Praise is what I do
· Tell the ‘hold my mule’ story. I first heard this from Brother Gean Jones (tell it)
· For this Sunday and the next the Sermon Subject or (Topic) is; “As God’s elect, praise is what we do!”
· Open your Bibles to 1 Peter 1:3-5 and stand with me.
· This is what the Lord says
1 Peter 1:3-5
3 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, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ESV
· Praise is what we do
· After the salutation in verses 1 and 2, Peter in these verses gives 11 reasons for ‘those who are elect exiles of the dispersion’, to praise God
· Listen again at how Peter arrive at this moment
1 Peter 1:1-3
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 3 Blessed be the God!
· Stop here at these words “Blessed be the God” for at this point Peter is on very familiar ground
· You who are younger would understand it better if I said; Peter is going ‘old school’
· And that is not very far from the truth because Peter’s words ‘Blessed be the God’ is appropriate here
· When you grasps the realization that you are the elect from the triune God and each person of the Holy Trinity was, is and shall be involved in your election, all that is left to do is to praise God
· Now listen to this, you may know this but it was a blessing to me this week
· When you look at the Greek word for bless in this context you get a word that comes into the English language as ‘eulogy’ meaning to praise highly
· In my background you give a eulogy or eulogies someone at their funeral when they have died or passed on.
· Here Peter says to those who are the elect to eulogies God for the life He has passed on to them
· Praise Him from whom all blessings flow
· These words, this eulogy is in fact ‘old school’ listen
Genesis 9:26
26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. ESV
Genesis 14:20
20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. ESV
Genesis 24:27
27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.” ESV
Exodus 18:10
10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ESV
Ruth 4:14
14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! ESV
1 Samuel 25:32
32 And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! ESV
1 Kings 1:48
48 And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’ ” ESV
1 Kings 8:15
15 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, ESV
1 Kings 8:56
56 “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. ESV
Psalm 18:46
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation— ESV
Psalm 28:6
6 Blessed be the Lord! for he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. ESV
Psalm 31:21
21 Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. ESV
Psalm 41:13
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen. ESV
Psalm 66:20
20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me! ESV
Daniel 3:28
28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. ESV
· We see God eulogized or praised throughout the Old Testament Scriptures because of who He is and what He does
· The issue is not whether or not God deserves praise because we know that He deserves all praise
· However I want you to understand better why it is proper for the choir to sing praise is what I do and thus the reason as God’s elect, praise is what you should do also
· I see the first reason in the remainder of this sentence for the word ‘and’ means continue because there is more; “and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” Together it says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
· The Old Testament, they got the God part down correctly but this last part was foreign to them and familiar to us
· And it is so familiar that we many time missed that this is a reason to praise God
· It was not until our pastor’s meeting yesterday that this became clearer to me
· Most of what I read to you from the Old Testament deals with the function of God (delivered, not forsaken, granted, sent) functions
· But here Peter talks about the relationship the elect have with God, only the elect can relate to God as the Father of Jesus Christ
· Hallelujah! Listen to how Jesus say it and He doesn’t say God but use the relation Father
· John 14:6-7
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” ESV
· Yes the Old Testament saints could come before God, the Old Testament Priest went before God, but no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ!
· Because the elect has a relationship with Jesus, our access to God is intimate our praise of Him is intimate we praise Him as almighty God but also as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and thus Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name
· Praise is what we do!
· Reason number 2 for giving praise is that God has caused us to be born again based on His great mercy
· We deserve judgment and wrath from God but God is a kind, compassionate and forbearing God to His elect. In other words His mercy is great and awesome. Listen
· Ephesians 2:4-5
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ESV
· He caused us to be born again God did this wonderful thing to me and I could not make myself born or choose to birth myself
· John 3:1-8
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ESV
· It is always good to stop every now and then and realize that by the grace of God, I am what I am, I am who I am, I have a new relationship to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
· Is that worth praising Him? Can you say ‘hold my mule’?
· And this leads us into the third reason for praise one is born to live and thus being Born again to a living hope – this new life is one of hope of amazing expectations and anticipations of a favorable future under God’s direction.
· I agree with Edward Mote and William Bradbury and I join my voice with their and say
· “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
· When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; in every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil
· His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay
· When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne
· On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand
· Talking about a living hope and it’s about the relationship
· Praise is what I do!
· The last reason that I will look at today, for giving praise, is the forth one and it gives the means of this living hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
· Allow me to say it this way; Because He lives, I can face tomorrow , because He lives all fear is gone and life is worth living because He lives.
· As we conclude here and transition into the Lord’s Supper, I want you to see some things that also blessed me this week.
· Both passages are familiar to us. Turn to
· 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. ESV
· How often do we just stop here and how often are these words taken for granted
· That last statement; ‘For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’, needs to be meditated on and given much prayer
· Let me add to this from the same letter this
· 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ESV
· 1 Corinthians 15:14-15
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ESV
· 1 Corinthians 15:20
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ESV
· Cephas is the Aramaic word for Peter and thus the connection to Peter in his letter referring to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the means to a living hope. For Peter can truly say ‘I know what I’m talking about because I was the one who betrayed Him and had lost all hope but He appeared to me and has given me a living hope.
· Note that the resurrection of Christ is stated as fact not fiction, not imagination
· You are about to proclaim the Lord’s death, not like other human beings who have lived lives that we may honor but they are still dead, proclaim the Lord’s death not like some mythology that says some day the Lord will awaken. But brother and sisters proclaiming the Lord’s death as one who has risen from the dead and live forever more.
· For 1 Cor. 15 goes on to say
· 1 Corinthians 15:21-23
21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ESV
· At His coming but until his coming, we today’s elect, do this in remembrance of Him
· I have given you four of the eleven reasons why Peter can say to the elect exiles of the dispersion should eulogies God
· And if the first century elect can find reasons to praise God the twenty first century elect should be able to also
· If the first century elect were reminded about their relationship with the triune God than the twenty first century elect needs the same reminder today
· As God’s elect, praise is what the elect of the first century is learning to do, I pray that in the twenty first century we have learned the lesson and praise is what we do!
Praise God from whom all blessing flow, praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen, Amen, Amen
· Reason 5 for giving praise – The object of our hope is an inheritance
· Reason 6 for giving praise – This inheritance cannot be destroyed (imperishable), cannot be defiled by pollution from the outside, and cannot fade by wasting from within. In other word it is an inheritance that will not depreciate or lose value
· Reason 7 for praise – this inheritance has been kept in heaven for us
· Reason 8 for giving praise – We are being guarded for it by the very power of God
· Reason 9 for giving praise – The means by which we are guarded is faith
· Ephesians 6:16
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ESV
· Reason 10 for giving praise – Faith, by which we hold to the power of God
· Reason 11 for giving praise – The final goal is a salvation which God will reveal in the last time, when Jesus is revealed (see verse 7)
· Looking at the Old Testament
· Do you take your praise for granted?
· Have we become so sophisticated that we can’t praise?
· Do you believe that when praises go up, the blessings come down?
· Can we learn something from our charismatic brothers and sisters?
· The ministry of music
· Notice the words of praise to Almighty God.
· Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
· This changes what the Old Testament said by praising God with a name He never revealed in the Old Testament, ‘Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’.
· Now the term Father as applied to the first person of the Trinity, signifies not that the Father in any way created the Son or caused Him to exist (for the Son has always existed and was never created, listen
John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ESV
John 8:58
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” ESV
John 17:5
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. ESV
John 17:24
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ESV
Revelation 22:13
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” ESV
· God the Father, relates to God the Son as a father relates to a son normally: the Father plans and directs, the Son responds and obeys; the Father sends, the Son comes from the Father, listen some more
Galatians 4:4
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ESV
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ESV
John 3:18
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ESV
John 5:19
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. ESV
John 5:22
22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, ESV
John 5:26-27
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ESV
John 5:30
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ESV
· The Father creates ‘through’ the Son; all things come ‘from’ the Father ‘through’ the Son – hear God’s Word
John 1:3
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ESV
1 Corinthians 8:6
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. ESV
Colossians 1:16
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ESV
Hebrews 1:2
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ESV
· Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
· Peter encourages the reader to praise God, a helpful remedy for hearts weighed down with discouragement because of suffering.
· What are the reasons for praise given here by Peter
o He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
o We are alive Spiritually! And that is an excellent reason for praise
· But let us not be so hasty for Peter does not just say that ‘He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
· But what does the Word say;
· “According to His great mercy, God did this!
· Mercy is a compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or one subject to one’s power.
· Mercy is also a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion. It is compassionate treatment of those in distress
· Synonyms are grace, clemency, kindness, benevolence, goodwill
· In conclusion:
· It is possible to have a hope that transcends time
· A hope that is a sure hope and not an unsure or fragile hope
· A hope that is unlike so many hopes that we have known and embraced in our human walk, hope against hope and not really expecting what we hope for
· Hope one day to be able to afford
· Hope to be able to go
· Hope to live in
· Hope for some peace and quiet
· Hope that is depended very much on my resources, my energy, my ingenuity, my abilities, knowledge and strength
· But Peter here writes about a sure hope, guaranteed hope, a ‘take it to the bank’ hope
· A hope that holds the future in the present (or now!) because it is anchored in the past.
· Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!