Word of God (Part I)

STUDY: # 1014 –CHURCH IN THE HOUSES FROM: JANUARY 15 @ 21, 2019

Topic: "Word of God" (First Part) 1 Peter 1:1-25 Peter advises the brothers. He was not that Peter from the beginning, impulsive and full of weaknesses. This was the Peter that Christ had prophesied would become a rock (Cephas) John 1:42. He is the same man who had disciplined himself through years of suffering and trials and who had been strengthened by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This letter that Peter sends to the brothers evidently belongs to the last periods of his life.

I. The letter was for those chosen by the Lord for salvation, they were the brothers who had been scattered, expatriated to different lands for the sake of the Gospel (Vs. 1, 2)

A. Peter is here giving them instructions and admonition.

1. He did it according to the orders that Jesus had given him.

2. To encourage and strengthen the brothers (Luke 22:32"...when you have turned back, confirm your brothers.")

3. To feed the flock of God (John 21:15-17 "...feed my sheep...")

4. Suffering is the basis of this letter (Vs. 7).

5. But, Peter speaks of victory over suffering as it was in Jesus.

6. The dynamic (force, power) of duty is born in the heart of the Gospel that has been given to believers.

B. (Vs. 13) Having a "tight" understanding (when something is circled squeezing it a lot without hardly leaving any space)

1. When coming out to a hostile world, believers should avoid panic and distractions.

2. They were persecuted, mistreated and even killed.

3. In times of persecution, there is always a tendency to become agitated and confused.

4. Therefore, a "girded" mind is a strong, fixed mind that cannot be moved and ready for action.

5. It is not hindered by the distraction of "fear" from men or persecution.

6. This state of mental solidarity (the mind helping) is also encouraged thru Peter's words: "...be sober..."

7. This means to have self-control, very contrary to hysteria.

8. The sober spirit is "balanced" and "stable."

9. The saints are compelled (with urgency) to maintain an optimistic mind, that looks forward waiting in full in the grace that will be brought to them in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

10. The certainty of the coming of Christ is presented as a compelling motive for patience through the storms and tribulations of life.

C. The obedient mind (Vs. 14)

1. The obedient children should not follow the sins that characterized them in their previous life.

2. Now that you are Christians you should model your lives according to "The One" whose name you carry.

3. If you are not perceptive and fall conforming to the ungodly world, you will deny His heavenly character!

4. You are not from here, you belong to the holy God!

5. The things you did in the days of your "...ignorance..." should be removed, now that you have been enlightened by the "Holy Spirit."

6. The desires that you had before signify the sins to which you gave yourself when you were ignorant of God.

7. You already know God and by knowing Him you must know that what you have now is greater than all you had when you were in the world.

8. Do not negotiate with the world!

D. (Vs. 15) "...He who called you is holy..."

1. Instead of imitating the ungodly world in its fashions and styles, our lives should reproduce (produce again) the "holy" character of the One who called us.

2. We have a holy calling not to imitate the dirty, the unclean things of the earth.

3. To be pious (piety, devotion to God and the religious) means to bear the "moral" likeness of God.

4. God is holy in all His ways!

5. If we want to be like Him, we're to be saints in everything we "do" and "say."

6. In this life we will never be "as" holy as He is, but we should "be" "holy" because He is.

II. (Vs. 16) "...because it is written: Be holy, because I am holy."

A. (Leviticus 11:44) "...consecrate yourselves..."

1. To be holy is when you die to the flesh, that flesh that separates us from God.

2. You believe that I accuse you with the Word, but what you should fight is what I have fought since I came to Jesus.

3. God expects His people to be like Him!

4. You have the power to live a holy life by the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.

5. The saints of the O. T. did not have this help and blessing that we have in the N.T.

6. We have more privileges, and we are also more responsible!

7. The verse from Leviticus from the O. T. takes on a new depth of meaning in the New Testament.

8. It is the difference between the formal (the established, the organized) and the vital (what is proper in life, what pertains to life).

9. Holiness was God's ideal in the O. T.

10. And that ideal has taken a concrete characteristic (real, solid and precise) in the diurnal (everyday), with the coming of the Spirit of truth!

11. It is not that it comes and goes or that it is obtained thru sacrifice, but that in His death Jesus ascended to heaven and then, the Holy Spirit descended to be always in you! Amen.