Sunday Worship Service | Sermon on 1 Peter 1:17 | Adult Sunday School

And grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing

God's praise Than when we first began.

When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun, We've no less days to sing God's praise Than when we first began. In the kingdom, there is nothing hidden from its peace.

For it's sure, the precepts of the Lord are right, The commandment of the

Lord is pure. My chest, all together, with the words and reputation of my

Sweeter also than honey, and is your servant one.

In keeping them, there is great reward. Who can discern his errors, declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.

Let them not have diminished words in my mouth,

And the meditation of my heart be acceptable.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of Nor stands in the way, nor sits in the seat of Scoffers, but his delight is in his law.

He meditates day and night.

Good morning, everybody. Let's grab our seats and get cracking into the word of the

Lord. Good morning, everybody.

Great to see everybody. It's so fun to be in the house of the Lord, to be able to hear his word and just be around the saints.

It's amazing to come to a church like this in North Idaho. I've been to churches all over the place, and this place really is amazing.

I'm thankful to be here. We're in the book of 1 John, and we're going to be kind of doing a little bit of a review because it feels like an eternity since I've been here last.

I want to be able to do a little review, and then jump into chapter 2, verse 5.

The title for the message today is The Evidence of Obedience. The Evidence of Obedience, so we'll be looking at that.

But before we get started, let's just have a word of prayer. Father, we love you and praise you. We just thank you so much that you're an amazing

God, that your sacrifice on the cross paid it all for us, and that by believing and trusting in you and repenting from our sins, we can have eternal life.

What an amazing thing that is to think, and that we have this hope that we're looking forward to that is concrete and sure, and that we don't have to worry whether it's going to happen or not.

We just praise you for that. We just think about the Scriptures and an amazing book that we have in front of us, and the freedom to be able to look into it and understand it and read it and study it and just to be able to share our faith with everybody.

What an amazing thing that is. We just thank you so much, Lord, for all that you do in our lives.

Just pray that you'll go into this teaching, that you'll give us understanding and clarity as we look at these things and issues in the

Scriptures, and that we'll go away edified. We thank you now in Jesus' name.

Amen. All right, well, we've been looking at 1 John, as I mentioned, and we've gotten through chapter 2, 3 and 4, somewhere in that range, but like I said, it's been a while, so I want to just kind of do a little bit of review and kind of broaden out a couple things that I wanted to just cover, mainly on the background.

If you remember, 1 John was written around 90 AD, and it was written to Christians in Asia Minor.

So if you're looking at Israel straight on, Asia Minor's up here, modern -day Turkey, so Israel, Asia Minor, modern -day

Turkey. And the purpose was to address the false teaching that was happening in Asia Minor and to the churches that are in that area.

And so John is writing to that, but it's also to edify the saints.

He's writing to Christians that were experiencing a variety of different things in the church there, persecution and false teaching, and they had been scattered.

So you can see that in 1 John is the purpose as you read down through it. And I don't know if you remember this, but John was written from Ephesus.

That's where he wrote this book was from Ephesus, and it was the place that was, the

Temple of Artemis was located there, and it was one of the seven wonders of the world. And so it was a pretty predominant place for false teaching, and there was a syncretism of the gospel that was happening between all the religions.

And so there was a lot going on. The church was being impacted in definitely a variety of ways.

And the book of Acts, I think, gives us insight into this a little bit on Paul's third missionary journey to Ephesus.

Acts was written about 63 AD, so 1 John, 90 AD, so not too much longer after this,

Acts passage that I'm gonna read. Paul gives instructions to the Christian leaders in Acts chapter 20, verses 29 and 30.

And he says, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

And from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

So he says, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in.

We know something about wolves in North Idaho, don't we? I think, what are the characteristics of wolves?

Any thoughts, any experts out there on wolves? What are some of the characteristics of wolves?

Let's get that out there. Certainly we have some opinions about that, right? They're cunning.

Very much so. They're stalkers. Say that again.

Oh, they're an apex predator. Absolutely. Yes. They're hunter killers, aren't they?

I mean, they are vicious. They have incredible speed. They have incredible endurance.

Lover of darkness. There you go. I love that.

And when they see their prey, right, they pursue after it with great veracity.

They just go after it like no other. And so one of the things

I've noticed about wolves also is that they're very organized. They're very organized structure.

They're like a social status in the pack, right? Just like the organization of a church where we have pastors and elders and teachers and so on.

Wolves also have a hierarchy within the pack. They don't just go about these things arbitrarily as they're doing this.

When the pack is hunting, they like to get the herd on the move.

They like to get it on the move. Why do you think that is? Why do they want to get the herd on the move and scatter them?

Why do they want to get them going? Create confusion?

Find the weak one. There you go. Find the weak one. And when they do that, right, they get them off to one side.

They get that one weak one or slower one off to the side. And what happens is they surround them.

They surround the one. So they really can't get away. And they don't just all dive in at the same time.

There's like two predominant ones that will go in and subdue the animal.

And then the other ones, the younger ones, will go in and out and then start to attack that way.

So it's very structured. And one other thing that they do is that wolves bring their children along.

They bring their children along so they can learn how to do this themselves as they're watching the males and the females and the adults go after their prey.

This is how they do it. And I find that very interesting because it says that in Acts there that wolves were among the flock.

These kind of predatory influences were among the flock.

Can you imagine that? I mean, people that you may look at and see sitting right in their very midst and you don't even know they're wolves.

That to me is very much terrifying. Wolves organize with other like -minded individuals.

I think that's true. And they strategize on how to bring down their prey. And I think in this example it's how to bring down the church.

How to bring down the church. And the thing that strikes me about it too when

I was talking about the children is when you have wolves within the church, what are they teaching their own children?

What are they teaching their own children? Is it to follow after the Lord and trust

Him? I don't think it is. I think it's how to disrupt the church. I mean, we teach our kids everything about the

Christian faith and we want them to follow after Christ. Well, wolves do the opposite of that, don't they?

So it's something we have to consider here that they're training up another generation of hunter -killers.

Turn over to 2 Timothy chapter 1, if you will. You know, a wolf can't change their nature, right?

They can't change their nature except for one thing. Except for one thing.

What is that? The gospel of Jesus Christ, right?

They can't change their nature apart from the beauty and majesty of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Over time, they begin to manifest their true character, though.

They distort the truth, it says in Acts, speaking perverse things in order to bring chaos into the church.

It seemed to work because Paul writes this in 2 Timothy 1 .15. Look at that verse, 2

Timothy 1 .15. You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia this is where Ephesus is at.

All who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phagellus and Hermogenes.

You may remember that Paul was writing this book from a Roman dungeon. He was writing to Timothy to encourage him to be strong in the faith of adversity as he was ministering in Ephesus where John wrote 1

John. And then he says this in 2 Timothy 1. Starting in verse five.

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother

Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel for which

I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason

I also suffer these things but I am not ashamed. For I know whom

I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

That's a pretty good reminder to Timothy and it's clear. Stay grounded in the teaching you received and emulate the faith that you have seen in your mother and your grandmother.

Think about that for our own kids. I hope they look at all of us and start to emulate what we are doing in following after the

Lord because a lot of times young people they want to try things out. And I say, why do that?

I've already done all the wrong things. You don't need to encounter that. But we're supposed to emulate that.

And here's the reason why. Because in Asia Minor he says, where you are ministering, all have abandoned the faith.

All have abandoned Paul and of course the message of Christ. That's what he said. All of them have abandoned, that's a lot.

So I just want to say application here a little bit. The message

Paul delivered to Timothy is definitely applicable today, isn't it? Paul tells Timothy to rekindle the gift of God within you.

Rekindling it, build it back up. We're in difficult days as well. We may not have been scattered throughout

Asia Minor but we are certainly facing difficult days where we need to focus our faith back on the scriptures if it has been taken off at all.

And to focus our minds, stir up our minds, in our minds the focus of the

Lord. To be bold in the face of adversity no matter what is happening around us today.

Because it's not the God that created all that we see asking us to do the same thing today.

Maybe there are those here that need to rekindle their faith or anyone listening online.

Maybe there needs to be a focus there. I don't know, God knows. But here's the thing.

Did you know that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of you?

Isn't that amazing? I can't even fathom that. How does that happen? But it does and it's an amazing gift that he's given us.

And just because of that, you look at what's happening in our world today and we shouldn't be ashamed of standing up for the truth and the gospel that is within us.

Right? We don't need to be ashamed. The church is becoming more and more persecuted all the time, isn't it?

You're seeing that day in and day out. And the only antidote to that, what else can we really do today?

In our political climate, what else can we really do other than preach the gospel?

I mean, we can vote, we can do some things, but ultimately, our responsibility is to preach the gospel to a dying world and to hopefully snatch one or two from the flames because this train has left the station.

And you're not going to stop the end times or whatever we're going through. It's going to happen and we do the best we can, but the gospel is where we need to be residing.

You can see that the church and the state of the church in Ephesus and the surrounding areas of Asia Minor are facing some difficulty.

Fast forward to 1 John. Look at, if you flip back over to 1 John there.

If you go to chapter 2, verse 18. Chapter 2, verse 18.

It says, Children, it is the last hour.

And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming. Even now, many Antichrists have appeared.

For this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.

The end times Antichrist is coming. That's what this verse is talking about.

But also, there are already many Antichrists out into the world. What is an

Antichrist? What's an Antichrist? Any thoughts?

Someone who sets themselves in opposition to Christ and His work. Excellent.

Anything else? Denies that Jesus Christ is a

Savior. Amen to that. They deny that. Or that He came in the flesh.

An Antichrist, yes. Cornell? Say that again, because that was good.

Because Christ is the living word of God, people tend to undermine that. That is true.

I look at it as they preach a different gospel. They literally replace the true gospel with something else.

And that's an Antichrist. Someone that does these things. We have many

Antichrists today, don't we? Stirring the pot all around the globe against the brethren.

Can you give any examples of modern -day Antichrists? Can you think of any? I'll take names.

The Pope. There you go. It's an Antichrist system.

And an office. Joel Osteen, a lot of Word of Faith preachers that preach a false gospel of health and wealth and prosperity.

Absolutely. Sleepy Joel. Okay. Yeah.

That's a good point. He mentioned that we need to be concerned about people infiltrating the church.

Caring for them and asking them about their faith, essentially, to make sure that they are in Christ.

It's a sobering thought, for sure. There are many Antichrists.

You think about JWs, Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons, or different faiths that teach a different gospel than we have.

There's many Antichrists out there. And our focus should be noted on the

Scriptures to be able to identify that. John said they went out from us.

And who is John referring to in the us? They went out from us.

In this case, it's not the church of Asia Minor. He's talking about the apostolic section of it where he was with the apostles.

They went out from us. We'll be talking about that a little bit more as the section we get to that goes on.

This doesn't change the fact that they were among those that believed. They were among those that believed.

And it's possible even in a church like this that there are wolves among us.

That's why I think it's so important to pray for our elders and leaders all the time for leadership and being able to identify and manage our church here so this doesn't get torn up by any wolves in our own midst.

They look out for us and we pray for them. That's for sure. You get the picture anyway that this letter was written from Ephesus is an important letter to the readers.

Asia Minor had much opposition to the faith. Do you remember the heresy that we talked about in 1

John? What was John writing about in 1 John? What heresy was he addressing?

Do you remember? Gnosticism. Early form of Gnosticism. I don't know if you know where that started from but many people and many writers believe that Gnosticism was birthed in the mid -first century and it was attributed to Simon Magus, a

Samaritan sorcerer in the book of Acts. The early church fathers referred to him as the originator of all heresies.

Simon Magus. So impressive was his reputation as a miracle worker and teacher that the

Romans erected a statue in his honor dedicating it to Simon the

Holy God. That tells you something. That tells you something.

What is Gnosticism? We talked a little bit about it in the past. Can you remember that far back?

It was like months ago? Probably not. Can anybody tell me what

Gnosticism is? It's difficult because I feel like Gnosticism is like a shapeshifter.

Yes. Yes. Yes, it comes from knowledge and it's a secret kind of knowledge.

Yes, exactly. That's one aspect of it for sure. Anybody else?

Yeah. That's panentheism.

Yeah, that's a little different but it's along the lines. They just mix a lot of these thoughts in there. Yeah? Anything else?

Yes. Yes, exactly.

The deity could not be in human form because essentially material matter is evil. The physical fleshly world is evil but the spirit is great.

It's alright. So, the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology notes this.

It says, Gnostics were perceived as leading Christians astray by manipulation of words and the twisting of scriptural meanings.

I think that's what Gnostics do. They take, when I say shapeshifting, they take a lot of different thoughts and ideas and they mix them all together into one like cauldron of faith and they do change the words and the meanings.

Definitions are different and if you're not paying attention, the subtlety of it can lure people in.

I think that's where we have to be on our game to identify it. John wrote this gospel to dispel that idea the

Gnostics had by presenting the true God of the universe.

You can't stop that. The true God of the universe dispels all that.

But Gnosticism is a mixture of various beliefs, like I said. This mixture, the damaging part of it, like any false teaching

I think, is there's some truth with some error and it's sometimes hard for people to discern what that is.

You see that a lot in our world. Yeah. Exactly.

Most false teachers do that. Right? Yes, false teachers do masquerade their teaching in some truth.

They camouflage it because they can't come into the church and just boldly start preaching heresy right off the bat.

They mix it in with a lot of different things. I think that's true.

I was in a church in Coeur d 'Alene that split, that's what was happening. They were bringing in false teaching in a subtle fashion into the church.

I remember this because it was hard to identify. It was hard to identify because some of it sounded right, some of it was off, and you're like, where's the falseness in this?

It was really confusing and it caused a lot of damage into the church because of this.

Ultimately, the truth rises to the surface and there had to be a split in the church because of what was being brought in.

It took a while and people even after we left were unable to see the falseness of it and stayed.

Yes. The emergent church stuff, exactly.

The emergent church teaching does that. It mixes a lot of different beliefs and they mix truth and error all the time.

That's a struggle. Smooth words and flattering speech.

Exactly. I spent probably, after that split, I spent countless hours just researching that movement because I couldn't understand it fully at first and it just took forever to get down to the nitty gritty and here's why it's wrong.

The light bulb went on at that moment because what happened was

I realized the church that I thought was this big really only was about this big in the world.

There is a lot of churches that buy into this kind of teaching. Tell me, why is

Gnosticism dangerous teaching? Why is it dangerous? We see it today everywhere.

Why is it dangerous though? Denies the person the work of Christ.

Can it be any more basic than that? It gives people a false sense of security.

They think they might be saved. They might know the truth when they really don't know the truth. That's what

Rick was saying. I think that's very true, but when you deny the deity of Christ, isn't that tear down the whole gospel?

Honestly. I mean, that's it. You deny Christ and there is no faith.

I mean, what are we doing here? I mean, to me that's the heart of it.

But it also denied that the physical matter was evil. So creation, all that God said was good, they're saying, no, that's evil.

I mean, that's destructive. That's destructive on every level. And it removed the responsibility from people to do good.

If the material world is evil, then I live in the material world, so can't

I just do anything I want and I'm fine because that's expected. The spiritual world is good. It takes personal responsibility away from us.

And I just think that's wrong. So do we see any modern day Gnosticism creeping into the church or society today?

Yeah. They do.

That is a good point. One of the things in Gnosticism is they base it on secret knowledge.

It's just not available to the masses. It's kind of like in Catholicism, only the

Pope and the leaders can know that knowledge. But there's a lot of other organizations in society that do the exact same thing.

I think of organizations like All Secret Societies do this. It's all based on secret knowledge.

You know, you've got to rise up to know these things. I think of Freemasonry. If you're familiar with that at all, it's not talked about too much, but it is a system that takes people along the path, but the lower levels really don't understand what the higher levels are doing.

And because of that, they get deceived into thinking this is a Christian organization and something that they can be a part of and that is good because their motto was, we're making good men better.

But it is at the core demonic. There are other ones.

Skull and Bones, if you've ever heard of that one. George W. Bush and his father belong to that. Skull and Bones, it's a

Harvard created institution. Or Yale. Yes, Yale.

Thank you. You know, the Illuminati. I mean, it started in 1776.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. I like that.

Cornell said any perversion of the gospel always is there to support it or condone it. Their bad behavior.

Is that accurate? So the Illuminati Illuminati just means enlightened.

Right? And so it's, again, it's a system of organization started in 1776.

Go figure. Right? By a gentleman in Bavaria. You know, there's the

Rosicrucians, there's the Knights Templar, the New Age Movement, Catholicism, Emergent Church.

There's a lot of different ones out there that you see bringing this kind of teaching that it's not known to the masses.

You have to go through a process of enlightenment to discover the divine spark that's in you.

That's just wrong. It goes against everything that we believe. Gnostics found their belief in the spiritual, not the physical, as we talked about because to them the physical world was evil.

Some of those who held this view were called docetics. The word docetic is the

Greek, and the Greek means to seem. So Jesus only seemed to be real.

He wasn't really real. That's their mindset. He only seemed to be real.

It was a way to deny the deity of Jesus Christ. They have a hard time, though, proving this because what about the resurrection?

I mean, Christ had a physical body after his resurrection. So they have a tough time doing that.

A physical body was resurrected. I sat with a person one time during a business meeting.

We went out. We were sitting in Starbucks. I remember this like it was yesterday. We were having a conversation about business and everything and what was happening in our world and what was going on.

Somehow, I don't really remember, but the discussion turned to the faith. I said, we were talking about just how she became her faith, my faith, and that type of thing.

She goes, yeah, she goes, I don't really believe the world is real.

I believe it's an illusion. I mean, like, how do you deal with that?

I believe that, and I go, so, I said, so you sitting here, you're not really here.

She said, yeah. I'm just an illusion. Right?

I was thinking if I had a hammer at that moment, it might have been different. She might have thought it was real.

Right on the pinky. It kind of stopped me because it's hard to imagine how someone can get to a place of deception like that.

She had said she'd been through a whole process in the New Age of just focusing on these aspects of her life.

You can see the result of false teaching and what is happening with the docetics.

She took on the belief of the docetics, really is what she did. That the material body only seemed to be there.

Yeah, that was a shocker for me. I didn't really know how to respond, honestly. I was like, you're not really here?

All of my training has not prepared me for this. Really, in John 1, 1

John 1 .1, Jesus is the antidote to false teaching. We talked about that, right?

Jesus started the way to quickly address the Gnostics. We're addressing His humanity in 1

John. His deity, the fact that He created all things. There's no one like Him.

John started this way to quickly address that. When you say there's no one like Him, He said in John, destroy this temple and in three days

I will raise it up. He was speaking of the temple of His body and being crucified. He said, you kill me,

He said, and it's no problem. I will raise myself up. If you're not deity, how can that happen?

I'd love to have that skill. If I die, I just raise myself back up. It's no problem.

The thing I like about 1 John is that you can see that John's impact of being with Christ changed his life.

It changed his life. Any encounter with Christ where you're saved and you have the

Holy Spirit living inside of you, John says that he proclaimed the truth in verse 2 there.

To know Christ is to proclaim Christ. That's what you do when you're a believer. You share the gospel.

You get engaged. You're talking about it all the time. You proclaim it.

You get involved in it. That's what John did. The reason why he said is so we can have fellowship with one another.

We can have fellowship with one another. We can be here together today and talk about the scriptures and just enjoy each other's company because there's no animosity with like -minded believers.

We have that unity of the faith that I don't even know you but I love you kind of a mentality.

That to me is what the faith does. We proclaim it so others can have fellowship with us.

We want them to be part of our body. We talked a lot about contrasts between true and false converts in 1

John. False converts, verses 6, 8, and 10, if you look at that.

Verses 6, 8, and 10 in chapter 1. It all starts this way. If we say we have fellowship in verse 6.

In verse 8, if we say we have no sin. Verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned.

And then what's the next part of it? Yet walk in darkness, it says in verse 6, if we say we have fellowship yet walk in darkness, we lie.

It's part of the satanic lie that we can deceive ourselves or we know we are false teachers anyway.

Verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned.

So all those things, you look at false converts. And that kind of gets to the heart of the matter.

In chapter 2, verse 4, it says this, the one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

That's a very simple test of the faith. If you don't keep his commandments, 1

John, we talked about this, says that you're a liar. It's a very simple test. We all probably know people who claim the faith but walk a different path.

It's easy to say I'm a Christian because almost anybody in America will say oh yeah, I'm a Christian. But when it comes to the obedience side of it, that's where it all breaks down.

This is summed up by a band called One Republic. This song, they play it everywhere.

You may have heard it in a mall, sporting event or whatever, but it's called Counting Stars. Chorus goes like this,

I feel something so right doing the wrong thing. I feel something so wrong doing the right thing.

I couldn't lie. I couldn't lie. I couldn't lie. Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.

If you say you have come to know him but find pleasure in doing the wrong thing, you are a liar and the truth is not in you.

You can't find pleasure in doing the wrong things. Right?

If everything that kills you makes you feel alive, I'd say the world has got its hooks inside of you.

We can't have that. I know that's kind of a long review because we have three minutes left, but I felt like I needed to go back and cover that because we probably have new people here and it's been quite a long time.

I don't want to take up too much time today, but next week we'll get into chapter 2, verse 5 a little bit more and talk about that verse because it's an amazing passage.

I just wanted to open it up. Is there any questions or anything that we want to talk about in the next couple minutes?

Peter? Bring clarity to 2 .4

and keeping his commandments and walking the line, balancing that out in every person's life.

What commandments are we talking about? Ten commandments? Keep the

Ten Commandments? Is that what we're talking about? I don't think so. I don't think so.

What's the two greatest commandments that Christ gave us? Love the

Lord your God and love people. That's very simple. To keep his commandments, it doesn't mean that you're doing this obviously as a way for salvation or any of that stuff.

We're going to fail in keeping God's commandments, but I think God looks at the heart and I think he looks at our motives and our desires and the fact that we are trying to do these things and that in our human failures and flesh, sometimes we're going to mess up.

Next day I get up, I try to do better. I don't stay the same. Yes.

Yeah. Good. Very good. Yes. Cornell said that a believer agonizes over their sin.

We don't find pleasure in doing it when we sin. We know it. I think that's a very good point because the unbeliever, they don't have that same thing.

They try to cover their sin or hide from it where we just don't have that same issue.

We agonize over it, confess it, move on. It's a new day.

Anything else? Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. They're in the church with a profession of faith and they're unrepentant.

Yeah. Some could. I mean, you look at where they're coming from in Asia Minor, all the idol worship going on.

So that's definitely true. Anything else? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. Is joy the spiritual gift given to us as a believer?

Absolutely. Specific to John. These things we write to so that our joy may be made complete.

Right? Being faithful and obedient, you just have that joy. I think that's very true. When you're following after the

Lord, there's no sin encroaching on your life. You know, blatant. I think there is a joy in following after him and trusting him and being of the faith.

Anything else? Let's wrap it up. Let's pray. Father, we love you and praise you. Just thank you that you're an amazing

God. Just go before us now in the meeting and just help us to glorify you and everything that we say and do.

We thank you for 1 John and the way that he teaches and just the focus that he has on Christ and being able to show us how to discern true believers from false believers and to motivate us to live our faith in a way that glorifies you and helps us to teach others about you and that we might be able to share

Christ with them. That they would see your glory and see your amazing beauty and the hope that we have in heaven.

This world is temporary. All that we face here is going to fade away and it's going to burn, but we're going to spend eternity with you.

We just praise you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though the mountains tremble at its weft, there is an answer for his anger, a favor for our lives.

As for me, as they sing, it would be no more if I take the wings of the morning.

Where shall I be together with my friends?

Unless the hills are high, those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the overwatch is over the city, watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early to rest eating the anxious toil for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Those who build it, labor in vain, watches over the city stays awake

Your children are a heritage from the sea in the hand of warrior children of once you.

Hills are high, those who build it, labor in vain, watches over the city, watchman stays awake in vain.

He fills his quiver with them, he shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the game.

Those who build it, unless the overwatch is over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Unless the builds the high, those who build it, labor in vain.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh

God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living

God. When shall I come and appear before my tears have been my food day and night while they say to me continually

Where is your God? These things

I'll remember as I pour out my soul.

My soul is cast down within me deep in the rock.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found.

Was blind but now

I see. T 'was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear the hour

I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, and snares

I have already come.

T 'was grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing

God's praise than when we first begun.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise, imbibed, inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhastening, and silent as night, nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might, thy justice like mountains high soaring above, thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all life thou givest, to both great and small, in all life thou livest, the true life of all.

Oh, blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree, and wither and perish, but not change a thing.

Great Father of glory, pure lover of light, thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight.

All praise we would render, all help us to see, is only the splendor of thy united being.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart, not be all else to me, save that thou art.

Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word,

I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.

Thou my great Father, I thy true son.

Thou with me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Riches I need not, nor man's empty praise.

Thou my inheritance, now and always.

Thou and thou only, first in my heart.

Our King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won.

May I reach heaven's joyful bright heaven's sun.

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, and all ruler of all.

Please be seated. Just occurred to me as I came up here,

I was gonna need a mic. Well, you have the announcements in front of you. Remember, Jim and Deidre are in Atlanta.

My Atlanta. Okay, be praying for them to have to be ministered to as they will bring that back to us.

There's a baby shower, and I'm gonna probably butcher this name for Keira Carriker on Tuesday the 12th.

That's in the announcements. Those of you who want to be involved in the membership classes, they're coming up the 16th.

And the 23rd, you need to get your application and your request to be in the membership classes in so that, and is it

Kathy, are you taking those? Yep. Kathy will take them. Remember that there's a reformation party on October 30th here at the church.

There'll be games, contests, and prizes, and you just bring a snack to share. That is also,

I believe, when we celebrate Pastor Appreciation Day. No, it's not. But we're gonna celebrate that anyway.

Yeah, so they need a guy up here doing announcements who actually knows what's going on.

Pastor Appreciation Day is a tradition in October, and we've adopted it here. Jim and Deidre minister to us in a million ways outwardly and overtly, and some not so well seen.

So it would be great if we would all give them a word of encouragement. You can write letters. You can write notes. Money is always welcome.

And we will celebrate that. When is that, Kathy? The 31st. That's what you told me,

Dave. So thank you for listening. And that's because the Annual Harvest Dinner will be on the 31st, which is the last announcement here.

And just one other thing. Choir will meet today after church for the first practice.

Back in the Youth Sunday School Room, is that where you're gonna be meeting? I know you're in here somewhere,

Kathy. There she is. In this Sunday School Room over here. Today's Scripture is in Luke chapter 12 verses 1 through 5.

Would you turn there with me? Luke chapter 12 verses 1 through 5.

Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, he began saying to his disciples first of all, beware of the leaven of the

Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be made known.

Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear the one who after he has killed has authority to cast you into hell.

Yes, I tell you, fear him. Let's pray together. Father, every day we are in your presence, but today is a day we set aside to come and worship you corporately.

Might your word go out powerfully today, we pray Lord that we would hear from you as Dave preaches through 1

Peter. Thank you for the dedication that he has given to bringing exegesis to this book.

We enjoy it, we appreciate it, it is your word after all. And we pray Lord that what is taught today will be used in our lives to glorify you as we bring the gospel to a dying world.

Thank you Lord Jesus for everything you do in Jesus name. Amen. In this is love, not that we love

God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Please stand. How deep the father's love for us, how much beyond all measure that he should give his only son to make a wretch's treasure.

How great the pain of searing love and yet I will be joyful as moons which mar the chosen one, bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon the cross, lies it upon his shoulders.

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, call out among the strifers.

It was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished.

His dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection.

What should I gain from his reward?

I cannot give an answer, but this

I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.

Speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word.

Take your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in your likeness that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.

Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity.

Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority.

Words of power that can never fail, let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds, help us grasp the heights of your plans for us.

Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity.

And by grace we'll stand on your promises, and by faith we'll walk as you walk with us.

Speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.

Please be seated. Well, good morning.

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1, surprisingly enough.

And as you're doing, I was going to say turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 11, but I decided against that. All right, let's pray together.

Father, you know us. You know where we are. 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 superintend this whole process so that your people are not misled, but they're challenged, they're convicted, they're blessed, and Lord, I pray that you would be glorified through an accurate rendering of your word,

Lord. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to be in verse 17.

That'll be our focus today, but to establish a little bit of context, I'd like to read the first 19 verses of the chapter.

So it'll be a bit of an extended reading. So 1 Peter 1, verses 1 through 19.

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

May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 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 unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

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, 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

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, 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 in your ignorance, 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, 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 forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

As I said, we'll be focused on verse 17 this morning, but before we begin the exposition of that verse, I want to point out something about the book of 1

Peter that I think is interesting and needs to be kept in mind as you study through this. I would recommend to you that you read this book.

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

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, regeneration, our inheritance.

He explains the process of sanctification, how we go through this life of trials, and it makes us more like Christ.

He marvels at our faith without sight, shares in the joy of our salvation. He points out how the greatness of our salvation is the interest of the

Holy Spirit Himself in the inspiration of Scripture, how it was the interest of the 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. Peter begins to issue commands.

And even many of the phrases that are not technically commands have the force of a command. The first clear command in 1

Peter is given in verse 13. Look at that. Fix your hope. That's the first command.

We're to focus and fasten our hope on the grace that is to be ours at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We're to concentrate on the return of Christ and the reward that will 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.

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

We're called by the Holy One. We're 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, we have the third command, and that's what we'll look at today.

But just for fun, yeah, I counted the commands in 1

Peter. And it's not that easy to do because the way that Peter uses language, but 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. So you can see that Peter kind of pivots from giving us indicatives, telling us about our salvation, to now these are commands, things that we ought to do because of our salvation.

So again, the third command in verse 17, where first we're 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. Now that word address may seem a little bit formal to us, and some translations use call or invoke.

I like address because it gives us the idea of referring to God as our Father, and that's the idea, that's the rationale for the command.

Those of you that refer to God as Father, those who are children of obedience, those who in other words are

Christians, then 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.

That's the structure of the verse. If we refer to the impartial judge of all the world as our

Father, then we ought to live in a way that's consistent with that identification of that great judge as our

Father. That's the point of the verse. But why?

I'll spend most of the time on that question. Why would we who have

God as our Father need to fear Him as judge? Why would we, look at the verse, why would we have to fear

Him as an impartial judge of works? The whole of the epistle until now has been about our salvation.

Talked about our being chosen, our being regenerated, the rescue that we received from God.

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

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

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

So what do we have to fear? 1

John 4 .18 says there's no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment.

The one who fears is not perfected in love. 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

Holy One is understanding. But that's the beginning of wisdom.

That fear of God, isn't that the fear of God that we had at our conversion? 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, we began to fear

God, and in that moment we reconciled to God through the Gospel, through His Son 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.

Why do we need to fear? We call Him Father, and He is our Father, isn't He? This is

Romans 8. 14 -16 For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

For you have not received the spirit of slavery, leading to fear again, but you have 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. We are. Galatians 4, 4 -7

When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 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, God sent forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son then an heir through God.

You are a child of God. Peter just called us children of obedience a couple of verses ago.

So we do call God our Father because He is our Father. We've been reconciled to Him. We live in new relationship to Him.

We're no longer at enmity with Him. We relate to Him as children.

So why would we conduct ourselves with fear? What's all this about judging?

I thought we escaped judgment. Peter says, And if you address us, Father, whom? The one who impartially judges according to each one's work.

So this must be why we're to fear, at least in part, God will impartially judge our work.

Our work is to be judged. 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. We've escaped judgment ending in condemnation.

Now, if you're not a Christian, you haven't. 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 judgment is yours.

It's what John refers to when he says, Perfect love casts out fear. This is the larger context of that 1

John 4. This is 1 John 4, 14 -18. We have beheld and bear witness that the

Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 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. 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. Because as he is, so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment. And the one who fears is not perfected in love.

That's John's point. We have no fear of the day of judgment, because he, Christ, 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, that judgment has been satisfied. That judgment of eternal damnation was covered by the blood of Christ.

And we praise the Lord that's so. That's why we're here. So, still then, what is the judgment that we have to fear?

I haven't answered that question yet. Certainly there is a 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.

Certainly there's a future judgment of every person that is based solely on works. Every person here, and every person throughout the world, living or dead, there is a judgment of every person according to their works.

The Bible speaks of four judgments of people. And some of you are in eschatology and you're going, so you may count them differently, that's fine.

I'm not going into all of them, but there are four judgments of image bearers. There are additional judgments of Satan and demons, but there are four of humans.

And of those four judgments, only one is a candidate of a future judgment for which

Christians would have reason to fear. That's the judgment seat of Christ, or the bema seat judgment.

It's referred to in 2 Corinthians 5, 9 through 10. 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 be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad, according to what he has done.

This is a judgment of Christians, and of Christians only. It's an evaluation of the life of the believer.

This will be an evaluation of your use of the talents and time and resources and gifts that you've received.

How did you use them? Whether for His glory or for your own ends, maybe even for sinful ends. This is a judgment, though, of reward.

1 Corinthians 3, 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.

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. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident, for they will indicate it, because it is revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

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.

But, listen to this, he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

So this is a judgment of deeds, but the result is salvation for all and reward for some. So this is a judgment of Christians only.

There's no indication of condemnation, only degrees of reward. There is a sense of loss, but salvation for all who undergo the judgment.

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

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

Yes. There are other judgments referred to in Scripture. I just mentioned the judgment of Israel, the judgment of the nations, the sheep -goat judgment, which

I believe to be one, and then the great white throne judgment. But none of those would fit the context of 1

Peter at all, so I'm not going to go into them. I'll just state them so you're not confused about those.

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.

Some commentators conclude that this is at least in part what Peter has in mind. This is from Robert Layton's commentary.

This is a good quote. If you want to have confidence on that day and not fear it when it comes, fear it now so that you avoid sin.

Those who tremble now will, when judgment comes, lift up their faces with joy. I think it makes sense that Peter has that judgment in view in the reward at the return of Christ is in view.

Look back at verses 3 -7. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 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 unfading, having been kept in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

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, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

You see what Peter has in mind. Reward for a life well lived, for suffering well done, then that reward comes at the revelation of Jesus Christ, the return of Christ.

So that's part of what we are to live in fear of. We conduct ourselves in fear of that impartial judgment, but there's a hint in the verb that's translated judges that there may be even more.

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

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

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

But given the context of the rest of the book of 1 Peter, I think it refers not just to a future point of time, but to disciplines in this life now.

God's discipline. 1 Peter 4 .17 says this,

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?

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

It is time for judgment to begin with the house of God. He's talking about present judgment in the form of earthly discipline.

It's a reality of our relationship to the Father. We should live in fear of that discipline. Remember the point of 1

Peter. Written to Christians who are suffering, who are persecuted. He wants them to suffer for the right reasons.

Remember? Our sanctifying life, the trials, should be painful, but painful for the right reasons.

They should be sanctifying us. They shouldn't be just the right judgment against our sinful behaviors.

Right? 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.

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.

That's good. That's sanctifying behavior. Alright? So, that impartial judgment of God in discipline,

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

No. I'll just say you know that God disciplines His children.

He disciplines His erring children on this earth, and so we ought to live in fear of that. Wayne Grudem puts it this way in his commentary in 1

Peter. Membership in God's family, great privilege though it is, must not lead to the presumption that disobedience will pass unnoticed or undisciplined.

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

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

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

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

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

But for those who would call on God as Father, those who would do that sincerely and reasonably, having put their faith in Christ, then 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.

Okay, so there is judgment to fear. Judgment to fear from this impartial judge. Whether that's future judgment at the judgment seat of Christ or current disciplines.

Whether that's directly from the Father, through the church, through the world. And the judgment is impartial.

You see that. He is the one who impartially judges. God judges impartially.

He doesn't show partiality. The verb is kind of a long one. It has three components. It means not, the first part is not, the middle part, receiving or taking, and the last part, the face or the appearance.

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

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.

You can't impress Him. God judges your actual thoughts, your actual deeds.

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

It's unambiguous. Unfailing. Without bias. This is from Samuel.

Samuel was sent to anoint David as king. Do you remember that? He went into the house of Jesse and he saw

Eliab and he's getting the oil out. I guess because Eliab's the tallest or the best looking or whatever.

That's how we select elders here at Kootenay. Is Jesse here today?

No. God tells Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature because I've rejected him.

For God sees not as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.

You've heard that verse before. The Lord looks at the heart. He's not impressed. He's not impressed by Eliab's height or your height.

Even Brian Ashby or Joe Cordes, he's not even impressed by their height, although I am. I'm uncomfortable anytime

I'm next to someone taller than me. 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.

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's work. Now as a bit of an aside, because of things going on in the world today, we have to be clear about something.

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

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.

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

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

Meaningless ones, utterly meaningless ones like race or meaningful ones like ethnicity or gender.

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

In the mind of God, all human beings are image bearers and deserve that dignity. The only distinction that God makes is between worldlings and his elect.

And we can make that distinction. 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 outward characteristics.

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.

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

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

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

There's no less discipline because he likes you more or more because he likes you less. God is an impartial judge.

That makes his judgment absolutely certain. There's no way around it. Now, you kids, you have fathers, and you know every way there might be to get around their judgment and their discipline, right?

Because it's not impossible to do so. They can be, they can lack knowledge, for one thing, they may not know, and they can be inconsistent.

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.

They got loosened up. And I know none of you believe that that's one way that human fathers can be inconsistent.

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?

It's always somebody else was the favorite. That's unfair. In truth, good parents don't play favorites.

Good parents, there may be differences in the way that they feel about their children, but those differences, they don't matter, 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. 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, or because the father doesn't know, or because he likes me better.

Not so with God. 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.

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

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 even more important.

What are we to fear the most? Isn't it just displeasing our

Father? When we even just begin to understand this

One whom we call Father, and what He has done for us, the most horrifying and sickening thought is that we might displease

Him. Alistair Begg tells a story of a young boy, I don't know if it's a true story, I don't know, 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.

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

Love for the Father characterizes the Christian. We are children of obedience. We want to glorify

Him. 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 to see

Him as He is through us. We don't want to see, we don't want them to see our failures as His image bearers.

That's not what we want to see. But most importantly, we don't want Him to see us act unlovingly or disrespectfully or irreverently toward Him, rebelliously toward Him.

Not now. Not now. Not after what He's done for us.

Not after what He's done for people we love. We won't offend Him. We won't do it.

Don't do it. 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. This is the bravery against the attacks of the world of flesh and the devil.

It's the fear of offending God. That's our only fear. We don't fear offending anyone else in the universe.

Only God. We live in submission to governing authorities. Why? Because in doing so, we live in submission to Him.

Children, you obey your parents. Why? Because in doing so, you obey

God. That's why. Even when they're inconsistent and impartial.

Wives, you submit yourself to your husbands because in doing so, you obey God. Even when your husband is less than perfectly loving.

Even when he is a pagan. We'll see later on. Husbands, you love and sacrifice for your wives because in doing so, you obey your father.

Even when she is not submissive. Servants, workers, employees, you obey your masters because in doing so, you obey

God. We'll see that when we get to chapter 2 of 1 Peter. We're to honor all people.

We're to honor the king. Honor human authority. Live in full submission to human authority. So long as our obedience to that authority does not mean disobedience to the master.

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.

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

We will set our faces like Flint. Now we remain graceful and merciful and evangelical, but we won't bend.

We won't budge. Not one bit, not one iota if it means obeying our master.

Won't do it. Lastly, verse 17 tells us to conduct ourselves in fear when? 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. The word for sojourn or stay on earth, it's parochia.

And you may have heard the word parochial. Our English word parochial comes from that. Our word parochial has a lot of meanings but one of the meanings is somewhat strange.

It means that you're sort of insulated or disconnected from the larger world. You're narrow -minded.

And that's good. 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 1.

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

We don't fit in. The world as it's currently constituted, it's not for us.

It's an open rebellion to Him. Not in submission to Him. Even to the point of denying

His existence. 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 so it hates us. And there's no surprise. 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. 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. We have to live His way according to His Word.

So that we might bring more disciples, more children of obedience to Him. 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 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, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

You were redeemed from your slavery to sin at an incredibly high price. The suffering and death of the

God who was man. Your Lord and Savior, your King, He died so that you might live.

He was mocked and beaten so that you might live. We will not offend Him. Amen? We dare not.

We will not. So today I want to summarize this with a, you're wondering where is he going to get to the title?

I used as the title a Latin phrase, Coram Deo. You may have heard that phrase.

It literally means before God. It has the idea of the presence of God.

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 that you do.

You always and ever live in His presence. All of your thoughts, all of your conduct.

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

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. 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. He sees. He hears.

He knows. There's nowhere to go. You can't be free from the gaze of this impartial judge.

Where would you go? Bavinck, in his Doctrine of God, this is his quote.

There is no place where you may flee from God angry, but to God reconciled.

There's no place at all whether you may flee. Will you flee from Him? Flee unto

Him. 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. 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. 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. Let's pray together. Lord, we're grateful for Your Word, for the challenges that it presents.

You know this has been convicting to me, and I pray that it would be convicting to each one that hears 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. Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.

Please stand. Living for Jesus, a life that is true.

Striving to please Him in all that I do.

Yielding allegiance, glad -hearted and free.

This is the pathway of blessing for me.

For Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee.

For Thou in Thine atonement didst give

Thyself for me. I own no other master.

My heart shall be Thy throne. My life

I give henceforth to live. O Christ for Thee alone.

Living for Jesus, who died in my place.

Bearing on Calvary my sin and disgrace.

Such love constrains me to answer

His call. For my God is leading and giving my all.

O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee.

For Thou in Thine atonement didst give

Thyself for me. I own no other master.

My heart shall be Thy throne. My life

I give henceforth to live. O Christ for Thee alone.