1 Peter chapter 5 verse 1, The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples or examples
to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
Now I'm going to look specifically at verse 2. Verse 2 and the first
phrase. It's just something I was thinking
about and it hit me in the middle of the night, and then another
verse, and then it just kind of started to outline. So I thought,
well, I'll run with that. So it's specifically stated in
our text, in verse 1, that all the elders so written, the elders
which are among you, whoever these elders are, whatever region
they're in, I believe it's throughout Pontius, Galatia,
capital C, Asia, And Bithynia is where he's writing to. This
letter is going out to the churches, to the elders specifically. He
states in verse 5, I exhort, I'm also an elder and I'm also
a witness of the sufferings of Christ and will be a partaker
of the glory which shall be revealed. He specifically says to feed
the flock of God. to feed the flock of God. Elders
who are standing up before the congregation and have something
prepared as the Lord has laid on their hearts, they are to
feed. That word to feed means to tend
to, like a shepherd, to tend. So whatever that means, and I
was looking this up yesterday and looking at all the commentaries
and They made a comment, it has everything to do with the ministry,
everything that we can think of that's to tend. We are to feed the church of
Christ. But what are we to feed the church
of Christ? Feed the flock of God, which is among you. Taking
the oversight. Don't do it from constraint.
Don't do it from somebody saying you've got to do it. I think
you've got gifts and this and that. So I'm kind of looking
forward to you doing this. And some pastors have done this.
They've assumed that because the person has either got up
and preached or talked or something that they thought, well, when
I go, they'll be the next person. That person needs to be called
of God. and not feel any constraint from
someone else. But they ought to be willing.
Not for filthy lucre. And we know that money does enter
into a bunch of stuff. But be ready. Paul says, be ready
to answer every man the reason and the hope that lies within
you. Be ready. Have a ready mind. Don't be lords
or ruling over God's heritage, but be examples. The examples,
like we looked at the iron that did swim. They went to the prophet
and they said, we need to enlarge our, it was a school, I guess,
it was a place for the prophets, a school for the prophets. And
he didn't go into town and say, okay, you guys, you gotta give
yourself to the study of the word, so you stay there and don't
do anything, no. They built it themselves and
they had help from the Prophet, one of the other Prophets. So
they did this. The examples, examples. But what
I want to specifically look at is feed the flock. Now Peter's writing this and
you remember a turn of John 21. You remember, and I'm sure Peter,
he never forgot this. Peter's exhortation, or Christ's
exhortation to Peter. John chapter 21. Remember Christ's
exhortation to Peter. Now Peter's exhortation to the
elders in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia. Verse 15 of John 21, So when
they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, specifically to
him, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? And
he answered them, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs, feed my lambs. And he saith unto
him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
And he said unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee. And
he said, Feed my sheep. He said unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And Peter was grieved because
he had said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he
said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that
I love thee. And Jesus said unto him, Feed
my sheep. Now that doesn't mean, and I
don't believe it means, that you can't You can't do other
things. I mean, look at us. You have
to do what you've got to do. But don't ever set aside study
time, preaching the Gospel. Don't ever set aside the most
important thing. There's things that have to be done. We've got
to pay taxes. If we have to work, we've got to work. We have to
take care of our children. We've got to do these things.
But don't ever forget, The most important thing is to hear the
word of God, to sit at the feet of Christ, feed the sheep, feed
the sheep. Indeed, volumes could and have
been written, what does it mean to feed Christ's people? It's
the whole service of this ministry. Watch over them, know their state,
administer the ordinances, visit the sick, comfort the mourners,
weep with them that weep, pray for them, listen to them, encourage
them in the ways of Christ, lead them, help them, preach peace
to them. All these different things. All
these different things. This is what John Gill said.
They should be fed. Feed the flock of God which is
among you. They are to be fed, not with
every wind of doctrine which blows upon the pride of human
nature and swells men with vain conceits of themselves, nor with
the chaff of human doctrines, nor with trifling and speculative
notions. And that's what most preaching
is today, speculative notions. But Feed them with knowledge
and understanding of divine and evangelical truths, with the
words of faith and sound doctrine, with the wholesome words of our
Lord Jesus Christ, with the gospel of the grace of God which contains
milk for babes and meat for strong men, and with a crucified Christ
himself who is the bread of life and whose flesh is meat indeed
and his blood is drink indeed, by directing them to his person
blood and righteousness to live by faith on by preaching the
doctrines of peace and pardon by his blood atonement and satisfaction
by his sacrifice and justification by his righteousness and complete
salvation by his obedience in death so I'd say most of what
he's writing in there is the gospel feed them the truth feed
them the truth now I want to single out which I think is perhaps
a top responsibility, including in this phrase regarding feeding. Feed the flock of God, and I
take my cue after I prepared, actually prepared most of the
message, and I saw that and I printed that out, stated much better
than I could state it, but particularly to feed. To feed
is to teach, It's to preach, it's to live and rest and be
sustained by the person and work of our lovely Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why I want to specifically talk about, to feed the flock
of God. All these other things, administering the ordinances,
visiting the sick, comforting them that more, these are all
part of feeding the flock. But I think specifically in that,
a top priority, top responsibility, whatever you want to say, is
to, in this book, feed the flock of God with the gospel, which
is about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the good news. Feed the
flock of God. This book is about Him. Okay? There is much bad food,
rotten food, and spoiled food being fed people in the name
of truth. That's not what I'm talking about.
Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight.
He just got done saying I'm an elder, like you, I'm also an
elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and the partaker of
the glory that should be revealed." He specifically is speaking about
that, the glory of Christ. And there's bad food, there's
rotten food, there's death in the pot, to borrow a phrase from
the Old Testament. It's exactly right. People are
standing up and wasting people's time talking about environment,
they're talking about the economy, they're talking about the government,
they're talking about all these things, which is all under the
sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ anyway. And if this
thing, if this thing, if he wraps this thing up today or tomorrow,
it's not going to matter what you thought about these essential
issues is what we think we would call them. They're not essentials.
What think ye of Christ? That's my responsibility, and
whoever's up here preaching the Word is to feed the flock of
God. There's much lying, there's much
false doctrine, there's watered-down truth, and God in Christ does
not use this. He cannot use it, He will not
use it, for it does not bring glory and honor to His name.
And anything that's got the sniff or the hint, or percentage, no
matter how small it is, of human works, human merit, human righteousness,
God's not going to use it. He's not going to use it. I am
to feed you from the Word of God. I am not to make up, I don't
care if, I'm not to preach to you what Dr. Gill thought about
this passage. I'm not to preach to you what
Hawker thought about this preaching. I'm to feed the flock of God,
the Word of God, the Word of God. This is kind of an offshoot
of last week's message. Nevertheless, at thy word. That's
kind of what I've, it's just been impressed upon my mind lately.
The Word of God. I am to feed you from the Word
of God. Turn to Proverbs chapter 30. Why? Here's one reason why. Because it's a charge, it's a
charge of healthy responsibility of every pastor who knows the
truth is to preach from the Word, preach the Word. Well, here's
the reason. Proverbs chapter 30 verse 5,
the first part, every word of God is pure. I'm not pure. You know, I'm not listening to
what I'm saying and yet you listen to what I'm saying as it's communicated
by the Holy Spirit. And if he's honored and glorified,
then you listen to that. But we preach from the word of
God. That's why it's pure. There's nothing in this world
that's pure. Everything is tainted with sin. Even me, even as I speak. But if I'm speaking out of this
book, every word of God is pure. That's right. That's what I'm supposed to feed
the church of God. And once it says in the scripture
something about even if he that has his hopes makes himself pure,
You're basically turning off all this stuff of the flesh,
and the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and you're
looking at the Word, and you're being transformed, your mind
is being renewed. That's feeding. That's feeding.
From the Word of God, because every Word of God is pure. Turn
to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by
the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, which
is our hope. That's why I feed the flock of God. You don't have
any hope in yourselves. He's our hope. He's our righteousness. He's our peace, which is our
hope. Unto Timothy, my own son, in
the faith, grace, mercy, peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace, mercy, and peace comes
from God and the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't originate in man.
He's the benefactor. He's, like we talked about, two
covenants, one testament. He's the beneficiary, we're beneficiary.
As I have sought thee to abide still, Ephesus, when I went into
Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no
other doctrine. Neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies which minister questions, rather than godly
edifying which is in faith, so do. Verse 4, the charge of the
pastor in our text, feed the flock. The charge in verse 4
of 1 Timothy, don't give heed, neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies. Well, there's a religion, the
Mormonism, they'll have whole sessions on genealogies. It genders
strife. The question, they're not talking
anything about Christ. Genealogies. That's what we feed the Church
of God. 1 Timothy 3. He's still exhorting Timothy,
Paul says, Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given
thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Meditate on these things. Give yourself wholly to them,
that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself
and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in so doing
thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. You're
to preach, take heed, we're to preach proper doctrine. We're
to feed the flock. which is basically just teachings,
doctrines, is what it is. Psalms 19. Psalm chapter 19. The law of the Lord, this is
the Word of God. Verses, verse 7, Psalms 19, verse
7, forward. The law of the Word of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony, all these different
phrases are similar, are used for feeding the flock the Word
of God. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous, all to be together, all together. More
to be desired are they, that's these teachings, these commandments,
these statutes, these judgments, it's the Word of God, feeding
the flock, all these things, They are more to be desired than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter
also than honey and the honeycomb. You're feeding on the Word of
God? Am I feeding you the Word of
God? Moreover, by them The things contained in this book is thy
servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward. The truth, like last week we
talked about nevertheless at thy word, the truth is more to
be desired than gold. Fine gold. It's sweeter than
honey and honeycomb. You feed, feed the flock of God. We eat, we digest. It's amazing
how we'll take care of these bodies that are going to rot
and decay. We'll make sure we get in front
of the mirror, we spend time with the mirror. Look, it's cleaning
and doing all these different things. And we should, to some
degree. We do way too much, we're so
vain. But we'll make sure we go someplace
or we'll do something to feed our bodies. But what about the
Word of God? What about coming to hear the
Word of God? It seems like almost anything, I don't know, I think
I put in an article, I think by Clay Curtis, talks about people
missing services and they just, for anything, any reason, but
how important is this book? It's perfect. Hearing the words
converts the soul. The testimony is sure. It makes
the simple wise. It rejoices the heart. It enlightens
the eyes. Endures forever. They're true. That's why. That's why. And are we teaching our children
the same thing? Are we passing this on? How important
it is to hear to read, to meditate on the Word of God. Because the
Word, we know from John 1, in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in verse 14,
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And I'm not going to
waste your time by talking about the politics. I'm not going to
waste your time talking about things that, they are important. I'm not saying they're not important.
But we'll leave here this morning and we'll go about our business
and we'll encounter all these other things. But this is, Mary hath chosen
the better thing. is the Word. And I can't stress
that. And it just seems to be laid
on my heart to see this in this book. Feed the flock of God.
I'm to take this seriously. I'm to take this seriously. Feeding
the church of God, regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing
Him in His sovereign, kingly character. Knowing us in our
vile, corrupt, and sinful character. knowing Christ in his substitutionary
mediatorial perfections, the just for the unjust, the pure
for the unpure, the glorious for the unglorious, the merciful
to those who need mercy, are everything for nothings, a worthless
lot. But that's why we need everything.
This feeding is truly the only thing that will do sinners any
good. I'm convinced of that. This is
the only thing, not church history, not what Spurgeon thought about
something, not what Manton thought about something,
and they're all men of God. And if they were alive today,
I would fellowship with them. So that's why I always be careful.
I don't want to knock these old men. They have writings, and
they write stuff, and there's no way I could write as well. And
I think to myself, if they were alive today, would I fellowship
with them? Yes, so I don't have any problems to read that. But
I got problems with somebody who's so well-read and they don't
know the scriptures. This is the Word of Life. This is the Word of Life. This
feeding is truly the only thing that will do sinners any good,
called sinners or not yet called sinners. So that's everybody. If you're a sinner and you're
called and quickened and saying, this is what you want to hear,
that's what I'm to feed you. And if you're not called, how
are you going to get called? By me or by somebody? It doesn't
have to be an insert from the pulpit, but that's what we're
talking about in context. Peter, if you go out and the
Lord lays on your heart, you see somebody, you start talking
to them, that's just the verbal out-speakings, that's your preaching.
You're preaching the truth. And whether you're called or
not called yet, this is the only thing. And it is, okay, so I
understand the Gospel, I come, the Lord saved me, I let the
pastor know, and he baptized me, and now what are we going
to talk about? Do you think with these minds
we can ever exhaust the glory and splendor of our Lord Jesus
Christ? There's so much about Him in
the Old Testament that I haven't seen yet. We'll never exhaust
Him. This feeding, it must be about
Christ. Not traditions, not ceremonies,
not what mama believes, not what you think about what the scripture
says, not what you even do. But it's what Christ has done
for you. He must and he will have a preeminence in everything.
I was listening to a message I saw David Pledger, and he was
preaching a funeral. And somebody that was in there,
they came up to him afterward and they said, that's the only
thing I told the people that were sitting next to me, he said,
you'll hear the gospel. He'll get to the gospel. And
sure enough, that's what he did. You know, you say nice things
about somebody, this and that, that's not any problem with that. He's going to get to the gospel,
and that's what we are to do. Feed the flock of God, which
the scripture says, with food convenient. Isn't Christ convenient? Sure He is. He will have the
preeminence. So may I set the table each week, and may each
of you eat from this word of life. Turn to John chapter 6.
What do you mean, eat of this word of life? What do you mean,
eat? I'll just read straight from the scriptures. This is Christ speaking, John
chapter 6, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on
me hath everlasting life. So this is what he's talking
about. He's talking about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
the phrasing gets a little bit different, but that's what he's
talking about. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
saved. I am that bread of life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. And
that's the same thing. People who are eaten, they're
being fed junk, they're being fed lies, they're being fed air. That's like the man, it's junk.
It's not, you know, it's not the truth and they're going to
die. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever and that bread I will give him
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And
the Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this
man give us his flesh to eat? See, here they go, literal. They're
taking exactly what he's saying literal. They completely don't
understand what he's talking about. Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, except you eat my flesh
of the Son of Man, eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
his blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eats my flesh
and drinks my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent me, I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna, and are
dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever." Verse 57. Notice those last two words. He that eateth me, Even He shall
live by me, because of me. That's grace. He's talking about
a union. He's talking about believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ as everlasting life. The example is eating. The example is feeding. That's
why the pastors, elders, responsible elders, Feed the Church of God,
Christ, first and foremost. Christ, first and foremost. By
me. He is our life, our hope, our
peace. He dwells within His chosen people. He abides in His chosen
people. And they must feed upon Him publicly
and privately. As important as public worship
is, I'm not saying don't feed on Him. Feed on Him. You get
this once a week, twice a week. Three times a week. Maybe. Maybe. Publicly. Privately. Feed on
Christ. Feed on Christ. Matter of fact,
back to our text in 1 Peter. What's he say in 1 Peter chapter
2 verse 3? If so be you have tasted that
the Lord is gracious." Are you feeding on Him? Am I feeding
on Him? Am I feeding you correct doctrine? Am I feeding you the
correct person, the Lord Jesus Christ? Or is it somebody I've
made up or some doctrinal stand that my forefathers took and
I don't really understand it? No. No. If you've tasted, it
means you're feeding upon Christ. If we have tasted Him, we will
keep tasting Him, we will keep feeding upon Him and His Word. That's just what believers do.
Now, the consequences or the effect that will be for our best
interest and for God's ultimate glory. And we'll close with these
verses. Turn to Psalm 119. These are just beautiful. This
could go on here. Psalms 119. The consequences of me feeding
you properly is more than head knowledge. We've got to understand who we
believe. But there will be a heart that
beats and pants after Christ's righteousness. But am I feeding
correctly and are you feeding? Are you eating? The table is
being set so many times a week. Are we feeding? Psalms 119 verse
103, How sweet are thy words to my taste, yea, sweeter than
honey to my mouth. As great as vacations are, and
they're nice, One thing that Melinda and I have always agreed
upon 100% is we're not here. And we will
listen to some, we'll call in, we'll try to call in or we'll
listen to some CD or whatever, but it's not like being here.
We miss the brethren. We miss gathering together. Ezekiel chapter 3. Ezekiel 3. Verses 1-3, Moreover, the Lord
said unto me, Ezekiel, son of man, eat that thou findest, eat
this roll, and go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened
my mouth, and He calls me to eat that roll. The Word of God,
the things which He's supposed to preach to these people. And
He said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill
thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. I did eat it, and
it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Oh boy. And that's why He said,
how beautiful are the feet that bring glad tidings to the believer. Yes, sweet. Revelations chapter
10. It doesn't always have that effect,
as we'll see here, but it does. It has sweetness. Revelations
chapter 10, verses 9. I went unto the angel and said
unto him, Give me that little book, the little book. And he
said unto me, Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy
belly bitter. Bitter. When we hear the word
preached, it steps on our toes. He's talking about me. That's
not my intentions, truly. I hope I'm learning a little
bit. But sometimes it's bitter. But it shall be in my mouth,
sweet as honey. And I took the little book out
of the angel's hand and ate it up. And it was in my mouth sweet
as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter." The flesh never likes what's being preached. Even now, even our flesh, it
rankles. It rankles. Sometimes good, sometimes not
so much. But we know Romans 8.28 is true.
But in everything, all things are working together for good
to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. May God give me the grace to
feed the flock of God. And may God give you the grace
to feast. Feast one with another. I know
our plate is heavy, our plate is full, but I have a theory
about that. Sometimes it's as full as we
want. We just take stuff and just kind
of push it out of sight. I'm not going to do this. I'm
not going to do this anymore. Because it's robbing me of my
peace, or it's taking me away from the fellowship, or whatever
it might be. Just sense, common sense. Because we have to feed. We desire
to feed. And there are people who are
believers, and I believe this, that they don't feed very much. And they still love Christ. Boy,
you can sure tell. You can tell the struggles, that
they have the same struggles all the time. They don't grow
very much. You can tell. This little place where two or
three are gathered together. I'd like to see this place full,
but I don't want to see it full at the risk of compromising the
truth, at the risk of feeding air, junk, just for the pats
on the shoulder. Now, may God give me, your pastor,
pray for me. Feed the flock as I pray for
you. That we'll walk this thing together,
just like Christian and hopeful. Walk into Celestial City. And
by the grace of God, they're going to get there. They're going
to get there. Bruce, would you close us?