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Umm.
There's time to get any of the library and everything in the 5:00.
Rain through the day. You're going alone so far you can't even sleep. I'm not sure I'm gone.
Umm, right, three, 100 and five straight from his face.
I love to raise your heart where it says I go home to hand gain some.
Kind of blood thinning again, prescribed near the gaze from the end of the day, from the end of the day, from the sun and heart.
Thank you, loving God and Father.
We thank you that we are able to joy in the day.
For thy love that was shown out to us, giving thy son tidy light.
And in him, gracious God, we are blessed, and thy present.
We're able to come together, open thy precious word, and to learn of thee.
Thank you for each one that is here today. Thank you for joining Mercy, for bringing this one here. As we open Thy precious word, we pray that Thou would continue to.
Teaches the things that Thou does have for us.
That we might be more lifetime blessed son.
We love today our gracious God and loving Father. To Thy help we open Thy precious word. But give me thanks and I worthy, and thy precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.
I don't know if the brethren wanted to continue with first Peter one or if there was another passage that uh.
The bread and were exercised about.
I think you're nice one.
What verse would you say Brother John? Umm.
Uh, from first, uh, in connection with verse 300. OK, starting with verse four for starting with.
00:05:06
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has forgotten, has forgotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and the fate is not away reserved in heaven for you.
We were kept by the power of God through faith under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein He greatly rejoiced. So now for a season, if need be, we are in heaviness through manifold temptations. But the trial of your faith being much more precious than a gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, He lost.
In whom, though now ye see him not, He has more, uh, He rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired in search diligently, who prophesied the grace that accompany you? Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ?
And the glory that you follow, unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, and hope to the end to the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fascinating yourselves according to the former lusts and your ignorance.
But as He would have called you was holy. For no, be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without respect to persons, judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your soul journey here in fear. For as much as you know, you are 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.
That uh, what 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 in hope might be in God, seeing ye have purified your souls, and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto uncamed love of the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently being born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh of this grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass Withers, and the flower the rough falls away. But the Word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word by which by the gospel is preached unto you.
I think as we mentioned the the apostle is addressing.
Largely Jewish population that has been dispersed through believers. They have been looking for the establishment of the Kingdom. Their hopes were down here that was properly the Jews.
Outlook upon things they expected to the Messiah to establish the Kingdom.
And of course, he was crucified and their hopes were dashed, so to speak. We know in Luke chapter 24 that those, that pair, probably Madame and wife, really, uh, we're disappointed that, uh, their Messiah had been crucified. They were at a loss to know what, what would happen. But the apostle here, he.
Connects the hope now for the, uh, Jewish believers as a heavenly hope. He says, though the earthly expectation has not taken place, God has something for you in heaven. Your hope is there. You are only a stranger in a Pilgrim here who is not exactly the character of the Jew. When he was down here, he, he looked for a for prosperity.
00:10:16
And, uh, exaltation for the nation here on earth, which was properly their, their hope. But now the apostle says he's lifting their hearts to heaven. He said, you've got an inheritance up there that is incorruptible. It can't be defiled like the land of Israel was in your forebears, defiled and polluted the land and the whole inheritance faded away from that.
They lost it, but he says you have an inheritance that cannot be forfeited and it cannot be lost, but it's not here on earth. It's reserved in heaven for you, the inheritance reserved for you and you reserved for it. So it's a heavenly calling that the apostle brings before them here. And uh, this, you might say, characterizes this chapter here that.
Uh, he's lifting the hearts of his Jewish brethren, while it's for us as well, above this world into uh, uh.
Eternal theme where, uh, they will never lose that inheritance that has been purchased for us through the work of Christ.
I think we pretty well covered the 1St 4 verses in our in our chapter in our meeting this morning and I was thinking about this fifth verse in the expression Who are kept by the power of God.
I think if we ask the question.
Uh, does anyone remember where we have that expression? Again, the power of God in the Bible? I think that there's a lot, a lot here among our young people would know. And that's in Romans chapter one and verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Now here in this verse here, it says about the power of God or kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
I think there's a difference between the app, the application of Romans one and 16, and verse four or five here in our chapter.
And Romans one and 16 The power of God and the salvation, I think refers to our salvation and the work of Christ on the cross. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
How were you and I brought into blessing in the 1St place, brethren, it was through nothing that we could ever do. It was because of what Christ has done. It took that for us to be brought into blessing. In this verse here where it speaks of the power of God. Well, if I believe it's referring to the power of God in connection with the keeping grace of God that goes on with us day by day in our lives.
And so in Romans chapter 5, it says there, and not only so, but we shall be saved by his life. That is when the Lord, after dying on the cross to save us, He went back to the glory. And if I can put it this way, what is he doing now? We shall be saved by his life, His sister, the sustaining grace of God that goes on with us day by day through this world.
And so Peter is bringing before these Hebrew believers here that the way that they're kept for the inheritance to come was by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Peter was expecting the coming of the Lord even then, and how much more we should be now. But I think of this, you know, in connection with day by day.
Do we realize in how weak we are in ourselves and we need the sustaining grace of God day by day in our lives for all the decisions that come along in our lives, we are kept by the power of God. Well, may the Lord give us to that. That power is available to us. Do not seek to make our own direction, our own way through life, but to lean on Him and to trust Him for our power.
00:15:17
So as you say, salvation is looked at as the end of the past done in this.
Verse you, you agree with that and then maybe, uh, looking at verse nine, that's a present, the salvation of our souls. One may be the end of the path.
That we're waiting for.
One will be, uh, our bodies bodily will be redeemed and uh, caught up out of this scene, but the other is what we have presently, the salvation of our souls.
Salvation is looked upon in three ways, isn't it? It's in the past census.
9.
Salvation of our souls, We have that now. We possess it, we enjoy it as a result of the work of Christ. Umm, that was the end of our faith. We laid hold upon the work of Christ, the person of Christ. We repented and received salvation of our souls. We have that, we enjoy it. There's no progress in that.
But then there is salvation, as David has mentioned in the, uh, in the ongoing, uh, present, uh, context where the Lord is, uh, living for us at God's right hand, interceding for us, saved by his life. That has no reference to the life of Christ down here. Some people make a mistake there. It has reference to His life at the right hand of God at the present moment where He is interceding for us every hour of every day.
Seeing us through the many difficulties and trials of the wilderness, we are saved day by day as we depend upon Him, saved from from falling Him, saved from, umm, from pitfalls, as we depend upon Him. We need that, that ongoing salvation every day of our lives. But the salvation is spoken of here in our, uh, verse unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, as our brothers Steve has mentioned.
Is the consummation. It's the the end. We don't have this salvation yet because we are still connected with this groaning creation by our bodies of humiliation. We are not saved. There's things and that that are suffering in the body, many of them amongst us as we get older. As our brother Gordon used to say, not only does our hard call out for the Lord, but our flesh does do but here.
It's going to be salvation.
Of the body in the full sense of the word. I think if we turn to Roman, he said, 13. I said we have the same thoughts, A woman's 13.
And the umm.
The 11Th verse that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, where now it's our salvation nearer than when we believe. That is the, uh, the future aspect of salvation. Salvation of the body, soul and spirit. We don't have the salvation of our body yet. We're still connected with this groaning creation. We still have an old nature.
Into, uh, are well aware of, uh, there's two things we will not have in the glory. One, we won't have this whole nature that causes us so much difficulty now because we sometimes don't judge it. And we won't have this body of humiliation always humbling us because we're going to have a body of glory just like Christ in that day.
Could we connect it up with the chapter 8 of Romans or?
And the first time 22.
And not only they, but ourselves, uh well, verse 22 but we know that the whole creation growing from travelling together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first preacher of the spirit, even we ourselves thrown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to lift the exemption of the body.
00:20:05
Yeah, that's the same software, so.
First fire that says kept by the power of God. And I think for myself for a long time I quoted that verse for my own comfort and that times to others, but I didn't keep reading.
You know, we're kept by the power of God, but that's not all that it says. That tells us how we're kept by the power of God. What does God use to keep us by his power? And it says through faith, through faith, by setting our faith on its proper objects.
Were kept by the power of God. That's the means that He uses to keep us keeping our faith occupied with its proper objects, which is Christ. Our hopes in Christ, our spiritual blessings.
Our heavenly calling and so on. And so he's turning the sight of the Saints away, as was mentioned already, from earthly hopes, from earthly objects to what was theirs truly and properly, and that they're going to be kept by the power of God. It was going to be through focusing their faith in a very practical way on its proper options.
Which is done through the Word of God.
I like that verse. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
And we have the Spirit of God indwelling us as we know as believers.
And one of the.
One of the things the Spirit of God does is to occupy us with with the word itself. And so as far as let's see if I can put it this way, that's the natural.
The natural, uh, thing that's the spirit of God wants to do with us in our in our new life, in that new life that you've given us to occupy us with the word Jesus. It's when we allow.
The organization, the old, uh, the, the old self to to uh.
They occupied with other things around us that the Spirit hinders. The Spirit of God occupying us with the Lord Jesus Himself in our new way.
I find these comments illuminating.
Could I ask some of your scholars the meaning of in verse 15?
Be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
What do I have to go to bed? Holy.
I think that we connected to the previous verse.
As obedient children, not fashioning 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.
When you see a child with his father, what does he try to do?
Does he not try to imitate his father? It's lovely to watch, you know, you see them. Maybe a father will even be chopping wood and the, and the, and the child will try to do the same with a little toy or something like that. Is he has the he has the nature of his father and he seeks to do what is what his father does. And so here we have been brought into the family of God.
And as obedient children, why we have a Father in heaven? And what is it that, umm, that with that very nature that he has given us that we want to do with that very nature. It is the nature that responds to what we already have from him. And so be holy as I am holy. And as I look at the Lord Jesus and I and I have my eye on him and my life, I'm going to want to follow him and be holy as he is holy. That's the thought I've enjoyed in connection with these verses.
There's nothing like having our eye and the Lord in our life, is there?
We don't follow holiness in order to obtain it, but because we have a nature that is holy, we're holy and without blame before God in love. And now, uh, if that new nature, which is a holy nature, in fact, we're uh, we're addressed in the Hebrews chapter 3.
00:25:15
As the chapter 3.
Wherefore holy brethren and savers of the heavenly callings, and so on, we are addressed in that position as holy brethren.
Foley and without blame before God and love is our standing, our position now? Are we manifesting that?
Umm, are we, uh, displaying? We follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord because we have a holy nature.
But of course it's going to require obedience.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts and your ignorance, Chapter 2 and verse 11, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust, which war against your soul. So there's got to be an exercise to deny ourselves.
Those things that.
Emanate from the old nature which we all have, and we know what is the snare to us. It may be different in in each one of us, but that which?
Militates against holiness. We need to, uh, exercise to, umm, to put those to keep the old nature in the place of death where the cross of Christ has put it.
Mr. Lundin had an expression. He said it was a question of substitution in the vessel.
We have the old nature and we have the new nature. If any man be in Christ, he is a new Creator. But we have the old nature there too. And so the exercise, the admonition is.
To feed the new nature and not the old nature and the world is Satan has designed it in such a way.
As to attract the hearts and minds of believers as well as unbelievers and the exercise of Peter here is to bring the Saints to enjoy the presence of God and be ye holy as I am holy. How can I do it? By being occupied with Christ to feed on the word of God, to be separate from the world. Oh, it is, it is it is so vital to have these fundamental.
Things brought before us in our lives, isn't it?
Adding to that, brother, what happens when faith has its proper objects? And we're really enjoying in our souls the Lord in a real way, and we're really feeding on the Word and we're really getting fed, and we're really enjoying fellowship with our brethren and going on with the Lord. And something wicked comes in. What happens? We hate it. We hate it because it's spoiling what's good.
Don't want it to come anywhere here because it's spoiling the enjoyment of what it should. And so holiness first and foremost is the enjoyment.
And pleading to what is good and of God and a hatred of everything that would come in and spoil them. That's very good to see. We've often been reminded holiness is the abhorrence of that which is evil, but the delight and that which is good.
I, uh, quote a little verse there that's even, I think it's, uh.
And then maybe two uh, days pay holder, uh, Danny McCord, uh, 1992 just after the last break explosion, umm, coming in before the Sydney from Newland and he quoted a verse to tomorrow Morocco's umm, he was on the left side of the uh, the animal tour was right in front of me. He post his verse, two natures beat within my breast. One is cursed, the other is blessed.
One I adore, the other I hate, but the one I feed will dominate. So we can end up being not used of the Lord by the end of our lives. If we're not walking according to the light, we can never ever walk in darkness because we grew one's darkness and we're walking darkness. But now?
00:30:02
We can never walk in darkness, but we can walk not according to the light which is.
Very destructive to ourselves and to everyone around us that we have contact with.
1St that was quoted earlier is is key. I believe that faith how much by hearing hearing by the word of God.
That's how we grow, lingers.
Mean somebody believers sometimes that they just they don't grow very much in their souls and and if they're not reading and they're not getting the truth and then they can easily be blown a bug by every with a doctor or whatever might come along but we need the word of God you have to read it take time we have to rob time for something else but it's important to take time and.
Then the Lord gives us credit for our walk. If we walk well, if we walk bad, we have to take blame for it. But, uh, as we see in relations that, that who we should be given the credit to is a, is a spirit and the Lord Lord himself and, uh, in a relationship by.
In verse 16 it says then I say then walk in the spirits and shall not fulfill a lot of place. The Holy Spirit always guides us in the truth.
The word of God always your excess in the right path and and that leads to today and tell us here that the conflict that we have in the 17th verse. The flash blocks against the spirits, the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would.
And so you see that the Holy Spirit keeps us reading here about being account for the power of God.
We direct our lives, let the Lord lead. Holy Spirit keeps us from things that we would that the flesh would would do. We give it the opportunity. We know that every time we give twice the opportunity to hack God in opposition to God.
And so.
We have this conflict, but we have the answer for it.
And I was just thinking too, uh, we have, uh, three enemies, uh, the world.
In judges reading, I, I believe in Chapter 9 there, umm, maybe, uh, the Malachites, umm, well, the Midianites, that's the world and that means uh, MIDI nights. I think we strike instead, umm, then you have the Malachite sets of flesh and uh, umm.
Then you have failed, unless Satan and, uh, fail them. What he did, he took the word of God and he switched it and uh, that's what he always did. And, uh, it can only go to start the audience though. So we're going to go through trials and, uh, temptations and tribulations of all different sorts and, uh, but, umm, if we keep our eye on the Lord and not just give up.
Go our own separate way. He's going to keep us.
Because we can't keep ourselves.
We're, we're so much like cheap. We just, uh.
We're so, uh, again, the flesh. That's the worst thing at all, because we don't know the flesh. Umm, it's so deceitful. It's deceitful above all things in the desperately wicked. Who can know it? Saith the Lord, and he knows.
We got a salvation mentioned at the end of that fifth verse, but it's just looking in, uh.
In Second Corinthians chapter 5, we have the expectation of that salvation.
Umm is after 5 and verse one to for we know we know that if our earthly husband is Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with him eternal into heaven.
For this we grow and earnestly desire to be focused upon. So how you think is from heaven?
If these souls are being closed before they sound naked, but we that are in this Tabernacle and grown being burdened most of that, we wouldn't be on clothes, but clothes upon that mortality might be followed up in life. This is our expectation. This is what we hope for.
00:35:10
Oh.
Maybe we should try to go on a little bit here.
6th and 7th versus wherein ye greatly rejoice. So now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation, at the trial of your faith, being much more precious than a goal to parish it, though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
What do we learn from these versions?
Well, we have been very sick here. Uh, we rejoice in this great salvation, but, uh, we're still in the wilderness. Uh, we're still in a land of trial, a temptation.
Difficulties. There's testing. God never gives faith, but what he tests it. And, uh, there's a need to be for these trials that, uh, I may be passing through and needs be on my part.
But a purpose of love on God's part.
He, uh, watches over the gold, so to speak, until he sees his reflection there. And this heaviness spoken of here is not that, uh, that dull state of soul that I may be in because I'm out of communion with the Lord. That's, uh, often the case with me. But, uh, having us here is pressure that I'm, that I'm going through in the pathway of faith. We all have these, these times when we're under pressure.
And, uh, sometimes we're, we're right against the wall. We don't know which way to turn.
Umm, and uh, it's, it's a, it's a manifold of temptation here. You could, you could put the word trial in here.
Uh, it, it may not be because of any evil, but it's a testing that God allows in our lives for our good. We don't like it. If I said maybe we'd be exercised. Why the Lord has allowed that in my life.
Umm, part of the education of the believer. It's part of the, uh, the child training. We all go through it if need be. We are in heaviness with manifold temptation or trial, but uh, we're going to see that trial in a different light in that coming day. Uh, it will be found them to praise and honor and glory. The appearing of Jesus Christ that does authorize speak.
If you do have a different oh, I think that's great.
Just think of a connection with this, uh, scattered, uh, little remnant of Jewish believers that they have been. They were not only persecuted by the Gentiles, but they were persecuted by their own brethren. And they, we read in Hebrews had, uh, even taken joyfully the spoiling of their own goods. They really lost everything and.
It was not an easy, uh, path that they had.
Well, I was just thinking too, but David, the.
In Psalm 119 it's uh.
So beautiful to see, uh, how David learned, uh, most inflictions of the Lord. And that would be trials and temptations and, uh, all these things that seem to be against us at times, but we have to realize that Romans 828 will prevail.
And we know that all things work together for business to them of God. And verse 67 in Psalm 119.
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept I word and uh, verse 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might run my statutes, growing the race knowledge of Lord. Verse 75 I know Lord, that digestions are right, and that thou and faithfulness has afflicted me.
And uh, verse 95 so that's by law has been my delights. I should have been I should have then have perished in my affliction. And then verse 107 I am afflicted very much quick in the old Lord, according to thy word. And then we even.
00:40:00
Group 114 Thou art my hiding place and my shield, I hope in my word.
So there's a little progression there, you know, you have to be a flicker. What else we're looking to, no.
I think if we, uh, we're honest with ourselves, I know for myself that, and when everything seems to be going well and, and right the way I'd like it to go, umm, we can very quickly forget that the word, uh, that, that we need to trust the word and that he could make everything go right for us. He has that power, but he knows that if he did that, I would forget of it.
Fact that I need to depend on and so I believe he sends these trials that John has been talking about. And like John says, sometimes you just you're at the end of end of it and you don't know which way to turn and what what to do about something and you just have to cry out to the word. And I believe that's why he sends them allows them is to is to make us cry out to be at the end of our roof, so to speak in the crier and ask for for his direction and his his will to be done in that situation.
God always knows what he requires.
You can conform us to the image of his son in every situation.
And sometimes that's a wonderful thought and occasionally we think of that in a very selfish way. But I've often thought of that need to be in the relation to those around us. How do they view us as we go through these trials? What, what, what the testimony? Are we the saving grace of God and the work of God in our lives as others watch us go through trial. Those of us who have to work with others or, or, uh, at school and things, their eyes are on us constantly. So watch us in the good and the bad.
And it's the God that we worship is the God that we say he is and how he acts and how we act towards him. And it's a wonderful witness in the testimony when we can go through these trials. And, and thankfully we have such a God who cares for us in such a way that he does all things for his glory and for his honor and his praise and for our good. And so we really don't have to worry in that sense. Umm, but we don't need to get caught up in our, ourselves in that way. Sometimes we do, but it's important to realize that others are watching us.
An older brother used to tell me, uh, in relation to this, we, we read in the scriptures many times how the word of God is, is pure as refined silver. And that term is used in Malachi, I believe also about the aspect of refining things.
But he once spoke to me. He said God only tried gold.
God only tried souls in your life and mine.
He only brings out what he himself has placed there in the first place.
And that's what sometimes these trials we go through. The Lord is trying to show us, I believe, what He has placed in US. What a wonderful heritage, what a wonderful life we have, being guided by the Spirit, being indwelt by the Spirit. And yet we always take advantage of that. Are we always conscious of it? They're knowledgeable of the wonder of God within us as we walk through this world. I know I am not always constantly aware of that. So sometimes these trials, I believe, are those that bring that out, that show us what a wonderful and marvelous God we have who is on our side in all things.
And others that watch us, the witness and testimony that we have as we go through these trials, it's amazing to see how things can change in the way that they look at us, as they see us walk in obedience, independence upon him.
That really comes back to, uh, what David was saying this morning. I bet it's letting our light shine. It's part of that.
My neighbor My neighbor sees me.
Coming out the door in the morning with a long face and and complaining about whatever I might be upset about through him. Umm, he's not gonna be very impressed with my with what I've told him before the testing award.
In Matthew 19, umm to say a couple of scriptures, both I think the same Matthew 19 and March 20, but Matthew 19.
And verse 27.
And answered Peter, and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and follow thee, what shall we have therefore? I just was thinking of that connection with these Jewish believers, and forsaken all to follow Christ and Saint Peter. What shall we have? Therefore He had those earthly hopes and expectations, and then the I like how the answer comes in Mark 10 to the same account.
00:45:17
Umm.
Verse 28 of Mark 10 Peter began to say Pimlow we have left all and followed thee in Jesus.
Answered and said, Verily, I send you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife.
Our children are lands for my sake from the Gospels that he shall receive in hundredfold now and this time houses and brothers and sisters and mother and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life. And so we have, as believers come into a multitude of brothers and sisters, heavenly mothers and fathers and the Lord homes where we're welcome and.
We thank the Lord for that even in this time, but the Lord adds here in, in mark with persecution and little did, uh, Peter probably understand really at that time. But if you turn over to, uh, second Corinthians.
And uh.
Chapter 6, the apostle Paul speaks of the apostles portion for those 12 disciples became and they're called apostles, uh, Second Corinthians.
Chapter 6.
I have the wrong chapter.
Umm, I'm just thinking about portion where fossil says he's counted up the fossils as last.
This can be important First Corinthians 4.
Action.
No, I'm not. Well, I have to see. Yes, thank you.
But I Verse 9 For I think that God has set forth us, the apostles last, as it were, appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle under the world, and to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake. If you're wise in Christ, we are weak, but ye are strong, ye are honorable, but we are just fine even under this present hour. We both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place and labor, working with their own hands, being reviled, blessed, being persecuted, we suffer it.
Being defamed, we entreat, we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off scouring of all things under this day. Think of Peterson, Lord, we forsaken all. What shall we have? Therefore, here's what they have. Here's the portion that was there, and I'll turn over to revelation.
End of Revelation.
Scheduled for 21.
Verse 14.
And the wall of the city had 12 foundations.
And then, then the name of the 12 apostles of the land, what shall we have there in the world to come and turn light? He directs Peter and says Peter, yes, there's blessings here attended upon a Christian path even now, but your portion is in the world to come. And though they were the off scouring of the world, and that was the persecutions that they suffered in their portion here, yet in that heavenly city, its foundation.
And its foundations are engraved in names of those 12 apostles that were so cast out. It's just kind of an encouragement to me in connection with, uh, the thoughts that we have in this portion of first Peter, that the trial of our faith is more precious than gold wine because it glorifies God. It takes God in his word. It believes God glorifies him, and it shouldn't be found to praise.
Honor and glory? Whose praise? Whose honor? Whose glory?
His, his glory finds him. It's even more precious than gold, because it glorifies him. And fill those apostles went on, and they did glorify the Lord and their lives down here, and almost every one of them sealed that testimony with their own blood.
00:50:18
But we're gonna see their names engraved. Though it's symbolic, I realize that in that coming day, there's gonna be a place of honor that they have with the Lord.
Probably refers back to the time that the three Hebrew servants.
Uh, Shedrug, Meshach and Abednego were put into the fiery furnace. That was certainly a trial with fire. You know, it's sometimes been said that, uh, when we get to glory and speak with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and say, what was the most wonderful time in your experience down here? I think they're going to say the time that we were in the fiery furnace.
Why? Because there the Lord walked with us. We had that wonderful communion with the Son of God right in the midst of the fire.
So these trials that we go through, they're not easy for us to bear, but to God is the purpose of blessing in in them we need to have the shield of faith erected because in times of trial like this, Satan comes in times of weakness of body and suffering, Satan makes a special attack upon you. In times of discouragement. That's the most dangerous time for the believer discouragement. That's a weapon that.
Satan wields very successfully and we don't have our eyes on the Lord at that time and we don't have the shield of faith erected. Those doubts are going to come in doubting the goodness that is in the heart of God. All our failures springs from that doubting the goodness that is in the heart of God. And when those wiry darts gain an entrance into our souls, it's very sad. We, we become very discouraged. We're we're good for nothing, you might say.
It can't be a testimony for the Lord, but let us see the hand of the Lord in these, in these trials. It's for our blessing, for his glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Again, I say we're going to see that trial in a different light when we are at the judgment seat of Christ.
Jove Jove chapter one I don't know anyone that I know in the word of God or went through a worship child and than Joe did and if you say in trials.
The Lord is the one that gets glorified in the trials and look in the first chapter Job and.
The 20th 1St these things came the bottom it says you all the walls around your head and fell down upon the ground and worship.
They said they just came out of my mother cream to make it. I shall return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord had taken away wasn't be the name of the Lord and all of this shows and not are charged God foolishly.
So he and Joe's trial all the way through, he didn't like who was charging against God. He didn't understand some of the things he was going through, but he took it from the Lord and.
He never, he never was ever charged God in a foolish way.
Trial remember Jacobin, he wouldn't believe that Joseph was alive, you know, and he wouldn't believe until he saw the camels coming laden with the, with food and everything, you know, and provisions and, uh, I was also thinking of, uh.
Uh, Isaiah chapter 43 and it's, uh, I disconnected back with chapter here the following the faith, uh, there's so much images, uh, whole way of a believer and, uh.
And then there's, uh, in these two verses, 3 verses here. Well, the two first verses, uh, but now if I stay at the board as I created the, uh, both make it. And he that formed me, and he's shaking his in the image of his Son. O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. John 17 There all thine are mine.
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And uh, Jacob means the planter and deceiver and, uh.
We all in our own nature through supplanters and receivers, but you have that new nature that cannot stand. And that's the that's, that's Israel. Israel means Prince. And so the Lord had called him. I have called thee by thy name. And then verse two, when thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overfloe thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kill upon thee.
Emperor 3 is so lovely, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Jehovah the Savior is the name of Jesus. It means Jehovah the Savior, you know so.
We can't lose. You know, I've often thought, Bill, of those two verses there together and that 43rd by Isaiah. It seems to me you read them together and you say to yourself, why is it that the second verse follows the first verse? What is the connection between them? Because it's such a nice thought in the first verse where where God is saying I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, Thou art mine and would love to be occupied with that.
But why does it immediately fall? The second verse immediately follows when it says, When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee it.
Seems to me that God is saying in those verses is really necessary for you to take and have the trials in your life to keep you near me and I'm going to do it, but you can count on my presence as you go through the trial and I I really I really feel today that you know we hear we have prayer meetings in our home assemblies that I think each of us can say and we.
Different things come up from time to time.
And there are Saints of God that are passing through things like have, uh, are a surprise to us even. And sometimes ones lose their jobs. Sometimes you lose your friend. If something happens that God has allowed in your life and it and at least a question mark sometimes and you wonder, how can I ever take and rise above it? Well, here we have this verse here that tells us about the trial of your faith.
If I lost my my job, well, uh, is the Lord able?
Umm, it, it, it, it turns us back on the Lord himself, doesn't it? And so, uh, and we need to sustain each other in prayer as, uh, we go through these trials that the Lord would preserve those who are passing through these deep waters, like our brother said about not being discouraged about keep on keeping on to keep on.
I remember going to university down in London ON and there was a brother there in the meeting, Mr. Finlayder, and he used to say, David, it's a great thing to continue. And that was a word that Paul said to Timothy to keep on when we go through trial, because the Lord is there. He doesn't give up on his people. I think that's the thought in in Deuteronomy where it says Moses said at the end of his life when he surveyed 40 years after the wilderness.
He said yeah, he loved the people. All his Saints are in his hand.
That state that is spoken up in verse 7.
Umm, the trial of our faith. But that face is given by by to us, by God.
We we all have access to it, so we're trusting in the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We have access to it. Ephesians 2 tells us that university knows so well that your stay through faith and not not of yourselves. That is the gift of God. So we have that. We have that faith. The question is, are we, are we relying on it and using it like said rock, Meshach and Abednego.
01:00:05
They were, they had faith, they were using the basic I was given them. They, they said we, umm, our God is able and he will deliver us. And if not, we still won't, uh, bow down. They had, they were using that faith and so was Joe.
Faces is something that's available to all of us. What?
I was just thinking of Jacob again, you know, uh, at the end of his life, he said all these things are against me.
But, you know, that's the way it is with the believer, uh, that old Jacob nature, uh, uh.
Might call it we say all of these things are all against me. You know why that's happening, but we should just turn to the word of God, even in our head and say, well, this is working over blessing. I don't understand it now, but I'm just going to accept it from the Lord and take it. And then the blessing comes when we learn to take it from the Lord. It's just that's the way it is and.
You know Jacob.
You often see the Lord refers to Miss Jacob Israel, Jacob Israel, Jacob Israel.
And every time he's referred to Jacob, it's always something, something there that the Lord has to shown, you know, so, and it's exactly the same with us. And look, I want to say this with with so many young people here and children, I wouldn't want to be young in this day and age in this world that we're living in, that we're living, living just in that last few moments before the Lord comes and takes us out of this world. And we're waiting here for the Son of God to come from heaven and change our vile bodies and the likeness of his glorious bodies.
And for the young ones in school?
It must be awful the same age, but just remember the Lord is with you. He's with you and never leave you, never forsake you and all of us. We all have to get ahold of that in our souls. And these trials are for blessing and not for cursing.
We don't always see the reason for a trial down here. We don't always have that result in our souls. I'm sure there's many things in each one of our lives which we don't understand to this moment, but it will be all revealed in the glory. The Lord was too wise to err and too good to be unkind. And.
The Queen of Sheba, he had a lot of hard questions that she proposed to, uh, solve it. Remember the passage?
A lot of things that she couldn't understand.
That looks on to the resurrection.
We, uh. Solomon answered all her hard questions. She went away satisfied and, uh.
Uh, happy in her soul. Well, we are called to humble ourselves under the mighty hands of God. Here we have things to learn in these trials. And if we humble ourselves.
God can bring blessing out of what seems to be umm.
Uh, something, uh.
Disastrous or something that seems so difficult to bear. We're going to see it all at the judgment seat of Christ that God had a purpose of blessing in it. But I think that verse in our very official here is is important in chapter 5. Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God. Verse six that he may exalt you in due time.
We don't do that. We're not going to be able to cast our care upon the Lord. First of all, it's the humbling ourselves. Self judgment is necessary in each one of our lives.
Peter had to learn that, didn't he?
It was brought low by the Lord, and then he was used to the Lord.
I think that he often refers to his fall, I think.
Perhaps not implicitly, but to, he does refer in, I think, a different, uh, packages to the fact that he had, he had not been kept. Uh, we know that, uh, he denied the Lord three times with Olson curses, but the Lord restored him. We're, we're not told, umm, what actually happened in that interview between the Lord and Peter.
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The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared unto Peter that private.
Restoration, and I think we all need this in our own experience, we're not told what happened there.
But, uh, that whole, uh.
Situation was gone into by the Lord in perfect wisdom. And uh, we do hear about Peter's public restoration, but before there's a public restoration, if I have failed, there must be a private restoration between the Lord and my soul. That's, that's what happened in the life of Peter. And I think he often refers to it into the epistle, uh.
Umm, various passages that you could, you could say are uh, a throwback to that, uh, reference back to the time when he he did. He was not kept because of self-confidence, which is probably the cause of most of our failure.
Encourage and burst there in Revelation where it says God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Uh, Pierce, failure and denial, denial of the Lord. Uh, Sam, always weak veteran with many tears, but God in his grace uses these trials for ultimate blessing, doesn't it? Days coming when a white bulb tears shore eyes.
So those trials God allows and brings into our lives for a purpose.
And another one said, uh.
Would be a sad thing if there was no tears for him to wipe away in our life.
Call.
Even when you could sing 32 in the appendix.
32 and the appendix.
And.
When God will pray. No hope you've been here. I'm getting round where you're working with your side space.
I saw God's waking, waking man, first son together. Remember what happened.
Our father will know behind him.