The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Isaiah 6:1-7quoted at length to show Isaiah's vision of God's holiness and his own sinfulness, and the seraph touching his lips with a coal
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.”
quoted at length describing Peter's miraculous catch of fish and his falling at Jesus' feet saying he is a sinful man
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.
quoted to establish Peter's greeting to scattered believers chosen by the foreknowledge of God
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.
quoted as a doxology on salvation, being born again to a living hope through the resurrection, and an inheritance kept in heaven
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.
quoted on rejoicing through trials and loving Christ without having seen him, obtaining the salvation of souls
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.
quoted on the prophets searching out the grace that would come, the spirit of Christ in them, and things angels long to look into
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.
quoted giving the imperatives to prepare minds, keep sober, fix hope on grace, and be holy as God is holy
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.”
quoted as a parallel to Peter's call not to conform to the world but be transformed by the renewing of the 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.
quoted on conducting oneself with reverence before God and being redeemed not with silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ
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.
quoted giving the command to fervently love one another from the heart, having been born again through the living and enduring word of 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:
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.
quoted listing sins to put aside and commanding believers to crave the pure milk of the word, closing with 'if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord'
1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:
referenced as the suffering servant passage predicting Christ's death, pierced for our transgressions
1 Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.
4 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
9 They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message from the pastor worked through 1 Peter 1:10-22, tracing the move from what God has already done in salvation to what that demands of the people He has saved. The service also included the Lord's Supper, which fell naturally alongside that theme. The core idea was simple: if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord, act like it.
What was said
the pastor opened with two pictures of what happens when a person is genuinely confronted with the holiness of God. Isaiah, seeing the Lord enthroned and attended by seraphim crying "Holy, holy, holy," immediately said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined." Simon Peter, watching nets full of fish that had no business being there, fell at Jesus' feet and said, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Both men saw God clearly and saw themselves clearly at the same moment. That pairing set the table for everything that followed.
Peter wrote his letter roughly thirty years after those events, probably within a year of his own martyrdom, to Christians scattered across several Roman provinces and living through a season of real persecution. Before he tells them anything to do, he spends the first nine verses of the chapter on a long doxology, praising God for mercy, for new birth, for living hope, and for an inheritance kept securely in heaven. The pastor was careful to note that in the Bible, hope is not a wish. It is an absolute certainty that has not yet arrived.
The sermon then turned to a section the pastor called a digression on prophecy. Peter points out that the Old Testament prophets were moved by the Spirit of Christ to write things they could not fully understand, searching and digging to find out what person or time the Spirit was pointing toward. They were not writing for themselves. They were writing for the very people reading Peter's letter, and by extension for anyone who has received that same gospel. Even the angels long to look into what believers get to experience firsthand.
With that foundation laid, the imperatives arrive. The pastor grouped them into three pairs he called corollary commands. The first is hope fully and be holy. Fixing hope completely on the grace to come at Christ's revelation is what makes it possible to stop conforming to old patterns of ignorance and to start reflecting the character of the One who called you. He quoted A. W. Tozer on this point: God's holiness is not the holiest thing we can imagine raised to the highest degree we can conceive. It stands entirely apart, and any holiness we have must be derived from who He is.
The second pair is live reverently and love deeply. If a person genuinely calls God Father and knows that God judges impartially, that recognition should produce a kind of reverent sobriety in how life is lived on earth. And because the ground of that life is the precious blood of Christ, not silver or gold, the response toward other believers ought to be fervent, unselfish love. The pastor put it plainly: if two people in a dispute both remember how merciful God has been to them, it will turn them toward each other, because neither one deserves what they have been given.
The third pair is renounce sin and crave the word. Peter lists malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander as things to put aside entirely. Against all of those, the command is to long for the pure milk of the word the way a newborn craves milk, not as a one-time decision but as an ongoing, straining desire. The pastor connected this back to the prophets, who were doing exactly that kind of digging and seeking long before the full picture was available to them.
The sermon closed where it began, with grace. All the commands rest on the indicative: God has acted, Christ has given a perfect record to anyone who trusts Him, and the kindness of the Lord is what draws people to repentance, not pressure or guilt. The service moved directly from that closing thought into Communion.
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 read from both Isaiah 6 and Luke 5, where Isaiah and Simon Peter each responded to God's holiness by recognizing their own sinfulness. When have you had a moment, big or small, where a clearer sense of who God is changed how you saw yourself?
Pastor Nathan described the difference between the indicative mood, what God has already done, and the imperative mood, what God calls us to do in response. How does understanding what God has already done for you change the way you feel about the commands that follow from it?
Speaker 1Am I on? Okay. Hey. Good morning, everybody. Good to see you.
Glad that y'all are here. I'm glad to be here. We're few but fervent right now, but maybe we can sing some more folks in from the vestibule out there if we start up. There's power in the blood. Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There's power in the blood.
Speaker 2Blood. Power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb.
There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary's time. There's wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. The blood. Power in the blood. Since saints are lost in its life giving flow.
There's power, power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb.
Speaker 1On the last,
Speaker 2would you do service for Jesus, your king? There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working
Speaker 1Amen. Our next hymn is gonna be How Great Thou Art. It's hymn number one forty seven, and I the the hymnals are stacked up up here. If you ever wanna see your part, you're welcome to see them. It's just harder on the books if we keep on putting them out there and everybody sings off the wall anyway.
But here we are. How great thou art. Amen.
Speaker 2How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art.
And when I think that God his son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can't take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing he bled and died to take away my sin then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art, how then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art. On the last.
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, my God how great thou art. Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. How great thou
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. One of them is that Awana is happening tomorrow night, and it is pajama night at Awana. So it is pajama Awana tomorrow night. 06:00.
Starts kinda 05:45 with the sign in and the gathering around the game circle for the opening ceremony. But 05:45 tomorrow night, Pajama Awana. It's a good one. So that'll be fun. There are some calendars available unless my wife bought them all like she threatened to last week.
I think 01/21/2024. That is two weeks from today between services, 10:00. So it's between services, not afterwards. Between services, we are having a congregational meeting. It's our normal meeting in January.
We wanted to take the opportunity to not just do kinda vote, but we wanna recognize volunteers from the past year. We also wanna discuss and vote on the budget. And we wanna discuss also and vote on a couple of nominees for positions on the Board of Trustees. Tim Williams is coming to in, has agreed to take that position if we should ratify and elect him to it. So Tim Williams for the Board of Trustees and Berkley Johnston as an elder.
Same thing. Next, congregational meeting will be January 21. We need volunteers for the connect hour. Please, if you would, sign up in the fellowship hall. There are sign up sheets magnetized to the whiteboard down there if you wanna sign up on paper.
Or if you have any questions or wanna ask for any kind of advice, Addie Hair is the one in charge, and that's her phone number. (307) 690-3892. She is great to deal with. She would love to hear from you. Jackson Hole Men's Alliance.
It says no meeting. Don't pay attention to that. Listen to what I say, not what that says. Okay? It's happening on the seventeenth.
Seventeenth. That is not this Wednesday, but following, I believe. So, Sisters Saved by Grace Bible study. It's a women's Bible study in the evening here at First B down in the fellowship hall. Thursdays starting a twelve week study starting this Thursday.
It's gonna be on creation and dinner at 6PM. The study is to follow that. You can call the church. Diane is a part of that study, so she'll know all the answers to the questions, I think, or be able to figure them out pretty easily. So that's Thursdays at six Next week, this is an interesting one.
This is both services too, right, Carl?
Speaker 2That's both services.
Speaker 1Both services. So nine and eleven Jeremy Diebler and Jennifer Diebler used to play in a band in the maybe still play in the band, I don't know. Still do. It's a band called Far From Home or FFH. You all probably heard some of their songs.
They called and said, we're heading up to a singer songwriter deal in Bozeman, and we're making memories for our family along the way. We love to be in God's house on Sunday mornings and being a part of worship somewhere. If you want to, we'll play. And so we said, yeah, come on, do that. So FFH, Jeremy and Jennifer Diebler and part of their family will be leading us in worship.
I think we might actually be sitting in playing with them something too. We'll see. Next Sunday, January 14, that's happening. And we'll see how it goes. This ought to be fun.
I think that's it. Do I have another announcement that anybody? Glad to see y'all. Glad to see all of y'all here. Would you stand with me and we're going to sing Jesus Paid It All and it goes so well with the sermon this morning.
Speaker 2I hear the savior say thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he watched it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find thy power and thine alone can change the lepers' spots and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne, I stand in him complete.
When we lay my trophies down, Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Amen.
Speaker 1Amen. And the next one will be worthy of worship. Worthy of worship. Worthy of praise.
Speaker 2Worthy all the glad songs we can sing worthy of all of the offerings we bring You are worthy. Father, creator, you are worthy. Savior, sustainer, you are worthy worthy and wonderful worthy of worship and praise. Worthy of reference. Worthy of fear.
Worthy of love and evil ocean. Worthy of bowing and bending of knees worthy of all this and added to these. You are worthy. Father, creator, you are worthy. Savior, sustainer, you are worthy worthy and wonderful worthy of worship and praise.
Almighty father, master, and lord, king of all kings and redeemer, You are worthy. Father, creator, you are worthy. Savior, sustainer, you are Worthy and wonderful. Worthy of worship and praise.
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward, and this is our operatory time or the worship through giving. Lord God Almighty, I'm asking you, Lord. Would you help us to see all of the things around us that we are so thankful for all the time? Would you help us to see that we're thankful all the time?
I know that runs anxiety and depression away when we can recognize what you're doing. To wake up this morning and have a fresh blanket of snow, Lord. Oh, there's so many Bible promises, but whiter than snow. Oh, two moose in the yard this morning. Scared me.
But I'm thankful, Lord. I'm I'm thankful to live where you have put us. I pray that we would bloom where we're planted. And I pray, Lord, that you'd show us the things that you would have us be in awe of and grateful for. Beginning with our with our salvation, Lord.
The message today will move from that place forward into our sanctification. But God, I pray that we recognize what a great gift you have given in breath in our lungs, waking up with new mercies every morning. In Jesus' name, I pray that you'd bless this operatory time. That the financial resources that go in the plates will be used well and wisely to advance the gospel. But Lord, the metaphorical things that we put in these plates, whether it is a conversation with a coworker or the meditations of our heart first thing in the morning, whether it is the time that we will spend to serve another.
In Jesus' name, I pray that you'd bless everything that's placed in these plates, Metaphorically, figuratively, literally. Lord God, we want for you to be doing your will in us and through us in your way. Amen. Over there because you want the sun in your I'm asking, seriously. Would you like me to close those?
Okay. We'll keep them open then. Good. Alright. First Peter.
This is for some of y'all seeing this is going, wow, where is he going? Well, first Peter is where we're going. But normally, what we normally do is we we've been going through a study of the a harmony of the gospels for about a year and a half, and we're getting up close to the cross. I'm not sure that I'm gonna stick with this idea, but I think I'm gonna stick with this idea. We are about two weeks out from the cross.
Actually, the week of the holy week. We're on Tuesday of holy week in our study. And, you know, the cross is coming in just a couple days, in that study. And I think I'm gonna wait and catch back up with that near Easter, I think. And I've got some stuff in between now and then.
Last week's sermon was one I felt pretty burdened by to share. You all responded very, very well to it being what you needed to hear. And so I don't like having agenda items in my own sermons. Like I think, oh, I'm going to preach to a problem or oh, I'm going to preach to this particular thing. I don't like that.
In fact, I have an email I looked at this week where I told my preaching professor that. I said actually, I wrote a passage on it about preaching and what I thought. I said, I really like to share what it is that the Lord has done, and I like to give that over to the people, sit it in there, let let them deal with it. And then they have to decide what they're gonna do with it from there. I really like that.
I don't like maybe it's I'm an individualistic American. Maybe it's a function of personality. I don't know. But I don't like telling people what to do. And he wrote back on my paper with a red ink pen that said, what if the text suggests it?
Okay. I received that rebuke, But he asked a question. He didn't even tell me you have to. He just said, what if the text suggest this text suggests it. Okay?
This text a little further than that. Actually, I'm gonna go further than this. But I I wanna say that I like to present in the indicative mood. It's indicative that this is the way that it is. It happened in the past.
It's happening now. Will happen in the future indicating this is the truth. Yeah. All that. I love those.
But imperative is where I go, thank you, Lord, that you said it, and I don't have but I still have to say it. I still have to proclaim it. I wanna share one other story. I'll share it in the middle. I I won't forget it.
But first, so we're gonna go to one ten through 22. First Peter 10 one ten through 22. I also don't really like re preaching, so I hardly ever preach anything that I've ever preached before. It's rare for me, because this is my first pastorate. First Peter one ten through 22, I did the second week I preached here.
So we're gonna go back a ways. Yesterday, I did a funeral, and I and I spoke some from Isaiah, and that'll come up because it's quoted in this text today. But I I wanna put something out there before we even begin that is when you are confronted with the holiness of God, really, like Isaiah was, and like Peter was in the next passage I'll share, it causes a reaction if you're really confronted with the absolute holiness of God. So in the year of king Uzziah's death, I, that's Isaiah, saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted and with the train of his robe filling the temple. That's pretty awesome.
Seraphim, angels stood above him, each having six wings with two covered his face, two covered his feet, and two it was flying. And one of those Seraphim called out to another and said, holy, holy, holy, three times. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy.
He's absolutely holy. Nothing else has ever described him three times like that, and God is often that way. In the past, in the temple, and in the future, Revelation. Holy, holy, holy. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling up with smoke.
This is a multi sensory experience for Isaiah. And then I said, woe is me for I am ruined. I am undone. Because when you're confronted with the holiness of God, you see the sinfulness of yourself. Woe is me for I am undone.
I'm ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips. He knew exactly what was his deal. And I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of host. And then, it's good to recognize the holiness of God, and it's good to recognize your own sin.
And then 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 it. And he said, behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity, sin, is taken away. Your sin is forgiven. So when we recognize the holiness of God and the sinfulness of ourself, God has the ability to do something about it. Right?
In this case, it was through one of those seraphim touching his lips with coal. Hit him at his place of admitted and confessed sin. Behold, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is forgiven. Luke. So that's Isaiah, seven hundred years before Christ approximately.
Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Jesus and listening to the word of God, because that's what he is and was sharing, He was standing by the Lake Of Gennesaret, Sea Of Galilee, and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and they were washing their nets. They've been fishing. They had finished fishing, and they were washing the nets. And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And he sat down, and he began teaching the people from the boat.
And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, alright. Now put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered and said, master, I mean, I know you're a builder and everything, I'm a fisherman, man. We worked hard all night. Fish can see nets.
Did you all know that? Worked at night because the fish can see. And they dropped the nets, and they're not monofilament lines. They're dropping nets that fish can see, So do it at night while they can't see as well. So they fish all night.
Master, we worked hard all night, and we caught nothing. But you want us to go out in the daytime? I mean, that's already handicapping ourselves. But I'll do as you say. I'll let down the nets.
And when they had done this thing, 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. They came filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet. Now he had recognized the almighty in Christ, incarnate God.
When Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet saying, go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. When you recognize the holiness of God, it will cause you to recognize the sinfulness in your own life. And he says, go away from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man. I'm not worthy to be around you. For amazement had seized him and all of his companions because of the catch of fish what they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, partners of Simon.
And Jesus said to Simon, don't fear. From now on, you'll be catching men. It'll be just as inexplicable. Right? When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and they followed him.
So that guy in that story now Isaiah seven hundred years before, Peter is during, you know, before the cross, after the resurrection, Peter wrote this letter. And he wrote it about thirty years later, thirty, thirty one years later. He was martyred in Rome in about '64. And this letter is probably within a year of his martyrdom, where he's crucified upside down by tradition. That sixty four ish, '63, '64, is when he writes this.
And it's a time of extreme persecution, and I'll say relational difficulty. You know? Tough. Tough time to be a Christian. I'm gonna start at the very first verse of the chapter because I think it matters to get a little context.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, strangers scattered throughout Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the father by the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. I like the indicative mood there, but it also gives us a causal statement. Why is it that you are saved? To obey Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood. This is setting up something.
There's gonna be a lot of indicative stuff at the beginning, and then there's gonna be some imperatives before this is over. The text is suggesting. It's saying, do this. Okay? But this is the grounds for it.
Those who are chosen according to the fore knowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. May you understand that you are the recipient of unmerited favor and wholeness from Christ. May they be yours to the fullest measure. Blessed be, this is a doxology, from verse three to nine is just a study of the glory of God, particularly about salvation.
That is the home ground or foundation for all of the commands that he's gonna give in a bit. He has a statement and then a digression, a digression, a digression, and a statement, and then he's gonna go. Now, what do you do with this? Go this way. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again.
That's his work. It has happened. It's in the indicative. According to his great mercy, not giving us what we do deserve. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We're gonna celebrate communion here, which is celebrating the fact that Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world. He took upon himself the punishment for all who would trust in him. We're gonna celebrate that together here today. He has given us the right, John says, to be called children of God. Peter says, 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, and it's reserved in heaven for you.
It is kept and it is guarded, there's no doubt about it. You who are protected by the power of God, or some translations say kept by the power of God. That helps to think of it as I'm being kept by the power of almighty God. That helps a lot. It really isn't on me.
My salvation is on him. Reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation that's ready to be revealed in the last time. So God is to be praised. I don't know why I said point two. Where'd point one go?
Point one, salvation's great. Point two, God is to be praised for his great mercy, because he does not give us what we do deserve. Grace and mercy are so compatible. Grace is when you get unmerited favor, something good that you don't deserve. And mercy is when you don't get something bad you do deserve.
Okay? Praise God for his great mercy. Praise God for his new life, being born again. He is the one who made the offer that can be accepted by faith. Praise God for living hope.
Now in the Bible, anytime you see the word hope, elpis, it is an absolute certainty that has not yet come to pass. So it's not just, well, I hope. No. I hope in that glorious future in heaven for sure and the promise of abundant and eternal life. Now, I just haven't seen the rest of my life yet.
But I have hope in God during every step of the way between here and my eventual earthly death. Praise God for living hope made available through Jesus' resurrection. And this is all grounded on salvation. So then he goes into a digression. He's writing to a people that are among and in the midst of a fiery trial and persecution.
And he says, in this salvation, you greatly rejoice even though now just for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. Okay. Can I get a witness? Is anybody going through a trial right now? Yeah.
Various trials, they happen. They happen to believers. Does being a believer shield you from going through them? No. I I would say it invites even more.
Right? You get even more trials when you care about how you walk because you have been saved. In this you greatly rejoice. Be happy about this. Even 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, it's still just paving material in heaven.
Right? That it may be found to result in praise and the glory and honor at the revelation, the revealing, the uncovering of Jesus Christ. And though, this is another digression, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you have not seen him, you love him. That's something to praise God for right there too.
That it's not just Peter and the guys who are actually able to walk with Jesus who get to know him. It is possible for us to get to know him. It was possible for Isaiah to get to know him in a way. Right? It's possible to have access to God through him.
Though you've not seen him, you love him. And though you don't see him right now because he ascended. And I saw it with my own eyes, Peter is saying. Though you haven't seen him, you love him. And though you don't see him now, but you believe in him, that you too may greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible, full of God's fame and glory.
And you are obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the very salvation of your souls. Let that sink in. It's good. Our relationship with God is on his terms, and he is able to keep it, to hold on to us, to keep us by his power. Now, here we are at the text for today, ten minutes in.
As to this salvation now, salvation means welfare, our good, our prosperity, our deliverance from peril, our preservation, our salvation, our safety. In some places in scripture, you see salvation as a absolute switchover from removed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, saved. But in other places, it says work out your salvation. It's a progressive thing. For those who are being saved, it's the power of God.
Salvation is not just about that saving sinner's prayer. You are immediately saved and will be glorified, and it's kept in heaven for sure. No doubt. But there is more to salvation that is progressively happening. We call it sanctification.
As to this salvation, he says, and this is a third digression on prophecy. He says, the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all those guys. The prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, they made careful searches and inquiries. They were digging and looking and paying attention and praying and meditating on what they knew to be true. And they were expecting and there, he says later on, that they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
These prophets who prophesied of the grace, the unmerited favor 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're saying that those prophets were moved by the same Holy Spirit. The spirit of Christ was in them, and it was indicating just as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. If you think about Isaiah in particular, and we'll get to him. Peter's gonna quote him in just a couple of verses.
Isaiah, seven hundred years before, speaks of the suffering servant of Jesus in terms that are so clear and so perfect, even the way that he would die. Pierced for our transgressions, Isaiah 53, all of the suffering servant passages. And Peter's pointing to those. He's a guy who knew him and knew him well, had denied him and was restored by knew the grace, knew the mercy. These prophets were seeking to know what person or time or spirit of Christ within was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves. It wasn't just for their own edification that they were digging in, but the things that they wrote and the messages that they delivered to the king or to the people or to the surrounding nations, it's not just for them. It's for other people. Not just them, but you. And it's true for the people who are recipients of Peter's letter.
But as Christians looking back and knowing, it's for us. For those of us, it was written to Christians who have accepted this salvation that he's offered. The prophet's words are for us too. In these things, which have now been announced to you, whether you knew the Old Testament before or not, now that you see it, these things are for you. They've been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you.
The people who shared the good news of Christ are now sharing the stuff that happened a thousand years before, or two thousand years before, or a bit before that. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all of the prophets by the same Holy Spirit that was sent from heaven. Now the way that the old Holy Spirit worked in the Old Testament was he spoke through the prophets. Not everybody, not everyone who trusted in God had had the Holy Spirit like after the day of Pentecost. But he was saying that they were grasping for it, seeking for it, and finding it.
What they wrote is good for you to know. Things into which even the angels long to look. You have the possibility of experiencing God in a way not even the angels have. Therefore verse 13. Therefore and this is where it starts to turn into from indicative to imperative.
I said I'd come back to this. When we were in Mexico, we were at a school for the deaf. I had been speaking Spanish for several years. I had it in high school. I had it in college.
I had been down there on a mission trip. I'd spoken to people for five years, teaching them lessons and trying to learn language from them. And I had a lot of Spanish when I moved to Mexico. Tanya, on the other hand, did not. She had no Spanish, not a single word, had never had a class.
She had French. She had German. And she went down there not knowing much more than menu Spanish, like nothing. And when we got down there, we were in charge of building a school with American work teams. But we had a Mexican staff of construction guys.
And when Tanya was down there, she was the concrete boss, among other things. She also taught school. But in the summertime, when we had lots of work teams, she's in charge of the Mexican staff that was mixing concrete with the American work teams supplying all the stuff. And so she learned to speak Spanish in the imperative mood first. That means she learned commands first.
You don't learn commands first in language normally, but she was a teacher telling deaf kids what to do in sign language. Sit down. Be quiet. You know, all these different things. And on the work side, I would say, hey, there's some rocks right over there, there's sand right over there, boxes right there, there's a mixer.
Yeah. All that's right there. This would be easy. Three boxes of this, two boxes of that. I'm speaking indicative and Tanya's saying, Juan, get the mixer going.
Bob, get that going. And she's just yelling commands because she had the authority, first of all, and it doesn't get done without that. So how it comes down to it, you can know everything I've mentioned so far. You can know that that's true, and you might not put it into practice. Or you might not know how to put it into practice.
Oh, I'm thankful that I'm saved. But what do I do from here? At some point, God Almighty needs to say, do this. Do that. And he does that through the prophets and through the apostles and through his word.
Therefore back. I'm gonna digress. Bless God. Bless you, Lord, that you came up with an awesome plan for salvation. It's amazing.
Even in the midst of our earthbound suffering, and it is real, we have glorious, inexpressible joy and love because you have been merciful and gracious to us, and we want to be merciful and gracious to other people. The prophets forecast, but they didn't fully experience. They long to look into it. Angels long to look into it, but you have revealed it to your people, the church. And now, in Ephesians three two three, it says that the job of the church is to proclaim these mysteries to the very realms of heaven, the spiritual realm.
Alright. Here we go. Up to this point, everything's been indicative, but here it comes. I think I found what I call three sets of corollary commands. There are a lot of imperatives here.
There's a lot of do this and don't do that, and that's what we're going for. It's one, hope fully and be holy. That's a command. Two commands actually. Hope fully and be holy.
They go together. Live reverently your relationship with God. Live that reverently and love deeply to the people around you. Renounce personal and corporate sin and grow spiritually. Those go together too.
And that's what we're gonna hit in the next little while here. So, y'all are ten minutes ahead of first service. Y'all are listening fast. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. This is actually not an imperative.
The Young's Literal Translation says, wherefore having girded up the loins of your mind. It's saying you've already done this because you are saved, because there is a salvation, put your thinking caps on, or you've already put them on. Just hearing what I've had to say. Do you agree? There have been a whole lot of people nodding so far.
Not just nodding like, but nodding. You know, nodding in agreement. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober. It says it flatly.
Keep sober. Be sober. In spirit is added in the New American Standard. I think that the sentiment might be there, but really? The text just says, be sober.
And it's a command. So what is sober? NEFO is be sober. Unintoxicated refers to having presence of mind, not letting anything cloud your judgment, enabling someone to be temperate and self controlled. NEFO is uninfluenced by outside intoxicants, meaning to have one's wits about them, which is the opposite of being irrational properly, it's to be sober.
Not drunk. Not intoxicated. Free from illusion. Free from the and I should say, intoxicating influences of sin. When I was little, we had three main services, sermons.
One of them was evangelism, we need to do it more. Alcohol, we need to do it not at all. That was the second type of sermon that we had. This is not just alcohol, not just drugs, but it is free from the intoxicating influences of sin. Like the impact that selfish passion and greed has on us.
Like nursing our own rage might have on us. Feeling super self righteous and being I'm justified in being mad at those people. Yeah. That's intoxicating. That's not good.
Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Keep sober. Maintain sobriety. In spirit, add it if you want to. It's in there in the New American Standard, but it really says keep sober.
Fix your hope completely. Now hope is something that is absolutely certain it has not happened yet, but there's a verb form of that too. And fixing your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, Knowing that your ultimate salvation is true helps you to be able to do this next thing. As obedient children, don't just conform yourself to the former lust, which were yours and your ignorance. Everybody's got temptations.
Everybody has temptations as a normal matter of human life, and we have particular bents based on our family of origin, and based on our culture of origin, and perhaps our systems around us. They were the things that we learned from in our ignorance. But instead of that, I mean, in our ignorance, we just don't even know where we got it from, but it's the way of the world around us. As obedient children, don't be conformed to just the way things have always been, which were ours in ignorance. But like the holy one, like Jesus, the one who called you, be holy yourselves.
You have an example in Christ and you have the spirit that he promised to console, to convince you of his righteousness and convict you of your own sin, to illumine the word. Like the holy one who called you, you be holy yourselves also in all of your behavior because it is written, you shall be holy for I'm holy. Where is it written, by the way? Leviticus. Written three times in Leviticus eleven, one time in Leviticus 19.
And it's God Almighty saying, you, my people that I've chosen, that I've saved, y'all be holy. Live out the way that I have showed you to live. And in Jesus' case, it's live out the way that I have showed you with my life to live on this earth. This is what it looks like. It sounds that verse sounds a lot like Romans twelve two.
So this is Paul, not Peter. But he says, don't conform to the pattern of this world. But instead of that, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Keep on challenging your mind to think God's thoughts. The way to do that is access his thoughts and his word.
Access his thoughts by his spirit. He is infinite and we are finite, but he has reached out to us. Don't conform to the pattern of this world. Things just the way they've always been done. Just because it's legal doesn't make it moral.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good and his pleasing and his perfect will. If you will take him at his word, you'll be able to test and approve what his will is. So a good way of putting this concept is the Phillips translation says, don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God, who loves you, remold your minds from within.
He'll do it if you give him that access in humility. Think I covered that. You shall be holy for I am holy, says the Lord. He's given us an example and a spirit to be able to do that. How many of y'all know what A.
W. Tozer is? A. W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy is one of the best things that I've read outside of the Bible.
One of the things I read in seminary that I just thought, Man, this dude gets it. Well, this dude writes in this first sentence, neither the writer himself, Tozer, nor the reader, all of y'all and me too, neither the writer nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the absolute holiness of God. Quite literally, a new channel must be cut through the desert of our minds. I think he took that from from Romans twelve two. 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 very pure, and then raising that concept to the highest degree that we're capable of. Do you get that? We're finite people, and this is an infinite God that we're talking about. Holy, holy, holy. He is infinitely holy, and the holiest thing we can imagine in our human selves doesn't reach that.
Doesn't even get close. God's holiness is not simply the best that we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness of ourselves. Any holiness that we have has to be derived. Any righteousness we have has to be derived from who he is.
It stands apart unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable for the finite mind. Holy is the way God is. It's his defining characteristic. To be holy, he does not conform to a standard. He is that standard.
So he said that I will give you my spirit to comfort you and guide you. The first part is hope fully, completely, and be holy. Hope fully and be holy. Those go hand in hand. If we trust that God is who he says that he is, he will allow us by his spirit to put one foot in front of the other and walk in holiness.
And our actions might be then just as surprising as some of Jesus' actions. Right? If we're submitted to the same spirit. The next corollary commands that seem to go together is live reverently, fear of God, and love deeply. I think this one gets right at the heart of the Christian experience.
Our motto at this church is with all we are, loving God and loving people through Christ. Christ has made it available, but loving God means revering him, living reverently. And loving deeply to other people has gotta be grounded in that, what God has done for us. If you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work. Peter is this is one of those check yourself moments.
He said, if you are calling God your father, if that's the case, because he wrote the book to Christians, but surely there are gonna be some people that hear it that are not. If you indeed call God your father, who God who is the judge who impartially judges according to each one's work, then be conducting yourselves with fear, with reverence before God during the time of your stay here on earth. Realizing that I'm finite and he's not. And this earthly life is temporal, and I wanna live it in accord with the hope that I have that is eternal. I want to have a living hope here that is based on the solid rock of the salvation that I will experience both here and there.
Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers. You know what you know, and you do what you do until you know better. You learn from the people that you're around. You learn from the culture that you're around. You learn from the family that you're around.
And you inherit some things that are just missed the mark. Know that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life that you inherited from your forefathers. You were not redeemed with perishable things, but you were redeemed with the precious blood. The precious blood of a spotless lamb. The spotless and unblemished lamb.
The blood of Christ. Christ Jesus came, and we'll celebrate, like I said, Lord's Supper, and walked it out in perfect submission to the Father's will, though it was very painful for him in this earthly body. He walked it out, gave us a perfect example of how to walk, and then promised us he would give us a spirit. The precious blood of Christ is the ground. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but he's appeared in these last times for the sake of you.
The prophets weren't serving themselves. They were digging into it and writing as the spirit led for something that would come in the future. They had hope in the future, and you are seeing it right now. You. You who, through Christ, are believers in God.
You who raised up through God. Who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and your hope are in God. The way that you live your life is based on what God has done. And since then, you have obedience. In obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren.
Fervently love. This is the command. Okay? Fervently love. Because you have been reverent before God, recognize that he mercifully forgave you and graciously gave you abundant life.
Because you know that, fervently love one another from the heart. If you are experiencing a relational difficulty, an argument, a dispute, a problem with another believer in Christ. If both of you recognize how merciful God has been towards you, it will cause you to turn to one another in love. Because both of you know you don't deserve it. That if there is any righteousness, it's derived from who God is.
And if there's any resistance, then it's probably not of God. Last week's verse fits well right here. If you are experiencing sorrow, it can go either way. It can either be godly sorrow or worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow produces repentance that cannot be regretted that leads to salvation.
But worldly sorrow only produces death. Fervently love one another in the NASB. Love one another fervently with a pure heart in the New King James. Old King James, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. ESV.
Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Having a pure heart because God gave that to you. Love each other deeply with all your heart. It's reciprocal. Do that.
The amplified version. See that you love one another from the heart, always unselfishly seeking the best for one another. That kind of takes away the imperative of it. It's saying, do it. Do it.
Since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your souls from a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. Why? For you've been born again not of seed which is perishable. It the precious blood of Christ is what redeemed you, and it is for the sake of the gift that God has made that you must be unified in Christ. You need to go forward in Christ.
Not perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and enduring word of God. Now John calls him the word of God. He's talking about Jesus. I think that's where he's going, but it's also the word of God.
The living and enduring word of God. Where Peter goes next is to a quote from Isaiah that I quoted yesterday in that funeral. From Isaiah 40. It says, all flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off.
There is an arc of life that happens, and it is ordained of God. All flesh is like grass. All its glory is like the flower of the grass. Grass withers, flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. He knows.
And this is the word which was preached to you. You accepted it. You've got it in your heart now. Let that be your guide. Isaiah 46 through eight, same thing.
Word of the God. The word of our God stands forever. This is the word which was preached to you. So that's kind of closing off the live reverently and love deeply. Love deeply because it's God's plan is to redeem and love the rest of the world through this continuing body of Christ.
And the next part is about personal and corporate holiness, renouncing sin and growing spiritually. Therefore, putting aside all and he has a list here. Malice. Malice is when you have ill will for somebody else. Let me clarify.
That's when you want something bad to happen to somebody else. Malice. I mean, I'm not gonna do it myself, but I hope they step on attack. Know? I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do it, but golly.
I just wish they would Ugh. Can't stand that person. Put aside all malice, ill will towards anyone else. Put aside all deceit. You know when you're fudging the details, do you not?
Oh, capacity for self deception's pretty strong. And that's included in all deceit. All deceit means not just I'm trying to mislead somebody else, but I kinda wanna mislead myself too. Put away all deceit. Yes.
I do have some people that I wish would step on attack. I wish I didn't. God take that from me. I'm setting that aside. I deserve to step on attack myself.
Lord help me. Putting aside all malice and all deceit and all hypocrisy. Oh, acting. Where we're just acting like we're great when we're really just forgiven. Put aside that hypocrisy.
Don't put on a show. Let it be real. Putting aside all envy. Oh, can I get witness Jackson Hole? Envy.
Envy is this is where is envy, a grudge, spite. It's a primitive word. That's funny because we're human beings. This goes way back. The devil wanted to be like God.
That's jealousy, envy, which is part of pride. Right? It's a decay breakdown. It's corrupt. Properly, it is a strong feeling or desire that sours due to the influence of sin.
Figuratively, it is the miserable trait of being glad when someone experiences misfortune or pain. It refers to the jealous envy that negatively energizes someone with an embittered mind. It conveys displeasure at another's good. It's a lot like malice. Without longing to raise oneself to the level of him who envies, but only to depress the envy to his own level.
It wants to tear people down. And all slander. Malice is bad enough. Deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. Slander is evil speaking, backbiting detraction, slander railing, defaming talk.
It's when you speak ill of someone. And you know, have you watched the news lately? Have you watched the television lately? People say stuff all the time. It's bad stuff, right?
Way back when there was a self help guru that said people are nine times as likely to say something bad as something good. And I think with the Internet, I think it has increased. They don't say good things very often. Put away all slander. Can you imagine?
If you actually did like your mama said, and when you had a chance, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Oh, therefore, putting aside all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, all slander, like newborn babies, be craving, be longing for. This is a command. Long for the pure milk of the word of God. It's pure and it's good for you.
So that by it, the pure milk of the word of the Lord, you may grow in respect to salvation. It's not just about the binary, am I in the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light? It is that we are working through this process and growing into our salvation and being sanctified. Like newborn babies crave the pure milk of the word. I long for, I strain after.
It's similar to what he said the prophets were doing. They were digging in and they were trying to figure out what the spirit of God was leading them to. They were taking in all the texts and all the directions and all the prompts. And they didn't get to see it the way we've gotten to see it. And that should cause us to crave even more.
Like newborn babies, you must crave. That takes away the imperative in the new living. But it's saying, crave. Crave the spiritual milk. And then he closes this passage right here, at least these corollary commands.
He closes off right here, I think, He says, if you've tasted the kindness of the Lord. So he brings it back with that one sentence. He brings it back to the salvation that he mentioned that was the grounding of all this. If you are saved, act like it. That's the message.
If you are saved, act like it. And then he backs up at the very end and says, if if you've tasted of the kindness of the Lord. Oh my goodness. You know, it's not brow beating that brings anybody to Jesus. It is the kindness of the Lord that brings people to repentance.
The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. It is the kindness of God. If you've tasted of the kindness of the Lord, you can be thankful for that, and you can live it out. Now we're going right now. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward.
And Jennifer, would you play something pretty? In Jesus' name, we gather. In Jesus' name. Lord, his body will celebrate the way that he walked out in the flesh, complete submission to the spirit of God, and did everything necessary to achieve a perfect record which he voluntarily gave to anyone who would put their trust in him. In Jesus' name, I pray that you'd bless this little representation, this cracker, the bread of life, and this cup.
In Jesus' name, pray, Lord. Amen. In the upper room discourse with his disciples, Jesus, after supper was over, he took bread and he broke it. And after he had given thanks, he said to him, this is my body which is given for you. Take this, take it in, eat of it, and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me.
Lord God, thank you for the perfect record, but also thank you for the perfect example. Beyond that, Lord, thank you for giving over that perfect record to all who would put their trust in you. Thank you for the transmission of the prophets and the apostles and the Bible that allows us access to the hope that you provide. In Jesus' name, we ask you to bless this little plastic cup representation of the blood of Christ, this little grape juice example sample of the blood of Christ. That we would as we receive it, Lord, that we would consider that this is from the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 2Of God, worthy is your name. Jesus, lamb of God, worthy is your name. Taking my sin, my cross, my shame, rising again, I bless your name. You are my all in all. When I fall down, you pick me up.
When I am dry, you fill my cup. You are my all in all.
Speaker 1In the same way that he had taken the bread, he took the cup, a common cup at the time, and he said to them, this is the new covenant in my blood. It's on him. This is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink it in, and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you.
Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Would you stand? And we're gonna sing. I think we're gonna sing the doxology.
Can we do that, Jennifer? Just give us a g. Alright.
Speaker 2Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. Amen.
Speaker 1May Amen. The triune God accompany you all week long and share with you who he is so that you may show that to the rest of the world. Amen.
