1 Peter 1 - Temptation From Sin
Tom Shrader examines Peter's call to holiness in 1 Peter 1:13-25, emphasizing that believers must prepare their minds for action, stay sober in spirit, and fix their hope completely on God's grace. He explains that Christian transformation flows from understanding the gospel - not just for salvation, but as the daily foundation for holy living and sincere love for other believers.
“The imperatives of the Christian life always begin with the therefore - Peter doesn't begin to exhort Christian pilgrims until they celebrated the wonders of God's salvation in Christ.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 Peter
Recorded: 2012
Duration: 46 min
Themes: holiness, transformation, temptation, suffering, hope, grace, love, obedience, experiencing persecution, facing trials, doubting faith, new believer, struggling with sin, feeling discouraged, seeking spiritual growth, navigating suffering
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13-25, 1 Peter 2:3, 1 Peter 5:21, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Ephesians 4:24, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Hebrews 12:14, Philippians 2:12, Isaiah 6, Acts 5, Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 1:6, Philippians 3, Psalm 147:11
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, gospel transformation, perseverance, divine grace, christian living, spiritual renewal, biblical holiness
Full Transcript
I pick up today where Tim left off, which is verse 13. Technically the assignment is 13 through 21, though I'm spilling over through next week into chapter two, verse three as well. The passage begins with the word "therefore," which is interesting because it means we have to go back and connect all the things that have happened.
Peter has been talking about this amazing gospel that we have. He ends this book at chapter five, verse 21, and in some ways it's the anthem or the call. At the very end of that verse, he exhorts us and testifies that this is the true grace of God. "Stand firm in it," he says. That's what he's listed and you've studied it for the last two weeks.
Verse three of chapter one: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and to obtain an inheritance" in verse four. Verse five tells us we're protected by the power of God and we rejoice in this.
Peter's Context and Audience
Peter is writing this letter to a group of Christians. They're diverse but they're united by their faith. Peter is stating what seems to be implied from the situation and the experiences that these people are suffering. This suffering may be shaking their faith a bit, causing some doubt—understandably so. Difficult times come and it's almost instinctual in some instances to go, "Well, where are You, God?" Where are You on 9/11?
One of the authors writes, "Peter's readers were experiencing various kinds of trials that were causing them various degrees of grief and suffering. Their Christian faith was being slandered and maligned. Their social status, family relationships, possibly even their livelihood was threatened." When one's Christian faith is criticized or mocked, it's natural that one might begin to doubt the truth of the gospel. So it's not just the understanding of it—it's how do they respond to it? In the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter writes this amazing letter back to them.
Let me remind you of some of the things that we know about the letter. One commentator describes 1 Peter as "the most condensed New Testament resume of the Christian's faith and of the conduct it inspires." Martin Luther described it as "the noblest of books in the New Testament, a paragon of excellence," even on par with Romans and the gospel. Luther believed it contained all that's necessary for the Christian to know.
Another author writes, "Perhaps this letter's universal relevance is due to its presentation of how the gospel of Jesus Christ is the foundational principle by which the Christian life is lived out within the larger unbelieving society." So great application for us. Though there's an immediate audience that's experiencing suffering, grief, pain because of their faith within the culture that they're in and how to respond to that, clearly you can fast forward a couple of thousand years and see this applies to us.
My Approach to Scripture
When I hit a passage of scripture, here's what I do. I read the passage, read it in different translations, make some notes along the way, try to get some insights, see if there's something that divides up for me. Verse 13 is a great, easy kind of get in and grab, and you can see even with casual reading: "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Just with a casual reading, I can look and go, "Well, there's a therefore," so that tells me I'm going to have to go back and ask what the therefore is therefore. So I need to go back and say, "What's the connection?" Right away, I can see three things: prepare your mind, keep sober, fix your hope. So I would make those notes.
Then I will take commentaries—depending on the passage, I think I'm using about a half a dozen of them—and I will just read through and they will help with language, structure, things that I wouldn't see or wouldn't be apparent on the surface. Oftentimes, they serve as locksmiths. They'll take ideas and they'll unlock them. Then I try to pull them together and then I come and we try to understand what the text says and we try to see what it means to us.
I thought what was interesting is just three of the commentators, as they came to this section, just the headings would give you an insight. One heading was "Application: You Must Be Holy in All Your Conduct." Another was "Live Obediently in Hope." The third, looking at this passage, verses 13 to 25, said, "Be What You Are." It's the idea that theologians talk about—the expression of the "already but not yet." You have been saved, yet you're being saved. This is who you are in Christ and ultimately you'll see it in glorification, but now you're in that process.
The Call to Holiness
Look at verse 14: "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who has called you, be yourselves holy also in all your behavior." Verse 16: "It is written, 'You shall be holy, you shall be holy for I am holy.'"
Now this is something that is written by Peter to everyone who believes, not just to a group of super saints. The idea is that every believer is to be holy. This is not unique to Peter, not unique to this letter. Let me read you three, four, five passages. Just get the call in the New Testament.
Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians 7:1: "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in fear of God."
Paul again, Ephesians 4:24: "Put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
1 Thessalonians 4:7: "God has not called us for impurity,"
but in holiness. The author of Hebrews writes, Hebrews 12:14: "Strive for peace with everyone and for holiness without which no one will see the Lord." And in the passage that we have before us, you get the aggressiveness here. The pursuit of this. This is a target, this is a goal.
And yet, what Peter's telling us, what the New Testament tells us, is just like our salvation was accomplished by God—it was done to us, not by us—so is true of living out and working through this Christian life. He's the vine, we're the branches. It's God who's at work in us. There's this kind of a dilemma, and I can't explain it, though certainly the scripture speaks to it, that we are to strive, strain, pursue. But the reality is, it's God who's working in us. That's what Paul writes in Philippians 2:12. He says, "Work out your salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." It's God who does this work in us. It's the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. In this life, from that moment that we become followers of Christ, until we leave this world, there's a battle within us.
So what Peter's telling us here in verse 13: prepare, keep, fix, and then you see the result in that passage. Verse 14, you obey. Verse 15 and 16, there's holiness. Verse 22, there's sincere love. And verse 2 of chapter 2, there's a longing for this milk, the word of God.
The Call to Action Based on Gospel Truth
So let's get after this. Let me read you one of the paraphrases. This is the Phillips paraphrase of 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 13-16: "So brace your minds, and as men who know what they're doing, rest the full weight of your hope on the grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ reveals Himself. Live as obedient children before God. Don't let your character be molded by the desires of your ignorant days, but be holy in every department of your lives, for the one who has called you is Himself holy, the scripture says, be holy, for I am holy."
Therefore—I love this sentence. Let me read it to you. The imperatives of the Christian life, so the way we're supposed to live, always begin with the therefore. Peter doesn't begin to exhort Christian pilgrims until they celebrated the wonders of God's salvation in Christ. It's that Isaiah 6 model. We have work to do. "Who should I send?" Well, I'm not ready to be sent until I've been saved, until I plumb the depths and continue to plumb the depths of the gospel.
So often, my fear—I would say it was in my life for a long time, so my assumption is many of yours—is when we talk about gospel, you think of something that unbelievers need. Here's this person who doesn't know Christ. They need the gospel. They need to be confronted with their sin and presented with the claims of Christ and the reality that Christ died on the cross and we have eternal life in Him, the gospel. But the gospel isn't just for unbelievers. Now I come to Christ in repentance and faith, and what this commentator's saying, what Peter's saying, is because all of these things are true, because you've been saved, because you've been redeemed, because God has done this amazing work in you, now you're ready for life, for sure ready for death, absent from the body, present with the Lord.
The Heart's Longing for Heaven and Jesus
I'm totally convinced that when I breathe that last breath, whatever it is, I'll be absent from this body, I'll be in the presence of Jesus. That's what heaven's all about, and one of the things that I'm striving in my mind is to yearn for heaven to be with Jesus, not just yearn to heaven to be away from you. To be out of here, to be away from this. And I hear that almost all the time. We just instinctively, so-and-so's died, there's no more pain, there's no more—yes, yes, yes, but here's bigger: they're with Jesus, that's the desire.
And I confess, I have it—do I have it? It's to fall in love with Him, it's that relationship with Him, it's to know Him, it's to have this passion, endless desire to pursue Him, and then one day, the fulfillment of that, I'll be with Him. Now, He says, we got some things to do before that.
Girding Your Mind for Action
So prepare your minds. Some of your translations will say, "gird your mind." It's an imagery that probably doesn't mean much to modern people. But understanding that most of the men in that day and age would be wearing some kind of a loose garment, the idea of girding is to take over, grab the back of that, pull that garment up and then tuck that into the belt I would be wearing to gird myself, to prepare myself to run or to walk quickly or some sort of strenuous activity.
Wayne Grudem in his commentary talks about the girding of the mind. He says this: Peter's admonishing the reader to be ready to see God work and to respond to Him with instantaneous obedience. My mind is ready. Don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of my mind. Set your mind, Paul says, on the things above. Don't be conformed to the world and its way of thinking and its worldview but be transformed how? By the renewing of my mind, I start to think differently.
The Revolutionary Concept of Humility
This is a point I think I made the last time I talked but I'm not sure, so let me make it again. I know over the years we've come back to this—this is one of those things where for me there's little nuggets, like when you get "God owns it all, you're the manager," when it comes to giving I ask the question not how much should I give but how much of God's money do I keep? Those kind of big nuggets, this is a big nugget. When Peter and Paul and the New Testament was being written, when they came to the concept of humility there was not a Greek or a Latin word for humility. That wasn't even a concept that hit their radar screen. If anything, it connoted some sort of weakness. But Paul comes along and says, I want you to have the mind in you, I want you to think like Christ who humbled Himself. He had to invent a word. He humbled Himself.
He emptied Himself, not of His deity but of His glory of that Isaiah 6 moment and He took the form not of a conquering king but a humble servant who came not to be served but to serve. Now I want you to think that way too. All of a sudden, that's totally revolutionary. So when we talk about a transformed heart and an informed mind and a radical life, there's nothing more radical than you and I to develop a spirit of humility and love. Totally counterculture. Counter to our instinct.
Yesterday, game day, we get together, when we're in town, we get together for game day. So that means all the kids and grandkids together and it's fun to watch them and they are, I assume like your kids and grandkids, they're very well-behaved and they're very cute and they're amazing to watch. And yet you see those little moments when it doesn't go the way they want and they seethe and if they had the strength and the capacity and the ability, they'd rip my heart out and stomp on it. They want what they want - mine. That's how I'm wired, that's how you're wired, that's natural man.
Along comes the gospel and says, listen, you've been redeemed. The salvation was something that was done to you, not by you and as a result of this, you have a mind of Christ, you think differently. You prepare yourself for battle with the culture, battle in the sense of a struggle, not in the sense of an ongoing aggressive war.
Keep Sober and Stay Focused
Keep sober. Obviously we think of booze and intoxication but it's way more than that. It's keep your mind free from those things that would distract it or divert its attention. For me, and Sandy's been awesome in this, I prepared her for, before we got married, I said listen, there's three things that are big. Television is big to me and politics are big to me and sports, especially college football and especially a game day Saturday. Game day Saturday begins about 6:45, I hang my flag out, my little Iowa flag out, it's all stupid, just let me stipulate this up front, it's all stupid. So I hang my flag out, game day starts at seven and then I watch the games all the way through. Yesterday was a weird day because all the good games are at night.
And every week, it happened yesterday as well, every week there will be a play where a back or an end or a wide receiver will go out and he'll turn for a pass, he'll be wide open, nobody around him, but he wants to get to the first down marker or maybe he's even thinking he can score. And as that ball comes, there'll be that moment and now with replay, you can really see it, that moment will come. You might not have caught it in real time, but there'll be that moment when it comes, as the ball comes, there'll be that little moment where you'll see him kind of peek. Is there anybody around? How far do I need to go? What's gonna happen?
You see the same thing, I was watching some baseball the other night, you saw the same thing there. There was a guy who was trying to turn a double play, an easy ball, all he had to do was scoop it, he's getting ready to scoop it, as he's getting ready to scoop it, he's trying to see how much time he has. And his eyes are off the ball, drops the pass. Misses the baseball, it becomes one out instead of two.
That's the idea of the word here. Be sober, be focused, keep your eye on the ball. Don't let your mind be drifting away with things that preoccupy it. It will take it off the grace of God.
God's Chosen and Protected
God's chosen, this is the point He's made all the way through, He's building it, God's chosen you, He saved you, He redeemed you. You have this inheritance, you've been set apart for Him. That's the idea of a saint, someone who's set apart. You have His protection, you have His promise, you have His guarantee. You were saved, and He uses this imagery all through this little letter, but you were saved, and the proof of your faith is much more than gold and perishable. He talks a lot about that which is perishable, about that which is not. And He says, this redemption is not something that's perishable, it's not something that's passing away.
And fix your hope, fix your hope completely on the grace of God. There's our hope.
The Gospel and Politics
There was an event at the Gateway Campus last Monday, and they did an evening on the gospel and politics. And it was Luke's kind of response to something that he's seeing, and we see it here, and there are two extremes. One is those that say, this election, most important election of all time, I kind of tend to think it is. They'll go, boy, we have to get this. This is our salvation, this is our redemption. Just change this, or just do that, or just reelect this, or whatever it is. People are putting their faith and hope in the system.
And the other thing that I see, or a whole bunch of people that are kind of going, it doesn't really matter, because none of this matters, it's just gospel. And I respond to both of those and say, yeah, it's way more than that. Do we need to be involved in politics? Sure, voting at the very least, but beyond that. But do I think that that is, listen. Here you go. If you think Mitt Romney's gonna make this, It ain't gonna happen. You think Barack, it ain't gonna happen. Get that tea, that teapot. The Senate isn't gonna happen because our fundamental problem, should I participate in it, yes. Our fundamental problem isn't political or educational or economic. Our fundamental problem is spiritual.
Fix Your Hope on Grace Alone
Anything you trust other than the gospel of grace will disappoint you. So I fixed my hope on that. Do I still participate in these other things? Sure. Is work important? Yeah, but it's not of supreme importance. Every person, place, or thing other than Jesus will disappoint you. False gods, and that's what they become, false gods never fail to fail.
So be on the alert. Be prepared, be sober. Gird your mind for action. Be ready, but fix your hope not on the things of the world, but on the gospel, that Jesus came, lived, died, that He redeemed you, that this is all about Him. It's grace. God's grace.
God's Way vs. Man's Way
Paul announces to us that God has a way. Where men fail, God excels. Salvation comes from heaven downward, not from earth upward. Please note, Licato writes, salvation is God-driven, God-given, God-empowered, God-originated. The gift is not from man to God, but God to man. Grace is created by God and given to man, and on that point alone, Christianity is set apart from every other religion in the world.
Every other approach to God is a bartering system. If I do this, God will do this. I'm either saved by my works, what I do, my emotions, what I experience, or my knowledge, what I know. But along comes the gospel, and God, in His great mercy, reaches down and in spite of you, not because of you, brings you into His family.
He does it in a way, and Licato continues here. Let me just read what Max writes: "What a God. Ponder the achievement of God. He doesn't condone our sin, nor does He compromise His standard. He doesn't ignore our rebellion, nor does He relax His demands. Rather than dismiss our sin, He assumes our sin, and incredibly, He sentences Himself. God's holiness is honored, our sin is punished, and we're redeemed. God does what we cannot do, so we can be what we dare not dream, perfect before God."
Our Hope is in God
Our hope is in God. Psalm 147, verse 11, "the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, and those who hope is in His steadfast love." It was His love that motivated—we talked about that, I know, the last time I was here. We talked about His love. He loves us.
I made this note yesterday. So now, here's what happens: I'm resting, I'm fixing my hope, and I made a list of four things. The character of God, the promises of God, the sovereignty of God, and this faithfulness of God, that I can trust Him. In a world where promises are broken day after day after day, what's the object of my faith? We come again and again and again.
It's the life-changing reality that Christ died and rose again. When Peter thinks of transformation, that's what he thinks of, is the transformation that the gospel has in our life. And it's not just, let me say it again, not just for unbelievers to move them into the kingdom of God, but for those of us who are in God's kingdom, who now need courage.
The Gospel Gives Courage to Believers
Remember, the people who are reading this are discouraged people. Maybe a little bit afraid. Doubting, wondering. What's the answer? It's not just believe harder, it's believe. Believe that gospel. It puts courage into me. It allows me to reorder some priorities. It allows me to begin to live for Christ.
And it's not me. I don't want to communicate that it's my effort. It's Christ working in me, working through me. That's what we looked at when we studied the letter of Ephesians. It's in Him, in Christ. He's the one who does it. That's who I am. So it's not just my salvation, it's my being conformed to the image of God that's a work that He does in my life.
The Sequence of Commands
The grammatical structure here has a bit of a sequence to it. He says, here's the first command, gird up, or prepare your mind. Get set for some action. The second is be sober. Now you're ready for God to work. Now fix your hope on this. And the result is, you'll act as obedient children.
The picture that He uses here is not this picture of a wrathful God, but of a parent child. He said, all of a sudden, there's a motivation here. When I begin to contemplate the gospel and God and what He's done and who He's done, who He is, and what He's done to me, and who I am as a result of that, all of a sudden, out of His desire to please Him, and He's going to say, out of a fear of discipline, I begin to become that person He wants me to be.
I'm moved, and they're very different. I'm moved not by duty, but by desire. I'm not moved by I have to, but I'm moved by I get to.
The Desire to Please
When kids are small, that's what they went to all day yesterday. So we're in the room, there's seven grandkids, ages six, five, four, three, two, one, zero. And I must have heard a hundred times, "Papa, look at, Papa, look at, Papa, look at." They want you to see it. They want to please you. They want to share it with you. They want you to be proud of them.
He says, listen, get ready for all of this. Fix your hope on grace, and now, verse 14, how do I live? As obedient children, don't be conformed to the former lust, which are yours in ignorance, but be like the Holy One who's called you. Be holy yourselves in all your behavior. It's written, "you shall be holy, for I am holy." He's going to do that work. That's the promise. He'll fulfill that in you.
Living in Fear of Displeasing God
"If you address Him as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourself in fear during your time of your stay on earth." And again, that fear isn't trembling fear of necessarily is wrath, because there's no condemnation. It's the fear of displeasing Him or the discipline that adjoins that.
"Knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver, gold, from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, your redemption wasn't something that was temporary. It wasn't based on human effort. It wasn't based on something that's here today, gone tomorrow, but on the precious blood of the Lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundations of the world, but has appeared in these last times for your sake, who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
That's where my faith is. That's where my hope is. That's where my trust is.
True Holiness: Inward Transformation
I'm to be holy. When we talk about God being holy, we're talking about separated from sin. He's talking about our conduct. But He's talking about an inward change. He's talking about a connection with God that's an inward connection and an inward transformation that results in outside conformity.
"If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." Now, there are people who follow or attempt to follow the law of God, don't really love Him. That's their way of salvation. He's not talking
That's fruitless. That's futile. That will never work. You can never be good enough to be accepted by God. You and I as followers of Christ are accepted on the finished work of Jesus Christ. So we say it over and over: there's nothing I can do to make God love me more. Nothing I can do to make God love me less. He accepts me. He did it. He initiated it. He began the relationship.
He chose you. He brought you into this relationship, and He's the one who will continue it. He who began the good work in you, Philippians 1:6, will continue it till the day of Christ Jesus. He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. He loves you. You aren't on probation. This is not something where He's trying to say, "I've done my work, now let's see how you do. If you do real well, you'll still be my kid." No, you're His kid in this relationship, accepted by Him.
Fear and Discipline in the Christian Life
Fear what? Well, the discipline. I don't want to disappoint God. I know there's discipline that comes with it. Remember Acts chapter five, Ananias and Sapphira, and there's the discipline of the Lord that is seen. But out of this discipline comes not fear of pulling away, but it comes a growth—a growth in closeness to Him.
If we were to paraphrase verse 17, it's something like this: Conduct your lives with fear of God's discipline because you know that God redeemed you who had set them free. God has redeemed you. God is the one who sets you free. God is the one who cleansed your conscience. God is the one who allows you bold access to pray to Him, to worship. He's the one who progressively makes you aware of your sin over and over and over again.
The Divine Work of Purification
Verse 22: "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart." Now, this could be—this is one of those things, and I will just tell you, I'm at that point in my life where I'm working through all of this thing yet again—it's not me, it's God in me.
When I read this verse 22, it could sound like I purified my heart. It was something I did. In the Greek, it's in a perfect participle. It describes something that happened in the past, it was done to you, and the results continue. John MacArthur writes, "On the surface, purified may seem to refer to human work. On the contrary, it refers to a fully divine work that God is doing in my life over and over again."
So I go to Ephesians chapter two, verse eight and nine. Not all of you, but many of you know that: saved by grace through faith, not of myself. The work of God, so I won't boast. We talk about salvation, but we maybe never get to verse 10 that says we're His workmanship. Prepared for these good works, which again, like salvation, He prepared beforehand. It's that Holy Spirit in you. It's your effort and God supplying all the power. It's who wrote the book of Romans—Paul—but under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How do you explain it? I can't.
Love for the Brethren as Primary Evidence
What's interesting to me is that as Peter begins to talk about this preparation for the obedient life, the first specific application point he asks from these general commands of holiness is love for the brethren. He mentions it here in chapter one, verse 22. He has the same concept in chapter two, verse 17: "Honor all people, love the brotherhood." Chapter three, verse eight, that we're to live in a harmonious way. And chapter four, verse eight: "Above all, keep in fervent prayer your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sin."
He begins to talk about this love that we have one for another. Remember when we were looking at Jesus the night before He is crucified. He has the disciples together. He says, "I'm gonna give you a commandment: love one another, love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself." And then He says, "This is how the world will know you're my disciples, that you will love one another."
We begin to see the transformation of the gospel in our lives when there is a concern for other Christians. Not just a tolerance, by the way, not just an endurance, not just that we're all a little bit different and we can put up with that. There's an active participation in terms of bearing one another, concerning one another, encouraging one another.
Human Effort and Divine Power
Let me go back to this again. This is something that's done as the Holy Spirit works in our life. Purify, as MacArthur says, is not human effort. Boy, there's human effort though, right?
Let me read to you from the pen of the Apostle Paul. Philippians chapter three—he's just talked about his former life as a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And he says, "Here are all these things." And I say this not in a pejorative way at all, but a descriptive way. He said, "I was the super Jew, but I count those"—King James—"I count that but dung compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, that I know Him and the power of His resurrection."
And then here's Paul, who's talking about "I'm in Christ," who gets fully the idea of He's divine, we're the branches, we can't do one thing apart from Him. But here's Paul—listen to this language: "Not that I've already obtained it, or I'm already become perfect"—he means mature—"but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I don't regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
Those terms are all through Paul's writing. We get it here in Peter as well: striving, pursuing. The idea of a racer in a race coming to the finish line—think more of a sprint than a marathon. Think of that 100-meter dash, where that little stretch at the end may be the difference. That's the picture. Paul says, "This is what I'm doing," but yet, you know what? It's the Holy Spirit that's doing it in my life. The Holy Spirit comes into our life, and the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit becomes the one who sanctifies us. The Holy Spirit is the one who moves us from darkness into light, and who gives us this ability to understand it, and transforms us, who gives us the desire to do what God would have us do, and then the power to do it.
The Holy Spirit's Work in Conviction
I made a list of things. First of all, He convicts us of our sin. God doesn't expose us all at once to how sinful we are. There's a sense in which there's that very first day God saves me—in that very first day, it's at that moment that I feel as holy, maybe, as I ever felt, because every day since then, the Holy Spirit is just revealing a little bit more about me every day. The fundamental core of the issues of strife and everything else in my life is my sin.
As I think about my relationship with Sandy, in developing that relationship, I need to approach every one of those problems as I'm bringing my sin to this relationship. I remember, I think it was J. Vernon McGee, who was telling a story one day. He got a call in his office on a Monday from a little old lady. He was rarely there on Monday—it was his day off. This was like the little old, kind of get the caricature of the 90-year-old lady who was in church, and she said, "I need to see you. I've sinned terribly."
Just out of pure curiosity, he said, "Come on over. I want to hear this." She came in and she was just distraught. He said, "What is it?" She said, "Do you remember yesterday when I was leaving church and I saw you?" He said, "Yes." She said, "Do you remember when I told you the sermon was good?" He said, "Yes." She said, "It wasn't."
Now, how many times have you said to me, "That was really good," and you're thinking, "It wasn't"? She had become over a period of time—there's something amazing when you meet men and women who've walked intimately with Christ for decades. One of the things is they're so tuned in to their own sinfulness.
The Holy Spirit's Transforming Power
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and He creates in us a desire to change. Then He creates in us the power to change, to abide. It simply means to rely on Christ and Him alone.
How does the Holy Spirit do that? Well, He can do it in a variety of ways, but chiefly He's going to do it through His word.
Learning from Godly Examples
I did something the other day and it was just a part of working on a computer and I was just checking out different things. I came across a section where C.J. Mahaney had done interviews with Jerry Bridges, John Piper and Wayne Grudem. He asked them the same question, and so I read them and I was stunned by essentially the same answer that each one of them gave. Let me share it with you, not at all to condemn you. I found this very convicting for myself.
"Thanks for your time, Mr. Bridges. Describe your morning devotions. What time do you wake? How much time do you spend reading, meditating, praying? What are you presently reading?"
Jerry Bridges—you may or may not know him, he's 82 years old. He's written all sorts of wonderful books: Pursuit of Holiness, kind of at the center of that. He has a new book out called The Transforming Power of the Gospel, which I finished yesterday, very good. "On a normal day, I get up at five. I spend from 5:30 to seven reading and meditating on the scripture, spending time in prayer. I begin with what I've tried to teach others, which is to preach the gospel to myself. My usual practice is to read through the Bible, simply starting in Genesis and go through to Revelation. Currently, I'm in the book of Numbers. For prayer, I start with praying with thanksgiving and move to meditation. I always start with the first petition of the Lord's prayer: hallowed be thy name. Then over a period of six days, Monday through Saturday, I pray for the progression of the gospel around the world. I pray for my family, my organization, their leaders, for my own personal growth. I have about eight ongoing special prayer requests for friends that have acute need."
More Examples of Devotional Life
John Piper—you may or may not know John Piper. Many of you will. Books like Don't Waste Your Life, Desiring God. Same question, here's the answer: "I get up two mornings at 5:15, four mornings at 6:15, and one morning at six. I set aside an hour for prayer and Bible reading using the Discipleship Journal Read Through the Bible reading plan." So if you Google reading plans, not just that one, you're going to get thousands of them. "That puts me now in the book of Exodus, Psalm, Matthew, and Acts."
Wayne Grudem, Dr. Grudem, Systematic Theology, brilliant guy here locally, lives in Phoenix: "I usually wake up about 6 a.m., sometimes as late as 7 or 7:30 if I've been up late. I need between seven and eight hours of sleep or I don't think clearly. I get a cup of coffee and one of Margaret's excellent high-protein muffins and open my Bible. I simply sequentially read through the Bible and then start over at the beginning. I'm currently in First Corinthians and Psalms, reading two portions each morning."
"I'll read the Bible for 15 or 20 minutes, underlining some verses and making brief notes. Many times I wonder about something in the Greek or Hebrew—I might check it briefly, but I don't get involved in extensive study, that's not my purpose. I'm looking for God to teach me directly from His word application in my life. I usually camp on a verse or a phrase, sometimes writing it out and pondering the application in my own life. I also keep a blank notepad by me because God often brings to mind things that I need to do or make a quick note."
"Then I usually pause for five or 10 minutes, just waiting for the Lord's presence and thinking about the verse or talking to Him. After that, I pick up a notebook with different pages for people and things that I'm praying for. Some pages of various things in my own life and then my wife and our kids and our family, our friends, extended family, and others."
Having to do with government and concerns for nation or the world. Then I'll take 15 or 20 minutes, sometimes longer, so the total time may be 30 to 60 minutes. Usually end with my to-do list, where He'll bring the things that are on the calendar for the day, and I'll take them to the Lord.
Then here's the last paragraph. I find in those times of quietness, when I'm not praying about anything in particular, but simply resting in the Lord's presence, that I will bring to mind—He will bring to mind—solutions for problems or people I need to contact or things I need to write or things I should not spend time doing or any other number of things. I also find that that covers the course of the entire Bible and reading plan, and it gives me a deeper sense of peace and rest in the Lord's presence and comes to mind.
Don't Let This Become a Religious Checklist
Now, I don't want to read those and create this religious checklist for you. All of a sudden, I read this to you, and you probably all of a sudden are going, I really feel guilty about that, because I don't do that. So you can draw some level of comfort for that in that we're sinners in this nature together. I have, at times in my life, done variations of that. Currently, I'm not. I'll begin tomorrow in that process again.
I became incredibly convicted as I just worked my way, as something God did, casually. I've been praying all week for the Spirit to lead me, guide me, help me. Then I end up on this side, and I would say it's a God thing, and read this three great men, giants, really, who've been through this. Grudem writes this systematic theology.
The Power of God's Word
And yet, I go back at the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That consumes my time, and what does God do? That's that power that you have. When we talk about power, we're not impotent in this. We have the most powerful force in the world, the Spirit of God applying the Word of God to our heart.
I say that not to dump guilt on you. I'm not a morning guy. The mornings are not particularly good for me. It's interesting, Sandy is. Sandy's up and out the door and out swimming, kind of in a sort of competitive sort of way, at five o'clock every morning. That's been good for me, because what I do now is get up and I've been reading. What I need to do is kind of refocus my reading a bit.
The Daily Gospel
All of this to say in these three weeks is that here's the gospel, and it's not just for those of us who don't know Christ, but now those of us who do. It's what sustains us every day. I need to preach that gospel to myself every day. I need to be reminded every day of the power that I have, and that He does that as I submit to Him.
The core of that gospel's the cross. I remember asking, I was thinking a lot about Susan lately, especially just how crummy I felt, and probably how poorly I served her as she was hurting so much, but I remember when she couldn't come to church, and she said, I really miss church, and she said, you know what I miss? I said, the teaching, and she said, no. I miss the worship. I miss the people. I miss communion.
Don't Take Communion for Granted
My guess is a whole bunch of us who are here every week take communion for granted. Let's not do that today.
Let me pray as the guys come that we just sing communion and worship. Father, thank You for this awesome truth. You are a holy, true God. Thank You for the gospel that not just brings us into Your kingdom, but sustains us in that kingdom. Let us be men and women and students of prayer and study, not just endless pursuit of knowledge, but that Your Spirit would apply Your Word to our heart, that You'd transform our minds, and we'd live radical lives. God, we pray that in Christ's name, amen.