1 Peter chapter 1. This entire first chapter of
1 Peter deals with our salvation. In the first 12 verses the Holy
Spirit moved and inspired Peter to describe for us what God's
salvation is and he concludes that section of the chapter by
telling us that This salvation involves things the angels desire
to look into. I tried to get an idea just how
Peter must have thought when he wrote those words. The cross
referencing in your Bibles in your center column reference
will take you back to the various passages in the Old Testament
where that God commanded in the building of the tabernacle and
then the temple when the Ark of the Covenant was built and
the mercy seat built, overshadowing, covering over the Ark, the mercy
seat, covering the Ark of the Covenant, broken law, the angels
were to be fixed on each end of that mercy seat, facing one
another, overshadowing the mercy seat with their faces constantly
down on the mercy seat, constantly looking at it. It was a beautiful
picture. That Ark, of course, representing
Christ and our salvation in him by his blood atonement by which
our breaking the law of God has been appeased and the wrath of
God on our behalf has been satisfied and God said, God said, I'll
meet you between the cherubim upon the mercy seat. The angels
constantly looking, constantly desiring to understand something
of this wondrous mystery of God's saving grace in Jesus Christ.
If the angels who have no participation in, no experience of, no personal
knowledge of God's salvation constantly, constantly are overawed,
excuse me, overawed by it, how much more you and I who are the
recipients of His grace ought to be constantly overawed by
God's salvation. Now, having described our salvation,
the Holy Spirit now begins in verse 13 to tell us about our
responsibilities in this world as the children of God. If indeed
we are the saints of God in this world, if we have experienced
this great, great salvation, if we truly belong to God, It
is our highest privilege and our greatest honor in this world
to honor our Father. That's exactly right, James. The highest privilege, the greatest
honor we have in this world is to live in this world as the
children of God for the glory of God. That's what I want to
encourage in this message. I want us to devote ourselves
to God's glory, to devote ourselves to the honor of our God, to devote
ourselves to the will of God, the gospel of God, the kingdom
of God. After all, these are the only
things of real importance and significance. I've often told
you when Faith was growing up, she started to Get out of the
house, you know, and she'd start to work when she was just a teenager
and going out with kids. She almost never went out of
the house without me saying to her, at least weekly, don't ever
forget who you are and whose you are. Don't ever forget. Because everything you say and
do reflects either for good or bad upon me, your father, and
upon this household and upon the gospel of God's grace we
represent. Don't ever forget who you are
and whose you are. I say to you, my brothers and
sisters in Christ, let us never forget who we are and whose we
are. Everything we say, everything
we do reflects for good or evil upon this congregation, this
family, the God of glory and the gospel we preach. So let's
seek to honor God. All right, with that in mind,
let's read about our responsibility, beginning at verse 13. Wherefore gird up, gird up, just
like a runner in a race in these old Olympic games, Gather up
their skirts and tie them as almost a loincloth around them.
Gather everything up. Gird up the loins of your mind. Just pull everything together.
Pull everything together. Be sober and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ as obedient children, as obedient children. Not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance, but as
he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation. Because it is written, be ye
holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father,
who without respect to persons judgeth according to every man's
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in this. And in those verses,
I see a five-fold responsibility for you and I, who claim to be
the sons and daughters of God Almighty. Here's the first one. If we are God's children, if
we've experienced God's salvation, we ought ever to live with our
eyes focused upon eternity. Focused upon eternity. The apostle
says Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
He said, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affection on things above, for you're dead. You're
dead. I read that just a few minutes
ago. I thought, how can he say that? Dead, dead. We're dead
to this world. I'm crucified with Christ. By
him, the world's crucified to me, and I am to the world. That
means being dead. The world oughtn't have any effect
on us. Nothing in it. Nothing in it. Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. All these things are
gonna pass away. Set your heart on things above. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. and all these things shall be
added to you. Now, notice how he describes it. In verse 13,
he says, gird up. Gird up. I tried to express it
as we read it a moment ago. That's such an important word.
He's talking about gathering everything, every faculty of
your mind, every faculty of your being, every faculty of your
life. Gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober. Be sober. Now that doesn't mean don't get
drunk. It certainly means that, but
that's not what it's talking about. It's talking, Gary, about
sober-mindedness. Act like men. Don't act rashly. Don't behave as children. Children,
you know, they They make rash decisions and they run here and
run there and they do things without thinking. They do things
that, you know, you say to your kids, if you could just see beyond
the end of your nose. Because they do things without
looking beyond the end of their nose. Don't do that. Be sober. That means live in
this world understanding who you are. Live in this world understanding
your purpose in life. Live in this world understanding
your responsibilities before God. Live in this world understanding
the consequences of your action. Be sober. Be sober. Hope to the
end. That word is a word encouraging
perseverance. The Apostle is here telling us
that we must persevere in the faith of the gospel. We must
continue in the faith of Christ. But he uses the word hope. And
this is what he's saying. He's saying don't ever, don't
ever, ever, ever be moved away from the hope of the gospel.
Don't do it. You constantly feed your soul
on Christ crucified. Constantly, constantly nourish
yourself in the blessed hope of the gospel. walking before
God as a sinner, robed in the righteousness of Christ, washed
in His blood with no hope but this. That's all. When you're
cast down, cling to the hope. When you're in despair, cling
to the hope. Let nothing move you away from
Christ. Hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought to you. Do you mean there's something
more? There's more grace yet to come? Oh yeah, we haven't
begun to grasp yet. The grace that is to be brought
to you, look at it now, at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus comes, and
he is coming, it's not going to be a secret thing. Prophecy
nuts these days, you know, they They've been talking now about
a 400 years about the Lord Jesus coming secretly gonna rapture
church out. You know when they Somebody had
that flight final. They're gonna rapture the church
out and be taken up to glory and Airplanes be left without
a pilot a copilot be left in thought He'd not come in secret. No, no, no, no Bobby when he
comes every eyes Every eyes He's coming in the glory of His Father
with 10,000 of His angels. And every eye's gonna see Him
clearly. Must see Him clearly. See who
He is, what He's done. See why He did it. Every eye's
gonna see Him. And when He comes and brings
us with Him into the state of everlasting glory, then we shall
obtain the final end of all grace and all glory at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. All right, now live with your
eyes focused there. When you go to school, Michelle
just graduated. You did just graduate, didn't
you? You go to school, you got a long haul. Got a long haul.
You got your eyes focused. And everything under the sun
comes along. Everything under the sun comes
along. This will pull you aside. Well, I can drop this now, finish
up later. I'll go back later. Keep your eyes focused. Now,
children of God, set your eyes upon Christ in glory and let
nothing in earth or hell turn you from Him. Keep your eyes
focused on eternity. Number two, fashion, mold, govern
the affairs of your life as obedient children. Not after the lust
of ignorance by which others live. Look what the apostle says
to us here in verse 14. He tells us to gird up our minds,
to set our hearts and minds firmly on Christ as obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance. You see, the whole world lives
after the lust of the flesh. And Brother Todd Nyberg described
this, identified it so well for you in his message here a few
weeks ago on Tuesday night. He said, the lust of the flesh
are the desires, the appetites of fallen man. That's what they
are. It's not just sensual things. It's not just sexual stuff. No,
no, no, no. The lust of the flesh are the
desires of fallen humanity, and it's after that which all humanity
runs by nature. Now, children of God, don't give
in to the lust of your flesh. Don't fashion Don't mold, don't
govern your lives after the affairs of this world, but rather has
obedient children. Obedient children living constantly
under the Father's eye. And yet that's not really the
best way. I used to tell faith, you might
not know it, but I see everything, I hear everything, I know everything. It's all coming back to me, I
guarantee you. You're not ever going to get
by with anything. And the reason for that is because just in case
mercy and grace doesn't work with a depraved heart, I want
to be sure there's some fear there. I want to be sure you're
going to obey me one way or the other. But it's far better to
look back and understand the child had a desire to honor dad,
to honor mom, whether it was there or not. whether you looked
at it or whether you didn't. Oh, now that's an obedient child.
An obedient son's not a son who's obedient because daddy's looking.
He's not obedient because he's afraid of what's gonna happen.
Oh, no, that's not an obedient child. An obedient child is one
who desires the honor of his father, whether his father knows
it or not. Now, children of God, as obedient
children, fashion your lives Not after the lust of this flesh,
not after the ignorance by which others live, but for the glory
of God. Adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things. That's it. That's it. Merle,
that's how we live in this world. Just honor God. Just honor God. Say, well, boy, I need some rules
and regulations. I need some help. Tell me. No,
you don't, you know. You know what honors God and
what doesn't? You know what's according to the will of God
and what isn't? Don't live after the lust of your flesh. I know
the whole world does. I know the whole world seeks
to teach us life centers on me and as long as it's, I get what
I want, I feel, I don't this, I don't that, I feel this, I
want that. I'm so tired of hearing it. I had some gal tell me one
time, she said, I'm gonna leave my husband, we're not compatible.
I'd rather be incompatible and live with you than be incompatible
with God forever. That's nonsense. That's nonsense. Don't you find an excuse for
ungodliness. Don't you do it, don't you do
it. Not if you seek the honor of God. All right, look at the
third thing, verse 15. As God our Father is holy, let
us strive to be holy. As he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy. Now look at it. He's talking
now about something we're to do. He's talking about something
in our lives. He's not just talking about justification.
He's not just talking about our being made holy by imputation. He's talking about all manner
of conversation. That word, Lindsay, means manner
of life. It's not just manner of speech. By all means, speak
in a manner that honors God, but he's talking about your whole
lifestyle. So be ye holy in all manner of
conversation because it is written. Be ye holy. for I am holy. Now then, I understand, and you
do, that it is absolutely impossible for any sinner to live in this
world in holiness. I understand that. We cannot
and never can in this world attain to perfect holiness except by
divine imputation. But as God's children, Larry,
Chris, we must never be satisfied with anything less. Never. Paul said, I press toward
the mark. I forget what's behind. I keep
reaching forth to things that are before. Don't ever be satisfied
with anything less than absolute conformity to Jesus Christ. Don't ever be. Don't ever be.
So that we constantly live with the blessed, blessed knowledge
that in Christ we are accepted, perfect, justified, holy as Christ
himself is holy. And yet at the same time, in
the depths of our souls, we desire to be holy in the experience
of daily life. Now I'm going to tell you something,
and either this is true or I'm a liar and I don't know God. In the depths of my soul, that which I desire above anything
in this world is absolute conformity to Christ. Holiness. Holiness. Absolute holiness. and I'm gonna get it. But while here, I must never
allow myself to be satisfied with anything less than perfect
compliance to the will of God. Now then, look at verse 17. Here's
what I'm talking about when I talk about our responsibilities. Peter sums it up by saying, Let's
live in the fear of God. And if you call on the Father
who, without respect to persons, judgeth according to every man's
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. In reverence, yes. But you'll
notice that Peter is making a reference here to the fact that God judges
all men according to their work. So he's talking about us giving
account to God. And he tells us as we walk in
this world not only to live with reverence before God, but to
live as men and women who fear his holy name. To live as men
and women who are aware we're going to meet God face to face. Live as men and women before
whom, who walk before God before whom all things are naked and
open. You see, buddy, it doesn't really
much matter. It doesn't really much matter
what you see in me or I see in you. That really doesn't matter. Man, we can hide a lot behind
clothes. You know, if you fix things up
just right, use enough makeup, you can cover up scars, you can
cover up fat, you can cover up skinny, you can hide a lot behind
clothes. You can't hide anything from
God. I recall Brother Maurice telling
me years ago what your dad told him is let's go to Germany. He
said, Hubert came out, took him by the hand. He said, son, God
goes everywhere. I was going to Japan, I think
it was, Okinawa. He said, God goes everywhere.
He does. So you passed the time of your
sojourning here in fear. Pastor, how are you going to
get folks to live like that? What inspires men and women to
give themselves in relentless consecration to Christ? What
will motivate people to devote themselves to Christ, to devote
themselves to the glory of God, the will of God, the cause of
God? What motivates people to do that? Surely you've got to
give them some laws. Surely you've got to threaten
them with punishment or promise them some reward. No, no. In the last verses of the chapter,
Peter gives us the motive. For as much, verse 18, as you
know. All right, now here's my reason.
Here's my reason. You know you were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation. That's where God found us, isn't
it? Samuel, when he saved us, we lived in a vain, empty, meaningless
manner of life. A vain conversation. Received
by tradition from your fathers. That means you had a vain conversation
and lived just like your daddy did who also had a vain conversation.
Received by tradition. We just pass on emptiness, meaningless
nonsense to our children just like we pass on sin. But with
the precious blood of Christ. What a word. Precious blood is
his blood. who verily was for, I'm sorry,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last days for you. Why should I give myself to him?
Because he gave himself to me. I'm redeemed. I'm redeemed. The Son of God bought me with
his blood. I'm redeemed. All right, look
at it. Who by him do believe? This one
who loved me, who gave himself for me, he's given me faith in
God. He's come and brought to me the
knowledge of God that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified your
soul, in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren. Now, notice what Peter's telling
us. You and I who believe are many women who have purified
our souls in obedience to the truth. Now, wait a minute. I thought you said this was God's
work. It is. It is. He's the one who gave us the
faith. And yet believers do willingly, deliberately, purposely plunge
into the fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins
and purge away their sins in the experience of faith. Oh,
we do nothing to put sin away. We can do nothing to make ourselves
pure. But in the experience of it,
we believe on Christ and thus purify our souls by applying
the blood of Christ to ourselves as God the Holy Spirit applies
it to us. We have purified our souls by
believing with disobedience of the truth unto unfeigned love
of the brethren. How can I call on Mark Henson to live in this world in such
a way that may cause him personal difficulty. Take up your cross, follow me.
How can I call on you to live in this world in such a way as
may cost you, be difficult for you, not personally pleasing
to you? Well, I love my brethren. Love doesn't always feel good.
Love doesn't always, it's not always happy. It's just not. Love involves pain. Love involves
sacrifice. Love, I'm not talking about this
silly notion that somehow everything got to revolve around me. I'm
talking about love. If I love Bobby Estes, I'm gonna live best
I can for him. That's just all there is to it.
If I love that lady, I'm gonna live best I can for her. For
her. For her good. For her welfare. Best I can. Do the best I can
by her, regardless of what it costs me. Regardless. Have to give up some
sleep. That's alright, I love her. Gotta
give up some time. That's alright, I love her. You
gotta give up some earthly pleasure. That's all right, I love her,
it's not a sacrifice. Then God said to me, oh no, I
love her. And I love my brethren. Love
my brethren, that's reason enough to honor God. Because I love
you. And whatever I do affects you.
However I behave affects you. All right, Rita? See then that you love one another
with a pure heart, fervently. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Have we been born of God? We're
here in this world, men and women who are the children of God,
I'm calling for you and me to live for God's glory. Because
when all is said and done, there's nothing in the world worthy of
consideration except God's glory. Nothing. What does it say? All flesh is grass. Just grass. I was out last night,
got done with some stuff and took my blower and blowing grass
away. Just blow it away. Didn't even
think about saving it. Didn't even think about gathering
it up. All I was interested in is moving
it out, get rid of it. All flesh is grass. And the glory
of man, all those things that cause fellows to stick out their
chest and raise their chin and pop their suspenders and strut
big, the glory of man, it's like the little bloom, not like these
pretty flowers you take care of. No, no, no. Like the little
bloom you get on the end of the grass if you let it grow too
long. The glory of man is just the flower of the grass. The
grass withers, the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of
the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Christ of whom the word speaks,
who is himself the Word of God, he lives forever. And there's nothing worth putting
in the scales with him. Nothing. Nothing. God, teach us. God, teach us
by your grace. to live for your glory. Amen. All right, Lynch, you can listen
to him, please.