1 Peter 5:12-14 Standing Firm in the Gospel

What does the term gospel-centered actually mean? Its popular vernacular amongst church life, but has it become so common that we say it without understanding what it actually is? We want to have gospel-centered preaching. Gospel-centered churches. Gospel-centered worship, discipleship, small groups, you name it.

Listen, I’m not knocking the term. We use it here at Metro. I want us to be centered on the gospel in everything we do. What I want to look at today is what it actually means to live a gospel-centered life. I want to look at our lives, and practically explain to you how to actually live a life that is founded upon the gospel.

We could spend multiple sermons on what it means to be gospel-centered in our church towards one another remembering that we can love and serve one another sacrificially just like Jesus did for us when he came to die on the cross. In studying 1 Peter, we have talked about how the gospel is to be foundational in how we interact with the world and the lost especially when they persecute us by looking to Jesus as our example and showing grace when persecuted just like God showed grace to us.

But as we close out 1 Peter today, I want to focus on what it means to live a gospel-centered life in our personal lives because as we each grow in Christ, we are able to encourage each other and disciple one another so that we are built into a spiritual house like Peter talked about in chapter 2 and by doing so, we bear a faithful witness to the gospel as we show the world that Jesus really does change lives in our church.

Foundational to reaching the lost with the gospel is first being transformed by the gospel to be more like Jesus Christ, and this is a summary of the entire book of 1 Peter.

12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

In verse 12, Peter summarizes the purpose of his entire book. He says I wanted to do 2 things:

12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

I wanted to exhort you

Urge strongly or encourage

Declare

Bear witness or to affirm the validity of something

So what Peter is saying is that I wrote this to urge you and bear witness to the true grace of God. In other words, the gospel. And here is what Peter says, because of I’ve done this, because I’ve reminded you about the gospel, I want you to stand firm in it. To stand fast. To be cemented in it. To live your whole life in light of it. In other words, to be gospel-centered.

So, if this was Peter’s purpose in writing this whole letter, how do you and I stand firm in the gospel?

The Gospel in our Justification

Commonly when we think about living a gospel centered life, we rightly start with our justification. Justification means that we are declared to be righteous through the incarnation, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You see, the Bible says all of us have sinned.

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Sin is a departure from God’s holy standard

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Commission/Omission

Effectively, in our sin, we don’t want to listen to God who made us to live for his worship and praise. We say, no God. My ultimate purpose is not loving you, knowing you, living for you. I’m going to live life my way how I see fit.

When we separate ourselves from God who is the source of all life as the Creator of all things, the Bible says that we die.

When we separate ourselves from God who is the source of all life as the Creator of all things, the Bible says t

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When the Bible says that it is not just physical death. Physical death is certainly a part of the curse that we have invited into creation because of our sin, but the Bible also has in view spiritual death.

Spiritual death is alienation from God. Because God is perfectly Holy and abhors all sin and wickedness, in our sin we become abhorrent to him. We are vile, disgusting, treasonous usurpers.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Because of sin, all people are spiritually dead and all who physically die while spiritually dead will spend eternity separated from God, suffering for their sins under his wrath.

This is what we call hell which is eternal conscious torment. And we might say, that doesn’t sound like a very loving God. Why in the world would I want to worship someone like that? However, for us to throw that accusation at God is to so demean his holiness that he is really no God at all.

In truth, it is a wonder that God saves any of us. That is how holy and pure God is. He cannot stand the presence of sin and yet, goes on to say 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Instead of all people receiving the due penalty for their sin, God gave his own Son in order to save his enemies and give them life and relationship with him once again.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Our God is holy, but he is also merciful. Peter said that according to God’s great mercy he has caused us to be born again. Through Jesus resurrection, we die with Christ on the cross, the full penalty of our sin is paid and God pour out his wrath against us on God the Son in our place so that we might be declared righteous in Christ.

Because of this grace, one day we will live with Christ in heaven. That is why Peter said we have an inheritance kept for us. We do not suffer the second death of eternal punishment, instead we are given eternal life to live with our holy God who has cleansed us from all sin!

Unfortunately, for many Christians this is as far as the gospel takes them in their salvation. However, our Justification, being declared righteous because Jesus lived the life we could not live and dying the death each one of us deserved to die, is only one aspect of our salvation. In truth, our salvation consists of 3 parts.

Justification

This is where we are born again. Christ gives us a new heart, fills us with the Holy Spirit and we are adopted as sons and daughters of God.

From enemies to family. What amazing grace our God has shown us.

Glorification

This is where we are given our new, resurrected bodies, sin is finally and fully put to death in our lives and we live for eternity with God in heaven worshiping and praising him.

Thes

This is usually where most Christians understanding of the gospel stops.

This is usually where most Christians understanding of the gospel stops. We usually understand the gospel to be thing thing that makes us born again so that one day we get to go to heaven.

This is usually where most Christians understanding of the gospel stops.

But in between your new birth and your entrance into heaven there is your life here and now.

This is usually where most Christians understanding of the gospel stops.

This is what we call Sanctification

This is where you progressively, key word, put sin to death in your life to be conformed to the image of Christ who revealed in his incarnation what true humanity is in worshiping God perfectly.

Here’s the problem though. Many Christians will leave the gospel behind thinking that there is some other means by which they are meant to put sin to death and grow in holiness.

They say to themselves, “Ok. Now its on me. Because I’ve been saved through the gospel, I need to make sure that I obey. I need to make sure that, not matter what, I’m faithful to Christ.”

This is a good thing. The problem is that Christians try to live this life in their own power.

When Peter says, listen, this is the gospel, stand firm in it, He is wanting us to remember that the very gospel that justified us is the same gospel that will sanctify us.

This is why we constantly say that you will never graduate from the gospel. You will never come to a point in your Christian life where you leave behind the gospel and grow in Christ through some other means.

Your Christian life, from your new birth to your glorification is rooted in the grace of God.

If we go back to Peter’s wonderful proclamation of the gospel he follows it with verse 5 where he says, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

It is God’s power that keeps us in Christ. It is by God’s power that we grow to be more like Jesus in our sanctification. And it is specifically through faith in Jesus and his salvation, in other words the gospel, that we will grow in holiness.

The question then is how, How do we stand firm in the gospel?

The Gospel in Our Sanctification

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy

When we speak of our sanctification we are talking about our personal holiness. Holiness is a crucial part of Christian discipleship, or following Christ, but so few Christians pursue holiness because it gets labeled as legalism.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Here is the key difference. Legalism says that we must be holy so that God will accept us. The gospel says that we must be holy because God has accepted us. It is an outflow of our adoption. After all, shouldn’t we look like our father?

Jesus himself said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. What this means is that your obedience to God’s will is meant to be an outflow of your love for Christ, not a means to get God to love you.

This is where we begin to shed light on what it actually means to live a gospel centered life. In other words, how does the gospel actually empower our obedience to the Scriptures so that we might live a life of holiness in thankfulness for God declaring us to be his holy people.

For you note takers, I think this looks like four steps in our sanctification and the gospel is the driving force of each one. Now, when I say steps, these are not steps like a series of check boxes. Its not like you say, Ok, I did that what’s next? Instead, each of these areas of our discipleship should be constantly present in our lives as the Holy Spirit reveals sin to free us from.

1. Crucify the Old Self

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The gospel shows us that, objectively, when you put your faith in Christ you died. That is how your sin is paid for because Christ pays the wages of sin for you. The reason why so many Christians struggle with besetting sin is that they still live as if they did not die to their sin in Christ.

Let me ask you this way. Is your sin still an option to you? If you have truly died with Christ, then for Paul the answer is an emphatic no because “One who has died has been set free from sin.”

Many of us simply get comfortable with our sin. We are lulled to sleep not seeing it for the danger that it is. It all leads to death, and yet we are content to live in such a way that we think, surely this small amount of death will not hurt me. I’m not talking about perfection. No one will live a perfect sinless life this side of heaven. What I’m trying to get you to ask yourself is what sin have you grown complacent to in your life? What sin is now acceptable because its not that bad? What sin have you not died to yet?

When we continue to live in sin, we are effectively saying that our life is still ours to live. We forget that our life is not our own, but was bought with the precious blood of Christ.

When you were saved, did you really die that day? Did you hear Christ’s call to come and die so that you may live and die to yourself to say that your whole life is now his to glorify his name? Have you, because of the grace given to you, determined that that sin is no longer an option to be a part of your life where you say, That sin, that way of life, is not something I want. It is dead to be because my old self was crucified in Christ and I have been given new life? To live with the faith of Paul who said 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Through the gospel we have died to sin. But when we do sin, our first response must be confession.

2. Confess Our Sin

As simply as I can put it, confession is agreeing with God about our sin.

There are 2 errors common when it comes to confession.

Beating ourselves up.

We inflict a form of self punishment where we believe, if only I can make myself feel bad enough or guilty enough for my sin then God will accept me.

This is nothing more than self justification. It is a failure to believe that through the gospel, God has already accepted you. You are trying to justify yourself before God by saying, God, look how bad I feel. Will you accept me? When God says that you are already holy because of Christ and that sin was forgiven.

Ignore our sin and fail to confess.

What we talked about earlier where we don’t see our sin like God sees it. We look at the holiness of God and the great lengths God went to pay for our sins in the incarnation, death, burial and resurrection of Christ and we say, “Yea, but this one isn’t that bad.”

Why is confession necessary? If God has forgiven our sins in Christ, why are we called to confess?

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

We are called to confess because through it we acknowledge God’s holiness and what he has done to save us in Christ. Confession is for our benefit to see our sin for what it is. Pure, heinous evil. In confessing, we allow ourselves to see how our lives aren’t in line with who God has declared us to be in Christ and we invite others to help us and encourage us to put sin to death so that our lives might reflect who Jesus is to the world through our holiness.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Don’t miss the beauty of what God does in our confession, because even in confessing sin, we proclaim the gospel.

John says that God is faithful to forgive us. In other words he will surely forgive us because we are his children through Jesus’ atoning work.

Not only is God faithful to forgive us, he is also just to. In other words it is right for God to forgive us. Why? Because all of our sins were paid for in Christ.

This is why confession is to be a normal part of the Christian life. through it we are reminded of the amazing grace God has given us to forgive us in the first place because he did so freely knowing every sin we would ever commit. As Paul said in 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,

5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,

Sadly, many Christians stop here. They’ve been taught to confess their sin, but then they become discouraged when nothing actually changes. Maybe the Spirit isn’t has powerful as he says he is. Maybe God doesn’t love me as much as he says he does because he is not freeing me from this sin. The continue to fall into the same sins because while they have seen, through the Spirit’s conviction, their sin, they never address the heart behind the sin in repentance.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

3. Repent of Our Sin

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

According to Paul, there are two kinds of grief we experience in the face of our sin. Worldly grief and godly grief.

Worldly grief is really just hating the consequences of our sin. We don’t like how it makes us feel, what it does to our relationships so we say we are sorry and swear we will never to it again, yet have an unchanged heart.

Godly grief is one that hates the sin itself because it was committed against a loving and holy God who redeemed us from that sin in the gospel.

Godly grief is one that hates the sin itself because it was committed against a loving and holy God who redeemed us from that sin through the gospel.

When we feel godly grief over our sin, this should drive us to Repentance.

Repentance is a change in mind that leads to a change in life.

It is an affirmation of two truths of the gospel.

It is an affirmation

You are dead to your sin and free from it in Christ.

Sin really is evil and as God’s children we are called to put away the practices of our old self and put on Christ.

Think about repentance this way, it is merely living out your confession of your sin.

When you confess, you are acknowledging that God has saved you from that sin and in your repentance you actually live in that truth.

“But what does that mean? I feel like I hate my sin. I know its not meant to be part of my life but I constantly find myself going back to it. I try to repent but it just doesn’t feel like my repentance sticks.”

True repentance is possible by the Spirit’s power when we see our sin as the fruit of our idolatry. Speaking about the religious leaders of Israel, God said to Ezekiel, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. What do I mean?

these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. What do I mean?

Our sins are not just bad things we do or mistakes we make. They are the means by which we try to satisfy the idols of our heart.

In our culture, sometimes we have a hard time understanding what idols are because our mind immediately goes to other cultures where they have statues or false gods that they worship. We think to ourselves, “Listen. I’m a Christian. I don’t worship false gods. I only worship Jesus.”

Idols are little g gods.

They are good things we make into God things.

People in other cultures worship their gods because their gods promise to give them something. to satisfy their desires. Our gods work the same way. We make for our selves idols in our hearts that we think will give us ultimate purpose, meaning or identity. Then our sins are ways that we try and worship that idol in order to receive its promises.

In other words, our idols become our functional saviors who will give us our hearts desires. Let me give you a few possible examples. The thing I’m trying to show you here is the principle behind how heart idolatry works. We are all unique people and may use the same sins to satisfy different idols we have made for ourselves.

Marriage on the rocks. You can’t stand your spouse. You are always arguing and bickering. You think to yourself, I don’t deserve this. I deserve a husband or wife who loves me this way or that way. Your functional savior or idol becomes this idealized version of your spouse who you then try to impose upon your actual spouse. You think by being hard, and mean you will force your spouse to finally change.

Maybe your idol is in the security of your bank account. You love the comfortable life and security your account affords you so you start hoarding money and get anxious any time the numbers dip below whatever arbitrary line you have determined is “salvation.” Because you are so afraid of losing your security, you stop giving to the church and the mission of God’s kingdom. You start working extra hours ignoring your family and becoming a workaholic all they while deceiving yourself by saying that you are doing your Christian duty to provide for your family financially not seeing that another god has taken over all of your thought life and heart.

Let me give you a personal example from anxiety. People suffer from anxiety for a variety of reasons but for me, I get anxious because I don’t feel safe. I feel like God will make me like Job and let my life be one of suffering and hardship. I’ll lose my ability to provide for my family, lose my house, my dogs or members of my family. So My answer to this functional hell is to try and save myself through my own control. I trick myself into believing that my anxious thoughts will save me because in them I have a semblance of control when my greatest fear is not controlling my own life.

All of these sins, being cruel. impatient or hard with your spouse, obsessing about money, withholding from God and ignoring your family by working more and more, and giving in to anxious worry are all sins that are aimed at getting our functional saviors to save us from our functional hells. To give us the life we think we need in order to be truly satisfied.

The key to life changing repentance is not to confess your sin then try to white-knuckle your own holiness. It is instead to get to the heart behind the sin. To ask yourself what are you trying to satisfy in yourself by giving into a particular sin, and then to see how the God has already richly provided for that need in Christ.

We have worshiped our way into this mess. The only way out is to reorient our hearts towards proper worship.

We must ask God, “Show me what the desires of my heart to show me how I’ve worshiped other gods. And when you show me, will you also show me how you have answered that desire in my heart in Christ through the gospel?

It is not wrong to want to be loved by your spouse. However, it becomes sin when their sole purpose in life is to provide you with that love. Instead, we must see how God has loved us in Christ and instead of demanding our spouse love us a particular way, we can serve and love them sacrificially just like Jesus did with us. We can repent of worshiping the idol of our ideal spouse.

Its not wrong to desire to provide for your family and be able to pay your bills. However, when this becomes the driving force behind how we organize and use the resources God has given us we miss how God has richly provided for us in the gospel. God has provided his Son’s blood for our deepest need, our spiritual death. Not only that, but now that we are God’s children, he has promised to take care of all our needs. We can repent of worshiping the idol of our bank account.

When it comes to my anxiety its not wrong for me to not want my life to be absolutely terrible. But when I start obsessing anxiously, functionally telling God that he is a liar who is not in control and does not desire good for me, then I’m missing how God has so richly loved me in Jesus and has promised to not inflict harm on me, but to sovereignly use all things in my life both good and bad for my good to glorify his name. I can repent of worshiping my ability to control my life and trust in God’s sovereign hands.

This is why we must constantly be trying to get to the root of our sin. Without digging up the root of idolatry in our hearts, we will be left to perpetually deal with the fruit of sin and never experience the change that God has secured for us in Christ.

The thing most Christians don’t understand about repentance is that it is not a one time event. Our repentance must be a continual repentance and this would be impossible were it not for the indwelling Holy Spirit.

4. Walk in the Spirit

; 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ...25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

What does it mean to walk by the Spirit?

Most Christians treat the Spirit like some kind of voodoo.

I must not have prayed the right way. f

Paul says that the Spirit and the flesh, that is our old, idolatrous nature, are opposed to each other. What that means practically is walking by the Spirit simply means to walk in obedience by his power.

I must not have felt the right emotion.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Listen, Jesus knew we needed help to obey him. That is why the Holy Spirit lives inside us. So that he might change us to be like Christ from the heart out.

Walking by the Spirit doesn’t happen by us starting to do all the right things. That is moralism. Walking by the Spirit happens as we have our hearts changed from worshiping idols through the gospel like we just talked about.

What does this look like practically?

All of our life must be founded on the Word of God.

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

The Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures to be written so that we might know who God is, who we are, and what his will is for our life. He wrote them so that we might be equipped to live a life of godliness.

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The Spirit’s aim is to glorify Christ. He desires to glorify Christ by transforming idolaters into holy worshippers of God by making them like Jesus who perfectly obeyed the Father. How can we know what the Spirit desires to do in us if we don’t know the Bible?

Here is how the Bible works. Its not about new revelation or insights. Its not about having some kind of emotional experience. It is seeing the truth that God has revealed, no matter how simple or how much we “know it” and then applying that to our life.

The are transformed by the power of the Spirit. Wouldn’t it make sense to let him show us where we need to grow to be more like Christ?

Even if we see for the thousandth time that God has forgiven all our sin, that is the truth the Spirit is wanting to work into our hearts so that we turn from our idols.

Because as you read the Scripture asking the Spirit to show you who God is, who you are, and how he calls you to live, the Spirit will bring to mind areas in your life that must be brought under the Word of God.

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

As we are tempted with sin, we view that temptation through the lens of Scripture, then ask the Spirit to empower us to live obediently to Christ so that we might reflect his glory. And when temptation does not relent, we keep relying on the Spirit to empower us to not gratify the desires of our old self and to live for Christ.

Will you help me to love you more than I love my sin.

This is why Christians must study the Word of God. In it God has clearly shown us his holiness, what he has done to save us, and how he wants us to live in light of the gospel, not just so that we would obey him, but that we would experience the fullness of life that Jesus promised.

Some of you are powerless in your Christian life because you don’t even have a framework to interpret what is going on in your own heart.

You don’t have to convince God to make you Holy. He wants you to be holy and has given you the Spirit to empower that very holiness.

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

For some of you, your application today will be to actually start reading your Bible. To see the glory of the God that has saved you and invited you to live in the newness of life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Conclusion

If you need help with that I would love to help you or someone else. “Will you teach me to read the Bible?”

You d

And we must strive to be transformed by the gospel in our sanctification because we exist as a church to be light on a hill. Our holiness as a church bears witness to the power of God to save sinners. I’ve had two people in my life who have died this week that I’m not sure whether or not they knew the Lord. We are called to seek out the lost and proclaim the gospel so that more people will believe in Jesus and be saved from their sins.

But, how can they believe that we proclaim the truth if our lives aren’t changed by the very message we proclaim.

Thankfully, by God’s grace its not on us. He sanctifies us by grace through the power of the Spirit so we must walk in step with the Spirit and strive towards personal holiness so that we might glorify God in every area of our life.

And in order for us to be transformed to live like Christ for his glory, we must live a life that is centered on the gospel in our dying to self, confession, and repentance, all while walking by the Spirit.