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Transcript

1 Peter · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Evening, ladies. I find it interesting, and I shouldn't be surprised, how God works things out. That last song had so many ties into what this passage is about tonight. I know it was carefully chosen, but that song didn't even cross my mind. A lot of other songs crossed my mind as I was going through this, and then I have to admit they were old hymns that are near and dear to my heart, as well as a lot of kids' songs.
• 0:28
  were running through my mind at this point. And I also had my introduction all planned, and I was ready to say it, but on my way over, I really felt like God was saying, okay, you need to add a few things to that, so I am just trusting that these are his words that I need to speak at the moment. If you've ever given a talk like this, you know the time and the preparation that goes into it.
• 0:56
  The studying of God's word, writing it out, doing homiletics, consulting commentaries, listening to other sermons, just gathering all the information that we have available today, as well as, most importantly, the Holy Spirit working through those modes of study, as well as conversations that God brings to your life during that time of study. And isn't it amazing how he does that?
• 1:24
  And it's really God at work in that. So as I started my study, I was just looking at the translation here that I have, the English Standard Version. English language, the study of it, has never really fascinated me, to be honest, until the last few years when I have been homeschooling my girls. And we have to memorize the parts of speech and listening.
• 1:52
  the verbs and prepositions, and even learning how to diagram sentences in third grade. I never had to do that in all my years of schooling, but I have found it very fascinating. And as I was reading 1 Peter, I was diagramming some of his sentences in my mind, thinking, okay, what are the most basic parts of this sentence? And finding it fascinating how Peter, through the Holy Spirit, and then through the translators who have brought us this,
• 2:23
  have put words together in an order, and the emphasis changes when you put words in a different order. And I told my husband this, and he said to me, you're turning into a nerd. I said, oh well, I guess since I am nearing 40, I am okay with that. Maybe 25 years ago I wasn't, but that's okay. I'd rather be a nerd about God's word than anything else.
• 2:53
  So as I was diagramming these, I noticed that he has some basic commands for us, and we'll get to those in a minute. But then we have to look at the prepositional phrases and how they're used as adjective phrases, and I'm throwing around all these terms that I have learned that I'm kind of excited about, but this will be the end of that, throwing around those English terms. Then I began to look up.
• 3:24
  some of the definitions of these words in the dictionary to grasp a fuller understanding of what all these words do encompass. And there's that nerd thing again. Using the dictionary to look up the meaning or meanings of words. And my husband has always encouraged me to do that. And I have never really taken it to heart in 18 years. But here I am.
• 3:48
  I found it very fascinating, so I encourage you to try something new and expand your learning base, no matter how old you are. But I digress. So, here we go. Let us dive into this part of Peter's letter to the exile believers in the Roman Empire during Nero's awful reign. If you haven't yet, please turn your Bible or your app to 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 23, excuse me, 13 through 25.
• 4:18
  And as you are able, I would like to ask you to stand and join me as I read God's word. My pastor in Indiana used to say, let us follow with our eyes, listen with our ears, pay attention with our minds, and respond with our hearts. Therefore, preparing your mind 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.
• 4:48
  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. 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, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers.
• 5:18
  not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 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, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
• 5:43
  Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.
• 6:13
  And this word is the good news that was preached to you. Let's pray. Father God, I thank you for each woman who is here tonight. Thank you that we have this opportunity to study your word and Peter's letter to the Christians who were struggling in Rome. And I just ask that the words of my mouth would be pleasing to you and that you would speak to our hearts through your living and active word. In Jesus' name, amen.
• 6:45
  There is a half sheet of paper on the table that has a hymn on it, if you would like to use that for note-taking, or of course anything else you have. My hope and prayer tonight is that you will see that living for Jesus is an active and continuous process following God's work in one's heart as a result of belief in Christ. I have divided the remainder of this chapter into three parts. The first part is the first three verses.
• 7:15
  Peter's call to action. Verse 17 to 21, the reason for action. And verse 22 to 25, subsequent action and the reason why. And I'll repeat those later as I go, if you want to write them down. So this first section, a call to action, begins with Peter saying, therefore. So as a result of what he has just said, we have a reason for what he says next.
• 7:44
  So let's review a little bit about what Hallie talked last week and catch up anyone who was unable to listen to it online or was not with us. She has three 2Bs in regard to our salvation in Christ. First, we can be secure in our inheritance because we have been chosen in God's foreknowledge by the sprinkling of Christ's blood. We've been given a new nature with a living hope.
• 8:10
  an inheritance that is flawless and imperishable, kept safely in heaven. Next, we can be joyful because our security of salvation is in the midst of trials, remembering these trials are temporary and different for each person, but our response to them reveal the depth of our faith. Third, we can be confident in our salvation because the prophets studied, the Holy Spirit inspired, the apostles preached.
• 8:39
  and the angels investigated. Therefore, Peter says, preparing your minds for action. The King James Version says, gird up the loins of your mind. I love that phrase. Long ago, and even in some cultures today, men and women wore the long flowing clothes that they had to gather up and tuck into their belts to travel or to do the work that they needed to get done.
• 9:07
  This gives us that picture of preparing for action. There's something to be done. We have to work out some details. And with our faith, we need to work out details. How do we walk away from that old way of life before we knew Christ into the new life that Christ has given us? Peter then says we need to be sober-minded. Literally, this does mean to not be drunk.
• 9:33
  Two of the six English definitions for the word sober capture the essence of what it means to be sober-minded. Marked by earnestly thoughtful character. Marked by temperance, moderation, or seriousness. Now it does not mean that we have to be serious when we study God's word and we can't be joyful. Because God has given us that joy and that excitement of what he's doing in our hearts and he wants us to share that with others.
• 10:03
  I think this part is reminding us that as hard as it is as women sometimes, we cannot let our emotions get the best of us in decision making or living from one emotional experience to the next. We need to take time to read God's word, to earnestly seek what he would have for us through that. We need to focus our entire mental faculties, our feelings, our perceptions.
• 10:33
  Our thinking, our wills, and our reasoning on knowing God's truth and acting on it as he reveals it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, after this opening phrase, Peter gives three simple commands in this section to the exiles and to us today. The first one is in verse 13. We are to set our hope. In verse 14, he says, do not conform. And in verse 15, he says,
• 11:05
  These are good commands, but they leave us asking how and why. Thankfully, Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives us those answers, and thereby we can learn and apply it to our lives today. Let's look at these commands and their modifying phrases to get a better sense of how Peter is calling believers to live. Peter says we are to set our hope. On what?
• 11:30
  We are to set it on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The believers in the Roman Empire were suffering terribly at the hands of Nero. Peter is reminding them there is something amazingly wonderful waiting for them when Christ returned or when they would be in heaven with him. Paul tells us that once believers are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord immediately. There is no delay.
• 11:57
  And what a great comfort and hope that that is in the midst of illness, broken dreams, strained relationships, persecution for faith, and the list can go on and on. One day we will be in God's presence, and Christ will return to make things right. Now we don't know in our lifetime what order those things will be, but we have hope that those things will happen. Once our focus is properly set on that hope,
• 12:27
  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. As believers, we know that when we obeyed our parents, we were actually obeying God. Because God had put them in our lives as the first authority figure. This made me think of the song, O is for Obey. I don't know if any of you know this one. O is for Obey. O is for Obey.
• 12:54
  Obey is doing what we should. O is for obey. Short and simple, but it goes through my mind, whether I'm singing it to my children or I'm singing it to myself. So our obedience as adults ought now to be first and foremost to God. We are to submit to his authority in our lives. God desires for us to obey him, and he is not that cruel taskmaster whipping us into shape. He is that potter, and he is molding us as clay.
• 13:25
  He is making us into who he created us to be. Romans 12, 2, in the amplified version, says, Do not be conformed, fashioned after, adapted to external superficial customs, to this world, this age, but be transformed to be changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitudes, so that you may prove for yourselves.
• 13:55
  what is good and acceptable and the perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight for you. He has given us new life in Christ, the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, God's written word, and the fellowship of believers to learn how not to conform to the past or to this world, but to be obediently walking toward that future hope.
• 14:23
  This is an active, lifelong process. There are times that we will fall back into old patterns of that former life. But thanks be to God for his forgiveness, restoration, and power to gird up our loins and walk forward in obedience. Verses 15 and 16 go on to say, But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written,
• 14:54
  You shall be holy, for I am holy. Well, why are we to be holy? Because God is holy. We are to be set apart for his purposes. We are to look different than this world. I had an interaction with a friend who is not a believer a week or two ago. And after that, I'm like, hmm, she knows where I stand with God. But how is she seeing anything different in my life?
• 15:25
  that she would desire to follow God. So that was a real challenge to me. Verse 16 is a direct quote from Leviticus 11.44. Chapter 11 is giving all the parameters for the people of Israel on which animals were considered clean versus those which were unclean. Clean animals chewed their cud and had a parted hoof.
• 15:53
  The parted hoof leaves a clean imprint as it walks through the mud, versus a horse that picks up the mud and tosses it, leaving a trail in its wake. I was reading the Phillips Commentary, and he said, It is important that we chew the cud of God's Word. We are to read it, to meditate on it, memorize it, and apply it to our lives. And I know there were a couple of things on that original Bucket Challenge list about,
• 16:24
  memorizing portions of 1 Peter, and meditating on it. The parted hoof shows how our lives should be separate from the world. The chapter also talks about seafood, and seafood was considered clean if it had fins and scales. Fins help the fish to move forward, and the scales help it to resist the external pressure of the environment around it.
• 16:54
  Then there are carnivorous birds. They were considered unclean because they ate the flesh of the animals. And the omnivorous birds were unclean because they ate anything. We are to be careful what we feed our minds and our hearts. What are we feeding our souls upon? Is it God's word and his truth? Let us allow it to nourish our hearts and our minds regularly.
• 17:22
  to feed our souls as nothing else in this world can. And by doing this, when those times of trials come, and they will, we've been promised, we will be able to focus on the hope and the joy given that lies beyond the trial. Verse 17 includes one more call to action, conduct yourselves with fear, from Peter, as well as the beginning of the next section I have titled, The Reason for Action.
• 17:55
  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. When I saw this, if you do this in this place, it really confused me. Peter has written this letter to believers who are already calling on God as father. So why is there an if you call at the beginning of this section?
• 18:24
  According to Philip's commentary, the beginning of this section is written in the indicative mood. I asked myself, what's that? We haven't gotten there in English yet. So I looked it up. The indicative mood is used to make factual statements, ask questions, or express opinions as if they were facts. So Peter is assuming that his readers...
• 18:53
  do call God as Father. It's not an if you, then he statement. It's a since you call him Father. And our Father is not, he judges impartially according to our deeds. God does not play favorites based on social or economic standing. Each individual is responsible to him for her thoughts, words, and actions.
• 19:26
  Phillips also ties this into Acts and wonders if Peter was thinking about Ananias and Sapphira. They had seen how believers were selling their possessions and giving to the apostles to be distributed as needed. And so they decided, let's sell some stuff and give the money to the apostles. But they said they gave it all, but they really didn't. And we don't know why they did it.
• 19:57
  but perhaps there was a sense of hope for recognition or look at how much they've done. But God gave Peter wisdom to discern this lie, and God struck both of them dead as an example to the other believers. Now, thankfully, God did not strike us dead like that today, but we ought to live with that knowledge that he knows and that he judges each one of us according to our deeds.
• 20:27
  As our Father, God wants us to come to Him, but we ought to approach Him with that reverence, that fear, the knowledge that He is God of the universe, that He is awesome and He is holy, but He wants us to have that relationship with Him. In verses 18 and 19 say, Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers,
• 20:58
  not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. We have been released from the power of sin, the futile ways handed down in our lives because of Christ's blood. Back then, there were lists and lists and lists that the synagogue leaders had created that the people were expected to try to follow.
• 21:29
  The list was so long, it was impossible to gain salvation from that list, and we know that that was not God's original intent. God wanted us to see our need for him through the inability to obey all the laws. Peter also says that there is no amount of gold or silver or good deeds that will get us into heaven. It is only by that precious blood of Jesus.
• 21:58
  He was the perfect lamb without blemish or defect. His blood was of greatest value. Gold and silver go away if they're heated high enough. The only thing that would pay the price to make us right with God was God's blood. I found this interesting in the commentary that on the 10th day of the month,
• 22:26
  family member was expected during Passover to choose the one-year-old lamb without blemish or spot. They were to watch it carefully for four days as they continued preparing for this. And then on the fourth day, the lamb was to be sacrificed and consumed. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month. He spent the next four days in full view of all the leaders in
• 22:59
  Jerusalem at night. He would go to Bethany, but he would come back. So they had those four days to watch him, to listen to him, to see what he was doing. And then on that fourth day, we know that Jesus was nailed to the cross on the third hour, and a supernatural darkness fell on the land at the sixth hour for three hours.
• 23:24
  So on the sixth hour during Passover, the Jews were to kill the lamb in preparation to offer it as a sacrifice on the seventh hour. Then at the ninth hour, Jesus declared, it is finished. He gave up his spirit and he died. His sacrifice had completed the work of restoring man to God that the one-year-old male lamb sacrifice had only been a shadow of the things to come. Verse 20.
• 24:00
  He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. Man's fall into sin and separation from God were not a surprise. Philip said, our redemption was no afterthought with God.
• 24:30
  We know that he didn't look down from heaven, wringing his hands, saying, Oh no, Jesus, my son, the humans have just messed up our entire plan. They've disobeyed. No, God knew before he spoke the world into existence. He knew what would happen, and he made a plan with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That one day, one day when the time was right, he would send his one and only son.
• 24:59
  to live, die, and rise again so that humanity could be restored to its original intended relationship with him. Peter is reminding the believers and us that God is in control. He sees, he knows, and he cares. So put your faith and hope in him. Well, we've come to our last section a little faster than I thought we would, so I don't know if I'm talking fast.
• 25:31
  22 to 25, I have titled Subsequent Action and Why. Living for Jesus is an active and continuous process following God's work in one's heart as a result of belief in Christ. Peter has called us to action. We are to set our hope on God. We are not to conform to our former selves. We are to be holy.
• 26:02
  He has given us the reason for that action. We have been purchased, ransomed with the most precious blood of Christ. And now he's calling us to take it to the next level. We are to love one another. There are two terms of love used in this passage. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
• 26:34
  So one is the brotherly love, the desiring good things for another, having deep affection or fondness. And the other is the agape love, unconditional, self-sacrificing, highest form of love. This love must be sincere and must be demonstrated earnestly. The only way loving one another with deep fondness and affection unconditionally
• 27:03
  is by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Let's talk about the Holy Spirit for a moment. The Holy Spirit is given to each one the moment she confesses her sins and her unworthiness to be in God's presence without the blood of Jesus covering her sins. The moment one is born again, she is seen by God as acceptable and perfect. Her sins have been covered by that precious, costly blood of the Lamb.
• 27:36
  She has been given a new nature. She is a member of God's heavenly family, and the Holy Spirit indwells her. It is immediate. It is positionally sanctifying in God's sight. So God sees us as covered with that blood immediately. Just as a thief on the cross asked Jesus to remember him in paradise, he was forgiven immediately and granted eternal life.
• 28:06
  For those of us who've had a little more time to live after confessing Jesus as Lord of our lives, the Holy Spirit has the opportunity to help us with that daily practical sanctification, moving away from the former, futile ways that Peter describes in our life to becoming more like Jesus in all of our words, thoughts, and actions. Of course, we are still imperfect and we sin.
• 28:35
  but we don't have to be controlled by it. We don't lose our salvation when we sin, but temporarily we do lose that joy and peace given by God. We are able to love one another deeply and earnestly because he first loved us and gave us his Holy Spirit to indwell and to fill our lives. Is there a fellow believer God is calling you to love? Will you ask God to help you with the Holy Spirit's power?
• 29:07
  How to show that person love? The last part of this chapter talks about why we are to set our hope and to not be conformed and to be holy. How it is possible. Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field.
• 29:38
  The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. God's word is imperishable. Throughout history, humans have tried to destroy God's word and the Christian. They have banished and burned the word. They have halted movements that are declaring the truth of the scriptures.
• 30:05
  There have been verbal and written scorn and ridicule to any and all who will listen and read. There are new theories of how antiquated the teachings of the Bible are and the words are to society today. It hasn't worked, sisters. Thanks be to God. His word is living and abiding. It does not wither like the grass and the flowers in the heat and drought of life.
• 30:30
  It calls us to action and clearly explains why we ought to take that action. Living for Jesus is an active and continuous process until the day he returns or calls us home to him in heaven. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that your word is living and active, that when it goes out it does not return void, that you touch the hearts and the minds of those who hear it. May we be receptive.
• 31:04
  to your words and apply them to our lives amen