1 Peter 1:13-25
Notes
Transcript
As we conclude chapter 1, we are still looking at this magnificent salvation that Jesus has blessed us with.
A brief recap
We have been born again
We have a living Hope
Jesus has been Resurrected
We have an imperishable inheritance
We have an undefiled inheritance
We have an inheritance that will not fade away
We have an inheritance reserved in heaven for us
We are protected by the power of God
And because we have so great a salvation there are duties that come along with it. Because you are saved...you will now act and behave a certain way.
Sometimes we confuse this and get it backwards...we try to act and behave a certain way in order to be saved...but that is impossible.
Our salvation is accomplished completely because of Gods work. Of Jesus’s work. We did nothing to accomplish our salvation. We are born again totally due to Christs efforts and not our own.
And once we accept this wonderful gift of salvation, it changes us.
We become grateful, we come humble, we begin to understand love...and how to love one another.
Once we accept this great gift of salvation, the Fruit of the Spirit begins to grow in our hearts.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness, self control.
Be Prepared
Be Prepared
Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The battleground of sin takes place in our minds.
Thoughts become actions.
Actions become habits.
Habits become lifestyles.
There is a connection here between our thoughts and the spirit.
'prepare your mind...be sober in spirit’
The a spirit of God is a vital element in the preparation of our minds.
Remember a week or so ago we spoke about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and how the relationship between our conscience and the Holy Spirit?
'Our conscience...is our knowledge. With knowledge. With the knowledge we possess our conscience mind can make decisions.
But the Holy Spirit is GODS KNOWLEDGE. So as we prepare our minds for actions...we have the benefit of the vastness of God’s knowledge to help guide those decisions. By the power of the Holy Spirit.
Fix your hope on the grace of Jesus Christ.
And what a difference this makes… what can harm me...I am forever in the hands of the omnipotent God.
What can discourage me because I am full of God’s courage.
I serve the same God that gave David courage to stand against Goliath.
I serve the same God that gave Daniel the courage to sleep soundly in the Lions Den.
Why should I lose hope, when I am filled with the hope of Him who defeated death, hell, and the grave. The one in whose hope is eternal.
Be Different
Be Different
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,
The reason we must prepare our minds is because the former lusts and sins have such a strong hold on us.
Some of these behaviors are so hard to break. So we must be different. We must think different. We must act different.
I have a saying, “I don’t expect unbelievers to act like believers.” When people find out I’m a pastor, they often apologize for their language.
And though I appreciate the respect, an apology is not necessary. Why? Because I don’t expect unbelievers to act like believers.
Believers on the other hand, we should expect them to be different. To act different, to talk different. to behave differently.
There are two words in this verse that are important… OBEDIENT and CONFORMED. Our obeidience to Christ will TRANSFORM us to HIS way.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Be Holy
Be Holy
but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Be Holy. Be Righteous. Follow God, Follow Jesus. Act like Jesus. Be like Jesus. Ash yourself these questions...What would Jesus Do? What Does JEsus expect of Me?
Holiness is not dabbling in sin.
Holiness is being set apart.
Having no hint of impropriety. No hint of transgression.
The verse says, be HOLY in ALL OF YOUR BEHAVIOR.
Not just Sunday morning.
This is hard. This is why the spirit and the flesh do battle. You are trying to be holy and your flesh is rebelling
All it knows is to do evil, to do wrong. There is this pull within us that naturally draws us to sin.
But the Spirit of God that lives within is constantly leading us towards God. And towards good decisions.
Be Fearful
Be Fearful
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;
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Conduct yourselves in Fear.
How blessed is the man who fears always,
But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
We should always have a healthly fear of God. Trying as we live to not offend God, trying to not grieve the Holy Spirit. Trying to please Him in all that we think, say, and do.
Why? Becasue we were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. He loved us enough to shed his blood for us so that we may live.
The fact that Jesus died for our sins is enough for us to live in fear, in awe, and in gratitude of Him.
Be Fervent
Be Fervent
For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you
who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,
for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
For,
“All flesh is like grass,
And all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
And the flower falls off,
But the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word which was preached to you.
The part of this verse I want to focus on is verse 22
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,
Love one another. Be ferevent in our love for one another. This is one of the greatest commandments. Love God, love one another.
Our salvation will cause us to:
Be prepared in our minds.
Be prepared for action.
Be sober in Spirit.
Be fixed in our hope.
Be different.
Be transformed.
Be holy.
Be fearful.
Be fervent.
