The First Peter Finale 1 Peter 5:12-14

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On June 25th, we started our journey through 1 Peter. That was almost eight months ago, and in that time we have seen the treasures of this letter written by the
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Apostle Peter in the first century to the churches in Asia Minor. This morning we conclude the letter, and Peter writes his concluding remarks in 1
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Peter 5 verses 12 through 14. So at this time, I encourage you to turn there with me, 1
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Peter 5 verses 12 through 14, and we are going to read this, and if you don't have a
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Bible, we do have the red Bibles that you can follow along in. This is what he writes at the end of this letter.
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By Silvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.
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Stand firm in it. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends greetings, and so does
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Mark, my son. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
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What Peter does in these verses is he describes a faithful brother.
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His name is Silvanus. Silvanus was a reliable man who wrote down this letter for Peter, and he also delivered the letter to these churches in Asia Minor.
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What Silvanus wrote on behalf of Peter, Peter calls the true grace of God, that believers are to stand firm in it.
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What I'm going to do in this sermon is summarize from the letter the true grace of God that the entire letter contains, and that by living this out, one is considered a faithful follower of Christ, the very designation that Peter gives
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Silvanus. When the New Testament talks about the grace of God, this word, grace, is used in different ways.
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This is one of those treasures that you discover when you read the Bible. One of the ways the grace of God is talked about is in salvation, and that's the one we are the most familiar with, that because of God's goodness, he sends
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Jesus on a rescue mission to save sinners, and when he goes to the cross and he dies for our sins, anybody who believes in him has eternal life.
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That is how the grace of God is shown. But that's not the only way the grace of God is shown.
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I've heard one pastor say that the grace of God is not just pardon, it's power.
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And you'll notice this as you read the New Testament, that the Apostle Paul often concludes his letters by saying, grace be with you.
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What he means by this is that what he wrote in his letter is the grace, and this grace of instruction is to be lived out in the power of the
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Holy Spirit. So here we go, our big idea, what this text, what this sermon is calling you to do is to follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter.
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And this next part is really going to scare you. Here's 16 instructions that mark a faithful Christian.
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Now typically when I take one point in a sermon, it takes like 10 to 15 minutes, each of these points is going to be about two minutes long, maybe less than that, not to scare you.
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So 16 instructions that mark a faithful Christian, these are general instructions that we have seen in this letter.
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So today we're going to do this 30 ,000 foot overview of the letter of 1 Peter as we have gone through it.
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So the first instruction is this, understand that the Lord always works for the good of his people.
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And we saw this in 1 Peter 1 verses 3 through 9. What he covers there is that Christians face various trials for the purpose of testing your faith.
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To explain this, he used the illustration of gold being refined by fire. I explained this one week ago in fact.
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When gold is found, it has lots of different corrupted materials on it that need to be removed and this takes place through exposing the gold to excessive heat.
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In a similar way, the Lord plans for believers to go through trials and as you endure these trials, what is produced in your life is the purity of holiness.
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It is helpful that Peter says various trials, just as James 1 -2 says, as a
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Christian you will face trials. And these trials range from physical, to mental, to relational, to opposition from the world.
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But as we face these trials, trusting the Lord, he accomplishes much good in us through the difficult circumstances.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter and the first instruction that marks a faithful Christian is to understand that the
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Lord always works for the good of his people. Then we turned to the second instruction that Peter covered in this letter and what
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Peter does in verses 10 -12 is that he looks back to the prophets of old.
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The prophets of old wondered the person and time that the Messiah's sufferings and subsequent glories would take place.
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What this tells us is that the prophets of old, the Old Testament prophets, knew that the
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Messiah would suffer and they also knew the glory that would follow his suffering. Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12 -10 predicted that the
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Messiah would suffer for sinners. The prophets also knew that he would not remain dead as Psalm 16 -9 makes clear.
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But what they didn't know is when this was going to take place and who the person was going to be.
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But we know his coming happened 2 ,000 years ago and the person is
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Jesus of Nazareth, also called Jesus Christ. It is truly remarkable that scripture predicted long ago what
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Christ would accomplish on the cross for sinners. We praise God for this glorious plan he had all along and the blessing that we experience through his plan of sending his son
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Jesus, the Messiah, to die for our sins. So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter and the second instruction that marks the faithful Christian is to understand that the prophets of old focused their attention on the
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Messiah's future work. Then in the next section in verses 13 -21
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Peter transitioned telling his readers and us to have our focus in the right place as we live in this world.
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When we come into this world we are sinners deserving of eternal punishment in hell.
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It is of utmost importance that everyone put their trust in Christ who paid the full penalty for one's sins.
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Once this happens the Lord's plan for a believer is holiness. One clear mark of those who belong to the
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Lord is that they will be holy as he is holy. This is what verse 16 of the section tells us.
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Peter quotes Leviticus 11 .45. You shall be holy as I am holy.
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So the Lord doesn't just save us and then we live our lives however we want and then we go to heaven. No. His plan is for us to live holy lives while we are here.
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That's a mark of a true believer. Peter tells us that the way to do this is to have our eyes fixed on the future glory awaiting the believer and so it is of utmost importance that believers live with your eyes fixed on the future glory and not the things of this world that only draw you further from the
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Lord. So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter and the third instruction that marks a faithful Christian is that faithful Christians focus on the future glory that is yours in Christ.
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Then Peter transitioned to the next section in chapter 1 verses 22 through chapter 2 verse 3 by telling us the foundation of our faithfulness.
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The foundation of how we live our lives comes from one place.
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The word of God. Peter wrote that the word of God stands the test of time as the things of this world pass away.
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This word is compared to milk for a baby that provides nourishment.
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As a baby drinks milk, the baby grows big and strong over time.
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In a similar way as believers feed on the word of God, we grow into maturity.
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The only way we can grow to maturity is if our lives are ruled by his word.
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As we taste that he is good and we follow his will which is stated clearly in his word, what happens is that we his people grow up into maturity.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter and the fourth instruction that marks a faithful Christian is to understand that the word of God is far more powerful than you can imagine.
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Then Peter transitioned from the word of God being our foundation to one man who is our foundation and that is the
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Lord Jesus Christ. He explained this in chapter 2 verses 4 through 12.
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What Peter did in this section is go to the Old Testament as he did many times in his letter. He goes to Isaiah 28 16 and Psalm 118 verse 22 to show that a cornerstone was predicted over whom the people of Israel would stumble.
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The cornerstone, also called the capstone in some versions, was the most important stone used in a building structure in the first century.
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If you took out the cornerstone, the entire structure would collapse. But the
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Jewish people at Christ's first coming didn't want to receive this stone. They sadly stumbled over him, rejecting him.
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But Peter quotes another Old Testament passage Isaiah 28 16 that says he who believes in him this stone will not be put to shame.
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What Peter made clear is that Jesus is the only firm foundation on planet earth.
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For anyone to be eternally secure, he must be your foundation. To lack him as your foundation, one will collapse and be lost forever.
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Follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter and the fifth instruction that marks a faithful Christian is to know that Jesus is the stone that demands a response.
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Then in the next section, in chapter 2 verses 13 through 17,
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Peter transitioned to the role of how believers are to live in a world that has governing authorities.
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God put human government in place for the good of society. Government is supposed to promote good and punish evil.
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As Christians, we should be law -abiding citizens. We should pay our taxes, follow the speed limits, and not commit crimes.
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We should also pray for our leaders. But there are times when the governing authorities overstep their authority.
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And this is when we don't obey. So as believers, we are called to be law -abiding citizens, and there are times we need to have the wisdom to know when that we do not obey.
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When the government tells us to do something, the Bible tells us not to do, this is when we disobey.
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But faithful Christians recognize God's good design in human government. So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter and the sixth instruction that marks a faithful Christian is to submit to God's good design for human government.
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Then he transitioned to another form of submission, and he outlined this in chapter 2, verses 18 through 25.
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Submission in the workplace. The submission that Peter described was slaves submitting to their masters.
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Now we don't have slaves and masters in our day, so the closest parallel we have is the workplace environment where employees are to submit to their employers.
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Christians, of all people, are to be model employees, the kind of employee that an employer loves to have under one's authority.
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What Peter explained is that sometimes employees have bad bosses, and in these cases they are still to submit, knowing that their ultimate submission is to the
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Lord. Scripture also talks about masters in different places in the New Testament. So the parallel would be an owner or manager.
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The one in charge in the workplace is to treat those below him or her with respect.
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As Ephesians 6, 9 says, masters do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
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Christian bosses should be those who employees enjoy working for.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter, and the seventh instruction is to strive to be a model employee, and by extension, an employer for the glory of God.
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Then Peter transitioned to the third focus of submission, and that is a wife submitting to her husband.
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He wrote about this in 1 Peter 3, verses 1 -7. Once again we see
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God's good ordering in this world. God made it that husbands are to be the head of the household.
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For a home to be a healthy home, this must take place. With this in mind, wives are not to take the authority and role that God has given the man.
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Now this doesn't mean the husband is superior to his wife. He is not, but to lead in the marriage is his role.
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Peter even gives instructions about wives submitting to husbands who are unbelievers. In this environment, this submission becomes very difficult, but there still should be a level of submission, and when this takes place, as the wife shows respect to her unbelieving husband, he may come to faith in Christ.
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As the wife submits to her husband as the head, what is taking place is that the wife is ultimately submitting to the
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Lord, and he is honored through this. Peter also gives instructions to the husbands.
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The husband is to care for the wife. In a parallel passage in Ephesians 5, verses 25 -32, in verse 28 of that section, husbands are told to love their wives.
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This means cherishing their wives. So here's a good question for the men here. The husbands, do you cherish your wife?
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The Lord calls you to that. Every good husband cherishes the wife that he is married to, and this is shown through all the positive ways he treats her.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter, and the eighth instruction that marks a faithful Christian is to live out
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God's good design as husband and wife. Then Peter transitioned to the difficult reality of persecution in chapter 3, verses 8 -17.
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As Peter wrote this letter to these churches in Asia Minor, they were not a stranger to persecution, and Peter encouraged them as they faced it.
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Peter explained the unpleasant reality that we live in a world that opposes Christ, and because we belong to Christ, we are to expect that we will experience opposition from the world.
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What Peter told his readers and us is that when we face opposition from the world, we are not to be afraid.
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We are to trust the Lord's care for us during those difficult times. We are also to understand that we are blessed as we suffer for Christ's sake.
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What a wonderful reality that the Lord's blessing is over you as the world hates you.
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We were also told not to seek revenge against our persecutors. Instead of paying back our persecutors with evil, we are to treat them well.
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This doesn't mean excusing their behavior, but doing good to them when you are around them and also praying for their repentance, ready to forgive them if that repentance comes.
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As we follow Jesus closely, persecution will come, and as it comes, we are to honor the
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Lord in the way we handle it. So follow the grace of God, learned in Peter's first letter, and the ninth instruction that marks a faithful Christian is to prepare yourselves as Christians to experience opposition from the world.
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Okay, so we're at number 10 now. So then Peter transitioned to describing the judgment that Jesus faced on behalf of us in 1
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Peter 3, verses 18 through 22. In these verses, there's a very famous verse, this is like an
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Awana verse that a lot of kids would quote, or a children's church verse. For Christ suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to God.
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What Peter is describing is the substitutionary atonement of Christ. He faced the punishment that you and I deserve.
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He bore the holy wrath of God, as he's saying this morning, his righteous frown.
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That's the wrath of God. And during the six hours Jesus spent on the cross, the
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Father's wrath was fully satisfied. Anyone who believes in Jesus has their sins paid for, as Jesus paid the penalty for sinners.
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As the old song goes, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
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And what Peter does is that he goes back to the flood, this global flood that God sent on the earth, and he compares the flood to water baptism.
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In the Genesis flood, water was used as an agent of judgment, as the whole world perished.
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Only Noah and his family were spared. What happened 2 ,000 years ago is that Jesus faced judgment, but it wasn't the judgment of waters, but rather the judgment of God's holy wrath as he poured it out upon him.
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Just as Noah and his family were saved through the ark, so believers find their refuge from God's wrath in the refuge of Jesus Christ.
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So here's the question for everyone here today, is Jesus your refuge? Because as a sinner, you stand condemned, and he is your only remedy.
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He's your only rescue. And by believing in him, you will be eternally secure, covered by the blood of Christ, never to face
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God's judgment. My prayer is that everyone in here would have that faith in Christ, that refuge.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter, and the tenth mark of a faithful Christian is to understand that the
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Lord rescues you from judgment. Then in the next section, in chapter four, verses one through six,
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Peter instructed Christians not to live like the Gentiles. When he says
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Gentiles, a Gentile is a non -Jew, but in this context, what he's talking about is any unbeliever.
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Most of the Gentiles were unbelievers. Don't live like unbelievers.
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That's his charge. Peter wrote in verses three through five, The time that has passed suffices for doing what the
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Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
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With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery.
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The Super Bowl halftime show, that will be on today probably. And they malign you, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
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I mentioned the Super Bowl because that's today, and think about it. There might be some good football, but think of all the stuff that goes with it.
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Can we just have the game? So they have all this junk with it, and we have to shield our children. That's the world, and the world thinks it's strange.
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Why don't you want to jump into the same flood of debauchery as us? In the verse before, in verse two,
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Peter wrote that we are not to live this life for human passions, but for the will of God. This is a clear theme that we saw in the letter of 1
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Peter, that we are not to live like the world. Christians should look much different from the world as we follow the
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Lord's will for our lives. So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter, and the eleventh mark of a faithful Christian is to live to save your life, not destroy it.
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Then Peter focused on what our Christian responsibilities are as Christ's return nears, in chapter four, verses seven through eleven.
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We are not to be survivalists, who isolate ourselves from the world and the church, looking up at the sky, wondering when is he going to come back?
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As we face the reality that Christ is coming back, we are to live with his return in mind, which means going through life together in the context of the local church.
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So he's talking about, okay, prepare for the end, prepare for the end, show hospitality. It almost sounds like a diplomatic, doesn't it?
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Show hospitality toward one another. We are to use the different spiritual gifts that God has given each of us to build up the body of Christ, and we are to love one another earnestly, which even means overlooking one another's sins.
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As this is done, we are doing what God calls us to do as Christ's return is on the horizon.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter, and the twelfth mark of a faithful Christian is to fulfill your
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Christian responsibilities as the end nears. Then in the next section, in chapter four, verses 12 through 19,
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Peter returns to the topic of persecution, which is a big theme of this letter that we have seen.
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Peter's writing to these churches in Asia Minor, and they are suffering, and the reason they're suffering is because they are identified with the
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Lord Jesus Christ. That's their crime, and the world doesn't love Christ. Remember, the world crucified
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Jesus, and anybody who stands with Christ is going to experience opposition from the world.
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And Jesus told us this in John 15, verses 18 and 19, if the world hates you, remember that it hated me before it hated you.
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The Apostle Paul also wrote in 2 Timothy 3 .12 that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
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As Peter already said in chapter three, when a believer experiences persecution from the world, you are blessed.
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To suffer for doing wrong doesn't bring the Lord's blessing, but to suffer for doing the Lord's will brings great blessing.
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You experience the sweet approval of the Lord as you suffer for his sake.
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So this theme, we're supposed to stand strong in the face of opposition, knowing that you will be rewarded, knowing that his blessing is over you, knowing that any suffering you experience is only temporary.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter, and the thirteenth mark of a faithful Christian is to understand that persecution is a part of the normal experience of the believer.
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You'll notice, by the way, that every one of these points is the big idea from this section.
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Okay, so spoiler. Then as we entered the homestretch of Peter's first letter, his attention turned to the shepherds of a local congregation in chapter five, verses one through five.
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Here Peter describes what shepherds of a church are supposed to look like. They are not to be in the ministry for shameful gain, but to perform the responsibilities laid out in the pages of scripture.
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They are to carry out these responsibilities with joy, and their life is to be one where a great example is set, showing what a strong Christian is supposed to look like.
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There are certain men called by God to perform this task, and there should be trembling by these men as they lead a congregation.
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How a man cares for God's church is looked on by the Lord with careful scrutiny.
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So don't mess it up if you are a shepherd. As the shepherds lead biblically, it is the responsibility of the sheep in the congregation to follow their biblical leadership.
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As those in the church do this, the Lord's design is for the people in the church to grow to maturity.
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So as the shepherds do what they are supposed to do, and lead the way they are supposed to lead, as the Bible tells them, what's going to happen is blessing to their flock.
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Sometimes a shepherd comes and everything just explodes, and the sheep run for their lives.
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That's someone who is in it for their shameful gain. True shepherds, under their care, as they follow the chief shepherd,
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Jesus Christ, people experience blessing. So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter.
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The fourteenth mark of a faithful Christian is to understand that God appoints certain men to look after your soul.
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We're getting to the end here. Then in the next section, in chapter 5 verses 6 and 7, these will sound familiar because we just covered these not too long ago,
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Peter got very practical as he talks about the problem that every human faces, and every
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Christian battles anxiety. Peter reminded believers that they are to give their worries over to the
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Lord, the one who is all -powerful, and the very one who is writing the story of every believer's life.
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There's no need to worry because as one trusts Him, He has it all taken care of. Anxiety happens because of the pride in our own hearts that trusts ourselves to take on the difficult affairs of life, the things that are out of our control.
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Rather than trusting the Lord that His will is going to be accomplished through whatever we are facing, and ultimately everything that we face is meant for our good and His glory.
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So do not be anxious. Jesus said that in Matthew 6 verses 25 to 34.
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Paul says it in Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7. Anxiety is an enemy that we want to defeat, and we want it to be replaced with the peace of God, and the peace of God comes as we trust in the
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Lord, as we give it over to Him, and that's the way we are to live our lives.
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Not constantly anxious. So follow the grace of God, learned in Peter's first letter, and the 15th mark of a faithful Christian is to humble ourselves under the one who is sovereign.
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And as one humbly does this, anxiety flees. We have reached the final point here.
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The final section, the last two Sundays, Peter described our battle with the devil in chapter 5 verses 8 through 11.
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Peter described Satan as a roaring lion who is seeking someone to devour.
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Satan does this to unbelievers by trying to keep them from following Jesus, because as long as unbelievers don't follow
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Jesus, guess who they follow? They follow him. But Satan doesn't just focus on unbelievers, he actually spends a lot of time focusing on believers, because he already has unbelievers right where he wants them.
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But he wants to cause problems. Satan tempts Christians to sin, sends persecution your way, and tries to discourage you at every turn.
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He tries to distract you from what you're supposed to be doing. And if he can succeed against believers in these areas, he keeps you from doing what
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God has called you to do. Everybody has a purpose. Every Christian has a specific purpose as to why you are here.
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I mean, think about that. None of us chooses to be born. You're not here just to have a good time. He puts you here with a specific purpose to glorify him and to help other people.
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That's the only reason you draw breath. And if Satan can keep you from doing what you're supposed to be doing, the only reason you're here, then he succeeds.
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And that's how he spends his days. He tries to go after believers, because as he limits us, as he causes us to fail at what we're supposed to be doing, the work of the
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Lord is not advanced. And his work is advanced in its place.
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So Peter calls us to fight. We need to fight with the right weapons.
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We fight with the Word of God and the Gospel. As we stand on the
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Word, we resist him, standing firm in our faith. As you endure
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Satan's attacks, you come out stronger. And what happens is that all of his efforts backfire.
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That should be the goal of our lives, that Satan just has a miserable time with us. And every effort he attempts against us fails.
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So follow the grace of God learned in Peter's first letter. And the 16th mark of a faithful Christian is to understand the reality of the constant spiritual battle with Satan.
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The text that I read at the outset of this sermon, 1 Peter 5, verses 12 -14,
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Peter describes the true grace of God. Then he describes faithful sylvanus.
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So what we have done is we have gone through an overview of the 16 marks of a faithful Christian that were revealed in this letter.
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So what is a Christian supposed to look like? Well, we just looked at them over the last 8 months. This is what a faithful Christian looks like.
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What has been revealed is the true grace of God. The instructions we have to live our lives in obedience to God through the power of the
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Holy Spirit. Now as Peter closes this letter, this is what he says in verses 13 and 14.
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Once again he says, Now we don't take this too literally, right, where we actually kiss each other, thankfully.
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But back in those days they actually would kiss each other on the cheeks. I think today we shake each other's hands, right, we might give a hug.
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But that's about as close as we get to that. So Babylon here, we might wonder what is Babylon. Babylon is
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Rome. And Peter is saying that those in Rome are greeting the churches in Asia Minor.
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And Mark is John Mark, the one who wrote the
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Gospel of Mark. He sends greetings also to these churches in Asia Minor, the churches that Peter wrote to.
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This concluding remark shows the strong affection between these churches.
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A similar affection we should have with our brothers and sisters in this area and all over the world when we come into contact with them.
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It's truly remarkable to see the rich bond that is there between fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
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This rich bond should be there in the local church, but not just in the local church, but also the surrounding churches.
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And then churches all over the world. When you come into contact with them, there's this deep bond that is in there.
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And I think this deep bond is mostly shown in churches that are truly living this out. A compromised church, the bond might not be there, truly.
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But a faithful church, the bond is there because you're both counting the cost.
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You're both truly trying to live out the Word of God and glorify God in your lives.
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Then lastly, he concludes by saying, peace be with you all. This is the Hebrew shalom, found many places in the
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Old Testament. Which means that Peter desires for all these believers to be well in the
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Lord. Now this letter we started on June 25th has now reached its conclusion.
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And you might be able to guess where we are going next. Somebody take a guess. Second Peter, there we go.
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Peter didn't just write one letter, but two. And starting next
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Sunday, we are going to begin our journey through Peter's second letter. What we call
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Second Peter. And I can't wait to start this one. It's only three chapters, but there's so much treasure to find in these three chapters.
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But this time, let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in heaven, what a blessing,
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Lord. What a delight to be able to go through this letter together.
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What a delight to be filled with it. And I'm reminded, Lord, as we have concluded this letter, you don't want us to be just hearers of the
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Word. You don't want us to be those people who just have a bunch of head knowledge. You want us to be those who are filled with the
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Word of God and live in the power of God. So my prayer, Lord, is that everything we've taken in over the last eight months, that we would live this out together and encourage one another to live this out as we look for the day that is drawing near when
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Christ returns. And in the meantime, Lord, help us to be useful to you and to glorify your name and to be a blessing to so many.