Loving As We Live
1 Peter Chapter
1:13-25
We should understand
as Peter wrote these things that persecution of the New Church was
very great. Those that were Jews had lost their property,
possessions, money, and even family members and friends.
They had been forced
to flee for their lives and this kind of thing spreads into other
countries as people feel like they are doing some good when they are
violating basic human rights!
And just like today
many others were excited about the Church with its salvation and hope
and eternal life but they did not want to hear about repentance.
Somethings never
change!
People just do not
want to hear about righteousness and godliness!
These of the New
Covenant Church needed to be encouraged.
One of the greatest
missions we can have is to be an encourager!
It is the "Gospel"
of the Lord Jesus Christ that changes lives!
It is the promises
of God that can be used to encourage others!
When we keep our
eyes focused on the "Grace" of God, we find that we can
endure the things of this world knowing that we are only strangers
here and the New Heaven will be our home!
We must prepare our
minds for success. We are on "the winning side"!
*****1 Peter 1:13
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the
end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ;
To gird means: To
surround; to encircle; to enclose; to encompass.
The loins are: The
loins are the space on each side of the vertebrae, between the lowest
of the false ribs and the upper portion of the osilium or haunch
bone, or the lateral portions of the lumbar region; called also the
reins.
Then these words of
Peter mean, because we have such promises from the Lord Jesus Christ
we can now be of use to the glory of God!
Isa 11:5 And
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the
girdle of his reins.
Jesus said it like
this:
Luk 12:34 For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luk 12:35 Let your
loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
Luk 12:36 And ye
yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will
return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may
open unto him immediately.
The Apostle Paul
said like this:
Eph 6:14 Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 6:19 And for
me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth
boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Eph 6:20 For which
I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I
ought to speak.
We can see that we
are to be prepared to be a disciple of the Lord!
Our salvation is
such a great thing it should be of interest to others as it was to
the angels!
You see that true
salvation can come only buy the "Grace" of God.
Eph 2:8 For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of
works, lest any man should boast.
We must be
courageous Christians in this wicked world!
We must be genuine
Christians in this wicked world!
We must be sincere
Christians in this wicked world!
As true Christians
we are to make an impact on those around us!
Again the Apostle
Paul said it like this:
Php 4:7 And the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.
Php 4:8 Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be
any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Php 4:9 Those
things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen
in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
You see these things
can come only by Jesus Christ!
We must be obedient
children to our Father who art in Heaven!!!!!
We must never fear
the coming of the Lord because He comes to take us home!
*****1Pe 1:14 As
obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lusts in your ignorance:
Whether we like it
or not we were servants of the Devil until we gave our life to Jesus
Christ.
We obeyed the
thoughts in our head without question. We just did the evil things of
this world without questioning our own morality.
well in this same
sense we must now be obedient to the Lord and honor our Father in
Heaven.
Being obedient to
the Word of God without questioning our God who wrote His Words by
the Holy Spirit, using the hands of some man who dearly loved Him!
We were ignorant to
the truth of God. I know I was but not ever again!
If we think Satan
will leave us alone, we have become fools. This is why the Scriptures
are so very important to us!
We belong to God
after we are washed in the blood of Jesus and we need to act like it!
We are not God's
mercenaries nor are we God's slaves, we are God's children!
Those that reject
this truth need to visit Gethsemane and Calvary and learn of the
Nazarene.
Psa 119:6 Then
shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy
commandments.
Psa 119:7 I will
praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy
righteous judgments.
Psa 119:8 I will
keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
Why did God reveal
Himself to Moses? God decided to reclaim His children!
God has a plan much
greater than any plan of man and God's plan cannot be stopped, nor
can it be hindered or slowed down!
What is the truth of
God?
Mat 7:20 Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21 Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many
wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that
work iniquity.
Mat 7:24 Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken
him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
We can be wise in
the wisdom of God or we can be ignorant of the truth of God, we
cannot be both!
As we learn more of
the Character of God and take those thoughts back to the Book of
Genesis and see that when God said let there be light, then that was
the Light of Lord who had the same character that we have learned to
know and to love about our Savior.
It is God's love for
us who sent His Son to Mount Calvary!
God wants us to be
Holy as He is Holy and this is not asking too much, it is only
learning the truth and realizing the lies of this world that is
influenced by the Devil!
*****1Pe 1:15 But
as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it
is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
The Lord God Jehovah
is Holy in all His ways!!!!!
Isa 6:3 And one
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:
the whole earth is full of his glory.
We can disagree but
that just makes us fools!
Rev 15:4 Who shall
not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy:
for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments
are made manifest.
To be Holy is to be
perfect! The triune God is perfect! So to be holy is to have purity
and integrity of moral character.
To be holy is to be
conformed to the will of God!
Rom 6:22 But now
being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your
fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23 For the
wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
These things are not
so hard to understand!
Eph 1:4 According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in
the beloved.
Being holy is
something God is working on us every day, because it is not an
overnight thing. Holiness is learned gradually!
2Co 7:1 Having
therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God.
Eph 4:23 And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that
ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
Holiness is not
something that is appointed it is something we learn by the
Scriptures and with the help of the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)!
1Th 4:7 For God
hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
And yes, we are to
have a reverent fear of our Holy God!
But we should also
how powerful our God is and have a physical fear of Him also.
*****1Pe 1:17 And
if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth
according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here
in fear:
Our fear of the Lord
is the basis of a good relationship with our Father in Heaven!
Pro 1:7 The fear of
the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction.
Job 28:28 And unto
man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to
depart from evil is understanding.
Psa 19:9 The fear
of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD
are true and righteous altogether.
If our fear is
joined with hope and love, we can have a close and personal
relationship with our Savior, and these are facts!
What did Adam say
after he had sin in his life?
Gen 3:10 And he
said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I
was naked; and I hid myself.
Adam had never
feared the Lord before his sin!
If we do not hold
our Heavenly Father above all others, then we are not reverencing our
Father!
If we call God our
Father, then we need to act like we are His blessed children!
We need to stand
against all sin.
We need to stand
against all trials.
We need to stand
against all persecutions, all temptations, and all evil in this life!
If we do not respect
our Father, then why pray because we are wasting our time!
Jesus gave us this
example:
Mat 6:9 After this
manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be
thy name.
Mat 6:10 Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
If we cannot
"hallow" our Heavenly Father, then our life will be
meaningless!
We must understand
that it is Jehovah God who is the "Judge" of this world.
We must hold God in
reverence, but we must also live in "awe" of our mighty God
and fools not to do so!
1) Every person who
has ever lived will be judged and God is that judge! You will stand
at the feet of God one day!
2) It is the works
we have done that will be judged! For the believer, he will be judged
only on what he or she has done since calling on Christ for
forgiveness. For the unbeliever it will be the things he or she has
done all their lives with the first and greatest sin is rejecting our
Savior, and rejecting this Judge!
We are saved by
"faith" if that faith is in the works of Jesus Christ!
Jesus did all the works so we have no works to get us saved and if we
attempt to do works to please God then we will fail. Our works begin
after salvation and not before salvation!
No matter who we are
we are all judged the same. Billy Graham will be judged the same as
Adolf Hitler. God does not show favoritism!
Each sinner has
already been judged and condemned to death. This death is an eternity
without God to save them in the pits of misery in Hell!
God just does not
show partiality or favoritism!
You see once we know
Jesus as our Savior, we are adopted into the family of God and we are
just aliens on this planet, Heaven is our true home!
All these good
things come when we have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ.
All these bad things
come when we reject the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just that simple!
How are we to act
around other Christians?
1Th_2:10 Ye are
witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we
behaved ourselves among you that believe:
You see when we
accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we then are the redeemed!
*****1Pe 1:18
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot:
What is the
"atonement"?
The state of being
at one with God the Father or "reconciled" to our Heavenly
Father.
Our atonement came
about by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Our Heavenly Father
was satisfied with the debt that Jesus paid for our sins.
Rom 6:23 For the
wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is this death of
Jesus Christ that satisfied all the demands of the 613 laws of Moses
and the demands of God for all Gentiles!
The work of Jesus
Christ for our sins was His suffering and His obedience in the eyes
of His Father!
The atonement is the
consequence of God's love to guilty mankind!
Joh 3:16 For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the
world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 He that
believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God.
The truth is, you
can refine silver over and over again and it will never be 100% pure
and when placed in the hands of man it becomes less pure. It is the
same for gold!
The same cannot be
said of our Savior, Our Savior is 100% pure and so is His blood.
Jesus was incorruptible then and He is now because He lives!
A slave could be
bought with silver and gold in fact a rich man could also be bought
with silver or gold, but these things can never buy our
reconciliation to our Holy God.
In the eyes of God,
gold is nothing more than asphalt for paving roads!
Gal 3:13 Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 3:14 That the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The blood of Jesus
is our means of eternal life!
Lev_17:11 For the
life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood
that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Joh_6:53 Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh_6:54 Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will
raise him up at the last day.
Yes, we are a bloody
religion because it has to be this way!
It is by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have been made free from the empty
life that we are taught to live by this evil world!
An empty life is
useless to our God and it dooms us to eternal death in a place that
was created for Satan, the Devil, HELL!
It is the spotless
blood of Jesus that washed us as white as snow!
Jesus Christ is the
Word that became Flesh. The blood of Jesus is the blood in which God
was manifest. There is no blood so precious as that of The Lord Jesus
Christ.
"What can wash
my sin away? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"
Jesus and God are
one and the same!
*****1Pe 1:20 Who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was
manifest in these last times for you,
1Pe 1:21 Who by him
do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him
glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
God had a plan of
salvation put together before the first day of Creation!
2Ti 1:9 Who hath
saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began,
2Ti 1:10 But is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel:
The New Testament
Church rises or falls according to the "Gospel" of Jesus
Christ!
Will the redeemed of
the Lord say so?
We must understand
that it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ where our hope of
eternity stands!
Jesus Christ is the
God of the Bible and the God of all creation!
It is through the
Lord Jesus Christ that we can be "faithful" toward God. It
is the Holy Triune God that was at work for our salvation!
1Co 2:7 But we
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which
God ordained before the world unto our glory:
The same God who
raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from His death can raise us all up
from death to live in eternity with Him!
Jesus Christ is the
perfect Mediator between us and God the Father who seeks perfection
for us all.
It is the work of
Jesus Christ who has made us acceptable to God the Father!
To approach our
Father in Heaven we can only go by the Lord Jesus Christ!
Joh 6:28 Then said
they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29 Jesus
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe
on him whom he hath sent.
It is only Jesus
Christ that we can be made whole!
Act 4:10 Be it
known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
To be whole is to
have purified our souls!
*****1Pe 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one
another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23 Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Besides prayer there
is no greater force upon this earth than "love"!
To God the Father,
love is the key to our salvation!
Two people that love
each other will do anything to please each other.
Why should it be
different in our love of God?
Why should we not
have brotherly love toward each other?
It is by love that
families can be families.
A purified soul will
contain a purified love for all God's people!
2Co 6:6 By
pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy
Ghost, by love unfeigned,
Unfeigned means
genuine, sincere, without hypocrisy or play-acting.
What is it to be
"Born Again"?
How did the Apostle
Paul say it by the Holy Spirit?
1Co 15:53 For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Notice to be "born
again" is a complete change!
Just as Mary the
Mother of Jesus was found with child by the Holy Spirit, then each
and every believer is "born again" by the Holy Spirit who
lives within each child of God!
The Word of God is
that incorruptible seed that we must absorb into our souls and
planted in our hearts.
To born again is a
Spiritual rebirth, a rebirth of our spirit, a new life, a renewed
soul, a godly nature!
Joh 3:3 Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:5 Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not
that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
If we do not have a
rebirth we still live in that old sinful flesh and be a servant of
Satan!
Just keep this in
mind, we must be reborn and not reformed!
There can nothing
good come from that old body of flesh!
*****1Pe 1:24 For
all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25 But the
word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you.
When we are born
into this world as a babe, we know nothing but after a few years we
feel invincible but as we get older, after the prime of our lives we
begin to see that life is really very short.
We realize that what
has said is very true. Our flesh is as grass and the glory of the
grass is its flower and soon it begins to wither away, until it is
gone forever.
The Word of God on
the other hand speaks its truth until time runs out, and it will run
out.
As Christians we
know the end and the new beginning is 1007 years plus the time God
allows till the rapture of the Church. That may seem like a long time
but in reality, it is not.
If there ever was a
time to get right with God, then now is that time!
We can see the
reality of what God is saying here.
We look around and
we see those who have aged until one day they are gone!
Before that day
takes place, we need to make an appointment with God and we can only
do that through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
If and when the Holy
Spirit knocks on the door of your heart, please say yes quickly, very
quickly, we are not promised any more time at all!
When we have been
"born again", we are at peace with God and these things
lose their relevance and only the going home seems to be of
importance.
We welcome death but
at the same time we all have family members and friends who have not
said yes to the Lord.
The Word of God will
never change because our God will never change.
You do not have to
look for things that are better when you already have the very best!
One day we will be
living with the Lord forever and nothing on this earth can be better
than that.
Forever and
Eternity, have no time limits because time will cease to exist!
Amen
Let's Pray!
