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Alright. Good morning, everyone. How we doing? I suspect that our crowd is gonna grow, I think. But for those that are here, what do you say we stand up and worship together?
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So much more cordoned, merry lives. It's time for us to more just survive. We were made to thrive. Amen. Into into your word, we're digging deep to know our father's heart.
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To the word, we're reaching out. To the world we're reaching out. Show them who you are. Living waters, big water flowing through. God, we no.
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It's your name on night, shine night, suddenly darkness run hand high.
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Hear me now. Still no? Okay, I'm on. Announcements. We have abundant announcements this morning.
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There's a lot to promote because it's fall and we've got programs that are starting up. We've got small groups that are starting up. So, we're going to take the time. Who's favorite part of the sermon is announcements? No.
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I'm just kidding. We've got Old Bill Spun Run that's coming up next weekend and with Old Bill Spun Run, before that happens, usually, we have this fellow come in. Chuck, would you come on up? And you can take this mic right here.
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Go for it. Okay. Yeah. I've checked from the Good Samaritan Mission. Each year, we go around and just get people all ready.
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Good Samaritan Mission, Old Bills Fun Run, Good Samaritan Mission, Old Bills Fun Run, Good Samaritan Mission, Old Bills I just wanna make that clear. You know, you're going to see out in the fellowship hall, you'll see a couple of posters that I made up. It's got the statistics of the mission. We got 30 beds for men. We feed lunches and dinners and breakfasts and house people and do all that stuff.
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That stuff is in those statistics, but it's about the people. You know, right now, I've got meniscus tears in both of my knees. It hurts. It's painful. But that's on the outside.
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Maybe a doctor can fix it. Maybe Jesus will fix it, something like that. But, you know, I get guys coming to me every day, and it's not with a torn meniscus. It's torn inside here. It's broken inside here.
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And the only hope that they have is the Jesus that comes that they can get at the mission that we can give them, and if they partake of that, they get it. A guy came into my office, and a couple of weeks about three weeks ago, they came in for a food box, him and his girlfriend. They came in for a food box. We gave him abundant food and everything. And about a week later, this guy comes back, plops down in the chair right across from my desk.
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He said, I don't know what it is, but I felt something, and I think I can trust you. He said, I feel like I wanna kill myself. And I looked at him dead in the eyes, and for the next thirty minutes, I told him about the only hope that I have, and that's Jesus Christ. He accepted Jesus as his lord. He went I had to take him on mandated reporters, so I have to take I have to do more than just give him Jesus because that's required by law.
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Took him over to community counseling center. They put him in the hospital under watch. The next day, I go and visit this guy. His hope is back. You can see it on his face.
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He goes for about a week in the mental institution, comes back. Oh, it was about ten days later, sits in that same chair, smile on his face, hope in his heart, wants to sign in. The same day he comes into the mission, he gets a job. His life's back together again in just ten days. You know?
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And that's what Jesus does, and that's why we're there at the mission to change lives, help people get their life back. So if you remember Good Samaritan Mission, Old Bill's Fun Run. Thank you.
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Thank you, Chuck. Appreciate it. Community Bible study. Ann, would you come on up?
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Good morning church. My name is Ann Stalker and in ten days from today on Wednesday, the Wednesday after Labor Day, it marks the kickoff for the first evening coed community Bible study prayer group class. It's open to husbands, wives, singles, old, young, and a variety of small group options will are are going to be available. Fifteen days from now, ladies, there is the opening of the second annual women's daytime CBS class. Last year, we studied five books of the Bible.
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This fall and winter will be taught by Ed Allem and Eric Palmquist, the New Testament book of Hebrews. Childcare will be available, and all of the details are in your bulletin. First flap. Take a look, please. So I want to encourage you to sign up today.
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I want to encourage you to invite your neighbors, your coworkers, your LDS friends, your Catholic friends, your Episcopal friends, etcetera, and especially those who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. So I had the privilege of doing community Bible study for fifteen years before my family and I moved to Jackson twelve years ago. So here are some of the words that aptly describe this interdenominational, international organization for which I have such a passion. Transformational, comprehensive, consistent, in-depth, honed for nearly forty five years, a caring community, undergirded and surrounded by prayer and support. So please join us in Jackson and join over half a million folks around the globe who are mining gold nuggets of biblical truth via CBS.
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So come and catch the fire. I'm gonna be at in the back after the service to answer any questions and to sign you up. Thank you.
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Thank you. Thank you, Anne. And we have Iwana. Dan, would you come up? Dan Tulson, commander Dan Tulson, commander of Awana.
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Right. Thanks. Good morning. Two weeks from tomorrow, Awana starts back up, for the year, and we are anticipating and praying that God is gonna grow our I wanna club this year and we're looking for more volunteers. I wanna leverages a really important age in the life of a child, ages three up to fifth grade.
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When they're already open to spiritual things, they memorize scripture very easily, and, research says that over 80% of Christians accept Christ when they're in that age group. So we feel really strongly about Awana. It's a really important ministry, but we do it better with more helpers. So specifically, we're looking for, people who can help listen to verses with kids, help them memorize their scriptures, and teachers that can, take a few minutes to teach in a large group setting and, administrative help. We don't need a lot more people, but we'd love to have you and we're hosting a that's really hard to It's
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kinda hard to see. Oh, bummer.
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At our home in South Park Ranches on September 3 next Monday evening, we're having a volunteer training event. We would love to have you there if you're interested in more, if you would like to help. And Monday evening, 530 Bedstraw Lane. So 3685 Bedstraw Lane. You can get your bullet and write a little note or take a picture of that slider.
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Meet me after the service later. And I thought it was in the bullet, but it doesn't look like I made it in. So next Monday night, we'd love to have you. Thanks.
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Alright. Thanks. And let's see what's next. Monday nights at first beat.
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Yes. We're on tomorrow. Mule music message. We are in Luke 22, the faithfulness of God through Jesus Christ. Going to the cross.
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Amen. You can see your bulletin and seriously, the bulletin that Dan just took has all of the all of the list of all of the Bible studies that are happening right now and there are a bunch of em. I want you to know about em. Mike Demetrius is back in the back right now and he's going to be standing back there and he'll let you know. If you want to get into a Bible study, he will funnel you towards one.
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If you want to start one, he'll start funneling people towards you, okay? So, that's small groups to help us grow spiritually and together and for anything else and there is some more stuff, I promise. It's in the bulletin, the written bulletin and so if you would, get one of those before you leave and you'll know what's going on. You can pick and choose. Have one more announcement before we get up and greet one another.
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I'm going ask Matt Litzelman who is a moderator for the church to come forward and he's got a short one too. Thanks, Ray.
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Good morning, church family. Just wanted to bring everyone up to speed a little bit of some things that are happening here at First B. I hope you're all enjoying the new concrete sidewalk in front of the church. Thank you to the city of Jackson Hole for that. We're gonna be doing some more landscaping there, trees, maybe a few boulders in the front.
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We are in process of getting permitting for a deck on the outside of the fellowship hall. We've been planning that for some time. Since we did the capital campaign for the kitchen, we have some funds remaining for that. And with some volunteer labor and some discounted materials, we will be attacking the deck this fall. Also, I wanted to in regard to the kitchen, I gotta slow my heart down just a little bit here for a second.
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I usually play the bass to do that. Yeah. Well,
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I didn't get the opportunity. I probably wouldn't like it either. Kitchen. We have a gorgeous kitchen who which has been a tremendous blessing for ministry here at the church. And we've had a little struggle managing our kitchen.
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It's a lot of coming and goings, but we've created a board to help us steward our huge investment down the hall. So what's gonna happen with that is you're gonna notice there's gonna be some more guidelines. For example, dating food that you stick in the refrigerator. It's gonna be cleaned out randomly. If it doesn't have a date on it, even if you put it in there today, it'll probably get thrown away.
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So we just wanna keep it safe, we wanna keep it clean, and we're asking all of you to help us steward that amazing investment here at the church. We thank you for that. Lastly, I think I finally slowed down. There you go. Good.
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Lastly, church finance budget. We are about a percent and a half behind in our projected budget for the year, which is not a lot. Tremendously blessed by God's favor and blessing on this church. So if I could, I'd like to pray for us just for a second. Before I sit down.
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Yeah, man. Father, we are overwhelmed by your goodness and your favor towards us. And I would ask, Lord, that that we would set aside the things, the kinda just shake off the dust of the day and of our past week, and that we would just settle in to this time of worship and and your word, Lord, that we would just draw near. It's our heart that we would know you in a deeper and more intimate way this morning. So I just thank you, Lord, for all that you're doing.
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I pray that you would use this church to bring unity to the body in the body of Christ that you would grow us and that we would be a tremendous blessing in this community. We're so thankful lord for all that you're doing. In Jesus name, amen.
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Amen. Thank you, Matt. Thank you and I think that that is the last of the abundant announcements this morning. So, would you all stand up and greet one another? And the trio up here bring you together with a song.
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Let's pray on that. God, thank you so much for all you have done. Thank you for your power over death, hell, and the grave. Thank you for new life in you. Thank you for your deep, deep love for us.
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I pray that we would experience more and more to that as we really turn to you. We learn of you. The more we know you, the more we love you because you have loved us.
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His wounds have bitten my hands. Should I, why should I gain from misery? Can cannot give answer for this unknown with his wounds have been my
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Got a verse here from Psalm 16. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasure of living with you forever. Truly is the the spirit of God under this new covenant. Right? Because of what Jesus did on the cross, this new covenant, this new relationship, this new promise that we have with God.
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And we have a mediator so that we can have a relationship with God, and that's the man Jesus Christ. And his presence, he's promised to always be with us. How cool is that church? He's promised to always be with us. His presence is with us wherever you go.
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There's nowhere you can you can go where he is not. He is with you, and his presence really is priceless.
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Let's sing there's nothing worth more.
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There's nothing worth more that will ever come close. Is alone. By your presence, Lord,
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I sang
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Holy Spirit, you're welcome.
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Spirit, presence,
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Amen. Y'all can be seated and I'll invite the frontline team to come forward. I'd like to follow suit here with with Matt and just say, let's let's let's thank God for all the gifts that he's given us as we give back. Let's let's pray on it. God, we are thankful.
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Thank you. We just sang. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your provision. Thank you for being with us always.
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Thank you for a peace that passes understanding. Lord, my desire for for us as a church would be to to live life with an open hand. Just generosity. It works. Your kingdom values work.
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They just do. They're backwards. They're backwards of the way the world works, but they work, and they work so well. And when we when we give, we're we're storing our treasure in heaven. We're making an eternal impact, and that is so wonderful to know.
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Brethren, would you continue first of all, thank you for the generosity of of of this church right here. Thank you that it's accomplishing your work and your gospel spreading, but we're we're asking for more. Would you continue to
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may the the
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gospel truly do its good work in people's hearts and lives because of generosity, because of what you gave us in the first place. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you sing this song with us from Isaiah 40? It says, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. To lives.
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And
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This week, I've been enjoying first Peter. I really, really like it. I I I just feel like it's just great for me. Personally, I I love to read it because it's so filling. We're up to first Peter 110 through 22, chronological study.
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Y'all know that. Most of you know that. If you're visiting this morning, we've been going through the Bible and I'm not real good at takeoffs and landings. I'll just admit it right now. I like the body part of the flight but the takeoffs and landings, this is my form.
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This is where we are. Now, we'll start, okay? But first, before we get going, I want to go back for a second to Isaiah and read through Isaiah's vision of God. Isaiah six says, in the year of king Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim, those are angels by the way, stood above him each having six wings.
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With two, he covered his face and with two, he covered his feet and with two, he flew and one called out to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glorious. Antiphonal praise. It was back and forth praise from these angels one to another and it's the utter holiness of God is what Isaiah was confronted with and when he was confronted with this absolute and total holiness of God, immediately, he changed. The foundations of the thresholds trembled of the temple.
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You know how heavy the temple stones were? They're each foundation stone was almost the size of this room or about half the size of this room and the foundations of the threshold trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke and then I said, woe is me for I am ruined in the new American standard. Woe is me. I am undone in the King James. Woe is me.
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I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips. He immediately, when confronted with the holiness of God, began to confess his sin. I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts and so he if confesses his sin and he pronounces God's holiness just as the angels were doing, right? The angels were singing back and forth. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Foundations of the thresholds trembled his voice of him and called out while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, woe is me for I am ruined. I'm undone because I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among the people of unclean lips and then one of those Seraphim, one of those angelic messengers who does the will of God.
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One of the Seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongues and he touched my mouth with and he said, behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven. God has the ability to forgive sin, okay? Now, I want to talk about the holiness of God just for a minute. The God is utterly holy. That is utterly different.
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He is nothing like us. He's pure and holy and when we say love is the key, love is the center. Yeah, love and wrath. There's a certain amount of judgment that goes with being holy. You, he is completely love and completely righteous wrath.
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He's completely holy as far as justice goes but also as far as mercy goes. So, he's hits that in exactly the right measure and I think that most of us fall on one side or the other. Isaiah's vision of God and then I want to show you from Luke. Luke five, I'm going go 11 verses. I'm going to read it.
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Try not to preach it and just get then we'll get back to first Peter, okay? So, this is not happen that while the crowd was pressing around him, that's Jesus and listening to the word of God because that was always on his lips. He was always speaking the word of God. He was standing by the Lake Of Genesaret. That's the Sea Of Galilee and he saw two boats that were lying at the edge of the lake but the fishermen had gotten out of em and they were washing their nets.
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He got into one of the boats which was Simon's. Simon Peter, right? Simon Peter, the guy who wrote first Peter. He got into one of the boats which was Simon's and asked him to put out a little way from the land. He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.
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Natural amphitheater right there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered and said, master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. Now in those days, they didn't have monofilament line that was see through. They had ropes.
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That's what the nets were made of. And in the daytime, fish can see the net. You think fish are hard to catch when they can't see it. They're really hard to catch when they can see it, so they fished at night. It was common for fishermen to fish all night long.
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I mean they could still get up at 04:00, I know that. But this is all night long they've been fishing and they caught nothing, he said. But I'll do as you say and I'll let down the nets. He just heard him teach, heard him teach a sermon. He had met him before.
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Andrew introduced him to him before that but when they had done this, they listened to what Jesus said and they went out and when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break. So, they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them and they came and they filled both of the boats such that they began to sink and when Simon Peter saw that and what was Isaiah by the way? Isaiah was already in the temple. Isaiah was a temple person? He's a prophet.
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Yes. He's a priest, right? He's in there doing what he normally did and he saw a vision of God for who he is and the holiness of God and then fisherman, Peter, was fishing, doing what it is that he does. And when he saw that, He said, go away from me, lord, for I'm a sinful man. Confronted with the holiness and the complete different otherness of Jesus.
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He recognized it and then immediately started confessing his his sin. That is a normal response to the holiness of God. If you understand the holiness, you see your unholiness. Do you get that? If you see his purity and cleanliness, cleanness, you see your uncleanness.
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So, go away from me lord for I'm a sinful man. For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish what they had taken and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are partners with Simon and Jesus said to Simon, do not fear from now on, you'll be catching men. That's a prophecy right there, right? And he he was and he did and we saw it and when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and they followed. It was the point of finding that utter holiness of God, transformative power of God.
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So, we're going to first Peter one ten through 22 but first, I want to ramp up to it with one through nine from last week and here it is. Peter, an apostle Jesus Christ, the same Peter I just mentioned from Luke five. Peter, an apostle Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, those who are scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethenia who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God by the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. That obedience to Jesus Christ in this context is listening to understanding and accepting the gospel, accepting, obedience to the only way that God has made. For us to be forgiven of sin.
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To obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. His blood is the sufficient sacrifice. Once for all, there is not another option. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Now, this is written to Christians and he's praying that their peace would be multiplied, that the grace would be multiplied.
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Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, this great doxology, who according to his great salvation, 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 which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you, you who are believers, who are protected by the power of God through the faith for salvation. Ready to be revealed in the last time. So, this is his main point. From last week, I had point 1.2, point three, always start with grace and peace was my point one.
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Point two, we'll talk about in a minute. It's this one. God is to be praised for his great mercy, for new life, living hope, and if you had to say that in one word, it's salvation. This is what God is to be praised for. For the fact that he does save.
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Now, today, in our modern times, people don't even really feel like, what are we getting saved from? We're not in any real peril. I don't understand that. I don't get it. Seems kind of stupid to me to think that we are.
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It seems like it just set you back if you thought that you were. Well, it does set you back whether you think you are or not. There are two options. There is saved and there's not saved and salvation is what this passage is about. Now, he's writing to Christians but I want to bring that out as we go.
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So, he goes into a gut digression. Immediately after he talks about the greatness of the salvation that God has offered, he realizes that the people he's writing to are in great suffering. So, he digresses and talks about suffering, joy and suffering. He says, in this, you greatly rejoice Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire. Maybe found a result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ and then, he digresses again.
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He's like a preacher. He's got one point and then he digresses three times. And though you have not seen him, you love him and though you do not see him now and Peter had seen him, walk with him for three years, knew him, knew him well but he knew these people in the far flung Roman Empire had not. So, though you've not seen him and you love him and though you do not see him now but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible, full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. It is by grace, God's grace through our faith that we have salvation available.
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Obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls and here we are. First Peter one ten. As to this salvation, what's the message about? Salvation. It's over and over and over about salvation.
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Now, it's a doxological praise. It's this about the glory of God for all who believe but I'm going to be steering us as we get to the end to be thinking about. There are two groups. It's great and it's encouraging for those of us who are believers. As to this salvation, salvation means welfare, to prosper, prosperity, deliverance, preservation, salvation, and safety.
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It's from Soteria. That's the Greek word and that's where we get our word soteriology. If you're a word nerd, you like that sort of thing. Soteriology is the study of salvation. Salvation means welfare, not damnation, okay?
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It's not eternal separation. It's oneness with God. When Tyndale was writing the new testament in the English, he had to come up with a word for being at one with God and he made at one meant atonement. God made atonement, salvation available through Jesus Christ, salvation. As to this salvation, this is actually his third digression.
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I didn't get to it last week. It's a long passage. It's actually one sentence in Greek. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries. So, Isaiah, this guy who was a priest, who was a prophet.
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He made careful inquiries into how exactly this would come to pass. Careful searches and inquiries, praying for it, seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating. Now, I said last week that Peter does not mention the Holy Spirit as often as Paul. He talks more about Jesus than he does about the Holy Spirit. Talks more about father God than does the Holy Spirit but he does not downplay it all.
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When he says the spirit of Christ, that's the Holy Spirit but as one congregation member reminded me last week, he came forward and said, listen, Paul got knocked off his donkey by the Holy Spirit and he felt it because he knew he was adamantly opposed and all of a sudden, he was overcome and then he saw that through the lens of his experience and we do see everything through the lens of our experience, right? Peter, a fisherman, Isaiah in the temple, Paul, his experience was that he was absolutely knocked off of his donkey but Peter walked with Jesus making mistake after mistake but in front of the one who never did and seeing how things were made right. Seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them. So, he's saying, the spirit, the Holy Spirit was active back then but not in exactly the same way. It would, Holy Spirit would light upon someone.
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He would inspire them but he didn't stay with them like he does with us as Carl said this morning. We've got this promise that the spirit will be with us for those who believe. So, they were seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. Have you read Isaiah 53 lately? About the stripes by his stripes were healed?
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Have you read some of the Psalms where 22 where it talks about being on a tree, his mouth being so dry, he thirsted, all these things pointing towards what would come in Christ, these messianic prophecies. Peter saying, they struggled through to see this, seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ. Suffering. Suffering follows salvation and that is the case. It is nice that in salvation, a lot of times we do see things start to fall in line for our life but often times, it means a deeper sense of suffering.
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Jesus himself was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He understood that the good news was out there for everyone but not everyone would accept it and that's a hard truth to accept. So, it was revealed to them. That's those prophets that they were not serving themselves, the prophets from verse 10. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but they were serving you.
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In these things which have now been announced to you, the gospel, that you, those people that he's writing to have accepted. Most of you, I believe, probably have accepted this and in these things which have now been announced to you, through those who preach the gospel to you. By the Holy Spirit that's sent from heaven, okay? So, God has promised that his Holy Spirit will convict of sin and convince us of righteousness or maybe better put, convince us of God's absolute holiness and that he will illumine his word and then, if we will proclaim his word, there will be people who accept. There will be others who reject but the way that God's kingdom grows is by proclamation of his good gospel that Jesus came, lived a perfect life.
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He owed no sin debt but in his goodness and his grace, he willfully and willingly went to the cross, accepted the penalty for the sins of all who would believe. That's the gospel right there in a nutshell. It's accessible. It's accessible today. Now, it should be this message should be, oh yeah, those prophets, poor things.
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They knew that it was coming and they had little glimpses of it and it's good for me because I can hang a lot of what I believe on what they said. It's nice to see that God made a prophecy and it came to fulfillment and then that gives me strength to keep on going on. Things into which angels long to look. Now, he's saying the prophets were doing searches and inquiries. He's saying that even like those Seraphim that cleansed Isaiah's mouth, they long to look into this.
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They're looking for it but it's for human beings. Those who have a choice, right? Those of us who have a choice to choose God or to reject him. Therefore, so what's the therefore therefore? Because bless him.
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This is point two from last week. Bless him. Bless God. He came up with this awesome plan for salvation. That was the main point from last week.
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The digression. Even in the midst of our earth bound suffering and it is real. The struggle is real. We deal with it all the time. Chuck deals with it all the time.
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I'm sure that y'all deal with it all the time. Even in the midst of our earthbound suffering, we can have joy. That's digression number one. We have glorious, inexpressible joy, and love. That's digression number two from last week and then this week that the prophets forecast for us but they didn't fully experience.
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Remember in Hebrews where it said, they forecast all of these glories but they were sown into and they did not see the promise. They were looking forward to Jesus the same way that we look back to Jesus. God and his grace and his mercy. Didn't have for them the same experience he has for us. In this age, this church age, this age of grace, we have the word and we have Christian witness the gospel.
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God's common grace that's given to all. We have that. Therefore, Peter says, because you do have this great salvation, he's writing to Christians, prepare your minds for action. Actually, literally, it says, wherefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, girded up the loins of your mind is preparing yourself for battle. In the in the old day, that was the thing that you did before battle.
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You gird yourself up so you didn't have a robe that would be slowing you down. Time up. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober. And actually, in spirit, when you see up here that's in italics, in the New American Standard Version, if you ever see italics, those were words that were added to make sense.
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So you can add those, and it's be sober in spirit. That's great. It actually says keep sober. So if you're here and you are prone to excessive drink, It says, keep sober. Prepare your minds for battle because the battle's going to come, okay?
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Keep sober. Keep sobriety. Hold on to it. That's your job, right? Check.
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Helping people hold on to sobriety. It refers to having a presence of mind, enabling someone to be temperate and self controlled. It means to have one's wits about them, which is the opposite of being irrational. Properly, it is just to be sober, not drunk. Not intoxicated, free from any illusion, or free from the intoxicating influences of sin like the impact of selfish passion, greed, that sort of thing.
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So, that's what Nipo means. Keep sober in spirit. Fix your hope. I can't remember. Hope is an absolute certainty of that which will come to pass.
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Keep your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. In God's grace, he can overlook any and every offense. Save one and that one is rejecting his Holy Spirit. When he comes to you, when you recognize the holiness of God and you reject it, alright? There's nothing that
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he can do for you
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that he has not already done. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ and as obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lust which were yours in your ignorance. Now, the in your ignorance part right here, you might just go over your head and you think, well, okay, just keep going but in your ignorance points towards something, the assumption is Peter, who is a Jewish background Christian, who is writing out there and he mentions Israel and Israel and he mentions God's chosen people and strangers and aliens living in a foreign land. He mentions that over and over and over. When he says in your ignorance, he's writing to Gentiles.
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He's writing to Gentiles. He's writing to everybody else, to the other outside of the Jewish line. In your ignorance, but like the holy one, but like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves. So, when I start off with the holiness of God, he has said that through Christ, he will forgive us of our sin like that purging that the angel did on Isaiah's mouth. He purges us of sin through Christ, through Christ's substitutionary atonement.
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Like the holy one who called you, you be holy yourselves. He also promises his Holy Spirit. Be holy yourselves also in all behavior, all your behavior because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. The complete otherness of God is actually available through his Holy Spirit. Are you with me?
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It's only available through his Holy Spirit. You shall be holy for I'm holy. If you address as father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, do you? Do you address him as father? Do you address God?
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Says, if you do address God as father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, then conduct yourselves in fear. Have a reverence for God during the time of your stay here on Earth knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of thing that you inherited from your forefathers. Again, he's saying it's the Gentiles. It's not just Jewish background Christians if that matters to you. Today, it's he's saying, this is there for you.
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The redemption was with the blood of Christ. That you are not redeemed with perishable things. It wasn't silver. It wasn't gold. You weren't just bought with a ransom.
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You're bought with the blood of the very son of God. That's available still for everyone still breathing. With the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ, the anointed one, Messiah, the only way. For he was foreknown before the very foundation of the world, but he has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. You, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory so that your faith and your hope, that absolute certainty of an eternal future that is good and with God.
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Are in God. So, that is the end of verse 21 and if I were to look at verse 22, this is where we're going to end. New American Standard says this, since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brothers and sisters, the brethren, fervently will love one another from the heart. So, this is the ethical charge. He's already called us to holiness and he's talking about where it starts is loving one another fervently.
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Great. So, I didn't have point one, two, three this week. Fervent love for one another, for other believers. We're supposed to have love for everyone. Yes, but he's saying fervently love one another.
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The way you love one another ought to be attractive to others to come in. Since you have an obedience, that's the way New American puts it. New King James says, since you have purified your souls, in obeying the truth, the truth of the gospel. Through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, the KJV, seeing that you have. You see how this is all a past tense?
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Seeing that you have already accepted the gospel. You've already accepted Christ. Then, love. Being before doing but the doing does come, right? Having purified your souls, ESV, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, that is the gospel.
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For a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. The New Living Translation. I like this one. This is the one Carl uses on Monday nights. It's nice, straightforward.
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To me, it's doesn't sound always like scripture. It sounds like you're reading something that you would normally read, right? And it's it is scripture. It's full of truth. It is truth.
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You were cleansed from your sins. When you obeyed the truth, the gospel. So now, you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. Amplified version.
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Amplified version says this, since by your obedience to the truth, you have purified yourselves for a sincere love of the believers. See that you do this. Love one another from the heart. Always unselfishly seeking the best for one another. All of that is really really good and this week, I've been encouraged by it because I am a believer in Jesus but I've also had this that I've been talking about periodically throughout this sermon that what if what if I weren't and I read this.
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That's the great dividing line. What you do with the gospel of Jesus Christ is the great dividing line of all eternal history. It makes a difference if you spend eternity separated from a good, merciful, loving, and righteous God who is absolutely holy or if you spend it with him. With him or without him, that's the dividing line. If you're to read this and you say, you who through him are believers and you go, well, I'm not.
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I feel like all roads lead to heaven. This is kind of crazy. Well, the message of the cross is what it comes down to. It's the dividing line of all of history but it's specifically for each and every individual soul in this room. It's specifically for you.
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I've been thinking a lot of this week about how to land this plane, how to land this sermon, how to come down to Earth after this and I want to ask you all to individually consider, do I believe this? Do I hold this as the truth? Do I hold this as the truth that transforms and am I willing to live my life in accord with it? Now, the belief is where it happens. God, through his Holy Spirit will begin to take over and as you submit your will to his, he will change you and transform you.
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You are either not his people or his person or you are his person. You are either lost or you are found. You are either outside of God's kingdom or you're in God's kingdom and the dividing line is what you do with the cross of Jesus Christ. To those who are being saved, it's the power of God for transformation of our lives but to those who are perishing, it is mere foolishness. So, if you reject him, you do so at your peril.
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Whether our society believes it or not. So, I'm going invite Carl and Laureen to come back forward. We're going to sing another song. I actually, I'm going to sing an we're going to give you an invitation whether the song sounds like an invitation song. It might not be just as I am or I surrender all but if you would like to come down to the front and pray and I'm just going to ask an elders.
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Elders, if you are an elder of this church, if you have ever been an elder of this church and you will, would you just come down to the front and get right here at the altar and you can pray or receive anyone who would come but Imma open it up for any of y'all that want to come down. I'll turn my microphone off if you want to talk. Today is the day. That's what is stated over and over in scripture. Today is the day.
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You may never hear a more clear proclamation. You may never hear more clearly in your heart that God is moving. You may never be any closer than you are right now. So, in Jesus name, I ask that you would accept him. Whether right there where you sit, down here at the altar or at some point during the week with one of these guys.
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In Jesus name, lord, would you do your work?
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And all praise to the father
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Amen. And now, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you. May you see him as the holy God that he is. May you surrender your will to him completely. Submit your life to his spirit and may he show his holiness through you to everyone around you.
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In Jesus name, I pray that there will be a great harvest, a great netting of souls. Through your witness in Jesus name, I pray that on. Amen.
