so may we have, when
we come to committing our souls unto the Lord, our text says,
commit the keeping of our souls to Him in well-doing as unto
a faithful Creator. And I always think who we're
committing the keeping of our souls to, how able, how willing,
how much He has also at stake. What an incentive to trust the
Lord and to lean hard upon Him and to commit the keeping of
our souls to Him. So how? How are we to commit
the keeping of our souls to Him? Our text tells us here, Well,
the first thing really is, they're continuing to walk as
they have done, which has brought the temptations and trials and
the persecution to continue in that way. So that's the thing,
if the Lord has put us in a way, as he brought us through the
straight gate and into the narrow way, that we continue in it. In Jeremiah we have, as to hold
fast to the old paths. How many if they thought that,
are not now walking in the way that they once were when they
first started out. In thinking, meditating upon
this word, my mind went back, and of course I've mentioned
to you that when I was 23, as Quicken did, when I was 20, baptized
at the end of that, when I had just turned 24, and Or no, just turned 23, so I was
probably 22 when I was teaching those apprentices. And so that
was early in the way. And often it is a comfort to
think back to those days and to the change that has wrought.
I hope I can say I'm still in that same way that the Lord set
me in. And it's a better thing to continue. Continue thou. to continue in
the right way, the way the Lord has put us in. So it is in well-doing
is not forgetting those first ways. How sad that with Solomon
he began well, but then his wives turned his heart away and began
to worship their gods and their idols. May we continue in well-doing. is to commit it unto the Lord
in prayer. And often it is in this way that
we come before the Lord in prayer and ask the Lord to keep our
psalms. The simplest prayers are the
best prayers. Ask and it shall be given you,
seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. I always remember that reproof
I had years ago, had three services before me, no text, trying hard
to get a text, and I got angry, like angry with the Lord in my
study, and I went in prayer, and I told him off. I told him
he'd sent me into the ministry, he said that he would give me
the text, but he wasn't giving me the text, and I got three
services, and he knew that, And I just unburdened. And he dropped
one simple word in. He said, Thou hast not asked.
And it was true. I'd come to my Bible, and I was
diligently seeking for a text, and I'd left off prayer. I hadn't
asked. And it just completely dissolved
me. I felt so ashamed, so reproved. Just one simple word, simple
answer to everything. And here's a blessed thing, that
we can come to our God. And in those times, we can be
like I was. I hope not irreverent, but coming
to Him as my Heavenly Father. But He knew exactly how to answer. And He knew exactly where to
find out what was wrong. But it's always remained with
me, too. Thou hast not asked. Simply ask. Coming before the Lord and asking. He hears. He hears of poor sin
on earth. They don't need to be elaborate,
long prayers, but do ask. Ask plainly. What wilt thou,
says the Lord, that I should do unto thee? The blind man,
he said, Lord, that I might receive my sign. Very simple, isn't it? And may we be like that, and
with the keeping of our souls. And we mentioned with Stephen,
dying Stephen, the first martyr, continuing well-doing. They noticed
he was a godly man. He had been a very faithful minister,
speaking the word. They couldn't resist the grace,
the godliness that he had. And so the Jews came, and he
spoke to them. He spoke to them faithfully and
soberly. But then they stoned him. And we read that they... This
is at the end of chapter 7 in Acts. They cut to the heart,
gnashed upon him with their teeth, that he, being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory
of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said,
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud
voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon Him with one accord,
and cast Him out of the city, and stoned Him. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at the young man's feet, whose name
was Saul. That was to be the Apostle Paul.
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God. This is Stephen calling
upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Committing
his soul unto the Lord in that hour, the same as our Lord when
he died, he Yielded up the ghost, Father, into thy hand I commit
my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,
even to the last. Continuing in well-doing, very
similar to our Lord was. Father, forgive them, they know
not what they do. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. We are to commit Believing the
Lord is able to do it, trusting in Him, looking to Him to take
care of what is most precious to us, the most valuable thing. It may be often that we commit
afresh the keeping of our souls to Him. When we feel so beset
with evil, sins, temptations, feel our weakness, Feel our proneness
to fall. Come before the Lord in prayer.
Lord, keep my soul. Deliver my soul. Lead me not
to go the way of the devil, to listen to him, or go the way
of the world, or be ashamed of thee, or be ashamed of thy word. Keep my soul from going back
from thee. You know, here is Peter. Remember his history. Though
all men forsake thee, yet will not I. The Lord says, Satan hath
desired to have you, to sift you as wheat, but I prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not. And he did. He denied the Lord,
but his faith did not fail. He came out of that trial still
as a Christian, still as a follower, still loving the Lord. of all
people to advise and appoint us to commit our souls to the
Lord. Peter is one that knew what it
was, knew what it was to fall and be restored, and his soul
not suffer loss when they are converted. Strengthen thy brethren. This is what he's doing in these
epistles. For the Lord grant us that our
souls be a living soul, They be precious to us, that we realise
that we cannot keep them ourselves, and that we commend, in prayer,
the keeping of our souls to Him, to God, in well-doing, as unto
a faithful Creator. Amen.