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 Reality of the Resurrection in Your Life, Christ invites us to receive truth with humility, practice repentance, and walk in faithful obedience.
Repentance and Renewal
every year we celebrate Easter and it's the it's the anthem of the believer to say praise God he's risen indeed and the tomb. is empty and now Monday hits and it's like now where were we with our everyday life so what we're gonna do for this. week in the coming weeks until Pentecost which is the pouring out of the spirit onto the first church is look at those in-between. teachings of Jesus and the theology of the in-between for what it means now if the resurrection is a reality in our lives so. what does it mean what do we do now so we're gonna start in first Peter chapter 1 because this is actually where we. left off last week and this is really the next step of the Christian believer for those of you who came last week as. non-believers and you come this week as new believers this is for you and for those of you who came last week as praising. God believers and you come this week ready to do it more this is for you to in a in a renewed kind of. sense remember what it was like for you to take your first couple Christian steps and remember what it was like to respond to. the resurrection reality in your life because you're never supposed to lose that's supposed to define your life and this is why I say. that in 1st Peter chapter 1 and verse 3 this is where we love left off it said blessed be the God and father. of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus. Christ from the dead and I want to keep reading now because it says what we have in this living hope because of the. resurrection to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of. God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while. if need be you have been grieved by various trials the reality of the next steps of Easter is that there are still some. battles to be won in that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold the perishes though it is tested by. fire may be found to the praise and to.
Grace and Justification
the honor and to the glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ whom having not seen you love though now you do not see. him yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible full of glory receiving the end of salvation at the end of your faith the salvation. of your souls we just read a lot and there is so much that we just read and it is all standing on everything. all of the theology that just poured out of the scriptures that were read are all bursting forth out of this one major key. verse of the scriptures that says this because of his mercy you've been born again by the resurrection of Christ which means that the. resurrection is not something that we can be confident happened to the life of Jesus and that someday will be happening to us it. affects us right now because it gives us a new life here born again born a second time if you've put your faith in. the reality of the resurrection and this is a very important bit of Scripture and theology and life for us to grasp because it's. not some optional label that some Christians where you heard okay are you uh evangelical you born-again or your Protestant born-again is something that. defines every person who is truly accepting the gift of God's life in us the indwelling of his Spirit Jesus says you have to. be born again it's not an option it's not a label it's not a brand of Christianity it is the Christian life and this. is what some of those Resurrection type verses say in Romans chapter eight now Paul will agree with Peter but if the spirit of. him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal. bodies through his spirit who dwells in you accept the free gift of salvation you are accepting the indwelling of God's Spirit inside of. you and now here's those action points this is what it means for our life today he it says also in Romans we were. buried therefore with him by our baptism we've identified with the death of Christ on the cross our sins have been dealt with once. and for all he pays the penalty of death of sin in that Jesus just as Christ was raised from the dead by the. glory of the Father now we too might walk in the.
Grace and Justification
newness of life we are supposed to be marked now walking not just believing in a born-again indwelling of the Spirit of God in. us but it defines our lives defines what we do as we leave this sanctuary as we walk into our jobs in our neighborhoods. and whatever God has in store for us and his sovereignty we walk we walk as people who are marked by the spirit of. life in us and for you new believers I want to make this very simple because so quickly the religion of Christianity can come. and dilute what it means to accept the free gift of life in you and for us who already believe maybe you've been born. again for as long as you can remember let us just remember the simplicity of what call God has called us to do and. what I just read the theology that flows from the born-again promise of the resurrected life three things that really help us understand that. overlay of what it just means to walk in it three things that you need as a human who walks and three things that. you will experience as a born-again believer in Christ that you measure your newness of life walk by here are the three things we. read them and I want to look at them in the time that we have together one is the focus of your walk my. wife from time to time will lose her glasses she's taking her contacts out and now she's looking for the glasses that is a. dangerous walk you don't want to have a walk without a direct focus and so what is the focus of your walk the newness. of life walk the other thing that you must have when you're walking with purpose that you're called to walk with is a future. where are you walking towards what does God called you to believe in the future hope that you have in him and finally there. is a datian to your walk what are you walking on so what is the focus of your walk what's the future of where. you're going and what's the foundation of your walk those are the marks the birth marks of that new again hope that we just. read about I want to look at the focus and if you are a newer believer if you are new to the church experience. this is what I want you to focus on because we.
Faith and Obedience
can you can quickly lose the focus of the purity of that born-again experience that you have between you and God and the focus. can get all mixed up and maybe I can become the focus or maybe going to church can become the focus or maybe learning. more about the Bible can become the focus and there can be focuses that aren't that honest-to-goodness 20/20 vision life of Christ dwelling in. you so what is the focus that Peter reminds these born-again believers of he doesn't say this should be a focus he says you're. born again you've got the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you so this is your focus says in verse 7 the genuineness of your. faith being much more precious than gold that perishes it's tested by fire may be found to the praise and the honor and the. glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ whom having not seen you love now he is writing to real people who live in a. real part of the world in fact the part of the world is now modern-day Turkey so it's a touch point that I just. had that we're gonna give an update on and it's a real life experience and he doesn't probably know every single person who's reading. this letter and yet he knows this if you are born again I know that you love Christ if you are born again if. you have heard this message of God's love displayed on the cross of Christ and Christ raising from the grave in holiness so that. you could have life there is a natural response in that now the Spirit dwells in you so that you can love God in. return we love Him because He first loved us that is now the focus of your being it is what you were created to. do all your life as Jesus was approached to try to help people understand the Mammon or the great purpose of life that's given. to us in the law and the prophets he says this it is to love God the focus of your life now the born-again. newness of life walked the thing that you are walking with the aim and the focus of is that you love God you can't. see Christ you can't see God you live by faith and not by sight but you absolutely love him and for this is this. is the natural indwelling of life is to be born.
Sin and Salvation
into this love of the life giver and I have experienced this in about the past five and a half years and I'll appeal. to every parent in this sanctuary this morning because you know what it's like to hold that newness of life in the flesh in. your arms and the very first natural instinct of that newborn baby is to cling to you it is to love you and they. go through a season of their life where they are completely dependent and really to a point addicted to you this has been a. challenging season for my wife and I because of this very fact because as I come home her first thing that she wants to. do is say take this child who will not let me put them down and every time I take that I say watch this. and I put the child down and then the child please for me puts her hands up in a moment what looks like worship. she says please let me be with you that is what the child wants in fact last night as the child at the child. her name is Rosie her name's Rosie she's one years old this is this little child she's feeling sick and she's got this fever. and we've given her we've given her some medicine to help her fall asleep and there's only one thing that she wants she wants. to lay on my chest all night long that's all she really wanted because when you are born in the natural body the instinct. of the body is to cling to the one who gave you life you are now born again and you're not born in the. flesh again that was the confusing part of the statement that Jesus made you must be born again because it's a spiritual and dwelling. now but you are born with now a new natural instinct to cling to the one who gives you life if you take nothing. else from this and you are a newer believer this is your second time in church because someone invited you last week this is. your first time in church because you felt the prompting to come in I want you to leave here with one simple truth to. be born again to have the Spirit of God dwelling in you is simply and the response of that the mark of that your. birth mark of a believer in God is that you long for.
Grace and Justification
him and you love him if you are doing that you do well keep going the other things will fall into place you'll learn. more about theology you'll learn more about how you can get involved but the very first thing that you have to have as a. new believer and for the all believers among us old in your spiritual age not your physical age for all of us who already. believe cling to the one who gives you life it is the focus of your life do not lose your focus and before I. get into the future now I want to say another thing to this because the natural progression of this is to now want to. please your maker it says in 1st Corinthians that it is now our aim to please God - please Christ and if you do. not have a love for God is the indwelling of the Spirit just giving you that natural response to the giver of your life. you may want to please God as part of a religious act let me read a quote to you by paul Washer he says. this a lot of people think that Christianity is you doing all the righteous things you hate and avoiding all the wicked things you. actually love in order to go to heaven that's a lost man with religion the Christian life is a person who has a heart. that has been changed a person who has been born-again and when we talk about the desires now of your life you had fleshly. desires that pointed you one way and they naturally pointed you away from God because you were born into a body of flesh and. sin which is the opposite of God and now in the indwelling of the Spirit in your life you have nudists Dyer's and it. is when the new desires are awakened by the indwelling of the spirit that you long to please God and that is why Peter. says now first Peter chapter 1 verse 13 therefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and rest your hope fully upon. the grace that is brought to you by the revelation of Jesus Christ it is the undeserved favor that God by His mercy has. given you life rest your hope on that and the grace of God and then as obedient children not conforming yourselves to the former. lusts as in your ignorance or in your darkness in your heart.
Faith and Obedience
heart apart from God but as he called you is holy you also be holy change your conduct allow that spiritual nature to come. out of you and those who walk in the spirit will not fulfill the lust of the flesh and it will be your desire. to please him you must never get it backwards you must never try to please God without loving God Jesus says if you love. me then you will follow my Commandments the focus of your life is that longing for the one who gives you life and there's. so much beauty in this there's a danger in what I preach because sometimes we preach this spiritual new again life and walking in. it as a template for life and sometimes we think that Christians in their goodness in their walking will fall into some sort of. template of mourning devotion and church participation and eventually you do some sort of ministry and you witness to this many people and you. have a life that is essentially the life that happens when you become a Christian that sounds horrible because God didn't make two humans. alike God does not make the children that I have a small sample size of are vastly different none of them are like we. give each one of them unique names because they are unique and as I look out now there is a unique audience before me. may we be unique in our belief that we walk in the newness of life and I've shared already two amazing examples of the. uniqueness of the Spirit of God dwelling in us I share Peter and Peter in his former lust was someone who was passionate and. he was bald but he used that passion and boldness sometimes to deny Christ and now the spirit dwelling in him that breath of. life that was given to him on Easter Sunday he has been pointed to someone who has gone from denying Christ to someone who's. proclaiming Christ his personality is still intact we also reference Paul is someone who had a personality apart from the focus of his life. Paul was someone who went from traveling on a road looking for Christians all over the region to arrest them and God took that. personality and that passion he poured his spirit into it and it animated those lusts rightfully and now he's someone who travels on roads. not looking to arrest Christians but he's a Christian that gets.
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.