Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

I want to start out this morning with just a brief review of what we looked at last time… I want to do that for 2 reasons…

1. It’s been about 4 weeks since we’ve looked at it… and...

2. Our message today, ties right into it.

Review:

Last time we looked at how we are to “Work out our Salvation”.

1 Peter 1:13 says “13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”

Peter said to “Gird up the loins of your mind”… he is saying to "get ready for battle".

Satan and his demons would love to take control of your mind in any way that they can and so, it is imperative that we prepare our minds by filling them with the things that are pleasing to the Lord.

We looked at how we are to be obedient…

1 Peter 1:14 “14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;”

As Christians we are the CHILDREN OF GOD!

We are to live as obedient children.

We do this by Obeying God's commands, Looking to Him for guidance and direction, Submitting to His will and Having confidence in Him at all times.

We are also to be Holy…

1 Peter 1:15-16 “15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.””

I told you that...

It is not necessary to be Holy in order to receive salvation… But, once we have received the gift of salvation… Holiness should be our goal.

Which in reality, is a life long process.

If you weren’t here 4 weeks ago, you just got a 40 minute sermon condensed down into about 3 minutes.

But what is our motivation for working out our salvation?…

What is our motivation for living out what we say we believe??

Peter deals with this question.

After giving lesser, but practical motivations for our obedience, he turns our attention toward the wonders of redemption as our primary motivation.

Our obedience in the Christian life is not best motivated by the holiness of God, nor from our fear of Him (although these things are present and right), but it is best motivated by gratitude for what He has done in redemption.

Let’s look at 1 Peter 1:17-21 Together…

Meat:

As we dive into this passage… We will see four aspects of redemption that should make it the ultimate motivating factor to live out what we say we believe.

I like the way that the NASB words v.17… it says… “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;”

John MacArthur paraphrases it this way… “The believer (Christian) who knows God and that He judges the works of all His children fairly will respect God and His evaluation of his life, and long to honor his heavenly Father.”

Why should we long to respect and honor our Heavenly Father???

Because of the redemption that He has provided for us through His Son, Our Living Hope, Jesus Christ…

The word redemption means:

Redemption: “The release of people, animals, or property from bondage through the payment of a price.”

With that in mind… the first thing that I want you to see… is that we have been…

Aspects of Redemption:

1. Redeemed From Futility

1 Peter 1:18 “18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct (Your Futile way of life) received (or inherited) by tradition from your fathers,”

Peter reminds these suffering Christians that they have been purchased out of their former lives.

These former lives he describes as aimless, futile, having no purpose, literally calling their former lives, “Useless”...

Futility here is talking about…

1.1 Worthless Traditions

Useless, pagan, religious traditions that they recieved (or inherited) from their fathers…

The Apostle Paul gives us an illustration of what these “Traditions” consisted of…

In essence, they are saying that we are going to make our own way to Heaven, by devising and believing our own philosophies about ourselves, about our universe and about God… and from that mindset, came these worthless traditions…

There are still worthless traditions today…

Hindu’s and Buddhist offer food to their idols on a daily basis, thinking this will help them gain more favor in the afterlife.

Muslims that make a pilgrimage to Mecca, thinking this will help them gain more favor in the afterlife.

People that think they are getting into heaven because they regularly attend church, or have been baptized… (Which are two wonderful things to do, but they don’t get you into heaven)…

Unbelievers come up with some great ways to get to heaven.

Morality, spirituality, goodness, charity, love for others, religious compliance and various other things ease the conscience of men, but not the wrath of God.

Most of these “traditions”, we have learned from our parents, directly or indirectly.

But the truth is… We are all born in sin, we are enslaved to that sin… We need someone to redeem us… We need someone to free us from the bondage of sin...

We all lack the righteousness required as payment and can in no way purchase our own freedom… …

We live in obedience because Jesus has delivered us from past sins, He has delivered us from bondage to sin, He has delivered us from worthless traditions, and He has delivered us from useless religious practices.

Secondly… we are

2. Redeemed By Blood

1 Peter 1:18-19 “18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

The purchase price for your redemption was the blood of Christ… Blood…

2.1 Represents Death

… Which was always the price for sin… After Adam and Eve sinned, God had to shed the blood of an animal in order to cover their sin and to cover their naked bodies.

From then on, animals were to be sacrificed as sin offerings.

The Messiah was presented as an innocent Lamb in Isaiah 53.

John the Baptist, when He saw Jesus, said “Behold the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world”, and in the Book of Revelation, we see the Redeemed and the Angels saying, to Christ, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain...”

Christ shed His blood to pay the price of our sin.

Christ shed his blood to redeem us from our bondage…

And His blood was…

2.2 Precious

The Greek word translated as “precious” means that it was costly, highly valued, and honored.

The blood of Christ was precious because of its perfection—spotless, sinless, internal and external divine perfection embodied in flesh…

Christ’s blood was indescribably more precious than that of any other animal that was used for a sacrifice…

I want to make it clear that no animal sacrifices ever purchased “eternal redemption.”

Their blood could only “cover” sin until the time when Christ’s blood would “take our sins away” (John 1:29)… and that is why His Blood is so Precious!

We live in obedience because we have been purchased by the precious, priceless blood of Christ.

God spared no expense to acquire us as family.

He gave for us the most valuable thing ever, Himself, in the form of his Son.

2 Cor 5:15 tells us that...

We are to die to self, take up the cross, and become living sacrifices, because the price paid for us was so high, so valuable, and so costly.

Which brings us to our third aspect… We are…

3. Redeemed By Christ

1 Peter 1:19-20 “19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you”

Our redemption is by Christ and Christ alone, and it is a major part of…

3.1 God’s Plan for the World

That’s why Peter says “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world,… ”

This was not some haphazard event that just happened… Popular opinion had turned against Jesus, and the majority consented to His death, but that was not the reason He died.

Jesus died on the cross, providing redemption for sin, according to the foreordained plan of God before this world was ever created.

Before Adam ever breathed life and fell into sin, God had a plan for the redemption of mankind.

The Godhead knew before they ever created this world and all that inhabits it, that Jesus would come to die for our sin!

We live in obedience because Christ was the only One that could pay the price for our redemption and He willingly paid that price,… by dying on the cross, being buried and rising again the third day…

We do not have a weak, dead, sinful, impotent, temporary Savior.

We have the sovereign, eternal, resurrected, living, perfect, holy, high priest, and divine Master—Jesus Christ.

“I serve a risen Saviour, He's in the world today

I know that He is living, whatever men may say

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer

And just the time I need Him He's always near

He lives!

He lives!

Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me