1 Peter 1.13-16
Prepared To See Jesus
1Peter 1:13-16
9/20/98
Introduction:
Read excerpts from letter
Highlight the fact that the letter ended in bold print: “Prepare!”
Today we are going to see that believers are called to prepare for the day that they see Jesus.
Big Idea: The best preparation for seeing Jesus is to live a holy life.
1 Peter 1:13-16
I. Our Preparation (vs. 13)
II. Non-conformity to Lusts (vs. 14)
III. Conformity to Holiness (vs. 15, 16)
Read Passage
I. Our Preparation (vs. 13)
A. The Reason (1:3-12)
1. “Wherefore”-
2. Based upon 1:10-12 directly
a. We have a great salvation with cleansing, future inheritance and present protection. (vs. 2-5)
b. The prophets predicted this great salvation provided by Jesus (vs. 10, 11)
c. The prophets actually served us by making these predictions (vs. 12)
3. The foundation is laid for Peter’s following comments. We have a great salvation which was foretold long ago, now what do we do with it?
B. The Exhortation (vs. 13)
1. “Gird up the loins of your mind”-
a. The men in the Old Testament wore long flowing robes which made it hard to run. If they tried they would continually be slowed down by the clothes. To “gird up” meant to gather up the long robe and pull it up fastening it to the body with a belt. That way the legs were not hindered when trying to work, run or do some sort of action.
b. 1 Kings 18:46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
c. Notice it’s a preparation for the mind instead of the body.
a). Peter is saying that we must remove everything in our thoughts that keeps us from following Christ.
b). Illustration- Speech impediment.
It’s something that keeps the person from talking correctly
It’s something the person often cannot help.
Peter is saying that we must not have thought impediments
That is, things that keep us from being prepared for battle in the Christian life.
How well you walk is determined by how well you think
2. “Be sober”
a. Grammar- keep being sober
b. Alertness- watchfulness
3. “Hope to the end”
a. to hope completely
b. to hope entirely
c. never give up in your hope
C. The Purpose- Answers the question for what am I supposed to be preparing? It’s useless to prepare if you don’t know for what.
1. Prepare to see Jesus
a. “revelation”- reveal, show forth. We will see Christ
b. There seem to be a lot of prophetic events surrounding this sighting of Jesus
c. grace- the blessings of heaven and our rewards
2. Overview of prophetic events
a. Next event on calendar- Rapture. Christ comes to get those who are saved. He takes them to be with Him forever.
b. 7 year tribulation period-
a). wars, death, famine, pestilence (one fourth of the people on earth are killed from these), sun is darkened, moon “becomes like blood (Rev. 6:12), one third of sea is turned to blood, and one third of the water is poisoned (killing “many men” Rev. 8:11).
b). One third of the sun moon and stars are caused to be darkened. That’s not all of it, but it gives you an idea of some of the things happening.
c. Christ’s second coming (Rev. 19:11-21)
a) Armies of the world foolishly assemble to fight Christ at the battle of Armageddon.
b) Christ returns and destroys the armies in the battle
c) It is called the “great supper of God,” and all the birds of the air are encouraged to come and eat the flesh of all those killed in the battle.
d. The Kingdom is established- 1,000 years
e. Eternity
f. Two major judgments
a). Judgment seat of Christ
b). Great White Throne judgment- unbelievers are thrown into the Lake of Fire
3. The point- Are you ready to see Jesus? Knowing that these events will take place, are you ready?
a. Are you a child of God? Have you ever realized that He died for you, and rose again for your sins? If you know that, have you ever placed your faith in Him? That is, trusted that what He did on the cross was for you, and clung to Him to keep you from heading to hell? Throwing away the fact that you were raised in a Christian home, throwing away the fact that you pray, throwing away every good thing you have ever done. You can never do enough good to cover up for your sinfulness!!!!! If you want heaven, you must trust Christ and what He did for you alone. Nothing else
b. You who have done this, are you ready to see Jesus? Have you been living your life prepared to see Him?
Illustration: Teacher gives her students a test and then leaves the room. They cheat and trade answers. But when they hear the teacher walking down the hall, they quickly make everything look like they never cheated.
Sometimes Christians can get by with this sort of thing. Cheating while they await the return of Christ. They are not prepared. Their minds are not girded for action. They aren’t soberly watching for Christ’s return. They aren’t ready.
What do we need to get straight before Christ comes?
Transition: So the call here is to be prepared for the day we see Christ. Now we turn our attention to how to prepare ourselves.
The first thing we can do is be non-conformists
II. Non-Conformity to Lusts (vs. 14)
A. A matter of obedience
1. Romans 5:19- word is used to speak of the obedience which Christ showed in going to the cross.
2. Christ prayed in Gethsemane that He would not have to die if the Father willed. The Father’s will was that Christ die, and so Christ was obedient.
3. Obedience at times is not want we want to do.
4. Face it, no one always likes to obey
B. Non-conformity to lusts
1. Don’t be fashioned or conformed- These days the world says, “be an individual, be the real you.” Be a non-conformist. And then they all go out and buy the same clothes, go to the same parties, and talk the same talk.”
2. “former lusts”
a. former- before being cleansed (vs. 2)
b. lusts- craving, desire
c. those things which draw us, control us, those things which Satan uses to make us forget God.
Specific areas of lust:
-Sensual pleasure
-Money (that’s why we have so much killing these days)
-Clothes
-Position and power
-Cars, boats, houses
-Habits
-Lust- things we just gotta’ have
-Our own agenda and not God’s agenda
Illustration- H.A. Ironside tells of a time he was preaching on the coming of Jesus. As he prayed that night he could hear someone leaving very quickly. As he went to the door to greet people as they left he was confronted by the lady who had left.
She said, “How would you dare to pray like that- ‘Come, Lord Jesus?’ I don’t want Him to come. It would break in on all my plans.”
Ironside responded, “My dear young woman, Jesus is coming whether you want it or not.”
Are you conformed to the former lusts so much, the desires of this world that you forget God?
C. The ignorance of lusts
1. ignorance- what you did not know- (we think of ignorant as meaning stupid- here it means merely those who don’t know the cleansing of Christ)
2. lusts are for the ignorant
3. Summary: Don’t live like an unbeliever
Transition: Thus far we have seen that we need to prepare for Christ’s return, and that we can do this by not conforming ourselves to lusts. Now we will see that we need to conform to God’s holiness.
III. Conformity to Holiness (vs. 15, 16)
A. Conformity to God
1. He is holy- separated from sin, in a class all His own
2. We are to be holy- separated from sin and dedicated to God
3. We are called to holiness- Christians can take great comfort in the fact that their names have been called by God, but miss the point that their calling means not only the love of God, but the holiness of God
4. “In all manner of conversation”- Greek word “anastrophe” behavior
5. Notice it’s in all of our behavior
Holiness, the forgotten word. The word that is trampled upon in the rush to hear about God’s love, protection, care.
I’ve heard it before, “God wants me to be happy.” Therefore I can do whatever I think I need to do to be happy. Who cares if it involves following my lusts. As long as I’m happy that’s all that matters.
God is some kind of Person who is responsible to see that we are happy!
Never forget this: God has called us not so much to happiness as to holiness
We are called to be holy, not necessarily always happy!
B. The basis for our holiness
1. Levitcus 11:44
2. God is instructing the Jews that they must not touch unclean animals
3. They were to separate themselves from that which would make them unclean
4. Today believers are to separate themselves from the lusts which make them unclean.
Conclusion:
Big Idea: Holy living is the best preparation for the return of Christ
I. Our Preparation (vs. 13)
II. Non-conformity to Lusts (vs. 14)
III. Conformity to Holiness (vs. 15, 16)
So are you prepared to see Jesus? What this morning would you need to do to get prepared.
n If you’ve never received Him as your Savior, that’s what you need to do. You’ll never be ready to face the end times until you’ve done that
n If you have received Christ, what lusts, desires, cravings are you hanging onto? It is those things that must be dealt with before you are prepared to see Jesus.
Some of us will probably see Him before others through death, but one thing is for sure: we all must prepare.