1 Peter #5
The Book of 1 Peter • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Connection:
Preparation is Necessary for Effective Warfare. During WW2 Winston Churchill had a massive underground war room constructed for planning, deliberation, confrontation, and advancement. It was here that people stayed day by day and night by night. I’m sure much of the victory of WW2 found its cause in this War Room. When war comes—preparation is necessary for Effective Warfare:
Theme
Exiles in War
Need
We need motivation for our holy living as we march on in the war against sin and in the war to win souls for Christ.
Purpose
To establish the identity of the church as loved and exiled Gospel people; to exhort the church to put to death sin in the war within us; and to propel the saints into holy living before the unbelieving world.
Read Text:
1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV
PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY
(1) God’s Beloved Exiles must Wage War against our Sin - v. 11
(1) God’s Beloved Exiles must Wage War against our Sin - v. 11
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Peter’s first word is: Beloved!
As is usual in the NT, exhortations of obedience for the people of God are grounded in the saving love of God for his people. “We love, because he first loved us”. Do you want to find reason and motivation to love God, follow Jesus, and walk in the Spirit? Then you must gaze upon, drink deeply from, and meditate on the electing love of God our Father, of God the Son, and of God the Spirit. Notice that elsewhere Paul says: “the love of Christ controls us—constrains us” (2 Cor. 5:14).
What controls us? What constrains us? What empowers us? Our love for God? Our holiness? Our obedience? No. God’s love to us, God’s gift to us, God’s grace for us. This is what puts flight to our love and our obedience—the very thing that Peter has been nailing home in the first 2 chapters—you, dear Christian, are eternally and unconditionally loved and elected and chosen by the Father—it’s not a conditional love, it’s not a weak love, it’s not a begrudging affection—it’s an eternal, unconditional, infinite, deep, joyful, and affectionate embrace of your very own soul in Christ Jesus our Lord. By grace alone.
Peter says to the church, the people of God—you are beloved by the Trinity—you are the recipients of God the Father, Son, and Spirit’s eternal and unchanging love and affection—not because of anything in you, but because God chose to lavish his goodness, mercy, grace, and salvation upon you—to make you a vessel of mercy—to make you a child of God—to forgive you of all of your sins—to clothe you in Christ’s righteousness—to sanctify you—to empower you—and to bring you to our everlasting inheritance as coheirs with Christ. Wow. Glory to God! This God chose us, caused us to be born again, empowers us in holiness, guards us through faith, and has engrafted us into the people of God. All of that is contained in the small word: Beloved. This is a saving love—and it is yours in Christ. Oh trust in his saving love—lean upon Him with all our strength—rely upon Him for salvation and life eternal—reconciliation to God, peace with God, and adoption into the family of God. This is the power of the saving love of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Thus, with the love of God as the foundation, building upon his precious promises of the Gospel that were given in the first two chapters, with our identity as the true Israel of God—Peter now shifts direction and exhorts us to live accordingly.
He says: I urge you as sojourners and exiles.
Peter says: because God has set his saving love on you and set you apart in Christ—because he has ransomed you, given you the Spirit of Holiness, given you a new identity, a new inheritance, a new citizenship, a new homeland, a new covenant, and a new status—because of this, you are sojourners and exiles! He opened the letter by addressing us as elect exiles, and here he hammers the point home again by saying we are sojourners and exiles. Why? Because we are no longer people of this world—this is not our home—our citizenship is in heaven, with Christ, in the Heavenly Zion, the City of God, the New Jerusalem, the New Creation—this is our everlasting inheritance—the heavenly Canaan.
Because of this we are sojourners—we are travelling pilgrims in a foreign land. Because of this we are exiles—we are away from our homeland. This is not to be taken literally and physically—but metaphorically and spiritually. Because we are made the people of God through faith in Jesus—our physical homeland is no longer our ultimate homeland! Our culture is no longer our be all or end all. Our country is no longer our ultimate allegiance. We are made pilgrims, exiles, sojourners, strangers, aliens, as people of the new country, new city, new covenant, new Israel, new creation, new Jerusalem—everything in this present evil age is fading away—our home is in the Kingdom of Christ and of God which is not of this world. Believing Jews and Gentiles alike—our inheritance is nowhere to be found in this physical world—our inheritance is in heaven, which is kept for you, by the sovereign grace of God.
Now this doesn’t mean that we are monks—it doesn’t means that we are escapists—it doesn’t mean that we abandon all engagement with our culture—it doesn’t mean that we don’t care for the welfare of our city;
it just means that none of these things are ultimate—it just means that none of these things are eternal—it just means that everything else gets subjected to the eternal Kingdom and Dwelling Place of God with Man, the City of God. In verse 12 Peter is going to tell us how to live in this fallen world as Exiles—but here he wants to make sure that we actually know and believe that we are Exiles.
But he continues: he says that we are to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
What is evidence that we are no longer of this world? That we start to hate the very things of this evil world—that we start to hate the very things of our own evil hearts—do you feel that hatred this morning? Do you bewail the evil that dwells within? I do.
The Scriptures speak of this age and the age to come; the age dominated by the sinful flesh, the old man, and the age dominated by the righteous Spirit, the new man—the present age is marked by wickedness—the age to come is marked by righteousness—the city of man is the domain of darkness—the city of God is the kingdom of the beloved Son—the world are children of darkness—the saints are children of light.
Do you see the contrast here? When we are saved we are given the identity of the age to come, the Spirit, the new man, righteousness, the kingdom of Christ, children of light. The powers of the age to come, says the book of Hebrews, are infiltrating into this present age through Christ who is the firstfruits of the new creation! Thus, as God’s born again people, as new creations in Christ, we are to live as people of the new creation—fighting against the old sinful nature, our flesh, the passions of our flesh, which constantly weigh us down and tempt us to sin and rebellion, to indifference and dullness, to self-love and self-pride.
Peter says: this is what it means to live holy lives as God’s holy people—it means to abstain from sin, to put our sin to death, and to walk in newness of life—it means to abstain from our sinful passions and to be consumed with life in the Spirit, love for God and Christ, and devotion to the living Word.
What do we need to abstain from? What are the passions of the flesh that keep us from living in holiness and delighting in our Triune God? Here is a list of some of those sins of the flesh, those passions of the flesh, and then we are going to address how to prepare to fight against them in this holy warfare:
Adultery, sinful anger, arrogance, bitterness, blasphemy, sinful boasting, brutality, complaining, conceit, coveting, cowardice, deceit, divisions, sinful divorce, drunkeness, enmity, envy, sinful fear and anxiety, foolishness, filthiness, fornication or sexual immorality, greed, lust of the flesh, idolatry, impurity, jealousy, sinful judgment, lovers of self, living for sinful pleasure, murder, pride, quarrels, reviling, sensuality, slander, sorcery, stealing, strife, sinful swearing, unbelief, ungratefulness, unrighteousness, lack of love, desire, delight, and devotion to God—the passions of the flesh are anything that is less than loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength—and loving your neighbour as yourself. Anything less than personal, perpetual, and perfect love—these are the passions of the flesh, of the old man, of the sinful nature.
And Peter says: these wage war against your soul. Our greatest enemy is ourselves! As brother Dave Moore says—the devil doesn’t need to bring in outsiders—there is enough power within the church to do his own work, as we indulge in the sinful passions of our own flesh.
They wage war against our souls—they fire at us, they bomb us, they attack us, they destroy us, they degrade us, they ruin us, they demolish our joy, peace, holiness, happiness, satisfaction, assurance, well-being, and usefulness for God. The greatest war of the believer is the internal war against his own sin. The greatest reason for unfruitfulness in life and ministry is a slothfulness in abstaining from, and killing our sin. The greatest reason for the lack of growth and advancement of the kingdom of Christ is the lack of seriousness about putting to death the deeds of the flesh. The greatest reason why we lack the joy of the Spirit, is because we don’t live in the Spirit. Oh God help us! Oh may the Lord give us the grace we need to be serious about destroying our own sin—that we might enjoy God as our Supreme Delight and Pleasure, as our Chief Good, as our Triune God.
Peter says we are in a war, we are exiles in war, so friends—how do we fight in this war, how do we prepare for battle, how do we slay the enemies, how do we yield our weapons—how do we abstain from such sinful passions?
Here are 10 parts necessary for our preparation for war—that we might be valiant warriors against our sin for the glory of Christ our Captain:
(1) Study the Attributes and Glory of our Triune God in Scripture:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
(2) Study the Depravity of Man and the Ugliness of Sin in Scripture:
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
(3) Confess the Specific Sin in our Lives:
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
(4) Repent and Hate the Sin of our Hearts:
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
(5) Trust in the Mercy of Christ Crucified:
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
(6) Fill your Mind and Heart with the Sword of the Spirit:
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
(7) Pray for the Power and Presence of the Spirit:
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
(8) Lock arms with other Soldiers in fellowship and battle:
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
(9) Lean upon your Sargents and Elders:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
(10) Strive with all your Soul to fight the Good Fight:
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
10 Points of Preparation for Effective Warfare against the Sinful Passions of our Flesh—so the question remains for us all this morning—will we be a community who lives these out? Will we be a faithful church of Jesus Christ who seeks to be fervent, serious, and joyful in our pursuit of holiness? Why? Because of the eternal redemption and sufficient grace that God has given us in Jesus Christ—because of all that He has done for us, we are obligated, and privileged, to be able by the Spirit to walk in obedience, to follow Jesus, to live for the glory of our God and Father!
And as we do so, as we pursue God—we enjoy God, commune with God, fellowship with his people, walk in the light, and find a deep-spiritual satisfaction and contentment in Christ and the Gospel and the joy of holiness. True happiness is found in true holiness. JC Ryle says: sin is the mother of misery, holiness is the mother of happiness! AW Pink says:
“Communion with Christ is the blessed goal towards which union with Christ leads: that the Lord’s people may have personal, conscious, intimate, joyous communion with Him who loved them and gave Himself for them—an experience beginning in this life, and continuing throughout the ages of eternity. The grand end of our vital, saving, and practical union with Christ is to bring us into experiential communion with Him: that we may drink into His Spirit, have His mind, share His joy. This consists of knowing, loving, enjoying Christ with plain, practical, and personal dealings with Him. A deeper and fuller knowledge of Christ will increase our confidence and joy in Him.”
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
As God’s elect people, as God’s sojourners and exiles, as the people of Christ—Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, urges us, exhorts us, and commands us to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against our souls. Dr. Schreiner says:
Such desires must be resisted and conquered, and the image used implies that this is no easy matter. The Christian life is certainly not depicted as passive in which believers simply “let go and let God.”
May God give us grace to live out this Word of God together as his holy people—actively striving after greater levels of holiness, with greater joys in the Spirit, out of gratitude for the infinite grace of God in Jesus Christ our Messiah.
(1) God’s Beloved Exiles must Wage War against our Sin - v. 11
This leads us to our second point:
(2) God’s Beloved Exiles must Walk Well before the World -v. 12
(2) God’s Beloved Exiles must Walk Well before the World -v. 12
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
If verse 11 seemed to give off monkish, hide away in a corner, stay out of the world kind of lifestyle; verse 12 comes in full force and reminds us that the lives of faithful exiles is not escaping or retreating from the world’s culture—rather—it is living in the world, while not being of the world—it is being a faithful presence and witness for the City of God as we pass through the City of Man. We must not be like the world in it’s sinful passions—but we must let our light shine in the world. There is a holy separateness to our lives; and a holy engagement to our lives. Walker says:
“As disciples of Christ, as fellow pilgrims, they are—in the little used phrase employed of God’s people before they came to be known as Christians—followers of the Way, with its delightful echoes of the pilgrim path. We must get hold of the fact that we are followers of the Way, strangers on the earth, strangers and pilgrims who desire a better—that is, a heavenly—country, and that this Scripture-directed, Spirit-enabled combination of holy separation and holy engagement is the biblical norm.”
As we pass through this fallen world, looking forward to the new world—we are called to: keep our conduct among the Gentiles honourable.
We aren’t called to just live holy lives within the covenant community—we are also called to live holy lives before the pagan world. Because the church is the true Israel of God composed of physical Jews and Gentiles who are made spiritual children of Abraham by faith in Jesus, and are engrafted into the people of God—even though they are physical Gentiles, they are no longer marked by their identity as Gentiles, but are marked by their identity as the beloved people of God. Thus the church, the Israel of God, must not live like Gentiles (according to our old nature), but must live as true Jews in this fallen world (according to our new nature).
The word that Peter uses here to describe the conduct of believers among the Gentile and Pagan world could literally be translated as beautiful. Thus Peter is calling us to live holy and beautiful lives before the pagans around us. We are called to be Spirit-filled, because it is the Spirit of God who beautifies the temple of God—and we are the temple of God—so in order to live morally beautiful and excellent lives before the pagan world we need the beauty of the Spirit to adorn our hearts, so that our lives can adorn the Gospel. One pastor writes:
God calls us to be his people in the society in which we live. He wants us to be living testimonies of his love and mercy toward sinners because through our lives he calls others to himself. Our conduct and confession, then, ought never to be stumbling blocks for our unbelieving neighbors. “Live such good lives.” Our lifestyle should be distinctively Christian so that it serves to encourage others to follow our example. The word good occurs twice in this verse: “good lives” and “good deeds.” It denotes that which is praiseworthy, noble, and morally good in the sight of our fellow man: “Among the pagans.” Christians are living in glass houses; they are on display. Their conduct, deeds, and words are evaluated constantly by non-Christians who want to see if Christians indeed live up to what they profess.
Are we living up to what we profess? Jesus told us to be faithful witnesses in this world in the Sermon on the Mount. He says: Matt. 5:12-16
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
This is exactly what Peter is thinking of here.
Peter doesn’t just say to live beautifully before the pagan world, but he says to do this so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
The idea here is that our lives, our conduct, our conversation, our holiness, our love—that all of this will actually anger the world of darkness, the world of sin, who scoff at the light, who like bats scream and squeal when the light shines in their dark room. Our lives are going to bring opposition, going to bring persecution, going to bring opposition—for righteousness sake—but Peter says, even when these people are scoffing at us and calling us wicked evildoers—that they might see the beauty of our holiness, the loveliness of our good deeds, and glorify God for our faithful witness when they glorify God on the day of their visitation, on the day when God comes to save them in saving grace, when he visits them with mercy from on high. Our holy lives should be purposed toward winning souls—so that when they are won to Christ, when the Spirit visits them with regeneration, being born again to a lively hope, that they would praise God for our part in their conversion, for our witness of Christ and his Ways to their souls, for our beautiful adornment of the Path of Life. Matthew Poole says that unbelievers should be able to
acknowledge the grace of God in you, and more readily subject themselves to Christ; [for it is the usual way] with God to [prepare hearts] for conversion by the holy conversation of saints.
Can we say that honestly about ourselves—are we living morally beautiful lives of holiness and joy—so that our witness to Jesus might be used by God to bring sinners to Jesus. Is that true of us? I hope so—and I pray that it would be increasingly more so for the days ahead.
What a joy it is to know that we had the privilege of being used by God to bring sinners to Christ—being used by God to save his elect people—being used by God to gather in the sheep that are not of this fold—being used by God as a faithful witness to the Gospel in word and deed. To be able to say on that last day—Lord here I am and the souls that you graciously decided to save through my feeble lips and life as I proclaimed the Gospel and lived out it’s power in my life—as I shared the message of salvation by the life, death, and resurrection of your eternal Son, and as I lived in the power of your eternal Spirit. Yet not I, but Christ through me—yet not I, but the Spirit through me—yet not I, buy your love perfected in me.
To be able to say with the prophet Isaiah about ourselves: Isa. 52:7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
Soli Deo Gloria! All the glory goes to God! Any sinner who is saved is saved by sovereign grace—but every sinner who is saved heard of that sovereign grace from a child of the King. Oh that God would use us, that He would be pleased to save sinners through our ministry—that he would delight to add a great number to our flock. That we would see the Spirit of God poured out upon this barren land, upon these dry and dead bones—that a great multitude of men and women in Kingston would come to Jesus! That we would desire to see fruitful ministry, fruitful lives, fruitful salvation in our midst. That we would weep over the lost sheep of Kingston—and that we would plead with them to be reconciled to God—with the prayer that God would save a great multitude (Rev. 7:9)—knowing that He has promised to build his church, save the lost; all those who are appointed to eternal life.
Calvary—do you want to see that? Do you want to see revival? Do you want to see a mighty movement of God?
Then let’s get on our knees—fight against our sin—renew our repentance and faith—rest in the mercy of Jesus—live as faithful lights in this dark world—spread the Gospel with our neighbours—and beg God that He would use us for the advancement of His Kingdom through his Church.
We are in a battle for souls—a spiritual war—against our sin, and for the salvation of many sinners around us. As God’s beloved exiles we must pray for his divine guidance, blessings, mercy, strength, grace, and power to be his faithful witnesses in this present evil age.
(2) God’s Beloved Exiles must Walk Well before the World -v. 12
This takes us to our conclusion:
(C) God’s Beloved Exiles must Wage the War, Walk the Talk, and Win the World.
(C) God’s Beloved Exiles must Wage the War, Walk the Talk, and Win the World.
Jeremy Walker says:
“With the Word of God as our map and the Spirit of Christ as our compass, we are equipped to navigate this world, to make our way in the world so as to bring honor and glory to God. By means of the Scriptures and with the light of the Spirit we can establish and embrace our identity and direct and pursue our activity to the praise of the glory of our God and Saviour”.
Remember beloved—the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit for our Spiritual Warfare! Preparation is Necessary for Effective Warfare—thus—let’s spend much time in the Word, in the Spirit, that our double-edged blade might be used well against our sin, in our lives, and for the salvation of the lost. As an old hymn writer put it:
*READ HYMN #305*
Gird up your loins! Fasten your belt! Put on the armour of God! And let’s pray for the guidance and blessing of Jehovah! Yahweh! Our Triune God of bountiful grace and salvation. Take us Lord—here we are: let us shine the light and love of Christ in the beauty of holiness as He feeds us by His heavenly manna while we travel our pilgrimage to the City of God.
(C) God’s Beloved Exiles must Wage the War, Walk the Talk, and Win the World.
(C) God’s Beloved Exiles must Wage the War, Walk the Talk, and Win the World.
Amen, let’s pray.