Holiness in God's Household
Download MP3Introduction
- 01:56 | The text brings forth fundamental realities of the Christian life.
- 02:29 | Peter is writing to elect exiles undergoing intense trial and persecution, reminding them of the most basic things.
- 02:48 | This text provides clarity on what holiness in God's household (the church) looks like.
- 03:05 | The sermon outline is shaped by two main imperatives or commands.
I. 03:13 | An Earnest Love for God's Children (1 Peter 1:22–25)
03:39 | A. The Ground of the Call to Love
- 04:18 | Rooted in Regeneration: The command to love is rooted in the reality that believers have been born again (new birth).
- 04:33 | These commands are what Christians do precisely because they are Christians, not what they do in order to become Christians.
- 05:05 | Achieved Through the Word of God: God made believers born again through the living and abiding word of God.
- 07:30 | Rooted in who we are: Christians are brought into a new and near relation to one another, becoming spiritual family by their new birth.
- 08:02 | The new birth creates a picture of a family or household; outsiders should see that we are a family that loves one another.
09:12 | B. The Call to Love: Earnestly from a Pure Heart
- 10:09 | Peter reiterates this command multiple times throughout his epistle, emphasizing that we are to love one another earnestly.
- 10:50 | Fervency of Love: The word for earnestly (fervently) is a strong word.
- 12:16 | Imitation of Christ: This fervent love should have a zeal, constancy, and power that is unparalleled. We should love in imitation of Christ, who loved his own "to the end".
- 15:10 | The Priority of Love: Scripture has no category for the attitude "I love Jesus, but not the church."
16:41 | C. What True Love Looks Like (Three Observations)
16:57 | 1. True love is grounded in and tethered to the scriptures.
- 17:10 | Love is not a merely subjective feeling; God objectively defines what is loving in the word of God, specifically through the moral law.
- 20:56 | When accused of being unloving, Christians must go back "to the law and to the testimony" (the scriptures) to ask, "What does God say?".
22:42 | 2. True love earnestly and sincerely desires what is good for the beloved.
- 23:07 | This desire includes temporal, earthly, spiritual, and ultimately eternal good, as defined by God.
- 23:58 | Love is an action and commitment that takes up the whole person (mind, heart, and will)—a resolution to do good to others, even when one does not feel like it.
24:36 | 3. True love puts away sin.
- 24:56 | Integral to loving one another is mortifying specific sins that are antithetical to love: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
- 28:09 | Love requires calling out sin in a brother or sister's life out of concern for their soul. Proverbs states, "faithful are the wounds of a friend".
II. 30:46 | An Eager Longing for God's Word (1 Peter 2:2–3)
31:05 | A. The Command and the Metaphor
- 31:05 | Peter calls believers to long for the pure spiritual milk (the Word of God).
- 31:38 | This longing should be like a newborn infant's desperate, dependent, and insatiable desire for its mother's milk.
32:27 | B. The Purpose of the Longing
- 32:27 | Long for the Word so that by it, you may grow up into salvation.
- 33:18 | This growth is sanctification: the gradual process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
- 33:47 | The Gospel message, which brought about new spiritual life, is the very thing that sustains and nourishes that life until the end.
- 34:20 | Christians need the scriptures and the Gospel every day.
35:42 | C. The Encouragement: "If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good"
- 35:42 | The effect of Peter's words is to draw believers' attention to their past experience of the Lord's goodness and loving kindness.
- 36:14 | The ultimate and essential aim of reading the Bible daily is to "taste and see that the Lord is good"—to pursue personal, living, vital communion with God.
- 37:59 | The scriptures have been given so that Jesus Christ may come to believers and that they may go to him and have life.
- 39:18 | Christians can, by the grace of God, change their desires and shape their affections; they are not enslaved to their emotions.
- 39:52 | Part of the fight of faith is bringing our emotions, affections, feelings, and thoughts into conformity to God's word and truth.
41:58 | 2. The way to growth is persistent abiding in the word of God.
- 42:12 | We need to be in the Bible itself; reading books about the word or listening to sermons are not a substitute for being in the word.
- 43:00 | Time with God must not be moved around because it is essential to the rest of the day.
43:57 | 3. Practical application: Meditate on the word of God.
- 44:27 | The blessed man delights and meditates on the Lord's law day and night.
- 45:04 | To meditate means to reread passages, pray through them, ask questions of the text, and discuss them with loved ones.
Conclusion
- 45:26 | The basics of the Christian life are to be a people who are lovers of God, lovers of each other, and lovers of the word.
- 45:53 | Let us love one another earnestly from a pure heart and long for the pure spiritual milk of the Word of God so that believers may get more of God and grow up into salvation.
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