Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: how will you follow Jesus in prayer and dependence on God this week?
Main Points
In this lesson shaped by Calvary Boise's teaching on 1 PETER: The Freedom of the Born-Again Life, Christ invites us to receive truth with humility, practice repentance, and walk in faithful obedience.
Grace and Justification
we've been spending the last couple weeks as a church starting really with Eastern we're gonna lead this all the way up to next. week looking at the first Peter letter in all the ways that it teaches us how to be born again people reminding you and. myself every week that to be born again to have the Spirit of God in us is not a title for some Christians but. it is the way to follow know God and walk with Him in the perfect plan that he has for our life so we've. been looking at what does that mean for us and I'm gonna pick up where pastor Martin left off last week what a blessing. it was to my life and I know for our church to have him teach because he has the gift and it's so incredible. to watch him use it and it was his first time teaching this last weekend so it was a blessing to my life and. I mention that because I was listening to him preach while I was at a wedding and McCall and during this morning that I. was at this wedding preparing to share in the wedding ceremony and it was an awesome opportunity for my wife and I because it. was a wedding of a couple from our church that the man spoke English and the wife would she speaks Spanish so the guests. were the do lingo style and so we got to do that together and before the wedding that Sunday I turned on the live. stream of our church some of you are watching that live stream right now hello it was an experience for sure and as the. live stream was being broadcasted and Martin is preaching to my left I'm eating some breakfast and to my right I'm working on these. vows and trying to process what needs to be said to this couple that's about to commit the rest of their lives together and. then Martin uses the power of God's Word to preach something that was so important for my life and it was so important for. our church I'm gonna read it again and remind you what his exhortation was because we are going to need it this morning he's. preaching from first Peter chapter 2 starting in verse 2 and it said like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by. it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have.
Prayer and Dependence
tasted that the Lord is good and Martin is preaching Saint do you ever feel like we're spending time in God's Word so quickly. that were not actually savoring the moment he shared the story of how he makes coffee and he's an expert coffee maker and he. loves to enjoy all the savory tastes of the coffee and yet we can rush so quickly you go out the door you have. no idea we just drank and I do that with my food all the time and as he's preaching that I realized that I've. got a computer open I've got food over here I've got vows over here and I'm thinking yes I need to hear that and. it's my job every week to commit to the word for our church that as the church we would actually taste what God wants. to show us about his goodness about how good it is to know how to live this out and we are going to need. that this week because we're coming up on a passage of Scripture as we think about what it means to be born again that. will be radical to your ears and it will be offensive to this culture and unless we take time to really savor and taste. what the word is saying it will never work and it will not actually allow us to grow up in the spiritual growth that. we're being called to so I say all that we'll start in verse 11 I'm gonna go all the way down to verse 17. and there's something about this born-again experience that we're gonna study this morning that has so much power if we taste it but if. we don't take time to live it out we'll miss the whole point so here it is verse 11 beloved I beg you as. sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against. you as evildoers they may by your good works which they observe or they're watching glorify God in the day of visitation this is. one of those ways that Peter is reminding this audience that is in the midst of exile persecution pilgrims and sojourners not living in. their homeland he's saying there's a point to all of this you can live your life in such a way to give God glory. in all of this and we're gonna look about look at that.
Faith and Obedience
what that means for us this morning and then he goes into one of those their fours so if you really have the born-again. spirit if you're really walking in that newness of life according to what Jesus offers us that anyone who is in Christ is a. new creation therefore and here's where it gets radical submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for this the lord's sake whether to the. king as supreme or to the governors as to those who are sent by the king for punishment of evildoers and for the praise. of those who do good then he goes on to say for this is the will of god that by doing good you may. put to silence the ignorance of foolish men and here's the challenge that we have to savor this morning live as though you're free. yet not using your freedom or your liberty as a cloak for vice but as bond servants of God and here's how it looks. honor all people love the Brotherhood fear God honor the king what is he talking about he's saying you're pilgrims and you're sojourners but. you're free live it out and in your freedom come underneath the authority of the land that you live in why because now you. are in your freedom a bondservant to God so Peter it must be talking about a different freedom and what we typically think about. our freedom to roam freely our freedom to do whatever we want Peter's saying something about freedom that is directly attached to service not. always how we think about freedom and then he's going to go on to say in freedom do some radical submission not only to. your government your community officials but also now verse 18 servants or the NIV here radical says slaves be submissive to your masters with. all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh masters for this is commendable because of conscious towards God. one endures grief suffering wrongfully and then he gives all he goes on to say there's a point to this there's a point to. that harsh treatment in this work environment for what credit is it when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently in. other words if you mess up on the job or if you do something to disobey the authority of your life when you pun. it you're punished for it so what that's the just punishment.
Faith and Obedience
but you're different now you have a different spirit about you if you suffer in doing good you take it patiently this is what. commands God are commendable to God these are radical examples of freedom but using the freedom to serve and then he gives one more. and this will also hit a nerve of the culture he says in chapter 3 verse 1 wives likewise be submissive or serve your. own husband's that even if some do not obey the word they without a word may be one by conduct of their wives what. is he saying he's saying that there are some women that he's writing this letter to that are unequally yoked in their relationship they've. come to know the power of the Living God in them they want to obey the word they want to follow Christ but they. are with men who don't and what's the response serve them so what are we getting at we are going to look at this. morning the freedom of the born-again life and how that freedom is radically different than anything this world is going to preach this world. is going to offer remember to be born again newness of life brand new that you could walk with Christ now means you're free. indeed Christ sets you free from all this stuff and Paul says to the Corinthians church where the Spirit of the Lord is there's. all sorts of freedom and there's liberty and you're set free from bondage but it's a different kind of freedom this is not a. freedom that allows you to do whatever you want go where you please this is a freedom for your soul this is a freedom. for that deepest part of who you are it is a freedom that only God can unlock by the power of his spirit and. it's a freedom that every single one of us longed for and we're gonna look at that longing in three ways it will be. a freedom that has to do with the personal war of your life every person is a living dichotomy of what they want to. do and what they actually do Peter says that's a war inside of you and we bring freedom to that and then he goes. on to say there is a freedom for the most purposeful work of your life again you desire for your life to have meaning. you desire for your life to be given to something that is.
Repentance and Renewal
purposeful that you can attach your name to you want to work towards something what is it the Holy Spirit comes and says here's. what it is and then it says there is freedom to follow the perfect way of life and we'll get into that starting in. verse 21 will end this morning but first we start with the freedom for that personal war and all three of these will be. harmonized by the power of the Spirit in you and they all have to do with one thing after the other to give glory. to God but it starts now in verse 11 where Peter says beloved I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly. lust and here's that word that war against your soul all of us come here this morning with a battle that exists not simply. with the conflict of the world around us the conflict that exists in the seats around us in this church but also in the. internal conflict of your heart one of the greatest enemies of your life is your lust li flesh and we have to slowly preach. this lest you think that it is the duty of a preacher to warn you against sin because churches bring judgment so that you'll. fearfully follow God so that you don't get punished what this is saying is that sin or lust li flesh is a war against. your soul it's a war against the core of who you actually are sin will destroy you so when the New Testament writers preaching. the message of Christ repentance away from these lusty flesh are saying don't sin abstain from those things when God gives his law to. teach us how to abstain from things that war against our soul it is not to bring judgment it is to save your life. sin will destroy you jesus himself calls identifies himself as a Good Shepherd he comes to Shepherd us and we'll get to the shepherding. that Jesus brings as we come to the shepherding of our souls but he says there's another Shepherd a bad shepherd and he comes. to kill and to steal and to destroy and that is what sin will do to your life anything outside of the perfect will. of God for your life to love him with all that you are and to love the people around you with the sacrificial love. of Christ will destroy your soul and this is not a message.
Life in the Church
that exists simply from a pulpit to a church there are all sorts of things in the digital age that people are realizing are. killing our souls as a culture I was reading an article this week and it was recently written and it has the perfect title. for this morning it says the Internet is stealing your soul here's what it says research has found that an eighth graders risk for. depression jumps by 27% when he or she frequently uses social media kids who use their phones for at least three hours a day. are much more likely to be suicidal and recent research has found that teen suicide rate in the u.s. now eclipses the homicide rate. with smartphones believed to be the driving force now the Internet is a tool and the gospel will bring balance to all tools of. your life but what the Internet represents social media and our smartphones and the digital age represent the desire for your heart to overindulge. that's why the statistics are alarming that adults spend on average 11 hours a day interacting with all the digital media because there's something. inside of your heart and your mind that is warring against your soil that says keep indulging keep having the thing that you want. just indulge in entertainment indulge in the things that satisfy those lesly flesh and when Peter uses that word lust he's saying there is. an overindulgence of your flesh that will eventually rob the life that God has put inside of you it'll kill your soul if you. don't believe the psychologist listen to this you can look at the example of men behind the machines interviews with Bill Gates Steve Jobs. and other tech elites consistently reveal that Silicon Valley parents have zero tolerance for their own device when it comes to their own children. so they know something about the product that they're selling all of us that they don't want invading their own home they're selling us. something that is killing our souls it's overindulgence and the Internet is a representation of what lives in your heart because it has shown. us that if there's something you can be addicted to you can be addicted to it through your phone you can be addicted to. shopping the overindulgence of the stuff and the grab of your flesh you can be addicted to envy and your scrolling and you're looking. at all the people that you wish you were you can.
Grace and Justification
be addicted to sex through pornography you can be addicted to gambling the overindulgence to continually try to have a little bit more by. taking undue risk you can be addicted to food he'll show up on your doorstep in ten minutes through the internet all this is. pointing us to the reality that we live in an overindulgent society and now we can stand up and say we have freedom for. that we have freedom to choose something else Paul Peter is saying you use your freedom to live out the conquered war because the. good news gospel says this the war has been won that war against your soul by sin and death has been won by the. one who never committed any overindulgence Jesus knew no sin he didn't use the opportunity to indulge and to have in ways that violated. his soul and what he did is he lived out a perfect life and the penalty for sin is the death of your soul. and he took that on his cross and he who knew no sin became sin so that you could become righteousness and now you. are a new creation in Christ he has left you the power of his spirit so that the war on your soul can be. won and all that's left now is the battles that await you but you come to those battle using wars one I'm a new. creation in Christ and I overcome I'm a more than a conquerer person and you are winning the war and that matters it matters. that we live this out why well Peter goes on to say why this all matters you have to know that there is victory. for the personal war because God is going to use that victory as chintz look what he says in verse 12 when you overcome. the war against your soul have your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against you as evildoers they may by your. good works or your soul being properly cared for by God you're no longer living in the temptation you're walking out the grace that. God gives you walk out a lifestyle of peace and rest and joy and people see that and they want it and they glorify. God this now comes to the second freedom of your life you are free to have the productive work of your life which is. to bring God glory those who speak evil against you believers.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.