Holiness in an unholy world (8)
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Our Battle...
Our Battle...
Today, we are going to be concluding the book of 1 Peter. We aren’t going to be spending much time on Peter’s concluding statements. In our culture, we don’t greet people with a kiss of agape love. Many of you are so glad that you can give a hug or a handshake and a big smile to express your love to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Last week we looked at the qualities of a healthy church. Part of this is the role of elders and how elders are to care for and protect their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
We also looked at how we as Christians are to be humble towards each other and how Jesus humbled Himself in obedience to the Father. God has exalted Him and given Him the name above every name, and as we humble ourselves, He will exalt us in due time.
Let’s read our Scripture for today,
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
With the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Our Battle...
Our Battle...
In 1 Peter 5:7 Peter gives us hope that we can,
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
This doesn’t mean that we should drop our guard because we have cast our cares and anxieties on the Lord, but even in our times of battle, we can cast our cares on the Lord because He cares for us.
For us to look at our battle we need to look at
Our enemy and his tactics
Our enemy and his tactics
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
We’ll look at the first sentence of verse 8 in a bit , but your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking/looking for someone to devour.
Let’s look at
Job
Job
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied.
“Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.
But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
Peter said that Satan is like a roaring lion. Have you ever watched nature shows to see how lions attack? Have you ever seen their tendencies. A lion doesn’t attack a herd of water buffalo. A lion looks around and looks for the weak, the vulnerable. A lion will attack those that have left themselves open and vulnerable and drifted away from the herd.
When God asked Satan if he had considered His servant Job, Satan made the comment that God had hedged Job in. He said that Job was serving God on purpose.
According to Job 1:8, Job had put himself in a position in which he was protected.
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
Our enemy the devil is looking for those who are weak, those who are vulnerable. He is wants to find us in a vulnerable place. He wants to attack us in a place of weakness. He wants us to feel all alone.
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
God cares for you. He has placed His hand on you. He watches over you. He has hedged us in behind and before, but we must stay underneath the shelter of His wing.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
You are not alone, but we must not try to live out our faith alone.
We need each other...
We need each other...
It may be true that God is enough. It may be true that we can be a Christian and not fellowship with other believers, but this is not God’s will for you.
It is vital to our relationship with God to get alone with Him. He has given us access into this. It is also imperative that we meet together in prayer and fellowship to encourage each other. We need to be in the habit of spurring each other on.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,
and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Be alert... Be sober
Be alert... Be sober
We need to be on guard. we need to be aware that there is an adversary prowling around. Let’s not be like the unsuspecting lamb that is being stocked by the predator. Let’s be alert. Let’s be aware. Let’s be on guard.
We need to know that we encounter spiritual battles all the time, and if we are unsuspecting, we can be taken off guard.
Resist Him
Resist Him
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
When Jesus was on earth and He was asked about the end of the world, He said that only God the Father knew when Jesus would come back. We don’t know the day or the hour, but we believe that Jesus is coming back. Satan doesn’t know that day or the hour but he too knows that his time is short.
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
Standing firm
Standing firm
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Ephesians 6:13–17 (NIV)
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Take heart, you are not alone. There are many other believers undergoing the same trials as you are. Stand firm in your faith. Let’s spur each other on. Let’s encourage each other, and all the more as we see the day approaching.
Called to His eternal glory
Called to His eternal glory
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
You may have to suffer a little while. You may have to go through hardship and persecution. Living for Jesus may one day cost you your very life on this earth, but don’t live for what is temporary. Don’t place your hope in things that will not last.
Jesus gave an exhortation to the church in Smyrna in the book of Revelation
“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.
I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
As we conclude the book of 1 Peter, my prayer is that you will have a greater desire to serve the Lord. My prayer is that you will earnestly seek the Lord. My prayer is that we will not settle for what this world has to offer but that we will
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Will you consider Him today? Will you seek the Lord with all your heart? Will you with me fix your eyes on the prize, Jesus Christ.
I urge you not to labour for what does not satisfy but seek the Lord, and encourage others to do the same. Be a blessing by serving the Lord in joyful hope. be patient in affliction, and keep your spiritual fervor serving Jesus.
Walk with Him all the days of your life. Honour Him in all your ways. Trust Him in the journey. Be faithful in prayer.
Let’s pray.