Girded for the Work

Girded for the Work

(No. 2649)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1899.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY
18, 1882.

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind." 1 Peter 1:13.

WE noticed, in reading the chapter from which our text is taken, that
the Apostle Peter first mentioned the glorious Doctrines of Grace and
the marvelous benefits bestowed by God upon Believers and he,
afterwards, drew from them a practical inference. "Therefore," he said,
"gird up the loins of your mind." A Doctrine of God may become
dangerous if it is not reduced to practice–and all the Doctrines of
God's Word may readily be turned to good and practical account if we
are willing to so employ them. Those who regard a Doctrine of God
simply as a subject for debate or an opportunity for displaying one's
argumentative powers, miss the mark altogether, for we are taught the
Truths of God in order that they may lead us to holiness of life. This
is the object of God in giving us more of His Light–that, by that
Light, we may become more full of the Light of God and be the means of
conveying His Light to others. Therefore, when your mind is instructed
concerning some grand Truth of God, after you have sucked the honey and
joy out of it, always say to yourself, "But what are the bearings of
this Doctrine upon my life? How should it influence me? What would God
have me do as the result of receiving such teaching as this?" From what
Peter had already said, like a true logician, he draws a wise inference
and says, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope
to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ."

We shall only have time to consider the first few words of the
Apostle's exhortation, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind." And,
concerning them, we will ask three questions, First, What are we to do?
Secondly, Why are we to do it? And, thirdly, How are we to do it?

I. First, let us enquire, WHAT ARE WE TO DO? "Gird up the loins of your
mind."

The metaphor used by Peter is a very simple one. The garments of the
Easterns, as you know, are not like ours, but are long flowing robes
and, unless the raiment is well gird about the wearer, there is little
or nothing that he can do in the way of active exercise. In a spiritual
sense, the injunction, "Gird up the loins of your mind," is a very
proper one to be addressed to those of us who have various loose and
flowing things which are almost as natural to us as garments are to the
body. They must be gird about us very tightly or else they will become
an encumbrance and a hindrance.

We may possibly understand what is meant by our text if we, first,
consider the opposite condition. Some persons are notorious for their
laxity–whatever they have about them is very loosely attached to them.
I am grieved to say that there are some professing Christians who are
very lax even in matters of morality. It is a great shame that it
should be so with any of them and we feel that there must be hypocrisy
at the bottom of such a state of things as that. Others are very lax in
their beliefs–they are ready to believe anything or nothing according
to whatever is said by the last speaker to whom they have listened.
Some are very lax in their observance of Gospel ordinances. They act as
though Christ had given them commands which they might obey or
disregard according to their own pleasure. Nothing connected with them
seems to be really fastened to them so as to hold them and, for their
part, they hold nothing firmly–everything is loose and slipping away
from them.

Now, I take it that the Apostle exhorts all professing Christians of
that character to get out of such a state of heart! And I would urge
you, dear Friends, to do the same. Gird up the loins of your mind as to
your personal conduct. Be strict about it, not lax! Never fear
incurring the opprobrium of being too precise. If the name of Puritan
is appended to you, accept it joyfully as a badge of honor and wish
that you were more of a Puritan than your assailants suspect! Whoever
else is lax, you remember that you serve a jealous God and, therefore,
be very jealous of the honor of His Word, and jealous of the observance
of His commands, and jealous concerning your whole life. In this sense,
"gird up the loins of your mind."

Some professors are ready enough to believe, but they have no intensity
in their beliefs. They are orthodox as far as they go, but they do not
go far enough. They have no great concern about religion–they are
merely tattooed with Christianity. It is only skin deep with them, it
never gets into their hearts or affects their souls. There are many
preachers, nowadays, who hold various views of the Truth of God, but
they hold nothing tenaciously. I have often wished to ask some Broad
Churchmen if they did not think that the martyrs were great fools in
laying down their lives in defense of the Truth, for I am sure that,
according to the teaching of many whom I know, they must regard those
who were faithful unto death as little better than madmen! I think that
some of the teachers of the modern school believe that there is no
Truth of God that is worth a man's dying for. They say that something
is white, but they add that white is a very, very light shade of black
if you look at it from a certain standpoint. Another thing is
undoubtedly black, but that is merely a somewhat darker shade of white!
Here is a certain Truth which they say they believe, but there are some
circumstances or conditions in which they do not believe it, so
practically it is not a matter of faith to them at all. If ever you
press them too closely upon any point, they always have a back way of
escape open–in fact, they do not really believe anything at all with
their heart and soul!

Now, when religion is held in that fashion, it is tantamount to
irreligion. If I held doctrines which did not hold me, I should stammer
in the declaration of them and I could not suppose that anyone else
would accept them from my halfhearted advocacy. He who has not a fixed
fulcrum for his lever, whatever machinery he may have, will never move
the world–and nothing will be accomplished byyou, my Friend, or
accomplished inyou, unless there are certain Truths of God which you no
more question than you question your own existence–certain munitions
of rocks behind which you make your soul's dwelling place and find
yourself at ease. "The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they
their houses in the rocks," and they thus prove their wisdom! And when
a man, whatever his feebleness may be, has certain rocky fundamental
Truths into which he tunnels so as to hide himself, then he is well
protected. But all that looseness of which I have been speaking is a
throwing away of strength. Laxity is the helper of unbelief and tempts
to all manner of evil the souls of those who are under its malign
influence.

Therefore, dear Friends, do not be lax in your belief, but believe what
you believe. Hold what you hold and know what you know. Do you ask,
"How can that be?" Well, by being taught of God, for God teaches
Infallible Truth. What a man teaches himself, or learns from his fellow
men, may all have to be laid aside, for it is liable to be erroneous.
But that which God the Holy Spirit burns into his heart and conscience,
as with a hot iron, shall never be taken from him! You may kill him,
but you will not take the Truth of God from him. You may cut him in
pieces, but the man is so joined to the Truth that he cannot be
separated from it. "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind." Get your
mental straps tightened up. Bind the blessed Truth of the Gospel more
closely than ever to your soul!

Further, this condition of mind to which Peter refers is not only the
opposite of laxity and looseness, but it is also opposed to that
effluence, or lack of grip, lack of unity, lack of concentration which
runs away with the usefulness and force of so many professors. These
men love God after a fashion and hold His Truth in a way, but, then,
there are many other things which they love and hold quite as much!
Their energies run–no, I should say, trickleinto a hundred
channels–but there is no force in them. If they could all be made to
flow in one channel, they might rush onward like a torrent and bear
everything before them, yet it is not so with them, but quite the
opposite! They are all in pieces. They never get to be one entire man.
The prayer of David has never been fulfilled in their experience,
"Unite my heart to fear Your name." They cannot cry with the sweet
Psalmist of Israel, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I
will sing and give praise."

And not being fixed to one point, neither are they united as one
person. Their condition is exactly described by the Prophet Hosea,
"Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty." It is a
blessed thing for a Christian to be strapped up in one bundle and not
to be divided into a number of separate parcels. "Set your affections
on things above," is a misquotation that I have heard many times, but
there is not such a text as that in the Bible. Paul wrote to the
Colossians, "Set your affectionon things above," that is, have all your
affections bound up into one supreme, all-embracing affection, and then
fix it all upon Christ. When the many men within the man become all one
man and he is, as we say, "all there," and you knowthat he is "all
there," then he has, indeed, girded up the loins of his mind. May we
all obey this Apostolic command and earnestly avoid the opposite!

In trying further to show what our text means, I would say that I think
the short way of putting it is this, "Pull yourself together." We often
say, in some great crisis or emergency, "I must, someway or other, pull
myself together." That is just the meaning of the Apostle here. Do you
not sometimes find yourself very listless, languid and limp? You hope
the life of God is within you, but you almost question whether it is or
not, for it is not vigorous or joyous. You do not seem to take an
interest in the things of God as you once did. You say, with Cowper–

"Your saints are comforted, I know, And love Your House of Prayer! I
sometimes go where others go, But find no comfort there."

Somehow or other you appear to have fallen to pieces–there is no
cohesion about you and you are sure that you are not in a right
condition. Well, then, our text is the very message you need, as it
means, first, concentrate all your powers and faculties to the service
of God and the worship of God. Let this be your song–

"O bless the Lord, my Soul! Let all within me join, And aid my tongue
to bless His name, Whose favors are Divine."

"Gird up the loins of your mind," that is, let the Truth of God go
right around you, so that no part of you is left out of the hallowed
circle. Be completely contained within the belt of pure and precious
Truth. Nobody knows what he can really do when he is "all there." The
capacities of manhood are something terrible when they are turned into
the wrong channel. Look at a man who goes insane. Insanity is, in some
senses, a weakness, yet, sometimes, when a man has become insane, he
has possessed the strength of five or six ordinary men! Now, if we
could have just the opposite of that–a sanity which nevertheless
concentrated and increased all the powers of our entire being–what is
there that we might not be able to do? This is what the Apostle means
when he urges us to gird up the loins of our mind.

This expression further signifies not only concentration, but full
awakening. We are not half-awake, Brothers and Sisters, as a rule.
Sometimes we are, but when God the Holy Spirit gives us the new Life in
all its fullness, there is then within us ecstatic joy, firmness of
resolution, strength of will and a bravery of holy faith that can risk
everything upon the faintest word of the unseen God. But, oftentimes,
we need to cry as David did, "Quicken me, O Lord, for Your name's
sake." In the 119th Psalm, how very frequently that prayer occurs,
"Quicken You me." The Psalmist was a living man, or he could not have
prayed to be made alive, but, being alive, he wanted to be made more
alive. I have told you before of a strange picture which I saw at
Brussels, in which the artist has represented the Resurrection in a
very remarkable fashion, showing the people as partly alive. There is
one man with his head restored to life, but his arms remain as
skeletons. There is another alive down to his breast, but his legs and
the rest of his body are still under the dominion of death. It is an
extraordinary idea, yet I am afraid that there are many so-called
Christians who are just like that. They have just enough life in them
for the salvation of their souls, but scarcely enough to make them
earnest and diligent in the cause of God. Now, Brothers and Sisters, if
this is the case with you, wake yourself up, pull yourself together,
"gird up the loins of your mind."

If you do so, in addition to this concentration and awakening, there
will be a holy resoluteness about you, an intensifying of any resolve
that you have made to serve the Lord. Sometimes, you feel, "This is the
proper time for me to draw near to God, but I really do not feel in the
spirit for it." Now, pull yourself together and determine that you will
not allow any of this nonsense! We must pray–and when we feel that we
cannot pray, then is the time when we must pray more earnestly than
ever! We are never so much in need of prayer as when we have the least
inclination to the holy exercise. I delight in preaching the Gospel
when I am conscious that the Lord is with me, but there are times when
I have to say, "I do not feel fit for this great task." Whenever that
is true of any of us, we must hear Peter saying to us, "Gird up the
loins of your mind." Brother, it is the devil who wants to keep you
from serving the Savior! He expects that God is going to be with you
and to bless you, so he tries to unfit you for the service. Then say,
"By the Grace of God, I mean to do it, and if ever in my life I poured
out my very soul, it shall be now. Instead of running away from the
task, I will run to it! Into the very center of the enemy will I rush,
like David when he said, 'By You I have run through a troop; and by my
God have I leaped over a wall.'" Oh, for that firm putting down of the
foot, that steadfast determination that the duty of the hour shall be
performed and the privilege of the hour shall be enjoyed! We will not
be drifted from it, or driven from it, or bribed from it! What have you
and I to do with going to sleep? Those who are children of darkness may
sleep in the night, but we are children of the day, the Sun of
Righteousness has risen upon us! So, "let us not sleep as do others,"
but let us gird up the loins of our mind and, in the name of the Most
High God, let us resolve not to be found half-hearted and lukewarm, but
to be wide awake and all-alive in the service of our Lord!

Still further to explain our text, let me say that it must also mean,
"Get rid ofhindrances" The Oriental girds up his loins that he may not
be tripped up by his long flowing garments–and this is the kind of
thing that acts as a hindrance to a Christian's progress. Not
hindrances from Satan and the world, alone, but from himself–from
things about himself that cling as much to him and seem as necessary
for him as garments are for our bodies. These things will often get in
the way and trip us up when we are running, or hinder us when we are
walking.

When does this happen? Sometimes there creeps over the mind of the
Believer the thought of security and, consequently, of there being
little need of watchfulness. There is true security in Christ and that
sets the mind on its watch-tower. But there is a false security in
which Satan says, "All is well with you. You are not like these young
people who have lately joined the Church–you are an old experienced
Christian–so there is no fear of your falling into temptation. You are
an old fox, you cannot be caught in the traps of which they will have
to beware. You may go a great deal further than those young people may,
and do a great many things which would be dangerous for them, for you
are all right." When you are deceived by the tempter, you sit down and
say to yourself, "My mountain stands firm; I shall never be moved." You
fold your hands and smile with a delusive happiness–under the notion
that all must go well with you!

O dear Friends, there is nothing that will lead to stumbling and
falling sooner than this fancied security! This is, indeed, having
loose garments! You have special need to watch and pray. Always be
afraid of that experience which Satan tells you exempts you from the
necessity of being on your guard, for you are in an enemy's country and
there is a foe lurking behind every bush! And he alone is safe who
cries to God, "Hold You me up and I shall be safe." But they who are
carnally secure are in the very midst of danger. Let us not get into
that lax and loose condition, but let us gird up the loins of our mind.

Some are all ungirt and have their garments hanging so loosely about
them that they are unable to do anything effectively because they are
continually perplexed with a thousand wandering thoughts. They do not
think rightly about anything because they think in a loose fashion
about everything. They never act as do the bees which I have often
watched. These busy little creatures find the bell of a flower and
plunge right in till you cannot see them. What are they doing? They are
getting all the honey that is stored at the bottom of the flower!
Meanwhile, what has the butterfly done? He has flitted lightly over
half the flowers of the garden and he laughs at the bee for wasting so
much time in one flower, yet, at night, the butterfly has nothing to do
but die, while the bee has been storing her house with sweet nutriment.
It is a blessed thing when we get right into the bell of the flower of
the Gospel and are determined to penetrate its secret places to extract
the delicious essence of the Word, that we may feed thereon and grow
thereby. It is no use having a brain that is taken up with 50 different
subjects and yet does not master any one of them.

There was a class of men called the Encyclopedists, who endeavored to
gain universal knowledge and, certainly, some of them were prodigious
scholars. But with you and with me, Beloved, it will be well to call in
all these wandering thoughts and make the Lord Jesus Christ our
Encyclopedia, and to determine not to know anything among men save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When you act thus, you have secured the
choicest honey in all the world, while those who attempt to learn a
thousand other things may really gather nothing that is worth
preserving. A man of one book is, after all, the man of power. And the
man who has but one objective in life–who lives only for Christ and
lives alone upon Him–is the gracious man whom God will use for blessed
ends!

Another loose garment that is likely to trip us up is too much care
about the things of this world. I think that a man needs, sometimes, to
hesitate as to whether he should enlarge his business. He may have just
enough to do to keep going what he already has in hand–and he will be
able to steal out to the weeknight services and to take his place in
the Sunday school. But it may be that if he undertakes more
responsibilities, he will be unable to spare any time for his Lord's
service. His capital is small, though it has sufficed him up to
now–but if he tries to make it serve in his larger undertakings, he
will always be worrying about how he shall be able to meet his
obligations–and he will be running from pillar to post with a thousand
anxieties as to how he is to get over his difficulties. Is it not
amazing that people should be so anxious to get more anxieties? The
path of wisdom is to try to escape them and, especially as age
increases, to feel that the last part of our life ought to be
Sabbatic–it should be a period of rest. Surely, the last seventh of
our lives, at least, should be a preparation for the everlasting
Sabbath when we hope to dwell with our Lord forever! It is well for a
man when he can make it so, but too much to do, too much to think of,
too much care and too much trouble are very apt to trip up a Christian.
"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind." Strap yourselves up a bit.
You know riches take to themselves wings and fly away. One of the best
things you can do is to clip their wings every now and then–and send
the feathers round to the College, or the Orphanage, or the Colportage
Society, or some other good work! In that way you are more likely to
keep what you now possess and to have a blessing with it.

Frequently, too, men who do not gird up the loins of their minds are
tripped up by mental troubles. They are troubled about this and worried
about that. Things are not according to their mind and, instead of
doing their best, and then leaving the matter with God, they are
constantly fretting and fuming. I know some good women who make their
home utterly miserable by being always in a worry. Often, it is only
about whether such-and-such a room has been dusted, or whether
something has been washed. And there are plenty of husbands who go on
in the same foolish way, for we are all of one race and we are all far
too anxious to borrow trouble when we have none of our own. Yes, and
some are very adept at manufacturing troubles! They have a little
trouble factory at the top of the house and they like to get up there
and try to make something to be disquieted about. A trouble that God
sends, He will take away, but if you make it yourself, you may take it
away yourself. Homemade troubles are just like homemade clothes–they
do not often fit very well, but they last longer than any others. So I
warn you against them–the troubles, I mean–pray put them aside! Obey
Peter's injunction, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind," and let
these fancied troubles go to the winds!

There are others whose loins are not gird up because they are fearful,
despondent, discouraged in their work for the Lord. Have you not heard
them moaning in this style–"I do not think I shall ever take my class
any more." "I do not feel that I can stand up and preach at the corner
of the streets again." "I do not see how I can give another tract to
that man–he swore so dreadfully." Come, Brother, "gird up the loins of
your mind." You need to pull that strap more tightly around you and to
get your garments well secured. I see that they are beginning to fly
about in the wind and, if you are not careful, one by one they will
blow away from you. Be not discouraged! Fear not! Do not despair of
success! The God whom you serve will not let His Word fall to the
ground, but you shall see that though you went forth weeping, bearing
precious Seed, you shall come back rejoicing, bringing your sheaves
with you!

I need not go over all the many ways in which a Christian man's
garments may impede his labors, but our text applies to them all. One
other meaning of Peter's words, "Gird up the loins of your mind" is, be
ready, as a man who has his coat buttoned up is prepared to face the
storm. Be ready for troubles. Be ready for evil tidings. Be ready for
service. Be ready for suffering, be ready to live, be ready to die.
Take for your motto the sailors' cry, "Ready, yes, ready," and say,
"Whatever my Lord's will may be, I, His servant, with my loins gird and
my staff in my hand, am ready for it." As old Master Trapp says, "Be
handy with your loins gird about." Have your robes all well fastened so
that you will not be tripped up by them. Being handy, in this sense, is
also to be handsome–no man looks better than when his garments are
well gird about him. When they became loose, they spoil the appearance
of his figure, but when he keeps himself well prepared for his service,
then is he beautiful in the sight of his Master who loves to see His
servant ready for fighting, ready for journeying, ready for whatever
may happen to him, or be required of him. Therefore, pull yourselves
together and so "gird up the loins of your mind."

II. Now, secondly, WHY ARE WE TO DO THIS?

First, the fourfold character of the Christian life requires it. A
Christian ought to be at least four things, as well as many others
which I have not time to mention now. First, he is a pilgrim. He is on
a journey–he is passing through this world to a better one. How can a
man travel swiftly and safely unless his garments are properly prepared
for the journey? And the pilgrims to Zion must gird up the loins of
their mind if they are to reach their destination.

A Christian is, next, a racer. He is running in a race and he needs to
win the crown. He has started for the goal and the prize of his high
calling is glittering before his eyes. He is the man who must heed the
command, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind." How can you run
with endurance the race set before you if you do not "lay aside every
weight and the sin which does so easily beset you"? If entanglements
are to be avoided, the garments of the racer must be tightly gird about
him.

Moreover, the Christian is a warrior. How can he overcome his foe if he
has not put on his armor and is not well clad for the struggle! How
shall he fight while his movements are impeded by loose garments? You
know what the old soldier said to the Duke of Wellington when he was
asked whether he had been at Waterloo. He said that he had and then the
Duke enquired of him, "Suppose that battle had to be fought again, how
would you like to be dressed?" The man answered, "If I had to take part
in that fight again, I should like to be in my shirtsleeves." There was
great commonsense in that reply and it may teach us a useful lesson. A
Christian man does not fight well for his Master unless he gets, as it
were, into his shirtsleeves and takes off all his dignity and
everything which hinders him from rendering effective service and doing
the most he can do for Christ.

Beside being a pilgrim, a runner and a warrior, a Christian is a
laborer–he is called to work in his Master's vineyard. Now, if a man
does not gird up the loins of his mind, he will be a very poor laborer
and will show a very bad day's work when the sun goes down. So again I
say to you, dear Friends, pull yourselves together! With such holy work
to do, endeavor to do it at your very best.

Remember, also, the greatness of your task That should make you "gird
up the loins of your mind." The Christian life is no child's play. To
bear testimony for Christ is no trifle and if you wish to win souls, as
I hope you do, Brothers and Sisters, you cannot do it unless your
spirit is braced up to the very highest point by the Grace of God. Your
work is such as might have filled an angel's heart! And it did fill
your Savior's hands, so see to it that it is done in the best possible
style.

The next reason why you should "gird up the loins of your mind" is
because of the slenderness of your strength You have so little power
that you cannot afford to waste an ounce of it! If you are ever to
thresh the mountains, there must be no wasting or throwing away, even
inadvertently, of any of the little force which you have. If you would
be mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, you must
look well to your spiritual strength and never waste an atom ofit.

Besides that, remember the readiness of your foes. If they can trip you
up by laying hold upon a garment which is trailing behind you, they
will do so. If it is possible for you to be vanquished, you will be
vanquished, for you have enemies who watch you with eyes full of venom
and malice because you belong to Christ. Therefore, "gird up the loins
of your mind" and see that you put not any advantage in their way, or
they will be quick to avail themselves of it!

Remember, also, the misery you endure when you are not in a right
condition. If your minds are not girded up and you feel as I do, you
must be very wretched. Whenever I feel that I cannot pray as I wish, I
am very unhappy. When I come here and cannot join heartily in the
song–well, I have to groan in the chorus someway or other–but I am
not satisfied with doing that. When I feel at all wandering from God
and my heart is getting astray from Him, I am not happy, I cannot be!
Oh, no, blessed be God, when He made us the second time, He made us so
that we could not rest anywhere but in Himself. Even our first creation
necessitated our coming to God if we would be blessed, but our second
creation makes it even more so! If the Lord is with us, we are merry
all the day long and can praise and bless His holy name. There is no
fasting for us while the Bridegroom is with us! But if He is once
withdrawn, then shall the children, even of the bride chamber, fast.
You know that it is so. Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, do not be
content to be in this sad, loose, lax condition, but, "gird up the
loins of your mind." May the Lord, in His mercy, enable you to do so!

III. So I finish with just a few words upon the last question, which
is, HOW ARE WE TO DO THIS?

One way is, when you are out of sorts, and out of order, go and confess
it Go and tell the Lord all about it. Search and see how you got into
such a condition. Confess the sins that brought you into such a plight,
then hate them with a perfect hatred. Feel that you cannot continue to
live in such a state. Cry unto God, "O Lord, do not let me find any
kind of happiness until I have it from Your own right hand and, until I
am right with You, give me misery, brokenness of spirit and true godly
sorrow for sin!" That confession will naturally melt into prayer for
quickening. While you are mourning your misery, God will help you to
pray yourself out of it! Never listen to the voice of the tempter who
says, "Do not pray because you cannot pray," but say within yourself,
"Now I must pray more than ever. Now I will pray and, however poor and
broken my prayer may be, such as it is, it shall be presented to God."

Then, next, while you are on your knees, resolve with energy that the
evil shall not continue. To make your resolution effective, cry to Him
who first took you out of the horrible pit and out of the miry
clay–and set your feet upon a rock and established your goings–and
ask Him to do that over again in another sense. He will as readily lift
you up again as He did at the first. If you are willing to be
half-dead, you may be wholly dead before long. If you are willing to be
idle and sleepy, the spirit of slumber will steal over you just as if
all the drugs that poison men had been poured into your soul! If it has
been so with you to any degree, resolve, with hearty shamefacedness,
that it shall not be so any longer.

And then, to help you carry out this resolution, sit down and meditate
much upon the love of God to you–the eternal love, the boundless love,
the love that chose you, the love that bought you, the love that sought
you, the love that fought for you, the love that has worked in you all
the good things there are in you! And, as you meditate upon that
wondrous love of God, His Holy Spirit will work upon you. You will feel
your heart beginning to thaw and the streams commencing to flow as the
brooks do in the springtime when the icy grasp of winter has been
relaxed. Therefore, give your heart up to such meditations as are
likely to stir your spirit and to change its sad condition.

Then, also try to let your understanding be convinced concerning your
position and condition. Think much about what the Lord's requirements
really are. I like to see some passion in religion, but I am much more
fond of principle. A man may be moved to great zeal and earnestness at
certain revival meetings–and it is well if he has made the great
decision–but I am glad if another man has sat down by himself and has
calmly considered the whole question and, acting upon principle, has
yielded himself to the Savior. He knows what is true. He knows what he
is and where he is. He knows what God has done for him and what God
expects from him and, without any passion or excitement, he steadily
plods on and continues firmly confident in the Lord.

One translation of our text is, "Gird up the loins of your
understanding." Get your understanding tightly strapped up, for, in
proportion as you know the Truth of God, the Truth shall make you free.
When you can give to everyone who asks you for it, a reason for the
hope that is in you, it is better than when you simply say, "I believe
that I am saved because I am so happy," for, perhaps tomorrow you may
not be happy–and then you may fancy that you are not saved! That is
simply going by your feelings and is a most unsatisfactory method.
Rather say, "I understand, from the Scriptures, that the sinner is bid
to believe in Jesus. And when he does so, God, Himself, assures him
that he is saved." Let your religious convictions be founded on good
sound arguments! Get some "wherefores" and "therefores," so that you
may have something solid to stand upon. This is the meaning of the
words, "gird up the loins of your understanding."

I wish that all who profess to be converted knew what they were
converted from and what they were converted to– and what being
converted really means. I am afraid that a great many jump into what
they call religion and then jump out of it again. If they only act
according to the energy of the flesh, they will jump out of it before
long. He who is converted only by eloquence will be unconverted when
that eloquence is over. He who is converted merely by excitement is
likely to be unconverted when that excitement has died away. But he who
is taught of Godand knows the solid Doctrines of God upon which we are
grounded and settled, will steadfastly abide in the Truth of God.

I know that I have spoken all of this for nothing, so far as some of
you are concerned, because you have nothing for which to gird up your
mind and nothing with which to gird it. For you, as you now are, there
is no inheritance. For you there is no place of joy, no hope of peace.
O poor Soul, first remember that you must be born again, for it is no
use to gird up the natural man that is unsaved! It is the new man that
is to be gird about. Your first business is with God and with His
Christ, and with the eternal Spirit. The first necessity for you is to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to accept that Gospel which says,
"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." That being done,
then you have something to gird up! God grant it to every one of you,
for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–660, 632, 659.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 PETER 1:13-20.

Verse 13. Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope
to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ This is Peter's practical application of the
great Truths of which he had been writing. "Look ahead and expect great
things. Live in the future. Project your thoughts beyond the centuries
that are passing away into the ages which will never die."

14, 15. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to
the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He who has called you is
holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation. Remember that you
can never be really whole till you are holy, for holiness is spiritual
sanity–it is the caring of the mind and heart from the disease which
sin brought upon them.

16. Because it is written, Be you holy; for I am holy. Children of God,
be like your Father! Prove that you are His true children by
manifesting His Character. Let His lineaments be seen in your
countenance–"Be you holy; for I am holy." The Revised Version is, "You
shall be holy; for I am holy."

17. And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons
judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning
here in fear Be not presumptuous. Always remember that as there is a
God who is to judge every man, you are to be judged and oh, that you
might, through His Grace, be in such a condition of heart that you
shall stand the last test and be found to be full weight when you are
put into the balances of the sanctuary which God shall hold with
steadfast hands!

18. 19. Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. You have seen
the Character of your Father who is in Heaven. This should urge and
help you to be like He–holy. Now you see the Character of your
Redeemer, "a lamb without blemish and without spot." Let this influence
you to be holy, also.

20, 21. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in
God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. It is no use to place them anywhere
else! All other vessels are too frail to bear such a heavy burden, but,
if your faith and hope are in God, then you have a security which none
can destroy.

22-25. Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one
another fervently with a pure heart: being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives
and abides forever For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man
as the flower of grass. Thegrass withers and the flower thereoffalls
away: but the Word ofthe Lordendures forever. And this is the Word
which by the Gospel is preached unto you. Blessed be God for an
everlasting Gospel, founded on the Everlasting Covenant, which brings
with it everlasting life to all those who believe in Christ Jesus the
Lord!