Feed the Flock of God — Willie Mullan

967, please. 967, when my life work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide, then the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, and His smile will be the first to welcome me.

The Four Verses and the Shepherding Charge

967, please. 1 Peter, and we're at chapter 5. You'll notice that we're taking four verses. Four verses of 1 Peter, chapter 5. And if you've looked at your notes carefully, you will find that I have divided the four verses into ten headings.

And I assure you that when you get ten headings out of four verses, you must be looking at the verses very carefully. That's what we intend to do. Now, the principal subject of these four verses is this expectation of Peter to the elders to seed the flock of God which is among you.

And it's this great phrase that we are to underline most this evening. Seed the flock of God. And when Peter gave this expectation, he was emphasizing two things. He was emphasizing, first of all, the work the elders must do, and especially the elders who are given over to word and doctrine.

They must seed the flock. That's the great job of any man who's got gifts from God and picks the plates of an elder or an overseer or a shepherd who has given full time to word and doctrine. That is his job.

It's to seed the flock. And there are two ways of doing it. You cannot seed the flock, you know, by giving them bowls instead of Bibles. That's what some of them are trying. They're making bowls in our age.

Well, that won't seed the flock, I assure you. And if you give them penance instead of truth, that won't seed the flock. Or if you just thought to have an interceding night, that won't seed the flock.

You know, the flock is fed on the Word of God. It's the only thing that will seed the flock. You know, Peter knew all about this wonderful job of seeding the flock. Let's turn back to the second chapter there, 1 Peter 2.

And do you remember him saying this? Our newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby. You see, that's one of the things that the elder or the teacher or the shepherd must pay attention to.

But there are always young believers in the congregation. And I assure you that each Tuesday in this class there's a special part put into every Tuesday meeting. That is for the young people. It's just milk that they may grow thereby.

And they need that. That's how they grow and that's the feeding for them. And it's up to me to get it out of the Word of God. But you know, Paul knew better about this feeding too. Let's have a look at what he said in Hebrews chapter 5.

Milk and Meat for Different Stages of Christian Growth

Hebrews chapter 5. And he's talking here about our Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse 10 he says, He was called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

For when, for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principle of the oracles of God. And are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat, for every one that use of milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, free as a day.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. And you see, each Sunday as I come to these particular portions, I must remember that there are babes here, some only a week or two saved, some coming out of the depths of darkness, some who have certainly ever opened the word of God before.

And I must remind myself that I must get milk for these babes out of the word of God. But then there are children here, all believers, men and women who know the doctrines of God, and I must feed them on strong meat.

And so that's my task. I've got to feed the flock. I've got to see that the young ones get the milk of the worst. And I've got to see that the older ones get the meat. And so that's how the feeding's done.

It's done by milk and by meat. And in some places there's neither milk nor meat. Yes, this is the great exploitation here. Feed the flock of God. But I want to point out to you that Peter is emphasising two things when he gives this exhortation.

He's not only emphasising the word feed, but he's emphasising the phrase flock of God. You know, some people who are kind to me come along and say, you know, Mr. Monk, you've got the great flock down there.

The Flock Belongs to God, Not to Human Leaders

Well, my dear friend, it's not mine. It doesn't belong to me. That's one thing that's sure. It's not my flock. It's God's flock. And every sheep in the flock is purchased by the blood of Jesus. And every sheep is marked with this crimson spot.

They're being bought out of the market of sin. And God is carefully taking them home. And on the way to heaven, I'm one of the sellers he employed to feed them. The flock doesn't belong to the Baptists, remember.

This is one thing that I keep telling all the Baptists. If the Baptist chancel happens to be sitting now in Fitzwilliam Street and they think they own this flock, they've got to think again. Because they don't own a sheep in it.

And I think it's one of the things that will guard us from poverty. Men don't own their flock. And men have nothing to do with it. And men must learn this. That the flock is the flock of God. It is God's flock.

It doesn't belong to the Baptists or anybody else. It belongs to God. It's a great thing to learn. Because it makes me respect you all the more. Because you're one of the sheep of his pasture. And I've got to be very careful with you.

This is what is stressing here this evening. It's stressing that we should feed the flock of God which is among you. But I want to take the whole paragraph and do it properly. And it begins with this phrase, The elders which are among you.

Recognizing God-Given Elders and Overseers

And I want you to notice that Peter is recognizing the elders here. You know, I'll be amused when I look at some of the Brethren commentaries. And I know we've got Brethren here this evening. But I'll guarantee you this, that if you look at all the Brethren commentaries, they're afraid to acknowledge that these are the elders that God has sent.

They all talk in all the commentaries that this is the elder Brethren. That this is the elder ones among the assembly. It is nothing of the kind. Supposing I said to all the elder Brethren here this evening, Feed the flock of God.

Let me pick one up, Mr. Gilliland and Elder Linnan. Supposing I said, Mr. Gilliland, next Tuesday you'll come, and you'll take the Bibles out, and you'll feed the flock of God. You know what he would do?

He would say, Mr. Maul, I can't do that, I'm not able to do that. This is not talking to elder Brethren. This is talking to elders who are a hit for us. You know, in every true assembly there are elders.

Of course they couldn't find the elders. Yes, but there are elders, you know. And it's a gift from God. You know, when a company of people meet in a room, and they may meet for a Bible reading, or they may meet for some kind of spiritual entertainment, or a spiritual night of singing or praying.

Remember when a group of people meet like that, but they do not constitute a local church. Think, you know, that far too many meetings spring up, and they almost think they're churches. Let me tell you that a local church is composed, first of all, of God-given elders, and of teachers who are elected by the assemblers and the saints.

And every meeting in a room is not on the governmental lines of God, you know. And I think we just push the government of God aside too much, too often, and think we can do away with it. God has given us the qualifications for elders and for deacons in this book.

And the New Testament church is composed of elders, and of deacons, and of saints. You know, when Paul was writing the letter to the Philippians, let's have a look at that now. The letter to the Philippians, here's what he said in the first verse.

Paul and Philosia, the servants of Jesus Christ, through all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are the Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. See the word bishops there? There is a very interesting one.

It's a Greek word, episkopos, and it's the word that the Episcopal desk takes its name from. It's the very same word as in our chapter tonight when we come to the word oversight. Let's go back to the chapter for a moment, and then I'll tell you what I was going to tell you about Philippians.

You see our chapter, 1 Peter 5? Now, the word elders there in verse 1, that's the word presbytery. That's the Greek word presbytery. That's where the Presbyterians get their name from. They believe that they should be called Presbyterians because they have an oversight of elders.

And so they have, because that's what the word means, it's elders. And, of course, the Episcopal church takes its name from the oversight, which is episkopos, which means the Episcopal. And they just say that they're the Episcopal church because they've got an oversight of bishops.

But the word elder in the word bishops is the same word. And I don't know why they should have divided on it, because both are the same. The elder and the bishop and the shepherd and the oversight, it's all the same person.

We'll find as we go through it, it's the same person. What I wanted you to see in Philippians is that a local New Testament church is composed of bishops or elders or oversight or shepherds, whatever word you like to take now, or rulers, that's another one.

But you must have these elders or shepherds or you must have this God-given oversight or rulers or you can't have a God-given assembly. And then you must have deacons. The elders look after the spiritual side of the work and the deacons look after the material side of the work.

They're going to paint this church soon. And the deacons don't ask me what color they'll paint it. Nor do I care. If it's green, white or gold, I'll accept it. Or orange or purple, whatever I like. It's all the same to me.

I don't care about colors. That's their job. And if you have any barney with them, don't come to me. I've nothing to do with the painting. The deacons look after the money and the material side and many other things.

The elders or the bishops or the shepherds or the rulers or the oversight have got to look after the spiritual side of things. So I want you to get the hold of this. You know, this is God's order. You know, in the New Testament church, there were just the saints.

Let me say this. There were not two membership rules. They said, of the rest. No one joined themselves of the rest. They didn't take it as religion. Just saints. And then got the deacons out of them. And then God gave them elders.

And this is what Peter's talking about. He's talking about the God-given elders. Now, which one I'll let you see into the depths of this subject. Go to the Acts of the Apostles. And we're at chapter 20.

Elders as Overseers in Acts 20

The Acts of the Apostles. And we're at chapter 20. Now, Paul is passing very near to the coast of Ephesus here. And he stops at a place called Miletus in verse 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church.

Now, if these elders had not been recognized by the church, the church wouldn't have known who to send. But this local church in Ephesus, they had God-given elders, and the church had recognized them.

And Paul was sending for them. And they came to him, it says in verse 18, and when they were come to him he began to speak to them. Now, among other things, this is what he said to them in verse 28. He said, And did he therefore unto yourselves, unto all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers?

Now, do you see that the word elders and the word overseers is just the same? Because he calls for the elders, and then he immediately calls them overseers. So that you can see quite clearly that the oversight, this is the elders' board.

And I want you to notice this. He said, Did he therefore unto yourselves, unto all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers? It isn't the church that elects the elders and all. The Holy Ghost gives them.

And it's up to the church to recognize them. And in a moment you'll find you ought to know them that have the rule over you. But I want you to get the hold of this. That he's saying to them, Did he therefore unto yourselves, unto all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God?

You see, the flock of God is the church of God. It's the local church he's talking about now. It's the local church at Ephesus. And that's the flock of God at Ephesus. But I want you to get this bit. Over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

With the blood of God, if you like. That's a very tight one for some of the boys who don't believe in the deity of Christ, you know. You see, the name of Christ is not in the verse at all. Somebody said maybe he was talking about the Holy Ghost.

All right then, is it the blood of the Holy Ghost? Somebody says it's bound to be God because he says the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Yes, you know, the blood of Jesus Christ is so precious that there is divine value in it.

That you could say, the blood of God. Mind you, that's a tremendous statement. And I want to tell you that that's what makes the flock very precious because it's a purchased flock. This flock was never bought at Fitzwilliam Street.

This flock was bought by the blood of Jesus. And when you're purchased by the blood of God, you'll never perish. God will get the flock home, you know. Don't think that it's indulged into the market of sin to buy the sheep so that somebody will take them off them.

I dare you, he'll take them home. And they'll not be a hoof left behind either. They're purchased by blood, and the blood that paints on them will never lose its power. But the bit I want you to get is that elders and overseers are one and the same.

And I want you to see clearly that the elders and the oversight is given by the Holy Ghost over which the Holy Ghost has led you overseers. You know, that's most interesting, isn't it? Now, let me show you something else that's interesting.

Honoring Those Who Labor in the Lord

Let's go to 1 Thessalonians, and we're at chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. And this is what Paul is saying to this assembly at Thessalonica. Chapter 5, verse 12. He says, And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord.

That's the overseers, you know. That's the oversight, that's the elders, that's the bishops. I want you to get the hold of this, that are over you in the Lord and admonish you. And he says, We beseech you, brethren, to know them.

You must know, good elders. And to esteem them very highly in love for the work's sake. You just don't know how much work's put into it for you sometimes. But maybe one day in the sweet by and by you'll wake up.

He says, Beseech you to know them and to esteem them and be at peace among yourselves. It's always somebody else of the congregation shooting arrows at the elders. Ah, well, we'll survive no matter what.

You get to my place, you don't worry about Eucharist. They don't take any sleep from me. They're too carnal to be thought twice about. Yes. Here's what you ought to do, if you can read right. You should esteem them very highly in love for the work's sake.

And that's the word of God. And it's the thing to put in the back of your mind. But let's go a bit further with this. Have a look at 1 Timothy, chapter 5. 1 Timothy, chapter 5, and Paul wrote this very carefully.

It's inspired, you know, verse 1. Reduce not an elder. Mind you, that's for your information. You know, sometimes I have been writing young fellows and sometimes young girls who'd like to come and tell me how to do it.

And you'll only come once here. When I finish with you, you'll not come again. And I have no mercy on anybody who's so stupid. You couldn't carry this class on for two nights and you're not coming to tell me.

I was sent here by God, I'm gifted by God. And I'm one of the rulers here, just one of them. And when you start to take the job of me, I'll throw you in the street. And I'll see that the assembly does it.

And if they're not prepared to do it, then I'm prepared to go. But I'm not taking any of those cheeks from you. It's quite plainly put here, you know. Reduce not an elder. You just wouldn't know what you're talking about at times.

Or you'd just keep your tongue in between your teeth. And here's what it says further down the chapter, you know. It says this, verse 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour.

Now what does it mean by ruling? And what does it mean by ruling well? And what does it mean by double honour? Well, you'll see in a moment what double honour means. It says let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour.

Especially they. And now it's making a differentiation between the elders. Especially they who labour in word and in doctrine. You see, we've got a bunch of elders here. And I think there's not the like of them in the country.

But I'm the one that set the path to labour in word and doctrine. And that's all I do. And let me assure you, it's all I intend to do. Because that's my job. My job is labouring in word and in doctrine.

And I can challenge this assembly for 19 years now. Have I done it? May I have laboured in word and doctrine. Now I'm specially set apart. And I'm to be counted worthy of double honour. All the elders of honour, or should have.

But the one that's set apart should have double honour. You see, here's what it means. It says let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour. And especially they who labour in word and doctrine.

For the scripture says, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the calf. You see, I'm the labourer here. And the labourer is worthy of his reward. Yes, of course I get paid. Of course I'm supposed to get paid.

You don't want to muzzle me, do you? You'll neither muzzle me one way or another. No. I refuse to be muzzled. Remember how the old jurors used to treat the ministers. They used to say, Lord, you keep them humble and we'll keep them poor.

Is that the way they worked? Well, you're not supposed to muzzle the ox that treads out the corner. And I tell you that it takes a bit of treading out sometimes. Sometimes I'm working till five o 'clock in the morning, treading the corner.

Going upstairs half-dead, just for an hour's sleep before the day begins. Well, that's just to point out that there are elders who labour in word and doctrine. And then here's something I think that should be put in red letters in every New Testament, verse 19.

Against an elder, receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Now, you'd wonder why God put that in. Well, I can tell you this. You see, if I labour honestly for God, and if I sit down for hours and I tread out the corn, and I'm determining in my heart to feed the flock, I'm determining to bring milk to the babes in Christ to build them up, and I'm determining all the time to bring strong meat to them who are full-aged.

You know, I'm building up the flock. I'm keeping it healthy. I'm keeping it on the way. There's not a way to have it. The old devil doesn't like it. So you see that every man that would labour honestly in word and doctrine is a target for the enemy.

And somebody will tell Ivan, or bring an accusation, Oh, I could spend the night and the rest of the night thinking about it. I knew where there was a godly old pastor, a man who could handle the Word of God and feed the flock and bless the saints.

And you know, a woman whom he visited because he thought she was a maid, she told a lie on him. She said he came in and put his arms round her and knocked her down on the couch and a whole lot of things.

And I met him in the vestry and he was crying and he said, I never did it before my nature, I never did it. Oh, but the church brought him up before me. And he stood at the front of the church and put his hand on the Bible and the big steers gliding him.

And he says, in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord, I never laid my hand on that woman's shoulder either. And she rose from her seat and walked up the aisle and put her hand on the same Bible and said, in the name of Jesus Christ, he knocked me down.

And the church split like that and they hadn't the right to. She would need two or three witnesses according to this book. And I stood by the pastor just because there were no witnesses. And I would do it again.

And six or seven years later when she was dying of cancer, she said for three of the elders that stood by him and held onto her hand and said, I told a lie on him. He never did it. He never touched me.

The bitch. I just put an adjective or two to that thing. And I was thinking God would forgive me too. Yes. I'll tell you this. Learn this from my thing. You might see if somebody's broken heart. Don't you receive an accusation unless there are two or three witnesses.

And you'll be going by the word of God. Because the devil would always shoot the man, you know. How often it has been done. Many a time I have fought for a man of God. And for all that I have fought for a man of God once, when about 40 of them were against him.

And a wee last fool lay with him. Oh, I could tell you all about it. Yes, it's a wonderful thing to be sent of God. It's a great thing to be used of God to bless the flock. It's a wonderful job and one wouldn't have it any other way.

But the old devil can see, though, exactly. You know that Richard Baxter was one of the greatest ministers of the word of God that Britain ever had, or maybe ever will have. And a Roman Catholic woman going to have a baby blamed it on Richard Baxter.

Richard Baxter never was near the woman. And when she was dying, she confessed that the priest in the town told her to blame Richard Baxter for his health. That terrible thing. Don't you ever be on the devil's side.

You make sure that you're on the side of this book. And when you find some man of God being accused, look for the witnesses. And if they're there, you're all right. Yes, there's a great lot in this book, you know, about elders.

They're men who are saints of God to the flock, to feed it. You'll notice as we get back to 1 Peter chapter 5 that there's not only a recognition here, but there's an expectation here. You see, elders can exhort elders, and we didn't go into that too much this evening.

Peter's Humility and Witness to Christ's Sufferings

But you know, there's a humiliation here. I like this bit. You know, the more that I listen to Peter preaching, and the more that I study the writings of Peter, the more I love Peter. I think that Peter was one of the greatest men that God ever had.

Oh, it's true, he was only a fisherman. Here's what he says here. The elders which are among you I exhort to, I am also an elder. He's not taking the place of the Pope there, you know. He's just taking the place of being an elder, that's what he is.

He says, I'm just one of the elders. You know, when you see this man, right through this book, one day he went into the house of Cornelius, you remember now. And Cornelius immediately fell down on the ground and wept.

And he lifted him up quickly and said, stand on your feet. I also am a man. He could educate a lot of the boys who liked people to bow at their feet. You know, he met men as a man. He preached to elders as an elder.

He's writing this book as the apostle of Jesus Christ to the churches scattered throughout Pontius. He was a great character. But how humble and how lowly this man followed the Lord. But you know, there is not only a recognition here of elders, and an exaltation here, and a humiliation here.

You know, there is a commendation here. The elders which are among you I exalt who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. You know, that should commend him to any writer. He was one of the witnesses of the sufferings of Christ.

And you know, I don't need to go into that this evening, or I take too much time. Because I wrote a little booklet on the witness of the sufferings of Christ. And I point about that on the day of Pentecost when Peter was preaching.

He talked about the time when men with wicked hands took Christ and crucified Him. You know, it must have been a very moving moment in Gethsemane When that crowd came through the gates with the torches, the eastern moon was shining, and our Lord was away alone under the old olive tree.

And you know, as He came out from the shadows of the olive tree, He said, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, Here I am. And you know, they took Him with wicked hands. It must have been a terrible moment to see them bending His hands behind His back and tying them.

No wonder Peter drew the sword. I feel if I had been there with a sword, I'd been with them. Anyway, I wouldn't take one ear off, I'd take one off on one side, and one on the other, and the bit in the middle between.

Ah, He was moved. Yes, He witnessed the cynical sufferings of Christ. That's the bit I want you to get the hold of. And then when He talked to the nation, you know, in ecstasy, He said, you know, He denied the Holy One and the just.

And He desired a murderer in His place. And when He talked to the whole Sanhedrin, that great council of the Jews, He said to them, This is the thorn that you builders rejected. You know, He saw the national sufferings of Christ.

It's a terrible thing, you know, when the nation rejects you. And it's a terrible thing when the nation rejects the King of Kings. Yes, people saw the physical. People saw the national. But we were reading here the other week.

Turn your page back again to chapter 2 again. See verse 22. Talking about Christ, He said, Who did no sin. Neither was guile found in His mouth. Who, when He was reviled, reviles not again. When He suffered, He present not.

But committed Himself to Him that judges righteously. Who, His own self, bear our sins in His own body on the tree. You know, He saw that bit. That's substitutional. That's not physical sufferings. That's not national sufferings.

That's He, His own self, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. You know, He was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. He got the right to speak to men. And this is what commends Him to them. You see, there's the recognition here of elders.

And there's an expectation here, I exhort. There's a humiliation here, who am also an elder. There's a commendation here, a witness of the sufferings. There's an expectation here. You know, I like this, what Peter says.

He says, a witness of the sufferings of Christ. And also, a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. There was no loss, forget-ness above itself. I never even talk about being lost again. He says, you know, I'll be in the glory.

My dear friend, he never even thought anything else. He says, I'm a witness of the sufferings. I'll tell you this, I'll be a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. You know, that's the way Paul talks.

Paul talks about rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. That's the way he talks. That's the way John talks. John talks, said, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. We shall be glorified. My, these great men of God never bothered with this erroneous doctrine of being lost again.

They were heading for the glory. Yes, Peter says, a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Now, I want you to get this. There's an identification here, the flock of God. I have already told you that they were purchased by blood.

The Flock Purchased, Called, Guided, and Nourished by Christ

And they were purchased by blood eternally. The blood would need to lose its power before we could lose the flock. Yes, that's the blood that bought them out of the market of sin. But I want you to get this little bit in.

Let's go back to John's Gospel, chapter 10, for a moment. John's Gospel, chapter 10. And the Lord Jesus is speaking here. He says, verily, verily I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep by name. You know, this is one thing about the flock of God.

It's not only purchased by blood eternally, but every single individual member is called by Christ personally. Calls them all out by name, you know. Do you remember when Paul the Baptist was getting saved?

My, the Lord bent over the proudest tree of heaven and said, Call, call, call them by name. As he calls them by name, I can remember the day he called me. Called me out of darkness into marvelous light.

The flock of God is, first of all, purchased by blood eternally, called by Christ personally. And then watch what he says here. He says then, And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him.

You know, they're guided by Christ continually. Did you get that? Because that's for the young folks. They're purchased by blood eternally. They're called by Christ personally. You're guided by Christ continually, and you're nourished by the Word, spiritually.

This is your only food. Don't substitute anything for this. My, this is the food for your very soul and spirit. Yes, this is the flock of God that's identified with you. And then we want to get back to 1 Peter.

Let's look at this now, because this is something I want you to see. 1 Peter, chapter 5. I think we've got this as we go along. Now there's a recognition here of elders. There's an expectation here, I exhaust.

There's a humiliation here, Peter calls himself an elder. There's a commendation here, he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. There's an expectation here, he's a partaker of the glory that shall be.

There's an identification here, the flock belongs to God. It's purchased by Him, called by Christ, guided by Christ, nourished by His Word. Now, there's an explanation here. Peter is saying, keep the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof.

The Oversight Must Look Diligently After the Flock

And what oversight? I've already told you, it's Episcopos. That's the word that Episcopalian comes from. You know that old Nicholson, when he was here preaching, he couldn't say Episcopalian. I can hardly say it either, I have to fiddle about with him a bit.

But he always said Episcopian. Let me introduce one or two of the old Church of Ireland ministers, as Mr. Jones from the Episcopian Church. Well, it was all right, wasn't it? I don't know what Episcopian means, but I'm sure it fitted them all right.

But this word is the word Episcopos, and it's the word that the Episcopal Church takes, because they have an oversight, oversight of bishops, for they don't seem to realize that the word bishop and overseer and elder are all the same thing.

You see, at the first of the chapter he's calling them elders. Here in the second verse he's saying, take the oversight thereof. But you know, while these words are all intermingled with each other, there's a gap in this one.

Not only does it be rendered oversight, not only bishop, but it's rendered by a very interesting phrase. Shall I show it to you? Have a look in Hebrews, and we're at Hebrews chapter 12, and you need to read from verse 14 to get the truth here.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14. Follow peace with all men. Well, that's a complete phrase, remember, and the emphasis is on following. He's trying to exhort these ones to follow peace with all men, and then there's an apostasy.

And you know, if you're a man of God at all, you'll want to follow peace with all men. But if you're a faithful man of God, you'll not be at peace with all men. I've been following for a long time, but I haven't caught up yet.

See, I say things out loud in this Bible class, I've got to do that if I'm faithful. Then it annoys some people. They don't like me to say it. So they're at war with me over that. For no matter how hard you follow, you won't catch up while you're down here.