Address—M. Payette
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So computer the 1St chapter.
The Universe 3.
To the knowledge of Him that had called us to glory and virtue.
Of course it reads in the French Bible and in the margin here that had called us by glory and virtue. Just a few thoughts, dear one.
And perhaps considering this verse and the perspective that in the end of this portion.
We would have been called by the glory and virtue of the Lord Jesus.
If I had written this concerning our life, I would have written virtue and glory.
Trying to manifest something of the Lord now, and knowing that our path is going to end in glory in the presence of the Lord, we're going to be perfectly like Him.
But it says your glory and virtue, and I would suggest to you the thought that we could consider.
Some of the glories and virtues of the Lord Jesus that God would produce in our lives. And just a few. I know there are many, just a few that have been set before me. First Peter chapter 2.
First Peter, 219.
For this is frank worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endures grief.
Suffering wrongfully.
First Peter 2/19/20 For what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently?
But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
Or even Iran to were you called because Christ also suffered for us?
Leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.
Another verse in Second Corinthians chapter 10.
Verse one.
Now I follow myself to seek you.
By the meekness.
And gentleness of Christ, who in presence and base among you, but being absent and bold toward you.
But I beseech you that I may not be bold when I'm present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. Although we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, For the weapons of our warfare are are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity.
Every thought to the obedience.
Of Christ.
Well, you consider the first portion and Peter, where we have the path of the Lord Jesus.
One who suffered like none of us will ever suffer. Misunderstood, misjudged, hated.
But he always did that which was right.
And this is worthy of glory before God.
And I believe that we've been called, as we consider the person of the Lord, to consider the beauty of his pathway down here and to love it and to seek by God's grace that it would be found in some measure.
In our life.
And it's in self denial isn't it? It's an accepting abuse and being treated wrongly and spoken evil of.
How do we react? Well, I mean, this is what we've been called to to manifest something of Christ.
In these circumstances, we've been called by this glory and virtue.
Here are some of the virtues. 2nd Corinthians 10. There are many more, but I just would put these before you. Meekness.
Gentleness.
Of Christ, not our natural meekness or gentleness. Perhaps some of them have characters that are leaning towards that, but this is meekness and gentleness of Christ. And then to the fifth verse, the obedience.
Of Christ, of that one that left the glory and became a man. And as a man found in fashionable as a man, he went down, he went down, he went down.
Innovations.
What glory? We think of glory as light, unimaginable, but this is moral excellence. Here's one who's the Lord of glory, accepting abuse or spittle, being mocked and going down. And what was in his heart was obedience for the Father. But that would be found in our hearts. Meekness, gentleness, obedience.
00:05:05
Virtues that are found in perfection in the Lord Jesus.
That should be seen in your life and mine first Peter chapter 5.
We touched on this this morning when we talked about Simon Peter and I mentioned that the Apostle Peter when he speaks of himself.
As it speaks to the elders there, we're just going to read a few verses. I'd just be a few minutes. The elders which are chapter five of first Peter verse one, the elders which are among you, I exhort will am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Sheed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly.
Not by filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being Lords over God's heritage, but the examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that faded, not away.
Likewise the younger submit yourselves unto the elder. Yay, all of you, be subject 1 to another, and be clothed with humility, For God resisted the proud and giveth grace to the humble.
We had before us this morning an appreciation of what we would think was the disposition of heart of the Apostle Peter as he referred to himself as Simon Peter.
Certainly realizing himself, as he wrote in that first chapter, second epistle, those that had forgotten.
The purification of their sins, well, Peter hadn't forgotten, I'm sure, reminded of his, what he was and what he would have been in himself if the Lord hadn't come in for him, to save him and then to restore him, and then again to forgive him as the brother singled out in Galatians there where he was at fault. And surely we could all recount in our history, history of our lives as believers, times that we failed and the Lord just came in for us and.
Undertook for us, forgave us, encouraged our hearts and LED us along.
You know, one of the reasons I believe we mentioned this this morning, God has left us with two natures. He's left us the old one. And just to make sure you'd be humble, dear one, I'd be humbled. Humbling thing to realize in the wickedness of the old nature to have these thoughts come in your mind. Say what? How could I be thinking such thoughts? It's a humbling thing. And the very same person who is aboard that the thoughts that come in his own heart.
Can contemplate the beauty and the glory of the Lord Jesus. What a wonderful.
Well, here in connection with the leaders, I just have a little play on words, if you allow me. Talking with a brother just before the meeting said how English sometimes was difficult because the words mean different things. You know the word lead, LEADI could pronounce it lead.
And it's written exactly the same thing, but it's quite different, doesn't it? And I'd like to suggest a thought here.
The talk of leaders as letters.
People that carry weight.
That is a heavy metal that carries weight, and certainly those that take the lead among us carry weight.
They carry moral weight, they carry moral authority, you might say, from the Lord, to be a help to us.
And the apostle Peter exhorts them here because there's a danger for those who carry moral way to have a position of responsibility before the Lord that they carry out with their brethren. There's a danger that this old man in US might just get into those things that were called not to do.
And there are two things about lead that I just would like to compare. You know, lead is a heavy metal, and that is a good characteristic if you want something to be stable and there's a virtue.
In this I believe 1St Corinthians 15 it says there the word unmovable.
If I was physically in LED, you'd have a hard time moving me. I probably couldn't move around myself.
But this is a good thing to be unmovable.
And yet, once the question of the glory of the Lord, or the truth of God and fundamental things that the enemy would just like to rob us of, it's good to be just unmovable.
Abounding in the work of the Lord.
But you know, lead, unless I'm mistaken, it was one of the heaviest metals, is also the softest.
It's the softest level. It's a wonderful thing. You know, if the Lord has given some of you to be in the position of oversight, you might call it for the people of God to be unmovable, yet to have that virtue that James talks about easily untreated, easily untreated to be soft hearted to be ready to.
00:10:11
To listen to the difficulties of others and to be.
Unmovable, but easily untreated.
Then it goes on. A little bit later on it says, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
Well, you know, it's the characteristics of youth of being full of energy and even in the things of the Lord as we understand the scriptures and perhaps we're young and we're full of zeal and perhaps we consider there's apathy and neglect and perhaps our hearts are led to to criticize. I know mine is and the Lord wouldn't have us do that or murmur.
It speaks here of submitting.
It's a wonderful spirit to have a submissive spirit because this was the spirit of the Lord Jesus and this is the ability to power that God has given a divine power to be mean, lowly, obedient and submissive. That takes divine power. Doesn't take divine power to get upset. I've got a lot of that natural energy to get upset. I'm sure you have to. Sometimes we get upset at each other, wives and husbands, children and parents, brethren together. We get upset at each other.
Well, that's not meekness, loneliness, obedience, submission. That's not that kind of energy. That's energy, natural energy, energy of oppression. So we have words here for the elders, and we have words for the younger, and I have a word on my heart for those in the middle.
I want to thank my brother in the middle.
My brethren in the middle, I want to thank those that take the lead. I want to thank the young ones for being zealous, but I want to thank my burden in the middle.
Will kind of help us out become a tamper when our spirits get riled up. I know in the last difficulties several brethren in the middle.
Had a talk with me and they really helped me and I'm so thankful they did because I was upset. And sure many of you were upset, but the Lord does come in, doesn't he? Meekness, gentleness.
Obedience of mission, glory and virtue that He's called us by in the Lord Jesus.