He giveth and giveth and giveth
more grace. That's what she was playing.
All right, 1 Peter chapter 1. Let's read verse 13 again. 1 Peter 1, verse
13. 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. It tells us to
do something to our minds here. And then he tells us to be sober. That means serious. It means
devoted. It means committed. It means
diligent. And hope. Hope for grace, he says, that
is to be brought unto some at the appearing of Christ, which
is very soon. Now, over a dozen times in the Scriptures it tells
us to be sober. I want you to turn to one place,
Titus chapter 2. Book of Titus, chapter 2. Just back, go backwards a few
pages. Titus chapter 2. As I said, over
a dozen times it tells us to be sober. It means serious. It means devoted. It means committed. It means diligent. It means in
it, in this thing. Look at Titus 2, you got it?
You with me? Gird up the loins of your mind
there. All right, verse 1. Titus 2, verse 1. Speak thou
the things which become sound doctrine. All right, sound doctrine,
truth. Verse 2. That the aged men, aged
men, older men, be sober, brave. Word means vigilant. What does
vigilant mean? Be on watch, doesn't it? Be on
watch. Sober, brave, temperate, sound
in faith. Verse 3, aged women, alright
ladies, that you likewise, likewise. Verse 4, teach the young women,
not only yourselves, but teach young women to be sober. Sober. Look at verse 6 down there. Young men, all right, young men,
likewise, exhort to be sober. See that over and over again.
Sober. Well, and Peter says, now, back
to 1 Peter 1. So Peter says, The end of all things is at hand,
so be ye therefore sober. He said that in chapter four. Peter makes much of the coming
of Christ. He ends up, you know, his second
epistle, that's it. Second Peter three, the last
chapter of his last epistle is about the coming of Christ, certain
death. And so he says the end of all
things is at hand. is at hand. Be, therefore, sober
and watch unto prayer." Serious. Time is short, Paul said. Time
is short. Salvation is the one thing needful. And when you get serious about
it, old, especially the old, my, my. Some of you are in your
fifties, that's The Lord only promises 70 years. I mean, that's
it. Some don't make it to 70. Some
to 70, some a little bit after, but not much. Now, if you're
in your 50s, what about 60s? What about 70s? You're on borrowed time. The Lord is at hand. Be serious. Be serious. In or out. That's
what serious means. When you're serious about something,
You're not—one side of the fence or the other, you know. Get over
or stay. When Joshua drew a line in the
sand, he said, who's on the Lord's side, come over. Step over the line. So that's
what Peter's saying. Get serious, all right? All right,
now he says in verse 13 there, gird up the loins of your mind.
Now, that's our subject. Gird up the loins of your mind. He said. What is that talking
about? Gird up the loins of your mind. What's that talking about? Well,
we need to do it right now. I see people yawning. I see people
falling away. Gird up the loins of your mind.
What does that mean? Who's it talking to, first of
all? Some people don't have the mind
to cry, don't have a mind to gird. Not in their right mind. Well, let's go backward. You see, in verse 13, it says,
wherefore? You see that? Wherefore? Bear
it up. Wherefore? And you'll see that
every verse that leads up to this is connected. It uses words
like, well, look at verse 12, unto whom it was revealed. Verse
11, searching what? Verse 10, of which, verse 9,
receiving. See, it's not the start of a
new thought at all, it's a continuation. But go all the way back to, do
we say the same things again? One of the ladies last week said,
I was hoping you'd go back over the first few verses of Peter
again. I enjoyed it so much the first
time. That's good. That's so good. Good indication. It's not grievous to me. Verse
two, how can we ever be grieved by God's sovereign electing? Grieved? It grieves some people.
It fills God's people with joy. That's who he's talking to. He's
talking to the elect. Who loves election? Why, the elect do. Don't they? Who prays? The elect praise God for election. My boy, thank God for sovereign
electing grace. If He hadn't chose me, I wouldn't
have wanted anything to do with Him. According to the foreknowledge
of God, known unto God are all His works from the beginning.
Yes, He has predestined all things from the beginning. All things
work according to the counsel of His own will and purpose. And it's ordered concerning me
and sure. That's fine with me. I love that. That's my God. And that's all
my salvation. Isn't it? For knowledge of God.
That's my salvation. Read on. Through sanctification
of the Spirit, that is set apart by the Spirit, by the gospel,
set apart by the gospel. unto the gospel. This is my gospel,
my gospel. Lots of others out there, they
can have it. They can have them. They're not the gospel. Perversions. I say like about this gospel,
like David said about Goliath's sword, there's none like it.
Give it to me. That's mine. I'll take it. My gospel, sanctified, set apart
by the gospel, by the Spirit, unto the gospel, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, blood everywhere.
Oh, I'm thankful. Grace unto you and peace multiplied. Bless God. Oh, I do. Do you? Bless God. He hath begotten
us again, it's said, born from above. My, I'd be blind as a, what is
it, a goose in a snowstorm, they say, if God hadn't opened my
eyes by the Word. Just as blind as some people
are blind today to the truth. My, my. Mourn from above. Give an eyes from above. Ears. I'd sit here. Some of you'd sit
right here and listen. They're not missing. Like some
are sitting right here, right now, not hearing. You would sit
here, and the gospel wouldn't mean a thing to you if the Lord
hadn't opened your ears. Huh? Bless God. You bless God. If there ain't some, if the person
besides you is not singing, you bless God, because He hath begotten
you, given birth to you. If the person next to you is
dumb, and they are dumb if their tongues won't move, our loosened
tongues employ it. Thank God these loosened yours,
and you give it a shot. Thank you. It takes a lot of
tongues to say, thank you. Bless God. Boy, these are good
verses. Let's spend a couple of years.
In 1 Peter 1, will you say? We will when the Lord starts
preaching from it. Well, bless God according to His, bless all
mercy. And not one in here deserves,
no, mercy, mercy, mercy me. It's the only time, Nancy, you
can say this, Lord, have mercy. He has it. Mercy begotten us
by the resurrection of Jesus because there is a living person
seated right now. Verse 4, To an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who
are kept by the same gospel that you heard that gave you life.
It keeps you alive. Yeah, lively hope. through faith. The gospel gave you faith unto
salvation. You're ready to be revealed.
You know, you're just about ready to be revealed. The turkeys in
Nova is just about ready. About ready. Rather, the worms
in the cocoon are about ready to sprout. But now for a little
while, verse 6 and 7, you tried the heaviness. Don't have wings
yet. Move the world across like a
worm. Why? Because it's a trial of your
faith. He's trying. Weaning you from the world. Oh, that faith
is precious. Gold has to be tried to remove
all the dross, all the imperfections. Everything is not real faith.
You see, God is going to try every man's work, isn't He, John?
Whether it's wood, hay, or stubble, or gold, silver, and precious
stone. The only thing that's going to last is gold, silver,
and precious stone. Now, what's that? It's a who,
not a what. That's what Aaron the high priest
wore. It's not wood hay and stuff.
Those things are burned up. Well, you found out, oh, at the
glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, verse 7, whom have you not seen,
you love? Hadn't seen him? Oh, but I have. How? The entrance of thy word
giveth light. Open my eyes that I might behold
wondrous things from what? Your word. I see him, John, don't
you see him? I've seen Christ's face. Not the dream, not the vision,
but it's 1 Peter 1 and 2 and 3. in God's Word. Read on. Verse 8, Whom have ye
not seen, ye love? Though now ye see him not, O
ye but ye believe. Rejoice with joy unspeakable,
full of glorious glory. Isn't it glorious? Receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul. Which
salvation? The prophets searched diligently. Now those fellows were sober,
serious. But they didn't. They searched, verse 11, "...what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them should
testify of the sufferings of Christ." Verse 12, "...it was
revealed unto them that it was not even for them." They were
dead serious about something, but it wasn't even for them.
I mean, something hadn't happened yet,
and their lives laid the lies down. They're serious. What about us?
Oh, but it's reported unto us by
them that preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven. If you've heard it, it's the Holy Ghost caused you to
hear it. Which things angels desire. Angels. If I may be so bold as to say
this, on the basis of God's Word. Angels right now are listening
in rapt to this gospel. But it's not for them. It's not
even for them. But they're engrossed in it. Sober. So he says, wherefore? You see why he says, wherefore?
Let us, who's us, that's who this is for, us, gird up the
loins of your mind and be sober, serious, hope to the end, it's
soon. For the grace, oh I need that,
must be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, which
is, He's at the door. All right? What's it mean to
gird up your mind? What's it mean to gird up your
mind? All right, I want you to turn back to Exodus 12. Exodus chapter 12. You know,
Peter didn't get, this wasn't original with Peter. Stan, he
heard this from Christ. Christ said this over in Luke
12. You know that Luke 12, Christ said this, gird up the loins of your mind. Christ
said that in Luke 12. But he said that a long time
before then too. Whenever the Lord says something
in the New Testament, it's been said in the Old. He said it a
long time ago. And here in Exodus 12 is the
first mention of loins girded. Loins girded. There's much said
about this girding of the loins. Chapter 29 talks about a girdle
and girding. In early times, See if I can
give you the picture here of a girdle or a girding of the
loins. In early times, everyone, men
and women, wore long, flowing robes. Most everyone here has
a bathrobe, don't you, if you have one of these bathrobes?
And the thing that holds the robe together, all right, we
call a belt. Well, back then, that's the girdle,
okay? It was something that tied it
all together and tied it tight. That's what held the robe on,
was a girdle, a belt. And whenever there was work to
be done, you know, a man, he wore a robe, and whenever he
had to go out and work in the field, people dressed modestly
and so forth. Well, whenever he went out to
go out in the field, they would take this big long
sash or girdle and pull it between their legs, you know, and wrap
up, bind up that robe where it's like they're wearing pants. Get
the robe out of the way. Don't stumble, don't fall, don't
trip over so it doesn't slip and things get caught up in it.
You understand that? Gird it up there long. And if a person would take that
girdle, bind up the robe tightly. Well, look here at Exodus 12.
If you know this story, I hope you knew what this was before
we start reading it. People, this is it right here. Exodus 12, this is it right here. This is the Passover. All right,
we're going to see the first mention of gird up your loins. All right, Exodus 12, this is
it. It says, and this is when, listen carefully now. The children
of Israel are about to leave Egypt. Now, you hear me now? This is—read
between the lines here. See this—understand the spiritual
lesson. They're about to leave Egypt.
Egypt's about to perish. The Egyptians are about to die.
The children of Israel are leaving Egypt. I mean, it's close. It's real close. The eve, the
night, the eleventh hour before they're gone. All right? God speaks to His redeemed. The children hear this message.
They've been given ears to hear this message. They've been given
a prophet. A man comes to them with this
message of hope, salvation, redemption. All right? They're about to leave.
Time is short. Here it is. This is how you're
going out. This is how you're going out. Verse 3. Speak ye, God says,
unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth
day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb. Every man a lamb. Every man's got to have a lamb. Every woman and child's got to
have a lamb. Tell them, speak to them, you've
got to have a lamb. Man, woman, child, you, hey,
you've got to have a lamb. You've got to have a lamb. Every person better be able to
say, there's my lamb. Going out now, all who have this
lamb are going out. If they stay that period, every
person be able to say, better be able to look and see, there's
my lamb. I've got a lamb. You've got a lamb? Well, here, let me tell you about
your lamb. Verse 5, Your lamb shall be, verse 5, without blemish,
without a male of the first year, first begotten, taken out from
the sheep. Oh, man. Don Bell was here. Every man a lamb, a male, a man
lamb, a ram, a ram. I was talking one time, preaching
and talking about how God's people are sheep. And some
fellow wanted to argue with me, and he said, oh, I was talking
about every one of God's people are sheep, you know, ewes, E-W-E-S,
ewes. And he wanted to argue with me.
I said, listen, buddy, there's only one ram. That was Christ. The rest of us are sheep. But
a male without spot, without blemish, the first year, the
only begotten, first begotten, that's Christ. That's Christ. Verse 6 says, Keep it up until
the fourteenth day of the same month. Observe it. Behold it. Look upon it. See it as spotless. See it as your lamb. See it. as your hope of getting out of
Egypt, as your hope of redemption. Look at it. Hold it. Lay hold
on it. Sell it for nothing. There's
nothing going to redeem you. Silver and gold, if you have
the world, I'll have nothing. But that's lamb. It's your only
hope is that lamb. The rest of this stuff is going
to go. This stuff is going to stay. Only one thing will go. It's you if you've got a life. Take the blood. Kill it. Kill it. Oh, but it's such a
sweet land. Yes, it is. Innocent land. Yes, it is. Kill it. We preach Jesus Christ, yes,
sweet, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, but Christ crucified. We're not standing here today
making over a sweet, innocent baby. We're declaring a crucified,
bloody sacrifice. It's an ugly thing to people
that don't like the sight of blood. But buddy, it's my redemption. That baby can't redeem me. But that crucified, risen, seated
Lord, He did. And there's still blood. There's
no baby. There's not going to be a nativity scene in glory. Goodness gracious. There's not
going to be a nativity scene in glory. But there's going to
be a lamb as it had been slain. Think about it. Take it, kill it in the evening. What would they do if we jumped
in one of these church houses, so-called church houses today,
and grabbed that baby out of that manger and took a knife
and cut its throat? Huh? It'd be more in keeping with
the gospel, wouldn't it, Rick? Let's get that baby out of there.
Here's the gospel. Oh, baby Jesus, crucified Christ. There's your hope. Blood splattered
everywhere. Oh, how awful! How dreadful and
glorious! That's not much. kill it. Take the blood, verse
7, strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts. Two side posts, upper door post,
strike it. The blood came from Christ, didn't
it? Where did it come from? Two side
posts, upper door post. He's the Lord. Didn't he? He's a doer. Where
was the blood? The crown of thorns on his head
and a spike in his hand. And on the upper door post, where
in? And eat it! Oh, how could I eat something? You better, or you've got no
part. Eat it. Eat the flesh. Roast it with
fire. Oh, that's Christ crucified and
bearing hell for his people. That's Christ going through hell
on Calvary Street for his people. Judgment, wrath, the indignation
of a God who is a consuming fire. That's what Christ went through
is that Passover lamb that was slain, hanging on a cross, went
through my hell. Thirst. He said, I thirst. Why?
The story of Abraham and Lazarus. My tongue is parched. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?" God left him, totaled himself. What's that? It's hell.
For God is not. That's my lamb. I need a lamb. Verse 10, look at this. "...Eat
it, let nothing remain in the morning," and no leftovers. Don't anybody think, well, I'll
get a leg in the morning. Well, it sounds good, it looks
good, and I, you know, smell somewhat good, and I'll get a
leg of that in the morning, a leg of lamb in the morning. I'm going
to be there. We're leaving in the morning. Don't boast yourself of tomorrow.
There's no lamb in the morning. We're leaving here. I mean, we're
ready to leave. Look at verse 11, "...and thus
shall ye eat it with your loins girded." Gird up the loins of your mind. We're getting out of here. I'm ready. I got lamb. It's the first lamb of the first
year. It's been outspotted without blemish. It's been killed. I eat it. It satisfies me. Let's go. Huh? Let's go. I'm ready. What are you thinking about?
What are you thinking about? What were those people thinking
about sitting in that little hut in Egypt? God said, look,
let's read off. Verse 12, I will pass through
the land of Egypt this night and will smite, I will smite
all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.
against all the gods, these false gods of Egypt, I will execute
judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood," oh my, verse
13, greatest verse in all the Bible, I guess, one of them.
And the blood, and he said, I'm going to judge, I am the Lord. which shall be to you, who knoweth
that land, for a token upon the houses where you are, when I see the blood, I will pass
over you. And the plagues shall not touch
you. To destroy you, I'm going to
slam the land of Egypt. Getting ready to go. Got a lamp? Man, woman, and child
in here. You got a lamp? If you got a lamp, gird up the
lawn to your mouth. And I had there lots more notes,
but we don't have time. That's enough that needs to be
said. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Our mind, you know, is lots of
loins. goes down into your loins. The
loins is where your liver, your kidneys, and your stomach, your
bowels, everything is right there. This is the center of your being,
everything. And everything that goes into your mouth goes down
into there and is assimilated or passed. All right? Whatever's not good, whatever's
garbage goes out. Whatever is done goes out. Whatever
is good for you is assimilated to the mind. And this is a descent,
I need to tell you that. This is a descent, loins of your
mind, all right? Lots of passion. A lot goes through
this mind, doesn't it? Huh? Oh, oh, garbage. Oh, the garbage we take in. Huh? Garbage. Let it pass. Whatever is needful and nourishing,
assimilate. Gird it up. Hold on to it. Take it to heart. You know, the
loins, the heart, the seat, the affection. That's what he says
when he says, set your affection. How do you set your affection?
Gird the loins of your mind. Set your heart on whatever is
good and right and holy, whatever is true. Let the garbage pass! Set your mind not on Egypt, it's
gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone. But on Canaan's fair and
happy land where my possessions lie, I'm bound! for the promised
land, and bound and determined by God's grace to go there. Oh,
who will come and go with me? Huh? Gird up the loins of your
mind. Time is time. Got a lamb? Got a lamb? Eat it. It's the Lord's Passover. Make haste. Make haste. No leftover. All right. Brother Joe, what's
that hymn, though? Two hundred and sixty-eight.
Two sixty-eight. Number two sixty-eight. Stand here. Let's sing the first,
second, and the fifth stanzas. The first, second, and the fifth. you