Isaiah confronted with the holiness of God, woe is me I am ruined
1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
3 One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
Peter falling at Jesus' feet saying go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man after the miraculous catch of fish
1 Now while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
2 He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
3 He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered him, “Master, we worked all night, and took nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.”
6 When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking.
7 They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came, and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”
9 For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught;
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”
11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
12 While he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face, and begged him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
13 He stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him.
14 He commanded him to tell no one, “But go your way, and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”
15 But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
16 But he withdrew himself into the desert, and prayed.
17 On one of those days, he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them.
18 Behold, men brought a paralyzed man on a cot, and they sought to bring him in to lay before Jesus.
19 Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the middle before Jesus.
20 Seeing their faith, he said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
22 But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, “Why are you reasoning so in your hearts?
23 Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you;’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk?’
24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (he said to the paralyzed man), “I tell you, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God.
26 Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”
27 After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me!”
28 He left everything, and rose up and followed him.
29 Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
30 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
33 They said to him, “Why do John’s disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?”
34 He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.”
36 He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old.
37 No one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.
38 But new wine must be put into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.
39 No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
primary text for the sermon, covering election, salvation, holy living, and fervent love
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,
7 that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
8 whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory—
9 receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
11 searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.
12 To them it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to you, they ministered these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.
13 Therefore prepare your minds for action, be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
14 as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,
15 but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
16 because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”
17 If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:
18 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ;
20 who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake,
21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:
you shall be holy for I am holy, cited as the Old Testament source Peter quotes
44 For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
45 For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
benediction, may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another
1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up.
3 For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
5 Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus,
6 that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God.
8 Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers,
9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore will I give praise to you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
10 Again he says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”
11 Again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Let all the peoples praise him.”
12 Again, Isaiah says, “There will be the root of Jesse, he who arises to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will hope.”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
14 I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others.
15 But I write the more boldly to you in part, as reminding you, because of the grace that was given to me by God,
16 that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 I have therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of Christ;
20 yes, making it my aim to preach the Good News, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another’s foundation.
21 But, as it is written, “They will see, to whom no news of him came. They who haven’t heard will understand.”
22 Therefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you,
23 but now, no longer having any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come to you,
24 whenever I travel to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.
25 But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.
26 For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem.
27 Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in fleshly things.
28 When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain.
29 I know that, when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Good News of Christ.
30 Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,
31 that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints;
32 that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor opened 2024 by stepping back from the ongoing harmony of the Gospels study to spend a week in 1 Peter 1. He walked through verses 1 through 22, showing how the foundation of salvation shapes the way Christians are called to live with one another, especially in the middle of difficulty and relational strain.
What was said
Before getting into 1 Peter, the pastor set up a frame using two earlier moments in scripture. In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah came face to face with the holiness of God, his immediate response was to name his own sin. In Luke 5, Peter had the same reaction when the miraculous catch of fish made the holiness of Jesus impossible to ignore. He fell at Jesus' feet and said to go away from him, because he was a sinful man. The pattern in both cases was the same: a genuine encounter with God's holiness produces honest acknowledgment of sin, and God responds with forgiveness and a call forward.
Peter, writing this letter near the end of his life and probably within a year of his martyrdom, is addressing believers who are scattered, under pressure, and in many cases have never seen Jesus with their own eyes. He opens with a doxology, not a command. The indicative mood comes first: God, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The inheritance is imperishable, reserved, and certain. That is not something the reader earns. It is simply what is true.
The pastor pointed out that the prophets who predicted Christ's suffering longed to understand what they were pointing toward but did not live to see it. The people Peter is writing to have received what the prophets only anticipated. Even the angels, he noted, long to look into these things. The weight of the gospel, then, is the foundation for everything that follows.
At verse 13, the letter shifts into the imperative mood. Three pairs of commands follow from the indicative foundation. Hope fully and be holy, live reverently and love deeply, and renounce sin and grow spiritually. The pastor used A.W. Tozer to press on the first pair: God's holiness is not simply the best we know raised to the highest degree. It stands apart, incomprehensible and unattainable. And yet the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the one at work in the believer, making holiness not a ceiling to hit but a direction to walk.
On the command to love deeply, the pastor was direct. If a believer has a broken relationship with a brother or a sister in Christ, fervently loving one another from the heart is not optional. He acknowledged the Paul and Barnabas split as a real example of sharp disagreement between believers, but noted that a later reconciliation is hinted at in the New Testament. The command does not wait for the other person to move first. Restored relationship, he said, is the best for both people.
The final pair, renounce sin and grow spiritually, calls for putting aside malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander, and in their place craving the word of God the way a newborn craves milk. The pastor pushed back against a version of faith that settles for being saved without wanting to grow. He said God did not save anyone and then intend to leave them there. The kindness of God leads to repentance, not the pressure of other people telling someone what they ought to do. Engaging with scripture is how that kindness keeps working.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Nathan opened in Isaiah 6 and Luke 5, showing that both Isaiah and Peter fell on their faces when they encountered the holiness of God and immediately recognized their own sin. When have you had a moment, big or small, where a fresh sense of who God is made you more aware of your own shortcomings?
Peter writes to believers who had never seen Jesus in person, yet he says they love him and rejoice with inexpressible joy. What does it look like in your daily life to love someone you cannot see, and what makes that love feel real rather than just an idea?
Speaker 2Alright. Good morning, everybody. It's quiet in here. You're welcome to chat and make noise. I mean, we're I'd love to sing first, but, would you stand with me?
And, I've got an encouraging word from Psalm 95 to to lead us into worship, and it's, let's come before him with thanksgiving. Can we come before him with thankfulness this morning? Let's sing psalms of praise. We've got breath in our lungs. We can do this.
So would you would you join me in singing, how great thou art? Oh, lord, my God. Oh, lord, my God. When I am awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hand have made. I see the stars.
I hear the ruling thunder that bow throughout the universe display. You know the chorus. How great thou art. How great thou art. When through the woods and forest glades, I wonder and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and see the broth and feel the gentle breeze then sings my soul and sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art. Then sings my soul, my savior savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art. And when I think that God is son not sparing, send him to die.
I scarce can take it in. That on that cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and die to take away my sin. And sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art, How great thou art. How How great thou art.
Art. How great great thou art. How great thou art.
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements, and it's been a busy week. We will see what these announcements are together. Oh, yes. Awana.
Speaker 2Yeah. Awana is back on tomorrow. It's PJ night, so kids come in comfy pajamas, and we'll have a lot of a blast. But get startup is tomorrow, 05:45. Come on in.
Speaker 1It's a pajama pajama party at Awana tomorrow night. So pajamas at Awana's. Okay. There it is. Twenty twenty four calendars are available still in the lobby for $10 if my wife didn't buy them all.
January 21, between services, so that's two weeks from today, we will have congregational meetings, regular standard thing we do in mid to late January. We'll recognize volunteers this year between the services. So 10:00 ish, we'll discuss and vote on the budget and we'll discuss and vote on Tim Williams is going to be going on to the Board of Trustees pending approval and Berkley Johnston going on as an elder. So those things are happening two weeks from today. We do need volunteers for connect hours.
So between the services normally on a normal Sunday from ten to eleven, we have connect hours so that we don't start feeling like two different churches because we have two different services. So hanging out down there is good. Addie Hair is in charge of that time period right now. So that's her number if you'd like to call her say, and hey, I want to sign up. Or you can just sign up.
There's a sign up sheet on the board in there. There's no meeting for Jackson Hole Men's Alliance in January.
Speaker 2September 17, we will be meeting January 17.
Speaker 1Oh, okay. So we just pushed it back. Okay. So don't pay attention there. There is a meeting.
It's January 17. That's good. Sisters Saved by Grace, women's Bible study is starting back up January 11. It's a twelve week study on creation. Dinner will be at six with the study to follow.
You can call the church with any more questions about that. Diane is involved in that, so she knows exactly what's going on. Sisters saved by grace. That's 06:00 on Thursdays. You wanna tell them about this one?
Speaker 2Sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah. That's Jeremy and Jennifer Vivo.
They're from the band FFH or Far From Home, and they're gonna be leading worship next Sunday in in our place. So just I just wanted to give you a heads up about it, and and and you may recognize some of the the songs that they they wrote in the nineties, and I think it'll be a real treat for us.
Speaker 1Alright. Sounds good. Do you all anybody remember the Dicks of Hazard? Okay. A few of you do.
Yeah. Yeah. I do. It seems a little bit like they were just riding through town in the boar's nest. They just had to play the boar's nest.
Right? Some of you remember it. I don't know. It's like anytime a country star came through town. He called ahead of time and said he was on his way to a singer songwriter something in Bozeman.
But he's making memories with his family, he said, we he'd love to worship with us. Just let us know. He said, yeah. Come on. Let's do this.
So, it's pretty fun. Jeremy and Jennifer Diebler next week. Hey, his mercy is more. Would you stand up? I'm glad you're here.
I'm glad to be here and I'm thankful that his mercy is more.
Speaker 2What love could remember? No wrongs we have done. Omniscient, all knowing, he counts not their sum thrown into a sea without bottom or shore. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more.
Praise the Lord. His mercy is stronger than darkness, new evermore. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is mourn. What patience, what patience would wait as we constantly roam?
What father so tender is calling us home? He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. Praise the Lord.
His mercy is more. What riches of kindness he's lavished on us. His blood was the tame, and his life was the cause. We stood beneath the dead we could never afford. So that song was brilliant.
It it it brilliantly described his mercy, but so does Ephesians. Even more so, it says, God is so rich in mercy. He loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It's by grace that we've been saved. Nothing we did to earn it.
He gave it freely, for he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we're united with Christ. Thank you, Christ, for your work. We sing of you. We sing to you. We're grateful.
Lord, thank you for your mercy to us this morning, your new morning mercy, mercy that is new every single morning. Thank you for the mercy for today. Amen. Worthy of every breath we get and breathe. We live for you.
Jesus, the name above every other. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who get out and say, Worthy of every bread we get angry, we live for you. We live for you. Let's sing of his holiness.
A holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes and wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and me and you love to those around me. Holy, there is no one like you, there is none beside you.
Open up my eyes and wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and beat me. Your love to those around me. And I'll build my life. And I will build my life and I will not be shaken holy there is no one like you there is none beside you open up my eyes and wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me and your love to those around me. Lord, we have sung it.
Lord, we also make that our prayer. Would you lead us in your love, your self giving, others focused love? That is a firm foundation, a love that never fails. Everything in us, Lord, we we we we fight. We fight against, lord, we we we have a a sin nature, and we are aware of that.
But, lord, thank you for your love that breaks down walls and barriers and gives us life and life to the full measure. God, would you fill us with your love? Would you open up our eyes in Jesus name? Amen. Man of sorrows, lamb of God, Praise and honor to thee and see the stone that's rolled away.
Amen. Hey, that feels like church. Sing together like that. You can have a seat for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service.
I invite the
Speaker 1ushers to go on forward. We're gonna sing a song
Speaker 2of gratitude. But before we do, may Ray, may I
Speaker 1ask you a prayer? Sure. God, thank you for just thank you, period, for everything, Lord. Overwhelmed by your goodness, the blanket of fresh snow this morning, the two moose in the yard. Lord, you know what you're doing.
When we don't know what we're doing, we can turn to you because you know what you're doing. Where we can't trace what your hand is doing, Lord, would you give us the faith to be able to trust your heart? There are a lot of God sized tasks all around us right now. And there's stuff we can't figure out. We're not capable of figuring it out.
But Lord, you know the ins and outs. You know the intricacies. And you know where we need to concentrate efforts. Lord, would you allow us the grace to just be able to put one foot in front of the other and move forward. Move forward towards the difficulty like you did.
Man of sorrows acquainted with grief, you walk towards the cross. Lord God Almighty, would you allow us the wherewithal to have a difficult conversation that needs to be had, to forgive a difficult person that needs to be forgiven. And Lord, for those of us who are who are walking in high minded, high mightiness, Lord, I bring I I do pray that you'd bring us down. I pray that you'd show us your way, the way of humility, the way of the cross. In Jesus' name, we ask that you take all that's placed in these plates financially and metaphorically, Lord.
The conversations and the thoughts and the meditations of our heart, I pray that they'd be not just acceptable to you, Lord, but they'd be used for the advance of your gospel on this earth. In Jesus' name, would you allow us to do your will, Lord, corporately and individually in your way. Amen.
Speaker 2All my words fall short. I've got nothing new. How could I even spread I've got one response. I've got just one with my arms stretched nothing else fit for a king except for hearts singing
Speaker 1Amen. It's time for children's church downstairs.
Speaker 2I
Speaker 1love that. So last week, I did a a message. It's primarily on one verse. It was eight to 13 in second Corinthians seven, but 10 was what I was focusing on and it it pursued a lot of you this week apparently. A lot of people called back and said something about it.
Before I go back into our study on the life of Jesus, we're getting really close in that Harmony of the Gospel study to the cross. And I'm thinking, I'm gonna put some space in here and we're gonna let the chronological time line up with it. I don't know that we'll do that. But before we get back into that harmony of the gospels of the synoptics going forward towards the cross, we're only a couple weeks out from the cross in the text. I think I might do kind of a relational series here in between.
Last week, Godly sorrow produces repentance that cannot be regretted, and worldly sorrow only produces death was very impactful for for me, and then it sounds like for a lot of y'all. I couldn't get away from this passage, first Peter one ten through 22. And I I started looking back to see have I preached this before? The second week that I was here. Yeah.
So I didn't even go back and listen to that one. I didn't wanna hear that one. But I have a bit of blank canvas syndrome. I was an art major way back when, and a blank canvas is scary to me because it could be anything. Right?
And if you don't have a scheme, and we do have a scheme, we go through forward expository preaching, you know. And I I wanted to take the agenda out of my own hand. I don't wanna preach just to the problem. I don't wanna do that. So I told a professor in seminary, preaching professor.
I said, I maybe it's just because I'm an individualistic American or maybe it's the way I'm wired my personality. Don't really know. But I don't like telling people what to do. I really don't like telling people what to do or what they ought to do. And he answered back in a red ink pen on one of my assignments.
It said, what if the text suggests it? Because I have a high value of scripture, and he says, I got that. But what if the text suggest it? And so for me, I like to preach in the indicative mood or the indicative mood is when something is. It just is.
And that's what it says. Jesus did this. Great. But at some point, hit an imperative mood, a command. Right?
And so I wanna get into this, but I also thought of a funny story that goes with it. I like to speak of indicative. Tanya moved to Mexico without ever having a single Spanish class. Never. She had taken French.
She had taken German. She never had any Spanish at all. Moves down there. No vocabulary. No grammar whatsoever, but she was the concrete boss on the construction site.
And so, it's a weird thing when somebody learns a language and the only thing that they could speak in is commands. But that's what she learned. Mix this. Pick that up. Put that down.
She knew how to say that. I'd say, Juan went to the store. And she would say, Juan, go to the store. This has a mix of both. I think it has a foundation.
Before I get to ten, I'm going to go one through nine. But I want to do something else quick too. Isaiah six one through seven is speaking of when Isaiah was confronted with the holiness of God. We've got another of God. And I think this is important for understanding this passage.
In the year of king Uzziah's death, I, Isaiah, saw the Lord sitting on the throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the whole temple. Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings. With two, they covered their face, and two covered their feet, and two he flew. And one of them called out to the other and said, holy, holy, holy. The only time the Bible says something three times in a row right there.
Right? It's an attribute of God is his holiness. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke.
And I said, woe is me. I am ruined because I, myself, am 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 you can't help but deal with your own sin if you ever confront the holiness of God. Then one of the Seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand and he'd taken from the altar with tongues.
He touched my mouth and with it said, behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven. So when confronted with the holiness of God, if we admit to our sin, God does something about it. Old Testament and New Testament. Luke five. And that happened that while the crowd was pressing around, like they do, and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake Of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them or washing their nets.
He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and he asked him to put out a little way from the land and he sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Now they were cleaning the nets. They've been out all night. That's how you fish in those times.
Fish can see the nets. Do it at night when they can't see the nets so well. Peter, the fisherman, answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night, caught nothing. But I guess, I'll do as you say and I'll let down the nets. And when they had done this, enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break.
So they signaled their partners another boat for them to come over and came to fill both of the boats so they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet saying, go go go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man who's confronted with the holiness of God in Christ. And he immediately recognized his own sin. Go away from me, Lord. I'm not worthy to be around you, for I'm a sinful man.
For amazement had seized him and all of his companions too because the catch of fish was that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee. They were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, don't fear. Don't fear. From now on, you'll be catching men.
When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, they followed him. God did something about it. First Peter. This is the same guy. Right?
Simon, Peter. So Peter is writing a letter. This is probably within a year of Peter's martyrdom. It's probably about '64 '63 or sixty four AD. And writing from Rome, first Peter one.
I'm gonna start with verse one. We'll see how far we get today. We'll do the rest next week. Peter, an apostle Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the father, by the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey. The test does suggest it.
Right? He's saying, you are chosen of God, but you are chosen of God to obey Jesus. And to be sprinkled with his blood, we'll celebrate communion together. The Lord's Supper at the end, celebrating the blood of Christ which we've already sung of multiple times. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
Always start with grace and peace. Blessed be this is a doxology. This is a study of the glory of God. It's so good. Three through nine.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again. That's indicative. He's 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 is sure. It's reserved in heaven for you.
You. You who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation that's ready to be revealed in the last time. You're heading towards your ultimate salvation glorification. And so hey. I didn't even have a point one.
Where'd point two come from? God is to be praised for his great mercy, for his new life, for his living hope that was made available through Jesus' resurrection. So he starts off there. Salvation is is the main part of this doxology. It's about salvation.
Can you be saved and still be walking in relational? Can you? Oh, yeah, you can. Can you be saved from that relational? Can you?
Yeah, you can. I think that we often think of, well, he's lost or he's found. And we do. But for those of you who are Christians, this letter is written to believers. And so if he keeps on hitting salvation, it's, yes, you've been saved in Jesus.
This is indicative mode. This is something that you know is true. And because this is true, I'm gonna tell you some things. Okay? So we're hitting that.
God is to be praised for salvation. We didn't deserve it, Lord, but yet in your great mercy and grace, you gave it to us. And then he has a digression. I love this because I have lots of digressions. First of all, salvation.
But then, in this, you greatly rejoice because you're saved. Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. That's the relational that I'm talking about. And in this time, it's against the law to do to follow after Christ. It's against what the Jews wanted for them to do too, but it was still against Roman law to practice what they were practicing.
In this, you greatly rejoice. You're rejoicing amidst the persecution, 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 it's tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Yes. Salvation is with you and future. It's already and not yet.
And in between now and then, there's some sanctifying stuff that will happen. It will all bring praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Christ. And though you've not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but you believe in him, you greatly rejoice. With joy inexpressible and full of glory, out obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
So he's got a digression on love and joy. You know Jesus. I saw him, Peter saying. I saw him. I hung out with him for three years.
There are all those fishing stories and all those other stories. And then there's that one where I denied him. And then there's that one where he restored me. He's got all that, but these folks didn't. The folks he's writing to were scattered.
A lot of them had never seen him, just heard about him like you heard about him, like I heard about him. Though we have not seen him, we love him. Though we don't see him now, we believe in him, and we greatly rejoice with joy and express will full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of our faith the salvation of our souls. Here we are at the text. And as to this salvation one more digression.
As to this salvation salvation means welfare, prosperity, deliverance, preservation, salvation, safety. As to this salvation, the prophets, Isaiah, started with Isaiah, seven hundred years before Christ was able to articulate very clearly what the suffering servant would do. He was able to articulate very clearly how the servant would suffer with amazing accuracy to be pierced for our transgressions. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, and they were seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating they wanted to know more. They longed to know more.
As he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow, it was revealed to those prophets that they were not serving themselves. I Can you think of Jeremiah serving himself? No. Forty years of absolutely faithful ministry and almost no fruit in his time. But man, I love Jeremiah.
That crying prophet was not serving himself, But you, you, the ones who are recipients of salvation, he gives you by prophesying it ahead of time and being faithful to God ahead of time. That word gives us a grounding like nothing else. Yes. It's coming. Yes.
It's coming. And now, it's here, salvation in Christ alone. It was revealed to them that they weren't serving themselves, but you, and in these things which now have been announced to you. Jesus' life, death, resurrection. Through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.
So the prophets were the guys in the past, and now there are people that are going out, evangelists that are going out and sharing Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is empowering them in the same way to spread that message. These are things into which angels long to look. Even the angels don't understand this. Carl mentioned Ephesians this morning.
Ephesians says that it is the job of the church to declare it to the spiritual realm, this goodness of the gospel. Therefore, 13, because bless God. Doxology. Because God came up with this awesome plan for salvation. That's the main point.
Even in the midst of our earthbound suffering, that's his first digression. We have glorious, inexpressible joy and love, even in the midst of earthbound suffering, that the prophets forecast, but they didn't fully get to experience it. They knew it was coming. They put their faith in him. They, ahead of time, are saved by their faith in God's provision the same way we can looking back, be saved.
It's all through Christ. So everything we've heard up to this has been in an indicative mood. There haven't been any. I don't think there have been any. Maybe a grammar scholar in here might see one.
But I don't think there were any imperatives in that that we've come up to. They've all been indicative. But all this serves as the basis. We have salvation, and yes, we still have hard times, but we know that it's true. We can express the I mean, we can have the inexpressible love and joy that God gives, not be able to do it justice.
And we know that it's true at the same time. And there's a profound shift here to the imperative mood. So there are three sets of them that I see, and they go together. Hope fully and be holy, live reverently and love deeply, and renounce sin and grow spiritually. Those three are corollary commands, and it covers them in the next, what, twelve, fifteen verses.
Hope fully, that will allow you to be holy. But both of those are commands. Okay? They're imperative. This is one, mix the cement, not one, mix the cement.
Or we have cement right there. We have a mixer right there. We have a shovel right there. We have sand right there. We have water.
We have volunteers here, Juan. That's my way. Tanya says, Juan, crank the mixer. You, grab the box, fill it with sand, put them together. She's not bossy.
She was the boss though. Okay? And everything was there for that, for the concrete. Here it is, hope fully and be holy. Live reverently and love deeply.
Renounce sin and grow spiritually. Therefore, because you have this salvation that was unknown really up to this point, people could look forward to it with anticipation, with hope even, and biblically, hope is something that is absolutely certain that has not yet happened. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Prepare your minds for action. Literally, it's wherefore having girded up the loins of your mind.
This is still indicative, but it fits the passage to call it a command. Wherefore having girded up the loins of your mind. Think about this and consider all the things that are available to you in salvation and the Holy Spirit in your life. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober.
This one is a command. Be sober. The in spirit there is in italics, and it's added to the text. I I don't think that it's an injustice to say, keep sober in spirit. But really what it says is, be sober.
Refers to having presence of mind, clear judgment, something that would enable someone to be temperate and self controlled. We can go from zero to a 100 really quickly if we are not sober. And if we're not sober of spirit. Nefo, uninfluenced by intoxicants that means to have one wits about them. Anger can do it too.
Rage can do it too. Certainly, alcohol or drugs could do it. It's the opposite of being irrational properly, to be sober, not intoxicated, free from the, intoxicating influences of sin. Keep sober. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Put all of your trust in the grace of God, not in your merit, not in what you have done in the past or what you will do in the future, but what God will do because he has promised and had given you that gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, don't be conformed to the former lusts, Which were yours in your ignorance? Yeah. He knows from experience.
He's saying, as obedient children, your heavenly father knows what's best for you. If he gives you a command, he's given you a command for your good. And so as obedient children, don't be conformed to the former lusts which were yours and your ignorance. But like the holy one, Jesus. Like the holy one who called you, you too be holy.
Be holy, set apart. Now looking at the capital h on the lower case h there, you think, how in the how in the world am I gonna be holy? Like he is holy. Well, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you. The same spirit that is at that raised Jesus from the dead is the one that is saying this pain in your life, godly sorrow brings about repentance.
This pain in your life, it is relational difficulty. I'm not sure if we can hear that and go, yeah, but it's on them. That is irrational to think it's always on them. The Holy Spirit says, this is the part that you played in the pain that you are feeling right now. Pull back from that.
Pull back from that. Don't persist in that. Like the holy one called you, you also be holy. Admit when you're wrong. Set yourself apart by not acting like the whole rest of the world acts.
Be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. It's written in Leviticus three or four times. Romans 12 says two, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then you will be able. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is.
If you are acting just like the world's acts, you will not be able to tell what it is that God is wanting for you to do. Don't conform to the pattern of this world. Be transformed by renewing your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, his pleasing, and his perfect will. Phillips translation says, don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within.
If he's got a hold of you and salvation, it's written to Christians. Salvation is sure, then sanctification is a process. And a lot of it has to do with pride and humility. Be willing to lay down the things that are not holy in your life. Hopefully and be holy.
Just as he called you he who called you is holy, so be holy in all that you do. That's in Leviticus. Is there eleven forty four forty five and nineteen two. I like Tozer, the knowledge of the holy. Have you all read that?
It's a paper now it's paperback. It's not long. Pretty easy to get a hold of, but man, to grasp the thoughts this guy had. Neither the writer nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the holiness of God. He's saying, I'm not qualified, a w Tozer.
And you're the reader, you're not qualified either to appreciate the holiness of God. Quite literally, a new channel must be cut through the desert of our minds to allow the sweet waters of truth that will heal our great sickness to flow in. We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something that's very pure, and then raising that concept to the highest degree we're capable of because that would fit in our finite minds, and God is infinitely holy. That's what caused Isaiah to fall on his face. That's what caused Peter to fall on his face.
It's what should cause us to fall on our faces. Say, God, you are outside of my comprehension, and yet you love me enough to save me and sanctify me. God's holiness is not simply the best we know, infinitely better. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart.
It is unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. Holy is the way that God is, but he promises that his Holy Spirit will empower us as we yield to him. Even though we can't understand how that is. We just put one foot in front of the other in humility, trusting that what he has said is true. To be holy, he does not conform to a standard.
He is that standard. So hope fully and be holy. They're both commands. They're rooted in salvation. They're rooted in the Holy Spirit's presence in our life.
The next two are live reverently and love deeply. Live reverently. If you address as father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work. Do you? As believers, do you?
Heavenly father, if you address as father, the one who is impartially judging according to each one's work. I know that I'm not the judge, and I know that he is. That is me. Okay. Then conduct yourselves in fear.
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth. Well, I wanna do faith, not fear. Yes. But fear of God, reverence for the almighty, and understanding that he is almighty, and we are not.
That's the fear of God. Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from the futile way of life that you inherited from your forefathers, the world acts like the world acts, and it's not he didn't save you by just doing things like the world always does. You weren't bought with silver or gold or perishable things. I just covered that. Sorry.
That was inherited from your forefathers. You have an idea of how things ought to go because of the house you were raised in, whether you liked it or not. You have an idea about the way things ought to go because of the culture that you were born into, whether you like it or not. But that's not the way God is. He is calling people out of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
He's calling people out of every family on earth to become a part of his family. You weren't redeemed with perishable things, but with precious blood. Blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Christ with his perfect record willingly laying it down for you, and that's how you were redeemed because you said, you know what? I don't measure up, but I recognize that he did.
He's promised me if I trust in the way that God has made, that he will make me whole. You are redeemed with the precious blood as of the lamb, unblemished as follows, the blood of Christ. He was for he was foreknown before the 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, gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, here's the command.
Fervently love one another from the heart. If you have an issue with a brother or a sister in Christ, you are to be loving them. You are to be bearing with them. You are to be forgiving them. Fervently love one another from the heart.
New King James, love one another fervently with a pure heart. King James, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. ESV, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. NLT, love each other deeply. That's the reciprocal command.
Now, each other deeply with all your heart. Amplified. I don't use Amplified very much, the little brackets annoy me. See to this, it softens it a bit. See that you love one another from the heart, always unselfishly seeking the best for one another.
Restored relationship is the best for both of you. Sense you have, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. Why? Can I just do a Paul and Barnabas split? They had a sharp disagreement.
They didn't like what the other one was thinking and they just said, Yeah, you go your way and I'll go mine. I'm glad to know that later on there was a coming back together. It's hinted at in the New Testament. Don't use those sort of things and go, I don't really have to do that, do I? Fervently love one another from the heart.
Why? For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable. It rests in the salvation that God has given, which is a function of his mercy and a function of his grace. It was not perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and enduring word of God.
Jesus. Perfect life. Perfect sacrificial death. Vindicated by God's resurrection. He conquered death, comes back and ascends on high, and is seated at the right hand of the father, interceding for you.
He's the enduring word of God. The word. Fervently love one another from the heart. And then Peter goes into another passage from Isaiah. For all flesh is like grass, all its glory like the flower of the grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls off. There is an arc to our lives and to everything on this earth. But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. This you took in.
A voice says, call out. And then he answered, well, what what am I supposed to say? What shall I call out? Tell him that all flesh is like grass. It's lovely.
It's like the flower of the field. Isaiah 46 through eight. Grass withered, the flower fades. When the breath of the Lord blows upon it. It is by God's will that people pass.
It is by God's will that we do age. Surely, the people though are like that grass. The grass withered, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. I know it was, Peter says.
So live reverently. Have a fear of God. And if you do that, you'll recognize, In knowing that I didn't deserve the salvation he gave me, and that person is saved by God too, we are on equal ground at the foot of the cross, and we need to work through it. Love will help us do that. Now, renounce sin and grow spiritually comes next.
Therefore, putting aside all malice Malice is wishing ill for someone else. Wishing bad things upon someone else. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit, deceit is untruthfulness, but self deception is pretty strong too. We can convince ourselves of a lot of stuff. And it says all, not just what we're saying to someone else, but what we're also telling ourselves.
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and all hypocrisy, acting, and envy, jealousy, wanting what someone else has. Put that aside. Envy, all grudges, spite, strong feeling or desire desire that sours due to the influence of sin. Seeing something good that someone else has and instead of saying, God, thank you that that person has that. Saying, I want it.
Speaker 2The precious. I want it. Right?
Speaker 1It's a miserable trait of being glad when someone else experiences misfortune or pain. Without longing to raise oneself to the level of him whom he envies, but only to depress the envied to his own level. These word studies are really get down to it. Refers to the jealous envy that negatively energizes someone with an embittered mind. Putting aside all malice, all deceit, and all hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander, slander, evil speaking, backbiting, detraction, slander, railing, defaming talk.
Instead of that, put all that aside, and like newborn babies, long for, and even cry out for the pure milk of the word of God, so that by it you may grow and respect the salvation. Crave it. Long for it. Desire it greatly. Have an affection for.
The word of God planted deep in our hearts grows up into holiness. Like newborn babies, you must crave, New Living says, pure spiritual milk, so that you'll grow in the full experience of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment if you've tasted the kindness of the Lord. So the last thing he says right there is, if you are a believer, this is important. Don't just be, well, I'm saved.
I miss hell. But, really, I don't understand a lot of what's going on in the whole Bible thing. I don't get it. Get it. Get into it.
He will he will do it. He will do it. Do you think he just saved you and he doesn't wanna sanctify you? Do you think he just saved you and he just wants to leave you there? Most mission agencies have walked away from the save them and leave them model.
We go in, we do a big rally. How many of y'all want Jesus? Okay. 27 of them did it today. Right?
No. Salvation is a process. You're saved immediately. As soon as you put your trust in Jesus, yes. But salvation is a process.
As you are going forward, be working it out. Be engaging. Long for the pure milk of the word of God. Put aside all the malice. Put all aside all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander.
Without Christ, we are nothing. If you've tasted the kindness of the Lord, and it's the kindness of God that leads to repentance. It's not the blasting of someone who calls himself a Christian that leads people to repentance. It is the kindness of God. And if we will hope fully in the Lord and will walk out holiness, If we will live reverently and love deeply, if we will renounce sin, we will grow spiritually.
This is a benediction before the benediction. I'm gonna invite the band back up. But in Romans 15, Paul, instead of Peter, but Paul covers this time. He says, may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together, you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God Almighty, would you do that right here, right now?
I'm gonna invite the ushers forward too, and it's a time of communion. I went the full time, and we're gonna go over. But, God almighty, I pray that you would right now, as we consider this text, the salvation available and also the sanctifying power of the spirit that's at work in our lives, that we can, empowered by your spirit, walk out these commands. God almighty, I pray that you would bless this little representation of the body of Christ that walked out perfect submission to your spirit. Would you bless this little cracker, as we distribute it, Lord?
And would you, convict us of our sins so that we can turn it over to you? Would you convict us of your righteousness so we can follow after you. Amen.
Speaker 2Jesus made me to him I am. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as. And when before the throne, I stand in him complete. I'll lay my trophy stand all down at Jesus' Jesus paid it all to him I
Speaker 1All representation of his body. Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he said to the the disciples there, after he had given thanks, after supper, he set aside this time and said, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat of it and do as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you, Lord Jesus, their time. Thank you thank to give up your life and perfect record for all who put their faith faith in in you.
Thank you for the blood, the innocent, sacrificial blood that you voluntarily spilt on our behalf. Would you bless this representation, this little plastic cup of grape juice? As we distribute it, Lord, would you would you work in our midst thinking of that sacrifice that we, Lord, would be able to take it in. Amen.
Speaker 2And never dies. And there's a place where streams of grace flows deep in the water. And all the love I've ever found comes like a thunder, comes flowing down. And at the cross, set the cross, I've regained under my life. I hold to you.
I hold to Jesus. There's a place where sin and shame are power where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness. Where my sins are washed away. I go to you. I go to you, Jesus.
Here our hope is found. Here my hope is found near and holy ground near. I am bound. I at the cross during my life I'm in all of you I'm in all of you where you're and
Speaker 1In the same manner that he had taken the bread, he took the cup, common cup, after supper. They're recorded for us of a matter of first importance. He took that cup and he said to them, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this, drink it in, do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you, Lord.
May we never take a bite or drink a drink without thinking of the sacrifice that you have made and the sanctification that you offer. In Jesus' name and in his blood. Amen. Would you sing with us what we believe? It's a little credo statement that Carl's gonna lead.
Stand with
Speaker 2We believe in God the Father. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit, and he's given us new life. We believe in the crucifixion. We believe that he conquered death.
We believe in the resurrection, and he's coming back again. We believe. We believe.
Speaker 1Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Amen.
