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Say #10 in the back.
In the back.
Land in his heart and tell the burning kill.
The Chamber of provocation of hell. But my friend.
Oh, painful. That presence will cease me for long and then I'll try out that.
Song.
God and Father, we thank you for the encouraging words of the hymn that we just saw.
We think of the subject that expressed aligned with what we enjoyed from Lightwood this morning. And so we just continue to look to the vote as we open that word again for the living of thy spirit, for that which would comfort our hearts, lift our eyes up and have a good.
Smoothness journey that we're on, just look to leave the meetings and just pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Brother Burns suggested that we continue with the same chapter, but what first shall we start with?
Start.
9.
First Theater 1.
First night.
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of.
Soul of which?
Salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the great that you come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in that did signified, when it testifies beforehand to stop reason Christ.
And the glory that just follow.
Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they'd administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost, sit down through heaven.
Which things the angels desire to look into, 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 after revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourself according to the former, lost in your ignorance.
But as he would have called you is holy, so be he holy in all manner of conversation.
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Because it is written be holy, for I am holy.
And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons, judges according to every man's work at the time of your soul journey here in fear, for as much as you know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by traditions from your Father.
But with the precious blood of Christ, I saw the Lamb without blemish and without spot.
Who verily, was poor, ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you, who by him to believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing you have purified your souls and obey the truth through the Spirit.
I'm I'm in love with the brethren.
That you love one another with the pure heart, purposely being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh is that grass, and all the glorious men at the flower of grass.
The graph wither it and flower there a faded followed away.
But the word of the Lord endure forever.
This is the word which by the Gospel is a priest.
Why I suggested 11:30? Because this is the only verse that you find in Peter.
That is present salvation. Everything else is like in the Fifth Third, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. That is when we're glorified.
Is that right?
Verse nine you're referring to, right?
Going back to book eight, because I don't think we commented on it, who, having not seen any love and whom though now you see him not yet believing to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. So he spoke this morning about the sufferings of this world. One of the things they do is to wean us from this world to.
Develop those new tastes that we possess. If we're always feeding the old nature well, it should have surprised us that we still crave those things.
But there's a positive side to it as well. There's now a New Hope before us, and that hope is not a glorious land with streets paved with gold. It's a positive. And I think.
I think it's similar to what Paul gives us in Philippians, which is also a wilderness book.
When he says in Philippians chapter 3.
I pressed bullet the mock for the prize of the high clothing of thought in Christ Jesus. So it's a person that we have before us. And I know I I made this comment in another conference I was at just a month ago.
But.
As I have gotten older, if there's one thing that I trust, I'm learning and that is to develop affection for Christ. It's not a question of how much I love Him, but learn who He is. Have your hearts affections drawn out towards Him.
It's really to to know God and to know the Lord Jesus, not know about Him.
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That word.
And verse 9.
As a thought of an object.
In view.
Receiving the object and view of your salvation, repeat, or view of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. And so, as you say, brother, for them, what does the Jew look for? We thought this is he who should deliver Israel, right?
But that's not the object of their faith anymore, and the end of their faith is the salvation of their souls, not an object of temporal deliverance at all. Again, through this chapter, there's that constant contrast with what Israel had versus what they now have as Christians.
Are are you saying there that means that goes along with the eight first?
Receiving the end of their salvation is communion with the Lord or His presence.
And then?
The the the the object of faith isn't a temporal deliverance.
For Israel, what were they looking for?
Your faith was in the Messiah to come and deliver the nation, but now the the object of faith wasn't salvation in a temporal way as it was salvation of their souls. And they thought that. But there's the salvation, full salvation, not just of the soul, but a body as well that's been taken up and that's future.
I think that's good to see that in the Old Testament that would say and salvation occurs, but the Old Testament Saints didn't have the knowledge of salvation that we had. They didn't have assurance of salvation. We don't understand that. And we read the Psalms and we put ourselves in exactly the same position as the psalmist, especially when he's speaking as the voice of the remnant in Israel. We're going to miss apply those things to ourselves.
And now salvation will suddenly become a very unsure thing. The Psalms again, particularly those who speak of the voice of the remnant in Israel speaking, they're not speaking from a Christian physician. But it doesn't take away in any way the things we can enjoy from the Psalms. We've been going through the Psalms here locally in the Bible reading that occurs during the Sunday school classes. And I would say it has resulted tremendous blessing, it really.
So often it just flows on into what we've enjoyed in the breaking of thread, but it's a matter of understanding who something is written to or who is written by, and if it's not written to us, recognizing that, but taking the things that are applicable to ourselves from it.
And learning from them. But just to give an example from Nehemiah in connection with word salvation, Nehemiah Chapter 9, verse 27 says, Therefore Thou delivers them into the hand of their enemies who vex them. And then the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou notice them from heaven. And according to thy manifold mercies, thou gave us them saviors, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. The saving there from the savage was a temple deliverance from their enemies.
That's what Israel looked for. They looked for temporal deliverance to the salvation that we have here in this chapter is no longer a temporal deliverance, but it's the salvation of their souls.
We learn in the Book of Revelation that.
Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
And that God's Son is really the center in the sun as you and around which everything evolves not.
About the Church, not Israel, not man salvation, but Christ.
But further than that, we can say that the two great themes of the prophetic scriptures about Christ.
Bookings are the sufferings of Christ and the glory that you follow.
And as we often notice.
To for a student in old times of the prophetic scriptures to.
Focus on the coming glory, Stephen pointed out. It would have been the revelation of the earthly glory of Christ as Messiah, Son of David.
And to Passover, the sufferings.
Was a vital mistake.
These are the.
Two key aspects of the.
Testimony of the Spirit down through the ages of prophetic scriptures.
The sufferings of Christ.
Glory that you follow.
So the two on the way to Emmaus, they said. But we trusted that he should have.
That he which should have been redeemed his rival. That's Luke 24, verse 31.
And they, as has just been said, they completely overlooked the suffering Messiah, which is fully detailed in the Old Testament. And So what is the what Jesus do? He says vote, not Christ. That is the society anointed 1 to have suffered these things and entered into his glory, beginning at Moses and all the prophets. He expounded under them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
And then verse 44 of them 24 says, These are the words which I speak unto you. Why?
But yet with you that all things must be fulfilled before written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. And that's the threefold division of the Old Testament, the entire Old Testament that the Jew had the, the if you ever pick up a Hebrew Old Testament, there'll be three things written on the front cover, say Torah, which is the Law, Nevine, which is the prophets, and Katuvi, which is the writings, the three fold division of which the Lord spoke of here, and he went through them.
I don't know how many verses he touched on, but that spoke of the suffering of Messiah. But it's the great mistake that we make that Steve touched on in his last meeting that we like to make the Scriptures all about ourselves. They were making Scriptures all about themselves. They look for the redemption of Israel. That was all about themselves. And if we take up Scripture thinking that man and his redemption is the center of God's thoughts and counsels, we will misunderstand and misrepresent Scripture. That is why it's so important.
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That we have the dispensational outline that was just presented. We cannot understand Scripture if we make ourselves the focus of it. As has already been said, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is really the central theme of Scripture.
It's the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus. And so God does have one purpose, and that's to glorify himself in Christ, and two spheres, heaven and earth.
And now they were finding out they were going to be part of that heavenly spirit, not the earthly one. This.
Still one purpose of God horrifying himself in Christ.
But the pattern.
Is for them, isn't it? And for us it's not the glory then the sufferings.
I couldn't be the sufferings and then the glory, and so we shouldn't expect to follow a different pattern than the Lord Himself.
See here 2IN verse 11 The simple observation but once again the proof of the evidence that the Old Testament is the inspired word of God. For other places too we find second Peter the 1St chapter verse 21 Says for prophecy came on in old time by the will of man, the holy man of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and so they didn't just write down their own thoughts.
Inspiration is an interesting subject.
Because inspiration is not the same as dictation. There is some dictation. The word of the Lord came onto so and so, and then we have, as it were, essentially dictation. What the word of the Lord said to that individual for much of the Old Testament is the expressions.
Of men used of God and we have the human element there present in the word of God. So you read aim us. Amos was a farmer and he uses many farming illustrations.
God and His inspiration didn't choose, I mean chose to use men to present His Word exactly as He wanted it presented. The two are not incompatible folks. But God chose men of all inspired by the Spirit of God to write down things exactly as He wanted them. But they didn't remove the human element from those expressions as well. And then this of us mentions the Spirit of Christ, and we see and see that especially brought out in the Psalm.
You mentioned this on Thursday night, so those here, they're also give the repetition. But so often we read in the songs of experience of David, but the sun doesn't end with the experience of David. There is value in looking at the Psalms in the life of David and compared to historic accounts of David with the signs that he wrote at that time. There is value in that. But that's all that we saw in the Psalms. We had missed so much.
Because as I said, so many of the sounds begin with an experience of data, but they don't end there. Instead, we have the Spirit of Christ speaking. Psalm 22 is a good example. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Well, perhaps David in his experience cried that at some point. But to limit that sum to the experiences of David you, you've missed what that sound is really about. It's the Spirit of Christ speaking through David. We know that David spoke by the Spirit as he says it back in Second Samuel.
But, and particularly in the songs, you hear the Spirit of Christ speaking in a way that we don't even find in the Gospels.
I'd like to ask a question in regards to what's being said because I was struck with this first last week. It kind of raised a question in my mind, but.
Says the Spirit of Christ, which was in them. Brother Steve just pointed out to us that.
In volume of the Spirit of God is particularly what brings us to Christianity, and that the end volume of the Spirit was not known in the Old Testament.
So what does that expression mean, or how do we understand what it says? The Spirit of Christ which was in them?
I think in Ezekiel you have two similar expressions. Ezekiel 22 Says the Spirit hinted into me and.
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And then Ezekiel 3224 says that the Spirit entered into me. But I think the vast difference is the abiding presence of the Spirit.
Go ahead. No, I thought exactly. It just came and went.
Now included forever. Never really.
The language in Second Samuel 23 that you were referring to. I'll just read it.
These be the last words of David. Then in verse 2 The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue.
I believe it's that phenomena and similar phenomena. Sometimes the Spirit of God came upon a person to perform actions as well as words, but that's a different thing than the Spirit of God being able to take up his residence or indwell a person based upon known salvation received.
After the day of Pentecost.
Barbara gives a illustration of it and lookout on this lake. And here's a boat and the sail is up and.
Motor skill. But all of a sudden there's something that makes that sale blow up and so it moves it then it stops. Something is not moving at anywhere. Now it now it starts to move again as the sale fills up. So there's some force that's moving that comes and it goes.
But say they take a sail down and now that book starts to move, you realize not only there was something that was causing it to go and stop, but now it has power inside. And that's.
The engine inside. And so that's the difference, I believe, between what the Old Testament Saints had. The Spirit came upon them and evident.
The prophesied and whatever you use them for. And then it went, and it came back. But now we're in dwell, and we never will be.
In first chapter of John verse 32.
John fair record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and if the boat upon him.
And they knew him not, but he that sent me the baptized with water the same 7 To me Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit of God descending and remaining on him, sustained to see the baptism of those jokes.
John's writing is a very interesting because there are certain words you love to you.
Well.
Like some of them you could probably guess at, but the one you just spoke of is another one. Just word to abide I think. If I remember rightly it's a Greek word minnow, but it goes over and over and over again in John's writings is the thought of abiding and remaining.
Clearly absent in Psalm 51 where he says, take not thy Holy Spirit from me. But when you get to John 14, he he says.
But you know, for heat dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
So it's in advance upon what we had in the Psalms.
And the Spirit of God acted upon.
Not only believers.
But unbelievers as well.
It's all prophesied, Balaam prophesied.
And so the Spirit of God would never take up his dwelling place and one who was not a believer and even the Old Testament believers didn't have the gospel of their salvation preached to them as we get in Ephesians 113, to believe and then be sealed by the Spirit in dwelling of the Spirit involves more than just him acting on someone and using them in a certain way involves him being the seal, the earnest, the anointing, and.
So on.
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There would be this difference to that in New Testament times for believers that are part of the church with in-depth dwelling spirit. If a person speaks in the Spirit, they do it with the understanding also. That is expected of us, and that's common to believers. Now. I will pray with the Spirit. I will pray with the understanding also.
An Old Testament St. on the other hand, prophesied.
Reams of prophetic utterances without necessarily knowing the import of what it was all about, and so that they could be searching what was given to them to speak with perhaps limited, greater or lesser amount of light in what was uttered.
It was still the Spirit of Christ in them uttering because we read that all scripture is given by inspiration of God or God grief.
The understanding is more common to us in our day and not common to that same extent before the cross.
The reason I mentioned what I said about applying because that occurs there in John 14.
23 is an example of it. Jesus answered and Saddam to him. If the man loved me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our opposed with him.
And then just another grossing connection with the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit and Old Testament is just repeats what is already being said. The illustration of the sale is a very good one because.
In Genesis.
Six verse three says to look. It says the Lord said my spirit shall not boy strive with man. Again, it's the Spirit of God acting as an external force upon individuals. And most frequently it speaks of when it comes to the prophets and so on. And Even so that the Spirit of God came upon them. But I don't think we need to think that it was any different in Ezekiel's case necessarily.
It was a temporary.
Expression of the Holy Spirit through the prophet Ezekiel to write what he wrote.
A little footnote is going to be I've heard Christians occasionally make much of a thing called just a kind of glory, as though it is something mysterious and magical. But in fact it's really comes from the word shock. How much means to dwell? And back in the Old Testament, God dwelt between the cherubim and that was it.
Now we have the Spirit of God dwelling in US.
Which is really, when you think about it, quite a promotion. And it demystifies the words kind of.
Basically, we come back to the word Nick was talking about.
That John so loved. And that was the word of.
My.
I think we can say 2 from what Peter says a little later in his club, it was the spirit of Christ acting in Noah that gave Noah to be a creature.
Righteous this morning and coming judgment.
And so he says, Peter says in the third chapter.
Verse 18 for Christ also have one separate percentage adjustment and you might bring us together.
They couldn't have been quickened by the spirit by which also he went and preached.
Under the spirit of Christian prison, when sometimes we're just.
Once the long-suffering that God waited in the days ago, allow the Arkansas.
They're they're, they're awaiting a coming judgment, but the spirit of Christ preached to souls in the through Noah that judgment was coming. And to me it's just remarkable how early on in, in the word of God.
We have this thought of the spirit of Christ implied that.
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God was anxious to bring forward, you might say person at this time.
As an agent, that would.
One upcoming judgment Spirit Christian.
Well, we have reviewed a number of.
Convincing and plain scriptures it seems to me in the address.
On the fact that the truth of the mystery was hidden God and not revealed.
Until the apostles and prophets of the New Testament from a risen Christ.
So understanding that.
These things in verse 12 That are ministered unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they administered the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel. So there is a line of blessings aside from the mystery that we reviewed together this afternoon, that the prophets could see. And they were wonderful things, and they prophesied about them coming. And perhaps it would include.
Such new covenant blessings.
Israel will enjoy in the coming day, and the believer enjoys already. We enjoy the knowledge of God. We enjoy forgiveness of sins as a known thing.
Other such blessings, and I suspect that that is what would be included, and other things too, perhaps in the things which are now reported unto you.
In Romans one verse two says I just read verse one as well because you need it for the connection. Romans one verse one all a servant of Jesus Christ told to be an apostle called an apostle separate into the gospel of God which he had a problem which he had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The gospel was the subject of promise and.
That's the subject of the book of Romans. We don't get the church mentioned except at the very end in the first that Steve brought out at last address and interesting connection with that. Perhaps you could explain the 11 question you asked that didn't answer there from Acts 26.
Well, maybe we can look at it. I'm already turned there.
X-26 and.
Verse 22.
Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue on to this day, witnessing both to swallow and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.
So to take that scripture and say, well, you see, when Paul taught the mystery, he he really wasn't teaching anything other than what?
Moses and the Lord and the prophets that should come. But Paul doesn't stop there. He goes on to say what it was.
That Christ should suffer. And that's what we're having in Peter. That was the subject of the Old Testament.
And that he should be the first that should rise from the dead. And we get that in First Corinthians 15, that Paul declared unto them the gospel, that Christ should suffer, that he should die, be buried, be raised from the dead.
That should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, unto the Gentiles. All of those things were the subject of Old Testament scriptures, and all Paul was saying is that he didn't teach anything contrary.
To what you find in Old Testament scriptures. But he's not saying. That's all I said, but.
He talked far more, but the Jews were accusing him of teaching things contrary to the Old Testament scripture. He's saying I didn't teach anything other than what they said should come. But he didn't say I only taught what they said should come as the limit of his ministry. No, that's not true. And so it was true that Messiah was going to.
Show light to.
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Not only with people, but even the Gentiles.
You know, alignment to the Gentiles and the glory of my people. Israel says in the temple when the Lord was born, and that was true, but.
That is actually taking an Old Testament scripture proving that Gentile blessing was in the mind of God and using it to show this isn't contrary to the mind of God that he would bless Gentiles. But if we want to get the truth of the mystery, then we have to go to the New Testament scriptures and find that it wasn't the Gentiles and vast, but those out from among the Gentiles, those from among the nations. So what did the apostles have?
When they were proving that what they were saying was according to the scriptures, they only had the Old Testament scriptures.
So they had to draw from the Old Testament scriptures and say, you see, it's like what God said here, but it may not be the fulfillment of it, but it's like what he says.
Gave proof to the fact that this was not contrary to what caught, it said.
So Paul's not saying this is all I thought.
Just saying I'm not teaching something contrary.
So when Peter.
Then is the thought here in verse 12.
He makes a reference of.
Angels desiring to look into these things.
How or why did Peter have that thought and what he's saying here? Did he have knowledge of this?
Do we suppose that?
The angels were aware of all this, that was.
Coming in As for this new thing?
I, I I.
Wondering if the significance of the way he ends the stock.
Verse 12 really comes in between the sufferings of Christ and the glories that fall. It is, it's the gospel, But you're talking about whether the angels are interested in these things. I think they are. You know, you're getting over in.
First Corinthians.
This is 11 where it says the angels observe whether we're taking their proper place has got.
Ordains that we should have in creation.
It says.
That's a tenth verse for this cause on a woman to have authority on her head. That is a head covering because of the angels. The angels are looking to see whether we are following or not or or existing.
So it's important to them. They learn through us, OK, to get that same thing in.
Ephesians where it says we will be.
So I think you get two things.
To the intent that now and the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known the manifold wisdom of God so.
The wisdom of God is revealed in the mystery, and its present administration, carrying out those truths on the earth are a display of the wisdom of God to all created intelligence. And so the angels look down and they see it in a very local way. And in Corinthians, the local assembly are these truths being carried out. They're interested. And Peter is the truth of salvation.
Well, we find the angels in attendance upon the blessed Savior and his agony in the garden and attendance upon His birth.
Glory to God in the highest and.
They're there at the tomb in his resurrection, you know, and, and every step of the way. And as this unfolded, the sufferings of Christ and so on. The angels are in attendance. They're interested. This is their Lord.
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But they're not the subjects of salvation. How marvelous it must be to them. You know, come for Angel hosts or music or this site. So strangely said God, beseeching man, refusing to be made forever glad. How strange a sight to them. They watch this whole thing unfold. Our member old brother coder and prayers, remembrance of the Lord. I don't know if it sounds exactly scriptural, but I enjoyed it should all Father, he said.
And Speaking of the cross and that, and the the cruelty that the Lord received from the hands of man, he said that they said there must have been trouble in heaven.
Mighty power, God to restrain those angels. They would have come to avenge their Lord immediately, but they're interested in every aspect of it.
Correct there's another reason too. We read what Steven said in Acts 7. He says who have received the bull, but the dispensation disposition Sorry of angels and have not kept them. So the angels had a special place in the administration of things under the law in Judaism and so in Hebrews chapter one Paul if he actually the author, especially of.
The apostle in Hebrews, especially the Lord Jesus Christ himself, we believe Paul to be the penman, but the the author of this epistle makes brings out the subject of angels in the first chapter to show the superiority of this one that came the Lord Jesus Christ in connection with angels. So I wonder if not Peter here also is showing how the superiority of what we have is that this is something that angels are desiring to look into.
They have been assigned to.
Occupied with our.
Physician and our progress, if I could put it that way, at the end of Hebrews one, they have been sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. So, as you say, they have a an assigned invested interest in the sons of men that have been brought into blessing through redemption.
And when the Son of God came down from heaven, he passed angels by, as we read in Hebrews.
And he passed them by again when he went up.
The amazing thing is, we will too.
So if I understand brother Burns original intent for our portion.
We have in this portion.
The Lord Jesus having done so many things for us as believers.
And even angels are watching us from day-to-day.
There is someone in this room.
On the on a scale of suffering, someone is suffering the most of all of us.
Your brother, your sister, verse 13 lured up the ones.
Of your mind.
Be sober, hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Don't, Don't give up.
There might be a need be in your life and.
Sometimes the trampoline of a precious herb.
Sends forth a fragrance that others.
Revel in sometimes that suffering in your life.
Encourages someone else in the path of faith.
So this salvation was prophesied about.
And then it was reported by the apostles, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven the power of the Holy Ghost.
But it's going to be brought to us and then there's going to be deliverance from all suffering, isn't there?
There's a conduct suited to position into which we've been brought.
Good up ones loins being you're ready for action. So there's various examples of individuals in the Old Testament. So for example, says of Elijah, he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Josrio. You know, since we can get discouraged, we can get down and we can get very satisfied with this. The position we find ourselves in not very productive, not very fruitful. And here we have the wherefore there's a there's a there's something cut. This is not abstract truth that we've been Speaking of.
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It's a word of encouragement, as Tim has brought out, and there is a conduct now as we go forward that's suited to the things that we've been reading about. That's consistent with the things that been reading about. It's not about just hunkering down and Bailey surviving. It's about getting up to our loins and being ready. Being sober. That's the opposite of being drunk.
Ready.
To do.
The Lord would have us to do.
Perhaps there's someone thinking too. I'll just what does that mean?
I've enjoyed connecting that with what we're doing and verse two are familiar with the 1St.
Says per year consent, your affection or another.
Remind on things about.
How we are bombarded with things.
But I really think that if we set our money on things above.
Generally effective that will be better our voice of our mind will be.
Somebody has said that to be sober is think God's thoughts.
You can be intoxicated well thinking about different things, so just think God stops.
If the garments girded up, it means it doesn't hang out all over the place, right?
And we can let our minds do that. Just.
Go wherever, right? Let it run. And we have, we can't do that as believers. We just can't let our minds just run wherever they would want to run. You need to tie them up. So it's the you need to gird them up and keep them out of the filth of this world. And so garments, if they're going to be kept clean going through a place where it's dirty, they need to be herded up or someone working out the field and.
I think this thought of sober.
And hope to the end the little marginal reference I have it says perfectly.
Perfectly is to have.
Bright thoughts about everything that is passing around us in this world. Where is it going to end?
Where is it going? Where is the course of this world taking this world to have sober thoughts? Are you going to make the world a better place? Are you going to rest its downward course, going to fix it up? That's not hoping perfectly to the end. That's not having sober thoughts about the direction of things that involve yourself in the politics of this world to make your Christian influence felt and do some good. It's not a silver thought.
As to the direction that this world is going, we want to have sober thoughts. We want to hope perfectly and not think that man's efforts are going to bring in the Kingdom.
It's not going to happen.
It's going to be the Lord Jesus Christ coming in judgment that's going to bring it in.
Practical illustration, perhaps, as Daniel before Belshazzar. Belshazzar said to him.
I've heard of thee that thou canst make interpretations, dissolve doubts. Now thou canst read the writing and make known to be the interpretation thereof. Thou shalt be clothed with scallop, and have a chain of gold about my neck, and shall feed the third ruler in the Kingdom. And the Daniel said, Oh, wonderful, and he doesn't. He says Then the annual essence said before the king, Let thy give faith to myself, and give thy rewards to another, that I will read the writing under the king, and make no one unto him the interpretation.
He read the writing on the wall. You would have said, Daniel, you didn't have sober thoughts. If you think it's going to be worthwhile being the third in the Kingdom for a day that's not sober. Daniel knew what that writing on the wall was. He said, let your gifts be another.
00:55:10
Would you have wanted that chain hanger on your neck, marking you as a third ruler of the Kingdom when those armies came through? It has the last thing you want to run your neck, right?
Well, some have more difficulty with this than others. We are all, as we say, sometimes wired a little differently and we have different strengths and weaknesses in our our soul ish or emotional makeup and in our bodies. But scripture never puts before us something that we don't have the ability or capacity to do in Christ and with this strength. And so we think of the psalmist in Psalm 16.
And this is something that.
Even though I believe that Psalm speaks prophetically of of the man Christ Jesus, yet we can follow in those steps where he said I have set the Lord always before me.
And so you just get up in the morning and you just, you know, like, like, like the sales on a boat and just let it go. It'll go somewhere.
Horrible way to start your day.
Soon as your eyes are awake it's like OK.
Where am I reading today and and get get after it. And so that whether you're working or whether you're retired or whether you're little, it's the right way to start the day is to set the Lord before you and the consequence was.
Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Sense of his presence and confidence.
But it doesn't stop there. Therefore my heart is clad. I've been talking about and reading about joy and rejoicing in First Peter One. This is where it comes from.
And my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest and hope, and so on. And so it's a very practical.
Advice for us is, and these these these little tools here, they can be used for, for really effective spiritual benefit or they can be a plague like, like nothing that's ever been invented before.
Back 20 years ago.
Everybody tried to keep a TV out of their house as as did we. These things are 1000 times more powerful for evil than ATV ever was. And they're right there. Yes, I have the concordance on mine and I look up verses and I look up hymns and, and I can click, click and see the where the Greek word is found in other places and etcetera, etcetera and and text your loved ones and your brethren.
Boy, how careful we need to be first thing in the morning that that you don't get on there and start on that news chain and whatever they call it. Thing goes from thing to thing to thing. Pretty soon you've wasted time and your mind is filled with things that don't profit.
As we were saying in the last meeting, so very important to set the Lord before you the time of being, let the Scripture speak to you, and then the time of prayer where we speak to it with Him.
Flight.
I could just quickly in the third verse, which I don't believe was commented on before, it says in the middle of the verse that he hath begotten us again into a life we hope. I believe it should be a living hope by the direction of Jesus Christ from the dead. And so the Lord Jesus had not been raised from the dead, then our hope would be a dead hope. But because he has been raised from the dead, our hope is a living hope. And what is brought out in this 13th verse though goes beyond a living hope. It says here and we hope to be end.
For the grace that is brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ. I could just quickly read a verse from Romans chapter 8 says in the 24th verse, for we are saved by hope. We hope that is seen as not hoped for what a man see if why does he have hoped for and so the one who is loved, though he is unseen is now in this 14th verse. I'm sorry this 13th verse he is at the end revealed he is if we can say he is seen and at that point.
No, hope is no longer just a living hope. It is a realized hope. It is a hope completed, and because it has its object, it is fulfilled. It's not hope anymore because it has its object presented before it is something that is seen.
01:00:08
We sing 312 lead on a ****** board lead. On to victory.
Friday.
They don't. Almighty Lord.
Of victory.
And pregnant by my blessing.
Of all of you.
And.
Forever.