2020-02-12 1 Pet 1.17-21
Notes
Transcript
17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.
18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
1 pet 1:17-21
1 pet 1:17-21
I. The fear of God should dictate your life.
I. The fear of God should dictate your life.
17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.
A. Do not discount the holiness nor justice of God.
A. Do not discount the holiness nor justice of God.
17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.
Illus: We are a generation of people who have all come to know that God loves us.
As a child I grew up with the song Jesus loves me this I know.
If there is one thing that children raised in church know it is Jesus loves them.
That said there has been a glaring hole in what we believe.
Yes the understanding of the love of Jesus is important… but one cannot understand the love of God without understanding the holiness of God nor his justice.
The reason the power of God rings hollow in the Old Testament is that we have not grasped the who God really is.
We do not respect God, fear God, or see God as He is. God should make us quake.
A rightful understanding of our sin, and God’s judgment should shake us.
A real understanding of the character of God, his expectation of holy behaviour, and his judgment for those who sin should drive us by fear alone to follow God. To fear when we don’t.
13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.
15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;
16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.
1 pet 1:
B. Do not forget the distinct identity God has given you.
B. Do not forget the distinct identity God has given you.
17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.
Illus: I believe the greatest problem we have in the church right not is that we have forgotten who we are. We are strangers. We are foreigners.
We have looked to the worlds identities and ways to solve our identity crisis. Let me walk this out in several scenerios.
1. We have thought that cultural relevance would help us reach the world. In this we have looked to the ways the world has done things and copy catted their methods. If only we could be a little more like the culture around us, perhaps we would reach the culture around us. You know if we can dress up Christianity to look like the world, maybe we would win the world.
2. We have thought that intellectual relevance would help us reach the world. In this we accept and adopt nonbiblical theories and ways of looking at scripture hoping to gain a respect intellectually in the world around us. If we could be respected intellectually then the world would respect Jesus.
3. We have thought that political relevance would help us reach the world. In this we looked to political power as a way of furthering our faith. If we could elect the right leaders and pass the right laws then we could further the kingdom of God in our world. We thought power was the way to promote God’s kingdom.
All of these have failed. Why? Each of these has caused us to abandon our identity as gospel foreigners.
When we attempted to make Christianity culturally relevant we abandoned Christianity and ended up with empty culture.
When we attempted to make Christianity intellectually relevant, we lost belief in the truth of scripture and ended up with an theological liberalism which doubts the word of God.
When we attempted to find political relevance we lost faith in the power of the gospel and because our faith was placed in political parties, candidates and winning a political war.
The reason America is falling farther and farther away from God is not because of the world. It is because Christians abandoned their identity as heavenly foreigners whose hope was the gospel and trusted in cultural, intellectual, and political relevance. If we want to see the hand of God again, we must return to our identity in Christ and see gospel as the only source of hope.
11 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.
12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.
II. The redemption of God should dictate your life.
II. The redemption of God should dictate your life.
18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.
A. You are redeemed from…
A. You are redeemed from…
18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.
Illus: God redeemed you from far more than just your sin.
To be redeemed is to be purchased. It is to no longer belong to this world, but to God.
You were redeemed from the penalty of you sin, but far more.
You were redeemed from the empty way of life.
You were redeemed from the ways of the world. You were redeemed from being culturally accepted. You were redeemed from the need of being politically powerful in our world. You were redeemed from the pursuit of the american lifestyle. You were redeemed from the empty ways of this world.
Hear me friends… Do you you genuinely believe in the sovereignty of God, the power of his gospel, and his hand of might?
If so, why do we keep going back to the empty ways of this world which we were redeemed from.
It is more than being rescued from our sins. It is being rescued from empty ways which produce empty results.
If we want to the eternal results that God alone gives we must be willing to place our hope COMPLETELY in the gospel changing power of Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine the power of the church if it returned to a real belief in the gospel?
Can you imagine the peace in your soul if you embraced you calling to be a heavenly foreigner who trusted in the hand of God.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age,
13 while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
14 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.
Titus
B. Your redemption was costly.
B. Your redemption was costly.
18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.
Illus: Lets go back to the fear of God. What we fear shows where our faith is.
I have talked about cultural, intellectual, and political relevance a lot today.
Our focus shows our faith. The amount of time we spend fighting culture, intellectual, and political wars shows that we genuinely fear the reprisals if those wars are lost.
We have forgotten who is genuinely to be feared… and because we have forgotten who is to be feared we have lost our hope as well.
God is in control, and God is to be feared. God will judge the empty ways of this world.
This is no sin, no politician, no country who does not exist under the sovereign hand of God.
The greatest fear is every person who will face the consequenses of God. God is to be feared.
That is why redemption is costly. What we should fear, Jesus paid for. He redeemed us.
The motivation, and direction of your life is found in the fear of God AND redemption in Jesus Christ.
19 Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
1 cor 6:
III. The grandeur of God’s plan should dictate your life.
III. The grandeur of God’s plan should dictate your life.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
A. Place yourself in God’s much bigger plan.
A. Place yourself in God’s much bigger plan.
Illus: As believers we often suffer from near nearsightedness. We become so afixiated on what id directly in front of us that we lose perspective of what is really happening.
God’s solution is not to stare more intently on the issues which consume us, but a call to step back and see it through the lens of God’s eternal plan.
You can almost hear scripture say, take a step back, breath, understand that God has been orchestrating history for his purpose, and will continue to do so till his grand purpose is done.
With the eternal perspective that God is in control, we can cease to find our hope in the empty ways of this world.
With this eternal perspective that God is in control, we can cast our anxiety on God. He’s got is. You can let it go.
We this eternal perspective that God is in control, we can stop being short sighted living panicked about the day in which we live.
Instead we place our faith and hope in God who was, is, and always will be working out His eternal plan shaping history for His glory.
Let us leave the empty ways of this world. they are empty. Let us return to fearing God, loving God, trusting God, and finding hope in the gospel alone.
9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.