Looking in 1 Peter, still in
the first chapter. We'll begin reading there in
verse 13. We have been looking at this
chapter and seeing what it is. that we have been called unto,
that we have been called, and that those things which we now
believe were given many years ago, down through time, the foundation
of that salvation which we enjoy was shown but it wasn't revealed
clearly. It's never really been hidden
in the sense that it was not there for someone to see, but
it has not pleased the Lord to give men eyes to see the full
total of that salvation which he has wrought out for his people
until he sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. This was
prophesied from the beginning. The Lord told Satan that the seed of the woman would
bruise his head or that he would destroy him. And certainly that
prophecy has come to pass as the Lord Jesus Christ has come
into the world to accomplish that very thing. And so, as we
looked last week, speaking about the fact that the prophets of
old, searched diligently of these things. They desired to see them. They desired to get the full
grasp of it, but they weren't allowed to, because it was revealed
to them that it wasn't to themselves that they wrote these things,
but it was for our benefit. And if you think about that,
you realize what a great privilege is given to those who live in
this, the day of salvation. that we have been, we're not
wondering what the Lord's going to do. See, we're not weighed
down under the mystery of wondering how this salvation is going to
come to pass. We've seen it. We know that that
salvation is in Jesus Christ. Even as he said to Philip, I
am the way. Philip said, well, Lord, how
would we know the way? I mean, How do we get there? He said, Philip, he says, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. And that's the message that we
preach. That's the message we believe.
That's the message that we see that the prophets have always
set forth, but now clearly revealed in this time. It says, even so
much so that the angels desire to look into these things and
cannot. And we have been privileged to
see these things plainly manifested. John the Baptist, the greatest
of the prophets, according to what the Lord said, said there's
not a greater prophet risen among men than John the Baptist. But he said, I tell you this,
he that's least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the
Baptist. That is, he who has seen the
unfolding of the redemption of Christ. What a blessed time. This is the most blessed time
that a man could dwell in the earth, the day of salvation.
This is the last time, a glorious time. And so he says here, 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. As obedient children, not fastening
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but
as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner
of conversation. Because it is written, be ye
holy, for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. who by him do believe in God,
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your
souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure
heart fervently. being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Now that's a glorious consideration
that we've been privileged to receive that which is the Word
of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And so, Dear brethren, we have
been given an understanding of who the Word is. who the one
who speaks the truth of God. God who at sundry times in divers
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his son. He has come and
he has spoken the word of God because he is the word of God.
He is the revelation of God to men. You cannot see God in any
other fashion than in Jesus Christ. You cannot know him. It would
be impossible for a man to know God. Now you can know of God.
All you gotta do is look out the window here and see the majesty
of creation and know of God, and that would be enough in order
for a man to fall down and worship him. But yet he's done more than
that. He has shown us who he is, which
we could have never known. I mean, we could look, I mean,
you know, the pagan tribes of the world, they see the moon,
or the stars, or the sun, or fire, or something, and they
worship what they think God is, but they don't have any knowledge
of God. By the grace of God, and only by the grace of God,
we know who He is. Now, that's a glorious thing,
if you pause and think about it. And this is the thing that
Peter writes about when he says, wherefore? Knowing all these
things are true, knowing that God has ordained the people unto
eternal life and he has revealed himself unto you. He said, wherefore,
if these things be true, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.
Now that's an interesting phrase, as there are many throughout
the scripture, even as Brother Al has pointed out the one that
he did this morning, gird up the loins of your mind. Now what
does it mean to gird up one's loins? Now we don't think about
that today because our garments are not the garments that they
wore in the time. This was very clear to them.
when they wore these long robes. Well, you can't run or fight
in a battle in a robe. You know, he can't do it, so
what they would do is gather up those robes and tie them around
their waist, around their loins, so that they were able to go
into battle, they were able to run, they were able to do what
they needed to do unfettered. And that's what he's saying here,
gird up the loins of your mind. See, the Lord would have us to
be mindful. The Christian religion is not
one that does not involve the mind. Because it involves hearing. and it involves believing, and
all of these things are the operation of the mind. Now, the mind is
not going to operate in those things apart from the grace of
God empowering it to do so, because we are dead in trespasses and
sins until the Lord awakens us and that we're able to think
clearly. See, the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of knowledge. Fear of the Lord's the beginning
of wisdom. And a man cannot have the fear of the Lord unless the
Lord gives it to him. You can't cause a man to fear
God. He can't do it. He won't do it. He'll go his
own way and he'll think everything's okay. But when God is pleased
to bring the fear of God on him, he'll know. See, Job learned
what the fear of God was, didn't he? I mean, Job pretty well knew
some things about the Lord. I mean, Job was an upright man. I mean, Job went about doing
good things. I mean, he was seemingly an upright
man in the community. But he said, when he was brought
face to face with the living God, he said, man, I thought
I knew who you were. He said, I'd heard about you.
But he said, now mine eye seeth thee, and I abhor myself, and
I repent in dust and ashes. And that's what it is to fear
God. You see, it's not just to be afraid of God, but it is to
be fearful and mindful of who he is to the point that we hate
him. Our rebellion against him. We
desire, create in me a clean heart. See, that's what David's
prayer was. Because he said, against thee
and thee only have I sinned. See, the fear of God is brought
to a man's mind when he realizes that it is himself. who has come
against God. It's not the people out there.
It's not what all the people have done, but it's us. It's
ourself before Almighty God. And when we realize who he is,
we are brought into a place of great fear and reverence before
him, and a recognition that we cannot solve the problem that
we have. Now see, as long as a man thinks
he can solve his problem, he'll go about to solve his problem,
won't he? It's only when a man comes to the place where he knows
he cannot solve the problem that he falls on his face before Almighty
God and says, oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner, help me, because
I can't help myself. Now, you know, I grew up in a
tradition that taught basically, and this is a very common teaching
today, that God helps those that help themselves. And that's foolish. God doesn't help people that
can help themselves. He helps people that can't help
themselves. Because when men can help themselves,
they'll help themselves. But it's when they can't help
themselves that they begin to call upon the Lord. And they
begin to seek him. So he says, wherefore gird up
the loins of your mind. You have been taught, you have
been brought, you have been shown the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now gird up the loins of your
mind. Be ready with what you have been taught. You know, it
goes without saying that we can do none of those things. We can't
gird up the loins of our mind by ourself. But this is an exhortation
to the people of God because we, by the grace of God, are
inclined towards the things of God, by the working of God in
us. And so that working of God in
us causes us to desire these things that he says. So gird
up the loins of your mind. That is, prepare your mind. Just fill your mind with the
stuff that is of no use to you, but guard up the loins of your
mind and be prepared. Be sober. Now we usually, you
know, that term sobriety is normally attached. to being set free from the overuse
of alcohol. I mean, you know, if somebody
is sober, we know that that means they're not under the influence
of alcohol. Now, this is how we use the term,
by and large, but sobriety, is much more than simply that. I
mean, a man can be free from alcohol and still not be of a
sober mind. To be of a sober mind is to think
on those things that are needful. And these are the things that
are needful. Be sober. See, this isn't nothing to joke
about. This isn't some lighthearted thing. This is the very truth
of God. So be sober and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ, or the grace that is brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Now this has a twofold meaning,
I believe. Number one, we have the grace
of God brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ when he was pleased
to reveal Jesus Christ to us. Now there was a time when we
didn't know who Jesus Christ was. Everybody has a different
situation, but no man is born into the world always knowing
Jesus Christ. There comes a time when he is
brought to that revelation, that Christ is who he says he is.
And so that happened to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus,
did it not? He was brought down. And so he
had that revelation of Jesus Christ. And so do the people
of God. But it says here, unto you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now there is a grace to be brought
to us at the ultimate revelation of Jesus Christ when he comes
back. And the scripture says, every
eye shall see him. There is a revelation. of Christ. Now there is a book in the scriptures,
as you know, the last one, the culmination, which is the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Now a lot of people look at that
book, and I've said this before, but it bears repeating. A lot
of people look at the last book that's in the Bible as a book
of revelations They say, this is telling us all these different
things that's gonna happen. Now, I don't deny that there
are things in that book which perhaps have reference to unfolding
of events that will take place in the future, but the revelation
that is given, whether it is now or whether it is in the future,
will be Christ. The book of the revelation is
the revelation of Jesus Christ, which he gave to John. He showed
him the revelation. It wasn't just about what's gonna
happen, but it's what has happened. It's what he does. And as glorious,
the spirit of prophecy, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. If you wanna know what a prophecy
is, it's gonna be Jesus Christ. And when men get up and spout
off about all these different prophecies of this, that, and
the other, and they get enamored with, as I heard a brother say
one time, the hare on the horse's tail, and the number of toenails
on the hooves, they've missed the point. If you don't see Jesus
Christ in all these things, you cannot understand what the book
of the Revelation is. It's about Christ. He took that
sealed book and he opened it. Nobody else could because he's
the word of God and he has revealed it. He brought it forth. He tore open the seven seals
that it might be seen. Nobody could see and understand
the things of God until Christ came. And so it is the revelation
of Christ, and we receive it as the revelation of Christ in
the present time, but there is coming a time, there is a time
in the last time, as he spoke of it there and we spoke about
last week, the last time, This is the last time, but there is
a time coming which is the last time of the last time. And it's
the day when Christ shall come again. And as he left from the
Mount of Olives, the scripture says he's coming back to the
same spot. Now, you know, men have come
up with foolish ideas about how that's gonna be when the Lord
comes back, every eye shall see him. I don't know how it'll be. I have no idea. I know it'll
be true. And I know this, that when he comes back, that is the
culmination of all things. And that is what he's speaking
of here in a measure, brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, That's
why we ought to be children. You know, we seek to teach our
children to be obedient. Why is that? Why are we taught to teach our
children to be obedient? Because the Lord would teach
us through that that we ought to be obedient unto him. Now
an obedient child is a blessed child. They might not think of
it that way. If a child's taught obedience,
it's painful for a child to learn obedience. It was hard for me. I don't know that I ever fully
learned it, but learning obedience is tough, because we don't come
into the world desiring to be obedient. We come into the world
desiring to do what we want to do, and nobody's going to tell
us any different. And it's only as the Lord in
his mercy teaches us obedience that we're blessed. And we're
not blessed because we're obedient, we're blessed to be obedient.
Because you see, the blessings of God is found in obedience. And a young child doesn't understand
that until he grows up and gets a little older. And then he realizes
what a blessing it was to be taught. to be obedient. Because the jails are full of
people that never learned that lesson. They were never taught
by their parents to be obedient. And what a glorious thing it
is to be taught obedience, even through the pain and the suffering
that goes along with it. But so he says here, as obedient
children, we ought to be obedient. What a glorious thing, to be
an obedient servant of Christ. Not fastening ourselves according
to the former lusts in your ignorance. The way we were. See, the scripture
speaks of the old man and the new man. Now, a lot of people
speak of this as though we have the old man and the new man at
the same time. I don't believe that's what the
scripture says. I believe the scripture speaks when it's speaking
about the old man, it's speaking about who we were, and the new
man is who we are. And so it is that we are, we
have the flesh with us always. We're never gonna be rid of the
flesh until they put us in the graveyard over there. And then
the flesh will go back to the dust from whence it came. But
as far as, and there is that warfare between the flesh and
the spirit that will be with us constantly. But we are new
creatures in Christ. We're new men, we've been made
anew. And so he says, don't fashion
yourselves out of what you were when you walked in ignorance,
because you're not in ignorance. See, we can't plead ignorance.
Oh, well, I didn't know. No, we know. See, we know that
Christ is the Lord. We know that his word is true.
We know that his mercy is real. We know all of these things that
he said, don't fashion your mind after those things that you,
the way you have walked in past times. But as he which hath called you
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. because
it's written, be ye holy for I am holy. Now, people sometimes,
various groups and sects and whatnot, they figure out what
it is to be holy. And they say, well now, if you
do this, you're holy, if you don't, you're not holy. And,
you know, for us to say that, The gospel does not affect our
behavior and the things that we value and the things we desire
to do would be wrong. The gospel affects us. The spirit
of God works in us. But for me to tell you that you've
got to wear your hair a certain way or it's not holy, or you
got to abstain from this particular substance is not holy. That's
not what this is talking about. We're to be holy as the Lord
is holy. How is the Lord holy? He's set apart. See, He can't be approached. Now, as God's people, are affected
by the gospel. And the word of God comes in
us. We are to be a holy people. We're set apart. We're not thinking
like the world is. We're not desiring the way of
the world. We don't find our satisfaction
in the world. We're in the world. And we use
the world. but we're not of the world. See,
it's not our dwelling place. It's not the place that we gain
our greatest satisfaction. We're set apart unto God. Be
ye holy, even if he is. Inapproachable. See, the world
doesn't have a part of us. We belong to him. We're bought
with a price. That was not what he said. You're
not your own. You belong to Him. See, you've been set apart. Oh,
what a glorious thing. See, that's what Paul said in
the book of Romans. He said, Reckon ye yourselves
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ.
He didn't say make believe that it is. He said it's so. He said get a hold of it. Look
at it. See what it is to be a child
of God. calling that you have. He said
walk worthy of it. Gird up the loins of your mind.
Be sober and hope to the end for the things that's going to
be given to you and have been given to you. Work as he works
in us. And if you call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judges according to every man's
work past the time of your sojourning here in fear. Now we do call
upon the Father, do we not? And he is not a respecter of
persons. What does that mean? It means
he has no regard to anything that you do in his consideration
of you. He has the consideration of Jesus
Christ. And he looks at you as accepted
in the beloved. Now you are the children of God. I don't know if your dad ever
sat you down and said, son, you've got my name. I want you to walk
according to my name in the world. Don't do something that's going
to bring shame to me. That's what he says to the people
of God. Walk worthy of the calling that you have. You're bought
with a price. You don't belong to yourself.
You've been redeemed. Not with precious, not with silver
and gold, not with the things of this world. He said you've
been bought out of this. What did he say here? From your
vain conversation, we've been redeemed from it. He purchased us. We were slaves
to it. See, our whole life we were slaves
and didn't even know it. He showed us what we are by nature
and he bought us. We were on the auction block
and he paid the price for us. He redeemed us. from our vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, whether it's religious or natural.
See, everything that we have we've got from our tradition,
did we not? We got our tradition from our
father Adam. We grew up to be just like he
is. He said we've been redeemed from it. We learned our ways
of religion from the flesh. He said, I bought you back from
it. Don't walk in religion. Don't do things just because,
well, that's the way we're taught to do it. No, do this because
you love me. He said, because I love you.
See, that's the calling that we have as the sons of God. Because we're not bought with
these corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ. as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, predestined, ordained ahead of time. See, Christ is
the savior of sinners before there was ever a sinner. Before Adam ever Committed the
first sin, Christ died for sinners in the purpose of Almighty God.
He's foreordained to it. Oh, what a glorious thing. But
listen to this. He was manifest in these last
times for you. He didn't say he was manifest
in these last times for all people. for all humanity. But he said
he was manifesting these last times for you. And that's what
he's been saying here. That's why he's been saying be
holy, because Christ died for you. Oh, if you belong to him, if he died for you, then guard up the loins of your
mind. Hope to the end. See, we're not of those that,
that's what Paul, I believe, in Hebrews, he said, you know,
hope to the end. We're not of those that draw
back unto perdition. See, the men of religion, they
will draw back. You can teach people a lot of
stuff about the Bible and about a lot of things, but ultimately,
men will draw back. if the Spirit of God does not
work in them. He said, we're not of those that
draw back to perdition, but of those that believe to the saving
of the soul. What a glorious thing, because
he's the author and finisher of our faith. We have no other
faith but him. And we fled to him for refuge.
And we read that he was ordained for our salvation. Now, what
are you gonna do? Now I know what you're gonna
do and what I'm gonna do if the Spirit of God doesn't restrain
me and keep me. But you see my hope and my confidence
is that he will because he's revealed to us what the truth
of God is. And he's given us a love for
it. See a man can't love the truth of God without the Spirit
of God working in him. He can't love the brethren with
a pure heart fervently unless the Spirit of God works in him.
By this shall all men know that you're my disciples because you
have love one to the other. Now the world's gone mad about
love. Everybody loves everybody and
all this stuff. And the reality is nobody loves
anybody. But they'll go under the guise
of we all love each other. No they don't because the first
time something happens it's gonna benefit This guy, he's gonna
take it in opposition to the other guy. Lord said love one
another as you love yourself. That's only the work of the spirit
of God that causes that to come to pass in reality. Pure hearts
firmly. We didn't get as far, I don't
know what happened to the time, we must have got started late. But anyway. I know I wouldn't
go over time, but anyway, may the Lord help us, teach us, and
lead us. Looking not to ourselves, but
to him who called us. See, that's what we need to,
I mean, that's what, who is it that called us out of darkness?
Who is it that gave himself on Calvary's cross? And it's to
Him that we look. To Him we seek. He's the one
to whom our desire is to walk. So gird up the loins of your
mind and be sober and hope to the end for that grace that shall
be revealed to you in Jesus Christ, even as it already has. May the
Lord help us.