Coram Deo (1 Peter 1:17)

Kootenai Church

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Well, good morning Turn your Bibles to first Peter chapter 1 surprisingly enough

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And as you're doing I was going to say turn your Bibles to Hebrews 11, but I decided against that.

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All right, let's pray together Father you you know us, you know, you know where we are.

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You know our hearts and Lord You know my heart these people have been purchased with Such a high price and I would not mislead them so Lord, please prevent that please

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Superintend this whole process though that your people are not misled that they're challenged. They're convicted They're blessed and Lord.

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I pray that you would be glorified through an accurate rendering of your word Lord pray this in Jesus name

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So we're going to be in verse 17 that'll be our focus today but to establish a little bit of context

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I'd like to read the first 19 verses of the chapter. So it'd be a bit of an extended reading So first Peter 1 verses 1 through 19

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Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as exiles scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia Who are chosen?

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according to the foreknowledge of God the Father By the sanctifying work of the Spirit to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood a grace and peace be multiplied to you

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again

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To a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading

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We've been kept in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time

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In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary You've been grieved by various trials so that the proof of your faith be more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ and Though you've not seen him you love him and though you do not see him now, but believe in him you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory

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Receiving as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls Concerning this salvation the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries inquiring to know what time or what kind of time the

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Spirit of Christ within them was Indicating as he was predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you and these things which now have been declared to you

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Through those who proclaim the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look therefore having girded your minds for action being sober in spirit fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as Obedient children not being conformed to the former lusts which were yours and your ignorance

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But like the Holy One who called you be holy yourselves also in all your conduct because it is written you shall be holy for I am holy and If you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work

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Conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourn Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your feudal conduct inherited from your forefathers

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But with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ So I said we'll be focused on verse 17 this morning

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But before we begin the exposition of that verse I want to point out something about the book of first Peter that I think is interesting and needs to be kept in mind as You study through this and I would recommend to you that you read this book.

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It's a fairly short book and you'll see this for yourself Peter starts out with 12 verses that Detail what

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God has done for us to make us his children the first 12 verses of chapter 1 points out our election our conversion our sanctification

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Regeneration our inheritance explains the process of sanctification that how we go through this life of trials

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And it makes us more like Christ. He marvels at our faith without sight Shares in the joy of our salvation

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He points out how the greatness of our salvation is the interest of the Holy Spirit himself in the inspiration of Scripture How is the interest of the

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Apostles and the prophets and is even today? the interest of the angels the angels long to look into it and Then in verse 13 the tone changes

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Peter begins to issue commands and even many of the phrases that are not technically commands have the

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Force of a command the first clear command in first Peter is given in first 13. Look at that fix your hope

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That's the first command. We're to focus and fasten our hope on the grace It is to be ours at the revelation of Jesus Christ We're to concentrate at the return of Christ and the reward

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It'll be ours at his return then the second command we looked at last time. I preached I'm sure you all remember that was verse 15

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Be holy That's the command in verse 15 We're called children of obedience were called by the

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Holy One. We are to be holy because we're in association With a God who is perfectly holy. We're to be holy because he is holy and then in verse 17

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We have the third command and that's what we'll look at today But just for fun yeah,

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I counted the commands in first Peter and it's not that easy to do because The way that Peter uses language but the as far as clear commands of Scripture, there's about 40 commands and In chapter 1 there are only four so the commands don't start until verse 13

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So you can see that Peter kind of pivots from from giving us indicatives telling us about our salvation to now

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These are commands things that we ought to do because of our salvation so So again the third command in verse 17

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We're first were to fix our hope the second command was to be holy and now we have the third conduct yourselves in fear but the verse begins with the phrase and if you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work if you address as father

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That word address may seem a little bit formal to us and some translations use call or invoke

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I like address because it gives us the idea of Referring to God as our father and that's the idea.

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That's the the rationale for the command Those of you that refer to God as father those who are children of obedience

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Those who in other words are Christians Then you you are addressing as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work and because of that You are to live in fear of that impartial judgment.

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That's the structure of the verse Okay, if we refer to the impartial judge of all the world as our father

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That we ought to live in a way that's consistent with that identification of that great judge as our father That's that's the point of the verse

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But why I'll spend most of the time on that question Why would we?

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We who have God as our father need to fear him as judge Why would we look at the verse?

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Why would we have to fear him as an impartial judge of work? The whole of the epistle until now has been about our salvation

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Talked about our being chosen are being regenerated the rescue that we received from God all of it

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Even how he's begun the process of making us into the image of Jesus Christ. He even guarantees our promised inheritance

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You see that it's incorruptible undefiled unfading. We're protected by the power of God through faith It's an indestructible

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God -given faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed. It's ready. It's done. It's complete It's it's ready.

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So what do we have to fear? First John 4 18 says there's no fear in love

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But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment the one of fears is not perfected in love

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And Peter's telling us to fear Proverbs 9 10 some of you may be thinking of The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the

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Holy One is understanding, but that's the beginning of wisdom

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All right, we had that fear of God. Isn't that the fear of God that we had at our conversion?

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It that's the fear of God that when we first understood the depravity of the depth of our sin and the just judgment against it

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We began to fear God and in that moment we reconciled to God Through the gospel through his son

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Jesus Christ. We repented of our sins and put our faith in Christ That's the beginning of wisdom we experience that fear, but we resolve the conflict.

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Why do we need to fear? We call him father and he is our father isn't he this is

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Romans 8 14 through 16 for as many as are being led by the Spirit of God These are sons of God for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again

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But you've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out Abba father The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

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We are Galatians 4 4 through 7 but when the fullness of the time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law

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So that he might redeem those who were born under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons And because you are sons

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God sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba father Therefore you're no longer a slave but a son and if a son that an heir through God You're a child of God Peter just called us children of obedience a couple verses ago

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So we do call God our father because he is our father We've been reconciled to him. We live a new relationship to him

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We're no longer at enmity with him We relate to him as children, so why would we conduct ourselves with fear?

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What's all this about judging? I thought we escaped judgment Peter says and if you address as father whom?

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The one who impartially judges according to each one's work So this must be why we're to fear at least in part

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God will impartially judge our work Our work is to be judged

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But how didn't we escape judgment? Didn't we escape the judgment of our deeds that would lead to condemnation yes as christians, yes

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We've escaped judgment ending condemnation Now if you're not a christian you haven't

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You haven't escaped that judgment you have a lot to fear you haven't even begun to fear But if you're a christian if you're a believer, then that escape from from judgment is yours

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It's what john refers to when he says perfect love casts out fear. This is the larger context of that first john 4

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This is first john 4 14 through 18 We have beheld and bear witness that the father has sent the son to be the savior of the world

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Whoever confesses that jesus is the son of god god abides in him and he in god We've come to know and have believed the love which god has in us

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God is love and the one who abides in love abides in god and god abides in him And by this love has been perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment

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Because as he is so also are we in this world? There is no fear in love of perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love

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That's john's point We have no fear of the day of judgment because he christ

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Because as he christ is so also are we in this world We have no fear of that condemnation that punishment because of christ because for the christian

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That judgment has been satisfied that judgment of eternal damnation was covered by the blood of christ and we praise the lord.

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That's so That's why we're here So still then

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What is the judgment that we have to fear? I haven't answered that question yet Certainly there is a

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And i'm going to answer it three ways I think they're all valid Obviously or I wouldn't be answering in those ways.

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Okay Certainly, there's a future judgment of every person that is based solely on works

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So every person here and every person throughout the world Living or dead there is a judgment of every person according to their works

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There the bible speaks of four judgments of people and some of you are in eschatology and you're going You know So you may count them differently.

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That's fine I'm, not going into all of them, but there are four judgments of image bearers or additional judgments

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Of satan and demons, but there are four of humans and of those four judgments only one

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Is a candidate of a future judgment for which christians would have reason to fear

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That's the judgment seat of christ or the bema seat judgment. It's referred to in second corinthians 5 9 through 10

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Therefore we also have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to him For we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ so that each one may

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May be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad according to what he has done

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This is a judgment of christians and of christians only It's evaluation of the life of the believer.

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This will be an evaluation of your use Of the talents and time and resources and gifts

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That you've received How did you use them whether for his glory or for your own ends?

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Maybe even for sinful ends. This is a judgment though of reward first corinthians 3

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According to the grace of god, which was given to me like a wise master builder. I laid a foundation and another is building on it

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But each man must be careful how he builds on it For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is jesus christ

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Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold silver precious stones wood hay straw each man's work will become evident

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But they will indicate it because it is revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work

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If any man's work which he has built on it remains he will receive a reward If any man's work is burned up he will suffer loss

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But listen to this he himself will be saved Yet so as through fire

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So this is a judgment of deeds, but the result is salvation for all and reward for some Okay, so this is a judgment of christians only there's no indication of condemnation only degrees of reward

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There is a sense of loss But salvation for all who undergo the judgment All right.

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This is our judgment. This is the judgment that we will face The one that the one that you and I as christians alive today would undergo

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So would it be appropriate to conduct ourselves in fear in light of that judgment? Oh, yeah

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Yes And there are other judgments I refer to in scripture. I just mentioned the judgment of israel the judgment of the nations the sheep goat judgment

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Which I believe to be one and then the great white throne judgment but none of those

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Would would fit the context of first peter at all. So i'm not going to go into them I just state them so you're not confused about those.

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There are other judgments where there is condemnation not talking about those the only one that could be considered a motivation for holy conduct for fearful conduct for the believer is that judgment seat of christ and Some commentators conclude that this is at least in part what peter has in mind.

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This is from robert layton's commentary This is a good quote quote if you want to have confidence on that day and not fear it when it comes fear it now

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So that you avoid sin Those who tremble now will when judgment comes lift up their faces with joy end quote

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So I think it makes sense that that peter has that judgment in view In the reward if the return of christ is in view look back at verses three through seven

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Blessed be the god and father of our lord. Jesus christ according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again To a living hope through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfettered

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Having been kept in heaven for you who are protected by the power of god through faith for our salvation ready to be revealed in the last time

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In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while if necessary You've been grieved by various trials so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire

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May be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of jesus christ

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You see what peter has in mind? Reward for a life well lived for suffering well done and that reward comes at the revelation

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Of jesus christ the return of christ Okay So that's part of what we are to live in fear of we conduct ourselves in fear of that impartial judgment

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But there's a hint in the verb that's translated judges that there may be even more

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The judgment seat of christ may not be the only judgment that we have to fear. The verb is in the present tense

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It indicates god is presently in the act of judging you could translate it this way And if you address his father the one who is currently impartially judging according to each one's work conduct yourselves in fear

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So he is currently judging Now you could think of that as judging now for this future recompense

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So he is sort of recording and analyzing and evaluating deeds now in preparation for a future event

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Um But given the context of the rest of the book of first peter

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I think it it refers not just to a future point of time but to Disciplines in this life now god's discipline

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If you were to go forward a few chapters first peter 4 17 says this

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For it's time for judgment to begin with the house of god And if it begins with us first What will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of god?

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That's a good question For our purposes it's time for judgment to begin with the house of god with us

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It is time for judgment to begin with the house of god. He's talking about present judgment

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In the form of earthly discipline. It's a reality of our relationship to the father. We should live in fear of that discipline

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Remember the point of first peter Written to christians who are suffering who are persecuted He wants them to suffer for the right reasons remember

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Our sanctifying life the trials should be painful but painful for the right reasons they should be sanctifying us

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They shouldn't be just the the right judgment against our sinful behaviors right

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He he doesn't want us to suffer justly on this earth for our sin He doesn't want us to suffer from say earthly rulers who actually rule justly and rightly and punish evil

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We're not to be we're not to suffer as a murderer thief or evildoer or troublesome meddler But we can suffer from rulers who don't rule rightly who punish that kind of behavior.

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That's good. That's sanctifying behavior All right, so that that impartial judgment of god in discipline.

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I think is partly in mind here So not just the judgment seat of christ, but also fear of earthly discipline The chapter on earthly discipline is hebrews 12

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You think I should do it? Yeah, it'll be a couple years before he gets there.

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So i'll be all right No, i'll just say you know that that that god disciplines his children

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He disciplines his erring children on this earth. And so we ought to live in fear of that Grudem wayne grudem puts it this way in his commentary in first peter

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Membership in god's family great privilege though. It is must not lead to the presumption that disobedience will pass unnoticed or undisciplined

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Sometimes god's discipline is direct. Sometimes it's indirect. Sometimes it's through the world. Sometimes it's administered through the church

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Matthew 18 gives us the process for church discipline Addressing sin in the body rooting it out

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People can be handed over to satan taught not to blaspheme if they refuse to repent of their sins

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They're excommunicated expelled from the fellowship from all the the grace that comes from being in fellowship with the visible church

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It's for their salvation for their restoration sometimes though sadly it's to show that they were not of us

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But for those who would call on god as father those who would do that sincerely and reasonably Having put their faith in christ and church discipline is rare It ought to be seen as the father's discipline being exercised through his body and through those who are accountable for the health of the body

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Okay, so there is judgment to fear Judgment to fear from this impartial judge whether that's future judgment

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At the at the judgment seat of christ or current disciplines Whether that's directly from the father through the church through the world

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And the judgment is impartial you see that he is the one who impartially judges God judges impartially.

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He doesn't show partiality. The verb is kind of a long one. It it has three components. It means not

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The first part is not the middle part receiving or taking the last part the face or the appearance

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So you put it together. It is someone it means not receiving or or taking someone based on their outward appearance

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Not judging them on that basis. That's what it means to be impartial here So god doesn't judge by anything other than the merit or the culpability of the deeds themselves and the motivation behind it

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You can't impress him God judges your actual thoughts your actual deeds

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There's no errors of memory or lack of evidence. There's no mistake. It's clear.

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It's unambiguous Unfailing without bias Example, this is from samuel was samuel was sent to anoint david as king.

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Do you remember that he went into the house of jesse? And he saw eliab And he's getting the oil out

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I guess because eliab's the tallest or the best looking or whatever That's how we select elders here at kootenai but Is jess here today?

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God tells samuel do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature because i've rejected him

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For god sees not as man sees for man looks at the outward appearance But the lord looks at the heart

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You've heard that verse before the lord looks at the heart. He's not impressed, right? He's not impressed by eliab's height or your height

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Even brian ashby or joe cortis. He's not even impressed by their height. Although I am I'm uncomfortable anytime i'm next to someone taller than me

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He's not he's not impressed by your looks your abilities your clothing your money your bank account your cars your job your position

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None of it. God will judge your deeds And the motivation of the heart that brings those deeds to pass he judges impartially according to each one work each one's work

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Now as a bit of an aside because of things going on in the world today We have to be clear about something.

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This is an attribute of god that we as his image bearers are to reflect We're to be impartial too.

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We're not to judge according to outward appearances that precludes us from being racist or sexist or classist in the way that those words have historically been defined

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There is today a distortion of those ideas And we reject those insane and illogical and dangerous and marxist ways of redefining those words

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But we do not see people as more or less valuable We don't evaluate their actions or their character based on outward characteristics

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Meaning meaningless ones utterly meaningless ones like race Or meaningful ones like ethnicity or gender.

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We we don't value the world. We don't value people the way the world does And we reject all of those concepts of value

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In the mind of god all human beings are image bearers and deserve that dignity All right, the only distinction that god makes is between worldlings and his elect and we can make that distinction

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He loves his elect in a different way than worldlings But within those two classes he makes no distinction among race or gender or any of those those outward characteristics

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There may be distinctions in role in case of gender, but no distinction in value Christ is purchased with his blood people from every tribe and tongue and nation

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God is impartial Now in particular in this context He doesn't judge our sins differently because we're his children

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He poured out his wrath on his son because of those sins without discount without restraint

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He paid the full penalty for our sins And and his discipline will be the same there's no difference among his children when it comes to the discipline of god

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And there's not less less discipline because he likes you more or more because he likes you less

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God is an impartial judge that makes his judgment. Absolutely certain. There's no way around it

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Now you kids you have fathers And you know in every way there might be to get around their judgment and their discipline, right?

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Because it's not impossible to do so They can be they can lack knowledge for one thing.

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They may not know And they can be inconsistent right, they can have rules that are rules one day and then the next day the rules are different and every kid will say that The rules got different from the oldest kid to the youngest kid

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All right, they got loosened up And I know none of you believe That's one way that human fathers can be inconsistent

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Earthly fathers can also be partial can't they? They can play favorites Now I know none of you believe that you're the favorite right

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That's always it's always somebody else was the favorite that's unfair In truth good parents don't play favorites good parents

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There may be differences in the way that they feel about their children, but those those differences are they don't matter

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Because they love their children all so deeply I say that out loud for the children to hear But we know from the bible that there are parents who are partial who play favorites remember jacob and esau

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And then you remember jacob with his kids with joseph and benjamin and the rest of the kids so Clearly there are parents who do that And so one might hope to escape judgment either because the rules become inconsistent

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Or because the father doesn't know or because he likes me better Not so with god

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Not so with him The discipline is certain it's appropriate to the totality of the circumstance and even to the motivation of the heart

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Because god looks at the heart No mistakes, no shading the truth There's something else we're to fear

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We're to fear the judgment seat of christ We're to fear earthly discipline But there's something else and I think it's probably

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Even more important What are we to fear the most Isn't it just displeasing our father?

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When we even just begin to understand this one Whom we call father and what he has done for us

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The most horrifying and sickening thought is that we might displease him Alistair begg tells a story of a young boy.

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I don't know if it's a true story I don't I don't know i'm not and i'm not plagiarizing this wasn't about getting a driver's license Alistair begg he tells a story of a young boy who refused to go along with the crowd do some sort of mischief

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Something he'd been told by his father not to do and the boy said something like or the other boys around him

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You know trying to get him to do it and they said oh, he's just afraid his father will hurt him And the boy's response was no

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I don't want to hurt my father Oh that captures it he did it with a scottish accent and it was even better, but But you get you get the point

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Love for the father characterizes the christian. We are children of obedience. We want to glorify him

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We don't want to bring a reproach against him We want to please him. We don't want to grieve him. We want the angels and observers

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To see him as he is through us. We don't want to see don't them to see

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Our failures as his image bearers. It's not what we want to see But most importantly we don't want him to see us act unlovingly or disrespectfully irreverently toward him rebelliously toward him not now

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Not now not after what he's done for us Not after what he's done for people we love

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We won't offend him We won't do it Don't do it

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This fear of offending god. It doesn't make us cowards. It makes us courageous. It makes us brave It's the other side of the coin.

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It's this is the bravery Against the attacks of the world the flesh and the devil. It's the fear of offending god.

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That's our only fear We don't fear offending anyone else in the universe only god

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We live in submission to governing authorities. Why? Because in doing so we live in submission to him

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Children you obey your parents Why because in doing so you obey god?

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That's why Even when they're inconsistent and impartial Wives you submit yourself to your husbands

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Because in doing so you obey god Even when your husband is less than perfectly loving even when he is a pagan

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We'll see later on husbands. You love and sacrifice for your wives because of doing so you obey your father

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Even when she is not submissive To servants workers employees you obey your masters because in doing so you obey god

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We'll see that when we get to chapter two of first peter. We're to honor all people We're to honor the king honor human authority.

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We live in full submission to human authority So long as our obedience to that authority does not mean disobedience to the master

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I've said this before I don't think from the pulpit so I can say it again Christians are to be the meekest lowliest most submissive humble graceful merciful people on the planet

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Right up until we're asked to disobey our master And then we are the most rebellious the most hard -headed

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People on the planet we will set our faces like flint now. We remain graceful and merciful and evangelical

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But we won't bend We won't budge not one bit not one iota if it means obeying our master

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Won't do it Lastly verse 17 tells us to conduct ourselves in fear when

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I said lastly, but that doesn't mean it. We're right at the edge Don't start zipping up the bible cover yet Verse 17 tells us to conduct ourselves in fear when during the time of your stay on earth or during the time of your sojourn

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The word for sojourn or stay on earth. It's paroikia And you may have heard the word parochial our english word parochial comes from that the word our word parochial has a lot of meanings

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But one of the meanings is somewhat strange. It means that you're sort of insulated or disconnected from the larger world

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You're you're narrow -minded And that's good right, that's a

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That's a good description of it It isn't related to the word that's translated exiles aliens or strangers or sometimes sojourners back in verse one

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It says you are exiled to the exiles But it carries forward the same idea. We we we do belong here because we've been placed here, but we don't belong here

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We don't fit in Right this the world as it's currently constituted It's not for us

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It's an open submission open rebellion to him not in submission to him Even to the point of denying his existence

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Ridiculous And so the world hates him the world hates the savior hates our father Of course has to because of the love of sin and and so it hates us and there's no surprise

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We're just we're just passing through But while we're passing through we have to live our lives in fear of judgment fear of his judgment his discipline his displeasure

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We have to continue to live in fear of offending the holy one who called us In other words we have to live his way

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Okay, we have to live his way according to his word So that we might bring more disciples more children of obedience to him

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Peter goes on in verses 18 and 19 gives us another reason to live in obedience to god I just want to read those to you today if you address as father

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The one who impartially judges according to each one's work conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourn Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your fathers

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But with precious blood as of the lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of christ

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You were redeemed from your slavery to sin at an incredibly high price The suffering and death of the god who was man

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Your lord and savior your king. He died So that you might live he was mocked and beaten so that you might live

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We will not offend him Amen We dare not We will not

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So today I want to summarize this with a you're wondering where's where's he going to get to the title I Used as the title a latin phrase coram del

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You may have heard that phrase it it literally means before god It has the idea of the presence of god

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When we speak of living our lives coram deo It means that you live your life in awareness and appreciation of the fact that god sees everything

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That you do you always and ever live in his presence all of your thoughts all your conduct

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It's to conduct yourselves in fear It's an antidote to hypocrisy.

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It's a call to integrity. So whatever we do wherever we go, whatever we think We're to do and go and think coram deo in the presence of god.

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We must understand that we're always In his presence in his awareness his perception He can't be hidden from He can't be ran away from he can't be tricked or deceived

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He sees he hears He knows There's nowhere to go

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You can't be free from the gaze of this impartial judge Where would you go? Bavinck in his doctrine of god.

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This is his quote. There is no place where you may flee from god angry but to god reconciled

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There's no place at all whether you may flee will you flee from him flee unto him?

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That's the answer if you want to be free from the gaze of an angry god Deal with his anger be reconciled to him

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So to flee to him is first to repent of your sins to be saved to repent of your sins put your faith in christ

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And then it is to live coram deo to live in transparency authenticity toward him. It's to live in fear during the time of your sojourn

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Let's pray together but we're grateful for your word for the challenges that it it presents this is

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You know, this has been um Convicting to me and I pray that it would be convicting to each one that hears

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This message that hears your word lord. May we do better. May we live in fear during the time of our stay on this earth