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Bro. Otis Fisher
Second Peter, First Peter, second verse. First, second Peter, first verse. Where am I? Second Peter, second chapter, verse one. Or thereabouts. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and evil endings, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.
Laying aside, malice is just congealed anger. Wickedness that is not ashamed to break laws, swirls full of it. Guile, crafty, deceitful. Hypocrisies, the acting of a stage player, being something you're not.
Envyings, to lead away a Christian church from the state of knowledge and holiness in which it ought to abide. Evil speaking, backbiting, defamation, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.
The milk of the word. A newborn baby, if he's healthy, he's hungry. So should a Christian be. If he's healthy, he'll be hungry. Were you hungry for the word when you first become saved? Has it grown less or more?
Do you find yourself each day wanting to know more? To understand more? Someone turn to Hebrews 12, 5, 12. Bill, go to Hebrews 5, 12, 13, and 14. Hungry for the holy word. I would like to think that that is where we are, that there is none here that is just a babe.
Sincere, the true meaning of sincere is without wax. Dennis, what does that mean, without wax? John, do you have anything to add? Well, we'll wait till Greg gets up here. He can tell us. Sincere means without wax, Greg.
What does that portray to you? Sincere means without wax. What does that mean? All right, you can sit down then. Joy, well, it's true, it means nothing added. Clarence, did someone else? Well, that's getting close.
Yes, I'm not gonna tell you. I want you to look it up. One of the definitions of sincerity is without wax. See if you can put any connection to that. Now, 1 Corinthians 3, 1, 2, and 3, and 4. Greg, will you read those please?
1 Corinthians 3, 1, 2, 3, and 4. Yes, yes, this spells out very succinctly what these in Christ were, babes. If so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now, comes to our tasting. What does it mean, John, by if you have tasted it?
Did any of you, when you were younger, you don't do it now, but when you were younger, you would want to eat something in between meals? And it was usually something sweet that you didn't need. What does that do to your appetite?
Kills it. So, since you've already tasted, it's like junk food. The appetite is overcome for real food. If you taste junk food, you get full. So be very careful not to go around eating junk food. To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious living stones, a foundation.
Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
You are a priesthood of believers. Now, you no longer have to go to a priest as you did in the Old Testament. You can go directly to the Father now. Who is our priest in this case? Jesus. He went in and has never come out.
The earthly priest had to come out. We are living stones, a foundation upon which to build. We are lively stones. We are a built up spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Now, do we offer sacrifices once a year? We shouldn't. Do we offer them once a week, once a day? All right. Do we offer sacrifices of our own unto the Father daily? All right. Wherefore, also it is constrained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
If you believe on Jesus, you're not confounded. What does confounded mean, Dennis? Confused. You're not confused if you believe on him. There is only one, and that's Jesus. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious.
But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. Is he precious to you? Yes. Is he precious to the whole world?
Wherein lies the difference between you and the whole world? We're peculiar people. All right. We're peculiar, all right. And made a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. What does that mean, Bill?
We're a pathway. That's right. And they're all trying to get there some other way. Philippians 4 .13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. I can do all things. Now, is that to be taken literal?
Absolutely. To interpret the word so that it supports your theory is stumbling over the word. Do you understand? You be open to the word to teach you. Don't try to teach the word. That's what the Catholics do.
If you've ever had any doubts about the seed of Satan, never having any chance of being saved, read this verse. Romans 8, 9, 22. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?
Proverbs 16, four, the Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Bill, what's he mean, the wicked for the day of evil? God has the wicked people here for what reason?
What reason? What? All right. If the wicked were not here, we would face no opposition, right? But it is by stress and opposition that we grow. Ephesians 1, four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
Nine, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
When do you know it is light? When do you know it's not darkness? Only after you see it, only after you have come into it can you see it. So, now you are a chosen priesthood, a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, you are that.
Do you realize that? I hope you do. A holy nation, a peculiar people. What does he mean by peculiar, Dennis? All right, you're not the run of the mill, not anybody comes in off the street. A perfect people, purchased people, that you should show forth the praises of him.
Now, all of this, you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, so that you can do what? So that you can show that you praise him and that you thank him. Now, to show means what?
You have to be a good witness anywhere.
You are a witness all of the time. You have an object, whether it's good or bad. All right, to show forth the praises of him and he has called you out of darkness into the marvelous light. He has called you.
Can you imagine anything better than that? To be called, thinking back to my childhood, I can remember when mother called me to come home. It's supper time, come home. John 15, 16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
Now, why is it that we did not choose him? John, all right, you just wouldn't do it. It never crossed your mind to go out and look for him and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, that you should go and bring forth fruit.
You are ordained to bring forth fruit. Now, do you produce the fruit, Bill? No, it's produced by you, within you. It's hung on you, but you did not produce it. You had to be there to display it, but you did not produce it.
That your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask in the name, the Father in my name, he shall give it to you. Whatever you ask in the name of Jesus. We always close our prayers within the name of Jesus.
That's not something you just tack on. What does it really mean to pray in the name of Jesus, John? David, same question, all right. He stands in place of you. Your prayers are uttered the best that we know how.
The Holy Spirit understands what and why and where and how. Relays that to Christ, to the Heavenly Father. It goes through Christ. Everything must go through Christ. It comes through Christ when it comes to you.
It goes back through Christ when it goes to him. We don't know what to pray. The very best of us do not know how to pray. Yet we are to pray the best we can. It depends upon your vocabulary as to how the words that you use.
If you're just a born-again Christian, barely, you will use small words. The Holy Spirit can speak to you in small words only. So as you grow, as you develop, you become wider in your prayer life. John 17, six, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world.
Thine they were, thou gavest them me, and they have kept my word. John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 37, and all the Father giveth me shall come to me.
And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now, how assured do you have that all that are of Jesus, known or unknown, will come to him? Absolutely. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.
Mark 13, 20, and except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake, whom he had chosen, he had shortened the days. 2 Timothy 2, 4, no man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Revelation 17, 14, these things, these shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of hosts, King of kings, that they may abide, that they that are with him are called, chosen, and faithful.
The very last words he states, we come back with him forever. 2 Peter 2, 10 now, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which hath not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Who's he talking about in we were not a people? Well, that's strange wording. What's it mean, John? Greg, straighten him out a little bit. That's what he's talking about. The Jews regarded Gentiles as nobody, no people.
But we are not a people according to the Jews. Now we are. The Jew had a hard time in the beginning of the church. They had had God as their own God. He's now going out to the other part of the world.
They themselves considered themselves to be children of God when they were not all children of God. Then comes the Gentile. They rebelled at that. Little by little, they began to accept it. So we cannot place ourself in that time, but they, in the beginning, didn't accept the Gentile, even though he was saved.
Then little by little, they began to. So it was a gradual passing of things over to the Gentile. Now the Gentile is saved. The Jew is saved if he believes in Christ. All men are if they believe in Christ.
The time will come when the Jewish nation turns back to him, but that's not now. Dearly beloved, did I finish 10? Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.
Now, first of all, I beseech. What does beseech mean? Dennis? To beg. I beg of you as strangers and pilgrims. There's two terms. Greg, what do they mean? All right, abstain from fleshly lusts simply means stay away from them, which war against the soul.
All fleshly lusts war against the soul. What is the soul, Joy? Debbie, what's the soul? Their life, the life you have. That's the soul that you have. And these things war against the soul. They deteriorate the soul.
They do away with it. Depending on how much you adhere to them, the faster. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. Bill, carnal means what? Worldly. For it is not subject to the laws of God, neither indeed can it be.
That always bothered me. Neither indeed can it be. The carnal mind cannot be. Which means what, David? The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. It cannot be. That's right. The carnal mind. You can never in your carnal mind figure it out.
You can never accept Christ in your carnal mind. You would be accepting him instead of receiving him. 12, having your conversation, and that means conduct, honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they have behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
The day of visitation. When Christ comes to visit them, whereas they may speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they have behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. How important is it for you to live like a Christian?
How important is it for you to not live like a Christian? All right. Now, if you were living just one little part over here, not like a Christian, yet you claim to be a Christian, the person that sees you in the day of his visitation, when the Lord calls on him, what's he going to say about you?
How's it going to affect him if he's watching you? It's going to hold him down. Now, it's true, he cannot refuse the Lord, but the pattern you have lived affects him. So it behooves all of us, all of the time, whether in front of people or not in front of people, to live the Christian life.
So if God calls one of them to salvation, you will already be a good example and they will remember. God in his wisdom has Satan here to help us to be more Christ, more like Christ. The plant that withstands the wind is stronger than one that's in the hothouse.
That just stands to reason. If you take it directly from the hothouse out and put it outside, it will break. If you have never heard, you will never know what it is like to not hear. Is that true? If you've never heard, how would you know what it's like to not hear?
If you have ever slipped on the ice, would you, you would, will never know the feeling of not slipping on the ice. If Satan were not here, we would never know the feeling of forgiveness. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the King, the Supreme.
The Jews thought it unlawful to obey any ruler that was not of their own. They also thought it was not a sin to lie to a Gentile. They also thought it was perfectly all right to cheat all you Gentiles.
Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well. The Christian is to obey the law. By this we reveal the praises of God. To be patient, to be obedient to the law.
You will be accused of many things. Just be sure that you're not guilty of any of them. For so is the will of God that with well-doing, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. True Christianity is the best support of civil government.
The will of God is to a Christian the strongest reason of any duty. As free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. If by doing something that is not a sin in your own eyes, you cause a weaker brother to follow and to fall into sin, what are you to do?
Well, what if you don't know it? That's right. You may not know it the first time around, but chances are you would the second. But if you know the first time around, don't do it. Something that's not a sin to you, but it would cause a weaker brother to stumble.
Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. That is, give honor to whom honors due. All true Christians who form one great family of God, which is the head, fear God who gives you these commandments lest he punish you for disobedience.
Honor the king knowing that civil power is of God. That's a little hard to remember sometimes. Servants. Now, there were some Christians that they were a slave and they become saved and they thought they were not a slave any longer.
But they were. He saved you right where you are. Be subject to your own masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. What is froward, John? Yes, great, great. What was it?
Subject means freedom of choice. If you subject yourself willingly to your superior because of your testimony for Christ, froward from Anglo-Saxon means from word because their conduct converted the masters of their own sins.
So even as a slave, you had a duty. For this is thankworthy. If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently.
Don't think God's going to reward you in that case. But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Now, what's he talking about in the 20th verse? 20th verse, Greg explained that.
If we're corrected for a fault and we take it patiently, only we were wrong, is that advantageous to us? All right. But if we do well, if we're doing what we're supposed to be doing and we still are corrected for it, what about that by the world?
Right, so even when you correct me and I'm wrong and I know I'm wrong, I should take it. I should be patient. If you correct me because I've done something wrong when I have not, I should take it and be patient.
Romans 12, 19, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Now, I will repay, saith the Lord. Dennis, why won't he leave us a little bit of room to extract vengeance?
All right, Trudy, we can't be just. Can any of you in any situation make an unbiased decision? Do you know that? Yes, yes, yes, what?
You just have to get up. You do, because we look at that as if it's dead.
That's right, but the grudging has to come first. Well, he will take vengeance, for even here unto where you call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
Philippians 2, 13, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. It's God that's doing the work, not you. Well, we need to stop here. We'll start with 22 next week. Anything from anybody?
That's right, that's right. Well, let's stand, and Dennis, would you dismiss us today, please?