Holy in All Things
Notes
Transcript
Who Are You?
Who Are You?
You are inseparably connected to the saints of all ages
It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
2. You are the result of God’s eternal choice to save sinners
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
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.
but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
3. You are saved to be made holy
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Quoting from Leviticus 11 about dietary restrictions
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
It is promised, it is foreordained, and it is ours to strive in God’s strength to be who we are and who we are meant to be: A Holy People for a Holy God
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Holiness frightens us; intimidates us, because we are not in fact holy.
This is how the human heart and the devil team up to keep us from the greatest possible holiness, the greatest possible glorification of Christ, and the greatest possible joy...
you are believing in your heart that if you say sincerely, “Yes, Lord, I’ll do whatever it takes,” God will make you do something that you really don’t want to do.
Now, here’s the truth: the truth is that if you say sincerely, “Yes, Lord, I’ll do whatever it takes, and you can do whatever it takes to make me as holy and God-glorifying and fruitful as I can be,” God will give you a heart that wants to do what he called you to do. That’s the truth.
You’ve been ransomed (v18) from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers! BE HOLY!
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
Many, if not most believers do not have a mature faith.
Even those who have, a milkshake is still good after a steak:
Although we should move past the simple joys of being a babe in Christ
We should think more deeply about the truths of the gospel
We should experience more fully the person of the Spirit
We should comprehend more broadly the scope of God’s sovreighnty
Yet, we should never cease being refreshed by the simplicity and sweetness of the same gospel by which we are saved
Unbelievers Stumble
Unbelievers Stumble
Read 1 Pet 2:7-8
Destined to disobey
But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
This does not take away the culpability of men; THEY disobey
2. They stumble over the gospel; they stumble over Christ
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Rabbinic tradition about the capstone being received first, discarded, and then honored
But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
Regardless the form of rejection initially; it is rebellion against the Lordship of Jesus that is THE offense.
Everything else is symptom and not cause; charade, not the deep truth
Believers Stumble too
Believers Stumble too
Primarily because we forget who we are
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has caused us to be born again to a living hope.
And since He has, since He has chosen us; saved us; made us a people who were not a people, let us be holy, for He is Holy.