In this sermon, the preacher begins by discussing the blessings that believers receive through the foreknowledge of God, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. He then shifts to the role of pastors in feeding the flock and ministering to the needs of the congregation. The preacher highlights the example of Peter, an ordinary fisherman who became a powerful teacher and leader in the early church. He emphasizes the importance of rejoicing in the midst of trials and temptations, reminding the audience that they are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood.

949, please. 949, when all my labours and trials are over, and I am safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore, will through the ages be glory for me. 949, please. Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory. You'll find we didn't get very far down the notes. We saw he was a Jew. And I explained that there are arguments about that, but there are no arguments about it as far as the book is concerned. For Paul was tending him to the faith said, How is it that thou being a Jew? And surely God settled it. He was not only a Jew, he was a fisherman. And I think he was a big fisherman. He was a married man. A non-leopard man. And he was a sage man. And I told you why I put that in. Because an old fellow told me once, he said this was a nostril. This was never used by Paul nor Peter. What a pity for him. I don't know what sort of a New Testament he had. But I took you through the book and let you see how often Peter used the word faith. And that's as far as we got. But we're going to start with the notes tonight. He was a crawled man. And I'm putting this in especially for the young folks also. Because a young fellow came to me once. And he said to me, Sir, I believe there are contradictions in this book. For a young fellow should do that, you know, he would need to think a time or two. Won't you ever be guilty of opening your mouth and letting people see how ignorant you are? Because we believe that this is an inspired book. That all Scripture, from the first letter in Genesis to the last dot in the book of Revelation, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And if every jot and tittle and sound and sentence of the original Scriptures were God breathed, then there are no contradictions. You would be quite within your rights to come and say, Do you see this here? Now, what does it mean when it says almost the opposite to this here over here? You would be quite right to ask questions. But don't come and tell me there are contradictions in this or I'll put both your ears off. I don't think I will allow you to do that. You're not big enough for that. You need to grow up a bit. So I was in one of those good moods when the young fellow came, and I said, Now you just show me the contradiction. Well, this is what he did, and I want you to see it for yourself, you see. And then you'll sort of get what I'm getting at. We're at John's Gospel chapter one. And in John's Gospel chapter one, John the Baptist, a man sent from God, has come to the Jewish nation and is making the path for the Messiah, of course. And there are many things that John said, and many things that John did. And we're at John's Gospel chapter one, and we're reading at verse twenty-eight, just to try to save the time. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. And if you've got a good Bible in your hand, you'll find there's a little number at Bethabara. And if you go to the margin, you'll find the word Bethany there. Now, I think that's the corrupt translation. It is the word Bethany. Because these things were done in Bethany, beyond Jordan is the actual word. You see, some folks don't know that there are two Bethany's in the land of Palestine. But if you go visiting, you can find the ruins of one, and you'll easily get the other one. Because there's one just over on the other side of the Mount of Olives there. But if you go down through Jericho, and I'm sure you will if you visit Palestine, when you're in the city of palm trees there, as sometimes it's called, you're not getting far from the Jordan, and you know that. You can walk down from the city to the river Jordan. Now, if you watch the river flowing, it's flowing southward. You know it flows from north to south from the Sea of Galilee. It flows down into the Dead Sea. And when you're at Jericho, you're about ten miles from where it enters the Dead Sea. Now, if you follow the flow of the river going south, and you go five miles down the river, you'll come to a place where the river narrows, and the water is deeper there, of course. Over on the other side, on what is called the eastern bank of the river, you'll find a place called Bethany. Now, that's the other Bethany. It's only in old ruins now. Now, that's where John was baptized. Now, this young fellow who came to me had all this off-pattern. I was very pleased to see that. He knew about Bethabara. He knew about Bethany. He knew where it was. And he said, look, sir, these things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan. That's how they described the two of them. The one is on the other side of the Mount of Olives, and this one is beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing, because, of course, there was much water there. Now, you'll find that the next day, verse 29, John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Then he went on to say a few very wonderful things about the Lord Jesus, and we come to verse 35. Again, the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples, because John had disciples, you know, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Of course, this is exactly what John wanted. John was one of those great characters who was always ready to decrease so long as the Lord Jesus increased. And he was even directing his own disciples to the Lord Jesus, and these two followed Jesus that day. Verse 38, Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and said unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He said unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. And I think the time is given in Roman time here. You always have to watch the time in the book, but we'll not go into the argument about time. If it was Roman time, it was ten o'clock in the morning. If it was Jewish time, it would put it into the afternoon, but I think it was Roman time. Now, that doesn't concern us now. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Now, it doesn't give you the other one's name, but I think you can easily gather this because the other one must have been John himself. And right through this book, when he comes into the limelight, he tries to hide himself all the time. Sometimes he just calls himself that disciple whom Jesus loves. And here were Andrew and John. They were disciples of John the Baptist. And they were with him at Bethabara, if you like to take the wording, or Bethany. They were with him when he speaks about Jesus being the Lamb of God, and they followed Jesus. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first finds his own brother, Simon, and says unto him, We have found a Messiah. Whatever happened as they talked with the Lord Jesus that day, they were persuaded that he was the Christ, which is being interpreted the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. And I think when it says, he first finds his own brother, Simon, that the two of them, Andrew and John, after having spent that day with the Lord Jesus, and being persuaded he was the Messiah, both of them set out to find their brothers. I think that John went to find James. I think that Andrew went to find Peter, and Andrew found Peter first. That's all that it means. He first found his brother. So the young fellow said to me, You can see this, Mr. Mullin, can't you? That this happened at Beth Ababa, beyond Jordan or Bethany. And verse 43 says, The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee. So it did happen down there, in Judea, at Beth Ababa, beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. He says that's where Peter was first called. That's where he was brought to Jesus. He says, but when you come to Matthew's gospel, it's different. Now have a look at it. We're at Matthew chapter 4, verse 18, just to save the time, Matthew 4, verse 18, And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee. Now that's a long ways from Beth Ababa. If you know them up, Galilee is up there, the river Jordan is going, and it's just about five miles from the entrance into the Dead Sea that you get Bethany or Beth Ababa. And it's down in Judea. And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren in Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he says unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they snipped away, left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw two other brethren in James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the ship with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left their ship, and their father then followed him. See, there's a contradiction here. This book says that he called them up here at the Sea of Galilee, and John's gospel says he called them when he was at Beth Ababa. Now that is nonsense. He's reading it upside down. I said, Son, you're not even reading this right. You see, the place where Peter was first introduced to Jesus was at Beth Ababa beyond Jordan, but he was only introduced. But the place where he was called into full-time service was quite different, and it was a good bit later too. You see, I can take you back to the place where I first met the Lord. And I'll tell you this, when John's writing about it, where he first met the Lord, he not only knows the day, he knows the time. He never forgot the time, the hour, the tenth hour when he met the Lord. But that is only reading the Lord. I'll tell you when he was called. It was a good bit later. You see, I could take you back to the spot I could put your feet almost on the footprints this evening. And I remember the hour. It was half past five in the evening, and the darkness had almost fallen when I met the Lord. Or when the Lord met me and saved me. But I can tell you, it was years later, on a mountainside, sitting on the mountainside, when he called me into full-time service to leave everything and follow him. That's different, isn't it? I don't know why these wee fellows will read these things and try to make themselves smart. The two things are completely different. The one is the introduction. Peter was introduced by his own brother Andrew to the saviour at Bethlehem, beyond Jordan. After the Lord called both of them together into full-time service sometime later by the shores of Galilee. Now, let's get it quite clear he was called. That's the bit I'm just trying to make it forceful tonight. Now, I want you to get this into your mind. That when the Lord calls him, he's putting him into the school now. He's got a lot of edges to knock off him. But I want to get this over to you, that when he calls him, he gifted him. I don't think you learn that in school. This is what I have taught with men with all my life. Oh, you know, some people say, well, when a young fellow comes to a church, he's just a probationary pastor. I don't know anything about that. I assure you. I asked the Baptist Union in the meeting one day, all the week, stand up and show me where this probationary is. You don't think a gift from God is probationary, do you? I don't know anything about probationary pastors. I just know that when the Lord gave gifts, he gave gifts unto men, he gave pastors. He gave teachers. He gave apostles. He gave prophets. He gave evangelists. Don't talk to me about probationers. I don't know anything about it. Not in this book. Find it. Only find it for me. It's a trap. It's trap. It's baptism. That's what it is. It's back on my side. No, it won't work. I will tell you this, that though he was standing with the net in his hand, and he's being called into full-time service, at that day, he was an apostle. Am I sure of that now? I'm too sure. Have a look at Matthew chapter 10. Verse 1. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, what's the word, he gave them power over against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. And the names of the twelve apostles, let's pick the word now, are these. The first. Simon. Always like that it is, you know. You'll never find it any other way. They don't shuffle him to the back of the pack or anything like that. Oh, they were all two equal apostles, I know. But somehow or other, every list of apostles in these four gospels, Peter always heads it. Doesn't say he was the Pope or anything like that. Just says that the Lord and the Spirit recognized him. That's all. But he was an apostle. There's no trouble about that at all. And you know, apostles, they were the foundation stones of the Church. You see, the Church of Jesus Christ was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Let's get the hold of that very carefully. Because you see, these were the great gifts in those early days. I think, you know, sometimes I hear people arguing about the Church and they haven't a clue about what they're about. You see, when the early believers after Pentecost met on the first day of the week, let's get the hold of it. They had no New Testament. Hadn't written. Paul wasn't even saved. And he wrote 13, 14 letters in this New Testament. He wasn't saved then. There was no New Testament. None at all. They just met. And some of them had scraps of the Old Testament and some of them knew bits of the Old Testament. All but there were gifts there. The apostles were there, just to keep them right. And what was more, there was another gift there which is called prophets. Now, when you see the schools like this, the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And you get the word prophets behind the apostles, then you'll know that it's New Testament prophets we're talking about. We're not talking about Old Testament prophets. Because if we were talking about Old Testament prophets, they would be before. They would be before the apostles. That's why I argue with the men who try to tell me the Church is in the Old Testament. And I said to a crowd of them not too very long ago, if the Church is in the Old Testament, how did the apostles get first? God has placed first in the Church, the apostles. How in all the Church was built upon? Now, remember the apostles had special gifts. They just didn't come around and say we were an apostle unit. They had special gifts. See this argument in Mark, Gospel chapter 16? Let's have a look at that now. Because we hear a lot of nonsense talks about it. You know that Mark, Gospel chapter 16, it's resurrection day, isn't it? It's what it says in verse 14. After working at Pentecost in the 11th, 11 who? What? Apostles, of course. Judas is God. And if we want to have an argument about Judas, we can pick that up quite easily. This was God's way for His servants. He had to put up with somebody He knew who would stab him in the back. Oh, but He was quite willing to be the prophet here. This will not be easy now. Verse 14, after when He appeared on the 11th, apostles, that's right, and God greeted them with their unbelief, their terrible unbelief. You see, I don't care what kind of gift you have. The day that God called people to be given this gift of apostles, it is no use when you're stuck full of unbelief if you have the gift. I believe the day He called me, He gave me the gift of teacher and evangelist. I've proved that I don't need the brush when I say that. I've admitted not long ago that a lot of people think I am an evangelist, you know. I have kept this class going for years. I am a teacher, you know. The day that He called me, this was His hand out to me. It wasn't any kind of God, anything. I'm not saying anything against it. It's a blessing. God bless you. I've never hindered any one of you from going if you want to go and we'll help you. But I didn't need the God. It can't do that for me. There is no school on God's earth that can make me an evangelist. I saw a special thing hanging on a wall the other day and the instruction, I don't know what you call it, an honorary thing. An idiot got it. And it said, he is one of the biggest evangelists in the country. Come on, college. I said, where did you have the mission? I never had a mission in my life. I just wanted to take that down and do it again. Oh brothers, do we have to put up with this nonsense? To hand these things out, you know. Don't you get bluffed with that. That doesn't make you anything. Unless the Lord gives you the gift. He gave gifts unto me. And if he gave it to me, it's not for me to make money off of or go on my holidays with. Just because I have gifts, I'm asked to go to the Bahamas, I'm asked to go to the Pacific Coast, I'm asked to go to New York, I'm asked to go to Philadelphia. I was asked the other night to go to Texas. I just can't take the gift to have a good time on. I'll soon be very good if I do that. The Lord doesn't allow me to prostitute the gift for a good time. I shall do what I'm told or I won't be here. You see friends, even you have the gift. If you get stuck full of unbelief, I tell you, you'll be of little use. Sure a preacher's proud to teach things he doesn't believe it wouldn't work. Sure a man preaching the gospel and he doesn't believe that the Holy Ghost could come in and fill people just like a cup in your hand. He's no use. Now the apostles, while they were apostles, while they had this gift, and it's a mighty one, here they were filled with unbelief. Afterwards he appeared on the eleventh of the second week and upbraided them with their unbelief. He's got to knock this out of them. Then on and then going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes in his God's eye shall be saved. He that believes not shall be damned. These signs shall follow them that believe. Is he talking to all the believers? He's talking to the apostles that believe. Because these are the signs of an apostle. Only when he believes. That's the signs. These signs shall follow them apostles that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with weak tongues. They shall take up servants. And if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. My dear friend, those are the signs of an apostle. Oh, if you want to play it your way and say, well, these are the signs of them that believe. How many here can do them? I talked to a fellow the other day. He tried to tell me that this is for every believer. Oh, like I said, he's a stripper man in the house. Come on, we'll give you a close of it. I'm happy about that. You know, but I'll tell you this. These signs followed Paul. And he said in that very chapter we were reading tonight, 2 Corinthians 12, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you. Peter was an apostle. So I need to go on with this. He was a prophet. Sure, he stood up in the meeting sometimes without a new testament, as he told them. Even before the church was formed in Acts chapter 1, when it was just a prayer meeting, it was Peter who had stood up and told them all about the 60 man's town that somebody should take the place that Judas had given up. This was Peter. He was acting as a prophet. There are no arguments about him being an evangelist, is there? In fact, he was a great evangelist. Three thousand souls saved on the day of Pentecost. And then the Lord was talking to him by the Sea of Galilee and saying, love us now, me, and he said, yes, you know I do. And the Lord said, feed my land. Feed my sheep. And that's the work of the apostles. It's the great work for the Sunday morning ministry meeting here. And I need to be exercised so that I can bring a word from the Lord that will comfort the soul. That's feeding the flock, you know. That's why the phone rings on Monday and somebody says, you know, the word was just for me yesterday. Don't make me swell-headed, you know. I just know it's coming along. Thank you. That was it. That's help from Peter. That's what it's all about. That's what the shepherd is about. To feed the flock. Peter was. And you know, Peter was a teacher all of the deepest time. If you look at these letters of his, after what's the clock tonight, you know, if you go through this mighty letter, this first letter of Peter, and do it like this, I'll just do a little bit of it and then you can do the rest of it. Watch him very carefully now. He begins with the word Peter. And that always pleases me. Not Dr. Peter, not the Reverend Holy Father Peter either. No. Just Peter. It's a wonder the Romans never learned from this. He just called himself Peter, that's all. They'll really be annoyed with him for signing his name like that. He's just Peter. But you see, the gift is behind the name, not the form. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Virginia. He's writing to the Jews. Because you know, he was the apostle to the Jews. And I think the Roman church missed this a thousand times over when they talked about him being the first pope. Sure, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Especially the more homophobes. Peter was the apostle to the Jews. And here he is writing to the Jews. Now watch this wonderful legend. Elect according to the full knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be most upon you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God, whose faith on the foundation ready to be revealed at the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice. Now that's him outlining the blessings that belong to us, and if I took them one by one they would do for a month. Now the moment that this teacher works this across, he immediately comes back to earth. Oh yes, he lets them see the table that was spread before him. He's feeding the flock all right. When he says, wherein ye greatly rejoice, he immediately changes it and says, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness. See the word heaviness following the word rejoicing, because that's good for children. No use of me building you into the heavens until you're walking on air, and then next day you're going to come to mother earth with a bump. Because it's not all hallelujahs. Though now if need be, ye are in heaviness. Manifold temptation or manifold disgrace. See, that's the way he teaches all the time. Look down the second chapter, do you see? Watch him doing it again. Verse 9, ye are a chosen generation. A royal priesthood. Mind you, that's a mighty word. And he's writing to these Jews. And let's not forget there were men and women among these Jews. And let's not forget that women happen to be in the royal priesthood. Ah, didn't some of the old type brethren forget that there is a royal priesthood and women are there? That's them he's on our side now. You know, he's doing well, he's doing well. Bless him. At least he's got the guts to say amen where it's right. And thank God for it. Yes. You see, friend, the saints are a chosen generation. Men and women among us. A royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people. And we should go forth for praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into marvelous light. Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God. Now watch how he changes it in verse 11. Dearly beloved, our deceitful strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts. This war against us. See how he comes back down. And this should be the balance of a good teacher all the time. And you know, I think it's been proved over and over again. I must watch the time. Let's go to 2 Peter. Perhaps he was one of the greatest teachers the Lord sent to the church. Don't let's make any mistakes about this. He says, verse 3 of chapter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts. And saying, where is the promise of his coming? This is one of the marks of the last days. That there will come scoffers and they'll question the coming of the Lord. Where is the promise of his coming? They're not asking me to find promises, you know, in the book. Because I could find plenty and they know that. They're just trying to argue from this standpoint. You know, there's nothing around us to indicate he's coming. Where is the promise of his coming? Watch what he says. For since the farmers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Now do they? Oh, indeed they don't. Oh, that's an old bloke. This is the sort of way that scoffers talk sometimes. And if you're not quick, you know they would almost beat you up. Oh, no. Watch Peter working. He says, for this they willingly are ignorant of. That by the word of God the heavens were devolved and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. It didn't continue as it was from the beginning, did it? They knew that all right. They knew about the flood. But they willingly put that out of their mind, didn't they? That's the way these creatures talk all the time. And you need to watch them. And he says, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. See, it wasn't perished. It was something that the Russellites hold on to. And they say this is annihilation. Not at all. Oh, the water perished and we caught the earth again. It wasn't annihilation. Oh, no. It just perished in the first instance. And the word is used there too. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same words I kept in store. See this? Heavens and earth which are now. Peter's teaching us now. The reserve dawned to fire against the dead judgment and the prediction of ungodly men and they must become immutable. But beloved, he's talking to us. Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord and a thousand years. And a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness. For as long suffering to us was, not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to repentance. You know the reason that the Lord's holding back is just He wants a few more days. Watch Peter talking now. But the day of the Lord will come. As a thief in the night. As a thief in the night and it all will. See they don't believe this is going to happen. Oh, but the day of the Lord will come. In which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. See all these mighty planets. Oh, you know all about them, don't you? You know exactly where you're situated and how easy it is to understand them. How Mars is there and where all the planets are. And you can hear prophets more outlining the whole solar system. See all these mighty planets in the heavens. Where they'll pass away with a great noise. Oh, dear Lord, the way they'll go. God will make a better space up there. For the moment that will be. Watch this, on the elements. See that word elements? It's a Greek word and it means stars. As you know the planets are descending from stars. See the planets shall go away with a noise. See the stars. What else? The stars and heat. It means treasure that was written by a big rough hand of a fisherman. Who rode a boat and never went to school. How did he know? He was a future sent from God. That's what he was. You don't need to go to school to get that. You only need to get on your knees and be alone with God. Now, I'm telling you. I want you to get the hold of this. See this now. Oh, what a character he was. Oh, you're not doing it, are you? I'll take the weak man and the strong man and the humble man and the holy man into the school next week with us. Then we'll do it properly. All right. Let's bow together before the Lord. Lord, we bow to thank you. For this man that you called that day up at Shores of Galloway. We thank you. What an inspiration he's been to some of us. Just an ordinary, common, high date who was brought up on the shores and didn't get any proper schooling. Lord, if you elect to call on Hebrew of the Hebrews, a scholar that started the feet of Gamaliel like Paul, then you'll have to bow and say amen. Lord, you're the boss of the school. You can do what you like. Oh, teach us, Lord, that we only need to be alone with thee. Creator of thy people, look into thy face. Lord, you can make us vessels fit for the master's use. Thou art putting the weak things and the dead things and the foolish things to confound the mighty with death. Oh, teach us that we must keep close to thee. Oh, Lord, I hear it. Oh, Lord, part us in my fear with thy blessing for thy name's sake. Amen.