1st Peter, chapter 1, this morning
we'll be looking at verse 13. The title of the message this
morning is, A Girded Mind, A Girded Mind. Peter says, Wherefore,
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Gird up the loins of your mind. What does this statement mean? What is the Apostle telling us
who are believers in Christ? This is not just for everyone.
This is for the elect. This is for those who are redeemed
by the blood of Christ. This is for those who have believed
on Christ. This is an exhortation to you
and to me. Gird up the loins of your mind. Now the expression here means
to be prepared for action. prepared for action, to gird
up. This comes from an Eastern tradition
that the men who wore their clothes were long robes and when they
prepared to travel any long distance or if they prepared to run or
prepared for battle, they would take up those robes and they
would lift them up and tie them with a belt so that when they
were running or when they were fighting, those robes would not
trip them. They would not get in the way
or hinder them in their journey or action. If you remember the
Lord when He was preparing the nation of Israel on Passover.
They sacrificed that lamb. They put the blood on the door.
And they were to eat that lamb. Remember how? With their loins
girded and shoes on their feet. He said, take up those robes
and tie them and put shoes on your feet. Why? You're getting
ready to go. You are going on a journey. And
he did, he delivered them from Egypt and they traveled a long
journey. Now believer, believer in Christ,
we are on a journey. We have begun a walk with Christ
by faith and we continue this walk with Christ by faith. We're on a journey through this
life. And I'll tell you, we are faced with many different troubles,
many difficulties in this path. Are you perplexed? Do you get
confused? Because I get confused quite
often. I'm very confused. Most of the time I am confused.
And I'm being very kind to myself when I say most of the time.
I'm sure it's more than that. Are we perplexed as how things
are going to work out for our good? I get perplexed. I know this, that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. But I'll tell you, I can't always
see how that's going to work out for good. I like to see the
providence of God as He revealed it, a wheel within a wheel. Have
you ever seen a wheel with the spokes and you just spin that
wheel? Now you try to look at the spoke
and your head will go round and round and round and you'll just
get dizzy. Don't look at the spoke, look at the hub. It doesn't
move. Christ is the hub. Don't worry
about the spokes. They're right where they need
to be. Do we often perplexed about why
the wicked prosper? Isn't that so in this generation?
The wicked prosper. False religion seems to grow
leaps and bounds. And we become perplexed. Are
we cast down? Are we cast down by our sicknesses? By our troubles? By the common
ailments of life. Aren't all our ailments common?
Other than our struggle with sin. That's uncommon to this
world. That's common to believers though.
We have a struggle with sin. I'll tell you, we are persecuted.
We're persecuted. Mostly believers are persecuted. Not by those without, but those
even within our own home. Those that are supposed to love
us the most. Those are the ones that cause
us the most problems. We're perplexed. We're cast down. We're fearful. We're doubting.
We're unfaithful. Our sin against God. We want
to love Him, and yet we find so little love, so little faith
in ourselves, and we're easily tripped up. We're easily tripped
up. We are weak, we're surrounded,
pressed in on every side. Therefore, believer, let us remove
from our minds those things that would hinder our walk with Christ.
That's what Peter's saying. He's saying remove those things,
pick up those things in your mind. Pick them up out of the
way and gird them. with the belt of truth. Isn't
that one of the armors, the pieces of armor of God? He said that
the belt of truth. We should gird all of these thoughts
and perplexities of our mind with the truth. I don't know about you but I
do have great trouble in my mind. My mind is so prone to wonder,
to think vain and foolish thoughts, my mind is engaged sometimes
in things of God, then all of a sudden, it's off over here
thinking of vile thoughts. Is that not so with you? Friends, the mind is the battleground
between the spirit and the flesh. The mind is constantly in struggle. Constantly pulling. The old man and the new nature
are constantly at war. And where is this revealed? It's
revealed in our mind. This battleground between the
old and the new nature. It's most often there that in
the mind that the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh. Luther said this. He said, I
cannot stop the birds of evil thought from flocking. In other
words, he couldn't stop them from coming into his mind. He
said, I can stop them from nesting. Isn't that so? Evil thoughts,
we cannot stop them from coming, but we can stop them from nesting
and thinking on them. Remember, that was David's problem
with Bathsheba. It's not that he looked. It's
that he stared. That was the problem. He didn't
turn away. He entertained those thoughts.
Well, I'll just have her over for dinner. You know, no harm,
no harm here. I'll just... And then one thing
led to another and he fell into great sin. Starts in the mind. And so the apostle, by this illustration
of girding up the robe to be ready for battle or running,
even so a believer is exhorted to gird up our minds so that
we do not fall or trip by the old nature. How can we gird up
our minds? Now this word, this word minds,
is not just your brain. It has to do with your understanding. Go over to 1 John. 1 John chapter
5. We'll see how this word is used
in another place. The apostle said, gird up the
loins of your mind. If you look in 1 John 5 and verse
20, John says this, And we know that the Son of God
is come. And hath given us, here it is,
an understanding. That's the same word mind that
Peter uses. Has given us a mind, an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. Everyone who is saved by the
grace of God knows some things. I'll tell you this, we don't
know all things, do we? No. No, we don't know all things. But there are some things that
we do know. And these things that we do know,
we must cling to those things We must hold those things fast
and not let them go. So everyone who's saved knows
this. Let me give you some things to gird up your mind this morning
with. First of all, we know this. We are born of God. We who are
believers in Christ, you gird up your mind with this no matter
what comes your way. We are born not of the will of
the flesh, not of the will of man, not of blood, but of the
will of God. You who believe, you've been
born again of the will of God. We know that we were dead. We
know that we were dead in sins. We know that we were without
hope, without God. We know we were guilty of sinning
against God. This is the beginning of grace,
isn't it? It's the beginning of grace when
God comes in and strips a man of every hope. Strips a man of
all his righteous. Strips a man and makes him naked
before God. That's the beginning of grace.
I'm so excited when I hear people that are convicted of their sins
and know they've got no hope. Because that's where God gives
grace. It's only to those without hope. Only to those who are sinners
in need of mercy. Find mercy. If you've got cause
for God to give you mercy, you've not been stripped. I found this,
and I know this to be true. I have... There is nothing in
me that would move God to show me mercy. Nothing. God has given
me mercy because He would. There's no other reason. God
had been gracious to us. He strips a man of all earthly
and fleshly and carnal hopes in making himself acceptable
to God. I know in me. Believer, don't
you know this? In me. That is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. You wrap that up. You gird that
and you pull that up in your mind. I know this, in me dwelleth
no good thing and the only hope I have is I was born of God. Born of God. It was at the appointed time
of God that he gave me light and life. That the Son of God is come to
seek and to save that which lost. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. That Jesus Christ came into the
world to save who? Sinners. That's me. That's me! That's me. I know that. I know
that. I'll tell you, when the enemy
comes in and starts to accuse you, you can say, that's right. I deserve nothing. But those
are the ones that the Savior came to save. Ones who deserve
nothing. He came to save sinners. All
men are sinners, yet few know it. Isn't that right? All men are sinners. I got a
lot of people who make mistakes. People make mistakes all the
time, right? There's all the difference in
the world than a sinner and a person who makes mistakes. A sinner
is an outright rebel and hater of God. Someone who makes mistakes, they
say, well, I love God, but I just made a mistake. No, that's not
me. I know this, I am a sinner. I am a sinner. If this is your condition, then
I tell you, look to the Savior. If that's your condition, if
you know that, then look to Christ. Look to Christ. He has come and
fulfilled all righteousness and by His blood satisfied all the
justice of God in His death. For who? Sinners. Sinners. I know that. I know that. If
you have believed on Christ, if you believed on a false Christ,
the false Christ of this world who made salvation only possible,
repent from Him, turn from Him, and turn to Christ, who is the
only successful Savior, and find life, find mercy, find grace. He finished the work of God.
This is the one I declare, this is the one I know to be Christ. Therefore, we know we are born
of God because we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. How do
you know your spiritual birth? Well, how do you know your physical
birth? I know this. When my son came into the world,
he came in here screaming. He came in here screaming. And
I know this. Everyone who is born of the Spirit
of God cries, Abba, Father. They cry out to God. You don't
have to coax them to cry out to God. You don't have to coax
them to seek Christ. You don't have to twist things
and manipulate them to get them to serve Christ. They automatically
desire the Word of God, the sincere milk of the Word. You gird up the loins of your
mind. If you believed on Christ, I want you to know this. You
were not only born of God, but you were in Christ before the
foundation of the world. You gird up the loins of your
mind with that. When you're confused, this erases all confusion. It
just does. I was in Christ before the foundation. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord. Praise be to God for His great
mercy to choose me in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Made me accepted in the Beloved
before He created anything. I was already accepted in Christ. Believer in Christ, when doubts
and fears arise, you gird up your mind with this belt of truth,
and you hang on to it. I know Jesus Christ. Didn't the
apostles say, I know whom I have believed? Not what. I know whom. Whom. I know whom I believe. I believe in Jesus Christ alone
and I know I was in him before the foundation of the world excepted
in the beloved because God declares it. God declares it. Second of
all, believer, gird up your loins of your mind with this understanding
that Christ's work is perfect, lacking nothing. Lacking nothing. We often trip about our imperfect
works. Do you not trip over your imperfect
works? Does that robe not hang down
and you fall flat on your face every time? Yes! We trip over
our works, our lack of faith, our lack of love and lack of
hope. Believer, gird up your minds with this. Jesus Christ is all. He's all you need because He's
done all the work. He's finished the work. Father,
I've finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. The Lord
Jesus Christ is finished. Consider and understand that
Christ is all our righteousness. All our righteousness. Your coming
to church this morning has nothing to do with you filling your righteousness. Your righteousness is already
complete. We're not here to fulfill any righteousness. Our righteousness
is done. Christ is all our righteousness.
In Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 6, His name is called the Lord
Our Righteousness. Why? Because He magnified the
law. He made it honorable. He obeyed
God fully as a representative man. Wherefore, as by the disobedience
of one, many were made sinners, even so by the obedience of one
shall many be made righteous. And do you know that His name,
God gives you His name? You believer in Christ have the
same name He does. In Jeremiah chapter 33 verse
16, He said, This is the name whereby she shall be called the
church, the Lord, our righteousness. His name is your name. Now you gird that up. You forget about all your works.
And you look to His. He's finished. There's nothing
in the way. There's nothing to trip us up.
He's accomplished it all. Gird up your understanding that
Christ is all our righteousness and know what God says to you.
God says, say you to the righteous, it shall be well with him. It shall be well with him. Who? The righteous. Who's that? Everyone in Christ. You in Christ? You have His righteousness. Believer,
do we still sin? Yes. The old man is still with
us. He's not changed. The old man
of sin, we still struggle with him and our own members. Yet
consider this truth. that Jesus Christ has forever
put away your sin. Put it away forever. You gird
up your mind with that. Look over in Psalm 103. Psalm
103. Look at verse 11. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, So great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Consider the height of God's
mercy. Can you find an end? Can you
measure? from the earth to the heavens.
Go as high as you can. Go as far as you can. Can you
find a measurement there? No man can measure that height.
And I'll tell you, God's mercy far exceeds what you think. He's
merciful. He's more merciful than we can
possibly understand. You need mercy? I tell you, His
mercy is high. His mercy is higher than your
sin. And know this, that Christ, by
His one offering, has removed our sins as far as the east is
from the west. This is east and west as you
would go out into space east. Go out into space west and go
as far as you can. That's how far Christ has removed
our sins from us. That's how far. When God imputed
our sins to Christ and Christ perfectly honored and satisfied
the justice of God, He removed our sins forever. And so when the enemy comes and
accuses you, you gird up your mind with this. My sins are gone
in Him. When His blood was shed, my sins
were blotted out in the presence of God. Now I'll tell you, they're
not blotted out in my own mind. They're not blotted out from
my own eyes. But they are from His. God says, God says, I will
forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sins no
more. That's good because nobody would
want God to put our sins under a cover, would we? Because then he'd come back and
he'd be able to take those sins and charge us again. But God
says this first, I will forgive their iniquity. How? Through
a blood offering. A payment. God made a payment
for our sins. So then he may freely forgive
us. And because they're gone, he will not remember them anymore.
Jeremiah 15 verse 20 says, In those days and at that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. none and the sins of Judah and they
shall not be found for here's why I will pardon them whom I
reserve are you weary are you weary believer have your sins
Do you often stumble at your flesh and doubt and fear and
unbelief? Then gird up your understanding
and consider that Jesus Christ is all our salvation. I'm so thankful God left none
of it up to me. How many times have we failed?
If anything has been left up to us, that would cause nothing
but doubt and fear and concern. And it should. If God left this
up to us, we would have no hope. But God didn't leave this salvation
up to us. He didn't leave His glory in our hands. His glory
was in His hands. And He shall be glorified. His
grace shall be honored. Christ has accomplished the work.
And lastly, consider this truth. You gird up your mind with this.
Jesus Christ is King. Jesus Christ is King. Do not
the circumstances of life cause us great trouble. Go over to Luke chapter 6. Luke
chapter 6. I'm sorry, Mark. Mark chapter
6. Mark chapter 6 and verse 46. And when he had sent them away,
he departed into the mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship
was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And
he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary to
them. And about the fourth watch of
the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would
have passed by them. Our Lord gave his disciples a
very simple command, go to the other side and wait for me. Very simple command. Go to the
other side and wait for me. And his disciples, in determined
obedience to the Savior, got in the boat, rode as best as
they could to go to the other side, and all of a sudden a wind
blew in, a storm came in, and it was contrary. It was pushing
them back. instead of pushing them forward. And they were, as the Lord saw
them, toiling in rowing. Toiling in rowing. Is this not true concerning our
circumstances? Do they not seem contrary to
us? My circumstances often seem against
me. against me. God has given us
very simple commands. Believe and love. These are the commandments that
we have. Believe on Christ and love your neighbor. Love your
brethren. Is that not simple? Is anybody
missing that who are believers in Christ? And yet everything
in us and against us, the world, the flesh, and the devil are
constantly pushing us in the opposite direction. Unbelief,
discontentment, hatred, all of these things are in us and around
us and pushing us against the command of our Savior. And we
become weary in well-doing. We become weary. We've come toiling
and rowing. Believer, gird up your understanding
and know this. Your Savior sees you. He was
in the mountain praying, but He saw them. And I tell you,
our Savior is absent from the body. We don't see Him bodily,
but I tell you, He sees you. He sees you every day. He sees
you every minute of every day. His eye is not ever been off
of you. Matter of fact, all those things
you think are contrary against you, He sent them. He allowed
them. You gird up your mind with that. Oh God, forgive us for being
so discontent with our circumstances. God give us strength to gird
up our minds and know that our Savior is King. That He is King. Gird up our minds and know this,
no matter how we feel, He is present with us. He said, I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee I'm thankful that I didn't
say that because I'm often leaving and forsaking him but he said
I am king and I won't leave you ever believer gird up your minds with
this gird up and keep rowing in faith knowing that the clouds
we so much dread will soon break in blessings on our heads. Was there any doubt that Christ
would come to his disciples? Would he leave them there? Has
he ever left you in a circumstance where you couldn't bear it? He's
always come to us at the right time. He's always come to us at the
appropriate time. Why? He's King. He's King and
He knows what's best for you, you don't. Who knows how to pray like they
should? Who knows what to ask for like they should? Who knows
how to love like they should? Who knows how to believe like
they should? None of us. My God is King. My God is King. He controls all things. And notice
how Jesus comes to them. He comes walking on the things
that trouble them. He just steps on the waves. They've
been rowing for a long time. They were rowing for almost six
hours. Six hours of constant rowing, going nowhere, and here
comes the Lord stepping on all their problems. That's what He
does. He comes and walks on top of
our problems. What's the problem? This is no
problem. This is no problem. For Him it's
no problem, is it? It's no problem for him. And
immediately when he got in the boat, what happened? He was calm. You gird up your mind with this,
and immediately everything calms. Everything's settled. It's okay. It's okay because my God is King.
It's okay because all my sins have been removed. It's okay
because He's all my righteousness. It's okay. I was chosen in Him
before the foundation of the world. It's okay. I was born
of God. I know these things. Gird up
your mind with them so that you don't trip and stumble in the
way. May God help us do that. Give
us grace and strength. Lord, increase our faith. And I know that by grace He will. He will. I pray that God comfort
you with this. Take all those things that trip
you up and just gird up your mind with it. Don't worry about
those other things. Christ is all. Christ is all. Pray God bless this to you.