Last week, we ended our study in the preceding verses by expounding the text found in vs 16, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”  This is God’s command to the church, as it was His command to the Israelites.  God first said it in Leviticus 11:44.  Then Peter updates it under the new covenant to the church, so that it becomes the commandment for our sanctification.  We are made holy and righteous positionally due to our justification.  But then we are becoming holy practically through the process of sanctification.  Sanctification is the practice of becoming who you are

Read More…

As we began our study of 1 Peter a couple of weeks ago we first looked at the surety  of our salvation in vs1-5, as Peter tells us we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven, and

Read More…

I have titled today’s message the Proof of Your Faith.  It comes directly from our text today, in vs 7 in the NASB.  Other translations render it “the trial of your faith,” or better, “the genuineness of your faith.”  Others have called it the character of your faith.  I think I could add one more, which is the evidence of your faith. I have often found myself as a pastor, thinking of an individual who may have given a profession of faith at some point in their life, but yet I find myself wondering if in fact they really are

Read More…

As we begin this new study in the epistle of 1st Peter, I want to forego a lot of the preliminary background information that might be customary when beginning a new book.  Peter is a very practical book, and though there is a tremendous amount of important doctrine contained in it, it is not presented as was Hebrews, for instance, with chapter after chapter of doctrine and then a small amount of application at the end.  Peter’s epistle presents doctrine and immediately application, which is kind of a reflection on his personality.  Peter was a man of action.  And there

Read More…

Today’s message is the last in our study of Hebrews.  It’s been about 7 months since we began the study of this tremendous book which is so rich in doctrine, and in some ways, I feel that today’s message is sort of anti-climatic.  It’s sort of ironic that it took us 7 months to exegete this epistle, and yet if you sat down and read it in one sitting, you could read it in an hour.  The author, who we have not tried to conclusively identify, says in vs 22, that we should bear with this exhortation, because he had

Read More…

I don’t apologize for not giving a typical Christmas message today as is the custom in many churches. Though I fully embrace the holiday and plan on celebrating the birth of Christ with my family, we are never told in scripture to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We are however, told to celebrate the Lord’s death until He comes again. And we will do that today, particularly in observing the Lord’s supper. But I hope that our continuing study in Hebrews will inform us as to why Jesus came to earth, and what He came to accomplish. Simply to celebrate

Read More…

  I think in Christianity today we tend to have too low of a view of the church. The church is the visible, physical manifestation of the spiritual kingdom of God.  The kingdom of God is the church. There are those who are looking for the kingdom of God to appear some day in the future.  But Jesus said, the kingdom of God is near you, it is in your midst.  Jesus came preaching and teaching the kingdom of God.  He referred to the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven dozens and dozens of times.  He spoke of

Read More…

In our last sermon, we said that the primary concern of the author was that we do not fall short of the grace of God.  That is, that considering all that Christ has done for us, considering our position in Christ, let us be sure not to come short of the full purpose of God in saving us.  As it says in the next to last verse of chapter 12, considering what Christ has done for us, and what God’s purpose in saving us is; let us show gratitude, by rendering to God an acceptable service which is to be

Read More…

The passage before us today has been interpreted by many great theologians and preachers a great many ways.  But by and large, there is a tendency to make the apparent severity of this passage into a mild warning not to fall from grace into legalism.  That seems to be the majority consensus.   And perhaps there is some truth to that. But I must confess that I don’t feel quite so secure in that opinion.  I have a certain unease in mitigating the severity of the  warning that is here.  This is the fifth such warning in the book of

Read More…

We started this chapter by looking at  the Race of faith, then we considered the Discipline of faith, and now today we come to what we might call the Exercise of faith. We said that the goal of God bringing  discipline into our lives as described in vs 4-11 was  righteousness.   It’s called in vs11, the peaceable fruit of righteousness.  That is the purpose of discipline, to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ as we share in the suffering of Christ. Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus learned obedience from the things that He suffered.  And we are

Read More…