Published: March 2, 2025 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: 1 Peter - Part 8 | Scripture: 1 Peter 1:17
Transcript
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today we'll be looking at uh one verse in 1 in 1 Peter verse 17 but I'm going to read verses 13 through uh 19 to set the
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um the context of Peter's exhortation to US 1 Peter
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1:13 therefore guard your minds for Action keep sober in spirit fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children do not
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be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance but like the Holy One who called you be holy yourselves also in all your behavior
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because it is written you shall be holy for I am Holy and if you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each man's work conduct yourselves in
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fear during the time of your stay living as strangers knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futle way of
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life inherit herited from your F forefathers but with the precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ let us
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pray father we do ask that in our gathering this morning and even as we hear your word read and and preach that we would honor the son our beautiful savior beautiful in Holiness and yet
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Lord Lord of all the universe and so we pray that we might honor him we might rejoice in him and as we announce the words that are written
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here by the Apostle Peter we know that we must open our ears and hear we Grant we ask that you would grant us those ears to hear and that the Holy
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Spirit would speak to our hearts and our souls we ask that you would do these things in Christ's name amen
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amen and if you address the father as father the one who impartially judges according to each man's work conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay living as
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strangers Peter gives us reasons to be holy as he said in verse 15 be holy yourselves as the
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Lord himself is Holy and he gives us imperatives verse 13 fix your hope completely on the
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grace that is being brought to you verse 15 be holy yourself in all your behavior and now in verse 17
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conduct yourselves in fear during your stay there's a link obviously between verse 15 and 17 the the and or in the
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Greek the the kai it links this idea of the living out of your life as a stranger in the
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world in verse 15 he says in all your behavior in everything you do and say and think in all your behavior and now
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how do we go about conducting ourselves as holy conducting ourselves in
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fear all your behavior and all of your conduct in Holiness and in fear and these are not just Peter's Grand suggestions of how we ought to
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live they're not some sort of moral maxims but they are how we are are to be holy how are we to do the Commandment of
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our Lord Jesus Christ to love God with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind with all our strength and even Peter is going to add that second
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greatest commandment in verse 22 of this same chapter love your neighbor as
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yourself how are we to be holy how really is God to remake Us in Christ's image Paul reminds us that is what the Lord is doing in Romans chapter 8 For
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Those whom he fornew he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his
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holy that phrase be holy is sometimes something that many sincere Christians become discouraged about and I look at my own life when I
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say that sometimes we we can't seem to sense Holiness we we don't seem to have a sense of the fruit of Holiness coming
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out in our lives we feel a mixture um I would describe it as some kind of flitting between vanity and hypoc
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hocy it can be a vain thing we we can say something like I I think I was really humble today and think that that is some kind of Holiness but obviously it leads to a
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self righteousness and with hypocrisy I'm doing things to be seen by others but when I realize that I do that
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that I put on a fac or a show then show then comes the self- condemnation how how can I be like that
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and be and be holy or perhaps you think of Romans Chapter 2 when when Paul describes the Gentiles how he says they do the things of the law even
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though they don't have the law they're their thoughts on the one hand accuse them and on the other hand they excuse them we have that kind of flip-flopping
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back and forth I think when we think of Holiness and being holy John Owen wrote that hypocrisy is
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everything that for matter or manner comes short of sincerity but a few paragraphs later he
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reminds us Holiness is the purifying of the Heart by faith or our or obedience to the truth see Owen like God does not
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leave us hanging between the accusing and the excusing we we don't go through life wondering well have I done things correct or have I not have I been
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sincere have I not Peter gives us a Way Forward yeah I think it's why Peter begins this section verse 13 with his
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his exhortations with those three things guard your mind for Action it it starts in the in the mind keep sober in your
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spirit fix your hope completely on the grace that is being brought to you were it not for our hearts feeling
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this kind of discernable mixture of vanity and hypoc y I think we would stop and ask are you really saved do you
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really know Christ are you really of the faith and we should not be surprised by the intensity of sin we we
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we just read in had read in our Hearing in first in first John do not be conformed to this world do not love the world all the lust of
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their flesh the the lust of the eyes the boastful pride of life these things do attack Us in Galatians 5 Paul explains for the flesh sets its desire against the spirit
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and the spirit against the flesh there in the words of James there's a war going on between your flesh and the spirit these things are in opposition
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Paul says to one another so that you may not do the things that you please again James says is this not the source of your pleasures that wage war
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in your members but we have read of what one writer calls the great butt of scripture in Psalm
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130:4 but there is forgiveness with thee that you may be feared Charles spon says here is the
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full free sovereign pardon that is expressed by that little three-letter word butut but there is forgiveness with
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forgiveness with thee Justice yells at us does it not Spurgeon says justice yells at us and says Let The Sinner die and even our conscience he says
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shrieks at us and it says let him perish but here here in Psalm 130 that we read
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we read here is the hand of God shielding us his strong arm with that Golden Shield that Spurgeon describes between The Sinner and destruction yes if the Lord and the
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psalmist says this out loud if the Lord should count iniquity no one can stand but there is forgiveness with
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him and I think Peter perhaps has this Psalm in mind when he tells us that that here is the way to Holiness
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here is an encouragement here's a motivation to you my readers to live out your life in fear we're going to go on hopefully in
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the next few weeks to talk about the way that he fleshes this out the assurance that we have in verse 18 he gives us the negative side of things what did not
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redeem Believers but then we have the great positive in verse 19 the means of our Redemption and then the great contrast
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in our minds how do we understand that Christ was be for known before history and yet Christ's manifestation
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at the clim climax of Salvation history in our
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lifetime so Peter Begins by saying and if you address the father as father the one who impartially judges giving us that little word if
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some of your scriptures will say since since you address but Peter I think is making a very intentional provocation of his readers
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he's asking them if you pray if you address as father if you call
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upon one as the father I think it's a warning so much of Christian prayer one of the commentators say is just a foolishness like children and his
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illustration was and I'm sure none of you have ever done this of children who go up to a a house in their neighborhood and they ring the doorbell and then they run away and hide before someone can
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come to the door the commentator says that's that's what many Christians are like we come to him we ring the doorbell and then we flee before we even wait for
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him to come and answer but again notice the link between verse 15 and
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verse 17 but like the one the holy one who called who called you if you call upon as father the one
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who is Judge to call upon God as father I think has three aspects to it here to
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here to call the word in the Greek is an intensive form of just to call to say something but it's an intensive form it
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it it would mean to us invoke we invoke God In Prayer there's a seriousness here to it it and it answers his calling us and we answer back to him I I think of
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John 10 Jesus says my own hear my voice and they come to me we recognize the voice we are being called and we call
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and we come to him but also in here is the word again linking back to verse 15 if
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you address as father well who is the one who called you who is that father he is the Holy One he is Holy he is 100% pure 100%
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righteous but 100% just and this great word that we have and he is our
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father and again that goes back to verse 14 as children of
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obedience some had pointed out it's very interesting in Leviticus 19 where Peter gets this verse 16 you shall be holy for I am Holy the very next verse in Leviticus 19 is honor your father and
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mother there there is a connection here I think in Peter's mind we are addressing ing him as father but we are addressing him as father as children of obedience that is
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our character that is our nature of obedience but again I think there is a warning here don't water it down you've heard
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Chuck say a number of times where he's heard people think of that phrase in the scriptures we address him as ABA father and they want to call god daddy but but
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please do not do that he is to be feared but what is Godly fear I believe it's a deep sense of the
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indwelling power of sin of the troubling perplexities that we find in life of doubts and
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temptations that arise in Believers and why is this Godly fear well I think John Owen calls it gospel
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Assurance again if we are not of Christ we have no interest in being holy do we what reason is there yeah there is
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moralism in the world and you have to get along but that is not the fear and the and the Godly assurance that Owen would refer to think of Romans chapter
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6 Paul's calling on us and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those
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alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God for sin shall not be Master over you for you are not under law but under grace What
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then shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace and Paul says may it never be see there is a Godly fear and it's not what some people call
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a an abject Terror that is not it and it's not again what some people would call an insipid
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reverence that that word insipid reverence is actually an irre relevance or reverence to God it it's a lightness it's an indifference it's it's one it's
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stupid and and people come up with these stupid phrases referring to God as the big guy upstairs that is not the holy fear that
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he has in mind here that is not godly fear Romans chapter 8 says you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you
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have received a spirit of adoption as Sons by which we do cry out ABA father again it's not an abject Terror but it is a and it's not a slavish fear
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because what does the scripture say slavish fear casts out love but it is a fear that opposes that likeness that
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likeness that insipidity if that is a
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God's Will and to God himself in 2 Corinthians at the end of chapter 6 Paul quotes from 1 Samuel where God
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says and I will be a father to you and you shall be Sons and Daughters to me and then Paul follows that up in chapter 7 verse1 therefore having these promises
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beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of Flesh and spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God
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fear this Godly fear is a fear of displeasing God our Father fear of insulting him fear of missing one word of encouragement from him fear of missing his smile when he smiles upon us
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and gives us insight into his word fear of not being diligent to the admonitions of scripture to watch and pray so that we don't fall
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temptation but know know this Thomas shriner in his commentary says fear does not contradict not contradict confidence we have read something about confidence this morning in 1 John
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Chapter 2 that that we may have confidence and boldness to approach him a con a confident driver Shriner says is one who
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one who understands that I have to have a healthy respect for the fact that I could be in an accident anytime I'm in the car I can be a confident driver but
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be confident or conscious of the fact that I'm not going to want to do anything stupid and I always watch
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out as our driers said teacher said expect the
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unexpected it's not not a slavish fear it's not abject Terror but it is a Godly fear because we remember that God is the
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impartial judge he who in his Holiness without respect of persons judges each man's work he says there's no partiality with
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God God does not play favorites and he doesn't just judge us on a few of our Deeds as the commentator
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Linsky writes he takes the real p and substance of each man's life which is either doing of his gospel will or a
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rejection of that will now it's not a work salvation as many would claim and press us on but faith is the truest
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obedience and God sees both faith and works and it's interesting in my reading I'm finding out that in the Old Testament
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the Father Figure was held in higher regard than the judge that the Father Figure was looked at with the idea that he was there to
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teach and command and correct where the judge's two jobs were to either reward or to punish and so the father was held yes in that
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perhaps you would say attention he is the father he is the loving one the teacher the teacher the guide the one who begot us but he's also
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judge and the way that we are to treat him is that we would never want to do anything to displease him someone used
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the word that I had I had to look it up that the father was more numinous it has this sense of a Divine awe and an energy and a power and yet
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love in the same person and in Proverbs 9 we read the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
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wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy one is understanding th this fear is not merely a stage that you go through it's
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not merely okay step one to gaining wisdom and understanding is to fear the lord okay check the idea it is is the first and controlling principle of Our
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Lives of wisdom and understanding and and it's not a method of thinking but it it describes this fear of the Lord as a right
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relation as one commentator says a worshiping submission worshiping submission that's the fear to God to the god of the Covenant who reveals himself by his name
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Yahweh or the Lord or in Proverbs 9 the Holy One see it's that right relation with him it's a worshiping
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attitude and Peter says conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay living as strangers during all of your life here
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as strangers conduct yourselves create a way of life for yourselves is how I would translate that a lifestyle but the lifestyle is that of a stranger or an
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outsider in this world we've talked about this we've called ourselves resident aliens you are a temporary resident and we will never ever
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perfectly settle perfectly settle here because we are strangers
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here and so the consequence or the therefore that would follow is do not expect to perfectly settle here don't even try to settle here because you are not a resident SI citizen you are a
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resident alien Abraham was described in Hebrews 11 as a stranger in a foreign land all all of his life David considered himself
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a resident alien and in Hebrews 11 we we find that yes even as they lived as Strangers In a Strange Land they acted righteously they did wonderful things he
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said they conquered kingdoms and and they obtained the promises of God but as we've already discussed in First Peter they experienced mocking and ill
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treatment imprisonment and even death and I think we know our world you can click on any news site and you can see the present form of our world
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described again in 1 John Chapter 2 you can see the crisis in morals politics economics the ideologies that
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are presented as truth that truth that exist but as we scan those things and read them to understand our world keep
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in mind this is not our home and even if we admire our own democracy our own power of our country
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the energy that we have the technological prowess that we have our inventiveness do not forget powerful and mighty Nations
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fall oras one commentator simply said keep a loose grip on this world and therefore since the child shares the character of the Father the
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Christian's life must conform to his life more life more the knowledge of Christ brings with it the knowledge of sin and God's wrath
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upon it but that's why we need the spirit that's why we need the word verse 12 and that's also why Peter begins with
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these exhortations these exhortations fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
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Jesus Christ as Charles Spurgeon wrote If the Lord were to execute Justice upon all there would be none left to fear
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him if all were under apprehension of his deserved wrath despair would Harden them against fearing him it is Grace
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which leads the way to a holy regard of God and a fear of grieving him
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I read this and I understood I think what the writer meant commenting on Hebrews chapter 12 and
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on Psalm 130 and I think with Proverbs 9 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom in the back of his mind but he said we need to persuade
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that we have left Mount Si and we have come to Mount Zion in Hebrews CH 12 the writer writes
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this speaking of that mountain of Mount Si that is blazing fire covered with
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smoke and darkness and Gloom and whirlwind and he says this again a great butt of scripture but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living
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God the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels to the general assembly and Church of the for firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God
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the judge of all and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better
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than the blood of April Abel let us pray Our Father please help us to
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realize that there is no fear in fearing you that there is nothing to be afraid of nothing to back off of that you have called us you have given us us an
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understanding yes of our sin and yet you give us a great understanding of what you have done in Christ Our mediator that blood that we will speak of and
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Peter speaks of as precious that blood that is speaks louder and better than the blood of Abel that beauty which is greater than the
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beauty of all the angels that heaven can boast that is our savior he is the one who calls us to be holy he is the one
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who gives us the energy to be holy by his spirit and we ask father that we would follow the way that is mapped out for us in scripture and that we truly
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truly would have that thought to never ever displease you and as we celebrate the Lord's supper right now as we come
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together as a body of Believers strengthen Us in this that you have done a mighty work in the blood of Christ in Christ's name we pray
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amen I've asked the Abe and